"Steve King Thinks Im a Threat to American Civilization."

[DemocratSinceBirth]

My father is a white Christian from Iowa. He married an immigrant. And then they had me: somebody else’s baby.


On Sunday, Iowa Congressman Steve King embarked on what was to be a multi-day revival of the Steve King Xenophobia Road Show, tweeting out support for the far-right anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders:

Link to tweet

By Monday morning, King was effectively doubling down on the idea that “somebody else’s babies” are not really, truly American babies.

CNN host Chris Cuomo began his interview by citing King’s tweet:

Cuomo: If you want to apply that kind of thinking to America, it seems like a complete contradiction of what we’re all about. This is the melting pot. We are known by those countries as the bastion of diversity. It’s an unqualified strength for us … Who is ‘somebody else's babies’?

King: There’s an American culture, American civilization. It’s raised within these children in these American homes. That’s one of the reasons why we require that the president of the United States be raised with an American experience…

King went on:

This is an effort on the left, I think, to break down the American civilization and the American culture and turn it into something entirely different. I’m a champion for western civilization … I want more of that, not less. There are civilizations that produce very little [freedom], if any. This western civilization is a superior civilization, and we want to share it with everybody

.

More...

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/03/steve-king-thinks-im-a-threat-to-american-civilization/519399/

[The Polack MSgt]

1. To paraphrase Jake and Elwood

Iowa Nazis, I hate Iowa Nazis

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. In my entire life I think I have met one person from IA and she was nothing like Steve King.

[The Polack MSgt]

3. I've met a few Iowans in the service

And had a week long project in Davenport a couple of years ago.

The service members knew better than to spout racist nonsense in public - so I don't know for sure that they weren't racist - But I can say that they were not white supremacists like King

Davenport/Rock Island was a charming area that was more diverse than I expected. Probably no more racist than the rest of America... I know I know, that is still pretty damn racist, but Steve King's tweet is Stormfront level neo-nazi trash.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. Were there a lot of racists in the service?

My friend was in the Navy. He was on Governor Pataki's staff. He is one of the few reasonable Republicans I know. He thought the racists he met were idiots.

[The Polack MSgt]

6. While I was in, it fluctuated TBH

I joined in 82, retired in 05.

At all levels - Junior enlisted, Non Commissioned Officer(NCO) and Senior NCO we had mandatory training that included inclusiveness and tried to show how prejudice worked against unit cohesion and harmed the "Good Order and Discipline" that we strove to maintain.

The Oklahoma bombing put some teeth in anti-racist policies - it was an eye opener for the brass that neo-nazis were active in the DOD - and the clamps came out. So overt racist rhetoric is not common and if an Airman came to me (as a MSgt) with a complaint of discrimination, I was duty bound to forward it for investigation.

It isn't perfect of course, but there is a reason that AA (women especially) are staying in - making careers where the promotion and assignment system is as even handed as possible.

In the Air Force, last I heard anyway, the percentage of AA in leadership positions (both Officer and Senior NCO) was twice that of the population at large.

AAs join at a slightly higher rate than their Percentage of the population but tend to stay longer than average and go the lifer (over 20 years in service) route more often than other groups.

Also I agree with your Sailor friend, racists are idiots, and we attempt to weed them out as quickly as possible.

[The Polack MSgt]

9. This is from the Buffalo Soldiers Research Museum website

Black women who served in the military since pre-colonial days have paved the way for new recruits and current active duty females to follow. In 1993, black women comprised 33% of Army female recruits, 22% of Navy female recruits, 17% of Marine Corps female recruits, and 18% of Air Force female recruits. The statistics show that approximately 30% of the military is African-American women; approximately 34% serve as enlisted, and about 13% serve as commissioned and warrant officers (Hodges, 1995). According to a 2005 report, black women see the military as providing greater opportunities and benefits than the civilian labor market. A total of16% of female officers and 34% of enlisted women are black compared with 9% of male officers and 20% of enlisted men. In the Army, close to one-fourth of women officers and nearly one-half of enlisted women are black. In addition, black women are better represented than white women among noncommissioned officers which reflects their longer stay in the service (America’s military population).

This article uses mid 2000s statistics, but the trend seems to be stable, I certainly don't believe it reversed itself during President Obama's term in office.

[Maru Kitteh]

10. The western side of Iowa is a whole different animal. More like Nebraska/Kansas

[dalton99a]

5. Iowa used to be a progressive state - the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage

Iowa college towns are still great. I know Iowa State named its stadium after a black football player and honored the black scientist George Washington Carver with a building and a statue on campus - when the student population was nearly all white.

[Aristus]

8. I had a classmate in PA School who was from Iowa.

When I remarked to her my surprise that Iowa legalized marriage equality before such states as California, she replied: "Hey, we're liberal in Iowa!" She was terrific. I liked her a lot.

Not everyone in Iowa is, obviously...

[Orrex]

12. King is protected by a gerrymandered district that's 95% white

He could lynch babies and burn crosses in the public square, and his racist-enabling base would still support him.

To be sure, Iowa is home to some fine progressives, but they are often sadly drowned out by their Repug neighbors (rather like my own state of PA in that regard).

[rsdsharp]

14. King's district (like most of Iowa) is very white.

It is not, however, gerrymandered. Iowa uses an independent commission to redraw electoral districts. King's fourth district is geographically the largest, because it is the most rural. Only two cities of any size are in the district: Ames and Sioux City.

As others in the thread have pointed out, western Iowa is very conservative. I call it Nebraska East. The liberal bastions of Ames (Iowa State University) and (to a lesser extent) Sioux City aren't enough to cancel out the overwhelming majority of far right voters in the rest of the district. If they found a Democrat in Lyon or Sioux (Sioux City is in Woodbury County) Counties they would probably stone him.

[Orrex]

15. For real? I had no idea!

Thanks for the info (and I'm not being sarcastic--I truly didn't know that about Iowa's districting).

[rsdsharp]

16. Yes, for real.

At least for now. However, for the first time in many years (since before the Republican party ran totally off the rails of sanity) Iowa's House, Senate and Governor's office are all in the hands of Republicans. This legislative session seems to be combining the worst aspects of both the Wisconsin and Kansas legislatures, in an attempt to give Branstad a going away present before he heads to China. It wouldn't surprise me to see them try to change the way districts are drawn.

It would be still be somewhat difficult to conventionally gerrymander a state with only four congressional districts, and only 3 million people, the vast majority of whom are white, since there are no areas in which minorities could substantially impact the results of an election.

[Mendocino]

17. King of the Nazis

With this administration Godwin's law is moot.

[malaise]

7. Well everybody doesn't want his shit

Civilized people don't do what was done to the Native Americans.

Fuck Steve King

[pat_k]

11. "There are civilizations that produce very little" Which would those be Mr. King?

[Orrex]

13. Yes, she certainly looks like a terrifying monster (nt)