Do we really want a third term for a Vice Chair who appears to be more interested in pandering than in outreach?
Since early 2014, there have been ever-escalating smear attacks against our national committeeman, Dave Agema, that have been as predictable as the calendar, in that they’ve occurred, if my memory serves me correctly, during the runup to every national or state committee meeting last year, as well as during the weeks immediately preceding the “fall” state convention (and are now occurring concurrent to the weeks preceding the “spring” state convention four weeks from now). The pattern is also predictable, in that either Ken Braun or Dennis Lennox (occasionally Kathy Hoekstra just for the sake of variety) will get wind (via one of their trolls) of a social media post on Agema’s Facebook page, will then cherry-pick some alleged “money quote” from the source article (or an article buried up to three links deep from that source) and then report that “money quote” as though Agema originally said it . . . and never-you-mind that they can’t be bothered to accurately report what he actually said with regard to why he found something post-worthy. The next step, again ridiculously predictable, is that the three amigos will then use their press credentials to publish opinion pieces, which allegedly-more-credible reporters will then use as source material for front-page “news” stories, which the usual suspects will then use to fuel a smear campaign of manufactured outrage, which the party’s useful idiots and low-information voter bloc will dutifully echo as an ever-increasing crescendo of calls for Agema to step down “for the good of the party.”
Fully detailing this pattern and the miscreants perpetuating it – which I intend to do – is a topic for another day soon. My purpose in mentioning it here is to merely highlight the hypocrisy of selective outrage within the party leadership, specifically in regard to a certain vice chair whose own conduct has been perhaps more offensive than that of the national committeeman for whose resignation she has recently called.
“Black Lives Matter” is a movement that, according to the website, “was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was post-humously placed on trial for his own murder” (their words, and spelling error, not mine). What they say about themselves, their national demands, and their take on Ferguson is, at least to me, unsettling both as individual statements and as a whole manifesto. Nevertheless, it’s a useful read for anyone who might think that engaging BLM activists in a thoughtful dialogue is a wise use of time. (I’m not saying that it isn’t, just that those who do so ought to be prepared in advance.)
Some of the “protests” are fairly absurd, such as the Huffington Post and Al Sharpton taking extreme umbrage over the 2015 Academy Awards lacking appropriate diversity. (Notably, Sharpton’s announcement drew an appropriately sarcastic response from Allen West.) Some have been interestingly attention-getting, like the recent “die-in” staged at a popular Capitol Hill cafeteria last week. And some have been . . . disturbing . . . such as the Black Brunch invasions of “white spaces” in major cities nationwide for no apparent purpose other than to somehow make the “white man” feel their pain.
Absolutely appalling was the use of the “Black Lives Matter” meme this past Wednesday by Frederick Young, of Detroit, at his sentencing hearing for his part (along with Felando Hunter of Jackson) in the torture and murder of Westland teens Jacob Kudla and Jourdan Bobbish. According to Gus Burns, when the killers were provided an opportunity to address the court prior to their sentencing, Young did so, not to express remorse, but rather to make a political statement:
“I would like to say sorry to the families of Aiyana Jones, Michael Brown, Eric Gardner,” he said to the surprise of the courtroom. “And I would like to apologize to them for not being able to get justice for their loved ones that were murdered in cold blood. And in respect for the people in protest I want to say, hands up, don’t shoot. Black lives matter.”
. . . which all of a sudden casts a very different light on a certain article that Colonel Agema shared to his FaceBook page (said article also shared by Colonel West to his website). Did the author of that original piece perhaps actually have a point? Other than Chad Selweski, who at least seems to have his cranium on the proper side of his keister, not one member of the drive-by media nor any of the political whores currently pillorying Agema can ever be expected to voice that admission.
Let’s cede the point that every 28 hours, a black person is killed by the police, which seems to be one of the core points of the current BLM protests. The last I checked (admittedly not since the summer of 2012), roughly every 69 minutes a black person is killed by . . . another black person. Why isn’t that drawing BLM outrage? Do those black lives not matter? My guess is not, as the race-baiters (and their media and political enablers) much prefer to ignore the facts in favor of the dishonest narrative. Not surprisingly, police officers nationwide, of every color, are mad as hell at the deliberate reinforcement of the lie that the greatest danger to young black men is from the police . . . when the hard evidence is very much otherwise. Nor will any of the race hustlers acknowledge the truth that a BLM activist learned the hard way after undergoing some “use of force” training courtesy of the Maricopa County Sheriff Department, because the truth would totally screw up their sermonizing.
And this brings me around to where I’m going with all this.
For those of us on Facebook, our newsfeeds are constantly bombarded by news of events going on around the state. For those of us on Facebook who are Michigan Republican political junkies, our newsfeeds routinely include our State Party Vice Chairs posting pictures of themselves at events (because, since Betsy DeVos left office in 2005, there really hasn’t been any actual committee work for them to do). I think we sometimes become immune to seeing their posts all the time and occasionally forget to pay attention to them.
My friend was paying attention on December 9th, when Ethnic Vice Chair Linda Lee Tarver posted that she was going to a “Black Lives Matter” forum. In fact, it troubled her so much that it lead her to post a sarcastic remark. Tisha Jones, former secretary of the Tuscola County Republican Party, replied, “Black lives absolutely matter – except the millions that have been aborted, right?” It seemed like a simple enough question, since it was likely not a topic that would be discussed at such a rally. A young man from elsewhere in the state, who wishes to not be named, posted a comment asking why it was only black lives that matter when we’re supposed to be the pro-life party. That person also asked why it wasn’t just as racist for them to hold a black lives (only) matter rally.
Their comments were quickly deleted by Tarver, and the original post has since disappeared. However, filling the void are two postings from the rally/forum itself.
One is a somewhat voluminous album of pictures from the rally. Most of the pictures are of community members addressing the audience. However, there are pictures depicting the death of Eric Garner, of NBA players wearing the “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt, a young black girl with tape over her mouth that read “Black Lives Matter,” and others. She didn’t post the context of the pictures, so the question of in what context these pictures were used is an open one.
The other post is a video showing Tarver briefly addressing the standing room only crowd at the rally (link to original here) (link to archived copy here, with apologies for any appearance of recording-of-a-recording quality). In it, she asked the crowd for help in pressuring Lansing to form an African-American Commission to go along with the Pan-Asian, Latin-American, and others who report to the Governor so that laws and policies can be put in place to “deal with the issues at hand.” It should be noted here that Tarver is a Commissioner with the Civil Rights Commission. She can also be heard saying that a Legislative Black Caucus is not enough. “We don’t need to play politics with our children’s lives,” she says before going into a story about how her son “fits the description.” She tells the room how her son is pulled over by Lansing Police every time he comes to visit her in Lansing (emphasis hers). She says, “My father taught my brothers how to get stopped by the police, and I had to pass that on to my sons.”
Is this what we’re referring to as “ethnic outreach” these days? To be quite frank, that sounds like some serious pandering to me.
My final point here is with regard to a letter that Mrs. Tarver wrote to Colonel Agema on the very same day that Agema opted to endorse Tarver’s opponent for the position of Michigan Republican Ethnic Vice-Chair, Darwin Jiles Jr., the founder of Flint Urban Culture.
In her “Open Letter to Michigan National Committeeman Dave Agema,” Tarver begins by lamenting that her read of the articles surrounding Agema’s latest antics is a sad reminder of how much work we have yet to do on race relations in this country. She then proceeds to discuss what appear to be three talking points:
- The apparent gist of her first talking point is that, because Agema isn’t a black man, and therefore cannot understand the black experience, he thus cannot criticize black people (even if a prominent black leader should absolutely agree with and approve of that criticism), because only blacks can criticize other blacks. Further, this is something that is so obvious and commonsense that someone at Agema’s “stage in life” ought to already understand it. (This logic should also apply to anyone who’s never served in law enforcement or the armed forces, pity it doesn’t.)
- I have no idea what she’s trying to accomplish in her second talking point. I grant that I don’t have a Masters of Divinity, but I am an educated man, and a regular student of Scripture. I read this paragraph as a complete out-of-context abuse of the source Scripture passages, specifically including the reality that the apparent “money passage” (Proverbs 6:16-19) applies properly to the immoralists who insist on denouncing Agema based on fabricated pretense. (I should also observe that even Satan quotes Scripture, but only a fool would trust him.)
- Given the prominent presence of multiple “black Republicans” at this month’s Tea Party PowWow, who were quite happy to be openly associated with Colonel Agema, I confess to a bit of curiosity as to precisely whom she’s referring to in her third talking point. Given that she has to rely on misrepresented discourse as the basis for her position, by what authority does she propose to “close out” Agema’s free speech account? (Is that even a thing?)
I have every reason to believe that her plea that Agema resign is going to go about as far as every other spurious request that’s been made over the course of the past year, and for the exact same reasons. An honest examination of the actual facts in evidence clearly provide not one whit of justification for those requests . . . not that the haters-and-baiters will bother to bind themselves to the truth, as that’s never been their style.
For the record, so far as I’m aware, Mr. Jiles is in fact on the ballot as a convention candidate for Michigan Republican Ethnic Vice Chair, – in spite of shenanigans by district chairs Norm Shinkle and Paul Welday designed to make Jiles’ ballot access difficult – so that Mrs. Tarver isn’t standing for reelection without a challenger to her incumbency. That, in my opinion, is a good thing, because Tarver needs to be on the receiving end of a very certain message that her actions aren’t above reproach, either.
The best way to send that message is a credible challenger who has a fair shot at unseating her.
(28)Nuh Uh.
(4)
The attacks on Dave Agema are coming from disciples of Saul Alinsky who are implementing his tome 'Rules for Radicals'. Not as sophisticated as the Democratic Party usage of this procedure, but adequate. Tells you something about the heritage of the Republican establishment in Michigan.
Less studied is why Alinsky felt it was strategically necessary to have a demon. To understand this critical element, you have to read Gustave Le Bon's 1895 work 'The Crowd, A Study of the Popular Mind'. BLM is another effort to apply Le Bon's observations in the perversion of democratic processes.
Elites of every stripe in the USA are disappointed in their past failures to exert effective control over American public opinion. Their paid political agitators have taken notice of the French elites' ability to manipulate public opinion over the last 50 years and are now mounting a corresponding effort here. Le Bon's precepts are key to the effort here.
Ultimately, manipulation of popular thought fails. Either military defeat or economic ruin shatters the artificial consensus. The question for free thinking conservatives today is whether the efforts of the elites can be broken short of catastrophe.
I STAND BY MY WORDS.
Letter to the Bishop (and to other Agema critics) 1/23/15
To Whom It May Concern:
It is evil to bend to lies. It is evil to bend to perceptions that wrong. It is evil to bend to evildoers.
And when so called Godly men do it…. It is particularly disgusting. It is taking the Lord’s name in vain. It deserves a quick and harsh smack down.
There are two very different evil things going on here:
The first is a trumped up orchestrated campaign built on lies and misconceptions by RINO’s to humiliate, bully, silence and purge a Christian Conservative(s) from the MI-GOP.
The second evil act is accepting these lies as truth. Which groups of unthinking, evil or just plain bought off people have done.
So I take OFFENSE at the trumped up outrage at a FB post that was also posted by Allen West. A black man! If you blame Mr. Agema, you probably also think that Officer Darren Wilson gunned down a gentle giant then too. Great offense should be taken at the promulgation of lies against Mr. Agema. He is a man of outstanding character, accomplishment and mission. Far far far from being an extremist or a hater of any kind. And great offense should be taken at the lame excuse of “perception is reality”. NO. Christians and other good people should always be promoting TRUTH … because IT IS REALITY. Anything less is a damnable lie.
Yes, I am white. But just as everybody else I have a pink brain. …The only difference here is, I choose to engage it. I don’t think with my skin, my wallet, my emotions or pander to the lower base of the human psyche. NO. I choose to look above the riff-raff of hysterical cries for OUTRAGE. I choose to draw courage from my heart, my head and my soul to stand against an assault on the truth, against an assault on a good man and against an assault on my vote for National Committeeman. I stand with Dave Agema.
Thank you.
Yours Truly,
Isabelle Terry
P.S. To those who do not speak up in support for Mr. Agema… I pray there is someone courageous enough to speak for you on Judgement Day.
Oh how the Divide and conquer does work. We are watching it happen everyday.
The timing of this is so transparent, it is time to elect again and it is just obvious that Dave Agema is no longer wanted by the Elite. We Precinct Delegates are not wanted, the TEA Party must be purged.... SMH.
God has been relegated to "Cartoon" Status and all supporters must be silenced. At what point do we recognize that when they say "God Bless America", they are simply spouting a popular saying and then proceeding forward to remove him and all that truly embrace him so as to ensure he will not Bless America..... Can't you see that they do not really believe in him or understand that there WILL be a day of accountability for themselves? All that is happening here on Earth will be answered for to God himself. There will be no debating God, no spinning the truth, no Media Campaign to brainwash God to make it OK.
To whom much is given Much is expected. Dave Agema is not perfect, but he stands unbending in his service to God. He may go about it differently than some do, but standing for Godly Principles is what I respect about him. Where are the 70% that supported him over Saul Anuzis now? Cowering in the shadows in fear of the Elites.... Too bad they have no fear of God, who will hold us accountable for our part as Elected Leaders as well.
Here are some important Linda Lee Tarver facts:
1) She's a taxpayer-paid employee of the secretary of state, who never seems to do any real, official, governmental work. Rather all she seems to do is show up at party events, of which she dutifully documents thanks to her husband's camera. I think someone could FOIA the secretary of state to see Tarver's sign-in/sign-out sheet to see if she's on the taxpayer clock when doing these events.
2) When she isn't at political events for the secretary of state, she's at GOP functions as a party vice chair. But the party doesn't pay her bills. She's in an unpaid position. Who pays for all of her gas, the hotels, the tickets, everything? I'd be very, very curious to know.
3) What has Linda Lee Tarver done as vice chair? Actually, this is a fair question for all of the vice chairs. To my knowledge, they haven't done anything. They're glorified cheerleaders. Why aren't the vice chairs a chair of a state committee subcommittee? If they don't have any duties then why do we have the position? It seems to me the same half-dozen black Michigan Republicans get all the attention but never produce any results in terms of outreach. Maybe we need to move on from going after blacks, who vote 90% Democratic to another ethnicity that is more winnable for Republicans (like Asians or Muslims).
Also, Tarver better be careful because she lost a state board of education race at the convention in August. I could see her losing this time around, too.
Linda Tarver actually has two government jobs. The one I mentioned in the original article is as a Commissioner with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and the other is as Director of Community Affairs and Election Integrity Liaison for Michigan Secretary of State. According to her bio on the MDCR website, "Ms. Tarver has served the people of the state of Michigan for more than 29 years and has worked for four Michigan Secretaries of State." Read into that what you will.
I agree with your point regarding the current "glorified cheerleader" status of the state party vice chairs. That said, the actual positions of the party officers and their duties are specified in Article IV (Officers) and Article V (Duties Of Officers) of the Bylaws of the Michigan Republican State Committee. I agree with your assertion that the duly-elected vice chairs (and co-chair) ought to be the actual chairs of their their respective state committees, and the committee organization ought to be forthwith restructured so that the committees are wrapped around the mission of the vice chair they report to. (For the record, I happen to think that the Party Co-Chair also ought to be the actual chair of the Policy & Issues Committee.) However, it appears that such is going to require amending the bylaws to affect the change.
The real question is what does Linda Lee Tarver do all day long on her state job? That's a question RightMI should dig into through a FOIA of her sign-in and sign-out time sheet. For example, today she posted photos in her capacity on Facebook as a member of the Civil Rights Commission. That means one could argue her Facebook is official and thus subject to FOIA. I, for one, would be interested in seeing her Facebook messages. But back to the Civil Rights Commission. Her photos reveal she and other members held a private, closed-door meeting with Snyder before the official commission meeting was called to order. This would be a violation of the Open Meetings Act as it would appear a quorum of the Civil Rights Commission was present. I am also curious to know if there are any prohibitions against Tarver being a civil servant or political appointee of one division of the executive branch (secretary of state) and being a governor appointee of another division of the executive branch that is constitutionally prescribed (Department of Civil Rights). This would seem to be incompatible. Then there are Hatch Act (surely, the secretary of state receives federal money or the Department of Civil Rights receives federal money) violations with her running in partisan elections.
Okay, “Watcher,” I see your game (which is what I suspected with your first comment). We see your type around here pretty much every time there’s a state convention where at least one of the candidates for election brings baggage to the table. Hell, on the old site, convention lurkers could quite easily set up their own accounts and launch all sorts of spuriously-constructed mudslinging attacks from their keyboard blunderbusses.
Not biting, but quite happy you took the bait yourself.
You want to make a make a stink out of what Linda Tarver does or doesn’t on the government clock? Knock yourself out; by all means file all the FOIA paperwork your muckraking heart desires. Feel free to let us know what, if anything, you learn that’s at all useful. Assuming there’s an actual story there, one of us regulars will be happy to run with it. Until then, not interested.
Maybe Mrs. Tarver loses this election, and maybe she doesn’t. I’ve received a sizeable dossier on Mr. Jiles as a direct result of this opinion article, and it seems he’s got a bit of baggage himself. That, however, is another article for another day.
I left some comments about black racism on a thread recently defending Dave Agema to a black man named "Stacy". I include them here (and even direct them at Linda Lee Tarver) because somebody needs to state them openly:
1. Condemning Dave Agema on your part for passing along and pointing out the frank race discussions that should be had in this country contains the assumptions that whites are racist and the hatred and baggage taught to young blacks over the last 30-40 years or more. This is modern racism on the part of blacks. I sincerely hope that you aren't of the position that you have the right to criticize him for bringing up Allen West's concerns since you are black and Dave is not [but apparently, the letter she wrote, she is saying that]. I consider that the height of modern black racism. Dave (and I for that matter) are Americans with the rights of free speech, and we'll say what we darn well please about the racism of non-whites. People like us stood against racism when your race was put upon, and we'll stand against racism when your race puts-upon us or others. What makes you think that's any change in position at all? It's the Godly position. All racism is evil, and your race should more than know better.
Here is one of the greatest examples of the racism of your race today; that is the root problem here: Your race is racist today along with Hispanics, seeking more and more power because of and for the sake of it, and that's why nobody wants to talk about it.
Case in point: http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/01/17/desperate-racist-attention-addict-oprah-winfrey-tries-again-to-focus-the-cameras-on-herself/
2. Just look at what's going on around you (and today specifically, for that matter [written on 1/18/15]). And quite frankly, your comment demonstrates what I reference what men [and women] like you have been taught in your life. You seem to think for yourself on other matters, but have a mental block on doing so with this [race] issue. As Allen West might say, and CL Bryant says explicitly, you are caught on the Progressives mental plantation. Free yourself. (See Runaway Slave, The Documentary with CL Bryant; http://www.runawayslavemovie.com/).
'Nuff said!
P.S. Great job, as always, Kevin.