How Nazi Germany happened and other random thoughts

How did hate become manifest? I don’t wonder anymore.

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An actor in black boots stands in front of the word ‘Nazis’ that was written on the pavement as part of an anti-rightist demonstration in 1998 to remember the 60th anniversary of the Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish pogrome in Nazi Germany Nov. 9, 1938, in

An actor in black boots stands in front of the word ‘Nazis’ that was written on the pavement as part of an anti-rightist demonstration in 1998 to remember the 60th anniversary of the Kristallnacht, the anti-Jewish pogrome in Nazi Germany Nov. 9, 1938, in Erfurt, eastern Germany.

AP Photo/Jens Meyer

Random thoughts: I used to wonder how Nazi Germany happened, how hate became manifest in full insidious torture and murder and depravity against a people in the name of nationalism. How decent people could become complicit. How neighbor could rise up against neighbor, or turn a deaf ear or blind eye to human atrocities, or drink the Kool-Aid of hate and racism.

Dear America, I don’t wonder anymore.

Just random thoughts. Another Mass Shooting. Not by ISIS. Not by al-Qaida. Not by MS-13. But by AYWMs inspired by HMIA. That’s Angry Young White Males inspired by Hate Made In America and fomented by DJT (Donald J. Trump).

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If it were a black male suspect in the El Paso, Texas massacre, or a Muslim or Mexican, Trump would have plenty to say. But he is mostly mum — crickets on white nationalist hate erupting in the form of domestic terrorism. The root is hate and evil. Just call a spade a spade. Random thoughts…

Young unarmed black males get shot down. Young heavily armed white males who commit mass shootings get taken alive. To Burger King. Facts. Not fiction.

Random thoughts.

To be a favored son is to be a hated son. Sometimes they just can’t stand to see you coming. But God ...

My response to, “Send them back!”: Pay Us Back! For nearly 250 years of free labor, torture and hell, pay us back!

Random thoughts.

Getting rid of Police Supt. Eddie Johnson is like giving an oil change to an old jalopy that needs scrapping. It’s the system, duh, not the superintendent. Police alone can’t solve the problem of homicide and shootings in this city. Might do better firing those bad preachers and politicians who have failed or sold out their communities. And what about the parents?

Just random thoughts …

Free Rod Blagojevich!

Home Run Inn is still the best pizza in Chicago. Da Cubs will win the World Series this year. And Da Bears will win the Super Bowl. (If not this year, then da next.)

Winter is coming. And like the seasons, Donald Trump too will eventually pass. But the damage he has done will last for generations.

Children are a blessing. But grandchildren are divine. And riding a motorcycle with the sun in my face and wind at my back is the next best thing to watching the morning sun rising golden over a rippling blue lake.

You don’t need a lot of money to be a great father. It isn’t our presents but our presence. In fact, you don’t have to live in the home to be a great dad. In a perfect world maybe. But life happens.

Fathers who live apart from our children have to make an extra effort. Our love and presence. They are the greatest gifts I could ever have given to my children, more precious than gold. Random thoughts …

Man, I miss Obama. Man, I miss my mama. I miss the days of not having to warm up before my workouts, lol.

I miss the music of the ice-cream truck rolling down my block on a hot summer day. I miss playing strike ‘em out on a vacant lot and the summer fire hydrant spray. Random thoughts.

A shout out in memory of Dr. Carl Bell, Chicago native son and noted psychiatrist who I turned to many times over the last more than two decades when writing about the scourge of violence and homicide.

Dr. Bell was a brilliant man who cared deeply about the black community and dedicated his life to healing. He died Aug 2. He was 71. Rest in heaven, dear brother.

Email: Author@johnwfountain.com

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