A local police chief in Arkansas has resigned after posts he allegedly wrote on the social media platform Parler threatening violence against “Marxist Democrats” and disparaging transgender people came to light.
A user on the conservative-leaning Facebook-like platform with a profile bearing the name and picture of Lang Holland, the former Chief of Police of Marshall, Ark., posted multiple derogatory posts about Democrats, transgender people, and supporters of Black Lives Matter.
One post told people when they saw a “Marxist Democrat” in public, they should “get in their face,” “throw water on them at restaurants,” and “push them off sidewalks.”
“Never let them forget they are traitors and have no right to live in this Republic after what they have done,” the post reads.
Politically-rooted confrontations are nothing new: many Republicans expressed outrages after U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) encouraged Democratic and liberal activists to engage in similar confrontations with Trump administration officials in an effort to “shame” them for their more controversial policies.
But the Parler posts allegedly written by the chief went further, threatening: “Death to all Marxist Democrats. Take no prisoners, leave no survivors!”
The user opined in other posts that if supporters of Black Lives Matter or Antifa tried to intimidate someone while voting, they should be shot in the face, reports Little Rock-based ABC affiliate KATV.
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the user thought to be Holland also shared an illustration of former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others wearing orange prison-style jumpsuits, saying: “I pray all those in that picture hang on the gallows and are drawn and quartered!!!! Anything less is not acceptable.”
He also posted that transgender people should have no rights, calling them “mentally defective” and “perverted freaks.”
The posts in question began circulating on Facebook and Twitter Friday evening. Another Parler account was created on Friday with the username “Chieflangholland.” That user claimed to be “the real chief,” stating the other account is fake and did not represent things he stood for as a “protector of all citizens.”
Both accounts were taken down on Saturday, as was the police department’s Facebook page.
Marshall Mayor Kevin Elliott said he was surprised to learn that Holland had posted the controversial comments, saying that Holland has done an “excellent” job as chief prior to the incident.
“I called in the Arkansas Municipal League [and] my attorneys,” Elliott told The Guardian. “I got some advice on the steps I need to take and the proper direction I need to go. I called Mr Holland in, and he resigned as police chief.”
Elliott also condemned the content of the posts, saying they do not reflect the city’s positions.
“The Marshall community does not in any way support or condone bullying or threats of violence to anyone of any political persuasion,” Elliott said in the statement posted to Facebook Saturday afternoon. “We are a welcoming community that is humbly working to build a bright future for ALL our citizens.”
A video shows a Burger King manager -- who also owns the franchise -- ordering an irate female customer to leave after she tried to get an employee disciplined for allegedly misgendering her, despite the fact that she had repeatedly misgendered the worker first.
It’s unclear when the video was recorded, but it has been circulating widely in recent days.
The video, filmed from the customer’s point of view, opens with her at a Kansas Burger King demanding to speak with the manager. A male employee goes to get the manager, prompting the customer to demand the manager’s full name. The employee tells her he doesn’t know the manager’s last name.
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), 213 Democratic U.S. representatives, as well as Delegates Stacey Plaskett (Virgin Islands), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), and Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández (Puerto Rico), are demanding that Johnson rebuke Republican lawmakers for using "demonizing and dehumanizing" language when speaking about the transgender community.
"We write to you to strongly condemn the rise in anti-transgender rhetoric, including from members of Congress, and to urge you to ensure members of Congress are following rules of decorum and not using their platforms to demonize and scapegoat any marginalized community, including the transgender community," the Democrats' letter reads.
Lucien Bates, a transgender man, says security guards threatened to arrest him after he used the women’s restroom at a Round1 arcade inside the North Riverside Park Mall in suburban Chicago. Bates, an Indiana resident, was visiting the venue on September 28 with his fiancé and a friend to play Dance Dance Revolution.
Bates, who presents as alt-masculine with facial hair and piercings, had just arrived at the arcade when he needed to use the restroom. He chose the women’s restroom, a decision he often makes in public because he feels safer there and is less likely to be harassed.
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A local police chief in Arkansas has resigned after posts he allegedly wrote on the social media platform Parler threatening violence against “Marxist Democrats” and disparaging transgender people came to light.
A user on the conservative-leaning Facebook-like platform with a profile bearing the name and picture of Lang Holland, the former Chief of Police of Marshall, Ark., posted multiple derogatory posts about Democrats, transgender people, and supporters of Black Lives Matter.
One post told people when they saw a “Marxist Democrat” in public, they should “get in their face,” “throw water on them at restaurants,” and “push them off sidewalks.”
“Never let them forget they are traitors and have no right to live in this Republic after what they have done,” the post reads.
Politically-rooted confrontations are nothing new: many Republicans expressed outrages after U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) encouraged Democratic and liberal activists to engage in similar confrontations with Trump administration officials in an effort to “shame” them for their more controversial policies.
But the Parler posts allegedly written by the chief went further, threatening: “Death to all Marxist Democrats. Take no prisoners, leave no survivors!”
The user opined in other posts that if supporters of Black Lives Matter or Antifa tried to intimidate someone while voting, they should be shot in the face, reports Little Rock-based ABC affiliate KATV.
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the user thought to be Holland also shared an illustration of former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others wearing orange prison-style jumpsuits, saying: “I pray all those in that picture hang on the gallows and are drawn and quartered!!!! Anything less is not acceptable.”
He also posted that transgender people should have no rights, calling them “mentally defective” and “perverted freaks.”
The posts in question began circulating on Facebook and Twitter Friday evening. Another Parler account was created on Friday with the username “Chieflangholland.” That user claimed to be “the real chief,” stating the other account is fake and did not represent things he stood for as a “protector of all citizens.”
See also: Indiana city councilman apologizes for comments attacking LGBTQ people and Black Lives Matter
Both accounts were taken down on Saturday, as was the police department’s Facebook page.
Marshall Mayor Kevin Elliott said he was surprised to learn that Holland had posted the controversial comments, saying that Holland has done an “excellent” job as chief prior to the incident.
“I called in the Arkansas Municipal League [and] my attorneys,” Elliott told The Guardian. “I got some advice on the steps I need to take and the proper direction I need to go. I called Mr Holland in, and he resigned as police chief.”
Elliott also condemned the content of the posts, saying they do not reflect the city’s positions.
“The Marshall community does not in any way support or condone bullying or threats of violence to anyone of any political persuasion,” Elliott said in the statement posted to Facebook Saturday afternoon. “We are a welcoming community that is humbly working to build a bright future for ALL our citizens.”
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