WHITE SUPREMACISTS = white people who hold the belief that their race is superior to other races and that therefore they should dominant other races. They oppose people of color as well as religions such as Jews, Muslims and Catholics. White supremacists do not ordinarily support an American president or candidate, but they do support president #45, although why they do is open to speculation.
DOUBLEDOWN = verb; to strengthen an effort, an investment or a strategy. (Also used in the card game blackjack, meaning to double a bet after seeing your initial hand of cards. If you do that, you can only draw only one more card.) #45 doubled down in his repeated criticism of the alt-lefters after the Charlottesville demonstration.
ALT LEFT = Alt Left is short for alternative left. This group of people are left-wing and vehemently anti-racist, anti-fascist and strongly politically correct. #45 verbally attacked the Alt Left’s participation in the Charlottesville demonstration and accused them of inciting violence against the white supremacists.
ALT RIGHT = Alt Right is short for alternative right. This group of people is far-right and believe in white supremacy. It is said that the term disguises racism, anti-Semitism, antifeminism, antiziganism, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, Islam phobia, and neo-Nazism. One of the reasons that #45 was highly criticized after the Charlottesville demonstrations was because he repeatedly questioned the blame of the alt left “that came charging at us,” implying that, at the very least, he sympathized with the alt right.
ANTIFA = Antifa is short for anti-fascists. This is a general term used to define a group of American people who hold leftist political beliefs, but do not conform to the Democratic Party platform. They don’t have an official headquarters or leader, but often do hold regular meetings. # 45 criticized the fact that ANTIFA was present and active in Charlottesville, Virginia as counter-protesters against the demonstration of white supremacists. (headquarters=operational center)
The word cliffhanger comes from cliffs. Duh. Cliffs are vertical, or nearly vertical, rocks that have been formed by erosion and weathering. There are lots of famous cliffs, but the first ones that come to my mind are the White Cliffs of Dover, probably because there was a popular World War II song about them that was part of my childhood, and also because they are on the historical English coastline.
When one thinks of cliffhangers, England and its gothic novels always come to mind. Cliffhangers are the kind of story, book or movie that uses suspense either at the end of an episode or a scene. A good example was the way the final episode of Game of Thrones, season 5, was done. Jon Snow was dead. Or was he? Those of us who sweated it out until season 6 was aired were never really sure. The writers used old-fashioned melodrama, suspense and uncertainty, and the audience was left as if hanging from a cliff in a state of tension and apprehension. And that’s a true cliffhanger.
This part of the blog will not be able to offer any nail-biting cliffhangers, but it will have classes in series, and I hope they will be interesting enough that you will want to come back and read what happens next, even if you don’t lose sleep anticipating the next chapter. Enjoy.
