And some signs of a growing sense of change
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Today's Tweet
They're not making demands for some unattainable absolute safety - they want nothing more than to stop having to worry quite so much about being shot to pieces.
They want to be free.
"I'm supposed to be recovering ... and I can't do that if these things are still going to be happening."— CNN (@CNN) March 23, 2018
Using cell phones, six Parkland survivors chronicled their lives in the weeks after the shooting. Their stories tonight, 9p ET on CNN #ParklandDiaries https://t.co/FHVLh5RY5K pic.twitter.com/7NBh50lY3Z
ProLeft Podcast
It takes a good billionaire with an open check book to stop a bad billionaire with an open check book.
And get your swag on:
Friday, March 23, 2018
Today's Sweeping Generalization
Republicans are all crooked.
Sorry not sorry.
Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Dealing a setback to Gov. Scott Walker and other Republicans, a judge ruled Thursday the governor must call special elections to fill two vacant seats in the Legislature.
Walker declined to call those elections after two GOP lawmakers stepped down to join his administration in December.
His plan would have left the seats vacant for more than a year. Voters in those areas took him to court with the help of a group headed by Eric Holder, the first attorney general under Democratic President Barack Obama.
No, of course not all of them - just the ones who're in office now.
And the ones running for office.
And their donors.
And their Think Tanks
And their staffers.
And their voters.
Cuz y'know what? Seems like the decent folk have left the GOP.
I think most Americans are fundamentally good people, so I think what's left of the GOP is whatever you get when you distill a political party down to its concentrated, extract form.
In this case, I think we can call it something like Essence of Asshole...
... or Eau DePlorable maybe.
As the Press Poodles keep insisting on being amazed at 45*'s popularity among Republicans, a couple of things may have popped up your brain.
1. Fewer Americans self-identify as Republican almost every day.
2. As the "GOP Cohort" shrinks, the percentages of that cohort who still support 45* almost have to hold steady or increase. Which means on the other side of that ledger, the "Not GOP Cohort" will increase, which accounts for a corresponding steadiness or decrease in percentages on that side.
I suck at math; and statistics flummox me to the point where I fear I'm about to have a stroke. So c'mon, guys.
Anyway, if we're going to talk about trends at all, then we have to consider the number of Shitty Things A Political Party Will Do To Stay In Power - and we get a pretty lopsided pie chart.
What we don't get is "Both Sides" and "Yeah but the Democrats".
Reshuffle
Chris Smith, Vanity Fair's Hive:
Representing President Donald Trump is not exactly a lawyer’s dream job. True, there are high stakes and lots of media attention. The downsides, though, include a slippery client who barely listens to your advice and who might not pay your bill. That combination has forced Don McGahn, Ty Cobb, and John Dowd to make some unusual strategic choices in trying to fend off Robert Mueller. The most recent was sending the special counsel a written summary of the White House version of key events in the Russia saga. The gambit is intended to get Mueller to narrow the range of a possible Trump interview. And it’s almost certainly doomed.
“I think it’s the nuttiest thing I’ve ever heard,” says Solomon Wisenberg, the former federal prosecutor who elicited the damning “It depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is” answer from President Bill Clinton during grand-jury testimony for the Monica Lewinsky investigation. “I’ve never heard of defense attorneys doing that. If you’re Mueller, it’s highly unlikely you accept what somebody’s lawyer said, when that somebody is a subject, at the least, of your investigation. It’s just so weird. It’s one thing to limit the amount of time, or the location. But when people are interviewed in a criminal investigation, they don’t get to narrow the topic.”
Enter Joe diGenova.
The assertion is that even though the slam on Andy McCabe has nothing to do with an "anti-Trump bias", diGenova says that's what he should be held responsible for.
So again, "never mind the facts - listen to what I'm telling you"
This isn't even within the parameters of Spin. This is fairly typical of DumFux News Myth-Making which allows them to take whatever license they want to take in order to fit the facts to a favorable narrative.
"McCabe is guilty of this thing here, and even though he's not guilty of the thing I need him to be guilty of, I'm going to say he's guilty of this other thing so I can pin something on him that serves my purpose. After all, what's the difference? Guilty is guilty."
DumFux News Logic String:
If, A = B
and B = Flapjacks
and Flapjacks = Q
and J = Unicorns
Then, Deep State!
DiGenova's been all over DumFux News, and so when 45* thought he needed another lawyer, of course he picked a TV personality.
Today's Tweet
Now there's a whole new meaning for "Sled Dog".
This is the best thing you'll see all day. 😍🐕— Chris Strider (@stridinstrider) January 4, 2018
This Dog figures out how to carry his sled up the hill in order to sled for hours & hours & hours. #snow #sledding #dogs #blizzard2018 #cyclonebomb #philly #dog pic.twitter.com/7qhZ3Km9jw
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Sam Bee
"...Trump combined two of his favorite things - firing people, and screwing them out of their money. If Andrew McCabe were a porn star, Trump would've scored a hat trick."
Samantha Bee - Full Frontal:
And Women's History Month:
A Profile
Some good stuff from Luke O'Brien at The Atlantic:
The calls marked the start of a months-long campaign of harassment orchestrated by Andrew Anglin, the publisher of the world’s biggest neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer. He claimed that Gersh was trying to “extort” a property sale from Sherry Spencer, whose son, Richard Spencer, was another prominent white nationalist and the face of the so-called alt-right movement.
The Spencers had long-standing ties to Whitefish, and Richard had been based there for years. But he gained international notoriety just after the 2016 election for giving a speech in Washington, D.C., in which he declared “Hail Trump!,” prompting Nazi salutes from his audience. In response, some Whitefish residents considered protesting in front of a commercial building Sherry owned in town. According to Gersh, Sherry sought her advice, and Gersh suggested that she sell the property, make a donation to charity, and denounce her son’s white-nationalist views. But Sherry claimed that Gersh had issued “terrible threats,” and she wrote a post on Medium on December 15 accusing her of an attempted shakedown. (Sherry Spencer did not respond to a request for comment.)
Anglin is an ideological descendant of men such as George Lincoln Rockwell, who created the American Nazi Party in the late 1950s, and William Luther Pierce, who founded the National Alliance, a powerful white-nationalist group, in the 1970s. Anglin admires these predecessors, who saw themselves as revolutionaries at the vanguard of a movement to take back the country. He dreams of a violent insurrection.
But where Rockwell and Pierce relied on pamphlets, the radio, newsletters, and in-person organizing to advance their aims, Anglin has the internet. His reach is exponentially greater, his ability to connect with like-minded young men unprecedented.
He also arrived at a more fortuitous moment. Anglin and his ilk like to talk about the Overton Window, a term that describes the range of acceptable discourse in society. They’d been tugging at that window for years only to watch, with surprise and delight, as it flew wide open during Donald Trump’s candidacy. Suddenly it was okay to talk about banning Muslims or to cast Mexican immigrants as criminals and parasites—which meant Anglin’s even-more-extreme views weren’t as far outside the mainstream as they once had been. Anglin is the alt-right’s most accomplished propagandist, and his writing taps into some of the same anxieties and resentments that helped carry Trump to the presidency—chiefly a perceived loss of status among white men.
 |
| Andrew Anglin |
-and -
But where Rockwell and Pierce relied on pamphlets, the radio, newsletters, and in-person organizing to advance their aims, Anglin has the internet. His reach is exponentially greater, his ability to connect with like-minded young men unprecedented.
He also arrived at a more fortuitous moment. Anglin and his ilk like to talk about the Overton Window, a term that describes the range of acceptable discourse in society. They’d been tugging at that window for years only to watch, with surprise and delight, as it flew wide open during Donald Trump’s candidacy. Suddenly it was okay to talk about banning Muslims or to cast Mexican immigrants as criminals and parasites—which meant Anglin’s even-more-extreme views weren’t as far outside the mainstream as they once had been. Anglin is the alt-right’s most accomplished propagandist, and his writing taps into some of the same anxieties and resentments that helped carry Trump to the presidency—chiefly a perceived loss of status among white men.
If there's a Saving Grace here, it's the fact that these assholes talk big and deliver little.
Yes, I know, being inspired to kill somebody with a car or with a bomb or whatever is, by definition, a big thing.
What I'm saying is that these guys like to whip each other into a rich creamy lather, but so far, they've been way short when it comes to being able to deliver on their threats.
The anonymity of the intertoobz is a lot like having Invisibility as your super power. You can "do" practically anything with near-perfect impunity in cyberspace. But when it's time to translate that video gamer shit into meatspace action, they seem reluctant to show up.
So far, it's just been a few crazies - which I think is pretty much the point. Anglin wants to motivate. He wants to spur others into taking the risks - funny how the Anglins and the Zawahris of the world say it's everybody's sacred duty to sacrifice for the noble cause, but they have important shit to do, so they'll have to stay back here in the rear with the gear.
Anyway, these worm cocks are plenty dangerous, but so far, their numbers are low when it comes to taking action - nowhere near the level needed for critical mass.
BTW - Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed what seems to be the usual pattern of the projection of self-loathing with these jagoffs?
Today's Eternal Sadness
The two officers were responding to a 911 call about a man breaking vehicle windows when they encountered, then killed, Clark, an unarmed black man.
Two things get stuck in my mind. I guess the main thing is this:
Why are the cops so afraid that everybody has a gun?
But the second big thing in my mind is: Why do the Press Poodles never ask that question at the news conference as the authorities try to explain that killing an unarmed citizen was somehow the only viable option at the time?
And a third one comes to mind as well - why don't the cops do some more to support initiatives that might make it less likely that they'll have to kill somebody with their guns, by making it less likely that someone will kill them with a gun?
Genius is not required to figure out that gun violence has something to do with guns.
Without cars, nobody dies in a car crash
Without airplanes, nobody dies in a plane crash
Nobody gets killed by hand-thrown bullets
Theocrats Will Out
The Taliban never sleeps.
The Hill:
Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill requiring that public schools in the state put up the motto "In God We Trust."
The legislation, which will go to Gov. Bill Haslam (R), passed the state House earlier this week, USA Today reported.
"Our national motto is on our money. It's on our license plates. It's part of our national anthem," said state Rep. Susan Lynn (R), who sponsored the legislation.
Fine by me, fellas. When do we start the drive to add "All Hail Baphomet"?
And "Praise Quetzalcoatl"?
And "Zalmoxis Makes You Free"?
And "May You Be Forever Touched By His Noodley Appendage"?
Seriously - you knuckleheads got nothing better to do?
Taste Sauce, from which all spices flow;
Drink up, ye Pirates here below;
Until the Kansas School Board calls;
Praise Noodles, Sauce, and Meaty Balls.
R'Amen.
The Hill:
Tennessee lawmakers have passed a bill requiring that public schools in the state put up the motto "In God We Trust."
The legislation, which will go to Gov. Bill Haslam (R), passed the state House earlier this week, USA Today reported.
"Our national motto is on our money. It's on our license plates. It's part of our national anthem," said state Rep. Susan Lynn (R), who sponsored the legislation.
Fine by me, fellas. When do we start the drive to add "All Hail Baphomet"?
And "Praise Quetzalcoatl"?
And "Zalmoxis Makes You Free"?
And "May You Be Forever Touched By His Noodley Appendage"?
Seriously - you knuckleheads got nothing better to do?
Let us now rise, and sing The Common Pastology.
Taste Sauce, from which all spices flow;
Drink up, ye Pirates here below;
Until the Kansas School Board calls;
Praise Noodles, Sauce, and Meaty Balls.
R'Amen.
Today's Tweet
Nobody better'n Tengrain at Mock Paper Scissors.
DO NOT CONGRATULATE-gate https://t.co/0M9jouSJLa pic.twitter.com/LifrnMOw2P— You're The Puppet Tengrain (@Tengrain) March 21, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Not Even Two Years Ago
10 March 2018
To the students of Parkland —
We wanted to let you know how inspired we have been by the resilience, resolve and solidarity that you have all shown in the wake of unspeakable tragedy.
Not only have you supported and comforted each other, but you’ve helped awaken the conscience of the nation, and challenged decision-makers to make the safety of our children the country’s top priority.
Throughout our history, young people like you have led the way in making America better. There may be setbacks; you may sometimes feel like progress is too slow in coming. But we have no doubt you are going to make an enormous difference in the days and years to come, and we will be there for you.
Barack Obama Michelle Obama
I miss the fuck outa those two.
The Great Divide
Basically, there're two kinds of people, so we generally find them on opposite sides of the "political divide", and it ends up like this:
Side 1:
I've suffered
I don't think anyone else should have to suffer
I'll try to do the things that can help people avoid all that suffering
Side 2:
I've suffered
Others should suffer as well
I'll do what needs to be done to make sure they all suffer
Both sides my ass.
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