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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Evening Open Thread: Life in the Heartland(tm)

Sunday Evening Open Thread: Life in the Heartland(tm)

by Anne Laurie|  July 26, 20155:54 pm| 62 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Clown Shoes, Decline and Fall

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JADE HELM 15 These resistance fighters had to take time out from fighting Obamas takeover to do the nuptials! pic.twitter.com/7wWAxmwZwM

— philip harris (@pharris830) July 22, 2015

pic.twitter.com/ZdVYF6zEhv

— philip harris (@pharris830) July 26, 2015

I love that this is characterized as "not pulling punches" and not "horrifically offensive." http://t.co/EvNGZeOz1f

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) July 26, 2015

What can you say, except…

pic.twitter.com/gt2UQQSG8L

— miles reed (@milesjreed) July 22, 2015


***********
What’s on the agenda as we wrap up another summer weekend?

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Previous Post: « Long(ish) Read: “Making Peace With the Chaos: An Interview With Ta-Nehisi Coates”
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Reader Interactions

62Comments

  1. 1.

    Germy Shoemangler

    July 26, 2015 at 5:58 pm

    Driving in Plattsburgh NY today, saw a bumpersticker (actually it was a rear-window sticker) on a pickup truck: Hippie Killer

    There were a bunch of other stickers and symbols, but they were too tiny for me to decipher. But the one was enough.

  2. 2.

    muddy

    July 26, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    Bride has bigger gun than groom. How emasculating for him.

  3. 3.

    catclub

    July 26, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    From Washington Monthly:

    Witness the spectacle of Mike Huckabee this morning claiming that the negotiated deal with Iran would constitute President Obama marching “Israelis to the door of the oven.” Even by modern Republican standards that sort of rhetoric is a bridge too far. But it’s the sort of thing a Republican presidential aspirant has to say these days to get attention and support from the Republican base.

    It would be a bridge too far if he gets thrown out of the party for saying it. Or even is shamed into apologizing for it. Since that is not happening, it is actually just yet another bridge that they are willing to cross.

  4. 4.

    wasabi gasp

    July 26, 2015 at 6:04 pm

    That last tweet. It makes a point in favor to…what?

  5. 5.

    Germy Shoemangler

    July 26, 2015 at 6:05 pm

    Has anyone invented a strap-on gun yet? Worn around the waist, fired by a series of pelvic thrusts…

  6. 6.

    HinTN

    July 26, 2015 at 6:05 pm

    We want to put our pioneering days behind us!

  7. 7.

    Anabasis

    July 26, 2015 at 6:06 pm

    Indian life expectancy like quadrupled since Europeans introduced ‘medicine’ to North America. That last picture is not really accurate.

  8. 8.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    July 26, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: I see injuries in Duffman’s future. Oh yeahhhhh!

  9. 9.

    lamh36

    July 26, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    This fucker!

    @KentaviousPrime
    #happeningNow #M4BL protesters pepper sprayed in #Cleveland @mvmt4bl

    https://twitter.com/KentaviousPrime/status/625413808719306757

  10. 10.

    timmeh

    July 26, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    @wasabi gasp: that all conservative rhetoric is merely projection, that if they could, they would send extermination squads consisting of the poorest to conquer other lands, that if they could they would march Jew’s to the ovens, that if they could, they will buy Cadillacs and t-bones with government money they don’t deserve, etc.

  11. 11.

    Tree With Water

    July 26, 2015 at 6:13 pm

    Recent poll results concerning Trump led someone to surmise:

    “..Perhaps working in Mr. Trump’s favor is that twice as many Republican voters in both Iowa and New Hampshire said they’d prefer a GOP nominee who shares their positions on issues over one who has the best chance of retaking the White House for the party..”.

    That’s exactly what has already occurred in California; it’s why the Golden State nowadays votes blue.

    The story is posted at Washington Wire.com:
    http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/07/26/donald-trump-tops-gop-field-in-new-hampshire-second-in-iowa-poll/

  12. 12.

    redshirt

    July 26, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    I see a Bigfoot on the horizon….

  13. 13.

    ruemara

    July 26, 2015 at 6:24 pm

    @Anabasis: Oh sure. I mean, once you got over the slaughter, small pox blankets, starvation and rape, things were remarkably better.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2015 at 6:30 pm

    @Tree With Water:

    “..Perhaps working in Mr. Trump’s favor is that twice as many Republican voters in both Iowa and New Hampshire said they’d prefer a GOP nominee who shares their positions on issues over one who has the best chance of retaking the White House for the party..”.

    I would love it if Republican voters decided to choose ideological purity over winning elections.

    And yep, in California, the Republican Party has decided on a statewide level to become permanently irrelevant.

  15. 15.

    John Revolta

    July 26, 2015 at 6:31 pm

    @Anabasis: Ahahaha. You mean the one percent of them that are still around, right?

  16. 16.

    redshirt

    July 26, 2015 at 6:33 pm

    @John Revolta: It makes sense though. Kill off 99% of the population and the remaining 1% is bound to be of hardy stock…

  17. 17.

    Pogonip

    July 26, 2015 at 6:35 pm

    I have noticed that few readers have time to respond to the weekly shape-up report, so I’m going to drop it. I didn’t copyright it–if any reader wants to pick it up, please go ahead!

  18. 18.

    RSA

    July 26, 2015 at 6:43 pm

    I wonder if anyone in that wedding party would be able to describe the message they’re conveying, in words. Cuz I’m not getting it.

  19. 19.

    muddy

    July 26, 2015 at 6:47 pm

    @redshirt: Just trying to help those people achieve!

  20. 20.

    Anabasis

    July 26, 2015 at 6:51 pm

    I just don’t buy into the victimhood premise. Europeans spent a lot of money that they were under no moral obligation to spend trying to teach Native Americans to farm. When that didn’t work, out of compassion, they were given free food and a refrigerator to store the food in, and electricity to run the refrigerator. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.

  21. 21.

    raven

    July 26, 2015 at 6:56 pm

    @RSA: The message is “fuck you liberals”.

  22. 22.

    Honoré De Ballsack

    July 26, 2015 at 6:57 pm

    I just don’t buy into the victimhood premise. Europeans spent a lot of money that they were under no moral obligation to spend trying to teach Native Americans to farm..I guess no good deed goes unpunished.

    Go away, troll.

  23. 23.

    gogol's wife

    July 26, 2015 at 7:01 pm

    @Honoré De Ballsack:

    Based on that last comment, I think maybe it’s a spoof.

  24. 24.

    RSA

    July 26, 2015 at 7:02 pm

    @raven:

    The message is “fuck you liberals”.

    Thanks, that makes sense. It’s pathetic, and they don’t realize it’s pathetic, but yeah.

  25. 25.

    Honoré De Ballsack

    July 26, 2015 at 7:02 pm

    @gogol’s wife: Yeah, probably.

  26. 26.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 26, 2015 at 7:04 pm

    Love that last gif. So true. Would have added “kidnappers” to the list.

    Yet, Trump is #1 for Republicans now. It will be interesting to see when he implodes and if he runs as a third party candidate.

  27. 27.

    Sasha Goldberg

    July 26, 2015 at 7:06 pm

    Maybe it’s the way the picture was taken but it looks to me like the two leftmost bridesmaids have their guns pointed at the rest of the wedding party.

  28. 28.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 26, 2015 at 7:08 pm

    @Anabasis: Electric refrigerators in the 18th Century? Do tell.

  29. 29.

    Germy Shoemangler

    July 26, 2015 at 7:08 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: A third party for Trump. The Poker party, or Inside Straight.

    High Roller Party

    Double or Nothing Party

    And instead of a veep, he can have a Pit Manager.

  30. 30.

    Germy Shoemangler

    July 26, 2015 at 7:09 pm

    @Sasha Goldberg: I understand the message of the guns (“We want to kill”) but what is it with the sunglasses? What do they signify? “We don’t want you seeing our eyes”?

  31. 31.

    Liberal With Attitude

    July 26, 2015 at 7:11 pm

    @Anabasis:

    Indian life expectancy like quadrupled since Europeans introduced ‘medicine’ to North America. That last picture is not really accurate.

    And the bastards aren’t even grateful!

    [yeah, I’m thinking spoof, but Poe’s Law has never been disproven yet]

  32. 32.

    muddy

    July 26, 2015 at 7:13 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: Makes them look super badass. It does! It does! Don’t laugh about it!

  33. 33.

    Liberal With Attitude

    July 26, 2015 at 7:13 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler:
    Nah, the shades are doing the same purpose as the guns- a signifier of their status and coolness, a trinket, a totem.
    You could remove the firing pin and fill the gun barrels with epoxy and they would still carry them around, to the same effect.

  34. 34.

    GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)

    July 26, 2015 at 7:15 pm

    Done with a long four days of work. Driving from MN to CO tomorrow. I hope to summit 7 14k foot peaks in 2 days.

  35. 35.

    muddy

    July 26, 2015 at 7:15 pm

    @Liberal With Attitude: Shotgun on the right may be plugged with turf as it is. Fingers crossed.

  36. 36.

    Germy Shoemangler

    July 26, 2015 at 7:20 pm

    In the above photo, is that Dylann Roof on the front left of the group?

  37. 37.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    July 26, 2015 at 7:26 pm

    @GHayduke (formerly lojasmo): Wow.

  38. 38.

    muddy

    July 26, 2015 at 7:26 pm

    Since I’m out of Cointreau, would it be gross to put orange juice in a margarita? Of course it would no longer be a margarita, I have been making it with sriracha salt on the rim recently, that was a good innovation.

  39. 39.

    Another Holocene Human

    July 26, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: Saw a shitty pickup today with a cab window sticker “Fear This” over the confederate battle flag and if that wasn’t enough, there were two additional dixie swastika decals on either side to underline the point.

    I hope he wraps that pickup around a tree. Ass.

  40. 40.

    Another Holocene Human

    July 26, 2015 at 7:33 pm

    @muddy: I remember when the phallic symbol we used to obsess about at that age was dildos. Okay, maybe it was just the members of the campus GLBT club and the sexuality peer education club. Dildos like guns ain’t cheap and one year shit got real and dildos which were supposed to be used for sexual health education got stolen. Dun dun dun.

  41. 41.

    Germy Shoemangler

    July 26, 2015 at 7:35 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: Nothing I hate more than a bumper sticker with “attitude” in front of me when I’m just trying to reach my destination.

    I’m not particularly fond of the tea party, but it’d never occur to me to put a “tea partier killer” sticker on my car.

    I must say I haven’t seen any “testicles” hanging from pickup trucks in a long time. Is that fad finally over?

  42. 42.

    Another Holocene Human

    July 26, 2015 at 7:37 pm

    @redshirt: Of course it’s total lie-sauce, just look up Native American/Alaska Native/Hawaii Native life expectancies. Look at First Nations life expectancies in Canada too, just for funzies. Indian life expectancies and health outcomes in the US are TERRIBLE and that is BY DESIGN.

  43. 43.

    Another Holocene Human

    July 26, 2015 at 7:38 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: I remember that fucking “terrorist hunting license” sticker. Might as well post “Psycho On Board”.

  44. 44.

    Germy Shoemangler

    July 26, 2015 at 7:39 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: I saw one of those recently.

    I’m at the point where whenever a contractor visits my house, I check his truck. If I see any bullshit stickers like that, his job is over.

    I’m not doing business with those assholes. They’re not getting my money.

  45. 45.

    tybee

    July 26, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    @Anabasis:

    yeah, that’s why there are so many native americans left.

    idiot.

    hopefully just a troll. probably a trump supporter.

  46. 46.

    muddy

    July 26, 2015 at 7:43 pm

    @Another Holocene Human: Did you see about the dildos in Portland?

  47. 47.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 26, 2015 at 7:44 pm

    What is it with Faux Noise and embarrassing misspellings? Don’t they have spell checkers? I mean, even FYWP fixed my “embarassing” to “embarrassing”, and that’s not nearly as bad as eductaion or whatever the hell they warped it to.

  48. 48.

    muddy

    July 26, 2015 at 7:47 pm

    @Germy Shoemangler: I worked with a guy last year who had it on his truck, and his friends painted it bright blue. I was saying at lunch about how I saw this truck with the blue balls, had never seen the truck nuts before etc, I was wondering if they came in lots of colors, but these didn’t match the truck so it was stupid. Everyone started laughing and it turned out to be this guy who was sitting right there.

    He was too stubborn to take them off once painted, so instead he drove around with everyone in the county laughing at him. Sure showed them.

  49. 49.

    PIGL

    July 26, 2015 at 7:50 pm

    @Anabasis: But you would be a Republican, by the sound of it, and that means you suffer from a constellation of especially pernicious and highly refractory personality disorders. It also makes you either a credulous halfwit and/or a witting purveyor of malicious falsehoods.

    Let me put another way. You are either a vicious prick yourself, or are a compulsive gobbler of the biggest, most vicious prick you can identify that has the appropriate tribal markings.

    What you might call “scum”.

  50. 50.

    Another Holocene Human

    July 26, 2015 at 7:51 pm

    @lamh36: Holy crap!

    Just an observation, it seems like hardly any white people ever join in these protests. With Ferguson there were some big protests in STL proper with a lot of white people, I think they were already loosely organized around some issues there. And there was that mass protest in NYC. But mostly it’s very young Black men and women out there. Where are all the brogressive twitter “allies”? The revolution is here, you’re missing the boat.

  51. 51.

    Another Holocene Human

    July 26, 2015 at 8:06 pm

    @muddy: Yeah, that was pretty fucking win.

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2015 at 8:10 pm

    @gogol’s wife:
    Troll.
    Posted here before. Same routine BS.

  53. 53.

    Betty Cracker

    July 26, 2015 at 8:28 pm

    @muddy: I’ve done that before when I ran out of Cointreau. I thought it worked out just fine.

  54. 54.

    Jon Gallagher

    July 26, 2015 at 8:31 pm

    It may be the foreshortening of 2d, but I count at least 2 weapons pointed at people’s heads-admittedly this would not take out a functioning organ- and the aforementioned grass plugged shotgun (Someone yell “Squirrel!” and there goes the wedding party).

    Along with @muddy, my favorite is the fact that I think the bride is wielding a sniper rifle (Barrett?, can’t tell), and the Groom has a BB gun. Um, dude. And, also, too, wadda ya wanna bet the photographer said “Pretend Obama’s here!”?

  55. 55.

    Tree With Water

    July 26, 2015 at 9:16 pm

    “After Hatch spoke, Cruz rose to defend himself for making the accusation that McConnell had lied when he denied striking a deal to allow a vote to revive the federal Export-Import Bank…….He said he agreed with Hatch’s calls for civility but declared: “Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility.” [Manchester Guardian.com]

    Former Detroit Lions football player Alex Karras once said it was music to his ears when, late in his career, he overheard the arch rival Green Bay Packers bickering among themselves. For most of his career, they had played like the storied, well oiled machine that Vince Lombardi brilliantly crafted. At the end of most games, their uniforms would be spotless and they would have quietly, almost politely, won the game by three or four touchdowns. Towards the end, though, they started getting beat, and began bellyaching about it on the field of play..

    The Guardian article went on to falsely state: “The responses to it were just as remarkable, as senior Republicans united to defend an institution they revere and take down a junior colleague of their own party who has gone from being an occasional nuisance to being a threat to the Senate’s very ability to function with order”.

    Which is bullshit, of core. The only thing those bastards revere is the almighty dollar.

  56. 56.

    Tree With Water

    July 26, 2015 at 9:28 pm

    Now here’s something you only see every 60 years or so:

    http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/blue-jays-awful-baserunning-turns-grounder-into-triple-1720278375#_ga=1.4562549.751126897.1419316278

  57. 57.

    PurpleGirl

    July 26, 2015 at 9:37 pm

    @Anabasis: Please cite a source; otherwise then please explain how the trail of tears and the giving the Native Americans the blankets of soldiers who died of smallpox and other dieases lengthened Native American lives.

    ETA: I also don’t think the white medicine of periods before the 1900s was really all that advanced, or freely given to Native Americans. (I also don’t think it was that freely given in 1900s either.)

  58. 58.

    Tree With Water

    July 26, 2015 at 9:52 pm

    @PurpleGirl: There are [what were then] state of the art surgical tools on display at the Antietam Battlefield Museum, that are today found in near every toolbox or garage in the country.

  59. 59.

    Anne Laurie

    July 26, 2015 at 10:06 pm

    @Sasha Goldberg:

    Maybe it’s the way the picture was taken but it looks to me like the two leftmost bridesmaids have their guns pointed at the rest of the wedding party.

    Looks like the very young ‘junior bridesmaid’ at the far end (I’m guessing someone’s stepsister, or possibly daughter from a teenage relationship) had to settle for a loaner pistol. The humiliation is such that she’s definitely considering opening fire on the whole party…

  60. 60.

    qwerty42

    July 26, 2015 at 10:58 pm

    On Saturdays, the radio goes off at 6 AM as usual, but I sleep (sorta) through it. Instead of Morning Edition, it is Deutsche Welle’s Europe Today. The Greek crisis came up and DW must not be practicing message discipline with the government line, because the correspondent blasted the deal. Today, in the NYT Joseph Stiglitz writes this. Nothing that Paul Krugman hasn’t written already, but even bleaker. And the editorial.
    I think the Europeans have papered over the problem (poorly), and the consequences will be serious. The other part of the problem is there is no clear way to resolve it, because the issue was never addressed in the formation.

  61. 61.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2015 at 11:25 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    Even the BBC is not immune to such errors. A story blurb on their Entertainment & Arts page:

    Tom Cruise trains his cast do to their own stunts

  62. 62.

    jomike

    July 26, 2015 at 11:39 pm

    No, no, no! In a proper redneck wedding the shotguns are white and the glowing bride is sporting a baby bump.

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