I like to try to keep an eye on what’s going on in the world of right-wing media and blogs, but I find reading Fox, let alone, Breitbart, just too soul-crushing to do on a regular basis. I read alicublog and I’ve started following Will Sommer on twitter (he’s the guy who had all the great pictures of the Pizzagate rally). Sommer also has an excellent newsletter.
What do you guys read to keep up with the wingnutosphere?
Major Major Major Major
Balloon-Juice.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
It used to be my friend’s FB timeline, but she’s no longer my friend.
Mike J
I have a source inside.
scuffletuffle
@Major Major Major Major: ditto
kindness
I don’t. Can’t wrap my mind around theirs. Read RedState for a little but stopped because they were so blazingly stupid.
EBT
gog.com has a pretty wingnutty user base.
debit
I don’t. And thank all the powers that be that my dad and I have an unspoken agreement to not talk politics, ever.
WereBear
Wonkette, and here, and the Professional Left podcast.
Major Major Major Major
@EBT: what is it with men who spend a lot of time online talking about video games?
//
ETA: shocked, gambling, etc.
raven
I listen to what ever asshole is on WSB when I drive home from swimming at the Y. Hermann Cain is such a punk it is stunning.
dedc79
If you want to read a post arguing for further relaxation of the rules of engagement in the wake of the recent slaughter of 200 civilians in Iraq in an American-led airstrike (yes, you read that correctly) then check out The Corner.
schrodingers_cat
@the Conster, la Citoyenne: My ex-friend’s emails. She went from lefty liberal to cray cray defending T’s travel ban. She is no longer my friend.
WereBear
I can’t go to the source. I need a filter.
O. Felix Culpa
@Major Major Major Major: @scuffletuffle: Same here.
Plus random shares from a few high school connections on FB who are of the right-wing persuasion. I unfollowed those who posted irredeemably vile stuff, but I retained several who seem *merely* ignorant, in order to practice civil discussion with people of a different outlook. Miraculously, we actually moved to a point of agreement on the need to manage healthcare costs. It’s slow, painstaking work and the general resistance to facts, reason, logic, and moral suasion is disturbing.
germy
The Hunting of the Snark
for searing take downs of all things McArdle.
James E Powell
I read this blog regularly, often two three time a day. I read LG&M, but not nearly as much as I used to. There are times when I just cannot stand, where it’s just. too. much.
On Twitter I follow Charles Blow, James Suroweicki, Norm Ornstein, Howard Dean, and Charles Pierce. From them I get as much I need, as much as I can take of the winger world.
TaMara (HFG)
Occasionally I wander into the red zone on twitter and soon realize these people travel no farther than their local walmart and/or tavern after adjusting their jaunty tinfoil chapeau because they are sure they will fall off the edge of the earth.
Then I come back here to assure myself I didn’t accidentally enter into an alternative reality timeline.
schrodingers_cat
I used to check Thinking Housewife and NRO’s Corner. I haven’t since the elections. I made an exception on Friday when I went to the Corner to drink wingnut tears.
germy
I worry about stepping into the fever swamps because I’m afraid of catching a virus.
Some of the more extreme places even LOOK dangerous. There’s a local one I stopped visiting because I was going blind. Bright red background, white text, no real layout. About six or seven commenters.
Spanky
@Major Major Major Major: megadittos
Hurling Dervish
I hate to admit it, but from time to time, I go over to Gateway Pundit. It’s just so stupefyingly, you-can’t-be-seriously stupid. And the comments are even worse.
I commented a few times there and immediately got banned.
So now, when I’m really, really bored, I’ll go on there and comment from so far to the right, it’s impossible to go any righter. Lately, I have been calling Trump the anointed son of God. And you wouldn’t believe the agreement I get. Actually, you would believe it.
raven
@Mike J: I like it wit a little sound!
Chris
My uncle’s Facebook and Twitter feeds. He’s pretty much the only loud-and-proud/can’t-shut-up-about-it wingnut that I can’t cut ties to without family drama that I have no interest in going through, so I figure he might as well serve some purpose as my very own Wingnut Barometer. I find him to be a very adequate one.
germy
@James E Powell: I feel like they’re forever picking at a sore that will never heal when they endlessly discuss the 2016 election over at LawyersGunsMoney. Some great comments, though, always fun to read.
LAO
Every once in a while, I will wander into the Corner. The breathtaking stupidity is difficult to take in large doses.
Major Major Major Major
Oh, littlegreenfootballs.
Roger Moore
Other than following Balloon-Juice, I’ll look at trending topics on Twitter. In addition to showing me which boy-bands have good social media teams, this regularly gives me a glimpse into wingnut Twitter.
Walker
@EBT:
That is because it is Eastern European. GoG is owned by the Polish company CD Projekt and was expressly designed to cater to the Polish/Russian/Eastern European market.
MattF
I read a few conservatives who have seen the light, or at least some of it. Rubin, Frum, Wehner. Also, I hate-read Marc Theissen. But no right-wing media.
Bill Arnold
Wingnutosphere, I can’t handle it full-strength either; working up to it (emotionally) because reasons (need to engage).
In the meantime I follow The American Conservative, which has the virtue that some of the articles make actual arguments. Also I click on right-wing articles that show up in https://news.google.com
edit: oh, also glance at right-wing grifting spam on a couple of email accounts.
schrodingers_cat
When I want to peruse something fantastical but more enjoyable, I check out Hindi movie songs.
Julia from recently released Rangoon set during WWII
Major Major Major Major
@Bill Arnold: the American conservative is annoying because sometimes their arguments need to be refuted with second-order logic instead of pointing and laughing.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
LGM, Jezebel & Wonkette. I read Lord Hack Shafer to see what the Villager line is at the moment, as he’s such a spot-on encapsulation of everything wrong with Villager* journalism it’s almost parody.
*Or at least can compete with Mark Halperin.
germy
@schrodingers_cat: A few weeks ago “Svenghouli” featured the Ray Milland film “The Uninvited” which I’d never seen. He even cut down on his usual schtick to play as much of the movie as he could (still edited to fit endless commercials).
Now I really want to see it on a big screen. I loved the house, the dialogue, the acting, everything. Even the theme song Stella By Starlight.
Immanentize
I look at the aggregation on Real Clear Politics, but I almost never click on the wingy stuff.
Bill Arnold
@Major Major Major Major:
Exactly. Between understanding such an argument and refuting it in at least one way, one is usually better prepared to discuss the argument F2F with a wingnut than they are.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
The breadth and width of the deep stupidity and ignorance of the way anything works in real life is an insurmountable barrier to entry for most of these wingnut sites. There’s no toehold for anyone with half a brain. They’re all lost, and aren’t coming back, because there’s no there there anymore. Obama’s very existence made them all crazy. What I have a hard time understanding is how these people dress themselves and hold down jobs.
Brachiator
I don’t keep up much with the wingnutosphere, except when I have to debunk something a co-worker or fellow commuter mentions. Then I may go to the source to see what the deal was.
The mild exception is Los Angeles talk radio station KFI. Most of their hosts are center-right and do general talk radio patter. A couple are strongly liberal. But I noticed a while back that their news reporting was incredibly slanted. They would, for example, report on an Obama foreign trip, but never mention that he had been warmly received or liked by a foreign leader. On the other hand, they would play up any gaffe. This would give cover to any host who claimed that world leaders did not respect Obama.
During the 2016 election, I would bet money that the station manager directed female on air talent to mock and criticize Hillary Clinton. This would lend support to male talent who naturally hated Hillary.
BTW, this station used to host Rush Limbaugh, but they kicked him to the curb (and a sister station further down the dial) when he ratings declined.
I will watch the right wing surrogates on the Sunday pundit shows, but not regularly. I may take a look at a link to something that is posted here. I don’t do FaceBook or Twitter regularly, so I am spared a lot of garbage.
Every now and again, I will look at something featured in Reason magazine, the Wall St Journal or Forbes, but the latter two more for economic issues.
germy
The comments sections on my local news sites allow some startlingly racist reader comments. Also the usual bitching about the mess #44 left our new hero.
raven
I hit Sic Semper Tyrannis daily. I get banned and then he spaces out and lets me back in until I piss him off. I think back to how long it took me to get him off the BJ blogroll.
D58826
I’ll check out some of the RWNJ on the WAPO/NYT opinion pages.
Today for example there are two detailed explanations as to why the D’s opposing Trump and the GOP in congress is a BIG mistake. They should be asking T and the GOP where and when they get on board the RWNJ train and total opposition is unpatriotic. Unlike the GOP opposition to Obama.
R. Samualson has a long cry about the federal slush fund aka the budget. He feels that we should go back to the glory days of 1929 and a limited government, raise the needed taxes for what you want to spend and limit that spending to 3% of GDP (it’s 21% today). I would like to get his reaction when an undetected cat 4 hurricane makes landfall because with gov’t spending at 3% of GDP you can kiss those weather satellites/hurricane hinter aircraft good bye. And I’m sure he won’t mind flying at night at 35k feet and 600 mph w/o those leaches at the air traffic control centers. Just one more example of the slush fund.
Major Major Major Major
I also check memeorandum every morning to get the pulse of the discussion in its various shades.
schrodingers_cat
@D58826: Samuelson is stupid and annoying and one of the worst econ op-ed writers out there.
germy
@D58826: R. J. Samuelson? Jesus! How long has he been around? I remember seeing him in the newspapers when I was in middle school and I’m almost 60 now.
Tokyokie
I don’t read right-wing blogs for the same reason I don’t watch Faux News or listen to Limbaugh. I prefer material more based on fact, like reruns of Lost in Space.
lgerard
I get a few laughs on occasion from The Gateway mob, but my favorite is Free Republic
It is not just the bewildering stupidity and weird religious mumbo jumbo, it is also a secret admiration of how that guy manages to extract serious $$$$ to support his 1998 web design.
The Moar You Know
Just give my mother or wife’s dad a jingle. Preferably while as loaded as possible.
No One You Know
Nice Polite Republicans, CNN, and City-Data for a warm up. If I’m feeling strong, small doses of NYT, and random Sunday talk shows (until I get tired of watching men interrupt women). There’s one female panelist who actually succeeds at getting heard despite everything the men do to cut her off. I need to track that show down and try making it a habit.
Kay
Opposing Obamacare literally got Republicans a majority and now they want Democrats to work with them to make it worse.
In a way it doesn’t matter. The most liberal part of Obamacare was always the Medicaid piece and more GOP states will pick that up. The exchanges were always the most free markety, the most complex and the most disliked part of the law and they were Mitt Romney’s idea. The parts of Obamacare people hate are the conservative parts.
raven
@No One You Know: Joy don’t take no shit off nobody.
geg6
I don’t need to read anything. All I have to do is step out of my door and go to any local business and I’ll hear it all. 70% of my county voted for the asshole and watch FOXNews exclusively. They are up on all the latest derp.
Turgidson
The geeks at Vox who insist on taking frauds like Avik Roy and Reihan Salam seriously because they go to the same D.C. cocktail bars or whatever, giving them regular real estate to preen as “conservative intellectuals”, expose me to just about all the “right-leaning” stupidity I need. If those are their best minds, I don’t need to know what lurks below. Their voting habits are all the evidence i need of their brain dead dipshittery.
hellslittlestangel
Keeping up with the wingnutosphere is a mug’s game. No thanks. I’d as soon try to keep up with the Red Queen.
Kay
I don’t read any of them. I’m surrounded by conservatives. I listen to them constantly. It really is interesting, though, how it trickles UP in a way, the craziness. Conservatives latched onto child trafficking a while ago in more normal reality-based way and then their crazies got it and it turned into CLINTON IS A PEDOPHILE.
This seems weird to me because it’s supposed to work the other way. Gossip or conspiracy theories are supposed to trickle DOWN. The people on top say something connected to reality and then crazies at the bottom take it and run with it. This isn’t how it works in conservatism. The people at the top START the rumor.
They’re all fucked up. It’s broken.
germy
We used to tune into the McLaughlin Group and it was funny as hell when it wasn’t infuriating. Like during the ’12 election, McLaughlin made a freudian slip when he described Rmoney as our “next president.” I stopped watching after the Michael Brown shooting, when McLaughlin very proudly “won” his argument by quoting a witness who just the week before admitted to lying.
Possibly the show was taped before that admission, but we didn’t feel like hanging around anymore.
Aleta
Since the election my focus seems so poor and lately I just feel stupefied and dense. I can’t comprehend the whole picture with the Nunes stuff. Is there a good source to read or can someone explain what might have gone on, behind the WH cover story?
debit
@geg6: I’m always amazed at the occasional bigot that wanders into my office and figures that because I’m white I must be totally cool with whatever racist crap they care to spew.
bemused
I don’t see why it’s necessary to actually monitor wingnut sites to know what’s going on with them. I think I get sufficient information of latest rightwing spin from the many, many rational online sources who watch, read and listen so thankfully I don’t have to. I only last about 2 minutes just stopping at Fox. I really don’t know how people who view and listen to this crap all the time and report do it without physical and psychological side effects. Bless you for doing it though.
Kay
I don’t know if this is true everywhere but one nice thing is Democrats no longer feel like they have to say they like “Eisenhower Republicans” or whatever. That was really a standard part of Dem speeches up until about 2012. No one bothers with that qualifier anymore because it applies to no Republican and is nonsense. They’ve been crazy for a long time at this point. Years. It’s accepted that no one is working with them on anything.
The Moar You Know
@raven: Once per fiscal quarter, just to watch his dementia progress. I take no joy in that, BTW. He was a smart guy who abandoned rational thinking in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s Offense Against White People and he never came back, and never will. I find him tragic, to be honest, and he probably doesn’t deserve any pity, but he has mine.
Also, any local news comment section will fill the quota for me. Or CNN’s front page, for that matter. I see little difference save in tone. The content is identical.
J R in WV
Little Green Footballs, which covers them pretty well.
OT: I had to turn on the A/C this afternoon. It’s in the mid-70s outside, and was sunny this am, and the house was in the upper 70s, while I was trying to work on the intranet architecture inside the house. So I decided to see if the compressor et al still works after the winter pause.
It does still work, although the unit outside is looking rough. It was installed in 1993, lost all of it’s charge in 1995 after being used in 1994 for the first time. The inside furnace unit was replaced after corrosion caused fumes in the house. The coolant system outside wasn’t manufactured well (by Carrier!) and had multiple open joints after the first year of use.
Our gas is un-conditioned, well-head complete with moisture, sulfur, and other non-methane components. Also completely lacks any oderant to make it smell if it leaks, other that the petroleum odor the crude oil gives it. So we have had burned out gas burners in a Viking stove and the heat exchangers in a Carrier furnace, and have methane/CO detectors in the basement and kitchen.
And the gas company isn’t at fault for providing low quality gas – in order to have the gas turned on they make you sign a damage waiver, saying that you know the gas will damage your appliances. Which is true, everyone knows that in the oil patch.
Just venting…… grrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!
But A/C in March????? strange!
Barbara
TPM actually keeps up with the crazies even though it regularly gets lambasted in comments for doing so as a kind of click bait. Josh Marshall insists that conveying how the other half thinks is an important part of his mission. Washington Post Op-Ed columnists like Ed Rodgers give you a clue into the alternative reality that is right wing politics, without descending into outright fantasy along the lines of secret pedophile rings in the basement of pizza restaurants. WSJ is sort of the same, and it also lets you know when THE KOOLAID IS NO LONGER WORKING, resulting in a semi-sane take down of Republican policies.
trollhattan
O/T Darth Cheney evidently didn’t get the memo that Vlad is our new BFF.
Jeffro
I don’t do it regularly, but I occasionally will see what’s up at FoxNews.com or just check the TV version. That pretty much tells me all I need to know about the wingnut mindset du jour.
If I listened to any Alex Jones or read Breitbart.com it would skew my perspective on our future as a species and I can’t have that…keep hope alive!
ETA: even passing by National Enquirer in the tabloid racks while checking out at the grocery store makes me concerned for the ‘bubble’ that RWNJs live in. I can haz “tabloid tax” to solve this problem with the ‘invisible hand’?
Ian G.
Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs wades into the wingnut sewer so I don’t have to.
No way am I ever giving fucking clicks to any wingnut site like Breitbart.
Raven
@The Moar You Know: I wish he could somehow get rid of that Tyler dude. Fucker is a hazard. Apparently some people have been telling him that he’s whack but he doesn’t seem to care.
germy
@trollhattan: When I read that I found myself wondering how the wingnuts in the comments sections of my local news will react. Because they’ve been adamant “There was no interference!” They’ve also been adamant that cheney is a great man. So I have no idea how they’ll reconcile these two realities.
Barbara
@James E Powell: I am afraid I can no longer read Mr. Pierce. Like many people over the last year, he somehow lost his way for me when it came to discussing Hillary Clinton. I can’t forgive him yet.
bemused
@debit:
I think they rarely stop thinking about their politics or ideology and have a need to talk about it all the time. Several months ago, a shopkeeper that I only know slightly asked me out of nowhere if I watched Alex Jones. I had heard she and spouse were a little odd but not that they were that crazy rightwing. It felt like she was checking me out to see if I was one of her tribe.
Geoduck
Some others have mentioned Red State; that’s where I go because, for whatever reason, they refused to board the Trump Train as it was aimed for the cliff and the throttle was thrown wide open. They’re wrong about everything else, of course. They”ve really got the knives out for Planned Parenthood.
trollhattan
@J R in WV: Jeez, you’ve managed to make me nostalgic for the days of fuel oil. Not that it would help your stove but c’mon, who ever heard of corrosive natural gas?
D58826
@Kay: Well seems to me there is a simple test here. The D’s say to these ‘moderate’ Goopers – ‘you join with us to make Nancy the Speaker and Chuck the majority leader and then we can talk turkey’. As long as ZEGS and Turtle hold the leadership posts they control the schedule. The best the ‘moderate’ GOOPers can offer is to put a D’s name as co-sponsor on the bill to destroy Obamacare, tax cut for the rich, etc.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Lips pursed.
Lee
Interestingly I used to be able to get Breitbart on my FB feed. Once it became common knowledge how it is a front for white nationalists, it no longer appears. Either FB is blocking BB posting from feeds or my conservative friends have decided white nationalism is a bridge too far for them.
trollhattan
@germy:
Probably roll their eyes, circle index fingers around their temples and gently assert ol’ Dick’s lost a few marbles. It’s easier than rethinking their positions. I wonder what newly minted Congresswoman Lizard thinks?
Jeffro
@trollhattan: Let’s take Dick’s assessment of the election interference as an act of war at face value, so that we can claim the blessing of bipartisan support for stronger remedies once we get to that point. Jail time for a few isn’t enough.
(Plus once he realizes what he’s done, the coal-black parasite that resides where Dick’s heart used to be will seize up, and well, sometimes irony gets served up with a big ol’ dose of karma…)
Barbara
@D58826: And make Merrick Garland the next Supreme Court Justice. Seriously, they have what I call a cooperation deficit that is on a scale of the total U.S. debt. They have to make the first ten concessions to prove that they can actually compromise.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@schrodingers_cat: Remember when Kathryn Jean Lopez used to edit the Corner? She always reminded me of Jean Teasdale from the Onion.
D58826
@germy: Short answer – he is way past his sell by date
El Caganer
I filter everything through alicublog. Roy Edroso is made of a lot sterner stuff than I am; if I read all that shit without some kind of buffer, my brain would turn into tapioca.
lollipopguild
@Mike J: “I am all right, don’t you worry about me…..”
D58826
@Barbara: That would be a good down payment.
Gravenstone
@J R in WV: Your description of your NG service literally made me wince and cringe. I’m quite sure you’re already familiar with this little “oops” involving untreated NG from the well head. At least you have the option of methane detectors and the like.
Iowa Old Lady
I listen to the radio reports on my newly all R state legislature and that’s enough for me. They forbade towns and counties from raising their minimum wage, enacted some kind of voter ID, and shortened early voting from 40 days to 21. And that’s just within the last week.
randy khan
@Brachiator:
About KFI and WSB – they’re owned by a family that is politically liberal (the founder was the governor of Ohio and ran for VP on the Democratic ticket, and the matriarch was ambassador to Belgium under Jimmy Carter). But AM radio is basically right wing talk, sports, Spanish language, and religious programming these days, and the money’s in the first two categories. (Okay, there’s money in the last category, but not for a company that’s officially for-profit.)
geg6
@debit:
I was literally asked to step outside for a fist fight back in late October (I think…it was before the election). By a guy. Because I didn’t appreciate his spewing of racist, misogynist crap as loudly as possible in the pub just across the street from my house. I had to quit going to the local club where we could drink cheap because the whole place was Dumpster central and the people there were spewing hate non-stop for the past year. These are people whose kids I have helped get scholarships and to fix their aid applications when they screwed them up. People whose weddings and baby showers I have attended. My social circle has constricted down to my sisters (and spouses) and some old close friends. The good news is that the Resistance has hooked me up with some old friends from high school through FB. That has really cheered me up. We’re all hooking up to attend the March For Science in Pittsburgh.
randy khan
I get most of my right-wing news from here and LGM, plus my pet trolls and right-wing high school classmates on Facebook.
germy
@D58826:
Can’t his entire output be reduced to “Taxes Bad!” and “Government Bad!”
He’s been writing the same column for forty years.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Barbara: Really? ISTR that Pierce was critical of Clinton, but within reasonable parameters (e.g., he knew that EMAILZ was total bullshit); really the worst thing he did was say that he’d write in Weld if she accepted Kissinger’s endorsement.
And speaking of which, Salon was always far worse with CDS than Pierce, in no small part due to Daley’s influence (it’s waned considerably since he left last July, but there aren’t more than seven columnists there that could really be considered essential).
janelle
Media Matters for America.
Gravenstone
@trollhattan:
Ever hear of non-flammable NG? I recall hearing about a NG well in the southwest (Texas?) where the helium content was so high, the NG wouldn’t burn. Will have to do a bit of digging to find a supporting link.
janelle
Media Matters for America
germy
@trollhattan:
Interesting. So the wingnuts don’t see him as The Great Good Man anymore? I thought they wanted him on Mount Rushmore.
I wonder if his latest statements will make the general news media. Does he still get invites to the morning talk shows?
? Martin
I just read Frum. He’s often wrong on his prescriptions, but he’s good at distilling what the wingnuts are doing, translating that into what True Conservative™ should be doing, and pointing out where the current effort will run completely off the rails (and he’s usually quite accurate there). For example, he recognized after ACA that opposing universal healthcare was a lost battle and the GOP should instead lean into it and make the best of it rather than fight it. I think he sees that market-based exchanges are a hell of a lot better for the GOP than single-payer, and at the rate things are going, voters are increasingly warming up to single payer because the GOP is working so hard to make the markets fail.
He doesn’t buy into conspiracy theories and he can write in complete sentences. Big point there.
fedupwithhypocrisy
C4P–Conservatives for Palin–The few remaining Palin fans reveal the cognitive dissonance and hypocrisy that lies underneath those MAGA hats.
dww44
@The Moar You Know: I’ve no idea who SST is? Can you enlighten me?
germy
Dueling haircuts
debit
@geg6: It’s weird how they have the right to vomit out their hateful garbage, but when confronted their first resort is to demand you shut up. Second is to shut you up with violence.
Chris
@randy khan:
Mine are eye-roll-worthy in a different way – high school classmates on Facebook is where I go for my Berniebro fix. (Yes, I am aware of the difference and I do mean “Berniebro,” not “voted Sanders in the primary.”) International high school on the East Coast in a fairly well off neighborhood = you still get loonies, just of a different type.
At least I haven’t seen any antivaccerism. Yet.
brendancalling
I work for Raw Story, so basically every day is keeping up with the wingnuts.
Yarrow
@fedupwithhypocrisy: Is that place still going? Once SarahPAC closed I thought they might give up.
? Martin
@germy:
This is an important point to learn.
Cheney polled at something like 15%. It was half of GWB approval. Most conservatives hated the guy. But they supported him because he pissed off liberals.
Right now the majority of things that conservatives support they support simply because it pisses off liberals. They don’t know the first thing about the policy, its implications for them, and so on, but it got Hillary Clinton all ramped up therefore it must be good. After 8 years, they think ‘pissing off liberals’ is synonymous with ‘good conservative policy’ as though ‘kicking puppies’ would make an adequate health care policy. As these ideas get close to implementation, conservatives start paying much more attention to what they really mean, and decide that pissing off liberals isn’t enough compared to your kids school getting closed or mom getting tossed off of her insurance.
Once Cheney stopped pissing off Al Gore, or whoever the barometer was, then they stopped caring about him.
debit
@bemused: I’ve become very adept at adopting a bright smile and a non committal, “Really? Wow, I didn’t know that.” Granted, sometimes the crazy is not political, but just general crazy. I bet you didn’t know that doctors cause cancer. Because you don’t get it until you go see one. Or so I’ve been assured. Also too, the copy machine sends copies of whatever is printed on it to Washington.
bemused
@? Martin:
Frum and a few others like him who basically got shunned by the conservative club when they refused to toe the propaganda line are interesting to read. I noticed they also have the ability to deliver some snarky and amusing ironic comments which you just don’t hear from the diehards.
p.a.
A friend who’s the stereotype of a know-it-all, morbidly obese IT professional #* ‘Libertarian’. Libertarian in quotes because he pukes out every anti-liberal meme the Rethugservative shit machine churns out and never has a positive thing to say/post about any Dem. I’m having a great time posting him Adam’s Maskirova work under the heading ‘b-b-but emails Matt. Emails!!!’
*apologies to IT professionals and the overweight (of which I am a member), but there does seem to be a ‘type’, or perhaps I have been unlucky in my contact with that professional group.
#no apologies to know-it-alls.
jeffreyw
Little Green Footballs is a great source for the latest WTF from the right. Charles, like John, turned away from the dark side. He has a strong stomach, and keeps tabs on the crazy,
germy
The U.S. Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, called on Monday for the removal of Republican Representative Devin Nunes as chairman of the House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee.
EBT
@Major Major Major Major: 10 to 30 year old video games.
The Moar You Know
@debit: Wee nugget of truth in that one. They don’t send anything, of course. But they do STORE everything copied on it in a hard drive, every copier since the mid 90s does that.
The new ones scan your doc first and won’t print certain types of checks or most currency.
bemused
@debit:
I’m positive just the immediate stunned, horrified look on my face gave her a clue that I was definitely not in her crowd. I said, you mean the conspiracy theorist and she asked, you don’t like him? I think I was shaking my head, no, no, while I was saying it. And I left. No way I could be even minimally polite about Alex Jones.
Yarrow
@germy: That’s great news. Nunes needs to go. He’s seriously compromised. Possibly also a traitor.
EBT
@Walker: Actually the company itself was very vocal in not allowing the Neo Nazi produced game “Hatred” on the service. I believe a lot of the actual staff are Jewish.
japa21
On a more positive note; our daughter-in-law had her citizenship exam and interview and passed with flying colors today. She should get official notification of when she will be sworn in within a couple weeks. Her only regret is that it didn’t happen during the Obama presidency. She plans on cutting out one of his signatures and taping it over Trump’s. And registering to vote immediately afterwards.
Это курам на смех
I think the wingnuttiest of the nutosphere is Hillary Is 44. Its proprietor has been completely bonkers for more than nine years. For cognitive dissonance in all caps and twice on Sundays, I’ve never found anything better.
Barbara
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): After punching her repeatedly as a weak candidate who couldn’t put Sanders away during the primary he came around to the captain obvious view that she was better than Trump. He contributed to the general atmosphere of Clinton bashing for sport without regard to long term consequences. One of many.
Steeplejack (phone)
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
LOL, I’ve always thought that too.
cain
Guys, I need you all to call your House rep and vote against HJ res 86 ASAP.. (lke in 13 minute) which is a bill that removes online privacy allowing ISPs to see your browsing history!
I suppose these congressional people will regret it when their porn browsing habits are exposed and they get targeted ads! :P Just called my rep, please call yours!
geg6
@Barbara:
I agree with that. I quit reading him for several months because he pissed me off so much. Too much white male entitlement went into his writing about her. I’ve been reading him again, but I’ll never feel the same about him.
fedupwithhypocrisy
@Yarrow: These are the die-hards who think she’s Queen Esther. She lost a lot of hangers-on when she threw Cruz under the bus–they moved to The Right Scoop.
FormerSwingVoter
I talk to a couple of old buddies of mine who are cops… though I spend a lot less time around them then I used to.
…Speaking of: anyone who has ever heard police talk amongst themselves, openly and honestly, will never ever ever trust a law enforcement officer ever again. Go to an LEO community website and it reads identically to Breitbart, right down to the “War On Cops” and “BLM are Terrorists” talking points. Go to an officers-only forum, and you’ll find stuff that reads like a combination of the third reich and youtube commentors. It’s legitimately terrifying shit.
Elizabelle
We’re only allotted so much life, and so many brain cells.
Why waste any on wingnuts, beyond what we already hear through exposure to the blogosphere? It won’t improve your life. Why go searching for ugliness? One can fight back against them without having to endure every utterance of unsound and cruel little minds.
Yarrow
@fedupwithhypocrisy: Yeah, I know they were upset with her during the election. I thought one of the main guys there was outed as some relative of hers. The guy who always begs for money because of health problems–“so close to death without your help!” His “health problems” and supposed financial straits have been going on for years.
The site was set up to encourage her to run for president. When she shut down her PAC I thought they’d finally move on. Can’t believe there are still some die-hards. Crazy. I know they think she’s Esther. They are truly nuts.
randy khan
@cain:
FWIW, the actual impact of the resolution (if signed by the President), will be to revert to what was in place before the rule were adopted – Internet companies were subject to the same privacy provision of the Communications Act as phone companies, but without specific rules. Most of the Internet companies had just been following the telephone rules, which prohibited sharing information without some kind of permission (the type of permission varies partly based on the type of information and partly based on who would be getting it). And even that change is not really that significant because almost none of the new rules are in effect – they’ve been stayed by the FCC or are tied up at the Office of Management and Budget, never to see the light of day.
The real action here is going to be when the FCC reconsiders the network neutrality rules and, in particular, the FCC’s decision to treat Internet service as a common carrier service – that is, like telephone service. (It’s also possible Congress will take up the issue, but not through this repeal mechanism, and the Dems will have the power to filibuster it in the Senate.) That’s probably coming later this year, maybe through a rulemaking, and maybe through some other mechanism.
The Moar You Know
@FormerSwingVoter: My grandfather was a cop. I got a lecture when I got my driver’s license that, frankly, I think every kid in America should get, even though it would probably mean half of them never leave the house again. Cops are scary.
“I can always get you out of jail. I can’t get you back after your brains have been sprayed all over the dashboard because you tried to get your wallet out of your pocket.”
From kindly ol’ Granpa, that made an impression.
Chris
@FormerSwingVoter:
Plenty of that in the military community I know in my family, and the ROTC cadets I knew in college, though it’s not as universal as you’re describing. But still plenty bad.
Uniformed personnel is just generally not where I go for sane politics. Unless you count the postal service, I suppose.
Aleta
@J R in WV: I don’t know much about the regulations, but I assumed having an odor added was required. Or maybe that is only state-by-state law? Oh well, I suppose soon it will hardly matter what the regulations used to be in any state. But what you say, put together with the recent push for and expansion of natural gas here, is troubling news!
Gin & Tonic
@FormerSwingVoter: Correctional officers are even worse. An age ago, my wife was a health-care provider in a correctional setting. She always said if the shit were to hit the fan she’d trust the inmates more than the CO’s.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@japa21:
I’d caution against doing that, it’s kind of illegal. It’s illegal to even copy a naturalization certificate.
cain
@randy khan: That will be a hell of a fight.. but I still think even for these issues we need to stay on top of it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Elizabelle: True, that’s why I gave up watching Joe of the the Morning.
Bill Arnold
@Elizabelle:
The argument is that one can fight back [1] more effectively when one truly understands/has an accurate mental model of their opponents. But yes, it can be draining.
[1] or co-opt or soften opposing beliefs or …
EBT
@FormerSwingVoter: One of my partner’s father was a cop in NYC in the 60s-80s and she has confirmed basically every awful thing you could think about them, including drunken wife beating and raping suspects that they think no one will beleive.
Mike J
JAFD
Used to read Rod Dreher (there were a couple of old friends among his regular commenters, and replays of the kind of theological arguments I grew up with ;-) ), but last couple of years he’s been “the gheys are coming!!!” all the time, not fun any more.
You may find Chris Ladd interesting – politicalorphans.com, and his former platform goplifer.com (site still up) – a reasonable Eisenhower Republican in strange new world.
Steve in the ATL
@James E Powell:
A-fucking-men
Ruckus
Here.
I will check TPM and LGM once in a while, if it hasn’t been a crazy day from DC. The Guardian and BBC news about on the same schedule. I check out FB maybe once a week now. Mostly to see which “friends” I have to unfriend this week. I used to check out lots more sites but I’m so, I guess discouraged any more and am trying to keep my stress level as low as possible because when I don’t…..
Am looking for someplace to retire to, hopefully in the next 2-4 yrs if everything stays on schedule. And wondering who in my dwindling circle of friends is going next.
Ksmiami
@Barbara: He’s such a Masshole omfg: can be bright and charming but will circle back to misogyny one way or another
Chris
@Gin & Tonic:
I kind of figured corrections officer was one of the dumping grounds for people who want to be cops but can’t meet the standards. And the standards for cops aren’t exactly high and demanding in the first place. So… not at all surprised.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
CP used to be one of my everyday stops. Think I’ve stopped by twice since the primary. Now it’s not even worth the cost of a bookmark. And that of course is free.
Elizabelle
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You’ve said. Very proud of you.
@Bill Arnold: I don’t know that that’s actually true. I suspect it’s enervating and immiserating. Which is probably how the wingnuts want the libtards to feel. Leave them their little grey sewers, all to themselves.
Elizabelle
@Steve in the ATL: I think that’s true for a lot of sites. I would bet BJ has lost readers, or some have become lurkers.
Mnemosyne
@germy:
It’s a great movie, and easily available on DVD. It shows up on TCM a lot, too.
ETA: I used to watch Son of Svengoolie when I was a kid and he was on local TV in Chicago. He always showed a good mix of crappy movies and genuine classics. That’s where I first saw the original “Frankenstein.”
japa21
@?BillinGlendaleCA: She probably wouldn’t anyway, just is tempted to do so. If she did, she would remove it when necessary.
Eric S.
I read Doug!
pk
I don’t watch or listen to any conservative ever if I can help it. I got rid of Romney supporters from my facebook friends a long time ago. None of my relatives nor friends are republicans. Life is too short to be listening to stupidity and rubbish. There is only one thing to do with republicans, defeat them and kick them when they’re down. The time for compromise and understanding is long gone. I become aware of their usual stupid ideas and antics from this and other liberal blogs. Don’t need to peek into the sewer myself.
Brachiator
@randy khan:
California is bluer than blue. I don’t think a single Republican has won a statewide election in a long time. But Los Angeles and Southern California has a huge drive time market and people still listen to the radio. They don’t want to miss traffic updates.
The emphasis is on entertaining talk radio. The KFI morning host, Bill Handel is pro gay rights and used to have an ultra liberal foil in sports guy Rich Marotta (who retired not too long ago). Otherwise, Handel is more centrist than right wing. The afternoon hosts are more right wing. But as I noted, KFI kicked Rush Limbaugh to the curb because his stuff just wasn’t working anymore. Also, as I noted, the larger problem is not the hosts, but the deliberate shading of the news to be less than honest with a rightward tilt.
LA sports station KLAC, with hosts like Petros and Money is often more entertainment than sports.
BTW public radio station KPCC is a breath of Fresh Air. It has some NPR shows, but the local show Air Talk is a local treasure.
germy
@Mnemosyne:
There’s something about seeing these old films on a big theater screen, though. Our neighborhood movie house plays classic films, but not this one yet.
I think I saw maybe 3/4 of “The Uninvited” because Svenghouli can’t resist doing his comedy routines and of course the commercials.
A Ghost to Most
@brendancalling:
Rawstory and BJ.
Philbert
Above Top Secret is out front a conspiracy site, it has forums so you can pick your crazy. Its where I got my first full and complete 10pg explanation of the Lizard People. Also FTNYT
germy
Where are all the RW trolls? Why do I never see “checkmate, libtards!” arguments here? Did they try to infest the place and then get discouraged? You’d think balloon-juice would be ripe for a dive-bombing.
Media Matters is full of RW troll commenters. They’re relentless.
DHD
@? Martin: Frum is, of course, Canadian, so it comes as no surprise. In the rest of the English-speaking world, right-wing politicians have generally recognized that the continued existence of abortion, universal healthcare, and same-sex marriage are no longer worth fighting over, and have mostly moved on to promoting Bad Ideas on economics, immigration, science and the arts, and opposing anything Paid By Your Taxes that doesn’t involve giant portraits of the Queen.
Ksmiami
@pk: agreed- I don’t even read or watch MSN except for the la times and Bloomberg. Infotainment industry has atrophied our Democracy and Rt wing media is just toxic. the entire GOP platform would turn this country into a better funded Somalia so no they have nothing worth listening to and life is too short
germy
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives will not seek to repeal Obamacare taxes as a part of expected tax reform legislation, the top House Republican on tax policy said on Monday.
“We never envisioned bringing Obamacare taxes into that (reform) effort and I still don’t,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady told reporters.
Yarrow
Related to wingnuttery, apparently the FBI has an open investigation into the Russian-backed botnets on social media pushing InfoWars and other similar websites’ stories throughout the election. It’s a form of influencing the election that we aren’t really prepared to deal with. They aren’t real people–just bots sharing and retweeting the same stories and pushing them up so they’re trending.
No idea what the investigation will turn up, but I hope they find some way to shut that down. It can be hard to deal with that kind of propaganda being spewed in all directions all the time and it can discourage people on the other side. That’s the point, of course. But there has to be some way to counter it. Glad they’re looking into it.
Turgidson
@? Martin:
Once he gave up on being invited back into the Wingnut Wurlitzer’s good graces and realized he might as well cut all the fatuous anti-Obama throat-clearing stupidity out of his columns, he got much more readable, and at this point is sort of the platonic ideal of what a reasonable conservative might sound like in a less fucked up world. But then I remember he’s the Axis of Evil guy and, as noted, until recently felt some sort of tribal obligation to balance out every criticism of the GOP with some fact-challenged stupidity about Obama.
EBT
@germy: Wonkette gets trolls sometimes, but we harass them until they cry and make front page articles out of their incoherence. The only trolls this place gets is noted deadbeat donnie voter NR, and it’s cohort in crime GoBlue.
mai naem mobile
I watch at least part of CNBCs Squawk Box most weekday AMs for uber RW douchebag Joe Kernen. He had a sad this AM because of the health care failure on Friday. Hahahahahahahaha. Also,I try and force myself to listen to Gary Kaltbaum weekdaya PM on the local financial radio in Phoenix. He apparently appears on FBN regularly. He’s only on for an hour and his politics piece lasts only about 15 mins but it keeps me up on Fox garbage. The cognitive disonnance in these Fox people is quite startling. Sometimes I just can’t deal with his garbage and I turn it off. He says he’s going to run for POTUS which makes me laugh . He was one of the ones who believes that Obama wiretapping Dolt 45. Also that Obam a caused all the debt. Never mentions that a good part of the new debt under Obama was the 08 bailout under Dumbyam
trollhattan
@germy:
That’s some grade-A turd polishing. They’d spent that O’care cash eleventy times over, and now they Kaint have it! Wah.
zhena gogolia
@Major Major Major Major:
Ha, beat me to it in one.
zhena gogolia
@Mike J:
I thought it was going to be Hercules Mulligan.
Chris
@pk:
As I keep saying on this, stupidity is one thing and malice is another. It’s not just the fact that they believe stupid stuff that’s not true that makes me cut them off – it’s the fact that they believe, support, and cheer for things that are actively harmful either to me or to people I care about (to people generally, really, but pretty much everyone knows at least a few people who will be harmed by Gooper policy). Whether it’s economics, policing, social issues, you name it.
I can stay friends with people who believe in the Loch Ness monster and cattle mutilations. I can’t stay friends with people who believe I should go broke or die in the streets because I can’t afford health insurance. I can’t stay friends with people who believe I should’ve been had the crap beaten out of me and dogs sicced on me for being in the Women’s March. I can’t stay friends with people who believe that my female friends and relatives should be forced to carry babies to terms regardless not only of their wishes but of their own health and safety, or that my Muslim friends should be repatriated to active war and ethnic cleansing zones or rounded up and put in camps. For pretty basic and simple reasons. That’s just not how it works.
trollhattan
@EBT:
Actually look forward to the week’s “Dear shit-fer-brains” post. Nice repurposing of diarrhea into fertilizer.
Baud
@germy:
RW rarely go beneath the top 10K unless they are paid.
germy
@Baud:
So they do have standards.
Baud
@germy: More than we do, apparently.
A Ghost to Most
@Chris:
You can’t fix willful ignorance mixed with spite. These people believe stuff because it pisses rational people off. I figured that out 10 years ago.
Millard Filmore
@EBT:
Maybe that is why processing rape kits has such a low priority. Too many policemen will show up in the mix.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator:
Well, those that can’t figure out how to use the traffic function in their car or their cell phone.
Central Planning
@The Moar You Know: I used to work for a large company that made hi-res color scanners/printers and had a nice chat with the Secret Service about it one day because they were interested in how it worked and how well it could reproduce colors. Lots of other employees there too, so it was nothing untoward that caused them to be there.
pk
@pk:
I have a neighbor who’s a republican. When Obama got elected her father in law told her kids (5, 4 and 3) that Obama was going to take their toys away (because socialism). Her husband hates Obama. She objects to Obamacare because having kids on their parents insurance till the age of 26 will make them lazy and not look for jobs. I have no problems with ideological differences, but how to respond to such stupidity? Ideally with a whack to the side of the head and tell them to stop being morons. But since that’s not possible, I just ignore such people and try to minimize contact.
Brachiator
Hmmm. I guess I also get some right wing news through satirical filters. BBC podcasts like the News Quiz and the Now Show (which get US politics with a good degree of accuracy). John Oliver and the other US based comedians. I will look at the Daily Mail for its photos and scan the right wing crazy “news” stories.
I used to read some conservative columnists when I subscribed to physical newspapers. Other than Krugman, I simply do not read any columnist in any online version of the newspaper. I just can’t be bothered. I go to news sites for the news, not opinion.
jl
Read wingnut sources? No way. I figure what I need to know about it will get flagged at various miserable lefty news outlets and blogs. Like this one here.
No One You Know
@Turgidson: The great thing about getting older is that brain gears slip into useful non sequiturs. Vox triggered a memory of a science fiction author (Beale?) who worked to hijack the Hugo awards. Apparently his theory was that Ray Bradbury was wrong: writing science fiction should predict the future, not prevent it.
His dystopian dreams reflect that. A friend swears he’s just as pleasant in real life.
Robisan
At this point I let my tax dollars do the legwork – @realDonaldTrump’s twitter feed and Sean Spicer pressers are government clipping services for tracking right wing dumbassery.
…adding, my go-to used to be Sadly, No!, but sadly posting and snark is now too infrequent.
Brachiator
@?BillinGlendaleCA: RE: But Los Angeles and Southern California has a huge drive time market and people still listen to the radio. They don’t want to miss traffic updates.
It’s not either/or. People still want up to the minute traffic reporting to go along with futzing with traffic apps.
I’m not sure how it is in other markets, but it is amazing to see how much LA radio is based on traffic reporting. The news, talk and features is almost secondary. The CBS affiliate, KCBS has traffic and weather what, every 10 minutes?
EBT
@trollhattan: Damn Dok for needing to take next weekend off!
Woodrowfan
@D58826: Samuelson has been writing the same column at least once a week for years.
scuffletuffle
@rikyrah: I so wish I knew you in person…
Shana
@japa21: If your location is anything like mine, they have registrars at the event to sign people up to vote, and apply for passports too IIR.
Al Tinsley
I read some of Fox every day by trying to make a game out of it. Based on the incendiary headline, what is the article really about? Find the sentence that subtly but completely reverses the bat-shit crazy conservative spin at the top of the article. It’s like they expect their readers to get bored and attracted to another crazy headline before they get to the end.
Ryan
You. And I thank FSM I am not a blooger.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
Red State, Rod Dreher, and sometimes I will read other articles on Am Con.
Ol' Nat
The Guardian has a great series called Burst Your Bubble.
Ithink
@the Conster, la Citoyenne:
Why no longer friends, my lady?
ruemara
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who says, “I don’t”.
Tehanu
@El Caganer:
Roy Edroso is a saint for reading all that crap and not going mad, and a great writer to boot. Fred Clark at slacktivist (on patheos) is terrific on the religious side of the right. LGM, Driftglass and Heywood J (at Hammer of the Blogs) are my other go-to guys. Actually click on rightwing sites? No thanks, and (shudder).
Sam Dobermann
@cain:
It’s not see your browsing history; it’s SELL your browsing and searching history.
Many regulations are ups for repeal under the CRA and can be done by a majority. An excellent site is The Rules at Risk website
Sam Dobermann
@randy khan:
The privacy reg may not be dangerous but the rest are very dangerous. The Rules at Risk website is an important source of info.
someofparts
Don’t have any links to add. Just want to agree that reading alicblog is always a treat … rueful, but a still a treat.