Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

No one could have predicted…

Consistently wrong since 2002

Donald Jessica Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

We’re not going back!

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

When we show up, we win.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Criminal Justice / Shitty Cops / Bully Boy

Bully Boy

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Serial killer, cosplay afficionado, plagiarist, and newly hired employee at Homeland Security is a big fat fucking liar and it may cost him:

Sitting on the tarmac at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Jan. 15, Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. sent a text message to one of his captains after a brief verbal exchange with a passenger.

The sheriff explained in the text what should be done when Riverwest resident Dan Black got off the plane.

“Just a field interview, no arrest unless he become an asshole with your guys,” Clarke wrote Captain Mark Witek. “Question for him is why he said anything to me. Why didn’t he just keep his mouth shut?”

“Follow him to baggage and out the door,” Clarke continued. “You can escort me to carousel after I point him out.”

A copy of the text messages was provided by an attorney for Black, who is suing the sheriff, Milwaukee County and several unnamed deputies over the incident.

Records show the matter, which has drawn national attention, was big enough that federal investigators looked at Clarke and his staff’s handling of the case. Clarke has said he is taking a job as assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, though officials have not confirmed this.

In other words, Clarke was lying:

Black, 24, says he was detained, interviewed and escorted out of Mitchell International Airport on Jan. 15 by a half-dozen deputies after a brief run-in with the sheriff on the plane. He says in the federal suit that he was the victim of an unlawful stop and arrest.

Since Black went public with his complaint, Clarke has threatened and belittled his fellow passenger, calling Black a “snowflake” and saying anyone, including Black, who harasses him on an airplane might get “knocked out.”

But now Clarke is giving his version of the events on the plane, which matches Black’s account, except in a couple of details.

Asshole. On the upside, we don’t know if he is a Nazi.

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  1. 1.

    Citizen Alan

    It’s been nearly thirty years since I’ve seriously considered voting for any Republican for any office. But I didn’t used to believe that there are all just fucking evil. And yet I cannot think of a republican of any prominence who would not be an over-the-top caricature of an evil Republican if they were to appear in a fictional work.

  3. 3.

    Oatler.

    I think I had one of those medals he’s wearing for participating in the Quisp vs. Quake election back in the turbulent 60s.

  4. 4.

    Corner Stone

    I hope Black sues the county and Clarke personally for all the fucking monies. Can’t wait until Clarke is a private citizen again so that when someone punches him in the fucking face they don’t get the full on LEO treatment.

  6. 6.

    Jeffro

    They’re all weirdos and severely damaged personalities in this maladministration, every one of them. And almost none of them are in touch with reality as we know it, either. Doesn’t bode well.

  9. 9.

    Felonius Monk

    Maybe Clark and Gianforte can be the grand marshalls of the this year’s Republican Assholes on Parade.

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    On the upside, we don’t know if he is a Nazi.

    Are you sure about that? Is he supposed to be a duck, instead?

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    Is this lady from Bloomberg seriously trying to whitewash what GG did in MT with actions in Manchester?

  12. 12.

    TenguPhule

    @Corner Stone:

    Is this lady from Bloomberg seriously trying to whitewash what GG did in MT with actions in Manchester?

    Is that a rhetorical question?

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    calling Black a “snowflake”

    You know who’s a snowflake? It’s the guy who can’t stand to be publicly criticized and abuses his power to punish anyone who doesn’t show him what he thinks is adequate deference.

  14. 14.

    Ian G.

    Would it be racist of me to suggest that Clarke’s ludicrous “uniform” makes me think of deranged African dictators of yore like Jean-Bedel Bokassa? Should I play it safe and suggest he looks like a crazy white dictator like Nicolae Ceausescu?

  15. 15.

    chopper

    so clarke demands that some rando be arrested for the crime if talking to him, but that guy is the “snowflake”. got it.

  16. 16.

    mai naem mobile

    Seeing the title of the post, I thought it was going to be about Dolt pushing his way fron of the NATO leaders walking. I am going to get some kind of repetitive motion injury from face palming Dolt’s actions.

  17. 17.

    Jeffro

    On a side note, Charles Blow is all about The Flynn Affair today…it’s all centered on the simplest of questions: why does Trumpov continue to freak out where Mike Flynn is concerned?

    Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey…said he warned Trump about Flynn. As Christie said earlier this week: “I didn’t think that he was someone who would bring benefit to the president or to the administration, and I made that very clear to candidate Trump, and I made it very clear to President-elect Trump…Christie continued: “If I were president-elect of the United States, I wouldn’t let General Flynn into the White House, let alone give him a job.” Trump apparently ignored the warning.

    Barack Obama warned Trump not to hire Flynn. As The New York Times reported earlier this month: Mr. Obama, who had fired Mr. Flynn as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Mr. Trump that he would have profound concerns about Mr. Flynn becoming a top national security aide, said the administration officials, who were briefed on the Oval Office conversation. Mr. Trump later ignored the advice, naming Mr. Flynn to be his national security adviser.

    Sally Q. Yates, the acting attorney general, warned Trump about Flynn. As The Times reported earlier this month, when she delivered mesmerizing testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Yates informed the White House, less than a week into the Trump administration, that Flynn had lied to Pence about his Russian contacts and was vulnerable to blackmail by Moscow.

    As Yates put it, “To state the obvious: You don’t want your national security adviser compromised with the Russians.”

    I think not only did Trumpov like Mike Flynn’s worldview and “go with his gut” that Flynn was a-ok…I’m sure the Russians helped steer him to the Trumpov campaign, and ensured that Trumpov knew that keeping Flynn close made them quite happy.

    Ugh.

    Blow’s right about one other thing: this is not going away, and it’s only going to get worse for the GOP. Or, as he puts it at the end:

    It’s time to lay bare this fishy bromance and come to know the full breadth of Flynn’s furtive activities and whether Trump was aware or complicit, before, during or after. Kick back America; it’s Mueller time.

  18. 18.

    clay

    “Question for him is why he said anything to me. Why didn’t he just keep his mouth shut?”

    I’m torn as to whether this behavior is more like fascism or more like the Mafia. This guy had six(!) of his goons harass and detail a citizen for having the temerity to speak to him. And he has the gall to throw around the term ‘snowflake’.

  20. 20.

    Jeffro

    @mai naem mobile: That clip is amazing, isn’t it? I’m surprised a front-pager hasn’t put up a post yet with the clip and about eight million funny tweets that followed…

  21. 21.

    MattF

    Liar, bully, creep. Probably safe to assume he’s an abuser of some sort. And, therefore, leading candidate for a law-enforcement position in the Trump administration. Someone got a problem with that?

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    Clarke is a sociopath who shouldn’t be trusted with watering a houseplant, let alone leading a department in a federal agency. I followed him on Twitter for a while and quickly comprehended his value to Trump: He spends pretty much all day on Twitter kissing Trump’s ass and berating liberals. He’s definitely on my Champagne Bucket List. (The very short list of individuals whose deaths prompt me to break out the bubbly. Roger Ailes was recently crossed off!)

  24. 24.

    Aleta

    I read that one of the pieces of metal he pins to his jacket is for (something like) high school volleyball or tennis.

  26. 26.

    germy

    HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Nathan Singletary is beyond the traditional retirement age, but he’s only just beginning a new career — helping other low-income, unemployed Americans over age 55 find jobs.

    Singletary got his job through the half-century-old Senior Community Service Employment Program, a training and placement program underwritten by taxpayers aimed at putting older Americans back into the workforce.

    President Donald Trump says there are too few participants who find work that’s not paid for by the federal government. This week, he proposed deleting the $434 million program from the federal budget — a strike at a piece of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.

    “That would mean a great deal of hardship, for me and the people who come to us for help,” Singletary, 67, said last week from his desk at the AARP Foundation’s offices in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “It’s hard enough to find a job at this age.”

    Fuck it then. Since so many recent college graduates can’t find the jobs they’ve majored in, let’s roll back the retirement age to 50.

  27. 27.

    randy khan

    @patroclus:

    So that’s 0-2 in the federal appeals courts (0-3 if you count the effort to get the whole 9th Circuit to rehear the case). The notification I received on my phone said the case likely is headed for the Supreme Court, but I have to wonder about that. Yes, it’s an important case, but so far no appeals court has seen fit to agree with the Administration about the legality of the ban.

  28. 28.

    Peale

    So Clarke is going to Homeland Security or is he just claiming that he is but no job offer has been made. Confusing. I would have preferred for him to be out of Milwaukee. He hasn’t resigned yet or anything, right?

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    As for Clarke taking a job as Assistant Secretary at DHS, is that a position that requires Senate confirmation? Because this guy has such massive baggage, I can’t imagine even this Senate giving him the okay.

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    @MattF:

    Liar, bully, creep. Probably safe to assume he’s an abuser of some sort.

    Serial murderer. Take a look at the number of people who have died in his jail, including completely unacceptable causes like dehydration. I would say he deserves to be locked up in his own jail, but even he doesn’t deserve that treatment.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    They’re all weirdos and severely damaged personalities in this maladministration, every one of them

    Yup. That’s what “norms” are about. They’re standards. Trump has set much lower standards, partly because he’s in the lead so really anything goes.

    I looked at that photo of Ivanka and Melania and Trump and the Pope and that’s just a weird photo. It’s like 4 grim people staring at the camera who seem to have no connection to one another. It looks tragic, like they encountered each other immediately after some epic disaster.

  34. 34.

    Roger Moore

    @Ian G.:

    Snowflake proudly displays all his participation ribbons.

    They aren’t even participation ribbons. They’re like lower class versions of the flag lapel pins other politicians feel compelled to wear.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Joy Reid trolled Clarke with the “flare” scene from Office Space the other day, then showed that one of his bits of flare can be purchased on eBay for less than $5. Looks like it was a little filler clip and it’s not online

    ETA: ETA: ah, it is in the longer clip: A traffic cop pin from Israel, but I slandered poor Sheriff Clarke, his flair cost $6.99

  38. 38.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    I would say he deserves to be locked up in his own jail, but even he doesn’t deserve that treatment.

    Of course he does. Let the penalty fit the crime.

  39. 39.

    Raoul

    We don’t know if he is a Nazi.

    He is a sociopath, and has facilitated four deaths in his jail. I don’t really care if he’s a Nazi or not. He is aligned with evil.

  40. 40.

    Garbo

    Wish I remembered where I saw this, but Sherriff Clarke and his medal flare have earned him the nickname: Generalissimo TGI Fridays

  41. 41.

    TenguPhule

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    just WHO was going to stop Trump et al., and Omnes Omnibus replied, succinctly, “Courts.”

    Only until Trump starts packing them and the Republicans just let him.

    Letting the Republicans get away with blocking years of Obama appointments is now coming back to bite us all.

  42. 42.

    TenguPhule

    @mai naem mobile:

    I am going to get some kind of repetitive motion injury from face palming Dolt’s actions.

    Simple solution, don’t bother removing your palm from your face. Save time and energy!

  44. 44.

    ? Martin

    @Garbo: ‘Flair’, btw. Although strapping a few dozen flares and lighting them off might be a better idea for this yahoo.

  45. 45.

    scott (the other one)

    @Jeffro: Really interesting and possibly very telling just how outspoken Christie is being, given how subservient his actions over the previous nine or so months.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    Trump has set much lower standards, partly because he’s in the lead so really anything goes.

    I’m pretty sure the main reason is because he prizes loyalty above anything else. He wants oaths of personal loyalty from his subordinates. We haven’t destroyed our democratic culture to the point that competent, self-respecting people are willing to abase themselves that way, so he’s left with the dregs- losers, incompetents, and others who no other administration would ever employ. I’m pretty sure that’s why he’s been so slow to fill the rest of the jobs that require Senate confirmation: he can’t find enough people who are horrible enough to swear an oath of fealty while still being able to pass a security screening and Senate confirmation.

  48. 48.

    scott (the other one)

    @mai naem mobile: That was absolutely shocking, even by Trump standards. How clearly are those the actions of a desperately insecure (or, as my wife thinks, simply overwhelmed and confused) man?

    I wonder what would happen if a fistfight broke out at a time like that? I mean, each of those leaders presumably has their own version of the Secret Service, and I’m not sure any of them are necessarily going to be deferential in any way to our Secret Service. I can’t figure out whether I’m hoping we find out or not.

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    You see all that shit pinned all over his dress uniform jacket?

    That’s not shit, that’s flair.

    ETA: Naturally, about eleventy people had the same thought and beat me to the comments.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @geg6:

    A woman who gave birth there, along with her baby. In the fucking jail.

    Shackled. On the floor.

  56. 56.

    Gravenstone

    @Roger Moore: Even better is that Clarke actively courts controversy. Yet is strangely ill equipped to handle the actual consequences, like people recognizing him and speaking out against his words and actions. It’s all Trumpism now – Snowflake? No Snowflake! No Snowflake! You’re the Snowflake!

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    Barack Obama warned Trump not to hire Flynn. As The New York Times reported earlier this month: Mr. Obama, who had fired Mr. Flynn as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Mr. Trump that he would have profound concerns about Mr. Flynn becoming a top national security aide, said the administration officials, who were briefed on the Oval Office conversation. Mr. Trump later ignored the advice, naming Mr. Flynn to be his national security adviser.

    Trump probably developed a hard-on for Flynn precisely because he thought that Flynn hated Obama.

    And then it is very likely that Trump discounted Obama’s warning about Flynn because Trump didn’t think that anything a black man had to say was worth listening to. Obama tried to respect the transition process and give his informed judgment. Trump was the ignorant, egotistical Man Baby who rejected Obama’s honest, objective reservations about Flynn.

    And when Yates and others came with warnings, Trump could dismiss them as representing Democrats or the “deep state” or inconvenient false messengers simply because they refused to confirm Trump’s obviously excellent decision.

    Trump’s intellectual inadequacy can be seen in his choice of Flynn and his subsequent reaction, even before you consider any Putin tie-in.

  60. 60.

    ? Martin

    @Roger Moore: I think that’s part of it. I had a colleague that would hire the most barely competent people because it ensured that she was never overshadowed and that they would remain intensely loyal to her because they could barely get through their day without her.

    Trump is therefore torn between hiring people that are less knowledgable of the job than him (a very tall order) or simply finding people that are sufficiently loyal that even if they are better at the job, they won’t overshadow him. We’ve already seen comments from cabinet officials that they have to walk a fine line there.

  64. 64.

    germy

    @Brachiator:

    Trump probably developed a hard-on for Flynn precisely because he thought that Flynn hated Obama.

    And Flynn developed a hard-on after he was fired by Obama.

    So everything really is Obama’s fault, if you look closely enough.

  65. 65.

    scott (the other one)

    @? Martin: I worked for someone similar—I could never understand why, in our company, the various heads of the sales and marketing division over the years were the only VPs who were…well, kinda dim. Finally, over drinks one night, one of the other veeps explained that historically in our company, the president had been elevated from being the VP of sales and marketing, including the current president. Which is why the current president made sure that the head of his former department was never going to be a threat to him. I was more than a bit skeptical, but I watched over 25 years as he held the position, while at least four or five VPs of sales and marketing came and went.

  67. 67.

    Kay

    @Roger Moore:

    It still baffles me why people don’t see him as weak. This is a really weak person- I mean NOTHING holding this guy up but his huge ego:

    Trump denied he supported National Front’s Le Pen in France’s election. “You were my guy” he told Macron today, French officials say.

    Me, me, me. Respect me, pay attention to me, flatter me. How is this a strong or even COMPLETE person? There’s big, important..parts missing.

  68. 68.

    ruemara

    @TenguPhule: They’re enjoying being goons. Further proof that my theory that some in law enforcement are the bullies that weren’t too stupid to understand consequences.

  70. 70.

    geg6

    @Kay:

    He’s not a strong or complete person. And only weak and incomplete people would see him as one. Which tells you quite a lot about his supporters.

  71. 71.

    Roger Moore

    @? Martin:
    I’m not joking about the oath of personal loyalty. It sounds as if Trump actually expects his subordinates to swear loyalty to the President, not the Constitution. It’s not the kind of thing that leads to hiring for competence.

  73. 73.

    Ocotillo

    @scott (the other one): An interesting irony would have been naming Christie FBI Director and Christie has his ultimate revenge and puts together the case that brings down not just lil’ Jared, but Trumpov as well.

  74. 74.

    Ocotillo

    One other thing, I am in and out of here a lot but have missed why Ryan is referred to as ZEGS?

  75. 75.

    No One of Consequence

    @Laura: Glad to have posted it then. I later realized it was months old, but somehow I missed it when it came out. Too bad too, because I thought the old commercials were side-splittingly funny.

    So, sorry for recylcing old stuff, but happy at least one Juicer found it amusing.

    – NOoC

  76. 76.

    SFAW

    Re: various comments about Asshole having the gall to call anyone else a “snowflake”: Projection is ALL with those motherfuckers.

    Crooked Shitgibbon calling Hillary that
    Shitgibbon and товарищ Flynnski yelling “Lock her up”

    and so on

  77. 77.

    Kay

    @? Martin:

    I think I disagree. Trump is odd, so he hires other misfits. There’s a lot about him that’s just off. The complete lack of a sense of humor, the unsettling lack of humanity with how he treats people, how he believes everything anyone tells him, the lying that is so pervasive he doesn’t even seem to know the difference. He’s a weirdo who hires other weirdos.

  78. 78.

    low-tech cyclist

    “Plaintiff then, while standing over Clarke and in very close proximity to Clarke given the confines of the airline cabin, and in a physically threatening manner, stared at Clarke and shook his head at him for a prolonged period of time,” the lawyers wrote. “Clarke asked plaintiff if he had a problem with him, to which plaintiff did not respond.”

    Clarke felt he had to call the cops on Black (the plaintiff) because Black stood over him and shook his head at him. That pretty much defines ‘snowflake’ in my book.

  83. 83.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Gravenstone:

    Even better is that Clarke actively courts controversy. Yet is strangely ill equipped to handle the actual consequences

    I believe this is mistaking a symptom for the disease. Having known too many people like this, what Clarke is doing is abusing his power, any power. He is exercising his id, inflicting whatever cruelties he feels like to others, including metaphorically giving the finger to anyone who is offended. Someone who has been getting away with that is not prepared when they deal with pushback, no. Not getting pushback, just getting to be the asshole they want to be, is central to their pleasures.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    Joseph Lieberman has withdrawn his name from consideration as FBI director

    Woo hoo. Good job, Democratic Senators. That was unacceptable.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:
    Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Fifteen times is enemy action.

    ETA: Maybe this is the real reason Christie is on the outs with the administration: no ties to Russia.

  88. 88.

    rikyrah

    @mai naem mobile:

    Seeing the title of the post, I thought it was going to be about Dolt pushing his way fron of the NATO leaders walking. I am going to get some kind of repetitive motion injury from face palming Dolt’s actions.

    I thought that too.

  89. 89.

    rikyrah

    @Jeffro:

    It’s time to lay bare this fishy bromance and come to know the full breadth of Flynn’s furtive activities and whether Trump was aware or complicit, before, during or after. Kick back America; it’s Mueller time.

    TRUTH!!!

  91. 91.

    Kay

    @? Martin:

    When Trump was elected I thought he would at least appear to enjoy the job and that would be good for him politically. But he doesn’t. He looks like he wants to go home and he’s always insisting people tell him he won. He’s not a whole person in some vital way- like one dimensional- flat.

  92. 92.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: That makes me happy too. I was unprepared to listen to his whiny-ass voice and see his quivering jowls on my TV again.

  94. 94.

    Gravenstone

    @raven: I don’t know that anyone is accusing him of wearing faked military medals. Rather, his dress uniform “fruit salad” has no relationship to his role and position. Further, pieces of it appear to be self procured simply for the “flair” effect.

    eta: I understand that the Twitter poster is making such a claim. I meant that no one here appeared to follow that accusation with their own. We’re all just happy to mock him for the sheer ostentatiousness of it.

  95. 95.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker: \

    Clarke is a sociopath who shouldn’t be trusted with watering a houseplant, let alone leading a department in a federal agency.

    truth

    Slave catcher Supreme Class

  97. 97.

    clay

    @Kay: Am I mis-remembering, or have all of the people who were supposedly being considered now withdrawn their names?

    Cornyn, Gowdy, McFeely, now Lieberman… was there anyone else?

    EDIT: I suppose John McCain will have a cry in the corner, now.

  98. 98.

    Bill

    @Felonius Monk: Technical point, but Clarke is a Democrat.

    As I’ve been saying since he announced the Homeland gig, I’m torn between being terrified for my country and ecstatic that he’s leaving my city.

  99. 99.

    The Lodger

    @Ian G.: He must be disappointed now that Cracker Jack has stopped giving away prizes other than stickers.

  100. 100.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I looked at that photo of Ivanka and Melania and Trump and the Pope and that’s just a weird photo. It’s like 4 grim people staring at the camera who seem to have no connection to one another. It looks tragic, like they encountered each other immediately after some epic disaster.

    That’s why folks called the Addams Family…but, to be honest, there is more love with the Addams Family than this group.
    The Pope’s face cracked me up.

  101. 101.

    Corner Stone

    This is why SNL should have never elevated Glenn Thrush. He is an asshole who does not know how to articulate the truth.

  102. 102.

    Frankensteinbeck

    As for the OP, I read the Snopes article @raven so helpfully linked. Apparently the pins mean nothing at all. They’re just doodads he likes to wear. The whole thing is fake. Snopes, being scrupulously literal, claims this means he is not wearing unearned military badges. The point, of course, is that it makes not a damn bit of difference whether they’re real badges and a real uniform. The people seeing him, see him wearing a uniform and badges. Real or made up, the impact is exactly the same. He’s stealing military honors in a lazier, more cowardly way.

  103. 103.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Kay,

    Did you catch this from DeVos?

    Betsy DeVos All Smiles as She Endorses States’ Rights to Discriminate Against Children
    By Christina Cauterucci

    ……………..

    The U.S. Secretary of Education declined to provide even one example of any kind of discrimination that might preclude a school from receiving federal funding. “I think the Office of Civil Rights and our Title IX protections are broadly applicable across the board,” DeVos said, which is quite rich, considering that the Republican Party has made a major stink over what they consider OCR’s overreach in addressing sexual assault and discrimination in schools. “But when it comes to parents making choices on behalf of their students—”

    “This isn’t about parents making choices,” Clark interrupted. “This is about use of federal dollars.”

    In the final moments of the exchange, DeVos delivered what she must have imagined to be an inspiring call to arms on behalf of American children. “I go back to the bottom line, is we believe that parents are the best equipped to make choices for their children’s schooling and education decisions and too many children today are trapped in schools that don’t work for them,” she said. “We have to do something different than continuing a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach. And that is the focus, and states and local communities are best equipped to make these decisions and framework on behalf of their students.”

    DeVos calls what she’s endorsing “state flexibility.” States, she’s saying, should have the flexibility to exclude marginalized demographics from federally funded public schools if they deem it appropriate for their students. No cookie-cutter integrated school solutions for DeVos, who once praised education under Jim Crow as a pioneering example of school choice! The Secretary of Education wants students to have all of the options, including federally funded options that allow them to avoid learning alongside queer students, students of color, students of faith, or students with disabilities, if their parents prefer it that way.

    http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/05/24/betsy_devos_is_all_smiles_as_she_endorses_states_rights_to_discriminate.html

  105. 105.

    chopper

    @low-tech cyclist:

    “Plaintiff then, while standing over Clarke and in very close proximity to Clarke given the confines of the airline cabin, and in a physically threatening manner, stared at Clarke and shook his head at him for a prolonged period of time,” the lawyers wrote.

    wow, I didn’t know the guy quietly shook his head. where I come from them’s fighting silence!

  107. 107.

    Captain C

    @Roger Moore: It’s too bad Penzone is dismantling Tent City in Maricopa County, AZ. That would be a great place for Clarke (and maybe he can bunk with Arpaio if the latter is ever busted for his corruption and abuse of power).

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @scott (the other one):

    Even Trump’s voice, his speaking sound, is flat. It doesn’t have depth, it doesn’t change. It doesn’t matter what he’s saying he always says it the same way. Compare to Obama – how many emotions he ran thru in the single announcement of Sandy Hook- we had sad Obama and furious Obama and snarky Obama and joyful Obama for different events. You feel like if you pushed against Trump he’d be a cardboard cut-out. It’s all the same blaring belligerence for any and all occasions. That to me comes off as cold to the point of odd.

  113. 113.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m not joking about the oath of personal loyalty. It sounds as if Trump actually expects his subordinates to swear loyalty to the President, not the Constitution.

    When I call Trump and his minions fascists, I’m not being metaphorical.

  114. 114.

    trollhattan

    @Kay:
    Cole’s Twitter feed links to a new “Sassy Donald of Arabia” video. While it’s a hoot as always my takeaway from the series is that Trump’s actual words inevitably come across as doubly demented heard in another voice. Same impact as Shatner’s dramatic readings of Palin (Tina Fey’s too, for that matter although she was also mimicing).

  116. 116.

    germy

    @raven:

    Bullshit,his shit are pins not awards. It may be tacky but it ain’t “stolen valor”

    True, but the average person sees a photo of Clarke with all those pins and thinks “Wow, look at all those awards” not “he must be a squirrel who likes to collect shiny things.”

    My father was a WWII POW, starved almost to death. He had a few medals, and kept them locked away in his old army box. He never wore them.

  117. 117.

    LurkerNoLonger

    @Kay: Someone reporter should do the “Yawn Test” with Trump. Yawn in front of him and see if he responds with a yawn of his own. I think that’s the fool-proof test for sociopathy.

  118. 118.

    SFAW

    @Roger Moore:

    Once is an accident. Twice is a coincidence. Fifteen times is enemy action.

    Nice Ian Fleming tie-in. But that was the other Roger Moore, OK? (Actually, I think it was Connery who said it in a film, but WTF do I know?)

  119. 119.

    Ocotillo

    Thanks to all who chimed in on what ZEGS means. I am too old school, I barely know lol and smh.

  120. 120.

    ArchTeryx

    @Laura: Shrek would have a few words about being associated with a cretin like this Idi Amin wannabe.

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    @LurkerNoLonger:

    I think that’s the fool-proof test for sociopathy.

    And I heard if you simultaneously fart, burp, and sneeze, you die.

    Seriously, where do you come up with that? If that “Test” were valid, about 75 percent of the population would be considered sociopaths.

  123. 123.

    germy

    Gaming news:

    Call of Duty: WWII Campaign Won’t Let Players Be Nazis

    The latest confirmed news on the upcoming Call of Duty: WW2 is that players will not be able to play as Axis powers during the campaign mode.

  124. 124.

    TenguPhule

    @SFAW:

    If that “Test” were valid, about 75 percent of the population would be considered sociopaths.

    Even if that test wasn’t valid, that would still be true.

  126. 126.

    SFAW

    @clay:

    I think Goldfinger said it, actually.

    Yeah, you’re right. Still a Connery film, but my attribution was obviously worng. (Other than it being Ian Fleming, of course.)

  127. 127.

    Chyron HR

    @SFAW:

    If that “Test” were valid, about 75 percent of the population would be considered sociopaths.

    Yes, and…?

  128. 128.

    SFAW

    @TenguPhule:

    Even if that test wasn’t valid, that would still be true.

    Hey, just because YOU hate everyone, doesn’t mean the rest of us do. Well, outside of Cole and me, that is.

  129. 129.

    Roger Moore

    @SFAW:

    Actually, I think it was Connery who said it in a film, but WTF do I know?

    It was Auric Goldfinger, but he describes it as an old saying. I think that’s true, and it’s not something Flemming made up.

  130. 130.

    SFAW

    @Chyron HR:

    Yes, and…?

    Hey, I can get behind the 43 percent who voted for Shitgibbon as being that way, but 75 percent is a pathology too far.

  131. 131.

    Boatboy_srq

    @Citizen Alan: I keep thinking that Susan Collins would be an exception, were it not for her resemblance to the type C. S. Lewis called “hangers-on and tale-bearers”.

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    @Roger Moore:

    Although I think (based on near-zero evidence — does this mean I’m turning into a RWNJ?) that Fleming used it in the book.

  134. 134.

    Brachiator

    @germy:

    And Flynn developed a hard-on after he was fired by Obama.

    So everything really is Obama’s fault, if you look closely enough.

    Only true on Fox News and in the special bubble of Trump’s mind.

  139. 139.

    Ol'Froth

    Most of the pins on his uniform are commerative/collectables that are traded by law enforcement officers for their collections, same as departmental/unit patches. No one I know of puts them on their uniforms, and certainly not a dress blouse. The only ribbon/pin I see that was earned is the FBI-National Academy bar, but he’s also wearing his session pin, which most people wear as a lapel pin on a civilian suit coat.

  140. 140.

    Doug Gardner

    @Betty Cracker: I’m so glad to know that I am not alone in being OK (um, let’s be honest, HAPPY) when a few people shuffle off this mortal coil. Scalia was one for me.

  142. 142.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Boatboy_srq: Collins is useless. Another one of those “moderate” republicans that waters down good democratic legislation and votes against it, and expresses “deep concerns” over GOP legislation and then always votes for it.

  143. 143.

    The Pale Scot

    On the upside, we don’t know if he is a Nazi.

    He is perhaps the neo Conferderate/Nazi movement’s stolen Negro.

  147. 147.

    J R in WV

    @Ocotillo:

    you ask “why Ryan is referred to as ZEGS?”

    It means “Zombie Eyed Grandma Starver”

    As many others have said…..

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