Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

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

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Democrats are back in array!

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

We won’t go back.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

This really is a full service blog.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

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

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / Kids these days

Kids these days

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I have incredible respect for those students. If I was 19 and standing there, I would have punched someone. The discipline and the courage to bear witness and hold onto their values without allowing themselves to respond to clear and constant provocations is incredible.

The kids are alright.

Reader Interactions

156Comments

  1. 1.

    Gemina13

    These kids are beautiful, and I want to protect them from the cesspit dwellers surrounding them.

  2. 2.

    Elie

    Their non violence in response is so STRONG. I send them all my love and note their honor to what is important. Wonderful!

  3. 3.

    Cheryl Rofer

    This is so important. I saw “The Singing Revolution” again a few weeks ago. It’s about the nonviolent protests that led to Estonia’s leaving the Soviet Union and precipitating its breakup. People HAD to be nonviolent because anything else would have given Mikhail Gorbachev a reason to crack down. Hardliners were leaning on him to. It seemed to me that we need to be learning nonviolent protest again. It’s not easy. The nonviolent civil rights protesters of the 1960s did a lot of training.

  4. 4.

    efgoldman

    It’s probably not a coincidence that the racist shitbag assholes chose to hold their demonstration when school was not in session and ~22,000 students weren’t on campus.

  6. 6.

    lamh36

    Saw this last night…good for those kids…

    The media really needs to make sure to point out that it didn’t start this morning, but started last night when Richard Spencer et al, had their stupid Tiki march…

  7. 7.

    Phred

    @Gemina13: I hear you and understand you.

    I’m only happy to know that these kids are beautiful and brave and will grow to be greater than all of us are.

  11. 11.

    debbie

    I’m sorry. Everything about those alt-right clowns is hateful and despicable, but marching around with tiki torches makes them look like pussies.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    People HAD to be nonviolent because anything else would have given Mikhail Gorbachev a reason to crack down. Hardliners were leaning on him to. It seemed to me that we need to be learning nonviolent protest again. It’s not easy.

    Civil rights protesters were protesting against official, often militaristic authority. The alt right fools don’t represent anyone but themselves. Mockery, instead of violence is about all they deserve. And obviously non violence is good lest things spiral out of control and hurt innocents.

    ETA. We are coming up on the anniversary of the August 14 partition of India and Pakistan. And of course non-violent resistance was part of the strategy to win independence. Various BBC programs, from the News Hour to the Women’s Hour to various history programs and podcasts have wonderful segments, often with interviews of people who lived through those times or their descendants. Very fascinating stuff.

    I hope that people will be able to look back and see that something good emerged from these crazy times.

  18. 18.

    Jeffro

    Probably no colncidence that those late-teen students came of age during the years 2008-2016, back when there was a role model the whole country could look up to.

    Sort of the opposite of Reagan Babies, if you think about it.

  21. 21.

    PhoenixRising

    Where do I click to help sponsor a weekend for John Lewis, Diane Nash and the other survivors of the Nashville sit-in movement to connect with this generation’s best and brightest?

  22. 22.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    Thank you, you beautiful kids. I am in tears, and feel such hope on this terrible day.

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    @PhoenixRising: I don’t know, but Sara Benincasa had a good list up on Twitter of Charlottesville-area charities, churches, and other organizations that help support the community in time of need. You can check that out.

  32. 32.

    tobie

    @Major Major Major Major: According to a Guardian article referenced in the twitter thread, the white nationalists were surrounding counter-protesters and pepper spraying them or throwing lighter fluid in their direction. I don’t think the students are hiding. It’s more likely they’re protecting their faces from noxious fumes.

    EDIT: oops…I see Adam mentioned this in #28.

  35. 35.

    Ohio Mom

    @Omnes Omnibus: Further proof that our side is smarter.

    A lot of those Nazis are going to be recognized and identified via social media, and that will follow them around. There is already one twitter feed making the rounds where the tweets are along the lines of “That’s the jerk from our history class!” “He lived in my dorm!”

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: It would be better if they opened a domestic security file (domestic terrorism investigation) in the circumstances. But that they’re taking action is a good sign.

  42. 42.

    scav

    @Brachiator: Some photos I just ran across for your India anniversary sidenote.

    It helps somewhat to be reminded that the entire nation isn’t ok with this. Enough of them seem placid enough to be tacit enablers to put me in a space beyond words.

  43. 43.

    Lyrebird

    @lamh36: Old reply but I wanted to thank you for flagging that excellent letter from Martin Booman …Longman? I don’t know. Glad I read it.

    Will this latest tragedy help the Ryan Coopers notice that we’re still not a post-racial society? Who knows.

  44. 44.

    Kay

    Hope springs eternal at the NYTimes. Maybe Ivanka will ride in and magically turn her father into a completely different and much better person! Any day now ! Could happen!

    Maggie Haberman‏Verified account @maggieNYT 23m23 minutes ago
    More
    Shabbat has been over for a few hours. Ivanka Trump, who sometimes weighs in on Twitter on major incidents, silent re the neo-Nazi rally.

    Next up: General Kelly Will Save Us All, Part IV.

  46. 46.

    sharl

    I never thought I would link to a tweet from da share z0ne over here – dsz’s feed is more for the young irony/weird twitter crowd – but if you liked the short video clip of Hitler’s building-top swastika gettin’ blowed up real good in Cole’s earlier post, you might like this as well.

  48. 48.

    trollhattan

    Meet our new police chief and remember that most of the country isn’t insane. We’re suffering from a nasty minority having their day in the limelight.

  49. 49.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: He doesn’t. But the career folks at the FBI, especially the Field Office for that portion of Virginia, the natsec department, and the career natsec prosecutors at the DOJ, as well as the career folks at the US Attorney’s Office for that portion of Virginia do.

  50. 50.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Pro-Tip: If you haul your pathetic, underachieving, lily white gamer ass from Ohio to Virginia to march around with assholes who wear swastikas, carry clubs and torches, and shout “White Power” and “Blood and Soil”, you can take that weak shit about “ah wuz skeered when them protestors wuz around muh car” on out of here.

    You’re no wide eyed innocent. You were there to do bad things in the name of your “superior”(LOL) race.

  53. 53.

    Yutsano

    *waves from a hotel room south of Seattle*

    Non-violent resistance is indeed hard. Kudos to those kids.

  54. 54.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    Thank you for everything today Balloon Juice ?Don’t know what I’d do without this community.

  55. 55.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Adam L Silverman:
    It didn’t occur to me that it would be the FBI, but it would have to be, wouldn’t it? Was Comey replaced? It strikes me that Sessions would be too distanced from the level where the investigation happens to sweep it under the rug.

  56. 56.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Adam L Silverman:

    If that wannabe Heydrich makes any Pretrial release, he’d better tat up in AB colors here and now.

    Of course, he’ll be somebody’s bitch for a few years, even in the AB, but at least he can maybe avoid being randomly shanked by people outside the AB.

  57. 57.

    Lyrebird

    @Adam L Silverman: Do you know what the crossed rolling pins are supposed to stand for? Maybe I should not ask, but I do think that shedding light on these domestic terrorist groups is important.

  59. 59.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: @efgoldman: I want to make another point on this right now that I’ll expand on in a post (eventually). Despite the President’s tepid and thoroughly unacceptable responses today (twitter, press availability, more twitter), having several of these happen in short order is as much a threat to the President, his presidency, AG Sessions, and AG Sessions agenda for DOJ action. Chaos may suit Putin’s ambitions. And, perhaps, Bannon’s. But several of these, showing that the administration cannot just ensure the safety of Americans to protest or counterprotest, but that the President cannot actually separate himself from the white nationalists and white supremacists, regardless of which group they come from, perpetrating acts of domestic terrorism will become fatal to his Presidency. This isn’t 1916-1917 when Wilson could hire a propagandist to convince the vast majority of Americans to accept an authoritarian usurpation of the Constitution because the US was going to and then in a war. This is 2017. You can’t stop the signal. And no matter what the President or Bannon may think, they can’t control the message. You can’t promise law and order while having David Duke at events where his fellow travelers are marching while “Hailing Trump” and then killing other Americans for the lulz.

  62. 62.

    Kay

    In a statement, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that “the violence and deaths in Charlottesville strike at the heart of American law and justice. When such actions arise from racial bigotry and hatred, they betray our core values and cannot be tolerated.”

    Yeah, you’re real credible on civil rights. The man who stood there next to Donald Trump like some grinning idiot elf during all those hate rallies.

    Oh, well. There’s always the county prosecutor. Maybe he or she isn’t completely discredited.

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    @Adam L. Silverman

    it may be old hat to mention that yes, sunlight is a disinfectant.

    Won’t eradicate the infestation on its own, it goes without saying, but far preferable to letting malevolence operate in the shadows.

  68. 68.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Lyrebird: The dipshit had his shield upside down. They’re crossed fasces. Not sure which group the symbol is specifically associated with. The black saltires on a white field are the new League of the South flags though.

  70. 70.

    dmsilev

    @Major Major Major Major: There are worse ways to spend time, that’s for sure.

    I’m not too big on the ‘blow stuff up or shoot things’ genre, but I’ll happily sink bunches of hours into building-type games.

  71. 71.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Lyrebird:

    Do you know what the crossed rolling pins are supposed to stand for? Maybe I should not ask, but I do think that shedding light on these domestic terrorist groups is important.

    @Mike J:

    If I had to guess (and nobody is making me, but I will anyway) kinder, küche, kirche.

    Not a rolling pin. The guy on the left is holding his shield or whatever it is upside-down. The guy next to him has it right-side-up, and the symbol is a stylized fasces (bundle of sticks surrounding an axe).

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    That is just wild that they dress like Trump. I was thinking about the Michigan Militia during Clinton and how they were so far underground. It was pre-internet so there weren’t all these photos but they weren’t MARCHING wearing the campaign swag of GOP candidates. It was like “oh, it’s those crazy unemployed men with the poorly-printed newsletters”. Of course later they became infamous but there was just no sense that they felt they were part of a mainstream political party even before the violence. They weren’t like “George HW Bush supporters, but in camo with explosives” They were the fringeist of the fringe. The only reason I knew about them was liberals talked about them.

  73. 73.

    Lyrebird

    @Mike J:

    kinder, küche, kirche

    Hey it’s a guess.

    If I had any access to Rachel Maddow’s staffers, I would want them to bring back the tapes of the then-candidate now UGH president in St Louis. Maddow rightfully highlighted his encouragement of violence towards protesters, but didn’t make much of what I found maybe even more chilling. Creep In Chief said things like, those people, they don’t contribute anything… I saw that and thought, okay Godwin’s Law and all but F&U!K that’s about as Hitlerian as anything I’ve heard a living person say on record other than david duke…

  75. 75.

    mouse tolliver

    @Phred: I’ve only seen Joy Reid pressing this issue. Everyone else is acting like the police were heroes. Just like some pretended the police didn’t cheer when Trump told them to beat up suspects.

  76. 76.

    Adam L Silverman

    @NotMax: Yes, but it isn’t just the disinfectant component alone. You can’t be an authoritarian if you can’t actually project authority and enforce it. If Boston goes down the way Charlottesville did, minus the open carriers as that isn’t allowed in MA, it will make things much, much harder for the President, the AG, their supporters and their enablers. I guarantee that Boston PD’s and the MA State Police’s counterterrorism and intel units will be spending the next several days going over every bit of social media and news footage of today’s events. By the time next Saturday’s rally starts they’ll have IDs on a large number of these people.

  77. 77.

    dmsilev

    @Major Major Major Major: Have fun! I just more-or-less finished a long play-through of that, deciding to try my hand at building a really big production operation.

    If you’ve just started, there’s a note at the beginning saying that the goal is to build and launch a rocket; doing that will end up taking several hundred thousand resources of various types, which can take a while for a normal-sized production chain to craft into a rocket. A common goal for a big factory is to hit one rocket per minute. I hit about 0.6 RPM, and am well satisfied.

  78. 78.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    having several of these happen in short order is as much a threat to the President, his presidency, AG Sessions, and AG Sessions agenda for DOJ action.

    I’m sure your right in the medium to long term political atmosphere. In the short term, though, I’m afraid more people are going to get hurt or killed. There’s a certain overlap in the Venn diagram of ammosexuals and right wing assholes. There were lots of visible weapons today in Charlottsville. One of these times, someone is going to feel threatened enough, or amped enough, or drunk enough, actually to start shooting. Then all kinds of shit hits the fan.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kay: Ahhh Mike “From Michigan” Koernke. The janitor from the physical sciences building at University of Michigan.

    From news reports there were a lot of MAGA hats, as well as t-shirts and signs that mashed up NAZI sayings with support for the President. Say what you will about the fact that they’ve been able to ignore the dog whistle stuff for decades, but this type of stuff is not going to play well with the country club and nice, suburban Republicans. It’s one thing to ignore dog whistles, it’s quite another to have your nose rubbed into the fact that these folks are now the Republican President’s most ardent supporters.

    In aikido, and other Japanese martial arts, we often refer to the Zen concept of training as first polishing a mirror and then holding it up to one’s attacker/opponent. This holds a mirror up for the portion of the GOP that considers itself mainstream, respectable, and not racist or bigoted. They are going to be very discomfited by what they see in that mirror.

  80. 80.

    Lyrebird

    @SiubhanDuinne: @Adam L Silverman: Thanks for the explanations!

    Sunlight sunlight sunlight. And I wouldn’t trust the current AG to protect anything other than his own hide, but Virginia? Plenty of problems there, like most states, but it’s called home by so many military folks as well as CIA HQ. I think Macmullin just praised Terry Mac (RawStory link) and admitted that the GOP’s been avoiding condemning racism…

    Water is wet, I know, but the more conservative Utahns and Virginians and whoevers condeming the Nazis, the better in my book.

  83. 83.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: Without a doubt. I’ve consistently written here that things are going to get bad in the short term. That people that don’t deserve to be hurt will be. I have not change my assessment.

  86. 86.

    lamh36

    there is a picture floating around twitter that is alleged to be the victim in the Charlotteville attack.

    So far I haven’t seen it confirmed by any media sources

  88. 88.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Adam L Silverman:

    This holds a mirror up for the portion of the GOP that considers itself mainstream, respectable, and not racist or bigoted. They are going to be very discomfited by what they see in that mirror.

    I would very much like this to be true. It would validate the way I see human beings. But I have seen so much unthinking support of Trump, no matter what, that I am waiting to see how this all plays out.

    BTW, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions has issued a stronger statement than the President did.

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: I dunno, Adam. what I got from my RWNJ dad earlier today was some dumb ‘both sides’ crap plus ‘BLM is sending reinforcements’…my air quote “libertarian” brother was remarkably silent all day…

    They are nowhere close to taking ownership of what they have supported up to this point.

  90. 90.

    The Other Bob

    Something I have been thinking about lately…

    If your church has a Europianized depiction of Jesus on its walls, your church is part of the white supremacist problem.

  93. 93.

    efgoldman

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    Jeff Sessions statement on opening an investigation into today’s violence in Charlottesville

    Who wrote that and what did they do with Evil Leprechaun, tie him up in the basement?

  95. 95.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Cheryl Rofer: It isn’t a given, but their moment of truth and self discovery is coming. They will have to decide to stand up as Americans or be recognized for who they are on the basis of their implicit and/or explicit support of what is happening.

    Also, it’s a Zen concept filtered through centuries of Japanese martial traditions. It’s not supposed to actually make sense, just sound impressive.//

  96. 96.

    dmsilev

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    BTW, Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions has issued a stronger statement than the President did.

    That’s a pretty low bar to clear.

  97. 97.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jeffro: Next time you’re at your dad’s, when he’s out of the room, set the parental controls to block Fox News on his cable system. When he asks about him tell him the provider dropped it because of a dispute over concession fees. After a couple of months he should start to return to normal.

    And I wish I was kidding here.

  100. 100.

    gene108

    @Phred:

    From what I’ve read, last night the police allowed the Tiki Nazis a free hand to attack those at the Thomas Jefferson statue. Why???

    It is the right, proper, and traditional order of things in America for white people, who declare whites are superior, to be able to beat the shit out of people who disagree under the cover of law.

    White supremacists only felt the pain after the 1960’s, when the Feds started cracking down on them. And it took the Feds decades, well into the 1980’s and early 1990’s, to take the ability of white supremacists to act with impunity away.

    There’s a dark underbelly to this country that was put in the corner and realized if they stepped out things would go badly for them, until Trump came along.

  101. 101.

    AnotherBruce

    @Adam L Silverman: When you are talking about real Blood and Soil Nazis, there’s not a lot of safe space or ambiguity. You have to take a stand. I wonder when the Poltroon in Chief will come to this realization. Also, I’m not confident he will.

  102. 102.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Ken Schwencke‏ @ schwanksta 3h3 hours ago
    This is the White House’s only response to my asking three times if the President condemns white supremacists
    Hi Ken- On background, the President condemns all acts of violence

  105. 105.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Matt McIrvin: They’re stylized outlined fasces. If you look at the shield to the left of the alleged murderer you can clearly see that’s what they are.

  106. 106.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Lyrebird:

    Water is wet, I know, but the more conservative Utahns and Virginians and whoevers condeming the Nazis, the better in my book.

    You know who gets zero credit, though? Nigel Farage. That man just had the gall to cluck about the sadness of Nazi salutes in America. You don’t want them, how about not helping to bring them here?

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Just keep whistling in the dark! I mean, come on. Every day is stuff like this:

    Sam Clovis, Donald Trump’s pick to be chief scientist for the Department of Agriculture, pushed unfounded theories about then-President Barack Obama’s upbringing and called then-Attorney General Eric Holder a “racist black,” a CNN KFile review of Clovis’s writings and radio broadcasts during 2012 and 2013 has found.
    Clovis was a conservative radio host and political activist in Iowa before gaining national attention as one of the more vocal supporters of Trump during the presidential campaign. His nomination to head science at the USDA requires Senate confirmation

    He embraces these people. He finds them and hires them. It doesn’t matter what the job is- he’ll just slot them in anywhere. We’re lucky Clovis isn’t the attorney general. Was probably on the short list.

    Ivanka Trump could be the nicest, smartest person in the world and she was never going to save this presidency. This is what Donald Trump is. He doesn’t hide it. He’s never hidden it. If Obama had been an absolute disaster as a human being no one would say “well, his mother in law lives in the White House and she seems nice so she’ll probably change him into a completely different person”. It’s just wacky.

  109. 109.

    Adam L Silverman

    @AnotherBruce: They already have. Not making a clear distinction is sending a clear message. Certainly the folks at the Daily Stormer received a clear message:

  110. 110.

    sharl

    @lamh36: Hmm, maybe an NFL team will rethink matters regarding Colin Kaepernick and sign hi…
    Bwahahaha, I crack myself up sometimes.

  111. 111.

    Mike J

    @dmsilev:

    I’m not too big on the ‘blow stuff up or shoot things’ genre, but I’ll happily sink bunches of hours into building-type games.

    Waiting impatiently for Stardew Valley multiplayer. We can start a balloon-juice commune.

  113. 113.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kay: Clovis is part of AG Sessions circle. He also, from reporting, had a hand in connecting Carter Page with the campaign via Sessions.

  115. 115.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Cheryl Rofer:
    Mikhail Gorbachev will always be the real hero who peacefully ended the cold war to me. For the USSR, his reforms were too little too late. Maybe 20 years earlier. And it is incredible that non-violence worked back then. I think it’s safe to say that without the backing of the feds, things could have turned even uglier then they were.

  117. 117.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: What gets me is that anyone could have watched Trump’s campaign rallies as depicted on TV and known that his election would egg the Nazis and Grand Imperial Kleagles into running riot, but everyone in the Republican Party is acting like this is some kind of surprise.

  118. 118.

    lamh36

    @Adam L Silverman: Right…

    I get that with family sometimes it easier to not confront, but I just can’t accept that. I’m sure the issues that need to be spoken about is different if you’re white than for my predominantly Black family. Overt racism, antisemitic rhetoric, etc, is just not something I have to deal with at family gathering or when I visit my mom or my old uncle.

    I’m a firm believer that people will be who they will be, but I’ll be darned if I won’t speak up and speak out to friends and esp family about such things. Even if I wouldn’t change one thing with that speaking up, to do nothing, just to “keep the peace” within the family…no…nope. I am perfectly willing to never be in the presence of family members who refuse to change, and I have no trouble letting my family member know why.

    It’s about time for folks to stop just saying “well what can you do…”

    @cmclymer
    1/ Sooo… I’m gonna be blunt about this. I was born and raised in the South, my family is from the South, and we need to get real. (thread)

    4/ I’m serious. Good on you for not displaying a Confederate flag. I’m glad you didn’t vote for Trump. Congratulations on the bare minimum.

    5/ But our neighbors and our friends and our family who do these things without pushback from us will continue to do them.

    6/ Those racist assholes with torchlights marching on UVA’s campus are your nextdoor neighbors, friends, and relatives.

    8/ How many times have you heard your racist uncle rant at the Thanksgiving table about “illegals stealing our jobs”? Be honest.

    9// How many times has your father or mother or boss or coworker talked in racist code around you and you didn’t call them out? Be honest.

    https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/896583295856726016

  119. 119.

    ??‍? Martin

    Virtually all millennials I interact with (several thousand – large sample) are like this. Gives me great confidence for the future.

  120. 120.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @sharl:

    Did he leave the 49ers or did they cut him? Does the organization deserve a little extra blame for CK being unemployed? Anyone have any thoughts?

  125. 125.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Ohio Mom: What will follow them around? If they’re not arrested and prosecuted for violence what difference does that make?

  126. 126.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @lamh36:
    It’s a rare condition, this day and age
    To read any good news on the newspaper page

  127. 127.

    Matt McIrvin

    @??‍? Martin: There’s a lot of little elementary-school, middle and high-school age white kids who are learning racist bullying from Trump. Another reason to smack this down hard.

    On the other hand, they are part of a cohort even more diverse than the millennials, so they’re going to get pushback.

  128. 128.

    Adam L Silverman

    @lamh36: No arguments here. A test is coming for many white people. We will see where they line up once and for all.

  133. 133.

    AnotherBruce

    @Adam L Silverman: Fuck Russia, we have to hang this around his neck. Repeat after me, Trump supports Nazi’s, Trump supports Nazis.

    Also too, we should hang Russia around his neck. He clearly hates the United States.

  134. 134.

    Patricia Kayden

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: How do you know that? There are loads of White Supremacists/alt-right folks who are gainfully employed. All of the hundreds who turned up to riot in Charlottesville are unemployable?

    I think you underestimate how pervasive the support for racism is in the US. This is how we ended up with Trump.

  135. 135.

    Adam L Silverman

    @AnotherBruce:

    Fuck Russia

    . Aren’t we supposed to wait till the 3rd date? I mean I know my social life is a mess, but that seems to have been the rule of thumb that last time I was dating.

  137. 137.

    sharl

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Earlier this year Colin Kaepernick opted out of the second year of his contract with the 49ers to become a free agent, so that was his choice.

    I’m not normally a sports guy (to put it mildly), but lamh36’s comment reminded me that lately I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter regarding Kaepernick’s inability to land a contract with a team, and a lot of reporters and pundits/analysts who follow the NFL are rather suspicious of NFL claims that it isn’t related to his now notorious pre-game protest.

  138. 138.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Some will reveal themselves to be active racist assholes. Some will reveal themselves to be passive racists who won’t denounce white racism when they see it and will continue to blindly or knowingly accept unearned “white privilege”.

    Others will denounce and (perhaps blindly) benefit from privilege.

    Still others will denounce and strive for a “fair trade” approach to things.

    Some fools, such as Omarosa and Katrina Pierson, will ignore shit in the pursuit of power and money and fame. A hell of a lot fewer of them, but it reveals that assholes come in all colors, creeds, and sexes.

  139. 139.

    GregB

    I hit the fever swamps in Twitter. This is all a cock-up from George Soros doncha know?

    Plus the driver was really a Bernie guy and a Trump hater too.

    Plus melon headed fascist and full potato sack impersonator Alex Jones is all over this false flag story too.

    Who could have predicted the world would spin out of control with a rage tweeter with a God complex and a shithouse societal engineer with conjoined liver running the fucking show?

  140. 140.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Excellent point. There are racist doctors, cops, professors, house painters, etc. Having a job is no inoculation from idiocy.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: I don’t know about the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s for the City of Charlottesville, but our state Attorney General – Mark Herring – is a great public servant. And isn’t afraid to speak clearly about what happened:

    Mark Herring‏ Verified account @MarkHerringVA

    The violence, chaos, and apparent loss of life in Charlottesville is not the fault of “many sides.” It is racists and white supremacists.

    1:30 PM – 12 Aug 2017

    If there’s a reason for the state to get involved, Herring will jump in with both feet to prosecute these monsters.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  143. 143.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @sharl:

    I think the Rams would do well to sign him. Their QB is young and not very impressive. L.A. has a significant black population and a sordid history of racism; maybe such a hire would be another small step towards cohesion?

  145. 145.

    sharl

    @West of the Rockies (been a while): Not being a sports person, I’m in no position to offer an informed opinion. But presuming he is NFL-worthy, this would be an opportune moment for someone to pick him up on at least a short-term contract, with (temporarily) reduced criticism, which is always a consideration for corporate suits, even absent legitimate concerns about our national tradition of racism.

  146. 146.

    Another Scott

    @The Other Bob: That’s probably too broad a brush.

    Zeinab Badawi of the BBC had a fascinating series on Africa last week or so. In one episode she was talking with some prelate or bishop or something of some ancient Christian church in Ethiopia. She was asking what he thought about some of the pictures of Jesus showing him as white while some of the newer pictures showed him having African hair and dark skin – how did the locals relate to that? He said he didn’t see a problem with it, but he himself always felt that Jesus was a Jew so he believed that he should be portrayed as “white”.

    Religion as we see it today is very complex and probably can’t be explained by looking just at what some English or French or German guys did a few hundred years ago.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  148. 148.

    Brachiator

    @scav:

    Some photos I just ran across for your India anniversary sidenote.

    Very late reply. Thanks very much.

  149. 149.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    In one episode she was talking with some prelate or bishop or something of some ancient Christian church in Ethiopia. She was asking what he thought about some of the pictures of Jesus showing him as white while some of the newer pictures showed him having African hair and dark skin – how did the locals relate to that?

    Was the interview and response in English?

    I thought that some of the early artistic depictions of the Black Jesus came out of the ancient Ethiopian church tradition, so I find this statement about Jesus to be a bit puzzling.

  150. 150.

    sm*t cl*de

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I saw “The Singing Revolution” again a few weeks ago. It’s about the nonviolent protests that led to Estonia’s leaving the Soviet Union and precipitating its breakup

    There is the theory that non-violent traditional choral music was how the Baltic states convinced Gorbachev that allowing them autonomy was better than a violent re-assertion of Russian power… and there is another theory (which is mine), which is that it was all achieved by Vana Tallinn, and Russians drinking it, and thinking “People who drink this stuff must be hardcore and really not worth fighting with.”

    Also (in the case of Latvia) Riga Black Balsam.

  154. 154.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    He embraces these people. He finds them and hires them. It

    And they him. Trump’s their useful idiot.

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