Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

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

The US Supreme Court is on the ballot in november.

It’s a new day. Light all those Biden polls of young people on fire and throw away the ashes.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

We still have time to mess this up!

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Opportunistic Jingoism Open Thread: The “Diversary” Lottery

Opportunistic Jingoism Open Thread: The “Diversary” Lottery

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Charles P. Pierce, at Esquire. “The Fatal Flaw of America’s ‘Forever’ War on Terror”:

… Acts of violence are acts of violence, whether they come from DIY jihadists, or from people driven mad by their gambling debts, or from trigger-happy police. (This would be a good time to note that Saipov got out of his truck after having killed eight people and attempted martyrdom by cop by waving a pellet gun around. He failed even at that. He’s alive. Three years ago this month, Tamir Rice, a 12-year old, was waving a pellet gun around at nobody in particular and was shot dead where he stood by a cop named Timothy Loehmann. The eight people killed in New York on Tuesday are regularly referred to as “innocent victims,” which they undoubtedly are. But so was Tamir Rice.)

Partly because of its unseemly devotion to its firearms, this is still a very violent country, and it really doesn’t have the right to distinguish one act of violence from the others. But it does, because the Forever War has been manipulated into a machine that manufactures a new kind of American innocence—a replica of something that, frankly, never was very authentic in the first place. The Forever War has become a medieval morality play for the 21st century, something akin to the Paternoster Cycle from York, with the United States in the role of the petitions from the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a kind of national Halloween parade in which the country puts on a costume in an attempt to fool its enemies.

That the dramatic cycle is being led this time by President* Trump is proof that history has a dark and weird sense of humor. The president* leapt onto the electric Twitter machine on Wednesday morning to try and pin the blame of Senator Chuck Schumer with his customary disrespect for truth and common sense. The president* has yet to blame anyone for the radicalization of Stephen Paddock…

And it is here where we should point out that Dzokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving Boston Marathon bomber, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in a conventional civilian trial in a federal court in Boston, and the sky did not fall, and jihadis with their magic Muslim powers did not cause the Moakley Courthouse to fall into the sea.

That may not matter because absurdity is an essential part of The Forever War, and never more so than it is under the present administration. I mean, Jesus H. Christ on the D train, the guy was live-tweeting Wednesday morning’s episode of Three Dolts On A Divan as his response to a terror attack. The absurdity is forever because The Forever War is forever…


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Reader Interactions

56Comments

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    I am finding it increasingly difficult to read any article or snippet more than 2 or 3 paragraphs long. I just get tired.

  4. 4.

    Mike in NC

    Trump could stand in front of a TelePrompTer and say that no foreigners would ever be able to enter this country, forever, and his xenophobic base of morons would simply give him a standing ovation.

  9. 9.

    Mike in NC

    Saw an item in today’s paper reporting a slump in sales at pizza chain Papa John’s. Wingnut owner John Schlatter wasted no time in blaming NFL players kneeling during the national anthem for the company’s woes, saying they should have been disciplined over a year ago. Just another weird story from Trump’s Alt-America.

  10. 10.

    germy

    The neoconservative Trump critic Jennifer Rubin, who also uses the word junta to describe Kelly and his fellow brass, wants to bar generals from serving in government, calling on Congress to “stomp out creeping military authoritarianism.” That is a remarkable statement coming from an American Likudnik who has built a career as a professional proponent of war and militarism both here and in Israel.

    Rubin’s criticism of Kelly, however, is that he has actually failed to impose discipline on this White House: In other words, government by the military is bad in general, but even worse in this case because John Kelly is not particularly good at politics. Regardless of how she got there, her conclusion is right: We should not, as a rule, have generals running our government. First, because military-dominated governments are dangerous, and second, because they are, indeed, not good at much of the stuff governments have to do.

    source

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    @Mike in NC:

    Trump could stand in front of a TelePrompTer and say that no foreigners would ever be able to enter this country, forever, and his xenophobic base of morons would simply give him a standing ovation.

    It’s crazier than that. Fear and hatred has so infected some conservatives that they readily acknowledge that the immigration rules they support would have kept their own parents or grandparents out of the country. They bleat that the country has enough people now or that the threat of terrorism is too strong, so that “exceptional vetting” rules and strict immigration limits must be put in place.

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    @Major Major Major Major

    OT:

    Meant to inquire whether you have Amazon Prime.

    If so, and if you haven’t seen it before, check out The Gamers: Dorkness Rising.

    You will laugh and you will also recognize fellow gamer types with whom you have dealt. A satire done with affection for its subject.

  19. 19.

    The Moar You Know

    The Foxbots in my office went insane when I called the Vegas shooter a terrorist. Seriously. Yelling. “That’s not terrorism!”

    Yesterday, the minute that thing in New York hit the news “oh it’s another damn Muslim terrorist”.

    I asked what the difference was between this and Vegas. “They hate us” was the answer. What, Paddock didn’t? “He was sick. Mentally ill.”

    Hmmm.

  22. 22.

    Catherine D.

    There was a hand-painted sign at my bus stop this morning that said “Thanks Chuck Shumer. 8 dead” It then went on to praise Trump and threaten liberals. I knocked it over.

    They usually bottle it up better in the People’s Republic of Ithaca.

  23. 23.

    Barbara

    I think the diversity lottery was well-intentioned but it probably doesn’t make a whole lot of sense any more. Basically, my understanding is that it was to allow people from a greater range of countries to come to the U.S. It’s a small number, and I think there are some screening criteria that are applied, but it’s too random to be fair. It’s too small to be unfair, because it doesn’t prevent anyone else from coming, but this guy has probably killed it. And all I want to know is, if he really didn’t like it here, why not just go home? Increasingly I understand where Chris Rock is coming from: Whatever happened to just offing yourself? Why do you have to take other people with you?

  24. 24.

    The Moar You Know

    Saw an item in today’s paper reporting a slump in sales at pizza chain Papa John’s. Wingnut owner John Schlatter wasted no time in blaming NFL players kneeling during the national anthem for the company’s woes, saying they should have been disciplined over a year ago. Just another weird story from Trump’s Alt-America.

    @Mike in NC: Could be because NFL fans want to view the game from the comfy confines of their couches, not doubled over in agony on a toilet seat in their bathrooms.

    Proof of this wingnut theory would be a falloff in NFL viewership. I’m not seeing that when out on weekends (although for me, personally, I threw in the towel on the NFL when they gave Michael Vick a million bucks to give to the Humane Society and brought him back into the game. And I made that stick. Anyone who did what Vick did deserves no less than life in prison.)

  25. 25.

    Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)

    @Roger Moore: The worst of the major pizza chains by a good distance, and the only chain I refuse to eat from – IIRC it’s mainly because the cheese & seasonings don’t interact well at all. Little Caesar’s is better and cheaper.

    And I know “Domino’s is inedible crap” is a longstanding meme that predates my time, but it hasn’t been particularly bad from my experience. (I’ve only ever had it after 2010, where they changed their cheese to include more milk and butter, which may explain this).

  26. 26.

    Chris

    @germy:

    Rubin’s criticism of Kelly, however, is that he has actually failed to impose discipline on this White House: In other words, government by the military is bad in general, but even worse in this case because John Kelly is not particularly good at politics. Regardless of how she got there, her conclusion is right: We should not, as a rule, have generals running our government. First, because military-dominated governments are dangerous, and second, because they are, indeed, not good at much of the stuff governments have to do.

    The military is an organization that runs on “I say ‘jump,’ you say ‘how high, sir?'” It’s not exactly surprising that many of its members should be terrible at running any kind of government in which you can’t just order everyone to do what you want.

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    @NotMax:
    No. It’s bad enough that Asia must receive that ill-mannered toddler. It’s not like he’s keen on being in Asia in any case. He’s already blown off an important summit meeting just so he can go back early. Let him, I say.

  38. 38.

    Corner Stone

    @ET: The problem is that you can’t just “pick one” and focus on them. Or even two or three. It’s a full on assault of every department and institution up and down the chain.
    If I could have taken out one of Obama’s picks it would have been a tough fight between Arne Duncan and Geithner. And I disagreed with a few others but for the most part they were ok choices – I was not too worried they were going to burn down their own house one week. I feel like all of Trump’s picks are existential crises to their own respective depts, much less the people they are supposed to serve.

  40. 40.

    Chip Daniels

    Illiberalism’s chief prerequisite is a blinding fear and panic, and an insular tribalism.

    Which is why we liberals need to be careful not to let our alarm become that.

    Specifically, I think it’s wise to forge common ground with NeverTrump conservatives where we can, do as to isolate the actual fascists.

  41. 41.

    Corner Stone

    Rep Kristi Noem is pretty hot. But she’s got those crazy ass Michelle Bachman eyes working overtime.

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    @Chip Daniels: As I said in the Brazile thread:

    What we should also find not-humorous is that all of the NeverTrump “allies” of ours are all gloating about how crooked Hillary is and how both Obama and HRC destroyed their own party.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    FTF NYTimes re Mercer stepping down from his hedge fund. He’s selling his Breitbart stake to his daughters.

    Robert Mercer, a billionaire investor who is a big backer of many conservative causes and a patron of the former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon, is stepping down as co-chief executive of Renaissance Technologies, the giant hedge fund.

    Mr. Mercer sent a letter to investors and pension advisers on Thursday morning in which he said he would step down. A copy of the letter was reviewed by The New York Times.

    In the letter, Mr. Mercer said he was stepping down from his post as of Jan. 1, 2018, and would also step down from the hedge fund’s board. He said he would remain active on the research side of the hedge-fund firm, which makes trades using complex mathematical equations.

    But in a letter to the employees of the hedge fund, with the subject line “past, present, and future,” Mr. Mercer acknowledged the public scrutiny he has faced since Mr. Trump’s election.

    Describing himself as a fan of small government, he sought to distance himself from polarizing figures including Mr. Bannon. “I have great respect for Mr. Bannon, and from time to time I do discuss politics with him,” Mr. Mercer wrote. “However, I make my own decisions with respect to whom I support politically. Those decisions do not always align with Mr. Bannon’s.”

    …. In Thursday’s letter, Mr. Mercer said that he is selling his stake in Breitbart to his daughters “for personal reasons.”

    The one-paragraph letter to investors did not give a reason for Mr. Mercer’s decision. Mr. Mercer’s involvement in conservative politics became a lightning rod for criticism during and after the presidential election.

    I hope he’s in legal trouble so deep he will wish he could get exiled to Siberia. Horrible man. No way one man, or one family, should have such power. Burn him.

  47. 47.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Czanne:
    Thank you for the link. I misread one of their descriptions of Clovis and thought it said “a contentious pRick”; which is probably true, at that.

    WaPo gets credit for reminding its readers that Clovis was the co-chairman of the T*p campaign (CNN neglected to mention that little detail).

  48. 48.

    d58826

    I wonder if Der Fuhrer had every head of the diversity lottery feature of the immigration law before Faux news told him about it?

    And as far as Clovis dropping out of the AG. position, I wonder if there was ever a person who looked straight out of central casting as a ‘crooked politician’.

  50. 50.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @d58826: Based on having seen zackly one image of him, Clovis looks like the unspeakable spawn of BGEN Leslie Groves (Manhattan Project) & Bibb the Michelin, uh, mascot. Back to Snarl Radio with him.

  51. 51.

    Chip Daniels

    @Corner Stone:
    Yes, these are not nice people.

    But since the first ingredient in a liberal democracy is a Loyal Opposition, the best way to create a Loyal Opposition is to reassure people that they are safe to be out of power, and that their concerns will be met with respect.

    Even, or especially, those who in the past never extended that courtesy to others.

  52. 52.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: That would be the simplest, shortest evaluation tool. Ever.

    Do you think it would be a good idea to get onboard the obviously sinking ship that is the Trump Administration, and potentially/likely be drawn into the Trump Russia investigation?

    If yes, you are not fit to be a member of the Trump team. Or any team, for any purpose. Anywhere.

  53. 53.

    MomSense

    @NotMax:

    Wasn’t Schnatter one of those screaming about how the ACA would drive him out of business?

    Nothing quite so appetizing as the thought that none of the people making your food have access to health care.

  54. 54.

    TenguPhule

    @Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):

    And I know “Domino’s is inedible crap” is a longstanding meme that predates my time, but it hasn’t been particularly bad from my experience.

    Its quite good these days ever since they improved their quality. I had some for lunch yesterday.

  56. 56.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WaterGirl: When John Connolly switched to the GOP & joined Nixon’s Cabinet (1973?) some wag remarked it was the first recorded instance of a rat jumping aboard a sinking ship…

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