Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

The revolution will be supervised.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

You are here: Home / Economics / Free Markets Solve Everything / Saturday Evening Cheap Shots Open Thread: Further Adventures of Milo Y, Boy Provocateur

Saturday Evening Cheap Shots Open Thread: Further Adventures of Milo Y, Boy Provocateur

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Well, that was quick — and on a weekend, too. Turns out that Tucker “Walking Proof That the Best Schools Can’t Fix Stupid” Carlson may not have “standards”, as the term is usually recognized, but he’s getting quicker at spotting a publicity disaster in the making:

The Daily Caller has fired its opinion editor amid controversy over the site’s publishing of a column by right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, the editor-in-chief confirmed to a CNN reporter Saturday.

Geoffrey Ingersoll, the right-leaning news site’s top editor, confirmed Saturday to CNN’s Oliver Darcy that opinion editor Rob Mariani was fired. The confirmation came shortly after Yiannopoulos posted about his column ending on Facebook…

.

And here I’d been saving this little amuse-bouche for a late-night larf. Points to ThinkProgress and Mr. Legum…

…In the letter announcing his resignation, Mercer specifically calls out Milo Yiannopoulos, a popular, controversial former Breitbart senior editor, saying he has only caused “pain and divisiveness.”…

Yiannopoulos served as a key intermediary between white nationalists and Breitbart. He published a lengthy feature piece that served as a guide to so-called “alt-right” that he allowed prominent white nationalists to edit before publication, and was caught on video in the company of known white nationalist Richard Spencer as he signals a “Sieg Heil” salute in front of a crowd — both of which were revealed in a recent Buzzfeed expose.

These revelations and Mercer’s disavowal hasn’t hurt Yiannopoulos’ reputation in some circles, however, as he was just given a new weekly column at The Daily Caller, a conservative publication ran by Fox News host Tucker Carlson…

Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart in February following outrage over past comments he made regarding pedophilia.

And what was Yiannpoulos’ first column for The Daily Caller? An article titled “A Round Of Applause For Kevin Spacey,” a reference to the recent allegations made by men who claimed Spacey preyed on them sexually when they were minors. In it, Yiannopoulos claims that Spacey’s response to come out as gay rather than take responsibility for his actions is the reason why “identity politics” is bad for the country, which Yiannopoulos frequently blames on the left…

And it gets “better”…

Reader Interactions

192Comments

  1. 1.

    Millard Filmore

    Tucker “Walking Proof That the Best Schools Can’t Fix Stupid” Tucker

    I am a little confused here. Should that be Tucker Carlson?

  4. 4.

    BlueDWarrior

    Not surprising in the least. The Wingnut Welfare network rarely recognizes anyone for being radioactive, unless they are being insufficiently deferential to whoever is calling themselves head of the movement.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    @Radiumgirl: Washington Post readers commenters think the neighbor was in a wheelchair, too. I cannot confirm, but LOL.

    Said neighbor is an anesthesiologist. With bicycle accident injuries. The Louisville paper informs he registered as a Democrat.

  6. 6.

    Mnemosyne

    Our youngest cat has decided that she needs to jump on and off the couch multiple times, despite the fact that I’m currently laying on the couch icing my sprained knee. And she weighs 15 pounds. Oof.

  11. 11.

    Faithful lurker

    @Radiumgirl: Please, for those of us living on the edge of the wilderness, what happened? Who had the good sense to pop the little bastard….details,please

  12. 12.

    Elizabelle

    I read maybe half of MILO’s column. Shabby ass thinking. Needs an editor too; very repetitive. It’s slamming the left for identity politics, but that’s all that Milo whines about. And this:

    A CATO poll this week revealed that 58 per cent of Americans have political views they’re afraid to share for fear of reprisal. For Republicans, that number rises to 73 per cent. Among “strong liberals,” just 30 per cent feel the need to watch their tongues. The implication is clear: socially acceptable politics in America aren’t just left-of-center. They are violently left-of-center, and getting worse.

    Might it be that Republicans have become so rabid that the more self-aware among them are noticing they are turning off people they speak with, in their daily lives? Maybe folks at work and elsewhere are telling them to tone it down?

    Maybe these extreme liberals don’t fear reprisal because they’re just plain … more considerate and civil?

    Anyway, I stopped reading after that. Just not interested.

    Milo is boring.

  14. 14.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    Since this is an open thread, there’s something I’ve been wondering about for a while. I know that American campaigns can’t take anything of value from foreigners for free. Can they buy something of value? And if not, how is it settled whether what they’re buying is “foreign”? I presume a campaign could buy a box of pens made in China, or a Toyota made in Japan. Can they hire a foreign firm to do opposition research for them? Can they hire an American firm that then hires a foreign person to do the work for them?

    I think it’s easy enough to see where this is going. Republicans have made a big thing about how a British agent made this infamous file on Czar Manbaby, and Clinton’s campaign paid for some of the work, so that means either that if he’s guilty of something, Clinton is at least as guilty, or that if she isn’t guilty of anything, then he isn’t either. Obviously, it seems to me that the big difference here is that one campaign paid a foreigner to do work for it, if indirectly, and the other was getting what they got, or hoped to get, for free, which makes it a contribution. Is that how this works? Does anybody know anything about campaign law?

  16. 16.

    Suzanne

    Spawn freaked out last night—apparently hasn’t been taking her meds for three weeks—and is in the ER. We are waiting for an adolescent bed to open up at a psych hospital.

    This sucks.

  18. 18.

    Mnemosyne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    She’s supposed to be an average-sized cat, unlike the magnificent beast that is Keaton.

    Someone was trying to tell us the other day that Keaton is a Norwegian Forest Cat, not a Maine Coon, but they’re very hard to tell apart (and seem to be related). Now G is mad at me because he’s been convinced for a while that K is a NFC and not a Maine Coon, and he feels like I didn’t listen to him.

  19. 19.

    Anne Laurie

    @Suzanne: Oh, dear. Holding you & Spawn in the light; hope things… well, don’t get any more dire. At least not this weekend.

  20. 20.

    gene108

    I’m in NYC today visiting my brother. I found a spot on the street, for my hatchback, between two large SUV’s.

    The one in front of me has a trailer hitch sticking out beyond his back bumper.

    I find this very annoying. Trying to maneuver around it to park and now trying to not scrape my front fender on it getting out tomorrow. I can’t see it over my hood. The hitch also takes valuable inches from a parking spot.

    My hope is he will be gone in the morning, when I leave.

    Trailer hitch is an obstacle I never paid much attention to before, but now wish they are banned in NYC.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    Cracks me up that Milo has to post on Facebook like an auntie since he’s permanently banned from Twitter. ?

    @raven: Bama is looking decidedly mortal in this LSU game too…

    ETA: I apparently jinxed LSU. Sorry, Tigers!

  25. 25.

    Mnemosyne

    @Suzanne:

    Yikes! I hope they are able to find a safe spot for her soon where she can get some help. Raging adolescent hormones plus mental illness can be a very tricky combination.

  29. 29.

    MomSense

    @Suzanne:

    Oh fuck. I’m so sorry. Try and stay calm. Right now she is safe and you will get the support you need. Sending you big hugs.

  33. 33.

    Duane

    Every bad thing that happens to that nasty excuse for a human (milo) makes me happy. Nothing is too horrible for that scumball to endure.
    No, I dont feel like a bad person for saying that. I feel better.

  34. 34.

    Debbie(aussie)

    @Suzanne:
    Oh {{{{Suzanne}}}}} for you Mr S for the younger spawn and especially for your
    {{{{{{{elder spawn}}}}}. Mental health is so difficult to deal with if it is oneself but when it is our child. I remember it with my teenage daughter, she is now 31, a fantastic nurse and married her soulmate in March. You and yours are in my thoughts.

  36. 36.

    Elizabelle

    @Suzanne: Wishing you and spawn the best, and that the bed opens for her soon. Poor thing.

    @Betty Cracker:

    Milo has to post on Facebook like an auntie

    Snort. That’s perfect. Probably bugs him too.

  38. 38.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Elizabelle:

    Might it be that Republicans have become so rabid that the more self-aware among them are noticing they are turning off people they speak with, in their daily lives? Maybe folks at work and elsewhere are telling them to tone it down?

    Maybe even most Conservative view racism and fascism as unspeakable? I know the Extreme Left can be preachy bores, but nothing like the carpet chewing rages I’ve seen the wingnuts do. Scream at a coworker because the conservative suspects the coworker of being a liberal and then act stunned when they are called into HR to discuss the hostile work place policy.

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Suzanne:

    So much love to all of you. How scary, but if the well-wishes of strangers counts for anything, this will end better than it began. Holding Spawn, and you, and the family in loving embrace.

  43. 43.

    Elizabelle

    And if the conservabores are already in trouble with spouting off racism and fascism, how must they regard increased reporting and penalizing of sexual harrassment? Under assault from all sides, they are.

    Political correctness!

    I don’t know much about the CATO study. Milo could not be bothered to link. Facts are boring things to the politically incorrect. At war. Victims of libtards.

  53. 53.

    Suzanne

    Thanks, all. We are trying to hang.

    I am hoping that this is the plot twist and things get better from here.

    Hoping is more than I can handle right now.

  55. 55.

    Duane

    @Elizabelle: I saw JuJu Chang interview him on Nightline. He was so rude and insulting, I yelled at the TV, hoping she’d slap the snot out of his biggoted, condescending head.

  57. 57.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Milo has fans? I suppose he must, how perverse are they…

    What a creep.

    If he lost his job, did his visa expire? I bet it did!! G’bye Milo whatever-your-last-name-really-is; I seem to recall he “took” his Grandma’s maiden name, which seems squirrely to me. Everything about Mile seems that way, actually. Is a passport in your grandparent’s maiden name actually valid? What would TSA or ICE think about a passport with an alias on it?

    Nothing but questions…

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    A prediction: One day, probably the day after generating coin by fomenting fascism becomes slightly more challenging, Milo will “turn.” He’ll renounce his Nazi pals and try to peddle himself as a lefty provocateur. And some idiot outfit — perhaps The (Not So) Young Turks — will give him a platform.

  65. 65.

    Anne Laurie

    @Betty Cracker:

    A prediction: One day, probably the day after generating coin by fomenting fascism becomes slightly more challenging, Milo will “turn.” He’ll renounce his Nazi pals and try to peddle himself as a lefty provocateur. And some idiot outfit — perhaps The (Not So) Young Turks — will give him a platform.

    Sucker money, you are trying for!

    I give it, depending on whether Trump returns from his Asia trip, somewhere between “my work visa expired and my green-card marriage is getting side-eyed” and “Tad Devine rats Jeff Weaver out to the Mueller guys”…

  66. 66.

    Adria McDowell

    @Suzanne: Hoping Spawn gets the help she needs. She’s lucky to have her wonderful parents.

    Going through mental illness is tough enough as an adult- I can’t imaging what it would be like as a teen. ?

  67. 67.

    gbbalto

    @Suzanne: So sorry. I have a wonderful nephew who suddenly fell into bipolar syndrome and would go on psychotic breaks – never harming anyone but talking so weird that he ended up locked up in psych wards in various locations across Canada until my sister and BIL could get there. It took him several episodes and a number of lost friends to realize that no, he could not stop taking his meds just because he was feeling great. The shrink told my sister that he just had to figure that out on his own. So far so good for the last few years. My best wishes and hopes that your daughter will get there soon – keep the faith

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    Samantha Sanderson‏ @SamSanderson123

    1/ Ok so this happened … as we all know with Donna Brazile and she did it with noted Hillary hating @Politico

    2/ And here is the truth …. … in this article .. showing HRC AND BERNIE signed same agreement
    3/ And understand this …
    4/ And @mmurraypolitics confirming truth over Donna’s distorted truth
    5/ and, @mmurraypolitics confirming that yes, Bernie did indeed have the same agreement as HRC cc: @donnabrazile
    Something for both sides in here…
    6/ And more facts from @mmurraypolitics that show @donnabrazile is being less than truthful
    7/ and for good measure … @mmurraypolitics shows us that Trump signed similar agreement as HRC and Bernie …
    8/ So we have proof … Donna’s making a “scandal” out of something that isn’t and me being a journalism major .. I want to know her motive
    9/ and you should too … what’s the endgame here? So we know, @donnabrazile has books to sell & we know she has no official place …
    ………………………………………..

    16/ So back to @donnabrazile …. why is she distorting truth for Bernie? What’s going on. Let’s look at what happened today.
    17/ & yesterday; & let’s say this is coming from Bernie Bro Dems; @elizabethforma saying Dem primary was “rigged”
    18/ & today we have @keithellison calling for an overhaul of the rules based on @donnabrazile distorted truth (because it’s already proved)
    19/ Because reminding all, the bro himself, Bernie, wanted the rules changed in 2016
    20/ And THE BRO, Bernie, won’t take a 2020 run off the table (but those darn rules)
    21/ Important to note here .. the Bernie Bro Dems like to go by the “progressive movement” and that’s important because today, seemingly ..
    22/ out of nowhere, the “progressive” @DFAaction decides to pull support for @RalphNortham for a jacked up reason …
    23/ That Dem candidate Notham won’t support “sanctuary cities” .. which is bull$hit because it is against VA law to have sanctuary cities
    24/ decision to pull support was made by Charles Chamberlain, formerly the Exec Dir. of the “PROGRESSIVE Congress”
    25/ So we have Donna making false allegations on behalf of Bernie, Liz/ Keith calling for rule changes on behalf of poor poor Bernie and
    26/ & the very progressive @DFAaction denying support to the Dem VA candidate who is in a very tough fight, right? And we have to ask,
    27/ What’s the endgame here for Progressives? Right? Because now we see that Progressives are making a statement days before major elections
    ……………………………………………………

    38/ There it is … at 7:18 … Chuck puts it out there asking Terry, “Do you have confidence in Tom Perez” .. to which Terry says he does
    39/ Terry goes on to say the VA race is the biggest & most important to Democrats .. so I’m like … hmmm ok. So with the biggest race …
    40/ looming .. Donna decides to drop her false bomb today? And Liz & Keith seem to have coordinated messages on the DNC. And @DFAaction …
    41/ decides to unendorse @RalphNortham over a BS argument about sanctuary cities and a Bernie Bro anchor putting in universe that maybe …
    42/ Dems shouldn’t have confidence in @TomPerez .. so now we can see it can’t we. Let’s watch the narrative MSM is pushing with this …..
    43/ Because it seems the Bernie Bro/Progressive faction may be hedging their bets that if @RalphNortham loses … then they win. …
    44/ @RalphNortham may be the victim of a Bernie Bro sabotage … and if he loses will they beat the drum for “new leadership” and
    45/ therefore, forcing @TomPerez out? And if the Bernie Bros take over the Dems … where does that leave all of us who don’t support him
    46/ You know, because Bernie isn’t a Dem; is our party being hijacked right before our eyes? Here’s hoping I’m wrong and Ralph wins. END

  71. 71.

    GregB

    Don’t forget that Mike Flynn thought Milo was brilliant.

    Poor Milo, it’s getting so politically correct out there that a Nazi can’t keep his job.

  72. 72.

    rikyrah

    Jennifer Jacobs‏Verified account @JenniferJJacobs

    Ex-Trump aide Rick Gates didn’t disclose he had a 2nd passport until 3 days after he surrendered. @davidvoreacos

  74. 74.

    rikyrah

    Malcolm Nance‏Verified account @MalcolmNance

    Malcolm Nance Retweeted Tobias Schneider

    FAILED COUP PLOT IN SAUDI?: Arab news reports (Xlation): “#Breaking: 10 Princes & Tens of former ministers arrested in Saudi Arabia.”

  75. 75.

    Citizen Alan

    @Elizabelle:

    A CATO poll this week revealed that 58 per cent of Americans have political views they’re afraid to share for fear of reprisal.

    It is hilariously telling that MY simply assumes that all of those political views that people are afraid to share are conservative ones. I remember my father practically begging me back in 2012 not to put up an Obama/Biden sign in my yard because he was afraid someone would vandalize my house over it or worse. And as any attorney who has to deal with cops with some regularity, I know perfectly well that it’s probably a bad career move to be too open with my support for BLM.

  76. 76.

    Elizabelle

    @Amaranthine RBG: Good for you. Thanks.

    I was surprised you knew about Kathy; that’s my old district and she’s a former neighbor. I like her chances.

    I was surprised Dave Albo retired. Nice opening.

  81. 81.

    moops

    @Betty Cracker: I will be the first to say “You heard it here first folks from our sages at Balloon Juice”

    I’m sure alicublog will have a blast dragging that phony culture warrior through the mud.

  82. 82.

    Elizabelle

    @schrodingers_cat: I think so too.

    ===
    Incidentally, all this news about Rand Paul being assaulted, and we have not seen the comte/botsplainer for a while.

    How do we know he did not push the guy in the wheelchair onto the lesser Paul’s property? That he did not incite this daylight attack on a US public servant?

  83. 83.

    rikyrah

    It was a Black Engineer who first discovered the Russian Twitter accounts. He warned Twitter. Was Ignored. Then fired.

    The #TechHearings Thoughts from my time in Product Safety at Twitter
    Nov 1

    I created the Product Safety and Security Team at Twitter. At different points in time I was responsible for the engineering of tools to mitigate Abuse, Compromised Accounts and the Login Infrastructure up to and including 2 Factor Authentication and Password Reset. I saw first hand the beginnings of the types of actions that are now being discussed in the US Senate at the #TechHearings.

    The tepid response by senior management to the millions of accounts created by bad actors and how they were using the platform discovered in our research, is one of the reasons these hearings are happening today. It was the growth at all cost mentality that blinded many at Twitter to how the platform was being weaponized by the alt-right and as we are finding out, by Russia as well. This growth at all cost was a source of frustration for many of us working in Product Safety.
    […]
    It is a fact that foreign governments used social media to influence the moods, emotions and decision making of millions of Americans. It is also a fact that the growth and profit at all cost mentality that was driving Twitter in 2015 and Facebook in 2013 left the door open for this manipulation. A door they refused to acknowledge much less close.

    Tech companies have been hiding behind the saying “we are just a platform” to brush off any responsibility. And yet many of those same people will decry how Fox News is nothing but propaganda. The fact is, Twitter and Facebook reach more people on a daily basis than Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and the NYT combined. Yet they have shirked this responsibility and in effect have been the most effective way to disseminate propaganda in the 21st century.

  85. 85.

    Ohio Mom

    The thing about Milo — and this is completely idiosyncratic — is that he looks so much like my friend’s 25 yo son that every time I see his picture, I do a double-take. My first reaction is affection, then I am completely discombobulated when I realize it is that conman Milo.

    I take comfort in the knowledge that sooner or later, Milo will come to a bad end of one kind or another, and we will be rid of him. Eventually he will be a piece of trivia that only a certain age group remembers, dimly.

  89. 89.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Elizabelle:

    Some of my friends back there know here and were big fans. One of those friends I was walking with is Asian and two different nice, elderly, white people assured her, “I’m voting for you Kathy.”

  91. 91.

    moops

    @Ohio Mom: If that was true then O’keefe would be laying in a ditch gripping his wine bottle and soiled dildo raving about antifa.

    These cancers do not seem to ever go into permanent remission.

  93. 93.

    gene108

    @Major Major Major Major:

    He just got married to an American.

    Isn’t Milo gay? Calling yourself a conservative, but taking advantage of progress in society pushed by liberals irks me.

    It’s like we create this cushion in society that protects conservatives from themselves. And they know, somewhere deep down, the only reason they can be such assholes is because liberals will always be the adults in the room, when push comes to shove.

  94. 94.

    Aleta

    @Suzanne: When my family went through this, the most difficult part was the early stage of helping the person be admitted, and for the first few days after. The hospital stay helped the person come back much stronger and go on with more resilience. Accepting the need to stay on the meds took awhile; we were told that’s common. Went on to better times than we ever expected. I think of you as very strong.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    @rikyrah: Chilling.

    I was way concerned when Periello declared. As you know, Virginia governors cannot succeed themselves. While I understand Perriello wanting to raise his statewide profile, I worried about the Bros making trouble.

    Goddamn them if they are pulling it in the final days. Really. Goddamn them.

  99. 99.

    Mnemosyne

    @moops:

    If that was true then O’keefe would be laying in a ditch gripping his wine bottle and soiled dildo raving about antifa.

    From your lips to God’s ear. May it be so someday.

  103. 103.

    Mnemosyne

    @gene108:

    Frankly, it’s happened with the majority of white women. They feel comfortable voting Republican because their rights are safe, or so they assume. Liberals will fight on their behalf, so they’re free to vote their racist desires.

    And I say this as a white woman.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    The neighbors in the apartment upstairs are obviously hosting some kind of kids’ party, because there’s lot of running and screaming across our ceiling right now.
    /shakes fist at neighbors

  111. 111.

    Feathers

    In my experience, when a man suddenly punches the guy who lives next door there is some adultery involved. And sometimes, afterwards, an oddly tall wall is built, blocking the house’s view of each other. Because sometimes people are not only too stupid not to screw their next door neighbor, they are too stubborn to move when the affair is discovered.

    Just sayin’.

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    Bots stoke racial strife in Virginia governor’s race
    11/03/2017

    Twitter bots are swarming into the Virginia governor’s race and promoting chatter about a racially charged Democratic ad days before Election Day, according to a report commissioned by allies of Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam’s campaign.

    The activity centers on an ad from Latino Victory Fund, depicting a child’s nightmare in which a supporter of Republican Ed Gillespie chases immigrant children in a pickup truck bearing a Confederate flag. Gillespie’s campaign reacted furiously to the ad, which barely ran on TV but got major attention online, and has made backlash to the Democratic ad a major part of its closing message.

    That backlash erupted quickly, and Latino Victory Fund later retracted the ad. But the reaction has been amplified on Twitter by automated accounts. Out of the 15 accounts tweeting most frequently about the Latino Victory Fund ad, 13 belong to fully or partially automated bots, according to an analysis from Discourse Intelligence. (The other two accounts are Republican political operatives.)

    https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/03/virginia-governors-race-bots-racial-strife-244534

  114. 114.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Oh, really! Just like Ivana and Melenia, huh?

    Enjoy your party. I lost my phone somewhere in the house a couple of weeks ago. Haven’t missed it, as we don’t get cell service here at the house. Geology gets in the way.

  115. 115.

    Brachiator

    @Mnemosyne:

    Frankly, it’s happened with the majority of white women. They feel comfortable voting Republican because their rights are safe, or so they assume.

    This doesn’t sound quite right. They don’t care about their reproductive rights, or the rights of their daughters. A recent Trump judicial appointment is a woman who may be a Catholic nutcase who believes that women should be subordinate to their husbands. This is about three steps away from a burka. Are there really white women who are so clueless that they think they are safe in their little bubbles?

  116. 116.

    JPL

    @Suzanne: It definitely sucks, but you can all get beyond this. As mentioned there are support groups, and you love spawn. That counts for more than you know. Hugs.

  118. 118.

    tobie

    @rikyrah: @Elizabelle: This is really disturbing. Are we witnessing a coup within the Democratic party? I don’t know. But I’m certain that if Northam loses we will be deluged with calls for Tom Perez’s head, Nancy Pelosi’s head and maybe Chuck Schumer’s head. Shit, even Joy Reid is now saying in her article for Raw Story that the Democratic Party doesn’t stand for anything and Donna Brazile’s broadside may be good for the party in the long run. Coming from someone as independent as her, that was a shocker. She sounds like Krystal Ball. Funny…I think I know what the Democratic Party stands for: a fair chance for all, the 99%.

  120. 120.

    Elizabelle

    @Feathers: I am thinking there is more to this story. Time will tell.

    @rikyrah: We need to stop this. I would rather get rid of Facebook and social media (I know, impossible) than always have nailbiting elections because of illegal interference.

  122. 122.

    trollhattan

    @Suzanne:
    Very sorry to hear this, hope the situation is resolved soon. Be strong, it’s what we parents are expected to do even when the well seems dry.

  125. 125.

    Planetjanet

    @rikyrah: Please, for all that is precious in this world, let that not be what is happening. I am working hard for Northam, the kindest and most compassionate candidate for whom I have ever had the honor to work. Lives are at stake in this election, not just one Governor’s race. We have a shot to take back the House of Delegates with an unprecedented number of new faces working their hearts out. I am ragged over all of this. I started the day knocking on doors then just stress eating when I got home. But I will knock on doors again tomorrow. We are working so hard to mend fences and work together. Do not blow this up.

  127. 127.

    Fair Economist

    @rikyrah:

    FAILED COUP PLOT IN SAUDI?: Arab news reports (Xlation): “#Breaking: 10 Princes & Tens of former ministers arrested in Saudi Arabia.”

    I’m-a-thinking the supposed intercepted missile from Yemen was a cover for a boom with a completely different cause.

    Saudi Arabia is basically going through a palace coup where the previous governmental system, with power shared among dozens of princes, is being replaced with a patriarchal monarchy.

  129. 129.

    Elizabelle

    @tobie: The Democratic party absolutely stands for a LOT.

    Is Joy Reid peddling that shit too? I have noticed an uptick in attacks on Democrats. Mostly for being nonentities.

    Do you need to slander nonentities, that badly?

    Further, I don’t trust anyone who draws a paycheck from NBC. Nothing But Corporate. Never forget that.

  132. 132.

    tobie

    @Planetjanet: Thanks so much for doing this. It’s taken over a week for the Northam campaign to get back to me about phone banking but they finally did today and I’ll put in a few hours tomorrow. Wish I could canvass, like you, but I’m recovering from surgery and not up to walking much. Keep up your spirits. You’re doing yeoman’s work.

  133. 133.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL: We need to change our language to WHEN NORTHAM WINS.

    I know Virginia was home to Massive Resistance. We need to prove we have gotten past that. And McAuliffe has been a terrific governor, and Mark Herring an excellent attorney general.

    I don’t like saboteurs deciding our elections.

  134. 134.

    Mary G

    @JPL: Embed for you:

    Trump's view on the Houthi missile attack on Saudi Arabia from Yemen: "A shot was just taken by Iran, in my opinion, at Saudi Arabia." pic.twitter.com/zamUKdzfFV— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 5, 2017

    Also, too I keep reading that Trump says Japan is a nation full of samurai warriors, so they should be able to shoot down missiles from North Korea, no problemo.

  135. 135.

    Fair Economist

    @tobie:

    But I’m certain that if Northam loses we will be deluged with calls for Tom Perez’s head, Nancy Pelosi’s head and maybe Chuck Schumer’s head.

    Possibly, and the scary part is that essentially the call will be for the DNC to overturn primaries whenever they want. Northram won his contest fair and square, by a respectable margin.

    The complaints about a “rigged” DNC seem to be projection. Shocking.

  137. 137.

    Lyrebird

    @Elizabelle: Thanks for wading into even part of it.

    For Republicans, that number rises to 73 per cent. Among “strong liberals,” just 30 per cent feel the need to watch their tongues. The implication is clear: people in Cali and NYC and Massachusetts and Seattle are a lot more open to debate than people in deep-red states

    (ETA – italicized bits added by me)

    Actually, w/o having geographic data on the respondents, my read is questionable, but it’s at least as likely an explanation as his. Actually, MORE likely.

  138. 138.

    Elizabelle

    @Planetjanet: Thank you, planetjanet!

    What were people saying at the doors? I think a lot of this is psych ops and fakery. I don’t find the media to be honest brokers, and sure as shit not social media.

  140. 140.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I agree that Sanders is a Russian stooge – he was a marxist as a youth, visited Russia on his honeymoon (for dawg’s sake!) and they have had him in their pocket ever since.

  142. 142.

    Matt McIrvin

    Speaking personally, I always feel apprehensive about spouting off about politics IRL, even when I’m in a staunchly liberal crowd. It’s an instinct I collected growing up in a very Republican neighborhood, and going to a college with a pretty conservative student body. Say the wrong thing about religion or politics and you’d offend everyone around you and get in some social trouble.

    These days, I live in a neighborhood where I suspect most of the white people are Republicans, though there’s definitely a mix. So I am still a bit wary.

  143. 143.

    Mike in NC

    Rented “War for the Planet of the Apes”, which must be a contender for Worst Movie of 2016. How much did they pay Woody Harrelson to be the only human with a speaking role in this abomination where he costars with 10,000 CGI apes and monkeys?

  144. 144.

    Mnemosyne

    @Brachiator:

    Are there really white women who are so clueless that they think they are safe in their little bubbles?

    Oh, hell yes. I know some of them personally. Restrictions on abortion or women’s healthcare will never affect them or their daughters, so they’re happy to self-righteously declare that it should be taken away from everyone. And even if they are unlucky enough to, say, need a life-saving late term abortion, they themselves are the exception that proves that everyone else should be restricted.

    Margaret Atwood had them nailed in The Handmaid’s Tale: Serena Joy and the conservative women like her never thought that the restrictions they were calling for would apply to them.

  146. 146.

    Another Scott

    @Planetjanet: Thank you so much for your efforts – all I can do now is donate. I agree with you that it’s extremely important that Northam wins. I find it hard to believe that he won’t. Keep fighting for us.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  147. 147.

    Planetjanet

    @Elizabelle: We are simply talking to our voters to make sure they are ready. I had a high contact rate and lots of assurances that they would be there, though a few are tired of answering the door. I had one friend react negatively to the Brazile nonsense. It takes so little to undermine trust. I sent her an NBC news article with the actual agreement noting that it did not affect the primary. For people who do not dig into details like us, these attacks open old wounds and undermines the trust we have worked to build.

  149. 149.

    J R in WV

    @mskitty:

    I remember that, now that you remind me. I didn’t know for sure he was American, but who else would Milo meet while rabble rousing in America?

    What black guy would marry a guy who preaches white supremacy? Like that Jewish guy working for Trump… idiot.

  153. 153.

    Mnemosyne

    @Planetjanet:

    I got a text message here in California asking me to help phone bank for VA, and the only Democrats who have that number are from Hillary’s campaign, so it looks like it’s all hands on deck.

  156. 156.

    Tehanu

    @J R in WV:

    I don’t care that much for Bernie Sanders, but the Russia he visited was Soviet Russia and the Russia of today is Fkg Kakistocracy Russia. I find it hard to believe that a declared socialist loves the greedhead criminals now in power there.

    @Suzanne:

    My teenage son went through some issues, back in the 90s — not so acute, he didn’t have to take meds — but I remember well how terrified and worried I was. He did get better. Hope you and your child work through this and you all come out on the other side happier.

  159. 159.

    Kay

    If you watch Fox News you’re worried about “antifa overthrowing the president”. Can you imagine working there? They go to work every day and deliberately misinform and scare old people- that’s their actual career.

  161. 161.

    Tom

    @Planetjanet: You’re doing exactly what you need to for this to have the best outcomes possible. The exhaustion is making it seem worse than it is. Keep up the good work.

  163. 163.

    GregB

    Trump and the forces of darkness around him are going to go for broke.

    The Saudi purges are the opening salvo of the coming realignment by force.

    Saudi Arabia and Israel are going to drag us into taking on Iran and by extension Yemen, Syria and Lebanon.

    We are just at the rim of the abyss.

  165. 165.

    Planetjanet

    @Tom: Thanks, Tom. I just have to not let the voters see the stress and show the positive. The turnout is going to be high, which is usually a good sign for us. The number of absentee ballots turned in so far is twice what it was in 2013, the last governor’s race. We have two first time candidates for delegate raise over $1M, which is just crazy. That is more like a Congressional race.

  166. 166.

    Betty Cracker

    @GregB: Crap. I just posted a thread about Saudi Arabia asking if anyone knows what’s happening there. I wish I didn’t find your theory plausible, but with President Crazypants involved, who knows? But what about Putin?

  167. 167.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @GregB: Jared was only there to beg international investors for new financing for his failed manhattan building.

  169. 169.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay:

    Slate: What I Learned From Three Weeks Watching Fox News Nonstop

    … Exhaustion is the point. The network persuades through repetition. Some people think that Fox News poisons the minds of viewers, like a drug slipped into an unwitting victim’s food. It’s more accurate to say that the network wears them down. Even the dumbest conspiracy theories can start to sound plausible when you hear them again and again and again—especially if you are not listening very carefully to begin with.

    The network’s programming does not just wash over its viewers like rain. As studies have suggested … the more you watch Fox News, the more conservative you become. Who are these impressionable people who are so easily swayed … ? After three weeks, I think I can tell you a few things about them. They trust their pastors more than they trust their elected officials. They despise the media despite not actually consuming very much of it. …. They subscribe to a spiteful populism in which the people seize power for the sole purpose of annoying those who preceded them in office. Their vision of America resembles one drawn in crayon by a child on a placemat.

    …. Fox News exists to repudiate expertise. The network is forever differentiating between authentic opinion and inauthentic opinion. Authentic opinion is felt, whereas inauthentic opinion is derived. Authentic opinion is a product of lived experience, preferably lived by leathery military men. Inauthentic opinions are expressed by needle-nosed nerds who have read some books.

    … Their idealized America is a well-armed theocracy whose citizens … march back in time toward some crude golden era in which socialists went to prison, professional athletes saluted the flag, and white men were free to trade ethnic jokes in public. Fox News is a network intent on defending the West while rejecting the Enlightenment.

    It would be funny if they weren’t making our country so ugly and ungovernable. They destroy and hide behind the First Amendment.

  171. 171.

    Barbara

    @rikyrah: It does feel coordinated and as someone whose kids’ education is at stake I feel rage that these egotistical games are more important to BS than actual people. And I have no words for Elizabeth Warren except she should stop sending me requests for money.

  172. 172.

    Kay

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Suits really cover a lot, everyone just looks better in them (like uniforms) which is probably why they’re such a popular uniform for certain kinds of work- but Trump is now past the point where that’s possible :)

    It sort of doesn’t matter. Anyone who styles and dyes their hair like he does and thinks they’re fooling anyone has no idea how they really look anyway.

  174. 174.

    Kay

    My youngest is texting me that his curfew is extended because of the time change. SUCH a jerk :)

    Relying on TECH-ni-calities. I invented those!

  175. 175.

    Brachiator

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Speaking personally, I always feel apprehensive about spouting off about politics IRL, even when I’m in a staunchly liberal crowd. It’s an instinct I collected growing up in a very Republican neighborhood, and going to a college with a pretty conservative student body. Say the wrong thing about religion or politics and you’d offend everyone around you and get in some social trouble.

    On my Friday commute, I mentioned something about ignorant people believing stupid things to the guy sitting to my left, and noted that this was how Trump got elected. The guy sitting across to me to my right agreed and noted how in his business travels he had seen more people emboldened to openly express their hatred and bigotry of others. He spoke very eloquently about his hopes for a restoration of civic mutual respect and tolerance.

    It was good to find in him a person I could agree with. But in the mood I was in I would not have had a problem taking on a Trumpster.

  176. 176.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: The time change is at 2:00 am. Is his curfew before that time? If so, the time change is irrelevant. If his curfew is at or after 2:00 am, he has a case – maybe not a winning case, but a case nevertheless.

  178. 178.

    Elizabelle

    Headline of the Day, The New York Daily News. Re the lesser Paul’s troubles yesterday.

    ATLAS SLUGGED. Rand Paul ‘blindsided’ by neighbor while mowing lawn at Kentucky home

    I love it.

  180. 180.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle:

    ATLAS SLUGGED. Rand Paul ‘blindsided’ by neighbor while mowing lawn at Kentucky home

    Perfect.

    Not that I condone violence or sucker punches.

  182. 182.

    No One You Know

    @Suzanne: I’m so sorry to hear this, Suzanne. I hope this retreats in face of love and medicine. And that this too shall pass quickly, leaving all involved a little better for it, in spite of everything.

  183. 183.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    In theory… but since Citizens United speech = $$ and all the super-pacs, it’s become hard to enforce. They tell you “committee so-and-so mumbleation paid for this commercial” for example… what do you learn from that?

  186. 186.

    Matt

    @Elizabelle:

    Shorter Milo: “What is the world coming to? Conservatives are in danger of being treated like they’ve always treated homosexuals, communists, suffragettes, and integrationists!”

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