Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Giving up is unforgivable.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Disagreements are healthy; personal attacks are not.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

You are here: Home / But Don’t Call Them Terrorists

But Don’t Call Them Terrorists

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Not surprising at all:

White supremacist and other far-right extremist groups have killed 51 police officers since 1990, according to a report published by the Anti-Defamation League last week. Left-wing extremist groups, including black nationalists, killed 11 during the same period.

In 2017 alone, black nationalists and other leftists killed no police, while white supremacists and anti-government extremists fatally attacked a police officer and two corrections officers, the report said.

But while the FBI tracks so-called “black identity extremists” as domestic terror threats — as an FBI counterterrorism report completed in August and leaked in October revealed — it doesn’t have an equivalent designation for white extremists.

Experts worry that the broad labeling of black groups, and not white ones, is an indication that federal law enforcement’s targeting of certain groups is based less on evidence than on politics.

That targeting can significantly affect how law enforcement chooses to police protests or events organized by specific groups. Many worry the report on black identity extremists specifically could be used to home in on members of Black Lives Matter – possibly infringing on their right to speak freely and protest peacefully.

The Congressional Black Caucus asked FBI Director Christopher Wray in a private meeting in November, as well as during public testimony in December, to rescind the report. Wray did not commit to doing so, but in his December testimony noted that “we continue to evaluate the data as it rolls in” and anything from a retraction to a reaffirmance to a clarification of the August report was possible. FBI spokesman Andrew Ames said Tuesday there was “no update” since then.

White people just can’t be terrorists. Them’s the rules.

Reader Interactions

211Comments

  2. 2.

    Corner Stone

    Haven’t read the article, maybe it explains – but why are “black nationalists” considered “left extremism”?

  3. 3.

    Brachiator

    White people just can’t be terrorists. Them’s the rules.

    True dat. These dopes are always “patriots.”

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    Andy Slavitt@ASlavitt
    BREAKING: Idaho and insurer set to violate ACA rules and begin discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions.
    The Federal government needs to act or this is will be the new standard.

  8. 8.

    Schlemazel

    @Corner Stone:
    HAhaHAha HAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAhaHAha

    Oh, wait you were serious weren’t you?

    It may have to do with the fact that the GOP and the right are antiblack racists so the default assumption is all black groups are leftist

  9. 9.

    Corner Stone

    Talk about an indictment of law enforcement. Sheesh. The whole article just rips the conclusion apart and I did not find any sort of rebuttal from LEO or DoJ.
    They mention the 2014 Dallas shooting by Micah Johnson but IIRC he had no political ideology to speak of. Just seemed to hate cops.

  10. 10.

    HILFY

    OT. This blog needs more cat and dog pics. Horses are beautiful too. Good for cheering us up in this unbelievable political climate.
    It’s a long time to wait till a Democratic Congress is sworn in in Jan. 2019.

  11. 11.

    rikyrah

    Armies of click farm trolls & bot programs micro-targeting people on Facebook & Twitter is labor-intensive, time-consuming, expensive, and doesn’t guarantee the outcome Putin needs to lift the sanctions & get Crimea recognized as Russia, in order to get his $500BILLION –

    — bardgal (@bardgal) February 14, 2018

    Trump & the GOP are SILENT on stopping more #RussianElectionHacking because it will keep them in office until all of Putin’s multi-billion$ investments in Trump & GOP (via NRA laundered money) have paid off. Why haven’t the new sanctions been implemented? Putin = POTUS Actual.

    — bardgal (@bardgal) February 14, 2018

  12. 12.

    rikyrah

    yep

    Want to talk about Michael Cohen?

    Stop it with porn stars. Look at the body bags and money laundering. https://t.co/FEBoo4kKIf

    — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) February 14, 2018

    Stormy Daniels: They’re fronting her because Trump’s history with women is way worse.

    Rob Porter: They’re fronting him because Trump’s history with women is way worse. https://t.co/eUqrEdFCuJ

    — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) February 14, 2018

    Information warfare: they control the damage of incriminating information by releasing stories they can control.

    FOCUS.

    — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) February 14, 2018

  13. 13.

    Brachiator

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Because the basic division of our politics is over race.

    As confirmed by the Attorney General with his loving invocations of “Anglo-American heritage” and sheriff’s offices.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    UH HUH
    UH HUH

    This is so really, really bad: Cost to taxpayers: $122,334. via @reinlwapo and @alexhortontx who helped break the initial story. https://t.co/mrLmaDIvGr

    — Greg Jaffe (@GregJaffe) February 14, 2018

    IG finds @SecShulkin “chief of staff doctored an email and made false statements to create a pretext for taxpayers to cover expenses for the secretary’s wife on a 10-day trip to Europe last summer” per @Reinlwapo https://t.co/BNKFZuYecN

    — Juliet Eilperin (@eilperin) February 14, 2018

    The attempt by Shulkin to say that his wife secured the Wimbledon tickets because she was good friends Victoria Gosling, chief executive for the 2016 Invictus Games, did not end well pic.twitter.com/7sf00cHv9d

    — Sam Stein (@samstein) February 14, 2018

  16. 16.

    Amaranthine RBG

    White people just can’t be terrorists. Them’s the rules.

    Yep many people seem to think that the the racial/ gender / religious group to which they belong is incapable of being racist/sexist/whatever It’s a neat trick.

    Happens not infrequently.

  17. 17.

    Major Major Major Major

    In 2017 alone, black nationalists and other leftists killed no police

    There was the white leftist who shot up that congressional baseball game though. Surprised they didn’t take advantage of that, frankly.

  19. 19.

    Mnemosyne

    And yet we have trolls in the thread below claiming that thinking bad thoughts about white people is just as bad as white supremacists killing people.

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    Yep many people seem to think that the the racial/ gender / religious group to which they belong in incapable of being racist.

    Yes, please tell us some more about how thinking mean things about old white men is exactly the same as white supremacists murdering people. We’re really eager to see you jerk off about that some more.

  22. 22.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    ‘The Paper Bag Rule’, as it is sometimes called.

    Pardon me, I have an National Albino Front meeting to attend. I think it’s my turn to bring the Chlorox.

  24. 24.

    The Moar You Know

    Hel they couldn’t even give that label to McVeigh.

    @Yutsano: I’ve been bitched out on more than one occasion for referring to him as one.

    “So what is he, then?”
    “Mass murderer”
    “Who was trying to achieve political ends through violence. The dictionary definition of terrorism”
    “It’s different and you’re just trying to confuse things”
    “Because he’s white”
    “well, yeah! Arabs are terrorists. You know that.”

    They’ll admit it.

    Haven’t read the article, maybe it explains – but why are “black nationalists” considered “left extremism”?

    @Corner Stone: The right considers black folks fit only for slavery or fertilizer, and no one, right or left, will even argue with that because it’s true, so the left gets them by default.

  25. 25.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yes, that is exactly what I said and what several others said. We all agreed that making casually racist/ageist/sexist comments online IS EXACTLY THE SAME as killing someone. EXACTLY THE SAME.

    I bet people lined up to request copies of your lecture notes because you are just scrupulously accurate. Like a stenographic all-star.

  26. 26.

    jl

    Good question is why are them’s the rules in the US today?

    Worth recalling that the study and resulting proposal for federal agencies to track right wing extremism came from GW Bush administration. When it emerged into public view for implementation during the Obama administration, the current rump racist version of the GOP misrepresented and smeared the effort as a blah commie muslin Obama proto-totalitarian move.

    So, ‘them’s the rules’ right now, because of the GOP has become, a rump racist white nationalist and patriarchal and what else unsavory should I throw in, just so much to choose from, maybe habitually dishonest(?), authoritarian political movement.

    Edit: maybe at first when the GOP political hacks called Dub a liberal, it was an electoral gimmick to disown his mostly disastrous administration, but by now, they really mean it.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    We all agreed that making casually racist/ageist/sexist comments online IS EXACTLY THE SAME as killing someone. EXACTLY THE SAME.

    You’re the one who just compared what mistermix said to lynching. Don’t get mad at me for quoting your idiocy.

  30. 30.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Corner Stone: In my experience, as someone who has actually taken university-level game theory, 99% of people who invoke it on the Internet (including Eric Garland) have no fucking clue what it is.

  32. 32.

    different-church-lady

    Didn’t you see how mistermix lynched those too poor old white guys in the last thread?

  34. 34.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @jl:

    Good question is why are them’s the rules in the US today?

    There are no rules anymore in American politics. Not for Republicans, anyway. It’s all Calvinball, all the time.

  37. 37.

    Miss Bianca

    Wait, have our trolls downstairs yet realized that we are STEREOTYPING WHITE MEN!!11!! up here?

    ETA: Oh, yeah, I see they have. One of them, anyway.

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    @rikyrah:

    The Federal government needs to act or this is will be the new standard.

    The federal government won’t act because they want this to be the new standard. Elections have consequences.

  43. 43.

    Amaranthine RBG

    Oooh, I do declare, I shan’t deign to discuss other posts here.

    Oh, please Goeffrey, carry me not to your lodgings. Stop, Stop I say.

  46. 46.

    Adria McDowell

    COLE, CAN WE NOT ATTACK WHITE MEN* TODAY??? HAVEN’T THEY BEEN OPPRESSED LONG ENOUGH?!?!? /s

    I do love our usual white dudes that hang around this place, including our aminal-loving blog host. Some of them, I assume, are good people. ;-)

  51. 51.

    Miss Bianca

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    That’s because you are full of shit. You know it. Everyone else knows it.

    What is it with right-wing white men and their projection problems? Too bad there isn’t a pill you can take for *that*.

  54. 54.

    Dmas0n

    @different-church-lady: Not to fret, I’m no good at falling asleep during the day. Too much noise, too many distractions, maybe if I had a cabin or some shit. Instead I’ll just hang around here and try to learn why you lot are advocating racism with no shame whatsoever.

  55. 55.

    trollhattan

    Shit.

    Police in Parkland, Florida, are responding to reports of an active shooter at a local high school. The Broward Sherriff’s Office said it was “working a developing incident” at Stoneman Douglas High School.

    “There are reports of victims,” it added, warning that the shooter was still at large and urging people to avoid the area.

    A local Fox news affiliate reported seeing several people being treated for injuries outside the school. Helicopter video showed armed police at the building’s perimeter.
    Coral Springs Police department, meanwhile, tweeted instructions to teachers and students to “remain barricaded inside until police reach you”.

  57. 57.

    different-church-lady

    @Dmas0n:

    Instead I’ll just hang around here and try to learn why you lot are advocating racism with no shame whatsoever.

    You’ll be earning credits at The University of Voices In Your Head!

  63. 63.

    Dmas0n

    @different-church-lady: Do they teach about how racial politics lead to a string of human catastrophes during the 20th century? Does the University of Voices in Your Head have a curriculum outlining the disastrous results that come from lining people up along racial lines and setting them against one another? If so you should attend.

  65. 65.

    Corner Stone

    @Gin & Tonic: I posit that if Trump had one single competent person in the WH they would be much more successful in ways that pulled more voters to his banner. The idea that they are shuffling mini-scandals like a deck of c@rds seems a little far fetched to me at this point.

  67. 67.

    Miss Bianca

    @trollhattan: @lamh36: There’s the obligatory reference to “thoughts and prayers” coming from some WH flunkie.

    Because those have proven so effective lately against gun violence.

  69. 69.

    Mandalay

    Not sure if these stories are part of a bigger trend but:

    – The Atlantic no longer allows readers to post comments. They announced this in an article titled “We want to hear from you”. Instead you can now write to the editor using your real name and they will selectively publish contributions: We want to hear from you, and we want to make it easy for anyone to find and share the most compelling responses to our journalism, and to the most pressing issues of the day. We’ve also made the not-unrelated decision to close our comments section.

    – Mark Cuban is going after Twitter And Facebook: It’s time for @twitter to confirm a real name and real person behind every account, and for @facebook to to get far more stringent on the same. I don’t care what the user name is. But there needs to be a single human behind every individual account.

    My guess is that this will become the norm on the intertubes in the future; just providing an email address won’t be enough to allow you to spew hate and rage.

  71. 71.

    Dmas0n

    @different-church-lady: Has it honestly escaped you that you’re arguing in favor of othering people because of their race and or sex? That’s what this is about. That’s the idea you’re mocking me over.

  72. 72.

    different-church-lady

    @lamh36: That’s actually what Twitter was invented for in the first place: blasting short bursts of information out to a lot of people quickly.

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    Police in Parkland, Florida, are responding to reports of an active shooter…

    Active shooter. I’m so tired of this shit that happens so often that we now have official vocabulary to describe it.

    “There are reports of victims,” it added, warning that the shooter was still at large and urging people to avoid the area.

    This brings to mind the ridiculous bullshit the other day of the moron defending the idea of rushing the shooter.

  76. 76.

    different-church-lady

    @Dmas0n: I have no idea what race you are, but I hope the hell it’s not the same as mine.

    Then again, I don’t know that sea lions actually have a race…

  78. 78.

    HeleninEire

    Way behind on the threads but haven’t seen anyone say “Happy Valentine’s Day”. Is it verboten? Anyhow Happy Valentines Day to all my Valentines here.

    Yeah, you boys and girls know who you are. And in the spirit of love I will NOT EVER name my bestest Balloon Juice Valentine

    He knows who he is.

  80. 80.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Mandalay:

    just providing an email address won’t be enough to allow you to spew hate and rage.

    Well, we’ll always have Balloon-Juice to do that.

  81. 81.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I just pied — or attempted to pie — two commenters on this thread (will leave it to everyone’s imagination as to their identities).

    All replies to the select two are pieing just fine, so I know I entered the nyms correctly, but original comments continue to show as written. This has never happened before. Suggestions?

    ETA: Never mind, it seems to have fixed itself. Weird.

  83. 83.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dmas0n:

    Instead I’ll just hang around here and try to learn why you lot are advocating racism with no shame whatsoever.

    Don’t worry, that snipe is going to show up aaaaannnny minute now …

  84. 84.

    Archon

    If there a single policy or issue that Republicans advocate for whose logical end game ISN’T dystopian?

    I can’t think of one.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    @HeleninEire:
    Thank you and a happy Valentine’s Day to you as well! Seeing as how we’ve resolved most of the world’s issues here today, it’s time to relax and celebrate a wee bit. Now go and have a pint (assuming you aren’t already, in which case: jealous).

  86. 86.

    Yutsano

    @Dmas0n: I don’t mean to interrupt your defence of white people here, but I must admit you’re showing an admirable quality in asking the totally wrong question. Instead of worrying about our prejudice to whites (which I will say is not what being shown here but anyway) why are you not asking why whites are so favoured in this country even in 2018? Because the only way you can argue this is to show that there is some kind of system that does oppress whites in the United States. Bringing up South Africa is a whataboutism.

    I am also conceding it’s because you’re just as bored at work as I am right now.

  88. 88.

    different-church-lady

    Apparently no longer being satisfied by lynching people of my own race, I have compounded the problem by othering people of my own race as well.

    I gots mad skillz, it would seem.

  92. 92.

    JPL

    trump
    My prayers and condolences to the families of the victims of the terrible Florida shooting. No child, teacher or anyone else should ever feel unsafe in an American school.”

  93. 93.

    Yutsano

    @Brachiator:

    This brings to mind the ridiculous bullshit the other day of the moron defending the idea of rushing the shooter.

    We were just discussing that idiot yesterday. This time distortion field Dolt45 has is beyond weird.

    @JPL: Oh Gawd did he seriously just say that?

  95. 95.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Leto:

    That was going to be my next step — always sound advice — but the problem sorted itself out, I guess just by my refreshing the screen.

  96. 96.

    HeleninEire

    Darth is back. I see him on Cole’s Twitter feed. Why did no one tell me? Prolly cuz I have a fucking job and I can’t play close attention. Jobs suck.

  97. 97.

    The Moar You Know

    Sounds like a buncha dead kids.

    @raven: Indeed it does. But don’t worry. I know we will all still be able to go out tomorrow and buy a gun and all the ammo we can carry, with minimal or zero checks as to whether that’s a good idea or not.

  98. 98.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mandalay:

    It’s gonna suck for authors and other people who use pen names or stage names, though. Especially if they want have both a personal account and a professional account.

  102. 102.

    trollhattan

    This is really weird, coming from “The Intercept.” The story itself harvests a hearty “Well, duh!”

    A series of leaked chat messages set up for WikiLeaks staffers show why founder Julian Assange showed a preference for a Republican president, as well as a sympathetic view of Russian foreign policy. The Intercept has obtained the chats from a former WikiLeaks supporter and volunteer, who decided to leak the messages after learning of WikiLeaks’ contacts with Donald Trump Jr. during the 2016 presidential election.

    The chatroom is described as a “low security channel,” which The Intercept speculates is why the messages posted in it do not reveal any of Assange’s sources for leaked documents, nor do they reveal any efforts on Assange’s part to communicate directly with the Trump campaign.

    Even so, they do show Assange to be sympathetic toward Russia’s foreign policy aims, while at the same time showing his preference to see a Republican candidate win the presidency in 2016. With regards to his preference for the GOP to win, Assange explained in the chats that he believed the American left would do more to resist American foreign policy with a Republican in the Oval Office than it had done during former President Barack Obama’s tenure in the White House.

    “We believe it would be much better for GOP to win,” Assange wrote in one message. “Dems+Media+liberals woudl (sic) then form a block to reign in their worst qualities,” he wrote. “With Hillary in charge, GOP will be pushing for her worst qualities., dems+media+neoliberals will be mute.”

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne

    The school shooting is on the teevee in front of me in the cafeteria and I am studiously ignoring it for as long as I possibly can.

  109. 109.

    Aleta

    The police now have someone they want to question, maybe the same person some students have identified to their parents. The news says they will have some witnesses do a ‘drive by’ identification as they hold him (in a police vehicle?) outside a home. The have concerns he may have built bombs, based on website activity last night.

  110. 110.

    Mandalay

    @Mnemosyne:

    It’s gonna suck for authors and other people who use pen names or stage names, though.

    Indeed. Not that I give a shit about Facebook or Twitter, but there’s good that comes from anonymity as well as bad.

    Can you even have a Facebook or Twitter account at the moment without providing your full name when you sign up?

  111. 111.

    Amir Khalid

    @Corner Stone:
    If der Scheißgibbon ever found he’d appointed a competent professional to a White House job, he would fire that person before they had a chance to make him look bad.

  113. 113.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @HeleninEire:

    haven’t seen anyone say “Happy Valentine’s Day”. Is it verboten?

    No, you didn’t hear? OMG!! We’re allowed to say “Happy Valentine’s Day” again, thanks to that chubby Cupid in the White House who thinks of nothing but freeing us from our politically correct fetters!

    Speaking for ❤️-Americans everywhere, I wish you a very Happy Valentine’s Day!

  114. 114.

    Mnemosyne

    The kids are having to run out of the building with their hands up so they don’t get accidentally shot by the nervous cops. ?

  115. 115.

    Dmas0n

    @Yutsano: I’m not defending whites per se. I’m pointing out the flaw in behaving that way towards any group. I’m not saying it should be ok to behave that way against other groups, I’m not saying the world is completely fair or suggesting we shouldn’t talk about that either. My only point is that it’s bad behavior to divide people up by race/sex/age and start disparaging them as a group. It doesn’t address any disparity and it does foster divisiveness and in some extremes hatred. Finding a few bad actors does not suit to disparage an entire group, nor should it. My critique is of a general practice which I had been raised, in a left leaning household, to believed was and should be in all forms taboo from all sides. I stand by this idea regardless of where the bad actors claim to stand. That’s all. Anyone taking issue with what I’ve said is taking issue with that and it’s fine if they want to wrap it in a veneer of wokeness. You can feel free to check the previous thread where I said the same thing, if you need other examples of people being prejudiced. I feel no need to back away from what I thought was an extremely basic idea.

  117. 117.

    SiubhanDuinne

    NPR is saying no longer an active shooter scene. Unconfirmed numbers, one fatality, as many as 20 injuries. I’m quite certain the information will be modified as the day progresses.

  119. 119.

    d58826

    let’s MAGA by making sure every kid goes to school with an AR15 and multiple 100 round clips or at least a bump stock. You can never have to many guns in our schools. They don’t need books. They don’t need lunch programs. They don’t need healthcare. BUT THEY DO NEED TO BE ARMED TOP THE TEETH.

  121. 121.

    Yutsano

    @SiubhanDuinne: These are the kinds of things that make me want to move to Australia.

    The nice part is that I have a marketable skill in just about any country with a sizeable American expat population. I could specialize in filing American taxes and running interference for collections and such.

  122. 122.

    Brachiator

    @Yutsano:

    Agreed. I’m all about a Universal Basic Income now.

    When an appropriate open thread frees up, there is a good recent article that discusses this. I will throw in a link.

  124. 124.

    No One of Consequence

    Woooooooooo! Hooooooo! YEah! Murka!

    Gunnnnnnnzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!one!!!1!!!111!!!!

    Forget the Brawndo, just bring on the meteor already. FFS.

    – NOoC

  125. 125.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Just heard audio clip of Trump condemning domestic violence. He sounds very pissed and begrudging that he’s being forced to address it at all. (I gather it was in response to a direct question; otherwise I seriously doubt he’d have said anything given that it already took a fucking week.)

  127. 127.

    Corner Stone

    @Amir Khalid: Kind of akin to my point, in a way. If he interviewed a professional and said, “I’m going to stir things up but I need you to keep your eye on the ball and get shit done for my administration. I will then take all the credit. Can you handle that?” Then I would entertain the idea that this WH can run psyops on us all in an efficient manner. But everyone there is either grifting so hard they can’t see straight, or jumping off the ledge to try and grab their ideological shiny brass ring, or both. That leads me to discount the idea of efficient manipulation by way of distracting scandals.

  128. 128.

    trollhattan

    Damn it.

    Florida Senator Bill Nelson told Fox News that “there are many deaths” following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High School.

  129. 129.

    Gravenstone

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ve seen it happen the other way on occasion, pieing the offenders, but leaving replies intact for a time. In any event, they will all succumb to pastry in due time.

  131. 131.

    different-church-lady

    @Dmas0n: I’m sorry, but I am completely off the “kindness and respect kills dumbfuckery” bandwagon. If I gotta “other” dumbfucks of my own race, I’m more than good with that.

    The biggest lie the left ever embraced was that everyone has some inherent worth. It’s not true — some people are just shitty to the core.

  132. 132.

    NotMax

    Celebrating the anniversary of a good thing.

    89 years ago today, penicillin was first introduced to the market.

  135. 135.

    Corner Stone

    @Brachiator: I’d take a thread on UBI. I’d also like a thread where we can further discuss the SNAP / Food Box disaster that’s looming.

  136. 136.

    Gerald Parks

    white supremacist ideology IS the foundation, source and fuel of American racism!
    AND willful ignorance of this fact is not BLISSful … just plain stupid!
    Violence committed by white people (men in particular) coupled with racism against Black and Brown peoples IS literly America’s largest export.
    AKA entertainment, movies, books, etc.

  138. 138.

    Gravenstone

    @Mnemosyne: Er, he explicitly said he didn’t care about screen name. Simply wanting direct correlation between an account and an actual human being. I have friends who are authors and they already run afoul of Faceborg and their algorithms about what is and is not a “real” person for their author (pen name) pages.

  140. 140.

    Dmas0n

    @different-church-lady: My point, if you chose to read and understand what I was saying, was not about the individuals in question. They opened their mouths and can answer for it. My point, as I have repeatedly stated, is that grouping people by race(or sex), attributing the actions of a few to the whole group and then demonizing them all for it is a bad move. It never leads anywhere good and it sometimes leads somewhere very bad. How is this controversial?

  141. 141.

    d58826

    Thank goodness that all of the appropriate people are offering up thoughts and prayers to the profitability of the gun makers. Oh wait I’m sorry they mean the victims.

  142. 142.

    Kay

    At least 20 people were injured in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida on Wednesday, prompting a massive police response and manhunt as frightened students remained trapped in their classrooms.
    Margate Fire Department told CBS Miami there are between 20 and 50 victims. A law enforcement source tells CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that the victims include fatalities.
    The Broward County Sheriff’s Office tweeted after 4 p.m. that a shooter was in custody. They said the scene was still active. A male that fit the description of the suspect was seen being taken into custody, CBS News’ Jeff Pegues reports.

    Forget about it though. No one can do anything. We’re too hopelessly corrupted to take care of our children.

    Just patch up the victims, send them back to school, and the NRA can buy some more politicians.

  144. 144.

    japa21

    Two quick comments:

    Regarding a subject that has been carried from the last thread to this one. I am an old white guy, and have been for several years. I am not offended by some of the generalities tossed towards my age/race, as unflattering as they are. I know that many of them are true for a large majority of old white guys. Yes, there are many of us who don’t fit that stereotype, and those of us secure in who we are aren’t offended by the negative stereotypes. I also know that there is nobody here that views all old white guys as racist bigoted misogynistic old farts.

    Second thought is courtesy of Mrs. japa. She wants all the officers of the NRA and the Republican members of Congress to hurry right down to Florida and handle the cleanup that will now be taking place. Have them look at the bodies, have them see the wounds inflicted on the living. I think she may be too optimistic in terms of thinking it may change any minds but, in truth, they have been very good at pontificating from afar when they don’t have to come face to face with the consequences of their actions and inactions.

  148. 148.

    Ruckus

    @Leto:
    My comment in a thread yesterday was that at least the vast majority of military are not trained to rush active shooters. It’s commonly known as a Medal of Honor move. And is usually awarded posthumously.

  149. 149.

    HeleninEire

    @Yutsano: The new job I have now is fine. But the bullshit politics is exactly the same. I thought only Americans were this stupid. Jesus I’m dumb.

  150. 150.

    japa21

    @Dmas0n:

    grouping people by race, attributing the actions of a few to the whole group and then demonizing them all for it is a bad move.

    Yet, I have not seen that done here.

  151. 151.

    Corner Stone

    @Kay:

    Just patch up the victims, send them back to school, and the NRA can buy some more politicians.

    Don’t be so judgy! I am sure they will also have extra grief counselors on site for a couple of days as well.

  152. 152.

    different-church-lady

    NOTHING IS WORSE IN THE WORLD THAN A LIBERAL WHO WILL NOT STRICTLY ADHERE TO THE LIBERAL RULES OF CONDUCT!

  154. 154.

    Kay

    Among Federal Candidates, 2016 Cycle
    Total: $834,165

    I wonder how much that is per school shooting victim in 2016. Couldn’t we just raise a million dollars, give it to these politicians, and then get some gun regulation? Be the higher bidder.

  155. 155.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Gravenstone:

    I almost didn’t say anything. Normally I just scroll past troll comments and don’t bother with the pie filter, but today’s crop seem more irksome than usual. Anyhow, the tech problem fixed itself.

  157. 157.

    The Moar You Know

    Celebrating the anniversary of a good thing.

    89 years ago today, penicillin was first introduced to the market.

    @NotMax: For which we are all grateful, as those kids that got shot up today will, instead of dying of sepsis, will get to live long lives as literal cripples with shattered bodies and minds.

  158. 158.

    trollhattan

    @japa21:

    Second thought is courtesy of Mrs. japa. She wants all the officers of the NRA and the Republican members of Congress to hurry right down to Florida and handle the cleanup that will now be taking place. Have them look at the bodies, have them see the wounds inflicted on the living. I think she may be too optimistic in terms of thinking it may change any minds but, in truth, they have been very good at pontificating from afar when they don’t have to come face to face with the consequences of their actions and inactions.

    Give Mrs. Japa my heartiest of thumbs-up. I’d suggest they also help counsel the kids who just witnessed their friends be shot and killed, but of course the shit that came from their pieholes would be of no help whatsoever.

  160. 160.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    Having them put their hands up as they exit the school is a nice touch.

    Accurate, too. We surrendered to gun nuts. They run the show. All our massive federal and state and local policing is helpless before the mighty NRA. They dictate to us. We’re not permitted to have safe schools. The gun lobby has decreed.

  162. 162.

    different-church-lady

    Shooter in custody. Soon we will know whether it’s a poor, misunderstood, stressed, disturbed soul or another reason we need to seal our borders from criminal infiltrators.

  163. 163.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: The NRA gave more than $30M just to Trump in 2016. Lil’ Marco received millions as did others. I like the idea, though — just noting it would take a lot more money!

  164. 164.

    Dmas0n

    @japa21: The comment that got me interested in discussing the topic, from the previous thread.

    3
    bemused says:
    February 14, 2018 at 12:11 pm

    Old white men are basically obnoxious middle school boys.

    That is clearly grouping people by race, It was a statement in reply to the actions of 2 old white men. The only point of dispute is that it’s not demonizing them, but it’s certainly not complimenting the group they’s been elected to represent. Is that the same as oppression? Obviously not, but my point is that it’s best to leave the door closed entirely. Should I have expected to get attacked for such a common sense position?

  167. 167.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    All these law and order conservatives, WTF could they be thinking. They shoot up SCHOOLS, slaughter children, and all these manly men of the Right are helpless to stop them. That whole NRA recipient list- all purchased, all incapable of putting in basic public safety measures. The NRA says they can’t and they say “yes, sir!”

  168. 168.

    Amir Khalid

    @Sab:
    Inorite? It almost makes me miss Ted&Hellen, who worked so much harder at vulgarity, abusiveness towards other commenters, and wrongheadedness. And, I almost forgot to mention, shameless self-promotion.

  169. 169.

    Mnemosyne

    @Gravenstone:

    I have friends who are authors and they already run afoul of Faceborg and their algorithms about what is and is not a “real” person for their author (pen name) pages.

    I’ve been trying to get that figured out. I do have an email and URL for my pseudonym, but I’m not sure if that’s enough for me to get a Facebook page. And I don’t want to make it a daughter page of my existing Facebook account because it’s a freaking pseudonym and no one can seem to tell me if people will be able to easily find my real name that way.

  170. 170.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    Republicans say “well, I’d LIKE to stop this slaughter of 15 year olds, but my hands are tied! The NRA said I can’t!”

    Christ. One would think a big, powerful Senator would be ashamed to be such a fucking mewling coward.

  171. 171.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Corner Stone:

    You remind me of one of my all-time favourite New Yorker cartoons: a couple of cowboys on horseback looking down from a high bluff into some activity in the valley below. “Hard to tell from here. Could be buzzards, could be grief counselors.”

  172. 172.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    @The Moar You Know: The day after Sandy Hook, the suburban gun club to which I belonged at the time (for their shooting range very near my neighborhood; they had a discount deal for that year’s membership, I’ve just occasionally gone out to the desert with some empty beer cans since) had sold out of every AR-15 in stock, and I overheard the dude behind the counter mention they had dozens already that day on back-order. Ammosexuals are beyond hope.

  174. 174.

    different-church-lady

    I am beginning to wonder if this insistence on internal categorical purity is masking something.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dmas0n:

    So, just to be clear, white people criticizing their fellow white people is proof that racism against white people exists?

  176. 176.

    Corner Stone

    @Kay: As we know, NRA voters mostly only care about one thing enough to go and vote. R elected pols don’t want to be Colorado-ed out of office by the frothing at the mouth motivated gun-wingnuts.
    So, few the relatively small amount of dollars / members they represent, they get the biggest bang for the buck. Basically every single day.

  177. 177.

    japa21

    @Dmas0n: Actually yes. You took what was a basically innocuous statement and blew it out of proportion and then attacked anybody who disagreed with you. I can say in all honesty, as I pointed out in an earlier comment, that as an old white man, I was not offended, nor did I take it personally.

    And with that, I think the whole subject has been run into the ground and there are far more important things going on.

  178. 178.

    Brachiator

    @FlyingToaster:

    Homo Sapiens, they suck. I suspect the entire Homo genus, and probably the Australopithecines, as well.

    Paranthropus was pretty cool, but they just couldn’t quite make the cut long term.

  182. 182.

    different-church-lady

    @japa21: I just wonder if it’s really possible for someone to mutter “Men are all alike” and then not actually believe all men are alike.

    I mean… is it really possible? Or is it the sign of a hopeless, morally undisciplined mind?

  183. 183.

    Dmas0n

    @Mnemosyne: I think I mentioned that I didn’t care where it’s coming from or who it’s directed at. My issue is with the lumping people together by race/gender and disparaging all of them because of a few. It’s the same problem no matter who’s doing it. I swear I thought it was the most non-controversial position of the 21st century. Everywhere except here I guess.

  185. 185.

    Dmas0n

    @japa21: Yours is at least a defensible position to take. I would say that it’s not being blown out of proportion because my reply was pretty reasoned. I didn’t get angry or attack the poster, I simply stated my disagreement with the tactic. That’s not how I imagine something being blown out of proportion. You might say that the issue got blown out of proportion through a series of replies and I would probably agree. In my defense I thought the idea was so fundamental that the replies would be a bit less vitriolic.

  186. 186.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dmas0n:

    My issue is with the lumping people together by race/gender and disparaging all of them because of a few. It’s the same problem no matter who’s doing it.

    People within a group criticizing members of the same group is not the same thing as people in one group criticizing members of a different group.

    I’m sorry that this basic information has escaped you, but you had to learn it sometime.

    Claiming that white people are being racist towards other white people by making fun of their whiteness is probably the whitest thing I’ve seen today, and AncestryDNA has certified me as being 100 percent white.

  187. 187.

    different-church-lady

    When someone accuses us of liberal thought-crime I don’t understand why we gotta get all snippy about it.

  190. 190.

    Dmas0n

    @different-church-lady: Hey well that’s progress. I disagree with you, obviously. I can see arguing for a behavior that might have a good outcome or a bad outcome, on the merits of probabilities and so on, but we’re discussing a behavior that at best will have a not bad outcome. So why engage in such behavior AT ALL? You seem to be saying that since white men aren’t harmed by such rhetoric that it’s ok but my point is that as a society we either do or do not accept such behavior. That opening the door is where the problem begins and it might not always end with white peoples feefees. That is my argument for it being exactly the same problem, I am happy to hear why you think it is different depending on who’s standing where.

  192. 192.

    Dmas0n

    @Mnemosyne: We’re on the internet in an anonymous forum so your point is moot. I don’t know that persons race and they don’t know mine. A level playing field of sorts. I am happy to be represented by the idea that we don’t shit on people because of their race or sex, irrespective of my skin tone or the skin tone of the person representing the idea I dislike.

  193. 193.

    different-church-lady

    @Dmas0n: a) The purity of our inner liberal ponies, combined with about $5.50 will get us a soy mocha latte at Starbucks and exactly nothing else.

    b) If I need to explain to you how the racism of the tribe that has systemic power is different from the racism of the tribe that doesn’t then I’m just out of evens to can’t.

  194. 194.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    @Dmas0n:
    The frontpager’s name is Betty Cracker. And it does matter. That’s why it’s okay when African POC can call each other the n-word but white people can’t.

  196. 196.

    Dmas0n

    @different-church-lady: a) It might have gotten you a few states that turned out for Obama in 2 cycles and not for Hillary in the “flyover states”, the world will never know.

    b) So you’re saying you’ve got nothing?

  197. 197.

    different-church-lady

    @Dmas0n:

    b) So you’re saying you’ve got nothing?

    No, I’m saying you’re an idiot. In addition you’ve just convinced me you’re also a troll, and one not unfamiliar with this blog.

  198. 198.

    MisterForkbeard

    @different-church-lady: Let him/her/it go. He/She/they are now saying that if we’d been nicer to white people Hillary may have won. But who knows? He/She/It is just asking the questions, right? Why are you so offended?

    I think our trolls are getting better at trolling. Because it does actually take effort to be this much of a sea lion.

  200. 200.

    Dmas0n

    @different-church-lady: I admit I’m earnestly clueless as to why stating obvious facts would get me labeled a troll. Anyone who’s counting knows that Trump won states where Obama had destroyed his opponents. Anyone who grew up in the same America I did was taught not to judge people because of how they were born. How is any of this controversial?

  202. 202.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dmas0n:

    We’re on the internet in an anonymous forum so your point is moot. I don’t know that persons race and they don’t know mine.

    Actually, it’s a pseudonymous forum. Most of us know the race/gender of most of the regular commenters. The fact that you made assumptions is not my problem.

    I suppose it’s theoretically possible that you’re actually a Black disabled lesbian and not a white dude, but at this point I find that highly unlikely.

  203. 203.

    Mnemosyne

    @Dmas0n:

    Anyone who’s counting knows that Trump won states where Obama had destroyed his opponents.

    Yes, states that just happened to implement race-based voter suppression laws between 2012 and 2016 that prevented Democrats from voting.

    Nothing to see here, comrade, move along. It’s a total coincidence.

  204. 204.

    Dmas0n

    @Mnemosyne:

    Yes, states that just happened to implement race-based voter suppression laws between 2012 and 2016 that prevented Democrats from voting.

    Nothing to see here, comrade, move along. It’s a total coincidence.

    I mean, the loser of every presidential race in my adult life has accused the winner of some suppression/fraud/rigging so yeah, I would say nothing to see here is exactly right.

  205. 205.

    J R in WV

    @Dmas0n:

    No dumbass, we’re mocking you because you pretend to think there are racists here, and there are not.

    You are blind and deaf and bought by the Russian bot machine.

    ETA tune it up a bit.

  207. 207.

    J R in WV

    @Dmas0n:

    Your run-on manifesto is nearly gibberish – you should go back to GED school and pay extra close attention to grammar and logic.

    Old fat white racists deserve to be mocked. I’m an old fat white guy and I believe that mocking my fellow old fat white guys who are racist is proper.

    People who think that’s crazy also deserve to be mocked, like you. You didn’t learn what you think you learned in school.

  208. 208.

    bemused

    @Dmas0n:

    You fucking idiot. It should have been clear I responded to the two assholes overheard being assholes, not the whole damn white male senior citizen population. I’ve heard this kind of crap from old white misogynist fogies directly or overhearing them walking by their cozy little coffee klatches all my life. You started all this nitpicking foolishness. As I said, my old fogy isn’t one of them and would never think I lumped him in with those guys. As japa21 said, he doesn’t take offense because he’s secure. Go find something more productive to do.

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