Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

I was promised a recession.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

T R E 4 5 O N

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Everybody saw this coming.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

After roe, women are no longer free.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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140Comments

  2. 2.

    Mary G

    I have been donating to Chris Murphy’s re-election campaign for almost two years now, because he’s going to have a shit ton of money pumped against by the NRA and their enablers the Russians. Though, Sen. Murphy, dude, that hairline looks more and more fake. Give it up, you don’t want to be a Trump lite.

  5. 5.

    Corner Stone

    The Parkland kids certainly have a few good spokesactors. I hope they don’t hit the wall most of us older cycnics have, at times.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl: True. Although, WRT Sullivan, it was breathtaking to hear he is reading Orwell to escape dealing with the conditions Orwell warned us all about. Again, you cannot make this shit up.

    @Corner Stone:

    I hope they don’t hit the wall most of us older cycnics have, at times.

    They’ve got the wind at their backs, and us having their backs, and the NRA is on the ropes. A lot happening to make this moment even more effective.

    We just have to stop the wankers reminding us all that “nothing will happen. Nothing will change.” Because it does.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    @HinTN:

    Bill O’Reilly of course is scornful of the students. “Do we really want to be listening to high school students?” Gah!

  11. 11.

    Yarrow

    @Corner Stone: They’ll hit walls, but given that they’re attacking the NRA and it’s working, I think their efforts will go a lot further. They already have. And the next time there’s a school shooting, and unfortunately there will be a next time, those kids will join the movement the Parkland kids have started. As will those who survive shootings in all sorts of places. For whatever reason now is the moment that the tide is turning on guns. We are not going back.

  13. 13.

    jo6pac

    @Corner Stone:

    True they can’t let any one steal the message and don’t take breath. They need to continue the attack on anyone that speaks out against them and other children trying for change that matters and not words.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    I just noticed that was a video, not a photo. Tears streaming down my face. This father saying that his kids are in high school and that this could happen to his family AGAIN. The most horrifying thing about that is that it’s true.

    I am a nonviolent person but I have always wondered what I would do if a neighbor poisoned my dog or did something awful like that. It’s possible that I might learn some things about myself that I would rather not know. Then I think about Sandy Hook families who had their young children shredded with bullets, and then have to put up with ignorant evil people suggesting that it’s a hoax.

  17. 17.

    Humdog

    The kids in 4th to 6th grade at Sandy Hook are now juniors and seniors in high school. They’re done with this guns everywhere baloney and they’re righteous enough adult cynicism cannot touch them.

  19. 19.

    Corner Stone

    @Yarrow: I think the desperate efforts to push the Armed Teachjailor ™ and re-focus on Broward Co Sheriff failures tells us how they will proceed.

  20. 20.

    donnah

    Momentum is important, and Republicans always, always say, “Too soon! Don’t make it political!” Of course they want to put off any discussions and actions because they know they can bury the protests every time.

    But not this time. Everyone’s said it: these kids are not buying the NRA bullshit. And they are not afraid. Defying authority is their raison d’etre…they’re teenagers!

    By focusing on the money, like demanding corporations break away from the NRA and taking harder looks at gun manufacturers who fund them, we can make connections and see exactly where their weak spots are. Instead of running into brick walls put up by Republicans and the NRA, we can get under and around them.

    I have hope. I will support this new power and I hope the rest of the country will, too.

  23. 23.

    WaterGirl

    @Yarrow: It’s so inspiring to me to see all the colleges and universities who are going public saying that disciplinary action related to speaking out and peaceful gun protests will not affect their getting into those schools. That gives me hope.

    I am thinking of pulling out my Obama HOPE pin from 2008.

  24. 24.

    Corner Stone

    Why in the absolute fuck is Ivana Jr opening her god damn piehole to speak about foreign policy and international relations.

  25. 25.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Agreed. These outright haters and tone-policers like David Brooks and Sully are never going to approve of anything that we do. Its our existence that they hate. They want to us to give up and go home. So yes, we need to tune them out. Fuck them.

  26. 26.

    Yarrow

    @Corner Stone: It’ll be steps forward and some setbacks. The kids are so fearless, though. It’s inspiring to watch. They just don’t care about the bullshit reasons as to why things won’t change. They’re going right ahead and changing things.

  30. 30.

    Doug R

    These high school kids would have been in elementary school during Sandy Hook and they were born right after Columbine, so it’s been hanging over them their entire lives.
    They’ve cracked open the door, it’s up to ALL of us to keep up the fight and see this through.

  37. 37.

    TheMightyTrowel

    OT we had flash flooding yesterday and my department’s building flooded. The lower ground floor is apparently knee deep in water. I’m fine – my office is higher up- but LG is where we kept our stores (priceless anth and arch collections, teaching collections, etc). We’ve been telling the uni for 5 years that these were at risk because our storage was inadequate and our building was falling apart. And now…. who knows. We can’t get in to see the extent of damage until the water recedes. Bonus bullcrap: there’s a major (And much needed) building campaign on campus at the moment and three sides of our building are construction sites. We suspect that the construction altered or blocked up drainage exacerbating or perhaps even causing the flood we’ve suffered.

  38. 38.

    efgoldman

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Arming teachers with guns must be one of the stupidest ideas among all the stupid ideas championed by the Rs.

    It is fucking idiocy. But then, what RWNJ “idea” isn’t?

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @TheMightyTrowel: Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no. You must be sick about this. And it didn’t fucking have to happen if someone had listened.

    Who could have predicted? Only all the fucking people who have been telling you about this for years. Same tune, different verse.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    That video is heartbreaking. Some of the Sandy Hook parents are working with the students from Parkland, advising and assisting them in their organizing efforts.

  41. 41.

    Lapassionara

    @Baud: Yes. So we need to make sure we have their backs. If I had the right connections, I would be gaming this out. Anyone know how to start this process?

  42. 42.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Arming teachers with guns

    My son’s school restricts how many times you can go to the bathroom during class in each semester. I get they want to tamp down the abuse of the privilege and resulting disruption. Mainly because they need every minute of every day to teach the kids how to pass the standardized test so the school gets paid and they don’t get fired. Imagine an Armed Teachjailor ™ highly stressed and on edge.
    Now enter scene:
    MS. JAILER: Lil Johnny, you are out of passes.
    Lil Johnny: But I really need to go. No fooling!
    MS. JAILER: In that case, use the bucket.
    Lil Johnny: I don’t wanna!
    *BLAM!* *BLAM!*
    MS. JAILER: Does anyone else need a hall pass?
    39 heads shaking “No” violently in unison.

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: That’s good for everyone, I’m sure. I know I’m the millionth person to say it, but I am so proud of these kids.

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    @donnah:

    But not this time. Everyone’s said it: these kids are not buying the NRA bullshit. And they are not afraid. Defying authority is their raison d’etre…they’re teenagers!

    Some of them may live by my favorite movie quote of all time.

    Mildred: Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?

    Johnny: Whadda you got?

    — The Wild One

    The yoots got no patience with NRA bullshit and are not afraid. They are also masters of social media. Some of the Fox holes have been reduced to talking amongst themselves.

    It’s a start. Obviously, they deserve support from the rest of us.

    It’s been encouraging to see companies cut ties with the NRA.

  49. 49.

    Chet Murthy

    @Corner Stone: CS, speaking with cynicism turned to 11: unless these young people succeed in changing our laws (and even if they do, b/c 310m guns will take time to round up), there *will* be more massacres. And those massacres will eventually yield more young leaders. This state of affairs cannot persist indefinitely, b/c no society can nurture its young in such conditions. Or at least, no modern, technically-sophisticated society.

    A process that cannot continue forever, eventually stops. This will end. I just cringe, that it will be on the bodies of even more victims to come. But this *will* end. All Dana Loesh and Wayne The Peter can do, delay the inevitable.

    I mean, Americans love their children, too

  50. 50.

    Gretchen

    I’d like these people who want to arm teachers to spell out exactly how that would work. Would the guns be locked up, and the ammunition stored separately, like people are advised to do at home? If so, how would they get them out and loaded in time to use them? Or is there going to be a loaded gun on the teacher’s desk, and the 1st graders will be sternly told not to touch it? Or will the loaded gun be on the teacher’s hip, and she tries to avoid the 6 year olds hugging her too vigorously in case it goes off? Does she take it with her to the bathroom? Does she ever forget to bring it back to class? How does this work? Jeff Colyer is running for governor of Kansas, and his thinks this is a great idea.

  51. 51.

    Suzanne

    @Elizabelle: I have been really busy this weekend and I want no part of CPAC. It has been a remarkably Trump-free weekend and that was great. I had Thursday and Friday off, and I really could use one more day before starting the new gig tomorrow, but oh well. My nails will not be done, but hopefully no one will judge me too harshly.

  54. 54.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Baka Amerikahito) ? ?

    @Baud:
    Good luck. These kids had friends they knew die because of guns. And they could have easily shared that fate.

    Someone in an earlier thread alluded to the NRA (or someone else) murdering these kids in order to silence them. I say, if that were to happen, it would only turn them into martyrs.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    @Elizabelle:

    Thank you. I don’t want to hear another word about CPAC or Dana Loesch.

    I don’t mind hearing about CPAC or Loesch. I like getting accurate information about what my enemies are up to.

  61. 61.

    Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)

    @Gretchen: Story time. A friend who is an FBI agent told me that a guy in my friend’s squad went to the bathroom and hung his gun on the hook on the back of the door. When the guy went to pick it up again, it went off, sending a bullet through a wall and into the next room. No one was hurt. There was a formal investigation that resulted in some sort of advice that people not do this.

    That’s someone whose job involves carrying a gun, qualifying at a range every year (or maybe every 6 months, I’m not sure), and following rules. My first grade teacher DIL has none of those qualifications and spends time sitting on the floor with the 6 year olds.

  64. 64.

    WaterGirl

    @Brachiator: Yeah, but whole threads ABOUT them seldom provides new information and only amplifies their disheartening message. I think that’s what we’re saying isn’t much fun.

  74. 74.

    Tenar Arha

    @Gretchen: I don’t. It would be intellectually satisfying to know their ideas are as nonsensical as the policy. However there’s no logic to their stance, it’s just a red herring to make us go ??, and get sidetracked from campaigning for sensible gun control. We just need to keep saying, well that won’t help, and saying Democrats are for measures like stopping sales of certain weapons, fixing background checks, studying gun violence etc.

  75. 75.

    Brachiator

    @WaterGirl:

    Yeah, but whole threads ABOUT them seldom provides new information and only amplifies their disheartening message.

    There was a recent reply by Cheryl R that clued me in to some important news stories about Trump and the Australian prime minister that I might have otherwise missed.

    I’m not disheartened by reading about Trump and his dopes. I am energized and more eager to fight. And this makes it even sweeter when I read about candidates winning in areas where Trump did well in 2016.

    But I understand how you feel and would not try to convince you to think otherwise. I can only note how I feel about the issue.

  76. 76.

    dmsilev

    @TheMightyTrowel: At my previous university, we had an episode some years ago where the city pumping station that emptied the storm drains was offline because of flooding (ironic!) and rain was forecast. And our building had two levels of below-grade basements filled with all sorts of delicate equipment. One faculty member was observed asking whether we could run some garden hoses up the stairs to pump any water out that way. I dragged him down to the sump pump room and showed him the 8″ pipes going out (big building, extending down below the level of the water table, so big pumps…). So, no. Thankfully, no rain before the city pumps were fixed.

    Of course, a year or so later we had an actual flood because of some idiot contractors who set up a pipe brazing station directly underneath a sprinkler head. Nothing quite like coming into work at 8 AM to find pools of water all across the floor and a steadily-increasing number of people running around like headless chickens.

  77. 77.

    NotMax

    @Tenar Arha

    For the sound bite era: Effective gun controls, not defective gun controls.

    May as well repeat this here, as it’s right on topic.

    The judgment of Samuel L. Jackson is pretty much equivalent to eternal damnation.

    And the star certainly didn’t hold back when it came to Donald Trump’s proposals to arm teachers, declaring on Twitter: “Can someone that’s been in a Gunfight tell that Muthaf*kka that’s Never been in a Gunfight, the flaws of his Arm The Teachers plan??!!” Source

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @Corner Stone:

    Why in the absolute fuck is Ivana Jr opening her god damn piehole to speak about foreign policy and international relations.

    Because she deserves the spot. To deny her jobs she hasn’t earned is unthinkable.

    This is what “a sense of entitlement” means. That’s what it looks like.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    And here I thought it was to copiously suck in fresh air in order to try to get the taste of Jared out of her mouth.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):

    My first grade teacher DIL has none of those qualifications and spends time sitting on the floor with the 6 year olds.

    Trump’s proposal is idiotic. The sad thing is he probably believes it. Just shows how desperately these dopes want to cling to their guns.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    I plan on going to the march and being a good subordinate to whatever 17 year old is running things :)

    IMO the best thing you can do for them is show up. They’re organizers now and what organizers want most in this world is a good turn out. It’s the coin of that particular realm, and the way to show them gratitude.

  82. 82.

    Patricia Kayden

    @donnah: Yep. The NRA should be treated like any other terrorist organization. No funding. No sponsors. No privileges. They only represent 5 million Americans (or so they claim since they haven’t provided any proof of that number). There is no reason that our politicians should be so beholden to their every whim and fancy. Kudos to Parkland students for showing us how to push back on the pro-gun hysteria which has grasped this country for way too long. Looking forward to their march in March.

  83. 83.

    Ruckus

    @debbie:

    “Do we really want to be listening to high school students?”

    Listening to those HS students is far, far, far more informative, useful and smarter than listening to anything of little Billy’s.

  91. 91.

    germy

    @Corner Stone:

    In June 2016, she published a book called The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech, detailing her assertions about the IRS’s alleged harassment of conservatives and other similar events.

  92. 92.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    The yoots got no patience with NRA bullshit and are not afraid.

    They have already been shot at, some asswipe is going to dismiss them with a ta ta and a wave of the hand? I don’t fucking think so. Combat vets usually fall into one of 2 categories, zombie or don’t give a fuck when it comes to this sort of stuff. And let’s face it, these kids are combat vets.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    @germy

    Let’s see…

    Hearing damage
    Burns
    Ignition of flammable materials.

    Calling her a dyed-in-the-wool idiot would be a compliment.

  97. 97.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: That happened to us at the University. My IT group managed the servers for a good part of the College and they were housed in the basement. My group was there on a Saturday morning for some thing we wanted to do off hours, and we arrived to find the entire basement flooded and many inches of water running down the basement hallway.

    Hours of bailing and people running home for wet vacs and pouring water out the basement windows, stuffing towels underneath doors and taping doors to keep the water out of the server room, but we saved the servers. Not a fun day.

    edit: forgot to say that a 12″ pipe had burst and was sending water into the building at an alarming rate!

  98. 98.

    Ruckus

    @Patricia Kayden:
    Well those 5 million members don’t seem to pay enough to cover the kind of bribe money that the NRA spends. Sponsorship money has to be accounted for in a non-profit, so it is possible to find out where it’s coming from. But I’d bet there is some creative accounting being done there.

  101. 101.

    Corner Stone

    I think my Five Most Punchable Faces in DC right now are:
    1. Trump
    2. Ivana Jr
    3. JarJar
    4. Mulvaney
    5. Ted Cruz

  102. 102.

    stinger

    @Gretchen: Furthermore, a lot of the shooters are current or former students or recent graduates. So high school teachers are expected to shoot THEIR OWN KIDS? Somebody they may have had in class last semester, counseled last week? Do we want teachers who are warm, nurturing people who love children, or cold-blooded sharpshooters?

    I know, I know, porque no los dos.

  105. 105.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Patricia Kayden: I’ve had a hunch that real members are much less, and much less active as they appear. There really is no incentive to cull the list for dead or dropped out members here. Another sign is that Wayne LaPierre is older than dirt-an active organization would have wanted someone younger and more diplomatic, or at least younger. Then, there’s the appeal to the membership regarding a whole lot of social conservative matters that infer that the membership is one that actively remembers the 1960’s.

  108. 108.

    Tim C.

    Actual high school teacher here. I’ve told my principal that if we get money for weapons I’m putting in for a Scottish claymore, blue woad paint and a kilt. Seriously though, I’m exactly the kind of community where this could happen. We are in an exurban area of Oregon, where there’s a ton of gun loonies and aggressive racist idiot Trump voters. There’s also a surplus of neglected teenagers in that community nursing a grudge. It’s a disaster waiting to happen

  109. 109.

    BluegirlFromWyo

    @Kay: And donate to them. When I did today, they were about $250k shy of their $2.8M goal. Link’s in the post.

  119. 119.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Corner Stone:

    I’d prefer Donnie Jr in exchange for Mulvaney. Can we make it a top ten list and add Pruitt and both Mininchen/Munchkin/whatever it is?

    Oh! What am I thinking? Sessions! Box those flappy-ass ears!

  121. 121.

    Corner Stone

    @lgerard: I figure Stephen Miller will be found dead by his own hand in an auto-erotic asphyxiation incident in the not too near future.

  124. 124.

    tamiasmin

    @Yarrow: It’s especially inspiring to listen to what these young people are saying and how they say it. They are not calling people shitheads and fucktards or idiots and assholes. They are laying out a persuasive case for change based on a stark choice: children or guns. And they know their stuff. They can answer the stale arguments for gun proliferation and show why the case for half measures or no measures has failed and was probably designed to fail. It seems as if our schools really have been teaching kids about reasoned argument, decency in discourse, and grace under fire, both literal and rhetorical. Many of us can learn from them, if we will.

  127. 127.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: You are welcome. I’ll keep an eye out for my invitation. Can’t wait to see what you’re going to talk about.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    @BluegirlFromWyo:

    I usually show up if I can, although I know that’s not for everyone. Unless I miss my guess what will make the young’uns happy is numbers.

    I also love “let’s march” as a slogan. Yes. Let’s!

    I’m a good marcher although I would prefer columns and rows, possibly uniforms or at least caps or hats of some kind :)

  131. 131.

    Kay

    @BluegirlFromWyo:

    This I can go to because it happens to fall on the first day of My Spring Vacation and I was headed in that general direction anyway. Sort of. If you hold the map upside down and say “as the crow flies”

    My husband and son are coming, too.

  132. 132.

    Ruckus

    @CarolDuhart2:
    Wayne may be old but so are a lot of the members. The ones still alive that is. Secondly he isn’t there as a membership defender, he’s there as a political money machine.

  134. 134.

    marv

    It seems to me a lot of adults are like, well this won’t work either. I’m 65 years old, and neither a complete failure or a complete success, but I tell you what, I’m so moved by these kids, who probably won’t be complete failures or complete successes themselves, that I will be in DC on the 24th

  136. 136.

    Gvg

    You know one of the reasons we have arrived at this loony point is that a lot of people are justifiably afraid of the NRA and the even more extreme gun nuts who give the impression they will kill a polititian who crosses them. So these kids aren’t afraid and that’s great but adults are because JFK and Martin Luthor King and Gabby Giffords are what happens when you go against that segment.
    The fear is the problem. How can our polititian be so out of touch with what polls say we want? Well how about intimidation? Thes bully’s know it and like it IMO that’s why they want open carry in public like College Campuses and even malls.

  139. 139.

    Arclite

    Don’t forget about March 14. THere’s supposed to be a 17 min walkout at 10AM by participating students in memorial for the 17 who died.

  140. 140.

    Darkrose

    @TheMightyTrowel: Oh gods, that’s awful–I’m so sorry! I took beginning archiving last semester, and that’s an archivist’s nightmare. Hopefully the collections can be salvaged.

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