Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

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

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

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

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

In after Baud. Damn.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Agonize - Organize / RWNJ “American Priveledge” Open Thread — Everybody JUMP!

RWNJ “American Priveledge” Open Thread — Everybody JUMP!

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Another reminder: We Democrats just have to work harder at organizing, because we lack that lemming instinct which makes astroturfing the GOP so easy and profitable. Political scientist David A. Hopkins, “Why The “Liberal Tea Party” Doesn’t Exist (And Why Some People Think It Does)”:

… Matt Grossmann and I explained in Asymmetric Politics why the Democrats are much less vulnerable to ideological purification campaigns than Republicans are, and we summarized our argument in this piece for Vox Polyarchy. Part of the story is that the American left simply lacks much of the institutional infrastructure that promoted and sustained the Tea Party rebellion on the right, such as powerful ideologically-driven media sources, interest groups, and financial donors. (The number of politically active leftist billionaires is….not large.) But it’s also true that many Democratic voters simply don’t think of politics in ideological terms or prize doctrinal fidelity over other qualities—such as perceived electability, group identity, or ability to deliver concrete policy achievements—when making their choice of candidate.

So if there isn’t much evidence of a “liberal Tea Party,” why is anybody talking about it? One reason is that the assumption of party symmetry is deeply entrenched in the minds of many political observers, who expect any trends on one partisan side to inevitably appear in comparable form on the other. Another is the well-documented tendency of media coverage to frame stories in ways that emphasize conflict, or at least the possibility of conflict (“if it bleeds, it leads”)… A third is that Republicans, facing a poor electoral climate this year, have adopted the talking point that their fortunes will be salvaged by a raft of extremist opponents nominated by far-left Democratic primary electorates.

But there’s something else at work here as well. Purist leftism, to the extent it exists in America, is especially concentrated in the circles—metropolitan, professional, well-educated, highly internet-active—in which many media members themselves travel…

Put simply, the online left is not representative of the Democratic Party. Visitors to local Democratic caucus or committee meetings in most parts of America will find that the public employees, union officials, trial lawyers, nonprofit association administrators, and African-American church ladies who actually constitute the party’s activist backbone are, by and large, neither preoccupied with ideological purity nor in a state of rebellion against its current leadership. And though the election of Donald Trump has surely angered and energized the Democratic base, there’s no particular reason to think that anti-Trump sentiment will lead to an internal ideological transformation….

Which, again: This has been true of the Democratic Party, and its GOP counterpart, at least back to the days of Finley Peter Dunne ragging on the McKinley administration’s kleptocrats. Dems are better at compromising than at enforcing ‘party discipline’… which is why, among so many other reasons, we’re not Republicans!

Reader Interactions

161Comments

  1. 1.

    japa21

    It is one of the things I love about Democrats.

    ETA: I really think RWNJs have no concept of proofreading, editing, etc. Everything is obviously right the first time simply by virtue of it being done by them, or so they think. Either that, or they are having all their work done by liberals who are playing with them.

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Ben seems to be who the right have decided will be their “serious intellectual” now that Paul Ryan has proven himself to be a empty, groveling suit. This is stupid, because Ben is also an empty suit that has learned to recite lines like the cats ringing the bell for a treat.

  6. 6.

    Adam L Silverman

    Someone needs to sit Shapiro down and explain to him he is a poster child for white privilege. It was in the late 60s/early 70s, about a decade, decade and a half before Shapiro was born, when Jews were granted the privilege of being considered white in the US. Before that it was hit and miss. Moreover, the people that Shapiro make common cause with, and his fellow travelers, are the ones who are least likely to extend this privilege of whiteness to Jews. They tolerate him because he provides them cover. He is one of the “good ones” for these people and as a result they extend him the privilege of being white. So Shapiro is doubly blessed.

  11. 11.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    The doors are clearly marked, in flashing red neon, ‘Lady’ and ‘Tiger.’

    And the instructions provided say some assembly may be required.

  13. 13.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    I mean, that’s the way things should be, taking Shapiro’s words at face value. But that’s how the world is. And that’s the point. The misspelling is just icing on the cake.

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    I think the base has a lot more appreciation for Nancy Pelosi, too.

    Terrible headline (of course; it’s the fucking Atlantic), but, on a skim, a pretty good article. Peter Beinart in The Atlantic. The Nancy Pelosi Problem

    The more successful Pelosi is—the more she outmaneuvers and dominates her male adversaries—the more threatening she becomes. And the easier it becomes to tar the male Democratic candidates who would serve under her as emasculated yes-men. Which makes it harder for Democrats to retake the House.

    It would be comforting to think that Pelosi is alienating because she’s a rich liberal Democrat from San Francisco—not because she’s a woman. Yet despite attributes that should make her endearing to cultural conservatives—she is a Catholic Italian American grandmother of nine who entered politics only after staying home to raise her kids—many Americans greeted her rise with, in the words of the Yale researchers, “contempt, anger, and/or disgust.” It was the same for Hillary Clinton: Her deep religiosity, career-long focus on child welfare, and insistence on keeping her family together in the face of near-unimaginable humiliation didn’t spare her in the 2016 presidential election.

    I heart Nancy Pelosi. She’s supremely effective. Any dudebros in the Democratic party can stuff it.

  16. 16.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Elizabelle: the anti-Pelosi thing is a great example of 1) how Republicans drive national media stories and 2) how Democrats, at all levels and all across the country, seem incapable of ignoring the national media

  17. 17.

    sukabi

    Since this is an open thread, I’ll drop this here…

    Jared has been sharing classified info gleaned from the PDBs with the Saudi’s. The prince claims he’s got Jared in his pocket.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly bragged about having White House senior counsel Jared Kushner “in his pocket” and may have used highly sensitive intelligence from the President’s Daily Briefing in his violent crackdown on dissent in Saudi Arabia, The Intercept reported Wednesday.

    Three sources told The Intercept that Kushner had revealed names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince.

    “The Saudi figures named in the President’s Daily Brief were among those rounded up; at least one was reportedly tortured,” The Intercept explained.

    Mohammed bin Salman also was said to have told UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed that Kushner was “in his pocket.”

  18. 18.

    Major Major Major Major

    Put simply, the online left is not representative of the Democratic Party. Visitors to local Democratic caucus or committee meetings in most parts of America will find that the public employees, union officials, trial lawyers, nonprofit association administrators, and African-American church ladies who actually constitute the party’s activist backbone are, by and large, neither preoccupied with ideological purity nor in a state of rebellion against its current leadership.

    Bernie couldn’t even win San Francisco or Berkeley in the primary.

  22. 22.

    Mary G

    @japa21: WaPo had a whole story about the White House’s many offenses against the rules of grammar. Elected to lead, not to proofread: Typos, spelling mistakes are commonplace in Trump’s White House.

    President Trump boasted during the campaign that he has the “best words.” If the past 14 months in the White House are an indication, he and his team also have the worst spelling.

    Among the many casualties of Washington’s protocols in the Trump era has been a lack of rigor to the accuracy of the printed word — whether it’s the president’s typo-filled tweets or the White House’s error-prone news releases.

    I’ve decided they do it on purpose, so when people make fun of it, they tell their followers that they’re being picked on by the pointy-headed elites. Science denying and lack of respect for expertise are a feature, not a bug, to the Republican base.

  24. 24.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Mary G:

    Among the many casualties of Washington’s protocols in the Trump era has been a lack of rigor to the accuracy of the printed word

    Grr. Among the casualties has been a lack of rigor?

    I suppose it’s almost inevitable that one will beckown one’s self when writing such a sentence.

  26. 26.

    SFAW

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

    Who’s Ben Shapiro?

    TAFKATVB

    a/k/a The Asshole Formerly Known As “The Virgin Ben”

    I would consider trying to come up with a symbol for him, a la Prince, but:
    1) It would be highly insulting to the memory of Prince, and Shapiro was/is not fit to lick up Prince’s piss
    2) One contender for his symbol, a prolapsed pig’s rectum, has already been claimed by John Sunununununununuuuuuuuuuuu

    and apropos of nothing, one is tempted to ask him whether he’s still a virgin. (“But I’m married!” he’ll protest, to which the appropriate response would be “Is your wife either blind or incredibly stupid? If not, then the question stands, asshole.”)

  29. 29.

    Citizen Alan

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Damn. For a second, I thought that was Ralph, and he was finally selling out to the green party over how they’ve been co-opted by the Russians.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    “PRIVILEDGE.”

    Few things give me greater pleasure than seeing entitled pompous little twits not even know how to spell the key word in their comments.

    SPELING FALE!!

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    But it’s also true that many Democratic voters simply don’t think of politics in ideological terms or prize doctrinal fidelity over other qualities

    Lefties burned through this when they abandoned doctrinaire allegiance to communism, syndacalism, etc. There were still some weak traces in “revolutionary” groups in the 60s and 70s.

  35. 35.

    Corner Stone

    Trump does not even have a dog so he’s going to end up telling his stupid stories to the echoes in the hallways for 55 minutes out of every 60.

  36. 36.

    sukabi

    @debbie: not any more (2 weeks ago?), but with this bunch do you really think a little thing like lack of a security clearance is going to stop him? They’re all doing whatever they want regardless of the rules, laws ECT.

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott:

    Often the simplest explanations (that cover all the known conditions) are the best. ;-)

    Josh Marshall has something he calls Trump’s Razor. I think it’s along the lines of “The stupidest explanation/reason is usually the correct one.”

  42. 42.

    GregB

    The same folks who hate smug liberals love Ben Shapiro. Also the folks who hated angry liberals loved Andrew Breitbart. Also the folks who thought Obama was arrogant love Trump.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    I don’t know much about Been Shapiro, thank goodness. Earlier, I read that he had a hissy fit over “Black Panther” because it was insufficiently inclusive of white superheroes.

  55. 55.

    cain

    OT: I had to buy another phone, and I’m irritated because for the past 3 years, my luck with phones have been really bad. Every since my separations, phones are not lasting. :P

    Also, fuck Ben Shapiro.

  58. 58.

    oldster

    So Shapiro is now for open borders?

    I mean: if everyone has American privilege, then that must be because everyone enjoys the rights and immunities of American citizens, correct?
    So everyone, no matter where they were born or grew up, can come to America and enjoy the rights and immunities of an American citizen? Use the public facilities and avail themselves of the (undernourished) social support services?

    I mean–this sounds like a slightly more liberal immigration policy than I would find ideal. It *was* our immigration policy for the first hundred or so years of our country–show up, cross the border, become an American, done–but in more recent decades the method has been somewhat more restrictive.

    But if Ben Shapiro really thinks we should return to the open-door, no-questions-asked policies of the 1800s, then I might learn to live with it.

    Or instead did he not really mean that, and he is just another rightwing moron who does not know how to express himself any more than he knows how to spell?

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SFAW:

    Andrew Breitbart.

    By the way, is he still dead?

    Deader than dead. Dead as General Francisco Franco.

  61. 61.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @Brachiator:

    Earlier, I read that he had a hissy fit over “Black Panther” because it was insufficiently inclusive of white superheroes.

    I’m beginning to suspect that Shapiro is really some sort of liberal performance artist doing an intentional send-up of a young Republican. Nobody could be that obtuse unless they were doing it on purpose.

  66. 66.

    Amir Khalid

    Who the heck spells “privilege” with a D?

    @Adam L Silverman:
    For some reason I find myself wondering if there’s an Adam Bronzeman out there.

    I’ll just show myself out.

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Reminded of a line from the time travel show am on-again, off-again plowing through.

    Hitler, stalking off in anger and disgust after the rationale for a meeting with Franco goes sour while it is being held: “I’d rather cut off my own dick than talk with that guy again.”

    (It happens to be a Spanish show; don’t know if it’s true to life or a jab at Franco – his speaking voice is nearly a falsetto.)

  68. 68.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Brachiator:
    Seriously? Why doesn’t Ben bitch and moan about the Avenger movies being insufficiently inclusive of POC supers?

  70. 70.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @NotMax:
    You mentioned that show before here. I thought you were talking about Timeless.

    I doubt Nationalist Spain would have ultimately changed the outcome of WW2 too much if that’s what the evil time travelers are trying to do.

  75. 75.

    Jeffro

    If the liberal tea party doesn’t exist, then why do I keep getting my weekly SorosChecks hmm hmm hmmm???

  76. 76.

    Chet Murthy

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: And when too many of my kind and those with the politically-incorrect eye-shapes (aka “Asians”) showed up out West, they got busy busy busy with the laws to stop ’em (us) and send back those who’d already arrived.

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    @NotMax:
    Also too, Samuel’s grandson wouldn’t have had a fairly successful acting career if he were named Tony Goldfish.

  79. 79.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @debbie:

    He doesn’t have sufficient security clearance to even work in the White House, but that hasn’t slowed him down so far.

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    Understatement of the evening from a report in Long Island’s Newsday:

    Currently 5 – 6 inches of snow on the ground. An additional 6 to 8 inches expected to fall overnight. This may interfere with morning commutes.

  82. 82.

    different-church-lady

    @japa21: And wingnuts really really really love emojis. That’s what I’ve noticed from retweets and posts from conservative trolls on another site I visit.

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    So, here is a link to the blog posts of that loser Austin area bomber dudebro. They’re not particularly incisive and — bad mistake! — whoever administers this blog forgot to turn comments off. (You can imagine.)

    While this bomber’s future thoughts are lost to us (see sample below), it was a government class blog and there are a lot of other kids’ bloglinks to the right. Haven’t looked, but thinking that some of them might be worth reading.

    Here’s the blog, “Defining My Stance.”

    Here’s a sample from the Pfluegerville bomber (what a loss, girls):

    My view on free abortions

    In her post on contraception, Juliana Solitro make the argument that all women should be given “preventative medicine”, a.k.a.: abortions, free of charge, regardless of their walk in life. I disagree.

    First, if a women does not want a baby, or is incapable of taking care of one, she should not participate in activities that were made for that reason.

    Second, if we are going to give women free abortions, why not give men free condoms, or the like? Is it not up to the couple to take these preventive measures?

    This is just my view on the subject, but if you can’t provide for a child, then don’t have sex.

  86. 86.

    different-church-lady

    Put simply, the online left is not representative of the Democratic Party.

    Any sane person who hung out on Daily Kos figured this out eight years ago.

  87. 87.

    Chet Murthy

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: For those of a historical bent, I cannot recommend enough Adam Tooze’s _Wages of Destruction_. An economic historian’s take on WWII and its prelude. Amazing. Just two things that he shows:

    (1) Hitler was in deep shit when he went against Russia, b/c they not merely had a bigger economy & ppoulation, but were producing technologically superior arms (and in greater quantities,b/c bigger economy). And that doesn’t include Lord Winter and King Mud.

    (2) Of course, once America came onside with Britain (lend-lease was enough) it was pretty much over — no way he could compete with that level of production. Since he failed to take Britain, the US-UK alliance would always have that ‘aircraft carrier” parked next to Europe, from which to launch an invasion.

    Just fascinating. Oh, another: conquering Western Europe didn’t actually help Germany with war production [well, except oil from Romania]. B/c the productivity of the conquered territories dropped off like a rock. Heh, I forget the details, but productivity in liberated France (in 1944( rebounded dramatically and shockingly quickly. One supposes the French just didn’t have their hearts into being a conquered people.

  88. 88.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Elizabelle:

    First, if a women does not want a baby, or is incapable of taking care of one, she should not participate in activities that were made for that reason.

    Um, what about women who were raped?

    Second, if we are going to give women free abortions, why not give men free condoms, or the like? Is it not up to the couple to take these preventive measures?

    That sounds reasonable. Isn’t this done on some level already?

  89. 89.

    Millard Filmore

    @? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:

    I doubt Nationalist Spain would have ultimately changed the outcome of WW2 too much if that’s what the evil time travelers are trying to do.

    I am a little confused. Will Spain become an ally of Germany in this story? If so, they will have a famine after the next growing season. They were importing a substantial portion of their food from North and South America. That stops when they join the Axis.

  91. 91.

    Chet Murthy

    @Millard Filmore:

    I am a little confused. Will Spain become an ally of Germany in this story? If so, they will have a famine after the next growing season. They were importing a substantial portion of their food from North and South America. That stops when they join the Axis.

    This was a big problem for Germany already, and part of why (for instance) Hitler ordered the push into Ukraine instead of trying to deal with Moscow. Germany really couldn’t feed itself, even before the war. In order to prosecute the war, over time it became “starve all the conquered territories, ship the food home to Germany”.

  92. 92.

    Honus

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: yeah, I really fail to see why Nancy Pelosi (and Hillary for that matter) are described by the media as detested, and someone with absolutely no redeeming qualities like Mitch McConnel is not. Millions of democrats certainly detest that scummy fucker.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Kind’a sort’a. The premise itself is beyond absurd, but they stick within its parameters pretty well. Good job on the costuming, period sets and locations. IRL season 1 aired in Spain in 2015, season 2 in 2016, show was sold to Netflix before season 3 was produced, so expect more to show up there later on, done with a bigger budget. Currently only the first season (8 episodes) is being made available on U.S. Netflix.

    The Inquisition episode really had a ‘you are there’ feel to it, plus a hidden surprise.

  95. 95.

    Millard Filmore

    @Chet Murthy:

    part of why (for instance) Hitler ordered the push into Ukraine instead of trying to deal with Moscow.

    That, plus Hitler’s Germany was way behind paying for all the raw materials that Stalin was sending over.

  97. 97.

    Chet Murthy

    @Elizabelle:

    [bomber’s words] This is just my view on the subject, but if you can’t provide for a child, then don’t have sex.

    Once upon a time, I held such views. I wasn’t forced-birther, but was MRA. Also homophobe, and racist. It’s amazing what you can believe, when you’re raised in the Bible Belt. Enough time outside, and it all fell away, Thank The FSM. Everything this *man* believes, he was *taught*. Not for one second do I believe that his homeschooling parents weren’t part of why he turned out the way he did.

  98. 98.

    Mary G

    Solution by Broward County School District is that after spring break students will only be allowed to bring clear backpacks to school. Yeesh.

  112. 112.

    J R in WV

    Poor kid was suggestible to the max, and his parents and their church taught him all kinds of septic evil bullshit. Which now shows up on-line.

    Sad but so typical of RWNJs.

  117. 117.

    Duane

    With so much talk of Russian interference in our elections, it seems appropriate for the President to address the nation about what’s happened and what he’s doing to stop it.
    I’ll sit here and wait.

  119. 119.

    Elizabelle

    @J R in WV: Are we discussing the Austin bomber or Priviledged Ben?

    If the bomber, yours is a gentle take. His family put out a statement that they are “normal.” Jeez. One wonders why they felt they needed to say that.

    LA Times: In a statement released to CNN, Conditt’s parents said they were in shock and grieved for the bombing victims.

    “We are devastated and broken at the news that our family could be involved in such an awful way,” the statement said. “We had no idea of the darkness that Mark must have been in.

    “Our family is a normal family in every way. We love, we pray, and we try to inspire and serve others. Right now our prayers are for those families that have lost loved ones, for those impacted in any way, and for the soul of our Mark. We are grieving and we are in shock.”

  120. 120.

    different-church-lady

    @Elizabelle: Building bombs was a common event in my childhood, yes. Every kid in the neighborhood did it.

    (ETA for my NSA caseworker: the above is SARCASM.)

  125. 125.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I believe this is the reincarnation of John Quincy Adams who a couple of weeks ago said mass shooters were all Democrats

    A Republican congresswoman blamed the “deep state” for ordering a $31,000 dining set for Ben Carson, President Donald Trump’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).The Daily Beast first reported [Claudia] Tenney’s comments Wednesday evening, which she made during an appearance on a local upstate New York radio show, Talk! Of the Town. The interview with Tenney was uploaded to Talk! Of the Town’s SoundCloud Wednesday, just one day after Carson blamed his wife for buying the extravagant dining set.
    “Somebody in the deep state, it was not one of his people apparently, ordered a table, like a conference room table or whatever it was for a room,” Tenney said. “And that’s what the cost was. Ben Carson tried to—he said ‘You know how hard it is to turn it back because of the way that the procurement happens?’”

  128. 128.

    Elizabelle

    @SWMBO: I dunno. Impacted sounds OK, if a bit of corporate speak.

    “We had no idea of the darkness that Mark must have been in.

    If it were not “our Mark” involved, they would be speaking of “evil.” It’s always “evil” that gets guns fired, for example.

    I hope their small town will treat the parents and family gently.

  130. 130.

    Mel

    @Adam L Silverman: The brows and the weirdly foreshortened arm really create a statement look, don’t they?

    His hand looks absurdly wee in that photo. Is the act of trying to make one’s hands look tiny now some sort of RWNJ status marker? Like the horror of foot-binding, only for insecure, bigoted white guys with anger issues and crappy proofreading skills?

  133. 133.

    piratedan

    @eemom: yes…. and now they’re praying for the end of time, because if the GOP has to spend another minute with Trump its uncertain if they’ll even survive. They’ll never forget their promise or forget that vow, but boy if they knew then what they knew right now…….

  134. 134.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mel: He’s not a very big person. He’s very young – one of these accelerated in school types. So he finished law school by 21 or so. As a result he’s also very emotionally and intellectually immature. His family is on the far side of modern Orthodox, so very, very, very religiously conservative. Which, in that community, also usually translates to very, very politically and socially conservative. If he hadn’t hooked up with Breitbart, he’d just be handling litigation for members of his synagogue in some upscale LA suburb. Which would have actually been a better outcome for humanity.

  135. 135.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?

    @Elizabelle:
    Yeah right. They’re only devastated their son got caught and didn’t kill more uppity libturd negroes.

  140. 140.

    Steve in the DFW

    @SWMBO:

    They used “impacted” as a verb. Were the parents home schooled as well?

    Be careful—several posters here think “vignette” is a verb!

  150. 150.

    John Revolta

    @Mnemosyne: My brother and his friends used to do it. They went through a serious gun phase later on. Now he’s mostly over it; still goes hunting sometimes. Anyway, the two things seem to go together.

  151. 151.

    Jay

    @John Revolta:

    Back in the day, a common Christmas or Birthday gift was a Chemistry set.

    My Dad never figured out why my brother and I were going through so much saltpeter.

    Flares first, then bombs, then rocket motors.

    But hey, Lawn Darts were still legal, and we used to kite “fight” with spikes, razors, etc.

    That all ended when Billy Trenholm rigged a one shot, 12 guage zip gun to his kite.

  154. 154.

    Mel

    @Adam L Silverman: Very familiar with kids with that sort of background, of various religions. It is startling how similar are the words of “wisdom” that ultra-conservative parents bestow upon their children, whatever their faith system. Just change the names of the supposedly evil others, throw in a lot of “barefoot and pregnant”, hold the kid to impossible standards of “pure” behavior, denigrate all forms of social justice that benefit any people not just like the parents, and voila!

    It sets the stage for a wide spectrum of suffering on the part of the kids, manifesting as everything from depression to quiet self-loathing to downright psychological and physical destructiveness to self and others.

    I had the rather surreal experience of working at a school with mostly Orthodox Jewish students, a Catholic school, and a private Methodist college all within the span of one decade in my youth. For an agnostic feminist raised by atheists and Quakers, that was an eye opening experience to say the least.

  155. 155.

    frosty

    @different-church-lady:

    Building bombs was a common event in my childhood, yes. Every kid in the neighborhood did it.

    Actually true. Homemade gunpowder (charcoal, saltpeter, sulfur), saltpeter and sugar. Mostly a lot of flareups, no actual explosions. Until college. Man, those chem majors could do some shit with thermite. Wrapped in a roll of toilet paper it made a nice boom.

  156. 156.

    frosty

    @Jay:

    My Dad never figured out why my brother and I were going through so much saltpeter.

    Boy Scout campout. We hike to the nearest general store, buy a pound of saltpeter. Clerk says “You boys puttin’ up a ham?”

    ETA: The chemistry sets were the source of sulfur for gunpowder.

  157. 157.

    Anne Laurie

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I didn’t think thobes had pockets.

    I always assumed they were made like women’s dresses before the 1880s, with a slit in one side to allow access to the little pouch worn under one’s outerwear.

    Those pouches/purses were called ‘pockets’, too. Thus, the old nursery rhyme: Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it… “

    Of course, for an emir, the solution might be similar to my Nana’s solution when I complained that modern dresses didn’t have pockets (of either variety): “That’s why you have a husband. Make him carry everything *for* you.” Presumably every emir important enough to purchase his own Jareds is always followed by at least one flunky strong enough to tote the purchase?

  158. 158.

    Anne Laurie

    @MoxieM:

    What kind of self-respecting dog would even hang around to listen to him, anyway? He’d have to chain the poor thing to the chair.

    If you remember Charlie Pierce’s extended comic riff: Trump could “buy” (& not pay for) David Brooks’ Irish Setter, Moral Hazard. That poor (imaginary) dog is hardened to such verbal abuse!

  159. 159.

    Anne Laurie

    @Chet Murthy:

    Not for one second do I believe that his homeschooling parents weren’t part of why he turned out the way he did.

    What little I’ve seen about his parents make them sound extremely hinky, in that All-American Stepford-Wives Heartland way. Maybe they’re just misguided strivers… but some kind of religious-adjacent cult background wouldn’t surprise me.

  161. 161.

    workworkwork

    @Ridnik Chrome: I heard a clip of his commentary on Black Panther. First, he didn’t talk as if he’d actuall seen the movie. Second, the only scenes he mentions are the ones in the trailers and even there, it sounded like someone else had seen the trailer and then described them to him while both of them were drunk.

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