Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

The willow is too close to the house.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / In The Spirit of Holy Week, Go Crucify Yourself

In The Spirit of Holy Week, Go Crucify Yourself

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Laura Ingraham is the latest wingnut welfare queen to fuck up her perfectly good grift by taking on a Parkland kid. Here’s the full story if you haven’t heard it already. The short version is that she made fun of Parkland student David Hogg because he didn’t get into some colleges where he had applied, and she later apologized after she started losing advertisers. At this moment, Ingraham is down 7 8 advertisers and counting.

Here’s the problem Ingraham and her ilk: they have nothing, not a god damned thing, to counter the fairly modest proposals made by the Parkland students. Normally, when these assholes have zip diddly, they simply launch into whatever low-grade, unfunny ad hominem they can dream up. But with the MSD group, ad hominems are a third rail – after all, these kids had friends and family gunned down, and one of them who spoke last Saturday still carries shrapnel from the attack in her face. So, really, the only choice that someone like Ingraham has is to argue her case without ad hominems. But, for her, that’s like baking a cake without an oven or driving a car without wheels. It simply can’t be done.

I don’t think she’s going to be the last wingnut to fall into this trap, and I sure hope she isn’t, because it’s so much fun to watch, especially the groveling followed by faux outrage when the obviously disingenuous apology is ignored. The other thing that’s fun to watch is the disproportionate amount of effort put in by each side. David Hogg dug up a list of her advertisers and tweeted it out, a few of his classmates dunked on Ingraham and supported the boycott, and then they all went on promoting their cause. Ingraham, meanwhile, is in as close to mortal peril as a wingnut TV personality can be, so she’s all-in on fixing her self-inflicted wound. It’s something we haven’t seen around these parts for a long, long time, if ever.

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    Just the Facts

    These kids’ command of social media is just the means.

    Their political power is the strength of their stories and their message.

  2. 2.

    Mary G

    Erick son of Erick is having a meltdown and I’m trying to restrain myself from tweeting something about lions and arenas to him.

  4. 4.

    Schlemazel

    Morons are attacking these kids on twitter & getting their asses handed to them. Wingnuts should take some advice & not fuck with these kids. They are not smart enough to figure that out & it will cost them in the short run for sure (I expect some of those advertisers will come crawling back when decent people are no longer paying attention).

    But till then they will pay & with any luck we might get some disinfectant injected into the pus bubble that is the GOP

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodingers_cat: Yummo!! Do you like greens? I am making mixed greens this weekend, basically just because I want them. Not too hard to do and people can flavor them up after as they wish, if they wish to do so.

  13. 13.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Easter is the day when you finally get to eat normally after the restrictions of Lent, so you can make anything you want.

    I wonder if Betty has started carving this year’s butter lamb yet. ?

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Shrimp and rice sounds delicious!

    Not sure whether Betty Cracker is still around, but I’m definitely looking forward to photos of the annual Butter Lamb.

    ETA: As so often happens, Mnem and I are thinking/posting in sync.

  19. 19.

    Ken

    It occurred to me today, the Parkland generation has been taught since kindergarten how to recognize and stand up to bullies. So of course they’re doing well against the wingnuts.

  20. 20.

    Mnemosyne

    @Schlemazel:

    As far as I can tell from Facebook, a “bully” is now anyone who makes a conservative defend their position in public.

    Oh, and the commenter inevitably insists that the teenagers are supposed to “show respect” to the adults who are disrespecting them. It’s pretty clear that the collapsing hierarchy where kids are more respected than adults is making them a little nuts.

  21. 21.

    debit

    I had a slow day at work, and so spent a goodly portion of my day in the Laura Ingraham tag reporting abuse to Twitter. By the time I had to leave I think I’d reported over 100 Alt Right asswipes.

  22. 22.

    Corner Stone

    @Mary G:
    From Hogg’s twit feed:

    to launch a weather balloon to the edge of space as part of the amazing Astronomy program at MSD

    They have a freaking Astronomy program at MSD! With actual projects! This school is nuts!

  24. 24.

    Mnemosyne

    @billcoop4:

    As I was advising people yesterday, you’re better off telling her that she’s a terrible parent and her kids are going to stop speaking to her the instant they’re out from under her thumb. That will sting her far more than any name you can call her.

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    @lollipopguild: Well, I ran out of Can’t Even’s a long time ago but I’m too old to be called a kid….except for maybe here at BJ. Where I am the proverbial Spring Chicken.

  28. 28.

    NYCMT

    Maimonides described confession as prelude to repentance as a three-fold process:
    “How does one confess? By saying, ‘I beseech Thee, 0 Lord, I have sinned, I have acted perversely, I have transgressed before Thee, and have done thus and thus, and lo, I am contrite and ashamed of my deeds and will never do this again.”
    “Any student should be proud of a 4.2 GPA —including David Hogg. On reflection, in the spirit of Holy Week, I apologize for any upset or hurt my tweet caused him or any of the brave victims of Parkland. For the record, I believe my show was the first to feature David immediately after that horrific shooting. And as always, he’s welcome to come on my show anytime for a productive discussion.”
    Coming from a myrmidon like Ingraham: a unctuous benediction of praise, a perfunctory recitation of regret for the consequences of her actions as perceived by the injured kid, not a global acceptance of responsibility for the harm of her conduct, and an odious little jig of self-praise and a smug assertion of balance and closure.
    I will translate into similar terms for a Jew on the High Holy Days. “God, it’s Yom Kippur, so let’s do this now. Bill Rogoff is a great guy and I’m sorry he and his kids are upset that I fucked his wife. I was the first to send them a catering dish when her mother died, and I will always be there to let them into the synagogue pool so they can practice swimming.”

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    @Ken

    OT, but curious what the jackaltariat may opine.

    France just recently made school mandatory beginning at age 3. Am I wrong or simply being a fuddy-duddy in thinking that is too young?

    Age 4 I could see – self-evident developmental differences between 3 and 4, and one size fits all for three-year-olds seems a misbegotten idea.

  31. 31.

    dexwood

    @Ken:

    More so, this is a generation comfortable with being on both sides of a camera, who have grown up with today’s instant broadcast, who often embrace the spotlight and know how to use it. I admire them.

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    These children grew up on social media. Good or bad, it is their lives, and they own it. I love watching these children, these children of Barack Obama- who spent their formative years watching 44 and how he led this country. They remember his tears and empathy, and they know something is very wrong now.
    I am so glad that the young man didn’t do the song and dance of accepting that insincere non-apology. Democrats take lessons.

  35. 35.

    Mnemosyne

    @debit:

    I keep asking why people say that these kids are supposed to act respectfully towards people who disrespected them. Still can’t get a rational answer, because the real answer is that the kids are being uppity by questioning authority.

  36. 36.

    RSA

    @Schlemazel:

    Wingnuts should take some advice & not fuck with these kids. They are not smart enough to figure that out…

    I think wingnuts have gotten used to punching down, and for some of them it works. (Trump has never done anything else.) A misjudgment can be a surprise, though.

  38. 38.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @NotMax: Yeah, that seems awfully young for mandatory school, but most French tots already go to nursery school by 3, anyway. It’s state-run and free. Yet another way they are miles ahead of us in social welfare. I wonder what the thinking behind the new rule is – acculturation?

  39. 39.

    SFAW

    @Corner Stone:

    except for maybe here at BJ. Where I am the proverbial Spring Chicken.

    Or the proverbial Goose what’s been Cooked? Is that how it works?

  42. 42.

    lamh36

    @Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): I’m saying right!!! I’m far from “elderly” or “middle aged”…and I know not to try to compete on social media when the teenage set nowadays…these kids were born and RAISED in the social media era…I mean I”ve got a twitter & FB page & Instagram, but I barely used the last…

    Hell, my niece Zoe is like 3, and she knows when her mom says “let’s snapchat” or “facetime” she knows it means get ready for her closeup…LOL.

  44. 44.

    JR

    @NotMax: Makes sense. Think of age 3 and 4 as pre-k or daycare education. Not a curriculum like kindergarten. It’s a huge economic boon for working people. Daycare is more expensive than rent/mortgage for just about everyone outside of maybe the top 10% in this country. I imagine it’s not that different in France.

  46. 46.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Corner Stone: Yes, I love greens, what kinda greens? Have you ever tried fenugreek?
    @rikyrah: My hosts will have the ham, polish sausage and deviled eggs and desserts, they make also make great cakes. I have been asked to bring something Indian. So spicy but not too spicy.

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    Somehow I’ve ended up on some republican email lists.
    I’m beginning to enjoy swearing like a sailor again in my replies. Not sure it helps but every little bit makes me feel better.
    Got my second from some douchebag named Cox, running for gov of CA. He’s a real sweetie. I’m going to enjoy specifically not endorsing his ass.
    Also got a notice of a conference being put on by the weekly standard. I hope they know how to read 4 letter words, I’m sure they’ve heard them before. They may get the chance again.
    It is nice that my email program knows that they are junk because all of them have ended up in the junk folder, right where they belong.

  50. 50.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JR: I’m pretty sure daycare (creche) was already available from age three. As I recall my friends explaining it to me, kids could be signed up as soon as they were potty trained. It’s the mandatory part that’s new

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Apparently the best time to go to Eaton Canyon is within a week of the last good-sized rainfall, so you probably timed it just right.

    Wildflowers should start blooming soon now that they got some rain. I wonder if we’ll get another superbloom this year.

  54. 54.

    Corner Stone

    @Ruckus:

    I’m beginning to enjoy swearing like a sailor again in my replies.

    If you’re not including a bunch of “Arrh!’s” and “Aye, aye, Cap’n!” then I suggest you’re doing it wrong.

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    @Patricia Kayden:
    If it’s holy week then it would seem that not giving EE a piece of your mind would be the exactly wrong thing to do because of course he’s about as unholy as it gets or is at least in the running.

  57. 57.

    Gin & Tonic

    This day couldn’t get any better. Just before bedtime my infant grandson (whose parents are soaking up the sun on a tropical beach) had a nuclear explosion of poop – if it was my son, I’d have put him in the back yard and hosed him down. Then I got to spend nearly two hours on the phone with Cox “technical support” determining that they don’t have anyone in that division who actually understands e-mail. Pretty annoying when I do, and I can tell them what they’re doing wrong, just can’t fix it, but all they know is to ask whether I’m using Outlook or Webmail.

  58. 58.

    andy

    @Corner Stone: I got a nice cabbage so I thought I would make a quick pickle with it, like a curtido and have it with some baked croquettes (probably with some kind of egg draped over it).

  60. 60.

    Corner Stone

    @schrodingers_cat: A mix of collard, mustard, and turnip greens. I will sometimes throw in spinach if I can get it on sale. Can’t say I have ever had fenugreek leaves/greens.

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    @Corner Stone:
    I’m not that fucking old. I seem to recall that the only sailing ship left in the navy when I was in was Old Ironsides, and that was then and still is a museum in Boston harbor. Gorgeous old thing, still commissioned, I recommend any one looking for something to do in Boston for a couple of hours check it out.

  62. 62.

    Hkedi [Kang T. Q.]

    @Corner Stone: Sorry about the OT, but it was a perfect response. Anyone else around here play Sea of Thieves? That allows you to really get your pirate on. Not much content though.

  65. 65.

    Jeffro

    We can’t just stand here in awe – be sure to pile on in every way possible (whether via social media or good ol’ calling/emaling RWNJs’ show sponsors or whatever)

    FIRE AT WILL!!!, is basically what I’m saying.

  67. 67.

    NotMax

    @schrodingers_cat

    They reheat in a snap. Cover with damp paper towel and nuke ’em.

    Trouble with preparing them for a group of any size is that it takes a LOT of time to crank out enough. And even then there aren’t enough.

  68. 68.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:
    They are trying to kill a lot more than just the islanders. They are doing a better job of that for sure, but don’t be fooled, they want you and me dead as well. They want us dead for different reasons, you know why they want you that way, but I’m old and don’t vote for them………. And I live in CA and we aren’t doing things the republican way and are showing them up as being the frauds, charlatans and assholes that they are.

  69. 69.

    Pupjoint

    When I took philosophy courses, ad hominem attacks were the lowest form and most dishonest arguments to counter any debate. It was always the mark of desperation. It would guarantee an F grade in any debate.

  70. 70.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Ruckus: I think I’ve only been on two Navy ships, the Missouri* and the Constitution.

    *The Missouri is retired now and anchored in Pearl Harbor and I visited it there, however I also visited it when it was up in the Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA when it was still commissioned.

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    @Jeffro:
    A better order than “Fire at Will” is “Fire for Effect.” Besides I don’t know what Will ever did to you but I do know the effect republicans have on life and liberty. Especially for people who don’t look like me.

  78. 78.

    Ruckus

    @BillinGlendaleCA:
    I took a buddy to the Iowa and was astounded that it really wasn’t a lot different than the ship I served on for 2 yrs, that was built 20 yrs after the Iowa. Now the Iowa has been decommissioned and recommissioned a couple of times but living/working on it wouldn’t have seemed a lot different other than size. I served for just a few weeks on a ship built about 10 yrs after the first and it was a lot different, in living quarters mostly. Much better living conditions.

  82. 82.

    Gretchen

    @NotMax: I wonder if that is in part a desire to assimilate immigrants. There is a lot of evidence that preschool helps development of underprivileged kids. In that case 3 is better than 4. And I love France’s school lunch program.

  83. 83.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ruckus:
    My friend had a bad Return of The Jedi joke:
    Palpatine: Fire at will, Commander.
    Commander: Which one is Will?

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Pupjoint: I also make random observations on occasion. If you want to call someone out, don’t be passive-aggressive. Call them out.

  91. 91.

    Geeno

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m way late, but a Spinach dish is always a good veggie as a dinner side. If you’re shooting for the appetizer course .. some veggie (restaurants usually do cauliflower) pakora ?

  93. 93.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Geeno:

    but a Spinach dish is always a good veggie as a dinner side.

    No, No. No. What is wrong with you? Spinach is a polarizing veggie. How can you not know that?

  94. 94.

    George Spiggott

    Just found out that our MFOL Walnut Creek, CA march had an estimated 10,000 turnout vs. 2,000 expected.

    I knew attendance was great, but I had no idea.

    Not bad for a suburb of SF/Oakland.

  97. 97.

    Chet Murthy

    @JR: When I worked there in 91-94, I learned that France indeed has excellent child-care support for parents, which is why (a) many French women work, and (b) France’s birth-rate didn’t crater like Italy’s[*] and Germany’s.

    [*] Italy’s birthrate cratered so badly that when I was visiting colleagues in Torino with baby&ttoddler, and we went to dinner, the baby was like a “female magnet”. I mean, every woman in that restaurant more-or-less gathered around the baby to ooh and aah. B/c babies are so rare. Don’t know if the Italians fixed that problem. But supporting women in their lives is the only thing that works. Uh, unless you wanna commit crimes, I guess.

  102. 102.

    r€nato

    it felt really, really good to post the following on Ingraham’s FB page (which did not require me to ‘like’ it in order to do so, phew). I encourage all of you to do the same. Let’s keep the admin busy deleting dissenting comments!

    —-
    I thought Christians were supposed to be Christian every single day, not just when they think their god is watching them.

    Your “apology” to David Hogg is hilariously pathetic.

    I look forward to you losing every one of your major advertisers very soon, and having to work a real job for the first time in your wasted life.

  103. 103.

    Gretchen

    @Jay: That’s amazing. Infant care here costs about $1100 a month for the places you wouldn’t mind leaving your child. $700 a month for the places you’d hesitate to leave your dog.

  105. 105.

    barb 2

    @NotMax:

    Individual Differences. Many parents (a majority of parents) might not be able to spot learning difficulties — the earlier these are caught by teachers and trained professionals the better it is for children. Also, socialization as in group play, cooperation starts early and a child isolated as an only child etc. would benefit. I expect that the in school time would be very short. There are early age entry classes (age 3) in the US for children with delayed language and delayed development which makes a huge difference for the child. The children are tested and lessons planned to help them prepare for the next phase of their education. Very young children can be given developmental tests — language, comprehension etc. I know I have tested 3-year-olds.

  106. 106.

    Jay

    @Gretchen:

    Yeah, fucking Socialists doing fucking Socialism.

    Back in the day, I worked with a Norweigan who had married a Canadian.

    She, ( they) got preggers, and immediatly decided to move to Norway.

    Nobody got it but me.

    She still sends me Norweigan Sea Trout and Salmon flies by noted tyers, every year for Christmas. God, her kid’s are in their Master’s programs,

    I am soooo old.

  107. 107.

    barb 2

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I love Death Valley. The Super bloom a couple of years ago was fantastic. Then there is a drive through a canyon — starting near Beatty, NV (on the road to DV but turning off to the right before the entrance to DV). Old mining town on the way. Lots of Photo possibilities. Lots of wildflowers in the Spring on this route. You need a high clearance car or a jeep! Beatty is a great place to stay while in the area unless you have a tent or a trailer, campsites are nice in the Park.

  108. 108.

    joel hanes

    @Mnemosyne:

    Pope

    The day that Fox Christianists understand that following Christ requires the humility and humanity to wash the feet of others …

  109. 109.

    Procopius

    @Corner Stone: Well, Bill Gates attended a school that bought time sharing on a PDP-11 computer, and that was several years before Intel brought out the 8008 and Altair had sold the first computer kit, and so Bill Gates learned how to program in high school before there was a personal computer industry. Marjory Stoneman Douglas is not an inner city school with no tax base whose funds are cut off by the state legislature. Or by Rahm Emanuel.

  110. 110.

    frosty

    @barb 2:

    Many parents (a majority of parents) might not be able to spot learning difficulties — the earlier these are caught by teachers and trained professionals the better it is for children.

    Halfway through (private) kindergarten, the teacher told us my kid wasn’t learning his letters. We found out he was dyslexic and got him into a tutoring program. We wouldn’t have known it. The public school system (as we found out later) would have stonewalled us. So,yes, I agree with your point.

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