Yeah, I hope that sticks – Olympic Park bomber, Unabomber, now MAGAbomber.
4.
lgerard
jeez, he has a shirt with the same crazy stuff that’s on his van?
5.
cain
I see there is a MAGA black man who is just as enthusiastic…
6.
J R in WV
I want a complete set of high-definition photos of every part of that white van that has any symbolic or textual information, large enough to look at and read the copyright information on every sticker.
Just because!
No, really because that will show how deep into trumpism this violent wannabe really is. What a maroon.
7.
Corner Stone
I wanna see Stephanie Ruhle try and “both sides” this shit now.
8.
Corner Stone
Look at the arms on this MAGA Bomber son of a bitch. Sitting around doing biceps curls and replaying recorded MAGA rallies all the time.
9.
Rommie
Now, now, don’t call out attempted assassination TOO strongly or there will be trouble!
10.
kindness
I went over to RedState to see how they are taking this. False Flag all the way baby! Of course they are going there. George Soros paid this guy directly.
11.
Corner Stone
Registered Republican! Game over, man. Game over.
12.
Mike in NC
There are literally thousands of these nutjobs out there and after November 6 there will be another wave of mail bombs. Take that to the bank.
jeez, he has a shirt with the same crazy stuff that’s on his van?
Hell yeah. That Trump on Tank picture is a complete troll meme. He must take pics from the internet and have them screen printed on t-shirts.
15.
cain
@Corner Stone:
I wanna see Stephanie Ruhle try and “both sides” this shit now.
Oh absolutely the narrative is precisely going to be about civil discourse. But of course it’s also Democrats fault because we won’t capitulate. The press are nuts.
16.
Corner Stone
Is that white haired person on the van with cross hairs on it Jill Stein? The one beside Michael Moore?
17.
different-church-lady
The only surprising thing is that this has not happened more often in the Trump era.
It will now.
18.
MattF
And I guess he’s now expecting Trump to pay for his defense lawyers.
ETA: Or else maybe George Soros.
19.
different-church-lady
@Corner Stone: Games of Calvinball never really end.
20.
oatler.
The magnetic poles in GOP brains have completely reversed and they’ve gone from “false flag” to “Soros plant”.
I wanna see Stephanie Ruhle try and “both sides” this shit now.
Quoted for truth ~!!!!!!~
Nobody can reasonably both sides this clusterfuq. Nobody. I know who’s gonna try, tho.
22.
MattF
@oatler.: The only thing that hasn’t changed (and never will) is that it’s someone else’s fault.
23.
catclub
Trump will be conflicted. “he was bad, but he likes me, so I guess he can’t be all bad.” I expect something like that to leak out of him. Similar to cheering the Greg Gianforte assault on a journalist.
@Corner Stone: This is what I posted on an earlier thread.
TV news at elebenty : Lone wolf with a history of mental illness and then some hand wringing by panel members about civility and both-sides.
The accounts are packed with a steady stream of images of President Trump and Vice President Pence giving the thumbs up, of memes about the incoming “red tsunami” in the midterm elections, and of Democrats engaging in “bribery” and “corruption.” The posts are full of misspellings, run-on sentences, and bizarre stream-of-consciousness word vomit.
(nb: with that description, it could very well just be Trump’s Twitter feed)
Sayoc tweeted multiple images involving Hungarian philanthropist George Soros. One image features a large menorah, calling Soros “the Godfather of the Left” with a graphic alleging that he controls the mainstream media.
Another tweet falsely claimed that the February 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida was a false flag operation or “con job” carried out at Soros’ direction.
29.
catclub
@oatler.: those two poles are about an angstrom apart.
Welp. Looks like folks have found his Facebook page, and it’s full of pics of him at Trump rallies. I’m not going there. I assume there will be plenty available in no time at all, although Facebook will probably take the page down.
Also on Twitter: #MAGAbomber
ETA: I see dmsmilev beat me to it.
31.
trollhattan
My theory is Trump-lovers will double, triple, infinity-down no matter what he does or triggers from others. Our sole deliverance from the shitstorm is delivering more voters than they can. And of course in numerous states that’s mathematically not achievable, so we’d best grab what we can.
“He’s a good person. Liberals drove him to this, what choice did he have?”
Since I seem to have a talent for posting to dying threads, reposting here, because “they’re trying to eradicate us!” is important…
Not to be Ms. One Note,* but the administration war on trans people is underway.
In today’s news, in case it wasn’t already clear that they’re explicitly trying to eradicate trans people from public life. Not just here, but worldwide.
At recent meetings of the UN’s Third Committee, which is concerned with “social, humanitarian and cultural” rights, US diplomats have been pushing for the rewriting of general assembly policy statements to remove what the administration argues is vague and politically correct language, reflecting what it sees as an ‘ideology’ of treating gender as an individual choice rather than an unchangeable biological fact.
*Really, truly, I’d love to post about other things, but right now literally each day is bringing news of yet another attack on us, using the power of the government to erase our existence and push us back into the closet. Canaries, coal mines…
Also, this is the sort of emotional rollercoaster I and other trans, non-binary, and intersex people have been going through this week.
In just 24 hours, I had run the emotional gamut. I felt exhausted, desperate to recharge. Yet, lying in the dark, I couldn’t sleep. My fear kept me awake, hours after I normally would have fallen asleep.
Those were all the emotions I went through upon hearing the news Sunday morning. And I’m an upper-middle-class white person living in Los Angeles, an area filled with supportive friends and communities. Imagine hearing that news while being the only trans person living in your rural community. Imagine hearing that news as a trans woman of color, who are consistently the most at-risk minority in the United States. Imagine being a young, scared teenager who just wishes to share their deepest secret with someone, anyone, and then hearing that the government meant to protect you is actively trying to deny you rights if you came out.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had to go through this entire cycle. I went through it after the 2016 election. I went through it after the transgender military ban announcement. I went through it after Betsy DeVos pulled Obama-era guidances that protected trans students. I went through it after being told I would die from AIDS by a woman in the grocery store. I went through it after being chased around the mall by a man yelling, “It’s a man. It’s a man.” I went through it when my gender non-conforming sister attempted suicide. I’ve been here numerous times before. And heaven knows, I’ll probably be here again. I’ll go through this whole damn cycle at some point in the future.
If we appear strong, it’s because we don’t have the option to not be. Cisgender folks check in on your strong friends.
Sayoc was also convicted of theft in 2014 and 2013, and battery in 2013, public records show. In 2012, he filed for bankruptcy, and declared in court filings that he lived with his mother.
34.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Isn’t “red tsunami” what Trump said about Megyn Kelly? I’m confused.
35.
ruemara
@Brachiator: “Unconquered Seminole” according to him. I’d like to see the birth certificate. In a related note, I just dropped that factoid into an argument going on with some of my weightlifting/Zumba trainer buds. The one wingnut female was trying to be socratic about how it’s unfair to blame DJT. I stayed out of it. Very glad to toss this bomb (no pun intended) into the mix, because I’ve been pissed at her since she was angry at us liberal women she has to teach for being upset & scared post election. I can read her like a book. This is exactly why I do not date fitness guys or hang with too many fitness women. Godbothering, gun worshiping conservatives abound & I don’t have time to sift the chaff.
@Cheryl Rofer: Can I request, a mental respite thread with kittehs, when you have the time. Or a live action video of their walk.
kthxbai.
38.
Corner Stone
@Kay: Guarantee you that thing on the back of the van is a scooter of some type. He probably had some sort of limited mobility, was on disability, and sat around pumping iron and stewing on his grievances that Trump was going to deliver him from.
“He’s a good person. Liberals drove him to this, what choice did he have?”
Only liberals have agency.
40.
Amir Khalid
I guess all those false flag stories can now be memory holed.
My guess is that Cesar Sayoc Jr will magically transform into a lifelong Democrat, courtesy of American right-wing social media, before sunset over there.
41.
MattF
@Kay: And doesn’t need that medication. Because the voices say he’s doing just fine.
42.
Chyron HR
“I think it’s important to talk to Trump supporters and to say to them, ‘Look, we understand.'” – Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
43.
C Stars
@Amir Khalid: On the comment threads I’ve seen, he’s being described by the wingnuts as a card carrying member of the Green Party. I don’t know how they got there, maybe the Jill Stein in the crosshairs on his van. These freakin’ people….
Isn’t “red tsunami” what Trump said about Megyn Kelly
Megyn Kelly and Cesar Sayoc Jr. – one fired for doing absolutely nothing wrong, and one set up in a false flag for things he clearly didn’t commit. Who will the Deep State take out next?
45.
ruemara
@C Stars: They have raised cognitive dissonance to an extreme sport.
Clearly, he’s a liberal false-flag playing a long game (possibly with the assistance of the Deep State).
No way. He’s a crisis actor coming to take away your guns.
47.
MCA1
My only silver lining of hope out of this debacle is that maybe a couple MAGAtheads will see this guy and remember being at a Drumpf Hatefest and grooving on the vibes there at the time, and think “Holy shit, maybe this is a little overboard. I’m not sure I want to be a part of that.”
I kid, I kid. They’re unreachable. They’ll excuse this away as a guy driven to extremes by the extremism of “the Left” and go back to chanting “Lock Her Up!” Nothing will break their fever; it’s a prion disease that incubated for decades before manifesting in full blossom in the Trump Era.
48.
Hoodie
Watching Trump presser, he keeps lauding law enforcement and how fast they found the bomber when “it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.” Yeah, a needle plastered with Trump stickers. What gop assholes like Trump, DeSantis, etc. will not acknowledge is that it’s not cool to weaponize dangerously deluded people by cynically empowering their memes simply to troll for votes. This Sayoc guy is clearly mentally disturbed, as are a sizable number of the folks at Trump rallies.
The worst thing about Trump is that he’s a sociopath who doesn’t give a shit about anyone, including his own followers. And fuck people in the media who celebrate this psychopathology as if it’s just another harmless political tactic.
49.
Corner Stone
What I really think this country needs right now is for MSNBC to host Erick Erickson on its air again to have him explain civility to us. And how this is clearly all just a misunderstanding and somebody in a restaurant got yelled at that time.
Yup. We have one here. He sent me letters about Trump during the election and they had to the crazy-letter thing where they write on the outside of the envelope because they think of more things after they seal it. Also- punching holes in the paper bearing down so hard.
I warned the authorities and he’s banned from this office and the courthouse because staff are scared of him but there’s no telling when he’ll blow. I just saw him yesterday.
53.
JPL
From Daniel Dale..
Trump today
Trump criticizes the media, then laughs approvingly at someone who shouted “fake news,” then says “I won’t use examples” because it’s a “special day” in which somebody was arrested for attempted bombings.
54.
Mike in NC
When is Fat Bastard’s next hate rally? Tonight or tomorrow?
Be damned sure after “Lock her up!” they’ll be chanting “Hail Cesar!” a lot and Trump will brush that off with his usual wink and a smirk.
55.
japa21
Guarantee you that if this guy showed up at a Trump rally tomorrow he would be given a hero’s welcome.
The worst thing about Trump is that he’s a sociopath who doesn’t give a shit about anyone,
This is the point in the dialog where someone says, “No, he’s not a sociopath, he has narcissistic personalty disorder, the difference is that…” and I say, “NO, HE’S A FUCKIN’ SOCIOPATH.”
I think those arms come from something else getting a workout, if
youknowhatimeanandithinkyoudo.
He’s ambidextrous, it would seem.
Living off government cheese, in a van down by the river.
59.
laura
@Sister Golden Bear: Dear SisterGoldenBear, you’re no one note, you’re a cherished Jackal and resident subject matter expert.
Please keep the fight in our faces. Keep sharing your personal story as well as the wider perspective. Hold the lamp up high.
And fuck people in the media who celebrate this psychopathology as if it’s just another harmless political tactic.
I think we’ve reached the point with some of them (Meghan Kelly) where we can ask if this is a deliberate appeal to a certain audience. If they’re actually building careers based on appealing to racists, because let’s face it- there are millions of racists. It’s a genuine sector who watch and buy. This can’t all be just cluelessness. What if it’s a really big niche audience and when they can’t make it mainstream they decide they’ll go fringe?
61.
different-church-lady
@Cheryl Rofer: So my read is that they’ve wanted to get rid of her for quite a while now and she finally gave them an excuse.
62.
JPL
@robertmcquire
Trump today
Just moments after Trump calls for unity at a WH event, he references “globalists,” prompting several audience members shout “Soros” — who was a target of one of the bombs — and others shout “lock him up” to which Trump chuckles, points and repeats “lock him up”
I kid, I kid. They’re unreachable. They’ll excuse this away as a guy driven to extremes by the extremism of “the Left” and go back to chanting “Lock Her Up!” Nothing will break their fever; it’s a prion disease that incubated for decades before manifesting in full blossom in the Trump Era.
Did you catch any of Trump’s presser today before the Young Black Leadership Summit? They were waving MAGA hats and chanting all kinds of hateful things. When Trump perfunctorily read his speech about “violence has no place in politics” they had one guy clapping. The crowd there wants violence. They want the show, the spectacle. I have no idea what this particular group is thinking.
66.
JPL
@Sister Golden Bear: We are here with you, and hopefully the house will flip and slow down the bleeding.
Sayoc is a product of George Soros’ Parallax Corporation.
69.
JPL
@Cheryl Rofer: Earlier today I mentioned that I hoped that they would keep her under contract. Let her report to a windowless office for 8 hours a day, preferable without electricity.
As is so often the case with mass killers and terrorists, it appears Cesar Sayoc was previously accused of domestic violence, and a woman sought an emergency protective order against him.
Robert Maguire
Verified account
@RobertMaguire_
16m16 minutes ago
More
Just moments after Trump calls for unity at a WH event, he references “globalists,” prompting several audience members shout “Soros” — who was a target of one of the bombs — and others shout “lock him up” to which Trump chuckles, points and repeats “lock him up”
He knows exactly what he’s doing.
72.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@JPL:
He doesn’t even have the fig leaf that Soros did anything remotely “illegal” like Hillary “did”. It’s getting to the point that Trump has to be removed. Bombs have been sent to his enemies by his supporters. This has got to stop.
73.
Hoodie
@Kay: kind of like the “long tail theory of retailing”? Could be something to that. Cable tv and the internet certainly facilitate that.
74.
Jinchi
Zoom in on pictures from the side of his van and you can see at least 7 people with target crosshairs. I couldn’t see all the faces but some were pretty clear including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michael Moore and Jill Stein.
75.
Corner Stone
@JPL: Show me where to sign the contract for that at $23M a year and watch the ink dry as I blow on it with all my might.
76.
opiejeanne
@Brachiator: I thought Filipino, based on his last name.
You keep up the good work informing us about the viewpoints of your community! You are one of us, and we support you and your other communities.
And you will never approach the records I have for posting multiple times at the foot of a dead thread, as I read it to the bottom, commenting on all the comments I have an opinion about – all of them nearly, sometimes. I’m better now, than I was then.
;-)
82.
Keith P.
The biggest question is how Debbie Wassermann Schultz managed to frame this strong, high-quality Trump supporter.
@JPL: JFC on a cracker. Irredeemable. Just a black hole for decency, character, or humanity. It’s an abyss. He just f’ing finished reading his forced condemnation of political violence and he goes right back to stoking it within 4 minutes. Good god damn. It’s like there’s no object permanence for this person. Or he thinks we don’t see him. Or he knows there are no consequences for him personally. None of which are sustainable.
“I think it’s important to talk to Trump supporters and to say to them, ‘Look, we understand.’” – Bernie Sanders (I-VT) –
I think it’s important to ignore both of them and vote. Every two years.
Just had a conversation with a well off, well educated, pleasant…Trump supporter yesterday.
Litmus: What did you think of Kavanaugh?
Three things.
I believe her.
“Yes, but, what if she was harmed, by someone, at some time, at some place”
It did not and would not ever be brought into a courtroom where it had its best chance of being cleared in one or the other’s side.
“Don’t you think he was mistreated, had every right to-“
No. The third item overrides the other two. This was a hearing for the seat on the country’s highest court. His display that last day provided blatant proof that he is utterly unfit to be a judge anywhere at any time.
>crickets<
I only engaged with her because we had been close friends years ago – and – as both a Religious zealot and, female, I wondered her take on this. Was not disappointed.
For decades now, GOP folk Got Nuttin’ . Nothing. There is no real argument to be made because they have no argument, about anything. It’s a bizarre bag of quirks, twitches, insane correlation and false logic. Their party’s actions are indefensible and it’s nothing but a collection of fantasies that I never wanted to come true in the first place. They do. It’s like talking to someone completely unhinged but able to function.
I think it also involves spanking from strong daddies, baking and aprons, pistols and the lion in Wizard of Oz chanting I do I do I do believe in Spooks and, it’s prolly the only time they use that word not as a racial slur.
I don’t care if your voice is a “one note.” It is a voice that needs to be heard. You have opened my eyes to a problem that I didn’t even know existed and broadened my perspective considerably. For me, that is the beauty of this blog – the ability of front pagers and commenters to educate the rest of us. Please keep posting as often as you want on any subjects you feel are important.
88.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Sister Golden Bear: Checked in with my strong friends, and will continue to do so. Also, got a text message that my ballot (Jefferson County, Colorado) has been received and accepted for counting. Also, what everyone else has said–we’ve got you.
89.
different-church-lady
I guess all those false flag stories can now be memory holed.
In Russia, memory hole you.
90.
JPL
Trump has a rally tonight.
@MCA1: There are no consequences for him. Maybe I missed that the House of Representatives is going to hold hearings about Trump’s use of his cell phone.
91.
Corner Stone
Honestly, I think the real question that needs to be answered tonight, more than any other, is what did Hillary know and when did she know it? And what do her emails say about any connection to this deep cover Democrat operative? Do you have your whiteboards and or yarn/thumbnails ready?
92.
maryQ
This clearly indicates that Bernie Sanders was right in his assessment that fundamental problems with the Democratic Party’s setup is what drive people to vote fro Trump.
He has even explained it to some of the hapless and clueless corporate media national affairs. He’s told them, to put it bluntly, paraphrasing: I lie and BS to discredit you people and my fan base will believe only me. Yet, most of the time, the corporate hack news actors feel they have to act as though this extreme bad faith and impeachable dishonesty is just standard bothsidedoit political Kabuki theatre. And thereby effectively aid and abet Trump’s heinous behavior.
Looks like enough of a majority of US voters have enough sense to start putting a stop to this tragic and dangerous farce on November 6.
Living off government cheese, in a van down by the river.
Hey, don’t knock government cheese. Back in 1984-85, when they were giving away cheese (and butter) in the small town I lived in then, I stood in line to pick up a brick. My girlfriend at the time made a mean macaroni and cheese out of it. I didn’t have to live in a van, tho. Good times.
Some of the most prominent citizens in town stood in line for cheese along with everybody else. I guess it was better than letting it all go to waste.
96.
ruemara
@Sister Golden Bear: Trans issues are human rights issues. There’s no offense, no “1 note”, no burden. The problem I have with it is how it’s not being screamed from the rooftops that civil rights are under attack.
97.
A Ghost To Most
I’m still waiting for the 14th bomb to be found. The 14 Words symbolism would have been irresistible.
@Sister Golden Bear: You have every right to be scared and worried, and to remind your friends what you are up against. Don’t worry about sounding “one note”. Lest we forget – all of us feel endangered by the current political environment, but for some of us the dangers are greater and more in-your-face than for others.
I stopped giving a damn what he says or does months ago. I don’t watch any major media anymore. I continue to scan FNYFT, WashPo and Guardian, looking for some kind of sea change, some demonstration the media is over getting pissed on right in the face. I read here, driftglass and Pierce. Maddow is likely one of the few journos to get on a story and stay on it – and – a perfect place to watch Adam Schiff…occasionally, The Atlantic but, Coates departure and Fallows rare article have turned that place into writing on subjects usually so stupid as to be disregarded. Readers Digest.
There’s nothing left to surprise about Trump, GOP, Congress or media.
This is about putting your head down and stamina for the long process ahead.
And, anyway – Fuck those people.
101.
trollhattan
@Keith P.:
I think she got thrown overboard too soon. She’s a crafty one!
102.
Gelfling 545
@Chyron HR: Well, I could say that but it would be a lie. I don’t understand at all.
103.
Kelly
Federally administered vote by mail on all Federal elections. Everyone over 18 automatically registered. No exceptions. No exceptions for criminal history or even currently serving sentences. No gray area makes cheating harder. Ability to vote easily in federal elections puts pressure on cheating local officials.
Authorities in Burlingame, California found another suspicious package, this time addressed to billionaire Democratic fundraiser Tom Steyer, on Friday, according to CNN reporting.
Trump criticizes the media, then laughs approvingly at someone who shouted “fake news,” then says “I won’t use examples” because it’s a “special day” in which somebody was arrested for attempted bombings.
and others shout “lock him up” to which Trump chuckles, points and repeats “lock him up”
Maybe I’m drawing a false comparison, but I read your posts just after viewing Megyn Kelly’s blackface video, where she pulls the same shit as Trump.
She just about manages going through the motions of discussing the use of blackface without rolling her eyes and shaking her head, but then at the very end she has to let it all out, and stick the knife in:
“I can’t keep up with the number of people that we’re offending just by being normal people”.
I find it easier to understand Trump getting elected president than Kelly landing a job with NBC. They’re both racists, and both have made that obvious over the years, but you’d think a television network would know not to hire one for their morning show.
32k of 33k of those emails were likely between her and him. Planning this for years, entire time and right under our noses.
“Mandrake, man the weapon.”
I mean – someone in that house smokes cigars, we know That.
110.
Gelfling 545
@Kay: I wouldn’t go that far. He knows to use the words that get him the reaction he wants. If the crowd went wild when he said peanut butter he’d say peanut butter at every rally. It’s not a plan, it’s a reaction.
111.
A Ghost To Most
@dmsilev:
Now, did he stop at 14, or go for 16 (8+8)=Heil Hitler?
112.
The Moar You Know
I have never gone to the polls before thinking that I could be a victim of violence or convinced that there was – with a certainty – going to be violence afterwards. I will be this time. And the President of the United States is deliberately stoking the violence that is to come. It’s fucking terrifying.
I don’t know how this gets fixed. Elections can put a leash on Trump’s worst legislation, but can’t do one damn thing about the psychos who put him in office in the first place.
There are a LOT of people, not just a small minority, who have signed on for this, and while most of them are not going to resort to violence, they’re also not inclined to lift a finger to stop it.
113.
Gravenstone
@A Ghost To Most: And ironic, since Mr. Sayoc likely wouldn’t be deemed “white” by the supremacist crowd.
114.
polarbear92
@Corner Stone: Don’t forget conscientiously shaving his armpits, too.
So my read is that they’ve wanted to get rid of her for quite a while now and she finally gave them an excuse.
I think “she finally gave them no damn choice” would be more accurate.
Even if they had wanted to keep her (which admittedly they did not) she had to be fired.
119.
pat
@Sister Golden Bear:
National Geographic had a fascinating cover story several months ago about this. The tiny changes in the body that can lead to differences in gender identification. Sorry I can’t be more specific, but I recommend looking this up. It’s amazing what science…..(Huh, what’s that?) has discovered about sexual identity.
120.
tokyokie
@Brachiator: I knew a fellow back in college who, if not for his being Native American and therefore ineligible, would have joined the Klan. I believe it was a black friend, who also knew this fellow, who introduced me to the term “apple Indian”: thin red skin and white to the core. They’re out there, and as Old Lodge Skins in Little Big Man would say, “Not as ugly as the white man true; but they are just as crazy.”
I was relieved when it turned out to be Florida Man, and not one of my relatives.
ETA: if my relatives had done it, they would have blowed up real gud.
122.
MisterForkbeard
@khead: “I mean, I saw his van and everything but I had no idea he was a Republican.”
123.
sherparick
@different-church-lady: The Electoral College (cross out “we”) elected Calvin as President, but without Hobbes to keep an eye on him.
124.
JPL
@Mandalay: I think it was Kay who mentioned that Megyn Kelly might have wanted an out.
Since her comment, I read that Megyn reached out to Fox news weeks ago.
125.
ruemara
@tokyokie: There’s something about that non-black POC conservativeness that often collides with a massive amount of bugfuck nuts.
126.
Mike in NC
Jennifer Rubin’s column today is all about Trump and his fellow conservative white male victims. Could easily have been written three years ago.
127.
Sloane Ranger
CNN reporting that he has a criminal record a mile long, including a conviction for Threats to bomb in 2002, for which he was placed on Probation.
They also say he first registered to vote in 2016. He registered as a Republican.
Wolf Blitzer asked how he could vote in Florida with a criminal record that extensive. Reporter responds that he could have pled down to Misdemeanours, been missed (do they even bother to check registered Republicans for Felony convictions?) or got a Pardon. He is continuing to dig.
Hope they report his findings. What’s the chance he was pardoned? He wants to vote Rethug. what better proof of rehabilitation is there?
128.
MisterForkbeard
@Josie: I second this. Sister Golden Bear SHOULD be continuing to talk about this and I really value it. What’s awful is that the already incredibly terrible moves by this Administration against LGBT individuals are being overshadowed by a splashier (and more explicitly awful) event, the bombing attempts. And that Trump continues to push for the imprisonment and attacks on his political enemies mere hours after one of his hardcore supporters was caught trying to kill the exact same people he constantly attacks.
We need SGB to keep on it, because it’s hard to focus on the less bombastic but equally important problem. :(
Where I land with this is, Yes and, enjoys it. He enjoys tormenting people and seeing just how far he can go to cover them in his own and their depravity. He revels in it.
That’s it. Everything else is secondary. Money is the means to that end.
I don’t believe he’s a sociopath. I think he’s criminally insane and not using that term carelessly. That’s the evidence. And, Occam’s razor.
Or, as Hannibal Lector asked: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do?
Let’s assume that the CW of random crazy lone wolf who acted alone, is true.
1. How did he get the addresses of the people he sent bombs to.
2. How did he assemble them, where did he buy the material and equipment from.
ETA: I am pretty doubtful that he is acting alone.
@Brachiator: Craigslist gigs, he pays them by the hour.
134.
Jeffro
If anyone wants a brief respite from the #MAGAbomber stuff or thinking about election-related violence, here’s a great attempt at scholarship by someone who clearly never studied much
(who knew we were hurting ourselves?!? luckily grinnin’ Gary Abernathy is looking out for us!)
…When Brett M. Kavanaugh was elevated to the Supreme Court, a Post analysis pointed out that Kavanaugh “will be the first justice nominated by someone who lost the popular vote to earn his seat on the bench with support from senators representing less than half of the country while having his nomination opposed by a majority of the country.” Appeals to populist resentment seem to be more acceptable when conservatives are the subject.
The threat of a mob is the harm it can inflict on outnumbered opponents. And while the left may rightfully chafe at the “mob” imagery leveled at its activists, Democrats ranging from Hillary Clinton to New York Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez advocate just that when they suggest abandoning the electoral college in favor of the nationwide popular vote in presidential elections.
Had Democrats won the electoral college while losing the popular vote, instead of that distinction going to Republicans George W. Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016, Democrats would almost assuredly be defending the system while Republicans would be bashing it. But that’s politics.
Right? RIGHT, libtards? If the shoe was on the other…oh wait…if it were actually on the other foot, we’d probably just roll over at let the Repubs have the presidency. We are libs, after all.
Anyway…get this:
Protecting and valuing each state — large or small, populous or sparse — is why our nation settled on the electoral college . It was understood that the regional interests of Americans might be thwarted if citizens congregated heavily in just a few parts of the country — which has happened on the coasts.
States are largely awarded electoral votes commensurate with their populations. West Virginia, with its 1.8 million people , has five; California, population nearly 40 million, has 55 . But those votes remain fixed regardless of turnout. Under the electoral college, popular vote remains crucial, but on a state-by-state basis. In 2016, Trump won the popular vote in 30 states, Clinton in just 20.
Mobs flourish by imposing their will on smaller, weaker opponents. Under a system that elected the president by national popular vote, that’s exactly what would happen — a disproportionate majority of voters from the largest states imposing their will on the more vulnerable minority of voters in smaller states.
If the Democrats want to disprove the allegation that they’re instigating mobs, and retain their claim to being the party of the oppressed and downtrodden, they could start by abandoning calls to abolish the electoral college.
got that folks? The EC was to help us “protect and value each state”. Uh huh. Sure. Don’t let those Dimmycrat mobs ‘thwart’ the will of the founders (and dis West Virginia in the process!) Abandon calls to abolish the slavery-borne relic that has given us W and Trumpov – 2 non-majority vote winners – in just the past 16 years. How else can we wise-thinkin’ Trumpublicans keep our shrinking minority in power if you won’t stick with me on that “logic”?
Wolf Blitzer asked how he could vote in Florida with a criminal record that extensive.
He’s a republican in a state with a historically corrupt Republican Secretary of State. Of course he’s going to get loopholes and not actually be followed up on or removed from the voting rolls. If you’re poor/black/democrat and your name is slightly misspelled? Then you’re out. Republican with repeated convictions? You’re good to go, obviously a good person.
@Kay: Roger Ailes (may his soul continue to rot in Hell) and Rupert Murdoch
created Fox News for an audience of affluent (or wannabe affluent) white people who were racist and hated the “straight” news on networks. They saw a market and went for it (and they were both of that audience as well, so they could relate viscerally to the troll network they created.)
@Jeffro: 3 million California voters don’t feel very valued.
140.
A Ghost To Most
@Ken Shabby:
I know plenty of crazy people very competent with black powder. I happen to be one, although I don’t build bombs.
141.
Luciamia
Is there a GoFundMe page up yet for his defense?
142.
waspuppet
I’m looking forward to the picture of Sayoc shaking hands with Trump that you know is out there somewhere. And, of course, the explanations that that doesn’t mean anything.
143.
maryQ
@Mike in NC: “Could easily have been written three years ago.”
Yeah, but not by Jennifer Rubin. 2018 Jennifer Rubin is way cooler than pre-2017 Jennifer Rubin. I really seriously like her now.
Not to be Ms. One Note,* but the administration war on trans people is underway.
Totally understandable.
It may seem feeble to write this, but you are not alone. We are all in this together. Hopefully, the midterm elections will help us slow this crap down. But this fight has only just begun. We see what Trump and his people are doing. What they are trying to do. This country can be better than this. We have to make it better, keep it better.
“They’re out there, and as Old Lodge Skins in Little Big Man would say, “Not as ugly as the white man true; but they are just as crazy.”
And, copulate with horses.
Last time I looked, that book is OOP. It’s in my top ten, Ever. My copy got worn out years ago as companion on long canoe trips –
Otherwise, my heart could soar like a hawk again.
Movie has also slid to dust. That apple you refer to is also wasichu. He takes the fat.
146.
ruemara
@Jeffro: If rural dominant states want to be equally valued, they can get their heads out of their collective asses, stop hating on minorities, stop voting conservative and make it easier for folks living their to be healthy, make businesses and thrive.
Just, grrrrrr. I’m a leave no state behind person because I know good folks live there but fuck your ec vote outweighting mine.
1. How did he get the addresses of the people he sent bombs to.
2. How did he assemble them, where did he buy the material and equipment from.
1. Online forums. Not necessarily accurate (and a couple of the items bounced as a result) but I’m sure there are those in the fever swamps who try to find and collate that sort of info from the public domain about their “enemies”
2. depending on the materials used, most sporting goods and/or hardware stores would cover the shopping list. Unless he had access to actual high explosives like blasting powder, or made his own ANFO
149.
NotMax
Sayoc. Soros.
Both 5 letters. Both start with S. Do we have to spell it out for you?
Does anybody know a way on a per state basis to apportion EC votes on basis of number of votes for each party?
E.g. If 10 total, 6 one, 4 other instead of winner take all.
Or has this already been litigated here…?
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea; I think it’s an out of date idea, poorly executed.
Unless of course, you’re GOP in which case The Confederate States of America get to own human beings, again, even in border states and territories….
151.
Gravenstone
@West of the Rockies: Probably looking to get a ‘lifetime’ ban from yet another social media platform.
152.
Mai Naem mobile
Just curious and this may be a non-PC question but is the guy Cuban American? Also I am guessing hes doing or has done steroids.
153.
dexwood
@tokyokie:
Apple, yeah. I first heard that in 1975 when I started dating my Pueblo wife. One of her cousins called her that because she was going out with me The White Guy. And, I wouldn’t be surprised if the MAGABomber really did have Native American background and still did this. My wife’s family has a few TrumpHumpers in it including four public school teachers. Now, that’s scary.
@West of the Rockies: I think this is the latest “platform” he’s been booted off from.
156.
Aleta
@Kay: Yes, absolutely; he is intentional and his words premeditated.
(Paraphrasing, from a 2016 campaign rally speech)
‘HRC will xyz and there’ll be nothing you can do, unless there’s a 2 a person …’
Bet this guy is heavily invested in car stickers from second am. sites …
@Kay: He has been a racist bigot since before Steven Miller was born. He knows what he is doing and enjoys it. Shame on our elite media who thought he was a lovable rogue because they knew him personally.
I am looking at you PBS, NYT etc.
160.
ruemara
@dexwood: Dude, one of my friends is part Japanese and many of her grandparents & aunts & uncles are former internment camp survivors. Sheesh, 2 of my friends are. Guess how many of those elder relatives voted Trump? Yo’d think injustice would learn you how to do right but no.
161.
Bobby Thomson
@Brachiator: nope. Filipino dad and Italian mom. People are saying that because he’s the principal of Native American Catering.
Jennifer Rubin is way cooler than pre-2017 Jennifer Rubin. I really seriously like her now.
Really? Read how she spent years savaging President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and anyone who was less than fanatical in their support for Israel. But you can overlook all that, and “seriously like her” now, just because she is opposed to Trump? Rubin is vile and opportunistic.
The enemy of your enemy is not automatically your friend.
It will be interesting to see what happens if the guy does turn out to be Filipino. Trump never mentions them. I imagine he has no idea there are millions of Filipinos in this country (legally). He thinks all brown people are from Mexico. Asians with Spanish names would certainly baffle the history buff in the WH. Pinoys Beware!
@ruemara: There are Muslims in the BJP (Hindu Nationalist) government. Some are deluded, some are grifters.
For example, M J Akbar, the guy who had to resign because 2 dozen reporters had me too claims against him. He was a chamcha (flunky) of Indira Gandhi and her lawless progeny Sanjay when they ruled India.
Conclusion: Human beings suck.
@dogwood: his father, who has the same name spelled slightly differently, emigrated from the Philippines and was naturalized in Florida after his son was born in New York.
The Indiginous speculation comes from a twitter death threat the suspect made to a Democratic Party staffer.
In the death threat he claimed that he would be “coming for her” from “unceded seminole land” in a “silent seminole air boat”, etc.
Twitter of course, did nothing.
100% certain he’s not Seminole,
100% certain that like most RWNJ Trolls online he just makes shit up.
Stealth airboats,………
177.
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: Not all of them, but a sufficient percentage.
And if this guy is Pinoy, sigh. Anti-black, anti-latino sentiments in that community are anti-surprising. Thanks to my racist nearly sister-in-law, I learned that the hard way. Hell, I learned some are even very anti- that particular type of Pinoy.
@ruemara: Colorism is definitely a thing in India too. Although it is better to be an upper caste person of a darker hue than a fair skinned lower caste person.
# not all human beings.
(We are all capable of tremendous good or tremendous evil, its up to us what we choose to do)
180.
jl
@catclub: Was gong to mention Shepard Smith, but I guess he is on news staff, not a contributor.
But, Rush Limbaugh is already doing a kerning analysis of the Sayoc van window stickers to show its a frame or false flag operation or some such nonsense.
Rushbo analyzing the even placement of stickers in suspext’s van and fact they’re not faded from sun to suggest w listeners’ input that the van is somehow a set-up.
www http twitter.com/tripgabriel/status/1055877896793964544
(not sure how to post links now the the blog widgets are gone.
Found via Paul Krugman’s twitter.
The good news, what there is of it, is that when they have to go down such a patently crazy route, they lose a few people, who will either switch votes for stay home. Maybe not even a noticeable chunk of the 75% to 80% of this voters who are too messed to have stayed with him. But in a 50% plus one vote system, everything helps. So, one tenth of a cheer to Rush for peddling such stupid BS, I guess.
181.
Ladyraxterinok
@Sister Golden Bear: I appreciate you keeping us informed. I had not realized this ‘disappearing’ legislation attempt was going on until you posted recently about a legislation in a western state.
Well, I just listened to some Republican mouthpiece opine that Trump’s congratulating that GOPer for body slamming was no worse than Maxine Waters’s telling supporters to yell at GOPers at restaurants. So, plenty more to come.
184.
piratedan
@Brachiator: loads of his tweets apparently reference the “unconquered Seminole Tribe”, so I can think we can safely assume Native American or at least he’s claiming that heritage….
185.
dexwood
@ruemara:
Amazing how easily some people can get twisted around to believe in things so completely in opposition to their own best self-interests. Ah, maybe not so amazing, 60 million examples walk among us.
186.
hueyplong
What’s the big deal? I have it on good authority that every single person on the bombing hit list owns granite counter tops.
187.
kindness
@Chyron HR: Funny how Bernie wants to be able to look at Trump supporters and say he understands but Bernie couldn’t direct his people to say the same thing to Hillary.
We’ve got this going on here. I think this guy is working up to Trump-level pussy grabbing. Who knows how many incels are out there, getting ready to step up to the plate and take one for the Boss Guy?
191.
JPL
@debbie: I think he has one this evening in Charlotte,
Going by the way the US has treated muslims, it sure seems like whichever 2 am groups he belongs could be investigated as ter – or ist groups.
Although I have to admit, I wouldn’t be quickly saying this if a different person who’d been arrested was a member of a group I believe in.
2 am groups’ advocating violence is the difference. And again, how about Tr’s call that went out to ‘a 2 am person’ in his rally speech in 2016.
This tweet from @RealCandaceO is the very reason why I didn’t want to play the game of predicting who the #MAGAbomber was or wasn’t. This tweet she wrote, saying that a 0% chance existed that he was a conservative was shared nearly 15,000 times. She just deleted it. pic.twitter.com/kaKzE5UmtJ— Shaun King (@shaunking) 26 October 2018
Gee, remember the screaming about how anytime Obama traveled anywhere it cost a kajillion dollars and added to the deficit?
200.
Jeffro
@Mandalay: @maryQ: her columns since the last election have been extremely on-point. And we need all the allies we can to overthrow this deeply corrupt and dangerous regime.
I’ll take up previous issues with her later, when the Republic isn’t at stake.
I knew a fellow back in college who, if not for his being Native American and therefore ineligible, would have joined the Klan. I believe it was a black friend, who also knew this fellow, who introduced me to the term “apple Indian”: thin red skin and white to the core. They’re out there, and as Old Lodge Skins in Little Big Man would say, “Not as ugly as the white man true; but they are just as crazy.”
Well, today I learned that there is a group called the Young Black Leadership Summit, who apparently love Trump, so yeah, plenty of crazy to go around.
202.
ruemara
@kindness: He couldn’t direct himself to understand Hillary voters, so, what are you gonna do?
203.
Jeffro
@Ken Shabby: That’s actually been looked at…by the GOP, which would love to get blue states doing this while leaving red ones winner-take-all(!)
I think it’s up to the states to decide how to award their ECs, which is why that interstate voter compact is a possibility. Unfortunately, so are the other possibilities.
3 million California voters don’t feel very valued.
You mean 3 million illegal California voters, don’t you?
/snark
205.
Jeffro
@ruemara: co-signed. They’d never put up with it if positions were reversed.
206.
Jeffro
Trumpov’s going to call the #MAGAbomber “just a little too enthused” at tonight’s rally. “Stay focused, stay mad at the fake media and the Democrats, just don’t quite go as far as he did, ok?”
Word for word.
207.
Jamey
@Corner Stone: If so, then there actually is a silver lining to all this …
Sayoc was also convicted of theft in 2014 and 2013, and battery in 2013, public records show. In 2012, he filed for bankruptcy, and declared in court filings that he lived with his mother.
He doesn’t mean “Native American” the way normal people would use it. This is, after all, a White Nation. Of course, looking at him, he wouldn’t be on their guest list.
215.
Aleta
R O C H E L L E @RochelleRitchie
Hey @Twitter remember when I reported the guy who was making threats towards me after my appearance on @FoxNews and you guys sent back a bs response about how you didn’t find it that serious. Well guess what it’s the guy who has been sending #bombs to high profile politicians!!!!
Since I seem to have a talent for posting to dying threads, reposting here,
LOLOL me too! But God forbid we have something called “nested comments”that might make it easier for all of us to see new comments in a 250 comment thread…;-P
I’ve been following these issues too. I’m cis but I love the trans and gay folks in my family and life dearly.I was just starting to feel a sense of relief that they will face fewer barricades to their humanness in the coming years.
I keep saying that these things–in this case trying to eradicate the rights of LGBTQ humans to exist–are the reason Trump is still in office right now: his bombastic ridilularity and constant crisis means that the REAL government can go to work dismantling everything good we’ve done in America since the 19th Century. The real damage being done to this country is by this “dark, shadow government” that is pretty much the Pence-Koch-DeVos-Federalist Society” wet dream of power.
All I can say is 1. I think that in this case the Europeans are on to the scam, and too busy moving forward to take the bait. The US is not the influence it once was apparently. And 2. Nothing they do cannot be undone if we get the government back and out of their hands.
219.
tokyokie
@Ken Shabby: I loved the movie when I saw when it first came out in 1970, but when I caught again a few years later, I thought it had dated badly, dealing with themes and characterizations that seemed stuck in the late 1960s. But after acquiring it for cheap on Blu-ray a couple or three years back, I watched it again and liked it better than I did the first time. Arthur Penn is a grossly underrated film director, and I think Night Moves is probably the best neo-noir ever made.
Also is the constant attempt to privatize the Postal Service an effort to destroy any state vote-by-mail proceedures?
No. A double-digit percentage of Republicans believe that the Post Office is part of a plot that has overthrown the legitimate United States government, and the rest are mean shits who want to destroy anything that does not cater to them exclusively.
221.
Kelly
@Ladyraxterinok: Yes on both points. Federal voting would be a narrow spot to defend. We should be defending the Post Office anyway. Also a narrow spot to defend. We’ll need to defend any process.
The Post Office is in the Constitution. If the Originalists were honest they’d be protecting it.
The real damage being done to this country is by this “dark, shadow government”
I’m sorry, but no. Trump is right in the lead of all of this. He is a cruel, extremely bigoted asshole, racist and steeped in toxic masculinity. He isn’t a distraction. He wants these things. He wants to hurt as many non-white-men as possible, and a lot of the time gets a kick out of hurting white men, too. Given how he reacts to them and his clear public history of extreme racism throughout his life, I put it about 50/50 he actively considers himself a Nazi.
Yes, everyone who gets any shit done in his administration is also extremely bigoted, and Trump himself is incompetent, but this fish rots from the head. They’re working for him because they reflect his awfulness.
223.
LuciaMia
@danielx: Yup, Over at Daily Caller, the only RW site I can stand to look at, the comments are all still “false flag, set up, conspiracy etc.” Oh, and “hoax and phony bombs”, even after the FBI explicitly said these are not hoax devices.
224.
Ladyraxterinok
@Ken Shabby: IIRC one state does proportional EC. I believe there would be a real problem with states that have gerymandered their House districts?
If you've read anywhere that mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc Jr. is a citizen of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, it's wrong. Here's a statement from @najournalists. pic.twitter.com/RTgqu8iIqR
It’s breaking my heart. The abject cruelty of this regime knows no limits.
227.
Ruckus
@different-church-lady:
I’m going with both.
He’s a sociopath with narcissistic personalty. And possibly dementia. Ahhhh the trifecta.
228.
jl
@Frankensteinbeck: The reactionary white bigot dupes might yell this. But their corporate masters who feed the bullshit don’t want to completely privatize. No responsible for-profit corporation wants the mandatory service requirements that would come with it, not enough sleazy and easy excess profits and rent in it. The corporations just want the USPS hemmed in and crippled so it cannot provide services that fully public and even privatized postal services in many countries provide at good value for the money. Shippers don’t want too much competition, pay day lenders sure as hell don’t want postal banking or any near substitute.
The reactionary white bigots and hip glibartarians are foolish dimwits and dupes. Both groups freak out when confronted with the facts.
And the USPS bring Benjamin Franklin to mind, who noted 200 or so year ago, that there was a strain in the United States philosophy of how to do business that was very close to just outright cheating people. I guess he had the sly New England Yankee trader in mind. Some of that was the physiocrat inj him talking, but some of it was his diagnosis that the Trumpian and socially destructive Art of the Deal approach to life was a particular weakness in American society. Been up and down since then, and now we are reaping the costs of a long down period, I think since mid-1980s when reactionary though has had far too much influence..
Of course it’s a deliberate appeal to a deliberate audience. She is highly intelligent and knew EXACTLY what she was doing (on all those multiple occasions when she said racist things on television, not just this one).
230.
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
As long as Pence and Miller et al are part of is, this is SOP.
FWIW, they’re both Cluster B personality disorders, so it can be hard to tease out the difference between them. Referring to toxic narcissists like Trump as sociopaths is not entirely off the mark, because neither of them think of other people as being fully human.
IM non-expert O, narcissists pretty much all act and react the same way to the same stimuli, while sociopaths have more variety in how they react, so that’s what puts Trump in the “narcissist” camp for me.
A note: The van sticker image I saw had the same number of Pence photos as Tr. Fwiw, the 1st Pence photo was to me the most prominent one.
CBS description:
“Image taken at earlier date shows white van covered in decals of Pres. Trump, targets over the likenesses of Hillary Clinton, former Pres. Obama, filmmaker Michael Moore; it’s believed to be same van at scene of suspect’s arrest in Plantation, Fla.”
The news (and we) should identify him as a Pence supporter imo. Their steady omission of him is (by Republican design) keeping him clean; by the time Pence might be running or taking over, there won’t be time or focus to link him to Tr as fully as should be.
Right at this moment the press is gliding over Pence just as it did in ’16 for Tr.
Resources and public insistence are needed to do stories about Pence. The business guys in control haven’t changed (competing breaking news will still win out over longer research). But the reporters need support.
believe that the Post Office is part of a plot that has overthrown the legitimate United States government,
I bet if you tell them that privatizing it will make sending pipe bombs to Hillary Clinton legal, they will be even more in favor of that.
236.
Ruckus
@Death Panel Truck:
Party of personal responsibility – which is for their enemies to be responsible. So they don’t have to be.
Added the part that the party of personal responsibility always leaves out, the silent part they don’t want anyone to hear, the unspoken refrain of the bigot.
237.
Bobby Thomson
@Cheryl Rofer: always projection. This guy really was lying about indigenous ancestry for business reasons.
238.
Bobby Thomson
@debbie: apparently he was trying to pass as Seminole.
239.
A Ghost To Most
@chris:
Candace Owen is a shining example of christian fascism not being entirely a white people problem. That, and a WH full of young black Republicans in MAGAt hats screaming “CNN sucks!”.
240.
Ruckus
@ruemara:
I have been trying to gather the words and you did it for me.
The rights of one are the rights of all. If you don’t have rights and equality then neither do I or anyone else.
@Sister Golden Bear:
Never give up. Don’t let people define you as something you are not. Most of us go through this life just trying to survive and along come people who have to declare who and what they are because otherwise we will get it wrong. And that is their right to do that to be the person they feel they need to be. Especially if that is not harming anyone else. And you are not doing that. You are trying to be you and that is all any of us should be, who we are. Keep on going, we will try to make it easier, because it shouldn’t be this difficult just to be yourself.
241.
MaryRC
@japa21: Possibly but that doesn’t jibe with how quickly he’s being kicked to the curb by the MAGA crowd today. Maybe one deterrent that would-be copycats can take away with this is how instead of acclaiming you as one of their own, your fellow Trump-supporters will go straight to saying that you’re on Soros’ payroll.
Fox blurred out the signs and stickers on the van in their reporting, and referred to them as “political messages.”
243.
Just Some Fuckhead
Was slightly disappointed to find out Democrats weren’t really trying to blow themselves up to get themselves elected. Guess they’re still keeping that powder dry.
Given my talent for posting to dying threads I’m not sure anyone will see this, but I wanted to express my thanks to those who responded with support — both here and downstairs.
I’m literally in uncontrollable tears. (Which is happening multiple times a day now, but at least this time they’re tears of gratitude.)
245.
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear: Well, I was going to express support too but I don’t want to make you cry.
Candace Owen is a shining example of christian fascism not being entirely a white people problem.
Or a shining example of how you can make big bucks as a “minority conservative” as long as you’re willing to parrot the party line and don’t expect to have any input.
247.
Corner Stone
“A needle in a haystack” ? The dude was screaming white hot light for 2+ years that he was nutso for cuckoo puffs Trumpie.
Trump is right in the lead of all of this. He is a cruel, extremely bigoted asshole, racist and steeped in toxic masculinity. He isn’t a distraction. He wants these things….this fish rots from the head. They’re working for him because they reflect his awfulness.”
Yes, yes a 1000 times yes. He is everything you describe and more.
It’s just that lately I’ve come to realize that while he gets all the attention for his egregiousness, these corrupt bastards that are working in the Departments and agencies that impact our lives every single day, up close and in person, are destroying the country. Too many Americans don’t have the attention span or time to long-read those stories, and Trump has the TV/Radio media by the nuggets. Too many people I know think that if we got rid of Trump everything would be ok. It won’t. I know a lot of millenial voters, for example, who get it that Trump is horrific, but have no clue why it’s so important they vote for their Senators and Congresspeople who can be a check on the Agencies and Departments and the Courts.
The judges Hatch and Grassley are approving right now during this recess are going to back up all these administrative and legal challenges the Administrations various departments are implementing. The lower level incompetents in HUD and Education and Interior and Agriculture are taking an axe to things we all have taken for granted for DECADES, but quietly, in secret, with no fanfare.
What Trump does with his leadership, his nasty, vicious character attacks, his ranting and railing against brown people, his blatant disregard for the Emoluments clause or for national security: yes, they’re really, really bad. But the evil the people who got to run our country because he is President and the dark money powers pretty much shoved in his face and said “Nominate Him/Her”–they are doing a shit-ton of damage. I’ve come to believe that this is a symbiotic relationship, but for the life of me I’m beginning to think Trump actually gets the lesser of the deal.
@Sister Golden Bear: It’s completely reasonable to be “one note” when it’s about a direct threat to your existence. I’m with you, and I’m sorry we haven’t been in a thread together so I could express it before.
The one tiny saving grace in this horror is that things Trump hates seem to gain support among everyone but the MAGAts.
253.
Ruviana
@dogwood: Trump does love him some President Duterte with that dictatory vibe. So there’s that
Filipino dad and Italian mom. People are saying that because he’s the principal of Native American Catering.
Ok, so lemme get this straight: People thought he was claiming to be Native American, but he’s Filipino-Italian running a company with “Native American” in it’s name because, I’m guessing, he gets some kind of benefit-business or social- for pretending he’s Native American?
Are we having a “Pocahontas” Karma event here?
Jesus, even for Trump’s koo-koo MAGA bomber followers, there’s a Trump quote for everything they do, too.
lately I’ve come to realize that while he gets all the attention for his egregiousness, these corrupt bastards that are working in the Departments and agencies that impact our lives every single day, up close and in person, are destroying the country.
Exactly. The attacks on trans people are coming at the agency level and can hurt people extremely hard.
Case in point, it’s only an administrative policy that allowed me to change the gender marker on my passport — and I’m fully expecting this administration to change it back to what was on my original birth certificate (or potentially even void it because I “lied” about my gender).
Needless to say having an “M” on my passport makes it physically risky to travel to many counties, means that there’s some countries that are simply no go zones for me because I could be imprisoned, or worse, for who I am.
If you’ve read anywhere that mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc Jr. is a citizen of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, it’s wrong. Here’s a statement from @najournalists.
There is something pathetic about Native groups going out of their way to protect the integrity of tribal designations. And yeah, I am including their reaction to Elizabeth Warren’s revelations about her Native American ancestry.
But I guess I understand this sad inability to look at a larger picture.
This bomber is a natural born asshole. And sad proof that there is no ethnic immunity to the insanity of Trumpism.
That is funny, I did work with a Filipino once who was the biggest nativist douch I ever meet. A few times times we whites told this guy “who is this _we_ you talk about?” and all the Asians called him “banana” (yellow on the outside, white in the middle)
262.
Uncle Ebeneezer
@Sister Golden Bear: Hang in there. Much virtual love/support to you. And thank you so much for somehow finding the energy to speak up and help raise awareness about the importance of keeping these issues at the center of discussion in liberal spaces.
263.
MisterForkbeard
@Sister Golden Bear: I want express again how valuable you and your viewpoint is. You really have made me think about all this in a way I hadn’t before and your ongoing descriptions of your journey have been eye opening. Thank you for sharing that with us, and for helping to keep our eye on the ball.
Fox blurred out the signs and stickers on the van in their reporting, and referred to them as “political messages.”
What a bunch of cowards. Liars. punks.
265.
lgerard
Jacob Wohl. American Hero
I am so confident that this is a BIG, FAT DEMOCRAT HOAX that I hereby personally volunteer to remove suspicious packages from the homes and offices of Democrats pic.twitter.com/uwWdXP0Jda— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) October 25, 2018
266.
JPL
@Sister Golden Bear: The idea that they can just change the gender on your passport is horrifying, but I can understand why you feel that way. The government is researching birth certificates to see who supposedly had home births, and whether or not they are legal citizens. Forty years ago I thought about a home birth for my son, and it never entered my mind that the government would question it.
We are in strange times, and we appreciate your views.
267.
Melusine
@Sister Golden Bear: Don’t apologize. Your right to exist is at stake. God I hope there’s a Roland Emmerich- sized blue tsunami about to hit Nov 6th, or we’re fucked. And the most vulnerable populations are always the first to go. The folks on this blog care, and want to know what you’re facing, and will help in any way we can.
It won’t really work because that van has gotten a lot of visibility and a lot of people have taken pictures of it for months including when those stickers were in fact old and peeling. Essentially the guy just replaced them with fresh stickers.
273.
dnfree
@Cheryl Rofer: I think she did it on purpose. A discussion of political correctness and blackface with an all-white panel and going off-script? They were probably about to get rid of her, and this way she gets her money and gets to proclaim herself a martyr.
“Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina, which administers the State Employee Health Plan, recognizes that. It has, since 2011, recognized dysphoria as a serious medical issue and covered treatments related to transition, including hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgery.
But Folwell and the plan’s trustees allowed that coverage to expire at the first opportunity — not renewing it for the 2018 plan year and making no move to reinstate it for 2019.”
It should be noted that denying trans-related healthcare is explicitly part of the Talibaptists’ five-point plan to eradicate trans people from public life.
“We empathize with all members’ health conditions, but cannot provide them all with every elective, non-emergency procedure they want,” Folwell said.
Folwell’s sentiment could hardly be further from medical reality, said Dr. Deanna Adkins.
Adkins is a pediatric endocrinologist who helped establish Duke Child and Adolescent Gender Care at Duke University Hospital last year. With more than 300 transgender patients now being treated at her clinic, Adkins is one of the most widely-sought medical experts on the issue in the state.
Far from being a frivolous elective procedures, Adkins said there is now ample medical literature showing that gender transition treatments save lives.
“Any other medical diagnosis that had 40 years of research behind it showing there’s a treatment for it that works better than any other treatment, everyone would be behind it,” Adkins said.
Unfortunately, she said, this seems to be a case of politics failing to catch up to science — with dire consequences for transgender people of all ages.
Yeah, but not by Jennifer Rubin. 2018 Jennifer Rubin is way cooler than pre-2017 Jennifer Rubin. I really seriously like her now.
Yes, this. There are still topics I would argue about if I ever discussed them with her in person, but it would be an interesting 2-way conversation (one hopes :-), with thought involved. It takes a lot of personal strength to break free of tribal canon/markers and find one’s own formed/supported beliefs.
(There are plenty of such canon/markers on the left, even among mainstream Democrats, though more variegated than on the right.)
The enemy of your enemy is not automatically your friend.
Read a half-dozen of her recent columns; she’s in a different place now IMO.
284.
Bill Arnold
@catclub:
That Barry Ritholtz piece has footnotes (and links). :-)
Loving the new information-rich journalism at some venues (Bloomberg, The Guardian, many others.)
Cacti
Say it loud:
#MAGAbomber
dmsilev
Clearly, he’s a liberal false-flag playing a long game (possibly with the assistance of the Deep State).
JCJ
@Cacti:
Yeah, I hope that sticks – Olympic Park bomber, Unabomber, now MAGAbomber.
lgerard
jeez, he has a shirt with the same crazy stuff that’s on his van?
cain
I see there is a MAGA black man who is just as enthusiastic…
J R in WV
I want a complete set of high-definition photos of every part of that white van that has any symbolic or textual information, large enough to look at and read the copyright information on every sticker.
Just because!
No, really because that will show how deep into trumpism this violent wannabe really is. What a maroon.
Corner Stone
I wanna see Stephanie Ruhle try and “both sides” this shit now.
Corner Stone
Look at the arms on this MAGA Bomber son of a bitch. Sitting around doing biceps curls and replaying recorded MAGA rallies all the time.
Rommie
Now, now, don’t call out attempted assassination TOO strongly or there will be trouble!
kindness
I went over to RedState to see how they are taking this. False Flag all the way baby! Of course they are going there. George Soros paid this guy directly.
Corner Stone
Registered Republican! Game over, man. Game over.
Mike in NC
There are literally thousands of these nutjobs out there and after November 6 there will be another wave of mail bombs. Take that to the bank.
Brachiator
So, this guy has Native American background???
Corner Stone
@lgerard:
Hell yeah. That Trump on Tank picture is a complete troll meme. He must take pics from the internet and have them screen printed on t-shirts.
cain
Oh absolutely the narrative is precisely going to be about civil discourse. But of course it’s also Democrats fault because we won’t capitulate. The press are nuts.
Corner Stone
Is that white haired person on the van with cross hairs on it Jill Stein? The one beside Michael Moore?
different-church-lady
It will now.
MattF
And I guess he’s now expecting Trump to pay for his defense lawyers.
ETA: Or else maybe George Soros.
different-church-lady
@Corner Stone: Games of Calvinball never really end.
oatler.
The magnetic poles in GOP brains have completely reversed and they’ve gone from “false flag” to “Soros plant”.
J R in WV
@Corner Stone:
Quoted for truth ~!!!!!!~
Nobody can reasonably both sides this clusterfuq. Nobody. I know who’s gonna try, tho.
MattF
@oatler.: The only thing that hasn’t changed (and never will) is that it’s someone else’s fault.
catclub
Trump will be conflicted. “he was bad, but he likes me, so I guess he can’t be all bad.” I expect something like that to leak out of him. Similar to cheering the Greg Gianforte assault on a journalist.
schrodingers_cat
@Corner Stone: This is what I posted on an earlier thread.
TV news at elebenty : Lone wolf with a history of mental illness and then some hand wringing by panel members about civility and both-sides.
catclub
@MattF: Party of personal responsibility.
mad citizen
Phuck all of these phuckers, and I mean to include every single damn one of the 63 million odd T voters. Every. Damn. One.
Just how I’m feeling this week. Every jackal have a great weekend!
MattF
@catclub: Party of some-other-person’s responsibility.
dmsilev
TPM found the guy’s social media pages
(nb: with that description, it could very well just be Trump’s Twitter feed)
catclub
@oatler.: those two poles are about an angstrom apart.
Cheryl Rofer
Welp. Looks like folks have found his Facebook page, and it’s full of pics of him at Trump rallies. I’m not going there. I assume there will be plenty available in no time at all, although Facebook will probably take the page down.
Also on Twitter: #MAGAbomber
ETA: I see dmsmilev beat me to it.
trollhattan
My theory is Trump-lovers will double, triple, infinity-down no matter what he does or triggers from others. Our sole deliverance from the shitstorm is delivering more voters than they can. And of course in numerous states that’s mathematically not achievable, so we’d best grab what we can.
“He’s a good person. Liberals drove him to this, what choice did he have?”
Sister Golden Bear
Since I seem to have a talent for posting to dying threads, reposting here, because “they’re trying to eradicate us!” is important…
Not to be Ms. One Note,* but the administration war on trans people is underway.
In today’s news, in case it wasn’t already clear that they’re explicitly trying to eradicate trans people from public life. Not just here, but worldwide.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/24/trump-administration-gender-transgender-united-nations
*Really, truly, I’d love to post about other things, but right now literally each day is bringing news of yet another attack on us, using the power of the government to erase our existence and push us back into the closet. Canaries, coal mines…
Also, this is the sort of emotional rollercoaster I and other trans, non-binary, and intersex people have been going through this week.
https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2018/10/23/what-waking-transgender-america-feels?fbclid=IwAR1U7P3xLrm59LA2HuFtn3XhjTQA2ceekKEsdgpMgg-URMkGinIhrznjD2M
If we appear strong, it’s because we don’t have the option to not be. Cisgender folks check in on your strong friends.
#WontBeErased #StillFuckingHere #Cassandra
Kay
@Corner Stone:
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Isn’t “red tsunami” what Trump said about Megyn Kelly? I’m confused.
ruemara
@Brachiator: “Unconquered Seminole” according to him. I’d like to see the birth certificate. In a related note, I just dropped that factoid into an argument going on with some of my weightlifting/Zumba trainer buds. The one wingnut female was trying to be socratic about how it’s unfair to blame DJT. I stayed out of it. Very glad to toss this bomb (no pun intended) into the mix, because I’ve been pissed at her since she was angry at us liberal women she has to teach for being upset & scared post election. I can read her like a book. This is exactly why I do not date fitness guys or hang with too many fitness women. Godbothering, gun worshiping conservatives abound & I don’t have time to sift the chaff.
Major Major Major Major
Shocked, gambling, etc.
schrodingers_cat
@Cheryl Rofer: Can I request, a mental respite thread with kittehs, when you have the time. Or a live action video of their walk.
kthxbai.
Corner Stone
@Kay: Guarantee you that thing on the back of the van is a scooter of some type. He probably had some sort of limited mobility, was on disability, and sat around pumping iron and stewing on his grievances that Trump was going to deliver him from.
catclub
@trollhattan:
Only liberals have agency.
Amir Khalid
My guess is that Cesar Sayoc Jr will magically transform into a lifelong Democrat, courtesy of American right-wing social media, before sunset over there.
MattF
@Kay: And doesn’t need that medication. Because the voices say he’s doing just fine.
Chyron HR
“I think it’s important to talk to Trump supporters and to say to them, ‘Look, we understand.'” – Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
C Stars
@Amir Khalid: On the comment threads I’ve seen, he’s being described by the wingnuts as a card carrying member of the Green Party. I don’t know how they got there, maybe the Jill Stein in the crosshairs on his van. These freakin’ people….
Corner Stone
@trollhattan:
Megyn Kelly and Cesar Sayoc Jr. – one fired for doing absolutely nothing wrong, and one set up in a false flag for things he clearly didn’t commit. Who will the Deep State take out next?
ruemara
@C Stars: They have raised cognitive dissonance to an extreme sport.
gene108
@dmsilev:
No way. He’s a crisis actor coming to take away your guns.
MCA1
My only silver lining of hope out of this debacle is that maybe a couple MAGAtheads will see this guy and remember being at a Drumpf Hatefest and grooving on the vibes there at the time, and think “Holy shit, maybe this is a little overboard. I’m not sure I want to be a part of that.”
I kid, I kid. They’re unreachable. They’ll excuse this away as a guy driven to extremes by the extremism of “the Left” and go back to chanting “Lock Her Up!” Nothing will break their fever; it’s a prion disease that incubated for decades before manifesting in full blossom in the Trump Era.
Hoodie
Watching Trump presser, he keeps lauding law enforcement and how fast they found the bomber when “it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.” Yeah, a needle plastered with Trump stickers. What gop assholes like Trump, DeSantis, etc. will not acknowledge is that it’s not cool to weaponize dangerously deluded people by cynically empowering their memes simply to troll for votes. This Sayoc guy is clearly mentally disturbed, as are a sizable number of the folks at Trump rallies.
The worst thing about Trump is that he’s a sociopath who doesn’t give a shit about anyone, including his own followers. And fuck people in the media who celebrate this psychopathology as if it’s just another harmless political tactic.
Corner Stone
What I really think this country needs right now is for MSNBC to host Erick Erickson on its air again to have him explain civility to us. And how this is clearly all just a misunderstanding and somebody in a restaurant got yelled at that time.
gwangung
@Sister Golden Bear:
Existential threats ARE one note.
different-church-lady
@MCA1:
Kay
@Corner Stone:
Yup. We have one here. He sent me letters about Trump during the election and they had to the crazy-letter thing where they write on the outside of the envelope because they think of more things after they seal it. Also- punching holes in the paper bearing down so hard.
I warned the authorities and he’s banned from this office and the courthouse because staff are scared of him but there’s no telling when he’ll blow. I just saw him yesterday.
JPL
From Daniel Dale..
Trump today
Mike in NC
When is Fat Bastard’s next hate rally? Tonight or tomorrow?
Be damned sure after “Lock her up!” they’ll be chanting “Hail Cesar!” a lot and Trump will brush that off with his usual wink and a smirk.
japa21
Guarantee you that if this guy showed up at a Trump rally tomorrow he would be given a hero’s welcome.
different-church-lady
@Hoodie:
This is the point in the dialog where someone says, “No, he’s not a sociopath, he has narcissistic personalty disorder, the difference is that…” and I say, “NO, HE’S A FUCKIN’ SOCIOPATH.”
Cheryl Rofer
Ken Shabby
@Corner Stone:
I think those arms come from something else getting a workout, if
youknowhatimeanandithinkyoudo.
He’s ambidextrous, it would seem.
Living off government cheese, in a van down by the river.
laura
@Sister Golden Bear: Dear SisterGoldenBear, you’re no one note, you’re a cherished Jackal and resident subject matter expert.
Please keep the fight in our faces. Keep sharing your personal story as well as the wider perspective. Hold the lamp up high.
Kay
@Hoodie:
I think we’ve reached the point with some of them (Meghan Kelly) where we can ask if this is a deliberate appeal to a certain audience. If they’re actually building careers based on appealing to racists, because let’s face it- there are millions of racists. It’s a genuine sector who watch and buy. This can’t all be just cluelessness. What if it’s a really big niche audience and when they can’t make it mainstream they decide they’ll go fringe?
different-church-lady
@Cheryl Rofer: So my read is that they’ve wanted to get rid of her for quite a while now and she finally gave them an excuse.
JPL
@robertmcquire
Trump today
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Corner Stone:
Definitely skipped leg day
catclub
@Brachiator:
LGM commenters immediately said Filipino, and now that they say it, I can see it.
Corner Stone
@MCA1:
Did you catch any of Trump’s presser today before the Young Black Leadership Summit? They were waving MAGA hats and chanting all kinds of hateful things. When Trump perfunctorily read his speech about “violence has no place in politics” they had one guy clapping. The crowd there wants violence. They want the show, the spectacle. I have no idea what this particular group is thinking.
JPL
@Sister Golden Bear: We are here with you, and hopefully the house will flip and slow down the bleeding.
Death Panel Truck
@catclub:
The members of which never take any.
hells littlest angel
Sayoc is a product of George Soros’ Parallax Corporation.
JPL
@Cheryl Rofer: Earlier today I mentioned that I hoped that they would keep her under contract. Let her report to a windowless office for 8 hours a day, preferable without electricity.
Cheryl Rofer
Kay
@Corner Stone:
He knows exactly what he’s doing.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@JPL:
He doesn’t even have the fig leaf that Soros did anything remotely “illegal” like Hillary “did”. It’s getting to the point that Trump has to be removed. Bombs have been sent to his enemies by his supporters. This has got to stop.
Hoodie
@Kay: kind of like the “long tail theory of retailing”? Could be something to that. Cable tv and the internet certainly facilitate that.
Jinchi
Zoom in on pictures from the side of his van and you can see at least 7 people with target crosshairs. I couldn’t see all the faces but some were pretty clear including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michael Moore and Jill Stein.
Corner Stone
@JPL: Show me where to sign the contract for that at $23M a year and watch the ink dry as I blow on it with all my might.
opiejeanne
@Brachiator: I thought Filipino, based on his last name.
Cheryl Rofer
In other news, looks like those troops won’t be heading to the border yet.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@catclub: Trump is already at “I am the real victim with this” stage since it detracts attention from him.
khead
@Amir Khalid:
MSNBC quoting a relative (paraphrasing): “He’s always been a loner…. Maybe too many steroids…. I didn’t even know he was a Republican….”
BroD
Florida Man strikes again.
J R in WV
@Sister Golden Bear:
You keep up the good work informing us about the viewpoints of your community! You are one of us, and we support you and your other communities.
And you will never approach the records I have for posting multiple times at the foot of a dead thread, as I read it to the bottom, commenting on all the comments I have an opinion about – all of them nearly, sometimes. I’m better now, than I was then.
;-)
Keith P.
The biggest question is how Debbie Wassermann Schultz managed to frame this strong, high-quality Trump supporter.
Gravenstone
@khead:
That relative must not have bummed a ride lately…
MCA1
@JPL: JFC on a cracker. Irredeemable. Just a black hole for decency, character, or humanity. It’s an abyss. He just f’ing finished reading his forced condemnation of political violence and he goes right back to stoking it within 4 minutes. Good god damn. It’s like there’s no object permanence for this person. Or he thinks we don’t see him. Or he knows there are no consequences for him personally. None of which are sustainable.
Gravenstone
@opiejeanne: No one tell Malkin.
Ken Shabby
@Chyron HR:
“I think it’s important to talk to Trump supporters and to say to them, ‘Look, we understand.’” – Bernie Sanders (I-VT) –
I think it’s important to ignore both of them and vote. Every two years.
Just had a conversation with a well off, well educated, pleasant…Trump supporter yesterday.
Litmus: What did you think of Kavanaugh?
Three things.
I believe her.
“Yes, but, what if she was harmed, by someone, at some time, at some place”
It did not and would not ever be brought into a courtroom where it had its best chance of being cleared in one or the other’s side.
“Don’t you think he was mistreated, had every right to-“
No. The third item overrides the other two. This was a hearing for the seat on the country’s highest court. His display that last day provided blatant proof that he is utterly unfit to be a judge anywhere at any time.
>crickets<
I only engaged with her because we had been close friends years ago – and – as both a Religious zealot and, female, I wondered her take on this. Was not disappointed.
For decades now, GOP folk Got Nuttin’ . Nothing. There is no real argument to be made because they have no argument, about anything. It’s a bizarre bag of quirks, twitches, insane correlation and false logic. Their party’s actions are indefensible and it’s nothing but a collection of fantasies that I never wanted to come true in the first place. They do. It’s like talking to someone completely unhinged but able to function.
I think it also involves spanking from strong daddies, baking and aprons, pistols and the lion in Wizard of Oz chanting I do I do I do believe in Spooks and, it’s prolly the only time they use that word not as a racial slur.
Josie
@Sister Golden Bear:
I don’t care if your voice is a “one note.” It is a voice that needs to be heard. You have opened my eyes to a problem that I didn’t even know existed and broadened my perspective considerably. For me, that is the beauty of this blog – the ability of front pagers and commenters to educate the rest of us. Please keep posting as often as you want on any subjects you feel are important.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@Sister Golden Bear: Checked in with my strong friends, and will continue to do so. Also, got a text message that my ballot (Jefferson County, Colorado) has been received and accepted for counting. Also, what everyone else has said–we’ve got you.
different-church-lady
In Russia, memory hole you.
JPL
Trump has a rally tonight.
@MCA1: There are no consequences for him. Maybe I missed that the House of Representatives is going to hold hearings about Trump’s use of his cell phone.
Corner Stone
Honestly, I think the real question that needs to be answered tonight, more than any other, is what did Hillary know and when did she know it? And what do her emails say about any connection to this deep cover Democrat operative? Do you have your whiteboards and or yarn/thumbnails ready?
maryQ
This clearly indicates that Bernie Sanders was right in his assessment that fundamental problems with the Democratic Party’s setup is what drive people to vote fro Trump.
C Stars
@Cheryl Rofer: I wonder how many guns he owned.
jl
@Kay: ” He knows exactly what he’s doing. ”
He has even explained it to some of the hapless and clueless corporate media national affairs. He’s told them, to put it bluntly, paraphrasing: I lie and BS to discredit you people and my fan base will believe only me. Yet, most of the time, the corporate hack news actors feel they have to act as though this extreme bad faith and impeachable dishonesty is just standard bothsidedoit political Kabuki theatre. And thereby effectively aid and abet Trump’s heinous behavior.
Looks like enough of a majority of US voters have enough sense to start putting a stop to this tragic and dangerous farce on November 6.
Death Panel Truck
@Ken Shabby:
Hey, don’t knock government cheese. Back in 1984-85, when they were giving away cheese (and butter) in the small town I lived in then, I stood in line to pick up a brick. My girlfriend at the time made a mean macaroni and cheese out of it. I didn’t have to live in a van, tho. Good times.
Some of the most prominent citizens in town stood in line for cheese along with everybody else. I guess it was better than letting it all go to waste.
ruemara
@Sister Golden Bear: Trans issues are human rights issues. There’s no offense, no “1 note”, no burden. The problem I have with it is how it’s not being screamed from the rooftops that civil rights are under attack.
A Ghost To Most
I’m still waiting for the 14th bomb to be found. The 14 Words symbolism would have been irresistible.
jl
@jl: meant to type: “national affairs reporters.”
Miss Bianca
@Sister Golden Bear: You have every right to be scared and worried, and to remind your friends what you are up against. Don’t worry about sounding “one note”. Lest we forget – all of us feel endangered by the current political environment, but for some of us the dangers are greater and more in-your-face than for others.
Ken Shabby
@MCA1:
I stopped giving a damn what he says or does months ago. I don’t watch any major media anymore. I continue to scan FNYFT, WashPo and Guardian, looking for some kind of sea change, some demonstration the media is over getting pissed on right in the face. I read here, driftglass and Pierce. Maddow is likely one of the few journos to get on a story and stay on it – and – a perfect place to watch Adam Schiff…occasionally, The Atlantic but, Coates departure and Fallows rare article have turned that place into writing on subjects usually so stupid as to be disregarded. Readers Digest.
There’s nothing left to surprise about Trump, GOP, Congress or media.
This is about putting your head down and stamina for the long process ahead.
And, anyway – Fuck those people.
trollhattan
@Keith P.:
I think she got thrown overboard too soon. She’s a crafty one!
Gelfling 545
@Chyron HR: Well, I could say that but it would be a lie. I don’t understand at all.
Kelly
Federally administered vote by mail on all Federal elections. Everyone over 18 automatically registered. No exceptions. No exceptions for criminal history or even currently serving sentences. No gray area makes cheating harder. Ability to vote easily in federal elections puts pressure on cheating local officials.
dmsilev
@A Ghost To Most:
I think that might be #14.
JeanneT
@Death Panel Truck: Government Cheese!
Ken Shabby
@Death Panel Truck:
I’m not. Am referring to an old sketch on Saturday Night Live with Chris Farley.
Please accept my apology.
I hope things are better, now and not like then –
Brachiator
@catclub:
I guess, But at this point, speculation is unnecessary. We can wait for the facts (or in Trumpland, more fake news).
Mandalay
@JPL:
@JPL:
Maybe I’m drawing a false comparison, but I read your posts just after viewing Megyn Kelly’s blackface video, where she pulls the same shit as Trump.
She just about manages going through the motions of discussing the use of blackface without rolling her eyes and shaking her head, but then at the very end she has to let it all out, and stick the knife in:
I find it easier to understand Trump getting elected president than Kelly landing a job with NBC. They’re both racists, and both have made that obvious over the years, but you’d think a television network would know not to hire one for their morning show.
Ken Shabby
@Corner Stone:
32k of 33k of those emails were likely between her and him. Planning this for years, entire time and right under our noses.
“Mandrake, man the weapon.”
I mean – someone in that house smokes cigars, we know That.
Gelfling 545
@Kay: I wouldn’t go that far. He knows to use the words that get him the reaction he wants. If the crowd went wild when he said peanut butter he’d say peanut butter at every rally. It’s not a plan, it’s a reaction.
A Ghost To Most
@dmsilev:
Now, did he stop at 14, or go for 16 (8+8)=Heil Hitler?
The Moar You Know
I have never gone to the polls before thinking that I could be a victim of violence or convinced that there was – with a certainty – going to be violence afterwards. I will be this time. And the President of the United States is deliberately stoking the violence that is to come. It’s fucking terrifying.
I don’t know how this gets fixed. Elections can put a leash on Trump’s worst legislation, but can’t do one damn thing about the psychos who put him in office in the first place.
There are a LOT of people, not just a small minority, who have signed on for this, and while most of them are not going to resort to violence, they’re also not inclined to lift a finger to stop it.
Gravenstone
@A Ghost To Most: And ironic, since Mr. Sayoc likely wouldn’t be deemed “white” by the supremacist crowd.
polarbear92
@Corner Stone: Don’t forget conscientiously shaving his armpits, too.
cain
@Kelly:
This.
trollhattan
@Gravenstone:
They’d probably still give him a tiki torch and polo shirt if he asked nicely.
Ken Shabby
@A Ghost To Most:
Think it was 1-2 – FIVE
and involved breakfast cereals, ooranootans and fruit bats.
Mandalay
@different-church-lady:
I think “she finally gave them no damn choice” would be more accurate.
Even if they had wanted to keep her (which admittedly they did not) she had to be fired.
pat
@Sister Golden Bear:
National Geographic had a fascinating cover story several months ago about this. The tiny changes in the body that can lead to differences in gender identification. Sorry I can’t be more specific, but I recommend looking this up. It’s amazing what science…..(Huh, what’s that?) has discovered about sexual identity.
tokyokie
@Brachiator: I knew a fellow back in college who, if not for his being Native American and therefore ineligible, would have joined the Klan. I believe it was a black friend, who also knew this fellow, who introduced me to the term “apple Indian”: thin red skin and white to the core. They’re out there, and as Old Lodge Skins in Little Big Man would say, “Not as ugly as the white man true; but they are just as crazy.”
A Ghost To Most
@Ken Shabby:
Not sure what that means.
I was relieved when it turned out to be Florida Man, and not one of my relatives.
ETA: if my relatives had done it, they would have blowed up real gud.
MisterForkbeard
@khead: “I mean, I saw his van and everything but I had no idea he was a Republican.”
sherparick
@different-church-lady: The Electoral College (cross out “we”) elected Calvin as President, but without Hobbes to keep an eye on him.
JPL
@Mandalay: I think it was Kay who mentioned that Megyn Kelly might have wanted an out.
Since her comment, I read that Megyn reached out to Fox news weeks ago.
ruemara
@tokyokie: There’s something about that non-black POC conservativeness that often collides with a massive amount of bugfuck nuts.
Mike in NC
Jennifer Rubin’s column today is all about Trump and his fellow conservative white male victims. Could easily have been written three years ago.
Sloane Ranger
CNN reporting that he has a criminal record a mile long, including a conviction for Threats to bomb in 2002, for which he was placed on Probation.
They also say he first registered to vote in 2016. He registered as a Republican.
Wolf Blitzer asked how he could vote in Florida with a criminal record that extensive. Reporter responds that he could have pled down to Misdemeanours, been missed (do they even bother to check registered Republicans for Felony convictions?) or got a Pardon. He is continuing to dig.
Hope they report his findings. What’s the chance he was pardoned? He wants to vote Rethug. what better proof of rehabilitation is there?
MisterForkbeard
@Josie: I second this. Sister Golden Bear SHOULD be continuing to talk about this and I really value it. What’s awful is that the already incredibly terrible moves by this Administration against LGBT individuals are being overshadowed by a splashier (and more explicitly awful) event, the bombing attempts. And that Trump continues to push for the imprisonment and attacks on his political enemies mere hours after one of his hardcore supporters was caught trying to kill the exact same people he constantly attacks.
We need SGB to keep on it, because it’s hard to focus on the less bombastic but equally important problem. :(
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
The what??? Where does Trump find these people?
germy
Milo Yiannopoulos said on Instagram that it’s “disgusting and sad” that pipe bombs didn’t kill intended victims
Ken Shabby
@Kay:
“He knows exactly what he’s doing.”
Where I land with this is, Yes and, enjoys it. He enjoys tormenting people and seeing just how far he can go to cover them in his own and their depravity. He revels in it.
That’s it. Everything else is secondary. Money is the means to that end.
I don’t believe he’s a sociopath. I think he’s criminally insane and not using that term carelessly. That’s the evidence. And, Occam’s razor.
Or, as Hannibal Lector asked: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do?
schrodingers_cat
Let’s assume that the CW of random crazy lone wolf who acted alone, is true.
1. How did he get the addresses of the people he sent bombs to.
2. How did he assemble them, where did he buy the material and equipment from.
ETA: I am pretty doubtful that he is acting alone.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: Craigslist gigs, he pays them by the hour.
Jeffro
If anyone wants a brief respite from the #MAGAbomber stuff or thinking about election-related violence, here’s a great attempt at scholarship by someone who clearly never studied much
Hey Liberals, You’re Doing Yourselves No Favors By Clamoring For An End To the Electoral College
(who knew we were hurting ourselves?!? luckily grinnin’ Gary Abernathy is looking out for us!)
Right? RIGHT, libtards? If the shoe was on the other…oh wait…if it were actually on the other foot, we’d probably just roll over at let the Repubs have the presidency. We are libs, after all.
Anyway…get this:
got that folks? The EC was to help us “protect and value each state”. Uh huh. Sure. Don’t let those Dimmycrat mobs ‘thwart’ the will of the founders (and dis West Virginia in the process!) Abandon calls to abolish the slavery-borne relic that has given us W and Trumpov – 2 non-majority vote winners – in just the past 16 years. How else can we wise-thinkin’ Trumpublicans keep our shrinking minority in power if you won’t stick with me on that “logic”?
MisterForkbeard
@Sloane Ranger:
He’s a republican in a state with a historically corrupt Republican Secretary of State. Of course he’s going to get loopholes and not actually be followed up on or removed from the voting rolls. If you’re poor/black/democrat and your name is slightly misspelled? Then you’re out. Republican with repeated convictions? You’re good to go, obviously a good person.
JPL
@Ken Shabby: Sounds right.
sherparick
@Kay: Roger Ailes (may his soul continue to rot in Hell) and Rupert Murdoch
created Fox News for an audience of affluent (or wannabe affluent) white people who were racist and hated the “straight” news on networks. They saw a market and went for it (and they were both of that audience as well, so they could relate viscerally to the troll network they created.)
Ken Shabby
@A Ghost To Most:
That. A crazy person and, thankfully incompetent.
Martin
@Jeffro: 3 million California voters don’t feel very valued.
A Ghost To Most
@Ken Shabby:
I know plenty of crazy people very competent with black powder. I happen to be one, although I don’t build bombs.
Luciamia
Is there a GoFundMe page up yet for his defense?
waspuppet
I’m looking forward to the picture of Sayoc shaking hands with Trump that you know is out there somewhere. And, of course, the explanations that that doesn’t mean anything.
maryQ
@Mike in NC: “Could easily have been written three years ago.”
Yeah, but not by Jennifer Rubin. 2018 Jennifer Rubin is way cooler than pre-2017 Jennifer Rubin. I really seriously like her now.
Brachiator
@Sister Golden Bear:
Totally understandable.
It may seem feeble to write this, but you are not alone. We are all in this together. Hopefully, the midterm elections will help us slow this crap down. But this fight has only just begun. We see what Trump and his people are doing. What they are trying to do. This country can be better than this. We have to make it better, keep it better.
Ken Shabby
@tokyokie:
“They’re out there, and as Old Lodge Skins in Little Big Man would say, “Not as ugly as the white man true; but they are just as crazy.”
And, copulate with horses.
Last time I looked, that book is OOP. It’s in my top ten, Ever. My copy got worn out years ago as companion on long canoe trips –
Otherwise, my heart could soar like a hawk again.
Movie has also slid to dust. That apple you refer to is also wasichu. He takes the fat.
ruemara
@Jeffro: If rural dominant states want to be equally valued, they can get their heads out of their collective asses, stop hating on minorities, stop voting conservative and make it easier for folks living their to be healthy, make businesses and thrive.
Just, grrrrrr. I’m a leave no state behind person because I know good folks live there but fuck your ec vote outweighting mine.
West of the Rockies
@germy:
How does that turd still have an account?
Gravenstone
@schrodingers_cat:
1. Online forums. Not necessarily accurate (and a couple of the items bounced as a result) but I’m sure there are those in the fever swamps who try to find and collate that sort of info from the public domain about their “enemies”
2. depending on the materials used, most sporting goods and/or hardware stores would cover the shopping list. Unless he had access to actual high explosives like blasting powder, or made his own ANFO
NotMax
Sayoc. Soros.
Both 5 letters. Both start with S. Do we have to spell it out for you?
/RWNJ in 3-2-1…
Ken Shabby
@ruemara:
And, Jeffro and All:
Does anybody know a way on a per state basis to apportion EC votes on basis of number of votes for each party?
E.g. If 10 total, 6 one, 4 other instead of winner take all.
Or has this already been litigated here…?
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea; I think it’s an out of date idea, poorly executed.
Unless of course, you’re GOP in which case The Confederate States of America get to own human beings, again, even in border states and territories….
Gravenstone
@West of the Rockies: Probably looking to get a ‘lifetime’ ban from yet another social media platform.
Mai Naem mobile
Just curious and this may be a non-PC question but is the guy Cuban American? Also I am guessing hes doing or has done steroids.
dexwood
@tokyokie:
Apple, yeah. I first heard that in 1975 when I started dating my Pueblo wife. One of her cousins called her that because she was going out with me The White Guy. And, I wouldn’t be surprised if the MAGABomber really did have Native American background and still did this. My wife’s family has a few TrumpHumpers in it including four public school teachers. Now, that’s scary.
Cheryl Rofer
germy
@West of the Rockies: I think this is the latest “platform” he’s been booted off from.
Aleta
@Kay: Yes, absolutely; he is intentional and his words premeditated.
(Paraphrasing, from a 2016 campaign rally speech)
‘HRC will xyz and there’ll be nothing you can do, unless there’s a 2 a person …’
Bet this guy is heavily invested in car stickers from second am. sites …
Cheryl Rofer
Sessions is talking about the arrest. I can’t find a live stream, working from Twitter.
Cheryl Rofer
This is one of the things I’ve been wondering about.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: He has been a racist bigot since before Steven Miller was born. He knows what he is doing and enjoys it. Shame on our elite media who thought he was a lovable rogue because they knew him personally.
I am looking at you PBS, NYT etc.
ruemara
@dexwood: Dude, one of my friends is part Japanese and many of her grandparents & aunts & uncles are former internment camp survivors. Sheesh, 2 of my friends are. Guess how many of those elder relatives voted Trump? Yo’d think injustice would learn you how to do right but no.
Bobby Thomson
@Brachiator: nope. Filipino dad and Italian mom. People are saying that because he’s the principal of Native American Catering.
Mandalay
@maryQ:
Really? Read how she spent years savaging President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and anyone who was less than fanatical in their support for Israel. But you can overlook all that, and “seriously like her” now, just because she is opposed to Trump? Rubin is vile and opportunistic.
The enemy of your enemy is not automatically your friend.
chris
@Cheryl Rofer: Here you go.
http://www.livenewschat.eu/politics/
dogwood
It will be interesting to see what happens if the guy does turn out to be Filipino. Trump never mentions them. I imagine he has no idea there are millions of Filipinos in this country (legally). He thinks all brown people are from Mexico. Asians with Spanish names would certainly baffle the history buff in the WH. Pinoys Beware!
NotMax
@Sister Golden Bear
No quota system in place, no excess usage fees. Your also commenting regarding other topics in no way dilutes what you mainly focus on here.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: There are Muslims in the BJP (Hindu Nationalist) government. Some are deluded, some are grifters.
For example, M J Akbar, the guy who had to resign because 2 dozen reporters had me too claims against him. He was a chamcha (flunky) of Indira Gandhi and her lawless progeny Sanjay when they ruled India.
Conclusion: Human beings suck.
JPL
Why wasn’t he charged with domestic terrorism?
lgerard
Now it’s getting crazy
Cheryl Rofer
catclub
When Geraldo Rivera is the most honest and thoughtful contributor on Fox News. It is depressing how bad all the other ones are.
Bobby Thomson
@dogwood: his father, who has the same name spelled slightly differently, emigrated from the Philippines and was naturalized in Florida after his son was born in New York.
catclub
@Ken Shabby:
Two states apportion EC votes by Congressional district
debbie
@Corner Stone:
No, no. The liberal media made him do it!
Aleta
13 packages so far, so 1 more unmailed / parts unassembeld?
catclub
@dogwood: Michelle Malkin will be so proud.
Jay
@Ken Shabby:
The Indiginous speculation comes from a twitter death threat the suspect made to a Democratic Party staffer.
In the death threat he claimed that he would be “coming for her” from “unceded seminole land” in a “silent seminole air boat”, etc.
Twitter of course, did nothing.
100% certain he’s not Seminole,
100% certain that like most RWNJ Trolls online he just makes shit up.
Stealth airboats,………
ruemara
@schrodingers_cat: Not all of them, but a sufficient percentage.
And if this guy is Pinoy, sigh. Anti-black, anti-latino sentiments in that community are anti-surprising. Thanks to my racist nearly sister-in-law, I learned that the hard way. Hell, I learned some are even very anti- that particular type of Pinoy.
catclub
@Aleta: Tom Steyer. Incontheivable.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Colorism is definitely a thing in India too. Although it is better to be an upper caste person of a darker hue than a fair skinned lower caste person.
# not all human beings.
(We are all capable of tremendous good or tremendous evil, its up to us what we choose to do)
jl
@catclub: Was gong to mention Shepard Smith, but I guess he is on news staff, not a contributor.
But, Rush Limbaugh is already doing a kerning analysis of the Sayoc van window stickers to show its a frame or false flag operation or some such nonsense.
Rushbo analyzing the even placement of stickers in suspext’s van and fact they’re not faded from sun to suggest w listeners’ input that the van is somehow a set-up.
www http twitter.com/tripgabriel/status/1055877896793964544
(not sure how to post links now the the blog widgets are gone.
Found via Paul Krugman’s twitter.
The good news, what there is of it, is that when they have to go down such a patently crazy route, they lose a few people, who will either switch votes for stay home. Maybe not even a noticeable chunk of the 75% to 80% of this voters who are too messed to have stayed with him. But in a 50% plus one vote system, everything helps. So, one tenth of a cheer to Rush for peddling such stupid BS, I guess.
Ladyraxterinok
@Sister Golden Bear: I appreciate you keeping us informed. I had not realized this ‘disappearing’ legislation attempt was going on until you posted recently about a legislation in a western state.
John Revolta
@Bobby Thomson: He’s an anchor baby!!
debbie
@Corner Stone:
Well, I just listened to some Republican mouthpiece opine that Trump’s congratulating that GOPer for body slamming was no worse than Maxine Waters’s telling supporters to yell at GOPers at restaurants. So, plenty more to come.
piratedan
@Brachiator: loads of his tweets apparently reference the “unconquered Seminole Tribe”, so I can think we can safely assume Native American or at least he’s claiming that heritage….
dexwood
@ruemara:
Amazing how easily some people can get twisted around to believe in things so completely in opposition to their own best self-interests. Ah, maybe not so amazing, 60 million examples walk among us.
hueyplong
What’s the big deal? I have it on good authority that every single person on the bombing hit list owns granite counter tops.
kindness
@Chyron HR: Funny how Bernie wants to be able to look at Trump supporters and say he understands but Bernie couldn’t direct his people to say the same thing to Hillary.
debbie
@Mike in NC:
NPR reported he has 10 coming up this week alone. Buckle up!
gogiggs
If you libs keep criticizing me for my attempted assassinations, I’ll have no choice but to vote for Trump and it will be your fault!
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
We’ve got this going on here. I think this guy is working up to Trump-level pussy grabbing. Who knows how many incels are out there, getting ready to step up to the plate and take one for the Boss Guy?
JPL
@debbie: I think he has one this evening in Charlotte,
Aleta
@catclub: thanks.
Going by the way the US has treated muslims, it sure seems like whichever 2 am groups he belongs could be investigated as ter – or ist groups.
Although I have to admit, I wouldn’t be quickly saying this if a different person who’d been arrested was a member of a group I believe in.
2 am groups’ advocating violence is the difference. And again, how about Tr’s call that went out to ‘a 2 am person’ in his rally speech in 2016.
hueyplong
@JPL: He does.
chris
dogwood
@catclub:
Yep. Hoy! Pinoy Ako!
Steve is the ATL
@piratedan:
That’s preposterous. Florida State won’t even be bowl eligible this season.
catclub
@jl: Shepard Smith is better at not saying things he will have to turn around and apologize for within the hour.
I thought about mentioning him as an exception.
dexwood
I am loving the whole MAGABomber label for so many reasons. Too nice outside and the Dog Brothers are giving me the stink eye. Off we go…
NotMax
@JPL
Gee, remember the screaming about how anytime Obama traveled anywhere it cost a kajillion dollars and added to the deficit?
Jeffro
@Mandalay: @maryQ: her columns since the last election have been extremely on-point. And we need all the allies we can to overthrow this deeply corrupt and dangerous regime.
I’ll take up previous issues with her later, when the Republic isn’t at stake.
Brachiator
@tokyokie:
Well, today I learned that there is a group called the Young Black Leadership Summit, who apparently love Trump, so yeah, plenty of crazy to go around.
ruemara
@kindness: He couldn’t direct himself to understand Hillary voters, so, what are you gonna do?
Jeffro
@Ken Shabby: That’s actually been looked at…by the GOP, which would love to get blue states doing this while leaving red ones winner-take-all(!)
I think it’s up to the states to decide how to award their ECs, which is why that interstate voter compact is a possibility. Unfortunately, so are the other possibilities.
Jeffro
@Martin:
You mean 3 million illegal California voters, don’t you?
/snark
Jeffro
@ruemara: co-signed. They’d never put up with it if positions were reversed.
Jeffro
Trumpov’s going to call the #MAGAbomber “just a little too enthused” at tonight’s rally. “Stay focused, stay mad at the fake media and the Democrats, just don’t quite go as far as he did, ok?”
Word for word.
Jamey
@Corner Stone: If so, then there actually is a silver lining to all this …
jonas
@Kay:
See? Just economic anxiety.
catclub
At Bloomberg
I hope you can hear my Nelson Muntz HA-ha
At LGM someone found AAccessory as anagram. Can I hope Roger Stone is the principle?
ruemara
@Jeffro: Ugh. You’re probably right. yuck.
trollhattan
@debbie:
As a taxpayer I’d like to know how much Trump’s political rallies are costing me. He’s gonna wear out AF1.
Brachiator
@Bobby Thomson:
Native American …. Catering. Just gets nuttier and nuttier.
debbie
@trollhattan:
At least it’s keeping him off the #@$! golf course. Less money for Trump Org.
debbie
@Bobby Thomson:
He doesn’t mean “Native American” the way normal people would use it. This is, after all, a White Nation. Of course, looking at him, he wouldn’t be on their guest list.
Aleta
danielx
Not gonna happen. Why let the truth get in the way of a good story?
Ladyraxterinok
@Kelly: Don’t we have to believe in the integrity of our national leaders to be sure this would work?
Also is the constant attempt to privatize the Postal Service an effort to destroy any state vote-by-mail proceedures?
Ella in New Mexico
@Sister Golden Bear:
LOLOL me too! But God forbid we have something called “nested comments”that might make it easier for all of us to see new comments in a 250 comment thread…;-P
I’ve been following these issues too. I’m cis but I love the trans and gay folks in my family and life dearly.I was just starting to feel a sense of relief that they will face fewer barricades to their humanness in the coming years.
I keep saying that these things–in this case trying to eradicate the rights of LGBTQ humans to exist–are the reason Trump is still in office right now: his bombastic ridilularity and constant crisis means that the REAL government can go to work dismantling everything good we’ve done in America since the 19th Century. The real damage being done to this country is by this “dark, shadow government” that is pretty much the Pence-Koch-DeVos-Federalist Society” wet dream of power.
All I can say is 1. I think that in this case the Europeans are on to the scam, and too busy moving forward to take the bait. The US is not the influence it once was apparently. And 2. Nothing they do cannot be undone if we get the government back and out of their hands.
tokyokie
@Ken Shabby: I loved the movie when I saw when it first came out in 1970, but when I caught again a few years later, I thought it had dated badly, dealing with themes and characterizations that seemed stuck in the late 1960s. But after acquiring it for cheap on Blu-ray a couple or three years back, I watched it again and liked it better than I did the first time. Arthur Penn is a grossly underrated film director, and I think Night Moves is probably the best neo-noir ever made.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ladyraxterinok:
No. A double-digit percentage of Republicans believe that the Post Office is part of a plot that has overthrown the legitimate United States government, and the rest are mean shits who want to destroy anything that does not cater to them exclusively.
Kelly
@Ladyraxterinok: Yes on both points. Federal voting would be a narrow spot to defend. We should be defending the Post Office anyway. Also a narrow spot to defend. We’ll need to defend any process.
The Post Office is in the Constitution. If the Originalists were honest they’d be protecting it.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ella in New Mexico:
I’m sorry, but no. Trump is right in the lead of all of this. He is a cruel, extremely bigoted asshole, racist and steeped in toxic masculinity. He isn’t a distraction. He wants these things. He wants to hurt as many non-white-men as possible, and a lot of the time gets a kick out of hurting white men, too. Given how he reacts to them and his clear public history of extreme racism throughout his life, I put it about 50/50 he actively considers himself a Nazi.
Yes, everyone who gets any shit done in his administration is also extremely bigoted, and Trump himself is incompetent, but this fish rots from the head. They’re working for him because they reflect his awfulness.
LuciaMia
@danielx: Yup, Over at Daily Caller, the only RW site I can stand to look at, the comments are all still “false flag, set up, conspiracy etc.” Oh, and “hoax and phony bombs”, even after the FBI explicitly said these are not hoax devices.
Ladyraxterinok
@Ken Shabby: IIRC one state does proportional EC. I believe there would be a real problem with states that have gerymandered their House districts?
Cheryl Rofer
zhena gogolia
@Sister Golden Bear:
It’s breaking my heart. The abject cruelty of this regime knows no limits.
Ruckus
@different-church-lady:
I’m going with both.
He’s a sociopath with narcissistic personalty. And possibly dementia. Ahhhh the trifecta.
jl
@Frankensteinbeck: The reactionary white bigot dupes might yell this. But their corporate masters who feed the bullshit don’t want to completely privatize. No responsible for-profit corporation wants the mandatory service requirements that would come with it, not enough sleazy and easy excess profits and rent in it. The corporations just want the USPS hemmed in and crippled so it cannot provide services that fully public and even privatized postal services in many countries provide at good value for the money. Shippers don’t want too much competition, pay day lenders sure as hell don’t want postal banking or any near substitute.
The reactionary white bigots and hip glibartarians are foolish dimwits and dupes. Both groups freak out when confronted with the facts.
And the USPS bring Benjamin Franklin to mind, who noted 200 or so year ago, that there was a strain in the United States philosophy of how to do business that was very close to just outright cheating people. I guess he had the sly New England Yankee trader in mind. Some of that was the physiocrat inj him talking, but some of it was his diagnosis that the Trumpian and socially destructive Art of the Deal approach to life was a particular weakness in American society. Been up and down since then, and now we are reaping the costs of a long down period, I think since mid-1980s when reactionary though has had far too much influence..
zhena gogolia
@Kay:
Of course it’s a deliberate appeal to a deliberate audience. She is highly intelligent and knew EXACTLY what she was doing (on all those multiple occasions when she said racist things on television, not just this one).
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
As long as Pence and Miller et al are part of is, this is SOP.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steve IS the ATL:
We’re venturing into “L’état, c’est moi” territory here.
Mnemosyne
@different-church-lady:
@Ruckus:
FWIW, they’re both Cluster B personality disorders, so it can be hard to tease out the difference between them. Referring to toxic narcissists like Trump as sociopaths is not entirely off the mark, because neither of them think of other people as being fully human.
IM non-expert O, narcissists pretty much all act and react the same way to the same stimuli, while sociopaths have more variety in how they react, so that’s what puts Trump in the “narcissist” camp for me.
A Ghost To Most
@danielx:
Facts don’t matter to fascists.
Aleta
A note: The van sticker image I saw had the same number of Pence photos as Tr. Fwiw, the 1st Pence photo was to me the most prominent one.
CBS description:
“Image taken at earlier date shows white van covered in decals of Pres. Trump, targets over the likenesses of Hillary Clinton, former Pres. Obama, filmmaker Michael Moore; it’s believed to be same van at scene of suspect’s arrest in Plantation, Fla.”
The news (and we) should identify him as a Pence supporter imo. Their steady omission of him is (by Republican design) keeping him clean; by the time Pence might be running or taking over, there won’t be time or focus to link him to Tr as fully as should be.
Right at this moment the press is gliding over Pence just as it did in ’16 for Tr.
Resources and public insistence are needed to do stories about Pence. The business guys in control haven’t changed (competing breaking news will still win out over longer research). But the reporters need support.
catclub
@Frankensteinbeck:
I bet if you tell them that privatizing it will make sending pipe bombs to Hillary Clinton legal, they will be even more in favor of that.
Ruckus
@Death Panel Truck:
Party of personal responsibility – which is for their enemies to be responsible. So they don’t have to be.
Added the part that the party of personal responsibility always leaves out, the silent part they don’t want anyone to hear, the unspoken refrain of the bigot.
Bobby Thomson
@Cheryl Rofer: always projection. This guy really was lying about indigenous ancestry for business reasons.
Bobby Thomson
@debbie: apparently he was trying to pass as Seminole.
A Ghost To Most
@chris:
Candace Owen is a shining example of christian fascism not being entirely a white people problem. That, and a WH full of young black Republicans in MAGAt hats screaming “CNN sucks!”.
Ruckus
@ruemara:
I have been trying to gather the words and you did it for me.
The rights of one are the rights of all. If you don’t have rights and equality then neither do I or anyone else.
@Sister Golden Bear:
Never give up. Don’t let people define you as something you are not. Most of us go through this life just trying to survive and along come people who have to declare who and what they are because otherwise we will get it wrong. And that is their right to do that to be the person they feel they need to be. Especially if that is not harming anyone else. And you are not doing that. You are trying to be you and that is all any of us should be, who we are. Keep on going, we will try to make it easier, because it shouldn’t be this difficult just to be yourself.
MaryRC
@japa21: Possibly but that doesn’t jibe with how quickly he’s being kicked to the curb by the MAGA crowd today. Maybe one deterrent that would-be copycats can take away with this is how instead of acclaiming you as one of their own, your fellow Trump-supporters will go straight to saying that you’re on Soros’ payroll.
Redshift
Fox blurred out the signs and stickers on the van in their reporting, and referred to them as “political messages.”
Just Some Fuckhead
Was slightly disappointed to find out Democrats weren’t really trying to blow themselves up to get themselves elected. Guess they’re still keeping that powder dry.
Sister Golden Bear
Given my talent for posting to dying threads I’m not sure anyone will see this, but I wanted to express my thanks to those who responded with support — both here and downstairs.
I’m literally in uncontrollable tears. (Which is happening multiple times a day now, but at least this time they’re tears of gratitude.)
Baud
@Sister Golden Bear: Well, I was going to express support too but I don’t want to make you cry.
Redshift
@A Ghost To Most:
Or a shining example of how you can make big bucks as a “minority conservative” as long as you’re willing to parrot the party line and don’t expect to have any input.
Corner Stone
“A needle in a haystack” ? The dude was screaming white hot light for 2+ years that he was nutso for cuckoo puffs Trumpie.
JGabriel
@MattF:
B-b-but wouldn’t a REAL Republican want to take personal responsibility and pay for his own lawyers?
Corner Stone
Just one Big Victim Baby.
chris
@Sister Golden Bear: Not dead, it’s just resting.
Hang in there, sanity will return.
Ella in New Mexico
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yes, yes a 1000 times yes. He is everything you describe and more.
It’s just that lately I’ve come to realize that while he gets all the attention for his egregiousness, these corrupt bastards that are working in the Departments and agencies that impact our lives every single day, up close and in person, are destroying the country. Too many Americans don’t have the attention span or time to long-read those stories, and Trump has the TV/Radio media by the nuggets. Too many people I know think that if we got rid of Trump everything would be ok. It won’t. I know a lot of millenial voters, for example, who get it that Trump is horrific, but have no clue why it’s so important they vote for their Senators and Congresspeople who can be a check on the Agencies and Departments and the Courts.
The judges Hatch and Grassley are approving right now during this recess are going to back up all these administrative and legal challenges the Administrations various departments are implementing. The lower level incompetents in HUD and Education and Interior and Agriculture are taking an axe to things we all have taken for granted for DECADES, but quietly, in secret, with no fanfare.
What Trump does with his leadership, his nasty, vicious character attacks, his ranting and railing against brown people, his blatant disregard for the Emoluments clause or for national security: yes, they’re really, really bad. But the evil the people who got to run our country because he is President and the dark money powers pretty much shoved in his face and said “Nominate Him/Her”–they are doing a shit-ton of damage. I’ve come to believe that this is a symbiotic relationship, but for the life of me I’m beginning to think Trump actually gets the lesser of the deal.
Redshift
@Sister Golden Bear: It’s completely reasonable to be “one note” when it’s about a direct threat to your existence. I’m with you, and I’m sorry we haven’t been in a thread together so I could express it before.
The one tiny saving grace in this horror is that things Trump hates seem to gain support among everyone but the MAGAts.
Ruviana
@dogwood: Trump does love him some President Duterte with that dictatory vibe. So there’s that
Uncle Ebeneezer
@ruemara: THIS.
For all of us Cisgender folks here, I stumbled on these great resources yesterday. Seems like a good time to share them:
Trans Ally Tool Kit- https://www.aclu-mo.org/en/toolkit-allies
Jay-Marie Hill – https://www.musicfreedomdreams.com/
https://transequality.org/issues/resources/supporting-the-transgender-people-in-your-life-a-guide-to-being-a-good-ally
https://www.glaad.org/transgender/allies
Steve in the ATL
@SiubhanDuinne: yeah, but not quite that bad. More “Le ville, c’est moi!” which is pretty reasonable.
Ella in New Mexico
Bobby Thomson:
Ok, so lemme get this straight: People thought he was claiming to be Native American, but he’s Filipino-Italian running a company with “Native American” in it’s name because, I’m guessing, he gets some kind of benefit-business or social- for pretending he’s Native American?
Are we having a “Pocahontas” Karma event here?
Jesus, even for Trump’s koo-koo MAGA bomber followers, there’s a Trump quote for everything they do, too.
Sister Golden Bear
@Ella in New Mexico:
Exactly. The attacks on trans people are coming at the agency level and can hurt people extremely hard.
Case in point, it’s only an administrative policy that allowed me to change the gender marker on my passport — and I’m fully expecting this administration to change it back to what was on my original birth certificate (or potentially even void it because I “lied” about my gender).
Needless to say having an “M” on my passport makes it physically risky to travel to many counties, means that there’s some countries that are simply no go zones for me because I could be imprisoned, or worse, for who I am.
Sister Golden Bear
@Uncle Ebeneezer: Thank you!
Brachiator
@Cheryl Rofer:
There is something pathetic about Native groups going out of their way to protect the integrity of tribal designations. And yeah, I am including their reaction to Elizabeth Warren’s revelations about her Native American ancestry.
But I guess I understand this sad inability to look at a larger picture.
This bomber is a natural born asshole. And sad proof that there is no ethnic immunity to the insanity of Trumpism.
JPL
@Redshift: Bless their cold dark hearts.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Ella in New Mexico:
One might say they (unsecured) phoning it it in.
That is funny, I did work with a Filipino once who was the biggest nativist douch I ever meet. A few times times we whites told this guy “who is this _we_ you talk about?” and all the Asians called him “banana” (yellow on the outside, white in the middle)
Uncle Ebeneezer
@Sister Golden Bear: Hang in there. Much virtual love/support to you. And thank you so much for somehow finding the energy to speak up and help raise awareness about the importance of keeping these issues at the center of discussion in liberal spaces.
MisterForkbeard
@Sister Golden Bear: I want express again how valuable you and your viewpoint is. You really have made me think about all this in a way I hadn’t before and your ongoing descriptions of your journey have been eye opening. Thank you for sharing that with us, and for helping to keep our eye on the ball.
Brachiator
@Redshift:
What a bunch of cowards. Liars. punks.
lgerard
Jacob Wohl. American Hero
JPL
@Sister Golden Bear: The idea that they can just change the gender on your passport is horrifying, but I can understand why you feel that way. The government is researching birth certificates to see who supposedly had home births, and whether or not they are legal citizens. Forty years ago I thought about a home birth for my son, and it never entered my mind that the government would question it.
We are in strange times, and we appreciate your views.
Melusine
@Sister Golden Bear: Don’t apologize. Your right to exist is at stake. God I hope there’s a Roland Emmerich- sized blue tsunami about to hit Nov 6th, or we’re fucked. And the most vulnerable populations are always the first to go. The folks on this blog care, and want to know what you’re facing, and will help in any way we can.
Ken Shabby
@Jay:
Right. And, good luck finding Seminole anywhere. Try Oklahoma and pack a lunch.
This is like, some kind of bizarre movie script involving Charlton Heston, Sal Mineo and Anthony Quinn with a nod to Mort Drucker.
“What about the Shawnee?”
Yeah, um – them, too.
Ken Shabby
@Jeffro:
Right? If we can fuck that new chicken so it works for us, Let’s.
Civics 101
1) Own human beings
2) I deserve this
3) profit
How to Gubmit.
“It’s like Jerry Manding only better and, no one gets caught in bathrooms for Wide Stance or Wrestling.”
Ken Shabby
@Melusine:
This. All day, each day.
Ken Shabby
http://www.pajiba.com/assets_c/2018/10/cesar-sayoc-thumb-700×467-203219.jpg
Dunno if this is stochastic but, def spastic.
cain
@jl:
It won’t really work because that van has gotten a lot of visibility and a lot of people have taken pictures of it for months including when those stickers were in fact old and peeling. Essentially the guy just replaced them with fresh stickers.
dnfree
@Cheryl Rofer: I think she did it on purpose. A discussion of political correctness and blackface with an all-white panel and going off-script? They were probably about to get rid of her, and this way she gets her money and gets to proclaim herself a martyr.
Sister Golden Bear
And because it seems like we can’t go a day without another government attack on trans people….
http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2018/10/25/state-treasurer-dale-folwell-cuts-off-benefits-to-transgender-north-carolinians/
“Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina, which administers the State Employee Health Plan, recognizes that. It has, since 2011, recognized dysphoria as a serious medical issue and covered treatments related to transition, including hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgery.
But Folwell and the plan’s trustees allowed that coverage to expire at the first opportunity — not renewing it for the 2018 plan year and making no move to reinstate it for 2019.”
It should be noted that denying trans-related healthcare is explicitly part of the Talibaptists’ five-point plan to eradicate trans people from public life.
#WontBeErased #StillFuckingHere
Sister Golden Bear
Because the comments editor is borked again…
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@catclub:
https://twitter.com/rebeccanagle/status/1055896406043574272?s=21
That tweet has a link to the Seminoles’ disavowal of Sayoc as a member of their tribe.
Uncle Cosmo
@Jeffro:
Friendship need not apply.
Hey, it covers Stalin’s CCCP 1941-45 & thus oughta be good for anything short of that – & damn near everything is short of that.
Ken Shabby
The enema of my enema is my Totes.
Ken Shabby
@a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio):
Who (fucking) Knew?
James J Hare
@JCJ: my wife is calling him that and she’s not plugged in to politics at all.
Steeplejack
@Ken Shabby:
Little Big Man, Thomas Berger. Still in print: available in paperback ($14.29) or on Kindle ($12.99).
Bill Arnold
@maryQ:
Yes, this. There are still topics I would argue about if I ever discussed them with her in person, but it would be an interesting 2-way conversation (one hopes :-), with thought involved. It takes a lot of personal strength to break free of tribal canon/markers and find one’s own formed/supported beliefs.
(There are plenty of such canon/markers on the left, even among mainstream Democrats, though more variegated than on the right.)
Bill Arnold
@Mandalay:
Read a half-dozen of her recent columns; she’s in a different place now IMO.
Bill Arnold
@catclub:
That Barry Ritholtz piece has footnotes (and links). :-)
Loving the new information-rich journalism at some venues (Bloomberg, The Guardian, many others.)
Bill Arnold
@Redshift:
Link? I don’t see any (visual) evidence and Fox is denying it.
Steeplejack
@Bill Arnold:
I heard this from a very reliable friend (working journalist) who was venting about it to me on the phone.
Probably someone will come up with some screen grabs.