Last week's Republican language police silent on actual obscenity. https://t.co/jLf7YY8JxA
— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 10, 2019
Rep. Steve King to the New York Times: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” https://t.co/wjSsq6jONO
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) January 10, 2019
.
Glass-half-full take: Iowa’s reached a point of political maturity where King coasting to an easy tenth win in 2020 is no longer a sure bet, so he’s updating his portfolio for the ‘How come white people can’t use the n-word?’ Wingnut Welfare Wurlitzer market. Hey, if the Democrats keep winning social media, Lou Dobbs is definitly gonna stroke out before then…
King’s side was mostly people who look like him. “You could look over there and think the Democratic Party is no country for white men,” he said.
— Patrick Healy (@patrickhealynyt) January 10, 2019
ICYMI: @SteveKingIA won a close re-election bid last year, but that was 2 months ago. A prominent Iowa Senate Republican announced today he'll seek King's seat in 2020. https://t.co/L6iJGKoCh6 #iapolitics #IA04
— Barbara Rodriguez (@bcrodriguez) January 10, 2019
I have been sufficiently convinced by multiple people who know a fair amount about IA politics that there is, in fact, a strong chance this primary challenge to Steve King WILL come to something. It's going to push him hard, at the very least.
— Esoteric Jeff (@EsotericCD) January 9, 2019
Unlike his Repub fellows, who will push him… very gently indeed:
.@GOPLeader McCarthy on Rep. Steve King (full statement below): "Steve’s language is reckless, wrong, and has no place in our society" pic.twitter.com/R2DEkD2qks
— Ashley Killough (@KilloughCNN) January 10, 2019
"…but it totally has a place in our party."
— Paul Telfer (@PaulTelfer) January 10, 2019
McCarthy gave King $5,000 last cycle for his re-election. https://t.co/FFbS2IQFNZ https://t.co/I4lp5EbtQg
— Adam Smith (@asmith83) January 11, 2019
…It should be noted, despite the @NRCC claiming it doesn't get involved in primaries, dues-paying GOP incumbents usually DO enjoy @NRCC protection. As it happens, @SteveKingIA isn't much of a dues-payer.
— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) January 11, 2019
Also, a Steve King dive from October from @JFKucinich @samstein @GideonResnick @desiderioDC and me, which includes how President Trump talks about King when he’s not around: https://t.co/vYK8H0gq9b pic.twitter.com/CURdDHHzNX
— Asawin Suebsaeng (@swin24) January 10, 2019
Well, if Pigmuck King is really a proxy for the Oval Office Squatter, that’s a pretty good inducement for the decent (tariff & shutdown-battered) voters of Iowa to dump his frogbelly-white arse already…
Mike in NC
If he ever gets the heave-ho, Steve King will get a cushy job at FOX News. Maybe co-host some crazy shit with Hannity.
Mnemosyne
I got a Black Friday special on three live musicals at the Pantages Theater, and the first one we saw was last night’s Wicked.
One interesting thing was that it has a theme in common with last year’s Black Panther: fucking Americans ruin everything.
debbie
What a gift it would be to watch his concession speech!
Aleta
They look at the government and all they see is pockets of money to be siphoned off. Maybe it’s not possible, but I also keep imagining them shifting funds around to cover up what’s been stolen by now.
debbie
@Aleta:
You just know he’s going to steal those funds.
NotMax
He ought (indeed, must) not keep sliding by scot free. Dem controlled House can vote to censure him. Maybe a grassroots phone calling operation is in order.
Just sayin’.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
That, by itself, isn’t a bad thing, Steve. It becomes a problem when you use “western” as a synonym for “white”.
Quinerly
@Aleta: ABC reporting that it will get Trump about 315 miles of border wall: “One U.S. official said the money could be used to build as much as 315 miles of border wall under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers.”
https://abcnews.go.com/beta-story-container/Politics/trump-heads-texas-part-public-relations-campaign-border/story?id=60272294
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Censure, they could expel him with Republican support*.
*Republicans will say they disagree with pigmuck, but will line up to support him.
NotMax
You just know someone (or more than one) at FOX has kicked around teaming up Carlson with a willowy Japanese-American woman and calling the program Nip and Tuck.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
One step at a time, each in its turn.
“These things must be done … delicately.”
– W. W. of the West.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Quinerly: I’m sure that’ll make the folk in Texas happy, no projects to repair damage and projects to prevent damage from future natural disasters and they’ll take some of their land for Wall.
NotMax
BTW, King attended college for three years and got student draft deferments each of those years. He didn’t graduate. Left college the same time the lottery for the draft came into use.
Coincidence?
justawriter
When Steve? How about when sent a couple million American boys on the scenic route to Berlin to blow a bunch of white supremacists to kingdom come?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@NotMax:
Speaking of Fox, I won’t link to it but this headline is vile:
“Illegals”. What a dehumanizing term.
Wag
@Aleta:
Finally. An Infrastructure Week that the White House can get behind and fully support
Steve Crickmore
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” Mnn… the purposeful exclusion of other races to the American dream goes far back to America’s beginnings. The original United States Naturalization Law of March 26, 1790 (1 Stat. 103) provided the first rules to be followed by the United States in the granting of national citizenship. This law limited naturalization to immigrants who were free White persons of good character. Therefore it was highly offensive to those of good character who happened to be Native Americans, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks and later Asians, although free blacks were allowed citizenship at the state level in certain states.
A Ghost To Most
@justawriter:
Exactly. America got rid of the Silver Shirts when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
/Bluto
?BillinGlendaleCA
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: It’s from Faux, no surprise there.
Mike in NC
Pretty goddamn sure that “White Supremacist” has never been a positive role model.
Jeffro
Someone should ask ol’ Steve to explain more, at great length, what he means by “white supremacist” and why he thinks the term should be proudly used. Keep talking, Steve. And news media, just keep those chyrons going with a big fat (R) next to his name.
JDM
Steven King says “You could look over there and think the Democratic Party is no country for white men.” 38% of the Democratic Party House of Representatives are white men. This can only look like none to blind people or bigots. They see the reality of what America has looked like for all its existence and they are frightened. They don’t like America; they don’t like America now and they don’t like what America always was.
NotMax
On topic, I guess.
Godfrey Cambridge on the KKK.
Also too, Vaughn Meader.
Matt McIrvin
@JDM: Impressively, that’s almost exactly the same as the percentage of white men and boys in the United States. (The Democratic caucus isn’t quite at gender parity yet, but I guess it’s slightly less white than the general population, so the white male fraction comes out the same.)
In those regards, at least, to a remarkable degree, the House Democrats really do look like America.
trollhattan
Welp, BBC has Wilmer above the fold with his “sorry, laydees!” apology. Guess we’re not done with Wilmer.
Another Scott
Twitter:
WDYHASM???
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.
(“Why do you hate America so much???”)
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I guess not, but what’s jarring is that it could have been a Breitbart headline, it’s that bad. I thought Fox was breaking with Trump?
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: groaaaaan
B.B.A.
@trollhattan: The fish rots from the head down.
rikyrah
Scott Dworkin (@funder) Tweeted:
BREAKING: Three Republican sources tell me even if Democrats did give Trump wall funding, he wouldn’t reopen the government. He apparently is thrilled about the shutdown. Likes how FBI agents & other federal workers have been furloughed. Truly thinks all federal workers are Dems.
https://twitter.com/funder/status/1083482231841214466?s=17
Bess
@NotMax: King got a 308 in the draft lottery. He stood no chance of being drafted.
(I pulled a 357. I unpacked my ‘going to Canada’ suitcase.)
Yarrow
Update on my question from the other night about whether or not a meeting held from 6:30-10:00 p.m. on a weeknight should have food, I can report that the answer is definitely yes. Meeting was last night, only “snacks” were provided. Marinated feta cheese cubes and potato chips were not really dinner and everyone was starving by 9:30 and got cranky. Maybe next time they’ll listen to me.
Aleta
1. If the administration takes some people’s land by eminent domain and for whatever reason the wall is not built — so the justification for the seizure disappears — is there a procedure for people to reclaim, buy back, their land? Or can the govt then do whatever it wants on those pieces even if no wall is built?
2. When a landowner is challenging the gov’t’s claim to eminent domain (or their price) in court, and the case is ongoing, are there laws that prevent the government from harassing the landowner to make them drop their case and sell?
3. If the government were to lose in court, can it continue to pressure or harass the winners to try to make them eventually agree to sell? For example, with construction/drilling/explosions on neighboring land they’ve taken?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@rikyrah:
He’s a complete madman. If he continues with this shutdown, this may be what finally undoes him.
Aleta
@rikyrah: Does he think he’s saving money each day it’s shut down, that he can then use for whatever he wants ?
Yarrow
@rikyrah: Well, if he really does want to make all federal workers Democrats, that’s one way to do it.
@Aleta: He thinks all the money is his. Or should be.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
good for kaczynski
B.B.A.
@Aleta: He called it a “strike” last week. (Which is silly – there’s no giant inflatable rat on Pennsylvania Ave and you can’t have a strike without a giant inflatable rat.)
Misterforkbeard
@rikyrah: I have a hard time believing this – it just seems TOO moustache-twirling-evil, even for Trump.
Mike in NC
@rikyrah: Fat Bastard and his fellow plutocrats have always dreamed of destroying government. They will burn it all down to pay no taxes.
Aleta
@trollhattan: They had to go public before he would even answer them, his former staffers. From what I read today, he still hadn’t met with them at the time of the story. Paranoid about allowing them to have credibility? But why?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Mike in NC:
But then who would defend them for foreign invasion?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Aleta: The answer to question 1 is the government will sell the land if it’s not used. We had a similar situation in Pasadena where they bought houses for a freeway extension that was never built and the houses were sold when the project was abandoned.
Yutsano
@trollhattan: @B.B.A.: Eh. Fuck Wilmer. I hope at this point he does enter the race. And gets completely shredded.
@rikyrah: Oh no he didn’t. He would eventually get overriden. Although as soon as he gets called for his bullshit he’ll fold. So right now this is all on fucking Yertle.
Aleta
@B.B.A.: If only he’d had his march down the Avenue of tanks and Strykers and horse drawn cannon and fighter jets. He never should have caved to the Pentagon. Weak! Damn those Generals.
Aleta
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Can the original owner buy it back at the same price they had to accept? In a just world they should get first refusal.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Aleta: They might or it might be an auction. The case in Pasadena there was a 30 year lag between the seizure and the abandonment of the freeway project.
JWR
@Aleta:
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I seem to remember that the displaced owners along that 710 corridor would have the right of first refusal, perhaps at a reduced amount? I fergit…
Ruckus
Just checked my mail and I have an invitation to listen to the fucking honorable Robert Wilkie, Secretary of the VA give a speech on “The State of VA.”
It’s bad enough that he’s a total asshole douchebag but shouldn’t it be The State of the VA? Fucking moron. And it’s a week from today at 1pm ET. So any vet that actually works probably isn’t going to be able to listen. Lucky bastards.
Cacti
On the eve of the Border Patrol missing its first scheduled paycheck due to the Trump/McConnell shutdown, I think back to how their union endorsed Dotard in 2016, and say…
Choke on it motherfuckers!
In the case of this particular agency, the pain is falling right where it belongs.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@JWR: I think most of the owners were gone after the 30 years, but those that had rented the houses from CalTrans did have the right of first refusal.
Ruckus
@Bess:
Got a 15. Had been 1A for 2 yrs. But had already packed my going to boot camp toothbrush. So at least once in my life I made at least a not horrible decision. Don’t have a clue how I managed that.
Quinerly
I missed this this morning. Really worth the read. Word salad is too kind. Palin was more coherent. I always associate “word salad” with her.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/01/10/politics/trump-lawn-press-conference/index.html
Bess
@Ruckus:
A bunch of us were sitting around the lab listening to the drawing. One guy pulled a 7. The next morning he was at the Navy recruitment office when they opened.
He ended up going to the same grad school as I did but got there about three years after I did. He spent the interim cruising around on a carrier.
Quinerly
Has anyone posted this wild read about the vet who started that gofundme site for the wall? (plus, one guy contributed $50,000 to it)
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/briannasacks/veteran-trump-wall-brian-kolfage-immigration-facebook
Ruckus
@Mike in NC:
I’ve known since raygun that the only concept of government that republicans wanted was none. Lots easier to steal everything if there is no one to stop you and you don’t have to pay taxes for things you don’t want. Which is anything positive for anyone besides them. And if they have all the money they won’t need the government to provide anything.
Bess
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Same thing happened in Eureka. Unfortunately the route went through a neighborhood with a lot of beautiful Victorian homes. Those houses were turned into rentals and by the time they were made available for private ownership many of the houses had been badly degraded and the neighborhood had turned undesirable. Some very beautiful structures were lost.
Ruckus
@Bess:
I spent it cruising around on a guided missile destroyer for 2 yrs and a few odds and ends things after that.
JWR
@?BillinGlendaleCA: That’s right. Thanks for the memory cleansing. ;-)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Quinerly: Ohhh, my.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Ruckus:
No, you just misunderstood. He’s actually going to be giving a speech on the state of Virginia ; )
Get it? I’ll see myself out.
But seriously, I feel so bad for veterans like yourself who are now getting fucked over by a system that isn’t getting the fixes it needs thanks to GOP assholes. I hope 2020 changes that.
Bess
We’ve always fucked over our service members going all the way back to the Revolutionary War.
We didn’t bother to build a memorial to our World War II service members until most of them had died.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Bess:
I assume you were talking to me. You’re sadly correct, though at least post-WW2 there was the GI Bill.
Since Vietnam, we overcompensate with ultimately meaningless troop worship rituals at sporting events that ultimately do nothing to help veterans and chant “Thank You For Your Service” at one when we meet them thanks to America’s very own stabbed-in-the-back myth. All it does is foster an unhealthy military worship culture on Americans that threatens liberal democracy; that “the troops” are the ones that have safeguarded and fought for our rights and freedoms instead of concerned civilians, such as the Freedom Riders or MLK.
This isn’t to say that the military or its individual service members haven’t done important work for the country.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: While we could treat our veterans better, we did get the Webb GI-Bill. It paid for the kid’s nursing school.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
My grandfather, who passed away this time last year, evidently never took advantage of the GI Bill. I’ll never understand why. He served in the Navy during the Korean War.
prostratedragon
@Ruckus:
Not since “must have Wall” week. If this lasts much longer, we who actually speak the idiom will be fighting tooth-and-nail to retain its articles.
Random thought: If Donald had any friends, wouldn’t they suggest that he not wear oversized white caps with ridiculously large bills?
prostratedragon
Gershon Kingsley, “Popcorn”
prostratedragon
And then there’s “Mother Popcorn” with James Brown and Maceo Parker.
Amir Khalid
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
“Thank you for your service” isn’t overcompensation; it’s a token like “thoughts and prayers”, mere lip service offered in lieu of real regard for the welfare of him who has borne the battle.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
First they came for the articles, and I said nothing…
;)
Raven
@Bess: That’s baloney. First of all “most WW2 vets hadn’t died in 2001 and second, the fact that one memorial wasn’t built in DC is no indication of how WW2 Vets were treated.
Bess
@Raven:
According the the Department of Veterans Affairs 16.5 million Americans served during WWII. By 2003 4.4 million were still alive. That’s close to 75% gone by the time the memorial was opened.
The Washington DC WWII Memorial opened in 2004.
If you wish to quibble about a large majority not meaning the same as most quibble away.
Bess
Adding a bit. The Vietnam Memorial opened in 1982. The Vietnam War had ended only seven years earlier in 1975. That was a bit quicker than the 58 years it took to honor the much larger sacrifice made during WWII.
raven
@Bess: So what? We Vietnam Vets funded and built the Wall because basically nothing was done for us. You are telling me that the shitty German looking WW2 memorial in DC was the only way WW2 vets were honored? Bullshit.
Bess
Let’s circle back and see where this started…
The fact that Vietnam Vets had to fund and build their own memorial kind of supports that, doesn’t it?
John S.
@Quinerly:
That’s a real dog bites man story there. Can’t really find much sympathy for the man (or in this case woman) who bought the rabid dog in the first place.
Matt McIrvin
@B.B.A.: There’s a tendency today for people to fail to distinguish strikes and lockouts.