Tying in to what Betty said, a lot of the visceral reaction is because kids like this always get away with it. And let’s be fair- I have no idea what this kid is actually like most of the time. He may very well be a good kid most of the time. But what I saw was a smirking douchebag acting like an ass because he knew he could get away with it, and so did everyone else.
It’s the look of Martin Shkreli when he knows he can fuck people out of millions on the drugs they need to live and no one can do anything about it.
It’s the look of, well, take your god damned pick of whatever rich white rapist kid who terrorizes some young woman and then gets probation because he’s a good kid from a good family.
It’s the look of the kid who gets caught with a kilo of cocaine and gets probation because he is on the honor roll at a good college while some black kid gets 10 years for selling a quarter lb of weed.
It’s the look of Paul Ryan lying through his teeth about social security and how Republicans are fiscal conservatives because he knows no one in the media will challenge him.
It’s the look of Brett Kavanaugh lying through his god damned teeth that he’s never blacked out.
And on and on and on. Money and whiteness will get you through damned near anything. And now young Richy McWhiterson is going to be the conservative hero du jour, being feted by the White House and soon to make the rounds on the wingnut welfare circuit, all because of what he stands for- a giant MAGA hat wearing middle finger to the majority of the country.
chopper
first thing i thought when i saw this douchey asshole was brett kavanaugh. this kid is brett kavanaugh all fucking over. so of course he’ll be on the supreme court someday.
Yarrow
That school is full of Brett Kavanaugh starter kits.
gwangung
Eddie Haskell to a T
Cheryl Rofer
Plato
Let’s not kid ourselves. Majority of the country is magats and the finger being shown is thumb.
Yarrow
Savannah Guthrie is getting ratioed in that tweet in the post below this one. Don’t think the decision to interview Sandmann is going to go well for her or NBC.
Patricia Kayden
It’s the look of Trump who so far has gotten away with treason and bigotry and has fallen all the way upwards into the most powerful position in the world despite lacking the demeanor, skills and qualifications to be President. There is no person of color who could have done the same. Look at how spotless President Obama had to be to get elected and be reelected.
pat
I’ve spent most of the afternoon reading a light mystery and trying to stay way from this depressing crap but when I come back somehow it seems even more depressing.
We are in the grip of an existential crisis in this country.
I have been reading Michelle Obama’s Becoming and I have got to the inauguration but continuing will just drive home the stark differences between good people and bad. And the bad are in charge and it seems that with the makeup of the Senate (co-equal branch my foot) they are not going to let loose for a long time.
WASF
Oh, and they are beginning to say that yeah, our objective is to reduce the government to the size where it can be drowned in the bathtub.
They are getting close….
PaulWartenberg
am willing to bet this kid will flame out on the wingnut celeb circuit and do something violent to some poor woman and then disappear from the Fox Not-News Green Room invites until he runs for Congress. /headdesk
Plato
@Patricia Kayden:
has fallen all the way upwards.
Nicely done.
slag
This. A million times this.
Too many people are willing to sympathize with these douchebags just because they are card-carrying members of the landed gentry. In these cases, I truly wish familiarity bred more disgust than affinity for a change.
PJ
And with all of these white guys, everyone knows that their explanation for what happened, or their denial that it happened at all, is a pack of lies, including their supporters. But as long as the explanation or denial is plausible, and they don’t crack and admit the truth, they get respect from their supporters and, more importantly, the media. “It was all exaggerated. There was just a misunderstanding.” We can see and hear what they’ve done and what they’re doing, but as long as they keep up the lies, most of the media will back them, because they’re not interested in the truth, they’re interested in the game.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
zhena gogolia
@Plato:
What makes you think MAGAts are the majority?
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
I’m not a violent woman, but I just want to smack Douchey McSmirkface into the next galaxy.
MomSense
Expel the motherfucker.
Barbara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s how you determine who gets the benefit of the doubt when something untoward happens. Do you look for exculpatory explanations or the opposite? Brett Kavanagh is exhibit A for good reason.
debbie
Rikyrah posted this tweet this morning:
The short video she included shows they were engaged in harassing others and that all this angel schoolboy crap is bullshit.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Plato:
That’s clearly not true, as many polls have shown
trollhattan
@Plato:
The popular vote showed they’re 1. not a majority (thank bog) and 2. must now cheat to win.
But, they most certainly are running the show to the peril of us all.
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
Doubt Trump’s approval rating would be at 40.0% if they were in the majority. //
joel hanes
@PJ:
their explanation for what happened, or their denial that it happened
Many of them are genuinely blind to their own privilege, the opposite of “woke”.
They don’t need to lie.
Their perception of being wronged when that privilege is threatened is genuine, but uninformed, like a spoiled adolescent who has been told that he or she must henceforth do their fair share of household chores.
dr. bloor
@Yarrow: The “yes” or “no” decision is irrelevant. The systemic problem for our corporate mediot overlords is that giving him a spotlight is something they’d even think of doing in the first place.
JaySinWA
@MomSense: But he is an excellent representative of the school’s values.
trollhattan
@MomSense:
I get the sense that while the school may issue a public “tisk-tisk” they’re handing out “attaboys” behind the curtains. Unless the diocese acts they’re in the clear.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Yarrow:
That’s hilarious. There’s something about Guthrie I don’t like that I’ve never been able to put my finger on. I suppose she seems very superficial.
m.j.
For the last couple of days I’ve been hearing Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition saying, “It’s complicated.” I YELL at my radio telling this idiot that they were wearing uniforms. These, oh, so, innocent children were sending a very loud message without speaking a word. I YELL again, “Why aren’t you listening?”
Do MAGA hats and shirts come in brown?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@debbie: and a good chunk of that 40% would be perfectly content if trump just went away and President Pence could appoint those judges and protect those tax cuts. I think his real base is somewhere between 27 and 32.
dr. bloor
@m.j.: Steve Inskeep thinks putting his velcro sneakers on is complicated. Do yourself a favor and tune into something more intellectually challenging than Morning Edition, like your local sports talk radio guys.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
also
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
That magical 27 again! If only I could play it in the next Powerball!
trollhattan
Something I’ve pondered: the kids are wearing political campaign clothing during a school-sanctioned, hell, mandatory public event. How is that not endorsing the president and announced 2020 presidential candidate? Does not the church and its various ventures need to avoid political endorsements to keep their tax-exempt status?
JaySinWA
@trollhattan: I doubt there will be any slap on the wrist. This has all the signs of either a clamp down on public statements from the school or a full throated apology for their earlier statements. They may even grant him an award.
laura
The freedom from consequences has burdened young Douchelords in this Country for far too long. Cant we all just leave this young scholar alone so that he can get on with the business of treating his fellow Americans like the help? //
Seriously, how do you fix this?
In my family there would be swift punishment, but worse was hearing from mom and dad how we’d disappointed them, how we knew better and how ashamed they were of us. Douchelord has the support of his family, community, the press, the Administration-all those fuckers.
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
You crack me up.
TaMara (HFG)
@laura: The oldest of my younger brothers was at a party that got raided by the cops. They called the parents. My mom showed up with a broom (you know the kind – the old fashioned straw kind) and in front of the cops, kept hitting my brother with it. With the soft bristle end, but still. The police had to tell her it was not okay, but I think they were cheering a little on the inside.
Long story short – he is an amazing father, husband, teacher, now – though a republican, but I can’t have everything.
Jay
There was a start of a major shift after GamerGate.
A lot of people became a lot more woke, Companies got more woke, and it’s continuing.
Fergusson, Charlottown, Portland,
It started with Nazi’s losing their websites, jobs, families,
Now BBQ Beckies,
America is becoming less tolerant of intolerance.
It’s a good thing.
Of course, there’s gonna be pushback, from “good people on both sides” to the current media gaslighting,
But it isn’t working and those “picking the wrong side” arn’t going to be allowed to walk it back.
The internet remembers.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Okay, this is like the third time today I’ve seen this expression I’ve never come across before, and I haven’t the foggiest what it means.
#HelpAnOldPersonOutHere
Rob_in_Hawaii
I’m a high school teacher who has one rule in my classroom: Don’t be an asshole. (All rules for life start with this simple idea — it’s rule number one.) I showed a class today a few videos about the MAGA boys harassing the Omaha elder. “What’s happening?” I asked. “Those boys are violating rule#1!,” they shouted. At least there’s hope for the future!
khead
@SiubhanDuinne:
A lot more comments (usually bad) than likes on the tweet.
JaySinWA
@trollhattan: Did you see the Trump 2020 flag at a high school basketball game “explained” as USA theme night? OTOH in reading the article it appears that the offending school has withdrawn from other events, so perhaps there is some hope.
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
“Ratioing (yes, it’s really a word) is common enough on Twitter that it has its own hashtag: #ratioed (also really a word). It refers to the negative response that a tweet gets. The Ratio, it is golden. Ratio obviously predates Twitter.”
Yarrow
@SiubhanDuinne:
Link.
JaySinWA
@SiubhanDuinne: As a fellow old person, I understand it is a twitter term that means that comments to a tweet are in far greater number than likes or retweets of the tweet. Usually indicating the tweeter is getting schooled or scolded.
ETA only third in line. I thought this thread was dieing.
rikyrah
You said yourself that they were Brett Kavanaugh Starter Kits, Cole.
You were correct.
Yarrow
@Yarrow: For example, as of the time I’m posting this, Savannah Guthrie’s tweet has 6.9K likes but 29K comments. She’s being ratioed all to hell. Her “I smelled a turd” face in the attached photo kind of sums it up.
zhena gogolia
@Cheryl Rofer:
I see from the thread that “Buzzfeed” is now a MAGAt shibboleth for everything that’s bad. It seems to have replaced CNN as the vrag naroda.
Jay
BTW, this happened,
“The deal contains provisions that free [Deripaska] from hundreds of millions of dollars in debt while leaving him and his allies with majority ownership of his most important company, the document shows. […]
Linking to Wonkette, not to the FTFNYT,
wonkette.com/trump-administrations-big-wet-sanctions-kiss-for-oleg-deripaska-bigger-wetter-than-prev…
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne:
No idea either, so here’s a sports nerd’s explanation. Lengthy, yet amusing.
zhena gogolia
The fine upstanding PR man working for the Covington kid’s family is a paid commenter for CNN. Here’s a fine example of his work:
twitter.com/CNNTonight/status/1067278015682486273
Matt
Amazing Twitter thread – the school sounds like exactly what you’d expect:
twitter.com/christapeterso/status/1086787337860743169
Literal nest of goddamn vipers, that lot.
Procopius
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: What is “ratioed?”
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
He actually reminds me of “Sez Who?” Michael Cohen in that clip.
Chyron HR
@Procopius:
When vastly more people respond to a tweet (implied that the response is negative) than “like” it (an expression of approval).
Jay
@zhena gogolia:
Yup,
lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/01/not-good-morning-cnn
SiubhanDuinne
@khead:
Thank you!
columbusqueen
Preach it, Cole. I grew up with racist dickweeds like these–time has not softened the memories. Most of them are now adult racists, including my ex boyfriend, the scum.
Mr Stagger Lee
Where are these supposed AA kids who were being “harrassed” that the little entitled shits were defending?
Omnes Omnibus
@columbusqueen: Bexley or UA?
Jay
@Mr Stagger Lee:
There wern’t any, they are just busy gaslighting every one, trying to throw up a big enough pile of bullshit to hide behind.
columbusqueen
@Omnes Omnibus: New Albany, when it was still rural, undeveloped, & full of racist Repubs. I was lucky enough to be part of one of the few solidly Dem families in the township.
PS Since when is Bexley racist? I haven’t seen a ton of it there.
rsginsf
What a godsend for trump. Finally, his answer to the Parkland kids, falling right into his lap. He’s gonna milk ’em for all they’re worth–apparently, much to their delight.
Jay
@rsginsf:
It’s not gonna help Needy Admin one little bit.
CNN’s getting ratioed over their attempts to gaslight America.
Nicole
The gaslighting the media is doing about this is so freaking weird, and it’s scaring me because it feels so utterly orchestrated. It’s like we are all Kevin McCarthy, screaming into traffic as we run from towns full of pundits who initially were right there with us, calling out these jackasses but now, two days later, the same pundits are earnestly explaining that we just need to sit down and watch the video in its entirety and then WE’LL UNDERSTAND.
And I hate that once again, rich white guys get away with being horrible.
Elizabelle
@Nicole: Yes. It’s the gaslighting. We cannot let them get away with it.
Mnemosyne had such a perceptive comment. It’s to protect the adults. Cuz kids will be kids. But there is more to the story here.
Raoul Paste
Nobody could have summarized it better than this BJ post.
Kudos, John Cole.
Jay
@Nicole:
They are getting called out hard on the gaslighting.
The Covington KKKids Campaign isn’t working and by attempting to gaslight, media nyms are being taken, it’s not just the kids careers that are going in the trash.
zhena gogolia
@Nicole:
Your Kevin McCarthy analogy is spot on.
JWR
@Jay:
God, I so hope you’re right. This tweet from the LG&M post you referenced above is how I feel right now:
I would only add: this is really fucking bad.
Nicole
@Jay:
While I am getting great pleasure from reading the comments posted on the NBC tweet about the interview- my personal favorite: “Megan Kelly: ‘I was the most tone deaf host at NBC.’ Samantha Guthrie: ‘Hold my beer.'”- none of the parties involved will suffer any kind of lasting consequence. NBC won’t fire anyone, the kids will stay in school and will go to the colleges they feel they are entitled to because the schools will be scared of lawsuits, and the media will collectively shrug the next time something like this happens because “we don’t want to repeat what happened to Coventry!”
I don’t know what to fucking do anymore. Boycott advertisers? Will that do jack diddly? It’s such an overwhelming thing, especially when bots get involved, because white folk are eager to believe we’re not really as bad as we are.
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
Yep. The chaperones don’t want to have to admit that they failed at their ONE JOB and actually egged the kids on, so they’re hiding behind the kids and hoping they can play the “How Dare You Publicly Criticize A (White) Child!” card.
I think the speed of the media pushback is actually working against them. People are wondering who the hell this kid’s family is that they immediately get a slot on CNN to defend themselves.
Nicole
@Elizabelle:
Good point, in that I don’t think a single adult who was on the trip has been identified.
zhena gogolia
@Nicole:
A certain Val Andreev.
Fair Economist
@Jay:
Kovington Kids Kampaign?
The Pale Scot
@JaySinWA: If only the
Tzar/<Pope knewNicole
@zhena gogolia:
Thanks. I just googled and read a few of the articles. Exactly the sort of adult I’d expect to be chaperoning these kids. Barf.
JWR
Jared Holt from Right Wing Watch is gonna be talking about the KKKovington KKKlansmen on KPFK in a few minutes. (Link)
hilts
CNN Commentator Scott Jennings Reportedly Operates the PR Firm Hired By Covington Student Nick Sandmann
h/t mediaite.com/uncategorized/cnn-commentator-scott-jennings-reportedly-operates-the-pr-firm-hired-by-c…
Plato
Salty Sam
@Jay:
Thanks for the reminder. It’s too easy to get bogged down in the negativity.
Elizabelle
@hilts: Yup.
Surprise, surprise, surprise. Worked with Karl Rove in the political shop of the GW Bush White House. Longtime McConnell advisor and campaign aide. Longtime.
Jay
@Nicole:
NBC and CNN won’t take action, but channels are being changed as we speak and the internet is forever. The morons will get bagged online forever.
Talked to the VP of HRvat my old Fortune 100 yesterday. She noted that it’s both harder and easier these days. Resume’s are digital and they can use tags, to immediately round file resumes, off the tags.
For example, having Michigan State Atheletics as an employment line,
Immediate round file. It’s not worth the time and effort to even bother considering anyone from a Program known for tolerating and covering up rape.
It’s an easy way to weed out potential abusers and protect the Corporation.
Covington Catholic High School has beed added to the list.
Plato
Nicole
@Jay:
I very, very, very much hope you’re right about this, but these are rich kids. They never suffer any consequences, in my experience. Even in the digital age, because there’s always a friend of mom or dad to give them a leg up (see: hiring PR firm run by a guy who is a commentator at CNN to change the media take).
But I mean it, I want you to be right and me to be wrong. I really do.
Chief Oshkosh
And Megan McArglebargle has weighed in over at the WaPo. Three guesses as to where she stands on Sandydick, and no credit for getting it right the first time.
Aleta
The conservative PR firm and commenters aren’t just defending the boys, they’re defending the hats. It’s serious, since the hats were intentionally designed as the symbol of Trump, and also to raise money. And to encourage people to bond, and (at time of purchase them) to get people’s names and emails on fundraising/call lists.
God forbid the hat and Trump supporters should become associated with bullying racist mobs that are shown to be wrong. (Those campaign rallies were probably another influence on these kids’ automatic reflexes. In fact, I think I recall adult versions of Sandermann at the rallies; doing the block and stare at dissenters.)
Conservative PR has to quick send their own mob out into the media to keep team spirit high before 2020.
Omnes Omnibus
@columbusqueen: I was just thinking of posh ‘burbs.
Jay
@Nicole:
Even 5 years ago, it would be different, but since 2016, day by day, week by week, a great sorting has been taking place, and it’s not going to stop.
This PR Gaslighting campaign is happening because the “Mom” doxxed herself, exposed her values, and she is now desperately fighting back to keep her job, position and status.
It’s all about the Adults.
Raoul
If that email from his mother to a reporter is legit, he has a horrid, entitled, angry and vituperative mom. So I’m guessing he’s kinda f’ked up from that sort of parenting. But, then, other kids have terrible moms and turn out OK. The MAGAing weighs against him on that redemptive thing IMO.
Nicole
@Aleta:
So it’s on us to call them Klan caps and not let up, no matter how many times the media tries to say, “But not all people wearing them are racist!” We answer with, “Actually, they are.” No parsing, no clarifying.
Aleta
@Nicole: agree. absolutely.
Aleta
The maga PR machine is attacking
-neoconservatives, for thinking they’re better than the boys from Kentucky
-people who want gun safety in schools (for ‘sending death threats’ to maga-hat students)
-the Covington school, for criticizing kids (if punished, machine says parents should withdraw students)
-conservatives for betraying ‘pro-life Christian teenagers’ to obey ‘leftist Lynch mob’
-Catholic clergy who said the kids behaved badly
on and on
strategery
I hate all viral videos. I suspect most of these kids are entitled jerks, but I just can’t summon up the outrage machine against them when their parents, chaperons, and the black Israelites are all more worthy of criticism. But those bad influences don’t make for “good” video. This should be a story at Covington and maybe Cincy; that it is a national story says nothing good about the media, by which I don’t just mean big money broadcast. Mobocracy is upon us.
WaterGirl
testing.