The FBI did a great job in recently taking down a white supremacist, anti-Semitic, MAGA-Dope, US Coast Guard Lieutenant into custody before he could actually act on his plans to kill a large number of Democratic elected officials, news reporters and commentators who are all regularly attacked by the President and his surrogates, and, of course, George Soros. Unfortunately other MAGA-Dopers within the President’s orbit have decided to ramp up either visual imagery targeting Democratic elected officials or talk of civil war.
First up is the NRA, which decided that this was a good way to frame an article about the new Democratic House majority’s pursuit of gun safety and control legislation. From the latest issue of the NRA’s American Rifleman.
Someone sent me this image of the latest copy of NRA's magazine, featuring a story with the words "Target Practice" next to a photo of Nancy Pelosi with Gabby Giffords. Maybe don't do this @NRA. pic.twitter.com/u9fQhxwEyk
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) February 22, 2019
Here’s the picture on the right for a better look. There’s Speaker Pelosi and former Congresswoman and attempted assassination survivor Gabbi Giffords right next to the headline “Target Practice”.
I get that the NRA doesn’t want to see any new firearms legislation pass Congress that isn’t in line with their, their members, and their business donors views of the 2nd Amendment. That part is fine. The actual messaging that is being conveyed here is not. Either the editors at the NRA’s The American Rifleman are so deeply entrenched within 2nd Amendment absolutism that they can’t see why this might be perceived as problematic or they understand it and approved it any way. Either way, it further sets the conditions for someone like Chris Hasson or Caesar Sayoc to take matters into their own hands and go on a domestic terrorist spree against their perceived enemies.
Next up is former US Attorney, Fox News legal analyst and political commenter, and one time potential personal attorney for the President in regard to the Special Counsel’s investigation Joe DiGenova. DiGenova decided to take his paranoia out for a walk this week, both on Fox News and then on Seb Gorka’s radio show.
Hey Joe: let me know when the news media are all appointed to local, state, and/or Federal judgeships, elected or appointed as District or States Attorneys or US Attorneys or hired as prosecutors in their offices. Until then, the news media, regardless of its members ideological views, is not in control of the US criminal justice system!
And that brings us to the Blue Footed Boobie of Budapest, daily carrier of two full size service weapons in two different calibers from two different manufacturers with two different manuals of arms, parallel parking scofflaw, McLovin cosplay aficionado, and NAZI appreciation society legacy inductee member Sebastien “Seb” Gorka. Gorka, who once tried to badger me into paying to take his course on Information Operations and Information Warfare by stating: “So I can presume you do not work IO or IW?”, decided that he’d host DiGenova, as well as four other MAGA-Dopes who wouldn’t know a civil war if it walked up and bit them on his radio show to discuss the matter.
This is so fucking dangerous. pic.twitter.com/HKSQOkygjT
— Tamara Cofman Wittes (@tcwittes) February 22, 2019
And before anyone asks, I did not actually listen to that equine and canine extravaganza. I also agree with Tamara Cofman Wittes that it is dangerous. And it is dangerous for the same reason that I wrote about when that other exemplar of mendacious mediocrity Megan McArdle took this idiocy out for a walk as part of her performance art celebration of Memorial Day 2018: (author’s note, the excerpt below has been edited today to add DiGenova and Gorka to McArdle, as well as a couple of other small revisions and additions so it makes sense in the context of today’s post)
Specifically that the US has never actually fought a civil war. A civil war refers to a form of low intensity warfare – as in less than interstate war* -where the supporters of two or more claimants to power fight for control of the state. The claimants may have either de jure (legal) or de facto (extant) claims to control the state. This is not what happened in the US in the 1860s. Rather, what we call the US Civil War was actually a rebellion in support of secession from the state in the attempt to set up a new one. There was no dispute as to the legitimacy of the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency. What was in dispute is that the southern states that would become the Confederacy refused to accept the election’s outcome and sought to break away and form their own nation-state.
Had supporters of Secretary Clinton, including Democratic elected and appointed officials at all levels of government, refused to accept the President’s election as legitimate and contested his inauguration, including violently, once they learned that the US intelligence community had determined that the Russians had interfered in the US election with the specific objective of electing the President, then we’d be talking about a civil war. That did not happen despite some of the comments posted here over the past 18 months or so…
What McArdle, as well as DiGenova and Gorka doesn’t understand, because they know nothing about war – theoretically, conceptually, and/or experientially – is that there has been a low level insurgency in the US going back decades. We sometimes call this the culture war. Sometimes it’s referred to as the Southern Strategy, but it involves one of the two major political parties and its supporting movements, including religious movements, in the US refusing to accept the legitimacy of any other ones. It includes frequent use of dehumanizing language and threats of violence ranging from legislatively and regulatorily directing the power of the state, utilizing lawfare, and actually threatening and sometimes undertaking violence against their opponents or the objects of their dehumanization campaigns when the insurgents don’t get their way. And these people – elected, appointed, voters, supporters, pundits, etc – are McArdle’s, as well as DiGenova’s and Gorka’s fellow travelers! They are part of the larger political, ideological, dogmatic religious, and sub-cultural groups and movements that McArdle, DiGenova, and Gorka have been marinating in since she was an undergraduate.
They also make the mistake that they are the only ones that get to define patriotism and to actually care about the US and its ideals. They have convinced themselves that they are the only ones who can properly interpret the Constitution when in fact they are the poorest of linguistic and political historians of the late 18th Century, which leads to constantly misunderstanding and misapplying the Constitution. And they have deluded themselves into thinking that because their opponents believe in civility that their opponents are also unwilling to actually defend themselves in the political, ideological, social, religious, economic, and/or legal arenas. And those delusions include the mistaken belief that they don’t have the means to do so.
Right now the US is experiencing one of its periodic bouts of growing pains. As was the case in the 1780s and 1790s, the 1830s and 1840s, the 1860s, the late 1870s through the 1890s, during WW I, in the mid to late 1930s, and in the middle 1960s through the early 1970s, a period of imperfect progress is being met with a backlash against it. It is ugly. It is unpleasant. It is damaging. People who do not deserve to be hurt are being hurt. The real question that McArdle, DiGenova, Gorka, and those promoting this civil war garbage should have asked, yet are incapable of doing so because they are as the one who does not know how to ask, is what does it really mean to form a more perfect Union? And what are the best ways to go about perfecting the Union? Those are the real questions of American civic life. Not whether Democrats in urban areas know how to use guns. Or whether a second civil war is underway and the victims are the President, his supporters, and Republicans and conservatives in general.
And in case McArdle, DiGenova, Gorka, and/or any of their followers sees their names in the post title on Cole’s twitter feed and decides to pop over and ask who am I to question their expertise in regard to war, here’s my abbreviated professional bio:
Adam L. Silverman is a consulting national security subject matter expert. He delivered the keynote address at the US Army Psychological Operations Regiment’s 100th anniversary regimental dinner in November 2018. In 2016 he assisted XVIII Airborne Corps in their strategic assessment of the Iraqi and Syrian Operating Environment for their deployment as the command element of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. In 2015 he served as a Senior Fellow at SOCOM’s Center for Special Operations Studies and Research. Prior to that he served as a Subject Matter Expert with the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Security Dialogue and US Army Europe from June through August 2014. From July 2010 through June 2014, he was the Cultural Advisor and Professor of National Security and Strategy at the US Army War College. In June 2014 he was awarded the Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by MG Anthony A. Cucolo, III.
Dr. Silverman has advised and provided support to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Security Dialogue, US Central Command, US European Command, US Special Operations Command, US Army Europe, the US Army Institute for NCO Professional Development, the US Army Sergeants Major Academy, US Army Special Operations Command, US Army Central, the US Army’s Office of the Provost Marshal General and US Army Corrections Command, I Corps, III Corps, XVIII Airborne Corps, 1st Armored Division, the 101st Airborne Division, the Department of State’s Near East and South Asia Desk, and JIEDDO’s Science Directorate. From NOV 2013 to AUG 2014 he served as the Cultural Advisor to the Commanding General of US Army Europe on temporary assignment. From OCT 2012 to NOV 2013 Dr. Silverman served as the Cultural Advisor to the Civil Affairs Branch Chief on temporary assignment. During 2012 Dr. Silverman served as the Cultural Advisor to the Commanding General of III Corps on temporary assignment from JAN through AUG. In 2010 he was the external subject matter expert on temporary assigned control to US Army Civil Affairs Branch’s Capability Based Assessment and then through JUN 2011 to the US Special Operations Command’s Joint Civil Information Management Test Development program. He previously served as the Cultural Advisor to the Commander, 2nd Brigade Combat Team/1st Armored Division from OCT 2007 through OCT 2008 and was deployed with the brigade in Iraq in 2008. Upon returning from Iraq he served as a social science advisor in US Army Training and Doctrine Command’s G2 (2009). He routinely provides operational support to a number of US Army, DOD, and other US Government elements. Dr. Silverman holds a doctorate in political science and criminology from the University of Florida, as well as masters’ degrees in comparative religion and international security.
* An interstate war involves two or more sovereign states whose militaries are fighting in uniform under their states’ flags with a minimum of a thousand battlefield deaths. Interstate wars will often include types of low intensity warfare, such as rebellions, revolutions, insurgencies, and terror campaigns on one or more sides of the conflict.
These chuckleheads need to get a grip. And they need to tone it down. They need to do so because they have no actual idea of what they’re talking about. And they need to tone it down because what they’re talking about, promoting on their TV and radio shows and appearances, and, as in the case of the NRA, in their magazines, all set the conditions for stochastic terrorism perpetrated by people like Hanson and Sayoc and Bowers who get the messages being transmitted, messages that justify taking matters into their own hands, and then go out and either try to or actually kill people.
* Finally, in case some lunkhead shows up in the comments and says “what about James Hodgkinson who shot up the Republicans softball practice?”, that wasn’t acceptable either. And it also isn’t comparable unless you can show me a Democratic elected or appointed official, or major center left to left of center, liberal to progressive organization, elite, and/or notable who has been calling for Democrats, center left to left of center and liberal to progressive Americans to go out and start targeting Republican elected and appointed officials, as well as prominent conservatives as part of some imaginary civil war.
debbie
First thing this morning, I saw that tweet. What a lousy way to start the day. I was hoping she would have tweeted a response by now, but no.
Ben Cisco
Outstanding! Well done!
geg6
Bravo, sir, bravo!
Mary G
Righteous rant, Adam. And the most attention the allegedly liberal media was not to the murderous Coastie, with his massive stockpile of weapons, which FTFNYT put on page 18. No it was OMG Amy Klobuchar ate a salad with a comb and DiFi was mean to children. It’s so frustrating.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
How is this not inciting sedition? Unless there’s evidence that the Dems in office cheated to get there, they are legitimate leaders of the country. All the cheating is on their side and when they still can’t win they resort to this crap.
The bottom line is that the Republican party is awfully close to being more committed to power than to democracy. If they can’t win elections lawfully, they start casting around for other ways to maintain power. We have to put a stop to it or we won’t be a democratic republic for much longer.
Waldo
The NRA knows what it’s doing with these types of threats. That’s not to say it’s being especially smart about it. Nancy won’t be intimidated, but she won’t let it slide either.
Judge Crater
DiGenova was at one time a fairly respected attorney in DC. He served as U.S. attorney for the District.
Now, he and his equally crazy wife, Victoria Toensing, are fruitcakes on the order of Alex Jones. He’s presumably got a basement full of assault rifles in his suburban Maryland home, waiting for the Helter Skelter of Trump’s impeachment to kick off civil war and present him with the opportunity to mow down his liberal neighbors.
MattF
I think Gorka is bidding for a permanent seat in the national clown car. But… there’s so much competition. One needs to go back every now and then, cast a glance at the original Trumpian Crew, and recall how bizarre it was: Bannon, Omarosa, Gorka, Lewandowski, Manafort, Stone, the miscellaneous Trump in-laws and out-laws. And so many others. Really quite amazing.
Citizen Alan
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
In light of the history of the Republican Party since 1969 if not earlier, I find this sentence to be almost painfully naive.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Better than Amy Klobuchar fed children to Diane Feinstein with a comb.//
Adam L Silverman
@Ben Cisco: Thanks.
Adam L Silverman
@geg6: Thank you.
How’s your husband doing?
Adam L Silverman
I’m off to walk the four foots!
MomSense
?????????
mvr
That last point seems very important – the one with the “*”.
Pogonip
Time to start figuring out what to do w/places like Austin TX in preparation for an amicable divorce.
japa21
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Close? They haven’t cared about democracy, even of the representative kind, since the 60’s at least.
John Revolta
Whaaaat? Seems perfectly innocent to me. I mean they left out the crosshairs* and everything.
*Pardon me- surveyors’ marks
rikyrah
Bernie Sanders isn’t a Democrat, and that’s irking SC Democrats in his run for president
https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/bernie-sanders-isn-t-a-democrat-and-that-s-irking/article_bc857b6a-3459-11e9-abf7-efa24d455cbc.html
sukabi
I’d posit that the chuckleheads know very well that their rhetoric / imagery is inciteful and that’s their intent. They actually want their fanatics to shoot up a place or two in hopes that antifa or another group will retaliate. What better way to justify a national crackdown and revocation of a few of our constitutional guarantees “until order is restored”.
rikyrah
@Waldo:
R-I-C-O those muthaphuckas ??
dimmsdale
Thanks for the piece, Adam, and also for the Task & Purpose takedown of General Gorka’s EDC inventory, which is hilarious.
I have been hearing among lefty pals lately some concern about armed militia (Oath Keepers, various Nazi spin-off groups and other right wing loonies) resorting to armed force to try to overthrow….something. In response, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what sort of social breakdown would have to occur for these groups to a) amount to a unified, concentrated force that would b) seriously threaten or even overcome the massed military (local National Guard, LEO, whatever) that would inevitably respond to a) and b).
Maybe I lack imagination, but at this point I can’t see a right-wing militia uprising happening in other than isolated instances, somewhat like the Malheur Wildlife Refuge takeover but bloodier. I wish there were a way to regulate violence-advocating hate speech, or at least a way to make clowns like DiGenova and Gorka pay some sort of price for their escalating “Let’s you & him shoot each other” rhetoric, without also trampling on the First Amendment. I also wish there were a way to disincentivize media from making glorified stars out of these scumbags, but in addition to the First Amendment, you got the Holy American Profit Motive which must never, ever be countermanded.
rikyrah
dengre (@denngree) Tweeted:
Bernie and the his ilk have always been anti-Obama. They hate that he got results without drama. For them, only the game matters–never the results. Obama rejected the theatrics for real results for real people. They hate that approach down to the core
of their souls.
https://t.co/pAMhljnRda https://twitter.com/denngree/status/1099202680579338240?s=17
Adam L Silverman
@dimmsdale:
You deal with this by calling them out as the buffoons they are.
And you deal with is by hammering the news media relentlessly, and going to work on the paying sponsors, until their behavior changes.
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Not sure what Jentleson’s play is here. He knows better than to do this.
Jay
@sukabi:
They’ve been trying to incite a Race War/Civil War/Religious War for decades now. They havn’t had much luck.
They key reason they havn’t had much sucess, is because they are Bubble Boys. They live in a tiny bubble of Reichwing media and as a result, they have no idea who “we” are, nor are their “followers” portrayed accurately either. Basically they inhabit tiny simplistic fantasy bubbles, which the real world does not conform to.
Kay
I don;t know if this sort of thing can be measured, but for me the difference is this- they won. They have their president in the White House.
The far Right during Clinton and then Obama were centered around those specific presidents. The screeching died down a little during Bush II, because they had their man in the White House.
Now it’s just constant. It doesn’t matter if they win or lose elections. They’re insanely angry that any Democrat anywhere holds office. It’s actually worse since they got Trump. They’re whinier, angrier and more extreme.
They won.They have the big douchebag in the White House along with his whole low quality team. Why aren’t they satisfied with that?
Brachiator
They can’t tone it down. They see their best hope as a rhetorical preemptive strike. Backed by a president who likes to paint his opponents as enemies of the people, these goofballs want to insist that they are the only true patriots, and that a belief in gun control, climate change, reproductive rights and same sex marriage is the equivalent of treason against the United States.
They are happy to keep this at the level of rhetoric, but entertain delusions that it could be ramped up to justify something more tangible.
Another Scott
About Chris W. Cox (the author of the NRA magazine piece above):
Emphasis added.
Am I the only one who sees a problem with a guy who is an 11 on a 10 point scale of political lobbying (and more) also being the head of a “non-partisan” group??
When I’m benevolent despot, such twisting of the rules won’t be allowed any more.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
Get the ENTIRE Phuck Outta Here ? ?
robert mueller is a cop (@notcapnamerica) Tweeted:
Bernie: “Human Rights Campaign and Planned Parenthood are part of the establishment”
https://t.co/XAnygL8nE7 https://twitter.com/notcapnamerica/status/1099438964795236352?s=17
Kay
They have: the president, the supreme court, the senate and+/- 25 states.
Yet they’re still convinced they’re a put-upon minority with no power that are treated poorly.
What’s enough? Every political office? Every power center? No one speaks AT ALL except them?
They’re fucking RIDICULOUSLY entitled is what it is. They think they are OWED absolute power,
germy
germy
Scuffletuffle
Very telling that the photo they chose with Pelosi and Giffords is also predominantly of women…definitely a message there.
rikyrah
THREAD ??
Medical Racism is Killing us and our children (@Kamalaallday) Tweeted:
Let’s discuss AOC’s comments about “the cheap seats.” I live in Detroit & white hipsters have completely gentrified our city. Discriminatory lending gave all of the best spots to white owned businesses, Henry the Hatter who had been in Downtown Detroit for years
https://twitter.com/Kamalaallday/status/1099257190140035077?s=17
Another Scott
@Kay: As Dean Baker often reminds us at his “Beat the Press” blog at CEPR, don’t confuse what they write and what they say with what they believe. They use words as a weapon, not to explain what they themselves believe.
Bartleby, also too:
Cheers,
Scott.
tobie
Feinstein is out with her own climate crisis resolution. I like it. It sticks to the IPCC’s recommendation of complete decarbonization no later than 2050 to ensure that global temperatures rise no more than than 1.5 degrees C. The resolution includes a proposal for carbon pricing/carbon dividend, mentions other greenhouse gases, talks about carbon capture and sequestration, and has a provision about the Kigali amendment regarding hydrocarbons. It’s also aspirational in that it announces benchmarks, not methods. It strikes me as more specific than the GND with regard to the environment. It doesn’t address other social and economic issues. I see it as elaborating on the GND, not replacing it.
A Ghost To Most
@Jay: If they could keep their hover-rounds charged up, they’d be on us like a cheap suit.
Scott P.
What was in dispute is that the southern states that would become the Confederacy refused to accept the election’s outcome and sought to break away and form their own nation-state.
Except, as folks of the time noted, Confederate victory would have meant the end of democracy and the concept of relying on the ballot vs. the bullet to resolve disputes. It would have meant the end of Union. The choice was democracy and Union, or tyrany and Disunion, for both sides.
rikyrah
Uh huh ?
✨Peaches & Nemesis✨are cops✨ (@CausticBitchNC) Tweeted:
Kinda weird how there’s huge smear job on #DianneFeinstein right when everyone is expecting all the real #trumprussia #Mueller shit to hit the fan, huh?
Oh, and what’s that? #DiFi is the top ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee you say? Huh. ?
https://twitter.com/CausticBitchNC/status/1099204623901036544?s=17
A Ghost To Most
@Kay: As always, IOKIYAR. It’s just that simple.
The Midnight Lurker
Bravo, Dr. Silverman!
One quick question: How does Gorka keep his pants up carrying all that iron?
A 10mm and a 9mm? No way that’s going to cause confusion in a tight spot.
I do like the vest though. McMuffin, is it?
columbusqueen
@rikyrah: Exactly–Wilmer & his cultists are nothing but sloganeering drama queens who get zero done. May they all eat huge bags of salty dicks that choke them.
Anne Laurie
Thanks for drilling down, Adam.
I keep telling myself this is what behaviorists call an extinction burst — the last desperate ginned-up attempt by a failing minority to regain their ‘rightful’ status by screaming threats at us normal people, because their actual power has been reduced to the point where such threats can no longer be implied.
And Gorka is just about the poster child for that, isn’t he? So much flesh, such resonant tones, and he *still* can’t break out of the political equivalent of dinner theater! Should the Great Day of Revolution come, he wouldn’t even rise to the level of a George Custer… and in his tiny heart, he’s fully aware of his actual sub-mediocrity.
Matt McIrvin
@dimmsdale: The militias aren’t what concern me. What concerns me is that these guys are also the police.
John Revolta
@Anne Laurie: the political equivalent of dinner theater
O. M. G. I am SO gonna steal this
Bill Arnold
@sukabi:
Posit? Some of it is pretty blatant. I include POTUS DJT. Those who think probabalistically get irritated by these methods.
Jeffro
@Adam L Silverman:
This right here. Which leads me to wonder why the Dems don’t do more of it. Trumpov is such a lightning rod that he draws almost all our flak, but to little effect…it would be vastly more productive to hammer the sponsors of those who echo/support/amplify his violent rhetoric, and bring them into the fight (indirectly).
‘Carrots’ are possible here too…there’s just not a whole lot of principled conservatives out there with their own shows/outlets and thus any ability to actually drive the discussion in a positive manner.
geg6
@Adam L Silverman:
He’s doing absolutely wonderfully. The doctors say that if you’re going to have a stroke, his is the one to have. The only damage was some verbal glitches that have almost disappeared already. They are saying he doesn’t even need the speech rehab they thought he’d need earlier this week. We are very thankful and relieved. Thanks so much for asking.
Pogonip
@rikyrah: Are you sure about that? Have you thought about, say, Planned Parenthood being RICOd when the political winds change? And they always change…
karen marie
@Matt McIrvin: And the military.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@geg6: That is terrific news!
Mike in NC
Wife had a doctor’s appointment this past week. I picked up a magazine in the lobby and was disgusted to see it was NRA garbage. Threw it in the trash can.
raven
@geg6: Which did he have? I had a lacunar or pons stroke in the fall and it impacted my peripheral vision.
Sab
I haven’t read the comments yet so I am sure someone has already said this already. We have had one civil war, but it was back before we were a recognized country. The American Revolution was a civil war.
AnotherBruce
@Kay: The fact that why right wingers turn out to be sore winners could shed some light on why they want to win at all costs.
Brickley Paiste
@rikyrah:
No need for Russian bots and avatars to sow discord in the American left, there are plenty of people like you who volunteer to do it for free. How many posts do you think you’ve made attacking Sanders and his current/former supporters.
Have you ever heard the phrase “building a coalition”?
Brickley Paiste
@Pogonip:
No need to even discuss this. People who talk about RICO charges in the context of Republicans/NRA/etc. might as well wave a big, beautiful flag that says “I have no idea what I am talking about.”
debbie
@Kay:
Because he hasn’t hurt the people they want him to hurt yet. (I actually heard a Trump supporter say this on NPR a month or so ago.)
Yarrow
Because their brand is victimhood. It pervades Christianity, their chosen religion. If they’re happy about what they have then they’re not victims who are being treated poorly. They can’t be satisfied. Doesn’t work for their brand.
debbie
@geg6:
I’m so happy to read this!
Brickley Paiste
@dimmsdale:
I believe the assumption on their part is that most of military, law enforcement, etc. are going to be on their side when the civil war breaks out. I’ve always found the idea of an open civil war in this country to be so remote that it’s hardly worth discussing. That said, I do not doubt that a non-trivial portion of military/law enforcement would, indeed, side with the rightist/authoritarians, etc.
J R in WV
@Brickley Paiste:
Somehow, Brieky, you escaped from my pie filter briefly — but now you’re back, obviously. RICO is Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and any group breaking the law to make money as a matter of routine is liable for this confiscatory enforcement operation. NRA, RNC, you name it, they can bust them.
You keep on growing that pie, you hear me!! Bless Yore Heart, your little black pit of a heart~!!!~
Mike in NC
@debbie: That was said by a woman who works in a prison in Florida. I know from personal experience that the most awful people in the world are those who work in prisons.
Brickley Paiste
@J R in WV:
Oh, thanks, I’ve only worked on two RICO cases and that was over a decade ago, so maybe you can share some more of your knowledge with me about his.
Yarrow
@geg6: That’s great news!
Jay
@Brickley Paiste:
Sanders isn’t a Democrat Pasty Brick dead thread shit stirrer.
J R in WV
@Brickley Paiste:
OMG. I just read this post by YOU:
No one can build a coalition with Sanders, he’s not a Democratic candidate at all, and won’t work with those who are. Only questions for Sanders at primary debates should be like “How much are you paying female employees, versus male employees” and “Where are your tax returns?” and “Why do you think you should be running as a Democratic candidate when you aren’t a member of the Democratic Party?”
Oh, yeh… “How about your Russian connections?!!” — that’s a good question for Bernie! And you, you shithead, you should go to somewhere far away, without any internet connection!
ETA: Oh, yes, also Back in the Pie Case, russian troll~!!~
Jay
@Brickley Paiste:
RICO cases arn’t litigated in Russia, you lying troll.
Brickley Paiste
@Jay:
I didn’t say he was a democrat. He’s a leftist. But you may remember that he did nearly win the democratic nomination a few years ago.
Bill Arnold
@Brickley Paiste:
Interesting. (Not the content; the effect, and maybe timing.)
dimmsdale
@Matt McIrvin: Well, yeah, there is that. And unfortunately, we have no idea (correction: I’ve never heard of anyone knowing) how many LEO in a given locality may already be captured by the militia types. I assume you’re talking about some sort of scenario where local law enforcement is called on to round up, disarm, confront, and/or otherwise subdue militia types who are also their compadres, and refuse to do so? Could happen, sheriffs can decide they’re ‘sovereign citizens’ too. But again, it’s hard for me at this stage to envision that happening on a widespread enough basis to pose a national or even regional threat. Hope to not be proved wrong about that! At this stage, it’s hard to differentiate swagger and puffed-up “operator” cosplay from genuine threat. One hopes the FBI is tracking that!
Brickley Paiste
@J R in WV:
I sometimes wonder about people who are so sad an insecure that they get upset reading an opinion that differs slightly from their own.
That’s sad, but not as sad as someone who employs a filter to make sure that they don’t even see such posts.
And, of course, neither of those is as truly pathetic as someone who then feels the need to take time out of their VERY BUSY DAY to let scores of strangers know that they have, in fact, put someone in the pie filter. That is a pretty good marker of a person who has a nothing going on in a shit lift.
But then descending to another level in this impotent Inferno, we have the person who is so weak and lacking in discipline that they can’t even control themselves after they put someone in a pie filter, and announce it to the world because they consciously click to open a post that would otherwise be hidden to them.
I mean, insecurity, hypersensitivity, weakness, it is quite a display. What a sad, empty life. But you know that since you are reading this now.
Bill Arnold
@Bill Arnold:
To be clear, I very much liked that Adam did this post. Important subject.
Miss Bianca
@Mike in NC:
I know a lot of librarians who work in prisons. I think they might justifiably resent that remark.
Likewise, I know a fair few number of folks who have worked as educators and guards in prisons out here – including one who works at the Supermax – yes, *that* Supermax – and I wouldn’t describe them that way at all.
That said, I had a fairly lengthy discussion with one of them the other day where he readily copped to having been much, much more of an asshole earlier in his career.
ETA: Actually, *he* would probably be the one to agree with you!
Brickley Paiste
@Bill Arnold:
Agreed. I am saving his link-rich broadside against Gorka for future use.
P.S. – Did you make the switch to full-frame mirrorless yet?
Brickley Paiste
@Miss Bianca:
And a friend’s brother who works as a nurse in prison might have some thoughts on this matter, too.
Sab
[email protected]rikyrah: I was at my not so local (Ohio bank sold out to Pittsburgh) bank a couple of weeks ago and the local branch manager (white male) was explaining to an assistant manager (white female) why they redline all loan applications from single mothers. So single mothers cannot get a loan from this bank. In the process of moving my accounts elsewhere.
Bill Arnold
@Brickley Paiste:
Maybe. :-)
dimmsdale
@Adam L Silverman: @Jeffro: I’m finding it kind of odd that there isn’t a lefty blog that aggregates advertisers of right-wing garbage television, with emails of the key people at each sponsoring company (senior execs, advertising managers etc.) and even (perhaps) customizable pre-written emails that an individual could send just by filling in some fields in the email. People don’t aggressively & directly confront corporate sponsors of garbage TV (or of Fox News shows, but I repeat myself) because it’s a pain in the tuchus to find the info on the web. (Actually there is one site that does this: https://www.foxnewsadvertisers.com“; I have used it and will use it again. Wish there were more like this, for CNN, Meet the Press, [name your favorite media bete-noir].
HinTN
And this ain’t happening.
Thanks for the excellent riposte to the standard talking point, which NPR “both sides” to hell and gone the other day.
Pogonip
@Sab: Is that legal? If it’s not, turn the bastards in.
Brickley Paiste
@dimmsdale:
This is a good idea. I am frankly kind of baffled why billionaires with lefty leanings aren’t funding more operations like this. I mean, conservatives are the ones that love their money so much, right? Why are they willing to dump millions into funding Cato/Liberty/Heritage/etc., printing presses, and on and on while leftys who are supposedly all about bettering society through progressive ideas keep sitting on their money.
Could be wrong I guess: Is WaPo costing Bezo or is it breaking even?
dimmsdale
@Brickley Paiste: Profitable for the last 2 years. Digital subscriptions are up. I don’t know how much this has to do with Bezos, and the paper still indulges in bothsides-ism from time to time, but I sure as hell trust it more than the (ptooey) NY Times. As for your “I wonder why” question, I have no idea. It sure would be a good thing for some rich lefty to sink money into.
Villago Delenda Est
The National Russian Association is a terrorist group. Treat them as such.