If this empty-suit, race-hating fraud had to actually visit West Baltimore for five minutes and meet any of the American citizens who endure there, he’d wet himself. https://t.co/QBSed1S4c8
— David Simon (@AoDespair) July 27, 2019
It means the president, if he stepped out of his limo and found himself suddenly a racial minority, would wet himself on that fundamental alone. The humanity of those he encountered could not matter to him; only their lack of whiteness and his discomfort. So he won't come. https://t.co/kkU8MggT3G
— David Simon (@AoDespair) July 27, 2019
The Sun, where I worked for 13 years, is a centrist, MOR newspaper. And national policies and paradigms are bigger than partisan banter. You're wandering into a prepared enfilade of belt-fed macroeconomics and institutional racism flashing a bent butterknife of Democrats-are-bad. https://t.co/Q2jG8901jP
— David Simon (@AoDespair) July 27, 2019
I’m particularly impressed with his skill at responding to the exact level of witlessness in each attack:
You wouldn't know misleading if it crawled from your asshole and latched on to your scrotum. 7-MD includes large tracts of Howard & Baltimore County, both quite affluent, as well as the city. Trump cites only the city because he's a racist and it only works for his argument. You? https://t.co/rFM8kvAPEx
— David Simon (@AoDespair) July 27, 2019
Fuckmook, at issue are national policies and paradigms bigger than your gibbering collapse into simplistic partisan banter. You're wandering comically into a prepared enfilade of belt-fed macroeconomics and institutional racism flashing a bent butterknife of Democrats-are-bad. https://t.co/a3b3PdrXqc
— David Simon (@AoDespair) July 28, 2019
1) You have no fucking idea with whom or with what or how I engage in this city.
2) Trump is a cretin and deserves a daily spate of insult for which vermin and birds of carrion are undeserving.
3) Our ills are historical/systemic, not rooted in who now has a congressional seat. https://t.co/2MbZBvrYwF— David Simon (@AoDespair) July 28, 2019
As my people say, He will rip out your [sphincter], pull it over your head, and make you wear it like a frilly clown collar.
For the final comedic coda, the Clueless Internet Correctors show up…
Well, the "greatest Twitter reply ever" competition is over pic.twitter.com/KqkMUZj6eZ
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) July 27, 2019
And for your social-media pushback, later:
Mulvaney’s district has a higher poverty rate than Cummings’ district! https://t.co/Uj8HjUSaAX
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 28, 2019
I can't believe the conditions in Baltimore!
Wait… I'm sorry. These aren't from Baltimore.
They're from the places @Jim_Jordan & @senatemajldr represent. pic.twitter.com/THyj8L4VXd
— Ben. No More, No Less. (@BJS_quire) July 28, 2019
Third time's the charm.
I can't BELIEVE the conditions in Baltimore!
CRAP! Again, my bad. These are from the places @DevinNunes & @RepDougCollins represent. pic.twitter.com/iAukMclfku
— Ben. No More, No Less. (@BJS_quire) July 28, 2019
The point, which many have picked up on, is this…
Poverty, homelessness, & crime can be seen across America. Singling out one city and Congressman (especially of the pedigree of @RepCummings) is not about addressing the problems. It's about something else.
And we all know it.
— Ben. No More, No Less. (@BJS_quire) July 28, 2019
The poorest county in the nation belongs to Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell. It is 96% white. 9 out of 10 in that county depend on food stamps, disability and other "socialist" programs.
— Stephen Fowler (@Tigerstrat57) July 28, 2019
joel hanes
Facts have a well-known liberal bias.
Raoul
All these fucknoodles act like Baltimore is this year’s version of “Fort Apache, the Bronx”. As if their neck of the woods isn’t being shredded by on meth and/or opioids.
Daoud bin Daoud
Glad to see progressives are upping their game!
Elizabelle
@joel hanes: Hugs. Terrible night for you. I hope your family members are fine. Frightening.
SiubhanDuinne
That’s some fine tweeting you found, AL, especially from David Simon and Ben. No More, No Less.
joel hanes
@Elizabelle:
Thanks. Granddaughter’s SIL head wound perhaps more serious than we thought; she was among the eleven evacuated by ambulance. That SIL’s daughter suffered two superficial grazes, and drove herself to the hospital, bleeding : she’s among the sixteen total wounded. We’re still waiting to hear about the SIL’s condition. Granddaughter and one-year-old great-grandson were here an hour ago, decompressing … he and I made silly noises in my bedroom while the adults watched for updates on the TV news.
(The worst thing about TV news is that even when they have nothing to say, they must fill up time with something.)
SiubhanDuinne
@joel hanes:
Thank you for the update. What a dreadful, worrying time for all of you.
A virtual friend’s granddaughter’s sister-in-law and her daughter may appear to some to be too many degrees of separation removed for us to be much concerned about. But you know jackals! We gather for our own.
I hope you and your family can get some sleep tonight, and awaken to good news from Gilroy.
jl
Excellent spot on pushback. Sometimes twitter does some good.
Since open thread, listening to live report on Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting. Right now, some evidence that shooter avoided screening by sneaking into the grounds from remote side of venue bordered by a creek. Not sure I heard it right, but apparently shooter said he did it because he was ‘angry’, not sure if he said that as shooting or as he died from wounds. Maybe after, since he was alive long enough to for first responders to give extensive CPR attempts. Authorities have no idea if there was an accomplice (sketchy witness evidence for this) who ran off because law enforcement shut down the shooting so fast. And that leads to something important:
Report was the law enforcement responded within in far less than a minute, conflicting reports on whether it was local cops or CHP. Anyway, they were on it, with extraordinary speed, and apparently shot very accurately, taking the shooter down very quickly. Yet, at least 3 dead and more than 12 wounded. But I’m sure we’ll hear a lot of garbage about ‘good guys with guns’ and everyone being armed will stop these tragedies.
In this case, the police were on it in less than a minute, and with very accurate shots, took the shooter down immediately when they arrive on the scene. At least three dead… more than 12 wounded.
Edit: just heard clarification on toll. Three victims dead, plus the shooter. So, four dead.
Kent
Turns out according to Talking Points Memo that Jarrod Kushner’s company owns thousands of rat infested apartments in Baltimore. Seriously. The Kushner slumlords are they problem:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/jared-kushner-real-estate-development-baltimore-rats
joel hanes
@jl:
Report was the law enforcement responded within in far less than a minute, conflicting reports on whether it was local cops or CHP.
Probably some of each. Security at the Garlic Festival is quite heavy, always — there have been fights in earlier years. The Festival is _huge_, with two full-scale stages and one or two smaller ones, maybe fifty food vendors, maybe a hundred craft vendors. They sell a _lot_ of beer and wine.
HumboldtBlue
Who shoots up a garlic festival?
jl
@joel hanes: Oh yeah, I know, Been to it a few times. Haven’t been for a while because it’s gotten so damn big and crowded. I like the garlic ice cream, but can get almost as good at other places in SF Bay Area.
It’s a local charity event that brings in a lot of money for good causes in the area.
Anotherlurker
@joel hanes: OMG! I am so sorry this happened to your family.
They might want to talk to someone who is skilled in therapy for people who go thru a trauma like this (all too common in the USA).. PTSD is not something anyone should take lightly. I did, in response to a natural disaster. I didn’t seek help until my brother (Vietnam Vet. Purple Heart), recognized my symptoms. He helped point me toward therapy. I wish I had acted sooner.
Again, I wish nothing but the best for your family.
Raoul
Dems added about 8 -10 more to the impeach list this week.
The ‘optical’ Mueller testimony was likely the bigger catalyst, but I wouldn’t underestimate the power of Trump’s gross, racist attack on Cummings and Baltimore.
joel hanes
@jl:
When I used to go to the Garlic Festival, back in the Pleistocene, I used to start way early and take back roads to get there (G2 down from south San Jose) to arrive half an hour or more before they opened the gates, when it was still cool and the dust was still settled from having been sprayed, and when we could park close to a gate. Then at 1 PM, replete, while half of Santa Clara county was backed up on the highways filing into the parking lots, we’d pack up and head home, passing literally thousands of cars inching along in the other direction. IIRC, there’s never been a fight in the morning.
But once you’ve done it a few times, and have learned to make garlic-crusted tri-tip on your own grill, the reasons to attend begin to dwindle, and as I got older, crowds lost their charm — even crowds composed largely of young persons in very brief attire. Also, I’m no longer very willing to stand around in the sun in 100 degree heat for hours on end.
There is some good jazz every year, though.
I do miss the deep-fried garlic-battered artichoke hearts, which I’ll never make for myself, and until about 1990, there was a Santa Cruz Italian restaurant that sold garlic-butter frog legs from their stall — best I ever had.
When they quit, and KPGY’s last incarnation died, I kinda quit going.
Elie
@joel hanes:
You and your family are in my thoughts tonite.
Sister Golden Bear
@joel hanes: Holding you and your family in my thoughts.
frosty
@joel hanes: I’m very sorry to hear this news. I don’t know if it helps, but my cousin’s daughter was shot in the head in Las Vegas. She lost an eye but is recovering well. Best wishes to you and yours. And damn these gun-crazy people and the lack of will to do anything about it.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s not. They’re other human beings; we should be concerned. Especially when a night out turns into a nightmare. We also do build relationships here, even if we may never get to meet people in person.
@joel hanes: I hope your granddaughter’s SiL and SiL’s daughter make a full recovery.
BlueDWarrior
@Raoul: it’s been a slow, inexorable march.
Like Obama said on another subject, “make me do it”. Make Speaker Pelosi change the question from if to when. But you can’t do it ugly, and you can’t do it without a plan B and C either.
Ruckus
@joel hanes:
I hope everyone is OK.
On better news I just watched David Letterman’s My Next Guest with President Obama. Again. Now that’s a president I can listen to any time. If you have Netflix and haven’t watched it, I recommend it. I guarantee that it will make you miss him even more. And I wasn’t sure that was possible.
joel hanes
Thanks everyone for your concern and well wishes.
I think both the gunshot victims in my extended family have been treated and released — but now my gson-in-law has had to go to the hospital — seems to have sprained an ankle running from the shooting, carrying his year-old son, while wearing beach flops.
We’ll see what rede the morning brings.
And so to bed.
joel hanes
@frosty:
Las Vegas
I remember that night, so much bloodier and more awful than this day has been.
My best to your cousin once removed.
barb 2
Moscow Mitch — that nick name is so fitting. You know that turtle fellow in the Senate. MSNBC Morning Joe had a rather long rant using that nick name.
Patricia Kayden
If Baltimore is so messed up, why isn’t Trump trying to make things better? Isn’t he the President of Baltimore too? It’s odd how Trump has gotten away with such overtly divisive language. He makes no pretense of being President of all Americans. No Democratic President could get away with this.
Not normal.
Amir Khalid
@Patricia Kayden:
Trump probably doesn’t get that being President of the United States means he is President of Baltimore. He has certainly never understood that he is President of Puerto Rico.
eclare
@Patricia Kayden: I assume he detested going to Cali for the Paradise fire.
eclare
@Amir Khalid: But, but, he lobbed rolls of paper towels at them!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@eclare: He got to tell us we’re doing a bad job of raking our forests.
eclare
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Now that I’m sure he did enjoy
Chris Johnson
@barb 2:
Choosing sides, is he? That’s good, especially considering he hasn’t always thrown in his lot with the Americans. Good, let him abandon the treason ship. He’ll be extra shrill if he’s trying to protect himself.
Mike in NC
Gorgeous sunny and warm day in London. 10 AM local time. No reports yet about another mass shooting in the US. Sitting on the veranda of our cruise ship, sipping a Bloody Mary. There was a mention on the TV down by the bar that Dan Coats is out; quit or fired? Another filthy rodent leaving Fat Bastard’s fail parade administration.
eclare
@Mike in NC: Jealous! Take pics! Only problem is, in true Trump fashion, incoming rodent is worse.
Professor Bigfoot
Y’know how you know the shooter was a white guy?
“Extensive first aid attempts.”
If it had been a person of color they would have stood around and watched him bleed to death.
sdhays
I think someone already did that for Donald Trump, but they put it where his lips should be.
J R in WV
I understand that Dan Coats quit over a lack of response to Russian election corruption. In which case more power to him, if he speaks up, If he doesn’t, fuck him too.
Gelfling 545
After looking at the first entry I flipped back to the headline In case I misread and it was actually striving to be butter!
Miss Bianca
@joel hanes: I am so sorry to hear about your family members. What a nightmare.
Waynski
@Amir Khalid: Pretty sure our national anthem was written about fighting the British in Baltimore defending Fort McHenry. Anyone’s invited to correct me, if I’m wrong, because you know, I’m a Libtard.