Trump’s fundraising swing through the Hamptons on Friday is creating headaches for some of his high-dollar donors.
A who’s-who of investment and real estate executives have been invited, sources tell @justinsink @ekrembert and me. https://t.co/i9e9hMNj8X
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 8, 2019
Trump donors lament brief brushes with consequences. https://t.co/qheMnrcWSJ
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) August 9, 2019
… Calling out the people who fund campaigns is not a new tactic in politics, but the question of how much should be publicly disclosed about those donors has been an issue that Republicans, led by the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, have repeatedly raised in recent years. While the Supreme Court ruled in the 2010 Citizens United case to uphold public disclosure — with Justice Antonin Scalia, the court’s conservative stalwart, arguing later that without such revelations “democracy is doomed” — Republicans and wealthy allies like the Koch brothers have argued that it results in donor harassment and has a chilling effect on free speech…
But the Supreme Court’s support for campaign finance disclosure laws has a built-in exemption for people who can show a realistic threat of harassment, and the renewed scrutiny on Trump donors has also raised questions about what qualifies as donor harassment and who is entitled to privacy…
“Transparency is essential, Mrs. Clinton, unless it means that our favorite plutocrats might get snubbed in the Hamptons. That’s just inhumane!… ”
NEW from @jonathanvswan: Billionaire Stephen Ross privately expressed qualms about going ahead with his Hamptons fundraiser for Trump today after liberal customers threatened to boycott Equinox and SoulCycle. https://t.co/p1ixBVZeQz
— Axios (@axios) August 9, 2019
Baud
These are good people.
Baud
The marketplace of ideas is the greatest threat to the marketplace of ideas.
geg6
@Baud:
For real.
Now, where did I put my microscopic violin?
Doug R
You should be PROUD of who you donate to. If you aren’t, something is WRONG.
Spanky
Has the FTNYT yet decried the harassment of these poor business owners whose former customers take their business elsewhere?
(ETA – Rhetorical question, obvs)
MisterForkbeard
Well, yeah. What is the NYT saying it should be, “Hey, we were going to use you for business, but we found out you’re a racist. Now we’re going use you but furrow our brow slightly and not give you any kind of pushback at all.”?
Baud
@Doug R:
Not really. For a lot on the left, donations to progressive organizations should not be public because of the risk of harassment. Republicans want to extend that to wealthy political donors.
TenguPhule
Harassment now being defined by Republicans as “Looks at us wrong.”
zhena gogolia
@Spanky:
This is how I got into an e-mail exchange all afternoon with (supposedly) Dean Baquet. Because of their headline “Cries of Harassment as a Donor List Is Revealed.” His position is that they are tougher on Trump than anyone else, they break the tough stories, and it’s not their job to save democracy. I didn’t make much headway with whoever I was communicating with. It’s hopeless.
TenguPhule
@Doug R:
Anti-abortion folks have set the precedent of using them as kill lists.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
They don’t want a market. They want a monopoly.
debbie
Speaking of no consequences, has anyone cross-checked the owners of the processing plants involved in the ICE raids with GOP donor lists? They broke immigration law, but haven’t been arrested or jailed yet?
different-church-lady
I’m not seeing the problem with this.
MisterForkbeard
@TenguPhule: Anti-abortion folks also post the home addresses, phone numbers, and schedules of their targets. It’s not just a “this guy works at Planned Parenthood”.
JR
@Baud: Wait til they get to the part about the lampposts.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
First they came for the statues of famous slave owners.
but none of my ancestors weren’t murderous wage thieves who deserve to burn in hell. (and if they were, I would disown them)
they came for the skin heads,
but I wasn’t a cowardly bulling skin head.
Then they came for the slum lords,
but I was slum lord who lived vampire like off the misery of minorities.
Villago Delenda Est
They are financing fascism. Fuck them all.
chris
Needs a .gif of George Soros doing a double facepalm.
Bill Arnold
Is anyone seeing comments randomly being marked as spam, then, a copy-paste of nearly the same text works? Happened twice to me in the last 20 minutes. No obvious spam keywords used.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@MisterForkbeard:
I wonder how those people would like to get the same treatment? They’d probably shriek self-righteously I’m sure about how they’re not “baby-killers”
Joe Falco
@debbie:
From the NPR (I know, I know) report, I listened to, you have to show that the employers didn’t use e-verify to prove they broke the law. Applicants that submit false documentation don’t make the employers criminals in the eyes of the law. But how do you have hundreds of people being arrested without the employer knowing something? Again, the law puts all the pressure on the little guy, who are the most vulnerable, and spare the employers that help continue a broken system. It’s going to take creating a new system to deal with people fairly.
mrmoshpotato
Punch the Rethuglicans in the scrot with your vote!
lamh36
Bill Arnold
@Baud:
Not just politically-driven harassment. There are some who want to give anonymously for reasons that include a general desire to avoid fame, a desire to avoid pile-on requests for money from other organizations and people (some just fraudulent), religious reasons [0].
[0] E.g. Judaism has Tzedakah: (pdf) Maimonides Eight Degrees of Tzedakahw – The third highest form is
Miss Bianca
@Baud:
BWAH HAH HAH HA, so true.
Major Major Major Major
Reposting from end of sci-fi thread :)
lamh36
lamh36
@lamh36:
lamh36
Mo’ne Davis Is Taking Her Incredible Talents To Hampton University | Black America Web
https://blackamericaweb.com/2019/08/06/mone-davis-is-taking-her-incredible-talents-to-hampton-university/
J R in WV
@Bill Arnold:
I have almost never seen a comment marked as spam, even when I talk about canned meat product.
But I don’t comment much, being mostly a lurker…. heh…
ETA, speling fix.
Jinchi
@zhena gogolia: Not their job to save democracy? Did he say what his job actually was?
Major Major Major Major
I tweeted a thing about this!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Major Major Major Major:
Thinking about getting one for Samwise? ; p
NotMax
@J R in WV
Post title font suddenly changed as well. Suspect FYWP is experiencing what in polite circles is described as a cerebral incident.
Martin
@Baud:
Josh Marshall noted, correctly, that the freedom of speech that the first amendment protects is public speech, so when we talk about freedom of speech, it is inherently public in nature. If money is speech, then it too must be public in nature.
That’s the other side of the coin. If money = speech, then money becomes public fair game.
lamh36
J R in WV
@Major Major Major Major:
I’m thinking that legal theory needs some work to actually really be legal.
Baud
@Jinchi:
Vindicating email management best practices.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lamh36:
What a fucking piece of shit. You still coordinate with social services. The fact that they apparently didn’t and gave this pithy response shows they didn’t care, like we need more evidence to know that!
Major Major Major Major
@J R in WV: I’m oversimplifying but that was the gist of it—it’s part of a legally-protected sex-segregated area.
Villago Delenda Est
@MisterForkbeard: Baquet needs to be staked to the ground with fire ants in the immediate vicinity, then have honey poured on him.
Lalophobia
Hey, uh….any Juicers in the Chicago area looking for a roommate, or know someone or can put me in touch with someone who is? I’ve got two part time jobs, a list of emergency shelters, a list of shelters to go to for referrals for other, long term shelters, but…God it would be nice not to have to worry about finding a place to sleep come Monday. Ideally, it’d be near one of the lines (best would be Blue, though I can transfer) but I can bus and walk and whatever else I need to to get to work. And I can provide multiple phone numbers of people who can vouch for my non-craziness.
Just….thought I’d try. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Jay
Raven
Wherever you are and whatever you are doing thank your lucky stars you are not in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.
Jeffro
Why do Trumpublicans get to call massive campaign donations “free speech” if it’s being done in the dark and they want to keep it that way? If it’s not free speech…if no one knows you’ve ‘said’ it (ie, donated)…then it shouldn’t get to use the shield of ‘free speech’ either.
Jeffro
@Martin: Or what you said/what Josh said. :)
Baud
@Raven:
What happened?
Martin
@lamh36: Someone heard the message from the president.
Bet a fair number of those stranded kids were US citizens. I doubt the President sees them as anything other than property.
Jay
Armed racist Trumper from the El Paso incident.
Jeffro
@zhena gogolia: It’s not the job of a free press to save democracy??? Does he think the press is gonna do well under any other form of government?
If it’s not their job to save democracy, could it at least be a chore that they grudgingly do once in a while, like a mopey teenager taking out the trash?
I didn’t realize we were expecting so much from the NYT. But I am giving them a shortcut in the ever-lengthening tumbrel line…
Adam L Silverman
@MisterForkbeard: Senator Collins and Senator Sasse is that you?
Jeffro
@debbie: Debbie, clearly they were suckered…hundreds of times…over decades…into believing the best of people and being let down when all of these workers turned out to be undocumented.
Truly, THEY, these innocent plant owners, are the real victims here.
NotMax
@Raven
Sounds somewhat ominous, like Deliverance 2?
;)
Raven
@Baud: nothing, it’s a fucking madhouse of America
Adam L Silverman
@J R in WV: And a cabaret license issued by the appropriate state and municipal boards.
Baud
@Raven:
More so than Balloon Juice?
Raven
I’m glad to have met up with guys I was in Korea with but the rest is awful. Fucking Myrtly Beach with no water.
Steve in the ATL
@Raven: how come you use a different nym on the Get the Picture blog? You have such a great brand!
Steve not in Pigeon Forge
Another Scott
@Lalophobia: Is the YMCA an option that you’ve considered?
Hang in there. Let us know how things are going.
Best of luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@Raven
“Jeez, you guys got old!”
:)
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Raven:
That’s near Gatlinburg, TN. I used to vacation there with my family since we have a timeshare. Pigeon Forge is definitely a place that has been built for tourists. Lots of attractions, like go-kart tracks and such. I can imagine it’s a busy place rn. Don’t go too crazy : )
Jay
@Jeffro:
One of the plants, Koch Foods, ( a different evil Koch) had just lost a multimillion dollar suit to the plant employees ove assaults, rapes sexual harassment, health and safety violations.
End Stage Capitalism relies on serfdom.
TenguPhule
@Jeffro:
Certain members of the press willing to sell their souls? Certainly.
Adam L Silverman
@Jay: And anonymous tips called in to ICE on a burner phone by the company’s execs.
trollhattan
@lamh36:
Yeah buddy, I guess we’ve all discovered that haven’t we?
All of DHS needs to be ripped apart and reorganized, after a thorough visit from the Orkin man.
Just One More Canuck
@Major Major Major Major: Mine would never leave
debbie
@Jay:
Pointless.
trollhattan
@Jay:
Sounds like a perfect time to declare bankruptcy.
I think that’s how they do it. After raiding the pension reserves, of course.
tomtofa
@debbie:
To add a bit to Joe Falco’s reply, the law uses this language: “an offense for any person, during any 12-month period, to knowingly hire at least 10 individuals with actual knowledge that these individuals are unauthorized aliens.” (‘Knowingly’ and ‘actual knowledge’ do a lot of lifting for the employers here).
The E-Verify issue is at the state level, not the federal, for these workers. Mississippi is a state that requires E-Verify. The penalty for not using it:
“Violating Employers may (note the ‘may’, not ‘will’)
1. Have all state contracts terminated and become ineligible for public contracts for three years
2. Have any license, permit, or certificate suspended for one year, or
3. Both.”
Nothing about being arrested . . .
Carolina Dave
@Steve in the ATL:
I saw your enthusiastic post early and thought to myself, hmmm, does he know where he is going? Myrtle Beach without the ocean, indeed. Enjoy the company of your compatriots. And maybe cooler temps. Maybe.
Ohio Mom
@Raven: As I recall, Pigeon Forge is shabby and full of people who look like they voted for Trump. It might have seen better days. We stopped there ONCE on our way to visit my niece in Ashvllle.
The surrounding countryside is pretty and I bet Dollywood is nice if you’re into amusement parks.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jay:
@debbie:
I can’t believe this stupid shit. Other countries have violent video games too. Why don’t they have the kinds of massacres that happened in El Paso or Dayton?
They use knives but those are far less deadly and more survivable than an AR-15
tokyokie
@Martin:
I think you overestimate his valuation of them. To him, property has value. The only value he sees in these kids is as hostages.
Steve in the ATL
@trollhattan: FYI Orkin is an Atlanta-based company owned by rabid right wing nut jobs, and actual crazy people, and actual billionaires, the Rollins family.
Spanky
@Raven: Ahhh! You’ve discovered the wonder that is Pigeon Forge on a summer weekend!
zhena gogolia
@Jinchi:
To break stories.
JPL
@zhena gogolia: First they came for the NYTimes and I did nothing, because f..k the nytimes.
zhena gogolia
@Raven:
Haha, I’ll do that!
debbie
Raven
@Steve in the ATL: the WordPress on gtp is weird and I end up using a couple depending on auto fill.
TenguPhule
@debbie:
Surprise surprise.
Raven
@Ohio Mom: I’m gonna hang with this tonight and head back over the mountain at sunup.
Mary G
FBI catches a probable shooter before anyone gets hurt, I guess they aren’t all obeying orders to pay no attention to white terrorists:
He was previously caught in 2016 patrolling his neighborhood with an AR-15.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Ohio Mom:
Gatlinburg, TN is pretty nice, but Pigeon Forge is definitely a little rougher around the edges
Another Scott
@Steve in the ATL: I remember back in the ’70s that there was some sort of murder conspiracy involving an Orkin, and I was startled to hear the WSB TV news anchor after the latest report about the case saying that (roughly) “Bobby Orkin has no relationship to the Orkin company” – as if it was their job to do PR for the company.
Little did I realize that too much of the media thinks it’s their job to protect the powerful… :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Other countries have mental illness and violent video games. As for mass shootings:
That’s for 2019 ytd. USA’s number now is 250. ?
Sally
When lists are published. Republicans are afraid that Democrats will laugh at them. Democrats are afraid that Republicans will kill them.
TenguPhule
Big Brother II.
tokyokie
When I was a lad, because my paternal grandmother’s family was from eastern Tennessee, we went through Gatlinburg a couple of times. Even as a kid, I found it horrifying. And I always assumed that Pigeon Forge was worse.
Baud
@TenguPhule:
Someone watches Elementary.
Mary G
@Mary G: More details in DOJ statement attached to this tweet:
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: We’re all disappointed in this behavior and will continue to be mildly perturbed about it. Vote Trump!
Spanky
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: The best way to see Pigeon Forge is in the rear view mirror, and Gatlinburg is no better, if my 20 year-old memory is correct. Especially on an August weekend.
TenguPhule
The raids are only getting started. ICE is going to get worse.
TenguPhule
Trump campaign’s Facebook ads target Latinos in Texas days after shooting
There is no bottom.
Spanky
@Sally: Both sides came to those conclusions through experience.
jl
Hypocritical gas lighting, that is also just butt stupid and hilariously transparent. Glad this BS has been met with general ridicule. Transparency in donations was supposed to be, according SCOTUS, I think, one of the main things that would keep corruption at bay, when rich people and corporations could dump unlimited bucks on politicians who might, just might, do them big billion dollar favors. Their howls, and concern trolling of the precious hacks who do national politics and editorials at the NYT are just stupid.
I also don’t remember these smarmy corrupt hacks worrying to much when right wing con artists went doxing and spying on supposed liberals who hit the news, taking pix of granite counter tops and snooping around their histories or where they worked. But, my bad, sorry, excuuuussssssse me, those were the ‘lesser’ people There is a different standard, or rather, no standard for how they should be treated. This society is thoroughly rotted through with wealth based class favoritism. And signs are that typical voters are getting sick of it.
And second, we all put our names on our contributions. My name is in for contributions to Sanders and HRC in 2016, and probably two dozen other Democratic candidates. This cycle, for Warren, Harris and Inslee. That is public information, and I damn well knew it when I made them. Me, a crappy ‘lesser’ person could figure it out, rich jackasses should be able to figure it out too Shit, they have people for that, right?
Jay
TenguPhule
STATE DEPT HAS ISSUED JAPAN TRAVEL WARNING: BEWARE OF MUTANT NINJA TURTLES
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Spanky:
In terms of traffic? Or shabbiness? I haven’t been to either places nearly 10 years, but I distinctly remember Gatlinburg being head and shoulders above PF
TS (the original)
@Baud:
These are the best people.
Amazing that wealthy trump supporters don’t want to be known as wealthy trump supporters. Just maybe they realise there is something seriously wrong with people who support trump.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@TenguPhule: I’m reminded of this probably apocryphal Stalin quote: “Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns; why should we let them have ideas?”
However, they apparently want everyone to have guns, so there’s an added layer of irony here.
Ceterum censeo factionem Republicanam esse delendam.
Jay
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Walmart Staff and employees have called on Walmart to:
– stop selling guns
– stop allowing ammosexual gun fondlers free reign of the store,
So, of course, Wallmart pulls videogame posters to give the ammosexual gunfondlers and the NRA a reach around.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@debbie:
Absolutely crazy. The closest that comes to us is like 3 shootings. I wonder if that Tweet uses the 4 victims definition of “mass shooting”?
Jay
@TenguPhule:
Latino’s for Wussolinni is a grift run by a Nazi Proud Boy.
JPL
@Raven: Drive through Helen, GA on your way home. just sayin
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: The mutant ninja turtles live in NY.
West of the Rockies
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Sounds to me like willful child endangerment. ICE agents should be charged accordingly.
Mary G
Sully’s latest for NY Mag is:
Biden Knows How to Make the Moral Case Against Trump
Uncle Joe is toast, though many people say his speech was excellent, because Sully is always wrong.
Jay
Chyron HR
So when the Supreme Court rules (not in any particular case, just a free-floating ruling) that consumers withholding money from Trump-supporting companies violates the owners’ free speech, will we be required to spend a fixed amount of money at each of them every year, or just tithe a certain percentage of our income to right-wing businesses in general?
Jay
germy
@Mary G: What does Mr. Bell Curve know about moral cases?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@TenguPhule:
What does that even mean? “In terms of a country”.
And the world has taken advantage of the US? Hate to break it to Trump, but we built the post war world to benefit us. This was very explicit at the time
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m sure someone at the State Department has already convinced Trump they’ve been deported as illegal immigrants.
tokyokie
@TenguPhule: The United States is going to issue a travel advisory about gun violence in JAPAN? Japan’s incidence of gun deaths is 0.06 per 100,000 residents; the U.S. rate is more than 200 times that. More people are gunned down in a typical Kinji Fukasaku yakuza movie than in real life. If the U.S. begins issuing retaliatory travel advisories, then such guidance will become meaningless. Perhaps these shitheads should address the problem of U.S. gun violence rather than sanction countries where such violence is basically nonexistent and which view American gun culture as a danger to its citizens.
Chyron HR
@TenguPhule:
I assume “look for Republicans openly planning mass shootings on social media” doesn’t count.
jl
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: It means Trump is pathetic nitwit, in addition to all his other problems.
Edit: so, maybe a travel advisory for odd flavored kit kat bars?
TenguPhule
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
“I know you are but what am I” as national policy.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Jay:
Wait, did they pull posters or the actual games themselves? Many video games these days are simply downloaded over the internet so this is even more ineffectual, even by their own logic
Aziz, light!
Rump is going to reciprocate and tell the State Department to warn against travel to Japan, the safest fucking country in the world. Mkay.
TenguPhule
@Chyron HR:
IOKIYAR.
TenguPhule
@tokyokie:
I believe that I am sober and its this timeline that this drunk off its ass.
Jay
Jay
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Posters.
tokyokie
@Aziz, light!:
Well, it’s really safe over there as long as you avoid restrooms in subway and Japan Rail stations. (Need a restroom while traveling in Japan? Find a department store.)
TenguPhule
@tokyokie:
Actually only the outlying stations have the old style hell toilets. Most of Tokyo’s subway and train station toilets are modern wonders of comfort.
jl
Another Trump travel advisory for Japan: fast and convenient train travel around the country, DANGER!!
I guess for Europe:There is a danger of not going bankrupt if you get sick on vacation.
Trump could issue a lot scary travel advisories for different countries.
jl
@tokyokie: Oh no. Trump travel advisories about squat toilets around the world. Please don’t. He’ll get re-elected by a landslide. But Trump authoritarian buddy Erdogan won’t like it, so it won’t happen.
Baud
@tokyokie:
What happens in the subway bathrooms?
Major Major Major Major
@Baud: beats me, I’ve never had trouble with them.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
If you’re unlucky, drunk Japanese people puking by you.
Chyron HR
@Baud:
Get to Know Your Japanese Bathroom Ghosts
Jay
Baud
@Chyron HR:
I learn so much on this site.
Baud
@Jay:
Backstory?
Jay
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Kid Rock said Taylor Swift wanted to be a liberal just so she could become a movie star. He used some vulgar terminology.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
From Cole’s twitter:
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Thanks. Taylor Swift is a movie star?
Jay
@Baud:
Piling on Wussolinni’s insane Hollywood twitter rage fest by trying to dunk on Taylor Swift with a mysogenist tweet, so he’s getting piled on and ratio’d.
And the Taylor Swift fans are never going to stop until he quits twitter.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Did Taylor Swift do something decent recently that set him off?
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Pop singer.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
I think she’s expressed some pro-LGBTQ sentiments or something.
joel hanes
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
You still coordinate with social services.
The cruelty is the point.
I am so done with fascists and their enablers.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Worth every penny of that Platinum-level subscription, eh?
Jay
@Baud:
Singer. Was a Nazi/Chan/stan fantasy girl for a long while until she blew up twitter and media by disavowing the Reich, Wussolinni and standing with Pride.
jl
@Chyron HR: ” Get to Know Your Japanese Bathroom Ghosts ”
Trump travel warning for Ireland in order too: leprechauns. And I think Iceland is infested with trolls.
Trump will keep us safe around the world.
Gin & Tonic
@zhena gogolia: Actually quite an expert in IT security, too.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
How uncivil.
@Gin & Tonic:
Best dime I’ve ever spent.
Raven
@JPL: not on the way, 441 all the way and Helen sucks.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
That I didn’t know about.
Another Scott
@zhena gogolia: Twitter:
Hehe.
(via commiegirl1)
Cheers,
Scott.
jl
@zhena gogolia: ” I think she’s expressed some pro-LGBTQ sentiments or something. ”
Taylor Swift has been slowly coming out politically, and it turns out that in many ways, she is a dirty liberal. At least she is now.
Her lib stance on LGBTQ has been known for quite a while. Did some pro gun control charity events earlier this year.
Said she didn’t speak up for HRC since given proclivities of Trump, she wasn’t sure it would have helped. I guess hinting she won’t be quiet in 2020.
So, a google ‘Taylor Swift politics’ brings up all this recent stuff on first page.
Taylor Swift and Beyonce are supposed to be big buddies and hang out all the time. Maybe they’ll do that long promised duo at a political rally?
I can see why that would scare some GOP political hacks.
scav
As though Trump’s base travels internationally.
Insurance companies will love it though as they can avoid paying out claims. Profit!
Jay
Good thread.
JMG
I guarantee that within two years the law of the land will be that campaign contributions not only can be, but must be secret. Rich people cannot be held to any standards. That’s just morality.
Jay
@jl:
Because of her looks, age and her past silence, the Nazis turned her into their Meme Girlfriend and ‘chan-ned her for years,
So standing up with Pride was a huge FU to the deplorables.
Amir Khalid
@zhena gogolia:
A Hollywood producer would probably jump at the chance to have Taylor Swift in his movie.
jl
@Jay: It was always an absurd and pathetic search for a big star they could believe was on their side. Her stance on LGBTQ rights has been known for years. And kind of hard to see how a secret white supremacist and Beyonce could be besties.
And, also, too, they have Kid Rock and Ted Nugent, and don’t understand why they weren’t enough for them.
Jay
@JMG:
If rich people want to keep their maxing out to Campaigns quiet, there’s a #50 number for that.
They don’t.
The whole purpose of maxing out to specific Campaigns is to curry favour, virtue signal and gain access across a broad front of politicians. If their donations are kept secret, then they lose that “pull” with Politicians they have not directly bought.
zhena gogolia
@Amir Khalid:
She’s in Cats!
mrmoshpotato
3) He couldn’t beat a baked potato at a game of checkers
Oh Hoarse! LOL
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
You would like the potato joke.
AThornton
@Jay:
But a customer can still buy semi-auto M-16’s down in Sporting Goods.
Fuck Walmart
Chetan Murthy
@Joe Falco:
From Frank Wilhoit, a perennial lovely summary of unspeakable evil:
Via Brad Delong: https://www.bradford-delong.com/2018/12/frank-wilhoit-the-travesty-of-liberalism.html
These fuckers only know how to kick down.
Jay
Chetan Murthy
@Jeffro:
And FURTHERMORE, the fucking SCOTUS told us all that INDEED the transparency of the Internet would ensure that those people who used their money as “speech” would be known to voters/citizens, so that there was nothing nefarious going on.
It’s like [with apologies for the rape scenario, but it’s the first that comes to mind, and maybe that’s a sign of the remnants of my misogny] “you can’t test my DNA against that rape kit — that’s an invasion of my privacy!”
Fuuuuuck.
Jay
Notice any kind of pattern there?
Jay
@Chetan Murthy:
Because they are being hoisted on their own petards, they are whinging about it and the FTFNYT syncophants have their “back”,
Whaaaaaa all the way home.
Theres more boycotts coming.
Repatriated
@TenguPhule:
Predict?
I wouldn’t be surprised if someone’s been trying to figure out how use it to induce mass shootings…
Mary G
Respite thread:
delk
Kid Rock’s only hit was in 1998 so I guess he’s more current than Ted Nugent.
Major Major Major Major
@Chyron HR: haha I remember reading that!
FelonyGovt
My friend who is liberal but not at all engaged in day to day news or politics told me she was outraged by the insensitivity of Trump’s photo ops in El Paso. I think (hope) he is beginning to turn people off, big time.
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia:
“Kid who?”
–Most of America, all of the rest of the world.
Jay
@Repatriated:
Social media has already been used to incite mass shootings, by ISIL and Nazis.
Deplatforming works.
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
Kid Rock’s genre, rap-rock, has been passé for 15 years at least. He’s just another middle-aged has-been envious of a younger, more talented (ETA: and not skeevy looking) singer in the prime of her success.
cain
@Aziz, light!:
Iit’s not safe man.. the food is addicting. You’ll never be the same.
sukabi
Late to the party, but let me shed a tear that a bunch of racist billionaire assholes’ cover has been blown and they’re feeling a bit uncomfortable. ? ?????????
Jay
jonas
Ross is supposedly “shocked” at the backlash? Do these billionaire CEO types really live in such fucking hermetically sealed bubbles that they don’t understand how anyone who’s not a gun-collecting truck driver from the panhandle of Oklahoma hates Trump? Why are clueless idiots like this allowed to run the world?
Jay
Repatriated
@Jay: I’m thinking of something a bit more specific: targeting people who fit the social media micro-demographics of mass shooters, then saturating them with tailored ads and bot-generated content to push them over the edge. Basically, a micro-targeted ad campaign to turn the unhinged into outright evil.
The worrisome aspect is that it might be difficult to distinguish from a legitimate political advertising campaign.
J R in WV
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Many years ago wife and I drove through Gatlinburg, after our wedding, and a honeymoon at my Grandma’s farmhouse, on the way to my duty-station. It wasn’t bad, really touristy.
But since then there was a huge wild fire that destroyed much of both communities. So the level of touristy may be much higher than it was 47 years ago. Or 48… summer of 1971…
Jay
chris
@Mary G: A lovely story, thank you!
Jay
@jonas:
Yes, the “job creator billionaire” class is used to only free blowjobs from the MSM and other elites,
And not consequences from their lessers.
jonas
@JMG: If it’s anonymity they want they can 1. donate less than the max or 2. donate all they want to a dark money PAC (remember Citizens United?) They wanted to max out in a direct campaign donation in order to look like high rollers and gain access. Of course that was before it probably dawned on them that being on a Trump donation list was going to be the equivalent of having your name turn up on a NAMBLA database or something.
Jay
@Repatriated:
It’s already been done. Youtube algorythms will take you from a Ben Shapiro “white pride” vid to full metal mass shooter Nazi in as little as 18 autoplay suggestions.
Jeffro
Dem candidates, if you can’t make hay out of “they want to funnel money to trumpov, quietly, so that you’ll never know who is supporting this racist!”, then you…well, you might just be Dems. This time around, let’s be Super-Dems!
Seriously. Bankrupt these clowns (or at least cost them an hour or two of their net worth). Big business or small, hi-tech or local store…people should know who’s propping up this Extremely Minority* Government.
*offered unironically at first and then yeah I realized…any help with phrasing would be appreciated…
Gin & Tonic
@jonas:
I know quite a few dudes from the well-off NYC or DC suburbs, with post-college professional or academic degrees who are all-in for Trump. You may think it’s just the hayseeds, but it’s not.
chris
This’ll fix it. Or something.
gwangung
@Amir Khalid:
from John Rogers, he of Leverage and the 27% crazification number:
jonas
@Amir Khalid:
Lol. Maybe he’s pissed that Lil Nas X, an openly gay black country-rap crossover artist is currently the biggest thing in the music world and that all he has to show for the past couple of years is a stupid-ass photo op in the Oval Office with Trump and his thumbs-up shit-eating gin pose. Winning!
tokyokie
@Baud: The subway and JR station restrooms were unbelievably nasty and never had toilet paper while I was living there. But Majorx4 has probably experienced them more recently than I have. Still, the restrooms in department stores are immaculate and have toilets so modern you can’t figure out what all the buttons do.
Jeffro
@Jay: Can I contribute to a lawsuit to be brought against the plant owners, for not properly vetting their employees, on behalf of the supposedly suffering American people? “WE HAD NO IDEA CHEAP GROCERIES WERE GONNA COST US OUR FREEDUMB!”
I’m surprised someone doesn’t file a (tongue-in-cheek) suit for all the American workers who apparently weren’t able to take these amazingly wonderful jobs with great pay and benefits. Can I contribute to that?
It’s ridiculous. It was clearly done to provide trumpov with campaign fodder. Where is even one American who’s like, “dang straight…if it weren’t for all these undocumented workers, I’d be able to slaughter and dress animal carcasses for next to nothing per hour for 12 hours/day?”
Jay
jonas
@Gin & Tonic: Oh I don’t doubt a lot of rich country club assholes these guys hang around with a lot are all-in for Trump (mostly for the tax cuts and deregulation). I was talking about assuming that their customer base — outside really red areas of the country — wouldn’t mind him supporting Trump.
Jay
jonas
@Jeffro: I guarantee you they — well, their lawyers in any case — are standing there now explaining to ICE and the Labor Dept. that they used independent labor contractors to supply workers who *said* they vetted each employee and everything and they had no role in verifying their legal status and all this has just caught them completely by surprise and yada yada yada. This is how it works virtually across the entire agricultural sector as well. Fly-by-night “labor contracting” outfits bus the workers in, pretend they’ve been through e-verify and everything, take their fees and disappear again. That’s why no employers are ever held accountable for hiring undocumented workers.
Jay
@Jeffro:
You can contribute to help out the workers and familys with their immediate needs, from food and shelter to legal assistance,
You can contribute your body, voice and vote to shutting down CBP/ICE.
If you have no money, you can use a pair of wirecutters to cut off the valve stems on at least two tires on any ICE/CBD vehicles you encounter.
Gin & Tonic
@jonas: You’re missing the point. Look at the demographics. The median Trump voter is an upper-middle-aged, well-educated middle-class white guy in the suburbs. It’s not the oxy-addicted high-school dropout who was laid off from his coal-mining job 12 years ago.
Gin & Tonic
@Jay:
That’s a really good way to get arrested.
Jay
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Lady Gaga’s movie was a big box office hit, so given the right material, Taylor would sell beaucoup tickets.
The Most Followed Accounts on Twitter
Katy Perry (107.8m followers)
Barack Obama (107.7m followers) …
Justin Bieber (106.2m followers) …
Rihanna (92.7m followers) …
Taylor Swift (84.1m followers) …
danielx
@MisterForkbeard:
Well, yes, that would be exactly what TFNYT would expect and prefer Dems to do. It’s just so rude when the hoi polloi vote with their dollars; smacks of populism. And we all know how the Times feels about populism. It’s just so boring, except for populist Trumpistas, with which the Times remains totally fascinated.
God, what utter horseshit. Plutocrats for Trump are embarrassed at being outed as Trump donors? Embarrassment and public shame and, maybe, a fraction of a percentage point shaved off their net worth? Starving and without a curtain rod, they should be.
Jay
@Gin & Tonic:
Hundreds are getting arrested every day.
What’s that dudes poem,……. oh yeah,….
Funny thing was, he learned that lesson the hard way.
jonas
@Gin & Tonic: I’ve seen slightly different statistics, with the “average” Trump voter being a middle-aged white male with more — but not much more — than a high school diploma and somewhat above the median income. To me, that’s a guy with an AA or vocational certification (i.e. contractor or truck driver/equipment operator) making 60-70k a year. Of course below that you have the unemployed coal miners and above that the asshole right-wing lawyers, corporate lobbyists, and the like. The big picture, though, is that Trump is quite unpopular and doing thumbs-up photo ops with orphaned babies whose parents were killed by a guy inspired by his own rhetoric ain’t helping.
Jay
Jeffro
@jonas: Good point, and another point Dems need to make: “GOP donors who hire lots of undocumented workers use middlemen (or ‘cut-outs’) to escape accountability. Let’s make sure the next administration, MY administration, holds them accountable. Better yet, hold them accountable AND bring all these hard-working folks into the system, so that they can find a path to citizenship. Why not? They’re already paying taxes. They already commit fewer crimes than average. We’re going after the wrong guys here!”.
Jay
Jay
Jay
@Jeffro:
The problem is, the US “cheap food” system is built on slave labour.
If you pay the slaves living wages, the precariate, 60% of Americans, can’t afford to eat.
Repatriated
@Jay: That’s a slightly different path, but those who followed that autoplay chain to the end would be potential targets to incite.
Jay
Funny that,…..
Jay
@Repatriated:
Where do you think your Nazi shooters have come from?
You need to get up to speed with the tons of research and data mining the anti-facist data nerds have been doing for almost a decade.
Sally
@Gin & Tonic: Sometimes the sobriquet fits spiritually.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Jay: I wonder if McCabe is in some 2 AM parking garage leaking all these materials.
Jay
How to deal with security cameras,
Jay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
It’s not McCabe.
Ruckus
@Joe Falco:
Some time ago I seem to recall, when I was an employer, that we had to report everyone we hired. That of course was a paperwork nightmare of no proportions at all, I believe it was one piece of paper, and it took about 15 seconds to deal with. However the squeals of horror from the conservative business owners who wanted no immigrants or non white people, but for whom actually doing anything about it that might cost them less than it cost to piss and moan about it raised holly hell and we no longer had to do anything. I believe this was durning Ronnie’s rein of dementia. I had employees who would have had to leave the states if they hadn’t been in the country long enough. One had been here and could prove it was about a week before than the deadline date.
Ksmiami
@Jay: why would anyone shop at Walmart- stores are crappy, employees are mistreated and the money ends up in the hands of the worthless Walton heirs.
Ruckus
@Jeffro:
Low number tumbrel line runners should be shot with an assault rifle of their choice. One standard full clip per runner.
Fuck’em.
Ruckus
@jl:
To a certain point, yes they do. That doesn’t make them logical or reasonable. It makes them expect that they can do any thing they want and get away with it. Privilege is the word and the expectation because of the money. Just like trump expected to be able to get away with all his shit because people thought he had money. People thinking you have money can get you a long ways in this world, enough of them finding out you don’t and didn’t have anywhere near the money you claim wipes out all that privilege bought with bullshit.
Ruckus
@TS (the original):
They got conned by trump. That is what they don’t want people to know, not that they are easy marks, but stupid ones.
Bill Arnold
@Jay:
I approve of those owls. :-)
Spotting cams is the interesting bit. With awareness wide, it can be surprisingly easy and fun.
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic:
Atlanta, too. It’s fucked up.
Steve in the ATL
@jonas:
Just so we’re clear, I’m an asshole left-wing lawyer
Steve in the ATL
@Ksmiami:
In many areas, Walmart has run off all the local stores and there is nowhere else to shop. It’s fucked up.
ETA: hat trick–suck on that, TenguPhule!
Just One More Canuck
@gwangung: what about Taylor Swift kicking Kid Rock in the nuts?
TAKE MY MONEY NOW!!!!!!