Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The words do not have to be perfect.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

This blog will pay for itself.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

I was promised a recession.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

The willow is too close to the house.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Late Night Open Thread: A Truly *Professional* Grifter Takes No Holidays

Late Night Open Thread: A Truly *Professional* Grifter Takes No Holidays

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Give Ben Domenech due credit — he started grifting for the GOP while in high school, networked his way from the NRO online and RedState through the Heartland Institute into ‘publishing’ The Federalist (funder officially unidentified). And he’s married to John McCain’s daughter — since Meghan’s mommy is a billionaire beer heiress, neither she nor Ben would ever have to work for a living, if they didn’t take pride in their work ethic. (Or at least need a public outlet for their grievances & insecurities.)

Whining about the NYTimes’ 1619 Project has become the latest masturbatory group-grievance for the ‘intellectual’ branch of the Wingnut Wurlitzer, and by Prosperity Jesus, where there’s a grievance to be milked, Mr. Domenech is on it!

Reader Interactions

86Comments

  1. 1.

    danielx

    I’d say Ben Domenech is the doucherocket’s doucherocket, but there are so many contenders for the title.

  3. 3.

    The Moar You Know

    since Meghan’s mommy is a billionaire beer heiress, neither she nor Ben would ever have to work for a living, if they didn’t take pride in their work ethic. (Or at least need a public outlet for their grievances & insecurities.)

    What those motherfuckers do isn’t  work and it’s an insult to anyone who does to refer to it as such.

  6. 6.

    Misterpuff

    Chapter 3  The Bustling Young Nation Disregarded their Ideals of Property Rights and Evicted the Native Americans Because …

  9. 9.

    Yarrow

    AL, you saw this, right?

    Me: People should stop caricaturing Boston.

    Boston: A man from Southie stole a truck loaded with $10,000 in lobsters, prompting another lobster truck to give chase, resulting in a crash between the two lobster trucks. https://t.co/8tHAXgqv9R

    — Jason Schwartz (@JasonSchwartz) December 18, 2019

    Article is linked.

  10. 10.

    ThresherK

    @NotMax: You don’t have to go there, as I trust at least one of the Lil’ Bens will. And then complain “Why can’t I say ‘Indian giver’?”

  13. 13.

    Anne Laurie

    @Yarrow: Too easy — especially since it crossed my attention at the same time as the tweet about the MA therapy dog stealing toys from the donations bin!

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    @Omnes Omnibus: Lets begin again, begin the begin….

    I went with Spawn the Younger and SuzMom to see Cats this afternoon. It was not good, but it was fun…and even more importantly, it was not samey-same. The CGI fur was a bad choice. Would have been better to have them in leotards and furry leg warmers.

  16. 16.

    Splitting Image

    Domenich plagiarized at the Post, was forced to apologize after calling Kagan the “first openly gay justice” (she isn’t gay),

     

    That was Domenech? I remember Andrew Sullivan read it somewhere on the internet and spent the next month writing daily screeds about how Kagan had to either confess or withdraw her nomination. That was when I quit reading him. Didn’t know he picked it up from that guy.

    Not sure Sullivan ever apologized. (Ah, who am I kidding?)

  19. 19.

    cmorenc

    It was groucho marx who quipped: “i have principles! And if you don’t like them – well, i have others”

  21. 21.

    Anne Laurie

    @Splitting Image: Not gonna bother looking it up, but IIRC, Domenech’s most cogent argument was that Judge-to-be Kagan was known to have played softball, in a decade when only lesbian women played softball!!!

    Andrew Sullivan wouldn’t have accepted that kind of reasoning from some short-haired leftwing woman person, but Ben is a personable young fella with excellent grooming habits, ergo an Interesting Question Raiser.

    TBH, being a personal young fella with excellent grooming seems to be the root of Ben’s greatest successes, assuming the rumors about the funder of the Federalist are true…

  27. 27.

    debbie

    Conservatives no longer need to belong to Yale’s Skull and Bones Society to prove themselves; they instead need to prove they can plagarize.

  29. 29.

    Suzanne

    @Yarrow: Totally. Like…. Cats is bonkers, which one would know if they saw the stage musical. The songs are meh and the plot is minimal, but the dancing and the set pieces are impressive. If one goes into it with that attitude, I think one will have an enjoyable time.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @Suzanne: Do we know anymore about what’s up with the job and the counter offer?  Last I heard there were multiple things that would have to fall into place for the counter offer thing to work out?

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @Suzanne:

    Andrew Sullivan should be ashamed of himself.

    You could say that any day of the week, and it would be true.  Did he do something in particular or was that just for good measure?

  35. 35.

    Yarrow

    @NotMax:  Hilarious. I haven’t seen the film so don’t know what might apply, but also a ball of yarn, laser pointers, a can opener, catnip…

  39. 39.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @danielx:

    Also, the title of the the Federalist’s “project” alone is petty as hell. I mean, “1620”? Talk about one-upping!

    Saw this article about the 1619 Project:

    The Fight Over the 1619 Project Is Not About the Facts

    From the Atlantic by Adam Serwer:

    The reaction to the project was not universally enthusiastic. Several weeks ago, the Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, who had criticized the 1619 Project’s “cynicism” in a lecture in November, began quietly circulating a letter objecting to the project, and some of Hannah-Jones’s work in particular. The letter acquired four signatories—James McPherson, Gordon Wood, Victoria Bynum, and James Oakes, all leading scholars in their field. They sent their letter to three top Times editors and the publisher, A. G. Sulzberger, on December 4. A version of that letter was published on Friday, along with a detailed rebuttal from Jake Silverstein, the editor of the Times Magazine.

    The letter sent to the Times says, “We applaud all efforts to address the foundational centrality of slavery and racism to our history,” but then veers into harsh criticism of the 1619 Project. The letter refers to “matters of verifiable fact” that “cannot be described as interpretation or ‘framing’” and says the project reflected “a displacement of historical understanding by ideology.” Wilentz and his fellow signatories didn’t just dispute the Times Magazine’s interpretation of past events, but demanded corrections.

    In the age of social-media invective, a strongly worded letter might not seem particularly significant. But given the stature of the historians involved, the letter is a serious challenge to the credibility of the 1619 Project, which has drawn its share not just of admirers but also critics.

    Nevertheless, some historians who declined to sign the letter wondered whether the letter was intended less to resolve factual disputes than to discredit laymen who had challenged an interpretation of American national identity that is cherished by liberals and conservatives alike.

    “I think had any of the scholars who signed the letter contacted me or contacted the Times with concerns [before sending the letter], we would’ve taken those concerns very seriously,” Hannah-Jones said. “And instead there was kind of a campaign to kind of get people to sign on to a letter that was attempting really to discredit the entire project without having had a conversation.”

    Underlying each of the disagreements in the letter is not just a matter of historical fact but a conflict about whether Americans, from the Founders to the present day, are committed to the ideals they claim to revere. And while some of the critiques can be answered with historical fact, others are questions of interpretation grounded in perspective and experience.

    In fact, the harshness of the Wilentz letter may obscure the extent to which its authors and the creators of the 1619 Project share a broad historical vision. Both sides agree, as many of the project’s right-wing critics do not, that slavery’s legacy still shapes American life—an argument that is less radical than it may appear at first glance. If you think anti-black racism still shapes American society, then you are in agreement with the thrust of the 1619 Project, though not necessarily with all of its individual arguments.

    The clash between the Times authors and their historian critics represents a fundamental disagreement over the trajectory of American society. Was America founded as a slavocracy, and are current racial inequities the natural outgrowth of that? Or was America conceived in liberty, a nation haltingly redeeming itself through its founding principles? These are not simple questions to answer, because the nation’s pro-slavery and anti-slavery tendencies are so closely intertwined.

    The letter is rooted in a vision of American history as a slow, uncertain march toward a more perfect union. The 1619 Project, and Hannah-Jones’s introductory essay in particular, offer a darker vision of the nation, in which Americans have made less progress than they think, and in which black people continue to struggle indefinitely for rights they may never fully realize. Inherent in that vision is a kind of pessimism, not about black struggle but about the sincerity and viability of white anti-racism. It is a harsh verdict, and one of the reasons the 1619 Project has provoked pointed criticism alongside praise.

    Americans need to believe that, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, the arc of history bends toward justice. And they are rarely kind to those who question whether it does.

    I remember reading The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist a few years ago for an Early American history class. I highly recommend it. It showed how slavery was not a pre-modern institution, but helped build modern capitalism in America as we know it, as well as the US itself 

  44. 44.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Posted on the thread below and nominated for the rotating tagline:

    The DNC server is in West By God Virginia!

    What does everybody think of this?

  48. 48.

    Jay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    LGM had a recent post up that noted that American Exceptionalism blinds many to the US’s actual history in the world and Doltus’s Regime is leaving much of that bare.

    http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/12/the-true-infinity-war

    I grew up in the Maritimes. In my day in school, we learned that the “First” Loyalists, brought their slaves with them. We learned about the Annapolis Valley, the Nashwaksis peoples, even the Riel Rebellion was taught with balance.

    Moved out West in my teens and all of a sudden, “history” was political, not accurate, a Settler Hailography.

  54. 54.

    Cameron

    He also plagiarized Jonah Goldberg columns.  How low does one have to go to hork up ersatz Pantload?

  55. 55.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jay:

    To be fair, the US isn’t that different that a lot of nations and civilizations throughout history. Everybody has skeletons in their closet. That of course doesn’t excuse America’s atrocities.

    However, a world without the US in it probably wouldn’t be a world worth living in. On balance, it’s probably been a force for good at times. Imagine if the Axis Powers had won WW2? Or if the USSR had managed to conquer all of mainland Europe instead of just the eastern half?

    The US will probably prove to better than the PRC will be, at any rate. Sure, it’s all “Belts and Roads” now, but every empire abuses it’s position eventually, often sooner rather than later. Xi has proven he doesn’t give a damn about the human rights of his own citizens, including those of foreign nations. To him, power is the only thing that matters. And that’s terrifying.

    On Quora, a lot of questions critical of China’s human rights record (including one asking if China is an evil empire) have a lot of answers by individuals with Chinese names from the Mainland. Mostly a lot of whataboutism about the US’ treatment of undocumented immigrants and whinging about evil Western imperialism, all with the implication that whatever the Chinese state does is justified.

    I’m sure disagreeing with your country’s leaders’ policies but still being patriotic is a foreign concept to some of these people. These are probably Chinese government agents, but who knows. I imagine that if the 2019 internet existed during the Cold War, you’d have similar responses from Soviet citizens.

    The PRC and similar states (Russia) disgust me. They’re totalitarian nightmares and they’re exporting authoritarianism to us, combined with homegrown efforts. I just feel like humanity is building a cage for itself from which it will never escape

  56. 56.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    These are probably Chinese government agents, but who knows.

    Given what we know about the operation of the Chinese Internet, it’s a fair guess that that’s what they are.  I know that the Chinese immigrants I’ve met in the US, have much more ….. realistic ideas of the PRC.

  58. 58.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Yup. On a related note, Xi and Saudi Prince Bonesaw are best buddies. Earlier this year, Bonesaw spoke out in support of the PRC’s ethnic cleansing of Muslim minorities, saying that China “has the right to conduct anti-terrorism operations”. They’re both fucking pieces of worthless shit, including Putin. Who or what holds these people accountable?

    The issues facing the world are becoming too dire for people like them to remain in charge. Bolsonaro is letting the Amazon burn; practically all life on Earth relies on the Amazon rain forest to live. At what point does human civilization’s survival (humanity’s survival as a species, in fact) override national sovereignty?

    Humanity is the only known intelligent species in the universe. Earth is the only known planet to support life. Don’t these evil assholes think there is any intrinsic value, beyond self-preservation, in saving humanity and Earth? That we have a moral imperative to preserve the universe’s only known intelligent species as well as the Earth’s ability to sustain life?

  60. 60.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    That we have a moral imperative to preserve the universe’s only known intelligent species as well as the Earth’s ability to sustain life?

    Not that it makes it any easier for -us-, but life will be fine.  Seriously.  We might end up wiping out all large animals on land and sea, but regardless, in a few hundred million years nature will have bounced back with a whole new set.  Probably no intelligent life, but then ….. we haven’t done such a great job after all.

  62. 62.

    mrmoshpotato

    A very good experiment is if DineshDSouzaFelon runs for office, I give you 100% odds he will commit a felony and go to prison. https://t.co/lkl8PzqhDG— Kimberley Johnson (@AuthorKimberley) December 27, 2019

    LOL Edited a bit because I won’t soil the blog with that felon’s handle. And to call him a felon.

  63. 63.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Chetan Murthy:

    but regardless, in a few hundred million years nature will have bounced back with a whole new set.

    Wikipedia says around 10 million years, but I see your point. Multi-cellular life on Earth only has between 800 million to 1.2 billion years left. By 1.2 billion, a complex biosphere will become unsustainable. Another reason why humanity needs to escape this rock eventually.

    I just think it’s bullshit that mad men like Xi, Putin, and Trump are stealing humanity’s collective future. They don’t deserve power.

  64. 64.

    Jay

    @NotMax:

    in BC, Sask, Alberta, I understand it.

    Sask and Alberta are Treaty Provinces. The Indiginous Peoples got robbed of their title to the the land and much of the resources for an annual payment of $5 and 2 smallpox laden HBC blankets, then of course, the resources they didn’t give up, ( eg. buffalo) were wiped out via loopholes, then Indian Affairs sold off vast chunks of their reserves, like most of Calgary, for pennies.

    BC was too cheap to even do that, so, when the Courts decided to start upholding the Law, rather than White Supremacy in the late 1970’s, surprise, surprise, the Indiginous People still technically owned 99.9% of the land and the resources.

  65. 65.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jay:

    My comment up above didn’t rub you the wrong way, did it? I hope I didn’t come across as an apologist or anything

  66. 66.

    Jay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    outside of America, as they say, “opinions differ”.

    Canada paid off the last of the US WWII loans in 1978. 2.8% adds up when prime was 1.3%.

    More so when 1.1 million served, out of 11 million.

    the US “made” $52 billion in profits, ( profits, not cost, not revinue) as the “Arsenal of Democracy” in WWII.

    Back then, the US had 18 billionaires, ( adjusted for inflation), it now has 607.

    then, yunno, 9/11.

  68. 68.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jay:

    I totally understand. The US doesn’t always act out of pure motives all the time. Neither does any other country, now and throughout history. I fear that’s both the nature of power and humanity. We haven’t advanced as socially as we have technologically as a species.

    However, at the end of the day, it’s still preferable to a world ruled by Nazi Germany, the Empire of Japan, the Italian Empire, or the USSR, warts and all.

    We had an opportunity after WW2 to truly build a utopia for everyone the world over. To reach beyond the confines of our planet to the stars. But human nature got in the way of that and we blew it.

    @Jay:

    ”43% Less evil than Stalin”, not the best marketing campaign.

    It’s not. I wish we could’ve done better. Evil elites along with enough of other evil or otherwise apathetic/selfish voters helped bring this world about.

    I really don’t mean to come off an as apologist, but you yourself admitted that Canada screwed over natives, too.

    Being racist, evil conquerors is unfortunately a very universal and human experience.

    I just think that the US and it’s allies have done some good. I don’t claim that it has a spotless record. Only an Archie Bunker slob waving a flag would think it does. I wished we could’ve been better. I wish we could be better. The only thing I can do is work to make sure we are better. I’m sincerely sorry that my country took advantage of yours. It was wrong

  70. 70.

    Jay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    the US was really good at selling the “ideal”,

    less so when you know, when the Soviets failed.

    sadly the 1958 Canadian causualties in Afghanistan were just lives thrown in a trash can.

    thing is, going back a long long time, you have what is right, and what is wrong. It’s not rocket science. One of the many reason’s I can’t travel to the US anymore, or visit Alberta.

  72. 72.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Jay:

    thing is, going back a long long time, you have what is right, and what is wrong. It’s not rocket science. One of the many reason’s I can’t travel to the US anymore, or visit Alberta.

    Absolutely. Power corrupts unfortunately. I wish it wasn’t that way, you know?

    I do want you to know I respect your input here and appreciate the tweets and articles you share in your comments : )

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    @WaterGirl: No update right now. My company is closed between Xmas and New Year’s. The counteroffer is actually part of some bigger moves for the company, so there won’t be any action this week.

  77. 77.

    Amir Khalid

    @Amir Khalid:

    I see. Najib paid for a smear canpaign against Anwar Ibrahim. I guess it didn’t work. Anwar is now PM in waiting, and Najib is looking like a guy who’s going to die in jail.

  78. 78.

    TriassicSands

    1) Anyone who thinks Domenich will have high standards must themselves be high…very, very high.

    2) Or maybe just stupid…very, very stupid.

    3) Or maybe just a Republican (see 2).

  81. 81.

    TriassicSands

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    The US will probably* prove to better than the PRC..

    That will depend on the defeat of Trump and the Republican Party. If Trump is reelected and is succeeded but Trumpist Republicans, the damage this country will do will be immeasureable. It’s already likely to take decades before we can repair the devastation caused by Trump’s judicial appointees — and even if he loses in November, there will be many more appointments before he leaves office. And there is still the very real possibility of Trump getting one or even two more SCOTUS seats.

    In what will be the greatest demonstration of congressional hypocrisy in our history, McConnell has made it clear that if a seat opens up on the high court in the election year, he will fill it and not with Merrick Garland.

     

    * And, yes, you said “probably.” Think how sad it is that there could be any question about the U.S. being “better” than China.

  82. 82.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @Amir Khalid:

    Between May 2008 until April 2011, [Josh Trevino] was paid $389,000 by the “Government of Malaysia, its ruling party, or interests closely aligned with either”.[8][9]

    His work was to organize a covert opinion campaign against former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. None of those involved with the campaign disclosed that the funds paid were provided by the government of Malaysia. Treviño in turn made payments of up to $36,000 to several conservative American opinion writers who went on to write pro-government pieces on behalf of Malaysia, including his former employer Chuck DeVore, Claire Berlinski, Ben Domenech, Rachel Ehrenfeld and Brad Jackson.[8] Outlets in which their work appeared included the Huffington Post, the San Francisco Examiner, the Washington Times, National Review, and RedState.com.[8]

    Domenech needs to be reminded regularly that he was a prostitute and Trevino was his pimp.

  83. 83.

    m.j.

    During the last presidential election cycle Ben Domenech along with Jonah Goldberg were regular contributors on NPR’s Morning Edition. I guess they had political insights that I was supposed to think were worth listening to.

    I will never, ever give a dime of my disposable income to public radio as long as shit-whistles like these are allowed on the air.

  84. 84.

    Another Scott

    @m.j.: NPR and public radio are different things.  You can support your local public station(s) while also letting them (and NPR) know that you think that NPR’s political coverage is badly broken.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  85. 85.

    Adam Geffen

    “Whining about the NYTimes’ 1619 Project has become the latest masturbatory group-grievance for the ‘intellectual’ branch of the Wingnut Wurlitzer”

    I want to comment on this point because, to borrow front page Adam’s phrase, on this I happen to be a subject matter expert. I have a JD and MA in history wherein my graduate studies focused on colonial North America, African American history, the history of slavery law, and US and British constitutional history.

    It is plain that right-wing nuts have latched into criticism of the NYT project. However, the historians referenced in the Atlantic piece are not among those wingnuts. They are the among the top colonial and early US constitutional historians. Their criticisms can’t (and shouldn’t) be dismissed because wingnuts ALSO happen to be criticizing the NYT project. Now, I haven’t had time to do more than skim the Atlantic essay and skim the historians’ letter so I cannot comment substantively.

    My quick take is that what seems to be at issue is what some scholars have dubbed Afro-Pessimism vs more optimistic interpretations of history and historical change. I’m borrowing the term Afro-pessimism especially from Karen Fields and Barbara Fields. African-American scholars of race and racism. One (they are sisters) is a sociologist and the other is an historian. They discuss the concept of Afro-pessimism in depth in an interview on the Jacobin Radio podcast for December 13, 2017. The topic of that interview is their seminal book on racism in America: Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life by Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields.

    So while it may be true that wingnuts are criticizing the NYT project that doesn’t (and shouldn’t) insulate it from legitimate scholarly critiques. Though it does make such critiques more difficult because the wingnuts are flinging poo all about.

     

    Anyway, that’s my 2 cents. :-)

Comments are closed.