Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

The lights are all blinking red.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

The willow is too close to the house.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

You are here: Home / Politics / Information Warfare / Sunday Evening Open Thread: In Hellworld, Mockery Is Our Sharpest Weapon

Sunday Evening Open Thread: In Hellworld, Mockery Is Our Sharpest Weapon

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Meanwhile, Trump has declared that he will declare ‘Antifa’ a terrorist organization. He will also declare ‘wind’ — he calls it ‘the nasty element, very bad, it kills many many birds and causes the windmill cancer’, even apart from its insolent treatment of strong important very manly hair arrangments — a terrorist element, with just as important an effect on tomorrow’s weather as trying to stamp out a mostly non-hierarchical movement by force will have on the anarchists…

Reader Interactions

243Comments

  1. 1.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    YouTube’s homepage this week will feature a black ribbon of solidarity right above the recommended links to videos explaining how coronavirus is a conspiracy to dilute the aryan bloodlines

    As awful as it is that hatred and misinformation thrive on social media, YouTube’s recommendations are based on what you have already been watching*.  So what are you watching Pinboard?

    *FTR: Mine mainly consists of videos about comics, video games, philosophy, vaguely lefty comedy, and video essays about the production of various forms of art.

  2. 2.

    Brachiator

    Meanwhile, Trump has declared that he will declare ‘Antifa’ a terrorist organization.

    Funny thing about that. From CNN

    President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that the United States will designate Antifa as a terrorist organization, even though the US government has no existing legal authority to label a wholly domestic group in the manner it currently designates foreign terrorist organizations.
    Current and former government officials say it would be unconstitutional for the US government to proscribe First Amendment-protected activity inside the US based on simple ideology. US law allows terrorist designations for foreign groups since belonging to those groups doesn’t enjoy the same protections.

    So for now, yeah, it’s pretty much like declaring wind a terrorist element.

  4. 4.

    Starfish

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope:

    His point is that the platforms have a responsibility and that when they measure “engagement” as a positive thing without looking at what type of engagement “positive/negative/conspiracy theories,” it is a problem.

    YouTube also said that it will donate $1 million to the Center for Policing Equity.

  6. 6.

    Geoboy

    @Martin: “Can we paint ‘this machine kills fascists’ on all of the wind turbines now?”  Please don’t.  They’ve already got the most gullible of whack jobs blowing up cell towers because 5G spreads coronavirus, don’tcha know?

  7. 7.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I’ve always disliked Elmo.  It might be because I am the first generation of Sesame Street kids and Elmo is a comparative newcomer, but I like to think it’s because Elmo has always been the Muppet most likely to turn a protest into a looting.  Never trusted that little fucker.

  8. 8.

    Martin

    @Geoboy: That was my favorite until the 40% of Republicans believe that Bill Gates will implant microchips in them through the Covid vaccine. So, we’ll see how that goes.

    Democrats really haven’t exploited republican gullibility enough. ‘Diesel engines cause bullet cancer’ might have solved climate change.

  9. 9.

    zzyzx

    I’ll admit to conflating Antifa and Black Bloc a lot myself as they do seem to have a lot of overlap in Seattle and none of them have ID cards.

    Regardless, I don’t think there’s anyone who goes to protests regularly who doesn’t have a scare anarchist story. Mine was the time I was counter protesting/being a protective buffer for Muslims during a stupid “OMG SHARIA LAW IS COMING!!!” thing. It was going fine and there were like 20 of them and hundreds of us and so we were having interesting conversations and the like…

    …and then some people wearing the Black Bloc uniform (back when masks were rare) figured out a way around the police buffer between the groups. Everyone merged and one of them pulled out a gun.

    Thankfully it deescalated from there, but when you recruit 18 year old males who are itching for a fight, sometimes you get 18 year old males who are itching for a fight…

  10. 10.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Starfish:His point is that the platforms have a responsibility and that when they measure “engagement” as a positive thing without looking at what type of engagement “positive/negative/conspiracy theories,” it is a problem.

    Fair enough, but it isn’t all on YouTube.  There has to be a willing audience for this material.

  11. 11.

    TheOtherHank

    Two Things:

    1) Grover is far superior to Elmo. Elmo taking up time that could be Grover’s is a crime against humanity

    2) I’m so old I remember when we knew that fascists are bad which means we were all anti-fascist.

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    @Geoboy

    As the perimeter of coverage for 5G from a single node is so much more limited, there’s a lot more towers.

    ;)

  22. 22.

    Chyron HR

    Antifa: Someone who believes that no action is too extreme in combating fascism except voting for Democrats.

  23. 23.

    zhena gogolia

    ‘Where is Joe Biden?’ the press howls, as Joe Biden is out in the streets meeting with protesters while the actual President locks himself inside and tweets all day.— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) May 31, 2020

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Elmo has always been the Muppet most likely to turn a protest into a looting.  Never trusted that little fucker.

    I have always liked Elmo, but I truly wish this could become a rotating tag.

  30. 30.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @zhena gogolia: ‘Where is Joe Biden?’ the press howls, as Joe Biden is out in the streets meeting with protesters while the actual President locks himself inside and tweets all day.— Matt McDermott

    The press knows that what matters isn’t the truth, but the message.

  32. 32.

    different-church-lady

    “Christ, there’s no way this timeline can get any worse.”

    [SEES PHOTO OF RIOTER WEARING BARNEY OUTFIT]

    “Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff-uuuuuuuuuuuuuck……”

  35. 35.

    Martin

    @zzyzx: Yeah, dumb shit cancels out a lot of good intentions.

    I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for antifa. I could always count on them to help pull down the white supremacist recruiting materials that would pop up every week. They’d step up and give the Palestinian students a perimeter so they could speak. They’d push the rules pretty hard but we could generally count on them to not do damage.

  36. 36.

    different-church-lady

    @Baud: I’ve seen an op-ed or two regurgitating that crap, but for the most part you’re right: it’s the unholy alliance of the GOP and Bernie dead-enders who are pushing that shit out.

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    Antidisestablishmentfarianism.

    Say/write that three times fast.

    [Please not that I do not have quotation marks around the word “that,” wiseguy. Well, not in the unbracketed sentence, that is.]

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    Shit. Los Angeles has announced a curfew from 6 pm to 6 am.

    We’ve got lockdowns within lockdowns.

     

    ETA. It’s also a bit unnerving to get the alert on my smartphone. But appropriate, I guess.

  41. 41.

    trollhattan

    @Brachiator:

    [Note to self: beer run before sundown.]

    They cleared out the Midtown BevMo last night, making me sad. I wasn’t going to Macy’s in any case.

  43. 43.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    Who has howled that recently in the press?

    Can’t give you a who, but some pundits were chiding Biden about hiding in his basement, sending out news announcements from his basement. I heard some folks on various news channels talk about how the Lockdown had neutralized Biden, and wondered how being out of site would hinder his campaign, while also talking about how Trump was about to spring out of the White House and do his rallies again.

    Local talk radio picked up on the theme of Where’s Biden?

  45. 45.

    jl

    Thanks for the OG Elmo slam dunk. He’s nailed. I’ve always had my eye on that character.

    As for Trump, the more time he spends twitting on the tweeter machine, the better.

    Note: I think confusing twitter and tweeter is a Rick Perry contribution to the English language. I’ve been stealing it. I apologize to all whom I have mislead, but it’s Perry’s fault, and it’s very unfair to me.

    I haven’t been treated fairly.

  46. 46.

    Anya

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope: Sometimes I get rightwing conspiracy videos whenever I watch anything tangentially connected to something that fascinates the wingnuts. Topics that lead me to wingnut/white supremacist channels include: Christchurch shooting, Jeffrey Epstein, Hillary Clinton, Josh Rogan and any conspiracy theory. But if you click on the vids and press “not interested” you will no longer recommended those videos.

  49. 49.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @different-church-lady: Odd use of the word “friend”.

    People with nutty or ill-informed ideas need friends too.  I have my fair share.  And I give them what for every chance I get.

    It’s good for such people to have someone to challenge them.

    @Omnes Omnibus: The message will get out.

    Umm…yes, exactly what I meant.

  52. 52.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Anya:Sometimes I get rightwing conspiracy videos whenever I watch anything tangentially connected to something that fascinates the wingnuts.

    Then I suppose I should just consider myself lucky I haven’t had the dubious pleasure of such recommendations.  The nuttiest nutter on my recommendations is Bill Maher.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Grouchy primarily because he’s the one whom The Count feeds on. That metal container isn’t just protection from the rain.

    :)

  54. 54.

    jl

    @Anya:

    ” But if you click on the vids and press “not interested” you will no longer recommended those videos. ”

    That actually works? I am so suspicious and cynical I just get rid of junk asap, never respond to any requests for info or reasons.

    For some reason, I am getting a lot of Trumpster bait  lately and libertarian pitches. Maybe because I read a lot of economics and finance stuff. I may be prejudiced but they mostly so stupid and childish and transparent, really amazed me anyone would respond to them.

    Standard issue ‘get fit and shredded while eating potato chips and watching TV with this one weird trick’ ads are much more sophisticated at their social engineering.

  56. 56.

    FelonyGovt

    Did I just hear that Shitgibbon is being moved to an underground bunker? Can they leave him there?
    My daughter has been with her girlfriend in West Hollywood and is now high tailing it home before the (just announced) 6 PM curfew. 

  57. 57.

    different-church-lady

    @FelonyGovt: OK, OK, somewhere in BJ’s past I put down a marker that Trump would be the first president to be dragged from the White House by a mob… now I just gotta find it…

  59. 59.

    Martin

    @Chyron HR: Most of the antifa students I know their presidential preference aren’t any more to the left of the group. I mean, college student trend VERY heavily for Bernie, but there was a lot of support for Harris and Warren in there. Antifa isn’t particularly anticapitalist, in terms of what I’ve seen (I’m sure that varies a lot.) They mostly oppose white supremacy and state violence enough to risk getting arrested for throwing punches. Ideologically, they’re pretty much just Democrats from what I’ve seen. I think you’d be surprised which students are in antifa.

    Now, the Black Bloc is a different story entirely.

  60. 60.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    I remember it was a theme in the media a couple of months ago.

    There are some local talk radio personalities here who pretend to be neutral, but who pick this stuff up and then beat it to death.

  61. 61.

    different-church-lady

    @Baud: He’s totally popular with me. It’s just that he doesn’t have Mini-Grouch bogarting up his spotlight.

  63. 63.

    Eural Joiner

    Just came across this gem:

    “While no one condones looting, on the other hand, one can understand the pent-up feelings that may result from decades of repression and people who have had members of their family killed by that regime, for them to be taking their feelings out on that regime,” he said. “And I don’t think there’s anyone in any of those pictures … (who wouldn’t) accept it as part of the price of getting from a repressed regime to freedom.” – Donald Rumsfeld, 2003

  66. 66.

    Cameron

    Trump tried to be fair.  He wanted to put Uncle Fa on the terrorist list, too, but Jared told him it wouldn’t sell.

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    Ah, not just a Los Angeles city curfew. A Los Angeles county curfew. Twenty minutes to go, 6 pm to 6 am.

    I’ve been lazy today, but it’s still odd to be going nowhere and then to get a message saying “don’t go anywhere.”

  69. 69.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m looking at videos of Biden out on the street talking to protesters. Go Joe! Only they’re taking selfies standing shoulder to shoulder. 6 feet apart, Joe!

  71. 71.

    jl

    @Martin:  ‘ soft spot for antifa. I could always count on them to help pull down the white supremacist recruiting materials that would pop up every week. ‘

    I read a twitter feed (sorry no time to find it right now) with screen shots of chat room exchanges, indicating that the black garbed window smashers are mostly from the anti-authoritarian internet troll set, and who do not have any coherent ideological or social agenda.

    At first I was alarmed at the videos of these guys, in fear it was some organized LEO group or gun nuts. But via Josh Marshall’s twitter feed, saw a few videos of these goofoids who got surrounded by real protesters and tried to defend their bullshit. And, they talked like juvenile jackasses.

    If all they do is wander around a quarter mile away from where the protest and riot action is, and smash a few windows in a robotic desultory manner and then run back to their bedrooms, they’ll just be a nuisance. Only a real problem for commercial property insurance industry.

    Shows what happens if your entire life consists of being a fantasy keyboard warrior. That’s my opinion until I see evidence that they have a less inept and juvenile plan, or backed by more serious people

    Edit: so from what I’ve seen, probably not antifa and probably not black bloc, who have shown evidence that they know how to make some real impact in the real world.

  74. 74.

    Brachiator

    @jl:

    ” But if you click on the vids and press “not interested” you will no longer recommended those videos. ”

    That actually works? I am so suspicious and cynical I just get rid of junk asap, never respond to any requests for info or reasons.

    Explicitly saying not interested tends to help refine the algorithm. At least with Google related stuff.

    I know with spam advertising messages, saying not interested confirms that someone is there, and jerk spam merchants would try to be more persistent.

  75. 75.

    Procopius

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yes. As a retired soldier I am in favor of boredom. Boredom is good. If you are being bored you are less likely to experience premature death, or injury. “Bored to death” is a figure of speech. Of course the romantic in me wants to join the protests.

  77. 77.

    Ohio Mom

    My cousin just texted me photos of the demonstration happening right now in her adopted hometown of Great Falls, Montana. Hard to tell but over a hundred people easily. She reports lots of drivers honking their horns in support.

    I find this very heartening. Beyond the agitators and troublemakers (and whatever their motivations), lots of us have our heads and hearts on the right place.

  78. 78.

    JWR

    @FelonyGovt:

    Did I just hear that Shitgibbon is being moved to an underground bunker?

    Yep, you sure did. They broke into the local news a few minutes ago to report that. Reminds me of the Brave, brave Sir Robin bit in the Python’s Holy Grail.

  82. 82.

    Brachiator

    @different-church-lady:

    Ah, this is good: Trump’s finally trying to kill non-Americans

    Sending malaria pills is incredibly foolish, incredibly irresponsible. And the president of Brazil is an imbecile who will use this to hamper more effective treatments.

    Trump is a madman. I cannot believe that there is an American president who deliberately causes worldwide harm as a cheap ego boost.

    It’s like watching a carnival barker in chief push snake oil instead of the polio vaccine.

  85. 85.

    rikyrah

    Trump and advisers calculated that he shouldn’t speak to the nation because he had nothing to say, no tangible policy or action to announce, nor did he feel an urgent motivation to try to bring people together. So he let his tweets speak for themselves. https://t.co/JjcIC8oxiD— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) May 31, 2020

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @japa21:

    Is Eva, I mean Melania, with him?

    From CNN.com: “It’s unclear if first lady Melania Trump and Barron Trump were also taken down with him.”

    Brave Sir Robin indeed.

    But at least Steiner will be coming to save him. “Das war ein Befehl!!“

  93. 93.

    Mike in NC

    I vaguely recalled that Sesame Street had spoofed Fat Bastard but had to look it up: Ronald Grump, who builds a tower from garbage cans.

  94. 94.

    different-church-lady

    The Hoarse Whisperer

    @HoarseWisperer

    Inside the White House Trump is trying to tweet his way out of his humiliating loss of control over the narrative. Outside the White House, a crowd larger than many of his rallies is protesting. (video at the link)

    For years we’ve been wondering what it would take to get people into the streets.

    Looks like maybe the revolution is happening without Bernie.

  97. 97.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    Trump and advisers calculated that he shouldn’t speak to the nation because he had nothing to say, no tangible policy or action to announce, nor did he feel an urgent motivation to try to bring people together. So he let his tweets speak for themselves.

    What an empty, soulless SOB.

  98. 98.

    cain

    What worries me about it is that Trump has his pet Supreme Court people and you know he’ll put an EO out there and his police supporters will act on it and specifically go after everyone that could be construed as “antifa” – which could be anybody. Since antifa is an ideology, there is no organization – it is just basically people showing up to punch some proud boys.

    But this could be all the cover LEOs need to help their buddies – and go after them and fuck them up.

    I think we need to realize that it doesn’t matter if there is no legal force behind it, there will be some way that it can be explained.. you have that asshole Stephen Miller going through everything with a fine tooth comb. We have a willing major political party ready to jump on board on this. I don’t think we should be laughing this off at all. We’ve already seeing our institutions being perverted in front of our eyes.

  99. 99.

    Kathleen

    I hope  I do this right: Gov Walz said DOS attack on state computers last night.

    Gov. Walz says there was a “sophisticated” denial-of-service attack on state computers last night. “That’s not someone sitting in their basement.”</p>&mdash; Heather Brown (@heatherbrown21) <a

  103. 103.

    Achrachno

    @jl: “I haven’t been treated fairly”

    Justice’ll be coming soon enough, Donnie.  You and your whole family will get the fair treatment you deserve, in full, in a few months.

  106. 106.

    jl

    @August West: Law enforcement has done this for years. Have they ever called it ‘contract tracking’ before?

    Futsy old contact tracking, used to be just for homeless sick people, drug addicts, Hepatitis C, TB, and measles, is really getting hip, huh?

    Now it’s gone all LEO tactical and authoritarian. Maybe Trumpsters will take a shine to it, and we won’t have to worry about HepC and TB epidemics after covid-19 is under control.

  107. 107.

    SFAW

    @Brachiator:

    What an empty, soulless SOB.

    Not to mention depraved, usw.

    What’s somewhat disconcerting is that, even if he were to pull a Greg Stillson, he’d still get 40 percent of the vote.

  108. 108.

    FelonyGovt

    @SFAW:  @HumboldtBlue: She just got home. So relieved. She passed military tanks near the Beverly Center

  109. 109.

    Anya

    @jl: Yes. It works. I used to get a lot of recs for the View videos that mostly focused on Meghan McCain and once I pressed on few vids and clicked “not interested” I no longer get them.

  111. 111.

    Anne Laurie

    @Omnes Omnibus: Elmo has always been the Muppet most likely to turn a protest into a looting. Never trusted that little fucker.

    Elmo was invented when PBS was being pushed to ‘monetize’ the Sesame Street brand with ‘kid-friendly’ merchandise, so your instincts were correct!

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    @FelonyGovt:

    She just got home. So relieved. She passed military tanks near the Beverly Center.

    Glad she’s OK. Not so glad about the tanks.

  114. 114.

    Baud

    According to my feed, despite everything going on right now, the NYT found space in the paper of record for a story about Tara Reid.

  115. 115.

    Burnspbesq

    @jl:

    Only a real problem for commercial property insurance industry.

    Probably not. There’s a reason why God created reinsurance.

  126. 126.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    the NYT found space in the paper of record for a story about Tara Reid.

    Haven’t seen much of her since American Pie II – The Pie-ening.

    ETA: Did they also have a “follow-up story” on Hitlary’s e-mails? That would be about par for their course.

  127. 127.

    cain

    @Jinchi: 

    What a #!%@ing coward.

    Wow, looks like his bonespurs must be acting up. It couldn’t be that he is scared of some protestors. Gosh golly…

    Surprised the militia hasn’t shown up to intimidate anyone.

  130. 130.

    Martin

    For the many of us who have mentioned it, the odds of Trump DIAF have increased substantially in the last week.

  131. 131.

    Another Scott

    The pepper spray took full responsibility for the incident and declined to comment on how it arrived at the park in the first place. https://t.co/Z1CwiB8RwY

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) June 1, 2020

    As always, only Democrats have agency.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  135. 135.

    JWR

    Listening to the local broadcast stations in SoCal, and the clueleesness on display is breathtaking. “Well, we got a brand new, ‘open’ PD headquarters in Downtown, and still we see this happening”. One station even brought in their AA weather guy to opine on how much has changed since we got rid of Daryl Gates, yada yada, and this shit is still happening. It went on and on and on.

    Apparently, our news people don’t actually watch their own news, because minorities doing stuff while not being white is still very much a thing here in L.A. county. Buncha toads.

  136. 136.

    Martin

    @Felanius Kootea: People are mad. Maybe madder than usual. There was one wheeled to the PR governor mansion a while back.

    I mean, y’all wanted tumbrils and now you get squeamish when someone gets around to making them?

  139. 139.

    SFAW

    @Another Scott:

    As always, only Democrats have agency.

    Ah, yes, Murc’s Law. I had always assumed that Murc coined it, a la cleek and his Law. But I was reading some of his comments at LGM today, and unless I completely misunderstood those comments — which is absolutely possible, because I was skimming — I’m wondering if others named that law for him, not as a sign of respect (because he originated it), but because that’s how a lot of his comments parse. I’m hoping I was/am mis-reading his intent.

  141. 141.

    Martin

    @SFAW: Yeah, probably were light armored vehicles. Tanks will generally destroy the roads, and lots of bridges can’t even support them. Not that it’s any less alarming to have not-quite-tanks rolling around.

  142. 142.

    raven

    We’ve got dudes with guns wandering around downtown Athens and they claim to be supporting BLM.

  143. 143.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

     

    This unrest was inevitable after they took prayer out of school.

  148. 148.

    cain

    Tom Nichols apparently has seen a preview of Lincoln Project’s next ad drop and apparently it’s going to be bad ass.. he shrugged it off as saying “probably not going to be controversial” with a simulation of a nuclear blast that goes with it.

    Apparently the target is not Trump.. looking forward to it tomorrow.

  150. 150.

    Anotherlurker

    Full fledge riot here in Walnut Creek.   Mayor said it is outside agitators.

  152. 152.

    Miss Bianca

    @different-church-lady: Yeah, not that I really want him out there, necessarily, but where the hell *is* Bernie right now? Not seeing any words of consolation, anger, hope, or…anything…from him lately.

    And yet Joe Biden is the one who’s out of touch and doesn’t have his finger on the pulse of the people. Huh.

  153. 153.

    Martin

    @tomtofa: Well, white trash legolas had his car flipped and burned, so it’s gonna take him a while to get there on Megabus.

  154. 154.

    cain

    oh yeah, my twitter timeline is now filled with cops taking the knee now. It seems like it is happening in a lot of cities. Good luck with that.. now they want to take a knee? Go fuck yourselves.

  161. 161.

    Martin

    So, maybe others with a longer historical memory than me, but I don’t recall violent protests so close to the WH in my lifetime.

  162. 162.

    Anotherlurker

    @Martin: The shit is about 3 blocks from me.  I am a bit North of Downtown, mostly residential. I figure the proud Boyz or the boogaloos or whatever the Nazis are calling themselves will concentrate on the commercial area.

  163. 163.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    All this makes it hard for the US to criticise Chinese suppression of protests in Hong Kong.

  164. 164.

    Mary G

    In the FTFNYT, Maggie and Peter report:

    Most of the president’s top advisers were not around for the weekend, including Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

    Words fail.

    We have had two protests here in my little town today supporting BLM, including lots of young white kids. The housemate was at Lowe’s and heard a bunch of old white guys fear mongering about property damage and saying they were going to counterprotest with the “White Lives Matter” slogan. Now there are helicopters overhead. This is unprecedented. I guess the protest in Santa Ana I wanted to go to yesterday was a major shit show. I feel like I should be out there, but I am afraid of catching the Rona.

  165. 165.

    JWR

    @HumboldtBlue: I would really like to see all of these bystander videos put together in one looong loop so I can send them to all of our local stations, just in the very small (vanishingly tiny) hope that someone, anyone, there will begin to notice their inner, pro police, anti-protester, bias.

  167. 167.

    Martin

    @Suzanne: Apparently jake Paul and his crew were there looting. Can’t throw a brick in his neighborhood and not hit a fellow youtuber so maybe he thought they’d find a degree of anonymity in AZ?

    Dunno. He’s a dumb fuck.

  168. 168.

    Mary G

    @cain: They had a poll on Twitter asking who the next target should be, and Moscow Mitch won by a landslide. Can’t wait to see it.

  169. 169.

    Kay

    Steve Schmidt
    @SteveSchmidtSES
    ·8h
    Here is one Police reform that should happen immediately. Policemen and women should start dressing like Police again. No more BDU’s, bloused combat boots or other military accoutrements. Shoes, trousers, collared shirts.

    I think this would make a difference and you could do it immediately. Go back to normal uniforms. And stop with these names. Our local excessive force “elite” unit is called the MAN unit. Multi-area narcotics.

  171. 171.

    WaterGirl

    I thought the Trump Going to the Bunker stuff was a joke.  Where’s the face palm emoji when I need it.  He is not fit to flip burgers at McDonald’s and he is president.  Face palm emoji again.

  175. 175.

    Subsole

     

    @Martin: Nah. Their gullibility only extends to members of the tribe.

    We are not of the body and a-priori not to be trusted.

  176. 176.

    Trollhattan

    Shamelessly lifted from TBogg’s Twitter, because I don’t know how to imbed.

    Things are nuts in Salt Lake City. Protesting, setting cars on fire, drinking RC Cola, using condoms, listening to the devil’s music. Someone was just dispatched to drive to Colorado to a “buy a reefer cigarette.”

  177. 177.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

    The funniest part of the Trump Administration is how lazy they all are- they never do any work. I don’t think any of them have done a single bit of work on the virus since the virus press conferences ended, which is probably because the only work they were doing were the press conferences.

  179. 179.

    J R in WV

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Well, thanks for posting that link — the most disgusting thing I’ve seen out of this since Mr Floyd’s murder. At least it was corrected asap, two cops fired, 3 set to desk duty, two kids, students, released without being charged.

    Hard to make a curfew announced after it started, while stuck in traffic like that. Motionless vehicle attacked, vandalized, tires slashed, windows broken. Hope they get a settlement large enough to take care of their PTSD and their tuition as long as they want to go to school, somewhere else.

    Unfortunately, don’t know where to recommend they go to escape the hateful bigotry of America, from Minnesota to Los Angeles, to Atlanta — and it looks like everywhere in between. Dirty cops, crazed attack. All on film.

    Now I’m gonna have a late dessert and go to bed and read silly SF fiction and try to forget all this tragic news.

  181. 181.

    Subsole

     

     

    @Baud:  What, like Hell Comes to Frogtown?

    ‘Cause I’m down for that.

     

    “Greetings from the Gonzungus!”

  182. 182.

    Kay

    @WaterGirl:

    Social workers should train cops, not military instructors. 90% of their work is social work. Maybe they don’t want that job and it’s partly our fault because we have so few safety nets a lot falls to them that probably doesn’t belong with them, but that is the job. In reality.

  187. 187.

    zhena gogolia

    @cain:

    He just put this up 11 min. ago —

    No patriotic American should brandish or proudly celebrate the iconography of a rebellion that resulted in tremendous devastation, the loss of more than 620,000 American lives, and the continued subjugation of Black America. pic.twitter.com/wc0VxVOrxA— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 1, 2020

  188. 188.

    Kay

    Today’s Trump tweets made me laugh, essentially “someone do something about all the PROBLEMS in this country!”

    Unfuckingbelievable. He’s basically screaming “help me! I have no idea how to do this job!”

  191. 191.

    Martin

    Looks like a building in Lafayette Park is on fire. Things definitely not de-escalating.

  192. 192.

    zhena gogolia

    @Mary G:

    They did that one the other day. It’s good. But I think he’s probably referring to the Confederate flag one.

  193. 193.

    Mary G

    New Lincoln Project ad about the Confederate flag:

    No patriotic American should brandish or proudly celebrate the iconography of a rebellion that resulted in tremendous devastation, the loss of more than 620,000 American lives, and the continued subjugation of Black America. pic.twitter.com/wc0VxVOrxA— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 1, 2020

    It ends up with it’s a time of choosing – America… or Trump? Very primal and hard hitting

     

    @zhena gogolia:You’re right. I can’t keep up with everything these days.

  194. 194.

    Spadizzly

    @Burnspbesq:New Axis of Evil: Trump, Orban, Bolsonaro, Duterte.

    What, vlad putin was not invited?  Very unfair.  Look for Polonium in someone’s diet soda as trump continues to  head up the Anus of Evil.

  196. 196.

    Subsole

    @Anya:

    Hell, click on Star Wars clips and you’ll get videos about Feminazi Socjew conditioning.

    Click on anything at all and you WILL get at least a couple BEN SHAPIRO BREAKS FEMTARD LIBSHIT ON THE WHEEL OF LOGIC reccs.

    God help you if you ever watched Contrapoints or Shaun or Hbomb.

  197. 197.

    SFAW

    @Kay: 

    Social workers should train cops,

    My daughter, the relatively-newly-minted social worker, says the same thing; I’m gratified to see it from you as well.

  201. 201.

    Jinchi

    @WaterGirl: It’s horrifying to look at that list and realize that Trump keeps managing top his last scandal. The worst of Trump from a week ago (coronavirus, 100,000 dead, economic collapse) barely even merit a headline today.

  203. 203.

    Krope, the Formerly Dope

    @Subsole: God help you if you ever watched Contrapoints or Shaun or Hbomb.

    See, I watch all those channels and manage to avoid the weird right winger recommendations.

    Also saw in a previous thread you mentioned that we’re bringing disco back. We are. And we’re doing it better than we did the first time.

  205. 205.

    mvr

    @Brachiator:

    Shit. Los Angeles has announced a curfew from 6 pm to 6 am.

    We’ve got lockdowns within lockdowns.

    Hell, even Lincoln Nebraska, where I live, has an 8PM curfew due to vandalism that started late at a protest last night and the night before. I had unplugged from the internet and did some appropriately socially distanced fishing only to return to this. Am now trying to figure out WTF is going on. I’m thinking the vandalism was unfortunate and perhaps either sabotage of the protests of a sort or a kind of bad opportunistic macho boundary pushing.  That as opposed to a groundswell of violence as opposed to a groundswell of protest. The photos I’ve seen sort of support that theory. But I wasn’t there to see it and the reporting is sketchy.  I’m worried that this is what the Trumpers want.

  206. 206.

    Subsole

     

     

    @jl:  These are recruitment vids, aimed at teens and tweens and college freshmen. How sophisticated do they need to be before they become self-defeating?

    Detail is the enemy of Truthiness.

  209. 209.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Mary G:

    That’s very good. Not completely sold on the narrator, but that’s an impactful ad.

    Next, we take away the traitors’ names from our military installations.

  210. 210.

    Kay

    @SFAW:

    Oh, good for her. I love social workers. We don’t pay them enough. Our good ones leave and become probation officers because the pay is so much better. They’re also the better probation officers, come to think of it.

  211. 211.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Just recalling – 2014-17, I was earning good money and having a blast. Ate out a bunch, enjoyed my Downtown, could afford new cars, traveled to Mexico, the Caribbean, did multiple dive trips, went to China, went to Italy. Wife did India, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bhutan.

    Trump happened. Everything has gone down since. We did a declining number of neat things after – now, we can’t go anywhere.

  213. 213.

    Princess Leia

    @Mary G: I live in Santa Ana, and today’s has been less of a shit show. But the night is young, and curfew doesn’t start til 10.  Was good to see the local kids marching.

  215. 215.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: I believe most of the Project Lincoln people, the ones I see on my TeeVee and on twitter, are sincere in their disgust with trump and many of the people they helped get elected, but I do wonder how many of them would’ve called the treason flag what it is ten years ago. (Wilson, Conway, Schmidt, John Weaver… the last two at least were McCain people, I’m trying to remember McCain’s stances and when he took them. I believe he came around to taking it down after his presidential run?)

    Also, honestly, I wonder about the effectiveness of that ad: Who’s the target audience?

  216. 216.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kay:

    Our local excessive force “elite” unit is called the MAN unit. Multi-area narcotics

    They should just add to the acronym. Maybe “Wide Operation Multi Area Narcotics”. Perfect name, I bet they’ll love it.

  217. 217.

    Subsole

    @Baud:

    NYT editorial flowchart:

    1. Is there a nazi ass? <y/n>

    <y>

    2a. Apply suction. Goto 2a.

    <n>

    2b. Locate nazi ass. Goto 2a.

  219. 219.

    Yutsano

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: One would think after the libel against his daughter that Grandpa Walnuts would have denounced that shit. Yet I don’t recall anything like that. And one would think Megan Mccai n, daughter of John Sidney McCain III (did you know he was a POW?) would mention her Bangladeshi sister more, but that never seems to cross her brain. Curious, that.

  220. 220.

    Subsole

    @Raven:

    MRAPs and humvees, maybe.

    Though I have heard stories of departments with some old M113s.

    Which, y’know. Why?

  222. 222.

    SFAW

    @Kay:

    We don’t pay them enough.

    Completely agree, especially considering the shit they have to deal with on a daily basis. She works in a supermax, and although it’s probably safer for her there, than in a medium-security facility, I still worry.

  223. 223.

    rekoob

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Many of us jackals lived vicariously through your descriptions and photos of that time. More recently, reading about your wife’s devastation over the damage at Kangaroo Island in the Australian wildfires was especially poignant.

    Here’s hoping for better sailing ahead.

  225. 225.

    Subsole

    @Martin:  Hope not.

    I want that whole fucking crime syndicate locked.the fuck.up.

    I want them to forget there was ever a world without walls and bars.

  235. 235.

    Subsole

     

     

    @Krope, the Formerly Dope:

    Scissor Sisters for the fuckin’ win!

    Also, maybe I’m just not curating my feeds correctly, because I have never gotten a Maher recc. And, while not even close to my flavor,  he would be more in line with my viewing habits than frigging Prager U.

    Or Epoch times. That one weirded me out bigtime.

  236. 236.

    Subsole

     

    @Villago Delenda Est:  I guess. But, it’s an aluminum box that is mostly proof against rifle rounds on the glacis (not sure on the sides or top). Tears up streets. Can’t take it into tight environments. I mean, for recruitment I guess I can see it, somewhat. But honestly you’d get more punch for less dollars from a couple of armored vans with water cannons.

     

    Which is why I will never work in procurement, I guess.

  239. 239.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: I’m reminded of a clip I saw on the BBC (that I’ve mentioned before).  A couple of cops in the UK were telling someone who had COVID-19 and was told to stay home and isolate that he should go back home.  “Go Home!  You’re Killing People!”  Police over here used to do that – cajole people to do the right thing – in the Joe Friday days, but not so much any more…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  240. 240.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Subsole: I was in the 9th ID when it was the High Tech Testbed.  Procurement was in open warfare against troops breaking the toys by being troops and offering suggestions on how to make the toys more robust and useful.

  241. 241.

    Dan B

    @WaterGirl: I’d love for “#bunkerpunk” to go viral.  He’s been the Cowardly Yam to me for months.

    The dedicated Magats believe he’s going to restore America’s manhood.

    They are sadly mistaken.  Trump can only deflate America.

  242. 242.

    bjacques

    Is posting a pic of Mussolini upside-down a terrorist threat?

    Asking for a friend…

  243. 243.

    WaterGirl

    @Dan B:

    “#bunkerpunk” is probably better than #bunkerbitch, that I originally liked because I thought it would be most upsetting to Trump, but “bitch” is surely not the best choice.

    #bunkerpunk, however, has a nice ring to it.  I think I’m settling on #bunkerboy because I’m sure that’s how Trump thinks of black men in his head, so maybe that one would be most troublesome to the most troublesome of presidents.

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