We all had a good time snarking on Rep. Crenshaw’s ‘call to action’ soliciting reports from military ‘whistleblowers‘ upset by ‘woke ideology’. But Crenshaw’s accomplice, Yale-trained Senator Tom Cotton, considers himself a smarter & more sophisticated bigot defender of True American Values(tm), so he went straight to the top…
sounds like the training is working, tbh https://t.co/PciAPiDXEi
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) June 11, 2021
Sen. Tom Cotton tells @SecDef he’s received “hundreds” of complaints from troops about mandatory anti-extremism training and complaining they have to watch anti-racism videos and their fellow troops are vocalizing their believes that racism exists in the ranks.
Imagine that.
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) June 10, 2021
Cotton claims morale is down and people are quitting the military in the past six months (Biden’s term).
A white man named Cotton trying to force the Black @SecDef Austin into “yes or no” answers if racism exists, hoping to back him into a corner like a cheap-suited southern lawyer, is pretty on brand.
Cotton addressed none of his concerns or complaints to Gen. Milley, btw, as the Joint Chiefs of Staff enthusiastically endorse all of the anti-racism and anti-extremism initiatives that Cotton is complaining about.
I warned y’all about this kind of thing, earlier this year… https://t.co/75gccmkOKQ
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) June 10, 2021
also this week… https://t.co/5U0072DNbp
— Kevin Baron (@DefenseBaron) June 12, 2021
communists infiltrating the army, where have i heard this one before https://t.co/NKPLo1fGdA
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) June 11, 2021
Baud
“No quarter for racists in the military, Tom.”
Omnes Omnibus
Soldiers complain about any kind of training that doesn’t make a loud bang. And they complain about half of those because it’s too hot or too cold or their ruck is too heavy. If they aren’t doing training, they complain about being bored.
MisterForkbeard
Remember guys, saying racism exists or is a problem is the REAL racism.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Also, too, Tom Cotton is lying.
debbie
@Baud:
Kahl was approved in late April. Shouldn’t the GQP have moved on to something else by now?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Well, yeah. I’m just saying that, even if true, premising something purely on soldiers’ complaints is a very silly thing.
Ken
@Baud: “I have in my hand a sheet of paper with hundreds of names” does tend to fall flat when the video resolution is good enough to see the paper is blank.
JaneE
Can’t feel sorry for anyone, military or not, who feels the need to complain about having to treat everyone else with respect and courtesy. If they could actually make soldiers do that then all the problems of racism would close to disappear.
All your butt-hurt white supremacists can’t stand being forced to act like decent human beings. Boo Hoo.
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus:
All too true; soldiers complain about all sorts of shit. Like being sent into the field for long periods. Deployments. Whatever.
Cotton is a good example of the sort of officers who have to watch their backs, because their troops won’t be.
Raven
@Omnes Omnibus: you’re authorized one personal problem per day, go see the chaplain.
Baud
“Uh…hello….is this the Inspector General for the Department of Defense? Yes, hello, this is Paul Goser, Republican, U.S. House of Representatives. Uh, yeah, I’d like to report Marxist based anti-white race hatred in the military. Yes, I said anti-white. No, definitely Marxist based. Yes, I’m white. So can you look into it? Ok, great. I look forward to hearing from you.”
SFAW
What a non-insane/non-Rethug person would have written:
“Our Congress appears to be compromised by fascism based anti-black race hatred. We need to purge our Congress of those who put race-based fascism before Americanism. Racial hatred needs to be expunged from our Congress.”
Of course, no rational/patriotic person would be talking about purges. Maybe someone should also point out that the ones who (I think) have done the most purging were Stalin and “Red China.” Gosar’s such an asshole, he’d probably be OK with that, but the irony would be so far over his head, that [insert appropriate metaphor here].
ETA: I also note that, within his idiotic tweet, Gosar switches from “socialism based … race hatred” to “race based socialism.” Is he trying to claim Gohmert’s crown?
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: Chicken a la King MREs, police calls, wool socks, mud, dust, mud and dust at the same time (I’ll admit to that one; somehow Graf is magical that way), rain, lack of rain. running for PT, doing something other than running for PT, etc.
James E Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
It allows them to combine the “Democrats are weakening our national defense!” narrative with the “Democrats hate the troops!” narrative.
rikyrah
Where would you go if you could hit the road for a year?
https://www.afar.com/magazine/airbnb-seeking-candidates-to-live-anywhere-in-the-world-for-a-year?utm_medium=social&utm_source=sshare&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=061321%20AirbnbYearofTravel&utm_term=Daily%20Wander%20%28Have%20opened%20newsletter%20before%29 via @AFARmedia
Ruckus
@Baud:
Are you sure?
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
No one in the military complained when I was in…….
And I have a number of bridges that I’d love to sell you…..
SFAW
@Ruckus:
Well, he’s a Rethug, and his lips were moving, so I’d say the odds are pretty good.
Omnes Omnibus
@Raven:
Platoon sergeants and first sergeants are special creatures. The thing is soldiers’ complaints are a fact of life; good leaders can sort out the real complaints and do something about them and ignore the rest. For example, complaints about racism need to be addressed. Complaints about anti-racism training don’t.*
*Caveat: If they are complaints about the form the training takes, they might deserve a look. If it is about the need for it, then no.
Baud
@Ruckus:
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were hundreds of bigots who are complaining. Doesn’t mean I think Cotton did his homework.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ruckus: It is a reasonable heuristic device.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
They are all trying to claim Gohmert’s crown.
King of stupid, ruler of all that is ignorant.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
His lips don’t need to be moving, I’d say that if he’s breathing he’s likely lying, he is after all a republican.
AxelFoley
@Baud:
Also, too, Tom Cotton is a piece of shit.
germy
SFAW
@Ruckus:
I disagree, although not strenuously. That said: they may all be vying for it, but how many truly have a chance? [For example: in the Senate, Tuberville and RoJo seem to be the chosen ones, but others are sometimes trying to mount a challenge.]
SFAW
@Ruckus:
As rikyrah sometimes says: No lie told.
Ruckus
@Baud:
That was a snide and rhetorical comment.
Trying to hit all the bases. (See a military reference as well)
SFAW
@AxelFoley:
Seconded, thirded, fourthed and so on to a gazillion.
Steve in the ATL
I’m going to Twitter to see how many degrees I am from Kevin Baron
Steve in the ATL
@SFAW: Hyde-Smith and Blackburn on lines 1 and 2
Ruckus
@SFAW:
Given that the standard is the lips moving thing, which doesn’t cover all the time they are breathing I’d say that we under estimate the amount of lying they do, at our own peril.
And it seems that the standard of lying is really not any better.
SFAW
@Steve in WTFKW:
They’re Triple-A compared to RoJo and Tuberville. Not for lack of trying, of course.
SFAW
@Ruckus:
You talking lying? Or stupidity? RoJo and Tubs are “stupidity” icons. (I’m not overlooking their ability to lie, of course.)
Ruckus
@SFAW:
The part that really proves all of this is that many of them still support SFB. A man who is all asshole, all the time, in all situations. They like the asshole.
And yes I know how that sounds, get over it.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
C. All of the above.
Mike in NC
Cottonmouth and Gosar aided the insurrection at the Capitol. Investigate them.
Geminid
No one in the Defense Department is calling these conservative politicians racists. But they seem outraged that they might be called racists. Maybe they have uneasy consciences. I am reminded of the passage in Proverbs about how “the guilty flee when no one pursueth.”
BruceJ
Looks like Gosar’s about ten minutes away from telling us about fluoride and the purity of our bodily essences.
SFAW
@BruceJ:
Can’t say I like how that scenario ends.
ETA: Except for Peter Sellers walking and Dame Vera Lynn singing, that is.
Gravenstone
@Baud: I’m sure no one is surprised that Gosar is explicitly advocating for white nationalism. Little wonder his whole family hates him (as the start of an exceedingly long list of others who do as well).
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus: Astonishingly, the same magic is present at Baumholder!
Gravenstone
@germy: An enterprising soul could dig up the training videos in use at the time Cotton was in the service, and compare the messages to those he’s decrying today. Gonna bet there’s a lot more similarity than his “argument” could tolerate.
Villago Delenda Est
@germy: This is the part I don’t get. Long before Cotton signed up for Ranger School, the Army has been “woke” about racism.
Villago Delenda Est
@SFAW: Lil’ Marco seems to think he has a chance to contend. Inhofe, Rand, and Barrasso are way ahead of him
SFAW
@Villago Delenda Est:
The entirety of Congressional Rethugs is what some might call a “target-rich environment” of/for stupidity.
rikyrah
????
Rachel Buckle-Rashid, MD (@RABuckle) tweeted at 1:19 PM on Sun, Jun 13, 2021:
Little girl just jumped into my arms and rested her head on my shoulder in the ED. Her dad said “she’s never seen a black doctor before and I think she thinks you’re Doc McStuffins”?
(https://twitter.com/RABuckle/status/1404141325512028161?s=03)
Elly
FYI: my son is in the Army rn. He’s currently an AIT student working on his MOS after living as a “hold under” for the last 6 months since he graduated from BCT. When he was a hold, he had plenty of time on his hands – more than enough time to be subjected to mandatory “anti-extremism” and “anti-racism” training. We text quite a bit and have family watch parties/chat over Discord every Saturday, so if said training a) happened; and b) was that oppressive, I’d have heard about it by now. Lord knows, I’ve heard/seen details about practically every other training he’s been given, from SHARP to EST. If he was being harangued by his superiors wrt racism and being subjected to “anti-white male bias,” I’d know about it.
I’ve heard *crickets.* SHARP training – yes (they evidently used an “escape room” to work through a scenario about assisting a sexual assault victim, which he found interesting and enlightening). Suicide prevention – check. But nothing remotely close to what Cotton is complaining about. But then again, anyone who’d go running to Tom Cotton to complain almost certainly understands exactly what he wants to hear.
Omnes Omnibus
Don’t Be a Sucker 1947.
burnspbesq
@Ruckus:
Louie has a huge head start.He’s going to be hard to catch.
James E Powell
@BruceJ:
Just so happens I re-watched Dr. Strangelove last night. How they all kept straight faces filming that I will never know.
Ken
It was Kubrick, so they knew going in that they would have a minimum of fifty takes for every scene. Breaking character would just extend the agony.
Steeplejack
@SFAW:
“Vera Lynn is well fit.”
mrmoshpotato
Good to see Tom Cotton is still a scumbag.
Mike in NC
@Omnes Omnibus: Early version of Make America Great Again.
James E Powell
@Ken:
When I was reading the trivia last night, I learned that Peter Sellers was also set to play the pilot role made legendary by Slim Pickens. Sellers took a long time to learn the accent and then broke his leg so he couldn’t do it.
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
That’s why they are all working so hard at it…..
joel hanes
@Omnes Omnibus:
One of the big differences between Army enlisted and the big-corporation world in which I spent forty years is that soldiers’ griping is expected and tolerated.
Spend much time in a bigcorp griping to your colleagues about how chickenshit management is, how stupid are some of their decisions, how meaningless is some of the work, and they’ll find a way to force you out. Not a team player.
joel hanes
@Omnes Omnibus:
Graf is magical
Das stimmt.
But not in a sparkly way.
Well, the snow between the tents in Tent City in the winter started out sparkly.
I am saddened to report that, as nearly as I can tell, Grafenwoehr Hell is no longer made at all. It was, in my day, customary to stretch one of the rubber o-rings from the ceramic flippy stopper over your butane lighter for every Graf field trip you’d endured.
The Moar You Know
Cotton’s not getting complaints from troops.
He’s getting complaints from contractors, who are pissed that they can’t berate their captive troops of color with the latest Faux News bullshit because those same troops are reporting the sons of bitches now, and action gets taken when shit gets reported these days.
OldDave
@James E Powell: It has been said that Slim played the role straight, not understanding it was satire.
Matt
Awwwww, the poor wittle racists have a sad. Maybe they’ll kill themselves about it.
SFAW
@James E Powell:
Actually, Peter Bull (Russian ambassador) almost lost it when Sellers started his punching-his-right-arm-segueing-into-Nazi-salute-segueing-into-choking-himself routine (watch Bull starting at around 0:15).
I maintain it’s one of the two greatest last lines/scenes of a movie comedy. [The other being “Well, nobody’s perfect.”]
SFAW
@Steeplejack:
What ho, Squiffy?
Mike in NC
@Matt: One of the biggest GOP Senate weasels is Barrasso from Wyoming. He used to pop up just about every other day to proclaim on NBC that because of President Obama, “Our enemies don’t fear us and out allies don’t trust us”. Standard FOX New garbage.
James E Powell
@SFAW:
I never noticed that before. And most of the other guys are in the dark; they might have been doing the same thing.
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: How was it?
James E Powell
@Mike in NC:
It’s like Obama’s Apology Tour. They made it up, repeated it for eight years, and convinced their followers and most of the non-FOX media that it actually happened.
SFAW
@Omnes Omnibus:
Top-hole. Bally Jerry, pranged his kite right in the how’s-your-father; hairy blighter, dicky-birded, feathered back on his sammy, took a waspy, flipped over on his Betty Harpers and caught his can in the Bertie.
More or less
ETA: And, no, I won’t say it slower.
Gin & Tonic
@SFAW: You’re in America. Speak American!
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, that’s rich, coming from someone living in Vo Dilun.
dww44
@mrmoshpotato: My favorite adjectives for him are “arrogant a-hole”. Most importantly, though, He is not to be trusted nor entrusted with the country.
ian
@Ruckus: Whats SFB? I get stupid face book and Orlando Airport as google search results.
SFAW
@ian:
Shit-For-Brains, probably.
Origuy
@SFAW: Bunch of monkeys on the ceiling, sir! Grab your egg-and-fours and let’s get the bacon delivered!
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: Hold on then… Wingco! Bend an ear to the Squadron Leader’s banter for a sec, would you?
Mai Naem mobile
@BruceJ: don’t know if you know this but Gosar’s profession before congress critter was dentist. He apparently still maintains his license because he does charity stuff. Anyhow, I think he’s mentally ill. There’s something off with the guy
Ruckus
@ian:
I got tired of typing out shitforbrains. So SFB
Ruckus
@Mai Naem mobile:
He is a republican. Of course there is something wrong with him. Likely many things wrong.
StringOnAStick
@Mai Naem mobile: Dentists are more conservative in general, and a small number are just plain nuts like Gosar. The good news is dental school classes are at least 50% women now, and often higher; I’m hoping they’ll be less nutty though the few that I tempted for were definitely solid R’s so who knows.
The whack job former governor of AZ was a dental hygienist, I’m ashamed to say. Some of my classmates were quite strongly R.
Joey Maloney
@germy: Just to enlarge on this point, check out the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, DEOMI, at http://www.defenseculture.mil. From their About page:
These fucking dimwits in Congress know even less about the military than they do their own jobs.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
This sounds like a good time to update the Uxbridge English Dictionary’s definition of “Newcastle”: To drop an atomic bomb on Tom Cotton.
(Originally proposed by Graeme Garden in reference to Piers Morgan. See also: “Countryside”.)
Cermet
As a DoD employee, I received the new training and it wasn’t about racism at all – it was all about being an american terrorist (right winger). But cotton is a liar but so are all thugs
evodevo
@Matt:
Nah…they’ll just join the local police force…
Ben Cisco
IF Cotton had been even a half-assed soldier, he would know that this tactic is neither tactically nor strategically sound. But he wasn’t, so he doesn’t.
JDM
@OldDave: having seen Slim do comedic turns in many a screen appearance (I seem to remember an epic fight between characters played by Slim and Rip Torn on one of the comedic Bonanza episodes) I doubt that’s really true. Maybe it is, but see above, and it makes a good story. Now Slim playing it straight cause he or Kubrick thought that made it funnier (it often does) I could see.
WaterGirl
@germy: Sadly, based on the problem with white supremacy in the military, those training videos apparently did not take.