Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

I was promised a recession.

I really should read my own blog.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

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

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

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

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

It’s the corruption, stupid.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Let there be snark.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

You cannot shame the shameless.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

This fight is for everything.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Our Longest War Goes On

Our Longest War Goes On

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As a sort of companion piece to Mister Mix’s post downstairs about the lunatic protestors who are interfering with hospital operations, I want to note that just as they were on 1/6, hard-right nutjobs nationwide are being wound up and pointed at perceived political enemies, often directly by GOP elected officials/candidates. Here are two recent examples of Republican fascists exhorting supporters to overthrow the government, one at the schoolboard level and one at the federal:

This fascist isn’t an elected official yet and one hopes he never will be. But he’s just a loopier version of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is currently using the power of the state to punish schoolboard members who voted for mask mandates, even after a judge ruled that DeSantis lacks the constitutional authority to ban mask mandates.

Next up, the Hitler fan boy and serial sexual harasser who represents the North Carolina 11th:

At the same event, Cawthorn, who spoke at Trump’s insurrection warm-up rally, bragged about “actively working on” a 1/6 sequel:

“The big problem is, we don’t actually know where all the political prisoners are,” he said. “So if we were to actually be able to go and try and bust them out ― and let me tell you, the reason why they’re taking these political prisoners is because they’re trying to make an example. ’Cause they don’t want to see the mass protests going on in Washington…”

“When are you going to call us to Washington again?” the next attendee asked, prompting applause.

“We are actively working on that one,” Cawthorn answered, as can be seen in the footage below. “We have a few plans in motion I can’t make public right now, but this is something that we’re working on.”

When asked why they were promoting violence, both of the above fascists demurred. Here’s an account of Lynch lying about what he said:

WFMZ reached out to Lynch for comment, but did not hear back. However, Lynch posted a video on YouTube late Monday night to clarify his comments.

He said he did not intend to threaten school boards in Northampton with physical violence. He said his comments about “removing school board members” were a reference to other schools, where parents voted to terminate their boards and replace them with members who voted to remove mask mandates.

Uh huh. The “20 strong men” are voters, you see.

And here’s Madison Cawthorn’s spokesman lying about what his boss said:

Cawthorn spokesman Luke Ball told CNN in a statement Monday, “Congressman Cawthorn is CLEARLY advocating for violence not to occur over election integrity questions.”
“He fears others would erroneously choose that route and strongly states that election integrity issues should be resolved peacefully and never through violence,” Ball said.

But the fascist thuggery came out of their mouths for all to hear. I guess it’s somewhat comforting that they still feel the need to lie when confronted about their calls to violence. But we’ve watched them walk back so many walk-backs at this point, and the trend is always toward ever greater levels of lunacy and lawlessness.

Anyhoo, these are just two examples. I’ll wager most communities have home-grown fascists ginning up violent intent among soft-headed twits who want to relive their glory days as high school bullies, this time backed by state actors. I hope our Department of Justice is giving these credible threats of domestic terrorism the serious attention they deserve.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

115Comments

  2. 2.

    West of the Rockies

    Ideally, Cawthorn should have awakened to some burly federal agents requesting his immediate presence at the DOJ to discuss his extreme legal peril.

  4. 4.

    piratedan

    seems kind of quaint that they think ….

    1) only Conservatives own guns
    2) that their side are the only ones that are angry
    3) that their violence will go unanswered

    I understand that violence isn’t the answer but we’ve firmly progressed into developing a mindset of “I wish a motherfucker would…” and perhaps that’s exactly what they want but it also continues to rely on the assumption that a firearm is the only weapon at hand.

    At some point, I wonder if some white hat is simply going to empty the Murdoch family finance accounts and donate it to all to Greenpeace.

  5. 5.

    chopper

    PA GOP Gov candidate Steve Lynch today: “Forget going into these school boards with freaking data.”

    as if this guy ever had a run-in with actual data

  6. 6.

    Tony Gerace

    These white men know that it’s very unlikely that they will face any consequences for what they do.  If I didn’t know better I would suspect that, in most cases, the cops support them.

  7. 7.

    SFAW

    That those two mofos are not grease spots due to lightning bolts from On High are examples number 12,731,475 and 12,731,476 that there is no such thing as a Just God

    ETA: My numbers might be off, but I bet not by much.

  8. 8.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    The saying goes that it takes two to make peace but only one to make war. Well, those bastards want a war. I just hope they’ve drunk enough of the Flavor-Aid that they misjudge the capability and resolve of the patriotic liberal or progressive or leftist Americans who will be their enemies in that war.

  9. 9.

    The Moar You Know

    I guess it’s somewhat comforting that they still feel the need to lie when confronted about their calls to violence. But we’ve watched them walk back so many walk-backs at this point, and the trend is always toward ever greater levels of lunacy and lawlessness.

    Not really.  It reminds me of the Saudis and the pre-war Iraqi government.  When they say something in English it says one thing.  When they say it in Arabic it somehow becomes something completely different, and it’s not because it was a bad translation.

    The GOP speaks in code, so much so that those not in the cult are starting to miss a lot of what they say because they don’t understand it.  The walkback is a fundamental part of that culture.  They all understand that “clarification” means “ignore this part”.

  10. 10.

    Mike in NC

    A real pity that we can’t round up our worthless GQP fascists and do something useful with them, like drop them out of airplanes to put out the fires threatening places like South Lake Tahoe (one of the most beautiful spots I’ve ever been to)…

  11. 11.

    Humdog

    Their threats of violence have been successful. How many healthcare professionals, public health officials, election officials, school board members, and electeds at every level of government have left their professions or quietly withdrew from areas where they will be confronted by these radical deplorables? Now we have DeSantis ignoring a court order regarding state funds going to school districts that have mask mandates. We have lost the order and are losing the law. I don’t know what may turn down the temperature for our country but we need to come up with something fast. Trouble is, they won’t listen to anyone outside their tribe and their tribal leaders seem to relish turning up the heat.

  12. 12.

    MattF

    It’s not complicated. They got their message across to the specific people they were aiming for. Anyone else is irrelevant.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    @Humdog:

    DeSantis exploited a timing loophole.

    A group of parents, who support mask mandates, on Friday prevailed in the first round of their lawsuit against the state, but a final ruling has not been issued. Corcoran took advantage of the window to announce he was withholding school board salaries

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    When asked why they were promoting violence, both of the above fascists demurred.

    We need to stop accepting this kind of BS.  Politicians should not be allowed to talk out of both sides of their mouths by “clarifying” statements to the media.  If you don’t change what you’re saying immediately to the original audience, you aren’t “clarifying” your previous statement; you’re trying to have it both ways.  The media should not be allowed to act as enablers for this kind of behavior.

  18. 18.

    Gravenstone

    By all means Madison, please try to break one or more “political prisoners” out of the pokey. You’ll find yourself occupying an adjoining cell to one of them sooner than you might think.

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    @Humdog: This lady makes some sound points (it was in response to the incandescently dumb and irresponsible comments from the governor of MS about Southerners not fearing death from COVID because they believe in eternal life):

    I don’t know how much of her advice is even feasible, but yeah, I’m feeling like a boiled frog lately…

  22. 22.

    James E Powell

    @Roger Moore:

    I don’t think we – not just we here at this spectacular blog, but we the Democrats – are accepting any of it. The press/media accept it and in so doing normalize & promote it. The rage & threats of violence are great content.

  23. 23.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Lynchy boi there doesn’t get violence is game everyone can play, more so when guns are involved. As governor he is going to be a mighty big target if he gets his wish for a blood bath.  Maybe he figures he can server out his term in a pillow fort in the Governor’s House.

  24. 24.

    Another Scott

    The problem, of course, with these RWNJs walking back their incendiary rhetoric is that they are talking to 2 different media platforms.  1) The RWNJ platform where everyone knows what they’re saying, and 2) The normal media platform that the RWNJs don’t listen to and don’t trust.  “Clarifying” on #2 doesn’t negate #1.

    They’re having it both ways, without consequences.

    That’s one of many reasons why we shouldn’t repeat their RWNJ talking points even to criticize them.  It gives them more power.

    “Republicans don’t lie to be believed – they lie to be repeated.” – LOLGOP

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @piratedan:  Odd for people who so fond of the phrase “God created man but Colonel made man equal” . Not to mention their big assumption that everyone on the right wants to live in some idiotocracy run by violent, deranged bruts.

  26. 26.

    Roger Moore

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: 
    I think the main thing that’s happening here is that Lynch isn’t thinking past the Republican primary. It sounds as if the field is wide open. To get ahead, he needs to get his name and face in the news as much as possible, even if it’s in a negative context. It’s the classic “no such thing as bad publicity” theory at work. What happens if he actually wins the nomination and the general election is something he’ll worry about if and when it happens.

  27. 27.

    Humdog

    @Betty Cracker: Miss. governor basically said Miss. is more Christian than any other state and that is why they aren’t bothered with extra deaths. Probably also the reason he would give for not expanding Medicare. Super Christian. I figure Alabama or some other Bible Belt state would take exception and boast we care even less if our citizens die.

  28. 28.

    Mai Naem mobile

    These RWNJs all look like Nazis. Turn the images to black and white and its like you were in 1930s Germany. I just don’t understand these people. I blame it on charter schools and the higher hs dropout rate during the late 90s/early 00s. They haven’t been taught critical thinking and history .

  29. 29.

    Gary K

    The Flipkowski tweet is mistaken in saying that Lynch is a gubernatorial candidate. Several news sources made the same mistake, and some have corrected the misinformation. He’s a candidate for Northampton County Executive.

  30. 30.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Speaking of California, a liberal friend of mine lives in  Bakersfield,  as in McCarthy district and the dead end of white flight and she was relating that that city is bringing back social workers to deal with the mentally ill and even the local PD agrees the cops shouldn’t be the first responders with these things. So the worm does turn.

    Does make me wonder if this is a big part of what’s driving the hard right rage – Woke isn’t just for the City folks anymore, so the wingnuts are losing their reactionary safe havens.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    @Another Scott: I agree that media outlets have to be careful about the way they cover fascists — giving them endless unchallenged airtime on the assumption that people will be horrified and motivated to oppose them obviously doesn’t work. The “truth sandwich” formula that circulated during the Trump era is a good practice, IMO.

    That said, I’ve never bought into the notion that ordinary citizens shouldn’t ever repeat wingnut talking points to criticize them. It’s too close to “ignore them and they’ll go away” for my taste. Fascists should be openly opposed, by name, and have their double-dealing and violent rhetoric thrown in their faces, IMO. Getting mad goes both ways.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @Humdog:

    Miss. governor basically said Miss. is more Christian than any other state and that is why they aren’t bothered with extra deaths.

    The numbers appear to back him up.  Mississippi recently passed New York in COVID deaths per capita, and with some work they could pass New Jersey for the top spot sometime in September.  They have the lowest COVID vaccination rate in the country.  It’s not because they don’t know how to manage vaccinations, either; they’re tops in the nation in MMR vaccination.  They just don’t give a shit about people dying of COVID, probably because it’s Those People doing most of the dying.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: ​
     

    Does make me wonder if this is a big part of what’s driving the hard right rage – Woke isn’t just for the City folks anymore, so the wingnuts are losing their reactionary safe havens.

    The perception that they’re losing the culture war is clearly at least part of what’s driving the right wing nuts. I suspect it’s not really the culture war that bothers them the most, though; the culture war is really just a proxy for the race war they’ve been fighting since the 19th Century, and they’re worried they’re losing that one, too.

  36. 36.

    brendancalling

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: ​
      While that’s true, I have a feeling the morons are more likely to be heavily armed than a lot of us on the left—and that is worrisome if things went truly bananas. Especially because we can’t rely on the police to put them down. During 2016-2020, we learned that the cops are frequently in league with the MAGA thugs.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    @Betty Cracker: There are good arguments for both approaches.

    Trouble is, though, that T and FB and all the rest promote things based on how often it is repeated, ignoring the context of whether it is repeated because people agree with it or think it is horrifying.

    “Engagement” is going to kill us all unless we find a better way to combat it.  It’s the Hydra thing all over again.

    TechnologyReview:

    Fake engagement refers to things such as likes, shares, and comments that have been bought or otherwise inauthentically generated on the platform. The new team focused more narrowly on so-called “scripted inauthentic activity”—fake likes and shares produced by automated bots and used to drive up someone’s popularity.

    In the vast majority of such cases, people were merely obtaining likes for vanity. But half a year in, Zhang intuited that politicians could do the same things to increase their influence and reach on the platform. It didn’t take long for her to find examples in Brazil and India, which were both preparing for general elections.

    In the process of searching for scripted activity, she also found something far more worrying. The administrator for the Facebook page of the Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, had created hundreds of pages with fake names and profile pictures to look just like users—and was using them to flood the president’s posts with likes, comments, and shares. (Facebook bars users from making multiple profiles but doesn’t apply the same restriction to pages, which are usually meant for businesses and public figures.)

    The activity didn’t count as scripted, but the effect was the same. Not only could it mislead the casual observer into believing Hernández was more well-liked and popular than he was, but it was also boosting his posts higher up in people’s newsfeeds. For a politician whose 2017 reelection victory was widely believed to be fraudulent, the brazenness—and implications—were alarming.

    […]

    For a moment things at Facebook seemed to make progress. She saw the change in policy and the takedown of the Honduran president’s fake network as forward momentum. She was called upon repeatedly to help handle emergencies and praised for her work, which she was told was valued and important.

    But despite her repeated attempts to push for more resources, leadership cited different priorities. They also dismissed Zhang’s suggestions for a more sustainable solution, such as suspending or otherwise penalizing politicians who were repeat offenders. It left her to face a never-ending firehose: The manipulation networks she took down quickly came back, often only hours or days later. “It increasingly felt like I was trying to empty the ocean with a colander,” she says.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    catclub

    @Humdog: Miss. governor basically said Miss. is more Christian than any other state and that is why they aren’t bothered with extra deaths

     

    So Miss governor would say about the good samaritan that the GS should just leave the robbed and beaten stranger in the road so he can meet his maker sooner. Like the Levite did.

  39. 39.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    That said, I’ve never bought into the notion that ordinary citizens shouldn’t ever repeat wingnut talking points to criticize them. It’s too close to “ignore them and they’ll go away” for my taste

     

    While I agree, I find, in my limited experience, that many ordinary people actually do just repeat the talking points without opposing them, on the tacit assumption that everyone will instinctively understand why thet are odious.

  42. 42.

    frosty

    @Roger Moore: The media should …

    Nothing against you, I agree with the sentiment, but this is a pretty useless beginning to a sentence, unfortunately. We have no way of following through.

  43. 43.

    Humdog

    @catclub: once you start down that path, what would stop you from thinking a true Christian would beat the stranger and throw him in the hole to hasten his journey to heaven? I do feel bad for any Christian that actually lives their faith, as the loudest examples of Christian are any thing but.

  44. 44.

    Cacti

    If you work at a job where feral right wing “protesters” are a regular presence.  I recommend keeping a pair of brass knuckles in your pocket for the inevitable day that one of them decides to lay a hand on you.

  46. 46.

    Subsole

    @Betty Cracker: The part that drives me nuts is when the next OKC bomber strikes, the beltway press is going to sit there, mouths agape, wondering how, oh how, did this all happen.

    As if they haven’t been hearing the exact same violent rhetoric for the last 20 years…

  48. 48.

    Immanentize

    @piratedan:

    1) only Conservatives own guns

    Raven has been known to point this out. And even the people who are “conservative” in the real violence machines (like the military) are not going to go along and follow the idgits like the two at the top. They will kill them and then check out the options.

    @raven: And there he is!

  50. 50.

    Baud

    FWIW, I don’t think the fascists have any chance of winning.  The only consternation I have is about how much damage they’ll do before they lose.

  51. 51.

    Fair Economist

    @Betty Cracker: I think it’s important to never *repeat* nutso nonsense. When discussing it, it should be paraphrased, and refutation and criticism should be part of every sentence with a paraphrase.

    So don’t quote some nut on Ivermectin, say something like “So and so continued to push fraudulent claims that Ivermectin helps with COVID, claims that have produced an avalanche of Ivermectin poisoning cases.”

    Don’t give the lies any air. It’s been shown if people hear claims over and over again, they’ll come to believe them. No repeating, no quoting.

  52. 52.

    VeniceRiley

    @raven: She was downposts mentioning her gramps was among last out for Bell helicopter in Iran. My dad was among last out for Hughes. So I have ties to both of you now. My pops got around.
    :-D

  53. 53.

    Soprano2

    Man, I just read a nasty story in WaPo about Biden’s meetings yesterday with the families of those who died in Afghanistan. They included exclusively negative opinions from two families who were unhappy with the meetings, including one who has already gone on Fox News to complain about the meeting. One of them screamed at Biden that their son’s death was Biden’s fault (never mind that these people volunteer for military service).  WaPo is getting absolutely roasted in the comments, with several saying something like “at least he didn’t tell them their loved one knew what he/she signed up for”. The one criticism I agree with is that Biden needs to talk less about his own losses, and ask them about their loved one. The truth is that there is little in that raw moment that is truly comforting to those who have lost a loved one suddenly. No matter what your loss was, people believe you can’t possibly understand theirs, so you shouldn’t even try. I hope he learns from this experience to change his behavior somewhat, but still few people say perfectly comforting things under these circumstances. When I was 21 and my father died of a sudden heart attack, people said things like ‘He’s in a better place” and “none of us know what God’s plan is”. These things certainly weren’t comforting to me!

  54. 54.

    JoyceH

    @brendancalling: ​
     

    Everything about Madison Cawthorne is, to me at least, entirely preposterous.

    Especially when he talks about personally taking up arms! Does he grasp that his usefulness would be at an end the moment the conflict left the pavement?

  57. 57.

    JoyceH

    @Soprano2: ​
     

    One of them screamed at Biden that their son’s death was Biden’s fault

    This was probably the MAGAt mom who said in an interview: ““I just want all you Democrats who cheated in the election, or who voted for him legitimately, you just killed my son … with a dementia-ridden piece of crap who doesn’t even know he’s in the White House, who still thinks he’s a senator.” ” So – you see where she’s coming from. Big Lie Country.

  60. 60.

    Bill Arnold

    I’ll wager most communities have home-grown fascists ginning up violent intent among soft-headed twits who want to relive their glory days as high school bullies, this time backed by state actors

    Quoted because it’s such a good sentence.

  62. 62.

    Soprano2

    @VeniceRiley:They’re going to drag these parents around in public everywhere like props. Like Jennifer Flowers.

    It’s so disgusting too, taking advantage of people’s grief like that. You aren’t in your right mind when you’ve just had a loss like they have, I know that from personal experience. I couldn’t talk on the phone without crying for several days after my sister was killed. It was the most awful time in my whole life.

  63. 63.

    Ksmiami

    @Humdog: then we arm up too but use our technological advantages to stop these morons dead in their tracks. Think drones and nanobot poison delivery

  65. 65.

    Roger Moore

    @Fair Economist:

    I think it’s important to never *repeat* nutso nonsense. When discussing it, it should be paraphrased, and refutation and criticism should be part of every sentence with a paraphrase.

    This.  Another important point: if you’re reporting a story about this kind of thing, the thrust of the story should be about why they’re wrong, not about the substance of what they said.  If somebody is promoting quack COVID remedies, the story is that the thing they’re promoting doesn’t work, not which one they’re promoting.  If they’re lying about something, the story is that they’re lying, not the substance of their lies.  If they’re threatening violence, the story is that they’re making threats, not what it is that got them riled up.  You may have to mention things in passing to give the story context, but the focus should always be on the misbehavior, not on the person’s justification for it.

  66. 66.

    Yarrow

    @Fair Economist:

    Don’t give the lies any air. It’s been shown if people hear claims over and over again, they’ll come to believe them. No repeating, no quoting.

    Completely agree. Say the thing you want people to know. Repeating the whole lie or disinformation and saying it’s wrong doesn’t work as well. There’s a reason lifeguards say, “Walk!” instead of “Don’t run.” People’s brains hear the “run” part without the “don’t” and keep on running. Say the thing you want people to know or do.

  67. 67.

    brendancalling

    @JoyceH: Maybe he has a Robo-cop costume that changes him into MECHANIZED INVINCIBLE KILLING MACHINE.

    Otherwise, I see a sad little man who’s still struggling with the trauma of being paralyzed. Which is a real thing, but good lord Madison—get therapy, stop taking it out on everyone else.

  68. 68.

    StringOnAStick

    I have to hope that the only people who agree with the crazy, hateful crap the bereaved mother was spewing are just those of her tribe, who are already too far down the crazy rabbit hole to ever come back.  Anyone normal would see that performance and think she’s nuts, and dangerous.

    The degree of incitement keeps ratcheting upwards, and we all know that sooner or later the next McVeigh is going to strike and innocents will die; it’s inevitable.  It’s horrible and I don’t want it to happen, but that won’t stop it and apparently the media is up for getting clicks anyway they can.  How the country reacts to that, with disgust and anger, or with enough support of the crazies to matter, will tell us how the future of democracy will go.  I still think there are enough people who will recoil at what the crazies are building up to.

  69. 69.

    Betty Cracker

    @Another Scott: I suspect the only way to deal with the “engagement” problem is to remove the financial incentive. For example, if Facebook were on the hook for damages to the US Capitol building, they might see radical wingnut groups who plot violent insurrection on their platforms as a liability to be mitigated instead of a source of “engagement” to be monetized. I’m not a lawyer or security expert, but I think you have to break the profit chain before any real progress can be made. 

  70. 70.

    Bill Arnold

    @piratedan:

    it also continues to rely on the assumption that a firearm is the only weapon at hand.

    There is a lot of Grey Area stuff that can be done (and has been/is being done, in some cases). For instance, a lot of these right wing characters are not clean in the sense of being law-breakers and/or having very ugly personal lives. Even a basic non-violent method like shunning can be devastating for the socially needy.

  71. 71.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    You know it’s funny how Trump in his own dengeranged way was right about the withdraw in general; now we have left; Pakistan, China, Russia, Iran and likely even the Saudi’s will just see that blank spot on the map so they will be fighting forever over whose proxy gets to be called President of Afghanistan and all five will have a lot less energy to screw with us.  I guess that’s one instance were Trump’s in asshole urge to get people to attack each other accidently worked out to some good. I bet you Trump looked at Afghanistan and saw The Apprentice on steroids with whole nation states fighting for Trump’s blessing.

  72. 72.

    Gravenstone

    @JoyceH: Betcha more than a couple of his less than savory colleagues could find a use for his wheelchair as a load bearing device. With or without him still on board.

  73. 73.

    Betty Cracker

    @Fair Economist: I don’t think that’s workable in real life. If I hear a media report that paraphrases what someone said, it makes me wonder how honest a translation it is.

  74. 74.

    Roger Moore

    @Yarrow:

    Say the thing you want people to know or do.

    This is a good general rule.  There are many more ways of being wrong than being right, so just pointing out someone’s mistake isn’t very helpful.  You have to let them know what’s right, or they’re likely to continue to get it wrong.

  75. 75.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    @Cacti: A roll of coins wrapped in a bandanna has much the same affect and can be explained as vending machine change, while brass knuckles  can lead to trouble if you’re searched.

  76. 76.

    germy

    NEW: Trump’s political operation kept paying January 6 rally organizers after the U.S. Capitol attack—totaling over $4.3 MILLION since the start of the 2020 election—but the full roster of who Trump's campaign paid & how much remains hidden from the public https://t.co/lxRYVidUTH

    — Anna Massoglia (@annalecta) August 30, 2021

  79. 79.

    cain

    @Betty Cracker:

    How the fuck do you get anywhere with a media that does both sides on everything? These people get coddled with sympathetic articles from the FYNYT and other navel gazing.

    I have never seen a group of haters given so much leeway. They literally are crazy eating horse paste instead of taking a vaccine.

    Perhaps market forces will self correct – but I suspect they plan on making more rubes.

  80. 80.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Humdog:

    Miss. governor basically said Miss. is more Christian than any other state and that is why they aren’t bothered with extra deaths.

    I may have said this here before, but Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself.  It was one of his two great commandments.

    Well, a lot of our neighbors are between age 0 and age 11 years, 364 days.  They aren’t allowed to get vaccinated (yet), but can still get Covid, and can still die of Covid.  (And even if they’re asymptomatic, who knows what sort of delayed effects it might have on them – this thing hasn’t even been around for 2 years yet.)  And of course there are people 12 and up who have quite genuine medical reasons why they can’t risk getting vaccinated.  They’re our neighbors too.

    So if someone considers themselves a Christian, and they’re not in one of those two groups: if their love of neighbor doesn’t extend as far as wearing a mask when they’re in the grocery store, if their love of neighbor doesn’t extend as far as taking 15 minutes to get a Covid shot while they’re in the pharmacy anyway, then fuck them and their worthless pretend faith.  I don’t want to have anything to do with them: as a Christian myself, I’d rather hang out with honest atheists who care about their fellow human beings than bullshit Christians whose ‘faith’ is mostly an excuse to be assholes to people outside their tribe.  The atheists will get into heaven before they will.

    Here endeth the polemic.

  81. 81.

    Geminid

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Don’t forget India. But with the exception of Pakistan, I don’t think those countries will spend too much energy or resources over Afghanistan. They will have more realistic and limited objectives than we did.

  82. 82.

    cain

    @Another Scott:

    This is what I was saying in regards to antifa showing up where the proud boys. You literally are giving these assholes power by creating a conflict. Let them march to empty streets.

    I mean everyone else gets it – we hate fascism. So turn it into political action not rampaging through the streets. We need antifa voting to keep sane people in school boards and what not.

  85. 85.

    Betty Cracker

    @cain: I assume antifa isn’t a monolith, but the antics of some folks who call themselves antifa are reminiscent of the anarchist fight club groups that were around in the 1980s in Europe and 1990s in the US. That particular type seems just as eager to mix it up as the fascists. They feed off each other.

  87. 87.

    Captain C

    @Subsole:

    The part that drives me nuts is when the next OKC bomber strikes, the beltway press is going to sit there, mouths agape, wondering how, oh how, did this all happen.

    Or they’ll just blame the Democrats.  “Sorry about your black eye, Mrs. Jones, but what did you do to get your husband angry?”

  88. 88.

    Kent

    @Mike in NC:A real pity that we can’t round up our worthless GQP fascists and do something useful with them, like drop them out of airplanes to put out the fires threatening places like South Lake Tahoe (one of the most beautiful spots I’ve ever been to)…

    Some are so full of toxic bile they would probably act as an accelerant and fan the flames.

  90. 90.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Geminid: Trumps’ fantasies aside, England and Russia had an almost 100 Cold War over Afghanistan. More to the point Russia, Iran, China, Pakistan, the Saudis and India all see each other as regional rivals. the Afghanistan War had us stuck in the middle of it  by design by The Blob.

  91. 91.

    Kent

    @JoyceH:

    @brendancalling: ​Everything about Madison Cawthorne is, to me at least, entirely preposterous.

    Especially when he talks about personally taking up arms! Does he grasp that his usefulness would be at an end the moment the conflict left the pavement?

    I’m guessing that he thinks he is Ivar the Boneless from Vikings.

  92. 92.

    JoyceH

    @Betty Cracker:  I assume antifa isn’t a monolith, but the antics of some folks who call themselves antifa are reminiscent of the anarchist fight club groups that were around in the 1980s in Europe and 1990s in the US.

    That’s kind of what I thought. Especially when they always seem to gravitate to Portland for some reason. I think a lot of ‘antifa’ are just the anarchists rebranded.

    And BTW, isn’t it a relief that counter-protesters didn’t show up on 1/6? What a cluster that would have been! Of course, it was a cluster anyway, but at least the way things went down the blame was clear.

  93. 93.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker: ​
     

    That particular type seems just as eager to mix it up as the fascists. They feed off each other.

    Yep. The Antifa who show up to get into street brawls with the Proud Boys care far more about the street fight than they do about protecting people from fascism. The politics are just an excuse to fight and still feel good about themselves afterward.

  95. 95.

    Geminid

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Unless it’s been called off, Pakistan will host a meeting with Russia, China, and Iran soon. India is not invited. These countries may agree to help the Taliban stabilize the country. The Russian Foreign Minister, though, has  said that Russian reognition is contingent on the Taliban forming an “inclusive” government, which the Taliban has at least said they will do. Now that the U.S. is out of the picture these countries might just agree to promote a peaceful Afghanistan. They have plenty of fish to fry elsewhere.

    The Indians.have a particular interest in the new  Afghan government. The northwest part of India-controlled Kashmir shares a border with Afghanistan, a hundred miles worth I think. Pakistan can make trouble there if Afghanistan lets them. India might suport the new Northern Alliance to keep this from happening. I guess we will find out.

  99. 99.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Roger Moore: The impression I have been getting is Antifa, at lest the ones that are on the news fighting, and the Proud Bois were pretty much the same group of young men and constantly switching teams.

  100. 100.

    Ken

    @Roger Moore:The politics are just an excuse to fight and still feel good about themselves afterward.

    In some countries futbol is used for the same purpose.

  104. 104.

    sab

    Times have changed. My baby sister went to the same elementary school as my dad, forty years later. Some bully knocked him out in kindergarten, so his parents put him in private school. Some bully tried to knocpck my sister out, and she clobbered him. So they kept her in school and put her in special ed. Five years later ( fourth or fifth grade)  they tested her and she was first in the fucking school in reading, still in special ed. But at least nobody tried to beat her up ( good luck with that. She fought with us and we were twelve years older.)

  105. 105.

    sab

    Dobby the demon kiten got excited. I showed him my arm. He got excited and chomped it . It bled. So I smacked him, very very lightly. He was contrite and stopped biting me, until the next time. Rescue kittens are like foster kids. They have  horrible histories that they mostly overcome. Give them a chance.

  106. 106.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    All’s I can say is they show up in DC with 10K again and it looks at all like they might succeed and we’ll have 250k down there in 20 minutes cracking skulls. They bring 100k, we’ll marshall 500k or more. There’s far more of us here all the time than they can hope to marshal in days. So go ahead and try it again assholes. I double dog dare you.

  107. 107.

    J R in WV

    @JoyceH: 
     

    And BTW, isn’t it a relief that counter-protesters didn’t show up on 1/6? What a cluster that would have been! Of course, it was a cluster anyway, but at least the way things went down the blame was clear.

    Actually many of the fascists dressed in “antifa costumes” for the Jan 6th insurrection. They expected some antifa to show up, but were ready to create riotous behavior as if they were antifa, causing riotous acts.

  108. 108.

    terraformer

    The law’s moving slowly on this one. Slowly enough that only 8 months in, they feel bold enough to talk like they’re getting ready for insurrection again.

  109. 109.

    Geminid

    @J R in WV: There was a lively debate in the days leading up to January 6 about what anti-fascist activists should do. Some argued that showing up to oppose the fascists would play into the fascists hands. Others argued that fascists must be confronted at all times and places. In the event, those antifa forces that showed up a few blocks away from the Capitol were blocked from the insurrectionists by DC cops.

    Charlottesville “Socialist Dog Mom” Molly Conger and her Richmond sidekick Goad Gatsby reported from closer to the Capitol. She texted reports on twitter most of the afternoon. When bus loads of riot police showed up later in the afternoon, Conger left the scene, to the relief of her worried followers. And probably of her father, who Conger said had texted her to get out.

  110. 110.

    Richard

    @Soprano2:

    Dear Soprano 2 i am sorry for your recent loss. The last time i had to go through this, I was thankful that some people tried to comfort me. But nobody knows how to do it. Probably “time heals” was ok, but at the time i thought no it doesn’t. That is all i have to say about grief.

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