Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

No one could have predicted…

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

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

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

American History and Black History can not be separated.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

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

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

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

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Behold — America’s Most Whiney!

Tuesday Evening Open Thread: Behold — America’s Most Whiney!

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When the NYTimes does the nutpicking for you…

… There was no talk of a stolen election, no conspiracy theories about voter fraud or rants about President Biden’s legitimacy. Yet listening to our 90-minute focus group with eight conservative men, you couldn’t help but worry for our democracy a bit.

The men didn’t see themselves fitting into American society today. They didn’t feel free to be themselves in the culture. Seven of them said they felt like a stranger in their own country. At a time when democratic institutions are under pressure — and even under attack — and the United States feels so ununited, what causes these Americans to feel so alienated from America?

After recent focus groups with Democratic-leaning voters on the economy; younger women on work, relationships and gender roles; and teenagers on school and their futures, we decided to talk to conservative men about how they see themselves and what they value. Most said they believed society is headed toward increased rule breaking and a “me, me, me” culture. Crime and a sense of lawlessness came up a lot; our focus group leader, Kristen Soltis Anderson, was surprised by how much they used examples of poor road etiquette as emblematic of broader societal decay…

Kristen Soltis Anderson: Do you have a particular concern for your own community? Robert, tell me about that.

Robert (Black, 50, infrastructure analyst, Texas): Crime…

Joe: I grew up with Giuliani. I’m born and raised in New York. I see stuff every day. I take the subways to work, and it’s not what it used to be. It’s a problem.

Danny: Nobody follows rules or laws. Stop signs are voluntary. Red lights are voluntary. Nobody gets punished for doing the wrong thing anymore. We reward mediocrity…

Michael: I live in Orlando, and when we moved here, it was a beautiful place. Now, right down the street, people are stealing stuff, breaking into cars. And it’s difficult to engage, because you’re afraid that no matter what you say, somebody’s going to take offense to it, even though you may just be wanting to ask a valid question and understand something… It’s almost anything. You can’t mention Trump. You can’t mention Biden.

Joe: I feel that social media destroyed a lot of the culture that we had. Things used to be private, or people just said things, and then they regret it after…

Michael: One of the things that I’m sensitive to is diversity. Diversity is when you have people that truly have different ways of thinking. And that’s how you solve problems. But you can’t talk about it, because people don’t see it that way. It’s all about skin colors, all about sexual orientations, all about these things that the media constantly talks about. It’s not about the things that really give us value as individuals.

Joe: There’s a lot of things you really can’t talk about. I was mentioning to someone in my office about the president appointing a Supreme Court nominee. It was an African American woman. And I was saying, “That’s the most racist thing you could do. What if somebody else was good? What if they were Asian? What if they were anything?” And then when you speak to somebody about it, well, what are you? Racist? No, I’m not racist…

Kristen Soltis Anderson: Who would you all think of as good examples of masculinity or manliness these days? Who’s a good example?

Danny: Jason Statham.

Christopher: Denzel Washington.

Robert: Yeah, Denzel Washington. Yeah.

Tony: Tom Brady…

Two professional actors and a (notoriously coddled) professional football player. MANLINESS!

Reader Interactions

230Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    … There was no talk of a stolen election, no conspiracy theories about voter fraud or rants about President Biden’s legitimacy.

    So not a representative sample then.

  2. 2.

    waspuppet

    “It’s Fck YOUR Feelings, not Fck MY Feelings!”

    Seriously, what a coddled bunch of snowflakes. And I’m an old white guy.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    I used to not take cancel culture seriously.  After reading this, I’m now a convert to the cause.

  4. 4.

    Alison Rose ???

    Well shucks, I searched and searched, but I can’t find a single fuck to give for a bunch of old men whining about how the entire society doesn’t bend itself to their every whim on a constant basis. You don’t fit into society? You don’t feel free to be yourselves? You’re alienated? WELCOME TO HOW EVERY OTHER FUCKING GROUP OF PEOPLE HAS FELT FOR CENTURIES. Fucking babies

    ETA that these guys feel “alienated” for nothing at all approaching what others have gone through. No one is passing laws to tell them who they can marry or where they can pee, they don’t have to live in fear for their lives every day, they get the damn NYT giving them the limelight constantly. Like what is so fucking hard? You can’t use all the slurs you loved as a kid? People don’t automatically shut up and listen when you speak? Poor poor dears.

    Go fuck yourselves.

  6. 6.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’m all for diversity.  Like allowing people who say “those people shouldn’t be allowed to vote”  or “there’s too many Black and Brown people and women on the Supreme Court” to express those feelings without feeling judged.  Now that’s diversity! — Trump voter

  7. 7.

    Calouste

    Conservative men complaining about rule-breaking and a “me,me,me” culture… it’s a good thing irony has died a few times already.

  9. 9.

    Tom Q

    I especially love the guy so upset about a black woman making it to the Court.  I’m sure he’s very sincerely concerned about an Asian being deprived of the seat.

    Of course, the deep supposition of all of this is, appointing a white man (4 of the 5 put on by Bush or Trump) is the norm, anything else is some kind of affirmative-action outrage.

    I have a guy like this on my Facebook feed (someone I halfway knew in high school); thinks Obama and Kamala are both affirmative-action hires.  But don’t you dare call him racist!  You’re a racist if you do that.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    It’s pretty clear you can’t reason with these people.  All you can do is outvote them.

  13. 13.

    geg6

    @Alison Rose ???:

    You said it perfectly.  Fuck  these assholes.  So sick of their whining and acting out because nobody but the tacky MAGAs agree with them and their “inferiors” keep talking back and not “respecting” them.  Fuck them, fuck them, fuck them.

  14. 14.

    lollipopguild

    I am a 67 year old white guy and we have a “tribal” culture where if you are in my “tribe” you can steal, lie, cheat(rick scott-trump) and I will love you and even vote for you. Many in trump’s tribe will even worship him like a god. If you are not a member of my “tribe” then you are evil, evil, evil. Fox noise and a lot of other media encourage this and cheer it on. I have voted for every Democratic candidate for every election since 1976. I thought that when we elected Obama not just once but twice we had turned a corner in this country and boy was I WRONG! These people will rule or they will burn the country down around themselves. Many of them would like Putin to rule us as a dictator.

  15. 15.

    Calouste

    @Baud: I can understand they complain about that. Mediocrity is a level they can never reach. Rewarding incompetence, they’d be onboard with that, they’d be raking it in.

  16. 16.

    Barbara

    “Out of place” is how I have felt for most of my adult life. Out of step politically with the majority of the generational cohort for my demographic, etc. And even though my kids and I mostly agree on major stuff, when I talk to them I feel like they were raised in a different country. Which they kind of were. But as far as it goes, I don’t see why my feelings or the feelings of these guys matter. They are free to be themselves with those who love and respect them for who they are. What they seem to feel is an entitlement to the agreement of others, and the need to be able to inflict their views on others without having to deal with anybody’s disagreement bouncing back at them.

  17. 17.

    RedDirtGirl

    It does piss me off that people seem to drive through red lights more than they used to, to be honest.

  18. 18.

    Ken

    @Baud: Or, they’ve so internalized the conspiracy theories that they treat them as baseline reality, not requiring mention.  Most of us wouldn’t drop “The nitrogen content of the air in my room is about 78% today” into conversation, unless we were on a submarine or space station.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    “That’s the most racist thing you could do. What if somebody else was good? What if they were Asian? What if they were anything?”

    But why does he feel he was misunderstood? He started with “thats the most racist thing you could do”
    People don’t have an obligation to agree with him. They understood him. They either are or are not buying his claim. They don’t want to just state opinions- they want the opinions validated. It’s not our job or duty to do that.
    What if I don’t want to engage in this argument he started at all? Because a lot of times I don’t, so I just don’t respond. Is that allowed or is a response mandatory?

  21. 21.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

     I always ask kids if they know what an oxygen tent is. :)

    I don’t get this: is Tom saying using a oxygen tent was common and if so why (smog?)

    Or is Tom pointing out the advancement in technology where the cannula made tents obsolete?

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    Here’s what we beheld while I was a kid in school:

    On April 16, 1971, real-estate agents Bob McDonald and Jim Youngren put the words, “Will the last person leaving SEATTLE — Turn out the lights” on a billboard at S 167th Street and Pacific Highway S near Sea-Tac International Airport. The two realtors, who work for Henry Broderick, Inc., put up the billboard as a humorous response to pessimism generated by the national aerospace industry’s nosedive, known locally as the Boeing Bust.

    A Sign of the Times

    The recession came as The Boeing Company, the region’s largest employer, went from a peak of 100,800 employees in 1967 to a low of 38,690 in April 1971. McDonald said their out-of-town clients “were amazed that Seattle wasn’t a ghost town with weeds growing in the streets. We wanted to counteract that attitude with a little humor” (Duncan). They chose a billboard site that they inevitably passed after picking up their clients at the airport. The men rented the billboard for $160.

    The Boeing recovery began slowly: By October 1971 the firm employed 53,300 workers.

    Fact: dad worked at Boeing, until he no longer did. And he was then dumped into a job market along with 60+k others, in a geographically and economically isolated corner of the nation. “Save us Richard Nixon, you’re our only hope.”

  23. 23.

    Kay

    @Barbara:

    Agree. 100%. Just stop assuming they’re the benchmark for all thought and everyone else is veering from the norm, which is them.

  25. 25.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    From the article:

    This is the seventh group in our series America in Focus, which seeks to hear and understand the views of cross-sections of Americans whose voices are often not heard in opinion journalism

    They didn’t need to be represented in opinion journalism. They’ve been in every news from the diner story for the past seven years. Yet they’re somehow not allowed to have an opinion. Allowing an opinion doesn’t mean ignoring that you’re shitty human beings, guys. Sorry not sorry.

  26. 26.

    Cheryl

    This was one of NYTimes idiotic articles I was dying to comment on but of course it wasn’t open for comments….they so don’t want to know what their readers think of whiny man boys

  27. 27.

    Tony Jay

    Such whiners.

    I’m a middle aged white guy. Yes, modern music is almost uniformly shit and I don’t recognise 3/4 of the new faces on TV or understand what the hell they’re jabbering on about. That thing that happened to people who were middle aged when I was young and dumb is happening to me now. Boo fucking hoo. Have these people never seen a non-action film about growing older? That’s just what life is.

    Bunch of fucking squares. etc.

  28. 28.

    Brachiator

    After recent focus groups with Democratic-leaning voters on the economy; younger women on work, relationships and gender roles; and teenagers on school and their futures, we decided to talk to conservative men about how they see themselves and what they value. Most said they believed society is headed toward increased rule breaking and a “me, me, me” culture. Crime and a sense of lawlessness came up a lot; our focus group leader, Kristen Soltis Anderson, was surprised by how much they used examples of poor road etiquette as emblematic of broader societal decay…

    Was this discussion held at an Applebee’s? Did they ask the conservatives if they voted for Trump, Mr Me, Me, Me? Were these a bunch of whiny white guys?

  30. 30.

    Hoppie

     I feel that social media destroyed a lot of the culture that we had.

    It is a worry I have had for many years, although “destroyed” may be a bit strong.

    (He says, ironically, on social media.)

  31. 31.

    zhena gogolia

    Here in deep blue Connecticut we saw a ratty van yesterday that had a banner on the side “Fauci lied / People died / Trump won / Get over it”

  35. 35.

    Benw

    If conservatives feel like they don’t fit in America, we’re doing something right!

    (slight edit)

  36. 36.

    Roger Moore

    After recent focus groups with Democratic-leaning voters on the economy; younger women on work, relationships and gender roles; and teenagers on school and their futures, we decided to talk to conservative men about how they see themselves and what they value.

    It’s interesting, because I haven’t heard a peep about those previous focus groups.  Asking honestly: is this because NYT didn’t bother to report on those previous focus groups, or because this one received a lot more attention?  I guess there could be some middle ground, where they reported on all the groups but gave this one a more prominent position in their reporting.

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: I don’t get this: is Tom saying using a oxygen tent was common and if so why (smog?)

    Dying of lung cancer used to be a lot more common, and even more unpleasant, back in the Marlboro Man’s glory days.

    Although, yeah, reducing the general smog levels — not to mention taking lead out of gasoline! — is also a public good underappreciated by proponents of ‘tha GOOD old daze’…

  40. 40.

    dm

    @Hoppie: I put the blame on Fox “News”, myself.

    Was it Jacinda Ahern who replied to a question as to why New Zealand was as successful with its approach to COVID as it was by replying: “We never let Fox News into our country”?

    I guess Justin Trudeau could pretty much say the same thing, trucker-jam notwithstanding.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    I wonder how Denzel Washington is feeling right now.

    Also, I wonder if we should put him on the ticket.

  44. 44.

    Steve in the ATL

    The men didn’t see themselves fitting into American society today. They didn’t feel free to be themselves in the culture. Seven of them said they felt like a stranger in their own country.

    Good.

  45. 45.

    Kathleen

    @Ukai:  In their break rooms.@bluegirlfromwyo:  I had no idea NYT even talked to Democrat nears in focus groups. I bet they didn’t understand journalism and that’s why we never saw the interviews.

  46. 46.

    Felanius Kootea

    We just had a thread today about about how Democrats need to change the narrative in which only a handful of people seemed to realize that the media sets the narrative.

    How many interviews of liberals has the New York Times had?  How many deep dives into the feelings of black and brown voters in America about Trumpist racism and how those feelings might influence future voting patterns?  How many discussions with regular Texas women of reproductive age about what their new dystopian laws mean to them?  How many follow up interviews with families whose loved ones died of hypothermia, or who ended up with $5000 electricity bills the last time Texas’ grid failed about how they view their elected officials’ betrayal?  How many exposes of price gouging by rich corporations that are currently attributed to inflation (and a Biden problem)?  How many analyses of what it means to legalize corruption by allowing the richest Americans to literally buy legislators and what that portends for the future of the US?

    Who owns the US media?  Are they perfectly fine with a fascist state that caters to billionaires while the rest of us grovel as we try to make ends meet? Cause that’s what this all looks like to me.

  47. 47.

    Steve in the ATL

    Do these idiots know that Denzel is a Democrat and was a huge Obama supporter?

  48. 48.

    RinaX

    NBC News just featured a poll about who people blamed for inflation. Obnoxious chihuahua Kristen Welker only highlighted the fact that 38% blames Biden. However, the other numbers noted that 28% blamed Covid, around another 20+ percent blamed corporations, with 6% blaming Putin. So over 50% don’t put the blame on Biden, but that wasn’t the main headline.

  49. 49.

    Baud

    @Kathleen:

    Ok, now I’m curious.  Someone must have seen them, if they actually happened.  The NYT didn’t just make that up, did they?

  52. 52.

    Gravenstone

    Racist? No, I’m not racist…

    Soooooo close to self reflection. And by close, I mean not even attempting it.

  54. 54.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    NYT via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Michael: [I]t’s difficult to engage, because you’re afraid that no matter what you say, somebody’s going to take offense to it, even though …

    … all you said was, “Shut up! SHUT UP YOU STUPID FUCKING CHILD-GROOMING PEDO LIBTARD!”

    Joe: There’s a lot of things you really can’t talk about. I was mentioning to someone in my office about the president appointing a Supreme Court nominee. It was an African American woman. And I was saying, “That’s the most racist thing you could do. …”

    Jeepers. I can’t even …

  55. 55.

    Wapiti

    @Tony Jay: Bunch of fucking squares. etc.

    When I was in high school in the late 70s, a teacher once dismissively drew a “square” in the air with his index fingers. It was first time I had ever seen that. Last time, too.

  56. 56.

    debbie

    NEW: Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) just shut down Mitch McConnell at a press conference: “There was $7 trillion in new debt and 2.6 million jobs lost during Trump. But when McConnell comes to this podium, all he does is complain that we’re not cleaning up their mess fast enough.”
    — No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 12, 2022

  58. 58.

    Roger Moore

    @Anne Laurie: 

    Although, yeah, reducing the general smog levels — not to mention taking lead out of gasoline! — is also a public good underappreciated by proponents of ‘tha GOOD old daze’…

    I can definitely vouch for the smog. I live in the LA area, fairly close to the mountains. When I was in college back in the early 1990s, it was a good air day when we could see the mountains just a few miles away. We had an athletic event cancelled because the air quality made it unsafe to exercise outdoors. So it was wild to me when some of my Chinese immigrant coworkers told me that air quality was one of the things that made them want to stay here. But I can see it. Air quality in China is terrible, while the air quality here in California has gotten much better over time.

  59. 59.

    Raven

    Standing outside Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville, where Gov. Brian Kemp said he bought his daughter Lucy’s first handgun, the governor signed a bill that allows Georgians to carry concealed handguns without first getting a license from the state.

    Making good on a 2018 campaign promise, Kemp signed Senate Bill 319, referred to by backers as “constitutional carry.”

    SB 319 allows a “lawful weapons carrier” to carry a concealed handgun everywhere license holders currently are allowed — meaning guns would still be prohibited in places such as the secured areas of airports or government buildings that have security at the entrance, including the state Capitol.

     

  60. 60.

    Skepticat

    Nobody follows rules or laws. … Nobody gets punished for doing the wrong thing anymore. We reward mediocrity…

    These happen to be among my chief concerns, but I’m not as terribly upset about ignoring traffic signals as I am about sedition and the pack of sociopathic-verging-on-psychotic liars in Congress.

  63. 63.

    RinaX

    @Baud: Exactly. So some messaging is breaking through. But can’t have people think Biden and Dems don’t completely suck.

  64. 64.

    Kathleen

    @Baud: I don’t know. I thought it was a “tell” that they couldn’t bring themselves to interview Democratic voters. They could only deal with “Dem Nears”.  From that standpoint they might be “leaning truth”.

  65. 65.

    Baud

    @Raven:

    meaning guns would still be prohibited in places such as the secured areas of airports or government buildings that have security at the entrance, including the state Capitol

     
    Does the Constitution not exist in those places?

  67. 67.

    Soprano2

    They were careful to pick two black men, one Asian and one Middle Eastern. The whole time I was reading it I kept thinking “Now they know what it’s like to be a woman. ” They totally think the whole world should listen to what they think and agree with it.

  68. 68.

    Roger Moore

    @debbie:

    Yep.  Apparently the same thing that lets owls fly silently means their feathers aren’t waterproof like most other birds.  The only other kind of bird I can think of offhand that doesn’t have waterproof feathers is the cormorant.  They apparently lack waterproofing because it helps them dive better.

  69. 69.

    Geminid

    @Raven: I always say that if “constitutional carry” is so damn contitutional how come you need a new statute to authorize it?

  71. 71.

    Raven

    @Baud: You know where else you can’t carry? The fucking VA Medical Centers. People who were actually trained to use weapons can’t carry them.

  73. 73.

    Patricia Kayden

    NY Times interviewing Georgia plantation owner in 1868: "This is not the America I remember growing up in."— P.D. White ??? (@whitepatrick) April 12, 2022

  75. 75.

    laura

    Cry Losers Cry. Shunned by decent people, swiped left by legions of people who will not fuck them, alienated at work by coworkers who have no obligation to put up with their distain and resentment of others and left only with the attention of the FTFNYT. Cry Losers Cry.

  76. 76.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Raven: And we all await with breathless anticipation the first time this law comes into play during an engagement between a black man and a law enforcement officer.

    sigh.

  77. 77.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Kathleen: They are there. There are links in the article even. I think one of the frontpagers never brought them to your attention, like the one about the whiny conservatives.

  81. 81.

    Splitting Image

    Nobody follows rules or laws. Stop signs are voluntary. Red lights are voluntary. Nobody gets punished for doing the wrong thing anymore. We reward mediocrity…

    So upset were they by this that they voted for Trump.

    Twice.

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    @Anne Laurie: ​Any time I’m cycling in traffic and a “classic” carbureted car goes past, I ponder how we put up with every moving thing on the road stinking as bad as that. That the fumes at the time also contained lead is the punchline.

  83. 83.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @RinaX:

    NBC News just featured a poll about who people blamed for inflation.

    NPR just had a similar segment but the focus was on Biden blaming Putin for higher energy and food prices and that a third of voters overall and a bazillion Republicans weren’t buying it.

    There’s never a mention that this is a worldwide phenomenon, as they go through a list of items and how much more they cost. And donchaknow, it’s EASTER, and eggs are more expensive, meat is more expensive, not sure why it wasn’t mentioned that our beloved PEEPS are basically unaffordable to anyone other than millionaires.

  84. 84.

    Gravenstone

    @Wapiti: oh lord, 70s teachers trying to be “cool” to fit in with the kids. We had one who doubled as our driver’s ed instructor. He’d try to make jokes about “speed” by inserting  the drug name instead of the actual word.  But instead of some variation of methamphetamine he constantly and painstakingly called it lysergic acid diethylamide (aka LSD). I never had the heart to correct him.

  85. 85.

    Quiltingfool

    I read the article this morning.  Some of those fellas don’t have a very good opinion of women.  They ought to be grateful that women are interested in equity, not vengeance.  That being said, I have hopes that a wife or girlfriend whispers in his ear, “You gotta sleep sometime.”

  86. 86.

    trollhattan

    If you’d like to watch the USWNT soccer the snot out of hapless Uzbekistan, ESPN2 is the place.

  87. 87.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Barbara:

    What they seem to feel is an entitlement to the agreement of others, and the need to be able to inflict their views on others without having to deal with anybody’s disagreement bouncing back at them. 

    This is apt and well-put!

  88. 88.

    Redshift

    Crime and a sense of lawlessness came up a lot

    Crime is on a decades-long decline, it was much worse when these guys were growing up. But the opposite is pumped out of the Fox outrage machine daily, so don’t try to tell them that.

    I wonder how much of the “crime” they worry about is “now I have to be around scary Black people.” (Actually, I don’t really wonder.)

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

    I don’t have a subscription to NYT, so I don’t know a lot of what they publish.  That’s why I honestly wanted to know if they had actually published the other focus groups.  If they published the other ones with similar prominence, it’s unreasonable to blame NYT for this one getting so much more attention.

  93. 93.

    Kay

    @Quiltingfool:

    I’m struck, like I always am, that conservative men expect special praise for working. For going to work.

    I always find it offensive because it has to be that they believe no one else works. Why else would you expect a huge pat on the back for it? In the article –  “What people don’t know about me is how hard I work”. OMFG. Oh, I’m SURE they know. Seems to me you’re telling them all the time.

    Can we just stipulate that everyone thinks their job is hard? Everyone does. They’re not unique.

  94. 94.

    Roger Moore

    @trollhattan: ​
     

    Any time I’m cycling in traffic and a “classic” carbureted car goes past, I ponder how we put up with every moving thing on the road stinking as bad as that.

    Oh yes. It’s amazing just how bad those old cars are. To be persnickety, though, I think the big point of blame is the lack of catalytic converter rather than carburetion. Using fuel injection does tend to improve the exhaust quality, but not nearly as much as a catalytic converter.

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    @debbie:

    NEW: Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) just shut down Mitch McConnell at a press conference: “There was $7 trillion in new debt and 2.6 million jobs lost during Trump. But when McConnell comes to this podium, all he does is complain that we’re not cleaning up their mess fast enough.”
    — No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen

    We need more of this. Push back. Point out their lies and failures.

  97. 97.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    I think a lot of this ties into the idea of privilege.  People say they’re privileged, and what they hear is that they didn’t work for what they have.  They feel a need to emphasize how hard they work as proof they weren’t just handed their position.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @Roger Moore:

    But they do the same things with “raising their children”. I certainly hope you’re “raising your children” – you’re not getting extra credit for it.

  99. 99.

    Old School

    After recent focus groups with Democratic-leaning voters on the economy

    So was this one filled with questions like “How much has the runaway inflation hurt your life?” and “Why do you think the Biden economy can’t build momentum?”

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    @RinaX:

    NBC News just featured a poll about who people blamed for inflation. Obnoxious chihuahua Kristen Welker only highlighted the fact that 38% blames Biden. However, the other numbers noted that 28% blamed Covid, around another 20+ percent blamed corporations, with 6% blaming Putin. So over 50% don’t put the blame on Biden, but that wasn’t the main headline.

    Sigh. Great example of pseudo-news. The uneducated public is polled about something. I guess this measures their unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

    You could poll a panel of economists. You know what? Their answers would also be worthless if they blamed Biden or any particular individual or a political party.

    But dumb questions have to be answered to fill air time.

  101. 101.

    Old School

    Kristen Soltis Anderson: Who would you all think of as good examples of masculinity or manliness these days? Who’s a good example?

    Danny: Jason Statham.

    Christopher: Denzel Washington.

    Robert: Yeah, Denzel Washington. Yeah.

    Tony: Tom Brady…

    Kudos to them for picking two guys who wear makeup on a regular basis and a guy who eats a predominantly vegan diet.

  102. 102.

    craigie

    @Tony Jay:

    I don’t recognise 3/4 of the new faces on TV or understand what the hell they’re jabbering on about.

    Me neither, and I take this as a point of pride.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    @Old School:

    They didn’t get that from me. I have had the best two (financial) years of my working life. I talk up the economy constantly and when I do people will grudgingly admit they’re making a lot of money. Because a lot of them are.

    You know how you can’t find a contractor? That’s because they’re swamped. I tell my son, who is an electrician and became a journeyman 2 years ago not to get used to this. He’s got more work than he can do. He picks- “should I go to Ann Arbor or…Arizona? Maybe I’ll work Sunday for triple time”. I think he’s going to be crushed when it slows and he sees a normal economy. He’s never worked in one.

  104. 104.

    Geminid

    .  The Russians trying to devastate Ukraine are running short of weapons, and according to the Guardian Iran is picking up the slack. Yesterday’s article describes shipments back to Iran of munitions it supplied to Shiite militias in Iraq. Included are anti-tank rockets and Brazilian-designed rocket systems. They were then taken by ship across the Caspian Sea to Astrakhan, on the Volga delta.

    The Guardian article says the Iranians have also donated an Iranian-made Bavar 373 missile system, similar to Russia’s S-300 anti-aircraft system, and returned an S-300 sytem to Russia.

  106. 106.

    West of the Rockies

    Those examples of masculine role models… a footballer and two guys who makes tons of hyper-masculine films (Equalizer and The Transporter and such).

    None chose Neil DeGrasse Tyson or even Hugh Jackman (who can dance in addition to kicking butts).

    A huge part of the current problems we face come from an all-too-frequently toxic patriarchy (supported to a weird extent by many women).

    The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves…

  109. 109.

    SFAW

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    I don’t get this: is Tom saying using a oxygen tent was common and if so why (smog?)

    One of my earliest memories is of being in an oxygen tent when I was two or three. I had pneumonia, and was in the hospital. My sense is that’s the type of thing for which they were used. I don’t think it was common back then, but these days, are they even used?

  110. 110.

    bluegirlfromwyo

    @Kay: What struck me was the guy telling us about his working from 6 am to 1 am, 365/7, to make an “amazing living”. He was also the president of the HOA (no doubt as part of his work). I wondered how he found time to sit on a focus group with that kind of schedule and concluded he was full of shit about how hard he worked. Maybe the others are too.

  111. 111.

    Kay

    Andrew Sullivan
    @sullydish
    · 2h
    Replying to @realchrisrufo
    Rufo now fomenting a full-on moral panic in which all public school teachers are pedophiles unless proven innocent. But hey it works!

    The moral panic promoters are upset with the moral panic they created. That’s the thing about panics- you can’t control them.

    I like how Chasten Buttigieg defends teachers publicly. It’s brave. This is something he knows – his work- and he jumped right in.

  112. 112.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:

    I skimmed the other focus group write ups. There’s no analog to the Fox-talking points spouting one for conservative men.

    There’s none that actually looks at the impact of Republican policies on real people’s lives, makes the connection, and asks the most affected people what they think about what’s happened to them.  I don’t think there will ever be.

  114. 114.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @bluegirlfromwyo: he never plays golf, goes fishing with his kids, meets his friends at a bar to watch a Bucs game, goes out to dinner with his wife….

    or maybe he gets up early and checks his emails, has a normal realtor’s day, and sends a few emails before he goes to bed, like a lot of people

    I’m thinking Danny has some other issues, too

    but I’m seeing masculinity under attack. And I’m seeing men wearing tight skinny jeans, with no socks and velvet shoes. And it’s cool to wear pink. I don’t mind wearing pink. It’s a cool color. And I’m not saying colors belong with a certain gender.

    I’m old and unfashionable and so are most of my (limited) social circle, are skinny jeans still a thing?

  118. 118.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    My current job – getting up in the morning is hard. I have to go to the bathroom, then the kitchen to get something to eat, look at my computer, type insane BS, and do it all over again tomorrow. Damn that’s hard. Isn’t there someone that can do all that for me?

    Just mimicking the concept that life is hard. I have a friend my age who lives in a wheelchair. My life is a breeze compared to what she has to do every day. She got polio at 1 yr old. She has a great grandkid. Most old farts who complain about life being tough have no fucking idea how tough even getting up can be for some. And she complains a hell of a lot less as well.

  119. 119.

    realbtl

    “This not the America I remember growing up in.” Well no shit Sherlock it’s called the passage of time. It’s not 30 to 50 years ago.
    I’m a 73 yo white guy, just grow up already.

  120. 120.

    Raven

    The New York Police Department said they are seeking a “person of interest” in connection to the Brooklyn subway shooting from this morning.
    Officials say they are looking for Frank James, who they say rented the U-Haul truck that is connected to the shooting and was found in Brooklyn. James rented the truck in Philadelphia, the day before shooting.

  121. 121.

    japa21

    @Kay: When “white privilege” was the rage, the typical conservative response was “Well, I just finished a 10 hour shift pouring cement, I’m dirty and exhausted. Must be that white privilege I hear about.”  They really have no concept of any world outside their little enclosed capsule.

  122. 122.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud: I just billed a large multinational corporation 2.5 hours for reading your comment.  And another 4 hours for responding.

  124. 124.

    Brachiator

    @Felanius Kootea:

    We just had a thread today about about how Democrats need to change the narrative in which only a handful of people seemed to realize that the media sets the narrative.

    I recently listened to an interview with a woman journalist who was sad that their publisher was shutting down the print publications of Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, Health and Parents magazines.

    Fluff, but the woman was making the larger point that she had worked for a number of publications over the years and knew a lot of people in the industry and noted that the publishers, editors and staff were still dominated by white men, and that this inevitably led to bias and a narrow viewpoint when it comes to deciding what stories to print and what the perspective of those stories might be. And the continuing implosion of the news industry just makes the problem worse.

    The media sets the narrative, and there is still a woeful lack of diversity among the journalistic decision makers.

    How many interviews of liberals has the New York Times had? How many deep dives into the feelings of black and brown voters in America about Trumpist racism and how those feelings might influence future voting patterns? How many discussions with regular Texas women of reproductive age about what their new dystopian laws mean to them?

    Almost every story and podcast I have seen recently that dealt with the issue of abortion has featured politicians, reporters or pundits. And usually male politicians.

    I would really be interested in an all woman town hall discussion about the issue that included a good cross section of women.

    And I am beyond tired of stories about the opinion of “working class voters” that are only about a small cross section of white voters.

  125. 125.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Brachiator:

     

    their publisher was shutting down the print publications of Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, Health and Parents magazines

    So it’s BYO now when when waiting for the dentist?

  128. 128.

    BruceFromOhio

    @RedDirtGirl:  I ride bicycles and a motorcycle. What used to be enjoyable is now a game of “who will try to kill me first”. Oh, snowflake, maybe you shouldn’t ride! Yeah, right. Fuck those assholes. If you want me, try harder.

    It’s actually kinda compelling in a very different way, like how baseball is different from dodgeball, except in this game if I lose, I die. Yes, I’ve checked the organ donor box on my ID, heaven knows we need them here. My end will not be slow.

  130. 130.

    Quiltingfool

    @Kay: Oh, don’t I know it – conservative men always think they are special because they GO TO WORK.  I’m retired, but I worked for decades and I didn’t go around bragging about it.  Plus, as a woman married to a man (not anymore!) who was coddled by his mama, I worked a job, plus did all the housework shit.  So, double work.

    I love men, but if I could go back in time, I think I’d bypass the marriage or living together lifestyle – I’d just have fun with them.  To hell with taking care of ‘em!

    (No offense to the guys here on BJ!)

  131. 131.

    Brachiator

    @Steve in the ATL:

    So it’s BYO now when when waiting for the dentist?

    You laugh, sir?

    My dentist has some coffee table picture books in his waiting room. No magazines at all. Another practitioner has a sparse selection of old copies of crappy magazines.

    More and more, people just scroll around on their smartphones while waiting. Parents bring tablets for their kids.

  132. 132.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    @RedDirtGirl:

    It’s an international problem. I mean, they do that shit here in Toronto and it’s been getting worse.

    As a middle-aged white guy, though–did they interview my dad? It feels like they interviewed him. Sure, they’d need a Ouija board, but I wouldn’t put the NYT.

  133. 133.

    Anne Laurie

    @Steve in the ATL: Do these idiots know that Denzel is a Democrat and was a huge Obama supporter?

    They know Denzel (or at least the character Denzel was playing) blowed stuff up real good in Man on Fire.  And was (played) a killa bad-ass cop in Training Day.   Just as they’re happy to overlook Statham’s early career as a male model, Equalizer Denzel gives them the warm fuzzies, so they don’t pay attention to Washington’s sissy theatre stuff, much less his political views.  Or, as they would phrase it, They don’t cancel people because of their political views…

  136. 136.

    Ancient Atheist

    I have a difficulty with conservatives… they don’t know what they believe. What is Free Enterprise capitalism? How can a corporation claim and be given religious rights? Human rights are personal?

  137. 137.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    My current job – getting up in the morning is hard. I have to go to the bathroom, then the kitchen to get something to eat, look at my computer, type insane BS, and do it all over again tomorrow. Damn that’s hard. Isn’t there someone that can do all that for me?

    For $20 an hour, I will remotely access your computer look at it and type insane BS for you.

    It’s a service I call Merde Perfect.

    For the rest, you’re on your own.

  139. 139.

    zhena gogolia

    In the last few weeks Jane Brody Dorie Greenspan and Jennifer Boylan have announced they’re leaving the Times. Were they pushed?

  142. 142.

    persistentillusion

    @SFAW: Same here, three y/o in oxygen tent with pneumonia, wondering what the heck was going on. (Limits of a 3yo vocabulary.  Now I can say things like fuck and such.)

  143. 143.

    Roger Moore

    @bluegirlfromwyo:

    I feel the same way about CEOs who are always talking about how they work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.  It’s so much BS.  I’m sure that part of it is they count as working all kinds of things they’d never classify that way if one of their employees was doing it.  If they read the paper while eating breakfast, they count it as work because staying informed is part of the job.  Same thing about checking the internet while their chauffeur drives them to work.  Every lunch and dinner is a business meal, even if they only spend 5 minutes talking about work.  And of course watching the sportsball game on the weekends is work for the same reason.  It’s naturally very important they classify all that stuff as work, because it means they can have their company pay for everything as work related without having to pay taxes on it.

  144. 144.

    Soprano2

    @Quiltingfool: Yep, they said the “natural order” is that the male is above the female, just look at animals.  *sigh* What was interesting was that the two black guys, the Asian guy, and the M.E. guy don’t think racism or sexism is a problem in the U.S.

  145. 145.

    persistentillusion

    @Brachiator: I agree about the problem.  In Colorado, we seem to have a partial solution.  The Colorado Sun is supported by subscription and run by folks from the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News etc, who when made redundant, formed their own paper.  Good reporting.

  147. 147.

    Procopius

    @Steve in the ATL: Well, heck, I’ve felt that way since I was a kid. The solution I found was to move to and live in Thailand. At least I have a real reason to feel like an alien here.

  148. 148.

    Starfish

    This article that discusses Trump with Fiona Hill is amazing. It leads me to believe that the case against Trump can potentially be strong if it is taken up properly.

  150. 150.

    Gvg

    I grew up in Orlando starting in the 70’s. Crime is WAY better now. That one interview has no idea. Generally crime is way down nationwide but people seem incapable of noticing facts about crime rates. This seems to predate this country. It’s not just republicans nor recent.

  151. 151.

    Brachiator

    OT and WTF:

    New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin has resigned in the wake of his arrest in a federal corruption investigation, creating a political crisis for Gov. Kathy Hochul seven months after she selected Benjamin as a partner to make a fresh start in an office already rocked by scandal.

  152. 152.

    James E Powell

    Danny:  … Nobody gets punished for doing the wrong thing anymore. We reward mediocrity…

    Danny, my man, you are describing Trump & the Republican party.

  154. 154.

    Roger Moore

    @Baud: 
    My point is that they aren’t always on. They’re always claiming to be on, but I sincerely doubt they are. Yeah, maybe they work somewhat longer hours than typical, but I sincerely doubt those extra hours are really productive. They do it A) so they can claim all that stuff as work related for tax reasons and B) to try to justify their outrageous salary. They would probably do just as well for their company working a 40 hour work week.

  155. 155.

    japa21

    @Brachiator: Love how this is automatically a political crisis for Hochul. And damn it, they are going to do everything in their power to make it one.

     

    ETA: Or as Baud said, what’s the big deal.

  156. 156.

    Ken

    @Soprano2: Yep, they said the “natural order” is that the male is above the female, just look at animals.

    I’m finding it a lot easier to think of animals where the females are more important. My favorite extreme example — I think Stephen Jay Gould wrote about it — is the insect where each egg clutch produces one male, who mates with all his sisters while they’re all still in the larval stage, then dies.

  158. 158.

    Anne Laurie

    @Redshift: I wonder how much of the “crime” they worry about is “now I have to be around scary Black people.” (Actually, I don’t really wonder.)

    Not to mention, those people who talk to each other in their weird not-English jibber-jabber languages — they could be saying anything! Planning with each other to rob & murder you! Used to be, you could beat them up a little, let them know not to try anything funny, but noooowww…

    And the feminazis… a guy slaps his woman around, for reasons, the cops are forced to listen to her whine about it instead of telling her not to provoke you again, and then some p*ssy social worker shows up & tries to take your kids away from you!

  159. 159.

    James E Powell

    @SFAW:

    One of my earliest memories is of being in an oxygen tent when I was two or three. I had pneumonia, and was in the hospital.

    I was in an oxygen tent twice in childhood. It is my earliest memory. I had croup.

  162. 162.

    Peale

    @Redshift: we had the lowest crime rate under Obama, and they lapped up Trump’s American Carnage inaugural address like our cities were desolate hell holes burning down.

  164. 164.

    El-Man

    @dm:

    Unfortunately, that is wrong, our PM never said that. Link.

    However, I suspect it might be true anyway. Comrade Carlson mocked her last year for the strict measures put in place, because freedumb. I guess that’s why we’ve only had 516 COVID deaths…

  165. 165.

    Roger Moore

    @Peale:

    if they came home early, they might have to do a load of laundry.

    Or, heaven forbid, have to interact with their family.  I definitely get the feeling that there’s something deeply wrong with people who want to work to the exclusion of everything else.

  167. 167.

    Starfish

    @persistentillusion: I thought that The Colorado Sun had some major investor to help get it off the ground. They were able to attract some of the Denver Post’s journalists so I assumed they had big financial backing. Wikipedia says, “It was started with two years of funding from blockchain venture capitalists at Civil and from a Kickstarter campaign.”

    We have a lot of interesting endeavors that happen here in Boulder.

    We have Boulder Reporting Lab.

    We also have Colorado Newsline.

    The Denverite had one rich dude propping it up, and eventually the local NPR got it and its journalists.

  168. 168.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Just heard on Maddow program that the South Dakota AG was impeached today. Now he goes to trial before the state senate.

    The New York Times @nytimes

    South Dakota lawmakers voted to impeach the state’s attorney general, Jason Ravnsborg, who fatally hit a man with his car in 2020.

    “The House of Representatives voted and I respect the process,” Mr. Ravnsborg said, “but I look forward to the Senate trial where I believe I will be vindicated.”

    He claimed to have thought he hid a deer. As I recall the victims glasses were found on the floor of his car

  169. 169.

    Brachiator

    @Soprano2:

    Yep, they said the “natural order” is that the male is above the female.

    Uh, hyenas.

    And our ape cousins, Bonobos, where there is equality with a lean toward female dominance.

  170. 170.

    Anne Laurie

    @MomSense: Was this a serious piece?

    Not when the jape-mongers on Twitter got finished with it, but the NYTimes *intended* it to be taken seriously.

  171. 171.

    Martin

    I don’t really understand why the national news is covering the NYC subway perpetrator so closely. Most mass shootings don’t even get a mention on the news any more. Maybe I’ve been away from NY for too long, but crazy people doing violent shit on the subway, was like, normal. Feels more like a matter of national news is located in NYC, so of course this is covered as an urgent thing. But do this on BART and nobody would cover it.

  174. 174.

    Ruckus

    @realbtl:

    just grow up already

    Extremely good advice – but. And it’s a big, glorious but, if they are old enough to remember 30 to 50 yrs ago and haven’t grown up by now, the chances of that happening are slim to none at all. It may be one reason why they think that SFB would be a good anything, because they are still in the same mindset they were in in HS. Or possibly jr high. Their mental growth spurt is long behind them, possibly so far that all the records of it are lost forever and looking for it is a complete waste of time. Besides it was so small that any concept of it evaporated 25-45 yrs ago.

  176. 176.

    Starfish

    @MomSense:

    The piece I linked is a serious NY Times piece, and it was really good, but I don’t have a gift subscription to give. I had access because a friend gave me a gift of that piece.

    Her descriptions of Russia’s president to her audience that morning — “living in his own bubble”; “a germaphobe”; “a shoot-the-messenger kind of person” — were both penetrating and eerily reminiscent of another domineering leader she came to know while serving as the National Security Council’s senior director of Russian and European affairs from April 2017 to July 2019. Though it stood to reason that a Putinologist of Fiona Hill’s renown would be much in demand after the invasion of Ukraine this February, it surprised me that her tenure in the Trump administration almost never came up in these discussions.

    The Colorado events were part of a book tour that was scheduled long before the Russian attack. Her memoir, “There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century,” traces the journey of a literal coal miner’s daughter from working-class England to the White House. But it covers a period that can be understood as a prelude to the current conflict — Hill was present for the initial phase of Trump’s scheme to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who was elected in 2019, by withholding military aid in exchange for political favors. It is also an insider’s look at a chaotic, reckless and at times antidemocratic chief executive. (In response to queries for this article, Trump said of Hill: “She doesn’t know the first thing she’s talking about. If she didn’t have the accent she would be nothing.”)

  177. 177.

    TonyG

    @dm: Well, yeah — but Fox News makes money only because it’s telling people like that what they want to hear.  Before Fox News they had Rush Limbaugh telling them what they want to hear, and there were others before Rush.  There are just a lot of people out there who are stupid and full of hate.  Fox News and its imitators accelerate that, but they’re not the root cause.

  179. 179.

    Gravenstone

    @Peale: they lapped up Trump’s American Carnage inaugural address like our cities were desolate hell holes burning down.

    Pretty easy to villainize a place you’re too parochial to ever visit.

  181. 181.

    Chip Daniels

    So much of reactionary thought has its origins in male insecurity and fear.

    These guys are trapped in a bizarre comic book version of masculinity where their role models are, literally, just playacting the part. So of course they are gripped with a crippling fear of inadequacy, and instead of coming to terms with themselves, they stalk around looking for someone to blame.

  182. 182.

    Gravenstone

    @Martin: Feels more like a matter of national news is located in NYC, so of course this is covered as an urgent thing.

    Got it in one!

  184. 184.

    Peale

     

     

    @Raven: I hope they find him soon. I actually get worried about everyone named Frank James (suspect excluded) in instances like this. It’s an odd worry, I know. But you know there are a few dozen frank James’ around the world right now whose Facebook pages are about to get profiled.

  185. 185.

    Brachiator

    @Baud:

    RE: What’s the crisis? He resigned and she moves on.

    Yeah, you’re probably right. A real nothing burger. It doesn’t bring confusion to the upcoming election.

    Benjamin, who will likely remain on the ballot due to state election law, was already facing competition in the June primary from former New York City Councilwoman Diana Reyna and progressive activist Ana Maria Archila. Hochul, who is seeking reelection, is facing multiple Democratic challengers, including Rep. Tom Suozzi and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

    And of course, political opponents won’t do anything with this:

    “Today’s bombshell is an indictment on Kathy Hochul’s lack of experience and poor judgment,” said Suozzi and Reyna, who are running together, in a joint statement, adding that Hochul had “fostered a culture of continued corruption with months of fundraising from pay-to-play insiders and people doing business with the state, and secretive budget deals that resulted in the billion-dollar Bills stadium and little else.”

    And I think Benjamin knew he was under investigation, and thought he could ride it out.

    But I guess New York voters won’t care.

  187. 187.

    Raven

    @Baud: Some dumb fuck at the first press conference about the shooting asked her about that. She was not pleased.

  191. 191.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Martin:

    Feels more like a matter of national news is located in NYC, so of course this is covered as an urgent thing.

    That, and early this morning there reports of IEDs and a gas mask, which got all the old ISIS juices flowing in the newsrooms

  192. 192.

    Anne Laurie

    @Martin: Maybe I’ve been away from NY for too long, but crazy people doing violent shit on the subway, was like, normal. Feels more like a matter of national news is located in NYC, so of course this is covered as an urgent thing.

    I remember a certain comedian, back in the 1960s, doing a whole bit on the NYC subways:  A Nut In Every Car.

    We kids of that generation were allowed to take the subways on our own, starting around age 10-12, after being duly warned about how to deal with ‘the perverts’ and ‘the crazies’.  There were probably fewer shoot-outs back then, but Bernie Goetz made himself a ‘hero’ almost 40 years ago.

    I agree that it’s the media’s home-base bias.  Yesterday’s national evening news had a whole segment on a manhole cover exploding in Times Square — not a single victim, beyond the emotional distress of being caught in a mob of (other) tourists running & screaming — but wow! watch this cellphone video replaying the incident, at least five times! Imagine what *could* have happened!…

  193. 193.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Chip Daniels: Trying to live up to their own self-imposed unrealistic cultural expectations of “manhood” can be exhausting. Especially when no one appreciates how hard they work at it. It makes them cranky.

  194. 194.

    Villago Delenda Est

    If you’re looking for a “me me me” culture, look no further than TFG.

  197. 197.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Gvg: Local TV keeps crime in the spotlight (“If it bleeds, it leads”) so the perception of the average person watching the nightly news is that crime is EVERYWHERE.  The exceptions become the norm.

  198. 198.

    Geminid

    @Raven: James mentioned Mayor Adams but it sounds like his beef was with the city’s mental health system. He said he had a diagnosed mental illness but that the system was hostile. On a YouTube post last month James said he was “entering the danger zone.”

    This is from the article the New York Post put up this evening.

  199. 199.

    lowtechcyclist

    I’d like to have a word with Joe:

    Joe: I grew up with Giuliani. I’m born and raised in New York. I see stuff every day. I take the subways to work, and it’s not what it used to be. It’s a problem.

    Yeah, crime is just out of control in NYC!!  Between 2019 and 2010, murders in NYC jumped from 319 to 468, and went up a notch to 488 in 2020.  Horrible!!! When were there ever so many killings in NYC before?

    Oh, that’s right: every year from 1962 to 2008, that’s when.  Hell, there were over 1000 murders in NYC every year from 1969 to 1995.

    Wouldn’t actually want to have a word with Joe, though. People like that know what they know, and if you show them the facts, they aren’t going to believe them.

  200. 200.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    So you are willing to do the easiest part?

    Well… yes. I’m here for you, man.

    But it’s also about me, me, me!

  202. 202.

    Raven

    @Geminid:

    In his rambling conspiracy theory, James claimed that a race war would follow the ongoing conflict in Europe.

    “It’s just a matter of time before these white motherfu–ers decide, ‘Hey listen. Enough is enough. These ni–ers got to go,’” he said.

    “And what’re you going to do? You gonna fight. And guess what? You gonna die. Cause unlike President [Zelensky] over in Ukraine, nobody has your back. The whole world is against you. And you’re against your fu–ing self. So why should you be alive again is the fucking question. Why should a ni–er be alive on this planet? Besides to pick cotton or chop sugar cane or tobacco.”

    The only options James could find, he claimed, was to commit more violence or become a criminal.

    “And so the message to me is: I should have gotten a gun, and just started shooting motherf—ers,” he said.

  203. 203.

    Weapon X

    @lowtechcyclist: Yeah, he thinks things were so much better under Giuliani, yet the crime rate was much higher across the board. So, if you have that word with Joe ask him in what way was it better back then. You know the answer, but it would be nice if someone forced these bitchy butthurt babies to just come out and say it.

  204. 204.

    Geminid

    @Raven: There are a lot of details in New York local media. One report say James’ .380 pistol may have jammed, and another report said police recovered two extended magazines. It sounds like he meant to kill a lot of people. As it stands, the four critically wounded are said to be stabilized.

  205. 205.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Joe: There’s a lot of things you really can’t talk about. I was mentioning to someone in my office about the president appointing a Supreme Court,…

    This the same twat who was whining about no one following the rules and here he is not following professional conduct.  Since freaking 19th C you don’t talk about politics, sex or religion in a professional setting.

  206. 206.

    Ishiyama

    So the New York Times is taking a page out of Jerry Springer – handing people microphones and encouraging them to articulate their grievances. And they piously seek “balance” by presenting different segments featuring unhappy people from all walks of life and political leanings. It wouldn’t be “good press” if they asked people to talk about what they enjoyed doing with their spare time outside of politics, would it. (Since it is the New York Times, I would never expect to see my views, such as they are, expressed therein.)

  208. 208.

    Ruckus

    @TonyG:

    Fox News and its imitators accelerate that, but they’re not the root cause.

    No, human beings are the cause. Since no human beings work at FoxBullShit or FBS, they aren’t to blame./S

    You are correct humans can be real stupid and full of hate. fox just gives them permission/makes it normal, by repetition for the last 30 yrs. Russian news does the same thing, telling people that the war is Ukraine’s fault or that they started it. A portion of the audience believes their shit, and it’s the same way here. You are right that it’s not the ultimate cause, but it is why it isn’t easy to change and it’s why there are other “news” outlets that do the same bending of the crap that passes for truth they shovel and call news. It bends minds with repetition, and sure they have to be bendable but most human minds are to one degree or another. Would the world be perfect without their bullshit? No, because it has humans in it. Would the world be better without their bullshit? Undeniable.

  211. 211.

    Suzanne

    @Kay:

    I’m struck, like I always am, that conservative men expect special praise for working. For going to work. 

    They also resent when people who they don’t think are worthy make more money than they do. I’ve been told that I don’t deserve to make as much as the people who hang drywall on my projects because lifting heavy things is more important than designing the building.

    I actively hope for people with this attitude to end up homeless and alone.

  212. 212.

    AnthroBabe

    Sigh

    Anecdote about this GD “romanticization of childhood/young adulthood” that is especially prevalent in wypipo: mother’s funeral 2019, funeral director is my age (50s) and at the funeral listening to us all reminisce about my mother…we bring up our childhood with her, etc. he BUTTS IN (!!!!) and tells a short story about how “life was so much better in the 1970s”  I was THISCLOSE to telling him off in a series of shouts: NIXON VIETNAM GAS CRISIS

    Look, I had a great childhood, but I knew (know) the 1970s and I don’t view it through rose colored glasses. I remember feeling that I had been born too late as I wanted to take part in the civil rights and women’s movements (but I can still do that *unfortunately….*)

  213. 213.

    Geminid

    @Suzanne: This is why the Mexicans and Central Americans are replacing the white tradesmen where I live. They’re not as stuck up and they  do better work too.

  215. 215.

    Suzanne

    @Geminid: 100%.
    I am sick of people telling me they work hard. I literally don’t know anyone with a job who doesn’t work hard. Especially coming from tradesmen, who are notorious as a cohort for calling in hung over.

  216. 216.

    Suzanne

    I find it amusing/irritating when I hear people express disbelief or disapproval that people who did well in school make more money (it’s usually working-class men). Like, what did they think they were there for?! Why do they think some of us worked hard at it?!

    I mean, literally, what is the society they envision? Do we all make the same amount? I have read part if Michael Sandel’s “The Tyrrany of Merit” and I think it’s very thought-provoking. But ultimately what it’s provoking for me is that the white working class dude cohort literally will not be satisfied unless they out-earn everyone else and that is never happening.

  217. 217.

    danielx

    Considering the hero status of TFG, the most thin-skinned, whiney little brat ever to occupy the Oval Office – or possibly any elected office – I cannot say I am surprised.

    And if you asked any of those guys, they would say nobody is entitled to anything except what they earn. But the whole tone is that they are owed something, and they are not getting it.

  220. 220.

    Brachiator

    @Suzanne:

    As is often the case, the thread gets provocative as it is dying.

    I mean, literally, what is the society they envision? Do we all make the same amount? I have read part if Michael Sandel’s “The Tyrrany of Merit” and I think it’s very thought-provoking.

    Another book to add to my reading list. Thanks.

    But ultimately what it’s provoking for me is that the white working class dude cohort literally will not be satisfied unless they out-earn everyone else and that is never happening.

    I never thought about some of this before. Do these guys really think they can out earn everyone else?

    And I know it has been mentioned before, but the angry white working class dude cohort feels undermined by the decline of manufacturing and like to blame Democrats for shipping their jobs to China. They should blame Nixon. Or reality.

    So they lose out in the battle for wages. They also watch some people who they thought to be nerds become gazillionaires. Worse, their wimmins can go to college, earn money independently, and worst of all, move up in social class as they can seek upper income mates.

    Meanwhile the sullen angry dudes can’t get ahead and are left behind.

    Boo freaking hoo.

  223. 223.

    Citizen Alan

    @Roger Moore: What I say to white folks who bitch about accusations of “white privilege” is this:  Think about everything you’ve had to overcome to get where you are today. Think about all  the mistakes you made along the way that could have ruined you if things had gone a little bit different. Think back on ever good and bad thing that ever happened to you. Now, imagine if you’d been black at the time. Do you think things would have turned out better or worse for you?

  224. 224.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ken:

    one male, who mates with all his sisters while they’re all still in the larval stage

    Josh Duggar?

  227. 227.

    Honus

    @Raven:

    “You know where else you can’t carry? The fucking VA Medical Centers. People who were actually trained to use weapons can’t carry them.“

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but nobody can carry on a military base either other than MPs.

  230. 230.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Citizen Alan: These people sincerely believe stories about special handouts black people get. There’s a really common belief among whites that any black person with half-decent grades will get a free-ride scholarship through college.

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