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You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Repub Venality / Sportsball Open Thread: Brett Favre, Poster Boy for White Male Privilege

Repub Venality / Sportsball Open Thread: Brett Favre, Poster Boy for White Male Privilege

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Full props to the Mississippi Free Press:

And for those of us [raises hand] who have only the vaguest idea what a ‘Brett Favre’ might be…

… Favre was the ultimate let’s-do-it-and-be-legends lunatic as a quarterback, blessed with a howitzer of an arm and a ceaseless, almost megalomaniacal confidence in it: There was no throw Favre didn’t think he could make, often to his team’s detriment…

But what truly made you want to throw a brick through the TV was the way the broadcasters treated him. Favre was mistake prone, cocksure, heedlessly self-destructive, and so pigheaded that you wondered if his brain was capable of consuming and retaining new information. But to the broadcasters of his games — and the media who covered him — Favre wasn’t a foolhardy hothead. He was a gunslinger. That was the term they always used: gunslinger. He wasn’t imprecise and impulsive; he just trusted his gut. Favre was forever elevated to a sort of frontier sheriff, the final-justice cowboy of a mythical western. Other teams had “stats” and “game plans” and “rational decision-making.” Favre’s teams had Favre. And Favre ate it all up, acting the homespun Mississippi boy who just was drawin’ plays in the dirt out there. He also wrung every bit of indulgent drama out of his career — what team he might sign with next; whether he was going to support his successor, Aaron Rodgers; whether he was going to retire, or unretire, or retire again. He actually had news stations tracking his flights and bus rides from the airport. Nobody wanted the spotlight more than Favre, and the sports industrial complex was ever so eager to give it to him. Favre Rage was a phenomenon that launched a thousand bloggers…

But now it seems he has done something unethical enough that nobody — not his lawmaker friends, not his onetime legion of defenders in the press — is making excuses for him anymore. Favre is enmeshed in a truly outrageous scandal in Mississippi, where local newspapers have reported that he not only sought and received public funds for the construction of a volleyball stadium for his daughter’s team at the University of Southern Mississippi (Favre’s alma mater) but that he transferred those funds from welfare programs meant for the poorest citizens of one of America’s poorest states. And it’s not just that Favre wanted the money. It’s that he knew what he was doing looked extremely shady and was desperate not to get caught. (To make matters worse, he also suggested “the prison industry” as a possible builder for the facility.)

Reading over the texts between Favre and various Mississippi politicians, one can draw a clear through-line between the reverence that football commentators had for him and that of the local politicians — and how willing both were to look past all his problems. The obsequiousness is pretty staggering. Nonprofit director Nancy New (the one in charge of the welfare funds under the direction of then-Governor Phil Bryant) made it clear in the released texts that she would do whatever she could to protect Favre, and Bryant himself texted Favre, after Favre requested the funds, that “we will get there” and “we have to follow the law. I am to [sic] old for Federal Prison. [smiley face, sunglasses emoji.]” Favre got the funds soon thereafter. Oh, and he also no-showed several appearances he was contracted to make for the state and refused to pay back the money he had been paid for those no-shows. But why would Favre feel he needed to do anything he was required to? He has been revered in his home state for so long he seemed to think he could get away with anything…

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  1. 1.

    cain

    Yeah, that state has a lot of issues – it’s like an underdeveloped country – sunk in poverty. As long as they have Republicans in charge of the political order it will never reform. It amazes me how much GOP bullshit has happened to keep that state mired in corruption to detriment of everyone there. It’s a state where racism is the national past time

    ETA – interesting how all the folks on that pics with the media are all white males. There is your goddam problem right there.

  2. 2.

    Yutsano

    Sigh. Mississippi has always been a corrupt den of racism and iniquity. It makes you wonder what the Manning family is hiding.​

    EDIT: I’M NUMBER 2!!! WOOOO!!!

  3. 3.

    HumboldtBlue

    Fuck Brett Favre, and like every other felonious wealthy white man, we can only hope he faces justice.

    It’s also awesome to live in the best fucking state in the union now that Newsom has signed a new paid family leave law and who is also addressing the oil companies fucking us over.

    There is also this amazing scoop about an interview Obama did in the final days of his term and his thoughts on Trump and what comes next. Prescient is far too weak a word for this.

    #FOIAFriday SCOOP: DOJ released a doc to me in response to a 5 year old #FOIA request. It’s a doc I didn’t specifically ask for. It’s a transcript of an off the record discussion Obama had with reporters about Trump, et al, 3 days before he left office

    @Yutsano:

    They’re New Orleans based and have been since Archie played for the Saints. Boys were all born and schooled there.

    And if you need a moment for some musical nostalgia, Rolling Stone brings us the top 100 songs of 1982, a year that changed pop music forever. There are some absolute gems on that list.

  5. 5.

    Old School

    Sure, the funds would have been better off going to help the poor, but I find it a little strange that Favre is being portrayed as the villain when nothing helped him personally.

    Has the Trump family ever been accused of using their influence to help anyone other than themselves?

  6. 6.

    Scout211

    I have been reading about this scandal off and on for a year or more. What has happened recently that the story has now exploded and is everywhere?

  10. 10.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @HumboldtBlue: ​
      You have to remember when Obama was in the CIA he was part of their covert time travel operations:

    (WIRED) — As a young man in the early 1980s, Obama was part of a secret CIA project to explore Mars. The future president teleported there, along with the future head of Darpa.

    That’s the assertion, at least, of a pair of self-proclaimed time-traveling, universe-exploring government agents. Andrew D. Basiago and William Stillings insist that they once served as “chrononauts” at Darpa’s behest, traversing the boundaries of time and space. They swear: A youthful Barack Obama was one of them.

    ***
    Officially, the White House says Obama never went to Mars. “Only if you count watching Marvin the Martian,” Tommy Vietor, the spokesman for the National Security Council, tells Danger Room.

  11. 11.

    p.a.

    Favre’s $5M is just part of the $80M allegedly 🤬 misappropriated from Miss welfare funds. And that’s just s.o.p down there according to progressive sources.

    And anyone wanna bet the under on the investigators/prosecutors getting threats for taking down the whole bunch?

  12. 12.

    Hoppie

    What I find unforgivable is he can’t even pronounce his own name.

    It’s not spelled “farve”.

    Yeah, I’m a little strange.  But this Balloon Juice.

  13. 13.

    Citizen Alan

    The poster child for White Privilege is and always will be Kyle Rittenhouse, because if you keep literally everything about his story the same (white parents, Trump supporter, got an illegal firearm out of an insane desire to protect white businesses from BLM) but just made him black, he’d have died in a hail of bullets before he’d ever gotten a single shot off.

    Everything else about that scumbag Favre I agree with. And yes, this is a 3rd World country. Somalia for White People.

  15. 15.

    Scout211

    @p.a.: Well, the investigator was fired this year. Link

    The state welfare department has fired Brad Pigott, the former U.S. attorney it contracted to claw back millions in misspent federal funds from dozens of people in Mississippi’s sprawling welfare scandal.

    The termination comes about a week after Pigott filed a subpoena on the University of Southern Mississippi Athletic Foundation for its communication with several notable people, including former Gov. Phil Bryant, to get to the bottom of why it received $5 million in welfare funds to build a volleyball stadium.

    “All I did, and I believe all that caused me to be terminated from representing the department or having anything to do with the litigation, was to try to get the truth about all of that,” Pigott told Mississippi Today hours after his firing on Friday. “People are going to go to jail over this, at least the state should be willing to find out the truth of what happened.”

  16. 16.

    Ken

    Why must the press always focus on the negative? Shouldn’t they note that there aren’t yet any reports of human trafficking, or Satanic orgies, in the Favre story?

  18. 18.

    SpaceUnit

    Sure, we see it as a scandal but Farve could ride this to the 2024 Republican nomination if he hones his racist dogwhistle skills.

    And he’d win Mississippi in a landslide.

  19. 19.

    p.a.

    @HumboldtBlue: I remember him, from when I followed college concussion-ball.

    Not overheating my brain at all to think there’s some pretty good livings available to journos & legal eagles investigating many of these foundations.  Ain’t just tRump.

  22. 22.

    Leslie

    @Old School: Seriously? He’s one villain among many, and getting the most media attention because of his former football career, but what he did was despicable.

  23. 23.

    Scout211

    @Old School: He could afford to pay for his kid’s college tuition and even donate a few mil to improve the facilities in her high school and college volleyball programs. He most certainly benefitted financially. With stolen welfare funds.

  27. 27.

    Mart

    @Old School: He also took $2.3M for a start up company that is to produce a nasal concussion spray. Also the stadium is his alma mater and for his daughter. What the heck?

  29. 29.

    Stacib

    @Old School: He KNEW where that money was coming from, and with all the resources available to him, he chose to take money from poor people. This dude was portrayed as an all-American hero, especially after playing and winning the night his dad died. This is unconscionable.

  34. 34.

    Gin & Tonic

    Has anybody heard of or from commenter tybee? It seems he’d have been really close to today’s landfall.

  39. 39.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Gin & Tonic: ​ 

    He has a fascinating if well-worn born-in-poverty-used-sports-to-get-a leg-up backstory. He’s from Philadelphia and went to school with the sons and daughters of those who murdered Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner.

  41. 41.

    JML

    Loved every minute of the Lietch piece from NYMag. It is a short and brutal take-down of an entitled asshole who can go fuck himself with a chainsaw. I just wish the sports media would throw some logs on the fire instead of laying low like the supine cowards they are, silently hiding in their dens while they watch to see whether ol’ Bert Farve skates on this like he has on pretty much every other rotten-ass thing he’s ever done in his life until they may safely re-emerge and resume kissing his ass and licking his boots like the good little supplicants they are.

    In conclusion, fuck Brett Favre, a terrible person who should go to prison.

  42. 42.

    HumboldtBlue

    @The Golux: ​ 

    Fascinating era. We see the end of The Who and of Abba and the dawn of Madonna, Prince, and a whole slew of New Wave, Punk and metal bands.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus:  Good for your mom!

    I bet it smelled bad while it was burning.

    I worked as a cashier at a grocery store for 5 years, putting myself through college.  The day I quit, I came home and set fire to my polyester zippered whatever-they-called it that I had to wear at work.

    The thing melted more than it burned.

  53. 53.

    JoyceH

    @Barbara:

    He made a pledge to the school and sought public money to fund it. That’s what some of the texts show. So yes, it did help him personally.

    In addition to the stadium, there was 1 million plus that went to him personally, for a couple speeches that he never gave. He did pay that back, but only once it became public and the fact that the funds were for welfare.

  56. 56.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl: CNN just posted the story.

    CNN — 
    The Justice Department has asked the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to speed up its schedule for weighing the department’s appeal of a judge’s order requiring a special master to review classified documents from Mar-a-Lago.

    In the expedition request filed Friday, the DOJ proposed a briefing schedule that would wrap up written briefs by November 11, while asking the appeals court to schedule a hearing at its earliest convenience. Under the current schedule for the appeal, the last written brief is due about a month later, and oral arguments have not been scheduled yet.
    This story is breaking and will be updated.

  59. 59.

    Roger Moore

    But to the broadcasters of his games — and the media who covered him — Favre wasn’t a foolhardy hothead. He was a gunslinger.

    This is one of the ways racism displays itself in our society.  Can you imagine how the media would treat a Black quarterback who had the same attitude?  It’s actually hard, because it’s difficult to imagine a Black man who had that attitude staying as an NFL quarterback for long enough for the media to pay attention to him.

  61. 61.

    SpaceUnit

    That picture at the top is cracking me up.

     

    I can’t figure out which one looks like the bigger dipshit.

  62. 62.

    Gravenstone

    @HumboldtBlue: There are some absolute gems on that list.

    Working my way through the list, but great to see a callout to Axe! That song was ubiquitous back in the day at college.

  63. 63.

    Captain C

    Maybe it just comes down to Favre being an utterly selfish, oblivious asshole, but otherwise I really can’t understand how someone already said to be worth a hundred million dollars had to plunder a fund for the poorest of the poorest in the poorest state in the Union to build a volleyball stadium at his daughter’s college (and I think, his own alma mater).  Centimillionaires donate $5 million buildings, especially athletic facilities, to colleges and universities all the time, and are happy to enjoy the prestige and that their name is put on it forever (or at least until a billionaire donates more to upgrade it decades later); didn’t he have one single person in his orbit who could suggest this as an alternative?  He already knew it was wrong and didn’t care except for getting exposed, wasn’t there someone to point out that the bad publicity and possible criminal defense lawyer fees might amount to more than he would gain by not paying for it himself

    ETA:  Even the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned-and-despised Koch brothers know this.  I had my colonoscopy last year at a new NY Pres facility named for one of them.

  64. 64.

    Gravenstone

    @Hoppie: What I find unforgivable is he can’t even pronounce his own name.

    I remember driving back to Ohio for Thanksgiving during Favre’s first season in GB. On the way I tuned into some college station out of Valparaiso, IN and listened to the student news reader struggle mightily in the correct pronunciation, “Brett Fahv-ruh?”

  65. 65.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Roger Moore:

    Oh, the examples are legion. Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick weren’t “classic pocket passers” but instead relied on running with the ball to be effective. Doug Williams wasn’t “smart enough” to be a starting QB in the NFL and on and on.

    It was Cunningham and then Vick who finally broke the mold of the old heads in the NFL in how a QB can call, direct, and play a game (look at the fawning praise heaped on Jesus’ son, Tim Tebow who had the accuracy of a blind man and passed about as well as an 8th grader) and we have seen over the past 30 years the evolution of the position.

    Today we see QBs like Jalen Hurts of the Eagles and Lamar Jackson of the Ravens who are not only men with cannons for right arms and who can put a pass into the smallest window, they will also scamper for 40 yards on a broken play when the pass protection melts.

    It’s coincided with the extraordinary explosion in popularity of rap and hip-hop on the music scene and folks like Spike Lee behind the director’s eyepiece, and nobody blinks an eye at a black QB these days.

    I remember working a second job as a clerk at a gas station in Vegas mid-90s when Clemson came out to play in a bowl game. One proud Clemson supporter (who looked and sounded like every racist southern asshole you can imagine) came in and while I rang him up, we discussed the upcoming game and he dropped the tried and true “we’d win if we didn’t have that N-clang at QB.”

    @Gravenstone:

    Working my way through the list, but great to see a callout to Axe! That song was ubiquitous back in the day at college.

    There are a few names and songs on the list I have never heard, and that was one of them.

  66. 66.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @The Golux: Ditto. I could have sworn I was still listening to music in 1982, but I only recognized the names that I knew from the 70s.

    I had a hiatus in my music-listening for some reason from around 1982 to until the kids were old enough to be controlling the radio in the car, mid 90s.

  67. 67.

    El Muneco

    @The Golux: I was 15 that year, so I recognize about 75% of the artists, but I’m around 40-50% on the tracks – my read on the list is that the compiler is kind of pretentious, so they reach for “deep cuts” even when there was a more popular song that was almost as good.

  68. 68.

    Roger Moore

    @Captain C:

    Everyone assumes Favre is rich, but I can’t help but wonder if he hasn’t squandered a lot of his football earnings.  Plenty of players do.  That would explain why he’s so eager to get other people to pay for his pledges and why he cares so much about getting every penny he can.  Or maybe he’s just a greedy bastard.

  70. 70.

    The Golux

    @HumboldtBlue:

    …a whole slew of New Wave, Punk and metal bands.

    And since I have little interest in those genres (except for some random New Wave artists), it explains my indifference.

  71. 71.

    Jay

    Bryant’s filing includes messages he received from Favre in 2018, in which Favre suggested that the “prison industry” be used to build the lockers at the volleyball arena. From Mississippi Today:

    Later, in May of 2018, Favre reached out again to Gov. Bryant for help constructing lockers for the facility.

    “I’m still trying to save money on [the] Vball facility,” Favre texted.

    Favre even suggested “the prison industry possibly as a builder.”

    Mississippi Today

    https://defector.com/brett-favre-wanted-inmates-to-help-build-his-fraudulent-volleyball-stadium/

  72. 72.

    raven

    @HumboldtBlue: One of the great 30 on 30’s “The Best that Never Was”.

     

    In 1981, college athletic recruiting changed forever as a dozen big time football programs sat waiting for the decision of a physically powerful and lightning-quick high school running back named Marcus Dupree. Having already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, Dupree attracted recruiters from schools in every major conference to his hometown of Philadelphia, Miss. More than a decade removed from being a flashpoint in the civil rights struggle, Philadelphia was once again thrust back into the national spotlight. Dupree took the attention in stride, and committed to Oklahoma. What followed, though, was a forgettable college career littered with conflict, injury and oversized expectations. Eight-time Emmy Award winner Jon Hock will examine why this star burned out so young and how he ultimately used football to redeem himself.

  73. 73.

    HumboldtBlue

    @The Golux:

    Oh, I hear ya. Many of the songs the compiler listed I have always considered meh, with many of them sounding rather similar to each other. I’m much more interested in the hip-hop, rap and funk that came out of the 80s as opposed to Depeche Mode or Flock of Seagulls. They did coincide with the phenomenon that was MTV and became hugely popular because of that channel. I also do appreciate the intersection of so many great sounds from around the world that had found a space where they could all be heard, both in original form and in sampling from one genre to the other.

    @raven:

    Yeah, I watched that a few months ago, very interesting.

    On another note, ESPN2 is featuring two Georgia High School teams tonight, Buford versus somebody.

  74. 74.

    mrmoshpotato

    He actually had news stations tracking his flights and bus rides from the airport.

    Sad.  Just sad.

    And it looks like Brett wasn’t (isn’t) just a douchecanoe, but a doucheBARGE!

  75. 75.

    Honus

    @Roger Moore: not too hard. Randall Cunningham and Warren Moon come immediately to mind. But Favre is personally a bigger asshole than either of them. They had enough sense not to text pictures of their junk.  “Real. Comfortable. Jeans.” Indeed.

  78. 78.

    El Muneco

    @HumboldtBlue: And Warren Moon _was_ a classic pocket passer who came from a QB factory in college. Knowing he would get no love from the NFL, he went to Canada where he got himself on the shortlist of greatest players of all time in the CFL. Only with this big a resume did he even get an opportunity in the NFL, at a relatively advanced age, and even then was still on a relatively short leash until he had acquired some black ink in the record books and playoff appearances.

  81. 81.

    zhena gogolia

    I’m trying to watch Putler’s speech. God, it’s as painful as watching Trump.

    ETA: Then I watched Zelenskyy at Babyn Yar. What a contrast.

  83. 83.

    Suzanne

    @Captain C:

    ETA:  Even the never-to-be-sufficiently-damned-and-despised Koch brothers know this.  I had my colonoscopy last year at a new NY Pres facility named for one of them. 

    My firm designed that building. Hope you enjoyed the architecture!

  84. 84.

    Will

    The thing I love most about the Favre story is every time I have to hear those f’n country club morons whine about iphone welfare moms I can be like… “Oh yeah, you mean like your millionaire qb golden boy Brett taking millions meant for poor people to build a volleyball gym?”

  86. 86.

    HumboldtBlue

    @El Muneco:

    Yup, Warren completely slipped my mind. And of course, it took colleges to finally break the mold, so many talented black kids came out of high school and instead of being played at QB were shifted to DB or RB because of the lingering racist ideas the black kids weren’t “smart enough” for the position. Hell, I remember John Gilliam with the Steelers (tragic story, he ended up homeless and dying under a bridge I believe) and Marlon Briscoe with the Broncos.

  87. 87.

    Suzanne

    And I DGAF about the NFL, but the misaligned spell8ng/pronunciation of Favre’s name always drove me nuts, and I remember purposely mispronouncing it FAHV-REE and someone heard me and got offended and I laffed.

  88. 88.

    Honus

    @HumboldtBlue: “Jefferson Street” Joe Gilliam. And don’t forget Steve McNair, maybe the best of all.

    Marlin Briscoe may be the best example of bias.  Threw 14 TD passes as a rookie, still the rookie record for the Broncos, and they converted him to a receiver the next season.

  89. 89.

    raven

    @HumboldtBlue: Joe, Jefferson Street Joe Gilliam

     

    Gilliam died of a cocaine overdose[22] on Christmas Day, 2000 shortly after watching an NFL game between the Dallas Cowboys and Tennessee Titans. He was four days away from his 50th birthday. Gilliam was sober for three years prior to his death and able to attend the final Steelers game at Three Rivers Stadium.[23][24]

    Gilliam’s daughter is R&B singer Joi. His ex son-in-law is rapper Big Gipp of the Goodie Mob.

  108. 108.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Booger: ​

    Favretism 

    We’ll take it before the privy council, although I doubt there will be any opponents to that particular piece of linguistic genius.

  109. 109.

    ian

    @Baud:

    Unfortunately Mississippi has a real problem with children in adult jails

    Link Southern Poverty Law Center

    So trying to get prisoners to build something in this case is trying to get children to build something.

  113. 113.

    Shalimar

    @Hoppie: Favre is also from Kiln, Mississippi, pronounced Kill.  Lack of spelling skills is an epidemic there, and we won’t even get started on Biloxi.

  115. 115.

    Kent

    @Roger Moore: This is one of the ways racism displays itself in our society.  Can you imagine how the media would treat a Black quarterback who had the same attitude?  It’s actually hard, because it’s difficult to imagine a Black man who had that attitude staying as an NFL quarterback for long enough for the media to pay attention to him.

    Michael Vick.

    But of course they put him in prison.

  120. 120.

    Shalimar

    @HumboldtBlue: I am ecstatic about how good Jalen Hurts has become, because he’s one of the best people on earth.  It was very unclear early in his career at Alabama if he had the skill to play in the NFL because he did not have the accuracy to play well against the best college secondaries.  His record even at Oklahoma against the best pass defenses was poor.  I am so happy to see he has improved.

  121. 121.

    Kent

    Back when we lived in Texas we would drive through Mississippi on occasion in route to Florida and I had a good friend and co-teacher who moved there because her husband got a teaching/research job at Southern Miss.  What we discovered about MS is that even the nice and wealthy areas are extremely crappy.  The nicest spot in any MS town like Biloxi is a crappy traffic-infested strip mall development with vaguely “upscale” chain restaurants where you go stand in line at a place like Olive Garden or Hard Rock Cafe.  I mean that describes most of American suburbia, but MS didn’t have anything else.  How anyone can live there is beyond me.  Honestly Alabama is pretty much the same.

  123. 123.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Shalimar:

    He’s the son of a coach, and he knows hard work, and he’s put it in. He’s definitely been a revelation, and it’s great to see.

  126. 126.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Steeplejack:

    Watching the 15-foot storm surge that destroyed Fort Meyers was eerily like watching the footage from the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011. They look nearly identical, just a relentless surging mass of water washing away all before it.

    @Booger: ​

    Also, I am stealing Favretism.

  127. 127.

    Captain C

    @Suzanne: It seemed like a very well-designed facility (I’m neither an architect nor medical professional), the OR was full of flat-screens and new-looking equipment, and the experience was very smooth.  I just pretended it was named differently.

  128. 128.

    catclub

    @Captain C: ​
     

    didn’t he have one single person in his orbit who could suggest this as an alternative?

    Owners of Professional sports teams specialize in getting their home cities to pay for their private facilities, since sports teams are job creators ( not). So the role model is getting the state to pay for your faciility.

  130. 130.

    catclub

    @Shalimar: ​
     pronounced Kill
    actually always pronounced ‘the Kill’ since calling it just ‘Kill’ is stupid.
    also Worcester and Cholmondely (chumley)
    beauchamp (beechum)

  131. 131.

    prostratedragon

    @Captain C: ​ One day this spring I went past the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center following a matinee at the Met Opera. After lunch, waited for a friend by the David H. Koch Fountain at the Met Museum. The only sour notes on that very pleasant day were those two names.

  133. 133.

    HumboldtBlue

    Dorian Robinson-Thompson is putting on a brilliant show as UCLA dominates Washington. Passing, running, scoring, outstanding performance, and it’s still early third quarter.

  135. 135.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    20 years ago I went to Quitman, MS for a week on a business trip.

    That was the first and last time I’ll ever go to Mississippi.

    I couldn’t even count the number of racist ‘jokes’ that people there expected me to laugh at because I’m a southwestern Indiana white boy.

    It sounds like nothing has changed since then.

  136. 136.

    Matt McIrvin

    Up to the Trump administration national security folks, Republican national security professionals, I’m referring to the the political appointees, have tended to be far more small “l” liberal in their willingness to aggressively use national power. Democratic national security professionals, still referring to the political appointees, have tended to be far more small “c” conservative in their willingness to employ national power. Just a semi-informed observation.

    Yes, and… with what results? What did we get out of Republicans’ willingness to throw it around?

    I understand Adam’s motivation to urge us to get in deeper than Biden is willing to go. But the track record isn’t encouraging and the stakes here are actually existential for global civilization.

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