Wow. My eyes literally got big as I watched this ad.
Didn’t we have a conversation here recently about how more people would connect with “dictator” than “authoritarian”?
Their most powerful ad yet, I think.
≠
Trump needs to write some basic information on his hand like… was it Palin … did? Oh wait, hands too small.
Perhaps he needs a notecard: Nikki Haley ≠ Nancy Pelosi. George Conway ≠ Concord NH. Barack Obama ≠ current President
≠
Did everyone see this?
“The law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary was a failure.”
Attorney General Garland announced @COPSOffice critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the tragic 2022 shooting in Uvalde, TX.https://t.co/LkOCmdV5ml pic.twitter.com/5jE6NmyQuu
— U.S. Department of Justice (@TheJusticeDept) January 18, 2024
≠
Justice Department Releases Report on its Critical Incident Review for Uvalde
A few excerpts from the announcement.
“Uvalde is a community that is healing, and getting clear on the facts is part of healing,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. “As I made clear last April when I came to Uvalde to meet with families and reiterated to them last night, we promised that our report would honor the victims and survivors; provide a detailed, independent, and authoritative accounting of the events; and would not only look backward but would also identify lessons learned and recommendations for other communities to prevent something like this from happening again.”
The critical incident review was led by the COPS Office, with the support of leading subject matter experts with a wide variety of relevant experience. The team established the following areas of focus: (1) incident timeline reconstruction; (2) tactics and equipment; (3) leadership, incident command, and coordination; (4) post-incident response and investigation; (5) public communications during and following the crisis; (6) trauma and support services; (7) school safety and security; and (8) pre-incident planning and preparation.
The report examines the multiple failures in the response to the tragedy, including the breakdowns in leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy, and training that contributed to those failures. It describes the responding officers’ most significant failure as not treating the incident throughout as an active shooter situation and using the available and sufficient resources and equipment to push forward immediately and continuously to eliminate the threat. Although several of the first officers on the scene initially acted consistent with generally accepted practices to try to engage the subject, once they retreated after being met with gunfire, the law enforcement responders began treating the incident as a barricaded subject scenario rather than as an active shooter situation. In all, there was a 77-minute gap between when officers first arrived on the scene and when they finally confronted and killed the subject.
The report, in both English and Spanish, as well as profiles of the victims and additional resources, is available on the COPS Office website at cops.usdoj.gov/uvalde.
There’s not even a shorthand letter for how big a failure that was. “F” doesn’t even begin to cover it. I hope that it’s at least a small comfort to the families to at least have acknowledgement of the total failure.
Totally open thread.
NobodySpecial
Got to wonder if this report will eventually bankrupt the Uvalde PD when the families of the dead kids get through with them.
NotMax
Trivia.
The mid-level Studebaker model (below the President and above the Commander) was the Dictator.
Which during the 1930s, in Europe, was changed to the Director.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Huh. All the women where I worked at the time thought the Ford Probe should have been named the Ford Penis.
Sometimes the company just don’t get the naming right, for whatever reason.
Scotius
@NobodySpecial:
But if the Uvalde PD went bankrupt, how could they afford to continue harrassing the parents of the victims?
https://www.mediaite.com/news/that-is-unbelievable-cnns-jim-acosta-stunned-by-uvalde-parents-revelation-cops-are-harassing-families/
WaterGirl
I thought this was a good t-shirt. I won’t buy it, but I thought it was well done.
Scout211
I did read about the DOJ report and started to post a link in the comments several times but it made me so frustrated and depressed that I deleted it before posting.
A new development was announced yesterday: A special grand jury to investigate the law enforcement response.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Top off the mug of whatever, plop into a comfy chair and enjoy The History of Car Model Names.
;)
WaterGirl
@Scotius: Wow, that’s shocking. Not surprising somehow, but shocking nonetheless. Uvalde police harassing the families of the kids who were killed.
M31
@WaterGirl:
it’s like the game where you put the word ‘anal’ before the car name
Probe, Explorer, Expedition
lol
BlueGuitarist
Anyone going to a women’s march today?
https://action.womensmarch.com/calendars/bigger-than-roe-january-2024
National March in Phoenix, plus others
WaterGirl
@Scout211: Let’s hope the grand jury will be investigating the Uvalde place who are harassing the families, and in this upside-down world, not investigating the families.
Parfigliano
You dont understand. The police reponse was a massive success because all the police went home that day.
WaterGirl
@M31: I had never heard of that game.
Why am I reminded of whatever product was released, and the initials were PMS?
Do they not have any women in these companies?
VA in SC
The “law enforcement response” and training failures.Examination of the police budget, should show:
How much spent on training?
How many law enforcement participated?
Was the training outsourced to lowest bidder?
How was it,post 9/11, a federally subsidized, public school with built in mandated door locks ( many assume they were locked) had so many unlocked doors?
As I read the report, there is still frustration as nothing new exposed. These are questions,that jumped into my mind as the event occured.Many topics,details still not addressed and not answered.
West of the Rockies
Boy, that voice over sounds right out of a 1950s newsroom. Shades of Murrow. Quite powerful.
Jinchi
All Trump notes need to be written in giant font using a Sharpie.
Like this:
https://www.vox.com/2019/11/20/20974383/trump-big-sharpie-notes-on-impeachment-testimony
jackmac
@WaterGirl: Great shirt! But the tie needs to be about double the length!
WaterGirl
@Parfigliano: Beau of the Fifth Column had a brutal 5-minute segment on the failings of the Uvalde police, based on the DOJ report. Brutal in a good way, if there is such a thing.
Refuting what you mockingly said about it being a success because the cops went home that day. No one wants that, but the cops are supposed to go home in body bags, if that’s what it takes to subdue the subject and protect the kids.
Soprano2
You could never prove it, but I think those cops didn’t go into that classroom because they knew the shooter had an AR-15 and they were afraid to face it, because they know what that weapon does. They hoped he would kill himself, so they could go in safely. I’ve read that in many places it’s drilled into police officers that they should do whatever they can to make sure they go home at the end of the day. I think that teaching and fear overcame their training. No report would ever say that, though.
I think the Lincoln Project ad is powerful. I wish Democrats would make ads like that.
Miss Bianca
@BlueGuitarist: Hadn’t even heard about it!
West of the Rockies
Is the wretched Ken Paxton as state AG going to get any blame or shade? That hideous man has been deserving of misery for years.
WaterGirl
@BlueGuitarist: I wasn’t aware that there was a women’s march this year.
Jinchi
I’m pretty sure it’s from an AI trained on Murrow’s voice.
WaterGirl
@West of the Rockies: I noticed the voice, too. Not the usual voice for these kinds of ads. Agree that it was way better and much more powerful with this voice, and that tone. It captured the seriousness.
WaterGirl
@Jinchi: Is that for real? So sad if it is. I can’t tell anymore.
WaterGirl
@jackmac: It also looks like it’s cut for women. I believe there is also a male version. Men’s t-shirts are not built for women unless the women are stick straight.
Scotius
@Parfigliano:
“In their final moments, at least the children in that classroom had the comfort of knowing the police out in the hallway weren’t in any danger.”
smith
I long ago came to the conclusion that police don’t see protecting the public as their highest priority. Their highest priority is to protect themselves. Which begs the question of what exactly we are paying them for.
Steeplejack
@West of the Rockies:
It’s an imitation of Paul Harvey, who did the original “God Made a Farmer” piece that the Trumpers riffed on for “God Made Trump,” which this piece is a response to.
Jinchi
@WaterGirl: It’s real. It was widely reported at the time.
I particularly like how he wrote the first talking point down twice just to make sure he didn’t forget it.
jackmac
The voice of the ad’s narrator is reminiscent of the late Paul Harvey, the conservative radio commentator who for decades blanketed the nation with his daily commentaries. I immediately thought of Harvey when hearing this. It’s not him, but the voice, cadence and style is strikingly close.
(I see steeplejack beat me to this)
jlowe
Been reading “Climate Leviathan, A Political Theory of Our Planetary Future”, https://www.versobooks.com/products/520-climate-leviathan which makes the case that, failing other options (“Climate X” – the one path from climate-induced disasters), leftist authoritarian governance may happen if humanity is to survive climate change impacts. Compelling but creepy especially when reading it alongside “Bloodlands” by Timothy Snyder. Great material here for a late 21st century climate horror novel, but sadly Paolo Bacigalupi has moved on to fantasy.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
“God Made a Farmer.”
“God Made Trump.”
And that’s . . . the rest of the story.
West of the Rockies
@Steeplejack:
I recall Harvey’s voice as a tad more folksy, but I am sure you are right.
But it was thinking David Staitharn in Good Night and Good Luck. After a second listen though, I hear Harvey.
Damn rabbit.
Chris T.
@Steeplejack: And in the same vein, Monty Python, All Things Dull and Ugly
SiubhanDuinne
@BlueGuitarist:
I’m not marching, but I am wearing my beloved “Roe Roe Roe your Vote” t-shirt today.
WaterGirl
@Jinchi: Maybe I blocked it out because it’s so awful to think that it’s real.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: +1
C-Span.org from 2003.
Harvey’s a crank at this point (probably much earlier), talking about “self-discipline” and the “hypocracy in public policy”, but he makes some good points. Imagine his reactions to TIFG these days…
I remember his “Rest of the Story” radio essays as a kid. He was everywhere back then.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jinchi
@jlowe:
Authoritarian fantasies always imagine a selfless, ethical leader with unfailing judgement on how to solve crises and the political strength to ensure his judgements are carried out to the letter.
Real world authoritarians usually fail in most, or all of those categories and most of them are on the wrong side of the climate issue.
Jinchi
@WaterGirl:
There was too much insanity during TFG’s administration to remember all of it.
Miss Bianca
@jlowe:
Hmm, maybe I’ll have to contact him and pitch that idea to him – it does seem to be right up his alley! Tho’ I haven’t spoken to him in quite some time.
Mike in Pasadena
@WaterGirl: Or as we said in California of Ford’s mistake, the Anal Probe. Ewww.
Did not sell well and it’s been years since we’ve seen the Anal Probe on the road. Lots of other models from the same years still running, but not the Probe.
Jackie
@WaterGirl: If I lived in a light blue/purple congressional district, I would wear it. But never in the darkest red of red county I live in. But I like it 👍🏻
Kathleen
That ad is perfect.
WaterGirl
@Mike in Pasadena: Interesting! I wonder if even a single woman purchased a Probe. What were they thinking???
WaterGirl
@Jackie: I am not a fan of t-shirts with boxes or squares on them, so this sort of design is right up my alley.
Jackie
Has TIFG left the US since he’s been indicted? He suggested strongly he’d visit Argentina’s Javier Milei right after Milei won his election to congratulate him, but never did. Maybe there’s a secret warning TIFG shouldn’t travel outside of the country?🤔
CaseyL
It’s a very powerful ad and I’d like to see The Lincoln Project buy airtime on TV when a mass audience will see it.
Do they ever do that? Or put their ads on other social media that lots of people use, like IG or TikTok?
I’m tired of niche PACs who cater to… well, mostly to the people already giving them money. The Lincoln Project, at best, convinced some wavering never-Trumpers to vote for Biden in 2020. SFAIK, they have had no impact beyond that.
BretH
@Soprano2: Truth, sorry, sad truth they won’t be in the report.
Jackie
@CaseyL: I hope The Lincoln Project bought airtime during the NFL playoff games this weekend. Best way to capture R and D viewers – along with swing voters.
taumaturgo
The voters of Uvalde proved the old maxim, “people have the government they deserved” by overwhelmingly voting to reelect gunner Abbott.
Juju
@WaterGirl: Have you ever noticed how much the Tesla T emblem on the trunk of the car looks like a uterus? Or, it could just be me, but that’s what I think of every time I follow one in traffic.
Ramalama
@Chris T.: Wow. I bet the kid choir loved singing it.
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: I have a shirt by Municipal Waste (hardcore punk band) that features TFG. Maybe not as subtle as that one…
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: That’s not quite how they see it…
Paul in KY
@West of the Rockies: Harvey used to have these pauses that would intersperse his ramblings/comments. That’s what I remember about him.
Paul in KY
@Mike in Pasadena: I thought (at the time) that it was a nice looking car. Being a Ford, I’d have never bought one. Has probably been at least 10 years since I saw one.
Eyeroller
@Juju: Uterus including Fallopian tubes.
Memory Pallas
@Steeplejack: Before God made Trump, he made Ron DeSantis. God Made a Fighter
LiminalOwl
@Juju: It’s not just you!
FelonyGovt
@LiminalOwl: Nope, I’ve noticed that too. And there are (sadly) plenty of them around here.
LiminalOwl
@WaterGirl: I like the shirt too, but according to Snopes their ad featuring Taylor Swift is a photomanip done without her knowledge or permission. So I don’t want to encourage them. (Not a fan of Taylor Swift, but also not a fan of using people’s likenesses without their permission. Unless, like TFG, they have done something to deserve it.)
On a slightly different note, I was reminded today, elseNet, that “Caligula” means “Little boots.” Mentioned this to the Thin Black Duke and asked what he thought about calling DeSantis something like “Discount Caligula.” He replied, “Dollar Store Caligula.”
LiminalOwl
@FelonyGovt: Yep, here too. (Or are we in the same area?) At least three of them right in front of us yesterday, at different times on the MassPike.
MinuteMan
Is “learned cowardice” a thing?
jlowe
@Jinchi:
No argument here. What I’ve found interesting with the book is that it is a leftist authoritarian fantasy. Climate change impacts so distress the authors that they are willing to invoke Carl Schmitt to make their points. Reading Bruno Latour, who also alarmingly became Schmitt-curious in his later years, persuades me that all humans in “modern” societies are on the wrong side of the climate issue.
FelonyGovt
@LiminalOwl: No, Los Angeles area here. It’s depressing how many of them are out here, especially the newer ones, now that we know what an asshole Elongated Muskrat is.
Brachiator
I had not thought about this before. Kinda makes sense.
The Lincoln Project ad didn’t quite work for me. I recoil from the idea of a deity creating a dictator to test the faith of the people.
Also the background music was too pleasant.
But maybe it forces people who believe that God sent Trump to save America to rethink their beliefs.
Jay C
@Jackie:
No, I don’t think TGF has left our shores in quite a while: nor do I think he is going to – until after the November election. I’ll put the prediction down right now, that when Trump loses the election, he is going to flee the country*, and re-establish himself as as some sort of “President-in-Exile” (and you can imagine the “rationales”) to maintain his vital priorities, i.e.
1,Staying out of jail.
2.Grifting the rubes
*for some reason, I’m thinking to Saudi Arabia
Martin
I will again note that school officials and teachers participate in the active shooter process in the manner they do because there the whole point of the exercise is to buy enough time for the cops to show up. Uvalde destroyed that, showing the cops cannot be trusted to show up. Even in this situation ACAB.
There will be lasting consequence from that event. There is nothing that police departments are willing to offer to get that trust back.
Martin
@MinuteMan: Absolutely. You can learn anything – just see cops that legit pass out when they think they’ve contacted fentanyl, a drug that cannot do that. It’s entirely psychosomatic, and learned though cultural as much as formal mechanisms.
Marc
Both generations of Ford Probe were based on the Mazda MX-6/626 and had Mazda engines. It was intended to be the next Mustang, but it became clear that the fanboys didn’t want front wheel drive. I took a 2nd generation V6 version for a test drive, it was fast, comfortable, and a lot of fun. I thought about buying one, but my girlfriend made fun of the name 8^)
Brachiator
@Martin:
And this means that shooters, as crazy as they might be, choose weapons that let them kill as many people as possible before they are taken down or kill themselves.
We dance around “hardening” schools and debate the value of arming teachers. We buy into the fantasy that a good guy with a gun will always arrive in the nick of time and outdraw and out-shoot a bad guy with a gun.
Police will fail. And when they do, we need to investigate and punish those who committed terrible breaches of policy, where appropriate.
But it is difficult, maybe even impractical, to train every police force to SWAT team or Special Forces levels of effectiveness. And even if we could, there will still be failures.
It’s not that the police cannot be trusted. It’s that we refuse to enact reasonable gun control laws. The right wing holds the Second Amendment as more sacred than the lives of children.
prostratedragon
Was topical then, still resonates today: “Mr. Hitler”. Happy Birthday Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter. [Spelling corrected]
kalakal
@Jay C:
They took Idi Amin in when Uganda kicked him out
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator: I believe they were parodying an ad for Trump that was asserting that God created him to save us. So they’re just twisting the Trump campaign idea, not really asserting that on their own behalf.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Okay. I do everything I can to avoid watching Trump ads, so the inside joke wouldn’t work for me.
And it might be fair to ask if the Lincoln Project folks are making ads to appeal to people who deeply follow politics or for the average voter.
catclub
Ummm, all the Lincoln Project ads seem designed to appeal to the kind of people who read BJ, in the hopes of getting their money.
catclub
CNN Subheadline:
Has it really taken them 15 years to realize there were people who hated watching that? Mitch McConnell springs to mind. Also the yellow dog democrats in the south who could not bring themselves to vote for a black guy.
WaterGirl
@taumaturgo: Say it about Texas if you want, but what a horrible thing to say about Uvalde.
WaterGirl
@Juju: Not sure I have ever noticed a Tesla. I will watch for one now.
Geminid
@kalakal: At least Idi Amin was a Muslim. The Saudis might look at Trump differently.
The UAE and Bahrain might be more hospitable, but I’m not sure how safe Trump would be in any Gulf state. He ordered the drone strike that killed IRGC commander General Solemeini, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps will never forget that; to them Solemeini was a highly respected, even revered figure.
There would be official protests if the IRGC blew Trump to pieces on some Abu Dhabi golf course, but the Emiratis would get over it before too long. I think just the fear would keep Trump clear of those places.
WaterGirl
@Juju: After I posted my reply it occurred to me that I could just google the logo. Holy shit, does it ever!
WaterGirl
@LiminalOwl: Yeah, you’ll notice that I didn’t include the face, just the t-shirt. I didn’t want to promote their stuff because I think a lot of shady people promote their merchandise in the Jack Smith twitter feed.
But I did think the shirt was cool.
prostratedragon
@jackmac: Bend the extension to underscore the words, “Not again.”
WhatsMyNym
@WaterGirl: It looks like a t-shirt symbol to me.
WaterGirl
@WhatsMyNym: With the elongated skinny triangle at the bottom? That’s not the shape I think of when i think t-shirt.
Baud
@Geminid:
I hope that doesn’t happen. Biden would be between a rock and a hard place in deciding how to respond.
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: To me the Tesla logo looks more like an IUD. The Toyota logo, on the other hand, *definitely* looks like a uterus + Fallopian tubes.
prostratedragon
@Baud: Praising with faint damns.
Geminid
@Baud: We would probably fire some cruise missiles at IRGC installations, but I think the Iranians would suck it up and not escalate. For them, this would not be an occasion to go to war, just some score settling.
West of the Rockies
@Memory Pallas:
God made a mistake.
Baud
@West of the Rockies:
Wouldn’t be the first time.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: Based on the modern behavior of people like him, I suspect Paul Harvey would have fallen in line and become a Donald Trump fan in 2016 once it was clear he had a shot at winning.
Ruckus
@Jay C:
I think you need to rearrange those two. He’s grifting the rubes for money so that he can stay out of jail.
I will add here that I don’t think SFB is long for this world. He is deteriorating rather rapidly. I’m an old and I’ve seen everyone I know from the prior generation deteriorate and none of them ever went at his rate, but then none of them were in his legal/human level of just plain crap, and with an internal voice yelling at him to do what he is entirely unable to do – fix anything.
He’s the real side to Dr. Destructo, the human with just enough skill level to only destroy, not polish, not feed, nothing positive for anyone. He’s the leader of those that think like him, to get ahead even one micron he has to destroy what’s in his way, which is, because it’s him, everything.
Jackie
You may recall reading about him in 2022, when Holtorf dropped his handgun in the state Capitol while rushing to the floor to cast a vote against abortion rights.
Isn’t the 4th district where Boebert is carpetbagging to?
Chris T.
@Ruckus: The human body is pretty darn stubborn though: unless something major pops (e.g., stroke or heart-attack), TIFG can decline at this pace for another year…
Ruckus
@Chris T.:
Longer than that. Or maybe not. At some point the tension of losing constantly would crush most people. But thankfully he’s not most people. I’ve wondered for some years now how actual humans can see him as anything but an absolutely useless POS, but then I remember when I was a mental health counselor and we had to go through a group session with a shrink regularly to learn what it took to get someone as deranged as SFB the help they need. It’s called professional help, usually provided in a locked facility, not volunteer help such as we were. And his brain may be beyond broken given that he should NEVER have had the power of the office of president in the first place and what he takes as 100000% proper – him as the head human of 330+ million people. He has none of the skills, experience, and mental ability to have been anywhere near there. And he keeps proving this daily.
Juju
@Miss Bianca: Holy cow, there are uteri everywhere!!
Geminid
@Jackie: That’s the district. Holtorp was thought to be the leading candidate up till now. This might create an opening for Boebert. The question is, can she exploit it?
Jackie
@Geminid: They’ll be busy out exploiting each other lol
A good strong Democrat could and should take advantage of all the red meat dangling.
I wonder if Ken Buck would endorse either?
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: Yes on IUD, too. Interesting 6hat so many (two!) are female.
Brachiator
@catclub:
They need to rethink their aims.
Geminid
@Jackie: My guess is that Buck would endorse Holtorp but not Boebert. Buck’s a realist, and he knows Republicans are gonna lose the House no matter how the 4th CD goes.
If Boebert loses, Republicans can win that seat back in 2026. Local Republican leaders could find a good consensus candidate. They’ll do some thorough background checks though, maybe even require a polygraph exam.
Paul in KY
@Marc: Didn’t know it had Mazda underpinings. Thanks for the info.