I mentioned this in passing in the Economic Blackout Tomorrow comments thread, but here are the latest developments on a pair of rapist “influencers” who are currently polluting South Florida. (AP)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, arrived Thursday in the U.S. after authorities lifted travel restrictions on the siblings, who have millions of online followers.
A spokesperson for the brothers, Mateea Petrescu, said the two landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, around midday.
Who are the Tate brothers? From the linked article:
Andrew Tate, 38, a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He and Tristan Tate, 36, are vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Just weeks ago, Andrew Tate posted on X: “The Tates will be free, Trump is the president. The good old days are back. And they will be better than ever. Hold on…”
Last August, DIICOT [Romania’s anti-organized crime agency] also launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied those charges as well.
Why did the Romanian authorities release these rapey assholes from house arrest?
The Tates’ departure came after Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said this month that a Trump administration official expressed interest in the brothers’ case at the recent Munich Security Conference. The minister insisted no pressure was applied to lift restrictions on the Tates after a Financial Times report on the meeting caused a stir in Romania.
Sure, Jan.
Ron DeSantis, the shitty governor of my shithole state, will probably never be president, even though America has demonstrated twice that it will even elect a demented, loudmouthed, criminal and worthless old fart if the opponent is a woman.
But DeSantis does occasionally unclench his anus-like lips long enough to hiss out denunciations of human trafficking, mostly as a cover to bash immigrants and show faux concern for women and girls.
It’s all bullshit, of course, a lie just like the anti-trans laws that we’re condescendingly told are to “protect women and girls.” Republican officials don’t give a shit about women and girls and never have, not even the female ones.
The lackey DeSantis installed as AG to replace the lackey he previously installed to replace Trump lackey Marco Rubio made a statement:
“Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence against women. If any of these alleged crimes trigger Florida jurisdiction, we will hold them accountable,” said Uthmeier, an appointee of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Manifestly, that’s a steaming load of horse shit. Of course the rapist Tates made a beeline to Florida, the sanctuary state for sex offenders. Hell, they’re probably holed up at Trump’s tacky-ass resort.
Florida is where mercifully deceased pedophile (and Trump pal) Jeffrey Epstein cut a deal with corrupt prosecutors who had heard testimony that he had raped girls as young as 14 at his Palm Beach mansion. (The prosecutor who cut that deal, Alexander Acosta, was later appointed labor secretary by Donald Trump, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.)
Anyhoo, 77 million Americans voted for Florida’s worst retiree resident, adjudicated rapist and convicted felon Donald Trump, last November. Congressional Republicans voted lockstep to install an array of grotesque sex pests and assorted weirdos to head important federal agencies.
So it’s not just a Florida problem. It’s an America problem. This country just fucking hates women.
ETA: As much as I despise Ron DeSantis, he rolled UP the welcome mat for the rapist Tates: (Newsweek)
Andrew Tate ‘Not Welcome’ in Florida, Ron DeSantis Says
…Governor Ron DeSantis spoke out against the pair, saying, “Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct…”
DeSantis repeated his sentiments about the Tate brothers in comments to the media on Thursday morning, where he discussed the Tate brothers’ arrival in Florida…
“We have no involvement in that. I read about it through the media. Clearly the federal government has jurisdiction whether they want to rebuff his entry into the United States, and I have confidence that whether it’s Pam Bondi or Kristi Noam that they will be looking at that. [Barf! –Ed.]
“I do know our Attorney General, James Uthmeier, is looking at what state hooks and jurisdiction we may have to be able to deal with this. But the reality is, no, Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air. And I don’t know how it came to this. We were not involved, we were not notified, I found out through the media that this was something that was happening.”
For the first and I anticipate ONLY time in my life I’ll ever say this of Ron DeSantis: good for him. (And thanks to Baud for dropping that Newsweek link in comments. I hadn’t seen it.)
Guest Post from WereBear – When Did the Madness Start?
JoyceH
Charges are still pending against these vermin in Romania and the UK. Let’s see if Rapey McDementia will allow them to be extradited when the time comes.
Baud
Apparently, DeSantis made a statement too.
J. Arthur Crank
Christ Almighty. It is hard to choose who is the most disgusting pig of a human out of the cast of characters named in your post, but I suppose an answer could be “all of them”. This country does indeed hate women.
Apart from that I am out of words.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
If someone ended them there and dumped their bodies on the Tallahassee steps of the governor’s manse, there could be a celebration…..
J. Arthur Crank
@Baud: The lawyer for the brothers (quoted in the article you linked) sounds like a real asshole as well.
Ohio Mom
Well, to be fair, it’s a world wide problem. We just want to expect better from our country, given all its PR about freedom and individual rights.
I never tire of quoting Yoko Ono, “Woman is the n*gger of the world.” I’ve been peeking in in a feminist rabbi on BlueSky who reminds us that The Handmaiden’s Tale is only shocking to us because we are westerners, for a lot of the world, it’s always been The Handmaiden’s Tale.
As an aside, I am so angry today about everything I feel like I could get violent.
Geminid
Trump:
Betty Cracker
@Baud: As much as it pains me, I’ll give Ron DeSantis credit for saying the scumbags aren’t welcome in Florida. Thanks for dropping that link!
cain
I assume they will be absorbed into the Trump administration in some way.
cain
@Geminid: Cuz the Trump administration is hiring!
No Nym
@cain: Sexploitation Czars.
NotoriousJRT
@cain: Hiring while firing. They say it shows they can walk AND chew gum.
TBone
The Pentagon just released the anti-trans Memo of Law and all trans people (or anyone with diagnosed gender dysphoria) are now verboten from military service or even attending military schools (some will be “recalled” as a synonym for revocation of acceptance).
And this Taters release coming from a
is the shit in the fecal sandwich they’re gonna try to force on us. Bescumber!
TBone
@Baud: jfc
J. Arthur Crank
@Betty Cracker:
Is this a case of a blind pig occasionally finding an acorn?
Also too, DeSantis has to be one of the most pathetic examples of a politician in recent memory. I won’t get the image of his “anus-like lips” out of my head for quite some time, so thanks for that.
TBone
@J. Arthur Crank: he’s trying to slake his thirst for attention by telling competing, whopping lies, again.
🎶
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BfrUQA2tb6M
Citizen Dave
Thought this was going to be about–or include–that ugly Cour D’Alene incident from the other night…
trollhattan
Trump misses Jeffrey Epstein so much he had to spring the Tates to sate his sorrow.
“Fine people, very misunderstood and treated so unfairly.”
Warrants for their arrests in UK await, should they choose to be hosted by Nigel Farange, who I’m certain is a big fan. The biggest.
Hoodie
There is the possibility that Romania deliberately dumped these turds in Trump’s lap, with an ambiguous implication that Trump wanted them released. They are wanted in the UK and elsewhere, so it puts the burden on Trump/DeSantis to do something about them. Their fanboys are part of Trump’s base, so extraditing them may have some political cost for Trump, while leaving them alone risks even bigger political problems. He was free to not give a shit when they were preying on women in Romania. Not great news for women in Florida, but that’s not Romania’s problem, especially when it would be easy to round these assholes up at the airport and send them off to London.
gratuitous
I suppose it’s cynical of me to think that Gov. DeSantis will change his tune as soon as Subpresident Krasnov gets around to being best pals with the Tates.
mali muso
Gotta say, being the mother of an 8 year old black girl right now…I am feeling some kind of way. Sorrow that I can’t even put into words. Fear that is free-floating and incessant. Oh yeah, and incandescent rage.
Citizen Alan
All Republicans are rapists and pedophiles. Even the ones who haven’t committed the crime … yet. Deep down, every Republican man would rape a woman or child if he thought he could get away with it. And Republican women hate and despite women who fight back against rape and sexual abuse more than they hate rapists and abusers.
Geminid
@Ohio Mom: The Tates may be better known in Europe and the Middle East than here. “Mixed Martial Arts” has big audience among younger men worldwide.
I’ve been following a lot of Middle Eastern social media these past months, and I sometimes follow commenters back to their home account in order to get an idea of where they’re coming from.. A fair amount of the younger men are MMA followers. Many are also into the fast, fancy cars the Tates like to show off.
The Tates are a big topic among these men. They’re not neccesarily Tate supporters and many condemn them, but some still admire them.
Betty Cracker
@Citizen Dave: To be fair, there are dozens of stories daily that could fit under that title.
@Hoodie: Hmmm, hadn’t considered that angle.
Jay
@trollhattan:
During the Southport riots, Nigel quoted the Tates as to the “causes”, then when it turned out that the Tates were full of shit and Nigel started getting reamed about it, he quickly underbussed the Tates.
laura
When you’re a star, they let you do it is now Official Policy. My inner conceptual artist feels the need to create a large assemblage of untested rape kits in the shape of the US because America Fuck Yeah!
TBone
@trollhattan: I just watched a BBC pundit talking at length about Keir “Stormer” (he had a Freudian slip) in the Oval Office today. Getting preferential trade treatment! If I hear the word “deal” one more fucking time…
TBone
@laura: fabulous idea.
TBone
@Hoodie: not great news for women anywhere.
Steve LaBonne
How do we get the memo to the 51% of white women who voted for this shit?
TBone
@Steve LaBonne: their He Men will deliver it.
Hoodie
@TBone: Starmer would be an idiot to make any deal with Trump because of the latter’s unreliability and the chance that a subsequent Dem admin (assuming we have future elections) would undo a lot of what Trump negotiates. However, the UK could use the current unpleasantness as an opportunity to get a deal with the EU, and maybe that is what Starmer is really maneuvering to get.
laura
@Citizen Alan: … yet. Deep down, every Republican man would rape a woman or child if he thought he could get away with it.
“They knew everything” according to the husband of Gisele Pelicot, who, along with 51 other men who were convicted, raped his repeatedly medically unconscious wife over a long period of time.
Elizabelle
@mali muso: Eight years old! How did that happen? She was just a toddler!
But. Yeah. We have to wrest back this country for your little one, and everyone else.
matt
If you want an anti-DEI HR department, these are some pretty amazing potential hires.
Warblewarble
“When you’re a celebrity they let you do it” tRUMP has declared open season on women and girls.
Geminid
@Steve LaBonne: You can always spread the word to the women you know. That’s what I did when I saw the Tate story reported 10 days ago. That was after Richard Grenell lobbied the Romanian foreign secretary on the Tates’ behalf at the Munich Security Conference. Hopefully my friends passed the story along.
Elizabelle
Jeff Bezos is sending his fiancee into space. With a shipload of other prominent women, and only women.
From The Guardian:
mali muso
@Elizabelle: I know…I can’t believe how fast she is growing myself. Sometimes I wish I could freeze time.
Belafon
@Elizabelle: He’ll back out by then under Trump’s anti-DEI pressure.
trollhattan
An intro to the poetry that is Andrew Tate, for the unfamiliar.
https://x.com/JoshEakle/status/1895111062766133683
No more wondering why Trump finds him relatable.
Will add nobody must have a daughter to be repelled, but it certainly focuses things further.
Steve LaBonne
@Geminid: I don’t know any Trumpers of any gender. I was going to say “unfortunately” but I don’t actually feel that way.
scav
So even ardent Trump supporters don’t want to live next to ardent Trump supporters.
trollhattan
@TBone: Did Trump happen to ask “Stormer” about his troops?
That Freud, he would have had a field day with Donny.
Jay
@Hoodie:
Romania is going through some things.
The ruZZian puppet who won the Presidential election, until the Supreme Court nullified it for illegal interference, ballot stuffing, corruption, bribery of voters and threats, is currently under a form of House arrest and facing charges of treason
The Romanian Police are currently rather busy raiding and arresting an alliance of Nazi’s, ruZZian puppets, Royalists, thugs for hire, Military and ex-Military, seizing their caches of money, drugs and weapons, as the State prepares for new elections.
There is probably a Venn diagram of Tate alocytes, ruZZians and all the other sordid characters in this saga.
Romania may have decided that the Tate Brothers will have less ability to interfere with the new elections from Mar a Lagos, than in Romania
Oh, and the Tate Brothers preyed on women online, used their flash to get them to come to Romania, then drugged them, raped them, abused them and made them prostitute themselves on line. Their reach was global.
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Jeff’s bored with the new girlfriend already?
“Hey honey, how does going to space sound, as a six-month anniversary present? What? No, just you and some amazing gals on board.”
Martin
@Elizabelle: Don’t lose sight of the fact that the current era of spaceflight is not about, I don’t know, helping to mitigate climate change, but to create celebrity experiences in the same way that climbing Everest has become synonymous with ‘has $200K to hire people to create an instagram experience’.
These things do not exist to help society, just to indulge billionaires. Any social benefit is just a tax they need to pay, and in time that tax will be removed.
Ohio Mom
@Geminid: Oh, I’ve heard of them, though to be honest, for a while I thought there was only one Tate.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Geminid:
That is precisely where my mind went.
The gop is now the party of protecting human traffickers too. Or considering Epstein, perhaps it has been for decades now.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Martin:
In your opinion, does it speak badly of these peoples’ characters to be participating in this spaceflight, given Jeff Bezos recent actions at the WaPo, his support of Trump, and his union busting?
I definitely think less of them for it
Mike S
I don’t understand what DeSantis means by conduct “in the air.”
rikyrah
Just icky….
but, it fits with this current administration.
West of the Rockies
Well, at least the Tate creeps lost a couple years of their shit encrusted lives to prison.
Hoodie
@Jay: All the more reason to make them Trump’s problem.
Martin
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Doesn’t help. I don’t begrudge anyone an opportunity to go to space, but it does speak to just how broad the problems with wealth inequality go.
Citizen Dave
I know these billionaire vanity space things are different, and maybe it’s stretching it to say they are “space missions” (10 minutes, why bother?), but I can’t help note that 2 of the 135 Space Shuttle missions ended very badly.
Hoodie
@Steve LaBonne: I know a few. They’re fucking idiots but I don’t think they’re down with human trafficking.
Miki
@Hoodie: “All the more reason to make them Trump’s problem.”
My thoughts exactly.
Geminid
@West of the Rockies: The Tates got out on bail after a while. They spent the time since then under house arrest
Elizabelle
@Martin: True. This one is a vanity project, in many ways.
However, Everest is littered with the dead bodies of climbers (too many Sherpas among them). Traffic jams up there, at this point.
The Titanic recently claimed a few more millionaires who entrusted their lives to a sharkster (who, thankfully, also perished). I do not wish these women harm, but no one was crying for anyone but the 19 year old when the Titan sub imploded.
The billionaires with their hobby space programs are a ridiculous sign of how we don’t adequately tax great fortunes, and that the government — which has better safety standards and research in the public interest — should be doing this. Both taxing way more strictly, and doing more R&D
Now we have a billionaire who bought the Oval Office. Surprise!
TBone
@Hoodie: according to Jonathan Pie, Starmer is an idiot. But maybe I have him mixed up with Farage.
ETA nope, I was right. They’re both idiots.
Jay
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1895190787463487775.html
Steve LaBonne
@Hoodie: I hope that is an entry to getting through to them.
Elizabelle
@Citizen Dave: The Free Market! And Personal Liberties!
I hope the fiancee does not turn out to be combustible.
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle:
That word “helm” is doing a shitload of work there.
kindness
@trollhattan:
Martin
@Citizen Dave: I don’t see how the latter has any connection to the former.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Yup. Much like the Titan “crew” and the scientific briefings they attended.
Belafon
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): If I could take some billionaire’s money to launch me into space, I would not turn it down. Especially since I could be the famous person afterwards who constantly calls out said billionaire for being an oligarch.
TBone
@trollhattan: the British BBC pundit mentioned the myriad ways in which the U.S. and U.K. are tied together because the U.K. cannot operate its American-made defense systems without us. More than once, he made sure to bring that up. As well, Donold J. was given some type of scroll document from the King, much to the idiot’s (or idiots’ I should say) delight.
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Citizen Alan:
I understand the outrage because it is searing my soul too.
Yet, there are plenty of deluded republicans who are women or men who love their daughters and wives. Some of them believe the defamatory pizza gate awfulness and yes, some of them would stone me for daring to suggest they are deluded. Most I know are neither sadists, nor misogynists though. They are simply people who happen to live in misinformation cesspools.
These folks believe a litany of lies about democrats to make you blush.
I don’t know how we break through the information manure in which some of these folks are buried. I do know we need to try. We are in an information war.
No doubt some of them would like to begin the Salem witch trials redux immediately. Cotton Mather was with that type once too. That type I doubt we can reach.
Geminid
@Steve LaBonne: I know a few Republicans, but I sent the Tate story to three female Democratic friends. I’m not sure two of them were familiar with the Tates, but the third is a sports junkie and she knew exactly who Andrew Tate was. I sent Stephanie the story along with the comment, “This administration hates women.” She responded , “Yep.”
Harrison Wesley
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Geminid: That is the best notion IMHO
TBone
We need a female or lesbian or trans Luigi for each Tate.
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/yashar/status/1895169531380928775#m
TBone
@Elizabelle: talk about cold
feetfeat!HopefullyNotcassandra
@Elizabelle: Why can they not simply pay their fair share????
TBone
And a little child shall lead them.
TBone
@Elizabelle: hubris
I was inspired today by Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle. She gave them the what for! In 1940.
French Onion Soup
I would not be kind to DeSantis on rejecting the Tate brothers. They don’t have the pull they once did. Tate had a string of social media fails revealing things ranging from not knowing how a sauna works to revealing he has a small dick. He’s a laughing stock in most areas now. His ability to get women is also mostly laughed at he has to buy or tick them rather than actually having game and being a player and that’s not working for him.
They’re on the outs and a lot of people that did respect them don’t. The only clout they have right now is generic moderate educated liberals get really mad about them. They’re a punch line outside of that circle and even the people who like them know they are jokes and frauds.
Belafon
@HopefullyNotcassandra: Because “their fair share” is a really bad way to word it. They should be taxed inversely to how hard they have to work to earn that money. And no one is working at a rate of $2000+/hr.
Shakti
I was happier when I didn’t know so many had open sewers for minds. This isn’t normal and if it is, I have no desire to be so.
I give no credit for DeSantis vaulting stepping over bar from hell. I have… cynical…thoughts as to why he took this stand on the Tates, given that his close circle is/was filled with predators.
I don’t remember how vigorously he distanced himself from Gaetz. Or Gaetz’ buddy that was filtering through drivers’ licenses, Joel Greenberg.
Bill Arnold
@TBone:
The DSM is a very useful reference when examining the biographies and writings and statements of most many people in the Mr. Musk’s Mr. Trump’s administration. Including the top of the hierarchy. Including the one that cosplays the antichrist.
TBone
@Bill Arnold: you know it it’s true!
Precious bodily fluids!
TBone
@Shakti: good eye.
Miki
@HopefullyNotcassandra: See, e.g., The Sam Alito Fanclub.
Jay
@TBone:
A common myth amongst the British Pundit Class is that the UK cannot operate or maintain US supplied weapons systems with out US aid and permission.
That is of course, not even close to being true.
For example. the Titian II SLBM, Brit wankers often claim that the UK needs US permission to launch them, they don’t. The whole reason, the only reason that both France and the UK have nuclear weapons, is because they didn’t/don’t trust the US to respond to So-Be-It/ruZZian nuclear attacks on their countries.
The wanking class often claim that the US can “recall” and missiles the UK fires. Titian II does not have a “recall” feature, no ballistic missile does.
They also claim that the US can remotely destroy the missiles in flight. More fantasy, only the submarine that launches the missile can trigger the self destruct, if anybody could do it, it would be a massive security threat. Sub commanders would be blowing up each others boats over petty grievances and trying to create opportunities for promotion.
The wanking class also claim that the US can remotely disarm the warheads. Slight problem, they are British Warheads built in Britain to a British design.
Britain’s only reliance on the US in the weapons arena, is some weapons systems and some technology transfers. If the US cuts them off, they will just go back to co-producing with France and Germany.
Shakti
@Elizabelle: I guess they’ll be ok? I was concerned for their personal safety before I remembered Bezos’ space vanity project has nothing to do with Musk’s space vanity. Or do they overlap?
@Elizabelle: Ah memories.
People have been making fun of the Titanic pretty much as soon as it sank. Not everyone was sentimental about it. Lead Belly, “The Titanic” (song)
Stacy
Kash Patel wants to get MMA fighters to help the FBI. Maybe that’s why the Tate brothers got their freedom.
Jay
@TBone:
It would be far more effective if it was a parent of one of the Tate’s victims.
“I could not get justice for,……. so I chose vengeance.”
NotMax
Small earth tremor a couple of minutes ago. Strong enough to unmistakably feel the wobbling of the cottage.
Martin
@Shakti: There’s an overlap of who is expected to benefit from those endeavors.
Princess
@Elizabelle: I’m getting Titanic submarine flashbacks from this Bezos rocket escapade.
Jay
@NotMax:
Kilauea related?
trollhattan
@Jay:
The generals had to explain that particular tidbit to Reagan, after he was in the White House.
And that was before his “the bombing starts in ten minutes” joke.
NotMax
@Jay
Probably not.
oldgold
It never ends:
When asked by the BBC’s Chris Mason if he still thinks Ukraine’s President Zelensky is a dictator – Trump replied:
“Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question.”
Elizabelle
@Princess: Yep. Particularly since the owner is not on board. ;-)
HopefullyNotcassandra
@Belafon: I see your point.
Nonetheless, if you have a private jet using public airports, trucks rutting our roads daily, & etc., your tax rate should be a significantly higher percentage than your executive assistant’s (paraphrasing Warren Buffet).
Melancholy Jaques
@Steve LaBonne:
This has been a puzzle for the entire Trump era. Remember when Dobbs changed everything? Further proof that issues don’t mean shit to voters. Roe v Wade had consistent support around 60% or more, but that support is not really related to voting behavior unless it’s a straight up or down vote on Roe v Wade like Kansas & Ohio.
And it wasn’t inflation or eggs because the same or higher percentage of white women voted for that asshole the first time right after the whole world heard him bragging about grabbing women by the pussy & getting away with.
zhena gogolia
@Melancholy Jaques: I know, right?
WE WHITE WOMEN COULD HAVE STOPPED HIM. TWICE. This is what is tormenting me.
My father used to always say, “If you’re rich, you should be a Republican. Nobody else should be.” True, and the corollary is, “If you’re a white man, maybe it’s in your interest to vote for Trump. No woman should.”
catclub
@TBone:
Starmer could be an idiot and still ten times smarter than Trump
Jay
@NotMax:
Any Oarfish sightings?
Geminid
@NotMax:
@Jay: This made me think of the recent series of earthwlquakes in the Aegean Sea clustered around the Island of Santorini. They seem to hace slacked off in recent days and tourists are now returning to the island.
While looking up this story I found a new (to me) site: Hispanatolia. It’s focuses on tourism in Turkiye and is oriented towards Spanish-speaking readers. My friend Joan plans to visit Turkiye this year, so I sent her a Hispanatolia article about a winter train ride across Anatolia.
Baud
Something for Four Directions
Martin
@Princess: I mean, these companies aren’t reckless in that way. So far, the FAA and NASA had enough bite to ensure they didn’t do really dumb shit. I don’t really see that holding though.
But there’s the larger problem that there are a lot of society-wide things that need access to space, and that mission is being crowded out for vanity bullshit.
Betty Cracker
@French Onion Soup:
Hey now!
Betty Cracker
@NotMax: Yikes! Stay safe, man.
geg6
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Gayle King is the biggest suck up on earth, so she doesn’t surprise me in the least (another example of the terrible character judgment of Oprah, regardless of her many talents). But Katie Perry has disappointed me with this. The whole thing is disgusting. If I wasn’t a good person, I’d wish for it to blow up on reentry.
TBone
@Jay: thank you, I knew the BBC pundit was, shall we say, toeing the line, but your erudite commentary confirms my suspicions!
TBone
@geg6: me too, alla that.
lowtechcyclist
@Citizen Dave:
This. Also if this is the eleventh crewed mission of the New Shepard capsule, ten successes out of ten is far from enough to treat it as routine and safe.
TBone
@catclub: very true, but he’s not “bringing his best” game.
Aziz, light!
Sex pest Milli Vanilli.
Shakti
You know the trope of “women and children” first that people cited with the Titanic right, ? They don’t talk about class. Doesn’t really apply for other disasters as men shove everyone of the way.
Alternate ditty about going down with the ship; Captain Platonic
Ruckus
This country just fucking hates women.
Not all of it.
Some of us actually like them. I do and my sister did. That’s 2 – in one family. Now I’m sure that there are some women on this planet that I likely wouldn’t appreciate but most of them I actually do. I actually like some men as well. Likely a smaller percentage than women but still, not everyone is djt. Or even anything like him. THANKFULLY!!!
I know a few others that do/did as well.
JML
@zhena gogolia: nah, the Current Occupant is only “good” for rich white dudes. The rest of us are going to get dick-punched too. It’s just that way too many white men are too dumb to realize it. or can’t tell that just because you might be lower on the list doesn’t mean you’re not in line for the screwing. Fucking hell, we be stupid.
SiubhanDuinne
Will admit I’ve been procrastinating (as is my wont), but I finally just cancelled my WaPo subscription. Can’t even remember how long I’ve been subscribing to the digital edition — many years at least. An odd feeling, but good.
Eduardo
@TBone: Of all the anti-trans shit going on, this is to me, by far, the worst: it is hard to find, at this stage in our society a better match that trans people and the army. For the people, a safe space away from the collective assholery in many cases from their own family, full of opportunities and challenges, camaraderie, with good medical services. For the army, talented people who are probably beyond grateful for the opportunities and will work very hard (think of an immigrant).
so much cruelty, so much stupidity
AM in NC
@Steve LaBonne: Well I called Sen. Thom Tillis’s offices today and said “this message isn’t actually for the Senator, but for all the women working in the office,” and then proceeded to say the rapist, human-trafficking, self-described misogynist Tate Brothers were brought back to America by President Trump – THIS is what the Republican Party thinks of you, me, our mothers, sisters, daughters and friends. We are nothing but things to serve men sexually, as breeding vessels, or, as JD Vance reminded us, to serve as free child care once we reach menopause.
And the man you work for must be all in on releasing sexual predators into America and treating women as less than human because he doesn’t say a word against it.
Is THIS what you want for your selves and your daughters? Because THIS is what the Republican Party is now.
Steve LaBonne
@Melancholy Jaques: When you have eliminated every motivation except racism then…
Steve LaBonne
@AM in NC: Wow. That’s an approach I hadn’t thought of. Well done.
Suzanne
I don’t know why we keep lamenting that white women voted for FFOTUS without giving much more time and energy to the fact that white men did so by the largest percentage. It seems nonsensical, but it isn’t: white women are much older on average than women of color. Probably past the time in their lives when abortion access is a primary concern. They own houses, they’re mostly not going back to college or changing careers, and some of them are doing well under the patriarchy and don’t want to rock the boat. (And younger and college-educated white women are voting Dem by significant margins.)
Should they be more empathetic to their daughters’ concerns? Sure, but so should white men. Demanding empathy from women but not men is, you guessed it, a form of internalized misogyny.
Baud
@Suzanne:
People feel like women are oppressed by Republicans like other members of our coalition, in a way that white men aren’t.
OTOH, white working class men should be with us too, and aren’t from the same reason as white women aren’t.
Geminid
@Suzanne: Being a White male, I could dismiss these criticisms of White women as a group as crab bucket politics. But I’m a Democrat so I am in the bucket too, and I believe these criticisms are not constructive.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: Yeah, I’ll admit it, I’ve become a female misogynist thanks to the voting behavior of women in 2016 and 2024.
ETA: Women could have stopped him. Twice. We didn’t.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Sometimes people feel a sense of solidarity that really isn’t there and end up disappointed.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: There are exhortations from the front page about how all of us should pull together, which I read as shut up and follow our lead. You should be happy that we include you but be silent.
And no one is demanding anything of anyone. At least I am not. But until we figure out who has voted and keeps voting for Rs and why, how can we build a coalition to defeat them?
Acknowledging a problem is the first step in solving it. WW (at least some of them) may be an easier demographic for Democrats to win over compared to white men.
BTW more WW voted for Biden than they did either for Harris or HRC. Is that internalized misogyny?
Shakti
What I want to know is why people want to accept Trump regretters reasoning at face value and why they ask readers to believe they are that credulous… and why so many people are willing to accept they are that credulous?
I want to see at least one story ask these people why they were so willing to believe things with no to little evidence and at least one person admit that they lied to themselves.
Washington Post, Leopard Eating Faces: TL,DNR:
Suzanne
@Baud:
Exactly. Almost everybody should be with us, but they aren’t. And that’s for reasons of whiteness, richness, and dumbness — pick one (or more!).
There just seems to be this undertone that white men voting Republican is rational, but for white women it’s irrational. I want to challenge that thinking. Considering women irrational has a long, sexist history. And, quite frankly, it’s no more irrational for many white women than it is for white dudes. Even rich white dudes should logically vote for Democrats.
TBone
@Eduardo: it is all so senseless, the banality of evil (Marc Elias brought up Hannah Arendt today on Deadline Whitehouse but they were talking about Donold’s love affair with Pooty). Hannah should be required reading.
evodevo
@Elizabelle: Yeah…too bad his sig other is taking those particular women, and not, say, Lauren Boebert, Laura Ingraham, MSG, or other useless MAGAts…
Darkrose
@geg6: Katy Perry and her boyfriend Orlando Bloom are best known to me as the current owners of Bragg’s Natural Foods. They shill for apple cider vinegar and are solidly in the wellness grifter space.
schrodingers_cat
There is nothing irrational about white women voting for the Republicans or Hindu upper caste women voting for the BJP. Wanting to preserve the status quo that benefits your demographic, for your sons and yourself is not egalitarian but it is rational.
Also political leanings depend a lot on group identity. This is true for women as well as men. Since over 45% white women already vote D peeling some of them off is more plausible than it is for white men. Less less than 40% white men voted for Harris in 2024.
Melancholy Jaques
@Suzanne:
The reason is this: That asshole is champion for racist & misogynist white men, especially the stupid ones. At the same time he disparages & scorns women. So while the support from stupid white racist men makes sense, the support from women does not.
Citizen Alan
This is an understated point. Appeals to feminism directed towards white women must deal with the fact that conservative white Christian women consider themselves subordinate to white men but superior to everyone else. “Equality” for most of them is a step down in status because in a truly equal society, they will be equal to men, but all the people they would like to look down on are equal to them.
Suzanne
@Melancholy Jaques: Disagree. It makes perfect sense, if one is nakedly self-interested. And, of course, many people are and it is a shameful, if utterly normal, human characteristic….. for women as well as men.
Most of those women who voted for Trump are not personally endangered by Trump policies, at least, no more than their husbands. On the contrary, they built their lives around the patriarchy and would be more threatened by its absence. They are not at the point in life where they want to chase a career or an education. They may not be capable of being financially independent and would be scared at the prospect. In fact, they might be somewhat offended if their daughters want those things, because it’s not living into the dreams they have for them.
Citizen Alan
@Suzanne: My mother would never have called herself a feminist (born in Mississippi in 1935, never went to college). But she fought to get a technical job at BellSouth after a Title VII suit against ATT forced them to open that job up to women. I attribute that to the reason my sister and I went to college and no other family members out of an extended family of 12 cousins in our generation did.
Of course, my sister got an elementary ed degree, married well (son of a local car dealership family), and retired after 25 years in the same school she student taught at. And her daughter went into elementary ed too. The sister is upset because the daughter isn’t actively looking for some rich dude her age to marry.
MagdaInBlack
@Suzanne: Exactly. And btw, you just described my late MIL.
Suzanne
@Citizen Alan:
Equality is also scary. It requires being an active agent of one’s own life. It requires lifelong work and self-improvement. What is the allure of this to a 60-year-old woman who stayed at home with her kids? (And the modal age of white women voters was 58 last year, so this is probably fairly common.) She isn’t going to seek financial independence or embark on a new career at this point in her life. She probably cares about getting a tax cut.
Elizabelle
@Shakti: Excellent song by Lead Belly. Thank you very much. Had heard OF it, but had not listened before. Indebted.