Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

People are complicated. Love is not.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

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

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / LGBTQ Rights / LGBTQ Rights Are Human Rights / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Chris Kluwe, Not Punting

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Chris Kluwe, Not Punting

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MisterMix posted that YouTube video last week. New development:

Just got fired from being a freshman football coach, if you want to know what MAGA does to communities.
They don’t care about what helps people, because the school is certainly not going to find an ex-NFL player willing to coach there at that level, they only care about trying to hurt people.

— Chris Kluwe (@chriswarcraft.bsky.social) February 27, 2025 at 4:04 PM

Per the Guardian, “Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe says he was fired from coaching job after Maga protest”:

… Kluwe was arrested at the Huntington Beach city council meeting last week, at which he spoke out against the decision to erect a plaque at a local library. The plaque features the words “Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing and Adventurous” and the city commission confirmed it was a reference to Maga. The former Minnesota Vikings player then made critical comments about the Trump administration before saying he would “engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience” and walked on to the meeting’s stage. He was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for disrupting an assembly.

On Thursday Kluwe said he had been fired from his job as a football coach at Edison High School in Huntington Beach.

“I knew it was a possible consequence,” Kluwe told the Guardian by text. “I think it just goes to show what Maga actually stands for – they don’t want to build anything, they just want to tear people and institutions down to make themselves feel better, regardless of what it costs the community. I sincerely doubt Edison is going to find another ex-NFL player to coach freshman football.” He said he was not given a reason for his dismissal but was told he had brought a lot of attention to the school.

At the council meeting, Kluwe was highly critical of the Donald Trump’s Maga movement.

“Maga is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy and most importantly, Maga is explicitly a Nazi movement,” he said. “You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that’s what it is.”

All seven members of the Huntington Beach city council are conservatives and one member, Gracey Van Der Mark, said there was “nothing peaceful” about Kluwe’s protest. She said he was guilty of “causing alarm among those in attendance, including two young students”.

Last week, Kluwe told the Guardian he has a court date in April over his arrest. “We’ll see what happens. There’s a possibility the ACLU might get involved. Some people have been telling me they’re looking to challenge this because they think it might not be legal.”

Kluwe was outspoken on social issues during his NFL career, which lasted from 2005 to 2013, and he claimed he was eventually released by the Vikings because of his beliefs and his support for same-sex marriage…

Chris Kluwe is still making his stand. “If I see someone being oppressed, then it’s my duty to speak up for them,” he told The Washington Post.
Column by @candacedbuckner.bsky.social

[image or embed]

— Post Sports (@postsports.bsky.social) February 23, 2025 at 10:21 AM


[gift link]

(I’m pleased to note that Balloon Juice has been a Kluwe supporter for many years — here’s DougJ in 2012, TomL in 2014, and me with a follow-up.)

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  • A Ghost to Most
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    46Comments

    3. 3.

      Bill Arnold

      Has this been linked yet?
      Wired, again with the goods.
      Elon Musk’s Takeover Is Being Aided by a Trumpworld Power Couple – Stephen and Katie Miller—he’s “the prime minister,” sources say; she’s DOGE’s comms guru—liaise between the White House and Elon Musk, and are centrally involved as he tears the government apart. (Jake Lahut, Feb 27, 2025)

      When President Donald Trump’s aides and advisers relay concerns about Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government, they’re often given what’s intended to be a reassuring answer: Don’t worry, Stephen and Katie Miller will take care of it.
      …
      Just over a month into the new administration, they have been privately projecting themselves as two pairs of steady hands at the till.
      …
      Stephen Miller is the White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser; two sources described his current role as that of a prime minister. His wife, Katie Miller, is a special government employee who functions as the top communications official at DOGE. She is also on the payroll of the firm P2 Public Affairs, The Wall Street Journal reported, which has ties to Musk and several alumni of Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential campaign.
      …
      Yet through their actions so far, the Millers and Musk have developed a MAGA version of the Pet Shop Boys adage from the song “Opportunities”: You’ve got the brawn / I’ve got the brains. Stephen Miller’s knowledge of the federal apparatus, Katie Miller’s contacts on Capitol Hill, and the couple’s good standing among Trump loyalists, coupled with Musk’s relentless ambition and effectively infinite resources, made the scale of the DOGE government takeover possible.
      …
      “Stephen is kind of the prime minister,” one of three Republicans close to Trump and familiar with the situation tells WIRED. Another Republican familiar with the dynamic also used the term “PM” to describe Miller, short for prime minister. The implication is that Miller is carrying out the daily work of governance while Trump serves as head of state, focusing on the fun parts of being president.

      This part is … raising eyebrows:

      Still, Musk’s relationship with the Millers has become a subject of great intrigue in Washington as DOGE continues to wreak havoc on the federal government. Little is known about how often they interact outside of work and how the relationship grew over the late stages of the campaign into the transition.
      “If you can find out anything about Stephen Miller’s social life, I don’t wanna know the answer,” says a longtime Republican operative who knows the couple personally.
      “Stephen and Katie are very attentive to [Musk],” the Republican who referred to Stephen as “prime minister” tells WIRED. There’s also only one audience which truly matters, they say: “He’s got a forgiving audience: the audience of one, and all of us around him.”

      Reply
    7. 7.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      Chrie Kluwe is a hero for what he did and those Huntington Beach city councilmembers as well as the Edison school officials are bullies

      Reply
    9. 9.

      TBone

      I better go to bed before sedation is required, Stephen Miller and anyone evil enough to marry that fucking guy and possibly spawn raise my hackles.

      Reply
    12. 12.

      Scout211

      A federal judge  on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to rescind directives that caused the mass firings of recent hires and other federal employees on their probationary periods.

      The Office of Personnel Management does not have the authority to order the firings, Judge William Alsup from the U.S. District for Northern California said, voicing incredulity of the administration’s argument that it had opted to retain only the highest-performing in mission-critical roles. Alsup’s temporary restraining order did not appear to reinstate those who were already fired, though the full impact of the decision was not immediately clear. The judge said he would follow up shortly with more details on his decision.

      “The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees at another agency,” Alsup said.

      The American Federation of Government Employees and other groups brought the suit, arguing the Trump administration had ignored federal laws governing probationary employee staff and had essentially issued reductions in force without following the proper procedures

      . . .

      The Trump administration posited it never ordered the firings, despite previously announcing it had done so. On Feb. 13, OPM had a call with agency human resources leaders directing them to begin terminating employees in their probationary periods, a source familiar told Government Executive at the time. That call was widely reported. On Feb. 14, it sent a follow up memo instructing agencies to “separate probationary employees that you have not identified as mission-critical no later than end of day Monday, 2/17.”

      Those orders followed an OPM directive issued shortly after President Trump’s inauguration that required all agencies to compile lists of their probationary employees and send them to OPM. The judge ordered the administration rescind both that Jan. 20 guidance and the Feb. 14 memo.

      Alsup said it was unreasonable to suggest that agencies across government simultaneously decided to fire probationary employees on their own volition, and the nation cannot “run our agencies with lies.”

      Reply
    13. 13.

      Tulip

      I cancelled my WaPo subscription, so I can’t read the article, but good for him! Cowards at the HS that fired him. I hope he gets his due process.

      Reply
    14. 14.

      rebelsdad

      Being a gay man in a world full of straight guys is incredibly isolating and exhausting. Sometimes I despair and feel alone but then I remember that Chris Kluwe is a badass and a true ally.

      Reply
    15. 15.

      Nukular Biskits

      I had a long talk with the “Southern Regional Field Representative” for Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) today.

      BLUF: It’s blatantly obvious they do NOT want to have constituents come to the office but to tell them your “concerns/questions” over the phone.

      Tough shit.

      I’ll be meeting with him next week, still working on the details. I told him in no uncertain terms that it’s far too easy for staffers to disregard what I have to say, that it’s important for me to tell them in-person so I can judge for myself if they’re bullshitting me.

      I know you Jackals are tired of me preaching this sermon over and over, but you are gonna have to keep the heat on Congressional Republicans.  They do NOT want to hear from anyone except Trumpers and they’re making up every kind of excuse to get out of having to deal with their constituents.

      For example, this lying piece of shit who repeatedly proclaims his “sincerely-held religious convictions”:

      Crooks & Liars – Mike Johnson: People At GOP Town Halls ‘Paid Protesters’

      COLLINS: I was just asking because as you know, your home state of Louisiana, about 80 percent of the Medicaid spending there is covered by the federal government.

      We’ve seen it in a lot of red states, of course, across the United States. It’s not just a blue state issue.

      As you have seen through this, and we’ve seen the blowback that some Republicans in your caucus are getting when they go back home to their districts, worried about these cuts or worried about what DOGE is doing.

      Do you have concerns that that’s anything that Democrats will be able to use to run against those Republicans?

      JOHNSON: No, because…no, I don’t, because the videos you saw of the town halls were for paid protesters in many of those places.

      These are Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats.

      Fucking liar.

      Reply
    17. 17.

      Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

      @Nukular Biskits:

      JOHNSON: No, because…no, I don’t, because the videos you saw of the town halls were for paid protesters in many of those places.

      These are Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats.

      He’s a liar, but it’s also Johnson being in denial, too

      Reply
    21. 21.

      Ramalama

      I spent Junior year in high school watching some kicker for Da Bears practice kicking field goals in our field.

      Later as an adult I had a crybaby Chicago cop hire me to do his website for his side job…and guess what…there was the kicker for Da Bears posing for a photo for blue lives matter asshat.

      What I would give for Kluwe period. But then I’d have to be younger.

      Reply
    23. 23.

      Wapiti

      @Bill Arnold: I did like the possible Freudian slip in the article, talking about two pair of hands at the till. (Can’t copy-paste for some reason). It might have been a snipe by the journalist.

      Hands on a tiller would suggest steering.

      Hands on the till suggests collecting money.

      Reply
    27. 27.

      Jeffro

      I’m tempted to pick up a Kluwe jersey, but ick, the Vikings?

      Maybe I’ll pick up one of his books instead, or see if I can find one of his old band’s CDs.  Cool dude!

       

      In addition to his former career as a punter in the NFL, Kluwe is the bassist for the local Minneapolis alternative/progressive metal band, Tripping Icarus. Kluwe formed the band in 2009 with friends Andrew Reiner (guitar) and Matthew Marshall (drums), and later recruited Jesse Revel to join on lead vocals. Tripping Icarus recorded their debut EP, The Sideshow Sessions, in the summer of 2009. A year later, they recorded their first full-length LP, Perfect Citizen, which was slated for an early 2011 release.

      Reply
    28. 28.

      Jeffro

      @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): so that’s their story now?  all this outrage, even in GOP districts, is “paid protestors”?

      maybe some enterprising journalists (do we have any of those left?) could get some of these “paid protestors” on a mic and in front of cameras??

      sounds like pretty easy pickings to me

      Reply
    32. 32.

      cain

      @Nukular Biskits:

      Protest? With this federal govt? The GOP is in control and they are not afraid of us or any of us. They are scared of MAGA supporters.

      But more than that they are scared of Trump.

      No protest is going to work. You’re going to have to use economic power. You’re going to have to do things that Trump is a blow to his ego or a blow to Musk’s ego.

      Reply
    33. 33.

      cain

      @Tulip:

      I want you to think about how long it took you to cancel that subscription as well as others.

      You couldn’t bring yourself to do it. Some of you are still listening to 24 hour news.

      MAGA is wedded to fox news and OANN. It’s the same problem. If are having problems leaving these institution – think, is it because of who you are? Yet, we are all willing to watch 24 hour news, PBS Newshour even when it doesn’t support you anymore.

      That is the power of institutions.

      Reply
    34. 34.

      Nukular Biskits

      @cain:
      I disagree and I ain’t skeered (but, then, I am unencumbered by the thought process).

      Like it or not, it’s going to take all hands on deck and multiple fronts (to mix metaphors) to combat this (mal)administration.

      Every. Single. Bit. Of. Attention. we can get in front of the eyeballs of “normies” is helpful.

      I’ve already looked at cardboard cutouts of my three Congresscritters to have a townhall meetings they won’t dare attend.

      I’m open to anything as long as it doesn’t involve violence.

      Reply
    35. 35.

      Gin & Tonic

      In case anyone is in the mood for a feel-good animal story, here’s one.

      There were two young tree service guys working across the street as I was heading out to the gym this morning – not big-bucket-truck guys, small truck, and rope/harnesses/climbing type work (I live in a pretty wooded/rural area.) So I popped over and said hey, I have a tree in back that came down in a windstorm last fall, a dead oak (fall was very wet here) that was about 30 degrees off vertical, wedged into the fork of another tree about 50 feet off the ground, can you give me an idea of what you’d charge? They were busy, took my number, I figured they be gone by the time I came back.

      When I came back they were wrapping up the neighbor’s job, and one of them was in my back yard looking up at the fallen tree. He said, just as a quick estimate, we could drop it for about $300-400. I said sounds good, when could you get to it? He said, how about now? Deal.

      So they spent well over an hour rigging up ropes and stuff, so they could drop portions of the tree in a controlled fashion, and to give a safety line to the one who would be climbing. This was all viewable out my kitchen window, so I was watching. When the guy up in the tree worked his way to the crook that was holding the dead tree up, and cut that part away, I saw two squirrels running up and away. They’d built their nest in that crook, and it fell to the ground. For the next 15-20 minutes the guy on the ground was collecting the broken parts of the nest and gingerly carrying them to a rock outcropping further back. Once the “upstairs” guy was finished and climbed down, he started to help with nest rebuilding too.

      Turns out there were baby squirrels in the nest, and these two lumberjacks spent probably a half-hour building a pretty elaborate house on this rock outcropping in the hopes that the babies would survive. A couple of hours later, after they’d left, I went out to see what I could see, and when I approached the nest, an adult squirrel ran away, so maybe mom or dad figured out where they’d been evicted to and were taking care of business. Their care for a couple of squirrels was touching – they could easily have said “shit happens” and gone home. I had no moral issues paying them the $400.

      Reply
    36. 36.

      Jay

      @cain:

      They fired a bunch of their MAGgot supporters,

      They pissed off a bunch of their QAnon supporters by importing pedofiles and sex offenders, ( to say the least),

      They rick rolled the Epstein files and released nothing.

      They are going after their MAGgot’s SS, Medicare and Medicaid.

      MAGgot anger and threats are just starting.

      Reply
    40. 40.

      Jay

      @TBone:

      I think that the “Epstein Files” will become a really big deal. The wingnuts are shooting everywhere and at every one, to the point that Laura Loomer appears to be the sane one.

      Reply
    42. 42.

      eclare

      I had a big crush on him back in the day, when he was in the NFL.  Looks and athlete and social justice?  Renaissance man.

      Glad to see it was justified.

      Reply
    43. 43.

      TBone

      @Jay: I may again be brave and rested enough tomorrow to venture out over and into some of my past internet haunts to see for myself.  If I don’t report back by noon, it is because I have gone back to bed from exhaustion.  Laughing uncontrollably does that to me.

      Reply

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