@anntelnaes.bsky.social
— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) October 9, 2025 at 9:31 AM
===
Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."
www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news…— Bill Kristol (@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 9:00 AM
===
1) I once again take this opportunity to remind you: to keep its basic functioning, society has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities
2) is…is it happening?— Olúf?´mi O. Táíwò (@olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 12:25 PM
===
Hilarious how mad the press is the shutdown isn’t hurting Dems so they are pivoting to shit on them anyway possible
— Ben McAdams Memorial Act. but on BlueSky (@purrtah.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 12:34 PM
===
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., says he won’t accept a promise of a future vote on ACA subsidies to reopen the government: “Not right now, no. We need a real negotiation and we need a fix. We need this corrected for the American people.”
On @meetthepress.com:— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) October 12, 2025 at 12:26 PM
===
dying at rightwingers falling for what looks like an ai generated turning points USA half time show with special guest “measles”
— onion person (@junlper.beer) October 12, 2025 at 6:31 PM
On The Road – Albatrossity – Fall Colors in Flyover Country 3
Baud
Honestly, if you told me there was a right wing music group called Measles, I’d believe it.
Baud
Cuz he know they’re liars.
Baud
Via reddit, not sure how
holdold this is.Baud
How dare Dems pursue “electorally fruitful” policies!
lowtechcyclist
Happy Indigenous People’s Day, y’all!
hobbitdreams
@Baud: Indeed! What’s next? Trying to get more votes at the polls? The horror.
goodmatt
‘electorally fruitful’ is a very weird way to put the much more straightforward ‘beneficial and popular’.
Baud
@Baud:
Hold = old
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Yeah, kinda like the way the media says the Dems are always just ‘trying to’ do things, the Dems are also framed as doing things just to win votes, rather than acting from deeply held convictions. Gotta always shade things to make Dems look worse and the Pubbies look better.
MagdaInBlack
Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends and supporters.
mrmoshpotato
A high of 71°, a low of 60°
But it’s currently 0° outside apparently.🤔
p.a.
This is the 2nd reference to Nate Cohn I’ve seen here where he might as well be a Fox talking head. Is the NYT deciding the more subtle subversion of democracy (and Democracy) they have been practicing the last few years is failing?
Baud
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
I hate to disagree with Talarico, but the record of the 20th century certainly comes down on the side of atheist and anti-theist tyranny being every bit as bad as any theocracy anywhere, anywhen.
NotMax
@Baud
Backing the featured singer, Boiled Bunny.
//
@Baud
“Power tends to confuse itself with virtue, and a great nation is peculiarly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God’s favor.”
— William Fulbright
.
“One of the great attractions of patriotism – it fulfills our worst wishes. In the person of our nation we are able, vicariously, to bully and cheat. Bully and cheat, what’s more, with a feeling that we are profoundly virtuous.”
– Aldous Huxley
.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Contemporary society has persuaded me that people can become devoted to secular cults just as easily as theocratic religions
ETA: IOW, I agree with you.
Rusty
@Baud: And keeping healthcare for people isn’t just theater, but something Democrats actually care about. Even if there was a vote later, there is no guarantee it passes. But if it is part of a CR, then it actually passes. We don’t want to appear to govern, we want to actually govern. Keep it up Dems!!
Suzanne
I was texting with Spawn the Elder yesterday, and I sent him that fake TPUSA Halftime Show lineup. He dubbed it “the erectile dysfunction pride parade” and I laughed so hard.
As for the complaint that Dems are turning this shutdown onto an issue that serves them well….l great. I am genuinely so glad that they are being strategically smart. You cannot fix stupid, but you can outplay it.
In all seriousness, affordability is a salient political issue right now. Both parties are kind of seeing it as a secondary thing, like the Republicans saying that housing prices will be lower if we deport undocumented people. At this moment, though, the party that seems more credible on it probably will be well-positioned for the midterms.
NotMax
@Rusty
“Will no one rid me of this troublesome government?”
//
Suzanne
As soon as Dems go from “woke” to “electorally fruitful”, idiots complain.
Ten Bears
Where are they going to hold it, Four Seasons?
Last time I looked half-time is in the same place as the game
lowtechcyclist
@Rusty:
Yeah, the GOP offer of a vote later if the Dems let them reopen the government now is “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Fuck that noise.
Booger
@lowtechcyclist: Examples please?
zhena gogolia
@p.a.: They haven’t been subtle for a long time. Did you miss July 2024?
zhena gogolia
@Booger: Stalin. Pol Pot.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
2024?
zhena gogolia
@Baud: You’re right. Corrected.
I’m watching Groundhog Day for the first time. I guess it affected me.
Suzanne
@Baud:
100%. And the people who understand religion more within the realm of ethics rather than of entitlements don’t seem to fall into the same dangerous thinking.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
No worries. I got you babe.
Deputinize America
@Suzanne:
A dear friend has a form of inoperable renal cancer that only one infusion formula can keep at bay.
Thing is, that infusion costs $95,000.00 per month.
Under the pre-ACA regime, he’d have faced a lifetime cap (likely only 2M), but also would have faced a death sentence of being selected for nonrenewal. Even now, I’ve got concerns about what happens when he gets stuck on Medicare in a couple of years – will any of the Part D plans even cover this treatment? He’s got savings from his career as a senior IT manager, but those would dissipate quickly even though he’s invested prudently.
Deputinize America
@Baud:
Nice subtle reference!
satby
Facing another day in paradise (🤮). Lots of the people are nice though.
I can’t wait to go home. Item never on my bucket list now checked off.😂
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Democrats are right to be skeptical of Republican promises to have a vote to fix this Republican claims that they super duper pinky swear they want this fixed are less than credible considering they broke it on purpose just a few months ago.
Suzanne
@Deputinize America: Unbelievable. I’m so sorry your friend has to endure financial stress on top of his illness.
I have been plenty critical of Dems when I think they are missing the mark w/r/t “reading the room” or all of the things that fall under the category of “messaging”. Coming off like a person who practices giving a speech in front of a mirror, that kind of thing. But I I’ll also give praise when it’s deserved.
Deputinize America
@satby:
Where are you?
lowtechcyclist
@Booger:
Just in case you were born yesterday: Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Enver Hoxha (thanks to NotMax, I think, who brought his name up yesterday)…how’s that?
Scout211
Medicare part B usually pays for cancer treatment infusions. My BIL just had 36 very expensive infusions and his Medicare + Medicare supplement paid for them, not part D.
He’s had other expensive treatments that were partially paid for by special funds that the drug companies provide. Hopefully, your friend will get the treatment he needs.
MagdaInBlack
oregonlive.com/crime/2025/10/unicorn-bride-marries-kenny-from-south-park-at-portland-ice-protest.htm…
satby
@Baud: Talerico is going to be a force in Texas politics. He speaks to the religious adherents while promoting the ethics of social justice and liberal politics. For a lot of people, that’s attractive. And a needed counterweight to the idea that only Republicans offer anything for Christian morality voters to support.
mappy!
So Johnson is promising a future vote, but that means bringing the House back into session meaning that the discharge petition can be signed off meaning the House would have to vote on releasing the…
Lapassionara
@Deputinize America: my infusion is covered by Medicare part B, I think it is. Not the prescription drug benefit. Because it is a procedure done in an infusion center. Just do not let him get Medicare Advantage. Regular Medicare.
Scout211
Remember when the photos of several overweight members of the Texas National Guard invasion in Chicago went viral?
Some of them were sent home after they failed to meet “service-specific height, weight and physical fitness standards.”
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
rikyrah
Senator Kelly knows that the GOP CANNOT BE TRUSTED
Deputinize America
@Suzanne:
Imagine the horrors faced by hardworking insurance executives and earnest investors when Obama tyrannically made them deliver services as opposed to raking off profits when people got seriously ill and expected to get the support they’d been paying for over a period of years?
The nerve!
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
lowtechcyclist
@Ten Bears:
I think the point is that the much larger audience watching on TV could change the channel and watch the RW’s “Down With People Different From Us” halftime show from the comfort of their recliners. They can probably fill a stadium somewhere like Omaha or Tulsa or Birmingham so that the TV watchers see that there’s a live audience.
Baud
@Scout211:
That’s just gonna encourage them to get even more out of shape. #MoralHazard
Snarki, child of Loki
Why would there ONLY be a RW band called “Measles”, when there could also be “Rubella and the Mumps”?
Now appearing at super-spreader events in red states!
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
But if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao
You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow
prostratedragon
ICYMI: Trump: ‘We took the freedom of speech away…’
@mmasnick.bsky.social: ‘Well, thank you for admitting what we all know is true’ Welcome to the Golden Age! Read more in @techdirt.com: techdirt.com/2025/10/09/trump-admits-we-took-the-freedom-of-speech-away/
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
Good. And maybe all of the other TX National Guard will remember how much they miss Texas barbecue and leave Illinois.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Scout211: 200…is not enough to do shit in a city the size of Chicago anyway. That’s the thing about these deployments- they’re pathetically small. I live in the DC area and we have NG troops from DC, WV, TX and OH…maybe one or two other red states, and they’re still very thin on the ground. And DC is a pretty small city in physical size. Not including the parts of the Potomac it’s 61 square miles or about 8 miles be 8 miles. Chicago is vastly larger in population and area.
mrmoshpotato
@Snarki, child of Loki: “Chicken and the Smallpox”
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Turn me on, pantsless man!
mrmoshpotato
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
One is one too many. They can fuck off back to Texas.
mrmoshpotato
@lowtechcyclist: Still Balloon Juice After Dark in some regions of the US I see.
Baud
@prostratedragon:
I remember when all of society was in a huff about the possibility of cancel culture going too far. Such a quaint time.
HinTN
@Lapassionara: I agree 100% about Medicare. Get regular Medicare and then either pay the difference or get a supplemental plan. Those two have covered everything, including some pricey infusions, every time.
WTFGhost
True, some Republicans say that, but no one actually believes it. It’s just something Trump talked about while running; he claimed deporting migrants (including perfectly legal, documented, migrants) would cure constipation, or he would have, if it had been a campaign topic. And if you dared ask what migrants have to do with backed up bowels, the Republican Party would call you a godless child molester who cheats on mortgage applications, which is a serious crime when not done by “TRUMP”.
@MagdaInBlack: Frankly, I consider it exceptionally brave to dress as Kenny in front of those ICE goons. The dramatic irony of the Portland Massacre starting with “OH MY GOD! They killed Kenny!” “YOU BASTARDS!” would be running through my head the entire time.
@Scout211: What did you expect from Texas? They even took George W..
Another Scott
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: @mrmoshpotato:
I think Mr. Tuber is correct here.
The point isn’t to win the Battle of The Bulge Chicago. The point is to get the system and the people to obey in advance. If the system cannot push back on 200 illegal troops, how will they push back on 47 appointing a Temporary Military Mayor of Chicago, or Temporary Military Public Affairs Officer for Chicago Media, or a Temporary …??
Something something Camel’s Nose something something.
Grr…
It’s good that people are standing up and saying NO.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Parfigliano
Watching Trump speak to the Knesset. The Knesset needs to learn that clapping when a GOP President puts down the 2 previous DEM Admin does Israel no favor in the long run.
Baud
@Parfigliano:
We know more than half the Knesset is right wing. They don’t care.
ETA: Most Americans don’t care either.
WTFGhost
@Snarki, child of Loki: No, lead singer is named Measles, *BAND* name is “Rubella and the Mumps.”
@mrmoshpotato: It’s 4:52 in Seattle, and we get darker, longer, faster than some of you folks, because of the surprisingly northern positioning. It’s still after dark, so you boring folks on the East Coast can suck it… well, I guess that’s the point, it’s too late for y’all.
Or, as David Anderson puts it, they lost their hookers and blow, so, what can you expect?
prostratedragon
More from Pope Leo:
“The fact that I am American means, among other things, people can’t say, like they did about Francis, ‘he doesn’t understand the United States, he just doesn’t see what’s going on.’
“Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed?”
-Pope Leo in a direct rebuke of the hideous Trump
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: 200 may not be enough to do actual stuff, but it’s enough to provoke an incident, which I suspect is the whole purpose of the Guard deployments in any case.
Baud
@prostratedragon:
Nice.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@prostratedragon: I have a strange sense that Pope Leo is not far from channeling the spirit of Joliet Jake Blues.
“I hate Illinois Nazis.”
Another Scott
@Parfigliano: @Baud:
WARNING – TheHill.com:
That had to sting Tiny Hands. Since everyone in Israel and the Middle East obviously loves him so very much…
Best wishes,
Scott.
mrmoshpotato
@WTFGhost: Shittalk the east coast all you like – I’m in Illinois.
tobie
@Deputinize America: I’m so sorry for your friend. His situation sounds dreadful.
For years I’ve been asking friends with NIH grants if we really need the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, which allows researchers and institutions to patent inventions they make with public funds. This has contributed to outrageous drug prices in the US. We pay for the research with our tax dollars but don’t enjoy the profits. Not one researcher I asked claimed they would be less inclined to do the work if they couldn’t own the result.
narya
There’s a beautiful sunrise over the lake . . . and the skies have had helicopters for awhile (since before dawn).
Apparently, folks are now carrying whistles (like playground/coach whistles): three short tweets signify the invaders have been spotted, and three long tweets means they’re actually trying to grab someone.
hells littlest angel
How did they fail to meet the height standard? Have they shrunk since they enlisted?
Suzanne
@WTFGhost:
That’s….. the point I’m trying to make. People genuinely care about affordability. And the GOP doesn’t really give a shit because they only genuinely care about tax cuts and bigotry, but they’re trying to graft the issues that they actually do care about onto it. It is unconvincing.
Dems seem to be smarter about this right now. All these “cost disease” expenses — housing, healthcare, education, transportation — are just eating people up. I remember reading about this almost two decades ago in a book by Elizabeth Warren and her daughter. Smart people.
iKropoclast
Just one phase in the perpetual effort to hold Democrats accountable for each and every activist while holding Republicans accountable for nothing.
Scout211
I like that. It’s time to go old school since the ICE location apps were removed from Apple and Google.
iKropoclast
It’s the relation height has to weight, Hegseth says theirs is askew.
randy khan
Nobody thinks any promise of future action from the Republicans is worth anything, and a promise of a vote is especially weak sauce.
NotMax
@hells littlest angel
“The mask makes them look shorter.”
//
WTFGhost
@Suzanne: Fair enough :-).
And you’re right – I think that the problem is, the “smart” money people in this country have learned to squeeze money – not costs – out of a system for many years, meaning less money going to people, more to corporations. And now, you have AI determining rents and costs to maximize profits, pulling more money out of people’s pockets. It’s a great time to be rich, and probably one of the worse times to be working class, in the US.
trnc
@prostratedragon: I like this pope and agree with the message, but it feels a bit surreal to hear the head of the Catholic Church talk about manipulation. A welcome change, though.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Don’t worry, you can say racial slurs or mock disabled people all you want, it’s just pointless stuff like political dissent that will get you in trouble.
Scout211
I dropped our ballots off last week.
The ads on my cable TV are all Yes on prop 50 now. The opposition seems to have fizzled or maybe they ran out of money.
But it’s looking good right now.
Deputinize America
@tobie:
Our patent system is so damned broken.
Matt McIrvin
@Suzanne:
Well, it worked well enough in 2024. It’s just harder to do when everyone knows you control the government.
sab
@Baud: Yeah. I thought pursuing ‘electorally fruitful policies’ was kind of how democracy is supposed to work.
NotMax
@randy khan
Even on the long shot they stick to their word and pass something in the future, it’ll be with the covert assurance in advance from the White House of it being vetoed.
lowtechcyclist
@hells littlest angel:
“My weight is perfect for my height – which varies.” – Sylvia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_(comic_strip)
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Harder but not impossible, in a society that wants to hate Democrats.
See Nate Cohn.
Scout211
It’s much less stigmatizing to say they were kicked out of Hegseth’s new fit, buff National Guard because they were too short than admit they were too fat or out of shape. ;-)
zhena gogolia
@Baud: 😂 It is going through my head inexorably!
lowtechcyclist
@NotMax:
“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?”
zhena gogolia
@prostratedragon: I love him! He has Ralph Fiennes beat all to hell.
Soprano2
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Two hundred wouldn’t be able to do much here, either, and our city is much smaller than Chicago. I think the point is to make it seem “normal” to do this, to get people used to it.
jlowe
Heh-heh. I wish His Holiness the best of luck with this. If post-truth, lies and manipulation are what create more market share and bigger margins, I’m sure we’ll see more of them spewing from our news feeds. The news media outlets just can’t help it. It’s in their capitalistic nature.
I suspect that our elite media class responsible for covering political events have shot past being the Idea Police (Where Ideas Go to Die, Michael McDevitt) and are now practicing “socially organized denial”, designed to undermine public awareness and political action, which one of Ronald Kramer’s (Carbon Criminals, Climate Crimes) four types of state-corporate climate crimes, just applied to events other than climate change. They are a stain on the reputations of all the diligent and hardworking journalists and an object lesson in what happens to journalism when overweening ambition eclipses ethics and adherence to good practice.
Matt McIrvin
@Scout211: I saw that Arnold Schwarzenegger is really upset about prop. 50 on what he considers principled grounds, which I guess is on-brand for being a never-Trump conservative.
Whomever
@Baud:
There actually was a band called The Measles but it split up when I was born.
https://www.buckeyebeat.com/measles.htm
(ED: I missed the right wing bit in your comment).
Soprano2
@Suzanne: I shop at WalMart every weekend (and Aldi). This weekend I spent almost $100 and got the equivalent of four plastic Walmart bags (I use my own reusable bags, I have this great one I got in Germany that’s the width of a shopping cart). I looked at that and wondered how come everyone who was mad about prices last year isn’t rioting.
Soprano2
@Scout211: Did you see this story? I ask people, is this what you imagined when FFOTUS said he was going to deport “dangerous criminals”?
NotMax
@Soprano2
“Can’t you read, lady? The sign says ‘Low Prices Every Day.’ They couldn’t say that if it wasn’t true.”
//
Geminid
@Another Scott: Knesset Member Ayman Odeh is very outspoken. Earlier this year, Odeh really riled up Knesset right wingers. They tried to expel him but fell short of the the requisite 80-vote supermajority.
Knesset member Ofer Cassif is also outspoken. When South Africa brought charges against Israel of genocide, to the UN International Court of Justice, Cassif offered to testify for the prosecutio so he was threatened with expulsion. He never went, though.
Cassif is an anomaly: a leftwing Jewish socialist who caucuses with an Arab opposition party. Some of Israel’s smaller parties go back to early days, and one of these traditionally reserves a “Jewish Commie” spot on its election slate which Cassif now holds.
Israeli politics are weird.
Soprano2
Also, the right-wingers are really upset about that Vance interview. They’ve got their panties twisted in a knot because Stephanopoulos was rude to J.D. Vance. I wish more interviewers would be “rude” like that when the person refuses to answer a straightforward question like that.
satby
@Deputinize America: The Park County Indiana Covered Bridge Festival. I’m helping friends who are vendors there in the tiny, tiny town of Bridgeton.
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: And why do they want to hate Democrats?
Because the Democrats are the party of Black people, Jews, LGBTQIA+, and everyone else they would like to push out of American life.
The problem is white people and the problem has always been white people.
See, for example, “The Party of the White Man.”
NotMax
@Soprano2
This smallish island offers enough choices that I never have to let so much as a toe cross the threshold of Walmart.
For which I am grateful.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@lowtechcyclist: No love for Maximilien Robespierre?
WTFGhost
@Soprano2: Well, in the old Batman TV series, the Penguin pointed out, when you saw Batman, he was surrounded by criminals, but when you saw the Penguin, he was surrounded by police – you can’t get away from your companions!
By that “logic” I guess he was precisely who Trump wanted to get rid of. I don’t think Trump ever understood why the Central Park 5 were released.
@sab: “And those dirty DemocRATS *buy* votes by *making people’s lives better*, which you should totally recognize is an improper function of government in an oligarchy….”
jonas
@Ten Bears: I was thinking the same thing. A concert that will compete with the Superbowl and Bad Bunny is going to cost tens of millions, require a large venue/stadium, production teams, etc. I suppose it’s theoretically possible to put that together on the fly in three months, but I’d be surprised if this doesn’t end up being highly, highly mockable.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Booger: Maximilien Robespierre.
jonas
@Soprano2: People are still plenty pissed. Every poll I’ve seen the past six months lists groceries/rent prices as pretty much the top voter concern.
Belafon
@lowtechcyclist:
Now imagine that they believed that God wanted them to do it. They could wipe out entire civilizations in pursuit of that. Got wanted Europeans to conquer the Americas.
There’s bad, there’s horrendous, and then there’s the worst.
NotMax
@jonas
Fyre Festival 2, electric boogaloo boys.
//
Jeffg166
@Deputinize America:
According to Google:
Medicare covers renal infusion therapy when it’s medically necessary
, including certain IV iron infusions for anemia in patients on chronic hemodialysis. Coverage depends on the specific service and your Medicare plan (Part A, B, or C), which may cover the treatment itself, associated equipment, and professional services like nursing visits
Greg Ferguson
Hey Folks!
Hope this is an OK place to post this, being an open thread and all.
A dear friend in Marin Cty, CA, is raising funds for a mobile spay/neuter bus for the Bay Area, and I hope some of our committed animal welfare buds here at BJ might be able to help out with the project. Here’s the link (hope this works!):
givinggrid.com/Contracosta-spayneuter-snipbus
prostratedragon
@Soprano2: Based on the same crime of which he was exonerated!
jonas
@Soprano2: I’ll also add that $100 worth of groceries at Aldi would probably run you $150-200 at a conventional grocery store these days. I pretty much shop only Aldi now and hit the regular grocery store for specific items Aldi doesn’t carry.
no body no name
@jonas:
They are just blowing smoke. They are not going to compete with the Superbowl and they know this. This will be nothing but a low quality production for the airing of grievances. Nobody outside of the most dedicated MAGAs will give a flying fuck about it. However people will shit post that they watched it when they actually watched Bad Bunny and the Superbowl to signal they are part of the tribe.
NotMax
@Belafon
…Idi Amin, Qadaffi…
The list is lengthier than Jacob Marley’s chains.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I want Vance’s son to get an alert on his phone every time JD lies
NotMax
@no body no name
“Dude, you missed Kristi Noem’s wardrobe malfunction during the show!”
//
Tazj
Trump and Republicans lying about project 2025 to get elected are savvy and smart. Democrats using an issue they genuinely care about like healthcare to gain some electoral advantage must be manipulative and underhanded according to the press.
Belafon
@mrmoshpotato:
Yes, but we have to explain to people the absurdity of sending a few hundred Guard troops to cities so that they understand that it’s all to put on a show and to make having troops feel normal.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
The temperature of the phone overheating in his pocket would render him sterile.
Matt McIrvin
@WTFGhost: Conservatives and especially libertarians have this longstanding mythology about how democratic societies always collapse when the people discover that they can “vote themselves the treasury”. Those dirty masses loot our tax moneys to get good things for themselves, and they lose their work ethic or whatever and everything goes to shit. It’s odd that everything has been basically moving in the opposite direction for the past 50 years.
prostratedragon
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@mrmoshpotato: I agree I just think pointing out the ridiculously limited resources they can bring to bear makes them look weaker rather than stronger. Also pointing out that if DC is indicative they’re not doing any real policing either. They’re more or less meandering around looking useless. Total waste of extremely limited resources is a worse look for the administration than militarization of cities.
Belafon
@tobie:
Where would they work?
Professor Bigfoot
@jonas: My bet is that it doesn’t happen at all; or if it does, it’s some little streaming thing on Zoom.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Another Scott: Not an either or thing – we can still push that it’s unacceptable and wrong and unAmerican and illegal and if in addition we make it look like the weak ass shit it is I think it helps the argument.
Ohio Mom
@Deputinize America: Your friend needs to consult with an Elder Law attorney. There may be ways to shelter his nest egg in case he ends up on Medicaid.
Percysowner
@Deputinize America:
As someone who gets infusions every 6 months, they tend to be covered as a medical expense, not a prescription. My Part D has never been involved in my infusions. That doesn’t necessarily mean your friend is safe, or it won’t be changed to protect the insurance companies.
Also, Medicare Part D has a maximum out of pocket of $2000, which will go up to $2100 in 2026. So as things are now, your friend theoretically should be covered under Part D. They may have some restrictions about proving the infusion is “medically necessary” and he may have to fight, but at least he has a chance.
Suzanne
@Soprano2:
Yeah, I think people are still pissed. It’s not an election year, so you don’t have as many Cletus Safaris and Ohio Diner interviews bringing this to the forefront of our attention. But polling indicates that people are still pissed about it.
Scout211
@Soprano2: Yes, I did see that story. I hope he continues to have good attorneys. What a sad, sad story.
prostratedragon
“I’ll Never Go Back To Georgia,” Joe Cuba
Jeffro
Right??!?
Also wondering where the Palestinian protestors disappeared to? They clearly aren’t able to find college campuses or reps’ offices or the White House when a MAGAt is president.
no body no name
@NotMax:
Cross your fingers for a South Park style face melting off.
Jeffro
It’ll be Kid Rock in a parking lot somewhere, televised on some channel (Fox is carrying the actual Super Bowl, so irony of ironies, THAT’ll be where us normal folks watch Bad Bunny =)
Jeffro
I remain floored that TPUSA – which is supposedly all about promoting Christian views and values – chose as its FIRST POST-CK EFFORT putting together alternative programming for a Super Bowl halftime show.
You know, like Jesus would have done (eye roll eye roll eye roll)
prostratedragon
He is being held in Virginia.
bostonglobe.com/2025/10/12/metro/everett-13-year-old-arrested-by-ice/
Professor Bigfoot
@NotMax: Kim, Kim and Kim.
Curiously, though, those autocrats seem to own smaller and smaller and poorer and poorer fiefdoms.
Then there’s that “gas station masquerading as a county,” which is able to carry on that masquerade only thanks to its nuclear capability.
NotMax
@Jeffro
Dread and circuses.
//
Gloria DryGarden
@goodmatt: beneficiual and popular, we need both.
could become the slogan for democrats, going forward.
im imagining a four square chart, like the time management one (urgent and important, important-top 2 boxes, urgent but not important, not urgent and not important- bottom 2 boxes).
But do this with politicians, officials, electeds, policies: beneficial and popular, beneficial but not popular; then 2nd row-not beneficial but popular- where so many elected republicans might be listed, and not beneficial and not popular. I’m thinking of a third row, popular but actually harmful, unpopular and actually harmful.
Professor Bigfoot
@prostratedragon: Children kidnapped in the North and sent down South.
History definitely rhymes.
Jackie
@no body no name:
The audience ratings will out them as liars LOL
no body no name
@Jeffro:
Televised? You’re giving this too much credit. It will be streamed. I doubt Kid Rock is stupid enough to try and counter program the Superbowl. It’s going to be pathetic.
Ida Slapter
@lowtechcyclist:
I….buried…Baud…
Gloria DryGarden
@lowtechcyclist: can’t fill a stadium anywhere on super bowl day…I can’t imagine.
JML
@Soprano2: The only reason my monthly grocery budget is in decent shape is because I moved to intermittent fasting, which functionally cut breakfast out of my day and my budget.
(It’s working fine for me, because I certainly need to drop the weight, but “skipping meals” shouldn’t be seen as a solution here for most people…)
Jeffro
@no body no name: I’m old and use ‘televised’ and ‘streamed’ interchangeably, my bad. =)
Jeffro
OT but have to mention: thanks to the shutdown, my RWNJ brother has had his govt contractor hours reduced by half.
(this is on top of his wife being laid off by DOGE at the start of this maladministration)
Mrs. Fro likes the wife, so she asked if we should do something for them…I suggested mailing them Virginia voter registration forms.
...now I try to be amused
Since Congressional Democrats know that Republicans can’t be trusted to deliver on any future promises, why not demand something that is probably just symbolic but tangible? I’m thinking of the impeachment and conviction of the worst of Trump’s cabinet. Hegseth, Noem, and Kennedy at a minimum.
MinuteMan
@lowtechcyclist:
Arguing about which form of tyranny is the worst is akin to worrying about the number of angels that can dance on a pin.
Baud
I don’t really care, but if TP is able to get a real country star to perform, there are probably enough football fans who aren’t into Bad Bunny who will watch the alternative.
Fair Economist
What good is a future vote going to do for the people facing destitution from the Republican’s health deform? The Republicans have a majority, and they’ll just vote to screw all the non-billionaires, same as last summer.
Jackie
More at the NBC link.
WTFGhost
@Gloria DryGarden: It’s hard to fill an Ikea – one of the popular non-football destinations on Superb Owl Sunday.
Gloria DryGarden
@NotMax: does this mask make my ass look fat?
no body no name
@Jackie:
They will scream fake news!
@Jeffro:
Aha! Forgiven!
Gloria DryGarden
Haven’t read all the comments, but you guys are making me think of another potential band name: Baud Bunny. And you know Baud has some decent Spanish. Maybe they could sing together: Baud and Bad Bunny.
Nettoyeur
@lowtechcyclist: That is true in the sense that authoritarianism turns the State into achurch and the Dictator into the Deity.
Baud
@Jeffro:
Do you also dial a number and roll down the car windows?
JoyceH
So let me get this straight- Hegseth’s genius play for warrior lethality is to first kick out all the minorities and women, then kick out the white men who are overweight. And as we still have an all volunteer force, enlistments and reenlistments will crater at the news reporting of troops mulching parks. We’re going to get down to a size where you wouldn’t call the military “elite “ anymore – you’d call it “bijou”.
Baud
@Gloria DryGarden:
Los candidatos ilolvidables.
Gloria DryGarden
@WTFGhost: I used to like to go to the ice rink that particular Sunday. Plus, it’s close to my birthday, and skating was part of how I celebrated. Way less people, safer to practice scarier tricks, plenty of room on the ice without fear of small people skating right across your path just as you’re setting up for a jump or a spin…
Geminid
According to Clash Report, Trump has taken off from Ben-Gurion Airport headed for Sharm El-Sheikh. That was 33 minutes ago and it’s a short hop, so he may have landed by now.
Trump rambled quite a bit in his Knesset speech so he’ll be late. But the world leaders gathered for the summit meeting have plenty plenty to talk about without him.
Gloria DryGarden
@Nettoyeur: no shit. I mean yes, indeed. Eek.
JoyceH
@Baud: the way everyone keeps mentioning Lee Greenwood, gotta wonder if Republican officeholders have even heard of any country stars under 80.
Gloria DryGarden
@Baud: los candidatos inolvidables? Please say more..
zhena gogolia
@JoyceH: Well ICE Barbie has been harassing Luke Bryan.
trollhattan
@Baud:
If it were a Norwegian death metal band it would be called Meslinger.
chemiclord
@p.a.: If I’d have to guess, the NYT has decided to drop the pretenses, and since they can’t keep liberal and progressive subscribers, they might as well lean fully into their new base, MAGA that doesn’t want to be considered MAGA because those peasants are just too uncouth.
Kosh III
@HinTN: @Lapassionara: I agree 100% about Medicare. Get regular Medicare and then either pay the difference or get a supplemental plan. Those two have covered everything, including some pricey infusions, every time.
Yes, yes, yes. Thanks to excellent advice from some here as well as friends and neighbors; I have Medicare Plan G with a Supplemental policy from Mutual of Omaha(look Marlon!–a wildbeest) and once I met deductible everything is covered no charge. Woohoo.
Belafon
@…now I try to be amused:
That’s only “tangible” for those of us where have politics as our hobby.
Quinerly
@Geminid:
Reading from the bottom looking for any comments by you. BJ is very fortunate to have you.
Just caught a bit of Trump on AF1 (after listening to most of Bibi and Trump’s speeches). He’s babbling about Iranians walking back and forth across the border in Qatar. (Trump: “Literally, you walk over from Iran to Qatar. You can walk it in one second. You go, boom, boom, and now you’re in Qatar.”) I guess I don’t have to tell you that Qatar and Iran do not share a land border. They are across the Persian Gulf from one another
Time to get out that legendary Sharpie.
trollhattan
@Baud:
Puppy Bowl will kick their asses from here to the Purina factory.
WTFGhost
@Gloria DryGarden: I’m so glad they’ve scheduled the big game near your birthday for you!
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: Indeed, but which country star is dumb enough (or irrelevant enough) to take the gig, given that it is an OBVIOUSLY RACIST ploy?
Baud
@Gloria DryGarden:
Señor Baud y El Mal Conejo traerán inteligencia y belleza a la Casa Blanca. Puede advinir quien tiene inteligencia y quien belleza.
Baud
@Professor Bigfoot:
Don’t know country well enough to guess. It wouldn’t shock me if there was someone who was a fellow traveler.
Soprano2
@prostratedragon: They’re saying it’s for an arrest for having LSD when he was 19! They’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel. That’s what happens when you lie and say there are “millions” of criminals here illegally. They call him a dangerous criminal!
Professor Bigfoot
@Gloria DryGarden: I’m in.
As in “SHADDAP AN’ TAKE MAH MONEEYYYY!!!”
Soprano2
@jonas: I love Aldi for staples and the “Aisle of Surprise”, but if it’s anything where I want choice I have to go elsewhere. They are usually cheaper, but you have to watch because sometimes they aren’t.
Jackie
They need to add Sec. Brainworm’s HHS office bldg to their protest site.
chemiclord
@Belafon: Eh, Stalin quite happily massacred millions, many of them explicitly because of their professed faith.
China right now as we speak has been performing an ethnic cleansing of a Muslim minority that is every bit as vile as what Israel is doing.
Just because they focus their atrocities mostly within their own borders doesn’t make their atrocities less vile.
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro:
Well, a bunch of them got disappeared by ICE and ended up in Salvadoran prisons.
Suzanne
@Soprano2: I have been disappointed in Aldi’s meat department. Quality isn’t great, and Costco is still much less expensive.
Costco is my jam, man. But I’ve got lots of people to shop for, so it pencils out.
Soprano2
@Jeffro: The Palestinian protesters are interrupting Kamala’s book tour, which shows how much they really care about influencing the government. 🙄🙄🙄🙄
Jackie
How soon will FFOTUS tell Bondi to find an excuse to indict Obama?
Soprano2
@Suzanne: What I remember is that it didn’t have to be an election year for the press to run endless stories about inflation and high prices when Biden was in office. Somehow it seems they’ve lost their motivation to do that.
Deputinize America
@trollhattan:
For metal, nothing quite touches Mongolian chants and metal with some authentic folk instruments…..
youtube.com/watch?v=jM8dCGIm6yc&list=RDjM8dCGIm6yc&start_radio=1
Professor Bigfoot
@Baud: Me neither… but one of the things that made Nashville a relatively cosmopolitan city, for a Southern one, was the music industry.
While known for country ‘n’ western, the studios and the studio musicians in Nashville did ALL KINDS of music and recording.
I dunno— I ran away from there 45 years ago, and it’s become FAR more cosmopolitan since back then.
“I pity the fool,” as someone swathed in gold chains might say.
Professor Bigfoot
@Suzanne: I LOVE Costco, but since there’s only the two of us…
I do fill the freezers from there, though!
Soprano2
@Jackie: This is the kind of thing you do when you have a quota. I can’t imagine anyone but a hard-core MAGA will think this is a good use of time and money.
Geminid
@Quinerly: Trump has Iran confused with Saudi Arabia. There is a land passage from Qatar to Saudi Arabia. But if Trump could end that awful war between Armenia and Cambodia, he can certainly keep the Iranians from walking into Qatar.
Belafon
@chemiclord: Yes, we’re ranking who’s the worst, but I would rank what Christians did to Native Americans, Africans, and other countries as the worst, not only because they had far longer to do it, but they also did it in the name of their loving god. But, once again, we’re arguing about who we think is the worst type of government, which is really just arguing whose shit makes the worst sandwich.
Deputinize America
@Professor Bigfoot:
I’m prohibited from shopping at Costco anymore – something about “we don’t need a 10 pound jar of olives, and definitely can’t use 15 pounds of avocados regardless of how much you’re ‘saving’. And dammit, that 5 pound box of lettuce….”
tobie
@Belafon: They are salaried employees of universities, hospitals with large research divisions, or research institutions. They don’t do the basic research that leads to new treatments and devices for the big bucks. They do it for the science.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: There’s only two of us, so i have no interest in joining Costco. I have nowhere to store 72 rolls of TP! 🤣🤣🤣
Other MJS
Apparently, “Covid” was already booked.
Soprano2
@Geminid: Do you think anyone in the press will even mention this? It’s amazing how Biden’s mental fitness was questioned and yet they ignore obvious howling mistakes from FFOTUS. If this were your relative you’d be concerned about them.
Professor Bigfoot
@Deputinize America: My toy car demands 93 octane fuel, and Costco always has the best price on the stuff.
BUT— if I go to Costco in the toy car, I CAN’T bring home that 72-roll pack of paper towels!
Fair Economist
Only two in my family, so while we have a Costco membership, we can only use it for non-perishables.
KithKanan
@Soprano2: If it hasn’t already been apparent for a while now, for the right being a “criminal” is more about who you are and only has a small relationship to what you do.
Geminid
@Soprano2: Are you talking about the US press? Maybe. But Ankara-based Clash Report posted this plus a few more zingers from Trump’s rambling Knesset speech. Those guys have been making fun of Trump with his own words ever since he took office.
frosty
@Professor Bigfoot: We’ve gotten to the stage in life where we’re tired of cooking. At least half of our dinners now are Catered by Costco!
Fill the freezer, fill the fridge. One trip and we’re good for two weeks, maybe three or four.
@Deputinize America: Well, yeah, you have to be a little bit wary of the quantity you’re buying. A case of canned, diced tomatoes? Sure, we’ll use them and they won’t go bad. Produce? Not so much.
Bokonon
It breaks their whole strategy when the press does that (as well as breaking the GOP’s own world view about dominance and winning, all the time). If the press isn’t acting cowed and subservient, then the dominance act isn’t working, and everyone can see it.
Deputinize America
@Professor Bigfoot:
The 72 roll pack of paper towels can just be your reminder to your partner that you are thrifty and forward thinking in your preparations.
You can always trot out rhetoric like “remember when we couldn’t find toilet paper or paper towels? Now you’re complaining that they take up an entire bedroom room, but you won’t complain when we have another supply chain issue….”
Old School
@Jeffro:
Here are (some of) the ones from yesterday:
Soprano2
I’m waiting with my husband for his 6 month eye check. I always budget 2 hours for this appointment because it takes forever to be seen. This doctor is on call for the hospitals, so it’s like going to an OB.
My week-long vehicle ordeal is over. One needed a new battery, the other needed charged. I killed our battery charger with reverse polarity (stupid, stupid, stupid). That was the cheaper mistake, because a new one at Harbor Freight only cost $60. It would have been a lot more if I ruined the battery too, so I got lucky.
chemiclord
@Belafon: I despise Churchill for many things, but one thing I do admire was his skill at one-liners, even if he didn’t coin them himself, his dry delivery sold them so very well.
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”
Soprano2
@Geminid: Yes, I am. When we start seeing stories in the US press every damn day about FFOTUS’ lack of mental acuity I’ll believe they’re finally doing their job.
Professor Bigfoot
@frosty: I’m in trouble now, there— just for gits and shiggles I ran an onion through the mandolin super thin, then threw together a dredge like all the chefs do on Food Network; dropped ‘em into the deep fryer and… well, Mrs. B just brought home a small bag of onions, and I’m afraid a Costco size bag may well be in my future… 🤣
chemiclord
@Old School: Yeah, there is a degree that the media is simply not reporting on Gaza protests anymore because it’s not an election issue that can be used to split the Democratic caucus at the moment.
That said, at the same time, no one is being nearly as disruptive about it with Trump and his cronies as they were when Biden and Harris were campaigning.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … TWZ – Black Hawk Cargo Drone.
There are so many advantages to uncrewed aircraft (and ships, and subs, and tanks, and interplanetary travel, and …). Here’s hoping that smart people, who aren’t being furloughed or fired, are thinking long and hard about what these changes mean going forward.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Bill Arnold
@Geminid:
All he has to do[*] is NOT part the Persian Gulf. Easy!
[*] Assuming they cannot walk on water.
schrodingers_cat
@Professor Bigfoot: How much of the current anti-immigration fervor is driven by racism and how much by economics, in your opinion?
Geminid
@Old School: I wonder what will happen with that protest movement if this Gaza ceasefire sticks. There were really large protest marches in Europe and Australia on Saturday. I’ll be looking to see how big they next Saturday.
Suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot: I do the freezer and the pantry from Costco, too. Buy two chickens, cook one and freeze the other. Any canned goods like beans and tomatoes, coffee, spices, dog food, vitamins….. so much cheaper.
I will note that I do a lot of food repeating, though, and I know some people can’t deal with that.
LAC
@Baud: you have about 10 people of dubious .musical distinction cramming on a gymnasium stage to what? Sing “Proud to be an American” for 15 mins? Yeahhhh. .🤣
Ben Cisco
@lowtechcyclist:
NOPE. Absolutely could not fill Protective Stadium.
dc
@Jeffro: They are protesting Harris book tour events, because she has all the power now.
BC in Illinois
@Baud:
@Snarki, child of Loki:
Concerning the legendary band “The Measles”:
Joe Walsh — of the Eagles, James Gang, etc. — played in a band called “The Measles” at Kent State University from 1965 to 1967. I heard them there (in a venue open to under-age teenagers) in 1966. They were a cover band, doing songs of (among other groups) The Loving Spoonful.
In the early ’70s, while in the Navy, a Kent State friend told me that the Measles also performed under the name of “Molly and the Measles,” but I haven’t been able to confirm that.
Jeffro
@Old School: are any of those campuses or reps’ offices?
(I know none are 1600 Pennsylvania Ave)
BC in Illinois
@BC in Illinois:
ETA drrockandroll.blogspot.com/2014/10/joe-walshs-measles-on-kent-state.html
trollhattan
Half of the Koch brothers may be dead but the dream lives on.
I’m SURE the messaging will be simple: “look at how many ways Trump is improving your lives!”
schrodingers_cat
@dc: Republican op.
Matt McIrvin
@mappy!: He’s going to find some excuse not to seat Grijalva at all.
mapanghimagsik
@Baud: also aggreeing here, but also feel that religious or not, bad people gonna bad.
Trivia Man
@Suzanne: I have eaten the sane breakfast, with slight variations and very few exceptions, for 25 years. Still not tired of it.
Mix up a week’s worth in advance.
Uncooked oatmeal, dried fruit (raisins or apricots usually), nuts (almonds, pecans usually). Add milk and enjoy.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: I think the real hardcore MAGA get off on the over-the-top cruel cases like this. They’re especially delicious and it keeps them loyal to the Trump cause because that cruelty to innocents on obviously dumb grounds is what they want, as proof that MAGA now has the power to inflict any cruelty it desires. I think ICE is going out of their way to be theatrically cruel with some of the arrests.
WTFGhost
@schrodingers_cat: I’m not Prof Bigfoot, but, I’d jokingly say it’s all driven by economics: bigotry is big money for Republicans.
tam1MI
Mao. Hitler.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
It’s the modern version of the spectacle at the Colosseum.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Hasn’t NYT hated Ds for a really long time now.
WTFGhost
@Other MJS: Well, Covid does have a bigger fan base now, but RFK is doing his level best to have measles complete a world wide comeback tour. It really is a shame they can’t get the same exposure they’d get at the Superb Owl.
WTFGhost
Is this a game, like Mornington Crescent? What is the winning move?
Baud?
Ruckus
@Baud:
The concept is actually quite old.
Saying it out loud just might not be.
Over the history of the world many, many governments were for the wealthy, and/or those with something the wealthy wanted. What we are seeing is just a reflection of that. Some just “need” to be wealthy, some just are, and some actually earn their money. But greed and control are the 2 sides to wealth that is mostly unearned, as in what they did to be wealthy (Not WEALTHY) really wasn’t more that being in the right place at the right time. And there will always be wealthy people and not wealthy people, the second group being the biggest. Modern governments (not theft unions), because of population growth, have to understand that it always costs more to live in a high wealth concentration system because of greed, but in a high wealth concentration situation the rest of the population rarely has more than meets very basic needs – and often not that much. And when the greedy people care not one iota for anyone but themselves or their bank accounts, the shit always hits the fan. Constantly and in large quantities. Especially as the general population grows. Taxation that rises as the individual’s wealth grows helps control that but it has to tax at a reasonable level and without a lot of loopholes. I don’t think we are there right now. And I don’t really think the majority are in a position to change/fix this at this time, being actually leaderless at this point. And that the leader we supposedly have is one of those on the other side of the economic fence, even if his actual position at this time isn’t.
Ruckus
@BC in Illinois:
Where were you in the USN in the early 70s? I was also serving in the USN at that time.
Melancholy Jaques
@Scout211:
Issue 50 is going to come down to turn out, though that expression seems not to match with mail-in voting. Hope there’s a push for it at the
Fuck TrumpNo Kings rallies this weekend.Ruckus
@Baud:
Measles was fun – and I don’t mean the band.
As an old who was around when medicine was mostly still just a stethoscope and thermometer, the strides made since are amazing. The concept that one has to have money to be healthy is bullshit. We at least SHOULD BE BETTER THAN THIS. The capability is there and has been shown to work. But greed always seems to win out in humanity. We just have better communications now to see the greed far more easily.
WTFGhost
@Belafon: Okay, now I understand why you want religion included. For me, I think conquerors who make enough money will follow a creed, sacred or secular, that says what they’re doing is okay, and no one can stop them, anyway. Might makes right, essentially.
And yet people talk about religion as something good, something that should make us more moral, that should help bring about justice, and instead, it just finds a way, like water flowing, to the lowest level of human behavior that is considered acceptable. Some Christians are no doubt explaining why Jesus wants granny thrown to the sidewalk, dragged to an unmarked SUV, transported three states away, then deported to a nation where she doesn’t speak the language or have any connections to people or places. “It may look harsh, but these vermin are gnawing away at the very foundation of our society!”
Susan Flowers
Fostering a new little pup today, and I am going to do my absolute damnedest not to foster fail. He’ll be here in half an hour or so. I feel defeated already, but I’m gonna try.
Castor Canadensis
@WTFGhost: My father used to call those “DIY” Christians. Don’t like Jesus’s words? Do It Yourself: start a sect that doesn’t listen to that stuff.
Bisop Spong is harsher (:-)) He wrote “Biblical Literalism: a Gentile Heresy”, goodreads.com/book/show/28207548
Sure Lurkalot
@Geminid:
Trump isn’t “confusing” shit. He doesn’t know where many countries are and never did. The fact that his 79 year old brain is mush actually hides his ignorance.
no body no name
@Ruckus:
It always takes some calamity to sort it out. Then it goes back to the way it was. But we are too advanced and too powerful to suffer one now.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@tam1MI: Nazism had Christian religious symbols as part of it. I’d consider it to be a Christianish cult; basically Christian adjacent.
Geminid
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: I think Hitler was an atheist. He let his henchmen try to concoct a blend of Nazism and Christianity because it was expedient, but he did not believe in it.
Professor Bigfoot
@schrodingers_cat: OH, easily white supremacy.
Or more accurately, the defense and support of white supremacy. The fear of becoming a “minority” “in their own country.”
It’s what conservatives have run on since before the Jesse Helms “reject slip” ad.
Sure, there are other factors, but the driver by far is white supremacy.
(obligatory #NotAllWhitePeople)
Professor Bigfoot
@WTFGhost: as I see it, the “oligarchs” (very broadly defined) use white supremacy through the GOP to get the votes so that they can arrange tax cuts and corporate benefits for themselves.
And it works.
White supremacy wins elections; but it doesn’t seem to make the trains run on time. 😉
Miss Bianca
@satby: We’ve got to fight the bastards with every weapon we have, and if they’re going to wield Christianity like a club, I say, we absolutely got room for a leader who wields it like a scalpel.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Belafon: All governments do some bad things at one time or another because the are made of people. Democracy gives the people the opportunity for change and improvement without murdering most of the leaders. That’s the main reason its best.
Professor Bigfoot
@Susan Flowers: There also exists a puppy distribution system.
Do not resist; for it is more subtle yet more powerful than the kitten distribution system.
It is known.
Gravenstone
@Quinerly: Invite Trump to make that walk, in hopes he drowns?
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Geminid: I would argue there are more than a few Christian cult leaders across time who didn’t believe what they were selling. What matters is what the movement as a whole espoused. Nazism blended in Christian elements which makes it palatable to this day to Christian nationalists.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Jeffro:
How long until he blames the Dems for his predicament?
You could mail them a sympathy guard for the greiving: the loss of their jobs. :)
artem1s
It will be pay per view. ABG. Always be grifting.
Kent
Portland is 145 square miles not including suburbs
Chicago is 234 square miles but the whole metro area is 10,286 square miles and a lot of the federal facilities are in the suburbs.
Kent
I would say this is actually true in an American context where religion has always been weaponized in favor of oppression. The two great original sins of the US (Indian genocide and slavery) were both weaponized by Christianity. And pursued by “good Christian white folk”
But in a 20th Century international context? Not so much. Even the Nazis weren’t a theocracy or anything close to it.
dnfree
@Deputinize America: There are certain products I refuse to pay full price for, because I know they will be used. Toilet paper and paper towels are two of them. I usually can do better than the big box stores but will buy there if they have a good enough sale. We had no panic at our house during Covid.
Of course, if a paper towel was only used to mop up water, we hang it up to dry and reuse it. Haven’t come up with a way to reuse toilet paper.
Kent
That is a very far cry from being a theocracy.
Nazi Germany was not in any remote sense a theocracy. No top Nazis were religious leaders. And there wasn’t any theocratic basis for the regime. Sure they weaponized some Christian iconography in their propaganda and weaponized some fringe Christian doctrine to support their antisemitism. But that is not the definition of theocracy. Most top Nazis were pretty secular
The US has always used some Christian iconography in its propaganda and public face as well. Like “In God we Trust” on coins and currency.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Kent: To be fair, the abolitionist white people who were most virulently opposed to slavery also based their opposition on religious convictions. Like any other human institution, religion can serve good or evil aims.
Ishiyama
Frank Zappa said it best: youtube.com/watch?v=gFEaosL1_8o&list=RDgFEaosL1_8o&start_radio=1
People, we are not too bright.
Ramona
@schrodingers_cat: In my opinion, 100% racism, though it was the prof whom you asked.
Ramona
@trollhattan: I keep having to cancel secretly Koch sponsored Americans for Prosperity ads from my YouTube feed…
Kent
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Sure, the Civil War was, in part, a battle between competing versions of Christianity. The Battle Hymn of the Republic is pretty steeped in Christianity.
Although from the southern point of view, the war was an existential war over slavery whereas from the Union point of view it was more about preserving the union and abolition was more of a tactic to achieve that. None of the leaders of the Lincoln Administration were really hard-core abolitionist from the beginning, but rather they came to see it as a necessary end.
But my larger point is that Talarico is more correct in his fear of theocracy in an American context.
Harrison Wesley
@Ramona: Agree. Decimating the agricultural and construction workforces isn’t good for the economy.
BC in Illinois
@Ruckus:
Nat’l Naval Medical Center, Bethesda MD – – 1970-1973
Naval Hospital; Naval Medical Research Institute; Naval Medical Training Institute
After Great Lakes, I never left Bethesda.
Paul in KY
@Snarki, child of Loki: I thought ‘Measles’ was one of those lame white-boy rappers. LOLing.
Paul in KY
@Jeffro: Good one!
Paul in KY
@Deputinize America: I’ve seen this band. They were at Bonnaroo several years ago.
Paul in KY
@Other MJS: Did they check out Ko-Vyd? He’s a pro-Russian hip Hopper. Would fit in well. Wants Putin to declare himself tsar, etc. etc.
Paul in KY
@Another Scott: Yeesh. I wouldn’t want to fly on one of those.
Paul in KY
@Kent: They were hitting the ‘Christianizing the savages’ hard in early 17th century.
Kent
It has been pretty much constant from the very first Spanish incursions in the early 1500s to the present day with all the evangelical “missions” that still exist on reservations around the country.
pluky
@Scout211: I’ve read of people using the “report icy roads” feature of Waze as a work around the removed apps.
Anyway
This is the root of it.
Gloria DryGarden
@Suzanne: religion connected to ethics vs religion for entitlement and status, explains a lot. I don’t understand the ones who have religion be their tribe of false superiority.
Those people frighten me. They’re always having to be right and make others wrong, or worse, to demonize them. Dangerous, divisive, and there’s a long history of harms done.
Paul in KY
@Kent: From the beginning! Am finishing up a book about English ‘settlement’ at Jamestown and the like. The people in England running the operation leaned very hard into the ‘noble white man bringing christianity to the heathens’. Poor Indians didn’t understand that a vow made to a ‘non-Christian’ could be broken at will, etc. etc.