Trump and Pence visited the MLK memorial for two minutes today:
Leaders shown to scale pic.twitter.com/Uf4zjjf6YR
— Jonathan M. Katz✍? (@KatzOnEarth) January 21, 2019
I try to keep photos of Trump off the front page when possible because who needs to look at that hideous, sloshing bag of triglycerides? Since he’s approximately Pomeranian-sized in the above photo, I figured the image wouldn’t be too unbearable, even around lunchtime.
Speaking of sickening images, beware if you visit Twitter today. Justice Ginsburg is alive, but Fox News ran a graphic this morning that appeared to announce her death. They apologized for it — said it was a “control room error.” Fucking ghouls. Anyway, I saw it and nearly tossed my waffle, so I thought I’d warn y’all.
Open thread.
tokyokie
Two minutes out of a 1440-minute day sounds like the usual portion of time these Nazi bastards devote to civil rights issues.
piratedan
it is a fucking wonder that no well armed liberal has walked onto the Fox News set and killed every fucking one in sight…..
in reflection, I applaud us for not doing so, but I sure as hell could understand it….
BC in Illinois
This was Trump’s tribute to the work of Martin Luther King, Jr.
It was the least he could do.
Literally. The least.
Duane
ShitMidas corrupts everything. Everything.
Catherine D.
Well, there’s absolute proof of no gods at all. Otherwise the monument would have toppled over and crushed them.
HinTN
The Stazi cleared everyone out of the area so they could stand in solemn reflection.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@HinTN:
Who’s the “Stazi” supposed to be? The SS?
Immanetize
Trump to Pence in front of the MLK monument:
“I thought you told me that guy was black?!”
Omnes Omnibus
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: You are joking, right?
Gin & Tonic
Quick hit and run here from the charming little town of San Martin de los Andes, where it is 70 degrees with 25% humidity and not a cloud in the sky. I understand the weather in New England right now is not as nice. So sad.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@BC in Illinois:
Remember “Best Wishes” at the Western Wall in Israel? He doesn’t appreciate anything sacred or important.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m honestly not. I assumed they meant the Secret Service, but wasn’t sure. I didn’t know if it was supposed to be Park Police or something, thought I guess they’d probably be furloughed. I know, I know, I’m stupid.
By the way, how was the snowstorm in Wisconsin? We got over a foot dropped on us. It’s still really bad on the roads.
hells littlest angel
Thanks, BC, for posting that tweet. I needed a good hearty laugh today.
Brachiator
And speaking of that hideous, sloshing bag, Gizmodo has a story suggesting that Trump’s people fix his photos to make him look thinner.
Egomania and vanity, all in an unpleasant package.
ETA: Was Trump’s appearance just a photo op, or did he speak anywhere about Dr King?
RepubAnon
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: The Stazi were the East German Secret Police.
Gin & Tonic
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: The Stasi were the East German secret police.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: The Stasi were the East German (German Democratic Republic/DDR) secret police.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Gin & Tonic:
I knew who the real Stasi were. I just wanted to know who HinTN was calling the “Stasi”.
Adam L Silverman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: No Stasi, No Stasi, you’re the Stasi.
Mai Naem mobile
I just realized who that idiot kid mocking the Native American vet reminded me of. Martin Shkreli.
MattF
@Brachiator: The Gizmodo story says that Trump’s fingers were elongated in the retouched photo. So dumb, it’s believable.
Ryan
The picture is a metaphor.
Baud
Does Washington state have the death penalty?
https://www.kuow.org/stories/electoral-college-issue-heads-to-washington-s-supreme-court
Immanetize
@Gin & Tonic:
Booo!!! Curse you!
It has reached 5 degrees here. Heatwave from the morning’s 3 degrees.
hueyplong
@Brachiator: The last thing we’d want would be Trump actually saying something about MLK, or about anything, really. When I saw that picture, my two thoughts were: (1) it’s appropriate for these guys to be alone; and (2) I hope it was really, really cold.
Adam L Silverman
@Baud:
Well that plan sucked.
Immanetize
@Brachiator:
Trump’s only (oily) appearance, no other events or speeches.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
LoL. I guess I should have referenced the historical Stasi in my first comment.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman: I wonder what excuse faithless electors will come up with in 2020.
debbie
I listened to this interview with “G. Richard Shell, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and author of several books on negotiation” about Trump and his negotiating style, especially during the shutdown. It was interesting to hear he’d filed for bankruptcy “about 15 times” and had filed or defended against 4,095 lawsuits in his 30 years of real estating. The numbers keep going up and up!
J R in WV
And more from Faux News reporting:
Have you ever noticed that when they are forced to mention a Republican lawmaker is being forced to resign because of deeply disturbing sexual habits, or blatant law breaking, the Chryon describing that Republican lawmaker will always, always say Congressman Jones (D-somestate) despite the facts of the matter of the congressman’s actual party membership.
This is always described again as a control room error, but it is a consistent, continuing pattern, not a once in a lifetime error.
Fox News is not a news organization at all, it is a corrupt propaganda organ of the fascist anti-democracy movement, nothing else at all!
debbie
@Baud:
Really? What are these guys, the Three Stooges?
Immanetize
@Baud:
They worry me.
Immanetize
@debbie: my guess? Sanders delegates.
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Just so you know, the “The” has returned to the front of Ukraine.
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: I saw that Gizmodo story! Not only are some of the photos retouched to make Trump look thinner, he gets de-jowled and has his fingers lengthened too. Good lord.
Gin & Tonic
@Immanetize: With the low humidity and the high angle of the sun I’m going to have to put on some sunscreen, I’m afraid.
ThresherK
@hueyplong: I agree. If there was some chance he could say something honest and heartfelt and not against the real history of MLK, thatd be different. Pence’s words yesterday were enough. I had my fill of “racism is over/MLK was a conservative” 20+ years ago.
How ceremonial and meaningless does something have to be before Trump can’t worsen it by opening his mouth? After asking a 7 y o if they still believe in Santa, what’s he gonna say to ruin the WH Easter egg roll?
RobNYNY
@RepubAnon:
“Stasi,” to be precise, for STAatsSIcherheitsdienst.
debbie
@Immanetize:
Was he a choice at the Electoral College?
Baud
@debbie:
@Immanetize:
Yep.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: “We had a PLAN, damn it! A PLAN! Voting for Colin Powell over our party’s candidate was totally part of A PLAN to foil Donald Trump!”
Jesus wept.
Only $1,000 for fucking over the party candidate?
Immanetize
@Betty Cracker:
I am suspecting I know who suggested that such “work” be done….
Immanetize
@debbie:
Everyone is a potential “choice” to a faithless elector. Even you or me! Think of the opportunities!
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Betty Cracker:
Are you serious? He’ll never forget that silly Spy magazine joke. What’s worse is that he has others involved in this delusion, trying to prop him up.
AThornton
Were the Stasi the East German (German Democratic Republic/DDR) secret police?
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: Same one, all part of a larger plan to keep the President from being reelected. It’s a long term plan. And it would be far more effective if they could have kept it compartmented and covert, just like Secretary Clinton’s plan with FBI Director Comey, most of his senior staff at the FBI, significant numbers of personnel at the CIA and NSA, the DNC, Fusion GPS, Christopher Steele, and Vladimir Putin aided and abetted by the mainstream media to prevent the President from getting elected in 2016.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
That one comparison also shows that they shortened his tie a bit.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie:
Attorney for the Three Stooges on line one for you. Something about defamation…
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Miss Bianca:
I’m sure Wilmer doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with faithless electors, so long as they elect him.
Tokyokie
@hueyplong: Between his diabetic neuropathy and the 6-inch layer of adipose tissue that he carries as insulation, I doubt extreme cold much bothers him.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: He filed or threatened to file for bankruptcy a lot to force his creditors to negotiate with his attorneys on his terms, rather than take whatever a bankruptcy court would give him. This included a number of banks that kept doing business with him. He’d then withdraw the filing or the threat to file once he got what he want. Basically using the legal system to conduct a shakedown.
germy
No. I really think they’re trolling us.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: You don’t want to know what they’re doing to his other body parts…
Also, EWWWW!!!!
Adam L Silverman
@RobNYNY: Gesundheit!
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Most likely the offense in the state code is a misdemeanor.
Mnemosyne
Jay has a link in the thread below about the two Jewish political consultants who decided to demonize George Soros and revive a wave of anti-Semitic hatred in Europe and the US. And the stupid bastard who agreed to be interviewed (his mentor/business partner died in 2017) still doesn’t seem to understand what he did:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hnsgrassegger/george-soros-conspiracy-finkelstein-birnbaum-orban-netanyahu
meander
Thank you Betty Cracker for keeping his Orangeness’s image off of the front page. I’m regular reader of Daily Kos, and do not understand why they plaster Trump’s face all over the front page stories. It’s nauseating. Some kind of journalistic habit? A way to get visitors angry? A way to get you to jump to the text to avoid that horrible visage? SEO? It’s mysterious.
On a story about the budget, why not a stack of papers or a bunch of dollar signs? On a story about Russia, how about a picture of the Kremlin or some historic image?
On the other hand, here’s a place where we need more Trump pictures: hostage taking memes. Trump’s face replacing famous hostage takers in film and TV. IIRC, during Boehner’s several shutdowns, there were quite a few altered images.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Brachiator:
I was also sort of surprised to see Gizmodo phrase Trump’s election this way:
“Seize power” isn’t a phrase you associate with winning a democratic election. I’m not used to seeing the media describe Trump’s victory in that manner, though his election was very likely illegitimate in some way. I wasn’t expecting it. But then, Gizmodo isn’t apart of the Village either.
Immanetize
@Gin & Tonic:
Dude! You are all in my bases.
I woke up, the Immp had to go to school for a day of special MLK programming, car wouldn’t start, battery dead, neighbor tried to jump it but it wouldn’t. Barrowed another neighbor’s car, drove the Immp to school. Called USAA. They sent a towtruck. Got it started drove to the garage, got a new battery (300 balloons). Came back to find a neighbor digging her car out of the ice bank created by plows. Dug her out for a half hour. Doing laundry.
I do love USAA, though.
germy
@Tokyokie:
It’s the wind that bothers him. It messes up his hairdo. Same with rain.
I don’t think he wears hats. Has anyone here seen a photo of him in a hat?
Immanetize
@Betty Cracker:
Also, they made his shoulders broader and made his breasts look smaller. Our leader.
Gravenstone
I’m sure they whined all the way about having to leave the confines of the White House to be seen honoring one of those people. Even as they continue to try and co-opt Dr. King’s message.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
You’d think the Bankruptcy Courts would frown upon that kind of frivolous activity and give him some kind of sanctions.
Gravenstone
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Stasi were the East German state police, prior to reunification. Not exactly a term of endearment.
Duane
@Adam L Silverman: With all those people involved, you would expect Clinton to win. We can’t find better candidates, we need to find better crooks.
Gravenstone
@Omnes Omnibus: I believe he was literally a toddler when the Wall fell, so it’s not like he would be intimately familiar with that cultural touchstone.
Brickley Paiste
@BC in Illinois:
He left a Starbuck’s Gift Card.
Aleta
More from Nathan Phillips, this time a CNN interview https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/21/us/nathan-phillips-maga-teens-interview/index.html
You know what’s awfully fishy about news outlets presenting as “another side of the story” the statements from two Covington Catholic school kids: So far there are no statements to the news from the Covington adults who were in charge. Before the news runs with “the story is complicated” + “new information has surfaced” as they’re doing, they need to get the chaperones and the trip leader on record. And put Covington diocese’s and the school’s statement in their story too.
I think the anti-ab movement has a lot at stake in trying to hide the aggression of their protest groups. And how they model and encourage aggressive confrontation to their children.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Gravenstone:
I actually wasn’t even born yet. I did know what the Stasi were however, as I pointed out in #18. I wanted to know who HinTN was calling the Stasi. It was my own fault though for not being clear I knew what the Stasi was.
The Midnight Lurker
Is it wrong to wish for the head of MLK to break off and crush these assholes?
I mean, is it wrong to wish that on the statue?
Gravenstone
@MattF: Doesn’t still occasionally send pictures to Graydon Carter to dispute the “short fingered vulgarian” jibe? Hardly surprising he (or someone trying to toadie up to him) would want those images altered to make his hands look more normal.
debbie
Mnemosyne
@Aleta:
I think you’re right on the money. I don’t know how Twitter or blogs are trending, but my little circle on Facebook is wondering where the hell the chaperones were and why they let their charges trade insults with a group of adult strangers FOR AN HOUR at someone else’s protest.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Gravenstone:
He does, at least according to Carter. He did so as recently as 2015.
RSA
@The Midnight Lurker:
Not by me.
“MLK’s statue looks ready for the field goal attempt…”
Gravenstone
@Mnemosyne:
Practice.
JPL
@Mnemosyne: What can I say but fascists first and fascists forever. So if there’ s a rise in antisemitism so be it.
Soros for spreading democracy around the world is rewarded with death threats.
Duane
@Aleta: I think you called the anti-abortion tactics right. Heard it this morning. Republicans certainly aren’t above using the students for cover. They’re going on the offensive. I’ll believe my lying eyes.
Kathleen
@Aleta: Cincinnati.com just published this response from chaperones (“they would have done nothing differently”) about 3 hours ago. Don’t know how good this link is because I’ve run out of free views and I refuse too send money to that fascist rag:
https://www.cincinnati.com/get-access/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cincinnati.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Fnorthern-ky%2F2019%2F01%2F21%2Fjeff-ruby-invitation-nathan-phillips%2F2636118002%2F
gwangung
@Aleta: Oh, they’re starting to speak.
““Our boys were set up for this event,” Andreev said. “It was staged.”
Which is why the FIRST videos were from the punks themselves.
The widespread paranoia and fear of non-whites is pretty obvious.
Burnspbesq
Fast-food veggie burgers are now a thing, courtesy of Carl’s Jr.
It was tasty enough to eat again.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: So the article is originally from a Swiss weekly publication. It also has some inaccuracies. The Soros conspiracy theories actually predate the campaign these two schmucks designed for Orban. Both in Europe and the US. The three real takeaways from the article should be:
1) This is how influence operations and information warfare are combined with political campaigning to the detriment of both liberal democracy and actual individuals who live within them.
2) It is possible for Jews to do actually anti-Semitic things, such as weaponize the anti-Soros conspiracy theories, if they are both amoral and monetarily oriented.
3) One of the reasons that conservative, whatever that word actually means anymore, politicians and their platforms in the US, Canada, the UK, throughout a number of European countries, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand all look alike and sound the same these days is because the same political campaign professionals – from strategists to the quants/polling specialists to the communications specialists – within the US conservative and Republican sphere have for the past 30 years been doing more and more and more work for conservative politicians in these other countries. This has allowed very wealthy conservative to conservative leaning libertarian interests, such as the Kochs, the Murdochs, the Mercers, the DeVoses, etc to export their preferred positions all around the world.
I think 1 and 3 are, overall, the most important takeaways.
Kathleen
@The Midnight Lurker: Asking for a friend? (heh heh)
Baud
@Duane:
Baud! 2020!
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: Like all of the rest of our courts they have to much caseload and not enough judges, clerks, and other staff to deal with them. Odds are no one ever noticed.
Gravenstone
Okay, this amuses me. Apparently one of the principals of the Trump Tower meeting (that was totally about adoptions!) has cancelled a planned US tour. Seems he’s afraid of having to talk to Mueller on less than favorable terms or something…
Adam L Silverman
@Duane: You have to admit, as conspiracies go, they did a great job. Not a single person learned a thing about it until after the election, when, of course, it was too late.
Plato
Moses vs mouses.
Gin & Tonic
@gwangung: Surname sure sounds Russian. Curious, that.
Aleta
@Gin & Tonic: Giant bulldozer just wandered down our narrow street and pushed 5 ft of snow in front of our house. 0 degrees now; -18 w/ wind chill. And darkness is settling.
The dog hates cold feet (though he’s big and puffy-haired like a bear who uses hair product) so he walks on snow like it’s hot broken glass. He tolerates it by wearing foolish looking purple balloon-booties, but he lost two in the drifts today.
But go ahead, have an amazing time ….
Omnes Omnibus
@Gravenstone: I know what the NKVD and Cheka were and that was before I was born. Just saying.
Mike in NC
@germy: Only the MAGA hats in red or white.
EthylEster
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: never mind
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: Also, the kids have lawyered up and the lawyer has hired a crisis PR firm.
Adam L Silverman
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
I think I remember hearing Republicans start to demonize Soros near the end of W’s second term, so I agree that the article is a little factually challenged on exactly when that got rolling. And I think you’re right about American conservatives spreading the poison worldwide. I’m just starting to suspect that the apparently unlimited funds that the Kochs and Mercers and other Republican billionaires have been providing were not coming out of their own pockets as they kept claiming. YMMV.
Betty Cracker
@Burnspbesq: Burger King has had a veggie burger on the menu for years. I think they still have it!
Elizabelle
@Aleta: I subscribed to cincinnati.com (USA Today local paper), 3 months for $3 so I could follow this story. I think a lot will play out in that time. I will excerpt stuff of interest for you all.
Covington Catholic chaperone: ‘There was nothing the chaperones could have done differently’
Is that an adequate number of chaperones? One chaperone per 12 students?
And why did they let the students “stand their ground?” Why didn’t they move them out of there? It’s a big space.
Did the chaperones tell the students that the Israelites, aggravating as they were, had a First Amendment right to be there? And why if you were aware of that, would you have the kids there in the line of abuse?
Agree with you and Mnemo about this group spoiling for a confrontation.
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: They were chaperoned by the parish priest whose social media – twitter and facebook – are basically a Men’s Rights Activism fiesta.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Winner?
Gravenstone
@Adam L Silverman: Hell of a prize for winning, continuing to live after the experience. I swear, those people are broken at Fox. Do they hire them that way, or does it occur over the course of their employment? Maybe someone should investigate their work environment, if they’re twisting people that badly. //
The Pale Scot
This comes to mind;
The thing about the tide is that it turns
But the gobshites ain’t going quietly
Derry last stronghold of `New IRA’
The Midnight Lurker
Never mind. Mrs. Lurker (the ultimate moral authority in our house) has just informed me that yes, it is wrong. But funny.
Now she’s humming the theme song from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
And I’m the bad guy.
schrodingers_cat
@Aleta: Your dog with purple booties sounds hilariously cute. Do you have photos?
Adam L Silverman
@Mnemosyne: It actually goes back into the 80s on what were then more extremist/far right circles because he was Jewish and a rich currency speculator. That tickled all the far right anti-Semitic pleasure centers. Then it started getting picked up on the extreme left because he was also crapping on (Soviet style) socialism in the wake of the fall of the Soviet Union. And he was Jewish, a rich currency speculator, so that meant he had to be suspect.
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman: Covington Catholic needs some severe sunlight. They are about to get it.
EthylEster
@Burnspbesq wrote:
Here in Seattle for about 6 months I’ve been seeing A&W commercials (on Canadian TV) featuring folks like you saying they can’t believe their burger contains no meat.
Gravenstone
@Omnes Omnibus: You were also Army, and stationed to directly counter the (then) Soviet threat. Context and life experience matters.
trnc
@tokyokie:
Two minutes out of the 1051200, I think (give or take).
laura
The Sacramento Unity March for the Dream was swell. Cold in the shade, clear skies and a revved up crowd. Lots of Kamala Harris talk. Lots of families and some really good signs. Until we hit the Capital. Right there, on the first corner on a ladder -a white male god-bothering pest demanding hist time to lecture all and sundry about abortion and damnation and the babbies.
Swear to fsm, can we just have a day to NOT hear from the patriarchy about the rules and who does the ruling?
Even kindly white male spouse was pissed- and he generally gives everybody the benefit of the doubt.
The Midnight Lurker
@Elizabelle: Sunlight, really? I was thinking something a little stronger…
Gravenstone
@laura: Shame no one “stumbled” into his ladder and knocked him off. Repeatedly .
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Omnes Omnibus:
I knew what the Stasi was. My original comment was poorly worded and caused a misunderstanding. You can choose to believe that or not. I’ve tried the last couple times with you to be nice and friendly. I know you’ve been going through a lot lately.
BR
I’d recommend MLK’s speech “The Three Evils of Society” (the link is to an unofficial transcript, so it has some errors):
https://www.scribd.com/doc/134362247/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-The-Three-Evils-of-Society-1967
It’s remarkable, and has a number of lines that cut through even today, like:
schrodingers_cat
@gwangung: That sounds like a name right out of the eastern bloc. Bulgarian, I think.
Jay
@Elizabelle:
There’s a infopanel up at The Nib on how PUA’s, MRA’s, MIGTOW’s, Incels and Nazi’s all intersect.
humboldtblue
We had between 250-300 people gather on the courthouse steps for the People’s March and Rally for Justice (and to remember a young black man who was stabbed to death at a house party 21 months ago with no arrests yet made) and another 350-400 showed up at the community center for an MLK celebration.
Even the weather cooperated with bright sun after a weekend of nasty winter storms.
So yeah, we spent more than two minutes contemplating stuff.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
If the kids’ lawyers think they can threaten Mr. Phillips with a defamation lawsuit, I think they will be unpleasantly surprised by how many Native American lawyers there are in this country, and how large the percentage of them wishing a motherfucker would even try to threaten an elder really is.
The Midnight Lurker
@BR: Oh, wow! I heard that same speech this morning at a memorial to Dr. King. Powerful.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: @Elizabelle: I want to know who thought it was a good idea to have the white kid take off his shirt and try to do the Haka? I know of a small handful of white people who do the Haka. I know two of them personally as they were my former students. They’re now both general officers in the New Zealand army and both commanded, back to back, a New Zealand Army Regiment that includes significant members of Maori personnel. The other white people I know who do the Haka are on the New Zealand All Blacks national rugby team.
My former students are required to wear appropriate ceremonial garments when conducting this as part of their official duties. They take the responsibility very seriously and are some of the best cross-culturally aware personnel I’ve ever worked with. As are their colleagues in the New Zealand military. They are the counterinsurgency professionals that David Kilcullen claims to be. And they have the successes in East Timor and Afghanistan and other theaters of operation to prove it.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: That or the one that said: “Experts Agree: Osama bin Laden May Be Dead or Alive”.
Or the murder suspect chyron accompanying a composite sketch of the suspect at large behind the local African American news anchor who looks just like the guy in the sketch.
PaulWartenberg
Seriously asking if there are any podcasters in Central Florida who might want to do a presentation at my library this March or April for public enlightenment. I guess I may have to negotiate expenses depending on what you’ll need to bring/show for it.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
Schrodinger’s bin Laden!
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh, you meant the use of winner for survivor, not for best screwed up chyron. My bad.
Mnemosyne
@trnc:
? I has a confuzzled. There are 1,440 minutes in a day and, as Rent‘s most famous song reminds us, 525,600 minutes in a year.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: They will put up the religious freedom shields and that will be the end of that.
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, I don’t think that’s a Bulgarian surname.
Sister Golden Bear
A shout out to the jackals who a few days ago recommended “Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse.”
Saw it last night, even though I’m not into the whole superhero things, and the animation was astonishing awesome and innovative. (Apparently part of the look was achieved by doing 2D animation on top of the finished 3D animation.).
Not to mention a fun story, done with a (respectful) wink and a smile toward the Spider-Man canon and the superhero genre.
Plannig to see it again while it’s still in theaters.
HinTN
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Just a riff, man. I’m with Adam, No Stasi (ok, I misspelled it), you’re the Stasi. Peace
The Pale Scot
@Burnspbesq: Have you heard about the culture-war controversy over meatless sausage rolls from Greggs.
Such a White People Problem
zhena gogolia
I made the mistake of watching the SNL cold open on the shutdown. Nancy Pelosi is “drunk with power.” fuck you guys
The Midnight Lurker
I read “meatless sausage roll” and guess who immediately comes to mind? Heh.
Elizabelle
James Fallows has a very good column (and update) up on the Covington Catholic HS debacle. Via The Atlantic. No paywall.
I call bullshit on the rightwing for trying to make the kids into victims. Uh, no.
And Nick Sandmann’s smirk is one for the ages. It is so recognizable. He was hardly trying to “diffuse” the situation (per his PR statement). He was instigating, intimidating, and chose to remain in Nathan Phillips’ face. He could have stood back. He should have moved back.
In the video, after a few minutes of the drumming and the in your face with a smirk, one of the other kids takes the bait from a young Indian who said the group should go back to Europe. The kid started talking about everyone going back to Africa. Sandmann looked over and shut him down with a glance.
He was the bully, in charge. He’s a junior. CCHS is grades 9-12, all male.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: I knew a Bulgarian woman that had that name with an a as her last name. I don’t know if she was of Russian ancestry. I defer to your knowledge of Russia and Russians.
Mnemosyne
@The Pale Scot:
I saved a Facebook meme that said, “Do you ever say to yourself, ‘WTF is wrong with white people’ even though you yourself are a white people?”
trollhattan
@laura:
Oh, that guy. He even shows up at the bike race. Someday something regrettable will happen to that ladder.
Elizabelle
@Adam L Silverman: I am going to be watching for whether some parents pull their sons from CCHS.
And they can try the religious shield, but good luck stopping the controversy here.
Aleta
@Elizabelle: Thanks!
Since they saw nothing wrong in letting adolescents in a large group bounce and scream at others from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, while ‘waiting for a bus,’ my assumption is they believe aggressive confrontation was part of the kids’ learning experience in D.C.
Which makes sense if they believe it’s necessary to teach kids to use threatening anti-ab protest and intimidation as political methods. And believe it’s proper behavior for high school guests visiting a city, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
So fcked up. As Mr. Phillips said, it makes one fear for the country’s future and the kids.
Quinerly
@Elizabelle: I thought this was a good piece on TPM. Additional video.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/making-sense-of-the-phillips-sandman-viral-video
The Midnight Lurker
@Mnemosyne: I am white. Pure white. Butt white. All the way back to the Big Bang. And I ask myself, “What the fuck is wrong with white people?!!”
EVERY GODDAMN DAY!
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
A quick google search suggests you’re right. It can be a Bulgarian name. It’s also a very common Russian name.
Mai Naem mobile
@Burnspbesq: Burger King has had them for several years and they are not good. I think Five Guys has one too but technically not fast food.
FlipYrWhig
@Elizabelle: Doesn’t it seem like the teenage douchebros and the chaper-douches leapt to the conclusion that the indigenous people and the black Israelites were on the same side against them — which is sort of a big part of the white privilege/white supremacy problem in the first place?
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Does anybody know how much the tuition is there? Our all-boys Catholic high school is $14,700/year. And they have to do a crapton of fundraisers too.
Mnemosyne
@zhena gogolia:
SNL’s writers may hate Donald Trump, but they hate powerful women even more. ?
Jay
@Aleta:
They have outed themselves on Social Media as Nazi’s and their School as a Nazi Indoctrination Center.
The Internet’s remember.
In less than a year, they will all be competing for the Crying Nazi title.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@HinTN:
Well, now I feel silly. Oh well. Peace!
Jay
@Mai Naem mobile:
The A&W one is as good as a meatburger.
The Midnight Lurker
@Mnemosyne: And please post the meme so I can forward it to a few white people I know.
Immanentize
@Elizabelle: @Quinerly:
The best thing I heard/read so far was the statement by Nathan Phillips (and I am reciting from memory because gotta go!).
In Marine training we learned that a frightened man will kill you…. And what I saw in those boys eyes was fear.”
(HA, somehow when I first typed “boys” it came out “bots.” Imagine that!)
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
In theory, the Black Israelites and an Omaha elder have the exact same religious freedom rights as a bunch of suburban white Catholics, but we and they know that white people get extra religious privileges, too.
Yarrow
@Adam L Silverman: The haka is not just done in New Zealand. Other Pacific island nations have their own versions of it. It has also traveled, as this article from a few years ago illustrates.
There’s a large Pacific Islands community in that town, so that’s why it got started.
The Pale Scot
@Mnemosyne:
Couple of times a week, probably a lot more if my eejit detector was on. But I try to just stay in the boat avoid the obvious headlines. At my age I don’t need anymore confirmation.
Mnemosyne
@The Midnight Lurker:
This looks like the same one I swiped from Facebook:
https://me.me/i/do-you-ever-wtf-white-people-even-though-you-are-6f0d9bd7b93e4b4796958503a8829a5d
Ladyraxterinok
@Mnemosyne: And US Evangelicas spread their antiLGBT message to Africa, giving advice, sending people to craft horrendous laws demonizing gays and lesbians–legalizing incarceration and execution
Immanentize
@trollhattan: Here near Boston, Catholic schools are the “cheap” version of private school. About half the tuition of secular private prep schools (my son attends just such a place!). But Boston is odd that way. When I was growing up in upstate NY, there was public or Catholic. Here there is primarily public or prep or Catholic. In the south (where I spent most of my professional life before now) it was overwhelmingly public, ‘academy”, or Catholic. And Academies were restricted. Many of the Catholic schools in the south, since the 80’s have tilted toward the Academy model. What an interesting world.
The Pale Scot
@Jay:
I’ll go for I ended up at state uni and the girls laugh at me when I try to chat them up
cmorenc
@Catherine D.:
Other possibility: they bide their time to extract cosmic justice in a manner and moment fitting to their sensibilities and not, alas, ours. Or, as MLK put it much more eloquently: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”.
jimmiraybob
@J R in WV:
Not so much anti-democratic as anti open society as defined by Karl Popper in the early 1940s in his “The Open Society and its Enemies.” After all, Nazi Germany and Sadam’s Iraq held “democratic” elections. I’m sure that Fox would have no problem with Trump winning the next dozen elections by 90-95% or more.
Elizabelle
@FlipYrWhig: That’s an excellent point.
@Quinerly: Thank you. Hadn’t seen that, and Josh Marshall is quite measured.
Something that is not measured: this ridiculous essay that is “most popular” at The Atlantic (edited by J Goldberg):
Speak for yourself, lady. Maybe you are a failure. Some of us did not jump to conclusions and did look at the extended video.
Zimmerman: “The story felt personal to me; I live a few miles from the high school, and my son attends a nearby all-boys Catholic high school.”
The Midnight Lurker
@Mnemosyne: Awww! It thought there’d be a really funny photo to go along.
But thank you!
P.S. – I’m sure I can find one.
Mnemosyne
@FlipYrWhig:
They absolutely did that exact thing and they refuse to accept any facts that show otherwise. They are the victims of non-white people conspiring against them and anyone who points out the truth is just another enemy to be ignored and shut out.
Yarrow
@zhena gogolia: I saw that. I was kind of surprised Kate McKinnon agreed to go along with that portrayal of Pelosi. It seemed so off to me.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne:
All the damn time. All.the.damn.time.
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Think I saw it’s in the $7,000 range? It is Kentucky; less expensive cost of living.
jimmiraybob
@Mnemosyne:
Since grade school in the 60s.
Mnemosyne
@Immanentize:
Both of my nieces in Florida go to/went to “academies.” Sigh. At least the younger one’s has a STEM focus (the older one is now attending Florida State).
Elizabelle
@ Betty Cracker: Props for this.
Keep him Pomeranian-sized. Although Poms are more lovable little creatures than Trump. Still: yappy, exciteable, some out of control hair days.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Elizabelle:
Well, she sure sounds like an impartial observer!
Elizabelle
@trollhattan: Per google. CCHS website server has been down for some time. Either they took it offline, or overwhelming use.
Elizabelle
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Made me wonder how many all-boy Catholic high schools that area needs!
And yeah, she writes for a Jesuit magazine and other outlets. She built her stupid essay around “uh, maybe there wasn’t build the wall chant going on” as though that negates everything else. What a tool.
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: A Pomeranian-sized Trump is no match for…Gentle Bob!
Jay
@The Pale Scot:
Why would any decent College or University accept their applications?
So Liberty U or what ever passes for Dolt 45 U.
Why would any employer other than a Nazi tshirt or Stormfront hire them?
Why would any Employer hire any Graduate of that School now that they have shown the “values” they instill in all their students,
And while Saturday and Sunday, the concensus was “don’t doxx them”, let the “adults” discipline them,
But now that the White Male Privledge Waaambulance has come out to defend them,
They are being doxxed as we speak.
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
All the time.
Adam L Silverman
@The Pale Scot: Isn’t that just a white pudding? As they’d call it in Scotland.
debbie
@Yarrow:
I saw it, and I think you’ve misread it. I took it to be what the media was saying (which they are), not what the SNL writers are saying.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Jeez, in Kentucky????
Jay
@Elizabelle:
They shut down all their social media on Saturday, people took to hunting down the emails and social media of the Schools Board and Administration, but those have gone dark as well.
Quinerly
5 more trademarks in China for Ivanka. Applications filed in 2016 and 2017. From Newsweek…. “Ivanka Trump has been granted five trademarks from China for her currently defunct company as her father’s administration continues negotiating with Beijing over trade.
Trademarks for wedding dresses, sunglasses and child care centers were approved on Sunday, the Associated Press reported. An additional trademark regarding brokerage, charitable fundraising and art valuation services was approved earlier this month.”
Adam L Silverman
@Yarrow: I understand that it has travelled and that variants are done by different groups of Pacific Islanders. No offense to BettyC, but I’m pretty sure pasty, Kentucky cracker isn’t one of the groups of Pacific Islanders that does the Haka or a variant.
debbie
@Quinerly:
“Trump Child Care Centre?” Good grief!
MomSense
@Aleta:
Our “snow” is really like that stuff that formed in freezers before defrosters. My dog was slip sliding, her paws going in four different directions. She came back in and heaved a huge sigh before slumping onto her dog bed. She loves to play in the snow. Ice, not so much.
Kathleen
@Elizabelle: I can’t bring myself to even pay them $3 for 3 months, which is how much I hate my local “paper”. Thank you for taking one for the team.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m no expert, but I don’t think they were performing a Pacific Island dance. I took them to be doing that bullshit thing Washington Redskins fans do to insult Native Americans. Maybe a variant with some kind of pogoing.
Quinerly
@debbie: I gagged when I read the childcare one. Glad to see someone actually reads my comments. ?
Link to the Newsweek….
https://www.newsweek.com/china-grants-ivanka-trump-trademarks-trade-negotiations-1299272
debbie
@Quinerly:
Can you imagine? Would Barron be the child in the logo or the star in their commercials?
Mnemosyne
@Quinerly:
I shared that on Facebook — thank you.
Kathleen
@zhena gogolia: That opener was not funny at all. Missed the mark.
Quinerly
@debbie: and then there is the “charitable fundraising” trademark.
It’s all like bad performance art.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Elizabelle:
I hate it when people do that.
Mnemosyne
@debbie:
Ivanka has 4 kids. I’m sure she’s willing to exploit them for money.
Quinerly
@Mnemosyne: you’re welcome. TPM gets bashed around here but I was following Josh pre Cole’s conversion (when I came here). TPM is still a good source.
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
I always forget about her kids. I think DJ also has a couple? Pity.
Quinerly
@debbie: I think Jr has 5. I remember reading about a lot of kids when he was filing for divorce.
coin operated
@Mnemosyne: Can trace my linage back to Norway white man here. Every damn day I ask the same damn question
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: It has been reported that the kid who took his shirt off specifically was (trying to do) doing the haka. Apparently he’s one of the cheer leaders at the school – not the same thing as a cheerleader – and this is part of his normal schtick.
Kathleen
@Elizabelle: That was very good. Thank you for sharing. I’ve been too close to this situation for too long and have become jaded about any possibilities of change in Northern Kentucky, which I’ve been calling “Fort Fascist” for years (Fort Wright, Fort Thomas, Fort Mitchell are 3 prominent communities who embody the worst of Boone/Kenton/Campbell county hell hole). There are some really great people over there as well, and patronize a few businesses. But overall it’s got an evil mojo.
Adam L Silverman
@Quinerly: I’ve not seen TPM get bashed here. Josh does a good job over there.
Mike in NC
@Kathleen: Donald Trump was permitted to appear on SNL several times over the years. More of the free publicity he so desperately craves. They are as complicit as the rest of the media in giving a microphone to a megalomaniac.
The Midnight Lurker
And another thing… I’m a Catholic too! Recovering, sure. But my wife is devout. We’re ashamed of what those vile punks did! And we’ve spoken and texted and emailed with PLENTY of other Catholics that are high pissed at this clown cap-wearing, smarmy, dead-eyed delinquent, but especially angry with his parents, his priest, his diocese, and especially his all white, all male, all privileged, Brett Kavanaugh starter kits (love that BTW) factory, fucking inbred school!
I won’t let my wife watch the goddamn video. It’ll crush her. Her health is poor anyway. But I know she’ll go around my back and see it anyway, if she hasn’t already. The whole godless, unamerican, goddamn mess just makes me angry and sick.
Funny. It just stuck me that I’ve been listening to his speeches all day long and by writing this, it’s clear that I haven’t heard a thing he’s said.
Forgive me, Dr. King.
Kathleen
@trollhattan: I’ve heard 10K & 12K.
Quinerly
@Adam L Silverman: well, you have missed the back and forth then. I’m a big fan of Josh Marshall. Been following him since the blog started. He has some vocal critics here… Sometimes it amuses me but I do listen to NPR, tune in to MSNBC, read the NYTimes and WaPO, am on Facebook, am anti those home DNA tests, and own an Echo and several Echo Dots. “Alexa, pull my finger!” ?
Kathleen
@Yarrow: The whole thing felt “off” and not funny. Very cliched.
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: It was to laugh and groan-wince at such a pathetic insult on the day of the Indigenous People’s March— his deluded mimicry of indigenous celebration movements in the belief that it was a fierce message of their battle readiness against five Black Hebrew Israelites. It seems to be a thing in Western sports team culture now. But at ultra-Christian schools too?
FlipYrWhig
@Mike in NC: To be fair, there was a time when Trump was entertainingly stupid, like George Steinbrenner, who they’ve also had as host, and mocked to his face.
Kathleen
@Elizabelle: Yup. 7,950. My estimate was too high.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
I didn’t see that picture until after I posted. (By the way, he’s somewhat thickset for a cheerleader.) What I did see yesterday was kids behind the kid staring Phillips down, jumping up and down and making chopping movements.
Kathleen
@Elizabelle: The only other all male Catholic HS I’m aware of in No KY is Newport Catholic in Newport, KY, which is a few miles from Park HIlls. Cincinnati has quite a few so her son may go to Cincinnati school.
Elizabelle
@The Midnight Lurker: Sounds like Covington Catholic is from the Scalia/Opus Dei/Brett Kavanaugh side of the religion.
Pope Francis may be privately viewed with a LOT of suspicion there. Sounds like they have a real culture problem. Aleta is on to something with the training the kids to be confrontational idea.
The chaperones did not have the brains to pull the kids back.
Kathleen
@Mike in NC: I agree. They fed his mojo.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: Beats me.
The Pale Scot
@Adam L Silverman: Apparently it made of this stuff, which includes egg whites, so I I don’t know how the get away with calling it vegan. My earth muffin ex-girlfriend would be appalled. I’m surprised the EU doesn’t have an opinion. Puddings are grains mixed with suet, blood or other meat products. They taste better when you don’t have central heating
Burnspbesq
@laura:
Someone could have done the world a favor by acting out an old Toad the Wet Sprocket somg.
Someone kicked a ladder
Bradley took a spill
Said his leg was broken
So we dragged him down the hill
eemom
@Adam L Silverman:
Agree that Marshall is good. But Yglesias is insufferable.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: Cheer Leader, not cheerleader. I’m sure they have actual cheerleaders provided by the local all girls, diocesan Catholic school.
Burnspbesq
@Elizabelle:
Someone on my FB referred to the Covington Catholic miscreants as “Brett Kavanaugh starter kits.”
Adam L Silverman
@The Pale Scot: Tracking.
Jay
And apparently the School also allowed students wearing “blackface” to surround and harass visiting Basketball teams.
The Pale Scot
@Elizabelle:
People who sea lawyer the Gospels to no end but are strict adherents on the rest of the book
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
I think she only has three. A girl and two boys.
SiubhanDuinne
(Will repost this the next time a fresh Open Thread goes up.)
*****
Talked at length with efgoldman this afternoon, and let him know — both at your behest and on my own account — that he is loved and deeply missed amongst the Jackal Juicetariat.
At the moment he is home, but bedridden. They are trying to get all the necessary signoffs (I gather quite a few are required, so it’s complicated) for him to be admitted to a rehab facility and hopefully regain at least some mobility. I’ll phone again at the end of January to get an update.
Because he’s confined to bed most of the time, he can’t get to a computer and thus can’t comment on BJ these days. Not even a good hearty “fuckem.” He said he really misses the political discussions and insights here — these days he’s pretty well limited to CNN and “Face the Nation” and suchlike. Not enough snark.
He did say that when he came back online in December with his “I’m home!” message, he was utterly floored by the many Juicer responses. It may go against his curmudgeonly persona, but he seems very much touched, even overwhelmed, by the affection and concern we have for him.
Mrs. efg wants him up and mobile again so he can Do Things Around the House.
He shared the news that his daughter and son in law and their young family are moving from a tiny cramped apartment to a townhouse (with a yard) in about a week. They are very excited!
His great joy (I could hear it in his voice, and it was wonderful) was being able to spend time over the holidays with granddaughter (5-1/2) and new grandson (six months) when they came to visit. He is clearly besotted with both of them, which is as it should be. A besotted efg is a good thing.
Aleta
@schrodingers_cat: I do! I’ve been wanting to show some of them. Do you happen to know of a good photo site — one that protects privacy and against your photos being used elsewhere?
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
A very good thing! Thanks for the report!
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
Got it. Sorry.
Miss Bianca
@The Pale Scot: points for using the term “sea lawyer”. As opposed to a “sea lion”, of course. Tho’ the two creatures share some of the same traits!
@SiubhanDuinne: aw, efg! A hearty “fuckem” to our friend! Thanks for checking up on him, SD!
Jay
@The Pale Scot:
Opus Dei did a lot more murders than sealawyering,
trnc
@Mnemosyne: Yes, so there are 1501200 minutes in 2 years. Start counting from Jan 20, 2016. 2 minutes of that amount is about how much I think the Krist Krew has devoted to civil rights (sadly, in the form of lip service).
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne:
People who don’t read Balloon Juice will wonder why efgoldman the third’s first words are “fuck em!”.
Mnemosyne
@trnc:
Ah, thank you. I am Not A Math Person, so having a large number put in front of my face frightened and confused me like an unfrozen caveman lawyer.
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
And unto the generations. EFG et semeni ejus in sæcula.
Aleta
@Jay: I saw a picture like that. I thought it could have been doctored, but a date and comments under the photo were from around 6 years ago. Mid-game, CC kids were screaming into the ears of a black basketball player on the opposite team, who was in position waiting for play to resume. And some were off the bleachers and on the floor.
One of those CC kids had covered his entire torso, neck and face with (looked like) thick black paint, and white minstrel-like markings on his face.
If the photo is accurate it reminded me *not* of Catholics I know, but more of the Rs like Kavanaugh who went to Florida to intimidate election officials in 2000, and of rabid libertarians. Win at any cost, no social transgression or injury to others is too great in their pursuit of winning.
And it reminded me of those chaperones claiming it didn’t cross their minds to control the kids and move them toward the side street where the bus was going to pick them up. As though they wanted a visible crowd in red hats on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It’s shocking, the lack of consideration for public space. Maybe they planned to kill time there as a display of political support for Trump ? They owe him for Kav and the other judges he’s given them.
Mr Stagger Lee
@Elizabelle: Sandman was trying to state, that AA among them was being harassed and they were merely trying to stand up for him. I read the smirker’s account on CNN, no attempt to sincerely apologize, a backhanded acknowledgment to Mr. Phillips service to his country. Little Shit is learning the art of the non apology-apology.
Aleta
@Aleta: Here is a photo like the one I saw, of the Covington C BB game. A couple of kids had their feet illegally on the floor, in the one I saw.
Again, did any adults try to control this? Or was this atrocity considered acceptable by the refs and the CC coach and parents at the game?
debbie
@Aleta:
Wow. Seeing that, case closed. Entitled bastards.
Aleta
@debbie: Someone in those comments points out the hand of the kid immediately to the left of the player who’s being abused. The white kid seems to be making the W P hand sign for whit power.
This photo is said to be from 2014.
Aleta
Daily News story about the photo: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-sports-covington-nathan-phillips-nick-sandmann-20190121-story.html
Discusses credibility of the photo and mentions a date of 2015, and other video clip from 2012.
Aleta
(Yesterday he wrote to his critics that if his first impression and his criticism of the boys turned out to be wrong, he would apologize. That he would look at the videos they claimed showed their behavior was innocent.)
Uncle Cosmo
@schrodingers_cat: IIUC in Bulgaria, women’s surnames are those of their fathers/husbands with an added -a. I think that’s also true in Russia. Similarly in the Czech Republic except the ending is -ova. (Which is even added to foreign women’s surnames – I believe Czech translations of Harry Potter books are listed by “J. K. Rowlingova”.) Can cause a bit of origin confusion if Bulgarian/Russian dad/hubby name ends in -ov. (I discovered this a few years back while having my copy of The Historian signed by the author – I asked Elizabeth Kostova if her family name was Czech & she said no, Bulgarian.) /trivia