Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

People are weird.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

He really is that stupid.

Not all heroes wear capes.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

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

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

I really should read my own blog.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Late Night Open Thread: Parler, It’s Where the Kewl Kidz Are!!!

Late Night Open Thread: Parler, It’s Where the Kewl Kidz Are!!!

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Parler, per Wikipedia, is a “microblogging and social networking service launched in August 2018, promoted as an alternative to Twitter and particularly marketed to political conservatives in the United States”. (The article cites “Brad Parscale, Senator Mike Lee, and activist Candace Owens” as prominent early supporters, for what that’s worth.)

Benny Johnson, formerly ‘Buzzfeed Ben’, is a plagiarist currently serving as “chief creative officer at conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA”.

As you may have heard, Professional Conservatives are currently Big Mad at Twitter and FaceBook for those companies’ recent half-hearted attempts to staunch the sludge of hate speech, misinformation, and monetized lies. Lo, Mr. Johnson proclaims a Solution!

It’s the hot new craze!

Tom Cotton’s aide writes some advertising copy:

Report from Fast Company:

… I have to admit: The Parler site itself is well-designed and organized. It obviously takes many cues from Twitter in terms of features and layout, but it’s got some of its own bells and whistles, such as the ability to tip other users’ posts with influence points, which you must buy with a credit card. You can also vote up posts and “echo” them by hitting a little megaphone icon…

Of course, if Parler has your credit card info, it can sell your data, just like those other evil apps! And because I am an elderly cynic, when a company offers a chance for its marks to send money to their faves, I immediately wondered about the percentage of outright grifters among its users…

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  3. 3.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I only heard of Parler for the first time in my life about six hours ago (had to Google to even find out what it was) and now it’s suddenly a thing?

  4. 4.

    Martin

    Good time for a reminder that conservatives wrote their own Bible because the usual ones hurt their feelings

    It is funny how frequently the snowflakes find safe spaces to retreat to, and then, lacking libs to own, they abandon them.

  5. 5.

    SectionH

    I still have LiveJournal/Dreamwidth friends I read several times a week. How weird is that?

  6. 6.

    Anne Laurie

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hey, have to catch the latest phenom while it’s still ‘a thing’!

    Me, I would bet a store-bought cookie that at least some of those Top Social Media Influencers are getting paid for this — we already know what Benny Johnson will do for money.  Not to mention Brad Parscale, who needs a gilt parachute for when the other Trump grifters figure out how to funnel campaign funds to the Trump WAGs (if you know that British acronym… )

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I only heard of Parler for the first time in my life about six hours ago (had to Google to even find out what it was) and now it’s suddenly a thing?

    Same here. I never heard of it before, and will soon forget it.

    The only thing about this that is remotely interesting is that Trump and his minions still want to force Twitter, Facebook, etc to accept right wing bullshit in a perverse reversal of the Fairness Doctrine.  If they succeed, I suppose that they will say that liberals can always come to Parler if they like.

    The other thing that might be interesting is to see how many conservatives with a conscience will go to Parler, see the kind of crap it spews and decide that it is a cesspool too far.

  8. 8.

    piratedan

    @SiubhanDuinne: they will hate their new platform in less than a week, because where will their outrage go?  no one will deny them the outlet to say stupid shit non-stop, so if there’s no outrage to be ginned up and no libruls to offend, what’s the point?  These people are not ever or ever will be wanting to engage in a discussion, they already know everything they exist to be the smug, self-righteous examples of semi-sentient meat sacs we’ve always known them to be.

  9. 9.

    Kent

    At least Ted Cruz isn’t trying to do TikToc.  That would literally burn my eyes and make my screen crack.

  11. 11.

    Kent

    @Mallard Filmore:So this will either be a closed garden, bringing back the joy of AOL …
    … or greed will take over and it will become a resurgence of the SpamBone.

    It’s a right wing ecosystem.  Of COURSE greed will take over.  It’s gonna be Gault’s Gulch meets Fyre Island.

  12. 12.

    Brachiator

    @piratedan:

    no one will deny them the outlet to say stupid shit non-stop, so if there’s no outrage to be ginned up and no libruls to offend, what’s the point?

    Some liberals deeply believe that they are the center of the conservative’s universe.  This is not true.

    Right wingers have felt embattled ever since they lost all arguments against rationality, and have been looking for a safe place ever since.

    And if Trump is re-elected, they won’t be thinking “what can I do to offend liberals,” they will move to the next phase, “what can I do to shut liberals up?”

  13. 13.

    Kent

    @Anya: Damn… Click through the article.  That’s some parting shot at the Sandernistas.  Talk about burning some bridges and scorched earth.

    The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have long been criticized as a toxic environment for women and people of color. After an exodus of organizers of color from 2016–2018, local DSA chapters in cities like New York and Chicago underwent transformations worthy of the organization’s radical reputation, diversifying the complexion of their leadership, electoral organizing and other outreach.

    However, some local DSA chapters continued doing the same thing, expecting different results. The Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America (MADSA) has been one such chapter.

    In 2019, I was asked to give the Opening Speech at DSA’s National Convention in Atlanta. At the time, I was one of only three elected officials in the State of Georgia that openly-identified as a Democratic Socialist. MADSA was on its third chair of color in less than one year. Two Black leaders had publicly split with the chapter, criticizing MADSA as both racist and sexist.

    I would like to pause here to apologize to those two women. My male privilege blinded me to the seriousness of their allegations, and I was lulled into thinking that my celebrity as an elected official would propel me over the institutional barriers that previous leaders of color had faced. I allowed myself to be convinced that I was a magical negro who could transform a troubled institution.

    . . . .

    But as Chair the Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists, I hit a Bernie wall.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Martin: Prezactly.  With no libs to pwn, they have no purpose.  So this thing is as doomed as Gab as a serious killer app.

  16. 16.

    Brachiator

    @Kent:

    Damn… Click through the article. That’s some parting shot at the Sandernistas.

    Unfortunately, the author cannot see the contradiction he is caught up in.

    My support of Bernie is unquestionable….

    One of the most troubling objections heard during these debates was a demand that any candidate seeking a MADSA endorsement must first endorse Bernie. For some, Bernie — not his policies — had become the standard of evaluating anyone’s allegiance to the principles of Democratic Socialism. Anyone who did not endorse him, or adopt his syntax on issues, was deemed suspect. Though my own support for Bernie had not wavered (I lost several Black friends who derided me as a Bernie Bro), I worried that my local DSA chapter was devolving from a club of principles into a cult of personality.

    This thing that the author belongs to is totally organized around Bernie worship and cannot exist without him.

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Brachiator: There are no longer any “conservatives of conscience”.  The Never Trumpers are pissed because Donald is destroying their brand, by exposing the reality of it: obeisance to the parasites of the .01%.

  19. 19.

    Kent

    @Brachiator:This thing that the author belongs to is totally organized around Bernie worship and cannot exist without him.

    Oh yes.  The entire DSA has turned into an epic and monstrous train wreck in just 3 months.  Their heads must be spinning with how fast they went from being the new left to utter has-beens.  With the BLM movement gaining all the youth attention and attention from people of color that they thought was supposed to be “theirs.”

    Maybe the problem really is about racism and not just the 1%.

    Bernie is still a Senator and possibly an exceedingly powerful committee chair in a few months.  They are all now……spectators.

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    @Anya:

    Isn’t parler French for talk? I wonder why they chose a French word?

    They have an obsession with the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean?”

    And they love to be snooty while pretending to champion the common white man.

  23. 23.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    That possum account on twitter has some really cute photos.

  24. 24.

    gwangung

    @Kent: Well, having a monstrous blind spot about race will do that, particularly for the POCs who were open to his economics message…

    There are LOTS of people who are open to many of his policy stands, but the insensitivity to sexism and racism in American society (where POCs openly state that one of the major problems of American society is white supremacy) dooms that particular segment to irrelevancy.

    Folks have got to keep up. Denying the problems of racism (which a class-first approach does) will just mean all people will dismiss you as having a flawed approach.

  26. 26.

    Anya

    @Kent:  I was thinking that he’s going to be dead to all of his former comrades. He torched the bridge but it feels like he’s been thinking about this for a long time. It sounds like he’s been dissatisfied for awhile and the lack of support of his BLM initiative was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  27. 27.

    Anya

    @Brachiator: I can see what he’s trying to say though. He’s basically saying that he supports Bernie as a person and what he stands for but that doesn’t mean the movement has to revolve around Bernie.

  29. 29.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kent: Silly Kent.  The only problem we have in this country is INCOME INEQUALITY!

    (furiously wags both index fingers at you!)

  31. 31.

    SectionH

    @Villago Delenda Est: Oh yes. In fact Mr S – whose political instinct I respect – is all about worrying about the *surprise* Dolt’s gone, and let’s all get behind… Pence?  That’s where it breaks down for me.

    But srsly, I think the  major movement with the Republicans now is an attempt save the party. Lincoln project and all. Love their ads, but I’d rather the Republicans go the way of their predecessor Know-Nothings, and I’m kinda worried they won’t.

  33. 33.

    different-church-lady

    @Kent: Bernie-Bros keep telling us who they are, and some people keep hearing something else.

  34. 34.

    lumpkin

    Ya know, Ted Cruz used to be the most popular guy everyone hates but now he’s mostly like a big slug in the middle of the sidewalk that you want to avoid looking at.

  35. 35.

    lumpkin

    In terms of smarmy offensiveness Tom Cotton is currently running circles around Ted Cruz.

  38. 38.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Speaking of Bernie, he sure has disappeared.

    I was at grocery store today and they had his picture on a milk carton.

  40. 40.

    Jay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    activists and “others” often focus on a single issue of “whats” wrong, prioritize and focus on that,

    Sars-Covid-19 has exposed a lot of the rot in the West.

    My better half works for/with a Think Tank of influence here. Mostly young brilliant people of accomplishment for change, almost all focused intensely on a single issue. Sars-Covid-19 has changed that. Teams, groups have formed on the realization that it’s all interconnected and cross crisis,

    and there is internal rot in the institution.

    People, “thought leaders” are using words they have never used before. Trudeau said UBI.

    My wife is being radicalized, she’s almost where I was during the Volker Recession.

    Eyes are being opened.

  43. 43.

    Jay

    At governor’s residence: a racist old white woman CHOKED out a 13 year old Black girl. Put both hands around this girl’s neck. Crowds escorted this woman out. 20 cops on bikes proceeded to walk this woman up the street to her car. Cops refuse to take a report. They don’t care.— Sean Lim (@SeanLimMN) June 27, 2020

  44. 44.

    different-church-lady

    @Kent: What’s interesting is that for years Bernie’s line basically boiled down to “Income inequality solves racism,” but now smarter people are kicking around not just the opposite (racism is a tool of capitalism), but even that capitalism’s very purpose is white dominance. You can’t get much further from the DSA line than that.

  46. 46.

    Jay

    @different-church-lady:

    yurp, many people have moved on from ancient texts by white men on how capitalism exploits the working man, to include the exploitation of women, people of colour, colonies, the commons,….

    and while some have become more “inclusive”, other cling to dogma.

  48. 48.

    Kent

    @Kent: What’s interesting is that for years Bernie’s line basically boiled down to “Income inequality solves racism,” but now smarter people are kicking around not just the opposite (racism is a tool of capitalism), but even that capitalism’s very purpose is white dominance. You can’t get much further from the DSA line than that.

    What black folks have known all along. It’s not the 1% who are holding them back.  It’s the racist cop, the racist jury, the racist loan officer, the racist teachers, the racist supervisor.  None of whom are part of the 1%.

    The 1% didn’t give us Donald Trump.  White people gave us Donald Trump.   With a big assist from the oligarchy, media, and Putin of course.  But white people did all the voting.  With a lot of fucking glee.  And I’m sorry to say that a whole shitload of them were my extended family.

  50. 50.

    Jay

    “By pushing money into the lagging Afghan economy and incentivizing our troops to exercise maximum care, our friends the Russians are helping walk back the disastrous military policies of the Obama administration.” —Mollie Hemingway at the Federalist— WiseGuyHat (@Popehat) June 27, 2020

  51. 51.

    Kent

    @Jay:

    @different-church-lady:

    yurp, many people have moved on from ancient texts by white men on how capitalism exploits the working man, to include the exploitation of women, people of colour, colonies, the commons,….

    and while some have become more “inclusive”, other cling to dogma.

    Racism is economically irrational.  So it doesn’t compute for economists and they assume it away.  But then so are a lot of things like life like religion, and love.  Economics only gets you so far.

  52. 52.

    Jay

    @Kent:

    economically, racism makes perfect sense. Labour get’s divided, not united against the rent seekers and owners of capital, that keeps wages down, profits up, which drives the Markets.

    it allows economies in infrastructure spending and creates barriers to economic rise.

    it creates massive opportunities for regressive taxation.

  53. 53.

    different-church-lady

    @Martin: Well, I wasn’t necessarily advocating that theory as correct, merely pointing out just how quickly and completely Bernie’s theory fell out of fashion.

  54. 54.

    Shalimar

    @Anya: I read it.  I don’t recognize any of the names he refers to, but it sounds like the only bridges he burned are with those in MADSA who were blocking his efforts at every turn.  All the other relationships he has built will continue in other, more effective organizations.

  55. 55.

    different-church-lady

    @Kent: It’s the whole damn system that’s holding them back and down. It’s called systemic racism for a reason. Bernie kept focusing on just that one component of the system because he was trying to shoehorn minorities into his solution that resonated with whites.

    “We’re all people” doesn’t cut it when half of society is treating minorities like they aren’t people. Give society free college, and that will be used as a tool of racism if you don’t address the racism.

  57. 57.

    p.a.

    1) For Parler future, see history of conservapedia, c.b. radio.

     

    2) So the new conservative lifeline is… French?

  58. 58.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Kent: All the bridges! And rightly so, Councilman Khalid did the legwork to identify and support candidates. The MADSA folks, well …

    Father’s Day Sunday I organized the first-ever #BlackLivesMatter protest in the history of South Fulton. The March & Rally lead City Council to vote unanimously to make Juneteenth a Paid City Holiday (only the second GA city to do so). We are now building coalitions of residents, electeds and police officers to create a Police Accountability Commission (using Chicago DSA’s proposal) and discuss defunding the police.
    Not a single member of my Atlanta DSA chapter showed up for this event.

    Always do the right thing.

  59. 59.

    Miss Bianca

    @Anya: Yeah, well, fuck that shit. Lefty authoritarian cult leader leads cult of lefty authoritarian followers, what a shocker that they don’t have any coherent agenda on race/class intersectionality when he didn’t. You take away Bernie and they will flail like pithed frogs, unless and until they find another Dear Leader. “Democratic” Socialism, my ass.

    ETA: Read the article and I applaud the guy for his activism and commitment to public service, cognitive dissonance about the DSA notwithstanding. I hope he continues in public service and goes on to do some more great things for his community.

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    Parler?  LOL.  21st century piratespeak with 18th century worldview.  Have fun with that.

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