Seth takes a closer look at yet another bombshell scandal from the Trump era in which the former president’s Justice Department spied on Democratic lawmakers investigating him during the Russia probe.
Because, of course they did.
Garland needs to get over his institutionalism, put on the big boy pants, and root the Trumpista vipers out of the DoJ, because they’ll come after him too for daring to serve under a Democratic president.
So while TFG was crying and whining THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN AND THEY GOT CAUGHT!!!1!!! it was projection as usual. And of course nobody was “caught” “spying on his campaign.”
I’m not surprised…
A reporter for Fox 26 Houston went rogue on live TV, claimed the network is “muzzling” her, and said she’s working with Project Veritas. https://t.co/MScaFG6VYp
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) June 15, 2021
re: #3 JOE 🥓
She’s about to find out about “right to work.”
OK, I’ve been napping, then watching the Mets game/napping from the couch for several hours. But, I see I need the address something of national importance.
It’s pretty obvious that we as a nation have failed Marjorie Taylor Greene.
I’m sure if Georgia, and the rest of the US was littered with monuments to Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, Hess, Eichmann, Göring and countless leaders of the Schutzstaffel, Gestapo and the Sicherheitsdienst she would have been much better informed about the horrors of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany…
Wow. This Fox reporter turns out to be a Project Veritas operative and announces it on live television. Today.
#EFP pic.twitter.com/0UZCVEktFO — Jim Stewartson, QAnon Eliminator, #RIPQ 🇺🇸🏴☠️ (@jimstewartson) June 15, 2021
re: #5 jaunte
She’s about to find out about “right to work.”
Aren’t the local Fox stations now part of Disney? Or did the Mouse have to spin them off like they did with the sports stations?
California looked like that a lot last year. It’s even drier this year.
From downstairs…
re: #7 jaunte
The precarious Texas energy grid is a major national security risk. If it breaks, the supply of gas to much of the rest of the country will be impacted for months.
Why? They’re not connected to the grid.
re: #10 DesertDenizen
Wikipedia sez:
KRIV, virtual and UHF digital channel 26, is a Fox owned-and-operated television station licensed to Houston, Texas, United States. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation,
….
Fox Corporation is an American mass media company headquartered in New York City. The company was formed in 2019 as a result of the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company; the assets that were not acquired by Disney were spun off from 21st Century Fox as the new Fox Corp., and its stock began trading on January 1, 2019.
re: #12 Yeah Sure WhatEVs
The gas transmission system (connected to the rest of the U.S.) is powered by the (vulnerable and isolated) Texas grid.
re: #14 Dread Pirate Ron
I’ve been watching all the tankers on the FlightRadar24 app, they have a DC-10 tanker filling up at AZA and dumping all day long, along with some BAE 146’s and a few SkyCrane helicopters.
Although the Texas GOP will let every senior in the state die of heatstroke before they’ll let the energy industry fail, so there’s that.
re: #12 Yeah Sure WhatEVs
From downstairs…
Why? They’re not connected to the grid.
The producers in Texas use Texas (Ercot) electricity to pump the stuff. If the ramshackle Ercot non-system quits working, the gas isn’t going anywhere.
re: #10 DesertDenizen
Aren’t the local Fox stations now part of Disney? Or did the Mouse have to spin them off like they did with the sports stations?
The local Fox-owned TV stations stayed with Murdoch and the Fox broadcast networks (and Fox News). Disney couldn’t acquire them because they already own ABC and the ABC-owned stations.
I moved out to the country for some peace and quiet, but this summer they started drilling a gas well about a quarter of a mile south of my place. Grinding vibration, 24-7.
re: #18 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
The producers in Texas use Texas (Ercot) electricity to pump the stuff. If the ramshackle Ercot non-system quits working, the gas isn’t going anywhere.
Of course, if you’re a Russian agent intent on undermining US security, this is a feature not a bug.
re: #19 ipsos
The local Fox-owned TV stations stayed with Murdoch and the Fox broadcast networks (and Fox News). Disney couldn’t acquire them because they already own ABC and the ABC-owned stations.
The fox sports regional networks were sold off, mostly to Sinclair and have since been rebranded as Bally’s sports (yes as in the casino)
This pilot got a very up-close view of a funnel cloud while flying over Grady County, Oklahoma, over the weekend. https://t.co/n5eGYWPFBW pic.twitter.com/cB77xlcypG
— ABC News (@ABC) June 15, 2021
I have a pretty capable diesel/natural gas backup generator system here at the Conspiracy Compound. I feel obligated to help the neighbors if/when Ercot goes belly-up. This suggests a question for the group: How much should I charge yokel Republicans to recharge their phones and laptops, or should I follow their example and boot them out anyway?
cHlbp3DSrTcHfALLkrcMcGEJVQ0mm7mrHWaSB8btXVvG8DXkXgC8/ZqcxFY/cu7sl9e/zCoX/C8tZPcuGtfdxeGO+QM5wC1q9lA9YBmubG9P9NJOF6/PY2qUIZpn2wPjF+KGmuHfFF1ViZO/H4bg7qcxilvEkqQt6/mr+dSSEKLsnzXI/FDVnr3Agf5DR2M/Rob6/MESjOavhVu++ZZ0O1OL4hHIGNdW1BO0E6aL7Ns=
Marjorie Taylor Greene is trending — that means her fundraising is about to go through the roof.
We might not have national name recognition, but we’ve got each other.
Please consider RTing this tweet and donating.
$5 can make a huge difference. https://t.co/CfGGVyOAY4— Holly McCormack for Congress (@Holly_4Congress) June 15, 2021
re: #24 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
$20 per item per charge. Or something in kind perhaps? Food, labor, etc?
re: #17 jaunte
Although the Texas GOP will let every senior in the state die of heatstroke before they’ll let the energy industry fail, so there’s that.
They should be happy to die for corporate profits./ Dan Patrick
ERCOT spokesperson pic.twitter.com/sQzrMUVMWG
— blaire erskine (@blaireerskine) June 14, 2021
re: #26 William Lewis
$20 per item per charge. Or something in kind perhaps? Food, labor, etc?
Good suggestion. I could probably scarf up a lot of ammunition too. Not sure they have the calibers I might need but it would be better for me to have it than them.
So remember when they blamed the Texas energy grid failure on frozen solar panels? It’s June. In Texas. They aren’t frozen anymore.
— Robert J. DeNault (@robertjdenault) June 15, 2021
re: #21 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
Of course, if you’re a Russian agent intent on undermining US security, this is a feature not a bug.
If you can generate revenue out of desperation and systemic failure it’s a feature not a bug right up until the moment the collapse is total…at which point you demand a bailout and reboot the process
More Wall Street, less Krasnaya pioshchad.
re: #32 The Ghost of a Flea
If you can generate revenue out of desperation and systemic failure it’s a feature not a bug right up until the moment the collapse is total…at which point you demand a bailout and reboot the process
More Wall Street, less Krasnaya pioshchad.
Could be. Thing is, though, Wall Street still has a fair amount of pull with Democrats, but it is always Repugs we see engaging in outright sabotage.
Ok, let’s look at how a well-funded network of right-wing groups involved in the astroturfed anti-lockdown protests was transformed into a platform to spread Trump’s election-related disinformation and advocate for violence at the Capitol. 🧵 https://t.co/jbAYv54KP3
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) June 14, 2021
re: #24 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
I have a pretty capable diesel/natural gas backup generator system here at the Conspiracy Compound. I feel obligated to help the neighbors if/when Ercot goes belly-up. This suggests a question for the group: How much should I charge yokel Republicans to recharge their phones and laptops, or should I follow their example and boot them out anyway?
[Embedded content]
8ycJxDoGEifesjvDZGvr3JCqnR7pSI4kPN0EtqKO/3tU1y2N3Re0CrfzN0A9/ts/Bc+NkInu/2STIvU36fCFiN4oajuGA6qTHUaEXFKFIu1fq/hb/ujCpVf3Mk56zm45
Pretty sure there are laws against filling her in on that one now…
— MutherBear (@MuthrBear) June 15, 2021
re: #31 jaunte
That’s the fix!
Texans will no longer flip the pages of the calendar each month. They’ll keep it on JUNE. It may become Texas law.
It could…
re: #33 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
Could be. Thing is, though, Wall Street still has a fair amount of pull with Democrats, but it is always Repugs we see engaging in outright sabotage.
Yes, but Wall Street lobbies Democrats for reasons variable as (1) making things easier to burn down, and (2) sometimes recognizing that there has to be some minimal safety net through which things can recover after things burn down and wanting someone to do that, but also refusing to be the guys that don’t throw gasoline around, and (3) incredibly lax grants. Like…to high finance speculators Republicans are scary because there’s enough apocalypse cosplayers and sincere Social Darwinists that they might let shit truly collapse: having some squishy Democrats to deliver Narcan to the body politic is dimly clever.
Also…Democrats individually and collectively aren’t immune to the general assumption that maximizing value short term while wracking up a debt (paid mostly is dead brown foreigners and extinctions) is a worthy end unto itself. They’re willing to let big companies do that to third world nations, and banks do it to people with loans, and President Bush to try to do it to Iraq.
Standard right/left politics doesn’t really encapsulate the problem, because almost everybody accepts the twin premises of (1) you have to prove your life through work, (2) it makes sense when a company maximizes shareholder value by any means necessary. It’s not just Republicans fuming about the possibility of freeloaders gaming the benefits systems, and it’s not just Republicans crafting legal language that gives money to companies so that they’ll give some of that money to employees because job are important.
What I’m getting at here is that the money and money men of the world have no national identity, and will happily fuck over everyone in this country, with or without an assist from other countries that have sinister nationalist goals. I mean, Russia itself is the archetypal “fucked to death by money men with the help of a country called USA” nation. Somewhere in here you get into Ockham’s Razor: either there’s a new generation of hyper-coordinated espionage heavy information warfare or the same fucking people that sank several dozen nations (and lined up to do it to Afghanistan and Iraq) through bullshit financial practices are doing it again but don’t want to commute this time.
I mean, it’s not like there’s an entire chunk of this country that has constructed an ingrown culture in which most Americans deserve privation, and stripping the assets of the nation is actually a kind of moral reformation of the social order, and nothing matters beyond its immediate utility….
It’s like we’re all standing in the main square of Huneodora, Romania, looking at an exsanguinated corpse with two holes in its jugular, and the discussion happening as the sun sets over Corvin Castle and the wolves howl is whether it’s Dracula—who has previously murdered hundreds of villages in nearby towns— or if this time it’s two very thirsty Turks each with an icepick and a fog machine.
re: #24 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
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
re: #11 Dread Pirate Ron
California looked like that a lot last year. It’s even drier this year.
Pretty soon gonna have Oakies standing guard on the border so that Californians don’t get out.
Amazing that Lubbock just boarded this sinking ship last month.
Bad in winter, bad in summer. You guys, I’m starting to think this libertarian electrical grid experiment is just bad. https://t.co/uZn8ja8krR
— Patrick S. Tomlinson (@stealthygeek) June 14, 2021
re: #43 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
Amazing that Lubbock just boarded this sinking ship last month.
[Embedded content]
Let me guess, the solar panels are overheating, so once again renewable energy is to blame?
/////
Because Republicans in Texas are so desperate to keep minorities from voting, they have now changed the law so that you have to go to the DMV and get a learners permit - which requires 3 documents showing that you live where you say you do - in order to get a learners permit for your teen even if they take the written test through drivers ed. But, between them closing hundreds of DMVs to reduce the chance of minorities getting an ID, and COVID, it could be over 8 weeks before I can get my son an appointment to get his permit.
re: #44 Targetpractice
Let me guess, the solar panels are overheating, so once again renewable energy is to blame?
/////
Lubbock decided that, since they weren’t a party to the February where most of the state lost power, they switched from the national grid to the Texas one.
From an earlier thread:
re: #17 steve_davis
Cat out the door again during thunderstorm. Fuck it. You got some place better to be during a thunderstorm than on the bed with me watching soccer, listening to me talk about what I may or may not be having for supper, then have at it.
So sorry to hear this. I hope that you were able to again locate aforementioned cat. And there was not too much wear on you or cat.
We had something similar this evening. A storm went overhead. Lots of rain, but no lightening. Until suddenly lightening went off almost directly overhead. I eventually located my cat in the basement, huddled in a corner of her bed.
If you can get your cat to wear a collar, there are a number of Bluetooth and other protocol locators that can help track down lost kitties. (Or lost keys for that matter.)
I have ‘Tile’ Bluetooth locators on my key fobs. Given the choice of models with or with out replaceable batteries, I chose the replaceable battery ones.
I found these articles helpful when I was researching:
The Best Bluetooth Tracker
nytimes.com
The Best GPS Trackers for Cats and Dogs
nytimes.com
8 Cheap, Unexpected Cat Essentials We Love
nytimes.com
Tile Mate (2020) ($25 at the time of publication)
Our cat Julienne is a hider—when really spooked she squeezes into the smallest space she can find and goes silent for hours at a time. She’s also indoors only, so if she ever makes a break for it, we worry she’ll end up hiding in a drain or where we can’t see her just yards from our apartment. A Tile tracker is small, light, and at its current price of $35, pretty affordable. If we ever can’t find her, it’ll help us figure out where she is within a pretty limited radius, and then make a loud enough beep that we can corner her. It’s smaller and cheaper than a dedicated pet GPS tracker, doesn’t need to be recharged, and there’s no annual subscription. A GPS tracker would be more accurate and work more places, but for the occasional peace of mind we need? A Tile is more than enough.
Like, if I drop dead tonight, the thing I’d want to impress on you all is that all the shit you’re trained to think of as a state—a concrete thing that’s in the world that’s discrete—is actually a process—an ongoing thing that came from somewhere, has traits that can be examined for similarity and difference to other things, and will become something else as its internal mechanisms proceed with their tasks.
(bad things are often like other bad things)
If there’s a Rube Goldberg machine, but somewhere among the twenty steps there is a meat grinder set to “Fine,” then there’s no mystery as to why the mice go in and meatballs come out.
Similar bad shit keeps happening not because there’s a conspiracy, but because there are predictable outcomes when the same…frankly, stupid and destructive…things are done over and over. Pretending that each bad thing is an unexplained stone from the sky is unproductive, particularly when there seems to be a lot of rich men witnessing asteroids robbing banks.
An autopsy is not an act of disrespect that substitutes for a funeral. They are different things.
Russia is not the Magic Faraway Land of sinister things, and Putin is not it’s Goblin King forcing America to run through a maze to rescue its FREEDOM.
The current state of Russia came from somewhere very specific that has to do with material conditions of the national entity, its Soviet and Tsarist past…but in very immediate terms the shit that got pulled where a bunch of hungry neoliberals* just kind of glad-handed that moment when Yeltsin voided an election, took over the country, and privatized everything to create the current oligarchy.
If you’re angry about Putin…well, he’s Super Manuel Noriega, Turbo Edition.
He sucks, but he exists to suck because he was allowed to.
Maybe don’t empower these people so a giant investment firm can increase shareholder value temporarily.
Maybe don’t accept the premises of people that get that short term money when they promise that things will work out okay.
* neoliberalism as in the sweet Thatcher science:
deregulation (financial scams for some, pollution and deadly factories for others),
privatization (the common wealth got sold to a mine for pennies and you get free heavy metal pollution as a bonus),
austerity (there is never money for aid, there is always money for war and depreciating a yacht on taxes)
individualism (fuck you, I got mine and also yours—complaining is Communism)
globalization (cheap raw materials in ex-colonies, cheap labor in Communist China, cheap products at Walmart…the middle men make all the money and the world gets generally worse)
re: #43 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
Libertarian experiments on society remind me of the old Yogi Berra saying:
“In theory, theory and practice are the same…
In practice, they aren’t.”
Um. ALL the people involved are career DOJ. Paul Colburn has been submitting misleading declarations from OLC for at least 10 years.
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) June 14, 2021
One of my friends has a cat who (a) has wanderlust and (b) is very friendly. Lily has a collar and a tag with name, address and phone number and yes, the neighbors (something like 40+ so far) have brought Lily home or called up my friend to come fetch her. Recently, my friend has gotten a GPS collar for Lily because she has started slipping into local food and drink establishments since they’re reopening for business. That way she can track her down and bring her home before said establishments close.
I won’t let my cat outside because I lost two cats to 5th East (a street) in Salt Lake City and … nope, not going there. Plus my cat is about 12 years old and really needs to stay close to home.
WHERE MASKS ARE REQUIRED: The Golden State is reopening tomorrow, but before you throw that mask away, here is what you need to know. @KRON4HMadyun reports. https://t.co/bxlRNyWfoi
— KRON4 News (@kron4news) June 15, 2021
This is some major white entitlement. He feels oppressed because his daughter had to settle for her second choice Ivy League school!? pic.twitter.com/C68ZkfaHcb
— Ace-o-aces (@aceoaces) June 15, 2021
re: #49 ckkatz
Libertarian experiments on society remind me of the old Yogi Berra saying:
“In theory, theory and practice are the same…
In practice, they aren’t.”
I was all set to tell you that came from Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut, but I guess we’re both wrong.
Misattributed
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is.
The earliest known appearance in print of this quote is Benjamin Brewster in the October 1881 - June 1882 issue of “The Yale Literary Magazine.” Brewster asks, “What does his lucid explanation amount to but this, that in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, while in practice there is?” See page 202. google.com and quoteinvestigator.com
It has also been attributed by Doug Rosenberg and Matt Stephens (2007) Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UMLTheory and Practice p. xxvii as well as Walter J. Savitch, Pascal: An Introduction to the Art and Science of Programming (1984), where it is attributed as a “remark overheard at a computer science conference”. It circulated as an anonymous saying for more than ten years before attributions to van de Snepscheut and Yogi Berra began to appear (and later still to various others).
Give it to Yogi.
Oh, yeah. You did.
Now, for something completely different: who knew that, before he was a pro football player, an actor, and the best damn Old Spice spokesperson ever, Terry Crews became a hell of an artist?
Before Crews set out to become a football player, he honed his art craft in a most improbable setting.
“I come from Flint, Michigan,” Crews told [Jimmy] Kimmel. “My first job in entertainment, I drew courtroom sketches for the worst murder case in Flint, Michigan history.” His talents with pen and paintbrush were such that when it came time for Crews to head to college, it was his art rather than his athleticism that opened doors. “I had an art scholarship before I had a football scholarship,” he explained.
During his brief career as a professional football player, Crews kept up his studio practice, even depending on it for extra income.
re: #53 Ace-o-aces
[Embedded content]
Wingnuts: “We need to stop giving participation trophies! Kids need to learn that not everybody can win! There’s always winner and losers!”
Also wingnuts: “HOW DARE THEY TREAT MY KID UNFAIRLY?! I DEMAND TO SEE THE MANAGER!!!”
@XRufio What level of rainbow-washing does this @CityMinneapolis paint-over of the protest of Winston Smith’s murder reach? Has it been measured before? pic.twitter.com/SlAoApUwGA
— jgarcia (@jasoncomix) June 11, 2021
Coopting Pride to invalidate protest of police murders.
This is part of what I mean when I obsess over bad faith and deep scrutiny of the internal process of an idea: anything can be coopted and transformed into a hollow ritual…symbols and other codifications of meaning are easily rebuilt to cover a very predictable set of self-serving horseshit because the externalities, the surface of shared memory—the genuine emotion and weight, the sincerity that guided the process of recollection—are the perfect camouflage for basic selfish shit.
Nothing—literally nothing—cannot be put through this process of cooption. Motherfuckers with power—be that cash or clout or authority to use violence—will feed ideals into the machine and watch as it hollows them out and extrudes self-interest into the new cavity.
You have to keep taking things apart, asking why and how.
re: #54 wrenchwench
Hmm, did not know that.
So you’re saying that in practice it is attributed to Berra. :)
re: #51 mmmirele
So sorry to hear about your furballs. :(
May your friend never have to face that with Lily.
Wray told lawmakers the FBI was treating the Capitol siege as “an act of domestic terrorism,” had charged some people with conspiracy, and that “more serious” charges might soon be coming. https://t.co/GMLKOJ8ijt
— Andrew deGrandpre (@adegrandpre) June 10, 2021
re: #56 Targetpractice
Wingnuts: “We need to stop giving participation trophies! Kids need to learn that not everybody can win! There’s always winner and losers!”
Also wingnuts: “HOW DARE THEY TREAT MY KID UNFAIRLY?! I DEMAND TO SEE THE MANAGER!!!”
I also call BS on that claim. No way that kid had straight As with AP classes, ‘top’ SATs (WTF is that anyway, he doesn’t say the score) and didn’t get in unless they had no extra curriculars and wrote shitty admissions essays.
re: #53 Ace-o-aces
The belief that just because a high school student is what some think of as “smart” means said student can get into their first choice of college is a sign that the complainer just doesn’t understand one important thing:
There are a lot of smart people out there.
And, there is no reason for a college to only pick the highest SAT or grade point scorers for admittance.
There simply isn’t proof that someone with a high school gpa of 3.9/4 will do better in college than someone with say a gpa of 3.1/4 .
And SAT scores (like ACT scores) are notorious for not being indicators of anything more than how much a parent was able to afford to prepare their kid for a test.
And even AP classes in high school only sets up a student to be better off in their first or second semester. By the second year of college those AP classes aren’t so important. By the third year they are irrelevant.
Simply put: college is a crap game. Or perhaps better, a roulette wheel.
For the purposes of learning and skill creation, any well managed and decently funded public university is as good as Harvard.
The reason to go to Harvard is for social climbing. Literally it’s who you know. Now, that is important in life when all one cares about is how high on the status totem pole one can climb. But that has little to do with one’s happiness in life, or value to society.
These days, getting into Harvard simply means you either have the money, power, or influence to get into Harvard. And having it on your resume is not so much an indication of one’s abilities as it is an indication of your social standing.
It’s notable that the assholes who bitch about “affirmative action” or some other preferential treatment of minorities in college admissions never seem to have any problem with legacies like Dubya getting in despite being (at best) average students.
re: #61 JC1
I also call BS on that claim. No way that kid had straight As with AP classes, ‘top’ SATs (WTF is that anyway, he doesn’t say the score) and didn’t get in unless they had no extra curriculars and wrote shitty admissions essays.
At the Ivy’s, Stanford, Claremont and other highly selective schools, “diversity” doesn’t just mean ethnic and religious diversity. It means geographic diversity. Diversity of experience. A kid from Wyoming, or Alaska, or who lived on army bases in 4 countries, or in a trailer park in a mining town, who’s the first in their family to go to college — that’s diversity. Even if they’re every bit as white as the Waspiest kid in Connecticut.
In class discussions and study groups and dorms, they want their students to be exposed to as wide a variety of perspectives as possible. There’s not as much educational value in a pod full of Andover/Exeter/Harvard-Westlake kids, even if all of them had top grades and excellent SAT’s, because it’s same-old same-old and they’ll finish college without ever hearing from anyone who sees the world differently than they do.
The easiest way to get into a top college of your choice is transfer in as a Junior.
re: #31 jaunte
So remember when they blamed the Texas energy grid failure on frozen solar panels? It’s June. In Texas. They aren’t frozen anymore.
they’re melting…
Russian Su-30SM and Italian F-35As Had Their First Close Encounter Over The Baltic Sea: https://t.co/DjNk6a1Tyo
— The Aviationist (@TheAviationist) June 9, 2021
Approximate location of the video showing Italian Air Force F-35A’s intercepting a Russian An-12 over the Baltic off the coast of Estonia. Geolocated with Google Earth.
59.509535°, 23.608845° https://t.co/mG8tDCvUpt pic.twitter.com/fBNnMO6gKB— IntelWalrus (@IntelWalrus) June 9, 2021
.@POTUS visit the 9/11 memorial at NATO HQ in Brussels.
It is a piece of twisted steel from the World Trade Center. NATO’s mutual defense pact, Article 5, was invoked that day. pic.twitter.com/QZQiJ3CBil— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) June 14, 2021
So what is with the recent bouhaha over Ukraine joining NATO? Are we finally going to go in and start a new Crimean War?
I am not being warmongering here, but after all, when Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal (the fifth largest in the world), it was in exchange for a promise from the West to help maintain its territorial integrity.
So it seems we are left with two choices: reoccupy Crimea or give them back their nukes…
/
re: #70 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
The timeline for membership will run 20-25 years from what I read today.
re: #71 Dread Pirate Ron
The timeline for membership will run 20-25 years from what I read today.
aha. I have seen it being spun as Biden’s warmongering already in a lot of right-wing and so-left-that-they-are-right-wing Putinversteher sites.
And I do mean sites that have now gone full-on Lukaschenkoversteher
What bugs me is how poorly prepared Western journalists are for intviews with Putin. They have an opportunity which none of us in Russian indy media will ever get – and flunk it every time. Putin runs circles around them. What does Lesin have to do with anything? Ask a Russian! https://t.co/ZPwUfyf417
— Alexey Kovalyov (@Alexey__Kovalev) June 12, 2021
The interview with Putin was worthless. Putin did what he always does with these types of interviews, which is to alternate between “I’m rubber, you’re glue” and “I know you are but what am I”, while the Western reporter sits there and nods and thinks about how that Pulitzer will look on his I-love-me shelf.
re: #73 ericblair
The interview with Putin was worthless. Putin did what he always does with these types of interviews, which is to alternate between “I’m rubber, you’re glue” and “I know you are but what am I”, while the Western reporter sits there and nods and thinks about how that Pulitzer will look on his I-love-me shelf.
Keep in mind that most of the American public has no idea of how to approach the subject or personality of Putin. Some of us see and think of him in Cold-War terms, which are relevant in some aspects but not overall.
To understand his motives and methods, one has to have a grasp of the past two centuries of Russian and European history.
actually the left has pretty much moved on to getting vaccinated and getting on with life pic.twitter.com/7cCyjRhBri
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 15, 2021
re: #75 Dread Pirate Ron
The “War on Hydroxychloroquine” is pretty much up there with the Left’s “War on Leeches” and “War on Dr Mingus’ Snake-Oil Cure-All Tonic”.
But, had Hydroxychloroquine turned out to be the least bit effective, it would have been the ultimate Hail Mary play and all but secured Trump’s re-election and had him elevated to near-Godhead as a Savant and Savior of America from the Chinese Laboratory Scourge.
re: #76 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
The “War on Hydroxychloroquine” is pretty much up there with the “War on Leeches and Bloodletting”
But, had Hydroxychloroquine turned out to be the least bit effective, it would have been the ultimate Hail Mary play and all but secured Trump’s re-election and had him elevated to near-Godhead as a Savant and Savior of America from the Chinese Laboratory Scourge.
how hydroxyc is being treated or perceived is besides the point.
if it worked, everyone would be using it.
applied medicine (as opposed to diagnostic) is essentially “what works.”
science essentially is explaining what and how things work.
July 7 — NYC is doing a ticker-tape parade for health care workers, first responders and essential workers. I went to the Nelson Mandela parade in 1990; all the parades since 1999 have been for champion athletic teams. The Yankees have had more parades (9) than anybody else.
the stock exchange doesn’t use ticker-tape anymore; it’s only use now is for the parades.
re: #77 Dangerman
applied medicine (as opposed to diagnostic) is essentially “what works.”
science essentially is explaining what and how things work.
We all know that elitist college-educated so called “experts” - with their fancy degrees that they earned after only a few years of study at renowned institutions of learning and backed up by decades of experience - are almost universally against Trump and are ready to accept a few pieces of Soros Silver to lie to the American people just to make him look bad, right?
re: #74 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Adam Silverman over at Balloon Juice talks about how stupid our media is in giving Putin any air at all, and basically says we’re in a non-kinetic battle with Russia
re: #80 Eric The Fruit Bat
Adam Silverman over at Balloon Juice talks about how stupid our media is in giving Putin any air at all, and basically says we’re in a non-kinetic battle with Russia
Russia is advancing its political interests. This is not the same as the Cold War, which was a worldwide ideological struggle carried out on numerous fronts.
Putin’s interest seems to be re-establishing the Russian/Soviet Empire, either by annexation or simply asserting economic/political control over the former republics and territories of the Empire(s)
And let us not forget that the breakup of the USSR left tens of millions of ethnic Russians stranded outside the borders of the Russian Republic, these are Putin’s Sudetendeutsch, who he is also employing as leverage.
In a historical sense, one can make the case that Russia has a more valid claim to the Crimean Peninsula than Ukraine (it was a part of Russia until the 1950’s), but that far from justifies the methods Putin employed in re-annexing it.
re: #65 Dread Pirate Ron
The easiest way to get into a top college of your choice is transfer in as a Junior.
Most Ivy League schools, Stanford, etc., don’t really accept transfers.
@UnionStationKC opened their highly anticipated, internationally awarded exhibition “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away.” today.
One powerful artifact that stuck in our mind was this child’s doll,
fashioned out of a camp blanket. The exhibit runs through January 2022. pic.twitter.com/r3l4zKCNos— In Kansas City Magazine (@inkansascitymag) June 15, 2021
re: #81 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
In a historical sense, one can make the case that Russia has a more valid claim to the Crimean Peninsula than Ukraine (it was a part of Russia until the 1950’s), but that far from justifies the methods Putin employed in re-annexing it.
Sure, and then Turkey can take Crimea back as the successor of the Ottoman Empire, Finland might want Karelia back, maybe Lithuania can bite some chunks off of Belarus and Western Russia, and then Mongolia can come in for the win.
Putin doesn’t care about any sort of consistency, so it’s pointless. Plus, a lot of this was driven by middle age and old folx nostalgia for their Crimean summer vacations back in the Soviet days, to beaches you now can’t get to because the Russian oligarchs have taken them over.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: “I have made a mistake… this afternoon I visited the Holocaust Museum. The Holocaust is- there’s nothing comparable to it.” pic.twitter.com/skrF6YyC3u
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) June 14, 2021
I think it’s better for members of Congress to learn about important things in world history before they are elected.
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 14, 2021
Here’s my 5022-word essay on why three or four Justice Department special prosecutor’s offices should be established to investigate—and if the evidence and their judgment supports it, to criminally charge—our newest ex-president. https://t.co/BIrqMELp75
— George Conway (@gtconway3d) January 23, 2021
Its paywalled but the Twitter responses are positive
re: #79 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
We all know that elitist college-educated so called “experts” - with their fancy degrees that they earned after only a few years of study at renowned institutions of learning and backed up by decades of experience - are almost universally against Trump and are ready to accept a few pieces of Soros Silver to lie to the American people just to make him look bad, right?
It really is that bad, isn’t it?
re: #88 Dangerman
It really is that bad, isn’t it?
Just like all those “climate experts” who are willing to totally trash their professional careers and reputations just to make oil companies look bad in order to get some liberal grant money.
“I don’t remember this being so rocky” #janeygodleyvoiceover pic.twitter.com/0b4dFSlZnd
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) June 15, 2021
Tiny criminal checking if the coast is clear. https://t.co/PoQhzGGsj6 pic.twitter.com/2BsMnZtWqC
— Illegally Smol Cats (@IllegallySmol) June 15, 2021
re: #89 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Just like all those “climate experts” who are willing to totally trash their professional careers and reputations just to make oil companies look bad in order to get some liberal grant money.
Bow down to Big Granola!
he was clearing out some poison hemlock while doing yardwork.
A local man has spent more than 40 days in the hospital after doing yard work.He’s been on a ventilator and feeding tubes nearly the entire time.https://t.co/4J3A8vahuY
— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) June 15, 2021
ETA: the poison hemlock are the white flowers in the photo. The yellow flowers are wild parsnips, which are also nasty; the sap can burn your skin.
re: #93 Backwoods_Sleuth
he was clearing out some poison hemlock while doing yardwork.
[Embedded content]
Did he burn it? How did it get in his lungs?
“Only one of these nightmares has taken over a major political party
“Only one of these delusions is the governing vision of a former president who just might be president again
“Only one of these developments has turned the backbones of Republican leaders into gelatinous goo”— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 15, 2021
“Only one of these ideologies produced a crowd that sacked the U.S. Capitol and threatened violence against political leaders
“Only one of these movements is working in state legislatures across the country to make electoral systems more vulnerable to manipulation and mob rule.”— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 15, 2021
“It is important to confront every source of illiberalism in American life
“But this doesn’t mean that all such challenges to democracy are equal
“Right-wing authoritarianism is the force that could undo the American system
“In a contest of nightmares, it’s not even a contest”— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) June 15, 2021
re: #94 garzooma
Did he burn it? How did it get in his lungs?
found this info about toxicity and exposure:
Poison-hemlock is acutely toxic to people and animals, with symptoms appearing 20 minutes to three hours after ingestion. All parts of the plant are poisonous and even the dead canes remain toxic for up to three years. The amount of toxin varies and tends to be higher in sunny areas. Eating the plant is the main danger, but it is also toxic to the skin and respiratory system. When controlling poison-hemlock, minimize exposure by wearing gloves and taking frequent breaks when pulling or mowing large amounts of plants. One individual had a severe reaction after pulling plants on a hot day because the toxins were absorbed into her skin.
The typical symptoms for humans include dilation of the pupils, dizziness, and trembling followed by slowing of the heartbeat, paralysis of the central nervous system, muscle paralysis, and death due to respiratory failure. For animals, symptoms include nervous trembling, salivation, lack of coordination, pupil dilation, rapid weak pulse, respiratory paralysis, coma, and sometimes death. For both people and animals, quick treatment can reverse the harm and typically there aren’t noticeable aftereffects.
At NATO HQ in Brussels, Biden is about to take part in what may be his largest press event yet. As many as 100 reporters are in attendance, poolers say.
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) June 14, 2021
Twit
Biden is abroad doing a big push on democracy v autocracy. BUT the U.S. press — a key part of any functioning democracy — has gotten less access than under previous administrations. And is now forced to resort to updates on from…the Turkish government Twitter account. https://t.co/Xa2jkUNnhI
— Ashley Parker (@AshleyRParker) June 14, 2021
re: #98 Dangerman
Oi now, what’s her complaint? Is she one of the ones barking because Biden prefers to run out Jen Psaki to do her job, instead of addressing the press personally like the narcissistic sack of crap that used to occupy the office?
re: #96 Dangerman
“But this doesn’t mean that all such challenges to democracy are equal
“Right-wing authoritarianism is the force that could undo the American system
Remember that the core GOP argument against Capitol Riot hearings is that “we need to look into the Antifa/BLM protests at the same time!!!”
Hint: The latter did not involve an attempt to overthrow the results of an election…
15 June 1648. Margaret Jones became the first person executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay Colony during a series of witch-hunt trials that lasted from 1648 to 1693. Jones, who lived in Charlestown, now a section of Boston, was a midwife and practiced medicine pic.twitter.com/1GB0YmAznz
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) June 15, 2021
re: #99 Dopamine Fish
Oi now, what’s her complaint? Is she one of the ones barking because Biden prefers to run out Jen Psaki to do her job, instead of addressing the press personally like the narcissistic sack of crap that used to occupy the office?
The job of Trump’s Press Secretary was generally explaining to the Press that the President did not mean/say what he actually said in so many words…remember Kellyanne Conway telling us to “listen to his heart, not his words”?
JFC
Beverly works with Sisters for Life, one of the groups suing the city of Louisville over the safety zone. They claim they are just ministering on the sidewalk. Physical Assault isn’t ministry.
— LvilleClinicEscorts (@LouClinicEscort) June 15, 2021
re: #101 Backwoods_Sleuth
15 June 1648. Margaret Jones became the first person executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay Colony during a series of witch-hunt trials that lasted from 1648 to 1693. Jones, who lived in Charlestown, now a section of Boston, was a midwife and practiced medicine
That says a lot about American history and attitudes about women.
re: #64 sagehen
At the Ivy’s, Stanford, Claremont and other highly selective schools, “diversity” doesn’t just mean ethnic and religious diversity. It means geographic diversity. Diversity of experience. A kid from Wyoming, or Alaska, or who lived on army bases in 4 countries, or in a trailer park in a mining town, who’s the first in their family to go to college — that’s diversity. Even if they’re every bit as white as the Waspiest kid in Connecticut.
In class discussions and study groups and dorms, they want their students to be exposed to as wide a variety of perspectives as possible. There’s not as much educational value in a pod full of Andover/Exeter/Harvard-Westlake kids, even if all of them had top grades and excellent SAT’s, because it’s same-old same-old and they’ll finish college without ever hearing from anyone who sees the world differently than they do.
QFT. That’s how I got into Cornell. They were way ahead of the other Ivys in developing and applying real diversity.
re: #102 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
The job of Trump’s Press Secretary was generally explaining to the Press that the President did not mean/say what he actually said in so many words…remember Kellyanne Conway telling us to “listen to his heart, not his words”?
If we listened to his heart, all we’d hear is cholesterol.
Wish me luck. Off to the DMV to register the RV and get new plates (tags), and the RV sticker/license. Oh happy, happy, joy, joy.
re: #24 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
I have a pretty capable diesel/natural gas backup generator system here at the Conspiracy Compound. I feel obligated to help the neighbors if/when Ercot goes belly-up. This suggests a question for the group: How much should I charge yokel Republicans to recharge their phones and laptops, or should I follow their example and boot them out anyway?
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mtSaY0HWdaEjrzUsoJkocr2dFlnAWbUYf8Qc/813AqVk7iKGlqWQs2E/UozEdejFEfkNMcqsDz48QhZhNzBRhVKOOXQm5X86VwFs5X4UykolI3tzPa2M3w5afUpyw2yNBou4wpADsUk2l5yd4sPeokPrHuYKuTvjI/6flyRj1L0=
re: #66 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
So remember when they blamed the Texas energy grid failure on frozen solar panels? It’s June. In Texas. They aren’t frozen anymore.
they’re melting…
Is Ted Cruz flying to Alaska tomorrow?
///
re: #78 sagehen
July 7 — NYC is doing a ticker-tape parade for health care workers, first responders and essential workers. I went to the Nelson Mandela parade in 1990; all the parades since 1999 have been for champion athletic teams. The Yankees have had more parades (9) than anybody else.
the stock exchange doesn’t use ticker-tape anymore; it’s only use now is for the parades.
They can come to PA and get all the ticks they want to put on the tape!
//
re: #66 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
So remember when they blamed the Texas energy grid failure on frozen solar panels? It’s June. In Texas. They aren’t frozen anymore.
they’re melting…
If the republicans won’t wear a mask then I’m not going to touch my thermostat.
FREEDOM!!!
re: #86 Dangerman
I like the suggestion that any person running must pass the citizenship test.
re: #107 Michele: Out of the closet, Into the fire
Wish me luck. Off to the DMV to register the RV and get new plates (tags), and the RV sticker/license. Oh happy, happy, joy, joy.
i almost enjoyed it more when they were still doing it by appointment. I showed up at my time, and the gal at the door looked on her list and told me exactly what line to get into. It was 9 in the morning, so I was basically first person through the door. Meanwhile, the unwashed masses who showed up impromptu were standing in a never-moving line all the way to one side.
re: #104 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
15 June 1648. Margaret Jones became the first person executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay Colony during a series of witch-hunt trials that lasted from 1648 to 1693. Jones, who lived in Charlestown, now a section of Boston, was a midwife and practiced medicine
That says a lot about American history and attitudes about women.
IIRC, the 16th and 17th centuries saw a moral panic (and a lethal moral panic at that) about witchcraft throughout the Christian world. Can’t recall now what started it, though.
re: #78 sagehen
July 7 — NYC is doing a ticker-tape parade for health care workers, first responders and essential workers. I went to the Nelson Mandela parade in 1990; all the parades since 1999 have been for champion athletic teams. The Yankees have had more parades (9) than anybody else.
the stock exchange doesn’t use ticker-tape anymore; it’s only use now is for the parades.
They now just take paper shreddings and dump that out windows, instead of tickertape.
re: #103 Backwoods_Sleuth
JFC
[Embedded content]
I know the person doesn’t want this, but an assault charge shoukd be filed.
Trump’s goons ordered a stand down to maximize the chances that his attempt to overthrow the government would succeed. He was counting on enough cops and soldiers to cover for his goons to storm the Capitol.
They failed, but not for lack of trying. These actions show conspiracy— lawhawk #vaxxingforafriend (@lawhawk) June 15, 2021
Insurrectionist moron wants to run for an office, but didn’t know it was federal and not state.
I have found the cure for Impostor Syndrome.
All you need to do is watch this 87-second video. pic.twitter.com/8Dpc5h5bvA— Anjan (@HeyAnjan) June 15, 2021
re: #114 Dr Lizardo
Something to do with those evil women owning property and/or having jobs that gave them some financial control over their lives. I thought I read, about a million years ago, that many of the women on “trial” for witchcraft owned their own property, mostly after their husbands died, or supported themselves through jobs like midwife, housekeeping or small scale farming. Whether that’s accurate, I don’t know, it was a long time ago when I was in school.
BREAKING: A majority of the American public has a great deal or good amount of trust in Pres. Joe Biden to negotiate on the country’s behalf with other world leaders, per a new @ABC News/Ipsos poll. https://t.co/zvgW0r7tne
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 13, 2021
A least he didn’t incite a terrorist attack on the Knesset during the vote. He hurdled that very low bar compared to Trump.
— aagcobb (@aagcobb1) June 15, 2021
re: #119 A Mom Anon
Something to do with those evil women owning property and/or having jobs that gave them some financial control over their lives. I thought I read, about a million years ago, that many of the women on “trial” for witchcraft owned their own property, mostly after their husbands died, or supported themselves through jobs like midwife, housekeeping or small scale farming. Whether that’s accurate, I don’t know, it was a long time ago when I was in school.
This would have been after the 30 Years War, which left a lot of widows.
The background to the Hansel and Gretel story involves a woman who had a coveted recipe for gingerbread (which was the ultimate delicacy back then before chocolate was known in Europe) but did not want to share it with a fellow.
So he started circulating rumors about how she lured children out to her house with gingerbread and baked and ate them alive, hoping to be rewarded with the recipe for helping “uncover” a witch.
There are court records of a similar case in the Spessart region of Germany. The woman was even exonerated, but the legend grew and the Spessart was one of the regions where the Brothers Grimm collected their folk tales.
#COVID19 cases rise slightly across US
Eight states in the South and West recorded rising 7-day averages for infection rates over the past 2 weekshttps://t.co/Q5auN0WzYo pic.twitter.com/HKgte70XAC— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) June 14, 2021
A sobering reminder from @DrTedros at Monday’s @WHO presser on #COVID19:
“More than 10,000 people are dying every day. During this press conference alone, more than 420 people will die. These communities need vaccines, and they need them now, not next year.” pic.twitter.com/J1R2Tl3NzN— Global Health Strategies (@GHS) June 14, 2021
re: #114 Dr Lizardo
IIRC, the 16th and 17th centuries saw a moral panic (and a lethal moral panic at that) about witchcraft throughout the Christian world. Can’t recall now what started it, though.
wimmin getting uppity
re: #125 Backwoods_Sleuth
wimmin getting uppity
SOMEONE getting uppity will always start a moral panic.
Chicago beats Bama to the first mass shooting of the day.
At least two people dead and two injured in shooting at fire hydrant plant early this morning in Alabama. #GunSafetyNow #DadsForGunSafety https://t.co/0qgIfmMFzU
— Dr. Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) June 15, 2021
Pull up a chair…. this is starting in 5 mins https://t.co/D5Dhx70R3d
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2021
re: #128 No Malarkey!
Does the location happen to be 215 miles south… in another country?
//
Shi has always been very communicative with foreign science journalists, has co-published extensively, is chatty and blunt by all accounts. Would be a very strange choice to head up supposed secret research. https://t.co/wLuxu2N6jR
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) June 14, 2021
Worries that the virus behind the devastating Covid-19 pandemic escaped from a Chinese lab have focused on the experiments of Dr. Shi Zhengli. Here’s what she told our reporters about her research and accusations that the virus came from her lab. https://t.co/3g2PJvpLfA pic.twitter.com/MyML7kQtS5
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 14, 2021
almost none of you are to be trusted. the 600,000 dead people are the biggest tragedy, but the single biggest bolt of lightning is that when it comes to the real showdown i can trust almost none of you because you are soft, solipsistic assholes.
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) June 15, 2021
Not in agreement with Roger Waters on Julian Assange, but we do agree on Mark Zuckerberg.
“How did this little prick who started out as ‘She’s pretty, we’ll give her a four out of five, she’s ugly, we’ll give her a four out of five,’ how did we give him any power?” asked the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame member. “And yet here he is, one of the most powerful idiots in the world.”
re: #118 No Malarkey!
This is the opposite of imposter syndrome, not a cure.
Doubt of self when you have the requisite competencies; it is not in a fucking moron who thinks he can do anything.
re: #116 Belafon
I know the person doesn’t want this, but an assault charge shoukd be filed.
Memories of the time Mr. Catholic Priest spit in my face as I entered the clinic with a coworker who was beaten by her boyfriend when she found out she was pregnant.
Turned out later that militant priest was arrested for child molestation…
re: #122 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
This would have been after the 30 Years War, which left a lot of widows.
The background to the Hansel and Gretel story involves a woman who had a coveted recipe for gingerbread (which was the ultimate delicacy back then before chocolate was known in Europe) but did not want to share it with a fellow.
So he started circulating rumors about how she lured children out to her house with gingerbread and baked and ate them alive, hoping to be rewarded with the recipe for helping “uncover” a witch.
There are court records of a similar case in the Spessart region of Germany. The woman was even exonerated, but the legend grew and the Spessart was one of the regions where the Brothers Grimm collected their folk tales.
Huh, today I learned. I always figured it was a cautionary tale about famine-related cannibalism.
The 1619 Project and related efforts are not about revisionism, they are about undoing revisionism.
1920s Virginia textbook: pic.twitter.com/iKCIibN1Yw
— Mr. Fungi 🚂 (@Mister_Fun_Guy) June 14, 2021
A real-life “Make Way For Ducklings” scene just unfolded in Brooklyn with this mama duck and her babies trying to cross 5th Ave. Multiple people helped stop traffic to get them safely across the street. But it gets better… pic.twitter.com/cBK33pVdYF
— Doug Gordon (@BrooklynSpoke) June 14, 2021
The mama duck and her ducklings then went into Bagel World. No word on what they ordered. pic.twitter.com/deNi7T8W2P
— Doug Gordon (@BrooklynSpoke) June 14, 2021
After a few minutes the ducks came out and one of the Bagel World employees helped lure them to the opposite curb with some bread crumbs. They are on their way up 4th Street, hopefully to Prospect Park. pic.twitter.com/oZ0nMYY5Zv
— Doug Gordon (@BrooklynSpoke) June 14, 2021
UPDATE: The ducks made it to Prospect Park! Out for a walk and I overheard someone talking about the ducks. I stopped to ask about them. He accompanied them all the way up to the park and they went into the woods. Happy ending!
— Doug Gordon (@BrooklynSpoke) June 14, 2021
re: #86 Dangerman
“Do actions agree with words? There’s your measure of reliability. Never confine yourself to the words.”
— Frank Herbert, “Chapterhouse: Dune”— 😷 Teo 😷 (@Teukka72) June 15, 2021
re: #136 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
The 1619 Project and related efforts are not about revisionism, they are about undoing revisionism.
I was in a Baptist high school for 9th grade. US History text was “The Christian History of the United States” - it was taught all four years (I only had to suffer one). You want to talk revisionism? Holy fuck. Almost wish I still had that tome.
re: #139 darthstar
I was in a Baptist high school for 9th grade. US History text was “The Christian History of the United States” - it was taught all four years (I only had to suffer one). You want to talk revisionism? Holy fuck. Almost wish I still had that tome.
This is actually a little worrisome…I heard yesterday that Q’s hold (there is no Q, btw) was starting to fall apart and many of the strongest adherents are becoming impatient.
FBI warns that QAnon followers might stop being ‘digital soldiers’ and start carrying out real-world violence: report | By Sky Palma https://t.co/JWv7j1RhNA
— SafetyPin-Daily (@SafetyPinDaily) June 15, 2021
re: #141 darthstar
This is actually a little worrisome…I heard yesterday that Q’s hold (there is no Q, btw) was starting to fall apart and many of the strongest adherents are becoming impatient.
“Q” hasn’t posted since December.
re: #141 darthstar
This is actually a little worrisome…I heard yesterday that Q’s hold (there is no Q, btw) was starting to fall apart and many of the strongest adherents are becoming impatient.
Keep a check on Right Wing Watch where you’re seeing the Xtian Pulpit Pimps calling for insurrection if Trump isn’t reinstated—the date is now August 15th…
re: #123 Belafon
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#COVID19 cases rise slightly across US
Eight states in the South and West recorded rising 7-day averages for infection rates over the past 2 weekshttps://t.co/Q5auN0WzYo pic.twitter.com/HKgte70XAC— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) June 14, 2021
May 13, 2021 — A new study found that more than 99% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the first four months of 2021 weren’t fully vaccinated.
The Cleveland Clinic, which released the data on Tuesday, also found that the mRNA vaccines created by Pfizer and Moderna were more than 96% effective in protecting against COVID-19 infection.
i sent you a jeep, a boat, a helicopter, masks, soap, 4 vaccines
Well I’m back. Got there about 10 minutes before opening and there were only 4 other people ahead of me. 6 windows were open and 15 minutes and $350.00 later I was out the door. Now I only have to wait 3-4 weeks for the actual plates & registration to arrive.
re: #61 JC1
I also call BS on that claim. No way that kid had straight As with AP classes, ‘top’ SATs (WTF is that anyway, he doesn’t say the score) and didn’t get in unless they had no extra curriculars and wrote shitty admissions essays.
Yes, that is a very realistic scenario. For a school such as Harvard, practically everyone who submits applications fits that profile. And Harvard accepts only 5% of those who submit applications. So the 95% who are rejected have SATs in the top 3% nationwide, have straight As, and have AP classes.
re: #130 Belafon
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Worries that the virus behind the devastating Covid-19 pandemic escaped from a Chinese lab…
FFS, it didn’t dig a hole through a wall and escape through a sewer tunnel
and it didn’t sneak out of the building on the sole of someone’s shoe
A Connecticut school principal will be transferred to another district and demoted as punishment for using a racial slur, but some school board members say that’s not enough.
“She was apparently talking to some teachers and said, ‘What if I started saying [N-word] this, [N-word] that?’” said Darnell Goldson, one of two vocal opponents to the reassignment.
As someone who had to handle teachers calling me “N-Word Head” from 3rd grade till graduation I’d fire that fool and condemn them to running the meat slicer at Arby’s for the rest of their miserable life….
re: #151 Teukka
Your weekly dose of insidious scientific propaganda:
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And what do you think “insidious scientific propaganda” is?
re: #136 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
The 1619 Project and related efforts are not about revisionism, they are about undoing revisionism.
The 1956 textbook Bouie pictures earlier in the thread was the very same one we used in 1975-76.
re: #94 garzooma
Did he burn it? How did it get in his lungs?
Your skin can absorb it (easily) if you don’t wear gloves. Also, it’s still toxic even if the plant part you touch is dead.
re: #147 Hecuba’s daughter
Yes, that is a very realistic scenario. For a school such as Harvard, practically everyone who submits applications fits that profile. And Harvard accepts only 5% of those who submit applications. So the 95% who are rejected have SATs in the top 3% nationwide, have straight As, and have AP classes.
Exactomundo. And test scores are a blunt instrument; they are nowhere near precise enough to differentiate between such highly qualified candidates. I laugh at people who think 1400 vs 1500 vs 1600 is saying something significant.
Well, I, for one, am certainly glad we have Jon Stewart to warn us of the dangers of SCIENCE™!!!!!!
re: #147 Hecuba’s daughter
Yes, that is a very realistic scenario. For a school such as Harvard, practically everyone who submits applications fits that profile. And Harvard accepts only 5% of those who submit applications. So the 95% who are rejected have SATs in the top 3% nationwide, have straight As, and have AP classes.
you’re at the top of your HS class.
even the county or possibly state.
but you’re not smart enough to know you’re tops in a very small and limited pond?
the world is a very very big pond.
many are just like you - the tops of their ponds, and they thought it would be enough too.
and they are all competing against you.
but
many, many more are light years smarter and much higher achievers than you and all the other top-of-the-little-ponders ever were
re: #149 JOE 🥓
A Connecticut school principal will be transferred to another district and demoted as punishment for using a racial slur, but some school board members say that’s not enough.
“She was apparently talking to some teachers and said, ‘What if I started saying [N-word] this, [N-word] that?’” said Darnell Goldson, one of two vocal opponents to the reassignment.
As someone who had to handle teachers calling me “N-Word Head” from 3rd grade till graduation I’d fire that fool and condemn them to running the meat slicer at Arby’s for the rest of their miserable life….
let loose on a new audience
Jingoistic rubes won’t take this well.
I Don’t Like America (John Pavlovitz)
re: #101 Backwoods_Sleuth
15 June 1648. Margaret Jones became the first person executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay Colony during a series of witch-hunt trials that lasted from 1648 to 1693. Jones, who lived in Charlestown, now a section of Boston, was a midwife and practiced medicine
But we were still using the Julian calendar, so wait 12 (?) days….
re: #159 Dangerman
you’re at the top of your HS class.
even the county or possibly state.
but you’re not smart enough to know you’re tops in a very small and limited pond?the world is a very very big pond.
many are just like you - the tops of their ponds, and they thought it would be enough too.
and they are all competing against you.but
many, many more are light years smarter and much higher achievers than you and all the other top-of-the-little-ponders ever were
Memories of Larry the Class Brain who got a full scholarship to Princeton…AND FLUNKED OUT THE FIRST SEMESTER.
Why?
He couldn’t handle people who were as “smart” as he was…and he eventually wound up consuming a lot of LSD to cope…
re: #53 Ace-o-aces
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Oh for fuck’s sake. Do they not realize that legacy admissions horn out far more deserving candidates? And those trying for the first time all fit a similar profile - that there are people who have even stronger credentials?
Yeah, if you want to get to the heart of the matter at Ivy Leagues and other top schools, it starts with ending legacy admissions. That opens the door to far more deserving candidates generally.
Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll solicit individuals for donations to fund his plan for a border wall
I’m sure Steve Bannon will sign on!
re: #156 gwangung
Exactomundo. And test scores are a blunt instrument; they are nowhere near precise enough to differentiate between such highly qualified candidates. I laugh at people who think 1400 vs 1500 vs 1600 is saying something significant.
It is a matter of RW faith that talented young white people are left to wither on the vine so that less talented minorities can get coddled in order for Universities to be able to boast and brag about their wokedness.
re: #165 JOE 🥓
Gov. Greg Abbott says he’ll solicit individuals for donations to fund his plan for a border wall
I’m sure Steve Bannon will sign on!
Old-man Trump really captured the imaginations of xenophobes with his wall boondoggle.
re: #166 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
It is a matter of RW faith that talented young white people are left to wither on the vine so that less talented minorities can get coddled in order for Universities to be able to boast and brag about their wokedness.
Yet somehow the white people complaining over being rejected always come across as entitled dummies.
re: #159 Dangerman
I went to a super competitive high school. We had one of the most brilliant classes the school had ever seen. Bunch of Westinghouse winners and finalists. Brilliant in arts and sciences. Senior year - all of these top folks got recruited by the likes of the Ivys. We’re talking people who aced the SATs too.
I had a choice of schools and went to a state university. Didn’t regret that choice one bit. It enabled me to go to grad school and law school with no appreciable student loan debt from undergrad.
I think our high school prepared most of us for competitive college environment. Not every school worked like that.
People bitching about admissions to colleges don’t get that there are a whole lot of people out there who are as smart - or smarter than they are. There are a whole lot of people who do exceptionally well taking tests too, so it comes down to extracurriculars.
Out valedictorian went to Harvard. He was a Westinghouse winner. Brilliant kid. I think he’s a doctor now. He could have gone anywhere he wanted - that’s how good he was.
School reputations also matter. If you come from a school with a strong rep, it bumps you up in college admissions - they know strong grades isn’t just puffing grades, but actual effort/achievements.
re: #167 Punish Domestic Terrorists
Old-man Trump really captured the imaginations of xenophobes with his wall boondoggle.
And they were really fucking stupid enough to believe Mexico would pay for the wall.
re: #24 Shiplord Kirel: Fan of USPS, Goodyear, and Oreo
I have a pretty capable diesel/natural gas backup generator system here at the Conspiracy Compound. I feel obligated to help the neighbors if/when Ercot goes belly-up. This suggests a question for the group: How much should I charge yokel Republicans to recharge their phones and laptops, or should I follow their example and boot them out anyway?
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After Hurricane Andrew I was the only one in my Miami neighborhood with chainsaws.
I worked out a barter system, e.g. help me move downed trees and storm debris off my property, in return I would cut up their downed trees and bushes for them to dispose of.
The sound of a chainsaw travels a fair distance in a neighborhood with no electrical power.
re: #164 lawhawk
Oh for fuck’s sake. Do they not realize that legacy admissions horn out far more deserving candidates? And those trying for the first time all fit a similar profile - that there are people who have even stronger credentials?
Yeah, if you want to get to the heart of the matter at Ivy Leagues and other top schools, it starts with ending legacy admissions. That opens the door to far more deserving candidates generally.
Or, with a very few exceptions*, we could all quit obsessing about getting into Harvard and just go to a decent college where we can get a good education.
*A few kids may get a lot out of a specific program somewhere, and grad school is different as well.
This pilot got a very up-close view of a funnel cloud while flying over Grady County, Oklahoma, this past weekend. https://t.co/IVuqQgUqUJ pic.twitter.com/gJzGFeIWl7
— ABC News (@ABC) June 15, 2021
That’s some ballsy flying.
re: #173 calochortus
Or, with a very few exceptions*, we could all quit obsessing about getting into Harvard and just go to a decent college where we can get a good education.
*A few kids may get a lot out of a specific program somewhere, and grad school is different as well.
People obsessing over getting into/going to Harvard is basically Harvard’s brand at this point
re: #173 calochortus
It was an eye opening experience for me in law school. Went to a moot court competition and competed against a bunch of colleges, including Columbia.
We did much better than Columbia.
But at the end of the day, a Columbia grad will get a much easier time getting into a top tier law firm or clerkship or whatever they want to do, and other law schools have to scrounge around. Top tier law firms all look to the top law schools to the exception of all others. Merits don’t really matter there - and that has real world consequences too.
re: #170 bratwurst
Idea: let’s outlaw social media.
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Juanita seems to be in a cult or three.
re: #178 lawhawk
It was an eye opening experience for me in law school. Went to a moot court competition and competed against a bunch of colleges, including Columbia.
We did much better than Columbia.
But at the end of the day, a Columbia grad will get a much easier time getting into a top tier law firm or clerkship or whatever they want to do, and other law schools have to scrounge around. Top tier law firms all look to the top law schools to the exception of all others. Merits don’t really matter there - and that has real world consequences too.
Yeah. It’s definitely the way to go for the Old Boys’ club, but if you don’t need to know the right people, you can get at least as good an education elsewhere.
I recall a Harvard grad (in geology) at my grad school and we were all struck by the fact he had great self confidence and a perfectly average grasp of subject matter.
A person can be intelligent and yet not very smart at the same time.
re: #178 lawhawk
It was an eye opening experience for me in law school. Went to a moot court competition and competed against a bunch of colleges, including Columbia.
We did much better than Columbia.
But at the end of the day, a Columbia grad will get a much easier time getting into a top tier law firm or clerkship or whatever they want to do, and other law schools have to scrounge around. Top tier law firms all look to the top law schools to the exception of all others. Merits don’t really matter there - and that has real world consequences too.
My first attempt at college was at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Once, when we went and visited some friends at MIT, we helped them with their homework.
re: #180 calochortus
Yeah. It’s definitely the way to go for the Old Boys’ club, but if you don’t need to know the right people, you can get at least as good an education elsewhere.
I recall a Harvard grad (in geology) at my grad school and we were all struck by the fact he had great self confidence and a perfectly average grasp of subject matter.
Hey! I resemble that remark!
Amazon has Echo Wifi operated switches for $10 off an individual switch, up to $10 off your order.
I ordered four separately to get the discount on each one. Amazon warns about duplicate orders, but accepts them.
re: #169 lawhawk
…..
School reputations also matter. If you come from a school with a strong rep, it bumps you up in college admissions - they know strong grades isn’t just puffing grades, but actual effort/achievements.
It also meant that the student was provided with a strong education. Too many students who were the top of their class and worked hard to master the material they were provided received a substandard education that did not prepare them for the demands of a top tier university. It is criminal that so many schools in poor and working class communities fail to offer their student body the level of knowledge and training that those with an affluent background receive as a matter of course. All schools are not equal and students are permanently handicapped by the inadequate education they are provided in the inferior institutions they attend. They start out behind because their neighborhoods and often their families stifle any spark of intelligence or curiosity and their schools finish the job.
Politico Editor Leaving to Help Run NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ (The Daily Beast)
That’s fine. There’s nothing left there for a Politico hack to ruin.
re: #186 Hecuba’s daughter
This. It’s the flip side of schools with strong academic reputations. It’s the kid who excels despite all the roadblocks and substandard educational opportunities and struggles at every turn to get noticed.
re: #186 Hecuba’s daughter
It also meant that the student was provided with a strong education. Too many students who were the top of their class and worked hard to master the material they were provided received a substandard education that did not prepare them for the demands of a top tier university. It is criminal that so many schools in poor and working class communities fail to offer their student body the level of knowledge and training that those with an affluent background receive as a matter of course. All schools are not equal and students are permanently handicapped by the inadequate education they are provided in the inferior institutions they attend. They start out behind because their neighborhoods and often their families stifle any spark of intelligence or curiosity and their schools finish the job.
So true. The only things the School Bored in my town wanted was a winning football and basketball teams. They didn’t care about anything else and neither did the teachers or administrators.
Ashli Babbitt was a terrorist. Period.
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) June 15, 2021
re: #180 calochortus
Yeah. It’s definitely the way to go for the Old Boys’ club, but if you don’t need to know the right people, you can get at least as good an education elsewhere.
I recall a Harvard grad (in geology) at my grad school and we were all struck by the fact he had great self confidence and a perfectly average grasp of subject matter.
For those interested in the sciences or mathematics, the college is critical in preparing students to master the graduate material at a top tier school (not necessarily an ivy) in that field. A friend who received a PhD in math at University of Illinois described a student who was bright but forced to drop out of the U of I doctoral program because his background from a small college left him ill-qualified to handle the classes and subject matter.
re: #177 William Lewis
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this is my jealous face.
those pads would look great floating in our pond!
I did Nazi that coming…
.@IvoryHecker is going to expose some deep swamp intel to James’s O’Keefe and Project Veritas tonight https://t.co/64ONf9hyzo pic.twitter.com/wXaMJcT1gq
— 🥭Mangoman🥭 (@69mangoman) June 15, 2021
re: #194 darthstar
I did Nazi that coming…
Please tell me that’s a Photoshop. Please. I literally can’t handle that level of stupid.
re: #192 Hecuba’s daughter
For those interested in the sciences or mathematics, the college is critical in preparing students to master the graduate material at a top tier school (not necessarily an ivy) in that field. A friend who received a PhD in math at University of Illinois described a student who was bright but forced to drop out of the U of I doctoral program because his background from a small college left him ill-qualified to handle the classes and subject matter.
Then again, I went to Univ. of the Pacific which isn’t exactly a geology powerhouse (3 geology professors and we were housed in a quonset hut.) I didn’t go there for the geology originally. My attendance there involved a serious change of majors. I did my masters at Colo. School of Mines, which is definitely a top tier earth science establishment. It just depends.
re: #196 calochortus
Then again, I went to Univ. of the Pacific which isn’t exactly a geology powerhouse (3 geology professors and we were housed in a quonset hut.) My attendance there involved a serious change of majors. I did my masters at Colo. School of Mines, which is definitely a top tier earth science establishment. It just depends.
It does depend. I think it’s really more about the student and finding a learning experience that fits them. For example, I went to a small-time private Christian school in Bumfuck, Indiana. Their teaching experience matched my learning preferences so exactly that employers didn’t even bat an eye at the name on the resumé - my results spoke for themselves.
re: #195 Dopamine Fish
Please tell me that’s a Photoshop. Please. I literally can’t handle that level of stupid.
Okay - looks like a photoshop.
re: #198 darthstar
Okay - looks like a photoshop.
[mega rant]
WHAT THE ACTUAL BEJESUSING FUCK. Okay, I get your skinheads who weave Nazi symbols in with their other tattoos, or put ‘em in places where they’re not necessarily easy to spot, or they just don’t have a fucking life and don’t need to care about what’s showing on their body. But this is a PROFESSIONAL WOMAN with a Nazi symbol on her body in a VERY COMMONLY EXPOSED PLACE. How the FUCK can you be such a damn moron. Just. STOP IT. You’re not clever, you’re not edgy, you’re a damn douchecanoe and I know you’ll never read this, nor would it penetrate your skull, which is so thick it’s apparently completely solid because you definitely don’t have any brain cells left.
[/mega rant]
Where’s the whiskey.
re: #200 Dopamine Fish
Except as darthstar said, it does appear to be a photoshop. There are several online photos of her and none show this tattoo.
re: #195 Dopamine Fish
Please tell me that’s a Photoshop. Please. I literally can’t handle that level of stupid.
Yeah it’s a shop. All other pictures of her do not show a tattoo.
re: #202 Hecuba’s daughter
Except as darthstar said, it does appear to be a photoshop. There are several online photos of her and none show this tattoo.
I was taking his post as snark. I should look for the sarc tags next time.
re: #141 darthstar
They already did on January 6th
re: #196 calochortus
Mines is a great school! My relative is a sophomore there now.
re: #201 JOE 🥓
Manchin is in totally different position from Lieberman. After all, Lieberman did not represent a GOP state. Manchin is hanging on in a deep red state where Trump won 68.6% of the vote (second only to Wyoming). Any replacement will likely be a GOP election-overthrowing fanatic. We need every vote we can keep, to prevent McConnell from taking over the Senate.
re: #208 Hecuba’s daughter
We need every vote we can keep
We just need Manchin, Sinema, and other centrist Democrats to understand that this also applies to voters.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) told the U.S. Justice Department Monday that that DOJ was “supporting the hysterical outcries of leftist pundits on cable television” when it sent a letter last month inquiring about the state’s partisan recount of the 2020 election.
Brnovich, in his Monday letter addressed to Garland, said the U.S. Attorney General’s comments were “troubling.” He accused Garland of displaying “disdain” for state sovereignty.
Oh, wank off MAGAT! You’re in violation of Federal Ballot Custody laws!
re: #163 JOE 🥓
Memories of Larry the Class Brain who got a full scholarship to Princeton…AND FLUNKED OUT THE FIRST SEMESTER.
Why?
He couldn’t handle people who were as “smart” as he was…and he eventually wound up consuming a lot of LSD to cope…
I hit the rocks my sophomore year in engineering.
College life (dorms still) had me hanging out with other people and doing city stuff in Pittsburgh. I went to high school in a village in far northern New York State. And no parents around to ride me if I goofed off too much.
And I was smart enough that I had cruised through high school with a 90%+ GPA (NYS graded percentile at the time.) and gotten over 1300 on the SATs without having to really study much. As a result I really did not know *how* to study well when things got rocky.
By the next year I was out of Engineering and into Comp Sci in a different college of the university. The Engineering School allowed the transfer out of pity rather than outright tossing me and causing further issues for me having to fully reapply.
Just watched him on the Colbert show, and I know he’s done some good things, but way too often Jon Stewart is simply a fucking idiot.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) June 15, 2021
Stewart buying into the Wuhan lab leak conspiracy theory really put me in a bad mood.
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) June 15, 2021
re: #199 Punish Domestic Terrorists
Tina Fey Reflects on How ‘We All Cosigned’ Past Problematic Trends in Pop Culture: ‘Terrible’ (People via MSN)
Just because a certain kind of humor or type of entertainment was acceptable then does not make it acceptable now.
I look back and cringe at some of the things I laughed at in the National Lampoon or Zap Comics that seemed hip and edgy and progressive back the in 60’s and 70’s.
But again, concepts like “context” and “nuance” are no longer taught in public schools…
re: #212 Charles Johnson
Stewart buying into the Wuhan lab leak conspiracy theory really put me in a bad mood.
I was disappointed but not somehow not surprised by this. Every so often, Stewart will either both-sides something, or he’ll get something in his head and then use sarcasm and condescension to shut down the conversation.
For whatever reason, John Cusack and his 9/11 humping come to mind. Really smart guy believes really stupid shit.
From what I read, Colbert seemed caught off-guard by this. For anyone who watched, how hard exactly did Stephen push back? He will call guests out on their bullshit sometimes, but the forcefulness always varies; his refusal to really kick Trump on the birther bullshit when Trump was on LSSC is a prime example.
re: #212 Charles Johnson
Charles Johnson
@Green_Footballs
Stewart buying into the Wuhan lab leak conspiracy theory really put me in a bad mood
FWIW, Stewart’s Daily Show is responsible (inadvertently?) for the Republican meme that Obama was incapable of public speaking without a teleprompter.
re: #213 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Just because a certain kind of humor or type of entertainment was acceptable then does not make it acceptable now.
I look back and cringe at some of the things I laughed at in the National Lampoon or Zap Comics that seemed hip and edgy and progressive back the in 60’s and 70’s.
But again, concepts like “context” and “nuance” are no longer taught in public schools…
The context “it was ok to denigrate women/minorities” doesn’t really make it ok, though.
re: #216 Michele: Out of the closet, Into the fire
Great work!! Virtual high-fives to all.
America’s right wing terrorists, jailed because they bought AK-47 ammo by mistake.https://t.co/nef3NFB6nK pic.twitter.com/abkPYNNz4e
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) June 15, 2021
The fact that this guy, who served in the military, and owned other guns, couldn’t tell the difference between ammo types, either shows stupidity, or he’s lying.
These guys all love to claim they know all about guns and ammo. Knowing difference between AR-15 and AK-47 is basic— lawhawk #vaxxingforafriend (@lawhawk) June 15, 2021
re: #219 lawhawk
you mean like knowing the difference between a magazine and a clip or between an assault rifle or an assault weapon?
tiny hacker commits cyber crimes https://t.co/4fVsIovsui pic.twitter.com/cVVGw0rapK
— Illegally Smol Cats (@IllegallySmol) June 15, 2021
re: #220 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Or that AR- stands for Armalite and not Assault Rifle.
re: #218 Teddy’s Person
Great work!! Virtual high-fives to all.
This is second time within 3 days we have had to repaint that rock. It’s at one of our local High Schools and was originally painted by the schools LGBTQ+ students for Pride. I missed the first action as I was in the middle of moving back to Twin from Jackpot.
re: #86 Dangerman
Okay…
Take One:
Greene exists entirely in a state of bad faith and sensationalism that is the context of this statement until she demonstrates a pattern of good faith.
That she is now performing…having arranged an audience…the absolute minimum of contrition signifies nothing, because the process of pushing the boundaries by announcing bigoted and generally antisocial ideas and then disavowing them is a pre-existing pattern within the observable community of sincere fascists and edgelord grifters.
Twenty four hour news powered by credulous talky-people who view everything as rhetoric—measuring good and bad optics by creating good and bad feelings in an audience seeking entertainment—have produced a media system in which perfunctory gestures that should be met with indifference are instead larded with analysis of their effect as theater…
There is just an endless succession of empty, theatrical pieces of shit that manage to obtain power and money facilitated by a media system composed entirely of theater kids posing as experts. Things will continue to get worse, time and money will be wasted, as long as this continues.
And Marjorie Taylor Greene will simply move on to using the Holocaust as a reason to not empathize with anyone else suffering state oppression, for she cannot help but digest all sincere things and convert them into bad-faith justification for what she already thinks (which is that she is uniquely entitled to assign us all into the lower tier of a social hierarchy, such that we don’t matter and shouldn’t have a voice).
Take Two: the hotter one
All of the above, but also:
White people broadly, Americans in general, conservatives in particular, and various local terroirs of fascist most especially fetishize the Holocaust in ways that diminish the Holocaust…intentionally, because the alternative is to acknowledge both a wider pattern of antisemitism that was the seed bed of Nazism, and also to acknowledge that the Shoah was a natural development in the context of eliminationist policies industrialized nations used on nonwhite minorities.
To a certain kind of bad faith reader of history, there is a hyper-focus on just One Bad Thing that cannot be disrespected…but also cannot be dissected, evaluated, or treated as a point of reflection that can be compared to other atrocities or tragedy. To suggest that anything is as bad, or similar to, or homoousian with, the One Bad Thing is to insult the victims of the One Bad Thing. And that’s not being done to honor the dead or share a connection with the survivors…it’s being done to shut down meaningful conversation about tragedy more generally.
The Holocaust as fetish-object isn’t even the entire Holocaust: it’s the most aesthetic images of suffering, the camps and the stars, not the preceding property theft, the daily sanctioned rituals of intimidation and humiliation, the over-policing, the collective punishment for individual transgressions. To engage sincerely with the Holocaust—to acknowledge all the kinds of persecution, privation, and cruelty implemented—pose uncomfortable questions about the continuity of the Nazis with their antecedents, and their contemporaries.
Emphatic chest beating over death camps diverts attention from the ubiquity of concentration camps before and after WW2. Hyperventilation over Nazi antisemitism belies it’s homology with anti-Dreyfuss rhetoric, the broad circulation of the Protocols in European Christian society, and the general atmosphere of distrust for Jews inherent in Nationalism. Effusive discussion of “hate” as some alien element National Socialism injected into the world belies how scientific racism was the norm in colonialist societies and is still kind of present and lingering right now.
The point I’m getting at is: to a person acting in bad faith in the current day, the curation of the past provides cover for the present and future they want. What is de-emphasized, what is unworthy of common remembrance and common sympathy, is a weapon to be used against current-day people.
People—mostly white, mostly not Jewish, mostly European or American—have invented a story of the Holocaust that ignores most of the suffering of Jews under the Nazis. The invented story has no room for Victor Klemperer—humiliated and robbed over and over but shielded from transport—or the tens of thousands of Baltic Jews beaten to death by their neighbors in pogroms faciliated by the Nazi invasion, or the hundred of thousands of Jews robbed of their possessions before fleeing Germany.
People—mostly white, mostly not Jewish, mostly European or American—would prefer that no comparisons be made between the full panoply of what the Nazis did to Jews and the specific tactics used by white people to assert and maintain hegemony over millions of nonwhite people.
People—mostly white, mostly not Jewish, mostly European or American, all capitalist—would prefer that no comparisons be made between the full panoply of what the Nazis did to leftists and what the capitalist hegemony did to any nation or people that questioned the outcome of imperialism and “free markets.”
It’s zero-sum tragedy, divide and conquer: if this is the one horror of the age, then all other suffering signifies less and the ones inflicting your suffering aren’t as bad as they could be. If it’s a camp that concentrates people because they shouldn’t be here, it’s not a concentration camp. If it’s a prison that makes people work, it’s not a gulag. If it’s a policing action where there’s a continuous dribble of casualties and nobody’s culpable if civliians are hurt, it’s not a government-sponsored mass killing.
…and all of that is also context for someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene talking about the Holocaust.
Her general bad faith has a common anatomical feature across all samples: centering the grievance of her and people like her as the legitimate, suffering and aggrieved parties in the modern world. That she now views the Holocaust as “not like anything else” must be viewed within that existing framework: the scary dialectic at play is that she could both sincerely believe the former statement and derive from that belief that everyone she already has contempt for deserves more contempt and less franchise.
And that’s not much of a leap. Conservatives have consistently, for at least a decade, refused to acknowledge that anyone suffering—out in the world or inside the country—isn’t somehow deserving of that suffering…except for their own oversensitive constituency. To them, the Holocaust is rhetoric—a means to their ends, whichever way they want to spin the death and suffering of people who were not them.
ETA: There is even a case-specific version of this curation of suffering, in the conservative Christians feel entitled to dictate the parameters of the tragedy of the Shoah to current day Jews—interpreting the events as ordained by an apocalyptic Christian God—and simultaneously view themselves as entitled to designate real Jews—worthy of soldiarity—from inauthentic Jews—who are assigned antisemitic features.
I can’t invent a more precise demonstration of the bad faith toward Judaism…but also towards the idea of sympathy itself as an unforced, non-trasnactional form of connection…than this real thing that happens regularly.
The fear of CRT, the previous fear of political correctness, the previous fear of Cultural Marxism…they’re all rooted in a panic over the open discussion of the path and consequences of historical events. America has chosen to not remember things, and lots of people now feel attacked simply by the reminder that those things happened. What they would prefer is a hegemonic history that emphasizes only what is comfortable…and what’s comfortable for Americans is the re-telling of our behavior in the European Front of World War 2.
And that isn’t just a problem with conservatives, it’s a problem for all Americans because it’s part of the culture, the axioms of what our society is. There is a centrist/liberalversion of hegemonic history in which we are taught to feel sad about aspects of the American past but not think in sharp terms about the meaning of what happened. We are trained to speak in glowing generalities about how bad “hate” is, or to localize the general racism of the past in a few regions or even individuals. And what we’re trained not to look at is the through-line, the process that is still ongoing, the fungibility of the past with the present.
The Tulsa Massacre was a hundred years and fifteen days ago, and for most of that time it was apocrypha to American history. Because of the swells of current events and the way new media can rapidly pull attention, it is suddenly something that everyone can identify…and the consequence of that is the push/pull we are seeing over the nature of American history itself. There are those trying to put the inconvenient stories back in the box, and there are those trying to control the narrative to render the past harmless…not sharp, bright things that happened because of antecedents and context, but a story that compels an expectant and perfunctory emotional reaction.
There is a deep solidarity between everyone that suffers, regardless of the scale it’s on. If one has been abused between by a parent, a policeman, or a fascist one has experienced the same degradation, been assigned the same experience of lesser status. If one has confronted an abuser—whether that’s a person, a community, an entire state—the commonality of what is gained through cruelty are obvious…
…except that there are people that wish to make them inobvious.
re: #217 Belafon
The context “it was ok to denigrate women/minorities” doesn’t really make it ok, though.
That, right there, is what sends me through the roof with the “Well, that’s just how people spoke back then” excuses whenever an older friend or relative says something really shitty/bigoted/racist, etc.
And I will straight up say it: whenever someone breaks out the above excuse, it’s always a white person defending another, usually senior, white person.
That shit wasn’t right back then either, and white people fucking knew it. They also knew there’d be zero repercussions for saying shit like that whenever and wherever they were. They were bulletproof from any consequences and worked it to the max.
That’s why we have this idiotic cancel culture ranting. White folks are now suddenly finding out that “freedom of speech” doesn’t mean “freedom from consequences” and it ain’t sitting well.
re: #227 Mattand
Also that their non-judicial application of consequences on non-whites for applying their constitutional freedoms no longer flies as well.
Well, I guess @ACTforAmerica doesn’t think #BlueLivesMatter anymore. pic.twitter.com/vQWJExErqB
— Ace-o-aces (@aceoaces) June 15, 2021
On her death certificate, cause of death is listed as “fucked around and found out”.
— Ace-o-aces (@aceoaces) June 15, 2021
re: #226 The Ghost of a Flea
Don’t forget “The Holocaust would not have happened if German Jews had had Second Amendment Rights!”
Right up there with “Jesus would not have been crucified if he and his Disciples had been properly armed!”
re: #219 lawhawk
[Embedded content]
Good grief!
It’s not how stupid the ammosexual is, it’s how stupid he thinks we are.
On this ninth anniversary of DACA, Dreamers deserve lasting stability in the only home they have ever known. Congress must find a way to pass legislation with a path to citizenship for Dreamers, farm workers, and TPS recipients.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 15, 2021
re: #230 Ace-o-aces
Ashli Babbitt and her family deserve answers and justice just like any other American citizen.
You mean like “She should have obeyed the law and co-operated with the police”?
Feds allege Taylor organized a group of armed fighters to come to DC Jan 6
And more… pic.twitter.com/krL5EKK9kl— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2021
Feds say Taylor tasked people with creating private radio channel to use in DC…. and tasked an alleged co-conspirator with meeting him (by car) with backpack “full of weapons” pic.twitter.com/5N8OHThWiB
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2021
Prosecutors say Taylor told others, “I personally want to be on the front steps and be one of the first ones to breach the door!” pic.twitter.com/YcLNZsiZZI
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2021
Prosecutors are asking judge (right now) to hold Taylor in jail… calling him an organizer
And.. check this out: They allege he’s at risk for “greater radicalization” pic.twitter.com/8fTcUFWxpP— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) June 15, 2021
re: #235 No Malarkey!
Does kind of sound like the kind of person who would want to go out in a blaze of glory.
Former head of the BBC tells British MPs that it wasn’t until he saw Bashir’s interview with Michael Jackson that he felt ‘uneasy’ about his former star reporter.
Ex-BBC Boss Admits Explosive Diana Interview Was ‘One of the Biggest Crimes in the History of Broadcasting’ (The Daily Beast)
re: #239 JOE 🥓
Babbitt committed treason and participated in a failed coup.
Case closed.
Imagine the context was someone’s residence and the owner shot/killed Babbitt. There wouldn’t be a peep about anything. Not really seeing a significant difference given the actual facts and circumstances.
re: #214 Mattand
From what I read, Colbert seemed caught off-guard by this. For anyone who watched, how hard exactly did Stephen push back? He will call guests out on their bullshit sometimes, but the forcefulness always varies; his refusal to really kick Trump on the birther bullshit when Trump was on LSSC is a prime example.
He did push back some, not as hard as he would have for a guest not his long-time friend. Suggested reversing cause and effect — it’s not that the virus started there because that’s where the lab is, rather that’s where they placed the lab because that’s where coronaviruses are. Like the (fictional) Daytona Beach Herpes Institute…
re: #234 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))
Ashli Babbitt and her family deserve answers and justice just like any other American citizen.
You mean like “She should have obeyed the law and co-operated with the police”?
It’s weird how “crawling through a window she just broke, dressed in full battle rattle” is being assigned the same value as “one of her taillights was out.”
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