Later, after one of these fascists assassinates an election official, we can all go back to the video and say, "Oh, yeah, I guess that really was a threat after all!"
Sometimes I wonder -- although this is an impossibility -- if Trump said "elections are valid, there has been no fraud" if these people would stand down, or if they no longer look to him but are so walled off in their grievance and crazy conspiracy theories they would carry on anyway.
But it's moot since he is no more likely to say that than a pig is likely to fly.
Someone on MSNBC made the point that there hasn't been a violent mob attacking the statehouse in Harrisburg because Doug Mastriano didn't ask for one. So it's not exactly a grassroots rebellion, if the Leader doesn't call for a coup, they don't coup. That said, they're more than willing to pick and choose among Trump's statements the ones they like and ignore the rest (hey, kinda like they treat the Bible!). But action - especially violent action - doesn't come unless ordered.
Good question to speculate about. I imagine some would abandon him and some wouldn’t. But it would result in a net loss of supporters, most likely. If true, it illustrates the necessity of him staying on the tiger he’s is riding.
But you’re right about the likelihood of him saying that — TFG knows at some level that he has to stay ahead of the curve of crazy to compete with the other nutjobs (I’m looking at you, Ye), grifters, charlatans, cynics, and other humanoid parasites looking to take over Trump’s seat on the big striped cat. L
I think of this prospect as the 'Modified Colonel Sternwood Gambit'. Only instead of Sean Regan, his followers hired Trump to do their thinking for them.
Story is Vickers stole every scene, and made Bacall look like a lump (and Bacall had been panned in reviews of her most recent flick, putting her career in tailspin mode). So (here It or I get murky) scenes were rewritten/reshot to make Bacall look better, scenes were deleted that made Vickers look so great, or some other combo of the above. And let's face it, no matter what got cut, Vickers was really good in that film.
When they act it out, it's one guy with body armor and an AR-15 against a crowd of unarmed shoppers in a Buffalo supermarket. So "armed conflict" with the understanding that they've got the arms and you don't.
And today's post illustrates, in large part, why I so respect the GOP voters.
I'm so old I feebly remember when Democrat primary voters kept nominating candidates too extreme to win elections. Doubt that it was good for the nation but the GOP voters doing that now surely (and apparently) is a good thing.
Meanwhile, Hobbs is suing Cochise county. Apparently whatever they do doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things so this is little more than a fully earned and deserved slap in the face which is to say a Good Thing.
Meanwhile a Dem Congress-thing died. Someone thought running a candidate at death's door was somehow a good idea. And since he's from Virginia, no idea whether the governor names a replacement or what.
"remember when Democrat primary voters kept nominating candidates too extreme to win elections"
Yeah, that Walter Mondale was just waaaay to out there. And Dukakis? Man! What a radical firebrand he was! Indeed, I remember Al Gore who, having "lost" the election, swore he'd ratify the results.
Yeah, MM -- I'm not that old -- all I've seen is centrist oatmeal since I was aware that elections existed. And the concept of "too extreme to win" is entirely a made-up, bullshit, & totally fabricated media narrative, and has always been code for "AVERT YOUR EYES, CHILDREN! A SOCIALIST!"
And I have no goddamn respect foe GOP voters. It's not like these lost races were routs. Most of the Dems squank by...
I said feebly. Might be recollecting MSM fears of an FDR/LBJ-level radical socialist being nominated for something instead of the MSM’s preferred DINO.
Point is, may the RepubliQans keep on nominating the most unhinged, repellant candidates they want. It’s a now-proven tactic for electoral success, unfortunately for our success, not theirs.
There have been some righteous candidates, but in my memory (which ain't all it could be) they get pushed out, like the aforementioned padre, or sabotaged, like Dennis Kucinich.
Bernie Sanders could use a younger peer or two. (AOC et alia still need some seasoning.)
I remember 1972-1978 when South Dakota had the most liberal Senate delegation in the country. Sadly James Abourezk hated it so much that he chose not to run again and the Tom Daschle destroyed the McGovern machine and now the South Dakota legislature has like 10 democrats out of 105
I remember one SD Dem political event around 2000 where Tom Daschle was the inspirational speaker, and he talked about “following your bliss,” and I thought, “who in the hell is this supposed to appeal to?” Apparently centrist pols who move to DC, cash in, and become lobbyists.
That’s been most of the national Democratic Party’s plan for over 30 years now. Strange that it didn’t work out. “Voter, would you prefer a real Republican, or would you prefer a bland, rudderless facsimile who’s embarrassed by himself and his party?” Weird that that pitch didn’t sell!
In a country full of people leading meaningless lives, joining with others to fight against "evil" has a strong attraction for some.
They grind away at their shitty jobs, never quite making enough to keep the paper on the pickup truck away from the title loan guys. There's no hope for advancement, their health insurance, if they've got it, don't pay for shit and the best Christmas bonus they ever got was a $20 gift card from Kroger.
(My first job as a grower for a nursery gave the whole staff Kroger gift cards for $14.35 as a Christmas bonus. The owners said that was all the money they could afford. They went to Cancun for the holidays)
Their kids are doughy and not even very good at Xbox - crazy considering they spend a dozen hours a day playing. The old lady is in the same shape. She's got a shit job at Ten and Below.
She's a night shift supervisor. It's one of the last three places left in the mall and everybody expects the store to close any day. She drives a 10-year-old Hyundai it has the trunk wired shut. Title guys won't lend any money on it. They live in a shitty apartment with black mold under the bathroom vanity and a garbage disposal that never worked since they moved in. Rent went up 3 times last year.
For a while they got caught up in the big church that opened in the Kmart at the edge of town.
That was nice for a while - it's good to talk to other people who have the same shitty kind of life you do. Preachers always up your ass for money though.
Then this MAGA thing showed up. It was great hearing Trump talk shit on everybody and it made a lot of sense what he was saying - coloreds and queers and Mexicans and stuck up bitches having everything just given to them when all you get to do is work and worry. Being a MAGA and fighting against that - fighting for Freedom - why, that was even better than Church! And you get to carry guns ! Guns are just the best thing ever.
To tell you the truth, lately Trump's been as bad as those Preachers about asking for money.
"joining with others to fight against "evil" has a strong attraction for some."
I'm seeing more in the news about an "epidemic of loneliness", I suppose this is one response. And "They're nuts, they'll take anyone!" handily removes any fear of rejection.
Also: I'm from the Democratic Party, and I thought you might like to hear about our proposed Child Tax Cred - SLAMS DOOR.
“Epic of loneliness” is insightful. Also, I see lots of people feeling powerless, along with painful realization that their towns and regions are drying up and dying. So for some, it’s intoxicating to go full bully and abuser on The Other. Gun-toting neckbeards and snotty Mean Girls suddenly abound.
There's a reason religion refuges the scoundrels – it's like a "get out of consequences free" card. Apply religious convictions to all else, and viola! – no action goes punished if acted out by the right sort of people...
There was a story a couple of days ago about rural airports closing because of the pilot shortage (if you don't have enough, it makes sense to assign your pilots to fly big planes out of big airports instead of small planes out of small airports, who knew?) Kinda hard to get businesses to locate in a region without reliable air service.
There's an FAA program called Essential Air Service that subsidizes flights into about a hundred rural airports. My guess is the folks who use these airports have no idea their ticket is being subsidized by Uncle Sam, and if you told them they'd refuse to know it.
Our Fair State has a handful of airports who get that subsidy or they’d close, and people would drive 200+ miles to get scheduled air service. Including, of course, airports in Rodeo Barbie’s backyard.
Toddlers with guns. I’m surprised none of them threatened to hold their breath or lay prone on the floor, kicking their heels. What’s the appropriate time-out for election interference? 1-2, 3-4? Felony? “Don’t make me come down there!”
Yep. Punishable by the death penalty. I'm putting on my body armor. The Tree of Liberty needs watering. My Constitutional right to bear arms everywhere. What? No! I'm not making death threats! I'm just saying that you committed treason, which could be punishable by death, and that I'm armed to the teeth and not quite sane, is all.
Ah, but the lady who said "punishable by death" wasn't armed to the teeth, that was the guy who followed her in line. So it's two totally different people! Whatever you do, don't connect the dots!
Tbf, failing to understand the definition of treason is, much as I hate to admit it, a bipartisan phenomenon. Like calling everything you think is bad unconstitutional.
If this is the CIVIL WAR we were promised if Republicans didn't win, I'll take it. Stand up in front of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and when the little bell rings because your two minutes are up, you step aside for the next nut in line. Very revolutionary.
And I, for one, salute the courageous officials of Cochise County, bravely withholding their county's votes from the statewide totals. I can only hope the officials of Waukesha County are watching and follow this example in all future elections.
This actually happened in a Supreme Court race. The day after the election, a sack full of votes was "found" (in Waukesha!) just enough to put the Republican candidate over the top. Naturally, Republicans with all their concerns about election integrity refused to take the W, because it wasn't sporting (I kid)
Speaking from experience as a former dues-paying member of the Green Party, it's really, really hard to sustain a political movement on a diet of nothing but losing.
What sustains my interest is that there are specific things I want the government to do, like combat climate change and give everyone free healthcare, and even when these ideas didn't seem like election-winners I could comfort myself with the thought that they're good ideas that might eventually win public support (and they have!)
If all you've got is "Hate the Other Team", that provides a nice jolt, but you have to keep upping the dosage to get the same effect, and pretty soon you're scaring the normies. But what are the Republicans to do? They can't offer up any kind of positive ideas for how to improve peoples' lives, even hinting that the government might be good for such things is verboten.
How about a movie called Lust For Power about a domestic abuser who feels threatened by his wife's legitimate desire for some independence and tries to kill her? Nah, too subtle for the wingers.
For some reason, this makes me think of Republican wives who suddenly decided to follow Trump's advice to forego their usual absentee ballot and vote in-person instead, because it's harder for Hubby to look over your shoulder.
Oh, yeah, Filipkowski. The guy who tweets several MUST WATCH video clips a day without captioning. It's fine. We probably don't need disabled people voting for democrats anyway.
Some people apparently thought the Pivot To Video was a real thing and refuse to provide any other content for those of us who want a ten-second read, not a meandering three-minute video.
In this case I thought the text in the tweets was sufficient, though actually hearing the nuts (like the Kevin Williamson manqué) yields extra humor/horror.
Oh, my comment wasn’t directed at you. I’m just nonplussed that years after finding out Google lied on their “pivot to video” stats, many places—including news sites—insist on making us watch videos to glean some small nugget from them. Which, naturally, I refuse to do. Harrumph.
Now, for illustrative purposes or a delightful gloss, video accompaniment can be quite fine. 😃
I dunno. I unfollowed him and three other Big Name Democrats who were doing the same thing. There's always the same two people in the replies summoning the CC bot and suggesting this is something the dudes could do themselves. There's no shortage of politics in my TL, and I was never reading BND's thrillers anyway.
I get that folks can do the cognitive work required to find out about this Must See conversation, but generally we're not doing it thirty times a day. Accessibility means reach, is the point I was trying to make, though in a counterintuitive way.
Sorry, I didn't actually mean to derail your entire column here. I forget this bunch of weirdos doesn't ignore me so I should avoid being a dick about a very minor point.
I certainly wouldn't dispute your larger point, and I'm trying to be better about putting alts in my tweets etc. (Mastodon reminds us to do it, which I think is great.)
"Kari Lake supporter today to Maricopa Supervisors: “7 traitors to the Constitution. Interference in an election is a capital offense. It’s considered treason punishable by the death penalty. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution necessary.” "
Ron Gould sez “I don’t think that was what the Founders had in mind when they used the democratic process to elect ou(r)* leaders”
Looks to me like Ron did not get the memo 'bout 'ain't no democracy, you peons, this here's a republic!' He'll be woodshedded soon or there'll be Trump to pay!
* (or maybe he really did mean 'out' – crap – word salad bar incomplete without sneeze guard)
The last few years have been a fascinating and perilous experiment in weaponized sociology. This experiment has left us with a bunch of high-functioning zombie suicide bombers, who work like landmines dropped into the middle of the population. They might do anything from yell racist obscenities at random passers-by to a massacre. We need a concerted and coordinated effort to handle these people as dangerous, bc they've made their intentions clear even if they themselves aren't clear.
"Their gripe beats your vote," yes, and it's impossible to know how much griping, posturing, swaggering around in camo w/ weapons, and speaking in pretentious, fancy, pseudo-18th century lingo is the end in itself, versus a prelude to something else. It makes them feel good, period. They obviously don't care about the truth. They *think* they do, but that, too, is fantasy.
Not to ride, or beat a dead, hobbyhorse, but this is a secular kind of religion--socially-sanctioned irrationality, which is pathetic and deluded and harmless, until it isn't.
Hearing the 18th century political posturings thru the filter of slightly earlier and splendifically pontificated golden olde English biblical phrasings would tend to conflate in those minds too...distracted...to understand the difference. "God talks just like these old slavey guys – they must be the real deal!"
Their dress-up 18th century lingo reminds me of the video for Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus,” where leather clad bikers with lace and periwigs join the party.
Later, after one of these fascists assassinates an election official, we can all go back to the video and say, "Oh, yeah, I guess that really was a threat after all!"
O brave new world, that hath such people in it!
Sometimes I wonder -- although this is an impossibility -- if Trump said "elections are valid, there has been no fraud" if these people would stand down, or if they no longer look to him but are so walled off in their grievance and crazy conspiracy theories they would carry on anyway.
But it's moot since he is no more likely to say that than a pig is likely to fly.
then it would have been, 'trump has been kidnapped and replaced by a body double!11!!!1'. body double being appropriate to his girth.
Since Dems, any Dems, win elections, they will not stand down...
"Stand back and stand by."
Trump is CEO of Grievance Manufacturing Co, Inc; as with all Trump properties it only exists for funneling money to the top.
I bought some racism-powered roller skates from those guys, and all they did was run me smack on into the side of a mountain.
Someone on MSNBC made the point that there hasn't been a violent mob attacking the statehouse in Harrisburg because Doug Mastriano didn't ask for one. So it's not exactly a grassroots rebellion, if the Leader doesn't call for a coup, they don't coup. That said, they're more than willing to pick and choose among Trump's statements the ones they like and ignore the rest (hey, kinda like they treat the Bible!). But action - especially violent action - doesn't come unless ordered.
Good question to speculate about. I imagine some would abandon him and some wouldn’t. But it would result in a net loss of supporters, most likely. If true, it illustrates the necessity of him staying on the tiger he’s is riding.
But you’re right about the likelihood of him saying that — TFG knows at some level that he has to stay ahead of the curve of crazy to compete with the other nutjobs (I’m looking at you, Ye), grifters, charlatans, cynics, and other humanoid parasites looking to take over Trump’s seat on the big striped cat. L
I think of this prospect as the 'Modified Colonel Sternwood Gambit'. Only instead of Sean Regan, his followers hired Trump to do their thinking for them.
Seen that movie two dozen times, and I still can't figure out who Carmen killed or why.
“You’re cute.”
Neither could Hawks, Brackett, Faulkner, or anyone else, they say. I think they asked Chandler and he wasn't sure.
Nice work Bern, you've found the perfect movie metaphor to today's MAGA movement.
I'd like to thank all the stature-challenged people who made this possible!
Mwah!
Well she almost killed Bacall's career, if the stories are believable...
? That's news to me.
Story is Vickers stole every scene, and made Bacall look like a lump (and Bacall had been panned in reviews of her most recent flick, putting her career in tailspin mode). So (here It or I get murky) scenes were rewritten/reshot to make Bacall look better, scenes were deleted that made Vickers look so great, or some other combo of the above. And let's face it, no matter what got cut, Vickers was really good in that film.
Carmen killed Sean Regan because he turned her down. The person whose killer nobody could figure out was the chauffeur.
See? I'm even confused about what I'm confused about.
did they listen to his pro-vax statements last year?
Exactly, it's like "I love Jesus, but the Sermon on the Mount, what's that?"
yep, armed conflict is what they seek, or think they seek.
When they act it out, it's one guy with body armor and an AR-15 against a crowd of unarmed shoppers in a Buffalo supermarket. So "armed conflict" with the understanding that they've got the arms and you don't.
And today's post illustrates, in large part, why I so respect the GOP voters.
I'm so old I feebly remember when Democrat primary voters kept nominating candidates too extreme to win elections. Doubt that it was good for the nation but the GOP voters doing that now surely (and apparently) is a good thing.
Meanwhile, Hobbs is suing Cochise county. Apparently whatever they do doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things so this is little more than a fully earned and deserved slap in the face which is to say a Good Thing.
Meanwhile a Dem Congress-thing died. Someone thought running a candidate at death's door was somehow a good idea. And since he's from Virginia, no idea whether the governor names a replacement or what.
"remember when Democrat primary voters kept nominating candidates too extreme to win elections"
Yeah, that Walter Mondale was just waaaay to out there. And Dukakis? Man! What a radical firebrand he was! Indeed, I remember Al Gore who, having "lost" the election, swore he'd ratify the results.
Well, it does start with "I'm so old..." so maybe we're talking about William Jennings Bryan and his radical Free Silver platform?
You shall not crucify me on a cross of old!
I was put more in mind of Father Drinan! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Drinan
Another one so radical he won election!
Thanks for the link. I'd forgotten about the OTHER impeachment prospect.
I wonder if my attorney friends with Georgetown connections knew Drinan. Will ask around.
😂
Yeah, MM -- I'm not that old -- all I've seen is centrist oatmeal since I was aware that elections existed. And the concept of "too extreme to win" is entirely a made-up, bullshit, & totally fabricated media narrative, and has always been code for "AVERT YOUR EYES, CHILDREN! A SOCIALIST!"
And I have no goddamn respect foe GOP voters. It's not like these lost races were routs. Most of the Dems squank by...
Hearted for squank.
Ah what the hell – 2 marks!
Mark inflation!
Run! He's gonna blow!
I said feebly. Might be recollecting MSM fears of an FDR/LBJ-level radical socialist being nominated for something instead of the MSM’s preferred DINO.
Point is, may the RepubliQans keep on nominating the most unhinged, repellant candidates they want. It’s a now-proven tactic for electoral success, unfortunately for our success, not theirs.
There have been some righteous candidates, but in my memory (which ain't all it could be) they get pushed out, like the aforementioned padre, or sabotaged, like Dennis Kucinich.
Bernie Sanders could use a younger peer or two. (AOC et alia still need some seasoning.)
I admire Jerry Brown, who seems to have decided that America can only stand progressivism if it comes dressed as cranky libertarianism, at which he did a much better job than, say, Jesse Ventura. https://web.archive.org/web/20120323153955/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/03/jerry_brown_run.php
But I'd trade them all in for a good Sewer Socialist.
I remember 1972-1978 when South Dakota had the most liberal Senate delegation in the country. Sadly James Abourezk hated it so much that he chose not to run again and the Tom Daschle destroyed the McGovern machine and now the South Dakota legislature has like 10 democrats out of 105
You need to write a book, "What's the Matter with South Dakota"
I remember one SD Dem political event around 2000 where Tom Daschle was the inspirational speaker, and he talked about “following your bliss,” and I thought, “who in the hell is this supposed to appeal to?” Apparently centrist pols who move to DC, cash in, and become lobbyists.
Lobbying is his bliss
I remember when the local Dems big plan was to advertise themselves as moderates just like the Repubs ... they got routed
That’s been most of the national Democratic Party’s plan for over 30 years now. Strange that it didn’t work out. “Voter, would you prefer a real Republican, or would you prefer a bland, rudderless facsimile who’s embarrassed by himself and his party?” Weird that that pitch didn’t sell!
In a country full of people leading meaningless lives, joining with others to fight against "evil" has a strong attraction for some.
They grind away at their shitty jobs, never quite making enough to keep the paper on the pickup truck away from the title loan guys. There's no hope for advancement, their health insurance, if they've got it, don't pay for shit and the best Christmas bonus they ever got was a $20 gift card from Kroger.
(My first job as a grower for a nursery gave the whole staff Kroger gift cards for $14.35 as a Christmas bonus. The owners said that was all the money they could afford. They went to Cancun for the holidays)
Their kids are doughy and not even very good at Xbox - crazy considering they spend a dozen hours a day playing. The old lady is in the same shape. She's got a shit job at Ten and Below.
She's a night shift supervisor. It's one of the last three places left in the mall and everybody expects the store to close any day. She drives a 10-year-old Hyundai it has the trunk wired shut. Title guys won't lend any money on it. They live in a shitty apartment with black mold under the bathroom vanity and a garbage disposal that never worked since they moved in. Rent went up 3 times last year.
For a while they got caught up in the big church that opened in the Kmart at the edge of town.
That was nice for a while - it's good to talk to other people who have the same shitty kind of life you do. Preachers always up your ass for money though.
Then this MAGA thing showed up. It was great hearing Trump talk shit on everybody and it made a lot of sense what he was saying - coloreds and queers and Mexicans and stuck up bitches having everything just given to them when all you get to do is work and worry. Being a MAGA and fighting against that - fighting for Freedom - why, that was even better than Church! And you get to carry guns ! Guns are just the best thing ever.
To tell you the truth, lately Trump's been as bad as those Preachers about asking for money.
"joining with others to fight against "evil" has a strong attraction for some."
I'm seeing more in the news about an "epidemic of loneliness", I suppose this is one response. And "They're nuts, they'll take anyone!" handily removes any fear of rejection.
Also: I'm from the Democratic Party, and I thought you might like to hear about our proposed Child Tax Cred - SLAMS DOOR.
“Epic of loneliness” is insightful. Also, I see lots of people feeling powerless, along with painful realization that their towns and regions are drying up and dying. So for some, it’s intoxicating to go full bully and abuser on The Other. Gun-toting neckbeards and snotty Mean Girls suddenly abound.
There's a reason religion refuges the scoundrels – it's like a "get out of consequences free" card. Apply religious convictions to all else, and viola! – no action goes punished if acted out by the right sort of people...
"painful realization that their towns and regions are drying up and dying."
Funny that no constructive response to this problem ever occurs to these people.
“Perhaps we could invest in infrastructure and manufacturing. We could avoid more supply chain issues *and* help regional economies.”
[pause]
“On second thought, they should just learn to code. And get MOAR RACIST.”
There was a story a couple of days ago about rural airports closing because of the pilot shortage (if you don't have enough, it makes sense to assign your pilots to fly big planes out of big airports instead of small planes out of small airports, who knew?) Kinda hard to get businesses to locate in a region without reliable air service.
There's an FAA program called Essential Air Service that subsidizes flights into about a hundred rural airports. My guess is the folks who use these airports have no idea their ticket is being subsidized by Uncle Sam, and if you told them they'd refuse to know it.
Our Fair State has a handful of airports who get that subsidy or they’d close, and people would drive 200+ miles to get scheduled air service. Including, of course, airports in Rodeo Barbie’s backyard.
Poetry, that.
Their bleats about "crime" and "burning cities" are essentially "How dare those n*****s have jobs and lives!"
Toddlers with guns. I’m surprised none of them threatened to hold their breath or lay prone on the floor, kicking their heels. What’s the appropriate time-out for election interference? 1-2, 3-4? Felony? “Don’t make me come down there!”
Yep. Punishable by the death penalty. I'm putting on my body armor. The Tree of Liberty needs watering. My Constitutional right to bear arms everywhere. What? No! I'm not making death threats! I'm just saying that you committed treason, which could be punishable by death, and that I'm armed to the teeth and not quite sane, is all.
Ah, but the lady who said "punishable by death" wasn't armed to the teeth, that was the guy who followed her in line. So it's two totally different people! Whatever you do, don't connect the dots!
The Constitution (remember it?) defines treason pretty explicitly. Even if an election were openly rigged (like 2000?) this wouldn't be it.
Forget it, she's on a roll.
Of course it's treason! The Republican didn't win! What more proof is needed?
Democrats winning is t' reason I'm mad!
Tbf, failing to understand the definition of treason is, much as I hate to admit it, a bipartisan phenomenon. Like calling everything you think is bad unconstitutional.
All dare call it treason!
This is true, stealing classified documents from the White House is not treason unless you pass them on to a country that we are actually at war with.
If this is the CIVIL WAR we were promised if Republicans didn't win, I'll take it. Stand up in front of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and when the little bell rings because your two minutes are up, you step aside for the next nut in line. Very revolutionary.
And I, for one, salute the courageous officials of Cochise County, bravely withholding their county's votes from the statewide totals. I can only hope the officials of Waukesha County are watching and follow this example in all future elections.
Waukesha is withholding their votes until they know how many they need to add for the Republicans to win
This actually happened in a Supreme Court race. The day after the election, a sack full of votes was "found" (in Waukesha!) just enough to put the Republican candidate over the top. Naturally, Republicans with all their concerns about election integrity refused to take the W, because it wasn't sporting (I kid)
Speaking from experience as a former dues-paying member of the Green Party, it's really, really hard to sustain a political movement on a diet of nothing but losing.
What sustains my interest is that there are specific things I want the government to do, like combat climate change and give everyone free healthcare, and even when these ideas didn't seem like election-winners I could comfort myself with the thought that they're good ideas that might eventually win public support (and they have!)
If all you've got is "Hate the Other Team", that provides a nice jolt, but you have to keep upping the dosage to get the same effect, and pretty soon you're scaring the normies. But what are the Republicans to do? They can't offer up any kind of positive ideas for how to improve peoples' lives, even hinting that the government might be good for such things is verboten.
How about a movie called Lust For Power about a domestic abuser who feels threatened by his wife's legitimate desire for some independence and tries to kill her? Nah, too subtle for the wingers.
For some reason, this makes me think of Republican wives who suddenly decided to follow Trump's advice to forego their usual absentee ballot and vote in-person instead, because it's harder for Hubby to look over your shoulder.
Oh, yeah, Filipkowski. The guy who tweets several MUST WATCH video clips a day without captioning. It's fine. We probably don't need disabled people voting for democrats anyway.
Some people apparently thought the Pivot To Video was a real thing and refuse to provide any other content for those of us who want a ten-second read, not a meandering three-minute video.
In this case I thought the text in the tweets was sufficient, though actually hearing the nuts (like the Kevin Williamson manqué) yields extra humor/horror.
Oh, my comment wasn’t directed at you. I’m just nonplussed that years after finding out Google lied on their “pivot to video” stats, many places—including news sites—insist on making us watch videos to glean some small nugget from them. Which, naturally, I refuse to do. Harrumph.
Now, for illustrative purposes or a delightful gloss, video accompaniment can be quite fine. 😃
I dunno. I unfollowed him and three other Big Name Democrats who were doing the same thing. There's always the same two people in the replies summoning the CC bot and suggesting this is something the dudes could do themselves. There's no shortage of politics in my TL, and I was never reading BND's thrillers anyway.
I get that folks can do the cognitive work required to find out about this Must See conversation, but generally we're not doing it thirty times a day. Accessibility means reach, is the point I was trying to make, though in a counterintuitive way.
Sorry, I didn't actually mean to derail your entire column here. I forget this bunch of weirdos doesn't ignore me so I should avoid being a dick about a very minor point.
I certainly wouldn't dispute your larger point, and I'm trying to be better about putting alts in my tweets etc. (Mastodon reminds us to do it, which I think is great.)
"Kari Lake supporter today to Maricopa Supervisors: “7 traitors to the Constitution. Interference in an election is a capital offense. It’s considered treason punishable by the death penalty. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution necessary.” "
Dancing around the point...
Tripping the light stochastic.
Martin Luther King called from the grave, he wants his quote back, thanks.
Wait there was nothing about the content of their character there. Could that be a fake MLK quote?
Well, he did only say that one thing, so...
There's always "The Ballot Or The Bullet" but I don't think they're ready for Malcolm X yet.
Ron Gould sez “I don’t think that was what the Founders had in mind when they used the democratic process to elect ou(r)* leaders”
Looks to me like Ron did not get the memo 'bout 'ain't no democracy, you peons, this here's a republic!' He'll be woodshedded soon or there'll be Trump to pay!
* (or maybe he really did mean 'out' – crap – word salad bar incomplete without sneeze guard)
I think he meant out, no more closeted fascists! Like Nick Fuentes, they're out and proud!
Yeah, considered that, tho not sure Ron woulda grokked *the connection...
*Damn I'm old.
Yes, that was a typo, fixing it now, thanks.
The last few years have been a fascinating and perilous experiment in weaponized sociology. This experiment has left us with a bunch of high-functioning zombie suicide bombers, who work like landmines dropped into the middle of the population. They might do anything from yell racist obscenities at random passers-by to a massacre. We need a concerted and coordinated effort to handle these people as dangerous, bc they've made their intentions clear even if they themselves aren't clear.
Hearted for the un-clarity
I can't see what to do except defeat the ones who run for office and imprison the ones who break the law.
"Their gripe beats your vote," yes, and it's impossible to know how much griping, posturing, swaggering around in camo w/ weapons, and speaking in pretentious, fancy, pseudo-18th century lingo is the end in itself, versus a prelude to something else. It makes them feel good, period. They obviously don't care about the truth. They *think* they do, but that, too, is fantasy.
Not to ride, or beat a dead, hobbyhorse, but this is a secular kind of religion--socially-sanctioned irrationality, which is pathetic and deluded and harmless, until it isn't.
Ah. Yeah.
Hearing the 18th century political posturings thru the filter of slightly earlier and splendifically pontificated golden olde English biblical phrasings would tend to conflate in those minds too...distracted...to understand the difference. "God talks just like these old slavey guys – they must be the real deal!"
Their dress-up 18th century lingo reminds me of the video for Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus,” where leather clad bikers with lace and periwigs join the party.
The human brain is a wondrous thing.