Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.
I do not care about climate change. I care deeply that Democrats want to wreck our economy, endanger the lives of many, and send us back to a dark ages reliance on the wind and sun to atone for their privilege.
8:03 PM · Sep 5, 2019
that tweet is incredibly stupid, but the replies to it will restore your faith in humanity. 😀
The Erickson tweet (BTW, the link is not working) simply reinforces something that has been apparent for years now: Republicans or self described Conservatives cannot be relied upon to deal with the country’s problems. For many, such as Erickson, it’s his nature. Angry, entitled and with an unshakeable compulsion to discount and attack anything that upsets his world view. I suspect a good number of Republican elected officials don’t actually have the same disposition, but it doesn’t matter. They cannot remain in office as a Republican if they go against the world view of the most militant and angry in their base. So while Republican politicians can be stridently against things, they can only be vaguely for anything specific because actually crafting a solution requires a politician to put a line in the sand. And because the modern Republican Party base holds so many conflicting and fantastical things to be god given truth, any actual line is going to have to cross at least a few of them.
@MarkedMan: that wasn’t even the weirdest thing he said yesterday, he also called episcopalians “satanic”, I guess because Pete Buttigieg hurts his fee-fees.
Don’t ask why, but over the past day or two I’ve actually read what our trolls post here, rather than skipping merrily past. And now I feel poisoned. I understand that half the population rocks a double-digit IQ. And I know that there has always been too much nastiness in the world. But the belligerence and bad faith and arrogance and flat out nihilism… What drives a festering POS to post here year after fucking year? I would never frequent some RWNJ watering hole just to remind them that I think they are all a band of idiots. What would be the point?
I think that was a decent summary, but I feel that Kanefield conflates Joe Shit Kicker with the views that big business stuffs into his head. Frankly, none of these conservatives could cite a single regulation, and don’t even notice them in the real world. But business tells rural shitheads that they would all live like kings if only government would get out of the way.
If I’m not mistaken, I’ve engaged to the tune of exactly two posts, one of which was quite recent.
For no particular reason, I hide behind a pseudonym. But I’ve been wondering if we’d all be better off having to use our (verified) real names. It seems like right-wingers seem to become penitent and docile when unmasked.
Republicans or self described Conservatives cannot be relied upon to deal with the country’s problems.
This is exactly the conclusion that I arrived at years ago that compelled me to leave the Republican party. I had identified as a Republican for years–was an officer in my college Republican club, volunteered on campaigns, and eventually went to work for a state Republican party. In short, I was all-in. But as time went on, it became very apparent to me that Republican ideology has no room for fixing problems, particularly not at their root cause. They offer very simplistic answers to complex questions, but those simplistic answers are utterly unworkable.
Instead of examining the crisis in Central America that is leading thousands to set out on foot for a better life and trying to address that, they glom onto building a useless wall–diverting funding from military projects and families to do so. Instead of making contraception and sex ed more available to reduce unplanned pregnancies, they ban abortion AND make contraception less available, all while instructing women to keep their knees together. Etcetera. They are not equipped to solve problems.
Dam*, he has found us out. I told everyone at church that if we kept smearing ourselves in goat blood and dancing around naked virgins it would give us episcopalians a bad name.
@Kit: once in a blue moon I’ll engage too, but it’s better for one’s mental health to just avoid them. If they say anything particularly funny or interesting somebody else will excerpt it and you’ll encounter it that way.
Teve is the slightest of alterations to my real name, and on FB I’m Teve Tory in the same way. You don’t have to work at the NSA to figure out what my real name is. And it’s really just because I’m a liberal who lives in the Deeeeep Rural South, and I like to be able to have jobs and get interviews and such. 😀
“Huge fireball explodes over NY” Frightened residents poured into the streets after a cataclysmic explosion and flash of light occurred. Scientists were still trying to sort out if it was a meteor or untracked asteroid that lit up the sky and shook houses. Some people feared an emp. “People were literally on their knees”
(Daily News, Business Times)
6.4 magnitude quake hits Oregon as Cascadia fault slippage worsens. (Dutchsinse)
Good link to studies that indicate that the bottom-of-the-barrel of the loyal 28% of the GOP are all about nihilism and chaos. Then the social-networked average supporter can forward conspiracy theories and untruths with just a click.
You used to be Teve Tory here, too! I guess the heat started getting to you and you decided on a bit more annonymity 🙂
As for myself, I have this fear that one day I’ll wake up and find that I posted something all in caps and with liberal use of profanity and exclamation points. Hence the pseudonym.
For no particular reason, I hide behind a pseudonym. But I’ve been wondering if we’d all be better off having to use our (verified) real names.
Years ago, I intentionally decided to post under my real name everywhere because I found that I was writing things that I wouldn’t feel comfortable actually owning. It definitely leads to self censoring at times — especially in areas that are tied to my employer. But I don’t think that bit of censoring is a net loss in the end.
Though, to @dennis‘ point, I also agree that something has caused people to feel empowered to voice their right-of-center views as of late (especially on topics like race and immigration). I have no idea what could have possibly changed.
I’m retired now, but when I started commenting here using my real name could have caused serious problems at work. I got a hot flash for conservatives who think their free speech is threatened. You conservatives can put all the stickers you want on your car without getting keyed. I can’t.
Yesterday Trump tweeted “Really Good Jobs Numbers” in flagrant violation of the BLS embargo of that information. And perhaps another attempt to manipulate the markets? https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169606328945451009
The truth, you ask?
130,000 jobs in August.
25,000 of these were temporary jobs for the 2020 Census…so the “real” number is 105,000 jobs.
June and July jobs were revised down 20,000 jobs (15,000 and 5,000, respectively).
Best economy ever!!!
So much winning!!!
Etc………………………
@gVOR08:
@mattbernius:
I understand owning what you say, and pretty much I agree.
But in a day when potential employers, and/or clients, can search you on Google…why create a limiting situation?
@Teve:
Interesting read. Thanks.
Though I’ve in the past been known to tease Republicans by telling them that from a European pont of view, insofar as they are free marketeers and constitutionalists, they’re not conservatives at all but a weird variety of liberal 🙂
@Doug Mataconis:
You may well be right about the ADP numbers.
But the idea that the most corrupt President in modern history, armed with toadies in the DOJ and Treasury…and an acting Secretary at Labor after Acosta was forced to resign…couldn’t see those numbers if he wished…is hopelessly naive.
Good link to studies that indicate that the bottom-of-the-barrel of the loyal 28% of the GOP are all about nihilism and chaos. Then the social-networked average supporter can forward conspiracy theories and untruths with just a click.
That was a good article, but I don’t feel that it describes our trolls. They don’t really put forward anything, preferring to limit themselves to 1) you are stupid, 2) this post is stupid, 3) liberals are stupid, 4) read this link discrediting whatever, 5) yeah, but what about… We aren’t treated to any predictions or conspiracy theories.
@Teve: Corey Robin’s The Reactionary Mind: From Burke to Trump is, as the subtitle implies, a review of conservatism arguing that conservatism is alway reactionary. From the Amazon blurb:
Some conservatives endorse the free market; others oppose it. Some criticize the state; others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality — while simultaneously making populist appeals to the masses.
Occasionally in these comment threads we see expressions of the difficulty of defining conservatism. It’s because “conservatism” in politics is nothing like “conservatism” as used in other contexts and as defined in dictionaries. Conservatives, especially, do not understand “conservatism”. Self reflection is not a front line virtue on the right.
Robin goes on to observe that the anti-elitism of Trumpism (Trumpitis?) is also a constant. After all, if the elites had done their job and defended the status quo we wouldn’t have to deal with all these uppity Indians, Irish, Wops, workers, women, gays, whatever.
@Kit: when OTB went through a software refresh it lost the ability to retain my info for some reason, so I have to retype it each time. And typing is annoying on my smartphone and so I just went with Teve when I started using that more than my laptop. Meesa lazy. 🙂
That was a good article, but I don’t feel that it describes our trolls. They don’t really put forward anything, preferring to limit themselves to 1) you are stupid, 2) this post is stupid, 3) liberals are stupid, 4) read this link discrediting whatever, 5) yeah, but what about… We aren’t treated to any predictions or conspiracy theories.
if you go back a few years you’ll see that the trolls here used to be much more active and enthusiastic. But they decided to sign on to defending everything Trump did, and they’ve just gotten worn the hell down.
Self reflection is not a front line virtue on the right.
Speaking as a former conservative Christian Republican, that lack of introspection is a feature of evangelical conservatism, in particular. There’s such a contradiction between the “articles of the faith” and the reality of daily living that to reflect on one’s private and public life causes a dissonance that drives the conservative batshyt crazy. Trust me; I know.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: This seems to be the best jobs situation since Clinton was in. “Help wanted, all shifts” signs everywhere. I walk into businesses and they ask me if I need a job, start immediately. The employment firms are calling on the phone. Contrast that to a few years ago when it was hard getting a job as a school crossing guard or door to door broom sales. The ’70’s were bad too: high interest rates, high unemployment, high inflation, and gas “shortages”.
Are recessions inevitable? Seems the best policies to avoid these slow down cycles are low taxes, reduce regulations, and sound monetary policies.
@Kit:
KM is my real initials. I never intended to be a poster – I lurked around for years before someone finally said something I couldn’t let pass. After a few replies, I realized I had accidentally chosen my handle and it was close enough to “real me” that it wasn’t worth the ethical debate of real name vs anonymity. As noted above, if anyone ever was truly interested in figuring out who I was IRL, it would take like 10 mins tops.
As for engaging trolls, well that’s how I got posting in the first place. We tend to forget readership is far, far higher then those who take the time to post and letting someone spew toxicity unchallenged isn’t as harmless as it looks. Ignoring poison constantly being dripped in your ears still leaves you poisoned. Like verbal abuse, hearing the same disparaging things over and over again gets stuck in your head and forms unconscious expectations. A big one is Dems Act, GOP Whines – we all just expect Dems and liberals to be the adults in the room, have higher standards and not engage in dirty but effective tactics because we’re not the norm-breakers, they are. This kind of positive stereotype is what hurts Dems heavily in elections. We don’t fling poo at walls regularly so when there’s some toilet paper on the bottom of our shoes, it’s a scandal!!
We like to think that people aren’t going to be influenced by trolls, that they’ll just pass over them the same way we do. You don’t know that – it’s an assumption. You don’t know that some of the “facts” that they spew and are left unchallenged don’t get taken as gospel by someone who doesn’t know any better. After all, if nobody ever told you the guy screaming 2+2=27 is wrong, you might just end up believing it yourself. I post replies to trolls, not because I expect anything to come from it, but for the lurkers like my former self who are reading this silently and shouldn’t have that crap uncontested.
It’s occurred to me from time to time to start a spreadsheet on the regular commenters here to track identifying information (where they live, job, does/doesn’t have kids, etc.), not to be creepy or trolly, but just to get a snapshot of the crowd. Over time, most of us have pretty much spelled ourselves out. I have never done that and still won’t.
Thread
Conversation
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
The Fake News Media was fixated on the fact that I properly said, at the beginnings of Hurricane Dorian, that in addition to Florida & other states, Alabama may also be grazed or hit. They went Crazy, hoping against hope that I made a mistake (which I didn’t). Check out maps…..
10:29 AM · Sep 6, 2019·Twitter for iPhone
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
38m
Replying to
@realDonaldTrump
….This nonsense has never happened to another President. Four days of corrupt reporting, still without an apology. But there are many things that the Fake News Media has not apologized to me for, like the Witch Hunt, or SpyGate! The LameStream Media and their Democrat…..
Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
38m
….partner should start playing it straight. It would be so much better for our Country!
Kevin M. Kruse
@KevinMKruse
·
14s
Replying to
@realDonaldTrump
Yes, they’re all fixated on this. Not you. Them. Sure.
“Speaking as a former conservative Christian Republican”
My background also with my father and other family members John Birchers. Your analysis of conservative Christians is mostly accurate, but with my family now I find that they either dont care or just dont realize that there are contradictions in their faith and their political beliefs. For (most of) them Trump is a saint.
@Teve: Actually, I thought the James Gang (heh) had banned a bunch of the regular trolls here. I thought that was what caused the (very positive) change in tone and dynamics…
@KM: I 100% applaud your dedication to correcting disinformation from the nutters.
FWIW I think the most effective means to do this is a “for the record” post and never hit “reply” to a nutter post or mention them by name. Nutters want attention more than anything else, and will tear down the tone of the comment section in order to get it.
Curious how many former Republicans I continue to see on the handful of.. left leaning* (?) blogs I visit. I’m hopeful that’s a good sign.
I include myself among that group. Grew up in the stereotypical small rural community (pop. 300) in a deep red state. Pics of Reagan on the wall, lot’s of guns, an NRA membership and later a Ditto Head.
It was the early 00’s – GWB, Tom Delay, Abramoff, Norquist et al, that finally broke the bubble.
I’d like to think I was too busy working/living to not have been aware of the toxic strain of Gingrich (Dick Armey, Scarborough) & company a decade prior.
*Come to think of it, like OTB, the sites I visit aren’t really ‘left’ leaning. Simply, informed, literate.
@Teve: This maniacal obsessiveness isn’t a new thing with Trump. Graydon Carter has been receiving from Trump since the late 1980s photos of his hands with the fingers circled (in Sharpie, no doubt) in order to prove he has long, aristocratic digits.
Republicans are making informed and literate the same as left.
Is this sarcasm or a serious statement? I’ll agree that Never-Trump-I’ve-Seen-the-Light conservatives are making closer-to sane arguments, now. For example, The Bulwark. Still, if you listen closely (and you don’t have to listen THAT closely), they’re still spouting that “liberals-are-evil-gonna-destroy-America” schtick. As you said earlier, I have a “hot flash” for that type of silliness. So, these Never-Trumpers expect the rest of us to just forget all the horrible behavior and bullshyt they spouted for years, especially 2008-2016? Have you heard The New Joe Walsh lately? Nah, those guys can kick a f*****g rock, ‘cuz as soon as Trump is gone, they’ll be RIGHT back to the demonization politics. I may look stupid but, really, I’m not.
I understand owning what you say, and pretty much I agree.
But in a day when potential employers, and/or clients, can search you on Google…why create a limiting situation?
Admittedly I’m privileged — mid career professional and working in an area and for an organization that provides me with a lot of security.
However, I’ve always assumed that nothing will ever stay hidden. And I think it would be far worse to not be conscious of what I’m writing and being unmasked than it would be to take the approach I have.
I’ve been thinking recently that I need a new word like “meta-atheist” to describe the fact that not only do I not believe in the existence of god, but that I no longer think theists actually believe in the existence of god either.
@dennis: I made that remark in all seriousness. There are frequent comments here distinguishing between current Republicans and “true conservatives”. Well, Republicans are the conservatives we’ve got. I have commented several times to the effect that once Trump is gone the rest of them will blame everything on Trump and claim they’re different and we can trust them. They will remain the same lying, bigoted, Koch owned spits that horked up Trump in the first place.
I do not believe an intellectually honest case can be made for modern American conservatism/Republicanism. At least not without admitting things they know they can’t admit.
Ah. I think my original understanding of your comment is the problem. Now, I assume you mean that conservatives are making informed, literate commentary, also; just that it’s based on inhumane, shyt ideology.
@Tyrell: the 6.4 quake was 8 days ago and there was a previous 6.4 that you missed in Central California (I think) in July. ETA: and the “fireball” is only a rumor. Government spokes people say it was only a sonic boom (but we know better eh Tyrell?).
The Irish Taoiseach is sounding more and more resigned to a no-deal Brexit. Last evening, speaking at a national Chamber of Commerce event, he said, “There will still be plenty of food on shelves but perhaps not all of the same brands.” Also, “You will need to be registered as an importer/exporter and you will need to make customs declarations.” If Ireland is ready to concede, it seems unlikely that the EU is going to grant another extension next month.
You conservatives can put all the stickers you want on your car without getting keyed. I can’t.
For some reason, your comment reminds me of an All In The Family episode where Archie and Mike are arguing because Mike wants to name their coming baby after his Uncle Stanislaus. Archie, objecting that the child’s nickname will become “Louse,” says something to the effect that “I know they’ll call him ‘Louse,’ that’s what I’d do.”
Trump is still raving on Twitter about how Dorian was absolutely, positively projected to hit Alabama.
Everyone screaming about Trump’s Dorian and Alabama remark should look at this map very closely. This is the one that scared the tahe out of me because it had Lake Ochechobee right in the middle of the cone. I live in Palm Beach County about 3 miles inland and about 40 miles SE of Lake O.
Look at the far northwestern edge of the cone. It is where Florida, Alabama, and Georgia borders meet.
Alabama was at the edge of the cone. Say Dorian had followed that track, it would have impacted Alabama with Tropical force winds or more. Remember Dorian had hurricane force winds extending out for 50 miles from its eye.
I haven’t been following the updates to this controversy. Trump is an idiot and a liar, but not everything he says is wrong.
In various discussions of Parliamentary v Presidential systems we see that Parliamentary systems aren’t supposed to suffer deadlock, and yet we see Parliament and Boris at odds, and before that Parliament and May. Vox has a good article by Matt Yglesias on how this came to be. First, he observes, they neutered the House of Lords so it’s down to the PM and Commons.
The UK’s problem today is the consequence of a 2011 law that was passed to address a particular set of circumstances but has turned out to have wide-ranging implications for a variety of situations — including introducing the novelty of deadlocks into a system that is not accustomed to them.
In order to protect a fragile Tory/Lib Dem coalition they passed the Fixed Term Parliament Act that denied the PM power to call a new election on his own, a parliament will last five years unless a 2/3 super majority voted for new elections. This created a margin between 50% plus one and 67% for deadlock.
Fragmentation, of course, also plays a role. A majority can agree they don’t like whatever May or Johnson proposed, but there’s no majority for any particular alternate proposal.
For no particular reason, I hide behind a pseudonym. But I’ve been wondering if we’d all be better off having to use our (verified) real names. It seems like right-wingers seem to become penitent and docile when unmasked.
I have a very dim-witted internet stalker who has been following me from the days of Usenet because of an argument involving toys, so I use a variety of pseudonyms so he doesn’t follow me from site to site. I don’t have to try very hard, as he is as dumb as he is angry and obsessed.
But I’ve had him pop up and be a dumb angry threatening ass on various sites.
And who is to say that one of our dim witted trolls here is not going to turn into a crazed stalker?
(I haven’t heard from my stalker in about two years… maybe he is dead. That would be nice.)
Following a complaint, he was reproached by HR at a TV show for using the N word. He quit rather than tolerate the nonsense. Essentially he’s making the point that contra Twitter progressives, context does matter. He’s right and I admire him for quitting.
The idea that anyone, anywhere, has any business telling Walter freaking Mosley what words he can and cannot use to talk about his own life experience is just astonishing. I cannot imagine what some idiot in that writers’ room thought they were doing lodging a complaint. What a fking idiot.
It’s not about that or any other the word (he says for the thousandth time) per se. A word is a tool. It’s a screwdriver. You can use it to assemble an IKEA or to stab someone in the heart.
Fat is a word. There’s too much fat in my diet is one thing. Little girl, you’re fat, is a whole different thing. Same three letters, not the same thing.
Ugly is a word. That painting is ugly, vs. You’re ugly. See? Not the same thing.
Hate. I hate Mondays. I hate Jews. See?
The problem is that simple minds require binary instructions. Yes/No, Up/Down, Good/Bad. That is not life, and it sure as hell isn’t art. And stupid people incapable of understanding context or nuance or source or intention should at least have the minimal humility required to realize that you don’t tell an African-American writer of Walter Mosley’s stature what words he gets to use to describe his own goddamned life and experience.
@Tyrell: You’re very lucky. Where I live, the unemployment rate is still 6.7% and the only jobs that are being advertised are for “substitute school bus drivers.” (If substitute drivers are used as often as substitute teachers, drivers might be able to get 60 or 70 days a year–provided they can work for 2 or more districts–and the job is about 3 hours a day, too.)
@dennis: Let me try to be entirely clear. When I wrote,
Republicans are making informed and literate the same as left.
I DID NOT mean to say anything like “Republicans are making informed and literate statements as people on the left do.” I meant, and stand by, “Republicans have made (informed and literate) = left. Republicans have chosen to draw a line between reason and unreason and taken a stand proudly on the side of unreason. Do you disagree?
Maybe if you had been more honest, and had an “Anti-Women’s Choice” sticker on your car.
Do you know anyone who is not pro-life? Ted Bundy? Jeffrey Dahmer?
@Bill: YOU look at that map carefully. There’s a date on it. The date is two days before Trump’s tweet. And some poor bastard at CNN had to waste an hour or two on a timeline with the maps.
The map current when the Twit tweeted shows a cone of uncertainty nowhere near Alabama. It does run up to Virginia. The Twit said “In addition to Florida – South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated,” I think he confused Virginia and Alabama. I think if you gave him an unlabeled map of the US the only ones he might get right are Queens and Manhattan. And I worry about some guy with NOAA in Alabama being fired for putting out correct storm information instead of backing up the Twit.
OK, sorry I’m feeding TFT, but it’s hard to let fake facts stand.
The problem with your rationalization is that the hurricane track turned north on Friday August 30 (as your own link mentions) and Trumps Alabama tweet was made Sunday morning.
So even if the tweet was due to the earlier forecasts, that just makes the question of why Trump’s information on a major hurricane approaching the US was FOUR DAYS out of date.
if you go back a few years you’ll see that the trolls here used to be much more active and enthusiastic. But they decided to sign on to defending everything Trump did, and they’ve just gotten worn the hell down.
That got me wondering: what is it in a post that brings out the trolls? They won’t bite at everything.
Just in case anyone’s forgotten why you left the Republican party, or what it is we’re fighting in the coming election, take a quick gander at this brief thread over at Free Republic.
It’s Freepers sharing their thoughts about a Newsbusters article disparaging Pete Buttigieg’s recent appearance on Colbert.
If you’ve already showered for the day, you’re encouraged to skip it.
@Kit: Sarah Palin got the trolls really enthused. Then she dwindled into relative obscurity along with the rest of her dysfunctional family, paving the way for Trump.
It’s occurred to me from time to time to start a spreadsheet on the regular commenters here to track identifying information
From time to time, someone will let drop some bit of personal information that I think is worth remembering. But on the whole, what has come through after several years here is that this is a wonderfully strange demographic. Lots of women. Writers. Lawyers. Jews. Atheists. STEM guys. Former Republicans. And everyone seems to have that one subject, whatever it might be, where either they can’t stop talking about it, or they hold a surprising passion about it. But years can roll by without them breathing a word about it.
@CSK: I meant to say: what is it about a OTB post that brings out the trolls? Sometimes they bite, and sometimes they don’t. I can never predict when they will come crawling out.
They don’t really put forward anything, preferring to limit themselves to 1) you are stupid, 2) this post is stupid, 3) liberals are stupid, 4) read this link discrediting whatever, 5) yeah, but what about…
Is Daryl a troll? If I call his post stupid am I a troll?
We tend to forget readership is far, far higher then those who take the time to post
I was wondering about what the readership numbers were. @James? What’s the highest like count that anyone has ever seen? Even with the lurkers, I don’t see us numbering much more than 50.
@Liberal Capitalist: I know someone like that. They hate Trump and everything he stands for, yet because their life sucks and the world around them sucks, they voted for Trump and plan to do so again, so everything can burn down.
@CSK: Someone on Twitter (h/t Balloon Juice) pointed out that he probably saw notices that said, “All Bahamas” on alert (meaning all Bahaman islands were at risk from Dorian), and mis-read it as Alabama. But since he can’t ever admit he was wrong, he has to double down on the error.
@95 South: “Is Daryl a troll? If I call his post stupid am I a troll?”
Daryl is not a troll. You are a troll whether or not you call his post stupid because you post in bad faith with the intention only of pissing people off.
Don’t remember if I shared this before. For a short time when I was 17-yrs-old, I hated white people. HATED. For no specific reason, other than blah blah blah. I soon snapped out of it because it was so exhausting carrying around that ugly inside, and I knew deep down how stupid and irrational I was being. Every time I read right-wing commentary, I can feel that ugly all over again. It was the Townhall.com’ers who finally drove me from the Republican party. They are an ugly lot over there. They’re probably the same ones at Free Republic.
bumpersticker ripped off the tailgate of my 1960 F-1oo in 1973 while it was parked in a motel parking lot in Olney, Ill.
When I asked the manager what happened he said the white squirrels must have done it.
Q: “Is Daryl a troll?”
A: By my take, yes, sometimes. Others, you will note, disagree. In any event, it doesn’t happen very often that he is trollish.
Q: “If I call his post stupid am I a troll?”
A: That depends. Do you have a reason for saying his post is stupid? Do you show that reason even if it seems obvious to you? More importantly, why is it important to you to call someone else stupid? If someone calls you stupid, do you think that person is a troll (to which I am inferring the answer is “yes” because you asked)? Do you think that it’s proper to behave like a troll in retaliation to someone else? With these questions, you should be able to figure out your own answer, and as is true of my comment about Daryl above, some will disagree with you. In any event, go in peace and be the best “you” possible.
(I promise I will not feed the troll again this thread.)
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Oh, well in that case, Screw the Cubs, who didn’t bother to win a World Series until my die hard Cubs fan father had been dead for 6 years and unable to enjoy it for about 10 years before that. I mean really, they never even bothered getting to a WS while he was alive. Just so inconsiderate.
“No one knows what to expect from him anymore,” one former White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations about the president, told Insider. “His mood changes from one minute to the next based on some headline or tweet, and the next thing you know his entire schedule gets tossed out the window because he’s losing his s—.”
Trump has spent the past several days fixated on his false claim that Alabama was going to be hit by Hurricane Dorian. He has also taken time to lob attacks at his perceived enemies, like the actress Debra Messing, former FBI Director James Comey, and the “LameStream media.”
But one person who was close to Trump’s legal team during the Russia investigation told Insider his public statements were “nothing compared to what he’s like behind closed doors. He’s like a bull seeing red. There’s just no getting through to him, and you can kiss your plans for the day goodbye because you’re basically stuck looking after a 4-year-old now.”
@Teve: Just remember that one of the arly, constant complaints about Obama from some on the right was that he wasn’t presidential. Like when he wore jeans in the Oval Office (like Reagan did). Like when he wore a tan suit.
And I worry about some guy with NOAA in Alabama being fired for putting out correct storm information instead of backing up the Twit.
I don’t know if they’ll try to fire anybody, but they’ve disavowed his entirely accurate and necessary statement. The
Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.
They’ve made a statement, waving their hands over the timeline, supporting Trump’s tweet. NOAA is in the Department of Commerce, headed by Wilbur Ross.
Congratulations guys. You’ve managed to politicize weather reporting. Tell me again how our institutions are holding.
@Joe:
I’d give you my door code, but then I’d have to etc… etc…
I’m a fiction writer and prisoner of my own professional standards. Backstory is important. Backstory is everything. If I had one practical piece of writer advice it’d be: backstory. It’s like a mine where you can dig up all the rare earths you need. You want to create a character on the page? 1) Use other characters to define him/her* and 2) write some backstory.
*Cheap trick, get another character to say, ‘That, Joe, he’s so damn clever.’
@Joe: A couple years ago I jotted some notes for myself on OTB personalities as I was having trouble keeping everybody straight. (I’ve been known to forget my brother’s name in times of stress.) I haven’t been very good at maintaining it. There’s only one item I’d share:
gVOR08 – Smart mouthed azzhole and occasional bomb thrower.
Heh. Apart from their self congratulatory nature, one is mostly struck by the remarkablely self unaware status of the commenters. What a sparkling crew you all are, if you do say so yourselves.
The corruption of this administration is UNREAL. There is no reason, none, for an Air Force plane to refuel at a commercial airport in the UK and have the crew board at Trump’s Turnberry Resort.
Between this and the Pence visit to the Irish Trump resort, there’s some directive somewhere to use Trump properties. Congress needs to find this directive, and this taxpayer-funded propping up of his failing properties needs to STOP.
They attract money and attention to the predominantly white universities that showcase them, while HBCUs struggle. What would happen if they collectively decided to go to black schools?
JEMELE HILL
dammit it’s the first week in September and I’ve just used up all my free Atlantic articles for the month.
Erotic humiliation can be done verbally, physically, or both, and can be either private or public. Some individuals assume an acting role and others prefer to be spoken to in a degrading way. A classic technique that can be used to put the submissive into a bottom mind space is to humiliate them while also providing them with sexual stimulation. Select individuals who desire this form of humiliation also use it to acquire emotional release. Humiliation can become ritualized, and unlike some sexual variations, it can also be easily carried out over a long distance (such as online).
@Kit:
Yep. @Guarneri is clearly in a BDSM relationship with me (among others). I’m sure it’s especially exciting when he gets spanked by @Dennis. He’s old enough and backward enough that the racial element would be an extra layer of ‘wrong’ for him.
@Guarneri: Weak troll. You seem down, like your heart just isn’t into it. Is everything ok?
95 South has a lot more spring in his step — he’s upbeat, perky and wrong about everything, but happy to whatabout with gleeful fervor. His sunny optimism comes through in his comments, and he’s well on his way to becoming a beloved right wing troll, like Superdestroyer was in his day, but without the explicit overt white supremacism (Supes was an overt white supremacist, but he was Our overt white supremacist). Add a little more earnestness and I think he’ll be there. But you just seem down and defeated.
Trump Says He Secretly Invited Taliban Leaders, Afghanistan President To U.S.
President Donald Trump revealed Saturday that he secretly invited Taliban leaders and the Afghanistan president to meet with him in the U.S., but called the meeting off before they were scheduled to land on Saturday.
In a series of tweets, Trump said he was forced to cancel the meeting, which would’ve taken place Sunday at Camp David in Maryland, after “they” admitted to a deadly attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
@Mister Bluster: on the one hand, it is best not to believe anything he says or tweets. On the other hand, it is amazingly stupid.
You’ve got 9/11, an old tweet condemning Obama for talking to the Taliban, and he’s boasting about petulantly canceling a peace summit because there’s a war going on…
It’s a trifecta of stupid. So, it seems plausible.
I am marginally impressed that he didn’t have the Taliban leadership arrested when they landed and then sent off to Gitmo?
@Just nutha ignint cracker: So many things are going on it’s hard to keep up with. The earthquakes, volcanoes, magnetic field moving, increased radiation, and even strange animal behavior.
Real nice, a attempted mass murder
American Airlines mechanic accused of attempted sabotage of flight with 150 on board
that tweet is incredibly stupid, but the replies to it will restore your faith in humanity. 😀
@Teve: I can’t believe I’m typing this, but thank goodness for the comments. Erick Erickson really is a fool.
@Bill: Terrifying.
Robert Mugabe has died.
Reactionaries vs. Conservatives
The Erickson tweet (BTW, the link is not working) simply reinforces something that has been apparent for years now: Republicans or self described Conservatives cannot be relied upon to deal with the country’s problems. For many, such as Erickson, it’s his nature. Angry, entitled and with an unshakeable compulsion to discount and attack anything that upsets his world view. I suspect a good number of Republican elected officials don’t actually have the same disposition, but it doesn’t matter. They cannot remain in office as a Republican if they go against the world view of the most militant and angry in their base. So while Republican politicians can be stridently against things, they can only be vaguely for anything specific because actually crafting a solution requires a politician to put a line in the sand. And because the modern Republican Party base holds so many conflicting and fantastical things to be god given truth, any actual line is going to have to cross at least a few of them.
Twitter links are weird in that they sometimes work and sometimes have to be refreshed to work. It looks like it worked for Jen.
@MarkedMan: that wasn’t even the weirdest thing he said yesterday, he also called episcopalians “satanic”, I guess because Pete Buttigieg hurts his fee-fees.
Don’t ask why, but over the past day or two I’ve actually read what our trolls post here, rather than skipping merrily past. And now I feel poisoned. I understand that half the population rocks a double-digit IQ. And I know that there has always been too much nastiness in the world. But the belligerence and bad faith and arrogance and flat out nihilism… What drives a festering POS to post here year after fucking year? I would never frequent some RWNJ watering hole just to remind them that I think they are all a band of idiots. What would be the point?
@Kit:it’s a sad fact that some small percentage of the population has toxic personality disorders. Life’s too short to engage with them. 🙂
@Teve: Re: Reactionaries vs. Conservatives
I think that was a decent summary, but I feel that Kanefield conflates Joe Shit Kicker with the views that big business stuffs into his head. Frankly, none of these conservatives could cite a single regulation, and don’t even notice them in the real world. But business tells rural shitheads that they would all live like kings if only government would get out of the way.
@Teve:
If I’m not mistaken, I’ve engaged to the tune of exactly two posts, one of which was quite recent.
For no particular reason, I hide behind a pseudonym. But I’ve been wondering if we’d all be better off having to use our (verified) real names. It seems like right-wingers seem to become penitent and docile when unmasked.
The link worked for me, both earlier and just now (I tried again as I wondered if he had deleted the tweet after getting hammered for hours).
@MarkedMan:
This is exactly the conclusion that I arrived at years ago that compelled me to leave the Republican party. I had identified as a Republican for years–was an officer in my college Republican club, volunteered on campaigns, and eventually went to work for a state Republican party. In short, I was all-in. But as time went on, it became very apparent to me that Republican ideology has no room for fixing problems, particularly not at their root cause. They offer very simplistic answers to complex questions, but those simplistic answers are utterly unworkable.
Instead of examining the crisis in Central America that is leading thousands to set out on foot for a better life and trying to address that, they glom onto building a useless wall–diverting funding from military projects and families to do so. Instead of making contraception and sex ed more available to reduce unplanned pregnancies, they ban abortion AND make contraception less available, all while instructing women to keep their knees together. Etcetera. They are not equipped to solve problems.
“he also called episcopalians “satanic””
Dam*, he has found us out. I told everyone at church that if we kept smearing ourselves in goat blood and dancing around naked virgins it would give us episcopalians a bad name.
Steve
@Kit: once in a blue moon I’ll engage too, but it’s better for one’s mental health to just avoid them. If they say anything particularly funny or interesting somebody else will excerpt it and you’ll encounter it that way.
Teve is the slightest of alterations to my real name, and on FB I’m Teve Tory in the same way. You don’t have to work at the NSA to figure out what my real name is. And it’s really just because I’m a liberal who lives in the Deeeeep Rural South, and I like to be able to have jobs and get interviews and such. 😀
@CSK:
Mugabe is dead.
And in Britain, Conservative columnist Quentin Letts tweets an umm, interesting comparison with Johnson:
“Huge fireball explodes over NY” Frightened residents poured into the streets after a cataclysmic explosion and flash of light occurred. Scientists were still trying to sort out if it was a meteor or untracked asteroid that lit up the sky and shook houses. Some people feared an emp. “People were literally on their knees”
(Daily News, Business Times)
6.4 magnitude quake hits Oregon as Cascadia fault slippage worsens. (Dutchsinse)
@Kit:
This article, that I posted in the last open forum, really seems to address your question.
The Trump Voters Whose ‘Need for Chaos’ Obliterates Everything Else
Good link to studies that indicate that the bottom-of-the-barrel of the loyal 28% of the GOP are all about nihilism and chaos. Then the social-networked average supporter can forward conspiracy theories and untruths with just a click.
Horrifying fact of the day: Wil Wheaton is now the same age (47) that Patrick Stewart was when Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered
@CSK:
Hmm. He certainly took an awful long time reaching that inevitable conclusion.
@Teve:
Teve, thanks for that link.
@Teve:
You used to be Teve Tory here, too! I guess the heat started getting to you and you decided on a bit more annonymity 🙂
As for myself, I have this fear that one day I’ll wake up and find that I posted something all in caps and with liberal use of profanity and exclamation points. Hence the pseudonym.
@Kit:
I find that not to be the case, lately. 100% of the time.
Is there anyway for me to post a comment written, or drawn, in sharpie?
Asking for a friend…
@Kit:
Years ago, I intentionally decided to post under my real name everywhere because I found that I was writing things that I wouldn’t feel comfortable actually owning. It definitely leads to self censoring at times — especially in areas that are tied to my employer. But I don’t think that bit of censoring is a net loss in the end.
Though, to @dennis‘ point, I also agree that something has caused people to feel empowered to voice their right-of-center views as of late (especially on topics like race and immigration). I have no idea what could have possibly changed.
I’m retired now, but when I started commenting here using my real name could have caused serious problems at work. I got a hot flash for conservatives who think their free speech is threatened. You conservatives can put all the stickers you want on your car without getting keyed. I can’t.
Yesterday Trump tweeted “Really Good Jobs Numbers” in flagrant violation of the BLS embargo of that information. And perhaps another attempt to manipulate the markets?
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1169606328945451009
The truth, you ask?
130,000 jobs in August.
25,000 of these were temporary jobs for the 2020 Census…so the “real” number is 105,000 jobs.
June and July jobs were revised down 20,000 jobs (15,000 and 5,000, respectively).
Best economy ever!!!
So much winning!!!
Etc………………………
@gVOR08:
@mattbernius:
I understand owning what you say, and pretty much I agree.
But in a day when potential employers, and/or clients, can search you on Google…why create a limiting situation?
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
Given the timing of Trump’s tweet — 9:45 in the morning — it was clear that he was referring to the ADP jobs report which reported 195,000 new jobs.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
Also, the BLS doesn’t give any other office in the government a preview of the jobs report until after 5pm on the day before the report is released.
@Teve:
Interesting read. Thanks.
Though I’ve in the past been known to tease Republicans by telling them that from a European pont of view, insofar as they are free marketeers and constitutionalists, they’re not conservatives at all but a weird variety of liberal 🙂
@Doug Mataconis:
You may well be right about the ADP numbers.
But the idea that the most corrupt President in modern history, armed with toadies in the DOJ and Treasury…and an acting Secretary at Labor after Acosta was forced to resign…couldn’t see those numbers if he wished…is hopelessly naive.
@Liberal Capitalist:
That was a good article, but I don’t feel that it describes our trolls. They don’t really put forward anything, preferring to limit themselves to 1) you are stupid, 2) this post is stupid, 3) liberals are stupid, 4) read this link discrediting whatever, 5) yeah, but what about… We aren’t treated to any predictions or conspiracy theories.
@Teve: Corey Robin’s The Reactionary Mind: From Burke to Trump is, as the subtitle implies, a review of conservatism arguing that conservatism is alway reactionary. From the Amazon blurb:
Occasionally in these comment threads we see expressions of the difficulty of defining conservatism. It’s because “conservatism” in politics is nothing like “conservatism” as used in other contexts and as defined in dictionaries. Conservatives, especially, do not understand “conservatism”. Self reflection is not a front line virtue on the right.
Robin goes on to observe that the anti-elitism of Trumpism (Trumpitis?) is also a constant. After all, if the elites had done their job and defended the status quo we wouldn’t have to deal with all these uppity Indians, Irish, Wops, workers, women, gays, whatever.
@Kit: when OTB went through a software refresh it lost the ability to retain my info for some reason, so I have to retype it each time. And typing is annoying on my smartphone and so I just went with Teve when I started using that more than my laptop. Meesa lazy. 🙂
@Kit:
if you go back a few years you’ll see that the trolls here used to be much more active and enthusiastic. But they decided to sign on to defending everything Trump did, and they’ve just gotten worn the hell down.
@gVOR08:
Speaking as a former conservative Christian Republican, that lack of introspection is a feature of evangelical conservatism, in particular. There’s such a contradiction between the “articles of the faith” and the reality of daily living that to reflect on one’s private and public life causes a dissonance that drives the conservative batshyt crazy. Trust me; I know.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: This seems to be the best jobs situation since Clinton was in. “Help wanted, all shifts” signs everywhere. I walk into businesses and they ask me if I need a job, start immediately. The employment firms are calling on the phone. Contrast that to a few years ago when it was hard getting a job as a school crossing guard or door to door broom sales. The ’70’s were bad too: high interest rates, high unemployment, high inflation, and gas “shortages”.
Are recessions inevitable? Seems the best policies to avoid these slow down cycles are low taxes, reduce regulations, and sound monetary policies.
@Kit:
KM is my real initials. I never intended to be a poster – I lurked around for years before someone finally said something I couldn’t let pass. After a few replies, I realized I had accidentally chosen my handle and it was close enough to “real me” that it wasn’t worth the ethical debate of real name vs anonymity. As noted above, if anyone ever was truly interested in figuring out who I was IRL, it would take like 10 mins tops.
As for engaging trolls, well that’s how I got posting in the first place. We tend to forget readership is far, far higher then those who take the time to post and letting someone spew toxicity unchallenged isn’t as harmless as it looks. Ignoring poison constantly being dripped in your ears still leaves you poisoned. Like verbal abuse, hearing the same disparaging things over and over again gets stuck in your head and forms unconscious expectations. A big one is Dems Act, GOP Whines – we all just expect Dems and liberals to be the adults in the room, have higher standards and not engage in dirty but effective tactics because we’re not the norm-breakers, they are. This kind of positive stereotype is what hurts Dems heavily in elections. We don’t fling poo at walls regularly so when there’s some toilet paper on the bottom of our shoes, it’s a scandal!!
We like to think that people aren’t going to be influenced by trolls, that they’ll just pass over them the same way we do. You don’t know that – it’s an assumption. You don’t know that some of the “facts” that they spew and are left unchallenged don’t get taken as gospel by someone who doesn’t know any better. After all, if nobody ever told you the guy screaming 2+2=27 is wrong, you might just end up believing it yourself. I post replies to trolls, not because I expect anything to come from it, but for the lurkers like my former self who are reading this silently and shouldn’t have that crap uncontested.
Trump is still raving on Twitter about how Dorian was absolutely, positively projected to hit Alabama.
It’s occurred to me from time to time to start a spreadsheet on the regular commenters here to track identifying information (where they live, job, does/doesn’t have kids, etc.), not to be creepy or trolly, but just to get a snapshot of the crowd. Over time, most of us have pretty much spelled ourselves out. I have never done that and still won’t.
@CSK: I just saw that. Christ.
“Speaking as a former conservative Christian Republican”
My background also with my father and other family members John Birchers. Your analysis of conservative Christians is mostly accurate, but with my family now I find that they either dont care or just dont realize that there are contradictions in their faith and their political beliefs. For (most of) them Trump is a saint.
Steve
@Joe: the same thing occurred to me because there are so many pseudonyms here it’s hard to keep them straight. I just haven’t done it because lazy.
@Teve: Actually, I thought the James Gang (heh) had banned a bunch of the regular trolls here. I thought that was what caused the (very positive) change in tone and dynamics…
@KM: I 100% applaud your dedication to correcting disinformation from the nutters.
FWIW I think the most effective means to do this is a “for the record” post and never hit “reply” to a nutter post or mention them by name. Nutters want attention more than anything else, and will tear down the tone of the comment section in order to get it.
Curious how many former Republicans I continue to see on the handful of.. left leaning* (?) blogs I visit. I’m hopeful that’s a good sign.
I include myself among that group. Grew up in the stereotypical small rural community (pop. 300) in a deep red state. Pics of Reagan on the wall, lot’s of guns, an NRA membership and later a Ditto Head.
It was the early 00’s – GWB, Tom Delay, Abramoff, Norquist et al, that finally broke the bubble.
I’d like to think I was too busy working/living to not have been aware of the toxic strain of Gingrich (Dick Armey, Scarborough) & company a decade prior.
*Come to think of it, like OTB, the sites I visit aren’t really ‘left’ leaning. Simply, informed, literate.
@Teve: This maniacal obsessiveness isn’t a new thing with Trump. Graydon Carter has been receiving from Trump since the late 1980s photos of his hands with the fingers circled (in Sharpie, no doubt) in order to prove he has long, aristocratic digits.
@Fortunato:
Republicans are making informed and literate the same as left.
@gVOR08:
Is this sarcasm or a serious statement? I’ll agree that Never-Trump-I’ve-Seen-the-Light conservatives are making closer-to sane arguments, now. For example, The Bulwark. Still, if you listen closely (and you don’t have to listen THAT closely), they’re still spouting that “liberals-are-evil-gonna-destroy-America” schtick. As you said earlier, I have a “hot flash” for that type of silliness. So, these Never-Trumpers expect the rest of us to just forget all the horrible behavior and bullshyt they spouted for years, especially 2008-2016? Have you heard The New Joe Walsh lately? Nah, those guys can kick a f*****g rock, ‘cuz as soon as Trump is gone, they’ll be RIGHT back to the demonization politics. I may look stupid but, really, I’m not.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
Admittedly I’m privileged — mid career professional and working in an area and for an organization that provides me with a lot of security.
However, I’ve always assumed that nothing will ever stay hidden. And I think it would be far worse to not be conscious of what I’m writing and being unmasked than it would be to take the approach I have.
@Tyrell:
Speaking of … Trump just reduced taxes while the economy is growing and in so doing he blew the deficit wide open, to over $1 trillion.
@dennis:
I’ve been thinking recently that I need a new word like “meta-atheist” to describe the fact that not only do I not believe in the existence of god, but that I no longer think theists actually believe in the existence of god either.
@dennis: I made that remark in all seriousness. There are frequent comments here distinguishing between current Republicans and “true conservatives”. Well, Republicans are the conservatives we’ve got. I have commented several times to the effect that once Trump is gone the rest of them will blame everything on Trump and claim they’re different and we can trust them. They will remain the same lying, bigoted, Koch owned spits that horked up Trump in the first place.
I do not believe an intellectually honest case can be made for modern American conservatism/Republicanism. At least not without admitting things they know they can’t admit.
@Stormy Dragon:
Yup. One look at the Joel Osteens and Creflo Dollars, and you know The Faith has nothing to do with what’s going on inside . . .
@gVOR08:
Ah. I think my original understanding of your comment is the problem. Now, I assume you mean that conservatives are making informed, literate commentary, also; just that it’s based on inhumane, shyt ideology.
@Kit: Been some stupid stories in the forum recently. It’s a stupid time.
@Tyrell: the 6.4 quake was 8 days ago and there was a previous 6.4 that you missed in Central California (I think) in July. ETA: and the “fireball” is only a rumor. Government spokes people say it was only a sonic boom (but we know better eh Tyrell?).
The Irish Taoiseach is sounding more and more resigned to a no-deal Brexit. Last evening, speaking at a national Chamber of Commerce event, he said, “There will still be plenty of food on shelves but perhaps not all of the same brands.” Also, “You will need to be registered as an importer/exporter and you will need to make customs declarations.” If Ireland is ready to concede, it seems unlikely that the EU is going to grant another extension next month.
@gVOR08:
For some reason, your comment reminds me of an All In The Family episode where Archie and Mike are arguing because Mike wants to name their coming baby after his Uncle Stanislaus. Archie, objecting that the child’s nickname will become “Louse,” says something to the effect that “I know they’ll call him ‘Louse,’ that’s what I’d do.”
I’m not sure why that came to mind. Hmmm…
@CSK:
Everyone screaming about Trump’s Dorian and Alabama remark should look at this map very closely. This is the one that scared the tahe out of me because it had Lake Ochechobee right in the middle of the cone. I live in Palm Beach County about 3 miles inland and about 40 miles SE of Lake O.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/20190831/hurricane-dorian-11-pm-update-category-4-stormrsquos-new-track-shifts-north
Look at the far northwestern edge of the cone. It is where Florida, Alabama, and Georgia borders meet.
Alabama was at the edge of the cone. Say Dorian had followed that track, it would have impacted Alabama with Tropical force winds or more. Remember Dorian had hurricane force winds extending out for 50 miles from its eye.
I haven’t been following the updates to this controversy. Trump is an idiot and a liar, but not everything he says is wrong.
In various discussions of Parliamentary v Presidential systems we see that Parliamentary systems aren’t supposed to suffer deadlock, and yet we see Parliament and Boris at odds, and before that Parliament and May. Vox has a good article by Matt Yglesias on how this came to be. First, he observes, they neutered the House of Lords so it’s down to the PM and Commons.
In order to protect a fragile Tory/Lib Dem coalition they passed the Fixed Term Parliament Act that denied the PM power to call a new election on his own, a parliament will last five years unless a 2/3 super majority voted for new elections. This created a margin between 50% plus one and 67% for deadlock.
Fragmentation, of course, also plays a role. A majority can agree they don’t like whatever May or Johnson proposed, but there’s no majority for any particular alternate proposal.
@Kit:
I have a very dim-witted internet stalker who has been following me from the days of Usenet because of an argument involving toys, so I use a variety of pseudonyms so he doesn’t follow me from site to site. I don’t have to try very hard, as he is as dumb as he is angry and obsessed.
But I’ve had him pop up and be a dumb angry threatening ass on various sites.
And who is to say that one of our dim witted trolls here is not going to turn into a crazed stalker?
(I haven’t heard from my stalker in about two years… maybe he is dead. That would be nice.)
Interesting piece in NYT by Walter Mosley.
Following a complaint, he was reproached by HR at a TV show for using the N word. He quit rather than tolerate the nonsense. Essentially he’s making the point that contra Twitter progressives, context does matter. He’s right and I admire him for quitting.
The idea that anyone, anywhere, has any business telling Walter freaking Mosley what words he can and cannot use to talk about his own life experience is just astonishing. I cannot imagine what some idiot in that writers’ room thought they were doing lodging a complaint. What a fking idiot.
It’s not about that or any other the word (he says for the thousandth time) per se. A word is a tool. It’s a screwdriver. You can use it to assemble an IKEA or to stab someone in the heart.
Fat is a word. There’s too much fat in my diet is one thing. Little girl, you’re fat, is a whole different thing. Same three letters, not the same thing.
Ugly is a word. That painting is ugly, vs. You’re ugly. See? Not the same thing.
Hate. I hate Mondays. I hate Jews. See?
The problem is that simple minds require binary instructions. Yes/No, Up/Down, Good/Bad. That is not life, and it sure as hell isn’t art. And stupid people incapable of understanding context or nuance or source or intention should at least have the minimal humility required to realize that you don’t tell an African-American writer of Walter Mosley’s stature what words he gets to use to describe his own goddamned life and experience.
@gVOR08:
I had a pro-life sticker pulled off my bumper.
@Tyrell: You’re very lucky. Where I live, the unemployment rate is still 6.7% and the only jobs that are being advertised are for “substitute school bus drivers.” (If substitute drivers are used as often as substitute teachers, drivers might be able to get 60 or 70 days a year–provided they can work for 2 or more districts–and the job is about 3 hours a day, too.)
@dennis: Let me try to be entirely clear. When I wrote,
I DID NOT mean to say anything like “Republicans are making informed and literate statements as people on the left do.” I meant, and stand by, “Republicans have made (informed and literate) = left. Republicans have chosen to draw a line between reason and unreason and taken a stand proudly on the side of unreason. Do you disagree?
@95 South:
Maybe if you had been more honest, and had an “Anti-Women’s Choice” sticker on your car.
Do you know anyone who is not pro-life? Ted Bundy? Jeffrey Dahmer?
@Fortunato: Considering where “the right” in the US is on the political spectrum these days, almost the whole world is ‘left leaning.’
@Bill: NOAA had revised the map to exclude Alabama before Trump issued his first Tweet on the subject.
Trump advisers are more worried about Elizabeth Warren than any other 2020 Democratic candidate
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Is it ok to pull a bumper sticker off a car?
@Bill: YOU look at that map carefully. There’s a date on it. The date is two days before Trump’s tweet. And some poor bastard at CNN had to waste an hour or two on a timeline with the maps.
The map current when the Twit tweeted shows a cone of uncertainty nowhere near Alabama. It does run up to Virginia. The Twit said “In addition to Florida – South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated,” I think he confused Virginia and Alabama. I think if you gave him an unlabeled map of the US the only ones he might get right are Queens and Manhattan. And I worry about some guy with NOAA in Alabama being fired for putting out correct storm information instead of backing up the Twit.
OK, sorry I’m feeding TFT, but it’s hard to let fake facts stand.
@michael reynolds:
You are a monster.
@Bill:
The problem with your rationalization is that the hurricane track turned north on Friday August 30 (as your own link mentions) and Trumps Alabama tweet was made Sunday morning.
So even if the tweet was due to the earlier forecasts, that just makes the question of why Trump’s information on a major hurricane approaching the US was FOUR DAYS out of date.
@gVOR08:
My theory is they told him the storm was devastating the Bahamas and his swiss cheese brain turned “Bahamas” into “‘Bama”
Cue the funny movie references!
https://gizmodo.com/large-underwater-observatory-disappears-without-a-trace-1837897180
@Teve:
That got me wondering: what is it in a post that brings out the trolls? They won’t bite at everything.
@Bill:Maybe he somehow got mixed up and means that Clemson is going to hit Alabama.
Just in case anyone’s forgotten why you left the Republican party, or what it is we’re fighting in the coming election, take a quick gander at this brief thread over at Free Republic.
It’s Freepers sharing their thoughts about a Newsbusters article disparaging Pete Buttigieg’s recent appearance on Colbert.
If you’ve already showered for the day, you’re encouraged to skip it.
@95 South:
Is it ok to grab women by the pussy? You support that. Sexual assault is far more serious than petty vandalism, Snowflake.
@mattbernius:
Valid point.
@Kit: Sarah Palin got the trolls really enthused. Then she dwindled into relative obscurity along with the rest of her dysfunctional family, paving the way for Trump.
@Joe:
From time to time, someone will let drop some bit of personal information that I think is worth remembering. But on the whole, what has come through after several years here is that this is a wonderfully strange demographic. Lots of women. Writers. Lawyers. Jews. Atheists. STEM guys. Former Republicans. And everyone seems to have that one subject, whatever it might be, where either they can’t stop talking about it, or they hold a surprising passion about it. But years can roll by without them breathing a word about it.
@CSK: I meant to say: what is it about a OTB post that brings out the trolls? Sometimes they bite, and sometimes they don’t. I can never predict when they will come crawling out.
So, this is a thing… Trump Rally Groupies.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/its-kind-of-like-an-addiction-on-the-road-with-trumps-rally-diehards-11567762200
@Kit: Trolls were here during Palin’s heyday. Whenever there as a post about her, they’d swarm in to defend her honor.
@Kit:
Is Daryl a troll? If I call his post stupid am I a troll?
@KM:
I was wondering about what the readership numbers were. @James? What’s the highest like count that anyone has ever seen? Even with the lurkers, I don’t see us numbering much more than 50.
@Liberal Capitalist: I know someone like that. They hate Trump and everything he stands for, yet because their life sucks and the world around them sucks, they voted for Trump and plan to do so again, so everything can burn down.
@gVOR08:
Gotcha. Funny, it dawned on me before I even finished your explanation. I’m a slow wit, sometimes!
@Tyrell: Really? Aren’t you about 75? (Given how often you talk about the “good old days” of the ’50s and ’60s as though you lived through them).
@CSK: Someone on Twitter (h/t Balloon Juice) pointed out that he probably saw notices that said, “All Bahamas” on alert (meaning all Bahaman islands were at risk from Dorian), and mis-read it as Alabama. But since he can’t ever admit he was wrong, he has to double down on the error.
@Bill: “I haven’t been following the updates to this controversy. Trump is an idiot and a liar, but not everything he says is wrong.”
Except that map was four days out of date when he started warning Alabama.
@Jax:
It was the Russians; they used to do that shyt to us all the time back in the day. Check the sat feeds.
@95 South: “Is Daryl a troll? If I call his post stupid am I a troll?”
Daryl is not a troll. You are a troll whether or not you call his post stupid because you post in bad faith with the intention only of pissing people off.
@Fortunato:
Don’t remember if I shared this before. For a short time when I was 17-yrs-old, I hated white people. HATED. For no specific reason, other than blah blah blah. I soon snapped out of it because it was so exhausting carrying around that ugly inside, and I knew deep down how stupid and irrational I was being. Every time I read right-wing commentary, I can feel that ugly all over again. It was the Townhall.com’ers who finally drove me from the Republican party. They are an ugly lot over there. They’re probably the same ones at Free Republic.
@Monala: I’ll bet anybody $10 that today is not the last day Trump will tweet about the hurricane and Alabama 😛
I had a
bumpersticker ripped off the tailgate of my 1960 F-1oo in 1973 while it was parked in a motel parking lot in Olney, Ill.
When I asked the manager what happened he said the white squirrels must have done it.
@95 South:
@wr:
I am a troll, now get the fuq off my bridge!!!
@Tyrell:
Yeah! Just like George W Bush did! Oh, wait a minute…
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: I thought trolls lived under the bridge.
@OzarkHillbilly:
we do…and guard the bridge from red-hatted loons
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Oooopps… (puts away STL Cards hat, digs out fathers old Cubs cap) How’s about blue hatted loons?
Who thinks Trump will tweet about Nat’l Read a Book Day?
Muwahahahahaha
I crack myself up….
@OzarkHillbilly:
Cards hats excepted.
Q: “Is Daryl a troll?”
A: By my take, yes, sometimes. Others, you will note, disagree. In any event, it doesn’t happen very often that he is trollish.
Q: “If I call his post stupid am I a troll?”
A: That depends. Do you have a reason for saying his post is stupid? Do you show that reason even if it seems obvious to you? More importantly, why is it important to you to call someone else stupid? If someone calls you stupid, do you think that person is a troll (to which I am inferring the answer is “yes” because you asked)? Do you think that it’s proper to behave like a troll in retaliation to someone else? With these questions, you should be able to figure out your own answer, and as is true of my comment about Daryl above, some will disagree with you. In any event, go in peace and be the best “you” possible.
(I promise I will not feed the troll again this thread.)
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Oh, well in that case, Screw the Cubs, who didn’t bother to win a World Series until my die hard Cubs fan father had been dead for 6 years and unable to enjoy it for about 10 years before that. I mean really, they never even bothered getting to a WS while he was alive. Just so inconsiderate.
In case we haven’t been mean enough to BoJo: in-latest-humiliation-boris-johnsons-dog-resigns-as-his-pet? (The photo with the story is to die for! 🙂 😀 😛
I wouldn’t post this if it was from a left-wing site, but this is freaking Business Insider.
‘He’s losing his s—‘: Trump’s advisers are increasingly worried about his mental state following days of erratic behavior
@Just nutha ignint cracker: I want that dog.
I would contend, Kit, that michael reynolds has given us everything but his garage door code.
@Teve: Just remember that one of the arly, constant complaints about Obama from some on the right was that he wasn’t presidential. Like when he wore jeans in the Oval Office (like Reagan did). Like when he wore a tan suit.
@gVOR08:
I don’t know if they’ll try to fire anybody, but they’ve disavowed his entirely accurate and necessary statement. The
They’ve made a statement, waving their hands over the timeline, supporting Trump’s tweet. NOAA is in the Department of Commerce, headed by Wilbur Ross.
Congratulations guys. You’ve managed to politicize weather reporting. Tell me again how our institutions are holding.
@Joe:
I’d give you my door code, but then I’d have to etc… etc…
I’m a fiction writer and prisoner of my own professional standards. Backstory is important. Backstory is everything. If I had one practical piece of writer advice it’d be: backstory. It’s like a mine where you can dig up all the rare earths you need. You want to create a character on the page? 1) Use other characters to define him/her* and 2) write some backstory.
*Cheap trick, get another character to say, ‘That, Joe, he’s so damn clever.’
@Joe: A couple years ago I jotted some notes for myself on OTB personalities as I was having trouble keeping everybody straight. (I’ve been known to forget my brother’s name in times of stress.) I haven’t been very good at maintaining it. There’s only one item I’d share:
@SenyorDave: And he spent too much time playing golf. Also dijon mustard.
@CSK: Me, too. And I don’t even like dogs (really bad dog dander allergies 🙁 ).
Heh. Apart from their self congratulatory nature, one is mostly struck by the remarkablely self unaware status of the commenters. What a sparkling crew you all are, if you do say so yourselves.
@Guarneri: And by “self unaware,” I suppose you mean “not pretending to be a rich businessman who buys and sells companies.”
The corruption of this administration is UNREAL. There is no reason, none, for an Air Force plane to refuel at a commercial airport in the UK and have the crew board at Trump’s Turnberry Resort.
Between this and the Pence visit to the Irish Trump resort, there’s some directive somewhere to use Trump properties. Congress needs to find this directive, and this taxpayer-funded propping up of his failing properties needs to STOP.
@Guarneri:
And yet, here you always are.
@dennis: some people act out because they need attention, and negative attention is still attention.
It’s Time for Black Athletes to Leave White Colleges
dammit it’s the first week in September and I’ve just used up all my free Atlantic articles for the month.
Trump to Ukraine: no aid unless you smear Joe Biden
@Guarneri:
@dennis:
I’ve figured Drew out and why he comes here to be made a fool of. He has a kink. He’s clearly into erotic verbal humiliation.
@michael reynolds: Interesting. And it does jibe with his recent admission that he comes here when his sex life is flagging.
@Kit:
Yep. @Guarneri is clearly in a BDSM relationship with me (among others). I’m sure it’s especially exciting when he gets spanked by @Dennis. He’s old enough and backward enough that the racial element would be an extra layer of ‘wrong’ for him.
@Guarneri: Weak troll. You seem down, like your heart just isn’t into it. Is everything ok?
95 South has a lot more spring in his step — he’s upbeat, perky and wrong about everything, but happy to whatabout with gleeful fervor. His sunny optimism comes through in his comments, and he’s well on his way to becoming a beloved right wing troll, like Superdestroyer was in his day, but without the explicit overt white supremacism (Supes was an overt white supremacist, but he was Our overt white supremacist). Add a little more earnestness and I think he’ll be there. But you just seem down and defeated.
You should smile more.
Trump’s trade war could soon double the price of European cheeses and wines.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/laura-ingraham-tries-to-drink-light-bulb-steak-to-trigger-liberals-180325227.html Yikes! This may even be stupider than Trump Sharpie. I saw it last night at the gym, but I don’t bring earbuds, so I missed out on the audio. I wonder where the bottom is now between the sharpie and this. Really.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: I suppose it’s wrong of me, but I’m not triggered by Ingraham eating glass. In fact I think I’m OK with it.
Actin’ mentally defective to Own The Libs!
There’s a reason that among Americans 35 and under, the GOP is about as popular as a skunk with an anxiety disorder.
Does anyone believe this?
Before they were scheduled to land???
@Mister Bluster: was he…going to announce a peace deal with secretly-here Taliban on American soil on the anniversary of 9/11?
What?
@Mister Bluster: on the one hand, it is best not to believe anything he says or tweets. On the other hand, it is amazingly stupid.
You’ve got 9/11, an old tweet condemning Obama for talking to the Taliban, and he’s boasting about petulantly canceling a peace summit because there’s a war going on…
It’s a trifecta of stupid. So, it seems plausible.
I am marginally impressed that he didn’t have the Taliban leadership arrested when they landed and then sent off to Gitmo?
@Just nutha ignint cracker: So many things are going on it’s hard to keep up with. The earthquakes, volcanoes, magnetic field moving, increased radiation, and even strange animal behavior.