Morning Reads for October 29, 2018
We enter the final stretch of the 2018 mid-term elections after an unbelievably horrific series of events from last week.
The lunatic who was mailing bombs to prominent Democrats was captured. Apparently he had “mommy issues.”
A wacko white supremacist killed two African Americans at a Kroger in Louisville, Kentucky “...before an armed bystander reportedly fired back, prompting him to flee. Police were unable to confirm accounts that Bush encountered a second armed man, who engaged him in a brief standoff where no shots were fired… Police apprehended Bush minutes later.”
A vile anti-semite carried out “…the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history, killing 11 people inside a Pittsburgh synagogue.” There’s no circle of hell hot enough for that bastard. Or either of the others.
Let’s make this week better, ok?
Peggy Noonan wrote a thought-provoking piece about the need for civility and understanding. Among the better sentences: “…Neither side appreciates—neither side credits—the anxiety the other side legitimately feels. They have no sensitivity to it. They had better get some. …There is too much blindness to how the other side is experiencing the situation. It’s in the news media, too. Politicians should have a greater awareness of their own role in the drama. …Politicians, don’t lecture us. Clean up your own side of the street.” Worth reading the whole thing.
Here’s a story about a group actively trying to bridge the partisan divide not by winning the argument, but by seeking a goal of “…curiosity and an open heart.”
The nation’s eyes are on Georgia, where all polls point to a statistical dead heat between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams, as Don McKee points out in the Marietta Daily Journal. In a base-vs.-base election, with turnout at the national level on track to break the records set in 1966 and 1974, all polls and election models should be taken with a very large of grain of salt.
Celebre-tics: On Friday, comedian Will Ferrell was live and in person, encouraging KSU students to vote for, you guessed it, Stacey Abrams.
It’s Halloween and vampires and zombies are everywhere, but John Barrow promises he “..won’t bite ya.” Huh? Barrow, who usually makes good ads, has opted for one of the strangest closing arguments to voters that has ever been made.
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“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”, Jean Paul Sartre
Knock, knock: Who’s there?
“Dishes”
“Dishes, who?”
“Dishes how I talk since I had my teeth pulled”.
https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/news/local_news/hundreds-of-teeth-found-in-downtown-valdosta-wall/article_2c6a0635-f973-58c2-8e18-949e63e4d9c7.html
This past week was an absolutely horrific week for our country.
Peggy Noonan can take her same siderism deflections and eat them for lunch. According to her we are supposed to try to understand Neo Nazis. I already understand Neo Nazis and white nationalists and their ilk. They are not hard to understand. I am just not going to be sympathetic to their views. They and their views need to send crawling back under the rocks.
More worth reading than Noonan is Ioffe:
That’s a great article. Thanks for the link!
I read that article last night because someone linked to it on twitter. It is so true and I asked my Rep. Barry Loudermilk to take responsiblity for his part in this disaster and pointed out that he refused to condemn the Nazis marching in Charlottesville. I’m sure he will do nothing of the kind. My neighbor across the street is Jewish and I have not talked to her since the massacre. I am trying to think of a kindness I can do for her. This seriously has me heartbroken. I have cried for two days like I did when Dylan Roof mass murdered the people in Charleston.
Loudermilk visited my workplace several months ago. He decried the lack of civility then but owned none of it. I believe he is up for re-election…
“I believe he is up for re-election…” No sh*t, Sherlock. As is every single member of the House of Representatives. Your knowledge of civics is dizzying.
You know that there are districts without challengers, right?
He is and I just voted for Flynn Broady Jr. who will represent the entire district not just the far right. Barry will never own up to his part in it. That’s just who he is. I don’t have a lot of hope he will be voted out but I do hope if the GOP loses the house it will relegate him to being not relevant.
“Let’s make this week better, ok?”
OK. What are we going to DO?
Nothing. As usual. This week may be better, but not this month or this year, or next year.
Yes it is a complicated issue. It is difficult. But there are experts who have studied this and can guide us towards an improved outcome. We, as laymen citizens, don’t have to understand all the details, at least not yet. All we have to do is profess our willingness to do something and not keep putting up endless hurdles that prevent anything from getting done.
Welcoming the stranger/ loving your neighbor has always been one of the more difficult commandments to keep. The importance of it, and the difficulty, is why it is repeated a number of times in the Good Book I don’t get how anyone could call themselves a true Jew or Christian if they don’t follow that law, and at least have empathy for folks like those who would seek asylum.
My great-grandparents left Poland and Ukraine around the same time. Running from Russian pogroms. Those who didn’t leave are gone.
One day I’ll make one of those ancestry trips where you reconnect with the old country for a minute.
That sucks.
Yeah, they still got some problems there.
The “Law and Order”- styled party, with its xenophobia, democracy-busting, and Holocaust-revisionism, is doing well.
Maybe I’ll wait a few years.
I may go to Macon to protest against Trump/Kemp. Anyone else going?
I imagine Noway and DTM are vying for tickets for the event.
Andrew, your comments about the Jewish bombings I totally agree with. Its horrible How in the hell can anyone be that filled with hate in this country is beyond me. You then try to splatter that event on conservatives is where you lose any rationality and its sick. And untrue.
This country fought WW2 to get rid of scum like that. There is no place in any party for the stinking Klan or other hate groups. None.
And then you follow with the hateful idiocy of saying somehow I love Russia when I am the one for a strong economy, the US becoming the energy leader on earth relegating the Soviets and their communist ways to the trash heap of history.
Yet your party is the HOME of the communist party. Not the conservatives big boy. Again, go to CPUSA.org. Communist Party USA. If you don’t look at the top of the page, you would think it is YOUR agenda not mine. Massive government, taxes, less freedom…
So this is where you wander off like Moses for 40 years and post ramblings that don’t make sense, your typical hateful crap.
No one supports anyone being abused. So why don’t you just keep it there little buddy. You aint winning any arguments with your 80% hateful crap and the 20% heartfelt stuff that I totally agree with.
I went to a college in Atlanta where about half the school was Jewish and from NY. They had fun making fun of the way I talked. We had a blast. I have nothing against any of these groups other than the idiot Klan and other haters.
Dude- check yourself.
You say ACP posted ramblings, but it was You who went from zero to CPUSA in 7 sentences.
You say ACP “splattered the event” on conservatives but there was nothing at all like that in his post.
Check yourself.
Go to the CPUSA.org. Its the damn truth. I am not making anything up. You goobers lobbed the Russia stuff. I give you facts. All it is is an anti Trump website sounding virtually identical the DNC platform. You tell me where its different.
Show many anything conservatives are saying that are trying to harm Jews or any group. It aint out there.
I read it. Try it yourself.
Guess where this cut and paste info came from….yet the CPUSA.org. Communist Party USA
Does it sound familiar? I am posting this because apparently no one will bother reading the link and I am being challenged again. I don’t like posting long articles. Don’t miss the Stacy Abrams endorsement and almost every other DNC platform. Totally anti Trump.
Election 2018: A guide to united action
BY:Joelle Fishman| September 20, 2018
There are just a few weeks before the November 6 election; just a few weeks to put the breaks on the fascist project led by Trump and open the door for an offensive for people’s needs. What we do every day counts.
Labor Day parades and other actions in many communities across the country set the stage.
The Kavanaugh Supreme Court hearings epitomized the fierce battle underway to preserve basic democratic structures and hard won rights including the right of workers to a union, of women to choice, of immigrants to due process, of African Americans to the very right to vote.
The Republican majority shut down normal procedure at the hearing in order to jam the nominee through on behalf of corporate interests and the Trump administration. The resistance in response included Judiciary Committee Democrats who called for the hearing to adjourn, Women’s March activists who courageously disrupted from the gallery, and millions of people including union members, civil rights activists and environmentalists across the country flooding the phone lines of their U.S. Senators.
It’s a long shot to prevent this travesty of justice, but the fight forward reflects a wide range of communities and interests brought together to stave off fascism’s knock at the door.
Revelations about the scary state of affairs in the Trump White House contained in Bob Woodward’s book, the New York Times Op-Ed by an anonymous senior staffer, along with the Mueller investigation are shaking things up. But what happens will depend on a giant blue wave in these elections.
The November 8 elections are the front line of the class struggle.
The November 8 elections are the front line of the class struggle. These elections are a matter of life and death for the working class and for our planet itself.
We should reaffirm our strategy and tactics including our priorities:
1.Build broad based unity to flip Republican seats so they do not continue in the majority;
2.Elect candidates who come out of labor, communities of color and other movements ready to fight for the people and;
3.Build the base for the Communist Party as well as labor, women and other movements for the long term.
Despite big corporate money being invested in state after state, and extraordinary voter suppression methods to maintain Republican control, it is possible to flip the House and even the Senate and many governor’s seats and state houses this November. Polls are now conceding that possibility.
Long held Republican strongholds are shifting in response to basic economic needs. That was shown in the special elections in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Ohio with candidates who focused on rising economic insecurity.
Also showing shifts is the overwhelming vote and big victory in Missouri that overturned their state legislature’s right-to-work law — in a state that Trump carried. That says many who voted for Trump were brought into the right-to-work opposition movement. The campaign message reached far beyond union members and appealed to common economic needs and should be studied.
Also in Missouri: congratulations to Tony Pecinovsky who is running for Alder in St. Louis in 2019. And we can note that Michael Brown’s mother has announced she is running for Alder in Ferguson at that time.
Another example of class unity is the wave of teachers strikes and ongoing voter mobilization in the red states of Oklahoma, Kentucky, West Virginia and in particular Arizona. Outrageously, the Arizona court has ruled to deny ballot status for a tax the rich initiative to fund public education signed by 270,000 of voters. But the mobilization continues.
During the primaries, Trump weighed in on behalf of Republican candidates who embrace an anti-union, anti-immigrant, militaristic agenda and who are now their Party’s nominees.
In this context and with a green light from the White House, vicious hate crimes and white supremacist rallies are on the rise. In Des Moines, Iowa when graffiti saying “Deport Illegals” was scrawled across the roads at night, the community immediately came together and created billboards saying “One Des Moines Community No Hate.” These kind of responses help build unity and voter turnout.
On the Democratic side of the primaries, many historic firsts have been won. A record number of first time new candidates have stepped forward, many becoming their Party’s nominees, including dozens of union members and women of all races and nationalities and young people. Across the country it is the year of the woman. Even where these candidates did not win their primaries, their campaigns expanded the number of voters, inspired and brought new people into the process.
Common goals to flip Republican districts are a point of unity going forward.
As we know it hasn’t all been smooth. There has been resistance from established Democratic leaders. Some challengers had narrow tactics. But the common goals to flip Republican districts at this dangerous moment are a point of unity going forward that we should find the ways to foster.
Of note is the front-and-center role of labor: One example is in Connecticut where Jahana Hayes won the primary in the open CD 5. She is a real working-class fighter, was national teacher of the year, and if elected will be the first African American woman in Congress from this state. She says, “If Congress reflects us (working people), nothing can stop us.” In the primary the Connecticut AFL CIO, the teachers unions, the Working Families Party and many others bucked the endorsed Democrat to support Hayes.
There are many other union members running for Congress and I believe hundreds running across the country for state legislature. In Wisconsin, union iron worker Randy Bryce won in the primary for Paul Ryan’s open House seat. In Minnesota union candidate Tim Walz won the primary for governor.
A recent national phone conference call for AFL-CIO members was attended by over one million people.
1 million workers participated in a AFL-CIO conference call on the elections.
There are many other historic primary wins by women and people of color who have stepped forward as part of the anti-racist and working-class resistance. To mention a few:
The southern Governor races:
•Georgia: Stacey Abrams would be the nation’s first African American woman governor;
•Florida: Andrew Gillum would be his state’s first African American governor;
•Maryland: Ben Jealous would be his state’s first African American governor;
•Arizona: David Garcia would be his state’s first Mexican American governor in 44 years.
Midwest:
•Minnesota – Ilhan Omar (Keith Ellison’s open seat) would be the first Muslim woman in Congress from her state.
•Michigan – Rahida Tlaib (CD 13 Conyer’s former seat) would be the first Muslim woman in Congress from her state.
East coast:
•New York – Alexandria Ocasio Cortez would be a democratic socialist in Congress from her state;
•Massachusetts – Ayanna Pressley, the first African American on Boston’s City Council, would be the first African American member of Congress from her state;
•
Is this what you call hate-filled? What gets you so worked up? Good god, are you offended by vanilla ice cream?
If you think that’s even approaching hate, you have NO IDEA what hate is.
Also, no one GAF abt the Communist Party right now.
We were talking abt anti-Semitism and improving civil discourse.
At least the Communists seem to care about civil rights and welcoming the stranger. Where is the Judeo-Christian values in hating the strangers?
You Nimrods snivel about the Russian Communists love Trump. My point is you guys sound just like the Communist here in the US! I guess your narrative is ass backwards! As usual!
Oh where are the CHRISTIAN VALUES IN ALL OF THE HATEFUL POSTS DAILY from you and the haters on the blog!! I have never listened to a more hateful group literally in my life. All radical libs. Not the conservatives.
Oops! Gotcha!
This is coming from a “Christian” who has stated on here that God/Jesus helps those who help themselves is scriptural. His one consistency in almost every utterance is his ignorance.
downthemiddle, what was the point of this comment? You have added nothing constructive to the conversation. Your comments are just as visceral as those by the people you call “idiots” and “nimrods”. If you cannot add to the conversation please refrain from commenting on it. I need a “I understand” or “I don’t understand”.
WTF are you talking abt?
You are no longer DTM to me. You are WTF.
(Because you make no sense.)
Stop whatabouting and focus.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/10/26/the-6-types-of-trump-trolls-as-told-by-rick-wilson/
Great article to reference when dealing with Trump trolls.
Deflect, deflect, deflect….radical right wing terrorists vote Republican.
Melissa Faye Greene posted this. I did not realize it has been 60 years since the bombing of the temple here. I find it incredibly sad that something written 60 years ago is something many people still need to hear in 2018.
60 years ago this month, The Temple in Atlanta was bombed by anti-Semitic white supremacists who believed Jews “masterminded” the Civil Rights movement, just like the Pittsburgh murderer claims Jews “bankroll” the migrant caravan. The next morning, Ralph McGill [1898-1969], publisher of The Atlanta Constitution who’d reported on Hitler’s rise in Europe, published a bitter and still-true editorial: “When the wolves of hate are loosed on one people, no one is safe.”
FULL TEXT HERE:
“Dynamite in great quantity Sunday ripped a beautiful Temple of worship in Atlanta. It followed hard on the heels of a like destruction of a handsome high school in Clinton, Tenn.
The same rabid, mad-dog minds were, without question, behind both. They also are the source of previous bombings in Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina. The school house and the church are the targets of diseased, hate-filled minds.
Let us face the facts.
This is a harvest. It is the crop of things sown.
It is the harvest of defiance of courts and the encouragement of citizens to defy law on the part of many southern politicians. It will be the acme of irony, for example, if any of four or five southern governors deplore the bombing. It will be grimly humorous if certain state attorneys general issue statements of regret. And it will be quite a job for some editors, columnists and commentators, who have been saying that our courts have no jurisdiction and that the people should refuse to accept their authority now to deplore.
It is not possible to preach lawlessness and restrict it.
To be sure, none said go bomb a Jewish temple or a school.
But let it be understood that when leadership in high places in any degree fails to support constituted authority, it opens the gate to all those who wish to take law into their own hands.
There will be, to be sure, the customary act of the careful drawing aside of skirts on the part of those in high places.
‘How awful,’ they will exclaim. ‘How terrible. Something must be done.’
But the record stands. The extremists of the citizens’ councils, the political leaders who in terms violent and inflammatory have repudiated their oaths and stood against due process of law have helped unloose this flood of hate and bombing.
This, too, is a harvest of those so-called Christian ministers who have chosen to preach hate instead of compassion. Let them now find pious words and raise their hands in deploring the bombing a synagogue.
You do not preach and encourage hatred for the Negro and hope to restrict it to that field. It is an old, old story. It is one repeated over and over again in history. When the wolves of hate are loosed on one people, then no one is safe.
Hate and lawlessness by those who lead release the yellow rats and encourage the crazed and neurotic who print and distribute the hate pamphlets, who shrieked that Franklin Roosevelt was a Jew; who denounce the Supreme Court as being Communist and controlled by Jewish influences.
The series of bombings is the harvest, too, of something else.
One of those connected with the bombing telephoned a news service early Sunday morning to say the job would be done. It was to be committed, he said, by the Confederate Underground.
The Confederacy and the men who led it are revered by millions. Its leaders returned to the Union and urged that the future be committed to building a stronger America. This was particularly true of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Time after time he urged his students at Washington University to forget the War Between the States and to help build a greater and stronger union.
But for too many years now we have seen the Confederate flag and the emotions of that great war become the property of men not fit to tie the shoes of those who fought for it. Some of these have been merely childish and immature. Others have perverted and commercialized the flag by making the Stars and Bars, and the Confederacy itself, a symbol of hate and bombings.
For a long time now it has been needful for all Americans to stand up and be counted on the side of law and the due process of law – even when to do so goes against personal beliefs and emotions. It is late. But there is yet time.”
Atlanta Constitution, October 13, 1958.
[Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing]
Thanks. I was looking for this, but you posted it first. Everyone should read this today.
Thanks for posting.
It is simply stunning to see the unfortunate commonalities between then and now.
I can’t read Noonan’s op-ed because of the paywall, but I really hope there was some context around the quote provided here, and that she was not suggesting that white supremacist “anxiety” is legitimate. It isn’t. Nobody is coming to kill, rape, or replace white people.
I though I had linked to a non-paywall version, but try this one: https://www.wsj.com/articles/defuse-americas-explosive-politics-1540507892
If that doesn’t work, I think this part was especially valuable, and more than “both-sidesism.”
“Neither side appreciates—neither side credits—the anxiety the other side legitimately feels. They have no sensitivity to it. They had better get some.
When conservatives see a liberal or progressive not condemning Mr. Booker or Ms. Waters, they assume it’s because the liberal agrees with what they say—that intimidation is part of the plan.
There is too much blindness to how the other side is experiencing the situation. It’s in the news media, too. Politicians should have a greater awareness of their own role in the drama.
Thursday morning New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was on television, saying words that were meant to be helpful. We’re not Democrats and Republicans really, he said, we’re Americans; we can’t be divided. It was good, he clearly meant it. But he spoke as if he had no memory of strikingly divisive words he’d uttered just a few years ago. In January 2014 he said of those who are pro-life, pro-traditional-marriage and pro-gun that they are “extreme conservatives” who have “no place in the state of New York.” No place in the state of New York? That is an extreme and aggressive statement, and it speaks of how too many progressives and liberals feel about conservatives. This kind of thing isn’t new, and it’s contributed to the moment we’re in.
Politicians, don’t lecture us. Clean up your own side of the street.
As to the president, one thought. He will never lead effectively at moments like this because he can’t. It’s not within his emotional range or in his intellectual toolbox. The targets of the would-be bombs have been his antagonists. He’s not believable when he issues pained vows of unity. Everyone assumes his staff told him to do it and in a burst of amiability he did. When he’s obnoxious, people believe he’s speaking his mind.
Mr. Trump has ushered in a new presidential era of verbal roughness. At his rallies he sees himself as being provocative and humorous and teasing. His crowds know he is entertaining them and they have fun back, re-enacting their old 2016 fervor with “Lock her up!” and “Build the wall!” They don’t emerge whipped into a rage; they leave in a good mood, though tired from standing so long because he speaks so long.” -Peggy Noonan
I think the media has an obvious role, particularly in presenting things objectively. I remember tuning into a segment on Fox, and they were saying that liberals and Dems want open borders. Of course they don’t, but they then went to the street and interviewed a few 20-year old Occupy activists who– dreaming as young idealists do- supported open borders a la John Lennon’s Imagine. So…not a helpful presentation of reality. If you want to be able to see the reasonableness, the center, there has to be an intent to want to do that. That it is not to say I haven’t seen Fox News raise counterpoints to the rhetoric of the right. But when I see Erick Erikson on MSNBC and a Trump supporter and a centrist Republican on every single panel on CNN, I tend to think that it’s Fox that needs more “balance” to their “fair and balanced”.
“His crowds know he is entertaining them and they have fun back…They don’t emerge whipped into a rage.”
As ACP points out, these assertions are in stark contrast to known reality. There is clearly at least a subset who take it all with utmost seriousness, and get their anger on at rallies. While it may inspire only a few to commit violent crimes, what does it do to the rest? It poisons many with hate, which in turn poisons the culture and politics.
All you have to ask is: Does the rhetoric help or hurt?
And if you think it’s helping, and not hurting, you yourself need help.
And they aren’t even a representative group anyway, as presumably there are many more watching on TV.
Noonan, I think, should “clean up her own side of the street”. To pick these three rather lame examples of leftward politicians and completely ignore the facts that:
1) The president has retweeted white supremacist propaganda
2) The president traffics in right wing conspiracy theories
3) Very recently, the president accused Democrats of encouraging an “invasion”
4) Pro-choice people are called baby murderers
5) The president started his campaign by smearing the first black president
6) The Republican Party has sitting representatives who have (1) committed violence against a journalist and (2) is a known white supremacist. (That’s Gianforte and King, for reference)
7) The president suggested that “second amendment folks” would be the only ones with recourse should Hillary be elected.
8) The right consistently whips up the existential fears of vulnerable people and they have done it to gain power
I mean really, the list is so long I couldn’t numerate it here, yet she doesn’t manage to find one? All she has is excuses for the Narcissist in Chief. Furthermore, this piece is itself an example of mischaracterizing the words of those on the right in order to escalate the rhetoric. Misquoting Cuomo in such a way as to interpret his meaning for maximum insult, equating accosting public servants in public and exercising your 1st amendment with encouraging public violence — this is dishonest and purposeful.
I have no party affiliation, but I’ve seen the level of discourse being degraded over the last ~15 years or more and it started with Fox News demonizing Democrats. I refuse to keep pretending the parties or “sides” are equal in their willingness to escalate and personalize the rhetoric. The right, through its campaigns, media organs (the WSJ included) and elected leaders has been whipping up the fears, legitimate and otherwise, of vulnerable people for years in order to gain power. The proof is in the pudding, and I have had quite enough of this foul pudding.
Let me know when Noonan takes on the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson for the hateful crap that they spew on a daily basis for ratings.
“This wicked act of mass murder is pure evil, hard to believe, and frankly, something that is unimaginable,” Trump said of the carnage in the Pittsburgh synagogue.
“Evil.” You know, the term Trump also applies to your garden variety fake news journalist and the media, whose fault this is in the first place don’t you know, or Democrats or the Democratic Party. Just so you know how bad, or rather how not so bad, the synagogue shooting was.
One thing you can count on after establishment Republicans dismissing Trump’s previous calls to violence as insignificant, Trump being Trump, a joke, or whatever, and now responding that everybody should be more civil, is that they’ll do it again the next time.
Democrats have been and are uncivil too. I’ve said things I regret, and do too much name calling. But the assertion it’s the same on both sides is baloney. Newt took it a new level. Incivility increased noticeably in response to the first African American President. And again when it was embraced and campaigned upon, and then became a governing principle of the leader of the Republican Party. Trump couldn’t even wait two days before implying the bombs were a false flag with his tweet placing bomb in quotation marks.
Incivility has only become as big issue as it is now when people started fighting fire with fire. It’s off-putting for many, but most such people were either benefitting from its one-sidedness or discounting it or not paying attention as it was developing.
The same siderism votimus from the GOP is beyond disgusting to me. Like interruprting someone eating a meal is the same as massacreing 11 people.
When elected officials won’t meet constituents face to face with public meetings, answer calls or emails, lie continuously about legislation, lie about their intentions, lie about opponents, lie about what “the other side” is doing, viciously attack “the other side”, completely ignore their constitutional duty, ignore the obvious will of their constituents, completely ignore every shred of civility and ethics in doing your elected duty…then yes, expect people to get in your face because there is no other way to reach them.
That largely is the crux of the problem. If the GOP forced their reps to actually hold town halls a lot of this finding people in DC eating out would be avoided. Nobody would care because they had been able to voice their concerns to their reps and the reps would have been forced to defend their position or change it.
It’s not the same except to the extent that interrupting is wrong too.
My problem is they are implying that it is the same. That Maxine Waters saying confront your representatives which is a part of democracy is the same as Trump saying that the caravan is full of criminals that are going to invade America. I mean peaceful protestors upset Republicans.
I am OK with peaceful interruptions. I think the sacrifice you make when you are a publicly-paid lawmaker is that you must be able to be lobbied anywhere, by any citizen that has an interest in legislation you may vote upon. Except your home. It may suck that you can’t go out to eat without being lobbied, but that’s part of the cost of the job.
Now, if security tries to push you away when you want to talk politely, I think you’re allowed to shout (not yell) your position. (Your position, not empty insults). I don’t believe in unnecessary shouting, or angry yelling, or organized protests at mealtimes. But if the rep can’t handle being lobbied, don’t eat out, or don’t take the job. But don’t push ppl away either. Unless they start first with unnecessary shouting or angry yelling. You keep your door and your heart open.
I don’t care anymore. I am sick and tired of people telling other people when and where and how it is appropriate to protest. I’ll draw the line at violence (which isn’t actually protest) but politeness or decorum is out the window. Too bad. Nice already lost. It’s over.
I think there are a good many that feel as you do especially after all the sanctimonious lectures about Kapernick kneeling when here we have bombs and massacres coming from the same group of people that have been lecturing everybody else about “civility”.
Caroline you are the Queen of sanctimony and hate..
Caroline PEACEFUL protests are fine. Its your liberal mobs that piss off NORMAL folks.
More but muh trolling I see. You have had meltdown after meltdown about the women’s march which was completely peaceful. Your statements are ridiculous and silly. Have a good evening.
It’s too late. If ‘we’ wanted to get better Trump wouldn’t have 47% approval, we would have passed some sort of anti-mass-murder legislation after Sandy Hook, and people would realize that defending the 2nd amendment isn’t actually what the NRA is doing,
Rude is the new normal.
Violence as a way of solving problems is back in vogue.
The gullibility of people is as pervasive as ever.
4 of the 10 worst mass murders in the US since 1991 have occurred in 2017-2018.
Right wing domestic terrorism has been a problem for roughly a quarter of a century now. IMO the only way to defuse it is to destroy the propaganda machine that promotes these odious lies.
That would take standing up against defamation, libel and slander in court. Unfortunately, that is off-limits for political candidates and elected officials since they want to use these tactics every campaign season and once they are in office.
I’m thinking more desstroy their funding. Socially shun those people that support their lies. I don’t think we can rely on the courts to solve this problem. It’s going to take a grass roots effort.
BOYCOTT. CONTACT THE ADVERTISERS. https://www.foxnewsadvertisers.com/
Certain products are going to be marketed to a targeted audience. For example the manufacturers of Dulcolax and Viagra typically won’t care about being boycotted by youngsters. P&G maybe, but boycotting P&G would mean throwing off decades of indoctrination that Bounty Cascade Charmin Crest Dawn Febreze_Downy Gillette Olay OralB Pantene Swiffer Tide Luvs Pampers… are not the top brands in their category.
Roger Ailes was an evil genius on par with the fictional Goldfinger. Getting a certain segment of the population to accept partisan propaganda as “fair and balanced news” was, and is still, brilliant, even if it was only original to the cable tv medium.
A few years ago there was a billboard on my commute. All it said was “DON’T TRUST THE LIBERAL MEDIA.”
I still don’t know who did it, but I think it was brilliant.
Even if you considered yourself a moderate or independent, this would make you think you might have to drift right just to stay in the center.
If I was running the doomsday clock I would have it about 11:59:59 right now. The nukes may be the mechanism, but it’s attitudes that will cause the button to be pushed. Who is going to ‘calm us down’? Really?
Doomsday clock? Really? Drama queen! Go buy a set of Depends, extra large and take 2 aspirin and call your therapist in the morning. How silly can it get? Have you tried your safe space in a while?
Listen to this drivel. Lets pass a anti mass murder jlaw!! Wow, That is the perfect liberal solution! Same with the gun grabbing. Aint gonna do a damn thing but make you less safe. I thought murder was already against the law Benev. Did I miss something?
A perfect lib solution…..
Stacey Evans didnt win the Democratic nomination…might want to fix that in your piece Mike
Welp, it’s obviously been a while. I regret the error and blame others.
And your absence has been noted (which means you need to stop by more often).
If we want to talk about toxic media environments…look no further that Fox. Dont try the “MSNBC is just as bad”…they’re not. Yes they have a partisan lean, but voices like Hannity, Ingram, Tucker Carlson, Judge Jeannie, and Lou Dobbs consistently give voice to conspiracy theories, lies, and hateful rhetoric. You dont ever see that from the prime time line up at MSNBC, and I challenge anyone to find one (that hasnt been creatively edited). Fox even said Lou Dobbs went a step too far and pulled an episode where his “guest” from Judicial Watch said this so called “caravan” was being funded by George Soros (eternal rw boggie man) and that it was a Jewish plot to take over the government. This aired right after the shootings
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-country-awash-in-foxs-dark-toxins
So if we are serious and not just paying lip service…Fox is the most toxic thing in America right now
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1056324117329297409
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1056324117329297409
Jimmy Carter’s letter to Kemp:
“In Georgia’s upcoming gubernatorial election, popular confidence is threatened not only by the undeniable racial discrimination of the past and the serious questions that the federal courts have raised about the security of Georgia’s voting machines, but also because you are now overseeing the election in which you are a candidate,” wrote Carter, who served as Democratic governor of Georgia himself before winning the presidency in 1976.
From Gallup 10/29/18, Trump’s approval poll:
Approve 40% Down 4% from last Monday.
Disapprove 54% Up 4% from last Monday.
https://news.gallup.com/home.aspx?utm_source=link_wwwv9&utm_campaign=item_238232&utm_medium=copy
I have to wonder what it will be in a few more days.
Classic. After a tragedy the libs are giddy about some stinking polls. Do you think I am exaggerating about anything? Living proof! Maybe we can get 4 more shooting before the end of the week!! Call out the mob.
Did you even bother to read the MR links? You want a whataboutism. The commander in chief and nominal head of the Republican Party seemed to be more concerned with the effect on the polls than the plight of the intended Democrat victims of Cesar Sayoc’s attempted bombings. This was while the alleged perpetrator was still at large:
“Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows — news not talking politics,” he wrote in a 10:19 a.m. [twitter] post on Friday.
By referring to likely domestic terrorism as “this ‘Bomb’ stuff” and tying it to the coming midterm elections, Mr. Trump was making the not-so-veiled suggestion that the news media was exaggerating the story because of some political motivation. Even in a national crisis, he was sticking with his anti-media strategy…
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/business/media/trumps-attacks-news-media.html
Of course he also still took to the stage for his “rally” on Saturday after the synagogue massacre in the interest of the polls. Explaining it away with yet another lie. The stock market did not reopen the next day after 9/11. It didn’t reopen for nearly a week.
Cancel rallies? Trump can’t even be bothered to seriously fake concern about anyone or anything that is not personally beneficial. It would interfere with tweeting, TV, and the jawing with cronies that constitute executive time.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/01/donald-trump-schedule-white-house-executive-time
Dear Hersey’s,
THIS IS JUST WRONG!!!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/reeses-peanut-butter-cups-are-getting-a-slimmed-down-makeover-%e2%80%94-and-fans-arent-happy/ar-BBP4Dxg?li=BBnb7Kz&OCID=CALHeader
Bert W. tweeted: “You’re right Erick.
I appreciate your public persona in Washington and LA media as a compassionate conservative who lives in reality, while on Twitter and other sites, you spew vile, hateful, bigotry mixed with conspiracy theories.
It’s quite the double life you lead.”
Worthless huckster.
Don’t forget the defense of a pedophilia along with anti-semitism.
Here is the hate queen with her daily pedophile hurl. Do you know what an idiot you sound like? No one supports pedophilia. Much less bombings and racism. You are the reason Trump was elected and hopefully the libs get an ass beating in the midterms.
You, Andrew, are the only one who fans racist flames by using the word “Jew” to describe Soros. Fox doesn’t. I don’t. DTM doesn’t. I would never have known of his ethic background had it not been for your incessant “ethnic” references. Seriously. I’m not very good at identifying ethnicity from last names. Soros gets his chops busted because he funds activities to destabilize Western Governments. He or someone like him or organizations with his political leanings, are indeed, funding the Illegal Latin American Mob who’s stated goal/plan is to enter the US illegally. So, why don’t you lay off the “Jew” identification? No one but you and you’re ilk are using that term in a negative way.
You don’t know about this:
https://deadline.com/2018/10/fox-bans-lou-dobbs-tonight-guest-for-perceived-anti-semitism-1202490988/
Fox News is a hotbed of antisemtism and racism too. Judicial Watch is an antisemitic organization. You have been so radicalized by conservative media you don’t know down is up or up is down.
Is the Jewish community in Pittsburgh that had members massacred wrong too? They said the same thing.
Read the following linked article. It is a good distillation of all the anti-semtism the GOP has been vomiting up lately.
https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-trump-didn-t-pull-the-trigger-in-pittsburgh-but-he-prepped-the-shooter-1.6595902
Funding???? These people are broke, and walking thousands of miles. Who is getting paid here? idiot.
“So another Jew?” There you go. Using the phrase again. You. Not me or anyone else. You’re sad.
Nevertheless, triggered by Trump hate/rhetoric.
Mail bombs. Trump fanatic.
2 shot in KY Kroger. Trump fanatic.
That’s just the past week.
Words matter. Y’all have been brainwashed. You have to be considered a threat to society at this point. You are the ones he is preaching hate to. Dems, Mexicans, how many others? He has made hate OK. So stop with the sniveling. YOU made this happen.
Dems have been blaming themselves for not turning out enough to have prevented this catastrophe, but the real blame is on all the stooges who submitted to their baser urges and embraced the hate, and still do.
Had a good day today…then glance at this rancid crap late in the day and the haters are all out in full force. All I can say it that some of you are sick f—s! What the hell good are any of your doing other that stirring up hatred?! Not a damn thing.
Nope. I think I’ll just point out your fake and ginned up lies about folks saying “Jews” are doing dastardly things. Ain’t happened once. You gonna be here on Election Night?
Noway, just because you don’t think there was any anti-Semitism in attacks on George Soros doesn’t mean it wasn’t generated by anti-Semites, propagated by anti-Semites, and celebrated by anti-Semites. Someone from the ADL said it best when they said that many folks may not recognize the signal that the Soros conspiracy story (or other media -like a meme Trump pushed, or his ad featuring Blankfein, Soros, and Yellin), but the white supremacists see the signal loud and clear, and know exactly what it means.
You’re bleating is better than even this…
How many times are you going to resort to zzzzzz…, sominex, or another fillers when you lack a lucid counterpoint or even an answer to a direct question? You are not here for political discourse. You are only here to troll and antagonize. Or as you have stated before, purely for effect.
So I will ask you once again; how do you think these tactics help convince people to vote Republican?
You planning to be here next Tuesday, Will? You’ll have all the proof you’ll need then!
Oh I have little doubt how Georgia will go, in spite of your antics. The House will have a Democratic majority however and therefore some brakes will be applied to the demagogue. So are you going to respond with anything substantive or just keep dodging?
Well, if all goes the way I think it will…I’ll be doing my signature phrase most of the night! Lol! “A……..N……”
Noway, the Artless Dodger.
I second the call for links to “proof” of funding.
I think unsubstantiated claims like this are in fact conspiracy theories with anti-Semitic origins and effects.
Need I remind you, Noway, that we all agreed just last week, to improve the level of discourse by providing links and not propagating BS?
Just because Deep Dark is taking a couple of days off doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be held to standards- standards you agreed to, as well.
This is the most thorough fact checking I could find on the matter.
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/10/no-evidence-soros-is-funding-immigrant-caravan/
I never used this site before, but their About page has a fully transparent list of donors, and a staff of professional journalists.
Now Noway, the ball is in your Court to refute the range of very specific facts they set forth, and all their thorough debunking.
If any conspiracy theory fits the plight of the Hondurans it would be using the Alex Jones’ trope du jour, the false flag. It makes much more sense for a wealthy Trump supporter (or Junior and the Russians) to have drummed this up and inspired Trump’s fear mongering antics to fire up his “base” supporters while blaming this “invasion” of brown people including some middle easterners on the Democrats. Of course this is just as unsupported as the Soros claims but makes more political sense. It just won’t get play on Fox and Friends.
https://theintercept.com/2018/10/29/the-lessons-for-western-democracies-from-the-stunning-victory-of-brazils-jair-bolsonaro/
Glenn Greenwald talks about how the voters feel the ruling class has let them down. The response of the ruling class is to insult the voters. In America, when the voters did not rush to install Hillary as President, the Democrat response was to call the voters racist.
Hillary got 3 MILLION more votes, so shut the f up.
Jesus, B. It doesn’t matter! Listen to yourself…
It matters when you are talking about Brazil because they do not have an electoral college.
LMFAO!!! Who the eff gives a rats-rear end about Brazil!? You are literally deranged!
No, just factual. Thanks for another post backing up the fact that you have been radicalized.
Caroline….do us all a favor…move to Brazil if you don’t like it here! And I bet they will not let you shriek your hatred down there.
The election was for the electoral votes. The popular vote is meaningless.
They don’t have an electoral college in Brazil. They elect their president by popular vote with a kind of instant runoff type round 2 if no one gets the required majority on the first round. So if we ran our elections that way Hillary probably would be president.
Lord, Jesus! LOLOLOLOLOLOL! Tell me, O Learned One, what are the election procedures in say, Outer Mongolia, which has about the same amout of relevancy. You are literally Ate Up With Stupid!!!
Thanks for another radicalized post.
Did anyone listen to the video? Mr. Greenwald lives in Brazil, and knows what he is talking about. I learned a few things.
What about the folks on Uranus for crying out loud. I will pay for you to go a civics class it if would improve the quality of your posts.
Well then you should say ‘when the electoral college didn’t rush to install Hillary Clinton’, because the voters DID.
Why is this issue a fixation for you, B? The popular vote does not matter. Your gal didn’t campaign intelligently and she lost. Your continuing to point out her popular vote win is of no relevance. To anything.
It’s visceral for me too, but don’t let it rule you., Benevolus.
Benev are you truly a piece of work…. Here is quarter, call someone who gives a sh– about the popular vote. Well call Al Gore.
Maybe he can tell the moron that said that said were about 99% toward Armageddon or some other idiocy. Maybe Gore will agree with you on the popular vote and the panic stricken Depends wearer about the end of the world. What a freaking loser of an argument!.
Wipe the spittle off of your chin and try to write something that makes sense for once.
That last sentence doesn’t even make sense. Some blamed misogyny- and that may have been a factor- but, breaking news, Hillary wasn’t African-American.
Chamblee, listen to these hateful POS…it is stunning and getting worse..
Well, I got a call from Lester Maddox today. Err, I mean Kemp stating that we have to stop those socialists from San Fran (Steyer I guess) and millionaires from NY (I’m guessing he means Soros) from taking over Georgia because liberals were showing up in Georgia to vote in record numbers. I guess Kemp’s voters are idiots who don’t know any better judging by that call.
I also got a call from Tom Steyer telling me to vote because democracy is on the ballot and we need to remove a dangerous President from office.
Who makes more sense these days?
Just think, Carolina, if you get a similar call from Kemp next Wednesday, it will be from the newly elected Governor! Lol!
He doesn’t seem as confident as you do. As a matter of fact that robocall sounded downright panicked and he’s entirely not too bright for thinking that calling my house would help him round up votes. Again, maybe he was so desperate he figured my house was worth a call.
Let’s discuss it next Tuesday night. You gonna be here?
You do realize it was a recorded voice, right! LMAO!!
Of course, but since you are radicalized you wouldn’t realize that is what I meant. You’re the one that thought he actually called my house. Still being recorded did not keep him from sounding desperate. As a matter of fact someone came by my house last week and stuck a flyer under my door that sounded desperate too. Something about Bone Saw Brett. The person did not even knock on the doors in the neighborhood. I guess they were afraid to hear what people thought about Kemp.
Hey Buttercup, was Lester a Democrat? Are you claiming that Tom Steyer is the voice of reason??!! You need professional help. Among other things.
Caroline… this is warning. This post does nothing to create a civilized conversation. Another one like this and you will be on time-out like MattMD_actual. Do you understand? I need a yes or no in reply.
The work of radical, hateful Libs! Disgusting!
https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/29/gunman-gop-office-florida/
Well, to follow your idiotic train of thought, it could have been a Repub trying to gin up sympathy before the election.
The Great Man will do three rallies in one day! LMAO!!! Next Monday! MAGA!
The rest of us probably need to figure out a way to duck and hide from the impending terrorist attacks. Every police station in the country should be put on high alert. Certainly will not be going to Kroger that day.
Yea I would hide in the house worried about going to Kroger too….get a grip please… Why let the terrorists win? I don’t mind going to Kroger or any where else.
Noway, this comment adds nothing to any conversation, and is not made to do anything but antagonize. Unless you are adding that it is a policy speech, and can enumerate what policies will we talked about, please refrain from posting these types of comments. I need a “I understand” or a “I don’t understand” in reply.
I understand!!
Thank you.
DD, real question. Conservatives on here think Repubs are gonna clean up next week. Libs think their side is gonna do the same There may be a stray “AwwwwNawwww” hurled by either side. Will that be allowed? I just wanna know our new boundaries! Thanks!
Unfortunately, neither of the options that you speak of have really been debated in any logical fashion. You guys rehash the same inane crap over and over, day after day. Trump is the devil. Trump is a great man. Republicans are racists. Democrats are stupid. It’s the same thing over and over again. There are very few of you that add anything to any conversation.
It’s disappointing because some of our authors put out great content that all of you ignore to try and puff up your online persona vs someone else’s online persona. If you want to know the truth… the comment sections here are what is wrong with this country. You guys are happier to take pot shots at each other than have a meaningful conversation. And even when a meaningful conversation starts someone has to interject with nonsense and derail it.
I’m not sure what the answer is right now, but some of you better clean up your acts in the next 12 hours or you will just start filling up the spam box.
Trump has said the US election system is rife with fraud. If you think things are chaotic, ugly and violent now, wait until fifty-plus million people that believe whatever Trump says decide that Congress isn’t really a legitimate governing institution because Republicans no longer control it.
Voting is only good when the Russians are helping you steal data from your opponents like they did in 2014 and 2016. Regular people voting is just downright fraudulent in his sick mind.
Idiot. Do I have to get Obama to say to you personally that only a NUMB NUT would believe Russia could impact out election?…that was 3 weeks BEFORE the election aimed at Trump’s sniveling!
You should play that on an endless loop, huddled under your covers with your 25 cats —since you are afraid to go to Kroger. Just call Uber Easts….they can bring cat food too.
Listen to your hero Barak on the subject! Once again. I have to post the same article once of month for the goobers…ENDLESS Sniveling is not an attractive trait folks.
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000004715581/obama-to-trump-stop-whining.html
Hopefully we don’t have to endure another mindless post about the popular vote either.
Dave, conservatives are not panic stricken ninnies. We don’t ginned up by BS. Your party seems to spread it so often you idiots are starting to believe your own BS. Hey take it from a conservative. We don’t buy the liberal BS. Why do you? You should know better.
Panic stricken is calling out an additional 5,000 military now hungry people with nothing but what they’re carrying, many women and children, wanting a better life that may arrive at the US border in a few months. It’s an invasion!
Panic stricken is Jew billionaire George Soros paying them to do it.
Panic stricken is jumping to the conclusion that “this ‘bomb’ stuff” is a Democratic ply to seek to influence the elections, which by the way is OK, as long as its the Russians.
“is Jew billionaire George Soros”. Dave, please cut that shit out! Seriously. Nobody on this site has said stuff like that. You and a couple of others do that. It’s not truthful in describing my or any other conservative’s opposition to Soros.
Eeee-mergency meeting at Myrtle’s tomorrow! Grady requested more posts ftom here! Said with all that’s going on he and the boys needed good belly laughs!!! Myrtle herself is making apple crisp!!!! Schweeeet!!!
Andrew you were hurling blame hours after the tragedy. Before you look at the splinter in someone else’s eye you might get the Redwood out of yours..
It’s not as if a Jewish false flag was novel for Trump. He was suggesting Jewish false flags after only weeks in office. MAGA.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-jews-antisemitic-hate-crimes-false-flag-reverse-david-duke-kkk-ku-klux-klan-a7604801.html
Hey Andrew, why do the libs just love Sharpton? Would you like a few quotes from him and his hatred of Jews? Now why did CNN give the proven racist a show? He was in the White House with Obama 72 times and likely more than that. Google it.
Has Trump had those anti-Semitic racists in the White House?
Screwy Louie Farrakhan, Obama’s neighbor in Chicago—a lib hero and conservatives rightfully call out these racists and race baiters for what they. Why are they hugged and cuddled by you guys? Trump is a huge supporter of Israel, Obama wouldn’t even meet with Netanyahu on occasion.
Where are the conservative anti Semites. There are NONE. Why is that? We don’t want them. Why do you ?
Why did Obama try to ban the picture with him smiling and hugging Farrakhan during his re-election?
Help us understand the double standards of liberalism or whatever warped logic that is. Maybe Caroline can help us out.
Andrew, I thought you libs hated big donors in politics….Obviously that is lie isn’t it?!
No, it just means you are stupid.
You have brought it to my attention. I just do not see the stories about Soros reference his ethnicity. I don’t see articles that attack his ehtnicity. Only his politics. My Myrtle’s buds don’t care about anyone’s birth origin, if you will. They care about an individual’s political efforts. You have no worries about me and my potential negative feelings for anyone Jewish. Like I said, I do not even know when a last name may be Jewish or not. That type of thinking simply doesn’t enter my mind.
I get your point. I’m not gonna change yours and you won’t change mine.
One week out, I’m just tired. Unless one of yall on the other side just says something just totally outrageous, I’m done until Tuesday. Maybe I need to go see the new “Halloween” today!
In any event, I’ll be here Tuesday to either get my butt kicked or do the kicking.