It’s rainy season again. The dramatic storms are the only thing that makes summer in Florida bearable as far as I’m concerned, though my chickens would likely disagree.
I acquired this photo of a beautiful rainbow the other evening as I was chauffeuring teens to an event. In the space of 20 miles we went through sunshine and then rain beating down so hard it washed all the love-bug guts off the car and then sunshine again.
When I returned home, I found out a tornado had passed by in that same area, but I never saw it. We occasionally have monstrous, near-Sooner-grade tornadoes down here, but mostly it’s just little “tornadocitas” that knock over a shed or two, crash a pool cage and detach a few shingles from roofs.
Please feel free to discuss whatever — open thread.
OzarkHillbilly
I hate humidity. You don’t need a pool to go swimming in the Ozarks, just step outside.
Lyrebird
Thanks for the gorgeous photo! Glad you had no contact w/the tornado.
I’m having a slowww dayyy (anyone remember those commercials?).
Here’s something that I haven’t yet seen discussed in the otherwise pretty complete coverage of misogyny, mental health, and the murders in So Cal:
The killer’s mother thought that Something Was Terribly Wrong, that’s why deputies visited him to check him out. He said he wasn’t gonna harm anyone, case closed. So similar to the Va Tech murders, where at least one English prof, iirc female, told administrators, whoa — something is so wrong with this person, we should do something. Nothing done. (note: I don’t think this is solely bc the alerters were female)
What could we do differently? (Note that I pay my rent by teaching people to look for evidence, the known pros and cons of intuition, pros/cons of mental diagnoses, etc.) I don’t think there are any simple answers, but I know there are other people who read here with relevant background.
NotMax
Okay, I’ll bite.
What the heck is a pool cage?
Is Florida swarming with feral pools?
Belafon
@Lyrebird: In this particular case, what they should have done was look at the evidence from the mom. If they determine she’s being reasonable in her suspicion, they should have been allowed to act on it. Maybe involve a judge.
Betty Cracker
@NotMax: An aluminum contraption that allows people to screen in their pools and patios.
randomworker
@Betty Cracker: Otherwise your pool would be infested with poisonous snakes and you would be eaten alive by the bugs!
catclub
Sharknado 2 is coming. Maybe it will be in Florida.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@NotMax:
As all civilized people know, a pool cage is used for pool cage matches.
Betty Cracker
@Lyrebird: Great question. I don’t know. Most people who are full-blown psychotics never actually harm anyone, including people who say and write scary things. I understand why there are stringent guidelines about involuntary commitment and treatment. We don’t want to further stigmatize mental illness by putting people who seek treatment on a watch list.
For me, it keeps coming back to the damned weapons. Maybe if Rodger, Lanza and Cho had to go through a psychological assessment and rigorous firearms training before amassing their arsenals, things would have gone another way.
Suffern ACE
@Lyrebird: No idea. The Va Tech shooter narrative that they wanted to tell was “failed mental health system” and “Korean culture”, with a strong emphasis on the latter (you know, those Asians don’t go to counselling, plus those violent Korean movies). But then we have Aurora, Sandy Hook, and Santa Barbara, and it turns out that all of them were involved in counselliing in one way shape or form.
The Dangerman
Isn’t it just so cool that we have a 1%er hiding “crumbs” here and there and making people fight for it? Now THERE’S a story the media should focus on.
scav
The thought that pools in Florida are so dangerous that they must be caged so they don’t go rampaging through the neighborhood. . . .
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: It’s to keep the pools from escaping. Duuuuhhhhhh.
Violet
That’s a lovely picture. Rainbows are such a treat.
Busy here with caregiving. It kind of never ends. Even when I think I’ll have a bit of time off, something comes up and all that time vanishes. I can’t seem to get things done at my own house because I’m so utterly exhausted by the time I make it home. Yesterday I got home late and didn’t even know I’d fallen asleep on the couch until the phone rang.
Other than that, harvesting blackberries, tomatoes–anyone want some? I’ve got all kinds–green beans and beets. Keep not having time/forgetting to put in the long beans. Cucumbers are growing well. Some rain over the weekend really helped everything. Of course now it’s a million degrees and humid but that’s summer here.
Mustang Bobby
Pool cages are sometimes mistakenly called “Florida rooms,” which is what my mom calls my screened-in patio.
A few years ago a tornadocita passed by the school where I was working in Miami Springs. Everybody went all “Auntie Em!” but having grown up in the Midwest where they have real ones, this one didn’t do more than knock over a few trash cans. I didn’t even look up from my desk. (It was summer and school wasn’t in session.)
Hurricanes, on the other hand, I take seriously.
D58826
@randomworker: and the bear after he finishes his nap in your hammock
catclub
@The Dangerman: Do you mean pots of gold and rainbows? Or something else?
SatanicPanic
On the weekend my son and I were catching bugs and putting them in his bug cage. We caught a millipede and a pincher bug. We left to go look for more bugs, came back, and the millipede is still there, but nothing but the pincher bugs pincher is left. Millipedes are no joke.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
I know this has been flogged in several posts already, but christ all, I’m still in despondent amazement how easily the country dances to the right-wing crazy tune. As LGF pointed out, six months ago Bergdahl was the cause celebre, but now, they 180, and even fucking 75 percent of the left wing has declared Bergdahl to be the biggest super-traitor in the history of ever and Obama the worst super-Satan for freeing him and HOLY SHIT HANG THESE TWO FUCKING NOW, FOR AMERICA’S SAKE, KILL THEM FUCKING NOW!!!!
Just…fuck all. Even the most absurd, vindictive, and bloodthirsty right-wing crazy is accepted as fact almost immediately without analysis, and fuck all, these assholes are actually going to get rewarded for it this November. Because apparently anything a Dem or a lib says is immediately the worst fucking treason fucking ever.
Like I said before, I find myself never talking about politics in person anymore. I’m afraid if I let slip that I’m a liberal I’m going to get bludgeoned with a brick and left to die.
Tommy
@Mustang Bobby: I have storm sirens in my town. Run to your basement. Twisters. Now well I was there for Andrew. In south Louisiana. Hurricanes freaked me out.
D58826
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: A long article over on huffington:
1. Several of the interviews with Bergdahl’s platoon mates were arranged by GOP operatives. The soldiers were at pains to say there was nothing political but when you say it’s not about the money its about the money. So their comments need to be taken with a certain skepticism
2. One of the charges is that 6 or more soldiers died looking for this guy. According to the article the official search lasted 8 days and there were only 2 deaths in that area during that time period. Several of the reported deaths occurred up to 90 days later.
3. I have never been in the military and in no way want to diminish the loss of the these soldiers but they were there to engage the enemy. If they hadn’t been looking for Bergdahl they would have been out on patrol for other reasons and running the risk of taking casualties.
4. The soldiers also reported an increase in enemy activity after Bergdahl disappeared. They were stationed in the heart of Taliban country and it was the height of fighting season, so of course they were going to see more enemy activity.
5.The army has announced that they will conduct a full investigation. If it turns out he deserted then a court martial is entirely in order but investigate first.
catclub
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Not quite on topic, but on one scandal back, Philip Longman has a post on the VA wait times foofarah. He wrote Best Care Anywhere, and seems to have a pretty good understanding of the VA. (Or maybe he is just a stupid person’s idea of what a smart person would know about the VA.)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2014_06/va_care_still_the_best_care_an050598.php
Mnemosyne
@D58826:
“Swiftboating” is the verb coming to mind when it comes to the stories circulating about Sgt. Bergdahl.
? Martin
@Lyrebird:
I have direct experience with this kind of problem. Some years ago I had a student that was stalking a classmate, and we had good reason to believe he had just purchased a gun and was escalating the stalking (the girl was about to graduate and move out of state).
I personally went to every authority that could have intervened in this case – not a phone call or an email – physically showed up in the police chiefs office, etc. The problem was that each group is siloed off from each other group because of (real and perceived) confidentiality laws. Mental health records are siloed off from student records, from student behavior records from criminal records. Everyone had a piece of the puzzle and nobody could or would share. There were efforts to do so, with winks and nods, but the thing the police needed was something tangible from mental health, which they couldn’t provide without a warrant, and there wasn’t cause for a warrant.
I did this every day for a week or so leading up to the day of graduation and pissed off many, many people, but I did get the police notice I wanted, I got the extra officers at the events, and I got a notice sent out to the police that covered the areas where the student and her family lived. Late the evening of commencement one of her family members saw something suspicious, called the police, and they happened to be keeping a patrol car nearby and caught the kid in the bushes with a loaded gun. Not knowing this happened, the next day at work I got hauled in before the higher ups where I was pretty certain I would be fired for my behavior and refusing to take no for an answer. Instead I was brought up to date on what happened and we started going through the changes that needed to be put in place. It was during this process that VaTech happened, so we were front and center to the discussions of how institutions need to change in response to more students with psychological problems (because universities were becoming the health provider of choice, particularly mental health, for young people until ACA came along) and more students with guns.
It’s a difficult problem to solve. At its core is the problem of institutions genuinely wanting to protect the rights of students. If students don’t believe in the protections offered by mental health services, then they won’t go to them, and that’s a worse outcome. It’s not obvious how to get that balance right. Just around that is a deep aversion to getting sued if you walk too close to the line. It’s not even a question of crossing it, even when they’re certain they’re within the law, even if they’re close to the edge many institutions get skittish. Risk management attorneys are not hired for their aggressiveness.
Elizabelle
@Lyrebird:
It’s astonishing to me the Santa Barbara cops didn’t check the easily available gun registry. They would have turned up — what — 3 lawfully purchased and registered guns, and a sufficiently awful quantity of ammo?
The kid wrote about worrying his gig was up when the cops showed.
But it was not. They didn’t check. They went away impressed with his calm demeanor.
And yes, about having to prove you’re an acceptable risk as a gun owner BEFORE the purchase.
What is so awful about keeping guns out of the wrong hands (except it f*cks with the NRA’s and arms merchants’ mission)?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I hadn’t heard of him, but I have been wondering how an AWOL deserter was promoted twice during his captivity.
The Right in this country is despicable, but they know what they’re doing. I just saw a headline at the WaPo website that a majority of Americans still think there are “unanswered questions” about BENGHAZI!, and something’s being ‘covered up’. I’d like to see those numbers for people who actually read the long NYT write up of IIRC mid-April, but most people who just hear the noise and figure there must be something to it. This was at the root of McConnell’s total opposition strategy, the electorate as a whole doesn’t blame Republicans, they blame “those clowns in Washington who can’t get anything done!”
MattF
Yet another crypto bug:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/06/critical-new-bug-in-crypto-library-leaves-linux-apps-open-to-drive-by-attacks/
Is anyone keeping count?
Librarian
According to Andrea Mitchell,Bergdahl had an “unusual background” because he grew up without a TV and with lots of books. Seriously, she said that.
MattF
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: There’s a lot of noise. I’d like to see someone point out that, even if it was all true (which, for the record, it ain’t), none of it adds up to anything even remotely impeachable.
D58826
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: There was a link to a Britbart ‘article’ on Bergdahl. At one time he was the poster boy for Obama deserting the troops. Now he is the poster boy for Obama the law breaker and traitor. .
Faux news is now going after his parents.
Suffern ACE
@Librarian: Why, he probably wouldn’t even recognize Ms. Mitchell if he had to wait on her in a restaurant. Thank goodness such a deprived child joined the army.
Amir Khalid
I don’t know if it’s possible to get any more shameless than this: changing your party, changing your name to disguise your ethnicity. Does this guy even speak Spanish?
Suffern ACE
@D58826: Yep. Alan West is claiming that the father defiled the White House.
D58826
@Librarian: He was also homeschooled. Isn’t that something that the wingnuts think highly of?
MattF
@Amir Khalid: Seems to me to cross the OMG line– calling yourself ‘Cesar Chavez’ probably belongs in the DSM-5 manual.
Suffern ACE
@Amir Khalid: You should talk. I know you’re really Shelly Huffnagel from Terra Haute, Indiana and only pretend to be Malaysian because of the cachet that brings on the interwebs.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I wondered about that myself, specifically about the promotion to E-5. Enlisted soldier promotions in the army are automatic through E-4. If you have x time in service and y time in grade, you get promoted unless your chain of command specifically stops the process. Once you get to NCO ranks (E-5 and above) promotions generally require a promotion board and affirmative selection. Since 2001 though, there have been some changes. Certain military occupational specialties (MOSs) that have have automatic promotion based on time in service and time in grade. Also, Cassidy noted the other day that rules for POWs are/might be different because they are unable to appear before a promotion board.
Mnemosyne
@Amir Khalid:
Not to mention that, in the Southwest, changing your name to Cesar Chavez is kind of like a white guy changing his name to Martin Luther King Jr. This is who Cesar Chavez was.
D58826
@Suffern ACE: Alan West, Alan West where have I heard that name before. Oh yes he is the former army lt. Col. who was kicked out one step ahead of a court martial for killing Iraqi civilians. Definitely a man who know what ‘defiling’ is.
As you watch this play out you wonder if the level of pathological hated qualifies as a mental illness.
PaulW
Betty, you gotta admit Florida gets some of the best waterspouts on the planet:
http://youtu.be/DShp7d6yozY
lol
@Mnemosyne:
Cesar Chavez is that socialist dictator that has a salad named after him right? I remember being very outraged when Obama decided to have the Google homepage set to this terrorists face on Christmas Day.
bemused
@D58826:
One of those dipshit Fox hosts said Bob Bergdahl looked like a member of the Taliban. So the Duck Dynasty bearded look like all American patriots, I suppose.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@D58826:
@catclub:
Unfortunately fact is irrelevant, especially when you win the cycle for first impressions. Now Bergdahl is a traitor, Obama a terrorist-loving Tyrant, and the VA is THE proof against non-private medicine, and any attempts to prove otherwise are like dust in the fucking wind for the most part because changing people away from a right wing opinion is like Sisyphus’ rock, push all you want, the moment another crazy chimes in from the right it’s all for fucking naught as the rock rolls back down, the pendulum swings so hard right again your head spins, and fuck all.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And if not just the amount of noise, but how fucking quick people buy into it. The sudden ‘THIS GUY IS A TRAITOR, HOW DARE OBAMA BRING HIM BACK!!” shit started…what, 4 days ago? And suddenly even a huge majority of the left has jumped in on the calls for him to be hung dead. I mean…fuck all….
What’s the point in fucking fighting at this point when the right wing doesn’t even have to fucking try anymore to get its bullshit treated as gospel?
imonlylurking
Are there any juicers in Iowa, Nebraska, or northern Missouri? There’s some potentially some nasty weather today and the worst is expected for those areas.
imonlylurking
And I want to do another Twin Cities meetup.
catclub
@MattF: Have you read the ‘Everything is Broken’ article?
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Suffern ACE:
He’s Shelly Huffnagel and so’s my wife! IMPEACH! IMPEACH! IMPEACH!
D58826
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Damn, where is a good asteroid strike when you need one (sigh)
Mnemosyne
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
Do you have any links? Because the most I’ve seen people say on the left wing is, Meh, it doesn’t matter why he was captured, bringing him home was the right thing to do.
Lyrebird
@Betty Cracker:
Oh, yes! I was thinking during my errand, like, duh I should have mentioned that I’m a big believer in restricting access to tools of war. (AK-47 + duck == inedible mess. “sporting” rifles ain’t.)
Just also really glad to hear perspectives from you and these folks:
@Suffern ACE: @Belafon: @? Martin: @Elizabelle:
..on the mental health & public policy side of the story.
The VA murderer came from the same neck of the woods as I do, sorta, and he killed all those people during a class of mine (elsewhere), first semester I ever taught Intro Psych. i want my students to think about all the issues you guys raised, and sometimes it’s really tough for me to step back enough to help them do that.
Thanks!!!
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
But are they convincing anyone who isn’t already in the Circle of the Certifiable? They’ve spent years selling Obamacare as the root of all evil – and yet, now there’s a decent chance that it might lose Der Turtlefuehrer his re-election in Kentucky. They spent years yapping about Muslims, Kenyans, Kenyan Muslims, Kenyan Socialist Muslims – and behold, Obama was re-elected with relative ease.
Belafon
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
From what I understand, unless some real evidence comes up that he deserted while he’s gone, the Army promotes POWs on schedule. If he’s found guilty of anything, he will lose that rank.
Calouste
@Elizabelle:
I personally think that anyone with more than 2 guns, specially if they are all handguns, and even more specifically, as seems to have been the case here, if they have been bought in a short amount of time, raises a big red flag. I can imagine someone having one handgun and a few different kinds of hunting rifles, but anything outside that, and they’re ammosexuals.
Lyrebird
Hm, does it trip a moderation flag if you reply to too many people at once?
Basic msg was THANKS and yes number one we need sensible arms safety rules… I teach the psychiatrists and counselors of tomorrow, and not even they think they should be the only check on who has access to assault rifles etc.
Keith G
@Mnemosyne:
The attacks on him are pure opportunism, but that motive is helped by the very strong indications that Bergdahl walked away from his assigned post, in the face of a dangerous enemy, with no intention of returning. In short, it seems that what happened came pretty close to desertion. That does not take “swift boating” to view such a behavior as worrisome. That said, it sure would be nice for there to be an accumulation, and study, of facts before the knives come out.
For Berdalh’s sake, I hope that there are facts that can mitigate how his decisions are judged.
scav
@lol: Cesar Salad . . . , Salads, Salads, Salads! You mean that LettuceIn a Bowl, Rabbit Food in a Bowl, Let us ?HEDONISM In a Bowl that that First lady is sneaking into all our children’s meals and thus sacred bodies? It’s a Vast left-wing Vegetable Plot!
Amir Khalid
@Lyrebird:
Yes. You get to have up to three links in each comment. A reply counts as a link. A fourth link gets you moderatered.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@scav:
Eating Let Us is the first sign of a permissive leftwing crypto-lesbian communist society. Ronald Reagan taught us that!
Villago Delenda Est
Those late afternoon thunderboomies in Florida are pretty spectacular, it’s true!
From our foes at Noisemax:
CNN Reporter Asks: Is Obama Above the Law?
Certainly less so than Richard Nixon (unindicted coconspirator in the Watergate coverup, crook, “if the President does it it can’t be illegal”), Gerald Ford (granted aforementioned crook a blanket pardon for any crimes he might have committed in office), the shitty grade Z movie star (Iran-Contra, HUD scandals), George H.W. Bush (Iran-Contra, issuing pardons on Iran-Contra figures to prevent them from flipping and putting him in legal jeopardy), the deserting coward (desertion from Armed Forces, war criminal, all around sack of criminal shit who should be hanging from a lamppost along Pennsylvania Avenue).
And that’s just a sampler of Rethug Presidents considering themselves to be “above the law”, both in spirit and in letter.
PaulW
@Librarian:
HOW F_CKING UNAMERICAN CAN YOU GET?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gasp wheeze OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
/sarcasm
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: All sorts of assumptions of facts not in evidence.
Hunter Gathers
@Mnemosyne:
Homer: Who are you?
Ghost of César Chávez: I am the spirit of César Chávez.
Homer: Then why do you look like César Romero?
Ghost of César Chávez: Because you don’t know what César Chávez looks like.
Anoniminous
Sam Wang is out with his first analysis. He gives a 67% chance the Dems will hold the Senate. No news about the House.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@PaulW:
Damn. I had the exact same childhood. Leaving aside the Scandinavian ancestry and the All-American Potato-Eating Contests of bucolic Idaho.
Wally Ballou
I’m sitting outside Chicago’s Union Station, between trains en route to visit my sister in Milwaukee. An elderly gentlemen with a saxophone just set up shop on the sidewalk and favored us with a medley of Gershwin’s “Summertime” and the Turtles’ “Happy Together”. Really doesn’t work, but A for effort.
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffern ACE: War criminal shitstain Alan West, who is another asshole who in a just universe would be dead right now, executed as a war criminal
MattF
O Florida…
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/judge-accused-of-punching-attorney
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Mnemosyne:
Meh, no links since the left side of the mediasphere seems to be behaving itself in this regard. But commentary, comments, personal acquaintances, etc., a whole lot of people who I know by history and experience to be generally left wing and skeptical of the GOP still swallowing the Bergdahl shit, nodding their heads and saying ‘yeah, he’s a deserter, Obama fucked up horribly and I can’t respect him anymore’ bullshit. Just…guh.
TaMara (BHF)
@? Martin: If I didn’t think you were awesome already. That cemented it.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Villago Delenda Est:
Alan West’s lawyers would like to politely request that you stop confusing him with Allen West, malevolent right-wing thug who was booted out of the army for disgracing the uniform. Alan West is a model citizen and has never had so much as a parking ticket.
pamelabrown53
@randomworker: Heh. I have one of those FloriDUH pool cages, aka, pool enclosures. My house is situated on a relatively small lot surrounded on 3 sides by preserves: literally a house in the woods. That enclosure, er cage, allows us respite from the snakes, mosquitoes and various other critters. Once we had a HEAVY plastic container with lid where we stored our birdseed under the covered part of the enclosure. Squirrels chewed through the screen then chewed through the heavy plastic lid to get to the birdseed. Needless to say, we repaired the screen and moved the birdseed back into the garage.
Mandalay
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
Not really. The soldiers serving with Bergdahl were required to sign non-disclosure agreements to remain silent about Bergdahl because any public comments could affect his safety while he was a captive. Presumably those agreements were no longer relevant once Bergdahl was released.
Villago Delenda Est
@D58826:
That is not the Rethuglican way. And if the investigation doesn’t demonstrate desertion, keep investigating until something can be charged. Anything. Lying about a blow job. Anything.
PaulW
@Amir Khalid:
No habla cinco de mayo?
big ole hound
@OzarkHillbilly: yeah, we lived in the St Louis are way back in the 60s, People were great but after 3 years the weather drove us out. humidity all summer and ice storms all winter. Moved the family back to New England where summer is summer and winter is winter and outdoor doings and sports are seasonal.
PaulW
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers):
And Adam West is Batman. Let it go…
Roger Moore
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers):
Only fancy lettuce. Real Americans® are allowed to eat as much iceberg lettuce as they want. Didn’t you get the memo?
Bobby Thomson
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
Citation needed. I haven’t seen anyone I would consider left of center saying anything other than (1) give the American system a chance to dispense justice because we don’t abandon Americans or (2) five years time served and the guilt of knowing people died because of him is enough.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@PaulW:
I have the old-fashioned view that we ought to at least get people’s names right when we (justifiably) denounce them. Denouncing the wrong person is both a waste of cyberbreath and harms one’s credibility for the future.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Roger Moore:
Iceberg lettuce proves that global warming isn’t real. Hur hur! Stoopid libruls!
MattF
@Roger Moore: I’ll have an arugula, quinoa and kale salad, pleeze.
scav
@Roger Moore: Wasn’t there a coda later because of probable climate-change enabler connections among the iceberg community?
Betty Cracker
@pamelabrown53: A friend of mine was on vacation when a flock of vultures decided to roost on her pool cage. Part of the roof of it collapsed under their weight, opening up the top, and the vultures spent the next several days living the high life poolside, inviting all their friends for a real tropical carrion-consumer convention. She had to drain the pool and start over, I think.
DAVE
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): It’s the rules basically if you are POW you are promoted as soon as you hit minimum TIS?TIG requirements. I’m not sure about any automatic promotion to E-5 but they were so desperate for bodies back around 04-09 that almost anyone with a pulse was being promoted and rapidly. It’s caused some issues and I was kinda dumb because I didn’t take SSG as soon as possible out of sense of responsibility.
Mnemosyne
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
You need better friends. I think we’ve discussed this before. :-)
Bobby Thomson
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
Again, citation needed. Stop making shit up.
Villago Delenda Est
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers): I hereby issue a formal apology to Alan West for identifying him as Allen West, war criminal and reactionary hack.
Suffern ACE
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Gah. If only everyting could be made into a Lifetime movie with clear heros and heroines.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Please. Val Kilmer is the definitive Batman. They should’ve rolled up the franchise right there.
Bobby Thomson
@The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik:
I respectfully suggest that your experience is quite limited and your perceptions skewed. Do you live in Oklahoma?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Keith G:
Based on what evidence?
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I rather liked Michael Keaton’s take.
The less said about George Clooney, however, the better, although the problem there was, well, everything but George Clooney.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
You’ll notice the weasel word “indications”. Keith G knows full well there is no evidence either way.
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Evidence fabricated in the Faux noiserooms.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
The evidence of guys who were paid by Republican strategists, which is always the best and most objective evidence.
Villago Delenda Est
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers): This is because Keith G has very strong weasel tendencies.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Villago Delenda Est:
I sentence you to five blog-posts probation and fine you the sum of 0.3 internets. Now let that be a lesson to you!
Suffern ACE
O.K. if exchanging hostages is a bad thing, because it involves negotiating with terrorists, why do we have hostages in Guantanamo to begin with? We refused to have them declared PoWs so we could torture them. What value to they have now except as hostages?
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yeah, he tried playing the “opinions are evidence” game yesterday and had to scurry away from the Bergdahl threads with his ass a bright GOP red.
liberal
@Keith G:
WTF is it with you and your ability to hold two thoughts in your head at once? Next thing I know, you’ll be telling me simultaneously that Obama is much better than any Republican alternative, and yet also that Obama does some bad and stupid things. Sheesh
Trollhattan
@pamelabrown53: @Betty Cracker:
Swimming enclosure vermin barriers and seed-fracking squirrels. Florida sounds like Heaven on Earth(tm). No wonder everyone from Jersey to Maine wants to decamp for there….
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’ll stand up for Adam West as Batman. He did a great job with the role he was given; it isn’t his fault that he was playing Batman during a period of high camp rather than utmost seriousness. For the same reason, I’ll defend my namesake’s performance as James Bond. He did a fine job playing the role he was given and doesn’t deserve blame for the role being campy.
liberal
Anyone else see that $5M is going down the tubes because some Silicon Valley douchebag is challenging Honda (who Amer. for Dem. Action gives a perfect 100% record in 2012) for his house seat?
Villago Delenda Est
@scav: Broccoli…the Devil’s tool for corrupting our innocent youth.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Villago Delenda Est:
He made some decent James Bond films though.
Rex Everything
George Clooney: last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world.
Keith G
@Villago Delenda Est: I am willing to acknowledge that the basic physical facts of his movement are still not all in. With this story in today’s NYT one can see that a picture is beginning to evolve. He did not leave a scouts’ camp site and stroll into the woods. Did he purposefully use stealth to slip out of a secured encampment surrounded by a perimeter of barbed wire? Probably so.
He took supplies for travel (and not a leg-stretching, mind-clearing amble through the countryside). It’s possible he was planning a long weekend in the hinterland then a quick trip back to camp, but come on.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Rex Everything:
You mean Karl Rove is dead?!
Chyron HR
@Keith G:
With this story in today’s NYT one can see that a picture is beginning to evolve. Did Saddam purchase uranium from Nigeria? Probably so. It’s possible he was planning to build power plants to improve the lives of Iraqi citizens, but come on.
Rex Everything
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers):
Don’t kid around. Rove is no mere arachnid, he’s a balrog at the very least.
Keith G
@liberal:Oh My, I though nuance is a value celebrated here.
One can feel that Berdalh got locked into a very bad set of decision making – that he made some very unsound choices, without then seeing a need to attack him as a reprehensible person.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Keith G:
The story you link to said he took water. No mention of food. Bit of an oversight for a man planning a journey, no? Was he planning to stop off at the copious array of Pizza Huts scattered throughout the landscape of Afghanistan? Or is this just a nuance to nowhere in your view?
pamelabrown53
@Betty Cracker: OMG, that is both an amazing and disgusting story: Tippi Hedren goes to Florida.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: Weasel, weasel, weasel.
It’s what you are. Accept it, embrace it, celebrate it.
But don’t try to pass yourself off as a disinterested observer, because you’re pretty obviously not.
Belafon
@Keith G: Here’s where you went wrong again:
That’s not a question, that’s a statement with a Cavuto mark.
gnomedad
@Bobby Thomson:
Yeah, who do you think you are,
Sarah Palinjust about anybody on the right?@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And Adam West is the other definitive Batman, Or the definitive other Batman.
Keith G
@Chyron HR: So do we disregard news reports as all flat out lies?
Hopefully one can use them as part of an evaluative process separate from one’s own ideology and long-held hopes and assumptions.
As I said upthread, a picture is forming and as I also said, it is not complete or finished in anyway.
I would be very happy if Bergdalh were to be seen as an exemplar of righteous thinking in the face of the barbarity of war, but I am thinking that the evidence might be a bit short of that.
Trollhattan
re. Sgt Bergdahl, I’m comfortable letting the Army figure out whether he acted in an unsuitable manner–I certainly have no information on which to say whether he did or did not. I do wonder, if he “defected” why was he not greeted with the proverbial candy and flowers, instead of living like Reek on GoT for five years?
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
From your link:
Even the New York Times is telling you up-front not to be so gullible, and you fell for it anyway.
Keith G
@Belafon: It seems that is what happened. Let’s hope that is not the case, Cavuto mark (WTF?) or no.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Keith G: A picture may be forming of someone who slipped off post for some reason. To leap from that to desertion is a loooonnnnggg stretch. I don’t feel like making it. YMMV.
pamelabrown53
@Keith G: It doesn’t matter what Bergdalh did after his guilt or innocence is adjudicated. What matters is the principle that we leave no one left behind. That has always been an animating credo of our Military.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Keith G:
You might want to start by reviewing the difference between opinions and facts. The only thing in the latest report that you linked to that was new was the “note” Bergdahl supposedly left – but without the text of that note, plus proof that it wasn’t in fact a draft for an email or diary entry, it doesn’t tell us anything. Hell, the “evidence” so far, insofar as we’ve seen any, is perfectly compatible with Bergdahl slipping out of the camp for some time alone, possibly to write and think, getting nabbed by the Taliban – and his comrades putting the worst construction on it because the guy obviously didn’t share their view of the world.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: Ha ha. “News Reports”. Straight out of the Deutsche Beobacher or Pravda
You is so funny, weasel.
Belafon
@Keith G: The Cavuto mark is a term coined by Jon Stewart after Neil Cavuto’s tendency to put a statement up with a question mark at the end. It’s obvious the statement is not a question, but it allows Cavuto to both drive the conversation and claim his innocence as the source of the outrageous statements: “All I did was ask a question.”
D58826
@Keith G: The problem with the ‘picture that is forming’ is it’s being painted by people without all of the in formation, some of whom seem to have a political agenda. One guy talked about him writing novels and spending time in his bunk. It is just possible he wasn’t the most popular guy in his platoon and that is now reflected in the comments.The big piece that is missing is Bergdahl’s side of the story.
So let the army conduction an investigation. I suspect they took statements from his platoon mates when the story was fresh in their minds and before political considerations entered the picture. Combine that with Berdalh’s story and then decide if further action is necessary. But based on the events surrounding the Benghazi investigation the GOP will milk this for all its worth even if God sends the angel Gabriel to vouch for Bergdalhs story.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: The Cavuto mark is the tool of another well known weasel.
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Again, since you missed it when you read the story:
The interview was arranged by Republican strategists. The NYT says so right in their very own story. So the real question is, are Republican strategists trustworthy advocates for this story? Do you feel that Republican strategists have the country’s best interests at heart and are only seeking the truth when they choose specific people to be interviewed?
Villago Delenda Est
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers): Thank goodness you didn’t opt to fine me in quatloos.
Keith G
@Mnemosyne: We arrange interviews, they arrange interviews. When the White House introduces common folk to back up their policy positions, are folks to automatically assume that they are lying?
I think it’s not a bad idea to look at the credibility of the interviewee as well as checking to see if the narrative is fitting in with that others have given at a different time under different circumstances.
And again. my wish is that neither side build up a Bergdahl tale primarily out of their already extant ideological conceit. As with many things, the truth will probably be found somewhere in the middle.
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffern ACE: There you go, bringing all that fucking reasonable liberalism and thinking into this. All those fucking quaint notions of the Geneva Conventions, totally unsuited to this modern world of the war on tactical choices.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Keith G:
David Brooks has taught you well, padawan.
D58826
@Keith G:
Not to put to fine a point on it but the rightwing echo chamber assumes, correct that KNOWS, Obama is lying about everything. They would not believe him if he said the sun rises in the east.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Villago Delenda Est:
*Harumph*. Just remember the terms of your probation, young Villago. I don’t want to see you before this court again.
Lyrebird
@Amir Khalid: Thanks! and salaam aleikum! (sp??)
— here’s a version stripped of links, in case anyone’s still reading —
@Betty Cracker:
For me, it keeps coming back to the damned weapons
Oh, yes! I was thinking during my errand, like, duh I should have mentioned that I’m a big believer in restricting access to tools of war. (AK-47 + duck == inedible mess. “sporting” rifles ain’t.)
Just also really glad to hear perspectives from you and these folks:
@Suffern ACE: @Belafon: @? Martin: @Elizabelle:
..on the mental health & public policy side of the story.
The VA murderer came from the same neck of the woods as I do, sorta, and he killed all those people during a class of mine (elsewhere), first semester I ever taught Intro Psych. i want my students to think about all the issues you guys raised, and sometimes it’s really tough for me to step back enough to help them do that.
Thanks!!!
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Both sides do it! The Swift Boat Veterans were just telling the truth about John Kerry!
I mean, it’s not like the Republicans have any kind of history of dirty tricks that would make us look more closely at their interviewees, right?
And yet you didn’t look at credibility. You read an account that the New York Times clearly labeled as coming from a Republican operative and swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.
My “already extant ideological conceit” is that it doesn’t matter what he did, it’s our responsibility to bring American POWs back to the US. You appear to disagree with this stance since you keep trying to argue that he totally deserted.
Keith G
@Villago Delenda Est: Well, your fascinating antic of name calling aside, I have never been one to shirk the consequences of thinking out loud. This seems like a knowable story and I will be happy to announce where my “wondering” strayed off the tracks as things develop.
Betty Cracker
For me, Bergdahl’s motives for leaving don’t really have a bearing on the question of whether or not he should have been brought home. Of course it was right to bring him home.
Now, I think some of y’all are being unduly harsh on Keith G. If you read the Rolling Stone story about Bergdahl that was published before his release, it’s clear he was completely disillusioned with what was happening in that worthless meat-grinder of a mission and in an existential crisis state of mind, and I for one don’t blame him at all for that.
He might have been kidnapped. He might have decided to walk away permanently. He might have foolishly decided to reach out to the Afghans as a solo effort and got nabbed by the Taliban. We just don’t know. But it’s not an insane stretch (nor a sign of being a wingnut dupe) to think it’s possible that he intended to desert. Again, we don’t know.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Keith G:
Apparently thinking out loud is the new bullshitting.
D58826
@Betty Cracker:
The operative words in this entire debate. And we may never know with 100% certainty. The military historians are still arguing over why Robert E lee made some of the decisions he did at Gettysburg.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Betty Cracker:
The problem is that Keith G insists on calling opinion evidence and never responds when factually challenged about his assumptions. If he’s going to call Bergdahl a deserter, rather than remaining agnostic, which is the sane, majority position on here, I think he needs to do a lot better when making his case. He keeps on weaseling about evidence and is now suggesting that Both Sides Do It is some sort of gold standard for evidence. How much dumber can it get?
Mnemosyne
@Betty Cracker:
Given the various stories, it looks as though at a minimum he went AWOL but, from what the military folks here have been posting, there is a major difference in the UCMJ between AWOL and desertion, and joining the enemy is an even more serious charge.
My problem is with people who are quoting “witnesses” who are clearly identified as working with Republican operatives and assuming that they must be telling the truth because they’re saying what the person reading the story thinks happened. Personally, I see no reason to give the Republicans the benefit of any doubt whatsoever, especially on a story like this one.
rikyrah
Illinois Passes Landmark Progressive Voting Reform
By Scott Keyeson June 2, 2014 at 10:52 am
The fifth largest state in the nation passed one of the most impactful progressive voting reforms last week, a move that will likely result in hundreds of thousands of new voters.
On Friday, both Illinois legislative chambers approved HB 105, a bill that allows state residents to register to vote on Election Day. The Land of Lincoln had previously cut off voter registration three days before Election Day.
The bill passed by wide margins; 39-17 in the Senate and 64-41 in the House. It now goes to Gov. Pat Quinn’s (D) desk, who is expected to sign the legislation.
Election Day registration is, in many ways, the anti-voter ID. Voter ID laws, which have been en vogue among conservatives recently, could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters (though different studies have reached different conclusions regarding how many voters will be disenfranchised by voter ID, even conservative estimates suggest that 2 to 3 percent of registered voters will be impacted). Election Day registration, on the other hand, tends to boost turnout between 7 to 14 percentage points, according to scientific studies. These gains come predominantly from the very groups that voter ID tends to discriminate against: minorities, young voters, and low-income Americans.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/06/02/3443622/illinois-election-day-registration/
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@D58826:
The same Robert E Lee who is apparently
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2014/06/treason-defense-slavery-ultimate-patriotism
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@rikyrah:
It’ll be interesting to see what novel arguments conservatives come up with to prove that they are the real victims on this one.
Villago Delenda Est
@Keith G: This is because you’ve descended to the level where it’s no longer profitable to attempt to argue or reason with you, so I just call you a weasel because that’s the way you’re acting.
Villago Delenda Est
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers): As far as I’m concerned, he was a traitor who should have twisted slowly, slowly in the wind.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Mnemosyne: I don’t even know that he went AWOL. If he slipped out during his downtime with the intention of being back at his post when he was next scheduled to be on duty but was captured, I don’t see AWOL. If there were orders saying that people should not leave the compound, then he violated those orders – the punishment for that would be rather minor. Besides that, I have yet to see anything that indicates any UCMJ violation took place. It may have, but, on the current evidence, I don’t see it.
D58826
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers): Yes, I saw that and got a sad laugh. What makes it even sadder is that with all the talk of patriotism and real Murkins, Lee is viewed as a hero, a man who took up arms against his country. In the end it doesn’t matter how conflicted about it he was because he did it. .
Roger Moore
@Betty Cracker:
But it’s quite a stretch to go from the very scanty and likely biased evidence we have to concluding he was at best a deserter and at worst a traitor. This seems to me like one of those cases where the only honest position is to admit that we don’t have sufficient information to reach a solid conclusion and wait for more investigation.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
The interesting thing to me is when he supposedly asks if it’s OK to take his rifle and night goggles with him outside the camp at night. Now, if I were planning to desert to the Taliban, would I really want to risk alerting my commander by asking that question and having him start to wonder what was going on in my head? It sounds to me as if he wanted to go off for some alone time with a weapon for protection. Also, if I were planning to walk to China or India, as some of Bergdahl’s comrades have suggested was his intent, wouldn’t I want some maps and food, rather than just a canteen of water? I mean, I’ve heard of photographic memories, but surely no-one sets out for a multi-day hike in hostile terrain without a map, much less a weapon or food.
Mnemosyne
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
People like Keith G keep demanding that I admit that Bergdahl is clearly a deserter, so I’m willing to throw them a bone of a possible AWOL. However, I tend to agree with you that there isn’t any real evidence yet, just a lot of innuendo and rumors from guys who were also in Afghanistan.
And, as I said yesterday, the former soldiers doing these interviews should probably think really hard about whether or not they want POW rescues to depend on a popularity contest. I think a lot of them would be unpleasantly surprised at their own personal level of popularity among their coworkers.
D58826
I’m really really really disappointed in the GOP. It has taken 3 days from the time Bergdahl was released before they blamed Hillary. from kos
Ben Cisco
@Keith G:
So long as the reporters are doing stenography for paid GOP operatives, yes. Do try to keep up.
Keith G
@Mnemosyne:
Golly.
That is a very interesting string of words you got going there.
Again, for emphasis:
Giggles – My appearing to disagree is a notion wholly made up in your mind. First, I have stated how happy I am that he is coming home in other threads, and second “totally deserted” is your construct not mine. As I often type to you: “Do not put your words on my keyboard.” Its is deceitful and a silly form of argumentation.
My take is that he knowingly left his post without permission. And additionally, it seems as if he had no intention of returning.
.
Yeah, that’s “totally deserted”, indeed. Again, is nuance lost on you?
Lastly, I agree with all those who have said our moral priority was to get our soldier away from his captors and back with us no matter the facts of his capture.
I like the back and forth here. Its fun to challenge ideas and get challenged in return. It is a bit irritating when a person makes shit up and tries to pawn it off something I typed earlier.
But, that’s why there is wine.
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
How weird, then, that multiple people in this thread are reading your words exactly the same way I am. I guess it must be that we’re all delusional and not that you’re a terrible writer.
Trollhattan
@rikyrah:
Right on. Good for them!
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
And you realize that this belief of yours is unsupported by actual facts, right? You are basing it on rumor and innuendo, some of which is coming from paid Republican operatives.
As long as you’re willing admit that this is your opinion unsupported by any actual facts, then we’re probably done here.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Mnemosyne:
Watching Keith G of all people defend his grasp of nuance and argumentation is making me laugh so hard that my wife has just asked if I am alright.
Keith G
@Mnemosyne:
You really can’t help making shit up. Is there a reason that you need to tell lies such as this? Clealy, you are able to realize that a pattern of lying such as this is not a good thing.
Lies are not good.
Edit:
@Mnemosyne:
Factually correct
D58826
@Mnemosyne: we must all be nipping from the jug of moon shine!!!!!!!!!
Mnemosyne
@Keith G:
Uh-huh:
You really should scroll back to see what you say in a thread before you get your panties in a twist. Oh, wait, let me guess — “pretty close to desertion” is so far away from “desertion” that it’s totes unfair to say that you think he deserted. Because “close to desertion” and “desertion” are, like, not even related, amirite?
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Keith G:
You might as well say she’s a mean old poopyhead too. Go on, Keef, you know you want to.
Mnemosyne
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers):
@D58826:
Remember, the problem isn’t that Keith G is making incoherent and contradictory arguments, the problem is that we’re not understanding the pure brilliance of his arguments.
Again, if multiple people are reading the same passage the same way, perhaps the problem is with the writer and not the readers.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah. He’s the kid in the marching band who insists that he’s the only one marching in time to the music.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I’m pretty the Bowe Bergdahl is the first 20-year old, ever, to display what may have been less than good judgment. Right.
How do people get from learning about a 20-year-old who possibly displayed poor judgment under very stressful circumstances to “he deserves to rot or die in captivity”? I think it’s very likely that this young soldier got to wake up at least 1,825 times, wondering if this will be the day that he’s beheaded or killed.
Bring the kid home, try to bring him back from the horror, and help him salvage whatever life he can.
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: Did you see Sarah Palin’s take on it? Jesus God. If anyone on earth should know young people quite frequently make dumb decisions, she should. But she’s among the “burn the witch” faction.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: If that law had been in place during the 2012 election, we would not have Rodney Davis (IL-13-slimy) as our representative.
Our dishonest county clerk refused to follow the same rules that the rest of the counties in IL followed, and he played games with people who were trying to register – until there weren’t enough days to be able to complete the ridiculous process he put in place, even though there was same-day voting in IL.
This impacted students the most – most likely to be Democrats in a college down – and a really good democrat was defeated by a narrow margins.
I apparently had the only mother who taught her kids that if you cheat, it doesn’t count as a win.
I was a poll watcher, and It’s been nearly 2 years, but I am still so angry I could spit.
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@WaterGirl:
@Betty Cracker:
At least one account has Bergdahl trying to escape from the Taliban and supposedly fighting like a tiger. But hey, once General Sarah Palin and her years of military service weigh in, all debate must end.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I haven’t read a thing she’s said or written in years, except what I see here at BJ. She’s an idiot, and I haven’t heard her take on this. The bad thing is that there are people who are influenced by what she says.
It all boils down to a place I get to nearly every day: What the fuck is wrong with these people?
WaterGirl
@Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers): I had heard that but I haven’t seen a link and don’t know any details.
As I used to say about some people I worked with or worked for:
God, I loathe these people. They seem to have no heart and no soul.
D58826
Well given that Todd Palin was a member of the secessionist AIP and Sarah had some nice things to say about it, she probably is an expert in treason. She is married to a traitor
Morzer (0th of His PseudoName and Founder of the Walter Sobchak Peacekeepers)
@D58826:
She attended their convention during the time when she was governating in Alaska.
PaulW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
O.O
Are you MAD?!?!
http://andrewhickeywriter.tumblr.com/image/76206992850
D58826
This is what I find so disturbing about the whole thing. The anger/hate is so out of proportion to what ever the scandal of the day is. They view their follow countrymen not as folks to have a political argument with but traitors scum that has to be destroyed. They are like the Daleks – exterminate. I have no love for Reagan or Bush but I never doubted their patriotism. Even the sage of Wasilla in her warped way loves this country. And it isn’t even just public figures. This guy Kincannon has a history of wishing American soldiers who disagree with him to have come home in body bags. Joe the plumber and his your kids don’t matter comment. Michelle Makin’s attack on that kid over being a supporter of SCHIP a few years back
Some of it isn’t new. There is a joke that for many kids in the 30’s it was a shock top learn FDR’s first name wasn’t G-Damn. Truman’s patriotism was well questioned by the Macarthyites. I guess the internet and social media just makes it more obvious.
It’s still shocking that they can dehumanize people so quickly. IT just seems to be a feature not a bug
WaterGirl
@D58826: The ability to dehumanize people is at the core of a lot of the awful things that are going on.
Rapists dehumanize the people they rape; that person who is disrespecting you by laying music too loud in their car isn’t human; that young man with skittles and a hoodie on the street is a thug; that 20-year old idealist maybe makes a bad decision.
None of them are human, they are all just symbols of your hate.