Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. https://t.co/4nxLipafWO
— Steve King (@SteveKingIA) March 12, 2017
Rep. Pigmuck really does want to keep his title as Worst Person in Congress. I was kinda hoping, even in today’s Republican party, he’d be forced to backtrack a little on this. Nope!
… “If you go down the road a few generations, or maybe centuries, with the inter-marriage, I’d like to see an America that is just so homogenous that we look a lot the same,” he said…
King said differences had nothing to do with their humanity, but their backgrounds: “It’s the culture, not the blood. If you could go anywhere in the world and adopt these little babies and put them into households that were already assimilated into America, those babies will grow up as American as any other baby.”…
You will be assimilated — what could be more all-American?
13,000 Iowans died in the Union Army pic.twitter.com/XKqLrpyM2k
— Zedd's Not Dead (@ZeddRebel) March 13, 2017
I've been out of the prediction game since the election, but I am going to jump back to predict no GOP leader will condemn Steve King
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) March 12, 2017
Well, not to say ‘condemn’… at least not in person…
… House Speaker Paul Ryan, also a Republican, “clearly disagrees” with King’s comments, a spokeswoman told reporters.
“The speaker clearly disagrees and believes America’s long history of inclusiveness is one of its great strengths,” Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said in a statement.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer declined to weigh in on the comments when asked about them during the press briefing Monday….
Steve King has been racist garbage for a long time. And every 4 years, every GOP presidential candidate comes to Iowa and kisses his ring
— Stephen Silver (@StephenSilver) March 13, 2017
Nearly 1/2 Americans <30 now non white; ~3/4 >45 are white. Gray need brown 2 thrive & pay taxes that support Social Security, Medicare https://t.co/cia4XULjQQ
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) March 13, 2017
Another reminder that Steve King was kissing Putin's ass long before Trump made it US policy https://t.co/hCE3hruln1
— Zedd's Not Dead (@ZeddRebel) March 12, 2017
Iowans: You want to tell the rest of us about Kim Weaver? Has she any chance at all?
I'm willing and ready to take on @SteveKingIA again if I have sufficient support. No donation is too small. https://t.co/i0cM36D6JQ
— Kim Weaver (@KimWeaverIA) March 12, 2017
Baud
Assumes Steve King’s civilization is worth restoring.
amk
If we are gonna be outraged by every intentional outrage from the rethugs, we are gonna be here forever.
Baud
@amk: I think we’re here forever.
Omnes Omnibus
Fuck you, Steve. You fucking racist fuck.
Omnes Omnibus
@amk: I pick my outrages.. I just happened to pick this one this time.
Adam L Silverman
Its actually worse for Speaker Ryan. This was his actual, in person, on the record response:
And here’s where Congressman King’s words have quickly been adopted:
BruceFromOhio
REPENT, REPENT, SNOWPOCALYPSE IS WELL NIGH.
In other news, Republicans are assholes.
Adam L Silverman
@BruceFromOhio: That’s Snowmeggedonpocalypsegotterdamerung! Thank you very much.
Adam L Silverman
AL: did you get the email I sent you over the weekend?
Goku
He’s the Worst Person in the Universe, Anne. He’s on that level. I wouldn’t shed a single tear if King died tomorrow.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: We only got a few inches here in WI. I haz an envious.
XTPD
Jeet Heer: “This man lives in Iowa and he wants a more homogeneous society. My God.”
Goku
@Adam L Silverman: I think somebody (ie. Spencer) needs to get punched in the face again
hovercraft
Saw her on TV this afternoon, she say she tripled her twitter followers since he opened his mouth, and she’s raised 50K , she said if she gets it up 100K she’s all in. I don’t know how much of a chance she has though, I think King is like Bachman and Goehmert, no matter how crazy and deranged they get, they’ll never lose. They were Twitler before Twitler.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: We’ve got steady rain. Which is nice as its washed all the oak pollen out of the air and down the drains. Since we’ve had no winter, we’re in a cycle of a few days are like Fall then a few days are like Spring, so the pollen counts have been through the roof. And we’ll have trouble a coming this summer. With no hard freeze, there is going to be a serious mosquito problem. And given that Zika is here and Yellow Fever is on the way, and there’s a global shortage of Yellow Fever vaccine, this should be fun, fun, fun!
amk
@Adam L Silverman: who is dis erica person? she can read, can’t she?
Thru the Looking Glass...
Someone remind me… which Reich is King fronting for?
The Fourth, or is he up to the Fifth?
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Not yet it isn’t. I just sat in the hot tub looking up at the stars. I guess tomorrow will be different, though.
Anne Laurie
@Adam L Silverman: Yes, yes I did — thank you!
Adam L Silverman
@amk: She’s AP’s Congressional correspondent.
Adam L Silverman
@Thru the Looking Glass…: All of them Katie.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: So you’re Schindler?
amk
@Adam L Silverman: ah, another msm twit. Got it.
Goku
@Thru the Looking Glass…: The 14th Reich silly!
hellslittlestangel
King has such lovely Aryan baby-blue eyes.
Villago Delenda Est
Ryan is such a worthless coward.
“Misspoke”. Right, Paulie, you feather bedecked putz.
Adam L Silverman
@Anne Laurie: You’re welcome. Since you are now famous, I figured you should know.
Aleta
from WSJ (this link seems readable w/o account)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/rex-tillerson-used-alias-email-at-exxon-to-discuss-climate-change-new-york-says-1489450814
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: On the Internet, nobody knows…
amk
@Adam L Silverman: Is this some insidery stuff that we should all know about?
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Only The Shadow!
Adam L Silverman
@amk: I’ll have to check with the Special Security Officer to see if you qualify for access. ?
PhoenixRising
Wow. Look for that quote on my teen’s FB profile: “as American as any other baby”, Steve King, R-IA
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
That glass of milk in Spencer’s tweet — is that the new symbol for White supremacy?
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Goku: Whoa… I must have been asleep longerer than I realized…
Another Scott
@hovercraft: Her ActBlue thermometer is over $72.3k at the moment.
I kicked in a little. Kicking Steve King out, or at least making him spend more money in Iowa rather than sending it to help other Teabaggers, is a worthy goal.
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: I don’t know.
amk
@Adam L Silverman: I thought cole was roaming around CT, pantless?
Villago Delenda Est
Estevan Rey is terrified of chimichangas, shawarma, falafel, sushi, and hummus.
Anne Laurie
@amk: Werner’s a reporter, she reports what people say for those of us who weren’t there.
For future reference, if you click on the name of the person who sent an embedded tweet, you should get their twitter page — including their self-written bio. (If it’s just a copy of a tweet, not an embed with full graphics, the date at the end of the block should be the link back to the writer’s twitter page.)
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Aleta:
And who said Tillerson wasn’t qualified for a job in the
PutinTrump Administration?amk
@Anne Laurie: page not found. are you using metaphors now?
Adam L Silverman
@amk: No that’s the Special Someone Officer. Same acronym – SSO – very different job!
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: Great, now I’m hungry. Thanks a lot!
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Adam L Silverman: Does this mean we’re gonna need a bigger boat?
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: Well, to be honest, i wouldn’t serve them together. I can’t even imagine the wine pairing. Tequila, maybe?
Chet Murthy
@Anne Laurie: https://twitter.com/ericawerner
minor typo in link
PhoenixRising
@debbie: Got lactose tolerance? Congrats, you’re really white. Because that’s European in origin.
I’m not making this up. (swigs from carton of lactose-free chocolate milk) Milk used to upset my digestion, and when our pediatrician explained that lactose is a sugar that must be broken down by an enzyme most adult humans can’t metabolize, that explained a lot of problems I’d had from drinking my milk over the years. Lactaid is a conspiracy of the inferior races to let those of us who aren’t truly European by blood enjoy ice cream.
You’re welcome.
Ohio Mom
@Adam L Silverman: Anne Laurie is famous now? And we knew her when…
How many degrees of separation is a blog reader from a poster?
Adam L Silverman
@Thru the Looking Glass…: Always.
Adam L Silverman
@Ohio Mom: In your case about 7 states worth.
Aleta
-NYT https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/world/europe/turkey-news-media-relations.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Feurope&referer=https://www.nytimes.com/section/world?WT.nav=bottom-well&action=click&hpw&module=well-region&pgtype=Homepage®ion=bottom-well&rref
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: You can do it in two if you take I-90.
Anne Laurie
@debbie:
Possibly, yes — in a super-ironic all 4 lulz way, of course.
(Because they’re not the racist bullies, we’re the real bullies for over-interpreting their very double-reverse-ironic sarcasm around performance art and repurposed emojis. Or something like that. Remember the three-parentheses fooferaw?)
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Adam L Silverman: Ah yes…
One of the great quotes from one of the great scenes in movie history…
Great whites actually do that… come to the surface, stick their heads out, and look around…
Somehow, very appropriate for this moment…
Villago Delenda Est
@Adam L Silverman: The expression on Roy Scheider’s face should have got him an Oscar nomination, although it would be a tough decision between him and Robert Shaw, just for Jaws alone.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Yep, I should have written “depending on the route”.
liberal
@PhoenixRising: Not All Whites.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: With a fast car, radar detector, and clear roads.
Another Scott
McClatchyDC – TrumpRyanCare could die on Thursday:
Cheers,
Scott.
stinger
I don’t live in King’s district, don’t even drive through it if I can help it, but I’ve signed up for an ongoing contribution to Kim Weaver’s campaign. FSM smile upon her chances! What with King, Grassley, Ernst, and Branstad, it’s humiliatin’ to live here these days. At least I live in a blue county. I’ve GOT to believe a change is gonna come.
NotMax
@Omnes OmnibusMoving a bit off wines,
Ouzo? Hmm.
Slivovitz? Mm, could be.
Cachaça – that’s the ticket.
Anne Laurie
@amk: No, but FYWP is once again inserting extraneous headers in links. Try it again, now it should take you to Werner’s twitter page.
debbie
@Anne Laurie:
And that stupid frog too.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: I do that trip the slow way, with the obligatory stops at the F.X. Matt Brewery in Utica and at Frank & Teresa’s Anchor Bar in Buffalo.
It’s about the journey.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Arik/Raki.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: And the beer and the wings…
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Another Scott:
And if it does die, hopefully the moment will be somewhat akin to the infamous exploding whale of Florence County, Oregon…
(If you’ve never seen this, watch it all the way thru…)
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Whadda’ you know? You’re in The People’s Republick of Florida, Valdemort, prop.
Eric S.
@Omnes Omnibus: clear roads are the obstacle one can’t control and is most likely present.
amk
@Anne Laurie: I am going with metaphors and not touching that. At all. I have got enough stupid on my own.
Mike J
@PhoenixRising:
All mammals can digest milk. In Europe, people drank cow’s milk because it’s high in calories and delicious and would help get them through the winter. They continued to drink milk past infancy, and kept their ability to digest milk.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: If you’re going to get all technical, then, yeah, maybe some beer and wings.
Never yet managed to make time for a stop at the Salt Museum, though.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: Maybe I am, maybe I’m not.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I wasn’t advising it. But if you want the two hours you mentioned, you need what listed.
Anne Laurie
@debbie:
Well, you know — us chicks just don’t have the right equipment to appreciate what’s funny.
Or so angry male virgins of all ages have been telling me, going back as far as I can remember.
joel hanes
@Another Scott:
I’m a former Iowan.
I always contribute to anyone running against King.
He really is a disgrace, surfing on the very worst traits of the very worst voters of the most rural part of the state.
Please don’t judge all people in Odebolt and environs by his remarks — just the 60% or so of the actual voters who vote for him.
A google images search on “odebolt iowa” will give you a pretty good idea why those voters don’t seem to be in step with the 21st century — or even the last third of the 20th century.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Cojoined twin Klingons.
;)
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: My son was traveling in Bosnia? Croatia? a few years back and set up camp for the night on some dude’s farm (with permission.) Dude came out to greet them in the morning with a couple of big glasses of raki.
smintheus
Well, this is awkward.
debbie
@Anne Laurie:
Exactly!
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman:
Are you using rugby positions as insults? ‘Cause Adam would be a prop if he played.
XTPD
@Mike J: Why does Iran have especial alcohol tolerance?
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: It was “two states”, not “two hours.”
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: I have a bottle of Arik someone gave me as a gift when I graduated from college in 1992. I’ve been schlepping it around the country. I do like the stuff, but have yet had a reason to open it up.
Omnes Omnibus
@Eric S.: True enough.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Trivia: At one time (may still be true?) Utica held the distinction of having the most bowling alley lanes per capita in the nation.
XTPD
@Gin & Tonic: Raki: The elephant tranquilizer of alcoholic beverages.
schrodingers_cat
We had this debate in the morning thread. Happy Holi and good night!
amk
Giddy orange boehner: Man, I am not the worst speaker any more.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: I have not bowled in Utica.
PhoenixRising
@Mike J: Did I forget the tag that denotes ‘This idiotic, unscientific racist nonsense isn’t my belief merely because I know what it is’?
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Oh, never mind. /Emily Litella.
But what a fast drive. An aspirational goal.
Chet Murthy
@PhoenixRising: Weeeeelll, not so fast there, pardner
Another Scott
@joel hanes: I don’t believe in beating up on most voters these days – not with so much disinformation out there. But I do believe in (metaphorically) beating up on elected people who advocate and push evil policies.
Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression! :-)
Best of luck to Weaver and to you and all the other good people of Iowa!
Cheers,
Scott.
efgoldman
@Another Scott:
Tom Cotton and Mike Lee, certainly in the running for the wingiest of the RWNJs in the senate, both said publicly that the bill ain’t gonna’ pass.
If I were one of the half dozen Republiklowns that visit reality for a couple of hours on alternate Thursdays, I’d expect it to die.
NotMax
@XTPD
Everclear calling on line 1.
Thadeu
@Adam L Silverman:
You guys are too naive. The second class cattle will be stripped of their wealth. The first-class ubermensch will get the plunder. This is why nothing, no atrocity, no lie, will matter. This is the end goal. Paul Ryan will go with it, if it gets him to be president.
42% of this country are on board with the plan. They know. They expect it. What is a loss of health insurance for 1or 2 years , when the jobs and money that is due to them will be confiscated from the brown cattle and given to them?
It runs all the way from top to bottom – Too many asian CEO’s (Bannon’s anguish, but come-on aren’t there people in the wings who would like Bannon to fix that) – H1B engineers, brown tradespeople..
Too many folks stand to benefit from eliminating the competition, and they will not have their greed go unsated.
What will bring them to their knees is an eventual trade war, when the rest of the world closes off their markets to US companies. We will get there. The world would be a miserable place, and even then these ubermensch wont care. They will be rulers in hell, than serve in heaven
The rest of the country wont know what hit them. They still are playing by the old rules – it’s like taking a knife to a gunfight.
And as usual, Jews (me) will be on the receiving end across the world. Ah, the joy of being the chosen ones.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: I wanted to be the hooker…
danielx
And to that end, he will chairing a conference in Des Moines, guest list to be announced later but definitely including David Duke.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: My back-of-the-envelope calculation is that you’d need to be motoring at an average speed a bit north of 200 MPH.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
It’s been downhill since they stopped brewing Maximus Super.
schrodingers_cat
Last year’s Holi blog post. Something more cheerful than Rep. King and his divisive rhetoric.
Mike in DC
This is the “culture” I’d rather preserve:
Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,
And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;
Now, tho the grass grows green above his grave,
His soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
He captured Harper’s Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,
And frightened “Old Virginny” till she trembled thru and thru;
They hung him for a traitor, they themselves the traitor crew,
But his soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see,
Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,
And soon thruout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,
For his soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
The conflict that he heralded he looks from heaven to view,
On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.
And heaven shall ring with anthems o’er the deed they mean to do,
For his soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,
For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,
And his soul is marching on.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: I had forgotten all about that brew.
danielx
@NotMax:
Try Calvados, and not the cheap stuff.
What am I saying? There is no such thing as cheap Calvados.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: You would never get the chance. You are a prop. OTOH, that position is central to rugby. I played wing and flanker. Flanker is one of the positions that is eliminated in Sevens. Wings are figures of fun with lovely hair.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I said one needed a fast car…
schrodingers_cat
Is it just me or is comment #98 really offensive?
Yes it is offensive, calling people cattle is nasty.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike in DC: I’m always partial to Ms. Howe’s variant:
Villago Delenda Est
@Thru the Looking Glass…: Actually, it was near the town of Florence, which is in Lane County. Lane and Douglas Counties both stretch from the Pacific to the Cascade crest.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Fine, be that way.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Chiron?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
a well. fucking. oiled. fucking. MACHINE!
Anne Laurie
@schrodingers_cat: Thadeau at #98 forgot his sarcasm tags:
Adam L Silverman
@schrodingers_cat: I think its an argument that the rest of us are missing the real objective of what Ryan is doing, which the commenter has graphically described. While that is incorrect, that we’re missing Ryan’s objectives, I don’t think the commenter was intending to do anything but graphically depict what he or she thinks Ryan’s ultimate objectives are.
PhoenixRising
@Chet Murthy: Jesus, you assholes. I never said the milk thing was real, or based in fact, I said it was one of the set of idiotic faith statements of white nationalists.
It was explanatory on my part, not an endorsement. She asked. I told. /eom
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: The self-identification as a Jew signals sarcasm rather than seriousness. To me, at least.
I think that you lost some ability to recognize snark, sarcasm, and satire since the election. I understand how that could happen, but please consider it before accusing people of being bad. Honestly, SC, I am a bit worried about you. Take care of yourself.
Villago Delenda Est
@Adam L Silverman: Omnes is familiar with this version (just a taste, follow link to more):
He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright,
He checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;
He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
“You ain’t gonna jump no more!”
(CHORUS)
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
He ain’t gonna jump no more!
schrodingers_cat
@Anne Laurie
Neither ironic nor sarcastic given three hate crimes of the last two weeks. Saying that you are Jewish doesn’t give you a pass. Sorry.
amk
@schrodingers_cat: He/She is telling it like it is. It is offensive because it happens to be true.
debit
@Anne Laurie: It’s a well known fact that the uterus is a locating device. Otherwise, why would men constantly ask, “Honey? Where’s my toothbrush/socket wrench/car keys/last beer/clean underwear/the remote/our children/John’s mustard/that thing we bought that one time at the place, you know, by your parent’s house? Because I need it.”
An organ so devoted to inventory and location tracking does not have time for humor.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: It would work.
Adam L Silverman
@Villago Delenda Est: I’ve heard/seen that one before.
Davebo
This is bullshit mostly. Steve King is in Congress because the good people of Iowa’s 4th district keep electing him to congress. I doubt they are swayed by candidates in the GOP primary.
Honestly, I think they are just impressed that their congressman makes the news regularly and don’t really care why.
Villago Delenda Est
@Davebo:
You’re probably absolutely right.
cynthia ackerman
As I mentioned in a thread below, Rep. Pigmuck is wrapping himself in the 14th Amendment, claiming the framers championed “birthright” citizenship for white Christian babies only.
Problem is, the 14th (1868) was about citizenship and civil rights for freed slaves.
What’s more, immigration at the time was pretty much a free-for-all, so any notion of “birthright” was explicitly inclusive, not about cleansing the browns, the Irish, the Italians, and so on.
Pigmuck ain’t real bright.
NotMax
One gallon of cabbage soup begun cooking on the stovetop. Y’all ought to be able to smell it where you are in just a little while.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: Really, I don’t know the commenter, but I am going to stay clear of a commenter who publicly identifies as a Jew and speaks of things like cattle cars. If you want that fight, have fun.
Felonius Monk
@Gin & Tonic:
But, have you ever had Utica Tomato Pie?
Adam L Silverman
@cynthia ackerman: He’s not smart enough to go back to the stuff from one of the original Amendments that sort of explained what native born American meant.
ETA: Which is what he probably thought he was doing. I’ve seen numerous white supremacists do just this. Refer back to how native born American was originally defined, or they think it was originally defined, and use it to state that this is why the US is for white people of European descent only.
Villago Delenda Est
@cynthia ackerman: He’s a classic moran, but has no idea he is.
Yarrow
I wish the Dems would relegate Iowa to has-been status and go somewhere else for the first caucus. New Mexico would be a nice change of pace. I’m tired of lily white Iowa and their farm issues dominating our politics for months on end.
efgoldman
@debit:
You sure it’s the uterus and not the ovaries?
And we’ve had a role reversal at our house for almost 40 years.
cynthia ackerman
@Adam L Silverman:
The sad thing is that neither are the Fox watchers who “get” that what he’s saying is unquestionably true.
My hope for the ACLU grassroots push is that some fraction of their recruits begin to make a difference with the media and social media, so that some other fraction of the vast misled can begin to get a clue.
Pure fantasy, I know, but it gives me hope.
efgoldman
@Davebo:
Makes no fucking difference. They’re the ignorant, bigoted, racist assholes that vote for him. It’s their fault, every fucking shithead of them, not his. We don’t excuse the WWC ignorant fucking assholes who voted for Peach Pestilence. Why should we cut anybody in his district any slack.
What Villago usually says.
hovercraft
@Adam L Silverman: @Villago Delenda Est:
In other words a “Real Murican”.
Omnes Omnibus
@Adam L Silverman: Amend mints?
Sorry, I tried to make a joke and I couldn’t. Despite the fact that I was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@hovercraft:
What sort of horrible, ignorant people are in his district? I mean, he is manifestly dreadful.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Leaves your mouth feeling Constitutionally fresh!
BlueDWarrior
This topic actually lets me jump off just a tad on something that has been bothering me for the last 48 hours. If you are part of internet nerd culture, especially video game culture, you might be familiar with one Jon Jafari (pen-name ‘JonTron’). He made himself Youtube-famous by being one of the co-hosts of Game Grumps (basically a Let’s Play channel that’s as much two best friends dicking around as it is playing video games in front of a camera/video capture card). A couple of years after it started, he and Arin Hanson (pen-name ‘EgoRaptor’) abruptly ‘broke up’ that initial paring, for to this day undisclosed circumstances (most assume it was creative difference brought about by additional hires, and Jon having his own channel he could then devote his time and efforts to instead of splitting between it and GG). Also at the time, he was known for, to put it charitably, off-color humor that would seemingly come out of nowhere, which caused no small amount of consternation for Arin and the other hosts/editors on the site.
So Jon goes off on his own, and carries forward a lot of subscribers and viewers (his proper review/commentary videos routinely hit 7-digit views and he has 3+M subscribers as of now), and makes a good bit of a name for himself.
Then enter the GamerGate controversy, and his seemingly pained neutrality toward it; he appeared to want to go to excessive lengths to maintain a both-sides stance, not unlike tote-baggers with politics in general. Additionally, there was also the case of his seeming unwillingness to treat criticism about use of language as being valid; having a major blow up on Twitter when someone asked him to stop using ‘retard’ as an insult. Some people start to see bad signs but can mostly ignore it due to the content he produces.
Jump forward another couple of years to the recent election of Herr Trump, and we start get to where I’m at today. When the Women’s Marches first started, he seemed to be constantly spouting off at how trite and useless it all seemed. Which was confusing for the liberal and left-leaning side of his viewer base, but they just thought of it as a young man either A) showing himself to be center-right and just not getting what we saw and felt or B) taking the time to make some badly timed but ultimately ‘harmless’ jokes. Then he starts re-tweeting things from places like InfoWars and Daily Stormer, and the usual alt-right suspects start glomming onto him, especially those in or tangentially related to the Youtube Gaming community. It starts becoming evident that he is either A) almost colossally misinformed about the world and just fell into the wrong crowd or B) has been relatively good at hiding some rather stark right-wing ethno-nationalist politics. Jon tries to soften this with a recent (Jan 2017) Q&A session where he tries to tamp down all of this controversy and portray himself as being center-right at worst, and trying to show that his particular views, whatever they are, will not affect his ability to produce humorous content.
Then we jump to this past weekend and this tweet from Herr King. He basically posts in agreement to it, citing the usual tripe about keeping Western Europe and America culturally pure (aka dominated by and subservient to the white power structure), which triggered a worse backlash he suffered when he started deriding the Women’s marches in November/December, and actively reposting stuff from InfoWars and the like. He then makes the colossal, and potentially fatal, error of engaging in debate with a Twitch (a site for streaming and talking about video games) vlogger and pro-Starcraft II player Destiny. Jon basically showed his ass as nothing more than a regurgitation machine for right-wing white-nationalist talking points, showing himself utterly incapable of making a cogent argument in defense of his beliefs (Destiny himself is left to center-left, and while not the best of debaters himself, rhetorically ran circles around him).
At this point, I had gone in 8 months from finding a dude who was kinda awkward but really funny, to wondering who the hell he was (after the Trump election), to finding him utterly morally repugnant and just plain stupid outside of the band of media creation (I can’t say analysis because some of his analysis was banal but still humorous in its delivery).
Ladies and Gentlemen, I say all of that to justify this simple point: When people show you their asses, treat it for what it is, them you showing you their asses.
hovercraft
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
The type of people he’d like the rest of America to be made up of.
From wiki:
Iowa’s 4th congressional district – since January 3, 2013.
Current Representative Steve King (R–Kiron)
Distribution
50.58% urban
49.42% rural
Population (2000) 585,305
Median income 38,242
Ethnicity
95.8% White
0.8% Black
1.1% Asian
2.5% Hispanic
0.2% Native American
Cook PVI R+4
Don’t let that urban fool you.
The 2001 remap made the 4th district a north-central Iowa district. It could not be said to be the successor of any of the previous districts. It was a primarily rural district, though it included Ames and Mason City. It did not include any of the state’s nine largest cities, and only four of the twenty largest Iowa cities.
Twitler won it 61 to 34
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
At the risk of sounding Trumpian, some of the people in King’s district, I assume, are nice.
Omnes Omnibus
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Meh.
chopper
@schrodingers_cat:
seems pretty clear he was using the term sardonically.
Darkrose
@Adam L Silverman:
But the Civil War wasn’t about slavery!
efgoldman
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Not any of the fucking fools who voted for him. Not one.
Villago Delenda Est
@Darkrose: Well, except for all those statements from the states seceding about how it WAS about slavery, it’s been about “States’ Rights” ever since!
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: I must agree with you, my esteemed colleague.
Chet Murthy
@danielx: I noticed this like a flashing siren. I figure, it’s his way of pre-positioning a fake “decency moment” (“I didn’t mean the people, but just their culture, and only the bad parts, really, really”) in case he needs one.
Chet Murthy
@danielx: Bas Armagnac FTW.
Chet Murthy
@PhoenixRising: Hey hey, I wasn’t pickin’ on you. Just noting that lactase persistence wasn’t just a Northern European thing. No yellin’, mang, just joggling the elbow. Peace!
Thadeu
@schrodingers_cat:
My sincere apologies to you. Keep in mind that this is _their plan_ . This is exactly how they see you.
I feel that people are still expecting them to play nice; Trying to point out logical fallacies and untruths in their statements.
They don’t do nice. Their plans are evil, and the more power they get, the more brazen they will become. It is time good people stooped being nice.
??? Martin
@BlueDWarrior: Never cared for Jon. Something never quite struck right about his sense of humor. Arin and Danny are hilarious, though.
schrodingers_cat
@Thadeu: Apology accepted. I overreacted last night. Perhaps, because I was tired last night when I read your comment. I am aware of their intentions and their eliminationist agenda.
Debbie1
Anyone who refers to a non-white person as belonging to a “subgroup” does NOT need to put on a white hood for me to get their message. And to think Iowa keeps voting for this pile of something. To this day, I don’t know HOW Pres. Obama was able to carry that state.
Ithink
@Baud:
Dear God, no. And yes, I’m Afeicsn-American so excuse the blatant Anti-Steve King bias but what a reprehensible David Duke jack off this low-life third rate congressman manifestly is!
Ithink
@Thadeu:
Ain’t that how all true blue conspiracy theories truly project themselves at the roots and sprouted foliage up? As anti-semitism dressed in the most outlandish yet palatable words-of-mouth fiction? God help us as we attempt to stop America & the world @ large from becoming a fired charcoal briquette.
Ithink
@Ithink:
Sorry, meant African-American there!