Not to pick on Mistermix, especially because everyone makes the same mistake, but this is the Stars & Bars, better known as the national flag of the Confederacy:
To be specific, this one is the fourth national flag of the Confederacy, which was flown from 10 DEC 1861 through to the end of the Confederacy. Earlier versions, revised each time more states seceded and joined the Confederacy, had 7, 9, and 11 stars in the blue canton.
There were two other national flags of the Confederacy. The second was known as the stainless banner and had the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia as the canton on a white field. The third, the blood stained banner, was simply the second national flag with a vertical red stripe running opposite the canton. The red vertical stripe was added because there were concerns that if the stainless banner was flown in the field, and the canton was not visible, then it would be mistaken for a flag of surrender. Irony abounds. These two flags are below.
(That isn’t actually a bunch of white space above, it really is how the white field of the flag appears on the page)
While there were a number of other unofficial Confederate national flags, what most people call the stars and bars is not. Yes it has stars on it and yes it has bars on it, or, more accurately, a blue saltire cross. In Project Lincoln’s video, the Confederate flag that opens, closes, and is the most predominant throughout is actually the second Confederate Naval jack, which is below.
You’ll notice the lighter blue of the saltire compared to the cantons of both the stainless and blood stained banners above, which are the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. Most manufacturers of these flags don’t pay too much attention to the actual color of the blue so it ranges from an even lighter blue than on the naval jack, to the blue above, to the dark blue of the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, which is below.
And while the square battle standard of the traitors serving with and under Lee does make a brief appearance in the ad, the average, and in many cases the above average, neo-Confederates and white supremacists who like to fly their preferred flag or hang it on the wall or adorn their trucks with stickers of it are too stupid to realize that they’re really demonstrating their enthusiasm for the Confederate navy. Which is kind of nice because they don’t get a lot of love. Regardless, most American racists are too stupid to know they are flying the wrong flag. Just let that sink in for a minute.
The real flag of the Confederacy is the Confederate flag of truce, which was actually a white dish towel with three pencil line thin vertical red stripes along it’s right edge. It was all the Confederates had with them that they could use as a white flag when Lee surrendered to LTG Grant.
We’ll leave the last word with W. T. Sherman!
Open thread!
Medium Cool with BGinCHI – Pitch Us Your Story
Patricia Kayden
Adam L Silverman
For those who have, apparently and inexplicably, been asking about me in the comments: I am fine(ish). I have one of my every six month sinus infections, which was formally diagnosed last Thursday. Which is also when I started the antibiotics. Before anyone asks: IT IS NOT COVID-19. I was tested a few days before and the results came back negative shortly after my primary care physician saw me in office and confirmed that it’s my twice yearly sinus infection. I’ll try to have a more substantive post tonight or tomorrow on at least some of the stuff that is going on.
dmsilev
@Patricia Kayden: We’d also accept ‘Mike and I just took big drinks of the special Flavor-Aid’.
Anne Laurie
Feel better, Adam!
I — like everyone else — look forward to hearing more from you, once you’re up to it.
Charluckles
I had a bit of a crush on Alyssa Milano when I was younger. Watching her infuriate the shit out of Trumpers on Twitter has rekindled it.
Jake Gibson
The confederate flag should always be burned. Except the white tea towel.
gene108
@Adam L Silverman:
Holy, hell!!!
I had a coronavirus test about six weeks back, because I was being admitted to the hospital for a biopsy. It screwed up my sinuses for the rest of the day.
I cannot imaging what having the Q-tip shoved up your nose will do to you, when you already have sinus problems.
debbie
Glad you’re feeling better, Adam, but I still want to call that flag a gang sign.
gene108
@Charluckles:
She was my first TV crush. And I think mine was more than just “a bit of a crush”. I watched “Who’s the Boss”, because of her.
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: Yeah, I’m having a sinus week myself, despite my cabinet of medication. Gonna have to step up to 24/7 east german respirator soon.
My wife had a question maybe you’d be kind enough to address – what is the difference between a riot and a rebellion – and when would a non-politically minded person like herself recognize the latter forming?
(I view riots as (unfortunately) something of a normal part of American democracy – not something to be overly worried about, but there are aspects of this one that has me a bit concerned)
Jeffro
I’m good with a Sherman-Esque approach with these cretins.
Nicole
I love this pedantic post. And I’m sorry about your sinus infection. No fun.
Sloane Ranger
Police pushed back peaceful and protesters o/s White House and have fired multiple rounds of tear gas. Trump wants to prove you can end protests by getting tough and dominating. Rubber bullets and Mounted Police now in play.
This is America 2020.
debbie
Fat Boy’s talking from the Rose Garden.
Kristine
Looking forward to discussion of recent comments by Sec’y Esper and Sen. Cotton.
I confess Cotton scares me. He gives off the same authoritarian-weird vibe that Miller does.
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: But is it COVID-19?
Glad to hear from you, man. Hope you feel better soon.
zhena gogolia
Good to see you! I’m late for dinner downstairs. Be back soon.
Benw
Everyone knows the Confederate flag was the one on Bo and Luke’s General Lee! Duh
:)
Feel better Adam!
MisterForkbeard
@Sloane Ranger: Hopefully there’s video of this happening to a peaceful protest. At Trump’s behest.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kristine: I think Cotton’s That Boy Ain’t Right vibe is too strong for a national campaign, but trump is president so….
I think Hawley is a menac
ETA: Sounds like trump is pouring gasoline
debbie
“Thousands and thousands of very heavily armed soldiers.” Is there room for them on the streets?
Baud
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@MisterForkbeard: Oh, yes.
Sloane Ranger
Mister Forkbeard – Happened live on CNN and Bunker Baby confessing on CNN now.
MomSense
@Adam L Silverman:
Happy to see you here. I confess I didn’t know the names or order of the traitor flags.
Adam L Silverman
@gene108: They started doing community testing down here, so I went and got it. I’d likely been nursing the sinus infection, or the beginning of it, for about ten days. I had a telehealth consult with my doctor the week before the test and we decided that since it’s been a bad allergy season, that he’d hold off on prescribing the antibiotics. Last week the the sinus pressure got so bad, he had me come in for an appointment.
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: East German respirator is the name of my Europunk cover band!
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
That was me, although it’s possible I wasn’t the only one who missed you. A full week away from posting seems like a long time, for you.
Sorry about the sinus flare-up, but glad it’s not COVID-19. Be well, post when you can.
Yutsano
@Adam L Silverman: Let me know if you need an emergency infusion of Jewish penicillin. I’m sure my mom could spare a hen for your cause.
hedgehog the occasional commenter
@MisterForkbeard: MSNBC covering it. Muted so I don’t have to listen to #BunkerBoy.
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: 80s europunk? I’d be into that.
low-tech cyclist
I think the battle over the meaning of “stars and bars” is not the hill anyone should want to die on.
Language evolves, hence the meaning of a term such as “stars and bars” evolves too. If enough people think it refers to the battle flag of the 1861-1865 rebellion, then that’s what it refers to.
And that’s where we’ve been for most of my life. The only term anyone ever hears to refer to a flag of the rebellion is “stars and bars,” and practically the only flag of the rebellion anyone ever sees is the battle flag. So it’s only natural that people who don’t spend their lives thinking about the War of the Rebellion would associate that phrase with that flag.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
I prefer to call it the Dixie Diaper : )
hilts
Trump needs a pacifier and an enema and then he needs to STFU. He’s just pure, unadulterated scum, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Adam L Silverman
Just an FYI: the President is not deploying heavily armed uniformed personnel anywhere. National Guard Soldiers and Airmen are deployed or being deployed, some will be armed, most will not be as they’re only there to provide support to local and state law enforcement. Until or unless he actually invokes the Insurrection Act, which he has not done (unless he’s done it, but hasn’t announced it), he’s not deploying anything other than Federal law enforcement. Which we don’t actually have all that much of.
Also, just an FYI: the outside and pathway lights at the White House last night were not turned off so that people would think the President and his family weren’t in residence. They were turned off so that they would not produce light that would interfere with the night vision gear – goggles and sights – used by the Secret Service sniper teams.
We now return you back to your regularly scheduled comments thread.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
In a sense, I think you could say that all flags are gang signs.
Ohio Mom
It’s amusing that the Confederates used a dish towel to surrender but I suppose no army wants to carry around a white flag just in case.
Adam, I will say to you what I say to everyone who complains about a physical ailment: have you ever gone for a second opinion?
Also, specific to you, what about that surgery where they make the sinus drainage tubes wider? An old friend had that done in the 80’s and was happy with the results.
skerry
Can Trump lawfully deploy US military forces for the purpose of domestic “law and order”?
Doesn’t that violate the posse comitatus act?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Adam L Silverman:
Hope you feel better!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Love the Big Bang reference in the title. Now I’ll read the post and thread.
MattF
@Baud: It was McConnell, of all people, who sounded the most unhappy about the murder of George Floyd. The rest of the R senators quoted were doing their ‘despicable me’ impressions.
Sloane Ranger
@Adam L Silverman: According to CNN he has invoked the Insurrection Act.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Adam L Silverman:
Isn’t that the right-wing MAGA explanation? I’ve heard that the lights apparently always shut off around 11 pm at the WH anyway
Roger Moore
To get very pedantic, I doubt they had the same consistency of color we are used to today. It’s not like they could specify an exact Pantone color and expect all their flags to match. The modern synthetic dye industry was just getting started, and the Confederacy didn’t have access to the best dyes anyway because their ports were being blockaded.
And a bit more to the point, the “Confederate Flag” people are flying today isn’t really a Confederate artifact anyway. It’s something that was created back in the 1960s as a symbol of resistance to integration. It was based on Confederate models because of the symbolism, but it is really a neo-Confederate symbol, not a true Confederate one. It isn’t, and shouldn’t be expected to be, an exact reproduction of any specific Confederate flag anymore than the “Betsy Ross” or “Gadsden” flags people are flying are accurate reproductions of those historical flags.
raven
@Ohio Mom: That flag was flown at the hometown of my bride!
Mike in DC
If only cellphone cameras had been available in 1967 and 1968. We’re about to have a very bad moment as a country.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Sloane Ranger:
The wiki article for the Insurrection Act right now:
azelie
Speaking of the SEC, here’s a fun fact: Sherman was the first president of the Louisiana State Seminary and Military Academy, now Louisiana State University.
J R in WV
Great presentation on Treasonous Flags through history. I knew most of the flag stuff, but not the “Truce” flag being a tea towel with 3 red stripes… that’s so swell… down to a tea towel at the end of the war. ETA: Sheldon worthy “Fun with Flags”…
Sorry to hear you have your semi-annual sinus infection. My sinuses are so open that I have only had one or two problems my whole life.
I went to Home Depot today, primarily to get a lolly-pole / jack pole to lift the corner of the porch roof lowered by 4 inches by the tree that fell on the front porch. It was more like 8 or 10 inches lower until a week or two after they got the tree off the roof. There’s no crunching if you stand on the corner of the porch roof and bounce, so I don’t think any rafters were actually broken by the tree. I intend to raise the corner half a turn every couple of days and see what happens.
I wore my industrial 3M respirator into the building warehouse, I would guess that 55-60% of shoppers were wearing a mask, not so many employees, though. I feel kind of conspicuous with two giant lavender filter packs on my big mask… but so far no one has offered a smart remark of any sort, not even a silent sneer. I am a bulky looking guy, and I am prepared to respond with “My wife has immune system issues and I’m trying to save her life — you got a problem with that?” perhaps with added expletives tacked on the end.
I think Revolutions have leaders, a strategy and tactics, a plan. While riots are enraged people throwing rocks, breaking things, and setting shit on fire. I don’t see any problem telling which is which. The right wing fascists would like to have a revolution, but are totally incapable of the planning, developing a successful strategy, etc. The current rioters are just pissed and breaking stuff, perhaps some of them have a political intent. My $0.02.
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: Riots are a group activity where public order (some would use law and order) have broken down, but do not, ultimately threaten the stability of the government. Rebellion is when one or more specific, organized groups with delineated political objectives (which can originate in political ideology or theology/doctrine or ethno-national beliefs or a combination of those things) violently attempt to overthrow governmental authority – often to correct perceived aberrations and restore the government to appropriate function. In reality, these are often smaller versions of revolutions, sometimes called revolts, but they’re often used interchangeably. Civil wars are when two or more contenders for political authority violently fight over who will control the state and society. The US Civil War was actually a rebellion, it was originally called either the Great Rebellion or the Southern Rebellion. The War of the Roses was a real civil war. Insurgencies usually grow out of failed revolts, rebellions, revolutions, and civil wars. Here the government is strong enough to eventually hold, but not strong enough to completely put down the violent challenge to authority. As a result smaller groups continue to control areas and strike against the government from the terrain they hold. Terrorism is the lowest level of low intensity warfare and is both a tactic, like guerrilla warfare, and a form of low intensity war like revolutions, rebellions, revolts, and insurgencies.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk!
Here’s a picture of me giving me my world renowned Ted Talk lecture on guerrilla warfare and low intensity war.
Adam L Silverman
@Nicole: The beatings will continue until my morale improves!
No One of Consequence
Adam,
I want to extend a note of personal thanks. Both for the quality of your postings here over the years, and for this post in particular. I have been furious for days now. I’m slightly less white than our BlogFather, and in many ways similar, though I never served.
Despite that, I have some knowledge of the military and some history. Several points here that I did not know, and will now toss about this fact in casual racism refutation, to place finer points upon my well-established, and logically-unchallenged arguments against flying the flag of The Treasonous.
This post, right now, knocked me pleasantly back into relative balance and I feel more comfortable interacting with my fellow humans.
My sincerest thanks,
– NOoC
Adam L Silverman
@Sloane Ranger: It isn’t going to work. And certainly not the way the President thinks it will work out.
hilts
@Adam L Silverman:
Thanks for clarifying Trump’s latest serving of bullshit.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Adam L Silverman:
TBF, it worked pretty well for the Chinese in 1989. Maybe Trump thinks he can emulate that?
Roger Moore
@Ohio Mom:
They should. A white flag is really a flag of truce, not a flag of surrender, though obviously one reason for requesting a truce is preliminary to a surrender. But any army should expect to need to ask for a truce once in a while, so having the means on hand to ask for one is just good planning.
Adam L Silverman
@Kristine: Cotton was such a crappy infantry man that he was made the captain assigned to a Provincial Reconstruction Team. No brigade XO does that to any Soldier who has any actual positive uses. Basically it is where you stick your problem children because other than stealing reconstruction funds, they can’t do any damage in that assignment.
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you.
different-church-lady
“Who won the war?”
Adam L Silverman
@MisterForkbeard: The worst of the sinus symptoms are gone. Now I just feel bleh!
Adam L Silverman
@Benw: That was definitely the 2nd Confederate naval jack!
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: They’re both smart. Hawley, however, is subtle.
different-church-lady
@Adam L Silverman:
Dude, seriously, you ought to cancel that subscription.
Adam L Silverman
@SiubhanDuinne: You do have my email address.
Spider-Dan
William T. Sherman is somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: Oh, well, disregard that email I was about to send you, then.//
Hope you feel better soon.
Adam L Silverman
@Yutsano: I’ve got the Mominator (Listen, and understand. That Mominator is out there. It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever…) sheltering in place with me because of COVID-19, so I’m good. But thanks for offering!
lurkypants
@Jake Gibson: One of the things that got burned up at the United Daughters of the Confederacy HQ in Richmond was Stonewall Jackson’s battle flag. The local confederates are quite put out about it.
Adam L Silverman
Someone give Kayleigh McKenany a sandwich. My wrists are wider around than her waist!
Adam L Silverman
@low-tech cyclist: This is not the post for you. These are not the traitorous flags you’re looking for.
Martin
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think he’ll be pretty quickly educated on his actual ability to do that.
Normally governors and presidents are in some agreement on the deployment of federal forces to put down unrest, but a lot of states would view Trump intervening as a hostile act. Trump doesn’t want the protests to end because of public protection, he wants them to end because it’s hurting him electorally. That’s pretty transparent, and a lot of people from you and me to mayors and governors aren’t going to go along with that.
PsiFighter37
Protests keep getting bigger in NYC. Just saw big chunks of people walk up 6th Avenue and downtown on 7th Avenue simultaneously. Seems to be peaceful.
Adam L Silverman
@Ohio Mom: I have a very good physician and he is not the only one who has diagnosed these. My primary care physician when I lived in Carlisle, PA did. So did the brigade doctor before and when I was in Iraq.
I don’t think I’m a candidate for the surgery.
Sloane Ranger
@Adam L Silverman: He gassed the peaceful protesters so he can have a photo op outside St John’s Church. Jeffrey Toobin has explained that he needs the Governor or Legislature’s permission to send Federal troops into a State.
He will win today but he’s just inflamed the situation even more. I expect more trouble tonight with more people involved.
Adam L Silverman
@skerry: He can. He would have to invoke the Insurrection Act. This thread is a good explainer.
Adam L Silverman
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Thank you.
zzyzx
Remember when people freaked out because Obama was going to have a military training exercise in Texas? I wonder where all of those people are today.
Tony Jay
It’s hardly surprising that the actual Stars and Bars has been dropped down the memory hole in favour of the Confederate Naval Jack/ANV battle-flag. It’s pretty dull, too similar to the Stars and Stripes, only without its kinetic impact, while the familiar ‘saltire swastika’ is an undoubted design classic. The real Stars and Bars looks like something that you’d drape around an ill-maintained bandstand for a Veteran’s Day concert by the local college’s brass band, but the popular Dixie Douchecloth would look great in any format; flapping in the breeze above the entrance to a prison camp, hanging from patriotic lampposts while the conquering armies of white supremacy march past, hell, shrink it down and it would make a great armband.
Plus, anyone wearing it is as good as saying “I am a conscript in the Legion of Lame Losers, please punch me in the junk so that I can feel something other than bitter knowledge of my own inadequacies”. What’s not to love?
Adam L Silverman
@Sloane Ranger: Apparently he’s planning to, but still hasn’t:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-considering-move-invoke-insurrection-act-n1221326
Adam L Silverman
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I have no idea if it is a MAGA answer. I’ve seen live video of the White House at all hours of the night with the lights on.
Martin
@Sloane Ranger: I don’t think he does. The Insurrection Act allows him to send them without agreement, though I don’t think in normal judiciary times they would feel the circumstances would meet the standard. That’s not stopped this WH before. I mean, he did call for a 10 year prison term for protesters. And Cotton and Gaetz have called for bypassing the legal process entirely.
hilts
Gregg Popovich on Trump:
h/t https://www.thenation.com/article/society/gregg-popovich-george-floyd-protests/
Crazy Swamp Person
@low-tech cyclist:
This is true enough, but a minor quibble to keep up with the pedantic thread. Georgia’s current state flag is essentially the proper flag of the rebellion, so millions see it and work under it every day.
Georgia changing their flag from having the battle flag on it to having the confederacy’ s proper flag (switched over in 2003) was one of the moments where I realized we were going to be dealing with this crap forever. They have an ocean of entitled whining spite to draw from.
dp
@azelie:
I came here to say that!
Matt McIrvin
Seeing unsupported speculation that this is the rehearsal for Trump’s coup when he refuses to concede the election and step down in January. If it is, I don’t see how he expects to get the military to obey him.
Adam L Silverman
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Written by someone who doesn’t know what an actual civil war is. He can foment a revolt, a rebellion, a revolution, and/or a campaign of insurgency or terrorism. Unless Hillary Clinton is going to declare herself the rightfully elected US president and assemble a force to install her in that office, then we’re not going to have a civil war.
cain
@Adam L Silverman:
Yeah someone else mentioned that as well and I thought that was totally plausible. But it doesn’t matter it is was a fantastic political gift coupled with him going into a shelter and turning off the lights while going in like trick and treat is over.
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: I think the worry is we’ll have an election in Nov that Trump will declare invalid and use the authority to maintain his hold on power.
Adam L Silverman
@No One of Consequence: Hang in there. Things are all fucked up right now, but there’s fight left in the Republic!
And thanks for the kind words.
cain
@MattF:
Well duh, it’s fucking up all his political plans – so you know he has to do all kinds of other things instead of what he’s planned.
Matt McIrvin
@Adam L Silverman: Well, we’re not going to have a civil war now. Maybe in January, if there’s some kind of uncertainty about the election.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman:
Auntie Hillary Wants You! 👉
John Revolta
@PsiFighter37: Just saw big chunks of people walk up 6th Avenue and downtown on 7th Avenue simultaneously
Wow. How can they do that? Is it one of those crazy Modern Dance troupes?
Adam L Silverman
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): He does. His remarks from 1990:
https://www.playboy.com/read/playboy-interview-donald-trump-1990
lamh36
Wow…this mofo tear gassed peaceful protestors so that he could have a photo-op at a CLOSED church across the street! I’m telling you ANYONE who still supporting Trump is trash, and that includes yo mammy, yo grandmammy, yo grandpappy, ya sister, ya brother, ya uncle or whoever! ALL OF THEM TRASH!
ArchTeryx
@SiubhanDuinne: My grandma and your grandma / sittin’ by the fire / my grandma says to your grandma / I’m gonna set your flag on fire!
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: You’re welcome.
Ruckus
@Adam L Silverman:
Worked for an newbe ensign who did his 20 and made it to Lt commander, O4, which of course Cotton didn’t not achieve. I was actually amazed that this guy made it to O4, I didn’t think he’d make it past O2. Maybe being a two faced lier was what was necessary to make it that far.
Adam L Silverman
@lurkypants:
rikyrah
Fixed your tweet. WG
John Revolta
@ArchTeryx:
Hey now! Hey now!
Adam L Silverman
@Sloane Ranger: Yep. He’s a mess. And right now the senior military leadership is worrying just how quickly Americans will turn on the troops as a result of this and thereby undo almost 20 years of public relations work.
Adam L Silverman
@zzyzx: That was a very successful Russian agitprop operation.
Calouste
@Ruckus: If being a two-faced liar was a requirement Cotton would have made it to Field Marshall.
James E Powell
Historical accuracy has never been popular in the white supremacist community.
Matt McIrvin
@Martin: The thing is, the military knows full well that Trump can’t declare an election invalid. Supposing that the Electoral College declares that Biden won the election, and Congress certifies the result, Joe Biden becomes President on January 20th. From that point on, Trump can try to order the military around all he wants but he’s not the President, so he has no authority to do anything.
So Trump’s best shot is in sowing enough chaos that those earlier steps in the process can’t happen unambiguously.
Adam L Silverman
Governor Pritzker has just rejected Federal military and law enforcement for Illinois.
rikyrah
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: I’m aware. I’m in regular contact with one of the very senior people working this problem set. I’m the person that did the scenarios for that person on just what the worst case possibilities would be – the ones involving low intensity warfare and political violence. I don’t normally talk about that unpaid (it is always unpaid…) consulting I do. And I wish I didn’t have to do it.
Dirge
@Sloane Ranger: He gassed the peaceful protesters so he can have a photo op outside St John’s Church.
No.
He had a photo op outside St John’s Church so he can gas the peaceful protesters.
rikyrah
rikyrah
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
Your spelling tutorial with OzarkHillbilly is scheduled for 0630 tomorrow.
Kristine
@Adam L Silverman:
I feel a little better knowing he isn’t competent–that means many opportunities for reputation-tarnishing screw-ups. That said, he was still able to use his military background as a campaign plus, from what I could tell, and the folks who voted for him would either not have access to the info you set forth, or would refuse to believe it if they did.
And as someone else said upstream, Trump’s long list of incompetencies was out there for years, and he still got elected.
But then, he did not give off Cotton’s shackles-in-the-cellar vibe.
I confess my current state of mind is worried/jumpy.
Hope you feel better soon.
rikyrah
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
rikyrah
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
I do, yes, but I wanted to virtue-signal to the entire Jackaltariat what a caring and compassionate person I am, so I went public.
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: What a remarkable coincidence.
rikyrah
Adam L Silverman
@Kristine: I try not to question why anyone signs up to serve. I had dozens and dozens of Arkansas National Guard members when I taught at University of Central Arkansas and the reasons they signed up were as diverse as they were. But I’m convinced that guys like Cotton and DeSantis and several others on the conservative/GOP side went in solely because it was post 9-11, they had ambitions to run for office, and they wanted to be able to campaign on their military service.
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: I don’t see any scenario where it works, but our long tradition of a peaceful transition of power might look a little rockier this year than normal. I have faith in the good people of this country.
Ksmiami
@debbie: let’s just destroy them- Republicans are the enemy. At this point, do what you need to defend yourselves
skerry
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks for the reply
Baud
@rikyrah:
I saw a clip of him earlier. It was very powerful.
trnc
@Adam L Silverman: We and the military will know when he tweets that hes done it.
HumboldtBlue
@Dirge:
Exactly, that’s exactly what happened.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Oh. Do you think Trump walked to St. John’s and held up a bible because Biden met in a church today?
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Makes it much easier for the Louisville PD to blame the National Guard.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Good call.
rikyrah
Jinchi
I think Esper’s comment is a great illustration of why the US military should not be involved in domestic policing. There is no ‘battlespace’ to dominate.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Dorothy A. Winsor: he walked all the way? Isn’t that almost four blocks, round trip? He’s gonna inflame his bone spurs with that kind of exertion
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: I’ve read the Hennepin ME’s report. It was a narrative mess. This doesn’t surprise me at all. What Minnesota AG Ellison is going to have to do is retain a highly credentialed pathologist to do a third autopsy now that Ellision has taken over the investigation and prosecution. I don’t doubt Drs Baden and Wilson’s findings, but he’s going to want to make sure he doesn’t have a dueling coroner’s reports problem.
Nicole
@Adam L Silverman: Ha!
Adam L Silverman
@Martin: I’ve considered writing a post on this here, but I’m concerned I’ll freak everyone out. The issue right now is that everyone is focusing on how things work because of the Constitution and statutory law – de jure process and legitimacy. The President, however, doesn’t care about de jure process and legitimacy. He functions solely based on what he can actually do and get away with, essentially replacing, as much as he can get away with, de jure processes and legitimacy with de facto processes and legitimacy. And as long as he’s got Senator McConnell and AG Barr willing to go along, so they can advance their own overlapping agendas, he will continue to do so.
Adam L Silverman
@skerry: You’re welcome.
Adam L Silverman
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes.
HumboldtBlue
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s a leader, a tough guy, a man ready to provide steady and needed guidance during this time of unrest and fear.
Or, he’s just a fucking asshole.
dimmsdale
@Adam L Silverman: Really? I had assumed you were off on some deep cover mission to gather intelligence on the 3%-ers or some such. “Sinus infection”? ohhhhhhhhkay, glad you’re back from your, um “sinus infection”. (Seriously, you can tell US–we’ll keep your secret)
Barry
@Ohio Mom:
“It’s amusing that the Confederates used a dish towel to surrender but I suppose no army wants to carry around a white flag just in case.”
And given the rigors of war, anybody’s underwear would be far, far from white.
Omnes Omnibus
@dimmsdale: He already told the people capable of keeping a secret.
Barry
@zzyzx: “Remember when people freaked out because Obama was going to have a military training exercise in Texas? I wonder where all of those people are today.”
It’s all projection with the right.
The Pale Scot
The best label I’ve come across is “Confederate Swastika”
Adam, I’ve articles that say that the white superiority and the right to enslave people was explicit in every rebel state’s declaration of succession except one and I can’t seem to find out which state that was, would you know?
I watched Sahara (1943) with Bogey last night, there were a couple of good scenes of the “how to deal with a Nazi” that I found myself nodding to. I’m fooling around with my old video editing rig and have a notion to collect clips of other WW2 movies of similar sentiments and intersperse shots of The Creature and his minions. Can anyone think of other films to run through. Passage to Marseilles, some early low budget Brit films with Nivens, maybe the Polish Hurricane pilot one. There’s material, I don’t wanna watch 200 hours of WW2 to find it. Thanks in advance.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus:
Adam L Silverman
@The Pale Scot: My understanding is it was all of them, but I’d be interested in knowing which one didn’t reference it.
dirge
@rikyrah: Wow, bricks sure are mysterious and ominous. I mean, what could they possibly be for, and who even has access to hardware like that? Scary.
Unattended crates of AR15s and 5.56 ammo I could understand. Totally normal. But bricks? Must be a conspiracy of some kind.
HumboldtBlue
@Adam L Silverman:
What a brilliant character.
HumboldtBlue
@dirge:
No, the assholes who want shit to kick off into violence once the sun goes down have staged a handy supply of missiles they can use to escalate violence. This has been documented in more than city.
Aleta
@The Pale Scot: great idea, would love to watch it.
have to think back ….
James E Powell
@The Pale Scot:
Not from World War II, but Woody Allen had some ideas about how to deal with Nazis.
dirge
@HumboldtBlue:
I’m dubious, but plenty of stranger things happen all the time. Feel like a real second amendment advocate should pony up for better though.
/s
Adam L Silverman
@HumboldtBlue: I am the wind!
Adam L Silverman
@HumboldtBlue: And most of the documentation is agitprop. Either city officials, including law enforcement come out and explain there isn’t anything be staged or it turns out there’s active construction in the area.
Adam L Silverman
@James E Powell: Date their underage daughters?
Aleta
If this is accurate, https://www.civilwarwiki.net/wiki/Tennessee_Ordinance_of_Secession
Tennessee’s Ordinance of Secession doesn’t mention slavery.
VA mentions “the oppression of the Southern Slaveholding States” as a reason, which attempts to avoid being as explicit as the others.
The Pale Scot
@James E Powell:
Good One.
The only Sahara clip I could find
Giuseppe’s Testimony Of Faith
VOR
I’ve posted this before, but it’s a goodie. The First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry captured the battle flag of the 28th Virginia Infantry at Gettysburg. Private Marshall Sherman received the Medal of Honor for this act. The flag is currently in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society. http://education.mnhs.org/portal/28th-virginia-battle-flag
Groups from Virginia have asked for its return multiple times but Minnesota Governors of multiple parties have said no. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D) once explained “We declined that invitation… It was taken in a battle with the cost of the blood of all these Minnesotans. It would be a sacrilege to return it to them. It’s something that was earned through the incredible courage and valor of the men who gave their lives and risked their lives to obtain it… …As far as I’m concerned it is a closed subject.”
FYI – the First Minnesota sustained 82% casualties at Gettysburg holding Cemetery Ridge. Per Wikipedia “The 82% casualty rate stands to this day as the second-largest loss by any surviving military unit in U.S. history during a single day’s engagement”.
James E Powell
@Aleta:
Tennessee’s ordinance might not mention it because it wasn’t really necessary. The political arguments in Tennessee and every other slave state were very explicit.
The Pale Scot
@Aleta:
That sounds right. I guess they figured the Cornerstone Speech covered anything worth saying, and didn’t want to seem to vicious to there European cotton customers
Adam L Silverman
@VOR: Yep. Michigan’s response to Virginia inviting them to secede from the Union and joint the Confederacy was also a thing of beauty:
Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)
@hilts: Hitchens on Falwell the elder: Give the man an enema, and you could bury him in a matchbox.”
J R in WV
@James E Powell:
Tennessee is called the volunteer state because more men volunteered for the Union Army from TN than would have been drafted if Tennessee had remained in the union.
So maybe not, is all I’m saying. Particularly in the eastern mountains, as in NW Georgia, slavery was pretty much rejected by most all the mountain folks.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s a measure of how awful I’m feeling about things right now if I tell you I find myself muttering, “your terms are acceptable…”
Miss Bianca
@lamh36: You do not lie, lamh. I have cut off virtually all contact with my brothers. I have had, reluctantly, to come to to the conclusion that they are trash. : (
J R in WV
@Miss Bianca:
I last spoke to my brother last August, which was his birthday. He’s a well to do former IT executive doing PR work, also life member of the NRA, RWNJ. We don’t mention politics or current events when we speak. I hear about my nephews working on their careers, one a LT jg in the navy, the other a wanna be TX LEO… sad, really.
WaterGirl
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: That’s so fucking grotesque, I can’t even believe it.
James E Powell
@J R in WV:
Tennessee got the Volunteer nickname in the War of 1812, though some say it was the Mexican War.
Tennessee governor Isham Harris made it clear the issue was slavery.
sdhays
@Adam L Silverman: I know this a dead thread, but holy fuck! The US (and allies) had just won the Cold War, and he was already talking about it being “spit on”?
JFC, this shambles of a man and the rotten stew that calls itself the Republican Party.