I’m sorry, I can’t stop laughing at this:
President Trump is demanding that Colorado take down its “purposefully distorted” painting of him hanging in the State Capitol.
“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” Trump said in a post Sunday on Truth Social. “The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one [of] me is truly the worst. She must have lost her talent as she got older.”
…“I am speaking …to the Radical Left Governor, Jared Polis, who is extremely weak on Crime, in particular with respect to Tren de Aragua, which practically took over Aurora (Don’t worry, we saved it!), to take it down,” Trump said. “Jared should be ashamed of himself.”
The portrait:
Now this is Monday content I can get behind. The president, who considers himself a next-level handsome specimen of mature masculinity, with a year-round tan due to his many masculine outdoor pursuits, and he leans forward like he does because he’s making a masculine point, dammit, not because he wears lifts in his shoes — doesn’t like his portrait, which makes him look like a chubby-cheeked demon. And Barack Obama looks wonderful! HOW DARE THEY?
A few more fat portraits, a few more Tesla demonstrations, and we might have the beginnings of a foothold. As Democrats, with very few exceptions, are proving themselves worthless in this struggle, then we’ll just have to keep on strugglin’ on our own.
A busy weekend. The Derringers took a proactive stance toward dealing with our anger by? Taking a gun class, the one Michigan requires before you can get your CPL, or concealed pistol license. I have no intention of packing, I hasten to add. But it was interesting to see the law detailed (such as it was, kinda — more on that in a couple sentences). And the course included an hour of range time, so I got to see what all the excitement is about, and honestly, I don’t get it. The vibe on pistol ranges is so unpleasant to me, the bro-y bullshit of it all. The guy shooting next to me was wearing earmuffs emblazoned FJB, and in case you were too stupid to get it, LET’S GO BRANDON as well. For a rank novice, I shot pretty well.
The teacher was a piece of work. He chuckled through the entire 8-hour class, and swore like the Marine he once was. Having worked in newsrooms, nothing about the language offended me, and maybe when you’re teaching in a super-macho gun store, you think no one will be bothered by the ass-rape jokes you make after every! Single! Mention! of Jail! But I know a few gay people who are arming themselves for the unpleasantness they have every reason to believe is coming, and some of them certainly would be. But we graduated, and got our certificates, and now I have to consider whether it’s worth $100 to be legal, so to speak. I just don’t see the point. I don’t live in the world gun-toters do, with their constant vigilance against the violence they are sure is stalking them, personally, every minute of the day.
I used to work with a man — Leo Morris, for those of you who remember him — whose brother, a Texas resident, was radicalized by the Luby’s Cafeteria massacre of 1991. He started packing, and swiftly got to the point he “felt naked” without his holster and sidearm. He was always trying to get Leo to do the same, taking him shooting when they got together, etc. I lost touch with Leo in his later years, but a few things he wrote made me think that maybe his brother’s paranoia had taken hold in Leo. (He began using the phrase “constitutional carry,” for instance.) But one thing gun school did for me is make me realize: There is virtually nothing I could shoot someone over. A physical attack with serious intent to kill or maim me or my family is the only thing I can think of, and that would require so much advance planning — I’d have to have the gun, the gun would have to be loaded, I’d have to be able to get to it, etc. — that it strikes me as intensely impractical. So I guess I’ll just have to trust that a lifetime of prudent behavior will save me from losing my life to gun violence, as it does millions and millions of Americans.
The guy teaching the class, the chuckling Leatherneck, sketched out so many scenarios where violence is right there waiting to strike you down that I had to think: What a way to live. He was carrying, I am not kidding, THREE weapons — two on each hip and one down the back of his pants. Talk about paranoia. And he was responsible, if you take him at his word. He doesn’t carry when he’s going to be drinking, he said. He practices often. And so on. But if you’re armed, then it almost requires you to be hyper-vigilant at all times, and that? Is exhausting. I have enough shit to worry about.
I keep thinking about the FJB-earmuffs guy. Alan, who shoots skeet, reported that there was a chronic ammunition shortage during the Obama administration, due to persistent rumors that the president was coming for the guns AND the ammo. He did neither, but we’re not talking about the smartest, savviest, best-informed people, either. And neither did Biden, but oh my those Macomb County Republicans aren’t going to let that stop them from putting him on their stupid gun earmuffs. The way people talk on social media when, for instance, someone’s TV gets stolen or car is broken into, makes me think they…don’t think. You can’t shoot someone over a TV, or your car stereo, or any other property crime. People imagine they’d be able to drop to the floor, find a cover position, calmly draw their weapon and return fire with deadly accuracy? In a movie theater. In a grocery store. In any mass-panic situation. You are not John Wick, and John Wick doesn’t exist. And even if you did act within the law — the guy was coming through your window, knife in his teeth, etc. — imagine the aftermath. The cops. The cleanup. Having to walk past the spot where you shot and killed a man, every day. You’d have to move! I would, anyway. Totally not worth it to me. I’d just run out the back door.
OK, I’ve gone on enough, and it’s time to finish editing this video. The week ahead promises temperatures in the 40s, ugh. Might as well do some spring cleaning and file the taxes. Later.
Mark P said on March 24, 2025 at 10:09 am
Years ago I got a carry permit. At that time, all that was required was to go to the sheriff’s office and get your fingerprints taken, then wait till they made sure you weren’t a convicted murderer. I never once carried my pistol. I have several guns, including a .22 lever action Marlin my father got for me for Christmas 60+ years ago. He used to take me and my brother shooting along the railroad tracks, across the creek, and down to the river, where he ran around as a kid. We went through lots (and lots!) of .22 rounds, shooting cans, branches, rocks on the other side of the creek, nothing that was alive. I let my permit expire and haven’t bothered to renew it in the last 15 or 20 years. And even though I used to enjoy target shooting, I haven’t picked up one of my guns in years. I cannot imagine carrying one like I see sometimes in Walmart. It’s an in-group identifier for them. As for feeling naked without it, well, I can think of one group that might have that feeling legitimately. My uncle was a cop in Akron. He said he felt naked without his pistol, at least until he retired.
The Trump portrait looks better than he does. I guess he wants that tough-guy scowl he likes to affect. I wonder if the undertaker will put a scowl on his face when he makes it up, or will he give the carcass a neutral expression. Maybe there won’t be enough of the body left after NATO bombs the White House.
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linda said on March 24, 2025 at 10:54 am
Yeah, about that whole John Wick thing: you are right about nobody being John Wick. When The Truth About Guns tried to prove that good guys with guns stop bad guys, this happened:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/video-emerges-of-pro-gun-group-reenacting-charlie-hebdo-massacre/
Of course, they downplayed the results, saying trained gunmen had a jump on the others. But isn’t that true in real life, too?
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linda said on March 24, 2025 at 11:01 am
More about good guys with guns: a deep dive into how mass shootings are stopped. When an average Joe stops a shooting, it’s rare, and twice as likely by physical force than a gun (gift article):
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/06/22/us/shootings-police-response-uvalde-buffalo.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U4.RxrA.xyQSHLNicTCW&smid=url-share
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Deborah said on March 24, 2025 at 12:07 pm
I too thought Trump looks better in the painting then he does on videos. I’ve never seen him in person and hope never to be subjected to that visual. He’s not an unhandsome person exactly, he just looks mean and smug all the time.
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FDChief said on March 24, 2025 at 12:33 pm
Maybe it’s just me. But if I was ever in a situation where I HAD to shoot someone about to commit some horrible crime (let’s say, f’rinstance, a MAGAt trying to vote for Trump..?) I could walk past the spot every day with a song in my heart. But I was a GI for 20 years, so.
No, it’s the nuisance of having to take CARE of the bullet-launcher that would dissuade me. You can’t leave it alone. EVER. You have to make sure nobody else can get to it. You have to find something to do with it when you use the toilet (which is why all the stories of some gun-humper leaving the hogleg in the crapper…).
Plus, yeah. Having to live in the insane paranoia-world where you have to have your beard on your shoulder all the time. GIs who spend enough time getting live-fire pay become hyper-reactive and sleep-deprived for a reason. Not worth it.
Tubby does look, well, tubby in the picture. My guess is that it’s the bland porkiness of the portrait that sets him off. He looks like, well, what he is; an over-fed soft white guy, instead of the studly Master of the Universe he thinks he is.
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Julie Robinson said on March 24, 2025 at 1:10 pm
The paranoia feeds on itself and becomes a spreading cancer. I’ve seen it often. At the last Alzheimer’s support group a woman spoke of her husband’s guns and how he was hallucinating and expressing fear. She also was expressing fear, and the group leader gave her tips on getting them away from him.
I’ve never held a gun and never want to.
We’re on our way into NYC from the airport and I’m going on vacation mode. Six shows are booked but this afternoon is for Dennis, at the Museum of Natural History. For him, I’ll sit through the planetarium show.
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Deborah said on March 24, 2025 at 1:31 pm
When I was in highshool, I spent the night at a friends house and her mother had a gun in the nightstand next to her bed (the mother’s bed). I had never held a gun before and my friend told me it was a toy. I picked it up, it didn’t feel like a toy. Imagine if it had gone off in my hand if it indeed was real. It scared me to death, why I touched it I have no idea. Why we were looking in the nightstand next to her divorced mother’s bed I have no recollection, but that’s how it happens. I have not touched a gun since then, that I can remember anyway.
My ex had a hunting rifle that had been his grandfather’s that he didn’t ever use as far as I knew and he kept it in the closet. I assume it wasn’t loaded. He shot squirrels in the backyard with a BB gun. He kept track of his kill and if you called him, on his answering machine recording he gave you the “squirrel count”. This was in the city of St. Louis where houses were close together. The fact that he didn’t hit some neighbor in the eye is a miracle.
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Colleen Condron said on March 24, 2025 at 1:45 pm
Back when I was a single gal on my own, I briefly considered learning how to use a gun. Then I determined I couldn’t kill someone, and quickly ended that notion.
I agree about the paranoia. I refuse to live that way. On the neighborhood FB page, so many people mention their guns when the topics of door to door salespeople or kids playing ding dong ditch come up. And I just assume every other driver on the road is packing. It IS Florida, after all. Wanna cut me off in traffic? Go right ahead…I’m not gonna get shot over being next in line at the light….
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Sheryl Prentice said on March 24, 2025 at 1:54 pm
Trumpy’s portrait make him look like he’s already embalmed.
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Deborah said on March 24, 2025 at 2:06 pm
OMG, this is unbelievable. The ineptitude is staggering, do these people know how to put their pants on in the morning. You have got to read this https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/?gift=e2EpXMuPtOgT-df8U_sJILOlTxNKKDQMNzpgVYELoUM&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share gift article.
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Sherri said on March 24, 2025 at 2:31 pm
But her emails!
My guess is that these people care more about (1) avoiding records laws and (2) the inconveniences involved with using government security apparatus than they do with maintaining security. They convince themselves, since they are the smartest in the room, they have have the most beautiful, most pristine OPSEC ever, and besides, Trump will pardon them if they screw up. The Dems won’t Benghazi them, anyway.
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Jakash said on March 24, 2025 at 2:44 pm
Deborah,
Is this sign similar to the one you made?
We were down in the area a week or so ago, and I thought of walking by the Tesla dealership, but nothing was going on at that time, so we didn’t. Maybe when it gets warmer! Yes, yes, that’s a pretty weak excuse…
https://bsky.app/profile/markjacob.bsky.social/post/3lkyc5fndrc22
Thanks for the WaPo article on the previous thread, Sherri, about DOGE’s bullshit costing the IRS 500 billion dollars. Given that the Grifter-in-Chief has often blatantly stated that it’s “smart” not to pay taxes, what did people expect? How do they think America is going to be made “Great Again” if people who owe a lot pay no taxes to build or maintain anything?
As for that portrait, it’s not great, but it’s better than he deserves. For starters, a lot more orange could have been used. Describing him as “an over-fed soft white guy, instead of the studly Master of the Universe he thinks he is” works for me.
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apocalipstick said on March 24, 2025 at 2:49 pm
My dad taught me gun safety in elementary school. I’ve owned and fired guns all my life. I enjoy a well-designed and built firearm the way I enjoy a well-designed and built guitar.
But I do not think they will solve all problems. I do not carry one. I cannot imagine walking into the grocery store or restaurant strapped. That mindset is about fetishism, about carrying a totem. Linda and Mark P are correct.
As far as FDChief’s comment, I went into the bathroom at a local music store three years ago and there was a .380 auto on the toilet paper dispenser.
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Deborah said on March 24, 2025 at 2:59 pm
Yep Jackash that’s my husband holding that sign on Saturday, I had one just like it, I was standing on the opposite side of that Tesla entry. The cops camr from across the street and made my husband move over so people could get in the entry, then those two big burly cops stood right in front of the entry. Lol. Thanks for the photo.
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Deborah said on March 24, 2025 at 3:05 pm
Jackash, I responded to your question then when I hit submit it said my comment was duplicated but it doesn’t show up, so I probably did something wrong.
If it doesn’t show up eventually, here’s what I said:
Yep Jackash that’s my husband holding that sign on Saturday, I had one just like it, I was standing on the opposite side of that Tesla entry. The cops camr from across the street and made my husband move over so people could get in the entry, then those two big burly cops stood right in front of the entry. Lol. Thanks for the photo.
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Deborah said on March 24, 2025 at 3:05 pm
OK, now I see that it did show up, sorry, I didn’t give it enough time.
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Jakash said on March 24, 2025 at 3:19 pm
Cool, Deborah! Thanks for the prompt reply. I actually wondered if that might be your husband, since you mentioned him being in a prominent position at one of the protests, but didn’t want to specifically ask about that in case you wouldn’t have wanted me to.
It’s a great sign, too.
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Deborah said on March 24, 2025 at 3:29 pm
Sorry I spelled your comment name wrong, Jakash.
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Suzanne said on March 24, 2025 at 4:17 pm
I have probably mentioned this before here, but I can tell you that nearly every gun owner I have ever known has assured me that had they been in the Colorado movie theater, or at the Las Vegas massacre, or you-name-it mass shooting, they would have been able to stop it. I cannot recall even one of them admitting that it would be nearly impossible to figure out where the shots were coming from, who was doing so and where he or she would be aiming next. They all assume that no one in the crowd was armed and that’s why so many died. But this article from The Atlantic shows just how difficult it is to drop something like this : https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2024/01/atlantics-march-issue-coward-broward/677278/?gift=F58N5IOcUo4qAP_lFh-H92NYAn8yRu7kkgtWdC7gZXQ&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Also, the 2nd Amendment crowd always claims they need their arms to rise up against a tyrannical government but funny thing is a tyrannical government is what is happening now and I see no sign of said gunowners.
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Sherri said on March 24, 2025 at 4:39 pm
Maybe they convince themselves they need their guns to rise up against a tyrannical government, but the purpose of the 2nd Amendment in this country is to protect against the darkies revolting.
All the attempts to explain why the MAGAts vote against their interests ignore the fact that their interests are really status anxiety about threats to white supremacy.
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Colleen said on March 24, 2025 at 4:42 pm
Suzanne, I’ve been thinking the same thing. Not that I WANT people to take up arms, but the “protect ourselves against an out of control government” people are very quiet about our current situation…
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Sherri said on March 24, 2025 at 5:02 pm
I try not to go into conspiracy theory territory, but this administration makes it difficult. I don’t know if Trump is a Russian asset, but what would be different if he were?
This administration doesn’t seem to care if they’re hacked; they’ve stopped cyber defenses against Russian hacking (which made someone I know responsible for cyber security at Microsoft crazy). The only thing they seem to care about is destroying democracy as quickly as possible, though different groups within the administration have different reasons for doing so.
Elon wants AI-fueled corporate authoritarian feudalism. The Christian Nationalists want a white Christian state. Trump just wants to be King, so he can take all the money and punish his enemies.
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Alan Stamm said on March 24, 2025 at 5:12 pm
“Maybe Trump should worry less about how he looks in literally one portrait in Colorado and more about his Cabinet members texting classified war plans in Signal group chats. THAT is what’s not a good look here.”
— Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., at Threads
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Jeff Borden said on March 24, 2025 at 5:17 pm
We don’t have enough cops on the street, but apparently they’re available to guard a private business. If Elmo is so fucking rich, why doesn’t he hire a security company? Then again, our devoted U.S. attorney general is threatening to charge anyone vandalizing a swaztikar with domestic terrorism. Beat a cop with a flagpole, threaten elected representatives, urinate and defecate in the hallowed halls of the Capitol, no problem. Tag a Tesla dealership with spray paint and off you go to El Salvador.
Jesus, we’re a stupid country.
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Sherri said on March 24, 2025 at 5:24 pm
One more thing about the Signal convo that launched the attack. A saying my husband and I have about bad tech is that the superficial design flaws obscured the fundamental design flaws. Such is the case with this.
The stupidity of carrying out this discussion over Signal obscures the superficiality of the actual discussion of the mission. The goal seems to be to send a message to the Houthis, but then they admit that it’s not about the Houthis. They don’t really know about the Houthis, know why they’re fighting, or know what sending a message to them looks like, or how this impacts events in the Middle East. They’re only worried that they might be seen as bailing out Europe.
Gotta look tough, but can’t help Europe unless we get something in return. Trump foreign policy.
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Pam H said on March 24, 2025 at 7:04 pm
I heard on NPR news today that Putin commissioned a painting of tRump, as a gift I suppose. Maybe tRump can’t get that painting hung in Colorado. Putin also stated that he prayed for tRump when he got grazed in the ear. Putin praying, now that’s indeed weird. How can anyone think T’s NOT an agent of Putin?
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alex said on March 24, 2025 at 7:15 pm
If Tubby looks out of character, it’s because his damn fool mouth appears shut for once and his disdainful affect has been sanewashed with a soft white glow.
I’m inclined to agree with Nancy that it would be a challenge to have a gun at the ready in the instant that it’s needed, and I’d hate to be responsible for having to keep it secured the vast majority of the time when it’s not. As someone who lives in a household where blackout drunkenness isn’t totally unheard of, I’d have to err on the side of caution and just run for my life if circumstances should ever require it.
The nice thing about surveillance cams is that they not only serve as a deterrent but they bust whomever breaks into your house and tries to kill you, and a good one warns you before the intruder enters.
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Dorothy said on March 24, 2025 at 7:57 pm
The first house I lived in was a row house in Pittsburgh. Hard to believe we had 10 kids and two parents living in that tiny 3 bedroom house. Our number was 106. The corner house (100) belonged to a family whose dad was a cop. Their grandma lived with them (not sure if it was the dad’s mom or the mom’s mom – doesn’t matter). Anyway, the dad had his holster on a hook in his bedroom and the youngest kid, who I think was 5 or 6, got up on a chair, got the gun out of the holster and went downstairs. He pointed at his grandma and said “Hands up!” She laughed because she thought it was one of his toy guns. And he shot her – she was DOA.
I’m not sure if I ever told that story before but someone brings up guns and I almost always think of the tragic story of the Barr family. This was probably mid ‘60’s because we moved away from that house in 1968 when I was 11. My cousins lived next door at 104. They moved in 1967 to New Brighton, about an hour north. Their six kids and our ten kids were (and still are) very close. I should write a book about all the stories our family has from those years. The gun story was a rare tragic story. Most of what we remember was very funny.
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David C said on March 24, 2025 at 8:06 pm
I shot my older brother in the ass with a BB gun. I don’t remember what he did to me, but he probably deserved it. With that though, I’m sure not going to carry anything that could actually do damage.
They have concealed carry undies. I saw an ad for one where if his pistol accidentally went off, the wearer would shoot his dick off. I approve of that.
https://www.undertechundercover.com/
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apocalipstick said on March 24, 2025 at 8:59 pm
David C said on March 24, 2025 at 8:06 pm:
“They have concealed carry undies.”
Imagine the chafing!
One thing that gun fetishists never realize, and that many commenters here do, is that it is exhausting and destructive to live in the state of 24-hour vigilance needed to make carrying a gun an effective strategy.
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Jason T. said on March 24, 2025 at 9:31 pm
Dorothy:
October 1965. Front page of the Pittsburgh Press.
30 Oct 1965, Sat The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com
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Sherri said on March 24, 2025 at 9:32 pm
On the very day the administration shows just how full of total incompetents it is, 12 Democrats voted to confirm Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Navy, a person with no relevant experience. What are they thinking?
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FDChief said on March 24, 2025 at 9:32 pm
The best summation of the whole “Is Trump owned by Moscow or is he Just That Stupid?” question came from John Scalzi, who wrote: “If he’s NOT a paid Russian asset then he’s just doing this shit for free, which is more annoying.”
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Mark P said on March 24, 2025 at 11:49 pm
Sherri, the Signal scandal is jaw-dropping. I am surprised at the media coverage. One reporter said all those involved had extensive backgrounds in handling classified information. If that’s true, it makes the lapse even worse. Bad enough they use an unapproved texting app (just the kind of thing that the greenest, just-out-of-college junior techs have drummed into their heads), even worse they include someone without clearance. What a bunch of incompetent clowns we have in charge of our top offices. They’re acting like a bunch of high-school kids passing around photos of under age classmates. Too bad nobody gives a shit.
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Sherri said on March 25, 2025 at 1:46 am
They care more about making sure there aren’t any records to find that they care about national security. No records protects them; national security protects disposable people.
If you aren’t one of them, and by them, I don’t mean MAGAts, I mean a rich insider, you are disposable. Hell, the Commerce Secretary went on TV the other day and said it was no big deal if Social Security checks didn’t go out, his mother-in-law wouldn’t complain, she’d just wait for next month’s check.
The scariest thing to me is that they are acting as if the midterms don’t matter.
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Mark P said on March 25, 2025 at 2:22 am
The only way I can see for the midterms to matter is if the Democrats get a two-thirds majority in the Senate, or Senate Republicans undergo a miraculous change of heart and grow spines. It looks to me like Trump is not going to bother with getting congressional approval for anything he does, so what good does a small majority matter in the House, or Senate, or both?
Sen. Ossoff is up for re-election next year. I saw a short clip of him speaking at a rally a few days ago, and he reminded me of Obama. I’m worried about his chances. He has a lot of work to do to win here, unless Georgians start to really hurt, and can figure out that it’s because of Trump.
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Jeff Gill said on March 25, 2025 at 7:33 am
Linda beat me to it; this will make Sherri smile, but seriously — if you want to be ready to stop a potential mass shooter, you’re better off doing regular weight training than taking a CCL class.
As to your instructor, he just sounds like an idiot. Marines don’t, as a reflexive habit, curse excessively. I heard less swearing at Quantico than I did at Scout camp.
Back in the 1980’s, when I was running a Scout camp for four summers, we had a Hunter’s Safety course offered most weeks, as part of one of the merit badge requirements out in Field Sports. Since we had to compensate the instructors to show up at our camp, where troops were there from Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning for six weeks, we opened those up to anyone. I probably “took the course” four or five times just ending up talking to a Scoutmaster or other adult after supper and wandering into the cabin where it was offered and just staying out of curiosity and a certain measure of quality control.
Most of the instructors were Joe Friday hunter types, “just the facts” and fairly dry. Once we had a guy like your pistol class bozo, lots of borderline off-color jokes and random asides about his manliness gun-related and otherwise. During the break, the scout leader with whom I wandered in with leaned over to me and asked “are you calling their office on this guy? Because if you aren’t, I will.” I suggested we both do so, and we shook on it. The voluble instructor did not return the next week; we got another Joe Friday instead.
Which is who most firearms instructors are. They tend to be Mike Vining, not Pete Hegseth.
Cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Vining
Can I stick a second link in here without crashing the post? I think this shot says even more: https://www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/mtsng4/the_nerd_in_the_shirt_is_sergeant_major_mike/
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Dorothy said on March 25, 2025 at 9:12 am
OMG Jason I never saw that before! Appears I got some details wrong but the essence of the story is there. I would have been 8 years old in October 1965. Columbia Hospital was right across the street from our house (behind a Presbyterian Home for the Aged). Thanks for the share.
I knew the Barrs lived in the corner house; next door at 102 were Mr. and Mrs. Hand who were already grandparents. When my sister Diane (#9) was born I was almost five. The Hands came over to see the baby and Mrs. Hand (we called her Grandma Blanche) said “I think I’ll keep this baby. What do you think, honey?” and I glared at her and said “YOU GET YOUR OWN BABY!”
Man is this bringing back memories of Trenton Avenue…
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Deborah said on March 25, 2025 at 9:15 am
I finished Careless people very late last night. The last part of the book mostly about Facebook’s machinations regarding China and Myanmar is appalling. That these guys have so much power (Zuckerberg, Musk etc) is creepy as hell. This review in the NYT says it all way better than I can https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/books/review/careless-people-sarah-wynn-williams.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6k4.syWr.NTTsXQmDevW0&smid=url-share get the book you won’t be disappointed.
Gift article BTW
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JodiP said on March 25, 2025 at 10:29 am
And Colorado decided to take down the dear leader’s portrait.
Thankfully neither of my senators voted for Phelan, the Navy Secretary nominee. It looks like his biggest qualifying factor was that he was a significant Trump donor.
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alex said on March 25, 2025 at 10:45 am
I’m glad everyone else is reading Careless People so I don’t have to, although the Cheryl Sandberg lesbian sex scenes sound somewhat interesting. Not titillating in an erotic way, but humiliating in a schadenfreude way.
Alas, Mike Waltz has Trump’s forgiveness as it’s obvious that neither gives a fuck about national security in the new neo-fascist America. Maybe I’m naive to hope for this, but I’m trying to stay optimistic that at some point Trump’s approval ratings will be so abysmal that Republicans in Congress will rediscover their balls and provide enough votes to invoke the 25th. Not that his veep would be better, but at least he’d be on notice that this shit don’t fly.
I’m beginning to find myself bored in retirement. There’s gotta be more to life than doomscrolling.
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Dexter Friend said on March 25, 2025 at 1:10 pm
To the point: I don’t have a firearm because I know if someone threatened me, broke in, or some other scenario appeared that confused me, I would absolutely kill him/her instantly.
I qualified expert on the M-16 rifle many years ago, and as marksman on the old M-14. So I was trained to kill, but forced to by the law of conscription. In Viet Nam we had one AK-47 and a whole crate of ammo that my buddy Paul bought in downtown Nha Trang as the thieving officers had sold our armory contents downtown for cash. Paul and I made sure everyone in our hootch became familiar with the weapon. I never fired a shot in battle.
When I saw the portrait, I assumed it was Lady G from the Palmetto State. It barely resembles Drumph.
Oh…we used to have a real local newspaper. The Bryan Times. Then the building was abandoned for an uptown office, as the printing was sent out of town. Guess what that fine building is now? Crossed Rifles. Selling arms, and also a shooting range. It’s 2 blocks from my house.
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Sherri said on March 25, 2025 at 1:36 pm
I’ve always said a Louisville Slugger is a better home protection device than a gun, should you feel the need for one. Always loaded, no safety, easy to use. Take out the knees, first, then run for help.
You know how there are various requirements for viewing ultrasounds before getting an abortion? Maybe before buying a gun, you should have to watch videos of real gun violence being handled in the ER, and take a first aid class on dealing with gun shots so you can save your kid after they’ve accidentally shot themselves with your gun.
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Sherri said on March 25, 2025 at 2:23 pm
There are many awful things about Sandberg and Zuckerberg in Careless People, but two things about Zuckerberg stood out to me as the most pathetic. One is the time he showed up at his jet for a trip out of the country without his passport, blamed everyone else, and wanted to get special permission to travel without it.
The other is that when he would play board games with his inner circle, they would let him win, and the super genius didn’t even realize it. When our author decided one day, fuck it, she was going to play for real and beat him, Zuckerberg accused her of cheating.
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Deborah said on March 25, 2025 at 2:50 pm
LB keeps a crowbar handy. She’ll either get to use it or it’ll be used on her.
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Julie Robinson said on March 25, 2025 at 3:18 pm
For years I kept a baseball bat under the bed when Dennis would travel. It was only a tee-ball bat, but it could inflict some damage.
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Deborah said on March 25, 2025 at 3:21 pm
Sherry, I thought that too, the pettiness of Zuckerberg and the obsequiousness of his team was sickening. And Sheryl Sandberg, what a phony. She’s basically disappeared off the planet now, thankfully.
I’ve started James by Percival Everett, the 11th book in my reading project, I was behind a bit, but now I’m caught up.
Protests do work, people https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-017-9439-z
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Sherri said on March 25, 2025 at 7:09 pm
Nobody has resigned, as if we needed any more evidence that nobody in this administration has any honor or integrity.
They’ll just keep attacking Jeff Goldberg, like it’s his fault they sent him classified information.
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Little Bird said on March 25, 2025 at 9:15 pm
I’m likely to use the mace before I try the crowbar (which is within handy reach)
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Sherri said on March 25, 2025 at 9:40 pm
Not satisfied to wait for Congress, Trump has issued an executive order remaking elections the way he wants. He might as well dissolve Congress, because he’s effectively completely taken over Congress’s role.
Not that you’d understand that from reading the stories about it in the NYTimes and WaPo, which merely indicate that challenges are expected. I half expect Trump to issue an EO that says no more rivers can flow into the ocean – American water for Americans! – and the papers to report it credulously while noting that some experts expect difficulty in implementation.
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Jeff Gill said on March 26, 2025 at 7:49 am
King Cnut has entered the chat…
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Sherri said on March 26, 2025 at 10:00 am
Goldberg has published the details he withheld at first, since the administration seems determined to lie about them. I assume what happens next is that Pam Bondi announces charges against Goldberg for hacking and espionage.
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Jeff Borden said on March 26, 2025 at 10:06 am
I lived in the Cleveland area for years, so I still check news sites there. The tRump “administration” recalled semis filled with food valued at $2 million for food depositories in the Cleveland area. The trucks were already on the road! This illustrates just how small, how cold, how evil this bunch is. Meanwhile, tRump thinks the J6 thugs deserve monetary damages for their suffering. We are well and truly screwed.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2025 at 11:06 am
So, let’s recap.
The national security leads of the administration, plus Stephen Miller, used a third party program on their personal cell phones to discuss the pros and cons of attacking a side in a Yemeni civil war that’s basically an Irani-Saudi Arabia proxy way. The goal of the attack seems to have been to “look tough” by taking out a particular leader. They shared intelligence that he had been located walking into his girlfriend’s apartment building, and that that building was reduced to rubble. Much rejoicing ensued.
Reports out of Yemen indicate that 53 people died.
I don’t think any of that makes us look tough.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2025 at 11:58 am
I hope the media doesn’t let this die, it’s not a typical fuck up, it’s a royal fuck up. Somebody needs to be fired, I hope it’s Hegseth but they’ll probably find a lesser to get thrown under the bus.
I’m not sure how many Americans actually know about the seriousness of this or even know that it happened. Probably more than we think. There were actually people who passed by our Tesla protest who were genuinely puzzled about what we were doing there. I don’t think they were faking it, sure some were so they could start an argument. I had 2 people in the 3 times I’ve protested ask me personally what was happening and why, they genuinely didn’t have a clue. How someone can be oblivious to the Doge/Musk mess is beyond me.
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Deborah said on March 26, 2025 at 12:33 pm
to clarify my previous comment, what I meant to say was more people than we think don’t have a clue.
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Jeff Gill said on March 26, 2025 at 1:00 pm
As Jeff Sharlet just said on his “@jeffsharlet.bsky.social” account:
A mistake I fear many are making right now is assuming that most of America knows about the Signal chat. Studies show most people consume no news at all. Rightwing news — which is biggest — is either spinning or ignoring.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2025 at 2:20 pm
Is Musk paying off his Chinese investors?
https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/26/spacex-reportedly-has-a-secret-backdoor-for-chinese-investment/
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Sherri said on March 26, 2025 at 2:46 pm
You can tell that they’re fascists because they’re still out there telling us that the sky is red. Nope, nothing was classified, you’re just trying to make up a hoax because you’re an anti-Trump Democrat.
Russia isn’t the enemy. China isn’t the enemy. The enemies are Democrats and anti-Trumpers and foreign brown people in the US.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2025 at 3:58 pm
Garrett Graff with the most comprehensive look at Signal Clown Corps fiasco I’ve seen:
https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-five-scandals-and-one-fascinating-political-insight-of-signalgate
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FDChief said on March 26, 2025 at 5:29 pm
Sherri – the Graff piece is priceless. These clowns couldn’t organize a child’s birthday party.
Lost in the multitude of fuckups is the issue of the whole ridiculous “concept of operation” involved in the whole magilla.
The notion that the troubles in Yemen can be pushed in any real direction – good or ill – by “more bombing” is the sort of thing that a junior officer deep into Happy Hour at the O-Club couldn’t be drunk enough to endorse. We’ve tried it since WW2 and it hasn’t really moved the strategic needle, culminating in the endless, pointless aerial campaigns over Afghanistan and Iraq. Vann had it figured out sixty years ago; if all you have are bomb runs? You got nothing.
But since these clowns don’t care – this isn’t actual foreign policy, it’s just performative dick-waving – nobody will be fired or even scolded. It’s more important to keep up the fierce struggle against the Woke Mind Virus than govern competently.
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Sherri said on March 26, 2025 at 6:06 pm
One might ask what we’re doing in a Yemen civil are that’s a proxy war for Iran and Saudi Arabia, whether it’s bombing or what. What’s the mission of yet another undeclared war?
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Deborah said on March 26, 2025 at 7:42 pm
Here’s another good article about the current fiasco from the Atlantic by Tom Nichols, who by the way is a former Republican and taught at the War College previously https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/03/signal-group-chat-trump-denials/682179/?gift=e2EpXMuPtOgT-df8U_sJIGz3MTy7SOAD7Ygtae29GkI&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share gift article.
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FDChief said on March 26, 2025 at 10:23 pm
We (as in “the U.S. military”) have been faffing about Yemen for some time. Part of it is a genuine interest in the freedom-of-navigation problems in the Red Sea the Houthis have been poking at – yes, it IS a problem if there are what amounts to “pirates” in the neighborhood – but part of it is, I think, a misaligned “interest” in the Sunni-Shia sectarian war of which this is a proxy fight. I suspect there’s also an element of Trumpian-Saudi beak-wetting; Trump wants slush from the oil sheiks, they want boom from the ferenghis, win-win.
And part is just the inability of the U.S. political classes to stay the fuck out of Middle Eastern conflicts for the same kinds of imperialist thinking that got the British (and French, as often as not) involved in Third World disputes. The savages need sorting out! Take up the White Man’s Burden, &tc…
Trump in particular is a real goof for that nonsense. He couldn’t be arsed to put his bone spurs in harm’s way when it mattered, but now that he can tell OTHER people to do it? Yee-haw, muthafukas!
So I get the sense that:
1. Trump, who has no fucking idea what’s going on in Yemen other than there’s some un-rich-camel-jockeys his Saudi golf buddies hate there, mumbled something about “Tough! Strong! Force! Kill!”
2. Gauleiter Miller, whose job it is to turn Hair Furor’s inane mutterings into something concrete, came up with the idea to do a little Middle East “policy” by bombing this year’s “Al Qaeda #2 leader” and stuff.
3. The rest of this crew, who only care that Dear Leader wants explosions and will explode on THEM if he doesn’t get them, go along to get along.
4. Keep in mind that this is the 2025-equivalent of Conrad’s “warship pointlessly shells jungle” Heart-of-Darkness schtick. There’s literally no way the Houthis can either respond or evade this attack. They don’t have the military capability to shoot down the US aircraft. This is the military equivalent of someone with a rifle “fighting” someone with a stick.
5. So the idiot gang doesn’t really care about communications security. If the Houthis know? What can they do, anyway?
So boom! go a bunch of poor schmoes in Yemen. It’s Tuesday, it must be Bomb Day…
The sad part is that of all the pointless deaths in war these are more-than-usually-pointless. Most of them are just randos caught in steel rain, their deaths will effect nothing – they’re just another pile of bodies in a civil war that has piled up windrows of bodies – and this killing will just be another in the many that have and will be part of this freaking mess.
What could be more Trumpy than that?
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Sherri said on March 27, 2025 at 1:33 am
Timothy Snyder lays out the systemic problems with the administration using Signal: it is not secure against foreign adversaries, but it is secure against judges. Friends, we are the enemy to this administration, not any foreign country.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/signalgate-violating-national-security
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Jeff Gill said on March 27, 2025 at 7:09 am
Hat tip for the on-point Conrad reference.
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Deborah said on March 27, 2025 at 8:10 am
I really need to reread Heart of Darkness, it seems especially fitting these days.
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Jeff Gill said on March 27, 2025 at 8:44 am
“The horror! The horror!”
Coppola, Milius, & Herr swiped their best line from old Joe.
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