So, Ol'Roy went down--at least as of the current results--who knows what perfidy the Alabama Elections Commission might get up to. One holds on to hope.

I would like to say in the spirit of conciliation...

Thank you, to the good people of Alabama who stood up to the shitstorm of GOP soft money, Trumpliguturdlican spokesslugs and the Pussygrabber-in-Chief.

Fuck the rest of you benighted, indignorant, racist, xenophobic, woman-hating, religidiots.

1 down, several hundred to go--at least!

Carry on.
**************************

The bit below is reposted from a comment I left on Gin and Tacos--about 5 minutes ago.

@jcdenton:

Socialist wing of the democratic party? I'm not hearing about  a group of dems wanting to STEER the DNC back to the course that they're supposed to be on. I'm hearing--not from you, but others here--, "Fuck the DNC and their rank and file stooges! Move over and let US run things!". That strategy, I assure you, will not be winning any major races 11 month from now*.

Getting wimpy, soft-on-oligarch dems back in charge is a STEP toward sanity.

Voting progressives into lower office and having them work their way up while building genuine structural elements and establishing funding apparatus that do not depend on massive "gray market" donations from corporate entities is a STEP.

Fielding candidates who don't court ANY single bloc of voters while ignoring/demonizing others is a STEP.

There are other STEPS that should/must be taken to wrest the power of governance from the hands of those who seek to use it ONLY for their own selfish and hateful agendas.

In order to take any of those steps, though, YOU--again, not meaning the "jcdenton 'YOU' "--must first put on your fucking shoes and then wear them out. YOU have to go to boring fucking meetings where self-importan shitheads drone on for long periods about the urgency of cutting taxes for the country club set while raising the price of an overtime parking ticket to $50 'cuz budgetary shortfalls--etc. YOU have to knock on doors and smile while trying to patiently explain to angry people why voting against their interestst got them into the fix that they are now in. YOU have to support, vocally, visibly and locally--YOUR candidate or the candidate that won who is, if not the best, at least better than the other candidate.

NO magic. Fucktons of hard, hard work. It's all NUMBERS. Neither YOU, nor I, nor anyone else wins anything with platitudes--ever.

As I said at the beginning of this screed, it's not directed at the jcdenton "YOU". You may, of course, take any bits that work for you and apply them. I will continue to do what I do which is work on the youngs I meet off of the intertoobz to see if I can get them to understand that informed participation and voting are not just rights but duties of citizenship.*

Thus endeth the rant.




*  democommie hears stirring drum roll, realizes it's only an old fart's fart and lights a candle!




*  I'll be fucking THRILLED to be wrong.

No such thing as a "harmless fool".

On the blog I'm no longer allowed to comment on (well, the most recent such, anyway) there is a tendency to allow commenters to present "arguments" that have been thorougly debunked sometimes in the very thread that they've just popped up in by other commenters with varying levels of probity, head-shaking bemusement, sarcasm and levity.


There is a concern for "civil discourse" which outweighs the concern for actually requiring that commenters who are making the same "argument"--with no basis in fact and an obvious lack of concern for the truth--not deliberately obfuscate, equivocate or simply tell lies.

My well known antipathy for liars and their enablers is not the issue, here. The issue is; What can be done to stop liars from dominating conversations, derailing threads, sowing discord  and otherwise turning the process of commenting into a shitstorm of "Fuck you, you fucking fucker!" jabs and counter punches?

I don't propose banning people for saying things I don't like, or for using a lot of profanity and intemperate remarks. What I do propose, for those who are serious about the blogs being places for discussion instead of name calling and shouting, is that they pay at least as much attention to the comments that are "civil" and, simultaneously, completely (and often deliberately) untrue.

If the truth is less important than civility, we are truly and deeply fucked.

I have moderated my comments here for quite some time. It's not because I actually give a damn what some troll thinks of me. It's also not because of their bluster and threats. It's because I prefer not to have to check my blog on a frequent basis to see what some hate-filled idiot has decided is required of him to post--so he can salve his wounded ego.

I saw the news about the moronazi in VA who decided that running his car into a crowd of Anti-fa demonstrators was the best way to make his point that he's a better person, 'cuz WHITE and PatriotiKKK.

Shortly afterwards, I went to a blog and saw this:

"If he's a domestic terrorist so is BLM and Antifa. They've each caused more death and destruction than this guy."

posted by Ghetto Tarzan.

I am virtually certain that the guy is completely full of shit, but I did ask for citations. And, now, rereading his comment I have to go back and edit MY comment to reflect that I will still need citations to check his math.

The level of politesse, here or anywhere else is of little concern to me if the truth is the first casualty of such policies.

So, I was about to turn off Kimmel and then he says, "We'll be right back, with Diana Krall.".

Class.

Ms. Krall is, for me at least, a wonderful blend of musicianship and magic.

That's really all I wanted to say.

So, not that anybody actually gives a shit about what I'm up to most of the time...

I am not polite to people who don't deserve me--or anyone else--being polite to them. Those persons include but are certainly not limited to trollz on the various blogs I visit.

I am exceedingly impolite to those who insist on being douchenozzles after being told, repeatedly, that they are douchenozzles (and that telling being done in polite terms by other bloggers with more restraint, better breeding or a higher tolerance--possibly due to family dynamics I do NOT want to even imagine).

With that background I decided to post the comment that follows, because it seems to me that a few people might want to read it and it got scrubbed, twice, in a pretty quick hurry.

I have no problem with being banned from a blog. It's happened before, in all likelihood it will happen again. When you say vile, profane things to people it will tend to upset them and, if they have the ability to NOT have to see it, they will do whatever they can to NOT see it. Unless of course you're the current embarassment in the Oval Office. That's a whole different thing.

Here it is:

I see that David Brayton has removed a lot of comments which he finds objectionable--including this one.

"In reply to this from David Brayton:

"DemoCommie--I'm tired of your petulant behavior. Your insults are not welcome. Any more of this behavior and you will be banned."

You gonna ban the trolls, too?

You don't like me, I get that. You don't like the way I talk, I get that too. You tolerate liars and trolls who infest the threads; I don't get that. Can you tell us why?

If you think my insults are inappropriate, I would suggest that you consider why they are going out and to whom they are directed.

Ban me if you like. I'm tired of your threats to ban me for my language on the comments threads or for being something less than your "ideal" of a commenter, while taking no apparent action to eliminate the trolls who have been polluting the threads here for several months, at least. They don't come here to argue or discuss, they come here to stir shit and disrupt the threads--I find it impossible to believe that you don't know that. So, why you tolerate their behaviour and not mine is a question that I would love to hear your answer to.

Do whatever it is that you need to do. I'm tired of being threatened while a far worse thing than my language-- that thing being the absolute dishonesty of the trolls--seems to be perfectly okay with you.

And if you ban me, expect some "Thank you's" from the people whose only purpose in coming here is hijack threads and complain to you about their mistreatment while they're busy taking a dump in the punchbowl.

And I see that it seems you've already started removing my comments, well--so I guess we'll just have to wait and see if you remove this one which doesn't really seem to have any terribly inappropriate language in it.

It appears that lying is okay--as long as we're civil about it."

It's always of course his privilege to do what he likes. Apparently he likes liars and dislikes profanity.

Thanks to those of you who have supported Ed and his blog and provided a lot of information and analysis.

It will be interesting to see if this gets scrubbed off, again. When someone decides to selectively edit what is on a thread--not for reasons of truth and accuracy but to maintain order, well, that's their privilege, as I said. Otoh, removing those other comments that are found objectionable would give most the impression that the persons making them had been the ones who derailed the conversation.

Since this comment will probably be removed--like the one I made last night-- I’ll just have to struggle along with the terrible burden of spending my time somewhere else--which, no doubt, will make Mr. Brayton and at least a few trolls VERY happy.

--------

THIS, is somewhere else. I can say what I like here, knowing that few if any other people will take note of it.

Commenting here is complicated by the fact that a number of genuine scumbagz have the habit of using this place for a toilet. For that reason ALL comments are moderated. That might change when I have a better idea who somebody is, but life is about compromises, I guess> {;>)

Third parties, third rails.

I’m still getting the “Hilz is a terrible person; the Clinton’s are EXACTLY like, I don’t know, HITLER; Trumpligulamygdala is bad, but Hilz is WAY WORSE!” shit from people who get their political education from the blogs instead of fucking HISTORY.

Democrat, Republican,Whig,Federalist are all labels that mean nothing except when you’re in the little black curtained booth.

Basically, for the last 40 or so years, when it’s time to vote; I weigh the options, consider the candidates and their “platforms” (platforms which ARE shape-shifing aliens–or appear to be once the election is over), assess the candidates and their promises and contrast those promises with the candidates past voting record and then vote for anyone with a “D” after their name (unless I know they’re phonies–like BernGarJill) or, if there are no dems running–the closest thing to a dem that is an independent.

The DNC is composed of professional fund-raisers and people who ONLY tell lies when it’s important, which is ALWAYS. They are venal, horrible, untrustworthy, cowardly, tone-deaf, thieving, fucking scum. And yet–they are NEVER as bad as the person who is running against them with an (R) after their name or as a “Conservative, Liberty, Freedom” or other jingobullshit label.

I cannot make people do anything, but I sure as hell can make sure that I don’t agree with them when they have nothing but wishes and dreams to counter cold, hard electoral facts.

Another in a series of self-plaigarized rants from comments I made on another blog.

From Gin&Tacos blog, the comment thread under OP, "Oh for two". 


"You all forgot to add that the Democratic Party is for gun control. Out here they got that one loud and clear."

They may have heard it loud and clear but what they heard was:

"They're gonna take my gunz away and leave me helpless to resist the meximuslicominvaderz and blackthugz and oppressive gummint stormtrooperz who are gonna come and take my gunz, my wimmen and my proppity!".

Is that an oversimplification? Hell, yes, it is. Is it EXACTLY what I hear from people who oppose ANY sort of rational firearms legislation at the national level? Hell, yes, it is.

As of yesterday, Donald FUCKING Trump tweeted:

"Hillary Clinton colluded with the Democratic Party in order to beat Crazy Bernie Sanders. Is she allowed to so collude? Unfair to Bernie,"

This was out there for everyone to read. People of course read it and a LOT of them, not just the Trumpliguturdlicans, saw it and said:

"Well, Donald Trump is a lying sack of shit, a venal scumbag and a pocket Mussolini but, hey–when a guy's right, he's right, right?"

So, a man who anyone with the critical thinking skills of a tomato KNOWS is just an evil, petulant, lying fuck, gains the tiniest sliver of grudging respect or whatever for actually saying what they were THINKING.

IF you have a non-democrat in mind to boost for a seat in Congress, one who is not hopelessly anonymous to the voters* and who isn't incapable of working with people he is ideologically opposed to, then by all means, get out there in the hustings and do so. If you don't–and I'm not seeing a lot of that going on where I live–WHAT are you going to do? Will you stay home like so many millions of voters did in 2016? Will you vote for a candidate who has, statistically, no chance of winning, just to feel good about your choice?

What are you going to do?

When people say there's NO difference between the two major parties they betray their ignorance. There are substantive differences between policy positions and, more importantly, in the perceptions of what a governments at any level is supposed to do.

For the dems, government exists to collect taxes, manage societal programs and ensure the safety of the citizens and the republic.

For the reps, government exists to ensure the safety of the elites and their property, to make it easier for the various oligarchs to plunder the commonweal and to make certain that they have a military establishment and armaments sufficient to take what they want from those who don't want to do business on their terms.

So, yeah, they are not the same.

I'm pretty sure that this will be my new method of posting. I just don't seem to get organized enough to sit down, arrange all of my pens, pencils, post-it-notes and steno pads and then get down to wri--oh, fuck, that's not the proper way to bone tilapia; why the hell would anyone eat that shit, anyway?--where was I?

So, here's another comment/screed from the "Like Shooting Fish in a McMansion" thread over at Gin And Tacos.

Enjoy--or lose your shit, your choice!

_______________________________

In reply to a comment by commenter Srsly:

"I think my reality is a lot fucking harder than yours. Here, in my reality, Donald Trump is the president and the Republicans have dominated the Congress and state houses since 1994, with a two-year break in 2008 brought on by the total collapse of finance, an unpopular war, and a miracle candidate. My "view," and maybe it's just my "personal situation," is that the Democratic Party sucks at elections, and should probably do more to rectify that than blame the imaginary behavior of thousands and thousands of activists who spent a lot of time and money volunteering to campaign for a candidate in their primary."

Really, you think that's somehow DIFFERENT from what I live in. WTF did you do AFTER the primaries were over? Did you stop caring who won?

It sounds like you're really pissed that Hilz got the nod–I get that. I'm still REALLLLLLLY pissed that a lot of U.S. voters preferred the sweet, sweet lies of Nixon, Reagan, B41&B43 and Trumpligula. I remember hoping that the lies would be debunked by the media–before the elections–and that people would come to their fucking senses.I really liked George McGovern; I kinda liked John Anderson, knowing that he had no shot at winning; I despised Mondale and Humphrey; I wasn't fond of Carter, Kerry, Gore OR Barack Obama (who, despite being hobbled by a recalcitrant group of BlueDick dems and a totally obstructionist Congress STILL got some shit done); I liked Bill Clinton's intellect and could never understand why he didn't just keep his dick in his pants–it cost us all, a lot. In sum, I've NEVER voted for a democrat for president that I was on fire for. I've never felt that I really had a choice of "Good, better, best"–it was always, "Meh, WTF? Oh, hell, FUCKING NO!".

The reason that politics are so fucked up is that it takes a special person to be in politics–one who will subsume his principals and pander to his constituents. NOBODY gets elected to any office unless they do that. Now, in some areas–Metro NYC or the middle of Louisiibumfuck, pols, especially incumbents CAN pretty much ignore a fair number of their constituents (up to 49%) and STILL get elected/re-elected. That's simply not the case most places. My City Councilman (turncoat motherfucker), my county rep and my state and U.S. reps and senators ALL try to walk a tightrope and not say the WRONG thing to the WRONG group.

You sound like you want purity in politics–it does not exist.

So, since you are, obviously, a BernJillGarbro, gimme a solution that's workable.

"I'm angry, yes. I have to live in the future imposed upon me by a disgusting minority of Americans.

What did YOU do to prevent the outcome of last year's election being a plebiscite on racism and Hilzhate? What?

What are YOU doing, today, to change the political landscape. Not what are groups you hear about, read about, whatever, doing. What are YOU doing?

Bernie could have won?

WHOA, bro, I don't need a citation for that–there isn't one, btw–you need to figure out why people like me think that people like you are ungrateful for what the dems gave you and your parents since 1932. Don't bother thanking me, I don't need your approval.

BTW, did you talk everyone you know into going to the polls and voting for BernJillGar or was that somebody else's job?

When I was your age, clueless assholes who didn't know shit told me how I should think. I'm not clueless and I don't care how you think, but I can tell you that being resentful that your guy didn't get the nod–and thinking that you're going to change the political landscape of the U.S. from the top down–is navel gazing and counter-productive.

So,. after reading this, what's the opposite of 10KFireemojis?

Well, I guess we just can't HAVE nice health care (or nice anything that includes gummint)!

Dear Reader and morontrollz:

It's been a while since I've posted anything and there seems to have been some changes made. The part below the comment policy caveat is from a comment I made over at Gin and Tacos blog on the "New Math" thread.

Comments are moderated, due to asshat infestations. I will try to get back to check the in-box as often as possible.
___________________________________________

My problem with people like Srsly and some others is that they think that their personal situation and their "views" are reality.

Reality is a fuck of a lot harder than that.

I know people who voted for Trumpligula–few of any of them will admit it. Many of them have children and grand-children who are, at the very least, going to feel the bite of the idiotic policies of the larcenous P-in-C*. I doubt that they've really thought about it yet. When it finally penetrates their thick skulls, they WILL blame dems/Obama/OTHER–anyone but themselves–for the outcome of their childish petulance and its disastrous results. Fuck'em. I feel for their kids but them? Fuck'em.

I have been listening to underinformed, deliberately ignorant and maliciously dishonest people who WANT to make sure that others can't HAVE what they do, 'cuz REASONS–for as long as I've been able to understand them. Sixty years+ of mouth-breathing, pissed-off, willingly conned rubes. Fuck'em

I'm gonna die in the next whatever number of years having never been wealthy or even close to it–in the terms of people who count property and leisure activity as those things of great value–and yet I will have lived a far better, more secure and less precarious life, by far, than literally MILLIONS of people who haved worked just as hard.

Why might that be you? BECAUSE I'm white. Yes, there are other factors but BEING white is the single marker that separates me from approximately 30% of the people who live in this country. Being white gives me an automatic boost in the line. Being a male, another boost. Nominally Christian, now we're talkin'! I'm ahead of about 75-80% of USAians–at the start. Now, I'm old, slow, lazy, pissed-off (but relatively aware of all of those things) so the fact that people without all of my privilege and advantage stream past me should NOT be as surprise. For me, it is NOT a surprise but, obviously, for a lot of men–white, christian men–it IS. This situation is not the fault of the people who are darker, femaler, harder working, better educated, etc.,. It is a simple, fucking FACT.

It has become the ONLY strategy in GOP electioneering to OTHER everyone except the candidate of their party and that candidate's vocal, ardent, visible supporters. Vilification of the OTHER is cheaper, easier and, in terms of "winning", far more effective than any other strategy. That the loyal cadre are viewed by the party apparatchiks as simply useful idiots never seems to penetrate their conciousness and diminish their reflexive, tribal loyalty.

The democratic party is viewed by many as having "sold out" to Wall Street and the other BIGS. That this view is often held by people who received educations; gummint sponsored/guaranteed loans for homes, educations and business start-ups/expansions; union representation and workplace protection; safe food, water and air–largely through the efforts of democratic legislators and despite the obstruction of republicans seems to never occur to them. Fuck'em.

They're stupid, exclusionary, racist, misogynistic tribal assholes. Fuck'em.


* Plundercrat-in-chief