The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

Gen Z seems to be refusing to swallow the bullshit the rest of us grew up having fed to us. A shame I'll be close to aging out by the time they get much political power.

The Madison Square Garden rally, operatic in its repulsive bigotry, will almost certainly alienate more voters who might have voted for Trump.

Will it really? Is there someone out there who didn't know until this event that he was a bigot and an awful person and is now going to change their mind?

As for whether he forgives Morrissey, Carroll said: “I guess I would have to say yes in the spirit of forgiveness, reluctantly. But if I had to be a smartass, I’d say her apology holds about as much water as my canvas bag.”

Rock on buddy.

I read that and was like "of fucking course they did." Honestly the next paragraph makes it even worse, IMO.

Authorities were heard asking the man – “May I help you, sir?” – at first but as soon as he was engulfed in flames they started yelling at him to get down on the ground. They even drew their guns on the burning man before someone pushed them to get fire extinguishers to extinguish the fire.

Threats of physical violence are the only tool they have in their toolbox. THE ONLY tool.

“People are in disbelief that they would be making this kid into a hero,” he told Fortune.

Attending a conference for CEOs in New York this week, just blocks away from the site of the shooting, George found that many were shaken and deeply concerned by the reaction to Thompson’s killing. “They’re having plenty of meetings right now to discuss beefing up security,” he said of the business leaders, even as some question how much security coverage is enough. People are asking themselves, “‘What does that say about our society? Where’s our society going?’” George said.

So they've learned absolutely nothing.

Plenty of meetings to beef up security. How about plenty of meetings to understand how your greed has caused this? They sound one logical leap (that they are unwilling to make) away from understanding exactly what the problem is.

They managed to find one and only one CEO quote that reflected anything resembling self-awareness.

“When I was growing up, CEOs didn’t make millions more than everyone else in the company. I think we have to reflect on why there’s so much anger and do something about it.”

In case you weren't referencing this, be amazed:

https://www.businessinsider.com/...

So, in other words, Trump is going to do exactly what he told us he would do.

I'm cool with that, but folks should also remember this:

Sofia Orr is likely to become the first woman since then to be jailed for refusing military service, but believes it is ‘wrong to take children and make them into soldiers’

And she's right.

I’ve often thought about that moment—the unnecessary injection of racial anxiety into my otherwise normal school day—when I think about the irony of progressive identity politics. My parents, both born in India but educated in America, would laugh about their well-intentioned but misguided friends who, in their eagerness to ward off the idea of “otherness,” ended up contributing to it.

So the people who knew the country well enough to see what was coming told you what was coming. You ignored them, your parents laughed at them.

But then a few days ago, I opened X to see my feed populated with anti-Indian vitriol—calling the country where my parents were born “filthy” and its people “filthy and undesirable.” Some condemned these comments but many others agreed, and still others criticized the critics for crying racism. But I could see it for what it was: raw bigotry.

Huh.

But now, we must all reckon with an ugly part of the MAGA agenda they did not realize existed.

Everyone who's head wasn't buried in the sand or laughing about "the irony of progressive politics" realized they existed.

And so, if Trump’s win is a revolutionary moment for MAGA, the people who voted for the revolution need to define which MAGA they believe in. Does “making America great again” revive the ideals of this country—or the grievances of a group of “native-born” Americans? If MAGA chooses the latter, those on the left who were dismissed as hysterical for crying racism will be vindicated in the worst way.

Whew, still not getting it I see. MAGA has made that choice already, and it hasn't moved one bit during the time MAGA has existed.

I didn’t want to fracture that pride with the news of an ugly turn in our country’s politics. How do you tell someone the country they’ve loved for 50 years is harboring a growing faction that wishes he’d never come?

I think you can only tell them to pay attention next time and not laugh at those trying to give you a clue.

My grandfather voted for Trump three times. Now, part of that movement is calling immigrants like him ‘filthy.’

Your grandfather empowered them and is part of the problem.

Damn, it's only January and my schadenfreude gland is already getting fatigued.

So in other words, there was every reason to realize that this guy shouldn't have access to a gun and a badge, but neither his coworkers nor his supervisors did anything about it.

AND THAT is why people say ACAB, because the other police who allowed this man to remain an officer are 100% complicit in this outcome.

Why do we have to wait until they fucking execute someone to do something about it?

Edit: And the bootlicker who downvoted without even the courage to disagree openly can go eat a bag of dicks.

People keep trying to convince me it's not evidence of two justice systems.

But it is.

And a huge chunk of the country somehow goes, "Yep, just what I'm looking for in November."

Is this not very clearly a public demonstration of how absolutely pwned he is by Russia? Am I reading too much into this? This feels like the kind of thing that gets revealed with dramatic musical effects in a spy movie when someone looks over and sees a headline or a news clip.

In other news, A Lot of Americans Are Googling ‘What Is Oligarchy?’ After Biden’s Farewell Speech.

Missouri’s Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, has fought to allow the execution to proceed.

"The attorney general’s office, who had nothing to do with this whatsoever, are the ones who are trying to lead him to the death chamber. It’s pretty startling and extraordinary.”

I recognize that this is a horrible tragedy for this man and his family, and I hope there is somehow a last-second reprieve, but let this be yet another reminder - R is the party for those with no empathy, no compassion, no concern for anyone not like them. (and that includes the ones jumping from Trump's sinking ship to cozy up to Harris.) If a Republican is running for any position in your town, any at all, vote for someone else.

Lady, he’s actively courting white supremacists and you are not white.

She's pretty sure the leopards won't eat her face though.