The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
P says:
National Weather Service.
That's all.
You'd do the same.
Christina says:
What the hell is wrong with Engineering schools? That's at least two now.
I work in an Engineering school. I'm thinking about getting hazard insurance.
Matthew says:
I'm impressed that people are already politicizing the issue before the damn bodies are even cold. Jack Thompson, anti-video game activist, was on Fox News today blaming the shooting on video games, with absolutely no evidence whatsoever.
Also, on CNN, Gregg MCCrary warns that now is the time to be worried about more events like this happening, because people can get put "over the edge" by events like these. Which is in no way an alarmist attempt to get people to hide in their homes, under their covers, with CNN on.
Surprisingly, nobody asked the only question that needed asking: "Without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?"
Nick says:
There's politicization from every side of every facet possible. It was because we have too many violent video games/movies/TV shows/rock bands, it was because we have too many guns, it was because we don't have enough guns, etc, etc. Really, I just hate everyone.
Jude says:
according to ESPN, we're all missing the point. The true blessing here is that nobody from the respective football & basketball programs was hurt in the spree.
No lie. They said that in so many words on the 5pm SportsCenter the day of the shooting…as though this were a sports story of ANY consequence for them to be covering in the first place…
Clowns.