US Politics Thread |OT| SAD TRUMP

[chronovore]

https://twitter.com/jules_su/status/899707355180527616

[Steve Contra]

https://www.facebook.com/topic/Mitch-McConnell/108926775791837?source=whfrt&position=1&trqid=6456888632359841939

Mitch McConnell has a keikaku* to raise the debt ceiling

*translators note: keikaku means significant chance congress lets us default

[Joe Molotov]

President Donald Trump on Monday laid out goals for the war in Afghanistan, saying he will not announce dates or troop levels but "from now on victory will have a clear definition."

In a primetime speech, Trump said those objectives will include "obliterating ISIS" and "preventing the Taliban from taking over Afghanistan."

Oh, okay. I wish we'd thought of that sooner.

[benjipwns]

Both things Hillary didn't think of while she was in the White House. Checkmate, lieburals.

[bluemax]

https://twitter.com/natemcdermott/status/899798155495182336

Amazing.

[benjipwns]

 

 

[benjipwns]

the debate in the replies instead of loving the country as much as tucker 

[nachobro]

tucker the god

[team filler]

He gets paid to do this. I would ham it up and troll the shit out of everyone too.

[benjipwns]

i'm partially convinced some of his guests/stories are his staff trying to see if they can get him to break that fake "listening in utter fascinated disbelief" face

[benjipwns]

like these were obvious but it was back before Tucker got O'Reilly's slot so i think it's like the preseason, you can't include these in his career numbers:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[benjipwns]

Sam Clovis, Donald Trump's pick to be chief scientist for the Department of Agriculture, has argued that homosexuality is a choice and that the sanctioning of same-sex marriage could lead to the legalization of pedophilia, a CNN KFile review of Clovis' writings, radio broadcasts, and speeches has found.

Clovis made the comments between 2012 and 2014 in his capacity as a talk radio host, political activist, and briefly as a candidate for US Senate in Iowa. His nomination has drawn criticism from Senate Democrats, who argue his lack of scientific background makes him unqualified for the USDA post overseeing science.

At a campaign stop during his failed campaign for the Republican Senate nomination in Iowa, Clovis said the science was still out but "as far as we know" being LGBT is choice. Clovis then concludes the protecting of LGBT people could mean that pedophilia would also be protected.

"Someone who engages in LGBT behavior -- I don't know what the science is on this, I think it's still out -- but as far as we know, LGBT behavior is a choice they make," Clovis says in a video obtained by CNN's KFile.

"So we're being asked to provide Constitutional protections for behavior, a choice in behavior as opposed to a primary characteristic."

"There's no equivalency there between the civil rights issue associated between those protected classes and the civil rights of someone who engages in a particular behavior," continues Clovis. "Follow the logic, if you engage in a particular behavior, what also becomes protected? If we protect LGBT behavior, what other behaviors are we going to protect? Are we going to protect pedophilia? Are we going to protect polyamorous marriage relationships? Are we going to protect people who have fetishes? What's the logical extension of this? It can't be that we're going to protect LGBT and then we'll pull up the ladder. That's not going to happen, it defies logic. We're not thinking the consequences of these decisions through."

wait for it...

Asked for comment on Clovis' beliefs surrounding the science of homosexuality, a USDA spokeswoman told CNN: "The Supreme Court settled the issue in 2015."

The science was settled in the appropriate manner. So stop your complaining lieburals.

[Mandark]

He gets paid to do this. I would ham it up and troll the shit out of everyone too.

Pretty sure he's a trust-fund kid, so he might just be doing this cause he wants to.

[benjipwns]

the elder son of Richard Warner Carlson, a former Los Angeles news anchor and U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles, who was also president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and director of Voice of America. His mother is the former Lisa McNear Lombardi,[4] and his stepmother is the former Patricia Caroline Swanson, an heiress to the Swanson frozen-food fortune (daughter of Gilbert Carl Swanson and granddaughter of Carl A. Swanson) and a niece of Senator J. William Fulbright.

sweet sweet frozen-food empire money

also recently got a book deal:

The Fox News host and longtime conservative commentator has a two-book deal with Threshold Editions, the publisher told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

No details were immediately available about the books by Carlson, who has become one of Fox's biggest names with the departures of Megyn Kelly and Bill O'Reilly. Numerous publishers had expressed interest in him and his literary agency, Javelin, says the deal is worth eight figures.

[benjipwns]

John Fund of "voter fraud" fame and National Review or renowned and beloved The Bore poster etoliate?

Sadly, a quarter century after the fall of Communism, too many leftists are still ignoring Orwell and refusing to acknowledge the reality of left-wing brutality. In the wake of Charlottesville, eyewitnesses and reporters agreed that while the violence was instigated by neo-Nazis and white nationalists, it was countered with bloody counterattacks by left-wingers and black-shirted anarchists wearing masks. There was a clear asymmetric outcome to the violence: A white nationalist mowed down protestors with his car, killing a 32-year-old woman.

But that didn’t mean there were no victims of left-wing violence. Antifa — short for “anti-fascist” — protestors came armed with pepper spray, bricks, and clubs. Antifa members believe that racist speech is violence and that they must counter it physically, not just oppose it with rhetoric or better ideas.

As the New York Daily News reported, among antifa’s victims were journalists:

Taylor Lorenz of The Hill was punched in the face by an antifa for recording a fight between the two groups; she tweeted that her assaulter told her not to “snitch, media bitch.” A videographer from Richmond’s WTVR covering a counter-protest got a concussion from head blows with a stick.

In addition, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times tweeted from Charlottesville:

The hard left seemed as hate-filled as alt-right. I saw club-wielding “antifa” beating white nationalists being led out of the park.

Nor is Charlottesville the only place that antifa activists have crossed the line. Peter Beinart has a piece in this month’s Atlantic magazine noting that rioting by antifa forces forced University of California at Berkeley officials to cancel speeches by Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopolous earlier this year.

On Friday, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held its monthly meeting in Washington. A liberal member introduced a stirring denunciation of the Nazi, KKK and white-nationalist participants in the Charlottesville rally.

But then Commission member Gail Heriot introduced an amendment that would have added the following:

Though we support peaceful protest and note that most of the counter-demonstrators were peaceful, we condemn violence by anyone, including violence by so-called antifa demonstrators.

Heriot, an independent, was supported in her amendment by Peter Kirsanow, a Republican appointee and African American from Cleveland. But they received no other support from the five commission members appointed by Democrats. Chairwoman Catherine Lhamon complained that Heriot’s amendment would “water down” the main resolution, when all it did was make clear that the commission wished to condemn violence of any kind.

Karen Narasaki, another commission member, scoffed at Heriot’s reading of Stolberg’s New York Times observation about the antifa activists in Charlottesville. As she voted against Heriot’s amendment, she noted, “You can’t believe everything you read in the media.” Apparently, the “paper of record” for so many liberals is to be considered bird-cage lining material if it contradicts the left-wing narrative. Heriot’s amendment was voted down 6–2.

Meanwhile, also in Real America: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/08/paul-ryan-gets-destroyed-twitter-refusing-condemn-antifa-violence/

Speaker Ryan took to his social media Monday to condemn the white supremacists in Charlottesville AGAIN, yet remained completely silent about the violence from Antifa towards Trump supporters and police officers.

Paul Ryan sent out FOUR tweets condemning white supremacism. In one tweet he called white supremacy a ‘scourge’. He still has yet to condemn Islamic terrorism after a Muslim terrorist killed 13 in Barcelona including an American citizen. CRICKETS.

As previously reported, Boston Police Department Commissioner William Evans told reporters on Saturday that leftist protesters hurled bottles full of urine at the police.

27 leftists were arrested.

Antifa were also throwing rocks and cement-filled cans at Trump supporters, yet Paul Ryan refuses to condemn these crimes committed by violent left-wing terrorists. Instead, he doubles down on his attacks on President Trump. Paul Ryan is a traitor and he needs to be removed as Speaker of the House.

Donald Huber · Hamilton College
Thank you for posting this. As I said yesterday Paul Ryan is directly responsible for Charlotesville...He leads a political system of race shaming his own voters that disenfranchizes alienated white republicans that is radicalizing movements toward more fringe groups . Sad truth is the vestiges of the Klan have more fellowship to offer issues facing white men than " me too " Rs who play the same evil game of race mongering politics the Democrats have set against whites since the 60s.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Patty • 2 hours ago
I don't know if he loves Antifa for bashing people in the head or likes the fact that Antifa will be the only ones who may vote for him. Maye though just maybe it is all the cash that their employer Soros will give him.

No matter, he is going to be voted out of office.

Tundra  Eduardo Medrano • 30 minutes ago
Most of them are likely homosexual too, an offshoot of LGBTQ, think about it, militant females and sissy, emasculated Omega-males.

Barbara • 2 hours ago
Yes, Ryan is surely a $oro$ puppet. The American people have spoken and signed the petition for our President to recognize Antifa as a 'terrorist organization'...180,000 of us!

libateriana • 2 hours ago
Can anyone think of one republican congressman or woman that condemned AntiFA? I cannot think of ONE

Alice Morland • 2 hours ago
I always had a really bad intuitive feeling about Obama before I knew anything about him, and my gut feeling turned out to be right. I have always had the exact same feeling about Ryan. I can barely look at his picture, it's that strong. Just bad, really really bad. This one's gotta go.

deadtiredoftheLeft  ★FALCON★ • 41 minutes ago
So far, we know the Clinton campaign or Foundation, insurance companies, Chamber of Commerce, & Soros all pay into the Paul Ryan campaign fund or directly to him. Who else? It's why he's able to pay $50 million into the House Republican fund to retain his Speaker seat. He doesn't know how to get a bill passed, so why is he the speaker?

k9style • 2 hours ago
And come 2018 hopefully the voters of Wisconsin won't tolerate Paulosi Ryancy any longer.

butchz • 9 minutes ago
Lyin ryan is probley a #pizzagate!

[close]

Now that this eclipse is over and people will be able to sit down and study D'Souza's book, things will really turn for the far-left RINO Demonrats like Paul Ryan and Johm McCain.

[bluemax]

This Clovis guy seems like a real piece of shit. Also how can he be appointed to chief scientist when he isn't a scientist?

[chronovore]

https://juliusgoat.blogspot.jp/2017/01/sky.html

A long, depressing, but good read.

[Joe Molotov]

This Clovis guy seems like a real piece of shit. Also how can he be appointed to chief scientist when he isn't a scientist?

[agrajag]

because science is a hoax created by china to cuckblock our economy

[Joe Molotov]

https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/899802981280993280

Put hedge fund managers and their trophy wives in charge of the Treasury, brehs. 

[agrajag]

if filled with hunanity means happy ending I'm in for a nice massage 

[agrajag]

BTW, where is Etiolate? Has he gone dark doing deep undercover work on the Seth Rich conspiracy?

[Phoenix Dark]

In an interview with Vox, Schatz revealed that he’s preparing a new bill that could grant more Americans the opportunity to enroll in Medicaid by giving states the option to offer a "buy-in" to the government program on Obamacare's exchanges.

His proposal would expand the public health insurance program from one that covers only low-income Americans to one open to anyone seeking coverage, depending on what each state does. The idea is similar to the government-run “public option” that some Democrats advocated for during the battle over the Affordable Care Act’s passage.

Schatz’s bill would give all states the option of opening up their Medicaid programs to uninsured Americans who wish to purchase coverage. It would be similar, functionally, to how states currently have the option under Obamacare to expand their program to all Americans making less than 133 percent of the federal poverty line (about $15,000 for an individual).

It would preserve Medicaid as is for the low-income Americans who already are enrolled on the program. But it would let those who are currently too high-income to qualify pay a premium to join the program. Those who qualify for Affordable Care Act tax credits would be able to use the subsidies to buy into the Medicaid program, just as they do right now to buy private coverage on the marketplace. That would make Medicaid into the Affordable Care Act’s public option, creating another insurance plan in markets with few or no private plans and putting private payers in competition with the much cheaper Medicaid system.

The Schatz bill would also raise Medicaid’s payment rates to doctors and hospitals to match those of the Medicare program. Currently, the Medicaid prices are 72 percent of those that Medicare pays — which in turn pays less than private insurers. Raising Medicaid prices to be equal would likely lure more doctors to participate in the program — but also make Medicaid (and the premiums to buy into Medicaid) significantly more expensive.

Schatz says he’s aware of the trade-off — that higher prices will drive up the cost of the buy-in — but believes it’s a worthwhile one to make, to ensure buy-in enrollees have access to a wide network of doctors.

“You pay providers more; that doesn’t come from thin air,” Schatz says. “My judgment is you’re going to get better uptake if you have a broader provider network, and the more participants, the better the risk pool and the better the score.”

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/22/16171160/schatz-health-care-medicaid

We've been saying this for years. The path to a public option is pretty obvious in Obamacare: significantly expand Medicaid, increase doctor reimbursement rates, and change the name. Hell and after the Trumpcare failure you might not even need to change the name - Medicaid is clearly more popular now. 

I don't really think single payer is going to happen anytime soon, nor do I buy the idea that Sanders can write a decent bill. People freak out at the idea of losing insurance, whether it's decent insurance or trash insurance. We saw that this year, and we saw it when the Obamacare markets went up and some people lost their (trash) catastrophic plans. So how you sell 150 million+ people that you're going to get rid of their plans and offer something better...ehh


(I support single payer in theory of course, I'm just saying I don't think it's feasible to jump from what we have now to that)

[Joe Molotov]

www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a57138/tucker-carlson-trump-eclipse

We've played right into his hands, benji help!

[CatsCatsCats]

Coward

[Mandark]

So how you sell 150 million+ people that you're going to get rid of their plans and offer something better...ehh

Yup yup yup yup.

There's a reason so many national health insurance schemes were implemented in the 40's and 50's. Truman's plan was probably the best shot we had and ever since its failure we've largely been patching up the holes (or not).

[nachobro]

BTW, where is Etiolate? Has he gone dark doing deep undercover work on the Seth Rich conspiracy?

i predict a return once a democrat screws up in some way, justifying his absence with the "I have a life, unlike you nerds" option select.

[Madrun Badrun]

Guess Jesus got the wheel now. 

[thisismyusername]

Not overly political but tangental to shit that is happening currently:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/the-road-to-hate-for-six-young-men-of-the-alt-right-charlottesville-is-only-the-beginning/2017/08/19/cd1a3624-8392-11e7-b359-15a3617c767b_story.html

This is a decent article. I suggest folks read it.

[seagrams hotsauce]

The complete lack of self awareness of those dudes is staggering. *drops out of college to play drums in a metal band* "WHY IS MY LIFE SO SHITTY!? SURE IT CAN'T BE THE OBVIOUSLY TERRIBLE LIFE CHOICES I MADE, BLACK PEOPLE WORK AT WAL-MART SO IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT"

[chronovore]

I made the mistake of watching the Richard Spencer and Charles Barkley interview, and then trying to find a better version of it to share. The YouTube instances of the interview all seem to be uploaded by white supremacists, who have watched the exact same interview, and think it argues FOR their point.

I'm experiencing such deep cognitive dissonance right now, I'm literally dizzy.

[Human Snorenado]

"Hey, you know Uncle Donny, the one that always forwards conspiracy theory emails and is a whole lot racist? Now, just hear me out... but what if we made him President?"

[bluemax]

Live in a country where your president rants and rambles for 2 hours like a guy outside of your local library who is convinced the Masons are trying to read his mind through his shoe laces, brehs 

Yo in my neighborhood that guy lives in his truck, thank you very much.

(I legit saw a dude rant about Free Masons and their mind control powers once)

In other news:

https://twitter.com/buckweaver/status/900209881101238273

[Joe Molotov]

Trump literally can't go 24 hours without going off the rails. Whenever he gives a teleprompter speech, it must just eat him up inside.

[T-Short]

https://twitter.com/KTAR923/status/900154388643061760

[FStop7]

If roofies took human form.

[Joe Molotov]

[Himu]

Is trump blind yet

[Boredfrom]

I understand he only was to appeal to his base but I still cannot see a logical reason to pardon Arpio when even Trump knows is a idea that is going to backfire horrible, announcing that shit is not going to make it better when he does it. If anything,, Trump seem to understand why people freaked out last week given his omisions (or his thin veiled allusions) like the many sides shit and he is still coward enough to not go all in safe space. It feels more like this rallies are more like seeing a junkie getting his shoot than some sort of genuine political movement.

[Great Rumbler]

That's pretty much exactly what it is. Trump hates the actual act of governing and doesn't want to do it, but he absolutely loves the attention he gets from signing executive orders and legislation. With those dwindling of late, he's drifting back to campaign mode so he can get the massive, cheering crowds that he craves. His approval rating could be 10% and he wouldn't care as long as that 10% continued to turn out for rallies.

[Brehvolution]

They'll nuke the filibuster and try to add it back before the next election.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Only to get filibustered.

[close]

[Boredfrom]

That's pretty much exactly what it is. Trump hates the actual act of governing and doesn't want to do it, but he absolutely loves the attention he gets from signing executive orders and legislation. With those dwindling of late, he's drifting back to campaign mode so he can get the massive, cheering crowds that he craves. His approval rating could be 10% and he wouldn't care as long as that 10% continued to turn out for rallies.

He could just have become a preacher/Guru/selfmotivationalguide while still having his company. I know that his narcissim is a impediment to actually act like a rational human being but why keep the lie when your are miserable the 90% of the time, the fucker cannot even take a vacation without getting triggered because job and twitter. It feels that one part of him is autodestructive than just simple narcissim, he understands that the wall is pure BS, he understands that the "many sides" make him a Nazi apologist, he understands that perdoning Arpio will only get his base of rednecks excited to the point that someone is going to do something stupid as Charlotsville, he now knows that not even his base can be excited for getting rid of Obamacare, he seems to understand he had a happier life when he was just a rich shit talker with a reality show.

Is he that pathetic?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I know that the anwser is Yes, but still blows my mind that someone that obviously unhinged can be tolerated because US politics and having a sychopant family and social circle

[close]

[Boredfrom]

I think you're giving him too much credit. I'm pretty sure he genuinely believes he can do a great job and is taking an aggressive fake it till you make it approach to one of the most important jobs in the world. Dude made up fake news, but he probably does see it as fake news because no way can he be wrong. He got lucky in that there's enough people who'll eat his shit up because they want to believe it too.

And that's exactly why the US will be suffering under the worst president of all time for four years, possibly eight.

Well yes, I still think he is delusional enough to believe his own lies most of the time, but it feels that there moments of enough coherence to understand why some BS is not going to fly during his rallies. If anything that makes him more of a pathetic coward.

[Boredfrom]

If anything, this seven months has showed that the guy can barely function without someone babysittering and even then he is going to inevitable create a problem that is going to fuck his enablers and family.

But I doubt he forgets most of the stuff when going ham, that he admited that The Wall talk was a bunch of BS to Peña Nieto is telling that he is aware that his bravado in the rallies are useless when shit hits the fan, he just prefers to conveniently ignore it until called out.

The guy is a dangerous mix of stupid, delusional and malicious

[benjipwns]

www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a57138/tucker-carlson-trump-eclipse

We've played right into his hands, benji help!

[Brehvolution]

... but I can spot tucker a mile away. 

[Joe Molotov]

"We are not defined by the color of our skin, the figure on our paycheck or the party of our politics. We are defined by our shared humanity -- by our citizenship in this magnificent nation, and by the love that fills our hearts," Trump said, adding, "This is the future we can build together if we have the courage to act, the strength to endure and the patriotism to join together with true affection for our fellow citizen."

Okay, now he's definitely just fucking with us.

[Brehvolution]

trump's getting close to Clayton Bigsby territory.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

[close]

[Mandark]

https://twitter.com/HouseGOP/status/900484476664524805

[Great Rumbler]

The action-adventure game was released in 1986, only one year after Nintendo’s founding in 1985.

Also, spoiler:

spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Legend of Zelda franchise and the American tax code actually don't have more in common than anyone thinks.

[close]

[Joe Molotov]

LOLGOP is now the official HouseGOP twitter account?

[bluemax]

If anything, this seven months has showed that the guy can barely function without someone babysittering and even then he is going to inevitable create a problem that is going to fuck his enablers and family.

But I doubt he forgets most of the stuff when going ham, that he admited that The Wall talk was a bunch of BS to Peña Nieto is telling that he is aware that his bravado in the rallies are useless when shit hits the fan, he just prefers to conveniently ignore it until called out.

The guy is a dangerous mix of stupid, delusional and malicious

People said this during his entire campaign and yet here we are.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/Trilladelphian/status/900070568615190528

benji uncharacteristically silent after this news. Is he consulting with fellow Yum Brands lobbyists? Or has he escaped back to his comment section resort?

Only Ben Shapiro knows.

https://twitter.com/santovalentino/status/900460767522181120

[benjipwns]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-insidious-libertarian-to-alt-right-pipeline

Libertarianism has an alt-right problem. Many prominent leaders of the alt-right have, at some point, identified as libertarian. I am curious as to… why?

Milo Yiannopoulos has billed himself (and has been billed by others) as libertarian. About a year ago, he came clean about that. According to Business Insider, the alt-right troll Tim Gionet (aka “Baked Alaska”) formerly “identified as a carefree, easygoing libertarian” who “supported Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s bid for the White House, firmly opposed the war on drugs, and championed the cause of Black Lives Matter…”

Gavin McInnes bills himself as a libertarian, but he founded the Proud Boys―a men’s rights group that is considered part of the alt-right. Augustus Invictus, a Florida attorney who literally drank goat’s blood as part of an animal sacrifice, ran for senate in the 2016 Libertarian Party primary and spoke at Liberty Fest. Recently popular among college libertarians, Stefan Molyneux evolved into a pro-Trump alt-righter. And Richard Spencer was thrown out of the International Students for Liberty conference this year after crashing the event.

The Ron Paul Revolution might not have amounted to much electorally, but it would be wrong to underestimate the impact he has had on libertarianism and the alt-right. “In a way, Ron Paul is the guy who lit the fuse,” Nick Gillespie says. “And he embodies some of those contradictions [between libertarianism and the alt-right].” Gillespie tells me that Richard Spencer came up to him at the Republican National Convention in 2016 and said that he was activated into politics because of Paul. Gillespie sees Paul’s legacy as very mixed, as someone who was “simultaneously… positing this very libertarian worldview, but then he’s also speaking to people’s fears and anxieties.” If one were looking for the missing link to explain this phenomenon, Ron Paul (and his paleolibertarian allies) would be a good place to start.

David Boaz provided yet another explanation. “Some people may become libertarians because they’re angry,” Boaz says. “For a while, it’s enough to be angry at the government. But ultimately libertarianism is about peaceful cooperation―markets, civil society, global trade, peace―so it just isn’t angry enough for some people. Racial intolerance is a way to be angry at the whole world. And I think you hear that in some of the alt-right types.”

...

On a post-Charlottesville blog post, Cantwell discussed his conversion from libertarianism to the alt-right. “As immigration became a leading news story in America and Europe,” he writes, “Lew Rockwell gave a talk titled ‘Open Borders Are an Assault on Private Property.’ From here, I decided to read Hans Hermann Hoppe’s ‘Democracy: The God That Failed.’ From these, I realized that the libertine vision of a free society was quite distorted. The society we sought actually would provide far more order and control than [would] modern democratic governments. It would encourage more socially conservative behavior and less compulsory association. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, I was once again reminded of my naivety.”

Cantwell continues, “People should be free to exercise complete control over their own person and property. If blacks are committing crimes, or Jews are spreading communism, discriminating against them is the right of any property owner. The fact that he may or may not miss out on good blacks or Jews is a risk he takes, and the merit of his decisions will be proven out by the market. Since a libertarian society would permit this, it seemed foolish that I should be compelled to support a democratic government policy which did not… It was only after all this that Donald Trump seemed worth taking seriously.”

Gillespse's typical rejoinder style that includes "but but they're not really ever truly libertarian" for Milo or Spencer before actually agreeing: http://reason.com/blog/2017/08/23/is-there-really-an-insidious-libertarian

Me handing another L to Coward Steve Contra via Jonathan Adler: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/08/23/does-libertarianism-have-an-alt-right-problem/

One factor I’d add (and that we’ve discussed on Volokh before) is the misplaced affinity for the Confederacy among some libertarians. War tends to increase the growth of government, and some libertarians note that the federal government grew during the Civil War. This leads some to the (terribly mistaken) conclusion that the Confederacy was somehow the more libertarian side in that conflict. This idea is reinforced by revisionist historical accounts that try to claim the war was really over tariffs (a claim which used to be taught in some high school textbooks, especially in the South), or that President Abraham Lincoln had a particularly monstrous record on civil liberties. Neither claim is true. The South explicitly seceded over slavery, and however bad Lincoln’s civil liberties records was, the South’s was far worse (and was worse even when one tries to discount slavery). [For more on the problem of misplaced Confederate sympathies among libertarians, I recommend this 2013 BHL post by Jacob Levy.]

http://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/20/conservative-libertarian-movements-need-purge-white-supremacists-leaders-ideology/

These backwards-thinking white nationalists and the commentators who cater to them need to be rejected, not just because of their policies but the fact that they give certain politicians and media outlets the chance to paint a broad brush across actual conservatives and libertarians. For every Justin Amash or Mike Lee, there is a neoconfederate-backed Corey Stewart. For every Ludwig von Mises or Thomas Sowell or Matt Kibbe, who preach the importance of liberty and limited government open to all, there is a Paul Gottfried or Pat Buchanan or Chris Cantwell, who charge after the windmill of “multiculturalism” while moralizing about the strong state like a preacher spitting out epithets on hellfire and brimstone. These grifters of “American values” are indeed the minority, but ones who will not stop trying to sneak in with the crowd inside the big tent.

They have long sought to infiltrate those groups who believe in smaller, weaker government with racial and quite loony beliefs. William F. Buckley recounted his fight against John Birch Society founder Robert Welch in Commentary, describing a 1964 clandestine meeting between he, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, Russell Kirk, and American Enterprise Institute founder William Baroody. The quartet decided to attack Welch in various different ways, to keep him from gaining further strength within the movement. Libertarians were quick to expunge Merwin Hart for anti-Semitism, thanks to the work of Foundation for Economic Education creator Leonard Read. The guardians of the gate were quick to make sure no white supremacists sneaked in, regardless of whatever Trojan horse they tried to hide inside.

Yet the conservative and libertarian movement of the last decade has passively accepted these insufferables, as long as they give lip service to limited government or key social conservative viewpoints like abortion and gay marriage.

bonus, Ben Shapiro tells us what he really thinks about Milo while the screengrab is from a completely different event:

[benjipwns]

BTW, where is Etiolate? Has he gone dark doing deep undercover work on the Seth Rich conspiracy?

Between his job at MIT:

"As for Antifa, it's a minuscule fringe of the Left, just as its predecessors were," Noam Chomsky told the Washington Examiner. "It's a major gift to the Right, including the militant Right, who are exuberant."

Chomsky said, "what they do is often wrong in principle – like blocking talks – and [the movement] is generally self-destructive."

"When confrontation shifts to the arena of violence, it's the toughest and most brutal who win – and we know who that is," said Chomsky, a professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "That's quite apart from the opportunity costs – the loss of the opportunity for education, organizing, and serious and constructive activism."

And writing for this months Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/the-rise-of-the-violent-left/534192/

Trump’s rise has also bred a new sympathy for antifa among some on the mainstream left. “Suddenly,” noted the antifa-aligned journal It’s Going Down, “anarchists and antifa, who have been demonized and sidelined by the wider Left have been hearing from liberals and Leftists, ‘you’ve been right all along.’ ” An article in The Nation argued that “to call Trumpism fascist” is to realize that it is “not well combated or contained by standard liberal appeals to reason.” The radical left, it said, offers “practical and serious responses in this political moment.”

They prefer direct action: They pressure venues to deny white supremacists space to meet. They pressure employers to fire them and landlords to evict them. And when people they deem racists and fascists manage to assemble, antifa’s partisans try to break up their gatherings, including by force.

Such tactics have elicited substantial support from the mainstream left. When the masked antifa activist was filmed assaulting Spencer on Inauguration Day, another piece in The Nation described his punch as an act of “kinetic beauty.” Slate ran an approving article about a humorous piano ballad that glorified the assault. Twitter was inundated with viral versions of the video set to different songs, prompting the former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau to tweet, “I don’t care how many different songs you set Richard Spencer being punched to, I’ll laugh at every one.”

The violence is not directed only at avowed racists like Spencer: In June of last year, demonstrators—at least some of whom were associated with antifa—punched and threw eggs at people exiting a Trump rally in San Jose, California. An article in It’s Going Down celebrated the “righteous beatings.”

When antifascists forced the cancellation of the 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade, Trump supporters responded with a “March for Free Speech.” Among those who attended was Jeremy Christian, a burly ex-con draped in an American flag, who uttered racial slurs and made Nazi salutes. A few weeks later, on May 25, a man believed to be Christian was filmed calling antifa “a bunch of punk bitches.”

The next day, Christian boarded a light-rail train and began yelling that “colored people” were ruining the city. He fixed his attention on two teenage girls, one African American and the other wearing a hijab, and told them “to go back to Saudi Arabia” or “kill themselves.” As the girls retreated to the back of the train, three men interposed themselves between Christian and his targets. “Please,” one said, “get off this train.” Christian stabbed all three. One bled to death on the train. One was declared dead at a local hospital. One survived.

The cycle continued. Nine days after the attack, on June 4, Trump supporters hosted another Portland rally, this one featuring Chapman, who had gained fame with his assault on the antifascist in Berkeley. Antifa activists threw bricks until the police dispersed them with stun grenades and tear gas.

What’s eroding in Portland is the quality Max Weber considered essential to a functioning state: a monopoly on legitimate violence. As members of a largely anarchist movement, antifascists don’t want the government to stop white supremacists from gathering. They want to do so themselves, rendering the government impotent. With help from other left-wing activists, they’re already having some success at disrupting government. Demonstrators have interrupted so many city-council meetings that in February, the council met behind locked doors.

He hasn't had time to find more clues about Seth Rich's killer. (Hint: She just released a book.)

[Brehvolution]

What’s eroding in Portland is the quality Max Weber considered essential to a functioning state: a monopoly on legitimate violence. As members of a largely anarchist movement, antifascists don’t want the government to stop white supremacists from gathering. They want to do so themselves, rendering the government impotent. With help from other left-wing activists, they’re already having some success at disrupting government. Demonstrators have interrupted so many city-council meetings that in February, the council met behind locked doors.

Eh, I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves here.

[Joe Molotov]

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered mostly praise for President Donald Trump's administration in a speech at the Kentucky Farm Bureau's annual ham breakfast Thursday morning -- as the President continued slamming the Kentucky Republican on Twitter before and after his speech.

2017 Politics: The Sentence.

[Trurl]

Has Noam Chomsky been declared alt-right yet?

[Great Rumbler]

https://twitter.com/Yoojin_Cho/status/900725436556161024

whew lads

[Oblivion]

I made the mistake of watching the Richard Spencer and Charles Barkley interview, and then trying to find a better version of it to share. The YouTube instances of the interview all seem to be uploaded by white supremacists, who have watched the exact same interview, and think it argues FOR their point.

I'm experiencing such deep cognitive dissonance right now, I'm literally dizzy.

I can't find the full interview at all for some reason.