Remember Milo Yiannopoulos, the At-Rightish Breitbart “journalist” who used to call Donald Trump “daddy?” He apparently wants the world to know that:
- He still exists
- He’s no longer on the Trump Train
- He’s one of the worst people to walk the face of this earth
In a recent statement to Mediaite, Milo explained that he was breaking with his former political idol over his missile attack on a Syrian airfield — but hasn’t yet given up on calling Trump “daddy.”
“This is not why people voted for Daddy,” he told Mediaite. “It’s the opposite of why people voted for him.”
Yes, who could possibly have foreseen that the guy who wants to increase our military budget by $54 billion while cutting funds for Meals on Wheels might have a hankering to use military force?
But don’t worry! Milo’s opposition to “POINTLESS FOREIGN WARS” — as he put it, in all caps, in his brief message to Mediaite — doesn’t mean he’s suddenly become a decent person. Far from it!
Here’s why Milo says he’s against intervention in Syria in particular:
I’m as troubled by violence toward innocent children as the next sociopath, but those kids are only growing up to be oppressors of women and murderers of homosexuals anyway.
So everyone in Syria who practices a certain religion deserves to be killed, even the children? Milo Y may no longer be a Trump fan, but he’s still a fascist at heart!
…Ninja’d twice!
OT: Apologies for irrelevance, but I’m kind of anxious right now. I was ten minutes late to my tutoring today at 1 PM, and I was 15 minutes late last week (Sunday at the same time). At least it was a different student, but my bosses are going to give me shit for this. 🙁
I said last week I wouldn’t be late again, but a) I’m just not good at doing things quickly and planning how long things will take (ADHD, general busy-ness) and b) Montreal’s transit system isn’t super-reliable on weekends …I know these aren’t good excuses and I need to plan better, especially when being late is inconvenient to others, but how do I DO it? I’m so disappointed with myself and I’m afraid I’ll get defensive when they confront me tomorrow.
But I have to go now, another class.
I love seeing Richard Spencer and his goons running because it exposes that despite their claims of being “Alpha” they are quick to run in the face of opposition. I’m glad that they’re making racists afraid.
You know, if they had done it to attempt to be spared persecution themselves, I would actually have sympathy for that. I have none, because I don’t think that is their motive. Milo’s motive appears to be as stated: he wants attention and the money that comes along with it. It isn’t self-preservation, it is straight-up greed.
In the case of the women who have fallen from right-wing grace recently, their motives also don’t seem to be protection from persecution. They seem to just literally agree with the conservative economic case and everything flows from that.
These are the motives they ascribe to themselves, and I’m not prepared to read more into their actions than that. Certainly, if one wants to avoid persecution, drawing massive amounts of attention to oneself is not the most effective method.
Is it wrong that I am currently thinking on plans for a literal gas-based glitter bomb ?
The trick is in choosing the material for the casing. I need something that shatters safely – maybe a very thin layer of polystyrene ? That shouldn’t turn into deadly shrapnel, but I’m pretty sure building the thing would be damn unpractical.
Also, boring troll is boring.
Condescending troll is also boring troll. 1/10.
I don’t care if mow only lost 5% of their funding, I don’t care if it was even 1%, the point is you don’t cut programs that feed people
We’re supposed to feed, clothe, and comfort people. That’s basic human-ing.
So many conservatives are christian I just want to ask them, “who is your neighbor? Who is your motherfucking neighbor?!” And then smash things with a homemade whip. . .but that’s just me.
One problem with privately funded charity is that when there is a recession, donations go down because people don’t have the spare money to make donations. But when there’s a recession, that’s when charity that helps the poor, elderly or disabled is needed the most.
Governments on the other hand, can continue to fully fund these programs if they so choose. Particularly when they’re large governments with stable currencies such as the US.
@Policy of Madness
You are right, I apologize. I disregarded their own agency of being horrible people.
@Rev
Starving grandparents,
It’s not as bad as you think.
Charity solves all!
Re Spencer: antifascistnews.net had this notable quote (italics mine):
“… Once he was in [a cab] the cab driver (who Spencer mocked for being of Indian origin) got out of the cab, frightened of the ensuing protesters, and Spencer had to take off running. …”
I’m damned impressed the cabbie didn’t purposefully grab him, throw him to the crowd, and add a few blows of his own.
Nequam:
……How much of a dumb racist fuck do you have to be to delver racist taunts to the guy who’s driving your cab while your being chased?
inorite?!
There’s been some handwringing on other forums, and the possibility of things getting truly mob riotous isn’t a good one, but I cannot even pretend to feel sorry for this chucklefuck.
Rev,
Meals on Wheels may be privately funded in some cases… but let’s just look at that a bit.
In my neck of the woods, the churches in the area put a reasonable amount into feeding homeless and food-poor people. They also put money in to keeping the local shelters working well enough that the people in them stand a chance of getting out of homelessness and into some sort of more secure living arrangement. There’s also trying to help the addicted get out of addiction, and many other things generally considered “good works”. Heck, even helping the local shelter buy laundry machines that don’t require fixing every day.
The problem? Even the biggest churches don’t have enough funding to do everything they would like. They never will. There’s always something more they could do, by the definition of “charity” pretty much. The more they put into feeding the homeless, the less they can put into things that might be more likely to help people get back into secure living. Feed a person for a day, and that’s all you’ve done.
Help them get their clothes laundered, maybe provide good clean clothes and interview preparation to help them get a job, and maybe you’ve helped put them on the path out of the shelter. If you could also help with counseling and continuing “learn to hold down a job” stuff… that’s even better.
But if we have to spend more of our limited resources on FEEDING them because some well-off politician, with whatever he needs including free housing, said “no, you get less this year must feed missile batteries”, then yeah, we won’t be nearly as useful at getting them out of the problem they are in.
Charity is not as simple as “let them eat”, though that’s a fair start.
Also, if you want people to be more respectful, starting out by calling them “you kids” is counter-productive.
I mean when you’ve gotten to the point of rationalising ‘eh fuck it let the kids die’ then perhaps you’ve lost the plot.
@epitome
I’m so pleased you asked because I’m often left hanging and I’m left with the feeling that it’s because people don’t care about my inconvenience. So it’s really valuable to me, to hear that you know you’re doing it (even if that’s just you, not my people).
It sounds to me like a lot of the issues you’re late are hard for you to manage by yourself. Can you rope in a trusted friend to say “you need to leave now”? Do you find alarms helpful, or do you tend to ignore them? Can you build in “redundancy time” (leave half an hour before you need to), and find something to do if everything goes to plan (puzzles, reading?).
If it makes you feel any better, I found myself getting up at 5am to catch the first bus of the day at 6am, because that was the only one not held up by traffic (20 min bus ride once took 1 hr 40). If your work is ok with you turning up over an hour late, catch the bus when you’re ready. If not, you need to build in redundancy time and find things to do with the spare time it gives you.
I get that it’s hard, and I admire you for trying. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll try to help.
@epitome of incomprehensilibility
I know this is really hard and I’m really still struggling with this part of some of the major changes I am making to how I deal with my world, but….
You don’t need to justify, argue, defend or excuse (JADE) when someone confronts you. Especially if you know you were in the wrong, but even if you think you were right or had a good excuse, etc.
You can apologize, figure out a way to do better next time (Weatherwax had suggestions) and then do your best to give a different way a shot at least one time.
And when you do, give yourself a big pat on the back for trying, no matter the outcome.
Good Luck!
@Weatherwax – thanks!
This makes the most sense for my situation on weekends. Weekends are the problem.
My current work schedule is like this: I work in a small tutoring centre and spend 6 hours every weekday on admin work (according to contract; in practice it can be 8 or more). Besides those hours, I also tutor classes for students (mornings, evenings, or weekends); this schedule varies, and right now it’s 20+ hours a week because of exams. During the week I can take the train, but on weekends the train doesn’t leave often, so I have to take a bus + metro, and these are less reliable. Since my supervisors aren’t there on weekends – the administration is closed – they’re anxious to make sure everything goes well, and they were angry at me today because they depend on me to be more reliable than the other tutors.
At least that’s not a problem! If I’m not reading or planning something for a student, then I’m writing, reading, or asleep.
@eli – Thanks for the reply! I hadn’t heard of that acronym. One of the people I have to deal with is very difficult, but it’s my responsibility not to be difficult back. It’s no use arguing with him (especially since he always wants the last word – it’d just prolong things). At the moment I can’t like him, because he’s been less than fair to me before, but I can at least nod and listen respectfully and do better with weekends. …If only I had some time off, though…
Start your week off right with this (very, very cautiously) optimistic opinion piece:
Democracy Has Stood Up to Trump
But it’s far too early to declare Trumpism dead.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/04/why_trump_s_people_keep_saying_how_well_they_know_each_other.html
I’m just gonna make a public declaration:
Love you, checks & balances!
So lemme get this straight:
He pretends to oppose the oppression of women, yet he’s the one who popularized the phrase “feminism is cancer”?
Glitterbombs are the best. I’m pretty sure they started in the late 80s/early 90s, and they were used by the LGBT+ community against homophobes. Literally the most fabulous of defenses against anti-protestors.
Since when do nazis ever work on actual logic, let alone internal logic? You give them all too much credit.
@Sinkable John
I hope not, cos you might not have been the only one doing that.
Well, an easy option would be to use a balloon. I can’t think of many things other than rubber that can both hold enough pressure to make a good pop and reliably not produce fragments. Alteratively, a strong pressure chamber with a few holes in it covered by burst disks made of something innocuous might do the job and be slightly tougher and more throwable by way of a bonus.
I bet you could find out how commercial tear gas delivery systems are made, given a few minutes on the internet. That’d be a good starting point.
@Pie:
Tear gas is really unsafe stuff, so their shells are probably designed for a low level of safety.
@EJ
Whilst this is true, it is only politically acceptable to blind protesters with gas and beat them to the floor with sticks; having fragments of gas grenade casing take out their eyes would be wrong.
(also, do note that I said ‘starting point’)
@Jack
Yeh I’d heard of it before as a tactic against homophobes and found the whole idea fucking brilliant. It’s genius really, it plays directly to what those asshats loathe the most.
And now it’s being used against nazis, and I can’t believe it took that long or that I didn’t think of it before, because it works for the exact same reasons but even better ! A single colorful speck is a death blow to their masculinity.
And it can’t even cause collateral damage. Being covered in glitter is bad, okay, but not as bad for everyone as it is for those who actually feel threatened by it – aka, the intended target. It’s the perfect weapon.
@Pie
Tear gas is sadly not a good place to start. Problem is, as far as I understand it, that mechanism is based on an opening in the casing through which the gas is ejected – I could probably make something like that work with glitter, but it’d be uneffective. It’d be one continuous stream in a single direction, and there’s a good chance it could be facing the ground when it goes off, not to mention how easy it would be for the target to neutralize it or worse, throw it back.
A balloon seems a good idea but it presents additional challenges then. First off, how do I make it pop when I want it to ? It’s just gonna deform on impact with the ground or a person, so it’s gonna need a more elaborate trigger mechanism. The trick here is to keep it cheap and easy to build – so that doesn’t leave a lot of options. Second, balloons don’t throw too well. It’d need to be weighted, making it less safe.
Also, I ain’t a smart person, and I definitely ain’t trained in engineering, so it’s not like I could make sense of an elaborate design, much less come up with one.
I’m pretty good at building shit by recycling my trash though. I got about a dozen different designs for beer can ashtrays, whereas the common garden variety punk only knows three at best. So I feel like I still got some pretty valid creds here.
Just to note:
I’ve heard that glitter can sometimes cause serious eye damage, just by getting into eyes. Then again, punching a person can sometimes cause serious brain damage. Take of that what you will.
@Arctic Ape
I thought about that, and I remember reading ’bout prank mail glitterbombs being mixed in with small amounts of the same stuff we use to tend to peeps hit with tear gas – apparently if any of that glitter gets in yer eyes, they instantly start watering hard enough that it keeps it away ?
I really hope it is indeed the same stuff (dunno how it’s called in English), because that’s something any Antifa cell has a large supply of.
At any rate I need to read further into that. Last thing I want is for an ally to lose an eye to one of these things going off accidentally. And besides, current-day nazis are already ridiculous clichés on their own, there’s no need to add eyepatches to that picture.