Yet another post about the shit we are in

by liberal japonicus

Seems like a good time to toss out a fresh sheet of paper, even if it is the same topic. We've been running thru the questions in the category 'Terrorism or not', I know that labels can obstruct and enhance understanding and the reason those labels can do that is that they can't be controlled with reasoned discussion (just as the word disinterested) But this totally unrelated piece about Tommy Lasorda's passing (via LGM) shows the kind of cultural shift that is occuring

https://defector.com/tommy-lasorda-was-the-showman-who-couldnt-turn-it-off/

He was also richly flawed in that grew-up-too-many-years-ago way. He was often a bully when he could get away with it, to players on his team, umpires, medioids, and even supervisors, and only occasionally used his charm to reel them back. His behavior toward his son, who was gay, was unconscionable; Tom Jr., who died in 1991, died of AIDS, which his father denied aggressively to anyone who asked, including author Peter Richmond. Their relationship was tortured during his son’s life, and he was combative to anyone who wanted to broach the subject. He was, in short, a louder version of many fathers in America in the ’60s and ’70s, though he and the rest of the family was at his son’s bedside at the end. He loved his son and hated the position in which he believed his son had put him in the world in which he worked.

It also hints at the end game we are looking at, provided things don't get burned to the ground

Lasorda could not have survived in the game as it currently exists. He would not have been hired as a scout, let alone a manager. He was in every way what baseball is renouncing as it becomes less nationally resonant and more adamantly scientific. He could not muscle today’s players the way he did his own; by comparison, Tony La Russa is going to emerge as Generation Z with the personality-enriched Chicago White Sox. Even his silhouette is considered unacceptable in the new baseball, where “selling the game” means doing exactly none of the things Lasorda did to sell the game, and undoing them with a 180-degree level of inflexibility. He would not be permitted to be the things that made him remembered.

And the problem we have in referencing his career is that his methods of doing his job, which were more than sufficient for him to succeed at his job for more than two decades don’t translate to the new baseball, or in the new terms of civil discourse. Tommy Lasorda was the last over-the-top manager-actor, and until baseball can loosen the grip on the humorless spreadsheets with feet who operate the game now, he will be the last.

It's not that I think the world is getting more scientific, but that notion that the new discourse is filled 'humorless' and totally inflexible is often what is cited as the problem. Certainly, there is a zero tolerance for a lot of things, as this assistant coach is finding out

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chris-malone-fired-stacey-abrams-university-of-tennessee-chattanooga/

I'm sure some would just love to parse his tweet and say it is just fat-shaming and would I like it if someone else got fired because they called Rush Limbaugh a diseased tub of lard.

The urge to call what happened terrorism and the people who did it terrorists is a desire to place those people outside of civilized society. It is the Romans drawing a border at the Danube and saying everyone who lived on the other side was a barbarian. But one also has to remember that the Romans employed the barbarians as their foot soldiers. So I appreciate that people want to call them terrorists in order to place them outside our society. And naming things has consequences. But if it were as simple as labelling things correctly, one would think we wouldn't be in this mess.

Comments

[cleek]

Mark Levin is free to get his own FCC license and radio transmitter, if he wants to be a radio insurrectionist, just like everybody else.

[russell]

Time for a chat with the FBI.

She's a member of Congress.

[liberal japonicus]

I believe we have reached the "it isn't" inflection point.

One would think. But I just had a fb back and forth with a person I know here in Japan who replied that he was a Dem (of course, he's not going to say he's a Republican now, is he?), but as long as the Dems "implement greater litmus tests" and liberal arrogance has them push out people who "don't 100% agree", they share some of the blame.

Yo kay...

I said it didn't make sense to talk about litmus tests without being specific and he said

(2 guesses the first one doesn't count)
.
.
.
.
.
Abortion.

I said the issue was ginned up by conservatives trying to fire up their base and I could draw a straight line from Abortion thru 'liberals are baby killers' and rhetoric to 'partial birth abortions' directly to QAnon and left the thread.

So mark my words, any crackdown is going to be pointed to as the Dems revenge and retribution. Which I can live with, but I don't think he can.

[GftNC]

I followed russell's Boebert link, then clicked on another LGM post about Hawley.

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2021/01/onward-christian-soldiers

All I can say is, I knew nothing about him until recent events, but the sooner he is out of any position of power and influence, the better.

[wj]

So mark my words, any crackdown is going to be pointed to as the Dems revenge and retribution.

You mean like this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/08/fast-track-trump-impeachment-pointless-revenge/

[Snarki, child of Loki]

cleek:"Mark Levin is free to get his own FCC license and radio transmitter, if he wants to be a radio insurrectionist"

radio insurrectionists run PIRATE radio stations. Arrr.

[GftNC]

A very interesting twitter thread by the historian Terry Bouton, who was present with his wife on Wednesday as an observer:

https://twitter.com/TerryBoutonHist/status/1348365375449268226

[wj]

IANAL, so I don't know the mechanics of how disbarment happens. But I was pleased to see this, even if it isn't part of the formal process.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/533604-nearly-6000-lawyers-and-law-students-call-for-disbarment-proceedings-against

[liberal japonicus]

I was thinking more of Rubio's line

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/rubio-claims-efforts-to-silence-trump-will-only-stoke-new-grievances

But I'm sure there will be more.

[cleek]

here's a dumb one:

Given the shortness of time before President Trump is out of office, congressional censure is the best way to stigmatize the soon-to-be former president for his despicable actions in fomenting a mob attack on Congress at the very moment legislators were carrying out their constitutional duties to certify the will of American voters.

oooh... a censure!

maybe we can send him home with a sternly-worded letter for his mommy to sign, too.

[wj]

will-only-stoke-new-grievances

But their track record suggests that they will find more grievances regardless. So that shouldn't be a consideration.

[russell]

From GFTNC's Twitter link:

These people are serious and they are going to keep escalating the violence until they are stopped by the force of law. There were many, many people there who were excited by the violence and proud and excited about the prospect of more violence.

This is not over. There will be more, at least more attempts.

These people have been able to operate mostly or entirely in the open, basically due to the fact that they've been written off as cranks and fringe actors.

They may not be able to operate quite as openly at this point, because they've shown their hand and now we all know what they are (if we didn't know before). But they aren't going away.

[wj]

But they aren't going away

Say, rather, that they will only go away if put away. As they should be.

[Girl from the North Country]

I can't help believing that DJT thought he was going to THE Alamo, when the visit to Alamo was planned. Sort of like Four Seasons landscaping...

[cleek]

and, until the machine that produces them is decommissioned, it will never end.

[cleek]

and away we go!

House Democrats on Monday formally introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump, charging him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in the takeover of the U.S. Capitol last week by a violent pro-Trump mob. The House could vote as early as Wednesday.

House Republicans blocked a measure calling on Vice President Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment, a move that ensures a vote in the full House on Tuesday.

[Hartmut]

I can't help believing that DJT thought he was going to THE Alamo, when the visit to Alamo was planned. Sort of like Four Seasons landscaping...

As long as he does not go to Los Alamos...

On the other hand, couldn't we consider a remake of "The Beast of Yucca Flats"?
But how to separate Jabbabonk from the orange entity above?

[cleek]

found quote:

"The GOP is three death cults in a trench coat, pretending to be a political party."

[russell]

This must be a weird time to be Mike Pence.

[bobbyp]

Never forget

[CaseyL]

Consider Lindsey Graham.

(Sorry, but:)

Graham is a vacuum seeking validation by the nearest Big Daddy he can find. His rhetoric, politics, and even demeanor changes as he gloms on to a new Big Daddy. It changes faster than an octopus' coloring.

Now: imagine that a lot of the folks who showed up to rampage on Jan 6th are a lot like Lindsey. Basically empty, with no inner values other than self-preservation. Like Lindsey, they glom onto whoever looks Big and Strong enough to give them what they don't have(i.e., a strong sense of identity).

Lindsey was one thing when his Daddy was John McCain. He was an entirely other thing when his Daddy was Donald Trump.

If - and it is a BIG if - the empty vessels like those who showed up on the 6th glom onto someone who is NOT a Trump or Trump-adjacent seditionist, then it is quite likely their behavior will change as fast as Lindsey's did.

Because that's what vacuums do. They look for someone to suck up to; and their allegiances turn on a dime once they've found that someone.

Note that Cruz and Hawley are obviously angling to be the next Big Daddy. Fortunately, both of them have the charisma of a used snotrag.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

"I can't help believing that DJT thought he was going to THE Alamo"

Someone should invite a bunch of Mexicans to show DJT how "the Alamo" turned out.

[Girl from the North Country]

Fortunately, both of them have the charisma of a used snotrag.

This is very true. And the used snotrag might actually have the edge.

[Girl from the North Country]

On the other hand, just saw Biden getting his second vaccination with rolled up sleeve - he's rather buff!

[hairshirthedonist]

I am so turned on right now.

[Girl from the North Country]

hsh, you're so easy!

[cleek]

speaking of terrible people named Lindsey Graham

[bobbyp]

jaysus 'effing Christ

[russell]

jaysus 'effing Christ

Just saw the same thing on the AP.

[GftNC]

Despite all the outrage sparked by last week’s riot, Trump still has grounds for believing that he won’t receive any immediate sanctions for openly inciting an insurrection. It’s conceivable that he could be punished further down the road, but even that is far from certain. Repeating a tragic pattern that has been evident since he launched his first Presidential bid, in 2015, the American political system is proving too weak and divided to deal with the threat he poses.

From this, in the New Yorker.

It ends:

In this country, the job of policing the President falls largely on the legislative branch. For four years, it has failed dismally to carry out this task. Even after the unprecedented events of last week, it’s far from clear that Congress will prove up to the task now. But this time, surely, and for the sake of American democracy, Trump must be held accountable.

Let's bloody hope so.

[wj]

At least it appears that the House will have to vote on an(other) impeachment resolution. Which will a) force Republicans in the House to go on record about whether they are OK with last week, and b) pass. And then (although probably after Jan 20) the Senators will be forced to do the same.

I am not particularly optimistic that the Senate will convict. But having to go on record will be good for their souls.

[cleek]

and now they're going to abandon the "law and order" thing, too.

that leaves tax cuts and resentment.