Octopus Overlords

Is that from today/ I swear I've seen it before.

Ah--I just looked it up. It's from an earlier protest but has been circulating again today.

I'm just catching up on all this as I was involved in a birthday party all day. All I can say is Trump's refusal to condemn the guilty party in all this is one of the most despicable things I've seen him do as President. And that's coming from a LONG list of despicable things.

YellowKing wrote:I'm just catching up on all this as I was involved in a birthday party all day. All I can say is Trump's refusal to condemn the guilty party in all this is one of the most despicable things I've seen him do as President. And that's coming from a LONG list of despicable things.

Condemning Nazis is literally the easiest thing a President can do. How do you fuck that up, unless it's intentional?

Trump's aides gave him a bland denunciation of violence to deliver, but now it's coming out that he chose to ad-lib "on many sides" himself.

That makes it so much worse. He went out of his way to avoid criticizing the Nazis singly or directly.

RunningMn9 wrote:

YellowKing wrote:I'm just catching up on all this as I was involved in a birthday party all day. All I can say is Trump's refusal to condemn the guilty party in all this is one of the most despicable things I've seen him do as President. And that's coming from a LONG list of despicable things.

Condemning Nazis is literally the easiest thing a President can do. How do you fuck that up, unless it's intentional?

It is intentional and it is fucked up. Don't forget his dad was arrested at a KKK rally 60 years ago this summer.

Holman wrote:Trump's aides gave him a bland denunciation of violence to deliver, but now it's coming out that he chose to ad-lib "on many sides" himself.

That makes it so much worse. He went out of his way to avoid criticizing the Nazis singly or directly.

You know he's all about that base, 'bout that base, no trouble.

Even the Zodiac Killer calls it domestic terrorism - and he'd know - he terrorized an entire community!

I guess MAGA also means Make Aryans Great Again.

$iljanus wrote:I guess MAGA also means Make Aryans Great Again.

This is so disgusting. I can't believe so many are sympathetic to racist white nationalists. When Sessions is condemning the KKK and Trump can't bring himself to do so, you can tell he definitely takes after his father.

Nazis vs. people against Nazis.

Really hard to take a stand here. Let's go with "many sides".

He is who we thought he was. I hope this makes it harder for others to keep their heads in the sand, but I'm not optimistic.

gbasden wrote:

$iljanus wrote:I guess MAGA also means Make Aryans Great Again.

This is so disgusting. I can't believe so many are sympathetic to racist white nationalists. When Sessions is condemning the KKK and Trump can't bring himself to do so, you can tell he definitely takes after his father.

He's also a fucking coward who saves his outrage for political softballs like North Korea or Venezuela. Or going after the evil media, Hillary or Obama. And he's such a tough guy when talking to Boy Scouts. But if he needs to fire someone he gets others to draft memos to cover his ass then takes the "credit" if it suits his ego. And he plays the submissive puppy dog for Putin and hedges his bets when it comes to Nazis.

Anyone still worried about calling this part of Trump's supporters "deplorable"?

I prefer my Nazis Nuremberged, thank you very much.

Richard Spencer has been invited to speak at the University of Florida in September by the National Policy Institute (and not anyone affiliated with the university). The president of UF sent out an email stating that the university is legally obligated to rent out space to speakers if they pay for use of the building and urged people not to organize counter-protests so as not to provide media attention to the event. But I'm sure he's more concerned about scenes like those that took place in Charlottesville happening in Gainesville. Of course, counter-protests are already being organized on FB. It could get ugly.

You know, I usually defend the police in a lot of things, but why in the name of fuck did they let allow the protesters to gather in numbers with weapons and homemade riot shields? That's a pretty clear statement of intent.

Trump still won't condemn white supremacists himself. Instead he has trotted out a couple of spokesmen to claim that of course that's what he meant and that he didn't mention them by name because "he didn't want to dignify the movement."

That movement is hearing his presidential silence loud and clear.

Hey hey they were just "overwhelmed". That is why they stood back when the Nazis surrounded the counter-protestors Friday night and started to pummel them with torches full of flammable liquids. And then watched as the situation spiraled out of control the next day.[/sarcasm]

That said lack of operational experience likely did have a major effect but it is hard to ignore some of what the authorities allowed to occur before it went completely sideways.

Holman wrote:Trump still won't condemn white supremacists himself. Instead he has trotted out a couple of spokesmen to claim that of course that's what he meant and that he didn't mention them by name because "he didn't want to dignify the movement."

That movement is hearing his presidential silence loud and clear.

Just was seeing this. I'm kind of glad for his reaction because it really distills what a piece of shit he is. There is no question any longer that he is a racist piece of shit that gives air cover to violent white supremacist movements.

Blackhawk wrote:You know, I usually defend the police in a lot of things, but why in the name of fuck did they let allow the protesters to gather in numbers with weapons and homemade riot shields? That's a pretty clear statement of intent.

Wait until this story hits the mainstream news - keep scrolling down to see exactly where this took place. I won't spoil it for you.

Captain Caveman wrote:Nazis vs. people against Nazis.

Really hard to take a stand here. Let's go with "many sides".

He is who we thought he was. I hope this makes it harder for others to keep their heads in the sand, but I'm not optimistic.

A news story this morning included an interview with the mother of a kid who was wounded. She said she knew he was going to a rally, but she thought it was a Trump rally. Her kid's not a Nazi...and "Trump's not a white supremacist." Obviously she's just one person, but I suspect that she's typical.

I cannot imagine the level of mental gymnastics involved where you find yourself standing on one side of a protest, surrounded by Nazi flags and white-power symbols and you're telling yourself, "I'm not with them...they're just standing next to me."

Blackhawk wrote:You know, I usually defend the police in a lot of things, but why in the name of fuck did they let allow the protesters to gather in numbers with weapons and homemade riot shields? That's a pretty clear statement of intent.

I wonder if there are open carry laws in Virginia that would have kept the police from acting on it. I certainly hope it's that, and not "these people are white, so they are good."

Zarathud wrote:Anyone still worried about calling this part of Trump's supporters "deplorable"?

Anyone who would drive a car into a group of protesters is beyond deplorable.

So all this time when he's been insulting politicians, reporters and lots of others, he's been "dignifying" them. Got it. Wow, he must respect Hillary Clinton so much he must be her biggest supporter.

Two things I've noticed in the conservative responses today:

1. We're apparently back to the stage where we should all be able to read Trump's mind. Every official response today has been some form of "Well, of course he was talking about nazi supporters, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong." Never mind the fact that he has previously shown zero reservation in calling out literally any other group or person by name, but we should all just inherently know that he's referring to white nationalists in his statements, even though he fails to mention them directly.

2. I've heard more about "Antifa" in the last 24 hours than I have in my entire life. The level of organization and number of members this group has must be truly astounding. Again...

Of course, when they lump literally anyone who speaks out against Trump into that group, I'm sure that this particular boogeyman looms very large in the conservative world.

Skinypupy wrote: 2. I've heard more about "Antifa" in the last 24 hours than I have in my entire life. The level of organization and number of members this group has must be truly astounding. Again...

Interesting article on the countours of the Antifa movement here. It's Mother Jones, but it's a very educational and (so far--I haven't finished it) sober treatment.

For a long time I wasn't sure what was meant my "Antifa" at all, but it seems actually to refer to a tiny, tiny subset of anti-racist groups prepared and expecting to do violence against racist gangs--think 1980s left-wing skinheads, although hairstyle is irrelevant now.

I've noticed that alt-right people like to use the term more broadly, as if anyone who counter-protested at Charlottesville were automatically Antifa. I suppose that's a way of feeling like they're more in a war and more prepared to treat any disagreement as an excuse for violence.

What. The. Actual. Fuck. And leftists were vilified for punching Nazis. Not setting them on fire or mowing them down.

Yeah, I'm tired of nearly every statement Trump makes having to be post-mortemed and retconned to tell us what he *really* meant. The guy's the President of the United States. If he can't put together a coherent sentence that is understandable without lengthy explanation, then he's unqualified for the job. Period.

Defiant wrote:

So all this time when he's been insulting politicians, reporters and lots of others, he's been "dignifying" them. Got it. Wow, he must respect Hillary Clinton so much he must be her biggest supporter.

I'm sure we all remember how dogged he was in accusing Obama of being weak for not saying "Radical Islamic Terrorism".

Since slavery isn't an issue, I don't see why we don't just agree to divide the country in two. It's pretty clear that we've become incompatible.

em2nought wrote:Since slavery isn't an issue, I don't see why we don't just agree to divide the country in two. It's pretty clear that we've become incompatible.

These aren't two countries or two points of view. This is right and wrong.

You're really going to pick that side? That's who you are?

em2nought wrote:Since slavery isn't an issue, I don't see why we don't just agree to divide the country in two. It's pretty clear that we've become incompatible.

And now we have an explicit endorsement of white nationalism right here on OO. Lovely.

Reminiscent of the quote from the white nationalist just quoted by Skinypuppy in the pictures and video thread:

Cvjetanovic added: “As a white nationalist, I care for all people. We all deserve a future for our children and for our culture. White nationalists aren’t all hateful; we just want to preserve what we have.”

Blackhawk wrote:You know, I usually defend the police in a lot of things, but why in the name of fuck did they let allow the protesters to gather in numbers with weapons and homemade riot shields? That's a pretty clear statement of intent.

Because they were all white, of course.

Or do you think they'd all have gone home safely if they were black or brown?

I'm having a really hard time believing this is happening and our President won't condem or speak out again this.

What a sad sad commentery about our country.

Will Mr. Trump be bothered to mention her name?

Heather Heyer

Heather Heyer was killed Saturday as she pushed back against hatred...

em2nought wrote:Since slavery isn't an issue, I don't see why we don't just agree to divide the country in two. It's pretty clear that we've become incompatible.

That you see this as simply a matter of incompatible beliefs is just about what I've come to expect from you.

RunningMn9 wrote:

YellowKing wrote:I'm just catching up on all this as I was involved in a birthday party all day. All I can say is Trump's refusal to condemn the guilty party in all this is one of the most despicable things I've seen him do as President. And that's coming from a LONG list of despicable things.

Condemning Nazis is literally the easiest thing a President can do. How do you fuck that up, unless it's intentional?

So angry, I can't begin to express myself.