Now [because my brain is prone to tangents] you’re making me feel like I missed out, not making a Game of Thrones deadpool bingo before the show was over. :/
Well, given how my roommates have been steadily escalating their cursing during our regular Super Smash Bros games, I could probably still manage the curse word bingo over there, though.. hmm..
You can say “piss” on TV now, but only referring to anger, not urine.
Plain Marie
But then if you say “urine” in third grade instead of “pee,” everybody stares at you. “What kind of terminology is her parents teaching her at home?!” Scientific terms, yes. Yes, this happened to me.
I tend to go by the rule of thumb “Would I have gotten detention for saying this in class during middle school?”.
I think the middle school part is important, by high school books with swears are required out loud reading, and in elementary you’d get in trouble for “poop” or “wiener”.
You’d get in trouble for saying “poop” in elementary school? That seems way too harsh. It’s a bodily function. What else are you supposed to call it? I’m pretty sure I’ve heard “poop” “pee” and “piss” on children’s shows which is kind of the standard I use.
HeySo
[I gotta go] “number 1” and “number 2”, going off the schools I was familiar with. Conservative regions just get stupidly weird when it comes to anything body related, and elementary schools [or, at least, the ones I was familiar with] had a bad habit of being overly controlling, even when it didn’t make any sense to be such. Rather, seemed to be much more the focus of most elementary through high school campuses I went to.. :S
Mind, that was decades back, though; From what I can see, TV shows and physical schools have both accepted such basic terms since then, so Doctor_Who’s framework is probably not as reliable for younger users as it is for older ones.
The troublesome, bullying-like social dynamic aspect of certain school staff probably hasn’t changed any, though. x_x;
I can 100% confirm that David would not have said “pissy” in middle school. He wouldn’t even write out the word “sucks” in high school. I was there, and I can tell you this aspect of Joyce is very autobiographical.
Somebody did, why wouldn’t they read the comics he makes?
HeySo
DID somebody, though? I mean, we all know Willis sent Terminator-styled Transformers back in time to eradicate his shameful past, so I thought all past contacts of Willis had been eradicated off-screen. I mean, that’s canon, at least according to Dammit, Willis!: The Complete & Completely True Memoirs.
Well, said Memoirs also claim Soggies Will Rule, so.. take it with a pinch of saltsugar, I guess.
Fiddler115
Sorry, I forgot to check the comments again. Yes, I went to middle school with David (I find it weird to just call him Willis). I’ve been reading about Ultra Car and the gang since I was was 11, and I’m 41 now.
Depends on who hears it, context, and location. By and large, I think it’s fallen out of the realm of being a proper cuss word, with only older or “proper” people getting offended by it.
I really believe that will happen this semester. There’s lots of subtle hints like the divorce in the background shaking things up for the Browns, to Joyce reflecting on change in her life so much, to Booster an nonbinary character being introduced so Joyce has some experience with concepts like proper pronouns and dead names, even her wearing glasses now which makes her look exactly like Joyceline with longer hair. It will happen this semester. It’s just a matter of when.
Plain Marie
The good news is that sometime “this semester” will happen sometime before the decade is out.
Yuuup. In the back of my mind I can’t help but worry that the last four years were just a series of probing attacks, and the next megalomaniacal tinpot dictator won’t be such a predictable buffoon. We’re fucked if someone with Reagan’s persona, Trump’s penchant for frenzy-whipping, and Kushner’s agenda gets traction.
The fragility of our system of government was laid bare before us. We need to strengthen the system of safeguards and checks-and-balances against sabotage from within. (Just don’t ask me exactly how; anyone who has that answer should already be part of the new administration.)
Plain Marie
Word.
fridge_logic
IMO the problem at it’s root isn’t so much that our checks and balanced need to be strengthened (they do).
It’s that our government, specifically our legislature, no longer represents the people. This is a reality felt by left, center, and right. And in no small part the insurrection was a response to decades of failure on the part of Congress to do anything good for the working class.
We have to avoid starting an argument about which party’s congressmembers might be more responsible many conservatives are well aware of the failures of their elected representatives, it’s part of why so many of them are willing to dispense with democracy.
The problem isn’t IMO one of party but one of governmental structure. Were congressmembers beholden to act on behalf of their voters to stay in office republican lawmakers would surely fall in line and support the needs of their voters. But the reality is that neither party’s representatives need to do much of anything at all to get reelected. A fact very clearly reflected by polls that show an overwhelming majority of Democrats and a simple majority of Americans support Universal Healthcare, which an overwhelming majority of congressional democrats oppose it.
We need electoral reform, something to fight Gerrymandering, something to fight private money, something to fight social media manufactured engagement, and if we’re really lucky some ranked choice voting.
thejeff
Fuck the bothsiderism. One party is openly supporting an insurrection, lying about who won the election and in some cases supporting blood libel conspiracy nonsense. The problem isn’t both parties not representing their voters, it’s that the GOP does represent their voter base and their voter base doesn’t represent reality.
I can certainly acknowledge problems with Democrats, but none of this crap where we do so to avoid admitting that Republicans have turned against basic democracy.
Needfuldoer
All of this. Republicans constructed a fantasy world that looks like a bizarro mashup of The DaVinci Code and The West Wing, stoked its flames, and rode that high until it came crashing down around them. They’ve lost control of the monster they created, and now they find themselves the object of its rage.
Now they’re disingenuously pointing out how “corrupt and evil” Democrats are, whining that “both sides are the problem and need unity” (by which they mean “Democrats are being divisive by not enacting 100% of our agenda”), or diving headfirst down the cuckoo for cocoa puffs rabbit hole.
How do these people come back to reality? I think it needs to be treated like a cult deprogramming. They’ve bought into this fantasy world where they can feel smart and clever by “reading between the lines” and “figuring out what’s really going on”, even if it’s just a bunch of made-up bullshit, because it gives them a feeling of power over their otherwise unremarkable lives. I think a good portion of them might come out of it if they’re given an out that lets them save face.
For now. We ignored the Bundies, and it just emboldened further militants. Time will tell if arresting the insurgents after the fact will send a clear enough message that breaking into the capital to murder elected representatives is, in fact, a crime, and will actually result in real consequences.
The “The Waco district court should declare that Trump’s cabinets are the real stewards of the country because Gondor and Aragorn and HAVA misreadings, and also that nobody is allowed to fire us for trying to overthrow the government we were totes peaceful!” lawsuit isn’t terribly encouraging in that respect.
Andy
You’re assuming the people who did it and the people who would see it as a trial run are operating on the same understanding of reality as the rest of us, which is a really bad assumption to make. They don’t see the attempted coup as an illegal action that is both terrorist and treasonous; they see it as the just actions of patriots who were liberating their country from an unlawful government.
Unfortunately, I think it’s going to take a lot of work and time to walk back the rhetoric of the right to the (admittedly still pretty bad) levels of pre-2015.
Jane
But part of the reason that they are able to maintain this delusion is because their actions aren’t treated as the crimes that they are.
No consequences for threatening cops with snipers.
No consequences for surrounding state legislatures with an armed mob.
No consequences for repeatedly talking about how democratic politicians should be killed.
Why should they think they’re doing anything wrong? The rest of the world doesn’t seem to treat it that way, outside of a few outraged words from those who are clearly blind to this supposed satanic conspiracy that they’re railing against.
I understand why we couldn’t round them all up during the insurrection, as Trump’s sabotage left the police hopelessly outnumbered – but with weeks of delay between their very public actions, and significantly less public arrests, I’m not certain that it will be as much of a deterrence as we need, considering how far things have gone.
JBento
The FBI is already considering not charging them because that would “flood the courts”, which amazingly never happens with black protesters who DON’T commit insurrection. Does anyone got an estimate of how many off-duty FBI officers were part of the mob yet, or are we still waiting on the Vegas odds?
Betting pool time: Do you think the next insurrection is going to wait till next election in 4 years, or is it going to happen much sooner?
thejeff
Haven’t seen any reports of FBI in the mob. Plenty of cops and ex-military.
It’s a different dynamic to standard protest arrests in a lot of ways. Those are usually state, not FBI. They’re also usually swept up during the event and mostly given minor charges or just released.
I’d expect less bulk charges from the FBI, but hopefully more serious charges for some cases. We’ve already seen conspiracy charges for one of the Oathkeeper groups.
JBento
Also, just wait for Trump’s rerun in 2024, that’s going to be great *starts stckpiling alcohol*.
Deanatay
The reason Congress is still working to convict Trump of insurrection, despite him already being out of office. A convicted President can’t hold ANY federal office ever again.
JBento
I’m told it needs an additional vote BEYOND that of the impeachment, and, honestly, I odn’t have muhc hope on even the impeachment getting through, what with it needing all Dems and seventeen Reps. I mean, Romeny is going to vote yay, but nabbing the other sixteen…
Needfuldoer
I believe this is correct. The Senate votes on several measures separately in an impeachment, proceeding to the next only if one passes:
– Do we take the matter up for trial? (They voted “No” last time)
– Is the President guilty of the crimes for which they’re accused? (Clinton was found guilty here)
– Should the President be removed from office? (They voted ‘No’ on Clinton here)
– Should the President be barred from holding public office in the future? (Would prevent Trump from running in ’24 if they vote ‘Yes’)
thejeff
Not quite correct.
The House votes to impeach. Once that happens, the Senate has to take it up for trial – though, as in Trump’s first impeachment trial they can set the rules to shorten it and keep evidence out.
There is a vote to convict, which requires a 2/3rds majority. Neither Clinton nor Trump were convicted.
Theoretically the vote to remove could be taken separately, but there’s a precedent from way back in the 1800s for treating the vote to convict as sufficient for removal.
The vote to bar from future office is separate, but it’s a simple majority vote that’s only taken if the 2/3rds vote to convict succeeds. It’s vanishingly unlikely that wouldn’t pass if the vote to convict does.
The hard part is getting the Republican votes necessary for conviction. Many will openly support him. Others will use the “he’s already out of office” excuse. OTOH, some might not like the idea of him running in 2024 and continuing to overshadow the party.
Andy
I see your point, and I want to be clear that I’m not at all advocating for not arresting them. I’d like these people to have the book thrown at them and to receive the maximum sentences possible, even though that’s already not happening. What I’m saying is that they’re so far round the bend I don’t think the arrests and convictions will do anything to bring them back. The people who were part of the Capitol coup are their Boston Tea Party. The people arrested are their Boston Massacre. It’ll take a lot of reeducation and deprogramming to bring them back to reality, and I don’t think they’re willing to let that happen.
Andy
On a lighter note, it is so weird that I get Wally on my phone and Dorothy on the computer.
Needfuldoer
You probably have your email address capitalized a different way on each device. (That’s how you play Gravatar Roulette.)
fridge_logic
Sometimes the point of imprisonment is to keep some bad apples from spoiling the barrel. Put away the most ardent extremists and that will such at least some wind out of their sails. Also it would be good to see some consequence for murderous “hyperbole.”
thejeff
The arrests (and the public backlash) seemed to have done a good job of deterrence to the planned follow ups at state capitals and at the inauguration. Though the troop presence may have played a role for the inauguration as well.
They also tried to change the narrative to “it was really antifa!” Seems pretty clear they know what’s up.
Needfuldoer
The voting public has the collective memory of an amnesiac goldfish. Republicans are already trying to flip-flop into deficit hawks and trying to pin their crimes on “An-tee-fa”, their imaginary boogeyman organization of radicalized snowflakes. It won’t be long before they try to steer all but the most diehard conspiracy theorists away from the red hat cult.
The sad thing is, it’s probably going to work on everyone to the right of Mitt Romney.
“Computers may be twice as fast as they were in 1973, but the average voter is as drunk and stupid as ever!”
– Richard Nixon’s head, Futurama
thejeff
Maybe. Honestly, I hope they can steer the base away from the cult. Right now, it looks more like the cult has taken over the party and those catering to it are winning the internal struggle.
Blaming antifa is just part of that.
Andy
I hope you’re right, but the past 4 years have taught me that being optimistic about the right is a losing bet more often than not.
thejeff
The “Gondor has no king” lawsuit was awesome.
JBento
HOLY SHIT, I thought Jane was hyperbolising to mock some stupid lawsuit or another, but you made me google it and the fuckers REALLY WENT WITH “GONDOR HAS NO KING” AS A LEGAL ARGUMENT!
138 thoughts on “Gradient”
Ana Chronistic
panel 3 Joyce is me
LiterallyJustSomeGuy
panel 4 Sarah is who I want to be
HeySo
Panel 4 Sarah’s expression is like that of someone who just discovered ice cream and/or cake for the first time. “It’s.. so.. beautiful..”
He Who Abides
She’s just realized that you can put ice cream on top of your cake.
There’s no turning back now.
Br44n5m
I had a similar expression upon seeing a boba milk tea cake roll at a bakery recently, it’s a fair face to make when seeing a new treat~
Dara
Definitely Panel 1 Joyce here. Particularly right now.
Keulen
I’m pretty sure I’m panels 1, 2 and 3 Joyce in the morning. Fuck mornings.
Needfuldoer
Panel 1 Joyce: Me before coffee
Panel 4 Sarah: Me after coffee
Doctor_Who
Sarah opens the door and shouts into the hall.
“We got a new one! She said piss!”
A voice echoes back:
“Alright, I got Bingo!”
Jess
This made me laugh!!
He Who Abides
Mandy’s the winner, isn’t she?
Regalli
Bravo.
Jinx
That’s great!
HeySo
Now [because my brain is prone to tangents] you’re making me feel like I missed out, not making a Game of Thrones deadpool bingo before the show was over. :/
Well, given how my roommates have been steadily escalating their cursing during our regular Super Smash Bros games, I could probably still manage the curse word bingo over there, though.. hmm..
Plain Marie
Too funny! I could see that happening. Hey, is it too late to get in on a new game?
Yugnat
This is my headcanon now.
Romanticide
congratulations to the winner, is the prize a pool of nachitos?
Opus the Poet
Pissy Joyce is best Joyce.
Reed
love this for her. both. yes.
LiterallyJustSomeGuy
I love these faces! Lookit that face! And that one!
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!
Dean
We live in a golden age of Joyce faces.
Deathjavu
Truly, this storyline has the best faces. A whole pile of smiling sarah and adorably grumpy joyce.
JA
With their penises.
Sirksome
Is piss really a curse? That’s pretty tame to me.
StClair
It references bodily waste, so yeah.
Nono
Snot is probably like, kindergarten level curse.
Rachel McCall
It was one of the words in the George Carlin bit
Wizard
You can say “piss” on TV now, but only referring to anger, not urine.
Plain Marie
But then if you say “urine” in third grade instead of “pee,” everybody stares at you. “What kind of terminology is her parents teaching her at home?!” Scientific terms, yes. Yes, this happened to me.
Doctor_Who
I tend to go by the rule of thumb “Would I have gotten detention for saying this in class during middle school?”.
I think the middle school part is important, by high school books with swears are required out loud reading, and in elementary you’d get in trouble for “poop” or “wiener”.
Sirksome
You’d get in trouble for saying “poop” in elementary school? That seems way too harsh. It’s a bodily function. What else are you supposed to call it? I’m pretty sure I’ve heard “poop” “pee” and “piss” on children’s shows which is kind of the standard I use.
HeySo
[I gotta go] “number 1” and “number 2”, going off the schools I was familiar with. Conservative regions just get stupidly weird when it comes to anything body related, and elementary schools [or, at least, the ones I was familiar with] had a bad habit of being overly controlling, even when it didn’t make any sense to be such. Rather, seemed to be much more the focus of most elementary through high school campuses I went to.. :S
Mind, that was decades back, though; From what I can see, TV shows and physical schools have both accepted such basic terms since then, so Doctor_Who’s framework is probably not as reliable for younger users as it is for older ones.
The troublesome, bullying-like social dynamic aspect of certain school staff probably hasn’t changed any, though. x_x;
Fiddler115
I can 100% confirm that David would not have said “pissy” in middle school. He wouldn’t even write out the word “sucks” in high school. I was there, and I can tell you this aspect of Joyce is very autobiographical.
Jon Rich
….You went to middle school with Willis?!
Opus the Poet
Somebody did, why wouldn’t they read the comics he makes?
HeySo
DID somebody, though? I mean, we all know Willis sent Terminator-styled Transformers back in time to eradicate his shameful past, so I thought all past contacts of Willis had been eradicated off-screen. I mean, that’s canon, at least according to Dammit, Willis!: The Complete & Completely True Memoirs.
Well, said Memoirs also claim Soggies Will Rule, so.. take it with a pinch of
saltsugar, I guess.Fiddler115
Sorry, I forgot to check the comments again. Yes, I went to middle school with David (I find it weird to just call him Willis). I’ve been reading about Ultra Car and the gang since I was was 11, and I’m 41 now.
RacingTurtle
Joyce avoiding even the tamest of cussin’ sounds about right to me.
Reltzik
More a vulgarity than a curse…
Jinx
Agreed.
JA
Depends on who hears it, context, and location. By and large, I think it’s fallen out of the realm of being a proper cuss word, with only older or “proper” people getting offended by it.
BBCC
Best sisters ever.
Kyrik Michalowski
I’m still hoping/waiting for Joyce to discover she has a sister she didn’t know about.
Sirksome
I really believe that will happen this semester. There’s lots of subtle hints like the divorce in the background shaking things up for the Browns, to Joyce reflecting on change in her life so much, to Booster an nonbinary character being introduced so Joyce has some experience with concepts like proper pronouns and dead names, even her wearing glasses now which makes her look exactly like Joyceline with longer hair. It will happen this semester. It’s just a matter of when.
Plain Marie
The good news is that sometime “this semester” will happen sometime before the decade is out.
RacingTurtle
Well, alt-text, there’s bad news and good news. It certainly could have been worse!
Illjwamh
Lol. Truth.
On the one hand, there was a violent attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol.
But on the other hand, it didn’t work!
Uly
Not yet. Maybe this was the trial run.
Needfuldoer
Yuuup. In the back of my mind I can’t help but worry that the last four years were just a series of probing attacks, and the next megalomaniacal tinpot dictator won’t be such a predictable buffoon. We’re fucked if someone with Reagan’s persona, Trump’s penchant for frenzy-whipping, and Kushner’s agenda gets traction.
The fragility of our system of government was laid bare before us. We need to strengthen the system of safeguards and checks-and-balances against sabotage from within. (Just don’t ask me exactly how; anyone who has that answer should already be part of the new administration.)
Plain Marie
Word.
fridge_logic
IMO the problem at it’s root isn’t so much that our checks and balanced need to be strengthened (they do).
It’s that our government, specifically our legislature, no longer represents the people. This is a reality felt by left, center, and right. And in no small part the insurrection was a response to decades of failure on the part of Congress to do anything good for the working class.
We have to avoid starting an argument about which party’s congressmembers might be more responsible many conservatives are well aware of the failures of their elected representatives, it’s part of why so many of them are willing to dispense with democracy.
The problem isn’t IMO one of party but one of governmental structure. Were congressmembers beholden to act on behalf of their voters to stay in office republican lawmakers would surely fall in line and support the needs of their voters. But the reality is that neither party’s representatives need to do much of anything at all to get reelected. A fact very clearly reflected by polls that show an overwhelming majority of Democrats and a simple majority of Americans support Universal Healthcare, which an overwhelming majority of congressional democrats oppose it.
We need electoral reform, something to fight Gerrymandering, something to fight private money, something to fight social media manufactured engagement, and if we’re really lucky some ranked choice voting.
thejeff
Fuck the bothsiderism. One party is openly supporting an insurrection, lying about who won the election and in some cases supporting blood libel conspiracy nonsense. The problem isn’t both parties not representing their voters, it’s that the GOP does represent their voter base and their voter base doesn’t represent reality.
I can certainly acknowledge problems with Democrats, but none of this crap where we do so to avoid admitting that Republicans have turned against basic democracy.
Needfuldoer
All of this. Republicans constructed a fantasy world that looks like a bizarro mashup of The DaVinci Code and The West Wing, stoked its flames, and rode that high until it came crashing down around them. They’ve lost control of the monster they created, and now they find themselves the object of its rage.
Now they’re disingenuously pointing out how “corrupt and evil” Democrats are, whining that “both sides are the problem and need unity” (by which they mean “Democrats are being divisive by not enacting 100% of our agenda”), or diving headfirst down the cuckoo for cocoa puffs rabbit hole.
How do these people come back to reality? I think it needs to be treated like a cult deprogramming. They’ve bought into this fantasy world where they can feel smart and clever by “reading between the lines” and “figuring out what’s really going on”, even if it’s just a bunch of made-up bullshit, because it gives them a feeling of power over their otherwise unremarkable lives. I think a good portion of them might come out of it if they’re given an out that lets them save face.
Jane
For now. We ignored the Bundies, and it just emboldened further militants. Time will tell if arresting the insurgents after the fact will send a clear enough message that breaking into the capital to murder elected representatives is, in fact, a crime, and will actually result in real consequences.
The “The Waco district court should declare that Trump’s cabinets are the real stewards of the country because Gondor and Aragorn and HAVA misreadings, and also that nobody is allowed to fire us for trying to overthrow the government we were totes peaceful!” lawsuit isn’t terribly encouraging in that respect.
Andy
You’re assuming the people who did it and the people who would see it as a trial run are operating on the same understanding of reality as the rest of us, which is a really bad assumption to make. They don’t see the attempted coup as an illegal action that is both terrorist and treasonous; they see it as the just actions of patriots who were liberating their country from an unlawful government.
Unfortunately, I think it’s going to take a lot of work and time to walk back the rhetoric of the right to the (admittedly still pretty bad) levels of pre-2015.
Jane
But part of the reason that they are able to maintain this delusion is because their actions aren’t treated as the crimes that they are.
No consequences for threatening cops with snipers.
No consequences for surrounding state legislatures with an armed mob.
No consequences for repeatedly talking about how democratic politicians should be killed.
Why should they think they’re doing anything wrong? The rest of the world doesn’t seem to treat it that way, outside of a few outraged words from those who are clearly blind to this supposed satanic conspiracy that they’re railing against.
I understand why we couldn’t round them all up during the insurrection, as Trump’s sabotage left the police hopelessly outnumbered – but with weeks of delay between their very public actions, and significantly less public arrests, I’m not certain that it will be as much of a deterrence as we need, considering how far things have gone.
JBento
The FBI is already considering not charging them because that would “flood the courts”, which amazingly never happens with black protesters who DON’T commit insurrection. Does anyone got an estimate of how many off-duty FBI officers were part of the mob yet, or are we still waiting on the Vegas odds?
Betting pool time: Do you think the next insurrection is going to wait till next election in 4 years, or is it going to happen much sooner?
thejeff
Haven’t seen any reports of FBI in the mob. Plenty of cops and ex-military.
It’s a different dynamic to standard protest arrests in a lot of ways. Those are usually state, not FBI. They’re also usually swept up during the event and mostly given minor charges or just released.
I’d expect less bulk charges from the FBI, but hopefully more serious charges for some cases. We’ve already seen conspiracy charges for one of the Oathkeeper groups.
JBento
Also, just wait for Trump’s rerun in 2024, that’s going to be great *starts stckpiling alcohol*.
Deanatay
The reason Congress is still working to convict Trump of insurrection, despite him already being out of office. A convicted President can’t hold ANY federal office ever again.
JBento
I’m told it needs an additional vote BEYOND that of the impeachment, and, honestly, I odn’t have muhc hope on even the impeachment getting through, what with it needing all Dems and seventeen Reps. I mean, Romeny is going to vote yay, but nabbing the other sixteen…
Needfuldoer
I believe this is correct. The Senate votes on several measures separately in an impeachment, proceeding to the next only if one passes:
– Do we take the matter up for trial? (They voted “No” last time)
– Is the President guilty of the crimes for which they’re accused? (Clinton was found guilty here)
– Should the President be removed from office? (They voted ‘No’ on Clinton here)
– Should the President be barred from holding public office in the future? (Would prevent Trump from running in ’24 if they vote ‘Yes’)
thejeff
Not quite correct.
The House votes to impeach. Once that happens, the Senate has to take it up for trial – though, as in Trump’s first impeachment trial they can set the rules to shorten it and keep evidence out.
There is a vote to convict, which requires a 2/3rds majority. Neither Clinton nor Trump were convicted.
Theoretically the vote to remove could be taken separately, but there’s a precedent from way back in the 1800s for treating the vote to convict as sufficient for removal.
The vote to bar from future office is separate, but it’s a simple majority vote that’s only taken if the 2/3rds vote to convict succeeds. It’s vanishingly unlikely that wouldn’t pass if the vote to convict does.
The hard part is getting the Republican votes necessary for conviction. Many will openly support him. Others will use the “he’s already out of office” excuse. OTOH, some might not like the idea of him running in 2024 and continuing to overshadow the party.
Andy
I see your point, and I want to be clear that I’m not at all advocating for not arresting them. I’d like these people to have the book thrown at them and to receive the maximum sentences possible, even though that’s already not happening. What I’m saying is that they’re so far round the bend I don’t think the arrests and convictions will do anything to bring them back. The people who were part of the Capitol coup are their Boston Tea Party. The people arrested are their Boston Massacre. It’ll take a lot of reeducation and deprogramming to bring them back to reality, and I don’t think they’re willing to let that happen.
Andy
On a lighter note, it is so weird that I get Wally on my phone and Dorothy on the computer.
Needfuldoer
You probably have your email address capitalized a different way on each device. (That’s how you play Gravatar Roulette.)
fridge_logic
Sometimes the point of imprisonment is to keep some bad apples from spoiling the barrel. Put away the most ardent extremists and that will such at least some wind out of their sails. Also it would be good to see some consequence for murderous “hyperbole.”
thejeff
The arrests (and the public backlash) seemed to have done a good job of deterrence to the planned follow ups at state capitals and at the inauguration. Though the troop presence may have played a role for the inauguration as well.
They also tried to change the narrative to “it was really antifa!” Seems pretty clear they know what’s up.
Needfuldoer
The voting public has the collective memory of an amnesiac goldfish. Republicans are already trying to flip-flop into deficit hawks and trying to pin their crimes on “An-tee-fa”, their imaginary boogeyman organization of radicalized snowflakes. It won’t be long before they try to steer all but the most diehard conspiracy theorists away from the red hat cult.
The sad thing is, it’s probably going to work on everyone to the right of Mitt Romney.
“Computers may be twice as fast as they were in 1973, but the average voter is as drunk and stupid as ever!”
– Richard Nixon’s head, Futurama
thejeff
Maybe. Honestly, I hope they can steer the base away from the cult. Right now, it looks more like the cult has taken over the party and those catering to it are winning the internal struggle.
Blaming antifa is just part of that.
Andy
I hope you’re right, but the past 4 years have taught me that being optimistic about the right is a losing bet more often than not.
thejeff
The “Gondor has no king” lawsuit was awesome.
JBento
HOLY SHIT, I thought Jane was hyperbolising to mock some stupid lawsuit or another, but you made me google it and the fuckers REALLY WENT WITH “GONDOR HAS NO KING” AS A LEGAL ARGUMENT!