The more famous a Brit is the higher the odds they are a transphobe who diddles kids. At which point their fanbase starts to find ways to explain it away.

Congrats. You identified an ICE officer. They and their backers tied you to those efforts and now you accidentally flagged as an immigrant. But I am sure someone will figure out what happened to you when you are beaten and bloody in Sudan

The point of shit like this is to normalize the jackboots walking around scanning everyone. It is one, much more incompetent, step past “papers please”

He (let’s be honest here) doesn’t need a blade: He has edge enough to handle anything.

And deniro got pretty heavily glazed for how anti-trump he was? Same with people like michael rappaport who could be curb stomping trump’s face into mush and STILL radiate “douchebag energy”.

Its almost like people are more complicated than that and you can’t just say “Bad concept, must be exclusively right wing” or “believes in democracy, must be fully virtuous”

A Bottom Line like

Anti-vacc transcends political affiliation.

?

You did what a lot of us do. You saw something you didn’t like and immediately felt backlash and a need to insist it was wrong. We all have this blindspot because we spend our entire digital (and sometimes analog…) lives in a bubble where our (favorite influencers’) Reality is constantly reinforced and anything that differs is hidden by The Algorithm.

The good thing is that, once you actually read, you realized you agreed with much of the sentiment being expressed. But you still have an overwhelming need to insist something is wrong because… it goes against your Reality.

Which… is how a LOT of people became so anti-science.

To people who have trouble understanding more than one or two sentences at a time it makes it sound like something it wasn’t.

Yeah. Those people are the problem and I refuse to rewrite history to try to protect the twitter generation

Just like I don’t like pretending that history is different because it doesn’t line up with our teams narrative. Because what is the point of history if not to learn from it? And once we start rewriting it to fit political narratives… I mean, everyone knows that is why Obama failed to prevent 9-11, right?

No, it’s not both sides. A decade ago on the left anti-vaxxers were a small fringe group that was concerning, but was small enough to be ignored as long as it didn’t grow.

Guess what? It grew.

The left didn’t put RFK in a cabinet post.

RFK was allegedly chosen BECAUSE he is such an evil right wing bastard who also at least used to have a lot of support on the left. He was a celebrity appointee and much of his appeal in that regard used to very much be “both sides”.

This new anti-vax is overwhelmingly on the right and a much bigger issue.

Yes and no.

Yes in the sense that it is mostly right wingers who are insisting that the measles vaccine will give you super autism and blah blah blah.

No in the sense that lefties have decades of “alternative medicine” and parenting guides (see: A lot of the plague parties over the years). And no in the sense that we very much feel the need to say things like “Okay. Everyone needs to get fucking vaccinated so we can have herd immunity. Err, I am sorry for what was done to you. Everyone needs to but if you have a good reason to not trust the government then you should be free not to.”

And, don’t get me wrong: What the US government did to Black people was pure evil. It is also just one example amongst those spanning all of human history where actions ranging from unethical to downright monstrous were used for medical experimentation and… there are no signs that is ongoing (yet. RFK is cooking…) so…

I’ll say the same thing I said back in 2020 (?): If you are that concerned, drive an extra hour and go to the white people CVS. Just get fucking vaccinated.

Anti-vacc transcends political affiliation.

RFK was very much a lefty darling for years (decades?) with ridiculous support amongst “Hollywood”.

And, as anyone who remembers The Pandemic can attest, one of the biggest talking points when the COVID vaccines were rolling out was that anyone who insisted everyone get vaccinated was actually super racist because America experimented on Black People a couple decades ago.

Its the same with “alternative medicine”. Chuds insist we should inject bleach into our gooches because of 5G radios. Granola eating lefties insist we should use holistic medicine based on East Asian secrets because they are cultured and it is better for the environment (while the Tiger Moms are calling everyone dumbasses and saying to just get vaccinated because science).

The reality is that it all basically boils down to the vilification of intellectuals. And much of that goes back to long standing efforts by conservative/government orgs. The republicans have been focusing on it, especially in media, since reagan but it goes way back towards burning philosophers and proto-scientists at the stake.

One really funny side effect of this is that the better part of a decade ago, trump actually said something like “I like vaccines” at one of his rallies and his ass got booed REAL abrahamic god damned hard. Which is why he is constantly on the “We are putting too many vaccines into the babies” bullshit because it lets him feel like he is speaking his truth while not getting turned on by his mob.

Nah, this is even more fucked.

The US Military actually thought it would be fucked up to throw explosives at those kids. platner and his unit told Uncle Sam to hold their beer while they figured out a way to still throw explosives at children without getting caught.

I assume he put that front and center on his CV when he was applying for a gig at Blackwater.

Alright, so again, I didn’t just randomly google these topics. I was in Iraq at the same time. I was a marine.

Yes. We understand you have experience in committing war crimes. We aren’t asking if lil skorzeny did a good job of it.

Further still, it is the literal smallest indirect fire weapon option to exist in the arsenal, so you could not be more judicious to respond to incoming fire than the use of a 40mm grenade.

It’s almost like using indirect fire in an environment full of civillians is a no no?

So if every single incident of returning indirect fire is a war crime, then there are a hell of a lot more war criminals in the military that need prosecution.

Not the topic but…

To be very clear, we never should have been there fighting in cities in unjust war or inversion, but it is incredibly clever ingenuity that chose the minimal explicit yield possible, with lots of effort specifically to avoid collateral damage when used. The pre-sighting described and calculating trajectories is not the work you spend weeks on if you intend to harm the wrong person.

Yeah. I personally wouldn’t use the word “clever” to explain “figuring out how to randomly throw grenades at civillians without getting caught after being specifically told not to do that”

You can believe no indirect fire weapons should ever be used in cities, and that is a fine enough opinion.

I believe that he believed his commanding officers said that was the case because the risk to civillians was too great. He stated he didn’t care because he apparently knew better than everyone else because his gunnery sergeant took a seminar.

But hey, thanks for confirming that your “expertise” really is in the whole “getting away with committing warcrimes” area. Which, to be clear, nobody is denying that platner has admitted to doing. What we are more concerned with is the “committing warcrimes” part of that and why he (and apparently you) feel the need to tell everyone you did that.

If “don’t have fucking nazi tattoos” is an “unintelligent purity test” then… holy fucking shit we are cooked.

and

We don’t need your mentality on our side.

Yeah. The side with the totenkapfs on their chest isn’t my side. Which… is what you and many online leftists (as well as the DNC) are making abundantly clear to Women, People of Color, and our LGBTQIA+ “friends”.

And, just because I can’t resist

You might as well just turn MAGA, because you have the same negative effect as voting for trump.

Actually, I think electing a nazi does a better job of supporting trump. Just saying.

In sum, he created a less harmful indirect fire solution with a lot of due diligence to make it accurate to the threat.

No. The reason that he himself acknowledged was that it was a civilian rich environment. And he and his unit still wanted to use indirect fire that they themselves weren’t even sure would work (hence everyone hiding the first few times) and where they never knew if the grenades actually hit the enemy but it did scare them. What were the enemy surrounded by? That’s right, civilians.

Which, according to some random googling I did, is covered by Article 51 in that attacks are prohibited if it may be expected to cause collateral damage to civillian targets.

So you can argue that you would need a lawyer to follow up on that. But… that is the argument used for trump et al as well.

Either way: Not a story I would gleefully tell people.

Ah, but boys will be boys and no reason to let one little mistake ruin his entire life. Or any of the other little mistakes. People grow. They change. And they should never have to prove that to anyone.

But yeah. Most of me is sad that we are probably going to see the Democrats elect a nazi to the Senate. But at least part of me can’t stop laughing at the people who insist this is some anti-establishment underdog or that, and I quote,

doesn’t have a clear track record of being a corporate minion that doesn’t represent their state

when he was a god damned Blackwater merc.

Like, you making the accusation that Platner is a secret nazi does not a secret nazi Platner make

Yeah no. The totenkopf that was on his chest for 20 years does that. And the whole Blackwater thing doesn’t help. Nor does the homophobia.

This was oppo research released to have this exact effect, t

Wait… the opposition has a time machine and were able to go back 20 years, drug him, tattoo a totenkopf on his chest, and then trick him from realizing it was there for the next 20 years? And they are wasting it on THIS?

So like, the oppo worked, on you.

If “the oppo”'s goal was to make me dislike a nazi and really prefer we not tell all our POC/LBGTQIA+/Women “allies” to fuck off because this is a man’s world? Mission successful?

Intent does not change facts. And if you think it is so important to spite the facsists by electing a nazi to the Senate…

we need get past this bullshit where people are taken to the mat for somehow being different at an earlier point and place in time.

…

The ink on his celtic (allegedly purity) tattoo that covers up the totenkopf is still wet. He is hopefully still applying ointment every day. If he is in such a different place after just two weeks, who can possibly imagine what he might be doing in a whole month!

Those people are sociopaths or psychopaths who have carried this goal for decades to ensure they are clean as a whistle.

As opposed to nazis who were rocking the totenkopf back in September.

I am a firm believer that people be given a chance to change. I have seen absolutely nothing indicating that the Blackwater merc with a nazi tattoo did. In fact, back in early October he was outright lying about not knowing what his nazi tattoo was.

At best, we are looking at a Fetterman where he’ll say whatever will get him elected, fuck over the country as a republican for six years, and then get a lobbyist gig. And, just a reminder: Fetterman was a piece of shit long before the stroke and it is well documented even on a fucking Anthony Bourdain show.

No. This is just yet another case of a really problematic white man being pushed above everything else and all defenses being “Well, boys will be boys”. Because Women, POC, and LGBTQIA+ folk (among other)… really have no choice. The republican will ALWAYS be worse.

But if you want to suppress votes by running a nazi against fucking susan collins because it is just too hard to finish out the next six months of primary season?

The reality is that he probably IS a good candidate because… Maine is really fucking white and really fucking racist. It’s “Upstate New York: The State”. And… a fucking nazi probably isn’t going to be much worse than collins. But I am not going to shut the fuck up about how “progressives” and “leftists” around the country can’t stop glazing a god damned nazi and what that means for all of their “allies”.

I mean… its a nazi. So more like an entrenching shovel to grind?

And folk wonder why women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ folk tend to roll their eyes and distance themselves from Online Leftists.

Homie? You aren’t doing a good job of defending him considering you are characterizing his statement as “It is their fault for being around those rapists”

And the rest is the bog standard “she just isn’t charismatic” or “she laughs too much” that is always used to dismiss women. So… definitely painting a pic for why you are caping for the white nazi

That is what makes this so, to steal a tired phrase, “concerning”.

I can’t tell if she just realized trump is probably going to die in office and is trying to position herself as a party frontrunner (never gonna happen) or if this is her in full qanon mode. The former is the same kind of shit we saw romney et al try in the past. The latter is what happens when the people who livestream themselves trying to assassinate Obama realize who is ACTUALLY the pedophile that is hurting them.

And mowing down a bunch of gravy seals (or just drone striking them) is a GREAT way to build genuine support for the insurrection act and martial law.

Stop listening to your favorite podcasters.

Actually go look at how many established Democrats have been interviewed and actively glossed over or ignored all the bullshit with Platner.

He is “anti-establishment” in the same way trump was. Yeah, he probably isn’t the first choice. But The Party clearly support and endorse him. Contrast that with a Mamdani or Abughazaleh where most established Democrats actively ignore them because The Party actively does not want them to win.

He said he wasn’t stopping, and he hasn’t, which speaks to his character

I think that more speaks to his past comments on sexual assault…

His opponents are fucking AWFUL choices

Actually Daira Smith-Rodriguez had a very similar platform and none of the baggage and is even in a union. Can’t imagine why people didn’t catch on to her.