Trump 22: Not Even Poe Could Make This Shit Up

[GrumpyGran]

17 hours ago, Howl said:

Loved this tweet: 

Yeah, it looks like all the guys at the neighborhood Labor Day Party decided to head over to the local bar for some beers and leave the wimenfolk behind to clean up.

I guess they figured out that torches and sheets aren't a good mix. 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

24 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

Well that was...unsettling? He just came out and said what he should have said two days ago. And he sounded like he was actually aware of what he was saying. Did somebody slip something in his Diet Coke? We know absolutely that this is not his inclination.

He sounded presidential for once. Someone must have explained him in no uncertain terms that public opinion expected and demanded a full condemnation. Probably that someone was holding his phone as hostage. It didn't come sooner because histo handlers were waiting to see in which direction would blow the wind.

[Cartmann99]

@JMarie, if your schedule permits, can you please do a recap of Hannity tonight? 

Thank you!

Speaking of Trump and Nazi News:

[Howl]

Quote

@realDonaldTrump seriously considering' a pardon for Sheriff Joe Arpaio 

No surprise there; it's a predictable move in the "As the Trump Turns" soap opera.   It would piss off every sane person on the planet while all the leg humpers, neo-Nazis and white supremacists will wet themselves with happiness and maybe deflect a little scrutiny from the Mango Magnate's bromance with them and Putin.   

[47of74]

(Shoving several Bens in the swear jar). 

Fucking pig.  If that fuck face was sincere even for a goddamn microsecond about condemming his KKK and Nazi buddies he would have strongly condemned them on fucking Saturday.  Not waited three fucking days then sputtered out a milquetoast piece of fluff.  And he would have told Arpaio to go fuck himself.

[fraurosena]

3 big mistakes Donald Trump made in his 2nd speech on Charlottesville

Spoiler

Shortly after noon on Monday, President Donald Trump delivered scripted remarks in which he condemned the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who had stoked deadly demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.

"Racism is evil -- and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans," Trump said. "Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America."

Which is good and right. But, let's be wary of giving Trump too much credit for saying, essentially, racism is bad. In fact, a closer look at Trump's words reveal three mistakes he made even in trying to clean up his comments from Saturday.

1. Trump said this on Monday, not Saturday

Saturday was Donald Trump's worst day as president. And Monday didn't help.

With scenes of Nazi flags waving and a car driven by a white supremacist allegedly being plowed on purpose into a group of counter-protesters, Trump delivered a speech in which he blamed "many sides" for the violence in Charlottesville. He also pre-emptively absolved himself of blame by insisting these sorts of incidents happened when Barack Obama was president, too.

Then, for the next 36 hours, he -- the most talkative (or tweet-ative) politician in the country -- went silent. His White House released a statement from an anonymous official insisting that of course Trump meant to condemn white supremacists. Even if he didn't, you know, say it.

But, that's the point. He didn't say it. It matters how you act in moments when the whole country -- and the whole world -- are watching. Do-overs aren't really a thing in politics -- particularly in a situation so fraught as the one in Charlottesville and with a politician with as spotty a record as Trump on condemning intolerance.

That Trump's instincts -- and those of his White House -- were so off at the start of all of this speaks to a deep misunderstanding of what the role of president is and should be. Leaders lead in moments when the country turns to them. That moment was Saturday. Today feels like a half-hearted attempt to step into the leadership void Trump himself created.

2. Trump opened his remarks by talking about the economy

When Trump spoke about Charlottesville on Saturday, it was clear that he had shoe-horned a few paragraphs about it into a speech he was already planning to give about all of the great things that were happening in the country under his leadership. It felt off for the moment. What was required was a simple formula: Sympathy for the victims, condemnation for the attackers, the end.

And yet, Trump repeated that mistake Monday. He opened his remarks with this:

"Our economy is now strong. The stock market continues to hit record highs, unemployment is at a 16-year low and businesses are more optimistic than ever before. Companies are moving back to the United States and bringing many thousands of jobs with them. We have already created over one million jobs since I took office."

Why? Because it's against Trump's nature to acknowledge -- even without acknowledging it -- that he may have done something less than perfectly the first time around. So, he touts his unrelated accomplishments before he gets to what he should have said two days earlier. It's his little way of asserting himself amid what he undoubtedly believes is trumped-up overreaction to his initial remarks on Saturday.

3. "As I said on Saturday..."

Per No. 2, Trump almost certainly didn't feel like he needed to give the follow-up remarks that he gave Monday because he had already said it just fine on Saturday. This phrase captures that frustration. I already said all of this, Trump is saying, but I will say it again because, well, someone(s) told me I have to.

It suggests that Trump doesn't really understand the shortcomings of his first statement on Charlottesville and believes this is all just a bow to the news cycle rather than a moral imperative to speak out clearly against hate and evil.

Which bodes poorly for his ability to handle the next incident -- and, sadly, we know there will be a next incident -- any better.

What a narcissistic fuckwit to start with his positive spin version of the economy! And as for that statement "As I said on Saturday", I agree with the article, with the exception of one comment: that he doesn't really understand the shortcomings of his first statement. I'm convinced he knows full well (remember his smug face?), and only said these scripted platitudes because 'someone told him he had to'.

So, in my opinion, too little, too late, and way too half-hearted and insincere.

[GrumpyGran]

10 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

I'm convinced he knows full well (remember his smug face?), and only said these scripted platitudes because 'someone told him he had to'.

Yes, but who? I'm now obsessed with knowing who had the power to force him to make that statement today. And to do it in a semi-convincing manner. This is big. Someone was able to force him to come out and make a statement you know he did not want to make and to do it with some realism.

A threat from Congress? I can't believe it was anyone in that sham of an administration of his. Have we seen the start of Trump being reined in? Probably not, but him issuing a "stronger" statement on anything other than the size of his brain, penis, intellect, military might or inauguration crowd is shocking!

[louisa05]

On 8/13/2017 at 0:01 PM, GrumpyGran said:

 

Sorry, mom, all the other people around him didn't have the same view of him. When they won't let you in the military, that's a bad sign. And was that his car? Nice car for a 20 year old. Or did it belong to a friend he came with?

Yeah, she's an enabler, he's a brainwashed robot.

I wouldn't be so quick to blame her. The money from the car was likely money he got at 18 that had been held in trust from his deceased father. His mother also mentions time on the web and heavy use of video games. There are a lot of sites on the web that use video games as a gateway to recruit young white guys into neo-nazi groups. First link is about Fields' family and life and includes info about the money. Second is about a neo-nazi and how he utilized the web for recruiting. 

http://heavy.com/news/2017/08/james-alex-fields-family-mother-facebook-samantha-bloom-father-social-media/

http://journalstar.com/news/local/lincoln-man-hosting-hate-web-sites/article_2af44e90-49a7-5de2-b72f-85627d798179.html

And one more about a family that has disowned one of the protestors who was not at all raised with such ideas: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pete-tefft-charlottesville-family_us_5991c267e4b090964298b60a

[onekidanddone]

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

You have to wonder, when will the Repugs finally denounce this presidunce and kick him out of the party?

Only when/if it will affect them at the ballot box.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Why Trump had to be badgered to condemn neo-Nazis"

Spoiler

After two days, blistering criticism from his own party and tougher anti-white-nationalist statements from the company that makes Tiki torches and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Trump dragged himself to the podium for a statement that specifically condemned white nationalists, neo-Nazis and other racists. He had to begin with some self-congratulations on the economy — because his accomplishments are what he really cares about. He told the country, “To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend’s racist violence, you will be held fully accountable. Justice will be delivered.” He finally spit it out by calling racism “evil” and condemning the “KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups.”

He read from a teleprompter. Speaking from his heart would have been impossible, given his obvious lack of passion and willful blindness over the past couple of days. He did not mention the “alt-right,” nor did he announce he is firing Stephen K. Bannon, who once bragged he gave the alt-right a platform at Breitbart. He did not announce any specific policy measures. He did not apologize for his moral obtuseness. This was the weakest statement he could have gotten away with, 48 hours too late. Why did it have to come to this?

The white nationalists in Charlottesville did not hide their intentions. They were there to revel in the Trump presidency, which explicitly told them it was time to “take their country back.” Former KKK grand wizard David Duke left no confusion as to his followers’ admiration for the president:

This represents a turning point for the people of this country. We are determined to take our country back. We’re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in, that’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back, and that’s what we’ve got to do.

His invocation of the president’s name and campaign rhetoric makes the president’s equivocation all the more appalling — and revealing. Whereas any normal president or politician would renounce support from neo-Nazis and white nationalists, Trump — until forced to do so — would not criticize them, let alone refuse to accept their support. (Contrast that to 1996 GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole’s remarks at his convention: “The Republican Party is broad and inclusive. It represents — The Republican Party is broad and inclusive. It represents many streams of opinion and many points of view. But if there’s anyone who has mistakenly attached themselves to our party in the belief that we are not open to citizens of every race and religion, then let me remind you, tonight this hall belongs to the Party of Lincoln. And the exits which are clearly marked are for you to walk out of as I stand this ground without compromise.”)

Not to have rejected immediately the support or to tell the neo-Nazis they misunderstood his message shocks even the most jaded Trump critics and puts President Trump in a category of one — American politicians who gladly accept support from white nationalists, neo-Nazis and the alt-right (white nationalists with intellectual pretensions).

One might conclude from Trump’s foot-dragging and obsession with stoking racial tensions (e.g. his vote fraud commission, his crusade against legal and illegal immigrants, etc.) that, despite his apologists’ protestations, his campaign message was aimed at white resentment. Trump continues to tell those who want to “take back their country” that “their” country is being overrun by foreigners, non-Christians, non-whites. The majority of his followers had a more benign, non-racial interpretation (take the country back from liberals, elites, urbanites, etc.), but it surely hit home and brought out from the shadows Duke and his ilk.

Indeed, Trump’s constant demonization of cities as bastions of illegal immigrants, crime and blight was never aimed at minority audiences. It was a portrait that played to the worst racial and ethnic stereotypes of rural whites who are left behind in the post-industrial economy as Silicon Valley, the Acela Corridor and the Pacific Coast produce more and more of the wealth. As Will Wilkerson wrote:

He persists in his efforts to slur cities as radioactive war zones because the fact that America’s diverse big cities are thriving relative to the whiter, less populous parts of the country suggests that the liberal experiment works — that people of diverse origins and faiths prosper together in free and open societies. To advance his administration’s agenda, with its protectionism and cultural nationalism, Trump needs to spread the notion that the polyglot metropolis is a dangerous failure.

Trump’s dance with the racists is therefore inseparable from his agenda. A nativist, populist president without the support of the most extreme defenders of Christian white America would be an impossibility.

There is anotherr more mundane explanation for Trump’s grudging, belated statement and refusal even now to reject support from white nationalists — just as he refuses to speak a critical word about Vladimir Putin. This is classic narcissistic behavior. The sole determination of whether Trump likes someone (Saudi royalty, thuggish leaders, etc.) is whether they praise him. It’s always and only about him. He has been far more antagonistic toward Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his own attorney general (or even Ken Frazier of Merck, who resigned from Trump’s manufacturing council) than he has been toward white nationalists because the former were disloyal in his mind, the only unforgivable sin in the Trump White House. And as a bonus, of course, anytime the media, liberal elites, policy experts and political insiders express outrage over his choice of soulmates, Trump is happy.

In sum, Trump’s ideology and political platform necessitate at the very least a truce (if not overt alliance) with white nationalists. Only when his presidential authority seems at risk will he relent to read someone else’s words. But let’s remember from this that he is also a patsy for those who either sincerely or manipulatively sing his praises and whose support horrifies his opponents. No wonder Putin wanted him to win — Trump is the perfect patsy for anyone seeking to undo the West’s liberal (small “l”), democratic (small “d”) tradition. And come to think of it, Trump has now condemned even the KKK but never openly criticized Putin.

Another good one from Jennifer Rubin.

[fraurosena]

9 minutes ago, GrumpyGran said:

Yes, but who? I'm now obsessed with knowing who had the power to force him to make that statement today. And to do it in a semi-convincing manner. This is big. Someone was able to force him to come out and make a statement you know he did not want to make and to do it with some realism.

A threat from Congress? I can't believe it was anyone in that sham of an administration of his. Have we seen the start of Trump being reined in? Probably not, but him issuing a "stronger" statement on anything other than the size of his brain, penis, intellect, military might or inauguration crowd is shocking!

The only ones I believe could have convinced him are Jared and/or Ivanka. Then again, I think the backlash he was receiving had to have had an impact. The fact that he might lose a chunk of the not white-supremacist part of his base just might have been frightening enough for him to agree to make another statement.

[Destiny]

He’s on another twitter spree. Poor little darling. The mean media won’t let go of his shit statement on Saturday. They are so mean to him! /s

Also, he’s really pissed at the pharmaceutical guy who quit him over that shit response.

Unrelated: I am fucking furious that there is a fucking crowdfunding campaign for the asshole driver, and am trying to get together the info for emailing the people responsible for the money. I can’t link cos I’m on my phone, but it’s on the godaddy says fornicate yourself thread here in politics. (If someone wants to be a friend and link go nuts.)

Edit: made a new thread and here's the link: 

 

[GrumpyGran]

55 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

The only ones I believe could have convinced him are Jared and/or Ivanka. Then again, I think the backlash he was receiving had to have had an impact. The fact that he might lose a chunk of the not white-supremacist part of his base just might have been frightening enough for him to agree to make another statement.

Yeah, I think this has Ivanka all over it. I think he really pissed her off and she called his bluff. Threatened to walk and he can't stand to live without his little girl. He also knows she gets some voters for him. Now, I don't think she WOULD walk but I think she convinced him. Maybe she's never yelled at him before.

[onekidanddone]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

No surprise there; it's a predictable move in the "As the Trump Turns" soap opera.   It would piss off every sane person on the planet while all the leg humpers, neo-Nazis and white supremacists will wet themselves with happiness and maybe deflect a little scrutiny from the Mango Magnate's bromance with them and Putin.   

He always plays this game "I just might do it in a day or two".  This is the  country he is running not a fucking reality show with the fake 'suspense' 

Oh and this.

Behold the mysteries of this unhinged ad for a Trump stuffed bear

Here is a link to the the commercial.  WARNING this might make you want to punch a hole in your screen and you might need Xanax afterwards. (I did no joke). Saw it last night. Many bad words were spoken by myself and my husband.

Spoiler

 

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Ken Cuccinelli, who ran for governor of VA four years ago, was on CNN to debate the TT's response to Charlottesville. It went really well. (end sarcasm). For those of you who haven't had the displeasure, Cuccinelli makes Pence look like a flaming liberal. He's a nasty piece of work who wanted to take VA back to the stone ages. Luckily, he lost the election. "Former Va. attorney general Cuccinelli catches flak for telling Symone Sanders to ‘shut up’ on CNN"

Spoiler

RICHMOND — Former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II on Monday found himself trending on Twitter, and not in a good way, after telling CNN political commentator Symone Sanders to “shut up” on TV.

The remark came during a heated discussion about President Trump’s response to deadly violence that erupted over the weekend at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.

Sanders was critical of Trump for not calling out rally participants as white supremacists, neo-Nazis and Klansmen, blaming the omission on the influence of “white supremacist sympathizers” in the White House, including chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon.

Cuccinelli, a Republican though hardly a Trump cheerleader, took issue with efforts to “smear” the administration.

Each talked over the other at times. And at one point, CNN host Chris Cuomo asked Cuccinelli to lay out his argument. Cuccinelli began. Sanders soon interrupted. And Cuccinelli lashed out.

“Can I finish, Symone?” he said. “Will you just shut up for a minute and let me finish? God bless America!”

Cuccinelli tried to go on with his argument, “And so all these racists come in, all these neo-Nazis from all over the country. . . . ”

But Sanders and Cuomo did not let that pass.

“Pardon me, sir,” she said. “You don’t get to tell me to shut up on national television. . . . Under no circumstances do you get to speak to me in that manner. You should exhibit some decorum.”

Cuomo also scolded Cuccinelli. He then struggled to get both guests to pipe down long enough for him to give a longer lecture, sounding at times like a frazzled nursery schoolteacher threatening to put the kids in time out.

“Ken, stay civil,” Cuomo began. “Both of you, stop for a second. Symone? Ken? Symone? Ken and Symone, hold on a second. You need a reset. You need a reset. Ken, you don’t want to use language like that when you’re talking to Symone. You can disagree, but you don’t talk like that on this show. You know better than that, Ken.”

Cuccinelli insisted he was in the right. “I keep getting interrupted. I keep getting interrupted,” he said. “Eventually I’ve got to stand up for myself.”

Cuomo: “Ken, you can stand up for yourself and still be civil.”

Cuccinelli: “Then how do you make them stop talking when they keep interrupting you?”

That comment further enraged Sanders: “‘Them? They?’ I’m sitting right here.”

Cuomo apologized to Sanders and twice prodded Cuccinelli to do the same.

“Ken, I know you,” Cuomo said. “You don’t talk to people like that. I know you don’t mean to insult somebody like that on this show. Would you like to say that for yourself?”

Well, not exactly.

“Of course not,” Cuccinelli said, “but I just can’t be walked over — over and over and over.”

The discussion returned to the subject of Trump, with Cuomo asking Cuccinelli to “help me understand” why the president did not name the hate groups.

“Well, look, this president defies understanding on my part,” Cuccinelli said before going on to express confidence that as the week goes on, Trump will make “stronger statements like the vice president did . . . especially as they learn more facts from the ground.”

As the segment wound up, Cuomo once again invited Cuccinelli to apologize. And Cuccinelli kinda, sorta said he was sorry.

“I apologize for ‘shut up,’ and I’ll accept her apology for interrupting me repeatedly and talking over me,” Cuccinelli said.

Sanders shot back, “I don’t have an apology for you.”

“Let’s leave it there,” Cuomo concluded.

But Cuccinelli called Sanders after the show to apologize.

“I called Symone and apologized for telling her to shut up,” Cuccinelli later said in an interview with The Washington Post. “As someone who would like more civil discussion, I need to make sure that I try to contribute to that effort.”

He said Sanders seemed to welcome the call.

“She said she appreciated me calling to apologize,” he said. “And she sounded very sincere to me, as I hope I sounded to her, because I was.”

Cuccinelli said he had spoken out of frustration with both the substance and freewheeling style of the discussion.

“I was laying back from a discussion standpoint for a fair bit, but felt like I couldn’t get a word in edgewise,” he said. “Chris was just letting it fly. That just turns up the heat.”

Cuccinelli said he had also been upset by the “attempt that was going on there to take these awful people — the Nazi types, the Klansmen types — and to broad brush other people like the president and people who work for the president as if they all stand with them.

“I’m not a knee-jerk Trump defender,” said Cuccinelli, who supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. “But that just goes too far. It is not constructive and is, I think, just taking advantage of a very tragic occurrence to try and accomplish political goals.”

Those last two paragraphs tell you all you need to know about Cuccinelli and why I danced a jig when he did not get elected.

[Audrey2]

@onekidanddone, they did forget one thing in the Trumpy Bear commercial. Order now and get a free phone, so your  Trumpy Bear can create and send Tweets. You don't want to trust the fake news, after all, to learn what the will of Trumpy Bear is. * The phone is most active between the hours of 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. Trumpy Bear only uses the free phone when you aren't in the room. 

[Cartmann99]

Well, shit.  

We had enough problems with the damn white supremacists before Donald Trump came along and turned the volume up to 11. 

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, onekidanddone said:

Oh and this.

Behold the mysteries of this unhinged ad for a Trump stuffed bear

Here is a link to the the commercial.  WARNING this might make you want to punch a hole in your screen and you might need Xanax afterwards. (I did no joke). Saw it last night. Many bad words were spoken by myself and my husband.

I kept expecting a woman wearing a negligée to show us a Trumpy Bear on her bed, while she closes her bedroom door with a seductive look on her face. 

 

[onekidanddone]

50 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

I kept expecting a woman wearing a negligée to show us a Trumpy Bear on her bed, while she closes her bedroom door with a seductive look on her face. 

Ann Coulter or Kellyanne?  

[Destiny]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

I kept expecting a woman wearing a negligée to show us a Trumpy Bear on her bed, while she closes her bedroom door with a seductive look on her face. 

 

I'm not gonna lie to you, I reflexively reached for the down vote button cos that mental image is NOT good.

[Cartmann99]

35 minutes ago, onekidanddone said:

Ann Coulter or Kellyanne?  

Kayleigh. Someone will have to show her how to use the door knob so she can leave the bedroom afterwards, or else she'll be stuck in there forever. Sure would be a crying shame if we never heard from her again.  

Also, I just read that Texas A&M has decided to cancel Richard Spencer's klan meeting scheduled for 9/11 on their campus. They are citing safety concerns as the reason. 

 

 

 

[Audrey2]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this, but since we discussed the mess in Charlottesville here, I thought it fit.

Former Congressman John Dingle said it all in a tweet. I'll put the tweet here, then a few other things under a spoiler. Here is the link to the full article. I recommend reading it, as he had a great mention of Richard Nixon for Trump at the end.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/congress-apos-longest-serving-wwii-035715965.html

 

The tweet "I signed up to fight Nazis 73 years ago and I'll do it again if I have to.
Hatred, bigotry, & fascism should have no place in this country.

What happened yesterday was radical terrorism, @realDonaldTrump.
Refusal to identify it, denounce it, & fight it makes one complicit in it."

Spoiler

Former Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), 91, known on Twitter for his bristling and often comical political observations, had a clear message following Saturday’s deadly violence incited by a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in history, was also one of the final two World War II veterans to leave office in 2014. On Sunday, Dingell tweeted that he enlisted once to fight Nazis, and he’d do so again if necessary.

Dingell enlisted when he turned 18 in 1944. He told NPR that he did not see combat and cited the atomic bomb as the reason. If the bomb had not been dropped, Dingell said he would have been part of a ground attack on Japan. 

 

[JMarie]

4 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

He always plays this game "I just might do it in a day or two".  This is the  country he is running not a fucking reality show with the fake 'suspense' 

Oh and this.

Behold the mysteries of this unhinged ad for a Trump stuffed bear

Here is a link to the the commercial.  WARNING this might make you want to punch a hole in your screen and you might need Xanax afterwards. (I did no joke). Saw it last night. Many bad words were spoken by myself and my husband.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

My thoughts on Trumpy Bear:

1. Guys who have motorcycles are not going to drive around with a  stuffed toy blocking their line of vision
2. Of course the bear has a combover, and he looks a little high
3. It's kind of illegal to have a flag-patterned blanket  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code 

   Quote

   The flag should not be used as "wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery", or for covering a speaker's desk, draping a platform, or for any decoration in general (exception for coffins). Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.

[GreyhoundFan]

One of the men identified from the Charlottesville fiasco is no longer employed. Apparently people are contacting companies when their employees are identified. "Charlottesville white nationalist demonstrator loses job at libertarian hot dog shop"

Spoiler

A white nationalist who participated in the torch-lit march through the University of Virginia’s campus this weekend has lost his job at a Berkeley, Calif., hot dog restaurant after Twitter users posted his photo and place of employment. The employee, Cole White, was identified online after he was photographed among a shouting and torch-wielding mob during the march Friday night in Charlottesville.

After being “inundated with inquiries,” his former employer, Top Dog, in downtown Berkeley, posted a sign on its door that reads: “Effective Saturday 12th August, Cole White no longer works at Top Dog. The actions of those in Charlottesville are not supported by Top Dog. We believe in individual freedom and voluntary association for everyone,” multiple news outlets reported. The shop has a political bent of its own, as it’s well-known in Berkeley for the libertarian stickers and articles posted on its walls, and website.

...

Top Dog issued a statement to the Washington Post that read, in part:

“Cole chose to voluntarily resign his employment with Top Dog and we accepted his resignation. There have been reports that he was terminated.  Those reports are false.  There have been reports that top dog knowingly employs racists and promotes racist theology.  That too is false. Individual freedom and voluntary exchange are core to the philosophy of Top Dog. We look forward to cooking the same great food for at least another 50 years.”

Another part of the statement noted: “We do respect our employees’ right to their opinions. They are free to make their own choices but must accept the responsibilities of those choices.”

When asked by The Post if White would have been permitted to keep his job had he not resigned, the shop declined to comment further.

White was in Charlottesville for the “Unite the Right” rally, which turned deadly on Saturday. James Alex Fields Jr., 20, who was described as a Nazi sympathizer by one of his high school teachers, is accused of ramming his car into a group of counterprotesters, injuring 19 and killing Heather Heyer, 32. Two Virginia state troopers — H. Jay Cullen, 48, and Berke Bates, 40 —  were killed while doing surveillance work during Saturday’s rally when their helicopter crashed.

The mostly male crowd that participated in Friday night’s tiki-torch-lit rally did not cover their faces, and they were widely photographed. A Twitter account, @YesYoureRacist, began posting photographs of participants and uncovering their identities. White was among the first it named. The account would soon identify students enrolled at the University of Nevada and Washington State University, leading both of the schools to issue statements condemning racism.

...

Top Dog, a Berkeley campus fixture, isn’t shy about its libertarian values. “The walls … are covered with libertarian bumper stickers, yellowed newspaper articles urging the privatization of the postal service, and hand-lettered signs with statements like, ‘Beware the leader’ and ‘There’s no government like no government,'” wrote SF Weekly in 1996.

A section of the restaurant’s website is dedicated to “Propergander,” posting articles about sanctuary cities, nuclear war and diversity. A recent article about an anti-diversity memo circulating at Google read, in part, “Jim Crow is long gone, but it seems that Progressives (which gave us Jim Crow in the first place) now are imposing what essentially is a new form of segregation, that being ideological and religious segregation that is more reminiscent of how the former USSR treated dissidents than anything we have seen in private enterprise.” The website was down for a time after the weekend’s incidents but was online as of Monday afternoon.

The restaurant wrote to one Twitter user that it had been overwhelmed with inquiries about White:

...

The restaurant’s Facebook page has been deluged with complaints about White, and its Yelp page is under “active cleanup alert,” due to the high number of people posting negative comments about him (Yelp’s note says it tries to remove comments related more to news events than users’ experience with the business). One sample review: “Great place for Neo-Nazis. For people who aren’t Neo-Nazis? Not so much. A hot dog is a hot dog, but a hot dog place that not only employs Neo-Nazis but posts alt-right screeds on their webpage is a place that makes me want to vomit. But if you hate minorities, you might have a friend in Berkeley’s Top Dog.”

By the way, the hot dogs are kosher-style.

That restaurant sounds like such a lovely place. Please note extreme sarcasm. The whole "propergander" is just too freaking much.

[Howl]

9 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

Kayleigh. Someone will have to show her how to use the door knob so she can leave the bedroom afterwards, or else she'll be stuck in there forever. Sure would be a crying shame if we never heard from her again.  

Also, I just read that Texas A&M has decided to cancel Richard Spencer's klan meeting scheduled for 9/11 on their campus. They are citing safety concerns as the reason. 

Kayleigh.  If only....

Yes, TAMU cancelled and with good reason.  

There was a major rally in San Antonio timed to coincide with the Charlottesville rally over the same issue: removal of a statue celebrating the Confederacy.  Yes, Texas did go to the Confederacy during the Civil War. 

Spoiler

 

Hundreds Clash over Confederate Monument in San Antonio

“At any type of rally we hold, we always encourage people to bring their rifles,” said an organizer with a group that defends Confederate monuments.

About 500 people converged on a San Antonio park in the blistering heat Saturday — some to call for the removal of a 118-year-old Confederate monument and others to defend it. The two groups held rallies on opposite sides of the downtown Travis Park for about five hours, and one person was arrested.

...hundreds of people, many armed with semi-automatic rifles, came out Saturday to defend the monument — led by a group called This Is Texas Freedom Force. The event coincided with the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

...Burkhart said the group [This Is Texas Freedom Force] launched in mid-May and now has an online membership of about 5,000. Their rally Saturday was guarded by heavily armed activists wearing fatigues and body armor who turned away multiple journalists who tried to enter.

“At any type of rally we hold, we always encourage people to bring their rifles,” Burkhart said. “The opposition gets way out of hand and people get hurt, so we want to make sure people can defend themselves.”

 

There were some anti-fa people who arrived ready to rumble, but there was no actual clash.  There was a BLM group present, referred to in the article as a  "Black Lives Matter-esque group called SATX4."  This is what the Mike Lowe of SATX4 had to say:  

Quote

Lowe led the crowd into the street for a march that was swiftly surrounded by police. Lowe and other activists said the police seemed unduly concerned with their unarmed demonstration.

“A black man, unarmed, nothing but a megaphone, is perceived as more violent than Bubba over there with the AR-15, a MAGA hat and a Confederate flag,” Lowe said through a megaphone in front of a line of officers. He then kicked off a chant: “Who do you protect? Who do you serve?”

Exactly.