Dear Texas, we need to have a conversation about Louie Gohmert

[Ghost of LL 15664]

On 1/3/2021 at 2:10 PM, hayden_horn said:

i wanted to quote so much of this conversation, but i'll just start here.

the rural people in this country have been fucking betrayed by leadership, and they are rightly pissed about it. this has largely manifested the donald trumps and louie gohmerts of this country.

look, the fact that we cannot get basic fucking infrastructure out to the country is a major problem. broadband should be a fucking utility, not a luxury. my mom has lived out in east texas off highway 80 for the last decade or so, and she still relies on fucking hughesnet, which is fucking terrible. worse than dialup.

the nordic countries got broadband (fiber, mind you) out into their hinterlands fucking 15 years ago, because they merged utility with broadband. the fact that this has not happened here has resulted into people with directv or dish, and that's their info. they tune into whatever channel they like, most likely fox, and they gorge upon that content. 

this country has done a massive, intentional disservice to people living in the country. people have been talking about broadband to the rural communities for years, but precious little has been done. only visionaries, many in utility, have been able to make use of government grants which are woefully small. this should be a priority, but it is not. 

to finish off your thought, twice, you are right but also wrong. i'll hearken to an old movie my dad showed me and i showed my son: sergeant york. our country is made up of simple, hard working country folks. i have many in my family, though life has kind of passed them by. but if you look around texas, the farmer has given way to the roughneck oil dudes. the ranchers are still here, but mostly wealthy. and nobody from the democratic party is doing anything to appeal to them, and, given my travels through east and west texas, they have a lot of general anger. they feel betrayed by everyone, and so the fuck what, i'll vote for donald trump. 

there is a reason that middle america is red. they are pissed off. nobody does anything for them, and they have been fooled into thinking that maybe republicans do. one day that veneer will wear off, but i don't think that day is as soon as i hope. pissed off voters are so much more effective than content ones. and that's a big part of the urban/rural divide. and i think republicans have a lot of blame in that, intentionally so, because they understand the value of pissed off people. 

This is really well-written, so it pains me to say that I really disagree with the conclusions.

People in rural America are a huge beneficiary of federal spending.  They haven't been betrayed by leadership; they've hugely benefited off it.

We know about the direct subsidies to farmers, mentioned in a post above.  But it goes well beyond that.  Look, for instance, at the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, which authorizes the USDA to make loans and loan guarantees for rural utilities--i.e., water, sewer, and broadband.  The only reason huge parts of this country have water and sewer and broadband service is because of that statute.

But nobody in rural America knows about it.  Why?  Because the USDA can't do much to publicize it.  The Republicans have ensured that the USDA has to run its loans and loan guarantees through the local bank.  To some degree, that makes a lot of sense, because it helps the local bank.  But the problem is that it's the local banker who is out there at the ribbon cutting.  So nobody knows that it's Uncle Sam who just paid for your new water treatment plant.  They all think their community is self-sustaining.

But it's not.  Without that statute, rural America would look like rural China.  People would be on well water and taking a shit in outhouses.

They want no taxes and proclaim that the government should do nothing other than maintain the military.  They deplore people who are on welfare.  But the reality is that they're the biggest welfare queens in the country.

The fact is that life in rural America is hugely subsidized by the people who live in urban and suburban America.  That's not entirely surprising, given the institutional preference for rural America created by the Constitution.  When rural voter's vote is worth vastly more than an urban voter's vote, why would we expect any different outcome?

The reason rural America is pissed off isn't primarily economic.  It's cultural.  The predominant culture in this country is driven by its urban centers.  And that culture has made some enormous changes just over the past decade.  When Obama was elected in 2008, neither he nor Biden would say a word in favor of gay marriage.  Biden caused a minor rupture when he came out in favor of gay marriage in 2012 without fully vetting it with the White House.  Now, the predominant culture assumes not only that gays can get married, but that people should go to the bathroom based on the sex with which they identify.

I could do the same exercise about racial issues or about immigration.  And one might argue that some of that was in response to Trump's retrograde views in those areas, so the cause/effect is inverted when it comes to why rural America is pissed off.  But it really doesn't matter.  

[Beau Vine 55824]

2 hours ago, Ghost of LL said:

We know about the direct subsidies to farmers, mentioned in a post above.  But it goes well beyond that.  Look, for instance, at the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act, which authorizes the USDA to make loans and loan guarantees for rural utilities--i.e., water, sewer, and broadband.  The only reason huge parts of this country have water and sewer and broadband service is because of that statute.

But nobody in rural America knows about it.  Why?  Because the USDA can't do much to publicize it.  The Republicans have ensured that the USDA has to run its loans and loan guarantees through the local bank.  To some degree, that makes a lot of sense, because it helps the local bank.  But the problem is that it's the local banker who is out there at the ribbon cutting.  So nobody knows that it's Uncle Sam who just paid for your new water treatment plant.  They all think their community is self-sustaining.

But it's not.  Without that statute, rural America would look like rural China.  People would be on well water and taking a shit in outhouses.

It sounds like you've also read this:

If you haven't, you should.  Everyone.

 

[WhatTheBuck 28904]

18 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

It sounds like you've also read this:

If you haven't, you should.  Everyone.

 

I have it. It’s in the queue. Don’t know when I’ll get to it. I’m reading Fascism by Madeline Albright right now. And I have to devote time to making smartass comments on internet message boards. There are only so many hours in a day. 

[Ghost of LL 15664]

11 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

It sounds like you've also read this:

If you haven't, you should.  Everyone.

 

I have.  But I actually know about that program in a professional capacity.

By the way--if you want to see how much is going out the federal door to build rural broadband, you can look at the Rural Utilities Service website.  It spent more than $20M just last month to build rural broadband across four states.

[TheStoicPaisano 9948]

Ethics Committee upholds $5k Gohmert fine

Quote

hmert argued that the $5,000 fine is overly punitive for a member of Congress who isn't independently wealthy.

"Because I have sacrificed to become a public servant and am not a millionaire as is the Speaker who arbitrarily set the amount of the fine, this kind of massive fine becomes an arbitrary bar to eliminate the non-wealthy from Congress," Gohmert wrote, referring to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "Obviously five thousand dollars to a millionaire is a mere pittance compared to the blow to someone who is of vastly lesser means."

 

[tx 3 putt 78470]

Waaaaaa !!!!

[Longhorn_Fan68 34079]

[Beau Vine 55824]

[Matuka 1320]

Don't do the whine if you can't pay the fine!

...or somethin' like that.

[RDCanecutter 26853]

Louie poor-mouthing about the fine is disgusting and un-Texan. He should be bragging about how he just has so much money that he plum forgets a measly $5000 because he doesn't carry pocket change.

[JimmyJames 12271]

2 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Louie poor-mouthing about the fine is disgusting and un-Texan. He should be bragging about how he just has so much money that he plum forgets a measly $5000 because he doesn't carry pocket change.

This is so true and a big example of how far we have fallen. LBJ would have laughed at a 5k fine and would have said he could raise five times that amount just for showing up at a party but he didn’t need to so fuck it he will just stay home and pay it if and when he felt like it.

[Biff Tannen 46061]

I hope he starves.

[RDCanecutter 26853]

39 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

This is so true and a big example of how far we have fallen. LBJ would have laughed at a 5k fine and would have said he could raise five times that amount just for showing up at a party but he didn’t need to so fuck it he will just stay home and pay it if and when he felt like it.

And LBJ would have been laughing about 5,000 gold-backed dollars. 

 

[elfenix 34658]

He would have paid it in sandwiches

[Beau Vine 55824]

Louie's gonna try to pay it in pubes.

[Pescado_Rojo 19558]

LBJ would have wrapped the 5 grand around his hog and whipped it out on the house floor to pay it. 

[Longhorn_Fan68 34079]

1 hour ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

LBJ would have wrapped the 5 grand around his hog and whipped it out on the house floor to pay it. 

 

[TheStoicPaisano 9948]

Mask off.

 

[Dr. Teeth 5868]

People hate calling racist people racist.

[wildcat09 29556]

Yeah, that's straight nazi shit.

[Chooky 13337]

8 minutes ago, TheStoicPaisano said:

Mask off.

 

So you want Anglo architecture? Fine. Do an infrastructure expansion and call it Honkey Roads. I don't care. Just fix the goddamn bridges and highways. If you can just shut the fuck up and govern I'll give you a pure caucasian high five everytime you halfwits fill a pothole with good, old fashioned, Aryan ingenuity. Oi and whatnot. Whatever. Just fucking produce something. 

[WhatTheBuck 28904]

20 minutes ago, TheStoicPaisano said:

Mask off.

 

Mask? I think you mean hood. 

[TwiceHorn 31987]

25 minutes ago, TheStoicPaisano said:

Mask off.

 

Uniquely Anglo-Saxon eh.

Monarchy?  Tyranny?  Feudalism?  Nobility and aristocracy?

And what the blue fuck does architecture have to do with it?

For all their flaws, I think the Founding Fathers would tell them to take their Anglo-Saxon political traditions and cram em up their asses, sideways.

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[Chooky 13337]

"We want a Buffallo Wild Wings with a thatch roof and mud and straw walls."

Edited April 16, 2021 by Chooky
Whitey

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

2 minutes ago, Chooky said:

So you want Anglo architecture? Fine. Do an infrastructure expansion and call it Honkey Roads. I don't care. Just fix the goddamn bridges and highways. If you can just shut the fuck up and govern I'll give you a pure caucasian high five everytime you halfwits fill a pothole with good, old fashioned, Aryan ingenuity. Oi and whatnot. Whatever. Just fucking produce something. 

Considering that they are anti-everything except fascism, don't you think you're asking too much? I mean they supported a man who was *checks notes* two hours late to his own press conference. Even Mussolini was able to keep time (well supposedly the trains thing was a lie too, but it fits).

[sidis 9990]

26 minutes ago, TheStoicPaisano said:

Mask off.

 

 

3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Uniquely Anglo-Saxon eh.

Monarchy?  Tyranny?  Feudalism?  Nobility and aristocracy?

And what the blue fuck does architecture have to do with it?

 

apparently the battle of hastings is not finished.  back to 1066!

[High Plains Drifter 11161]

3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Uniquely Anglo-Saxon eh.

Monarchy?  Tyranny?  Feudalism?  Nobility and aristocracy?

And what the blue fuck does architecture have to do with it?

 

 

come on man,

"uniquely Anglo-Saxon" = Facism

"the progeny of European architecture" = white supremacy

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

The literature keeps talking about the word 'unique,' as in "...the long term existential future of America as a unique country with a unique culture and a unique identity being put at unnecessary risk..."

In other words, we want to celebrate diversity ........of white people and we are a nation of immigrants....white immigrants.

[UDontKnow 10557]

8 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Mask? I think you mean hood. 

That was my first thought. You don't have go back THAT far in history. And it's really in line with what the Republicans have been doing since at least the Reagan era.

[TwiceHorn 31987]

On 3/30/2021 at 4:43 PM, TheStoicPaisano said:

Ethics Committee upholds $5k Gohmert fine

 

Considering that Gohmert is a lawyer, judge, and politician, and not overly burdened with ethics, the fact that he is not at least semi-wealthy is a testament to his stupidity.

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

It's being amplified on social media, the nationalists are over the moon. I'm certain some are bots just by diving down into a few accounts, but it's depressing.

[Chooky 13337]

The new GOP: Emotional static and ethnic anxiety only. Zero production, no ideas and empty symbolism 24/7 365. White whine only. It's too hard for us to be white in Tyler, TX these days. No more voting unless you're wearing cargo shorts and something, anything, from Eddie Bauer. We're scared as hell and we're not gonna take it anymore. Your freedom is an infringement on my freedom to deny your freedom. NO MORE! 

[Chooky 13337]

Nuke Santa Fe!!! Fuck you, Pueblo era!

And fuck you too, historically accurate maps of North America! The tyranny of reality will no longer restrain us! 

 

[atomheartbevo 90546]

Glad they aren’t hiding it anymore.  Make them run in this next year.   

[Beau Vine 55824]

 

[bolverk 30231]

19 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

 

Hell, I'll walk up and kick him square in the ass today.

I also like that he pronounces "buh-tawks" like Forest Gump.

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

 

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

Mentioning A&M by name. Oh that's going to hurt in so many ways.

[mchookem 16728]

i literally lol-ed at that 🤣🤣🤣

'got me into the honors program at atm... i'm sure that shocks people'

no, no it does not shock anyone, Louie 🤣🤣🤣

[Grade of D as in David 13255]

Ah yes the honors program at a&m. It's like winning a medal at the Special Olympics.

[tchookem 3965]

Empowered stupidity is stupid.

[Guest Lobo]

He wasn't fucking with her like out of a "Screw you climate alarmists and tree-huggers, I'm gonna make an ass out of you."????

It seemed like he was being sincere.  Did that really happen?  I don't follow this dipshit as close as many of y'all, was that a real question?  
I'm missing something here and he's gonna laugh at me.  I mean, wtf?  He asked the Forest Service director if they could look into changing the orbit of the moon?  

There's no fucking way he wasn't being an sarcastic asshole to prove some point with her.  Something happened before or after this clip.  

[Biff Tannen 46061]

6 minutes ago, tchookem said:

Empowered stupidity is stupid.
 

JFC.  I normally don't watch these, but had to find out if he really said that.  Holy shit.  Put him out of his misery.

[Fudge Nuggets 19407]

When I first glanced at the tweet I thought “Orbits” was “Obits”. I got my hopes up for a fraction of a second. 

[tchookem 3965]

JFC.  I normally don't watch these, but had to find out if he really said that.  Holy shit.  Put him out of his misery.

No kidding. I saw it on a random sketchy twitter, and had to make a few clicks to get to Forbes. Sure enough, he said it.

[Guest Lobo]

Holy shit.  That was a completely real hearing and there are no signs he was being sarcastic.  Wow.  Just wow.  

The National Forest Service has been asked by a sitting U.S. Congressman to research how to alter the orbit of our Moon.  Is he from the Forest Moon of Endor?

There's a 90% chance I'm drinking later and calling his office to inquire about whether or not we can get the Ewoks involved in this project.  

[Brisketexan 106618]

1 minute ago, Lobo said:

Holy shit.  That was a completely real hearing and there are no signs he was being sarcastic.  Wow.  Just wow.  

The National Forest Service has been asked by a sitting U.S. Congressman to research how to alter the orbit of our Moon.  Is he from the Forest Moon of Endor?

There's a 90% chance I'm drinking later and calling his office to inquire about whether or not we can get the Ewoks involved in this project.  

 

Wait....goddamit, this is all starting to make sense.  He just misread it as "uranus"....

 

 

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13619]

 

[tchookem 3965]

He wasn't fucking with her like out of a "Screw you climate alarmists and tree-huggers, I'm gonna make an ass out of you."????
It seemed like he was being sincere.  Did that really happen?  I don't follow this dipshit as close as many of y'all, was that a real question?  
I'm missing something here and he's gonna laugh at me.  I mean, wtf?  He asked the Forest Service director if they could look into changing the orbit of the moon?  
There's no fucking way he wasn't being an sarcastic asshole to prove some point with her.  Something happened before or after this clip.  

I was thinking the same thing. But he is incapable of "being cute". That takes a certain amount of intelligence. Nope... he's that stupid.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4998]

That's almost as bad as Hank Johnson being concerned about Guam capsizing, lol.