redsniper posted:

Awww shucks guys, I accidentally voted in the Gestapo! Ain't I a stinker.

quote:

Pam Schilling is the reason Donald Trump is the president.

Schilling’s personal story is in poignant miniature the story of this area of western Pennsylvania as a whole—one of the long-forgotten, woebegone spots in the middle of the country that gave Trump his unexpected victory last fall. She grew up in nearby Nanty Glo, the daughter and granddaughter of coal miners. She once had a union job packing meat at a grocery store, and then had to settle for less money at Walmart. Now she’s 60 and retired, and last year, in April, as Trump’s shocking political ascent became impossible to ignore, Schilling’s 32-year-old son died of a heroin overdose. She found needles in the pockets of the clothes he wore to work in the mines before he got laid off.

Desperate for change, Schilling, like so many other once reliable Democrats in these parts, responded enthusiastically to what Trump was saying—building a wall on the Mexican border, repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, bringing back jobs in steel and coal. That’s what Trump told them. At a raucous rally in late October, right downtown in their minor-league hockey arena, he vowed to restore the mines and the mills that had been the lifeblood of the region until they started closing some 40 years ago, triggering the “American carnage” Trump would talk about in his inaugural address: massive population loss, shrinking tax rolls, communal hopelessness and ultimately a raging opioid epidemic. When Trump won, people here were ecstatic. But they’d heard generations of politicians make big promises before, and they were also impatient for him to deliver.

A year later, the local unemployment rate has ticked down, and activity in a few coal mines has ticked up. Beyond that, though, not much has changed—at least not for the better. Johnstown and the surrounding region are struggling in the same ways and for the same reasons. The drug problem is just as bad. “There’s nothing good in the area,” Schilling said the other day in her living room. “I don’t have anything good to say about anything in this area. It’s sad.” Even so, her backing for Trump is utterly undiminished: “I’m a supporter of him, 100 percent.”

quote:

One year after the election of Donald Trump, the overwhelming majority of his supporters say they’d vote for him to be president again.

A poll conducted by Politico and Morning Consult found that 82 per cent of Trump supporters would back him again if they had a do-over. That’s more support than former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would get — 78 per cent of her supporters say they would vote for her once more.

Crocoswine posted:

"I thought it would only get rid of the bad ones!" says woman who hit button labeled "kill all mexicans"

quote:

More than anything, what seemed to upset the people I spoke with was the National Football League players who have knelt during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.

“As far as I’m concerned,” Frear told me, “if I was the boss of these teams, I would tell ’em, ‘You get your asses out there and you play, or you’re not here anymore.’ They’re paying their salaries, for God’s sake.”

“Shame on them,” Del Signore said over his alfredo. “These clowns are out there, making millions of dollars a year, and they’re using some stupid excuse that they want equality—so I’ll kneel against the flag and the national anthem?”

“You’re not a fan of equality?” I asked.

“For people who deserve it and earn it,” he said. “All my ancestors, Italian, 100 percent Italian, the Irish, Germans, Polish, whatever—they all came over here, settled in places like this, they worked hard and they earned the respect. They earned the success that they got. Some people don’t want to do that. They just want it handed to them.”

“Like NFL players?” I said.

“Well,” Del Signore responded, “I hate to say what the majority of them are …” He stopped himself short of what I thought he was about to say.

Schilling and her husband, however, did not restrain themselves.

“The thing that irritates me to no end is this NFL poo poo,” Schilling told me in her living room. “I’m about ready to go over the top with this poo poo. We do not watch no NFL now.” They’re Dallas Cowboys fans. “We banned ’em. We don’t watch it.”

Schilling looked at her husband, Dave McCabe, who’s 67 and a retired high school basketball coach. She nodded at me. “Tell him,” she said to McCabe, “what you said the NFL is …”

McCabe looked momentarily wary. He laughed a little. “I don’t remember saying that,” he said unconvincingly.

Schilling was having none of it. “You’re the one that told me, liar,” she said.

She looked at me.

The NFL?

“Niggers for life,” Schilling said.

“For life,” McCabe added.

etalian posted:

They also got triggered by NFL players peaceful protest

etalian posted:

They also got triggered by NFL players peaceful protest

etalian posted:

They also got triggered by NFL players peaceful protest

Powaqoatse posted:

tbf that first guy has a point. they should get out there and play some sports instead of just hanging around during the national anthem

crusader_complex posted:

totally into eternity

quote:

A woman on Monday accused Roy Moore of attempting to rape her when she was 16.
...
“Instead of answering my question, Mr. Moore reached over and began groping me, putting his hands on my breasts,” Nelson said through tears.
...
Nelson said she and her husband both supported Donald Trump for president and that her allegations have nothing to do with politics.

Dixie Cretin Seaman posted:

Dixie Cretin Seaman posted:

this probably belongs here, given the pussy tape and all:


also, when roy moore gets elected senator next month he will be fully qualified to represent the "great" state of alabama

Burt Sexual posted:

Wait, pussy tape and piss tapes?!

Dixie Cretin Seaman posted:

“We’re an intelligent population who elected you. Represent us!”

quote:

Hart prompted everyone to name the last president who they think united the country. For the most part, the Democrats said Obama and the Republicans said Reagan. Someone picked John F. Kennedy. No one named George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.

Then he told everyone to imagine that they have a magic wand and could take a positive quality from a former president and transfer it over to Trump. What would it be? The answers included Reagan’s sense of humor, JFK’s grace under pressure, Abraham Lincoln’s ability to bring the country back together and Obama’s professionalism.

Mundrial Mantis posted:

I love how superficial Reagan's positive quality is compared to the others. And lol at the cult of Reagan eclipsing both Bushes.

Charles 2 of Spain posted:

Reagan laughed heartily as the CIA murdered thousands in South America.

Dixie Cretin Seaman posted:

Dixie Cretin Seaman posted:

TontoCorazon posted:

You could tell he didn't even cut the tail himself, the goddamn knife if spotless.

DutchDupe posted:

I feel sadder when dogs die in movies than people which I guess is how Republicans feel IRL too

You can threw 25 million people off of health insurance but killing elephants is where you draw the line

DutchDupe posted:

I feel sadder when dogs die in movies than people which I guess is how Republicans feel IRL too

You can threw 25 million people off of health insurance but killing elephants is where you draw the line

Powaqoatse posted:

such a stupid and specific thing that it can literally only be cause his dumb son wanted to bring that elephant tail home

quote:

Trump reverses Obama-era ban against hunters importing elephant remains

Powaqoatse posted:

such a stupid and specific thing that it can literally only be cause his dumb son wanted to bring that elephant tail home

Terror Sweat posted:

To be honest, I don't see that much difference between hunting for fun and eating meat you got at a grocery store. both are unimaginably cruel, and for both the animal is dying in order to give you pleasure