They’re laying the groundwork to purge officers that might push back on plans to abandon Ukraine, bar women from combat roles, discharge LGBTQIA+ service members, etc. If they think an officer may not roll over and support whatever the new administration wants, then threaten investigation and court martial unless they agree to step down quietly.

“Tastes of human sir. Would you like a white wine?”

Uh, Socialism please.

“Well we’re all out of Socialism. We only had three bits and we didn’t expect such a rush. So whaddaya want?”

What, so my choice is “or US free enterprise”?

I’m only surprised the cops aren’t pushing their usual line:

Police Spokesman: The suspect in this police involved shooting was no angel. Confidential informants have talked about how often her mother was up at night, imagining what trouble her little baby might be in this time. How many times she cleaned up her messes, only to find her in the same trouble all over again. The absolute filth the suspect covered herself with under that diaper day after day …

Reporter: But didn’t an officer shoot and kill the mother also?

Police Spokesman: I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation

/s

In all seriousness, this isn’t a tragedy, it’s a travesty. It’s a predictable and recurring outcome our society has been engineered to accept because it’s easier and cheaper than changing a system that benefits those already wealthy and in power. I use this gallows humor to cope with it, with the casual brutality and racism that caused it. To live with what none of us should be able to live with. Fuck this shit.

Still too optimistic. The people that clung to the previous status quo didn’t become enlightened. They stayed just as bigotet, but they died off over time.

Reports are down because people have given up on reporting. The FTC doesn’t send you details of if they’re doing anything with your report. Most telemarketing comes from spoofed phone numbers. Reporting the same caller for 2+ YEARS doesn’t stop them from calling. Enforcement actions appear to be exceedingly rare.

If call volume doubles but 2/3 of reporters have given up, the metric goes down. This isn’t a win.

Not unless it’s other peoples’ money. Good thing US election campaigns are self financed /s

Terry Pratchet did a whole bit about exactly this in The Last Continent (one of the Disc world books) - the God of Evolution is obsessed with beetles and creates new ones as a form of self-soothing.

Apparently he was inspired by a quote from JBS Haldane:

When asked what his studies of Creation had revealed to him about the nature of God, the Scottish geneticist J. B. S. Haldane (1892-1964) supposedly answered: “He seems to have had an inordinate fondness for beetles.”

This is perhaps too onion-y, but somebody has to drop it in the thread:

The Onion’s statement on the purchase

Gay sex tapes would do it. Not that I think there are any, but his base are homophobic enough to turn on him for that. Rape and pedophilia they can understand, accept, and support, but gay sex is where they would draw the line.

Sigh.

Grooming has a pretty widely understood meaning. If you believe you’ve been incorrectly accused of that please take a moment to reflect on why that might be.

You’re being a bit overdramatic with that red flag.

It might be because they suggested that kids ought to be allowed to walk down the street without a chaperone.

Or because they were caught having a perfectly normal conversation with a minor they don’t know. Not about anything remotely sexual, just talking to them at all.

It might also be because they’re gay. Or trans. Or a drag queen. Or tried to keep books on any of those groups from being banned from the library. Or admitted in the classroom that any of them even exist.

Grooming used to have a widely agreed upon meaning. These days (in the US at least) it’s more often used as a political term to demean and other whoever the right wing doesn’t like.

It’s not the vulgarity - the other word is historically tied to eugenics.

On further consideration, “shit-for-brains” might just be the phrase you’re looking for.

I can think of a few that might work, but they aren’t common or guaranteed inoffensive. One that does and also describes his role is “tool”. On the other hand, is it really necessary to be that specific when “scum”, " Nazi", “fascist” all fit so well?

No. “Moron” was the second slur.

Yep, Q is Queer (also sometimes Questioning). It’s kind of a fuzzy category to define from the outside, but covers people who don’t consider themselves to fall within any of the other categories.

Non binary and other gender nonconforming folks will often identify as queer. So may people who challenge cis- or hetero-normativity, monamory, and other social norms around gender and sexuality (look into “Queer Theory”).

Absolutely - it’s a great place to be gay or lesbian, and presumably bi as well. Trans or gender nonconforming is another matter.

Since you say you’re already familiar with the Cass report and issues like multi year wait times for initial appointments for transition care, I’ll jump to other examples.

Media - From the BBC, to the Guardian, to Channel 4, transphobia is given a megaphone.

Rising levels of hate crimes

Guidance to schools includes outing transgender children to their parents

LGB is one thing, Q and T are another. There’s a reason it’s so often referred to as “TERF Island”.

Not the solution you think it is. It would be the rural Republican areas of California that would split off, meaning the magats would have an even stronger lock on the senate.