Charlie Kirk was a liar and a bigot. There, I said it. Worse, he seems to have encouraged a whole new generation of liars and bigots who are convinced that Charlie was the best thing since sliced bread, and Ms. Andreatta gives all appearances of being one of that number.
And I am frankly disappointed that more people aren't seeing through all of his (and her) bullshit.
He lied when he talked about qualifications for responsible positions and suggested that the standards for such positions was – shall we say, "modified" – for minority candidates. Any self-respecting person holding such a position, regardless of their majority or minority status, might be tempted to kick ol' Charlie in the gonads for such a suggestion.
But being that Kirk is dead, that would be wasted action.
Operative words: intentional, and false. Semantically speaking, unprovable or delusional but otherwise sincerely held beliefs--such as belief in God, or belief in Santa, or belief in the Loch Ness monster--are false; yet because the person believes them to be true, they're not intentionally meant to deceive.
Compare to Trump, who truly lies--makes shit up, exaggerates, distorts, denies, and dismisses--so much on a regular basis it's hard to know when he's telling facts. Trump is a LIAR.
Semantics aside, I agree! Kirk was a conman, a bigot, and many other pejoratives--a very successful, effective one at that. Giving credit where's it due.
He lied when he said he was a Christian. What Christian describes anyone, let alone his President as suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia and then calls for him to be imprisoned for life or executed?
What Christian debates at what age children should be forced to watch public executions?
What Christian sees the victims of gun violence as being worth sacrificing for the greater cause of maintaining the 2nd amendment?
And BTW I’m an atheist and I find it very easy to adopt that position especially when faced with bigots like Kirk described as Christians.
"My oldest daughter had a lot of trauma as a child. Something really terrible happened to her when she was very young that I would hope never would happen to any other child."
I'm guessing the trauma was having an ignorant racist moron as a mother.
No, Mayor Andreatta. Christian Nationalist is a name we give to people like you who are far right nationalist claiming that the country was founded to be a Christian nation. What would that really look like to you? If the United States is officially a Christian nation, what would be the status of people who aren't Christians? Who gets to define Christianity? You do realize that there are plenty of Christians who don't teach the hateful stuff you regurgitate regarding LGBTQ people and civil rights for people who are not white.
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚.
You, Madame Mayor, are what was unsafe about that room.
I honestly would have so much more respect for them if they just owned their hate and didn't twist themselves into pretzels to try and still appear or present as morally upright people. But they want to have their cake and eat it too, they genuinely love the rhetoric, hate and perceived superiority and hate that they can't have both. That is why they get so irritated when they get called out or their own words are used against them, because they are hypocrites and they see themselves as good people, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
This woman went to a public high school in California. Are they no longer teaching that our nation was founded by people who were tired of a king, who ruled by divine right, ruling by royal edicts? Or did the bible college she went to manage to remove everything she already learned and dump garbage into her head?
Christian fascist don’t know real history (world or local), in fact the Christian fascists really don’t know anything unless they were told what to think!
People like her don't realize that in an us versus them, would she's a them. Sure she is white and a Christian, but she's a woman. She's not going to get a seat at the table.
Please remember that we are just ordinary thinking human beings, as there is no such thing as an atheist … but the Mayor and too many others are brain dead THEISTS.
It's astonishing that in the year 2025 people like Andreatta still think they can get away with making bigoted, homophobic, and defamatory comments about high school students and people like MLKjr and no one outside that small room will ever hear about it. She wasn't 'taken out of context', she was recorded saying the very things she claims were 'out of context.' The only thing that was authentic in her speech is that she 100% represented the bigoted, racist, homophobic views espoused by Charlie Kirk. The damage caused by Kirk and his acolytes like Andreatta didn't take long to filter out to the student population after her speech, because kids sitting in that room, indoctrinated in hate, then turned around went after fellow students. Kirk contributed nothing of value during his life, and his legacy continues to inflict harm after his death.
Excellent observation of the racist POS mayor. (Don’t care to use her name) So proud of the students that confronted the racist POS in real time. Their pushback is crucial. This generation must ensure that their future is not commandeered by racists, homophobes, misogynists - yes Christian Nationalists. Nothing good comes from people insisting that other people are different and that it’s a bad thing.
Tell me why America is exceptional out of every nation on the Earth, please. Because I'm not seeing it. I see a nation with lofty rhetoric about liberty and freedom, but not much else.
We are number one in mass shootings and mass incarceration. Also, maternal mortality, infant mortality, lack of healthcare access, and rapidly declining life expectancy. But most of those things are connected.
You see, it's not that they are unqualified because they can't do the job. They are unqualified because they couldn't afford the training or they didn't get the job through a friend of their daddies.
Judging by her own statements, she isn't a very articulate or thoughtful person. In fact, there's nothing about her statements that suggests she has much of anything going on upstairs. Which is entirely the point: the political climate these days had emboldened these low-wattage intellects to spout whatever useless drivel comes to mind and claim it's all "protected speech."
Starting off with an OT: Yesterday I mentioned that 218 House members signed a discharge petition that forces a vote on extending ACA subsidies. The vote comes after 7 legislative days. Mike Johnson has now closed the House, meaning that no legislative days are going by. The subsidies will end on Dec. 31st and as long as the House is shut down, there will be no votes even on the GOP “plan”.
Johnson is a pro-death snake. Honestly, it’s about time people should have to face the consequences of their votes and decisions. Unfortunately, everyone else is harmed in the process as well.
There are rumors that MTG was trying to do that as her parting shot. It takes 9 Republicans to force a vote on voting out the Speaker. I’m wondering if the House being shutdown prevents a vote on the speakership. It may be — this pure speculation on my part — that he will keep the House closed until MTG resigns.
Someone needs to keep track of every person who dies unnecessarily next year due to not having health insurance and send Mike Johnson a card in the mail each time:
I wish. They put him in that position because he’s a loyalist freak who’s on a mission to ban women and the trans community from participating in life.
OT: I don't know about anyone else, but I've noticed a phrase that keeps coming up lately, and it's made another appearance in this article. "American exceptionalism" isn't something that I remember from childhood, and seems to be little more than 'back in the 1950s when things were going good for the US and not so much for everyone else'.
I can tell it's being used as something of a MAGA dog whistle; I've heard Trump use it often enough I would guess that's why it's being used so much now. Perhaps it's me, but that phrase sounds more like something I'd hear in a modern ad; sure it sounds good, but at the end of the day it doesn't have much meaning. It's just decoration on an average or below average product intended to fool others into thinking it's worthwhile. In short, it's completely on-brand for the Trump presidency and those who voted for him as there is no actual substance to be had. An exceptional America is something to be built and earned, and right now, more bridges to that exceptionalism are being burned or torn down than are being built.
The bottom line here is that America cannot have bigots, misogynists, and racists for leaders and be 'exceptional' in any worthwhile way. Being truly long term exceptional requires group effort from every individual; looking down on others is not something an exceptional nation can afford at any level. People of color, women, LGBTQ+, and many other minority groups have plenty to offer the United States, and denying their accomplishments and abilities is foolish at the fundamental level. Ms. Andreatta isn't just wrong here, she's actively fighting against what she's claiming (pretending?) she wants.
It's a RWNJ phrase. When wimmen were barefoot and pregnant, "colored folks" knew their place and queers were in the closet. During this era the US used its power to topple democratically elected governments to help oil companies and other corporations with their profits at the expense of other countries' democracies and citizens.
The notion of American exceptionalism has been around for a long time. I've encountered it now and then over the past five decades. My take is that it refers to the essence of the people inhabiting the territory of the United States who are descendents of West Europeans. Rugged individualism, personal responsibility, and a can-do attitude feature prominently in this myth. There's a lot more to it but this is a comment, not an article. AE was always propaganda but I agree, nowadays it just sounds absurd.
Charlie Kirk was a liar and a bigot. There, I said it. Worse, he seems to have encouraged a whole new generation of liars and bigots who are convinced that Charlie was the best thing since sliced bread, and Ms. Andreatta gives all appearances of being one of that number.
And I am frankly disappointed that more people aren't seeing through all of his (and her) bullshit.
You think he was lying? I assure you he spoke sincerely held beliefs. Those beliefs are perverse, bigoted, and odious.
He lied when he talked about qualifications for responsible positions and suggested that the standards for such positions was – shall we say, "modified" – for minority candidates. Any self-respecting person holding such a position, regardless of their majority or minority status, might be tempted to kick ol' Charlie in the gonads for such a suggestion.
But being that Kirk is dead, that would be wasted action.
Can I kick his wife's 2nd husband (Vance) in the gonads?
Don't let me stop you! [not that I would!]
Join the line.
A “sincerely held belief “ can still be a lie though.
Lie: an intentionally false statement.
Operative words: intentional, and false. Semantically speaking, unprovable or delusional but otherwise sincerely held beliefs--such as belief in God, or belief in Santa, or belief in the Loch Ness monster--are false; yet because the person believes them to be true, they're not intentionally meant to deceive.
Compare to Trump, who truly lies--makes shit up, exaggerates, distorts, denies, and dismisses--so much on a regular basis it's hard to know when he's telling facts. Trump is a LIAR.
Semantics aside, I agree! Kirk was a conman, a bigot, and many other pejoratives--a very successful, effective one at that. Giving credit where's it due.
with semantics you can make anything anything amirite.
He lied when he said he was a Christian. What Christian describes anyone, let alone his President as suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia and then calls for him to be imprisoned for life or executed?
What Christian debates at what age children should be forced to watch public executions?
What Christian sees the victims of gun violence as being worth sacrificing for the greater cause of maintaining the 2nd amendment?
And BTW I’m an atheist and I find it very easy to adopt that position especially when faced with bigots like Kirk described as Christians.
I look at her and listen to her and am reminded of the following...
"That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain."
-- Hamlet
Oh, yeah, that works.
"My oldest daughter had a lot of trauma as a child. Something really terrible happened to her when she was very young that I would hope never would happen to any other child."
I'm guessing the trauma was having an ignorant racist moron as a mother.
^THIS
𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠? 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑢𝑝 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒.
No, Mayor Andreatta. Christian Nationalist is a name we give to people like you who are far right nationalist claiming that the country was founded to be a Christian nation. What would that really look like to you? If the United States is officially a Christian nation, what would be the status of people who aren't Christians? Who gets to define Christianity? You do realize that there are plenty of Christians who don't teach the hateful stuff you regurgitate regarding LGBTQ people and civil rights for people who are not white.
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒’𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑛𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚.
You, Madame Mayor, are what was unsafe about that room.
I honestly would have so much more respect for them if they just owned their hate and didn't twist themselves into pretzels to try and still appear or present as morally upright people. But they want to have their cake and eat it too, they genuinely love the rhetoric, hate and perceived superiority and hate that they can't have both. That is why they get so irritated when they get called out or their own words are used against them, because they are hypocrites and they see themselves as good people, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
There are two things Republicans hate: 1) Being called racist; and 2) Black people.
That's Christian Nationalism hiding under religious garb.
This woman went to a public high school in California. Are they no longer teaching that our nation was founded by people who were tired of a king, who ruled by divine right, ruling by royal edicts? Or did the bible college she went to manage to remove everything she already learned and dump garbage into her head?
Christian fascist don’t know real history (world or local), in fact the Christian fascists really don’t know anything unless they were told what to think!
It's the latter. Although the fact that she chose to go to a b̶i̶g̶o̶t̶ bible college suggests she didn't learn much at her public school.
“There’s nothing unsafe about this room.”
Immediately proven wrong as folks left the room to harass and bully their classmates who weren’t in the room.
They certainly have no trouble coming up with names for people outside their far-right religious anthill.
People like her don't realize that in an us versus them, would she's a them. Sure she is white and a Christian, but she's a woman. She's not going to get a seat at the table.
Under the table still count, somehow.
Hmmm, and just what is she going to be doing under the table?
Leur cirer les pompes, bien sûr.
She'll be polishing something, but it won't be shoes.
If you insist. French expression du jour : astiquer le braquemart.
Sadly, in my view, Madame Mayor is a very sick THEIST animal.
… 🦘🦘🦘
Please remember that we are just ordinary thinking human beings, as there is no such thing as an atheist … but the Mayor and too many others are brain dead THEISTS.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7bcc2c6658aa8354d107ee1f9816cb5eb3d0d84fbed08d2cc304d109c7fcdc49.jpg
When someone tells you that they are a shitty person, believe them.
And when someone tells you that they are a shitty person, then tries to walk it back, believe what they said the FIRST time!
Isn't trying to walk it back when facing consequences for shitty behavior part of the definition of a shitty person?
The first part is declaration. The second is VERIFICATION!
The airlines didn't lower their standards. You know who did, though. ICE and the Border Patrol.
Offering a $50,000 sign-on bonus? That positively SCREAMS desperation!
Plus cutting training time.
I shudder to think what their "training" looks like!
Mostly how to do this properly: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0d720a1b85160c94f1117e19d4d49a8c17285e8fb7cc7e404e0f37fff2d7170d.jpg
They only get it if they last five years, and they will be fired before that happens.
Somebody lowered the standards for mayor.
It's astonishing that in the year 2025 people like Andreatta still think they can get away with making bigoted, homophobic, and defamatory comments about high school students and people like MLKjr and no one outside that small room will ever hear about it. She wasn't 'taken out of context', she was recorded saying the very things she claims were 'out of context.' The only thing that was authentic in her speech is that she 100% represented the bigoted, racist, homophobic views espoused by Charlie Kirk. The damage caused by Kirk and his acolytes like Andreatta didn't take long to filter out to the student population after her speech, because kids sitting in that room, indoctrinated in hate, then turned around went after fellow students. Kirk contributed nothing of value during his life, and his legacy continues to inflict harm after his death.
"Republicans love calling people “Socialist” or “Marxist” without elaboration because those words sound scary."
Socialist/Marxist: Someone whose politics I dislike.
Somebody ask her whether she has actually read any Marx or Engels and watch her squirm
Christian fascists don’t read books, they (Christian fascists) prefer to burn them (books).
Also ask her how she likes her local police, fire department, and library. 😉
I’ve been called Marxist and Socialist so many times, I take it as a badge of honor. At least I’m not a fascist.
Excellent observation of the racist POS mayor. (Don’t care to use her name) So proud of the students that confronted the racist POS in real time. Their pushback is crucial. This generation must ensure that their future is not commandeered by racists, homophobes, misogynists - yes Christian Nationalists. Nothing good comes from people insisting that other people are different and that it’s a bad thing.
[American exceptionalism]
Tell me why America is exceptional out of every nation on the Earth, please. Because I'm not seeing it. I see a nation with lofty rhetoric about liberty and freedom, but not much else.
We have the Kardashians and Jersey Shore.
And Pauly Shore.
Is he still around? See? There is no god.
We are number one in mass shootings and mass incarceration. Also, maternal mortality, infant mortality, lack of healthcare access, and rapidly declining life expectancy. But most of those things are connected.
Americans are exceptionally good about talking about how exceptional they are.
𝐵𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑖𝑑...
You see, it's not that they are unqualified because they can't do the job. They are unqualified because they couldn't afford the training or they didn't get the job through a friend of their daddies.
Judging by her own statements, she isn't a very articulate or thoughtful person. In fact, there's nothing about her statements that suggests she has much of anything going on upstairs. Which is entirely the point: the political climate these days had emboldened these low-wattage intellects to spout whatever useless drivel comes to mind and claim it's all "protected speech."
Starting off with an OT: Yesterday I mentioned that 218 House members signed a discharge petition that forces a vote on extending ACA subsidies. The vote comes after 7 legislative days. Mike Johnson has now closed the House, meaning that no legislative days are going by. The subsidies will end on Dec. 31st and as long as the House is shut down, there will be no votes even on the GOP “plan”.
Johnson is a pro-death snake. Honestly, it’s about time people should have to face the consequences of their votes and decisions. Unfortunately, everyone else is harmed in the process as well.
I think it's time that Johnson was kicked out of the Speaker's chair.
There are rumors that MTG was trying to do that as her parting shot. It takes 9 Republicans to force a vote on voting out the Speaker. I’m wondering if the House being shutdown prevents a vote on the speakership. It may be — this pure speculation on my part — that he will keep the House closed until MTG resigns.
Someone needs to keep track of every person who dies unnecessarily next year due to not having health insurance and send Mike Johnson a card in the mail each time:
Human #8,567,094
Thoughts and Prayers
Gee, can you say, "Running scared," boys and girls? I KNEW that you could!
BTW, back when the GOP was looking for a new Speaker, didn't they have a rule that only ONE HOUSE MEMBER was needed to call to remove a Speaker?
That was the concession the idiot caucus made to vote for Kevin McCarthy.
Yes, that was the rule then. And they came to the reasonable conclusion that it was a stupid rule.
I wish. They put him in that position because he’s a loyalist freak who’s on a mission to ban women and the trans community from participating in life.
Rat bastard.
Drinking eggnog and eating Xmas ham that their constituents can't afford.
Charlie Kirk was a awful human being, and the people who followed him are just as bad.
OT: I don't know about anyone else, but I've noticed a phrase that keeps coming up lately, and it's made another appearance in this article. "American exceptionalism" isn't something that I remember from childhood, and seems to be little more than 'back in the 1950s when things were going good for the US and not so much for everyone else'.
I can tell it's being used as something of a MAGA dog whistle; I've heard Trump use it often enough I would guess that's why it's being used so much now. Perhaps it's me, but that phrase sounds more like something I'd hear in a modern ad; sure it sounds good, but at the end of the day it doesn't have much meaning. It's just decoration on an average or below average product intended to fool others into thinking it's worthwhile. In short, it's completely on-brand for the Trump presidency and those who voted for him as there is no actual substance to be had. An exceptional America is something to be built and earned, and right now, more bridges to that exceptionalism are being burned or torn down than are being built.
The bottom line here is that America cannot have bigots, misogynists, and racists for leaders and be 'exceptional' in any worthwhile way. Being truly long term exceptional requires group effort from every individual; looking down on others is not something an exceptional nation can afford at any level. People of color, women, LGBTQ+, and many other minority groups have plenty to offer the United States, and denying their accomplishments and abilities is foolish at the fundamental level. Ms. Andreatta isn't just wrong here, she's actively fighting against what she's claiming (pretending?) she wants.
It's a RWNJ phrase. When wimmen were barefoot and pregnant, "colored folks" knew their place and queers were in the closet. During this era the US used its power to topple democratically elected governments to help oil companies and other corporations with their profits at the expense of other countries' democracies and citizens.
It's comes up more outside the US than inside I suspect. Often sarcastically.
American exceptionalism = white supremacy
The notion of American exceptionalism has been around for a long time. I've encountered it now and then over the past five decades. My take is that it refers to the essence of the people inhabiting the territory of the United States who are descendents of West Europeans. Rugged individualism, personal responsibility, and a can-do attitude feature prominently in this myth. There's a lot more to it but this is a comment, not an article. AE was always propaganda but I agree, nowadays it just sounds absurd.