Image via David Weigel
Barry’s BlueSky- Untitled May 5, 2024Flash forward to 2094, when people who are ten now will be like "the internet was different back then! We were all friendlier... there were hardly ever trolls... Now it's all gone to shit."
- Untitled May 4, 2024This is either incredible stupidity or incredible dishonesty from the cops, and I honestly can't tell which.
- Untitled May 2, 2024I love that Caterpillar boots were among the returned items, and in this photo an Amazon worker took, you can clearly see the "CAT" logo near the cat. Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away wapo.st/3JJ3vqT
- Untitled May 1, 2024A new cartoon for May Day! This has been an incredible year for unions in the USA - may next year be even better. Unions Have Always Done The Impossible! #PoliCartoon #Union #LaborDay2024 #MayDay2024 #May1st #UBI #LivingWage
- Untitled April 30, 2024People on reddit are fighting about a cartoon I did about why the US health care system sucks and I am enjoying this too too much. https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/1ch0l0r/why_us_health_care_is_such_a_terrible_system/?sort=old
- Untitled April 30, 2024I just posted a new cartoon! It's patreon supporters only for now, but in a week or so I'll make it public. :-) https://www.patreon.com/posts/deus-ex-machina-103359912?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
- Untitled May 5, 2024
ha.
That makes me wish I was a liberal dem. It’s nice to have people who are that attracted to you.
So how many were in attendance, 20, 25?
Wait, what?
I’m not even sure what that sign is supposed to mean.
FreeRepublic is the one place on the web that genuinely scares me. I mean, even the 4channers are just dumb kids out for some laughs – yeah, they do some real damage, but at least I can *understand*.
The freepers are just beyond comprehension.
Now, as for the teabagging bit – if they mean the traditional slang meaning of the term – how much you want to bet they hate gays, and dont’ see any contradiction in hating homosexuality but thinking tea-bagging is hilarious?
I’m not clear on why you marked this “Fail”.
The “Tea Bag” phrase is a reference to the Boston Tea Party. For you non-Americans out there, this was a protest that occurred in 1775 (IIRC). The British government imposed a tax, collectible in American ports, on imported tea (from the American viewpoint there’s no other kind). Of course, the Americans had no representation in the body that imposed this tax, the British Parliament. So a group of Bostonians dressed up as Native Americans jumped on board a ship that had just brought in tea, smashed up the tea casks and threw them overboard. This became known as the Boston Tea Party, and if you want to know more, Google it.
I’m on FR a lot. Yeah, there’s some real nutcases on there. But then there’s real nutcases just about everywhere. The interesting thing about FR is that ANYBODY can post threads there, not just particular bloggers. FR was where Dan Rather was exposed as promulgating the bogus memo purporting to be a military report that Bush II had ducked out on his military obligations. The S/N ration is worse than I’d like, but there’s good info on there as well.
That’s hilarious.
—-Myca
See, I was sitting here thinking they must know what “tea bag” means because otherwise the sign makes no sense. Now, I’m not so sure.
Ron, I did understand that it was probably a Boston Tea Party reference. But just to make sure, do you know what the slang “to teabag” someone means?
Just in case, as usual, Samantha has the answer:
This is a myth (and one that benefits anti-tax politics).
The Boston Tea Party protesters weren’t protesting a tax; they were protesting a tax cut.
England had just cut taxes on the East India Tea company, letting them sell tea to the colonies much cheaper than before. This pissed off Colonials who had been smuggling in tea and undercutting the legal tea’s prices; in protest, they dumped tea from the East India Tea company into the bay.
In effect, what the protesters wanted was protectionist policies to protect local tea importers from competition from the East Indian Tea Co.
Okay, Amp got to it before I did.
watching this posts’ comments updates has been an educational experience
Dang. Got the facts wrong there. And it was in 1773, not 1775 (but I did at least give myself a caveat on that one).
However, I did at least have right the central issue that it was a protest against government action, which is what the reference is for the present-day protestors.
Yes, I know the meaning of the term as used in a sexual context. All I can say is that there are numerous threads on these protests (they’ve occurred in a number of cities) on FR and a reference to that has never come up. I would imagine that the vast majority of them are not aware of it – there’s not a big intersect between the set of people who watched Sex and the City and the set of people hanging out at FR. The only reason I ever saw any of the episodes is because my daughter used to have her high school friends over to watch it at our house.
There were a few references to this early in the year after Pres. Obama’s inaugration – e.g., this, and this, where the poster suggested that people mail Obama a teabag (not used, I hope). However, what really got people going wasRick Santelli’s comments on CNBC calling for protests against Obama’s mortgage bailout bill and the spending bill on the floor of the Chicago Merchantile Exchange. Among his remarks was this:
People picked up on that. It’s reported that there have been over 2,500,000 hits – I couldn’t figure out where they got the number, myself. But the main thing is that this got a LOT of play on FR and protests are being organized or have been done in a number of cities.
So is the sign saying “send the Democrats a protest tea bag through the mail, before the Democrats stick their balls in your mouth”?
That seems weird, but it seems less weird than saying “send the Democrats a protest tea bag through the mail, before the Democrats send you a protest tea back through the mail”?
Although maybe it just means “dump them in the Boston Harbor before they dump us in the Boston Harbor.”
Explain “tea-bagging” in English. Is this the successful pursuit of a sex partner in a men’s room (“tea-room”, old gay slang)? Is this a reference to the colonialists’ refusal to pay the tax on tea in Boston Harbor?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tea-Bag
I figured it was some kind of video game reference, where you go up to a fallen enemy and sit/kneel on his head, to simulate tea-bagging. “Kill and hump the democrats’ faces before they kill you and hump your face!” or something.
I absolutely love that Amp just explained the Boston Tea Party and “Tea Bagging” in the same post.
Quick quiz, Ron F: How many tea bags were actually thrown into the harbor at the Boston Tea Party?
Hey, that’s a recommendation.
So is the sign saying “send the Democrats a protest tea bag through the mail, before the Democrats stick their balls in your mouth”?
Oh shit, Amp, sh! Don’t give them any ideas.
Auguste:
Hey, that’s a recommendation.
It pretty much ended Dan Rather’s career as a working journalist – there’s a service to the country right there.