Discussion
  • Read More
    IanHamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:14am

    I will be totally honest, my girlfriend and I are considering eventually leaving the country at some point in the future, after we possibly have kids and they go to school and whatever. It’s just getting to be too much. The racists have gotten a lot louder...the Christian derps have gotten pearl-clutchier...it’s just pure madness. We should be evolving the other way. I don’t want to be in a country that is half-represented by these idiots. This is not the way we are supposed to be as a country. But the empty cans rattle the most.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      The Dread & Fear of KingsIan
      11/19/15 10:17am

      No you’re not. That’s just the edgy take you have at cocktail parties that gets smuggy nods of approval.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      djfijuIan
      11/19/15 10:17am

      I hear Syria is nice.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    benjaminalloverHamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:18am

    An actualmajority of U.S. governors are now on the record as saying they don’t want any Syrian refugees coming into their territory

    Disgusting and shameful, but more than anything else: cowardly. What kind of wholesale fucking pussy abandons their country’s values and morals because a different country was attacked? If one can be proud by proxy of another nation’s leader, that’s how I felt about Hollande’s inspiring speech. This? Guys, I don’t know how else to say this but you should all be mortified.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      1llamarampage will write againbenjaminallover
      11/19/15 10:26am

      Um I am not sure if you are aware, but those families are 100% going to come here with their the clothes on their backs and their no money and their absolutely nothing else, and they’re going to use them to make kalashnikovs and suicide vests, guaranteed.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      puncha yo bunsbenjaminallover
      11/19/15 10:30am

      It almost seems like a game of Hot Potato/domino at this point. Like a couple cowardly governors fell/passed the buck, and now the remaining ones don’t want to be holding it. Whether they do or don’t actually believe in keeping Syrian refugees out, I feel like now no one wants to be responsible for, like, housing ALL of the refugees or something (although that obviously wouldn’t happen). All because they’re scared that the original governors were scared about something that happened in a country on another continent.

      So basically that was a long way of saying—yes, everyone seems terrified. Which means that ISIS’s brand of terrorism is working. In all their patriotic freedominess, I guess they forgot that this means we’re already losing to them.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    MolierthanthouHamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:19am

    Humor aside, this is the damn truth. I find it harder and harder to have blind pride in my very-redneck-home-state. I mean... when I went to college I was all “_____ is the greatest state in the country. It’s beautiful and the people are so nice” — Now it’s all “______ is consistently voted the stupidest state in the country, the poorest and the people are pretty much horrible.” (I could make a huge poverty breeds bad things post but we all know that). The biggest thing about rednecks (I’m allowed to say it because, to be frank I am not too removed from ‘em) is that they are PROUD of being “country” and conservative, and racist. They wear it like a badge of honor under the guise of small-town values and simplicity. Meanwhile they are overdosing on heroin, losing their teeth to meth and blaming liberals for taking their self-destructive jobs away. Can we export people? Let’s make a swap.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ohnopleasenoMolierthanthou
      11/19/15 10:33am

      It’s South Carolina, isn’t it?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Molierthanthouohnopleaseno
      11/19/15 10:39am

      Nah. But you’re in the region!

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    OMG!PONIES!Hamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:29am

    Roanoke has several things going for it.

    1. It’s not Fredericksburg. Fuck Fredericksburg.

    2. Cheap cigarettes.

    3. I cannot stress this enough. Fuck Fredericksburg.

    Other than that, yes. It’s a shithole.

    Then again, America is at least 78% shithole.

    Pennsylvania is 91% shithole. West Virginia is 95% shithole. Ohio is over 98% shithole. Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Nebraska, Indiana, and Michigan are all at least 99% shithole.

    Even New York and California are over 50% shithole. (See upstate New York; Inland Empire, California)

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      kamla deviOMG!PONIES!
      11/19/15 10:32am

      The cheapest cigarettes I ever bought were in Syria. Nine American dollars for a carton of Gauloises.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      OMG!PONIES!kamla devi
      11/19/15 10:36am

      Yeah. But you’re buying French cigarettes in ISIS territory.

      On the other hand, you can get a carton of Marlboro for about $25 at South of the Border on the VA/NC state line.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ThatGuy524Hamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:18am

    Didn't get to read this yet but I was just thinking this morning. The only way this country is going to be run correctly is if we get rid of primaries for only a few states or all together and there's a direct election. We have to demand it even if that means literally overthrowing the current government. Until then fuck it all.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Cherith CutestoryThatGuy524
      11/19/15 10:25am

      Only way the country will improve is getting rid of districts within states. So that all federal elected positions are voted on by the entire state.

      That’s not to say there aren’t still bad politicians in the senate. Bad politicians in the senate are often a majority (regardless of party). But districts are too easily gerrymandered. And an official responsible for the whole country shouldn’t be pandering to the interests of a very small number. A number chosen by the governor to get the “right” party elected (and both sides do this).

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      ThatGuy524Cherith Cutestory
      11/19/15 10:34am

      You aren't stating your position clearly enough, the first paragraph. Are you saying each state gets to pick one or the other candidate? That's too close to the electoral college for me. I'm saying each individual vote counts, one by one. No districts, colleges, states or anything else. Literally anyone can vote for anyone they'd like to. It doesn't have to do away with the party system but it would certainly shake it up to the point where there would be several if not dozens are parties.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Just another GawkfugeeHamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:18am

    First of all, Roanoke is a real shit hole, and so is Jacksonville. No refugees want to go there anyhow. Don’t flatter yourselves.

    Attack the idiots all you want, but claiming the places they govern are shitholes just because you disagree with the people who govern there?

    Dude, snark like this is beneath you. Or should be.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Hamilton NolanJust another Gawkfugee
      11/19/15 10:22am

      I grew up down the road from Jacksonville. It is a shit hole. Check your facts before commenting on the internet please.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      youreahotmessJust another Gawkfugee
      11/19/15 10:25am

      And I grew up down the road from Roanoke. It is a shit hole. Go check it out sometime.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    IPoopedMyPantsHamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:14am

    You are an asshole. End of story

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      DyneIPoopedMyPants
      11/19/15 11:57am

      And the first of many redneck hicks makes an appearance.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      darkamdusiasIPoopedMyPants
      11/19/15 11:58am

      There’s no disputing that Hamilton is an asshole, but there’s no also disputing the fact that he raises some extremely valid points in the article.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ReburnsABurningReturnsHamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:15am

    The governor of Texas has traditionally been, with notable exceptions, a dumb hick.

    Dear Hamilton,

    Are you aware of which Texas governor instituted the most regressive tax in the history of Texas, the Texas Lottery?

    Richards was pretty great, but she definitely had her dumb hick moments as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was governing today if she wasn’t one of the Democratic governors who joined in on this stupidity.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Tebowner15ReburnsABurningReturns
      11/19/15 10:19am

      Wow, scorching hot take. The lottery is suddenly a regressive tax? Amazing how I have somehow avoided said tax for, oh, ever.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      ReburnsABurningReturnsTebowner15
      11/19/15 10:22am

      The net flow money created by the lottery is indistinguishable from that of a regressive tax.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    BklynIlluminatiHamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:17am

    I do admit that while dumbass hicks out number the normals at least 5:1, it is the apathy of the normals that allow the dumbass hicks to thrive and create more dumbass hicks. Normals insulate themselves from the dumbass hicks for long periods of time and only when the dumbass hicks do something so monumentally stupid to this country and the public at large do they finally get off their asses and do the simple things to correct the situation like voting so dumbasses like Governor Sammiches (pictured) don’t get re-elected or heaven forbid find themselves on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      NoMoreHicksBklynIlluminati
      11/19/15 10:32am

      All that is necessary for the triumph of dumbass hicks is that good men do nothing- Edmund Burke

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      PoodletimeBklynIlluminati
      11/19/15 10:47am

      Even us normals can be frustrated by redistricting and voter suppression. Funny how smart n’stuff the D-A Hicks politicians become when it comes to the mechanics of manipulating voting....

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    MattyWollyHamilton Nolan
    11/19/15 10:22am

    Especially dumb given most, if not all, or the Paris attackers were citizens of Belgium and France with the ability to travel to the U.S. without even seeking a visa.

    If a terrorist organization wants to send someone to the U.S. there is simply no reason to plant the mug among refugees who go through a months and even years long vetting process.

    Far easier to find someone from a no-visa European nation who does not have a record and send over with all the other tourists.

    Absolutely no way the TSA does a better job screening European tourists than the FBI vetting refugees.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Cherith CutestoryMattyWolly
      11/19/15 10:40am

      The only reason to plant someone among refugees would be for the specific purpose of tainting the refugees.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      MattyWollyCherith Cutestory
      11/19/15 11:09am

      Possible, but I have trouble accepting.

      Most of the refugees are fleeing Assad and allies. The more who stay, the more distractions Assad has from recovering territory from ISIS.

      Of course there are some who think Assad’s end plan is to form a new safe state to the North and Northwest of Lebanon with a long term strategy of absorbing all of Lebanon. That would leave what is now eastern Syria for the Kurds, ISIS. and various other groups to fight over.

      Reply
      <