Troll

Very thought provoking and well done:



And very timely as we get closer to election day.

Right Wing Trolls

The past couple of months for me on Twitter has been...interesting, to say the least. If a psychologist ever needed to conduct an experiment in psychotic human behavior, all they'd need to do is read the right-wing tweets of nut job Scott Walker supporters and Knot My Wisconsin members.

I've been a regular user for a few years, but it's only gotten this bad for myself recently. It started at the end of December 2013 when I was browsing through tweets under the #wiunion hashtag. What I found among the few tweets of progressive intellectualism, were an army of Knots and various other right-wing nuts harassing Twitter users expressing progressive views. Of course, being the person I am, I engaged with one of this knuckle dragging morons and immediately I found myself becoming the target of vicious and disgusting personal attacks. I can handle that. I'm Irish and Norwegian, so I was blessed with a quick wit and smart ass attitude. I can trade barbs with the best of 'em. However, what I cannot deal with, accept or tolerate, it this:

Gee, sorry your overlord Hitler disappointed you.

Yep. This is a Scott Walker supporter telling me how much he wished Nazi's had killed all of my family back in Norway. Isn't that lovely? Hmm...can't say I ever recall a progressive saying something to this extreme. And you know, I could accept that this idiot and his right-wing ilk were just a vocal minority until I saw this tweet begging has been couple Chris and Dana Loesch, to re-tweet a hilariously ironic tweet about honoring a ww2 vet (is Tom aware that vet was fighting against fascist Hitler?)

Which of course, Chris Loesch retweeted:

Talk about "the company you keep" eh?

The attacks didn't just fizzle out after awhile. Once you're on their radar, you stay there forever. They took it above going after me. They moved onto harassing my husband and stalking our every bit of information online on a near daily basis. They managed to find out things I had no idea anyone would know, or even care about. So I have to ask - is this really who the GOP wants to have representing their party? It's safe to say, "birds of a feather flock together." These Knots pray to the alter of Charlie Sykes, Vicki McKenna and local Republican parties. Charlie Sykes certainly could never tell someone he wished Hitler slaughtered all of someone's family (though I'm sure he thinks it) so they have their Twitter orcs to do their bidding for them.

Oh yeah. They're really racist, too.

Social media is a curse and a blessing. If we needed more proof that civil discourse in America is dead, just browse through Twitter. "Debates" turn into a toxic puddle of verbal poisons lobbed back and forth. And I won't play the innocent card - I've told my fair share of people exactly where they can go, but only because they never even tried to debate me. They ignore the meat of my points and go right for personal attacks. "You're fat!" "You're ugly!" Ohh, you sure got me, guys. I guess not everyone could graduate from elementary school. And these Knots are certainly examples of what happens when you don't.

Where is Scott Walker calling on his supporters to curb the rhetoric? Does he really support something like this?

Or this:

The right-wing revels in this behavior because it whips their base into a frenzy. This is the Tea Party. This is the modern GOP. This is why they're losing supporters and elections. But really, we should just continue to let them speak. It shows the truth about what being conservative really means.

Just your average teabagger.

Dave Blaska's Trollidarity Squawkalong

Dave Blaska, right wing blowhard and glorified troll, thinks he is going to make a point against the Solidarity

I got a permit!

Singers by holding his own Trollidarity Squawkalong on Monday during the lunch hour.  He's even has a permit for it!

Sing patriotic songs like America the Beautiful and fun songs like Gilligan's Island and Flintstones. Show Wisconsin what respect for free speech looks -- and sounds -- like. Because the permit system assures everyone can have access to their Capitol and WE GOT A PERMIT!

Word is that Americans for Prosperity are busing in Teapublicans from Illinois so that they can reach 20 people to make the permit worthwhile.

And they are sure going to show us, because nothing says Free Speech like asking permission from Dear Leader to use it.  I wouldn't be surprised if Blaska already has a song list from Mike Huebsch.

I would hope and expect that the Solidarity Singers will hold with tradition and move outside as they have done any other time there as been a permitted event inside.

I mean, just because Blaska is the permit holder and thus is legally responsible for any and all costs associated with his event, whether or not it was his fault, should be no reason for any of the singers to stoop to their level and disrupt their squawking.

Knot Their Facebook: Part 2

About ten days ago, I shared the story of some folks on Facebook who were being harassed by emotionally stunted trolls who call themselves "Knot My Wisconsin" and are trying to silence those who would speak out against the tyranny in this state and country.

Apparently, this same group of knuckle-draggers or one like them is out to harass people opposed to the iron mining up in the Northwoods.  As one might suspect, they seem to target women, foolishly thinking them to be weaker. It looks like that they might have been off more than they can chew this time:

But now Wells says she is being targeted with similar threatening behavior from the other side. Wells' name appeared on a list of mining opponents with three other women on Facebook last week.

A man named Terry Dipper listed them on the Wisconsin Reporter's Facebook page, citing their opposition as a reason armed guards are needed at the Gogebic Taconite site.

In response to Dipper's post, Wisconsinites For Safe Mining wrote: "We have initiated a shoot on site order for the malcontents you have listed. Trespassing on a mining site = genocide."

"If you threaten to kill someone, that is a crime - that is malicious. Its horrible. Its scary," said Wells.

She and at least two of the other women, Roberta Retram and Barbara With, are now asking their local law enforcement agencies to investigate the matter criminally.

27 News exchanged Facebook messages with someone from Wisconsinites For Safe Mining on Monday about the comment, who insisted it was obvious satire. They even sent a link to a Wikipedia entry explaining what satire is.

But Wells and the other women aren't laughing.

"Its not a joke when you're threatening someone's life and you're putting a target on their head," said Wells.

Wells says the Dane County Sheriff's Office told her they will assign an investigator to look into the matter, but 27 News has not been able to confirm that yet.

The person from Wisconsinites For Safe Mining who exchanged messages with 27 News today, refused to identify themselves.

In related news, it appears that one of my favorite trolls, the one that had been going around trying to impersonate me in the Cheddarsphere is back at its old tricks.

It didn't work then, so I don't know what makes it think it will work now.

But no one has ever accused trolls, especially right wing ones, of being smart.

You're A Troll

Our friends at Freak Out Nation have been having issues with their trolls lately.

Anomaly found this hilarious video that pretty much sums it up for us bloggers and our less reputable detractors:



There is always this little troll ward too:

Charlie Sykes, Megatroll

Over the weekend, Jack Craver at the Cap Times wrote about State Senator Dale Schultz and how he again showed that he is an independent thinker and hasn't drunk of the Tea-Ade that the other Republicans are guzzling down:

Sen. Dale Schultz

Of all the partisan heresy state Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, has committed in recent years, from his vote against Act 10 to his recent opposition to Gov. Scott Walker’s mining bill, there is perhaps no action that better demonstrates his detachment from his party than his recent diss of Milwaukee talk radio, particularly conservative talk radio host Charlie Sykes, star of WTMJ-AM.

“(I)t is clear that WTMJ in southeastern Wisconsin has every legislator in that area shaking in their boots,” said Schultz on Tuesday during an on-air interview about the mining bill with John “Sly” Sylvester of WEKZ-FM in Monroe.

He continued: “I think it's humiliating when legislators have to be hauled in there to swear allegiance. My leader (Sen. Scott Fitzgerald) had to go in and tell Charlie Sykes that we weren't going to allow any new taxes — and that all came off of a press release from Grover Norquist."

From a conservative’s perspective, the comments themselves were grounds for an inquisition. The treason was magnified, however, by the fact that he made the comments to Sylvester, an inflammatory liberal host who has made a sport out of taunting Republicans in recent years.

Unsurprisingly, Sykes started with his usual sniveling and name-calling. And then, proving Schultz correct, Sykes gets Fitzgerald to come out and start sniveling right along with him.

And not only was Sykes tearing into Schultz for not toeing the line, but he also ripped into him for saying this on John "Sly" Sylvester's show.  Sykes' was denigrating Sly and repeatedly brought up some tasteless comments that Sly had made regarding Becky Kleefisch.

My first reaction was empathy with Schultz, because I've also been a target of Sykes' histrionic temper tantrums in the past.  Sykes went after me for a whole week after my picture appeared in the local paper, talking about one of then Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker's horrific budgets.  Sykes went so far as to giving me that week's "Deep Tunnel Awards," which he gives out each Friday to his supposed worst of the worst.  That is an accomplishment that I still brag about, knowing it meant that I hit the big time.

My next reaction was to wonder what in the world gave Sykes the impression he should say anything about anyone.  One look at Sykes' track record shows that he is no positive role model himself.

In 1996, Sykes was cited for setting off fireworks with a woman in a Milwaukee County park after the park was closed.  The woman was not his wife and Sykes was not the woman's husband - at least not yet.   The same woman was all over Sykes radio and TV shows, but under the fake name of Liz Woodhouse.  It was later revealed that said woman was Janet Riorden, spokeswoman for the Bradley Foundation, and after at least four years of an affair and two divorces, they finally made their relationship legal.  By the way, Riorden is Sykes' third wife.

In 2004, Sykes falsely accused Robert Miranda of being an organizer of a protest against fellow squawker Mark Belling which ended up with the crowd throwing things at Belling.  Miranda sued Sykes for libel and Sykes' employer, Journal Communications settled it out of court for $5,000, the maximum allowed in small claims court.

During the whole thing, Sykes played the victim card and cried that this was an attempt to stifle conservative radio.  What Sykes didn't say is that heal almost lost his job and was only able to keep it because of the union.

At the end of 2010, Sykes made another false accusation, this time regarding Governor Jim Doyle.  PolitiFact chose to take up this accusation and asked Sykes to back it up with some evidence.  What they got instead was a rare moment of honesty from Sykes:

When we asked Sykes for support for his claim -- a standard first stop in the items we do -- he quickly backed off. 

"The only politically connect(ed) hack I know is going is Jim Doyle (and maybe some of the regents)," Sykes wrote in an e-mail that he also posted on his SykesWrites blog.  "My ‘evidence’?  Absolutely none." 

Sykes went on to label his remark "an off-hand wisecrack" -- "You know, humor, hyperbole, joke."

So let's look at all this for a moment.

Most recently, Sykes was trying to push his latest bit of propaganda.  The fact that he is not very popular any more was most painfully evident:

We have found that Sykes is unethical, hypocritical, smears anybody and everybody who doesn't toe the Teapublican Party line, tries to intimidate and threaten people, and is an admitted liar that is prone to making extravagant and easily disproved statements.

Now, that description should ring a bell for anyone who has been on the Internet for two minutes, especially if one discusses politics. 

That perfectly fits the description of a troll.

Charlie Sykes (before
make up and hair spray)

But unlike your average run of the mill troll, Sykes has the corporate media backing him, allowing him to spew his miasma out on our radio and TV airwaves. So instead of getting in our faces only on the Internet, he can be annoying in a lot more areas.

But as we can block a troll on Twitter or Facebook, we can block Sykes just by turning off the radio or TV or by simply changing the tuner to something less repulsive.

And like the trolls of the Internet, there are two things that scare Sykes more than anything else - the truth and people strong enough and willing enough to speak it.

It kind of puts it all in perspective now, doesn't it?

The fact that Sykes not only attacked Schultz, but also proved him correct, should be a badge of honor for him.  It means he was doing something right.

Abele's Trolls Attack!

I saw this on the Facebook page of Milwaukee County Supervisor Jason Haas and I wanted to share it with you:

A comment was posted on my blog a little while ago from an anonymous person who claimed to be a constituent. This person also claimed that I am unresponsive to constituents.

Curiously, this comment, which was anonymous, came from a server at the lobbying group Mueller Communications. That company is a hired gun in the "nuke the board" fight.

The IP address that the comment came from appears to have a physical location in Waukesha. As a Milwaukee County Supervisor, I do not have any constituents who live in Waukesha County.

If this person is indeed a constituent who has not gotten a response from me, I asked that they call my office, and their needs will be met, by me, immediately. The phone number is 278-4252.

In any case, we are still waiting to hear from this constituent who works at the lobbying firm and posted from the Waukesha IP address.

For full disclosure, I met two weeks ago with a person from Mueller, albeit on a different issue. So it's facetious to claim I don't respond. Even to lobbyists.

Troll attacks are nothing new. Neither is the fact that the trolls are habitually sloppy in their attacks. That's why they're called trolls.

But it is significant that Chris Abele and his fellow plutocrats at GMC are resorting to having their hired supporters resort to such tacky lines of attacks. It appears that all of Abele's appearances on talk radio is doing nothing to turn the rising tide of negativity coming from their power grab.

Hmmm. Americans are against tyranny. Who'd have thunk it?

To Mine Own Self Be True

Sunday night, the group Anonymous did a dox drop on the group known as "Knot My Wisconsin" or alternatively as "Operation Burn Notice."  This group is a particularly vulgar group of trolls who have been going around terrorizing people on Facebook and other places on the Internet.  They even came here to pay me a visit.

It was a lengthy document that included the names, addresses and phone numbers of these miserable wretches as well as the role many of them played in these hate groups.  It also did the same for many Republican officials, both electeds and members of the party, that either partook, endorsed or were in some way affiliated with this group of reprobates.  Some of the information was very personal to say the least.

The thought of laying retribution to those that have terrorized so many for so long was utterly enticing.  So much so that I wrote a post including the link to the dox dump, savoring the feeling of vengeance.

But then fate stepped in.

Overnight, the link to the dox dump broke.  The site was no longer there.  Without it, the post I had written became unsubstantiated.  The proof was gone.

However, many people provided me with new links, cached links, doc forms of the dump and even on pdf.   They wanted me to strike out and lay holy hell to the bad guys.  

And I was sorely tempted to put the post back up with the new formats.  And frankly, I still want to.

But I was also hesitant.  As tempting it is to strike back, to give as good as we got, I wondered if I should do so.

It's not that these subhumans don't deserve it because they most certainly do.  And I have no false notions that these villains wouldn't do the same to any of us, for they have already have done as much.

And that is exactly what has stayed my hand, at least for now.  Just because they did it doesn't make it OK for me to do it.  In fact, because they've done it, are doing it and will continue to do it, it's all the more reason for me not to.

I have my pride.  I have my soul.  I have my self-respect. I don't want to be like them.  I'm better than them, dammit!

I know that by choosing not to do that post, I am disappointing a lot of people.  But I won't apologize for making what I believe is the right choice - at least for now.

There may come a time when they've pushed me too far.  They might have attacked once too often or crossed some unknown line which will compel me to reproduce the post and unleash what may be.  But I'll worry about that when and if the time comes.

It's not like the information isn't already out there.  And, to be honest, I'll probably end up parts of it for future posts.  

But for now, I can hold my head high, knowing that I've done what they can't and/or won't.  I've taken the high road.  

And like I said, if things change...well, I'm no stranger with getting into the thick of things, am I?  But for now, I'll settle with going after bigger weasels more worthy of my time.

Not Sure If PolitiFact Or Trolling

A rule of thumb that I learned long ago, when I first started blogging is that when a person you were debating with started name-calling or parsing semantics, you won the argument.

So it was with great amusement that I read that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's argument against the piece I wrote a couple of days ago, pointing out Scott Walker's hypocrisy in taking a $7,500 raise while cutting the pay of the rank and file and then giving them a two year pay freeze.

They sicced their PolitiFarce team after me to say that he did not get a raise:

Bloggers dug into the pay plan proposed by Walker and found what sure looked like the ultimate hypocrisy: the governor giving himself a raise while freezing state workers pay for two years.

The document they cited makes it look like there’s a raise coming, but there is not. Elected officials cannot increase their own pay. A quick look at the Blue Book or a phone call to the Legislative Reference Bureau would have told them that. So there’s no pay raise for Walker, or the lieutenant governor, state treasurer, secretary of state, and attorney general.

Although the confusion is understandable because of a sloppy and confusing state compensation document (and an equally poor followup memo), it muddles things for residents.

Here’s the clearest answer possible: The claim is False.

Wowsie! I guess I should just shrivel up in shame and crawl away, right?

But let's back this up a little bit. Just before they wrote this condemnation, they had this to say (emphasis mine):

That new chart shows the governor’s pay under a column titled "effective July 5, 2009" as $144,423. It shows the same pay under another column, effective Jan. 1, 2012. That suggests to the average reader (or blogger) that Gov. Jim Doyle was paid that amount. He wasn’t. The pay raise took effect when Walker took office.

So, what I called a raise wasn't a raise, but they called it a raise as well? More than a bit confusing, isn't it? For other reference, the newspaper (and I use that term loosely) also did a story about Walker's political appointments making much more money than their predecessors. In that story, and in the accompanying table, they referred to these increases as raises.

Apparently they took umbrage with the fact that I said he gave himself the raise. I will happily concede that point. Walker did not write the law that created the pay raise. He merely accepted the extra $7,500 while slashing the pay of public employees and claiming we all had to make sacrifices.

No, the change in wording does not change the actual deed. While rank and file workers were losing hundreds of dollars each month, Walker and other top officials were raking in the extra cash with both hands.

And one cannot even spin it that Walker, Becky Kleefisch, or the others were the victims of this sudden swelling in paychecks.

Walker had enough influence before being sworn in to block the union contracts from being approved by the state legislator (although he had to do some pay-for-play to do so).  There is no reason why he couldn't have had them stop the raise before it went into effect as well.  And even failing that, he could have easily done as he did as county executive and give the extra money back to the state.

But it seems unlikely he would do that considering he once again got caught lying about his pension and failed to pay the full amount for his pension, starting as soon as he was sworn in, like he promised to do.  But like every other campaign promise he's ever made, he willfully failed to do so until it came to the light of day.

In summary, even though they claim that the assertion Walker got a raise is false, by their own admission, Walker did have an increase in pay over what Jim Doyle was paid.  Furthermore, they even call said increase a raise as well.  In other words, in order to try to carry water for Walker, they set their own pants on fire with their contradictory rating.

Is it really any wonder why their revenue and profits continue to fall, as does their circulation?

ManMKE, the other blogger that they tried to smear, also has his own rebuttal.

Of Wingers, Rhetoric and Hypocrisy

The right wing sites, including the usual suspects of the Cheddarsphere is all abuzz about what Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. allegedly said at a Labor Day Rally in Michigan.  They are jumping all over Hoffa's line of "let's take these sons of bitches out and give America back to America where we belong,:" and claiming it as an example of "union thugs" and calls for violence.

They hypocrisy of their faux outrage is breathtaking.

First off all, the spin is more than a little false. It turns out the speech they're getting their undies in a bundle about was highly edited by Faux News (no word if the final footage included palm trees).  When one looks at the entire segment of speech, Hoffa was referring to taking them out at the election box.

Secondly, if you look through the commentary of most right wing blogs, including the cited usual suspects, you'll see just as bad if not worse.

Indeed, if you look at a certain comment left at a post that Daddio29 wrote on Saturday, you would find this love note addressed to me:

The criminal investigation the troll is referring to is the political retaliation that CRG (Criminal Republican Goons) tried to do to last year, in a failed effort to get me to shut up, accusing me of blogging on county time on county computers on Labor Day, Memorial Day and other sorted time off.  This was proven to be false and they had to use falsified evidence to even get it that far.

But the best part is the You Tube link, which leads to an audio clip of a shotgun firing.  (BTW, that's the second threat that troll has left for me, but who's counting?)

An interesting aspect about Daddio leaving that death threat up is that he did remove a post from the troll which included a couple of racist slurs in it.

In a winger's depraved mind, even they have a subtle idea of right versus wrong, or at least have learned to avoid the consequences of being revealed as a racist.  Unfortunately, they haven't evolved too much since they are more concerned about the perceived threat of violence where none exist as opposed to a direct death threat, which they are absolutely comfortable with, as long as they have the Republicans Golden Rule* to fall back on.

*The Republican Golden Rule: It's Only OK If A Republican Does It (IOOKIARDI).

Fun With Trolls

Had this little exchange on Twitter pointed out to me earlier tonight. It is betweent @Battiestgrrl (the woman of the manifesto fame) and a troll named @votegun

@Battiestgrrl:  Dihydrogen Monoxide WILL help the Dems #flipthesenate.  Make sure to smuggle some to campaign offices for canvassers. #wiunion #wirecall 

@votegun:   (At)Battiestgrrl DHMO is a terrorist threat and you should be reported to homeland security your[sic] sick.

For information on Dihydrogen Monoxide, please visit www.dhmo.org

April Tools: Another Libelous Attack From The Right

On Thursday evening, I noticed that Peter DiGaudio, owner and author of the blogsite "The Underground Conservative", had written an attack post on me.  The gist of the post is that I had allegedly left two profane and inappropriate comments on another post of his, and that these two posts were left during what is normally considered business hours.

To be honest, I didn't first think too much about it.  You see, I've been harangued by an imposter or group of imposters for over a year and a half now.  Said imposter(s) have a long history of impersonating me, Zach Wisniewski, Jim Arndt and others in all corners of the Cheddarsphere.  Some of the bloggers and blogs that have encountered this fool include Zach, Jim and myself as well as Cindy Kilkenny, Badger Blogger, folkbum, Jason Haas, Owen Robinson at Boots and Sabers, Real Debate Wisconsin, Charlie Sykes and who knows where else. The comments range from those experienced by Peter to threats of violence and other horrendous things.

In fact, as you can see at Peter's post, commenters including Cindy Kilkenny, Jim Arndt and Jim Spice, point out to this ongoing issue. Furthermore, there are some other minor points that would indicate that it's not me, including the fact that I have a different sign in for WordPress sites.

The sock puppets' mission is obviously to try to discredit me by making me appear as some sort of asocial lunatic.  Fortunately for me, I've been blogging for long enough that most people, even those that don't agree with my political views (like Cindy and Owen, for example), recognize that this isn't my style of writing and/or that it's not my IP.  (In fact, said troll most often uses some proxy server to help disguise their true identity.)  Said troll was even becoming so bold as threatening me at my sites, hence the need for comment moderation. But don't worry, I still have all those comments in storage.

Another reason that I was not overly concerned about it was the fact that Peter himself has a history of questionable writings (which caused him to blow up at least one or two previous sites he had operated). I also know that there are some people that will believe the worst of me no matter what, so they will automatically presume my guilt in anything.  Others just don't know me and don't bother doing their homework*.  Either way, I realize that there is nothing that I can do about that, and thus tend not to worry about it.

That feeling on laissez-faire changed earlier today when I was tipped off that some Republican operatives were taking Peter's allegations of me leaving those comments on county time and trying to run with them.   My thoughts immediately went to the attempted smear job that Citizens for Responsible Government pulled last year, much akin to the Republican attempt to discredit Professor Cronon.

This suspicion was reinforced when Aaron Rodriguez, a known Walker blogger, who doesn't follow me on Twitter, still responded to an off-hand comment I made about wanting a drink after a week of seeing so many of my friends retiring from work this week:

Rodriguez, when I challenged him on this, made some odd comment about seeing me posting on Fox6Milwaukee, which would be really new, since I've almost never gone to that site, much less posted a comment there.  I'm not even registered to that site, presuming they have that requirement to comment on their site in the first place.

But I am still not too worried about this whole thing since I know that I didn't leave those comments on Peter's site or anywhere else.  I know that whatever they throw at me will eventually prove to be nothing. Odds are that they know this as well.

However, I can see them trying to roil the waters sometime between now and Tuesday to try to influence the elections.  The scenario I could foresee would be that CRG or some such group of groupies come out with these fresh allegations and use that to attempt to discredit me and to try to distract the people's attention from the fact that Scott Walker and the Republicans have overreached themselves (again).  So far, one Republican Senator is going to have to fight to keep his seat and there may be as many as five more before long.  Furthermore, from everything I hear, neither Stone nor Prosser are looking to well in the polls and they need to do something if they are going to have a chance.

So if you see "me" posting some obnoxious garbage around the blogosphere, know it's not me.  And if you see someone or some group making these false allegations against me, share the truth so that they cannot keep hijacking this great state of ours.

*Peter, if you really do read this blog, please note that it is Cognitive Dissidence, not Cognitive Dissonance.  I do cognitive dissidence, while your post shows cognitive dissonance.

The Problem With Trolls

Like many of the other progressive bloggers, I am having an issue dealing with some right wing trolls that have thought they would be clever by insulting me, my family or my readers.

I am pondering to turn on comment moderation, even though I am loathe to do so. I feel free speech is one of the greatest things about our country, and wish to honor that right to the fullest.

But while I agree everyone has a right to express themselves and their thoughts, I don't agree that this means that they can resort to personal attacks and gross vulgarities. After all, this is "my place" and I would expect my guests to show the same respect that they would if they were at someone's home in real life.

If you don't like what I have to say, you don't have to read it. If you want to argue the points, please, feel free. But if you insist on boorish behaviors, don't be surprised if your comment goes down the rabbit hole forever.

And if it becomes too bothersome, I will switch over to moderating the comments. If I have to take it to that level, I apologize in advance to the reasonable readers and commenters, on both sides of the political aisle. It's not me, it's not you, it's the trolls.