I remember a scene from the Twilight Zone very similar. But even so I only have one question. Why is Pence checking out Acostas ass?

Looking like something from the Twilight Zone or Pence checking out Acostas ass?

So, I'm not going to discuss details with you. Not a chance.

Just not sure how someone musters outrage over a photo of a child rapist enablers family photo.

I just can't get outraged over a creepy photo of a child rapist enabler and his Twilight Zone family.

I got a shit load of outrage about photo of children in cages however.

Are that the "child rapist enabler," and he is that, no question, is absolutely fair game for scorn and ridicule. But his kids are not, nor should his wife be...they had nothing to do with this guy's betrayal of the accusers. It is an odd looking photo to be sure, but they are kids...KIDS. They do not deserve to be dragged into this because they look a certain way in a pic or based upon who their father is. Shaming these two girls is repugnant, defending that shaming is also repugnant.

Outrage that someone is using a bizarre crazy ass photo to shame a republican that enabled a child rapist.








Meter says -100 % of outrage on protecting a child rapist enabler.
Seems protecting a child rapist enabler outrage over a photo isn't at the top of my list of things to be outraged over.

I can hate a rapist and also be mad at you for making fun of little girls based on their looks.

It's not one or the other.

The photo is shaming two small children, and their mother, who had nothing to do with enabling a child rapist.

Hating the post and hating the guilty are not mutually exclusive.

Ivanka, Jr., and Eric are fair game. Otherwise, no.

or Trump businesses. They are fair game.

10 year old children are not. 6 year old children, even less. And spouses who have no public position should be left alone, as well. they are not responsible for any of the bad behavior of someone else.

So, when I say children, I mean children, not adults.

We are Democrats. Democrats don't do that.

It is petty and immature but as my government, President and his supporters are constantly harping and boasting about the failures of my party to LOOK OUT for my interests, this is all I have to look forward...

So, yes! Mock ugly-ass Sarah Huckabee Sanders! Mock Ivanka Trump!

Did that work when you were a child? It doesn't work now, either.

You do not have to follow the disgusting lead of others. You can behave well all on your own.

The people you named are all adults and are active in the Trump administration as adults. That is not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about young children and spouses who take no public role.

Give me a break!

solely for the reason that it could be mocked. I wasn't born yesterday.

I'm objecting to that, and I also objected in the thread itself. I will not stand silent while children are being mocked for their appearance in a photo. Nope.

Post a photo of your family, if you wish.

I wanted to post the same on the post but I didn’t want to spend a beautiful day going back and forth with the unreasonable.

As I most always do with you. We have to change the way we deal with others on DU. Thanks MM

Ivanka and Sarah Huckabee Sanders are adults who are or were apart of Trump's administration. They are fair game. Acosta's daughters are underage children who aren't. That's the difference.

They have (had) official positions in the Orange Menace's (OM) administration, flay them with words. Leave the kids out of it. I remember the outrage when Rush Limpnuts called Chelsea Clinton a dog, its on you tube and I won't link to it.

It should be that way with all kids, doesn't matter whose kids they are. Don't punch down.

Chelsea's dad was not Janet Reno. Remember any of that? As it happened, Chelsea Clinton was a 13 year old child in her awkward years who loved her mom and dad, not an adult politician.

We try to be better than that -- we don't always succeed. At the moment, a bit of self-correction is happening, I think.

Whether it is in the TOS or not, we have a rule: leave children out of it. And by "children" we mean youngsters who have not left their teens (like Barron Trump). Full adults like Ivanka, Don Jr, and Eric, who are not merely related to the potus but have inserted themselves into the running of the country and are being paid by us -- they are fair game.

I said in my post that my feelings were: petty and immature but as my government, President and his supporters are constantly harping and boasting about the failures of my party to LOOK OUT for my interests, this is all I have to look forward...

It's like you guys don't read the entire post...

Anyway, I hope you all continue to be successful in your efforts to be overly polite to a group/faction of people who treat you like whaleshit!

How well is this high-road, kiss the people who want to kill you, tactic working for you all, anyway? Llast time I looked at the scoreboard, the Russians and the republicans were cleaning our clocks!

users, it helps to try and understand the culture of DU before you criticize it. As you will see, the vast majority (99.9 percent) of the users do not cotton to attacking children.

There are other boards for misguided people who have a compulsion to target innocent children, but it is not here. Not in any form nor fashion.

That’s not being “overly polite”. It is doing the right thing.

The air is fresh and clean.

Never heard that. Perhaps you meant “soapbox?”

Idiom can be difficult.

Mocking young children (especially their appearance) goes beyond the pale.

Wishing you well and peace.

Tim

you DO NOT mock underage children. I would say if they are 16 and are publicly saying bad things about others they are fair game but younger than that is wrong. As far as the adult spouses they are fair game if they are publicly saying bad things as their spouse is but only then.

I can only hope that some of the folks in that thread will understand what I'm saying and self-delete their posts in that thread. I was very disappointed to see some of the names who added to the mockery. Very disappointed.

As progressives we rise above the Republicans not sink down to their level.

Well spoken.

Who ever took it managed to make the whole family look creepy.

I was riffing on the photo and the idea that these kids would get feedback from an obscure post on a one in a million website is stupid. But being indignant is fun.

He looked like Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 From Outer Space. Who took those photos, Wes Craven?

Children didn’t choose to look like Handmaid’s tale’s Gilead citizens. They are obviously brainwashed into hard core cult ideology.

I don't even like lookist comments about adult politicians.

That entire thread appalled me. We're better than that.

just pointing out somebody has bad taste in haircuts, it's weird to make the two girls identical like that, unless they want to do it - same dress and same haircut. Mocking the parents more. also like Kavanaugh's wife, knowing the father's attitude towards women is questionable, some in the thread sought to see fear or unhappiness.

There were comparisons to creepy TV show child characters in there. Mockery, pure and simple.

Now, imagine being a 10-year-old child who was taken somewhere for photos and then encountered people comparing you to a character from the Munsters or some other television program.

Why would anyone do such a thing to a child or say such a thing about a child?

No, sorry. That's just disgusting behavior.

Close to the same haircuts, and dressed identically to each other.

Gah!

They had recently been to Germany, so we were wearing little German girl outfits. And the haircuts were just like those girls lol.

It was the 60s, but still. We had many a laugh about those cards over the years.

Identical little outfits. When I outgrew mine, my sister got it as a hand-me-down - so she got twice as much fun as I had! Our haircuts were pretty close to that, as well.

My grandmother loved to sew I inherited her love of sewing. My mother hated it - and sewed out of economic necessity. The outfits reflected that a bit.

We're only one year apart, and can pass for twins. I think my mom was asked so many times if we were twins that the idea grew on her. She actually started treated us like we really were twins, which included identical haircuts and clothes until we were about six and seven respectively. It was only after we were both getting mercilessly teased at school for wearing the same outfits that it finally occurred to my mom that maybe dressing us in identical clothes wasn't such a hot idea.

About the same ages as the two girls in the photo from that other thread. Both were wearing identical dresses and had the same hairstyles as each other. they were with their parents, and seemed to be happy and healthy children.

I don't think it's all that unusual for young siblings to be dressed alike, really. They might even like it if they like each other as sisters a lot.

I can picture mom at Target, looking at the rack of girls dresses. She thinks, "Oh, that's a cute dress!" Then she grabs one in kid's size 6 and another in size 10 and moves on to the grocery section. Busy mom, like all moms. Shortcuts.

I posted in that thread to express my disgust.

Sadly, I’m getting less and less surprised by some people here.

Yes, that’s a wonderful idea to have these scornful posters post pics of themselves and their families. I bet they won’t.

ANd you’re right - it IS disgusting.

We've got to toughen the fuck up quickly or we'll be steamrolled to death.

How does mocking one child help another child who is in a terrible situation?

Think twice before writing. That's always my suggestion.

So decency (even toward children) has become "optional" as far as our values? And the justification here is, "the other side is doing ...?" No thanks.

Plenty of us give it away for free.

in a Horror flick (at least in that particular photo).

Not making fun of her, she just looks like the stereotypical kid that Hollywood would cast as some all-powerful demon in a scary movie. Which are, of course, totally fictitious in nature.

It's not my fault, this observation is simply self-evident. Pretty much just stating the obvious.

So sue me ...

BTW she's never going to read what any of us on DU had to say, either. I'd never SAY it to her face and make her feel bad.

However, never assume that someone is not going to see something and use that as an excuse.

Those two girls are just children. They didn't choose their clothing, nor did they chose to be in a publicly exposed photograph. Children do what their parents ask them to do at that age.

A photograph captures a fraction of a second in time. How many photos of you have not been your best look? Children can't decide which photos people use.

Mocking children in any way over their appearance is a thuggish thing to do. Period. I don't care who they are. They do not deserve mockery from strangers.

and cut her hair that way, and when she finds out that people were making fun of the pic, she'll go 'well that's understandable because that is one creepy-looking scenario (what's Pence looking at there, BTW?) and that photographer caught me looking like I was possessed! YUCK!'

And then it'll be all good between her and me.

That's what I'm assuming, anyways.

Your statement that they won't see it is specious. They might. Some other kid might have a parent who openly mocked those children from that photo, which doesn't only appear here on DU. That other kid might bring it to school, pass it around, and make jokes about those two children. Shit like that happens all the time.

You're making excuses for bad behavior. That trick doesn't work. The only thing that works is a sincere apology. Everything else is just a lame excuse.

I love my parents and miss them forever. We laughed at those pictures as adults.

However, if some cretin on the internet had made fun of us (impossible in those days), I think I’d feel very sorry for that person.

Didn't think so.

I get it, you and your BFF Tipperary don't like me.

Good thing for me, I don't care

Allow me to add my post below, #98, and that's all I have to say to you on this matter.

I am not “BFF” with anyone on this board, but I see many agree with Mineral Man - many more than agree with you.

As long as you go to sleep tonight satisfied...yeah, made fun of little girls. Smh.

Yeah.

I know.

Ever heard of mob mentality?

Gosh, how do you rationalize all your rationalizations for mocking children?

Oh wait, cuz, they have a bad dad. That’s all on them. Jesus Christ on a trailer hitch.

I saw it earlier and had the same reaction. Kids should always be off limits. Not their fault their father is a wanker

I'm perfectly comfortable with mocking Melania Trump and all the adult Trump children. I won't mock Barron unless he does something horrid.

got us tRump. No crying eyes here.

I am free to comment on your behavior. This thread is my comment on the behavior of some DUers, who I have not named. I have also not linked to that thread.

As the teacher in "A Christmas Story" said when nobody would 'fess up about the tongue stuck to the pole, "They know their blame."

You're free to be whoever you are.

The wife and children look like victims of abuse. They do not deserve mockery or scorn.

Acosta, his father, and Pence are fair game. They look evil, and their actions support that assessment.

I think making fun of the Stepford family photo is okay. It's not really just singling out the kids for scorn.

They look pretty scary though. I can see the one right next to her father torturing small animals.

Think about what you write, please. People remember such things.

I do understand your disapproval. I used to be in the same camp with you on the matter.

What I have come to believe is that these people are bred and nurtured to become the unfeeling, unethical, immoral, hypocritical, inhumane, sycophants that make up the right-wing. We see it in the way judges handle cases - with their statements about how the defendant was an Eagle Scout and has so much potential. They are "different" and "above" the rest of us. They believe they are the US aristocracy.

The right is not treating them like kids. The right is treating them like the little automatons they are hoping to produce. This is how they produce the next Brett Kavanaugh, the next Ginni Thomas, the next Stephen Miller, the next Kellyanne Conway.

So I no longer care that they are kids. They are weapons in the war on our Constitution and upon humanity.

If that means the right gets to treat the kids on the left as if they are the next Obama, the next Hillary, etc. then that is the price we pay. It is my fervent hope our kids will be the next Obama, the next RBG, the next humanitarian leaders. The right is going to tear them down and do that anyway. No matter what we say or do. They have defined the terms of the war. We can either admit that and respond, or we can concede.

It's not the "because they did it first" defense. It's the they did it first and are going to keep doing it until the bloody end offense.

… it's not okay at all... I know people mock Crooked Donald's children - and that's fine; they work for him and/or are spokespeople for him. The son is neither. I recall Bristol Palin was debated. She toured talk shows and declared herself the "Spokesperson for Abstinence" so she was fair game, in m opinion. Remember when Rush Limbaugh made a joke about a President's daughter and a dog? He was disgusting... it's not okay!

and deserve the shit they get. Tiffany and Barron are not part of furthering the Trumpolini regime and deserve to be left alone.

I agree with you.

Mocking the kids seemed wrong. But mocking Pence seemed A-OK. On the other hand, I dislike the fact that Acosta staged the pic to make him look like a clean family man who couldn't possibly be hiding any dirty Epstein secrets.

It was troubling. You can see a lot in photos if you silence your mind and just look. Those two children look pretty troubled to me.

But, yes, I agree with you about not ridiculing them - at all. We are better than that. We have to be.

It’s okay to make fun of someone’s appearances, weight, height, orientation, race, children, or anything else... as long as they have the wrong political beliefs.

I think racism isn’t tolerated here, even if directed against Republicans. Nor should it be. But yeah, the other stuff seems to be tolerated to one degree or another if it involves rivals.

One that stands by their principles and doesn’t determine right and wrong based on who is the target, and another group who bases right and wrong strictly on party politics.

although I’m sure I’ve failed at times and been part of the latter.

I don't like it when people pick on Barron either. It's not his fault his parents are asses. The girls didn't pick their father and aren't to blame for his sins. I didn't think the girls looked creepy at all but they did look miserable, as did their mother. I hope my comment in that thread didn't come across as mocking them. That wasn't my intention. I feel sorry for them.

But I tend to cut people a little slack because I think the craziness with Trump is causing some people to act out. It’s still wrong, though, I agree.

When I did, I was instantly corrected by my parents, who told me why my behavior was unacceptable, but only after making me stop that behavior in no uncertain terms.

We're all adults here, and should have learned those lessons earlier in life, it seems to me.

If you don't have anything nice to say....don't say anything at all.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

or as Michele Obama says: When they go low, we go high.

is that a lot of people were concerned over how unhappy those children look. That isn't mocking. Also, people were commenting on the odd style of haircut and clothing. Again, not mocking. Teachers were commenting that they would take notice of a child who looked like that in their class.

So, maybe a few people said some things about "children of the corn" etc, but honestly, I didn't read it as mocking the children. Something doesn't look quite right in that photo or so many people wouldn't have thought it was photoshoped. Most people recognize that when kids appear odd or unhappy it's the parents who are held responsible.

of the children. A lot of people just made the observation that something seems very "off" about the family, and that they do not look happy or comfortable with each other. It's just very strange, that's all. I don't think that amounts to making fun of the children. If anything, I feel very sorry for them.

(Checks conscience to see if participated. Can't remember -- only that I agree the overall vibe was that of a very unhappy wife and kids. Not their fault how they look.)

- Adult adult children are fair game if they are a part of the problem - Trump adult children - for example

Spouses - it depends - Some spouses - part of the problem too -Melania is fair game to me - She is a phony - She was part of the Birther conspiracy - Phony I care about the children - Lets be best - I went to the border once - wearing that stupid jacket. I am the most hated person. Poor me. She needs to be called out.

Barron - He should be off limits. He's not responsible for his parents being stupid and hateful.

Likewise -Acosta's children should be off limits. Don't know anything about his wife. If she hasn't said anything and done anything to deserve scorn and criticism then she should be off limits too.

Spare me the patronized post. Needing attention today?

Not a child. A very obnoxious adult, in fact. It was that guy, you know, who was Press Secretary for what, five minutes before getting fired for saying something really, really stupid. What was his name again? Anthony Scaramucci, right? Scaramouche from the Commedia dell'arte, right. Why, yes, I did mock him, as did almost everyone else.

You're off point in this thread by a long way. Not everything has to do with your pet complaint about me. See you next time.

Not pointing fingers myself ... cause I get it ... and you know I love ya man

while it's not their fault they are presented that way, not mentioning it at all is perhaps asking a bit much.

and all their similarities (the parents, too) to the family in The Shining, and the 2 girls @ the end of the hall, that the picture is alarming.

Children these days don't wear their hair like that. I had that haircut as a child....in the 1950s. I have no doubt at all that the girls are teased at school behind their backs for being dressed & groomed this way. It's not normal for the 21st Century.

But that's not mocking the children. In fact, someone needs to tell the parents that the way they're dressing and grooming them is inappropriate.

To add to the creepiness of the photo, Acosta looks similar to Jack Nicholson, and the wife has an eery resemblance to Shelley Duvall, who played the wife.

My post is #86.

is what worries me about his own little girls. I won't mock them; I do fear their vacant looks in the photo to which you refer may reflect something that should concern us all. It is not automatic, after all, that parents will love their children when they show disregard for others.

They are adults. I have seen more respect given to the adult believers in trump than have been given to these young girls.

The focus on their looks and what they are wearing is a sign of what our world has become. Maybe some of you were the cool ones who always wore the right clothes and had cool hair. I was not. I have photos of me as a child that make me cringe. I can laugh now, but they still make me cringe.

So excuse me, this week's posts are really bringing out the mama bear in me, but saying the type of things some have been saying is once again below what we are about and is bullying, even worse, bullying by adults to children. Those girls did not have a choice as to the circumstances they have been born into, no choice as to who their parents are. The last thing they probably wanted was to be at some weird signing with dad with all those creepy guys around.

Thanks for bringing it up. I was so angry when I read the posts that went with the pictures that I almost threw in the towel on humanity. If the people who supposedly believe as I do can be so cruel to kids, what can be done? This post reinforces that there are still good people.

Restores my faith somewhat, but that thread is horrible.

Last time I left du, it was the primaries that drove me off. But lately, I’ve just seen more an more of this.

About done with this site I think.

We’ve gone through periods where homophobia and sexism were rampant with nothing being done about it. I like DU but it has its major problems.

This entire post is a complaint aginst DUs alert and jury system.

It didn't go your way so you post this, in violation of the TOS regarding jury decisions.

The only comment in the op was "creepy". It does look like the twins from the Shining.

Lest we forget, Acosta allowed a pedophile off to continue his vile acts. Acosta has two daughters and did not give them a thought while he gave Epstein a pass.

I am commenting more on the replies to that thread. The OP, I believe was posted to generate that kind of comment, but it's not one I would alert on. Instead, I posted my objection in the thread.

This is not a post about DU's member-based moderation system, which I think works pretty well, overall. I rarely alert on any post, but I do serve on juries and always vote with the idea that people should post as they please, within some limits. As a juror, I keep in mind the goals of the administrators of this site, since I am just a guest here.

I know who Acosta is. I think he is thoroughly despicable. Frankly, however, I would never post a photo of his family on DU, since they are not involved in his actions, as far as I know.

You have chided me in your post, as you are free to do at any time. When you do, I will respond as I think best.

I did not know anything about his family or if he had one.
I believe posting a photo WE paid to have taken and is in the public record without any comment but creepy is not picking on the kids.

We will agree to disagree.

I care more about the victims than the enabler.

and people here mocked their appearance. Like kids from the "Addams family," someone said.

Who did those people hurt? Nobody I know of.

Those comments should have been alerted on and in that case we agree. Over the line!

I am still pissed by the KGOP comments on Chelsea and Sasha and Malia.

Look at the recs for this one.

What’s really sad ( and telling) is the way you and others are trying to rationalize the wrongness of mocking children.

Then I saw the photo in this thread, in a Snopes.com link. I must say I was alarmed at the creepiness of it.

I don't know what other posters said, but I spotted right away what was wrong with the family picture. It is NOT the children or wife or Acosta themselves. It is the way the parents dressed the children and did their hair. And the way the wife is dressed and her expression. The fact that Acosta looks a bit like Jack Nicholson in that picture adds to the overall creepy effect.

Like I say, I don't know what other posters said, but they have a look that reminds me of characters in the movie The Shining. The two girl twins at the end of the hall, the haircut of the son, Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. It's not a comment on the children themselves, but the way the adults made them up.

Acosta looks similar to Nicholson. His wife looks similar to Shelley Duvall. And the little girls have a haircut similar to the son in The Shining, while also having a similarity to the twin girls at the end of the hall.

So it's not making fun of the children, really, if that's what the posters were talking about. BTW, I had a haircut just like that when I was a child....in the 1950s! Someone really needs to tell the Acosta parents something about how to groom and dress their children. This is just not normal. It really isn't.

But I agree that making fun of children is off limits. I don't regard my comments as doing that. Their children are probably teased behind their backs at school for the way their parents make them dress and cut their hair.

Because of that, I see children from many backgrounds as they make their way to school. I see children dressed in traditional Hmong costumes. I see girls wearing various levels of Islamic attire. I see children from a fundamentalist family on my block, dressed in prairie dresses that cover them completely for modesty reasons. I also see typical kids in whatever clothing is sold at Target or Walmart.

Now, I don't know how all those children are treated at their schools or by other children, but I remember how anyone who dressed differently was treated when I was a child in school. I expect things are much the same today.

Schoolchildren are dressed as their parents wish in many cases - not as they choose for themselves. I remember seeing children, right through high school, who were mocked for their clothing, hair and other appearance differences. I remember seeing how they felt about that. Some of them were friends of mine. From time to time, but not as often as I should have, I stood up for them and called out the bullies who mocked them.

Maybe I'm still doing the same thing, but I no longer have to worry about people not liking my criticisms of their boorish behavior.

I do not laugh at people who look different. I do not call attention to it, either. I find such behavior to be rude.

I'm sorry if you are offended by my comments, but I do not regret those comments. I deliberately did not mention any screen names in my post, nor did I call anyone out in that other thread. I only posted a general objection to what was going on.