Shit, I typed Wednesday Morning Links by accident. Maybe its because if I had a chance to, I’d live that day over and over and over and over again. Not only did I shoot a handsome 77 in the afternoon, I got some high-quality work done in the morning and found out only after I walked off the golf course that the pants-shitting had been going on for a few hours so I’d be able to reap the benefits of everyone else already picking out the tenderest of morsels from Twitter and the internet for me to digest. Let’s just say I wasn’t disappointed in the least.
More on that later, let’s do our morning routine first. Which means…sports!
Apparently Germany traveled too far into Russia again, bouncing out of the World Cup after group play with a 2-0 stunning loss to the South Koreans. Sweden throttled Mexico but both teams will be going to the knockout stage. Elsewhere, the Swiss and Brazilians made it through, where they will face Sweden and Mexico respectively. On tap today are Senegal-Colombia and Japan-Poland in the early set and Panama-Tunisia and the match everyone has been waiting for in England-Belgium. Enjoy.
On this side of the world, there was much baseball played. The College World Series final was knotted up as Oregon State topped those Happy Hogs. Its winner-take-all tonight, so tune in. I just hope our resident Razorbacks can keep it together until then. Meanwhile, on the big-boy circuit, the big red machine dumped the Braves, the Royals be- hey the Royals actually won a game! The Mariners dumped Baltimore, the Phillies blanked the Yanks, the BoSox beat the Angels, the A’s over Tigers, the D-backs over Miami, the Pirates stopped the Mets, the Rangers over Padres, the White Sox drilled the Twins, Cleveland stopped St Louis, the Dodgers were better than the Cubs, The Giants blanked the Rockies and the Astros came back from giving up 5 runs to Toronto in the top if the 1st to win with a 2-run Bregman dinger in the bottom of the 9th.
Born on this date were Henry VIII, Methodist Church co-founder John Wesley, philosophizer Jean Jaques Rousseau, cheese-eating-surrender-monkey Pierre Laval, composer Richard Rodgers, blues guitarist David “Honeyboy” Edwards, the funniest man ever to write a script Mel Brooks, actor Pat Morita, prozac inventor Klaus Schmiegel, funny woman Gilda Radner, acclaimed actress Kathy Bates, quarterback John Elway, actor and assclown John Cusack and inventor/con man Elon Musk.
Its also the day Catherine II assumed power and became Catherine The Great, the final draft of the Declaration of Independence was submitted to the Continental Congress for approval, Queen Victoria was coronated, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua formed the Central American Union (great job with that, guys!), the US bought the rights to build the Panama Canal from France, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, setting off a horrible chain of events, the Night Of Long Knives occurred in Germany, Amos ‘n’ Andy premiered, LBJ (no, not Nixon in case we have some leftist dumbasses here) authorizes first ground combat troops in Viet Nam, “Band On The Run” was released by Wings, Lee Trevino is struck by lightning at a PGA event, and the amazing Jonah Lomu made his national debut. Rest in peace, big guy. Here is a video of all his international tries. And no, you will not see one against the Springboks as hard as you might squint. Because that’s one thing he was never able to do.
OK, now its time for…the links!
The big news yesterday was the Kennedy retirement announcement. I caught some CNN coverage later, and Jeffrey Toobin looked like he was about to have kittens. But I’m not sure we will find as scorching hot a take as this one from a nam who probably couldn’t beat his way out of a wet paper bag. I’ve got just two words for you, EJ: bring it on you punk.
Wait a minute… so the whole any last requests thing is bullshit? Well, adios asshole.
Nancy Pelosi sure doesn’t like sharing the spotlight with younger, fresh-faced Democrats. Maybe even she realizes that a pretty hardcore Socialist isn’t gonna sway too many voters in the age of record-low unemployment for minorities, lower taxes and a relatively strong economy.
Way to go Mexico, you managed to make it election week with barely over 130 candidates killed so far. I honestly wonder how many of them were killed by the Fast and Furious guns the Obama administration deliberately had sold to drug cartels in order to undermine the Second Amendment here.
“Civilian” helps end crime spree in San Francisco. Way to go, dude. Come over here for your award. Mind your step, there’s a pile of human feces right in front of you and a hobo shooting up some smack just after.
Another bonus from the Janus v AFSCME decision: Democrat machine infighting in Chicago. Keep playing the blame game, dumbasses. And watch your ability to extort continue to be eroded.
EU leaders seeking ways to halt migrants. An alternate headline would be: EU leaders look for ways to keep their cushy jobs.
That’s it for me. I know not all of you will enjoy this medley, but I will.
Have a great Thursday, folks. Make sure to pack a life preserver so you don’t drown in salty liberal tears.
Comments
405 responses to “Thursday Morning Links”
Crazy Korea/Germany game. Everybody’s obviously talking about it. So crazy for the 57th ranked team to beat the 1st…and not advance.
To me that’s very much an Apollo 13, successful failure type of thing.
Aaaaaaaand…..first?!
So crazy that I broke my rule of never reusing words within a paragraph!
*Dances wildly in honor of first First*
Just got off work and am meeting Lady for yummy skewers of lamb. They do such a good job of seasoning them at this joint. Nice and spicy, but more of a middle eastern spice rather than the normal gochaju pepper paste.
Korean dinner is dope, but not dope enough to make up for their fantastically mediocre lunch, and their soul-crushingly absent breakfast.
My Japanese class consists of a Korean woman, my ethnic Japanese teacher, and one other guy who is a huge soccer fan.
I barely have the ability to communicate in English about this ridiculous sport and now I have to do it in Japanese!
Kidding aside, the Korean woman and my teacher have been ecstatic about their respective teams performances.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday characterized Gov. Bruce Rauner’s approach to unions as trying to “literally break somebody before they even get to the table.”
Literally.
the word literally should be literally banned.
Or responded to with the Inigo Montoya line.
But what if the person saying it isn’t a six-fingered man who killed his father?
Then he won’t need to prepare to die.
People who say that in front of me should literally prepare to die.
Literally.
Inconceivable!
What’s inconceivable?
Merkel?
That such a mistake might me made. Clearly it is literally inconceivable.
What mistake? I’m confused.
They are all the six-fingered man.
Either that or I need new eyeglasses.
Gay sex?
Wrong line. But what can I expect from someone who thinks Jaws is a good movie?
“You are the Brute Squad”? I don’t think that fits.
Oh, wait that was Max. Now I’m just lost.
You can expect a snappy, off-topic comeback that drives the subthread in the sewer? Does that sound about right?
If that’s not right, I want to be wrong.
You smell like Donatello from teenage mutant Ninja turtles.
/am I doing this right?
I’ll allow it.
Plate of shrimp?
>> Henry VIII
“I’m ‘Enery the Eighth, I am,
‘Enery the Eighth I am, I am!
I got married to the widow next door,
She’s been married seven times before”
“And every one was an ‘Enery, ‘ENERY!
Godammit….
She won’t have a Willie or a Sam, NO SAM!
I see you clicked the link.
The medley needed to be this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5bGQ1-Gmoso
That’s magical!
That whole album is awesome. I am talking about the K-TEL “Dimensions” Album, of course… aaaand now everybody knows how old I am .
Not necessarily. You could be liking it ironically.
No reason to call the cops, but people who eat on uiblic transportation are the worst.
In addition to the smell, most people throw their half-eaten food and garbage on the floor. Or even worse, leave it on the seat.
The NYC buses are absolute rolling garbage cans.
No cops involved…but fuck those slobs
What the fuck is a “public transportation”?
What the fuck is “wait a few minutes to stuff your fucking face”?
I don’t let people eat in my car unless we are in a trip. So it’s kinda the same.
Banjos took public transport to work for the short time we lived in the DMV. I did when I was going drinking. But I have to have a car.
Can’t speak for public transportation, but the guy in the cube next to me loves day old Chinese food, so I get where you’re coming from.
I have no sense of smell, so I’m willing to trade your cube buddy for the gal in the cube next to me at my new job.
When she isn’t eating something with her mouth open so I can hear it in HD audio, she is sniffling/hawking up gobs of phlem. I mean she spends an hour or two every morning ridding herself of about 10 pounds of snot.
She isn’t a native Minnesodan, so she doesn’t realize how infuriating sniffling is to us natives. It is one of the things I hate about dining in Korea with my relatives. We all eat blazing hot food and when our noses start to run, they all sniffle and then give me stink eye for using a kleenex to blow my nose (they think that is rude – stupid furiners). Having received about a million cuffs to the back of my head for sniffling as a kid from my parents, I can’t stand to hear that shit.
At a previous job, there was a woman who, about twice hourly, would erupt into violent coughing fits that sounded very phlegmy, and her remedy for one of those fits seemed to be rushing outside for a cigarette. It became sort of an office joke because you could hear it through the whole damn place.
Sounds effective.
You need to show her how to use a Minnesoda hankie over her trash can.
/plug one nostril and blow hard through the other.
It’s allowed on transit here. Ditto drinking. As long as it’s not durian, there’s not much of a problem.
Couldn’t agree more. See my comment below.
I file this under, “Why we can’t have nice things”. In principle, assuming a bus/train/whatever full of considerate, responsible people, I have no problem with someone eating or drinking. In practice, the people you wouldn’t mind taking advantage of such a policy don’t, and the people you don’t want to abuse the shit out of it.
Public trans, public roads and public housing. If it’s not yours, why take care of it?
Tragedy of the commons?
+1 microwaved fish dinner
Until just last month, I was riding public transportation almost every day from the commuter lot, to my office. It stunk, literally. There is a “no food or drink” rule, but not every driver cares, so yeah, some busses were like garbage cans. And others smelled like hobos. Once I almost sat in what seemed to be hobo piddle. . . . then I finally made it through a 7-month waiting list to get a parking spot in the ramp, and pay 3 times as much for the privilege to park there.
All the recent talk about civility should not stop opponents of a right-wing court from doing everything in their power to keep the judiciary from being packed with ideologues who behave as partisans.
EJ/Maxine 2020!
… ideologues who behave as partisans
Good to know he’s opposed to Ginsburg and Kagan.
welcome to 2018, where strict interpretation of the law makes one a “partisan”.
To the left, strict constitutionalists are “partisans”, because they tend to thwart the left’s unconstitutional agenda.
Well, at least he’s finally admitting all that talk about civility was a front.
I’m sure he’d be fine with “All the recent talk about civility should not stop opponents of a
rightleft-wing court from doing everything in their power to keep the judiciary from being packed with ideologues who behave as partisans.ideologues who behave as partisans
Otherwise known as “strict constitutionalists*”.
*That’s what I’m hoping to get more of on the court anyway.
In the last thread, Q posted a link to a Rasmussen poll finding +30% of respondents think a civil war is likely as a result of the Trumpocolypse.
And what would be worse? Clearly secession and the breakup of the USA would be less preferable to civil war. War truly is in the blood of humans.
And I think we all know that war is good for absolutely nothing.
I’ll say it again.
Absolutely nothing.
Sweet, thanks for that earworm. Now I can shove out the earworm from my daughter’s terrible pop music over the last few days: Imagine Dragons – Thunder.
Ha. I have to keep un-favoriting “Whatever it Takes” on our satellite radio because of my daughter.
Ick….my daughter listens to that crap too.
You may have my go-to earworm – Weezer – Buddy Holly
(you’re welcome)
Not too bad as far as earworms go.
Better than anything by Billy Joel at least.
Weezer – Pixies tomorrow night in The Woodlands and we’re still debating whether to go or not. I haven’t seen Weezer and haven’t seen the Pixies since their first tour back together, which was a really good show. But that was 12-13 years ago I think.
Meh, probably play golf with the wife and get drunk instead.
Couple reviews I read said the Pixies mostly phone it in while Weezer brings it, so depending on which one you’re more interested in, golf & booze may be the way to go.
You mean the Rachel Maddow song?
*looks down nose*
I wouldn’t know.
*sniffs*
Say, just who do you think you are, Pomp?
Dreaming about being a big star or something?
How about Burl Ives singing “Jimmy crack corn , and I don’t care”?
My thoughts:
1. Sheesh, let’s put some scary -here’s-what-old- white-guys- think rhetoric out there to make you feel isolated. Is it time to panic? Yes, it is.
2. Perhaps a civil war in voting choices, but in anything else? I doubt it. /
Peaceful secession would be a good thing, but it will never happen as long as one group (leftists) means to rule over another group (everyone else).
Bummer. The WaPo adblocker blocker won’t allow me to read E J Dionne’s thoughtful nuanced ruminations on civilized society and the rule of law.
Open it in private or incognito mode.
That doesn’t work for me, but it sounds like I’m not missing anything anyways.
You could probably write it yourself as parody and come damn close.
Worth it for some of the comments.
In Re Janus V AFSCME, I had my union pester me about joining in on some pointless online activism. The verbiage they used disgusted me, and I only refrained from saying “Go fuck yourselves” in that exact phrasing to avoid retaliation at work.
Puron was a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, Mexico’s main party.
The other being el oxímoron?
more Kennedy:
Who will pick up Kennedy’s bipartisan legacy on the court? No one.
say what now?
TW: Autostart video
Holy fuck. Yeah, decisions like Kelo, totally libertarian. And either you are a constitutionalist, or you believe shit like it somehow “evolves’ without actually, you know, being properly amended. In accordance with the constitution.
Jesus fucking Christ these people are morons.
He’s a constitutional expert.
I have a feeling Marxists have become constitutional experts.
Think of it. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.
Someone will become the pivot in the new 5-4 votes, it will just move.
I want him to address the incredibly
High number of 9-0, 8-0 and other lopsided smack downs that were put on Obama’s solicitor general. Because nobody seemed to even comment on “overreach” when he was trying to basically run the government by fiat.
U wot m8?
My wife asked me about Kennedy last night, like where Kennedy stood in terms of rulings and so forth, and the best I could come up with was, “Think Rockefeller Republican who kind of played things by ear.”
One of the most apt descriptions I’ve heard about Kennedy.
Nailing it.
Yeah. I saw that same line. For reporters:
Libertarian:Politics::Pit Bull:Dog::AR-15:Rifle
Someone tell this keen observer Roberts already has that role. Kennedy crossed the isle to side with the left wing on 5-4 decisions exactly zero times this year. Roberts did it at least once *this week.*
>>Netflix kiddie porn:
Unless you are the FBI. Then you can host a kiddie porn site
I don’t know the context, what is this in reference to?
my mistake – some yesterday PM links I was perusing before sloopy posted.
I see — found the referenced comment.
But unlike the strict originalists on the bench — notably, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, who was Trump’s first nominee — Kennedy ruled “in the common law tradition,” studying the way laws not only originated, but how they evolved.
So he just makes shit up as he goes along?
More like he knows what outcome he wants, and then tries to reverse-engineer his way into it. (e.g. – “public use” magically becomes “public purpose” to facilitate the Kelo decision).
Thomas is hardly a good example of a strict originalist. His “but, drugs” and “unless it’s inconvenient for the police” exemptions to the 4th and 5th sort of disqualify him.
Yes, Sotomayor actually seems better on the 4th and 5th than Thomas.
Thomas is at his best when he writes his own dissents/concurrences. If he’s joined by (or joining) an opinion, he trends more statist.
Some of his solo dissents are the most libertarian the court has been in 120 years.
Open it in private or incognito mode.
No go. They’re on to me.
Copy this text and then paste it in the search bar in private mode and click on the first link:
Our constitutional system of “checks and balances” works only if those in a position to operate the levers of checking and balancing do their job. It is clear that a Republican Congress and Republican appointees to the Supreme Court have no taste for such work. For the moment, President Trump is mostly unchecked and unbalanced.
If they want to restore checks and balances, they could try repealing the 17th amendment.
See in NYC folks handle things differently.
Subway riders brawl over passenger eating spaghetti on the train
Mind you, it takes a special self centered Millennial who thinks its no problem to eat something like this on a rush hour train.
“Hey, can sombody crank this 3ft tall artisinal pepper grinder for me?”
Is the parmigiano reggiano GMO free?
3ft tall
Ooh, that reminds me. I wonder how Robert Reich is taking the Kennedy announcement.
Predictably.
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1012187109174665216
And “The Hill” reports Trumps approval rating at 47% vs the “vast majority” he quotes that disapprove of the president.
I’ll at least give him credit for specifying non-violent actions in this latest time of crisis.
Now that’s some train etiquette right there.
Here’s what I think about “civil war”. It can only happen when you have at least one side which truly believes they have4 nothing to lose. I think we’re a long long way from there.
Or it takes escalating violence from one side of loonies that eventually results in a violent response from the other side.
I could see it if the far left gained control of both houses and the presidency. Especially if they went for guns. However that may just result in a coup.
Correct. With a Republican Congress and President, it’s just brush-fires with the deep state and the far-left loonies.
The way the nutters have taken over the DNC, civil war may be inevitable if they win back the government.
At this point, it would be the shortest civil war ever.
In future history books it will be called “The One Day War”
The helicopter purge
I need to write another installment of “are we gonna have a civil war?”
Short answer: no. Long answer: you don’t bring bike locks to a gunfight, soy boys.
Hmmm – until recently I thought a Civil War – if one started – would be the right’s reaction to the left overstepping (ie – gun grabbing, etc).
Now I’m thinking a supposed Civil War would be started by the Left. And, historically speaking, that’s usually (but not always) the case.
How would such a “revolution” occur. I have a hard time imagining it – maybe a march on DC and then an attempt to seize power there. But given the size and scope of the U.S. it would be difficult, nay, near impossible to hold all the states together. I can’t imagine all of the branches of the armed forces going along with it.
The Chinese civil war might be a useful model. You’d start with two smaller groups in opposition with a larger group of people kind of not especially engaged one way or the other, then a vacuum created by the collapse of the federal government, either as a result of invasion or repeated erosion of its sovereignty by state or local governments, Both activist groups would try to fill the void, and would come into conflict, mostly in efforts to try to carve off segments of the unaffiliated to bolster their numbers. You might have a situation where the media and academia mostly supports one side and the military and erstwhile government backs another.
Good context – maybe a 20/60/20 split, where partisan armies battle each other while trying to gain the trust of the “we don’t care” crowd. Maybe a lefty state, like CA, trying to secede. And then a state like Texas following suit, but heading toward the right. The Union would dissolve into three separate camps, some physically joined like much of the northern east coast and the west coast.
In the China example I mention a collapse, but in their case it was really a series of collapses, so that by the time the communists and the nationalists split there hadn’t been a strong, sovereign national government for years. Plus the Soviets were elbow deep in China’s domestic politics, absent which the communists probably would’ve been wiped out before WWII. If we’re on a similar track, we’re seeing the very beginnings of that kind of process, and by the time we got to a real civil war the states themselves might be more theoretical or cultural than anything else.
The way a civil war would play out would be the left initiating widespread violence, and the right escalating it into armed conflict.
The left doesn’t have the resources to move beyond LA style riots. They can’t initiate a coup, and they can’t organize armed conflict in conservative strongholds as required for them to start a civil war. They also don’t have the fortitude required to bloody the right’s nose, which would mean a lot of prog blood spilled.
The right, on the other hand, has no motivation to start the violence, but they have plenty of ability to finish the fight. The right would be able to swing most of the military their way, they are well armed, and they have the strategic ability to subdue prog strongholds. However, the fed gov is breaking their way, state govs are leaning their way, and they don’t really have a base of agitants in their communities and in the media like the left does.
The only ways a civil war happens are 1) the left takes the reins of power and goes full tyrant; or 2) the left grows a set of balls and takes their glorious revolution to the heartland.
Neither of those are happening right now.
Nah. The left wouldn’t initiate wide-spread violence, they’d go the terrorism route. The US left is devolving into a second Hamas.
I see the left moving in the mob direction more than the terrorism direction. Terrorism takes a ton more commitment than rallying a mob to break windows and lynch a wrong thinker. The left is inherently lazy and noncommittal, which is the only thing keeping them from being effective.
I wonder what the assembled nodders on Morning Joke are saying about the Future of Democracy.
Oh, wait- no, I don’t. I presume they’re all tearing their hair out and weeping inconsolably. Just like they do every day of Trumpmerikkka.
AmeriKKKa has literally become Nazi Germany. Literally.
Funny you should say that:
https://twitter.com/mattiek17/status/1012050245042176000?s=21
Damn, you can’t even parody these lunatics.
Who is this person with impaired emotional and cognitive development?
A New York liberal.
Eh, their omnipresent whine is just so much white noise, I hardly take note of them anymore. Though it was much more peaceful when I was in other parts of the country.
I don’t know how our NYC Glib contingent does it.
And I apologize for knocking your city. There’s a lot of great shit there and some really good people. But the smothering government coupled with overwhelming douchebaggery that’s been coming out of there culturally would be too much for me to stomach. Not to mention that self-defense is all but illegal anymore. But you guys keep fighting the good fight so the rest of us don’t have to. God bless you.
::not snark::
I don’t know how the city folk do it either.
/Upstater.
The way I survive is this: I live in one of the few neighboorhoods in Brooklyn that votes Republican. I walk to work, do all my shopping there, my pharmacy, liquor store, and vape shop are all on the way to work.
I very rarely go to Manhattan, and that’s for metal shows…so it’s train, venue, train home.
I get in and get out as quickly as NJTransit permits it.
Which means it’s a crap shoot when I will get to work and get home.
I can’t wait to pull the rip cord and get out of the northeast.
I was in NYC earlier this year. Heading in to a museum I had my bag x-rayed and the staff objected to the blade in it. Ooops. They barred my entrance to the establishment, handing me my knife while informing me that it was illegal in NYC. – still not sure if they meant illegal to have even in your own domicile or possessing on the street. I find it an interesting point as it is legal to own (in my home) where I live in Japan.
Tejicano – take a look here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/opinion/new-yorks-outdated-knife-law.html
Essentially any locking blade will wind up getting anybody that does have the means to get counsel in world of hurt.
Possibly the best reaction tweet:
https://twitter.com/mastsky/status/1012084310344491008?s=21
Damn..a real QT with a great feed
OMFG! That’s the best thing I’ve seen all week!
That dude has issues
aaaaahahahahahaha
*slowclap*
Damn. That’s a winner.
LOL!
24 hours ago most of these dopes didn’t even know who Anthony Kennedy was. Since then they’ve been instructed to be upset about it; they’re very good at that part.
I’m partial to this:
https://twitter.com/NewJerzeyBoy/status/1012066060315648003
love the tears/trump gif reply:
https://twitter.com/MastSky/status/1012084310344491008
damn you!
I hate the way half of Twitter is retarded TV and Hollywood GIFs
Only half? What’s the other half?
People re-tweeting other people’s lameness.
That’s too bad
He cries over a judge leaving?
And he brags about it on the internet.
He’s woke brah.
It’s like watching Red Wedding reactions every day.
In most of those videos there’s somebody who has read the books, knows exactly what’s coming, and doesn’t react at all. I feel like that guy every time the left goes into a shit-flinging grand-mal seizure.
Who knew that three triangles of fabric could be humanity’s greatest invention?
http://archive.is/kqWMQ
3, 5, 17, 19, 38, 41, 45, 46, 65, 71, 77.
And a bonus.
https://imgur.com/a/OWuIfg7
Sorry, I shriveled up on #2.
You did Q.
Wooo-pig oopsy!
Okay, that was bad, but so was that possible game ending pop up.
The Reds are 31-31 since hiring Jim Riggleman, who is not the answer, but seems to be working okay. Then again, he got the Cubs to the playoffs. This is the first time since he was hired that they Reds are at .500 under him. If they play .500 the rest of the way, they will finish with a not entirely awful 75-87 record. But I think they are better than that and will pull in close to 81-81 overall.
I had AirBnB send me an email telling me how much they hated Trump and asking me to help stop his travel ban by gibbing monies to IRAP.
I replied that I object to political solicitations and that they should kindly go fuck themselves.
I also received my first robo-call in Chinese. Whichever dialect it is that starts conversations with “Ni Hao.”
I got the same email. I replied and asked them to remove me from their mailing list because I don’t want to mix politics with my lodging.
FTFY.
If Castilian and Portuguese are distinct languages…
Distinct? No, they all sound alive to me.
*alike
And I can’t even blame autocorrect, I’m on a PC.
I remain baffled by large, successful corporations taking an explicit stance on controversial political issues. Who is dumb enough to risk alienating large swaths of your customer base? Just keep your opinions to yourself and all is well.
TL;DR – Get woke, go broke.
Me too. The Directors should be cracking skulls for that kind of idiocy.
Delta CEO apparently didn’t consult his board first before ending the NRA meeting discount, but they, & their customers, are allegedly supporting the move.
Can’t find a good link for it. Yahoo one is a video & Washington Examiner story is trying to force download god know what.
The one that baffles me are the new Uber ads that seem to be some sort of public re-education sessions. “We promise we have changed and will do better.”
I must have missed something. What did they do bad? Everyone I know loves Uber. Of course I am a shit lord that only runs in normie circles.
One of their drivers did murder someone during a ride in Denver…
I’ve been spared that e-mail, so far. I’m hoping they’ve come to their senses and have stopped sending that out, since I have otherwise enjoyed my AirBnB experiences and it’d be a shame to have to tell them to go fuck themselves.
Does Amazon Smile donate to these guys?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGvrmltfMrA&t=8s
‘Wait a minute… so the whole any last requests thing is bullshit? Well, adios asshole.’
Hard to muster sympathy for the guy.
I’ve been knocked out for procedures twice in the last few years – that shit always burns for a few seconds going in.
Given the choice, I’d take a firing squad too. There would have plenty of volunteers to shoot that shitbag.
Yea, but would they shoot him in the head?
The tradition was right in the heart.
So you can pretend to be Betty or Veronica fighting over a ham sandwich instead of Archie.
I think they meant “sweaty, edgy and alone” but whatever.
So pick two iconic cartoon characters known for being slim and hot…. ok….
NB: I have nothing against plus size ladies, as long as their plus size is distributed appropriately and they dress to flatter their figure.
Thereis a point where no amount of flattery will make up for the fact that the wearer is a landwhale.
Definitely. I draw a line between plus-size/cushion for the pushin’ and uggo fatty.
I have nothing against the plus sized either. I know that mocking people with weight issues isn’t healthy, on the other hand, celebrating it isn’t healthy either. I carry around about twenty more pounds than I should, but it’s not like I’m out there celebrating it or getting angry because people don’t dig my dad bod.
Nice thing about a glib position is that I don’t have to worry about solutions for other people, just myself.
I, too, have nothing against “plus-sized” ladies – which includes any part of my anatomy.
“sizes 10 to 30″
Thirty? THIRTY? What is bigger than plus size? Multiplication size? Exponent size?
According to the google a size 30 is a 52” waist. Goddamn. Buying cute clothes is not your problem.
52″ waist. Wow. I’m at 38″ and I’m 6’2″. I dig on some big girls, but Jesus. If we crash-landed on Hoth I could crawl inside her like a Ton-ton.
I always like thinking what the poor half starved sweatshop worker in SE Asia thinks when they are sewing up those size 30 pants. Or even better when they are cranking out those size 30 spandex yoga pants.
They must think that the US is the greatest place on earth. Not only can you get hog fat, but you can wear tights and still get men.
Or even better when they are cranking out those size 30 spandex yoga pants.
“Like two angry bobcats in a burlap sack”
My wife is going to Weight Watchers now to drop like 10-12 pounds. She’s currently a size 6.
So up to this point they’ve been polite?
http://freebeacon.com/politics/cnn-msnbc-analysts-extreme-tactics-supreme-court-pick-raise-hell-time-democrats-throw-down/
I’m still waiting for any of them to get specific about what they want people to do, other than screech impotently on twitter.
Maybe this?
They can’t. Because they’re the dipshits that have been saying “you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater” and saying speech should be limited because it incites violence. They have painted themselves in a corner where they can’t say what they want to say (which is for people to start assaulting/murdering their opponents) for fear that their own statements will be used to go after them.
They’re coming pretty close, though. See Maxine Waters’ latest lunacy encouraging mobs to harass Trump officials.
I saw that and thought – “how many lefties will see this as a call to harass perceived Trump supporters at large? 99.993% of America will never come in contact with actual members of a presidential cabinet so I wonder how many will be looking for a fight?
“how many lefties will see this as a call to harass perceived Trump supporters at large?
I’m gonna go with “all of them”. Although I’m optimistic that most won’t actually act on it.
Collins may be susceptible to pressure. Maybe Murkowski wouldn’t be as she’d like to be re-elected. Still, if the appointment were delayed as the Dems want, does that mean they think they can pick up Senate seats rather than lose a couple? Then again, Trump seems determined to piss off enough farmers in should-be red states Senate wins.
As far as the Senate goes, I think it’s still 25 D seats up for reelection against only 8 R seats, right? Odds of the D’s flipping the Senate are slim at best.
I still think the Dems lose badly in both houses in November – then realize it was because they were too moderate.
The answer is always “prog harder”. Always.
I think so too, Drake. They are caught in a feedback loop from hell.
Lose elections >> Prog harder >> Lose more elections >> Prog even harder…
The normals who used to support the Democrats quietly walk away. That leaves the cultists who can’t lurch leftward fast enough. They are loud and dedicated – so it always appears to be a winner to appease them.
If Collins flips, I’d imagine Manchin will counteract her. I’m surprised he’s not switched parties already. He knows there’s no way in hell he can tow the Dem lion and get re-elected.
Fuck Manchin and his gun grabbing.
A nuthouse. With typewriters.
The Supreme Court is designed as a countermajoritarian institution, and operates as a crucial check in a democracy based on majority rule. Still it is hard to swallow that this court is about to solidify a deeply conservative majority, despite the fact that in six of the last seven presidential elections, more Americans have voted for a Democrat than for a Republican.
Wrong. Comprehensively and utterly wrong.
I award them a D, and only grade it that highly because they managed to not misspell any of the words.
tl;dr- We’re DOOOOOOOOOMED unless you get out there and vote for a strongman who will rip up the Constitution and lead us all to the Promised Land.
“despite the fact that in six of the last seven presidential elections, more Americans have voted for a Democrat than for a Republican.”
Which is utterly meaningless.
Hell, in last election, the combination of all the right leaning candidates (Trump, Johnson, McMuffin) garnered over 50% of the total vote.
The Obama phenomenon notwithstanding, this is still a center-right country.
Or, by the International EU standards, far right hatetrain nation.
American Dems are further right than a lot of European right-wing parties.
Right. That would mean something if we decided elections by a 51% winner-take-all popular vote, which we do not, never have done, and God willing never will. And as you point out, just because a majority didn’t vote for Trump doesn’t mean that a majority voted for a Democrat.
The notion that the vote totals would be the same if popular vote actually decided the election is itself hogwash. There are plenty of people in deep blue and deep red states who understand that their vote doesn’t really mean anything today.
The nineteenth century would like to have a word.
Obviously educated in New York public schools
Say what now?
He was a confused old bastard , but hey, sometimes he went our way.
The author was probably furiously masturbating to the thought of Obama replacing Scalia with Garland, but now he wants retiring Justices to be replaced with people who will rule in a similar fashion.
The bolded section isn’t wrong. We had more countermajoritarian institutions earlier in the life of the Republic, and we are worse off for getting rid of them.
But feel free to dock them for slopping writing in the bolded sentence. They have an unresolved ambiguity – do they mean that the democracy is based on majority rule (it is not, it is based on geographical representation) or do they mean that the crucial check is based on majority rule (it is also not). They don’t clarify with context clues.
They don’t know what they mean. The Supreme Court is countermajoritarian only in the sense that it is to act as a check on the other two branches to enforce their conformity with the Constitution.
And it’s only countermajoritarian when it benefits progs. Obvi.
Yep.
When the majority supports the “progressive” position, they go with it because that’s democracy.
When the majority does NOT support the “progressive” position, they oppose it because that’s “tyranny of the majority”.
Fortunately, judicial deference is no longer seen as much of a virtue on the right. Gorsuch and Thomas are now the model, and IJ is working pretty hard to push their concept of “judicial engagement.” If someone like Don Willet ends up on the court, that should be the end of the that error.
I’m of the same mind on this. If progs really believed in the Court as a check on majority will, they’d insist on respect for Lochner. It’s the thing I can’t really make heads or tails of in modern jurisprudence – “judicial restraint is a backward, ignorant attempt to subvert the power of the judiciary. Unless it involves economic issues. Then it is the Holy Writ of God.”.
The Supreme Court designed as a countermajoritarian institution, and operates as a crucial check in a democracy based on majority rule
Things that are designed as countermajoritarian institutions and operate as a check against democracy
This country as a republic
the Electoral College
enumerated & unenumerated rights in the Bill of Rights & the rest of the constitution
limited government power under the Constitution
federalism
Oh, all the things leftists have been trying to shitcan.
Ding ding ding. The notion that progressives are in any way against a “50.1% majority makes right” system of government is laughable.
Yup. Reading the Federalist Papers, you pretty quickly get the understanding that the Founders weren’t all that interested in democracy. Even relative statists like Hamilton were a lot more interested in keeping the power of the government in check than ensuring it fulfilled the “will of the people”.
“hardcore Socialist ”
C’mon. The Assoc. Press, in my paper today, calls her a “liberal activist.” Then again, any candidate to the right of
Susan Collins will be described as a “hard right” or “alt right” candidate and probably a racist Nazi white supremacist to boot.
“any candidate to the right of Susan Collins will be described as[…]a racist Nazi”
There is no distinction in their eyes anymore.
Under the arrangement that sustained the legitimacy of the court for generations, until last year, the replacement of a swing justice would trigger a battle in the Senate, as the minority party wielded the threat of a filibuster to head off any ideologically extreme nominee. That won’t be happening this time. Senate Republicans killed the filibuster for Supreme Court justices last spring on their way to installing Neil Gorsuch, the ideologue for whom they had already stolen a seat that rightly should have been filled by President Barack Obama, and who could sit on the court for 4logue for whom they had already stolen a seat that rightly should have been filled by President Barack Obama, and who could sit on the court for 40 years.
Thievery! Usurpation! Sedition!
Does the name “Harry Reid” ring a bell? No, of course not. Every aspect of factionalist dysfunction originated with the Republicans.
Repost from last night:
https://youtu.be/qduJjDJnQfo?t=18
Hah hah!
Have any of you seen this making the rounds today? God bless record retention laws:
https://twitter.com/senatorreid/status/403615847190921216?s=21
That is so fucking hilarious.
Gotta love this reply from 2013:
“@SenatorReid well done Senator. The Fascist GOP were juvenile and purposely destroying our govt. Thanks for the courage and your leadership”
The schadenry (schadenfreude+irony) is almost too much to handle.
The US Dept of Winning graphic is fucking hilarious.
Oh my god, that’s beautiful. If we weren’t about to celebrate our anniversary tomorrow I would tweet that to my wife and just be like the guy in the old Maxell commercials.
“Under the arrangement that sustained the legitimacy of the court for generations […]”
Are you kidding? People have distrusted this “tyrannical” court long before I was born.
If Trump nominated Robert Mueller for the Supreme Court, would it be obstruction?
That’s not even funny.
Yes it is. It made me nearly snort coffee out my nose.
The sad part would be Mueller cravenly turning on a dime to get that seat. Resigning from the investigation and showing up at the presser with a MAGA hat.
The first thing that came to mind was the sort of decisions he would shit out.
That was more than enough to drain any iota of humor from the situation.
So what you’re saying is, Trump needs to give Mueller the Romney treatment — invite him out to a nice dinner to discuss the prospect of putting him on the SC.
Absolutely. I don’t think any of those bastards have the self-awareness to see the axe coming. They believe so much that they are the pinnacle of evolution that they are blind sided.
Those happy hogs had a serious sad last night. Had the final out in the air in foul territory with three senior players all around it and couldn’t make the play.
Oh well. Today is a new day. Woo pig.
Democrats Are Wrong About Republicans. Republicans Are Wrong About Democrats.
I was at the bar last night, drinking with another couple who live a few houses down. We were discussing vacations. The woman said something along the lines of: “What would it be like to vacation in a real red state area? Real rednecks.”
Her (more sane husband): “We live in Grand Rapids which is about as Christian and right-wing as you can get. You expect it to be different?”
Me: “There’s jerks all across the political spectrum.”
That’s really interesting. I think it just shows how good people are at creating a stereotype and just pushing it over and over, and the idea that talking about something loudly and repeatedly will make people think there is more of that something. (Thank, Internet). We’ve had a discussion here before about how many truly “trans” people there are. By all the media attention you’d think it’s 10% of the population, but statistically it’s like 0.03%.
Speak the name of something and it gains power. You gain power to manipulate it, but it also worms its way into you. Someone should write an article about that. Maybe something that will be published this Friday. Stay tuned…
If you dare.
In short, “the parties in our heads,” as Ahler and Sood write, are not the parties in real life.
That’s why I never get invited to them anymore.
/eyeroll. Tell her to stay a night in a BnB (or an abandoned house) near City Airport to get the real blue state feel of Detroit.
Telling someone to die in a fire isn’t very nice.
My wife has a very stereotypical view of Trump voters as dumb, racist hicks. And I usually come back with, “You mean like your dad?” But he’s one of the good ones, apparently.
I’m thinking of this whole immigration thing, and how it’s a scheme for the Dems to get more voters. But do the numbers really add up? How many immigrants will need to come in to influence an election? Considering that like most of the rest of the country, they won’t all vote.
I think one of Clinton’s biggest mistakes was abandoning the blue collar working guys. This is anecdotal, but the biggest Trump supporters I know are union guys who would normally vote Dem. That’s a big, reliable block of voters. I can’t see allowing unrestrained immigration sitting well with them. Would there be enough immigrants voting to offset the blue collar voters?
Just wondering, mostly because I know that the left is really bad at math.
I agree. The most vocal Trump fans I know are my in-laws, who are (or historically were) archetypal Rust Belt union Dems. F-i-l was a welder at a GE plant and a union delegate. Was a Democrat his whole life but jumped right on the Trump train.
I talked with an older alumnus at my college reunion last year who is a union delegate in NYC. Said he was supposed to obviously deliver votes for Clinton, and all his guys (“white, black, Hispanic”) voted for Trump because they all thought he’d be better for the economy and their jobs. Not one mention of the BS that dominates so many news cycles. Imagine that.
“But do the numbers really add up? How many immigrants will need to come in to influence an election? ”
They don’t really have another choice. The driver of Democrats immigration and racial politics stances is illustrated by the simple fact that Sarah Palin has five children and Hillary Clinton has one. My fiancee’s got 21 first cousins, and only two of them are the children of liberal parents.
Demographically speaking, to continue being competitive in elections they desperately need the brown and black members of the Dem coalition to give the numerical weight. Even though the party’s agenda is all affluent white progressivism driven. They need 90% of the black voters and 60% of the Hispanic voters to keep voting for bike paths and carbon taxes, because the people who actually set the platform of the Democratic Party are people who waited until they were 35 to have their one child.
They have to import lots of new voters, and they need to keep the ones they have on the plantation. Take VA for example. Black voters are roughly 1/5th of the electorate. In 2016 that was around 390,00 voters. Clinton carried VA by around 210,000 votes. If voters drop to even a Hispanic style 65% Dem/35% GOP split, it seriously fucks with the electoral math for the Democrats.
But do the numbers really add up? How many immigrants will need to come in to influence an election?
Its a long game. And there may be more immigrants here than you realize – there are in excess of 50mm legal immigrants in the US, and I’m not sure if that number includes naturalized immigrants who are now citizens. I think we are naturalizing around a million a year, something like that. Immigration, over time (and not that long a time period) can absolutely change election outcomes.
Look at CA – as immigration to California surged, it flipped from a reliably Republican state to one of the more reliable Democrat states.
^^This. CA is their model for obtaining power across the country. If the electorate hates your policies, don’t change the policies, change the electorate. It’s a sinister, cynical, evil power grab. Especially considering that the people the claim to be helping are pawns to be used as permanent wards of the state.
After the uprising of the 17th of June
The Secretary of the Writers’ Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?
Well, it worked in CA. Will another Republican ever when a statewide election there?
I think its about maintaining and expanding the welfare state as much winning elections. Last week talked about the creation of Somalian ghettos in places like Lewiston Maine. The blue-collar French and Irish had wandered off the plantation and no longer needed lots of public assistance. Instead of declaring victory and downsizing the welfare budgets and bureaucracy, they imported a group that will live in ghettos and collect welfare for generations.
I’m thinking of this whole immigration thing, and how it’s a scheme for the Dems to get more voters. But do the numbers really add up?No. I think you overlook the motivation to find complimentary labor supplies.
Team blue has abandoned the blue collar workers. That leaves them with the high-skilled knowledge workers, the urban elite, etc. Immigration to them is about increasing the supply of complementary workers. Mixing the high-skilled urban workers (ie guys in Manhattan wearing suits) with low-skilled urban workers (ie guys in Manhattan wearing hair nets) increases the provision of creature comforts to the high-skilled urban workers (ie more plentiful dining, cleaning, livery services available to the high rollers in Manhattan).
Since the limiting factor on the high-skill end of the economy is a lack of high-skilled workers, adding more high-skill urban workers allows for accelerated growth because there is enough work for these types and each new imported worker creates about 1.1 or 1.2 high-skilled jobs [citation needed, to lazy to search for it]. Importing Indian and Chinese Nationals in Suits creates more jobs for Natives in Suits.
The natives getting fucked in this story are those that get substituted out, that is, the natives in hairnets who would be providing dining, cleaning, and livery services. They now have to compete not only with other natives, but a reserve army of workers from south of the border. Competing with a reserve army of workers and you are going to have a bad time.
So its not just votes. There’s a clear capitalistic incentive to take up these policies.
Woops, intended that to be a blockquote, not a strikethrough. Sorry.
So lefties think servant work is beneath white people, but perfect for brown and black people? That seems pretty racist.
I think the idea is that many of the immigrants would be farmworkers or living in suburban purple areas and could flip some hard red districts, plus they are coming from communist/socialist shitholes so they would readily embrace trying it again here. Throw in some donations from the Free Shit Brigade and you have Democratic Hegemony – or so their thinking goes.
I don’t think the immigrants themselves are the target. Most of them won’t ever vote. The target is their kids. If you can intervene to prevent the normal assimilation process, you can create a cadre of reliably progressive activists. Look at the hardline pro-illegal-immigration and identity activists. They tend to consistently be first generation Americans, with a few second generations in the mix. Given immigrants tend to have more kids than natives, this could create a reliably left-wing bulge.
Of course, the second element of the strategy is that it isn’t entirely about importing immigrants at all. It’s also largely about making Republicans look “mean”. If you can get the other guy to say “no” to the poor, doe-eyed immigrant who looks like he hasn’t done anything wrong, you get clips and snippets you get to throw out there to suburban soccer moms and low-consideration voters.
I would say that the average lefty just “feels” that being anti-immigrant is yucky because it is directed against dark-skinned people.
The fact that a large swath of Hispanic Americans don’t like the idea of immigrants coming in without following the rules that their parents or grandparents scrupulously followed has no traction with them. And a lot of African-Americans don’t want a wave of low-cost workers to compete with – 100% lost on your average prog.
This is the most accurate take, IMO. The optics on this are bad, and that gins up the base. There’s little to no genuine interest in fixing immigration laws among the people calling Trump a racist Nazi over this, it’s just a handy way to portray him and his supporters as vile bigots who cannot possibly have any ideas or opinions worth discussing. To a certain extent, in fact, I think this might be a case where the Dem leadership is chasing the parade.
“and the match everyone has been waiting for in England-Belgium.”
Idk, I hate the idea of intentionally trying to lose a match. On the other hand, watching players try to get yellow cards while the other team is trying not to concede them could be interesting.
Let’s get rid of Kevin Williamson, so we can publish stuff like this.
But the moderates can’t seem to recognize a critical truism: What makes someone like Trump is not whether someone is engaging in political confrontation and harassment, but who and what someone is politically confronting and harassing. Are they harassing the oppressed like Trump, or harassing the oppressors?
Political confrontation and harassment is as civil as it is American. Evading confrontation as the children cry, as their oppressors cry for more cries, is as uncivil as it is un-American. Instead of encircling political confrontation and harassment in incivility, we should be recognizing the dividing line in American politics—a line that has continuously changed American history for better or worse, always to the chagrin of the gradual or do-nothing moderate Americans. The dividing line in American politics is constructive or destructive political confrontation and harassment.
Huh.
Careful what you ask for.
You might just get it.
“Are they harassing the oppressed like Trump, or harassing the oppressors?”
Except the people harrassing aren’t actually being oppressed, therefore they don’t have a legitimate reason to “harass”.
“destructive political confrontation and harassment”
What Scruffy said. I don’t think things would turn out as they want should they take this route.
Yeah, it’s one thing when some beta neckbeard soyboy tweets “bash the fash”, and it’s another thing entirely when he actually tries to. Speaking purely from my own experience, without exception the people I know or have met who would count as “fascists” tend to be (well)armed, in good shape, not particularly afraid of physical pain, and more than capable of holding their own in a violent confrontation. The other side, not so much any of those, with a few exceptions. Of course, when you describe anyone who disagrees with you as a fascist, you develop a pretty wide demographic, so the odds tend to be good that you’re going to wind up including a fair number of scary-ass pipe hitters in the bunch.
I’ve known a few actual fascist/white nationalists. They about line up with your observation. Not necessarily from ‘preparing for race war.’ Just in a A Country Boy Can Survive kind of way. Except for the few who really were preparing for a race war.
That’s why the definition of fascist has to expand to out of shape, effite, desk-jockeys that engage in bad-think.
The skinheads I met – back in the day – ranged from non-political “trads” to quasi-i-just-like-the-white-power-music, with the super rare real white power ones. The latter were real assholes, but not the types I even considered fighting given their nature to “join in together” on a fight. ie, you didn’t fight just one of them, you fought all of them. And they fought dirty. My departed friend. Bill, however showed no fear to anyone. Me? This is some expensive dental work here in my mouth.
So it was usually a group effort to kick those assholes out of a show.
There’s a reason that the Aryan Nation, despite their relatively tiny numbers compared to other prison gangs, are considered the most violent, dangerous and ruthless.
Indianapolis/Dayton/Cincy circa 1987. 20 skater punks surrounding 10 nazi skinheads and hustling them out of the crowd and out of the venue. Punches thrown back and forth. Then the realization that it was about to become 60 punks vs 10 nazi skins. Which will quickly swell to 100 punks vs 10 nazis. The nazis would then hang out in the parking lot drinking beer and smash bottles. And then leave. Fun times.
Naptown is probably right in the totality, but those gay dudes at Stonewall in 1969 kicked some ass.
Sure, but half or more of them would be lumped into the fascist camp by these dopes today.
Political confrontation and harassment is as civil as it is American.
Political confrontation? Sure.
Harassment by definition isn’t civil, though.
Almost game time. Took a break from the wagon. 4 days. Time to start a new streak tomorrow, but for tonight, go Samurai Blue.
Please be real. Please be real. Please be real. Please be re…
https://twitter.com/larrydaliberal/status/1012066372854173697?s=21
100% absolute guaranteed to be parody.
The RBG line is hilarious.
Any good feeling I had about SCOTUS yesterday is now gone, as they rejected Ross Ulbricht’s appeal for cert.
Since you all like my Supreme Court analysis (at least some of you do), let me ask you a question: Which article would you rather see. A recap of the major cases of the term from a libertarian POV or handicapping the Kennedy replacement? I might do both, but it’ll take a few weeks.
I want a handicapping of Celebrity Death Match Supreme Court Edition.
Ginsburg wins, easy. Might not agree with her much, but she’s a tough SOB, and is smart enough to use her surroundings to her advantage.
Plus she’s already dead so you can’t kill her.
LOL
I don’t know who would win, but we all can agree that Alito would be the first one to tap out.
Actually, now that I think about it, my money is on Thomas. He’s a little older, but has always been a hell of an athlete. Plus he seems like the kind of guy that would fight like a cornered dog. If The Lone Dissenter was a wrestling move, it would be an illegal eye-gouge.
Always bet on black.
Yeah Thomas wins easy. Sotomayor and Kagan collapse wheezing and out of breath early on.
Only if he comes into the ring as Long Dong Silver.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, that move should be banned! I’m talking, of course, about the
Pile DriverLone Dissenter!”As long as you tell me it’s gonna be Mike Lee, do whatever you want.
It could and probably will change, but my personal odds-on favorite (not who I’d most prefer, just reading the tea leaves) is Amy Barrett. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Coney_Barrett
I’d be very interested in a review of her general jurisprudence. Is she an authoritarian con or a libertarian con or…? When she counts from 1 to 10, which numbers does she skip?
Well, yea, she’s hot.
Would.
i don’t know. I’d be more than happy with Don Willett.
The only man to take on STEVE SMITH and win!
(Clicks heels together three times)
Kennedy replacement first if you please, the clock is running on that one,
35.5th!
I don’t care about the handicapping stuff, there will be enough of that going around anyway.
The former sounds like a good read that we wont see anywhere else. Including from Volokh who someone seems to have gotten worse since moving to reason.
re: Volokh – someone here in the last couple of days pointed out that (paraphrasing): you need to understand that he’s a lawyer focused on the “proper” application of the law first, second, and third. His libertarianism comes in a distant fourth.
I get that, I responded to it too. Proper application of the law requires understanding the basic written text of the constitution.
I think we’re in agreement, thus the scare-quotes around ‘proper’.
Proper is the wrong work. It implies a normative approach. Volokh is almost always writing with a positive approach. Same with Kerr. That’s how the make arguments that even-handed application of neutral legal principals can result in non-libertarian-friendly results. Someone like Dale Carpenter does more of what you are expecting.
And seriously, don’t bitch about it. We are in the lucky position that, when done properly, this kind of strategy is going to be better for the libertarian position more often than not. Our foundation is not perfectly libertarian, but its more libertarian than the culture is. Legal nerd can be legal nerds in advancement of our causes, and they will be more effective when the have a reputation for fair dealing instead of motivated reasoning. Go re-read Heller, hit control+f, and search “See generally Volokh.”
Engaging in the culture war feels good. But it makes you stupid. Relying on virtue makes on a better person and a better foot soldier in the culture war.
Wrong word, not wrong work. Crap this coffee needs to work faster.
I’m not really bitching (maybe a little) – I’m well aware that perfect is the enemy of good and Volokh is good, even if he doesn’t always end up where I’d like.
Boom. Yeah.
Principles are what people make up after they win. The left doesn’t give a shit about them. Playing by the rules while your opponent openly cheats is just a way to lose.
The Kennedy replacement is relevant to the here and now.
Do them in the order you presented them. I’d really like a recap. And Kennedy’s replacement will be news well past the media forgetting what rulings just came down in order to focus on the next Trumpocalypse.
I like the recap of the major cases from a real-life lawyer POV.
Not a lot of time to comment today, but I just wanted to drop this in.
https://twitter.com/mattiek17/status/1012050245042176000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kausfiles.com%2F
I’m probably a bad person, but I laughed and laughed.
::blink blink::
Hugo Boss isn’t my look, so camps?
Trying to remember the last time we had so many people independently post the exact same link.
Don’t let me down one last time Dean.
guy on death bed learning Trump was impeached probably.
Morning meetings with government employees make me feel icky. But, on the bright side, there was a smokin’ hot new girl in the planning dept.
“That’s not OK!”
Yeah, no smoking allowed in the planning department! Blueprints are flammable.
See can plan MY department any time ifyouknowwhatImeanIthinkyoudo.
Wait. What?
“Under the arrangement that sustained the legitimacy of the court for generations”
That’s what established the legitimacy of the SCOTUS and not, you know, the Constitution? Everything is legitimate until it gets in the way of progressive agendas.
I caught some CNN coverage later, and Jeffrey Toobin looked like he was about to have kittens.
Leftists are in full meltdown mode (not that they’ve stopped since the inauguration…) and it is glorious. Talk of how Team Red is hypocritical to confirm a new justice in an election year is rampant. I say fuck them. Democrats made their bed, now make them sleep in it.
The thing is this can’t possibly be as big a deal as they think.
If one of the progressive justices leaves or croaks.. wow. That will be unreal.
“Weekend At Ruthie’s” jokes aside, RBG is being held together with duct tape and chewing gum at this point. She regularly falls asleep during arguments. She’s had cancer twice (I think?). She already looks like a reanimated skeleton. I know she’s desperately trying to hold out for another Dem president but I think she’s on her last legs.
“She regularly falls asleep during arguments”
Oh bullshit. The sharp eyed, straight shooting, nonpartisan truth tellers of the mainstream media would have made it a major story if a justice of the SCOTUS was falling asleep during oral arguments.
Sounds like someone is a white nationalist Russian stooge.
I didn’t think there was any way she would outlast Obama. I can’t imagine why she didn’t retire while he was in office.
Eventually, the clock runs out on everyone. She might hang on another couple of years, but if Trump wins re-election, I think he’s a lock to appoint her successor.
Shit, the progs were openly calling for her to retire after the 2012 election so that Obama could pick a young prog while the Dems had 53 Senate seats.
The SCOTUS is pretty openly just functioning as an American House of Lords at this point.
“And no, you will not see one against the Springboks as hard as you might squint. Because that’s one thing he was never able to do.”
RIP to Joost as well. I don’t know when his birthday is but I know when I saw that tackle. My all time favourite.
I just hope Bryan Habana lives forever.
EU leaders seeking ways to halt migrants.
I thought stopping (culturally incompatible) migrants from entering your country was teh racism.
Here is something incredibly cool. Boats are cool. This seems like something a couple of sophomore engineering students would think up at 3:15 AM while baked out of their mind.
that’s been around for ages, are you Young?
/Boat and Science nerd since 1963
Compared to you, yes. And I’ve never been a boat nerd nor lived in a coastal area.
Boats are cool, and that Ship is way cool, Just being a mensch, 🙂
Flippy McFlipface.
Titanic did it first.
Boats scare me. I have no idea why.
Sharks, it’s enough for me..
Right? Boats are the thing that keep me from the fast-swimming things with sharp teeth hidden in the water. I love boats.
I thought that was the shore and miles of hilly land.
Obligatory warning
You’d probably be more comfortable with a “twin hull” anyway, if you know what I mean.
This is what happens when you put more than one Fred in a room together.
Robert Reich distrusts rich people.
And fifth, on top of all this, foundations are tax-subsidized. “We’re at a moment in American society in which the winners in the marketplace attempt to diminish their tax burdens, both corporately and individually, as low as they can legally go,” Reich told me. “Then having diminished their tax burden as low as it can go, they turn around and set up a private foundation, taking a further tax break.”
Then, with money that would have otherwise have gone to the government, where at least there is nominal democratic control over spending priorities, the philanthropists use that money on whatever social purpose they’ve decided to support.
———-
Reich does have some hope for the foundations—a suggestion for how they could do their work in ways that benefit democracies like ours. “Foundations,” he said, “should be making long-time-horizon, risky experiments in social innovation that the government won’t do and the marketplace is unlikely to do.”
Philanthropy is bad, because individuals should surrender their wealth to the collective, in order that it may be doled out wisely by people like Robert Reich. That way, it will be spent wisely, on the expansion of government control of our lives. People who don’t pay their fair share in taxes are evil.
Fuck you, Bobby.
“…attempt to diminish their tax burdens, both corporately and individually, as low as they can legally go,”
People want to keep what they earn? You don’t say…
the philanthropists use that money on whatever social purpose they’ve decided to support.
Freedom is teh evul. I bet he is particularly upset about the principle (1A) that a certain recent supreme court case was decided on.
People avoid paying taxes that they don’t legally have to?! Holy fucking shit! Stop the presses! When did this start happening??
What happened to the utopian days of the past when people just gave a rough over-estimate of their tax burden and paid it in full without ever investigating whether or not it was legally required? When did people start making efforts to keep money that they’re legally permitted to keep?
We’re at a moment in American society in which the winners in the marketplace attempt to diminish their tax burdens, both corporately and individually, as low as they can legally go,
He’s talking about all the attempts in Democrat states to get around the cap on deducting state and local taxes, right? Because the cap hits the “winners in the marketplace”, and the charitable donation to the state shenanigans are all an “attempt to diminish their tax burdens as low as they can legally go”, right?
Robert, of course, donates his entire salary to the federal government and never gives any money to charity.
Robert Reich estimated net worth: $4 Million.
I’m positive he would never describe himself as “rich”.
I believe there’s a longstanding response to comments like Reich’s. Something about sexual suggestions? Oh, yeah, FUCK OFF, SLAVER!
You know what other Reich thought the government should have people’s money?
“Yes, please can we get a policeman onboard? We’ve got somebody dining. He’s eating on the train.”
“We’ve got somebody dining”. Priceless.
Would a different (((passenger))) say “We’ve got someone noshing?
I like the medley. Wings never quite worked for me but there is no denying BOTR.
Watch the McCartney Carpool Karaoke if you haven’t. It’s really good!
“Not all public unions would agree with Emanuel’s characterization. The Chicago Teachers Union went on strike in 2012, and its leadership is vociferous in criticizing the mayor.
“In a statement after Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling, CTU blasted Emanuel as no friend to labor.
“‘Today we will see neoliberal Democratic Party political bosses like Rahm Emanuel shaking their fist at this decision, acting as if they have not been bi-partisan partners in the erosion of workers’ rights, co-conspirators in the austerity movement and willing allies in the theft of job and retirement security,’ the statement said.”
The only “theft” here has been on behalf of the public employee unions. They also benefit from a gross conflict of interest – they make monetary and in-kind contributions to candidates for executive branch offices, who in turn are supposed to represent taxpayers when they “bargain” with the unions. In the lawyer world, that kind of COI would get you disbarred.
In the lawyer world, that kind of COI would get you disbarred.
But, not in the judge world, where elected judges take campaign contributions from lawyers who appear before them in court.
Props to the Tribune for stating it plainly: “public workers shouldn’t have to pay fees to a union they don’t want to join.” It’s amazing that simple proposition is being portrayed as a “theft of workers’ rights”. Black is white, down is up.
Even if (when?) they lose a third of their membership it will not change the caterwauling.
“I don’t wish to be a part of a ritual with which I disagree” has been contorted into “I want to drag homosexuals behind my pickup,” so nuance may not be in abundance lately.
World cup just got interesting – if things stand Japan gets through despite losing the game on fair-play points (fewest cards) as a tie-breaker over Senegal.
15 minutes of clenched asses across the globe.
Japan just trying to play it out (5+ stoppage), hoping nothing changes in the other match. Risky, I’d prefer to have my fate in my own hands.
They really trusted Columbia there. I actually switched channels to the Columbia game for the last 5 minutes. Perfectly identical records and goals for Japan and Senegal. Well, I’ll take it even if I had no idea of “fair play points” until ten minutes ago.
How more racist can the World Cup be?
Abolish ICE & stop “President Trump and his team of white nationalists”.
Turn it up to 11!!! Yeah baby!
If you don’t enforce immigration law against individuals & families, what’s left? Pets? Inanimate objects?
They’re just embarrassing themselves now.
“Donald Trump Jr. bets Elizabeth Warren $10,000 that Kimberly Guilfoyle is ‘more Native American’
Never mind Elizabeth Warren — President Trump could soon have a “Pocahontas” in his own family.
And Donald Trump Jr. wants to make a sport of it.
In a segment on Fox News Channel’s “The Five,” the anchors took the popular “23 and Me” DNA tests to determine their ancestry.
According to the tests, 6.1 percent of Kimberly Guilfoyle’s DNA is “East Asian and Native American,” with 5.3 percent definitely Native American and the rest possibly either.
The posting of the results by the conservative site Twitchy prompted the presidential son, who has been widely reported as dating Ms. Guilfoyle, to engage in some snark at Ms. Warren’s expense and for the benefit of a Native American charity.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jun/27/donald-trump-jr-bets-elizabeth-warren-10000-kimber/
The gift that keeps on giving.
The trolling gene is strong in that family.
Why do British tabloid sites always give my browser AIDS in spite of the ad blocker?
It’s due to all of the Kardashians on those sites.
Have you seen their teeth?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-officers-move-reopen-portland-ice-building-closed-over-protests-n887326
Beseiging a federal facility for five days, including trying to lock & block doors & gates, yet no arrests are made. These people aren’t protesters, they aren’t dressed in Sunday best with signs, they’re thugs with bandanas & barricades. They’re rioters. They should be treated as such. Meanwhile not too long ago, people illegally occupying a federal facility were arrested and the news media was happy to document the damage & trash that was left behind.
For a tyrannical dictator, Trump sure treats these people with kid gloves.
Also, having a media in the tank for your cause gives you a serious strategic advantage.
They are occupying a federal facility??? Outrage!
Here’s what you do: wait for some of them to leave, run them off the road, and kill at least one of them. That usually quiets them down.
Unbelievable. This is still pure win for the left, then. Not a single adverse consequence, and lots of PR and feelz wins.
Expect more of it, then.
Where have you gone Lavoy Finicum?
This is kind of funny.
Bad Vibes: Ford Takes on Tesla After ‘Morgue’ Comment
I think it’s stupid for corporations (other than Wendy’s) to do this, but still a couple of good shots from Ford.
I think it’s fine when the one getting rebuked is the utterly incompetent posturer like Musk.
From thr comments
Damn, Tesla got burned so bad there’s a Model S on fire somewhe
Musk is a turd of the lowest order.
https://twitter.com/forexposure_txt/status/1012177322118529024
So someone took him out… tonight?
*Narrows gaze*
I was waiting for that…
One of the catchiest damn songs of the past 20 years.
I was about to type decade but it came out in 2000-and-fucking-4!
Now they’ve got him, by golly!
That’s right: a handful of Russians attending an enormous party is collusion.
Fetch me my fainting couch!
It would have been fine if they had just paid Melania $500k for a 30 minute speech. But being present at an inauguration party during which Donald Trump was also present – now that’s collusion!
Did they check any other countries? I mean, was there some French contingent partying somewhere?
” a handful of Russians ”
That’s not even what they’re alleging.
It was “a handful of people with [“deep ties”] to Russia”
If ‘deep ties’ could be specifically defined, they wouldn’t use a term like ‘deep ties’.
e.g. say i run a hedge fund. and we have a huge amount of business in specific asset-class categories. which is what many hedge funds do (orient around niche asset classes/investment styles)
say its “emerging markets”? WHAM. Russian equity is a huge share of BRIC. That means “X person’s firm has billions of $ in Russian companies!” (never mind that its client’s money, and most of those clients are US banks)
say its, “distressed debt?” WHAM Russia routinely refinances its sovereign bonds. Because why? because wild currency swings.
say its “oil + gas investments?” WHAM, ~25%GDP/50% of Russian govt revenue comes from oil/nat gas. You can’t be in the oil business w/o some dealings with Russian govt.
so, basically, a room with a handful of hedge fund guys probably has 2-3 ppl who could be claimed to have “Deep ties”
you could then play this same game w/ any international law firm.
Well spotted, G. You’re right – “deep ties to Russia”, whatever else it means, means “not actual Russians”.
From Derpbook: “all females better be prepared to go back to wearing chasity belts to protect themselvels from any unwanted pregnancies cause if Trump wins his was And Roe v Wade gets overturned, they’ll all be stuck with some spohn (sic)”
Do these people even listen to themselves? They act as if Jim Bakker won the Presidency.
Is that person saying that women are not intelligent or disciplined enough to avoid pregnancies without a locking device that physically blocks their vaginas?
Yep. But they’ve spent decades infantalizing women and minorities in order to maintain a victim mentality necessary to seek the shelter of lefty policies.
I find it amusing that nobody has a lower opinion of women than feminists.
Shorter facetard: “muh murder mills”
I repeat: even w/ a 9-0 conservative court, Roe v. Wade is not being overturned.
neither is Obgerfell, fwiw
It needs to be though, from a federalism POV. The federal government is not empowered to regulate abortion. It doesn’t have the legal authority to make any abortion laws whatsoever. Pro or anti. If they struck down Roe on the simple grounds that the federal government does not have the legal authority to regulate abortion, it opens the door to a lot of other challenges to all the other unconstitutional laws.
“” it opens the door to a lot of other challenges to all the other unconstitutional laws.””
maybe, but it would be a terrible way of getting to that.
the courts will never even hear a challenge, and will only when there is near-unanimous pro-choice sentiment in the country already.
The federal government is not empowered to regulate abortion.
True, but SCOTUS is empowered to strike down unconstitutional state laws.
That said, SCOTUS and other courts have gotten into the bad habit of not just writing short opinions that say “This law violates this Constiutional provision, and is hereby stricken from the books with extreme prejudice.” Nope, they now write long opinions where they
(a) go on at great length about what kind of law might pass Constitutional muster, and in doing so blur the line between judicial opinion and legislative/executive fiat, and/or
(b) issue detailed orders to governments that have the effect of legislation, and/or
(c) as happened with gay marriage, actually amend the law in question, which is far beyond the judicial remit.
That’s totally reasonable. I mean everyone knows the two choices that women have are either to get pregnant and have an abortion, or just wear a chastity belt and never have sex at all. There definitely aren’t any other contraceptive options available in the most prosperous, tolerant, and technologically advanced nation in the history of the world. /s
Chastity belts are the only way to prevent pregnancy.