# NEW Stupid Republican Idea of the Day (Part 3) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 4, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588 "2023-07-04T21:42:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 129
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2561 "2023-12-14T14:44:33Z")
Just tell me: if I Google it, how much federal money will I find out that MTG and her immediate family have taken over the years? The answer with these folks is always “A lot”. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2562 "2023-12-14T14:48:01Z")
So, do I have this right: - The economy is terrible and we’re on the verge of depression - BUT there are not enough workers and wages are too high - SO we must raise the retirement age and allow child labor - AND there are too many immigrants coming across the border and taking our jobs Is that it? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2563 "2023-12-14T14:51:06Z")
Also, these jobs are going to make it so you can’t have air conditioning, or lights at night, because sOlAr PaNeLs. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2564 "2023-12-14T14:59:51Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > So, do I have this right: > > - The economy is terrible and we’re on the verge of depression > - BUT there are not enough workers and wages are too high > - SO we must raise the retirement age and allow child labor > - AND there are too many immigrants coming across the border and taking our jobs > > Is that it? Don’t forget that - the immigrants stealing our jobs are all just lazy bums who leech off of Real Americans without doing any work. - Some of the immigrants, specifically the rapists and murderers, are fine people. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2565 "2023-12-14T16:06:34Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > > [@Smapti](#): > > > > a “Eunice” economy > > Actually, it will be a “You, niece” economy, in which we’re all living off our niece’s OnlyFans revenues after everything else just gives up after Trump wins again. Maybe a “Eunuch” economy - one that has no balls. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2566 "2023-12-14T16:20:02Z")
Was he trying to say Unique? The video won’t play for me. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2567 "2023-12-14T16:28:42Z")
I think he was going for, “United States,” but his partial failed. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2568 "2023-12-14T16:37:45Z")
He should have just said “U-S” which, genius that he is, he knows is both the abbreviation for “United States” _and_ how to spell “us”. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2569 "2023-12-14T16:42:59Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I think he was going for, “United States,” but his partial failed. Heretic! That would have meant the Devine Trump had made a mistake! Clearly, he deliberately made a “Biden-style gaffe”, in order to make fun of Biden and his weak economy. You’re just not sophisticated enough to get jokes on this level, alas. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2570 "2023-12-14T16:57:13Z")
Are we sure it wasn’t a slam at Microsoft? You know, a UNIX economy. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2571 "2023-12-14T16:58:25Z")
I weep for the mom and pop solar battery stores that will be put out of business. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2572 "2023-12-14T19:18:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Tride](#): > > > > So, do I have this right: > > > > - The economy is terrible and we’re on the verge of depression > > - BUT there are not enough workers and wages are too high > > - SO we must raise the retirement age and allow child labor > > - AND there are too many immigrants coming across the border and taking our jobs > > > > Is that it? > > Don’t forget that > > - the immigrants stealing our jobs are all just lazy bums who leech off of Real Americans without doing any work. > - Some of the immigrants, specifically the rapists and murderers, are fine people. And lets not forget about how Biden is driving big companies like ExxonMobile to leave the country and set up shop in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2573 "2023-12-14T19:29:15Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > And lets not forget about how Biden is driving big companies like ExxonMobile to leave the country and set up shop in Texas. And driving the mom and pop oil multinationals out of business. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2574 "2023-12-14T20:28:55Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > > [@Sherrerd](#): > > > > Or they can set a tone that says ‘calling for the genocide of Jewish people is unacceptable under any and all conditions, period.’ > > ISTM that the debatable part here is deciding what rhetoric can be validly described as “calling for the genocide of Jewish people”. > > I mean, I’m pretty sure that saying “Kill the Jews” on college campuses would be guaranteed to get shut down quite hard. The issue is whether college administrations should treat slogans like “Free Palestine” as equivalent to “Kill the Jews”. Well, no. It’s whether college administrations should treat slogans like “from the river to the sea” as equivalent to “Kill the Jews.” The slogan refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and means that it should be Muslims only in that space. Achieving this would, of course, mean either slaughtering all Jewish people currently attempting to populate the nation of Israel, or forcibly expelling them. Either would be an international crime. I’ll concede that there are probably witless, desperate-to-feel-important college students who have no idea what river, what sea, or what the slogan implies. But it’s still hateful. “Free Palestine” could be interpreted as meaning ‘end Israel,’ of course, but it’s less genocide-y than "from the river to the sea.’ Reasonable people might well believe that college rules shouldn’t necessarily expel students who are heard to say one of these slogans once. But there might be a sliding scale of consequences for those who are knowingly advocating for Jews being removed from Israel—AND for those knowingly advocating for Palestinians to be removed from the same land. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Is saying, for example, “We stand with Israel” equivalent to calling for the genocide of Palestinian people? Where do we draw the line about what rhetoric carries what implied meaning that needs to be rejected? It’s a fair question. I’m not sure how ‘standing for Israel’ implies the death of Palestinians, though no doubt there are some who crave the death of Palestinians and who’ve said something about standing for Israel. I wouldn’t think it’s common, though. Drawing the line IS difficult. But the university presidents did seem to equivocate pretty offensively in their testimony. The question to the Penn president (from Elise Stefanik) was: > [@](#): > > Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn’s rules or code of conduct? Yes or no? The president declined to give a yes or no answer. There was no question of the issue being saying “Free Palestine” or some other ambiguous wording; it was “calling for the genocide.” So despite acknowledging that there ARE some things a student could say that do not clearly call for genocide, I have to note that the university presidents DID fail to clearly respond to an unambiguous example of calling for genocide. For that reason, I’ll stick to the opinion I expressed in my earlier post. > **[How the presidents of Harvard, Penn and MIT testified to Congress on...](https://apnews.com/article/harvard-penn-mit-president-congress-intifada-193a1c81e9ebcc15c5dd68b71b4c6b71)** > > Over five hours at a congressional hearing, lawmakers pressed the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and MIT on the topic of antisemitism. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2575 "2023-12-14T22:13:59Z")
So Biden’s creating jobs, but not the _right kind of jobs_? Reminds me of when righties were complaining about BLM protests and violence. “Why can’t they protest peacefully?” So NFL players started taking a knee on the sidelines during the national anthem. “No! Not like that!” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2576 "2023-12-14T22:29:36Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Well, no. It’s whether college administrations should treat slogans like “from the river to the sea” as equivalent to “Kill the Jews.” > > The slogan refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and means that it should be Muslims only in that space. Achieving this would, of course, mean either slaughtering all Jewish people currently attempting to populate the nation of Israel, or forcibly expelling them. Either would be an international crime. Of course the slogan refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. But how does it imply only Muslims in that space? Could it not just as well, for instance, refer to that space being controlled by Muslims? And if that space being controlled by Jews does not necessitate all Muslims being eliminated, then it being controlled by Muslims likewise does not necessitate all Jews being eliminated. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2577 "2023-12-15T18:54:51Z")
Right now it feels like a protest where nothing is chanted but, “Please try not to kill civilian Palestinians” would be called antisemitic. I get that the river sea thing is a pretty obvious dog-whistle, but does the far right really want to open up dog-whistles to scrutiny? Oh, right. Double standards. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2023, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2578 "2023-12-15T20:39:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But how does it imply only Muslims in that space? Could it not just as well, for instance, refer to that space being controlled by Muslims? And if that space being controlled by Jews does not necessitate all Muslims being eliminated, then it being controlled by Muslims likewise does not necessitate all Jews being eliminated. That’s certainly logical. What proportion of people who use the phrase mean it that way, though, would you guess? (I’d guess the proportion is notably low, though I can’t offer research on the topic.) The entire tragic disaster will never be solved by the current right-wing government of Israel, in my view. The only way to get people to stop using “from the river to the sea” in the genocide sense is for the Israeli government to gain some credibility with Palestinians. That would require, at a minimum, giving the current Israeli settlements to Palestinians. (Give the Israeli inhabitants generous checks that would let them relocate elsewhere within Israel in fine style, but don’t make that relocation voluntary. The settlements are deplorably immoral.) For a real chance at credibility, the right-wingers running Israel’s government need to step down. They won’t, but they need to. None of that would solve the world-wide anti-Semitism problem–but at least it would remove some of the current fuel now “justifying” haters’ hatred. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2579 "2023-12-16T20:39:07Z")
> And to think this lunatic used to be Obama’s doctor. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588/2580 "2023-12-16T21:31:19Z")
If nothing else (and there’s plenty), the “Gold IRA” ad tells me all I need to know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588.md?page=128) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day-part-3/986588.md?page=130)