# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1787
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35722 "2017-11-15T16:47:04Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I can’t wrap my head around where this plan is going to end up. Republicans want to eventually concentrate ALL the power and wealth in the .1%…so that they…rule over a nation of the stupid, fooled, sick, and uneducated? Reintroduce slavery? Close off the borders and recreate Fortress America, screw the rest of the world? > > What comes afterward? They spend all day diving into swimming pools filled with gold coins? There’s only so much ice cream you can eat before you get sick. You have just stated the Republican platform. Good job. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35723 "2017-11-15T17:07:03Z")
This is more of a response to a stupid republican idea, but Kim Jung-Un has sentenced Trump to death because of his insulting tweets. They’re both insane and dangerously unhinged, and reading about the escalating levels of stupid aggression between the two makes me think about a “Simpsons” episode where they were reading Shakespeare, and Lisa (as Ophelia in “Hamlet”) says, “wait a minute…no one outcrazies Ophelia!” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35724 "2017-11-15T17:10:00Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > This is more of a response to a stupid republican idea, but Kim Jung-Un has sentenced Trump to death because of his insulting tweets. > > They’re both insane and dangerously unhinged, and reading about the escalating levels of stupid aggression between the two makes me think about a “Simpsons” episode where they were reading Shakespeare, and Lisa (as Ophelia in “Hamlet”) says, “wait a minute…no one outcrazies Ophelia!” Trump will have to take the bait, this is war! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35725 "2017-11-15T17:14:09Z")
> [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](#): > > The more I read about this tax plan, the more I think the whole thing needs to be posted to this thread. > > [Republican tax plan would tax graduate student tuition waivers as income.](http://www.chronicle.com/article/How-the-GOP-Tax-Plan-Could/241702) > > So we are going to stimulate growth by cutting taxes on the rich and then significantly increasing taxes on people going to college, especially those in graduate school. When I was in graduate school, my university waived my tuition, a benefit of nearly $40,000 a year. They also gave me a position as a research assistant and paid me around $20,000 a year. I dutifully paid taxes on the 20 grand, but under this new tax plan I would have been on the hook for taxes on $60,000 every year. Talk about a disincentive. I was eating ramen and beans in grad school and occasionally making choices on which bill not to pay in any given month. If I was on the hook for another couple thousand in taxes, I would not have gone. I wonder how many other engineers and physicists are in the same position as me. > > I don’t know why Republicans think attacking higher education is a good idea for stimulating growth in this global economy, but I think this is probably one of the stupidest things I have read in a long time. > [@The\_Tooth](#): > > They don’t want to stimulate growth, economic or intellectual. They want an uneducated populace because an educated populace is harder to control and to fool. I think it may be more about restricting higher education to people who already have the financial wherewithal to fund their own. Such individuals will generally be from wealthier backgrounds, and may be presumed to have the interests of the already-well-to-do at heart. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35726 "2017-11-15T17:17:12Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Trump will have to take the bait, this is war! Found the [gif](http://coub.com/view/7puqerx0) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35727 "2017-11-15T17:17:15Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > I can’t wrap my head around where this plan is going to end up. Republicans want to eventually concentrate ALL the power and wealth in the .1%…so that they…rule over a nation of the stupid, fooled, sick, and uneducated? Reintroduce slavery? Close off the borders and recreate Fortress America, screw the rest of the world? > > What comes afterward? They spend all day diving into swimming pools filled with gold coins? There’s only so much ice cream you can eat before you get sick. They WIN! Once you get past your first few million, money is no longer there to buy things, its just their way of keeping score. Now if we could just help them to undersand that they can the same ego boost from topping the Candy Crush leaderboard as they do for making the Fortune magazines top ten, it would engender an age of broad based prosperity. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35728 "2017-11-15T23:30:20Z")
Yeah, pretty much. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35729 "2017-11-16T02:13:36Z")
[Billionaires Desperately Need Our Help!](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/opinion/trump-tax-plan-billionaires.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) > [@](#): > > It is so hard to be a billionaire these days! > > A new yacht can cost $300 million. And you wouldn’t believe what a pastry chef earns — and if you hire just one, to work weekdays, how can you possibly survive on weekends? > > The investment income on, say, a $4 billion fortune is a mere $1 million a day, which makes it tough to scrounge by with today’s rising prices. Why, some wealthy folks don’t even have a home in the Caribbean and on vacation are stuck brooding in hotel suites: They’re practically homeless! > … > > If politicians had any guts, they’d just slash services for low-income families so as to finance tax breaks for billionaires. > > Oh, wait, that’s exactly what’s happening! > > Trump understands, for example, that health insurance isn’t all that important for the riffraff. So he and the Senate G.O.P. have again targeted Obamacare, this time by trying to repeal the insurance mandate. The Congressional Budget Office says this will result in 13 million fewer people having health insurance. > > But what’s the big deal? The United States already has an infant mortality rate twice that of Austria and South Korea. American women are already five times as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth as women in Britain. So who’ll notice if things get a bit worse? > > Perhaps that sounds harsh. But the blunt reality is that we risk soul-sucking dependency if we’re always setting kids’ broken arms. Maybe that’s why congressional Republicans haven’t bothered to renew funding for CHIP, the child health insurance program serving almost nine million American kids. Ditto for the maternal and home visiting programs that are the gold standard for breaking cycles of poverty and that also haven’t been renewed. We mustn’t coddle American toddlers. > > Hey, if American infants really want health care, they’ll pick themselves up by their bootee straps and Uber over to an emergency room. > … > > Our political leaders are so understanding because we appear to have the wealthiest Congress we’ve ever had, with a majority of members now millionaires, so they understand the importance of cutting health insurance for the poor to show support for the crème de la crème. > … Emphasis added. You’d have to be totally heartless to want to spend money on poor sick kids when clearly it’s the billionaires who are really suffering! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35730 "2017-11-16T02:46:09Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > …Now if we could just help them to undersand that they can the same ego boost from topping the Candy Crush leaderboard… Then the owners of Candy Crush can buy Belgium. Make everybody leave. Soon, we are hearing our country is being overrun by Belgies. Which will have the effect of taking our attention off of the Dutch… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35731 "2017-11-16T06:46:44Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > … hearing our country is being overrun by Belgies. “Flem”. Which is the plural of “Flem”. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35732 "2017-11-16T17:27:20Z")
What a Walloon! ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2017, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35733 "2017-11-17T00:08:35Z")
Which is the less surprising part of [this story](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/watchdog-says-interior-secretary-ryan-zinke-failed-to-properly-document-travel/2017/11/16/3277bac6-ca3f-11e7-b0cf-7689a9f2d84e_story.html) – the fact that the documentation of Ryan Zinke’s high-flying ways has mysteriously vanished… > [@](#): > > Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has failed to keep complete records – and in some cases, kept none at all – of his travel since taking office, the agency’s watchdog told department officials this week, saying that management of Zinke’s travel was “deficient” and lacked oversight. > > A rare alert Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall sent to the secretary’s office Wednesday, obtained by The Washington Post, said her investigation into allegations of improper travel practices by Zinke has been stymied by “absent or incomplete documentation for several pertinent trips.”… …or the explanation offered by Zinke’s minion? > [@](#): > > In a letter of response obtained by The Post, Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt told Kendall that the department would provide the outstanding travel documents. But he blamed the Obama administration for any record-keeping issues… ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35734 "2017-11-18T22:39:58Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > All the details of the GOP tax plan, beyond the general transfer from poor to rich, are designed to screw D-leaning demographics. It’s quite despicable and sickening when you think of it. > > I suppose this is well discussed on left-leaning message boards. But is mainstream media doing its job in exposing this? > > ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ > > [off-topic anecdote] > Watching SNL just now, their “news” show informed me that in Texas it is illegal to possess or promote the use of six or more dildos. Googling seems to confirm this. Ownership of 47 semi-automatic rifles is, of course, no problem. I realize there are D’s in Texas. If this law was passed by the D’s instead of the R’s I’ll sit corrected (and astonished). The dildo laws appeared to have been in place since 2008 but now, apparently, they are not. > **[Alcee Hastings’ Texas dildo claim doesn't hold up](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/feb/09/alcee-hastings/florida-democrat-texas-law-says-women-dildos/)** > > U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., messed with Texas when he bashed the state during a congressional hearing on Republica I imagine there’s no size limit on said dildos since, ya know, everything is bigger in Texas. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35735 "2017-11-19T00:25:45Z")
> [@vivalostwages](#): > > I imagine there’s no size limit on said dildos since, ya know, everything is bigger in Texas. The dicks tend to be smaller. Or so I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35736 "2017-11-19T00:53:58Z")
Unfortunately the dicks the dicks are attached to aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35737 "2017-11-19T03:35:24Z")
[“Pastor supporting Moore: ‘More women are sexual predators than men’”](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BBF8Em2?m=en-us) > [@](#): > > An Alabama pastor who supports Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) blasted the allegations of sexual harassment against Moore, saying they’re part of a “war on men.” > > “More women are sexual predators than men,” Pastor Franklin Raddish told [AL.com](http://AL.com). “Women are chasing young boys up and down the road, but we don’t hear about that because it’s not PC.” > … :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35738 "2017-11-19T04:07:28Z")
Oklahoma’s Senate just passed a bill requiring a woman to get a signed consent from the father before the woman can get an abortion. Meaning she has to reveal the husband’s name. [http://newsok.com/panel-oks-plan-to-let-dads-block-abortions/article/5538100](http://newsok.com/panel-oks-plan-to-let-dads-block-abortions/article/5538100) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35739 "2017-11-19T04:52:32Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Oklahoma’s Senate just passed a bill requiring a woman to get a signed consent from the father before the woman can get an abortion. Meaning she has to reveal the husband’s name. > [http://newsok.com/panel-oks-plan-to-let-dads-block-abortions/article/5538100](http://newsok.com/panel-oks-plan-to-let-dads-block-abortions/article/5538100) Can you provide a link that says that and is more recent than February? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35740 "2017-11-19T05:10:27Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Can you provide a link that says that and is more recent than February? Here’s the [actual bill.](http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2017-18%20INT/hB/HB1441%20INT.PDF)(PDF) > [@](#): > > A. No abortion shall be performed > in this state without the > written informed consent of the father of the > fetus. > B. A pregnant woman seeking to abort her pregnancy shall be > required to provide, in writing, the identity of the father of the > fetus to the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion. > If > the person identified as the father of the fetus challenges the fact > that he is the father, such individual may demand that a paternity > test be performed. [Bill Summary page.](http://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=hb1441&Session=1700) [Came out of committee](http://kgou.org/post/five-things-didn-t-happen-during-oklahoma-s-2017-legislative-session) but never voted on. (May 26) > [@](#): > > Humphry’s bill passed out the House Public Health Committee, 5-2, but it never received a vote on the House floor. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2017, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/35741 "2017-11-19T05:59:49Z")
> [@](#): > > A. No abortion shall be performed > in this state without the > written informed consent of the father of the > fetus. > B. A pregnant woman seeking to abort her pregnancy shall be > required to provide, in writing, the identity of the father of the > fetus to the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion. > If > the person identified as the father of the fetus challenges the fact > that he is the father, such individual may demand that a paternity > test be performed. I suspect the problem wouldn’t be with fathers who were falsely identified and challenged their paternity, but with women finding male friends who would pretend to be the father. Even in Utah I have to believe that there are men who’d think this was a bad law, and would be willing to provide cover for their friends who wanted an abortion. How would the authorities ever prove the woman lied, or that the couple never had sex? Maybe I shouldn’t put the idea in the legislator’s heads. They could change the law so that newspapers had to run the names of women seeking abortions, so any man could come forward with a claim on the fetus. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1786) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1788)