Sheesh, I was just looking for the debate transcript and as I was typing in the search term, I glanced up to see that autocorrect had filled in for me with “Republiopaths”. Damn thing.
That’s sounds kinda Jewish.
I think a few important football games fall within The Season. (Depending on how well your team did.)
To be somewhat serious–“Happy Holidays” has been used for years. Long before the War on Christmas ™.
So, how well is Sid Miller doing his job? From the Houston Chronicle :
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a first-term Republican who campaigned as an uncompromising conservative, gave out more bonuses to agency employees in his first nine months in office than his predecessor awarded in his first two and a half years on the job, according to an analysis of personnel data…
Most of Miller’s bonuses were handed out in September - the same month he announced he was sharply raising fees on farmers, grocery stores and others, sparking surprise and anger among some state lawmakers. The fees are set to take effect Jan. 1.
j666
December 18, 2015, 2:41pm
26267
dropzone:
I know that Texas Protestants only count three holidays this time of year, Black Friday (in liturgical terms it begins at sundown on Thanksgiving), Christmas, and New Years Day ;), but as a piss-poor Lutheran but a one-time very good Catholic I did a quick run-through of the holiday season. Advent began 11/29, St Nicholas’s feast day was 12/6, the feast of the Immaculate Conception was 12/8, Christmas is 12/25, St Stephen’s Day is 12/26, the Feast of the Circumcision (I lapsed a long time ago) is 1/1, and Epiphany is 1/6. Then Eastern Rite has some of the dates wrong but because my brother went Russian I have to be aware of them, Jews have Hanukkah, Muslims can’t agree on a day to–or whether to–celebrate the birth of the Prophet but it’s in there somewhere, and then there’s Kwanzaa, if anybody but white elementary schoolteachers still celebrate it.
I think that’s a full plate of Holiday Season, better than a month, to hope people enjoy, and I’m not even including the Wiccansm, Buddhists, Hindus, and everybody else. By limiting it to Merry Christmas, “merry” being an inappropriate emotional response to the birth of our Lord, I feel some people give me a theological poke in they eye, and I don’t like it. :mad:
I could use a meme image to post on all my social media sites every time a Friend posts a “Be Politically Incorrect - Say Merry Christmas!” one, before I permanently unfriend them.
wonky
December 18, 2015, 3:06pm
26268
It just makes it sound like their only objection is a political one.
Which I doubt wins them any converts.
davidm
December 18, 2015, 4:00pm
26269
What can you say about adults who throw a hissy fit over not being greeted the way they want to be greeted? It’s like they’re 5 years old.
E-DUB
December 18, 2015, 4:24pm
26270
And anyway, Mr Cruz, Democrats don’t rely on undocumented immigrants to expand their voter base. We rely on Republicans to do that.
Hey, if “Happy Holiday(s)” was good enough for Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby, it’s good enough for me!
Hey, I’ll admit that if Latino immigrants voted overwhelmingly Republican, that wall would start looking a whole lot more appealing!
Try a little of the spotted Dick.
Equality of opportunity WILL lead to equality of outcome. That is, unless you think there is something inherent about non-whites that will hamper their ability to compete with their white counterparts.
I think that cannot be ruled out. Is there equality of opportunity for sprinters? Marathoners? Long jumpers?
Grrr
December 18, 2015, 6:52pm
26276
This guy is a twit, but he was clearly engaging in hyperbole.
I should hasten to add, the issue is not “nonwhites”. I would be shocked if Asian Americans are included in the UT program, since they actually face reverse affirmative action at most elite universities.
LIST: So, a first thing to note is we have huge differences across kids. Now, what I mean by that is that our program really, really helps Hispanic and white students and it doesn’t help blacks at all.
DUBNER: How disappointing was it to see that Hispanics and whites moved a lot and blacks didn’t?
LIST: Yeah, I think it’s a mixed bag. I think that when we started down this research agenda, part of our mission was, first of all, to learn about the racial achievement gap and learn about how we can lower that gap. Most of the time we lump Hispanic and African-American kids together, and we say, “What is the solution for minorities in public education?” And I think this particular result teaches us that the education production function across these two groups is very different and the solution will not be the same across African-American and Hispanic families.
DUBNER: Do you have any ideas for African-American families?
LIST: We have a few things boiling, but nothing that has popped up that moves African-American families.
LEVITT: And to be honest, we have no real theory for why that is. The two sets of parents were equally engaged in the program and we can control for all sorts of background characteristics and nothing really explains it. So to me that’s really a puzzle, and a puzzle that I don’t have an answer for.
I’m not sure what your point is here. Do you think blacks have an inherent advantage at these sports?
bup
December 18, 2015, 7:07pm
26279
More that whites have an inherent disadvantage, and very specific populations within sub-Saharan Africa have an advantage. Do you dispute this?
