Stupid Republican idea of the day

[ElvisL1ves]

A GOP official in NYC wants his corruption trial delayedbecause it might hurt Republican prospects in the upcoming election.

[Trinopus]

@Kimstu

. . . Anyway, White House state dinners are infrequent, traditional, and very popular as a form of celebrity entertainment, so I think you’re outvoted.

Grin! Hadn’t thought of the “theater” element, but, yeah, state dinners look good on the cover of People magazine!

I do have sympathy for efforts to democratize the world. The U.S. is a gigantic advertising pitch for democracy. It’d be nice if we were also a gigantic pitch for income equality and for the reduction of the vast gap between upper and lower classes. I’d happily give up the pomp of White House state dinners for a bit more levelling in this country.

But it’s a little like our efforts to compel corporations to eschew offering bribes when dealing in foreign countries where bribes are an absolutely normal part of the social exchange behind deal-making. It’s a grand ideal, but it sometimes works to our disadvantage. Corporations end up going through weird contrivances to give “gifts” to foreign regulators and legislators. (Or…we just don’t get the contracts.)

There is an ideal…and there is realpolitik. We should try to push them closer together, but we aren’t going to have a perfect world tomorrow.

[BrainGlutton]

@Kimstu

Snerk. You may imagine that that would somehow trivialize instincts for tribalism and group identity. But in fact all it would do is sacralize cola.

And we’ve got enough of that going on already.

:mad: Do not blaspheme the Cola.

[mhendo]

@YogSosoth

Similar to the Idaho bill is this Kansas bill. The Slate.com article explains how abhorrently terrible this bill is. It basically codifies discrimination into every aspect of life.

Don’t want to serve in a restaurant? Don’t have to.

Don’t like gays coming to your theater, kick them out.

Doctors don’t want to treat gays, let them die!

Police officers thinks gays are evil? Don’t respond to them!

Well, i finally have an answer to the age-old question: Is there any piece of legislation too evil and stupid even for Kansas Republicans?

Apparently, the answer is “yes,” at least for some Kansas Republicans, because Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle has announced that most Republican senators would not support the bill, and it now appears likely to die without a vote.

“Good news out of Kansas” is not a phrase i have often typed on this board.

[Acsenray]

@Kimstu

Snerk. You may imagine that that would somehow trivialize instincts for tribalism and group identity. But in fact all it would do is sacralize cola.

I imagine it would do a bit of both, but to me that’s an improvement.

[Acsenray]

@kaylasdad99

:rolleyes:

Perhaps a more pointed way of saying the same thing would be Anyway, White House state dinners are infrequent, traditional, and very popular as a form of celebrity entertainment, so I think your opinion is outnumbered.

Please step off the cross; we need the wood.

See, this is where you are making this into a personal attack. I’m merely stating my opinion about something. I am very aware that the world is currently nothing like this. There is zero reason for you to talk about outnumbering or outvoting me. I don’t recall casting myself as a martyr on this point either. It’s simply an opinion. So, this cross thing is out of the blue and more than a little bit insulting.

[Steve_MB]

@ElvisL1ves

A GOP official in NYC wants his corruption trial delayedbecause it might hurt Republican prospects in the upcoming election.

It’s even more amusing than that:

A New York GOP strategist has asked a federal judge to delay his corruption trial, arguing that the legal proceedings could reveal Republican strategies ahead of the 2014 state legislative and gubernatorial elections
(emphasis added)

So, corruption is the party strategy now?

[silenus]

Now?

[dropzone]

@elucidator

In tres partes omnia Dropzone delenda est.

So all of me is to be destroyed in three parts? Can I choose the cutting points, or do they need to be equal in some arbitrary manner, like by weight? Why can’t I be destroyed in one piece?

There’s something about this plan that I don’t like.

[elucidator]

Caveat Hannibal Lecter emptor.

[Rick_Kitchen]

The meeting of the president of the United States and the president of France should be treated no differently than a meeting of any of the government employees that work under them.

:rolleyes:

[elucidator]

They did stop all that bullshit about the “Freedom Fries”, right? Was there a specific day that they changed the menu at the House cafeteria to say “French Fries” again? Or did they puss out and just say “Fries”.

[Gyrate]

@Kimstu

Now, if somebody wants to grumble that the POTUS should get school-lunch food for his private family meals, let 'em.

But as I pointed out, the President pays for his private meals, so he can have whatever the hell he wants.

@Acsenray

If it were practical (I concede it probably isn’t), I would require the president—like members of Congress and the Supreme Court—to be responsible for securing his or her own housing.

It isn’t. The President needs to be onsite 24/7 when he’s in town, and even Camp David is essentially an office-away-from-the-office. The job never stops, and he needs to be able to get to the office ASAP.

And that’s not even considering the security issues - it’s easier (and less expensive and disruptive) to keep him safe in a controlled location. Put him in a house somewhere else and you need to secure both the house and the route from the house to the White House, and the latter would potentially have to be done at short notice. Nightmare!

[running_coach]

@elucidator

They did stop all that bullshit about the “Freedom Fries”, right? Was there a specific day that they changed the menu at the House cafeteria to say “French Fries” again? Or did they puss out and just say “Fries”.

Freedom Fries.

On August 2, 2006 the House cafeteria menus were silently changed back without any announcement. The change was made by the new House Administration Committee Chairman, Vern Ehlers, who replaced Ney following his resignation due to a scandal. When asked about his decision, Ehlers responded, “It’s no big deal… It’s not news.” When asked about his opinion on the “freedom fries” episode, Jones responded, “I wish it had never happened.”

[lance_strongarm]

@ElvisL1ves

A GOP official in NYC wants his corruption trial delayedbecause it might hurt Republican prospects in the upcoming election.

The GOP in Virginia got a delay from federal prosecutors of the indictment of Gov. McDonnell until after the recent election. Didn’t help - Dems won all three statewide offices, which were all held by Republicans.

[BrainGlutton]

8 worst right-wing moments of the week — Ted Cruz’s “weeping heart” edition. Most of these already have been cited in this thread, but I don’t recall seeing this one:

4. Clarence Thomas: Funny, race never even came up in the 60s.

It’s always comforting when a lifetime member of the highest court in the land says something that leaves your jaw hanging agape.

Justice Clarence Thomas does not make a lot of public statements, but when he does, well, it makes you realize why he does not make a lot of public statements.

Thomas recently told a bunch of college students that race relations in America were better when he was a kid in the 1960s. Yes, he did. He said that.

“My sadness is that we are probably today more race- and difference-conscious than I was in the 1960s when I went to school. To my knowledge, I was the first black kid in Savannah, Georgia, to go to a white school. Rarely did the issue of race come up.”

Hmmm. Perhaps the subject of race did not come up because you could be lynched for bringing it up. Let’s see, it was the height of the Civil Rights Movement when Thomas was a kid. Segregation was pretty much the norm, throughout the south, and parts of the north—certainly in Georgia. and African-Americans who protested racial injustice put themselves in grave danger. But little Clarence Thomas was a happy little camper.

The real problem, Thomas continued, is that everyone is just too dang sensitive these days.

“If I had been as sensitive as that in the 1960s, I’d still be in Savannah,” he said. “Every person in this room has endured a slight. Every person. Somebody has said something that has hurt their feelings or did something to them — left them out.”

Yeupp, that’s all institutional racism is, Clarence. Just a bunch of black people getting their feelings hurt.

[detop]

@Kimstu

Snerk. You may imagine that that would somehow trivialize instincts for tribalism and group identity. But in fact all it would do is sacralize cola.<snip>

Our Coke who is in Atlanta,
Hallowed be thy taste ?

[Frodo]

Do not speak ill of the Coke, it is a symbol of great power among my people

[Buck_Godot]

@lance_strongarm

The GOP in Virginia got a delay from federal prosecutors of the indictment of Gov. McDonnell until after the recent election. Didn’t help - Dems won all three statewide offices, which were all held by Republicans.

Actually if I remember correctly, the indictment wasn’t ready until after the election. The delay McDonnel sought was to have it come out after he had left office so that there could be a smooth transition.

[lance_strongarm]

@Buck_Godot

Actually if I remember correctly, the indictment wasn’t ready until after the election. The delay McDonnel sought was to have it come out after he had left office so that there could be a smooth transition.

No, the indictment was ready before the election. It was delayed after the McDonnell’s lawyer went over the prosecutor’s head to ask for the delay. At least, that’s according to this news report:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/prosecutors-were-ready-to-charge-va-gov-mcdonnell-but-final-decision-delayed-by-justice-officials/2013/12/18/32260fa6-67fa-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html