Wondering why a few conservative friends fail to be impressed.
Democrats Increase Early Voting In Texas By 105.12%
From Ted McLaughlin at jobsanger:
Early primary voting is now over in Texas. It shows that Democrats seem to be energized to vote in this off-year election. In 2014, Republicans outvoted Democrats by 138,693 in the primaries. That was flipped in 2018 — with Democrats outvoting Republicans by 44,916.
Both parties increased their votes in the primary early voting. The Republican increase was a respectable 15.02%. The Democrats increased their primary voting by a whopping 105.12%.
“Thirsting” for God Led to Dehydration, Almost Killed Me
From The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:
It took me until I was in my 40s before I realized that striving for holiness and perfection was a fool’s errand; that no matter how much I devoted myself to God and the ministry, my life was never going to measure up. Decades of denying self had destroyed my self-worth. Jesus was preeminent in my life, but Bruce was nowhere to be found (and my wife, Polly, could tell a similar story). I spent a decade trying to be a “normal’ Christian, but I still battled with thoughts about not doing enough for the cause of Christ; not doing enough to win souls; not doing enough to advance God’s kingdom to the ends of the earth. By the time I left the ministry in 2005, a lifetime of thirsting for God had led to dehydration and almost killed me. I have no doubt that my commitment to serving God day and night; to burning the candle at both ends; to working while it is yet day, for night is coming when no man can work, played a part in my declining health. And, at some level, I knew this, but I told myself, it’s better to burn out than rust out.
Come November, it will be ten years since I walked away from Christianity; ten years since Jesus and I divorced; ten years since I realized that the Bible was not what Christians claim it is; ten years since I concluded that the Christian narrative was false.
The Clear Putin Conclusion
From Dorian de Wind, Military Affairs Columnist at The Moderate Voice:
Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, director of the National Security Agency (NSA)and chief of the Central Security Service, testified today at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Cyber Command’s posture.
It was an eye-opening hearing during which the NSA chief bluntly told lawmakers that President Trump has not given our intelligence services the specific authority or direction to confront the Russian election cyber attacks and that the U.S. response to Russia’s attacks has been insufficient to prevent ongoing attacks or prevent future ones. “We have not opted to engage in some of the same behaviors we are seeing…They have not paid a price that is sufficient to change their behavior,” Rogers said.
Thinking Atheist Fanpage – Sensing a Theme
From PZ Myers:
Is it just me, or do you see it too?
Several of those guys pictured are dead. One, Neil deGrasse Tyson, doesn’t want to be associated with movement atheism. But that isn’t what bothers me most.
One problem is that they’re all guys, every one, except for Ayaan Hirsi Ali. They couldn’t be bothered to copy and paste a picture of Susan Jacoby or Annie Laurie Gaylor or Madalyn Murray O’Hair or Margaret Downey in there — heck, not even Ayn Rand, but maybe that would be too revealing of their political philosophy. If you wanted to demonstrate that atheism is a boys’ club, all you have to do is look at how they advertise themselves.
Fondly Remembering Obama – 3/5/2018
Wondering why a few conservative friends fail to be impressed.
Make Shooters Nicer, Saner, Add More Guns,
- Andy Borowitz reports on the parade that President Trump has ordered to celebrate his hypothetical heroism in Florida.
- @bjork55 at Bjork Retort takes note, in cartoon form, of the hidden irony to be found in the aftermath of the Parkland murders.
- nojo, at Stinque, points out that the Florida school shooting was not news. Too repetitive of other incidents. But he does find something about the survivors that is very much newsworthy.
- My old friend, conservative T. Paine at Saving Common Sense, is discouraged by the superficial response after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Everyone seems focused on the surface issues of gun safety and mental health. We should let go of these mere symptoms and solve the root problem: our individual moral compass. All sorts of issues will disappear if we just make all shooters … well … nicer.
- Green Eagle suggests a different root problem: it is the character of one of the two major political parties.
- Yellow Dog at Blue in the Bluegrass reports that Kentucky Republicans will prevent school shootings by putting more guns in schools.
- Dave Dubya looks into gun safety, and clarifies the positions of the NRA and President Trump.
- Frances Langum notices that Trump friend and supporter Carl Icahn sold off stocks in steel dependent firms days before Trump announced steel tariffs. I’m always amazed at the clairvoyant talents of some of these talented executives. Meritocracy in action.
- Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post credits my President with decisive action, finally provoked when National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster issued a warning about ongoing Russian election interference. My President responded by attacking McMaster.
- Tommy Christopher is impressed by sixth graders embarrassing Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin with policy questions about tax cuts for the wealthy. The Secretary then tried to suppress the video. Sadly, it got out anyway.
- Jon Perr at PERRspectives has a useful barometer to measure the difference in character between my President and future Senator Mitt Romney. Has to do with Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
- Libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara at Principled Perspectives explains that employment is a voluntary relationship. So mandatory sick leave is immoral. Same argument for worker safety regulations, as I recall.
- Jonathan Bernstein interviews a political expert to discover why today’s national election in Italy has become a godawful mess.
- At Whatever, author Rachel Hartman reviews what has, over the centuries, been thought of as a clever, bawdy song. In retrospect, it was about an ugly seventeenth century rape.
- M. Bouffant at Web of Evil notes reports of a bit of business vandalism here in St. Louis but, for some reason, seems a little skeptical.
- The Journal of Improbable Research finds a cooperative international study by three universities on people who have voluntary control of their own goosebumps.
- This week’s note in Trumpian ‘Alternative Facts’ comes from CNN covering Hope Hicks’ testimony under oath a day before she resigned. Those little lies are part of a broader assault on truth.
Saturday Rate of Exchange:
Trump Thumped
This week’s exchange happens off campus.
Vladimir Putin announces development of a new nuclear über-missile. He exhibits crude video, borrowed from earlier decades, that implicitly threatens the United States.
President Trump responds, the next morning on Twitter, with an angry attack on … a television comedian.
Alec bumps Trump:
Agony though it may be, I’d like to hang in there for the impeachment hearings, the resignation speech, the farewell helicopter ride to Mara-A-Lago. You know. The Good Stuff. That we’ve all been waiting for.
— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) March 2, 2018
Then stomps:
Looking forward to the Trump Presidential Library.
A putting green.
Recipes for chocolate cake.
A live Twitter feed for visitors to post on.
A little black book w the phone numbers of porn stars.
You’re in and out in five minutes.
Just like…— ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) March 2, 2018
In all fairness, credit should be given to Dick Cavett a few weeks ago:
A: "Imagine Donald Trump's library."
B: "You'd have to."— Dick Cavett (@TheDickCavett) May 6, 2017
Have a safe, peaceful, non-nuclear weekend.
Trumped Out, Robbery Ain’t Burglary, and Willie the Dishwasher
From Bill Formby at MadMikesAmerica:
Look, I know that everyone in this country is not a cop or a criminal justice junkie but there are certain people who do certain things, that they should understand certain things. For example. if you lay your phone down at a fast food restaurant while you go get a refill on your drink and you come back and it is gone, well, yes you are stupid, but that’s not my point. My point is that you don’t call the police and tell them you have just been robbed. Why? Because there was no damned robbery.
See it is like this. Terminology in the world of cops and robbers is really important. Robbery must involve either force or a threat of force which actually makes it a violent crime as much as it is a property crime. Police tend to react somewhat differently to your complaint of “I have just been robbed” then they would if you called them and said I was an idiot and left my phone on the table and someone stole it.
Granted, it seems to be the same to you, but not to a police officer. To the police officer, someone has just forcefully taken your phone from you or threatened to do you serious bodily harm if you did not give them your phone.
Liar of Unknown Origin
From driftglass:
As of this writing, “thots-n-prayers” is the undisputed king of hollow virtue-signaling about the predictable atrocities that mass-murder their way into the headlines every week. But coming in a strong second in the media’s lexicon of platitudinous synonyms for “We need to feign concern for [insert tragedy here] even though were damn sure never going to do a damn thing about it” are the inevitable calls for various “National Conversations” (from the NYT in 2016):
The term has become the sad equivalent of the jolly drinking axiom: It’s always national-conversation time somewhere. Whenever the mood around an issue ought to change — guns, policing, marriage, the Oscars — somebody will say we need to talk about it. We should be sitting around and figuring this thing out. We need to have “real,” “substantive,” “difficult” exchanges — about our personal biases, about our bad policies — that reach far and go deep. “It’s time for a national conversation” about mental health, retirement savings, drones.
Well thanks to Donald Trump and Republican Party, we are now having … something. It’s not a national conversation exactly, but you and I have been given front row seats to the collapse of the Republican Party. And in the wild fratricidal light of the death throes of the Party of Trump, if you look carefully, you will find the keys to understanding the media’s radical avoidance of any national conversation about anything of substance.