Month: December 2017

 
From Jack Jodell at The Saturday Afternoon Post:

Today marks the 76th anniversary of the sneak attack by the Imperial Japanese on Pearl Harbor, an event which propelled this nation into the most destructive and bloody war of all time, World War II. As we contemplate today the massive bloodshed and tremendous suffering brought about by that war, our own CON-servative Republican Party, which now controls all segments of our federal government, is attempting to pull off another sneak attack – this time, an economic one, upon YOUR wallet and pocketbook!

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From Infidel753:

The message is very clear. When credible accusations of harassment and abuse surface, one party will deny them, smear and mock the accusers, dismiss the alleged acts as trivial, and use whatever other excuse or dodge it can to close ranks behind the accused. The other party will hold its own members accountable.

(Two points must be acknowledged here. First, yes, the acts Moore is accused of are much more serious than those Franken and Conyers are accused of. Nevertheless, the principle at stake is the same. Second, appeals to the presumption of innocence don’t apply here. If we were jurors at an actual trial, with prison time at stake, then yes, Moore, Franken, and Conyers would each be entitled to our full presumption of innocence and to a not-guilty verdict if the case against them could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt. But that’s not the situation here. In judging a politician unfit to hold office, the question is whether the accusations are probably true, not whether they are proven.)

The Democrats are doing the right thing. Abusers should be held accountable, not shielded for reasons of political expediency. We must not brush aside victims as expendable peons whose abuse doesn’t matter if it would sully the Important Man whose vote we need, even if Republicans do do that — for Trump too, please note, as well as Moore.

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Wondering why a few conservative friends fail to be impressed.

 
From Glenn R. Geist at MadMikesAmerica:

Using a metaphor can be a sneaky way to color a statement and I don’t want to be sneaky, but watching Trump’s familiars squirm and writhe and twist like it’s 1960 and he’s Chubby Checker makes it hard to avoid thinking of worms and weasels and leeches and things that wiggle out of traps – or try to.

It should be amusing to listen to Alan ‘The Snake’ Derschowitz or Trump’s consiglieri John Dowd (who defies comparison to any fauna I can think of readily.) It should be — but it isn’t. Seems we’re back to the Nixon years when it was argued that if the president has a valid purpose behind his transgression of the law, it’s ipso facto legal. Or as Nietzsche would have said if he were a Republican:

“What’s done out of political expediency is beyond good and evil”

Only of course he didn’t, because it isn’t.

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From Stinque:

Congress Desperately Needs Cannibals, Arsonists, Rapists, Mass Murderers, Bestial Goat-Tweetee Lappers and Bug-Eyed Necrophiliacs From Outer Space To Make America Great Again!

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From Mock Paper Scissors:

The wealth redistribution plan is going back to the House, into Conference Committee – and then the House votes on the bill again.

Then it will go back to the Senate – and they will vote on it again

It’s time to call your R representative AND Your R senators.

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From libertarian Michael A. LaFerrara:

Ben Shapiro asks, “Where Does Evil Come From?,” and lists four basic ingredients for evil. Number four is “Sadism”, an ingredient for sure but which I’ll set aside for the sake of this post. It is the top three that I want to focus on. Citing Roy Baumeister’s book Evil: Inside Human Violence And Cruelty, Shapiro lists these roots:

1. Instrumentality: The notion that evil acts aren’t evil so long as you’re performing them with a good end in mind. This would include the suicide bomber, who believes that he’s changing the world for the better by slaughtering children in pizzerias, or the dictator who slaughters his enemies in pursuit of power.

2. Threatened Egotism. Baumeister found that violence wasn’t perpetrated by those with low self-esteem, but those with self-esteem that was threatened. He found that “violence is perpetrated by a subset of people who think well of themselves, and indeed it mainly occurs when they believe that their favorable images of self have been threatened or attacked.” This is the danger inherent in, for example, the microaggressions culture that suggests threat where none exists.

3. Idealism. This is really just a subset of instrumentality. It’s the belief that your violence makes the world a better place by drawing us closer to utopia. The worst wars in world history have been caused by idealism, as Karl Popper suggested.

Which one of these three doesn’t belong?

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Wondering why a few conservative friends fail to be impressed.

 
From The Onion:

SEARCY, AK—Saying they could just tell he’d be up to the task when he was ready, sources told reporters Monday that their friend Gary Katsopolis, who currently has three children, was going to make a great father someday.

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