Here’s some topics for discussion, if you wish:
Lara Logan is taking a leave of absence from “60 Minutes.”
The Pope has denounced “trickle down economics.” And pretty much all of conservative/libertarian dogma, while he was at it.
US B-52 bombers overflew an island claimed by both China and Japan without informing the PRC yesterday, after the PRC had declared hundreds of miles of international airspace subject to to PRC air defense protocols.
Here’s hoping that Hamid Karzai continues trying to extort money and other concessions from the US and DOESN’T sign the Status of Forces Agreement.
Alec Baldwin and MSNBC mutually agree to part ways. That was quick.
schrodinger's cat
Agree with the Pope about economics.
Villago Delenda Est
Francis is looking to have the Koch Brothers put a contract out on him.
Seriously.
rk
It will make my day when the right wing declares the pope a communist and socialist and a threat to our freedoms.
Betty Cracker
Occupy Vatican!
Betty Cracker
Also, I agree 100% about Afghanistan. Can someone explain to me why in the name of sweet baby Jeebus the US would want to extend its time there anyway?
BillinGlendaleCA
Just saw Marine One fly by, followed by a chopper with a big ass gun on the front.
Anoniminous
Francis needs to lighten up. It’s not like the Right Wing has the freaking time to actually read all that stuff they spout. There’s grifting to be done and only 24 hours in a day.
beltane
By choosing to name himself after Il Poverello Pope Francis had a pretty large pair of sandals to fill. He is exceeding my expectations in living up to the name. Antonin Scalia must be in a permanent state of seething rage.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker:
Halliburton needs even more money. Duh.
JPL
@Villago Delenda Est: Scalia stained his pants, also, too.
Southern Beale
Nobody could have anticipated ….
Soonergrunt
@Betty Cracker: Well, there is the thought that since we’ve put so much time and energy in the place, that we ought to support the people there who have taken up the sword along-side us.
There’s some merit in that, but I don’t think its worth the life of a single US Soldier.
Villago Delenda Est
@beltane:
Good. Better odds that the vile fascist will stroke out.
Mike in NC
This clown is nothing but a mentally ill warlord who’s probably now one of the richest men in the world, courtesy of the US taxpayer. Hopefully all out our troops leave there forever next year.
FlipYrWhig
@Southern Beale: Aw, I liked that show.
Villago Delenda Est
@Soonergrunt:
Sunk cost fallacy. AGAIN.
The Dangerman
For the Republican Cathlolic’s, if it comes between supporting Party or Church, they will support Party overwhelmingly over this Socialist Pope.
beltane
@Betty Cracker: I hear they have good drugs in Afghanistan. Other than that, I cannot see any reason to remain there.
Southern Beale
I posted this earlier today but for those who missed it, a racist TN state trooper is finally off the job after refusing to allow the state’s only black female appellate judge enter the state Supreme Court building.
Apparently he’s a multiple offender …
Villago Delenda Est
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Someone needs to keep an eye on the minons of Dumbfuck D’shithaid.
PeakVT
The recent flare-ups over the Senkaku Islands are so obviously manufactured by China that it’s almost laughable. But people have died because of similar territorial disputes.
Villago Delenda Est
@PeakVT:
A diversion from all those workers jumping into the nets is needed. Classic authoritarian attempt to focus on some foreign country (especially the hated Japanese, albeit hated with pretty good reason, see Rape of Nanking, et al) as opposed to domestic incompetence.
catclub
Charlie Pierce was particularly amused, and amusing, about the comments of the Pope.
Anoniminous
@PeakVT:
The Senkaku Islands may have oil lurking below ’em.
Now does It All make sense?
Mnemosyne
@BillinGlendaleCA:
We stood outside for almost two hours so we could see the motorcade drive off in the opposite direction. D’oh!
catclub
@The Dangerman: I am not so sure. I suspect it is almost the exact same people who thought John 23 was great. Of course that means they are now in their 70’s,
but people can be swayed over time.
Villago Delenda Est
@Anoniminous:
The Paracel Islands are in the same boat.
catclub
“US B-52 bombers overflew an island claimed by both China and Japan without informing the PRC yesterday,”
Another difference between the US military under Obama and under GWBush. Remember the P-3 captured by the Chinese, in 2001, before things got even worse?
PeakVT
@Anoniminous – I think Villago Delenda Est’s point is more relevant at the moment. China has a similar dispute with Vietnam and the Philippines over the Spratlys, but that hasn’t flared up all the sudden, accompanied by conveniently simultaneous riots across the country.
MattR
@Betty Cracker: I assume that it is because Afghanistan is between Iran and Pakistan and the military thinks it is a wise strategic decision to maintain a base there, just in case.
PeakVT
Oops. Since I can’t edit on this computer, let me amend my previous comment to add that the Spratlys are disputed by China and several counties.
The Dangerman
@catclub:
Think you are going after the wrong age group here; anyone old enough to have ever voted for Reagan is beyond reach; supply side economics have been drilled into their heads for decades. A Pope’s epistle doesn’t have a chance that epistemic closure.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Dangerman:
Having been college educated before the election of the shitty grade Z movie star, I never bought the premise of supply side economics. Econ 101 and 102 were more than enough to utter “WTF?” when I first heard it.
Soonergrunt
@Anoniminous: it is for the same reason that China has laid claim to the Spratley Islands chain that lies in the triangle between Malasia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The Spratleys are much closer to any of those three than they are to China, but they have extractable resources…
EDIT–I see that several people got there before me.
Redshift
Ms. Redshift called it the day his show was announced. A lack of impulse control and a non-acting job don’t mix well.
Villago Delenda Est
@Southern Beale:
Geeze, post racial America isn’t nearly as post racial as the vermin of the Village seem to think it is, is it?
Mnemosyne
@catclub:
You’re forgetting all of the people currently in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who were raised under Vatican II and then watched JPII slowly retreat from it. None of us have any nostalgia for the “old ways” (Latin Mass, etc.) because we were raised with the new ways. My nostalgia is for the days when we sang “Let It Be” during Mass.
So you might be surprised by how big of a base there is for returning to the reforms of Vatican II.
Villago Delenda Est
@Soonergrunt:
The Chinese have this attitude that EVERY SQUARE INCH of Asia is “historically” theirs, therefore they have claims to everything.
Anoniminous
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yup. And wasn’t there a flare up a couple of years ago? (I’d look if I wasn’t laughing about “Pope Krugman.”)
@PeakVT:
The ChiCom leadership whips up an anti-Japanese frenzy when they want to distract people from something domestic. No idea what that would be. Another bout of killer smog?
Villago Delenda Est
@Mnemosyne:
Paul VI chickened out on sexual matters, but heck, using Beatles tunes to draw people to mass is just friggin’ brilliant. THIS is how you bring people back into the Church…well, this and fessing up to all the altar boy rape shit and not covering it up.
Ash Can
@catclub:
Nope. It’s the same people who thought JXXIII was awful for kicking Latin out of the churches and allowing guitars, blue jeans, and hatless/scarfless females in.
Redshift
@Betty Cracker: I imagine the thinking is that leaving didn’t work out so great for us the last time. Unfortunately, I think we’ve demonstrated the flaws the long-standing thinking about how terrible it was to “abandon” Afghanistan after they fought the Soviets to a standstill — the fact that doing one thing turned out badly does not in itself mean that doing the opposite will turn out better.
I feel for the people of Afghanistan and would really like for them to have a decent life. However, I do not see a way that we can accomplish that, however much we may want to. The least bad thing would probably be if the same thing happened to the Status of Forces agreement there as happened with the one with Iraq.
kindness
Laura Logan/CBS…man CBS is good at pulling a Dan Rather with their media folk. Well hope that bus she’s under didn’t kill Laura, just send her to Fox.
Villago Delenda Est
@Anoniminous:
The Chinese claim all sorts of territories like the Paracels and the Spratleys based on “historic” claims on the other countries that have claims. Vietnam was a tributary of China off and on for centuries, therefore the Chinese assert a claim to areas the Vietnamese claim.
It’s as if Italy claimed it should own Israel because the Roman Empire once ruled Palestine, Judea, and all that entire area.
scav
There are a lot of island games played everywhere, especially when one zips in and claims the 200 mi territorial radius game. Even teeny ones, if luckily placed are big winners. Here’s a new one also playing into the Japan – China game of go: Volcanic eruption creates new land off coast of Japan
Violet
Loving this new Pope. The Catholic Church still has plenty of problems, but any step in the right direction is a good thing. Bonus if it upsets wingnuts. Bring it on, Pope Francis!
It’s exciting to see all the stuff Jesus actually talked about being talked about by someone with that much authority in an establishment church. How the hell long has it been?
JPL
Sorry if this has been mentioned but Dinesh D’Souza pulled his tweet. Maybe he doesn’t know how the internet works.
Villago Delenda Est
@Redshift:
The inevitable problem with Afghanistan is that a substantial portion of the population wants to live under medieval social rules, and is willing to take up arms to get their way.
Hal
@Southern Beale:
And that wasn’t enough to get him fired? I do love his closing. Nope, nothing improper.
gelfling545
@The Dangerman: But on the bright side, they will rediscover the benefits of separation of Church & State!
Villago Delenda Est
Not with assholes like you being white, jackass. You’re an embarrassment to the rest of us, racist shit.
Poopyman
Just got another of my Tea party emails. This one was titled “Obama’s Spy Programs Cloaked in More Secrecy”. I’m thinking “Good! That’s what spy programs are supposed to be.” I never open them any more. Just some gibberish and then asking for money. So tiresome.
@Southern Beale: Lasted way longer than I initially gave it.
LanceThruster
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I saw that too.
Anoniminous
@Villago Delenda Est:
That’s the sort of thing expansionary nation-states do. Come up with a bullshit excuse and then send in the troops. “Historically” China could make a claim to chunks of India, Indonesia, Malaya, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, and West Africa.
I will note the Chinese tried to “historically claim” Viet Nam – in 1978 – it didn’t work out so well.
scav
Also too, anybody else utterly not expecting the right to get up in a tizzy over an admitted Israeli spy on ‘mercan soil in support of Israel’s nuclear program? Or, will the Hollywood tie in push them over the edge? Decisions decisions . . . Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan says he spied for Israel
JoyfulA
@Villago Delenda Est: Speaking of nets, Governor Corbett says Foxconn will be opening a 500-employee factory in Pennsylvania.
Somehow the gov thinks this will raise his status from least popular governor in the country and least likely to be reelected.
Cacti
@Villago Delenda Est:
Reminds me of this song from the Squidbillies.
ranchandsyrup
Chait on why halperin lied about death panels.
Short version, because he can.
NotMax
@The Dangerman
No thanks for the generalized slur.
Am certainly more than old enough to have been there, but wouldn’t have voted for him under any conceivable circumstance.
Also too, the youngest voters in 1980 were born in ’62, making them all of 51 now.
Amir Khalid
@Anoniminous:
Ahem — my country is called Malaysia.
Anoniminous
@Amir Khalid:
Oops. So it is. Apologies.
The Dangerman
@NotMax:
I worded it poorly; it was meant to be a continuation of a prior thought about Republican Catholics that, presumably, voted for Reagan. My subset of a larger set (hell, even I voted for Reagan the first time around) was described poorly.
NotMax
@The Dangerman
Thanks for the clarification.
kc
Alec Baldwin: So talented, and yet such an asshole.
Hard to believe MSNBC hired him to begin with. The man’s got no self-control.
SiubhanDuinne
@rk:
Worse than Obama!!
Heliopause
And pretty much all the neoliberalism of the Democratic Party, if you actually read it.
FlipYrWhig
@kindness:
So was the whole story just an attempt to justify the snug-fitting, cleavage-displaying dress she was wearing at the beginning of the segment, or vice-versa?
dww44
@Southern Beale: Actually, I’m a bit sad about that. I enjoyed his program for the couple of weeks I was able to see it.