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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Open Thread: Shut Up, Ralph

Open Thread: Shut Up, Ralph

by Anne Laurie|  April 29, 201410:57 pm| 25 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Open Threads, Assholes, Both Sides Do It!, Decline and Fall

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Surprised none of the other front pagers jumped on this earlier. From my favorite reporter, Mr. Charles P. Pierce:

The best thing that ever happened to the careers of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, and the worst thing that ever happened to the Voting Rights Act, campaign-finance regulation, minority students in Michigan, the people of Iraq, the people of New Orleans, and the people of the United States generally, is back with another demonstration of his undeniable genius, and another invitation to the nation to join him on another unicorn hunt…

You can probably guess the details: progressives should ally with libertarians, under the leadership of some forward thinker like Rand Paul, to impeach President Obama and install a media-worthy millionaire like President Oprah Winfrey to lead us into The Limitless Future. You wish I was joking. Say this for Harold Stassen, at least he had the stones to run in his own futile campaigns rather than looking for serial saviors to implement his airy phantasies.
***********
Apart from rolling our eyes, what’s on the agenda tonight?

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Previous Post: « Long Read: George R.R. Martin
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Reader Interactions

25Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    April 29, 2014 at 11:08 pm

    If there is another repeat of 2000 we will all need to do drugs.

  2. 2.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 29, 2014 at 11:09 pm

    Can’t Charlie afford a copy editor? The Yahoo article he quotes (at length) from correctly uses “abdicated”, but somebody at Esquire changed that to “advocated”, which, um, is more or less the opposite.

    Oh, Ralphie can DIAF, as far as I’m concerned.

  3. 3.

    danielx

    April 29, 2014 at 11:13 pm

    Apart from rolling our eyes, what’s on the agenda tonight?

    After reading that piece? If Ralph Nader was dead I’d be traveling to wherever he was buried so I could piss on his headstone. As it I can only hope excessive excitement puts the egotistical bastard in an early grave.

  4. 4.

    r€nato

    April 29, 2014 at 11:17 pm

    I would sooner join the Tea Party than forge an alliance with fucking libertarians.

  5. 5.

    beltane

    April 29, 2014 at 11:18 pm

    @danielx: He is 80 years old so it really wouldn’t be that early of a grave.

  6. 6.

    Ash Can

    April 29, 2014 at 11:18 pm

    Are we entirely sure Nader isn’t getting senile? That’s some wacked-out shit, yo.

  7. 7.

    ranchandsyrup

    April 29, 2014 at 11:20 pm

    The reacharound. Seems like it would be a nice effort, but yer still getting fucked.

  8. 8.

    lamh36

    April 29, 2014 at 11:34 pm

    Just finished watching Frontline’s newest doc: Locked Up In America, about the prison industrial complex, particularly in Kentucky.

    One story, a young 14 y.o. girl got me misty-eyed. She was in a half-way house for juveniles. She wanted to do is go to her mom’s grave for her mother’s birthday, but since she assaulted her aunt, she has to get permission from said aunt to come get her and bring her to the grave, but for maybe obvious and not so obvious reasons, the aunt said no.

    So she’s got a pass to go, but since the aunt won’t bring her, if she leaves the premises, she’s gonna be considered an escapee. Well guess what, she left and they issued a warrant to escaping prison system.

    This lil 14 year old girl is breaking my heart. She def has issues with anger and conflict resolution, but she literally has no one else, and her aunt refuses to have her. They found her and brought her back to lockup, and they sent her to local juvie lockup .

    She was there for weeks. You could literally see the progression of this girl’s mental breakdown. In the course of 6 weeks, she has visibly went from an occasion angry twitch, to literally developing visible twitches and ticks that even the Judge commented on (she literally looked to be twiching with underlying rage).

    The Judge had been really lenient in the past, but after many 2nd chanced, she felt she just couldn’t trust that the girl would really attempt to reform herself. So she sentenced her to Juvie State prison.

    Le sigh. She ended up spending almost 1 year in state Juvenille prison. She was released back home to her aunt earlier this year, but violated her parole and is now on the run.

  9. 9.

    jl

    April 29, 2014 at 11:35 pm

    Neel Kashkari probably will be available, and isn’t he rich?

    Field Poll: GOP’s hope in California governor’s race leaning far to the right

    ” Although some California Republican leaders had seen the moderate, Neel Kashkari, as the GOP’s candidate of the future in a deep blue state, tea party favorite Tim Donnelly is pummeling him, according to a surprising new Field Poll.

    Thirty-four percent of likely Republican voters would pick Donnelly, R-Hesperia, while only 3 percent would vote for Kashkari. ”

    http://www.mercurynews.com/rss/ci_25526879

  10. 10.

    lamh36

    April 29, 2014 at 11:39 pm

    They were 4 total stories, 2 of which ended as well as possible, and 2 that ended badly (the other bad story ended with the dude being released early, but skipping parole and being re-arrested and brought back to state prison).

    One of the good ending stories, was the story about this African American gentleman. A Vietnam vet who was incarcarated and had been in and out of jail for decades. He was 19 when he went to Vietnam, 23 when he came back. He had 19 confirmed kills, one of which still haunts him today, cause he considers it an unjustified killing, i.e. murder. When he got back home he turned to drugs to cope with dreams. In the course of addiction he committed crimes and got sent to prison.

    He got out as apart of a release program for non-violent offenders. He was released to drug rehab, which seemed to be working for him and he also got counseling and is attempting to reconcile his PTSD.

    The most poignant footage from his story was when he reconnected with some of his fellow servicemen and re-united with another Black guy from his unit who is was very close too. His segment ended with him and the other dude just sitting on a bench reminiscing.

    (The other happy story, was a young girl who essentially experienced a scared straight moment and so far, has NOT been back to juvie)

  11. 11.

    jl

    April 29, 2014 at 11:43 pm

    And in retrospect, this is a hoocuddnode thang, but, would you believe it, the sovereign citizen militia at Bundy ranch are riven by schism and falling into anarchy.

    Hot Gossip: Cliven Bundy’s Militia Buddies Have Broken Up, Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
    http://wonkette.com/547807/hot-gossip-cliven-bundys-militia-buddies-have-broken-up-are-never-ever-getting-back-together

    I posted this link in an earlier thread, but thought it was interesting enough to point out again.

    The Oath-keepers got spooked by an idiotic rumor that the feds were about to drone strike and ran off. So some loon who thinks he is the leader of the Bundy internal security forces banned them from the Bundy realm.

    The best part is that he used a cool GoT type oath to do it: By the white skin on my ass.

    That is cool. We need to think up some sovereign citizen militia oaths, in case we end up serving in one some day.

    How about, by the nacho flecks in my beard?

    Edit: which brings up the question, are the people setting up checkpoints real sovereign citizen militia, or coward, banned and illegitimate yellow bellied Oath-keeper losers, who have no right to do anything?

  12. 12.

    beltane

    April 29, 2014 at 11:54 pm

    @jl: That gives me an idea. I bet the whole situation could be diffused by spreading rumors that the government was going to spray the Bundyites with a super-secret gay Mexican love juice. They would disperse so fast that no one would no what happened.

  13. 13.

    SatanicPanic

    April 30, 2014 at 12:14 am

    @r€nato: There is no goal I can imagine that would be worth pairing up with Libertarians for, even if they could be counted on to help. Which they couldn’t.

  14. 14.

    trollhattan

    April 30, 2014 at 12:28 am

    @jl:
    Every time Donnelly hugs a gun, an angel gets his ammo.

    Kashkari recently confessed, confessed, I tell you, he voted for Obama in ’08. Nice knowin’ ya Neel.

  15. 15.

    techno

    April 30, 2014 at 1:36 am

    Still beating up on Ralph Nader, huh?

    Now I have detested the guy ever since he claimed to be an automotive expert (early 60s) and essentially ruined GM as a source of innovation. “Unsafe at any Speed” has at least one factual error per page. I hate that I must pay $100 for a $10 ladder because of his tort-abusing supporters got him to shift blame from consumer carelessness to well-meaning manufacturers.

    But to blame him for Al Gore losing the presidency is just insane. Gore didn’t even demand a serious recount. He lost his home state. He chose the most annoying pol in history as a running mate.

    Third parties are GOOD for democracy. And even so flawed a candidate as Nader proved it in 2000. He was the only candidate even addressing a host of incredibly important topics. Yes the man is dumber than dirt, but what does that say about the other candidates?

  16. 16.

    Mike in NC

    April 30, 2014 at 1:36 am

    Tonight started to binge watch “Orange is the New Black” and really like the show.

  17. 17.

    Fort Geek

    April 30, 2014 at 2:12 am

    Fark Ralphie with a rusty Corvair…at any speed.

  18. 18.

    shecky

    April 30, 2014 at 2:17 am

    Sure, if there’s someone libertarians would love to have on their side, it’s Ralph Nader.

    Dude has to be senile, or trolling the fuck out of America.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    April 30, 2014 at 7:19 am

    @techno:

    Third parties are GOOD for democracy. And even so flawed a candidate as Nader proved it in 2000. He was the only candidate even addressing a host of incredibly important topics. Yes the man is dumber than dirt, but what does that say about the other candidates?

    But why the constant hoping for a Left/Right alliance? I genuinely don’t get it. If Ralph Nader joins with Rand Paul, they reach a roadblock almost immediately on regulation. Rand Paul doesn’t believe that the federal government has the legal authority to regulate nationally. That’s huge. It affects everything from civil rights to air pollution to labor rights.

    So you get (supposedly) say, fewer people in federal prisons, in the federal criminal justice system out of this alliance but my God, you lose almost everything else. I understand why conservatives want this alliance. It aligns with the rest of their agenda which depends on a weak federal government. What I don’t understand is why liberals ever would make this deal.

    I find the third party argument persuasive, if you’re talking about “Republicans and Democrats”. What I don’t find persuasive is this idea that liberals WIN in a Left/Right alliance that includes libertarians. You’re saying you can tear down the house, the whole legal structure that liberalism depends on, but don’t worry, because libertarians will let you build a new one without any of those rooms you don’t like. No, they won’t. If you help them tear down the house they want it to stay down.

    It’s just a bad deal for liberals. If you want a third party, why not make a genuinely liberal party? Is the fear you won’t have enough people so it has to be Left/Right? If you think you’re making untenable compromises now, how do you think you’ll fare compromising with Rand Paul? What do we trade? The Civil Rights Act? The EPA? Federal labor protections? How do you see this deal working out in your favor? I just don’t see it.

  20. 20.

    Kay

    April 30, 2014 at 7:31 am

    @techno:

    So join with libertarians and you get fewer prosecutions under federal law you don’t like, drug laws, security state, whatever, but what’s to say Rand Paul doesn’t go further and extract concessions in federal law you do like, like environmental regs or civil rights or fraud or securities regulation or, well, everything else.

    I think Rand Paul is the big winner in that deal, quite frankly. You’d also be selling a huge chunk of the liberal base down the river, so you lost them at “civil rights” or “environmental regs” so are you even BIGGER, your coalition, with libertarians, given that you’ve shed a huge chunk of the liberal base in enacting this coalition agenda? Because libertarians want a whole lot more than “fewer federal drug law convictions”.

  21. 21.

    Paul in KY

    April 30, 2014 at 9:03 am

    @danielx: If I ever see him, I plan on going for a nut kick.

  22. 22.

    Paul in KY

    April 30, 2014 at 9:06 am

    @jl: How about: ‘By my common-law sheep wife!’

  23. 23.

    Paul in KY

    April 30, 2014 at 9:07 am

    @techno: This is probably a troll, but go eat a bag of salted dicks.

  24. 24.

    RaflW

    April 30, 2014 at 9:43 am

    Ralph Nader is irrelevant. I mean, its fine for Charlie Pierce to have a go at him, but other than the comedy value, who cares? Who takes Nader seriously?

  25. 25.

    Motivated Seller

    April 30, 2014 at 2:48 pm

    @techno +1. You can pretend it is all Nader’s fault, but the fact is that our first-past-the-pole two-party election system is well past its 18th century useful date. If we had a modern electoral system in place, then the American people would have gotten their chosen President. Flaming Nader is a distraction and an excuse to do nothing.

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