Dear god, what are we going to do.
At a meeting of the Republican Governors Association this week in Aspen, Colo., donors and operatives mused about how to prevent [The Donald] from hijacking the debate.
One idea that came up was to urge three leading candidates — Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor; Mr. Walker; and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida — to band together and state that they would not participate in any debate in which Mr. Trump was present, using his refusal to rule out a third-party bid as a pretext for taking such a hard line.
There are sixteen candidates and zero obvious front-runners. The the main debate set aside places for the top ten polling candidates, so six GOP contenders will have to play in some humiliating kiddie table pre-debate. Imagining for a minute that Jeb(!) and Scott Walker choose to stay home, does anyone seriously think that John Kasich or Hermann Cain Ben Carson [yes I am a moron sometimes] would not snap at the opportunity? This plan is just as stupid as any other that has come out of a private Republican conclave in the last half century.
…
You know what? Politics is boring as hell right now. Hillary Clinton is on the private fund-raiser circuit, Bernie and Black Lives Matter seem to have reached an armistice and Congress is at home playing with their kids. Donald Trump is entertaining, he seems relevant and he is a wart on the ass of all the right people. Watching those jackasses sweat and game out what the hell to do with this situation is the most fun I will have all week. Here’s a picture of my dog.
dmsilev
If your dog chooses to enter the GOP race, I’m sure he’d easily qualify for the first-tier debate.
Belafon
Anything to avoid dealing with why he’s the frontrunner right now.
OT: Pelosi is calling for investigating the group that targeted Planned Parenthood: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/248946-pelosi-joins-call-for-doj-probe-into-group-targeting-planned-parenthood (ht LGF).
dedc79
That stonecutters screenshot reminded me – here’s Hank Azaria using the voices of various Simpsons’ characters to announce memorable moments in NY Mets history .
Villago Delenda Est
The dirty little secret: assholish racism is what the GOP is all about now. The teabaggers are the same sort of people who didn’t seem to notice that ash was falling from the sky around Auschwitz.
Davebo
Max for president!
He not only sees the goal. He retrieves it!
Mike J
NYT reporter tweets on Senate FRC Iran deal hearings:
Jeffro
@Belafon: I saw that (about Pelosi) and GOD I LOVE HER…that is the only way to deal with these accusations, meet them head-on and then some. Here wingnuts, have some facts for once…
boatboy_srq
GOTea machinery desperate to simultaneously distance itself from the monster it created and perpetuate the conditions that allowed its creation in the first place.
Cervantes
Those are three “leading candidates” running — away from this idea as fast as they possibly can.
Kropadope
DO IT!!! DO IT!!! What better way to urge him toward a 3rd party run that will both guarantee he won’t be president and seriously hamper the actual Republican nominee?
Hmm, that’s a steep competition. Can we convene a panel on this?
Villago Delenda Est
@Kropadope:
I suggest a death panel!
Kropadope
@Mike J:
I stand corrected. There are things worth saying that can be said in 140 characters or fewer.
Cervantes
@Mike J:
If I didn’t know better I’d say Ernie lives for these moments.
Elie
Nice dog picture.
Despite some aspects of having “fun” exist with Trump and his impact on the Republican Party, I still find it enormously disturbing that someone so clearly inappropriate and without any of “the right stuff” for leadership on the scale of the Presidency, is even out there campaigning. It is damned alarming not only that Trump is doing this, but that so many of the Republican candidates are of such poor quality. It should be embarrassing to us as a nation, even though this is one party. I have to ask, however, what is going on in the brains of this party and it makes me afraid that if there was some fluke, this fool and any of the others could actually end up in the White House. There shouldn’t even be jokes about this…Reminds me a little of the political scene around the Roman Emperor Caligula, who appointed his horse to be a senator… This is farce.
This stuff with these people should not be happening. It is sad and more than a little scary IMHO. How can the Republicans even hold their heads up and not cringe in shame and disgust?
RSA
@Belafon:
That’s the elephant in the room, so to speak, isn’t it? You can imagine establishment Republicans thinking to themselves, “How dare an outsider come in and manipulate our base voters! We created all those hot buttons to be pushed, not him!”
Cervantes
@Elie:
Caligula’s horse would be an improvement over the likes of Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz.
Remember, as Chris outlined earlier today, modern Republicans are the folks who ensconced RWR and GWB. They even gave you Sarah Palin and said you should like it. Trump is hardly an innovation.
Bobby B.
The churning hell and commerce of the political campaign industry! Robert Redford’s ‘The Candidate” feels like an innocent Dr Seuss cartoon compared with today.
the Conster
Shorter Governor’s Association: Trump$ in our bA$3 killin all our d00dZ
dogwood
@Elie:
If they had the self awareness to experience shame and disgust, they wouldn’t be republicans in the first place. They’re the shame on you party not the shame on me party.
BobS
@Belafon: The fake video motivated me to send money to Planned Parenthood today. To give credit where it’s due, I donated in honor of David Daleiden and had notification sent to him at The Center for Medical Progress.
scav
They haven’t even cottoned on to the point that being openly opposed just winds the TRump and his Yooooge TRumpBase™ up to greater heights of more TRumpeting about how right they are? The brake pedal’s been attached to the accelerator in this model. Poor DumpityTRumpitys.
eemom
@Elie:
I agree, it SHOULD be….but I also think the national embarrassment ship disappeared over the horizon with Palin ’08.
dmsilev
@Mike J: A few years back, some Republican nitwit at a hearing was lecturing the previous Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, on something really stupid, I forget what exactly. Probably Solyndra (remember that “scandal”?). And said nitwit posted a message afterwards saying “watch me school the Nobel Prize winner”.
Anyway, a colleague of mine happened to have been one of Dr. Chu’s PhD students and he said that the expression on his face during the grilling was one that every student sees from their advisor now and then, the “dear Lord almighty, that is the stupidest question possible, but it wouldn’t be polite to say so explicitly” look.
What I’m saying is that (a) this is a pattern and (b) the GOP is either too stupid to know how stupid they are or just plain doesn’t give a shit.
TaMara (BHF)
Love me some Max to get through the day.
Have you guys seen the cat who has Werewolf syndrome (hypertrichosis) He made my day.
Cacti
50 years of the southern strategy created candidate Trump.
The non-Trumps who fancy themselves contenders can only chide him in the gentlest of terms, because they need the bigoted voters that adore him.
Good luck with that, GOP.
Tracy Ratcliff
Remember those ammosexuals volunteering to guard recruiting stations? That is working out really well.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/07/23/recruiting-center-shot-fired.html
Mike in NC
It looks like those crappy Sunday morning panel shows like ‘Meet the Press’ are going to be all Trump, all the time this weekend. Which can only be a good thing.
catclub
ha, ha, ha. but present day conservative politics IS a “toxic mix of demagoguery, meanspiritedness and nonsense.”
Randy P
@dmsilev: I think he was schooling Dr. Chi on where fossil fuel comes from.
Stupid is their base, and their leadership, and their platform. It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. Since at least 1980 they’ve been counting, mostly successfully, on a majority of voters being gullible mean-spirited racist rubes.
So I am very gratified to see that, though they keep breeding new ones (see SC church shooting), that particular demographic is finally a minority and shrinking.
Cervantes
@dmsilev:
Actually, they’re playing to their audience.
catclub
@Elie:
Who was Prime minister of Italy repeatedly? Silvio Berlusconi.
Belafon
@Tracy Ratcliff: You’r link has bled into the reply for some reason.
Jeffro
@catclub: That’s what I thought. Isn’t “cancer on conservatism” kinda redundant? It’s a Venn diagram consisting of two completely overlapping circles.
Mike in NC
@Tracy Ratcliff: The local news had a report on some of those yahoos. How is that tolerated, not to mention illegal? Assholes with assault rifles hanging out at the strip mall. What could possibly go wrong?
Jeffro
Also…Bush has called for ways to “phase out” Medicare(!!)…is it possible that the Dem nominee won’t have to actually do ANYTHING between now and next November?
I mean sure, put in an appearance here and there, kiss a baby or two, keep sending me “wanna have dinner w/ ____________________” emails, but other than that??
gene108
@eemom:
I think Palin ’08 could’ve been a cautionary tale. She cost McCain the 2008 Presidential race. McCain and Obama were statistically tied, in most polls, at the end of their respective conventions in September; about one week before Lehman Brothers went belly up.
The GOP base did not embrace her as the cause of losing a campaign. They made her their champion. She became a kingmaker in 2010. Her endorsement got Haley elected governor of South Carolina. Her “death panels” comment killed a provision of paying for end of life counseling from the PPACA.
That’s the real embarrassment.
bemused
@Tracy Ratcliff:
This and other stupid, dangerous events too numerous to count happen every single day by the 27% of idiot Americans that have been directly stoked by the GOP.
catclub
@gene108: I would say that half of the 2008 loss for McCain was Palin. The other half was Lehman and the response to it. MCCain said “lets stop our campaigns” and then had that complete deer-in-the-headlights look at the meeting HE convened on the crisis. That killed him as much as Palin.
SenyorDave
Any post that involves the “Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers” has my vote for best post of the day! Although at this point, the prospect of Trump, Cruz, Santorum or some of the other clowns becoming president is about as surreal as electing Homer Simpson president.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Wonder which rocket scientist came up with this fine idea. It would hand Trump the nomination on a (gold, of course) plate.
Of course, I think he’s going to win the nom anyway. Only one guy is giving the TeaTard faithful what they want to hear in these times of tribulation, where they can’t even strap a Confederate flag to their jacked up trucks and roll through towns without people yelling and throwing shit at them, and that guy is Mr. Donald Trump.
SenyorDave
@dmsilev: It was Joe Barton, and he “schooled” Chu about how plate tectonic, and how oil was formed. Here’s the youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUiKK14dduo
Randy P
@Mike in NC: Because police have no legal tools to use against white guys with guns.
jl
I assume that your dog was able to turn around and swim back to shore, which makes me happy for you and your dog.
At this point, it is looking less and less likely that will happen for the GOP this cycle, and that makes me happy too.
Cervantes
Herman Cain isn’t running. But they all look alike.
Downpuppy
There are 999 reasons why I’d love to see Herman Cain running again, but sadly, nobody was willing to fund his act this year.
Edit: gotta remember to refresh before posting
Betty Cracker
My dogs are such poor swimmers. They’ll go in the water if we do, but you can tell they’d rather not. If I throw a stick in the water, they’ll look at me as if to say, “Why’d you do that, asshole? I wanted to play with that stick!”
shell
Is Max swimming after a duck or a stick…
(Im moving into that groggy part of a hot summer afternoon.)
GxB
@Mike J: Oy vey! That goober is such an embarrassment, wit of Gohmert and personality of wet cardboard. We better get Russ Feingold back dammnit!
Another Holocene Human
@Villago Delenda Est: Too soon.
Another Holocene Human
@Kropadope: Ron Johnson is his porn name, right?
mai naem mobile
I hope Moniz went up to Ron ‘wart on a peenis’ Johnson and told him ‘dude,look at my hair, I am a founding father asshole and I will advise the president to blow the shit out of Iran if I feel it.necessary. Now STFU,you ‘gonnaba1termsenator.’
RaflW
“You go to the primaries with the 16 clowns you have, not the 2 or 3 candidates you wish you had.”
-Donald Rumsfeld, (lightly edited)
Kropadope
@Jeffro:
Set-notation
Iowa Old Lady
@dmsilev: There’s research showing that incompetent people don’t know they’re incompetent. They think everyone functions like they do. So it wouldn’t surprise me if people like Ron Johnson are too stupid to know they’re stupid.
burnspbesq
@Jeffro:
Would love to hear you describe the impact you think that would have.
Another Holocene Human
@dmsilev: People who’ve been the grad school vote overwhelmingly D, and of those who don’t I suspect it’s mostly law degrees, which is quite far from the experience you describe.
It reminds me of these Australians who came to the US and did man on the street interviews to prove how dumb Americans are. They showcased this older white guy not realizing he was giving them Midwestern Side-eye and agreeing with them contingently “Yes, that would be pretty extraordinary (… if true).” At one point he gives them the “I can’t believe these slickers said something that stupid” face but they didn’t recognize it for what it was. Probably went home and told the missus about the kooky anti-podeans.
Another Holocene Human
@burnspbesq: Mockery works on wingnuts. Facts they are impervious to.
Randy P
Sigh. I miss dogs. Just saw a K9 demonstration at which I was the first to step up when they asked for volunteers to be attacked. Enjoyed it so much I asked the handlers if they took volunteers normally, but they said no civilians. Too much liability risk.
Our lifestyle would not be fair to a full time dog in our household right now. But now I’m wondering about volunteering for other working dog training.
dogwood
Looking at national polling in ’08 makes the race look close,but we don’t have national elections. The state polling made it very clear that McCain was in a world of hurt. Palin was brought on to rev up the base because they knew they were in trouble. As far as helping Obama, Palin probably helped a bit in padding the popular vote. When it comes to Barack Obama, there’s a slew of dems. who just cant give up on the idea that he didn’t win the primary and general election in ’08, his opponents lost what should have been theirs. I get why republicans like to diminish him like that, but why dems sign on to this sorry piece of conventional wisdom is beyond me.
aimai
@Belafon: I wonder if PP can sue the filmmakers and the Republican congressmen who knew about the film prior to its release for some kind of conspiracy to defund them as (what?) a “tortious interference with their business?” IA (Definitely) not a lawyer but if any other corporation or non profit were being publicly slandered this way would they not countersue? Is there not a cause of action here? Its practically a bill of attainder for the congressional republicans to call out and attack PP this way.
Mike E
@Cacti: Seriously. It’s like shit show movie Prometheus.
Jeffro
@burnspbesq: Meeting them head-on = not running away from a bully = impact is less bullying
Getting the facts out there, front and center = calls them on their lies, helps catch them in the act of deceiving the public = impact is (admittedly slight) chance of swaying people in the mushy middle rather than leaving them with only 1 (false) source of info on the matter.
I get what you’re saying, facts are not going to change hardly any of the wingers’ minds. But it’s important to stand up to them (to discourage future bullying) and important to get the facts our there (so that the edited tapes and right-wing outrage are not the only ‘voices’ when this issue gets discussed)
aimai
@Tracy Ratcliff: Priceless!
Betty Cracker
@dogwood: My life is blessedly free of so-called Democrats who buy into such a stupid idea. Even the formerly butt-hurt, PUMA-curious types I know in real life have long since gotten over it, and it’s a wonder anyone who could still think that after the 2012 election is allowed to leave home without an addressed pinned to his/her coat.
burnspbesq
@Another Holocene Human:
The only thing that’s likely to kill off organizations like the Center for Medical Progress is protracted litigation, with lots of discovery. Make them burn through their funding.
ETA: And videotape all the depositions and put them on YouTube. I’ll meet you halfway on the ridicule part of your program.
Prometheus Shrugged
@dmsilev: If I recall, it was an idiotic question about the origin of Alaskan oil The very unfortunate thing is that Chu’s answer to this idiotic question was not exactly correct (probably because he was too stunned by the sheer idiocy). So the idiots could technically reign supreme for a day.
EDIT: Never mind–I see I was beaten to the punch.
Mike in NC
@aimai: Makes a living doing side jobs = unemployed
Paul in KY
@Cervantes: By all accounts it was a pretty smart horse. Managed to get that nut Caligula to appoint it to the Senate.
Chris
I just love the utter contempt for their own base that’s on display.
What? Trump is the most popular guy among our voters? Quick, let’s conspire as clumsily and openly as possible to keep him out! We can’t have the yokels picking a candidate! They might pick the wrong one!
Joe Falco
Since we’re doing Simpsons references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KYS6xeoBnc
jl
@Prometheus Shrugged: I think I remember seeing a clip of that question. Inhofe thought, and probably still thinks, he had the slam dunk gotcha on oil deposits disproving evolution, age of earth and all that atheist biology and geology: why are so many huge oil deposits under the sea? Huh? There weren’t any big trees or dinosaurs under the sea!
Sadly that gotcha ignores little details of like continental drift, changes in elevation of geologic deposits over millions of years, fact that diatoms and similar sea life deposits tend to turn into oil, and trees tend to turn into coal, and seepage of liquid fossil fuel deposits that can move hundreds or even a thousand miles over time.
If you look at maps of where oil and coal deposits formed when they did, sure enough you see oil deposits formed in oceans (diatoms and similar) and coal formed where there was land (trees, killer trees!)
It was a stupid question. And also malicious of Inhofe to try to portray Chu, who I think is a nuclear physicist as a universal Mr. Science who knows everything. I only know about it because I did research on fossil fuel prices once and read up about it in an intro book on fossil fuels.
Cervantes
@Paul in KY:
For one thing it did not mount even one ridiculous filibuster.
(But maybe that’s a reflection on how much more sensible SPQR was in comparison with our own.)
jl
@Chris:
” Trump is the most popular guy among our voters? Quick, let’s conspire as clumsily and openly as possible to keep him out! We can’t have the yokels picking a candidate! They might pick the wrong one! ”
The Frankenstein monster Base the GOP has cultivated has a found a real leader, who trumps all others (har har har!)
Why Donald Trump Isn’t As Fringe As You Think
MICHAEL ARCENEAUX, TPM blog
” [Trump] is nothing more than a louder, shameless example of what the GOP has become. Let’s not pretend he’s a Republican outlier; he’s their id. ”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/donald-trump-monster-gop-helped-create
And Trump has already aimed Third Party Run gun at the GOP’s head. Sad day for them.
And the Democratic candidates are left alone to quietly do what they should be doing early in the campaign, which is good. (At least I hope HRC is doing what she should be doing… )
Wyrm1
@aimai: at least he showed some awareness by aiming it away from people while trying to unload it. I feel like most of these yahoos would not even be smart enough to do that
Calliope Jane
@Mike J: heh. I was wondering where all the electromagnetic weapons talk was coming from…I just thought they were watching too much Leverage (not possible; plus, they’d probably identify with the wrong bad guys anyway :)).
shell
Okay, in that cartoon of Society of No-Homers, I recognize No.1, Mr. T and George Bush,Sr. But who is the dude on the far right.
gian
@Another Holocene Human:
Why law degrees?
The GOP rants about “trial lawyers” and “tort reform” and so on.
If I were to look at grad degrees and think GOP voter I’d go with MBA.
Goblue72
Trump is not going to be the nominee. Full stop. If you believe that, you’re a complete moron. This is pure summer news doldrums material.
It’s Jeb’s nomination to lose. He could lose it – but only if he screws up royally. Which he could. In which case, it’s Clinton v Walker and the election is over. Walker will quickly wither in the spotlight because he’s a pencil necked race baiting bully who was too lazy to finish a 2nd rate college. He’s a completely unlikeable douche who only wins in a small pool world like Governor of Cheeseheads.
Hillary is many things, but lazy is not one of them. And while she rubs some people the wrong way, she’s not a jerkwad. She’ll destroy Walker in prime time.
Another Holocene Human
@aimai: “It is what it is” = redneck for “fuck you and yours, I don’t give a shit”
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Randy P: My wife and I signed on the dotted line and are waiting for the results of our home inspection, but it looks like we’re in with Guide Dogs for the Blind.
It’s not too strenuous (nothing like Canine Companion cert, which is a full-time job), you can co-raise (I think they make first-timers do that anyway, but for us it will be an ongoing necessity) and it’s for a great cause. Yeah, you gotta give your puppy up somewhere between 6 months and a year, and that WILL be very hard, but I think we can manage that, in no small part because as soon as you’ve given up your pup you’re in line to get another one, and soon.
The best part is that just as the pup is getting trained, so are you. You will be a far better dog owner and be able to deal with behavioral issues, something that we sorely needed training on as our last abortive adoption showed. Yeah, we could train a good, mellow puppy that wanted to please, and we did. After she passed on to go chase tennis balls around the arc of the universe, we got another pup, figuring it would be the same. Oh no. We could not deal with a hard-charging, intelligent and willful beagle mix (the agency lied and said he was part lab, he was not, fuckers) and we had to give him up. Broke my fucking heart to pieces. I don’t ever want to go through something like that again and not know what to do. This will make sure that I do know how to cope, when it comes time for us to get a permanent dog.
Another Holocene Human
@gian: I’m not saying a majority of lawyers are GOP swine. I’m just suggesting most of the very few Americans with post secondary degrees who vote GOP have law degrees. The right does indeed have its lawyers. Don’t forget all the anti-choice, anti-women, pro-Dominionist money and case losing sue shops like ACLJ. Many of their pols have law degrees. Don’t forget the ones who aspire to be “strict constructionist” judges.
I wish the legal profession was a liberal paradise.
I didn’t think about MBAs. They’re done as undergrad programs now so hardly count, but I guess, sure, maybe.
ps: there are also degree mills
boatboy_srq
@aimai: @Another Holocene Human: Cycle: 1) the answer to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun; 2) repeat step 1 until there’s just one guy (with a gun). But of course ammosexuals don’t see that because they could never be seen as bad guys.
dogwood
@Iowa Old Lady:
Here’s how stupid Ron Johnson is. When Tammy Baldwin entered the Senate after 5 terms in the House where I believed she served on the Ways and Means Committee, Johnson offered to give her a tutorial on the budget and how it worked.
Mike J
@Calliope Jane:
They’ve been fucking that chicken for a while now. Here’s an Atlantic article from 2011.
In short: the rubes in the Republican base wouldn’t really care if New York or LA got nuked. The way to keep them terrified is to convince them that with one nuke [insert boogieman of the day here] could destroy every electronic device in the US.
Germy Shoemangler
@shell:
Jack Nicholson.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0701115/
CONGRATULATIONS!
@burnspbesq: Nailed it. Make it a black hole for sponsor money. The sponsors will move on to other things, nobody wants to be funding lavish lawyer lifestyles (sorry, Burns, nothing personal) with their money that was supposed to be saving babbies.
And I bet some of the people behind this organization probably don’t want to answer anything in a deposition that could become public record.
And this is really the only way to take SOBs like this out; all the “court of public opinion” does – or the dreaded mockery – is get them more attention and more monies.
Prometheus Shrugged
@jl: That’s all these guys try to do in congressional hearings with scientists–they hope to get lucky with a sophomoric gotcha question.
Chu’s response re: origin of Alaskan Oil was somewhat inaccurate, but, like you, the only reason I know the correct answer is that I’m a marine geologist. I would never expect my colleagues (even those in the National Academy) to have known the correct answer.
MomSense
@boatboy_srq:
Here’s my problem. I would like to be able to tell my kids how to tell the difference between a good guy with a gun and a bad guy with a gun. The ammosexuals do not give clear advice on this problem.
Tree With Water
The Washington Monthly has posted: “Jeb Bush continues to play with fire on phasing out Medicare”. I think that an understatement. I also remember Terry Schiavo (R.I.P.). So let’s play the “it’s not going to be Jeb!” game. The player that vomits last, wins. Since outside a few IQ points I don’t believe there’s a bit of difference between the lot of ’em, I’ll venture to begin by asking: why not Trump?
dopealope
The Onions nails it …
gian
@Another Holocene Human:
An undergraduate masters degree?
Bill, Hillary and Barack and Michelle are all lawyers. So is the torture memo guy. I’d bet most public defenders lean left. For the Federalist society there’s the ACLU as a counterweight.
When I last looked at GOP donors in my area congressional campaign the veterinarians were tops on the list.
Germy Shoemangler
@Mike J:
You mean all those scooters would come to a sudden halt?
The deep fryers would stop functioning?
boatboy_srq
@MomSense: Not an answerable question. There are guys with guns and there are people (guys and gals) without. With just makes “bad” much more likely.
Betty Cracker
@Tree With Water: If Jeb flames out, my guess is Walker gets the nomination. I am pulling for Jeb, honestly, because he neutralizes the Clinton dynasty media narrative. Walker they might be able to pass off as a fresh face.
Why not Trump? Because eventually, the GOP establishment, which actually wants to win this thing, will create a highlight reel of Trump praising Obama, calling himself pro-choice and advocating a Canadian-style approach to healthcare. When that happens, all the air will escape the Trump balloon as it circles around the ceiling making a farting noise until it drops to the floor in a flaccid heap.
goblue72
@Another Holocene Human: What are you even talking about? MBAs are not “done as undergrad programs”. And as far as the gian noted, you are far more likely to find a GOP voter amongst an MBA program than a JD program as far as grad degrees go. And you know what other graduate school types also
You don’t necessarily find a lot of lawyers amongst GOP politicians and amongst the GOP machinery because lawyers are more GOP – you find them because you find a lot of lawyers in politics period. 41 percent of Congress are lawyers. And the political apparatus for both parties is staffed by large numbers of lawyers. Most of the activities of government involves the making of, executing of, and adjudication of, the law. So not surprisingly, the profession specializing in the law happens to make up a lot of government. The last 40 years, a greater percentage of Democratic Presidential candidates went to law school than the GOP.
You want to find a lot of Republicans at the grad school level after business school? Dentists. Doctors are probably split down the middle these days, but traditionally skewed much more Republican.
Lawyers on the other hand, skew Democrat.
You are basically just wrong.
RaflW
(Warning, politico tweet)
Keep sayin’ it, Donald!
“I’m a Republican
I’m a Republican
I’m a Republican”
Like a branding iron.
Tim F.
@Prometheus Shrugged: Where did you study? I still feel a little proud of a report I wrote on boundary scavenging in reconstructing paleocurrents for my masters program in biol. oc. Marine geology was effing hard.
Germy Shoemangler
@Tree With Water:
So he’s saying he doesn’t have a plan. He says “we need to figure out a way” for some people to have medicare while the rest do no?
I thought politicians were supposed to campaign on actual platforms. “We will do x, y and z.”
Not “we need to figure out a way to do x, y and z.”
jl
@Tree With Water:
” The Washington Monthly has posted: “Jeb Bush continues to play with fire on phasing out Medicare”. ”
Let him go ahead. As far as I am concerned, he is only making the future Jeb! = George W attack ads easier to make in the general, if he gets that far.
dogwood
@Betty Cracker:
And another sign that McCain knew he was losing is this. In a rare, wise move, the Bush administration championed a law allowing candidates to submit 100 names for security clearance as soon as they accepted the nomination. It was designed to improve presidential transitions. Obama submitted his 100, but McCain never got around to it.
sparrow
@Jeffro: The said thing is that having a one-party system is not really a win. Politics is so god damned depressing.
PS — Why is my IP blocked? huh?
elmo
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
Oh good for you!! My wife and I have puppy-raised four Canine Companion pups. Sadly only one of them went on to graduate from the program – two washed out on personality, and one whose personality and smarts were among the top pups I’ve ever known washed out on hips. His hips were in the first percentile (99% of pups are in better shape). He had both hips replaced at a cost of about $5000, but he was the most amazing amazing pup.
Don’t let the politics and personalities and turf issues get to you. They can be pretty awful, and people can lose focus on the main thing – the dogs and the people who need them – but if you can ignore the crap, it’s one of the most rewarding things ever.
Mike J
@Betty Cracker:
Which is a stupid narrative unless you think sweet lil’ ol’ Hillary can’t think for herself and just does what big daddy Bill tells her to.
My fear with a Bush/Clinton race is that it makes the particularly stupid parts of the left start spouting off about dynasties and convince enough eighteen year olds that the system is rigged, man, might as well just stay home. Look at how similar the Clinton presidency was to the Bush presidency!
Other than that threat, I think Jeb is easier to beat than some of the other options, although as they gain more exposure, I’m convinced more people will hate them.
goblue72
@Prometheus Shrugged: Especially one whose academic work involved laser cooling and molecular biology. But that’s the GOP for you – all scientists are experts in all science and therefore both experts in everything and clearly then idiots if they don’t know everything.
Kinda how some how some totally random non-climate science scientists should be treated as a climate expert when it comes to denying AGW.
Pogonip
@dmsilev: Max for the win!
Brachiator
@Another Holocene Human:
I wonder whether you have anything to back this up, and why you singled out lawyers? A couple of things I found with a quick google search, for 2012 election exit polls.
Folks with some college voted 49 percent to 48 percent Obama. College graduates were 47 percent Obama, 51 percent Romney. Post graduates were 55 percent Obama, 42 percent Romney.
One weird thing was related to lawyers in the federal government (this is donations, not votes, but still interesting):
http://watchdog.org/90798/govt-lawyers-overwhelmingly-gave-to-obama-over-romney-in-2012/
Fred
I do wish I had confidence that the American people have the good sense to never elect Donald Trump to the most powerful office in the world. I really wish that.
The record is not encouraging. Both Ronnie and Dubaya could obviously never win the election to be POTUS. Well of course Dubaya wasn’t actually elected but with friends in high places…
My hope is that Trump is such an especially obnoxious scoundrel that people will not be charmed by his chutzpah. But I am still at a loss as to how anyone could want to share a beer with Dubaya so I have little confidence in my own thinking on this subject.
sparrow
@Mike J: Clinton vs Bush redux is like a good cop/bad cop routine. The ONLY difference to me that matters is the supreme court, and that’s discounting the probable damage Hillary will do to the left if/when she becomes president.
mai naem mobile
@Betty Cracker: Thom Hartmans Trump theory is that he’s there to.destroy Bush for Walker AKA Kochsucker because Trumps manager is a Koch guy. I’m wondering if it started that way but with Trumps ego, he actually thinks he can win and/or he’s doing his job way better than anybody expected. Also Trumps a money grubber so I wonder if he’s going to blackmail a payment of some sort from the RNC/KochBrosInc. to get out. I’m just glad he’s not a Democrat.
Chris
@sparrow:
Under the current conditions, though, a one party system is infinitely preferable to two viable parties, one of which is violently hostile to the very idea of governing.
sparrow
@Brachiator: I remember other polls in the past showing lawyers at about 50/50.
Another Holocene Human
@gian: You get the masters in 5 years by doing your undergrad and masters together.
Maybe less, I’ve been out of school for a whilte.
Pogonip
@goblue72: Why are dentists so Republican, do you know?
Another Holocene Human
@Brachiator: I stand corrected.
That still leaves a lot of wingnut lawyers to account for.
sparrow
@Chris: Yes… and yet, a one-party system quickly feels like being held hostage… a bit like the recent Greek deal: sign a completely non-viable debt agreement which is a neoliberal wet-dream, or you become Somalia. Some choice.
sm*t cl*de
“Unfair! Fox and its political-party subsidiary designed the debates for us to game, not for that guy to game!”
Tree With Water
@Betty Cracker: Flaccid heap? What, balloons don’t just pop anymore?
goblue72
@Fred: @Fred: It was not obvious that Bush and Reagan would not win the election. Amongst the closed circle of coastal elites over-represented in the national media, maybe. But not amongst political types.
Bush was a two-term popular governor of Texas, 2nd largest state in the country, having ousted Ann Richards in 1994 – one of the toughest female Democratic politicos of her era. He may have needed an extra push from his well-connected family and SCOTUS to seal the deal in 2000, but he was no political neophyte. And he solidly beat Kerry.
Reagan was a highly successful two-term governor of California, the largest state in the country. He beat two-term Governor Pat Brown (Jerry Brown’s dad) who was probably one of the most, if not the most, powerful Democratic politicians of his era. He also came within a smidge of beating incumbent Gerald Ford in 1976 for the GOP Presidential nomination.
Trump, on the other hand, has never even been elected dogcatcher – and has shown a historical propensity for screwing up his own companies, chasing after bright shiny objects, and having absolutely zero interest in the actual mechanics of electioneering.
The Other Chuck
@Jeffro:
Yo dawg, I herd you like cancer…
Pogonip
I just glanced at the headlines; Sandra Bland’s death was ruled a suicide. Stand by for Cole!
Brachiator
@Another Holocene Human:
Oh yes, absolutely.
MomSense
@boatboy_srq:
And that is the big problem with the whole premise. You can’t tell them apart by looking at them and I don’t think any of us would like to figure it out because one is shooting at us. Setting aside malevolent use of a firearm, I am not comfortable with the risk of accidental discharge.
cmorenc
Be careful what you wish for Jeb, Scott, and Marco – you might just get it. If your are successful in getting Trump kicked out of the GOP debate, you more likely WILL have to deal with him as a third-party candidate. Even if by November 16 the Donald only siphons off low single-digit percentages of the electorate (three or four percent) that will be enough to give whichever one of you does get the GOP nominee NO chance to beat Hillary or whomever else the dems nominate. Or even better, you boycott the debate because Fox refuses to kick Trump out of the debate and (of course!) Trump refuses to voluntarily take himself out – and later on, he may still decide to run as a third-party candidate because so many among the GOP establishment are being so mean to him – and besides, he’s not ready to get off the stage no matter what.
goblue72
@Pogonip: Beats me. I’ve just seen surveys that have dentists voting GOP by significant margins. Given how much dentistry is about selling stuff people don’t really need that is mainly about cosmetic appearance, maybe the profession attracts those who are in it primarily for the money. Similar to cosmetic surgeons, who I believe has a similar vote skew.
Could be related to how dental insurance is structured – dental coverage (for reasons that go back many, many decades) was not part of employer-based medical coverage, and has instead historically been a stand-alone insurance policy that functioned more like a pre-paid plan than actual insurance. With less cost capitation for services (meaning, its been easier to get rich as a general practitioner dentist than a general practioner doctor)
Could also be related to most dental practices being solo or small group practices, which tends to skew more heavily to the small business types (who tend to vote GOP)
Doctors, generally, however, are shifting from lean-GOP to lean-Dem. – http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/upshot/doctors-arent-strongly-republican-anymore.html?abt=0002&abg=1
Study attributes shift to more women in medicine and shift from small practice medicine to more doctors practicing as part of larger HMO-type groups.
Tommy
@Pogonip: Yeah just saw that. I’ve read many stories about Sandra Bland’s death and not a SINGLE one has asked the question that jumped into my mind when I first heard of the story.
How the fuck did she get a plastic bag into her cell?
JPL
@Pogonip: Would it be consistent to have a large amount of marijuana in your system, if you took it Friday and the death was Monday. I have no idea how long it lasts.
JPL
@Tommy: They line the trash cans with it.
Tree With Water
@Pogonip: And after Cole, the Attorney General of the United States…
opiejeanne
@Randy P: either that, or if the local animal rescue near you has a volunteer program like ours does, you could take the dogs for walks. We see the volunteers and dogs out having a great time all the time.
rikyrah
Pharmacy owners cannot cite religion to deny medicine: U.S. appeals court
By Dan Levine 1 hour ago
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The state of Washington can require a pharmacy to deliver medicine even if the pharmacy’s owner has a religious objection, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday, the latest in a series of judgements on whether religious believers can opt out of providing services.
The ruling, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, came in a case filed by pharmacists who objected to delivering emergency contraceptives. The 9th Circuit overturned a lower court that had said the rules were unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court last year allowed closely held corporations to seek exemptions from the Obamacare health law’s contraception requirement.
In Washington, the state permits a religiously objecting individual pharmacist to deny medicine, so long as another pharmacist working there provides timely delivery. The rules require a pharmacy to deliver all medicine, even if the owner objects.
A unanimous three-judge 9th Circuit panel on Thursday decided that the rules are constitutional because they rationally further the state’s interest in patient safety. Speed is particularly important considering the time-sensitive nature of emergency contraception, the court said
http://news.yahoo.com/pharmacy-owners-cannot-cite-religion-deny-medicine-u-175216202–finance.html
Omnes Omnibus
@Another Holocene Human: No.
Tommy
@JPL: Well that seems like a pretty stupid thing to do.
BTW: Why do you need a trash can in a jail cell anyway. Makes NO sense to me.
JPL
@Tommy: No shit, especially if she checked that she had tried to commit suicide before.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
Very interesting notion.
For what it’s worth, British comedians seem to see this as a variation of the class and family dominance seen in UK politics. Bush v Clinton intensifies the dynasty narrative. But I think you have a very good point here. I just don’t know how this might play out, but yeah, the press would worry it like a bone with a slice of meat on it.
Very interesting. Somebody’s got to put out a YouTube video on this. I didn’t know about Trump’s approval of universal health care.
goblue72
@JPL: Yes. Depending on how frequently the user smokes marijuana and the type of test, it can be detected in the system for several days to several weeks. If she used a large quantity on a Friday, it could quite possibly be detected on a Monday.
Also too, in my experience, smoking pot doesn’t make me depressed. It makes me slightly giggly to slightly sleepy, with varying levels of couch-lock, and generally hungry.
Mike J
@Omnes Omnibus: A quick googling says SUNY does have a program like that.
JPL
@goblue72: She didn’t eat the night before.
Thanks for the answer.. I was surprised that they said there was a large amount.
goblue72
@JPL: Lets be clear – its the COPS who are claiming that is what she checked off. And we all know that the cops don’t lie or fabricate stuff. Ever.
(or that your average prosecutor is maniacally pro-cop)
goblue72
@JPL: Meaning what?
JPL
@goblue72: If she had used, I assumed that she would have been hungry.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: And there are programs that allow a person to enter medical school early as well. It doesn’t mean that medical school is not a graduate program.
Edited.
Gimlet
“Shouldn’t George Will have to give a disclaimer every time he is on Fox that his wife works for Scott Walker?” tweeted Trump on Wednesday.
Mari Maseng Will is an advisor to Walker’s campaign, according to the Washington Examiner. Will disclosed his wife’s work in a June 3 Washington Post column but didn’t describe her role. The Examiner goes on to note all of the times Will praised Walker as a “pure Reaganite” and the GOP’s “most potent” candidate.
Will’s wife previously worked for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry as a campaign spokeswoman in 2011, according to Politico.
Will has heaped withering scorn on Trump for years. In 2012, he attacked Mitt Romney for appearing with Trump after the real estate billionaire endorsed him, saying Trump was a “bloviating ignoramus.”
El Caganer
@aimai: Our military is not amused. http://www.stripes.com/news/us/army-to-recruiters-treat-armed-citizens-as-security-threat-1.359134
dogwood
@Brachiator:
It’s well known that Trump had high praise for Obama in his first year of office. I think he voted for him. Trump doesn’t have any political ideology or deep roots in a political party or movement. He’s all over the place.
SatanicPanic
@Gimlet: oh man that is good. rooting for injuries
Prometheus Shrugged
@Tim F.: I’m impressed—boundary scavenging is a subject that even its discovers still don’t know much about (though the knowledge base is expanding rapidly with the current GEOTRACES program). So you might have been in the vanguard had you stuck with it! Anyway, as for me, I’m a Columbia (LDEO) PhD and Prof. at SIO in La Jolla. My expertise is specifically in paleoceanography/paleoclimatology. My marine geology class would have been much easier for you…
goblue72
@JPL: Have you ever actually smoked pot? Contrary to the movies, its not some overwhelming compulsion driving the smoker to go run out to Jack in the Box. She could easily have taken a few drags, downed a half a glass of Pinot Grig and gone to bed.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Omnes Omnibus: See Rand Paul, MD; he doesn’t have an undergrad degree.
Matt McIrvin
Why would Jeb, Walker and Rubio try to keep Trump out of the race? As far as I can tell, he helps them (Jeb especially) by drawing support from all the more marginal candidates. I should think they’d want him in there as long as possible, because it simplifies the opposition.
Gimlet
A population so sick and of such limited means, the insurance companies begged the government to take them off their hands.
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Wednesday that we ought to phase out Medicare, the federal program that provides health insurance to Americans once they’re 65.
“We need to make sure we fulfill the commitment to people that have already received the benefits, that are receiving the benefits,” Bush said. “But we need to figure out a way to phase out this program for others and move to a new system that allows them to have something, because they’re not going to have anything.”
Bush praised Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for proposing to change Medicare to a system that gives seniors medical vouchers instead of paying their bills directly. He also lamented that “the left” reacted with an ad showing a Paul lookalike pushing an old lady’s wheelchair off a cliff.
Grisbi
Looks like even Satan has had it with this asshole:
http://imgur.com/gallery/dUTy9lJ
Matt McIrvin
…Not only that, Trump helps them against the Democrats by making them look like a safe “Generic Republican” by comparison to him.
rikyrah
@TheToast2015
Interesting point: if Sandra Bland was to report to the university for a job, she would’ve had a drug screening (1)
DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
The police down there are claiming she smoked/ate all the marijuanas (2).
DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
If Sandra Bland took a drug test at the university, and she ate/smoked all the marijuanas per the police, it would show up on the test. (3)
DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
(4) If the marijuanas DON’T show up on Sandra Bland’s job drug-test but is on the autopsy, when would she have had time to smoke/ingest?
DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
(5) Because Mr. Po Po scrambled after her right after she left the school and carted her off to jail.
DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
(6) So when would she have had time/opportunity to smoke/ingest all the marijuanas?
DALAYYYY @TheToast2015
(7) And if you are so confident in your 1st autopsy why were you trying to get her body back for a new, more credible autopsy?
The Ancient Randonneur
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am very disappointed in our ability to fight errorists. Jade Helm 15 has been active for a week now and Texas STILL hasn’t surrendered. Thanks Obama!
J R in WV
@Pogonip: says: “Why are dentists so Republican, do you know? ”
Because many of them are sadistic monsters and their career choice allows them to express their primary sexuality without going to jail.
And republicans are also mostly sadistic monsters, so, there you go.
Another Holocene Human
@Pogonip: too dumb to get into medical school, too shallow to settle for a job that makes less than six figures
Pogonip
@rikyrah: She would have had the tinkle test before being hired, not the day she started.
Another Holocene Human
@Tommy: This.
boatboy_srq
@MomSense: Worse: not only can’t we tell them apart, they can’t tell them apart. Which means “Good Guy With Gun #1” is “Bad Guy With Gun” to “Good Guy With Gun #2”. And so on until there’s only Guy With Gun and a bunch of corpses. Amazing how the ammosexuals don’t get that: oh, right, ecksepshunulsim, because nobody would ever shoot them.
boatboy_srq
@Tommy: @Another Holocene Human: Exactly.
Another Holocene Human
@JPL: They can test and see if you were exposed to the business end of marijuana in the last 30 days. That is why all those drivers and engineers lose their jobs. What they don’t have is a test for marijuana intoxication. Turning into an issue in CO right now.
Robert Sneddon
@Brachiator:
What class and family dominance is there in British politics? I can think of a couple of cases where related people have been elected to office here in the UK over the past half-century but not many and certainly not in the highest of offices such as Prime Minister. As for class, Margaret Thatcher was famously the daughter of a corner-shop grocer, John Major’s father was an entertainer — the joke was that his son ran away from the circus to be become an accountant, Tony Blair’s father was a law lecturer at Durham, a second-string university. Gordon Brown was a “son of the manse”, a minister’s child. The current PM, Cameron does have some family connections to the peerage but he’s not in line to inherit any titles.None of their offspring seem keen to enter politics at all never mind inheriting the “family seat” the way US Senate and House seats get handed down through the generations.
Nope, you Yanks will just have to accept that you have an almost unique hereditary system of elected government, well apart from Kim Jong-un of North Korea, President Assad of Syria and other such bastions of democracy around the world.
Another Holocene Human
@Omnes Omnibus: Lots of shmancy schools on that list:
https://www.google.com/search?q=master%27s+in+five+years&oq=master%27s+in+five+years&aqs=chrome..69i57j0.3414j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8
Mike J
@J R in WV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvfS7mBxK6Q
Mandalay
@dogwood:
Perhaps, but I was never convinced that simply selecting Palin sealed McCain’s defeat.
My recollection is that he did himself far more harm by suspending his campaign and going back to DC to solve the financial crisis. That was a real disaster for him because he set himself up for success while he was in the spotlight, but the nation saw that he was just an incompetent blowhard on anything to do with the economy. And voters care a hell of a lot more about their investments and their 401k than they do about Sunnis or Putin.
After that debacle he never really lost his loser stink.
opiejeanne
@Cervantes: Did the Roman Senate have the filibuster?
Gimlet
Diepraam said the autopsy showed that Bland had no defensive injuries on her hands that would typically indicate a struggle.
He said 30 lacerations or abrasions were found on her wrists were marks consistent with self-inflicted injuries he’s seen before — though he noted that’s not a determination of what happened in this case.
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike J: Without clicking, it’s Steve Martin in “Little Shop of Horrors,” right?
ETA: Yep.
Another Holocene Human
If you didn’t know, Elon is going to be live at 6:30pm ET, 3:30pm PT, and the phone lines will be open.
Tree With Water
“Tom Brady and the NFL players union have reportedly made an effort to settle the quarterback’s Deflategate suspension – but the offer has been met with silence from the league. ..ESPN reports that Brady, who is scheduled to miss the first four games of the season, is holding firm on his refusal to accept any suspension, though he would consider accepting a fine”.
If this report is accurate, I think Brady is acting with great magnanimity. But if anyone can further exacerbate this ridiculous situation, it’s Roger Goodell. It’s incredible. That dumb bastard actually stands to be remembered as “the man whose incompetence drove Tom Brady from the game”.
Gimlet
@Pogonip:
Was the cop tested for evidence of drug use [including steroids] to explain his behavior at the encounter?
Germy Shoemangler
@MomSense: Here is a guide to help us decide who is a good guy with a gun and who is a bad guy with a gun:
http://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2014/06/13
dogwood
@Mandalay:
The presidency of George W Bush made a republican succession an uphill battle. Choosing Palin, suspending his campaign had nothing to do with his loss, they were just desperate measures. The only person who could have saved McCain was Barack Obama, and he refused to fuck up.
Jay C
@opiejeanne:
Yes: it was about 8-10 inches long, sharpened on both sides, with a lead pommel for balance.
burnspbesq
So wait a sec. She had her cell phone, a large quantity of dope, AND a trash bag with her in her jail cell?
I think situations like this are what the phrase “strains credulity” was invented to cover.
Brachiator
@Robert Sneddon:
Sorry, I was in a hurry because of network problems, but I thought that most people would get the gist of what I wrote. Programs like the News Quiz made direct comparisons to Bush and Clinton and the British Royal family in terms of dynasties. Obviously, this is broader than governing parties, but there you are. And even though we have our share of politicians and government officials with Harvard and Yale backgrounds, comedians on these shows (News Quiz, The Now Show, etc) have a hell of a time noting how narrow the class backgrounds are of British officials. And even if it is a doddering institution, the House of Lords is positively bizarre for a democracy.
You’re joking, right?
Germy Shoemangler
@Gimlet:
That should be mandatory for all officers. And conducted on a random (unpredictable) basis by an independent agency, because I’m certain they’d game the system otherwise.
Mandalay
@Robert Sneddon:
Good question, and the answer is not much. Dominance in British politics is determined far more by education: 40 of Britain’s 53 Prime Ministers went to Oxford or Cambridge, and 19 of them even went to the same school: Eton. Of course, attending Eton means your family has both money and connections, but going to Oxford or Cambridge is more important, and you don’t need money or connections to do that (as Thatcher showed).
Zinsky
Trump would quit after a month, if by some miracle he did get elected. Governing, at least governing responsibly, is hard work. The egotistical weenie couldn’t handle it.
JPL
@goblue72: Many, many decades and I had problems with time dragging and dragging and dragging.
jibeaux
Contest to name the clown car debate, in a parody of the name of a reality show?
JPL
@Zinsky: That would be the best case scenario as long as Sarah is not his VP
jibeaux
I’ll start
Damn Straight I’m A Batchelor Since All Marriage Is Gay Now
mai naem mobile
@Pogonip: We have a family friend who did his oral surgery part of his degree at Harvard and had a very hard time finding an orthodontic job in Phoenix because, according to him the orthodontic practices are monopolized.by Mormons. Don’t forget an unusually large number of donors to the anti gay marriage prop in California were Mormon dentists.
Germy Shoemangler
@JPL: I logged in many decades as well, and it still amazes me when the news outlets report autopsies finding it as proof of some… sinister… thing.
Especially nowadays, when so many comedians and entertainers boast openly about it (Seth Macfarlane, Seth Rogen, Kevin Smith etc) and even base their schtick around it.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Tracy Ratcliff: Thanks for the pointer.
(Emphasis added.)
Hmmm….
Cheers,
Scott.
Keith G
@opiejeanne: The Roman Senate had Tribunes, members of that body who were to stand for the interests of the Plebs.
When a Tribune felt that legislative action was going in a bad direction he could stand and exclaim, “Veto.” “I forbid”
In theory, anyway.
Brachiator
@dogwood:
Very droll. Great line, and accurate.
Robert Sneddon
@Brachiator: The Royal Family has had no overt political power in the UK since the facts of life were explained to Charles I with the edge of an axe back in the 1600s. The US has had Bush pere, Clinton and Bush fils as President within the past twenty years and looks to be getting another Clinton or a Bush after Obama leaves office, meanwhile Jeb’s son George P. Bush is lining up his own run for President in a few years time starting with his election to the post of land commissioner in Texas at the beginning of this year.
There is nothing in British politics as as incestuous as the Kennedys, the Bushes, the Rockefellers and the other families that hold positions of political power so tightly. Apart from places like North Korea and Syria (and maybe India and Pakistan) this passing on of power and privilege within families just doesn’t happen, and with good reason.
goblue72
@JPL: Apologies then. Still, affects different people different. It rarely makes my wife hungry. Sleepy, mos def. Two tokes, half a glass of rose and she’s snoring before we’ve even made it halfway through a movie.
Brachiator
@Mandalay: Yep, education is part of it, and access to the best schools by the wealthy. Here is a rant by broadcaster Andrew Neil
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/magazine-12282505
mai naem mobile
@Germy Shoemangler: I heard somebody say somewhere that the cop was justified in asking Bland to stop smoking because people use.cigarette smoke to mask the smell of pot. That doesn’t even make sense on too many levels. I think it was a simple driving while black harassment kind of stop gone completely wrong.
Germy Shoemangler
@mai naem mobile: I read today that a cop pulled someone over and searched his car because he had one of those xmas tree car fresheners hanging.
http://boingboing.net/2015/07/23/federal-court-rules-that-air-f.html
J R in WV
@Germy Shoemangler:
There you go! Have money, but clean no drugs, go to jail. No money, go to jail for vagrancy. Drugs, go to jail, for, well drugs.
Wait, all these options go to jail, don’t they? How did that happen?
Must be republican logic, Texas republican math and logic, right?!?!
Maybe I should go back to school, law school, won’t need a phone call, just talk to myself and a bail bondsman…how’s that work?
Pogonip
@Germy Shoemangler: Rosaries?
“Your Honor, I tased this 80-year-old man because he had a rosary on his rearview mirror and claimed he was traveling at an excessive rate of speed because he was a clergyman trying to get to the hospital in time.”
Heads they win, tails we lose, indeed. And it’s all of us, not just blacks. Black people have the dubious distinction of being the canaries in the U. S. coal mine; things that happen to them tend to happen to the rest of us 30-odd years later. Let’s all unite against the common threat.
Germy Shoemangler
@Pogonip: Well said.
jilli
Sixteen clowns and counting…
Cervantes
@Brachiator:
Their dad paid his dues, and maybe theirs as well.
Omnes Omnibus
@Robert Sneddon: Nice try.
Gravenstone
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Some guys have trouble with premature ejaculation. He seems to be a repeat offender.
goblue72
@Germy Shoemangler: The article leaves out a fairly relevant piece of information in the totality of the facts & circumstances –
The officer found dozens of bundles of cash wrapped in black trash bags hidden behind a panel in the back of the car, and he arrested Peña-Gonzalez. A later count of the money revealed 105 bundles containing more than $670,000.
boatboy_srq
@Robert Sneddon: Better check your facts there.
Cervantes
@Robert Sneddon:
You must be forgetting the Pitts, père et fils.
Amir Khalid
@Robert Sneddon:
It’s a bit more common than that, I think. Here in Malaysia we have a PM, Najib, whose father Tun Abdul Razak and uncle Hussein Onn were also prime ministers. That’s three PMs, out of only six since independence, from one family; and there may yet be a fourth because Hussein Onn’s son Hishamuddin is a Cabinet minister and might aspire to the top job himself.
Full metal Wingnut
@gene108: Johnny Eject-o-matic and Obama being statistically tied that late is the real embarrassment. Palin was just icing.
different-church-lady
You want Trump out of this race? Let him hijack the debate. The grenade is right there and he won’t be able to resist pulling out the pin in front of a national audience.
Paul in KY
@Cervantes: Sad that you can say Caligula’s Roman Senate had more sanity than our own. Seems to be true, though.
Paul in KY
@mai naem mobile: Well, he needs to start slagging on Jeb!, instead of milquetoast non-entities like ‘Fainting Couch’ Graham.
Paul in KY
@opiejeanne: I think the Senator had to stand up there and repeatedly say ‘neigh’. That’s why the horse Incatatus (I think) made such a good senator.
Paul in KY
@Tree With Water: Oh, it’s so magnanimous for the multi-millionaire to accept a fine for his rampant cheating escapades.
Jenny
T