Political Randomness

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:46 pm

Holman wrote:$5,000,000,000 ego knows no limits.

Bingo!

Franklin M. Hart Jr.: [Judy's fantasy - she's a big game hunter and Hart is the prey] Judy? Judy, you've got to help me; that mob out there is crazy; they're trying to kill me!

Judy: Now, why would they want ot do a nasty little thing like that?

Franklin M. Hart Jr.: I don't know! I'm not such a bad guy!

Judy: You're a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.

Franklin M. Hart Jr.: So I have a few faults; who doesn't? Is that any reason to kill me?

Judy: You're foul, Hart. A wart on the nose of humanity and I'm going to blast it off.

[she points her shotgun at him]

Franklin M. Hart Jr.: [giggling nervously] Judy... Judy... Judy...

Judy: Goodbye boss man. It's quittin' time.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Jul 08, 2015 5:54 pm

What a tool! Maybe you should actually do your job one of these days:

Adding another wrinkle to the saga is that, according to Hunt, four of the 19 bills are pieces of emergency legislation, which go in effect immediately, rather than after the 90 day-period attached to typical laws.

Among the bills in question is legislation that will grant immigrants seeking asylum in the United States welfare assistance. Another of the bills creates a fund to help pay for municipal broadband development.

Democrats, which control the state House, are crowing about the turn of events. In particular they point out that LePage was endorsing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) for president at an event in Maine last week instead of vetoing the bills in a timely fashion.

“We were expecting him to act on these last Thursday when he was hanging out with Chris Christie, but he seems to have gotten distracted by that,” House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe told the Bangor newspaper.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 10:32 am

I forget. I thought I was supposed to be for more Federal Influence in and funding for Primary and Secondary education since 2008.

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/h ... eft-behind

Somebody please make up my mind.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:35 pm

Made the mistake of joining in on a political conversation while walking back to my cubicle a few minutes ago. When I jokingly said, "Well at least we all agree Trump is great for some laughs.", one of the ladies gave me a dirty look and told me, "I like a lot of what he's saying...and so do a lot of people.".

I laughed, thinking she was joking. This enraged her, and she immediately informed me that I would be surprised to find that very few people shared my opinion that he was a joke."

Which made me laugh again.

I finally had to just walk away because she was getting pretty angry.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:39 pm

hepcat wrote:Made the mistake of joining in on a political conversation while walking back to my cubicle a few minutes ago. When I jokingly said, "Well at least we all agree Trump is great for some laughs.", one of the ladies gave me a dirty look and told me, "I like a lot of what he's saying...and so do a lot of people.".

I laughed, thinking she was joking. This enraged her, and she immediately informed me that I would be surprised to find that very few people shared my opinion that he was a joke."

Which made me laugh again.

I finally had to just walk away because she was getting pretty angry.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:42 pm

hepcat wrote:Made the mistake of joining in on a political conversation while walking back to my cubicle a few minutes ago. When I jokingly said, "Well at least we all agree Trump is great for some laughs.", one of the ladies gave me a dirty look and told me, "I like a lot of what he's saying...and so do a lot of people.".

I laughed, thinking she was joking. This enraged her, and she immediately informed me that I would be surprised to find that very few people shared my opinion that he was a joke."

Which made me laugh again.

I finally had to just walk away because she was getting pretty angry.

I try not to discuss politics at work.

I fail.

Still. I try.

I imagine I work in a fairly republican heavy office and I can think of one person who would be on board with Trump... Even without the Mexican tirade.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 1:46 pm

The rules created just to make sure things unfold accordingly really never cease to amaze me:

The Washington Post is reporting that Fox News has clarified the criteria for participation in the first GOP debate in such a way that Trump and most of his fellow candidates will have to file their personal financial disclosures before the debate or be kept off the stage. That’s unlikely to be a serious problem for the vast majority of the GOP field, but it will back Trump into a corner.

...

Fox News is stressing that it hasn’t changed the criteria, and instead is simply clarifying them.

Right. Clarification that was only needed when his polling numbers increased...while his messaging became more terrifying.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 3:10 pm

hepcat wrote:Made the mistake of joining in on a political conversation while walking back to my cubicle a few minutes ago. When I jokingly said, "Well at least we all agree Trump is great for some laughs.", one of the ladies gave me a dirty look and told me, "I like a lot of what he's saying...and so do a lot of people.".

I laughed, thinking she was joking. This enraged her, and she immediately informed me that I would be surprised to find that very few people shared my opinion that he was a joke."

Which made me laugh again.

I finally had to just walk away because she was getting pretty angry.

So what you're saying is that you rubbed someone the wrong way? How unusual.

Depending on the situation, I might have been inclined to taunt the begeezus out of her.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 3:12 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Right. Clarification that was only needed when his polling numbers increased...while his messaging became more terrifying.

Let him debate. These things are so dry anyway, it might be fun.

And if the American people decide to make him president, well, awesome.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 5:03 pm

I think hepcat's work life would make a great reality show.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 7:12 pm

Florida's Congressional Districts Rejected as Gerrymandered

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 7:15 pm

Defiant wrote:Florida's Congressional Districts Rejected as Gerrymandered

The ruling chastised the Republican-led Legislature not only for working with political operatives to violate the constitution in order to benefit the GOP, but also for making important decisions behind closed doors and destroying documents and deleting emails when they knew the maps would be challenged in court.

"The Legislature itself proclaimed that it would conduct the most open and transparent redistricting process in the history of the state, and then made important decisions, affecting numerous districts in the enacted map, outside the purview of public scrutiny," the ruling said.

The court questioned whether the full extent of the political maneuver was exposed in the case.

"Since many of the e-mails were deleted or destroyed, we still may have only a partial picture of the behind-the-scenes political tactics," Justice Barbara Pariente wrote for the majority in the 5-2 opinion. Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston dissented.

The court recommended the Legislature make all its decision in public when it redraws the maps and to save all emails and documents related to the effort.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Thu Jul 09, 2015 7:34 pm

In which Tareeq nails a bloviating fool on Fox - again!

“For the stock exchange to go down like it is today, for the administration to come out so fast and say so vehemently and say ‘this is not an attack’, I think is a little bit disingenuous,” he said in the interview. “There’s been on Twitter, all day today, claims from North Korea that they are behind this attack and that’s very, very possible as are a number of other actors.”

Putting aside the issue of whether it’s possible or not, the tweet in question wasn’t from North Korea. It was from a Twitter user called @PopeHat.

Shepard Smith, a Fox News anchor, brought a little calm back to the discussion when he blasted people — including Mr Keeley — who were linking the attacks and sourcing information from Twitter.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 12:16 am

$iljanus wrote:
hepcat wrote:Made the mistake of joining in on a political conversation while walking back to my cubicle a few minutes ago. When I jokingly said, "Well at least we all agree Trump is great for some laughs.", one of the ladies gave me a dirty look and told me, "I like a lot of what he's saying...and so do a lot of people.".

I laughed, thinking she was joking. This enraged her, and she immediately informed me that I would be surprised to find that very few people shared my opinion that he was a joke."

Which made me laugh again.

I finally had to just walk away because she was getting pretty angry.

If ever a picture begged for a photoshop...

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Jul 10, 2015 11:38 am

Isgrimnur wrote:Former VA Governor and wive convicted on corruption charges.

Appeal denied

A federal appeals court upheld former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's public corruption convictions Friday.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was unanimous.

"Appellant received a fair trial and was duly convicted by a jury of his fellow Virginians," Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote in the 89-page opinion. "We have no cause to undo what has been done."
...
McDonnell could appeal the panel's ruling to the full appeals court or to the U.S. Supreme Court. His attorneys declined to comment, saying they were working on a statement.

The appeals court has not yet scheduled oral arguments in Maureen McDonnell's case.

McDonnell claimed in his appeal that his convictions on 11 counts were based on an overly broad definition of what amounts to an "official act" under federal bribery law. His lawyers argued that McDonnell provided only routine "ingratiation and access" that courts have upheld as legal.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:25 am

AWS260 wrote:
Moliere wrote:This article from Ken at Popehat.com is getting a lot of press (at least in my RSS news feeds).

The United States Department of Justice is using federal grand jury subpoenas to identify anonymous commenters engaged in typical internet bluster and hyperbole in connection with the Silk Road prosecution. DOJ is targeting Reason.com, a leading libertarian website whose clever writing is eclipsed only by the blowhard stupidity of its commenting peanut gallery.

Why is the government using its vast power to identify these obnoxious asshats, and not the other tens of thousands who plague the internet?

Because these twerps mouthed off about a judge.
Slate, Vice, and Wired are just a few examples.
Mr. Fed comes alive! Video interview on HuffPo.

Ken interviewed by Reason.com

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:08 am

Moliere wrote:
AWS260 wrote:
Moliere wrote:This article from Ken at Popehat.com is getting a lot of press (at least in my RSS news feeds).

The United States Department of Justice is using federal grand jury subpoenas to identify anonymous commenters engaged in typical internet bluster and hyperbole in connection with the Silk Road prosecution. DOJ is targeting Reason.com, a leading libertarian website whose clever writing is eclipsed only by the blowhard stupidity of its commenting peanut gallery.

Why is the government using its vast power to identify these obnoxious asshats, and not the other tens of thousands who plague the internet?

Because these twerps mouthed off about a judge.

Slate, Vice, and Wired are just a few examples.
Mr. Fed comes alive! Video interview on HuffPo.
Ken interviewed by Reason.com

Represent Ken!

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:20 am

That's awesome. Waiting for the news Ken will be on The Daily Show.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:23 am

Smoove_B wrote:That's awesome. Waiting for the news Ken will be on The Daily Show.

He won't be on it, he is taking that shit over!

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 9:52 pm

A U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) study to understand why lesbians are fat has now cost taxpayers over $3.5 million to-date.

The study, “Sexual Orientation and Obesity: A Test of a Gendered Biopsychosocial Model,” seeks to determine why there is a disparity in the obesity rates between straight women and lesbian women and straight men and gay men.

According to the study, “It is now well-established that women of minority sexual orientation are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic, with nearly three-quarters of adult lesbians overweight or obese, compared to half of heterosexual women. In stark contrast, among men, heterosexual males have nearly double the risk of obesity compared to gay males.”

http://www.mrctv.org/blog/taxpayers-con ... batiy:V5wP

Well at least we got to the bottom of that......

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:23 pm

Moliere wrote:Ken interviewed by Reason.com

Kudos to Ken. Although I've watched the piece a couple of times, and I keep missing the moment when he says, "Snort my taint." Must be a YouTube glitch.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 9:42 am

AWS260 wrote:
Moliere wrote:Ken interviewed by Reason.com
Kudos to Ken. Although I've watched the piece a couple of times, and I keep missing the moment when he says, "Snort my taint." Must be a YouTube glitch.

Coincidentally, I watched a TSA video on reason.com recently.

http://reason.com/reasontv/2015/07/09/t ... -terrorist

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:10 am

In politics what's the difference between verification and trust?

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:53 am

Wasn't sure where to put this

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/07/e ... -the-nypd/

I don't mind this. If McDonald's can pay extreme punitive damages for scalding coffee then the NYPD (and PDs) should be vulnerable to extreme punitive damages for such disgraceful actions resulting in death.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:58 am

As an aside, I recently read a fascinating article on that whole incident with McDonalds and the hot coffee law suit. In short, it wasn't as frivolous as the media seemed to portray it.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:59 am

LordMortis wrote:If McDonald's can pay extreme punitive damages for scalding coffee

Less than $600k meets your definition of extreme punitive damages?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:01 am

hepcat wrote:As an aside, I recently read a fascinating article on that whole incident with McDonalds and the hot coffee law suit. In short, it wasn't as frivolous as the media seemed to portray it.

There's also the Hot Coffee documentary.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:19 am

You mean the case that has become the rote stand-in for all that is wrong with our litigious society isn't what's wrong with out litigious society?

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:39 am

LordMortis wrote:Wasn't sure where to put this

http://countercurrentnews.com/2015/07/e ... -the-nypd/

I don't mind this. If McDonald's can pay extreme punitive damages for scalding coffee then the NYPD (and PDs) should be vulnerable to extreme punitive damages for such disgraceful actions resulting in death.

The family settled for a somewhat higher amount: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/14/nyreg ... llion.html.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 3:02 pm

No, no... tell us what you really think!

The Oklahoma Republican Party is apologizing for saying on Facebook that giving people food stamps is akin to feeding animals in national parks.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:38 pm

I did not know the origins of the term. You learn something new every day, I guess:

This week marks the 271st birthday of the politician who first approved of “gerrymandering.” As governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry (also the nation’s fifth vice president) agreed to the idea of drawing congressional districts in odd shapes to ensure that the political party in power won the majority of the state’s seats in the House.

Teggy · Post by **Teggy** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:28 pm

So you know how we always say the president doesn't really have control over the price of gas? Well it looks like Obama's push for an Iran deal is going to drop the price of gas.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:37 pm

Teggy wrote:So you know how we always say the president doesn't really have control over the price of gas? Well it looks like Obama's push for an Iran deal is going to drop the price of gas.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 1:44 pm

Is that ball underinflated?

Biyobi · Post by **Biyobi** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 4:06 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:Is that ball underinflated?

He's a Chicago guy so it's inflated just fine, but he'll probably miss his target when it matters most.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 4:28 pm

Moliere wrote:Support for Boston’s Olympic Bid Slips in Poll

It would be nice if more people realized what a financial boondoggle it is to host the Olympics and World Cup.

Looks like Boston is dodging the Olympic hosting bullet.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is willing to lose the city’s Olympic bid rather than commit today to an agreement that puts Boston on the hook for budgetary shortfalls, he said.

“If committing to signing a guarantee today is what’s required to move forward, then Boston is no longer pursuing the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Walsh said Monday.

Walsh has supported the city’s Olympic aspirations since last fall even through significant public pushback. But in a hastily arranged press conference Monday morning, he said he would not commit at this time to signing the host city contract if Boston wins the right to host the 2024 Olympics.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:40 pm

Only developers and financiers (and, I suppose, really hardcore sports nuts) are bullish on having Olympics here. I hope the possibility goes away.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:41 pm

Kraken wrote:Only developers and financiers (and, I suppose, really hardcore sports nuts) are bullish on having Olympics here. I hope the possibility goes away.

hotels, restaurants, taxi drivers, Uber drivers, sex workers, scalpers, air bnb...

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Jul 27, 2015 6:50 pm

Pyperkub wrote:
Kraken wrote:Only developers and financiers (and, I suppose, really hardcore sports nuts) are bullish on having Olympics here. I hope the possibility goes away.
hotels, restaurants, taxi drivers, Uber drivers, sex workers, scalpers, air bnb...

Well, maybe. Boston's economy is booming now; we don't have the capacity to handle Olympics crowds. But who knows what 2024 will bring? Maybe it will need stimulus then. Still, I don't think popular support has ever reached 50% and it's hard to imagine that changing.

Teggy · Post by **Teggy** » Tue Jul 28, 2015 1:11 pm

They officially pulled out late yesterday.

Next on Boston's list is a large casino. There is supposed to be one put in a bit outside of town, but it's already been pushed back to 2018. I think we'll wind up with one way out west in Springfield, but I'm curious how close to Boston they will manage.