Friday, October 23, 2015

Friday's Thoughts: Open Thread

Some thoughts from this week:

—Paul Ryan has the path cleared away for the Speakership after a supermajority of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, though it wasn’t enough to get the 80% needed. So, despite the lack of endorsements, the way is cleared. Unless some revelation comes out or he has a McCarthy-sized gaffe, Ryan will be our next Speaker.

As expected, talk radio and others are going crazy. It did not help that Harry Reid “endorsed” Paul Ryan, an endorsement seconded up by an army of Democrats on capitol hill and in the press. And, what is aggravating is that a bunch of these conservatives, who expound endlessly on why compromise with Democrats is bad because Democrats are untrustworthy, took this at face value.

The reason the Democrats are endorsing Ryan is for two reasons. One, in the case of Reid it is just to screw with Republicans, a bait these conservatives have taken hook, line, and sinker. Second, in the case of Luis Guiterrez, who said a vote for Ryan is a vote for amnesty, it is so that in several months when Ryan does not pass a massive amnesty bill, or whenever the House does work on immigration, it is so he, and the rest of the liberal pundits, can talk about how “Ryan is allowing himself to be pushed around by the Tea Party.”

They do it all the time.

Givne he could win over the House Freedom Caucus and the most of the people opposing him are those who think Donald “I love Kelo”Trump is a standard bearer of conservatism, I’m inclined to support Ryan.

—On Kelo and Trump, if Rubio, Jeb Bush, or any other Republican candidate and come out with his position on Kelo and eminent domain, these people would’ve been apoplectic, but instead, they praise him for a “nuanced” position. He is our Obama.

—Benghazi hearing: What can I say? People died, Hillary lied. ‘Nuff said.

—Oh, Trump falls behind Carson in Iowa. Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end for Trump.

—Jews are being stabbed in the streets of Israel because of provocation by the Palestinian government. And, again, the “moral” leaders of the world are saying “both sides need to de-escalate”. If both sides of World War 2 had “de-escalated” in 1942 there would not be a single Jew left in Europe. Sometimes, you have to fight back.

My support for Israel, which, yes, is a flawed country, is not based on some biblical principle of the Jewish people being special. It is based on the fact that Israel is the freest country in the Middle East, the only true democracy with a system of governance based upon the rule of law.

Yes, it has problems, there is discrimination, against christians and other Arabs and, yes, it can be a pain in the neck for those who live there but it is not anywhere near the pain in the neck it is for Christians or dissidents in the rest of the Middle East. You don’t tear down a good thing because it is flawed, you improve the good thing. You cherish it and, most importantly, you protect it.

Especially when it is the only island of freedom in the sea of anarchy, violence, and tyranny that is the Middle East.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, well, I saw the trailer and, dammit, it looks really good and now I have to see it. Crap. But, hey, after the prequels the only direction we can go is up, right? Right?
Trailer: LINK

—#BoycottStarWarsVII went viral and I want to say that I fully understand the sentiment. Star Trek: Into Darkness was an awful waste of time that relied entirely upon the emotional beats of a movie nearly 30 years old and, from what I’ve heard, Abrams other recent movie, Super 8, was a stupid, 1970s Spielberg knock-off. I don’t see why a bunch of people were angry over it.

Hold on.

Wait, wait a minute. Ok. Apparently it has to do with the black actor in the movie? Huh? What?

Ok. Apparently, a couple of trolls started it and a few people saw it, were shocked, and then it went viral with a bunch of people tweeting about how terrible it was and, since it was now trending heavily because all these people were shocked about it, a bunch of other people saw it, and failed to realize it was trending because most people didn’t agree with it.

Really. One of the trolls actually bragged about it, saying, “We did it Again #4chan should win a Nobel Peace Prize ! We made a racial issue out of thin air!!”

This should not be surprising, the people who forwarded this are obsessed with "proving" that America is nothing but a putrid swamp of racist, knuckle-dragging sexists. Why else would the NRA have a 58% approval rating among Americans?

Read this Esquire article for an explanation of the: LINK

15 comments:

AndrewPrice said...

I know how zombies start now. Our microwave died tonight... (why not, everything else has blown up this week?) Anyhoo, about an hour later, it came back from the dead and started working again. Call me crazy (or just really, really sane... I KNOW the TRuTH!) but if I heat up a burrito, this burrito is going to turn me into a zombie isn't it?

AndrewPrice said...

The Star Wars trailer won me over. I'm hooked. No doubt I'll feel stupid for falling for this again.. lens flare, but for now I'm excited. :)

Kit said...

"The Star Wars trailer won me over. I'm hooked. No doubt I'll feel stupid for falling for this again.. lens flare, but for now I'm excited. :)"

My sentiments exactly.

BevfromNYC said...

Andrew- Sorry to hear about your microwave. I think I passed on all of my electronic issues onto you. Though I haven't had to deal with zombie burritos. That's just crazy!! Leave the house if you started craving braaaaiiinnnzzzzzz. Just sayin'

Critch said...

For some reason Ryan strikes me as the type of guy I didn't like in high school, or any other time..and I don't know why.

Microwaves have a safety switch in the door latch, and sometimes they get gunked up or something and don't work. Then one day they do, it's happened to me...

Back to Paul Ryan..I'll hold my opinion on him for awhile.

AndrewPrice said...

Critch, Unfortunately, the problem is larger than that. Smoke... nuclear sounds... total death. Wait an hour... "errrr, brains...."

AndrewPrice said...

Bev, I'm craving cookies. Does that count? LOL!

AndrewPrice said...

My condolences to those hurt and killed in the parade accident in Oklahoma. I've actually dealt with a legal case like that as it is not at all uncommon for people to slam cars into parades.

ScottDS said...

Andrew, sorry to hear about your microwave. They're usually pretty reliable!

BTW, Happy (belated) Future Day, everybody!

I picked up the limited edition USA Today on the 22nd. It featured a one page wrap resembling the one Doc shows Marty in the film with the story about Marty Jr. getting arrested.

It's nice to see these movies finally getting the love they deserve. Making-of books, remastered soundtracks (on CD and LP!), etc.

A few years ago, my friend and I recorded a commentary for Part II. You can listen to it here.

Koshcat said...

Re: new Star Wars, should we have an over/under on the amount of lens flare? I think there was about 250 in Into Darkness so open line at about 100?

Anthony said...

That Oklahoma thing is messed up. Drunk drivers are freaks who blindfire into crowds. When discovered, they ought to be hit extremely hard by the system even if they miraculously fail to kill anyone. I used to like my alcohol, but I drew the line there (when I planned on drinking, I planned on walking or taking a taxi) because I'm not a sociopath or a fool.

AndrewPrice said...

Anthony, I agree completely. BUT let me add that there are now reports that she wasn't even drunk. She may just be emotionally disturbed. Yikes.

AndrewPrice said...

Koshcat, It will be over 200 for sure. I'm just hoping he doesn't start with the "timeline" being destroyed so he can do whatever he wants.

Look, Darth Vader and R2D2 (who is now a blonde chick) are best friends at Hogwarts!

Kit said...

She is being charged w/ murder.

tryanmax said...

Andrew, you have to look carefully at the wrappers on those microwave burritos. At a glance it reads "Beef and Bean" but when you scrutinize, you realize it says "Beef and Brain." It's amazing how the mind tricks the eyes into seeing what you expect to see.

On lens flare, I must be the only person on the planet not bothered by it. I just genuinely thought The Wrath of Khanberbatch was derivative crap. Maybe it's a psychological trick? "Maybe if the production quality is low enough, they won't notice the poor writing?"

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