‘Lection News Yeah, I’m late to the news, but boy that was a lot of v*ters feeling the Bern last weekend. If Hillary and her superdelegates manage to hold on to the nomination through sheer force of establishmentarianism, what’s her slogan going to be? “Almost a mandate!” “Not a mandate, but I still won, suckers.” “Corruption pays!” “Suck it up; you’re stuck with me.” “You don’t have to like me. You don’t have to trust me. But you better v*te for me in the general election ’cause the alternative’s even scarier.” “Mine’s still bigger than The Donald’s.” —– Speaking of…
14 CommentsCategory: Poly-Ticks
Those blood-sucking vermin in state and national capitals and city halls everywhere
Reading true-crime stories (yes, one of my secret vices), I’m repeatedly struck by the way victims are often complicit in the horrors committed against them.
I’m not talking about the woman who takes a strange man home from a bar or the family that fails to lock its doors when a burglar is on the loose (though them, too). I’m talking about victims who feel personal loyalty to “friends,” relations, leaders, and professionals who are doing them obvious harm.
I’m talking about patients who stand by a quack doctor even though she’s obviously killing them to get their money and possessions. (She killed many more).
Or the followers of a preacher who’s degrading and controlling them for his own sick benefit. Jeffs. Jones. Creffield. The horror stories go back at least to the middle ages and more likely to the dawn of human time.
I’m talking about people who repeatedly believe obvious, manipulative sociopathic liars. (The link is to a Joseph Wambaugh book that details one of the creepiest examples of manipulation and self-deception I’ve ever read about. But obviously it’s just one example of thousands.)
19 CommentsI was thinking the other day that if The Hillary and The Donald* actually end up as the D and R nominees, it’ll be the first election in U.S. history where half the v*ote is an “anybody but Hillary” protest and the other half an “anybody but Donald” backlash. Can you think of a more repulsive matchup ever? Not that any aren’t repulsive. But this one’s worse than Nixon v. Humphrey** for complete lack of … well, anything good. This guy’s got it right. I’ve always believed that if you have to have elections, cutting up a phone book and…
23 CommentsYes, even when ‘Netless, I manage to pick up some newses. Enjoy. Another absurdly too-good-to-be-true “gun control” study OMG, these people are reaching so far it’s almost funny. Legalization does what the drug war never managed: cartel busting. How very unsurprising. No, we do not need an “encryption commission. No way. Nohow. Just plain NO. How the obnoxious PC police helped create Donald Trump. I know you gunfolk already heard, but West Virginia — over its governor’s cop-surrounded veto — this week became the latest state go constitutional carry Unfortunately, some people who ought naturally to have and carry firearms…
9 CommentsIt’s been busy — but mundane — in the 10 days since I suspended home Internet. Mundane is good. I like mundane. In fact, the virtues of downright boredom are sadly unappreciated in this busy-busy day.
10 CommentsYou’ve may have heard that establishment GOP pol Lindsey Graham said his party has gone batsh*t crazy. And as proof of that, you may also have heard that Chris Christie has endorsed Donald Trump. Apparently out of spite against Marco Rubio. Or something. But one politician who wisely declines to endorse Trump under any circumstances is former Mexican president Vicente Fox, who says he has no intention to pay for Trump’s f*cking wall. Good man, that Fox. Any chance one of the parties could draft him? Sorry for the bad language. But on the other hand, it may be a…
9 CommentsWell, both. Saturday I woke up without Internet. And I’m looking at going ‘Netless for six months. Although I suspended service mostly to economize, I was both looking forward to ‘Netless peace and feeling nervous about cutting back my means of livelihood. Since waking up that first morning I haven’t really worried about the earning-a-living part. That’s manageable. I’ve done it before, after all. But you know what really drove me crazy? It was the day of the Nevada Democratic caucuses and I couldn’t play political junkie. I have only one potential means of getting news: NPR on a clock…
8 CommentsI was going to post this yesterday before home Internet disappeared. But have I mentioned it was a crazy week? So, belatedly, the library’s wifi system and I present today’s links: “Why I left Islam and now help others who are doing the same.” Learning to become resiliant (even if the trendiest publications are so over resiliance). Charles Koch agrees with Bernie Sanders Modern-day Milgram shows … well, no very big surprise. But speaking of following orders, what the hell kind of government would do this — or even think of ordering thugs to do such a thing??? (Another look…
5 CommentsIn case Donald Trump wins, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, will roll out the red carpet to Americans. No word on where we’ll go if anybody else wins, but to hell in a handbasket seems a likely option. (H/T MJR) “Nino at the Bridge.” Quote: You know your country has big trouble when the death of one man tosses your political reckonings, your expectations, your fundamental understandings into the briar patch … (Yes, the author’s a bit more enamored of the Constitution that you probably are, but Scalia was a good man.) Borepatch: Don’t buy a Samsung smart TV. I think…
10 CommentsThe deeper story on those undemocratic superdelegates supporting Hillary. And the background on how superdelegates came to be. Electorally, the big question is will the dogs eat it? (Given that dogs will eat both vomit and sh*t, maybe they will.) OTOH, the backlash has begun. Michelle Alexander writes in The Nation that Clinton doesn’t deserve the black vote that the media considers so inevitable for her. The new frontier of negative interest rates. You know, if I didn’t realize this stuff is for real, I’d think articles like this one were parodies. Or bizarre fantasies. Oh, the weird world of…
11 Comments