First, an appetizer:
Why normal people hate the left. Here's a Google review of a Burger King not too far from me:
Racist place ..Tells me that the vegan burger was not made for vegetarians... and it will cross contaminate with meat ... as they use the same grill ... in a world with more vegans then ever ... refusing to support healthier way of living ... refusing to change the old unhealthy way of living.
A young non-white woman walks into a place called BURGER KING. Surprise! She does not find the vegan meal of her dreams. And that, apparently, is grounds for a charge of racism.
After we defeat Trumpism, our next duty is to defeat the screwball lefties. They're almost as nutty as the Q crowd.
Amy. Yes, I hate her too. Have to admit: I was wrong in my prediction that Trump would pick a non-Catholic. I still believe that Michael Wolff had good sourcing for the passage in Siege in which Trump complains about the number of Catholics on the Supreme Court.
But in this case, Amy Coney Barrett has been pre-vetted, and the clock is ticking. I must presume that expediency outweighed all other concerns.
Fortunately, the Dems have plenty of methods to try to run out the clock. Normally, I'd be against these tactics, but McConnell's unendurable hypocrisy means that Dems are justified in using Chicago rules. You surely remember Sean Connery's great speech in The Untouchables: "If they send one of yours to the hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue."
The usual argument against playing that kind of hardball is that doing so will endanger Democrats running in tough races. But Doug Jones of Alabama -- whom most observers have written off -- has said, in essence, "Screw that!"
“We know that the votes are not there [to block the nominee], but you do what you can to call attention to it,” said Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent who could be pulled off the campaign trail as a result. “The issue is that this is a power grab.”
Follow Doug's lead, Dems!
And let's pour some serious money into his race. Jones was down by 17 in early August, but 538 now has him down by only 7 points. I saw one poll (perhaps an outlier) which had him nearly tied. The man has improved his position considerably despite running a campaign on vapors. Surely his bravery deserves some reward? Surely the people who put him in office the first time ought not be snubbed or ignored? One or two million dollars could make a huge difference here.
Back to Barrett: Republicans are trying to insinuate that opposition to this nominee is founded entirely on anti-Catholicism. It's a false charge. First: Dems don't like her for all sorts of reasons. Second: Nobody opposed Gorsuch or Kavanaugh on religious grounds. Third: Criticism of the "People of Praise" sect is not criticism of Roman Catholicsm. Barrett's group has non-Catholic members and belongs squarely within the Pentacostal tradition. Many mainstream Catholics consider the sect to be rather weird.
Nota bene: Don't describe this group as a "cult." Within the RC tradition, that word doesn't always have Manson-y overtones. To a Catholic's ears, the word "sect" has a much slimier sound.
Let's find some way to disparage Barrett without disparaging Catholicism.
I know that this advice will be hard for some of you to follow, because many Americans view Catholicism as the one religion which everyone must HATE HATE HATE at all times. I'm well aware that you've been programmed to react with rage the moment you see a rosary. You can't help it, just as my dog can't help but give chase when he sees a squirrel.
But you are not a dog. You must exercise a certain amount of self-control.
Remember: Biden is Catholic.
Remember: Although Trump won the Catholic vote last time, polls suggest that the Orange Oaf is losing those voters in 2020. Let's keep things moving in that direction.
Remember: People don't like it when you insult their faith. They really don't. Weird, innit?
Remember: Lefties often forget that the goal is to garner more votes, not fewer. That's how this whole democracy thing works.
On November 4, you can go back to tossing feces at an effigy of the Pope. As long as you're not helping Trump, I don't give a damn what you do.
Trump, Lindsey and drugs. Why does Trump keep claiming that Biden is a drug user? He has actually asked for Biden to take a pre-debate drug test. Is this projection? Or are we seeing hints of a larger Republican plot?
Trump's comment reminded me of something that has been bugging me for the past 48 hours.
A couple of days ago, I popped into the "Morning Joe" show in medias res. Mika was absent. Since I came in late, and since the feed was audio-only, I'm not sure about the context of what I heard. Joe Scarborough was talking "off the record" to...well, someone. Was he kidding when he said "off the record" or did he genuinely think that the cameras were off? Beats me!
Anyways, Joe spoke "off the record" about Lindsey Graham. He told a funny anecdote about the time Graham cut himself while testing the sharpness of a knife: "Seriously. You have to keep that guy away from knives. And blenders!"
Just before cutting away to a commercial, Joe added that there were other things about Lindsey he could disclose. "Things like Adderall."
No further details.
Naturally, Joe Scarborough's cryptic remark reminded me of the reports -- backed by some evidence -- that Trump himself abuses Adderall. We've discussed this issue in previous posts: See here and here.
If you want to hear "Trump on drugs" stories, the go-to guy is comedian Noel Casler, who functioned as Trump's "talent wrangler" on that awful Apprentice teevee show -- which, according to Casler, was originally the idea of none other than Vladimir Putin.
Casler is full of hilarious/awful tales, many of which seem credible. Some do not. Basically, Casler makes porn for Trump-haters. That's his shtick.
I'd feel better about Casler's revelations if more of them had independent backing. For example, he says that Trump often used racial slurs -- including the dreaded N-word -- during filming. Casler claims that Trump was particularly prone to use such a language while in the presence of a person of color, as a display of power.
But Michael Cohen, who knew Trump quite well, says that Trump did not use that word, although Trump's attitudes were nevertheless quite racist. On the other hand, Omarosa Manigault backs up Casler's account.
As far as I can tell, nobody has seconded Casler's claim that Trump wears Depends.
If you've never heard Casler's spiel before, check out the interview embedded below. His most recent interview (which I've not yet heard) is here.
Come to your own conclusions. If nothing else, the guy is a terrific storyteller.
2 comments:
Judge Amy has a record for election rigging for the Republicans. Maybe he didn't want a Catholic, but this one might be very helpful.
I come not to defend, or interpret, but only to describe.
About 20 years ago, a segment of young adults used an odd expression, “that’s gay,” it was pretty clearly equivalent to “that sucks.” It seemed to me that it only sounded bigoted.
Among young adults now, “racist” seems to be about equal to “asshole.”
What’s going on? Here’s my guess.
One of the many ways in which we have damaged our society is the destruction of education. Reading, the acquisition of language as a system of expression and meaning that allows the mind to expand far, far beyond the daily routine— reading has been turned into a practical skill, the main purpose of which is to score well on multiple choice tests.
And then, after higher education of more of the same, thinking has been reduced to the concocting of the “elevator talk,” aka the short sales pitch. Or a Shark Tank pitch, which is longer than an elevator ride. Greatly skilled practitioners of the craft reach the TED talk stage.
Even a mind starved of knowledge will do what minds do, only not so good. It seems to me that the examples above are uses of metonymy, of an impoverished sort. Metonymy is the figure of speech in which a word is substituted for one associated with it.
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