November, 2015 archive
Base Ideas 0
The Booman surveys the field of Republican candidates and their hate-full, bigoted positions and points out that the rhetoric is not so much cause as effect:
Trump is doing great in the polls for a reason, and it’s not because he’s out there explaining Ronald Reagan Republicanism to the masses.
Republican insiders created the appetite for this rhetoric. They’re to blame for the fact that there is now a massive constituency who wants their candidates to deliver on it.
As I’ve noted before, Richard Nixon’s odious Southern strategy has come full circle. Nixon believed that the Republican Party could use bigots and racists to its political advantage; the bigots and racists now use–indeed, one can argue that they are–the Republican Party.
God, Grits, and Guns 0
Ron Littlepage is taken aback. Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest.
The outstanding quote of last week has to go to state Rep. Matt Gaetz.
He’s pushing a bill that would allow the 1.4 million Floridians who have concealed carry gun permits to openly carry their firearms.
During a House committee debate on the legislation, Gaetz had this to say, according to Politico Florida:
The bill restores a right “granted not by government but by God.” Say what?
As someone who was raised in the Baptist church and who graduated from a Baptist university, Baylor, I’ve read the Bible from Genesis to Revelations more than once.
But I must have missed the part about God coming out in favor of open carry.
Jeez Louise, you can’t make this stuff up.
As a Southerner, I often find myself resenting the way white Southerners* are portrayed as dumbass hicks. Even when I was a kid, I couldn’t stand the Beverly Hillsillies.
It’s been a theme since the earliest days of film and, later, broadcast media (we won’t even talk about print). Find any old radio or television comedy show with a character from the South, you will find a dumbass hick. Heck, Tennessee Ernie Ford made a fortune playing dumbass hicks. Even Andy Griffith achieved his first great success as a dumbass hick in No Time for Sergeants. And don’t forget Jim Nabors and George Lindsey.
But, honest to Pete, as long as a great lot of white Southerners continue act like dumbass hicks, I have to concede that they are asking for it.
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*The portrayal of black Southerners is another, much more evil story.
Gremlins in the Garmin 0
Get a Garmin and see Preitenegg.
Since July, Garmin has received notifications that customers all over Europe, including in the UK, were being advised to divert their route through the small Carinthian town near the Styrian mountains.
Garmin says that they are–er–recalculating.
Coming Soon to a Television near You . . . 2
. . . it’s the Ammosexual Channel! Consult your local listings for details.
Who says there’s too much ammosex on television, anyway?
Chris-Crossed, Kick ‘Em While They’re Down Dept. 0
Mike Kelly considers Chris Christy’s Bully’s Pulpit:
So listen up. Uncle Chris is talking. He had quite a lot to say last week.
Christie, who made his political bones and attracted national attention by picking on teachers, has a new and even weaker group to attack – refugees from war.
Do please read the rest.
The Republican Party has become a vile and loathsome thing.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The hunt for politeness goes on.
Shotgun deer-hunting season began Saturday. There was one casualty.
A Buffalo man was shot in his left leg by a fellow hunter in the Chautauqua County Town of Arkwright.
. . . because it’s so hard to tell Bambi from a bambino.
“The Listener at the Hearth” 0
In The Guardian, Rory Carroll muses on his experiences with the Amazon Echo, which is sort of a stand-alone Siri. He suspects that it is compiling a list and checking it twice. Here’s a snippet:
I am a long-time fan of H. P. Lovecraft. Granted, his plots have a certain sameness about them, but no writer I’ve encountered is more adept at creating atmosphere.
On wonders what horrors he could have imagined had he ever conceived of the Amazon Echo (or even Siri, for that matter).
The American Kleptocracy 0
Warning: Language.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Put politeness out to pasture.
The large black and white twins Theodore and Isadora were no longer there.
Standing in front of foundation that was recently poured to build a new barn for her cows at her Richmond home, Daria Goggins talks to reporters on Saturday about finding her pair of Herefords shot on Friday afternoon.
The local constabulary is convinced that it was not a hunting accident.
Misdirection Play 0
Trevor Timm tries to track all the misdirection plays since the attacks in Paris. Two nuggets:
(snip)
As dishonest as the “debate” over encryption has been, the dark descension of the Republican party into outright racism and cynically playing off the irrational fears of the public over the Syrian refugee crisis has been worse. We now know the attackers weren’t Syrian and weren’t even refugees. It was a cruel rumor or hoax that one was thought to have come through Europe with a Syrian passport system, but that was cleared up days ago. But in the world of Republican primaries, who cares about facts?
Follow the link for the misdirection play-by-play.
