Miscellaneous: February 2016 Archives

No, this is not the same thing as what Harry Reid did to Mitt Romney. Harry Reid lied: he made up a false story about some anonymous person telling us that Romney paid no taxes. Romney did nothing like that to Trump: he said that based on what all of us already know, that his conclusion is that there might be a "bombshell" lurking in Trump's returns.

These are very different things. Reid was making up a false story based on secret information, and Romney is merely expressing his opinion based on shared information.

John Kasich may be the best chance to beat Donald Trump.

I don't mean he will get more delegates than Trump, or even win the nomination. I mean that Trump is going to have a tough time winning a majority of delegates -- he has to win most of the winner-take-all states, plus win a fairly high percentage of the proportional states -- and if Kasich can win Ohio (which is winner-take-all), that might be enough to prevent Trump from winning a majority of delegates.

Rubio winning Florida (also winner-take-all) would be even better, but that isn't looking likely right now.

I think Scalia would approve of him not being replaced and not for any political reasons, but because an evenly balanced Court depoliticizes the Court. No one was more bothered by the Court being the place of last resort for a group of people to thwart the will of the majority (except, of course, where legitimate constitutional rights are at issue, which is when the minority should prevail). The current situation means that we get to govern ourselves a bit more, which, on Scalia's view, would be a good thing.

I just got a wrong number call. I'm voting for Trump because he promises to make wrong numbers illegal.

FWIW ... Scalia would rule in favor of Apple.

This election has officially jumped the shark.

Obama and the GOP should compromise and allow Obama to make a recess appointment: me.

My appointment would expire at the end of the year, and I couldn't do too much damage. Right?

Also, Action Comics #775: Superman, "What's So Funny About Truth, Justice, & The American Way?" (which is also captured in the animated film, Superman vs. The Elite). This time Donald Trump is the bad guy

Reading and watching The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. Seeing Batman as Donald Trump, and the Mutants as some of Trump's supporters. I can't help it.

Wow. Hillary Clinton's spokesman, back in 2009, gave a reporter early access to the transcript in exchange for the reporter describing a Clinton speech as “muscular” in the article. And the reporter, Marc Ambinder, did it.

Who are the left fooling by attacking the GOP for saying they won't confirm a Scalia replacement this year? They would be doing the exact same thing if the tables were turned. There's simply no way that Harry Reid would have allowed confirmation of a Bush mominee in 2008, especially if it were to replace Justice Ginsburg.

This is the world we have, people. You can dislike it, but don't pretend to have the high ground when you would follow precisely the same course.

Of course, in this hypothetical scenario ... the GOP would also be hypocritically condemning the Democrats just as the Democrats are hypocritically condemning the GOP. So.

I always said Trump can't win nomination. Now maybe he can. He agrees to appoint Cruz to Supreme Court in exchange for Cruz' endorsement. Trump gets Rubio as his running mate to win Florida.

Dear Disney,

I would rather watch a 3D movie than watch a movie where the characters are constantly jumping out into the "black bars" of the "letterbox" frame.

Maybe this is just for the trailer? Either way, it is distracting and dumb. Plus, I hate live-action video where animals appear to talk. And babies. Babies are worse. But animals are bad too.

Bringing an oldie out of my archives, from the election eight years ago: I Hate You.

On camera, the legislator said, “If I can’t see myself in the language, I can’t see myself in the office.”

But you are in the office. You’re there. And you did it with the “male” pronoun in the law. But ... you that’s unpossible!

Also, the only reason you couldn’t see yourself in the language is if you don’t understand the language, because the fact is that the word “he” is gender-neutral, in this context.

One of the Oregon standoff folks says: “We’re innocent people camping at a public facility, and you’re going to murder us. The only way we’re leaving here is dead or without charges.”

I'm gonna fix that for him: “We’re [guilty criminals] [illegally holed up] at a public facility, and you’re going to [arrest] us. The only way we’re leaving here is dead or [in handcuffs].”

Hope that helps.

For those losing track: the remaining GOP candidates are Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Kasich, Bush, and Carson.

I've mentioned this before ... but it makes no sense to call Kasich a "moderate." Saying that makes me think you don't know what you're talking about.

He is not as conservative as many conservatives, but the differences are really very, very small.

Yes, he expanded Medicaid; but he also refused to set up a state health insurance exchange. Yes, he does not want to deport all illegal aliens; but he also wants to enforce the border. Yes, he believes climate change is real; but he opposes blindly regulating our lives to try to solve the problem, and is in favor of fracking and opposed to Kyoto.

He significantly cut taxes and balanced the budget (both state and federal).

He is socially conservative ... he's just not a jerk about it.

The Democrats of Ohio don't think Kasich is a moderate, because they know better. Being a nice and thoughtful person doesn't make you moderate. You don't have to agree with all of Kasich's views, but calling him a "moderate" just doesn't fit the facts.

If it is just two candidates remaining, Trump plus one other -- Cruz, Kasich, Rubio, Bush -- Trump loses. He is getting 25-35% of the votes, and won't get much more or less than that, no matter who else is in the race.

Of course, it won't be just two candidates any time soon. But there's really only five candidates left, and the four non-Trump candidates are splitting the votes that will never go to Trump

And because Cruz is so disliked, that leaves three candidates fighting to be the reasonable alternative to Trump and Cruz, and that candidate is likely to win in the end, whether it's Kasich or Bush or Rubio.

Fox is reporting that Kasich will take second place. Now the question is whether he can turn this into momentum in other states.

Subject: IMPORTANT AND CONFIDENTIAL
From: Jim Cruz <jim@tedcruz4prez.ng>

I am Jim Cruz. I am the nephew of Ted Cruz, a Senator of the United States, who used to be the Solicitor General of the Great State of Texas, and is currently running for President of the United States. On the 25th of MARCH, 2016, the Senator -- hereinafter referred to as soon-to-be-President-elect Cruz -- will secure the Republican nomination for President of the United States, and will need to liquidate his many assets in order to ensure no special interests have any hold over his policies.

As one of the soon-to-be-President-elect Cruz campaign's most loyal supporters, we have made several attempts to contact you through your published phone number, to no avail, so I decided to contact you directly through e-mail to offer you the sum of $7,000,000.00 USD (seven million United States dollars) as the result of the sale of some of the soon-to-be-President-elect Cruz family assets, before the Republican national convention in JULY, 2016.

On receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss how to deposit the money into your chosen account. I will fill you in with further details upon your swift reply. Please be infomed that confidentiality of this transaction is of the utmost importance.

We look forward to the conclusion of this transaction with you.

Please include a donation for $100 to Cruz for America with your reply.

Yours Truly,

JIM CRUZ

John Kasich is winning New Hampshire, getting three of the five Republican votes in Dixville Notch. Trump got the other two. Dixville Notch has picked the same candidate as the eventual Republican winner of the New Hampshire primary every year since 1968.

Bernie Sanders won the four Democratic votes, but Dixville Notch often picks differently than the rest of the state (Wesley Clark over Kerry, Bill Bradley over Gore, and so on).

Kasich had over 100 town halls in New Hampshire ... how many of them were in Dixville Notch? :-)

Dear people who don't like sports:

We get it. You don't like sports. It doesn't make you better than anyone else. No one says you have to like sports. You're not making an actual point by posting about how much you don't care about sports.

Lots of people don't like Star Wars and Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings and Legos and all sorts of other things you like, that are no more meaningful or consequential than sports are, and most of the time, they don't try to rub it in your face that they don't like the things you like.

And the same goes for those of you who "don't have a TV at home."

Remember, ladies: Gloria Steinem fought for the right of all women ... to think what she tells them to think.

The Times writes: "... women are wrestling with a difficult question: whether they have an obligation to get behind someone who is closer than anyone has ever been to becoming the first female president."

That is not a difficult question for thinking American women. The answer is, unequivocally, No.

Reject overt and despicable sexists like Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem, who think that someone's identity should be defined by someone else's perception of their sex, and that they should support candidates based not on their views and their abilities, but by their sex.

The glass ceiling is gone. It does not exist anymore. The very fact that Hillary Clinton can win the presidency -- which no one denies -- is proof that there is no longer a barrier for a woman to become President. We don't have to elect a woman as President as a symbol just to prove it to ourselves.

It's far more important to prove to ourselves that even on the left, we can reject identity politics and select the candidate that we simply think is a better candidate.

So, thanks, progressives: you give us all a bit of hope. Now, if only you would stop trying to censor speech on college campuses ...

Dear Internet,

Why is it that self-proclaimed "freethinkers" are annoyed if you disagree with them?

1. NARAL, why do you hate science? Human fetuses are human. If you're going to be pro-choice, at least do it from a place of reason, and not stupid, disproven, myth.
2. It's a stupid ad anyway.

Trump and Rubio should keep mentioning each other in every response to shut out Cruz.

I won't watch Quentin Tarantino's snuff film.

Feel free to hate Martin Shkreli, but realize that the drug in question has been around for more than 60 years, and the only reason he could charge what he was charging for it is because the government makes it very difficult for competitors to make generic versions of the same drug (in this case, the patent expired, but Shkreli was attempting to use other government regulations to prevent competitors from doing what was necessary to get FDA approval for generic versions).

This drug is so common and cheap that it costs less than $1 US in most countries, but Shkreli was charging $750.  Reportedly some hospitals just make the drug in-house, on-demand.

Apparently, there now is a generic equivalent in the U.S.  But the only reason why the price could be so high is because there wasn't any other option.  And yes, the reasons why there was only one option wasn't entirely caused by government -- it was a low-demand and low-margin product -- but the reason why Shkreli could raise the price without worrying about competition undercutting him is mostly due to government regulation.

Dear America,

Assuming the results hold up through the Iowa state convention, the difference between Trump's and Rubio's finish is zero. They both get seven delegates.  And Cruz gets eight.

It's similar for the Democrats: Clinbton gets 22 and Sanders gets 21.  Or maybe vice versa.

One delegate wil not make the difference in the end.  All of this energy and posturing about the difference between first and second/third place, who "won" and "lost," is all about marketing, not about one delegate.