Guard Dog

So, if I never bought Nike products BEFORE this Kapernick kerfuffle and I don't buy them after does that still count as boycotting? See? I was a Nike boycotter before it was cool! Actually I'm boycotting a lot of other stuff too I guess. Scotch whiskey, beets, and MMORPGs.

@Gromnir: I may be wrong but Trump's presence in the White House today is owed less to anti-Obama zeal (although that is a big piece of the cake) and more to the fact that he was running against what most folks found an unacceptable alternative in Hillary Clinton. Everyone knew what they were getting from her. Trump, for all his life in the public eye, was an unknown in the political arena. He was telling them things they wanted to hear in a bombastic manner no one had heard from a presidential candidate in living memory. Behind door #1 was a known and thoroughly unpleasant option in Clinton, door #2 was a mystery. Enough voters went for door number 2. Had the Democrats run nearly anyone else, Joe Biden for example if they could keep him from saying stupid things, 2016 turns out completely different. Had the Republicans candidates been "team players" and compromised on a smaller field from the get-go it's likely he would not have survived the primaries. By the time the field was winnowed down to a few candidates most republicans might have coalesced around Trump had it sewn up. Sometimes I wonder if he's not really the idiot he seems. Bombast and crass twitter commentary got him where he is because it IS different. Maybe he's "dancing with the one that brung him" (sic). Then I hear he's like this all the time so yeah, he's an idiot. On your last point I completely 100% agree and have been saying as much for years. Don't rejoice when "your guy" breaks the rules. Now that they are broken you won't like it when "not your guy" is doing it.

Neither major modern US political party has the monopoly on racism. Either in practicing it or fomenting it for electoral gain. My analogy of s--t covered rats in a sewer commenting on how dirty the other rats are is apt. There are naught but devils in hell Pidesco.

Correction, it was not Obama. It was the 1998 mid terms. But the ad was run and paid for by the Democrat Party and the NAACP (essentially the same thing). I found the pro Obama ad I was confusing it with. They came just short of insinuating John McCain was pro-Klan. The implication was there they just left it to the viewer to put it together. It was a PAC paid ad that ran in North Carolina & Virginia. I'll let you guess what areas it was run in. I could not find the audio but the ad was one of several discussed for how terrible it was in the Chicago Tribune: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-11-02/news/0011020277_1_naacp-national-voter-fund-hate-crimes-bill-ad I remember it. Quite a big deal was made over it. I'm surprised it was so hard to dig up. I did see a number of pro Republican ads that were pretty terrible that were even older. You don't think Google would deliberately bury an ad that makes the Dems look bad do you? Nah.

Barack Obama is giving a speech in Illinois bemoaning the divisive nature of our politics and how Trump inflaming our worst passions. Now THAT is irony. After he ran a ad that said and I quote "Every time a Republican is elected another black church burns". Or another that promised to "punish our enemies" (Republicans... WHITE Republicans) if people voted Democrat. And he was never ashamed to sneer arrogantly at the unwashed knuckle draggers from flyover country. You know the ones. The bitter clingers. Hillary Clinton's deplorables. Of course he IS right about Trump. But he is, like Trump & Clinton, and the rest just one more rat infesting the sewer. Covered in s--t and complaining about how dirty the other rats are.

The Bears are all sad. 10-99 good buddies, the Bandit has signed off. RIP Burt Reynolds.

Clearly I need to pay closer attention when I watch Law and Order, schooled by Grommie and GD. But as to this question, if I get killed accidentally by a motorist, or if I get murdered, it is still the same philosophical quandary. Why is one not as bad as the other? It doesn't matter to my family. Presumably the motorist did not intend to kill you. Unless they were doing something that makes death a likely outcome. Like driving drunk for example. DUI Manslaughter and 2nd degree murder carry the same penalty in most states I believe. If you were murdered some other way, shot during a robbery for example its murder not just for the act but because it was done during to commission of another crime. BTW I heard Law & Order is coming back.

It's written too well for that. That's it. Malc wins. Just close the thread now!

Prediction: The Op-Ed will turn out to be written by someone NOT in the administration. LOL, wouldn't THAT be a lit match in the hay barn! @Gromnir, you beat me by three minutes! Motive should be considered as part of punishment I agree. But not in determining the severity of the crime. As far as the state is concerned the question should be "Did this person do X?" not "Did this person do X because Y?" Just my $.02. Governments, even here, are not well known for applying the law fairly or evenhandedly when it comes to prosecutions. The less wiggle room they have the better. I'm all for more discretion on the other side of the process.

Motive is looked at in every case though. There is a big jump from manslaughter to murder. Also you don't have to delve to deep into the head of a racially or gender motivated killer. They tend to be more than happy to share their motives on social media and often have nice tattoos to make it really clear. edit: I do agree somewhat with you. Hate crime laws are an attempt to change a culture where lynch mobs and racial injustice was common place. At some point we should be far enough along as a society to not need them. I'm not sure if we are there, but I'd like to believe it. The difference between manslaughter and murder isn't motive, it's intent. Altogether different. Motive is an element to be considered as far as someone's guilt is concerned. And it's not the end all even then. Plenty of offenders have been convicted when motive is unknown and plenty who have had motive have been acquitted lacking other evidence. And while some. maybe even most, offenders charged with hate crimes made their motives clear not all do. But philosophically I have a problem with one killing being considered more heinous than another. If someone murders a member of your family does it really matter WHY they did it or THAT they did it. The dead are just as dead.

Yeah I have a real problem with asking a judge, jury, & prosecutor to make a judgement on the severity of a crime based on the motive of the offender. You cannot get into another person's head. A killing based on racial prejudice isn't any more horrible than a killing during a robbery. The victim is no less dead. In other news Richard Durbin is a jackass. Hearing him bemoan the Trump administration as the genesis of executive overreach and disregard for limitations is just stupidity incarnate. The last President thought it would be OK to have us killed by executive order. He was cool with that then. Judge Kavanaugh what do you mean you can't recall one e-mail someone sent you 18 years ago? That's very convenient isn't it?

Sorry (not sorry) http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2018/09/06/dunkin-donuts-apologizes-for-sending-eagles-themed-cups-to-new-england-stores.html

I've been listening to the Kavanaugh hearings. Mostly what you'd expect. But If I was there I'd give Lindsey Graham a high five and take him out for a beer over the theoretical scenario he just outlined concerning how Roe was decided.

James what we think of other forms of government really does not matter. It can't be done here. The only way to meaningfully change our form of government (peacefully) is a Constitutional Convention. I think you understand the United States as a unified political entity would not survive a Constitutional Convention today.

POTUS is an Emperor to some these days. That isn't new. We have been incrementally slouching towards autocracy since the days of Woodrow Wilson. Sometimes the needle moves one way, some times the other. But in general it's moving in the wrong direction. If Trump keeps being Trump he will damage the authority of the office, leave it less that he found it. The best thing that can happen is when Congress begins ignoring the President and the State governments begin ignoring the Federal Government. If Trumps buffoonery resets the balance of power, even through sheer hubris & stupidity, he will have done us a solid. I'm no nihilist. I don't reject all authority or want to burn the whole thing down. But I do want to see it taken down a few pegs. Maybe that will delay or head off some future political break when treason and sedition become actual things.

Vehemently disagree. It could be called none of those things. At worst it's someone bragging about what a bad job he's doing at work because he doen't like his boss. Treason & sedition are overt acts. If I whip a mob of anti-government types into a frenzy and we go burn down a post office THAT is sedition. And arson and other things too. But motive is what makes it sedition. If I aid a terrorist in the commission of an act of terror, or help a foreign power gain and advantage over the US, or something in that vein, particularly in wartime, that would be treason. Boasting about how I'm thwarting my employer, even if that is the POTUS, is grounds for termination. Nothing else.

Five years ago I bought into a investment group that bought a minority stake in Short Mountain Distillery. They were expanding their operations, etc, etc. Anyway they bought back the minority stake and I got a check yesterday. It was nice, 11% return per year over the five years. But, here is the kicker. Every year Short mountain sent all the investors a gift basket around Christmas with some of their products and other goodies. THAT is what I'll miss the most! I guess now I'll have to buy my holiday booze like everyone else!

If publishing an opinion piece in a newspaper could be called treason or even sedition it is past time for another revolution

Thanks. If that blade of grass wasn't in the way it would have been better. It was flitting around so much though I was lucky it sat still for as long as it did.

I took this picture today. I thought it turned out pretty good

Lifestyles of the rich and famous preppers. Or "Screw this s--t when things go bad I'm moving to Middle Earth" https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-rich-new-zealand-doomsday-preppers/

Is our reputation so great now? Obama's foreign policy was feckless one day, hopelessly weak the next. George W Bush is forever tied to a war he had to fight and flubbed, and one he didn't have to fight and flubbed. Whatever good will or reputation the US had coming out of WWII starting with Johnson and going through today we have pissed on it, shat on it, kicked it down the road and did both again. The only US President in that time to actually have a stable and grounded foreign policy was Reagan. But it was a lot easier in those days when the whole world was divided into two camps and everyone knew where everyone stood.

I've got to read Bob Woodward's new book. It sounds like Trump is a complete fool. He listens to no one. Insults and belittles everyone including his allies and staff. Has a poor grasp of economics, politics, and the American system of governance. His own chief of staff calls his White House "crazytown". He is, in short, the greatest American President of my lifetime. No, you didn't misread that. We finally have a complete fool in office that everyone can clearly see IS a fool. We have had fools before. Many, many, many of them. And worse. Barack Obama was no fool. He was worse. He KNEW the limitations of the office and ignored them anyway. Obama in hos soul is mean. He thinks poorly of those he finds beneath him and carries a chip over wrongs real or perceived. George W Bush was a fool. A decent, moral, thoughtful man true. And a fool. His failure to understand the way the middle east and it's people work has cost us a lot of blood and treasure. Bill Clinton was not a fool. He was the consummate politician. Try to be all things to all people. But he was not decent, or moral. You would be a fool to believe any word he ever spoke, or believe in him for that matter. All of them have flaws and redeeming qualities. But their flaws that drive bad decisions that cause harm and even their errors are given legitimacy because they are the President. To many that makes them above reproach. The prestige and power of the office IS it's own shield. Now we have Trump who, aside from entertainment value, has so far demonstrated no redeeming qualities. His very presence and buffoonery in the office lessens the power and prestige of the office. Already Congress is remembering they can work around him when they want to. That they are in fact a co-equal branch of the government. States are beginning to ignore him and by extension the Federal Government. And they should. We are a union of 50 sovereign states. Those states have been in thrall to Sodom-on-the-Potomac for far too long. In just two years Trump has accomplished something that none of his 44 predecessors has: the debasement and diminishment of the office. Something that NEEDED to be done IMO. There have been times in the last twenty years that Presidents have actually frightened me with usurpation of power. And think, we have at east two years to go! Plus imagine what he could do with a second term! I know most folks here don't like him. I can hardly find fault with you there. But every cloud does have a silver lining and in he long run we may actually be better off having had a fool that could not hide behind the fig leaf of the office because he wadded it up and burned it. We may look back on Donald Trump's time in office and think he did us a real favor, even if that wasn't his intention.

An interesting light diversion to read. How realistic are Sci-fi ships? https://mashable.com/article/spaceships-realistic-sci-fi-science/#DC1pI84JEsqq

Note to self... stay away from Kansas City