I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.

[SlaveNoMore]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

My belief is that in these situations our first instincts ought to be NOT to be a big player. The Kamalists in the military have a very different role than our military, and I think we're ok on the sidelines for a couple days.

Then, as things settle, we can figure out where our interests lie.

I could not agree with you more. "Wary" and "Reserved" should be words of the moment.

SlaveNo(jesus, mark the date)More

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

The Kamalists in the military have a very different role than our military,

I suppose it possible you knew what this means without reading some obscure blog a minute before you posted. Still you do similar posts often enough I know it usually involves blog copying. But you might include a (copied?) explanation because I guarantee no one else here knows what this means. AND listen, I can hardly criticize posting some copied/contrived response, BUT I'm designed to be a nuisance sock.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

I suppose it possible you knew what this means without reading some obscure blog a minute before you posted. Still you do similar posts often enough I know it usually involves blog copying. But you might include a (copied?) explanation because I guarantee no one else here knows what this means. AND listen, I can hardly criticize posting some copies/contrived response, BUT I'm designed to be a nuisance sock.

Better than a blog - BOOKS!

For some interesting reading by a (generally fairly conservative) historian, try some of Bernard Lewis' stuff on Turkey - try the essays in "From Babel to Dragomans", there are a couple on the role of the army following Kamal. They really became the guarantors of Kamalism after Attaturk established the Republic, and in that role periodically step in to guarantee a western-oriented Turkish nationalistic regime. They also have a broader role in society than our civilian controlled military, including control over some state owned enterprises.

Some great tweets coming on this stuff.

Someone from Lebanon just tweeted that they can't have a coup d'etat there, since they have no etat.

[SlaveNoMore]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Someone from Lebanon just tweeted that they can't have a coup d'etat there, since they have no etat.

Either that quasi-Aerosmith show I went to last night with "Catrin Darcy"* still has me giddy, or you are on a roll.

SlaveNo(perhaps both)More


*Yeah, 8 years later, I still don't know why she agreed to marry me either.

[SlaveNoMore]

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore

I could not agree with you more. "Wary" and "Reserved" should be words of the moment.

The videos on twitter right now look like an outtake from Apocalypse' Now.

Helicopters firing artillery at cars. People throwing cocktails at tanks.

SlaveNo(Jesus)More

[Icky Thump]

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore

But, hey, let's all ring our hands about Mike Pence and Planned Parenthood.

SlaveNo(KumBahYah)More

Because I believe in a secular government and Mike Pence does not.

[SEC_Chick]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

What is a registered parliamentarian, and who does the registering?

I don't know either. I was receiving the goings on in the rules committee by Twitter.

Delegates Unbound was killed, but the instigator is pledging a floor fight. They kept the rule that says the party can change the rules whenever it feel like it, rendering any concessions on closed primaries or requiring proportional delegate allocation meaningless.

[SEC_Chick]

The hilarious thing to me about the Pence pick were the reports that Donald was up at midnight trying to figure out a way to take it back, just hours after he offered and it was accepted. Of NeverTrump folk, not a single one is placated by the pick. Some pro-life people are happy, and he didn't earn a floor fight over picking a Democrat. I guess that's a win.

I love how he ripped off the Think Progress logo too. That was inspired. And that whole thing about putting down Tim Tebow as a speaker at the convention without actually asking him about it. Trump runs a top organization there.

ETA, I forgot the best part of Pence is how soft he is on immigration. Trump surrogates, like Ann Coulter, are shocked! that he would betray them. Sad!

The GOP isn't worth saving from itself. I am now going long in what to do long term after Trump loses 40 states in November. I am even planning on reading Jeb!'s plan for reconstruction. I yearn for the days when I thought Jeb Bush would be the worst thing to the GOP in 2012.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

The hilarious thing to me about the Pence pick were the reports that Donald was up at midnight trying to figure out a way to take it back, just hours after he offered and it was accepted. Of NeverTrump folk, not a single one is placated by the pick. Some pro-life people are happy, and he didn't earn a floor fight over picking a Democrat. I guess that's a win.

I love how he ripped off the Think Progress logo too. That was inspired. And that whole thing about putting down Tim Tebow as a speaker at the convention without actually asking him about it. Trump runs a top organization there.

ETA, I forgot the best part of Pence is how soft he is on immigration. Trump surrogates, like Ann Coulter, are shocked! that he would betray them. Sad!

The GOP isn't worth saving from itself. I am now going long in what to do long term after Trump loses 40 states in November. I am even planning on reading Jeb!'s plan for reconstruction. I yearn for the days when I thought Jeb Bush would be the worst thing to the GOP in 2012.

Snark aside, what is the basis for a national right or center/right party in the US today? Where is there a political platform that will have demographic appeal outside of the increasingly smaller group of deep red states?

There is a lot in the Republican platform that annoys me, but more interesting is what there is in it that annoys key constituencies. The two big things seem to me how the Republicans relate to their traditional business communities and how they relate to their cultural warriors. These folks don't seem to get along any more.

With the abandonment of free trade in the platform and presidential candidate for the R's, we're left with neither party formally supporting one of our defining business and foreign policy positions worldwide, as an advocate of free-trade capitalism. This is a massive abandonment of the big business/chamber of commerce types in the Republican party.

There's a significant part of the party that is just not on board with the anti-gay stuff, but you aren't going to keep the CINO evangelical crowd on board without hating on gays. Same on choice issues.

Race is a whole separate issue, and a problem that's not new for the R's. They just keep digging that hole that Nixon started to win over the Wallace/Thurmond types.

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

My first PAPOW. Let's kick this weekend shit off with James Brown. The Daily Dose is Talking Loud and Saying Nothing. So appropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOW19ZCWUfI

Congratulations.

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I got no idea what a registered parliamentarian is.

And I say this as someone who as served as Sergeant at Arms and Chief Parliamentarian for a state political party convention.

The Registered Parliamentarian is like a court reporter who gets to make procedural objections.

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore

I could not agree with you more. "Wary" and "Reserved" should be words of the moment.

SlaveNo(jesus, mark the date)More

That's what the Registered Parliamentarian is for, to tie back threads. This is a time to have someone easily deniable take the lead (as in "hey man, they weren't really talking for us" in having the sit-down with each player, and seeing who has the coollest head and who is likely to prevail if we sit it out and let things just play themselves out.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Speaker Ryan takes a selfie with the Republican interns. Notice anything here?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by taxwonk

The Registered Parliamentarian is like a court reporter who gets to make procedural objections.

And who registers them?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Since Wonk did a three-peat, here's my third, from cultural critic and vice presidential candidate Mike Pence on Disney's Mulan, a retelling of a 6th Century Chinese tale:

"Just spent a memorable Fathers Day, like so many other all American Hoosier dads, with my kids at the new Disney film entitled, “Mulan”. For those who have not yet been victimized by the McDonald’s induced hysteria over this film, Mulan is a fictional account of a delicate girl of the same name who surreptitiously takes her fathers place in the Chinese army in one of their ancient wars against the Huns. Despite her delicate features and voice, Disney expects us to believe that Mulan’s ingenuity and courage were enough to carry her to military success on an equal basis with her cloddish cohorts. Obviously, this is Walt Disney’s attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate over the role of women in the military. I suspect that some mischievous liberal at Disney assumes that Mulan’s story will cause a quiet change in the next generation’s attitude about women in combat and they just might be right. (Just think about how often we think of Bambi every time the subject of deer hunting comes into the mainstream media debate.)"

So as part of the Republican War on Women, Cultural Warrior Pence wants to make sure we don't catch up with 6th Century China!