Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Hank, if I visit Detroit sometime, do you think we could go by one of those
No-Go Zones in Dearborn?

we have lots of no-go zones, but it has nothing to do with Muslims. We will lunch here http://yasmeenbakery.com/

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Hank, if I visit Detroit sometime, do you think we could go by one of those
No-Go Zones in Dearborn?

Heck, the areas he's alluding to in Minneapolis have gotten a lot more comfortable for outsiders now that they are primarily Somali and there is significantly less crime than there used to be.*

*There may be no causal relationship.

[Atticus Grinch]

Tom Steyer is out, meaning that Kamala Harris’s opposition for the Dem nod for U.S. Senate is former L.A. mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, meaning, congratulations to future U.S. Senator Kamala Harris.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

we have lots of no-go zones, but it has nothing to do with Muslims. We will lunch here http://yasmeenbakery.com/

Finally a reason to go to Detroit.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I suspect we'd generally agree on people we like and dislike. Like: kindly old men who do not suffer fools (Pope, Dalai Lama). Dislike: fundies of all stripes (el Baghdadi, Pat Robertson). About the only one we're likely to disagree on as an individual is my old pal Huckabee, whom I suspect you find to be a bit of a tool.

It's just when we come to religious thinking that you get all irrational.

I kind of liked Huckabee's tsk-tsking the Wall Street wing of the GOP. And he's not just a convenient populist. In solidarity, no doubt, he wears the uniform of the downtrodden service worker. I am troubled, however...

Where is his flair?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

I am deeply concerned with the continually emerging situation in Yemen.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

I kind of liked Huckabee's tsk-tsking the Wall Street wing of the GOP. And he's not just a convenient populist. In solidarity, no doubt, he wears the uniform of the downtrodden service worker. I am troubled, however...

Where is his flair?

Here.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Here.

Can you explain your affinity for this jackass again? I must have missed it.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

I think it's amazing that two morons* are attempting to talk critically to each other about a course, neither of them have taken, a curriculum, neither of them are familiar with, and the required reading, neither of them have read. I wonder what would happen if they offered a course called "The problem of blackness." Jesus fucking Christ.

Actually, it's not amazing. It's par for the course with Fox.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewir...blem-whiteness

TM

*The only thing that stuck with me from law school that I value is that when someone you're debating precedes a conclusion with the word "obviously" or "clearly," that conclusion is never, ever clear or obvious. (Sorry Stephen A. Smith.)

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

I think it's amazing that two morons* are attempting to talk critically to each other about a course, neither of them have taken, a curriculum, neither of them are familiar with, and the required reading, neither of them have read. I wonder what would happen if they offered a course called "The problem of blackness." Jesus fucking Christ.

Actually, it's not amazing. It's par for the course with Fox.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewir...blem-whiteness

TM

*The only thing that stuck with me from law school that I value is that when someone you're debating precedes a conclusion with the word "obviously" or "clearly," that conclusion is never, ever clear or obvious. (Sorry Stephen A. Smith.)

I think I took that "Problem with Blackness" course. Several times.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Can you explain your affinity for this jackass again? I must have missed it.

TM

He reminds me of some of my dear sweet squirrel-eating relatives.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

How Chris-Kyle worship lets the military and the country down.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

How Chris-Kyle worship lets the military and the country down.

Why do you have such a boner for Chris Kyle? The article doesn't even mention him -- just the movie, and the two things are not the same (if you had seen the movie you would known it is plainly fictionalized.)

A few days ago you said Chris Kyle was a "liar" -- noting that he had lost a defamation suit. The defamation suit was brought by Jesse Ventura, who alleged that Kyle's story about an encounter with Ventura was false. It went to trial after Chris Kyle was dead. Do you think there is any chance that a jury, that had to decide who was telling the truth about a conversation -- the oh-so-popular plaintiff Jesse Ventura, or the dead defendant -- might have gotten that wrong?

I saw American Sniper today (and was going to post about it, then saw your post). I cannot understand why anyone, right or left, is making such a fuss. The movie does not depict Kyle simply as a hero; it depicts him as an ass to his family, unable to leave the war, and a few other negative things -- and also as a guy who was very, very good at his particular job, and who (as a sniper) felt responsible for watching over American soldiers.

If the movie depiction of him was accurate (either as a reflection of the man or a reflection of the book, or both), then the guy clearly had difficulty with some of the things he did. His first kill (in the movie) was of a young boy who was carrying a bomb towards US soldiers. He didn't celebrate it, he wasn't happy, but he shot the kid to prevent the killing of US soldiers. Could you have done that? Could you say that he should not have? He also did not hate Iraqis; he referred to al Qaeda et al as "savages" but he also put his life at risk to try and save Iraqis from them.

I also cannot understand the fuss on the right. The movie itself is critical of the war, and of Kyle's attitude and what happened to him.

btw, the movie isn't great -- the script is a little silly. Though Cooper is pretty damn good.

If you are going to tell me that your problem with Kyle is that he hates Iraqis or takes joy in killing or anything else, then let me know if you are basing that on what his book actually said or just on what people have said about his book (often, as I've seen, after admitting that they hadn't read it but were just basing it on what they were told).

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Why do you have such a boner for Chris Kyle? The article doesn't even mention him -- just the movie, and the two things are not the same (if you had seen the movie you would known it is plainly fictionalized.)

A few days ago you said Chris Kyle was a "liar" -- noting that he had lost a defamation suit. The defamation suit was brought by Jesse Ventura, who alleged that Kyle's story about an encounter with Ventura was false. It went to trial after Chris Kyle was dead. Do you think there is any chance that a jury, that had to decide who was telling the truth about a conversation -- the oh-so-popular plaintiff Jesse Ventura, or the dead defendant -- might have gotten that wrong?

I saw American Sniper today (and was going to post about it, then saw your post). I cannot understand why anyone, right or left, is making such a fuss. The movie does not depict Kyle simply as a hero; it depicts him as an ass to his family, unable to leave the war, and a few other negative things -- and also as a guy who was very, very good at his particular job, and who (as a sniper) felt responsible for watching over American soldiers.

If the movie depiction of him was accurate (either as a reflection of the man or a reflection of the book, or both), then the guy clearly had difficulty with some of the things he did. His first kill (in the movie) was of a young boy who was carrying a bomb towards US soldiers. He didn't celebrate it, he wasn't happy, but he shot the kid to prevent the killing of US soldiers. Could you have done that? Could you say that he should not have? He also did not hate Iraqis; he referred to al Qaeda et al as "savages" but he also put his life at risk to try and save Iraqis from them.

I also cannot understand the fuss on the right. The movie itself is critical of the war, and of Kyle's attitude and what happened to him.

btw, the movie isn't great -- the script is a little silly. Though Cooper is pretty damn good.

If you are going to tell me that your problem with Kyle is that he hates Iraqis or takes joy in killing or anything else, then let me know if you are basing that on what his book actually said or just on what people have said about his book (often, as I've seen, after admitting that they hadn't read it but were just basing it on what they were told).

I mentioned the defamation suit. It's one of a whole series of lies or potential lies. Like his claim that he was up on a New Orleans rooftop picking off people during Katrina or in a car-jacking. Or his claim that he gave all the proceeds of his book to charity. I think it's pretty hard to defend the notion that Kyle the man didn't have a pronounced tendency to lie, but you're a capable lawyer, I'm sure you could do it. At least one jury hasn't bought that shit, though. I think you'd need to count wins like Hank to have a hope of prevailing on that argument.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I mentioned the defamation suit. It's one of a whole series of lies or potential lies. Like his claim that he was up on a New Orleans rooftop picking off people during Katrina or in a car-jacking. Or his claim that he gave all the proceeds of his book to charity. I think it's pretty hard to defend the notion that Kyle the man didn't have a pronounced tendency to lie, but you're a capable lawyer, I'm sure you could do it. At least one jury hasn't bought that shit, though. I think you'd need to count wins like Hank to have a hope of prevailing on that argument.

Does he make those claims in his book?

For example -- a quick Google search pulls an article saying that his family -- not him, but his family after he died -- made the claim that all proceeds from the book went to charity. (But you're a capable lawyer, I'm sure you could find a way to pin that lie on him.)


The story about the Katrina killings also smells a bit fishy. Snopes reports on it -- they are debunking Kyle's claim, but to me they end up casting doubt on whether he ever made that claim:

The SEALs began telling stories, and Kyle offered a shocking one. In the days after Hurricane Katrina, he said, the law-and-order situation was dire. He and another sniper travelled to New Orleans, set up on top of the Superdome, and proceeded to shoot dozens of armed residents who were contributing to the chaos. Three people shared with me varied recollections of that evening: the first said that Kyle claimed to have shot thirty men on his own; according to the second, the story was that Kyle and the other sniper had shot thirty men between them; the third said that she couldn't recall specific details.

So, what really seems to have happened is that three people said that they were talking with Kyle; one remembers that Kyle claimed to have shot thirty men; another remembers that Kyle claimed that he and another sniper shot thirty men; and a third doesn't remember anything at all. This suggests that he didn't make a public claim about it, but at most was in a shit-talking session with some SEALS who were talking tough and who all remember different things.


The carjacking story appears to be one he actually told, and probably false. So, yes, he was a screwed-up guy (which the movie captures fairly well), and he was a pro-gun guy and those people tend to hump each other over their self-defense stories. Dumb thing to do? Sure.


So, yeah -- a guy who spends many days lying on rooftops waiting to kill people, which includes having to figure out which man (or woman, or child) in street-clothes is a threat that should be killed and which isn't, is a little fucked-up by the experience. But you and Ty are awfully quick to condemn him, to suggest that there was nothing positive about him, and to act as if he was evil rather than acknowledge that maybe what he was put through was part of that. And, of course, to suggest that a movie you haven't seen is designed to create a cult around him -- it's creating that cult, but that's because of people who think in a mirror-image to your black-and-white view.


I guess acknowledging that I have difficulty judging a person who went through something I cannot imagine means I'm just a "clever lawyer." At least, in your eyes. What's life like up on that mountain-top, oh great one?