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-   -   Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying. (http://www.lawtalkers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=880)

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy 06-02-2017 11:36 AM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 507996)
We won't have to. That war already started in Europe and Merkel and her feckless pussy allies in France and Belgium continue to supply the ammo. In 3-4 years, most of Sweden and France, large swaths of Belgium, Germany and Denmark, will become unvisitable (and uninhabitable).

So, yeah, set the pawns and move the rook and the bishop to protect the king. Jimmy crack corn - I don't care. Never thought I'd become an Isolationist, but fuck 'em. Reap what you sow.

HOWEVER, I only logged in here thinking you guys - someone, anyone - might be talking about how Hillary has now completely gone fucking insane.

No comments on this? The last 2 days have been scary.

Blaming her loss on the DNC? The NYT? Facebook? Netflix? FFS, Macedonian tech? CNN - a friendly network, to say the least - listed some 30 targets she now blames for losing.

Her public meltdown is approaching the level of Captain Queeg with the marbles and the strawberries. Or for the kids that don't know film, Chuck in "Better Call Saul".

Every day she opens her mouth, another vote is cast - rightly or wrongly - for the GOP. (Chelsea too, for what it's worth.)

SlaveNo(Hillary - the gift that keeps giving)More


There is some insanity involved in this post, but it ain't Hillary.

Tyrone Slothrop 06-02-2017 11:40 AM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 507996)
We won't have to. That war already started in Europe and Merkel and her feckless pussy allies in France and Belgium continue to supply the ammo. In 3-4 years, most of Sweden and France, large swaths of Belgium, Germany and Denmark, will become unvisitable (and uninhabitable).

So, yeah, set the pawns and move the rook and the bishop to protect the king. Jimmy crack corn - I don't care. Never thought I'd become an Isolationist, but fuck 'em. Reap what you sow.

Would love to place a bet with you on this, if only to force you to mark to market.

Quote:

HOWEVER, I only logged in here thinking you guys - someone, anyone - might be talking about how Hillary has now completely gone fucking insane.

No comments on this? The last 2 days have been scary.

Blaming her loss on the DNC? The NYT? Facebook? Netflix? FFS, Macedonian tech? CNN - a friendly network, to say the least - listed some 30 targets she now blames for losing.

Her public meltdown is approaching the level of Captain Queeg with the marbles and the strawberries. Or for the kids that don't know film, Chuck in "Better Call Saul".

Every day she opens her mouth, another vote is cast - rightly or wrongly - for the GOP. (Chelsea too, for what it's worth.)

SlaveNo(Hillary - the gift that keeps giving)More
Pretty sure that the people who continue to care what Hillary is up to have always voted GOP and will continue to do so.

Tyrone Slothrop 06-02-2017 11:42 AM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 507998)
But most of what's now fashionable on the left to complain about as lack of antitrust enforcement is not particularly susceptible to antitrust enforcement.

Yes. And most of the people on the left who are complaining are not bothering to figuring out why the law is the way it is.

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy 06-02-2017 11:44 AM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 507994)
This is loopy. Our work force has huge productivity advantages over many, and we continue to have geographical advantages. The last six months aside, we have a stable political environment conducive to business and innovation, and a government that respects the rule of law.

We continue to have a massive competitive advantage in our educational institutions. But enormous investment is happening elsewhere, and I think there are already a number of schools elsewhere, beyond the traditional Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris, that compete with Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Amherst and their ilk.

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy 06-02-2017 12:01 PM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 507998)
Aside from my general dislike of her persona, she was on Pod Save America this week (where I actually was fine with her persona) and said some things that make me worry about her.

Asked whether we should break up the banks, cable companies and airlines, she casually said, "yes." And then went on to mention retail drug store competition and Walmart in a discussion about antitrust enforcement.

As if retail isn't dying right now. And as if drug stores, for the non-drug stuff they sell, aren't just as much subject to competition from online and mass retailers. Sure, like convenience stores, they have some degree of protection from competition on non-drug stuff because people will still have to come to them for drugs, but it's not like people are going to switch where they get their prescriptions week-to-week because of the price of whatever incidental purchase they make at the same time. More drug stores doesn't really change that. And as to the drugs, it's not like the real issues aren't with the distributors and PBOs. But people know what a drug store is, so that's what gets in the sound bite.

Same thing for Walmart and "killing small businesses." Most of that is competition on the merits. You might be able to find some novel monopsony theories if you dig around in their practices, but the surface stuff people complain about is pro-competitive.

Moreover, antitrust can't really protect small businesses. There's very little it can do for companies with 25 employees. But if you stray from protection competition into protecting competitors, you certain can do a lot of harm to consumers by protecting the inefficient employers with 1000 employees from the more efficient one with 5000.

And as for those break ups, what are they going to do? How does anyone benefit from more regional cable monopolies? They don't. There's still one set of wires going to everyone's house. The options are regulate their prices and offerings or publicly own the distribution network a foster competition on supply of content. No court is going to order that. You need to make the political case for it and do it via the political process.

It's more or less the same thing with airlines. Unless you're going to dictate that your broken up airlines serve concurrent route systems, they're going to avoid head-to-head competition with each other. Heck, it might be even easier to do with more, smaller airlines. Also, the low hanging fruit on airline competition is allowing foreign carriers to operate domestically.

And that brings us to banks. Is there really a lack of competition there? Or are we trying to solve bank-regulatory issues - e.g. too big to fail, moral hazard, etc - with an antitrust remedy?

There's room to criticize the past decade or so of antitrust enforcement. Maybe Whirlpool/Maytag shouldn't have happened. Although I still think DOJ would have had a hard time countering the argument that Korean and Chinese manufacturers were going to kill Maytag, even if the Chinese manufacturers haven't turned out to be as successful as we might have thought.

But most of what's now fashionable on the left to complain about as lack of antitrust enforcement is not particularly susceptible to antitrust enforcement.

Actually, the big retail drug stores are a huge downward pressure on the costs of generic drugs; they can't impact the brand drugs to the same extent, but they try. There are not many other market players with the heft to go up against the Pharmas and big generics.

Don't underestimate Liz. While she does not have the intellectual firepower and knowledge on issues like bank regulation or other issues of someone like Barney Frank, she has a keen sense of what plays in a world where the value is more on delivery than substance, and that is the world we are now living in. Kind of surprising for someone coming out of academe.

Adder 06-02-2017 12:07 PM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 508003)
Don't underestimate Liz. While she does not have the intellectual firepower and knowledge on issues like bank regulation or other issues of someone like Barney Frank, she has a keen sense of what plays in a world where the value is more on delivery than substance, and that is the world we are now living in. Kind of surprising for someone coming out of academe.

Yes, that was my complaint. Her antitrust enforcement discussion was all optics and no substance.

Tyrone Slothrop 06-02-2017 12:13 PM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 508004)
Yes, that was my complaint. Her antitrust enforcement discussion was all optics and no substance.

I am sympathetic to the impulse that we need more vigorous antitrust enforcement, but if she can't explain why the current regime is getting it wrong or what - specifically - you would do and how it will make people's lives better, she should pick something else to work on where she can.

Adder 06-02-2017 12:18 PM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 508005)
I am sympathetic to the impulse that we need more vigorous antitrust enforcement, but if she can't explain why the current regime is getting it wrong or what - specifically - you would do and how it will make people's lives better, she should pick something else to work on where she can.

Agreed. Although I think the places where enforcement most needs to be more vigorous are novel and hard, aside from perhaps tinkering with some merger remedies. How and where antitrust enforcement should seek to counter network effects in social media and online services, or attempt to address the bundling of online services, is really hard.

Tyrone Slothrop 06-02-2017 12:20 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBSbQHEVoAAGfi-.jpg

Not Bob 06-02-2017 01:23 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 507996)
We won't have to. That war already started in Europe and Merkel and her feckless pussy allies in France and Belgium continue to supply the ammo. In 3-4 years, most of Sweden and France, large swaths of Belgium, Germany and Denmark, will become unvisitable (and uninhabitable).

So, yeah, set the pawns and move the rook and the bishop to protect the king. Jimmy crack corn - I don't care. Never thought I'd become an Isolationist, but fuck 'em. Reap what you sow.

HOWEVER, I only logged in here thinking you guys - someone, anyone - might be talking about how Hillary has now completely gone fucking insane.

No comments on this? The last 2 days have been scary.

Blaming her loss on the DNC? The NYT? Facebook? Netflix? FFS, Macedonian tech? CNN - a friendly network, to say the least - listed some 30 targets she now blames for losing.

Her public meltdown is approaching the level of Captain Queeg with the marbles and the strawberries. Or for the kids that don't know film, Chuck in "Better Call Saul".

Every day she opens her mouth, another vote is cast - rightly or wrongly - for the GOP. (Chelsea too, for what it's worth.)

SlaveNo(Hillary - the gift that keeps giving)More

I miss Catrin.

Ahem. True, no Hillary bashing lately, but there was quite the tedious discussion about who and what were to blame for her loss. (In my view, all of it. Kind of hard to find the proximate cause of death when the corpse slipped on a banana peel, while being hit by a car because she didn't look both ways, while having an Acme anvil land on her head while being shot with arrows and while being stabbed with a knife while ... you get the idea.)

On the plus side, there was a brief discussion regarding gin the other day, and Flower has been posting classic funk songs. And the Dalai Lama told me that, on my death bed, I will receive total consciousness. So we've got all that going for us.

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy 06-02-2017 02:14 PM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 508004)
Yes, that was my complaint. Her antitrust enforcement discussion was all optics and no substance.

Adder, get with it. We live in a post-fact world.

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy 06-02-2017 02:16 PM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 508006)
Agreed. Although I think the places where enforcement most needs to be more vigorous are novel and hard, aside from perhaps tinkering with some merger remedies. How and where antitrust enforcement should seek to counter network effects in social media and online services, or attempt to address the bundling of online services, is really hard.

See, you want hard discussion. Knowledgeable discussion.

But she wants to be pied piper to the Bernie Bros, and that requires good bumper stickers and catchy phrases.

Adder 06-02-2017 02:31 PM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 508010)
But she wants to be pied piper to the Bernie Bros, and that requires good bumper stickers and catchy phrases.

Yeah, and I'm okay with that when the unintended consequences are less clear. Go ahead and cheer for higher minimum wage, free/cheaper education, a government that helps working people, etc.

But we've seen what happens when the masses glom onto crappy talking points as actual policy ideas - ban Muslims, build walls, etc.

Tyrone Slothrop 06-02-2017 03:13 PM

Re: Elizabeth Warren
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 508006)
Agreed. Although I think the places where enforcement most needs to be more vigorous are novel and hard, aside from perhaps tinkering with some merger remedies. How and where antitrust enforcement should seek to counter network effects in social media and online services, or attempt to address the bundling of online services, is really hard.

Tim Wu's article about reorienting antitrust to focus on innovation is really good. If you focus on finding concrete and verifiable harm, you will end up worrying only about the prices of commodity products in mature markets.

Pretty Little Flower 06-02-2017 04:01 PM

Re: Maga
 
Trump Twitter Two Days Ago: Crooked Hillary Clinton now blames everybody but herself, refuses to say she was a terrible candidate. Hits Facebook & even Dems & DNC.

Slave This Morning: Blaming her loss on the DNC? The NYT? Facebook?

Me Right Now: Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow (The Kingdom of Heaven is Within)

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

SlaveNoMore 06-02-2017 05:31 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 508000)
Pretty sure that the people who continue to care what Hillary is up to have always voted GOP... .

Wait???? So ABCNBCCBSCNNCNBCMSNBCNYTWAPOWSJUSATAPREUTERSAFPRCPHILLSLATESALONHUFFPO (and 1/3 of the folks at FOX News) voted for Trump?

Didn't realize this. I thought everyone voted for Hillary - except the "Russians". I had no idea the Fourth Estate sandbagged her. My blind faith in the free press is restored!

Quote:

...and will continue to do so
Awesome.

SlaveNo(MakingLawtalkersGreatAgain)More

SlaveNoMore 06-02-2017 05:39 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower (Post 508013)
Free Your Mind...

Thanks. Happy Hour is indeed just around the corner. I'll raise one in your honor.

Quote:

...and Your Ass Will Follow
I agree. I'm sure that GGG will post something stupid and obnoxious, post-haste.

Quote:

(The Kingdom of Heaven is Within)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeeYUXjp_ro
A lot of P-Funk is too stoner weird for me. Similar problem with Zappa, although he wasn't a stoner. Too atonal at times.

SlaveNo(I do love Beefheart, which makes no sense)More

Tyrone Slothrop 06-02-2017 07:02 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 508014)
Wait???? So ABCNBCCBSCNNCNBCMSNBCNYTWAPOWSJUSATAPREUTERSAFPRCPHILLSLATESALONHUFFPO (and 1/3 of the folks at FOX News) voted for Trump?

Didn't realize this. I thought everyone voted for Hillary - except the "Russians". I had no idea the Fourth Estate sandbagged her. My blind faith in the free press is restored!
SlaveNo(MakingLawtalkersGreatAgain)More

I know times are tough in the media business, so it's good that they can keep selling ads to conservatives who breathlessly await the news of Hillary's latest travesty. eta: Alas, while corporations can be people for all sorts of purposes, I don't think the Supreme Court has said they get to vote. Yet.

SlaveNoMore 06-02-2017 07:59 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 508017)
I know times are tough in the media business, so it's good that they can keep selling ads to conservatives who breathlessly await the news of Hillary's latest travesty.

TY - You are decent folk that votes Democrat for generally all the right reasons. I respectfully disagree with many...most...if not all... of them, but I respect our right to disagree. Hell, that is why we are friends. Public jibes and private cheers.

You are not a spokesman for the Dems, or more broadly the Left, but I will ask you what I feel is a legitimate question; to wit:

Does Hillary - every time she makes these deeper and crazier accusations - help or hurt the party?

Notwithstanding your post (and my joke), everything she's said the last 3 days have been all over the news. If I logged into it, my FB feed would be filled with ranting lunatics like BNB (oh right, nevermind, I deleted her when she called me a pussy) and others calling her some feminist savior.

She is a cancer to the Dems. Why does your ilk continue to support her?

It's political suicide. 2018 House is in play. She goes away, you could win, maybe.

SlaveNo(AskingQuestionsNoOneCares)More

Tyrone Slothrop 06-02-2017 08:04 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 508018)
Does Hillary - every time she makes these deeper and crazier accusations - help or hurt the party?

As you suggest, there are people who are energized and motivated by her in a good way, and there are people like you who are energized and motivated in the opposite direction. I see both kinds in my FB feed.

Quote:

Notwithstanding your post (and my joke), everything she's said the last 3 days have been all over the news. If I logged into it, my FB feed would be filled with ranting lunatics like BNB (oh right, nevermind, I deleted her when she called me a pussy) and others calling her some feminist savior.

She is a cancer to the Dems. Why does your ilk continue to support her?

It's political suicide. 2018 House is in play. She goes away, you could win, maybe.
I think that the people whom she motivates are the opposite of swing voters, and would be energized about something else if it wasn't her. If she's on the ballot in 2018, it's a different story, but she won't be.

sebastian_dangerfield 06-02-2017 08:42 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 508018)
TY - You are decent folk that votes Democrat for generally all the right reasons. I respectfully disagree with many...most...if not all... of them, but I respect our right to disagree. Hell, that is why we are friends. Public jibes and private cheers.

You are not a spokesman for the Dems, or more broadly the Left, but I will ask you what I feel is a legitimate question; to wit:

Does Hillary - every time she makes these deeper and crazier accusations - help or hurt the party?

Notwithstanding your post (and my joke), everything she's said the last 3 days have been all over the news. If I logged into it, my FB feed would be filled with ranting lunatics like BNB (oh right, nevermind, I deleted her when she called me a pussy) and others calling her some feminist savior.

She is a cancer to the Dems. Why does your ilk continue to support her?

It's political suicide. 2018 House is in play. She goes away, you could win, maybe.

SlaveNo(AskingQuestionsNoOneCares)More

Slave: One shouldn't speak ill of the dead.

HRC: Zombies are dead. Know your place.

Corporate Sponsor for this Post: Bombay Sapphire

I'll leave now before violating the never-post-drunk-unless-you're-Hank rule.

Pretty Little Flower 06-02-2017 09:58 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 508015)
A lot of P-Funk is too stoner weird for me. Similar problem with Zappa, although he wasn't a stoner. Too atonal at times.

SlaveNo(I do love Beefheart, which makes no sense)More

I like P-Funk's stoner weird stuff, but that song is LSD-Mescaline-Peyote cocktail weird.

Adder 06-02-2017 10:17 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield (Post 508020)
Slave: One shouldn't speak ill of the dead.

HRC: Zombies are dead. Know your place.

Corporate Sponsor for this Post: Bombay Sapphire

I'll leave now before violating the never-post-drunk-unless-you're-Hank rule.

This is not a rule.

What Hillary has to say is mostly of interest to those who already hate her. I've not really seen anything crazy, but it's also mostly irrelevant now.

Hank Chinaski 06-02-2017 10:28 PM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 508017)
eta: Alas, while corporations can be people for all sorts of purposes, I don't think the Supreme Court has said they get to vote. Yet.

Just quoting this because sebby thinks I'm the only who ever posted drunk.

Hank Chinaski 06-03-2017 05:58 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
I hate Bill Maher anyway, but does he survive this one?

Adder 06-03-2017 09:44 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 508024)
I hate Bill Maher anyway, but does he survive this one?

He shouldn't but has before. And I don't mean the 9/11 comments, about which he was mostly right.

Hank Chinaski 06-03-2017 09:50 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 508025)
He shouldn't but has before. And I don't mean the 9/11 comments, about which he was mostly right.

the 9/11 comments were correct, just tone deft. cost him a network job. but the others, hating Islam is a bit safer offense. Thurgreed and I had a fight years ago about whether the "n word" becomes benign. This will be some feedback I suppose.

Tyrone Slothrop 06-03-2017 11:38 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 508026)
the 9/11 comments were correct, just tone deft. cost him a network job. but the others, hating Islam is a bit safer offense. Thurgreed and I had a fight years ago about whether the "n word" becomes benign. This will be some feedback I suppose.

He's on HBO, so there are no advertisers to boycott. What are people going to do?

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy 06-04-2017 03:11 PM

Re: Slave is a Pussy
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 508018)
If I logged into it, my FB feed would be filled with ranting lunatics like BNB (oh right, nevermind, I deleted her when she called me a pussy) and others calling her some feminist savior.

Right wingers hate no one more than an apostate. Especially one speaking bitter truths.

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy 06-04-2017 03:12 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 508024)
I hate Bill Maher anyway, but does he survive this one?

There's even a market for bigotry on the left. He's been mining it for a long time, this is just a new verse to an old song.

Hank Chinaski 06-04-2017 05:05 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 508029)
There's even a market for bigotry on the left. He's been mining it for a long time, this is just a new verse to an old song.

Not sure it's bigotry, it's more "I'm Bill Maher, so you know I'm not a bigot." It's more Tarentino w/o a script to point to?

sebastian_dangerfield 06-04-2017 11:15 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski (Post 508024)
I hate Bill Maher anyway, but does he survive this one?

He survives.

The joke was in bad taste. But it was actually intended to insult the bigots in the right wing of the GOP. This ironic usage is clear to any long time watcher of Maher.

Still, he took a chance and it really came off badly. I don't believe any white, old, affluent person has the right to use that term to refer to himself. As much as Maher has supported BLM and been a strong voice for recognizing and remedying injustice toward Black people, he does not get a pass to use the term self-referentially.

He fucked up.

He needs to stop pre-show baking.

sebastian_dangerfield 06-04-2017 11:48 PM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 508029)
There's even a market for bigotry on the left. He's been mining it for a long time, this is just a new verse to an old song.

No, Maher is an anti-theist. He insults all religions equally, in the tradition of Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens.

He's only called a bigot because he's been harsh on Islam for not policing its radicals. In that, he's too strident, but... he's only being factual. All religions are vehicles for awful behaviors, and Islam just happens to the one serving that purpose most luridly at the moment.

I don't agree with Maher that moderate Muslims have a duty to police the crazies, or that they're enablers. I think he's wrong on both points. But that doesn't make him a bigot. It makes him a man with a position regarding religion with which I don't agree. Neither you nor I nor anyone else gets to slap "bigot" on somebody because he takes a strong position on a certain group based on what are rational assessments.

I find myself in a very odd position in regard to Maher's comments on religious extremism. I'd go to war to protect anyone's right to wear a burqa, or to believe the fictions of the Testaments and the Koran. (Freedom of speech alone dictates people must be allowed to exchange tall tales about charlatan "prophets," "saints," and all sorts of fictional characters in ancient pre-enlightnment literature.) But I'd also be the first person to assess any culture compelling its citizens to wear burqas something far less than a "culture." These are not people with whom I'd associate. (Unless the retainer was really, really big.)

sebastian_dangerfield 06-05-2017 12:06 AM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop (Post 508027)
He's on HBO, so there are no advertisers to boycott. What are people going to do?

Perhaps get a fucking life? The guy said something monumentally stupid. But he's a racist like I'm a platypus.

He needs to understand we can't abide that language among white people -- particularly in the current climate.

But this is what comedians do. I watched Eddie Murphy's Delirious a few months back and was struck by just how many laughs he got from what'd be called homophobic material today. Is Murphy a homophobe? Fuck no. He was a comedian pushing the limits. Is Maher a bigot? No. But he's also not as talented as Murphy. Maher also conceded the right to make certain jokes when he became more political talk show host than standup.

Maher wants to be Lenny Bruce and Gore Vidal at the same time. It's a tricky gig.

sebastian_dangerfield 06-05-2017 12:18 AM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 508025)
He shouldn't but has before. And I don't mean the 9/11 comments, about which he was mostly right.

I'd love to see every American asked these questions, and compelled to answer in writing:

"A suicide bomber cannot be a coward: Yes or No?"

and

"If we attack another country, and the attacked country fights back, those fighters acting against us are not 'evil' for doing so, but simply acting rationally: Yes, or No?"

Greedy,Greedy,Greedy 06-05-2017 09:16 AM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield (Post 508032)
No, Maher is an anti-theist. He insults all religions equally, in the tradition of Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens.

He's only called a bigot because he's been harsh on Islam for not policing its radicals. In that, he's too strident, but... he's only being factual. All religions are vehicles for awful behaviors, and Islam just happens to the one serving that purpose most luridly at the moment.

I don't agree with Maher that moderate Muslims have a duty to police the crazies, or that they're enablers. I think he's wrong on both points. But that doesn't make him a bigot. It makes him a man with a position regarding religion with which I don't agree. Neither you nor I nor anyone else gets to slap "bigot" on somebody because he takes a strong position on a certain group based on what are rational assessments.

I find myself in a very odd position in regard to Maher's comments on religious extremism. I'd go to war to protect anyone's right to wear a burqa, or to believe the fictions of the Testaments and the Koran. (Freedom of speech alone dictates people must be allowed to exchange tall tales about charlatan "prophets," "saints," and all sorts of fictional characters in ancient pre-enlightnment literature.) But I'd also be the first person to assess any culture compelling its citizens to wear burqas something far less than a "culture." These are not people with whom I'd associate. (Unless the retainer was really, really big.)

No, he's just another ignorant racist. He stereotypes brown people and attacks them as a group. He generally does so out of monumental ignorance and an unwillingness to learn anything. The idea you think he is being "factual" when he is so utterly, colossally ignorant is a useful data point.

Adder 06-05-2017 10:24 AM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield (Post 508032)
He's only called a bigot because he's been harsh on Islam for not policing its radicals.

Nah, that's not all he's said about Islam. Also, he's anti-trans and hates women.

Curiously, he may hate black people less than other groups he's gotten away with saying awful things about.

Adder 06-05-2017 10:28 AM

Re: Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield (Post 508033)
But he's a racist like I'm a platypus.

When ever I think, "Is that person or thing racist?" the only answer I can conjure is "better ask Sebby."

I don't know if he's "a racist" but what he said was racist. Why are we making a distinction?

Quote:

I watched Eddie Murphy's Delirious a few months back and was struck by just how many laughs he got from what'd be called homophobic material today.
You don't have to go very far back to find a ton of cringe-worthy material from a lot of comics, especially on women and queer people.

Quote:

Is Murphy a homophobe?
Was he at the time? Probably. Is he now? I don't know the man. Neither do you.

ThurgreedMarshall 06-05-2017 10:51 AM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 507996)
We won't have to. That war already started in Europe and Merkel and her feckless pussy allies in France and Belgium continue to supply the ammo. In 3-4 years, most of Sweden and France, large swaths of Belgium, Germany and Denmark, will become unvisitable (and uninhabitable).

So, yeah, set the pawns and move the rook and the bishop to protect the king. Jimmy crack corn - I don't care. Never thought I'd become an Isolationist, but fuck 'em. Reap what you sow.

HOWEVER, I only logged in here thinking you guys - someone, anyone - might be talking about how Hillary has now completely gone fucking insane.

No comments on this? The last 2 days have been scary.

Blaming her loss on the DNC? The NYT? Facebook? Netflix? FFS, Macedonian tech? CNN - a friendly network, to say the least - listed some 30 targets she now blames for losing.

Her public meltdown is approaching the level of Captain Queeg with the marbles and the strawberries. Or for the kids that don't know film, Chuck in "Better Call Saul".

Every day she opens her mouth, another vote is cast - rightly or wrongly - for the GOP. (Chelsea too, for what it's worth.)

SlaveNo(Hillary - the gift that keeps giving)More

I find that, after what we have seen from the current Administration, you choose to rant about Hillary Clinton causes me to be extremely worried about your mental health.

TM

ThurgreedMarshall 06-05-2017 11:00 AM

Re: Maga
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by SlaveNoMore (Post 508018)
TY - You are decent folk that votes Democrat for generally all the right reasons. I respectfully disagree with many...most...if not all... of them, but I respect our right to disagree. Hell, that is why we are friends. Public jibes and private cheers.

You are not a spokesman for the Dems, or more broadly the Left, but I will ask you what I feel is a legitimate question; to wit:

Does Hillary - every time she makes these deeper and crazier accusations - help or hurt the party?

Notwithstanding your post (and my joke), everything she's said the last 3 days have been all over the news. If I logged into it, my FB feed would be filled with ranting lunatics like BNB (oh right, nevermind, I deleted her when she called me a pussy) and others calling her some feminist savior.

She is a cancer to the Dems. Why does your ilk continue to support her?

It's political suicide. 2018 House is in play. She goes away, you could win, maybe.

SlaveNo(AskingQuestionsNoOneCares)More

I think you are generally delusional when it comes to Hillary. I don't know anyone (other than GGG) who is actively supporting Hillary other than to acknowledge that there is evidence that she got screwed. Most people aren't paying attention to her at all.

Get a fucking grip.

TM


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