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

Saying that you think "liberty" is threatened because women will have the choice to have an abortion -- that's Orwellian. You have to pay your taxes either way. I can understand that you object to abortion and would rather that other people who don't agree with you don't have the freedom to make their own choices, but that's not really about liberty.

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

You're starting to sound like Sebby. Because this, much like repealing the Second Amendment, is so beyond the scope of the possible, it is not worth mentioning to or by anyone who isn't completely nuts. Do you qualify?

TM

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

And now I see that you do not qualify.

TM

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

My first statement was more tongue-in-cheek and I didn't actually intend it to be an expression of my liberty.

I believe that people have unlimited liberties and freedoms, and that the power of government is what is limited by the Constitution. But if someone does have a natural liberty it doesn't mean that they have a "right" to have the expression of that liberty paid for by others under penalty of law.

Make Taxation Theft Again!

(I am not all anti-tax, and am fine with a progressive tax system, but the tax burden should be cut down by 90% commensurate with the size of government. No fears, though. Trump is a big government guy, so nothing's changing).

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

This would be absolutely amazing.

TM

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

So Hillary is completely nuts for mentioning it?

I'm just saying, I know this energizes the Democratic base, but these statements also got a lot of Evangelicals to hold their nose and vote for Trump. I know a lot of people who started out #NeverTrump but voted for him in the general on this basis. If it's not going to happen anyway (and I fully agree with you), it doesn't seem totally the best strategy to GOTV for people to vote for someone they hate because they find you worse.

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

I would be totally down with that.

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

If she said it without complete knowledge that it would never pass? Yes.

Look, I know the game is to try to figure out why Hillary was so detestable that dumbasses who act like all this shit or that shit is important to them had to hold their nose and vote for someone who shat on them and their values his whole life, but I really don't think any of this mattered. I think evangelicals are as hypocritical and full of shit as everyone else while pretending Jesus means something to them (while turning away from the poor, hating their neighbor, being in favor of killing, etc.). But when it comes down to it in this election, what appealed to them is the same garbage that appealed to all the other assholes who voted for Trump.

TM

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

It is 100% a moderate position, but some people (eh hem) are extremists on this issue.

I fear that you may have a GOP-like eye-opening coming about what motivates many politically active evangelicals (i.e., racism).

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

Good. It's getting so hard to tell these things anymore.

If you get two people on opposite sides of the table with a common goal of making government work - killing programs that don't work, containing spending, trying to be efficient - I think they can get to a budget that reins in spending while preserving effective programs even if their policy goals are completely different.

The problem comes either when the horse trading is done with funny money and no constraints or when one of the two doesn't care if the process works any more, only if their ideology is served. The single greatest bit of genius that came from the days when Reagan and Tip O'Neill decided to actually work together was Gramm Rudman Hollings (ultimately morphing into PAYGO); the general approach worked right through the Clinton years. But then Bush decided he wanted to put a war on the credit card....

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

My other great really rad idea is to swap Texas for Scotland - I think it would leave both the US (with Scotland) and the UK (with Texas) happier. They'd get oil, a port that didn't complain about having nukes in the harbor, and solid Tory voters, while we'd get oil, single malt and some solid blue voters. And Brits would love vacationing in the warm Texas climes while we'd all enjoy trips to Scotland in the summer.

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

CNN says Cotton for SecDef. Tell me again how Hillary was going to be more warlike, Sebby?

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

I miss Wolfowitz. At least I knew why he was getting us into a stupid war.

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

Sorry, then -- my browser didn't render that properly.

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

Trump will try to infringe bluntly and face backlash. Hillary would continue stealing it quietly. And she'd have had an excellent playbook from which to work, considering Obama's record with whistleblowers and leakers, and his affinity for domestic spying.* Recall whose attu general got a FISA warrant against a reporter? Right. So fuck off on all that.
_____
* She was his "third term," so his sins are hers.