Disqus - Latest Comments for zftcg

Re: A Conservative Calls Out Donald Trump

zftcg — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 14:51:16 -0000

This all goes back to the Access Hollywood tape. A number of top Republicans tried to distance themselves after that. Ryan canceled a joint appearance. Priebus tried to get him to drop out. But the base ended up turning on them, so they figured they'd just hunker down for another month until he lost and then move on ... except he won. So now they've convinced themselves there's nothing they can do, both because a) it will make them apostates and b) he seems to defy political gravity, and maybe the ride ends eventually, but no GOP officeholder wants to bet their career on when it will happen.

Re: Harvard Rescinds Admission To Conservative Kyle Kashuv Over Private Racist Remarks He Wrote At 16, Despite Apology And Evidence Of Growth. This Is Disgusting.

zftcg — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 08:35:33 -0000

Why the quotation marks around "survivor"?

Re: Harvard Rescinds Admission To Conservative Kyle Kashuv Over Private Racist Remarks He Wrote At 16, Despite Apology And Evidence Of Growth. This Is Disgusting.

zftcg — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 16:44:25 -0000

Counterpoint: Right!

(Seriously, why do you think I'm wrong?)

Re: Harvard Rescinds Admission To Conservative Kyle Kashuv Over Private Racist Remarks He Wrote At 16, Despite Apology And Evidence Of Growth. This Is Disgusting.

zftcg — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 11:27:29 -0000

I don't know, I think the proper "conservative" response when someone does something wrong is that an apology is a good start, but it is not an automatic get-out-of-jail-free card. There is nothing inconsistent with applauding Kashuv for his efforts to atone for his actions, while continuing to believe that he should suffer consequences. And in this case, I think the punishment is proportionate. His life isn't over. He's not being prevented from pursuing higher education. He doesn't have to walk around wearing a scarlet R on his chest. He just doesn't get to go to Harvard.

Maybe that consequence will serve as a good lesson, to him and to others, that spouting racist epithets -- even in a private chat -- is a really bad idea.

Re: Did Elliott Broidy pay $1.6 million to cover up Donald Trump’s affair with Shera Bechard?

zftcg — Wed, 09 May 2018 09:09:52 -0000

Curious why you think there was no pregnancy. My understanding of Paul's theory is that there was never any relationship with Broidy, but that Trump did get her pregnant. Stormy and MacDougal set the market for consensual encounters at well south of $1M, but Bechard got $1.6M. That would seem to indicate her situation was significantly more complicated, and potentially damaging to Trump. I think an actual pregnancy that ended with an abortion fits that bill.

Anyway, my point was that the likely answer to your question of why she didn't use protection was that, if you believe Stormy's account, Trump didn't feel a need to use condoms during his affairs.

Re: Did Elliott Broidy pay $1.6 million to cover up Donald Trump’s affair with Shera Bechard?

zftcg — Tue, 08 May 2018 09:43:33 -0000

According to Stormy, Mr. Germaphobe had no problem raw-dogging a porn star.

Re: Al Franken's Calculated Strategy of Non-Denial

zftcg — Fri, 08 Dec 2017 08:40:09 -0000

It's only been six days, but this comment hasn't aged well, both in the sense of Franken resigning and the RNC jumping back into the Alabama Senate race.

Re: Al Franken's Calculated Strategy of Non-Denial

zftcg — Fri, 01 Dec 2017 12:36:53 -0000

I'm a long-time fan of Franken, so it pains me to say this, but Ponnuru is absolutely right. The initial charges bothered me (and still do), and the subsequent allegations are also very troublesome, but I could theoretically imagine a scenario whereby he came clean about everything, expressed genuine remorse and was able to salvage his political career. After all, randomly groping strangers is awful, but he didn't rape anyone, he didn't target underage girls, and (as far as we know) he didn't follow up physical abuse with emotional abuse, destroying people's lives and careers in the process.

Regardless, his behavior since the story broke has, IMO, foreclosed the possibility that he can survive politically, or that he deserves to. As Ponnuru says, he doesn't really admit to the charges, but he doesn't deny them either. A guy known for being funny and voluble is suddenly tight-lipped and lawyerly. Now, does that automatically mean he's guilty of everything he's been charged with? Of course not. But it is increasingly making me question what we know about him, what else will come out, and why we should trust him going forward.

Re: A speech from Bobby Kennedy that I wish could be given today

zftcg — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 09:23:59 -0000

I notice at the end of the speech he quotes Tennyson. That stuck out to me because, in the famous post-MLK assassination speech, he quoted Aeschylus.

Not to get into a discussion of today's political situation, but close your eyes for a second and try to imagine our current president not only quoting a Greek poet, but identifying him as his "favorite".

Re: Take Back Your Diamonds, Take Back Your Pearls, What Makes You Think I Was One of Weinstein's Girls?

zftcg — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 14:11:03 -0000

Huh? I've been reading coverage of Las Vegas, the CA fires and North Korea (not to mention Puerto Rico, which you conveniently forget) all over the MSM. If you're only seeing Weinstein stories, that probably says more about you than it does the MSM.

Re: Coach Popovich’s Comments About Trump Have Changed the NBA for the Better

zftcg — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 00:00:12 -0000

So you hate whiners? Got it.

I'm guessing you must be really sick of this guy then:
https://twitter.com/realDon...

Re: Coach Popovich’s Comments About Trump Have Changed the NBA for the Better

zftcg — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 16:30:20 -0000

Tell me, do you resent a man -- who also makes more a lot money than you -- who insults POWs, John McCain and Gold Star families while defending neo-Nazis as "fine people"?

Also, how does an athlete kneeling silently prevent you from honoring your country? No one is telling you what you can and can't do.

Re: The Corner- (Don't) Walk this Way

zftcg — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 08:49:56 -0000

But what if what we're currently seeing is what "cut way down" looks like? Going back to the Israeli example, 15 years ago they were seeing wave after wave of suicide bombers blowing themselves up in cafes and shopping malls. Relative to that, stabbings and vehicular homicides are a marked improvement (while still, of course, being horrible to the people affected and unacceptable to society as a whole).

As I said, I honestly don't know what the answer is. Some of these policies that people here are advocating might be the right thing to do at a macro level. I just think we should be clear-eyed about the fact that, in a country of 300 million people, there will always be at least a small number of people in the grip of a twisted ideology, and a smaller subset of that group willing to act on that ideology. That doesn't mean we lose hope, or don't bother trying anything, but neither should we delude ourselves into thinking that the solutions are simple or merely a matter of having the "will" to do what needs to be done.

Re: The Corner- (Don't) Walk this Way

zftcg — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 16:23:03 -0000

FYI, Israel is seeing the same types of low-level terrorist attacks: stabbings, cars mowing down pedestrians, etc.

As comforting as it is to think, "If only the government took my preferred steps, all of these problems would vanish," the fact is, there will always be at least a small number of people within our borders (some immigrants, but others who were born here) who hate us and are crazy enough to act on that hate. There's simply no way we can identify all of those people before they act, nor can we prevent them from accessing low-tech tools like cars and knives.

Like the author, I don't have an answer, either. I'm horrified at the thought of simply accepting that we will continue to suffer these low-tech attacks. But I have yet to hear the policy that will prevent a guy from driving his van into a crowd of pedestrians on a sidewalk.

Re: OPINION: The Comey memo offers zero proof to impeach Trump

zftcg — Thu, 18 May 2017 10:57:12 -0000

"Three month gap between the one act and the other. Funny how you ignore that little factoid."

Speaking of ignoring factoids, did you happen to see the interview where Trump explicitly said that he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation?

Also, the fact that he initially lied about the reasons for the firing is itself evidence of malign intent.

Re: Trump's Staff Sure Seems Eager to Tell the World He's an Imbecile

zftcg — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 12:51:07 -0000

I've been puzzling over this as well, and I have a theory. Leaks generally fall into a few categories: Puffing up the leaker, dragging down someone else, or using the media to communicate a message that's not getting through via other channels. I think it's a combination of the latter two. No. 3 is fairly self-explanatory: As much as he disparages the "fake news" MSM, Trump avidly consumes it, so the leakers know that whatever appears in the Times' "inside account" will reach its intended target.

But No. 2 is a bit more sophisticated. The tone of most of those leaks is that Trump is a doddering fool, and it's really Bannon calling the shots. My theory is that the leakers don't really care that Trump is an idiot. Rather, by portraying him that way, they can puff up Bannon, which, someone counterintuitively, makes him a target when Trump sees it and resents him getting all the credit. Remember, Trump responded directly to a Morning Joe segment about Bannon by saying that he was the one "calling the shots", and there have been stories that Bannon may have gone too far out on the ledge.

Yes, it all seems ridiculously Machiavellian. But that's the way Beltway leaking works. I remember reading once about a leaker who deliberately leaked info in the "voice" of one of his colleagues (ie, sentence construction, word choice) so that the other person would draw suspicion.

Basically, it's the reverse of Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation -- that the leakers are genuinely horrified and want to warn the country how bad it is -- may be the least likely to be true, and it's the truly baroque one that best explains the situation.

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 10:08:17 -0000

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 09:50:18 -0000

https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 15:00:03 -0000

Ha ha. Check out Nerdlinger, responding to accusations of being a nerd by doing exactly what a nerd would do: unleashing a rant from the safety of his keyboard. Sorry, Poindexter, but you were the one who chose an obscure Star Wars reference as your screen name -- sorry, "moniker"-- and referred to Jedi mind tricks. You're clearly obsessed with the franchise.

And yes, I do think I'm entitled to other people's money. Specifically, your lunch money. So hand it over, Dorkus, or I'll give you an atomic wedgie!

Anyway, I can't waste any more time on dweebs like you. I have football practice, and you probably have a mathletes tournament or something.

Live long and prosper! (Wait, is that Star Wars or Star Trek? I can never remember.)

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 10:58:33 -0000

Sorry, nerd, unlike you I haven't seen Rogue One twelve times already, so I don't get the reference. But speaking of movies, here's one of my favorite scenes: https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 06:50:29 -0000

"Jedi mind tricks"? LOL. If only stopping the GOP Congress was as easy as debating Star Wars nerds on message boards.

Anyway, I'm sure you have a convention to go to (will it be the stormtrooper outfit this time or Yoda?) so run along now. And may the force be with you!

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 21:25:45 -0000

Look, debating the merits of health care is probably a waste of both of our times. We're not going to convince each other, and it ultimately doesn't matter, because we both know that the GOP Congress is not going to repeal the ACA and go back to the pre-2010 status quo. You may think it's because they're a bunch of lily-livered RINOs, and I may think it's because they're rightly fearful of the political fallout, but in the end, their motivations are unknowable and irrelevant. They're not going to do it. They're going to try to come up with some fig-leaf compromise that can they can get passed by their caucus and will allow them to claim they've repealed it while also not rocking the boat so much as to endanger their jobs.

Do you disagree?

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 16:14:36 -0000

"Reverting to the previous circumstance is no problem. Nobody was dying in the streets."

You are clearly someone who gets insurance through either your employer or the government. And honestly, I'm happy for you that you never had to face the dysfunctional nightmare that was the individual insurance market pre-ACA, where people couldn't get insurance because of pre-existing conditions, were driven into bankruptcy by medical emergencies, and yes, were dying in the streets (or more specifically, the emergency rooms). Because if you had, there is no way you'd be so blase about returning to the old system. And I suspect the majority of Americans do not share your lack of concern.

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 16:03:36 -0000

In fact, just the opposite. The ACA has saved lives: https://www.washingtonpost....

Re: Obamacare Repeal Through Reconciliation- What Goes Around, Comes Around

zftcg — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 15:46:23 -0000

You know, if all I cared about was politics, I would hope that the GOP would adopt your Stalinist "in order to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs" position, because it would be absolute electoral poison. But these things have actual consequences, and if the GOP destroys our healthcare system, people will literally die. So the fact that Trump and the Republicans will take the blame for it -- and trust me, they absolutely will -- offers little comfort.