Jimmy Kimmel imagines what a campaign commercial for Trump might look like based on what he has told us so far about his plans. And I have to admit that it captures Trump’s style accurately.
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So here’s an update on the seemingly never-ending saga in Kentucky where three of the 120 county clerks are refusing to issue licenses for people to get married because they oppose same-sex marriage. One of them, Kim Davis of Rowan County, was sued by four couples (opposite sex and same sex) who had been denied licenses and lost her case on August 12 in the federal District Court. But on August 19, the judge David Bunning temporarily stayed his order, saying “IT IS ORDERED that the Court’s temporary stay of its August 17, 2015 Order shall expire on August 31, 2015, absent an Order to the contrary by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.” [Boldface in original but my italics-MS]
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The thing that really puzzles me about the Republican primary race is not that Donald Trump is leading but that Ben Carson is in second place. He has no discernible charisma. He has not proposed any significant policies. What exactly is his appeal, other than the fact that he paints an alarming portrait of the imminent collapse of the US and makes the most hyperbolic statements in support of his premise?
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Christian hero Kim Davis, the Kentucky country clerk who, despite losing her case in court, continues to refuse to issue all marriage licenses so that she does not have to issue them to same-sex couples (because Jesus would not approve) is taking her fight to the streets. A rally was held in front of the state capitol that supposedly drew thousands of people to hear her speak for about a minute. It sounded more like a revival meeting than a political rally designed to kick off a mass revolution.
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One of Donald Trump’s strengths in the eyes of his supporters is that they think that he is genuine and is willing to say what he believes even if it offends the elites. In fact, he has tapped into the fact that his willingness to be ‘politically incorrect’ is a large part of his attraction. But when it comes to religion, he seems to want to be ‘politically correct’ in paying lip-service to the Bible.
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I have said before that whenever a piece of legislation has an absurdly patriotic label like the USA PATRIOT Act, you can be pretty sure that it contains something toxic that is being slipped in. The same is true when the bill has a name saying that is upholds or defends something that obviously does not need support, like the Defense of Marriage Act.
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Via Mark Frauenfelder I saw this pretty amazing magic trick by Cyril Takayama. I have absolutely no idea how it might have been done. [UPDATE: To clarify, the card trick I am referring to begins at the 7:54 mark.]
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Jorge Ramos is the well-known news anchor on the Spanish language channels Univision and Fusion who was thrown out of a press conference with Donald Trump for asking questions about his immigration plans. Some commentators have criticized Ramos for not waiting his turn to be asked and said that he was being rude by ‘jumping the queue’, so to speak. Others have gone even further and cheered Trump’s action, seeing it as demonstrating Trump’s toughness and symbolic of how Trump would throw people out of the country.
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I have been following the case of Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky who has refused to let her office issue marriage licenses to all couples because of her opposition to same-sex marriage. She was, of course, sued, and a federal judge threw out her claim that her religious rights were being violated, and ordered her to issue licenses.
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Back in 1994, journalist Fintan O’Toole wrote the following in The Irish Times:
We have now reached the point where every goon with a grievance, every bitter bigot, merely has to place the prefix, “I know this is not politically correct but . . .” in front of the usual string of insults in order to be not just safe from criticism but actually a card, a lad, even a hero. Conversely, to talk about poverty and inequality, to draw attention to the reality that discrimination and injustice are still facts of life, is to commit the new sin of political correctness……… Anti-PC has become the latest cover for creeps. It is a godsend for every sort of curmudgeon or crank, from the fascistic to the merely smug.
Hate blacks? Attack positive discrimination – everyone will know the codes. Want to keep Europe white? Attack multiculturalism. Fed up with the girlies making noise? Tired of listening to whining about unemployment when your personal economy is booming? Haul out political correctness and you don’t even have to say what’s on your mind.