It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.
John J. McCloy
Congratulations, KC Royals, on Record Marathon World Series Game One Victory!
Image of the Day
An Ironic Twist
I don't have many explicit followers of my blog and/or Twitter feeds; most of my Twitter followers are fellow pro-liberty people. (I wasn't aware of Twitter Analytics until recently; my tweet impressions are increasing, particularly these last two months, in part because I've published more frequently.) I somehow imagined if I attracted a political candidate to follow me, it would be maybe a member of the GOP House Liberty Caucus, Rand Paul (who I follow), but a Democrat Congressional candidate? Maybe she hasn't read all my tweets yet... Of course, some people who follow you don't necessarily agree with you; I think Rand Paul follows at least one of GOP rivals (which I know, since Twitter suggested him to follow). Of course, I've tweeted some humorous or sarcastic tweets at the expense of Trump and others.
Follow-Up Odds and Ends: Kim Davis and the Westboro Baptists
The Westboro Baptists, who have done things like threatened to picket the funeral of a murdered little Catholic girl (because of her faith: among other things, the vehemently anti-Catholic Baptists have called Catholic priests sexual vampires who feed on the semen of young boys), recently picketed Davis for "enabling fag marriage", for hypocritically marrying 3 different men four times, and for being a sinful oath breaker who didn't fulfill her public oath of office. I'm not quite sure how the first and third reasons are consistent or how exactly Kim Davis has enabled "gay marriage" by refusing to sign relevant paperwork. Some days you just can't catch a break. I'm just wondering if the Westboro Baptists are also protesting civil divorce proceedings...
Love Gov? Better Get a Prophylactic...
Political Potpourri
Well, on the eve of the third GOP Presidential debate, some important new poll results: Carson just topped Trump by 4% in a CBS national poll, which I think is the first time I think I've seen Trump lose a national GOP poll at a significant advantage over the last several weeks; if I'm not mistaken, Carson nipped Trump in one interim poll. This blog is not favorably disposed to a Trump nomination, so polls showing a GOP base majority fine with a Trump nomination and a short burst of state polls showing improbable (in the face of tightening polls elsewhere) blowout leads by Trump, a couple with Trump over the 40% level have been demoralizing. I'm having problems believing some of these polls after a cluster of narrow 4-5 point leads in a long string of states, and it's not that I'm in a state of denial; for example, a CBS poll Sunday had Trump with a 17-point lead in SC and Clemson today released one showing a 4-point lead. Of course, the Clemson poll may be an anomaly. But the earlier polls this month were Trump's best SC showing since early August; it seems wildly improbable that the race was narrowing elsewhere but widening in SC.
Another anomaly was, after showing Carson with a high-single digit lead in Iowa, suddenly Trump had pulled back into a tie, before the last two polls showing Carson with a 2-digit lead. But the last Florida poll also showed Trump's once double-digit lead shrinking to 3.
It looks like Rubio is more consistently hanging in a distant third (except the recent Wisconsin poll showing a near 3-way tie); it looks like Cruz is edging into a close fourth position, perhaps gaining a little from Trump's apparent decline in the polls.
Drudge has begun to bother me with his obvious push of Trump. For instance, he hasn't linked to the latest Carson poll, although Breitbart, which is a prominent source for Drudge's links, has featured the story. There's a story suggesting that Rubio will be targeted tomorrow night--even though Trump and Carson account for 40% or more of most recent polls (Rubio is barely in double-digits and has missed double digits in several polls, including the current CBS poll). I do expect as Trump's most competitive opponent, Carson will be a target. I also think a number of the candidates noted that Fiorina got a bump in the polls by taking it to Trump. Rubio recently criticized Trump's immigration madness, so knowing Trump, I expect him to go after Rubio as being soft on immigration and part of the group behind the Senate bill that never passed in the House.
I continue to believe that Rand Paul will do a lot better than 5-6% showings currently projected. He has some very motivated supporters, and I heard one pundit suggest today that young people, who normally rely on cell vs. landline phones, are not being adequately sampled. I don't know the methodologies being used, but I'm sure that pollsters realize that the landline phone business is dying (I haven't had lineline service for years).
I may publish a one-off post on the third debate, but watching the World Series has a higher personal priority.
Facebook Corner
(Drudge Report). GE closes manufacturing plant in Ryan's district, moves to Canada...
Matt Drudge is a pro-fascist, anti-trade, anti-immigrant fearmonger. Only an economically-illiterate Know Nothing would promote this kind of utterly clueless bullshit.
(Judge Andrew Napolitano). Obama Administration & Religious Liberties
There is no legitimate intervention by the fascist State, period, on private employment matters. The Fourteenth Amendment applies to government discrimination. When I choose to work, I knowingly surrender some of my rights; for example, as a salaried/exempt employee, I've often had to travel, work late, holidays or weekends--always without extra pay or benefits, but I took the job knowing I would need to accommodate my personal schedule. The salient point here, as the Judge notes, is these people went into the job knowing beer deliveries were part of the job--just like Kim Davis knew going into her job, that SCOTUS was likely to overturn traditional marriage laws. Now generally speaking, I think as a matter of employee morale, an employer should seek to accommodate the idiosyncratic preferences of its employees when it's feasible, but what if I've already assigned Muslims or anti-alcohol employees to the few routes without beer deliveries and my business model includes a lot of beer deliveries? Am I supposed to change my business model, to drop beer deliveries altogether? Otherwise, I might have to institute a Muslim hiring quota, which I'm sure the EEOC would have problems with.
But I'm calling it bullshit also for a reason the Judge doesn't mention although he implies it in terms of letting deputy clerks under Kim Davis process "gay marriage" paperwork. The Muslim prohibition is on PERSONAL consumption, not on the commerce of other people. It would be one thing if the employer forced the Muslim workers to drink beer. Now you can rationalize all sorts of absurd things like the workers by delivering beer were aiding and abetting alcohol consumption, but that's not their call to make. Other people have the liberty to make their own moral decisions about drinking; you do not have the "right" to impose your religious/moral practices on others. So the idea that beer delivery is a matter of protected matter of conscience is crackpot.
(Reason). Go home, Republican voters. You're drunk. [referencing polls suggesting up to 70% of Republican voters could live with a Trump nomination]
Wow. Reason becoming the mouthpiece for the Republican establishment. Comical
Wrong. The right-fascist Donald "Four Bankruptcies" Trump is totally unacceptable to both libertarians and conservatives; I know because I'm both, and this pompous, self-serving, crony capitalist, pro-eminent domain, economically illiterate. flip-flopping, incompetent, unqualified, ill-tempered, unprincipled, arrogant son of a bitch is as RINO as they come. He's trying to buy the Presidency on the cheap. How retarded a cultist do you have to be to believe that a man who takes pride in buying political favors is can lead, when nobody in Congress in either party wants anything to do with him?
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Michael Ramirz via Facebook |
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| Courtesy of the original artist via IPI |
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| Courtesy of Glenn McCoy via Townhall |
Aretha Franklin, "Chain of Fools"
