Finally!

[james_davis_nicoll]

A right winger who is aware enough of Canada to know fleeing to it isn't the answer to a "left" wing President.

Comments

[onyxlynx]

Why do you hate us?

I am just amazed that he knows that much about Canada and still attributes questioning the behavior of Israel to "leftists" but apparently "conservatives" need to be squirrelly about somebody.

And while I'm at it, how condescending of him to admit that Obama is a "decent human being."

Don't get me started. I'll have a double memetic prophylactic, heavy on the Lethe.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

As I said on FB, I'm actually disappointed; he could plausibly have come out against Trump, what with his liking for Hispanic immigrants and his past liberalism on most issues. OTOH I guess he'd like "keeping Muslims out of the country".

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Indeed. When I started reading that essay, I had no idea whether Card would be for or against Trump, and suspected he'd be against, but no, delusions about Benghazi are clearly more important than voting against someone who is running as an actual old-school fascist. I wasn't certain I actually could be disappointed by Card anymore, but I was.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Seeing the sensible and the plain-foolish so thoroughly shoved into a blender as it was here...just amazing.

And the exaggeration about the demands of the franco-Québecois...ayoille!

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Wow, I was surprised to find myself agreeing with Card about the Civil War movie, but then he started blathering about the UN :( He did manage one political point that I mostly agreed with:

If you're thinking of voting for the Libertarian, first read some of their actual platform and you'll realize that the Libertarians make the Democrats and the Republicans look sane.

It's clear that libertarian platform is less sane than the GOP one (at least in previous years, I'm less certain about the GOP platform in the days of Trump & madness), but more sane in that case doesn't mean better.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

I had to go look. Oh, gosh, OSC doesn't know anything about the United Nations. I probably shouldn't have looked.

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

I'm starting to wonder if "the written constitution" is a dog-whistle for "reinstitute slavery, as the founders intended".

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

I think it's just a dog-whistle for "No abortion, no gay rights, no contraception, no right to privacy at all. Also, no controls on guns and no income tax."

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

You forgot "And we should review that whole 'giving the womenfolk a vote' thing."

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

I'm pretty sure they're against all of the Reconstruction Amendments equally, and given the ability to overturn any would overturn all. (I mean, look at the Supreme Court decisions prior to Scalia's death. They're clearly not in favour of giving any such thing the force of law.)

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

He says yet again, "I'm not a Republican". Dude, you've been a Republican for a decade and a half now. Own it.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

He's not a very good Republican, what with being pro-union, pro-minimum wage, pro-gun control, liking public transit, wanting in-state college tuition for the children of illegal immigrants, opposing the death penalty...

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

He's spent this entire century praising Republican officeholders and endorsing Republican candidates, and censuring Democratic officeholders and opposing Democratic candidates.

The whole point of the piece James links to here is that even having to vote for Donald Trump isn't enough to make him not vote Republican. Republican is as Republican does. He may be on the fringe and unhappy, but he's still a member of the group.

What he really is, of course, is someone who was thrown into a state of terror by the 9/11 attacks and has never recovered. Every other issue pales to insignificance next to the Existential Threat of the Ravening Muslim Hordes. Which, this century, is one of the Republican core constituencies.

[pameladean]

What's wrong with a compost heap?

P.

[http://users.livejournal.com/krin_o_o_/]

Ok, that was... um... special

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Why is someone with those opinions wearing a watch that tracks his movements? Obviously not thinking the paranoia through properly...

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

Because it's free enterprise tracking everything he does, not the government. Because no one could possibly imagine any future where large corporations act like quasi-governmental totalitarian oppressors!

[blufive.livejournal.com]

Or a past/present where the government noticed these lovely piles of data the corporations have got, and hacked into the corporations' internal networks to take a peek.

As others have pointed out ...

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

That was bloody remarkable. From a really cogent, writer's-eye look at superhero movies, to lunatic politics, to semi-lunatic politics, to Old Man Talks New Fitness Tech to ...

All of it well-written, of course, but it's like the man's brain doesn't know how to compartmentalize at all, no matter how many single centred asterixes he throws into the mix.

Fascinating.

[wakboth.livejournal.com]

I'm completely unsurprised that OSC takes Clinton being corrupt and evil as an axiom, never even momentarily considering if she actually is that terrible. (Spoiler: no, she isn't.)

[bruce munro (from livejournal.com)]

To be (excessively) fair, so do a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters...

[avram]

American presidents have generally been kinda evil; Hillary’s not exceptional in that regard.

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

OSC, turn off Fox News, it's not doing you any favors.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

"A few overflights by American attack helicopters would almost certainly have saved many lives"

Seriously? In a conflict where nearly everyone was wearing civilian clothing, armed with common farm tools like machetes and knives, with hand-to-hand fighting between next-door neighbours instead of massed armies, how could air power do ANYTHING? Attack helicopters are good at stopping tanks and infantry charging through the Fulda Gap, not at stopping your neighbor from smashing in your back door.

After the genocide started, the only thing that could be accomplished without boots-on-the-ground would be taking out the radio transmitters broadcasting propaganda. But even then, orders would be sent via telephone and hand-delivered by courier.

[seth ellis (from livejournal.com)]

Air power is a strong vector for moral superiority; combatants look up, see US gunships, think "Gosh" and stop all this obstreperous behavior. Happens all the time.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

Also, combatants look up, see US gunships, think "Gosh" and send their bullets into the sky toward the high-value targets instead of their neighbors.

[witchwestphalia.livejournal.com]

I give OSC credit for saying that Obama is a decent person. Many in the U.S. right wing couldn't or wouldn't.