US Politics Thread |OT| THE DARKEST TIMELINE

[Great Rumbler]

wait, if his family is involved in drugs...how come he had to go to a crack house to smoke some? Why not have it sent to his house discreetly.

Because

A)  Doug dealt drugs 30 years ago, not now.

and

B)  Presumably, Rob Ford's wife isn't on board with the whole "my husband the mayor smokes rocks" thing, and because the Toronto Police already regularly attend their house responding to domestics, he probably thought it safer to indulge his habit outside of the home.

I seriously doubt they go to his house on such a frequency that he couldn't discreetly smoke crack in his house without being caught; that's ridiculous. The story just doesn't make sense to me. Marion Barry got caught in a hotel; he had been doing it for years, and was only caught due to a sting operation. Ford (allegedly) smoked crack in some weird location and took pictures with drug dealers...he has to be the stupidest mayor alive.

Get a hotel bro

[Phoenix Dark]

Welll...I guess he is the stupidest mayor alive

anyway during an unfortunate facebook back-and-force on "Umbrella-Gate" I whipped out some evidence that yes, marines have indeed held umbrellas for presidents before.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3022027/posts?page=8#8
Yes, that's a Free Republic poster calling out the bullshit. 

So far no response on facebook, I'm guessing he'll respond later with something like "that doesn't make Obama right"

[Great Rumbler]

More Rob Ford goodness:

[DCharlieJP]

So far no response on facebook, I'm guessing he'll respond later with something like "that doesn't make Obama right"

the responses back i've seen have basically been "that was X years ago!" which, somehow, means anything that any other republican president has ever done doesn't matter.

I bet the vast majority of people didn't even know this was an issue until someone pointed out to them.

I also see twitter chatter has shifted from any specific issue for impeachment and is now focused on "overseeing the most corrupt and illegal presidency"  - they threw this out there too soon if the tactic was to try and keep this going.

[Human Snorenado]

'merica!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/us/states-policies-on-health-care-exclude-poorest.html?src=rechp&_r=1&

So, if you're middle class/lower middle class, you'll get subsidies to help you get insurance, but the GOP has made it impossible for poor people in half the country to get access to healthcare.  It's almost like they don't want people to believe government can do things!

[Mandark]

wait, if his family is involved in drugs...how come he had to go to a crack house to smoke some? Why not have it sent to his house discreetly.

Yeah, why is the crackhead making poor decisions?

[Phoenix Dark]

Yup, was about to post about that. There's no policy or logical explanation behind this, it's all pure spite and anti-Obummer hysteria. Republican spent years scaring people, and now they can't implement this stuff without causing crazy people to riot. Look at Arizona...

GOP Governor Shuts Down Lawmaking Until Her Party Agrees To Expand Medicaid

Gov. Jan Brewer sent five bills to the scrap heap Thursday in a pointed gesture intended to prod lawmakers into a deal on the budget and her plan to expand Medicaid.

The five vetoes, follow-through on Brewer’s promise to block legislation until her top priorities move forward, capped a tense day that saw some lawmakers receive threats over their support for the plan to provide health care for more of the state’s poor.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20130523brewer-vetoes-senate-bills-medicaid-moratorium.html?nclick_check=1

Jan Brewer of all people, making sense. The Medicaid expansion would put more than 50,000 Arizonans in the programs. That's 50,000 people who the state would no longer be paying for; 50,000 people who would no longer be raising other people's premiums by getting emergency room care. A governor would be an idiot to turn down the chance to cut their budget spending/deficit with this. Some people have said the rejections are simply a "fuck poor people" position from establishment republicans, but I don't believe that. The expansion will be a profit windfall for the insurance and hospital industry - ie rich people will make dough off this. I think this is more about right wing voters being incensed at the idea of any part of Obamacare coming to their state, and even more upset at the idea of their tax dollars being used by the takers/47%.

from the same article

Brophy McGee said she was shaken by a voice mail she received when she arrived at her legislative office on Thursday morning.

“It was an obscene, abusive phone call,” she said. The caller, who left the message on Wednesday evening, seemed impaired as he complained about Medicaid expansion. He left a phone number.

Brophy McGee said the call only solidified her resolve to support Medicaid expansion.

Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, another proponent of Medicaid expansion, said she also referred a threatening call to security.

Carter said the gist of the message was: “We’re going to come in and storm your office.”

“I’m getting e-mails saying, ‘We’re going to follow you everywhere you go,’” she said.

Rep. Doug Coleman, R-Apache Junction, said he’s received threats against his political future, something echoed in an open letter this week from Maricopa County Republican Party Chairman A.J. LaFaro to lawmakers.

“Their egregious actions will have serious consequences,” LaFaro wrote of the six Republicans senators who sided with a unified Democratic caucus to pass Medicaid expansion and add extra funding for education and Child Protective Services. “Their political careers are all but over and their days are numbered.”

They created this Frankenstein (the tea party) and have to live with it. Unfortunately so does everyone else, meaning half the country will get fucked over. I need to move to California...

[Great Rumbler]

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) reiterated on Sunday that he won't support additional disaster relief funding without spending cuts elsewhere -- even after tornadoes ripped apart his own state last week.

"We've created kind of a predicate, that you don't have to be responsible for what goes on in your state," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation" while discussing the success Oklahoma has had in using state and private funds after the tornadoes.

Screw you, Tom.

[Human Snorenado]

Yup, was about to post about that. There's no policy or logical explanation behind this, it's all pure spite and anti-Obummer hysteria. Republican spent years scaring people, and now they can't implement this stuff without causing crazy people to riot. Look at Arizona...

GOP Governor Shuts Down Lawmaking Until Her Party Agrees To Expand Medicaid

Gov. Jan Brewer sent five bills to the scrap heap Thursday in a pointed gesture intended to prod lawmakers into a deal on the budget and her plan to expand Medicaid.

The five vetoes, follow-through on Brewer’s promise to block legislation until her top priorities move forward, capped a tense day that saw some lawmakers receive threats over their support for the plan to provide health care for more of the state’s poor.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20130523brewer-vetoes-senate-bills-medicaid-moratorium.html?nclick_check=1

Jan Brewer of all people, making sense. The Medicaid expansion would put more than 50,000 Arizonans in the programs. That's 50,000 people who the state would no longer be paying for; 50,000 people who would no longer be raising other people's premiums by getting emergency room care. A governor would be an idiot to turn down the chance to cut their budget spending/deficit with this. Some people have said the rejections are simply a "fuck poor people" position from establishment republicans, but I don't believe that. The expansion will be a profit windfall for the insurance and hospital industry - ie rich people will make dough off this. I think this is more about right wing voters being incensed at the idea of any part of Obamacare coming to their state, and even more upset at the idea of their tax dollars being used by the takers/47%.

from the same article

Brophy McGee said she was shaken by a voice mail she received when she arrived at her legislative office on Thursday morning.

“It was an obscene, abusive phone call,” she said. The caller, who left the message on Wednesday evening, seemed impaired as he complained about Medicaid expansion. He left a phone number.

Brophy McGee said the call only solidified her resolve to support Medicaid expansion.

Rep. Heather Carter, R-Cave Creek, another proponent of Medicaid expansion, said she also referred a threatening call to security.

Carter said the gist of the message was: “We’re going to come in and storm your office.”

“I’m getting e-mails saying, ‘We’re going to follow you everywhere you go,’” she said.

Rep. Doug Coleman, R-Apache Junction, said he’s received threats against his political future, something echoed in an open letter this week from Maricopa County Republican Party Chairman A.J. LaFaro to lawmakers.

“Their egregious actions will have serious consequences,” LaFaro wrote of the six Republicans senators who sided with a unified Democratic caucus to pass Medicaid expansion and add extra funding for education and Child Protective Services. “Their political careers are all but over and their days are numbered.”

They created this Frankenstein (the tea party) and have to live with it. Unfortunately so does everyone else, meaning half the country will get fucked over. I need to move to California...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you voted for a Republican governor? 

[Mandark]

Republican state senator in Kansas: cutting tax on food will cause poor to buy too much.

Not an Onion article.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/24/kansas-lawmaker-opposes-encouraging-the-behavior-of-purchasing-food-with-lower-food-taxes/

Cause poors are poor cause of their own behavior, and the best way to correct that is with INCENTIVES!  Incentives meaning the most pain and highest cost for whatever behavior of theirs you personally disapprove of.

This is becoming a hobby-horse of mine, but really.

[Phoenix Dark]

Vermont and MA have very good healthcare systems, yet we don't see red states getting jealous or wanting to replicate their success. So I kind of disagree with Krugman there, I think there will always be some spin or excuse to dismiss a competent, active government. But I think expanding Medicaid will be a popular idea in many blue or purple states that are currently held by republicans (Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio especially), and eventually the only expansion hold outs will be in the GOP strongholds of the south and heartland.

[Mandark]

Yup.  More generally, you don't see deep red states looking towards the richer coastal states as models for public education, labor laws, etc.  The people being affected by poor state-level implementation are poor folks and those in the market for individual insurance, as far as I can tell, and those aren't terribly influential groups.

Also think you're right about eventual Medicaid expansion.  As it becomes less tied with Obama in the public mind, it'll become more of a clear political winner for governors and state legislators.  "I helped tens of thousands of our state's citizens get the medical coverage they need, all while maintaining a balanced budget" etc.

[Phoenix Dark]

Exactly. For all the complaints about "government takeovers," it's republican states that are completely rejecting to participate with ACA, meaning the federal government will set up the exchanges instead of the state. Texas stands out here, and is going to lose a lot of money for no good reason outside of Rick Perry wanting to run for president again.

Meanwhile Arkansas and some other states have found a "conservative" approach to the expansion: use the federal Medicaid money to purchase private insurance for lower income people. It could be the compromise that leads to more red states quickly adopting the Medicaid expansion.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/05/what-a-private-option-for-medicaid-expansion-might-look-like.html

The problem could end up being that poor people wind up having to pay relatively high deductibles and copays (which is part of the reason the plan is so appealing to republicans, I'm sure).

[Great Rumbler]

Up until now every day seems to bring a new revelation of Toronto’s fun-loving politics and drug underworld family, the Fords. Yesterday, after calling the Toronto media a “bunch of maggots”, Mayor Rob Ford denied the very existence of the purported video at the center of the evolving scandal. But today, the Globe and Mail reports the story is moving to a whole new and potentially terrifying level - much more serious but no less bizarre.

Two sources have confirmed to the paper that Toronto police last week interviewed a senior member of Mayor Ford’s staff in regards to a murder that may be related to the video of Mayor Ford smoking crack.

 

[Mandark]

McCain sneaks across Turkey-Syria border, meets with rebels

McCain and one commander discussed Hezbollah's increasing role in Syrian fighting and also the issue of extremism, when McCain asked commanders how to best combat extremism. The commanders agreed that the best way was for them to be armed under the command of Idris.

Ehhhhh...

[Phoenix Dark]

It's so odd that someone who was tortured for years during an illegal war that shouldn't have been fought has spent nearly his entire legislative career trying to send men into illegal wars that shouldn't be fought.

No, no, no, no. No intervention in Syria.

[brawndolicious]

Somebody's getting fired. I bet they told him it would be like his trip outside of the green zone in Iraq a decade ago.

McCain, who was inside Syria for roughly an hour, had two personal security guards with him.

Slightly less protection than the 150 soldiers, 20 humvees, and three black hawks he toured Baghdad with.

[Human Snorenado]

It's so odd that someone who was tortured for years during an illegal war that shouldn't have been fought has spent nearly his entire legislative career trying to send men into illegal wars that shouldn't be fought.

No, no, no, no. No intervention in Syria.

His behavior makes much more sense when you find out that his favorite book is For Whom The Bell Tolls and that he finds lost causes noble or some shit.  Basically, he's a fucktard.  The media's infatuation with him is dumb; basically, he's not maverick-y at all... everything he does makes sense when viewed through the prism that he's a petulant, grudge holding asshole.  It's just that from 2000-2007 or so that meant he was bucking his party occasionally because his grudge was against Dubya, so the media was all "Grandpa is teh awesome!"

[Mandark]

The EU is lifting the ban on selling weapons to the Syrian opposition, with the reasoning that this will put pressure on Assad to make a deal.  Russia says it's going to ship anti-aircraft missiles to Syria (apparently fulfilling an order from before the civil war broke out) and that this will discourage anyone new from getting involved.  The US seems to be facilitating the supply of weapons to Ahmed Chalabi Salam Idris via Saudi Arabia.

[Human Snorenado]

Now we just need for some grifter to meet with our intelligence guys at Andrew Sullivan's summer house to stand in for "Curveball" and we're done.

[Trent Dole]

Vermont and MA have very good healthcare systems, yet we don't see red states getting jealous or wanting to replicate their success. So I kind of disagree with Krugman there, I think there will always be some spin or excuse to dismiss a competent, active government. But I think expanding Medicaid will be a popular idea in many blue or purple states that are currently held by republicans (Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio especially), and eventually the only expansion hold outs will be in the GOP strongholds of the south and heartland.

Well VT has nearly all its citizens insured, but MA's set up is kind of shit. The state (MA) provides you with nothing but fines you if your income is at a certain level. I can't get insurance that meets the state imposed minimums but fall within the income range and thus get to give some extra money to the state and get absolutely nothing in return. That's not universal fucking health care but lots of people in state think that we have it.

[Eric P]

L8R SK8R

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/29/michele-bachmann-to-leave-congress-insisting-departure-has-nothing-to-do-with-ongoing-ethics-investigation/

Accompanied by odd digitized theme music, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann announced early Wednesday morning via YouTube that she would not seek a fifth term in Congress. At this writing, comments for the ‘Team Bachmann‘ video have been disabled.

During her video presentation, Bachmann (R-Minn.) insisted that her announcement was not related to the ongoing ethics investigation regarding alleged misconduct during her failed attempt to win the 2012 Republican presidential primary.

“Be assured: My decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being reelected to Congress,” Bachmann said. “I have every confidence that if I ran, I would again defeat the individual who I defeated last year, who recently announced he is once again running.”

“And rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff. It was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign.”

[Brehvolution]

[Great Rumbler]

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

And ROFL @ at her trying to say this isn't because of the investigation

[Joe Molotov]

It's obviously a stunt to pump up sales for that erotic Michele Bachmann fanfiction.

“Fires of Siberia,” a bodice-ripper starring a Michele Bachmann-like figure goes on sale June 1. “Presidential candidate Danielle Powers, full of firebrand pluck and red state sex appeal, has the country in a tizzy. But on an international tour to beef up her foreign policy experience, disaster ensues—her plane explodes over Siberia. Miraculously, Danielle survives, along with one other passenger—a mysterious stranger named Steadman Bass. Trapped in a wilderness of snow and ice, the two begin a journey that pushes Danielle to the brink. There she must confront her deepest self and choose between civilization and a wild, primitive ecstasy,” says the description.

[Phoenix Dark]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in a television interview to be broadcast on Thursday that Russia has delivered S-300 air defense missiles to his country, weapons that Israel has said present a threat to its security and against which it is willing to use force.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/world/middleeast/syria.html?hp&_r=0

here we go fellas. Just in time for our proposed no fly zone.

[Joe Molotov]

Send John McCain back over.

[Joe Molotov]

Here's Grandpa McCain's Syrian strategy:

MCCAIN: ...if they move that in, it's going to make it more complicated, and certainly maybe gives us a little bit of skepticism about a conference. But, we can provide them with a safe zone. We can provide them a place to organize inside Syria. We can give them the heavy weapons that they need...

RADDATZ: Who's -- who's them? Who's them?

MCCAIN: ...well I -- I know them. I have met them.* They're there. They...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

*Senator John McCain’s office is pushing back against reports that while visiting Syria this week he posed in a photo with rebels who kidnapped 11 Lebanese Shi’ite pilgrims.

The photo, released by McCain’s office, shows McCain with a group of rebels. Among them are two men identified in the Lebanese press as Mohamed Nour and Abu Ibrahim, two of the kidnappers of the group from Lebanon.

A McCain spokesman said that no one who met with McCain identified themselves by either of those names.

[close]

RADDATZ: But how do you keep out good rebels, and bad rebels?

MCCAIN: Because...

RADDATZ: You've got al-Qaeda rebels, running around...

MCCAIN: Thank you. Martha, these are legitimate questions you're asking. But they are there. And you put them inside Syria, they then have a Benghazi. Then they have a place to organize, to -- to identify the right people. These Jihadists aren't -- there aren't that many of them, they're just so good. Because they've been fighting all over the Middle East for all these years, and they're not afraid to die. But we could still organize a legitimate and non-Jihadist group that are already there.

They've got a great general. They've got a fine man who is in charge of the Syrian -- Syrian National Council. Look, we can...

In other words, who the fuck knows? Jihadists are awesome! Just start shipping guns over there and let's see what happens! Whatever, who cares?

[Broseidon]

BEIRUT, Lebanon — President Bashar al-Assad of Syria said in a television interview to be broadcast on Thursday that Russia has delivered S-300 air defense missiles to his country, weapons that Israel has said present a threat to its security and against which it is willing to use force.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/world/middleeast/syria.html?hp&_r=0

here we go fellas. Just in time for our proposed no fly zone.

Those missiles wont be up and running for some time. Would bet money on something happening to them before they can be set up properly.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Israeli Air Force says hi

[close]

[Phoenix Dark]

Mandark alert

In my infinite wisdom I entered a debate on Glenn Greenwald. I've been reading his stuff off-and-on for a long time, I consider myself generally familiar with his worldview and opinions. Well today on twitter (what a shitty way to start a serious sentence) I was surprised to see some Obama slappies I follow accusing Greenwald of racism for his fierce attacks against Obama/Holder. I don't agree with Greenwald all the time (far from it) but in general I dislike seeing the race card thrown around, so I mentioned he was a fierce Bush/Ashcroft critic as well. This resulted in a flurry of "Greenwald is racist" FUD revolving around him being a former attorney for neo-Nazis. Defending neo-Nazis on first amendment grounds seems fine to me, but he also apparently defended them in criminal court.

And then as if to make my soul burn slow, I was confronted with this Hitchens-esque defense of the Iraq invasion


Mandark, I need you to google all of this and tell me whether it's true or not. I'm too depressed right now, not just because I apparently lost an argument on twitter, but because I've read Greenwald for like 8 years and not noticed a hint of any of this.

[Broseidon]

I hate people talking about Greenwald cos he's the absolute fucking spit of a younger version of my dad and it weirds me the hell out.

Also what's the deal with him anyway? Not really read any of his stuff and all of a sudden he's the word on everyone's lips.

[Great Rumbler]

From the preface of How Would a Patriot Act? by Glenn Greenwald:

During the lead-up to the invasion, I was concerned that the hell-bent focus on invading Iraq was being driven by agendas and strategic objectives that had nothing to do with terrorism or the 9/11 attacks. The overt rationale for the invasion was exceedingly weak, particularly given that it would lead to an open-ended, incalculably costly, and intensely risky preemptive war. Around the same time, it was revealed that an invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein had been high on the agenda of various senior administration officials long before September 11. Despite these doubts, concerns, and grounds for ambivalence, I had not abandoned my trust in the Bush administration. Between the president's performance in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the swift removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the fact that I wanted the president to succeed, because my loyalty is to my country and he was the leader of my country, I still gave the administration the benefit of the doubt. I believed then that the president was entitled to have his national security judgment deferred to, and to the extent that I was able to develop a definitive view, I accepted his judgment that American security really would be enhanced by the invasion of this sovereign country.

[Positive Touch]

dude said he didnt even follow or care about politics til like 2005.

anything relevant he has to say is buried under a mountain of "I KNOW THE ONE SECRET TRUTH" with-us-or-against-us mentality that makes him impossible to debate or take seriously.

[Mandark]

*ARMCHAIR PSYCHOANALYSIS ALERT*

Yeah, I've known about Greenwald's support of the Iraq war for a while.  I think it sort of explains his attitude: he's got the zeal of a convert.  In a lot of ways he acts like a student who has just been exposed to Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn, and reacts by adopting a new dogma and being really judgmental towards anyone who reminds him of his former self.

Plus a lot of his rhetoric about current civil liberties violations/security state measures being historically new phenomena make more sense in that context.  He wasn't paying that much attention before, and when he started to get involved, it was borne from outrage at the current situation.  He didn't have any context and he hasn't bothered to pick any up, really.

As far as I know he's still a fine writer when he's right (and lord knows the security state can make it hard to be wrong if you oppose it sometimes), but he's got some really shitty habits and I just don't feel like I learn that much from reading him.



PS Hadn't heard about the neo-Nazi thing.  Everyone needs legal counsel.  Won't say he's racist, but his brand of progressive politics is a lot easier to swallow in general if you're a white dude with a college education.

[brawndolicious]

I hate it when people try to rewrite their past views to match their current rhetoric. Bush's reelection confirmed to me that people would rather be apathetic than admit they were wrong. At least until enough time has passed for other people to forget.

[Steve Contra]

http://gawker.com/fox-news-host-smacks-down-misogynist-right-wing-blogger-510706045

 

[Mandark]

Erick Erickson?  Talking gender determinism?  Nope nope nope nopenopenope NOPE.  Even with the prospect of seeing him humiliated I don't think I can subject myself to that.


Let's all watch this instead:




Made me legitimately tear up.    Picard

[Steve Contra]

 

What an awesome guy.  Also why doesn't he age?

[Human Snorenado]

http://gawker.com/fox-news-host-smacks-down-misogynist-right-wing-blogger-510706045

 

 

[Human Snorenado]

For PD

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/michigan-governor-distributes-chick-themed-stickers-at-policy?ref=fpblg

Son, I am disappoint

[Phoenix Dark]

How come you didn't accuse Obama of sexism when he called a woman a "young lady"

[Human Snorenado]

Who cares about sexism, we're talking about your vote for a cornball Beaver Cleaver motherfucker that's been running GOP playbook 101 up in Michigan.

ASPLAIN YOURSELF

[Steve Contra]

I have a feeling PD could rescue a whole family from a burning building and Triumph would ask him in the interview afterwards why he voted for Snyder.

[brawndolicious]

I've only voted in three elections but I still haven't voted for a loser or somebody that I regret yet. This is a really location-dependent type of thing.

[Phoenix Dark]

I was so used to just voting for the black guy that having two older white gentlemen on the ballot confused me.

[Human Snorenado]

I voted for Arnold in the Gray Davis recall election. Most of the other students I knew, despite being very anti-Republican by that point, were angry about UC funding cuts and tuition increases, and voted in Arnold.

We had no idea what we were in for over the next few years. Pretty sure UCSB tuition is around 3x what it was for me in 2002.

That's not exclusive to California, it's pretty much all over.

[Phoenix Dark]

I voted for Arnold in the Gray Davis recall election. Most of the other students I knew, despite being very anti-Republican by that point, were angry about UC funding cuts and tuition increases, and voted in Arnold.

We had no idea what we were in for over the next few years. Pretty sure UCSB tuition is around 3x what it was for me in 2002.

So basically, you took a chance on a fresh face, no nonsense republican after an inefficient democrat ran your state into the ground? You're no different than me  :'(

[Positive Touch]

expecting a smart republican to be better than a dumb democrat

[Phoenix Dark]

expecting a smart republican to be better than a dumb democrat

I learned my lesson. I'll never fall for a smart republican again

spoiler (click to show/hide)

 

[close]

[Positive Touch]

 

[Human Snorenado]

Welp, time to move to Utah

[Oblivion]

You guys see the debate between Krugman and Newt/Laffer?  Was pretty entertaining. Krugman destroyed Newt to the point that the didn't even bring up his record on the 90s, which as far as I know, Newt's never done before.

Guess Krugman spent some extra time hitting the books after getting shredded and deported from Scarborough Country.

[Phoenix Dark]

Krugman's passive aggressive swag is untouchable. He'll hit you with like a smooth jazz equivalent of ether and have your soul burning slow for days. You could just tell Laffer was thinking "you little piece of shit..." for much of the debate 

Also gotta love Laffer praising the economic growth that JFK's tax cuts generated while casually forgetting to mention that the rate went from 90%...to 70%. If we could have an economic boom at a highest marginal rate of 70%, we should be fine with Obama's socialist communist nazism highest rate of 39%

[Phoenix Dark]

Mandark...did you see the GSL finals? Just went off

[Mandark]

That was nuts.

I still haven't installed HotS.  The idea is to keep myself from procrastinating, but instead I'm GM in ghost-town Wings of Liberty.

[Phoenix Dark]

I was so close to going to bed. What a classic series, and I think they'll be meeting again soon.

I bought HoTS recently but haven't had time to play much. Haven't watched much either, outside of some Proleague, the last MLG, and the Europe WCS which was awesome. Tonight was the first GSL series I've seen this season, but I've followed the forums. I definitely enjoy watching this expansion more than the final year of WoL; lots of macro and multi pronged attacks.

[AdmiralViscen]

You guys see the debate between Krugman and Newt/Laffer?  Was pretty entertaining. Krugman destroyed Newt to the point that the didn't even bring up his record on the 90s, which as far as I know, Newt's never done before.

Guess Krugman spent some extra time hitting the books after getting shredded and deported from Scarborough Country.

Link?

[Human Snorenado]

I don't even really think Krugman "lost" that "debate" with Joe... as he said, he was completely thrown off by Scarborough's tactic of saying "oh sure we should spend now, lol everyone thinks that" while simultaneously denying that the right was crying about deficit spending.

[Great Rumbler]

Here's the debate in full:

http://new.livestream.com/Munk-Debates/taxing-the-rich/videos/20152434

[Human Snorenado]

Starts at about 20 minutes, intro is bullshit