Jews Wish Were Gentile, Vol. II
Somebody tell him to go away. Put him on an ice floe with a polar bear. (Not that I want the bear to eat him or harm a single hair on his feet. I’m just hoping against hope that he will develop some empathy. Unlikely, but who knows. Even Chuck Colson found G-d).Shavuah Tov. Impeach Drumpf.
Have a Great Week!
(SOCIAL) MEDIA SHABBAT
my brain hurts… need rest… Shabbat Shalom to you Jake Turx, Twittler owes you an apology,
Shabbat Shalom to you, Jared Kushner, in spite of all the evidence that you won’t do the right thing, we still hope you do
…
Shabbat Shalom to you, Sheldon Adelson,have a great time hosting the Cheneys next weekend, you embarrassment to the Tribe,
and well, Stephen Miller, I don’t really care what kind of Shabbat you have.
White House Announces New Categories of Journalism: Fake, Very Fake, and Very, Very Fake.
Sean Spicer said that seating in the press room will be according to the White House’s categories. Real News reporters will get the first two rows, Fake News will get the next two, Very Fake News will watch via video link from a stall in the men’s bathroom, and Very, Very Fake News will get hand-written transcripts of the conferences when the team of underage Bangladeshi transcribers gets them completed and mailed.
Show Your Feelings About the Wall. Support Haiti.
Click Here, donate $5 to the Haiti Vet Mission, and get one of these very lovely stickers.
Build bridges. Help where ya can.
Do You Know What Your Elected Officials Think About a Draft? No? Well, Neither Do They.
Today I called up the offices of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) and Congressman Seth Moulton (D-MA).
Our current administration seems to be heading us towards more armed conflict rather than less. In order to have any fair discussion about the use of the military, the country needs to have a fair discussion about making everyone pay the price for using it.
So I called some legislators in my state
From Elizabeth Warren’s office: The kind person on the other end of the phone had no idea what Ms. Warren’s position was. She said they would get back to me.
From Edward Markey’s office: The kind person on the other end of the phone had no idea what Mr. Markey’s position was, but maybe I should check the website. I said I had and had not been able to find a policy statement. She said they would get back to me.
From Seth Moulton’s office (Mr. Moulton is a veteran): The polite person on the other end of the phone said that she was an intern and could not give out policy positions. She did not offer to get back to me. I asked her to do so, and I left my phone number and email address.
My blocked list on Facebook is getting longer
I don’t block people because they’re idiots. I block people because if I don’t, I waste my time arguing with idiots. Which makes me an idiot, of sorts.
What does my daughter Zahava, who lives in DC, and Sarah Palin have in common?
Answer: Both can see Russia from their house.
Tifney Terry-Franks Just about as funny as Obama who claimed to visit all 57 states.
Richard Lerner One was a misspeak. The other was a blatant attempt at self-puffery. Please examine your biases.
Richard Lerner My point exactly. You don’t even think you have any, which is the definition of bias.
Tifney Terry-Franks What bias Richard Lerner? Please feel free to enlighten all as you seem so all knowing? In this scenario only please.
Richard Lerner The fact that you conflate a statement where someone clearly misspoke with a prepared talking point that borders on the ridiculous pretty much says it all. If you can’t see the failure of the logic that allows that then it would be like me trying to explain music to the tone-deaf.
Tifney Terry-Franks Right. He clearly misspoke. Amusing how liberals misspeak and conservatives are just stupid in the eyes of a liberal. I am not the one tone deaf sir.
Richard Lerner Prepared idiocy vs. misspeaking? What on earth don’t you get? That you CAN’T get it really shows where you are coming from.
Richard Lerner And now I have to block you, because I’m wasting my time arguing with the tone deaf. Really, it’s not you. It’s me.
Tifney Terry-Franks No I get it. You like others want to discredit Palin at face value because you think she is stupid/ignorant. Shows where you are coming from, she is not a stupid or an ignorant person.
Block me as you please. It will have no impact on me or my day.
Nahla Nimeh-Lewis Please block her, I don’t need to feel so dismayed by a country I voluntarily adopted and loved I shall also do the same
Hey Lawyers.
We know from the Jones case during the Clinton administration that a president can’t be sued for something done while in office, but can be for things done before taking the oath. However, that wouldn’t seem to preclude conflict of interest suits, which–by definition–would only occur while the president is sitting? Can someone explain this to me?
Meta-Bug readers like cute doggie stories, less motivated by calls for the Trumplets (Ivanky, Ericky, and Donny Jry) to join the military.
So few people read this virtual rag that statistics are probably useless. However, we did go over 100 views for ENTIRE WEEK! I realize that more millions more people than that will watch a cute cat video in the time it takes to read this paragraph. I can live with that.
And I’m glad that you’re interested in the thrilling story about Genius Mutt defying death after eating a chocolate cake.
But people! In all of this political talk flying around, NO ONE is talking about the proper use of the military. It would be nice to have this discussion before we get stuck in another stupid quagmire that costs the lives and health of those willing to sign on that line.
It is the unanimous view of the Meta-Bug editorial staff that the draft needs to be reinstated. We don’t like the draft. We don’t like the fact that having a large standing army tends to get overused. We wouldn’t like the increased military spending that would accompany a universal draft. We don’t like the possible militarization of society that could occur with a universal draft. We don’t like having permanent military bases in places where they are not wanted or not necessary. We think that young Americans should be supported in becoming the adults they want to be, and that it should be done through education, that the money would be better used paying for universities and trade schools rather than uniforms, food supplied by contractors, and weapons.
Above all, I don’t want my children in the military.
But we are in love with our military might. For a large number of Americans, being big and powerful is part and parcel of our patriotism. We stand astride the globe, ready to go anywhere at a moment’s notice (damn the exit strategies!).
If that is going to be the case, everyone needs to take part. Senators’ sons. Kids of Congressmen. The President’s Progeny. Especially the President’s Progeny. And they shouldn’t be dragged off to the draft board kicking and screaming. They should be at the recruiter’s office, waiting at the door ten minutes before opening time. (On time in the military is 10 minutes early.)
Will they answer the call?
Dear Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Jr.: Join the Army or the Marines; lead by example and show your patriotism by your willingness to sacrifice.
We now have ample evidence that the United States–even in the absence of declared wars, state-to-state conflicts, and serious threats from an invading army–will continue to be a heavily armed country that relies on the use of military advantage to push our agenda in the world.
Call it what you want, but the reality is that we are going to enforce a Pax Americana and whatever the Republican-majority Congress and the Commander-in-Chief feel is an American view of the world. We will do it as much and as far as we are able. We are the modern version of Rome, by design or default.
What we are not–for better or worse–is Sparta. We engage in pieties to assuage our guilt over our “all-volunteer” armed forces. We use them without really thinking about the consequences of sending them into harm’s way. Fewer than 1% of American families have any skin in the game, and as I’ve so often heard, “Well, they signed up for it.” The last time there was a draft, the country was in the street. The idealist in me would like to say that it was over an unjust and unjustified war. The cynic in me says that the only reason anyone cared was because it was their own lives on the line that time.
tRump is pushing an agenda that could easily lead us into war. He is backing both the US and Iran into a corner. If he’s a tenth of the man he says he is, and if his offspring are not just fleas on those 10% coattails, he will encourage them to join the Armed Forces. Not the Air Force (too cushy) or the Navy, but boots-on-the-ground expeditionary forces, either the Marines or the Army infantry.
Let’s see how patriotic these plutocrats are.
The Meta-Bug 