Pop Quiz – Nov. 29, 2018

Under what circumstances will a conservative economist object to people “getting really, really, really rich”?

a. When they tell the truth.

b. When they lie.

c. Under no circumstances.

 

The correct answer is “a”.

Conservative economist Stephen Moore falsely claimed that scientists are “getting really, really, really rich off the climate change issue.”

Katherine Hayhoe,who does not have to preface her words with “I’m not a scientist,” delivered the rebuttal to that type of rhetoric. “Unfortunately, facts aren’t optional,” she said in a direct response to President Trump. “We can say we ‘don’t believe’ them but they’re still true.”

See Matt Wittstein’s story at the Daily Beast: “Climate Scientist Katherine Hayhoe Accuses CNN of Bumping her Expertise For Rick Santorum.”

Another Victory for the Inquisition!

AFP Reports: Kuwaiti authorities have blacklisted nearly 1,000 books at a literature festival, including one by Dostoevsky.

Saad al-Anzi, who heads the Kuwait international literary festival, said the information ministry had banned 948 books including Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, a novel set in 19th-century Russia that explores morality, free will and the existence of God.

Dostoevsky joins a growing list of writers banned in the relatively moderate Gulf state, where there is a growing conservative trend in politics and society.

The information ministry has blacklisted more than 4,000 books over the past five years, including Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

Quotation of the Day – Nov. 5, 2018

The Day the County Coroner Outpolled the President

During the 1988 campaign, it was clear that George H.W. Bush was going to carry Indiana, including the county where I lived at the time.  Typically, the head of the ticket will garner the most votes, since people seldom bother voting for all the various local candidates, some of whom they don’t even know by name.  Since the area was pretty solidly Republican, the Montgomery County coroner usually ran unopposed.  This official (I’ve long since forgotten his name) was by all accounts a competent professional, and anyway who cared?

But at the last minute before the deadline, a Democrat filed papers to run for coroner too.  Can’t recall his name either, but one thing I do remember – he was a local member of the KKK.  The Democratic party organization was aghast, but could do nothing about it – he had paid the filing fee, and his paperwork was in order.  Anyway, come election day, this guy went down to defeat.  Not just defeat, he was crushed.  For the incumbent got not just the votes of Republicans, but also the vast majority of Democrats.  Go check the public records, and you will find that the candidate on the ballot that day who got the most votes in Montgomery County, IN, was the County Coroner – even out-polling the presidential nominee.

Solidarity.

The New Oath

“Please raise your right hand.  Do you swear to try to tell the truth, to want to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth when you can?”

“Well, I try. I do try… and I always want to tell the truth. When I can, I tell the truth. … I always like to be truthful.” – President Trump, in an interview with Jonathan Karl on ABC News, Oct. 31, 2018