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On the 17th, 18th and 19th of January, Mrs. Animal and yr. obdt. made a whirlwind trip to bonny old Eire. We took a red-eye flight Thursday night (the 16th) , arriving rather the worse for wear early Friday morning. After picking up our rental car, I had a journey of discovery in which I 1) had to learn to drive on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car, and b) navigate Dublin’s rush hour traffic to find our hotel.
Part of the reason for this decision was that it’s a lot easier to hit Europe from the east coast than it is from Denver. Newark to Dublin isn’t much longer a trip than flying from Newark to Denver.
On our arrival at the hotel we were far too tired to operate effectively any longer, so we crashed out for a nap from about 9AM to about 1:30 PM. Thus refreshed, we wandered down to some of the shopping/dining areas around the River Liffey:
A few things we learned: Guinness really is better in Ireland. I never cared for stouts or much of any beer that looks like motor oil. I’ve had bottled Guinness in the states and draft Guinness in the States and even in Japan (!) and didn’t like it. But in Ireland… My first pull of Guinness was in the Temple Bar, a sort of tourist-trap pub but still a must-see on the south side of the Liffey, and it was great – smooth, rich, lovely. The folks in Ireland are normally friendly, although quite a few of them don’t bother watching their language, and pub conversations can get a bit salty.
On Saturday we drove to Kilkenny, about two hours south of Dublin. We went to have lunch with a colleague of mine who works near Kilkenny and whom I had never met in person, which was fun, but we stayed after lunch to walk the medieval streets of this old town and to tour the castle. It was a perfect day for it, chilly but clear and bright.
That evening, after making our way back to Dublin, we went on a classic Saturday night pub crawl. I ingested a fair amount of Guinness, and we made some new friends:
Finally, on Sunday, we spent the day walking Dublin. We enjoyed a traditional Irish breakfast, then Mrs. Animal had a professional interest in visiting some interesting old bookstores. We toured Dublin Castle, and just generally went walkabout in this grand old city. Oh, and had a couple more pints along the way.
Some random observations about Dublin:
- There are a fair number of street bums around the city center. Some of them actively panhandle, some just sit with a cup in their hand and look at the sidewalk. No needles or human feces on the street, at least.
- The local cops- the Garda – are still unarmed, at least the general beat cops walking around. We saw a couple of bums getting questioned. One such was lying in the doorway of a shop; the cop demanded to know what he was doing, and the bum replied “Whaddya think I’m doon, I’m sleepin’ in a feckin’ doorway!” We didn’t hang around to watch, but I suspect that didn’t go well for the bum.
- A lot more people smoke in Ireland than in the States, and they show little compunction in tossing butts on the ground. The sidewalks in the city center are liberally peppered with discarded butts. We did note a couple of bums going along scrounging any butts that still had some tobacco in them.
All in all, it was great fun. We’d love to go back in nicer weather when we can stay for a week or so and see some of the countryside; we were told by several people that the Atlantic (west) coast is breathtaking in places.
Meanwhile, at least it’s a spot on our travel bucket list checked off.
Very cool!
Great pics! Dublin is on my list.
Yes, Ireland is on my wife’s and my list. Planning to go there within three next few years.
My wife and I spent two weeks in Ireland. We flew into Shannon on the west cost. We drove south from Shannon to the southwest tip of Ireland (the farthest western reach of Europe), then up the eastern coast to Dublin. We stayed in 6 difference bed-and-breakfast joints or small, independent hotels. So drive for half a day, then stay for two or three days in each place.
Rural Ireland is gorgeous (mostly untouched by the industrial revolution). Dublin looks like any other major European city.
I found the most difficult part was finding the hotel. Despite reserving a car with gps, I got one without, and spent two and a half hours lost in Nottingham. I eveutally bought an atlas at a Tesco and found the hotel again. I adapted to the wrong side everything pretty easily. I also found accursed roundabouts ranging from a circle painted in an otherwise normal intersection all the way up to “I can’t see the other side of the darn thing.”
How was the road layout in Dublin?
I think we can add roundabouts to the list with deep-dish and pineapple on pizza – things that device the glib community. (I’m staunchly pro-roundabout)
“divide”, even.
roundabouts are generally a good thing, unless you add stop signs or lights, then you’re just putting lipstick on a pig.
I’ve always loved these two large rotaries near my ancestral home – you can just cruise right though those without ever needing to take your foot off the gas if you time it right.
100% this.
The whole purpose of the round-about is to forego those things.
The only other thing that can fuck up a round-about is adding NJ drivers.
I found the microroundabout funny. (the one that was a regular intersection with a circle painted in the middle.) The bigger ones (from normal size on up) had traffic lights controlling entry because even the brits can’t make them work.
Traffic lights + roundabouts are truly the worst of both worlds. There’s one near me – more accidents there than anywhere else.
THIS. Roundabouts work as light replacements.
+1
pro-roundabout
Roundabouts are fine, except for people that don’t know how to drive them. Constant collisions at the one near my office.
I haven’t had enough experience with them to make a final decision.
I can’t quite figure out how two-lane roundabouts are supposed to work. You get into the inner lane, and you seem pretty screwed to me, if there is much traffic at all.
Ton of them in my new town, they work great.
There is 1 light that is the bane of my commute that I want turned into a roundabout ASAP. It will still backup, but it will flow.
Roundabouts are where I’m guaranteed to be stuck for a long wait. I think it’s the same twenty cars stuck in the circle, never able to get out again.
Not everyone drives like Chevy Chase (I think both the actor and the city).
/Imagines the Family Truckster Airborne in the Desert
The two lane roundabouts here generally have the right (outer) lane ending one or two turns with the inner lane exiting with the last exit of the outer lane and beyond.
The Kuwaiti roundabouts like their roads were just free for alls. The bigger ones just dumped two lanes into the mix. Find your opening, gas it, and inshallah. Two lane highways outside of the cities with two lines of traffic in each lane for effectively four lane highways.
Traffic lights + roundabouts are truly the worst of both worlds.
Agreed. It’s gotta be one or the other.
Roundabouts are fine, except for people that don’t know how to drive them. Constant collisions at the one near my office.
Yeah, they require that you learn a few simple rules. Plus a willingness to slow down — if you enter an urban roundabout that’s empty of other traffic at full speed, you’re probably gonna screw up in some way.
We have roundabouts in Edmonton, and they work great as long as everyone follows the rules. First dumbass to ignore them usually causes everyone else grief. The biggest offenders are people who enter a two-lane roundabout in the right lane and then attempt to go more than a quarter of the way around in what is now the outside lane. That’s basically a collision waiting to happen.
The French really know how to do roundabouts.
Pro.
Love roundabouts except when someone with an unintelligible chav accent says “take the second spoke off the roundabout”–um, every one of them’s a second spoke if you count it wrong.
I am also staunchly pro-roundabout, but I used to find in town that there were a couple of awkward ones which people inevitably fucked up and ended up cutting across me every time, although I knew they’d do it. Roundabouts in general are way more efficient than junctions with stop signs. It seemed ridicilous having to come to a stop at every cad sarn crossroads in the USA. In the UK we have “give way” lines, which means you can roll through if you have good visibility and can see that noone is coming, with one direction having priority over the road that crosses it (major and minor roads, in that context). One thing I did like in America was being able to turn right on a red if noone is coming.
In some cities, you can even do left on red if it is one way to one way.
In NJ last week, every place I wanted to turn right on red had a No right on red sign
In some cities, you can even do left on red if it is one way to one way.
Pennsylvania allowed it statewide when I started driving. I have no idea if it is still allowed in Pennsylvania.
Yes.
I 1) had to learn to drive on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car, and b) navigate Dublin’s rush hour traffic to find our hotel.
Reminds me of my first trip to England. We rented a car, and picked it up in the middle of London. So I got to
(1) learn to drive on the wrong side of the road
(2) and on the wrong side of the car
(3) with a stick shift (leading me to repeatedly punch the right door instead of shifting the car)
(4) in London traffic.
Its a miracle we got out of the City.
When I was in Australia, the worst part about driving in Australia is that the windshield wipers and turn signals are flipped relative to their location on cars in the US. I kept turning on the windshield wipers when I wanted to use my turn signal. Then I’d get used to it and get back to the United States.
At the time of my first trip to Australia, I owned a Crown Victoria with a column shift. The first time I tried using my turn signal in the Crown Vic I almost knocked the car out of gear.
I never drove on the wrong side of the road while in Australia. When I came back to the States after my first trip, I made a left turn from a one way street onto a two way street. I made the turn like in Australia, and was on the wrong side of the road. Oops. Thankfully there was no traffic on the two way street and there was no concrete barrier between the lanes.
I don’t think this is an australia thing so much as a car manufacturer thing. It doesn’t appear as if there’s a standard placement/direction of use across companies. I kept getting tripped up on the difference between Ford an Hyundai when I had the rental after my Focus was totaled.
I think Japanese cars and American cars generally have them flipped compared to each other. Its been awhile since I drove an American car.
No, it’s an Aussie thing.
I had several different makes of rental car while on my two trips. I had rental cars everywhere I went except Sydney. I’d say about six different makes of cars spread over the two trips.
Every one of them had then turn signal lever on the right of the steering wheel and the windshield wipers on the left. Every US car except for the column shifters have had the turn signal level on the left and windshield wiper on the right. For the column shifters, both were on the left with the shifter on the right.
Until I bought my Genesis, I drove Ford products (I count Lincolns as Fords) as daily drivers. I’ve had some GM and Japenese makes as rental cars.
Actually, thinking about it, my first car (a stick shift Mustang) might have had the windshield wiper and turn signal on the same side (the left side of the steering column).
I think I’ve rented five different cars in Australia over two trips there, four of them had the windshield wipers and turn signals flipped relative to their US sides. But the fifth one was a VW and had them the same way as in the US. Fortunately, it was the last rental and I adjusted back to the American positions of the wipers/turn signals still in Tasmania.
VW was one I know I didn’t rent while in Australia.
I’m trying to remember what I had, and I think maybe it wasn’t six makes, but six rental cars. Toyota, Holden, and Nissan I remember. I think there were more, maybe Renault and Hyundai? I can’t remember now and the rental car receipts are long gone.
On the note of cars in Australia, the two memorable things I saw in Australia were a right hand drive old-school Bug and a left hand drive 60s Mustang.
Saw on the road I should say as I toured the National Motor Museum. That was a cool place.
They had a kiosk where you could take the written portion of a 1950s era Aussie driving test. I passed on my first try.
The only city I’ve ever been happier about not driving in than London was Taipei. I loved driving in the rest of England and Wales, but I am never, ever, going to attempt London.
Same. Had no issue. Parents finally just let me drive.
Also, I had a total brainlock when I hit a roundabout going in the reverse direction. Again, a frickin’ miracle we got out of it undamaged.
The first time I drove a LHD car (in Italy) I did the same thing for the first 30 mins or so. Hilarious.
One of my first trips to England, my boss did all the driving (because he had prior experience).
One morning, before the coffee really kicked in, we pulled up behind another car at a stop sign. My boss exclaims “Hey, that guy is driving a right-had drive car!”.
A moment of silence.
Boss: “Right, of course, sigh”.
How was the road layout in Dublin?
I found it a bit baffling. The lack of street signs didn’t help. There were a few cases where I turned data roaming on on my cell phone and brought up Google maps so I could get around.
They made most of the on/off ramps for HWY 41 in Green Bay roundabouts, it’s terrible. Also they stacked a bunch of them, so you go through like 4-6 in a row. If you’re on the more heavily trafficked roads and turning right or going straight it isn’t too bad, but trying to get on through a steady flow of traffic takes longer the lights used to.
I did kiss the Blarney Stone when I was there, that’s like a license. I got a signed certificate but like wives, occasionally a piece of paper gets lost. It’s transferable as well so I’m still on top of my game, in that respect.
In Fight Club (the novel) the practice of pissing on the Blarney Stone is brought up. So how did your lips taste afterwards?
Sure glad that was in a novel and not a biography. OTOH the stone as worn smooth from the acid saliva of a million predecessors. I hope I wiped off my mouth on my sleeve but maybe not. I was a younger and more daring man at the time.
Not everything in a fiction novel is fiction.
Probably tastes like Guinness
nice pictures. too bad about the bums.
interesting that even a non stout drinker liked it there. I may have to take that pilgrimage.
It is. The Cliffs of Moher and Galway bay are gorgeous, and the Aran Isles are a short ferry ride from Galway are also worth a visit. On the exact opposite side of the island in occupied Ulster the Giants Causeway is also really cool. The Ring of Kerry is also worth a look if you’re into natural scenery, though I would suggest having a native drive the route for you, the Irish can have a slightly novel idea on what a two lane road should look like.
I drove the ring of Kerry. There are places where you basically come to a stop, roll down the windows, fold in the mirrors on both sides, and then creep forward until you pass the other car.
Aran islands are awesome. One of the last places where Gaelic is still the #1 language.
On a side note, a lot of people don’t know this but the economy and livelihood of the Aran islands was absolutely destroyed by Ireland joining the EU. All of their fishing rights were revoked and gifted to other countries. So our tour guide, whose family had fished off the Aran islands for generations, now makes his income 20 euros at a time driving a rickety old van around and giving tours.
All of their fishing rights were revoked and gifted to other countries.
Holy shit. As good an argument in one sentence as you will ever see on why not to join something like the EU.
And they didn’t kill the invading Fishermen? What kind of Irish are they?
It was funny to hear the Irish talk about joining the EU. A lot of them would freely admit how they’ve been screwed over by it. But then they’ll say “oh, but they gave us these great highways”
ROADZ! are not worth everything they’ve had taken away.
A couple Irish folks I talked with about the EU were unhappy about some things being pushed on Ireland through the EU. They understood why the Brits wanted to leave, but it sounded like none of those Irish folks wanted to leave.
Did all three of those in October and you are right about the gorgeous scenery. What they do well in Europe, however, is the ancient ruins and 2000 years of history.
Scenery? Well one national park in the Rockies or the Maine coast or the Grand Canyon is more spectacular than just about anything I’ve seen in Europe.
The best part of driving in Southwest Ireland are the road enclosed on both sides by rock walls.
The “highways” are barely two cars wide with rock walls close enough to reach out and touch (if you don’t mind losing your hand). You drive down these highways at 50 to 60 mph with oncoming traffic. No one slows down.
It is scary being the driver. It is terrifying to be the passenger, because bushes grow along the road as well. The branches are constantly hitting the passenger side of the door.
When I turned the car back into the rental company, the inspector was shocked that I had the car for two weeks and didn’t put a huge gash in the passenger side. She said that all Americans clip a wall at highway speed sooner or later.
I hit my side mirror several times in Ireland. Driving there feels like invading the Death Star.
Were the flocks of sheep tended by a shepherd and a dog still crossing the roads? My driver (my wife’s uncle and our tour guide) drove like hell, come over a hill, sheep every where. On the brakes, dog going wild , flock dividing. As I remember he was middle 40s, only the second car he’d ever owned, a new English Ford. Seemed like that was an every day occurrence but we never hit any sheep.
We rented what we thought was a small car. In America, yes; Ireland, no. Before we returned the car we picked up a bottle of rubbing compound at an auto parts store and spent an hour at a car wash buffing the scratches out of the clear coat on the passenger side.
Thanks for sharing! My maternal grandfather’s family immigrated from Ireland. Want to go kiss the Blarney Stone one of these days.
I thought Dublin was great. I also stopped in Kilkenny while I was there. I serendipitously (huh, spell checker doesn’t like that. I don’t give a shit) ran into someone I worked with and his wife at Kilkenny Castle. I had some Smithwick’s at the former Smithwick’s Brewery in Kilkenny. It’s now brewed at St. James Gate alongside Guinness.
I didn’t notice a difference in Guinness in Ireland, but Smithwick’s was better.
My time in Dublin was a warm-up for a return to Oktoberfest in Munich. I did not know Dublin had their own Oktoberfest. I also did not know that Dublin’s Oktoberfest was running while I was in Dublin and it was next door to my hotel. Yeah, I probably spent a little too much time there.
It looks like you had better weather than I had when I was there.
Did you and your wife stop by the Chester Beatty Library? If your wife likes old books, she’d probably love this place.
Nice write up and nice pictures!
Meanwhile, in Ireland…
RC Dean,
Looks like I will be staying at the AC Hotel downtown and not have a rental car for my trip. Work is walking distance from AC, is that doable for lunch nearby for you?
What day?
17th-19th. Depending, may arrive too late to do lunch on 17th. Not sure if flying in on 16th evening or morning of 17th.
This is the same trip my wife and I took for our 10th, on a compressed timescale. Don’t recall that we saw a lot of bums, but this was in ’09. Our Dublin hotel was walking distance to the tourist stuff: Guinness, Jameson’s St. Patrick’s, Temple Bar area. Didn’t try to drive in Dublin at all, the traffic was .. daunting. Walking through a residential area along the Liffey, we overheard an exchange that cracks us up to this day:
Dubliner 1: *cough*
Dubilner 2: “Jaysus! Coover yer fookin mout!”
One of my very good friends is from Kilkenny and his mother and sibling are still in the town.
Ireland is on my list of places to go.
LOVELY!
I skimmed, but I will go back and re-read carefully. I have the attention span of a gnat.
I have the attention span of a gnat.
It’s better than having the attention span of a camera flash (like some Millenials I’m acquainted with — still don’t understand how they remain gainfully employed).
A few years ago a group of us got together (seven couples) and rented a small castle for a week in Tipperary outside of Thurles. Took trips to Dublin, Kilkenny, the cliffs of Moher, Bunratty, Cashel, etc. as well as many pubs. It was fantastic, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Well that sounds fun and everything, but it’s a long way to Tipperary.
Well, I guess if I tee it up there, someone is going to hit it.
“rented a small castle”
really a castle?
It’s a very small castle. Just one up, one down, which don’t see that often.
This place.
Their website.
Awesome!
Imagine my shock.
“The investigations and oversight will continue,” said Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York, head of the Oversight and Reform Committee, the lead investigative panel in the House. “We’ve got several cases.”
Democratic-led committees in the House will keep seeking a wide range of evidence and testimony as they look into Trump’s administration, his policies and his businesses and finances. They also plan to keep a focus on his conduct in dealing with Ukraine.
In addition, there are multiple court cases running on separate tracks seeking access to his tax returns, testimony from former White House officials and financial records to show whether the president is unlawfully profiting from foreign governments. Three of the cases will be considered by the U.S. Supreme Court in the spring.
I think you are beyond “oversight”.
and the GOP’s almost too scarred to fight fire with fire.. almost.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/lindsey-graham-senate-intelligence-committee-will-call-ukraine-whistleblower
Graham, who is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and does not reside on the chamber’s Intelligence Committee, also described two other investigations that will be taken up by GOP-led panels in the Senate. He said the Foreign Relations Committee, of which he is also a member, will look into Biden’s alleged conflicts of interest, and the judiciary panel will “deal with all things FISA.”
“Let me tell Republicans out there. You should expect us to do this. If we don’t do it, we’re letting you down. I guarantee you: if it shoe were on the other foot, Democrats would be eating us alive if Republicans had done any of these things,” he said.
I kind of like the new Lindsey Graham.
All promise, no delivery? Sounds just like the old one.
Good point, he talks a good game.
I like them doing this more than I like them legislating.
They better hurry. I don’t like their chances of holding the House (although I have looked at exactly zero polling on how the swing districts look). They shit the bed so thoroughly with impeachment, probably the best thing they could do to deliver the House to the Repubs is keep on keeping on.
Oh, and if the Repubs do take the House, I have seen that they might rescind the impeachment. Just to kick Nancy in the dentures.
They also plan to keep a focus on his conduct in dealing with Ukraine.
I still can’t understand what the problem is with this. The WSJ editorial board keeps calling Trump’s push for investigation into Biden’s son stupid but not impeachable.
I understand that the DC denizens and associated feeders (like the WSJ editorial board) don’t want investigations into their feeding at the trough. Am I missing some real-world reason why investigating corruption and tying it to the aid we give a country is wrong, even if (or especially if) if the subject of that corruption is a high-level politician?
No. You’re not.
The problem is that most of DC has their hands in the cookie jar. Once the dam is breached, there’s going to be massive fallout.
Could be.
But I smell a deal to be made here – Trump says “Give me the Bidens, and it will end with them. Don’t give me the Bidens, and we will start flipping rocks for reals. Don’t think I can? I’ll set up a new FBI/DOJ task force, and the word will go out if you don’t rotate through the task force and get credit for a few scalps, your career prospects are . . . limited.”
I dont think Trump wants to be assassinated that badly.
I see zero problem with investigating a strong prima facie case of corruption. And that’s what Biden/Burisma is. There is no plausible explanation for Biden being on that board other than the purchase of protection/influence. Slow Joe actually boasting that he did exactly what Burisma wanted is a rare case of the other side of a quid pro quo being visible/confirmed.
He did it wrong. You’re supposed to appoint beholden sycophants to positions of power, and then let *them* push the investigations into your political rivals, with no record of you giving any such order. And you’re also supposed to be a Democrat when you do it. Just follow these simple rules, and you won’t have any problems.
i’ve heard it’s a beautiful country. wife’s maternal granddad was an Irish immigrant so visiting is on her bucket list.
My deputy is Irish and goes back almost every year. Absolutely on my short list of overseas trips. I’d like to go when she is there so I have a local guide, which is always the best way to do a new city/country.
I’m not surprised about the Guinness. I generally like Porters and Stouts a lot but think American Guinness has far less taste than most others.
At the Guinness tour they told us that every pub that serves Guinness in Ireland gets an inspection by Guinness several times a year to ensure proper temperature, clean tap lines, freshness of product, etc.
If you take the brewery tour they go over how they change the recipe for exports. Thre Guinness available in America has more hops and different hops to the Irish version. They did that since hops act as a preservative, the sme reason why IPA’s are so hoppy compared to standard British ales. An Irish Guinness is much more malty, for lack of a better description.
Did you take the tour before or after Diageo bought Guinness? I don’t remember that from the tour, and I know Diageo has set up breweries around the world to brew Guinness.
Also, Irish tax law drove some early recipe differences. Guinness Export Stout was partly a result of Irish tax laws if I remember correctly.
Glad you had a fun time Animal. You packed a lot in a few days. My dad is from Ireland and immigrated here when he was in his early 20’s. My mom’s parents were both from there as well, and most of the relations stayed on the ole sod. I’ve been there 7 times, basically every five years or so of my life. Dublin is okay for a day or two, but the best if Ireland is rural Ireland, especially the west coast. I’d heartily recommend the coast of Cork and Kerry, and the Killarney area is also fantastic. Stay in small towns and villages and look for pubs that have traditional music sessions and you can’t go wrong.
Joe Biden: Burmisa hired Hunter “because he’s a very bright guy.”
I’m pretty bright, somebody should pay me $83,000 a month.
Keep talking Joe, this is great stuff.
I’m pretty bright,
But are you bright enough to get kicked out of the military for pissing hot, and go on to get a stripper pregnant?
Okay you got me – those ideas never even occurred to me.
i’m bright enough to do those things! i’m not like people say. like dumb.
Hunter is an idiot.
Watch his interview with Amy Robach.
Just don’t ask “Where’s Hunter, Fat?“
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/iowa-democratic-caucuses-new-rules-and-how-they-work.html
The Iowa Dem Party fucks with the rules to speed up the caucuses. I have no fucking idea who this helps if anyone. Though I would love to see 20% or so get locked into “undecided”.
There are two rounds to the process. For the first, Iowans gather at the corner of the room representing their top candidate. As that happens, supporters are allowed to try to convince undecided voters to join them. Eventually, all participants will have settled into one of the camps or decided to hold off as an undecided voter.
Officials tally up the number of heads in each group. If a candidate has scored at least 15 percent of the room, that candidate is declared “viable” and made it to the second round. According to the new rules being implemented this year, the candidate’s supporters are now locked in and unable to change their vote. This rule also creates an incentive not to hold back and wait to see how the first round plays out: If more than 15 percent of voters remain undecided, they become locked in with their undecided bloc, as well.
For the second round, those who committed to candidates who failed to reach that 15 percent threshold are released in a process known as realignment. They can choose to join an already viable candidate, try to win over other caucusgoers to make their preferred candidate viable, or withdraw from the process entirely. In previous years, multiple rounds of this process would follow, but under the new rules, the final result is sealed with this second round.
Why not just have the super-delegates tell the people who they voted for?
The charades are to make the plebs feel like they got to participate.
So, basically, IRV with a 15% minimum to not get your 2nd choice counted.
The Dems have always had the 15% minimum. But in the past, people could switch choices every round. So a candidate that had 15% in one round, could lose it in the next, only to get them back in subsequent round.
Now, you first choice better be your preferred candidate, because you might never get a chance to change.
Here in the UK there is a strong, coordinated PR effort on the left to promote Ilhan Omar as some kind of saintly hero. Right now she is apparently a stunning and brave victim of BAD ORANGE MAN. She ticks so many boxes on the progressive messiah list: immigrant, POC, Muslim, woman, socialist, hates (((people))), photogenic. I think AOC is going to be pouting intensely once it dawns on her that the Squad member being groomed for a Presidential nomination is Illy and not her. Perhaps it’s like Highlander; there can be only one. They’d have to behead each other until there is only one left to rule the world. To mix my metaphors, it feels like Bernie is Palpatine here, and one of them is Anakin Skywalker. No, they will probably all be President some day, in succession. Joy.
Well, that bodes well for her never holding office again given the successes of the British Left in electoral politics of late.
But why do PR for a US pol in the UK?
Especially one with a lot of baggage, and potential loss of citizenship sue to immigration fraud?
Here in the UK there is a strong, coordinated PR effort on the left to promote Ilhan Omar as some kind of saintly hero.
I suspect this is battlespace prep in the off chance somebody in US law enforcement wants to interview her brother/husband, who I believe now lives there.
I think AOC is going to be pouting intensely once it dawns on her that the Squad member being groomed for a Presidential nomination is Illy and not her.
Omar isn’t a natural born citizen, so she’s not eligible.
Aaaah that’ll be it.
Dag garn it I really done goofed on forgetting Article II.
She doesn’t qualify for Prez, she isn’t a natural born citizen (but then again…Obama).
Obama had, at the time of his birth, one Citizen parent. Unless the argument is that his mother isn’t his mother, I can’t say he’s disqualified. If that is the argument, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Now, if an anchor baby were running, we’d have an interesting argument on the matter.
Obama had, at the time of his birth, one Citizen parent.
I vaguely recall an argument that, under the rules at the time, he didn’t qualify as natural born because of the time she had recently spent out of the country(?).
Under the current rules, anchor babies are unquestionably natural born. I suspect this is not consistent with the intent of the 14th Amendment, but the record is pretty scant. It comes down to whether “jurisdiction” meant legal jurisdiction (“we can throw you in jail”) or political jurisdiction (“you are the subject/citizen of another country”). Our immigration issues are so far removed from those of the 1860s, though, that its really hard to say what they would have thought.
I find it absurd that the intent was ever to turn over the privileges of citizenship to people who just happened to pop out while their mother was on this side of the border, regardless of parentage. It was an attempt to generically declare that all those ex-slaves were properly citizens.
My understanding is that, at the time of Obama’s birth, the law was different than today, and 1 part didnt qualify you as a citizen if you were born outside the US (I can’t remember the details, might have been dependent on Father, if any of that was even true). Which is why being born in HI was important. McCain was born in the canal zone and no one questioned his citizenship.
I don’t think there is any argument for an anchor baby. Born in US as a citizen at birth (under current law), so no problem.
parent, not part.
As long as he was born in the US. His mother possibly doesn’t have enough residency time in the US after she turned 18 if he was born elsewhere.
Well we can’t take back the eight years of his presidency. Born in Hawaii but didn’t a book jacket bio claim he was Kenyan (and said bio of an author is always reviewed by said author)? And who knows what citizenship he listed on his college applications. Trump should offer to release all his audited tax returns in exchange for Obama releasing his college aps and Warren releasing the cv she submitted to Harvard for her professorial position.
I found Someone’s Shocked Face. Whose is it?
Lt. Fish, obviously.
Query:
Let’s say the Dems manage to screw Sanders in the nomination process. A natural home of hard leftists in this country is the Green Party. What if he runs a third party campaign as the Green nominee? He hasn’t been a lunatic environmentalist, as far as I know, but that’s easily cured. If he goes Green, I could see that being the catalyst for a Big Realignment of the parties. If enough young ‘uns follow him to the Greens, it could cripple the Dems as a viable party, and set up a “cleaner” party alignment with the Greens being the party of lefty/proggy/socilaists/urbanites, and the Repubs being the party of everyone else.
I don’t think there’s enough Green voters to actually make the jump.
A lot of the current dem voters are those who’ve always voted dem. They disagree by staying home on election day. If the zealous wing of the party jumps ship, the rump Dems would still be the bigger party compared to the Greens.
The question, I think, is whether enough Berniebots would follow him to the Greens (and stay there) to inflict serious damage on the electoral viability of the Dems. Losing, say, 10 – 15% of their voters to the Greens would probably be nearly fatal. Even if the Greens are smaller than the Dems, a double-digit third party that cannibalizes one of the Big Two would lead to a very unstable situation.
Dunno. Just a random thought.
Perot did it.
Perot did it.
I added “and stay there” with Perot in mind. Costing them one election and evaporating won’t trigger a realignment. If the Berniebots are pissed enough at getting stabbed in the back twice, they might stay Green. If there’s enough of them, it could set off some dominos.
No they hate Trump too much.
Trump ain’t running again after 2020. There’s no hatred like internecine hatred. This is predicated on the Berniebots being very pissed indeed at the Dems, so they leave and don’t come back. Win some local/House elections, take out some Deep Blue districts/Dems, and the Greens could get legs.
if Bernie thought no one liked him in the Senate before just wait if he tries to split the Party
I strongly suspect that Bernie will do what’s best for Bernie, and that would probably mean not going Green and losing his seat at the Dem table.
Could the LP and the Greens combine to convince more* states to go to something like IRV? To avoid too much confusion, I would only allow 2 levels of voting. If you manage to vote for 2 candidates who don’t come in the top 2, then your vote is “wasted”, just like today.
*more, in that some states already do run offs, and I figured we could convince GA and etc to save money and do instant runoffs.
I like IRV, and am always amused that people here seem to dismiss it out of hand for abstuse reasons I’ve never been able to fathom.
Almost anything is better than plurality.
IRV has the advanatge of being the simplest of the more advanced voting, especially if you limit to 2 rounds (which is just the runoff procedure that is often done, only in 1 day).
No they hate Trump too much. And if Bernie thought no one liked him in the Senate before just wait if he tries to split the Party.
The party diehards will go ballistic if Sanders goes Green.
I’m surprised nobody shot Stein after 2016.
Hilariously, they are really going to throw the thing over to a billionaire to avoid nominating Bernie.
Of course. Trump is stealing money from blue-state billionaires. When the Dems say they want to tax the rich, they mean only tax the rich in red states.
IF that happened AND the LP ran someone somewhat competent, we could have a semi-stable 4 party system. IIRC, 4 party is much more stable than 3.
Are four parties stable in a first past the post system. Also given the current electoral college what would be the Green and LP states? If there were enough Green and LP state that would just throw the thing into the House the 2 party system would still rule.
I have been googling, but I cant find it, but I swear I have seen that in the past, that 4+ can be stable, while 3 cant be.
I recall reading in, Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos, that any system is most stable and mutually beneficial when there are only 2 dominant competitors within it.
No system with more than 2 parties is possible here. The only possible success for libertarians comes in making the Republican Party more libertarian and clinging to and promoting the few quasi-libertarians therein.
Yeah, as long as you have a winner take all, as opposed to a parliamentary system, third party is probably a pipe dream, at least for the Presidency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duverger%27s_law
“LP ran someone somewhat competent, ”
Whom would you suggest? Anyone who had been successful in either GOP or Dems would face a shitstorm of criticism as “not being a true libertarian”.
And while it might be possible to come up with a list of visibly competent businessmen or others with libertarian leanings, what makes you think any of them would accept the LP nomination?
Minorities won’t go Green.
I suspect you’re right. Probably not enough committed Berniebots (read: white leftists) to force a realignment, but I wonder what the threshold and timeframe would be?
Minorities are racist.
I don’t think a viable third party is going to emerge from a POTUS election. Needs to happen at the state level.
That said, if the Green Party thought they had a viable shot at winning a congressional seat they would certainly ask Bernie to run as a Green if they thought that would be the extra shot in the arm they needed to win.
But I only think that happens in state that is so blue it’s practically a one-party state. So you may see a third party emerge, but it only looks like 3 parties nationally, it would still be only two parties in that particular state.
Glad you enjoyed it, and very cool piece.
I’ve been to Ireland twice now, and loved it both times! My favorite part was meeting some of our (relatively) distant cousins and hearing their stories. My family actually came from near Kilkenny and County Carlow, and they have a couple farms in the area. Beautiful country.
Of course, these are the “new” family farms, after the black and tans kicked them off their ancestral family lands back in the day and gave it to British citizens. But we won’t get into that
<A HREF="https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/02/03/live-updates-trump-impeachment-trial-closing-arguments/"Demings says it is quite telling Trump’s team never discussed Trump’s “moral character” during the trial. She says young police recruits are being held to a higher moral standard than the leader of the free world. Jeffries tells the Senators that the “eyes of history” are watching and they can still convict and remove Trump at the last hour.
Maybe they haven’t because it is not legally relevant.
Dammit.
The fact that the president is an adulterous boor has nothing to do with the articles of impeachment.
Leave Bill Clinton out of this.
But enough about Clinton.
Yes, let’s start putting people on trial over their “moral character”. There’s no possible way that this could go wrong or backfire.
Didn’t Machiavelli state that a prince had to risk his soul for his people anyway? I can’t find the actual quote. So what is the moral standard for a head of state?
it is quite telling Trump’s team never discussed Trump’s “moral character” during the trial.
In contrast to, say, Clinton’s team?
Three shot inside Texas A&M-Commerce University residence hall
Two people were killed and another wounded in a shooting at a Texas A&M-Commerce University residence hall Monday, according to campus police.
“A&M-Commerce UPD is actively investigating three gunshot victims in Pride Rock Residence Hall on the A&M-Commerce campus,” the Texas A&M-Commerce University Police Department said on Twitter. “Students, faculty and staff are instructed to take shelter and stay in place until further notice. This is a precautionary measure.”
“There have been two confirmed deaths. The third victim has been taken to the hospital for treatment,” the university wrote in a statement on its website. “UPD has stationed officers throughout the campus, including all key gathering points, for the safety of the campus community”
In rides Sooper Bloomy to dance on the corpses!
Murder/Murder/Failed Suicide?
An older Animal article talked about the Volcanic pistol. Mark just posted an Anvil video where he shows off a Volcanic.
Oh, FFS.
And this asshole is still talking for some reason.
2:39 PM: Schiff claims Republicans are saying Trump is “guilty as sin” but voters should be left to decide. He asks if they can be confident Trump will not continue to “cheat” in the next election. Schiff mocks Team Trump’s argument, asking if it would be impeachable if Trump left for Mar-a-Lago and delegated powers of war to Jared Kushner (Schiff didn’t remark on the number of books it would take for Kushner to be competent enough to have those powers.) or gave Alaska to the Russians to help him in the next election. Schiff says there is a 100% chance Trump will try to cheat in the next election until he succeeds. He then rips Attorney General William Barr, saying Trump finally didn’t have Jeff Sessions and had someone who believed in the imperial presidency.
2:52 PM: Schiff says it must have been pleasantly shocking to Trump that America’s institutions are so weak and he prays his party never has a president like Trump. He says he hopes Democrats would lead the way in impeaching such a president if Democrats ever get a president like Trump. He claims Senators know history will not be kind to Trump and says Senators who vote to remove will be seen as Davids who took on Goliath by history. Schiff finishes his speech for the historians
“finishes his speech for the historicans”
who wrote that?
dustbin of history, more like.
Not admitting your guilt and fighting with every fiber of your being is only evidence of your guilt. Got it.
Why does he even have lawyers? An innocent man has no need of lawyers!
They’re working on jailing/disbarring them too:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gerhardt-entire-white-house-defense-team-will-face-bar-charges#comment_stream
compared to Turley, Gerhardt is a clown.
I eagerly await the hearing to strip Dershowitz of his license.
Unprecedented!
Look what happened when Rand Paul tried to unhide Eric Ciaramella.
so what’s the next unhinged Dem conspiracy? i haven’t been keeping up with all the investigations at the state level. i just assumed their next move was RAPE!
He eats children? Is in cahoots with Satan? Advanced guard for an alien invasion? There are so many options left on the table, don’t worry.
Using the IRS to target political opposition? Nah, that’s already been done. We need something original.
In order to cut trade with China, Trump ordered the Coronavirus to be released.
RAPE? Sure, why not?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-running-list-of-the-women-whove-accused-donald-trump-of-sexual-misconduct_n_57ffae1fe4b0162c043a7212