McMaster out, nutjob Bolton in

When you give him a BJ, he might fill your mouth with gallons of special sauce :)

^^I thought Trump was going to fix the VA, but they still can't do anything about Vince's PTSD. Sad.

Why in the world would you spend any time reading the Washington Post ????

"Why in the world would you spend any time reading the Washington Post ????"
________________
Well, for one thing George Will is a very smart moderate Republican with a terrific and insightful writing style. Or I should say that Will was a Republican until 2016 when Trump took over the GOP.

Very good article. Liberals and moderate Republicans are terrified that Bolton will play a role in a preemptive strike on N Korea and/or Iran. Far more scary than anything else that's going on in all this absurd chaos.

@RandomMember,

Characterizing George Will as a moderate (and thus implying that Trump is some kind of a conservative hardliner) would be inaccurate. I understand that you're a partisan Democrat, and it can be useful and reassuring to believe that one's opponents are all arrayed on one side (and unified against your side) but it isn't always true. George Will is best described as a libertarian on most issues, not a moderate. *Trump* is the moderate on most issues, assuming that he believes in anything at all.

I read George Will all the time and I've always liked him, even when I don't agree with him. Here he is interacting with libertarians and discussing his political beliefs:

https://reason.com/archives/2013/11/13/g…

http://reason.com/reasontv/2016/03/16/ge…

https://reason.com/blog/2016/06/25/georg…

I'll try to wade through those long articles later today, @Burlington.

I get the point you're making, although I was simply pointing out that Will was a registered Republican until 2016. I've always respected Will and enjoy his articles. I could make a similar remark about Bernanke who is even more of a hero to me. Bernanke was a registered Republican until 2015, and I think he converted to an independent amid all the criticism he took over QE and the bailouts of AIG, etc...

OT, the thread about FOSTA got me wondering what the difference is between a "civil libertarian" and a "libertarian." I don't want to hijack @realDougster's thread, but sometime you can explain the difference. I think I might qualify as a "civil libertarian."

As a libertarian, I assume you think a preemptive attack on Iran or N Korea is insane.

Will is 76-yrs-old and still sharp as a tack

@RandomMember,

These are videos that correspond to the first two articles that I posted, if you prefer to watch rather than read:

https://youtu.be/POphmn25gVs

https://youtu.be/jQkxryu8UQM

The third brief article doesn't have a corresponding video, but it directly discusses Will leaving the GOP over Trump.

As for Bernanke leaving the GOP - it would have been difficult for him to have remained a member of the Party after almost every Republican candidate for virtually every office in the land had essentially run against him on the campaign trail for three straight cycles in a row. Seriously, almost every Republican candidate mentioned Bernanke in a negative way at some point during their respective campaigns in 2010, 2012, and 2014. (Sadly, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell may be facing a similar predicament shortly.)

But perhaps the real question is why Bernanke even remained a Republican for as long as he did. My theory (and it's hardly original) is that his being a Republican allowed Obama to maintain a veneer of bipartisanship, while also allowing him to cast his critics within the GOP as being outside the mainstream of the Party. You can witness a similar phenomenon whenever a modern-day liberal extols the virtues of, say, Lincoln or Eisenhower, inevitably comparing these historical figures favorably to modern Republicans, and implying that the modern GOP has lost its way and fallen into the grip of insanity.

As for the difference between civil libertarians and regular libertarians - civil libertarians concern themselves solely with social issues, especially the rights that are protected by the Bill of Rights. They support the separation of church and state, freedom of speech, religion, the press, the rights of the accused, the right to protest and assemble, etc. Most support ending drug prohibition, legalizing sex work, suicide, etc. If they are intellectually honest, they would support gun rights, too, but many don't. They are typically against domestic spying and the Patriot Act, and they usually oppose speech codes, too. Almost all of them are pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and pro-immigration.

This description applies to regular libertarians as well, except that regular libertarians also care about fiscal/economic issues. In other words, regular libertarians don't believe that your rights should be curtailed just because money is changing hands. In keeping with this, regular libertarians would oppose regulations and affirmative action, while civil libertarians probably would not. Regular libertarians believe that business owners should have the right to hire and fire whomever they wish for whatever reason they choose; civil libertarians would probably disagree. Most regular libertarians strongly oppose domestic socialism and entitlement programs on principle; civil libertarians usually don't feel the same way.

The most liberal Democrats are often civil libertarians (Jared Polis, Ron Wyden, Dennis Kucinich, Bill Maher, etc.), while centrist Democrats often are not (Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, etc.). All regular libertarians are also civil libertarians by definition, but not all civil libertarians should be considered part of the libertarian movement, because of the aforementioned disagreements.

And yes, I'm against any pre-emptive strike on Iran and NK. I would simply withdraw our troops from the Middle East, Afghanistan, and the Korean Peninsula. And I would trade with all countries in both regions. I'm convinced that they can't really hurt us directly.

Aren't you all so glad that Evangelicals looked to Donald Trump as their spokesman!
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc…

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc…

And aren't you glad that this is all being backed up by Libertarian fantasies?

SJG

Ginger Baker's Airforce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe9DA8pO…

guess it is time to start 'prepin'

Hey @Burlington, interesting post.

We've been through this before (and we disagree), but I have the highest respect and the most sympathy for Ben Bernanke. He's a brilliant MIT grad and a hero who rescued us from a second great depression with bold and creative monetary policy. Appointed by George Bush, but hated by Republicans anyway. Hated by the faction that insists the housing bubble was caused by Fannie and Freddie. Rick Perry called Bernanke a traitor. LOL! I don't want to discuss this again.


I think I get the distinction b/w "civil libertarian" and straight "libertarian." Thanks!

John Bolton is awesome.

The only thing awesome about Bolton is his mustache!

Never have had PTSD, Douchester. You hallucinate again. Do the world a favor, think you can fly and jump off a 70 skyscraper, we have a great one in downtown Detroit.

vincemichaels, No disrespect, but I think it's only 50-50 that realDougster is original Dougster vs somebody acting like Dougster.

Regardless, it is better to focus on humorous things like "the president wants to bang his daughter" and "will the president increase NOAA's budget but order them to exterminate sharks?"

(Full disclosure: sharks are brilliant. Sharks shouldn't be exterminated. But Trump sitting with a pornstar ranting about sharks is funny as hell!)

Be positive! ;)

@vincemichaels - No PTSD? Oh, that's right, it was exposure to Agent Orange during the siege of Khe Sanh. My mistake.

Trump's decision to hire John Bolton his 'worst mistake yet'
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jimmy-carter-…

SJG

Derek and the Dominos Live at the Fillmore
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnDSN_XK…

NOLO, Chartres - Iberville, doesn't the black girl in purple look good? I think this picture originally came from Google Street View
https://s.hdnux.com/photos/42/00/35/8914…