I think Scott Adams nails it in this blog:

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/161281215881/the-kathy-griffin-controversy


This is just a little teaser of where he goes here, but I absolutely think he gets to the jist of the issue and why Kathy Griffin and a team of people not only thought this was a good idea, but thought at the end of the day most people would like what she did.


"You and I get to live in the movies in our heads until your script and mine come into conflict."

That's a really good way to describe how this country is splitting in two in terms of culture and beliefs and sets of information sources. Like we're watching two completely different movies.  We are living in two entirely different realities, like parallel dimensions simultaneously occupying one country.  I watched it happen during my lifetime, it was not this way when I was young, not even in the 70s when I was in college. The young generation was rebellious, but you still spoke the same language. You watched the same TV shows. The ideas in something like Star Trek were simultaneously traditional and progressive. You had utopian ideas of man having overcome war but at the same time you respected conservative values like the flag of the United States. There were only the three networks so everyone saw the same news. Now I guess liberals and conservatives watch different news shows and for the most part avoid each other's territory so that the divide grows bigger and bigger. I watch CNN now and I don't even recognize it, it's like they're talking about another planet.

I've been called worse.   

I wonder why the Democrats/media/left/progressives are so vehemently against voter ID, yet it is OK to require it for EVERYTHING else?

Because then they can't CHEAT at the voting place as easily.
The ONLY THING democrats care about is holding and gaining power.

Things as insignificant as the environment, people, the poor, civil rights, and the myriad of other things they babble about are simply distractions and tools they use to hijack power so they can steal from the taxpayers.

I'd like to see a 99% reduction in foreign aid.  A 98% reduction to the arts.  A 100% reduction in dept. of education.  A 75% reduction in food stamps and public housing.  And 95% reduction in SSI. 

A guy can dream, can't he?

I disagree. Even if Trump resigned or was impeached and removed, Pence would become the next President, followed by Paul Ryan and so on. Our system of government is well in tact.

I would expect that a new vice president would be selected by Pence and approved very quickly before Ryan rose to the presidency.  It's hard to imagine someone worse for the job and more universally despised than Ryan.

They have way overplayed their hand and they will march into the midterms using fake polls and fake news again only to emerge in an even bigger loss.

Not necessarily. The Republicans were sent to the majorities in the House and Senate and given the White House to repeal Obamacare, build a wall and get tax reform through. So far none of that has happened or even come close. There's still time, but the mid-terms will be here soon. If this doesn't happen then I could see the Republicans losing at least one chamber of Congress. The Democrats still have an uphill battle for the Senate but it's not completely out of play for them yet.

The budget that the President sent to Congress this week looks pretty good from what I've seen so far and I've been impressed by a lot of Mick Mulvaney's answers to the press and congressmen/women. The President's budget probably deserves its own thread, though.

Erosion of the 4th isn't limited to Obama.  I think we can all agree it crosses party boundaries and is the worst at the local level.  The worst part is that the erosion is accelerating and that so many people either don't care or welcome it. 

My opinions on the matter aren't agreeable with many people though.  I don't think one should have to assert his right to remain silent.  He should be able to simply remain silent.  I read something a couple of weeks ago about a guy getting stopped at a checkpoint, asked where he was going and he said he didn't have to answer.  The cops arrested him for not complying and this was upheld even on appeal.  Serve a warrant on the wrong house, find something illegal, and it's still a good bust? 

I know it sounds like I'm in favor of being soft on criminals.  I'm not at all.  I just think those hired to protect us need to obey what should be a very strict set of rules. 

We've militarized our police and given them broad powers.  I don't think it should be that way.  We had a situation here in town several years ago where a guy was suspected of selling pot.  A warrant was signed, sat on for a month, then a SWAT team hit the house in the middle of the night.  Video shows the family had 2 small non-aggressive dogs who were chased into the kitchen where one was shot, the other shot when it ran into the laundry room.  The guy's wife and 8 YO led out the door while this guys is complying with the command to lay on the floor, then kicked in the head (not hard, but still, why?)

Sure enough, they did find a joint in the raid, maybe even two, I don't recall.  But it's amazing to read the comments about how the guy brought this on himself by having marijuana.  I don't know, maybe things have always been this crazy.  I just don't remember it being like this and it seems like it's getting worse. 

The government likes to keep you frightened.  The media likes it too, sells cars and breakfast cereals.  Fact of the matter is you are far more lily to die of a plethora of mundane causes than be harmed by a terrorist. I say this having had a terrorist attack at my home institution.  Freedom is more important than security.

This is true but the problem with this line of argument (to support not discriminating against ideologies associated with terrorism) is your assumption that this rate will remain static.  As we saw pre WWII in Germany, very small problems can escalate and spread into all encompassing problems. If Islamic terrorism is not nipped in the bud, it will become much more widespread.

The second problem with your line of argument is that while the odds of being a direct victim of terrorism is very small, the attacks result in very significant social changes that do impact us all in a negative way, such as the creation of TSA as DJ points out.

He's an idiot. The closest thing to ethnic cleansing in this country is the liberals insisting the poor (blacks) get free abortions.