Boat Jokes (we need a few laughs)

Thanks for the link Rurudyne, looks like a sort of 'Peanuts' inspired political take vein...

We actually get quite a lot of informed coment on the state of play of US politics here in the UK. As it happens I also studied it a bit for A level many years ago. There seem to be far right reactions all over the developed world to many of the current world issues such as mass migration through starvation, war etc etc. Perhaps more worrying, is the lack of clear leadership with a clear vision of what sort of society or societies we wish to create and where to go in the C21st. I'm not yet convinced that widening the earnings divide between top and bottom is such a wise move, and this has happened in the US and UK over the last 35 years or so.

What might happen if 'When all the slaves are free'? (Joni Mitchell on the Night Ride Home album).
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_xsPh0hI4w

It is indeed a shame that the excellent work/art/culture of a great many Americans can be undone by one loudmouth. Fortunately, I believe enough people will see through his veil, though it is slightly harder to judge this side of the Pond and the US is a BIG country.

Still I'll keep off the geopolitical thing for a bit, apologies to the moderator(s). I'll let Mr T put foot in mouth for a few more laughs though....

 

Trump only needs to win both Iowa and the New Hampshire primaries, plus a good show in North Carolina, to lock up the nomination for his party. This is because the folks that vote in these primaries will then hit "super Tuesday" where he's very likely to win big (remember who votes in this primary in the south) and the lead he'll have will be insurmountable afterward. The Republican party was born as a direct result of the very thing that is occurring within it currently. The Wig party swung hard right and placed itself out of national contention, so much so, that the moderates within the party, had to spin off a new party (what's now the GOP). This is simply history repeating itself. They have lost 5 of the last popular votes for president and will likely lose the next, making them once again, out of national viability. This started about 25 years ago and is coming to a head and no one better to lead it than Trump.

To directly answer Mr. E, if Trump runs as an independant, he'll just steal votes from the Republican nominee, so it'll be as Ross Perot did in the early 90's to Bush 41 (which was Perot's intention). It's very unlikely Trump will belly up the funding for an independant run, knowing he's never going to win. And to Schakel's question, he might back off if he gets his head handed to him in the early states, but he'll wait until super Tuesday to see where he really stands, before backing out. I don't see him doing so, because what he really wants is to stand on the stage next fall and debate the other guy (woman), figuring his experience in front of the camera will get it done. The truth is, he doesn't care one bit about the party, just how much free ego stroking, name endorsement and recognition he can muster, for his next contract negotiation in a reality TV series. His views on things aren't new and he's been constantly like this for decades.

Currently his "commanding lead" in the poles represents only 5% of the republican electorate and only 2.5% of the whole electorate. He's kissed off so many elements of the potential voter ranks, he must rely on the radical, uneducated and disenchanted to get in office, which frankly isn't possible. They have big mouths, but it's a small percentage. America is a country of centrists, most of which don't shout at the top of their lungs, just pay attention when the time comes (it hasn't yet to most). It's simple math - he needs at least 36% of the hispanic vote, which isn't going to happen after the ads about his desires to export all of them are run. That's 17% of the electorate. He needs about the same with the african American vote, which typically votes heavily Demorcratic, there's another 15% he's kissed off. 50% of the women's vote will go for the right to choose, he'll split the educated men's vote, leaving old whites and scared immigrants to hold him up? To be frank, if he gets to the general, it'll be the biggest landslide since Reagan crushed Mondale in 1984 (525 electoral votes), further marginalizing the Republican party on the national level. I sure hope he wins the nomination, as there are scarier candidates then he.

 

I think he'll drop out and leave behind a trail of Republican wreckage and unelectable RINO's.

 

The Whigs, who wanted to abolish slavery, reformed into the Republican Party and defeated the slave trading and slave owning Democrats, who, being sore losers, fired upon Fort Sumter, initiating the bloodiest war in U.S. history up until that time. Don't wig out but we are classic liberals who believe in true liberty, hence the name.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/whig

 

The Republican party is wholly different now, than it was in the mid 19th century, in fact a complete role reversal, in this regard.

The Democrats of this period held for the solidarity of the people, supporting public demonstrations, majority rule and constitutional adjustment through convention, as their general platform. The Whigs advocated the rule of law, typically as strict constitutionalists and supported protection for minority interests against what they perceived as majority domination"

The Whigs were much as the current GOP is, quite fractured, to the point of dysfunctional in terms of governance in recent years. The last two congresses being a good example, though GOP dominated in both house, the least productive legislatures in modern history. The GOP accessed their "issues" after the last failed presidential attempt and acknowledged several obvious shortcomings, but in spite of their own analyses, they continue to be alienating, instead of inclusive, less decisive and more divisive, now having leaders suggest that some of the very tenants the country was based on, be temporarily rescinded, for our own good, etc.

The Whigs didn't "reform" into the GOP, there was a decided split, both in political view and geographically. Most Whigs, simply retired or left office, though many returned to join the new GOP party. The real death nail for the Whigs came with it's division over slavery and the Nebraska Act. Nativism and the No Nothing party where other avenues for the former Whigs, which were equally as doomed. It was a pretty heady time, with lots of stuff on the table besides slavery; prohibition, westward expansion, industrialization, anti catholicism, the compromise of 1850, anti-Nebraska sentiments, etc. Their strict constitutionalism prevented social and political growth, so they withered on a vine of their own making.

Societies evolve with progressive change, not stagnant dogma. Simply put, no constitutional amendment has been enacted by a conservative populous, with the exception of the 18th, though in light of the 21st, maybe it's best to just not mention it. This is what it all boils down to, conservative or progressive ideals. No society can advance, adhering to conservative ideals and isn't this the point of a society - to evolve and advance.

 

I must agree, insofar as it concerns those whom we would term establishment Republicans, one of whom I am not.

The Democrats have also gone through a metamorphosis, no longer cotton-raising capitalists, now more leaning toward a Marxist ideology.

 

I think Sir, that even Mr Thomas Jefferson would agree with you.....

It is also an attitude that does not feed on fear, something those original founders of your nation had largely overcome.

 

Must ... tell ... jokes ... must ... not ... amen ... chorus ...

...

A young man discovered his propose and was arrested for indecent exposure later that afternoon.

Did you hear the one about the honest politician? Me neither.

Two Texas Aggies were told to take one of the university's bulls and service a cow at a ranch north of College Station. They were gone a looooong time and their professor was getting worried so once he was free up from teaching he drove on out to the ranch. There he found the bull looking contented, the cow looking contented, and his students looking like they'd just gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson.

"What happened to you boys?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing we shouldn't have expected," one replied, "we had no problems with the bull but getting than damn cow on her back ... next time please send somebody else."

 

A Real World Aggie Joke:

IIRC, every time a Texas grad buys an Aggie Joke Book to laugh at those poor Aggies he's helping to fund their Alumnus association dues.

 

Geraldo Reveria made an hour long special out of opening Capone's secret vault.

These days History Channel has figured out how to drag that out for at least 3 full seasons with multiple titles running, including a highlights spin off in the case of Oak Island.

Was someone talking about "progress" earlier?

 

Does anyone remember when History Channel was about history?

 

Long ago a Polynesian king had a passion for thrones. Big ones, little ones, fancy, plain, you name it. He had skilled craftsmen build him throne after throne and all of them, save for his extra special one out back, were kept in his huge timber and grass thatch palace. Yet overtime the collections overtook his palace so that he and his family were living in a small corner. Yet even then he didm't stop. He only accelerated. Soon the thrones were stacked two, three, even four deep.

Then tragedy struck: an earthquake, the thrones shifted, and the king and his family -- save his youngest who was on that throne out back -- were all killed as the palace collapsed.

His son was heartbroken and the nation grieved; but, they did learn an important lesson: not to stow thrones in grass palaces.

 

Once, some years ago, a fellow over at the Transformers Archive forums wondered what it actually would be like if "all are one" like the Autobots kept proclaiming they should be.

I observed that whatever it was, Hasbro would save a fortune on animation expenses...

 

https://youtu.be/Ht7Jmp4tZsk

 

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