But He's Democratically Elected !!!

Photo: Rama

President Barack Obama urged all sides in Turkey to support the democratically elected government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid a military takeover of the key NATO ally.

Why?  I find it hard to believe if there were a Putsch in the Kremlin or in Tehran he'd be urging everyone to support their democratically elected governments.  

A UN Security Council resolution failed to pass after Egypt objected to similar language with the argument that the council was "in no position to qualify, or label that government — or any other government for that matter — as democratically elected or not" and suggested other language that urged all parties to "respect the democratic and constitutional principles and the rule of law".  They do after all have a valid point, there are many governments around the world that are technically "democratically elected" yet that do not adhere to democratic and constitutional principles and the rule of law", and frankly the government of Recep Ergodan is one of them.

Why does Ergodan get a pass? When most probably Putin and Rouhani would not? Me? I was rooting for the Turkish military which has historically been the defender of the Turkish Constitution laid out on secular grounds by Mustafa Atatürk.

In the immediate aftermath of the coup the Ergodan government has arrested 7500 and relieved (fired) 9000 others with such rapidity as to prompt an EU commissioner to suggest that the list was prepared well before the coup ever started.

 

Democracy Democrat Style

Won 51 Delegates

Won 51 Delegates

Having a 432 delegate lead: Priceless

There are somethings money can't buy,

for everything else there's MasterCard.

Half a million Democrat voter's turned out to cast their ballots for the distribution of 101 delegates... so far their votes are far outweighed by the opinion of a small group (712) of party hacks.  

Almost 15% percent of the Democratic Party delegates are super-delegates, 712 out of 4763 (2383 required to win). Counting super-delegates only, Clinton already has 19% of the vote needed to clinch the nomination (451 super-delegates).  Conceivably 30% of the delegates responsible for a nomination could be party hacks.

Super-delegates do nothing but reduce the weight of a citizens vote by up to one third.

And now for some adult entertainment:

I Call BS on this one folks.

Of all the theatrical political showboating I've ever seen this really takes the cake...

What was it? Salt? Lemon Juice? Or Tabasco you rubbed on your fingers beforehand?

Talk about blatant logical fallacies, this is easily the clearest case of argumentum ad passiones I've ever seen.  For those of you not familiar with the term this is a logical fallacy in which the manipulation of listener's emotion is used to win an argument often in the absence of factual evidence.  One could also make the case that it is also an argumentum ad misericordiam in which the speaker attempts to elicit pity or sympathy.

Wake up folks... there is nothing here in any way related to facts, logic, or intellect here.  

Now I am not an opponent of mandatory background checks for all gun sales, I live in a state that has that requirement, what I am opposed to is rule by executive fiat directly contrary to the acts of the legislature that the president even cites in defense of his own argument:

He cited in the aftermath of Sandy Hook a "compromise common sense bill that would have required virtually everyone who buys a gun to get a background check" and he cited the failure of the legislature to pass the bill.  They voted on the bill mind you, it simply did not have the votes to pass.  Sorry Mr President, that's democracy in action... what you just did is despotism in action, contrary to the expressed will of the elected representatives of the people. "The bill before congress three years ago met that test. Unfortunately too many Senators failed theirs".

What does he mean "too many Senators failed theirs"?  He means that the elected representatives of the people voted contrary to his desire.  Well Mr. President, THAT IS DEMOCRACY! It is not your job nor within your power to act contrary to the will of the people, it is up to the people to elect different representatives if the actions of the legislature don't represent THEIR will!

As I said, I support mandatory background checks for all guns sales and would support laws similar to the Colorado law. which can be found HERE. Basically it states that all gun transfers except among specific immediate family members require a background check obtained at any licensed gun dealer for a fee not to exceed ten dollars.  The problem, and it is not a Democrat problem or a Republican problem it is an executive problem, is with the abuse of executive power to execute policy contrary to the expressed will of the legislature after due consideration.  These executive actions mirror legislation voted down in congress and our democracy, republic, and individual freedoms are worse for it, not by the actions in this specific case, but by the mere action itself.

Meanwhile, I'm considering purchasing this and naming it after our esteemed President.

Yeah, I know... it's a Taurus, but I do like the design.

The people have voted and continue to vote, respect their wishes.
 

"Rtc" by Jeff Dege - http://www.gun-nuttery.com/rtc.php. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rtc.gif#/media/File:Rtc.gif

 
If the map doesn't work you can go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_carry_in_the_United_States

Pity this never made it into production:

We Are NOT A Dictatorship

The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down Obama's executive amnesty and uses his own words to do it:

“But what you are not paying attention to is the fact that I just took an action to change the law,”

Apparently someone was paying attention.

Hillary Clinton called it:

 "a politically motivated lawsuit against the president's actions" 

Well... DUH?

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Josh Earnest accused Republicans of standing in the way of changing immigration law.  Well Josh, that's what minority means... it means you can't dictate changes to the law with only 46% of the votes necessary to pass legislation, it's called democracy.

The Department of Injustice has announced that it will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. 

A Greek Comedy...

Photo: (C) Giovanni Dall'Orto

And the Jokes on Europe!

61% of Greeks vote no on austerity.  

"Today we celebrate the victory of democracy," Tsipras said in a televised address to the nation, describing Sunday as "a bright day in the history of Europe."

As if you could vote yourself out of debt.  What was it Franklin said? "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch".

This ones for Angela:

The Dogma of Democracy

"Democracy has its faults, because people have their faults. Like owner, like store." Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk

The Dogma of Democracy doesn't always make the world better:

The break-up of the Soviet empire and the “shock therapy” that followed it produced new oligarchies and kleptocracies that have at their disposal innovative tools of finance and communication; the advance of political Islam has placed millions of Muslims, who make up a quarter of the world’s population, under more restrictive theocratic rule; tribes, clans, and sectarian groups have become the most important actors in the post-colonial states of Africa and the Middle East; China has brought back despotic mercantilism.

A good, albeit somewhat long read can be found here: The Truth About Our Libertarian Age, Mark Lilla

Our hubris is to think that we no longer have to think hard or pay attention or look for connections, that all we have to do is stick to our “democratic values” and economic models and faith in the individual and all will be well.