S12.E22: Sandra Tsing-Loh, Ron Suskind, Donna Edwards, Reihan Salam

[maraleia]

 

Author Sandra Tsing-Loh, Pulitzer prize-winner Ron Suskind, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), and National Review's Reihan Salam.

 

[HelenBaby]

Not Reihan Salam. AGAIN!

Still a smug jackass.

Edited July 12, 2014 by HelenBaby

[Maherjunkie]

He just wrote a column about how the SCOTUS ruling re Hobby Lobby means nothing, so I guess that will be a feature.

[ganesh]

Is that the guy sitting on the left? Wow. He's like that guy at a party or dinner who always got an answer for everything. What a nitpicker. I think they really dropped the ball on the HL discussion. And that guy got the interpretation of the peyote/OR case wrong. Because the precedent was completely disregarded and it was conceptually the same case.

 

HL provided contraception prior to the ACA, but when that was passed "all of a sudden" they claimed religion. Similarly, they currently invest in companies that make the same contraception products that they claimed violated their religious beliefs in their 401ks. They still cover vasectomies, which should violate their beliefs because it goes against procreation. And, they claimed that the contraception induces abortion which is scientifically incorrect. HL scammed everyone and got away with it. Because as Bill said, christianity. So Mister Opinion On Everything is either willfully ignorant or delusional. In either case, not to recognize that this is a classic case of a slippery slope is just stupid. For scotus not to see that makes them unfit for the position of justice or just totally incompetent. I think in a generation or so this is going to be recognized as a huge blunder and will take another big case to overturn it. There is no way at all that HL met the legal definition of religious sincerity.  

 

I did like Bill re visiting the ACA and how nothing that happened that they said would. I remember how my FB feed was littered with how this would ruin the country and now they've moved on to how the border crisis is ruining the country. 

 

I did like the interview with the climate guy too. 

[NextIteration]

Why oh why does Bill inflict Salam on us over and over again.  He talks over everyone.  I wanted to hear a lot more from Ron Suskind.  Boo-hiss.  Sandra Tsing-Loh was delightful!

 

I'm very excited to see the number one asshole congress critter from my state made the cut (couldn't be M. Bachmann since thank goodness she's headed off to a career as a FoxBot).

[arachne]

It looks to me as if Bill got a little too nervous/giggly about Sandra's discussion of menopause. He seemed uncomfortable. Sad, but typical.

 

Also, while Bill's recollection about Catholic priests and "nocturnal emissions" might have been TMI, it does clue you in to the adolescent resentment that (IMO) is at the root of his disdain for religion generally.

[ganesh]

Bill has people on like that guy because at the end of the day, he's making an entertainment program. If I want real news and real analysis, I watch PBS. People like this Salam guy and Coulter know what they're doing. They're going to say outlandish things so we can go, 'wtf is wrong with this guy?' Bill has said on the show that he prefers the yelling.

 

What I think is detrimental is that low-info people believe these guys are actually serious. Even though they're just into promoting their brands, I wonder if they realize that they do some damage to the public.

[iMonrey]

Actually, Reihan Salam has been comparatively low-key (for him) the past two times he's been on the show. He used to be a lot worse. Still, he epitomizes the kind of right wing pundit whose MO is to talk as fast as possible, as much as possible, without ever letting anyone else get a word in edge-wise. He seems to think by doing that, he wins. I've never seen a left-wing pundit do that, but right wingers like him and Stephen Moore do it all the time. It really just makes them look desperate and insincere.

 

At least Donna Edwards was able to make a few good points, and he was interrupted before he got to elaborate, but I could not believe Salam had the colossal gall to suggest we can't take in all these immigrants because we had to worry about Americans first. This, when Republicans have done everything they can to dismantle the social safety net for the poor. Cut food stamps, welfare, unemployment benefits, you name it. But oh yeah, we have to take care of our own. And spend untold billions on unwinnable foreign wars

 

I do have to disagree with Donna Edwards about the significance of the Hobby Lobby ruling; it's not really about corporations making decisions about women's reproductive rights. It's about the floodgates that have been opened for corporations to discriminate against anything based on religion.

[ganesh]

It's about the floodgates that have been opened for corporations to discriminate against anything based on religion.

 

That's what I meant by the slippery slope. It's happening already. For the court not to recognize this (and they may have put it in the opinion) is just ignorant and destructive. 

[Victor the Crab]

Bill has people on like that guy because at the end of the day, he's making an entertainment program. If I want real news and real analysis, I watch PBS. People like this Salam guy and Coulter know what they're doing. They're going to say outlandish things so we can go, 'wtf is wrong with this guy?' Bill has said on the show that he prefers the yelling.

 

And this is why I don't follow the discussion panel on RT. I'd rather see thoughtful debate instead of some obnoxious asshat, like Salam and Moore, taking over and shouting their opinions down over everyone.

[NextIteration]

I do have to disagree with Donna Edwards about the significance of the Hobby Lobby ruling; it's not really about corporations making decisions about women's reproductive rights. It's about the floodgates that have been opened for corporations to discriminate against anything based on religion.

 

I don't think that was the only point that she was making, that was her opening discussion point, but she went on to point out that this is a follow on to Citizen's United, giving corporations individual rights, now Religion.

[Hanahope]

Seriously, same climate as Mars??  If the moron Congressman wasn't a Republican I would ask if he was high.  Maybe he's really a libertarian.

 

Agree that Salam's parroting of Republican bullet points about immigration is just so contrary to the endless funds they'll vote for wars that we should just stay out of.  And he's dead wrong if he thinks Latinos don't care about immigration.  They are very family oriented, which just amazes me how much the so-called 'family oriented' party wants to alienate.

 

Huh, so I could theoretically have the same hormones (or lack thereof) as my youngest daughter, while my oldest goes through her teens.  Wonderful.  My husband will really love that.

 

It's about the floodgates that have been opened for corporations to discriminate against anything based on religion.

 

That's what Suskin started to say about corporations now trying to discriminate against gay people. 

 

Its too bad they couldn't talk more about the income inequality and how much it costs for a family of four to have the 'middle class lifestyle.'  $131,000 sounds about right with what my family makes and how we live.  And yet, we live, maybe not quite paycheck to paycheck, but if either of us were out of work for more than say four months, we'd be in big doo doo.  Many many families survive by buying on credit and a lot of their income goes to making those payments too.

[Maherjunkie]

Yeah I don't get being more hormonal in your 50s, at least for libido purposes.  I thought that was just the trajectory of your cycle.

[attica]

I don't get being more hormonal in your 50s, at least for libido purposes.

 

Heh. I do.

[NextIteration]

Um, well, yeah.  There are benefits after all those hotflashes!  (thank goodness)

[Maherjunkie]

Like a teenage boy?