Dr. X's Free Associations

Huh?

"I have no regrets." The Republican Party is in "the best shape it's been in since 1928" -- Reince Preibus

Is Preibus offering congratulations or a warning?

In 1928, the GOP did enjoy a larger majority in both Congressional chambers than they've seen since, but "since"  is the operative word. The GOP lost congressional seats in the 1930 mid-term election and, beginning in 1932, Democrats controlled the House for 58 of the next 62 years. In the Senate, the Democrats held control for 52 of the next 62 years.

Spotted Near The Park

An Unexploded Ford Pinto.

Ouch

Thoughts and prayers to #Dbacks Robbie Ray after this ball to the head.pic.twitter.com/sEIM1RdPB8

— MLB Memes (@MLBMeme) July 29, 2017

Diamondbacks pitcher, Robbie Ray, was hit in the head by a 108mph line drive last night. He returned to the stadium with 3 stitches in his head after undergoing a CT scan.

The video below shows 3rd basement Daniel Descalso making the catch off Ray's head for the out.

Friday Night Music Drop

Posh English People

"Anthony Scaramucci Called Me"

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza reports on a phone call he received from the president's new communications director.

On Wednesday night, I received a phone call from Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director. He wasn’t happy. Earlier in the night, I’d tweeted, citing a “senior White House official,” that Scaramucci was having dinner at the White House with President Trump, the First Lady, Sean Hannity, and the former Fox News executive Bill Shine. It was an interesting group, and raised some questions. Was Trump getting strategic advice from Hannity? Was he considering hiring Shine? But Scaramucci had his own question—for me.

“Who leaked that to you?” he asked. I said I couldn’t give him that information. He responded by threatening to fire the entire White House communications staff. “What I’m going to do is, I will eliminate everyone in the comms team and we’ll start over,” he said. I laughed, not sure if he really believed that such a threat would convince a journalist to reveal a source. He continued to press me and complain about the staff he’s inherited in his new job. “I ask these guys not to leak anything and they can’t help themselves,” he said. “You’re an American citizen, this is a major catastrophe for the American country. So I’m asking you as an American patriot to give me a sense of who leaked it.”

But it's the rest that you should read. Wow. Scaramucci makes Rahm Emanuel sound like a choir boy. Oh, and he HATES Reince Priebus and offers some colorful words to describe Steve Bannon's motivation.

 

Heh

<

Links

Liberals and Immigration

Book Review: A Critique of the Moral Defense of Vegetarianism

A critique of modern embalming and the mortuary business.

Hospital staff in the Charlie Gard case have been the target of death threats.  Ross Douthat argues that the parents should be the ones who decide whether to treat the child. Jon Holbrook says that emotional reactions are clouding ethical decisions.

Can a child refuse to comply with cancer treatment?

"Brainjacking" and the ethics of semiautomatic brain implants.

He claims that he automated his job, and was paid for six years while barely doing a lick of work. Then he got fired.

The ethics of editing the genome.

You have cancer. Don't let the screen door hit you on the way out.

SMH:

A day after news came out about Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) brain cancer diagnosis, his onetime political opponent urged the ailing senator to think about his political future sooner rather than later — and expressed interest in the possibility of her taking over his Senate seat. “I hope Sen. McCain is going to look long and hard at this, that his family and his advisers are going to look at this, and they’re going to advise him to step away as quickly as possible, so that the business of the country and the business of Arizona being represented at the federal level can move forward,” Kelli Ward, who lost to McCain in last year’s Republican primary and is now running to unseat U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), said Thursday during an interview with an Indiana radio station.

The Poison Named Alex Jones

Alex Jones, who is one of Donald Trump's broadcast favorites, is pushing the envelope on civil war.

In his radio show, on YouTube and on his Infowars website, Jones—who never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t like and who has pushed the notion that Sandy Hook was faked—has been announcing that the United States is on the verge of a bloody second civil war. Like the radio DJs in Rwanda, Jones has been egging on his conservative listeners and viewers—an estimated 2.7 million people monthly—to kill more liberal fellow citizens over their political differences.

After accusing liberals of starting a civil war, Jones says:

Do you understand the American people will kill all of you? You understand? We are killing machines, you fools.… But I can shoot bull’s-eye at 400 yards, dumbass. I mean, they have no idea who they’re messing with.

and

I'd support the president right now moving against these people physically,” he said in a June 13 broadcast. “I mean, let's be honest. We're in a war. I would support the president making a military move on them right now.