Open Thread for Wednesday, May 27, 2015

A few potential topics:

Costa Pleicones elected S.C. Supreme Court chief justice — That development sort of snuck up on me. I knew it was his turn and all; I just hadn’t realized they were voting on it so soon…
U.S.: Indictments are just the start of FIFA scrutiny — Hey, who around here cares? Let me know when they go after American football. And speaking of the world of sports…
Clemson’s Swinney cancels appearance with anti-gay marriage organization — I was surprised to see that the coach was surprised at the controversy. It seems that sports figures can be as ignorant of politics as I am about sports.
Nebraska Lawmakers Pass Bill Abolishing State’s Death Penalty — Not something that happens every day. At least not around here.

Or, whatever y’all want to talk about…

20 thoughts on “Open Thread for Wednesday, May 27, 2015”

bud May 27, 2015 at 8:08 pm

Just when you think every last shred of common sense has disappeared in this increasingly, and disturbingly, conservative nation we have something positive happen. Three cheers for Nebraska taking the sensible step of abolishing the cruel and unusual practice of capital punishment.
1. Brad Warthen May 27, 2015 at 8:27 pm
  
  I’m with you there, Bud. And did you notice this is a majority-Republican legislature?
Brad Warthen May 27, 2015 at 8:46 pm

This release came in from the Palmetto Family Council:

Statement from Palmetto Family Council

(Columbia, SC) The following statement is from the Board of Directors for Palmetto Family Council, through Reese Boyd III, Chairman of Palmetto Family’s Board:

“Unfortunately, recent false attacks from some angry liberal leaders in South Carolina have cast doubt on our organization, who we are and what we stand for. These false attacks have gone so far as to insinuate we are a ‘hate group’ that aims to harm South Carolinians. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Palmetto Family Council is a pro-family organization dedicated to helping make South Carolina a great place to live and raise a family. We are committed to defending religious liberty and constitutional freedoms, and we honor others that stand up for those same liberties.

“We have worked tirelessly in the Palmetto State promoting South Carolina values for over 21 years. In fact, we have fought for tougher human trafficking laws, tax credits for marriage counseling and to ban sexual predators from Facebook and allowing public officials to pray in their meetings. We care about South Carolina families and we honor those that also work to promote families.

“It was our intent to recognize Coach Dabo Swinney’s accomplishments, specifically the great work of his foundation, serving as a great role model, and for the strong testimony of his personal relationship with Christ. We understand Coach Swinney’s reluctance to engage in, or respond to, petty political attacks, and we certainly appreciate his principled leadership on and off the field. We will continue to promote his good work and recognize others that do the same.

“Palmetto Family Council’s summer event ‘Celebrating Families 2015’ will go on as scheduled with an exciting agenda honoring some terrific state leaders who defend religious liberties and freedom everyday in South Carolina. It is a strange twist of irony that our opponents have unwittingly made our point,that the religious freedoms and liberties of all South Carolinians are under attack. As we have done in the past, Palmetto Family Council will continue to fight for South Carolina families, and for our religious freedom and liberty, for many years to come.”

###
Bryan Caskey May 27, 2015 at 9:53 pm

Pleicones will make a great CJ. Good for him.
Bryan Caskey May 27, 2015 at 9:54 pm

Oh, and as part of FIFA’s punishment, they should be required to call it soccer, not football. From here on out, it’s FISA.
1. Norm Ivey May 27, 2015 at 11:36 pm
  
  Isn’t FISA already taken?
  1. Kathryn Fenner May 28, 2015 at 10:19 am
    
    I think that’s the joke
Bill May 27, 2015 at 10:02 pm

Good for Sweeney.The Palmetto Family Council is a hate group.Most thinking people know that.
Norm Ivey May 27, 2015 at 11:34 pm

I wonder if we are going to see the same swing against the death penalty that we have seen toward same-sex marriage. It’s a fascinating time to be alive. While politics seems to be moving more to the extremes, the population in general seems to be coming together on a number of issues that were once far more controversial. The arc of the nation seems to be a progressive one.
1. Bill May 28, 2015 at 4:35 am
  
  I sure hope so.Obama is too far to the right for me…
  
  https://www.change.org/p/dabo-swinney-withdraw-from-the-june-2-fundraiser-for-the-palmetto-family-council?recruiter=1992234&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive
2. Brad Warthen Post authorMay 28, 2015 at 10:22 am
  
  Norm, for a generation at least, the definitions of “right” and “left” have made little sense. People are complicated, and this ridiculous dichotomy that we try to use to explain EVERYTHING doesn’t describe reality very well.
  
  That’s one of my beefs with parties. People have to lie to themselves, or just be irrational, to really embrace every tenet of a party and always agree with it. So it drives me nuts to see people do that.
  
  In any case, you’re pointing to instances of people departing from the either-or mold, and whatever the issue, whatever their position, that’s a good thing.
  
  Now, if only media will notice, maybe we can start writing and speaking about politics in more reasonable, nuanced ways…
Brad Warthen Post authorMay 28, 2015 at 10:26 am

Google Adsense is doing something new.

In composing this post, I noticed an extra space crop up between items 2 and 3. I couldn’t make it go away. I went into the HTML and kept trying to delete what looked like extra spaces between them, and then came back out — and the space was still there. And I went back into HTML and the CODE for the spacing was there as well, the stuff I had just deleted.

Then, I look at the post in its public form here — and there’s an ad there.

Weird…
1. Norman Ivey May 28, 2015 at 11:03 am
  
  I’m at work, so whatever is supposed to display there is blocked, but I was able to click on it and wound up at randpaul.com.
2. Mark Stewart May 28, 2015 at 11:25 am
  
  It’s a google ad. Completely annoying. Not even newspapers interrupted content to shuck ads inside stories.
  
  A reader can delete the ad, but a weird space remains.
3. Brad Warthen Post authorMay 28, 2015 at 1:49 pm
  
  It’s different for everybody. At the moment I’m getting an ad for jewelry — the image is a diamond ring. Don’t know why. I’m not in the market for jewelry, and I haven’t done any searches for jewelry…
4. Brad Warthen Post authorMay 28, 2015 at 1:54 pm
  
  Those Google ads exist on a cusp. They’re mildly irritating, but not much — at least not to me. If they were REALLY irritating, I’d get rid of them, because they pay me such a tiny amount. They send me a hundred bucks or so every three or four months.
  
  It’s pathetic. At the same time, given a choice between somebody sending me a hundred bucks every three or four months and someone NOT doing so, I choose the former, since I don’t have to do anything to get it.
  
  In fact, I’m FORBIDDEN to do anything. I can’t even click on them out of curiosity, or urge y’all to do so. If I did, they’d yank them, and those little occasional windfalls would stop coming…
  1. Mark Stewart May 28, 2015 at 2:14 pm
    
    Maybe you could try a GoFundMe page and see if you make more from voluntary contributions…
    
    The ads inside your posts just seem wrong. I know it’s a google thing, but it was a bad idea on their part.
    1. Brad Warthen Post authorMay 28, 2015 at 3:01 pm
      
      You know what I hate? The ones that get inserted right before the last line of a column. Which means people probably don’t even see the last thing I said….
    2. Dave Crockett May 28, 2015 at 4:15 pm
      
      Back before there was a ‘web’ and newspapers still reigned, I thought several times about putting an ad in the local Greenville News simply saying “Send me $100 cash. I’m not in need but I’d like more money. In return, I will send every donor a hand-written thank you letter.” And I would have followed through on that generous promise. I figured I might augment my long-off (at that time) state retirement.
      
      Never did it. Figured someone would think it was a scam and put the cops on me. Or worse, I’d be flooded with cash…have to spend all night writing the letters…and worry about the tax implications.
      1. Kathryn Fenner May 28, 2015 at 4:53 pm
        
        I don’t think there’s anything actionable as long as you send the letters. Definitely taxable income, though.