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Jim DeMint resigns from Senate

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government December 6, 2012 3 Comments

“I swear—absolutely no reason at all.”

Tea Party icon and borderline fictional character Jim DeMint resigned from the Senate this morning, announcing that he would become the new head of the Heritage Foundation. South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will appoint his replacement, and the balance of votes in the Senate is not likely to change. The balance of weirdness, however, is badly shaken. In an unusually conservative GOP, DeMint was extremely conservative. Earlier this week, he attacked John Boehner’s compromise proposal in the fiscal cliff standoff—which most analysts agreed offered too little revenue to stand a chance at acceptance—for raising revenues too much. Then he resigned.

Is Sheldon Adelson creeped out by Sheldon Adelson?

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government December 5, 2012 1 Comment

See, black people are Ray Charles like this, but white people are Ray Charles like…

One of the many terrible disadvantages rich people face in this country is that we are all so happy to see them denied something they want. Mitt Romney triggered that psychological mechanism every time he mentioned the cars-to-people ratio of his household or owning an Olympic horse, and it cost him an election. Either that or his policies only benefited a small percentage of the electorate at the expense of everyone else—who can say? The point is that class warfare is alive and well in this country, and the pressure of anti-rich person groupthink is so great that even Sheldon Adelson told the Wall Street Journal he regards himself as kind of gross.

SCOTUS: Maybe we’ll talk about gay marriage Friday

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government December 3, 2012 6 Comments

Gay

You know it’s a surprise when the Reuters headline contains the phrase “takes no action”: the Supreme Court issed an orders list today that made no mention of the several pending appeals challenging the Defense of Marriage Act. Instead, the Supremes relisted those cases for further consideration on Friday. In the awkward Christmas dinner that is America’s highest court, gay marriage is your cousin who brought his “roommate” from New York. Sonia Sotomayor is your cool aunt, and the other eight members are your grandpa. They know what’s going on, probably, and their main priority is that no one talks about it.

Friday links! Paid pipers edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links November 30, 2012 0 Comment

How could you not follow that guy?

I am sick. I had fun in LA; I flew on a plane and stayed up late and drank alcohol, and now it is time to pay the piper. My throat is scratchy and all that meets my vision is dirty dishes. Maybe I have a fever. Maybe I am thinking clearly, and everything objectively sucks. One thing is certain: you cannot have a good time without paying the piper. He may or may not be the same one who led your rats and then your children away from the village, out into the country to do god knows what. We only know that the piper is a jerk, and possibly an allegory for the rule of law, and that he must be paid. Today is Friday, and I am forking it over.