Just watched the first ep of a show called "Weed Wars" on Discovery (I think it premiered last week). It's a reality show about a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, and a lot of it is about the challenges they face from the DoJ and IRS in keeping their business open. Do recommend!

I seriously still dont understand the "invented people" line. What nation ever isnt an "invented people"? And isnt Israel being wedged into the side of the middle east by Britain and America at the end of WW2 the very definition of an "invented people"?

I think it's just a less crass way to say that the Muslims don't have any right to their own country, they should just gtfo and go back to Saudi, or the Ottoman Empire, or Turkey or something.

Don't drop the ball now Newty. My man's gonna take it all the way!

This. It's politics 101. Make a statement with no actual content is just there to get people angry over absolutely nothing.

Huh, isn't there like 28 countries that have Muslim populations>90 percent?

I mean the Palestinian Muslims. Turkey and Saudi Arabia are apparently OK by Newt as places where Muslims can be.

Gotcha, and I broke my own ban on commenting on anything related to the Middle East.

looks photoshopped to me

Whoever invented the Palestinians really should have applied for a patent.

My wording was awkward with regard to "political citizens"; I didn't know how else to quickly describe who I was talking about, so I ended up settling on that. Let me put it another way: I think that when a person who doesn't work in politics and is simply a partisan fanboy, it's bat**** crazy to self-identify as a Republican or Democrat, to refer to either party as "we" or to the other as "they."

It's the type of thing that leads to seeing the party you don't usually vote for screw up and has an onlooking citizen saying, "Yay!" That's a huge WTF. I'm not ranking on generally defaulting to voting for one party or the other...that's fairly normal given the constraints of our system. But if you're a conservative, shouldn't you want the liberals to act better rather than acting worse and thus losing political capital? And vice/versa?

People who view it as a high-stakes football game are doing it wrong. That's what I'm saying. To default to a party is one thing. To actually be LOYAL to a party (and, consequently, in perpetual loyal opposition to the other) is simply stupid.

Obama has put it on the table, but I don't think it's possible to pass the Dem senate.

You should probably give this wise council to Newt.

Lololol if he actually wins the Republican nomination. At least he is an easy scapegoat when Obama strolls to re-election. Someone actually said in the 2010 cycle relating to the witch that its better to lose with the right candidate than win with the wrong one. We are about to see a repeat performance here if Newt goes over Romney only to go under Obama.

Hold on there, Suzzmeister. I was just posting some info on some of the lesser-discussed issues with raising the retirement age (which, IMO, isn't really the best route to take - I'd much rather lift the $107,000 cap or cut benefits for high-income individuals). I don't think PSAs in lieu of SS is a desirable outcome. SS has been the best anti-poverty program in the history of the nation, IMO, and ignoring whatever moral obligations we have to our seniors, it's just plain pragmatic for a society to have a safety net for its elderly population.

thats some serious ownage.

even if its not shopped it goes in his trash stomach for discreet offsite disposal

I think its hilarious that Newt always doubles and triples down on the stupid things he says. The dude just does not back down.

Well, more than just Obama have put it on the table and whether or not it could pass is irrelevant.

Ron Paul looked good! Got the most applause. He won't win NH, but he will win Iowa.

Don't think the invented people is a gaffe at all.

Romney's 10k bet line won't work out well.

How the hell is whether or not it could pass is irrelevant? lol k dude.

Israel is obv an invented country. The Jews are an organic people. I don't know enough about Palestinian Arabs to comment on their peoplehood. I know Ottoman era Arabs were really fragmented but there were also pan-Arab nationalist movements at that time; it also depends on your definition of a people. I think calling tribal Africans or native Americans a single people would be inventing a people. Ofc nation boundaries are made up but for example Ireland or Japan delineate a single people more accurately than China or republic of Congo or Iraq that have plural peoples living in them.

Got into a semi-argument with a random lawyer that I was playing poker with tonight about the killing of Snwar Alawaki. I was taking the standard GG position about it being wrong that he was killed. And he makes the claim that AA had declared war on the US in one of his YouTube videos. I had watched them and I was 95% site that was not the case, however I had no way to verify this so I just had to bite my tongue and take all the condescending remarks and gloating from this dude. I was semi-drunk and couldn't construct a decent argument, but I have two questions:
1) is his claim valid that Aaa explicitly declared war on the US in his you tubes, and

2) is that type of declaration not protected under the 1st amendment

Those were the two things that his argument hinges on but I had no way of refuting, but id really like two because of the way he was a total smugg prick dropping that he was a lawyer and studied at George Washington.

Hadn't watched them*

This is true, but I doubt Newt is applying a structural framework to the whole of political history with his statement.