He’s basically the fat kid from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

I can live with that. Just realize that there are also people out there who will think you’re an asshole for telling them they should constantly censor themselves or risk being judged.

The word “retarded” as a diagnostic term is obsolete. No practicing physician today will tell you that your child is retarded. Which puts it in the exact same class as “idiot,” which was also a valid diagnostic term for the same affliction at one point. As was “moron.” The difference is entirely in your level of…

The explanation is quite clear. I just don’t buy it.

Ummm, ok, but it’s not a term for mentally handicapped people *now*, which is kind of the important thing.

No, but when you lead with whiny social justice concern, it does impact the willingness of many to listen to your other grievances. I’m just sick of being told “don’t use that word; I don’t like it” completely independent of context. That’s a losing battle and an enormous waste of everyone’s time.

Fair enough. :)

A problem for whom, though? If every English speaker has veto power over the words we use, we won’t be left with much. Are you that eager to find someone to persecute? There are a lot of legitimate problems causing people real harm in the world.

Right, so “they” don’t know what it means, but you do? All hail our almighty arbiter of language and semantics!

There’s a big difference between saying “that’s retarded” and calling a disabled person a retard, just like there’s a difference between insensitivity and outright cruelty. Mocking disabled people is pretty horrible.

Goddamnit, beat me to it!

I can’t read any of these Indians stories without this playing in my head:

What an asshole. So insecure that he has to respond with two self-serving manifestos and then tweet screenshots of them to boot. And he can’t help name-dropping the whole time. Just sit in your seat and watch the damn game like everybody else.

Sadly, nobody mentioned the Ideal Gas Law when talking about Ballghazi. There’s always next week!

What happened to Nightmare Ant? This is an outrage!

Are you sure? I just listened to two of them and I’m pretty sure the whole left side of my brain is numb right now.

Brady didn’t deflate anything, according to every science and engineering professor who’s looked at the case. Which makes him a symbol of science denial, which is an even more applicable look for the GOP.

We need him to keep it together for another month. Until the convention is over, if he says or does something bad enough, the GOP can still find a way to weasel their way out of it. Hopefully he’s saving all the really batshit stuff for sweeps anyway.

I’m not sure I buy this line of reasoning. I have zero sympathy for this asshole, but sometimes I wonder if people are losing sight of the big picture.