By Grabthar’s hammer, by the suns of Worvan …

By Grabthar’s hammer, by the suns of Worvan … January 14, 2016

• “An actor whose arch features and languid diction were recognisable across the generations …” Dammit. (I’m leaving that “s” there in “recognisable,” because when Alan Rickman spoke, you could almost hear the British spelling.)

And now I will never get my wish that he would one day be hired by Apple as the new voice of Siri.

Here’s one last dance:

• I do not like Ted Cruz. At all. I think he’s a bad person and a Very Bad senator and that he would make a Very, Very Bad president and that anyone who votes for him should feel bad. I also think he’s kind of a jerk and that he’s not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.

Having said that, I’m really perplexed and bothered by the arguments that he’s ineligible to serve as president of the United States because he’s not a “natural born citizen.” I get that this legal term — in the Constitution itself — is more complicated than it might seem. The technical objection, I gather, stems from the idea that Cruz is not a natural-born citizen, but a Canadian-born “alien” who was naturalized as a citizen due to his mother’s American citizenship. Maybe that’s technically arguable and maybe it needs to be clarified by the courts or even by constitutional amendment.

But in the larger picture, this whole realm is a cesspool of antiquated thinking that gets really ugly, really fast. It’s based on logic that’s, at best, adjacent to ideas of nationality, “blood” and “soil” that are neither admirable nor defensible. Nor do those ideas seem logically sustainable in an age when international travel isn’t a matter of wooden ships with sails.

Your ESPN bill runs somewhere around $60 to $84 a year. Seems high, even if you’re a sports fan.

Steve Benen:

Eight years ago at this time, there was a senator running for president en route to winning his party’s nomination. He supported closing Guantanamo, banning torture, passing comprehensive immigration reform, and creating a cap-and-trade system to address the climate crisis.

That candidate’s name was John McCain. His running mate endorsed the same platform. Her name was Sarah Palin.

The radicalization of Republican politics is not new, but it’s easy to forget sometimes the speed with which the GOP headed over the right-wing cliff.

• This is a little bit Jesus Camp, a little bit Sparkle Motion, and a little bit Prussian Blue:

SparkleMotion

•  I probably should have some deeper analysis or more thoughtful response to the news that the Episcopal Church has been suspended by the Anglican Communion because of its support for marriage equality. But for now all I can think is good for the Episcopal Church! Well done, good and faithful servant.

Here’s a video re-enactment of the Anglican proceedings, with Tony Hale as the Archbishop and Joshua Gomez as the Episcopal Church:


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