Supreme Court Rules For Hobby Lobby's Religious Exemption to Obamacare, and People LOSE THEIR FREAKING MINDS

Instead of focusing much more on the amazingly unhinged and hateful responses of some angry folk on social media, let us try to look at the decision.  I give you initial thoughts by law profs Ann Althouse and Jonathan Adler.

UPDATE 1: OK, I laughed:

.@BarackObama is now googling “Can an Executive Order override Supreme Court?” #HobbyLobby
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) June 30, 2014

UPDATE 2:  Thoughts?

Remy vs. Obamacare Underemployment

LOL: Dave Barry's 2013 In Review

Barry is as hilarious as ever.  Here's a taste of his retrospective:

This year was so bad that twerking wasn’t even the stupidest dance craze. That would be the “Harlem Shake,” which is not so much a dance as a mass nervous-system disorder, and which makes the “Gangnam Style” dance we mocked in 2012 look like “Swan Lake.”

Well, he's not wrong!  The entire piece is full of quotable bits, but I leave you with this:

On the Obamacare front, the administration declares that the federal Web site has been significantly improved, although there are still occasional glitches, such as one that enables a Milwaukee woman seeking to compare dental plans to accidentally launch a tactical nuclear strike against Guatemala.

"Comically Meaningless"

Econ prof Greg Mankiw considers a statement by the New York Times.

Pajama Boy: What The Hell Is THIS?

The people entrusted with Obamacare publicity actually think this is a good idea?  Even left-wing shill MSNBC can't stop guffawing.  Rich Lowry calls this smug little hipster fool in a plaid onesie (a onesie!) "an insufferable man-child," and I can't agree more.  I finally survive finals and emerge into the land of the living and ... run smack into this insultingly infantilizing mess.  Hell, I think I would rather be drowning in my exam-week books and papers, where for two weeks I was too busy to notice the government's ongoing descent into oblivious self-parody.  

While we're on the topic, let me just say that nothing is a bigger turn-off than smug urban-cool hipster guys who think they're smarter and cuter than they really are.  Ugh.  If this is what "enlightened" guys are supposed to be like these days, give me a rugged, unreconstructed, unapologetic cowboy any day of the week.  You know, someone who actually has a confident definition for "self-reliance" and "masculinity." 

Law and Disorder

Here are two related thoughts and quotations on lawlessness in governing.

Thought the first: Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post (via Transterrial Musings):

We've now reached a point where a flailing president, desperate to deflect the opprobrium heaped upon him for the false promise that you could keep your health plan if you wanted to, calls a hasty news conference urging both insurers and the states to reinstate millions of such plans. 

Except that he is asking them to break the law. His own law. Under Obamacare, no insurer may issue a policy after 2013 that does not meet the law’s minimum coverage requirements. These plans were canceled because they do not. 

The law remains unchanged. The regulations governing that law remain unchanged. Nothing is changed except for a president proposing to unilaterally change his own law from the White House press room. 

That's banana republic stuff, except that there the dictator proclaims from the presidential balcony.

Thought the second: Daniel Hannan on the EU:

Shall I tell you the worst thing about the EU? It's not the waste or the corruption or the Michelin-starred lifestyles of its leaders. It's not the contempt for voters or the readiness to swat referendum results aside. It's not the way that multi-nationals and NGOs and all manner of corporate interests are privileged over consumers. It's not the pettifogging rules that plague small employers. It's not the Common Agricultural Policy or the Common Fisheries Policy. It's not the anti-Britishness or the anti-Americanism. It's not even the way in which the euro is inflicting preventable poverty on tens of millions of southern Europeans. 

No, it's something more objectionable than any of these things – and something which, bizarrely, doesn't exercise us nearly as much as it should. Put simply, it's this: the EU makes up the rules as it goes along. 

Just think, for a moment, about what that means. It means that any deal you've signed can be arbitrarily altered later. It means that any plans you've made, on the basis of what you took to be binding agreements, can be retrospectively destroyed. It means, in short, that there is no effective rule of law.

A world of arbitrary, whimsical fiat.  Laws are for the little people.

Satire Alert: "Terrified Obama Trapped Inside Healthcare.gov Website"

The Onion strikes again, taking an easy shot at the website debacle.

This Isn't Fun Anymore

I guess by "this" I mean observing and commenting on domestic and foreign politics.  The inmates are running the asylum.  Everywhere I turn utter madness is running rampant.   Commentary via animated gifs below:

Schadenfreudelicious: A Taste Of Your Own Medicine

*Snort*  (thanks to the incomparably engaging Iowahawk on Twitter)

I'm Shocked ... SHOCKED: Californians Appalled By Rising Health Insurance Costs

Oh, yeeeeeeah, like we couldn't see this coming.  But apparently some Californians didn't.  Time to pay up, suckers.  Gullibility and stupidity are expensive, yo.  

Plus there's this precious little comment:

Although recent criticism of the healthcare law has focused on website glitches and early enrollment snags, experts say sharp price increases for individual policies have the greatest potential to erode public support for President Obama's signature legislation.

You don't say!

The Summation Of Everything

Foreign policy snafus, domestic policy circuses, political nonsense, government shutdown, Obamacare, idiotic media, plus my "real life" (read: it's midterm exam time in Nerdworld and all hell's broken loose!) ... We're all short of time, money, energy, and patience.  I feel completely exhausted.  The whole kit and kaboodle can basically be summed up by this animated image from a favorite show:

Nerd Journal: Government Shutdown Day 4

For the record, Nerdworld hasn't turned into Thunderdome.  Not remotely.  Life progresses with no perceptible change in ... well, anything.  When the nation doesn't instantly collapse into an apocalyptic wasteland of riots, looting, blood, fire, cannibals, gangs, and zombies, it just might make people think that gee, we seem to have a lot of NON-essential government workers.   (UPDATE: satire alert.)  

Publicity stunt.

In a fine twist of irony, there was one incident of someone going postal that ended in gunfire, but that was in DC itself.  A young black woman with mental health issues was shot by the police in chaotic circumstances.  Horrible.

While we're talking about the homefront, Obamacare is in the headlines, so I'll just repeat what I told Alessandra about the train-wrecktastic Obamacare rollout: "If this were a presentation done by a student in class, I would cut the kid off in mid-word, lecture him about the absolute unacceptable shoddiness of his work, and send him home to do the whole thing over or else fail that grade on the spot."  

LOL: SNL and Obamacare

The Obamacare debacle is such a headache that it's hard to find anything funny at all about it.  SNL, though, managed to milk it for a laugh or two:

Tweet of the Week: Gov't Is The Best Argument for Less Of It

The last two weeks are a mighty powerful argument for giving politicians as little control over our lives as we possibly can.
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) October 2, 2013

Quote of the Day: On the Shutdown Frenzy

Depressing thought:

The current crisis is only peripherally about health care exchanges and spending resolutions and vitriol spewed by the political and journalistic fraternities. The current crisis, at its heart, is about greed and the human lust for authority over other humans.

Rant: I Cannot Believe The Way People Are Behaving

Then again, given the pathetic, crude, and nakedly craven examples being set by our supposed political "leadership," I am not really that surprised.  The name-calling, finger-pointing, abject temper tantrum-pitching, unabashed blame-throwing, obvious attempts to play this for selfish gain ... all couched in the most ludicrously hateful terms possible.  

Even worse is seeing people whom I personally know now acting out on social media and having absolutely epic meltdowns.  I have to say, sorry, people, but I just lost a whole bunch of respect for you.  I can't help it.  I won't be able to look at you the same way again.  It doesn't matter how smart you are or think you are; acting out like that makes you look awful.  Gee, it's enough to make you think that some people actually get off on spewing hatred.  Apparently a government shutdown also translates into the total shutdown of all civil discourse and basic courtesy.

Still worse is seeing my elders, including professional elders, acting like this.  

I'm sick and tired of all of this, so maybe you'll be OK with my decision to refuse to comment much more and to decide to write a big fat Breaking Bad review instead.

Meanwhile, after the fold, there's a little something musical for those post-Breaking Bad blues.  What a hilarious tribute to a classic catchword from the show.  I may or may not in a moment of rage deploy this tune in the next round of the apartment music wars (if a new round becomes necessary ... After the MmmBop offensive, the rude neighbor has been relatively well-behaved. Yes, MM believes in speaking softly and carrying a big 90s playlist).

Tweet of the Day: Idiocy On Display

Remember how I've been slamming the Obama Administration for being deeply, disturbingly, delusionally unserious about foreign policy?  That meant for a little while I wasn't looking very hard at domestic policy.  Well, guess what, I'm finding equally epic unseriousness there too.  This is an actual tweet from the official White House Twitter account. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME.  

Obama and company are trying to peddle Obamacare to an increasingly skeptical nation, its initial boosters are now jumping ship, the government's having to delay piece after piece of this craptastic law's implementation, and the best you can do is caption a gorram mouse on a swing?!   And, NO, rising insurance premiums are NOT ADORABLE.  I want to slam my head against the wall.  I wish we could call for a big fat vote of no confidence.

Take it from this guy: Insurance companies can no longer put lifetime limits on your coverage (h/t @AdorableCareAct) pic.twitter.com/ToSlV7fz0l
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 26, 2013