Henry Payne for January 26, 2016

What a combination. Just when I think the conservative circus has reached it peak, they manage to top themselves.

A woman or minority for vice president is not a good tactic as it makes them appear second best.

Trump is the economic nationalist. His campaign has touched the hearts of those who are fearful about the future, especially those who believe they will soon be jobless for reasons beyond their control. His hard stance on immigration, his commitment to put crushing tariffs on imported goods, and his promise to make American companies bring their jobs back home all speak to this fear in an ineloquent but powerful way.Palin is the cultural populist, railing against the elites who think that faith in the Constitution and reverence for the nation’s founders and accountable government are, along with gun ownership, hunting, public prayer, snowmobiling, NASCAR and American exceptionalism, all beneath contempt. She’s the counterpoint to the “smart set” that thinks they set policy for the nation from New York, Washington, Boston and Los Angeles.Together they may just change the Republican party.

From the wiki article on Iran-US relations:“As the Cold War intensified, oil negotiations stalled, and the Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower replaced Democratic President Harry S. Truman, the United States helped destabilize Mosaddeq on the theory that “rising internal tensions and continued deterioration … might lead to a breakdown of government authority and open the way for at least a gradual assumption of control” by Iran’s well organized Tudeh communist party.34 In spring and summer 1953, the United States and Britain, through a covert operation of the CIA called Operation Ajax, conducted from the American Embassy in Tehran, helped organize a coup d’état to overthrow the Mossadeq government. The operation initially failed, and the Shah fled to Italy, but a second attempt succeeded, and Mosaddeq was imprisoned."Is fomenting a coup against a legal government an act of war? If so, the war began in 1953, started by the US.

Palin is perfect for the title role of Impudent Strumpette.

“Carter was a wimp. He didn’t do squat while our enemies took over huge parts of the world.”Huge parts of the world? Did I miss a Soviet invasion of Western Europe & South America, or are you just imagining things?

“1979 was when Iran went to war with the U.S.”In 1980, Reagan lifted Carter’s sanctions & freed the Iranian assets that were seized in 1979. Iran repaid Reagan’s actions by blowing up a few hundred Americans in Lebanon.I don’t expect you to be able to put together the context of why the heck we had marines in Beirut with prior & subsequent events.“When I lived in Iran,we were told that Allah would forgive them for lying to infidels,especially if they had those prayer beads in their hands.”By who, Bat Eeyore Ye’or? Shia believe they can lie about their faith if they are in immediate threat of death or harm. This was a direct result of persecution by the majority Sunni. They are also supposed to treat fairly with anyone who treats fairly with them. There is nothing that states Muslims can lie in order to take advantage of someone who is not threatening them.And, it’s not like we have any potential leaders talking about bomb-bomb-Iran or turning the place into a parking lot, right?

No different than picking vp candidate from a certain part of the country or from an opposition faction of the party to balance the ticket.

The number of staff editorial cartoonists have declined to 40 recently and continue to go down.

In terms of losing jobs to foreign competition, we’ve been there for at least a decade.