Why Don’t You Just Call the Pope Up? - The West Wing

And it’s absolute right too. I know way too many people who claim to be pro-life but really only when it comes to abortion while also being rabid about sending people to their death. I’ve never been able to rectify how people can justify saying they’re pro life but then also pro death penalty. Perhaps I’m a hypocrite for saying that being pro-choice and anti-death penalty, but it still boggles the mind.

Yeah, I feel like when your entire religion is based around a guy who was unjustly executed by the state, being pro death penalty is just about the most hypocritical shit ever. Then again, this is American right-wing Christianity we're talking about, so something that should normally be "the most hypocritical shit ever" probably doesn't crack the Top 100 List.

> Anyways she posted something about pushing for the death penalty and I said, "Then you are not pro life." She argued that justice needed to be served to the viscious and that was a separate issue from abortion. If a person is attacked by a maniac, are they allowed to defend themselves, even to the point of killing the maniac? If someone attacks a church/temple/synagogue, are its members allowed to defend themselves, even to the point of killing the attacker? (Some folks would answer "no" to these questions.) If someone continually attacks members of society, is society allowed to defend itself? Now, in the *modern age*, in the modern West, we may have *practical* remedies for locking people up so they no longer can attack society. But the general principle of the death penalty can be construed as a form of self defence. For a fuller defence on this general principle, see perhaps Feser and Bessette: > The Catholic Church has in recent decades been associated with political efforts to eliminate the death penalty. It was not always so. This timely work reviews and explains the Catholic Tradition regarding the death penalty, demonstrating that it is not inherently evil and that it can be reserved as a just form of punishment in certain cases. Drawing upon a wealth of philosophical, scriptural, theological, and social scientific arguments, the authors explain the perennial teaching of the Church that capital punishment can in principle be legitimate—not only to protect society from immediate physical danger, but also to administer retributive justice and to deter capital crimes. The authors also show how some recent statements of Church leaders in opposition to the death penalty are prudential judgments rather than dogma. They reaffirm that Catholics may, in good conscience, disagree about the application of the death penalty. […] * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33776052-by-man-shall-his-blood-be-shed In a somewhat related topic, a lot of folks think that the concept of "reasonable doubt" was created to protect *the accused*; it was actually created to help *the jurors*: > The rule as we understand it today is intended to protect the accused. But Whitman traces its history back through centuries of Christian theology and common-law history to reveal that the original concern was to protect the souls of jurors. In Christian tradition, a person who experienced doubt yet convicted an innocent defendant was guilty of a mortal sin. Jurors fearful for their own souls were reassured that they were safe, as long as their doubts were not “reasonable.” Today, the old rule of reasonable doubt survives, but it has been turned to different purposes. The result is confusion for jurors, and a serious moral challenge for our system of justice. * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2187985.The_Origins_of_Reasonable_Doubt * https://openyls.law.yale.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/14b03553-ab27-4255-89fe-a43516d52dad/content

Correct. The final aired moment was always the Sorkin credit and then an ad break before credits and/or the credits played in a box during ads. You never cut from the end to the music.

>there would be an ad break between final scenes and credits  I'm not American and always found this to be such an obscene use of adverts. Just finish the damn show and then show your adverts.

Noted, and thank you

And you really need the, “*… in this building,*” prefix

Say what you will but the man could command a room. Dog was annoying as hell though. 😂

>In case you boys haven't noticed, I'm one prime rib dinner away from sudden cardiac arrest. Obviously he was an "evil" Republican but I always liked that bit of self-awareness.

When the President Walken, nobody sits.

He plays a President again in Tom Cruise’s new movie Digger.

At this point I’d be happy with Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho

It felt like that when it first aired, too, when Bush was president.

It’s more fantasy that Game of Thrones

I’m watching it for the first time ever for this reason. It’s a balm.

The authenticity in question refers to how things are done in the White House (i.e. the work process aspect), not the storylines featured on the show. Also, I'm not sure what this has to do with lefties, but you seem to be confused about lots of things.

The show gives everyone in politics a level of integrity that doesn't exist in real life

One correction, the prisoner was being executed by the federal justice system, not one of the states. Bartlett does have the power to commute the sentence but he fears setting the precedent of imposing his religious beliefs on the justice system, especially when they're at odds with the majority opinion of the public which is in favour of the death penalty.

Well I’m 27 so I might not relate to the characters.

Don’t search for that though, you’ll end up on a list.

I love everything Sorkin. West Wing was awesome.