Political Discussion

One thought that keeps popping into my head lately, basically any time I look at the news, is the depressing reality that, even in the most optimistic blue-wave scenarios, literally tens of millions of Americans are going to go out three months from now and vote for Trump to carry on as president. That realization was vexing enough four years ago, but this time it’s hitting me a lot harder.

Do not mistake this for some kind of confusion about why those people are going to do what they’re going to do, or why they did it last time. But the fig leaves are gone now, and the emperor has been waving his naked dick in everyone’s face for some time. The media types who cried “economic insecurity” and started going on hillbilly safaris after the last election were hilariously transparent in their unwillingness to confront the resentments that drove people to support Trump, but there was real explanatory power in the notion that “over the last 30 years life has steadily gotten worse for most people no matter which party has been in control of what, so a lot of folks are willing to try something, anything, other than the options offered by the party establishments, even if it seems completely fucking insane.” Now that notion - at least as it applies to Trump specifically - has been taken off the table in the most comprehensive and indisputable fashion imaginable.

Something I think about a lot is how, if you were able to zap yourself back in time to right after the last election and start describing to people the state of the world in 2020, almost nobody would believe you. The front page of the newspaper every single day looks like an Onion bit from 2016. Certainly, anyone who voted for Trump or was at least not hyperventilating at the thought of his presidency would have told you that you were being hysterical. But almost all of those same people who scoffed over their turkey at their stupid liberal nieces and nephews back then will, now that they’ve been indisputably confronted with this reality, and having been presented with an alternative that - whatever I might think of his merits - is just about the least threatening one possible, march right back into the booth to vote for (at least) four more years of this.

There’s something like 40 million of them out there. The thought is almost too much for me to bear.
 
Tillman said:


ok Mr. President, but how exactly? aren't we already seeing reports of positive Covid cases in schools in the South and Midwest?
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The "how" behind any of his comments, promises and so on, have never been HIS problem to figure out, you just repeat things over and over and they become reality silly ;)
 
So, Massachusetts is allowing every registered voter to request mail in ballots / vote by mail for all elections through the remainder of 2020. We just got the form in the mail last week to fill out to request the mail in ballots.

My father sent me a warning today saying don't vote by mail. Those ballots are not legal under the constitution and will be invalidated by the courts. Vote only in person if you want your vote counted.

Pretty much everyone I know who is registered as a democrat has requested the mail in ballots. Everyone who I know who is a republican will not vote anyway but in person at the polls come November.

Not sure if has to do with conspiracies with some grand plan to invalidate all mail in ballots, patratism, refusal to believe the virus is worse than the flu / is a hoax.

But it does look like Republicans will be showing up in numbers to vote for Trump at polling locations in November.
 
RenegadeMonster said:
So, Massachusetts is allowing every registered voter to request mail in ballots / vote by mail for all elections through the remainder of 2020. We just got the form in the mail last week to fill out to request the mail in ballots.

My father sent me a warning today saying don't vote by mail. Those ballots are not legal under the constitution and will be invalidated by the courts. Vote only in person if you want your vote counted.

Pretty much everyone I know who is registered as a democrat has requested the mail in ballots. Everyone who I know who is a republican will not vote anyway but in person at the polls come November.

Not sure if has to do with conspiracies with some grand plan to invalidate all mail in ballots, patratism, refusal to believe the virus is worse than the flu / is a hoax.

But it does look like Republicans will be showing up in numbers to vote for Trump at polling locations in November.
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I still think it's just important to find a way to vote. Whatever you're comfortable with, if Trump loses he's going to argue the validity of the results no matter what. I know some have taken the stance that voting in mass numbers and just blowing him out of the water is the best thing, yes, maybe it is, but you know that will just feed his "There is no way ALL those votes are legitimate" stance. This country is in such a sad situation, come this November, so as I said, the only thing you can really do is just find a way to cast your vote and see what happens.
 
Space Wanderer said:
One thought that keeps popping into my head lately, basically any time I look at the news, is the depressing reality that, even in the most optimistic blue-wave scenarios, literally tens of millions of Americans are going to go out three months from now and vote for Trump to carry on as president. That realization was vexing enough four years ago, but this time it’s hitting me a lot harder.

Do not mistake this for some kind of confusion about why those people are going to do what they’re going to do, or why they did it last time. But the fig leaves are gone now, and the emperor has been waving his naked dick in everyone’s face for some time. The media types who cried “economic insecurity” and started going on hillbilly safaris after the last election were hilariously transparent in their unwillingness to confront the resentments that drove people to support Trump, but there was real explanatory power in the notion that “over the last 30 years life has steadily gotten worse for most people no matter which party has been in control of what, so a lot of folks are willing to try something, anything, other than the options offered by the party establishments, even if it seems completely fucking insane.” Now that notion - at least as it applies to Trump specifically - has been taken off the table in the most comprehensive and indisputable fashion imaginable.

Something I think about a lot is how, if you were able to zap yourself back in time to right after the last election and start describing to people the state of the world in 2020, almost nobody would believe you. The front page of the newspaper every single day looks like an Onion bit from 2016. Certainly, anyone who voted for Trump or was at least not hyperventilating at the thought of his presidency would have told you that you were being hysterical. But almost all of those same people who scoffed over their turkey at their stupid liberal nieces and nephews back then will, now that they’ve been indisputably confronted with this reality, and having been presented with an alternative that - whatever I might think of his merits - is just about the least threatening one possible, march right back into the booth to vote for (at least) four more years of this.

There’s something like 40 million of them out there. The thought is almost too much for me to bear.
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The question has always been "If time travel were possible, time travelers would be showing up to alter the course of events, ergo it must not be possible."

Yours is the most elegant solution: "It's impossible to convince people that they're wrong, so time travel is pointless."
 
Indymisanthrope said:
The question has always been "If time travel were possible, time travelers would be showing up to alter the course of events, ergo it must not be possible."

Yours is the most elegant solution: "It's impossible to convince people that they're wrong, so time travel is pointless."
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Solid germ of an idea for a screenplay. A sort of reverse Idiocracy.
 
I'm sure most of you have heard about the very large blast in Beirut yesterday.

A abandoned warehouse on the port exploded yesterday. Apparently it stored ammonium nitrate which has been sitting in the warehouse for years since it's abandonment.

How does this relate to Trump's America? Well, our lovely leader who we trust so much said last night that after talking with other world leaders that this was an apparent atack. Yup, that's right. Trump out out to the world that this was an intentional attack when there is no such evidence that it was.


Also, the QANON group of people believe this to be a tactical nuclear bomb that went off.
 
TikTok continues to be a wtf of government power grabs.

First Trump wanted to ban the social media platform and refused to allow the sale to Microsoft.

Trump then walked back and said Microsoft could buy TikTok.

China responded by saying they refuse to accept the "Theft" of TikTok if the US acquisition goes ahead. Chinese Communist Party leaders said:

The United States' "bullying" of Chinese tech companies was a consequence of Washington's zero-sum vision of "American first" and left China no choice but "submission or mortal combat in the tech realm," the state-backed paper said in an editorial.

China had "plenty of ways to respond if the administration carries out its planned smash and grab," it added.
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From the US side, Trump is now demanding that the US get's a substail cut of TikTok's sale.

www.cnn.com

Trump's demand that the US get a cut of TikTok's sale could set a dangerous precedent

TikTok is up for grabs. But while the popular short-form video app likely won't lack for suitors, President Donald Trump says the US government needs to get a "substantial amount of money" as part of any deal.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

This is a dangerous precedent and on heard of.
 
Wow. For months I have been seeing commercials to vote yes on question 1 in November.

Question 1 has to do access to your car's computer for diagnostics. Manufacturers are moving in the direction of locking down the cars diagnostic data so only the dealer can read it. You can't go to independent auto repair shops and are forced to go the dealer who overcharges for the services provided. With computers and electronics becoming more and more high tech in cars it's harder and harder to diagnose issue and make repairs without access to the computer. And oftentimes, the issue could actual a programed setting in the computer affecting how the car runs.

Question 1 wants to prevent car manufacturers locking down your car's computer data. They are trying to protect consumers giving them choices of where to get their car repaired and not having to pay dealer prices. They are also trying to protect the independent auto repair shops from the dealers unfair practices that give them the monopoly.

This morning I saw the first say no to question 1 commercial. And they are pushing it heavily during the morning news. The slogan of the commercial is "Protect your data, keep your loved ones safe. Vote No on question 1".

The commercial states your car's computer may contain personal data such as your address and garage entry codes. Voting yes on question 1 will give anyone access to your data and could lead sexual predators right to your home and give them access through the garage. Protect your data and keep your loved ones safe. Vote no on question 1.


Wow, talk about a fear campaign. Because of course giving the independent auto repair shop access to your car's computer is going to lead to sexual predators coming to your house.
 
Space Wanderer said:
This is long but very good:

www.rollingstone.com

The Unraveling of America

Anthropologist Wade Davis writes about Covid-19 and its devastating impact on the international standing of the United States.
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com
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If you read nothing of this article, I'll give you this........
COVID-19 didn’t lay America low; it simply revealed what had long been forsaken. As the crisis unfolded, with another American dying every minute of every day, a country that once turned out fighter planes by the hour could not manage to produce the paper masks or cotton swabs essential for tracking the disease. The nation that defeated smallpox and polio, and led the world for generations in medical innovation and discovery, was reduced to a laughing stock as a buffoon of a president advocated the use of household disinfectants as a treatment for a disease that intellectually he could not begin to understand.
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Holy shit -- odds that this actually ends the NRA? Guessing you don't announce a suit like this against an org like that if you don't think it's bulletproof (so to speak), because the blowback is gonna be intense.

Also wonder if/to what degree the Biden campaign was aware of this possibility, because this certainly gives the right a non-Trump shiny object to rally around in the 90 days left before the election.
 
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