[Discussion] The (likely) Depressing Road to the 2020 Election Thread

It's going to be a circus.

Will 45 get impeached or step down or challenged? All 3? MAYBE.

Will the democrats eat themselves alive and hobble literally every potential candidate before the primaries are done? PROBABLY.

Talk about that junk here.

I think it's not that they did something new, it's that it was revealed that they never stopped doing the thing they claimed to have stopped doing before.

To me the ownership of Chick-Fil-A is a non-issue because I think their food is trash. I'd rather have a sh*tty Big Mac than one of their dry, crappy chicken sandwiches.

Like many franchises it varies from place to place. Our local one is absolutely wonderful. By far the best chicken sandwiches at a fast food place.

Which makes it really annoying when they have such generally awful policies.

Somebody's chicken store got blocked from opening in two airport food courts in as many weeks.

Chik-fil-A wrote:

We want to make it clear that our sole focus is on providing delicious food and welcoming everyone – not being a part of a national political conversation

Yes, if only there were some way to prevent that. Damn those liberal coastal elites in... *checks* ...San Antonio and Buffalo.

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:

Somebody's chicken store got blocked from opening in two airport food courts in as many weeks.

Chik-fil-A wrote:

We want to make it clear that our sole focus is on providing delicious food and welcoming everyone – not being a part of a national political conversation

Yes, if only there were some way to prevent that. Damn those liberal coastal elites in... *checks* ...San Antonio and Buffalo.

The anti-lgbtq stuff aside, who in their right mind thought putting a restaurant that isn't open during one of the biggest travel days during the week in a controlled access airport terminal was a good idea? From the airports point of view, that's a huge about of abandoned revenue.

thrawn82 wrote:

The anti-lgbtq stuff aside, who in their right mind thought putting a restaurant that isn't open during one of the biggest travel days during the week in a controlled access airport terminal was a good idea? From the airports point of view, that's a huge about of abandoned revenue.

They put one in the Falcons stadium. They're not smart.

They also make sh*tty chicken.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
thrawn82 wrote:

The anti-lgbtq stuff aside, who in their right mind thought putting a restaurant that isn't open during one of the biggest travel days during the week in a controlled access airport terminal was a good idea? From the airports point of view, that's a huge about of abandoned revenue.

They put one in the Falcons stadium. They're not smart.

They also make sh*tty chicken.

Apparently reality has a well known ChikFilA bias.

The top three fast food franchises for yearly U.S. sales, according to the 2018 QSR Magazine Report, which breaks down sales numbers from the previous year, were McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway. Here’s how the numbers shook out:

McDonald’s -- 14,036 units, $37,480,670,000 in sales, or $2,670,320 in sales per unit.
Starbucks -- 13,930 units, $13,167,610,000 in sales, or $945,270 in sales per unit.
Subway -- 25,908 units, $10,800,000,000 in sales, or $416,860 in sales per unit.

Chick-fil-A was ranked a not-too-shabby eighth by QSR, after taking in $9 billion in sales.

But, the most amazing part of this is that Chick-fil-A only operates 2,225 restaurants. That’s less than one-sixth as many as the top-three earning restaurants -- less than half as many as the rest of the franchises ahead of it. Of the top-50 earning restaurants, Chick-fil-A ranked 21st in the number of units.

So, how did Chick-fil-A rank so highly in total U.S. sales? By earning more per store than any other restaurant. A lot more. In fact, the average Chick-fil-A unit made around $4,090,900 in 2017. By contrast, the total sales for a McDonald’s ($2,670,320 per unit), Starbucks ($945,270) and Subway ($416,860) is $4,032,450.

That’s crazy -- especially since Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays.

Sure, they’ve made great strides in service and quality. Being a Christofascist cause celebre may have helped.

I have wondered if the boycott backfired strictly as a boycott in a reverse Streisand effect, but on the other hand I don't think it was about economic pressure. It always came across more as a symbolic (and symbols are important to making progress, not using that word to diminish anything) effort and a matter of personal morality.

Can you spot the boycott???

Spoiler:

2012

Year Rank Sales (millions) Total Units
2008 14 $2,640.90 1365
2009 14 $2,962.30 1423
2010 12 $3,217.00 1480
2011 11 $3,582.50 1537
2012 10 $4,051.00 1606
2013 9 $4,621.10 1683
2014 9 $5,052.60 1775
2015 8 $5,782.20 1887
2016 8 $6,825.90 1983
2017 8 $7,973.50 2102
2018 8 $9,000.00 2225

Source: https://www.qsrmagazine.com

Sorry for the mess, but this forum doesn't seem to like tables, and spacing adjustments don't seem to stick.

Thanks for the numbers, WizKid. I assumed they had a big bump after the 2012 culture war.

Guess the future won't be Taco Bell after all...

No 61st Amendment either

#BackOnTopic

I don’t eat there anymore, but they do make very tasty chicken. Fortunately, so do Boston Market and City BBQ.

There are dozens of reasons to be wary of a Biden candidacy, including his treatment of Anita Hill, his voting habits on middle eastern wars, and the fact that he’s a straight white male democrat.

But watching him getting railroaded over being gregarious makes me sick. I thought we were just starting to break through the iron clad homophobia that dictated that men can’t experience touch, and watching that get stripped away under the pretense of discomfort is a win for toxic masculinity. It’s a crisis of touching and it’s damaging to everyone.

There are lots of reasons not to like Biden. He’s certainly not my first (or fifth) choice for the democratic nomination. But the fact that he’s comfortable enough with his masculinity to offer and accept physical non sexual touches from all genders should be celebrated, not derided. Otherwise it starts to look like capitalism trying to co
opt an otherwise admirable goal to sell physical touch to us.

The oldest president at the time of leaving office was Ronald Reagan, who was about two weeks shy of his 78th birthday when he left after his eight years of service. Joe Biden will be a few months past 78 when he's inaugurated, if he wins.

No. Just, no. We don't need Democrats whose ideas on policy solidified in the 60's, just like we don't need Republicans who think that way. No amount of pop song nostalgia can change the fact that the great Boomer social revolution took play SIXTY YEARS AGO. We need to let the following generations in, to make their own change.

(And that's what Mitch McConnell understands, and that's why he's stacking the judiciary and breaking the Senate, to *prevent* change from coming...)

Seth wrote:

But watching him getting railroaded over being gregarious makes me sick.

He's getting held accountable for the fact that several women have said they were uncomfortable with his "gregariousness."

And it certainly doesn't help that after Biden put out a video acknowledging social norms about personal space have changed, that "I get it. I get it. I hear what they're saying and I understand it," and then the day after follows up with this sh*t:

Nothing like having multiple women complain about his behavior and then roll up to a conference for an organization with 750,000 members that's so gender inclusive that their website mentions 'women' or 'woman' six whole times and make a 'joke' that he got permission to hug another old white guy.

Seth wrote:

But the fact that he’s comfortable enough with his masculinity to offer and accept physical non sexual touches from all genders should be celebrated, not derided.

So the people on the receiving end who weren’t comfortable with it should just deal?

The issue isn’t about people not celebrating acceptable social intimacy, it’s about an old guy who has problems with recognizing personal boundaries, whether he has difficulty reading them or is just willfully ignoring them is what people are debating.

Cool, so the next time I come up behind you and sniff your hair, Seth, that's just supporting the culture of touching, right?

I said what I said, Tangle.

I think it’s great that these women have the courage to voice their discomfort. Just because I disagree with this narrow and puritanical view doesn’t take away from how difficult it must have been for them to speak their truth.

I also think it’s great that other women have the courage to support Biden despite the fact that he’s a pretty terrible politician and has a ton of sexist baggage.

Rather than see the people you disagree with as having narrow or puritanical views, do you think maybe they strike a different balance between the need to be touched and the need for boundaries?

Just because someone strikes the balance more towards boundaries than you have, that doesn't automatically mean they've gone all the way to an extreme end.

I’ve never particularly liked Biden personally. I respect his achievements, definitely have sympathy for his personal losses, but there has always been something a bit creepy and fake about him. Then I started read well researched books like George Packer’s The Unwinding which interviewed a former Biden high ranking staff member. It’s a not so well kept secret that Joe treats his staff like dirt. And then there are the allegations of borderline sexual harrassment of female secret service agents when Biden regularly went skinny dipping.

I really don’t see what Joe brings to the mix that’s better than the other candidates.

As a candidate, almost everyone out there is a better candidate. To be honest, what he has going for him is the ties to Obama and the fact that he can speak to Trump voters with ease. He won't convert all of them but he could do it just enough and in key battleground states to beat Trump.

I am not saying I will never get there, but I am not desperate enough to rank "Beat Trump" as the most important trait to the detriment of everything else.

In fact I still maintain that most of the current candidates if they learned from how Mr. Rogers spoke, could reach Trump voters as well as Biden. It is quiet confidence and plain logic with simple analogies. You have to build your arguments to challenge them with pieces readily available and in front of your face truisms. If you audience is myopic, then you have to go to where they live. It is one of the reasons why Healthcare was such a successful issue in 2018 and climate change is not. It is what gets people in red states to march for women.

jdzappa wrote:

I really don’t see what Joe brings to the mix that’s better than the other candidates.

He is a white, straight male. And sadly that is something many voters look for, even among democrats. This is a big factor when the election will probably be decided by independent voters. They may have leftist leanings but going full queer/woman/non-white is too much of a leap. So they may vote for the comfort food of politicians (white guy)

To be clear, I am not saying that is good, or right but from a polling numbers perspective his whiteness is something he brings to the mix.

jdzappa wrote:

I’ve never particularly liked Biden personally. I respect his achievements, definitely have sympathy for his personal losses, but there has always been something a bit creepy and fake about him. Then I started read well researched books like George Packer’s The Unwinding which interviewed a former Biden high ranking staff member. It’s a not so well kept secret that Joe treats his staff like dirt. And then there are the allegations of borderline sexual harrassment of female secret service agents when Biden regularly went skinny dipping.

I really don’t see what Joe brings to the mix that’s better than the other candidates.

Republicans *love* sex maniacs that violate women. So maybe that’s what a “centrist” is these days.

To throw some other things into the mix: whatever the reality, I think he's perceived as a moderate, yet he doesn't come across as an elite or as too corporate. It would be hard to paint him as "ivory tower" or a "bleeding heart liberal" or to question whether he really loves America.

All that might add up to a candidate who can win the suburbs.

I honestly think people still confused internet Biden with actual Biden. So we think of Trans Ams on the White House law and forget the other stuff

I felt compelled to get the link.

Tanglebones wrote:

Cool, so the next time I come up behind you and sniff your hair, Seth, that's just supporting the culture of touching, right?

Important question that determines my support: how are Biden's swim times?

Edit: I am skeeved right the f*ck out that non-consensual touching of women is being defended under the banner of fighting homophobia. That's now how this works. That's not how any of this works.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Tanglebones wrote:

Cool, so the next time I come up behind you and sniff your hair, Seth, that's just supporting the culture of touching, right?

Important question that determines my support: how are Biden's swim times?

Edit: I am skeeved right the f*ck out that non-consensual touching of women is being defended under the banner of fighting homophobia. That's now how this works. That's not how any of this works.

I saw the term "offering and accepting affection" used earlier. It seems to me the term 'offer' comes with an implicit ability to and acceptance of a rejection. That doesn't really seem to fit how Bidens conduct in described.

I am 100% on board with the idea that giving and receiving non-sexual touch affection is an important part of being a healthy person, and the cultural aversion to that among men is generally damaging. BUUUUUUUUT both the giving and the receiving has to be by affirmative consent at the time or though affirmative agreement previously that can be revoked in the moment. Otherwise it's not affection.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Edit: I am skeeved right the f*ck out that all touching of women is being defended under the banner of fighting homophobia. That's now how this works. That's not how any of this works.

I moved those goalposts back for ya.

I didn’t expect it to be a popular opinion here, nor does that change my position. Check out the link I provided earlier. We’re really f*cking things up by turning the human experience into a sterile one devoid of human contact.