For stuff about the 2024 election
I voted Gore, Kerry, Obama, Obama and during that 2nd term I changed to Republican. Not one particular reason its just my perspective changed as I got older, had kids and started paying more attention to the issues. I did say in my original post that I hate the two party system because it forces us all to choose team red or team blue and accept all the bullsh1t that comes with the candidate and party. It needs to be revamped.
What issues do you think Trump and the Republicans will be better on than Harris and the Democrats?
My one hope at this point is these nazis just ratf*ck each other so much they never get to the 'implementing the camps' part of things
My one hope at this point is these nazis just ratf*ck each other so much they never get to the 'implementing the camps' part of things
No they'll definitely ratf*ck us first. Get rid of Medicare and section 8, food stamps they may cut last just because at this points its a giant corprate welfare scheme for wal mart and the big grocery stores. We're in for a really horrible ride.
93_confirmed wrote:I voted Gore, Kerry, Obama, Obama and during that 2nd term I changed to Republican. Not one particular reason its just my perspective changed as I got older, had kids and started paying more attention to the issues. I did say in my original post that I hate the two party system because it forces us all to choose team red or team blue and accept all the bullsh1t that comes with the candidate and party. It needs to be revamped.
What issues do you think Trump and the Republicans will be better on than Harris and the Democrats?
I'm not going to speak for 93's policy preferences. But certainly there are folks that believe that Trump's economic policies are good for them (hypothetical oil/gas exec, for example). And that their financial bottom line is the primary thing that matters.
What one can't (shouldn't?) do is do this weak ass, "I've no truck with any of the racial stuff tho my brothers! I am in favor of respect for individual rights and am quite principled, sirs!" stuff.
You bought it, you own it.
The only thing the fascists have to do in the next 4 years is f*ck the voting process to the point it becomes pointless, and all the other Project 2025 stuff will get done eventually after that. I think they can and will get that done. Good news everyone who hates the two party system! You're about to see a one party system in action.
I once called the US the true Third Reich in the D&D boards. I did that to call attention to the rank, violent, and institutional racism that filtered to me out in Asia from my friends, relatives, and peers who are American.
But I fear that rhetoric may now swiftly turn into literal reality. I believe we now personally all know, to our detriment, exactly how Germany turned Nazi. By all accounts, they had economic successes in their heyday.
believe we now personally all know, to our detriment, exactly how Germany turned Nazi.
To thunderous applause.
I don't support Harris and what the Democrat incumbents stand for - rather, I oppose what DT et al stand for. Can I even count as an Aussie who has indirect skin in the game?
93_Confirmed, you say you paid more attention to the issues, so which issues do you believe the felonious President-Elect will positively move the dial towards? I'm genuinely curious, because right now, I'm mourning the abandonment of Roe v Wade and the lives it saved for 50 years and beyond. Citizens United is also baffling.
The US will never be wholly innocent or free from bloodstained hands. That's what happens when you're the hegemonic force internationally. You take what you can and good luck to whoever wants to stop you.
But we need a strong and principled hegemonic nation in this increasingly violent era. Out of all the nations which could rise to become the hegemonic power, I sure prefer the US over the likes of RUS, PRC or IND.
Ah, it's times like these I miss Dee. I think we should all take a deep breath, let's be kind and reasonable with each other.
I’ve mentioned this repeatedly but Vance is in deep with Peter Thiel and has repeatedly spoken highly of Curtis Yarvin, both of which should be immediately disqualifying to anyone who even likes the concepts of “freedom” and “democracy.” They are literal, self-described monarchists that want to turn the US into a feudal state with an aristocracy of tech bros under a CEO king, with the rest of us all as serfs. This is not hyperbole or conspiracy, it’s what they openly admit. They explicitly say democracy is bad and want to replace it with corporatist monarchy, and Vance owes his entire career and current position to Thiel.
The Behind the Bastards podcast did a great deep dive on Yarvin and his philosophies and I'm halfway through their current Peter Thiel series.
Thiel particularly had a real super villain upbringing, and I'm not pleased how strongly Apartheid South Africa features in it.
Forget Trump, Y'all are f*cked as soon as Vance gets in there. They are going to disassemble every institution that exists to keep Americans safe and the nation functional, such as it is.
But I fear that rhetoric may now swiftly turn into literal reality. I believe we now personally all know, to our detriment, exactly how Germany turned Nazi. By all accounts, they had economic successes in their heyday.
To, uh, be fair to the German nazis (:S) they seemed to to have a better understanding of economics than Trump et al. So they might skip that part.
Also, very different economical outsets.
I don't support Harris and what the Democrat incumbents stand for - rather, I oppose what DT et al stand for. Can I even count as an Aussie who has indirect skin in the game?
Sure you can. The dronestrikes won’t care that we didn’t vote for Trump.
And yeah, honestly don’t even matter what the details where of Harris policies, or the active support of a genocide, when the alternative was Project 2025 agenda.
If someone is a conservative? Okay, fine. I am sorry for what happened in your life to bring your down that path.
If you are a fascist or a totalitarian? Or vote for one? No excuses allowed. You are the damn problem.
I’ve mentioned this repeatedly but Vance is in deep with Peter Thiel and has repeatedly spoken highly of Curtis Yarvin, both of which should be immediately disqualifying to anyone who even likes the concepts of “freedom” and “democracy.” They are literal, self-described monarchists that want to turn the US into a feudal state with an aristocracy of tech bros under a CEO king, with the rest of us all as serfs. This is not hyperbole or conspiracy, it’s what they openly admit. They explicitly say democracy is bad and want to replace it with corporatist monarchy, and Vance owes his entire career and current position to Thiel.
It is wild, they are not even hiding anything. They repeatedly tell people exactly who they are, what they want, and a significant amount of people go “fine with me”.
What conspiracy theorists get wrong is they believe that conspiracies happen in secret.
The real global conspiracy is a collection of right wing networks and think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, Tanton Network, Russian Intelligence, Yarvin acolytes and just plain self-interested billionaires working together to reform society for the interest of the few who believe themselves elite.
And the openness is their power, because nobody can believe how dangerous they are, because surely they would be working in secret, right?
I am not normally a popehat person, but he's right here so I'm going to just quote him:
The notion that you can win votes from people who say “pronouns in email signatures made me mad so we should leave NATO” by trying to please them is ridiculous.
These people believe in nothing, they're animated entirely by their petty grievances. Not only will catering to them not work, because they'll immediately shift to some other petty grievance, every concession you make will materially harm vulnerable people, and bet your ass I will be on this board making you confront it while you reply to everyone else but me like a wimp.
Don't be a f*cking mark.
WA bucks national trend and swings further to the left
Pleasantly surprised to see this.
If I am looking for places to move. How's the weather?
I don't support Harris and what the Democrat incumbents stand for - rather, I oppose what DT et al stand for. Can I even count as an Aussie who has indirect skin in the game?
93_Confirmed, you say you paid more attention to the issues, so which issues do you believe the felonious President-Elect will positively move the dial towards? I'm genuinely curious, because right now, I'm mourning the abandonment of Roe v Wade and the lives it saved for 50 years and beyond. Citizens United is also baffling.
I don't think he was here to actually engage in a nuanced, open, and honest discussion, which is unfortunate. I also don't think enough of us are in the right mindset to be equally nuanced and open in return (I certainly am not), so I also don't blame him.
I also think that choosing right now to pop in with a "not all Trump voters!" complaint was ill-advised and doesn't help the case he tried to plead.
Probably a better idea to hold off on attempts to have that discussion with members of our community who either supported the incoming Felon/Fascist-in-Chief or didn't find him and his platform comprised primarily of hate to be repugnant enough to vote against him.
Since there is lots of talk about (global) economics, I found this video laying out the two likeliest Trump presidency scenarios very informative.
No matter what though, an awful lot of people are going suffer an awful lot (more) over the next 4+ years...
Chairman_Mao wrote:WA bucks national trend and swings further to the left
Pleasantly surprised to see this.
If I am looking for places to move. How's the weather?
Probably a better idea to hold off on attempts to have that discussion with members of our community who either supported the incoming Felon/Fascist-in-Chief or didn't find him and his platform comprised primarily of hate to be repugnant enough to vote against him.
What discussion is to be had here? Their entire premise is 'I can act like an asshole and if anyone says so they're violating my free speech and being uncivil'. f*ck that shit.
I'd put forward that people who endorse mass repression and death of members of this community should not be welcome in it.
UpToIsomorphism wrote:Chairman_Mao wrote:WA bucks national trend and swings further to the left
Pleasantly surprised to see this.
If I am looking for places to move. How's the weather?
Farscry wrote:Probably a better idea to hold off on attempts to have that discussion with members of our community who either supported the incoming Felon/Fascist-in-Chief or didn't find him and his platform comprised primarily of hate to be repugnant enough to vote against him.
What discussion is to be had here? Their entire premise is 'I can act like an asshole and if anyone says so they're violating my free speech and being uncivil'. f*ck that shit.
I'd put forward that people who endorse mass repression and death of members of this community should not be welcome in it.
I agree with you.
To answer your question, the discussion that I would be interested in is understanding the motives of people I would have expected to put the safety of the community ahead of their personal interests, in the hopes of perhaps helping them understand the need to instead ally with us and stand in solidarity.
I’ve mentioned this repeatedly but Vance is in deep with Peter Thiel and has repeatedly spoken highly of Curtis Yarvin, both of which should be immediately disqualifying to anyone who even likes the concepts of “freedom” and “democracy.” They are literal, self-described monarchists that want to turn the US into a feudal state with an aristocracy of tech bros under a CEO king, with the rest of us all as serfs. This is not hyperbole or conspiracy, it’s what they openly admit. They explicitly say democracy is bad and want to replace it with corporatist monarchy, and Vance owes his entire career and current position to Thiel.
The sad thing about the Thiel stuff is he is a gay immigrant. He is funding people that would like to see him dead. It is just stupid.
The other sad thing is he gets a lot of money and influence from defense contracts. The government is directly paying for their own subversion. It is just ridiculous, at a minimum people that openly try to destroy the government and democracy like Musk and Thiel should not be getting government contracts.
On motives: there are plenty of folks that just cannot stand how things are. Their communities are hurting, they are hurting and they are lashing out. This is what humans do. When that hurting is tied to material needs (economic inequality, etc) the Left needs to acknowledge that and start doubling down on actually fixing stuff and stop cozying up to billionaires and celebrities who are part of the ruling class. And get the f*ck away from half measures and neolib technocracy.
When that "hurting" is because Christianity isn't ascendant in the culture and trans people are free to get surgery or Jews want to feel safe on the streets or Palestinians shouldn't be getting murdered or women should have control of their bodies or they want a monarchy, they can f*ck right off and get with the god damn program.
People that voted Trump need to decide which camp they fall in to.
I'm a naturalized American citizen. I moved to the US to go to grad school in 1995 and never left. My wife is also an immigrant and my daughters are natural born as the expression goes.
This election taught me that I live in and chose to become a citizen of a shithole country surrounded by some of the shittiest people in the world. People who want to drag others down into their shit instead of work together as part of a society.
And I owe them nothing. Not a god-damned thing. I'm going to be fine (I'm a rich, middle-aged cis hetero white male). My wife and daughters are going to be fine (my wife and I are dual citizens, my daughters have three citizenships).
We are in a position to leave whenever we please and will either at the end of this school year when my older daughter graduates from high school (and goes to university in Canada) or at the end of the 2028 school year when my younger daughter does the same. We haven't decided when yet.
And in that remaining time, I will live the thing this election taught me: FYGM. I will make as much money as I can before I leave. I am now actively hoping they privatize Social Security so I can take the money I put into the program over the last 30 years into the stock market.
I will relish the rise in the stock market and the accumulation in my bank and investment accounts, because that's all that matters in this country.
(I'm pretty f*ckin' angry).
What does the world look like right now if you are Donald Trump? You've just won the grand prize and you are wealthier than ever. You're rattled by the assassination attempts. You seem to be aware that your mind is, increasingly, not functioning properly. And, you are also realizing that your victory has changed your relationship to a lot of the people around you and that you may be worth more dead than alive to a bunch of them.
Your core psychological need is to be the center of attention, but now you are being called on to make decisions. It's one thing to pursue your needs, but being called on to make decisions is a different kind of thing. It makes you accountable and responsible. You need to reason and weigh evidence and listen to input. But you have major trouble understanding things and maintaining a train of thought. You have trouble staying on topic on even simple questions from friendly interviewers. And now you have to make decisions about hiring people (not your strong suit) and the most important of those hires are going to have the power to declare you incompetent under the 25th amendment. How do you align your interests with theirs? How do you hire loyal people when you have a history of making your people do illegal things and you could die at any time and leave your people totally vulnerable?
Well, for starters, you hire your campaign manager as your chief of staff, and make it her problem. Suzie Wiles is now probably the most powerful person in DC. She's a movement conservative from the '80s, but she doesn't seem to be nuts or fanatic in the way most of the MAGA crowd are. She has history with some of the more moderate and professional elements of the party. The recent Atlantic article about the inside workings of the Trump campaign seems to have been largely sourced from her or her people.
I am feeling deeply traumatized by the results of this election. I'm about as anti-Trump as you can get. Seeing Wiles named Chief of Staff (instead of someone like, say, Stephen Miller) has made me think that there maybe a path for avoiding the worst of the outcomes that I was envisioning.
I have heard people at work say "I'm glad he won, maybe now I'll be able to afford groceries again."
Don't underestimate the common person's inability to understand that there are lots of economic factors in play that are completely out of the President's control, and the fact that even when the President does make a change, it takes a while for the economy to respond. Most of "Biden's inflation" is due to COVID, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, or even some of Trump's policies, but people blame the one in office, just like they're going to give Trump credit if the economy improves in the next year or two because of Biden's policies.
Why America Chose Trump: Inflation, Immigration, and the Democratic Brand
KEY FINDINGS:KEY FINDINGS
- The top reasons voters gave for not supporting Harris were that inflation was too high (+24), too many immigrants crossed the border (+23), and that Harris was too focused on cultural issues rather than helping the middle class (+17).
- Other high-testing reasons were that the debt rose too much under the Biden-Harris Administration (+13), and that Harris would be too similar to Joe Biden (+12).
- These concerns were similar across all demographic groups, including among Black and Latino voters, who both selected inflation as their top problem with Harris. For swing voters who eventually chose Trump, cultural issues ranked slightly higher than inflation (+28 and +23, respectively).
- The lowest-ranked concerns were that Harris wasn’t similar enough to Biden (-24), was too conservative (-23), and was too pro-Israel (-22).
For profit prison stocks are up 88% in a week.
It's a great time to invest in concentration camps.
I'm so discouraged about so many people pinning inflation on Biden, and by association Harris. Maybe what this country needs is some more Schoolhouse Rock PSAs about government and how global economics affects individual Americans. And other social issues...
When Just In Time Runs Out Of Time (global supply chain illustrated by... maybe how individual "supply" problems affect a potluck dinner?)
Recuse for Youse (Supreme Court Justices)
Safe Cities, Safe Towns (telling the truth about crime and public safety trends)
The Day The Immigrants Were Sent Away (how the immigrant worker economy has become essential to farming and other manual labor intensive businesses, with real life examples)
Do You Really Want Your Neighbor In Your Bedroom? (the impact of attempts to legislate away anything other than monogamous heterosexual procreation)
Mommy and Mommy and Daddy and Daddy (positive aspects of growing up with same-sex parents)
What's Wrong With Them? (pronouns, perhaps including the example of asking people to refer to you by your chosen name... e.g. Ken, not Kenneth or Kenny)
Or maybe just "Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Pronouns Here"
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