BarbarianElephant posted:

I have nothing but contempt for you guys who see the horrors Republicans are perpetuating, give them a free pass, and blame the Democrats.

The “whipping boy” school of politics.

Shadin posted:

Maybe blame the garbage American people that have shifted to become dumber and more hateful so that the Dems haven't had the numbers to act unopposed. I don't need powerless Democrats to grandstand on Twitter saying things we all already know, I need Americans to not be garbage.

BarbarianElephant posted:

Everyone’s bad in some ways.

Hating on the Democrats for not being able to stop fascists who have wide public support is like hating on the White Rose for failing and sucking.

Democrats are clearly blindsided by the rapid slide of Republicans into fascism. They expected to be fighting for abortion rights, same as ever, not against concentration camps.

BarbarianElephant posted:

Everyone’s bad in some ways.

Hating on the Democrats for not being able to stop fascists who have wide public support is like hating on the White Rose for failing and sucking.

Democrats are clearly blindsided by the rapid slide of Republicans into fascism. They expected to be fighting for abortion rights, same as ever, not against concentration camps.

PhazonLink posted:

all raindrops are responsible in some way.

When regressives are beaten we can do introspection and house cleaning later.

Shadin posted:

Not even going to bother responding to the ridiculous interpretations of what I said and will only say that I agree 100% with both of these. Now, content:



Best part is the mental gymnastics of supporters:

"Greg Pruett, a former Pocatello resident who is now based in Boise, believes Giddings’ comment was simply an attempt to educate the protesters seeking gun control about artillery — the large caliber weapons used in war. One of the protesters was holding a sign which stated, “2 Amendment says we have the right to bear Arms not to bear Artillery. Gun Control.”

GreyjoyBastard posted:

this is actually a more sensical argument than "they threatened to shoot the protesters with artillery" though

with the context of the sign an obvious rebuttal by gunlovers is that automatic rifles aren't artillery, bigass antimateriel guns are artillery

I'm personally of the opinion that both should probably not be legal for public possession, but this is not crazy mental gymnastics

Shadin posted:

I still think you can say the mental gymnastics are hilarious when they argue "she wanted to provide an educational moment about weapon classifications" instead of "she was being a cheeky oval office to her constituents".

BarbarianElephant posted:

Everyone’s bad in some ways.

Hating on the Democrats for not being able to stop fascists who have wide public support is like hating on the White Rose for failing and sucking.

Democrats are clearly blindsided by the rapid slide of Republicans into fascism. They expected to be fighting for abortion rights, same as ever, not against concentration camps.

Defenestration posted:

https://twitter.com/delusionalcons/status/1014436655472599040

VitalSigns posted:

Well yeah they set up plenty of their own concentration camps, obvs they weren't expecting to have to fight against their own policies

BarbarianElephant posted:

Both sides are the same! Both sides!

Might as well not vote.

BarbarianElephant posted:

Both sides are the same! Both sides!

Might as well not vote.

seiferguy posted:

There's a weird sort of irony that Democrats probably lost the house over Obamacare, and Republicans ran and won on repealing it with no replacement plan. Then when they tried to repeal it, people realized they liked having healthcare.

Keeshhound posted:

Thus we see that the populace cannot be trusted to govern themselves, and will be best led by a benevolent autocrat. Democracy is an abject failure and we should return at once to feudal aristocracies as God intended.

quote:

The Midnight Ride of Ayn Rand

June 27, 2018 by Daniel Aronstein

Listen, my children, and you shall learn
Of the personal liberty for which all people yearn,
Since the fourth of July, in Seventy-six;
It's been the core of our country's life and politics
Liberty is what people fight for 'til their very last breath
As Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death!”
Fighters for freedom have forever sought
Individual freedom which can be neither sold nor bought.
By word and by deed the ruling class has tried
To diminish the rights for which our forefathers died.
As far back as the Pharaoh who enslaved the Jews
Mankind has strived to live and die as we choose.

And just as America rebelled to be free of the crown
Paul Revere made a midnight ride of renown.
In order to warn all the good local people
He had his friend place a lantern atop the town steeple
One lantern if the British came by land and two if by sea
Then he'd know which towns to warn with his horse riding plea.
Two lanterns went up on high and in time he did see
So off went Revere on his horse like a sprite on a spree.
Revere rode his horse many miles deep into the night
Warning patriots to get up to get ready to fight.
"The British are coming to keep us all down
Wake up, wake up and defend home and town!""
They rose in defiance against the redcoats
Who'd come in the thousands by sea and in boats.
In Concord the Minutemen all stood their ground
And Americans were tested...more courage they found.
At last they gave the redcoats a resounding defeat
And became a free country and made the king's men retreat.

Then our Founders Jefferson, Adams and Madison wrote
That each citizen was entitled to a voice and to vote.
But the rights and liberties were not for all yet secured
For to make a new Union libertarians demurred.
After many contentious and angry debates,
They allowed slavery to persist in the southern states.
So, the goal of full freedom for all was then suspended:
Universal rights for all was still a mountain to be ascended.

Frederick Douglass, like Moses to Pharaoh, said "Let my people go!"
In response the slave owners said emphatically, “No!”
This conflict broke out in a great Civil War
To abolish slavery and open the door
To free all people no matter their race
And spread personal freedom all over the place.

But the journey for freedom was still not complete
For universal rights people marched in the street.
Led by suffragette women who took up the cause
To broaden the franchise and update the laws
So all women could be as free as all males
Because when freedom is denied to some, then democracy fails.
Susan B. Anthony was a leader who ended this sin,
Winning the right to vote for women, not just men.

A few years later another woman made a bold philosophical case
For why individual freedom is essential to the entire human race.
She fled from Soviet Russia where the state ruled in totality
And with personal liberty made a success that changed her life -- and all reality.
Ayn Rand earned her fame writing adventurous stories
In which heroes fought moochers to create their own glories.

In The Fountainhead novel she would forcefully proclaim
That compromising personal integrity is a crime and a shame.
Atlas Shrugged was a philosophical book of wondrous fiction
Celebrating achievement and individualism without government restriction.

Her writing ranged from the nature of reality to personal ethics
From epistemology, art, to politics and economics.
Her many writings continue to inspire and enthrall
With a theme that endures and runs through them all:
To thine own self be true in a rational way,
Be true in your actions and in what you say.
Treat people as fairly as justice deems true
Demand respect in the way everyone treats you.

Ayn Rand was the unique and the true founding mother
Of the liberty movement that fights contra Big Brother
Who promoted the moral foundation of capitalism
And exposed the pitfalls of all forms of socialism.
Rand’s message is diametrically opposed to big government and socialistic opinions
It’s anathema to Marx and all of his minions.
She shaped and inspired our best politicians
To shrink government as part of their larger ambitions.
By showing how ethical self-interest makes us each more empowered
And how this is so much better than being a victim or coward.
Why we must chase the goal for which our heart is yearning
And spend our energy and capital and focus in earning.
She explained how the deep state and its cronies are all in cahoots
And turn government into a bank that redistributes
From the people who create what others desire
And how this always turns an economy into a downbeat quagmire.
Because to do this they must make the state big and strong
And this is very inefficient and morally wrong.

Objectivism is her philosophy,
With five philosophic branches on the tree
While the movement now has a few different factions
With different approaches that sometimes constrain interactions.
Its ideas should be celebrated under a great big tent
Whose tent poles are grounded in Rand’s original intent:
*Rational self-interest between each person on earth;
*Rational people with their rights intact from their birth;
*Personal freedom that’s matched with accountability;
*Where each individual takes responsibility;
*Where we admire the creator who achieves excellence,
*Where pride is a virtue -- but so is benevolence;
*Where the government is limited and finite and small;
*And there is freedom and justice and liberty for all.

Ron Jeremy posted:

Who is Ayn Rand?

Ron Jeremy posted:

quote:

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

[...]

I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.

Defenestration posted:

men: continue to suck and never get good at anything that might be perceived as feminine.

Ron Jeremy posted:

Guavanaut posted:

There are plenty of things that men can't do. Fly under their own power. Phase through walls. Freeze things with their breath. Shoot lasers from their eyes.

Maybe that's what it's saying, we should be teaching women to do the things that men can't do. Make it so they possess an extra power... one which ordinary men do not!

That is why I call my students... wo-men.

OwlFancier posted:

I am fine with replacing white people with various alternatives, such as honkey.

Ashcans posted:

Men can actually lactate if their hormone levels align, so basically confirming they just consider women to be wombs.

Defenestration posted:

https://twitter.com/delusionalcons/status/1015330219157327872

Ashcans posted:

Someone not on their phone post Franklin(?) complaining about the swarthy Germans and their lack of pure Anglo-Saxon virtues.

If you can't trace your ancestry in an unbroken line to an English progenitor predating the Norman invasion you don't make the cut.

Has to be English though, Scots, Welsh, Bretons, Cornish and Manx don't count.

quote:

In writings from that decade, Franklin shared his concerns about the Germans:

They weren’t as smart as the people already living in the colonies.

quote:

“Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own Nation.”

They were unable to adapt to the local values.

quote:

“Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make a modest use of it.”

They were endangering New England’s whiteness.

quote:

“[T]he Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion; as are the Germans also, the Saxons only excepted.”

In short, they were not to be liberally admitted to Pennsylvania, because as Franklin argued, “Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion