VideoGameVet posted:

So it's confirmed. Facebook's spread the Soros conspiracy crap that inspired the Pittsburg tragedy.

Skex posted:

I don't think that a lot of the DAAW Brigade get that this party alignment along ideological lines is a relatively new thing in American history. Particularly the divide along these ideological lines. Liberal Republicans were totally a thing as were unsurprisingly Conservative Democrats. The Southern Strategy combined with the efforts of the wanna be Nazi's who founded the right wing think tanks and media companies and Newt loving Gingrich (Imagine how much better the world would have been if his parents had named him George or Mike or something that wasn't going to get him swirlied and stuck in a locker on a daily basis growing up) pushed the parties to align along hard ideological lines well the Republican party at least.

There is legitimate room for debate between liberals who believe that capitalism can be harnessed for good and those who believe that total communism is the only answer and honestly seeing how horribly either has done with treating people humanely there should be and ideally we're probably best with some mix of socialism for things that socialism makes sense for (basic survival and safety) and those where some well regulated competition and trade for things that aren't necessities, entertainment, art, leisure. Some way to create incentives to convince people to do the unpleasant jobs that have to be done short of forcing them to choose between starvation (capitalism) or forced "re-education" through hard labor in the gulags.

I digress. The reality is that as much as the "leftists" complain about how bad the Dems are and how nothing in improving. The reality is that it is improving. The progressive caucus is the biggest caucus in the house. Medicare for All (even if they really mean some watered down version) is now the cause that even the blue dogs are paying lip service to. That's a real shift. A real significant shift in the overton window. Think back to 2008. The big fight in the primary between Clinton and Obama was over two issues. The mandate that Clinton supported and Obama opposed and the Public Option that was reversed. Even after a historic victory and the Democrats making massive gains in the house and Senate, there were still enough conservative and "third way" Democrats to kill the public option, and no the fact that Daschle (literal frigging health industry lobbyist) says that there was a "secret deal" between the white house and the insurance industry doesn't mean that Obama pre-compromised on the key aspects his signature piece of legislation. Maybe he did, maybe he just used the fact that it was obvious that the Public option was DOA in the Senate and allowed the suggestions of such a "secret deal" in order to convince the Healthcare industry to keep their powder dry (not to mention it allows Democrats to craft a stealth narrative on how they broke their side of that "deal" and thus shouldn't be trusted going forward.)

The point is that due to the nature of the Senate and it's staggered 6 year terms it tends to lag behind the public sentiment significantly.

Now there are still plenty of bad Democrats but there are less bad ones that there used to be, and the bad ones are objectively improvements over the ones before them. On balance they are a huge improvement over the Democrats of the 80s, 90s and 00s. All of them support some form of MFA, they all accept the science that holds that climate change is real even if they aren't taking it seriously enough.

I think that's the biggest thing that leaves me just womper jawed at the rhetoric from the "left" here is that I look at the modern Democratic party in contrast to the Democratic party of 20 and 30 years ago and the difference is night and friggin day. Even our worst are so much better than the most of what we had when I grew up that when I hear this refrain of Dems are bad all I can think is "you have no idea what bad Dems look like if you think these Dems are bad"

sexpig by night posted:

'did we engage in antisemitic dogwhistles? Yes but that loving kike insulted us first so it's cool right?'

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

Lightning Knight posted:

He's been punished, but I want to highlight this and say, don't do this, ironic mocking racism is still racism, thanks.

VideoGameVet posted:

Yes. Oh yes.

"...the adoption of the measures I advocated at the outset of the war, the arming of the negroes, the slaves of the rebels, is the only way left on earth in which these rebels can be exterminated. They will find that they must treat those States now outside of the Union as conquered provinces and settle them with new men, and drive the present rebels as exiles from this country....They have such determination, energy, and endurance, that nothing but actual extermination or exile or starvation will ever induce them to surrender to this Government."

—Thaddeus Stevens, U.S. House of Representatives, January 8, 1863

Prester Jane posted:

Why are these minorities getting so uppity? Don't they understand how much better things have gotten over the past few decades? Why can't the starving just appreciate that they need to wait to come to the table until tomorrow? and why do the starving get so upset when the well-fed patiently explaine the eternal benefits of endless patience? It's like these morons don't understand that if they tried to eat today none of us will eat tomorrow. *burps contentedly*

Oh to live in such a privileged bubble that I could not understand why the tiny progress that has been made over the past 20 or 30 years is insufficient to address the needs of a huge portion of the population/not understand that things are getting worse right now and need to be addressed right the gently caress now and not in some hypothetical future that we know will never actually come. If ignorance truly is bliss then you must live in a permanent heroin euphoria.

Josef bugman posted:

I was going to put it more politely but yeah Skex unless you are very young or have a very nice job this is kind of thing that causes complacency. These structures were built and people are being killed by them. They can be unbuilt.

DLC Inc posted:

I guess being put on the FBI watchlist scared Gavin shitless

also RIP in peace to Laura Loomer

Dick Trauma posted:

https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1065380655100452864



https://twitter.com/jaredlholt/status/1065381870068736005

Dick Trauma posted:

https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1065380655100452864



https://twitter.com/jaredlholt/status/1065381870068736005

FlamingLiberal posted:

God drat you beat me to both of those stories.

Loomer needs to be institutionalized. Even fellow right-wing nut jobs think she's crazy.

Stexils posted:

not to mention a lot has gotten worse. abortion is hanging by a thread and is almost certainly going to be gutted soon (even prior to the supreme court theft republicans had gutted access in every state where they had power). right wing terrorism is far more common yet and we're no closer to regulating guns. unions have been successfully undermined and workers rights are worse than ever, and the minimum wage is pitifully low. healthcare costs are astronomical even if you do have a plan. saying things are better than 30 years ago is ridiculously blinkered. maybe congress is more diverse and has more progressives, but they have a hell of a lot of work to do to even approach stability, let alone fix anything.

Crow Jane posted:

What did she do to get herself kicked?

Dick Trauma posted:

https://twitter.com/jaredlholt/status/1065381870068736005

DLC Inc posted:

Prester Jane posted:

Something that minorities like me and KM have learned is that there's no point in being polite when confronting privilege. Tell them the truth, tell them forcefully, hold nothing back, let them experience thE derision and scorn they have earned. They wil hate you in the short-term, but in the long term (if there is hope for them) they will eventually see the light.

You can't tell a privileged person the truth without wounding their ego and attacking the imbecility that their privilege in engenders. Any other approach is a waste of time because they will never engage in introspection unless you piss them off real good first.

Dick Trauma posted:

https://twitter.com/loisbeckett/status/1065380655100452864



https://twitter.com/jaredlholt/status/1065381870068736005

Mr.Unique-Name posted:

Is she on suicide watch now?

Angry_Ed posted:

I like that Gavin thinks disavowing the group he started and led is going to save him, especially when he's still hawking Proud Boy merch on his site.

Ague Proof posted:

North Dakota is +36 R, making it the fourth most Trumplover state. Heitkamp only lost by 9, which is impressive considering the state.

Josef bugman posted:

I don't remember this happening to me and I am fairly darn privileged... I feel left out of being yelled at now!

Skex posted:

I don't think that a lot of the DAAW Brigade get that this party alignment along ideological lines is a relatively new thing in American history.

STAC Goat posted:

But like, that's a quote from July 2016, BEFORE Trump beat Hillary and before the 2018 Blue Wave of progressive candidates and red district upsets without such a compromise on the platform. So why should I put more stock in that quote than I do in what has happened for the 2 and a half years since then? Its possible they'll still try and do it, but the tide is going the other way.

Squalid posted:

and yet Joe Manchin won, despite odds just as long. A vote in these rural states is much more valuable than other places. If the democrats are going to pass any legislation through the Senate in the future they will almost certainly have to win elections in these places. I'm not sure how best to do that but I'm pretty sure what's going to appeal to Dakotans in 2020 isn't going to be the same as what appeals to New Yorkers.

Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:

Bad rear end

https://mobile.twitter.com/justicedems/status/1065331572562259968

Saint Celestine posted:

Whos the Monopoly Man lookin' dude with the monocle?

Prester Jane posted:

Love to watch supposed leftists still support Manchin even after he eagerly betrayed women/minority's and happily threw them under the bus for the benefit of his own career.

Course it's not like Kavanaugh's appointment directly threatens you, only other people. Can't imagine why your immunity from the fallout of the courses of action you advocate for blinds you to the harm of the courses of action you advocate for.

It's other people suffering, not you. And if the people suffering as a result of Kavanagh complain about it, it's only because they're children who can't see the bigger picture.

Clearly Joe Manchin made the right decision by appealing to bigots- and if the Democratic party is ever going to successfully shift this country leftward then it will just have to get used to throwing minorities under the bus whenever and wherever it's strategically useful. Why no, I cannot fathom why this attitude makes me sound like a sociopath...

Saint Celestine posted:

Whos the Monopoly Man lookin' dude with the monocle?

Saint Celestine posted:

Whos the Monopoly Man lookin' dude with the monocle?