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Automata 10 Pack posted:lol we are at the whims of the pettiness of billionaires Always have been
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Apr 26, 2023 16:43
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I don't buy that Murdoch would dump Tucker simply to own his ex, but it is really funny to imagine.
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Apr 26, 2023 16:45
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(apologies for the source) https://twitter.com/WSJ/status/1651243518008991747 Turns out there has been no black powder production in North America since the sole remaining factory making it blew up in 2021. This probably has a lot to do with the ongoing consolidation of military contractors, which has left a lot of critical points of failure and brittleness in the supply chain. quote:The ramshackle facility makes the original form of gunpowder, known today as black powder, a highly combustible material with hundreds of military applications. The product, for which there is no substitute, is used in small quantities in munitions to ignite more powerful explosives. quote:Today that’s emerging as a gnawing problem for the U.S., whether in supplying weapons and ammunition to Ukraine or in restocking reserves to prepare for a potential confrontation with China in the new era of great-power competition, according to U.S. military officials, defense experts and congressional staffers. Enormous defense spending means little when the top priority is graft, not readiness. This black powder thing could be fixed with a modicum of effort, and it is telling that it has not been. This isn't exactly high-tech or capital-intensive stuff, it's just that the incentives are such that basic things like this are neglected in favor of over-complex wunderwaffen with large support contracts. cat botherer fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Apr 26, 2023 |
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Apr 26, 2023 16:46
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I had no idea the US Military still used OG black powder in such quantities, what do they use it for and why aren't they using smokeless powders for those applications?
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Apr 26, 2023 16:49
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zoux posted:I had no idea the US Military still used OG black powder in such quantities, what do they use it for and why aren't they using smokeless powders for those applications?
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Apr 26, 2023 16:54
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Fister Roboto posted:It's not surprising but still disappointing. Biden was barely elected in 2020 in large part due to the massive rising tide of radical anti-Trump sentiment. Bernie did his part by directing that tide into Biden's camp. And now it feels like they've spent the last two years trying to calm that tide, to get things back to "normal". But under Biden's presidency, we've seen a repeal of Roe v. Wade and multiple state bans on abortion, a growing backlash against LGBT rights, anemic action on domestic policy hampered by members of his own party, a busted rail strike, and increased funding for the police and military. Roe v. Wade is still a factor, but seeing that Trump understood the risks of repealing it, and there's a contingent of Republicans who want to pass that 15-week Abortion Law while Biden.... Has done nothing, we may see Biden get outmaneuvered on that position as well. Automata 10 Pack fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Apr 26, 2023 |
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Apr 26, 2023 16:56
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Biden did manage to completely neuter any national progressive political will so that's an accomplishment, for the type of people that back him
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Apr 26, 2023 16:59
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Dubar posted:Biden did manage to completely neuter any national progressive political will so that's an accomplishment, for the type of people that back him Can you be more specific on that, what specifically did he do to destroy the national progressive movement.
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Apr 26, 2023 17:11
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zoux posted:Can you be more specific on that, what specifically did he do to destroy the national progressive movement. He destroyed Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday 2020.
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Apr 26, 2023 17:14
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To say Biden’s only case is being “not Trump” is kind of silly. Even setting aside his accomplishments, which I think people are discounting too much, but whatever, the reason to vote for him is that he’s not any Republican. Would you just go “meh” and not care who wins if he was running against Cruz or Ronnie or even Nikki Haley? No. Automata 10 Pack posted:lol we are at the whims of the pettiness of billionaires Oasis posted:Is it any wonder why princes and kings
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Apr 26, 2023 17:15
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https://twitter.com/scottgustin/status/1651254385211523073?s=46&t=CBKJcBX0BD3U5HgUdsqBtw
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Apr 26, 2023 17:17
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I'm not surprised that Bernie's not running (he's 82, he's already lost twice, he'd be against an incumbent in the primary), even if I would immediately have volunteered for his campaign if he had. But it does aggravate that feeling of hopelessness. Nobody currently can step into his place, the mainline options for Democrats are all godawful and the most optimistic outlook is "well maybe in 2036 we can get a decent candidate, assuming the republicans don't win any election between now and then and also the environment doesn't collapse". Urgh. zoux posted:Can you be more specific on that, what specifically did he do to destroy the national progressive movement. He did nothing. As he promised, of course: "Nothing will fundamentally change".
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Apr 26, 2023 17:22
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Byzantine posted:He did nothing. As he promised, of course: "Nothing will fundamentally change". I don't agree with you, but setting that aside, why would doing nothing destroy a progressive movement, wouldn't it instead be more motivated to achieve the goals of the movement? Not a very strong movement if it can be destroyed by literally "nothing".
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Apr 26, 2023 17:25
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bobjr posted:https://twitter.com/scottgustin/status/1651254385211523073?s=46&t=CBKJcBX0BD3U5HgUdsqBtw
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Apr 26, 2023 17:34
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Agronox posted:He destroyed Bernie Sanders on Super Tuesday 2020. Byzantine posted:I'm not surprised that Bernie's not running (he's 82, he's already lost twice, he'd be against an incumbent in the primary), even if I would immediately have volunteered for his campaign if he had. If that's how the "national progressive movement" was destroyed, then it sounds like Bernie is the one who destroyed it, by accidentally convincing a large chunk of self-proclaimed progressives that the presidential election is literally the only thing that matters. The idea that Biden "manage[d] to completely neuter any national progressive political will" by beating Sanders is entirely at odds with the facts. There's still large movements fighting for progressive policies at every level of politics right now.
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Apr 26, 2023 17:36
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Come at the Mouse, you best not miss.
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Apr 26, 2023 17:36
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zoux posted:I don't agree with you, but setting that aside, why would doing nothing destroy a progressive movement, wouldn't it instead be more motivated to achieve the goals of the movement? Not a very strong movement if it can be destroyed by literally "nothing". And it doesn't seem like progressive movements or ideas have dried up in general, just a bunch of #BendTheKnee Twitter randos who convinced themselves in 2019 that Bernie was gonna walk to the nom later decided to disengage and declare the movement dead.
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Apr 26, 2023 17:37
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Oxyclean posted:Weird, I thought I heard this guy was behind some of the anti-trans crap, but it might just be a side effect of his name popping up around republican crap a whole bunch of times. Nah, Thiel has been a die-hard Libertarian for years. He wants the smallest of small governments, the lowest taxes possible, and the ability to increase his wealth by any means necessary. Remember, this was one of the main backers of Blake Masters.
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Apr 26, 2023 17:41
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zoux posted:Can you be more specific on that, what specifically did he do to destroy the national progressive movement. He promised to deliver Manchin on BBB and instead strongarmed the CPC to support Manchin's bill instead, effectively ending any leverage they have on anything. He bungled student debt relief in such a way that it might no longer be politically possible, and he is already assembling centrist voltron and messaging around the status quo, and it does not seem like anyone left of center would even consider challenging any of that.
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Apr 26, 2023 17:43
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PT6A posted:Come at the Mouse, you best not miss. This lawsuit was filed about an hour after the last of the events it addresses occurred. I know they knew it was coming, but I still can't help but be impressed.
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Apr 26, 2023 17:56
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Dubar posted:He promised to deliver Manchin on BBB and instead strongarmed the CPC to support Manchin's bill instead, effectively ending any leverage they have on anything. He bungled student debt relief in such a way that it might no longer be politically possible, and he is already assembling centrist voltron and messaging around the status quo, and it does not seem like anyone left of center would even consider challenging any of that. I think this is fairly thin gruel, and even if I granted it, it sounds more like Pramila Jayapa destroyed the national political progressive movement. I don't know what you mean by "assembling centrist voltron". I actually think that the one way that Biden could destroy the national progressive movement, such as it is, is by forgiving all student debt because you would immediately remove the skin-in-the-game for a significant proportion of people who identify as progressive. That isn't an argument against it on my part, just an observation of how people act once they "got mine". But probably what really "killed" it, if indeed it is killed, is that Bernie is really good friends with Joe Biden and didn't attack him like he did other mainstream Democrats, and there was never a clear or anointed successor to lead the movement, with a bunch of grifters and creeps trying to climb out of the crab bucket. I don't know if it goes deeper than there just wasn't anybody with the juice to do it, or standard lefty splitter problems, or if there was something progressive leaders could've done to cultivate the movement. zoux fucked around with this message at 18:02 on Apr 26, 2023 |
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Apr 26, 2023 17:57
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tagesschau posted:This lawsuit was filed about an hour after the last of the events it addresses occurred. I know they knew it was coming, but I still can't help but be impressed. Disney's litigation arm has long had a reputation for being *especially* effective even by the standards of high power corporate law.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:04
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bobjr posted:https://twitter.com/scottgustin/status/1651254385211523073?s=46&t=CBKJcBX0BD3U5HgUdsqBtw I am honestly surprised it took this long considering how DeSantis was openly stating that the intent of the changes he had been making in Florida were specifically to punish Disney for speaking out against his anti-trans/anti-gay bills.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:04
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zoux posted:
The national progressive movement is far, far stronger than it was before Bernie's races. Like, there's a reason there are no progressive elected politicians between Bernie and AoC: they *all* lost.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:06
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Who shoulders the cost of responding to the suit? Because of the nature of the claim is it against "Governor DeSantis"? Wondering if the state in general has to pay, or the office of the Governor, or...?
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Apr 26, 2023 18:12
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Automata 10 Pack posted:True. People forget how slim the margins were for Trump to lose the electoral vote. And now the economy is in awful shape, and Biden really hasn't had any real big victories, but plenty of blunders. Will Democratic voters hate Trump more than they are disappointed in Biden? Will independents weigh whether or not their lives and the economy was better from 2017-2019 than it was from 2021-2024? The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act? The Inflation Reduction Act?
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Apr 26, 2023 18:21
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:The national progressive movement is far, far stronger than it was before Bernie's races. Like, there's a reason there are no progressive elected politicians between Bernie and AoC: they *all* lost. Do you mean before Bernie and AOC? If so, I agree with you, certainly the discourse has moved towards that direction. I think perhaps this particular iteration of progressive politics, the one that arose in '16, is ending, but that makes sense with its figurehead stepping out of the spotlight.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:21
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Dick Trauma posted:Who shoulders the cost of responding to the suit? Because of the nature of the claim is it against "Governor DeSantis"? Wondering if the state in general has to pay, or the office of the Governor, or...?
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Apr 26, 2023 18:22
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Edit: wrong thread
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Apr 26, 2023 18:34
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Main Paineframe posted:Absolutely no way in hell. She's not really bringing any benefit to the Biden administration, but she's not particularly hurting it either, and that's a pretty solid place for a VP since it's not like they're really expected to do anything anyway. There is absolutely no way that dropping her would be worth the trouble. Biden is not gonna needlessly rock the boat for 2024.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:35
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Oracle posted:What I can see happening is them convincing Kamala to go back to the Senate when Feinstein dies or retires. It'd get her the hell out of the VP seat and remove her inevitability as the next candidate in 28, keep Gavin Newsom's promise to appoint a black woman while avoiding Barbara Lee supporters anger, and avoid appointing another fossil to the Senate. There's no chance that Kamala willingly leaves the VP slot, not gonna happen
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Apr 26, 2023 18:37
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Oracle posted:What I can see happening is them convincing Kamala to go back to the Senate when Feinstein dies or retires. It'd get her the hell out of the VP seat and remove her inevitability as the next candidate in 28, keep Gavin Newsom's promise to appoint a black woman while avoiding Barbara Lee supporters anger, and avoid appointing another fossil to the Senate. I still doubt it. Anything that involves Kamala not being Biden's running mate will be taken as "We made a mistake, and we were wrong to have her." That's not a weakness the Dems would want to admit to.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:39
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Piell posted:There's no chance that Kamala willingly leaves the VP slot, not gonna happen That's the big thing, yeah. the_steve posted:I still doubt it.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:41
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zoux posted:I actually think that the one way that Biden could destroy the national progressive movement, such as it is, is by forgiving all student debt because you would immediately remove the skin-in-the-game for a significant proportion of people who identify as progressive. That isn't an argument against it on my part, just an observation of how people act once they "got mine". I think politicians who deliver for their constituents are more likely to get re-elected. People like it when you do things for them and makes them want to vote for you.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:45
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Harris isn't popular and is unlikely to be elected President in 2028 unless she's running as an incumbent maybe, but all of this is normal for a VP. She's also not really a liability for Biden's reelection and no one really benefits from her replacement any more than anyone really benefits from Bernie getting a consolation VP slot.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:45
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Oracle posted:Eh, nobody pays any attention to the VP. All the air in the room would go towards breathless 'who's he gonna pick?!' after the initial furor dies down. Bonus if they can get her to say she was bored in the VP slot and wanted to get back to the senate to do some real work. The media storm and questions of why did you get rid of a qualified black woman, can women and people of color trust Joe Biden stories are enough not to do it. Plus, it makes you look like you think you need a major shakeup to win. Kamala being VP is what's best for everyone right now. It brings stability, it gives people 4 to 5 years to carve out an alternative, and it gives the Vice President time to turn it around (or take over if Joe Biden were to die), a bit of stand off mind you but a standoff that works for the next few years.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:47
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Cool NIN Shirt posted:I think politicians who deliver for their constituents are more likely to get re-elected. People like it when you do things for them and makes them want to vote for you. Mitch McConnell has a saying: "Voters don't turn out to say 'thank you'" - which is what the GOP is discovering with respect to abortion. e: to be more clear, obviously I think that politicians should pursue outcomes they campaigned on or that support their politics, and I don't think that debt forgiveness would galvanize the right against the Dems in the way that Dobbs did the inverse, and I do think that you can get hurt by not delivering, but delivering doesn't mean those voters are going to turn out for you next time, you have to keep offering new stuff zoux fucked around with this message at 19:01 on Apr 26, 2023 |
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Apr 26, 2023 18:50
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Cool NIN Shirt posted:I think politicians who deliver for their constituents are more likely to get re-elected. People like it when you do things for them and makes them want to vote for you. I mean...do progressive politicians deliver to their constituencies?
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Apr 26, 2023 18:55
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Cool NIN Shirt posted:I think politicians who deliver for their constituents are more likely to get re-elected. People like it when you do things for them and makes them want to vote for you. In an era where most politicians only go for slam dunk wins, Biden could have just ignored it. He tried, it may be technically tied up, but at this moment is a fail. I don't have direct skin in the game, but agree wholeheartedly with the forgiveness policy. So I see it as a positive.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:59
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cat botherer posted:(apologies for the source) I know the answer is  free market competition but you have to wonder why the US military doesn't have its own production lines for materiel. Maybe not for every boot and bullet on the market, but for things like critical raw materials.
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Apr 26, 2023 19:04
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