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RadicalWall posted:The political system in America has become absolutely untenable. In our absolute Us vs Them political system it's more important to sabotage the other team than it is to actually govern. Add to that the media figuring out that it can make millions of dollars telling people what they want to hear as opposed to doing actual journalism and you end up with a system where all the money and power is in creating conflict instead of solving problems. One party wants to, at the very least, prevent collapse, while the other wants to burn the house down and nuke the site from orbit to prevent any house from being built there ever again. Our political system is not untenable; one party and the portion of the electorate that votes for them is so vitriolic, hateful, ignorant, and stupid that they are untenable, and never were tenable.
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May 7, 2014 17:15
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SnowblindFatal posted:Wonder if the best course would be to just let the republicans take it as far as they want to expedite restlessness among the masses? Maybe it would get even the staunchest republican's stance to waver if things got really, really lovely. Accelerationism is dumb. The more power they get, the more power they get; the more they control the message, the more they control the message. It isn't a win for anyone but them if they acquire more power and message control.
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May 7, 2014 17:32
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RadicalWall posted:I do understand the sentiment, but I also have republican family members and they'll tell you it's the Democrats. It's hard to say "our system is fine, except for half of the electorate who are inhuman monsters." The difference is that most Democrats don't hold monstrous, inhuman viewpoints. Why shouldn't we demonize those with demonic views? Also, Democrats have been endlessly compromising with Republicans for about 30 years or so now. The result of that is a slow decline; compromise with Republicans - who have no views but hateful, destructive, and selfish ones - only results in slow decline. Dystram fucked around with this message at 17:51 on May 7, 2014 |
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May 7, 2014 17:47
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Mornacale posted:The problem is that we are trained from birth to recognize political radicals as dangerous, crazy, and often foolish or naive. We are taught that compromise is pretty much the essence of politics. This is probably especially true for people who lean left, who tend to value teamwork and empathy more than hierarchy. People are therefore willing to grasp at straws to avoid recognizing that there is not a single redeemable thing about the Republican Party. The GOP, for their part, has found a breaking strategy for the whole political system: insulate your base from anything but your messaging until even fringe views seem mainstream to them, at which point they view your opponents as dangerous radicals who can't be compromised with. Yep. When "Hey, how about we do some things like we did 30 years ago - tax the rich, regulate banks, fund public education, etc. - that worked for the majority of people." is seen as crazy and leftist - despite actually being the status quo once upon a time and working for us - you are in some deep poo poo. A lot of the time it boils down to self esteem - especially with pundits and Young Republicans and "wonks" and other retards - if they live in a bubble, where they control the facts and scope of debate, then they get to feel smart without actually having to be smart or informed or worth anything. Dystram fucked around with this message at 23:57 on May 7, 2014 |
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May 7, 2014 23:51
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Koyaanisgoatse posted:I also think we have this idea that everyone's opinion is equally worthy of consideration. Which is great in some cases, but when someone wants to institute a policy whose demonstrable effect is lots of poor people dying, I'm not sure why we shouldn't reject that out of hand. Most are also hard-pressed to admit that some are just stupid and/or hateful. Writing people off is hard for the left to do; many times it's their inherent weakness, at least with what passes for the left in the US.
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May 7, 2014 23:58
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John Boehner has been watching too much House of Cards.
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May 8, 2014 16:41
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Bill Clinton posted:“You could take Lloyd Blankfein into a dark alley,” Clinton said, “and slit his throat, and it would satisfy them for about two days. Then the blood lust would rise again.” http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-clinton-lloyd-blankfein-blood-lust-geithner-sorkin quote:Bill Clinton told former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner that nothing would appease the populist "blood lust" for bankers -- not even slitting the throat of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein in a dark alley.
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May 8, 2014 19:23
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zoux posted:What if your grandpa had a youtube channel? Oh man.
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May 8, 2014 22:48
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Wolfsbane posted:This is only true if you can predict with 100% accuracy, in advance of the election, who the top two parties will be. Also if you disregard the effects a strong third party showing can have on the policies of the other candidates in the following elections (the Tea Party seem to have managed this without even running candidates, which is a neat trick). "The Tea Party" is not, at all, a party. They are just Republicans.
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May 9, 2014 17:16
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Fried Chicken posted:So, anecdotal evidence time. I just got off a 4 hour register shift at a warehouse sale. A few weeks back we had an incident that "damaged" (sprayed water on) a bunch of inventory. Insurance kicked in so we didn't lose any money, but it still needed to go. We also had a bunch (also insured) of wrong winner gear (eg Broncos Super Bowl xLVIII champions) we needed to clear out. So we took our check from the underwriters and then pushed notices to a bunch of low income churches about the sale of stuff. We were completely packed. You'd see the bus drop off moms at the end of the block, corral their kids, and guide them to our warehouse so they could get new clothes/jackets/shoes. There was just this overpowering sense of desperation as you watched mothers try to wrangle with the kids because the shirt with the team name cost $3 more and that pushed it out of price range. See, but if government would just get out of the way and not regulate anything, and if we'd just defund all social welfare programs, and privatize social security, those kids would be able to get clothes... wait... /s
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May 9, 2014 22:09
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Bhaal posted:The thread is moving quickly today but re: the global financial crisis I just wanted to post a video (one of many) of Mark Blyth giving a talk about sort of a post-mortem of the GFC. This a great video.
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May 9, 2014 23:04
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Bought stock.
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May 10, 2014 02:50
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Fried Chicken posted:The problem isn't the environmental factors directly. The problem is the environmental factors triggering chaos that sets off along political fault lines. See for example Syria, where the revolution can get traced to a drought in the eastern provinces pushing things over the edge. Or most of the 1600s, where the Little Ice Age set off a ton of wars, massacres, and revolutions. And the environmental factors will be enough to set of stressed political ties long before they themselves are an issue Put your faith in the police state, comrade. 
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May 12, 2014 04:25
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AstheWorldWorlds posted:What is your secret? Is it the amphetamines? Probably that and the knowledge that everything has always been fairly hosed; this is all just business as usual.
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May 12, 2014 04:27
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Pohl posted:Is that your argument? Come back when you can actually write about it and justify it. I'm not going to say you are right or wrong but your effort loving sucked. Try harder. Facetiousness, actually. 
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May 12, 2014 04:50
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Fried Chicken posted:I'm torn between thinking that the elites were planning ahead with the buildup and programs and remembering that they have fully bought their own bullshit that none of this is actually a problem and the good times will resume as soon as they sit on the throne again. Unless the Great Recession was a pre-planned economic explosion intended to stall climate change for a little bit longer, to give them more time. I mean, what do you think they talk about all day at Bilderberg. 
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May 12, 2014 05:00
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StandardVC10 posted:Hey kids, just remember that suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. You may not think anyone cares about you, but I promise, there's more to heaven and earth. You'd be missed. I've been down that road - not as far as some people, but far enough to know that I don't want to go back. As someone who hit a bad spell for a time from reading too much bad news, I'll say  if it's getting to you.Everything is always hosed; everything is always beautiful. Don't listen too much to nerds whining about the end of the world. The world has always been ending. Some day it'll end for you too; no use in hurrying that along.
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May 12, 2014 05:36
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Pohl posted:That is just loving unnecessary. The next concern-troll conservative who shows up will get it as an av.
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May 12, 2014 22:40
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SubponticatePoster posted:Now I'm a gay person, so this in and of itself is not meant as a slam, but Jesus loving Christ Ted Cruz has the gayest gayface. Like, Ted Haggard strength gayface. I just had a minor seizure because my gaydar pinged so hard. Maybe I've never really noticed before because I can't stand his goddamn face and try not to look at it but that gif I think that's an insult to gay peeps. He has more of a pedo face, if there is such a thing.
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May 12, 2014 23:24
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It's nice to see that the BLM might be charging these moronic assholes: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/charges-utah-atv-protest-riders-23685634
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May 13, 2014 05:19
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FourLeaf posted:She... she backed down and said "Well, I guess I learned something today"! Just like a Liberal to back down.
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May 13, 2014 05:25
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(but to be fair she is generally very liberal. I know her parents are extremely conservative though so that's probably where it came from).
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nutranurse posted:Also anecdotal, but I feel like the way math is taught in America renders the whole learning process into a 'sink or swim' situation. If you can do the coursework without too much aid from the teacher you're fine, cause the teacher sure as gently caress is not going to stop and help out anyone struggling. Once you've shown that you cannot keep pace you end up getting pushed back into the 'remedial' maths (which, ironically at my high school, was a consumer math class that taught you how to do your taxes and open a bank account and whatnot) and are forever doomed to just never understand math unless you go through the motions on your own. I was one of those kids who "just didn't get math," now I do Math stuff on Khan Academy and Udacity sometimes and I think it's the coolest and I understand it. The way we teach kids in this country is horrible but it's because of a lack of funding, too-large class sizes, and teachers not getting paid enough, and not "bad teachers" as right-wingers like to claim.
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May 14, 2014 01:55
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Magres posted:College level math classes in particular are often, in my experience, stupid as gently caress if you want to learn things like 'Calculus you will actually find useful in life.' If someone has a decent base of Trig and Algebra, I can teach them the basics of Calculus in about twenty minutes. Like all you really need, in my experience, is to understand what Derivatives and Integrals actually physically mean when applied to the real world, so you can figure out when they're applicable to something. From there, you just figure out a function to describe what you're looking at (which is where you need the Trig/Algebra) and then go throw it into Mathematica (or Wolfram Alpha if you don't have Mathematica available for free). That was Differential Equations to Engineering majors at my university.
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May 14, 2014 02:14
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computer parts posted:Nope, several conservative states are white as snow so racial logic doesn't work on them. FYGM
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May 14, 2014 04:39
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Rockopolis posted:I don't normally drink. Y'all are making me start again. I have an English degree and I've worked mostly as a graphic designer and a web developer.
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May 14, 2014 18:25
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Does anyone know if universities splitting their colleges into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and LASS (Liberal Arts and Social Sciences), from them just all being siloed off in the College of Arts and Sciences with The College of Engineering off by itself in many places, was wrapped up in "LASS is for liberal scum and people who want useless degrees! We must bring most of out serious programmes under one umbrella!" rhetoric? In the same way that you have a separate "College of Business" to attract conservative students and parents?
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May 14, 2014 19:01
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socialsecurity posted:It's amazing how these "smart" people with the correct degrees don't realize if everyone went to College to be a engineer then the supply will go up massively to not meet demand and there will be huge pay cuts throughout the field. It they had an actually useful degree, like a Business Degree, they'd understand supply and demand! Really, though, degree war bullshit is just STEM nerds trying to find one thing in life they can finally feel elite about.
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May 14, 2014 19:03
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zoux posted:You'd think that would be required reading for some intro level econ history course. We don't want our budding economists to read anything that might make them think to challenge the status quo; we only want economists who will justify decisions made by our owners.
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May 15, 2014 20:25
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Magres posted:Just to clarify, and I'm not asking this to be a gently caress head - Sedan was that rant quoting something or from the heart? Again, serious question because you have a reputation for being trolly and most of your posting I've seen has been fighting with people so I haven't gotten any measure of you. That's all him.
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May 16, 2014 05:04
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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/nra-bringbackourgirls-hashtagA Gaping rear end in a top hat posted:"Ms. Psaki's and Mrs. Obama's naiveté--thinking that Vladimir Putin or Boko Haram terrorists will change their ways because of tweets--would provide ample fodder for their ridicule, were we so inclined," the NRA said. "But while we appreciate the value of maintaining a sense of humor in the face of things that are disagreeable, we do so only within reasonable limits. There is nothing funny in this instance."
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May 19, 2014 18:40
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Prosopagnosiac posted:http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2014/05/18/kelly-bond-remains-police-seek-others-possible-conspiracy/9260015/ Can anyone explain to me why LOLbertarians don't just identify as Republican? They are pretty much the exact same thing.
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May 19, 2014 18:45
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Accretionist posted:I think the self-image for a lot of them is 'Smart Republicans.' Yeah, the same-old crap cloaked in psuedo-academic lingo.
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May 19, 2014 18:53
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lol http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2014/02/chelsi_p_henry_why_i_m_a_black_female_republican.html?wpisrc=policymic CHELSI P. HENRY posted:My mother gave birth to me when she was 16 years old, and we received government assistance during the first few years of my life. When I was growing up, she taught me the importance of making a budget and living by it. In our home I learned the importance of having a plan and delaying gratification for the things I wanted or thought I deserved. It meant generic brands instead of name brands and buying what I needed, rather than what I may have wanted. It meant living more conservatively.
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May 19, 2014 21:13
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Radish posted:Exactly. The only thing Tea Partiers have brought to the table is the absolute unwillingness to compromise and no shame in being open with their loathsome opinions. The idea that they are ideologically extreme when compared to their parent is a fiction created to make Republicans seem less terrible and the neutral middle to the Democratic left and the Tea Party right. Yep. The Tea Party is not real, at all; they are really just Republicans and always have been - they just needed some trendy dumb-as-poo poo thing to cling to after Bush became an embarrassment.
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May 20, 2014 15:01
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BUSH 2112 posted:I really never thought that the GOP would simply knee-jerk react against anything that Obama does. Like, sure, it was funny when they were like "NO BLACK LADY GON TELL ME TO DRANK WATER!" but who the gently caress ever realistically thought that the GOP would actively want to gently caress veterans while looking like they're loving veterans? It's some through-the-looking-glass poo poo. You misunderstand. It's about creating problems that you can convince your rank-and-file voters to blame Obama for, and they have, and are.
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May 29, 2014 16:01
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Alexzandvar posted:This would be awesome but then he went on a Russian talk show and gave Putin a fake interview to make Putin not look bad for invading the Crimera and funding terrorists in eastern Ukraine. You don't think that throwing Russia some good PR opportunities might be in his interest in order to maintain his asylum?
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May 29, 2014 20:50
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icantfindaname posted:The right is mostly losing their poo poo about the release of the Taliban members from what I've seen, they don't care that much about Bergdahl himself besides the usual "slander everything Obama does". Essentially they want the US to arrest every single Arab who even might be a terrorist and lock them up in secret torture prison forever. Letting even 5 of them out, for any reason at all, is unacceptable. That's the fundamental problem, and assuming the people you're talking with are true believers like it sounds, you're not going to convince them otherwise Yep. It's basically "9/11! Have your forgotten?! Never forget! Eternal vengeance!" set to the tune of these songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1JOFhfoAD4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6yLQRF-cEU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPHnadJ-0hE These people are stupid and insane and jingoistic and hateful. There is no reasoning with them.
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Jun 6, 2014 01:36
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