US Current Events November: D&D's Afghanistan

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US Current Events November: D&D's Afghanistan

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

A big flaming stink posted:

@greyjoy, i thought you said we were discarding the thread and forumbans?

e:

https://twitter.com/merica/status/1455275809464152065

getting some real "oh my god, he admit it!" vibes from this statement, gotta say.

maybe try running on your own loving policies and plans for governance next time, you freaking moron

"Next time?" Not again!

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 01:50

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 15:11

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Jack-in-the-Bach posted:

Does the GOP give libertarians as much poo poo? I feel like libertarians cost republicans elections all the time.

I would love to know when that has happened.

But I feel like people in previous threads shared a lot of GOP angst over Libertarian candidates stealing "their" votes, especially back in 2020.

That being said, most self-styled libertarians I know vote for the GOP anyway because most of them really just want low taxes and government cutbacks.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 16:03

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

camoseven posted:

I live in VA and all I can think of is... the world's slowest legal weed rollout?

There have been police and criminal justice reform efforts that have gotten signed into law.

https://www.nbc12.com/2020/10/28/gov-northam-signs-laws-advancing-police-criminal-justice-reform-virginia/

I will leave it to you as to whether they are truly sufficient, but these are the kinds of laws that would not have been entertained at all if the GOP was in charge of Virginia.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 16:57

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Are there any reports about Virginia voter turnout that I can wig out over?

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 17:19

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

The Virginian Pilot says it's slow at the voting sites in Hampton Roads.

RBA Starblade posted:

When do they count mail-in ballots anyway? Mine said they accept them until Friday.

According to the Washington Post...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/10/30/virginia-election-when-expect-results/

quote:

When will I know who won?

Most election officials will begin posting the tallies for absentee ballot tallies first, most likely shortly after polls close at 7 p.m. That is largely due to a law passed by the General Assembly this year that requires election officials to begin preprocessing absentee ballots � or confirming their validity and then scanning them into a voting machine � at least seven days before Election Day.

Last year, election officials didn�t begin processing the bulk of their absentee ballots until after polls closed, resulting in long delays in reporting those results. As a result, the first ballots counted were in-person votes cast on Election Day � only 40 percent of all votes cast � which favored Trump. But this was only a feature of how ballots were counted. Once localities finished processing early ballots, Trump�s apparent lead dissipated around midnight and Biden was ahead in Virginia. Biden ultimately won the state by 10 percentage points.

This year, Virginia has changed how it will process early votes. Localities are obligated to process absentee ballots in the seven days leading up to Election Day, so when polls close, those ballots can be counted immediately.

While the partisan divide in early voting is not as pronounced as it was last year, it�s still present. As a result, McAuliffe might have a lead early in the night. Youngkin could catch-up in the vote count once localities start counting Election Day ballots because generally Republican-friendly rural localities tend to count day-of ballots faster than urban ones. Whether Youngkin is able to maintain his lead will depend on how many Election Day votes McAuliffe will have outstanding in the urban localities in the northeast of the commonwealth.

Barring any unforeseen complications, the Election Day ballot counts should be posted soon after the absentee ballot counts. Some local officials estimate � but don�t guarantee � that will be about 9 p.m.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 17:34

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

rscott posted:

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1455591829198577668?t=c5qdZaXvUNcFjGTt-dH33w&s=19

Justice for Gizmo

Didn't Obama promise to shut down Gizmo? Sad!

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 19:37

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

https://mobile.twitter.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1455622633077149696

A very good point by Bitecofer. I don't know how you fight it though. I guess you just have t stick to your guns and not be scared?

Eric Cantonese fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Nov 2, 2021

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 20:57

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Willa Rogers posted:

Does he mean Youngkin wins by 9 in the state, or just in Radford?

Just Radford. Try not to get too turned on, Willa.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 01:19

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

VitalSigns posted:

According to CNN's exit poll a literal Nazi won 13% of black voters

https://www.cnn.com/election/2021/november/exit-polls/virginia/governor

Hm maybe if the plan was to run on what a racist Nazi the other guy is, the Democrats shouldn't have rallied around the governor whose defense to a blackface scandal was "at least I wasn't the other guy in the KKK hood, probably?"

The problem was that the Lt. Governor's got embroiled in a sexual assault scandal and the Attorney General was also caught up in his own blackface incident (which was slightly less egregious because he just liked Michael Jackson). It was an amazingly lovely situation.

Oddly though, basically having Northam's national ambitions blown up put him in a position where he had to support and sign the criminal justice reform bills and other more progressive legislation that came that way.

I don't think this result has much to do with Northam's baggage. McAuliffe was just not a good candidate for 2021 and sadly we all had to see that unfold in a general election.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 02:01

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

virtualboyCOLOR posted:

It is a good thing to see liberals and Dems have their own hubris blow up in their face tonight. I�m looking forward to the same results next year and in 2024.

The reconciliation bill is a perfect example of what the Democratic Party is able to deliver the country (nothing).

I (think I) understand why you feel that way, but what would be good about the GOP having Congress in 2022 and the White House in 2024?

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 02:14

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Nix Panicus posted:

I think its time to stop blaming voters and start blaming the lovely state and national parties that ran the garbage candidates who keep losing. Or if you feel you must blame some voters, blame the trashcan democrat primary voters for consistently picking the shittiest candidate available.

This is pretty fair.

Campaigning is also so ridiculously expensive for even the most piddling office that most people readily sell to special interests out just to be able to hit the campaign trail. I don't know how to fix that, but it eventually produces loser candidates if you're trying to get voters who actually want you to do something progressive and helpful.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 03:00

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Shammypants posted:

Lol really? Come on my guy

That's his thing.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 03:47

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Trazz posted:

Makes me wonder who the GOP will run against Newsom next year

Chris Pratt

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 03:59

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Kalit posted:

Wow, what the hell happened with 3 and 4? I know nothing about these questions/NY, but they seem like an easy win....

FlamingLiberal posted:

I really don�t get how that happens

Was there a lobbying effort against it?

I don't know what happened either.

I do remember Elise Stefanik was sending out messages to her voters on these measures, so maybe the GOP and others were able to sow enough doubt about them.

https://www.nny360.com/top_stories/...c823f0dcc8.html

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 13:50

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Gripweed posted:

That barely matters. When the best we can hope for is keeping the Supreme Court at 6-3, we should probably just admit that the Supreme Court is a write-off for for the next couple decades

I feel like maintaining 6-3 for at least a little while longer is preferable to a potential quick decline to a 7-2 chock full of young, horrible justices.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 15:58

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Florida sounds like it's a clusterfuck for the Dems. Certain factors are not in their control. You have older conservative people moving there all the time. Very prominent parts of the Hispanic community like the very rich and powerful Cuban expat community lean R anyway too. It's also a state that makes up for its geographic and economic disadvantages by having the nation's most ridiculous homestead exemption too, so you get all manner of horrible business people who set up there so they can protect assets from collectors and victims.

Dems self-sabotage on immigration policy, minimum wage and police reform are definitely not helping either.

And if my personal experience with Florida Democratic leadership/party staff is any reflection of reality, it is not competently run either. I know politics is often, by definition, non-meritocratic and based on who happens to like you at any given time, but I've met some real empty suits down there.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 16:40

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

TheIncredulousHulk posted:

A central secret to understanding US elections is that voters as a group are not the actors, they are the acted-upon. If you can't grasp this you just turn into a weird Calvanist-but-for-civics, which is what the eternal dogfuckers who run these campaigns into the ground would prefer

I think I understand your point and agree with it, but just to make sure, what do you mean by "acted-upon?"

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 16:50

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Angry_Ed posted:

And Rahm spent all that time looking up Japanese expletives

Seriously though good that he's not getting it.

Merkley is a baka gaijin!!

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 18:21

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Sharkie posted:

Also this lol. Remember they conjured up how many trillions was it to help the stock market last year? I've been told that's just pretend money that doesn't count or something but hell if I could use it to take care of my financial obligations I'd like some too please. But .

You should have taken what you had, borrowed more, and then invested in stocks to take advantage of QE. You could have ridden the Powell Wave to SICK GAINZ.

Dummy.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 20:04

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

MixMasterMalaria posted:

Yeah until then I hope he posts some fun stories in TCC. He has to be a goon, right?

It sounds like he has sex, so... no?

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 20:41

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

The rule of law?

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 21:00

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Delthalaz posted:

Is that true? The big decline in approval over time I see coincides with the best thing he's done as president: pull out from Afghanistan

That just made us LOSERS.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 21:53

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

For me McAuliffe's failure again emphasizes a couple of basic principles that beltway "experts" tend to talk themselves out of:

1) A candidate has to stand for something on his or her own and not just as an "anti-________" choice. You otherwise give the other side free rein to define themselves and define you.
2) Outsiders are always more appealing than insiders. People who have seen any basic high school election should know that "I'm so experienced!!!" is not a great pitch, especially when there's anger at the status quo.
3) You can never go back in after taking time out. It makes you soft. Once you decide to get out of politics and active campaigning, you need to stay out. A lot changes and your experience means less and less the more time you're out of circulation.

I'm sure you guys can pick that all apart, but that's what bothered me during the primary and the campaign and it just makes the end result feel worse.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 16:15

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Epinephrine posted:

I agree on points (1) and (2), but not sure I agree on (3). It certainly depends on how long they've been out of politics. How long of a retirement is too long in your view?

That's a fair point.

McAuliffe was out of active campaign politics since 2018. As far as I know, other than being on the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, he was basically making a decent living for himself and chipping in with endorsements for local Virginia Democrats who pleased him or his allies.

I'm also thinking of Evan Bayh's last run for Indiana Senate. He retired in 2010 and proceeded to get into lobbying and investing, which is understandable (although not necessarily admirable). Then he tries to get back in for 2016 and crashes and burns in the general election even though a lot of the mainstream press and pundits thought he was unbeatable.

You can also look at Phil Bredesen in Tennessee. Successful governor from 2003-2011. Proceeds to flail around in 2018 and committing at least one needless own goal with a pre-emptive statement about supporting Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination.

Maybe the Dems have to make-do from an array of bad choices in places like Indiana and Tennessee, but I don't think the record has been too good for past people who have been out for 4+ years and want to hop back in. I'd love to know of times when it worked. (Biden, I suppose is a good example that my theory doesn't bear out under intense scrutiny...)

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 16:40

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Peter Daou Zen posted:

Mmm Good ol 1980's style interference in South American affairs, we gonna start a war down there to gin up some approval points for Biden now?

We're going through a Jimmy Carter speedrun right now, so we'll probably just get another Eagle Claw. This one will be with Spanish speaking baddies instead.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 19:17

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Peter Daou Zen posted:

When do we get to the Iran adventure part of this, and the one term for Biden?

We also talked about Metal Gear Solid and how much it owns.

We already had a painful withdrawal from Afghanistan and a lot of right-wing grousing about our loss of manhood and the price of gas. Don't get greedy.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 19:34

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

I am looking forward to American corporate mainstream media clearly pointing out all the shortcomings of our current capitalist system and guiding us all to a better way of doing things. Once Biden and the Democrats are out of the way, then we get the good stuff!

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 20:15

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Delthalaz posted:

What's really asymmetric is that the Trump always had a full throated propaganda machine blasting viral disinformation onto the airwaves and social media no matter what he did. Biden just doesn't, so the media turning on him after Afghanistan has really helped tank his approval. "CRT" went from a non-issue (because it doesn't exist in public schools) to the target of nation-wide schoolboard protests that draw thousands of internet-crazed morons frothing at mouth about made-up poo poo they heard online.

If Dems want to win they should probably start working on setting up something similar. Imagine if in a period of two weeks, 20% of Americans could be convinced that all GOP politicians led by Mitch McConnell are drowning children in an Dubuque, Iowa basement swimming pool filled with milk in order to summon the demon Dagoroth. With weekly protests at dairy farms, viral milk-pouring videos to raise awareness, etc.. But you know, they used that power to pass the drat policies they ran on

If Bloomberg actually gave a poo poo about doing something that could really change the world, this is it. Unlike with a presidential campaign, he already has the expertise!

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 20:28

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

It always gets so mean when people start second guessing people's spending decisions. It's one of the worst parts about any piece exploring a family's budget limitations.

Sometimes scorn is deserved, but people really don't hold back if it's a stranger even if they don't realize the full scope of what they don't know.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 21:04

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

FlamingLiberal posted:

God I loving hate having to get up in the dark. It sucks rear end. I�m not sure why these people want to send their kids to school in total darkness but fine.

Schools are prisons anyway.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 21:34

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Decriminalizing weed sounds like an easier morale booster for the Democrats to pass with some cross-ideological appeal, but I'm sure there's too much resistance among the older party members and some massive corporate donor would probably fight it threatening too.

I run into way too much "THERE'S MORAL HAZARD WHEN IT COMES TO DEBT FORGIVENESS!" arguments even among poorer people so I wonder how well that really plays out. It'd be the right thing to do, though, so you might as well do it since the odds are you're going to get trounced anyway.

Annoyingly, the one big right and difficult thing this administration has done is get the hell out of Afghanistan and that just ended up being the thing that pissed the media off and lost Biden his most valuable ally.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2021 15:13

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

TulliusCicero posted:

Just food for thought here: WHY do you think younger people vote less? Do you think it's because maybe they are completely disillusioned and angry with a party that refuses the barest possible outreach to them while constantly seeking the vote of people who actively hate them, but DEMANDS the vote of them to keep worse things from happening?

Maybe, just maybe if they were thrown a bone or two they might vote in larger numbers, and you wouldn't have to rely on unreliable sources of votes to fill your margins so Joe Manchin can hold court on his loving house boat and wax poetic about how to Means Test Means Testing.

But no, there is just something in a younger person's brain that causes them to not want to vote and be ungrateful, that must be it.

Young people are too busy filming themselves eating avocado toast and Tide pods to vote.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2021 16:15

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

RBA Starblade posted:

Didn't more young people vote Biden than Bernie?

e: No lol I misread an article about turnout between 2016 and the primaries

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/sanders-banked-on-young-voters-heres-how-the-numbers-have-played-out

Sanders had the highest youth appeal. He, like others, suffered from those youth votes getting outweighed by higher voting rates and higher voting numbers in other demographics.

I'm sure you guys have all hashed out why young people don't vote, but a youth vote tidal wave is one of those tantalizing treasures that no one seems to be able to actually attain. It's like the Democrats being able to win Florida right now. You have to try, but it's really doesn't seem to be paying off.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2021 16:29

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Gumball Gumption posted:

Would loan forgiveness be more or less unpopular than giving 10 billion extra to the pentagon for they're budget? A thing that both parties did without much incident.

The Military Industrial Complex is basically the closest thing we have to a bipartisanly-supported federal jobs program. If it built roads and refurnished school buildings instead of churning out fighter jets that require air-conditioned hangars but usually need to fight in hot deserts, we'd be living in an actual Great Society by now.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2021 16:39

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

I think the House moderates might just be bad at politics.

Now, they are sabotaging the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the CBO scores the House version of the BBB bill (which will definitely not be the final version) out of some weird belief that a CBO score showing it lowering the deficit will help them politically.

https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1456638613962338309

Is there a moderate (heh) chance that the CBO score also helps preempt any stupidity that Manchin and Sinema (and anyone silently encouraging them) want to engage in?

# ¿ Nov 5, 2021 18:17

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

VitalSigns posted:

Ohhh yeah. Republicans are going to make sure everyone loving knows that liberals are rich coastal elite hypocrites who got in and passed tax cuts only for other rich coastal elites after they attacked tax cuts that gave you $50 because Trump also gave too much to the rich

https://mobile.twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1455929583899922442

Luckily Democrats have the slam dunk retort "uhhhh you stupid toothless hicks were supposed to be too dumb to understand our tax policy and notice who was getting all the money"!

Was Mitt going to vote for it either way?

# ¿ Nov 5, 2021 18:42

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Willa Rogers posted:

I'm more baffled by the precipitous drop in Biden's ratings on handling the economy now that we're in the fifth month of money being given to parents. Sure, the steepest drops in economic approvals have been among notoriously fickle independent voters, but are none of them parents getting those tax refunds upfront?

Are you being facetious or are you genuinely puzzled? Sometimes I think you phrase questions like this because you don't believe that certain people are getting money (and I figured you had a good basis for that like bureaucracy keeping it from getting to people who didn't have to file tax returns or something like that).

# ¿ Nov 8, 2021 00:59

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

I can't tell if only the worst people in the world are available for focus groups or if people are just that horribly annoying.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2021 21:17

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Oracle posted:

My big worry here is they�re going to find the heart attacks were a result of post-Covid infection heart damage and people would�ve otherwise survived, and it�s going to be a harbinger of mysterious deaths on sports fields, at protests and concerts etc for years to come.

Nothing like people randomly dropping dead of stress/fear to get the country back to normal.

Has there been more clarification on what safety measures were or weren't in place at that festival? Crowd surges are a known phenomenon and it still puzzles me how this happened. Most of the articles just kind of fixate on Scott's celebrity status and the death count.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2021 14:32

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 15:11

Eric Cantonese: Dec 21, 2004; You should hear my accent.

Is there a way that anti-DUI might be like lane keep assist? Or basically some alarm blaring at you to pull over if you're too erratic?

# ¿ Nov 9, 2021 17:39

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