US Current Events November: D&D's Afghanistan

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

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Heck Yes! Loam! posted:

Oh, I agree that 99% of people who think the election was stolen will do nothing about it.

I think the danger isn't so much what these people will do about it, but what they won't do about it. They won't cry foul if their elected officials overturn a legitimate Democratic win in 2024. They won't fuss if President Trump and his cabinet of crooks and his craven Congressmen suspend elections and deploy troops to put down protestors. They won't care for a minute if small-d democracy ends in the United States. It's what they want, it's their end-game.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2021 16:54

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 10:18

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

selec posted:

After the unhinged reaction to a pilot spouting off a right wing meme the other day, it�s difficult to see which Americans, if any, don�t want to be some kind of cop.

Southwest Airlines itself seems to be joining in on the "unhinged" reaction.

Southwest Airlines investigates pilot�s use of �Let�s go Brandon� anti-Biden jibe
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/01/southwest-airlines-pilot-lets-go-brandon-biden

quote:

Southwest Airlines announced an internal investigation after a pilot was reported to have signed off a message to passengers by saying: �Let�s go Brandon.�

The apparent non-sequitur is in fact a rightwing meme, based on a NBC sportscaster�s apparent mishearing of a chant of �gently caress Joe Biden� by a crowd at a Nascar circuit in Alabama at the start of October.

On a Southwest flight from Houston, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday morning, an Associated Press reporter heard the pilot end a message over the public address system with the phrase, prompting gasps from some passengers.

The reporter, Colleen Long, said she tried to ask the pilot about his comment but was �almost removed from [the] plane�.

As discussion of the incident proliferated online, Southwest said in a statement it �takes pride in providing a welcoming, comfortable, safe and respectful environment for the millions of customers who fly with us each year.

�Southwest does not condone employees sharing their personal political opinions while on the job, serving our customers. And one employee�s individual perspective should not be interpreted as the viewpoint of Southwest and its collective 54,000 employees.

�Southwest is conducting an internal investigation into the recently reported event.�

Predictably popular among supporters of Donald Trump, the man Joe Biden soundly beat for the White House last year, �Let�s go Brandon� swiftly reached the halls of Congress.

Among uses by House Republicans, the Florida representative Bill Posey ended a floor speech with a fist pump and the phrase while Jeff Duncan, from South Carolina, wore a �Let�s Go Brandon� mask at the Capitol.

In the Senate, Ted Cruz of Texas posed with a sign at a World Series game while the press secretary for Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader, retweeted a photo of the phrase on a construction sign in Virginia.

Trump�s fundraising committee now sells a $45 T-shirt featuring �Let�s go Brandon� above an American flag. One message to supporters read: �#FJB or LET�S GO BRANDON? Either way, President Trump wants YOU to have our ICONIC new shirt.�

Southwest said it would �address the situation directly with any employee involved while continuing to remind all employees that public expression of personal opinions while on duty is unacceptable.

�Southwest does not tolerate any behavior that encourages divisiveness as it does not reflect the Southwest hospitality and inclusiveness for which we are known and strive to provide each day on every flight.�

# ¿ Nov 1, 2021 17:52

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Trazz posted:

I think I'd probably get modded if I said "throw a Molotov through your racist uncle's window," but social consequences are a start

I mean, do you actually think you should burn down the home of a racist relative in order to effect real change? I have a couple of more right-wing extended family members and I'm pretty sure if I went and burned their houses down it would not help either our personal relationship or effect any sort of political change.

Does the idea need to scale up to be effective? If 1,000 of us burned down the homes of our right-wing relatives would that start to make a difference?

e: I realize I am making an assumption here that when you said "throw a molotov through the window" you just want to burn down the racist uncle's home, and not that you should kill the racist uncle. If you meant actually kill your uncle then I apologize for assuming.

How are u fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Nov 1, 2021

# ¿ Nov 1, 2021 20:28

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Trazz posted:

What if we tried doing the whole "social consequences" thing and see if it works first?

I wholeheartedly agree, I think social consequences are worthwhile and important. I must have been confused, it seemed like you presented "throw a molotov through the window" as a more ideal and effective choice than social consequences, which you indicated were merely "a start". My bad.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2021 20:38

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Thom12255 posted:

Is this calling out the child tax credit?

The poster has previously expressed frustration that the child tax credit doesn't do anything for them and their partner, who have no children. So yes I believe so.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2021 21:00

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Lib and let die posted:

It's not bad, it's simply insufficient means to repair the American working class. Would you like to respond to that rather than the post you think I'm making?

I don't think that the child tax credit program was conceived as the means to repair the American working class, or was messaged as the means to repair the American working class. I think that framing the child tax credit as a means to repair the American working class and then pronouncing it insufficient is kind of a straw man.

It is a program to provide money to parents of children, for the assistance of children. It is not the vehicle by which we repair the American working class. Repairing the American working class is going to have to be a different project.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2021 23:02

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Happy election day everybody, I'll be off to the polls to vote for my Mayor and city councilors and school bonds after work. Hope y'all all engage with your civic duty wherever you may be.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 17:57

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Herstory Begins Now posted:

lol the gop is really trying to build an entire comeback narrative off of something that hasn't even happened yet and that is, as far as anyone can tell, currently still pie-in-the-sky dreaming

early voting in va is 600% what it was in 2017 and has massively, hugely favored dems so far

Politico is all in:

# ¿ Nov 2, 2021 19:54

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

LionArcher posted:

Well they decided to become a parent, so we already know they are a stupid loving idiot bowing to society pressure using the kids as social climbing ladders.

There’s no such thing as ethically choosing to have children in the year of 2021.

Well that's a spicy take. You really believe that every person on earth who has a child is a "stupid loving idiot" and is unethical?

E: or is that just people who had children in 2021?

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 18:45

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

LionArcher posted:

But it’s accurate.

Also like 90% of parents are really, really bad at their jobs, and more often than not people have kids as ways of justifying trying to fix sub par relationships with their partners they are too chicken poo poo to have a real conversation with.

Do you have a citation for the 90% figure? That seems a little bit unbelievable to me but I'm open to seeing some data.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 18:56

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Hey folks I would like to plug again the new podcast series Offline, all about how the internet has poisoned our discourse both offline and on, and amplified the worst tendencies of humanity. This week's guest was Monica Lewinkski, who had a lot of real thoughtful things to say about it all.

I'm really digging the conversations, I think it's all extremely applicable to our lives.

https://crooked.com/podcast-series/offline/

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 20:47

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Dammerung posted:

This is wonderful! It's a heck of a thing to throw your hat into the ring, and I'm glad that they found success on such a tumultuous night.

Agreed. Appreciate and acknowledge the victories that did happen.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2021 23:45

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Flopsy posted:

Why the gently caress are you here?

I think its pretty fair to put the guy who did a big performative "ah ha! I unmask myself as a deep-cover troll! I have owned you, libs!" on ignore.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 03:25

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Lib and let die posted:

Conservative democrats are conservatives, hth. Take Rhode Island state Rep Patricia Serpa, an elected Democrat who has consistently voted against abortion rights in Rhode Island despite being an elected Democrat. She is a conservative.

It's a big tent party. Anti abortion dems are few and far between these days, but they still exist.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 15:34

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Lib and let die posted:

Except when socialists want in, if recent events in New York are any indication of who's allowed in the tent.

It's always evolving.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 15:59

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

selec posted:

HAU is, like Fancy, another troll indistinguishable from actual posters. The gimmick is there is nothing the Dems can do they won�t defend, and it�s always a rosy future for them, despite what they do. It�s a toxic optimism thing, and it�s less funny for being indistinguishable from Twitter dems who tell you they want the party of Reagan back, because he was much nicer than Trump.

It�s weird but whatever

There's plenty "the dems" do that I don't defend. The terrible shitshow at the border / refugees / asylum seekers, the imminent respooling of student loan payments, state machine politics, etc etc.

What I don't do and what really irks me is painting "the dems" as a monolith, with a single brushstroke, ignoring anything good that does happen, and pretending like there's One Weird Trick to getting Everything You Want Now rather than what I see as the only real path forward which is continuing to change the party from within and pushing ever further towards the generational change that's needed to shake up our socio-political system. The Democratic party has changed a lot in the last 20 years, and it looks like its going to change a lot more in the next 20. Not fast enough? Yep, agreed. But, that's the world we live in.

You believe I'm a "toxic optimist" and ok sure, whatever. Choosing to hold on to some hope that we can make positive changes in the world is toxic in your book, no worries. I don't think there's anything toxic about choosing to leave room for hope. I don't think everything is sunshine and roses, I don't think the future is guaranteed to be great or a paradise or better than it is now. I think we *can* get there, and I'm working to try to help get us there. Blackpilling and accelerationism I reject outright. gently caress that noise.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 17:36

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Lib and let die posted:

HAU I didn't reply to that poster because I believe in hearing things straight from the source. I'd like to restate my ask of you, since it seems it got lost in the derail.

Democratic Socialists / socialists / left progressives have been getting elected to various offices as Democrats for years now. I don't expect to see that trend reversing. India Walton in Buffalo losing to a write-in campaign doesn't suddenly reverse the whole trend of younger voters being more progressive and wanting more progressive candidates.

These are trends that can take decades to bear fruit. I understand it is frustrating, I feel it too. This is generational work, which is pretty unsatisfying for some folks but that's just the way things are. I don't see a glorious socialist revolution happening anytime soon, though that would be pretty neat.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 17:46

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

BRJohnson posted:

I am ready to take the "I will still try but yes we're hosed" pledge if it means everybody will agree that we have to have SOME legitimate means of collaboration and possible way forward.

For me its more like "Things are very hosed, but I cannot *not* try. Giving up is worse than trying and failing."

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 18:14

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

A big flaming stink posted:

https://twitter.com/LavenderNRed/status/1455990165642649600

uh, does anyone know why the gently caress we're doing this????

Was just starting to read this article, seems like it has something to do with it.

Nicaraguan exiles see vote as step on Ortega�s road to dictatorship
Many Nicaraguans, including the ruling couple�s estranged daughter, see unhappy parallels with the fight against Somoza half a century ago

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/04/nicaraguan-exiles-election-daniel-ortega-dictatorship-rosario-murillo

quote:

As her childhood home was used to plot one of the 20th century�s most storied revolutions, Zoilam�rica Ortega Murillo told playmates she was Guatemalan � lest the neighbours detect the very Nicaraguan conspiracy unfolding next door.

�The little friends I used to play ball with came in to drink water once and wandered into the room where the guns were kept,� said the 54-year-old sociologist as she stood outside the peach-coloured villa where she lived as a nine-year-old girl.

Ortega Murillo�s time at the Sandinista safe house in Costa Rica�s capital, San Jos�, came to an abrupt end in July 1979 when the revolutionaries who were raising her � her mother, Rosario Murillo, and her guerrilla boyfriend Daniel Ortega � returned triumphantly to Nicaragua after helping overthrow the Somoza dictatorship.

Two days after rebels seized Nicaragua�s capital, Ortega Murillo flew back to her grandmother�s house in Managua on a military plane. �We were certain that once Somoza was gone everything would be different,� she said.

But four decades later, things are disturbingly similar and Ortega Murillo is back in exile � one of thousands of Nicaraguans who have sought shelter in Costa Rica from another authoritarian regime, this time led by none other than her mother and adoptive father.

�This is a criminal dictatorship,� she said of Nicaragua�s president and vice-president who will seek another five years in power this Sunday in an election the opposition and much of the world has called a sham.

The result of Sunday�s vote is beyond doubt given the stunning political crackdown that has played out in recent months under Ortega, a one-time revolutionary hero who has governed continuously since being elected in 2006 and quelled a 2018 student-led uprising with deadly force.

Security forces have jailed virtually every opposition figure who might have challenged the couple and driven dozens of activists, journalists, business people � and even elderly former Sandinista allies � from the Central American country.

�Every person who is in prison is paying for having challenged them in some way,� said Ortega Murillo, who split with her mother and stepfather in 1998 after accusing Ortega of sexually abusing her as a child.

The couple�s estranged daughter suspected her powerful and, many say, vindictive mother was the driving force behind the repression. �She doesn�t forgive,� she said. �She doesn�t forget.�

Carlos Fernando Chamorro, a prominent journalist who has four relatives currently languishing in prison or house arrest, said the pre-election clampdown was unprecedented, even in Nicaragua�s turbulent history. �The [opposition] leadership has been completely decapitated,� said Chamorro, whose sister, Cristiana, was a leading presidential contender and is now confined to her home.

Chamorro fled to San Jos� in June to avoid a similar fate, joining a historic exodus across Nicaragua�s southern and northern borders. The number of Nicaraguans caught trying to cross the US-Mexico border soared to more than 50,000 this year, compared with just a couple of thousand in 2020, while more than 35,000 have applied for asylum in Costa Rica.

San Jos�s fast-growing diaspora, which has unsettling echoes of the exile community that formed there during the Somoza family�s violent and corrupt four-decade reign, includes Nicaraguans from all walks of life.

Jes�s Tefel, a political activist and former adventure travel entrepreneur who supported the failed 2018 rebellion, stole over the border with his pregnant partner in early July after five weeks hiding in a Managua safe house. �It�s at times like this � that you really feel first-hand what repression is for: it�s about sowing terror,� said the 35-year-old, recalling their march to safety under the cover of darkness.

Yadira C�rdoba, a 48-year-old cleaner, said she had taken flight so she could continue to demand justice for her 15-year-old son, Orlando, one of more than 300 protesters killed during 2018�s revolt � apparently by regime gunmen and paramilitaries.

�I didn�t come to Costa Rica to make money. I came so I had the freedom to � ensure my son�s memory is not forgotten,� C�rdoba said during an interview in the dank shack she rents in downtown San Jos�. �They wanted to silence him but they didn�t realize he had a mother who would take up his cry.�

C�rdoba, who sleeps beside a shrine to her dead child, called Sunday�s election a mockery and a circus in which she would refuse to take part even were she in Nicaragua.

�Ortega�s no president � he�s a crook and a murderer. How could I step into a polling station when the first thing I�d see on the ballot would be a photo of my son�s killer?� she asked.

Former Sandinistas, including the guerrilla commanders Luis Carri�n and M�nica Baltodano, have also bolted, fearful of joining old comrades such as Dora Mar�a T�llez and Hugo Torres behind bars.

Another exiled former rebel, who asked not to be named, said they feared Nicaragua could be witnessing the start of a hereditary dictatorship that would see Ortega, now 75, try to hand control of the country to his wife and their children. �It�s so very sad,� the disillusioned former revolutionary said over coffee in an upmarket San Jos� hotel. �We gave everything to defeat Somoza � and 42 years later a similar dictatorship appears to be forming.�

Zoilam�rica Ortega Murillo, whose allegations Ortega and Murillo reject, said she doubted that would happen, despite all her criticism of their �criminal, authoritarian and repressive� acts.

�The dynasty still starts and ends with Daniel Ortega,� she predicted, pointing to a lack of support for her mother and siblings. �This dictatorship won�t last as long as the Somoza dictatorship did.�

Tefel was also bullish, despite the desolate mood that has engulfed Nicaraguan exiles.

�The wave of repression was designed to bury the opposition � but the good thing is they failed,� he insisted. �Lots of people managed to escape and are now here or in the US, reorganizing and regrouping.�

On Sunday, members of Nicaragua�s pulverized opposition will hold what they hope will be a huge march through Costa Rica�s mountain-ringed capital in an effort to project unity.

�We have lived through so much that there is great mistrust between us,� admitted one of the organizers, Ana Quir�s, a veteran feminist activist and former Sandinista who was stripped of her Nicaraguan nationality and deported for backing the 2018 protests.

�But I�ve always thought that if there�s one thing that we agree on, let�s focus on that. Everything else we can deal with along the way.�

Ortega Murillo urged Nicaraguans to avoid fatalism over their country�s future. �Three years ago [during the uprising] we said it was the beginning of the end � and I think that�s right. Only I think we�re no longer at the beginning, but in the middle,� she claimed.

As a rainstorm hammered San Jos�s eastern suburbs, she stared through the brown metal gates of her childhood home, which she was visiting for the first time since being uprooted by the 1979 revolution. �For me it�s a crime scene,� she said of the house where she claims a 12-year campaign of abuse began. �I can feel my stomach churn.�

Ortega Murillo hoped her personal quest for justice could inspire Nicaraguans hoping to free themselves of her alleged abuser. In 1998 many doubted her abuse claims just as many Nicaraguans still idolized Ortega when he returned to power in 2006.

Now, Ortega Murillo sensed people were waking up to the fact that �Daniel Ortega was a lie� just as many skeptics had come to believe her accusations against him.

Whatever happened on Sunday, Ortega Murillo believed the repression suggested the couple�s time in power was running out. �This dictatorship�s foundations are eroding themselves.�

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 19:04

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

selec posted:

They aren�t sanctioning them because of what they�ve done, they�re sanctioning them for doing it as leftists. It�s the money!

I agree that we treat KSA with kid gloves because of the money, absolutely, and our ongoing relationship with KSA and MBS is disgusting and shameful.

I don't agree that Ortega is a leftist. Nothing about a dictatorship, rounding up all your opponents and putting them in prison, and trying to start a hereditary executive is leftist or should be defended by people who call themselves leftist.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 19:18

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Lager posted:

You know, in places that aren't Alaska.

Somehow the citizens of Alaska and Canada manage to live with it, and the world keeps on turning. People are surprisingly flexible.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 21:25

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

HonorableTB posted:

I live in Seattle where we get both the super late sunrise and super early sunsets at the same time and it makes our daylight hours hilariously short. 1000 years of darkness upon us as we declare SAD is a baby back bitch and activate hard mode looking like goofy going "I'll fukken do it again" as we drop to 6 hours of daylight on the solstice

I've lived with 3.5 hours of daylight in the depth of winter and while it's ~not great~ you do kind of get used to it. Living a cozy life inside, wrapped in eternal darkness.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 21:36

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

socialsecurity posted:

Sanctioning 26 people doesn't seem like an "economic blockade" to me.

I think that's just a little bit of editorial flair from Sputnik News.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 21:47

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Rochallor posted:

Kids have to go to school early so their full-time job having parents can drop them off on the way to work. Everything revolves around the job, kids' wellbeing be damned.

Whatever it is it isn't uniquely American or Western. The way they treat kids and schooling over in China and Korea.... man.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2021 22:23

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Sanguinia posted:

I don't know how anyone can come away from this thread feeling anything but total nihilistic despair. Every time I read it the same conclusions pop out: the things that Dems do are pointless and useless and will lose them votes, the things Dems could theoretically do will lose them votes despite helping people and thus be undone, the Republicans can do literally anything and never be punished for it because they give people permission to be bigoted, giving people permission to hurt disadvantaged groups is not enough reason for most Americans to oppose Republicans no matter how much the Republican policies will also hurt them because Democrats won't help them, and the only solution to all this is a revolution that will never happen because half the people that would be necessary for it are fascists who would kill the other half before their own oppressors.

I feel ya. This thread is not the real world, where thousands upon thousands of good people are working hard and doing their damndest to make change. This thread doesn't represent them, or Americans in general. I spend every day working in coalitions of extremely dedicated people who understand the grim reality of the world and have dedicated their lives and their time to trying to make things better.

Getting involved is the best thing anybody can do. Joining up with other people to effect change in the world is the cure to nihilism. Posting all day about how much the world sucks and can never get better on the internet helps nobody, most especially the poster themselves.

People want to vent, sure, fine, but the more I've gotten involved in activism the easier it is to just let the caterwauling slide right off me. There's actual work to be done, in the real world, with real consequences.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2021 20:51

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Heck Yes! Loam! posted:

How is it bait to say they you're not living up to your rhetoric? At least I think that is what is being implied.

Agreed. If you're gonna go off on a tear about how the system needs to be torn down and revolution is the only real solution then it's perfectly reasonable for somebody to ask you how that's going to happen, to ask who is putting their money where their mouth is.

I'm putting *my* money where my mouth is. My mouth says "activism and people power can change our system" and that's what I'm trying to do. Revolutionaries who :justpost:

are worth about as much as the Vice Presidency of the United States.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2021 21:46

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Sanguinia posted:

House just went into recess subject to the call of the chair. Looks like both cars hit the brakes in this chicken game, at least for the moment.

It's maddeningly frustrating that these "moderates" are so god damned set on keeping us from doing good things. The saga continues...

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 03:16

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

A lot of really really great stuff in the BIF, definitely worth celebrating. Let's hope Biden is right about passing the BBBA, we are in his hands now.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 16:45

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Vorik posted:

Woke up to the great news of BIF passing. Even if they were to pass this by itself, it would be a massive historic spending bill. Add BBB on top of that and you're looking at the biggest spending package since the New Deal.

Fingers crossed! I don't think the BBBA is dead and buried, but I don't think the drama is over either.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 17:05

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

VH4Ever posted:

The drama is for MSM lanyards and pundits and people who don't know any better, kabuki theater for the dull witted. Pointless. The fight is over. It's dead, bury it. And stock up.

This seems a little premature. What do you suggest stocking up on?

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 17:18

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

To live is an awfully big adventure, and we live in such interesting times.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 17:32

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Peter Daou Zen posted:

He's rich, rich people do not face consequences. It's not like rich liberals go to jail either.

But anyways, apparently Ashley Biden is a huge creep like her brother and her father, so her diary is probably :puke:

(Handsiness is genetic apparently)

I wouldn't take anything from a fascist bomb thrower like O'Keefe at face value.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 17:56

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Karl Barks posted:

Because a huge swath (majority?) of the Democrat Party are hardcore capitalists who don’t believe in social spending in virtually any form? This is hardly a conspiracy.

Social spending is not incompatible with capitalism, friend. There are countless capitalist nations around the world that do plenty of it.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 18:09

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Majorian posted:

Western European countries only instituted their social welfare programs to safeguard against revolution.

So, capitalists will never institute social spending, except for the times that they have in response to social pressure?

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 19:39

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Karl Barks posted:

Those things are good for the country, yes, but not necessarily for Democrats in an electoral sense. For instance, the bill is literally called bipartisan when it clearly wasn’t according to the vote tally. Why give Republicans any credit whatsoever?

If it has Republicans voting for it I think it's fair to call it bipartisan, why do you think otherwise?

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 19:51

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Majorian posted:

No one is arguing anything of the sort. People are pointing out that if the BBB doesn't pass intact, the Dems are considerably less likely to benefit electorally from the infrastructure bill, because they will have reneged on many of their campaign promises.

Isn't that something that you want to happen?

E
Dems being revealed as fickle and feckless and held accountable, that is.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 20:04

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Victory Position posted:

It took two years and a proper tax agency to get the only "social spending" the government has ever done in my lifetime, and it's not even the whole thing.

Things like Medicare and medicaid and TANF and such are all social spending. I'm pretty sure they have been in existence during your lifetime.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 20:14

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

LionArcher posted:

I'm still taking a break, but here's his gloating video.

Everyone in these threads in general are online too much, think their opinion is more popular than it actually is, but the reality is, the buzz around this is that Biden won.

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1457090628672757773?s=20

I mean the BIF is, even entirely on its own, an historic infrastructure package and will do really good things that benefit people. It's absolutely a win. Trump and his Republican cronies couldn't pull it off, and they had every reason to do so.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 22:20

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

Pamela Springstein posted:

The Prophecy was always that Biden would push for little, accomplish nothing. He's doing a bang up job so far.

...

He's pushed for the largest infrastructure and social spending packages in our lifetimes, and he's just signed one of them into law. You consider that very tangible and real thing to be "nothing"?

e: actually I may be misreading you, you could be saying that Biden has done a good job so far despite "the prophecy" (what?) that he would push for little and accomplish nothing. If that is the case then I apologize for misreading you.

How are u fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Nov 6, 2021

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 22:48

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 10:18

How are u: May 19, 2005; by Azathoth

I think that our social media ecosystem allows the process of sausage-making to play out in public unlike ever before, and our completely poisoned public discourse based on public shaming, "virtue signaling" of sorts, and eternal rage just stomps it into the ground.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2021 23:33

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

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