US CE Spring 2022: I'm convinced it's useless which is why I argue about it all day every day

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US CE Spring 2022: I'm convinced it's useless which is why I argue about it all day every day

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Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Yinlock posted:

i don't think panic is quite the right word for the 2022 midterms, "grim acceptance" might be more apt

More lining up their favourite scapegoats.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2022 09:29

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 20:37

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Plek posted:

Sweet loving christ can we not try to primary him? Dems are gonna get curb-stomped at this rate of doing gently caress-all.

this is what the people want to vote for though, centrist Democrats are the only ones who can win

# ¿ Mar 21, 2022 18:18

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Willa Rogers posted:

Who, Biden?

"We" (ie: some hapless soul) can primary him, but if he wants the nomination (and isn't talked out of running) then it's his, and the DNC, Congressional committees & state parties will line up behind him.

I think it's about 50-50 that Biden will stand for reelection; he's not getting any cognitively sharper, as time goes on, and those polls aren't dropping by themselves.

And the bench is pretty grim, anyway: Harris's approvals are even worse, and a ~~alt-med legislative sponsor~~ M4A advocate will be shut out before they begin to decide.

I could see a mushy (yet socially progressive) centrist like Polis possibly winning the nomination, but that's a stretch.

I still reckon we can't rule out Hillary: Third Time's the Charm

# ¿ Mar 21, 2022 19:05

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

It's very telling how mad liberals get about Lee Carter and how badly they're able to explain why in any other way than 'He didn't follow the ruuuuuuules!'

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# ¿ Mar 24, 2022 03:09

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Bishyaler posted:

The sanctions on South Africa to end apartheid might be one of the only arguable success stories for sanctions. I say arguable because there have been experts who argue the exact opposite. The problem with sanctions is they usually end up hurting marginalized people with no power in the decision making for actions which triggered the sanctions. Like Iraq. And Afghanistan.

If the argument is that its acceptable to murder a bunch of civilians to trigger regime change, then how are you any better than the regime? And that's if the sanctions were successful, which they overwhelmingly aren't. So no, broad sanctions aren't ethical in any situation, Russia included.

And even then, South Africa was a very different story and different context.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2022 06:34

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

As been said- when it's pointed out the sanctions are causing misery, poverty and starvation, a good chunk of them go 'You see? They're working!'

# ¿ Mar 26, 2022 13:53

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

The US Supreme Court is extremely unusual in a lot of aspects, including the lifetime appointments and that there's literally no qualifications required for it. Like. could go full Quinten Trembly and nominate 7 infants to it and there's literally nothing stopping it.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2022 05:58

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

BiggerBoat posted:

I'm aware of all this and even mentioned that the way "the economy" is doing and how it's measured support the idea that it's on loving fire. I keep hearing that and seeing charts like you posted. I know.

I was saying that nobody I know actually seems to feel this way so it's not just me with "unfounded concerns". Even the people I know who make money don't seem to have any loving money. I can't possibly be alone noticing this and I'm not just being anecdotal about my own personal situation. I don't know a single person that is really experiencing or psyched about all this rear end kicking we're supposedly doing. And if people were - if it was benefiting the majority of the electorate - then, trust me, Biden's approval ratings would not be in the shitter right now. It's palpable and no one feels like their getting ahead in this boom. Quite the opposite: everyone feels squeezed to the bone.

Maybe I hang in the wrong circles.

If this is what "booming" looks like, I don't want to see what a crash or even what "normal" regular old economy might be and I stand by my statements about housing and healthcare expenses.

I'm sure the circles that powerful politicians and esteemed reporters hang in a full of people who are doing well, and love that their employees are coming back to the office so they have something to do at work again.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2022 08:15

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Lib and let die posted:

Why doesn't everyone just vote all at once?

As a classic sufferer from overengineering complex solutions for benign problems, I'm really not sure what the advantage of this staggered system gives other than an uncharitable reading of "to force a narrower consensus at later stages of the primary process"

Because they might not vote for who they're supposed to. You've got to give them time for the media blitz to take effect to shut out anyone remotely progressive. After all, the Democratic party doesn't want to have to do a full Corbyn self-destruction unless they really have to.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2022 16:04

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Having an initial primary in a small state allows for media and organization from smaller campaigns or less funded campaigns.

Pat Buchanan, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Bernie Sanders (2016), Tom Harkin, Barack Obama, and John Kerry all won Iowa, but would have likely lost a national election pretty badly. They didn't have the money or capacity for a national campaign and didn't have enough national name recognition (especially against a sitting VP, Hillary Clinton, national figure like John McCain, etc.) to get a majority of votes based on familiarity.

Hosting small in-person events in cheap media markets and a campaign that doesn't require frequent travel across the country allows for smaller, but well organized, campaigns to compete in a way they couldn't if everyone just voted at once.

None of that poo poo matters. Name recognition can be made and a national candidate will get enough funding for whatever the gently caress they want. The point is to make sure only the establishment approved candidates get to that point.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2022 16:24

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Like, if you want anything resembling fair primaries, runoff elections would be the way to do it just to start with.

Of course, the Democrats also established legally they have no obligation to run fair primaries, and could go straight back to smoke-filled rooms if they wanted to.

# ¿ Mar 29, 2022 17:05

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Main Paineframe posted:

It's too early to say anything for sure, except that 2024 is going to suck no matter what, but at least there's a chance of it being funny. That article's narrative of "he's an absolute black hole of charisma who refuses to interact with human beings, but he checks all the right boxes, our loyalist media loves him, and party officials are excited for his middle-management energy" sounds eerily similar to what was being written about some of the more obviously sideshow candidates in the 2020 Dem primary. But if DeSantis ends up underperforming, he's going to flame out a lot more entertainingly than the likes of Buttigieg or Harris did.

DeSantis is at best going to serve the role of Jeb!, Cruz, and the other assorted useless hobgoblins that Trump pulverised in the 2016 R primaries like a leadup to goddamn Wrestlemania.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2022 12:52

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

some plague rats posted:

This is a very odd way to describe a 50 year old man seeking out and readily accepting eye-watering amounts of bribe money? Just a very weird way to describe it. No other notes

Make that money, Obama.

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# ¿ Mar 31, 2022 06:22

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

TheIncredulousHulk posted:

Personally I think the world we're living in right now is one in which they can and will restart student loan payments this year. It's something the Biden administration actively wants to do and I think they'll probably find an opening. Media talking heads will rationalize it, and I suspect many people who otherwise say differently now will likely accept those excuses

Almost certainly going to be something about making those lazy spoiled millennials get off their asses and get back to work for those struggling small business owners.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2022 10:42

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

VitalSigns posted:

Why should we enact purity tests? No seriously tell me how that is constructive to the health of the party when we see how that has worked with the gop

Incredibly well, attracting record breaking numbers of voters? The purity tests got the purity testers everything they wanted and rebuilt the party in their image, with the former 'moderates' being hunted for sport and publicly humiliated to universal glee because they are no longer wanted or needed.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2022 14:16

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

She was definitely ringing the bell that the Republican base was entirely sick of mealy-mouthed empty :decorum:

, which they would go on to successfully eject from primacy in the party. She became the face of the campaign because no one except Democrats actually liked McCain.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2022 08:13

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Gatts posted:

Industry and the market taking advantage and gouging people for profit and to sink the Biden Govt and backslide into DeSantis/Trump dictatorship is hell of a thing. Should take a lesson to never bail out and help industry because they�ll just laugh and stab you in return.

Unfortunately I don't think establishment Dems even comprehend that there can be anything wrong with this or that they even have knives in their back. This is just what you're supposed to do in the free market, right?

# ¿ Apr 3, 2022 17:43

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

TheIncredulousHulk posted:

This behavior by Democrats is a lot easier to understand if you view it as axiomatic rather than a considered response. The data itself is orthogonal because it will always be assumed to be the best that could have reasonably been done under the circumstances and anything more is unicorn fantasy, with their only acknowledged failing being their struggles in making the hoi polloi aware of how great things are. This both insulates them from ever having to reflect on the insufficiency of their policies and the failings of their governing ideology, while simultaneously providing evergreen justification for the existence of the sprawling consultancy apparatus that keeps their useless failkids employed as both brainstormers for the rosy data as well as being theoretical prole whisperers

'We haven't properly explained to them how hard we already worked and how lucky they have it' certainly sounds on brand for Democrats.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2022 03:56

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

kdrudy posted:

Every vacant spot is owned by someone that believes they can charge the prices they always did in the past and would rather stay vacant than lower the rent.

This also applies to residential buildings. Rents never go down.

PhazonLink posted:

so vacancy fees/taxes that ramp up within months during the 1st year are the solution?

Oh and when they try to metagame this with some empty building ghost business , drop a hammer on that too.

Why do you hate mom and pop small business owners? Are you trying to destroy the economy?

# ¿ Apr 4, 2022 06:06

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Trump puts people into Tiny Train World irl all the time, it's hilarious.

# ¿ Apr 4, 2022 09:00

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

BiggerBoat posted:

That's what I keep hearing, even from a lot of people in this thread. Who are we to believe? The charts and graphs or our drat lying eyes that look at our bank accounts? Let's cede for a second that by all traditional measures "the economy" is on loving fire. What does any of that mean or amount to when the only thing burning for 3/4 of the population is their loving money?

When people are noticeably going broke and losing economic ground every month, what the gently caress good does it do to point to a bunch of numbers telling them that "well, no, actually you're doing loving fantastic!" and that our dumb minds just can't see it. Maybe they're right. Maybe this nebulous idea of what we call the economy has never been better. If that's the case, we are in deep DEEP poo poo as a nation.

It shows that the ruling classes are literally living in a different world from the rest of us. And that's the charitable explanation. The alternative is that they know they're lying and think we're all incredibly stupid.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2022 07:22

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Is this the new Hamilton?

# ¿ Apr 6, 2022 14:45

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Bishyaler posted:

They aren't dead in red states. The guy Dems are running for House here is extremely anti-abortion and conservative on quite a few issues.

They are going to completely eat poo poo the moment voters read the (D) on the ballots. Republican rhetoric and policy is total war.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2022 16:48

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Security system might at least come in handy for rear end in a top hat neighbours and getting cool animal photos.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2022 16:42

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

It's like dashcams, they serve as potentially invaluable resources for a number of things but most of the time they'll just be useful for YouTube compilation videos.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2022 16:55

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Lib and let die posted:

It's always fascinating to discuss police issues. I can sit down with my deeply conservative father-in-law and we will agree that cops waste too much time needlessly harassing people over minor traffic violations, controlled substances, and generally making life worse for individuals whenever possible...but then he breaks down into a frothing rage if someone suggests that maybe they don't deserve more funding as a reward for being the pieces of poo poo they are.

Copaganda and regulatory capture have made drat well sure that while well-meaning liberals are willing to acknowledge at least some of the awful poo poo cops do, they're programmed to be utterly hostile to literally any viable solutions to the problem.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2022 17:00

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Very strong vibes of getting all their ideas of CPS from pop culture. Like the other end of copaganda.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2022 17:38

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Willa Rogers posted:

Yeah, California's various CPS agencies are a hot mess that have resulted in the murder of dozens of kids, and that's also happened in a lot of other states.

Remember that weirdo Turpin couple who locked up their kids & starved them? The Riverside County CPS placed a few of the kids in a foster home in which they were molested & tortured, which is absolutely heartbreaking.

The problem being the foster care system is massively underfunded, understaffed and lacks oversight to an absolutely critical degree, you'd figure. But just another case of social safety nets being torn open like copper out of the walls to pay for the ruling class's crack habit.

The problem is very tied in with 'defund the police' and the hardened opposition to it- governments are literally dril candles tweet levels of overfunding the police and starving everything else, and you can show that to people and they simply can't register it.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2022 19:00

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Thaddius the Large posted:

Yeah, what I always emphasize is that CPS is a last-ditch stopgap measure, while they could stand better funding and support to do their jobs, the agency struggles are also a sign that all the crucial social supports that prevent people from coming to CPS� auspices have been slashed into nonexistence. Take care of housing/financial/medical/addiction/whatever needs and people can usually better care for their kids without additional social worker intervention, not to mention said intervention would be far less intrusive if there were adequate resources to connect folks to

But how are we going to pay for it?

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# ¿ Apr 7, 2022 19:15

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Like, at this point it should be getting through to some people itt that talk and gesture is one thing and action is another, and it's the latter that reveals what people's actual priorities are.

Harold Fjord posted:

Maybe you should reread the post I quoted because I was responding to it specifically, and that's where the idea of people wanting to feel safe and the implication that they do not came from.

That even well meaning people are constantly being steeped in FYGM.

Yeah, we live in a societal paradigm where we are taught from birth that charity and consideration for anyone else is a luxury that we might maybe be able to afford in modest amounts in our downtime, and WILL be punished for, or at least amount to nothing, if we don't do it exactly right. IE, given every excuse to not bother.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2022 19:30

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Herstory Begins Now posted:

How does the florida democratic party even get unfucked?

Best case scenario that comes to mind is like Nevada where leftists just take over the entire apparatus and all the establishment staff flounce off into irrelevant grift.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2022 14:50

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Trevorrrrrrrrrrrrr posted:

So lets say Biden arrested republican congressmen, trashed the supreme court and sent the military to take control of Texas, Florida, Alabama etc tomorrow. Do you think: 1) That would make things better in the US overall? 2) Provide a better life for the trans people in those states 3) End in anything other than large scale war and death?

Yes, and yes. Republicans are already chomping at the bit for the latter in the probably correct assumption it'll work out well for them. Point a gun at them, and they will obey. Point guns at the people who want to torture trans people into suicide, and they might stop. Point guns at the people who are literally asking Trump 'When are we going to shoot these people?"

It's literally the only way to prevent large scale war and death.

DeadlyMuffin posted:

Not because of Democrats.

Does that matter?

# ¿ Apr 9, 2022 16:31

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

CommieGIR posted:

My big memory of KMart was it sold a lot of really cheap electronics that were abysmal quality versus Walmart. Target took some of the things KMart was doing and did it better now. This is one thing Walmart does well, they set a fairly high bar for even cheap items, KMart just said "If its cheap, we'll sell it"

Walmart iirc specifically demands low-cost versions of products including electronics, some of which are sold only at Wal-Mart, so while they may be minimum spec they're at least probably more reliable than whatever shitass knockoffs Kmart was willing to stock.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2022 18:15

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

PhazonLink posted:

I mean we probably have both. Like maybe I'm giving toooo much credit to techno panopticon stuff like virtual cell tower stuff/stringray stuff.

like it hasnt been a day yet, dude is goinngt to get caught.

One of those would require actually maintaining infrastructure, lol

# ¿ Apr 12, 2022 20:03

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:

false flag implies a lot more intentionality than the most common you know in question. there's a fairly common strand you see in poo poo like this, most prominent recent examples being Dzhokar Tsarnaev and whoever the guy who went on a shooting spree with a duffel bag full of cash up in Canada was, where someone has been cultivated as a source by law enforcement and as a result response is not just slow, initial responders are told "shut the gently caress up, you want to get us into trouble again?"

law enforcement's habit of using unhinged vigilantes as proxies bites it in the rear end a lot, and hearing this guy was wearing some dumbass high-vis uniform? as long as we're still just vomiting uninformed theories into the void, seems sensible as any.

The kind of people they call 'armed friendlies' during protests.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2022 03:33

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Gatts posted:

That is not a bug. It is a feature.

Biden has been very open about how he 'has no sympathy' for the young and considers them spoilt whiners, yes.

The primaries being made fairer is an interesting response, but very 'shut the barn door after the horse has bolted', and I'm sure they've realised they don't need to rig the primaries when they have an entire compliant media who will just give any undesirable candidate the Corbyn treatment.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2022 05:54

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Mellow Seas posted:

the crime bill was 28 fuckin' years ago dude.

Oh my loving god.

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# ¿ Apr 14, 2022 13:16

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Bishyaler posted:

Releasing power from their shaky skeletal grip might allow someone who wants to fix things to take their place.

Its not like she's causing much harm by staying in office, right?

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-10-16/dianne-feinstein-liberal-critics-amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-hearing

It's literally unthinkable for Democrats to voluntarily relinquish positions of prestige, and deeply indecorous to even hint at it.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2022 16:29

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

Yeowch!!! My Balls!!! posted:

https://twitter.com/TexasTribune/status/1514803786425925633

in terms of presidents people expected Joe Biden to follow in the footsteps of, very few would have guessed James Buchanan.

kicking back and enjoying the show, while southern states start making treaties independent of the federal government, because hey. trying to exert federal authority over diplomacy with foreign powers might prove ~divisive~.

going to be extremely funny when other states start cutting their own deals with neighbors. who's ready for Japan and China to have a proxy war over who gets most-favored-nation status in Seattle.

Was saying before when you're getting to the point of states actively gearing up for genocide against minorities they're whipping themselves into full on blood libel over, and the military recognises this and is actively evacuating people before the state can torture their children to death... if this isn't leadup to the next civil war, feels like the alternative is much worse.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2022 03:06

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 20:37

Ghost Leviathan: Mar 2, 2017; Exploration is ill-advised.

InsertPotPun posted:

every person becomes a politician knowing this, it's basic common sense. but they go to work on their first day rubbing their hands together, excitedly explain this new way of thinking to their new colleagues, and get blank stares. and...eventually...just stop...
they say you can see how you're going to die in the flash right before the light in their eyes goes out forever

Given some of the crop of politicians we're getting I'd say certainly not every person. We've definitely got a generation of establishment politicians who think it's literally all about giving grand speeches, standing there looking dignified and making performative gestures about how bad things are bad. And of course enjoying all the nice important people giving you money.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

They have apparently already announced a retroactive automatic fix for this.

This is the first time I have ever seen the federal government in general and Biden admin specifically actually quickly fix a problem related to student loans.

It honestly didn't make sense in the first place since they waived the Trump admin PSLF policies and went from 1% approval to 99% approval, but didn't do the same thing for IDR.

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1516489506106621953

Wow. Really is Democratic policy in a nutshell when their carefully crafted means-tested 'smart' policy is such an obvious laughable failure that they immediately have to manually intervene in a way that we're assured would be political suicide for some reason in any other context.

Normy posted:

It's just the sad culture war reality that any ground lost emboldens the hate mob. If you give them an inch they see it as a total victory.

I don't want to support Disney but I want to signal to them that they're doing the right thing. It seems like corporate culture is really driving trans acceptance these days and I don't want to see a reversal of the positive gender inclusivity we're seeing in that realm.

Also it's fun to catch the corporate vs political culture wars, it's like the monster turning on its creator. The contradictions become impossible to ignore and something has to give. I want to see blood! Actual stormtroopers marching through the streets of Miami!

# ¿ Apr 20, 2022 07:01

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > US CE Spring 2022: I'm convinced it's useless which is why I argue about it all day every day

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