US Politics: Dominoes falling, GOP failing, what a time to be alive!

[Zorral]

7 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The question mark is a typo.

Ah!  Dayem, we all make them. 

[kissdbyfire]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

We should be concerned that the two top figures in the House are both Louisianans, who represent the most KKKest, racist, anti-woman regions of the state, Metairie and Natchitoches (where Partner lived the first years of life). One of them only second in line from taking over the Oval Office in case of 'emergency'.

Sounds like a very good idea, it seems one can't be concerned enough. Interesting thread here w/ lots of receipts showing a lot of the stuff (vids) Maga Mike has been apparently scrubbing off his social media. Scary af, especially when you consider the fact that America is one election away from becoming a faithless theocracy. 

 

[Jaxom 1974]

 

 

[Varysblackfyre321]

8 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

Come on, put in more than the minimal effort to understand what I write, or else don't bother replying.

What was that about catching flies with honey?

8 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

I can't stand endless threads of me unpacking and explaining stuff I already said. I was burned several times in my "Lefty Internal" thread, and I'm not getting suckered into that nonsense again.

Suckered: Burned.

Just…this use of hyperbolic language communicates an exaggerated air of persecution that we could do without.

8 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

I'll give you a pass here, and then no more. I worded my criticism as your "orthodoxy," which you said sounds like you were calling for a witch burning. Not that hard to figure out.

It was a bit vague to me yes hence asking for clarification.

If I’m confused or curious on what you meant by something instead of imagining what you meant and going off of that I think it’d be more productive to ask what you meant. 
 

8 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

Anyway, I never mentioned AOC. If she did that, then that's wrong.

She did.

8 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

I never said Ana was my saint. I said she her complaints about doctors using that stupid language as a default, and similar such cultural changes, were reasonable.

Birthing bodies does sound pretty stupid and in a close interpersonal setting already addressing a woman it’s wholly unnecessary.

But it’s okay to sometimes use pregnant or person who can become pregnant in legal or medical documentation or even some form of advertisement and there’s no significant push by to erase the term “women” 

8 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

My (yes, sarcastic) comment about regular folk was not about Ana, it's about the millions of people who are outside your bubble.

I understand and accept some of my positions are unpopular or at least atypical.

That has absolutely no bearing by itself if my position is reasonable or not or the people who hold the standard view are being sensible on it.

40% of Americans literally believe in creationism that the world is 6000 years old, there were talking snakes and god turned women into salt.

Over a hundred million people hold that position.

I’m comfortable saying all of them are wrong and they’re not being sensible on the issue of the age of the earth and beginning of life.

If the amount of Americans who believed in that stuff  shot up to 90% creationism wouldn’t become a more reasonable position to hold. If it plummeted to five percent it wouldn’t become a less reasonable position to hold.

9 hours ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

The point is, even if you're objectively in the right (and I don't think you are), you need better understanding of the masses for better tactics. Otherwise you sound like a space alien and don't even realize it.

I’m all for better tactics so please tell me how should I statement disagreement with with you and Ana on this particular in a more productive way. 
 

[Wilbur]

This guy seems like exactly the sort of goof-off that the NRA good old boys who ran our local gun safety courses and rifle competitions when I was a kid would have barred from the property for not having enough sense to be allowed to handle a firearm.

Took a pistol to HKG (Refrain: The TSA is useless)

Got into a shouting match with reporters who showed up at court to document his dumb-assery.  (Have you read The Ugly American?)

Pled into a bind-over, escaped punishment.  (It's nice to have the best lawyers.)

Depending on the time of day and the combination of flights when you transit through HKG, passengers sometimes go through a security screening to enter the transit terminal area upon arrival.  So given the rest of the story, I have my doubts that he "discovered the handgun en route" and then "communicated to security in HKG".  My bet is that they found it during transit screening.

What an imbecile.  Know where your firearms are at all times.  Definitely don't "accidentally" transport them:

- Through airport security;

- Onto a domestic flight;

- Across state lines (especially into California!);

- Onto an international flight; and

- Into another sovereign nation.

There's dumb and then there is too dumb to be permitted outside with supervision.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Wilbur
added links

[Fragile Bird]

1 hour ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

 

 

Lol, can you please explain the context?

[hauberk]

6 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Lol, can you please explain the context?

Sanders had a custom podium made at that dollar figure. It was paid for on a state credit card and then retroactively (after the inconvenient disclosure) marked as something to be reimbursed from one of her support groups. 

[Jaxom 1974]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Lol, can you please explain the context?

 

1 hour ago, hauberk said:

Sanders had a custom podium made at that dollar figure. It was paid for on a state credit card and then retroactively (after the inconvenient disclosure) marked as something to be reimbursed from one of her support groups. 

The explanation doesn't quite capture the bit of scandal it's caused also. If Sanders were a Democray, she'd already be getting removed from office...the cover up was so dumb, it's brilliant Republicanism...

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, hauberk said:

Sanders had a custom podium made at that dollar figure. It was paid for on a state credit card and then retroactively (after the inconvenient disclosure) marked as something to be reimbursed from one of her support groups. 

Which one? Was it Liars Anonymous, Overcoming Nepotism or Help!, My Father Indoctrinated Me Recovery? 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 minutes ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

 

The explanation doesn't quite capture the bit of scandal it's caused also. If Sanders were a Democray, she'd already be getting removed from office...the cover up was so dumb, it's brilliant Republicanism...

Is this what it's like when The Thing is trying to combine two things? 

[JGP]

12 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Is this what it's like when The Thing is trying to combine two things? 

At least the tinfoil would be excised during the process.

[hauberk]

3 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Which one? Was it Liars Anonymous, Overcoming Nepotism or Help!, My Father Indoctrinated Me Recovery? 

Pretty sure it was the AR Republicans so yes?

[hauberk]

3 hours ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

 

The explanation doesn't quite capture the bit of scandal it's caused also. If Sanders were a Democray, she'd already be getting removed from office...the cover up was so dumb, it's brilliant Republicanism...

Sorry. Been down sick. Post was brief. Agreed on all points. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

The US is weird. A decade ago Romney was bragging about keeping his taxes as low as possible and now he's saying cutting funding for the IRS is a bad idea because we need people to pay taxes. We're circling down the drain fast. 

Edited October 31, 2023 by Tywin et al.

[DanteGabriel]

"You can catch more flies with honey" says the guy who refers to people to his left, whom he thinks should moderate their language, as "wacky" "kooky" "weirdos."

But yes I am also annoyed that Varys brought up this whole thing.

[Phylum of Alexandria]

41 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

"You can catch more flies with honey" says the guy who refers to people to his left, whom he thinks should moderate their language, as "wacky" "kooky" "weirdos."

Well, given that you dismissively refer to me as "the guy," wouldn't you agree that my language choice impacted my ability to persuade you?

I certainly hope that activists use more care in their activities than a random commenter does in a random comment, and you probably do as well.

Edit: Bernie Sanders and his supporters tend to be to my left, and I don't call them kooky, because they tend not to employ kooky pseudo-academic language and revolutionary cosplaying.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Phylum of Alexandria

[DanteGabriel]

Lol, weak. But good to remember next time you try to put on your Serious Interlocutor of Truth and Understanding Among Lefties persona.

[Phylum of Alexandria]

24 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

Lol, weak. But good to remember next time you try to put on your Serious Interlocutor of Truth and Understanding Among Lefties persona.

I don't wear that hat for all lefties, genius. There are some people who are beyond persuasion.

Not all kooky-adjacents are beyond persuading, but most of them do tend to be on the kooky side. If I have a job, it's to get everyone else to ignore them for an effective coalition.

[DanteGabriel]

4 minutes ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

I don't wear that hat for all lefties, genius. There are some people who are beyond persuasion.

Not all kooky-adjacents are beyond persuading, but most of them do tend to be on the kooky side. If I have a job, it's to get everyone else to ignore them for an effective coalition.

I think you suck at this job then. In past internecine lefty conflicts I tended towards the middle, criticized Sanders fans as unrealistic. I should have been eminently persuadable as I, too, get impatient with the issues Varys brings up and revisits, and I'm old enough to get a little uncomfortable with language changes like the ones you decry. But damn, you persuade like Ned Stark governed.

Let's go back to that thread you feel so burned over. You made such a big, childish deal then about how you wouldn't entertain some well-reasoned and well-informed questions DMC asked you because he wasn't respectful enough to you, even when other people asked you nicely. But people who are supposed to be in the same political tent as you are kooky and nutty because their priorities and perspectives are different from yours. Why should anyone then give you consideration?

It's convenient that when your arguments fail you can just write off someone as beyond persuasion.

I'm probably wasting my energy in one of my brief bouts of engagement with this board though, because you seem so convinced of your authoritative, non-bubbled perspective. Beyond persuasion, I guess.

[Phylum of Alexandria]

Just now, DanteGabriel said:

I think you suck at this job then. In past internecine lefty conflicts I tended towards the middle, criticized Sanders fans as unrealistic. I should have been eminently persuadable as I, too, get impatient with the issues Varys brings up and revisits, and I'm old enough to get a little uncomfortable with language changes like the ones you decry. But damn, you persuade like Ned Stark governed.

Listen dude, you're confusing my pragmatic argument for persuasion for a moral argument, thinking you've caught me in some sort of hypocrisy rather than a conscious decision to employ one strategy versus another in my personal comments. The importance of persuasion for activist campaigning and coalitional messaging does not ride on how polite or bitchy my comments are. And, as I pointed out, my lack of honey did seem to rub people the wrong way. If I wanted to persuade in that moment, I should have listened to my advice. But it's not actually my job. I'm a commenter commenting on the broader topic of activist campaigns.

If you wanna know my thoughts on that older thread, ask me about it in a private message. I am not going to contribute to another shit show like that one.