The only news I care to hear about people wealthy enough to throw away others' year's salary for trends like this... is if and when they get punted square in the nuts.
If I’m being held in contempt by the likes of Mike Johnson, Gym Jordan, Beetlejuice, and Marjie The Gross-Looking, then I know I’m doing something right.
Seriously. I’d be holding an award ceremony for myself. Maybe as a fundraiser to be donated to their opponents.
I’m no fan of Merrick Garland for all of the obvious reasons, but while I wholeheartedly disagree with the way he’s handled multiple things, none of them rise to the standards where impeachment or contempt of congress is warranted.
I genuinely fucking love Merrick Garland and it confounds me that people have an issue with him. There may be some hindsight 20/20 wishful thinking about making things magically happen faster, but the guy is genuinely trying and did everything by the book; and in doing so, he ensures his own actions don’t jeopardize the trial outcomes.
Most of the criticism comes from people who know not a fucking thing about the legal system.
I think people forget Garland was denied an appointment to the SCOTUS by the GOP as a nominee by Obama.
I’m sure Garland is classier than me. I would just send back a piece of paper with the date Gym Jordan was issued the subpoena he ignored written on it, and nothing else.
I know the world doesn't work this way, for good reason. But it would be funny if someone signed up to be Trump's lawyer, didn't take pains to make sure they got paid up front, and then when Trump stiffed them on some billing in the middle of the trial, simply stood up in court and said to Trump, "No, I will not defend you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills. Your witness, sir; you're pro se now." And then packed up and left the courtroom.
the last few seasons of Discovery have been a bit bogged down by the stuff that has always made it a tough sell as a Trek series: overly ambitious, serialized storylines that aren’t compelling; new characters and environments that don’t impress; plot twists which can be maddening in their lack of logic; big storytelling swings which can be confusing and predictable at once.
Yeah, it’s not “underappreciated”. It’s just not very good for what many of us are expecting. I still haven’t gotten through season 3.
I just watched a scene where Michael and Mol were working together, then suddenly Michael decides to attack Mol, then they have a kung fu fight and finally Michael asks Mol stop and says she needs to trust her, as if Michael hadn’t just violently assaulted her. The writing is nonsensical.
Unfortunately that is symptomatic of the show as a whole and just one of many problems.
Also the constant deus ex machina, with the characters having a conversations where everyone finishes each others sentences. Its tiresome to watch. I really wanted to like the show but never could.
First female captain, first gay couple in the main cast, first non-binary character (and actor) in the main cast, first openly trans character and actor in the main cast (albeit not for a long time), first series actively exploring the future hinted at and briefly seen in other series. But they totally fucked the Klingons in the early seasons lmao
Would be nice if he courted the existing left leaning part of the democratic party, but fuck it let’s try and please the party that tried to overthrow the government
Well, let’s think about that. In 2023, only 27% of Americans identified as Democrats. This matched the number of people who identified as Republicans, while a massive 43% picked ‘independent’ as the party of choice. However, when you ask voters what political ideology they identify with, you get a more interesting numbers. 29% of people describe themselves as Socially Liberal or Very Liberal, and only 21% describe themselves as Fiscally Liberal or Very Liberal. This means that 71% of people do not see themselves as Socially Liberal in any way (and 38% see themselves as Socially Conservative to some degree!), and a stunning 79% do not see themselves as Fiscally Liberal in any way (with 44% seeing themselves as Fiscally Conservative to some degree!). So, is there some amount of wonder that Biden might try to tact in the direction where the majority of Americans are?
44% of Americans lean in the direction of Fiscal Conservatism, and another 35% don’t see themselves as Conservative, but also don’t see themselves as Liberal. Biden’s got to reach out to this group of people, because he can’t win with 21% of the vote. So instead of bitching at him, maybe motivate more of that 79% who are Fiscally Moderate or Conservative but possibly Socially Liberal to embrace your policies, while turning out reliably for the leftest main stream party candidate between the Rs and the Ds until you can get RCV passed, then make sure to get your people to rank people from the left to the centre and not rank the right-wing candidates.
You are doing some hard work for a Gallup poll that only represents people who have a landline or answer unknown numbers so basically absolutely worth nothing
The left wing is gonna vote for him anyway, if they vote at all. Half of the leftists I talk to don’t even vote because they say democracy is a failure and nothing matters. To a liberal, a leftist is an extremist.
I got really lucky and hit by a car 5 years ago that let me buy a condo that has doubled in value. This leftist is going to call it a day. I’m looking at places maybe in Uruguay to move to hopefully before November. I don’t know who to blame but I do know the Democrats and the Republicans are both not anything I ever want to support. And sure give me a party of Democrats that is built from politicians like Bernie Sanders or AOC, and I’ll happily vote Democrat but that’s a fantasy. The Democrats themselves are far right enough that they hate those candidates and their positions.
So it would make sense to show them democracy isn’t dead and inspire them to vote? Or just cuddle up with fascists? This just shows those disenfranchised voters it is dead and what’s the point since biden would rather work with people actively trying to destroy democracy than work with the new largest voting bloc in this country
I don’t think he’s trying to “cuddle up with fascists”. The fascists don’t represent the entire party just as progressives don’t represent the entire democrat party. He’s trying to get the uneducated “always vote for the guy with the R next to his name” type dudes. They exist, plenty of ignorant people out there.
I guess they do, it’s just hard to imagine that someone could be that ignorant in this day and age and I still think it’s a dumb move because those people that just blankly go through life and just vote R because that’s what pappy always did are so dumb they will just vote R no matter what biden does so bidens time is better spent working with progressives, he can do both but the dnc has made it very clear they do not care about progressives
And this is the game we always play. Biden will try to get enough conservative voters to overcome the resistance from the actual left. If he manages then we go further right like we always have and if he fails we go even further right like we always have. That’s the great thing about Democrat presidents. They accomplish the same thing as Republican presidents. Just a little bit slower.
There’s nothing that I can say to disprove those points. I do have to say that Bernie gaining as much popularity as he did let’s me see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m pushing 40, always been very left. 1st primary I voted for Dennis Kucinich. Seeing someone with the same talking points and advocate for, generally, the same overall policy agenda get as much mainstream traction as Bernie has does inspire some optimism. Voter turnout in the primaries is so huge, I would also like to see the Dems ditch the EC model for their primaries as well. Biden got elected on the backs of Southern black votes (holdover good will from him being Obamas VP) and that caused him to win deep red states that he would never win in the general. Though I’m hoping Georgia turning blue wasn’t an anomaly.
Exactly. And the other comments so far are pretty ignorant. All close elections are won by winning over independents AND people registered to the other party. Just because Republicans in Congress appear largely in lock-step with Trump doesn't mean Republican voters are.
It's fair to speculate that many Trump haters left the Republican party in 2016 and more in 2020. But certainly not all of them. And beyond the Trump haters are a swathe of people uncertain or uncomfortable with Trump who can be won over.
Elections are won by appealing to the center, where the majority of the populace sits, while not alienating (too many) people on your flank.
Two party politics is a lot of this problem. Ranked choice voting would help a lot. But even in parliamentary systems, coalitions have to gather support in the center without pissing off the edges too much.
Don't accuse me of lies. Trump dog whistled to the far right and appealed to the ignorant center. The folks who thought he was a savvy business man who would run the country better than some lifelong politician. The ignorant center that somehow thought Trump would create jobs and restore the rust belt to it's former glory.
No, Trump did not run to the center of anything. From the very beginning, he was overtly racist. FFS, he called Mexicans rapists during his announcement.
If you don’t want people to say you’re lying, don’t lie. I get that you’re happy when the party moves to the right and ignores progressives, but you don’t need to tell lies to justify it.
And yet, she got more votes than Trump. She did appeal to more people, it’s that the system is broken that getting more votes doesn’t make you the winner.
It’s almost like Trump appealed to the fucking shitheads whose votes count for more than the rest of us.
Speaking to the center in swing states is important and Mrs. Clinton failed to bother with MI, PA, WI, or MN, because she thought he was an easy opponent.
Compare it to a party, or a social gathering. Bill is a bit racist and a loose cannon ® but he shows up every time. Kelly and Joe are cool and level headed and show up quite regularly. Then there is Scott who shows up maybe 10% of the time.
Now, if I’m looking to invite people to the party and can only pick two, do I go for Kelly and Joe who are quite reliable or do I go with Scott and one of the other two knowing Scott says he’ll go but then doesn’t or just says flat out he isn’t gonna come?
There are people whose whole jobs revolve around political campaigning and the data says progressives by and large will find one reason or another to not go vote. Or just vote for some esoteric third party therefore “wasting” the vote.
Put simply, the Dem message can’t stretch far enough to cover both “centrist” voters and the way out there progressives. So a choice has to be made and the centrists come out to vote more often than progressives (at least for the Dems.) Or there are more of them compared to progressives coming out.
So I’ll ask you too- what is the path forward to political viability for progressives? And I want a real honest to god plan and not just pie in the sky “well if we just abstain for the next few decades like we’ve been doing then they’ll see the light” crap.
Compare it to a party, or a social gathering. Bill is a bit racist and a loose cannon ® but he shows up every time. Kelly and Joe are cool and level headed and show up quite regularly. Then there is Scott who shows up maybe 10% of the time.
Now, if I’m looking to invite people to the party and can only pick two, do I go for Kelly and Joe who are quite reliable or do I go with Scott and one of the other two knowing Scott says he’ll go but then doesn’t or just says flat out he isn’t gonna come?
Appealing to your best friend Bill isn’t going to get Kelly and Joe to show up any more reliably, and Scott is fed up with how you keep cozying up to Bill. But you always intended to blame Scott for no one coming to your “Let’s all be like Bill” party.
Bill is there to present the landscape only you blockhead.
Except Biden is courting Bill in this scenario.
Big surprise- ensign is always complaining acting like he’s smarter but doesn’t have the answers.
I don’t have to have the answers to know that “abandon your base to court lunkheads who hate you” is a stupid idea, no matter how much it means you get to move right.
If progressives were even half as popular and half as dedicated as they think themselves to be then they’d sweep elections across the country.
Imagine more AOC hitting the pavement and voting in primaries and less whining and crying on the internet. I like AOC and progressive causes and such but it’s apparent that there is not enough there (either by apathy or lack of resonance with progressive ideas) to make progressivism a real popular cause.
So I ask progressives- what is the path forward to political viability?
Because I like to contrast this with the whackos on the right. The one thing to their credit is they vote every. single. time. And hence the Republican party has gone from right to off-the-rails right and dragged the country with them. They got it done somehow. How do progressives do the same but in reverse?
I’m a progressive. Why would I do that? Most progressives live in states where voting for President has no effect anyway. The blue wall, + New York, + Illinois…
All close elections are won by winning over independents
Not true. It’s also possible to win by increasing your side’s turnout. And independents aren’t all centrists.
Republicans already have a major party catering directly to their interests. Meanwhile a full third of the country doesn’t vote. Obviously it’s a better strategy to give non-voters a reason to be engaged rather than trying to win over people who hate you and everyone who looks like you.
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