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softlynow

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by softlynow

  1. The problem is Arthur Brooks is looking at Trumpism as if it was an isolated bad presidency that led to the upheaval. Trumpism is more akin to the cataclysmic events in our history. After the Civil War the GOP won 9 of the next 11 presidential elections. After the onset of the Great Depression Dems won 7 of 9. Following the fracture of what historians call the Democratic-Republican Party in 1924 (marking the beginning of the robust two-party system Brooks looks to for solace) the Dems won 6 of 8. It's foolish to look at the 1970s, when liberalism was losing intellectual momentum and conservatism was stretching its legs as a data point for the resilience of today's GOP. If anything those roles are reversed. Progressive ideas abound, and are, for the first time in a while, a decent threat to take control of the Democratic Party. I would argue, that, If your looking for parallels, Biden is the Dems Nixon, who with conservative support, though wasn't conservative. Conservative activists saw the disaster in '64 as reason enough to get in line with the GOP in '68 and hope to continue to work within the party apparatus to capture it ideologically. One could easily see that dynamic play out over the next decade or so as boomers give way to millennials as the dominant electoral block. In short, I agree. If GOP activists want to prevent long-term electoral carnage, they need to work with their donors to isolate Trump as a political force. There's no guarantee that any strategy along those lines would be successful, but if there is any path to parity with Dems in the near-term it includes total disavowal of Trumpism.
  2. Low blow bringing this shit up right as football anticipation is usually at its highest, but isn't because the season will undoubtedly be cancelled.
  3. Meh. Fox would just give a Colmes-like “liberal” 3 hours from 2-5 am to offset Hannity, Ingraham and Tucker. Or trot out morons paid to put a face to conservative straw men easy to knock down. Librrals need to study and use the conservative playbook. They need to convince rich liberals to open up their checkbooks to fund liberal media. Trying to force fairness on a blood sport is a fool’s errand.
  4. Fortunately for DOTUS the next distraction is about to hit, since his executive order on the matter only tells others to "consider" the issue. Dirty libs will be wailing about a few million newly homeless. Sad.
  5. It's the first half of Jaws in a loop. At no point does anyone make the mayor hire Quint. At no point do we do what's really necessary at this point - shut everything down again, pay people who are unemployed or work in jobs that will die because they can't work, stop evictions again, etc., etc. Instead we keep looking at the water and all the money it can make us, and jump right back in. Will schools opening and then closing be our "my kids were on that beach, too" moment. Nah.
  6. He keeps this in the bag for that very reason:
  7. Add DC and PR statehood and Trump in Sing Sing til he croaks and we can move on. Anything short of that and the damage he’s done to our traditions means the next GOP potus has a blueprint to a dictatorship.
  8. If we get a Biden administration, he better not pull a Ford, and issue pardons and so on. Heads need to fucking roll. We should need a new supermax or ten just for all these people. Otherwise, the republic is done with the next GOP victory.
  9. 12 more weeks of this weak shit. Actually that kind of hammers home brisket's fears. If this is what they've got the chances they'll direct most of their efforts towards suppression and theft are 100%. We need to pretend these attacks are devastating. Gin up some polls showing Trump gaining ground all over the place so maybe they get complacent. That and figuring out safe ways to drive massive numbers of people to early voting locations.
  10. Dems aren't going to take the Senate only to hand it back by giving a Republican governor a chance to appoint Warren's interim successor. Wait, it's the Dems. Yeah, that's totally happening.
  11. This is you to us now: SardonicFlickeringEasteuropeanshepherd-mobile.mp4 Hopefully this isn't you later:
  12. So, shall I mark you down as a Kanye vote?
  13. Transfer all law enforcement officers employed by DHS to the Post Office as mail sorters.
  14. I'm also in Montgomery County. I'm dismayed by the fact that there actually more Trump signs and gigantic flags flying from Jeep Wranglers in my subdivision than in '16.
  15. Yeah, that'll be a thing, though maybe not on Fox. They'll move right on to whatever helps the GOP at that time. OANN will ride that grift for all it's worth. Whatever the new mainstream GOP looks like, they'll have to deal with these guys in a way they couldn't with Birchers and the open racists in the '70s through '90s. But Pubs have talking out both sides of their mouths down cold, so I expect it'll be done quite shamelessly.
  16. RIght. Because Republicans are always stuck apologizing for their mistakes, owning their actions and rarely act hypocritically because of optics, decorum and their strong moral compass.
  17. Step one: put down the shovel.
  18. This is all the ASL the interpreter need know for those briefings:
  19. Y’all can have Monetary Misanthropes. I’ll take Exogenous Shocks.
  20. Oh it’s believable. In fact it’s predictable.
  21. Well shit. Is there a fuck me button?
  22. Odd interpretation of what I said. They have no money because their wages are undercut. If you choose the free trade route (as I would), you aren’t fixing that part of it. So you’d need to fix the other end, which starts with tax policy that rewards companies that build middle class purchasing power and punishes (at least a bit) those who automate and outsource. We have made the worst choice. Arguably worse even than autarky. Even a true laissez faire economy would be better at this point (though it would inevitably evolve back where we are).
  23. National socialism.
  24. We should be disincentivizing work that pays less than $600 a week right now anyway. Restaurants, water parks, concert halls, arenas, bars, all non-essential office buildings, etc. should be closed right now. And it’s not that big a disincentive anyway. A couple of my staff could see it that way, but don’t. Of course, unlike a lot of small businesses we provide health insurance. It’s been obvious for over a decade that we couldn’t create significant inflation if we tried ... because we’ve tried. That’s because all economic gains continue to go to the wealthy and higher earners, and foreign slave labor keeps shit we buy cheap. Have to change one of those factors before this ship gets righted. Well, that and a vaccine for SARS-Dotus-2.
  25. I get this sentiment, but these hearings are pointless. The best thing you can do is not score an own goal. No law or policy change is coming. Make a solid point or two, but nothing that comes close to giving them a soundbite for a campaign ad. When your opponent is making an ass of himself, the best thing you can do is keep him talking.
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