softlynow

I doubt much comes of this. We're fortunate to have a steady hand at the tiller, and not a dementia-addled would be fascist cornered by dreadful poll numbers and a looming election that might necessitate turning to violence and stoking fear as a means to continue his rule and avoid being held to account for his criminality.

Ideas/policies talked about by the folks to whom I'm referring: how smart Trump is, that Russian help in an election is just fine, that we should arm kindergarten teachers, that climate change is a hoax, tax cuts will reduce the deficit, and the solution to the detention centers at the border is to deny media access so the TV cannot cover it effectively. I think I know my audience pretty well. M4A, free college and breaking up ICE are non-starters. How would those ideas be received? About as well as a proposal to ban the internal combustion engine at an Exxon-Mobil board meeting. So certain are you. Read you nothing I type? I'll need to see evidence that he won't just barely capture the nomination, but also be the strongest ticket-topper. If Bernie is indeed not trying to be good at the game of politics, he will never have my vote. I want a Dem majority that can push through change and stem the GOP tide in the judiciary (going to really need this if you want campaign finance reform). That doesn't happen backing candidates who stick to their principles. That happens when you back winners. I'm not a cynic. I'm and idealist with experience. Power doesn't really come from ideas, it comes from the barrel of a gun, which in a democracy requires winning elections.

Only a Sith deals in absolutes. Have I? Oh . . . What the. . ? His name isn't Beetlejuice or Voldemort. Of course it's come up. And we're not so much talking about friends as colleagues and neighbors. My friends are smart enough to be as well read as me, and have strong, at least somewhat left-leaning opinions as well. They just mostly live elsewhere. I can barely convince myself? Of what? What weird and un-typed assumption have you made now?

Millennials and Zers are your change generations. See B_T's socialism poll link above. They'll respresent ~38% of the electorate. That should jump up a few points each of the next few cycles. If capitalism isn't moderated by 2032, you could see a real push for a Social Democratic takeover of the Democratic Party, not just a couple of 'em vying for ~30-35% of the Dem primary vote. He started this cycle with 100% name recognition, and hasn't broken through a 20% national polling average. Lots of folks are turned off by him (not me, btw). Lots of folks hear his ideas, and think (wrongly) that they're in the class of people he wants to take from to give to someone else. He's unlikely to be a landslide-winning standard-bearer. How is that, exactly? I hardly post here anymore. I live amongst upper middle class Republicans who've gone from completely embarrassed that Trump was the nominee to secretly fist-pumping his brilliance even when I'm around. I couldn't convince these people of jack shit politically. And there is the fact that they WOULD be taken from a bit more in a progressive revolution. So would I, probably. Unless Bernie or Warren drops out by the time Texas gets to vote for the nominee, I don't see a progressive breakthrough. If I'm wrong, and either one is cooking with gas, they might get my vote. Liberalism has been in retreat among voters since the Reagan Revolution began. The moderate wing has been the only thing standing between us and Pubs totally ramming their idiotic wet dreams down our throats. The bolded ... smh. Jesus.

Then that's who the nominee needs to be, because that old school isn't dying yet. Soon. But not yet. This is an important fucking election. Not just because the system won't likely last under the strain of 4 more years of Trumpism. It's a decennial election. The Dems need the guy who will lead the ticket to the highest totals in every race on the ballot. They need more statehouses and legislatures. District lines for the next 10 years are at stake. You want a progressive agenda to actually have a non-zero chance of being implemented? Win big this time. Sure the young-ins are cozzying up to socialism or social democracy. That's great. They don't yet vote at the rate of and are outnumbered by the folks scared to death (and coincidentally killing themselves in Florida too) of simple tax increases, let alone significant expansions of the safety net or access to health care and education. I do think a significant left-ward shift is coming. Just not yet. If the Dems somehow convince folks in the middle to stay home, they jeopardize their long-term goals. I don't expect zealots to understand. They lack of foresight is why they're so bad at politics.

I don't care for increasing taxes on individuals. I'd rather the corporate tax capture at a rate similar to when we were actually great ('45-'65). The rate could be in the low 20's, but deductions and loss carryovers should be greatly limited.

Yeah, that's just about the best way to answer that question. Obviously the Trump jalopy has easily reached his faithful with the Ukraine disinformation. It remains to be seen whether it will resonate with moderates. So far it seems to not have stuck, but the email shit was almost as stupid, and by keeping in the news day after day, Pubs managed to make it into something that affected the election.

It makes it easier to recruit DEs who have no intention of playing on Sundays.

I think some have it wrong on 2020. The talent is there to luck into 10-2, and maybe better. That's actually kind of the real problem. We might be putting off separating ourselves from this clown until after a 6-8 win 2021. Hell, if he goes 10-2 in '20 and 8-4 in '21, he may simply be back on the hotseat in '22.

Accurate typo. Out (of) position coaches. Tom’s favorite.

Of course the Tom defenders are grasping at the outdated offense comment, showing the don't even understand it enough to comment, but are missing the more damning problem with the shift away from ceding control to an air raid guy. Tom is essentially keeping himself as the OC. Sure, he says he wants to give up the control he has in the current "collaborative effort" setup. He may even cede control in reality for a bit next year. But when LSU and/or OU buttfucks us again, guess who is back to calling the plays the rest of his failed tenure?

You say you disagree, yet you actually agree. Fascinating.

Tom's version of it is.

Orlando did not stress fundamentals, that will change.That, less chance-taking on 3rd-and-Orlando, and the move to rugby style tackling should yield noticeable improvement.

Sure. 307 yards, 27 pts against OU who averaged allowing 330 and 25. 327 and 21 vs. ISU against averages of 371 and 21. 391 and 10 (including the trash on both) against Baylor's averages of 365 and 20. Greg Davis laughs at your standard for "good."

I'm less concerned about the DC hire. Ash should be an improvement. But it looks increasingly like the re-tooling on the offensive side will be nothing more than a change of the name of the guy running Tom's simplistic, out-dated offense. Basically Beck 2.0. I'm gonna be as excited for that as I was for Charlie year 3.

Which is why I've come to believe this ends badly. I hope I'm wrong. I hope for the continuation of our quadrennial peaceful revolutions. I just don't see that being the case. Trump knows he cannot leave office without suffering somehow. A cornered sociopath is the most dangerous kind. First he will try to win reelection. If he fails at that, he will look for another way.

We aren't talking about people with beliefs. We are talking about people who've fallen in lock-step behind a con-man, tool of gangsters. They've done so knowing full well that their leader is actively aiding our former sworn enemy-state simply because he gets their core constituency wet, and there is no other way to progress in their line of work. They are traitors to everything we hope this country would stand for, simply for money and power. Belief has nothing to do with it. I would welcome a government that makes choices based on the tension of liberal and conservative, libertarian and authoritarian impulses. We don't have that, and may not again for some time when the arc of this tragedy plays out.

Agreed. Which is why I find myself not giving a shit about any of this so much the last few months. I'm to the point that I feel that somehow Trump will still be in the White House come February 2021, and America as we know it will really begin to disappear.

So at least 4 of the 9 want to give DOTUS complete cover for all his financial dealings. We will know probably in June whether the American experiment is done. Maybe Justice Roberts isn’t totally corrupt. I hope the brisketledge has been load tested for 100+ million folks.

Last straw, huh? You have been very patient.

With perfect hindsight, the best non-Saban play would've been to let Mack stay, but mandate he bring in Lincoln Riley (one year before OU did) as OC/HCIW. That or try to get Dan Mullen, I guess.

I take it to mean the replacement is already chosen and accepted at least in principle.

I want the Dem nominee to announce at a debate that if he/she wins that the new name of Space Force will be Starfleet. Just as a random troll to throw him off.