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Ojo Rojo

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Everything posted by Ojo Rojo

  1. Oh, I agree with you 100% because of my own personal politics. I'm just pointing out that the decisions were made based on a different set of priorities. I believe that government should function for the greater good of the people. Not just those who can afford to participate in the political system by direct financial contributions, lobbyists, quid pro quo and the like. But that is not the set of priorities that has won the day in our state.
  2. Maybe true for some or even all of them. I don't know who the real decision makers are here or what their real motivations are. I try not to make a lot of assumptions. I tend to think that the politics of the state mandated fewer regulations, lower consumer costs and "free market" effects on the whole industry. And that's the biggest reason why we are where we are. I'm not willing to say yet that a few individuals decided to enrich themselves to the detriment of the greater good. That might very well have happened, but it's more because the policies of the state as a whole allowed them those decisions in the first place.
  3. Not every effect has personal responsibility as its cause. I know a lot of conservatives think that's all there is to anything, but that's not accurate. There are very complex systems in play that affect us all. Way bigger than what one person can effect on their own. No man is an island. We're all connected, whether we like it or not. Your choices affect me and vice versa. Pretending otherwise is a fairy tale. This wasn't a failure because 2/3 of the population was too dumb. (For the record, this degenerate lawyer winterized his own house and had no busted pipes.) This was a failure at a higher, institutional level. Industry, regulators and state government are responsible. They made choices that caused this to happen. I'm not saying that they made the wrong choice even. There is at least a reasonable basis for the decision. But make no mistake, the people who made those choices did so primarily to avoid costs and increase profits. People know what to do because they are doing it already everywhere but here. That's a policy decision, ultimately. So choose - do you want to have really cheap energy and companies in that industry that are profitable and as a consequence shit like this happens every 10-20 years, or do you want to have more expensive energy and companies in the industry with lower profits and this never happens. No right or wrong answer; it's a matter of priorities, which is all any policy decision is at the end of the day.
  4. Same. He looks to be about 17 years old in this picture. And what's up with those glasses? He just looks like a smarmy turd. Very punchable face.
  5. The root problem of democracy is politics itself. It's too easy to get people who vote to value the wrong shit.
  6. Definitely will be interesting to see what happens. Their only goal, though it should not be, is to maintain as much power and money as possible. That means they will do what they think is most politically advantageous, even if doing so is bad for, and would ultimately mean the end of, the United States of America as we know it. The question is, is a win more assured with or without MAGAts? It may turn out that the longer the Republican party embraces and supports MAGAt fascism the more votes they lose. That would be the case if sane Republicans are more numerous or grow faster than MAGAts. There are some indications, based on the reactions to Jan. 6, that is the case. The other strategy is to continue to embrace and support MAGA because it's the only coalition under which Republicans can win. They tolerate and suppress as much as they can while still keeping the dumb evil motherfuckers in the fold. My hope is that Mitch kicks the MAGAts to the curb and that Trump starts the Patriot Party. That would kill the Republican party for a while, which is why it won't happen. MAGAts are dumb enough to do it; Mitch and the R establishment are not.
  7. Do one for the perfect Republican!
  8. Me too. Former CEO of Exxon was an unconventional choice for secretary of state. It didn't really make sense to me. But okay, let's go with it. The guy is competent and Trump did say he was going to be different, so... When Tillerson said Trump was a moron it made me feel a little less crazy. After that, I knew it wasn't just me and I could feel more sure I wasn't wrong. Before that I was like the relative or friend of the girl with the guy that didn't seem to make sense. "I don't know what she/they see in him, but that's their choice. Maybe he'll turn out to be okay." LOL.
  9. I watched a few. There was an actual coup attempt. Thousands of Trump supporters went to D.C. to try to stop Congress from certifying the results of the election. On one level, I just can't believe it actually happened. For some reason, I've never really taken the threat of Trump and his supporters seriously. They are clowns to be pitied for their utter stupidity, not feared. This felt like a parody of a presidency and of an insurrection, not an actual fascist takeover of the USA.
  10. Excruciating to watch. I can only do like 20 seconds or so. Let's all go around the room and introduce ourselves? This isn't some small group at a fucking sales convention, this is your fucking cabinet!!! You hand-picked these people, imbecile! I think he did this because he didn't know who most of the people were or what their position was. All of the non-turds in the room had to have all been just dying inside. I wish I could hear Rex Tillerson's internal dialogue.
  11. I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I think it's funny that the acts he was impeached on the first time haven't even made anyone's list that I've read. (You know, where he attempted to coerce a foreign leader by withholding military aid, while they were in armed conflict with our No. 1 enemy I might add, in exchange for political favors.) Shows just how much crazy shit happened. Craziest thing at the time: That he got a single vote in 2016. I'm choosing this because all other things flowed from it. None of this crazy shit happens if he doesn't get elected. I remember thinking at the time that we were going to see the most unpopular presidential candidate in history (Trump) lose in a landslide to the second most unpopular candidate in history (Hillary). I really thought that was what was going to happen. I just thought there was no way Americans would vote for a reality TV star as president. Trump was too transparent; so obviously unfit for the job that I thought even stupid people couldn't possibly vote for him. I vastly overestimated the American people. Craziest thing: That after four years of an embarrassing, horrifying dumpster fire shit show where Trump absolutely showed his ass on a daily basis, over 70 MILLION people still voted for him. No single event in my lifetime has caused me to utterly lose faith in humanity more than this. There is a bright side. At least we didn't have an actual gifted political leader at this moment in time to harness all of the racist, fascist tendencies that were ripe in America for some real bad shit to go down. We are actually fortunate that the person available to seize that moment was a retarded egomaniac.
  12. My eyes have been opened to several things over the last four years: The U.S. is A LOT more racist than I thought. U.S. citizens are a lot dumber than I thought. Destroying the entire fucking country is not as hard as I thought. The Trumptards and right wing extremist fuckheads were angered by Obama's presidency, Hillary's candidacy and emboldened to come out of the shadows by Trump's presidency. We're less than a day in, but they are already retreating back to the shadows. All of the rational and good people among us must remember this: they might not be as visible as they were BUT THEY ARE STILL THERE AND THEY STILL THINK THE SAME VIOLENT RACIST THOUGHTS.
  13. I'm really going to miss Randy Rainbow.
  14. This. They only deserve to occupy the anus of America.
  15. He did it to get reelected. He knew that a pandemic on his watch was going to be bad for his reelection chances. He had two choices - accept that it was happening and do the best he could for the good of the country and probably not get reelected or deliberately downplay and downright deny the virus existed and blame the other side for making it all up and taking people's freedums. He knew that his base and those he could attract to vote for him would believe anything he said and were already opposed to "the establishment," which includes scholars and scientists and those types. Based on his priorities and character, it was really the only thing he was ever going to do.
  16. Spot on. Talk radio had a part to play as well. I did a spot of research and discovered that the FCC abolished a rule called The Fairness Doctrine as part of deregulation to help the declining AM radio business. The Fairness Doctrine required stations to give contrasting viewpoints. Enter Rush Limbaugh. As another element of deregulation, companies were allowed to own more stations, which served to bolster conservative talk radio too. Clearchannel's (now iHeartMedia) largest contract is with Limbaugh.
  17. Yeah, I'm assuming that the GOP would not nominate someone who had zero chance of winning the general. I guess I just want really badly to put all things Trump in the rear view mirror and never look back.
  18. We should be so lucky. I don't think he'll be in prison or in exile. Holed up in Florida, maybe. I don't see much political advantage in going after him for the Dems. Their strategy has been to cast themselves as the non-crazy adults in the room and it worked. Going after him will just make the Dems look vindictive and obsessed. I like their approach, which is "Moving along." Whether to prosecute him should not be a political decision anyway. The Trumpstains/Neocons/Fascists are not going away, but I don't see their numbers swelling either. They still represent a significant part of the GOP base, but it's not enough to win a presidential election. I think the GOP is going to have to step back from the edge of the cliff if they are going to win the presidency in the next 20 years. Trump cannot be a part of that movement.
  19. Who thinks DT will win the GOP nomination in '24? I don't know if he'll actually run. Probably depends on how his financial situation plays out over the next four years. If he does run, I don't think he'll get the nomination. His formula worked in '16; it didn't work in '20. Politics seems to move on from its losers pretty quickly.
  20. That's certainly the way it feels at this moment. I'd contend that it felt more like that before November 3rd. The realization that a strong majority of Americans voted to unfuck ourselves has set in slowly, in part because there's this distracting static that has been coming out of the White House, still. Anyway, as I've gotten older I've gotten some perspective on the moment and on change itself. I've much more easily adopted the mantra, "This, too, shall pass." Trump will fade away; MAGAts too. We'll find equilibrium again, and cross over it again in the future many times over until the sun explodes or we blow ourselves up. Democracy depends on politics serving the needs of the populace. There are many politicians who are trying to work for the greater good, or at least the good of their constituents. The proportion of them who are out to serve themselves or win at all costs is too high for the true needs of the people to be served. The first, and biggest, step should be to get the money out of politics. The Citizens United case was a damaging blow to our political system. Congress isn't likely to pass meaningful campaign finance reform because they'd be cutting their own throats. But that is exactly what the country needs them to do right now. The good of the country has no relation to how much money special interests can funnel to politicians. Yes. Income and wealth inequality is a huge driver of the current political situation. Not sure how to address it - increase minimum wage? Increase cap gains/estate taxes? Lower taxes on lower and middle income people? Invest in education systems that serve poor and middle class to increase their earning potential? I'd be curious to know how we measure inflation versus how it should be measured. If the government is purposefully under-counting inflation to make themselves look good that's....bad.
  21. It's not stupidity in the sense of low I.Q. This phenomena is something else. I obviously don't actually know and I am still baffled that anyone could buy into such nonsense and that we are where we are, but I'll give my theory anyway: 1. The rise of infotainment. Some people do believe what they read and hear without questioning it. Some people believe it because it's what they want to hear and makes them feel good. Those two things have always been true, but the availability of information, be it legitimate news from traditional news sources, on one end, or straight made up bullshit on social media on the other end, is just worlds beyond what it has ever been. So, basically, the internet and then people's appetites for consumption of infotainment has just grown. 2. Politicians fueling the fire. They see people buying into the narrative of the infotainment business and they get on the bandwagon. The politicians tell people they are getting fucked by others all the time, tell people that they have the solutions for them, they are looking out for their interests, etc. Tends to get people angry and looking for someone to blame and also leads to hero worship of those who are paying lip service to them, telling them what they want to hear. What's been amazing here is how quickly the fascists/Trumpers/neocons turn on anyone who utters a word against their ethos - Barr, McConnell - their former heroes. 3. Income inequality and wealth disparity. It appears to me that the income and wealth gap in the U.S. is growing. That puts stress on society. People get angry because they don't have enough money and they look across town at rich fat cats who have what they want. The rich and powerful, those more in control of the country, have an incentive to keep the displeasure of the poor in check because if it gets too severe that leads to civil unrest, or worse. For whatever reason, maybe just the rich and powerful trying to test the limits to see what they can get away with, they are not relieving the pressure by enacting policies that would raise wages and create more wealth in the lower and middle classes.
  22. Wow. I'm not sure what I expected - this is the remnant of Shaggy after all. I have an unpopular view of this Urban Meyer situation, that's my crime. I think you, and a lot of other people, are willing to accept certain things that have been reported as fact. My threshold is higher, I guess. I'm no kind of apologist, but I am partial to the truth.
  23. If Urban Meyer retained a coach he knew was a wife beater on his staff because he was Earle Bruce's grandson or because he was a really good recruiter or for any reason whatsoever then he should be fired. No question. Everyone was jumping on him over the lie, which is what I was saying wasn't that big of a deal. I think you may have just agreed. That he didn't tell the truth is clear. I think it remains to be seen what went on between the Smiths, whether Zach Smith is in fact a wife beater and exactly what Urban Meyer knew and what he did about it. I'm willing to wait to condemn the man until those facts come out.
  24. You're right. He had the opportunity to correct it at the later meeting with the reporter and he didn't and he should have. What a tangled web we weave. I still think that the first answer he just fucked it up. Then he was stuck. I have never contended that what he said about his knowledge of the 2015 incident was not untrue. He may have done it intentionally and if so then he lied. All it takes to bring a guy down who has done as much as he has is one lie about an allegation made against one of your coaches? Maybe I'm morally compromised, but I just don't think what he did is that bad.
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