1. #23386
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    Quote Originally Posted by CSTowle View Post
    1. I'd say this meme came about making fun of how Bernie looked at the Inauguration. Slumped down, in mittens, looking like he clearly didn't want to be there. If anything this is less about "deifying" Bernie and more about making fun of how he looked. Honestly it was probably spread slightly more by Biden and old Clinton supporters looking to take a mini victory lap over Bernie supporters than Bernie supporters trying to get his name back in the press. I'd still bet everything I own that both of those groups of people are very much outnumbered by people who are just amused at his look.
    It's not just about this meme, this meme is just the latest meme Bernie's had. This meme is not an isolated incident. It's been a thing with Bernie ever since a bird came down when he had a speech, and it's the behaviour around the memes which is dangerous.



    You want to know how Trump became a god-king among the insurrections and his followers? This is part of the answer, he became an idea not a man to his followers. It's why the Bernie Bros became a thing which the left has been desperately trying to erase from history because it makes the movement look bad.

    2. Presidential contests (and many political contests) are popularity contests. So some candidates are going to be more popular than others. Not saying this is the right way to go, I'd agree with you that it shouldn't be. But it is. And Bernie is actually kind of like your cool uncle. Not that this is a great qualification to be elected President, but it is going to make someone more likable than others. The reason he's a household name instead of the newest version of Dennis Kucinich is because in '16 every major politician got out of the way for Hillary Clinton because it was "her turn".
    True, but not all popularity is good for society. When someone stops being a politician and starts being a deity to their followers something has gone horribly wrong. No, Bernie is not anyone's "cool uncle" to his followers, they are not related to him. He doesn't know who these people are. This ins't about likability, this is not the same thing as having a beer with a candidate this is celebrity worship which risks harming people around them who aren't in the group. That was bad, this is worse. Bernie's not their friend, they want him to be their family when he's neither - he's a politician. Especially when it's combined with stubborn contrariness and conspiracy theories about rigged elections against the "establishment" - a worrying trend among both Bernie's and Trump's supporters which this feeds. I know why this are to be, the problem is it shouldn't be accepted as something we should encourage in society.

    In a normal election cycle without an incumbent there would have been a healthy range of candidates to choose from and Bernie would likely have polled at under 5% as one of the crazy candidates that some on the far left would sigh and say, "If only someone like that could get elected in our country". Instead it was only Clinton and your crazy but loveable uncle Bernie. And since Hillary Clinton is one of the least popular politicians in my lifetime (again, not least qualified but least liked by the average voter) folks were desperate for an alternative. So Bernie went from what should have been under 5% to oddly competitive.
    Sure, but that's not the complaint. It's the reactions to Bernie's rise which are the problem. Hillary's popularity is debatable, if she truly was as hated as the left would believe she'd have been Bloomberg'd out of the race.

    This excited many on the left because (like minority voters who are also pandered to, with talk of "hot sauce in my purse wherever I go" and the like) they usually have to eat s##t, get in line, and support the middle-of-the-road candidate the Party elite has pushed and accommodated. Now they had someone who held beliefs closer to theirs. And (a rare treat, and usually disqualifying) someone who actually seemed to believe in what he was saying, rather than saying what they needed to in order to be elected. This gave him a popularity he probably did not deserve, and allowed some to project qualities on him they wanted rather than who he necessarily was. Just as people did with Obama in '08.
    Minority voters chose other candidates more than Bernie, this is a big reason why Biden won in '20. They're also in a coalition, all factions who don't win have to do that and do it again next time, that's the process. It's incredibly rich that Bernie's supposed to be the champion of minority voters when he couldn't be bothered going to the anniversary of Bloody Sunday.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/01/u...andidates.html

    Bernie has a problematic history among minority voting blocs, if they were so behind hm as we're supposed to be believed he'd have been president years ago. "Party elite" - vernacular the far left and far right have in common in disparaging anyone who won't step into line when they say jump, despite failing to achieve things like winning elections. That's their candidates one job, if that candidate fails they need to ask more questions about why they're losing then blaming the nebulous "establishment" which includes organisations like Planned Parenthood.

    https://www.vox.com/2016/1/20/108014...-establishment

    It's disingenuous to suggest other candidates followers aren't genuinely supporting their politicians, it's dangerous close to "fake news" to my liking. People have valid opinions in believing in candidates which aren't named Bernie sanders. This is where the cult of personality starts freaking out political rivals because it becomes more about feels than facts.

    Bernie wishes he was Obama, and Obama's cult of personality wasn't as persistent or dangerous as Bernie's. Bernie's followers projecting things on him is why this is a problem, that's what the memes encourage the idea of him like that, not that he's actually a man and politician. He's more like Santa Claus than a real person with these memes.

    The truth is most of the time politics is boring (sometimes by design, keeps average people from looking too deeply into things that are going on). People don't like boring. We just elected the political equivalent of a bowl of oatmeal that's probably slightly past its expiration date. But right now having spent the last four years with the meal equivalent of a still-living boar running around destroying things and defecating all over the carpet we're pretty OK with bland, stale oatmeal. How long will it take the American public to forget that boar though? One Presidential election cycle, two? We're (I say we as I'm a lifelong Democratic voter as apparently is a large section of this board) going to have to put a popular product out there at some point. Hopefully they can do something to make Harris seem more interesting than they did in '20 when she had to drop out from low polling. She'll have at least four years in the spotlight to build a resume. But it is important that she be at least somewhat likable. Whether that should matter or not, it does.
    What you're saying is true but Bernie sanders being elected won't change that those are systemic problems which take decades to fix, no single president can do that. Even Bernie. Again, this is missing the problem that how Bernie is being deified is not how politicians should be reacted to by the public, that's another problem which American politics don't need. We're stuck with incrementalism because breaking the system isn't an option. Even assuming Bernie lives up to that if he were president the Democrats would boot him out before too much comes to pass because they're not the GOP. Democrats have standards and they don't like destroying the system by people who don't have plans for what to do afterward, which the right would exploit to put their own king on the throne to rule the ashes. That "bowl of oatmeal" was more popular than Bernie was, that's why he's president.

  2. #23387
    Ultimate Member Mister Mets's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Amadeus Arkham View Post
    Trump’s post-presidency plans

    Thread:
    He also can't just tweet an endorsement any more.
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    Invincible Jersey Ninja Tami's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Mets View Post
    He also can't just tweet an endorsement any more.
    He's been de-fanged and declawed, for now. If he's convicted in the Senate, that would make him even less influential. If Trump, his family, and/or his business are convicted (or similar) in state or federal courts, that would be another nail in his political coffin. If Trump's business starts to hemorrhage money and goes bankrupt, you might as well start pilling on the dirt, cause any political influence he once had will be long buried.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tami View Post
    He's been de-fanged and declawed, for now. If he's convicted in the Senate, that would make him even less influential. If Trump, his family, and/or his business are convicted (or similar) in state or federal courts, that would be another nail in his political coffin. If Trump's business starts to hemorrhage money and goes bankrupt, you might as well start pilling on the dirt, cause any political influence he once had will be long buried.
    The idea that there are GOP Senators still looking to rally around him shows how stupid they are. Like... he's losing support by the day. People who helped carry out a coup on his behalf and didn't get pardoned are saying he betrayed them. So if they're scared right now of what happens if they vote to convict him in the Senate because it will kill them in the primary... will it? We keep hearing about more criminality, and he keeps fading from view... or the view we get is him being corrupt and he has no platform to launch a rebuttal. He has no interest.

    Further, people who are digging in on the Trump/Insurrectionist side aren't getting campaign donations from top donors for that. So how are they going to primary a sitting Republican brave enough to take a stand against them? They won't have money to campaign with. And they're running on a "sedition ticket". The GOP are just cowards, afraid to stand up to the worst in their number, even though it's a minority clearly in the wrong, and the threat they face of a primary isn't really as scary as they're making it out to be.
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    Quote Originally Posted by ChadH View Post
    Stories like this give me hope the Republican party will fracture and die a messy death.
    The "Republican party" doesn't have to die.
    It just needs a way to separate itself from the über-Conservative Trumpist side and become a more sensible alternative to the Democratic party (who have their own über-Liberal radical wing trying to assert themselves).
    Maybe what we need is a stronger moderate, independent party for those people who feel uncomfortable with both ultra-extreme wings.

    Quote Originally Posted by Amadeus Arkham View Post
    I love this:

    Wait . . . so at one point, Hawkman was reincarnated as Bernie Sanders?!?


  7. #23392
    Astonishing Member Frobisher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    The "Republican party" doesn't have to die.
    It just needs a way to separate itself from the über-Conservative Trumpist side and become a more sensible alternative to the Democratic party (who have their own über-Liberal radical wing trying to assert themselves).
    Maybe what we need is a stronger moderate, independent party for those people who feel uncomfortable with both ultra-extreme wings.
    Lol at the idea that the US has anything even vaguely approaching a radical Left wing, ne’er mind “ultra-extreme”. Kids nowadays!

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    State Republicans push new voting restrictions after Trump’s loss

    It wouldn’t be the GOP if it didn’t do its damnedest to make it difficult to impossible for black people to vote.
    Last edited by Amadeus Arkham; 01-24-2021 at 09:14 AM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tami View Post
    He's been de-fanged and declawed, for now. If he's convicted in the Senate, that would make him even less influential. If Trump, his family, and/or his business are convicted (or similar) in state or federal courts, that would be another nail in his political coffin. If Trump's business starts to hemorrhage money and goes bankrupt, you might as well start pilling on the dirt, cause any political influence he once had will be long buried.
    It’s absolutely amazing how much weaker and quieter he seemed after he lost his Twitter account. Almost like the source of his power was taken away. Twitter and Facebook have done so much damage to the world. Social media has made it so much easier for extremism to spread. freaking Facebook had a helping hand in the genocide in Myanmar.

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    Video shows Tacoma police vehicle drive through crowd, run over at least 1 person

    A Tacoma, Washington, police officer was seen driving through a downtown crowd Saturday night, running over at least one person and sending them to the hospital.

    The officer responded to multiple calls that a group of people were blocking a downtown intersection when the crowd began descending on the police car, the Tacoma Police Department said. Interim Tacoma Police Chief Mike Ake said he is “committed” to the department’s full cooperation into an investigation into the incident.

    “I am concerned that our department is experiencing another use of deadly force incident,” Ake said.

    Multiple bystander videos were posted online of the incident, where the police car can be seen rolling over a person and continuing to move forward. Authorities from Pierce County are taking over the probe into the incident as an independent investigation team.
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    Quote Originally Posted by numberthirty View Post
    For the "Illinois Adjacent..." folks who might find themselves driving in Chicago. Reads like the first time will come with a warning in the mail before actual tickets after that warning...

    https://www.chicagotribune.com/polit...ffm-story.html
    We've had those cameras in my area for years and were only just removed last year. Prepare yourself for constant bitching in the local papers and news outlets.
    The thing is there are usually signs posted ahead warning people they're entering a speed-camera zone so it's not entrapment, but folks sure act like it is.
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    Dear lord.....
    "I love mankind...it's people I can't stand!!"

    - Charles Schultz.

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    Fight over the rules grinds the Senate to a halt, imperiling Biden’s legislative agenda

    When President Biden took office last week, he promised sweeping, bipartisan legislation to solve the coronavirus pandemic, fix the economy and overhaul immigration.

    Just days later, the Senate ground to a halt, with Democrats and Republicans unable to agree on even basic rules for how the evenly divided body should operate.

    Meanwhile, key Republicans have quickly signaled discomfort with — or outright dismissal of — the cornerstone of Biden’s early legislative agenda, a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan that includes measures including $1,400 stimulus checks, vaccine distribution funding and a $15 minimum wage.

    On top of that, senators are preparing for a wrenching second impeachment trial for President Donald Trump, set to begin Feb. 9, which could mire all other Senate business and further obliterate any hopes of cross-party cooperation.
    The calculations for McConnell, according to Republicans, are simple. Not only is preserving the filibuster a matter that Republicans can unify around, it is something that potentially divides Democrats, who are under enormous pressure to discard it to advance their governing agenda.
    “Republicans very much appreciate the consistency and the rock-solid fidelity to the norms and rules that make the Senate a moderating force in policymaking,” said Scott Jennings, a former McConnell aide. “The legislative filibuster is the last rule driving bipartisanship in Washington.”

    The Senate filibuster has evolved over the course of its history into a de facto supermajority requirement, requiring 60 votes to end debate and advance legislation. Rarely has one party held enough votes to defeat filibusters without at least some cross-aisle cooperation.

    The rule has been eroded over the past decade. After McConnell led a broad blockade of President Barack Obama’s nominees, Democrats under then-Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) in 2013 allowed executive appointees and lower-court judges to be advanced with a simple majority vote.
    McConnell and other Republicans last week reminded Democrats that many of them praised the filibuster in the past — particularly in the two-year period in 2017 and 2018 where the GOP controlled the House, Senate and White House. Twenty-seven Senate Democrats who now serve signed an April 2017 letter calling on Schumer to preserve the status quo.

    But most of those Democrats — who watched McConnell exempt Republican nominees from filibuster rules where he saw fit under Trump, after using them to the GOP’s advantage for six years before that to block Obama’s legislation and nominees — now find his early power move to be infuriating.
    Last edited by Tami; 01-24-2021 at 11:18 AM.
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    BANNED Joker's Avatar
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    Pro Tip. Paywalls are what they are, but post more relevant information if you're posting paywalled articles. WHY is the senate fighting, and grinding to a halt when Dems have control.

    Edit: Assuming those details are given...
    Last edited by Joker; 01-24-2021 at 10:49 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Amadeus Arkham View Post



    Dear lord.....
    The knives are out.

    A lot of people raked Birx over the coals, and I agree she said a lot of dumb things, but I also think it was hard for her to be there and do what she did.

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