He’s a Democrat up for reelection in a state that heavily leans Trump. His vote on Kavanaugh could make or break his chances.
In other words: there will be no Profiles in Courage written about this Congress.
It’s only a moment’s thought away to fantasize about being rich. And those fantasies aren’t as fun when a large part of your fantasised money is taken to help other people.
Or maybe going after Trump for tax evasion is what brings the IRS down.
It is optimistic to think that being nasty will get us to a state of greater equality and egalitarianism.
Or Ceasar.
How about instead of reeducated, we do education in the first place. Instead of reeducation camps, we send them to “education camps”, AKA, college.
Everyone that I’ve talked to on the right about fiscal or tax policy has only the most rudimentary understanding of math, unable to follow along very simplified examples. If you can’t math, then you can’t evaluate fiscal policy.
And, IMHO, what is causing much of this backlash is a form of white male desperation. We see that what we have gotten others to work hard for being given to them, rather than to us. We see that just showing up and being white isn’t quite cutting it in today’s economy anymore. Even those with better jobs and wages are seeing competition coming in, and it scares them.
They desperately cling to what they think that they deserve, unable to understand that by refusing to share the collective rewards from our collective efforts, they are not only harming others, but limiting themselves as well.
Kind of. It is important to them that there is someone below them on the social or economic ladders. Very important. And if becoming wealthy meant that everyone was as wealthy as they are, then they wouldn’t have the comfort of knowing that there are others that are not as well off as they are.
It’s an odd trait, but it is a powerful one. People are far more worried about what other people are getting, and are desperately concerned that someone else may be getting more than they deserve, that they are willing to sacrifice their own well being and growth in order to deny it to others.
This is true. The Democrats need to regain the House then the Senate–and prioritize education. (Lots of work to do to counter the anti-education policies put in place by Trump’s people, but then again, there are lots of Americans who do realize how important this is.)
Part of the reason the one percent has been able to bamboozle Republican voters into voting against their own interests is that poorly-educated people are easily manipulated. But being well-educated needs to include not only math, but also BULLSHIT DETECTION.
Search that phrase and you’ll find lots of programs being used in schools worldwide–many of which have had notable success. Here’s one specifically aimed at getting kids to understand manipulation on health issues:
This researcher may have discovered the antidote to health bullshit - Vox
Of course the Trump Clusterfucky Administration would fight implementation of any such program, but if we can regain Congress we can do something to counter the Trump Admin’s clusterfucky ways.
People are shitkicker-stupid only to the extent that we fail to let them know that they’re being manipulated by people who do not have their best interests at heart.
Even stupid people dislike being manipulated. Point out to then that that’s what’s happening, and they may vote differently. Even that sweet racist message ‘you’re white and you deserve to have all others bow down to you’ may not work as well as it’s working now, if the targets of the message realize how thoroughly they’re being conned.
I’m not religious, but if I were to win the lottery there’s a religiously-afilliated hospital that will get ten percent. I’ll still be rich, and 10% would go a long way toward helping people.
Jesus! I’ve read maybe the first two and last two of the half thousand pages of this thread and i find it incredulous. How can you be so incensed? Do you really think that a couple years under Trump has doomed the country? Obama’s eight years were just eradicated? Nuts.
The venom thrown towards Kavanaugh is a consistent rant but I’ll stick with the speech on the Senate floor by Senator Collins. Did any Dem give such thought to the process? Or just rail about how evil he is.
Oh, yeah. You guys are way too crazy.
Yes. It’s that bad.
I don’t expect people to understand or agree with me. The problem is, when they find out that I’m right, it’ll be too late.
The problem is that people who believe in conspiracy theories such as the deep state, and who frequent sites like Infowars and Breitbart believe that they’re breaking free from being manipulated and that those who disagree with them are either manipulators or the victims of manipulators.
How do you break through that? How do you convince them that they are the ones being manipulated?
Some of them - some - will find out when the economy collapses. And it will.
What’s coming in the next 2-4 years is the greatest economic and political crisis in the last 150 years. We’re going to be tested in ways we can’t imagine. Passing the test will require complete domination of the shitkicker mentality. I don’t care how you all feel about me for pointing this out. It’s real.
Especially when the fucking president is the chief of the people who believe in conspiracy theories such as the deep state, and who frequent sites like Infowars and Breitbart and fucking believe every fucking thing they say.
Remember back when the right worried about Black Helicopters, FEMA camps and New World Order?
Fun times.
Now it seems to be happening and is being embraced by the right…
The Right was never against that kind of thing, per se. They just were outraged that they thought it was going on and they weren’t the ones perpetrating it on the Left.
In other words, kicking the shit out of the shitkickers. Right. That reminds me of the RWers who say that the Left preaches tolerance so the Left should be tolerant of their bigoted assholery. The RWers are trying hard to piss off the Left so they can point and shout about how violent the Left is.
What I’m saying is that the only way this country is going to figure it out is to suffer - the way we did back in the 1930s. It’s the only way humans learn sometimes. The changes that truly made this country great came from Roosevelt and basically a super-majority of people who imposed their will on the conservatives. They dominated the conservatives because people finally understand that originalism and good ole fashion conservatism weren’t benefiting the people, but the oligarchs instead. History repeats itself. We’ve been drifting toward a massive economic crisis for decades now, and we’ve been able to avoid facing the reality because we’ve been able to keep borrowing against our future (and our environment). Eventually, there will be nothing left to borrow. The debt will be due.
Politically, the only way republicans can continue to keep their majority is to behave increasingly undemocratically. I don’t even think Donald Trump is the worst of what they have to offer. The Christian warriors are going to start playing an increasingly visible role in the government, and they’re going to start censoring how the rest of us think, which of course is to the benefit of the oligarchs, but it’ll be justified on grounds of morality and virtue, and national loyalty. And this court won’t lift a finger to stop them, either. This country is turning into burnt toast.
#maybetherereallyarefishpeople
Words similar to this were spoken by my high school dropout, politically unaware, 28-year old step-grandson a couple of weeks ago (although he never saw this thread or this board). All he can see is, “Why do the liberals want Trump to fail? He’s the president! Why would they want him to fail?” And then he laughed. “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
All I could say to him, and I will repeat to Mr/Ms. mundylion, is “You haven’t been paying attention.” And my grandson HASN’T. He doesn’t read. He’s the one that I cited elsewhere who said all news media put out fake news. The only news outlets he trusts are NPR and the BBC, but he doesn’t follow them either. So he walks around in an uninformed haze, clueless about what his future in this new country is going to be.
And yes, it is exactly that bad. And getting worse.
And no, we’re not crazy.
Welcome and stick around. You might learn something.
Two Supreme Court Justices, one stolen from the Democrats and one a frat rat party boy, are bad news.
Clarence Thomas has been bad news for almost thirty years. In so many ways.
When we impeach Kavanaugh, can we get rid of Thomas as part of the deal? Kind of a clean sweep of sex abusers?
Supreme Court Justices are impeached by Congress, the same guys who just approved Kavanaugh.
Well, yeah, but you are not one of those complaining about having to pay a higher marginal rate on your taxes if you make more money.
I don’t know that that will work. Sure, there may be trouble in our future, and sure, those with rationality, logic, and information will see that it stems directly from the actions of those who are currently in office, but those who voted for those currently in office will see it differently. They will continue to double down on the blaming of anyone, anything, whatever it takes to avoid any sort of personal responsibility for their troubles.
Everything that is good in my life is due to my hard work and good choices, and everything that is bad is someone else fault. Of course, everything good in *your *life was given to you, and everything bad is because you are lazy and made bad choices.
There will be suffering, sure. But I don’t now that there will be learning. An enlightened attitude is to learn from the suffering of others, even those who suffered hundred of years ago, and use their lessons to relieve current suffering and prevent it in the future.
A less enlightened attitude is to enjoy seeing the suffering in others, and to complain bitterly about any sacrifice that is asked on your part to reduce it, and to blame any suffering you endure on others.
I do worry about the implications of a partisan supreme court. Godel said he found a flaw in the constitution that would allow authoritarian rule to be implemented, but was asked to not talk about it during his immigration hearing, and it never got brought back up.
Seems obvious now, with SCOTUS the final interpreter of the constitution, compromising SCOTUS in a partisan way means that the constitution doesn’t really matter anymore.
And that is where we really need to start. Education. Asashi wants re-education camps, but I think that we just need to provide that education in the first place. Many of these people are scared and desperate, they see that their way of life of being white and showing up, and that being enough as coming to an end. They are needing college degrees, or at least vocational training, and they don’t have access to it, and so they are losing their earning potential or even their livelihoods entirely.
Desperate people make bad choices. Ignorant desperate people can be lead astray to make even worse choices. I don’t know that we can blame the people who make bad choices when society hasn’t given them the tools that the need to be able to manage the basics of math, logic, and critical thinking that would be needed to have a rudimentary evaluation of the choices that they are presented.
So, they go with what their gut tells them. And your gut is good to follow if you are debating whether to run away from that rustling in the bushes that may be a tiger, but it is less able to deal with the complexities of macroeconomics.
Not necessarily the same guys. Kavanaugh’s for life, congress can be “impeached” by the voters.
Not to mention that the House of Representatives has to impeach him, then the Senate would try him. Hopefully, the fact that the entire House is up for re-election every two years will actually mean something for change this time.