Calling it now: Dems snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in 2016.

[Pergamos]

heh, if I had read the whole thread I could have seen that they are, in fact, now tied...

[Junkenstein]

Apparently Mcaffe (Of bathsalts/hookers and guns/antivirus fame) was/is buggering around as a libertarian candidate.

I can only assume that ended as most things tend do for the man.

[Cain]

Meanwhile, The Donald has marched to victory in South Carolina with a 10 point lead over both Rubio and Cruz.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-35624026

[The Good Reverend Roger]

NOT HORRIBLE RACISM:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=5uWu0nSsg7w&app=desktop

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

One comforting thing is that, IIRC, both Sanders and Trump have promised to give the TPP the full Andrew Jackson treatment in regard to complete refusal to abide by a treaty.

[Junkenstein]

This is getting silly now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-35647126

In his victory speech, Mr Trump told a roaring crowd of supporters: "We're winning, winning, winning the country, and soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning."

He's channeling Charlie sheen for fucks sake.

...says "I love the poorly educated" in his victory speech

meaning "loves to exploit the poorly educated". Seriously, I can't understand how this has gone as far as it has. It's just depressing on too many levels.

[Faust]

Oh don't be silly, Reagan will never be elected, he's a celebrity.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

This is getting silly now:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-35647126

In his victory speech, Mr Trump told a roaring crowd of supporters: "We're winning, winning, winning the country, and soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning."

He's channeling Charlie sheen for fucks sake.

...says "I love the poorly educated" in his victory speech

meaning "loves to exploit the poorly educated". Seriously, I can't understand how this has gone as far as it has. It's just depressing on too many levels.

He's just trying to give this country the President it's asking for.

[Junkenstein]

Clearly, that still makes it no less depressing.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/black-lives-matter-activist-confronts-clinton-over-mass-incarceration-i-am-not-a-super-predator/

For balance, let's talk about how much of a shitshow Clinton is, shall we?

The reactions from the crowd in the above video are sheer class. Hissing, accusations of trespass (totally erroneous and unfounded) and the call of "this is not appropriate". To be blunt, Clinton is pretty fucking evil and has a terrible record for a great many things. This quote is hardly new news, certainly no secret and as far as I know, still not addressed. I suspect it never will be in any real way because it's pretty fucking indefensible. The larger implications with X to Prison pipelines are quite stark and I don't see any serious attempts likely to be made to address it. The prison lobby has grown far too large to be adequately controlled. It's also now capable of throwing around the required monies to ensure that it stays uncontrolled.

Additionally, this horseshit about it being pro/anti feminist to vote for clinton is such fucking nonsense it's quite sickening. "Hey, let's remove all thought and nuance and just check genitals! Who's got the sexual organs you can trust?" I suppose it makes a certain degree of sense, it's not like you can just vote for the candidate with the best hair this time. 

It's times like this that make you really question if voting is actually worthwhile. If it comes down to Trump/Clinton, how could you vote for either with a straight face? But no, let's fuck about and try and pick the least crappy option.



More like prophecy every year.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

It occurs to me that the final failure of Discordianism is that we pretend we're not baboons until something like the election comes along.  Then we jump right in with the humans and button our uniforms up until we can't breathe, pointing and gasping about everyone else's uniforms, while at the same time waving our inflamed baboon asses all over the place.  It is nothing more than assisted self-abuse, though at one time it was that AND some interesting stuff.  Like 7 years ago.  Sort of like the Church of the Subgenius, only 5 years later.

Discordianism is a pathetic joke, an excuse for assholes, and a means by which to pretend that we're not as dumb as THEM.

Politics is also a pathetic joke, for exactly the same reason.

I want nothing more to do with either one, really.  I may be here, but I'm done pretending that I'm anything more than just another dumb fucking ape flinging poo at the other dumb fucking apes.

[The Wizard Joseph]

If the the common food analogy for spiritual matters can be extended I see Discordianism as basically candy with drugs in it. It's not bread or meat or even fresh water, just concentrated sugar and unnatural additives wrapped up in a flashy package like a bag of Skittles.

It's not that it can't be USEFUL, fun, even amazing, but it's not real nourishment. For that you have to look for more and the one useful thing in Discordianism is if you dig deep you're going to find the stuff all the jokes were based on and those are "real food".

Now I think the problem with politics is that most folks don't have any such thing as nourished spirits and they're all crackhead crazy on the shit WORSE than Discordianism they get in their all-consuming "feed" these days. They're playing a sport without nutritive food in a sense.

I have no idea how to resolve the problem. This is just how I see it. This and I REALLY think that there is in fact an ontological cartel, probably several, in our world in full knowledge of the state of things and interested in keeping it profitable perpetually, no matter who they have to kill or what they have to destroy. I would like to think I'm wrong.

[P3nT4gR4m]

I have no idea how to resolve the problem.

I used to think something had to be done to "resolve the problem" but then I realised nothing could be done. Either "the problem" resolves itself or it doesn't. Maybe it stays a "problem", maybe it gets worse but that's it, that's all it is - a problem.

Problems may or may not be solvable. If they're not solvable then the best one can hope to do is avoid them insofar as avoidance is possible.

The world may go up in smoke tomorrow. Unsolvable. Unavoidable. Game over. A situation entirely beyond my control. Furthermore, I may become dead, via any number of alternative fates. Buses, gas leaks, glitches in my dna-code, hostile dna-code.

Many people (the vast majority) who are not me, decide to buy into this - democratic pantomime, feelgood bullshit because, for that brief second they put an x in a box, they feel hope. They feel empowered. The politician stands on tv and tells them they have the power, he quotes the holy constitution and they believe in a bunch of dog and pony crap. Me? I see it as propaganda. Media induced hope.

So the stage is set, the actors are spewing trite, predictable one-liners, designed by the best scriptwriters in the country, to incite and enflame the passions of the audience. The audience will exercise their "power" and, finally, some will claim victory and other defeat.

A year from now, everything will be exactly the same, save for a new baddie to blame for everything that's wrong with the world.

Vote for change. Vote for a job. Vote for a career. Vote for a family. Vote for a fucking big television, vote for washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin can openers. Vote for good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Vote for fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Vote for a starter home. Vote for your friends. Vote for leisure wear and matching luggage. Vote for a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Vote for DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Vote for sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Vote for rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Vote for your future. Vote for life . . . But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to vote for life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got democracy?

[Vanadium Gryllz]

I have no idea how to resolve the problem.

I used to think something had to be done to "resolve the problem" but then I realised nothing could be done. Either "the problem" resolves itself or it doesn't. Maybe it stays a "problem", maybe it gets worse but that's it, that's all it is - a problem.

Problems may or may not be solvable. If they're not solvable then the best one can hope to do is avoid them insofar as avoidance is possible.

The world may go up in smoke tomorrow. Unsolvable. Unavoidable. Game over. A situation entirely beyond my control. Furthermore, I may become dead, via any number of alternative fates. Buses, gas leaks, glitches in my dna-code, hostile dna-code.

Many people (the vast majority) who are not me, decide to buy into this - democratic pantomime, feelgood bullshit because, for that brief second they put an x in a box, they feel hope. They feel empowered. The politician stands on tv and tells them they have the power, he quotes the holy constitution and they believe in a bunch of dog and pony crap. Me? I see it as propaganda. Media induced hope.

So the stage is set, the actors are spewing trite, predictable one-liners, designed by the best scriptwriters in the country, to incite and enflame the passions of the audience. The audience will exercise their "power" and, finally, some will claim victory and other defeat.

A year from now, everything will be exactly the same, save for a new baddie to blame for everything that's wrong with the world.

Vote for change. Vote for a job. Vote for a career. Vote for a family. Vote for a fucking big television, vote for washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin can openers. Vote for good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Vote for fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Vote for a starter home. Vote for your friends. Vote for leisure wear and matching luggage. Vote for a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Vote for DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Vote for sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Vote for rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Vote for your future. Vote for life . . . But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to vote for life: I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got democracy?

Fantastic.

[Brother Mythos]

For those still interested in this US election cycle, here's a recent article by Professor Paul Krugman, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner in 2008:

"Clash of Republican Con Artists"

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/opinion/clash-of-republican-con-artists.html?smid=tw-share&_r=3

It's a short article, but in explaining the Republican cons Krugman writes, "Establishment Republicans denounce Mr. Trump as a fraud, which he is. But is he more fraudulent than the establishment trying to stop him? Not really."

Further down Krugman writes, "... the Trump phenomenon threatens the con the G.O.P. establishment has been playing on its own base. I'm talking about the bait and switch in which white voters are induced to hate big government by dog whistles about Those People, but actual policies are all about rewarding the donor class." (Bold print mine.)

I'm going to have to start paying more attention to Professor Krugman. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There are things I don't like about Clinton (she does not want to abolish the death penalty, for instance, and she is about on par with Obama in terms of supporting military aggression). However, I don't agree with the demonization she faces at all, and am somewhat baffled by how she ends up being deemed "evil" for at the time they were proposed verbally expressing support for bills, such as her husband's crime bill, which both she and Bernie have since denounced, but which Bernie actually voted for as a senator. I also frequently see her demonized for having been a Young Republican, despite the fact that the quote that is most often associated with that is one from her autobiography, in which she is describing her transformation from a sheltered little rich Republican white girl to a liberal civil rights activist -- hardly damning.

When she's not being blamed for things her husband did or for wearing an unfashionable pantsuit, most of the "Shillary is evul" propaganda seems to be lifted straight from Republican talking points without so much as a cursory attempt to fact check or look up context.

I know that a lot of people have fully absorbed the "Evil Witch Hillary" storyline, but to be honest, I like her. I think she's smart and strong and tough and the most honest politician in the Presidential race this year. I identify with her, because she has had to do a hard job while receiving the full brunt of American misogyny. Nothing she can do will buy her a reprieve from the category of personal insults reserved for people with vaginas. She has had to make shitty decisions and doesn't shy away from admitting when those decisions have been wrong. She is old, witty, hardass, liberal, and a woman, which is an unforgivable combination in America. Yet she has made it this far anyway, which bespeaks a level of political genius that has probably never been exceeded in an American President.

I don't think she supports the Socialist America I'd like to see, but I think she will do more of the kinds of things Obama has done, and more effectively. She doesn't make me afraid for the future. All the other candidates do.

Except for Bernie, because I find the disappointment of Utopian idealists delicious.