Principia Discordia

1. 'Merica is not the shining city on the hill. It's the trailer park between Beer Belly's Bar and Ridgerunner's Ammo 'n' Live Bait Shop.

2. Macho 'Merican men want their womenfolk barefoot, pregnant, 'n' in the kitchen. They don't want no uppity, pantsuit wearin' women tryin' ta run no gubernment.

She ran that campaign like a one legged dog. She gave the same exact speech at every rally she attended. She had a parade of millionaire celebrities with military trained armed security details telling people who don't know if they will pay next month's rent or the leccy bill & whose kids are doing active shooter drills in Grade school that their interests are the same. No they are not.

They called Latino men misogynists and told African American men they were obliged to vote Democrat. They spoke of and to the working class of every race like they were cretins and told Pro Palestine Dems they were terrorist sympathisers.

Then she went down to South Carolina and Florida and told hurricane victims still searching for the bodies of their families that there was no money to help them out but they only had themselves to blame really, since very few of them seemed to have saved anything at all for a rainy day - or a series of devastating flash floods as the case may be.

Name one progressive policy initiative she hawked that doesn't have to do with abortion. Tell me at what point they ever acknowledged that a great many African American voters and just as many Latino voters, in line with their very traditional religious beliefs, are vehemently opposed to abortion.
Now me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk. But that was just terrible strategy.

She offered nothing. She has been in the party over a decade and in power for 4 years at the heart of the administration and they've done nothing but fund wars and prop up dodgy financial institutions. Tell me one idea she came out with which would have a real and lasting impact, which was focussed on improving the lives of anyone who is hurting in the US right now. You cannot.

They skipped the Primaries completely which in itself is a subversion of the democratic process. They installed a candidate who was popular with the Party apparatchiks but deeply unpopular in the electorate. She consistently polled lower than Biden in approval yet they bumped him and replaced him with her. it was madness.

If they'd gone for AOC they might have had a chance and she'd have towed the line as well as Harris but no. They are so disconnected from the voters that it never occured to them she'd be rejected. Why would she be rejected they thought. She ticked all the boxes. A woman of mixed race who is relatively young. What did it matter that she's an incompetent hack with a voice like an air raid siren and a fake laugh you could grate rocks on. She put on the accent on whatever group she was talking to at the time. Very badly.

And I swear the bitch was drunk more often than she was sober.

Now everyone's shocked she lost.
Really?

3. 'Macho man image' means everything to macho 'Merican men.

And, as Laurence J. Peter wrote, "An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance."

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMShe ran that campaign like a one legged dog.

You misspelled "14.5 democratic voters couldn't shift their arses to vote."

The rest of your post is just Tucker Carlson talking points, so I'm just going to put you down as the enemy.

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMAnd I swear the bitch was drunk more often than she was sober.

Except this part.  I'm not going to ignore this, I'm going to laugh at your incel ass.

Like this ---> :lulz:

 :lol: at the end of a totally shit-sodden and utterly devastating week you actually made me laugh out loud you old bugger! Thanks for that

Quote from: MMIX on November 08, 2024, 04:45:13 PM:lol: at the end of a totally shit-sodden and utterly devastating week you actually made me laugh out loud you old bugger! Thanks for that

No worries.

I have a little too much venom backed up, and I've been praying some dumbass would come along and screech.

And what do you know?  My prayers were answered.

 :lulz:

4. Know your constituency. A successful political campaign must appeal to "the lowest common denominator."

And, don't ever forget, in 'Merica "the lowest common denominator" is exceptionally low.

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMShe ran that campaign like a one legged dog. She gave the same exact speech at every rally she attended. She had a parade of millionaire celebrities with military trained armed security details telling people who don't know if they will pay next month's rent or the leccy bill & whose kids are doing active shooter drills in Grade school that their interests are the same. No they are not.

They called Latino men misogynists and told African American men they were obliged to vote Democrat. They spoke of and to the working class of every race like they were cretins and told Pro Palestine Dems they were terrorist sympathisers.

Then she went down to South Carolina and Florida and told hurricane victims still searching for the bodies of their families that there was no money to help them out but they only had themselves to blame really, since very few of them seemed to have saved anything at all for a rainy day - or a series of devastating flash floods as the case may be.

Name one progressive policy initiative she hawked that doesn't have to do with abortion. Tell me at what point they ever acknowledged that a great many African American voters and just as many Latino voters, in line with their very traditional religious beliefs, are vehemently opposed to abortion.
Now me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk. But that was just terrible strategy.

She offered nothing. She has been in the party over a decade and in power for 4 years at the heart of the administration and they've done nothing but fund wars and prop up dodgy financial institutions. Tell me one idea she came out with which would have a real and lasting impact, which was focussed on improving the lives of anyone who is hurting in the US right now. You cannot.

They skipped the Primaries completely which in itself is a subversion of the democratic process. They installed a candidate who was popular with the Party apparatchiks but deeply unpopular in the electorate. She consistently polled lower than Biden in approval yet they bumped him and replaced him with her. it was madness.

If they'd gone for AOC they might have had a chance and she'd have towed the line as well as Harris but no. They are so disconnected from the voters that it never occured to them she'd be rejected. Why would she be rejected they thought. She ticked all the boxes. A woman of mixed race who is relatively young. What did it matter that she's an incompetent hack with a voice like an air raid siren and a fake laugh you could grate rocks on. She put on the accent on whatever group she was talking to at the time. Very badly.

And I swear the bitch was drunk more often than she was sober.

Now everyone's shocked she lost.
Really?

These would all be reasonable points if she wasn't up against a syphilitic mess, who paid off a child he raped on epstien Island, who previously installed his buddies to rob the country blind.

If she had been running against
Mccain
McConnell
Even RKJ

You'd have a point.

Quote from: Faust on November 08, 2024, 08:06:00 PMThese would all be reasonable points if she wasn't up against a syphilitic mess, who paid off a child he raped on epstien Island, who previously installed his buddies to rob the country blind.

If she had been running against
Mccain
McConnell
Even RKJ

You'd have a point.

Dumbass is either a Trumper or one of those progressives.  You know what I mean.  Accelerationists.

Accelerationists always argue they are pushing towards some kind of collapse, they never seem to be aware of the fact that things can reach a nice stable level of shit and stay there without any collapse, it can often hang at that level of tedious,for centuries.

Quote from: Faust on November 08, 2024, 08:29:01 PMAccelerationists always argue they are pushing towards some kind of collapse, they never seem to be aware of the fact that things can reach a nice stable level of shit and stay there without any collapse, it can often hang at that level of tedious,for centuries.

Well, yeah.  Britain from 536 CE to 1600 CE is a good example.  Got rid of those nasty Romans, spend a thousand years living in mud with even worse bosses.

Nobody ever accused them of being smart.

5. Negative campaigns are extremely effective. Running a positive campaign achieves no more than does "Preaching to the choir."

Don't believe me? Then, consider giving some thought to how well the "When they go low, we go high" strategy worked out for the Democratic Party.

Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 08, 2024, 04:25:06 PM

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMAnd I swear the bitch was drunk more often than she was sober.

Except this part.  I'm not going to ignore this, I'm going to laugh at your incel ass.

Like this ---> :lulz:

Yes I must be a fella because I didn't check my intellect at the door as soon as a warmongering cunt with a cunt was running for President.

How very discordian of you to lick at the establishment Democrat shit chute.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 08, 2024, 11:13:48 PM5. Negative campaigns are extremely effective. Running a positive campaign achieves no more than does "Preaching to the choir."

Don't believe me? Then, consider giving some thought to how well the "When they go low, we go high" strategy worked out for the Democratic Party.

It just occurred to me that the Democratic Party has experience running negative campaigns.

For example, some may remember that they successfully drove Al Franken, a very popular Democratic Senator from Minnesota, out of office before his term even expired. They didn't even have to "primary" Franken to get rid of him. Now, that's extremely effective negative campaigning!

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 09, 2024, 12:34:24 AM

Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 08, 2024, 04:25:06 PM

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMAnd I swear the bitch was drunk more often than she was sober.

Except this part.  I'm not going to ignore this, I'm going to laugh at your incel ass.

Like this ---> :lulz:

Yes I must be a fella because I didn't check my intellect at the door as soon as a warmongering cunt with a cunt was running for President.

I still can't figure out if you're MAGA or if you're the dumbest prog ever born.  I'm betting MAGA, the way you talk about women.

QuoteHow very discordian of you to lick at the establishment Democrat shit chute.

You have the wrong place.  We're the Concordians. The Discordians are all on Myspace.  We just named the place what we did to lure in the dumbasses.

Which would be...You.

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMNow me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk.

Your fascist tendencies are showing.

Compulsory abortion, like forced sterilization, belongs under the umbrella of eugenics.  Prohibiting abortions for those belonging to the superior breed of human is morally indistinguishable from mandating abortions for those you've decided are inferior.

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if you subscribe to the notion that criminality is inherited.

Maybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AMMaybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

Okay ...

I thought Kamala Harris, and the Democratic National Committee were running a pretty damn good campaign. I was wrong.

I'm not happy that, at his age, Joe Biden thought he was indispensable. But, that kind of thinking is not all that uncommon in elderly people who are in positions of power. The public figure who I think is the "poster girl" for that kind of thinking was Ruth Bader Ginsburg.   

Still, the Democratic Party did hold a primary election, and Joe Biden won it easily. I have no idea what, if anything, might have been happening behind the scenes. But, I'm unaware of any of the "heavy hitters" in the Democratic Party challenging Biden for the candidacy, or even trying to talk him out of it. However, after this debacle, if any of them did, it will eventually be made public.

So, let me ask you this:

What, if anything, would you recommend that the Democratic Party do differently, to avoid being on the wrong end of a landslide election in the 2026 midterms?

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AMMaybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

There is only one responsibility set for this election.

People had the chance to vote against Trump.

2.5 Mn of his former voters instead chose not to vote.

But 14.5 of Biden's former voters ALSO chose not to vote.

So we are up a net 12 million assholes, and that's not even addressing the progs that are too good for people.

They think Harris was bad because of her stance on Palestine?  Wait until they get a load of the Triumphant Return of the Greasy Orange Substitute Jesus who moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on November 09, 2024, 03:49:48 AM

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMNow me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk.

Your fascist tendencies are showing.

Compulsory abortion, like forced sterilization, belongs under the umbrella of eugenics.  Prohibiting abortions for those belonging to the superior breed of human is morally indistinguishable from mandating abortions for those you've decided are inferior.

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if you subscribe to the notion that criminality is inherited.

Watch how you talk.  This person is the final arbiter of who and what is Discordian, and you'll get excommunicated and we'll have to bury you in a churchyard when you die.

:cry:

6. Felony arrests and convictions of a "macho man imaged" candidate mean "street cred" to macho 'Merican men.

7. Facts and truth are mostly meaningless in modern 'Merican politics. The majority of 'Merican voters cast their ballots for candidates they both identify with, and find entertaining.

The majority of 'Merican voters are really very much like professional wrestling fans. The fans know the wrestling is scripted, but they don't care. The fans pay their money to watch because they identify with the "good guy" wrestlers who entertain them the most. Republican Party leaders know this to be true, and that's why Hulk Hogan was invited to perform on the last night of the Republican National Convention.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 09, 2024, 07:11:18 AM

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AMMaybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

Okay ...

I thought Kamala Harris, and the Democratic National Committee were running a pretty damn good campaign. I was wrong.

I'm not happy that, at his age, Joe Biden thought he was indispensable. But, that kind of thinking is not all that uncommon in elderly people who are in positions of power. The public figure who I think is the "poster girl" for that kind of thinking was Ruth Bader Ginsburg.   

Still, the Democratic Party did hold a primary election, and Joe Biden won it easily. I have no idea what, if anything, might have been happening behind the scenes. But, I'm unaware of any of the "heavy hitters" in the Democratic Party challenging Biden for the candidacy, or even trying to talk him out of it. However, after this debacle, if any of them did, it will eventually be made public.

So, let me ask you this:

What, if anything, would you recommend that the Democratic Party do differently, to avoid being on the wrong end of a landslide election in the 2026 midterms?

There's a lot of small things they need to do, for both the midterms and presidential election:

-Build fuckloads of housing and apartments in cities. California and New York are set to lose even more electoral votes in the next census in 2030 because of population changes elsewhere. Cities need to become affordable, attract people to come live there, and solidify Democrats' presence in cities to make sure blue states don't lose any more EVs.
-Creating and funding alternative media spaces online. You can't prop up the next Joe Rogan overnight, but you can start to cultivate and develop the next Ben Shapiro, Candance Owens, Tim Pool, ect. The problem right now is that the biggest left-of-center voices online are people like Hasan and Vaush who openly trash Democrats and Democratic candidates; Republican online streamers, podcasters, and posters are basically in a cult that bring in followers that will blindly support, vote for, and donate to your candidates. They need this structure of their own to prevent right wingers from completely dominating the medium.
-De-empathize idpol. Don't throw trans people under the bus, but also recognize you need to focus on more issues that affect as many people as possible as opposed to just grandstanding on your values and morals.
-Controversial, but they have to get tougher on crime, especially in cities. People don't like seeing others smoke crack on subways in NYC or Boston, nor do they like seeing videos of gangs of looters breaking into stores to fence products for a quick buck.
-Appeal to men. I hate to say it as a feminist, but they need to stop the bleeding and bring some back from voting red. Run macho man candidates in the midterms like when the DNC specifically recruited veterans for the 2006 midterms when the Iraq War was starting to become toxic politically. It'd also be smart to recruit Latino men to run in states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, ect.
-Let independents run opposition-free in GOP states. Independent Dan Osborn would have won the Nebraska Senate race if the national environment was like 2020. Don't run Dems in GOP states, it's a toxic brand. Let populist independents run against the GOP without a Dem stealing votes.

Yeah yeah I already know, these are all very moderate liberal positions and actions :argh!: I'm not a fan of it either, but this is the most pragmatic approach to combatting the trend of reactionaryism in America systemically. The overton window needs to shift back into centrism. Obviously I want our politicians to be 10x more left winged than they are right now too, but it's too idealist to think it can happen overnight by whipping out our cocks right from the get-go. We need to push our populace leftwards with genuine propaganda before pushing politicians leftwards can work. At this point, the only thing I'm worried about is codifying abortion into law and securing the rights of other minorities.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-Controversial, but they have to get tougher on crime, especially in cities. People don't like seeing others smoke crack on subways in NYC or Boston, nor do they like seeing videos of gangs of looters breaking into stores to fence products for a quick buck.

You've put some thought and effort into your answer. I'm not able to respond to all of your points right now, as Real Life is banging on my door really, really hard. But, I will try to respond, in no particular order, over the next couple of days.

For right now, I thoroughly agree with you about the need for the Democratic Party to get tougher on crime. And, I will emphasize, they also need to strongly "project the image" of them being super tough on crime. Maybe they can talk Arnold Schwarzenegger into helping them out with that "image" part.

I suspect there will be protests from the extreme left wing of the party over this change, but that the potential loss of actual votes will be negligible, especially when compared to the potential gain from all of the right wingers out there.

I think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

Quote from: Bruno on November 10, 2024, 06:02:37 PMI think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

Progressives make up 30% of dems.  Blue dog dems make up another 30%, and 40% are your bedrock liberals that aren't opposed.

So what happens when you take the party too left, you get ~ 70-80% of your voters showing up and then you're fucked because the MAGA assholes run off with everything.

I'm not wild about it, but we just saw it happen.

Well, that and the bullshit economy thing.

I mean, wherever the sweet spot is where we don't slide into fascism and I get to keep my Social Security is fine... I guess.

Quote from: Bruno on November 10, 2024, 06:02:37 PMI think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

I agree, messaging is a big part of the problem. I believe it's actually been the biggest part of the problem for somewhere round three decades.

So far, I've been mostly focused on what I believe is the need to tailor "the message" to acceptability by a majority of the actual audience that's out there, not the audience we wish was out there. If we can get a wider audience to, at least, listen to "the message," and not simply reject it out of hand, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to pick up more votes for the Democratic Party's candidates.

And, of course, there's much more than just tailoring "the message" that needs to be done before the next election. So, do you have any ideas, or suggestions?

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-Creating and funding alternative media spaces online. You can't prop up the next Joe Rogan overnight, but you can start to cultivate and develop the next Ben Shapiro, Candance Owens, Tim Pool, ect. The problem right now is that the biggest left-of-center voices online are people like Hasan and Vaush who openly trash Democrats and Democratic candidates; Republican online streamers, podcasters, and posters are basically in a cult that bring in followers that will blindly support, vote for, and donate to your candidates. They need this structure of their own to prevent right wingers from completely dominating the medium.

I like your idea. And, I especially like the idea of possibly creating a Countercult™ to the Republicult™.

So, who, what, or where do you think is the best starting point(s) for getting this off the ground?

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-De-empathize idpol. Don't throw trans people under the bus, but also recognize you need to focus on more issues that affect as many people as possible as opposed to just grandstanding on your values and morals.

I agree with you on this issue.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but when the Democratic Party's messaging continually targets one special group or other, they're probably also making some members of the much wider audience resentful for all of the attention the target group(s) is/are receiving.

8. 'Mericans vote for people they perceive to be strong leaders. They identify with them, want to be entertained by them, and want to be certain their potential leaders can defeat their common enemies.

So, to be perceived as a strong leader, a successful politician needs good, common enemies. And, if a politician doesn't actually have any good, common enemies, then good common enemies can be created.

For instance, do you want to elect people who can actually accomplish something against climate change? Then, make climate change the common enemy. And, I don't mean just talking about it. I mean showing the effects of climate change in its full, graphic, video glory, with "macho man looking" spokespeople as the narrators.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 08, 2024, 11:13:48 PM5. Negative campaigns are extremely effective. Running a positive campaign achieves no more than does "Preaching to the choir."

Don't believe me? Then, consider giving some thought to how well the "When they go low, we go high" strategy worked out for the Democratic Party.

If they'd gone high, with real proposals that helped the working class, they'd have won, but they're too indebted to corporations, and Israel, and can't support policy that would piss those folks off, so they don't get widespread support.

In this case it really wasn't that folks like Trump, he got less votes than he did when he lost in 2020, it was that folks really didn't like Harris.  her support for Israel kept a lot of folks home, and campaigning with Republicans, and pledging to put them in the cabinet, lost her more.  Until Democrats realize they can't win conservatives over, and they need to work to inspire the left, they will keep losing.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AMMaybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

I sincerely hope the Democrats filibuster like mad, it's not their style, but it could happen.

Quote from: Pergamos on November 11, 2024, 06:05:28 PM

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 08, 2024, 11:13:48 PM5. Negative campaigns are extremely effective. Running a positive campaign achieves no more than does "Preaching to the choir."

Don't believe me? Then, consider giving some thought to how well the "When they go low, we go high" strategy worked out for the Democratic Party.

If they'd gone high, with real proposals that helped the working class, they'd have won, but they're too indebted to corporations, and Israel, and can't support policy that would piss those folks off, so they don't get widespread support.

In this case it really wasn't that folks like Trump, he got less votes than he did when he lost in 2020, it was that folks really didn't like Harris.  her support for Israel kept a lot of folks home, and campaigning with Republicans, and pledging to put them in the cabinet, lost her more.  Until Democrats realize they can't win conservatives over, and they need to work to inspire the left, they will keep losing.

In my lifetime, the Republican Party has always been financed and controlled by the wealthy from the earnings of their corporations. The only change I've noticed over the years is that the wealthy are now so wealthy that they legitimately deserve to be called oligarchs. The senatorial class of ancient Rome comes to mind when I think about where we actually are economically and politically today.

I thought I had been more than blunt enough in my posts on this topic, but I'll rephrase much of what I've already written:

Joe Sixpack, Doubleclutch, Bubba, Razor Ramon, and most of the women who willingly socialize with them did not vote for Hillary Clinton, or Kamala Harris. And, they did not vote for them because those two candidates are both Democrats and, obviously, women. Now, I believe a portion of the Joe Sixpack, etc. subculture may sometimes be convinced to vote for a Democratic candidate, or a woman candidate, but not both at the same time. 

I never saw any daylight between TSF's unconditional support for Israel and the Biden/Harris position. And, in any case, whether voters support, or do not support the current government of Israel, it's was still only a single issue in this last election. I have no reason to believe there were millions and millions of potential voters out there who stayed home because of this single issue.

So, I have two (2) questions for you, as follows:

1. How many votes did TSF lose over his own unconditional support for Israel?

2. In the end, what difference did the lose of those votes actually make?

Quote from: Pergamos on November 11, 2024, 06:06:47 PM

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AMMaybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

I sincerely hope the Democrats filibuster like mad, it's not their style, but it could happen.

Nope.  We're doomed.

It is against my religion to tell people they're going to be okay when they're fucked.

I do hope, however, that the 15.5 Mn dems/lefties that stayed on the couch are satisfied.  This is what they wanted, and this is what they get.

Frankly, I hope the fat orange thing gets all of you bastards.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-Build fuckloads of housing and apartments in cities. California and New York are set to lose even more electoral votes in the next census in 2030 because of population changes elsewhere. Cities need to become affordable, attract people to come live there, and solidify Democrats' presence in cities to make sure blue states don't lose any more EVs.

In an already overpopulated world, attracting more people to already crowded urban centers is not an idea that would ever enter my mind. So ... so much for my ability to think outside the box.

My second thought was to recommend the alternative idea of establishing "liberal enclaves" in red states. But, I quickly realized that the purpose of my alternative idea could be easily nullified by typical Republicult™ gerrymandering.

So, after thinking hard about your idea, I just can't imaging any Democratic controlled state attempting to implement such a plan simply for the sake of more Electoral College votes. And, from what I have read, and people I have talked to, the current cost of housing around LA and San Francisco is outrageous. But, I'm not aware of any serious plans to deal with even that potentially solvable problem.     

9. The Main Stream Media (MSM) is not our friend. But, it's not our enemy either. The MSM is simply a powerful group of amoral corporations out to make a buck.

Always remember, "The MSM is only in it for the money." So, learn to deal with it accordingly. In the long run, it can only be influenced by what it believes effects its revenue.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 10, 2024, 10:16:11 PM

Quote from: Bruno on November 10, 2024, 06:02:37 PMI think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

I agree, messaging is a big part of the problem. I believe it's actually been the biggest part of the problem for somewhere round three decades.

So far, I've been mostly focused on what I believe is the need to tailor "the message" to acceptability by a majority of the actual audience that's out there, not the audience we wish was out there. If we can get a wider audience to, at least, listen to "the message," and not simply reject it out of hand, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to pick up more votes for the Democratic Party's candidates.

And, of course, there's much more than just tailoring "the message" that needs to be done before the next election. So, do you have any ideas, or suggestions?

We need to find a way to appeal to stupid, selfish people. We already got most of the altruistic people and a good chunk of the people who can read at an 8th grade level or higher.

It's not enough, apparently.

At this point, All I'm concerned with is what is he gonna fuck up, and how can I profit from it. I've got a modest swing-trading account, but I haven't set it up to do shorts, yet.

I should probably get on that.

Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 11, 2024, 10:02:06 PMNope.  We're doomed.

It is against my religion to tell people they're going to be okay when they're fucked.

The moving finger writes,
And having writ, moves on.
Now we are all sons of bitches.

Quote from: Bruno on November 12, 2024, 05:28:07 AMWe need to find a way to appeal to stupid, selfish people. We already got most of the altruistic people and a good chunk of the people who can read at an 8th grade level or higher.

It's not enough, apparently.

At this point, All I'm concerned with is what is he gonna fuck up, and how can I profit from it. I've got a modest swing-trading account, but I haven't set it up to do shorts, yet.

I should probably get on that.

Yes, it comes back again to reaching the wider audience that's actually out there.

As far as investing goes, I'm seeing signs in the European news of a recession coming in Germany and France. And, with TSF going back to the White House, I'm in the process of getting out of the stock market, holding on to a pile of cash, and waiting for the buying opportunities that eventually come with a recession.

It really looks like the education system is moving away from public schools and more towards vouchers, which currently means the religious right get to have their indoctrination subsidized and public schools are even more underfunded while also being under the thumb of christian nationalist legislators.

I guess somebody needs to start more left leaning private education institutions that teach shit like civics, empathy, and media literacy (woke shit).

Quote from: Bruno on November 12, 2024, 04:51:47 PMIt really looks like the education system is moving away from public schools and more towards vouchers, which currently means the religious right get to have their indoctrination subsidized and public schools are even more underfunded while also being under the thumb of christian nationalist legislators.

I guess somebody needs to start more left leaning private education institutions that teach shit like civics, empathy, and media literacy (woke shit).

I agree.

This has become a major problem for the small suburban town just south of mine. Charter schools keep coming, and mostly quickly going, but are sucking up a lot of tax money in their short existences. Further, few, if any, of the students in these short lived charter schools actually live in the town itself. What students these schools do attract are being driven, or bused in from the much larger cities in the area.

As mine, and most of the small suburban towns around me are already 100% developed, my immediate solution for that town would be to buy up their old elementary school, the deconsecrated churches, and the other non-residential buildings being used by these charter schools after they fail. Then, I would recommend that they demolish the buildings, and then rezone the properties for strictly residential purposes, or even turn some of them into public parks. Property prices there, and in my town, are already sky high, so I suspect the neighboring town would, at least, break even cost-wise on this plan, after all of the dust has settled.

On the national level, we're going to have to develop a plan to rebuild the United States Department of Education after the Republicult™ destroys it.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AMMaybe it's because I've been warming up to electoral politics the past few months, but I think this is the one time where the democrats didn't really do anything wrong. Her campaign policies on immigration and Gaza were questionable but a lot of exit polls show that Americans didn't give a shit about the border or foreign policy when voting. I genuinely think a lot of them are just too uneducated to know what the fuck they're voting for.

Well, if I had to blame one person for this, it would be Biden. He should've never reran for office in the first place and a primary should've been held. If people didn't want to vote for Kamala, it would've shown there. What's done is done, all that's left to do is to observe what happens next. Personally, I hope it's just another age of filibustering again. The republicans do have everything but it's not by a supermajority so I wouldn't be surprised if we get a government shutdown or two in the next couple of years. But I don't want to imply we're in for smooth sailing, at the very least the government is going to get way more corrupt and fucked up with whoever Drumpf fires and replaces.

I sincerely hope the Democrats filibuster like mad, it's not their style, but it could happen.

Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 10, 2024, 06:36:39 PM

Quote from: Bruno on November 10, 2024, 06:02:37 PMI think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

Progressives make up 30% of dems.  Blue dog dems make up another 30%, and 40% are your bedrock liberals that aren't opposed.

So what happens when you take the party too left, you get ~ 70-80% of your voters showing up and then you're fucked because the MAGA assholes run off with everything.

I'm

Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 10, 2024, 06:36:39 PM

Quote from: Bruno on November 10, 2024, 06:02:37 PMI think a big part of the problem is the lack of real progressive messaging in the media, which seem to mostly represent corporate interests and, you know, Putin.

And even then, part of the problem with what little independent progressive media that is out there, is that the progressive message tends to be complex and nuanced, and it turns out we really need the votes of some 15 million or so people who are maybe not so good at processing that kind of information.

Progressives make up 30% of dems.  Blue dog dems make up another 30%, and 40% are your bedrock liberals that aren't opposed.

So what happens when you take the party too left, you get ~ 70-80% of your voters showing up and then you're fucked because the MAGA assholes run off with everything.

I'm not wild about it, but we just saw it happen.

Well, that and the bullshit economy thing.

not wild about it, but we just saw it happen.

Well, that and the bullshit economy thing.

You think the Democrats moved too far left?  That's not my perception at all, it looks like they lost a lot of votes because Leftists stayed home to me.

Quote from: Pergamos on November 12, 2024, 08:52:27 PMit looks like they lost a lot of votes because Leftists stayed home to me.

The term for this behavior is "being the architect of your own reward."

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-Creating and funding alternative media spaces online. You can't prop up the next Joe Rogan overnight, but you can start to cultivate and develop the next Ben Shapiro, Candance Owens, Tim Pool, ect. The problem right now is that the biggest left-of-center voices online are people like Hasan and Vaush who openly trash Democrats and Democratic candidates; Republican online streamers, podcasters, and posters are basically in a cult that bring in followers that will blindly support, vote for, and donate to your candidates. They need this structure of their own to prevent right wingers from completely dominating the medium.

I rarely leave the the confines of the internet, but I've noticed a couple of posts on the political sites I do frequent about Jeff Tiedrich being on Bluesky social media, and Bluesky itself.

I realize Tiedrich's style may not be for everyone, but what's your opinion about Bluesky as an "alternative media space online?"

10. First impressions matter. Many voters may have little more than a first impression to utilize when judging a candidate's worthiness for office.

This particular article happened to remind me of my first impressions of Kamala Harris:

"Split ticket voters offer some bracing lessons for the Democratic Party"

"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was surprised to see her New York 14th congressional district swing heavily toward Trump even as voters there showed strong support for her candidacy."

If you take the time to read this article, you'll find the reasons some voters "split their ticket" between AOC and TSF are varied. And, some of their reasons may not even make all that much sense.

Here's the link to this article, if you're interested:      Split Ticket Voters Offer Some Bracing Lessons (HTTP://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/aoc-trump-democrats-listen-voters-rcna179762)

In truth, none of the "split ticket voters" mentioned in this particular article actually talked about their first impressions of Kamala Harris. But, it occurred to me that few voters are "political junkies" like myself. Many, if not the majority of voters, have probably spent no more than a few minutes of their time, over the course of the last four (4) years, even willingly paying any attention to Kamala Harris. So, all that type of voter really had to go on when weighing her worthiness for the office of POTUS amounted to little more than a first impression.

And, in truth, my first impressions of Kamala Harris were not at all favorable. I remember telling Mrs. Mythos, on more than one occasion before the 2020 election, that I expected the person one heartbeat away from the presidency of the United States to be able to do more than just sit and giggle with Rachel Maddow on TV. But, I did vote against TSF and whoever, and wished Joe Bidden a long and happy life. It took me a long time to realize that Kamala Harris was actually up to doing the VP's job. And, it was only then that was I satisfied she was ready to be president, if and when her time came.

Please don't mistake my little confession to mean that I think if Joe Biden had dropped out earlier, Kamala Harris could have won the election. No, I do not think that at all. What I think right now is that Kamala Harris was the wrong candidate for the Democratic Party. It didn't really matter that she's intelligent, she has the right experience, her heart is in the right place, her head is in the right place, her party's platform was far better, and she's superior to TSF in every way imaginable. She was simply a candidate the majority of voters were never going to take the time to know. And so, based upon what amounted to little more than a first impression, the majority of voters were not impressed.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-Appeal to men. I hate to say it as a feminist, but they need to stop the bleeding and bring some back from voting red. Run macho man candidates in the midterms like when the DNC specifically recruited veterans for the 2006 midterms when the Iraq War was starting to become toxic politically. It'd also be smart to recruit Latino men to run in states like Florida, Texas, Arizona, ect.

You will, obviously, get no argument over this idea from me!

"Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be."
— Frank Zappa

Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 12, 2024, 09:04:49 PM

Quote from: Pergamos on November 12, 2024, 08:52:27 PMit looks like they lost a lot of votes because Leftists stayed home to me.

The term for this behavior is "being the architect of your own reward."

Well sure, and you can be angry at folks who didn't vote all you want, but that doesn't inspire them to vote.  Meanwhile a candidate that actually speaks to their desires probably would.  Offering to put Republicans in the cabinet, pledging to be the toughest on immigration, and otherwise courting conservatives didn't get any of them to vote for her.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-Let independents run opposition-free in GOP states. Independent Dan Osborn would have won the Nebraska Senate race if the national environment was like 2020. Don't run Dems in GOP states, it's a toxic brand. Let populist independents run against the GOP without a Dem stealing votes.

I don't totally agree with you on this idea, but it's a good idea nevertheless.

I disagree about not running Democrats at all in red states. I think the Democratic Party must continue to make its presence known in all fifty states. But, I do agree that being selective, and allowing acceptable independent candidates to run unopposed by the Democratic Party in some red states, is probably the best solution to the problem of having no real way of keeping some of these extreme MAGAt candidates from reaching elected office. (This idea is something I had never really thought about before now.)

And so, I think I've now responded to all of your talking points from your original post. But, I may still come back to some of them, from time to time, to preach some more.

I hope you've enjoyed this extended discussion of ours as much as I have.

Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on November 09, 2024, 03:49:48 AM

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMNow me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk.

Your fascist tendencies are showing.

Compulsory abortion, like forced sterilization, belongs under the umbrella of eugenics.  Prohibiting abortions for those belonging to the superior breed of human is morally indistinguishable from mandating abortions for those you've decided are inferior.

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if you subscribe to the notion that criminality is inherited.

And retroactive in other cases.

Anyway back to my salient point because your inability to recognise low farce is frankly quite dull.

Maybe just maybe it is possible that the Tangerine Titwanker didn't win because suddenly after a couple of hundred years of the democracy thing 70 million NeoNazis registered to vote. Maybe the other candidate was just significantly shit.

Now stretch yourself a bit here Dok Whiney and see if you can't comprehend what this bit of satire is communicating.

https://youtu.be/MWSRgPpYKrg

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 14, 2024, 04:49:06 PM

Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on November 09, 2024, 03:49:48 AM

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMNow me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk.

Your fascist tendencies are showing.

Compulsory abortion, like forced sterilization, belongs under the umbrella of eugenics.  Prohibiting abortions for those belonging to the superior breed of human is morally indistinguishable from mandating abortions for those you've decided are inferior.

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if you subscribe to the notion that criminality is inherited.

And retroactive in other cases.

Anyway back to my salient point because your inability to recognise low farce is frankly quite dull.

I didn't get the impression that your endorsement of eugenics constitutes low farce, and that is the only subject on which I've engaged with you.  Frankly, I'm not terribly interested in your "salient point".

QuoteMaybe just maybe it is possible that the Tangerine Titwanker didn't win because suddenly after a couple of hundred years of the democracy thing 70 million NeoNazis registered to vote. Maybe the other candidate was just significantly shit.

You sound like you're trying to rebut something I said, but I have not expressed any opinions regarding the cause of the election outcome.

QuoteNow stretch yourself a bit here Dok Whiney and see if you can't comprehend what this bit of satire is communicating.

Now the cause of your apparent non-sequiturs becomes clear.  I'm not Dok.  Maybe you replying to the wrong post?  Or you're confused about who is who?


Replying to the wrong post while not addressing its content doesn't seem like a winning strategy.

Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on November 14, 2024, 05:33:44 PM

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 14, 2024, 04:49:06 PM

Quote from: chaotic neutral observer on November 09, 2024, 03:49:48 AM

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 08, 2024, 07:20:55 AMNow me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk.

Your fascist tendencies are showing.

Compulsory abortion, like forced sterilization, belongs under the umbrella of eugenics.  Prohibiting abortions for those belonging to the superior breed of human is morally indistinguishable from mandating abortions for those you've decided are inferior.

I wouldn't be particularly surprised if you subscribe to the notion that criminality is inherited.

And retroactive in other cases.

Anyway back to my salient point because your inability to recognise low farce is frankly quite dull.

I didn't get the impression that your endorsement of eugenics constitutes low farce, and that is the only subject on which I've engaged with you.  Frankly, I'm not terribly interested in your "salient point".

QuoteMaybe just maybe it is possible that the Tangerine Titwanker didn't win because suddenly after a couple of hundred years of the democracy thing 70 million NeoNazis registered to vote. Maybe the other candidate was just significantly shit.

You sound like you're trying to rebut something I said, but I have not expressed any opinions regarding the cause of the election outcome.

QuoteNow stretch yourself a bit here Dok Whiney and see if you can't comprehend what this bit of satire is communicating.

Now the cause of your apparent non-sequiturs becomes clear.  I'm not Dok.  Maybe you replying to the wrong post?  Or you're confused about who is who?


Replying to the wrong post while not addressing its content doesn't seem like a winning strategy.

That person doesn't know.  That person is confused.

However, it is the usual prog line:  "I can only punch directly to my right, so everyone to my right is a fascist."

It's basically a replay of the 2015 purity Olympics, and it's boring.

Quote from: Mandelbrot Slapper on November 14, 2024, 04:49:06 PMNow me, I am all for abortion on demand. Tbh with you, there's a damn fine case to be made for it being compulsory for a lot of folk.

You support culling people you consider inferiors?

Sorry, for a moment I was calling you a prog.

You're not.

You're a full-out fucking Nazi.

11. The best any Democratic candidate can hope to do in any red state is to "neutralize" the gun issue.

Fondling a gun is the same to a self-proclaimed macho 'Merican man as a security blanket is to a toddler. For the gun fondlers, horrific civilian gun violence is an acceptable consequence of the near unlimited availability of all types of guns, gun accessories, and ammunition.

I believe the Harris campaign wisely did their best to make guns a non-issue in this last election. I write this because, typically there is a big run on gun and ammo purchases prior to a presidential election. But, that did not happen this time around.

Once again, I do believe, and will continue to preach, "An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance." My ideal image for a Democratic candidate seeking election in red states, is to be a target shooter who packs a firing replica of a Colt Army Model 1860 cap & ball .44 caliber revolver. And, when being photographed at the shooting range, the candidate will be dressed in jeans, a flannel shirt, etc. This image is guaranteed to make the gun fondlers associate the candidate positively with both the Old West, and Dirty Harry.

Now, don't get me wrong, the gun fondlers are still not going to vote for a Democrat. But, at least, they won't whine as much about "their guns being taken away" to other people who might vote for a Democratic candidate.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 11, 2024, 01:06:06 AMI like your idea. And, I especially like the idea of possibly creating a Countercult™ to the Republicult™.

So, who, what, or where do you think is the best starting point(s) for getting this off the ground?

The Resistance 2.0...

The worst part about this is that I think Destiny is the best bet at this going forward, because Destiny is one thing above all else right now: a blind partisan to the Democratic Party and that's what is needed. No wishy-washy carpetbagging principled leftists like Hasan or Vaush who spend months relentlessly shitting on the Democrats and their candidates up until one week before the election where they go "umm yeah well like it's best to vote for them but yeah they suck, don't they? :oops:" It needs to be actual propaganda. Extremism sells. And it can't be guys like Pod Save America, they're just too establishment.

Ideally, you find some relatively apolitical streamer or YouTuber and start to make them your next Rogan (apolitical, but will platform your guys in interviews, videos, streams, ect.) like Rogan or Adin Ross while having a separate network of propagandists like Destiny, Cenk Uygur, David Pakman, and so on. The "Hot Ones" guy refuses to have politicians on like an asshole, but he's like the perfect example. Have him be "apolitical" and build up an audience of millions and then shove your guys in front of there for basically free advertising and PR to normies while you have your propaganda network building up a base of loyal, devout voters and donors. As for actual examples, I don't know if Binging with Babish is big enough, but they should be trying to do stuff like that too, or gaming with xQc, Kai Cenat, IShowSpeed, ect. But you can't reward disloyal people like Hasan. They've already extended to Twitch so they're in the right mindset. Tim Walz livestreamed himself playing Crazy Taxi on the Sega Dreamcast with AOC, and hell I believe Bernie has a Twitch account himself. They just need to go further with their efforts in a more discreet way.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 16, 2024, 11:25:12 AM

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 11, 2024, 01:06:06 AMI like your idea. And, I especially like the idea of possibly creating a Countercult™ to the Republicult™.

So, who, what, or where do you think is the best starting point(s) for getting this off the ground?

The Resistance 2.0...

The worst part about this is that I think Destiny is the best bet at this going forward, because Destiny is one thing above all else right now: a blind partisan to the Democratic Party and that's what is needed. No wishy-washy carpetbagging principled leftists like Hasan or Vaush who spend months relentlessly shitting on the Democrats and their candidates up until one week before the election where they go "umm yeah well like it's best to vote for them but yeah they suck, don't they? :oops:" It needs to be actual propaganda. Extremism sells. And it can't be guys like Pod Save America, they're just too establishment.

Ideally, you find some relatively apolitical streamer or YouTuber and start to make them your next Rogan (apolitical, but will platform your guys in interviews, videos, streams, ect.) like Rogan or Adin Ross while having a separate network of propagandists like Destiny, Cenk Uygur, David Pakman, and so on. The "Hot Ones" guy refuses to have politicians on like an asshole, but he's like the perfect example. Have him be "apolitical" and build up an audience of millions and then shove your guys in front of there for basically free advertising and PR to normies while you have your propaganda network building up a base of loyal, devout voters and donors. As for actual examples, I don't know if Binging with Babish is big enough, but they should be trying to do stuff like that too, or gaming with xQc, Kai Cenat, IShowSpeed, ect. But you can't reward disloyal people like Hasan. They've already extended to Twitch so they're in the right mindset. Tim Walz livestreamed himself playing Crazy Taxi on the Sega Dreamcast with AOC, and hell I believe Bernie has a Twitch account himself. They just need to go further with their efforts in a more discreet way.

I admit, I'm not even vaguely familiar with Destiny. The only podcaster, or streamer you've mentioned who I've ever watched is Cenk Uygur. I've heard David Pakman's name, but I don't recall ever watching him.

So, I've got some serious catching up to do.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 16, 2024, 03:25:39 PMI admit, I'm not even vaguely familiar with Destiny. The only podcaster, or streamer you've mentioned who I've ever watched is Cenk Uygur. I've heard David Pakman's name, but I don't recall ever watching him.

So, I've got some serious catching up to do.

I envy you. I wish I could not be as terminally online as I am.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 12, 2024, 09:58:53 PMI realize Tiedrich's style may not be for everyone, but what's your opinion about Bluesky as an "alternative media space online?"

I have a Bluesky account myself and it's a much better version of Twitter. It was dead before, but the platform's userbase has increased massively due to a multitude of factors (Trump winning the election, artists involuntarily having their content used as data to train Twitter's shitty "Grok" AI, Musk ruining the block function to spy on his ex-wife and daughter's posts, and so on). It resembles Twitter before Musk utterly butchered it and for some people, that's good enough. For me, the best part is leaving behind the god forsaken reactionaries and bots that have plagued the site for years. It's a breath of fresh air not seeing mouthbreathers with checkmarks on the top of the reply list for every single post.

But, all in all, I don't care for the website that much, nor do I wish to suck it off. I dislike social media as a concept and the main reason I've looked at either is because that's where a majority of artists migrated to ever since Tumblr banned porn. But I do appreciate Bluesky for what it does. One of its official accounts said it won't use art to train any generative AIs and honestly, that's good enough for me.

Quote from: Pergamos on November 11, 2024, 06:06:47 PMI sincerely hope the Democrats filibuster like mad, it's not their style, but it could happen.

It's their only option at this point until the midterms. I'll be surprised if they don't, but we'll have to wait and see. I'll hold off on dooming.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 13, 2024, 10:31:17 PMI disagree about not running Democrats at all in red states. I think the Democratic Party must continue to make its presence known in all fifty states. But, I do agree that being selective, and allowing acceptable independent candidates to run unopposed by the Democratic Party in some red states, is probably the best solution to the problem of having no real way of keeping some of these extreme MAGAt candidates from reaching elected office. (This idea is something I had never really thought about before now.)

I wrote that block of text while still emotionally charged about the election two weeks ago, but thinking more clearly, yeah we shouldn't go full scorched earth over it.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 13, 2024, 10:31:17 PMAnd so, I think I've now responded to all of your talking points from your original post. But, I may still come back to some of them, from time to time, to preach some more.

I hope you've enjoyed this extended discussion of ours as much as I have.

I have, don't worry. :lulz: :cool: It's nice to make a contribution to this niche little corner of the internet.

This long "Election 2024 Postmortem" repeats many of the popular talking points of all the other media postmortems currently out there. But, there is something in this one that caught my attention:

"Where Do We Go From Here?"
 
"The New Republic's staffers grapple with Donald Trump's victory—and how Democrats should respond."

As per this article:

"Winning Back the Working Class

After the 2024 election, do the Democrats remain the party of the working class? Yes and no.

Despite Republican gains with working-class voters, the Democrats remain the only mainstream party that cares about working-class issues. Even granting the party's reorientation in recent decades toward centrist suburbanites and cosmopolitan city-dwellers—what Thomas Piketty calls the "Brahmin Left"—Democratic administrations still promote union rights, a living wage, and worker safety. Republican administrations, including Trump's earlier one, oppose all three.

The working class only sometimes rewards this Democratic Party with actual votes. The 2024 presidential election was the third in a row in which Democrats failed to win a majority of the working class, which is defined conventionally as those lacking a bachelor's degree. That matters because, over the past century, no Democrat except Joe Biden has won the White House without a working-class majority.

In 2024, the problem got a lot worse. Hillary Clinton lost working-class voters by 3 percentage points yet won the popular vote; Biden lost them by 4 yet won the presidency and the popular vote; preliminary estimates show Kamala Harris losing working-class voters by 14 points and losing the popular vote.

That isn't unprecedented for Democrats: Working-class voters have always been somewhat fickle. Even during the heyday of the New Deal coalition, Democrat Adlai Stevenson lost the working class by 14 points in 1952 and nearly 18 points in 1956. Democrat George McGovern lost it by 30 points in 1972, and Walter Mondale lost it by 16 in 1984. But those were all routs. A new era may be dawning when Democrats lose big with working-class voters even when they lose the popular vote by a mere 3 or 4 points."

Here's the link to this article:      New Republic Asks, Where Do We Go From Here? (https://newrepublic.com/article/188425/2024-trump-win-where-democrats-go-here)

And, once again, I do believe, and will continue to preach, "An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance." Adlai Stevenson did not have the image, but General Dwight D. Eisenhower did. George McGovern did not have the image, but Tricky Dick Nixon did. Walter Mondale did not have the image, but Hollywood Ronald Reagan did.

Quote from: Pergamos on November 13, 2024, 06:12:36 PM

Quote from: Doktor Howl on November 12, 2024, 09:04:49 PM

Quote from: Pergamos on November 12, 2024, 08:52:27 PMit looks like they lost a lot of votes because Leftists stayed home to me.

The term for this behavior is "being the architect of your own reward."

Well sure, and you can be angry at folks who didn't vote all you want,

Gonna.  Buncha ivory tower nerds.

Quotebut that doesn't inspire them to vote.

Nothing will.  That's been proven.

QuoteMeanwhile a candidate that actually speaks to their desires probably would.

Nope.  They'd find some reason to get the fucking vapors again.  Nothing is good enough for the Tumblr crowd.

QuoteOffering to put Republicans in the cabinet, pledging to be the toughest on immigration, and otherwise courting conservatives didn't get any of them to vote for her.

Well, since she knew the left was never going to vote for her, she went for a coalition.  It didn't work.  Shit happens.

Nobody is going to kiss your ass for your vote.  You know this, and I know this.  But you got to show how pure you are, at the expense of the bottom 50% here, the Ukrainians, and the Palestinians.

Well done, that man.

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-Creating and funding alternative media spaces online. You can't prop up the next Joe Rogan overnight, but you can start to cultivate and develop the next Ben Shapiro, Candance Owens, Tim Pool, ect. The problem right now is that the biggest left-of-center voices online are people like Hasan and Vaush who openly trash Democrats and Democratic candidates; Republican online streamers, podcasters, and posters are basically in a cult that bring in followers that will blindly support, vote for, and donate to your candidates. They need this structure of their own to prevent right wingers from completely dominating the medium.

12. The right wing's domination of the media must be countered by a powerful liberal media presence.

I believe this amplifies what Sophia the Altered has advocated:

"Opinion | Until there's a liberal media apparatus, the Democrats will live in Trump's America"

As per this article:

"It takes time for things to stick properly, so please bear with me while I say again that Kamala Harris did not lose the election because of things she said. She lost because of things Donald Trump said she said.

So Democratic Party critics are basing their criticism not on what Harris said but on what Trump said she said, as they are accepting as true the allegations of the president-elect against the vice president.

By focusing on things that Trump said she said, rather than on things she said, these critics are missing the real lesson from the 2024 election – that her policies were not the determining factor in her defeat. It was the ear-splitting volume of the accusations against her and the absence of equal and opposite accusations against him."

And, further along in this article:

"The volume of the rightwing media apparatus, especially when it's in sync with the Washington press corps, is so loud that it can feel like the ultimate arbiter of our political reality. As one CNN anchor put it this morning, this is Donald Trump's America. We're just living in it. Until there's a liberal media apparatus, one that can meet bad info with good info, the Democrats will continue living in Trump's America, too."

Here's the link to this article:        The Need For a a Liberal Media Apparatus (https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/liberal-media/)

It's not going to be easy, but this is something that must be encouraged and supported.

Problem is, liberals don't tend to watch or listen to that sort of structured program.


If they would, they'd be right wing.

Every single attempt at left wing programming has failed due to low ratings, and either went under or went "centrist".

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 25, 2024, 02:02:45 PM

Quote from: Sophia the Altered on November 09, 2024, 05:50:26 AM-Creating and funding alternative media spaces online. You can't prop up the next Joe Rogan overnight, but you can start to cultivate and develop the next Ben Shapiro, Candance Owens, Tim Pool, ect. The problem right now is that the biggest left-of-center voices online are people like Hasan and Vaush who openly trash Democrats and Democratic candidates; Republican online streamers, podcasters, and posters are basically in a cult that bring in followers that will blindly support, vote for, and donate to your candidates. They need this structure of their own to prevent right wingers from completely dominating the medium.

12. The right wing's domination of the media must be countered by a powerful liberal media presence.

This may not be what Sophia the Altered had in mind when she wrote about "Creating and funding alternative media spaces online." But, the following article is from a liberal website that often gives me a good laugh:

"I, Shub-Niggurath, Have Chosen The Lesser Beings That Will Serve In My Presidential Cabinet"

"WHO WILL SERVE DURING MY REIGN OF DARKNESS???"

As per this article:

"Greetings, cowering hordes of human offal! Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, hears your lamentations over my ascent to the Oval Office. They please and will sustain me through the eons of blackness on which you are about to embark as I, Shub-Nggurath, begat by the Darkness, who in turn was begat by Azathoth, ruler of the Outer Gods and keeper of the primordial chaos, reign over you!

Greetings members of the press! Greetings, mortal swine! But I repeat myself! Ha ha ha!
Laugh, mortals! Laugh or be cast into the empty universe, into the cold darkness beyond darkness from which no light can escape and where you will wander for a thousand eternities seeking a respite from the horrors driving you mad with terror!

Or, alternately, I'll make you work for Punchbowl."

I think you get the idea. Here's the link to this article:    Shub-Niggurath Has Spoken Written (https://www.wonkette.com/p/i-shub-niggurath-have-chosen-the)

So, if this sort of political humor appeals to you, I recommend checking out www.wonkette.com (https://www.wonkette.com/).

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 11, 2024, 08:17:21 PMSo, I have two (2) questions for you, as follows:

1. How many votes did TSF lose over his own unconditional support for Israel?

2. In the end, what difference did the lose of those votes actually make?

1. looks like about 2 Million

2. It didn't make any difference, because Harris didn't have a better policy.

Quote from: Pergamos on November 26, 2024, 06:31:15 PM

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 11, 2024, 08:17:21 PMSo, I have two (2) questions for you, as follows:

1. How many votes did TSF lose over his own unconditional support for Israel?

2. In the end, what difference did the lose of those votes actually make?

1. looks like about 2 Million

2. It didn't make any difference, because Harris didn't have a better policy.

That's absolute bullshit.  Her policy was restraint.  Rubio, under the Trump administration is "Kill everyone in Hamas, collateral damage notwithstanding."

But progs gonna be progs and the slightest impurity is as bad as the worst offender.

Hey, about that "not having a better policy" thing. 

Trump just nominated Sebastian Gorka for a senior national security post.   :lulz:
Gorka said about the Gazan conflict:

Quote"Kill every single one of them. God bless Israel. God bless Judeo-Christian civilization."

So there you go Permagos.  You really showed us, didn't you?  :lulz:

Anyone reading the news tonight?

Thanks, progs!   :lulz:

Whoops.  So much for medicare.

THANKS, PROGS!   :lulz:

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 07, 2024, 08:33:32 PM2. Macho 'Merican men want their womenfolk barefoot, pregnant, 'n' in the kitchen. They don't want no uppity, pantsuit wearin' women tryin' ta run no gubernment.

Don't believe me? Well ... according to the following article:

"Men Sweep Congress Chairmanships as Republican Women Lose Ground"

• GOP House steering panel on track to elect no women as chairs
• No women with gavels for first time since 114th Congress

As per this article:

"The leadership of House committees is shaping up to be an all-male club for the first time in almost a decade, as Republicans this week finalize their list of chairmen for the 119th Congress.

The GOP steering committee is still choosing leaders for panels that shape legislation on a gamut of issues. But after the sole woman running for a competitive gavel, Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), lost the Foreign Affairs chairmanship to Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), there's virtually no avenue for a Republican female committee leader selected by the steering committee to make it to the top of these panels.

"It's unfortunate," said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), an assistant whip and member of the Ways and Means Committee. "We've never been the party that was about checking boxes or identity politics, but the difference is we have women that are qualified to be chairs, and I don't know why there wasn't one who was able to become a chairperson of a committee.""

Here's the link:    Republican Women Lose Ground (https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/men-sweep-congress-chairmanships-as-republican-women-lose-ground)

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) claims to not "know why there wasn't one who was able to become a chairperson of a committee." And, she may have been telling the truth. But, I think I know why.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 12, 2024, 04:17:33 AM9. The Main Stream Media (MSM) is not our friend. But, it's not our enemy either. The MSM is simply a powerful group of amoral corporations out to make a buck.

Always remember, "The MSM is only in it for the money." So, learn to deal with it accordingly. In the long run, it can only be influenced by what it believes effects its revenue.

Here's a good example of how one MSM outlet believes it is looking after its own best interests by paying for access to TSF:

"ABC agrees to give $15 million to Donald Trump's presidential library to settle defamation lawsuit" (https://apnews.com/article/abc-trump-lawsuit-defamation-stephanopoulos-04aea8663310af39ae2a85f4c1a56d68)

I didn't bother to post any quotations from this particular article, as the title alone, pretty much, says it all. Time will tell whether or not paying for access, and positive reporting about TSF will benefit ABC.

This morning, it occurred to me that I should reread, and restudy this famous, ancient quotation:

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

And so, after rereading, and restudying this famous, ancient quotation, and thinking about it for a while, I realized I should start asking members of the Democratic Party, liberals, progressives, etc. the following question over and over again between now and the next midterm elections:

If you're so intelligent, well educated, resourceful, and well meaning, why couldn't you convince the majority of the stupidest, most uneducated people currently living in our country to vote for your candidates in the 2024 election?

I will, no doubt, refine my question many times over the next two years, but that's not important right now. What, I believe, is important is to get some honest, meaningful answers to the basic, simple question. And, assuming I do receive some honest, meaningful answers to that question, I will have some followup questions.

I admit it, I love making fun of Steve Bannon. Still, there are times when I unexpectedly find myself in agreement with a political enemy on a particular issue, even though we're both seeking totally different "big picture" end results. And, what Bannon had to say in the following article is one of those times:

"'We have to increase taxes on the wealthy': Steve Bannon" (https://www.semafor.com/article/12/20/2024/we-have-to-increase-taxes-on-the-wealthy-steve-bannon)

I gave up trying to find a couple of succinct quotations that clearly summarize the contents of this article. Nevertheless, Bannon does clearly explain why he advocates taxing the rich. Further, Bannon's calculated appeal to populism is something the Democratic Party, leftists, etc. need to study and emulate.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on December 21, 2024, 11:21:58 PMI admit it, I love making fun of Steve Bannon. Still, there are times when I unexpectedly find myself in agreement with a political enemy on a particular issue, even though we're both seeking totally different "big picture" end results. And, what Bannon had to say in the following article is one of those times:

"'We have to increase taxes on the wealthy': Steve Bannon" (https://www.semafor.com/article/12/20/2024/we-have-to-increase-taxes-on-the-wealthy-steve-bannon)

I gave up trying to find a couple of succinct quotations that clearly summarize the contents of this article. Nevertheless, Bannon does clearly explain why he advocates taxing the rich. Further, Bannon's calculated appeal to populism is something the Democratic Party, leftists, etc. need to study and emulate.

I think if Trump followed this playbook, increased corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthy, along with actual middle class tax cuts, whether that's the over time and tip ones Bannon is talking about, or simply reducing income tax on the lower tax tiers, that he'd be setting up the kind of long term thing Bannon also talks about.  Even if the middle class ended up paying more in taxes, because of tariffs.

However I can't imagine that's what's actually going to happen. The tax plan that I am hearing about includes more cuts for the wealthy and from what I hear the overtime tax cut consists of removing mandatory overtime pay.  Those actions will alienate the folks who supported him and probably lead to Democrats taking Congress in the midterms.

Quote from: Pergamos on December 25, 2024, 05:21:24 PM

Quote from: Brother Mythos on December 21, 2024, 11:21:58 PMI admit it, I love making fun of Steve Bannon. Still, there are times when I unexpectedly find myself in agreement with a political enemy on a particular issue, even though we're both seeking totally different "big picture" end results. And, what Bannon had to say in the following article is one of those times:

"'We have to increase taxes on the wealthy': Steve Bannon" (https://www.semafor.com/article/12/20/2024/we-have-to-increase-taxes-on-the-wealthy-steve-bannon)

I gave up trying to find a couple of succinct quotations that clearly summarize the contents of this article. Nevertheless, Bannon does clearly explain why he advocates taxing the rich. Further, Bannon's calculated appeal to populism is something the Democratic Party, leftists, etc. need to study and emulate.

I think if Trump followed this playbook, increased corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthy, along with actual middle class tax cuts, whether that's the over time and tip ones Bannon is talking about, or simply reducing income tax on the lower tax tiers, that he'd be setting up the kind of long term thing Bannon also talks about.  Even if the middle class ended up paying more in taxes, because of tariffs.

However I can't imagine that's what's actually going to happen. The tax plan that I am hearing about includes more cuts for the wealthy and from what I hear the overtime tax cut consists of removing mandatory overtime pay.  Those actions will alienate the folks who supported him and probably lead to Democrats taking Congress in the midterms.

Trump will act only to benefit the 14 billionaires he's nominated to various positions, along with some billionaires that just hand him money.

He has to put $2 trillion together to enact his billionaire tax cut, and I'll give you precisely 3 guesses as to where he will find that money.

Hint:  It's not coming out of the pockets that it is intended to line.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 08, 2024, 11:13:48 PM5. Negative campaigns are extremely effective. Running a positive campaign achieves no more than does "Preaching to the choir."

Don't believe me? Then, consider giving some thought to how well the "When they go low, we go high" strategy worked out for the Democratic Party.

Perhaps it's time to try some negative campaigning with a reverse psychology twist on The Republicult™.

Now, in reality, the MAGAts weren't even phased by the TTSS Wears Adult Diapers meme. And, some of them even took to buying and wearing "Garbage For Trump - MAGA" t-shirts in response to the newer meme. But, maybe we just didn't go negative enough, and low enough with our efforts.

So, taking into account how the MAGAts have responded to the political left's insults in the past, I would expect them to act pretty much the same way if faced with an organized "Liberals Will Educate the Uneducated" campaign, and/or a "Liberals Will Fix the Stupid" campaign. I can picture their inevitable responses as being absolutely hilarious.

Of course, this tactic isn't going to make the MAGAts completely disappear from the face of the Earth. But, it should cause a few of them to accidentally trigger a dormant brain cell, or two. And, that should lessen their ardor for their messiah.

Quote from: Brother Mythos on November 09, 2024, 10:16:07 PM7. Facts and truth are mostly meaningless in modern 'Merican politics. The majority of 'Merican voters cast their ballots for candidates they both identify with, and find entertaining.

The majority of 'Merican voters are really very much like professional wrestling fans. The fans know the wrestling is scripted, but they don't care. The fans pay their money to watch because they identify with the "good guy" wrestlers who entertain them the most. Republican Party leaders know this to be true, and that's why Hulk Hogan was invited to perform on the last night of the Republican National Convention.

I never took an interest in Meta - Facebook/Meta Platforms, Inc. But, from what I've read in the media today, facts and truth have also become mostly meaningless for that particular social media corporation, as per its Chairman and CEO.

I have no doubt that, if he were alive today, the last Reichminister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, who was also the last Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War, would approve.

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 11, 2024, 04:45:24 PM8. 'Mericans vote for people they perceive to be strong leaders. They identify with them, want to be entertained by them, and want to be certain their potential leaders can defeat their common enemies.

So, to be perceived as a strong leader, a successful politician needs good, common enemies. And, if a politician doesn't actually have any good, common enemies, then good common enemies can be created.

For instance, do you want to elect people who can actually accomplish something against climate change? Then, make climate change the common enemy. And, I don't mean just talking about it. I mean showing the effects of climate change in its full, graphic, video glory, with "macho man looking" spokespeople as the narrators.

I started to post about this guy on another thread. It then occurred to me that "Mr. Empathy" here is a great example of the kind of person The Republicult™ absolutely loves to elect:

"Sen. Tuberville Says Californians 'Don't Deserve Anything' After Wildfires – Until They Enact Different Policies" (https://www.mediaite.com/tv/sen-tuberville-says-californians-dont-deserve-anything-after-wildfires-until-they-elect-different-politicians/)

As per this article:

"Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) became the latest Republican lawmaker to say disaster aid to California should be conditional.

The Los Angeles area has been devastated by wildfires over the past two weeks. At least 24 people have died and thousands of homes have been destroyed or damaged. Republicans have responded by blaming California's leaders, and some have claimed that the fires have not yet been quelled because the state has hired too many firefighters who are not White men. Some GOP lawmakers – including Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have even suggested California will not receive any aid until the state does what Republicans want.

Appearing on Newsmax on Monday, Tuberville lent his voice to the choir.

"Senator, why should other states be bailing out California for choosing the wrong people to run their state?" host Chris Salcedo asked.

"We shouldn't be," Tuberville replied. "They got 40 million people in that state and they vote in these imbeciles in office, and they continue to do it. And it's just a very small part of them in that state that's doing it. If you go to California, you run into a lot of Republicans, a lot of good people. And I hate it for them. But they are just overwhelmed by these inner city woke policies with the people that vote for them.""

Now, from his behavior in the U. S. Senate, I have no reason to believe this guy knows jack shit about our constitution, how to draft legislation, the law in general, how our government actually works, the purpose and workings of our military, foreign policy, etc. Yet, there he sits, an elected 'Merican Senator.

But, as per what I previously wrote, this self-righteous POS does check all of the required boxes to get elected, as follows:

1. Perceived to be a strong leader - Check - Winning former college football coach.

2. Entertaining - Check - Winning former college football coach. (Other than sex and porn, what's more entertaining than sports?)

3. Perceived to be able to defeat 'Merica's common enemies - Check - Winning former college football coach. (For many hardcore 'Merican sports fans, that other team is a real and present danger.)

4. Has enemies in common with many 'Merican voters - Check - The common enemies list in this article alone contains non-white firefighters, the wrong people to run their state (Meaning not belonging to The Republicult™), woke policies, state officials not building more dams, and state officials "not raking their forests" as per TTSS's frequent accusation. So, as he already has a long list of perceived common enemies, Tuberville doesn't even need to create any new ones to fight.

I honestly hope they deny aid to California, because Newsom has suggested that doing so would lead to California denying the fed payment of taxes.  I'd definitely like to see California keep that money and use it to fight fires.

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 07, 2024, 08:33:32 PM2. Macho 'Merican men want their womenfolk barefoot, pregnant, 'n' in the kitchen. They don't want no uppity, pantsuit wearin' women tryin' ta run no gubernment.

Here's an example of The Republicult's ™ elected officials scoring a "twofer." They're both purposely blocking the vote of a female member of the loyal opposition party, and virtue signaling the macho 'Merican men's version of the 'Merican Dream:

Pregnant Congresswoman Blasts 'Unreasonable' House Voting Rules (https://www.newsweek.com/pregnant-congresswoman-house-rules-vote-brittany-petterson-2014853)

As per this article:

"Colorado Representative Brittany Petterson, who is unable to fly to Washington, D.C., for a vote due to her pregnancy, called the House of Representatives' unwillingness to let her vote remotely "unreasonable.""

I have no reason to believe that macho 'Merican men's attitudes are going to change prior to the 2028 presidential election.

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 09, 2024, 04:48:16 PM6. Felony arrests and convictions of a "macho man imaged" candidate mean "street cred" to macho 'Merican men.

I may have to edit this line item a bit, in light of new information.

Trump team brags new presidential portraits "go hard" (https://www.axios.com/2025/01/16/trump-vance-official-portraits-mugshot)

As per this article:

"President-elect Trump sported a familiar stone-faced stare in his official portrait revealed just days before he makes his White House return.

The intrigue: The nontraditional portrait is starkly different from his first term pose, where he grins under even lighting. Instead, with the up-shot glow, a raised eyebrow and a tight-lipped mouth, it's reminiscent of another photo: his historic mug shot."

The above article does confirm that TTSS has been more than happy to publicize his "historic mug shot" to promote his "macho man image" for "street cred," and, of course, monetization. But, on the other hand, he hasn't taken the felony convictions part of our criminal justice system's right of passage very well.

Now that I've thought about it, I may have to polish up all twelve (12) of my line items, prior to the next election. And, after all, twelve (12) line items does violate the Discordian Law of Fives, as revealed by Episkopos Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst, KSC. Further, it's in the realm of possibility that reducing my list to ten (10) line items just might make it more attractive to some of those politically active heathens with their own Ten (10) Commandments list. Hey, it could happen.

12 is a one and a two, when you add those together you get three, and if you add one two to three you get five.  It's not even a convoluted enough line to five to be all that meaningful.

Quote from: Pergamos on January 17, 2025, 06:54:00 PM12 is a one and a two, when you add those together you get three, and if you add one two to three you get five.  It's not even a convoluted enough line to five to be all that meaningful.

Well ... I admit, that line of reasoning will allow me to stay with a twelve (12) program, and still claim to be a Discordian Fundamentalist. So, one of the oldest of the Erisian Mysterees really does work in mysterious ways.

Thanks! 

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 07, 2024, 08:33:32 PM2. Macho 'Merican men want their womenfolk barefoot, pregnant, 'n' in the kitchen. They don't want no uppity, pantsuit wearin' women tryin' ta run no gubernment.

This line item needs editing too, 'cause Macho 'Merican men don't want no women tryin' to run no military either.

Trump removes Coast Guard commandant, US official says (https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-fires-coast-guard-commandant-over-dei-security-fox-news-reports-2025-01-21/)

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 08, 2024, 11:13:48 PM5. Negative campaigns are extremely effective. Running a positive campaign achieves no more than does "Preaching to the choir."

Don't believe me? Then, consider giving some thought to how well the "When they go low, we go high" strategy worked out for the Democratic Party.

This line item also needs editing, as I realized it can be improved by making reference to the KISS principle. Now, everyone already knows, KISS is an acronym for "Keep it simple, stupid!" And, the author of the following article offers a great example of a clear, simple, negative campaign slogan that emphasizing the who, what, where, when, and why of one of the TSS's recent executive orders: 
 
"Trump fired the people in charge of airplane safety, and now airplanes are already falling out of the sky." (https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/falling-out-of-the-sky/59671/)

Quote from: Pergamos on January 16, 2025, 05:28:56 PMI honestly hope they deny aid to California, because Newsom has suggested that doing so would lead to California denying the fed payment of taxes.  I'd definitely like to see California keep that money and use it to fight fires.

How would that work?

Does the state government of California pay taxes to the federal government?

There's no way they could make the citizens of the state pay their federal income tax to the state and then... I'm not even sure what the next stage of that plan would be. Arresting federal agents attempting to collect taxes?

taxes are collected by employers automatically, in most cases, the state could instruct California employers to submit income taxes directly to them, instead of to the Fed.

Quote from: Pergamos on February 10, 2025, 05:25:47 PMtaxes are collected by employers automatically, in most cases, the state could instruct California employers to submit income taxes directly to them, instead of to the Fed.

Guess who gets hammered if that happens?

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 07, 2024, 04:56:43 PM1. 'Merica is not the shining city on the hill. It's the trailer park between Beer Belly's Bar and Ridgerunner's Ammo 'n' Live Bait Shop.

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 08, 2024, 05:17:58 PM4. Know your constituency. A successful political campaign must appeal to "the lowest common denominator."

And, don't ever forget, in 'Merica "the lowest common denominator" is exceptionally low.

I'm gradually editing to my original twelve (12) line items. First off, I'm editing and combining line items # 1 and # 4 as follows:

1. Know Your Constituency

'Merica is not the shining city upon a hill. 'Merica is a trailer park on the banks of a swamp, with Billy Bob's Good Ol' Boys Bar & Grill on one side, and Ridgerunner's All Night Ammo 'n' Live Bait Shop on the other. A successful, national political campaign must appeal to "the lowest common denominator" of 'Merica's constituency.

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 08, 2024, 02:04:29 PM3. 'Macho man image' means everything to macho 'Merican men.

And, as Laurence J. Peter wrote, "An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance."

The only thing that surprises me about this article is that someone has bluntly said it in public:

Clay Travis Stuns University of Chicago Politics Panel With Theory On Why Dems Are Losing: Men View Them As 'P*ssies' (https://www.mediaite.com/politics/clay-travis-stuns-university-of-chicago-politics-panel-with-theory-on-why-dems-are-losing-men-view-them-as-pssies/)

I learned a new term today:

Behind the Curtain: Masculine maximalism (https://www.axios.com/2025/02/13/trump-musk-power-maximalist-government)

I don't know if "masculine maximalism" will catch on, or not. But, I'm thinking about "appropriating" it for the edit of my original line item # 2. (Back in the day, during the revolution that never happened, I might have utilized the word "liberating," in the hopes of being perceived as "hip.")

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 08, 2024, 11:13:48 PM5. Negative campaigns are extremely effective. Running a positive campaign achieves no more than does "Preaching to the choir."

Don't believe me? Then, consider giving some thought to how well the "When they go low, we go high" strategy worked out for the Democratic Party.

I learned another new word:

Trumpflation is spiraling out of control (https://www.palmerreport.com/analysis/trumpflation-is-spiraling-out-of-control/59893/)

I will be utilizing the word "Trumpflation" often from now on.

(https://preview.redd.it/984qdjco555f1.jpeg?width=965&auto=webp&s=d942c032ef76e4917199a0971e6997ef18e7e5b9)
Someone just realised he's the fall guy

I suspect this drama may have much to do with Taco Taco Turd wanting far more for NASA than Elmo the Oligarch is currently willing to pay. After all, Felon 47 has already made so much money since getting back in the White House that mere hundreds of millions here and there is starting to look like chump change. And, it is possible for even an amoral oligarch to have an occasional cash flow problem.

I'm amused, but it's unclear to me where this current reality TV episode is going. This may very well turn out to be no more than a pause in negotiations between a determined, extremely wealthy briber, and an extremely greedy bribee.

Yeah its grim that american politics is playing out in tweets.

Bribe and Bribee is a funny way to put it, my take is that the man who purchased a country (living the american dream) is now unhappy with the quality of the merchendise he paid for.

Quote from: Faust on June 06, 2025, 02:25:35 PMYeah its grim that american politics is playing out in tweets.

Bribe and Bribee is a funny way to put it, my take is that the man who purchased a country (living the american dream) is now unhappy with the quality of the merchendise he paid for.

I saw something in the news the other day about the old 1950's Amos 'n' Andy comedy TV show. It reminded me of the dichotomies, like "briber and bribee," that the main characters of the show used in their dialogues. And, when I did a spell check and found that "bribee" is a legitimate word, I had to use it.

Anyway, I suspect Elmo the Oligarch's next move will be to try to buy himself a few Republicult™ senators.

I don't believe Elmo is going to give up on his dream of establishing a colony on Mars. And, buying NASA, and then control of the resources of the U.S. of A. is the only remotely possible way for him to realize his dream in his own lifetime.

Quote from: Abbot Mythos on November 12, 2024, 04:17:33 AM9. The Main Stream Media (MSM) is not our friend. But, it's not our enemy either. The MSM is simply a powerful group of amoral corporations out to make a buck.

Always remember, "The MSM is only in it for the money." So, learn to deal with it accordingly. In the long run, it can only be influenced by what it believes effects its revenue.

Unfortunately, the Republicult™ will continue to harm the majority of America's people between now and the swearing-in of the 120th Congress. And, as the campaigns for the U.S. midterm elections are still a ways off, I hadn't been in any hurry to edit my "Hard Lessons to be Learned Before the Next Election Twelve-step Program." But, it's beginning to feel like it's time for me to get back to work.

Since I first wrote this particular line time, I've come to realize the MSM is by no means a neutral participant in our culture. In fact, I'm certain it would be a significant improvement if it actually were a mere neutral participant.

I'm probably going to renumber the order in which this line item appears. But, this is my first edit of the original:

9. The Main Stream Media (MSM) is not our friend. The MSM is a group of amoral corporations out to make a buck. Therefore, the MSM can be encouraged to promote the messages of the Resistance 2.0 by negatively affecting its revenue.

It appears there will be a special election held, around the beginning of November, to select a new U.S. representative for Tennessee's 7th congressional district. So, it will be interesting to see if the Democratic Party has learned anything about what it's going to take to win elections for national office in today's 'Merica.

Now, to be fair, this district has a Cook PVI of R+10. So, it's going to be difficult for any Democratic candidate to win this seat. And, I won't be surprised if the sociopath-in-chief himself make a personal, reality TV show appearance in Tennessee, where he dances to "Macho Man" for his adoring, redneck worshipers.

But, if Elmo the Oligarch is serious about his "American Party," this is his big chance to crash one of the sociopath-in-chief's parties. Now, I'm not at all optimist about Elmo actually funding a candidate for this special election. But, if he does, it might make this race a little more interesting.   

Anyway, in 2022 the Democratic Party ran a black woman for this seat. She won 38.14% of the vote. Then, in 2024 the Democratic Party ran a white woman, and she won 38.05% of the vote. So, it will be interesting to see if the Democratic Party runs yet another woman for this open seat in a redneck district. In my opinion, if the Democratic Party decides to repeat this pattern, they either don't know their constituency, or they believe it's more important for them to run a woman, rather than a viable, possibly competitive male candidate. Or, perhaps, they're just going through the motions.

As I've written before:

Joe Sixpack, Doubleclutch, Bubba, Razor Ramon, and most of the women who willingly socialize with them did not vote for Hillary Clinton, or Kamala Harris. And, they did not vote for them because those two candidates are both Democrats and, obviously, women. Now, I believe a portion of the Joe Sixpack, etc. subculture may sometimes be convinced to vote for a Democratic candidate, or a woman candidate, but not both at the same time.