I 200% support government funded sex changes. Remove the fcking crazy from the gene pool altogether! Money well spent.
OT- Oops, voter fraud is underway
- Thread starter Stretch 74
- Start date
I 200% support government funded sex changes. Remove the fcking crazy from the gene pool altogether! Money well spent.
Valid perspective, but…
Insisting on choosing a D or R candidate just perpetuates the issue with the 2 party system and incentivizes neither of them to return to the middle and pick a better candidate.
We have 10 candidates this year. Pick a different one. If 50 million people do that, the wheels start to come off the 2 party system.
I used to believe a third party that positioned itself as centrist could be viable, potentially enough to actually govern at some point. Centrist, "sane" candidates have a very hard time winning primaries in the two-party system. A third party could have its own primary process, and if it somehow could get enough attention and dollars, you would think it could, or at least should, work. Most Americans want similar things ... e.g., centrist Democrat policies from the 90s/early 2000s. No, not denying science, trying to make America a theological nation, or meritless armed conflict, as more extreme Republicans of that era did. Not about cutting taxes to the bone, running huge deficits to spend on defense, and so on. But also not trying to frame everything in identity group politics or going way out on the tail of extreme policies regarding myriad issues (e.g., the border, illegal immigration, policing and safety, DEI, transgender matters, censorship, abortion, court-packing, reparations, and various other things), many of which wouldn't have even had majority support in places like Berkeley in that era.
Things have gotten so extreme, with apparent disagreement over things that shouldn't be all that controversial--each day is so insane with the news flow that I can't discern whether this is just election-related posturing or something indicative of greater partisan divergence--that it no longer is clear to me the sizeable, silent, largely apolitical middle who just wants things that make sense could ever come together to get it done.
The media also is a massive problem. It has leaned left at least for the past six decades, and it was Murdoch who first created the current-day polarized talking head shitshow with Fox, of course, but the left-leaning cable outlets at this point are just as bad if not worse, and the legacy MSM isn't far behind. This contributes to further demonization of the other side and polarization, and no centrist, dispassionate media outlet ever is viable despite a few attempts to start them over the years. What gets viewed, consumed, and ads purchased is extreme bullshit on both sides, blasted out to political obsessives who lap it up.
Try looking at the "other side's" material for a little bit on social media. You'll find it repugnant at a visceral level, yes, and I can barely do it on either side, but gut through it for a few minutes and realize how the same world is portrayed completely differently. Balanced views simply aren't presented. Facts that don't support that side's narrative, which at this point is just that the other side is abhorrent, corrupt, and will put you in camps and ruin the country, regardless of which side you are on, aren't reported even if they are merely neutral or clarifying. There is no place for moderates, even though they probably still represent a plurality in this country. They are left to try to look at the ridiculous shit from both sides and to attempt to discern truth or meaning from caricatures and absurdity.
That probably will piss off everyone, which itself would be telling vis-à-vis the viability of centrists now and going forward.
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I agree, but I think those more centrist people are currently in a position where they feel forced to vote their lean…not their choice. The overwhelming majority are holding their nose and casting a vote against one candidate.
When there are 10 on the ballot - as there are in Washington - most should be able to not hold their nose so tightly. Reading through the 10 platforms, there were none that I agreed with completely…but the D and R ones were among the most outlandish, and had more pillars that I disagree with than most of the platforms did.
Yeah, with you on that. I know I'm just voting a lean and holding my nose. My recollection (I'm not in Washington now, but in another state with a much different approach to voting -- that's another subject) was that most of those candidates in the guide tended to represent single-issue or otherwise cabined/siloed views (e.g., libertarian, green, "constitution," etc.) that tended to be either extreme or, at least, targeted and approaching things through a narrow lens, but the majority candidates are so extreme and otherwise ridiculous at this point that I wouldn't be surprised if one of those other candidates aligned with my views better than either the R or D.
Based on exactly the same thoughts, I actually went to the websites for all 10 candidates and read their planks. Some of them are certainly narrow (I.e., capitalism has failed and needs to be eliminated), and some are focused mostly on a couple of things, but nearly all of them at least give broad strokes on the major issues. I narrowed it to 2 who could get through full paragraphs without saying something idiotic, which neither Trump or Harris could manage.
If wishes and buts were candy and nuts...
That isn't the system we have and I'd say history has demonstrated we were doomed to be in a two-party system. The chances of a grassroots movement forming to bring forth a viable third option by refusing to vote for one of the two viable candidates is about the same chance that the COUGS win the national championship this year.
Again, you have TWO viable options. The current apparatus and party infrastructure in place makes this a brute fact. Standing aside in the naive belief you are making some difference or meaningful choice will do absolutely nothing in this real world. Perhaps you would also like a medal for being above the dirty pit of presidential elections. Personally to me, it's a cop-out to hide behind the argument that "my vote doesn't really matter in this state anyway".
Standing on the sidelines certainly is what one political party is wanting. They are counting on the tired and lazy mindset that "both sides are the same, they're both terrible". Taihtsat
When Trump is flushed it will improve a bit, but we are a country of red vs blue. Only a legit third party (better) or elimination of parties will get people back to the middle. We’ve seen the worst of it since Trump hit the political scene, but it was already accelerating in this direction around the first Obama term.
Hi stalker. Dream about me again last night? Wish you could slap me with a subpenis - I mean subpoena?
And she's not ugly. Says "Uh" a lot though. I could change that to "Ooh Ooh"
Edit - Tulsi Gabbard is coming to Yakima on Nov 8th. She's not ugly either.
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The media also is a massive problem. It has leaned left at least for the past six decades,
I'll opine. I too feel that a modest 3rd "Moderate" party could have a huge impact, but the chances are very slim it could take hold. But then you do have guys like Bernie in Vermont. In a top 2 state like Washington the chances of getting elected would be better. If say 10% of the House belonged to the moderate party and had a united front, they would be the swing vote on everything, and the left and right would have to compromise. That's about the best we could hope for.
Oh and I disagree that the media has leaned left for "at least the last six decades". I'm not old enough to remember the sixties, but I do remember Walter Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, Howard K. Smith (he of "The Murrow Boys"), etc. Way too young to remember our own Edward R. Murrow, but I suppose he would be considered a lefty these days by the McCarthy lovers - oops I mean Trump lovers.
. I will agree that mainstream media has leaned left for some time, but how much of that is in direct competition/response to the right wing nuts that Fox, etc. have paraded out in recent memory? Here's a trip down memory lane........
The Most Influential News Anchors of All Time
TV news anchors have a long history of being trusted sources for world news and events. The best news anchors don't just report the news. They dissect current events and put them into perspective, often having a profound effect on politics and public opinion. Who are the most influential news...
www.ranker.com
We have two viable options because the masses only consider two options. Those two have tried really hard to set things up that way, but we're continuing to just give them their way.
I don't expect that my vote, or my suggestions that we don't accept either of our two shitty choices, will have any impact at all. But the fact that it doesn't make a difference doesn't mean that I have to cave in and pick one of two choices - neither of which I want.
And, whether you think it's a cop out or not is completely meaningless to me. The simple fact is that in Washington, if you're not voting for Harris, your vote doesn't matter. That will remain true unless we get rid of the winner take all electoral approach....or until 50 million people start voting for a 3rd party.
Stepping away from the presidential race...I'm watching the congressional race in my district between Dan Newhouse & Jared Sessler pretty closely, because I think it's outcome will show just how far off the wheels have come.
They're both republicans (another gift given to us by Washington's idiotic top 2 system). But Sessler is a Trump Republican (and a sociopathic liar), and Newhouse is a traditional Republican (which now means RINO, and just a typical politician liar). Sessler's key campaign points are "I've been endorsed by Trump" and "Newhouse voted to impeach." He backed out of a debate because he didn't think it was right that a write-in democrat wasn't included. Now, he's running tons of ads that claim the dems are trying to steal the election by having a write-in candidate. Mostly, he's getting her name out so that the dems will vote for her instead of Newhouse.
Anyway, Sessler's back story shows that he's a mindless pawn. If he loses, I'll maintain a hint of hope for the sensibilities of voters in my district. If he wins...not so much.
Back to the top level though...the things that Trump and Musk are talking about, and with RFK waiting in the wings to shred health services...I really don't look forward to the next 4 years. And I desperately hope that no supremes die or retire before 2029.
Nice article on voter fraud..........or lack thereof......
kimatv.com
States work to calm fears over rare instances of voter fraud
Fraud fears have been raised in multiple states, including the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.
I guess enjoy the subpenis slapping. Make sure you're opposite of a consenting adult.
Let's not forget that there were problems with Dominion long before the 2020 election. As I remembered it, Texas evaluated different systems and disqualified Dominion systems due to security flaws. I thought there were other states that did as well. Turns out I did remember at least some of it correctly-Texas actually disqualified Dominion three different times. In scanning the rest of this article I didn't see that other states also disqualified them, but they might have. I didn't research further.
Officials raised concerns for years about security of US voting machines, software systems - Washington Examiner
The Dominion Voting Systems, which has been used in multiple states where fraud has been alleged in the 2020 U.S. Election, was rejected three times by data communications experts from the Texas Secretary of State and Attorney General’s Office for failing to meet basic security standards. Unlike...
www.washingtonexaminer.com
You mean Trumpers and MAGA people? I think an IQ of 60 might be generous. And teeth? I'd guess an over/under of 20? (being generous here, I had to count my own full set of teeth to ascertain what is a normal mouthful. Somewhere around 38-40? I just did it with my finger to estimate).
I know that it doesn't fit your narrative, but according to the article below.....the machine recorded the proper vote on the ballot that came out of the machine......
“Here’s the thing,” the clerk said. “The official who worked with (the woman who posted the TikTok video) said, ‘Did you vote for Trump?’, and she said, ‘Yeah, it’s on my card.’ Of course, she didn’t say anything until she was done. Which doesn’t help.”
Read more at: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article294842374.html#storylink=cpy
My narrative?
Rich.
I just watched the video of the guy who couldn’t vote and posted it here.
Happy to hear they pulled the failed machine., aren’t you?
The Laurel County clerk’s office pulled a ballot-marking machine from public use Thursday, the first day of early voting in Kentucky, after someone posted a video on TikTok claiming their intended presidential vote for Republican Donald Trump instead was credited to Democrat Kamala Harris.
Read more at: https://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article294842374.html#storylink=cpy
Well.....too many people are saying because one machine in Kentucky was reported.....it's happening everywhere because there is some grand conspiracy. Maybe you aren't one of those people.....but god damn....it's hard to figure out who's a nutjob or not when we see these kind of videos where people only pay attention to the part of the story that suits them.
And yes, I'm glad to hear that the machine was pulled.
You probably shouldn’t vote then if they are just gonna give it to Harris 🤷
Ha. No there’s not. There’s literally ten candidates on the ballot. Did X tell you that too?
There's only 2 SERIOUS candidates that actually matter. Taihtsat
I have no predictions in this race. I’m pretty fascinated watching this all unfold real-time in a way none of us predicted nor hold any control over.
You want my true belief(s)? Here goes.
First off, who will win. I don’t have any idea. While I see several plausible scenarios or hypotheticals, I suspect ultimately nobody will be happy and everyone will have their reasons. What happens then? Who knows? I guess we’re back to scenarios and hypotheticals.
What impact do my innermost thoughts and feelings have on influencing any of you on anything? None.
So, why do I do it? Same as you all, I guess.
Anyway,
Go Cougs!
I’d probably say you have 4 options
1. Harris
2. Trump
3. Don’t vote
4. Other/“your conscience”/Jill somebody/write-in/etc
The only reason that’s true is because people have bought into the party lines. If they’d actually look at the other 8…a lot of people would find a candidate they more closely agree with.
Trump and Harris are both shit. People know that, but vote for them anyway. They shouldn’t.
