A thread for Democrats Only
POSTED BY: THGRRI
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 15:36
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Quote:If impartiality is too much, in your opinion, is not lying under oath also too much? I bet Justice Brett Kavanaugh flat out lied about Roe v. Wade. He knew he would not get confirmed to the Supreme Court unless he said he would not overturn it. And nobody could test Kavanaugh's truthfulness until AFTER he is on the Supreme Court, where he cannot be removed. We will find out if Kavanaugh lied when the Supreme Court gets the case. I am not alone in my suspicions :
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
We all deserve judges who can be fair and impartial, but we are not getting that.
We're never going to get that.
I once thought that if we waited long enough for an AI to come along that was up to the job and we surrendered to their own judgement that it would be possible, but recent revelations about how algorithms have been designed and carried out to bring the "correct" news to people doing searches for news proves otherwise.
Any AI derived from humankind will be just as imperfect and petty as mankind itself.
Impartiality is a dream.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
www.cnn.com/2019/05/16/politics/brett-kavanaugh-susan-collins-alabama-
abortion/index.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Global leaders find they can push Donald Trump around
Theodore Roosevelt, said it best: “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
With TR’s philosophy in mind, let’s review where things stand for Donald Trump on the global stage:
The Russians are pushing the president around, as demonstrated by Vladimir Putin’s telling him to keep his nose out of Venezuela—a country not in Russia’s backyard but ours. The Russians have also thumbed their nose at Trump in Syria and Iran.).
The leader of tiny, impoverished North Korea, Kim Jong Un, is the one making demands now, giving the president until December 31 to shape up and stop being “impracticable.” Trump once gushed like a giddy teenager about how he “fell in love” with Kim, and now wants another date—a third summit. But Trump doesn’t get that he’s been dumped. He still seems to think that Kim will magically give up his nuclear weapons, even though no one else, including the U.S. intelligence community, does.
And after promising that “trade wars are easy to win,” Trump faces a country that is digging in, now that China has struck back at us with tariffs of its own. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow admitted Sunday that yes, Americans are being hurt.
There are many more examples, but the big picture clear: When it comes to foreign policy, we have a president who talks a good game, blows a lot of smoke, and has almost nothing to show for it.
More at www.marketwatch.com/story/global-leaders-find-they-can-push-donald-tru
mp-around-2019-05-17
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Does Anyone Actually Want Joe Biden to Be President?
Early polls are a poor barometer for electoral success. At this point in the lead-up to 2016, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker were the top contenders for the Republican nomination.
The case that people make for Mr. Biden’s electability is not that any one group of people is particularly excited by him, but that he stands the best chance of getting independents and perhaps even some moderate Republicans to cross over and vote Democratic; unenthusiastic lefties will nevertheless vote for him because this is an emergency and Donald Trump is so much worse. It’s Politics 101: The candidate closest to the median voter will scoop up the biggest share.
But getting elected is not about appealing to the bland median. It’s about appealing to the people who actually feel motivated to turn out and vote.
The Democratic Party of 2019 does not look much like Joe Biden. Women, African-American, Latino and Asian voters are all much more likely to say they support Democratic candidates than Republican ones. White voters, male voters and especially white male voters generally support Republicans.
Those assumptions about electability reflect entrenched biases more than political science, and have a dash of arrogance to boot. An electable candidate, the thinking goes, has to be authentic and broadly appealing. But authenticity itself is coded as white and male when it’s defined by white men.
This perpetual reading of the white working-class tea leaves (or beer hops?) only makes sense if those voters are actually more influential than all the others. In the Democratic Party, they’re not. Just under a third of white men without college degrees said they voted for a Democrat in the 2018 midterms. And Democrats don’t need anywhere near a majority of these men to win. Women vote in larger numbers than men; voters with college and post-graduate degrees turn out in larger shares than those without. These high-turnout groups are the same ones that are trending Democratic. If they're motivated to turn out to vote, a Democrat will wind up in the White House.
But what about those Obama-to-Trump swing voters who will reportedly make or break this election, as they did the last one? The Democratic Party shouldn’t leave anyone behind, but working-class white men are declining as a share of the Democratic base, while whites generally are declining as a share of the general population. The entire premise that white men without college degrees are the only possible swing voters is a faulty one.
There’s also little evidence that most voters pick a candidate based on policies and that a moderate candidate who wrote campaign talking points to appeal to a broad swath of voters would do significantly better than a more visionary and progressive one. Instead of trying to win back a waning electoral and demographic force (white males with no college degree), Democrats would be better served to consider what will get voters to the polls. Hillary Clinton’s loss can only be explained by a long list of factors, but surely one of them was apathy. (Biden is the personification of Apathy. Who is excited about Biden? Nobody.)
More at www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/opinion/joe-biden-president.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Does Anyone Actually Want Joe Biden to Be President?
Early polls are a poor barometer for electoral success. At this point in the lead-up to 2016, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker were the top contenders for the Republican nomination.
The case that people make for Mr. Biden’s electability is not that any one group of people is particularly excited by him, but that he stands the best chance of getting independents and perhaps even some moderate Republicans to cross over and vote Democratic; unenthusiastic lefties will nevertheless vote for him because this is an emergency and Donald Trump is so much worse. It’s Politics 101: The candidate closest to the median voter will scoop up the biggest share.
But getting elected is not about appealing to the bland median. It’s about appealing to the people who actually feel motivated to turn out and vote.
The Democratic Party of 2019 does not look much like Joe Biden. Women, African-American, Latino and Asian voters are all much more likely to say they support Democratic candidates than Republican ones. White voters, male voters and especially white male voters generally support Republicans.
Those assumptions about electability reflect entrenched biases more than political science, and have a dash of arrogance to boot. An electable candidate, the thinking goes, has to be authentic and broadly appealing. But authenticity itself is coded as white and male when it’s defined by white men.
This perpetual reading of the white working-class tea leaves (or beer hops?) only makes sense if those voters are actually more influential than all the others. In the Democratic Party, they’re not. Just under a third of white men without college degrees said they voted for a Democrat in the 2018 midterms. And Democrats don’t need anywhere near a majority of these men to win. Women vote in larger numbers than men; voters with college and post-graduate degrees turn out in larger shares than those without. These high-turnout groups are the same ones that are trending Democratic. If they're motivated to turn out to vote, a Democrat will wind up in the White House.
But what about those Obama-to-Trump swing voters who will reportedly make or break this election, as they did the last one? The Democratic Party shouldn’t leave anyone behind, but working-class white men are declining as a share of the Democratic base, while whites generally are declining as a share of the general population. The entire premise that white men without college degrees are the only possible swing voters is a faulty one.
There’s also little evidence that most voters pick a candidate based on policies and that a moderate candidate who wrote campaign talking points to appeal to a broad swath of voters would do significantly better than a more visionary and progressive one. Instead of trying to win back a waning electoral and demographic force (white males with no college degree), Democrats would be better served to consider what will get voters to the polls. Hillary Clinton’s loss can only be explained by a long list of factors, but surely one of them was apathy. (Biden is the personification of Apathy. Who is excited about Biden? Nobody.)
More at www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/opinion/joe-biden-president.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
Why don't these racists and sexists that write articles like this focus on what the candidate's platforms are instead of the color of everyone's skin and what sexual organs they possess?
This is why Democrats lose. Always.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:Elections are not won by platforms and policy statements. They are won by how many come out to vote. Trump got people to vote by saying Lock Her Up and Make America Great Again. He understands the voters perfectly. It is the Democratic candidates that waste time describing the thousand nuanced details of their policies that 99% of voters can't be bothered to understand. Check out https://peteforamerica.com/issues/ for all the mind-numbing details that 99% of voters don't give a damn about. This Pete Buttigieg guy is smart enough and hard working enough to be President, but he will never get elected. Why? Because he has a complete platform. He should throw it away and do what Trump does -- bullshit his way to the Presidency.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Why don't these racists and sexists that write articles like this focus on what the candidate's platforms are instead of the color of everyone's skin and what sexual organs they possess?
This is why Democrats lose. Always.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Since you won't click the link, I'll give you the last 3 items on Pete's 1,000 item platform. None of them will move even a single voter to the polls:
Quote:
https://peteforamerica.com/issues/
1) Electoral College
Democracy means that nothing should be allowed to overrule the vote of the American people when it comes to choosing our nation’s leader.
Key Policy: A national popular vote to replace the Electoral College
It’s simple: the candidate who gets the most votes should win. States don’t vote, people vote, and everyone’s vote should count exactly the same. The Electoral College has to go.
The best route to removing the Electoral College would be a constitutional amendment. Recognizing that this cannot be done overnight, Pete supports the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact to ensure the president is chosen by the American people while we seek constitutional reform.
2) Judicial System
Democracy means depoliticizing our judicial system.
Key Policy: Depoliticize the Supreme Court
We need to reform the Supreme Court in a way that will strengthen its independence and restore the American people’s trust in it as a check to the Presidency and the Congress. One promising idea is to restructure the Court so that ten members are confirmed in the normal political fashion, with the other five promoted from the lower courts by unanimous agreement of the other ten. Others have proposed implementing term limits. As president, Pete will create a bipartisan reform commission for the purpose of recommending structural improvements to protect the Supreme Court from further politicization.
3) National Service
Democracy means more shared experiences in the service of our country.
Key Policy: Expand opportunities for national service
We need to grow our national service programs to give more opportunities for young Americans to serve. Service provides a deeper sense of community, tackles critical national and global challenges, and can help heal our divided nation.
When Pete was a Navy Reserve Officer, he learned to trust and collaborate with women and men from radically different backgrounds -- including different races, religions, and political leanings. Right now, we turn away hundreds of thousands of young people who volunteer to serve. Military service, Peace Corps service, and domestic service-year opportunities through efforts like AmeriCorps should be expanded until service becomes a universal expectation for every American youth.
Bringing together people of different backgrounds in pursuit of a common shared purpose -- from climate adaptation to supporting disinvested American communities and neighborhoods -- is America at its best.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Just a few short weeks ago, SECONDRATE was banging the "racist" angle, as in "Trump won only because racists voted for him".
It makes absolutely no difference to SECONDRATE whether you argue him to a standstill on any particular point, he'll just shift points and argue something competely different (even if it directly contradicts what he argued before) until he comes full circle back to the point he lost the first time. This is the "Iraq weapons of mass destruction" form of propaganda ... just keep piling on the bullshit by shifting the topics (even if they contradict each other) with one aim in mind:
If you can't dazzle them with brillince, baffle them with bullshit.
This technique was made famous by GWB and perfected by Trump. So, I guess SECONDRATE in some ways is just like the Republicans he claims to despise. 
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND
America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876 .
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The year 2016 brought the first genuinely post–Cold War election: the perennial carnage of American capitalism, intensified by forty years of growing inequality, prepared the ground for Bernie Sanders’s socialism, while the nativism and racism that had slunk just outside respectable politics returned full-throated. Trump is not an anomalous departure but rather a return to the baseline — to the historical norm.
The thing that really defined Trump’s political language was its nihilism about politics itself, the appetite it stoked for political bullshit that doesn’t even pretend to hold together, but just staggers from one emotional trigger to another. Trump essentially short-sold the high-minded political style of the late Cold War, betting that it would prove weaker than it looked under pressure — that people neither expected much from government nor thought it important enough to be well run; that a lot of voters despised their political class and the cultural and financial elites around it; and that recreational cruelty and you-can’t-bullshit-a-bullshitter snark would feel more authentic than any respectably sanctioned appeal to better angels. We are, he intimated, the barbarians we’ve been waiting for. His Trumpism is basically Reagan Republicanism without the California simulacrum of sunny goodwill.
www.dissentmagazine.org/article/normcore-trump-resistance-books-crisis
-of-democracy
For the American right, Donald Trump’s inauguration as the forty-fifth president of the United States was a moment of political rebirth. Elements of American conservatism had long fostered a reactionary counterculture, which defined the push for civil rights as oppression, resisted the equality of women and the transgression of conventional heterosexual norms, pilloried the hegemony of the liberal media, and was suspicious of globalism and its corporate liberal institutions, including the UN and the WTO. Already in the 1950s this reactionary politics had secured a niche on the right wing of the GOP. It was reenergized by the Goldwater campaign and the conservative backlash against the social revolutions of the 1960s. Reintegrated into the mainstream GOP by Ronald Reagan, it then flared into the open in the ferocious hostility to the Clintons in the 1990s. With Trump it finally claimed center stage. For the right, the explosion of “truth-speaking” by Trump and his cohorts, the unabashed sexism and xenophobia of his administration, and its robust nationalism on issues of trade and security need no justification. His election represents a long-awaited overturning of the consensus of liberalism.
www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/06/06/democracy-and-its-discontents/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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It seems we've come full circle. Right back to the basket of deplorables.
How'd that work out for you in 2016?
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:Worked great! I got a huge tax cut from Trump and I fired all my "deplorable" Trump-loving employees. They were convinced they were essential, but they were wrong. My business runs so much smoother without those whiny Trump-lovers incompetently handling the jobs I assigned them. (New employment policy: 3 strikes and you're out. Funny how it was the Trump-lovers who all got fired.) How are things working for you, now that you are moving from the house where you once though you'd live forever? Did Trump not deliver on his promises to Make America Great Again? Did you get a tax cut to match the one Trump gave himself and me?
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
It seems we've come full circle. Right back to the basket of deplorables.
How'd that work out for you in 2016?
Do Right, Be Right. :)
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Worked great! I got a huge tax cut from Trump and I fired all my "deplorable" Trump-loving employees. They were convinced they were essential, but they were wrong. My business runs so much smoother without those whiny Trump-lovers incompetently handling the jobs I assigned them. How are things working for you, now that you are forced to move from the house where you once though you'd live forever? Did Trump not deliver on his promises to Make America Great Again?
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
It seems we've come full circle. Right back to the basket of deplorables.
How'd that work out for you in 2016?
Do Right, Be Right. :)
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
lol
It looks as though somebody is on tilt again.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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