Real World Event Discussions

A thread for Democrats Only

POSTED BY: THGRRI
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 15:36
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SECOND

Wednesday, September 10, 2025 5:04 PM

Don’t these people have grandchildren?

Posted on Monday, Feb 5, 2024, 2:00AM by Barry Goldman

https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2024/02/the-fungus-among-us.html

Reading about corporate greed and depredation over the past few years, I keep getting stuck on the same question: Don’t these people have grandchildren? How can corporate decision-makers spend their days actively working to destroy the environment, pollute the water, kill off the animals, melt the glaciers, and incinerate the biosphere? Even if what they care about the most is making more money no matter how much money they already have, don’t they care at all about the world they’re leaving for their kids?

I’ve arrived at a theory. But first I need to back up a few steps.

Readers of 3QD may be familiar with the brain fungus that causes “zombie ants” to leave the safety of the forest floor and climb up the stalks of plants to die. Or the parasite that causes mice to lose their fear of cats. In both cases, the parasite has evolved to hijack the brain of the host and cause it to behave in ways that are suicidal to the host but beneficial to the parasite. The behaviors the parasite causes are often exquisitely complex and particular. It seems impossible that something as primitive as a fungus could be the explanation. But evolution has come up with lots of similar strategies. She is very clever. She doesn’t have a sense of fair play or sportsmanship. If a behavior increases the chances of getting the genes of one generation reproduced in the next, it succeeds. Nothing else matters. And she has lots and lots of time to experiment.

So that’s the first idea we need – the fungus that hijacks the brain of one species to improve the reproductive success of another.

Then we need the idea of cultural evolution. Human beings don’t have to wait for genetic evolution. We have evolved the ability to get information from one generation to the next without having to wait for it first to be encoded in the DNA. We don’t have to start from scratch with each generation, and we don’t have to proceed by trial and error. We have culture, language, and traditional practices.

In the modern world, I don’t have to know how anything works. I don’t have to know how cars or computers work, for example, or how to build them. It’s enough for me to know how to drive and how to type. As long as somewhere in my culture there are people who know how cars and computers work and how to build them, I can off-load that responsibility to them and spend my time on other things.

One more idea and we will be ready for my theory. That’s the idea of a meme. A meme is to cultural evolution what a gene is to the biological kind. It’s the unit of transfer, the basic building block. Cooking is a meme. When the idea of cooking enters into a culture, lots of things change. People live longer because cooking releases more nutritional value from food. People get bigger and stronger. Their teeth get smaller. Jaw muscles get weaker and on and on.

The corporation is a meme. It is a legal invention, a legal fiction if you like. Corporations don’t exist in the way that tables and chairs exist. They don’t have weight or take up space. They have no natural lifespan. Some of them are much older and vastly richer than any person. They can own property, enter into contracts, sue, and be sued. And, since the US Supreme Court decision in Citizens United and related cases, they can donate unlimited amounts of money to the political causes of their choice.

I quote here from The Handover: How We Gave Control of Our Lives to Corporations, States and AIs, by David Runciman:

The 18th century jurist Edward Thurlow famously complained: ‘Corporations have neither bodies to be kicked, nor souls to be damned; they therefore do as they like.’ Sentient beings with bodies and souls disappear inside the group once it has acquired its own identity. They can shrug their shoulders as the victims of the group’s decisions come looking for justice. Meanwhile, the group has no shoulders to shrug.

SECOND

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 10:10 PM

Fascinated by how the behavior of the people who took three pieces of pizza at the pizza party because they thought it would run out and the people who took one piece for the exact same reason is such a perfect encapsulation of American beliefs about community.

I raised children who take one piece, and I'm unleashing them into a world of people who want three.

Quote:
AI Overview

This observation, about how people taking multiple slices of pizza at a party because they fear it running out reflects a broader societal dynamic concerning American values, particularly individualism and a focus on personal security, sometimes at the expense of collective needs; it highlights the contrast between those who prioritize ensuring their own needs are met and those who consider the needs of the group as well. Taking one slice, with the assumption that others will have enough, demonstrates a sense of trust and community, while taking three slices can be interpreted as a display of self-interest and a fear of scarcity.

Key points:

Individualism vs. Collectivism: The behavior of taking multiple slices can be seen as a manifestation of a more individualistic mindset, where prioritizing one's own needs is paramount, compared to a collectivist approach where individuals consider the needs of the group as well.

Fear of Scarcity: Taking extra slices could be driven by a fear that the pizza will not be enough, which might reflect experiences of scarcity or a general sense of insecurity.

Social Norms and Expectations: There are unspoken social norms around how much food to take at a party, and deviating from these norms, by taking more than one slice, can be interpreted as being self-centered or inconsiderate.

Parenting and Values: How parents raise their children can influence their behavior in social situations, potentially shaping their attitudes towards sharing and resource allocation.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

6IXSTRINGJACK

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 11:53 PM

There are no Democrats anymore, so nobody should be posting in this thread anymore.

There are just crazy, hateful Leftists, and everybody else.

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The Democrats are the party of Murder.

SECOND

Friday, September 19, 2025 6:16 PM

Oklahoma versus Massachusetts (70 seconds).
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOYPhbcES8s/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

SECOND

Friday, September 26, 2025 8:11 PM

There's a bigger problem brewing than Trump

By Robert Reich | September 26, 2025 | 07:47AM ET

https://www.alternet.org/trump-dark-money-2674043086/

It’s too easy to accept the conventional view that the widening polarization of our society, and the decline of democracy, are due to the demagogue in the Oval Office.

That conventional view is way too simple. Follow the money. The underlying cause is the tsunami of legal bribes flowing from huge, wealthy corporations (and their oligarchic CEOs and major investors) into American politics.

That tsunami has grown dramatically over the last forty years. It underlies the crisis of democracy. It is fueling polarization. Democracy and social cohesion are impossible to sustain when big money is dictating political outcomes.

Over the last four decades, corporate political spending has more than quadrupled, adjusted for inflation.

Labor unions no longer provide a counterweight. Forty years ago, union PACs contributed about as much as corporate PACs. In the 2024 election, corporations outspent labor by more than 3 to 1.

According to a landmark study published in 2014 by Princeton professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern professor Benjamin Page, the preferences of the typical American have no influence at all on legislation emerging from Congress.

Gilens and Page analyzed 1,799 policy issues in detail, determining the relative influence of economic elites, business groups, mass-based interest groups, and average citizens. Their conclusion:

“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”

Gilens and Page found that lawmakers listen mainly to the policy demands of big business and wealthy individuals — those with the most lobbying prowess and deepest pockets to bankroll campaigns and promote their views.

It’s far worse now. Gilens and Page’s data came from the period 1981 to 2002 — before the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to big money in the Citizens United case, before Super PACs, before “dark money,” and before the Wall Street bailout.

Decades before Trump, corporations were already getting a high return on the money they invested in politics. I know. I was there. I had a front-row seat.

Over the last 40 years, corporate tax rates have plunged. Regulatory protections for consumers, workers, small investors, and the environment have been defanged. Antitrust has become so ineffectual that many big corporations face little or no competition.

Corporations have fought off safety nets and public investments that are common in other advanced nations, such as universal health care and paid family leave. They’ve attacked labor laws — reducing the portion of private-sector workers belonging to a union from a 35 percent forty years ago to just over 6 percent now.

They’ve collected hundreds of billions in federal subsidies, bailouts, loan guarantees and sole-source contracts. Corporate welfare for Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Tech, Big Ag, Wall Street, and the largest military contractors now dwarfs welfare for people.

The profits of big corporations have reached record highs, and the ratio of CEO pay in large companies to average workers has ballooned from 20-to-1 in the 1960s, to nearly 300-to-1 now.

Most Americans, however, are going nowhere. The typical worker’s wage is only a bit higher today than it was forty years ago when adjusted for inflation.

The biggest casualty has been public trust in democracy.

In 1964, only 29 percent of voters thought government was “run by a few big interests looking out for themselves.” By 2013, 79 percent of Americans thought so.

A large portion of the American public has become so frustrated and cynical about democracy that they believe the blatant lies of a self-described strongman and support a political party that no longer stands for democracy.

Capitalism is compatible with democracy only if democracy is in the driver’s seat. But the absence of democracy doesn’t strengthen capitalism. It fu

6IXSTRINGJACK

Friday, September 26, 2025 11:42 PM

Robert Reich is a much bigger problem than Trump.

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For all that I've blessed, and all that I've wronged. In dreams until my death, I will wander on.

THG

Saturday, September 27, 2025 4:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:

Oklahoma versus Massachusetts (70 seconds).
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOYPhbcES8s/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Wow, loved the video. You know Jack doesn't understand his generation's failures. Far too many men don't have what it takes to compete. So instead, they want to deport the competition. They believe that will fix everything, it won't.

Surprise, they can't even compete with the women. And boy are they in for a shocker if Trump pulls off a coup this time. That's when they'll realize they should have worked to fix things instead of tearing it all down.

T

6IXSTRINGJACK

Saturday, September 27, 2025 9:50 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:

Oklahoma versus Massachusetts (70 seconds).
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOYPhbcES8s/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Literally everything has been stacked against white men for the last 30 years.

Personally, I don't have to compete with anyone. Despite what they tried to do to us, I bought a house with cash when I was 32 years old because I'm the smartest person in any room I've ever walked into.

How's dying alone in that sad little studio apartment with no friends going for you, Ted.

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For all that I've blessed, and all that I've wronged. In dreams until my death, I will wander on.

SECOND

Thursday, October 2, 2025 4:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Literally everything has been stacked against white men for the last 30 years.

Personally, I don't have to compete with anyone. Despite what they tried to do to us, I bought a house with cash when I was 32 years old because I'm the smartest person in any room I've ever walked into.

How's dying alone in that sad little studio apartment with no friends going for you, Ted.

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For all that I've blessed, and all that I've wronged. In dreams until my death, I will wander on.

Trump World is the same as Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One: 2.5 gigabit per second squalor. The 2018 movie’s backstory starts this year and jumps ahead 20 years to a stupid and nasty future for Columbus, Ohio’s white people, who have no jobs, travel nowhere, do nothing but tend to their little houses, and spend the rest of their time playing games at the Oasis. "It's the only place where I feel like I mean anything."

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

SECOND

Thursday, October 2, 2025 4:54 PM

Seventeen thoughts on the government shutdown

Democrats can’t back an appropriations deal that Trump can claw back with a party-line vote.

By Matthew Yglesias | Oct 01, 2025

https://www.slowboring.com/p/seventeen-thoughts-on-the-government

1. It takes 60 votes to pass appropriations legislation, but only 50 votes to pass a rescission package clawing appropriations back. Rescission authority has rarely been used in practice, because passing rescissions on a party-line vote blows up the logic of bipartisan appropriations. But Republicans have, for the first time ever, done party-line rescissions, and the administration has further pushed the procedural envelope with unprecedented pocket rescissions. Trump is now asking Democrats to provide cross-party votes for appropriations that they can unilaterally backtrack on and not even offering verbal promises to refrain from doing this. This is why the government is shutting down.

2. The high socioeconomic status liberals who dominate the Democratic Party are most fired up not about the logic of congressional appropriations, though, but about (as Ezra Klein wrote on September 7) the fact that “We’ve watched Trump deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles and then to Washington, with more cities expected to come under federal military occupation soon. We’ve watched masked ICE agents conducting raids all over the country, refusing to reveal badge numbers or warrants.”

3. Even though Trump’s numbers on crime and immigration have declined, and most voters think he’s gone too far, these remain his two best issues, and ones where the G.O.P. retains a daunting trust advantage vis-à-vis Democrats.

4. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are trying to channel the rage of (2) in a way that is mindful of the politics of (3) by turning this into a fight about health care funding, which is Democrats’ area of strongest issue trust.

5. The problem with (4) is that everyone knows that refusing to vote for a continuing resolution unless you win an unrelated policy demand never works. The upside to (4) is that, whether or not it works, Democrats get multiple news cycles about the expiring Affordable Care Act premium subsidies. The Democratic position on this is very popular, but the issue had received almost no news coverage until the shutdown grew near. If Democrats don’t get what they’re asking for on this, they’re at least dramatizing the ask, and when premiums soar next year, they’ll have already set up the argument that it’s Trump’s fault.

6. Brian Beutler changed my mind over the course of two episodes of Politix. He argued that the best fight to pick is the real fight — that Democrats cannot provide votes for appropriations that are going to be clawed back. This is emotionally unsatisfying among thought-leaders and too boring for swing voters to care about. But it is an argument that is logical and correct and persuasive on the merits, that a person could defend in an extensive back-and-forth or in a hostile interview. We can’t do a deal if the president is saying he’ll break the deal. We’ve all seen what Darth Vader did to Lando Calrissian.

7. The logical endgame of Democrats picking a logical fight is that Republicans nuke the filibuster and start appropriating with 50 votes.

8. I think that’s a totally fine outcome; appropriations should be done with 50 votes. The way to stop the majority party from doing bad appropriations should be to beat them in an election. The filibuster obscures lines of accountability and gets us stuck in bizarre conversations about congressional procedure rather than competing visions for the country. However, to the extent that people want Democrats to use “leverage” and “stand up to Trump,” it’s a reminder that there is very little actual leverage here. If Trump and Thune and Johnson believed that a government shutdown was a big problem, they would have nuked the filibuster already. The shutdown is happening because Republicans believe they will not feel pain from this. If they’re proved wrong and do feel pain, they have the n