U.S. Politics

Kristi Noem is quickly rising in the ranks to join MTG as one of my most hated non-Trump faces. I didn't think we could get any lower than that awful Mr. Beast Squid Games-esque competition show, but alas, here we are. Between that and the $1 million Trump Golden Green Card" thing or whatever the hell that was, we've become a farce of a farce. I can only imagine we'll soon see a return to the Mickey Rooney Breakfast at Tiffany's racist caricature in movies and shows. 🙄
 
I interviewed a wonderful and delightful elder from a Lakota tribe in South Dakota several times years ago, and ever since then I paid a lot more attention to South Dakota news, and Noem was unfortunately already on my radar. it's kinda amazing to me how high she's risen, but I guess not since she was always, in my opinion, a world class turd.
 
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

- Isaac Asimov
 
Wicker_Basket said:
I don't believe I ever got an answer on this.
Click to expand...
Don't expect to. I could tell you who this guy was as soon as he wanted to chime in to go 'now now, there's good people on both sides' but blatantly refused to engage with anyone or any talking point anyone brought up, except the softball ability to say something that is actually nothing. This is North American conservatism; say things that don't really mean anything, refuse to follow up, do not engage with facts, answer no question that can't be answered with a slogan or an empty platitude. It is what it is. People like that know they are utterly full of shit, so they just refuse to engage in any meaningful conversation.

I'm sure we could expect a lot more response if there was a larger conservative presence here to provide the usual volcano of nonsense. Backed into a corner and asked 'but can you just rationally explain what you mean?' most conservative voters collapse. And that's their prerogative, of course. No one here is -required- to talk to anyone else or engage in any specific conversations (or any conversations at all, in point of fact).
 
Sorry Wicker Basket I forgot to answer you. It was unusual for me to get involved in any political threads as I don't ever see how in this day and age you can really come to any agreement. In response to your question my answer is no. I think it is trying to work with the Federal Judges trying to block things he is attempting to do but no it is definitely not working like it did in my youth. I truly do not believe either party in this day and age has all citizens best interest at heart. It has gotten so fractured in the last 25 years that it has become an "us or them" situation with nothing in between. I still have hope that some time in what may be my last hopefully 30 or so years of life this changes back to where compromise between the parties could happen and move us-all of us-forward again as a nation.
 
"Federal judges trying to block things he is attempting to do." The.. illegal things. The wildly illegal things. Just to be clear.
 
Yep. I hate the man and hate that he is considered a Republican. He is a narcissistic, self congratulating idiot who I would never want to meet in real life.
 
Sgt. Stinky said:
Yep. I hate the man and hate that he is considered a Republican. He is a narcissistic, self congratulating idiot who I would never want to meet in real life.
Click to expand...
Hard disagree. I would love to meet him for about five minutes in a room with no cameras or armed bodyguards.

I've always disliked Republicans far more than I dislike Democrats, but it's crazy to see what the party has become compared even to the Bush Jr. administration. At least they pretended that things like Supreme Court rulings actually mattered.
 
The way judges who were chosen by him are themselves sitting on the Supreme Court going no man, that's fucking illegal, you can't to that is a top shelf demonstration of the ongoing, rapid degradation of the Republican party. They were EXTREME choices a few years ago and now they seem comparatively rational.

The Dems are not without their flaws, buffoonery, and warts, but every few years the biggest pain in the ass leaves the GOP and complains about how irrational his party has become, and then a few years later another pain in the ass leaves and says how far his party has fallen, and they have not, in my lifetime at least, ever swung back toward a more rational mindset. John Boehner is the first one who comes to mind as someone who was an obstructionist pain in the ass who held the door open for more extreme versions of his party, then bailed and complained about it. We thought they couldn't get more illiterate than GWB but they did. We had Cheney advocating folks vote against Trump. Paul Ryan to Kevin McCarthy and so on... every new guy is just a little freer with the kerosene than the last one. The Tea Party held the door open for Maga and then fucked off. Every single party member held the door open to someone worse and then left when they didn't like the company anymore until the clowns were driving the car. Ad Damien pointed out, at least the old GOP pretended to believe that the rule of law mattered, but every single election they descend deeper into zero fucks given about a functional government.

The Democrats are a divided mess but I think can be salvageable as an organization. The GOP long ago drove the last rational man from the island. (For example, not once in this administration has anyone said "so and so is the adult in the room" the way people thought John Kelly or Rex Tillerson or Mad Dog Mattis would be the adult in the room. If there is an adult, they walk in, see the governmental equivalent of Lord of the Flies, and walk back out again refusing to do anything about it.
 
The problem is the partisanship. Every Republican cares more about 'The Republican Party' and personal power than they do about the country. So they are willing to hold their noses and vote for guys like Trump (or at least tell you to vote for him - I have a feeling a lot of them didn't vote for Trump) because it's the political thing to do. It's OUR guy versus THEIR guy. Every time. And whoever they think can win is the one they're going to put up.
The amount of people that said horrible things about Trump, said he was woefully unqualified to be president, etc etc - that still said 'we have to support the Republican party, whoever it chooses' and then later 'we have to support the president' is fucking unreal.

If right now the US had a new election and Republicans put up a moderate conservative (I think there's a few left) and the Democrats put up a fucking convicted felon rapist who happened to be a Leftist -- I'd vote Republican. Me. A person that has been very clear in my utter contempt and hatred for Republican politicians. But not conservatives. Vote for the rapist, because you can't let the other side win, no matter the cost.
 
That last bit right there. And of course folks on the left will actively not vote for someone because of one specific issue they disagree with, while the right will vote for their guy even if he regularly sets dogs on fire, so one side is inevitably starting at a deficit every election. It's the old adage about Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line. And the number of voters with the cognitive ability and empathy to go "sides don't matter, what is best for the country and the world does" is a tiny fucking minority.
 
Sgt. Stinky said:
I still have hope that some time in what may be my last hopefully 30 or so years of life this changes back to where compromise between the parties could happen and move us-all of us-forward again as a nation.
Click to expand...

at the risk of coming off as a champion of stubborn partisanship, I'm not necessarily a fan of compromise for compromise's sake. it's a nice aesthetic, "both sides coming together", but I can think of plenty of stuff that both parties have agreed on that I am not a fan of. stuff that I'm sure I've talked about before on these boards.
 
Yes, there are definitely limits on what I want “compromise” on. Infrastructure and logistics? Maybe. Human rights and dignity? Fuck no.
The push to “compromise” is a main reason why Dems are Fascism Lite! to MAGA’s Original Flavor Fascism right now.
 
Yeah, I'm happy to disagree over infrastructure or basic governance, how much we spend on XYZ. But there's no compromise on everyone having the right to live a fair and free and joyful life. Don't agree with fundamental humanity? Rot in hell.

I remember seeing an interview with a super left-wing senator in... the late 80s, early 90s? And he said "my job is to make a lot of noise over on our side, and that guy's job is to make a lot of noise over on his side, and what we do is draw all the ire and anger so our colleagues can sit down at table like civilized men and work out fair deals that meet in the middle." Almost every day I think about that interview because it feels like EVERYONE is the guy making a lot of noise and nobody is actually doing statecraft anymore. I do think there are congresspeople who want to engage in statesmanship, but they can't get the other side to sit at the table like adults without it being "okay you can have a budget for education but only if X group of humans are tied to a brick and thrown in the ocean."

I wish I could remember who said it, but I always think of the old line: "I love politicians. They show you who the real statesmen are."
 
docsilence said:
The Democrats are a divided mess but I think can be salvageable as an organization. The GOP long ago drove the last rational man from the island. (For example, not once in this administration has anyone said "so and so is the adult in the room" the way people thought John Kelly or Rex Tillerson or Mad Dog Mattis would be the adult in the room. If there is an adult, they walk in, see the governmental equivalent of Lord of the Flies, and walk back out again refusing to do anything about it.
Click to expand...
Jesus. Looking back at Trump's first term cabinet and staff and they look like the Justice League compared to this Legion of Doom we have currently assembled.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top