"The August 2020 US Politics Thread is highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That's all."

I am aware of the threat of climate change.

Forget climate change, apparently we are in the midst of a pocket change crisis, too.

when i was a teacher one of the key forms of bullying was telling other kids that their shoes were skechers

― treeship., Thursday, August 13, 2020 3:01 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Class shaming

― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Thursday, August 13, 2020 3:06 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

exactly

― treeship., Thursday, August 13, 2020 3:07 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Oh, I thought you meant that Skechers were banned and the accusers were ratting those kids out to the teachers.

Skechers are fine shoes, them kids need to be taught!

most of those schoolyard fashion dictums are created by one or two charismatic morons who are basically grade school Trumps

and like Trump, their dads are assholes

Jaymc, then what makes you think that anything we do is but mitigation? Sure, government and corporate initiatives can push back the apocalypse a few years, and people should push for changes that will force those entities to do so...but I'm not betting on either happening, since both entities have known about the looming and present catastrophe since the late 70s and haven't done shit about it yet.

As far as mitigation goes, I believe in it only insofar as it will ease some peoples' suffering in a short terms sense, or at least has the potential to do so. Which is actually quite similar to the reason I believe in voting.

Trump has somehow projected himself back into my childhood and ruined many aspects of that time as well

Biff Tannen was based on the orange fuckface, no?

Jaymc, then what makes you think that anything we do is but mitigation? Sure, government and corporate initiatives can push back the apocalypse a few years, and people should push for changes that will force those entities to do so...but I'm not betting on either happening, since both entities have known about the looming and present catastrophe since the late 70s and haven't done shit about it yet.

― blue light or electric light (the table is the table), Thursday, August 13, 2020 10:49 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Well, I didn't realize that your "everything is hurtling ever more quickly toward doom" post was specifically about climate change. But in general, I don't find resignation and despair to be a productive space in which to operate. I would rather try to combat climate change (and the erosion of democracy, and a million other issues) as much as possible than simply accept the end of the world as our fate.

wow, they're really going with this one

Trump campaign's Jenna Ellis tells me @KamalaHarris' eligibility is "an open question," when asked about this retweet.

"It’s an open question, and one I think Harris should answer so the American people know for sure she is eligible."

Harris was born in Oakland, California. https://t.co/eu8oi1ZpYy

— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) August 13, 2020

if you're not white your citizenship will always be an "open question"

The guy who wrote the Newsweek piece raising the question of Kamala's eligibility wrote in 2016 that Ted Cruz (born in Canada) was definitely eligible to be president and that arguments to the contrary were "silly." https://www.nationalreview.com/2016/01/ted-cruz-natural-born-citizenship-eligibility-president/

It would be worth a yuk if it wasn't so painfully obvious that these ghouls want to create an evangelical ethnostate.

Jaymc, just to note that I am not resigned or in despair. I'm a realist.

In the meantime, I help my neighbors and friends, do community work, and teach people about the things I care about. There are plenty of ways to find purpose and reason to be alive on this planet while recognizing all the horrible things that are happening to it because of our hubris as a species.

^^^ that's the stuff

Such as ever it has been.

Yeah, I mean, I don't disagree with any of that!

The remains of my Catholic faith get awakened when I sense despair coming. Help others.

yup

newsweek is garbage, one way to help others is to throw it away when you see it loose in the wild

birther stuff doesn't seem like an election winner in 2020 to me, but i guess no one lost money underestimating the average voter.

It didn't seem like the country would allow a moron like Trump to become President in 2016 and yet here we are

Newsweek was the sort of third-rate weekly I'd thumb through at the dentist's office years ago. It's that bad, eh

i think it was forbes-ified, like taken over by private equity and turned into minimum wage content mill.

as the poet said, Sad!

Yeah, Newsweek went online-only and is a clickbait farm now.

https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/what-went-wrong-at-newsweek-according-to-current-and-former-staffers.html

The problem is that people my age remember the actual magazine published under that name, and the takeover is not well known, so there's some stolen credibility the current owners of the brand get to use.

It didn't seem like the country would allow a moron like Trump to become President in 2016 and yet here we are

apropos in so many situations, eg they're out of milk at the store, your cat puked on your new shoes, funniest things to say at the moment of climax, etc

https://t.co/yknxYSIPNj pic.twitter.com/e8r2puVjiq

— Matt O (@annus_mirabilis) August 9, 2020

The guy who wrote the Newsweek piece raising the question of Kamala's eligibility wrote in 2016 that Ted Cruz (born in Canada) was definitely eligible to be president and that arguments to the contrary were "silly."

That's not the LOLliest thing about this kerfuffle. This is:

Eastman ran in the 2010 Republican primary as a candidate for attorney general; he lost to Steve Cooley, who lost to Kamala Harris in the general election.

FWIW to those concerned that it would simply sink out of sight, Trump's 'quiet part loud' Fox News interview seems to be blowing up across the major news outlets atm. I guess that doesn't preclude it from ultimately fading into the background anyway, but still.

i've lost track of his interviews. which was this one?

the one where he straight up admits he's defunding the USPS to stop people from voting

this might have been the "screaming under helicopter blades" variety? i'm not sure

this might have been the "screaming under helicopter blades" variety? i'm not sure

Nope; he said it on a call-in to his support group on Fox News' morning show.

I know no one in this thread cares about George Conway zings but I thought this was pretty funny

But Herman, I’m worried that Trump’s the one who’s nuts, and that his derangement and incompetence are getting people killed. Don’t you worry about this, too? https://t.co/vthz42EY6t

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) August 13, 2020

lol

Even NPR can't bothsides this shit away:

President Trump admitted in an interview he plans to block additional funding for the U.S. Postal Service in order to prevent increased voting by mail. https://t.co/5y70Hr7ikO

— NPR (@NPR) August 13, 2020

haha v nice

When the government abandons its people, it’s up to us to rise up and make a revolution. We’re fighting for dignity, for justice, and for our future. Join us at https://t.co/NY8pZcBcFE. #GreenNewDealmaker pic.twitter.com/4V558XjrVw

— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) August 13, 2020

aight!

love the last line, eat shit joe kennedy

ed is a good dude. i've been phone-banking for him, and i've had a TON of people bust out with weird stories about stuff he's gotten done for them. unfortunately, he can't seem to connect with BIPOC voters, who are pulling hard (and inexplicably) for kennedy.

my theory is that kennedy geared up the campaign machine b/c he thought he'd take warren's seat. but she doesn't need her seat filled, so he's gotta burn through great-grandpa's money somehow.

i know we all worry about joe manchin in a democratic-led senate, but there's not much we can do about that. if you want to do something that might make a difference (particularly on healthcare), send some money to Jess Scarane who is running against anti-M4A chris coons in the delaware senate primary in 4 weeks. very cheap race (primary, small state), so $25 here probably goes further than $500 in the presidential election or the wish fulfilment mcconnell/graham senate races.

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/18/chris-coons-delaware-primary-jess-scarane/

$ -> https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jess-website

Jess Scarane is great, idk what chance she has but her politics are very good and she's very online

thanks for the heads up. would love to seem some good ppl sneak in under the cover of a high-stakes general

also, fucking looool at G Conway tweet

i can't find any polling and i know almost nothing about DE but apparently this endorsement doesn't count for nothing https://www.delawareonline.com/story/opinion/2020/08/05/delaware-jess-scarane-right-choice-u-s-senator/3291017001/