Political Discussion

mdmost said:
It's not that he's lost anything. Rather, he's afraid he will lose something because the libs will take everything he has and redistribute it to people who don't deserve it. It's the "I got mine, I don't care if you get yours" mentality. Pulling up the ladder behind you. I doubt that guy has ever seen a migrant, a BLM protestor, a Gaza protestor, Antifa, or all the other things that scare him. Fear is the single greatest motivator for the Right. The current greatest fear is being replaced by a minority. MAGA is all about going back to a time where white people were king. Never mind, it's pretty much that way now. I just have to wonder how tiring it must be to constantly feel angry about things you have no control over and don't even affect you.
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ranbalam said:
Yeah, this is pretty much on the nose. They deal in the abstract - because I agree that the guy has probably never actually seen any of those things in person, up in his happy little lake house. (neither have my MAGA co-workers)
So maddening, but I certainly can't change anything about that way of thinking.
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From my time living in Oregon (where the rural areas are pretty Trumpy) and Arizona (where everywhere can be quite Trumpy) I'm think these people do have immigrants, leftists, lgbtq individuals, etc etc etc in their lives; nobody lives in a complete bubble. These may not be close friends, but I'm certain there are examples in their direct community of the type of people they hate. Those are "the good ones;" the "ones" they hate are ephemeral and always exist just beyond the edges of their direct sphere of experience. It's the people they see on the news, not the people living next door to them, who are "taking America away." I wish they could see that.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Barcelona residents make a shit ton of money off of tourism. Fucking with unwitting tourists isn’t going to make things any easier for residents. It’s just gonna get a dumb ass punched in the face.
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Barcelona’s economy does. That doesn’t necessarily trickle down to a normal worker in a normal job. Also while tourism is major it’s also not the only thing going on, it’s a huge major European city.

The problem for residents, and I’m acutely aware of this in the city I live in, is the effects that it has on their day to day lives, from lesser housing stock due air bnb being more lucrative than letting to residents to overcrowding to inflation in bars and restaurants and supermarkets to, especially in a city, the more toxic tourism such as drunk and disruptive young groups and hen and stag parties. The worst of the lot is pass through tourism that often sees no financial benefit to the local economy but maintains all the disruption. That’s especially huge in a port city like Barcelona with all the cruise ships.

Now the targets are all wrong and this is just frustration, albeit understandable frustration. But a lot of tourist destination cities need huge legislative change to protect residents.
 
Actually just while I’m on one a bit about pass through tourism. By this I’m not meaning the more reputable companies where you might spend a fortnight going around Ireland, picking certain spots rather than cramming it all in, staying in local hotels and with time to go out to local bars/pubs and buy in local shops.

I mean the bus tours where, because this is a small country, they try and cover the whole thing in 3 days, you stay in a few chains, you visit and clog small rural villages because they are pretty but don’t spend any time in them to spend any money to benefit the locals for their disruption. Please if you ever come here avoid the companies like Paddywagon and take some time to plan a bespoke tour where you spend the time to see the good stuff properly and compensate the places you go for having you.

Rant over lol.
 
Sonicpharmacist said:
I wish the Biden story would die, but the media (and democrats) won’t let it. Yes he’s too old (which we’ve known that since 2020) and he had a bad night, but Trump is a wannabe dictator who is a direct threat to our democracy. How about the media focus on that and Project 2025.
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Cause the media secretly want Trump to win because he makes them money and he love deregulation.
 
Twentytwo said:
Cause the media secretly want Trump to win because he makes them money and he love deregulation.
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Maybe, but I think Biden was heading for a loss to Trump even before the debate implosion. While they absolutely should be spending more time on all of the many many many Trump lies and how dangerous he is, it's irresponsible for the media not to cover what is a massive public issue in Biden's incomprehensible babbling and the threat he poses to America too. If they ignore it and only focus on Trump then they're not doing their job as the fourth estate and a pillar of a free democratic society. Neither of these doorknobs should be president and the media should be making that case very strongly. Giving Trump a pass on his egregious debate performance is insane, but so to would it be if they ignored the mental breakdown of the current commander in chief that we all witnessed.
 
And the story isn't going away, media or no. Several more Democrats and big name donors have called on Biden to either drop out today or have publicly said that do not believe he can win even if it is his choice to stay in. He should be ashamed of what he's doing. If the one and only goal is to beat Trump, and it pretty much is, then it's increasingly unlikely that Biden will be able to do it. He already had a hill to climb before he dug an early grave. Voters should be pissed at him, not trying to hide from the awful truth.

Don't forget that he's the least popular incumbent, even more so than Trump was if you can believe it.
 
I refuse to dictate anymore brain power to determining what ifs in this joke of an election. It's entirely uncharted waters. Never has the incumbent been so pathetic against such an abhorrent opponent they should be dunking on. We could talk he should drop out, he shouldn't drop out, who would replace him, who could win all day, but at the end of the day the train is off the tracks already, and the crash is happening. Fascism's already here. The US empire is in decline and good riddance. Organize locally. Outgrow the state.
 
ayayrawn said:
I refuse to dictate anymore brain power to determining what ifs in this joke of an election. It's entirely uncharted waters. Never has the incumbent been so pathetic against such an abhorrent opponent they should be dunking on. We could talk he should drop out, he shouldn't drop out, who would replace him, who could win all day, but at the end of the day the train is off the tracks already, and the crash is happening. Fascism's already here. The US empire is in decline and good riddance. Organize locally. Outgrow the state.
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The cold hard and sad truth right here. Organizing locally is going to be needed now more than ever especially to help the most vulnerable populations who are going to be targeted first. Voting is literally the least of actions, the real work is everything else that must be done.
 
I think a lot of why the media keeps covering this story is it gets good ratings. Democrats watch it, republicans eat it up and love to mock Biden.
But when the news reports about Trump or Project 2025 it's viewed as "The Liberal Media" and it hurts their ratings. News stories like this anger conservatives. They don't want to talk about it or listen to it and change the channel or stop watching the local news altogether if topics like this are reported on too often. This is why a lot of news outlets have lost viewership to the likes of News Nation and what not. Because their Fair and Balanced reporting doesn't report on any of this type of stuff, ever.
 
Hemotep said:
Maybe, but I think Biden was heading for a loss to Trump even before the debate implosion. While they absolutely should be spending more time on all of the many many many Trump lies and how dangerous he is, it's irresponsible for the media not to cover what is a massive public issue in Biden's incomprehensible babbling and the threat he poses to America too. If they ignore it and only focus on Trump then they're not doing their job as the fourth estate and a pillar of a free democratic society. Neither of these doorknobs should be president and the media should be making that case very strongly. Giving Trump a pass on his egregious debate performance is insane, but so to would it be if they ignored the mental breakdown of the current commander in chief that we all witnessed.
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I have a more optimistic view than you regarding Biden’s reelection, especially pre-debate but I still feel like this is a very valid conversation that needs to occur. I think In the weeks up to the convention Biden needs to prove that he’s better than a warm body. If he can’t convince the majority of democrats that is the case, then he should be replaced.

Personally, he hasn’t done much to convince me that he’s up to the task. I could still see an addled Biden winning reelection but I also think it’s just as likely that the Dems could nominate a non-geriatric and still beat Trump.

The discussion is worth having.

Trump is a megalomaniac regardless of who the Dems nominate.
 
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