Biden / Harris Focused Discussion

[gondrin]

First let me thank you for saying, correctly, continue to go up. The aforementioned Kool-Aid drinkers will conveniently forget to mention threethings, despite Trump posting them:
1) Oil prices rose steadily from Jan 2017 to Jan 2020. When Trump was inaugurated--

"Whoa whoa whoa! You should say elected. Prices of oil surely changed because they knew Trump would take action!"

Hmm. Let's come back to that.
2) Then Trump tried to murder his own country, but despite his best efforts, millions upon millions of Americans instead chose to leave their job, were fired, or worked from home. Oil tanked, hardy har har, for two months. When they post memes, they typically refer to the lowest prices -- during the first major death wave of the pandemic Trump personally caused. So, yeah, "gee I'd love to see $1.50 gas and a mean tweet right now" fuck that shit.
3) Then around April, we saw a rise that has technically slowed down.

Let's take a look at part 1 real quick. Jan 2017, oil was about $52.50 a barrel, and Jan 2020 it was about $57.50. That's roughly a 10% increase. Trump did this on purpose -- asking the Saudis to cut production, for example, when the Saudis and the Russians both opened the floodgates to fuck with prices. (Trump said nothing to the Russians and the Saudis didn't listen). He also spiked prices with Iran sanctions he didn't have to do. He put some on May-Nov 2018, when oil prices rose to their highest. Oh, he also put on a few Jan 13, 2021, just so we're clear.

Now, if I had taken that suggestion earlier, oil Nov 2015 was $45.66 and therefore Trump could be blamed for raising prices even more. So I'm cool with that, if you are.

From their lowest point, April 2020, to Jan 2021, oil went from $16.55 a barrel to $52 even. That's right: Trump tripled oil prices. Oil rose consistently about $2.75 per barrel a month. Oh, and then those aforementioned Jan 13 2021 sanctions hit in, in Feb 2021 oil was $59.04 a barrel. Which, yes, is a much larger jump, and unless someone finds something specific that Biden signed, because I have something Trump signed, I get to blame Trump for that jump, too.

Oil was, as mentioned, $59.04 Feb 2021 and is about $83.60 now. That's a climb of $2.40 a month. Yes, that's bad. Yes, that's less than Trump did. Oh, and it's a lower percentage, too. Even if you started Jan 2021, which would be disingenuous, but even if you did, that's $2.63 a month and Biden still wins.

Trump never wanted low oil prices. He wanted his rich oil friends to get more rich selling expensive oil. Anyone saying "gee, I wish Trump was here to lower gas prices" is being willfully ignorant. Trump has a proven history of raising gas prices, did it intentionally, did it more often, and of course did it much more.

Want a more formal, professional examination? Well, how about Forbes? They don't go for the jugular like I did, but they do say
(a) demand is rising because more people are going back to work, thanks of course to the spread of the vaccine
(b) supply is still low and fighting to catch up
(c) we had hurricanes
(d) this winter is forecast to be bad -- and Trump lies about this, but he couldn't control the weather either.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have my share of 20 million creatures to snipe.

Ironic part of the whole mess is the same people complaining about how "Biden is getting rid of the good paying oil field jobs" are now complaining how the price of gas is high. If you want good paying oil field jobs, you have to have higher prices for gas. Those 2 somewhat go directly hand in hand.

[s_bushido]

Always amazes me how many of you take the bait. Literally just do not quote the person and do not respond like for fucks sake, use your heads.

I mean...yeah it’s a troll. But that shit is just mainstream conservative politics at this point.

[beanman12345]

I mean...yeah it’s a troll. But that shit is just mainstream conservative politics at this point.

The medical terminology I believe is Biden Derangement Syndrome.

[s_bushido]

The medical terminology I believe is Biden Derangement Syndrome.

Nah, man. Started at least back when the country had the temerity to elect a black dude president. And then when Hillary called them "deplorables"...well...they just took that as a challenge.

[beanman12345]

Nah, man. Started at least back when the country had the temerity to elect a black dude president. And then when Hillary called them "deplorables"...well...they just took that as a challenge.

[Endus]

Nah, man. Started at least back when the country had the temerity to elect a black dude president. And then when Hillary called them "deplorables"...well...they just took that as a challenge.

The most telling thing was that Hillary only called half of them deplorables.

That every single one of them knew they were deplorable enough to qualify and thus took personal offense should've indicated how wrong Hillary was to say "half". It's all of 'em.

[Dacia Ultan]

Nah, man. Started at least back when the country had the temerity to elect a black dude president. And then when Hillary called them "deplorables"...well...they just took that as a challenge.

Also? Framing it as a medical or psychological condition seems evasive (not to mention a little too close to sinking to their scummy, ableist level of discourse). Their tantrums are reflective of a flawed character—full stop.

It should also be clarified: she was pretty explicit about "deplorables" meaning the ones who actively approved of his pandering to bigotry. And on top of that: she partially walked it back after the fact by saying that maybe "half" was too harsh of a judgment. So much for that.

[s_bushido]

(not to mention a little too close to sinking to their scummy, ableist level of discourse).

Well, it is parodying their laughable accusations of Trump Derangement Syndrome...which turned out to actually be their cult-like devotion to the dumbass.

[Hollycakes]

What I find funny is the accusations of Trump living in peoples heads, the term TDS, the circle jerk comments etc yet!
From the name to the avatar to posting poor memes, who is living in who's head?

When others want to talk about the dumb funny shit they hear about it's TDS.
When they have the name, pic, memes, and all directed at one thing, it's what owning libs?
Doesn't this qualify as BDS?
Seek help for your sources of comedy, I beg you.
Also, they are hanging on to let's go brandon cause they have a token black rapper now who was #1 at the most hipster store on earth, itunes!
It validates them!

[Dacia Ultan]

Well, it is parodying their laughable accusations of Trump Derangement Syndrome...which turned out to actually be their cult-like devotion to the dumbass.

Oh, I'm aware of where it came from. It's just that I found the "derangement syndrome" wording iffy and ableist even when it was referencing the rabid frothing hatred that these same people were aiming at Obama, and just flat-out scummy when they then turned around and used it to pathologize any criticism of (to borrow from author Mercedes Lackey) Darth Cheeto.

[Combatbutler]

The most telling thing was that Hillary only called half of them deplorables.

That every single one of them knew they were deplorable enough to qualify and thus took personal offense should've indicated how wrong Hillary was to say "half". It's all of 'em.

Well there is deplorable and despicable, half of them is deplorable, the other is despicable or worse.

[Dacia Ultan]

They’re synonymous, not really a big distinction here. The first time around I’d say half was fair. The second time they had all evidence needed.

She said "half," and made it clear what she meant. They freaked. She walked it back; said "maybe half was an exaggeration." They all adopted it like it was a badge of honor, which goes to show that giving the benefit of the doubt to bad faith is a waste of energy.

[Endus]

She said "half," and made it clear what she meant. They freaked. She walked it back; said "maybe half was an exaggeration." They all adopted it like it was a badge of honor, which goes to show that giving the benefit of the doubt to bad faith is a waste of energy.

I swear to bacon and puppies, it's like she said that, and the entire conservative audience breathed a sigh of relief and were content that because she'd correctly called it, they could stop pretending to be good people any more.

They know how awful they are. That's why they took initial offense.

[Dacia Ultan]

I’m well aware.

Just elaborating, really.

I swear to bacon and puppies, it's like she said that, and the entire conservative audience breathed a sigh of relief and were content that because she'd correctly called it, they could stop pretending to be good people any more.

They know how awful they are. That's why they took initial offense.

Eeeyup.

[Breccia]

So in addition to the alt-reicht talking points about how Biden raised gas prices, leaving out how Trump raised them more -- I went into detail yesterday -- another common talking point is "crime".

It is true that, by what metrics we have so far, murders in the US in 2021 are at an upwards pace. +10% or so in some areas. Obviously, that's bad.

You know what's worse than +10%? +30%.

Guess what happened in 2020.

That's right, let's not forget Trump oversaw the biggest yearly jump in murders in modern US history. Murders in the US have been on a mostly declining slope since about 1990. For some reason, they rose in 2016 -- it's like, for some reason, someone was telling Americans it was okay to hate their neighbors and use violence to solve their problems. (glares) Then they started decreasing.

Until 2020.

"Good thing you said modern history. Otherwise you'd have to count the 9/11 tragedy."

Um...I did. The US kills a lot of its own people, way too many, but not enough to bury a few extra thousand like it's nothing. And yes, Trump saw an even greater increase -- without the need for civilian bombs in civilian settings to boost the numbers.

There were 21,570 murders in the US in 2020. That never happened a single year in the 2010's. That never happened a single year in the 2000's. You have to go back to 1995 for that, though to be fair, the murder rate is higher back then.

"Well clearly that was because of all the big city gun laws failing, showing that --"



Yeah, the report said murders were up everywhere. Chicago, in 2021 at least, is about the same as 2020. Man, can you imagine if a disingenuous poster came here to claim that Chicago was the problem? That would be so disingenuous!

"So what's the cause?"

I don't think there's one. I think there's several.

One, COVID has put everyone on edge and made jobs, money, and resources scarcer.

Two, 911 calls dropped substantially. I think a lot of people suddenly decided to stop trusting the police...for some reason. (glares)

Three, gun homicides are at the highest we've seen them in...basically forever, 77% of all homicides, a new record. As a reminder, guns don't kill people, but guns make it very very easy for people to kill people. Anyone who tries "guns don't kill people" needs to run a Mythic Raid in green/white gear, then come back and we can disccus things.

And since we're talking about the 2019-2020 rise, all three of those things are directly related to Trump.

So yes, when someone tries "Biden made crime go up" gently remind them that Trump made crime go up by more. The second they say "Well you have to undestand--" the conversation is over, they have lost.

[Paranoid Android]

This is hilarious. Two years ago, the IRS sent me a refund for $1.33. I never cashed it, because it would have cost me $2 in gas to go to the bank. Since I didn’t cash it, they resent it to me today.

The Self-Own is in.

Fox News contributor, err reporter John Roberts, trying to show yunno how wasteful the IRS is by sending him a $1.33 check gets self owned in the comments by everyone telling him he didn't need to drive to to bank when any Mobile Bank App could have deposited. Even if he is set in his ways, doesn't mean he has to drive immediately to a bank deposit place for that sole purpose.

[Edge-]

This is hilarious. Two years ago, the IRS sent me a refund for $1.33. I never cashed it, because it would have cost me $2 in gas to go to the bank. Since I didn’t cash it, they resent it to me today.

The Self-Own is in.

Fox News contributor, err reporter John Roberts, trying to show yunno how wasteful the IRS is by sending him a $1.33 check gets self owned in the comments by everyone telling him he didn't need to drive to to bank when any Mobile Bank App could have deposited. Even if he is set in his ways, doesn't mean he has to drive immediately to a bank deposit place for that sole purpose.

I mean...like fuck am I gonna put a bank app on my phone like, ever. I know it's "secure", but everything is "secure" and I'd rather limit the potential for breaches anywhere.

But at the same time...direct deposit fucking exists. You can give the IRS and your state your routing number for a savings/checking account and have it just automatically deposited there, no need to even snap a pic of it to deposit it through your phone.

Though what...does he never like...go near one of the banks he uses...ever? Couldn't just bring that along on a grocery trip to deposit on his way there/home?

Only the best.

[Benggaul]

I mean...like fuck am I gonna put a bank app on my phone like, ever. I know it's "secure", but everything is "secure" and I'd rather limit the potential for breaches anywhere.

But at the same time...direct deposit fucking exists. You can give the IRS and your state your routing number for a savings/checking account and have it just automatically deposited there, no need to even snap a pic of it to deposit it through your phone.

I was going to post pretty much this. I'll never use my phone for banking and direct deposit's been a thing for at least a generation. But hey, clowns gonna clown.

[Dacia Ultan]

Mine locks without my fingerprint and code. Worst-case scenario, I can remote-brick it (done that with a phone before, too).

[Biglog]

My concerns are more around Biden's foreign policy lately. There are some issues that were ignored in the last admin and needed addressed like North Korea, Turkey, Iran, and China, and I guess taking a stance is better than sticking our heads in the sand. And Afghanistan was a mess left by Trump from Doha. But China is not happy with the pushes from Biden and launched a volley of intense insults at him yesterday. The US response today was to double-down on getting Taiwan more involved in the UN which will certainly upset China even more. North Korea has restarted nuclear activity and has accelerated missile launches. The relationship with Turkey is at an all-time low, and the goal there is to try to keep Turkey in the NATO fold. Iran is as active as ever in the region outside their borders and have disabled their monitoring cameras at nuclear facilities. Even France is upset.

In these cases you can see where the administration is trying to 'do the right thing', around pushing back on Chinese threatening Taiwan, human rights in Turkey, etc. But they have not been very successful in diplomatically addressing those. It's been a pattern of pushing way too hard and then doing damage control. They really need to improve on a) picking their 'battles' and b) handling tough topics - but without burning bridges. It's kind of the difference if you have a problem with a neighbor between (diplomatically) talking it out with him, and straight calling the cops or taking him to court.