Biden / Harris Focused Discussion

[Dacia Ultan]

Even the California 'liberals' are mostly rich people who live in comfort. They DGAF about people below the poverty line or needing a hand up.

See, this is why I laugh whenever some reactionary tries to spin what issues we have as the failure of "the left." Aside from the inevitable exaggeration of said issues: they seem unaware or in denial that CA is at least as staunchly capitalist as the rest of the country, and only marginally (if at all) more inclined towards the functional (demand-side) variety thereof.

I don't see this as Biden's fault as much as it's the Senate that is failing. Biden in himself can only do so much.

Continuing and insufficiently addressed pandemic plus failing infrastructure plus coup attempt equals state of emergency. Just sayin'.

I'm not even sure what would've actually convinced Manchin and Sinema to not be dickheads.

If anything? Those two bought-and-paid-for ripesucks are the ones operating in bad faith.

Basically not do things that would impact his children.

Or, rather: their offshore accounts.

The things people do for family.

Or, rather: family's investment funds.

CRT was a huge animating issue in this because Republicans have successful made it a racist wedge issue nationally.

And mostly where it's not even relevant, no less. Then again: I've seen right-wingers outright admit that "critical race theory," as far as they're concerned, now means "any history lesson that might give the most fragile and self-entitled of casual racists a slight case of white guilt or otherwise make them feel uncomfortable."

and yeah, let's just ignore how the GOP ran a better campaign, better blame the progresses for that as well...

"Better" in the sense of "they did market research and figured out that their base are energized by ratfucking," of course. The market research is the key here, I think; watch the Dems miss that, too.

I grasp what's at stake. That doesn't mean that Democrats can just like, ignore the Constitution and change the lifetime appointments of Federal judges.

Especially seeing as even if they don't do anything unconstitutional, the Bananarepublicans are going to claim that they did. Bananarepublicans only like dirty pool when their own are playing it.

I'm all for them flouting a LOT more rules and playing MUCH more hardball, ignore the Senate parliamentarian and do whatever. Throw Manchin's state a few billion slush fund to buy his vote. I don't give a fuck.

Seconded.

[Milchshake]

It's officially Representative Shontel Brown now.



Ran a heckuva campaign to defeat her big money and big endorsement opponent.

[Lenonis]

Alright dude, you're just angry and not actually looking for a discussion. That's fine, vent away.

Y'all really should have stopped here.

I want to here exactly what the Democratic party is supposed to do when they have two members in their midst who won't go along with anything resembling partisan legislation.

I'm hearing a bunch of nonsense like "yell at them louder" and even more nonsense like "throw them out."

Were you asleep during the last round of elections? They won't be replaced with a democrat.

I'm so tired of people wanting to burn the entire system to the ground in a short sighted temper tantrum that they can't get what they want today. Not when the other side is infinitely worse by any measure.

- - - Updated - - -

So it was all those republican voters burning down Seattle,Minneapolis, St Louis and Atlanta. Those damn dirty uneducated republicans, looting and burning everything down. And don't forget all the black republicans attacking Asians. Racist black republicans attacking sucker punching asians. All these videos have to be republicans....according to you it's so wildly different that democrats would never do this. They never form mobs and go to people's weddings and attack a senator who disagrees with them, has to be those rascally republicans again.

Actually it was. I'm not surprised you missed all the articles and exposes that showed much of the violence caused by right wing agitators.

[Milchshake]

Y'all really should have stopped here.

I want to here exactly what the Democratic party is supposed to do when they have two members in their midst who won't go along with anything resembling partisan legislation.

I'm hearing a bunch of nonsense like "yell at them louder" and even more nonsense like "throw them out."

Were you asleep during the last round of elections? They won't be replaced with a democrat.

I'm so tired of people wanting to burn the entire system to the ground in a short sighted temper tantrum that they can't get what they want today. Not when the other side is infinitely worse by any measure.

I've seen this answer posted before, "Elect More Democrats to make their two intransigence a moot point". Of course this answer involves more work over the long-term. Is not popular with people accustomed to getting gratification within the time it takes their favorite podcaster to microwave some nuggets.

Then the next question is; "How do we elect more Democrats?"

• Complain in public forums that the Dems dont do anything for me.
• Acknowledge the gains Dems have accomplished and encourage more people to support them to build on those gains.

Full disclosure, I've been jacketed as cheerleader for the second.

[Dacia Ultan]

Actually it was. I'm not surprised you missed all the articles and exposes that showed much of the violence caused by right wing agitators.

"Anteephuhdiddit" is a convenient deflection. Few, if any, of then ever actually believe that anteephuhdiddit.

[Endus]

I've seen this answer posted before, "Elect More Democrats to make their two intransigence a moot point". Of course this answer involves more work over the long-term. Is not popular with people accustomed to getting gratification within the time it takes their favorite podcaster to microwave some nuggets.

Then the next question is; "How do we elect more Democrats?"

• Complain in public forums that the Dems dont do anything for me.
• Acknowledge the gains Dems have accomplished and encourage more people to support them to build on those gains.

Full disclosure, I've been jacketed as cheerleader for the second.

I think some people need to recognize that democracy, as a system, has exactly one real advantage over other systems of governance. One central pillar, responsible for pretty much all its benefits.

And that central tenet is "everyone argues and nothing gets done".

That's not by accident. That's by design.

Sure, good stuff gets stonewalled. But eventually, eventually, movement generally happens, after way too much arguing and bitching and infighting. But the bad stuff? That usually dies in those debates. It gets pulled apart and the worst bits get found out and chucked and then it's not worth passing for the villains any more.

And so, democracy tends to slowly creep forward. Far less rapidly than any oligarchic of autocratic system could, yes. But those systems are simultaneously more prone to falling backwards due to malice among those who govern.

That's the tradeoff. Getting shit done, or making sure little gets done, but what gets done is generally better than worse.

It may be that fuck-all gets done the next few years. That has to be acceptable. The alternative is a Trump second term; Manchin and Sinema being shitheads is shitty par for the course, but it's not as bad as fascism taking greater hold. The stonewall you're in right now is democracy in action, halting that decline. That means nothing happens, and the people suffer. That's the cost of democracy.

[Draco-Onis]

Y'all really should have stopped here.

I want to here exactly what the Democratic party is supposed to do when they have two members in their midst who won't go along with anything resembling partisan legislation.

I'm hearing a bunch of nonsense like "yell at them louder" and even more nonsense like "throw them out."

Were you asleep during the last round of elections? They won't be replaced with a democrat.

I'm so tired of people wanting to burn the entire system to the ground in a short sighted temper tantrum that they can't get what they want today. Not when the other side is infinitely worse by any measure.

Aside from that it's pretty obvious

Messaging - democrats are all over the place and I am not just talking outside of the two Kardashians, every democrat that goes to the press should have their talking points in line pushing just one message. Here's what we have done, here's what we can do given the current make up not we can do this then a week later oops we can't Manchin won't let us.

Culture wars - If we learned nothing from the Trump years and the ACA it's that ignoring something doesn't make it go away you just ceding the narrative to Republicans. This also goes to messaging when you get asked about CRT every democrat should say " I don't support teaching CRT in schools, it's for law school" . If you don't address it or everyone has a different answer then you are screwed.

Accountability - You spent 4 years shouting to the heavens about how Trump and his cronies broke the law but when you get power you do nothing people can see. The GOP understands basic human emotions people respond to the political cheap shots, having public hearing forcing people that were in this administration to testify will give that sense of accountability.

Executive powers - Introduce legislation that would put more restraint on executive powers you know the same ones Trump abused and Biden seems uninterested in using. We should put more definitions on executive privilege and its limitations, put more penalties to ignoring congressional subpoena. Trump showed how flawed a system that relies on people who have shame is let's make these norms into laws for all our sakes.

Unity - For god sake stop going after progressives like they are Voldemort, there's already a rift in your party stop pointing fingers and putting your thumb on the scale for local elections. Whoever wins a primary gets the full party support none of this shit where democrats split their support goes hand and hand with messaging. You can have the two outcasts but the whole party looks in disarray when you do that repeatedly.

I can think of a lot more but this is a quickie none of these seem unreasonable to me, it's either stuff a regular competent political party would do or pursue.

[Shadowferal]

It's officially Representative Shontel Brown now.
Ran a heckuva campaign to defeat her big money and big endorsement opponent.

I was just reading (state level politics) that a political unknown beat the very well-known state senate president. N.J. Senate President Sweeney projected to lose seat to little-known Republican in shocking upset

In one of the most stunning political upsets New Jersey has ever seen, longtime state Senate President Stephen Sweeney has lost his latest re-election bid to a little-known Republican, according to a projection by the Associated Press on Thursday morning.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester — the second-most powerful elected state official after Gov. Phil Murphy — remained about 2,000 votes short against Edward Durr when the AP called the race shortly before 11:20 a.m. Thursday.

Sweeney has not conceded, saying not all votes have been counted in the battle for the Senate seat in South Jersey’s 3rd districts — a seat he’s held since 2002.

“The results from Tuesday’s election continue to come in,“ Sweeney said in a statement. “For instance, there were 12,000 ballots recently found in one county. While I am currently trailing in the race, we want to make sure every vote is counted. Our voters deserve that, and we will wait for the final results.”

Spending $2,300, GOP Newcomer Ed Durr Beats Top NJ Lawmaker

Sweeney had faced electoral opposition before. In 2017, his feud with the state’s biggest teacher’s union over retirement benefits among other issues led to a battle in which the New Jersey Education Association spent millions to try to defeat Sweeney. The union’s effort failed.

But this year, Durr defeated him, spending $2,300, according to an Election Law Enforcement Commission document filed online on Thursday. Earlier reports had shown he had spent just $153.31 on his campaign.

-----

If I recall, that $153 was spent on coffee and doughnuts for those working on his campaign.

[Fugus]

With Manchin, as much as I hate to say it, the only pressure you can put on him to impact any real change CAN'T come from to politician's themselves.

What it will take it actual people running ads in his him state constant from now till his next election pointing out how he is selling out the nation and include promises to donate big bucks to whomever primaries him no matter which side of the isle he runs on and making sure to draw a straight line to his kids and point out how he is selling out the nation for their benefit and include his leaked recording of him trying to get illegal stuff done.

Make him toxic in his own district. THAT is the only pressure you will see work on him and it has to impact him as well as put his kids face on the acts he has done so that retiring and walking away with a fist full of cash won't be enough for him.

[Nurasu]

With Manchin, as much as I hate to say it, the only pressure you can put on him to impact any real change CAN'T come from to politician's themselves.

What it will take it actual people running ads in his him state constant from now till his next election pointing out how he is selling out the nation and include promises to donate big bucks to whomever primaries him no matter which side of the isle he runs on and making sure to draw a straight line to his kids and point out how he is selling out the nation for their benefit and include his leaked recording of him trying to get illegal stuff done.

Make him toxic in his own district. THAT is the only pressure you will see work on him and it has to impact him as well as put his kids face on the acts he has done so that retiring and walking away with a fist full of cash won't be enough for him.

Senators don't have districts. He's facing a statewide election in a Republican state every time, and he has no principles beyond reelection.

That doesn't get you there, regardless. Sinema already knows she'll be primaried and doesn't care - not much to work with there.

[Jastall]

They're a part of it. Supply chains globally are beyond fucked right now, with docks packed with containers that aren't moving, and more stuck on boats that can't be unloaded.

USPS is a part of this, but it's pretty all-encompassing.

Also, people not understanding that POTUS has minimal authority to do anything about global supply chain issues and whatnot. Just like they have little authority to do anything about gas prices.

Tell me about it. I work at a Costco supply depot and we've had to hire additional ships to go fetch our containers in Asia and unload them in Vancouver, because traditional supply lines are just too slow. It's causing me and especially my boss no small amount of headaches to juggle all this nonsense. It was bad before the Suez Canal got blocked and it's been worse since.

[Edge-]

https://www.tiktok.com/@hungry4clima...08605059599663

"Salt of the earth" Joe Manchin, a normal and relatable guy, drives a really nice Maserati.

We really gotta be concerned with how much is being spent!

[PACOX]

Senators don't have districts. He's facing a statewide election in a Republican state every time, and he has no principles beyond reelection.

That doesn't get you there, regardless. Sinema already knows she'll be primaried and doesn't care - not much to work with there.

The party is stuck with Manchin and his crap until Senate elections. What can be done now is letting him know he is not appreciated and will not be reinvited once his contract is up. I know he isn't invited of have a contract but I mean let him know that the future strategy of the party will not rely on him as a Senator. He can keep his seat, remain in the party, Dems don't even have to try to primary him, but they should work on obtaining 3 seats elsewhere to nullify his clout.

There is nothing in W Virginia for the party but Manchin, who doesn't do much good and something the party lucked up on. Resources would be better allocated to winning states that are actually beneficial to the party and its agenda...whenever it finally gets one.

There's no reason for Manchin to actually go along with the Dems except to keep his blue name when the votes he relies on a red. And his is doing nothing for the Dems of his state in terms of helping it turn blue.

He can continue to hold up the party all he wants but openly and honestly start planning for him to not be relevant after 2022 because new seats have been obtained.

[Milchshake]

Tell me about it. I work at a Costco supply depot and we've had to hire additional ships to go fetch our containers in Asia and unload them in Vancouver, because traditional supply lines are just too slow. It's causing me and especially my boss no small amount of headaches to juggle all this nonsense. It was bad before the Suez Canal got blocked and it's been worse since.

Silver lining, all those business school zombies and consultants that push Just In Time (JIT) inventory management look pretty stupid about now.

[Edge-]

Silver lining, all those business school zombies and consultants that push Just In Time (JIT) inventory management look pretty stupid about now.

Efficiency over resilience? Always a winner!

[Poopymonster]

Silver lining, all those business school zombies and consultants that push Just In Time (JIT) inventory management look pretty stupid about now.

How were we supposed to know? This is a Once In A Lifetime thing, we'll go back to JITing out hearts out next year.
Lessons learned by suits: 0.

[Edge-]

How were we supposed to know? This is a Once In A Lifetime thing, we'll go back to JITing out hearts out next year.
Lessons learned by suits: 0.

The profit margins are worth the risk! If you can't tolerate risk, get outta business, snowflakes!

*financial crisis hits*

Please help us, there's nothing we could have done to prepare for this UwU

[Milchshake]

Today in "the internet was a mistake," mayor of Miami and mayor-elect of NYC are engaging in a cheeky, friendly competition about who panders the hardest to money launderers, tax cheats, and crypto fanbois.


Remember Ranked Choice Voting did this.


To clarify for all my haters, that will <snip> the following part anyways.
Ranked Choice Voting is not a fix for any of the voting issues in the US. It will get twisted and subverted by the same structural misinformation.
Ranked Choice Voting is the thing you get to implement after your country achieves breadtuber nirvana. Where everyone has polite political discussions with their state issued anime avatar.

We're not there yet.

[Edge-]

Ranked Choice Voting is not a fix for any of the voting issues in the US. It will get twisted and subverted by the same structural misinformation.
Ranked Choice Voting is the thing you get to implement after your country achieves breadtuber nirvana. Where everyone has polite political discussions with their state issued anime avatar.

Cool, but I also highly doubt it's to "blame" for this, either. Crypto and NFT's are just the hot, trendy new thing for people who want to sound super smart and technologically literate to get behind. That's why Ubisoft and EA are pumping them up now.

Meanwhile, Nexon's earlier crypto investment that was supposed to be for "stability" ended up being the source of big quarterly losses for them at one point despite otherwise good financials. So that's cool.

[Jastall]

Silver lining, all those business school zombies and consultants that push Just In Time (JIT) inventory management look pretty stupid about now.

To be absolutely fair to my higher-ups, it's also because Costco likes stocking for stuff well, well in advance to ensure they have enough on hand, and to obtain better prices. We were already loading up on Christmas merchandise this July and we're seriously starting on BBQs and such right this instant. Hell they're building an ancillary depot to ours just to stash more non-perishable goods because we're running out of space in the main one despite it not even being 3 years old. The pandemic has utterly boomed business for the company and I suspect we're hardly the only ones. We used to ship about 400 vans a day before, now we're at 600-700 many times.

And much like in the US, there isn't much Trudeau can do on about it, unless one suggest he should go and haul containers out of ships by himself.