Re: If...
 

The size of the Court has been static for a long time, whether to pass legislation to update it is never an unreasonable question, made more pressing by McConnel's behavior. No one is suggesting it be done despite not having the votes.

The filibuster is a historical, anitdemicratic anomaly. It was historical tolerable as long as racism was bipartisan, but that is no longer the case.

Getting rid of the electoral college would require an amendment. Surely Bret doesn't think amendments are too easy to do?

Debt forgiveness is tied directly the statutory language that Congress passed.

Like, different things are different, actually.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I just got a message from a family member asking me to vote for Jill Stein. I responded “I’m writing in PNut.”

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1. Expending the Court simply because the majority does not behave to one side's liking is extreme. Codify Roe into law instead.

2. I can see both sides of this.

3. Getting rid of the Electoral College would create a tyranny of dense population pockets over the rest of the country. Unwise.

4. What statutory language? The only language I know that allows that is the bankruptcy code. We can and should make student loan debt dischargeable, and allow for clawbacks from universities that confer degrees to people they know or should know will effectively force those people into bankruptcy.

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The critique is far more expansive than that, but you'll frame it as you like, as that's your favorite form of response.

I agree those are the most important questions. How did Trump get so close? Well, a lot of it is what Stephens cites. People really, really dislike a lot of the preachiness and know-it-all-ism of Democrats, particularly given it's matched almost always with incompetent policies and is later discovered to have been based on bad data analyses. Democrats never leave anything alone. There's always an urge to tell everyone what their analysis of an issue is, and then insist on a policy prescription to react to it. Later, they admit they tackled a problem that didn't need to be tackled and in doing so caused another worse problem. From Clinton-era silliness about everyone needing to own a house (followed by the feckless W administration) to Covid over-reaction, they think they're the smart set, with the answers... and they fuck it up. Over and over and over. The law of unintended consequences bites Ds in the ass every time and their response? "Let's pass another law!"

On the second question, Liberalism doesn't turn off anyone. And I don't think liberals turn off anyone. Liberals are open minded. Classical liberals don't want to tell anyone what to do. They venerate tolerance and live and let live attitudes.

It's MAGA and Progressives that want to tell everyone what to do. Stephens' question should have been, "How do both parties rid themselves of extreme right wingers and progressives?"

We classical liberals and conservatives can get along just fine, horse trading our way to sane compromises. But these right wingers, these MAGA people? And these wingnut progressives? You can't deal with these groups. They're cancers - founts of dysfunction.

YMMV, but IMO, moderate Ds hate progressives. They think they're nuts. And moderate Rs hate MAGA and right-wingers. They think they're nuts and ruining the party. There's a whole lot of overlap for the sane of us in the middle to cut deals. We just have to eliminate the extremists from the conversations.

Conservative hypocrisy is so overt, there's nothing revelatory in a column calling it out. They're openly full of shit. It's like Trump. Try keeping a list of all his lies and contradictions. You'll run out of space in the spreadsheet by noon.

1. The Woke. They're political toxic waste. They're fading, but not fast enough.

2. The corporate classes that support woke narratives. These people aren't really woke. They use the woke as useful idiots, to divert the conversation from one about class, wealth inequality, and (gasp) anti-competitive monopolistic consolidation in numerous industries to one about race, gender, and trans issues.

3. The legacy media. Again, fading fast, but just irritating enough to alienate a ton of people.

How does getting rid of them help the Democrats? Well, because a whole lot of moderate ex-Republicans are now looking for a home. They have more money and power than progressives, they outnumber progressives 50 to 1, and they desperately want Normalcy. It's not naive to suggest the silent majority wants to go back to the days of Reagan and O'Neill cutting deals. Unless one has shit for brains, he realizes (unless he's MAGA or progressive) by age 27 that this country doesn't work without compromise. That no one wins in zero sum games.

The Democratic Party is, I think, on the verge of scooping up roughly 1/4 of the Republican party. Give them a space in the tent. Make MAGA and Progressivism Fringe Again and let the rest of us sail into a future of Sane Compromise.

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Instead we get the tyranny of the Hank, Sebby and godforsaken cheeseheads. Is a system that prioritizes a handful of "swing" states really any different?

The HEROS Act for one. You can Google/research but each round of forgiveness is tied directly the statutes the administration says authorizes it.

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Of course not. But the fact is the dozens of tiny states ain't going to agree to giving it up.

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You quoted two paragraphs. The first was about liberal hypocrisy. If you think there was something better in the rest of what he wrote, quote it and I can respond. But the idea that liberal hypocrisy impels people to vote for Trump is stupid. As you said below, conservatives are hypocrites too.

If you want preachy and know-it-all combined with incompetent policies and bad analysis, Trump.

There is so little in this paragraph that differentiates Democrats from Republicans in any way. The more interesting question is the one you won't touch, which is why these things bother you (and Stephens) when they come from Democrats but not Republicans.

Uh, hello? It's 2024 and this is your wake-up call. There are no moderate Republicans left. The party is ruined. It's is a fully-owned subsidiary of MAGA.

Indeed. But just pointing that kinda undercuts the point of the Stephens piece you quoted. Are you going to notice that at some point? I guess not.

If we want to talk about why people are choosing to vote for Republicans, let's talk about why they choose Republicans. It's a choice, not an allergic reaction to Democrats.

If you ask me, inflation is pretty important.

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Yes. This.

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The Dems just lost their Electoral College argument. The ridiculous Grifter-in-Chief is going to win the popular vote. Every asshat who wailed about the attack on democracy may turn out to be correct, but the populace voted for the wannabe dictator. Isn't that democracy? The right to vote your rights away? The people have spoken, and may they get what they deserve.

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But we went high.

Fun fact Cuomo would have wiped the floors with Trump but no, Dems had to go high.

However Harris can do the right thing and refuse to certify.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Next hurricane NC you can suck my dick.

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Dammit.

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I saw some of the most devastating political ads I have even seen. The trans stuff probably moved a ton of people to either vote Trump, or not vote (I'm not saying me, I'm saying others). Biden should have agreed to step down a year ago so there could have been a primary.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

We asked white people to care a at least a little about people who are not them. They said fuck off.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Plenty of non-white people also said fuck off.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Plenty of non-white people have internalized bigotries too.

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https://www.france24.com/en/americas...pen-door-trump

This doesn't explain the Country but if certainly hurt in Michigan. About 5 o'clock last night I was watching TV and some ads that I had never seen came on. "If Trump wins he will drop Israel. Harris supports our ally 100%." They had not played before. It seemed stupid. I cannot imagine too many Jews were on the fence. But plenty of Arabs may have been.

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H. L. Mencken: 'Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.'

It may be as simple as this:

1. Telling people "The economy is great and you're dumb if you think otherwise" (based on GDP) while ignoring the way it impacting different populations and areas differently, isn't wise.

2. Telling people they're racists if they don't disagree with you isn't wise.

3. Taking the votes of minority communities for granted isn't wise.

4. Figuring you can scare people into voting for your candidate isn't wise.

5. Figuring you can shame people into voting for your candidate isn't wise.

6. Running on a platform of nothing more than, "I'm not Trump" works during Covid, but perhaps not otherwise.

This is a dark event. But its causes stem from a whole lot of arrogance and incompetence.

Remember this when your first inclination is to blame this all exclusively on racism and sexism. While those are of course partial causes, they are small fractions of a much more significant whole.

And while this Divider in Chief does his dividing, recall, what brought us here in significant part is grievance and identity politics. If both parties continue to practice those strategies, the country is fucked in a manner far worse than what Trump might cause. Right now, the media and political pundits on both sides are talking about the new divide and conquer angle to acquire eyeballs and support - Men vs. Women. Don't let them do it. Don't be the sucker at the table.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

We’ve asked white people to care about women. They said fuck off.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Idiots. The Trump plan is to let Bibby glass Gaza and then turn it into condos.

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2

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Nah, I think you were right the first time. It's backlash to "woke." Which is to say, annoyance at being asked to care about people they didn't want to care about.

Whether that is racism or sexism is a thing we've gone around in circles on, but I do think it is a huge part of what was driving things.

That an how much of our information ecosystem we've let be controlled by the oligarchs who did not want their power challenged in the ways the Biden admin was challenging it.

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That wasn't the message I saw. I saw she will change things up, fix stuff. Like one of the late night talk show hosts asked "aren't you part of the administration already?"

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I think you're both wrong. It's $7.99 for a box of Frosted Flakes.

I personally think Harris played her hand pretty well. With the way she came to be the candidate, she didn't want to split with Biden on anything major and risk a rupture within her party. But, that means being the party of $7.99 Frosted Flakes.

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I think a lot of us are in an economic bubble where we can mostly absorb increased prices of groceries, fast food etc. - it's annoying, but it doesn't really change how we live (although I still bitch about the cost of going out to dinner).

I think there are less than us than we think.

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So there is only 1% of us 1%ers?

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Tom Nichols:

The Atlantic

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I don't think I'm in the 1%. 1%-ers can send their kids to Swarthmore for $90k/year without blinking. I blink.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I would like people to stop saying "genuine concerns about immigration." They are not genuine. They are, mostly, objectively wrong. Many people believe genuinely, objectively wrong things about immigration.

They do so, in part, because not enough people say they are wrong, instead saying things like "genuine concerns about immigration."

We have a massive problem with an information ecosystem heavily influenced by algorithms controlled by oligarchs. They feed people false claims that traditional media doesn't even try to counter. The Biden administration has begun to try to counter their power, but even those meager attempts are about to end.

Eventually, that power will be innovated away, probably, but we are in a real bad place for the foreseeable future.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I am very pro-immigration. I think mass deportations is one of the stupidest ideas imaginable.

However, I have also been schooled on this issue by people who are legal immigrants. And people from states like Arizona.

For you and me, immigration isn’t that big of a deal. For people who came here legally, it really pisses them off to see people in here illegally. I’m not going to try to put myself in their heads. But I do have to respect their position.

Not all of the people who consider immigration a big issue are manipulated rubes.

And on a broader point, the hierarchy of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, and those of us who are of the “elite,“ have to stop assuming, without basis, that whoever disagrees with us is deluded or stupid.

We are very often just as stupid and deluded as a lot of these people. When you look around this country and see the most grievous policy errors, it almost always comes from technocrats who think they know what is best for everyone.

Humility would win a lot more elections, and a lot more minds. On the other hand, having a pompous and incompetent educated “expert” class repeatedly tell everybody what to do, and fuck it up, degrades the credibility of expertise, and respect for science, logic, and reason.

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I agree, 100%.

For the past couple of years, I have been quick to say I don’t see inflation. I also happen to live in a neighborhood where everybody drives a very expensive car, and lives in a big house. My reality is hanging out with people who all have college and graduate degrees, and earn a lot of money.

Back in the early 2000s, I would write, often here, that the little people just have to adjust themselves to globalization, and that they will lose jobs until the price of labor abroad reaches parity with that of domestic labor.

What an outrageously arrogant person I was. And how deluded, as well. I thought these people would just disappear. They would simply take their lumps, and fade away.

Inflation is very real for the average Joe. Things are more expensive, regardless of whether you or I notice.

The biggest lesson of this election is that the upper echelon of the Democratic Party need to stop engaging in a giant circle jerk where they analyze everybody outside their bubble using their own favored metrics. Apparently, navel gazing, and talking back back-and-forth with your affluent and frequently maleducated friends does not give you a clue as to what the rest of the country has in its head.

How shocking.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

My Lebanese American boss voted for Stein. He had to convince friends to vote, explaining they did not have to vote for President.

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This comment thread on Reddit is very telling: https://www.reddit.com/r/GenZ/commen...o_the_right_a/

The messaging to young men has been absolutely terrible, and I do not know what can be done about it.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Sure, but many who are concerned about immigration seem to believe that a bunch of nonsense about what happens to immigrants (i.e., we hand them piles of cash), their effect on tax collections (i.e., they don't pay any taxes), housing (drive up rents) and jobs (take their jobs). These beliefs are common, frequently stated and wrong.

As far as "came here legally," well, the history of our immigration policy is long and filled with terrible decisions and guess what, people respond to incentives.

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I buy the double giant box from Sam's for $7.99. But today I bought Apple Jacks there for $1.91. Y'all just don't know how to shop.

I bought a giant tub of spinach for $5 and two pounds of strawberries for $4. Dinner for a week.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

Ty famously said he felt Trump had the brain worms years ago. But now a guy who admits he had them will be in charge of health care? Holy fuck. Did you guys see his tweet about FDA?

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

The main obstacle to any legislation on immigration, legal and otherwise, are Republicans who want to use it as a political issue. You know this, or knew this and forgot. I understand why some people get upset about illegal immigration. But it is 100% clear that a huge part of the reason that it is a problem is that the Republican Party does not want to solve it, in order to exploit it politically. Someone so attuned as yourself to political hypocrisy and policy fecklessness would ordinarily be bothered by this, but, as we were just discussing, hypocrisy only seems to bother you when it comes from Democrats.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

I did not. Not on the Twitter much anymore. What did he say?

I don't give RFK Jr. very long in whatever role he craves, because his usefulness to Trump is over and his thirst for publicity will threaten the Orange One.

eta: A hugely important dynamic going forward will be that Trump will be term-limited, but will try to retain his top-banana status nonetheless, and will feel threatened by all the jockeying among conservatives to position themselves for a post-Trump world. It was a problem for W., too, and he was not nearly as sensitive about threats to his status as Trump is. J.D. Vance will be a big problem for Trump, because he can't fire him.

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Don’t be a twit. The Democrats did jack shit on immigration until politically forced to do so at the last second. Then in a politics-for-politics move, Trump fucked up their ability to have it both ways (to argue they did something based on a last second move while also having done nothing for three years).

The hypocrisy here was all around. Your party acted perfectly Trumpian on this issue and it got jammed up its ass by Trump. Deservedly.

Is this “both sides-ism”? Yeah. You know what else? Irrefutable facts.

Re: Implanting Bill Gates's Micro-chips In Brains For Over 20 Years!
 

The hysteria over immigrants is of course overblown. But that’s not the whole story. Not even close.

The Ds need to be careful not to make the same mistake again that they’ve been making since 2016:

“Everyone who disagrees with us is dumb…

Or manipulated by Russians, or if not that, social media, or if not that, right wing legacy media…

Or if none of those, surely reaching their views as a result of subconscious or conscious racism, sexism, transphobia etc…

Because no smart person could disagree with our views!”

These delusions may work anywhere fellow travelers will give Ds who just don’t understand how society can reject their obvious brilliance “atta-boy” pats on the back, but in the arenas where it matters, this stuff is seen as the bullshit it is.

The problem with Ds isn’t hatred of elites. It’s lack of actual elites. The Rs are dumb and know it. The Ds are just as dumb and don’t.