I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

If the election is just about Trump and whether he is good or bad, he really might win. Because at least he stands for something. Hillary, IMHO, has squandered the lead she had after the convention because she has gone low-key and has been trying to let Trump sink himself, and hasn't been giving people a reason to vote for her. If she argued that she was going to make your Lyft driver's life better, maybe he would vote for her. Hoping that he votes out of empathy seems like a crappy strategy.

Have you listened to Hillary?

She will talk in great detail about what specific programs or policies she will or has advocated to address making people's lives better for hours.

His problem wasn't her message, which has been spot on for anyone listening, but the lack of pizzaz and showwomanship with which she delivers the message.

I'd love people to vote on messages, we'll win if people listen.

I'd love them to vote on empathy. Also a win. And yes, people should have empathy.

But if they're voting based on whose more entertaining then we should expect that we will get and we will deserve a buffoon. Every time.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

My post is unfair. I clearly can't claim complete moral superiority for communities of color. That's ridiculous.

But I do not understand the appeal of a billionaire who maintains his fortune fucking over small business people and workers, who outsources jobs to other countries, who openly says the most hateful, racist, sexist shit, and who openly brags about how he has manipulated the political system by buying politicians. To me, the explanation is anti-black, anti-Mexican, anti-Islam, anti-Jew appeal. Sebby and Notbob can try explain the thought process of the workin' man all they like, but this is what he's playing to. And in every single instance of a black person being killed by the cops, without repercussion, for no fucking reason or the backlash to a quarterback who kneels quietly during the anthem as a protest of the obvious mistreatment blacks suffer in this country or the hyper-incarceration of black people for crimes white people commit at the same rates or the unequal unemployment rates or whatever, we see it--this massive, unending racism that colors decisions large and small, personal and institutional. And the fact that this asshole--this idiotic, orange-faced, cotton candy-headed, racist clown--is supported by an overwhelmingly white portion of the electorate confirms it all.

And to play fair, whites haven't cornered race discrimination or misogyny or anti-Semitism, or Islamophobia. The black community has its fair share of all of that bullshit. And your Lyft driver clearly has his head all the way up his ass. But we're voting in huge numbers against what Trump stands for.

TM

Your post was generally fair. A lot of this election is about minorities saving the country. Mine was just a footnote to your point.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

My post is unfair. I clearly can't claim complete moral superiority for communities of color. That's ridiculous.

But I do not understand the appeal of a billionaire who maintains his fortune fucking over small business people and workers, who outsources jobs to other countries, who openly says the most hateful, racist, sexist shit, and who openly brags about how he has manipulated the political system by buying politicians. To me, the explanation is anti-black, anti-Mexican, anti-Islam, anti-Jew appeal. Sebby and Notbob can try explain the thought process of the workin' man all they like, but this is what he's playing to. And in every single instance of a black person being killed by the cops, without repercussion, for no fucking reason or the backlash to a quarterback who kneels quietly during the anthem as a protest of the obvious mistreatment blacks suffer in this country or the hyper-incarceration of black people for crimes white people commit at the same rates or the unequal unemployment rates or whatever, we see it--this massive, unending racism that colors decisions large and small, personal and institutional. And the fact that this asshole--this idiotic, orange-faced, cotton candy-headed, racist clown--is supported by an overwhelmingly white portion of the electorate confirms it all.

And to play fair, whites haven't cornered race discrimination or misogyny or anti-Semitism, or Islamophobia. The black community has its fair share of all of that bullshit. And your Lyft driver clearly has his head all the way up his ass. But we're voting in huge numbers against what Trump stands for.

TM

Take a look at this, on where Trump's racism comes from. Jeet Heer is very sharp.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Have you listened to Hillary?

She will talk in great detail about what specific programs or policies she will or has advocated to address making people's lives better for hours.

His problem wasn't her message, which has been spot on for anyone listening, but the lack of pizzaz and showwomanship with which she delivers the message.

She needs to run for president, not head policy wonk. And I am pretty sure that she could get elected if she could meet with each voter for an hour to explain to them in person what she would do for them, given the chance. But that's not how it works.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Meanwhile, football is doomed. I have a harder and harder time watching it.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Screw the emails. I hacked those and they're pretty boring. How would you feel if we released your greatest hits on the fashionboard?

Probably less damaging than my actual e-mails. But either would likely be a career-ending injury.

Here is another song that I cannot hear without thinking of a song that sampled it (Ice T's "Power"). It's James Brown! "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lkFPW7uHqs

Just for fun, here is Ice T (gotta love the cover):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3rhBwnNU6o

[SEC_Chick]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Meanwhile, football is doomed. I have a harder and harder time watching it.

Even in Texas, it is having a hard time. The 7 year old Chicklet is starting his second! season of tackle football and the league is having fewer kids and teams every year.

Mr. Chick and I have had many discussions as to how long we'll allow the Chicklet to play. He loves it and is the defensive team captain. The laws of physics indicate that the mass of an average first or second grader is limited in its force and impact, and much attention is paid to teaching technique in heads up tackling. That said, we are doing a concussion baseline test next week.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

Even in Texas, it is having a hard time. The 7 year old Chicklet is starting his second! season of tackle football and the league is having fewer kids and teams every year.

Mr. Chick and I have had many discussions as to how long we'll allow the Chicklet to play. He loves it and is the defensive team captain. The laws of physics indicate that the mass of an average first or second grader is limited in its force and impact, and much attention is paid to teaching technique in heads up tackling. That said, we are doing a concussion baseline test next week.

I find myself putting more and more of my tickets on NFL Ticket Exchange instead of going to the games. Sooner or later I'll give them up.

My cousin's kid plays on the line now, and his parents were hoping that he'd hate it. Of course he loves every second, and they sort of take comfort in that 13 year olds on O and D line are essentially just wrestling without any major hits. But if he keeps on going, they are going to reevaluate.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Last week, I took a Lyft out to meet my family at a restaurant, and got to talking about the election with the driver, who was African American. He was talking about voting Stein or Johnson because Hillary just didn't ring his bell. He thought she was a lousy speaker, and wanted someone who could speak like Obama and motivate people. So I went trying to find some issues to ring his bell, on top of the Trump is scary stuff, which he agreed with but wasn't going to change his mind.

I talked a bit about women's issues and went back to the Beijing speech and told him he should look at it because it was a great speech on Women's issues.

And he said, and this is the part that made me dejected, that he really just couldn't care about women's issues, it wasn't something he could relate to. I guess I really shouldn't expect a higher moral standard and more empathy from African American men than White men, but I do.

Fucking depressing conversation.

Who knows, maybe Hillary calling out Trump's deplorables moved him a little.

I don't see how Trump overcomes the demographics. He needs to get something like 85% of white male votes to pull this off, and that's just not happening. The tightening we're seeing right now is embellished because the networks want a close race.

That said, Hillary's Achilles Heel is her lack of a compelling message. The country wants radical change, and she's slow-and-steady. I know people want to find more complex reasons for her failure to open up a massive and insurmountable lead, but the explanation is just that simple and boring. She's more of the same, and a lot of people think that's simply intolerable.

Don't try figuring it out. I've asked numerous ardent GOP friends, "Why are you so incensed by a moderate? The people on the right ought to be pleased with her. She's closer to a classic Republican than the current Republican, who's a fucking populist! It's the Left who have a true complaint here." They offer in reply some claptrap about her dishonesty, and then get to the real reason they're so against her - "We can't have another four years of Obama. The country won't survive it. Trump is nuts, but he'll blow things up, and undo much of what Obama's done."

Nevermind that Obama really hasn't done all that much. Nevermind that Trump isn't going to change anything in a manner that these people desire (well, except for giving the Archie Bunker voters "law 'n order").

The economic problems in this country being largely terminal, I suspect for a lot of people, this vote is a referendum on the timing of what we all know is coming. We're heading into a period of upheaval and social unrest. Do you vote to hold it together for a little while longer - keep the fabric from coming apart entirely so that we have a long series of soft landings and slowly turn into a sort of gilded Brazil? Or do we put a madman in the office and increase the likelihood of an accelerated, convulsive period of governmental and societal disruption and "creative destruction"?

Isn't that kind of always the question... A variant of the old economic debate of whether to go Von Mises or Keynes?

I'd vote for a creative, smart candidate who'd "blow it all up," and get on with a short, nasty form of the intense pain we all know is coming. But Trump is a fool, and I fear he'd only create a police state.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

2. I truly thought that 90% of undecided would break for Hil, but it is not looking that way.

We've not seen the debates yet. That can swing things five points.

Trump needs PA and VA. He's not winning either.

Pay attention to the electoral college vote numbers. National polls are noise.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

I find myself putting more and more of my tickets on NFL Ticket Exchange instead of going to the games. Sooner or later I'll give them up.

My cousin's kid plays on the line now, and his parents were hoping that he'd hate it. Of course he loves every second, and they sort of take comfort in that 13 year olds on O and D line are essentially just wrestling without any major hits. But if he keeps on going, they are going to reevaluate.

Without football, where will kids learn how to cheat and bully?

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

They offer in reply some claptrap about her dishonesty, and then get to the real reason they're so against her - "We can't have another four years of Obama. The country won't survive it. Trump is nuts, but he'll blow things up, and undo much of what Obama's done."

Translation: I'm scared of the black man and the woman, but not the lunatic as long as he's white.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

That said, Hillary's Achilles Heel is her lack of a compelling message. The country wants radical change, and she's slow-and-steady. I know people want to find more complex reasons for her failure to open up a massive and insurmountable lead, but the explanation is just that simple and boring. She's more of the same, and a lot of people think that's simply intolerable.

Yes, in the campaign, many people want the grand oration, not the policy wonk.

The calls for "radical change" though come from different camps that want wildly different radical change. Trump is looking for a police state, Rand Paul wants a hippy commune where white guys in suits can sit around and complain about the help, and Sanders wants a golden age where hipsters sit around remembering with fondness their union line fathers. About all they agree on is some degree of xenophobia and freedom from talking about the excruciating detail of reality.

Oh, and there is one other thing these camps have in common -- they're overwhelming white and male.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Adder

Translation: I'm scared of the black man and the woman, but not the lunatic as long as he's white.

I think it's a bit more complex than that. There's a voter out there, D and R, who looks at the system and says, "We need a complete overhaul."

I'm in that camp to an extent. We can't kick the can much further without suffering serious social upheaval and crippling govt dysfunction. On top of that, in just about all institutions impacting our lives, we're seeing what I'd call "peak corruption." We're reaching that tipping point where we become a case study for the next update of The Collapse of Complex Societies.

The failure in Hillary's message is it's just more shuffling of deck chairs on the Titanic. She'll try earnestly to fix things, and she's as qualified as anyone would ever be for the job. I don't worry about her ability to competently govern us in the least. But she is a warrior for retention of the status quo. That's her prime marching order, above all others, dictated to her by the powerful but frightened interests who donate to her -- the powerful but frightened interests whose only aim is to maintain the game they're winning for as long as possible.

As Leonard Cohen says, "Everybody Knows"... This doesn't end well. And Hillary's just another cipher, bought and paid for, buying time for her masters.

The Internet fucked politics but good. The Clintons are the first political dynasty to have their entire history collected digitally, much of it in real time. You can see right through her... straight to the armies of defense contractors and various "vampire squids" of finance behind her. She'll do a lot, but none of what needs to be done. Because to do what needs to be done would cost her any hope of raising enough for re-election.

We will voluntarily or involuntarily (as we have, to an extent, already) go through the mother of all debt workouts in this country. It's not govt debt. It's private debt. And this process will be a nasty reckoning for investors. But it will occur, overtly or not. The only question is whether we do it slowly, and languish as we have, to protect the old, or we have a collapse. But one way or another, debt that cannot be repaid will not be repaid. And we have a massive debt problem.

Tick, tick, tick...

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Yes, in the campaign, many people want the grand oration, not the policy wonk.

The calls for "radical change" though come from different camps that want wildly different radical change. Trump is looking for a police state, Rand Paul wants a hippy commune where white guys in suits can sit around and complain about the help, and Sanders wants a golden age where hipsters sit around remembering with fondness their union line fathers. About all they agree on is some degree of xenophobia and freedom from talking about the excruciating detail of reality.

Oh, and there is one other thing these camps have in common -- they're overwhelming white and male.

They want a revolution. They're just not organized enough to put a winning one together.

Eventually, however, people of all backgrounds getting economically fucked in the current status quo will congeal to an extent. And all it takes is one large enough contingent of them, desperate and united strongly enough to overcome the "prisoners dilemma" that scares people from challenging the enforcement capabilities of govt, to shake the country to the core.

The moment enough people collectively act and expose the limits of enforcement, this status quo has some serious problems.