aylwin13

Basic science fact: one guacamole is equal to 6.0221415x10^23 guacas.  This is known as Avocado's Number.

Well, I've thought Democrats were -- again -- snatching defeat from the jaws of victory ever since House Democrats decided to make passing the "hard" infrastructure bill contingent on passing the social spending bill. As pundit David Brooks said, the infrastructure bill was a trillion-dollar aid package and love letter to the working class -- a class that Dems spent decades alienating as the party became more college-educated, accredited, and wokishly obsessed with cultural reform instead of jobs.
 
I am told the strategy was that Joe Manchin would hold his nose and vote for the full Progressive agenda, rather than see the bill he helped negotiate and pass go nowhere?
 
But that seems like a flipping stupid strategy. When your majority is so razor-thin, the chief concern should be increasing it in the next election. I think the way to do that is to keep showing voters that Dems can deliver what the voters want. So, pass something practical -- anything -- every few months. Start off with the infrastructure bill. If Republicans want to take credit, let them. Biden's the President, he's the one people will associate with the bill and the results. Move on to other programs with overwhelming public support, such as the child tax credit program that was putting money in millions of parents' pockets through the pandemic. Even a mojority of Republicans liked that. Pay for it with an inheritance tax on trust funds. If Republicans shoot it down, the attack ads write themselves -- "Republicans care more about the children of their billionaire donors than about YOUR children!" Funding for Historically Black Colleges & Universities is another potential easy pass: Even Trump backed that, in an attempt to curry favor with Black voters.
 
First try to pass such bills by standard means. If a few Republicans want to be seen assisting practical legislation, that's good for everyone. If they stand firm and block it, everyone knows who's responsible, and Dems can move on to budget reconciliation or other tactics.
 
It's also worth remembering that while solid majorities support many individual progressive policies, that doesn't mean a solid majority supports the full progressive package. So the strategy for progressives should be to seek small and narrow victories instead of some big, utopian vision. Yes, that means abandoning climate change legislation... for now. Manchin makes it impossib le... for now. But if voters see Dems passing bills that improve their lives, they might be more inclined to vote Democrat in 2022 -- perhaps enough to increase their Senate seats, so they no longer need to placate Manchin.
 
Dean Shomshak

Plus, 9/11 was the first direct attack against the US since Pearl Harbor...and while that was horrific enough, it was 60 years earlier.  Plus, it got no live coverage, of course.  We got the news second hand and much later.  How many of us saw one or both planes hit?  One or both towers fall?  Plus, while Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack, it was one against a military target.  So in that sense, it fit with many other, similar attacks like the Cole.  9/11 *used* civilians, and targeted civilians.  For better or worse, terrorist attacks in Britain and France have targeted civilians.  They also remember much more deeply the devastation of WW II.  So they may be more emotionally resilient.
 
It's a combination of many things.  Demonizing goes back to the 50's with Communism.  Can also argue that this was the start of distrust of government, due to McCarthy's tactics, and the damage it did.  It showed that governmental abuse of power was a Real Thing, on a scale we'd not seen.  Then there were the lies of Vietnam, and the first clear schisms on ideological grounds.  Watergate.  Carter...a Democrat...let an embassy be sacked, and Americans held hostage (!!!)  Reagan could be painted as the paragon of normalcy and a return to Good Old American Values.  Then the tawdry, pathetic lies of Clinton...another Democrat, another embarrassment.  9/11 happened on Bush's watch...but he had an acceptable response.  Hit the bastards back HARD.  And even Iran...HECK no, we're not gonna let Saddam pull off another 9/11.  
 
On issues:  Democrats support women's rights, gay rights, immigration.  While "kinder, kuche, kirche" might not literally hold, I suspect it's a LOT closer to what's comfortable for too many American men.  And there's much more resentment, I think, when a man loses a position to a woman, compared to losing it to another man.    Immigration...the narratives here are obvious.  They're cash sinks, they're job stealers, they're criminals.  Gay rights...they're all sinners and fornicators and damned to hell.  They're anti-family.  The perceived threat to family strikes at something very basic.
 
The lesson of McCarthy and Nixon is, you can't trust government.  The lesson of the Democrats is their values are wrong.  So government should do NOTHING...but protect us.  The Wall.  More defense spending.  Strong military.  Don't tell us what to do because your motives are BS to begin with.
 
It's a total mess.

or 2-5 at once (and yes, you have to roll one of them and add 1 to determine how many you have to step on, its in the rules).
 

The points are nowhere near sharp enough. But I'd like a handful, please.

If this doesn't count as creepy, I don't know what does!
 
 

Jaguars gonna jag....

The problem isn't Jesus; it's his fan club. 

"Life is a blur of Republicans and meat."
 
-- Zippy the Pinhead

Q: What's the difference between a Jack-o'-lantern and Donald Trump?
 
 

You know that feeling you get when you're about to see something bad happen to someone and you can't do anything about it?

What about the Golden Shower of Conspiracy Theories, does that count?

"The river of truth" being an important qualifier. Not the swamp of superstition, the Magic Kool-Ade of pride, or other tainted waters. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to see the difference.
 
Dean Shomshak

"Twenty-oneth Street".  Actually, properly better is "Twoty-oneth Street".

I have been reading up on Secretary Wyman, she seems a woman of personal integrity and strong conviction regardless of her party. Given the enormous pressure exerted by the current incarnation of her party, I’m reminded of:
 
”When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree by the river of truth, and tell the whole world 'No, You Move.”
 
Good for her, we need more politicians like that.

Don't blame others for the road that you're on.

It's your own asphalt.
 

'tis the season: