frank

Not likely.

It's that Vance's approval rating sucks and he doesn't balance the ticket. People think it was a mistake. Trump isn't known for loyalty, so maybe he'l...

I think it usually takes some kind of crisis before the basics change. It's interesting to try to guess what the change will look like

Religion is like opium. People take it to keep from curling up in a ball on the floor in the face of adversity like the death of a child. The main thr...

You're going to vote Democrat?

There's an old recipe from German immigrants called persimmon pudding. It's like a brownie, except the sweetening is persimmons and molasses. It has s...

Southern oceans absorb 25% more CO2 than previously thought. This is a good thing.

Exactly. His rhetoric gave him so much power that he seemed untouchable. That's a social current worth examining.

https://www.parents.com/thmb/aUnAzKBZDaY1_8HngwaENFnoFsc=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/GettyImages-114509392-...

I don't think you understand. He believes in authoritarianism. I get that you're not taking it seriously. I do, though. I don't think it's an act.

He openly expresses pessimism about democracy. That doesn't sound like a schtick to me. It sounds like something else.

And you're happy to let Americans live however they like. :up:

Cool. You're quite ready to live and let live.

So you're outraged. Why should other people live by your rules?

Your conscience is telling you to be outraged at American politics? For real?

You could stand to grow a sense of humor, Amadeus. :razz:

Why do you care? It's not even your country.

They don't think so. Why does your opinion matter when it's not even your county?

You can't.

Why not?

So?

It was anathema to neoliberalism, so anti-establishment. I think we're just quibbling over who the establishment actually is?

Yes, creating a "flexible" labor market was supposed to help avoid stagflation episodes. That meant less job security. It wasn't just evil doers on hi...

If you listened to his speeches in 2016, the message was: we're going back to the 1960s and 70s in terms of job security. That was the positive vision...

i agree. I'm just more focused on what it means that there was so much popular support for him. He was telling people what they wanted to hear. Let's ...

Imagine a snake that sees it's own tail, but doesn't recognize that it's seeing itself. At the point of meeting, there are two, but it's also only one...

:lol:

When I read that Vance's memoir is a good way to understand how Trump was elected, I thought about a conversation I had with a woman from Kentucky. Th...

I guess you could call Trump elite, but I wouldn't say he's part of the establishment, which is those who set foreign and domestic policies. His power...

Not a chance

They're actually making lists of loyalists to plop into critical spots. I think they're serious. This isn't the old Republican party. Exactly. The Dem...

People are still using right/left terminology, though. It's just that they've redefined it. The new American right is skeptical of liberal democracy, ...

Scott Soames did a pretty detailed analysis of the private language argument and concludes that it's not an argument per se. It's more of an explorati...

:joke:

I watched that whole thing dude.

This Missouri? https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1047316896/photo/st-louis-downtown-city-skyline.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=hA52aCm9Jzqltz0d5zf-aGi4enq4y...

I think we're watching the Republican party going into metamorphosis. The message Trump won with was that China and immigrants are the reason for the ...

Vance is hyper-isolationist and concerned with real wages. The two issues are linked for him. It's like he wants to turn the USA into a bubble country...

Vance is growing on me. He's in favor of monarchy. Can you imagine? Think about how easy it would be to do something substantial about climate change ...

Microsoft. God!

The world is full of angry, bitter people. Each one thinks his cries mean something. :razz:

So you predict a Biden win. I'll take it. Trump isolated himself until he was just flailing. Biden at least can gather a group capable of doing the jo...

Pelosi told Biden this. He pushed back.

If Harris runs in his place, she'll lose.

Trump's going to win, then Vance. Vance will change the presidential term limits and rule for the rest of his life.

Did you see Vance's back story? He's isolationist and skeptical about democracy.

Mike Pence is 20 inches tall. Like a hobbit.

So here's the lyrics to a song I came across: "If only you believe like I believe, baby (if only you believe like I believe) We'd get by If only you b...

You can just stay up all night and get that.

Yea, but that's child's play compared to the way the Republican party has gerrymandered North Carolina. So the attack on the Capitol where they appear...