Trump made stock prices affordable again!

You think they did a good job of building a platform and communicating a message? Energizing their base? Pushing back against the GOP’s instanity rather than normalizing it? They didn’t even have a competitive candidate until the 11th hour for fucks sake.

I actually liked Kamala. And I thought Joe did a good job of appointing and trusting competent people in general during his tenure and letting things normalize. But really, they ran a piss poor election and shouldn’t have let Biden ever claim candidacy for re-election.

100% agreed on this in the current state. But the new DNC chair is part of a more progressive and assertive variety of Democrats (DFL) from my home state in MN. Similar factions have been forming a growing coalition in the DNC and got him elected, and have started the process to unseat the existing ragdoll leadership.

I’m not saying we’re converting the DNC to a party of Democratic Socialists, but the progressive factions are working together (finally) and capitalizing on the DNC’s failings.

We can only hope they’re successful.

For those uncertain, it means that suddenly Johnson isn’t so sure he has the votes to pass his agenda, and now the Republican party will meet behind closed doors to negotiate or intimidate members try to bring the “rogue votes” to heel.

I predict more and more votes in both the House and Senate are going to go this way as the rats begin to flee the MAGA sinking ship. As ashamed as Democrats should be of their performance and platform last election, Trump and Congress (and DOGE) have already done some deeply unpopular things. And I think threatening social security might be the straw (or in this case, the thermonuclear device) that breaks the camel’s back.

The swing voters and non-voters, surprise surprise, it seems voted in ignorance of MAGA’s very clear plans to destroy as much of America’s institutions as possible. Institutions relied upon disproportionately by the Republican base and the ignorant swing voters. In my humble opinion, main stream media and social media needs a lot of the blame here for sane-washing last election cycle.

Now we get to see if the DNC leadership sees this as a natural pendulum swing and sits back and continues to learn nothing, or if the growing discontent in the party will continue to gain steam and the leadership continues to get pressure to change.

Hopefully the progressive element in the party continues their momentum. Getting the DNC chair and Schumer’s recent blowback are glimmers of hope.

Much as I would love a true progressive party, in the current system I think we have to settle for a democratic party acting as a coalition of anti-Republican/MAGA factions until we can fix our fptp voting system.

Even that sometimes shows them what they don’t want to see, so then they block or remove the offending content.

Panama. Greenland. Canada. Gaza.

It truly feels like Trump is desperate to cement his place in history with a territorial expansion. I honestly think these seeds were planted by Putin to destabilize Euro-American (and NATO) relations.

They insulate themselves from the difficult topics and nuance of the real world with Fox News and a carefully curated Facebook/X feed.

Instead of having their beliefs challenged regularly and being forced to critically think and introspect, they only reenforce their world-view and get fed a steady dose of fear, hatred and outrage until they’re incapable of human empathy with people different from them.

It’s awful. I’ve seen it with several family members and friends. Good, kind-hearted people transformed into the most hateful versions of themselves with only their most negative emotions driving their decisions.

It takes something deeply personal and challenging to force them to reevaluate. And for some that’s not even enough. They’ll double down instead of admitting they might be wrong, and go back to the comforts of their carefully crafted world instead.

Silly. They’re looking for a fall guy, not actually addressing the problem or being responsible.

“Oh God! The consequences of my actions are impacting me!”

• The honorable Mr Bacon.

“We are currently clean on OPSEC” - man leaking information on a non-official channel while cosplaying as a military leader.

My daughter’s daycare is more stringent on OPSEC for christ’s sake.

It’s like an email with a “If you’re not the intended recipient please don’t read and dispose of this message” footer levels of OPSEC.

Obviously fake. Not enough alcohol in frame 1.

Elno & Trump:

https://media1.tenor.com/m/Wv9QRUTqJOAAAAAC/liar-liar-jim-carrey.gif

Well I was born and raised here, so I’m very biased, but I love it. Nature is everywhere, we have a ton of true wilderness, and people are generally very polite and kind. Lots of different cultures in the melting pot and fun cities/towns big and small.

Add onto that our politics (in the metro area especially) and it’s hard to beat.

Perhaps. But it won’t be a success story here. Minnesota has odd politics. We’re quite progressive for the US and extremely oddly progressive for the Midwest/Great Plains. Even our dyed in the wool conservatives are fairly libertarian (actual definition, focused on personal freedoms) in their beliefs.

Of course we still have our share of hateful and misinformed people, but this tack isn’t going to be very popular here.

All performative. MNGOP has been ineffectual and effectively out of power for 30+ years.

Sounds like a venereal disease. Though to be fair, so did ‘Hogwarts’

I work with closely with a Dutch coworker. There’s no way that isn’t true. In fact, I’m fairly certain that’s probably one of the tamer variations.

If only they could have known in advance that the man who constantly screamed that he was going to deport all the migrant workforce, fire most of the federal workforce, and slap tariffs on any country that refused to capitulate to his every whim would hurt the economy!

But the tariffs also pay the tax cuts that allow rich people to spend more and to invest more.

No. That assumes the US cannot operate on a deficit. It can and will. We don’t “fund” tax cuts unless someone responsible is overseeing the budget.

Not to mention, every billionaire has their money in the market somehow, they don’t have Scrooge McDuck gold piles. Inflation and market losses erode their money just like it erodes ours. Perhaps even more.

We saw how the stock market had nothing to do with the actual economic situation during Covid. While all indicators went down, stocks still went up.

COVID resulted in a marked recession for the global economy, and the US was no exception. But people still had money and spent it regularly, so it didn’t freefall the entire time and at times had rallies. The US stock market is mostly run by a series of competing trading algorithms with tight guardrails these days, for better and for worse. Generally though it does mean that modern nose-dives rarely result in true crashes.

The things Walz has accomplished in his time in Minnesota is actually remarkable, especially given Minnesota’s traditionally libertarian/purple local politics.

Literally the only attack Republicans in Minnesota have is his handling of the George Floyd protests and his COVID response, and those are weak and they know it.

Under him we here in Minnesota got dozens of extremely progressive policies put though, our social programs have dramatically expanded and are extremely well funded, corruption has been rooted out, and our economy is booming. The Minnesota DFL under his leadership have gained a ton of ground as well, where nationally the DNC has given up a ton.

No, he isn’t a great orator or debater. But as a politician and policy maker he’s a rare combination of progressive, well respected, and effective.