I think the time George Bush, the first, being fascinated by an electronic checkout scanner was when he lost his second run for office. Being distracted by a Cheerios box should rise to that level in my opinion.
Should, but won't. It is already lost in all the other crazy stupid shit he is saying.
No one thing will make him lose this election, if he does lose it. It will be a combination of the excitement and energy of Harris's candidacy, the lassitude and dullness of Trump's, and how low- information voters feel about the direction of the economy. This is a vibes election. The facts don't matter so much as how people feel about what they perceive to be facts.
Paul Vallely writes about Trump's mental decline in the latest (Aug 16) 'Church Times'. His short piece is both interesting and alarming. We should, apparently, be both alarmed and afraid ... be very afraid .... Has any other shipmate seen it?
Paul Vallely writes about Trump's mental decline in the latest (Aug 16) 'Church Times'. His short piece is both interesting and alarming. We should, apparently, be both alarmed and afraid ... be very afraid .... Has any other shipmate seen it?
I haven't, but that could be easily remedied if you would include a link. I'm assuming this is the piece you're talking about?
@RockyRoger Oh, it's not all doom and gloom. Remember, the Supreme Court has just given President Biden carte blanche to do anything he considers necessary to facilitate the peaceful transfer of power...
Between my parents' generation and mine, those unions faltered as the factories failed. And so these states, once referred to as a "blue wall" seem to be crumbling and the GOP has spent a lot of resources trying to turn them around.
Phrases like "blue collar" and "working class" in American hearken back to the culture where, as an acquaintance put it, even a high school dropout could walk into a local factory and get a good-paying union job. It's a culture that a lot of people of a certain complexion and age still dream of. And because of this, both parties like to pander to that dream, either feeding their pride or offering to rebuild it with technology.
It's an old story in the US, one that waxes and wanes with each cycle. I think it also relates to the general kvetching about the cost of things. People want the sense of economic stability that went with the old factory culture and both parties keep saying they're going to bring it back.
And it makes me sad because I don't think anyone can. The world has moved on. We need new dreams. But, as a democrat and an American, we also need to win those states and, in an election, if that's what it takes...you do what you need to do to win.
I think this illustrates one of the big historical misconceptions most Americans have about manufacturing labor. For most of their existence factory jobs were not "good jobs" in any sense of the term. In the early 20th century a steel worker would earn around 16¢/hour working an 84 hour week. (In inflation adjusted terms this is less than $3/hour.) That's seven 12 hour shifts per week. And then there was the infamous changeover shift, where the steel mill would switch the day shift workers with the night shift workers by requiring one of those shifts to work a 24 hour shift! What finally made this kind of labor into good jobs is unions forcing the companies to pay good wages for a reasonable amount of work, something @Bullfrog briefly touched on. In other words it's not "the old factory culture" that provided good jobs, it was unionization. There's nothing inherent about factory work that makes it a better job than any other, just a series of historically contingent factors that made that sector highly unionized in the mid-20th century.
In other words a more effective step to restoring a situation where "even a high school dropout could walk into a local [ employer ] and get a good-paying union job" is not restoring heavy industry, it's encouraging unionization wherever possible. The Biden administration has been particularly good about this, and Harris seems on board with continuing this. Like all recent Republican presidents, Trump is very hostile to labor unions.
tl;dr - it wasn't the factories, it was the unions.
Not quite.
Most Americans (I speak as a former member of a union with a majority of Americans and as a resident of Ontario, which for the purposes of this post acts as just another northern state).
The Golden Age most Americans remember is 1948 - 1965. The "middle class ideal" was a result of what is called Reuther's Treaty of Detroit between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three, particularly GM. It spread to other industries but that is where it started.
Under the Treaty of Detroit, compensation now included comprehensive company-paid health care and a DB pension. In return, wage increases were tied to productivity increases, thus guaranteeing the company a stable slice of profit from its capital.
It formed the basis of the social contract that many still aspire to or somehow believe that is "natural". I am looking at some of my family members here.
It worked because capital investments in the auto sector were large, thought to be long-lived, the cost basis of the companies was fairly transparent and the auto makers large production networks were and are very susceptible to strikes which interrupt production.
It failed when productivity improvements from investment began to outpace increased effort from labour (starting in the 1970's) and companies weren't willing to share the profits earned with labour. It also failed after a series of legal and management cultural changes gutted the ability of American unions to organize and strike starting in the 1960's but really dating back to the Taft-Hartley Act of 1948 and the failure of Operation Dixie to unionize the South.
The Treaty of Detroit framework was always a house of cards, take one thing away and the whole edifice comes crashing down.
hidden text - claim from NY Post about reproductive rights - la vie en rouge, Purgatory host
on-site!
One has to wonder if the Democrats have considered the long-term implications of rendering their voters infertile, but hey...if a bunch of neurotic liberals want to remove themselves from the gene pool, who am I to judge?
IOW, Planned Parenthood is going to do things it routinely does in Illinois, where it is allowed by law to operate. Not sure why that leads you to remarks about "neurotic" liberals. Lots of non-liberals have abortions and get vasectomies.
@Powderkeg, these services are not available on-site at the DNC, nor are they being offered through the DNC. A midwestern Planned Parenthood group is setting up a mobile clinic in the West Loop, which is not far from one of the DNC locations, but that is *not* on-site. Please consider reading beyond the clickbait headline and consulting a source more reliable than the New York Post.
Just because PP is setting up a mobile clinic near the DNC does not mean they will be doing abortions or vasectomies. Such clinics offer physicals for low income people. They also offer contraceptive services. Yes, they will have mifepristone for medically induced terminations if the gestational period is still below 11 weeks. Surgical procedures in the mobile clinic have yet to be approved by the state.
One has to wonder if the Democrats have considered the long-term implications of rendering their voters infertile, but hey...if a bunch of neurotic liberals want to remove themselves from the gene pool, who am I to judge?
I think having lots of kids and shielding them from other ideas to make them vote the way you do has generally been a conservative strategy. Not one that works, particularly, which is why they're constantly whining about schools, universities, books, television, churches etc etc turning their kids "Marxist" "woke", or whatever is the scare word du jour.
My conservative Republican parents didn't expose us to other ideas yet raised three kids who became liberals as adults. They didn't complain about the university educations they gave us doing anything to us, however. I think many, perhaps most parents, conservative and otherwise, are quite able to accept the reality that their kids grow into adults who think their own thoughts and have their own beliefs. Not all, obviously - I have cousins who did their darnedest to make sure their kids believe in young earth creationism - but no need to make gross generalizations about a large and varied group of people.
One has to wonder if the Democrats have considered the long-term implications of rendering their voters infertile, but hey...if a bunch of neurotic liberals want to remove themselves from the gene pool, who am I to judge?
I think having lots of kids and shielding them from other ideas to make them vote the way you do has generally been a conservative strategy. Not one that works, particularly, which is why they're constantly whining about schools, universities, books, television, churches etc etc turning their kids "Marxist" "woke", or whatever is the scare word du jour.
One of the things that is grimly amusing to me about the Quiverfull movement is that it is both grounded in Evangelicalism and that it has essentially given up on evangelism. Instead of trying to increase their numbers by convincing people of the rightness of their positions (evangelism) they instead devote themselves to the grim, generations-long strategy of trying to biologically out-reproduce their intellectual/political competitors.
One of the things that is grimly amusing to me about the Quiverfull movement is that it is both grounded in Evangelicalism and that it has essentially given up on evangelism. Instead of trying to increase their numbers by convincing people of the rightness of their positions (evangelism) they instead devote themselves to the grim, generations-long strategy of trying to biologically out-reproduce their intellectual/political competitors.
Ironic that they belong to a religion that can't be inherited, isn't it. Have they been reading too much Aristotle?
Back on the subject of the election ... The Washington Post has a piece (gift link) on how hard right influencers are criticizing the Trump campaign for trying to appeal to independents. Nick Fuentes is going to far as to urge his followers not to vote for Trump.
Republicans in disarray! (I looked up synonyms for "disarray" but can't find one that starts with R.)
Trump now claims he is better looking than Harris, because he is upset she was on the cover of TIME. Meanwhile his economic plan is?
Inflationary.
Seriously, the two big policy items he's campaigning on are mass deportations (which will cause labor shortages and thus inflation) and tariffs (which will raise prices and thus are inflation). But as I mentioned earlier the American political press is all about vibes and very bad at reporting matters of fact or substance.
@Powderkeg this thread is being run under Epiphanies guidelines. Among other things, that means that
[...]some phrases or sources may be ruled off-limits on a particular thread if they are seen as dehumanising, poor quality or containing disinformation.
Under this rule, the New York Post cannot be considered a good quality source. I am hiding and breaking your link.
I've said something like this before, but it's so, SO bizarre for him/his campaign to assume the same level of his base's MAGA stupidity in other groups. That kind of open, unfiltered disregard will always be breathtaking to me.
Strange as I am guessing his followers are not Taylor Swift fans, and would not think this was a good thing.
I'm sure there are some young Swifties who don't think of themselves as very political who would be motivated to register and vote if she endorsed a candidate. I hope she consults with the Harris campaign and endorses Harris at a high leverage moment in the run up to the election.
Strange as I am guessing his followers are not Taylor Swift fans, and would not think this was a good thing.
One of Trump’s/MAGA’s fixations seems to have to do with Taylor Swift. Remember the “plot” for the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl so that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce could endorse Biden?
Strange as I am guessing his followers are not Taylor Swift fans, and would not think this was a good thing.
One of Trump’s/MAGA’s fixations seems to have to do with Taylor Swift. Remember the “plot” for the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl so that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce could endorse Biden?
Trump had Elton John play at his wedding, and invited John(unsuccessfully) to play at the 2016 inauguration. And I'm sure he has a long history of hobnobbing with other cool celebrities on the party circuit.
So I'm speculating it might sting him quite deeply to hear he's not beloved by Taylor Swift and all her vibrant young fan base.
I'm sure there are some young Swifties who don't think of themselves as very political who would be motivated to register and vote if she endorsed a candidate. I hope she consults with the Harris campaign and endorses Harris at a high leverage moment in the run up to the election.
I think you've identified the ideal opening act for the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
She's performing in London tonight and tomorrow, and after that it looks like the Eras Tour doesn't pick up again till October. So she could fly back Wednesday and perform in Chicago Thursday. Seems like the Dems would have teased it if this were in the works, though.
That might be more effective if Tayor Swift teased a special performance on Thursday. I'm not sure her rank & file fans are tuned into the DNC's goings on.
I'm sure there are some young Swifties who don't think of themselves as very political who would be motivated to register and vote if she endorsed a candidate. I hope she consults with the Harris campaign and endorses Harris at a high leverage moment in the run up to the election.
I think you've identified the ideal opening act for the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
Michelle Obama gave a pretty dynamic speech last night.
One of David Cameron's speechwriters said of Barack Obama that he was the best public speaker of any US President since the Second World War, and the second best in his immediate family.
Michelle Obama gave a pretty dynamic speech last night.
One of David Cameron's speechwriters said of Barack Obama that he was the best public speaker of any US President since the Second World War, and the second best in his immediate family.
I was walking my dog around the neighborhood this morning and saw a banner the size of a king size blanket across the front of a porch with a large cross on it and the words, I love Jesus and Trump is my president. I have no words.
I ride bikes with a man who's a fairly quiet, generous, friendly, committed Evangelical Southern Baptist who reminds our cycling group every now and than that what we've been watching and living with for the past 3.5 years is a highly crafted dramatic exercise in which the entirety of the Biden Administration is acting as if they're in charge, but that in truth, the US Military has been in control of the US since January 2021, and will stay in control until Tr*mp "takes over" again in 2025. This military control will extend through the 2024 election, during which the country will be allowed to vote & feel as if everything's normal, but that the election is just a courtesy/ruse to maintain civil order. Apparently, the USA has actually been on martial "HOLD," and Tr*mp's resumption of the Presidency will effectively consummate the 2020 election and correctly cast him as a consecutive two-term POTUS.
It was jarring last night to see the convention speech of Bernie Sanders, who has said previously that billionaires should not exist, being directly followed by the speech of billionaire Illinois governor JB Pritzker, who said, "Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity."
I was walking my dog around the neighborhood this morning and saw a banner the size of a king size blanket across the front of a porch with a large cross on it and the words, I love Jesus and Trump is my president. I have no words.
So yesterday (August 20) Nicole Shanahan (RFK, Jr.'s running mate) essentially admitted what everyone had long assumed, that RFK, Jr.'s presidential run was an attempt to ratfuck the Democrat's presidential chances.
Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s running mate, said in a new interview that the Kennedy-Shanahan campaign faces a choice between staying in the presidential race — which would "risk" helping Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris win — or dropping out to "join forces" with former President Donald Trump.
It's a blunt admission after months of criticism from Democrats that the Kennedy campaign appeared more concerned with helping Trump than it was in running a truly independent bid for president. And it comes as the campaign continues to hemorrhage money, despite multimillion-dollar injections of cash from Shanahan herself.
<snip>
"There's two options that we're looking at, and one is staying in, forming that new party, but we run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency, because we draw votes from Trump or we draw somehow more votes from Trump," she said.
"Or we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump. And, you know, we walk away from that and we explain to our base why we're making this decision."
<snip>
And later Tuesday, Trump said in an interview on CNN in Michigan that he "probably would" consider giving Kennedy a position in his administration if he won following a Kennedy endorsement.
So now that it's become clear that RFK, Jr. is drawing more support from Trump loyalists than potential Harris voters we get the obvious follow-up.
Robert Kennedy Jr. is planning to drop out of the presidential race by the end of this week, sources familiar with the decision tell ABC News.
Sources say Kennedy is leaning toward endorsing former President Donald Trump, though the sources cautioned the decision is not yet finalized and could still change, with one source adding Kennedy's hope is in part to finalize things quickly in order to try to blunt momentum from the DNC.
I wonder which cabinet post Trump promised Kennedy. I also hope we never have the opportunity to find out if this turns out to be one of the few promises that Trump keeps.
"The affirmative action of generational wealth" is a brilliant phrase. (Edit: Michelle Obama said this -- I forget that not everyone is glued to their TV or computer watching the convention.)
Comments
No one thing will make him lose this election, if he does lose it. It will be a combination of the excitement and energy of Harris's candidacy, the lassitude and dullness of Trump's, and how low- information voters feel about the direction of the economy. This is a vibes election. The facts don't matter so much as how people feel about what they perceive to be facts.
I haven't, but that could be easily remedied if you would include a link. I'm assuming this is the piece you're talking about?
Not quite.
Most Americans (I speak as a former member of a union with a majority of Americans and as a resident of Ontario, which for the purposes of this post acts as just another northern state).
The Golden Age most Americans remember is 1948 - 1965. The "middle class ideal" was a result of what is called Reuther's Treaty of Detroit between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three, particularly GM. It spread to other industries but that is where it started.
Under the Treaty of Detroit, compensation now included comprehensive company-paid health care and a DB pension. In return, wage increases were tied to productivity increases, thus guaranteeing the company a stable slice of profit from its capital.
It formed the basis of the social contract that many still aspire to or somehow believe that is "natural". I am looking at some of my family members here.
It worked because capital investments in the auto sector were large, thought to be long-lived, the cost basis of the companies was fairly transparent and the auto makers large production networks were and are very susceptible to strikes which interrupt production.
It failed when productivity improvements from investment began to outpace increased effort from labour (starting in the 1970's) and companies weren't willing to share the profits earned with labour. It also failed after a series of legal and management cultural changes gutted the ability of American unions to organize and strike starting in the 1960's but really dating back to the Taft-Hartley Act of 1948 and the failure of Operation Dixie to unionize the South.
The Treaty of Detroit framework was always a house of cards, take one thing away and the whole edifice comes crashing down.
on-site!
One has to wonder if the Democrats have considered the long-term implications of rendering their voters infertile, but hey...if a bunch of neurotic liberals want to remove themselves from the gene pool, who am I to judge?
I think having lots of kids and shielding them from other ideas to make them vote the way you do has generally been a conservative strategy. Not one that works, particularly, which is why they're constantly whining about schools, universities, books, television, churches etc etc turning their kids "Marxist" "woke", or whatever is the scare word du jour.
One of the things that is grimly amusing to me about the Quiverfull movement is that it is both grounded in Evangelicalism and that it has essentially given up on evangelism. Instead of trying to increase their numbers by convincing people of the rightness of their positions (evangelism) they instead devote themselves to the grim, generations-long strategy of trying to biologically out-reproduce their intellectual/political competitors.
Ironic that they belong to a religion that can't be inherited, isn't it. Have they been reading too much Aristotle?
Republicans in disarray! (I looked up synonyms for "disarray" but can't find one that starts with R.)
Inflationary.
Seriously, the two big policy items he's campaigning on are mass deportations (which will cause labor shortages and thus inflation) and tariffs (which will raise prices and thus are inflation). But as I mentioned earlier the American political press is all about vibes and very bad at reporting matters of fact or substance.
@Powderkeg this thread is being run under Epiphanies guidelines. Among other things, that means that
Under this rule, the New York Post cannot be considered a good quality source. I am hiding and breaking your link.
Hostly beret off
la vie en rouge, Purgatory host
Ha! Sounds kinda dirty.
Going back a page or two to find something else, I see that @Crœsos already noted the thing about Fuentes.
I didn't find what I was looking for - wasn't there discussion earlier about the strong potential for post-election Republican shenanigans? The NY Times says Harris's legal team is 10 times the size of Biden's in 2020. Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/us/elections/democrats-election-legal-challenges.html?unlocked_article_code=1.D04.fgTh.E8cq_DIMnB2p&smid=url-share
Fact Check. Totally False
Conclusion: He is getting desperate,
I'm sure there are some young Swifties who don't think of themselves as very political who would be motivated to register and vote if she endorsed a candidate. I hope she consults with the Harris campaign and endorses Harris at a high leverage moment in the run up to the election.
Trump had Elton John play at his wedding, and invited John(unsuccessfully) to play at the 2016 inauguration. And I'm sure he has a long history of hobnobbing with other cool celebrities on the party circuit.
So I'm speculating it might sting him quite deeply to hear he's not beloved by Taylor Swift and all her vibrant young fan base.
I think you've identified the ideal opening act for the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
That would be so awesome! :-)
I have one.
Prat.
So now that it's become clear that RFK, Jr. is drawing more support from Trump loyalists than potential Harris voters we get the obvious follow-up.
I wonder which cabinet post Trump promised Kennedy. I also hope we never have the opportunity to find out if this turns out to be one of the few promises that Trump keeps.