Favorite recent post by the previous poster

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

About the same as they were the last few elections, aka quite Republican.

TheDeadFlagBlues brought up a good point here or on AAD (can't remember which) that, among Republican primary voters, white Catholics were pretty heavily for Trump (hence his massive support in the Northeast). I imagine that this would be true especially of white Catholic men - even more 'cafeteria" ones (actually, maybe especially them, since if you look at white evangelicals in the 2016 Republican primaries, not going to church often/being more of a "cultural" evangelical was heavily correlated with Trump support compared to the more devout and community-involved evangelical voters, who were more likely to back Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio (but still, a lot of them backed Trump, and not just in November).

I think that there were similar patterns in the primaries between Trump support among Catholics in the Northeast and Trump support among white evangelicals in the South/Southeast; the more "secular" or "cultural" social conservatives, both Catholic and Protestant, were a lot more likely to support Trump than other social conservatives, though the "devout-less devout"gap obviously narrowed considerably by the time Trump became the presumptive nominee.

There are also lots of overlapping patterns there with education, income, blue-collar vs white-collar, the levels of poverty, unemployment/underemployment, labor force participation rate, and just general social cohesion, probably an urban/inner suburban vs. exurban/small city/rural divide as well - along with gender, marriage rates, family size, number of college-educated professional women in a given area, etc. Note that Trump support in the primaries showed a lot of the same demographic patterns as Trump support in the general election, which shouldn't be surprising, really.

PS: Sorry for using the whole "Cultural Religion" term here that you really dislike.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Also, in most families both spouses have a job and both are doing the housework.

That's just not true. Even in a highly equal society like the Netherlands, men have fulltime jobs much more often than women, and women do much more household work, even though men now do some of the household work and women usually have a part-time job.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Welp, let's keep the flag half-down every other day. Deadly shootings being all that frequent and all that.

Yes, please. Gun violence is awful and if that's how to keep attention on it, I'm all for it.

The purpose of flying government flags at half-staff is to honor the passing of specific individuals.  It is not to make a political statement.

The flag has been politicized enough by both sides.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Russ Feingold?

Honestly, if Feingold had won his 2016 Senate race, he'd probably my most preferred 2020 choice right now.

Al Gore, who despite running for president 20 years earlier would still be younger than Trump

Tough to decide between Gore and Feingold.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

He might never prove that god exists, but he did prove that geniuses don't have to be very wise.

Mmmmk.

Is "I want to be an astrophysicist to prove God is real using science" wise? I mean, I don't really blame him- he might be a genius but he's still just a child who was indoctorinated into a religion by his parents.

(just realized days later that my previous comment was incomplete )

Fair enough, but while I agree that 'proof' really isn't the right term for what we're working with here, it is true that various theistic arguments are based on research into cosmology and quantum mechanics (regarding origin of universe and free will/determinism), so it doesn't seem that far-fetched for someone to go into physics in part to look for evidence for their faith.

Going into a scientific investigation with the intent of proving something you already believe, rather than finding the truth, is how you get terrible science.

That's what the scientific method is for.

But as long as someone is doing their work honestly, what is wrong with hoping that their results turn out a certain way?  Scientists of all persuasions have wanted certain results to be true (whether they like the mathematical elegance of their hypothesis, or for some other reason).  While not perfect, the forces of peer review should act as a counterbalance to this. 

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I want to believe that I will finally have a democrat representing me on the federal level, I have not had a democrat represent me on the federal level since early 2005.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Mine was D+40. No specific districts, I wiped it on accident

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

People who think the Senate isn’t representative enough clearly don’t understand the purpose of the Senate to begin with.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Who?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Completely expected result
Atlas: "This changes everything!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Registration for the 3rd National Assembly

The registration list for the 3rd National Assembly is now open for the next 48 hours. I encourage as many union members as possible to attend, so that our rules changes and leadership election can have some higher turnout and is more representative of the union as a whole. The race for chair is also open if you wish to run for that position. That is all.

Edit: Individual union boss positions are also up for election, as well as Press Secretary.

Sincerely Co-Chair Elcaspar

What does the Press Secretary do?

They grade legislation from all the Regions as well as federally. They are supposed to comment on behalf of the union when it comes to issues going on in Atlasia, as well as communicating with the public on union issues. That's what they do. Not that'd you'd know that since we haven't had one active since i took over as Co-Chair, which is why it's open for election.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

As if we needed any more proof that Jim Clyburn is the most powerful member of the Democratic Party.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Hyperbolically speaking it could be argued that the governments during Italy's First Republic were very stable in the sense that it was always the same parties involved and the general outlook was always the same*. And exactly this led to a very short average survival time for each cabinet. If things will remain almost the same anyways then why not topple the government as soon as there is the opportunity for a litte gain?

*There were of course some significant developments over time like the compromesso storico, the rise of Craxi's Socialists, etc.

Yeah, the First Republic governments were fairly stable in terms of the policies they pursued, even if which specific people pursued them changed all the time. And this long-term policy stability allowed them to advance long-term projects in a way Italian governments have just stopped doing since the 1990s (the last one was really entry into the Euro).

What you both say is true, and, I mean, it's peak Italianness.
As Il Gattopardo says: If we want that everything stays the same, we need that everything change.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

FF on balance.  Even if you disagree with his ideology, or prefer Hamilton or whatever, you have to have some appreciation for the guy who wrote much of the Declaration of Independence, and who was so talented.  Yes, some personal aspects were not good.  It’s bad that he was a slave-owner, like a lot of of presidents were.  On the other hand, he was way ahead of his time on such issues as democracy (yes, for white men only, but still...) and freedom of religion.

We shouldn’t place Jefferson in the same category as such monsters as Jackson and Buchanan.  Having said that, I actually like Madison and Burr a little more.  Madison had similar ideas to Jefferson, but was more level-headed, and Burr was more consistent in supporting liberty for everyone.

Definite HP. He'd be right there trying to overthrow the government today if he were still alive.

Jefferson was way too much of an introverted, erudite nerd to be anything like the wild Trumpsters making news today.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Left: 2020 Presidential election in Chungli District, Taoyuan City:
(DPP) Tsai Ing-wen: 51.46% (126,600 votes)
(KMT) Han Kuo-yu: 43.70% (107,499 votes)

Right: 2021 Taoyuan City Council recall vote:
Agree: 25.81% of electorate (84,582 votes) (92.23% of all valid votes)
Disagree: 2.17% of electorate (7,128 votes) (7.77% of all valid votes)
Turnout: 28.14%

After the recall threshold was lowered to 25% in 2016, it is much easier to recall politicians now compared to 10-20 years ago. It was used to be 50%!

Earlier today, the CEC has announced that there will be no by-election or appointment to fill Wang's seat, leaving it vacant until the rest of the term (December 24, 2022).
Source (in Chinese)

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

In the last three months Georgia has:
- Helped put Biden in the White House
- Given Democrats control of the Senate
- Provided recorded evidence of Trump's attempts to overturn the election
- Opened a case to directly charge Trump for his election interference

10/10 redemption arc.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

AOC is a f---ing sellout.  We were promised $2600 and she only wants to give us $2,000.  $2,600 means $2,600.


But seriously, she is doing so much harm with this.  She's going out there kneecapping the Democrats' messaging on this, giving credence to bad-faith gaslighting on Twitter, and attacking the Biden administration.  And for what?

This damages the Democrats politically, to have her saying this.  And what do we as the party gain from it?  Absolutely nothing.

What does she gain from it?  I don't see that she gains much of anything either, other than to be preach to her choir of ignorant morons on Twitter.  I guess she has to start reeling the morons back in since Jimmy Dore attacked her over some other stupid thing.

I’m gonna have to disagree with you here. This isn’t about what the Democrats or AOC “gain” from pushing for a full $2000 instead of $1400+$600. It’ll help the American people and the Democratic brand if we send $2000.

We don’t gain props from the media or the deficit-hawks for sending $1400 instead. There’s literally nothing to gain from not going big.

I think your dislike of AOC is blinding you to the fact that she’s right this time.

50 seats and a narrow House majority...actually, playing this game is bad politics. Lower expectations and then exceed. We can do that and score a big win.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Silly question. While Hassan is obviously DOA if Moderate Hero Sununu runs, there’s a least a slight chance she can hold him to a high single-digit margin, whereas Kelly is definitely cracking 80% in every county outside of Maricopa. If Sununu doesn’t run, though, Hassan won’t even be vulnerable, so it’s that much easier to answer.

So the only reason Hassan is vulnerable is because Sununu is an even 'greater'/'stronger' candidate than her, right? Not because of her party affiliation, the underlying cyclical dynamics of this election, her amateurish attempts at cultivating a 'bipartisan' brand, her general lack of charisma/authenticity, etc.? Good point, a truly stellar observation!

Exactly, similar to how Kelly would only be vulnerable against another God-tier candidate like Steve Daines.

That’s not even close to true. Arizona and Montana would both cease to physically exist and would collapse on themselves if this happened.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

The only thing that stops a bad guy with a lightsaber is a good guy with a lightsaber.

Counterpoint

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

HP= Hunters Point

(Neighborhood in South San Francisco which used to be the site of major naval shipyard and overwhelming African-American with major live expectancy issues due to toxic and hazardous waste in the water supply.

FF= Final Fantasy (Keeping it PG here)

(Addictive computer game which helped launch a whole generate of addicts who kept spending endless amounts of money to buy "exclusive virtual items" so that they could "own" their friends who couldn't afford much more than the basic monthly subscription fees).

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=HP

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ff




EDIT: Two of the posters above are within the generally accepted Atlas norms, although opinions can vary immensely regarding who falls into which category, which frequently can be very mercurial and differ from day to day depending upon which way the wind blows, and obviously during political season where even during the primaries some Atlas posters might establish permanent grudges because: "Your candidate purple said/did something bad 20 years ago" vs "your candidate in an absolute PoS who wants to destroy the entire world as we know it because they believe in XYZ".

BTW: Welcome to the forum   

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

$600m would buy you a new lab complex, not ventilation for an existing building.

I mean, biotech equipment is expensive, but it's not that expensive.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I am sure that the Media would want 4 more years of Trump over Biden. I am sure that the Media loves what is happening in Afghanistan.

Yeah, they just want higher ratings = more money made from ads.

To answer the question: absolutely.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I could see a higher share than the general electorate as being #NeverTrumpers.

Yeah. Never Trumpers tend to be wealthier, more educated, and more likely to live a suburb or city than the average Republican. Considering NASA employees are wealthier, more educated, and live in a major metropolitan area, this makes sense.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

If nothing else, it's a treat to witness and appreciate an extremely rare event in American political science -- a little slice of election history. 

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

georgia Rs more like georgia Ls lmao