The Atlas Asylum of absurd/ignorant posts IX

[S019]

It would be a tie between cori bush and Marjorie taylor greene. Greene is a repugnant crazy radical qanon type and Cori bush is literally a blm organizer. Putting a blm in congress is the equivalent of putting a serial killer in a changeroom

Because BLM and QAnon are remotely comparable....

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Pure Tossup WVA pending Manchin retirement

Lean D MT Tester the only one that can beat his is Gianforte, not Rosendale, OH Brown

Safe PA Casey, MI Stabenow, AZ Sinema, NV Rosen, VA Kaine, WI Baldwin and Klobuchar MN

Lean R FL and TX

Time for a thread rename!

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Gun control has always been racist.

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Gun control has always been racist.

This is true.

This is my main issue with pro-gun leftists claiming to want to improve peoples' lives. You can't improve peoples' lives, if some deranged lunatic shoots everyone dead. Like haven't we seen enough mass shootings to realize maybe...just maybe....guns don't actually belong in the hands of everyday people. Oh, alas, it'll probably take another 10 or 20 years for people to actually come to their senses, this is the single issue that frustrates me so much, because the thinking on it is just so disconnected from reality on the part of the gun advocates, oh well.

[S019]

Gun control has always been racist.

This is true.

This is my main issue with pro-gun leftists claiming to want to improve peoples' lives. You can't improve peoples' lives, if some deranged lunatic shoots everyone dead. Like haven't we seen enough mass shootings to realize maybe...just maybe....guns don't actually belong in the hands of everyday people. Oh, alas, it'll probably take another 10 or 20 years for people to actually come to their senses, this is the single issue that frustrates me so much, because the thinking on it is just so disconnected from reality on the part of the gun advocates, oh well.

Guns do belong in the hands of the people, but anyways, in a country like the United States, taking away all guns is just never going to happen, mass confiscation, given the number of firearms in the United States, is near impossible no matter how much some people may want it. And getting past that, keeping guns out of the hands of the population isn’t necessarily going to stop shootings/violent crime etc...

So defeatist to say you can never do it so you might as well not try.

Obviously the first step is to drastically curtail the number of guns produced and sold, as that is out of control. If you're in a hole, stop digging.

Then we can start to talk about banning the ownership of the types of guns that have been used to massacre innocent people over the past four decades.

The overwhelming majority of gun violence is committed with handguns. Do you intend to ban the ownership of pistols?

Yes

[S019]

I predict Sharron Angle will run and win.

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Our go-to leftist, and arguably a microcosm of the younger generation.

See thread for context

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What if there was no George Floyd but COVID or vise versa?

The two are related.  Without COVID, you wouldn't have tens of millions of Americans sitting idle, binging 16 hours of cable news/social media every day, not able to go out and do the things that normally keep them occupied (i.e., work, school, church, gym, visiting family, going to restaurants/bars, etc.)  That sort of society-wide lethargy is a powder keg for unrest.  The George Floyd protests were so huge mostly because of the COVID lockdowns.

COVID was the most animating event of the past twenty years, and it wasn't even a singular event - it was (and is continuing) to get rehashed day-in-and-day-out by a rent-seeking public health intelligentsia helped by their friends in a profit-maximizing media industry.  You can't separate anything that has happened since March 2020 from its omnipresence.

[S019]

What if there was no George Floyd but COVID or vise versa?

The two are related.  Without COVID, you wouldn't have tens of millions of Americans sitting idle, binging 16 hours of cable news/social media every day, not able to go out and do the things that normally keep them occupied (i.e., work, school, church, gym, visiting family, going to restaurants/bars, etc.)  That sort of society-wide lethargy is a powder keg for unrest.  The George Floyd protests were so huge mostly because of the COVID lockdowns.

COVID was the most animating event of the past twenty years, and it wasn't even a singular event - it was (and is continuing) to get rehashed day-in-and-day-out by a rent-seeking public health intelligentsia helped by their friends in a profit-maximizing media industry.  You can't separate anything that has happened since March 2020 from its omnipresence.

Del Taco has a very limited or non-existent grasp of how most Americans live. Which is kinda a foundational aspect of conservatism.

I think he has a point, though, in that last summer, the BLM protests were basically the only thing going on, so they got a ton of attention. There were NBA players that objected to restarting their season because they were concerned it would take attention off the protests, which corroborates this. I’ll ignore your dig at my ideology to say that.

I think Del Taco's post is pretty bad, but I do agree here. No COVID means no George Floyd murder for butterfly reasons, but COVID lockdowns were part of the reasons the protests were so big.

Yes, the first part of his post about Covid leaving people with nothing to do but protest was correct. The second part about the evil liberal elite conspiracy, not so much.

Yeah I should've clarified, the second part is the reason I put it in this thread.

[S019]

What if there was no George Floyd but COVID or vise versa?

The two are related.  Without COVID, you wouldn't have tens of millions of Americans sitting idle, binging 16 hours of cable news/social media every day, not able to go out and do the things that normally keep them occupied (i.e., work, school, church, gym, visiting family, going to restaurants/bars, etc.)  That sort of society-wide lethargy is a powder keg for unrest.  The George Floyd protests were so huge mostly because of the COVID lockdowns.

COVID was the most animating event of the past twenty years, and it wasn't even a singular event - it was (and is continuing) to get rehashed day-in-and-day-out by a rent-seeking public health intelligentsia helped by their friends in a profit-maximizing media industry.  You can't separate anything that has happened since March 2020 from its omnipresence.

Del Taco has a very limited or non-existent grasp of how most Americans live. Which is kinda a foundational aspect of conservatism.

I think he has a point, though, in that last summer, the BLM protests were basically the only thing going on, so they got a ton of attention. There were NBA players that objected to restarting their season because they were concerned it would take attention off the protests, which corroborates this. I’ll ignore your dig at my ideology to say that.

I think Del Taco's post is pretty bad, but I do agree here. No COVID means no George Floyd murder for butterfly reasons, but COVID lockdowns were part of the reasons the protests were so big.

Yes, the first part of his post about Covid leaving people with nothing to do but protest was correct. The second part about the evil liberal elite conspiracy, not so much.

It is not a conspiracy to believe the public health community will juice and prolong the existence of an "emergency" to benefit their own relevance, or that the news media is always going to produce maximum panic to garner more clicks/views.  These two perfectly logical, self-interested behaviors worked in tandem beautifully over the past year to irrevocably upend American life as we know it.

Thanks for posting into the thread!

[S019]

What if there was no George Floyd but COVID or vise versa?

The two are related.  Without COVID, you wouldn't have tens of millions of Americans sitting idle, binging 16 hours of cable news/social media every day, not able to go out and do the things that normally keep them occupied (i.e., work, school, church, gym, visiting family, going to restaurants/bars, etc.)  That sort of society-wide lethargy is a powder keg for unrest.  The George Floyd protests were so huge mostly because of the COVID lockdowns.

COVID was the most animating event of the past twenty years, and it wasn't even a singular event - it was (and is continuing) to get rehashed day-in-and-day-out by a rent-seeking public health intelligentsia helped by their friends in a profit-maximizing media industry.  You can't separate anything that has happened since March 2020 from its omnipresence.

Del Taco has a very limited or non-existent grasp of how most Americans live. Which is kinda a foundational aspect of conservatism.

I think he has a point, though, in that last summer, the BLM protests were basically the only thing going on, so they got a ton of attention. There were NBA players that objected to restarting their season because they were concerned it would take attention off the protests, which corroborates this. I’ll ignore your dig at my ideology to say that.

I think Del Taco's post is pretty bad, but I do agree here. No COVID means no George Floyd murder for butterfly reasons, but COVID lockdowns were part of the reasons the protests were so big.

Yes, the first part of his post about Covid leaving people with nothing to do but protest was correct. The second part about the evil liberal elite conspiracy, not so much.

It is not a conspiracy to believe the public health community will juice and prolong the existence of an "emergency" to benefit their own relevance, or that the news media is always going to produce maximum panic to garner more clicks/views.  These two perfectly logical, self-interested behaviors worked in tandem beautifully over the past year to irrevocably upend American life as we know it.

I think you are probably aware that I am one of the most sceptical red avatars of the ‘the more restrictions, the better’ orthodoxy, but I have noticed that you frequently try to tie in all of the US’s ills with your spiel about the ‘decadent’ liberal, bicoastal cultural and academic elite, which I would say is more than a little conspiratorial.

It's not conspiratorial because it requires no conspiracy.  It is very apparent to anyone with half-a-brain how the economic/political incentives at play motivate the public health community and news media to behave during an unprecedented global pandemic.  Dismissing this reality as "conspiratorial" is only backward justification for elite control of our most powerful institutions (i.e., corporate media, government, tech companies, universities) and the impenetrable, credentialist system that supports it. 

So are you suggesting that COVID isn't a crisis? I'm confused at your logic given you keep repeating absurd talking points with little support and also this unusual fixation on railing against "the elite" (whoever that is).

[S019]

There are more men in prison than women so that means men are institutionally oppressed.

See thread for context

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Democrats want to inject microchips so the government can track you at all times.

No need. Big tech already does that.

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So the deadly capital attack was only deadly if you count the fact that protestors were killed?

We need a thread rename

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Today has made me realise just how much more interesting I find British election results than American ones.

US elections are a 50/50 trench war between two national parties that fundamentally agree on most major issues and basically every state and locality is just a rehash of the national partisan divide. In America, all politics is national and people even vote on local elections just to indicate their opinion on the President.

The UK at least has regional v. national dynamics + a multi-party system.

While some of this is accurate, polarization has still not fully taken over local elections, just look at the Republican mayors in cities like Fort Worth, Miami and Arlington (and until recently, San Diego). Also ticket splitting still very much exists in the United States, just look at Southern California, perhaps ground-zero for American ticket splitting. Also saying that the Democrats and Republicans are the same on every issue is a totally absurd position that really shows a massive misunderstanding of American politics. Even during the Clinton neoliberal era that so many people love to cite, the parties were absolutely not the same. Literally the only part of this that is accurate is that the US does not have a multi-party system, and honestly that's for the better, given how we've seen in the UK that FPTP can result in parties winning majorities while only having been voted for by a plurality. Overall, this post fundamentally misunderstands how American politics actually works.

[S019]

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/10/995715076/virginia-gop-chooses-political-newcomer-youngkin-as-nominee-for-governor

This guy is wildly out of touch with the Virginia general electorate.  He's not diverse.  He does not have an appealing background.  He seems unlikable.  This race is Safe D.

Maybe up in Fake Virginia he is... but in the rest of the state, his policies are more in line with public & more helpful and attractive.

Well, but so called "Fake Virginia" makes up a larger share of the population. And that's how elections are won.

Republicans like SirWoodbury don't actually believe in democracy.

Then why do you guys always vote in people that want to subjugate the rest of the state, why do you always have to impose crap that nobody outside of your places want, and always infringe on other people's rights. If you came to Virginia to work that's fine, but why do you guys always have to look down on the state's natives and force your views upon them?

[S019]

I'm honestly increasingly beginning to believe this is a good thing. It would drive D turnout up and R turnout down for the midterms.

Click thread for context

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2018 was a D+20 or so year in the Senate...despite the R gains. Cruz was +17 more than that standard.

2020 was an R+2 year for the Senate, despite the D gains.   Cornyn was only +7 more than that standard.

[S019]

I do think in a Runoff scenario WARNOCK will lose, he is the only one below 50% Hassan will win, she is at 55% in the last Change poll

51/49 Senators

First off citing Change, and second a total ignorance of GA's inelasticity

[S019]

Mr. Ramos questioned how the Texas Revolution, a six-month rebellion that concluded in the spring of 1836, could be associated with patriotism and freedom when the state’s new Constitution explicitly legalized slavery seven years after Mexico had abolished it.

Because a majority of the people in a given area rebelling against its authoritarian rulers and establishing a sovereign nation is inherently patriotic and free? Also, the idea that the men of the Texas Revolution were all fighting for slavery is an even greater denial of history than the idea that none of them were slaveholders. Have none of these people ever heard of Davy Crockett?

This was in a thread about Texas putting Confederate apologism into history books.

[S019]

Mr. Ramos questioned how the Texas Revolution, a six-month rebellion that concluded in the spring of 1836, could be associated with patriotism and freedom when the state’s new Constitution explicitly legalized slavery seven years after Mexico had abolished it.

Because a majority of the people in a given area rebelling against its authoritarian rulers and establishing a sovereign nation is inherently patriotic and free? Also, the idea that the men of the Texas Revolution were all fighting for slavery is an even greater denial of history than the idea that none of them were slaveholders. Have none of these people ever heard of Davy Crockett?

This was in a thread about Texas putting Confederate apologism into history books.

The quote in question was regarding the notion that Texas seceded from Mexico on the basis of slavery. It has nothing to do with the Confederacy.

That doesn't change the substance of the post, and it's clear to anyone with a brain that the Southern slave power strongly desired Texas as a new slave state. In fact Tennessean Andrew Jackson was the one who supported its secession from Mexico, and another Tennessean and one of the worst presidents in history, James K Polk literally lied to start a war with Mexico (see: the Thornton Affair). The Texas Annexation was always about slavery and pretending it wasn't is historical revisionism.

[S019]

Mr. Ramos questioned how the Texas Revolution, a six-month rebellion that concluded in the spring of 1836, could be associated with patriotism and freedom when the state’s new Constitution explicitly legalized slavery seven years after Mexico had abolished it.

Because a majority of the people in a given area rebelling against its authoritarian rulers and establishing a sovereign nation is inherently patriotic and free? Also, the idea that the men of the Texas Revolution were all fighting for slavery is an even greater denial of history than the idea that none of them were slaveholders. Have none of these people ever heard of Davy Crockett?

This was in a thread about Texas putting Confederate apologism into history books.

The quote in question was regarding the notion that Texas seceded from Mexico on the basis of slavery. It has nothing to do with the Confederacy.

That doesn't change the substance of the post, and it's clear to anyone with a brain that the Southern slave power strongly desired Texas as a new slave state. In fact Tennessean Andrew Jackson was the one who supported its secession from Mexico, and another Tennessean and one of the worst presidents in history, James K Polk literally lied to start a war with Mexico (see: the Thornton Affair). The Texas Annexation was always about slavery and pretending it wasn't is historical revisionism.

Yeah, once again, this is about the Texas Revolution, not the Annexation. Want to try again?

Are you not aware that a bunch of American settlers literally moved into Texas for the purpose of starting a revolution, just to get another slave state? Sam Houston for instance was literally a Tennessee slaveholder, it's very clear what their intentions were. Also your argument would be more convincing if the South didn't have a habit of trying to take over other places and turn them into US states, the most notable of these, of course, being Nicaragua. This is basic history, this isn't hard.

[S019]

Zuckerman would be a Great candidate for his seat though, it's VT and let's face it Bernie and Leahy aren't retiring

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Zuckerman would be a Great candidate for his seat though, it's VT and let's face it Bernie and Leahy aren't retiring

You just quoted my post? I'm confused here.

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Ohio is becoming bluer and FL and TX becoming redder