Hotter, Badder, and Unpopularer Takes

[Ancestral Republican]

Atlas is incredibly ignorant of taxation for an ostensibly "high info" forum.

I think the mere understanding of marginal tax brackets seems to qualify as high info in this country. So many people love to bring that up in discussions to sound smart (and in fairness, so many people are always claiming not to want to move into the next tax bracket)

I suppose that's true.

It's just frustrating to see people be so capable on maps, and demographic analysis, but then make really, really basic errors on taxes like suggesting plans that would charge small business owners at hugely different rates depending on if they pay themselves dividends or salaries, or claiming that Amazon doesn't pay any taxes.

Like everything, if you don't know about something, best thing is to look towards the experts. And many experts, for instance, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act a terrible move and one of the biggest grifts in American history. And all experts worth their salt know Amazon is a brutal, labor-exploiting monopoly that certainly doesn't pay enough in taxes or enough to its workers. People who say they don't pay taxes are referring to the federal tax  on their profits, which they get away with paying nothing on thanks to endless credits and rebates and the TCJA. Obviously, nobody thinks they aren't paying sales taxes or whatever.

[Ancestral Republican]

Like everything, if you don't know about something, best thing is to look towards the experts. And many experts, for instance, called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act a terrible move and one of the biggest grifts in American history. And all experts worth their salt know Amazon is a brutal, labor-exploiting monopoly that certainly doesn't pay enough in taxes or enough to its workers. People who say they don't pay taxes are referring to the federal tax  on their profits, which they get away with paying nothing on thanks to endless credits and rebates and the TCJA. Obviously, nobody thinks they aren't paying sales taxes or whatever.

Never underestimate human stupidity.

I don't. I read this forum every day. But the sentence you bolded is accurate. DC Al Fine is mischaracterizing legitimate criticism of Amazon.

[Ancestral Republican]

Women prefer homeowners, not rent-forever losers.

A serious drawback for the STR for not being a homeowner is that they cannot pull slappers with the same ease as they once did when they owned their own house. The STRs did not forsee when they sold their property what impact it would have on their love life, and in particular the detrimental impact that this would have on the amount and quality of women they would get. Slappers prefer to go out with homeowners, not rent-forever losers.

As soon as a slapper discovers that the guy who's chatting them up is an STR, the slapper will turn around and run a mile and run off back home. Many STRs are finding it difficult to get any crumpet nowadays, because the STRs cannot use the chat-up line that they got a big house that belongs to them.

The lack of regular sn__ch is causing the STRs to suffer from p___y withdrawal symptoms, because of the lack of good quality b__ver, and missing the medicinal and therapeutic effects of being with the opposite sex. The dramatic loss of confidence and self-esteem amoungst the STR is causing many of them to become impotent and experience penile disfunction, which is seriously affecting their ability to perform. The STRs are very hesitant and reticent about trying to pull the slappers, because the STRs lack of confidence and feelings of inferiority is affecting their libido, which means that they cannot perform well in the bedroom.

The STRs are going through cold turkey and are being deprived of the necessary b__ver to keep them motivated, and as a consequence they are tossing and turning in bed late at night. The STRs are suffering from s3xual deprivation, and are finding it difficult to cope with the dramatic loss of s3x appeal, and find themselves talking a lot about s3x as a symptom of them not getting enough. The STRs are not getting enough nookie, and it shows in their wild mood swings and weird and freaky behaviour.

That explains why every dude in New York is so uptight nowadays. No coochie does that to a mf

[Ancestral Republican]

John Roberts is actually one of the most powerful people in the United States, and it might be argued, the single most powerful one.

That might have been true before RBG died

[Ancestral Republican]

Democrats barely even won, this is a fundamentally center right wing republican country

Democrats are the natural majority party, Repubs only have fighting chance because of electoral college, gerrymandering, and Senate imbalance. Also fake news.

[Ancestral Republican]

Democrats barely even won, this is a fundamentally center right wing republican country

Democrats are the natural majority party, Repubs only have fighting chance because of electoral college, gerrymandering, and Senate imbalance. Also fake news.

We dont even win the npv by a large percent, and frankly the gop could make that up if that was the name of their game, but it isnt

Biggest loss for an incumbent since Herbert Hoover.

[Ancestral Republican]

Democrats barely even won, this is a fundamentally center right wing republican country

Democrats are the natural majority party, Repubs only have fighting chance because of electoral college, gerrymandering, and Senate imbalance. Also fake news.

We dont even win the npv by a large percent, and frankly the gop could make that up if that was the name of their game, but it isnt

Biggest loss for an incumbent since Herbert Hoover.

Carter only got 41% when Reagan defeated him.

I should say biggest win for a challenger. Biden got 51%, Reagan got slightly less.

[Ancestral Republican]

Ben Shapiro isn’t that bad.

Back when I was more conservative, I used to really dig his podcast. He used to eviscerate Trump but that went away during the Trump era.

[Ancestral Republican]

Unity in this country isn't going to happen anytime soon, and the only solution (arguably, from either side's perspective) is total political domination for a generation or more, until the opposition spends so much time in the majority's shadow that they stop bitterly contesting every single election as if their lives depended on it. I'm not saying it's possible for either side right now, just that it needs to happen for things to cool down. It feels weird to say but, American elections are too competitive. The closeness of so many elections, most importantly the presidency, means each party believes if they just "fight harder," they can win. For the GOP, a party that has been embracing anti-democratic principles for years now, that also means pulling up the ladders as they climb, making sure that their power is locked in, even if that means engaging in tactics that are tantamount to rigging elections. That shouldn't be that surprising though, considering conservatives have a long and storied history of subverting democracy to cling to power.

I get that Biden or any other sane president has to make some sort of appeal to the idea of unity and coming together, because many people believe or at least want to believe that we can just "come together." But the fact is, Republicans literally think Biden stole an election from them, and they believe this despite there not being any evidence. They literally just stormed the Capitol building to actually try and steal the election for Trump. A disturbingly large minority of conservatives also believe some or all of the Q conspiracy that Democrats and the elite are cannibal pedophiles who are eating children. Exactly what is there here that gives one even the slightest impression that "unity" is possible? Or even more, what makes anyone think "bipartisanship" is ever going to be a thing over the next decade? McConnell is already back to full-blown obstruction and we are just two days in. It's never going to happen. There is not going to be any holding hands singing Kumbaya at the end of this story.

Biden must reach out to conservatives on some concrete policy issues otherwise he will disappoint some of his voters. I did not vote for Joe Biden for him to be the most leftwing President ever on every issue. There are some leftwing policy proposals I like, and some I do not. I don't hold some conservative policy positions because I "hate the country" or "want to rule the country" or "want to hurt people"... I hold them because I think they would genuinely make America better if they were to be implemented.

What conservative policy position would make America better? Genuinely curious. America is as close to a conservative wet dream of a country as you could possibly want, and in many regards this renders it unfunctional.

[Ancestral Republican]

PragerU was right to paint John Brown in a negative light. That man was an evil terrorist. They could have worded it better, though.

Wrong.

[Ancestral Republican]

Regardless of China's particular system of government, and regardless of any allegations of crimes against residents, Americans would find some reason to hate it, because they (correctly) see it as the biggest threat to what was once American hegemony. And if the positions were reversed, we'd be learning about reports of how impoverished blacks in the south are sentenced to decades in private prisons for minor drug offenses to keep them full and to provide cheap prison labor.

[Ancestral Republican]

Trump 2024
Ivanka 2028 (but not as VP 2025-2029)

Wow, brilliant take. It really makes you think and reconsider your perspective.