TrueBlue4ever

So the final attempt to smear Biden is literally Ticker Carlson saying on National TV “the dog ate my homework, honest!”

Here is the full video. Commentators thought the penalty was the shove at first too.

Don’t know why, but I just had a hankering for some glow bowling.

And the flag was not for the shove but on Bell for taunting!

But it’s not odd, because they don’t see it that way. It would require self awareness from them for it to be odd, since there would be no rational explanation for why they followed him. And he lies to them telling them to their face how is there for them. They can’t be reasoned with when you tell them he isn’t the man of the people he says he is, that he is the epitome of born with the silver spoon in his mouth, is the epitome of the elites they hate so much. They are so desperate to find someone to validate their “blame government for my sucky life” mentality, for someone to take control of the life they don’t want to be accountable for on their own, that they eat it up. I am waiting for Trump to flee the country when he knows he has no bullets left and he leaves them high and dry like Simpsons monorail guy or any other grifter does when he steals their money and skips town, and only then will the cloud maybe lift and they will be like the runners in that scene from Forrest Gump when he says he is tired and going home - “Wait, what are we supposed to do now?” as they are literally standing in the desert with no direction. Then the 5 stages of grief kick in: Denial - he’ll be back and show us the way, he’s just planning anger - first anger at liberals for screwing him (and by extension them) over, this could last a long time, then anger at him - I can’t believe he’d abandon us like that bargaining - maybe they Supreme Court can overturn it, maybe we can impeach Biden and he’ll get a third term since they stole one from him depression - AOC and the squad will ruin America now, democracy is dead acceptance - normally at some point they would face the harsh reality that they were duped and admit they were too gullible, but given how their leader always doubles down and never admits he was wrong (even when Trump conceded the Obama birtherism was a hoax, he presented it like he was putting a stop to other people’s lies and being the authority on the truth, and ignored that he was the original liar in the first place) I wonder if we will actually see stage 5.

Conservative Twitter losing it’s mind this morning over Tucker Carlson’s interview with Tony Bobulinski, a “business associate” of Hunter Biden, who has “shocking proof” of Joe’s side business deals with China. Two main talking points are (a) how this will blow the lid off the Biden campaign and lead to criminal prosecution against the Biden crime family (the projection of the President’s supporters is really quite something), which so far has led to.............um, nothing of the sort (b) how scandalous it is that NO OTHER mainstream media is even picking up the story, and it is not trending on Twitter proving the massive bias and cover-up to protect Joe. Now I don’t know all of the facts, and can’t say for sure if the whole laptop from hell etc. is phony or not. The optics of it look very suspect as a legit story given the source of the information. But what I really have to laugh at now is how Trump is whining on Twitter that no one believes this story and refuses to cover it. Trump has lied so often in the past 4 years and about such dumb stuff and easily disprovable claims at times (biggest inauguration, I never said I don’t take responsibility) that he has become the boy who cries wolf. Even If the Biden story is 100% real, there is smug satisfaction that Trump’s own serial lying behaviour has sabotaged any possibility that he will be believed now. You screwed yourself there, stable genius. And the whole “boy who cries wolf” parable was one I learned in Grade One. You are what, 74 years old?

I am reminded of Black Widow’s quote in “Avengers” in the New York City atack “None of this will make a damn bit of difference if we don’t close that portal”. Meaning adding 4 or 6 justices to the Supreme Court won’t change a thing if Republicans re-gain power and do the same themselves. SCOTUS will have 89 seats at this rate. Harry Reid blew up SCOTUS nominations when he reduced the vote to simple majority, and the Republican shenanigans with Garland and Barrett were payback. Reid’s move was payback for McConnell’s obstruction, and on and on. Each side will pick it’s “you started it” moment (Clinton impeachment vs Bork nom failing as two examples). Republicans do what they do because they know that even with a popular minority, they can game their numbers in the Senate to keep hold of power. And the electoral college, gerrymandering, and voter suppression tactics all assist in keeping that power. And they don’t worry about alienating their opponents because their base will seemingly follow them to the gates of hell and not waver, although Trump is testing that theory like rarely before. Democrats can’t seem to align under one common liberal banner, so we see in-fighting which splinters the party and allows the other side to slide through. This may explain Colin’s “I don’t support Trump and am not defending him, but....” defence of Trump. He matches the profile of a Bernie Bro, who would burn down the party of his choice out of spite because his guy did not get in, versus Republicans who hold their nose at Trump so long as their party pushes the conservative agenda of pro-life, religious freedom, low taxes, heavy capitalism, and save our guns, and all vote in unison. So how to beat this? Don’t just expand the Supreme Court, set expansion limits so Republicans can’t double down when they take back power. Set term limits, or set limits on how many appointments can occur in one Presidential term. But beyond that, play the system to your advantage like Repubs did. There was nothing illegal about what McConnell and the Senate did with Garland, Kavanagh and Barrett. Sure they could have allowed the Garland hearing and then voted him down anyway, so the optics of denying a hearing then and ramming one through now highlights the hypocrisy, but again they don’t care. So where do Dems have the advantage? If you believe polls, the simple majority of Americans lean Liberal. So get rid of the Electoral College and have a simple majority vote. Expand the House seats to reflect the change in US population and allow one rep for every 500,000 Americans, rounding up or down by 1 for those in between the threshold. And change the Senate with proportional representation, or limit its function so that it does not hold the balance of power on so much with so few members (California has almost 40,000,000 people and 2 senators, while the 14 least populous reliably Republican states have the same population but 28 senators). Legislate out gerrymandering and make voting as easy and accessible as possible. As Trump himself said in an interview, if every person was allowed to vote, no Republican would ever hold office again. So make that happen. Change the system for good so it just won’t flip-flop again. Too harsh? Well, if the people will it to be so, they will change who gets elected. But right now where 35% of the population controls 52% of the senate votes, and the party that has lost the popular vote in 6 of the 7 last elections has nominated 15 of the 19 last SCOTUS justices, the system as it is looks pretty broken to the majority of America. Clean house, there may not be another time to pull this off. And for those who say why should Canadians care what the US does, just think of the global impact of deregulation of US companies on environmental issues for but one example of the answer as to why we should care.

“The worst thing about Trump’s Presidency Isn’t what we learned about him. It’s what we’ve learned about our friends and family. Many of us already knew what kind of person Trump was. We just didn’t know that many people we know are just like that too”.

Ironic that at the same time, Jared Kushner speaks out about black people just needing to “want to be successful”. If you are white, you are being held back by others and need a leader who will make it easier for you. If you are black, you just aren’t working hard enough, and it is your own laziness holding you back. Anyone who wants an example of white privilege, this is it 100%. Jon Stewart alluded to this a few months ago on Colbert when talking about the BLM movement and the backlash. Whole segment is good, but the sound bite is at the 7:28 mark.

Is it even Republican loyalty or just out and out hatred of all things “Democrat”? If you asked someone why they are Republican and they pointed to smaller government, OK maybe. If they said they wanted reduced spending and fiscal conservatism, it would be easy to point out that the deficit has consistently grown under Republican leaders and shrink under Democrat leaders since Reagan. If you listed off “Republican” values that are “pro-life” only until the baby is born but then ignores the welfare of that child growing up, does not support sufficient health care for anyone but the rich, encourages voter suppression, gerrymandering, trampling of equal rights for women, people of colour, LGBTQ, puts draconian protection of gun rights over the simplest measures to protect kids in schools from mass shootings,all under the guise of “respecting biblical teachings”, then would most stand up and say, “yes I am a proud Republican because I believe that others should be repressed more than me”? Instead it comes across more as a “never a socialist radical lefty”. And hey, I am certain it works both ways, and Liberals point to the flaws of the other Conservative side more than touting why liberalism is the way to be. People too easily can denigrate what someone else will stand for and not have the courage to own what they themselves stand for. Easier to cast stones than stand up to personal scrutiny.

If you are a “one issue” voter and this is not your issue If you are still “undecided” after watching this If you say you are pro-life but don’t consider this part of that value system Then please put your hand up so I know who never to talk to again Of all the scandals, hard to imagine one worse than this

OK, this video references undecided voters, so I am putting it here in the politics thread. But it doesn’t really have anything to do with elections. Maybe there is some subtle subtext I am missing????????

If you want a more depressing documentary, try “Totally Under Control” about the US pandemic response. The scope of failure on so many levels is quite staggering.

But the Boogaloo Boys are not in fact alt-right. They are in fact extreme left wing. At least that’s the new spin today from the right wing on Twitter is. Which is funny because up until today they said the Boogaloo Boys had nothing to do with the riots. You’d think if they were left wing all this time the right would have jumped on it rather than deny their presence there. Confusing to me..........

I can agree with that, but what we are all being subjected to from those two now is not that at all.

Maybe it’s time for the 2 of you to take this Kenney skirmish to the private messaging board. Not sure if the current state of Alberta politics resonates with many on this board here in Manitoba, but when the conversation devolves into name-calling over how each of you personally voted, and words like “stupid”, “lazy” and “gullible” get thrown around by both sides and the debate becomes a personal attack, Then IMO time to take it outside and get off the main board for your pissing contest. If I’m alone in my belief, then I apologize, I just don’t have moderator ban hammer powers.

I thought the moderator did OK. The mute button was only used for the opening 2 minutes, which may not have been the best use to avoid any interruptions later on, but allowed for some typical “debate rebuttal” To happen. And misuse of the mute is not the moderator’s fault. Her worst failing was allowing repeated “can I respond” instead of just saying “no we’re moving on”. She could have steered back to the original question a bit more when both candidates danced around an answer.

Final bingo tally by my count. Checks embedded in original post.

So, debate bingo: 3 cards, one Trump, one Biden, one moderator Trump - 1. “You’ve never seen/heard“ or “no one’s ever done anything like this ever” - CHECK 2. Greatest economy ever - CHECK 3. refers to COVID as China flu, Wuhan virus or some other foreign label - CHECK (plague from China) 4. The phrase “sleepy Joe“ or “cognitive decline” (nope) 5. “Most corrupt“ politician or family in reference to Biden - almost CHECK (left out the “most”) 6. Hillary - CHECK 7. Obama (pick a random bonus square if he drops in the middle name Hussein somewhere) - CHECK (no bonus) 8. Antifa (nope) 9. Protect the suburbs (nope) 10. Radical left (I debated adding a reference to “the squad”, which he did do, but no to the specific phrase) 11. Rioters, looters, burning, and Democrat run cities all in the same single answer. - close, but no 12. Rigged election (no) 13. Hunter Biden e-mail scandal (take any bonus square if this comes up in his first 10 minutes of speaking time) - CHECK (in a roundabout way, no bonus) 14. Gets into it in any way with the moderator, either by arguing, unfair question complaint, cutting them off - CHECK, did talk over her when she wanted to move on 15. interrupts while Biden is speaking (even with the mute button feature, this is your “free space”), or mentions “mute button” and “unfair” in the same sentence - CHECK Biden - 1. “He doesn’t have a plan” (bonus square if he replaces the word “plan” with “clue”) - CHECK 2. “Soul of America”, “return to integrity” or “decency” (said “character of the nation”, last sentence had “decency” - CHECK 3. Mentions Hunter, even if to deflect from the issue (no) 4. Apologizes for/ acknowledges any past errors in his political career - CHECK 5. Says something knee-jerk nasty about Trump after being goaded (not really, worst he did was “give me a break”) 6. Apologizes for knee-jerk nasty comment (no) 7. Drops the word “man” out of context (ex. says “look,man” as opposed to “this man here”) - looks like I should have gone with “c’mon” 8. Mentions Obama - CHECK 9. Mentions Kamala (no) 10. Answers a question WITHOUT gesturing with both of his hands at the same time - CHECK (but at least one hand all the time, don’t recall him answering without using his hands) 11. Trump’s national COVID failure (Free space) - CHECK 12. Health care (bonus square if he ties this and the Supreme Court issue together) - CHECK (but moderator tied it to Supreme Court, he did not mention them both together) 13. “Worst President” or “most corrupt” President (no, but did say “criminal”) 14. References the fact Trump himself had COVID in any way - CHECK 15. Makes a comment about the mute button in reference to Trump (no) Moderator- 1. Live time fact checks any answer (will accept “That’s not true” as a fact check) - CHECK 2. Says”I’m sorry” in any context (no, was forceful when she interjected) 3. Asks Trump about his taxes or China bank account - CHECK 4. Asks Biden about stacking the Supreme Court (no) 5. Election interference - CHECK 6. Interrupts a candidate mid-answer to get them to answer the real question and not what the candidate wants to say - CHECK (In fact she warned Trump before he started to answer the “talk to black people”, and Trump still did not answer the question) 7. Interrupts a candidate mid-answer to remind the other candidate not to interrupt (Bonus square if they make mention of the agreed upon “debate rules” as part of their chiding) (no) 8. Asks a follow-up question to pin a candidate down on a wish-washy answer (this may be the one that prevents a blackout card) - CHECK 9. COVID (free space) - CHECK 10. “Let’s move on” (bonus square if either candidate returns back to the previous topic right after the new topic is brought up) - CHECK (no bonus) 11. Allows either candidate to ask their opponent a question on an unrelated topic instead of cutting them off - CHECK, but she did a good job many time’s of not allowing it, only let it happen on the Crime bill 12. Reminds us that there is an audience who will stay quiet throughout the proceedings - CHECK 13. Mentions the mute button - CHECK 14. Reminds either candidate a second time about the mute button as a warning or threat 15. Has to tell a candidate more than once during an answer that they are out of time - CHECK Obviously missed a few options, any obvious ones I could replace with something better?

To steal someone else’s tweet, joke’s on them - dad is still alive.

There are restrictions on clothing. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/10/14/us/election-what-not-to-wear-trnd/index.html

Unearthed - actual footage of Speedflex and 17to85 discussing Alberta politics:

To realize that you are wrong is not enough. You must be willing to accept that realization, and acknowledge it. That requires humility and self-effacement. The current occupant of the White House provides exactly the opposite model. So many of his lies are so simply disproven (“my inauguration was the biggest ever” - “here are pictures and mass transit data easily and unequivocally disproving that” - “fake news”) and yet he brazenly and with blind confidence doubles down every time. And he is admired by many for that characteristic. THAT is the difficulty in changing minds today, people’s egos are too caught up in their positions to admit they are wrong, and on the flip side too many who want to prove them wrong do it to feel a sense of superiority over others and hold it over them, rather than to genuinely embrace knowledge and lead to more enlightenment. The us vs. them mindset prevents a lot of opportunity for increased awareness and learning. IMO.

Actually it will happen 366 times in history. (Edit: I had even screwed up when I first said 365. Leap year)