scoobdog

As they should.

I dunno.

My opinion is I ain’t putting in my email to read that article… But I only go to Thunderdome.

Can't LARP without it though.

A kid who is treating an AI bot as his closest confidant is already exhibiting some signs of disengagement, and it's unrealistic to expect a computer, not designed to handle emotional cues, to deal with such a crisis.

To be blunt - without Trump, the bigotry he espouses would be kept at bay. I get the pessimism and I certainly have no answers for what the rise of hard right idealization has on our institutions. However, the sole reason it can be implemented is because Trump is an effective focal point at the nexus of power. No one like Trump has been elected in the modern Union (basically since the end of the Civil War) - the demagoguery he employs rarely works outside of small political systems or in times of extreme instability (like a World War) and that's emblematic of how unique he is. He can say absolutely wretched things to POC and still convince enough of them to elect him because he's cultivated a screen presence and a delivery that remains disarming despite its perilousness. He knows how to command a stage, despite being senile. He's smart enough to allow others to speak on his behalf when it's convenient for him. He instinctively shows up at places, like sporting events, where his visibility is irrespective of his popularity. At the same time, he's driven solely by an infantile desire to be praised. You just can't overstate how much or a unicorn he is in that dastardly respect - he's a convenient and uniquely versatile tool for literally anyone who can gain access to him. At the same time, the likes of Fox News never existed to create this kind of dystopian future. Murdoch had a model that worked within the guardrails of civilized society even when his on screen personalities were anything but. He could platform extreme and thinly veiled bigotry without much danger to that having an impact on the everyday lives of the people who tuned into it. It's something of a Pandora's Box - a naive and stupid Trump changes the complexion of this coverage by amplifying it in ways that it was never intended to be amplified. The thing is, no one else has the ability to do so. JD Vance lack any charm whatsoever. Noem and Bondi are almost exclusively visual props. The only other person with a platform that rivals Trumps is on the outs, and isn't even eligible to hold the highest office. This is all to say that Trump isn't so much a symptom. The awfulness he represents has always existed and will always exist, so it's misleading to suggest that he might be emblematic of a greater malaise that needs to be healed. There is no question that polarization is a huge issue, but it's a naturally occurring condition that tends to will dissipate no matter how terrifying it is. It only becomes a problem when its checks are removed.

Cults-of-personality are not like their historical Roman namesakes even if they’re derived from them (by way of Julius Caesar). Trump is an unusual amalgamation of personality, bigotry/hatred and incompetence, so the disjointed coalition he heads tends to be galvanized, directionless, and distinctly not unified. Jman is right that the coalition will dissolve as soon as he’s gone, but that does not mean the mechanism for the dissolution of our democratically cherished freedom, hyperpatisanship, will allow us to undo the damage readily.

Hey, you can be a salty as you want, bro, but that's how you come across. It's not like I don't want you to vent. There no point because you're not going to do a damn thing once someone attempts to invest time into whatever is bugging you. Seriously - when was the last time you stood up for yourself?

Complains about not having a significant other. Does nothing to actually get one. Complains about ableism. Never tells the people who are ableist that they're being jerks. Gets abused at work. Rarely if ever reports it. Complains about job. Has never actually quit a job to anyone's recollection. That help?

Ghosty, you don't act on any of your issues.

Not to put words in Molar's mouth here, but there is theoretically at least one way in which a state militia or state reserve could impede the state's national guard without directly conflicting with it (which seems to be functionally impossible in addition to being illegal). Using California as an example, many but not all Cal Guard members hold standing in the National Guard. If Cal Guard is deployed to do its thing before Trump decides to mobilize the National Guard, there is a potential for conflicting orders and some Cal Guard members who would be following only the governor. It's more of a technical than a practical issue, nonetheless Newsome could hamstring the military operating inside its own borders at least initially. It's uncharted territory so there's no real way of knowing what would happen if it were to come up. One other thing to bring up since Hogseth (oink oink) is an inompetent bigoted drunk - a state governor deploying his state's reserve guard necessitates the DoD actually following military protocol. In California (and presumably everywhere else the NG was deployed), DoD did not issue official orders prior to mobilization. I assume it was either a cheap tactic to show force either due to the questionable legal nature of the declared state of emergency, due to a lack of budget to pay deployed troops, or a combination of the two, but even if it was just an oversight bred by incompetence, it would further delay any federal command.

You mean like Cal Guard facing off against the California National Guard?

Fuck no. I do, inexplicably, have a commemorative world series pin set I purchased at Wrigley a few years back.

Sorry, I meant Labor Day. And Autodraft it is.

I was at the game. They looked good. Lot of Cubs fans.