I know my mom basically swamps all her Republican representatives with how she loves them but Trump scares her and I love her for it (she actually voted Hillary and she campaigned vigorously for her)
edit: need to repeat this because we should never stop repeating it, Trump got less votes, we can't let him forget it, or the representatives, or anyone, remind them of that and the fact that there's another election in 4 years
You are wrong, there is another election in 2 years.
You know what I mean, we gotta fight for that election but Trump is president until 2020
I made it through that without vomiting, excellent
If we win the election in 2018, then Trump is effectively no longer in charge of anything. He serves at our tolerance. We must show that we will no longer approve of his absurdity in 2018.
Hell, there are major governors up for election in 2017. There's a runoff election next week. Act, Donate, Speak.
I thought most of the seats up in 2018 were already held by Democrats. I didn't think we could take control of either house in even a best-case scenario.
It's insanely hard, and we will likely lose a seat or two if we just lay back, but we need 2 seats to take the lead, and one seat to make this whole thing an obvious farce with Pence casting the deciding vote. But we don't need to win the senate. We just need to get out there and remind them that they aren't winning the people. That while their hate streams across the airwaves and their anger rages at the heavens the ground is crumbling beneath their feet.
I know my mom basically swamps all her Republican representatives with how she loves them but Trump scares her and I love her for it (she actually voted Hillary and she campaigned vigorously for her)
edit: need to repeat this because we should never stop repeating it, Trump got less votes, we can't let him forget it, or the representatives, or anyone, remind them of that and the fact that there's another election in 4 years
You are wrong, there is another election in 2 years.
You know what I mean, we gotta fight for that election but Trump is president until 2020
I made it through that without vomiting, excellent
If we win the election in 2018, then Trump is effectively no longer in charge of anything. He serves at our tolerance. We must show that we will no longer approve of his absurdity in 2018.
Hell, there are major governors up for election in 2017. There's a runoff election next week. Act, Donate, Speak.
I thought most of the seats up in 2018 were already held by Democrats. I didn't think we could take control of either house in even a best-case scenario.
Both are theoretically possible.
The House is the House and all up for grabs as always, though realistically it's not happening.
The Senate afaik is possible but would require defending all the Democrat's seats and winning a few tough races.
I know my mom basically swamps all her Republican representatives with how she loves them but Trump scares her and I love her for it (she actually voted Hillary and she campaigned vigorously for her)
edit: need to repeat this because we should never stop repeating it, Trump got less votes, we can't let him forget it, or the representatives, or anyone, remind them of that and the fact that there's another election in 4 years
You are wrong, there is another election in 2 years.
You know what I mean, we gotta fight for that election but Trump is president until 2020
I made it through that without vomiting, excellent
If we win the election in 2018, then Trump is effectively no longer in charge of anything. He serves at our tolerance. We must show that we will no longer approve of his absurdity in 2018.
Hell, there are major governors up for election in 2017. There's a runoff election next week. Act, Donate, Speak.
I thought most of the seats up in 2018 were already held by Democrats. I didn't think we could take control of either house in even a best-case scenario.
Both are theoretically possible.
The House is the House and all up for grabs as always, though realistically it's not happening.
The Senate afaik is possible but would require defending all the Democrat's seats and winning a few tough races.
Yeah, the House is lost until Gerrymandering is dead (and even then probably still, just because of the population caps on representation).
I don't have high hopes for the Senate if any kind of Voter ID goes through, especially not with the Bannon Propaganda Machine telling the country that the Democrats are the reason that Trump hasn't made things Great again yet.
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MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
Information Balkanisation has been a problem for decades now. It's just becoming easier to do and easier to measure.
Has it ever been easier or more profitable to perpetuate? I don't doubt that people were reading crackpot letters to the editor in competing newspapers during the rise of the civil rights movement, but there's zero indication the atomization will change current course -- even the idea of a big central platform like Facebook as being the presumed social space for most people will surely seem hilariously quaint as the next few years pass by.
I'm not talking about crackpot letters to the editor, I'm talking about Talk Radio. And Mass Mailers before it. This shit has been around a long time, it's just easier and more profitable and easier to measure now.
People who lean conservative have always been highly susceptible to this kind of marketing.
There's no reason for it to change course because of that. I mean, yeah, it's becoming self-perpetuating on social media, but that hasn't really changed as much as you think. It was already self-perpetuating on talk radio and Fox News and in newsletters and the like. Rush was already his own independent entity running solely off whatever lies made him the most money. Now that same kind of thing has just become crowdsourced.
There wasn't an answer to it before either, sadly.
Authoritarians have always been weak to con artists. When one's worldview is based on obedience and deference to authority, someone who can ape the usual narrative and show trappings of authority can seize control very easily. It's the reason why Mormons are fleeced so easily; they lost $1.2 billion in Utah in 2012 alone because someone who can look the part and say the right words with the right tones can trick people in obeying; people who obey don't question. (I'm picking on Mormons since they're an easy big bloc with statistics; the gold scams are more amorphous.) The only real way to beat it is to drive out the worldview and change it to one based on reality and facts, but we can see how well that's been working. The biggest con artist of them all just pulled the biggest con ever.
Oh hell. New Thought: I bet that if you made a cartoon where you stick Minions in SS uniforms and have them comically attempt to "process" caricatures of Muslims and Latinos it'd be a nationwide hit and the public would gleefully endorse gas chambers.
Cartoons with Donald Trump and his Minions doing inane shit in the White House.
Minions passing bills in congress while laughing at goofy-looking human intellectuals in blue pantsuits who stutter and refuse to vote along with the group.
- I wonder if there is any Union iconography we can adopt to represent our outspoken opposition to these fascist and racist principles? Would trying to equate the new administration and their congress to the Confederacy have greater social impact than comparisons to Nazis?
Liberty's torch.
Lady Liberty was used in a lot of Union propaganda during the Civil War, and it's easier to make a stylized torch than it is to make a woman. It touches on some of the most critical points: Liberty is most typically represented as a woman, it welcomes immigrants and the poor and people from all backgrounds, it stands for freedom and opportunity for all, and the reference icon in question is one of the proudest symbols of America. A torch is a symbol of light in the darkness, which can be a powerful reference in of itself. It also doesn't hurt that it's associated with some of the most beautiful words in American history, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
I can't think of a better symbol off-hand than a clean, stylized version of Liberty's torch.
When this goes as big as the Obama HOPE posters, be sure to remember to give this Canadian the credit.
Shadowhope on
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
- I wonder if there is any Union iconography we can adopt to represent our outspoken opposition to these fascist and racist principles? Would trying to equate the new administration and their congress to the Confederacy have greater social impact than comparisons to Nazis?
Liberty's torch.
Lady Liberty was used in a lot of union propaganda during the Civil War, and it's easier to make a stylized torch than it is to make a woman. It touches on some of the most critical points: Liberty is most typically represented as a woman, it welcomes immigrants and the poor, it stands for freedom and opportunity for all, and the reference icon in question is one of the proudest symbols of America. A torch is a symbol of light in the darkness, which can be a powerful reference in of itself. It also doesn't hurt that it's associated with some of the most beautiful words in American history, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
I can't think of a better symbol off-hand than a clean, stylized version of Liberty's torch.
When this goes as big as the Obama HOPE posters, be sure to remember to give this Canadian the credit.
This is a great idea.
I had hit a roadblock on how to do some art. This is seriously really helpful.
Oh hell. New Thought: I bet that if you made a cartoon where you stick Minions in SS uniforms and have them comically attempt to "process" caricatures of Muslims and Latinos it'd be a nationwide hit and the public would gleefully endorse gas chambers.
Cartoons with Donald Trump and his Minions doing inane shit in the White House.
Minions passing bills in congress while laughing at goofy-looking human intellectuals in blue pantsuits who stutter and refuse to vote along with the group.
Do not let Bannon anywhere near Dreamworks!
Well, Zootopia did a bit better than Angry Birds this year. But yeah, I'm worried about the mass media culture shift. In the early 2000's, being "anti-war" was taboo. I worry that the same thing will happen to anti-racism.
Most realistic best case scenario right now for senate in 2018 is democrats pick up 2, making it 50-50.
Aye, Nevada's a possible pickup now, given how they've bucked the trend.
Well, Zootopia did a bit better than Angry Birds this year. But yeah, I'm worried about the mass media culture shift. In the early 2000's, being "anti-war" was taboo. I worry that the same thing will happen to anti-racism.
It was taboo for about 6 months and then it came roaring back, except in the political class where being anti-war was taboo until 2005 or so. But there were plenty of protests in the runup to Shock and Awe and the Hollywood narrative was not nearly as jingoistic as it had been in, say, the 80s.
Mormons are trusting people because their religion emphasizes trust and co-operation among Mormons. That's not the same as authoritarianism.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that it's both.
You vote and think and do the things your neighbors believe because that's the easy way to win acceptance. It's the norm.
But you can fall out of the community pretty dang hard by coming out gay.
I find it very very unfortunate. I've been to a tiny little Catholic mass in a piece of rented office space and pretty much feeling a sort of communion and general acceptance which is nothing but frighteningly addicting. It's the easy way out. Just participate in the same rituals and thoughts everybody else is having and you belong.
Mormons are trusting people because their religion emphasizes trust and co-operation among Mormons. That's not the same as authoritarianism.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that it's both.
You vote and think and do the things your neighbors believe because that's the easy way to win acceptance. It's the norm.
But you can fall out of the community pretty dang hard by coming out gay.
I find it very very unfortunate. I've been to a tiny little Catholic mass in a piece of rented office space and pretty much feeling a sort of communion and general acceptance which is nothing but frighteningly addicting. It's the easy way out. Just participate in the same rituals and thoughts everybody else is having and you belong.
see: car clubs, video game forums, coffee shops, tractor pulls, etc, etc, etc.
But in the US, talking politics is a grievous sin so when you're in these cliques, you keep your trap shut and go with the flow. This is as opposed to things like sports, which people feel nearly as heatedly, but is not nearly as ostracizing.
Mormons are trusting people because their religion emphasizes trust and co-operation among Mormons. That's not the same as authoritarianism.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that it's both.
You vote and think and do the things your neighbors believe because that's the easy way to win acceptance. It's the norm.
But you can fall out of the community pretty dang hard by coming out gay.
I find it very very unfortunate. I've been to a tiny little Catholic mass in a piece of rented office space and pretty much feeling a sort of communion and general acceptance which is nothing but frighteningly addicting. It's the easy way out. Just participate in the same rituals and thoughts everybody else is having and you belong.
see: car clubs, video game forums, coffee shops, tractor pulls, etc, etc, etc.
But in the US, talking politics is a grievous sin so when you're in these cliques, you keep your trap shut and go with the flow. This is as opposed to things like sports, which people feel nearly as heatedly, but is not nearly as ostracizing.
Unlike politics, sports are a multi-party system that practice a form of meritocracy in which factions earn their positions in the overall hierarchy based solely on group performance in a tiered, multi-conflict system that is nothing like FPtP.
Obviously the solution is to have each state battle in a tournament of skill, and the winner gets to govern (and sell merch) until next season.
Mormons are trusting people because their religion emphasizes trust and co-operation among Mormons. That's not the same as authoritarianism.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that it's both.
You vote and think and do the things your neighbors believe because that's the easy way to win acceptance. It's the norm.
But you can fall out of the community pretty dang hard by coming out gay.
I find it very very unfortunate. I've been to a tiny little Catholic mass in a piece of rented office space and pretty much feeling a sort of communion and general acceptance which is nothing but frighteningly addicting. It's the easy way out. Just participate in the same rituals and thoughts everybody else is having and you belong.
This American Life caught up with Emily Ellsworth, the Mormon woman who wrote an op-ed before the election urging women to vote for Clinton
For her it was more than just refuting Trump, who she saw as fundamentally unfit, but to aid her campaign to get women access to more powerful roles of leadership in the Mormon church, and finally get Mormon women the respect they deserved within her church, which she loves very much
This morning I listened to her talk about how she wished she could go back in time and not hype up Clinton's inevitable victory to her 6-year old daughter, who told her "If Hillary can't win the Presidency, I don't think I can either"
Mormons are trusting people because their religion emphasizes trust and co-operation among Mormons. That's not the same as authoritarianism.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that it's both.
You vote and think and do the things your neighbors believe because that's the easy way to win acceptance. It's the norm.
But you can fall out of the community pretty dang hard by coming out gay.
I find it very very unfortunate. I've been to a tiny little Catholic mass in a piece of rented office space and pretty much feeling a sort of communion and general acceptance which is nothing but frighteningly addicting. It's the easy way out. Just participate in the same rituals and thoughts everybody else is having and you belong.
This American Life caught up with Emily Ellsworth, the Mormon woman who wrote an op-ed before the election urging women to vote for Clinton
For her it was more than just refuting Trump, who she saw as fundamentally unfit, but to aid her campaign to get women access to more powerful roles of leadership in the Mormon church, and finally get Mormon women the respect they deserved within her church, which she loves very much
This morning I listened to her talk about how she wished she could go back in time and not hype up Clinton's inevitable victory to her 6-year old daughter, who told her "If Hillary can't win the Presidency, I don't think I can either"
Had to keep myself from crying on the subway
That was a rough one to listen to, yes.
SW-4158-3990-6116
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
- I wonder if there is any Union iconography we can adopt to represent our outspoken opposition to these fascist and racist principles? Would trying to equate the new administration and their congress to the Confederacy have greater social impact than comparisons to Nazis?
Liberty's torch.
Lady Liberty was used in a lot of union propaganda during the Civil War, and it's easier to make a stylized torch than it is to make a woman. It touches on some of the most critical points: Liberty is most typically represented as a woman, it welcomes immigrants and the poor, it stands for freedom and opportunity for all, and the reference icon in question is one of the proudest symbols of America. A torch is a symbol of light in the darkness, which can be a powerful reference in of itself. It also doesn't hurt that it's associated with some of the most beautiful words in American history, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
I can't think of a better symbol off-hand than a clean, stylized version of Liberty's torch.
When this goes as big as the Obama HOPE posters, be sure to remember to give this Canadian the credit.
This is a great idea.
I had hit a roadblock on how to do some art. This is seriously really helpful.
I would dearly, dearly love it if Lady Liberty became a stronger symbol of America. Like, yeah, she's already super iconic, but the values for which she (literally) stands should be an inspiration for Americans. International friendship and cooperation, the open-armed acceptance of refugees and migrants, etc.
Mormons are trusting people because their religion emphasizes trust and co-operation among Mormons. That's not the same as authoritarianism.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that it's both.
You vote and think and do the things your neighbors believe because that's the easy way to win acceptance. It's the norm.
But you can fall out of the community pretty dang hard by coming out gay.
I find it very very unfortunate. I've been to a tiny little Catholic mass in a piece of rented office space and pretty much feeling a sort of communion and general acceptance which is nothing but frighteningly addicting. It's the easy way out. Just participate in the same rituals and thoughts everybody else is having and you belong.
This American Life caught up with Emily Ellsworth, the Mormon woman who wrote an op-ed before the election urging women to vote for Clinton
For her it was more than just refuting Trump, who she saw as fundamentally unfit, but to aid her campaign to get women access to more powerful roles of leadership in the Mormon church, and finally get Mormon women the respect they deserved within her church, which she loves very much
This morning I listened to her talk about how she wished she could go back in time and not hype up Clinton's inevitable victory to her 6-year old daughter, who told her "If Hillary can't win the Presidency, I don't think I can either"
Had to keep myself from crying on the subway
That was a rough one to listen to, yes.
Fitting avatar is fitting.
But yeah, it's anecdotes like that one that really make me mistrust tribal impulses, or love for that matter.
As an outsider, it's easy for me to say that the Mormon church is unworthy of such love. To me it's just an authoritarian edifice propped up by superstition. It is hollow and lacking in worth throughout. Why it would need to be reformed or redeemed, I don't understand.
In a way, more than at the racists, I expect the racists to be implements of social destruction who are my long term political enemies
NYT is supposed to be "the liberal media" that Limbaugh hates, an upstanding bastion of facts
fffffffffffuuuuuuu
override367 on
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
Leaving the Mormon faith can lead to basically total ostracization and isolation from former support structures. Family, friends, the community itself. For more serious LDS members, the church is everything. It's your social life, your entire network. For people who've been immersed in the chuch their whole lives, the prospect of leaving can be incredibly daunting.
Everyone should read the article Ghost Children of Mormon Country, it's real good and touches on the insular nature of the Mormon faith.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
This feels like it holds special relevance to me today. It may not yet be the moment for revolution, but reading this, I feel we are awfully damned close. Like the Founding Fathers have our back on this one.
I've never been particularly patriotic. I've been cynical about the motives of wealthy men who may have simply not liked paying taxes, and who were hypocritical enough to deny the rights they fought for to all men and women. Reading this today, though, I realize that second line is the philosophy by which I attempt to live my life. For a long time now, it has been self-evident to me that all people are meant to be Equal. There are certain Rights that are Unalienable. I grow angry when I see the systems of government or society deny others their rights to Live, deny them Liberty to live as makes them most Happy.
I mean, we're sitting here on the Penny Arcade forums, and I'm just now realizing that Wheaton's Law is just an abbreviated version of the concept:
"We hold this truth to be self-evident: Don't Be A Dick."
We stand by and let these treacherous snakes wrap themselves in our flag and call themselves "patriots" while they tempt the nation to bite ever-deeper into the fruit of Despotism. Their entire goal is to restrict Liberty, to deny Happiness, and to be the sole authority over Life and Death.
Most realistic best case scenario right now for senate in 2018 is democrats pick up 2, making it 50-50.
Even that is very optimistic.
GOP are defending
AZ (Flake) Plausible
NV (Heller) Plausible
NE (Fischer) conservative Trump state
MS (Wicker) Confederate Trump state
TN (Corker) Appalachian Trump state
TX (Cruz) Texas Trump state
UT (Hatch) Mormon Trump state
WY (Barrasso) Empty Trump state
We're competitive in maybe 3 of those.
Dems have to defend Independents in Maine (King) and Vermont (Sanders) hard Trump states like
Indiana (Donnelly)
Missouri (McCaskill)
Montana (Tester)
ND (Heitkamp)
Ohio (Brown)
WV (Manchin) Plus swing Trump states
Penn (Casey)
WI (Baldwin)
Florida (Nelson)
We're more in danger of being down 60-40 than they are of losing control of the Senate (which would need 3 seats).
The information in this tweet makes me unspeakably angry
This is the season of CYA remember. Every losing campaign staffer is either in deep mourning or leaking bullshit to make themselves look better for their next job
Most realistic best case scenario right now for senate in 2018 is democrats pick up 2, making it 50-50.
Even that is very optimistic.
GOP are defending
AZ (Flake) Plausible
NV (Heller) Plausible
NE (Fischer) conservative Trump state
MS (Wicker) Confederate Trump state
TN (Corker) Appalachian Trump state
TX (Cruz) Texas Trump state
UT (Hatch) Mormon Trump state
WY (Barrasso) Empty Trump state
We're competitive in maybe 3 of those.
Dems have to defend Independents in Maine (King) and Vermont (Sanders) hard Trump states like
Indiana (Donnelly)
Missouri (McCaskill)
Montana (Tester)
ND (Heitkamp)
Ohio (Brown)
WV (Manchin) Plus swing Trump states
Penn (Casey)
WI (Baldwin)
Florida (Nelson)
We're more in danger of being down 60-40 than they are of losing control of the Senate (which would need 3 seats).
yeah it doesnt look good straight up, but who knows what jolly nonsense might happen in the next 2 years that might sway peoples minds...
Mormons are trusting people because their religion emphasizes trust and co-operation among Mormons. That's not the same as authoritarianism.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that it's both.
You vote and think and do the things your neighbors believe because that's the easy way to win acceptance. It's the norm.
But you can fall out of the community pretty dang hard by coming out gay.
I find it very very unfortunate. I've been to a tiny little Catholic mass in a piece of rented office space and pretty much feeling a sort of communion and general acceptance which is nothing but frighteningly addicting. It's the easy way out. Just participate in the same rituals and thoughts everybody else is having and you belong.
This morning I listened to her talk about how she wished she could go back in time and not hype up Clinton's inevitable victory to her 6-year old daughter, who told her "If Hillary can't win the Presidency, I don't think I can either"
Had to keep myself from crying on the subway
I saw a little girl and her mother dressed as "Hillary Clinton" and "The glass ceiling" on Halloween.
Leaving the Mormon faith can lead to basically total ostracization and isolation from former support structures. Family, friends, the community itself. For more serious LDS members, the church is everything. It's your social life, your entire network. For people who've been immersed in the chuch their whole lives, the prospect of leaving can be incredibly daunting.
Everyone should read the article Ghost Children of Mormon Country, it's real good and touches on the insular nature of the Mormon faith.
If I'm going to make a point of why I feel this is relevant to the thread:
I'm quite preoccupied with America's increasing authoritarianism.
The Mormon faith creates this gilded cage that you can live in and has to power to kick you out of it. So the whole community and cooperation bits really just come across as more than a little sinister. It's a vital part of the machine, not some disjointed little ancillary detail. Be a good little robot or else.
And frankly, I think many Americans don't want freedom. Because that would actually entail being responsible for shit. Oh they say they do, but what they want is a God-Emperor to shut them up in gilded cages so they don't have to to think about anything too challenging. Nobody gives a fuck if somebody else gets thrown under the bus as long as they're cared for. And maybe it'll just be the capitalist Ubermensch who is going to give that to them.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
This feels like it holds special relevance to me today. It may not yet be the moment for revolution, but reading this, I feel we are awfully damned close. Like the Founding Fathers have our back on this one.
I've never been particularly patriotic. I've been cynical about the motives of wealthy men who may have simply not liked paying taxes, and who were hypocritical enough to deny the rights they fought for to all men and women. Reading this today, though, I realize that second line is the philosophy by which I attempt to live my life. For a long time now, it has been self-evident to me that all people are meant to be Equal. There are certain Rights that are Unalienable. I grow angry when I see the systems of government or society deny others their rights to Live, deny them Liberty to live as makes them most Happy.
I mean, we're sitting here on the Penny Arcade forums, and I'm just now realizing that Wheaton's Law is just an abbreviated version of the concept:
"We hold this truth to be self-evident: Don't Be A Dick."
We stand by and let these treacherous snakes wrap themselves in our flag and call themselves "patriots" while they tempt the nation to bite ever-deeper into the fruit of Despotism. Their entire goal is to restrict Liberty, to deny Happiness, and to be the sole authority over Life and Death.
Fuck. That. Noise.
Why do you think it behooves the wealthy elite to split us into groups that fought amongst one another? You're feeling patriotic about 'taking back the country' but those in the red camp think the same thing only with us being the perpetrators, instead of the influential class. They've been convinced to fight FOR the wealthy rather than against them.
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amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
This feels like it holds special relevance to me today. It may not yet be the moment for revolution, but reading this, I feel we are awfully damned close. Like the Founding Fathers have our back on this one.
I've never been particularly patriotic. I've been cynical about the motives of wealthy men who may have simply not liked paying taxes, and who were hypocritical enough to deny the rights they fought for to all men and women. Reading this today, though, I realize that second line is the philosophy by which I attempt to live my life. For a long time now, it has been self-evident to me that all people are meant to be Equal. There are certain Rights that are Unalienable. I grow angry when I see the systems of government or society deny others their rights to Live, deny them Liberty to live as makes them most Happy.
I mean, we're sitting here on the Penny Arcade forums, and I'm just now realizing that Wheaton's Law is just an abbreviated version of the concept:
"We hold this truth to be self-evident: Don't Be A Dick."
We stand by and let these treacherous snakes wrap themselves in our flag and call themselves "patriots" while they tempt the nation to bite ever-deeper into the fruit of Despotism. Their entire goal is to restrict Liberty, to deny Happiness, and to be the sole authority over Life and Death.
Fuck. That. Noise.
Why do you think it behooves the wealthy elite to split us into groups that fought amongst one another? You're feeling patriotic about 'taking back the country' but those in the red camp think the same thing only with us being the perpetrators, instead of the influential class. They've been convinced to fight FOR the wealthy rather than against them.
Keeping us divided and fighting is how they've remained wealthy the last 200 years.
Posts
It's insanely hard, and we will likely lose a seat or two if we just lay back, but we need 2 seats to take the lead, and one seat to make this whole thing an obvious farce with Pence casting the deciding vote. But we don't need to win the senate. We just need to get out there and remind them that they aren't winning the people. That while their hate streams across the airwaves and their anger rages at the heavens the ground is crumbling beneath their feet.
Both are theoretically possible.
The House is the House and all up for grabs as always, though realistically it's not happening.
The Senate afaik is possible but would require defending all the Democrat's seats and winning a few tough races.
Yeah, the House is lost until Gerrymandering is dead (and even then probably still, just because of the population caps on representation).
I don't have high hopes for the Senate if any kind of Voter ID goes through, especially not with the Bannon Propaganda Machine telling the country that the Democrats are the reason that Trump hasn't made things Great again yet.
Authoritarians have always been weak to con artists. When one's worldview is based on obedience and deference to authority, someone who can ape the usual narrative and show trappings of authority can seize control very easily. It's the reason why Mormons are fleeced so easily; they lost $1.2 billion in Utah in 2012 alone because someone who can look the part and say the right words with the right tones can trick people in obeying; people who obey don't question. (I'm picking on Mormons since they're an easy big bloc with statistics; the gold scams are more amorphous.) The only real way to beat it is to drive out the worldview and change it to one based on reality and facts, but we can see how well that's been working. The biggest con artist of them all just pulled the biggest con ever.
Cartoons with Donald Trump and his Minions doing inane shit in the White House.
Minions passing bills in congress while laughing at goofy-looking human intellectuals in blue pantsuits who stutter and refuse to vote along with the group.
Do not let Bannon anywhere near Dreamworks!
but even the New Fucking York Fucking Times ran 3 goddamn cover stories about Clinton's health once
makes me so mad
Liberty's torch.
Lady Liberty was used in a lot of Union propaganda during the Civil War, and it's easier to make a stylized torch than it is to make a woman. It touches on some of the most critical points: Liberty is most typically represented as a woman, it welcomes immigrants and the poor and people from all backgrounds, it stands for freedom and opportunity for all, and the reference icon in question is one of the proudest symbols of America. A torch is a symbol of light in the darkness, which can be a powerful reference in of itself. It also doesn't hurt that it's associated with some of the most beautiful words in American history, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
I can't think of a better symbol off-hand than a clean, stylized version of Liberty's torch.
This is a great idea.
I had hit a roadblock on how to do some art. This is seriously really helpful.
"and a registered voter"
Well, Zootopia did a bit better than Angry Birds this year. But yeah, I'm worried about the mass media culture shift. In the early 2000's, being "anti-war" was taboo. I worry that the same thing will happen to anti-racism.
Steam: pazython
Aye, Nevada's a possible pickup now, given how they've bucked the trend.
It was taboo for about 6 months and then it came roaring back, except in the political class where being anti-war was taboo until 2005 or so. But there were plenty of protests in the runup to Shock and Awe and the Hollywood narrative was not nearly as jingoistic as it had been in, say, the 80s.
On the other hand, they could lose 8 and make it 60/40.
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
Reno and Vegas are now both growing, and picking up more and more tech workers/service workers etc. Gotta motivate the turnout though.
Semi perk of being registered independent.
You vote and think and do the things your neighbors believe because that's the easy way to win acceptance. It's the norm.
But you can fall out of the community pretty dang hard by coming out gay.
I find it very very unfortunate. I've been to a tiny little Catholic mass in a piece of rented office space and pretty much feeling a sort of communion and general acceptance which is nothing but frighteningly addicting. It's the easy way out. Just participate in the same rituals and thoughts everybody else is having and you belong.
see: car clubs, video game forums, coffee shops, tractor pulls, etc, etc, etc.
But in the US, talking politics is a grievous sin so when you're in these cliques, you keep your trap shut and go with the flow. This is as opposed to things like sports, which people feel nearly as heatedly, but is not nearly as ostracizing.
Unlike politics, sports are a multi-party system that practice a form of meritocracy in which factions earn their positions in the overall hierarchy based solely on group performance in a tiered, multi-conflict system that is nothing like FPtP.
Obviously the solution is to have each state battle in a tournament of skill, and the winner gets to govern (and sell merch) until next season.
I dunno, we don't need them to kill each other. Maybe just martial arts matches, first person on the ground loses.
I would rather not lose a legislator to a stray bullet.
This American Life caught up with Emily Ellsworth, the Mormon woman who wrote an op-ed before the election urging women to vote for Clinton
For her it was more than just refuting Trump, who she saw as fundamentally unfit, but to aid her campaign to get women access to more powerful roles of leadership in the Mormon church, and finally get Mormon women the respect they deserved within her church, which she loves very much
This morning I listened to her talk about how she wished she could go back in time and not hype up Clinton's inevitable victory to her 6-year old daughter, who told her "If Hillary can't win the Presidency, I don't think I can either"
Had to keep myself from crying on the subway
NNID: Hakkekage
But we could make an awesome musical 200 years later.
That was a rough one to listen to, yes.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
I would dearly, dearly love it if Lady Liberty became a stronger symbol of America. Like, yeah, she's already super iconic, but the values for which she (literally) stands should be an inspiration for Americans. International friendship and cooperation, the open-armed acceptance of refugees and migrants, etc.
Fitting avatar is fitting.
But yeah, it's anecdotes like that one that really make me mistrust tribal impulses, or love for that matter.
As an outsider, it's easy for me to say that the Mormon church is unworthy of such love. To me it's just an authoritarian edifice propped up by superstition. It is hollow and lacking in worth throughout. Why it would need to be reformed or redeemed, I don't understand.
In a way, more than at the racists, I expect the racists to be implements of social destruction who are my long term political enemies
NYT is supposed to be "the liberal media" that Limbaugh hates, an upstanding bastion of facts
fffffffffffuuuuuuu
Everyone should read the article Ghost Children of Mormon Country, it's real good and touches on the insular nature of the Mormon faith.
http://www.advocate.com/current-issue/2016/4/29/ghost-children-mormon-country
This feels like it holds special relevance to me today. It may not yet be the moment for revolution, but reading this, I feel we are awfully damned close. Like the Founding Fathers have our back on this one.
I've never been particularly patriotic. I've been cynical about the motives of wealthy men who may have simply not liked paying taxes, and who were hypocritical enough to deny the rights they fought for to all men and women. Reading this today, though, I realize that second line is the philosophy by which I attempt to live my life. For a long time now, it has been self-evident to me that all people are meant to be Equal. There are certain Rights that are Unalienable. I grow angry when I see the systems of government or society deny others their rights to Live, deny them Liberty to live as makes them most Happy.
I mean, we're sitting here on the Penny Arcade forums, and I'm just now realizing that Wheaton's Law is just an abbreviated version of the concept:
"We hold this truth to be self-evident: Don't Be A Dick."
We stand by and let these treacherous snakes wrap themselves in our flag and call themselves "patriots" while they tempt the nation to bite ever-deeper into the fruit of Despotism. Their entire goal is to restrict Liberty, to deny Happiness, and to be the sole authority over Life and Death.
Fuck. That. Noise.
May I introduce you to the agent of our destruction, the Overton window?
Even that is very optimistic.
GOP are defending
AZ (Flake) Plausible
NV (Heller) Plausible
NE (Fischer) conservative Trump state
MS (Wicker) Confederate Trump state
TN (Corker) Appalachian Trump state
TX (Cruz) Texas Trump state
UT (Hatch) Mormon Trump state
WY (Barrasso) Empty Trump state
We're competitive in maybe 3 of those.
Dems have to defend Independents in Maine (King) and Vermont (Sanders)
hard Trump states like
Indiana (Donnelly)
Missouri (McCaskill)
Montana (Tester)
ND (Heitkamp)
Ohio (Brown)
WV (Manchin)
Plus swing Trump states
Penn (Casey)
WI (Baldwin)
Florida (Nelson)
We're more in danger of being down 60-40 than they are of losing control of the Senate (which would need 3 seats).
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
The information in this tweet makes me unspeakably angry
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Fuck.
http://spiegel.de/politik/ausland/a-1121423.html
This is the season of CYA remember. Every losing campaign staffer is either in deep mourning or leaking bullshit to make themselves look better for their next job
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
yeah it doesnt look good straight up, but who knows what jolly nonsense might happen in the next 2 years that might sway peoples minds...
I saw a little girl and her mother dressed as "Hillary Clinton" and "The glass ceiling" on Halloween.
If I'm going to make a point of why I feel this is relevant to the thread:
I'm quite preoccupied with America's increasing authoritarianism.
The Mormon faith creates this gilded cage that you can live in and has to power to kick you out of it. So the whole community and cooperation bits really just come across as more than a little sinister. It's a vital part of the machine, not some disjointed little ancillary detail. Be a good little robot or else.
And frankly, I think many Americans don't want freedom. Because that would actually entail being responsible for shit. Oh they say they do, but what they want is a God-Emperor to shut them up in gilded cages so they don't have to to think about anything too challenging. Nobody gives a fuck if somebody else gets thrown under the bus as long as they're cared for. And maybe it'll just be the capitalist Ubermensch who is going to give that to them.
The whole thing leaves me angry all the time.
Why do you think it behooves the wealthy elite to split us into groups that fought amongst one another? You're feeling patriotic about 'taking back the country' but those in the red camp think the same thing only with us being the perpetrators, instead of the influential class. They've been convinced to fight FOR the wealthy rather than against them.
Keeping us divided and fighting is how they've remained wealthy the last 200 years.