by "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
Published 12/16/2017 at 14:08
by "Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
Published 12/16/2017 at 14:08
No Tags
STARS: 0
We have litmus test issues — for example abortion rights, which made voters in Alabama vote for Roy Moore — in American politics that keep people from being just who they are as politicians, and that’s unfortunate, in my opinion. We also have primary races which keep people like Mr. Lipinski on their toes. I fear that the Democrats will trot out a bunch of super-lefties that will further polarize the country, rather than simply bring about a course correction.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
"Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero" (sampsonite24)
12/16/2017 at 14:24, STARS: 3
seeing his voting record makes me wonder if he ran as a democrat just to get elected
"ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)" (adabofoppo)
12/16/2017 at 14:26, STARS: 4
Heaven forbid our politicians actually attempt to help us, and not their corporate donors. (This goes for any ‘party’ affiliation, though currently one significantly favors corporate ‘people’ over real people).
Moving the Dems further left is not a problem. Dragging anyone that cannot accept basic facts like; humans cause our climate to change, women are people and should be the only ones (along with their doctors) involved in their medical decisions, people who are not white, male, and rich are also people too, brown people aren’t any more of a security risk than anyone else, etc kicking and screaming into the 21st century is the problem.
"fintail" (fintail)
12/16/2017 at 14:29, STARS: 5
The Rs have trotted out a seemingly infinite amount of regrettable or despicable super-righties who polarize just as much (and via gerrymandering and the disenchanted and/or bitter and clueless, won an election), so it would make sense for the left to be a copycat.
What would entail a course correction? Dems who pander to the dem0graphic who want to see America “great again”, or the bizarre ones who combine Randian socio-economic thought with mild fascism?
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/16/2017 at 14:33, STARS: 4
I fear that the Democrats will trot out a bunch of super-lefties that will further polarize the country
Actually I hope they do, the
Overton window
has moved so far right in the last thirty years thanks to Republican batshittery that any actual progressive candidate looks like a crazy pinko socialist (see: Bernie). The left don’t need a ‘conservative’ Democrat, they need someone who actually represents modern progressive values instead of being a slightly more moderate alternative to Republicans that will awaken the younger, more liberal part of their voting base: look at Hillary vs. Bernie, one of them had an extremely passionate and energized group of supporters and it wasn’t the conservative one.
That’s
the future of the party right there, and they’re squandering a huge swath of potential lifelong supporters by trying to pick up the few undecided people in the middle.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/16/2017 at 14:41, STARS: 3
That’s what I never got about the whole ‘moving further left alienates *some group*’ argument, the people who vote Republican are a lost cause because they’ll vote R regardless of how qualified or sound the other guy’s platform is (see: Alabama). The left needs to move further left and actually become a progressive party rather than just being a moderate alternative to whatever the hell the Republican party has devolved into to attract the left-wingers who don’t vote because they feel the party doesn’t represent their views instead of trying to pick up people in the middle. Bernie’s 2016 campaign showed that there’s a bunch of them out there and they’re extremely passionate when they’re engaged, all the Democrats have to do is connect with them like Bernie did.
"fintail" (fintail)
12/16/2017 at 14:53, STARS: 1
In a way, it just makes sense. For a long while, D and R seemed to be slightly different varieties of the same centrist to modestly conservative element. I had European friends who would remark that their left was much more left, and their right was more to the right. Today, the American right has veered sharply to the right, while the leftist establishment is stuck in the old centrist rut that is still relatively corporatist and even a little hawkish. Maybe something stronger would energize people - right now, there’s not a lot to lose.
"ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)" (adabofoppo)
12/16/2017 at 14:59, STARS: 3
Careful now. Go too far left, and then...well, you’ll have, gasp, black people representing everyone and voting in large numbers. Or Muslims. Or teh gays.
*shudders*
NOTE: THE ABOVE IS INCREDIBLY SARCASTIC. IF YOU CANNOT TELL THAT IT WAS SARCASM, THEN GO AWAY AND THINK ABOUT HOW TERRIBLE YOU ARE.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/16/2017 at 15:09, STARS: 1
Historically underrepresented and oppressed people actually... having an equal say as the rest of us? HOW DARE YOU SIR
Sidenote, I can’t describe just how deliciously amusing that
black women of all people largely decided the Alabama election
. Imagine how shitty Alabama Republicans are knowing that.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/16/2017 at 15:24, STARS: 0
That’s actually a really good point, that the modern Democratic Party platform is designed to be an alternative to another relatively sane option that no longer exists and need to evolve accordingly. Not saying they need to immediately jump off the deep end and embrace super left-wing democratic socialist policies but judging by 2016 being the moderate party is no longer enough, they
need
to find some way to reach out to the idealists and hardliners like the Republicans have done because those are the people who will actually show up on election night. Right now there seems to be a lot of anti-Trump momentum, all the DNC needs to do is run candidates who can harness it in 2018/2020 and channel it into something positive for the party.
The main issue with comparing US vs. European politics is the fact that we’re a two-party system; I was in France just before the US primaries and the people I talked to mentioned the same thing you did, everyone’s more extreme but no one really worries about losing undecided voters because there’s really not that many of them because there’s, for the most part, a party for everyone. They couldn’t fathom that you’d vote for a candidate you didn’t like only because you don’t
really
like the other guy, which seemed to be the catalyst in our 2016 election. A political party doesn’t survive if the only votes they’re getting are half-hearted protest votes, they need an excited and energized base which is what the Democrats don’t have. Maybe it is worth it to burn it down and start over, like you said now’s pretty much the time to do it.
"fintail" (fintail)
12/16/2017 at 15:48, STARS: 1
That’s it. But this time, don’t go insane like the opposition, rather, actually appeal to logic and sense - even in this idiocratic age, I believe many people still have it. Being anti-Trump may be the way to go - sure, some will vote for him to avoid voting D, but I think some others maybe come to their senses, especially when they finally realize they aren’t “winning” and never will be under the new order. Focusing on the lies and false promises might get some mileage. It’ll only get worse with 4 more years, this is easily going to go down as the most corrupt and incompetent regime in history.
The two party ideal really is broken. I think what the Dems also need to do is pay attention to gerrymandering, and focus more on crucial areas - everyone knows they will carry Seattle and LA and SF and Chicago etc, put all of the effort into redistricted areas.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
12/16/2017 at 16:56, STARS: 2
Exactly, as a European I see the US Democrats as a conservative centrist party. The Republicans, as they are now, are something outside of any normal political spectrum. Like a clown party, which would be funny had it not been real. I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone as socially conservative (read: 19th century) as a guy like Pence and the economics are so absurd, so out of touch with reality and so clearly designed for another goal as what they’re marketed as it’s like something from a comic book villain.
I don’t like the US Democrats, but it seems like there’s no viable alternative so it’s the default choice.
But that’s just my European perspective.
"boxrocket" (boxrocket)
12/16/2017 at 17:05, STARS: 0
it’s been my opinion for about two decades now that American bipartisanship needs to go. Break up the big two and let them sort themselves into smaller, less-powerful groups. This way, said groups might better represent their actual constituents, and not just be a face of whatever whim some moneyed individual or group thereof feels like that season. Then fanatical and far-side/spectrum voters and the hotbeds for them are on their own, for better or for worse.
"fintail" (fintail)
12/16/2017 at 18:47, STARS: 0
I must have a European perspective too, I agree on all counts.
The Dems at least have potential, while the Republicans almost seem to be trying to be a lost cause for anyone interested in social or economic progress.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 09:58, STARS: 0
“...Randian economic thought with mild fascism...” Will you tell me what you mean by that?
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 10:02, STARS: 0
“Don’t go insane like the opposition...” That’s what I was trying to say in the first place, I think.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 10:03, STARS: 0
I think the United States electorate has lost its mind. I am baffled.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 10:19, STARS: 1
I think you say it well. I have a brother-in-law who is
way
more liberal than I am, and about my age: him, 58, me, 53. May I ask your age? Neither of us saw Bernie as viable and boy, were we wrong. I saw Hillary as a
disaster
, early on, and boy, was I correct.
American politics has some litmus test issues that are made binary: abortion, for one. Abortion is why people voted for Roy Moore in Alabama. I feel probably as strongly as any of those Moore voters about abortion, but ultimately, the responsibility is on the people who conceived that fetus, and not on me as a devoted Christian to protect the fetus. I toss that matter out there because my opinion is deeply rooted in my Christian faith because God gave us the agency — and the power — and the inherent responsibilities, to create life. And He will judge us based upon how we exercised all of that, along with everything else.
I do not mean to lurch us into some kind of religious discussion here, but how can I conclude that Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump have that much respect for anything , other than themselves, let alone some carefully considered moral position on something.
My daughters tell me I over-think things. I believe that too ,many Americans under-think things, and politicians cater to that fact. Duh, right?
The personality that I like out there right now is Goofy Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren. I’d vote for her in a hot second. I am also curious about Kirsten Gillibrand. I am enough of a lefty to say that it’s time for a woman to be president because female, but I would not vote for a female candidate ONLY because female...
But I digress.
I
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 10:20, STARS: 1
They had somewhat to do with deciding the Trump election as well, by not getting out and voting and I hope they’re feeling shitty about that right now as well.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
12/17/2017 at 10:22, STARS: 1
Populist parties with stupid short sighted unrealistic bullshit mixed with some racism have popped up in (almost?) every western country. The US however is unique in two ways. For one the sillyness manifested itself in an ancient and powerful party, not in a new party. Another big difference is that in the US roughly half the population support the light fascists, where in other countries support for those clowns is usually about 10 % or so.
Maybeit’s the “alternative fact” mainstream media like Fox News that’s so wide spread in the US, while media in other democracies are usually a bit more balanced. I’m used to crazies only operating in the fringes. My point being: the echo chambers for the fringes in the US are apparently stronger and better sealed from reality than elsewhere.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 10:28, STARS: 0
Please see my rant, above,
and thank you for the comment. I don’t want to be divided up any more.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 10:30, STARS: 0
I would like to see a strong independent run that pulled reasonable people in significant numbers from both parties. Like a Jeff Flake / Elizabeth Warren ticket, for example. A combination of a strong moral basis with a strong connection to the underrepresented, unenfranchised people. And tear down both parties in the process.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 10:32, STARS: 0
Would you explain for me what you mean by “light fascists?”
I think we had a perfect storm in 2018. I hope we recover.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
12/17/2017 at 10:47, STARS: 2
The Alt Right/Breitbart (plus many current Republicans) crowd in the US, AFD in Germany, Wilders (PVV) in the Netherlands, FPÖ in Austria, Front National in France, and on and on. Extreme right wing Authoritarian Nationalists who manufacture a common enemy to rile up the rubes. Mainstream media tends to be on their list of manufactured enemies that are to be silenced.
"fintail" (fintail)
12/17/2017 at 11:21, STARS: 0
People who embrace the fantastic (as in being from fantasyland) socio-economic ideals of Ayn Rand, yet have their lips planted on the asses of the praetorians and preach “law and order” and “respect” at every corner.
"fintail" (fintail)
12/17/2017 at 11:22, STARS: 0
Some of them (Bannon, Miller, et al) aren’t even very “light”. These people would have been proud to dress in brown or black in 1933 Germany - but maybe wouldn’t have made it past 1934. Then again, they are opportunistic enough to have maybe lived in Bolivia until 1980.
"fintail" (fintail)
12/17/2017 at 11:24, STARS: 0
I don’t know if they could go as insane, does the left have as unhinged a bent as the right? There’s not much lefty equivalent to the Breitbart/Infowars crowd.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 16:04, STARS: 0
That sounds like the current administration. I always thought fascism was sort of an extreme socialism.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 16:05, STARS: 0
You are still over my head.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
12/17/2017 at 16:46, STARS: 1
Depends on how you define socialism. Are you talking about the Swedish or the Soviet model? In reality they’re nothing alike with one being a successful prosperous free capitalistic democracy with an extremely high quality of life and the other mostly the opposite, but both are called a version of socialism.
Fascism according to the first dictionary google found (Meriam-Webster; numbers mine):
a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation (1) and often race (2) above the individual and that stands for a centralized (3) autocratic (4) government headed by a dictatorial (5) leader, severe economic (6) and social (7) regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition (8)
This definition is both (partially) true for both the Soviets and the Trump administration, but not at all for the Swedes. The numbers I added in that quote are the elements of the definition, and all 8 fit the Trump administration at least somewhat. Which is why I think it’s fair to call the Trump administration (and Front National in France, FPÖ in Austria, ....) fascist-light.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/17/2017 at 18:00, STARS: 0
Very interesting and informative. Thank you for taking the time.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/17/2017 at 22:28, STARS: 1
I’m 24 and in college, so I had firsthand experience with the Bernie hype train and honestly I think older people underestimated just how in love younger people were with the dude: every progressive friend I had and every left-leaning political group on campus was far more excited for him than Hillary because they felt like he was a someone genuinely trying to do what’s right for the country and citizens and campaigned for what they thought was important, not just some career politician saying what people wanted to hear to get elected. People my age are jaded as hell about politics for a whole variety of reasons so the fact that someone was able to mobilize as many younger supporters as Bernie did should’ve been a wakeup call for the DNC that
this
is the candidate they should throw their weight behind, especially considering the anti-establishment nature of the entire 2016 election. I’ll go to my grave swearing he would’ve beat Trump.
Think you hit the nail on the head about abortion, at this point it’s become almost more of a political issue than a moral one. Hell, I’d bet money that a surprising number of GOP politicians don’t actually care about it themselves other than using it as a wedge issue to gain more single-issue voters to their side. I’m not religious so I tend to look at abortion as a political and legal issue, not a moral one, because outlawing abortion essentially grants more rights to a collection of cells than to a living, breathing citizen in that you deny the rights of bodily autonomy to one to save the other. That’s neither here nor there though, just my oversimplified $0.02 on a much more nuanced issue...
At this point the left needs an inspiring and competent candidate, ethnicity or gender be damned, and one that the GOP hasn’t already demonized and smeared like Warren or Gillibrand. Judging by 2016 someone like Hillary won’t be enough; as the old saying goes, “the left falls in love, the right falls in line”, so they need to find another Bernie: an extremely clean, dedicated civil servant who’s record is so spotless all the right has to attack with is baseless hand-wringing, and someone who’s inspiring and exciting and outside the establishment. 2020 will be a sink-or-swim election not just for the left but for this entire country, and the Democrats need to plan accordingly.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/17/2017 at 22:40, STARS: 0
I know plenty of Bernie supporters who have some serious regrets about staying home last November, and rightfully so. Can’t say I blame them though, I almost didn’t vote either but held my nose and put in for Clinton just so I was on record as voting against Trump (fat lot of good that did me in rural Indiana). On one hand yeah, protest votes or not voting at all is a large part of why Trump’s in the White House, but at the same time Hillary was a god-awful candidate and you can’t really blame a bunch of idealistic idiotic teenagers and early twenty-somethings for sticking to their guns in spite of all that entailed. I mean, what are they supposed to do, blindly vote party line like Republicans? I like to think the left’s better than that. Besides, we might have some good come out of it in that the DNC might actually learn their lesson and put forth a better candidate in 2020. Don’t know who it’ll be but at least it won’t be HRC again*.
*Should note that I have nothing against Hillary personally, don’t care about emails or Benghazi or whatever BS the right liked to smear her with, I just think she was the wrong candidate in the wrong election and both her and the DNC should’ve known better.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/18/2017 at 13:31, STARS: 0
That’s an impressive statement for someone of only 24 years. The DNC needs a few million more like you.
Rest assured: whomever the DNC trots out, Donald Trump will bully and smear. Politically, fighting Donald Trump is like fighting ISIS. I think that potential candidates should get extra points for being female.
Where are you in school? What is your major?
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/18/2017 at 13:38, STARS: 0
The 2016 election was the DNC’s to lose, and lose it they did.
In 1993, when Bill Clinton was elected POTUS, I was 29 and way less plugged into politics than you are now. But Clinton seemed different to me, and young enough to not be my father. Well, not quite. Then he had Monica Lewinsky smoking his cigar and lied to all of us about it and that should have been the end of him. That was a yuge disappointment for me. And then, for the next umpty years, it was nothing but Clinton. Like Hillary felt she deserved the presidency and for what reason? And in my wildest dreams, as much as I loathed Donald Trump, I could not have dreamed it being this bad. And now they’ve taken all the money so that when the Democrats do regain control of the government, the coffers will be emptier than empty.
Net neutrality ought to be a nice wedge issue for the Ds to use to help arouse the twenty-somethings to action... What do you think?
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/18/2017 at 15:51, STARS: 0
Thank you, I’d like to think I know what I have some idea of how the world works; whether I do or not is a completely different story.
It will definitely be interesting to see who comes out of the shadows for the DNC in the next few years; right now it looks a bit up in the air and for good reason like you mentioned, the right-wing propaganda machine is hard at work on potential nominees like Warren and Kamala Harris already, no need for a frontrunner to distinguish themselves too early and give Fox and Breitbart and whoever a head start on the smear campaign. I too would like to see a woman run, my concern is that it’ll just give the right more ammo to be horrible people like it did for Hillary. That being said if a woman can withstand such attacks with grace and class like HRC did then maybe that’ll be all the better because it will showcase her character and resolve. Trial by fire and all that.
And right now I’m at Purdue for mechanical engineering. I’ll be graduating this year so I’m hoping there’s a decent country to become a productive part of come May. Still working on the old job hunt but considering my degree and resume I’m not too worried; I actually have verbal offers from two separate companies already so it’s looking good so far.
Also I just now saw your evaluation post on the sidebar, didn’t realize you were a teacher. My mom teaches first grade and is having a hell of a time due to the state constantly messing with the curriculum and funding and whatnot, is yours any better?
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/18/2017 at 15:54, STARS: 0
Always heard that about Clinton, that he was the first real ‘cool’ and ‘different’ President after Kennedy. I was far too young to understand (or even remember) the impeachment trial and don’t even pretend to understand it now but from
A great analogy I once heard was that the Republicans are like bank robbers who blew out one too many walls trying to break in, and are now looting as much of the bank as they can before it collapses on top of them. Look at the tax bill, look at net neutrality, look at the recent CDC edict and climate change accords, you know they know their time is running out because everything they’re doing is for the short-term benefit and so temporary: net neutrality can be reinstated, the tax bill can be re-written, campaign finance laws can be instituted, voter suppression and gerrymandering can be undone, but none of that can be done immediately so they’re just trying to capitalize on what they can, as quickly as they can. Problem is that, much like the 2008 recession, the consequences of the Republican agenda will be so destructive that the Democrats won’t be able to undo most of what the Republicans have wrought in the four or so years the left are potentially in power (case in point, the real meat of the tax bill kicking in in 2021, conveniently right after the Presidential election), which will give the right endless supply of ammo with which to attack the left over how the country is in shambles during their leadership. It’s frighteningly brilliant, actually, and the sad thing is it’ll probably work like it did during Obama’s Presidency.
Speaking of which, I will be interested to see the impact of net neutrality on politics; apart from people on the Internet and people my age in real life I don’t see it becoming a wedge issue for two reasons: one, Internet connection is a binary thing to a large number people, mostly older ones, who are the most active voters. For example, my mom’s your age (not saying you’re old but you know what I mean) and has literally no idea why net neutrality matters, like she can’t comprehend why it’s important. As far as she’s concerned, as long as the Internet works, no matter how slow, she doesn’t care.
Further compounding the problem will be how ISP’s are going to go about implementing anti-consumer policies and actions, which will be done so most people don’t realize the impact of losing net neutrality. For example, Comcast isn’t just going to immediately block Netflix or YouTube or whatever and demand X dollars for the “Streaming” package, it’ll be a far more insidious, gradual process. They’ll ever so slowly start throttling down connection speeds to those sites over the course of weeks and months so that the change is barely noticeable to most people such that they become accustomed to crappy, slow, choppy streaming. Then, suddenly, they’ll introduce a “Streaming” package for the low, low price of X dollars to restore the previous connection speeds, so people think they’re actually improving on the old status quo, rather than just returning to it. ISP’s are stupid, just evil, so this kind of thing becoming the norm is what we can expect.
Secondly, I think in terms of wedge issues net neutrality far down the
list in comparison to other issues like abortion and women’s rights and taxes and whatnot. Not to say
it’s inconsequential, it has potentially catastrophic consequences, but in the grand scheme of things people are going to care far more about losing a right than they will about changing a technology they still have access to. I’d still like to see it become a rallying cry and central tenet of the new left’s platform but considering the mountain of other things they need to take care of I’d understand if it’s put on the back burner. For we know it may not even become law considering the lawsuits and Senate and House votes.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/18/2017 at 18:33, STARS: 0
My wife’s father got his PhD at Purdue in ME. He worked on rocket engines and his dissertation had to do with the fuel cooling the exhaust nozzles. He was full-in on the rocket craze and worked in the vicinity of Werner Von Braun, though I do not know if they ever actually met.
As for teaching and subject matter, I teach math and I have a BS in mathematics and apart from everything else, my union is absolutely corrupt and doesn’t give a scoob about children, only about gaining power. Having said that, and regarding Common Core, I’ve largely ignored it and stuck with getting as many kids as I can to master what I think they will need to know to help line them up for freshman Calculus. Since I’m tenured, and reasonably competent, and my students and I love each other, they can all just leave me alone. I spent eleven years in the high school and now, four years in middle school, with half a year teaching 6th grade where I discovered how dysfunctional an elementary school can be, which statement I hope does not amount to an affront to your wife.
I began my post-secondary education with the aim of transferring to UC Berkeley for ME, but the people were all too competitive for me and I didn’t want to work that hard, which turns out to be a character trait of mine, and which makes teaching a good fit.
As for the woman-hating propaganda machine of the right, I am hoping that they’ve lost some of their shock value.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/18/2017 at 18:41, STARS: 0
All good stuff. Gosh, you are a satisfying correspondent!
I do appreciate your mention of your mother and me being the same age. My oldest daughter is 22, so you are right in there.
One of the things I try to make a good faith effort to do is filter so-called liberal media bias. I don’t have a huge amount of time to devote to reading news each day, but I (somewhat dishonestly) access WSJ and NYT online each day, Politico, Business Insider (for the headlines mostly), and I get the executive summary from The Atlantic (super, super lefty). I’ve been paying attention to a man named Chris Buskirk because he makes the time to weigh in on NPR and not sound like a maniac. Do you have any other suggestions?
And if you are ever visiting San Francisco, I hope you will let me know so I can buy you a coffee.
Have you considered what industry you might like to work in? If I could work as an engineer, I’d be interested in energy. I think nuke plants would be particularly interesting.
"Frenchlicker" (frenchlicker)
12/18/2017 at 20:38, STARS: 1
Are you trying to tell me my vote in rural Indinana was all for naught? Good thing I knew but tried anyways.
"gmporschenut also a fan of hondas" (gmporschenut)
12/19/2017 at 20:39, STARS: 1
Sheilds and Brooks on pbs newshour are two faces for radio. They’re dry and imo the least spin ive seen.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/19/2017 at 20:49, STARS: 0
As are you man, it’s nice to have a civil conversation on the Internet about politics without it eventually devolving into some partisan pissing contest.
As far as news goes I kinda do the same thing you do, I look to AP and Reuters for raw headlines and then switch between the (liberal) NYT and WaPo and (conservative) Economist and WSJ to get as many viewpoints as I can before forming my own thoughts. I also try to avoid places like Reddit and Twitter and Facebook because they just turn into echo chambers for whatever side you’re on, which seems to be an increasing problem in news nowadays.
I may hold you to that coffee sometime soon, my family visited San Francisco a few years back
and I absolutely fell in love with the place, especially Haight-Ashbury, would love to go back sometime. It had such a unique and interesting vibe.
Ideally I’d like to get a gig in the automotive industry (shocking right) but honestly I’d take any job so long as it gives me time and money to pursue my other hobbies and interests. I’ve never bought into the whole “do what you love and never work a day in your life” line because, to me at least, the entire point of doing what you love is doing it for the sake of your own enjoyment, with no reward or expectations or anything, it’s just entirely on your own terms. Having a boss and deadlines and whatever just seems counter-intuitive to that.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/19/2017 at 20:57, STARS: 0
Man that’d really cool to even be in the orbit of a guy like von Braun, much less a part of the university propulsion labs at the time. I took a class on the space age and a part of it covered what was going on at Purdue and they had so much interesting things they were working on
And yet another story of how teachers circumvent or straight ignore curriculum and rules just so the kids actually learn, seems to be a pattern. My mom teaches in a low-income rural town that has predictably low test scores so the school forces all their teachers to jump through ridiculous hoops too and she’s basically doing the same thing you are to try and get these kids ready for second grade because, surprisingly, teaching to a single test every year only prepares the kids for that test, not critical thinking or math or being good people or anything else that you should be learning about as seven-year-olds. It’s insane how much work that entails, she brings home basically two full totebags’ worth of material every night that she completes before school the next day; if i guessed she works a total of eighty hours a week at minimum just doing paperwork and lesson plans for the school’s records. And it’s no affront to anyone to say elementary schools are anarchy; the sheer amount of bureaucratic meddling and micromanaging from people who have never taught a day in their lives is just insane, it’s no surprise even the most dedicated and caring teachers are jumping ship. The ones that are left are like you, highly liked and respected by the students and just untouchable enough by the administration that they begrudgingly let them do what they feel is best as long as they meet the bare minimum requirements the school sets forth.
Heh, not working hard in ME. I honestly don’t blame you whatsoever, I’m far from a workaholic myself so putting in the amount of time you need to actually do well is something I’m still not entirely used to even as a senior. Still though, glad I stuck with it because it’s given me an actual work ethic and sense of planning and time management which are things I never learned in high school.
Sad to say but I’d bet money that the misogynistic side of the GOP only becomes more vocal in the next election now that they’ve been, in a sense, legitimized by Trump in 2016. Plus my pet theory is that a lot of Trumpers (or anti-Hillary people in general) weren’t actually misogynists, it was just the easiest personal trait of Hillary’s they could attack because they don’t have the capacity to parse through more nuanced and legitimate issues. Now that that they have years and years of practice, it’ll become internalized for these people and far more virulent for people like Elizabeth Warren or Pelosi.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/21/2017 at 14:01, STARS: 0
Lots to talk about here. But elementary school, as I think back on my time there last year, it’s like everyone walked around sweating bullets like in North Korea. And the union? Contemptible.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/21/2017 at 14:03, STARS: 0
What about Politico? I toyed with subscribing to WaPo, but I figure NYT is already enough liberal. And I scan headlines at The Atlantic every day or two.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/22/2017 at 23:41, STARS: 0
Can’t say I’m too familiar with Politico apart from their reputation as one of the more centrist news organizations, which is commendable considering the current political climate. I’ll have to add them to my rotation. If you have an Amazon Prime account you get six month of WaPo for free, that’s how I subscribed to it. I also enjoy The Atlantic’s long-form journalism from time to time, they seem to be one of the few publications still doing that kind of thing. If you like them check out Foreign Policy, who produce similar work with a slight right-leaning bias and an eye to the more international and geopolitical context of news.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/22/2017 at 23:45, STARS: 0
Still the same according to my mom, everyone at her school is constantly stressed about test scores and evaluations and whatnot. Course, those kind of things have the opposite effect the superintendent probably wanted because the teachers end up worrying more about what the administration thinks of them than whether or not the kids learning what they need to.
Man don’t even get me started on unions. I’m the most pro-union dude I know but the stories my mom has make me want to reconsider that sometimes...
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/22/2017 at 23:57, STARS: 0
You and I could probably have a good conversation about unions. I’m not opposed to unions at all, but the reality is that unions foster mediocrity, squelch accountability and serve as a sort of religion for the people who run them. The guy who phones it in every day gets paid the same as the guy who works hard and what is the point of trying to be excellent when you make everyone else look bad.
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/22/2017 at 23:58, STARS: 0
Politico sends out a very good wrap-up email each day that pulls together bits from around the internet, including WaPo.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/25/2017 at 20:25, STARS: 1
That’s what’s so interesting about unions, you’d figure a people who form a group for their own self-benefit would try and purge themselves of the slackers and idiots who make everyone else look bad but more often than not, they end up protecting those guys which brings down the group as a whole (see police unions’ ‘blue wall of silence’, drugged-up factory workers, etc.). The whole ingroup dynamic would make for a really interesting study in human psychology and to be honest I don’t know how you get rid of that mindset in something like a union. Of course the obvious solution is to have employers treat employees well enough that they don’t need a union but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/25/2017 at 20:27, STARS: 0
Oh I’ll have to check that out then, I quite enjoy searching for my own information and articles but sometimes it’s nice to have them delivered to you. That’s why I liked Reddit’s political subreddits before they all turned into massive echo chambers...
"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
12/26/2017 at 01:02, STARS: 0
I read a columnist in the WSJ a week ago referring to “the liberal echo chamber” and I had to laugh out loud. Say whatever you want to about the [liberal] media but it’s too verbose to qualify as an echo chamber.
"SVTyler" (svtyler)
12/27/2017 at 21:53, STARS: 0
I think there is some truth in that though, maybe not in the sense that there’s a concerted effort to push a particular narrative, but the fact that there’s almost a sanctimonious righteousness to a lot of left-leaning sites and forums where they get caught up in the morality of how things
should
be that they kind of ignore the reality of a lot of the situations (see places like the Huffington Post or ShareBlue or whoever who tend to focus on the ideology of the story rather than the facts). That being said, at least it’s a harmless naivete instead of malicious a disregard for facts like Breitbart or InfoWars or other far-right places have.