POLITICS: Please stop the Crazy Train so I can get off.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura) 01/09/2018 at 14:13 • Filed to: None

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Joe Arpaio announced he’ll run to fill Jeff Flake’s senate seat. Arpaio even tries to sound like President Trump, “...believe me.”

https://nyti.ms/2FjiNQN

LOREM IPSUM > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 14:25

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He couldn’t possibly win though, could he?

Party-vi > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 14:27

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He’s the third convicted Republican to run for senate in 2018.

ETA: This old fucker hates brown people so much a federal court said “hey, stop racially profiling brown people in your jurisdiction” and he said “nah, probably won’t do that”. The best way he could serve his country would be to pull a Dwyer. Fuck Joe Arpaio.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > LOREM IPSUM 01/09/2018 at 14:28

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If 45's presidency has accomplished anything, it has shown that anything is possible.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Party-vi 01/09/2018 at 14:30

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I am in a state of disbelief, frankly. Ol’ Joe even talks like Trump.

Party-vi > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 14:33

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Bob Menendez will probably run again since he hasn’t been convicted yet, unless the party can convince him to, you know, not run for senate as someone that was brought up on corruption charges and could possibly be under investigation still.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 14:50

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It showed that when you empower incompetent and willfully ignorant people, they seek to validate and spread their incompetence and ignorance at all costs.

The lack of voter aptitude is a challenge to democratic institutions that operate on competence and integrity. When you introduce leaders with neither of those qualities, the whole system is challenged.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 14:56

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It seems as if to some degree, the machinations of the government have withstood some of the onslaught...

My issue throughout this all has been that I don’t care about the politics. (Well, I do , really, but...) What I car about is 45's unfitness to hold the office. For that matter, he’s unfit for mixed company. Then again, Victor Davis Hansen offers some interesting contextual commentary here:

http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/is-trump-really-crazy/

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 15:08

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This sort of election validates China’s official reasoning in being reluctant to adopt the existing democratic republic government models (with India still being their favourite punching bag). The PRC was genuinely surprised that the US would elect such a “leader” for itself.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 15:24

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So was 3,000,000 less than a majority of voters who participated in the election.

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 15:33

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Welcome to deconstructed absurd America, enabled by people who will cut off their nose to spite their face.

Protip: when someone says “believe me”, they are lying. Holds true with the stable genius and this case against evolution.

fintail > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 15:35

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To be fair, the stable genius didn’t win the popular vote. A broken 18th century relic has some blame in this,too.

The sad part is - what’s the alternative? Other than a popular vote.

fintail > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 15:36

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Looking at the repression and horror the PRC used to gain and hold power, I don’t know if this validates it. American idiocy is still apples to oranges.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > fintail 01/09/2018 at 15:43

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Or to spite your face...

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 16:02

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We’ll see how far that gets them.

Then again, these are also the temporarily embarrassed millionaire types who think they’re always on the cusp of hitting it big.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > fintail 01/09/2018 at 16:21

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You keep saying, and I am not disagreeing, that some of these folks are going to wind up on the wrong side of history. I hope you’re correct.

ImmoralMinority says that Trump is a temporary illness and I say I hope he’s not temporary like pancreatic cancer is temporary.

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 16:28

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Shifting demographics are the only thing giving me hope right now - as I know the band of devotees is just too bigly and stubborn. Eventually, gerrymandering and suppression won’t work.

Sometimes I get a queasy feeling that this dim (witted) chapter in history is temporary like an infection that results in amputation.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > fintail 01/09/2018 at 16:29

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Going on a tangent here, but I’ll try to tie it back into the subject:

The PRC gained power through a civil war against the ROC. That’s as much as can be said—war is never pretty.

The most infamous peacetime era of the PRC was the Cultural Revolution leading up to Mao’s demise. It exploited the people’s ignorance to promote back-stabbing, bloodlust and deep distrust of each other.

Both were terrible times, but they are bygone eras and today’s government and leaders personally have little to do with them. Notice how no single PRC chairman has ever passed on any significant leadership position to his descendant. It’s a technocrat’s oligarchy and the CCP aims to prevent another personality cult like Mao’s from ever taking hold.

For China to really join the modern “allied” world, it really needs a transparent, thorough conclusion to national disasters such as the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen power struggle and resulting massacre tragedy, and so on. Unfortunately, a thick skin is needed and China just doesn’t have it at this point.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 16:34

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On the other hand, China is reluctant to quickly adopt direct elections on a national scale, for fear of this vicious cycle that has been dogging it for the past 200 years:

1. Political factions try to gain the support of people

2. People become misinformed and biased

3. People distrust the govt.

4. Govt. falls apart

5. Civil unrest and/or war

6. Possible foreign occupation

Not saying that justifies whatever they’re doing at this point, but IMO it’s an understandable mindset.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > fintail 01/09/2018 at 16:40

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I suppose that’s better than pancreatic cancer. Most anything is...

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 17:21

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The Simpson’s predicted a big mess would need to be cleaned up after the reign of Stable Genius - they are probably right.

fintail > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 17:22

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Good points. (relative) Stability, just at what cost.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > fintail 01/09/2018 at 17:29

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Of course, nobody should try to argue that “I need a Cultural Revolution where people report, threaten, kill and eat each other for being potential traitors, otherwise my country is doomed.” But at the time I’m sure that was the sort of message delivered to the needed political allies!

fintail > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 17:35

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I wonder how much that mindset still exists, and if it is a reason why so much money is flooding out (corruption running away before it can be reported). With residency for sale in most of the west, there’s an easy escape.

 Sometimes I think more than a few in the US want a similar revolution now, one where the educated are disappeared, so to speak.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > fintail 01/09/2018 at 17:35

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The younger demographic is significantly more pragmatic than the older voters. That is somewhat heartening.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > fintail 01/09/2018 at 17:41

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Yes, the money is still flowing out (much to the chagrin of the current Xi administration). It is, however, becoming more and more difficult to park dirty money in financially stable countries, so now a bunch of third-world countries are receiving an influx of Chinese and Russian “investment.”

The most dangerous thing to do in the US would be to empower the ignorant out of pity. The first thing they would do is to get back at the “educated” class by overturning pesky things such as science and law and order. Because at the core they are children who only care to “get back” at people. They do not seek rule of law—only rule by mob.

I may sound harsh, but IMO the willfully ignorant do not deserve a platform to spread their hatred. Private enterprise could do a lot more to shut down hate speech.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 17:48

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As well, it seems like there’s nobody in between the young and the old. The old ones are dying and the young ones are inventing Google.

fintail > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 17:50

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The “investment” (speculation, money laundering) has virtually destroyed the reasonably priced housing markets in parts of Seattle and Vancouver, as I am sure you know. But with Jared going over to lure over more “investors”, it might not stop soon. Good for older people here, bad for all else.

I think the current deconstructivist movement is empowering the ignorant in some ways - but not for pity, for profit of a conman claiming to drain the swamp. In some ways, the last election was getting back at people. “Law and order” can be a dangerous theme in the American context.

I couldn’t agree more about the platforms, and much media in general. They are at very least complicit in this mess, if not aiding and abetting it.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/09/2018 at 23:06

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My cousin works in china and has people ask him all the time to explain american politics and hes just like:

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/09/2018 at 23:13

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nothing surprises me anymore.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 01/09/2018 at 23:29

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The court throwing out the North Carolina gerrymander was surprising, and it isn’t getting the amount of coverage I might expect. We’ll see what POTUS Fox and Friends says about it tomorrow morning. 

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/10/2018 at 00:21

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http://prospect.org/article/steve-bannon-unrepentant

I don’t get why people are surprised that bannon shot his mouth off to someone he didn’t really know. between all the feuding with kushner it really wasn’t all that shocking.

The other thing I don’t get is the admiration for this chaos, tear it all down and see whats left mentality. if i went into work and and said “this really important project that will drasticallly affect our customers and our business... well I’m just going to wing it and see what sticks.” I’d be out on the curb, yet that is held in esteem in politics for some reason.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/10/2018 at 00:28

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I was just having this conversation with a relative. in most states you need ID to vote. if a police officer ask you for id in 24 you must show it. if the officer is investigating a crime in nearly all states you must give your name or ID, so why isn’t an ID card (instead of driver lisence) an automatic thing we do?

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 01/10/2018 at 00:39

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People in China are amazed that World Leader ‘Murica, the great country that won the Cold War, actually allowed the “ignorant and proud” demographic to put one of their own into the White House. Times are a-changing, and the CCP even exploits this opportunity to give itself a pat on the back for being a [cue the groaning] progressive country, as ‘Murica takes a few steps back and sets the bar really really low.

At home, the Chicoms (I use the word in jest) are saying things like “We will proudly carry the peacekeeping, developmental and environmental leadership roles that the US seems to be vacating.”

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 01/10/2018 at 00:43

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Because Freedom, and racism and profiling.

/s

Perhaps I come from a different culture, but to me being asked for ID, with a reasonable explanation, is not a big deal. Nor is a centrally stored domestic ID database which is a no-brainer given the amount of crime that goes on.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > gmporschenut also a fan of hondas 01/10/2018 at 12:54

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Thanks for the comment. I’m to dazed by the events of the past 48 hours to make a reply. I just hope something really bad doesn’t happen.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever 01/10/2018 at 12:58

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Are you, in fact, from a different culture?

It seems to me that the obvious plan would be for the liberals to make it easy — or easier — for their followers to obtain the necessary credentials.

And yet... In the history of Murica, it’s about The Man intimidating folks. We have a well documented history of that.

Herr Quattro - Has a 4-motion > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/10/2018 at 15:39

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I hope its a temporary illnesss, but Im not getting my hopes up. The success of Trump is being earmarked by republicans all around the country in an effort to get in line with what they see as their voter base views. AKA how to get elected/reelected.

It’ll go one of two ways- either the democrats will decimate the republicans in the upcoming elections and send a clear message that moderate americans will not stand for this BS, or republicans will only lose only a few hotly contested seats, and will win in several situations by canidates running a Trump-like campaign. In that case their goes the country, and that will lead to decades of Trump like campaigns.

That being said, the chances of democrats decimating the republicans in the upcoming senate and house races is getting more and more promising with every republican retirement. And with every percentage Trumps approval goes down. Especially because the outrage being generated by Trump has highly ‘mobilized’ moderate democrats, and even some moderate republicans.

I am mostly hoping we do not replace hardliner republicans with hardliner democrats, as that changes the problem, but doesn’t fix anything.

This not going to be a good era for American Politics. I think the next 20+ years will be marked by huge and vast swings in Congress. From extremeism left, to extremeism right, back and forth until it eventually settles back into a rough equilibrium.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Herr Quattro - Has a 4-motion 01/10/2018 at 15:57

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Or violently shakes itself to pieces...

Herr Quattro - Has a 4-motion > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/12/2018 at 23:12

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Just curious, what do you mean by that?

Do you mean the political system as we know it shakes itself apart, and the next “phase” of American politics will be marked by less extremeism, or something else?