Good King Trump

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Some companies have been 'stepping up' to help, during COVID-19 pandemic—but not Trump's

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Trump broke the Republic. Trump broke the Republic.

Gavin Newsom Declares California a ‘Nation-State’

At this stage he's talking shit, but, holy shit.

Canada anticipates productive and friendly relations with the nation states of California and Cascadia. Minnesota can join as a province.

[But]

Originally Posted by davidm

How is the DNC doing that, But? Is there a DNC agent assigned to each Democratic primary voter, when the voter shows up to vote? Does the agent enter the voting booth with the voter? Does the voter then prepare to check off Bernie’s name, and the agent then pulls out a gun, aims it at the voter, and says: “I’m sorry, please vote for Biden, or I will have to kill you. You see, the DNC is shoving Biden down your throats.” Is that it works?

You're right, I forgot how the system works. What's really happening is that all US citizens aged 18 or older who are all omniscient choose the most perfect human being among all the US citizens above the age of 35.

[erimir]

Originally Posted by But

You're right, I forgot how the system works. What's really happening is that all US citizens aged 18 or older who are all omniscient choose the most perfect human being among all the US citizens above the age of 35.

Biden wasn't my first choice OR davidm's first choice.

Neither of us would say that Biden is "the most perfect human being" eligible to be US president, or even close to it!

But we have a democratic system, and that's who the Democratic Party primary voters chose. They made a clear decision when it got down to only* Biden and Sanders. I disagree with their choice, but that doesn't mean that the DNC dictated that choice to them.

What should've happened instead? Should Buttigieg and Klobuchar been forced to stay in despite having no chance of winning? Should they have been forced to keep their mouths shut instead of endorsing Biden?

I will certainly concede that there are better voting methods. I think the party should use something like approval or range voting. This would be simple, easy to understand and to count, and it would avoid some of the issues we saw in this primary, like early voting causing problems with candidates who dropped out, similar candidates splitting certain voter groups, the 15% threshold would no longer be necessary (although they could still use a threshold for debates). There would be no issue of a candidate getting a narrow plurality and then there being an issue of whether that means they automatically win, nor wondering what to do if the presumptive nominee were to die or have to drop out - the next highest scoring candidate would be the obvious choice and there'd be little issue of debating whether that candidate was truly the legitimate choice of the people.

There are some other reforms you could incorporate as well. You could try to use ranked choice voting in some form, for example (which can combine with the proportional delegate system in various ways). They had this in the caucuses but it was incomplete, does weird things by applying the threshold at multiple levels instead of just statewide, and is paired with other features that strongly suppress turnout, but you could use it in a normal primary vote.

What's not the case, however, is that there's any reason to believe these changes would've resulted in Bernie Sanders specifically winning. In polls that did incorporate ranked choice, usually Biden still came out on top. Approval voting might've benefited some of the candidates who were trying to forge a path between Bernie and Biden though, like Harris or Warren. One hypothetical poll found that Warren would've had a clear lead in an approval election, but since the dynamics of such an election would've been very different (and voters unfamiliar with the system might not be thinking their choices through as much), you can't assume that those would hold up. Candidates would spend less time attacking each other and more time trying to simply make themselves more appealing, for example, including by instead praising candidates whose supporters they might be courting.

But while there are issues as there are with the Democratic Party primary system, it's still better than the overall American voting system, and it's better than it was in 2016.

*And Tulsi I suppose, for a little bit, but lol

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by erimir

Neither of us would say that Biden is "the most perfect human being" eligible to be US president, or even close to it!

[SR71]

Oh hey, is my camera on? STOP SPYING ON ME!

[BrotherMan]

I about flipped my desk when a Blue State facebutt group was all happy about Biden. Dammit, but we could have done better at least! GOD. YOU GUYS RUIN EVERYTHING.

But instead, I closed the tab and wept into my whipped coffee.

[erimir]

There were at least half a dozen candidates I would've preferred. Possibly more, but the field was too big to really look into all of them.

But he'll do. And he definitely wasn't the worst candidate either... I'd be a lot less happy if Bloomberg had won. And Bill de Blasio sucks ass too. Imagine if he, with his botched response to the coronavirus, were our standard-bearer...

[BrotherMan]

I'd like to think there would have been some kind of riot if Bloomberg had lasted longer than he did let alone win the nomination. But, this is the newest and most improvedest america so who knows what's going to happen tomorrow.

[beyelzu]

I'm going to vote for Biden enthusiastically and as many times as I am allowed even though I don't particularly care for the erstwhile segregationist.

He is still superior in just about every way to Trump.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Congratulations to all those who wanted a reality show host for president.

You’re on Survivor.

[davidm]

Originally Posted by But

You're right, I forgot how the system works. What's really happening is that all US citizens aged 18 or older who are all omniscient choose the most perfect human being among all the US citizens above the age of 35.

How is this response, to a bizarre strawman caricature of what I wrote, even remotely responsive to what I ACTUALLY wrote?

Hell, it’s not even a strawman of my question— it’s just out to lunch.

You said that the DNC was to blame for Biden coasting to victory, and NOT the voters.

I asked you HOW the DNC is to blame for Biden, as opposed to the voters — you know, those people who ACTUALLY VOTED, in most cases by huge margins, for Biden over Bernie?

You might also take a stab at explaining why Bernie’s vaunted youth vote actually DECLINED this time around, as compared with 2016. Was the DNC also to blame for THAT? If so, again … how???

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

The 80s are back and here to destroy us.

At COVID-19 briefing, Trump announces mobilization against drug cartels, saying traffickers are trying to exploit coronavirus | KTLA

1989
Full Metal Jackoff - YouTube

I keep coming back to these lyrics:

Some gang that ran smack in Viet Nam
Ain't got no reason to fear
Just get a Vice President so dumb
The crook at the top never gets impeached
That sure was easy wasn't it?
That sure was easy wasn't it?
More crack-more panic-moe cops-more jails
You see emergency-total war
You see emergency-total war
You see a black face-you see a crackhead
You see a black face-you see a crackhead
You see a black face-you see Willie Horton with a knife
You see Willie Horton with a knife
You see one Willie Horton you've seen them all
They're everywhere, I know
You asked for it, you've got it
Drug suspects have no rights at all
Property seized and sold before trial
Labor camps-on American soil?!?
Neo-Nazi bootboys
That the cops never seem to arrest
Prowl neighborhoods with baseball bats
Why now? Why do they get so much press...?
Mein Kampf-the mini series
Ollie North-"patriotic" hero
The leader for tomorrow is yours today
Finally gotcha psyched for a police state
On the Washington D.C. Beltway
Around and around I go
In a black van with no windows
And a chimney puffing smoke
My van's a mobile oven now
That burns the bodies you never see
Just like in Chile or Guatemala
People just seem to disappear
Just like Rome
We fell asleep when we got spoiled
Ignore human rights in the rest of the world
Ya might just lose your own
As the noose of narco-militarism
Tightens 'round your necks
We worry about burning flags
And pee in jars at work
To keep our jobs
But if someone came for you one night
And dragged you away
Do you really think your neighbors
Would even care...
Embrace the red white and blue reich
Ollie for president, he'll get things done!!!

[SR71]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

^ the visual ^

the

Why this moment is perfectly suited to Joe Biden’s bid for president.


PS - I love that image, it makes me larff. Larffing and larffing.

[davidm]

Yep, Biden will do.

I skimmed that Slate story linked by SR71. The writer’s thinking seems to comport with mine. Even before this virus nightmare hit, I was thinking that 2020 was not 2016, and was not figuring to be a “revolution” election — bad news for Bernie/Warren.

I figured — and still do, more than ever — that this was going to exactly what it was 100 years ago, in 1920: a “return to normalcy [sic]” election — the slogan Harding ran on, and won, replacing a white racist president who lied America into World War I, and on the heels of that war, the rise of the Bolsheviks, the first Red Scare, and, last but not least, the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 18 million people worldwide. People were exhausted by all this, and just wanted — well — a return to normalcy [sic].

I think that is what the vast majority of Democrats, most independents, and even a fair number of Republicans who have not lost their minds, want this year. First and foremost, most people want an end to the never-ending nightmare in the White House.

Even most people who are interested in revolution politics, I think, recognize that before any progressive revolution can take place, or even be thought about, the No. 1 priority is evicting the monster from the White House. I think a lot of people voted for Biden because they think he has a better chance to do that than Bernie. They may be right. If Bernie were the nominee he’d be smeared from pillar to post and from coast to coast as a Marxist, a Communist, even a Stalinist. Here in NYC, the vile NY Post, owned of course by the vile Rupert Murdoch, routinely calls Sanders “Comrade Bernie.”

None of the charges against Bernie are true, of course, but we all should know by now that truth holds no sway with a stunningly large segment of the American public.

For four years, everyone who is not a Trump cult member, not a MAGA-hat wearing lunatic, has lived in a constant state of nervous tension, almost daily with a fight-or-flight reactive response to the never-ending cavalcade of horrors emanating from Drumpf’s filthy regime. People just want it to end.

Anyone who doesn’t see the difference between Biden and Drumpf is out of his or her fucking mind! No, I don’t want Biden, but if the alternative is Drumpf? Yes, Biden, please — or Charles Manson, or a pigeon, or a lump of dog shit. Anyone, anything!

If anyone needs a fresh update on the vicious imbecile who is president, take a pass over to the Pharyngula web site, where a video is posted of Drumpf discussing the corona virus, on Friday, I believe.

I could not bring myself to watch the video, for fear that I might blow my brains out from despair. I’m only going to quote Drumpf’s words featured on the vid’s first frame. Read this and let it sink in, and tell me if you don’t get the dread fight-or-flight response. Here is what this “man” actually said:

Originally Posted by Orange Shitgibbon

“The germ has gotten so brilliant that the antibiotic can't keep up with it ... there's a whole genius to it ... not only is it hidden, but it's very smart.”

Are you reading this, people? This is the goddamned president of the United States, in the middle of the worst global public health crisis since 1918, and he doesn’t even know the goddamn difference between a fucking virus and a germ; doesn’t know that NO virus can be treated by antibiotics; and he thinks not only that a virus is a germ, but that it has brains.

Yes, Biden, please. Thank you!

And yes, Harding turned out to be one of the worst presidents ever, and Uncle Joe reminds me a lot of Harding — amiable grandfatherly type with no actual ideas who speaks in vapid platitudes. That is why I wanted Bernie or Warren! But we’re getting Biden, and if Harding could be brought back to life and were the nominee against Trump, I would vote for Harding.

[beyelzu]

So I hate Trump and he is a dipshit, but I don't take exception his use of germ. Germs are just pathogens and a pathogen can be a virus, fungus, bacteria, protist, or archeon. (maybe Prions as well, depending on how we think about it.

Antibiotics won't kill a virus, no doubt and it's stupid for him to mention them, but many people don't think or know the difference. It is stupid for someone who has access to experts in every field, but then everything Trump says is that.

I also don't have a problem with his thinking that it's smart and sneaky. I mean it is hopelessly anthropomorphic, but someone had to get the idea across to him that it was difficult to stop and that it being asymptomatic wasn't a good thing.

Anyway, yes he is a dangerous moron, but I was far more concerned when he wanted to ride it out because an essay that a lawyer wrote for the Heritage foundation.

[davidm]

Granted point on germs, but I'm pretty sure he thinks a virus is a bacterium and doesn't even know about the other stuff you mention.

Yes, many people don't know the difference, and that is just the point! The president NEEDS to know the difference, so he can EDUCATE people. Now you've got people listening to this, no doubt tons of them his base, who are going to be bugging their doctors about why they can't just take an antibiotic to kill the virus!

Like corona virus, this goober himself just IS a public health menace!

Imagine this guy as the war leader in WWII and telling people about how we are going to win the war in the Pacific against Italy!

[erimir]

Trump would be saying that Hawaii should've ordered more planes to defend Pearl Harbor years ago and it's not his responsibility to defend them against Japan. Maybe if the governor were nicer to him...

[JoeP]

Anything which gets more attention than Trump - and can't be dealt with by mockery - is a huge threat to his ego. He has to call it a genius to preserve his own self-importance.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Street art done by an artist named Welin seen in Copenhagen.

Yep. That's President Mini-Mitts: Truly respected throughout the world. pic.twitter.com/8kSKzUp9B8

— Bob Geiger (@GeigerNews) April 12, 2020

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

"Are We There Yet", by @deAdder

Subscribe to https://t.co/Iv9Fo1ppZG for more weekly cartoons. pic.twitter.com/e1p7XJGd9d

— Counterpoint (@newcounterpoint) April 9, 2020

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Nation’s Governors Consider Forming Country

AMERICA (The Borowitz Report)—In order to better coördinate their efforts to combat the coronavirus, the nation’s governors are considering the extraordinary step of forming a country.

The radical proposal is an unusual bipartisan effort, spearheaded by the Democratic governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, and the Republican Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine.

“Mike and I were bidding against each other for masks and ventilators, and I was, like, ‘Mike this is crazy,’ ” Whitmer said. “ ‘It would be so much better if we just worked together and formed a country.’ ”

DeWine said that Whitmer’s proposal of creating a country out of the fifty states “made a lot of sense.”

[beyelzu]

Trump Campaign Sues TV Station for 'Coronavirus Hoax' Ad | Law & Crime

It's defamation now to repeat what Trump has previous said.

In context, Trump was clearly trying to say that fear over the Coronavirus was the Dems new hoax, but i reject that that is really different from saying the coronnavirus is a hoax.

[ceptimus]

He's picking fights with everything and everyone now: the WHO, the Chinese, all the state Governors, the virus itself, science, reality, ...

It would be funny if it weren't so tragic. If he were in a film or TV series, I'd be condemning the writers for penning such an unbelievable character.

He obviously has mental problems; shame he's too powerful to be forced to undergo treatment.

You Americans picked a bad time to elect such a dangerous man - this will cost many lives.

[The Man]

To give ourselves a bit more credit than we perhaps deserve, he wasn't elected. The word "election" literally requires a popular vote by virtually every definition in operation (e.g., Merriam-Webster: "elect: to select by vote for an office, position, or membership"; Wiktionary: "election: a process of choosing a leader, members of parliament, councillors or other representatives by popular vote; the choice of a leader or representative by popular vote"), and he lost that by nearly three million votes. We don't elect our presidents, due to an eighteenth-century relic of slavery. He was appointed by that relic.

In any case, there is never a good time to elect (or appoint) such a dangerous man; but this was certainly a particularly inopportune time. It's just worth remembering that at no point in history has there ever been a majority or even a plurality of Americans in support of a Trump presidency*. His supporters have always been a minority of the country.