gulliver
gulliver's JournalMAGA influencers are fighting for legalized price gouging
We need to go on offense on this.
MAGA influencers are Chicken Littles...Boys who Cry Wolf. They're wailing about "price controls" when no price controls have been proposed. There are no Communists under their beds. MAGA influencers are either paranoids or, more likely, they're actually for corporate price gouging.
Taking a platform position against all forms of yahoo miscreant protestors
Whatever the cause, including MAGA, pro-Palestine, anti-Broccoli, or whatever, I think nearly everyone agrees that some of the so-called protesters we see in the news are bums and should be considered so. Imo, Dems should take a bright line position against them all. They're the same people, just with different resentment flavors. Given the importance of our core principles, including the preservation of democracy, Dems can't afford to be saddled with the miscreants who are often mis-identified (by the Republicans, the media, or by the miscreants' own unwelcome self-identification) with us.
Platform proposal: Protesters who do the following should be subjected to shame socially and in the media but, also, prosecuted and punished (if guilty) to the full extent of the law. Punishment can include any legal form, including fines, imprisonment, deportation, etc.
- Vandalism (graffiti, statues, window-breaking)
- Other Crime (looting, violence, threatening behavior)
- Intentionally blocking traffic with some guardrails to allow for street protest
- Taking over public spaces past some threshold time (to allow for protest but not encampments)
- Taking over non-public spaces (such as offices and buildings)
Thoughts?
If Trump were losing, the media would have competing "Trump Exposed" pieces 24x7
Trump has enough material to flood the media market with attacks on him. Why don't the jackals jump on him? I think it's mainly two reasons, but I'd like to know more.
1) Trump and his crowd (Republicanists) bite back when bitten. Some may remember Dan Rather and Megyn Kelly.
2) The media don't want to kill the goose that could be laying golden eggs for them for four years
If Trump were losing (more clearly), they'd be helping drag him to the ground. They'd want to get as much face time and as many paychecks out of him as possible before he disappears from screens and makes his way to prison.
These are the actual reasons, imo. The face-preserving rationalizations are many. They usually start with, "I don't report on Trump being a shifty old nutball and can keep my reputation as a journalist, because X." (Where X is actually just ego-preserving, paycheck preserving BS)
Some of these protesters and paraders would be such good opportunities for Dems to disavow.
I really do wish we could find it in ourselves to say, "Nope...yuck...too far" when some lostie outlier does something no good and people mistakenly associate them with Dems and the left.
It's important that we say what we're not. We can't have the poor lost Trumpies saying, for example, Dems are Ok with nimrods parading naked through public streets, vandalizing statues, blocking traffic, etc. We're not Ok with it. We think they're nimrods too. What keeps us from saying that could simply be a lack of common sense. A mature, adult's experience and security in knowing that there is always a "too far." If so, we need to grow up and get secure.
We have all the good issue positions. We don't need to let Republicans associate us with bad ones.
The guy who mugged me was "deceived"
(Fiction)
So, I'm crossing the parking lot in the dark. Glancing at my gold Rolex, I noticed the time was about 11:45pm. My car's in the upper deck, so I head to the dark stairwell. The guy who was behind me seemed like he must have been parked on the same deck. He followed me into the stairwell.
Surprisingly, at the first landing on the stairs, the guy asks me if I have a light for his cigarette. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my lighter. It took a second, because the diamond stud caught on my money clip.
The clip falls out of my pocket. Great, I thought, now my hundreds are gonna get dusty.
I started to light the guy's cigarette, but then I noticed he hadn't gotten it out yet. I was puzzled.
The guy says, "let me get that for you," and reaches for my money clip on the ground.
"Thanks," I said.
Anyway, he gets the clip and, instead of handing it to me, starts to walk off with it. Can you believe that?
So, I said, "Hey, that's my money clip."
This guy...this guy turns around and says, "Not anymore!"
"Wait. You're stealing it?"
He just looks at me like I'm an idiot.
"You're stealing my money?"
"No," he says. I'm just reclaiming it. "This guy I listen to told me you stole it from me."
"Which guy?"
"Stage hypnotist guy. He's great."
"Did you believe him?"
"Sure."
"I don't think you do."
"Maybe I don't. I'm keeping the money though."
I was going to give him a piece of my mind, but he ran off.
The old, good "worthiness" framing vs. the new, stupid "mental health" one
I just saw some supposedly CBS poll results where they asked people if the two candidates do or do not have the "Mental & cognitive health to serve as President." The poll clearly shows something. It shows just how lost the media and people are. Terribly lost. We seem to have forgotten about virtue in the popular discourse and practice.
To the lost, the concept of virtue seems suspect. Tao Te Ching Chapter 45 comes to mind.
Because of this lostness in terms of virtue and this desperate (but accepted) clinging to half-digested "popular scientific" concepts like "mental health," it becomes unrealistic to expect the news media to ask people if the two contestants are or are not "worthy of being President of the United States."
The important question can't be asked, because it's considered vaguely corny and unscientific by the lost and foolish.
Donnie Downer: Are Trump and his diehard Trumpies bummers?
I just watched the latest trending Trump bummer video over on X. He's talking about how people are pitching tents in airports this time. I mean, seriously, this guy is a complete buzzkill. And it's a total lie. Again.
See, the issue isn't only the election. When little creeps like Trump are rewarded for putting down the country, they do more of it. What does that do to our national morale? What does that do to our business climate? Our reputation?
They're flying the flag upside-down now. Imagine you just put your house up for sale and some grouchy, depressed Trumpie neighbor puts up an upside-down flag. Might as well cancel the Open House and get ready for low offers. Then scale that effect to the whole country. Trump is reducing the value of the United States.
Suppose you're a senior, it's June 2025, Trump is President, and a senior-killing pandemic hits...
Do you think you'll see June 2026? I don't.
I actually think everyone should be afraid of the crackpot take the poor Trumpie lost folks have on the history of the pandemic. A next pandemic under Trump will be, in a word, ghastly. Any mention of producing a vaccine or doing anything at all to prevent the spread of any disease, regardless of how deadly, will be greeted by Trump as "another" hoax. And his followers will echo it.
Rewarding Trump for Jan. 6th is a terrible idea
I keep hearing nonsense like, "Well, Trump didn't destroy the country before, so..." It's kind of pitiable as an argument, but let's ignore it for the moment.
What about rewarding Trump for Jan. 6th? Do we really want to reward his jerking the country around like that? Do we want every presidential candidate from now on to have the option to do what Trump did? Just rustle up a pack of jerks and stink up the whole country (at best) every four years? That's expensive entertainment.
No one seems to think about the future you get when you don't do something about the past. You don't reward bad behavior. Duh. But there we have it.
There's an element of "bring on the asteroid," in the Trump voter. They've been Tartuffed by Orange Elvis. Or they think they're in on the con rather than its mark. Or they're just giving up.
I wonder how they feel about their skin being in the game of Trump though. I don't think they're really, really thinking about it. Chaos.
Really? Guy who falls asleep in front of the TV with Fox News on and the remote in your lap? Just got your Social Security, so you can hit Outback tomorrow and make your boat payment? Chaos is what you want? You sure about that? Seems funny and all, I know. But...
Hopefully we'll start having repeated Bill Clinton-like "Sistah Souljah moments"
Why don't Dems have 75% of voters voting for us? Our policies are good.
A lot can be explained by image neglect. Republicans and some moderates actually think Trump is a better image than their image of us. Such is the market. Shake your head all you want.
We could go a long way toward getting the 75% voter support our true policies merit by taking a page from the old Clinton playbook.
Example,
1. Some numbskull named Marvin says something dumb or cracked on a video. Marvin's wearing something pretentious that looks like it comes from the "pseudo-lefty" section of Spencer's. He's an "influencer" wannabe.
2. The majority of Dems and moderates cringe. Who's Marvin? And why is he wearing those incense burners as earrings?
3. Trump and Putin drool. Marvin's the new Dem poster child. Right-wing YouTubers go nuts. Marvin's on every thumbnail. "Lefty Marvin, your kid's new nursery school principal?"
4. Then we, what? Here's the part we're not doing. We say, in harmony, "Marvin sucks. Now, about reproductive freedom. Can we get back to that?"
Profile Information
Gender: MaleMember since: 2001
Number of posts: 13,295