2022 Midterm Thread

[chakoo]

Something stupid to distract from the doom and gloom (not looking forward to the results tonight)

 

 

[Jason]

DeSantis official says Justice Dept. can’t send monitors to 3 Florida counties - The Washington Post

WWW.WASHINGTONPOST.COM

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's administration said the federal government’s involvement would be “counterproductive” and violate state law.

 

[TUFKAK]

Just voted 

 

now drink and bbq

[Dodger]

1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Katie Hobbs didn’t debate Kari lake so we have a nice a/b test on if debates matter (they really don’t)

 

I think debates don't matter when both people show up and hit their talking points. But it might matter when you literally look mentally unfit, or just refuse to do it altogether. Guess we soon find out if that makes a difference. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

10 minutes ago, Dodger said:

 

I think debates don't matter when both people show up and hit their talking points. But it might matter when you literally look mentally unfit, or just refuse to do it altogether. Guess we soon find out if that makes a difference. 

lack of mental fitness hasn't hurt hershel walker lol

[TUFKAK]

3 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

lack of mental fitness hasn't hurt hershel walker lol

But he’s really good running a football!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, legend said:

Really? Cause let me tell you, I'm really loving having this dread. I love that women have had some of their rights stripped away. I love that people reject science for feels. I love that lack of action against climate change as we reach tipping points. I love that we still have a pandemic and shit policies for combating it. It feels so great being aware of this and not seeing a path to make humanity actually work.

And yet life today, and for the foreseeable future, is better for the average person than at any point in human history. There will always be bad things in the world, but from my POV, there is so much more good to celebrate and enjoy. 

[Jason]

 

 

[Jason]

Why 21% of Tennessee’s Black Citizens Can’t Vote

WWW.PROPUBLICA.ORG

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While many states have made it easier for people convicted of felonies to vote, Tennessee has gone in the other direction.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

1 hour ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Florida is solid red I’m sad to report

 

1 hour ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

Has been for a while

 

53 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Best case is FL turns out like MN but with the parties switched

 

Last I saw, Ron had a 41% approval rating among self-identified Democrats in Florida.

 

That state belongs to him, lock, stock, and barrel. 

[CitizenVectron]

20 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

And yet life today, and for the foreseeable future, is better for the average person than at any point in human history. There will always be bad things in the world, but from my POV, there is so much more good to celebrate and enjoy. 

 

It 100% depends on your level of privilege. If you have money, you are better off than in most of history. If you are trans...it's going to get worse. If you're a woman, you have less freedom than 30 years ago. Also comparing to most of human history isn't a valid measurement. 

[Jason]

1 minute ago, CitizenVectron said:

Also comparing to most of human history isn't a valid measurement. 

 

"There are starving children in Africa so your problems don't count." 

[Kal-El814]

25 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

And yet life today, and for the foreseeable future, is better for the average person than at any point in human history. There will always be bad things in the world, but from my POV, there is so much more good to celebrate and enjoy. 

 

This is true at the same time that increased access to media and better communication tools make it much easier to be aware of the people for whom today might be better than yesterday but still not great. Telling a trans kid that things were worse before they were born is like telling me that there are starving kids in Africa. It's true but that's not making the lima beans go down any easier.

 

EDIT - I did not intend to be the caboose on three posts resounding to this

 

EDIT EDIT - Not the caboose after all! 

 

9 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

Last I saw, Ron had a 41% approval rating among self-identified Democrats in Florida.

 

I genuinely don't get DeSantis's appeal at all.

 

Trump is a boob, but I can appreciate how he's someone's mental vision of what a strong, successful business man is. DeSantis is just an unsalted rice cracker in a suit, I don't get it.

[legend]

26 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

And yet life today, and for the foreseeable future, is better for the average person than at any point in human history. There will always be bad things in the world, but from my POV, there is so much more good to celebrate and enjoy. 

 

In aggregate, there has most definitely been an upward trend in humanity across time. In the best world, this is all a blip and we course correct. My issue is things are falling apart fast and I don't see a solution to foundational problems that are causing it. Social media, for example, is just fucking awful on average for people, even though there are great use cases for it. It empowers the worst part of humanity. Climate change and fighting pandemics are on a coordination scale that humanity has never had to face before, and it's unclear we can get people to course correct. I'd say people will ignore it until the suffering is immense, but by that point all indicating is the same kind of people will be saying "well there's nothing we can do now, might as well carry on," so even that isn't a given.

 

Humanity has a culture problem that interacts badly with the new technologies we have. I wish I knew how to fix it.

[Ominous]

35 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

And yet life today, and for the foreseeable future, is better for the average person than at any point in human history. There will always be bad things in the world, but from my POV, there is so much more good to celebrate and enjoy. 

That's a good way to set the bar low.

[CitizenVectron]

2 minutes ago, Ominous said:

That's a good way to set the bar low.

 

It's easier to justify when you have money or some other form of privilege. It's why billionaires can say they want to fight climate change but still take their private jets everywhere.

[Guest]

I think I would have killed myself by now if I felt the way most of you claim to. What's the point of life if you stew in misery all the time? Or your outlook is just that things will get worse and worse over time (despite all data showing the opposite trend!). 

 

You're the humanist equivalent of Calvinists  

[Ominous]

2 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I think I would have killed myself by now if I felt the way most of you claim to. What's the point of life if you stew in misery all the time? Or your outlook is just that things will get worse and worse over time (despite all data showing the opposite trend!). 

 

You're the humanist equivalent of Calvinists  

I think it can get much better, but this baby step approach we have is infuriating.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

3 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

You're the humanist equivalent of Calvinists

gross

[TUFKAK]

8 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I think I would have killed myself by now if I felt the way most of you claim to. What's the point of life if you stew in misery all the time? Or your outlook is just that things will get worse and worse over time (despite all data showing the opposite trend!). 

 

You're the humanist equivalent of Calvinists  

Because in my case, my life is ultimately way better than most, living a lifestyle I never imagined and I realize how blessed I am. I’m still disgusted by what’s happening. The belief in America was a stabilizing force in my life and I’ve lost that.

[Uaarkson]

10 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I think I would have killed myself by now if I felt the way most of you claim to. What's the point of life if you stew in misery all the time? Or your outlook is just that things will get worse and worse over time (despite all data showing the opposite trend!). 

 

You're the humanist equivalent of Calvinists  

I almost did kill myself, several times, over the past few years. Lots of personal issues but the state of the world was definitely not helping. I had to learn to let go of a lot of this shit to an extent, just to survive. Not that I don’t care anymore, but for fucks sake this place can be bad for your mental health if you let it!

[SaysWho?]

3 minutes ago, Uaarkson said:

I almost did kill myself, several times, over the past few years. Lots of personal issues but the state of the world was definitely not helping. I had to learn to let go of a lot of this shit to an extent, just to survive. Not that I don’t care anymore, but for fucks sake this place can be bad for your mental health if you let it!

 

Who were you before Uaarkson?

[legend]

17 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I think I would have killed myself by now if I felt the way most of you claim to. What's the point of life if you stew in misery all the time? Or your outlook is just that things will get worse and worse over time (despite all data showing the opposite trend!). 

 

You're the humanist equivalent of Calvinists  

 

 

Even when things must end, the optimal policy is to extract as much value as you can until then!

 

 

Aside from that, I do hope that we can course correct. 

[TUFKAK]

 

1 minute ago, legend said:

 

 

Even when things must end, the optimal policy is to extract as much value as you can until then!

Capitalism in a nutshell 

[legend]

2 minutes ago, TUFKAK said:

 

Capitalism in a nutshell 

 

Naa, I think capitalism in practice is "extract as much value over the next year as possible, and don't worry about what that means for the year after."  

 

One is an arbitrary self-imposed horizon, the other is dealing with an unavoidable horizon!

[TUFKAK]

Just now, legend said:

 

Naa, I think capitalism in practice is "extract as much value over the next year as possible, and don't worry about what that means for the year after."  

Or quarter 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

37 minutes ago, Kal-El814 said:

I genuinely don't get DeSantis's appeal at all.

 

Trump is a boob, but I can appreciate how he's someone's mental vision of what a strong, successful business man is. DeSantis is just an unsalted rice cracker in a suit, I don't get it.

 

In a word: competence.

 

For better or worse, DeSantis has been genuinely viewed as a pretty good steward of Florida and its economy.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Ominous said:

I think it can get much better, but this baby step approach we have is infuriating.

I can appreciate that the rate of change is a frustration. I guess I’m just of the “leave it better than I found it” line of thinking, personally. I don’t really have much more that I can do, and it seems to me that the trend line continues to be that the world on average is better today than when I was born, which is true of the time from when my father was born until me, and his father until him, and so on.

 

The male lineage of my family were slaves 150 years ago. It gets better.

[Uaarkson]

10 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

Who were you before Uaarkson?

Lol. I’ve been Uaarkson since April of 2004. 

[SaysWho?]

3 minutes ago, Uaarkson said:

Lol. I’ve been Uaarkson since April of 2004. 

 

I don't ever remember your username.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like, ever. wtf? Because here you fucking are.

 

The new angus burgers at McDonald's are so dank | IGN Boards

WWW.IGNBOARDS.COM

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I've been eating them daily.

 

[Jason]

4 minutes ago, Uaarkson said:

Lol. I’ve been Uaarkson since April of 2004. 

 

wow @SaysWho?, wow

[TUFKAK]

3 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

I can appreciate that the rate of change is a frustration. I guess I’m just of the “leave it better than I found it” line of thinking, personally. I don’t really have much more that I can do, and it seems to me that the trend line continues to be that the world on average is better today than when I was born, which is true of the time from when my father was born until me, and his father until him, and so on.

 

The male lineage of my family were slaves 150 years ago. It gets better.

Until it doesn’t though.

 

Rome is the great example here too.

 

i realize this is my privilege speaking for sure, btw.

 

But things in the empire were better than those outside it, and it collapsed, and it took generations to recover. Even for the majority of the slaves in the empire.

[Uaarkson]

5 minutes ago, SaysWho? said:

 

I don't ever remember your username.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like, ever. wtf? Because here you fucking are.

 

The new angus burgers at McDonald's are so dank | IGN Boards

WWW.IGNBOARDS.COM

---

I've been eating them daily.

 

Lmao RIP in peace McDonald’s angus burger

[SaysWho?]

I like to think I remember a lot of usernames from the days of yore.

 

 

 

Your dammitsteves. Your jshers. Your boston-aods. Your mike12348901258092340s. Your Steve_Zissous (who is still with us). Your incredibleelephants. Your Shrikes. Your Adariels. Your kavbs. Your tvjunkies. Your ensigns. Your Lothars (who is still with us). Your ninjayaddayaddayaddas (or ninjayaddax3). Your ben_teh_n00bs. And sometimes I just remember someone vaguely, like the one with the "I LOVE CAPITALISM" avatar that he eventually changed to "I LOVE SOCIALISM."

 

Why is this drawing a blank?  

[TUFKAK]

Just now, SaysWho? said:

I like to think I remember a lot of usernames from the days of yore.

 

 

 

Your dammitsteves. Your jshers. Your boston-aods. Your mike12348901258092340s. Your Steve_Zissous (who is still with us). Your incredibleelephants. Your Shrikes. Your Adariels. Your kavbs. Your tvjunkies. Your ensigns. Your Lothars (who is still with us). your ninjayaddayaddayaddas (or ninjayaddax3). Your ben_teh_n00bs. And sometimes I just remember someone vaguely, like the one with the "I LOVE CAPITALISM" avatar that he eventually changed to "I LOVE SOCIALISM."

 

Why is this drawing a blank?  

Who are these people? 😂