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PapayaSF's avatar

It continues to astound me that anyone thinks Newsom has a chance of winning the presidency in 2028. California continues to be an embarrassing disaster. How many voters across the country want to emulate that?

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Lisa Ricketts's avatar

Many of us in California don't want to emulate that! Please don't vote for this idiot. We tried to get him recalled, but the fix is in in California Voting as the rest of America and the world saw in 2024. How long does it take to count enough votes to pack the Congress with Leftists? Duh!

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Bandit's avatar

How many left wing voters have their heads outside the confines of their gluteus maximus that care if the country emulates the least successful state in the union?

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PapayaSF's avatar

There are lots of centrists and moderate Democrat voters who are not onboard with Newsom positions like defending criminal illegals and transing kids.

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Alex Rayman's avatar

The question I have is can anyone high up in the party break out of the grip of their screaming activist wing and seriously tack to the middle? They’ve set up a whole ecosystem that rewards performative extremism

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PapayaSF's avatar

True, it’s a huge dilemma that might well fracture the party.

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Valoree Dowell's avatar

Ask NYC

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Bandit's avatar

Yeah, Horchul is vying for title of dumbest governor, isn't it?

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Lee ann's avatar

Exactly.

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SimulationCommander's avatar

"When they set out to do something, they do it."

If some of those things included releasing covid files, January 6th files, censorship files, Epstein Files, etc etc, I would be happier.

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Chris Bray's avatar

I'm seeing some movement from HHS and its subordinate agencies that points in the right direction:

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/trump-hhs-rfk-jr-covid-vaccine-31923718

DOJ is underwhelming, so far, but we're still well short of a full year. TBD.

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alwayscurious's avatar

As long as Kennedy doesn't support mandating wearables, as he recently stated he supports, I will skeptically wait for him to show the world what he knows and has documented in his book the Real Anthony Fauci, that shots are a hollow, criminal and cruel scandal.

I hope he tears up the vaccine mandates by returning liability to the makers of these toxic witch's brews; by making them optional across the country and forbidding any school or daycare systems from requiring them, their use will plummet. This will require legislation and there the effort may fail as pharma is a significant sponsor of Congress people.

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QuestionEverything's avatar

I will never take the DOJ seriously unless they release Epstein client list.

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PH's avatar

It’s not just you, of course, but why are people so obsessed with the Epstein files? I don’t really care. We’ve got way bigger fish fry in this country than who the hell was hanging out with Epstein on his island.

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Mitch's avatar

I think it doing so would function as a signal that they are serious about making no one immune from prosecution under the law.

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PH's avatar

If you’re correct; that it is about the law, courts, people going to jail, I still don’t care. Rich people, past present and future, can and do get away with things that the rest of us don’t because they can afford fancy high priced lawyers. It’s the way of the world and I don’t want to waste precious resources on trials.

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Mitch's avatar

agreed, but to not even try to prosecute would be a bigger mistake due to moral hazard. At least put them through the process which is painful.

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Occam's avatar

That list is a list of the most powerful people the world has ever seen. No way it gets released.

Secondly, if they released it, they'd actually have to do something about it. Which they're not keen to.

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Leonard's avatar

You need to think a little more. What if the list has always been peppered with fraud? One or two mistakes released publicly and the lawfare begins again. And you need to be reminded that the list was initially built by the deep state so the fraud is practically baked in the cake. The “list” was only a threat to see who they could rattle, much like tariffs.

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QuestionEverything's avatar

Fair enough.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

In fairness, they're wide and deep tentacles that more than likely overlap in regards to the issues you posted. So that could take awhile to flesh out in order to reveal a "larger" conspiracy since they could all be said to be connected.

Just my 2 cents.

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Steve Campbell's avatar

If the DOJ has actionable evidence and enough of it to file charges against criminal perpetrators, I agree. Following the Democrat playbook of impeachment and criminal charges brought against Trump is not, in my mind what they should be doing at this time. It may hurt the headlines, but good cases take time and research. Merely releasing raw files and lists of names is not law, it's Schiff. Just think, maybe our names are on those lists, mine isn't and I know that, but I don't know about anyone else's. Do the things first that you can do and prepare to do the rest after that is done.

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SimulationCommander's avatar

I am skeptical that these revelations will come with criminal charges attached.

As usual, I hope I'm wrong.

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Roger Kimber, MD's avatar

Oh, & I think getting the illegals out have to be priority & it is incredible to me how much illegitimate procedural flack the traitors in the party have thrown up.

Patience, my friend.

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Roger Kimber, MD's avatar

1. SC., we know that the previous administration hid things in files & rooms that were not catalogued, so it was only recently that they even realized that they still existed, now they know & are looking at them; 2. It takes time to build a strong case, 3. The strongest case brought before a deep blue judge in a deep blue jurisdiction with a deep blue jury pool would be a waste of time, 4. One may want to pressure the little guys to flip on the bigger fish, 5. There may be some people that you want to hold what you know over their heads so you can get useful votes out of them that you might not have otherwise (I & others strongly suspect that is why Justice Roberts is so squishy on some votes that one would think were a slam dunk— turn about is fair play & more legitimate IMHO on political & policy issues than on legal matters, which are supposed to be nonpartisan ; 5. Some cases might best be brought late in election season, so as to damage a candidate, or even to get him to drop out of the race so close to the election that they can’t find a viable alternative candidate.

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DancingInAshes's avatar

Yes, it will be difficult to charge most of these people with crimes for visiting Epstein's island. Someone has to come forward and say "Yeah, that dude right there had sex with me when I was 16 after I was lured to the island by Ghislaine Maxwell."

It will stain their reputation if people know they traveled there though, and that's enough for me.

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SimulationCommander's avatar

Same with Fauci. Realistically, we're not going to throw him in prison.

But we CAN ensure that everybody knows he's a lying shitweasel who sacrificed your kids AND your parents, then lied to you about how it was all necessary.

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Anthony S Burkett's avatar

Hopefully, vigilanteism will save a tremendous amount of money in any litigation of the matter.

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Ravishing Rudey's avatar

You are one of the few people on this platform that actually gets it.

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Reader East of Albuquerque's avatar

SimulationCommander— I don't know about that. And I don't know if I'm right— time will tell— but I think Fauci might face serious charges later this year.

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Steve Campbell's avatar

I do too. Unless you disregard the law, like the democrats have done forever I hope the Administration doesn’t spend time with this and leave deregulation, cost cutting, DEI removal, equal rights for everyone, even white and Asian people, title IX and a myriad of solvable issues kicked down the road.

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K2's avatar

Like!

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JasonT's avatar

I am hopeful DOJ is carefully working with the facts available to them and will act within the law and at an appropriate time and not merely in response to the baying of the mob. There is much I hope to see in the next year or two; tumbrells in the streets is not on the list.

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Ravishing Rudey's avatar

What justification do you have for hope?

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Mitch's avatar

the clarity and brevity of your statement made me laugh. I hope you mean in it the broadest sense possible ; )

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JasonT's avatar

Trump has delivered on many of his promises and I see no reason at present to think others won't be addressed in due time. There is a lot of rot to be pruned.

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Steve Campbell's avatar

Hope is belief without justification.

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c Anderson's avatar

Beats Clinton bombing an aspirin factory. Democrats and Rino Republicans have proven decades of impotence when it comes to international relations. https://thereitis.org/clinton-bombs-sudanese-pharmaceutical-plant/

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SimulationCommander's avatar

You won't catch me defending America's foreign policy the last 80 years or so.

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Alan's avatar

We all would like to see accountability for the horrors of the past. Truth be told, no D.C., NYC or Atlanta jury is going to hold any of the perps--all Democrats--guilty for Covid, Jan. 6, censorship, Epstein etc.

What's amazing is how much the administration has accomplished with so few confirmations. It's a small but incredibly focused team that Trump has assembled. Puts a lie to the notion that a businessman can't succeed as president. His lowest performing picks are all lawyers--Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Coney-Barrett, Bondi, Patel, et al. The one lawyer doing a great job is RFK, Jr.

I personally prefer and applaud the focus on solving pressing problems today. Chris named some high profile examples. I'll add another--reorganizing the largest economy in the world, creating a new monetary system, and actively bankrupting the UK/EU which is ground zero of all the forever wars, currency manipulation and bond market crashes.

I never thought I'd see any thing better than Reagan's eight years, and Trump has accomplished nearly as much in five months.

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Anthony S Burkett's avatar

BOOM!!!!!~

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Chris Bray's avatar

52 aerial refueling aircraft

https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1937882076071469377

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Gunther Heinz's avatar

Minor observation. What information should we believe, and what information should we not believe? Just asking.

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Brian Nelson's avatar

I have said to my buddies and detractors numerous times this year, “…the most competent and consequential cabinet I have ever seen—probably since FDR.”

The irony Is how frequently my “friends“ who suffer TDS the writing this cabinet is full of amateurs.

I have been a disrupter my entire life. Certainly helps explain why I retired as a major…

I voted for the Trump administration because I wanted disruption. In every institution. In every organization. Every. Single. Government. Agency. Needs. complete renewal and rethinking.

I voted for this. Every single bit of it. The pain. The chaos. All of it. I love it.

bsn

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PH's avatar

Yes! This! 💯

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New Considerist's avatar

Disruption is the only option given the circumstances,

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Occam's avatar

Good on you, Major.

I'm with you. If nothing else, this administration is bringing the chaos, which, in case this American concept fails, will hasten its downfall and we can start fresh.

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Brian Nelson's avatar

I should have said that I voted for the disruption, can accept a certain amount of limited chaos, while our institutions are swept clean and rebuilt (personnel, policy, etc) as institutions which serve constituents.

Hastening the downfall of this concept of America is the only one I know, despite her flaws, is the light of the world. I do not support that. I don't even have enough trust in my fellow citizens to trust a Constitutional Convention.

Our flaws as a nation only reflect our flaws as men/women. The hubris and greed and gluttony--basically we've allowed the Seven Deadly Sins to become our operating norms in most of government.

Guaranteed jobs for life--tenure, almost any government job--probably--as an unintended consequence of this perceived comfort--give people permission to 'let their guards down'--and that is when the little devils inside of us can take over.

Anyway, lets hope, pray, and act as if this is the only vestige of goodness remaining in the universe--and protect, fix, and defend what we have in order to improve it.

bsn

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Rikard's avatar

Scrolling the thread in the evening, and I see this:

"Our flaws as a nation only reflect our flaws as men/women."

They should grab a mountain the size of Mt. Rushmore and carve that sentence into it. And put torches around it at night.

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Brian Nelson's avatar

Thanks Rikard. Another guy made some decent criticisms of a recent post of mine...calling me a carpet bagger, and stated a few other uncomfortable truths...one of them was essentially be a model of goodness, not a complainer--and another was how we see the world is more of a reflection of us than reality--how it really is.

I butchered both criticisms--but they all made me feel immediately defensive--which usually means a truth bomb was dropped in my face and I don't like it.

But the criticism had a way of me trying to rethink/relook at what bothers me.

I am for disruption, but not for destruction--AT ALL. I want to preserve the bricks as we dismantle so we can rebuild.

Anyway, I think the criticism of my previous musings influenced the statement. The Constitutional Republic can only succeed when its citizens hold themselves to a high moral standard of thought, behavior, and interaction.

I was thinking about something else the other day--it is so counter-intuitive that I cannot yet understand it enough to explain it--I only know it is true.

The more comfortable I am, the more self-centered/self-absorbed I become. When I am comfy in my warm bed at 0200--the LAST thing I want to do it let my dog out who is whimpering...at 1400 in the afternoon, I immediately spring from my desk to take care of him.

Ironically, when I am in the middle of discomfort-I'm fasting, I'm a bit tired from getting up early and working out or writing or doing a devotional; when my body is sore from DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) from flat-out getting it done a previous day--essentially a pebble in my shoe degree of discomfort. I can keep marching--but there is a constant reminder of discomfort--when I am there, for some reason, I am 100% open to the needs of others. I am way way way more compassionate. I am way way way more forgiving.

I know it is true, but I do not yet understand the 'mechanism' behind it. Maybe (just thought of this) it is Christ or the Holy Spirit. Maybe this is part of the blessing of 'pick up your cross and follow me' means? I don't know, but I do know I'm a better man when I suffer.

bsn

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Rikard's avatar

"I am for disruption, but not for destruction--AT ALL. I want to preserve the bricks as we dismantle so we can rebuild."

Yep. Re-use, re-cycle, re-build, re-evaluate, re-train. I'm a real magpie when it omes to re-using materials, to the point my wife is glad I don't drive or else me and my cheap-ass truck would be put-putting along and pop into every business, lumberyard and dump to ask stuff like "That pile'o broken single-use wooden cargo pallets over there, you mind if I haul'em away for you?".

Swedish military has a saying:

"Gör om; gör rätt"

It's a bit hard to translate, seeing it's an idiom, but it means both the below, dep. on circumstane:

"Do it again and do it right this time"

or

"You did it right, now do it again"

Meaning is quite clear: re-peat until it sticks and you learn how to keep doing (and keep going) rather than "not doing".

Marching, I can relate. I think it's almost a kind of phenotype or something. Some people they just don't get tired until they stop doing whatever it is they're doing and they don't want to stop until the job's done. But when they do stop, they want to be left the aitch-e-double hockeysticks alone. Same with eating: I'm always hungry. Doesn't matter how much I chow down on. I get full up, but I'm still hungry.

But load me up and put me on the trail and I feel nothing but fine, rain or shine. No pain, no tiredness, no hunger, no anxiety or what ifs rattling around: it's just me and the next ridge, always keeping an eye ahead to read the land and see where it's a moor or bog, where it's dry, how's the wind coming down and are those inky clouds on the horizon getting any closer.

Odds are it's some kind of pick'n'mix of traits. Genetical, cultural, spiritual-mythological-religious, training and experience, self-image/-expression-stuff - but I think all of them are like the artist's paints: the Will moves the brush that is choices made, actions taken or not taken.

To me, to keep myself moral, I need to make things a choice. I know that the moment I start thinking: "It wasn't me, it was down to XYZ" I'm lost. Know it from experience, as it were, even.

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Brian Nelson's avatar

Rikard,

Isn’t is ironic that some of the best people we ‘meet’ online are 1000s of miles away?

When I did the ‘ancestry’ DNA it turns out I am 100% Viking. My paternal grandfather was a Swede, and my grandmother was Norwegian. She used to laugh with a twinkle in her eyes and say, “Oh Yah, I married a Swede!”…like it was a mortal sin.

My mother had always said we had English/Irish/Scottish in us—but Ancestry basically said—Nah. That is when the Vikings went over to GB and had their way with them…

Have a great week!

bsn

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

I can't determine if Trump has moved quicker to put America back on the right track, in the first 120 days, or if the previous administration derailed the country faster in the first 120 days of their reign.

Tough call.

Both have been a site to behold

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NormaJeanne's avatar

I’m just praying the republicans can hold the majority in 2026. If they don’t, I think we’ll see a screeching halt to any forward movement.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Amen, NormaJeanne. That's why I don't mind seeing the Ds on the wrong side of every issue currently.

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NormaJeanne's avatar

Fingers crossed they stay there!

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Hugh Wayne Black's avatar

They will but the media will cover for them.

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PapayaSF's avatar

I think Trump knows that and is planning some blockbusters for the 2026 election season.

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JD Free's avatar

I theorized years ago that the proper name for an anti-Left movement is “the Builders”. As in, the people who actually build rather than making destruction their entire ideology.

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Artemus Gordon's avatar

when you said builders, I got an image in my mind of the folks in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged who went to "Galt's Gulch", the place where all of the productive enterprising "builders" went to live by their own principles.

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fiendish_librarian's avatar

We're finding out that many, like a *lot*, of people are functionally useless.

I also cannot *wait* to patronize People's Commune Bodega Number 17 and await the bountiful supplies that will be available to me in Mayor Comrade Mamdani's New York. It's worked so well elsewhere!

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Steenroid's avatar

Well you really don’t need all that crap on the bodega anyway.

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fiendish_librarian's avatar

The long queues and locked-up essentials will be character-building, community-centered side benefits for the cadres.

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Steenroid's avatar

And you can sing songs in line. Demtoids love singing songs.

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Belling the Cat's avatar

Comrade, you think you are "joking" but songs are oppression against the differently-hearing-tone-vocalisers among us: therefore report to camp for re-education immediately!!

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Steenroid's avatar

Oh goody a Camp. Sounds like fun.

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New Considerist's avatar

All will be free while supplies last.

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No name here's avatar

It only seems like competent execution because you're cishetero. It was clear to the rest of us that he's unqualified when he failed to shove a cucumber in his ass to celebrate the holy month of June.

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Chris Bray's avatar

I...can't argue with that?

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Will Tuttle's avatar

Yes, remember Biden's military trying to just install a dock by Gaza - epic fail - or the withdrawal from Afghanistan, etc...

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JT's avatar

Well, if Rachel Maddow says Lt. Gen. Caine is literally "unqualified"...then, obviously, he's got to go!

Where would this nation be without the likes of Maddow to tell us how our government should be run?

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fiendish_librarian's avatar

Think of her as the Jim Cramer of political prognosticators. Actually, think of *all* of them that way.

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DancingInAshes's avatar

"Anyone without an MBA from Brown is unqualified to do anything" - Rachel Maddow, probably.

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CB's avatar

Madcow's qualifications as a military analyst are that . . . she's the family butch:

https://people.com/who-is-susan-mikula-rachel-maddow-8612823

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Valoree Dowell's avatar

That explains…everything.

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Opmerker's avatar

To my eye, there are too many uncomfortable comparisons with Team Blue and a Cargo Cult.

It gives me no pleasure to see this. I know we need functional parties on both sides, just as we needed Adams and Jefferson to balance the scales.

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Tim Hinchliff's avatar

That memetic societies thing....

Hammer hitting nail everytime I read it......

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Rikard's avatar

White men did something and it worked?

But but but - that's racism!

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Alan Hodge's avatar

Speaking of mimetics, think the Republicans' testicles are ever going to drop? Because Trump's executive orders will be just as easily reversed as Biden's have been, minus the stinkin' majority party at least mimicking support for the president.

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jabster's avatar

Cynthia Nixon is richer than me.

When is she going to cut me a check?

That's how socialism works, no?

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Navyo Ericsen's avatar

"The problem with socialism is running out of other people's coffee." - Margaret Thatcher

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Navyo Ericsen's avatar

We live in two political realities: one solid, on-point, executable, with continuous follow through. The other completely unhinged and unstable, detached from physical reality. Your quote about mimetic societies is telling.

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