POLITICS: what have you done for us lately?

[Chankgeez]

(I cannot see that image. ^^^ )

Gotcha covered. https://media0.giphy.com/media/3ohc17WOhnzx0nHuzS/200.webp?cid=ecf05e47cv91kjt6bniiczof39pz6z8wrzk8kgxlvv2mm0b9&rid=200.webp

[friendship]

That's always struck me as an amazingly arrogant and insulting thing to say about your own followers, but it seems to apply pretty well to modern Republican politicians and pundits manipulating their base.

"The mob is an imbecile herd, as stupid in its patience as it is savage when roused. You say to it: 'Enjoy yourself,' and it enjoys itself. You say to it: 'Go and fight your neighbor.' It goes to fight. You say to it: "Vote for the Emperor.' It votes for the Emperor. Then you say to it: "Vote for the Republic.' And it votes for the Republic.' Its rulers are as besotted; but instead of obeying men they obey principles, which can only be half-baked, sterile and false in so much as they are principles, that is to say, ideas reputed certain and immutable, in this world where nothing is sure, since light and sound are both illusions." Le Horla, Guy de Maupassant (1887)

[dubkitty]

They don't care, it's just a slogan they can yell. Ever since Clinton got elected in '92 they realized that the word "liberal" had become an acceptable term, so they have had to up the rhetorical ante to "socialist" and "radical leftist" to try to demonize Democrats. I recall from some documentary on Hitler's rise to power that he once wrote something like:

The people are so stupid. Just yell the same tired slogans over and over and they will follow.

That's always struck me as an amazingly arrogant and insulting thing to say about your own followers, but it seems to apply pretty well to modern Republican politicians and pundits manipulating their base.

i hate to be That Guy, but IIRC that was Goebbels.

[Lurker13]

They don't care, it's just a slogan they can yell. Ever since Clinton got elected in '92 they realized that the word "liberal" had become an acceptable term, so they have had to up the rhetorical ante to "socialist" and "radical leftist" to try to demonize Democrats. I recall from some documentary on Hitler's rise to power that he once wrote something like:

The people are so stupid. Just yell the same tired slogans over and over and they will follow.

That's always struck me as an amazingly arrogant and insulting thing to say about your own followers, but it seems to apply pretty well to modern Republican politicians and pundits manipulating their base.

i hate to be That Guy, but IIRC that was Goebbels.

Well I do still think it was Hitler, but you might be right. It's been a long time since I saw that documentary, and I don't even remember the title. I did an internet search but found nothing.

[dubkitty]

i'm fairly certain both would have said something similar, but there's a long Goebbels quote on the topic that i'm just too tired to look up. maybe in the morning...i had to take two Klonopins because i'm so upset about Becky coming down with pneumonia and her family's distressing lack of support or concern.

[Lurker13]

i'm fairly certain both would have said something similar, but there's a long Goebbels quote on the topic that i'm just too tired to look up. maybe in the morning...i had to take two Klonopins because i'm so upset about Becky coming down with pneumonia and her family's distressing lack of support or concern.

Oh I'm sorry to hear about your girl, I hope she recovers soon.

[dubkitty]

she was hospitalized over the weekend, but is back home now. it was terrifying because her immune system is severely compromised and any random infection could kill her. she literally gets galloping oral/trachael yeast infections like an AIDS patient. this was the first time she's been seriously ill since we've been together, and i was scared shitless, laying in bed and thinking "the girl you love could be dead by morning." i will admit that occasionally i'd chosen a different path because it's a LOT of emotional and physical work that goes with being involved with someone who's disabled. but she's so sweet and wonderful to me--nobody else but my mom has ever loved me so--and she's a dear, sweet person who's finally getting the love she always deserved. so i guess i'm good.

my life is really, really complicated for a guy in his early 60s with no money who lives alone.

[Lurker13]

That's a tough situation for you and her. For whatever it's worth, I'm wishing all the best for both of you.

[jirodreamsofdank]

The Goebbels 'big lie' quote is apocryphal -

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

[dubkitty]

it's worth a lot. i knew when we got together that a health crisis for Becky is always lurking in the background, but when it happens and you're wondering if the one you love is gonna die tonight...well, it puts a different spin on it. but when you love someone you're supposed to accept them as they are in whole. for me that means dealing with some difficult times and circumstances, but we love each other unconditionally and thus i'll deal with it. i won't have her going through that stuff alone. no matter how it hurts me.

[Dandolin]

last time i drove through Bucks County in late December, the dueling neighbors were standing down, sort of. Wutang Forever had taken down the lawn signs, though Trumpy next door was still flying a desecrated flag and hanging a Trump/Pence banner. Today Wutang was back on the lawn and Trumpy was flying 2 "Don't Tread on Me" flags.... :/
#merikathebeautiful

[jirodreamsofdank]

It's incredibly Democrat that they ran ads that said "vote for us for $2000 checks," then changed that to $1400 once the runoffs were over, and are now bargaining with themselves to exclude ~40% of the people who received the last stimulus, without increasing the amount for the people under the threshold.

Rolling my eyes aggressively at every "Biden/the Democrats learned the lesson of 2009!" puff piece. Schumer is the only one of the elderly cunts who seems interested in not getting wiped out in the midterms.

[Blackened Soul]

It's incredibly Democrat that they ran ads that said "vote for us for $2000 checks," then changed that to $1400 once the runoffs were over, and are now bargaining with themselves to exclude ~40% of the people who received the last stimulus, without increasing the amount for the people under the threshold.

Rolling my eyes aggressively at every "Biden/the Democrats learned the lesson of 2009!" puff piece. Schumer is the only one of the elderly cunts who seems interested in not getting wiped out in the midterms.

It's mostly the same people... old [blue] dogs and trick learning and stuff...

[Jwar]

No matter what you think about anything, this shit is fucking hilarious! hahahahahaha

[Benn Roe]

I mean, the rallying cry was that the $600 cheques should've been $2000, so I never had any expectation that we were getting $2000 in addition to the $600. It's rough that they're trying to exclude so many more people, though. They could send $2000 to every single person in the country for $660 billion, which is less than half the money they've allocated for this bill. $1400 to everyone would only be $460 billion. I'm not sure how many people received the last two rounds of cheques, or how many are proposed to receive the next round, but it seems like asking for 25 to 50% of the stimulus budget to go directly to the people shouldn't be out of the question. Much as I agree that people earning hundreds of thousands per year don't need the help, I know that my partner makes just over the maximum cap proposed to be eligible for the full stimulus amount ($50,000, as opposed to $75,000), and we're barely making ends meet (largely because of daycare costs). She'd still get close to the full amount, I think, but that does indicate the new cap is probably too low.