Let’s not be ridiculous here, he’s had plenty of times where he’s struggled to articulate. I agree it’s insane to not vote for him, but these type of statements just give ammo to trump supporters to point to Biden supporters and say how clueless they are.
Struggling to articulate is very different from bad speeches. He has never sounded like he did at the debate. It was him at his worst, ever. Probably because he had a cold and tried remembering every single data point that supported his successful presidency.
american politeness requires that we not talk about politics in public and that encourages americans to ignore everything until it impacts them; broaching the subject will label you a malcontent.
Obviously we still have political protesters and things like that but nowadays things are so divided politically that it is typically a topic that you would avoid in everyday conversation. If you were to bring up anything political with your coworker at a get together after hours for example and you find that you are on opposite ends of the political spectrum it could make it very difficult to work together at best and potentially endanger you at worst.
People who talk about politics and religion at work tend to get hated at best and fired at worst.
People who talk about politics and religion on social media risk getting lectures from relatives and losing friends.
So yeah, people do not talk about politics and religion in America a lot of the time.
Honestly, the only reason my mother-in-law and I have maintained a really good relationship over the decades is because we just don’t talk about religion or politics. My wife and I are pretty much on the opposite side of the map from her on both. So we just don’t talk about it rather than become enemies. Maybe that’s not the right way to go about things, but it’s saved a lot of stress where we don’t need it.
I don’t know about everywhere but in France we can talk about religion and politics everywhere we like without risking much. Sometimes we’ll argue loudly for about an hour, and then the next day everything is forgotten. Or at least that was the case. I don’t know how it will go if the fascist far-right wins the election tomorrow though…
That’s one of the things I’ve loved about France since university; a deep and unbridled passion for politics and no shame in standing up for what one believes in.
Would it be better if we ruin our relationship with my wife’s elderly mother? What would it achieve? Do you think she would vote differently? How would that improve anyone’s life in any way?
It’s considered impolite to espouse political views here in Australia.
However, I’ve found that taking about issues rather than identities, with a modicum of diplomacy, is usually fine.
I think this would be a lot more difficult in the US with the issues at hand because you’re not deciding mundane things like whether to subsidise roof top solar but rather, whether autocracy would make a nice change.
You used an conservative American political dog whistle when you mentioned identity politics and you’re part of western hegemony as an Australian, so I would be a bad leftist if I let it be.
It’s a dog whistle here because everyone has an identity that comes attached w perpetually unaddressed needs and the ruling class of people only considers their own identity to be the national discourse; establishing that other identities are little more than causes for division.
Aussies are not as wrapped up in identity politics as Americans despite some efforts to import the culture wars bullshit, fine sandy bottom was referring to actual identities such as Trump or Biden or Dutton and Albo.
Well, one of them has managed quite well for the past few years. Sure he is old. Sure he might die. Is he a bad option because of this? No. He dies, you get Harris. Maybe not exciting but not Republican crazy bad.
And he might not die, he might just keep getting less able to do the job. Either way, that’s really not someone people want to hear all that much about unless they’re already invested in the horse race.
Most people don’t want to hear about crazy grandpa or boring grandpa unless they’re at grandpa’s house.
If might was money, we’d all be rich. He might not. Missunderstand me correctly, I know it’s not optimal and I would have preferred something else. All I’m saying is, there are not two bad choices. Only one bad. The other is eeeeh.
I understand what you’re saying, and if the populace was rational, I’d agree. But they’re not. They see two bad choices and I really don’t think that can solely be blamed on the media. Part of it is just that they’re both really old.
I tried putting off state and local election stuff until a canvasser came to the door last week and asked about public education funding, because the republican chain all the way up in this state wants nothing but charter schools (along with turning this place into even more of a cesspit). I would’ve found out closer to November, but now it’s going to haunt me for months instead of weeks.
There’s a level of apathy that has been a part of American politics my entire life, the logic is that all politicians do is make promises that they never fulfill and anything said about or by a candidate really doesn’t matter, and it’s treated as an axiom.
Obamas years in office without the Hope and Change we all desperately wanted when he was first elected cemented this in the minds of my millennial peers and it was already pervasive in the older generations.
Not pinning it all on Biden here but his quote from 2020 “nothing will fundamentally change” is very much what i reckon the average American believes. Very few believe anything good or ill could happen here.
It’s how bad our media silos are and how disengaged many people are. Not a good sign.
My wife who has enough on her plate working in trauma just texts me out of the blue yesterday with something like, “just read about project 2025. Holy shit!”
We have kids, work opposite schedules, and she deals with death and stress on a daily basis that few other professions compare. I let her decide when she wants to tune in because she tends to get overwhelmed by it all. She and I see eye-to-eye and it changes nothing on how we vote anyway.
My husband has specifically asked me not to talk to him about politics. He has verbalized he feels powerless and wants to focus on things he can control more within his immediate realm (dont worry guys, he’s still voting Biden). He’s also asked me to decrease the amount of depressing topics I share with him overall. I did tell him I recommend him read up on it because its “scary AF” and that I was quite scared
However, I do agree with other posters that its the lack of news coverage on the topic is why so many people are uninformed. We need more individuals to share and educate about this.
This is pretty much the identical conversation that occurred with my wife. She tries to remain upbeat and outgoing and gets anxious and depressed by an onslaught of that kind of news. I tend to get more fired up and focused, but my circumstances admittedly permit that more.
Most people in all countries are extremely ignorant and disinterested about politics. Do not expect more of American voters than you’d expect of your own country’s voters.
A great example of that is Brexit in my own country. People voted for lots of ridiculous reasons both for and against, and in the end we got a crazy close but negative outcome. Just under 52% voted in favour of brexit, but I guarantee much less than half that number truly understood the issues and knew what they were voting for. It was a vote that should never have happened - it was all an arrogant ploy by David Cameron to increase control over his own party and instead it has torn the whole country apart.
People complain about the news media but its just a product of the lazy and disinterested electorate. Mass media doesn’t cater to fact and debate, it caters to shock value to try and get people watching.
That’s why biden has to go - most people don’t care that trump is a lunatic or biden has had successes. Not enough will care about Project 25 even though it will damage many of trumps own voters. All they care about is that biden looks old and sounds like he’s dementing because that’s all that’s cutting through.
So you’re on truth social, the Fox News comments section, OAN, and other far-right American outlets (you know, the people who most need to hear it) saying this too, right? Right? Of course you are. You’d be hypocritical af not to.
Because the msm networks won’t cover it, if it’s not on cnn, msnbc, or fox then the majority of Americans will never hear it and won’t believe it if it doesn’t come from those anyway
Nope. Diplomatic immunity results in “being asked to leave”. If they refuse they then become “persona non-grata” and only then they can be expelled. I think.
Breaking off diplomatic relations is usually a very extreme measure. In the tradition of diplomacy, it is the most serious action a country can take to express its disapproval of another besides declaring war. It might be justified but it won’t be taken because the Chinese government offends extremely easily and would retaliate in kind with trade sanctions and embargoes.
If world leaders actually had the stock to stand up to China, their next move would be to say “One more fuck up and we recognise the Republic of China on Taiwan as the legitimate government of China”.
While breaking off diplomatic relations is an extreme step I wouldn’t recommend, I do wonder if it might not be practical to severely limit the number of diplomatic immunity eligible people allowed in after something like this.
Tell China that henceforth they get to send no more than three or maybe five people to whom it applies. Still gives it to the ambassador and a very small staff, but removes the feasibility of sending in teams of spies and kidnappers thus protected.
I still don’t understand why western allies don’t establish other manufacturing chains with countries like, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. Or you know bring back manufacturing jobs inside their respective countries. For countries that complain about China they sure are addicted to buying all their cheap shit
I wonder how easily these machines are to lift into a stolen UHAUL. Hypothetically one with a hastily installed wire mesh faraday cage… could probably get a lot of easily resold ammo.
Probably easier to just break a hole in it and steal the ammo that way.
But considering all the different ways people have figured out how to get food and drinks out of vending machines for free, I’m guessing there will be multiple methods and a lot of missing ammo.
I mean, you’re probably right. But I sort of rather assumed they’d be built like ATMs. which are totally easier to just steal the entire ATM and get the cash out while driving to the next ATM.
Ammo isn’t that expensive lol, if someone is going to rip off a vending machine/atm, the ATM would be, by far the better choice. 9mm is less than 15 cents per round right now. Unless the vending machine was filled with super expensive exotic ammo, you’d get maybe a few thousand dollars. For the risk of heisting a vending machine, that’s a pretty shitty payout for the would-be criminal.
Considering ammo is currently sold by sitting openly on shelves, or maybe locked behind a plexiglass shield with the same kind of security lock used to guard shampoo, I don’t see how the vending machine is easier to steal from.
Depends where the machine is. If it’s in a gun store, probably no easier because someone will shoot you for trying. If it’s outside a 7-11 and you do it at 3 am?
If it’s in the same locations that ammo is currently sold in, then the machine itself seems no more insecure. I suppose if a current shelf full on ammo is left on the street outside a 7-11, the ammo would also disappear.
I was responding to your idea that the ammo might be less secure depending on where it is located. That’s true, but the machine itself isn’t any more unsecure than the current way ammo is stored for sale. If the machine is located in the same kinds of places as ammo is currently sold, I don’t see an inherent issue.
If someone is going to rip off a giant vending machine, something like this probably wouldn’t be worth it - they’d hit an ATM instead. Ammo is not that expensive and I doubt you could fit enough in a vending machine to make it worth the risk of ripping off a vending machine. It’d be a few thousand dollars in ammo maximum.
You know a high vis vest and a lock pick for a circle key is only about a hundred bucks. I’d put money on the fact each vending machine probably has the same key too. Once you pick one you just tighten the pick and now you’ve got a key to the rest. You can stand right in public and take your time emptying it. People will just assume you belong. To be fair, if you’re try to look like a vending machine employee you could even skip the vest. Just bring a trolly and some milk cartons.
Congress creates agency to assist them in their duties. Agency works as intended and does them. Court blocks them by saying “you were made to do X, not X.”
Daily reminder to check out some local credit unions. They offer the same services as banks and are run as a not-for-profit charity. Most US credit unions are members of the Co-Op ATM network which allows you to use any other credit union’s ATMs for no fee as if they were your own. Some also reimburse out-of-network ATM fees and even pay interest on checking/current accounts. Their fees are usually the same or lower than banks.
Second the suggestion of credit unions, but to be clear they’re neither charities nor non-profits; they’re member co-ops, run for the benefit of members (instead of stockholders), in which each member gets one vote (instead of each share of stock having one vote).
Yes, I am well aware of that, and the fact that the dry decade happened and failed does not have any baring on the fact that we do still have regulations on alcohol. What do you think the A in ATF stands for? Not being sold to people under 21 is, in fact, a regulation.
It seemed to make sense to everyone but you. Including the person I replied to. We then went on to discuss possible solutions to the issue. But you’re doing the far more important work here.
Republicans will argue in court that the ATF has no authority to regulate alcohol, tobacco, or especially firearms, and the Republican Supreme Court will agree.
The Vatican said on Friday that it had excommunicated Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the church’s former ambassador to the United States, after finding him guilty of schism for refusing to recognize the authority of Pope Francis and the liberal reforms enacted after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
That makes sense. I thought he might have done something unimportant that doesn’t deserve excommunication like raping a child.
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