mtutiger

It means that there are a majority who would see the government as illegitimate. I have no idea what that would entail, but I think the assumption that people would just bend over and take that isn't a guarantee either.

Yup.

This is a really good and undervalued point in this discussion... the baby boomers were already on the precipice of retirement age and the pandemic merely hastened the impact of their departure from the workforce. This is especially true in my industry... I'd been hearing back to when I was in college about the amount of opportunities on the horizon by pursuing this career path because of looming retirements. And it hasn't disappointed. Also a good point... one that we have learned since becoming single income parents. Raising kids are not cheap, but the income sacrifice between a caregiver remaining in the workforce versus staying at home with kids maybe aren't incentive enough to stay in the workforce anymore when you factor in the price of child care, not to mention the availability of it.

Watching The Sopranos for the first time, almost through Season 3. How it took this long to sit down and watch this series, I'll never know. Its amazing.

Property Taxes in Texas are no joke... its not New Jersey or Illinois bad, but they are still pretty bad. In terms of cost of housing in Texas, we are lucky we purchased in 2016... Austin is already going the way of Seattle or LA in terms of housing cost. And unless something changes, DFW, where I live, will go that way as well.

Probably right. Luckily, we don't have snap elections in this country lol

Not just that, but just the pretending thr problem doesn't exist in general.... it comes across as out of touch. Not so much elected politicians on this front, but people on the left on social media and such. In terms of how long it goes on, it's not just gonna magically go away, the increases in CPI will taper month by month over time... from what I've read, getting down to 4% or less by Q2 next year would be a win at this point

This is a legitimate concern for sure.

I'm not arguing that he can't win... but I do think it's undeniable the fact that his image has somewhat leveled off right now because he's largely absent from the public view, and the moment he emerges in a big way again, it'll decline and he'll have the same liabilities he had in 2020. That doesn't mean that he can't win. I just think, image wise, he's at a high point because he's been largely out of public view.

It's less about the memory of the voters and more like, when he reemerges, to quote David Byrne, he'll be the same as he ever was. And to that end, to the extent that his drop in image has leveled off, its because he's not in public view. That will change when he runs

The media likes to focus on the extreme cases (think the parents that were complaining on CNN about how much they spend on milk when they buy 12 gal/wk). That doesn't mean that inflation doesn't impact a family's budget. I do the finances in our house and I know it has impacted ours.... Having said that, I also know that its a little more complicated than just saying its all Biden's fault as well. A lot of it comes down to supply chain issues, and much of that us beyond our control.

Dems mostly see poll numbers with Biden barely leading Trump or tied three years out and pee their pants, as far as I can tell. Although there's a pretty good chance the moment Trump starts actually campaigning and reminding people why they voted him out in the first place, that would likely change some.

My only question is, in this hypothetical, what kind of stability a government that would try to pull something like this off would have. Put another way, its easy to come here and theorize about what a lot of Rs would have little hesitation of doing (based on 2020), but what does it look like in practice? If the Atlanta Metro area has the majority of Georgia's residents and a majority of Georgia residents vote for the Dem candidate but politicians turn around and throw out all the votes in Fulton County or something like that, why do we assume that the resulting government would have any legitimacy in the eyes of the majority? The common refrain I hear on this is about "who has the guns", but I think thats a bit too simplistic about the aftermath.

No. That doesn't somehow make Trump's fake election fraud claims legit either.

Yep. He deserves to go to jail. But ultimately, nothing about that story has any bearing on my life whatsoever. His being convicted or acquitted would have not changed a single thing.. As far as I can tell, this recent ruling, for the most part, seems like bread and circuses for the Ben Shapiro and Fox Network types to get their listener-base worked up. Meanwhile, Donald Trump continues to be a significant favorite to win the 2024 GOP Nomination. Again. No wonder people may care more about Trump than the news equivalent of a car wreck.

All culture war all the time, baybee!

Who gives a shit? Jussie Smollett has absolutely no bearing on anything going on in my life. Donald Trump, meanwhile, remains the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP Nomination. No wonder people care more about Trump

Yeah, there was definitely planning around what happened. That doesn't mean that every single person who showed up was involved in the planning, but you'll never convince me that the entire event was spontaneous...

All the focus on the money, when it was more about the years lol I really can't blame them for not wanting to give Correa 10 years....

I dont know how either of these things are inconsistent with the idea that an insurrection took place on 1/6. If anything, a lot has come out since then (such as the power point) that has bolstered the case that the folks at the top were more serious about overturning the election result and installing Trump than I had realized.

Also an example of how every culture war issue on the Bird machine maybe doesn't deserve a response at all.

😐

The thing about the players is that, compared to the owners, they are much less monolithic a group. You got some like the Scherzers who make a massive amount of money, while there are many others who play closer to the average lifespan of six years who don't make anywhere near that. And I just get the sense in these conversations is that when many say "the players", the Scherzers are the poster child, not the average ballplayer. I'm not losing any sleep over the Scherzers, but I do think the guys on the lower end have a case to make.

Something Something Bill Clinton Something Something

The fact that the previous administration delivered so much scandal so frequently had the effect of pushing the "outrageous, yet relatively mundane" stuff (such as the fact that Donald Trump spent four years tweeting using an unsecured device) into the background. With respect to Politico jumping Kamala on her skepticism of Bluetooth, after the previous administration, I just don't have a lot of tolerance for that kinda "tan suit" bullshit.