POLITICS SCHMALITICS

[chasfh]

45 minutes ago, romad1 said:

We know that THEY know that they are unpopular for all this extra-constitutional nonsense.  We know that even the most befuddled MAGA knows they are selling crap to people who have woken up to all of it finally. 

So, expect worse distractions.  But the 2026 mid-terms will be a blowout. 

If it’s a free and fair election, yes, it will be a blowout.

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said:

Cool, so democrats were the only ones motivated to vote. 

less than one in ten registered D's were motivated to vote. I find the apathy pretty appalling. Dems could have lost this if the GOP had thought to call a couple of MAGA preachers and ask for a good word.

[romad1]

51 minutes ago, chasfh said:

If it’s a free and fair election, yes, it will be a blowout.

I'll remind the RW nutters about 1989 in Eastern Europe.  It can happen very suddenly.  I would love a Romania situation but perhaps Democracy might take longer.  

Revolutions of 1989 - Wikipedia

• 10 Years (Poland): The Solidarity movement, challenging communist rule, began in 1980, leading to semi-free elections and the first non-communist government in 1989.
• 10 Months (Hungary): Hungary opened its border with Austria in May 1989, allowing East Germans to escape, and held its first free elections in October, dismantling its communist system rapidly.
• 10 Weeks (East Germany): Mass protests (the "Peaceful Revolution") grew through the autumn of 1989, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, ending the GDR's regime.
• 10 Days (Czechoslovakia): The Velvet Revolution, starting with student protests on November 17, 1989, led to the swift, non-violent resignation of the Communist government by late November. 
• 
• This is an excellent documentary about 1989

[Motown Bombers]

46 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

less than one in ten registered D's were motivated to vote. I find the apathy pretty appalling. Dems could have lost this if the GOP had thought to call a couple of MAGA preachers and ask for a good word.

Dems almost lost an election they won by 50. 

[Motown Bombers]

 

[gehringer_2]

36 minutes ago, romad1 said:

I'll remind the RW nutters about 1989 in Eastern Europe.  It can happen very suddenly.  I would love a Romania situation but perhaps Democracy might take longer.  

Revolutions of 1989 - Wikipedia

• 10 Years (Poland): The Solidarity movement, challenging communist rule, began in 1980, leading to semi-free elections and the first non-communist government in 1989.
• 10 Months (Hungary): Hungary opened its border with Austria in May 1989, allowing East Germans to escape, and held its first free elections in October, dismantling its communist system rapidly.
• 10 Weeks (East Germany): Mass protests (the "Peaceful Revolution") grew through the autumn of 1989, culminating in the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, ending the GDR's regime.
• 10 Days (Czechoslovakia): The Velvet Revolution, starting with student protests on November 17, 1989, led to the swift, non-violent resignation of the Communist government by late November. 
• 
• This is an excellent documentary about 1989

of course you could also say that Czechoslovakia took from 1968 to 1989.

[gehringer_2]

27 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Dems almost lost an election they won by 50. 

fans can hype the %, it was still only a couple of thousand votes. In modern US politics elections are won by who shows up. When nobody shows up it just doesn't tell you much, no matter what people would like to read into it. Nobody is saying it's a bad outcome, just a fairly insignificant one.

Edited 23 hours ago by gehringer_2

[chasfh]

6 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

of course you could also say that Czechoslovakia took from 1968 to 1989.

You could also say that if it weren't for the ten-year struggle Poland went through, it would have taken Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia a lot longer than ten months, ten weeks, or ten days.

[gehringer_2]

10 minutes ago, chasfh said:

You could also say that if it weren't for the ten-year struggle Poland went through, it would have taken Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia a lot longer than ten months, ten weeks, or ten days.

also true. And of course the events that made what happened in East Europe possible when it happened were tied to the ones happening in Russia, which is a whole 'nother history. For a brief shining moment the Russian state lost its taste for brutal repression. Seems to have now regained it in spades however.

Edited 23 hours ago by gehringer_2