Tom Ritchford

.uk ➡️ .at ➡️.ca ➡️ .nyc ➡️ .nl ➡️ .fr

Check out my silly little bot here: https://botsin.space/@fortune

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Last Notes

2024-08-05 23:20:39

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When someone uses `import *` in a Python program, I know quite a bit about them, all bad.
(Also, weird formatting, and inconsistent use of quotes, both " and '. Pretty impressively bad for a 7 line program!)

2024-08-05 23:12:21

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Why the Democrat-controlled US Federal government continues to use Twitter, a far-right-wing site that took off the mask and has gone aggressively for the Republicans, just baffles me.

2024-08-05 21:15:53

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Perhaps if we'd seriously embraced carbon offsets with a realistic pricing 60 years ago and enforced them rigorously. we'd be in a place where dramatic action wouldn't be necessary. But we are out of time. We were out of time thirty years ago! Now the end is in sight.
Only dramatic, systemic change will work. Tiny little measures involving sucking capitalism's [member] a little deeper hoping we can go a few more years before radical change simply doom us even more.
/thread

2024-08-05 21:12:01

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No government will allow a "recession" so if "jobs" are affected by this, the government will print money, and emit.
This is the essential of neoliberal thinking - "the invisible hand of the market will sort it out, with just a tiny push. We won't have to actually do anything at all!"
But it hasn't worked in sixty years and now we are out of time. All this "free market" garbage is empty of value.
2/

2024-08-05 21:08:39

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> These have been derided by many environmentalists as ineffective with no viable substitutes.
Logical fallacy there! You don't have to have a substitute for something to point out that it is bad.
Carbon pricing is 60 years old: https://interactive.carbonbrief.org/carbon-offsets-2023/timeline.html
Carbon emissions have increased exponentially in the last 60 years: https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide
A system where you can pay money to emit simply means people will pay money, and emit.
1/

2024-07-30 22:56:10

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More details would be helpful.
I swore off the NYT after the Iraq War, myself, so it's unclear what you're talking about.

2024-07-24 11:43:35

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Agree strongly.
It ain't gonna happen and if it did, Harris would sweep it. Democrats are fucking tired of this shit and want to get on with it.

2024-07-23 16:50:13

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OOPS!
Sorry, I mistook you for a seppo.
Well, I am an ex-Brit these days, and now I'm a faux-Dutchie living in France.
Which makes me the bastard son of a dissolved union (the UK and the EU).

2024-07-23 16:48:57

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Oh, it's bad bad bad.
I don't think elected officials should have accounts on Shitter due to its extreme bias.
MA-STO-DON!!!

2024-07-23 12:06:33

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I detest Musk, what he's doing is wrong, possibly felonious, but in no way is it "treason".
It would be better to save that strong word for when people actually conspire with a country that their country is in a military war with.

2024-07-23 09:40:46

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People said much like what you said about the civil rights movement and the Suffragettes.
Protests that don't bother anyone are exactly what we have been doing for the last sixty years. This strategy has completely and utterly failed; now catastrophe seems inevitable.
"Insanity Is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

2024-07-22 18:58:44

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I wish that you could see, just for one minute, the devastated state the world will be in a century or even fifty years from now.
I immediately unsubscribed from the Guardian, I'm urging everyone I know to do the same, and I will not read your newspaper again.
The only way to reverse my decision would be to fire this writer immediately.
/thread

2024-07-22 18:58:25

Up until five minutes ago, I was a subscriber to The Guardian.
Then I read this:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/21/yes-five-years-in-jail-is-too-harsh-but-the-just-stop-oil-five-shouldnt-have-done-it
Here's what I wrote:
We have already passed the point of no return with the climate. At this point it seems inescapable that we will devastate our biosphere, drive a million species to extinction, and wipe out great chunks of humanity.
And this - this! - is what you choose to publish.
It is intolerable. It is unconscionable. It is obscene.
1/

2024-07-22 15:00:28

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At least one weight was taken off Americans' shoulders, the fear that Biden would become non-functional and lose the election by default.
But the picture is remarkably grim. I've never seen anything like it and I remember the 1972 elections.
Why wouldn't Americans feel doomy?

2024-07-22 14:58:48

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The Democrats are presenting this election as if losing it will lose democracy for the US, and is this really unreasonable?
But the bad Republicans aren't going away, and neither is the lawless President ruling. It looks as if D has to win all the elections, forever, to avoid catastrophe.
Multiple US Secretaries of State and other functionaries involved with voting have publicly claimed they will not certify a Democratic win, i.e. promised to cheat.
2/

2024-07-22 14:55:46

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Yes, this is well-known.
I'm not disputing that Russia propagandizes; I'm disputing the idea that this is a primary cause of Americans' "doomerism".
I already listed several reasons in this thread, here are some more.
The Supreme Court has essentially immunized the President against crimes committed in office, and one candidate is a career criminal.
1/

2024-07-22 13:37:10

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Any evidence for this?
Here's some counter-evidence: more is easy to find.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/yahoo-newsyougov-poll-dread-tops-list-of-americans-feelings-about-2024-election--but-optimism-is-growing-202816812.html
Trump is calling for horrible things like mass deportations and jailing of librarians who stock any books mentioning "teh gay", and many Republicans are promising not to accept the results unless it's an R win.
It's an objectively dark time for America.

2024-07-22 11:31:10

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In 2016, almost everyone expected that Hillary Clinton would win, and instead Trump won. Luckily, he didn't have it together to take advantage of it.
Now if Trump wins, terrible things will happen, because they have an organization and a plan.
Also, many Republican officials have publicly said they won't certify a Democratic win, so it might be that the Democrats actually win the election, but officials present deliberately faked results, and R technically wins.

2024-07-22 10:30:10

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Urg, sounds like, as you were theorizing, some infelicitous combination of user and perms, but it doesn't jump out what that might be...

2024-07-21 23:44:14

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Oh, my, there's no need to rush on these things.
Use the money in good health!
Toward a brighter future for all of us.

2024-07-21 21:02:01

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Taylor Swift is by the way one of the greatest climate pigs of all time, and one of the most boring songwriters since... since... forever.

2024-07-21 20:08:51

Send this worthy person a few pesos to get her through school!
https://gofund.me/14f4d674
#MutalAid #SocialWork

2024-07-21 20:08:04

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Hah, I had your page up from an earlier entreaty and saw you made another post, but I'd already sent you a bit (I just got paid).
Hope this helps, you really deserve to succeed!

2024-07-21 13:04:09

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You only have one argument: "Everyone I disagree with is an idiot".
Every single post you have made contains some sort of insult like that.
What's missing is facts, logic and reasoning.
I'm curious: did you predict Trump's win in 2016? Or did you call everyone who warned that this was possible "idiots"?

2024-07-21 10:26:19

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I lost count of the number of articles pointing out that Trump was crazy sometime in 2016. And they continue.
The point is that people who vote for Trump like that.
The idea that it's OK for Biden to be non-functional because Trump is, is not a good one...

2024-07-21 10:20:53

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"Beg"?
I have that turned on for two reasons: to avoid spammers and fascists following me, and simply to see new followers as they come in.
It seems like common politeness to ask someone before following them...

2024-07-21 10:16:05

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And yet other countries announce an election and have it done in a month.
If Biden really is unfit for purpose, then there is no choice, right?
This idea you have, that you are smart and all these other people are just stupid, and no explanation for their behavior is needed other than "they're stupid": do you find this is useful in predicting how people will actually behave?

2024-07-20 23:31:46

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I don't even remember when I first heard about it, it's part of my groundwork.
Important to remember that Therac-25 was not caused by gratuitous incompetence. The company that wrote the software did a great deal of testing and reviewed the code.
Unfortunately, it was early days and the concept of a race condition wasn't well-known, and the bug didn't surface until people got so familiar with the UI that they went through it very fast and hit that race condition.
A terrible tragedy.

2024-07-20 19:29:15

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If it were just a "stumble" no one would be calling for the replacement of the incumbent.
We're on the same side here! I just feel terribly frustrated because I saw this coming in 2020, I was against Biden or Saunders (who I adore!) for that reason, and felt at least that they should appoint a VP who was a viable candidate on their own.
I feel that when the story of this is written, we'll find out that aides knew there was a problem sometime in 2023.
Best luck!!!

2024-07-20 17:07:47

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> Don't let the media oligarchy tear your allies down.
Oh, and I do want to add that this whole "fake news" thing is bad enough when the Republicans do it.
It isn't just the media (including some very very Democratic outlets like the Times), it's dozens of members of Congress, and supposedly Pelosi and Obama (and if they aren't thinking this, why aren't they denying the rumors? They're usually extremely proactive about that for good reasons.)

2024-07-20 17:05:24

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So what's Harris? Chopped liver? 😀
Surely this is the whole point of the VP?
Likely none of these Democrats want to lose their jobs and the election, and the reason they want to get rid of Biden is that they really feel that he's so far past it that he can't win. If he *can't* win, then someone new has to be chosen.
Americans love excitement and surprises. It's my belief that any new candidate would galvanize the campaign.
We will, quite certainly, see.

2024-07-20 13:57:49

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Thanks, that jibes with the descriptions on the reddit thread I was looking at.
I also watched a big part of it with subtitles, though man, this whole "single word at a time" subtitle trend is awful and makes it hard to actually think about what someone is saying!
So it seems to me that she doesn't actually address Biden's capabilities at all, simply makes good arguments for why dumping him will probably fail.
Am I right?
I probably agree with that.

2024-07-20 13:44:34

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Is there a transcript? I am in a shared space and watching a video is not so easy.
I just searched for a transcript and so far been frustrated.

2024-07-20 13:36:19

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A battle between two old men, one who is evil, a pathological liar, basically a far-right high-energy psychopath, and a center-right mumbling low-energy guy who is so feeble his own party is divided on whether to keep him?
After 2016, the DNC should have completely reformed itself. At the time, I lost a lot of friends by suggesting that D voters should write and demand a complete change of management, even considering sit-ins.
2/

2024-07-20 13:11:44

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For me, it was the debates. I couldn't even watch the whole thing, it was so stressful. Biden couldn't even hit the talking points on abortion, the issue that keeps giving for over fifty years. (It's hard not to suspect that the reason that since 1973 the Democrats always promise to codify Roe and never do it is because it's such a good campaign issue.)
It is imperative that Trump be defeated. It's the last hope for our ecosystem and a thousand other reasons.
3/

2024-07-20 13:08:49

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You must be aware that politicians on both sides of the aisle float ideas to see what the public thinks by revealing them to newspapers as "an inside source".
Now, it could just be that all these people are "stupid", even though they have personal contact with Biden and you don't.
But another possibility is that they are worried that Biden has deteriorated so much he can't win the election.
2/

2024-07-20 13:06:53

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Thirty-three members of Congress is not "less than a handful".
Why would all these people risk their careers to say this - because it would be much less risk to say nothing?
Why wouldn't Obama and Pelosi deny these rumours if they are false, given that they are appearing in major newspapers like the NYTimes? Senior Democrats are generally quick to deny false rumours for obvious reasons.
1/

2024-07-20 11:56:48

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None of the claims in this article are written that way - it has copious links to actual statements by members of congress.
In many cases, their actual Tweets are inline in the article. (Why D congresspeople use Twitter when Musk has come out heavily Republican still baffles me.)

2024-07-20 11:27:56

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I went to Google News and searched "Members of congress biden" and this was the first link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/more-than-30-congressional-democrats-have-now-called-on-biden-to-end-his-reelection-bid-171011444.html
There were many, many others.

2024-07-20 11:10:50

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I just did.
All the news stories say that 30 Democratic Congresspeople and three senators have suggested Biden leave, and Pelosi and Obama have "expressed concern".
Why don't you point me to a news source you are sure isn't either Republican or "Russian" and I'll find the story there, too?

2024-07-20 11:06:53

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Bragging about your lack of knowledge of the issue in question is not a good look.
And you are misframing it entirely. No one, not one person, is saying Trump is better than Biden! No one!
The question is rather, "In his present state, can Biden beat Trump?" Biden looks very bad these days; if he loses, the game is all over...

2024-07-20 11:03:41

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The point is that after the debate, and various other poor showings before and after that, a lot of people, including people of unquestionable loyalty to the DNC like Obama and Pelosi, are wondering if Biden can actually win.

2024-07-20 10:56:59

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That metaphor is very confusing. Is the boat "the USA" or "Biden"? Either way it fails badly.
The question is, can Biden in his current state beat Trump? The fact that stalwarts like Obama and Pelosi with inside information are concerned is... concerning.

2024-07-19 15:27:11

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Looking at that piece of completely unrecyclable plastic that will sit in a landfill for the next 100,000 years simply to deliver a single serving of oat milk doesn't fill me full of joy...

2024-07-19 10:44:49

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Where do you get this weird impression of Biden?!
We have decades of his center-right voting stance.
He supported Vietnam and every war since. He opposed bussing and was a good friend to segregationists. Don't forget how he crushed Anita Hill, giving us Clarence Thomas.

2024-07-19 10:41:31

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We all knew this was a possibility and yet the DNC didn't plan for it.
They put in place a VP who everyone appears to believe is unelectable (me, I'm not so sure) and yet didn't make any attempt to groom other candidates.
Biden's team strongly implied on multiple occasions in 2020 that he'd step down after one term, and then once he was elected, walked it back.
The DNC as an institution is completely moribund, and needs a complete shakeup from top to bottom.

2024-07-19 10:38:05

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I never got the impression any of these Democrats were smart in a way that's best for the country, but rather, ruthlessly self-interested: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Iron_law_of_institutions
Remember, they completely screwed up in 2016, and there was no attempt at a post-mortem or any sort of change.
Given that Obama is apparently in on this too, the least hypothesis is that Biden is, in fact, simply not very functional.
1/

2024-07-19 00:02:52

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Watching Biden speak these days is nerve-wracking. Take a look at the 2020 debates again to see what he was like four years ago, and then look at any recent public appearance.
If you didn't drop the NYT for printing the lies that lead to the Iraq War which killed hundreds of thousands of people (which was when I dropped 'em), but do for this! I guess everyone has their priorities...

2024-07-18 19:30:54

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And let me add that it is indeed our "lords and masters" who bear the ultimate responsibility.
They are driving the bus off the cliff and we are just passengers.

2024-07-18 19:25:29

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I'm not blaming people who already live in Texas of course - moving is hard, often impossible.
But people are flocking to Texas and Florida, states with far-right governments, where you have to drive everywhere, which are becoming unlivable through climate change, and they are bringing their families too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_net_migration
They are voting with their feet, and at some point people are responsible for the consequences of their own decisions.

2024-07-18 17:28:13

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> I feel badly for the thousands of people who move here bc air conditioning makes it bearable
It's 2024 and we've known about the climate catastrophe for generations now. People shouldn't be moving to a place which requires air conditioning to live.

2024-07-18 11:34:09

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> "It's definitely not fair," said Lester Alberts, who worked in the oil industry in Saudi Arabia for seven years before returning to Calgary in 2020.
"I was paid huge amounts to accelerate the destruction of our biosphere, and now I want to keep doing it on a personal scale as cheaply as possible. IT'S NOT FAIR!!"
The world would be far better without private cars in general and any expenses that discourage people from having cars is good.

2024-07-17 18:55:27

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https://webcomicname.com/image/152958755984
Good luck!

2024-07-17 18:44:17

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This has nothing to do with a perfect world.
As I keep saying, these systems worked extremely well for generations.
The Canadian and UK governments simply made the decision to take money away from the healthcare system and give it to corporations and the rich.

2024-07-17 17:58:13

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Also, when you talk about "educating" others, it implies you have objective information that you can tell other people which will help them to make good decisions.
The idea that successive governments of Canada deliberately broken their universal healthcare system, and now you point to that as proof that universal healthcare doesn't work, is like deliberately crashing a car into the wall and using it as proof that cars don't work.

2024-07-17 17:56:18

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If the only thing you give credence to is your own personal experience, then what is there to say?
When you talk about "educating" others, how can you do that if personal experience is all that counts?
Which other system is your example? The US system, which is the most expensive system in the world, and has some of the worst outcomes?
Canadians live on average over six years longer than Americans, despite being very comparable in all other ways.
1/

2024-07-17 17:30:55

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As I said, it worked fine for generations in England and Canada - until it was deliberately torn down by right-wing or neoliberal governments.
in Canada, it worked for me and my parents for many years.
Deliberately breaking the system isn't proof it doesn't work.

2024-07-17 10:07:24

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I did have something important to add. You made a claim that people who supported universal health care "needed to be educated" that it's a bad idea, and I believe your claim is false.
Instead of giving us facts, reasoning and logic explaining why you are correct, you gave us five fact free comments.
I'm a big supporter of universal healthcare. I wouldn't be here today without it. Slagging it, without any proof, has no value.

2024-07-16 16:10:56

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"The people screaming for universal health care need to be educated" is pejorative in two different ways.
"Screaming" is a negative way to present people asking for systemic change. "Need to be educated" implies they are ignorant.
I lived in the United States for thirty years and had multiple people I knew die from lack of access to healthcare.
The NHS was the envy of the world for two generations. Universal healthcare is possible.

2024-07-15 19:17:23

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Biden has dictatorial powers.
He should use them. Or he should step aside and let someone else take the reins.

2024-07-15 19:14:54

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She should tell this to Biden, who's neither leading nor getting out of the way.
Trump is shot. Biden's response, instead of saying, "This is logical consequences," is to say nice things about Trump, and suspend advertising, after Trump had one of the better photo-ops in history.
Biden now has dictatorial powers. He should use them with abandon: it's America's last stand.
He won't. Trump II will.

2024-07-14 22:35:34

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There are plenty of reasons why HRC failed in 2016, but I don't believe either of these two reasons you present were at all significant.
Americans like aggressive, energetic people, and don't really care about the substance of what they say.
Barring some unexpected game changer, like one or both candidates expiring of old age, I fear Trump will win.

2024-07-14 22:30:18

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But Trump won in 2016 and Hillary satisfied your two conditions.
As I said, millions of people voted for Obama, and then turned around and voted for Trump.
I think you're being dismissive of a terrible threat. I said this in 2016, and my friends laughed at me...

2024-07-14 22:24:37

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Any candidate would be a better President than Trump. JFK's corpse would do a better job.
The question is rather, can Biden win against Trump?
The millions of people who voted for Obama, and then turned around and voted for Trump: how will they vote?
They like energetic and aggressive and aren't too interested in facts and governance.
I fear the worst.

2024-07-14 22:11:01

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In future, if you disagree with someone, express yourself clearly without random, incoherent insults. Make a logical point, use arguments, facts and reasoning, don't just say, "You're wrong because I decree it."

2024-07-14 22:09:19

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I am a bit of a physical coward, and very much against violence if there is any alternative; but if I were forced to use violence in order to protect my loved one, or to avoid serious harm to innocent people, I would hope I had the courage and presence of mind to defend others by any means necessary.
Finally, if you support either R or D parties, you support groups that have committed violence in industrial quantities. But I don't know if you do or not.
3/

2024-07-14 22:07:42

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There's nothing either self-deceitful or hypocritical in believing that violence is unfortunately necessary in certain situations.
You might disagree, but throwing out random, incoherent pejoratives is not any form of argument - it is the absence of argument.
2/

2024-07-14 22:02:02

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This is a truly amazing post.
Let's start with this: you make no argument at all. You simply proclaim that you are right, because you say so.
Further, "self-prevarication" is ridiculously pretentious; hypocrite is insulting; but neither of these make the slightest bit of sense in this context.
How am I lying to myself? You don't say. How am I hypocritical - in other words what do I claim to value, but then do the opposite? You don't say.
1/

2024-07-14 17:01:36

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> if violence is wrong,
But violence is not wrong in every situation.
If someone had killed Putin in late 2021, there would be at a hundred thousand innocent dead people who would be alive today, and big swaths of rubble that would still be people's homes.
> we don't really hold the beliefs we profess to hold.
No one holds those beliefs. If someone is murdering your spouse or child, you will do your best to stop them, no matter what the damage to the attacker.

2024-07-14 12:39:22

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So true, god, what a travesty.
There's an biography of Robert Moses that goes into detail about how this went down in New York City and Long Island. It's horrifying.

2024-07-14 10:06:54

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Oh, and the shooter had the same name, address and birthdate as a registered Republican.
So it wasn't even "one of us".

2024-07-13 20:03:21

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You're absolutely right that Trump must be defeated and we need to work together.
But promising that things will be different in the future is a promise you can't make
I spent over thirty years in New York State. Only the DNC has any sway there, and in NY they are a completely hermetic organization which is impenetrable to change. Nothing I or any progressive could possibly do would effect one hair worth of change.
2/

2024-07-13 19:54:45

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Yes, I did those things. Of course, it was all built on sand because of the complete indifference of the local, state and and federal government, but we created organizations and spaces, which managed to eke out an existence for some number of years until some rezoning or new law or simply running out of money took them out.
Now, what does this have to do with what I wrote? Nothing. Nothing at all.
1/

2024-07-13 18:22:42

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But stop promising pie-in-the-sky change happening eventually, unless you're personally willing to perform sit-ins and other acts of resistance to the DNC, because the DNC will forever prevent that, as they have for 40 years now.

2024-07-13 18:21:11

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When I first moved to the United States, both parties were promising "single payer medicine"; now neither of them talks about it. The ACA was a small improvement, but a bandaid on a sucking chest wound; America still has the most expensive healthcare system in the world, with some of the worst outcomes.
Look. Trump winning would be a catastrophe, and at this point, it seems likely. Focus on that.
4/

2024-07-13 18:19:03

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Boy, was I wrong. No one lost their jobs except underlings. The management who piloted the ship into the iceberg escaped scot-free.
I suggested to Democratic that they occupy the DNC and demand change, some sort of evaluation of their mistakes. People were outraged! "This is not the time to resist. Now, more than ever, we need to pull together." Same song as 30 years before, with the same lack of results.
3/

2024-07-13 18:16:54

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> Then remember; right now is noon hour for the *next* race, and dawn for the one after that.
Gosh, I remember the first time I heard this idea. It was during the first Reagan Administration. The DNC has refused to wise up, and pushed a series of increasingly right-wing candidates ever since.
After 2016, I really thought that the DNC might analyze what went wrong, throw out all the old crew and do a restart.
2/

2024-07-13 17:20:23

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Ach, and to be honest, they have good reason. Biden is clearly tanking, and Harris has yet to show signs of life.
I blame the DNC for that last one. In fact, I blame them for everything, they've mishandled everything, pathologically, for a decade now.
Better get used to the idea of Trump II. I left the country for a reason but the pain from all my friends will be hard to bear...

2024-07-13 17:16:42

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I agree: the Presidential election is a cult of personality, and the Democrats have made sure that there isn't anyone with any personality ready to take over from Biden, and Biden's permanently tarred as "old and feeble", which isn't too far from the case.
My hyperrational leftie friend in America, who will vote for Biden (in NY state, so it makes no diff) has already given up and is planning for Trump II.
I should just detach. I left the US for a reason...

2024-07-13 11:49:32

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"Why don't you leave?" is not an option for the vast majority of Americans.
By saying that, you send a clear message: "We won't ever change, and we won't tolerate dissent either. If you hate war, you should just leave the country, or if you can't, shut up."
Americans claim to revere free speech, until you actually try to use it to effect real change.
The prospect of Trump terrifies me, but I expect historians will see it as logical consequences.

2024-07-13 11:45:09

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For years, I complained about the US's constant wars. The war in Iraq killed hundreds of thousands of people, was based entirely on lies, and there was never any sort of investigation as to how it happened or restitution for the people affected.
Every time, people said, "If you don't like it, leave." Eventually I did - but I was only able to do so because I had a foreign citizenship (UK), a very marketable skill, and a lot of savings, now depleted.
1/

2024-07-13 11:41:43

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I dreamed about smoking pot last night - I went to a coffeeshop and got three different types.
Woke up and here I am, in France, with no cannabis available to me. It is teh sad.
I'm glad, however, that if I were going to become habituated to a drug, it was one that I could have to quit, cold turkey, and not get any side effects.

2024-07-13 09:59:00

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Anything that the Democrats did would get challenged in court, and I'm not expert, but it does seem that it's quite possible according to the rules.
The idea that if Biden became incapacitated today, four months from now Trump would win by default, shows how Americans are complacent about their broken electoral system.
In most other countries, the whole electoral process from nomination to election takes a few weeks.

2024-07-13 09:53:44

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No. Biden (and Trump) are still the presumed candidates. Each party has a convention with complicated and arcane rules where they actually confirm who is running.

2024-07-13 09:21:30

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It's not just "misspeaking" - he sounds like a tired old man in every single interview, and he doesn't "occasionally" misspeak.
Why do you think this will work for the majority of voters? The voters who voted for Obama twice and then for Trump once are the ones who swing elections...

2024-07-13 09:19:18

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No, there is a third choice: a different candidate for the Democrats.
Biden is doing poorly in the polls and is unable to get past the perception that he's too old for the job, and each time he appears in public it gets worse.
The convention has not happened; there is no official nominee yet.
If he doesn't step down, then choice 2 will very likely happen.

2024-07-12 23:05:40

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I have been scrupulously polite: you've been personally insulting each time you communicated with me. You have no right at all to be aggrieved.
And if you think you're going to convince people that your candidate is viable with insults, you aren't: you are simply making matters worse.
Have a day. Feel free to yell at me some more if it makes you happy.

2024-07-12 22:51:24

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> folding under pressure
I was responding directly to this comment:
> Biden has a lot to be stressed about right now. [...] If I were him, you could bet that I'd be jumbling my words too.
> ableism
Biden's speech issues have gotten much worse and are preventing him from defeating Trump, which is the most important thing in the world
Your comment is one insult after another, and lacks any facts, logic, citations or reasoning. Do better!

2024-07-12 22:44:20

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I see no refutation from you, just insults.
Would you care for sources? Which parts do you not believe?
I'm curious what your explanation is for why Hillary Clinton had her classified State Department emails forwarded into a private computer in a shopping mall?
Or why she repeatedly campaigned in California, where she was certain to win, but not in Wisconsin, where she lost by a tiny number of votes?

2024-07-12 22:38:11

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"I supported Roe v Wade, which had three trimesters. First time is between a woman and a doctor. Second time is between the doctor and an extreme situation. And a third time is between the doctor – I mean, it’d be between the woman and the state,"
That's a Trumpian level of incoherence.

2024-07-12 18:51:52

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Hah, I remember when I first heard the name Scientology I thought, "Wow, that sounds great!"
Scientology was born when John W. Campbell, Jr., L. Ron Hubbard and (I think) A. E. van Vogt were at a meal and Campbell said, "Science fiction is a mug's game!" and suggested the way to make money was to start a religion using the same techniques...
Religion is not a "theory". Theories are testable and make predictions. We scientismists call untestable claims "lies".

2024-07-12 17:50:24

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I mean, this quote was Jefferson, in an age when it was considered a crime not to be a Christian, saying he didn't care if his neighbor was atheist, Hindu, or whatever. It was tremendously progressive at the time...
Personally, I'd make all religions disappear if I could.

2024-07-12 16:11:00

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I agree that an uncontested convention would be far preferable, but history is a very unconvincing guide here: for example, no felon has ever even run for President.
And Biden seems determined to continue.
As I keep having to say, the DNC should be doing serious soul searching as to how they got in this mess, and Democrats should be bombarding them with complaints. But after 2016, there were crickets.

2024-07-12 15:38:38

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The DNC screwed up bigtime by keeping her hidden while not grooming anyone else for a possible Biden replacement.
Doesn't matter. I think she'd just mince Trump in a head-to-head. Comparing Trump's word spew to a prosecutor's severe coherency would be an eye-opener.

2024-07-12 15:03:48

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I'm on the side of "defeat Trump by any means necessary".
I personally strongly support replacing Biden with Harris, immediately.
Harris would rip Trump into mincemeat. She'd be able to talk coherently about abortion, and about his crimes. It would be exciting, and watching Trump scream abuse at a woman of color would disgust a lot of people.
You disagree, but I don't claim you're a sexist or a racist.
> lolololol. ... Tootles!
This is deadly serious.

2024-07-12 14:50:59

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I'm sorry, but we saw Biden in 2020, and he was perfectly acceptable. But now he isn't.
> we would have a competent Black Woman to step in at any time.
As I said, saying, "Don't worry if the old guy dies" is not a way to win elections.
> trust the women and Black people around you.
My wife read this thread: "What? This is insane! Don't engage with these people!"

2024-07-12 14:40:01

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The idea that if Biden becomes incapacitated someone, that Trump automatically wins the election - well, it horrifies me.
> Let George Clooney pick our ticket?
It is not "George Clooney" that is the problem - he has supported the Democrats for decades now, raised tens of millions of dollars for them, $28 million in one event alone.
Many well-meaning people became terrified after the debates. To brush them off as racists, sexists and imbeciles is unreasonable.

2024-07-12 14:21:45

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But we can't even support 8 billion people sustainably!
Also, pointing at a graph that is still increasing exponentially today, but is expected to level off in the next 25 years, and then saying that the problem is already solved is logically inadmissible.
> Notably, younger people don't worry about population growth much.
Yes, because younger people simply expect everything to crash down onto their heads within a few decades, and I can't say I disagree.

2024-07-12 14:17:12

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But many of them are calling for Harris to replace Biden!
Another theory is that they are scared shitless than Trump will beat Biden, in which case Harris will not be POTUS.
Overall, asking people to vote for a candidate who you and they expect to die in office seems like a very big ask.

2024-07-12 13:49:43

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So "Steve" here accused me of being Russian, and blocked me, with a great deal of rudeness.
I would note that I have been on the Internet since the 90s and I'm extremely searchable.
People react rudely and badly, not because they are confident in their claims, but because they are terrified.
Well, I'm terrified too. I understand where they are coming from, but it won't change the actual facts.