Annber03

I guess that's the other thing, too - how long are poeple willing to just sit out and wait for thier perfect unicorn candidate to come along? People refused to vote for Hilary in 2016 because she wasn't their ideal candidate, so then came 2020, and then we had Biden and there were people who weren't enthused about him, either, and now people weren't enthused about Harris. Like, what exactly will it take for those sorts of people to be satisfied enough to get off their asses and vote? And how the fuck is the opposiing candidate actively trying to overturn a democratic election NOT reason enough to do everything in your power to ensure he never gets back anywhere near the White House? At some point people need to grow the hell up and get over themselves and look at the bigger picture. Which just further proves that all the media claims about how Harris just "wasn't specific enough" for voters is total bullshit. Again, people blaming her instead of putting the blame where it actually belongs, on voters being super confusing with what they claim to want in a candidate. And people like this make me roll my eyes. I know there are people whose politics tend to be a mix of both parties, but nowadays when I hear someone say, "Oh, I'm so independent, I don't have a party affiliation", more often than not what they really mean is they're too lazy/uninformed to botehr picking a side. Surely there is one issue they care about where one party is more in line with their ivews than the other, that can tip the scales for them. It just so often reads as them just being too "enlightened" and "above it all" to actually bother to care about pesky stuff like voting or getting politically involved in any significant way. And it's also usually people who aren't most direclty impacted by the policies in question who can afford to have this attitude. But yeah, I mean, would it be helpful to have more party options in this country? Sure. But that is not the world we live in, and anyone expecting that to change needs to realize that it's going to take a lot more than going in and slapping down a third party vote every four years or just abstaining from voting at all. It would need to involve a lot of changes to how our elections are done in general. Maybe if they got off their butts and actually bothered to get involved or vote for someone, they might actually find a candidate who could help get hte ball rolling on that. Until then, however, this is the setup we have. We have two parties. People may not like it, but those are the facts. So at some point people have to be realistic and work with what we do have instead of waiting for their fantasy world scenario to happen. Those statistics you shared about the Holocaust are very disturbing, indeed. But yeah, look at how many schools want to scrub any mentions of people who aren't white who did heroic things, or who want to whitewash all the white historical figures who had not so great pasts. Look at the schools who want to ban certain books that don't align with a conservative worldview. And how many times have we heard conservatives bitch about critical race theory? I saw an ad in my area before this past election where the Republican candidate was claiming that the Democratic one was bad because he was teaching five year olds that "America is racist and so are they", and who was arguing for parental rights in schooling (read: parents having a say in what kids are allowed to learn in school). The less educated the populace, the easier they'll be to control. And the younger they are, the easier it'll be. But- but, I was told he had no interest in Project 2025! That's what all his supporters kept saying! /s (Also just wanted to say excellent choice of gif. I love Isaac :D <3.)

This is what confuses me ,though (well, it's one of many things that confuses me about Trump supporters, but still). If people think his big claims aren't meant to be taken that seriously, then why did they even vote for him in the first place? it's a little rich to hear them be like "Oh, he won't REALLY do that stuff, he's just exaggerating." and they're okay with voting for him despite making wild claims that he may neve be able to follow through on... ...but they couldn't vote for Harris because they just didn't know enough about her or felt she wasn't specific enough on her policies. And Trump was? Mr. "Concepts of a plan"? They want specifics but they're also fine with voting for a guy who'll spout exaggerated claims and promises of all the stuff he wants to do? Okay. I guess that makes sense somewhere...? Yep. They were all too happy to use 9/11 for their own political gain ("Vote for me, 'cause we can't ever forget 9/11 and the terrorists will win if you don't vote for me/us!" And of course Giuliani and his "$9.11" fundraiser, 'cause, y'know, he was mayor on 9/11, just in case anyone forgot that)... ...and yet at the same time they were also dismissing New York City as not part of "real America". No, it was full of all those "liberal elites" whose values wouldn't possibly align with those of us here over in "real America", aka flyover country. They talked out of both sides of their mouths when it came to New York and 9/11 and were more than happy to stoke the flams. And the anti-Muslim sentiment carried over into when Obama ran for office in 2008. He wasn't really from here, according to the GOP, he was a secret Muslim who was going to implement Sharia law, his views and beliefs weren't in line with what American voters wanted. And of course, his middle name was Hussein, 'cause as we all know, everyone who shares a name is clearly exactly like each other in every way! That was the kind of bullshit I remember in the post-9/11 world, along with the other stuff people mentioned. Here in Iowa there's not really a big Muslim population (I honestly don't know how many Muslims live here, but I'd say it's a safe bet it's a fairly small number), but I also lived in a very conservative area of the state at that time and I remember some of my high school classmates, circal 2001 to 2003, being very gung-ho pro-war and pro-Bush and all that. (That said, some of us did participate in a school walkout to protest the invasion of Iraq. I remember some people driving by and honking their horns in support, and one guy stopping his car, getting out, and yelling at us all to get jobs. I also remember it being REALLY cold that day :p. But still.) Regarding all the talk about younger voters and their ignorance of history and negative attitudes towards older generations, from my observations, there are three distinct reasons for this: -They do know that prior generations were part of various movements, but they also know that a lot of people from the "boomer" generation seemed to turn their backs on a lot of the ideals they once fought for. Some of the same people form that genration who fought to let men grow their hair long and let women wear pants to school are the same ones now having meltdowns over pronouns and transgender people, for instance. Or they took a hard right and voted for Reagan and helped usher in the era that allowed Reagan and his administration to kickstart a lot of the shit we're still dealing with now. And then they see their fellow classmates getting shot and killed at school and adults around them just...not pushing to fight to put a stop to this, or caring more about their guns than students' safety, and they're listening to their parents/grandparents dismissing climate change, which is something that's going to clearly have a significant impact on younger generations going forward - the older generations won't be around to deal with the effects/don't think it's real, so they just shrug it off and vote for poeple who also dismiss and refuse to do anything about it. And so on and so forth. Obviously, of course, this is not true of everyone from that generation. My mom is of that generation and she would and does completely side with younger generations' concerns about this stuff, and votes accordingly. As others have noted here, there were/are plenty of people from older generations who put in a lot of time and effort and hard work for progressive causes, and I can only imagine how incredilby devastating it has to be for those of you who fought so hard to see people actively trying to dismantle everything you worked so hard for. But I do think for some younger people ,that is where their heads are at with this stuff, fair critique or not. And if they're hearing parents and grandparents in their own everyday lives echoing conservative views and refusing to support progressive policies and complaining about how young people today are too "woke" and "sensitive snowflakes" and whatnot, they'll then take that and just kind of expand it to a negative view of people of those generations as a whole. I think the whole "OK boomer" thing was basically the result of them being tired of all the negative stereotypes they kept hearing about their own generation, so they threw it back at boomers as sort of a "How do you like it?" sort of response. -All of that being said, however, younger people are also shooting themselves in the foot as well, because a lot of younger people don't vote as often as they should. And a large part of that is because we're in an era now where people feel like a political candidate has to fit the most perfect checklist imaginable in order to be worthy of someone's vote. A lot of younger people were really not happy with Biden/Harris' stances on the Israle-Palestine conflict, for instance, and so some of them just refused to vote, or did a protest vote. Of course, that's completely backfired on them and on the people they support, 'cause now Trump and the GOP are in power and if anyone thinks they're going tto be even remotely helpful to the Palestinian people, then they are clearly living in a delusional fantasyland. But yeah, I do think younger people have a hard time with the idea that you may not agree with everything a politician says or does, but in that case it's more a matter of pragmatic voting and who of the two candidates is more likely to give you at least SOME of what you want, if not all of it. I've mentioned Obama before - I was eager to vote for him in 2008 and was obviously happy when he won. My biggest critique of him, however, was that he'd been so muted about the topic of same-sex marriage on the campaign trail. But I still voted for him anyway because I knew that he did support some policies that would benefit same-sex couples, and in the end, look what happened during his term. He was able to appoint SC judges that helped ensure same-sex marriage became legal in all fifty states. And "don't ask, don't tell" ended on his watch as well. And all because he listened to those who kept pushing for more beyond what he'd been promising on the campaign trail, he took their advice on board, and he worked with them to ensure that that sort of monumental policy change happened. Bottom line being, you can't always predict how someone will be as president based on what they do and don't say on the campaign trail. Certainly I hope that whomever I vote for will check off most, if not all, of the boxes in regards to the issues I'm most concerned about. But I also would much rather vote for someone who I know I will be able to agree with at least some of the time, than sit out and just not bother and wind up stuck with someone who I know full well has no interest in advancing ANY of the policies I want, and will instead actually make things worse in that regard. But yeah. That's another big factor as well. It's one that people across all generations are guilty of to some degree, but I do think it's a particularly big issue among younger voters especially. Also, I will say, in their defense, it really doesn't help that our government generally tends to skew older. There are younger people in ofiice, obviously, and some of them have been making good names for themselves, but when you look at clips of the government on TV and it's just old white guy after old white guy after old white guy much of the time, well...it's hard for younger people to look at that and wonder if they're even aware of anything younger generations care about. -The third reason is one that they literally can't control, and that's the fact that there are groups and people in this country that are actively trying to keep students from learning about all the significant movements that have happened in this country over the years. So if younger people aren't aware of all the hard work the generations before them put in, it may be because they literally were not taught about any of it. Can't let children learn about progressive ideals and mindsets and how to be an active particpatnt in politics, after all, that might lead them to have the wacky idea that they too could change the world and push to make some of that stuff a reality! But hey, at least they'll get to be forced to read the Bible in school, so there's that. Yep. Way too many younger men nowadays are being exposed to guys like this or Andrew Tate or Jordan Peterson and getting a lot of toxic anti-women attitudes from it. And then on top of that we have Trump out here spewing the most vile, misogynistic comments about women and minorities, and getting rewarded for it, and other politiicans who talk about how "men should be men" and "women should be women". It's just a really nasty atmosphere and it's causing a lot of young men to grow up with some very, very awful attitudes and beliefs as a result.

*Eye twitches*

On the topic of those who voted for Trump, someone posted this on another site earlier: Reddit post

I can already hear the rants from patients who come into our business office needing help with their VA healthcare. Whooooole lot of my coworkers are about to have to deal with a lot of very unhappy patients next year. Why the fuck is Musk involving himself in any of this shit? Literally nobody asked for your opinion, Elon, sit down and shut up. Seriously, remember the days when shit like this actually ended political careers and politicians had to resign in disgrace and shame? Can we go back to that? When the Decades channel was a thing, they used to show "Laugh-In" reruns on there, and there were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many jokes about Ronald Reagan and his political career back then. My mom told me about how people in California could not STAND Reagan, similar to the way people in NYC could not stand Trump. I know they're part of tha supposed pesky "liberal elite" that the right alwyas likes to complain about, lmost like the rest of us should've, y'know, listened to them and their complaints about those two men. Also, regarding people recalling their first presidential votes, mine was in 2004, for Kerry. Three elections I voted in where the person I voted for won (Obama in both '08 and '12, and Biden in '20), and three elections where they didn't (Bush in '04, and of course, Trump in 2016 and this year). So...three and three?

Ooh, a diary? I am looking forward to this.

This picture is hilarious.

Translation: I am beyond fucked if I even try to go for this job and so I'm getting out while the getting's good. But yeah, whatever the reason, certainly not complaining about this news. Now can all of Trump's other batshit ridiculous nomninees follow suit? Hey, now, that's an insult. To Quagmire.

Great song.

They still voted for a guy and a party that does feel that way, though. And his policies will make people suffer. We KNOW this, because we literally went through this with Trump just four years ago. And yet they still thought he was worth bringing back anyway. Again, the guy literally violently tried to overturn a democratic election. Those 70 million people, ust like the rest of us, all saw it happen. And they still voted for him again anyway. There is no excuse or justification for that. And people can have buyer's remorse once they see the batshit insane picks he's coming up with for his cabinet and realize just how much he is refusing to take his job even remotely seriously. Except, again, even if they're regretting their vote now, no sympathy. They knew exactly what they were getting with him, because he's acting no different than he did before. They don't get to act all shocked and surprised and regretful now. Not after so many people literally warned them how bad he'd be ahead of time.

No, different case. It's not just neighbors fighting with each other - the one I'm watching now involves a woman and her brother's ex having a whole feud with each other (the woman thinks her brother's ex is not a good perosn and hurt her brother and she's mad about it). But the general premises aren't too dissimilar.

This whole thing was a mess. Good lord. I fully agree that Amber did NOT help the situation any with her need to constantly confront the neighbors as she did (and taking a dump in their yard, like, really? Did she honestly think that would somehow resolve their issues and make them back off?). I can totally sympathize with her feelings towards the neighbors in and of itself*, and as we've seen on this show, and as this episode clearly stated, calling the police is clearly a useless endeavor. But surely there were FAR better ways to deal with things that that. Credit to Kim for acknowledging Amber's behavior was not helpful, at least. *Seriously, Kenneth and Christine REALLY needed to learn the concept of minding their own damn business. If the family's in their own yard and not bothering anyone, leave them the hell alone. Who cares if their pool's an "eyesore", it's not your yard, so back off (and slashing the pool, too. As I said with Amber's little stunt, really? How old are we here, people?).The only thing I could agree with them on were the carts, 'cause I would be annoyed about that, too. But again, they didn't handle that issue very well, either. And I also agree that you can't get on the family for having a lemonade stand because of the traffic, only to turn around and have a yard sale, which would have the same effect in terms of traffic. I just got a kick out of Christine's constant calls to the police on the day of the fatal fight. What exactly was she expecting the police to do, it's not like they oculd physically move the family out of hteir house, but it seemed like she wanted them to do something dramatic such as that. I do agree, though, the police should've done a lot more that day than they wound up doing, especially given how many times they got called out that day alone, and how all the calls were clearly just everyone doing it to intentinally piss each other off. They should've followed through on their threat and slapped the cuffs on some of them. Maybe the attack wouldn't have happened if they had. But yeah. That attack was ridicluous and insane. It did not have to end like that, for Joseph or for anyone else. Everyone needed to grow the hell up and learn to keep to themselves. I feel bad for all the other neighbors on that street who had to put up with this stupidity for so long - I imagine they all probably breathed a sigh of relief when everyone eventually moved away.

I don't knwo if it quite fits the theme of this thread, but I like this song by them as well:

Pretty close, yeah :p.

...wooooooooooooooooooow... Holy shit. And the same people who support this are shocked, shocked, I tell you, when someone refuses to stand for the national anthem. I dunno, cal me crazy, but it's kind of hard to stand for an anthem whose lyrics are all about "the land of the free" when portions of the country's population are, y'know, NOT free. SERIOUSLY. If I behaved like this at my job I'd be out so fast my head would spin. How and why the fuck are people like her allowed to get away with this shit without someone just coming in and tossing them out on the White House lawn? Also, Marjorie Taylor Greene really is a special kind of stupid. But remember, everyone! The reason Trump won this election was TOTALLY because of "economic anxiety" and the price of eggs. No racist/sexist/xenophobic/transphobic/homophobic reasons behind that support at ALL, nor any need to focus on the super creepy cultish devotion people have to him for some inexplicable reason, nope. Just people who are so concerned about their wallets. Y'know, like the last time he was in office. Every Trump supporter I've ever encountered immediately started in on ranting about women and minorities and transgender people and so on and the economy didn't come up once (at least, not in the way the media seems to believe it would for them. If it did come up, it was always in terms of what "those people" were supposedly getting in terms of financial/government aid and all the jobs they were apparently taking and whatnot). But yeah. Sure. It's totally the economy. And those same guys will sit there and whine about how they can't understand why women aren't flocking to them and seeing them as a valid dating option. Gosh, yeah, it's a real mystery. That's really, really fucking terrifying.