Chit-Chat: The Feels

[bluegirl147]

Trump did not get 50% of votes.  Add in all the people who didn't vote his % of American people goes way down. For him or anyone to act like he represents the American people is simply false. And I hope the rest of the world knows that.  The electoral college is a relic of a bygone era. If not for that Al Gore would have won in 2000.  That would have changed the course of history and most likely we would not have even had candidate Trump in 2016.

[Dimity]

Drove by a protest in front of a Tesla dealership here over the week-end.  I don't know how much coverage these protests are getting but getting Canucks to turn out on a nice early spring day when they could be doing almost anything else is a sign of the times!

 

[fastiller]

@Dimity - IDK who's funding these ads that are popping up all around London, but I really like them.

1/2

2/2

These ones are funded by overthrowmusk.
 

=&=

[Dimity]

@fastiller I've seen memes with some of these but I didn't realize they are actual 'real life' advertisements!  This is awesome. 

[fastiller]

Another:

[peacheslatour]

Clay Bennett-

[Affogato]

3 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Clay Bennett-

I know a few prople who fumble to find bumper stickers. I bought used. I bought before Musk went crazy. 

1 hour ago, fastiller said:

Another:

These ads are great. Thanks. This is in the UK?

Edited March 17 by Affogato

[Dimity]

3 hours ago, Kemper said:

It is discouraging and a symbolic slap in the face to make parents think that at this time in history, we can stop this deluge on our own. If our kids are stressed....it is our fault! Let's heap more blame and guilt. Everyday, most kids leave their allegedly safe houses and step out into a world that is upside down. And sometimes our best is just not good enough. Yet we still try; which can create even more guilt when we are judged by not trying hard enough.

So much this.  Anyone who actually thinks parents aren't doing their best by their kids in these turbulent times is sadly mistaken.  But typically Trump  supporters will find fault with anyone but Trump and their own lack of empathy and caring.  People are stressed?  Children are stressed? Well go to the park and chill out and bobs your uncle.  Makes you wonder how many British parents were given that advice back in 1939.

[fastiller]

1 minute ago, Affogato said:

 

These ads are great. Thanks. This us in the UK?

@Affogato - the ones that I posted are in the UK.   The bus stop ads are guerilla activism (IE: they're not commissioned by TFL (Transport for London)).  Nor is this one, seen in the Underground:

[peacheslatour]

11 minutes ago, Affogato said:

I know a few prople who fumble to find bumper stickers. I bought used. I bought before Musk went crazy. 

These ads are great. Thanks. This is in the UK?

Some Tesla owners are attaching other automakers logos to their Swasticars.

[tres bien]

The fuck around and find out caught up to Chuck Schumer 

Schumer has postponed his six city book tour due to security concerns amid anger from democrats over the government funding fight

I really don’t know how he could have been so clueless to think talking for weeks about fight fight fight then completely fold the day before the vote was going to be a win for him 

I keep saying that I didn’t want a shutdown blamed on the democrats but I also didn’t want Schumer to surrender so willingly 

Also according to CNN in a poll taken March 6 -9 the democratic party has a 29% favorable rating which is the lowest in their polling history dating to 1992

Edited March 17 by tres bien

[Makai]

11 hours ago, Anela said:

This is on his “truth” social page. 

I looked into this and it is very unlikely that he would win this one. He is challenging having an authorized representative to sign documents using autopen but Presidents have had the okay to do that from the Justice Department for two decades. He is also going off of a Heritage Foundation report about Biden’s use of autopen but there are photographs of him signing things that HF claim were autopen. This would open a massive can of worms and open the door for a ton of Presidential actions to be challenged. 

[Absolom]

3 hours ago, jessiebell said:

Thanks Affogato for the laugh.  Until recently I didn't know what a cybertruck was.   About two months ago I was sitting at a red light and this horrible looking vehicle made a left turn in front of me and I thought what the heck is that ugly thing.  I later found out it was a cyber truck.  I can't imagine what would possess someone to buy one.

I can't help cringing every time I see one.  I also think why would anyone want something so lacking in style and looking more like a rolling prison cell?

[Dimity]

2 minutes ago, Makai said:

I looked into this and it is very unlikely that he would win this one.

Doesn't he have enough to do wrecking the economy, threatening sovereign nations, defying court orders, kissing up to Putin and the like?  He's an exhausting ball of non stop rage at this point.

[tres bien]

6 minutes ago, Makai said:

I looked into this and it is very unlikely that he would win this one. He is challenging having an authorized representative to sign documents using autopen but Presidents have had the okay to do that from the Justice Department for two decades. He is also going off of a Heritage Foundation report about Biden’s use of autopen but there are photographs of him signing things that HF claim were autopen. This would open a massive can of worms and open the door for a ton of Presidential actions to be challenged. 

This is coming from the guy that declassified classified documents that he stole by thinking about it

 

Edited March 17 by tres bien

[Affogato]

3 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Doesn't he have enough to do wrecking the economy, threatening sovereign nations, defying court orders, kissing up to Putin and the like?  He's an exhausting ball of non stop rage at this point.

His priority is undoing anything Biden and his other enemies do or have done.  The rest is just a felicitous side effect. 

Edited March 17 by Affogato

[peacheslatour]

4 minutes ago, Affogato said:

His priority is undoing anything Biden and his other enemies do or have done.  The rest is just a felicitous side effect. 

So, everybody but Putin?

[tres bien]

He wants to achieve the success of his friend Viktor Orban

The approximate population of Hungry in 2024 was 9,584,627 versus the US of approximately 340.1 million 

Maybe he should have found a smaller country to invade because I don’t see how this is sustainable for almost four more years 

[Makai]

11 hours ago, tres bien said:

Also according to CNN the democrats have a 29% favorable rating which is the lowest in their polling history dating to 1992

I hate the way stats are used by the media. The headlines about it being a record low are correct but doesn’t paint the whole picture. The Democratic Party has a 63% favorable rating from democrats and democratic leaning independents. The Republican Party has a favorable rating only 7% higher. All the data really tells us is that the left and the right really hate each other and that republicans are slightly happier with the direction of the party than democrats. Not really shocking. 

The more interesting takeaway from the poll, in my opinion, is that the majority of people on the left want the Democrats to stand up against Trump. The poll was taken before Schumer caved so the favorable numbers today are probably even lower for dems. 

This part is also interesting:

Quote

Ocasio Cortez’s stock in the party is especially high among those who describe themselves as liberal and those younger than 45, with roughly 1 in 6 within each of those groups calling her emblematic of the party’s values. No Democratic leader polled in the double digits among older adults or moderates on this metric.

 

Edited March 18 by Makai

[Dimity]

49 minutes ago, Makai said:

This is on his “truth” social page. 

Along with all else, of course, he has to be insulting by calling the former president "sleepy Joe Biden".

 

[Avaleigh]

3 hours ago, Makai said:

Harris was going to win here either way but choosing to sit out when we had protecting gay marriage, changing rent control laws and minimum wage on the ballot fucking pisses me off. 

Unfortunately, people who opposed the rent control proposition spent millions of dollars to confuse voters into thinking that a no vote would somehow be harmful to them personally. The proponents didn't have as much money to spend bombarding people with ads. They also manipulated people's concerns about the homeless crisis to get them to believe that a yes vote would result in the housing crisis being made worse. It was such BS and was hard to watch happen in real time. 

Even people in blue states will vote against their best interests if there are enough rich people around to convince them.

[kittykat]

53 minutes ago, tres bien said:

keep saying that I didn’t want a shutdown blamed on the democrats but I also didn’t want Schumer to surrender so willingly 

Democrats were going to get blamed regardless by Trumpers but their voters know better.  It was about the gesture.  I do understand his reason but it was still the wrong move. 

Luckily a lot of Democrats seem to finally be mobilizing. They need to get on the road and stay there for the next four years. Go to places they're firmly entrenched and assuage their voters, go to red areas like Bernie and know that they're fighting for them even if it's futile that they won't get their vote. Find the areas with a high amount of no voters and engage.

[fastiller]

7 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Along with all else, of course, he has to be insulting by calling the former president "sleepy Joe Biden".

 

@Dimity - I like the sentiment of this, but the open quotation mark being at the end of the line is giving me the wiggins.

[Dimity]

2 minutes ago, fastiller said:

I like the sentiment of this, but the open quotation mark being at the end of the line is giving me the wiggins.

I know!  I don't know who creates most of these memes but they should be taking remedial English with special attention paid to grammar, sentence structure and especially spelling!

[Affogato]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

So, everybody but Putin?

And Hegseth for some reason. No, he seems to like a few people. His ass lickers. 

[Absolom]

4 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I agree with you but my generation (later Boomer) had to face a lot of crap growing up too. Race riots, Vietnam war, Kent State, Presidential assassinations, "the sexual revolution", you name it. I was 9 going on 10 in 1968. If that wasn't a year that would cause any kid emotional strife, I don't know what was.

For slightly older folks, may I add the Bay of Pigs and nuclear attack drills along with the Cuban missile crisis?  I was on vacation with my grandmother and other family when I heard on the radio we should prepare for a nuclear attack.  All I wanted was my parents who were hours away. It's truly the stuff of nightmares.  My parents also saw no problem in taking me to the drive-in with them when they went to see On The Beach.

Edited March 17 by Absolom

[Affogato]

25 minutes ago, kittykat said:

Democrats were going to get blamed regardless by Trumpers but their voters know better.  It was about the gesture.  I do understand his reason but it was still the wrong move. 

Luckily a lot of Democrats seem to finally be mobilizing. They need to get on the road and stay there for the next four years. Go to places they're firmly entrenched and assuage their voters, go to red areas like Bernie and know that they're fighting for them even if it's futile that they won't get their vote. Find the areas with a high amount of no voters and engage.

Indivisible is calling for people to call and ask Schumer to step down. 

[bluegirl147]

1 hour ago, Dimity said:

Doesn't he have enough to do wrecking the economy, threatening sovereign nations, defying court orders, kissing up to Putin and the like?  He's an exhausting ball of non stop rage at this point.

First of all I think he thinks it makes him look tough.  Second of all all he knows how to do is wreck things. He is not a smart man and tends to listen to those who tell him how great he is so he isn't getting the best advice. Third he doesn't actually want to govern. He wants to be a figurehead. Someone who rides around and waves to his subjects.  Or sits on a riser as a military parade goes by.

1 hour ago, Affogato said:

His priority is undoing anything Biden and his other enemies do or have done.

This too.  He can do his best to erase anything Obama or Biden did but it won't change the fact he is going to be talked about in the same sentences as they talk about the very worst of world leaders and that is company I never thought one of the United States Presidents would ever be in. 

 

5 minutes ago, Affogato said:

Indivisible is calling for people to call and ask Schumer to step down. 

And this is the difference between Dems and Reps. We know we need better representatives. Reps will go down with the ship and even as they drown blame Dems.

[Makai]

1 hour ago, Avaleigh said:

Unfortunately, people who opposed the rent control proposition spent millions of dollars to confuse voters into thinking that a no vote would somehow be harmful to them personally. The proponents didn't have as much money to spend bombarding people with ads. They also manipulated people's concerns about the homeless crisis to get them to believe that a yes vote would result in the housing crisis being made worse. It was such BS and was hard to watch happen in real time. 

Even people in blue states will vote against their best interests if there are enough rich people around to convince them.

I heard so much conflicting information about Prop 33. People I generally trusted took completely opposite views and one ended up changing their mind just before the election. The summary of the law was longer than the actual law. It was written and backed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation which has been accused of being a slumlord. The opposition also includes slumlords.

Then you throw prop 34 into the mix which was written so specifically that it only targeted the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. I voted early and can’t even remember if my actual vote reflected by final stance on those two. 

Edited March 17 by Makai

[mostlylurking]

3 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

5 hours ago, Dimity said:

people like your husband are a big part part of why Trump won. Not voting was the same as voting for him. I will never understand anyone who saw what he did the first time around and still sat on their hands in 2024. The world is paying for that apathy.

The number of people not voting especially in swing states decide elections.  It happened in 2016 and 2024. There are no perfect candidates.  I didn't like Biden but I voted for him because I didn't want Trump again. That is what you do. I know sometimes it seems like voting for the lesser of two evils but when one of the evils is an unhinged dictator I will be pick the lesser evil. 

I had this very same argument with my husband.  He told me people who didn’t vote would be a vote for Trump.  Excuse me but it’s not the public’s fault that we only have two choices, and it’s not the public’s fault the Democrats didn’t put up someone stronger.  In my opinion it’s just another excuse for the Dems to say hey this isn’t our fault instead of digging deeper and finding out why people aren’t voting for them. 

[bluegirl147]

1 minute ago, mostlylurking said:

I had this very same argument with my husband.  He told me people who didn’t vote would be a vote for Trump.  Excuse me but it’s not the public’s fault that we only have two choices, and it’s not the public’s fault the Democrats didn’t put up someone stronger.  In my opinion it’s just another excuse for the Dems to say hey this isn’t our fault instead of digging deeper and finding out why people aren’t voting for them. 

Would there had been a Democrat you would have voted for?  Would you have voted for a different Republican?

[Dimity]

4 minutes ago, mostlylurking said:

 In my opinion it’s just another excuse for the Dems to say hey this isn’t our fault instead of digging deeper and finding out why people aren’t voting for them. 

Anyone who chose to sit this election out is as guilty of what is happening now as anyone who voted for Trump.  It's just that simple.  You know you have a two party system and unless you were living in a cave the last almost 10 years you had to know what Trump was like and acting like voting Dem was in any way shape or form remotely as "bad" as voting for him is just not on.  If people are having buyers remorse now that's on them and no one else.

[Anela]

1 hour ago, Makai said:

I looked into this and it is very unlikely that he would win this one. He is challenging having an authorized representative to sign documents using autopen but Presidents have had the okay to do that from the Justice Department for two decades. He is also going off of a Heritage Foundation report about Biden’s use of autopen but there are photographs of him signing things that HF claim were autopen. This would open a massive can of worms and open the door for a ton of Presidential actions to be challenged. 

I know, and I know he posts this for his base, who have a thing for punishing these people (like him), along with the conspiracy theory that Biden was never actually President.  It’s just that he disobeyed a court order, he’s going after judges who decide against him, and he’s just going to keep pushing, because that’s what he does.  I wouldn’t put it past him, to go after them anyway.  

[mostlylurking]

6 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

Would there had been a Democrat you would have voted for?  Would you have voted for a different Republican?

I voted for Kamala although she lacked substance and I wasn’t happy about it.  A better candidate in this climate would have been a middle of the road man.  As a woman it pains me to say that but let’s be real that’s the country we are living in right now.

6 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Anyone who chose to sit this election out is as guilty of what is happening now as anyone who voted for Trump.  It's just that simple.  You know you have a two party system and unless you were living in a cave the last almost 10 years you had to know what Trump was like and acting like voting Dem was in any way shape or form remotely as "bad" as voting for him is just not on.  If people are having buyers remorse now that's on them and no one else.

I know people who didn’t vote at all and I don’t blame them.  They don’t have buyers remorse, they knew Trump was a psycho.  Put up someone that the public can get behind.  Don’t blame people that didn’t vote because both candidates were shitty.  Nothing but excuses, but I’m not surprised because as I’ve said multiple times on this forum the Dems are still playing politics as usual and don’t seem to realize the game has changed.

[Dimity]

1 minute ago, mostlylurking said:

 They don’t have buyers remorse, they knew Trump was a psycho.

This is probably the single most horrifying thing I've read on this thread so far.

[Affogato]

8 minutes ago, mostlylurking said:

I had this very same argument with my husband.  He told me people who didn’t vote would be a vote for Trump.  Excuse me but it’s not the public’s fault that we only have two choices, and it’s not the public’s fault the Democrats didn’t put up someone stronger.  In my opinion it’s just another excuse for the Dems to say hey this isn’t our fault instead of digging deeper and finding out why people aren’t voting for them. 

It is the public’s fault. Who else? Many republicans know how awful Trump is, but they wanted a win…or didn’t want to be on his bad side. Many pulled back from politics, more will. Reagan was well liked, although he had dementia in his last term and we had barely climbed out of the pit he left the economy in when Trump was elected. My vote is that people want charisma and (if possible) star cred. Actually Bill Clinton and Obama were fairly charismatic. But in my opinion people are voting for the wrong things. Not issues or even self interest. Just sayin’

[mostlylurking]

2 minutes ago, Affogato said:

It is the public’s fault. Who else?

The actual people in power who refused to listen to the public.

[partofme]

6 minutes ago, mostlylurking said:

voted for Kamala although she lacked substance and I wasn’t happy about it.  A better candidate in this climate would have been a middle of the road man.  As a woman it pains me to say that but let’s be real that’s the country we are living in right now.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that Kamala lacked substance.  I don’t know if she would have been my first choice (she wasn’t in 2020), but I thought she did a decent job with the time she had and had a lot of well thought out policy proposals if anyone paid attention.  Her campaign wasn’t without flaws, there were certainly things she could have done better but her campaign wasn’t bad enough to lose to Trump.  I do believe the Democrats should have run a white man and that she probably would have won had she been a white man.  I’m sick and tired of Democrats running middle of the road candidates though, they need to run someone who’s actually a progressive, progressive policies are popular with the public. 

[mostlylurking]

3 minutes ago, Dimity said:

This is probably the single most horrifying thing I've read on this thread so far.

Yikes.  I don’t know if maybe you misunderstood what I said.  My coworker didn't vote.  She’s not surprised by any of the things Trump has said and done, which no one should be since he has shown us and never tried to hide what type of person he is. Somehow, people still seem surprised which baffles me.  She just couldn’t bring herself to vote for the other side.  That’s what I meant by not having “buyers remorse”.

I did vote because I have a daughter and voted for who I thought was the lesser of the two evils.  However I feel when people vote this way, not actually voting for someone but rather against someone else, they aren’t invested and easily swayed.  I haven’t really been inspired to vote since Hilary in 2016.  I still do it, but I understand why people don’t.

[Milk-Eyed Mender]

1 hour ago, Absolom said:

I can't help cringing every time I see one.  I also think why would anyone want something so lacking in style and looking more like a rolling prison cell?

I expect they'll be repurposed easily enough for the mobile killing squads our current administration will require once things really get going. Einzatsgruppen 2.0., for the EV age.  

[mostlylurking]

12 minutes ago, partofme said:

don’t think it’s fair to say that Kamala lacked substance.  I don’t know if she would have been my first choice (she wasn’t in 2020), but I thought she did a decent job with the time she had and had a lot of well thought out policy proposals if anyone paid attention.  Her campaign wasn’t without flaws, there were certainly things she could have done better but her campaign wasn’t bad enough to lose to Trump.  I do believe the Democrats should have run a white man and that she probably would have won had she been a white man.  I’m sick and tired of Democrats running middle of the road candidates though, they need to run someone who’s actually a progressive, progressive policies are popular with the public. 

That’s probably true.  It’s not that she lacked substance, but there was just not enough time to build the case.  I blame Biden and all of his apologists for not dropping out sooner, or better yet not running in the first place.  That hurt her massively.  I would love a progressive candidate and I would love a woman candidate.  But look where we are.  I think we are very far from someone like that.

[bluegirl147]

24 minutes ago, Affogato said:

But in my opinion people are voting for the wrong things. Not issues or even self interest. Just sayin’

I agree with this.  It started with W and the whole you want to  have a beer with him.  Yes Bill Clinton and Obama were charismatic but they weren't just pretty faces.  I liked Hillary but I understood people who didn't think she had a charismatic personality.  I thought her personality was fine but that wasn't important to me.  I thought she was qualified and would have been a damn fine President.  I backed Elizabeth Warren in 2020 because I liked her policies.  And yes unfortunately the next Dem president is going to have to be a moderate white man.  I used to say I hope in my lifetime we  had a female president. Now I'm hoping it's in my granddaughters' lifetime.

[partofme]

7 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

I agree with this.  It started with W and the whole you want to  have a beer with him.  Yes Bill Clinton and Obama were charismatic but they weren't just pretty faces.

To be fair I think people have always selected candidates this way long before Dubya.  I never understood why anyone would want to have a beer with him though, but I think charisma and good looks have always been far more important than they should be in politics.  I remember when Clinton had his first debate with about 10 other Democrats, I picked Clinton as the winner based solely on his looks/charisma.  I was 18 at the time and there was no internet, so other than knowing I wanted a Democrat, that was all I went on, after that debate I told all the girls on my dorm floor that Clinton was going to be the candidate and they all thought I was crazy.   

[fastiller]

17 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

I agree with this.  It started with W and the whole you want to  have a beer with him.  

 

2 minutes ago, partofme said:

To be fair I think people have always selected candidates this way long before Dubya.  

1. "I like Ike"

2. Nixon's flop sweat in that one debate in '60.

Edited March 17 by fastiller

[LexieLily]

Here's some good news! On a day where the S&P was up 0.6%, Tesla went down ~4.8%

[graybrown bird]

4 minutes ago, fastiller said:

 

1. "I like Ike"

2. Nixon's flop sweat in that one debate in '60.

Eisenhower was incredibly popular after WWII. The masses of returning soldiers (my dad among them] respected and even idolized him.

[suomi]

from the article:

These six Democrats are showing the party how to resist Trump 2.0

As leadership dithers, individual politicians are taking up the fight.

Many on the left, myself included, are furious at Democratic Party officials for not aggressively contesting President Donald Trump. The decision by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (New York) last week to acquiesce to a Trump-backed budget bill was the latest in a series of capitulations by congressional Democrats. Even worse is California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has bizarrely decided this is the time for him to start a podcast with softball interviews of pro-Trump conservatives such as Stephen K. Bannon and Charlie Kirk.

But there are some Democratic politicians who are showing real fight and resolve — and have from the start of Trump’s second term. They are not only voting against his initiatives but attacking him in ways intentionally designed to get media attention and galvanize opposition against the new administration.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/17/democrats-trump-resist-sanders-aoc-murphy-walz/

[Ceindreadh]

14 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

Wrong! A reporter asked the Irishman (forgot his name) if he heard about Rosie moving to Ireland. That's when Trump asked if he knew who Rosie O'Donnell was.

Had the reporter not asked the question, Rosie's name never would have come up in the conversation.

That Irishman is Taoiseach Micheál Martin, the head of the Irish Government, who was representing the country on the traditional Saint Patrick's Day visit. 

Not to be mistaken for the ignorant gobshite Conor McGregor who was apparently invited to the White House by Trump and who does not represent the country, only the worst parts of it.  It should be hardly surprising that one adjudicated rapist invited another. 

 

[Dimity]

14 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

Wrong! A reporter asked the Irishman (forgot his name) if he heard about Rosie moving to Ireland. That's when Trump asked if he knew who Rosie O'Donnell was.

Had the reporter not asked the question, Rosie's name never would have come up in the conversation.

Oh how totally wrong I was.  He didn't bring her up.  That changes everything.  Or does it?  No, I don't believe it does.

Like you though I am betting Trump had no idea who he was actually talking to or why bitching about a celebrity was wildly inappropriate under the circumstances.  So typical of him though.

[suomi]

from the article:

[But] Walz, as the 2024 vice-presidential nominee, was a true national standard-bearer for the Democrats. His early visibility and clear-eyed attacks on Trump’s radicalism are important, particularly since Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Kamala Harris have said almost nothing since Trump was elected. Their silence gives the implicit message that the country’s most prominent Democrats don’t think anything too significant has occurred in the last two months.

“The road to authoritarianism is littered with people saying, ‘You’re overreacting,’” he told the crowd in Des Moines.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/17/democrats-trump-resist-sanders-aoc-murphy-walz/