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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Speaking anecdotally nobody in my circle of associates really gives a hoot about Biden, other than that he was VP once and that... makes him a thing. Usually when they talk about the Democratic candidates it's Sanders, Warren, Gillebrand, O'Rourke or Buttigieg. Sometimes they talk about hoping for AOC to run soon, but Gabbard is a complete non-entity. Granted since I work in NY it might skew things.
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I’d completely change my tune if Buttigieg spun around and ran for Governor or Senate. Cause that would be useful.
... that’s an absurd comparison, no matter what you think of her policies. She’s not guilty of flagrantly breaking the law, lying, stealing from people for decades, and sexually harassing people.
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Agreed. I’m still furious Beto isn’t going against Cornyn; we need that damn Senate seat.
Edited by wisewillow on Apr 19th 2019 at 10:08:41 AM
Beto and Buttigieg should have run for statewide offices. That they're running for president after such inconsequential prior careers is idiotic.
"AOC is too young, so.it isn't worth talking about her in regards to Presidential runs for another decade. Plus, her net negatives are nearly at Trump levels. "
Okay, what? This is just an insult.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Apr 19th 2019 at 1:09:04 PM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."You know, I was cooling on Beto a while back and didn't want him to win compared to some others. Guess its looking like a case of Be Careful What You Wish For. Buttgieg is just like him in some respects, only he has more things he's said that make me irritated.
>AOC
...I'll just echo what everyone else said. What.
The awful things he says and does are burned into our cultural consciousness like a CRT display left on the same picture too long. -FighteerAOC still needs time to build some experience. Even if she were eligible, there are definitely candidates in the primary that I would sooner vote for than her. She's just too green for such an important office.
That being said, there are also candidates in the primary who I would sooner vote for her than them. She has a way better grasp of policy than some of the shit I've heard. Plus, she's neither a sexual harasser nor a friend to the Russians.
The question of AOC's Presidential qualifications is woefully premature and strictly academic, and will remain so for another six years at minimum. However, the suggestion that she may some day be Presidential material is not the craziest thing I've ever heard.
The craziest thing I've ever heard remains to this day, "Donald Trump has won the election for President of the United States."
Edited by TobiasDrake on Apr 19th 2019 at 11:16:45 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Besides, she might make a good Committee chairwoman. That's really the correct place for talented policywriters. Of course, seniority means that in order to get there she has to stay in office for a few decades at least.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanThis “Book Report on The Mueller report” made me laugh.
“The Mueller Report” is about a man who wanted to find information, but really, I think, what he found was the American Dream. It is exactly like “The Great Gatsby,” a book about a man who pretends to have more money than he actually has and turns out to owe everything he has to sinister forces but for whom you ultimately feel pity because he is lonely even though he has a big house, in that both that book and this one are about a narrator who is trying to find out information about one thing and ultimately discovers something else.
Basically, the American Dream is elusive to lots of people, and some people would say that it does not exist at all, which is also what people in this book say about collusion, which shows parallelism.
One theme of “The Mueller Report” was that it contains 448 pages. That is a lot of pages, and it is very impressive to read a book that long, as, of course, I did. But many of the words are covered up in thick black bars, which makes the reading go fast because of pacing. I would argue that the bars are even a character. In the writings of Kurt Vonnegut, a large asterisk drawn in thick black ink stands for a part of the human body. I am not sure what part it would be in this book.
The colors red, green, blue and white also recur repeatedly throughout this book. Green symbolizes spring, renewal, money and envy. It can also symbolize Personal Privacy. Yellow symbolizes cowardice. It also refers to portions of the book that deal with Investigative Techniques, but I think it can mean both things at the same time. Red is usually blood or anger but here alludes to the Grand Jury, whose presence was felt throughout this book.
This whole book is an example of synecdoche, in which a part stands for the whole. For instance, you say “wheels” when you mean “a car,” or “the unredacted portions of ‘The Mueller Report’” when you mean “The Mueller Report.” Synecdoche is a useful rhetorical device and I like it a lot, even if it is not one of the ones Winston Churchill mostly used.
The conflicts of Man vs. Man and Man vs. Society are very prominent conflicts which are demonstrated throughout this book. Sometimes, a character will find himself opposed to other characters, who will try to stop him by just not doing what he has asked or by pretending they are confused by his request or sometimes by resigning. The Deep State, in this book, can represent society.
One way in which this book did not succeed was its lack of female characters. Ivanka Trump appeared briefly, but her character was not as developed as it could have been. Hillary Clinton was, in some ways, the villain of this book, according to some, but I think if it was their intention for her to be the villain, they should have made her do more. They just say she is crooked without stating why, which is an example of telling without showing.
Throughout the book, the character of Donald Trump was looking for protection, which we see from the fact that the word “protect” occurs more than 80 times in the course of the book, although some of those times, I am now realizing, are at the top of the page next to the title of the report. But mostly they are in the text. He wants protection, which is demonstrated by him saying, “‘You were supposed to protect me,’ or words to that effect” to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, whose name is a telling reference to lost causes.
This book examines the theme of protection through all three types of irony. In his quest for protection, Donald Trump makes an allusion to the play “Angels in America” when describing what a good protector should do (not take notes, just like Roy Cohn). This is an example of verbal irony. Secondly, the character Michael Cohen also says he wants to protect the president, but some characters disagree that this is what his actions accomplish (situational irony). And lastly, when Donald Trump says, “I’m f—-ed,” it is an example of dramatic irony, because he does not yet know that Congress is going to protect him and never take any action that could possibly lead to him not being in office anymore, which is something we as the reader already know.
A character I really liked was George Papadopoulos, who was referred to as “Greek Guy” in a footnote to show comic relief. It is good to have some characters whom you do not have to take seriously, especially if the book is long.
The narrator seemed very ambivalent. Sometimes I thought, am I supposed to trust this narrator? Sometimes the narrator seemed on the verge of saying something very profound, but then there would be another black box. Black boxes can also symbolize censorship.
I found the black boxes distracting but also moving. This book asks, in a way, are we not all trapped in boxes, unable to connect? I think the boxes were very indicative. Sometimes the box looked like a Tetris that was successful, as on page 44. Sometimes the box looked like a brutalist beret. I think the boxes were a kind of Rorschach test for the readers to see whatever they are inclined to in them. I saw the craven darkness at the heart of everything. This is like in the famous book “Heart of Darkness.”
Also they symbolized the American Dream.
One thing that I liked about the book was that it let you draw your own conclusion about what people’s motives were and whether they were wrong to do what they did. I think it will be fun to discuss that part a lot.
I did not identify with any of the characters in this book.
I would recommend this book, in spite of how it ended.
Edited by megaeliz on Apr 19th 2019 at 1:48:14 PM
I am suspicious of anything Mc Connell does. Anyone got context? Only evil angle I can currently think of is using this to argue voting age should be raised and/or further criminalize young people of color.
Kentucky boy here.
It is, unsurprisingly, a scam by Mitch who is attaching a bunch of riders to benefit tobacco companies.
It's also considered part of a side move to essentially gut the legislation against them nation wide. Kids are a low source of revenue for them and a major source of bad optics.
The goal is, "Raise tobacco to 21 and remove every single restriction on tobacco sales otherwise."
The sale of tobacco in the United States is actually far less profitable to the companies than oversees exports. The industry is more worried about packaging and exporting restrictions than local sales. Smoking in China is like theater tickets in China these days.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Apr 19th 2019 at 11:58:37 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.The best part is how McConnell and Fox News will undoubtedly frame opposition to the bill. "So, you want children to smoke?" It's a perfect attack line to shut down dissent.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"The qualities being compared aren’t their styles or positions, but how they divide people. AOC hasn’t done anything similar to Trump, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s liked nationally about as much as Trump is, because Republicans hate AOC obsessively and they make up a large part of the country.
As for Buttigieg, the fact that he hasn’t even tried for higher office like Beto did annoys me, though I’m not even seeing him as a presidential candidate, I’ve mentally filed Buttigieg and Beto away as competing in the VP primary, which honestly is something that might be worth doing.
Edited by Silasw on Apr 19th 2019 at 7:24:30 PM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran

Ask our politicians be more, not Moore.
Edited by sgamer82 on Apr 19th 2019 at 11:01:14 AM