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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I agree that it is in Biden's best interest to show civility towards Trump and not be goaded into swearing at him. We have had way too much uncivility from this president as it is.
Though of course it was perfectly understandable given the circumstances during the debate. I suspect Biden was more annoyed by Trump breaking debate protocol than anything else (save the personal attack on his sons, of course), being the professional debater that he is. Note that Biden's outbursts occur around those moments where Trump blatantly breaks debate rules.
You are right, but I think Biden does need to show that he is willing to move beyond the status quo from before Trump, that his presidency will be more than just "a return to normalcy", and will be a move forwards. And I think he shows promising signs that he will do just that. I notice he has stopped leaning on Obama so much, for one.
I think that was from a time when it was more acceptable to rip on people for being physically handicapped, though. I sure hope that shit don't fly any more these days.
On climate change, I agree that that is the one issue Biden just cannot afford to be "good enough" on. Good enough is just, well, not good enough at this point. We really need some radical decisions made on climate change, and a decades long program just isn't going to cut it at this point. No, being a good start is not good enough. We needed a good start 20 years ago. It is already too late for that now.
As for people not wanting to vote because they think both sides are bad, I think that runs deeper than just Trump/Biden. It is a complete disillusionment with politics in general, somewhat understandable with how divided politics has become. These people likely wouldn't vote in any election. I think in order to get these people to vote for anyone at all, you first need to convince them that politics can be a force for good at all, that some politicians really do have their interests in mind, and will work to make their country a better place. To get them to vote for any politician, you need to get them to trust in politics in general first.
Edited by Redmess on Oct 3rd 2020 at 12:12:24 PM
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesTwitter has emphasized
that it will remove any tweets wishing death upon Trump, is met with an overwhelming volume of replies asking why it hasn't enforced that rule when women, POC, LGBT individuals, and such get death threats.
AOC tweeted
about this, calling them out on their double standard
How reliable a source is Rawstory? They're apparently reporting
that Trump is having trouble breathing, which could be bad news for his prognosis. Not to turn this into the Hourly Trump Report, but.
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There are several sites going with the "breathing difficulty" story, but I too am not sure about its reliability. We'll have to see what information comes out and, importantly, whether it is controlled or leaked.
I expect the White House to completely shut down information about Trump's condition, especially if it is bad, but they're so incompetent at it that it'll leak anyway.
Edited by Fighteer on Oct 3rd 2020 at 8:23:13 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"![]()
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I think that is more an economical thing than a political one. They just don't want to upset half their market.
Which is why this needs to be something mandated by government policy, rather than leave it up to companies who have conflicting incentives.
Edited by Redmess on Oct 3rd 2020 at 2:23:59 PM
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesThe problem here is that the government runs into serious First Amendment challenges in demanding the regulation of speech on online platforms. It's not nearly as simple as, "xx CFR xxxx: All social media companies operating in the U.S. must block and penalize any message that wishes death or harm on another person."
The sheer amount of nuance and consideration that would have to go into such a law, and the courts would almost certainly strike it down anyway...
Edited by Fighteer on Oct 3rd 2020 at 8:28:57 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Well people sharing cat memes and news about the upcoming Destiny DLC make less news.
I like to blame Twitter for the world's decay as much as the next guy but I actually do cut considerable slack when you are dealing with the President of the United States—not because the office deserves respect but retaliation.
Tik Tok shows Trump is willing to try to destroy anyone who offends his ego.
When Vampire: The Masquerade exposed the abuse of LGBT in Chechnya, the Russian developers were told to apologize on national TV or go to jail.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 3rd 2020 at 5:37:07 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.It still stands out against the fact that Twitter completely ignores active death threats (in contrast to the passive ill-wishing that Trump is getting) against people who aren’t the president of the US, and especially against people who are progressive, women, minorities, or all three.
Twitter is simply in the wrong. If they’re willing to delete tweets expressing happiness at the idea of Trump’s death, they should be willing to delete death threats and death wishes against non-Trump people as well.
Edited by Galadriel on Oct 3rd 2020 at 9:13:52 AM
My point actually is the fact that a lot of them come from the President of the United States.
They actually have said they had an algorithm to remove hate speech but can't use it because of him.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 3rd 2020 at 6:01:52 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.![]()
Well, that's another issue entirely: how do you treat speech by politicians and national leaders on the internet? The whole idea of political leaders being on social media at all is relatively new, and society as a whole is still figuring out how to deal with that and what rules should be in place.
On a very different note, I have been reading Shapiro's book about the role of Shakespeare in America lately, which discusses how Shakespeare influenced many politicians and former presidents, for good and for ill. So it raised the question: does Biden like Shakespeare? Or theatre and literature in general?
Edited by Redmess on Oct 3rd 2020 at 3:13:37 PM
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesIf we're talking Shakespeare, I'd say that US politicians in general give me vibes of wanting to be like Henry V but seem more like the squabbling schemers in the vicinity of Henry VI.
On another note: while I’m not what you’d call a gambler, I do check up on the odds that the online casinos give Donald Trump of winning the election.
When his tax returns got out, he went from 2,1 times the bet to 2,5 times the bet. Then, when he got COVID-19, they stopped letting you bet on anything election-related at all.
Edited by MichaelKatsuro on Oct 3rd 2020 at 3:16:47 PM

After suffering a knee injury, Vice-President Nixon was forced to be treated at Walther Reed
for two critical weeks in the 1960 election against Kennedy, which arguably played a role in portraying the latter as more physically fit to be President despite him also having his own history of back ailments
.