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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Ayasugi Since: Oct, 2010
#344876: Dec 28th 2020 at 5:40:01 AM

the last one is DC, where the Republican Party is non-existent.

Now I'm imagining that there are more elected and appointed Republicans in DC than Republican voters.

Should we read into the fact that the nation's capital is one of, if not the most Republican-unfriendly place in the country?

megarockman from The Sixth Borough (Experienced Trainee)
#344877: Dec 28th 2020 at 5:50:48 AM

I think it's mainly an effect of that fact that DC is all city.

The damned queen and the relentless knight.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#344878: Dec 28th 2020 at 5:53:44 AM

Now I'm imagining that there are more elected and appointed Republicans in DC than Republican voters.

It’s not that far off. In the 2014 Republican Mayoral Primary (which produced no candidate) there were 717 write-in votes. There are currently 195 Republican house members, 52 Republican senators and 6 Republican Supreme Court Justice.

So that’s a total of 253 elected/appointed Republicans minimum, compared to 717 primary voters 6 years ago.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
SKJAM Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Baby don't hurt me!
#344879: Dec 28th 2020 at 6:11:16 AM

Conservatives I've talked to think it's because the majority of people who live in DC are the beneficiaries of government largesse, either by being employed in the bloated federal bureaucracy, or by being poor people who benefit from government aid. Since the Republicans are nominally against both the Federal bureaucracy and unnecessary spending on lazy people....

Falrinn Since: Dec, 2014
#344880: Dec 28th 2020 at 6:23:50 AM

I think it's mostly just the urban/rural divide in a place that is 100% urbanized. There might be a couple other factors that push it to the extreme it is, but those are minor in comparison.

smokeycut Since: Mar, 2013
#344881: Dec 28th 2020 at 7:35:08 AM

[up][up] The idea that poor people are lazy is so laughable to me. Just about every person I know works two to three jobs to support their families, but they wouldn’t have to break their backs like that if the government would just lend a hand to the people it’s supposedly here to serve.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#344882: Dec 28th 2020 at 8:23:50 AM

The "lazy poor" meme has always been window dressing. I have a relative who worked for the government all his life and thinks that everyone who wants to be well-off should just get a government job. Never mind that this is nuts; it reflects the mentality.

This is the land of opportunity. If you don't have access to it, you have not put in the effort to better yourself. If you fall on the lower end of the scale due to circumstance or ill luck, it's not our job to prop you up. The economy is a sorting hat that elevates the worthy and leaves the unworthy behind. If you are unwilling or unable to take advantage of it, you don't deserve anyone's help.

This is something that people genuinely believe.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#344883: Dec 28th 2020 at 8:27:26 AM

My wife's mother had two adopted children, was a single mom, and was horribly ill until she died and left the children with immense debt that they struggled to pay for.

She also refused to take government money and taught them not to as well. I pointed out this just meant she horribly suffered and caused her kids to suffer for stupid ideological reasons.

It was a source of tension in my family for awhile. Local culture had taught her that they'd be weak if they accepted a handout.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#344884: Dec 28th 2020 at 8:39:17 AM

Yep, this is why the American Dream stinks: because the flip side is the people it leaves in the dirt. It's dog eat dog, survival of the strongest, as a culture.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#344885: Dec 28th 2020 at 9:03:16 AM

It's pure capitalism in it's final stage

Edited by Forenperser on Dec 28th 2020 at 6:03:42 PM

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#344886: Dec 28th 2020 at 9:07:59 AM

Ossoff, Warnock warn about running low on funds, seek last-minute donations – NBC News obtained a memo from the Democratic campaigns expressing concern about outside GOP spending in the Georgia Senate races

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/ossoff-warnock-warn-about-running-low-funds-seek-last-minute-n1252413

ScubaWolf from South Carolina Since: Feb, 2020
#344887: Dec 28th 2020 at 10:05:10 AM

[up][up] Meaning right before its death or another Great Depression that makes it seem like it's going to die?

"In a move surprising absolutely no one"
Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#344888: Dec 28th 2020 at 10:29:38 AM

Hah. I don't see Capitalism dying in the US, for at least another 200 years.

But yeah, another Finance Crash is quite the real possibility.

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#344889: Dec 28th 2020 at 10:32:17 AM

"Capitalism dying" is one of those wishful thinking myths. Even if we adopt socialist or post-scarcity reforms, the core structures of capitalism will remain for a long time. We can accept that and try to correct its course, or attack windmills for the rest of our lives.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#344890: Dec 28th 2020 at 10:37:46 AM

Most of the windmills around here are for renewable energy, so please don't.

Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#344891: Dec 28th 2020 at 11:11:20 AM

There are quite a few things moving U.S conservatism, not exclusively capitalism although capitalism does tend to distort some of them for its purposes. For example religion.

That and, you know, there will always be a group who defend the status quo

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
clemont107 Mega Togekiss?! from Land of Missed Opportunities (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Mega Togekiss?!
#344892: Dec 28th 2020 at 11:13:57 AM

[up]Don't forget the staggering amount of conservative parents who try to force their own beliefs onto their children to be like them.

"Wow, no Mega Togekiss in Legends Z-A. Or any non-Froslass new Sinnoh Mega Evolutions. Round of applause, everybody." - Dawn
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#344893: Dec 28th 2020 at 11:46:41 AM

[up]

I don't understand this argument. If you believe passionately in something and that it is both true and good, what kind of person wouldn't?

What kind of sick bastard, for example, wouldn't teach their children to be tolerant and not to engage in violence?

These are the same.

[beat]

The issue being conservative parents often being assholes not passing down their beliefs.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 28th 2020 at 11:49:05 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#344894: Dec 28th 2020 at 11:49:02 AM

Congressman, other Republicans sue Vice President Pence in last-ditch effort to overturn Biden win

Rep. Louie Gohmert became the latest Republican to file a long-shot lawsuit attempting to reverse President-elect Joe Biden’s victory — this time by suing Vice President Mike Pence.

The last-ditch legal effort, filed Sunday, came from Gohmert, an eight-term congressman from Texas, along with 11 Arizona residents who had been nominated by that state’s Republican Party to serve as electors.

It comes over a week before Pence is scheduled to preside over a joint session of Congress where the Electoral College votes for Biden and President Donald Trump will be tallied up.

Electors had already cast their votes two weeks earlier. Biden received 306 electoral votes — 36 more than he needed to win — while Trump received 232.

The suit asks federal Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee in eastern Texas, to declare that Pence has the “exclusive authority and sole discretion” to decide which electoral votes from a given state should be counted.

While pro-Trump electors in some states Biden won have symbolically cast their own ballots, experts say those votes carry no legal weight.

The Republican complaint claims that part of the 1887 Electoral Count Act should be declared unconstitutional as it clashes with the 12th Amendment.

That amendment contains “the exclusive dispute resolution mechanisms,” the lawsuit claims, including that “Vice-President Pence determines which slate of electors’ votes count, or neither, for that state.”

Legal scholars quickly dismissed the Republicans’ lawsuit as hopelessly far-fetched.

“No, this won’t work,” tweeted election law expert Rick Hasen at the University of California, Irvine.

“The suit will go nowhere,” wrote Joshua Geltzer, executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection.

“This is insane,” tweeted Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis.

Spokespeople for Pence’s office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The suit also asserts that “public reports” have “highlighted wide-spread election fraud” in battleground states, citing a document written by White House advisor Peter Navarro that includes numerous claims that have been rejected in other lawsuits or debunked by fact-checkers.

Trump has refused to concede to Biden. He has falsely asserted he won the race while publicly pressuring Republican lawmakers to “step up and fight for the Presidency.” At the same time, Trump is spreading unfounded and debunked conspiracy theories alleging widespread voter and electoral fraud.

Some House Republicans have stated they will challenge the election results when Congress meets to count the electoral votes on Jan. 6. Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc Connell, R-Ky., has reportedly urged his caucus not to make similar objections.

Any objections to the electoral votes must be submitted in writing and signed by at least one House and one Senate member. If an objection arises, the two chambers consider the objection separately.

The Trump campaign and several of the president’s allies have launched dozens of attempts to challenge the election results in numerous swing states. None of those legal efforts has succeeded in invalidating votes for Biden or flipping the results of any states’ presidential elections.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier in December rejected a bid from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to sue four key swing states over changes they made to voting procedures. Trump had called that lawsuit “the big one.”

Motherfucking dammit, STOP IT. This is getting ridiculous. And way to not let me relax until 1/20.

Edited by speedyboris on Dec 28th 2020 at 11:56:49 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#344895: Dec 28th 2020 at 11:49:23 AM

I'm getting tired of Democrats not suing back.

Let's see how Mitch feels when someone attacks his bank account directly.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Dec 28th 2020 at 11:49:40 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#344896: Dec 28th 2020 at 11:51:01 AM

What would the counter-suit be?

Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#344897: Dec 28th 2020 at 11:57:07 AM

So they want to sue Pence for basically doing his job and counting the votes (something he doesn't even want to do), did I get that right?

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Altris from the Vortex Since: Aug, 2019 Relationship Status: Not caught up in your love affair
#344898: Dec 28th 2020 at 12:15:52 PM

Why are they suing Pence? What has he done that they find objectionable?

So, let's hang an anchor from the sun... also my Tumblr
Cross (Don’t ask)
#344899: Dec 28th 2020 at 12:19:33 PM

Always thought there were laws about frivolous lawsuits.

[down] Not how some people work.

Edited by Cross on Dec 28th 2020 at 3:21:29 PM

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#344900: Dec 28th 2020 at 12:20:14 PM

@Charles, these are not things people consciously teach to their children, in general. They are just patterns of thought and behaviour that get picked up by children, from parents, teachers, and general culture around them.

Like, no one is waking up, rubbing their hands, and thinking how they are going to oppress the Black man today, or whathaveyou. That's not really how people work.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times

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