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

pwiegle Cape Malleum Majorem from Nowhere Special Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Singularity
Cape Malleum Majorem
#157151: Nov 20th 2016 at 5:23:27 PM

It's not just contact with minorities either. More like different people in general, new perspectives, information about the world.

...and discovering that your parents and grandparents didn't know everything and weren't always right... quite the opposite, in fact, when they had such a narrow perspective of the world because they never looked beyond the county line...

This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
Joesolo Indiana Solo Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Indiana Solo
#157153: Nov 20th 2016 at 5:31:20 PM

Yeah that letter just screams fake, just from how it's written.

I'm baaaaaaack
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#157154: Nov 20th 2016 at 5:40:16 PM

If it takes continued poverty to teach the rural voters to stop voting these people in, then so be it.

edited 20th Nov '16 5:40:45 PM by AlleyOop

storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#157155: Nov 20th 2016 at 5:42:46 PM

Unrelated, but what happens to Trump's outstanding 70-something lawsuits that were set to go to court on the 28th?

The BBC link posted earlier says he settled the Trump University lawsuit for $25m. Unfortunately, the news got buried by his Hamilton tweets.

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play
Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#157156: Nov 20th 2016 at 5:43:52 PM

[up][up]Don't be silly. Everything is always the liberals' fault. Always.

Unfortunately, it looks like this is only going to end when the older generation and all those decrepit coal towns die of old age. It's unfortunate that there wasn't a better solution, but death has been one of the strongest forces of progress for all of human history.

[up] That's pretty much the only way that one was ever going to end, but I meant more the sexual harassment suits.

edited 20th Nov '16 5:45:31 PM by Discar

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#157157: Nov 20th 2016 at 5:46:00 PM

[up]

Unfortunately, it looks like this is only going to end when the older generation and all those decrepit coal towns die of old age. It's unfortunate that there wasn't a better solution, but death has been one of the strongest forces of progress for all of human history.

That will (sadly) be helped along by the GOP's plans to eliminate the ACA and likely Medicare.

Too bad those will also endanger the lives of people who did not vote for Trump and even worse off than the Rust Belt people.

edited 20th Nov '16 5:46:56 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#157158: Nov 20th 2016 at 5:59:07 PM

There was a better solution, they just didn't wanna take it.

Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#157159: Nov 20th 2016 at 6:05:47 PM

Hey now. It's not their fault the Coal Mining Companies refused to diversify. And it's not Hillary would've saved them.

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
#157160: Nov 20th 2016 at 6:26:59 PM

I mean she was proposing things that would save them, Obama did the same, problem is Republicans blocked said laws.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#157161: Nov 20th 2016 at 6:36:38 PM

Supposedly Trump is set to write off a big chunk of the 25 million dollar settlement as a business expense in his taxes.

Mio Since: Jan, 2001
#157162: Nov 20th 2016 at 6:40:04 PM

[up][up]I'm not sure if Clinton's proposals would have saved them necessarily, but they would likely be in a much more secure place then say,what these people in Clark County Kentucky are looking at with Medicaid cuts.

For the record,Clark County also voted overwhelmingly for Trump. (scroll down about a quarter of the way to see)

edited 20th Nov '16 6:41:45 PM by Mio

MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#157163: Nov 20th 2016 at 6:54:12 PM

Well I look forward to these idiots' reactions once they realize that they screwed themselves over again.

Russia just increased its police and military budget to 30% of its overall budget.

Are they going to make another move with the US paralyzed by a buffoon?

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#157164: Nov 20th 2016 at 6:59:01 PM

Eh, if they try and sustain that for too long they'll cripple themselves. And a large % of one year's budget isn't that telling, I'd be interested to see what % of the GDP is going into defense.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#157165: Nov 20th 2016 at 7:00:04 PM

The Baltics just pissed their pants... this will not end well at all.

Mio Since: Jan, 2001
#157166: Nov 20th 2016 at 7:07:57 PM

There are number of reasons that Russia could be upping it's military spending, among them might actually be things like the local military-industrial complex running wild and/or current procurement projects running well over budget.

I'd wait until they actually start doing things to get worried.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#157167: Nov 20th 2016 at 7:12:03 PM

There are also undergoing a cyclical modernization in a few areas, and those procurements naturally drive up budgets. Remember, they've got a 5th gen fighter jet in the wings, it could very well be as over budget as the F-35. And those new carriers and tanks aren't exactly cheap either way. And in terms of real dollars, the US still spends many times more on defense, and there is no way Congress will let Trump cut that. And he's softening his stance of NATO.

Though, I bet that the Doomsday Clock is still going to get closer to midnight, and if it does move to 2 minutes that will tie the lowest point (1953). Too much instability among major powers, and climate change is being ignored by the world's largest economy.

edited 20th Nov '16 7:13:01 PM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
randomdude4 Since: May, 2011
#157168: Nov 20th 2016 at 7:35:49 PM

The whole point Russia backed Trump was to weaken us. To quote Baron Zemo: "An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one that crumbles from within, that's dead. Forever." And right now it's working gloriously.

"Can't make an omelette without breaking some children." -Bur
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#157169: Nov 20th 2016 at 7:38:07 PM

Russia crumbled from within. Zemo's full of it.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#157170: Nov 20th 2016 at 7:44:19 PM

Yeah, pretty sure history's full of examples of both empires that suffering from internal strife and came back later, and ones who beaten down and stayed down.

GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#157171: Nov 20th 2016 at 7:57:49 PM

Russia crumbled from within. Zemo's full of it.

No, the Soviet Union crumbled from within... Russia survived, and certainly, Putin's Russia is not like the Soviet Union.

Wizard Needs Food Badly
Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#157172: Nov 20th 2016 at 8:12:04 PM

No, it's a smaller Soviet Union weakened by AIDS and Alcoholism and devoid of any sort of unifying ideology beyond "Russia Stronk!"

High oil prices kept them afloat, now only massive global warming and sudden attractiveness of Russian land can save them from long-term irrelevance. Either that or massive liberalization bringing their business environment more in line with that of Western Europe.

That's the key to the ideals of Putinism, or Brexit, or Trumpism. It's ideologically bankrupt, rootless people lashing out at the world instead of finding constructive solutions while their worlds crumble beneath them. I doubt many Trump supporters honestly think he will do better by them, they know in their heart of hearts that they're screwed, that they're too alienated to try the left-wing approach, and that all that's left is to watch the world burn as their communities continue to die an ignominious, but not undeserved, death.

And i mean the "deserved" part. Aside from the ones in Russia, these people live in free societies and were not coerced to choose the destructive policies which are ruining their worlds. They choose these policies because they are too consumed with hate for the other to care that much about helping their own. Altogether wretched, and perhaps deserving of pity if they weren't fighting so hard to bring everyone else down with them. But they are, and so only scorn remains.

edited 20th Nov '16 8:14:12 PM by Ogodei

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#157173: Nov 20th 2016 at 8:15:05 PM

[up]

edited 20th Nov '16 8:15:38 PM by kkhohoho

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#157174: Nov 20th 2016 at 8:20:48 PM

I doubt many Trump supporters honestly think he will do better by them

Depends on which ones.

The white supremacists think he will do by right by them, by him getting elected they've essentially been validated. And given the position Bannon has been appointed to they're in an even better position to pass their horrible agenda. They could care less if the world is burning around them as long as the minorities suffer. The fact that they rally behind a boorish clown like Trump means they'll literally vote anyone in, regardless of their actual qualifications, if they placate their hatred.

The Rust Belt and rural workers, by most accounts, are just desperate and see him as a last ditch effort to try and get their lives back on track. I could buy that some of them are perceptive enough to realize that he probably won't help them and just wanted to vote for him as a "statement" against the "snobby liberals" and the cities, but there's no telling how many of those actually believe Trump might help them vs the spiteful ones sending a middle finger to the rest of America.

For the latter group, I don't doubt that there's definitely some spite involved, but a lot of it is also ignorance. They don't really have much in the way of educational opportunities, so they don't really have the intellectual and moral framework from which to properly assess that their jobs are gone, Trump can't do anything for them, Hillary not courting them to the same degree doesn't mean she isn't better for them, that the GOP will never help them, or that the protestant values they inherited are not really congruent with reality, i.e the idea that you can just pull up your bootstraps and do anything with enough hard work is extremely naive.

It doesn't excuse the moral deficiency that is voting for Trump, but it doesn't surprise me that in that environment Trump would thrive. Remember that being a conman is his entire job. He could probably give lessons to used car salesmen on how to make people trust you, in spite of the trail of slime you consistently leave behind.

edited 20th Nov '16 8:32:02 PM by Draghinazzo

TheWanted Since: Oct, 2013
#157175: Nov 20th 2016 at 8:22:39 PM

Wow. Have some optimism people. Not everything is a total disaster you know.

On second thought, I take it back. Just reading the last few pages cured me of that feeling of hope I had.

edited 20th Nov '16 8:39:39 PM by TheWanted


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