ha ha she got your ass

You, creepy: *smiling and waving at toddler*

Me, cool, respectful of boundaries: *gives toddler a little half-nod of respect, with an arched eyebrow that says we're both sophisticated guys who know what's up and are living our best lives*

No kidding! Were any of the Iranians involved in this project aware of just how many sympathetic voices they have on here? Maybe should have directed all that cyberpower elsewhere. But what do I know?

Oh god I did that too. A bunch of times. I guess we all kinda got what we deserved.

The problem with Platner (besides our own factional annoyance) is the precedent it sets, letting him skate by with the baggage at issue here. But the thing is we've kinda done all we can, there! We told them! If the primary electorate says "lol vote for him anyway" it's out of our hands. 🤷‍♂️

Right, yeah. Sure, the downside risk is THERE. But the really bad stuff remains unlikely. He's just one Senator and will just vote along with everybody else most of the time. (Just as Fetterman does!) The downside of Collins is obvious, immediate, and serious.

Right? This is EXPLICITLY a question Trek wrestled with over and over. Including with its literal genocidal killbots! And yes, they obviously arrived at "it is indeed wrong to wipe them out!"

heh i mean that's very much what the OG "War of the Worlds" was about, at least in part

When the USMC occupies Istanbul, THEN will they believe us??

WE WELCOME THEIR HATRED

Fake George said I shouldn't listen to you. I don't know WHAT to believe now.

checks out

Don't make us all have to say "Bliowa".

I keep forgetting I gotta order a new bird feeder. Cats are getting restless.

Like, I see it on my Normie Facebook! People who have been on about "Drumpf" and "🍊" for years and years. A certain subset of that kind gets REAL into "Trump/Epstein/Israel/Mossad/Whatever" sinister bullshit, and then a subset of THOSE people go even darker places.

Even six months ago I would have scoffed at this, said you were mistaken. "Oh, that's not a what a ResistLib is, by definition! If it's got that kind of stuff, it's just deliberate trolling or possibly someone accidentally looking like a 'lib' when they're not."

Now? I definitely believe you.

of course not, that’s crazy

31000? Those are rookie numbers. I don’t even know what they’re suggesting.

I haven’t done any lawyering either!

Oh okay! Cool. That's what I was wondering.

Yeah. Defeats the whole purpose, really. (Although people in online spaces like this one still always want to do it!)

Is there any further word on whether this is for real or not? You gotta believe nobody but Trump wants it, so if he forgets about it it doesn't happen, right?

Yeah I guess it's something that's been done in the past but that people had generally agreed was pointless! Glad we thought better of it. (Especially since there's ABSOLUTELY no need.)

"Camp Fever? That sounds fun! Is it like Pac-Man Fever?"

ניבא ולא ידע מה ניבא
You *will* be tormented for a long time, Tucker, just not in the way you meant

Those things MATTER, sure, but they matter a LOT less than the fact that those same forces and those same voters will still exist in whatever system you come up with, and will work just as hard to get the same horrifying results.

All this stuff is worth TALKING about, don't get me wrong. But this is inside-baseball nerd stuff, and we need to be clear about that. The specific problem we face is a dangerous and ambitious political right, not any particular institution or procedure.

To me, the notion that there is any significant group of potential voters that is disengaged from this particular party system but would engage with another is as much a wishful fantasy as any other scheme to tap into non-voters. It's just that "changing the whole party system" is a lot harder, heh.

Right but the question is WHAT coalitions and how would they differ? Would it be in useful or harmful ways? My own sense is that given our electorate the broad outlines of the coalitions will remain as they are now.

Of course Reynolds HATED both "Boogie Nights" and Paul Thomas Anderson, heh.