Nougat

Perspective can be weird, this photo was obviously taken from a low angle based on the podium. I’m not saying it is the bullet that caught his ear, but I wouldn’t rule it out.

They control two of three branches of government.

National polls for presidential candidates are not only irrelevant, but actively harmful.

No one else could have played Olive Oyl.

THAR’S NO BAYSEMENT AT TH’ ALAMOOOO!

Remember the Alamo?

Michael Cohen was Trump’s long-time “fixer,” up until he pled guilty to and was sentenced to prison for eight federal counts, including criminal tax evasion and campaign finance violations. Since that time, he has been very outspoken about exactly who Donald Trump is and what he does to people.

Michael Cohen pled guilty in federal court to his criminal actions in relation to the exact same scheme that Donald Trump was recently convicted of in New York State.

So, yes, when Trump was on trial in New York State (the criminal one), Cohen testified for the prosecution. It seems ridiculous that Cohen would enter into a plea deal that included prison time, where Trump, who was convicted by a jury of 34 counts for the exact same thing, and without a plea deal is going to get off more easily.

(Yes, yes, I know that Cohen pled to different charges than Trump was convicted of. This doesn’t make the difference in outcomes for Trump vs. Cohen any less frustrating.)

… a conviction.

Thirty-four convictions, in fact.

Has anyone presented a viable alternative? Without such an alternative, all the talk of Biden stepping aside only serves the purposes of the GOP and foreign influence, and I cannot believe that people are falling for it.

Not to be too coarse, but:

I am a registered Republican …

Your remaining such adds power to the party that is nominating the person who you (rightfully) say would be “the fucking end of our [d]emocracy.” Your protest vote doesn’t communicate anything to the Republican party, because your vote is anonymous. Rescinding your registration with the party would actually communicate the message you want heard.

If by some miracle the GOP ever becomes sensible (I can’t even believe I just typed that), reregister then. If you want to amplify your protest message, register Democrat.

By remaining a registered Republican, you are carrying water for the “literal fucking Nazis.”

How dare you bring up Philippe Pétain.

If we had ranked choice voting, I might agree with you.

We don’t, so I don’t.

If the Republican party maintains control in Congress - which for all practical purposes means “having 34% of the seats in a given chamber,” which they will use to block anything decent from happening - and wins the Presidency, we will have all three branches controlled by lunatics who aim to end the great political project you’ve waxed so poetically about.

“Meaningful reforms” - like student loan forgiveness, that the Republicans keep throwing roadblocks in front of? Like getting rid of non-competes, that Republicans have put a hold on? I don’t know what “meaningful reforms” you’re referring to, but you’re definitely not going to see them when the brownshirts are patrolling restrooms.

People like you talk as though “not voting Democrat” happens in a vaccuum. For the presidency, we’re FPTP and EC (the latter unless and until the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is in full effect). If you live in New York, California, Illinois - fine, throw down your protest vote for whoever you want. Those states are going to the Democrat no matter what. Pretty much everywhere else, a vote for anyone but the Democratic candidate for President makes it easier for the Republicans to win - because it narrows the margin by which they have to beat the Democrat, and nobody who is not either the Democrat or Republican candidate has a snowball’s chance in hell of actually winning the Presidency.

Do I want a more progressive party to vote for? Sure. But at this stage, there is no hope for anything like progressivism ever again if a Republican is the next President. If you hold the Democratic party to a high progressive standard now, and withhold your vote on that ideal, you’re supplying the gasoline and matches to those who fully intend to burn everything to the ground.

For the Presidency (and the Senate, to be fair), the standard I want to see met is “don’t burn everything down.”

Switching tracks: all of this is so very much the trolley problem. Right now, the trolley is going to run us all over and then fall off a cliff, unless enough of us pull on the switch that diverts the trolley onto a different course where some people might still get run over, but at least there’s a track that we can all work on making sure is clear.

I can see that being a net positive. It makes it so that different classes of people have to interact with each other.

I’ve been to Dallas, and I’ve been to San Antonio, but I have not been to Houston.

This is why we have zoning laws, folks.

I watch a lot of car revival channels, and my favorite is Sleeperdude, because it’s the whole family working together to do it, and that’s definitely a big part of the charm of the show.

Also Josh is really good at what he does.

No, it’s responding to your comment suggesting something different by giving you something different. It has no idea what’s correct or incorrect. You do, so when you give it input that you know is more correct, of course it’s going to respond by telling you you’re right.

Try feeding it incorrect answers as though they are correct and see what happens.

BRB sending this link to Nana.

I wouldn’t worry about it. Even on brand new cars, there are plenty where losing (burning) a quart of oil between changes is “within specifications.” The engine is likely going to burn a little bit of oil just because, and you’ll be lower again soon enough.

That’s the “right” way, yes. I believe constitutional amendments also begin in Congress.