Octopus Overlords

Isn't "hurt playing with dog" usually code for fell down while drunk? At least that's how it's been for baseball players.

Reminds me of this scene from The West Wing:

It's nice to have the transparency regarding the president's health. I'm not sure we would have ever known if the same had happened to Trump.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:34 pm It's nice to have the transparency regarding the president's health. I'm not sure we would have ever known if the same had happened to Trump.

Biden's foot is actually STRONGER now because of his accident with his dog brush with death fighting a bear. His feet are actually the best feet a president elect ever had. It's true. The best. Athlete's Feet. I just made that up. Just came up with it.

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:34 pm It's nice to have the transparency regarding the president's health. I'm not sure we would have ever known if the same had happened to Trump.

I call bullshit. Trump would never play with a dog.

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 5:19 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:34 pm It's nice to have the transparency regarding the president's health. I'm not sure we would have ever known if the same had happened to Trump.

I call bullshit. Trump would never play with a dog.

He was playing wag the dog.

Holman wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 5:19 pm

Alefroth wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:34 pm It's nice to have the transparency regarding the president's health. I'm not sure we would have ever known if the same had happened to Trump.

I call bullshit. Trump would never play with a dog.

Fixed.

Defiant wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:54 am Reminds me of this scene from The West Wing:

Defiant wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 6:58 pm

Defiant wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:54 am Reminds me of this scene from The West Wing:

I can't put two things out of mind: My BIL died after the mother of all toe stubs, and some researchers argue for the death spiral as a distinct phase of life.

No injury is trivial among the elderly. Biden's got to live thru inauguration. Of course he is almost surely fine. I just have alarm bells going off constantly these days. It's still 2020, after all.

Cornyn really is vying for worst, isn't he. He doesn't hold McConnel's power, so it's like he's gunning for Cruz or Graham's seat of awful hypocritical stupidity.

I think he would be a good choice.

Is he a good choice if it means risking his seat in the Senate?

Max Peck wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 2:32 pm Is he a good choice if it means risking his seat in the Senate?

Uhhh...did you miss that he lost his Senate race this year?

Jones is the safe choice: a senate colleague and one of the last of the moderates. It'll be hard for the GOP to object to him. (I mean, they will, but it will look obvious.)

I do hope he has a taste for blood, though, because the next AG will need that.

pr0ner wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 2:35 pm

Max Peck wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 2:32 pm Is he a good choice if it means risking his seat in the Senate?

Uhhh...did you miss that he lost his Senate race this year?

Obviously, yes I did.

These next ~6 weeks are going to draaaaaaaag.

Today, I'm announcing key COVID-19 priorities for the first 100 days of my administration:

- Everyone wears a mask
- 100 million vaccinations
- Reopen the majority of schools

With these steps, we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better.

As a teacher, I really hope the "100 million vaccinations" includes teachers and that that step happens entirely before the school opening step.

All the plans I've seen have teachers in that second wave, right after first line medical staff. I'm guessing the focus will be on K-6th students at first as well as they're likely the ones to gain the greatest benefit for being back in school.

Everything still hinges on funding (that I posted in the other thread) so until that Congressional log-jam ends whatever plan is crafted is going to be delayed.

Also, F Mitch McConnell.

Just think - if a foreign war had cost 280,000 American lives in less than a year, we'd spare no expense to make sure our military had everything it needed to win, and a Republican military spending package would have been approved so fast it would make your head spin.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 8:33 pm

Also, F Mitch McConnell.

Please don't forget his wife. Read this with the knowledge that her family owns one of the largest private dry bulk shipping companies in the country, with ships built by Chinese state companies and financed by Chinese state banks, and also that she is married to Mcconnell. See all the red state cheddar? Her motivations are utterly transparent and the conflicts of interest are bigger than a capesize freighter.




Also, it ends with this gem:

“I come from rural America, and I know that rural America does not want a handout,” Chao said. “They just want equity in the distribution of federal resources. It’s an issue of equity, as well as safety.”

Diddling with the stableboy at a New Jersey country club isn't rural America.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Chao immigrated to the United States when she was eight years old. Her father founded the Foremost Group, which eventually became a major shipping corporation. Chao was raised on Long Island, New York and subsequently received degrees from Mount Holyoke College and Harvard Business School.

Maybe she means Kentucky? Where, you know, she pulls on her overalls one leg at a time and slops the hogs before dawn just like everybody else.

Both of them are perfect together in that they are scumbags who only care about power.

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:36 am Maybe she means Kentucky? Where, you know, she pulls on her overalls one leg at a time and slops the hogs before dawn just like everybody else.

Good point. But I generally associate "come from" with "grew up in" rather than "now live in".

I come from SE Michigan but I live in Chicago.


If she does mean Kentucky, how can she say she knows they don't want a hand out? Mitchypoo got a $20M handout from her dad and Kentucky re-elected him. Seems like they're down.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:26 amIf she does mean Kentucky, how can she say she knows they don't want a hand out? Mitchypoo got a $20M handout from her dad and Kentucky re-elected him. Seems like they're down.

It is pretty hard to trick the rubes in Kentucky without some faux populism.

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:37 am Both of them are perfect together in that they are scumbags who only care about power.

Don't forget the money.

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:36 am Maybe she means Kentucky? Where, you know, she pulls on her overalls one leg at a time and slops the hogs before dawn just like everybody else.

Wiki says Louisville is urban and listed as the 43rd largest urban area in the US with a population density of over 2000 people per sq mile. From my seat Louisville are a major US manufacturing and logistics hub.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville,_Kentucky

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U ... rban_areas

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 12:22 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:37 am Both of them are perfect together in that they are scumbags who only care about power.

Don't forget the money.

I didn't.

Well it'd be nice but this reads like alternate universe fan fiction at the moment.

Whenever criticism of Biden's bi-partisanship comes up, I always ask myself - "What's the alternative?"

It seems like every problem that comes up in American society, we try to talk ourselves out of it before even attempting to make something work. I say give the guy a chance. The worst that can happen is that Biden fails to get anything accomplished. And if that's what happens, it's the exact scenario that would have happened had he come in not wanting to work with Republicans.

We can't defeat hyper-partisanship by becoming hyper-partisan.

It isn't a criticism of bi-partisanship so to speak. More like we are seeing an attack on Democracy and the guy is going to blow 8 months chasing fairy dust. Very different take IMO. He doesn't have to be hyper-partisan. He needs to just openly talk about our actual problems. Sure he can't come out swinging but this narrative is baffling from a game theory point of view.

Yeah, I don't disagree with making some attempt at forging a bipartisan coalition of some sort - go hard at Romney, Toomey, Murkowski, Collins, etc. and see what you can do. I'm mostly worried about the 6 - 8 month time frame given the potential for wasted time. And like malchior said, we have real systemic problems with our system that need to be addressed, and it's hard to see how they get addressed if Biden doesn't talk about them.

It's sort of academic unless Democrats win both of the Georgia elections. If they don't then Biden doesn't really have an alternative to trying to work with GOP senators, and doesn't have much leverage when doing so.

If we print enough money, they can keep the bulk of the GOP (and Dem) hogs happy. Things can get done. You just have to pay 'em (or their backers).

I agree and it comes down to GA as a gate for the next few steps. Even if they get GA his hands are still going to be tied to some extent. I'll assume GOP keeps GA as an example of an action plan. He should lay out some agenda. The ambitiousness of that agenda will be tough to dial in but something for both sides at least while discussing the actual systemic issues. Then he should test the Republican will to compromise over a 2-3 month period. If the GOP throws up the walls, then they have to switch into a mode where they prioritize that which can be done via EO and focus on winning the Senate in 2022. They don't have time to play games anymore.

LawBeefaroni wrote: ↑Tue Dec 15, 2020 10:11 am If we print enough money, they can keep the bulk of the GOP (and Dem) hogs happy. Things can get done. You just have to pay 'em (or their backers).

No. The deficit hawks are going to emerge. Post-haste. McConnell is already playing that game.

Edit: I'll go farther on where I think we are on this. The power players have gotten the tax code to close enough to their desired state and will dig in. No tax hikes will be possible without the Democrats doing something politically suicidal. On the dumping money from the sky side we already saw moves to stop that with the treasury moves recently. I suspect damaging the economy will be deemed acceptable if they can hang it on Biden. That may or may not work out if post-Pandemic recovery brings a surge. However, I suspect it won't be a big pop as people think because most of the country is just trucking on now. I think we'll see that we had a somewhat sharp recovery since the summer, we'll see a dip again, and then a sharp recovery back to current baseline and then a slow long return because so much capital reallocation has occurred. More importantly the pandemic economy indicates that "Wall Street" has decoupled themselves from the US/main street economy enough and don't necessarily need the pump as much anymore.

So Biden isn't in for another month or so and yet every time he is addressing the media (and the US) and I am desperate to listen. I've never felt that way before. I feel that was are desperate for leadership and the void has never been more apparent. Does the POTUS ever address the public in anything other twitter? When was the last time he laid it out for us?

I've said it before, but Biden was not first, second, or third choice. I have no idea if my guys and gal would have been better but I'm thankful for someone who really does seem to be stepping up to the plate and I don't think he really wanted. I think he was answering a call to service. It almost makes me want to take the word patriot, to give it to him.

Not having someone say batshit crazy things is all I want for the next 4 years. I knew it was going to be a bad 4 years, but Trump has exceeded my expectations on a daily basis. He might be one of the worst human beings I've ever seen. It's just a good thing he's also dumb as fuck because it would have been super easy to have gotten through this year and stayed in office. All he had to do was pretend to care and he just couldn't do it.

What an absolute disgrace she has been. It's a mercy they're letting her "retire" and not be formally rejected by Biden:

Dr. Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House's Coronavirus Task Force, says she plans to retire in the near future, capping a tumultuous run as one of the top U.S. officials guiding the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In an interview with the news outlet Newsy on Tuesday, Birx, 64, cited the strain the experience has put on her family. Birx was criticized after The Associated Press reported on Sunday that she spent time with family members at a vacation home after the Thanksgiving holiday, despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance urging Americans not to travel or mix with those outside their own household.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 4:13 pm So Biden isn't in for another month or so and yet every time he is addressing the media (and the US) and I am desperate to listen. I've never felt that way before. I feel that was are desperate for leadership and the void has never been more apparent. Does the POTUS ever address the public in anything other twitter? When was the last time he laid it out for us?

I've said it before, but Biden was not first, second, or third choice. I have no idea if my guys and gal would have been better but I'm thankful for someone who really does seem to be stepping up to the plate and I don't think he really wanted. I think he was answering a call to service. It almost makes me want to take the word patriot, to give it to him.

When last night's Zoom session with my friends wrapped up, we spontaneously decided to meet again on Inauguration Day for an alcohol-soaked celebration. A couple of them are near-teetotalers who'll be done after one drink, so it's a big deal for them.

I agree that I never would've imagined myself celebrating Biden, but here we are. We thought Obama inherited a mess. Biden gets wreckage that people won't let go of. I hope he's up to the challenge. He seems to be.

On a tangent, I was reading about the curse of Tippecanoe (apocryphal) that causes presidents elected in years ending in 0 to die in office. The pattern held from 1840 to 1960, only to be broken in 1980 and 2000. I hope Biden doesn't reestablish it.

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:48 pm On a tangent, I was reading about the curse of Tippecanoe (apocryphal) that causes presidents elected in years ending in 0 to die in office. The pattern held from 1840 to 1960, only to be broken in 1980 and 2000. I hope Biden doesn't reestablish it.

It also includes all the presidents who have been assassinated.

Holman wrote: ↑Wed Dec 23, 2020 10:07 am

Kraken wrote: ↑Tue Dec 22, 2020 10:48 pm On a tangent, I was reading about the curse of Tippecanoe (apocryphal) that causes presidents elected in years ending in 0 to die in office. The pattern held from 1840 to 1960, only to be broken in 1980 and 2000. I hope Biden doesn't reestablish it.

It also includes all the presidents who have been assassinated.

So it consistently happened except for the years where it didn't happen?

Also I don't think that 1940 should count. FDR died in 1945, after being reelected in 1944.