Adorable of you to think she'll listen. Especially as she doesn't make it easy to contact her, which seems to be by design.
Watched enough Doctor Who as a child to know that when the people come together, we always have more power than the folks at the top.
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Adorable of you to think she'll listen. Especially as she doesn't make it easy to contact her, which seems to be by design.
Yes. That's why we discussed it at the meetiing.
They only own it if you all refuse to legitimize it by voting for it alongside them. Not sure why this is so hard for the Dems to grasp. You keep giving them more power by voting for their stuff, and then you share the blame. STOP IT.
Best time to replace Schumer as leader was nine months ago. Second best time is NOW.
We are not fired up to vote for her—my local Indivisible group is completely unenthused. We'll vote for her because the alternative is worse, but that's no way to run a campaign, especially not if you want to win and get things done.
NJ has already had a woman (GOP) governor, and she was long enough ago to have been about as competent as a GOP governor gets, so that shouldn't be an issue.
When you have a crappy candidate, it's like an actor trying to save a bad script. There's only so much you can do if the candidate won't help herself, which is really how it looks from the cheap seats.
NJ is definitely a purple state. North Jersey is basically NYC suburbs, and South Jersey might as well be Alabama. Central is, well... somewhere in between.
It's not just "flubs." The ad I just saw reminded me way too much of Biden last summer. She didn't trip over her words--she just plain couldn't FIND any to answer a simple question (the biggest issue facing NJ right now). I was utterly horrified...but alas, not surprised. There's no there there.
I'm still mad about this and amazed that she managed to win the primary while being the most milquetoast candidate ever. I'll obviously vote for her, but Fulop or Baraka would have come out fighting against Ciattarelli. She doesn't even seem to be trying.
According to my most recent local Indivisible meeting, she loves meeting people at events and thinks that's the key to winning. Never mind the millions who won't be at those events and are only seeing the GOP's ads against her, which are brutal--and effective. Her ads are... ehh.
Yes. You did say that. Which is why I'm trying to give you an idea about how it looks on the ground in NJ.
Wiping the floor, that is. If she wins, it’ll be because a lot of people are terrified of DJT, not because they like her.
Literally just saw the ad Kruse is referring to and it’s incredibly effective. She looks like Biden did at the debate last summer.
Her campaign is terrible. Truly terrible. Her ads are basically “I was a Navy pilot!” As if that’s enough. Ciattarelli is with the floor with her ad-wise. She apparently thinks it’s just about meeting people. I’m very concerned.
If you’d seen her opponent’s excellent attack add against her, you’d be worried, too. It would help if she had a personality and some actual policies. But she doesn’t. No idea how she won the primary here.
This seems to be her Academia.edu page, so I guess she has credentials, but boy, is she out here making life rough for every other feminist with her shouty, self-righteous rage-posting. (She also has 7.5K followers on YouTube, but nothing recent there. Lots of podcast appearances, though.)
When the U.S. stopped policing foreign disinformation, Russia didn’t stop producing it. Kirk’s assassination brought it roaring back. (Gift link with strings) wapo.st/4moekj1
It's also physical, visible, undeniable evidence of the fact that his support is nowhere near absolute. The lack of public support makes it harder for wannabe dictators to cement power. That counts for a lot.
No one else will say this, so I will You want to stick it to Disney? Boycott Star Wars. I know a lot of you smart nerds love SW. Stop. No more merch, no more Disney. #BoycottStarWars
If the people fight and organize, the fascists lose. What we have right now is the fascists using spectacle and propaganda to intimidate people out of fighting, and (worse) people who are intimidated trying to persuade others that it's all over and to lie down and die.
need people to understand that accepting or conceding that he has the authority to do these things is tantamount to giving him the authority, and so your preemptive dooming is actively counterproductive
Or just plain stupidity.
For all the folks who think "we the people" are "powerless" and "can do nothing," here's evidence that we absolutely can. This is exactly why you make phone calls, cancel subscriptions, and boycott. Put pressure on the corporations so they'll put pressure on you-know-who.
Heard from a friend at Disney+ that there are multiple levels of freakout internally, both from internal dissatisfaction, concerns about subscription cancelations, and of course the big one: concern about a boycott spilling over into parks and cruises.
THIS—especially that second one! Which is much like Edmund Burke: “The only thing required for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Thank you for saying this. I was told to fuck off earlier today for saying much the same thing. Too many people are giving up and ceding the power they seem not to know they have. If we all came together to throw sand in the gears, we could make life so much harder for this administration.
This is the playbook, folks. If you're not paying attention now and doing something about it, then you're going to have to sit down the rest of your life because democracy is being taken away. Do not be quiet in this moment.
Again…wasn’t replying to you.
My dude, I wasn’t replying to you.
Thanks for clarifying.
PS: The kind of doomerism you’re demonstrating is also called “obeying in advance.” Is that really what you want to do? Sure sounds like it to me.
The point of my first reply to you was simply that the only way nothing can be done is if YOU and millions of others decide you can’t do anything. I have no time for doomed crap right now. That’s how we lose everything.
Don’t put words in my mouth. I’m not talking about violence of any kind, which is quite clear if you bothered to actually read what I (and the other person who responded) wrote. Stop the doomerism and get up and DO something. It doesn’t have to be big—just DO it. Whining online ain’t it.
Indeed. People who say otherwise are obeying in advance.
Why not both? More than one thing can be true. Plus the fact that we’ve all been brainwashed for decades to believe “it can’t happen here.” Normalcy bias is a thing, too. That’s four things…all true at once.
That…was my point?
The evidence is around you. Too many people STILL aren't taking the threat seriously. Most people aren't on Bluesky talking about it all the time.
Only if you decide it is.
Not true. Protesting rallies folks and makes news. It shows people oppose enough to come out. It won't change anything on its own, but it has worthwhile indirect effects. We shouldn't devalue it.
If you're going to post this link, you need to comment on it, because people who only read the headline will see that, give up, and roll over. That's NOT what this piece is about. It's quite hopeful and presents some worthwhile ideas. But nobody will know that without a comment so they read it.
We ALL have power, even if it's just in small ways, to gum up the works for these jackwagons. Have you heard about the white women in California putting Mexican flags on their cars to act as decoys for ICE? Just one (rather brilliant) example. Think outside the box. We have more power together.
And apparently we've learned exactly NOTHING about those circular squads in eight years. 🤦♂️
Being out of power does not make a party powerless. There are plenty of ways they can gum up the works. The GOP literally left them a manual from the Obamacare fight, and they're not using it. They're not even trying.
It's worth noting that this clip is from May 30. That's almost FOUR MONTHS ago now. When are you going to DO SOMETHING, Senator? When is it enough? Best time was months ago. Second best time is NOW.
I feel for that poor girl on the other end of the line. She's getting hit with a zillion angry calls tonight about something that isn't her fault, and her superiors, who make buckets more than she does, hung her out to dry with that stupid redirect-to-nothing tactic.
I called that number and they said to call a different number. I did so, and got a message sending me to a website. When I called your number again, the person who answered (after I skipped the bit about the other number) was caught off guard that that's what I got. They're not handling this well.
If it's an ongoing story for them, I'm sure they don't have a date yet.
It is genuinely humiliating as an America to have this sour, cowardly, narcissistic lout represent us and to know that so many Americans applaud conduct like this. Just deeply embarrassing.
It's SO infuriating. He set himself up with that speech to be a torch-bearer... and then he basically threw the torch in a river, never to be seen again, as if we'd just forget. He could have been a beacon of hope, but now he's just a paragon of the DNC's fecklessness.
Ahh, I see from your profile that you're determined to be ignorant. Bye now.
Nope. It's the Senator's time and he can do with it as he sees fit. Patel is way out of line here and everyone in Congress knows it.
I'm his constituent, and I was SO proud of him in April... and I've been so UNBELIEVABLY disappointed in him ever since, in the way he keeps selling us out by voting to advance this admin's agenda. A lot of NJ is as pissed at him as he was at Patel today. He needs to get it together.
That movie made such an impression on me when I was about 15. Still a favorite.
So here for the Sneakers love!
We’ve also, until very recently, ignored the importance of the Supreme Court. I sincerely hope that’s a mistake we’ll never make again, but I’ve seen too much from this crowd to get that hope up too high.
I'm in a blue state and we have no such thing. As for entrepreneurship, they CAN, but that doesn't mean they will. They haven't yet in more than 15 years, for reasons I cannot comprehend, except that Dems are inept at this stuff. (I contacted them about it at the time. No effect.)
I can believe it's popular among those who have it, but among those who don't, it's associated with poverty. And I have been absolutely stymied since the ACA debate at why universal care isn't touted as job creation. So many people would do their own thing if they'd have access to care.
I was back up that way a year ago and it was like being in a foreign country. I keep wondering how the handpainted "Farmers for Trump" sign folks are feeling about that these days. But I also know I probably know the answer.
Keeping employer plans keeps people tied to jobs/employers even when they should leave for other reasons. Medicaid = "healthcare for desperate, poor people" in a lot of folks' minds. They won't want it unless it's gold-plated, which it should be, or very close, if it's the alternative.
Medicare requires you to purchase supplemental insurance to get decent coverage, as you yourself said. That's not universal care. It's what we have dressed up to look nicer. Good day, sir.
You don't seem to understand nearly as much as you think you do. I'm glad you're in love with Medicare, but we can do better, and we deserve to. Have a lovely life.
My dude, I have an ACA plan. The fact that YOU chose a high-deductible catastrophic plan is on you. It's not what I chose. It's not what everyone chooses by a long shot. But I get it. YOUR experience and view is the only one that matters here.
American Medicare is nothing like Canadian Medicare, which is a far better system. I just don't understand why you keep insisting that a crappy system that requires paid supplementation is the answer...and then compare it to something that is head and shoulders above it as if they're equal.
But you want to START there and work to something higher, I thought? You can't say two contradictory things at the same time and expect to be taken seriously. And yes, I am well aware of the crappy "system" in the US. I've lived here my whole life and lived elsewhere. Medicare ain't it.
I definitely know people on Medicare who agree. Good grief. You mention the supplement--which is not part of Medicare. You're arguing against what you say you want because you're including things that aren't part of it, and pretending it's all the same thing. It's not.
"Let's start with cheaper, better and doable and work from there." The problem is that you can't have all three of these things. You don't seem to grasp that.
Voters (and non-voters, thanks) with ACA plans have better coverage than Medicare, too. People just don't understand what Medicare is--and isn't.
You are arguing confident and forcefully for substandard coverage that you seem to think is better than it is. Why? I think employer-based insurance should go the way of the dodo, but I want something real and substantial in its place. Medicare is not that.
I grew up in York and went to school up in Union County. If anything, it's worse up there. That was the first place I ever saw a flag for a political candidate, and was beyond horrified.
Grew up there. Whenever my hometown is in the news, I don't even have to ask why.
Medicare is NOT great insurance. It's better than nothing, sure, but I cringe whenever I hear people go on about "Medicare for All" for that reason. I want good universal healthcare, not a bandaid. We can and should aim higher.
They're referring to a general pattern of behavior well beyond this specific comment--a pattern those of us who've been here for a while have seen over and over again.
bsky.app/profile/kenw...
There’s still a major difference between declaring all-out war, which is clearly what these numbskulls want (because they don’t understand what it is) and lynching ONE man.
Y’all clearly do not know what non-violent resistance even IS to say stuff like this. Seriously, go look up Romania and East Germany and learn something.
If you don’t know the difference between non-violent resistance and appeasement, I can’t help you. I even gave you examples.
That's just complete bullshit. Non-violent resistance has proven to be more effective than violent resistance time and time again. Check out Erica Chenoweth, among others. Or, you know... East Germany. Romania. Just to name two. Not a shot fired, but a government overthrown.
I'm very glad I got a passport card last time I renewed.
When are you going to ACT on that big speech you made in April, Senator? If you don’t start soon, I’m voting for whoever primaries you next year.
This is also, IMO, why term limits aren’t necessarily great idea. They’re a double-edged sword. New blood is good, and important, but there’s no way to get real-world experience except time in office. Figuring out how to strike that balance is the key.
Puritanism.
Whatever else anyone can say about Joe Biden, I think he proves your point. Only someone with as much experience in government as he had could have managed to do so much with such narrow margins. Rando businessmen can't even dream of such a thing.
Dot and Bubble
Thanks for introducing me to someone new to block!
Agreed. I’d read last summer that they were going to make some noise before the election. I guess whoever said that was naive, misinformed, or both. An incredible disappointment and disservice to the country.
You can’t even be bothered to make an argument in the first place—or to be bothered understanding how any of this works. Which is also why you call me a pest when you’re actually just a useless troll. Go back to your bridge.
How exactly do you think that's going to happen if we don't fight at every turn? Is God just supposed to shout down from heaven that it's time for him to go? We have to fight EVERYTHING he does, not just your pet infractions.
Yes, because standing up to him is important on EVERY front. Would you rather they caved like Columbia and way too many other orgs have? Every victory against him counts.
OTC at any pharmacy
16 or 17 was "too old" for Epstein. This is who Republicans are defending?
If you're 60, 69.1% of all job growth since your birth occurred under Democratic administrations. If you're 45, that number is 74.7%. If you're under 28, the number is 100%. Happy Labor Day.
Calling large language models “AI” is a mistake that is already having tragic consequences.
I can’t tell from your comment if you read what the A rating means, which is that the map was drawn fairly overall. If you scroll down on that page, you see how the rating was determined. PGP is not “yay gerrymandering.” Quite the opposite.
I vote for harm reduction when harm elimination is not possible—which is most of the time. Blaming people for choosing between *the available choices* is the worst sort of bone-headed victim blaming, and folks in that position do NOT deserve it.
My dude, would you rather I vote for a GOP candidate I can’t stand? Those are my choices. If no better candidates run, my only other alternative is to skip the polls entirely—which is exactly how we got here. Is that genuinely what you’re suggesting?
It is, alas, not our fault that they don’t listen no matter how many times we call.
We keep trying.
He absolutely is. @booker.senate.gov @corybooker.com
I’ve called pretty much every week since January 20 and find myself saying the same things over and over. And his staff, if they answer, are incredibly rude to constituents. As if we’re just a waste of their time.