Stuck In The Middle With You (Common Ground Thread)

[catastrophe]

I think there’s a pretty big difference between a message focused on improving a system so that everyone gets a fair shot to maximize their opportunity vs. a message saying it’s someone else’s fault you’re a loser.

There are similarities to be sure, though.

[nicname]

I think there’s a pretty big difference between a message focused on improving a system so that everyone gets a fair shot to maximize their opportunity vs. a message saying it’s someone else’s fault you’re a loser.

There are similarities to be sure, though.

This quote right here is how MAGAs are created.

[catastrophe]

I think there’s a pretty big difference between a message focused on improving a system so that everyone gets a fair shot to maximize their opportunity vs. a message saying it’s someone else’s fault you’re a loser.

There are similarities to be sure, though.

This quote right here is how MAGAs are created.

I already said that being a loser is how MAGAs are created.

[nicname]

I think there’s a pretty big difference between a message focused on improving a system so that everyone gets a fair shot to maximize their opportunity vs. a message saying it’s someone else’s fault you’re a loser.

There are similarities to be sure, though.

This quote right here is how MAGAs are created.

I already said that being a loser is how MAGAs are created.

Objectively, both of the hypothetical people you’ve judged are losers. One’s circumstances you’ve deemed worthy of empathy and compassion. The other you’ve not.

[catastrophe]

The distinction is that the former person wants a chance to fairly compete. The latter wants to hold others back so they don’t get left behind.

[star seed 7]

When the "I know what's wrong" is that non-white people are allowed to live in the country, I feel like maybe that's different than when it's like the reality of a global economy and the decline of American manufacturing due to the price of labor

[star seed 7]

It's one of the maddening distinctions the resident gE trump apologists seem to refuse to acknowledge

[steve dave]

It's one of the maddening distinctions the resident gE trump apologists seem to refuse to acknowledge

there is an extraordinary amount of mental parkour done to sanewash MAGA in order to both sides this stuff

[CNS]

You guys are crazy.  Trans girls playing middle school soccer is ruining our economy and I won't hear otherwise.

[wetwillie]

Sanewash is the new hotness

[ben ji]

Is her only angle to potentially get her own TV show or something? There seems to be no precedence for that, it works the other way but not the Congress to TV star. Is she angling herself for the 2028 presidential election? If Trump loses maga, as a national thing, will be done. The Larry Hogan and Mike Dewine types will be who the Republican party will lean on.

lmao how does anyone believe this???

Yeah I used to believe this. I'm coming around to there simply being a very large number of bad people in this country who previously thought they had to at least pretend to be humane to have a chance of gaining power.

yep, I was the same way. I used to just think the old saying "cruelty is the point" was just the crazy MAGA types. The past several years have taught me that a very large amount of the "regular" republicans were just being quiet about it. I left the party when I learned that I was actually the minority.

People from both sides post asinine things online. Majority of people would do better from turning off the bullshit.

1000%. I still have twitter mostly for sports stuff. That's how i've always used it and I've never even looked at the "for you" page. It never made any sense to me to have a computer tell me what I want when I could just follow people I want so Leon's bullshit doesn't affect me too much. I have dropped a few business type people that I really liked because I got tired of seeing the political stuff. That has def helped, but i'm really close to just dropping it altogether. I'd miss the sports stuff, but i'd be better off overall for sure. Seeing people scream, yell, and lie over political candidates is still just bonkers to me.

For me, I got rid of the twitter app on my phone, but kept my twitter.  This means that if I really want to see something (e.g. see what certain sports accounts have tweeted on the Sunday following a Cats W), I can do that, but I gotta actually go to "twitter.com."  I found that removing the "scrolling" stuff from my day-to-day has been a welcome change.

I miss studs n duds

[steve dave]

Listen, we all get old. Nothing stopping a young up and comer of picking it up.


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[Rage Against the McKee]

I'm never going to be eligible for overtime pay again, so that's an easy issue to reach across the aisle to Trump voters on. Let's kill it.

[DQ12]

Listen, we all get old. Nothing stopping a young up and comer of picking it up.


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I would love if that happened.  Whoever wants the keys to the algo machine is welcome to them.  You just gotta have the garage space and a ton of gas to run it.

[Sandstone Outcropping]

I think we can all agree that it is dumb that they are still counting votes in house races?

[john "teach me how to" dougie]

I think we can all agree that it is dumb that they are still counting votes in house races?

Yes, California is a third world country when it comes to elections, except third world countries require voter ID.

[Sandstone Outcropping]

This seems good. Small business owners in Smallville have been lamenting how hard they get hit by credit card fees:

https://x.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1858921278276554986

[star seed 7]

The market at work

[Pete]

I agree with Dax that we deserve much better efficiency in defense spending. Marc Andreesen (Netscape founder and then arguably world’s most successful Tech venture capitalist) argues that AI fighter jets are the future, and Musk agrees.

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/marc-andreessen-hopping-musk-bandwagon-043434351.html

Musk has already proven that we can engage in rocketry for a fraction of the price the government had been spending with legacy defense contractors…Boeing and the United Launch Alliance legacy contractors cost over 100 times more to launch a rocket than SpaceX.

We have an opportunity to completely revamp the defense industry and introduce more competitive prices with better results.

Doing that is probably our only real shot at resolving the deficit challenges.

Let’s put some lagging legacy defense contractors out of business if they cannot compete.

[CNS]

All for it.  Need it to not be musk. 

With him wrapped up in communication and our access to space, we don't need him being the primary on something like our air defense.

I actually have a problem with him having so much power just with communications.

[Stupid Fitz]

All for it.  Need it to not be musk. 

With him wrapped up in communication and our access to space, we don't need him being the primary on something like our air defense.

I actually have a problem with him having so much power just with communications.

LOL, he's going to be backwards Tony Stark and go from not selling weapons to selling them isn't he? ha

Also, it's going to be very interesting to see how this all shakes out. I'm all for it, but it's going to be awesome to see the squirm from the shitbags in congress that get their money from these defense contractors. Pretty sure none of them want "efficiencies" and just want their blank checks.

[Pete]

I don’t think they are suggesting that a Musk operation becomes the new big prime contractor, just that new tech and efficiency focused companies need to be used…that the old days of highly inefficient blank check projects needs to end.

[michigancat]

I've only looked closely into Musk's government contracts during the North Carolina Starlink stuff and therefore I don't trust him at all. Starlink both tried to unnecessarily bloat the project but also didn't meet the requirements to get the bid.

[michigancat]

He might build the most efficient rockets! But I don't trust him!

[Kat Kid]

How can anyone be excited about AI drones?