Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

[Dubyamn]

I honestly did mean to check it out, even if just a summarized version, but I had already promised my wife we would get through two episodes of Good Omens after dinner.

—Patrick

By far the wiser choice. Season two is amazing.

The debate was only newsworthy because everyone tried to attack Ramaswamy and none of the other candidates coming close to laying a glove on him.

Not that I’m a fan of his or anything but it was crazy that everyone came in with a plan to knock him out but nobody was able to.

 

[Bubble181]

By far the wiser choice. Season two is amazing.

The debate was only newsworthy because everyone tried to attack Ramaswamy and none of the other candidates coming close to laying a glove on him.

Not that I’m a fan of his or anything but it was crazy that everyone came in with a plan to knock him out but nobody was able to.

They've all learned a wrong lesson about billionaire businessmen coming out of left extreme right field to sweep the Republican nomination, I guess.

 

[blotsfan]

The lesson is that you have to be charismatic. For all of trumps numerous issues, he’s undeniably charismatic (even more so in 2016). Ramaswamy isn’t in the slightest.

 

[Krisken]

Yeah, he has the energy and the right crazy, but charismatic isn't something I would say about him.

 

[Dave]

The lesson is that you have to be charismatic. For all of trumps numerous issues, he’s undeniably charismatic (even more so in 2016). Ramaswamy isn’t in the slightest.

You think Trump is charismatic? The fuck? His voice grates on my nerves like he's running it down a chalkboard scraping evil the whole way.

 

[Ravenpoe]

You think Trump is charismatic? The fuck? His voice grates on my nerves like he's running it down a chalkboard scraping evil the whole way.

Charismatic doesn't necessarily mean you like him. He's a blabbering idiot, but he does have goblin charisma.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Charismatic doesn't necessarily mean you like him. He's a blabbering idiot, but he does have goblin charisma.

He's like the Ultimate Warrior of politics.

You don't have a sweet clue what he's saying, but there's something oddly entertaining about it.

 

[Ravenpoe]

He's like the Ultimate Warrior of politics.

You don't have a sweet clue what he's saying, but there's something oddly entertaining about it.

He's got Tommy Wiseau energy

 

[Bubble181]

So, honest question. When I have to deliver a picture for an ID (passport, driver's license, etc) there are a ton of rules. No smiling. No frowning. No hunching or stretching. No going "outside" of frame. No over-saturation, no angled lighting, etc etc.
Literally half of these would be rejected out of hand by our government.
I assume these mugshots are taken in a professional environment where they take hundreds of these a year. Why are some of them barely recognizable? And bonus question, as they're all taken against supposedly the same background - why is the logo so much smaller in some than in others? Are the people standing further from the wall? Trump, for example, is scowling, hunched, is clearly further forward, has no side-shadows in the back,....

 

[sixpackshaker]

Gotta love Trump's "tough guy" face. Like he ever intimidated a person with his strong physical appearance.

 

[Krisken]

That's his "I'm throwing my ketchup against the wall" face, for sure.

 

[PatrThom]

It looks more like his, “Hey, that guy over there just stole a handful of your fries!” face.

—Patrick

 

[figmentPez]

Gotta love Trump's "tough guy" face. Like he ever intimidated a person with his strong physical appearance.

Grown adults terrified by his appearance and not the financial power they know he has? You're probably right.

On the other hand, there are probably quite a few teenage girls who have been terrified seeing that face leering at them.

 

[BErt]

Judge R0XXOR_720NoScope presiding

 

[PatrThom]

Tech elites plot new invention: A North Bay city

A mysterious company called Flannery Associates has been buying large plots of agricultural land in the Bay Area.

www.marinij.com

No word on whether they surveyed the area for bears beforehand.

--Patrick

 

[Frank]

Oh he dead soon.

Hey America, elect younger people. Fuck.

I almost felt sympathy for a moment there, where he reminded me of my grandpa post dementia, but I fucking refuse. Fuck that heartless ghoul straight into the grave.

 

[Dave]

How can you look at either of these events and still think, “Yeah, I’d vote for that guy.”?

 

[MindDetective]

How can you look at either of these events and still think, “Yeah, I’d vote for that guy.”?

First past the post + tribalism

 

[IronBrig4]

Also, primary voters tend to be older than dirt. They vote for other people who remember listening to Gang Busters on the radio.

 

[GasBandit]

Fogeys would rather have a liquid-brained fogey in charge than even contemplate the terrible prospect of someone young who might have even the slightest less-right-wing inclination at the reins.

We could probably get them to vote for a ficus, though. Which would probably be a measurable improvement no matter which side of the aisle the measurer sits on.

 

[Bubble181]

And you guys are well on your way to electing someone the same age to president. If course they don't care about anything more than four years into the future. They won't be around.

 

[GasBandit]

And you guys are well on your way to electing someone the same age to president. If course they don't care about anything more than four years into the future. They won't be around.

And there's been a whole lot of noise from the right about raising the minimum age for voting eligibility because they are terrified of the Gen Z voters that turned out in droves to make the 2022 midterms go against them.

Because an 18 year old can't be expected to be mature enough to vote. But a 10 year old is plenty old enough to be a responsible parent for the baby that her republican uncle raped into her.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I'm all for younger blood to represent the people.

As long as there's also better set term limits, especially in the Supreme Court.

 

[Tress]

I'm all for younger blood to represent the people.

As long as there's also better set term limits, especially in the Supreme Court.

If Tress Ruled the World:

• House of Representatives: 2 year term, 5 term limit
• Senate: 6 year term, 2 term limit
• President: 4 year term, 2 term limit
• Supreme Court Justice: 20 year term, 1 term limit
• Federal Justice: 10 year term, 2 term limit

Other reforms:

• Electoral College removed, popular vote instead.
• Constitutional amendment declaring corporations to be non-entities, and therefore not protected by the First Amendment
• Super PACs banned
• All campaign finance is publicly funded, with varying caps based on level. Private funding for campaigning is banned.
• Campaign ads may not be run more than 6 months before election.
• Districts designed with non-partisan committees, and not politicians
• Receiving job offers, stock tips, luxury goods, vacations or other amenities from donors, activists, and lobbyists is illegal and punishable with up to 20 years in prison
• Fines for violating ethics rules are based on percentage of estimated net worth, not pre-set amounts.
• Washington, D.C. added as 51st state
• Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and all other territories given opportunity to join (decided by popular vote).

Feel free to disagree or point out loopholes. Obviously some things would have be defined further, but I don't think anyone wants to read a 100 page treatise.

 

[GasBandit]

Add in there instant runoff ranked-choice voting and you got my vote.

 

[HCGLNS]

How does it fix the Senate?

1 Senator per 18,000,000 in California
1 Senator per 7,000 people in Wyoming

 

[Tress]

How does it fix the Senate?

1 Senator per 18,000,000 in California
1 Senator per 7,000 people in Wyoming

That's the point of the Senate. All states are treated equal, regardless of population size. Meanwhile, the House gives power to bigger states over the smaller ones. Then the two have to agree, and that's how things are balanced.

 

[GasBandit]

Originally the Senators weren't even popularly elected, they were appointed by the state government. The idea being that the senate represented the state governments, and the house represented the people at large.

And when confronted as to why the people should put up with that even being a thing at all, they threw out a placative bone in the form of "the House holds the purse strings" in that all matters of revenue the bill had to originate from the House.

 

[Frank]

Campaign ads may not be run more than 6 months before election.

In Canada, the ads aren't supposed to run more than 50 days out from an election. Not that ANY parties actually adhere to it. Gentlemen's agreements and all that shit.

 

[IronBrig4]

And there's been a whole lot of noise from the right about raising the minimum age for voting eligibility because they are terrified of the Gen Z voters that turned out in droves to make the 2022 midterms go against them.

And those Gen Z kids keep skateboarding on the sidewalk and listen to their rap bands! If Herb was still with us he'd give them a piece of his mind!

That's the point of the Senate. All states are treated equal, regardless of population size. Meanwhile, the House gives power to bigger states over the smaller ones. Then the two have to agree, and that's how things are balanced.

According to the 1790 census, the most populous state (Virginia at 748,000) and least populous state (Delaware at 59,000) were not as far apart as California and Wyoming are now. Furthermore, most of the least populated states today are overwhelmingly white, rural, and evangelical Protestant while most of the rest of the country is secularizing and diversifying. Rural states have disproportionately heavy representation thanks to the Senate, and those senators confirm judicial nominees who are wildly out of step with the majority of Americans. Currently, five states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) have only two percent of the population but ten senators between them. If trends continue, one-third of the population will eventually be able to dominate the other two-thirds through sheer power in the Senate.

 

[blotsfan]

How can you look at either of these events and still think, “Yeah, I’d vote for that guy.”?

Who do you prefer: Ted Cruz, someone with all of his mental faculties that votes for evil policies; or Dianne Feinstein, someone who is functionally a potato but blindly rubber stamps (generally) good policies?

I know I prefer the latter. Now pretend you’re a person who likes evil policies. That’s why you vote for mitch.

 

[HCGLNS]

And that lovely vote whole party ticket function doesn't help.

 

[GasBandit]

 

[PatrThom]

I can’t help but feel like there are more stories being told in that graph other than solely “Congress is full of old people.”

—Patrick

 

[GasBandit]

Hmm, I think I found a problem.

I think this next one was trying to say "You know how universities are Sports Franchises with an education side hustle? American Cities are police departments with a couple low budget tax writeoffs to make them look good."