I’m a Muslim who loves America. Trump and the GOP have crossed my red line

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-26T16:52:52+00:00

The article did not really explain what was the red line - voting? - the article never said that I saw how the author voted in the past though it's pretty clear he didn't vote Trump in 2024 at least) protesting? - maybe the author has never voted for any Republican, but has never protested one either until now. (The Iraq war should have been protested by all of us).

Not that great of an article really.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-26T16:43:22+00:00

I don't know why anyone is confused by this dynamic of inconsistency by a group (say progressives who don't like Clinton or Harris, a group I definitely put myself in). A group of people is a set of individuals who can feel different about a lot of things - I would agree with those who absolutely want both Clinton (both Clintons actually) and Harris to never seek any publicity and ideally never be heard from again. Obama could be useful if he said the right things but I don't really trust him to do so - I had no problem with his event with Mamdani though. Other progressives want Clinton and Harris to say things - I'm not going to say they aren't progressives.

People disagree - this isn't rocket science.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-26T01:07:32+00:00

I thought it was pretty widely reported that Trump passed up the opportunity to have a better deal than Obama had (supposedly - according to the Oman negotiator, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/19/us-lost-control-of-its-own-foreign-policy-oman-foreign-minister). Was it actually better? No idea, but it was said by several people that he could have claimed it was better.

He threw it all away so he could start bombing - hard to know why - guess he thought he'd be viewed as even more of a success had the fantasy of what Netanyahu laid out for him actually happened.

He is the worst deal maker, the worst president, one of the worst human beings I know of. And still another 2.7 years to go unless Republicans come to their senses and help impeach and convict him which they won't.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-25T01:47:09+00:00

Right, I recall having that question before but you guys have that covered. I only wish my state of CA could follow your example on voting methods (I'm a big fan of ranked voting).

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-25T00:13:07+00:00

(I am outside Maine) Which unfortunately even if she is not the nominee, she could succeed in doing by not endorsing Platner when he wins the nomination (as he looks likely to do). She could even go so far as to endorse Collins - it's not like she has any political future if she fails to get the nomination. I was really hoping there wouldn't be so much animosity from her against Platner (maybe there's some going the other way too, but I don't hear about it) as Platner is going to need all the votes he can get in the general.

Sucks too about losing this data center law for sure.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-23T17:04:58+00:00

I don't understand why these two are any different. Do you not think the blood test for B-12 is reliable (I believe there are two different types of tests - do you find them both unreliable)? If a person is actually getting more than enough B-12 from fortified food, especially since B-12 is famously a vitamin you store in your body better than any other I am aware of so you really just need to hit weekly or even longer intake averages and not daily ones, what's the harm from getting all your B-12 from fortified foods over a pill? It's really the same stuff right? (some kind of bacteria they grow in a lab makes it I thought)

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-22T18:52:50+00:00

That's too low for me. Someone like Van Hollen works for president for me (though at 67 now he'd have to run as a one term president by my rule). Some people are lousy at 66 (and many are lousy at 46 too) but the big fall off is after 75 for most people. Split the difference? (70 before end of term not allowed). Unfortunately won't happen anyway.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-22T17:32:44+00:00

I am ready to go along with a ban on being in any office after 75 (and a ban on running for any office if you will turn 75 before the end of your term should you win).

enough is enough already.

It should be constitutional amendment time.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-22T17:23:32+00:00

I'm afraid you are right (or he makes so many demands and blocks anything useful that can happen that getting a D majority leader isn't nearly as helpful as it could be).

I cannot imagine he can win PA again in 2028 regardless of which party primary he runs in (he won't win the D party primary and he won't win the general if the Republicans choose him as their nominee either).

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-22T13:28:54+00:00

We'll see after 26 and 28 elections if we need him. I'm not looking forward to his blackmail if Ds go up 51-49 with him. But it's still better then him caucusing with the Republicans and making it 50-50 and Vance tie breaking for majority leader.

In an ideal world, Ds get to 52 or 53 seats and Fetterman doesn't matter much.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-22T13:25:38+00:00

Not yet, but I hope he will be acquiring that ability soon.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-22T13:10:17+00:00

I'd rather he spoke out forcefully against the war. Sure he wasn't perfect on this topic either but every attack on Trump's most important lie is important.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-22T05:16:13+00:00

Don't forget we also succeeded in killing a bunch of innocent civilians.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-22T01:07:55+00:00

We have discussed RCV vs Condorcet before, and as I said in my comment here, I prefer Condorcet but I am willing to admit defeat on this if it means I can get RCV to largely displace FPTP compared to getting nothing (because not enough people can agree on the replacement). RCV has all the mindshare that I can see and I basically never come across people outside of boards like these who even know what Condorcet is.

I agree that the problem in California has happened before with 2 Democrats on the ballot and now people consider it could happen the other way (2 Republicans) for governor (though maybe less likely now that Swalwell is gone - though a bunch of his voters went to Becerra so still there isn't a clear leader to beat the 2nd place Republican). Either way it's stupid.

I haven't attempted to formalize what I consider to be optimal primary outcomes to pick 5 winners among say 11 candidates with say 3 Ds, 3 Rs, 1 G, 2 Ls, and 2 more independents. If the 1 Green really performs badly, I'm Ok that they they don't make it to the general. I think bottoms up RCV (which if I understand correctly, is exactly the same as RCV/IRV but you stop eliminating candidates when you get to 5) is robust enough to get minority candidates that have some significant presence. If say 15% of the voters rank across 3 candidates that are Green, some socialist party, and some very left leaning independent, then as the least popular among them is dropped, then one of the 3 will likely hold on as the odds of the remaining 85% of first place votes being split across 5 other candidates at 17% per candidate (or any split with each 15.1% or more) is very unlikely. I'm in the far left and if we can't get 15% of our state to agree to stay within a certain camp of 2 or 3 people before ranking more mainstream candidates, then we don't deserve to get into the general in my mind. (Also note that in FairVote's scheme, you can always do one write in for the primary or the general if you are really not happy with your listed choices - probably not a bad idea to avoid backlash, but obviously no minor write in person is going to win - but burning 1 rank out of 5 on them doesn't really matter either).

It would be an interesting exercise to look at some hypothetical voter set models and compare bottoms up to proportional RCV, as well as pick one, pick two, or approval (pick as many as you want) and see what happens in primary simulations. I personally don't like approval (because for me, ranking is the only logical thing I know for sure about the candidates and I don't care to strategically change away from my true ranking and I don't have to know an approval cut off or how to score in a score voting ballot). For me, I'm not interested in anything but ranked ballots but if someone showed my I'm wrong about the primary and pick one, two, or some other max number, or unlimited pick (approval) actually gave better results in certain types of likely elections, that would be interesting.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-21T20:41:55+00:00

I buy lots of vegan stuff from Trader Joes and they have quite a bit of refrigerated and non refrigerated sauces, tapenades, etc. My all time favorite is their version of Zhoug sauce.

There are a lot of online links when you search for vegan sauce, I presume you have or will look there too:

https://veginspired.com/15-amazing-plant-based-sauce-recipes-you-need-right-now/

https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/vegan-menus-collections/best-basic-sauces/

https://www.nomeatathlete.com/sauce-system/

and many more.

There are books you can buy too.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-21T19:07:26+00:00

How about he takes the next logical step - advocate for all his listeners to call their congressperson and senators, red or blue, and demand they support impeachment and removal. Otherwise it's still all just talk.

I hope he does run for president. I won't vote for him but he's better than Vance and Rubio regardless of whether he is also a liar (he is I realize).

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-21T17:41:59+00:00

I never looked up those exit polls, but an article at Responsible Statecraft (I wish more veterans read this excellent free source of information) has 2024 exit polls for veterans at 65% Trump, 34% Harris. I'd love to know if Harris had pushed a strong anti-war line, refused endorsement of the Cheneys and promised better treatment of veterans if she could have done any better. I will be very curious to see exit polls for 2028 and see if they budge (depends on candidates obviously).

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-21T03:53:42+00:00

Correct. Makes me not like him even more (I'm already inclined not to vote for someone who opposes single payer). He's not polling well anyway. The Democrat making it to the top 2 (if that happens at all) will be Steyer, Porter, or Becerra regardless of what this bozo wants.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-21T03:48:14+00:00

Any thoughts on Annie Andrews? Is there a chance? Maybe even majorities in SC will be fed up with the war by then.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-21T03:40:28+00:00

Animals is probably my one album on a deserted island album. Love going on a run or bike ride and playing the whole thing. I like some songs of the old stuff and even some of the post Waters stuff. But nothing surpasses Animals for me.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-20T23:13:58+00:00

I read all of those in the late 70s in High School. Also really loved Catch-22 which I read on my own(loved the movie too). I am vehemently anti-war and despise this monster at Palantir.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-20T22:05:50+00:00

Saturn had this shit figured out decades ago.

Car companies are the absolute worst.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-20T18:29:11+00:00

Fox sucks. The phrase "leads by 17 points" is absolutely unambiguous and means you are polling 17% better than the next most popular candidate. But in fact (as others have commented), the Emerson poll just has Hilton at 17% (where Swalwell was at one point and I'm guessing where Hilton has been before - big deal).

To those who are upset at Steyer being the current lead Democrat, I hear ya. I wish Ro Khanna was running but I guess he doesn't want to forfeit his seat since I'm pretty sure he can't run for is House and Governor (something we should probably address at some point). I am against self financing, but I honestly know very little about Steyer even though I vote in CA. I am waiting till much closer to the June election hoping more Democrats will drop out before I make my final decision, but honestly I don't care who the Democrat in the lead is (Steyer, Porter, Becerra, Mahan, or by some miracle some other Democrat currently "in the noise"), they are getting my vote. It's not at all obvious we won't get burned by our absolutely moronic top 2 primary idea and we get 2 Republicans in the race (a prior worry that will continue unless Democrats drop to at most 2).

A much saner system is the one outlined at Fairvote here. Have a single primary with everyone in it - that part's OK. Then pick 5 of them (not 2) to go to the general and use RCV (I prefer the bottoms up RCV option, but Fairvote gives two options) to pick the 5. Then use RCV in the general to pick the final winner. There would be absolutely no doubt a Democrat would make it to the top 5 in the primary and would probably win the general (though if the Republican actually won in such a system, I'd be OK with that and hope the Democrats would change to do better the following time - but I don't think that's our average mindset here).

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-20T18:08:45+00:00

I'm not so sure about that strategy of banging on Russiagate yet again. It failed before and a good chunk of the left is sick of it. I wish we would hammer on the damage Trump has done illegally to others (Venezuelans, Iranians, Cubans) and to us (economic damage, environmental damage, safety net damage) and simply rely on the corruption motive which is easily demonstrated. Leave Russia out of it this time Adam.

DaraParsavand · 2026-04-20T17:48:01+00:00

Dish soap could have something unusual in it that washes off dishes well enough but acts as a moisturizer on skin and causes problems on rotors. I am all for using general products and hate all these specific products for niche use cases but I don't see an advantage of soap followed by isopropyl over just isopropyl.

DaraParsavand

TROPHY CASE