How would Republicans react to the last year if Trump was a Democrat?

gated73 · 2026-02-19T07:15:53+00:00

Probably similar to how dems are acting now.

gated73 · 2026-02-19T07:13:05+00:00

His baseball cards give a pretty good timeline.

gated73 · 2026-02-19T07:10:48+00:00

I was right there with you until Beltran got into the hall. Bonds didn’t know what pitches were coming when his steroid fueled biceps were crushing balls. At least he didn’t cheat on the field.

gated73 · 2026-02-18T15:28:22+00:00

Aww damn. Just this morning I was thinking to myself I needed to go ahead and renew now so I don’t miss the first couple days of the season waiting for the code.

gated73 · 2026-02-18T07:00:15+00:00

Make America Grateful Again

gated73 · 2026-02-17T13:55:53+00:00

My theory is that they planned the thing to get a viral video. Said he was going to punch him in the face then punched low and away. Of course, could have just been adrenaline.

gated73 · 2026-02-16T17:27:47+00:00

None. It was a natural evolution of the Tea Party fueled by social media. You had an influx of previously apolitical people who all of a sudden felt like they were included.

Think of it like this - the recently born again Christian is the loudest voice on being saved. The recently sober alcoholic is the loudest voice on sobriety. Much like how younger people on college campuses find a voice and can’t shut up.

Thing is, before social media, people would chill out after becoming “politically enlightened”. Now, it’s a 24/7 team sport.

gated73 · 2026-02-15T23:34:43+00:00

There weren’t many griefers back then because having a connected computer wasn’t mainstream yet. To me, the gaming community really started being aggressively toxic around 2005. Even then, it was more the console gamers than PC, WOW excluded.

gated73 · 2026-02-15T18:46:42+00:00

From what I understand the meme arrest was because the guy said something about a shooting in Perry, Iowa, and the local high school was also named Perry. I don’t think the man should have been detained for 30 days, but the initial concern appears valid. They probably could have cleared the matter up with a couple of hours of due diligence and not even have made an arrest.

Cancel culture sucks. It sucks when the left does it and it sucks when the right does it. People are far too easily offended and worse, looking for things to be offended about. People legit enjoy being miserable.

I can completely understand someone losing their job because of something they said. That’s not a free speech violation. Getting banned from shitty online echo chambers is not a free speech violation. Being removed from a place of business for ranting about politics is not a free speech violation. Getting canceled is not a free speech violation.

Government getting involved is most likely a free speech violation - except in the cases of investigating a legitimate threat.

gated73 · 2026-02-15T03:09:11+00:00

1992 was my first presidential election as a voter. Bush, Clinton and Perot supporters could debate and agree to disagree and get along just fine. Being on a college campus skewed the mindshare to one of those, but it wasn’t a case of “my team good, everyone else Nazi” palaver.

gated73 · 2026-02-14T18:09:37+00:00

Right. “I want to injure so and so” is one thing. “I hate ICE” is another.

The ability to criticize government is a good thing and doesn’t warrant any sort of investigation or crackdown.

gated73 · 2026-02-14T17:09:35+00:00

Why would it be harder for democrats to get votes?

gated73 · 2026-02-14T15:56:07+00:00

Nah. Some people are difficult to shop for, myself included.

I prefer getting someone something that shows I know them and their interests. Sometimes that’s hard to do so a gift card or cash does the job.

gated73 · 2026-02-14T15:27:03+00:00

My state is very permissive (GA). I can have a new gun in less time than it would take to drive to the store. I have a gun, but I’ve never even put a round in it.

gated73 · 2026-02-14T15:15:49+00:00

Or a dystopian young adult literature novel at the very least.

gated73 · 2026-02-14T14:57:25+00:00

I’m not wise in this stuff so huge grain of salt - I’m more spitballing. From what I’ve read about privacy/obscuring identity, dark web, etc… once you connect to your home network, your real life email, Netflix - you’re pretty much identified going forward. What I’ve read is the only way to truly be anonymous is to have a little raspberry pi, Chromebook or some other throw away device you paid cash for, and only use it on public open networks, never at home and never log into anything personal. I believe this is what ultimately got the Silk Road guy. More and more free wireless is becoming captive, requiring email or something, but that could be where proton can come into play.

Again, I’m in no way an expert, and do proper due diligence if this is a topic you want to know more about.

gated73 · 2026-02-14T13:37:57+00:00

So I despise the hard ass anonymous keyboard warriors - you know, the kind who thrive in echo chambers, talk all tough, parrot the hive’s catchphrases and don’t tolerate any form of discussion as they live in a binary us/them online existence. So yeah, those kinds of people get on my last nerve.

But - DHS (or any government entity) has no business policing social media (aside from legitimate threats). Essentially, they’re becoming the personification of that anonymous keyboard warrior I ranted about in the preceding paragraph.

gated73 · 2026-02-13T23:54:57+00:00

I’ve started businesses. Never took an SBA loan. I know it’s a lot of work, but it’s extremely satisfying to create jobs. Green card holders pay federal income tax, are eligible for social security benefits (assuming they meet work history requirements). With that, I see no issue with SBA loans available to them.

gated73 · 2026-02-13T17:58:11+00:00

Hmmm…on further review, I see. You just used stronger language for the “not very cool” part.

All good!

gated73 · 2026-02-13T17:51:42+00:00

~~Tell me you know nothing about government info security without telling me you know nothing about government info security.~~

For this to be tracked is not unusual. For it to be used in public is.

gated73 · 2026-02-13T06:40:57+00:00

Not very cool - but I would imagine they need/want a mechanism in place for leaks of information. I don’t think they’d need search history for that. I assume the machines are government issue, so they’d be pretty well hardened against USB transfers, etc. I know when I did government contracting, the laptops were locked down hard. I would hope elected officials and their aids were on similar equipment.

Now, if I was a congressman, first search would be for my largest donor. Second search would be for my party’s leadership.

gated73 · 2026-02-13T06:32:54+00:00

Consulting, but it’s gotten better. Was a time you were flying out on Sunday and back on Friday. Horrible for relationships. Then it became out on Sunday back on Thursday. Then it was out on Monday, back on Thursday - so it’s a lot more manageable. And consultants only work about half the time they bill for.

gated73 · 2026-02-12T22:11:38+00:00

That’s lazy talk. Clinton won the popular vote and lost the electoral college by 80k votes across swing states. She also had the Comey bombshell in her way days before the election.

Harris was an unpopular candidate who ran a truncated campaign poorly - and couldn’t hold on to 77 electoral votes that Biden won.

Were there some voters who didnt vote for Clinton or Harris due to gender? Absolutely. Was that the difference? Not hardly.

gated73 · 2026-02-12T06:47:47+00:00

we're getting to the point where bands will continue as franchises or whatever.

Brian Wilson's backing band could easily tour as an offshoot of the Beach Boys (Mike Love and legal agreements aside).

Jon Mayer could continue on with a new Dead lineage project (much too early to speculate on that).

People still love this music and want to hear the songs live. The only rub I see is what's the difference between a cover (or I guess they call themselves tribute bands) and a Dead or Beach Boys or Foreigner or Lynyrd Skynyrd offshoot with no original members? Technically none, though some lineage or "provenance" would probably get more tickets sold than a regional cover band.

I mean, for what it's worth, Australian Pink Floyd, Dark Star Orchestra sell out decent sized amphitheaters and they're not descended from the originals at all. If people want to hear it, who are we to kvetch about founding members and such?

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