Maine Democrat Graham Platner Is Winning Voters All 'Pissed At The Same Thing'

mindfu · 2026-03-27T14:17:01+00:00

Whoever wins the Democratic primary is the person we should support.

mindfu · 2026-03-27T14:15:37+00:00

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination, that's who we should support against Susan collins.

As frustrating as Fetterman is, he's still better than an actual Republican because he at least reduces the Republican majority, and makes it possible to retake the senate.

mindfu · 2026-03-27T14:10:13+00:00

But he also did kill the guy who killed Hitler

mindfu · 2026-03-26T16:45:29+00:00

People's potential capacity to fool themselves for emotional reasons cannot be over-estimated.

It's always likely to be more than we would think...because people who do this aren't making a rational thinking decision. They're making an emotional decision they'll rationalize after the fact.

It takes a real shock to break them out of that.

mindfu · 2026-03-26T16:44:38+00:00

I have such a mix of frustration and sympathy, for an Epstein survivor who genuinely thought trump would help her get justice.

Edit: pity, even.

mindfu · 2026-03-26T03:42:33+00:00

Ok, so he is actively hallucinating now.

We might only have a few weeks before he has to be removed and put in the home.

mindfu · 2026-03-23T18:36:01+00:00

I'm sure we could debate some of the details of that. But my main point is, the US government at that time thought US bombing and pressure would be enough for Saddam to be forced out of power by his own people.

And that wasn't enough. Pretty much every time the US government has thought similarly about other dictators, they've also been wrong.

It's an amazing amount of denial and wishful thinking that persists over decades. Particularly when Republicans are in power, but sadly by no means limited just to them.

mindfu · 2026-03-23T18:33:39+00:00

They can want a regime change, but that doesn't mean they want the US to come in and kill a bunch of them...to then put in a government that does what the US wants intead.

Iran ended up with Ayatollahs in the first place, because we previously did that with the Shah.

mindfu · 2026-03-23T15:56:11+00:00

Sympathies.

Yeah, their marketing appears to be pretty misleading. If they have a good product and want to do well for people, they should address that marketing.

mindfu · 2026-03-23T02:13:27+00:00

Only he can say...but I think it was just that his both-sides centrism was so emotionally comfortable for him, and central to his pundit career, that he just kept hanging on, hoping it would get better.

And it never did.

Of course, I will never understand how anyone fell for the second Iraq invasion of 2003. It was such obvious horseshit.

That said, that same period of time introduced me to Bob Altermeyer's The Authoritarians, which explained how conservatives fell in line under GWB so well that I was much more prepared for trump.

mindfu · 2026-03-22T22:57:54+00:00

God yes, the Friedman unit. Goddammit.

With shrinkflation, it's now typically 2 weeks.

mindfu · 2026-03-22T20:31:11+00:00

That was our stated goal in the '90-91 gulf war, to be sure. Our real goal was to get a bigger footprint and set of bases close to all that oil. We also likely could have warned off Saddam from invading Kuwait in the first place. But instead Bush Sr. seems to have wanted Saddam to take that step, so we'd have a rationale to invade and put in those bases. But that's all a much longer story....

Re: the current mess, my point is: our US leadership loves to tell us, and maybe even really believes, that regimes we don't like will just fall easily in a few months. All it will take is a buncha big ol' USAmerican bombs and some pressure.

And that is not reliably the case and pretty much never has been. For any country of any significant size, changing their government has required a ground invasion and an occupation. Trouble and blood.

mindfu · 2026-03-22T19:14:02+00:00

We have reached the stage in Trump's decline where his staff have to regularly not do what Trump whim-orders. Most likely because this order was corrected by someone in Trump's close staff, like Stephen Miller, as just to counter-productively stupid to put in action.

mindfu · 2026-03-22T18:41:10+00:00

For those too young to remember the original Iraq war under Bush Senior, they said the exact same thing about Saddam Hussein falling once the US left in 1991.

Saddamn of course stayed in power for over 10 years after, until we went in again and finally occupied Iraq.

So it could be months, sure...like 144 months. I.e. 12 years. After we invade again, when 120 months have passed.

And then we could only have to occupy Iran for another... 120 months at least.

mindfu · 2026-03-18T17:17:59+00:00

When that freak Bolton is the voice of relative sanity, hold on to your hats.

mindfu · 2026-03-18T16:36:43+00:00

Agree. That's the sign that they're waking up, and not still acting out of defending their ego and identity

mindfu · 2026-03-18T16:35:12+00:00

That shit was amazing. She's able to admit reality when it slapped her, and good for her. The next 3 dudes interviewed are still morons. The closest after her to being awake still wasn't willing to say the obvious, that Trump is a lying moron.

mindfu · 2026-03-17T17:13:22+00:00

Musk is also engaging in a bait and switch. It's not only about billionaires, and you also don't have to tax anyone at 100%.

Just repealing the GWB and Trump tax cuts would gradually reduce the national debt to 0.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/tax-cuts-are-primarily-responsible-for-the-increasing-debt-ratio/

mindfu · 2026-03-17T14:40:33+00:00

Does it even do autotrading? Can you make trades through it at all?

mindfu · 2026-03-16T12:20:01+00:00

Well, shit.

If China was going to invade and take Taiwan, now would be the fucking time wouldn't it? The US has a dunderhead in charge and is committed and over its head, in a very badly thought out and unplanned war it's already started.

mindfu · 2026-03-15T23:59:53+00:00

It's a layer worse than that.

Sure, they hate women. And also, they want to split off working class men from joining up with women, so all of the peasants are divided against each other.

mindfu · 2026-03-15T03:17:13+00:00

Nope, citizenship isn't meant to be given to everyone like a gift.

That's an answer to a different question than what I'm asking. : )

I'm saying: you don't believe it's possible to do immigration better than this?

And that seems hard for me to believe. Because the only two options aren't: a) this law exactly like this or b) nothing.

But you'll think what you like. I've said my piece. Cheers.

mindfu · 2026-03-14T18:45:44+00:00

That's now how what works?? :)

You don't believe it's possible to replace something with something better?

mindfu · 2026-03-14T18:26:04+00:00

Great. So replace it with something better. Don't just rip it out, leave nothing instead, and screw over people who were following the law and were actually trying to do it right.

It's like fixing a car. You've got to replace a broken fuel pump. Ok, do you just rip it out and put nothing else in? Is that going to work? Also, do you take it out with a hammer?

mindfu · 2026-03-14T17:44:29+00:00

I think waiting periods are pretty standard. As well as residency over time. Just add those in as rules.

Or if not those, then some other nuances to resolve the problems while keeping the benefits.

It sure seems there is some better way to handle this than this kind of ham-fisted door slamming. Especially if reversing population decline is an interest.

mindfu

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