Prelude to the Apocalypse

[orange808]

"Hey Joe, what was the name of the president back when you were vice president?"

Umm... Ronald Reagan?

[Queen Charlene]

Hey guys, put the razor blades down.

Biden has a slim lead over Bernie after all the Super Tuesday red states, but Bernie crushed him in California. Now that Warren's out, Joe won't be able to hide his obvious and growing senility in the debates by the network keeping the debate camera focused on the kid's table squabbles. Instead of Bernie clinching the nomination from the start, it's now a legit race along the lines of 2008. Bernie's in a much better position now than he was at this point in 2016, and he nearly caught Hillary that time.

The brokered convention shenanigans are now off the table and it's a two person race, to be decided by raw numbers of butts in the seats. Do you have the Bern app? Do you know that you can make calls for Bernie from the comfort of your own home? If you've never done door canvassing, it's substantially less scary the first time if you do it with a friend.

The MSM wants you to think it's over already, don't let them manufacture your consent.

i'm sorry, but after the last 10+ years of bullshit, i just have a really hard time seeing the good in all of this. i predict Warren will endorse Biden just for the sake of taking down Bernie, and then it will be Biden vs. Trump in the end, and the electoral college is going to pick Biden or Trump because they would never pick a candidate who is so vocal about the ills of capitalism when it's in the best interest of politicians and the rich to keep the status quo going. the people who are voting for Biden are not going to vote for anybody except Biden even if he has a heart attack during a speech in two days and despite all of the awful policies that he has directly been involved in contributing to for decades.

will we really be able to make the electoral college vote for Bernie? they didn't in 2016 despite the popular vote saying otherwise. it is just not a situation where i really feel like i can just relax and hope that we as marginalized people can finally get a break in this country.

especially as a non-white transgender woman, if it ends up being a battle between Biden and Trump, i would rather choose drinking rat poison cocktails. i am already so, so, so tired from the last four years of fighting, protesting, calling out nonsense, and aggressive self-care/self-management. i really don't know if i have it in me for another four years.

[BryanM]

Yeah, his brain leaking out of his nose during a debate isn't going to hurt him much. His eye literally exploded during one and now he's walking around with an empty eye socket, but we're all politely pretending that that isn't the case. Kayfabe has become reality.

The hundreds of hours of tv around the election can't be offset in that demographic. The relationship between the average older american and television is the most intimate one they have - tens upon tens of thousands of hours, more time together than all their parents, children and lovers combined. Especially true when at the end of life, it's the last "human" relationship so many of them have left.

Still it's objectively screwed up South Carolina voted for a segregationist.

[quash]

Do you all mean to tell me those spicy #Joementum memes are a facade? I can't possibly see how such a viable candidate hasn't already won the nomination.

[BryanM]

After seeing how the billionaires carved Corbyn into pieces, I've been giving more credence to you and Bullet's "maybe Bernie isn't highly favored to win the general against Trump" view. Yes, Texas is literally 1 percentage point away from flipping this year, but the entire television apparatus would be leveraged against the berndiggity.

The schism between young and old would be massive.



^ The primaries here are similar to this.

"Never Trump" liberals would find themselves mysteriously checking his box come November. It was naive of me to think their Trump derangement syndrome and party loyalty would be reliable or good for anything.

[quash]

Above all else, boomers care about one thing and one thing alone: themselves.

[BryanM]

Selfishness is normal for anyone. (Though these insurance ads I see on youtube making fun of kids not having a future are particularly galling. Insurance is definitely the worst rent.) But they're not even doing that, they're shooting themselves in the foot. Massively disinterested in details and open to being programmed by the fake news that is the media, I would say.

One factor besides TV is that the older Democrat loyalists don't want to take their share of responsibility for the state of the country. Which is kind of the entire point of Sanders, a democratic party without as many of these ghouls in it. If those who voted Clinton in the primary back then didn't learn anything from 2016, they're incapable of ever learning. Which was where most of my pessimism this cycle came from.

.... some of these... people... actually think that Biden supports Universal Medicare.

[quash]

As much as Trump is in many ways as boomer as it gets, his entire platform was that decades of boomers ruling the country has led us to this mess and that it needed to be fixed. A rare moment of self awareness, but one that would ultimately not be followed through on.

They're the biggest voting bloc, the richest demographic in the country by far, and they're willing to spend the future generation's money on keeping themselves alive for as long as possible. All while making the rest of us run on the hamster wheel of keeping the housing market (which may as well be synonymous with the global economy) afloat, making us pay in to programs we will never receive benefits from, and increasing the labor pool as well as demand for their ridiculously overpriced houses through immigration. At some point, even someone that's been plugged in for fifty or more years has to take a step back and ask themselves how things got to where they are. Unfortunately for us, the answers they turn to are more often than not Qanon esque fantasies that reassure them that everything will be fine and to trust the plan.

I'd really like to be wrong. I'd really like to see boomers do something about the shit awful government they've enabled for longer than most of us have been alive, but I really do not see that happening.

[BulletMagnet]

Above all else, boomers care about one thing and one thing alone: themselves.

I perused an op-ed the other day which mulled over whether or not any of the subsequent generations are really any more willing to forego creature comforts for the greater good (i.e. eat less meat or not adjust the thermostat as much to slow climate change), especially if it's the government or some other authority figure requiring us to do it - as glad as I am to see Bloomberg make a quick exit from the race, the backlash to his restriction on vat-sized sodas back when he was mayor was just as ridiculous as the one to Obama's attempt to phase out less efficient light bulbs, because doing so infringed on our most vital freedoms.

A rare moment of self awareness

You misspelled "laughably obvious and willfully ignored open deception".

[orange808]

Above all else, boomers care about one thing and one thing alone: themselves.

I perused an op-ed the other day which mulled over whether or not any of the subsequent generations are really any more willing to forego creature comforts for the greater good (i.e. eat less meat or not adjust the thermostat as much to slow climate change), especially if it's the government or some other authority figure requiring us to do it - as glad as I am to see Bloomberg make a quick exit from the race, the backlash to his restriction on vat-sized sodas back when he was mayor was just as ridiculous as the one to Obama's attempt to phase out less efficient light bulbs, because doing so infringed on our most vital freedoms.

A rare moment of self awareness

You misspelled "laughably obvious and willfully ignored open deception".

Sure. That's where the challenge of climate bargains begins.

But, the boomers are obstacles to more immediate endeavors in America. In particular, they refuse to change health care.

Given that most of them now have Medicare for themselves, they simply don't care.

Beyond that, professionals enjoy good employer provided care. It's somewhat inconvenient. It's more expensive than it used to be, as well. But, it's no issue. The ACA guarantees me insurance with preexisting conditions and it helps protect me from bankruptcy. It's all good. That's why the neoliberals (aka "moderates") don't care.

On the other hand, the working class remains locked out. Pity those poor souls.

So, it does come down to people not giving a sh*t about anything or anyone.

[BryanM]

That's the stupid part I was talking about - Medicare isn't single payer! Tons of these people still forego going to the hospital because of the $200+ bill it would entail!
_

Here's the stats on how much TV is consumed per age group:

Spoiler

In all honesty, 7 and a half hours a day is a low number. This is the average across multiple people, so the median 65+ yo spends 10 or more hours a day watching tv.

That's what we were up against.

Above all else, boomers care about one thing and one thing alone: themselves.

I perused an op-ed the other day which mulled over whether or not any of the subsequent generations are really any more willing to forego creature comforts for the greater good (i.e. eat less meat or not adjust the thermostat as much to slow climate change)

The laughable part is all of that would do absolutely nothing.

We needed to transition to electric cars and thorium reactors about 20 years ago. Decreasing the forthcoming apocalypse by 0.000001% magnitude by foregoing hamburgers... pointless.

Notice how these propaganda assholes never once consider, maybe, spending so much energy to move one and a half tons of steel in order to move ~200 pounds of meat miles around every single day is the biggest contributor? This is basic arithmetic, yes? Cutting the workweek to 4 or 3 days a week alone would be orders upon orders of magnitude more impactful than "maybe if you don't like dying in an apocalypse, you should personally decide to eat more tofu!"

But such proposals are forbidden because, you know why.

as glad as I am to see Bloomberg make a quick exit from the race

The liberals acting as if it's some great victory for humanity make one wonder if they have developed object permanence - just because mommy hides under the blankets doesn't mean she's not still there.

His splitting the boomer vote was the only chance we had. Now Trump is the presumptive president for the next four years.... yay....

[quash]

I perused an op-ed the other day which mulled over whether or not any of the subsequent generations are really any more willing to forego creature comforts for the greater good (i.e. eat less meat or not adjust the thermostat as much to slow climate change)

To echo the sentiment of the others, these kinds of symbolic gestures aren't going to do much in the grand scheme of things. Widespread adoption of nuclear energy in the 90's would have solved many of our problems, but I blame The Simpsons for giving people the idea that nuclear energy is some guy fumbling with a fuel rod.

You misspelled "laughably obvious and willfully ignored open deception".

Look, when the alternative is a Clinton vs Bush election, literally anyone else starts to look appealing. Make no mistake, Trump ended many a political career in those primary debates. It's funny to see people who weren't paying attention back then discover how on point Trump was during those debates, because now they get why he won.

As much as I've been satisfied with certain aspects of his presidency, he has not acted like someone who understands how dire things really are, and his capitulation to special interest groups with regard to foreign policy has got to be the biggest disappointment of them all. While he at least is avoiding full on ground invasions, the strikes against Syria and Iran have set a new and dangerous precedent. I suppose this is the logical conclusion of prior presidents use of extrajudicial force, but it's the exact opposite of what he said he'd do even well before he ran for office.

Oh well. At least we have some amusing antics on Twitter from time to time.

[BryanM]

He verbalized support of both sides of every non-core issue to his base - ragging on Iraq one moment, saying we need to murder people's families the next. It was a very a'la carte kind of campaign, like I was saying at the time. Very easy to believe what you wanted to believe, with a record that only suggested an interest in personal enrichment. (Like I keep saying, words mean absolutely nothing. If you want to see what someone is, look at where their money comes from and what they've done with the power that they have. Warren spends most of hers being angry at people being mean online, for example.)

The republicans could have defeated him if they had been willing to form Republican Voltron, but, again... the point of the parties is to defeat leftists and further the gains of capital. Democrats keeping the minimum wage to $7.25 forever, giving the republicans a supreme court justice, and only appearing to display competence to us little people when it comes to making sure there's not even a chance of Sanders acquiring power... it makes perfect logical sense if you're aware of their personal incentives.

...Trump's bit with Mike and the box killed me. "Why does he get a box? If he gets a box, everyone else should get a box too! It's not fair!"

but I blame The Simpsons for giving people the idea that nuclear energy is some guy fumbling with a fuel rod.

A reminder to everyone that the water-cooled reactors were developed by the government to power submarines. The tech was given to for-profit entities, who immediately locked down further research for nuclear power. Thorium was an extremely promising avenue, and the Nixon administration shut it down on the behest of these capital interests.

That was ~55 years ago. China expects to have its first two test plants in the Gobi desert completed this year, and expect deployment around 2030. (That would be ~16 years of effort continuing off from the information they got from our Oak Ridge experiments.) Obviously a little too late, and we're going to need to extract carbon from the atmosphere. Hopefully China will do that for us, too, since our ruling class is not going to.

[BulletMagnet]

To echo the sentiment of the others, these kinds of symbolic gestures aren't going to do much in the grand scheme of things.

The point is, if what we really need is even bigger changes to make any real difference, and our own generation has shown itself largely unwilling to adopt even such meager "symbolic" gestures, perhaps we need to reconsider the wisdom of labeling the selfishness of our predecessors as some sort of outlier.

As for nuclear energy, that would have surely helped with some of the issues we're now facing, albeit by introducing and/or intensifying others.

because now they get why he won.

It's always been obvious why he won, namely because nobody who voted for him did so for the reasons they say they did, hence the fact that he's taken a massive, steaming shit on everything his base claims to stand for but still has a 90 percent approval rating among Republicans (and presumably similar numbers among conservatives in general, not to mention "centrists" who went for him in 2016).

[BryanM]

As for nuclear energy, that would have surely helped with some of the issues we're now facing, albeit by introducing and/or intensifying others.

Nope. Thorium is effectively a magic bullet.

It's always been obvious why he won

Yes, Hillary Clinton was a horrible candidate who intentionally lost the election. Just like Mr.Biden is designed to do.

Hopefully you've voted for Sanders, so as to shave some of that weight off when Anubis weighs your heart against a feather.

Kerry loses to Bush. We've had that election a hundred times before, what's the point of running the experiment a hundredth+1 times?

[quash]

perhaps we need to reconsider the wisdom of labeling the selfishness of our predecessors as some sort of outlier.

Name one other generation that by all tangible measures had it better than their parents and their kids.

Anyone can be greedy, but some are more capable of acting upon it than others. No doubt, the Bernie revolution is a reaction of greed against greed. Millennials have been running on the hamster wheel harder for less reward than their parents or grandparents and are getting tired of it. Past a certain point, which may already be in the rear view mirror, it ceases to be about getting what you put in and becomes more about making sure the people who put you there won't get the chance to do it to anyone else. Call it what you want, but I see things getting worse before they get better.

[BulletMagnet]

Kerry loses to Bush.

I don't know if such a thing is possible, but I can't help but wonder if anyone has ever attempted to simulate that election's outcome if Swift Boat Veterans for Truth hadn't happened, to say nothing of the years-long Benghazi/Comey clown show, or for that matter the "liberal" media's similarly prolonged embrace of "Al Gore said he invented the internet".

Nope. Thorium is effectively a magic bullet.

From what I read, other countries have made greater investments in Thorium research and its applications than we have; if this is indeed such a game-changer, are we as a nation willing to sacrifice anything in exchange for the ability to catch up? Is anyone even looking into the possibility? Has anyone even suggested it?

Call it what you want

I call it "ensuring that we get our turn to stay in our rut and comfortably screw over those who follow us, while remaining self-righteous because someone else screwed us over first." And yeah, with that kind of mindset, things will definitely get worse before they get better.

[BryanM]

I don't know if such a thing is possible, but I can't help but wonder if anyone has ever attempted to simulate that election's outcome if Swift Boat Veterans for Truth hadn't happened

The Kerry election's gap was too wide for that to have mattered imo. It wasn't a 2016 thing where doing one good thing would have changed the outcome, and if it wasn't that smear campaign it would have been a different smear campaign. (The ads of Biden touching uncomfortable women and children is going to make the swift boat stuff look like paddycakes, fucking hell fucking heeeeelllll... watching this murder porn happen in slow motion is very uncomfortable...)

It was over when Kerry did the "Cheney's daughter is a human being" thing - god I was screaming at the television before he even finished speaking and the Cheneys could get started with their show of pretending to be offended. I'd never seen someone jam a sword into their own stomach on TV before, but then it happened.

His team was apparently trying a twofer - this move was supposed to damage Bush with his evangelical base, and appeal to the gormless liberals who like to see everybody get along that make up the democrat's base. There's a real... ignorance these guys had of how racism and bigotry works. It's easy to hate a group of imaginary people in the abstract - it's a different matter to hate a specific individual. It's like they think these folks are addle-brained drooling monsters or something...

Besides that, who did Kerry appeal to? He had zero national presence until the TV coronated him because it was his turn. I didn't even know the guy had a healthcare plan until Mischief mentioned it a few years ago.

Things have massively changed since then, at least on gay marriage (California banned it in 2008) - the generational shift is happening. But the ruling class will only give us cosmetic crap like shallow unthoughtful tokenism in the media. The Biden campaign is going to be "Trump says mean things" and a bunch of cringy pop culture pandering crap all over again...

From what I read, other countries have made greater investments in Thorium research and its applications than we have; if this is indeed such a game-changer, are we as a nation willing to sacrifice anything in exchange for the ability to catch up? Is anyone even looking into the possibility? Has anyone even suggested it?

Supposedly there was supposed to be some US-China cooperation on the topic, but I'm not sure if that includes joint ownership over the IP or if it's mostly hogwash, and the majority of our contribution came from China consulting the old grognards on the original project. I imagine China will effectively own the patent in the end.

Note also the incredible stupidity the for-profit sector has shown with conventional water-based reactors. You have this setup that's just asking for hydrogen explosions as soon as the pressure pumps shut off. Fallout, less than a desirable outcome. So, naturally you'd want one design, and you'd work to make sure to fix its issues right? And your technical staff will be familiar with this one design inside and out, to minimize mistakes? Make this complex thing as close to perfect, cheap and boring as you can make it, right?

lolol fuck no bro, we're gonna razors and razorblades model with 16,0000 million different designs all with their own unknown flaws. And of course use our control of the government to put the back up generators on the ground, so water can splash on them, therefore guaranteeing a containment breech. Capitalism~~~~

[quash]

I call it "ensuring that we get our turn to stay in our rut and comfortably screw over those who follow us, while remaining self-righteous because someone else screwed us over first." And yeah, with that kind of mindset, things will definitely get worse before they get better.

The only way millennials can screw over anyone right now is the nuclear option: refuse to pay off student debt en masse. Besides that, we're basically grabbed by the ghoulies until the boomers die. Have some light reading on the subject.

That article causes great conflict in me by the way. On one hand, I absolutely want to get rid of the Federal Reserve, but on the other hand, they're the most valuable resource there is when it comes to owning boomers with FACTS and LOGIC any time they deny ruining the country for everyone else.

[BryanM]

Maybe if the recession asserts itself this year there's a shot of them winning and putting Bloomberg in charge of the World Bank. That sounds so great and wonderful.

... this fallout from this voltron trick probably makes it the worst thing Obama has ever done. Please empty post "fuck Obama" if you agree - it'll help me feel like I'm not taking crazy pills here.

[Steamflogger Boss]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/

[Mischief Maker]

Possible Biden picks:

Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan): Treasury
Anna Finucane (BofA): Treasury
Mike Bloomberg: World Bank
Deval Patrick (Bain Capital): VP
Tom Nides (Morgan Stanley): Commerce

Warren is still figuring out who or whether to endorse a candidate.

https://www.axios.com/joe-biden-cabinet ... cda57.html

[BryanM]

Yep, dem's the democrats.

Goldwater got slaughtered and it took ~16 years until he won everywhere for the rest of time and continues his rule from his throne today.

I guess this was just the first cracks against the system. Just really sad for all the megadeaths in the meantime while we wait.

Stop trying to make Klobuchar happen.

It's not gonna happen.

what should really make you vomit blood is this thought:

they don't need anybody's consent in order to force her upon us. she can be biden's or buttigieg's VP. if they win the general by some miracle, she'll be the next heir in line for the democrats in 2028

this is why thinking is bad

For those of you not already convinced I'm a time wizard, Amy has already let it slip that she's Biden's VP. Though I know it's not an impressive prediction because Hillary was their only other option..

If Biden wins the general, Amy will be the next in line for the following coronation. And she'll pick someone worse than her as her running mate and if they win he'll be the next in line for the following coronation and so on as long as owning television is where all power in the world lies.

They continue to make an impressive case in favor of Trump.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Honestly wasn't sure where to post this shit but the Lockheed Martin CEO stepped down yesterday. One of many these days...

[BryanM]

Turnout was up across the board, it was just much higher among older people. This guy's theory is depressingly true.

So turns out this was the apocalypse thread all along. Be sure to bully the liberals in the other apocalypse thread, I'm all bullied out.

Unless the plague kills an absolute shitload of older people in the midwest or Texas by November, Trump is the presumptive president for another four years. Doesn't matter if the market cap hits a bottom of 200, doesn't matter if we're in a second great depression, doesn't matter if a million are dead in New York and California.

[BIL]

With Chinese Bat AIDS ensuring Orange Hitler Come To Life Again, I think there is one thing all of us can agree on, Nazis and Communists alike:

TAIWAN #1

It was a privilege posting with you, gents. I'm gonna batten (fuck!) down with a crate of Jack and a cellar full of corned beef for me and this fucked up dog I bought off Aliexpress.

[ED-057]

Just to add insult to injury, Tulsi has endorsed Biden.

But this election is going to be completely different than 2016. Last time around we had to choose between Jill Stein and the Gigantic Asteroid Strike. Whereas this time it looks to be Howie Hawkins or the Coronavirus.

[quash]

I am honestly at a loss for words at this ridiculous fucking "assistance" program. A means tested tax credit. I can't even type this with a straight face

Trusting the US government at this point means you have an IQ on the left side of the bell curve. If we ever see nationalized healthcare in this country, enjoy your free veterinarian visits. I hear the stuff they use to put dogs down is relatively quick and painless.

[BryanM]

Yeah, the remaining hardcore Yang supporters are spinning in a circle at their guy being criticized for endorsing before the end. If you had told me last year that Marianne Williamson was the only other human being up on that stage, I would have been completely shocked.

Shocked that a single person in the TV debates endorsed Sanders. I've seen these elections before and know how much of a sham they are. A high school play where everyone works to bully the outsiders and then kneel to the next predesignated person in line.

The aberration of Obama's win and how extremely little good was accomplished by it is horrific if you ponder on it too long. It also opens a depressing truth: If Sanders were black or female, he'd have had a much better shot of being president.

If we ever see nationalized healthcare in this country, enjoy your free veterinarian visits.

You know full well a government that would remove human death and suffering as a field of profit, would not be one ruled completely by capital.

It's not politics or politicians that suck, my friend.

[quash]

You place far too much faith in this government. They're managing to fuck up the easiest thing imaginable, giving people free money, and you think they could handle the well being of an entire nation?

This is the biggest middle finger to the middle and working class since 2008. It's almost as if they want riots in the streets.