Shoblongoo

...Mike fucking Tracey... I went to college with Mike Tracey. We were actually friends for a while—we were in the same political science classes and hung out with the same crowd. Debated him. Partied with him. Worked on some projects with him. Bought weed from him a few times. I could tell you stories about what a complete piece of shit he turned out to be. Why no one else from TCNJ still talks to him. And why you should never listen to a word he says. (what do you wanna hear first? The story about the time he got arrested at the Anne Coulter rally? The story about the time he got arrested at the frat house? The story about the time he faked a police brutality incident and almost started a campus riot? The story about the time he recorded our private conversations without telling me just to get a juicy tabloid for the school paper?) — Mike Tracey is every single negative stereotype you can imagine of the snooty rich white liberal pseudo-intellectual hipster who thinks hes god’s gift to the world because he went to a gay rights protest one time. But just walks around acting like an entitled asshole.

Briefly listened to Hannity yesterday just to see how right wing media was covering the riots. After everything they’ve spent the past year saying about BLM, the talking points are now: 1) It’s important to remember the reason why people are angry and not fixate on the violence. 2) Most of the protesters werent violent. And the ones that were shouldn’t be seen as representative of the protest or the people who showed up to be heard. 3) There’s always going to be troublemakers and professional agitators who show up just to cause violence at these kinds of things. They probably weren’t even really affiliated with the protest. 4) Of course we don’t condone violence. BUT. It feels like we’ve been having a one-way conversation and nothings happening. Law-enforcement isn’t listening to us. Lawmakers aren’t listening to us. The courts aren’t listening to us. It’s understandable that people are going to be this angry and feel like this is what they need to do because there’s no other way. 5) Of course we don’t condone violence. BUT. Lawmakers need to understand that this is what happens when people are angry and feel like their serious issues are being ignored. This should be a call to action. 6) Of course we don’t condone violence. BUT. Isn’t it great now that more people are paying attention to our issue and talking about what should be done about it? Do you think that would’ve happened if everybody just assembled peacefully? _______ Sooooooooo--Literally everything we were trying to tell them and they were pretending like was incomprehensible to them during BLM None of that flies when people in the streets are protesting against cops having broad, unchecked authority to beat and kill anyone they detain and call it Lawful use of Force. But it OK when they're mad they lost an election. Ladies and Gentleman: White Privilege

My dad is a Trump supporter and I have had--many, many heated conversations with him about it in recent months. ...I'll say this about it... Being a Trump Supporter doesn't automatically mean you support every fascist thing he's done and said. But being a Trump Supporter means none of those things were dealbreakers for you.

Vibe I'm getting going through the response of Republican lawmakers stuck in the middle of this is that after today, there's going to be ALOT less opposition to bringing criminal charges against Trump once hes out of office than there would have been before

Obligatory reminder that this was the police response when the MAGAs charged a barricade and bullrushed their ways into the halls of Congress. And this was the police response when BLM protestors came within--like a city block of maybe possibly doing that: Ladies and Gentleman: White Privilege.

Biden just picked Merrick Garland to be his attorney general. Poetic Justice incoming. Literally.

It could be either honestly--that phone call was very likely a criminal violation of both state and federal law.

(1) Its conceptually very similar to what he did in the Ukraine call that he was impeached for. (smh again @ Susan "I think hes learned his lesson" Collins) (2) The only thing he learned from impeachment was that Republicans would let him get away with it (3) Its going to be a lot harder to play it off as "I was just joking" or "I was taken out of context by a disgruntled employee" with the full audio and transcript released to the public. (4) If he's charged after he leaves office its going to be a real judicial trial this time--not a dog-and-pony show in the Senate. Mitch McConnell isn't getting him off the hook this time.

Donald Trump is already going in the history books as an impeached one-term president who lost the popular vote twice. Never hit a majority approval rating. And all-at-once presided over the worst economic losses since 1929, the worst civil unrest since 1968, and the worst public health disaster since 1918. With or without a last-minute second impeachment: he'll be remembered as a failure of historic proportions who brought his country to a place of weakness nigh-imaginable from the day his predecessor left office. In the words of Senator Susan Collins, voting no on impeachment: "I think he's learned his lesson" Opens the door to yet another potential criminal charge after he leaves office. (whats on that tape alone is enough to bring an indictment for solicitation to commit election fraud, if he wasn't facing one thats gonna put him away already) But I gotta think the New York Attorney general's office is still gonna get the first bite at that apple. They hired a forensic accountant to go through his business organization. You do that if you're preparing a case for tax evasion and money laundering.

I expected Trump to be every bit as bad as he turned out to be. I did not expect the rest of the elected Republicans to go along with it and submit to the Cult of Personality and let the GOP just collapse into The Party of Trump. ...when he stood in the White House and attempted to extort a foreign government into launching a criminal probe against his opponent in an upcoming general election. ...when he used ICE as a secret police force to black-bag American citizens off the streets and told the military to shoot protestors. ...when he called for journalists to be arrested and made terroristic threats against the governor of Michigan ...when he called a spreading plague a hoax and started spreading disinformation that the public health advisories were just democrat talking-points + called upon his followers to ignore and resist the medical reccomendations. ...when he declared himself the winner of an election that he lost and retweeted called for election officials certifying Biden's win to be executed for treason. ...those are the inflection points where I would have expected even the most dye-in-the-wool red-blooded Republicans to go "no no no; we don't do that in this country." And they just--went along with it. The entire time. Thats the part that surprises me. I thought they were better then that.

We (i.e. the "Never-Trumpers," as we were called) told ya the day he won the Republican nomination that he was a con-man and a crook unfit for public office, and that he would bring America to a place of weakness unimaginable from when Barrack Obama left office if given even a single term. If you had told me 4 years ago that the Trump presidency would end with an uncontrolled plague killing 3,000 people a day. Entire industries shutting down. Double-digit real unemployment. Rioting, looting, and mass civil unrest in every major city in the country, and people holed up in their houses hording toilet paper. The only part that would surprise me is "and he's still leaving office with a 42% approval rating."

Hes got 3 weeks left in office, and then the indictments start raining down from The New York State Attorney General's Office. Pick your battles.

So I started writing Fire Emblem fanfics when I was still in high school. And now many years later I'm employed in a field where a large part of what I do is professional writing. And I'd definitely encourage you to stick with it. Starting off like this really helps you find your voice as a writer. I think you did a generally good job conceptualizing Cynthia, and writing in a way that felt organic to her character and her thought-process. She's scatter-brained and she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. She's bubbly and exuberant. She's goal-oriented towards heroics, but she has a very juvenile and simplistic idea of what "heroics" mans that doesn't fully comport with how a more mature mind would treat the subject-matter of heroism. ...and that all comes across here... I like the interactions with Seteth and Rhea. I like the bit about them referring to the Brand of the Exalt as a "Crest," and seeming to have some knowledge of who Naga is. ___ If I had some constructive criticism, it would be to focus on your transitions and make sure your whole work flows together as one cohesive piece. The way you jump from narration to dialogue and dialogue to narration is--choppy. Here's an example of how you write: In a weird way, his stupid fantasies reminded me about my mother, why did I put up with his nonsense so much? Well, I felt like he really understood my feelings, in a weird cousin like way, and he was part of the justice cabal after all. But he hardly was a real hero, that was Gerome, omygosh! I mean besides me. Gerome was like ten thousand percent plus two hero material. He is so awesome he doesn’t even need like to talk! “Gerome! Geromeee! Time for our weekly hero talk already!” “I have nothing to say.” “Cmon! I love it when you used to tell me I was, graceful, beautiful, HERO, smart…” “I-I a-already told you we’re not children anymore! A man like myself… Can only sit in the embrace of darkness…” And here's an example of a way that you could write the same thing, but integrate the narration and the dialogue together: “Gerome! Geromeee! Time for our weekly hero talk already!” Why did I put up with so much of this nonsense? In a weird way, I guess, his stupid fantasies reminded me about my mother. “I have nothing to say.” Gerome was like ten thousand percent plus two hero material. He is so awesome he doesn’t even need like to talk! “Cmon! I love it when you used to tell me I was, graceful, beautiful, HERO, smart…” I felt like he really understood my feelings, in a weird cousin like way, and he was part of the justice cabal after all. But he was hardly a real hero. “I-I a-already told you we’re not children anymore! A man like myself… Can only sit in the embrace of darkness…” That was Gerome.

That was basically the idea behind the Articles of Confederation (i.e. the thing we tried for 11 years from 1776 to 1787, before we drafted The Constitution) The problem was that with the American ethos being as individualistic as it is; there was just way too much bickering between The States without some form of central authority over them to make them cooperate and work together. Left to function as their own mini "countries" with their own trade deals and militias and foreign policies; there was too much differences between them and divisions ran too deep for them to ever truly function as a unified entity. It didn't work then, and I don't think it would work any better now. Lets be entirely realistic about what that would entail. You're talking about a second Civil War. ...I mean what if instead of sending the national guard down South to enforce Brown v. Board of Education and desegregate the public schools we had just said: Okay. Fuck it. If they wanna be like that, let them break away from the United States again and have their own little White Nationalist ethnotstate. Thats their problem. We can be a free country without them, and just not entertain those problems or deal with any of that nonsense. _____ The goal has to be to fix the broken parts of the country. Not partition it. And lets not put rose-colored-glasses on about living conditions in the blue states either. Yeah...we have better antidiscrimination laws and higher wages... We also have more expensive housing, higher rents and tuitions and utility bills, and the same (if not worse) problems in the cities with masses of working class persons struggling to get by on poverty wages while everything gets more expensive, and fewer and fewer people control more and more wealth. Thats a universal fix thats needed. Not a problem that goes away from chopping the country up into smaller countries.

So here's everything you need to know about Republican politics in 2020. (and I say this as a former Republican who voted for McCain and Romney) The modern Republican Party (i.e. the Republican Party of the past ~40 years) is a party that down-the-line favors the interests of big business over the interests of the working class. ...against higher tax brackets for high wealth ...against living wages for menial labor and retail/service workers ...against funding public programs for affordable access to healthcare, housing and education ...pro stripping back consumer protection and fair labor laws (i.e. 'deregulation') However, the modern Republican Party is still a party that depends on the support of working class voters to assemble governing majorities. To do this, they have cultivated an identity politics driven, undereducated base of White/Christian grievance-voters. ...Racially motivated by backlash against the Civil Rights Movement + hostility towards foreigners and immigration ...Religiously motivated by backlash against the women's movement, abortion, and gay rights. And the more their policies leave their working class voters struggling to get by on poverty-wages while everything gets more expensive and the rich get richer. The more they have to tap into that white nationalist, religious fundamentalist rhetoric and appeal to the ugliest impulses of their working class base to keep them thinking that Republicans are working for them; not against them. _____ You look at the States where that works and where that still plays well. And they have some common characteristics: 1) They rank low in education. 2) They rank high in religiosity. 3) They're almost entirely white, and have little in the way of growing black or Hispanic populations. Kentucky and Tennessee are 3-for-3. Key Difference between Kentucky/Tennessee: and Georgia/South Carolina. Kentucky is 91% white. Tennessee is 82% white. Their identity politick voters break overwhelmingly Republican on social ideology, and there isn't enough non-white voters breaking the other way to make up the difference. South Carolina is 68.5% white. Georgia is 70% white ...and those make for much more competitive numbers, when you start data-crunching voter preference...

Don't blame it on old age. He's always been shitty.

so what that tells you is that at least on the gay rights cases: hes a jurist looking at the novel issues in each case and trying to reach the correct outcome under the law. Not an ideologue predetermining his ruling on how he personally feels about homosexuality and gay rights. And there is btw solid legal theory behind why he could come down one way on the issue of employee's rights to be free from disparate treatment on the basis of sexual orientation by employers and prospective employers but another way on the issue of whether or not private businesses can refuse service on the basis of same. (i.e. the law recognizes regulation of fair labor practices and employment protection as a more compelling interest of public policy then whether or not you have to drive to another bakery to find a cake) ...in any event... The fact that he's obviously not a rigid ideologue on the issue suggests he's probably a stare decisis guy if the marriage issue comes before The Court again. And that he's not gonna be the swing vote to overturn settled law.

Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, 590 U.S. (US 2020) That was the opinion back in July that ruled LGBT status is protected under federal antidiscrimination law, and that Title VII protects employees in all 50 states from hostile work environment and termination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It was a 6-to-3 opinion with only Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh dissenting. (i.e. Gorsuch was in the majority) I don't see Gorsuch being vote #5 to overturn Gay Marriage after joining the majority opinion in Bostock.

It was 6-3 on the Court in favor of expanding gay rights before RBG died and its still 5-4 in favor even with Trump putting another traditionalist Catholic darling of the religious right in her seat. Gay marriage is safe for now. Abortion and women's rights being on the chopping block is the more immediate problem. They've got the numbers to start dissembling Roe v. Wade and upholding abortion bans now, and they've been waiting 50 years to make the Court conservative enough to get there. They gonna do it.

Well we already know that if he loses: he's going to pull a #14 move. Declare the election invalid. And ask the Supreme Court to overturn the vote + name him the winner. He basically told us as much in the last debate. The only real question as to whether or not he gets away with that is Are there five (5) votes on the Supreme Court to overturn a presidential election? And even with 3 Trump justices on the bench I'd have to think the answer is: [NO]. Absent genuine issues of material fact as to why the election results should be deemed fraudulent or inaccurate, the Court will deign to intervene If the results are that lopsided and the vote is that overwhelmingly in favor of Biden, I'd be surprised if there's even one (1) vote for Trump's position tbh.

Well here's some good news. Between the NYT expose on his taxes, 90 uninterrupted minutes of acting like a crackhead at the first debate, and the COVID outbreak running through Trump's inner circle while they continue to downplay it: the bottoms falling out from Trump's poll numbers in the last leg of the race. Biden's expanding his lead in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He's pulling ahead in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. And all the new polls coming out now after Trump's hospitalization have Biden up nationally somewhere in the range of +8% to +16% (i.e. his biggest lead of the race so far, and landslide numbers if that holds up) ____ Fingers crossed thats how it is, and voters are done with this clown.

People couldn't even be in the same room as dying family members to say goodbye, to avoid risk of further vectors of infection and community spread. Trump made his motorcade drive around Walter Reed for a photo-op with exposed agents and staff crowded in with him while he was symptomatic. Because he was bored and wanted to wave to his supporters. (i.e. this is just peak narcissist behavior. He can't even pretend like he cares about anyone but himself, or expend the slightest modicum of effort to avoid knowingly risking the health of his staff)

We don't even know how long he had it tbh. Its likely he knew he was positive several days before the official announcement on Friday. Tried to hide it. And then only made the public disclosure on Friday when his symptoms became so severe that he had to be hospitalized for treatment. (from what little we know about how his symptoms progressed and how often he tests himself, I'd say its almost certain that he knew but didn't say anything earlier in the week)

Nothing like surviving a near-death experience to make you feel bulletproof