Lurker > LordoftheMorons

xp1337 posted...

i would also note that all states would be equally represented in the senate if we abolished it. we'd simply be changing the number of senators per state from 2 to 0. i'm calling the air bud rule on this.

This would just make the Vice President dictator of the Senate...!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Always

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

On one hand the distortion to equal representation in the Senate is definitely fucked up

On the other hand, think about how dumb the dumbest House members are compared to the dumbest Senators...!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

The reason I usually link to tweets rather than the articles directly are
a) soft paywalls for nyt/wapo/etc (and some sites, particularly wapo, often have over 80 character links)
b) the tweet often pulls particularly relevant quotes

And I know Im not batting 100 with the links here, but I think most of them are relevant!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Jakyl25 posted...

Like in the 2018 Senate elections. Almost 18 million more votes were cast for Dems than for Republicans, but the GOP gained two seats

2018 Senate (or any individual year for the Senate, really) is a bad example. In particular, CA had two Dems on the ballot; if you adjust for both lower turnout (CA Sen had 1.3 million fewer votes than CA Gov) and assume the same margin for Harris as Newsom, that goes down to like 10 million. And then you have to consider that the 2018 map is by far the most Dem friendly map (in contrast, the 2020 map is extremely R friendly). Finally, gaining seats is about how your performance has changed from last cycle; the Dems already had most of the seats so its easier for them to lose some. Another way of putting it is that they won the vast majority of the seats!

(Its quite likely that the reverse will happen in 2020; Dems gain some Senate seats with Republicans getting more total Senate votes because the seats up are an R-leaning set).

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

I dont mind all the bad and mocking posts about Trump per se, but they can be extremely frustrating when a discussion is started or trying to be started and it gets totally ended by consecutive Look how dumb Trump is posts.

We know hes dumb, its fun to laugh at him, but also please consider the flow of the topic, maybe? I dunno, just thinking out loud

It seems to me that that rarely happens, actually; I try to avoid dropping links in the middle of a discussion here because they usually get ignored (not saying I never do it, but I definitely think twice).

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

With apologies to Reg

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1208093283777298433?s=21

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Reg posted...

Yes, becuase they're running a fucking scam operation and don't want to have their profits reduced at all. Fucking pigs, all of them. If any of them gave a shit about anything except bottom lines, they'd at least be fine with a public option existing.

Private insurance companies do not have any patient's best interests anywhere near their hearts, but you continue to go to bat for them every time you get the chance. If I didn't know better, I'd be questioning whether you were getting paid to do so.

I'm not "going to bat" for the insurance companies. I'm fine with the healthcare system improving at the expense of their profits. I disagree that M4A will improve the healthcare system. (Or to be more precise, I think that it's far too big of a gamble in the presence of lower risk alternatives to achieving universal coverage).

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

DoomTheGyarados posted...

and what happens when these wonderful insurance companies, which you yourself have stated are profit driven, do not accept people who are not young and healthy?

They have to because of the ACA!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Reg posted...

You know what the ACA originally had that the insurance companies railed against hard both then and now?

A public option

And again, it's obvious why they're against it! But you can easily come down in favor of one (say a public option) and against the other (M4A) despite the fact that insurers oppose both, because the position of insurers doesn't have to determine your position (either by forcing it to be the same or the opposite).

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Thanks red sox and Tony.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Reg posted...

Why does this ignore the disgustingly long track record private insurers have of doing things that are great for profits but really shitty (and sometimes even functionally lethal) for patients? This is why Chris considers you bad faith, and frankly this is why I agree with him.

The ACA was good for insurers and for patients. And I'm not saying that good for insurers --> good for patients. I'm saying it's fucking obvious why insurers are against M4A (the plan would literally ban their current product!) and that their opposition is irrelevant to evaluating the merits or risks of M4A for Americans.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

DoomTheGyarados posted...

I am sick of your willful ignorance. Do you believe companies donate to Biden or Mayor Pete because they will be good for the American people? Do you believe that insurance companies lobby millions against medical 4 all so that everyone can be healthy? I can have some reasoned debate on many issues. Health care is not a debate. The fact of the matter is health care sucks and I dont want the guy who helped to keep it fucked in charge of it anymore.

No, they want to protect their profits. But there's not a one-to-one trade off between insurance profits and patient outcomes! You can do plenty of things that are bad for both. Dumb example to illustrate my point: you could ban medical treatment.

This entire attitude (that everyone who disagrees with you is acting in bad faith) is not exactly going to win many people to your cause, by the way.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Reg posted...

Love how LotM doesn't even attempt to refute the comparison to a generic "trump bad!" Twitter bot tho

What do you want me to say? It's a stupid attack but the allegation of bad faith is the offense part of the post.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

DoomTheGyarados posted...

I am actively accusing you of not caring about people if you think M4A is a bad policy. Prove me wrong.

I think there is a significantly higher than 0% chance that M4A (particularly if implemented by people who treat any criticism of their ideas as coming in bad faith by people who just don't give a shit about the poor) will massively fuck up the health care system. One possibility (of many): reimbursement rates are too low (current Medicare rates are much lower than those of private providers) and hospitals serving some communities go bankrupt. And the thing is, M4A isn't the only fucking path to universal coverage! Tons of other countries have it without single payer, and those other paths are a lot less disruptive changes and thus lower risk. And if the system does end up collapsing, guess who's fucked? I'll give you a hint: it's not rich people!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

DoomTheGyarados posted...

Centrist democrats are largely winning. They get big donor money, they passed gay marriage, all good to them.

See LotM, the antitrump twitter bot for how much centrist democrats really care. Boy did you hear guys? Trump is BAD. Now, the weather.

Disagree with me all you want, but please don't question my motives. I honestly think M4A is bad policy.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Shovel Knight: King of Cards (3DS)

100% completion
I ended up mostly figuring out how to not suck at Joustus by the end!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Corrik7 posted...

That's a problem. Desecrating the American Flag should definitely not be fine and should be criminal. I consider it no less than desecrating the graves of your family.

Its been upheld as protected speech by the Supreme Court

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

My blood is fucking boiling:

https://twitter.com/joesonka/status/1207820057574879232

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Dan Crenshaw mildly criticizes Trump for his attacks on John and Debbie Dingell
The replies are basically all "no, she deserved it"

https://twitter.com/RepDanCrenshaw/status/1207702064022859777

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Cute

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

In case you were concerned that Sarah Huckabee Sanders might have stopped being a terrible person since leaving the Trump admin:

https://twitter.com/kevinmkruse/status/1207864796646969345?s=21

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

https://twitter.com/nycjayjay/status/1207796543534903297?s=21

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

SmartMuffin posted...

The charge.

He should be required to compensate the church for the value of the stolen flag. And that's literally all. Everything else about his actions is protected by the first amendment.

I dont necessarily agree with the length of the sentence, but is your stance on theft really if youre forced to replace it no harm, no foul?

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1207786289371734017?s=21

Very cool that the president of the United States drinks up propaganda straight from our biggest adversaries

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Suprak the Stud posted...

I dont know why Klobuchar hasnt made more inroads with the moderate part of the democratic electorate. She seems leagues better than Biden and Buttigieg and also I like how much shes been dunking on Buttigieg this debate.

Like between her and Biden and Buttigieg I feel like she easily looks like the best candidate and would probably be the only Id trust to hold their own in the debates.

Its because shes boring, which is, unfortunately, a big electoral liability.

I like her quite a bit besides the staff abuse stuff!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/1207788960560406528?s=21

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

https://twitter.com/timothypmurphy/status/1207757970039345156?s=21

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

red sox 777 posted...

But procedurally it looks horrible. Especially since the Republicans have been harping on about not being allowed to call their witnesses for ages, and now it looks like the Democrats don't want a trial because the Republican witnesses would finally be allowed to testify. It would be like if the Trump DOJ charged Hillary Clinton with a bunch of crimes and then refused to prosecute her, trying to give her the permanent status of an indicted person.

Mitch is arguing that there should be no witnesses

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Yeah Van Drews play here has been weird as fuck. My best guess:

1. He does dislike Trump but thought impeachment would backfire politically
2. He cares more about his own political fate than that of the party as a whole. He therefore decided to publicly bash impeachment and vote against the inquiry.
3. This backfired on him hard, and his polling showed him he was likely going to fail to be renominated
4. Again caring about his career more than any principles, he decides to gamble on switching parties

Very pathetic any way you slice it

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Didnt really see any purpose to the delay sending the articles to the Senate move, but...

https://twitter.com/timodc/status/1207719217677496320?s=21

baiting Trump into doing something stupid isnt an angle I had considered!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

NFUN posted...

Get my PhD
Get married

+ Get a job
Have kids

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

https://twitter.com/markszaidesq/status/1207669072504246273?s=21

Jesus

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Well, Im certainly not saying to ignore Florida! I just have no faith in them.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

I would never want to count on Florida

And the Dems shouldn't; in 2018 it basically didn't shift at all despite Dems making huge gains everywhere else.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

If the Dems win Iowa Trump has been destroyed. I'd be more optimistic about Texas!

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

foolm0r0n posted...

To be fair, you have to remember that Amash was a Republican and had to quit in order to vote for impeachment.

The media seems to forget that way too much when saying "no Republicans impeached!!" which is technically true, but 3 months ago it wouldn't be true.

That said, it is pretty damning that the one Republican who had the guts to impeach was not allowed in the party anymore.

He absolutely should be counted as a Republican for this purpose; not doing so makes the statement "the impeachment was partisan" completely vacuous since Republicans have been defined as "those opposing Trump's impeachment"

But yeah, major props to Amash. Apparently most of the freshman Dems asked Pelosi to make him one of the impeachment managers; I'm hoping she does so.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Trump would definitely be an underdog if the election was a straight-up referendum on him. Unfortunately he'll be able to slime whoever gets the nom (hopefully not by enough to flip the result).

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Sure there might be enough of them, but if they're convinced by that garbage they would have been convinced anyway.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Nelson_Mandela posted...

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1207508280207011841?s=19

Republicans are so good at politics. They had this message planned months in advance. Where do the Dems go from here? What do they campaign on now?

This is transparent bullshit that wont work on anyone who isnt already drinking the flavoraid

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Looking at his twitter feed it looks like mistake

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Is it confirmed that it was a mistake and not a fleeting burst of conscience?

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

https://twitter.com/donaldjtrumpjr/status/774741598311776256?s=21

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

https://twitter.com/senatemajldr/status/1207486615762935808?s=21

I would give a reporter a hundred bucks to ask McConnell to his face why hes always such a blatant lying hypocrite

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Meanwhile, Trump is still being a total piece of shit:

https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/1207482596894089216?s=21

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

https://twitter.com/dailypenn/status/1207479982269841408?s=21

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Jakyl25 posted...

Why, when he has been doing that since the day he took office, is this the one time they decide to nail it to him, when it wasnt even followed through upon?

I wouldnt disagree that Trump should have been impeached well before this! But the differences here were that

1. Trump illegally withheld the aid, which he had no legal authority to do for any reason (contrast with, say, firing Comey which he nominally had the power to do but was obviously doing to obstruct the Russia investigation)
2. it undermined national security
3. It interfered in the 2020 election

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

1. Impeachment does not require crimes to be committed
2. Nonetheless, Trump DID commit crimes
3. The statutory crimes are less important than the breach of fiduciary duty (what high crimes and misdemeanors means); using the presidency to advance the presidents own interests at the expense of the nation is exactly the scenario in which impeachment is supposed to be used

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

Nelson_Mandela posted...

I think I'm going to donate to Trump 2020 tonight

Im probably the most anti-Trump person in this topic

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!

ChaosTonyV4 posted...

It really was extremely stupid for them to not put an actual crime people can relate to into the articles.

I agree that it was a strategic error, but "bribery" and "extortion" don't really get across the full magnitude of what Trump did. The key part is that he leveraged the powers of the Presidency to do it, putting his own interests above those of the nation.

---

Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!