Here’s the same thing I said the other day, only far more amusingly.
Where is the Democratic leadership? We’ve got a couple of do-nothings like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries doing their best to dodge responsibility, rather than standing up and fighting back. The Democrats have no coherent policy on health care to oppose the quacks who have taken over our scientific institutions, and on the issue of immigration, they seem to be Republicans Lite. I dread the next election — I’ll be voting against every Republican on the ballot, but I won’t be enthused about voting for the opposition.
OK, I’m warming to Tim Walz.
Also, I really, really dislike Fallon — he’s a childish suck-up.
From a outsider perspective, it is because the Democrats are a right wing party competing with an extreme right party. As for “next elections”, I wouldn’t hold my breath. The USA has already removed the right to vote to a large percentage of the population (most married women), in the next 3 years the current administration is going to expand to other groups.
Never seen Fallon to know about him but I have seen, regularly watch and love Stephen Colbert, John Oliver esp on yt and previously sometimes episodes of James Corden when that show was on.
Oh and also David Letterman decades ago when it was on late at night and I was half asleep and didn’t want to disturb the cat from my lap and was too settled to move so kept on watching after then-new episodes of Star Trek : The Next Generation i.e. the one with Picard, Data, Riker & Deanna Troi..
If nothing else, they give us much needed laughter at the tyrants and powerful’s expense and their popularity and theimpactr that it has on the public is kinda shown by the backlash to Kimmel’s sacking.
If nothing else the mob demands its circuses – and, sadly, will vote for klowns of the unfunny – at least not intentionally funny – variety.
Where are the democrats? Answer: panicking over the fact that their “leadership”, which is all the ones currently in office, with very few exceptions, are losing their jobs to “radicals”, who they then try, desperately, to sideline. There is change coming, but, like with everything Trump is doing, no one in the media, is talking about it, and the Democrat’s leaders are just doing what they always do – grifting for more money with emails saying, “We are all about to lose. Donate now and some rich donor promises to double it!” Now, whether or not the result of this will actually be, or be allowed to be, a less right wing party…
I think the current Democratic leadership view Republicans being in charge as the just punishment that voters receive for not electing them. As a result, they see doing anything to oppose the Republicans as letting the voters off easy, as protecting them from the consequences of their own bad decision. They want you to learn that nothing better is possible, and you have to support them or things will get permanently worse, and if they ever fixed anything or made any real effort to check the power of the Republicans, they would be giving up leverage. Plus, if they accepted the idea that voters have any right to expect anything of them, then they would have to admit that they had been doing a bad job, and that in turn would mean changing their behavior, which would cost them big in terms of donor bucks.
@evandrofisico: I feel the same. As a European I am always amused when the Democrats are called “left-wing” in American news; here even their “radicals” would be considered bang in the centre.
I still can’t get over how Jeffries said at a press conference that he and Schumer were going to have a “good faith” discussion with Trump, and then a couple hours later, to no one who has been paying the slightest bit of attention’s surprise, Trump posts a racist ai-generated video of them. Hard to imagine two dumber, more spineless people in leadership of a so-called “opposition” party right now
@ ^ Hex :Allow me to introduce you to the “leaders” of the ldregs of the leftovers n Australia’s LNP and even worse -although much moe anonymous the leaders of the South Aussie Liberal “opposiion” parties..
Im increasingly annoyed at all the people who want to blame the democrats for the torrent of fascism and the impending government shut down. Are ye daft?
Blame the fascists! Blame the fucking media.
Blame the goddamned republicans in Congress.
Go blow up their phone lines with ire at the republican utter failure to check and balance the orange turd.
The Dems are doing everything in their power as a minority party to stop millions from losing their healthcare, but the media somehow isn’t reporting on all the imminent destruction of hospitals in rural America due to the republicans “ budget” which benefits only the very wealthy.
We’re told that after the war
The Nazis vanished without a trace
But battalions of fascists
Still dream of a master race
The history books they tell
Of their defeat at ’45
But they all came out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died
They say the prisoner at Spandau
Was a symbol of defeat
Whilst Hess remained imprisoned
And the fascists, they were beat
So the promise of an Aryan world
Would never materialize
So why did they all come out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died
The world is riddled with maggots
The maggots are getting fat
They’re making a tasty meal of all
The bosses and bureaucrats
They’re taking over the boardrooms
And they’re fat and full of pride
And they all came out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died
So if you meet with these historians
I’ll tell you what to say
Tell them that the Nazis
Never really went away
They’re out there burning houses down
And peddling racist lies
And we’ll never rest again
Until every Nazi dies
@ ^ dregs .. Respectively Sussan (not a typo – for once, yes really) Ley :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussan_Ley
& .. um, who is it again.. ? Oh yeah, Vincent “not an actual tarsier*” Tarzia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Tarzia
.* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarsier might almost actually vote for one of those and would at least be a bit better option..
I do wonder where people get such nonsense information as this.
No. This is completely false. Why would you make such ridiculous claims?
In any case, the court jesters have always been on the front lines of power and influence.
Schumer is the US Senate Democratic Party leader.
He is also the poster boy or rather the Poster Old White Guy for useless, at age 74.
When the USA is desperately searching for leadership, Schumer is nowhere to be found. Even a Zombie would be more active.
There are some Democratic Party leaders that have stepped up though, They are mostly iignored by the Mainstream Media.
A few.
Gavin Newsom Governor California
Pritzker Governor of Illinois
Adam Schiff Senator California
Chris Van Hollen Senator Maryland
Patty Murray Senator Washington.
Jasmine Crockett US Representative Texas
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez US Representative NY
There are many more.
One of the up and coming young candidates is Kat Abughazaleh, running for the House from near Chicago, Illinois. She makes the point that the time to oppose the fascists is right now.
I’m impressed.
I blame the fascists, but I can still be frustrated with the limp response of many alleged “allies.” I can also pay closer attention to those politicians who do respond appropriately and hold them up as role models for others to follow and recommend future actions.
Walking and chewing gum aren’t mutually exclusive activities. From what I’ve seen, the people who routinely whine about blame against weak Democrats are stuck in the past to avoid doing anything in the present or for the future. They want their past actions (and inaction) to be justified for the “I told you so” energy, not to figure out and do the right thing now.
@7 Hex – I still can’t get over how Jeffries said at a press conference that he and Schumer were going to have a “good faith” discussion with Trump,
I read that the other day and could only think: How the hell can you still believe Trump is capable of “good faith” anything? That is definitely insane thinking at this point.
The ongoing actions and rhetoric of Trump preclude the concept that he could operate in good faith. The continued belief that it is possible tells me they are disconnected from reality.
@Tethys 11 I’m talking about the SAVE act, which combined with the fact that your country has a very peculiar aversion to country wide identification systems adds a lot of attrition to vote, effectively removing the right to vote to a large percentage of people who would probably vote blue.
https://apnews.com/article/congress-save-act-citizenship-voting-elections-a37c139461d11eb5f82086680b67ffe7
@evandrofisico:
So, in other words, it’s not explicitly disenfranchising married women, but it’s making it a lot harder to vote for anybody who has ever changed their name… which will disproportionately affect married women and trans people. Unless, of course, they already jumped through all the hoops to get a passport or similar. (And the U.S. has one of the lowest percentages of passport ownership in its citizenry of any industrialized nation.)
Again, as an outsider, my opinion is heavily biased, but I have a strong impression that the relative political stability of the USA after WWII is in part to blame. During this period, nobody tried to reform the very antiquated electoral system and relied on jurisprudence to patch up the legislative holes left by a very biased bipartisan system and a minimal constitution. In my country, after ending the USA backed dictatorship that lasted for 21 years, one of the first things we did was voting a new constitution, designed with new balances to explicitly make it way harder for a dictator to take control over the country.
Most of the more important leftist leaders around here in Brazil are as old as Schumer, but those people were guerrilla fighters, union leaders and persecuted politicians during those years. In the last coup attempt in South Korea, there were septuagenarian representatives climbing walls and confronting armed forces, because those guys ACTUALLY remember that fascists do not follow the rules.
Yeah, this is designed to make voting hard to impossible for many groups, especially women.
How it works.
OK, the GOP Voter Suppression act requires a birth certificate to register to vote. And other ID as well.
So married women who changed their name when they got married (most of my friends regard that as barbaric and didn’t do that), will have a birth name that…doesn’t match their current name.
So they have to prove that they had two different names in their life. (At least. Some women have been married more than once. Many women are also divorced and may not have bothered to hold onto their old marriage license.)
It is just another hoop for 69 million marraied women to jump through that men and single women don’t have to.
It will be trivial for a lot of women and difficult to impossible for other women. Low education women, poor women, and old women might find this task difficult and just not bother.
Which is the whole idea.
There is a marked gender gap in who votes for Democrats versus Republicans. The GOP makes no secret that they don’t like women to have the right to vote.
Im not sure how other states work, but you only have to register to vote once in Minnesota. It does require ID but once you are registered you just have to present yourself at the polls, sign in to the register, and get your ballot.
My marital status and any name change are automatically applied to my voter registration. If I move, that information is also automatically transferred to my voter registry, though it does require you to fill out an official change of address form at the local post office.
They can propose whatever unconstitutional thing they want, but the states can completely ignore their SAVE nonsense, as states rights trump federal rights.
Perhaps the authors of that proposed legislation failed to consider that Republican women might take it quite personally if maga disenfranchised them from voting.
The passport office already claims my birth certificate is not valid,
The passport office already claims my birth certificate is not valid, but that’s because it was issued by North Dakota and does not contain some of their modern requirements.
Meh, it’s not like I am rich enough to travel domestically, much less internationally. Most Americans don’t live anywhere near another country, so have never had any need to get a passport. It’s not uncommon, especially for the least wealthy percent of the population.
Tethys, now that ICE is grabbing people to fill their quotas it might help to have a passport, or at least a passport card. There were cases where they ignored enhanced driver licenses (REAL-ID compatible ones).
raven @12: Pramila Jayapal is working on educating the public about how to resist authoritarianism effectively in her Resistance Lab presentations. Recordings of the first two in the series can be found online.
@anat
I am in no danger from ICE thuggery due to being an old white lady, but thank you for your concern.
At the moment the rogue DOJ is trying to sue MN over our separation laws that prevent any local law enforcement agencies from working with ICE over immigration enforcement.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/09/30/doj-sues-over-sanctuary-city-policies-in-minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul
#11 tethys
If the Democrats were doing everything in their power, they’d field candidates that would fight and would not sit there like lumps. If they were doing everything in their power, they would not have confirmed or allowed to confirm all the conservative judges during recess and they would have confirmed their own when it was their turn. If dwdeitp they’d bring to a vote things that don’t stand a chance of passing just show it shows up in the unjournalist news that they are able and willing to fight. If dwdeitp they’d never use the word ‘good faith’ in regards to the Republicans ever.
They are selfish multimillionaires who are dead-certain that they’re right. They mean to harm us. Doing so is easy: it’s what they’re doing now.
@evandrofisico Yes, you are looking at it from outside.
I helped run the local precinct for twenty years before becoming too old and tired to do it. People don’t vote because: people don’t vote. Precincts are small and I meet people who could vote everyday. Did I ever talk to them about it. Yes. Did I ever see them on election day? No.
REAL ID is a thing. The current voter suppression is relatively new.
The racist and misogynist structural disenfranchisement (which is actually what you are talking about) is as old as this country and cannot easily change short of a revolution. Your country had one. Pray for ours.
It’s tempting to say the Democrats stand for nothing, and they deserve no votes as a result. Giving it some more thought, I have found things that Democrats will fight tooth and nail to preserve:
More money for their megadonors, and more power for their megadonors in return.
Make it harder for opposition political parties to function (third parties, that is — Democrats don’t consider Republicans to be their opposition). Suppress their ballot access.
A genocide-industrial complex that efficiently slaughters human beings on the other side of the planet. Any pesky barriers to implementing this must be attacked, dismantled, or outright ignored. Use it as a technology testbed for ways to suppress opposition at home.
An imperial presidency must able to make genocidal decisions quickly.
More funding for said genocide-industrial complex. More sanctions for adversaries who try to stop it.
Capitalism, at the expense of democracy. If any populist anti-capitalist sentiment emerges, anti-democratic levers will be used to demobilize and frustrate any opposition. If the opposition still doesn’t get with the program, sic the police on them and crack some skulls.
The police must protect the ruling class. Protecting anyone else is optional.
Compliant academic institutions for crafting intellectual-sounding state propaganda, and a compliant media for repeating it.
None of this precludes fascism. In fact, it all dovetails quite nicely with a fascist state, which is probably why Democrats have been worse than useless in supposedly opposing a fascist takeover. They’re playing on the same team.
Structural and active disenfranchisement is something that looks really odd from the outside, yes.
Me, I’m in Canada.
In Canada, during elections, there are voting booths actively set up in prisons. Just because you’re in prison doesn’t mean you lose the right to vote; the idea of continuing to block someone from voting after they got out of prison (as happens in several states) is just… “What happened to ‘inalienable’ rights?” (Of course, we all know the real reason; like a lot of rules in the U.S., it’s a back door way to block Black people from participating in society without having to openly admit that’s what it’s for.)
We’ve also had a separate, non-partisan organization running the elections for over a century. They draw the riding boundaries and run the elections. Being an actual member of a party disqualifies you from working there. They are militantly non-partisan, because that’s their job. So gerrymandering is just not a thing here. (And while Provincial and municipal elections don’t necessarily have to use the federal riding boundaries, in practice they basically all do because it’s easier than setting up their own committees.)
We still have problems with way too many people just not bothering to vote, The previous Prime Minister said as he left office that not doing anything on voting reform was one of his main regrets. (And it damn well should have been a major regret; he mostly ignored the report after it was commissioned and frankly it lost him at least a few by-elections. His party lost my riding in a by-election, but would have kept it if an Australian style ‘ranked choice/transferable vote’ system were in play.)
There are a lot of ways in which Canada is better than the U.S., but mostly because of how low the bar can be; and one of our bigger problems is that way too many Canadians just feel smug about being better without realizing that’s not good enough and that stopping putting any energy into it here is part of the problem.
I want to insert a bit of good news, even if it is going off on a tangent.
Crazy “Jewish space laser” lady Marjorie Taylor Greene tells Trump he does not own her
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=HAjfyFmi3SM
@5 Stuart Smith
Boy don’t they, though?
Spot on.
It’s a shame their hardcore supporters buy into it, though. Even now, I can hear the keyboard warriors clickety-clacking away to remind me of entirely fictional ballot-related transgressions I allegedly committed in November.
Ted Cruz says ‘stop attacking pedophiles’ in gaffe during Senate hearing
[meta]
The irony is strong with this one.
(You, of course, are in no way whatsoever a ‘keyboard warrior’, are you? Just a sober analyst)
@6. strangerinastrangeland :
The legacy of McCarthyism which has an awful lot to answer for here.
@9. Tethys :
Quoting for Truth and likewise.
There are two actual parties to choose between in the messed up USoA political system. One of them is fascist. The other is not. If you want to stop fascism, then you need to choose and support and unify behind and NOT undermine and attack the non-Fascist party. Sadly, it is that binary and will be until the USA’s systems is changed – which can only be for better when there’s enough people working to reform it and make it better.
@11. Tethys :
Voter suppression has been a thing for a long time and the Repugs have been making it far worse.
Source : https://www.britannica.com/topic/voter-suppression
Then there’s the disenfranchising effect of the anti-Democratic obscenity that is the Electoral College punishing those who live in more populous usually blue states and giving vastly unfair power to those in small rural red ones :
Source : https://www.huffpost.com/entry/its-time-to-end-the-electoral-college_b_12891764
There is no doubt that voter suppression was one of the things that robbed Kamala Harris of the Presidency :
Source : https://www.gregpalast.com/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won/
Along with Indirect Trump voters i.e. beholder and others who voted for third party spoilers and non-voters often encouraged NOT to vote by Bothsiderist & Only-a-Unicorn-will-do bullshit falsely claiming that the two parties were too similar -Trump’s current term so far being obvs disproof of that and / or that because Kamala Harris wasn’t some magic ideal that gave them every single one of their wishes she shouldn’t be voted for ignoring the alternative blatantly fascist candidate would not only give them none of their wishes but, y’know, destroy the nation and world as we knew it. As we’re now seeing if people actually pay attention to the y’know literally concentration camps, repression of free speech, Climate and other Science Denialism, US troops in US cities, ad nauseam
@31
Hey Stevo, try finding a candidate who forcefully opposes an ongoing genocide next time. Demand that Democrats actually stand for something that isn’t repulsive, and give their voters something to vote for. Just a thought.
I shouldn’t have to tell you that opposing genocide isn’t a pie-in-the-sky flying rhinoceros. The fact that you seem to think genocide is a given says more about you.
Beholder is an example of cutting off one’s nose to spite their face. If Harris was currently POTUS there would be much more room for a forceful stand against the genocide and stepped up aid efforts for Gaza.
Beholder voted pro Gaza genocide and beachfront resorts for fascists.
Hey, Beehold, I can misnyme someone too.
You are claiming that one should vote for a candidate (for prez) who “forcefully opposes an ongoing genocide”.
Do you have a candidate list?
(Your rhetoric is weak, and I notice how you shrivel when I retort)
@ 30 Marales
Lol. Blatant deflection. The comment to which you respond was not a criticism of “keyboard warriors” but of the ineffectiveness and deep flaws of the alleged opposition to conservatism, and of the uncritical supporters of said alleged opposition.
@ 31 StevoR
So to summarise, your arguments are:
1) Don’t blame Democrats for government shutdown, blame the fascists! But also, don’t blame people who voted for fascism for fascism, blame people who didn’t!
2) Wanting a candidate to not openly support and fund genocide is like wanting a magical unicorn
Got it.
@ 34 Morales
You routinely call “PZ Myers” “PZ’, “Rob Grigjanis” “Rob”, “Bekenstein Bound” “BB”, you complete and utter loathsome hypocite.
@ ^ Silentbob : No youhaven’t at all ofc.
I blame those who did vote for fascism – whether they did so directly or indirectly.
Also no. NOT what I have said or the truth.
@28. Lying troll, you have personally admitted to what you did so no NOT at all “fictional” or “alleged” here see :
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/05/16/mokele-mbembe/#comment-2265449
NOT Kamala more importantly – A VOTE FOR for third party spoiler – and science denying Putin shill STEIN WAS AN INDIRECT VOTE FOR TRUMP.
The ONLY way to stop Trump was to vote for Kamala. Fact.
As I’ve already explained about a thousand times but that is the reality. Stein and West third party spoiler voters helped put Trump in power. Because the UsoA has a shit non-preferential, non- run off voting system that means you get two and only two choices. In last year’s case a fascist (Trump) or a non-fascist (Kamala) and you, bad faith troll, chose to vote fascist. Indirectly but de facto, in reality, in effect in practice.
Despite you being warned repeatedly of this and knowing this all too well.
Not only that you have constantly argued against – and still are arguing against – the non-Fascist party and who does that help?
As for calling me and others “keyboard warriors” well what the fuck are you apart from a troll and scum that has all the value of something I’d scrape off my shoe, who has used your time to make the world a vastly worse place for everyone. What sort of “warrior” and for what and who are you?
@39 StevoR
Sounds about right. No regrets.
How is Jill Stein a Putin shill, and how many paint cans worth of BlueAnon fumes do I have to huff before I can understand why Jill Stein is a Putin shill?
No, Stevo, you don’t explain jack shit. You repeat a script. A script, for the record, that doesn’t handle new events very well, otherwise you would be forced to admit your favorite party did a bad job, and they deserved to lose.
Spare me your extended break from reality. Actually, no, if you come up with something new it may be good for a laugh.
I shan’t link to the sources, but anyone can check my data.
Jill Stein received 881,909 votes in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Donald Trump won with 77.3 million votes (49.8%) to Kamala Harris’s 75 million (48.3%), a margin of roughly 2.3 million.
Each vote for Stein becomes one fewer potential vote for Harris, and one more net vote for Trump.
And, in the end, she got well under 1% of the vote.
(Implication is clear, I hope, and StevoR is vindicated)
[addendum]
To clarify, much depends on the allocation process; the evaluation is via state-by-state results, and so it depends where those voters were located. And, of course, there were quite a number of third party candidates, comprising over 2% of the vote.
I may have been too terse; but since I’m here, no. StevoR is not repeating a script, he’s expressing his opinion. Whatever he is, genuine is on top of the list. I know him from olden, by now.
What rather amuses me is you imagine that StevoR is somehow your intellectual inferior, and less educated or experienced. Heh.
(It suits you, Beehold)
@33 Tethys
We won’t know for sure, but you have zero evidence for that supposition. Harris did not make a campaign promise about that, rather the opposite. We were promised iron-clad support for Israel, and no deviation from Biden’s approach. If Genocide Joe didn’t see fit to call off an ongoing genocide for its first 15 months, what makes you think Harris would have done something different? Standing against Israel’s genocide would involve an explicit repudiation of her predecessor, something I don’t think she had the guts to pull off — if she did have the guts to stand up to Biden she wouldn’t have been picked as his running mate.
Australian Broadcasting Corp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur-If5zT8G4
US shutdown shows Democrats taking tougher stance on Trump policies | ABC NEWS
(ref: “Where is the Democratic leadership?” — overseas perspective)
@ beholder
Stevo’s entire argument is an appeal to alternate realities. His evidence for these alternate realities is typically… “here’s a guy on YouTube who said so”.
(Seriously, who the fuck is “Greg Palast” other than some weirdo who thinks he’s living in a 1940s film noir?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Palast#/media/File:Greg_Palast_in_his_NYC_office.jpeg )
This is Stevo’s idea of an authoritative source.
It’s true that we don’t know with certainty what Harris would have done as POTUS, but we absolutely knew that the Orange turd was pro-genocide.
Harris demonstrably cared about public opinion and basic human rights, which clearly would have been a far better outcome for the entire planet.
Purity policing is not a sound strategy.
@47 Tethys
Is it purity policing or is it upholding basic human rights? Pick a fucking lane and stay in it.
If opposing a genocide has to be demanded of these spineless worms then I’ll keep on demanding it in future midterms and presidential elections. If they don’t want my vote, they won’t get it. If Democrats would rather continue losing again and again in order to keep Israel happy, I will let them do just that.
@ ^ bad faith troll : It is purity policing and you know it.
You also well know that you did NOT help things in Gaza one tiny bit by getting the most anti-Palestinian POTUS ever elected again – the only POTUS who actually has an Israeli settlement named after him and who has made the genocide there Far Worse rather than the alternative, a woman who has described the Gazan genocide as “heart-breaking” and who supports a two state solution and wanted a ceasefire.
You, beholder, made the genocide far worse and things generally far worse for Palestinians along with the Abandon Biden /Harris klowns. But, ofc, we all know that and have noticed your lack of subsequent comments on Gaza’s far worse genocide under Far Worse Genocide Don since proven yet again your disingenuous nature here.
For some reason my coment repsonding to #5 Stuart Smith just isn’t appearing her e despite trying several times. Infuriating.
yeah, weird things happen with filters. PZ might find it and rescue it.
@49 StevoR
Earth to Stevo, update your script. The two-state solution was never going to happen, it only served as a way for western liberal Zionists to pretend they were being polite about their Zionism. Israel keeps on repeating openly now that there was never going to be a Palestinian state — there was never any point to negotiating with Israel through politically correct channels because the obstacle to peace in the region is…the state of Israel.
Harris wanted a ceasefire? She didn’t want to end the genocide, she just wanted to pause it for a week or two? That’s exactly what Biden tried to do (and failed, if memory serves, Genocide Joe seemingly didn’t want Israel to stop).
I’m waiting for you to say what you’ve only been implying through your choice of words. A “Far Better Genocide” under Harris, was that what we had to look forward to in 2024?
beholder:
Again: Jill Stein received 881,909 votes in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Donald Trump won with 77.3 million votes (49.8%) to Kamala Harris’s 75 million (48.3%), a margin of roughly 2.3 million.
Let me get mathy on you: 75,017,613 votes for Harris, 881,909 for Stein, so she was 85 times less unpopular than Stein, no?
So, if you don’t vote for the one because they continue to lose again and again, whence voting for someone who loses 85 times worse?
(Heh)
Morales,
Can you explain how you’re so invested in how a single individual supposedly failed to vote in an election you didn’t vote in at all?
It’s obsessive and it’s bullying.
Can we expect you to get over it anytime soon?
Morales, why don’t you go after the near 80 million who voted for Trump before bullying some random commenter who refuses to vote for genocide?
Could it be because you’re a cowardly shit who couldn’t care less about fascism but enjoys bullying, you fucking gutless arsewipe?
@ ^ Silentbob : “It’s obsessive and it’s bullying.”
You owe me a crate load of new irony meters after that one.
Dude, it ain’t random and it ain’t bullying its a commenter who spent years and still keeps on- attacking the non-Fascist party and its people versus the actually Fascist one. Beholder didn’t just vote for Trump – in reality – they also have argued non-stop against the ONLY alternative to the fascists in the USA’s two party system. Without providing any realistic good options I’ll add.
See above and note that it ain’t just beholder but the whole Pu(tr)i(d)ty Only-Unicorn-will do mob that I’ve tried to hod accountable here.
Also, no. Some things can’t be just “gotten over” and shouldn’t be especially without any concession of reality and regret from those culpable here.
Another cartoon, by Stephen Pastis.
He usually delivers puns, but it got deep today.
.https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EkEWQUwp4/
.
Also, the new leader of Moldova is a Maiar? Useful for fighting orchs and other servants of Sauron.
OT, relevant for PZs Evil Cat.
.
“Black cats are wonderful because you can stare into the void and not only does the void stare back, sometimes it trots up to you happlily and begs for pats.
PS. The void is loud and wants chicken.”
@Beholder & Silentbob Three questions for you :
Only two people were going to become President of the USA last year – Donald Trump or Kamala Harris – which one of those two is more rational, more ethical and more competent and the better choice for POTUS in your view?
Which party is more amendable to the Palestinian people and cause – party A which
I) called for restraint and urged Israel NOT to go far in seeking revenge after 7th October 2023
II) Criticised Netanyahu and got into shouting matches with him on the phone and was the party Netanyahu previously campaigned against
III) Actually withheld weapons and applied sanctions against extremist Isreali settlers.
Or party B which
a) wanted Israel to “finish the job.”
b) Is the party Netanyahu wanted in power and did NOT criticise him and was happily seen standing next to Netanyahu just the other day.
c) Removed those sanctions against Israeli extremist settlers and sent those weapons that had been withheld.
Which of the two parties Republican or Democratic has the better policies on Climate action (the most important single issue of all for everyone’s futures), Democracy, Health, Education and Science?
@ ^ What a surprise – no actual answers or even any repsonse from either of those two yet despite giving them ample time.
@46. Silentbob : Seriously, who the fuck is “Greg Palast” other than some weirdo who thinks he’s living in a 1940s film noir? This is Stevo’s idea of an authoritative source.”
Not some “weirdo” (abusive much?) but rather :
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Palast (His actual english wikipage rather than foreign lang photo link this time.)
So, yes, I consider him a credible and worthwhile source and I note that Silentbob has literally just attacked the person here and not addressed anything of the substance of what he noted eg linked in my #31 upthread.
Oh FFs. Done all Ican think of but stillkcan’t get my resposne to #% to gothrough here… Grr..
Umpteeth take part I :
Part II :
False. The Democrats are doing plenty of things to oppose the Repugs. That you are too wilfully ignorant to know that is on you not them. They might not be doing everything you want them to do but then that’s not the same as doing nothing nor is what you want them to do (which is?) necessarily possible or helpful perhaps depending on what that exactly is. That a biased media and your own lack of knowledge of reality blinkers you from seeing this ain’t the Democratic parties fault.
Now finally.. & aha. I think I worked out the word that got this lost before now.. Hint I’ve changed it now to “whinging”.. makes snese now I think.
Part III
Complete strawman fallacy. None of the Democratic party people have said this and none of them believe it indeed they have regularly said the exact opposite. Perhaps you try listening to their actual words and speeches? Actually, no ‘perhaps’ about it.
If donor bucks are how you think they change their behaviour how about you do your bit to help and donate and even perhaps participate yourself? You know the Democratic voters and members get to have a say in how the party is run and who their candidates are, etc .. want to make a difference and be some use? Then join them and help stop the fascists and try to steer the party the way you want it to go. Did you do that before when it mattered? Not think of that before when it mattered? Probly too late now that Trump is in charge but still doing that would be better than whinging from the sidelines counter-productively.
@ 61 StevoR
Sober up, then try again.
@40. Disingenuous Trump aiding troll beholder :
Fixed that for you.
YOU VOTED & ARGUED AGAINST THE NON-FASCIST PARTY OF THE TWO OPTIONS.
You don’t regret that – putting fascists in power?
Then you are, indeed a sociopath and troll as I’ve known for a long time now.
How many cans of what fumes did you huff to damage your brain so badly you thought that voting for Stein was anything other than de facto voting for Trump? That Far Worse & Multiple Genocides Plural Trump would somehow help end rather than worsen the genocide and be better for Gazans than the Kamala alternative?
I guess you’ll refuse to answer that question too further proving your bad faith here however to answer your question – doing what you never do :
Source : https://www.newsweek.com/jill-stein-ties-vladimir-putin-explained-1842620
Which also notes that Putin shill Stein who was pushed by Russian propaganda claimed falsely that she offered “said, ” ..a viable alternative to the bought-off politicians who have thrown them under the bus” when the reality is that in NO WAY was she ever “viable” as proven before and was only acting as a Trump supporting spoiler. Just as she was in 2016 when she also helped him beat her.
Then there’s this :
Source : https://www.factandmyth.com/political-commentary/russias-helping-hand-jill-steins-boost-from-kremlin-putin-interests
Note Stein’s support for Putin’s invasion and genocide in Ukraine.
Oh and then there’s Stein’s known anti-vaxxer science denying history and beliefs :
Source : https://www.bustle.com/articles/176226-jill-steins-stance-on-vaccinations-suggests-shes-not-as-progressive-as-you-might-think
That should also have instantly disqualified her in the eyes of anyone rational and ethical.
“Oh and then there’s Stein’s known anti-vaxxer science denying history and beliefs : [speculation]”
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/jill-stein-not-anti-vaccine-230941
(You should be embarrassed, StevoR, to cite that bustle article)
Oh look, the other one in the Laurel & Hardy duo of the blog has turned up.
Guys, just a reminder: The thing you’re supposed to be disputing is
Whenever you manage to come up with a remotely coherent argument as to why this isn’t true, just let us know.
Appeals to alternate realtiy because some guy in a fedora said so won’t cut it.
How about the alternate reality where the so-called opposition to fascism weren’t so utterly and unforgivably pathetic. In your enthusiasm for alternate realities you seemed to have missed that one.
@65. Silentbob : @ 61 StevoR – Sober up, then try again.
Rude and false and is this really something we’re going to put up with here? I’ve already explained that I suck at typing which doesn’t mean I ‘m drunk. I’m not (7 pm ish here in Oz now a syou should know FWIW.)
How about you have the decency to answer the questions I have asked you in #59 here and also #41 here :
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/09/25/some-good-news-2/#comment-2278771
@68. Silentbob : “Appeals to alternate reality (sic – are you drunk there Silentbob?-ed) there because some guy in a fedora said so won’t cut it.”
You mean the journalist, author and filmmaker Greg Palast who I mentioned in #60 above – and you keep ignoring and mocking over something totally irrelevant rather than tackling the substance of what he has said. That reflects very badly on you as does your evident cowardice & intellectual dishonesty here in refusing to answer my questions and trying to change the subject as you’ve just done in #68.
FWIW I’ve already done that too – been doing so for years actually including back when it mattered last year – and you have ignored it as is your usual MO and the OP here is about a lot more than that.
@67. John Morales : What’s wrong with it? Seemed okay to me.
@40. Bad faith troll : ” ..if you come up with something new it may be good for a laugh.”
Is that an admission of you trolling here? I thought that was frowned upon severely at least here?
@ ^ NB. The that in ” I’ve already done that too “ above refers to the topic changing attempt by question dodger Silentbob in #68 falsely accusing the Democratic party of lacking various policies or suchlike crap that actually isn’t the topic here after all.
PS. Oddly enough, my spellcheck – word – red under-lined Silentbobs spelling of reality in 68 but it now looks correct and so must’ve fixed it too for him – aha, note “realtiy” spelling in his previous sentence. Guess he must’ve been drunk because of c only drunks make typos right?
/ Does this really need a sarc tag?
^ Silentbob’s penultimate sentence of #68.
“@67. John Morales : What’s wrong with it? Seemed okay to me.”
I was quite specific: https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/jill-stein-not-anti-vaccine-230941
Here:
That is not anti-vax, that is about not trusting the regulatory process in the USA.
John @73: The very next paragraph:
Her statements aren’t explicitly anti-vax, but they are misleading. Looks like dog whistling to rope in vaccine “skeptics”.
Both articles (mine and StevoR’s) are from 2016. This is 2025.
(And well, we’ve seen what’s happened to the CDC and FDA this year, no? That was not her doing)
@64 StevoR
The “Give us more money” script is so tragic. Stevo, what makes you think I want to give the Democrats money? I’d be better off lighting a pile of cash on fire.
[meta]
Um, beholder.
You quoted StevoR “If donor bucks are how you think they change their behaviour how about you do your bit to help and donate and even perhaps participate yourself?”, so we know to what you are supposedly responding.
Your response “The “Give us more money” script is so tragic.” is obviously derisive, reductive, and dismissive. It doesn’t address the nub of it, it tries to reframe it.
I mean, the implication and the insinuation and the subtext are clear as, amounting to “I don’t want to change their behaviour”.
(Yeah, I am kibitzing)
@76. the bad faith troll : How about you answer my questions for you in #59?
@ 77 Morales
No, that is not the correct word for ‘trolling”.
Enlighten us: Are you
a) suggesting the correct response to a political party being in the thrall of wealthy intetests is to give them extra money?
b) pretending to be stupid because you are literally incapable of desisting from your decade long trolling habit?
@ ^ Silentbob : Bang goes yet another irony meter at that one coming from you as if you can talk when it comes to decades of trolling here.. (Cough, learnt to leave John Morales alone yet? Cough.)
Oh & your continuing failure to answer my questions for you (#59 – five days ago approx) is yet again noted.
Ooooh and you’ve made a typo (“intetests” -sic) so guess by your own mistaken views that must mean we can all conclude you’re drunk now, right?
@76. De facto Trump supporting bad faith troll : “The “Give us more money” script is so tragic. Stevo, what makes you think I want to give the Democrats money? I’d be better off lighting a pile of cash on fire.”
Oh I know you are completely on the wrong side of history, ethics and rationality beholder the Trump via Stein troll here. That is very clear to all of us. Well, almost all of us. I have zero expectations of you ever doing the right thing altho ‘I do occasionally indulge in some wishful thinking. As you already know, you are the sort of stuff that gets scraped from my shoes with disgust. Except far worse and more damaging to us all.
I was specifically addressing #5. Stuart Smith with that bit – & will note that he too has also failed to respond to it.
I did directly ask questions of you and Silentbob in #59 above here which I’ll again note you have both failed to have the decency and intellectual integrity and honesty to answer.
PS. Just morbidly curious, but will you admit to donating to Trump’s campaign here as well as arguing for it as you arguing against the only alternative to it? Not that I’d believe a word you said anyway.
@81 StevoR
Stevo, your questions are dumb. You always lead with the answer you want to hear and preach absolute nonsense in the middle of the question. People were sick of it years ago, they’re still sick of dealing with you now. Well, the ones who haven’t left the blog, anyway.
But I’ll indulge you. Let it be noted that I eventually got around to answering @59 (your questions are edited, of course, to remove any leading statements or nonsense I considered irrelevant or particularly idiotic):
Jill Stein. Claudia De La Cruz would have also been a good choice.
The Green party. Props to the Party for Socialism and Liberation, they also walked the walk.
The Green Party.
Have you stopped beating your wife, Stevo? I’m just morbidly curious, and one loaded question deserves another.
@ ^ Disingenuous troll :
You not liking them does not make them dumb. (Ableist language BTW.)
Nope. What part of this actual question :
“Only two people were going to become President of the USA last year – Donald Trump or Kamala Harris – which one of those two is more rational, more ethical and more competent and the better choice for POTUS in your view?”
is “absolute nonsense” exactly? What Iwrte there was the stark undeniable truth.
“Jill Stein. Claudia De La Cruz would have also been a good choice.”
Bzzzzt. FAIL. You have predictably again failed to answer the actual question.
My question noted the reality that TRUMP OR KAMALA were the two options. There was not a third or other choice. My question didn’t mention Jill Stein for the very good reasons that it was about who would actually become POTUS. That person was NEVER going to be Stein as we all knew.
The choices were Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. .
Your answer in reality, in effect, in practice, de facto was Trump.
Trump via Stein who was a spoiler helping Trump as you did. She knew it. You knew it. You were warned beforehand. Fact.
Oh and as noted in # no Stein was not a good choice anyhow. Your avoidance of the points I raised there is also noted.
Same again with the others – the options – the TWO AND ONLY TWO OPTIONS. were Democratic party or Republican party.
The Greens & all other spoiler parties & candidates were NOT going to win and were NOT viable & should have stayed the fuck out this time given the stakes. That is the reality you have consistently ignored whether out of staggering criminal willfull ignorance or bad faith actual evil. Either way your choice inflicted Fascists in power over the USoA.
Your inability to give honest answers and face & acknowledge reality is again
noted and on the record here.
Oh & I’m not married and would never use violence on my partner if I had one. Easy.
[see here’s the thing; one cannot scam an honest person. Thus, StevoR sails serenely]
@ Morales
Brilliant observation, mate. You heard it here first folks. In the entire history of the world, no honest person was ever scammed. It’s unpossible.
(Honestly, is there no shit too stupid for you to spout it anyway?)
X-D
… Also you forgot to add; sails sails serenely into into advocating torture, violent armed rebellion, and bombing minorities he doesn’t like back into the stone age – until he pops back up again a year or so later with the exact opposite opinion, chiding anyone who holds the opinion he used to hold, as though holding that opinion is unthinkable.
X-D
@ 84 Morales
This is an aside, but I thought I’d get it off my chest anyway. I remember, Morales, when in your usual desperation you tried to insult me by telling me I was less intelligent than StevoR. And I told you you’re insulting Stevo, not me, you lunkhead. Because what is insulting unless you are implying Stevo’s an idiot? Not something I’ve ever thought.
It is clear to me Stevo is indisputably vastly brighter than yourself; but we have different interpretations. You have said you think of him as a “puppy”. Dumb and eager to please. But that’s because you’re an arrogant shit.
I think of him as analogous to HAL 9000. You know, the computer who was programmed to complete the mission, and if humans got in the way of the misson, the logical thing was to get rid of the humans?
Stevo’s like that. He has encyclopaedic knowledge, is very intelligent, very well informed, and thinks nothing whatsoever of endorsing the worse human rights abuses you’ve ever heard of in your life if he thinks that serves some greater cause. X-D
Hence, his routine banning from blogs.
Tl;dr
You think Stevo’s an idiot and patronise him.
I think he’s extremely intelligent and needs to be told human rights abuses are not acceptable even if that requires being blunt.
@ ^ Silentbob : Rubbish. That is a total misrepresentation of my history here.
A very long time ago – a great many years ago – I did type some things I am now deeply ashamed of saying and thinking. My views have since changed and I’ve since admitted that what I was said back then – many years ago – was badly wrong and apologised for it and made it clear , that I do NOT think like that anymore.
That personal history is also totally irrelevant here.
I notice that like the disingenuous troll beholder you have failed to answer the actual questions there but unlike them you haven’t even pretended to try like they did when they ignored the actual question and tried write their own instead.
So instead of literally attacking the questioner here why don’t you try and actually answer the actual questions asked of you in #59.
Bonus points if you explain why you feel so obliged to speak up for and defend the Trump enabling de facto Trump voting troll beholder here too – who I notice has not answered the actual question and is also ignoring the points made in #66 regarding Stein being a Putin shill & anti-vaxxer.
[StevoR, you do get I do respect you and believe you. Space cadet is not an insult ;]
@ 87. Silentbo : NO, I do NOT need to be told Human rights abuses are not acceptable. I am well aware of that and oppose all human rights abuses and forms of bigotry.
Nor am I “routinely banned” from blogs – I was once banned from a few blogs – about a decade ago now.
@89. John Morales : Thankyou. I appreciate that.
.. Still no actual answers from Silentbob or the Trump assisting bad faith troll beholder to my #59 I notice.
^ Even now still no actual answers from them. Days later in which they’ve both been active and had every chance to compile a proper response. Yeah, think its clear they are both dishonest cowards refusing to engage in good faith I think.