Who banned Amaris?

Speaking of Republican leaders' disdain for working people, anybody see Mike Pompeo's assumption that people who work in the oil industry are incapable of learning to do anything else?

Fine. Someone else will make solar panels and rig hands will be unemployed.

You're funnier than OF.

That was not a compliment.

If he campaigned on that, I missed it.

I don't know if it was discussed in the debates, since those mostly focused on Trump flinging his feces around the stage, but yes, it was the centerpiece of his health care plan and he spoke about it many times during the campaign.

Yep. Quite a big deal was made of the fact that Biden’s 2020 Healthcare plan was more progressive (on the whole) than Bernie’s 2016 plan. Someone who didn’t see that tried pretty hard not to.

Uhm... you’re going to have to explain that one as Bernie’s plan was a full blown UHC and Biden’s plan was to add a single payer option to the ACA. The argument against such a thing would be insurance companies would continue to Jack up rates and blame it in the single payer option and idiots like OF, Paladin, Forbin, Lanz, et al would believe it.

Nothing surprising. When he was complaining a few weeks back about how he is treated on the board, I suggested to him that maybe it is because of the way he treats other people. He responded with something along the lines of "What did I ever do?" I didn't even bother to answer, because this is typical behavior: rude smileys instead of real dialog, and defending the Republicans tooth and nail while pretending not to be part of them.

He should just be ignored, since he is incapable of presenting his case in a rational manner.

I notice Dicky agrees with this. When was the last time @Diacanu presented his case in a rational manner, huh? Because all I've ever seen him do is make up hyperbolic bullshit and call people names.

Oh, look! Whataboutism!

You are so predictable!

We should look at history for examples of paradigm shifts making jobs obsolete. What did we do with the people who designed and made rigging and sails when the steam engine came along? What did we do with all the steam engine designers, builders, and workers when the internal combustion engine came out? The people who made vaccume tubes when transistors were invented?

Can someone relabel "Bernie Bros" so it's less inaccurate, given how many Grrls won't let Bernie go and are blind to anything else (including the fact that Bernie endorsed Biden - hello?)?

(I know it's not as alliterative, but maybe someone can come up with something.)

Bernie himself, I believe (as a fellow Brooklynite who grew up one neighborhood from him - Jews could hold businesses, and there was a Reform temple a few blocks from the innumerable Christian churches in my 'hood) weren't allowed to be in Bay Ridge after dark - but IMO) - which @Jenee will argue because she and Bernie are BFFs - would be horrified at the lengths these lunkheads will go to. They're not quite QAnon, but FFS.

Frankly, I wouldn't shed too many tears over this if I were any of you. She'll be back eventually with a new personality and an entirely new schtick sooner rather than later. Maybe next time it'll be in the guise of an alien.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the internet, this is happening.

Amaris said I could pass this on:

And rep-whining someone's else's post!
Vicarious rep-whining!
That's a neat trick!
What next, homeopathic rep-whining?
Quantum entangled rep-whining?
He's gonna sense reps to posts mocking him in Alpha-Centauri?

Geez Louise. I really hope Amaris is getting or can get some help with mental health issues. Caring that much about all the evil in the world screams "my own world suuuucks." You need to take care of yourself before you can effectively tackle other people's problems.

Ironic that the audio is better in the left channel than the right channel...

Eh, nothing to stop her from creating a new account whenever she feels ready.

I sincerely hope she uses the free time to make her actual life better.

What posts is Aramis talking about?

I think she's referring to scrubbing all her posts completely. I wasn't sure that was even a thing one could do.

Dayton said he had the technology.

The reality is that there are enough roadblocks inherent in the system that if Bernie and Biden were able to switch places like some sort of Face/Off, Freaky Friday mashup, Bernie would not be able to implement a damn thing on his agenda. Not because he doesn't want to. And that's even pretending he has better schmoozing and coalition building skills than he does.

Rather, the filibuster and the fact that at least 40 Republican Senators are going to reflexively oppose anything proposed by someone with a D after their name means that there is pretty much no chance in the current climate for radical change.

Yup. It can kind of screw things up, however.

The argument that would be made, however, is that if Bernie had gotten the nomination, his coattails would have inspired people to vote Democratic on the down-ballot races so he'd have more support in Congress.

We don't know, of course, if that would be the case. It might have had the opposite effect, it might not have, things could the same as they are now. We also don't know how Bernie would have performed in the general. People who vote in primaries are not the same people who vote in the general.

I think we can fairly safely say that Bernie at the top of the ticket would not have turned a single additional Senate seat blue, and at best we'd be about where we are now with a 50-50 split and whoever he chose as VP as the tiebreaker.

Even in the fantasy world where Bernie's magical presence flipped six to ten net seats instead of the three that the Dems managed, the mechanisms to stall progress like the filibuster would still exist.

I figure Bernie would have gotten at least 30% and might have won Massachusetts.

Bernie’s whole premise was that he would turn out folks who normally don’t vote.

There is a reason he didn’t get the nomination.

It was a faulty premise. Those folks didn’t show up in the primary. Biden was the one that got folks who sat out 2016 completely to show up and vote for him. Not only that but he took votes that Bernie got in 2016 (see Michigan).