American Politics XII: We Can Do Bad All By Ourselves

[Big Bad Blue]

Despite everything I would rather not have the country balkanize considering Alabama would collapse and easily become a part of the Holy Floridian Empire ruled by Dear Leader Donald Trump and his deputy Ron DeSantis.

Living close to the Canadian border I'm hoping for the "special military operation" that occupies my state peacefully and makes it a provisional province of the Dominion.

[Umeria]

And here's what he campaigned on

I have repeatedly pointed out that Democrats could still be liberals. Just racist ones.

There's a social democratic message on that poster, not a liberal one. And despite your fantasies, being racist would give the Democrats less votes, not more.

[Apocalyptic Haven]

Democrats are usually not racists nowadays. Just xenophobes where Russians are concerned.

[Myrensis]

But yet Democrat Stacey Abrams made it, and Democrat Politicians make them in primary and general elections from time to time.

They shouldn’t.

Please don't encourage him by playing along with conservative bothsame bullshit about how it's so unfair that Democrats can complain about things that actually happened, but then conservatives get mocked and persecuted for... making up batshit conspiracy theories on vaguely the same subject.

Stacey Abrams called Brian Kemp out for refusing to step down as Secretary of State during the gubernatorial election, a thing that actually happened, because of the clear conflict of interest in giving himself control of the election he was running in.

She also called him out for using his authority as Secretary of State to block the voting registrations of more than 50,000 Georgian voters, the overwhelming majority of whom were black, hispanic, or asian aka typically Democratic leaning demographics, another thing that actually happened.

And yes, Republicans are now using that to cry about how hypocritical and unfair it is that she could complain about...reality, but then they get made fun of and dismissed for trying to spread the truth about how Joe Biden conspired with Venezuelan lizard people to use Jewish space lasers to assassinate Trump voters so Democrats could steal the election.

[Apocalyptic Haven]

I agree that Stacey Abrams is probably the real Governor of Georgia, even now, but that doesn't absolve her of endorsing Mike Bloomberg in 2020. I can never forgive that.

[USS Monitor]

Even if you think Abrams was just being a sore loser, that's still MUCH less serious than what happened on Jan. 6.

Stacey Abrams didn't embarrass us on the international stage and damage our whole country's reputation.

[The Jamesian Republic]

Despite everything I would rather not have the country balkanize considering Alabama would collapse and easily become a part of the Holy Floridian Empire ruled by Dear Leader Donald Trump and his deputy Ron DeSantis.

I resent that. Alabama would become its own empire with Nick Saban at the helm. Actually it kinda already is.

Maybe but it would balkanization would be hard on Alabama.

[The Jamesian Republic]

They shouldn’t.

Please don't encourage him by playing along with conservative bothsame bullshit about how it's so unfair that Democrats can complain about things that actually happened, but then conservatives get mocked and persecuted for... making up batshit conspiracy theories on vaguely the same subject.

Stacey Abrams called Brian Kemp out for refusing to step down as Secretary of State during the gubernatorial election, a thing that actually happened, because of the clear conflict of interest in giving himself control of the election he was running in.

She also called him out for using his authority as Secretary of State to block the voting registrations of more than 50,000 Georgian voters, the overwhelming majority of whom were black, hispanic, or asian aka typically Democratic leaning demographics, another thing that actually happened.

And yes, Republicans are now using that to cry about how hypocritical and unfair it is that she could complain about...reality, but then they get made fun of and dismissed for trying to spread the truth about how Joe Biden conspired with Venezuelan lizard people to use Jewish space lasers to assassinate Trump voters so Democrats could steal the election.

Okay. I understand it better now. Thanks for explaining. And yeah Kemp seems pretty sus when it comes to this.

Even if you think Abrams was just being a sore loser, that's still MUCH less serious than what happened on Jan. 6.

Stacey Abrams didn't embarrass us on the international stage and damage our whole country's reputation.

Agreed.

[Leonick]

Which US city would be the best if we wanted to test what a car-ban would look like? Some European cities are testing it and are rolling it out in other areas as they find it succesful. Now in the US, most large metropolitan cities aren't open or suitable enough for a such a thing. So maybe a smaller city would be okay?

[Sordhau]

Which US city would be the best if we wanted to test what a car-ban would look like? Some European cities are testing it and are rolling it out in other areas as they find it succesful. Now in the US, most large metropolitan cities aren't open or suitable enough for a such a thing. So maybe a smaller city would be okay?

Our entire infrastructure is designed around vehicular accessibility. We would have to completely redesign all of our cities to make them less car-friendly in order to roll out a car ban anywhere.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Well, you got the first part right.

implying he can't identify a picture of a giraffe lol

the man can't even identify which way is up and which way is down when presented with a book lol

[Catholic America]

But yet Democrat Stacey Abrams made it, and Democrat Politicians make them in primary and general elections from time to time.

So when did Abrams allege "massive voter fraud"?

Hows about for 4 years.

[Senkaku]

Even if you think Abrams was just being a sore loser, that's still MUCH less serious than what happened on Jan. 6.

Stacey Abrams didn't embarrass us on the international stage and damage our whole country's reputation.

There’s also a pretty big distinction between saying her opponent was unfairly using his influence to sway the election, and suggesting the voting process itself was outright fraudulent.

Which US city would be the best if we wanted to test what a car-ban would look like? Some European cities are testing it and are rolling it out in other areas as they find it succesful. Now in the US, most large metropolitan cities aren't open or suitable enough for a such a thing. So maybe a smaller city would be okay?

New York. Dense, already has extensive transit infrastructure, and cars are constantly causing congestion and diverting infrastructure funding and killing people and polluting the city. Most of America’s other cities are car dependent to enough of a greater degree that it really would cause problems to just ditch them overnight, but New York could manage.

[Senkaku]

So when did Abrams allege "massive voter fraud"?

Hows about for 4 years.

If you’re incapable of grasping the distinction between pointing out that the Secretary of State was using his power to purge voter rolls ahead of an election he had a clear personal interest in, and asserting that hundreds of thousands/millions/tens of millions of fraudulent votes were counted on Election Day, then you’re either being willfully ignorant or you have a serious media literacy problem.

[Catholic America]

Hows about for 4 years.

If you’re incapable of grasping the distinction between pointing out that the Secretary of State was using his power to purge voter rolls ahead of an election he had a clear personal interest in, and asserting that hundreds of thousands/millions/tens of millions of fraudulent votes were counted on Election Day, then you’re either being willfully ignorant or you have a serious media literacy problem.

Trumps voter stuff was BS, but so was abrams.

[Senkaku]

If you’re incapable of grasping the distinction between pointing out that the Secretary of State was using his power to purge voter rolls ahead of an election he had a clear personal interest in, and asserting that hundreds of thousands/millions/tens of millions of fraudulent votes were counted on Election Day, then you’re either being willfully ignorant or you have a serious media literacy problem.

Trumps voter stuff was BS, but so was abrams.

In what way

[Washington Resistance Army]

Which US city would be the best if we wanted to test what a car-ban would look like? Some European cities are testing it and are rolling it out in other areas as they find it succesful. Now in the US, most large metropolitan cities aren't open or suitable enough for a such a thing. So maybe a smaller city would be okay?

Our entire infrastructure is designed around vehicular accessibility. We would have to completely redesign all of our cities to make them less car-friendly in order to roll out a car ban anywhere.

This. It's literally just not possible.

[Senkaku]

Our entire infrastructure is designed around vehicular accessibility. We would have to completely redesign all of our cities to make them less car-friendly in order to roll out a car ban anywhere.

This. It's literally just not possible.

Not true at all, there are plenty of urban cores with enough transit and walkability to start right now. Yes, you couldn’t extend it immediately to the large suburbanized zones, but downtown Seattle, large parts of DC, Boston, and the Bay Area, areas of Chicago served by the L— there are lots of places where we could start right away if the political will existed. Wider redesign is obviously necessary and would obviously also greatly improve those areas, but I don’t think this sort of totalizing defeatism bears much relation to the physical spaces actually being discussed, especially since car infrastructure needs minimal adaptation to run buses on and you can procure those a lot faster than rail lines. (In all these cases you’d have to just do personal vehicles and taxis and probably still allow vans/trucks for businesses to continue operations, but that’s still a huge step in the right direction.)

[USS Monitor]

Which US city would be the best if we wanted to test what a car-ban would look like? Some European cities are testing it and are rolling it out in other areas as they find it succesful. Now in the US, most large metropolitan cities aren't open or suitable enough for a such a thing. So maybe a smaller city would be okay?

Our entire infrastructure is designed around vehicular accessibility. We would have to completely redesign all of our cities to make them less car-friendly in order to roll out a car ban anywhere.

Boston and NYC are already easier to get around on foot/transit than to drive and find parking.

[Cannot think of a name]

Which US city would be the best if we wanted to test what a car-ban would look like? Some European cities are testing it and are rolling it out in other areas as they find it succesful. Now in the US, most large metropolitan cities aren't open or suitable enough for a such a thing. So maybe a smaller city would be okay?

San Francisco. There's already a MUNI infrastructure that can be expanded and the peninsula is poorly situated to accommodate that many people and cars.

Weirdly the first earthquake validated cars since the horses during the ensuing fires decided, 'nah, you're on your own' and the few people who did have cars to be heroes, but the Loma Prieta earthquake sort of made the case that maybe they overdid it on the cars. Collapsing the Embarcadaro and having the Bay Bridge drop a section.

But really, because of the topography of that city everyone is on top of each other anyway and it's hard to stuff the cars that come in there. A lot of people who actually live there (much like New York) already don't drive, it's mostly tourist traffic featuring people in no way prepared to navigate the hills and weirdly laid out streets.

I mean, I love my car and I loved driving it around San Francisco because it made me an instant celebrity (VW Bus in San Francisco...), but it's pretty clear in that city that the car was a bad idea. I'm not sure it could go entirely car free, but definitely having to justify bringing a car in. Or emergency lanes.

There are some things that haven't really been addressed with carless cities. Buying more groceries that you can carry...I lived on an island in the middle of the Bay Bridge and would take the bus into the city to the grocery store and trying to stuff me and my groceries on that bus was enough of a hassle that eventually I just decided it was easier to drive in despite the fact that driving in could never be described as 'easy.' Drummers in garage bands...that seems glib, but when you get rid of the specificity and just...the ability to take home more than you can carry. Buy a TV from Circuit City. A lot of dumb simple shit needs to be re-organized, it's not just a matter of buses and trains>cars. Moving. How is moving supposed to work in a car free society? I'm not saying "Well, that's it...everyone stay in their big metal box that is draining your income and fucking the environment" but that it's going to be a complicated process. It may not be 'car free' so much as 'much less car reliant'. My job (former job? I dunno...) would be impossible without personal vehicles. We show up with ten tons of gear (literally, that's what the truck is called, the ten ton or the five ton for low budget), dozens to hundreds of people. A team of at least five people who are almost constantly being sent out to get a bunch of shit. Often we have to strike all that shit and carry it to another location and put it all up again. "Well how did they do it before cars" they didn't. The industry sprung up with cars.

[Torisakia]

Which US city would be the best if we wanted to test what a car-ban would look like? Some European cities are testing it and are rolling it out in other areas as they find it succesful. Now in the US, most large metropolitan cities aren't open or suitable enough for a such a thing. So maybe a smaller city would be okay?

Beautiful Downtown Birmingham, AL^TM. No one, I mean no one, not even me, knows how to drive here.

[Thermodolia]

Our entire infrastructure is designed around vehicular accessibility. We would have to completely redesign all of our cities to make them less car-friendly in order to roll out a car ban anywhere.

Boston and NYC are already easier to get around on foot/transit than to drive and find parking.

Most downtowns are. Like Atlanta and Phoenix downtown areas, it’s easier to take public transportation than to find expensive parking.

Besides in Phoenix the bus network is actually really fucking good and I can take the bus from my house to downtown Phoenix and to the airport and never have to actually drive.

[Thermodolia]

This. It's literally just not possible.

Not true at all, there are plenty of urban cores with enough transit and walkability to start right now. Yes, you couldn’t extend it immediately to the large suburbanized zones, but downtown Seattle, large parts of DC, Boston, and the Bay Area, areas of Chicago served by the L— there are lots of places where we could start right away if the political will existed. Wider redesign is obviously necessary and would obviously also greatly improve those areas, but I don’t think this sort of totalizing defeatism bears much relation to the physical spaces actually being discussed, especially since car infrastructure needs minimal adaptation to run buses on and you can procure those a lot faster than rail lines. (In all these cases you’d have to just do personal vehicles and taxis and probably still allow vans/trucks for businesses to continue operations, but that’s still a huge step in the right direction.)

Ya downtown Phoenix could actually have better public transportation. And would be great walkability, all without banning cars.

Hell I can walk to the end of my block and catch a bus to the airport or downtown

[Torisakia]

Not true at all, there are plenty of urban cores with enough transit and walkability to start right now. Yes, you couldn’t extend it immediately to the large suburbanized zones, but downtown Seattle, large parts of DC, Boston, and the Bay Area, areas of Chicago served by the L— there are lots of places where we could start right away if the political will existed. Wider redesign is obviously necessary and would obviously also greatly improve those areas, but I don’t think this sort of totalizing defeatism bears much relation to the physical spaces actually being discussed, especially since car infrastructure needs minimal adaptation to run buses on and you can procure those a lot faster than rail lines. (In all these cases you’d have to just do personal vehicles and taxis and probably still allow vans/trucks for businesses to continue operations, but that’s still a huge step in the right direction.)

Ya downtown Phoenix could actually have better public transportation. And would be great walkability, all without banning cars.

Hell I can walk to the end of my block and catch a bus to the airport or downtown

Honestly if my city put more into public transport and making everything more accessible on foot, I guarantee it wouldn’t be the shithole it is now. But apparently a new stadium for the local university that was needed 20 years ago is more important.

[Port Caverton]

For the First Time, US Is Sending More Gas to Europe Than Russia