Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[Ken B]

There must be a word for intelligent people who think such videos prove anything except about themselves. The sad part is that we will read complaints here about how awful the campaign is.

[Daverz]

Hard to explain, but it's a group of commenters who splintered off the comments section of AVclub.com when AVC did a redesign to use more clickbait; they made their own little pop culture forum revolving around books, movies, TV, cooking, etc.

URL?  I like the AVC comments, it seems to be a nicely varied group of people and to be mostly free of the usual misogyny, racism and general rancor, but I've never actually felt the need to comment there.

[Daverz]

Buy a webcam.  You'd be surprised.

Yeah, by how fat I look on a webcam.

[Brian]

URL?  I like the AVC comments, it seems to be a nicely varied group of people and to be mostly free of the usual misogyny, racism and general rancor, but I've never actually felt the need to comment there.

http://tolerabilityindex.freeforums.net/

(There are a couple of boards that are hidden to non-members.)

[Mirror Image]

Personally, I love watching the Republican Party disintegrate right before my very eyes. It's been happening for years but this year we'll definitely want to pull up a chair and munch on some popcorn for the Republican National Convention. Sparks will fly. Stay tuned.

[Ken B]

Fuckwits on parade
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/dems-on-fec-vote-to-regulate-political-jokes/article/2592922

[Brian]

Fuckwits on parade
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/dems-on-fec-vote-to-regulate-political-jokes/article/2592922

For any readers who give up on this website because of its autoplay videos or poor writing:

TLDR: two Democrats nonsensically voted to investigate Mike Huckabee for cracking a joke, but thankfully the rest of the panel voted against it, so Huckabee's safe. (That fact is withheld until the sixth paragraph.)

[Ken B]

For any readers who give up on this website because of its autoplay videos or poor writing:

TLDR: two Democrats nonsensically voted to investigate Mike Huckabee for cracking a joke, but thankfully the rest of the panel voted against it, so Huckabee's safe. (That fact is withheld until the sixth paragraph.)

Correct. Two democrats voted for censorship (but people tell me Trump is the fascist). This is the lede though, right? The fact that this moronic behavior had no effect is hardly "withheld": the story isn't about the fate of Huckabee.

[Brian]

Correct. Two democrats voted for censorship (but people tell me Trump is the fascist). This is the lede though, right? The fact that this moronic behavior had no effect is hardly "withheld": the story isn't about the fate of Huckabee.

I do worry about the trendy political movement of trying to silence your opponents simply because they are your opponents. On the liberal side, the most alarming current example is on college campuses - "sensitive" students protesting all sorts of manifestations of free speech. I think Condi Rice was invited to speak at a campus but forced to cancel when students protested the very idea that she would appear, and this has surely happened to other conservative leaders. The rising new generation of college students seems especially open to the idea that offensive speech is unprotected, like the story of the Yale professor who got into controversy for suggesting students shouldn't wear tasteless Halloween costumes, or the more recent story of Pennsylvania students trying to change the name of Lynch Memorial Hall because the surname Lynch sounds racist.

On the conservative side, the most alarming current example to me (in North America; there are many truly alarming examples of conservative crackdowns in places like Turkey and Bangladesh) is government suppression of scientists' research findings. An American example is Rick Scott in Florida restricting the right of scientists to talk openly about climate and the efforts needed to protect Miami and other cities from rising seawaters and other climate crises. And, of course, Donald Trump has advocated for loosening libel laws so that you can sue critical journalists. Here in Texas, the Attorney General just sent a cease-and-desist to a critic.

This week's Economist has a leader on free speech suppression issues around the globe. Haven't read it yet, but it is an issue. More so in places like Bangladesh, but we can't let our guard down.

[28Orot]

Personally, I love watching the Republican Party disintegrate right before my very eyes. It's been happening for years but this year we'll definitely want to pull up a chair and munch on some popcorn for the Republican National Convention. Sparks will fly. Stay tuned.

I think the democratic party doesn't exist anymore, it was ran over by a hoard of progressive fanatics who have absolutely nothing to do with the democratic party.

Bernie is a democrat?

Yea and as Don Rickles told Charlton Heston "If you were Moses, I was a Mau Mau fighter pilot"...

[Todd]

It's hers!  Now the real fun begins . . .

[28Orot]

It's hers!  Now the real fun begins . . .

Don't get your bon bons out too early, she could still be indicted...

[Todd]

Don't get your bon bons out too early, she could still be indicted...

As I wrote, now the real fun begins.

[28Orot]

As I wrote, now the real fun begins.

Her nomination is a sad day for America. How this worthless secretary of state who has done arguably the worst job possible throughout her infamous career got the nomination escapes all common sense.

[28Orot]

LOL, and Bernie had this to say rite off the bat...
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-trailguide-spokesman-for-bernie-sanders-criticizes-1465262243-htmlstory.html

[Brian]

Her nomination is a sad day for America. How this worthless secretary of state who has done arguably the worst job possible throughout her infamous career got the nomination escapes all common sense.

So which of the 20ish candidates did you support?

[28Orot]

So which of the 20ish candidates did you support?

No one really...didnt really like anyone...

[Karl Henning]

It's almost enough to appreciate the headline, alone:

Donald Trump's Campaign Is Already An Absolute Garbage Fire

[28Orot]

It's almost enough to appreciate the headline, alone:

Donald Trump's Campaign Is Already An Absolute Garbage Fire

Would his hair catch some of the garbage fire I wonder?

[Gurn Blanston]

Would his hair catch some of the garbage fire I wonder?

I'm sure it is expensive enough it comes with some sort of fire-retardant material on it...