President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

I don't really want to be the wet blanket ... but that's desperately wishful thinking.

 

Of the 50 million some people who watched the debate, I'd wager few votes were changed, because they were either committed Republicans or Democrats and no matter how they thought Biden did, the latter ain't voting for Trump. What's significant is how the two-thirds of the electorate who (wisely, IMO) did NOT watch, and will absorb the event in the same detached, muddled way they follow all the news. We don't know that and can't say, because it's just too soon. We'll know by about July 11 (Trump's sentencing date), by which time the news cycle will have spun at least a few times in other directions. Let's face it, one big hurricane, and Biden-Trump gets pushed way back in the cable news world and vanishes from local news altogether.

 

Why?

 

Because it’s nothing more than opinion and speculation.

 

Such is life.

 

That was half the COVID thread, and Rick Stain ranted about all the "mays" and "coulds" in every story.

 

#TheCoupHasAlreadyHappened

 

Yep. And it’s useless.

 

You say there's no point in votin'
So we gotta look at the gun your totin'
And that inflation is hurting the money you been savin'
Hey what kind of flag is it you're wavin'

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction

Believe me when I say the orange devil's out there waiting
But we just stand here wasting our time debating
When they can't tell the truth, they ain't got empathy
They don't want a future with you and me

But you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction

And think of all the hate in Orban's Hungary
Then take a look at a MAGA rally
Ah you may you leave here for four days in space
But when you return, it's the same old place
The poundin' of the chests, the lies and disgrace
You can bury COVID dead, but don't leave a trace
And DEI is bad for every race

And you tell me
Over and over and over again, my friend
How you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction

 

Great post, STG. As someone who used to enjoy the small-town barber shop conversations when I lived in northern Michigan -- even when they were about ice fishing -- you are right about barber shops being a unique environment where local dudes solve the world's problems, including how to run the local high school sports teams better than the idiot coaches.

I had an experience like yours -- I remember it to this day -- in 2000 at a Cadillac, Mich., barber shop. Amid the usual banter I heard the barber and a customer talking about dolphins and miracles at sea, and I was like ... WTF? Later I read about Elian Gonzalez and I realized these gentlemen were already, 24 years ago, watching Fox News.

As a rule I try to stick to sports, complaints about local streets/issues and entertainment news while sitting in the chair.

 

I had to stop going to a guy I really liked after Trump got elected. He had Fox on all the time. Never got into politics much with him, but just didn’t want any part of it. I really want to find another classic barber, but I’m too introverted to stray from the comfortable and I got comfortable at Super Cuts. They do fine but I like bullshitting more than traditional small talk. Although I got one stylist who went deep into music and that was fun.