• Registered: 2015-06-21
  • Posts: 4,917

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

EarthPrime.com is going to be taking SLIDERS REBORN down. They are going to be refocusing their site on their current team. I appreciate their gracious message letting me know, and I am grateful for how they gave my fan fiction series finale a home for 10 years. Strangely, my primary response is... political.

I have been slowly converting SLIDERS REBORN to an ePub friendly format for Archive of Our Own. At times, I've stepped back from the task. I've been focusing on my communications work, volunteering for an autism support organization, and honestly, my main priority these days is making my employers, sisters, mother and now my girlfriend happy. I love SLIDERS, but I haven't had as much time to put into it as life has demanded more from me.

It is interesting to look at my writing from 10 years ago and see that SLIDERS REBORN is an artifact of a very specific era of tentative optimism that neoliberalism was a negotiable evil and that racism, homophobia, fascism, jingoism, scientific misinformation and economic inequality were fighting a losing battle against a new generation of thinkers, builders, workers, advocates and activists. SLIDERS REBORN believes that a golden age could be ahead of us and leaves the sliders at the edge of hope. It was a story for the time.

That time isn't today. Racism and fascism have come back strong. Scientific illiteracy is forming public health policy and dominates government to the point where vaccination and masks have become political issues instead of factual matters of epidemiology and particle physics. The working class of America has, by popular vote, decided to support and celebrate and declare their loyalty to the billionaires who pillage and rob and hoard more wealth than they could ever spend and leave workers in poverty. Transphobia and bigotry have become standard operating procedure for government.

EarthPrime.com deciding to take down SLIDERS REBORN reflects how SLIDERS REBORN was a story for a time that has passed in a place we aren't in. For the time being, it's on Google Docs, people will be able to find it via TV Tropes and a link on Archive of Our Own. It's all here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19GS … it?tab=t.0

But ultimately, all of it is archival material and it should go to Archive of Our Own.

I think a SLIDERS today should always be an inverted mirror of today, and today is a different world, and that inversion is more like this:
https://sliders.tv/bboard/viewtopic.php?id=490

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 3,462

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

So Trump is doing something really dumb at the moment, which is to say that "affordability is a con job."  Now he's already pivoting away from it, but telling people the economy is great when people know that it isn't is such a dumb strategy that would never work, no matter how charismatic you are.  The solution here seems to be simple and something Trump does with everything else - which is to blame Biden.  I think he could get 2-3 years of runway out of his base if he blames Biden.  He does this as well when he says "we inherited the worst economy of all time" or whatever nonsense he spews, but telling people that are struggling that they're not struggling is very dumb, even for Trump.

Especially when the people who elected him are going to struggle a ton.  The "I know how to get elected but have no idea how to govern" crowd continues to shoot themselves in the foot.

Another interesting thing I've been thinking about.

2024 - Republican
2020 - Democrat
2016 - Republican
2012 - 2012 - Democrat (Incumbent)
2008 - Democrat
2004 - Republican (Incumbent)
2000 - Republican
1996 - Democrat (Incumbent)
1992 - Democrat
1988 - Republican
1984 - Republican (Incumbent)
1980 - Republican

In other words, we flip flop in every election since 1988, which was the last time that the presidency stayed in the same party with a different candidate.  Not only that, we're getting more impatient.  We used to give the president the full 8 years, but we aren't doing that anymore.

If we have fair elections in 2028, not great for JD Vance.  And it might mean that incumbents don't have the same protections they used to have either.

3,543 Reply by pilight

  • From: Where the action is
  • Registered: 2015-11-16
  • Posts: 604

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

We used to give the president the full 8 years, but we aren't doing that anymore.

If we have fair elections in 2028, not great for JD Vance.  And it might mean that incumbents don't have the same protections they used to have either.

Actually, the Clinton/Bush/Obama run of two term presidents is an outlier. It's the most consecutive two-termers the US has ever had.

The outlook for Vance would be grim regardless. Incumbent VPs are almost never elected president. GW Bush is the only VP more recent than Martin Van Buren to win as incumbent.

  • Registered: 2015-06-21
  • Posts: 4,917

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Salon offers the grim view that Putin has won the war in Ukraine.
https://www.salon.com/2025/12/21/how-pu … s-friends/

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 3,462

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

So I think Putin won the war in Ukraine as soon as Trump won.  It's painfully obvious that Trump is doing whatever Putin wants, and Trump is so in love with Putin that it's crazy that the media won't call him out on it.  When Trump said that he'd win the war on day one, that's the promise that I figured he'd keep because Trump would do anything, including sending US ground troops to fight alongside Russia, to get Putin the win.

The fact that we're almost a year into Trump's presidency and Zelenskyy is alive is incredible to me.  He's the guy I felt the worst for when Trump won.

So I think it's just a matter of time until a) Trump forces Zelenskyy to take a deal and b) Putin breaks the deal and insists on more land.  Two of the three people in this are negotiating in bad faith, and Zelenskyy is trying to straddle the line between saving his people and saving his country.

One thing I sorta disagreed with in the article is that there haven't really been any consequences.  I think this war has highlighted the idea that Russia is a huge military superpower.  I know invading any country is difficult, but if Russia was as powerful militarily as people thought, this war should've been over years ago.  The only thing propping Putin up is nuclear weapons.  If nuclear weapons suddenly disappeared, I wonder where Russia would even rank in the world in terms of military strength.

I also wonder how much this has set Russia back.  I know that Russia has a collective spirit to fight for Russia, but their supply of soldiers isn't infinite.  250,000 soldiers can't be easily replaced, I wouldn't think.  All the military hardware they've lost will have to be replaced.  Maybe it's no big deal, but I just can't imagine it's not.

3,546 Reply by Grizzlor

  • Registered: 2015-06-30
  • Posts: 1,172

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

pilight wrote:
Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

We used to give the president the full 8 years, but we aren't doing that anymore.

If we have fair elections in 2028, not great for JD Vance.  And it might mean that incumbents don't have the same protections they used to have either.

Actually, the Clinton/Bush/Obama run of two term presidents is an outlier. It's the most consecutive two-termers the US has ever had.

The outlook for Vance would be grim regardless. Incumbent VPs are almost never elected president. GW Bush is the only VP more recent than Martin Van Buren to win as incumbent.

I'll use my "James Carville" voice here, but I really think they're cooked.  One of the things that the Cajun, and now I have become a lot more settled on, is that these national elections do not really change that much a year or more prior.  The processes, largely economic, that drive voter sentiment, tend to come well in advanced.  When Carville was screaming about NOT nominating Bernie Sanders in early 2020, he knew why.  Biden led Trump solidly throughout 2019 and into 2020, despite fading in the early heavily-Left Democrat primaries.  That was despite a seemingly strong Trump economy.  Obviously COVID factored in, and Trump being an imbusel during that. 

GOP will be in serious trouble, because every metric is against them.  2028 won't be much better if Trump continues as is.  Granted, a good part of that is NOT his fault, nor was Biden's, and is simply the result of a variety of factors which is out of the government's control.  A.I. will be a major source of that, as well as climate disruptions.  Without question,  idiot's tariffs will exacerbate these things by denying alternatives.

As for Ukraine, look Putin doesn't care what the costs have been to Russians.  He runs a police state in which he is unlikely to be challenged.  Despite Trump's worthless attempts at seeking a peace deal, I personally do not see Vlad doing it.  Trump's son and other friends have formed a number of private equity groups seeking to leverage things such as mining contracts and oil exports, in Ukraine and other places.  In Ukraine, they are hedging that there will be a deal and they will waltz in.

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 3,462

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Oh I know that Putin doesn't care about how many Russians die, but there aren't an unlimited number of Russians to fight for him.  Maybe they only lost the worst of their fighters, but I have to think that losing 250,000 soldiers would risk whatever fight Putin has in mind next.  Whatever military hardware was lost would have to be replaced.  Training hundreds of thousands of new soldiers takes time.

So even if Putin gets total victory in Ukraine, isn't he weakened for whatever is next?

***********

Interesting article came out that was trying to spin Trump's physical deterioration as nothing.  But it ended up increasing speculation that the guy isn't doing well.  What I can't understand is that a stubborn man in his late 70s who refuses to take care of himself and is popping all kinds of pills, eats like a pig, and never works out is still walking around.  Even with being a) rich and b) president, Trump said himself that he doesn't listen to his doctors' medical advice.  So when his lead doctor is telling him he's the healthiest person he's ever met and he's eating like he's 17, does having the best medical team in the world help?

So is Trump's body surviving just to make me angry?

  • Registered: 2015-06-21
  • Posts: 4,917

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

US attacks Venezuela:
https://www.salon.com/2026/01/03/maduro … s-capital/

  • Registered: 2015-06-22
  • Posts: 3,462

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I know I sound like a broken record here, but I just can't get myself too worked up about this.  Trump won.  The people who voted for Trump are going to have higher costs for goods and healthcare and lower wages and less jobs and the same level of taxes, and they don't care.  The "America First" and "No New Wars" people don't seem to care.  The only person who seems to care is Marjorie Taylor Greene.  I know Trump's approval rating is low, but he has a rock-solid floor that will support him no matter what.  And as long as that floor consistently votes how Trump wants in primaries, no one is going to turn against him.

It's just very depressing.  We're not even a full year into this, and he's got so many more fights he wants to start.  He owns Congress, he owns the courts, he owns the police, he owns the military.  It's Trump's world, and we have to live in it.

3,550 Reply by Grizzlor

  • Registered: 2015-06-30
  • Posts: 1,172

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

Oh I know that Putin doesn't care about how many Russians die, but there aren't an unlimited number of Russians to fight for him.  Maybe they only lost the worst of their fighters, but I have to think that losing 250,000 soldiers would risk whatever fight Putin has in mind next.  Whatever military hardware was lost would have to be replaced.  Training hundreds of thousands of new soldiers takes time.

So even if Putin gets total victory in Ukraine, isn't he weakened for whatever is next?

***********

Interesting article came out that was trying to spin Trump's physical deterioration as nothing.  But it ended up increasing speculation that the guy isn't doing well.  What I can't understand is that a stubborn man in his late 70s who refuses to take care of himself and is popping all kinds of pills, eats like a pig, and never works out is still walking around.  Even with being a) rich and b) president, Trump said himself that he doesn't listen to his doctors' medical advice.  So when his lead doctor is telling him he's the healthiest person he's ever met and he's eating like he's 17, does having the best medical team in the world help?

So is Trump's body surviving just to make me angry?

Well, the war over there has largely become a stalemate, and result in dueling bombings largely done with drones.  Very nasty stuff, but I don't think the casualty rate has gone up much.

I seriously ignore ALL talk of Trump's health.  Is he alive?  He's like a cockroach.

Slider_Quinn21 wrote:

I know I sound like a broken record here, but I just can't get myself too worked up about this.  Trump won.  The people who voted for Trump are going to have higher costs for goods and healthcare and lower wages and less jobs and the same level of taxes, and they don't care.  The "America First" and "No New Wars" people don't seem to care.  The only person who seems to care is Marjorie Taylor Greene.  I know Trump's approval rating is low, but he has a rock-solid floor that will support him no matter what.  And as long as that floor consistently votes how Trump wants in primaries, no one is going to turn against him.

It's just very depressing.  We're not even a full year into this, and he's got so many more fights he wants to start.  He owns Congress, he owns the courts, he owns the police, he owns the military.  It's Trump's world, and we have to live in it.

The polling is terrible on this, and yes, many people do care about it.  Because this jackass is talking about annexing Greenland, capturing other South American leaders, and wiping out the rest of the Iranian government.  At some point, where does it end?