• Flying Squid
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    948 months ago

    Nice job buying the Republican talking point that Biden has dementia. Too bad there’s absolutely no evidence of it. He’s old. He does and says old person things. That doesn’t mean he has dementia.

    • chaogomu
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      418 months ago

      The “Biden dementia” thing comes from two places.

      First is, Biden has a stutter. Everyone has known about it for his entire political career, and he’s mostly overcome it, but every now and then he’ll trip over a word. Right wing nutjobs will then scream that Biden can’t form a coherent sentence, even though he can indeed do that.

      The second source of the “Biden dementia” nonsense is projection/deflection. In the middle of Trump’s presidency, there were some medical experts who started raising questions about Trump possibly having something along the lines of Frontotemporal dementia. Now, these were people without access to Trump’s medical records or any records beyond videos of Trump, so there’s a large grain of salt to be taken.

      The basic argument was the Trump has a distinct stance, legs ramrod straight, but his torso leaning slightly forward. This is very common among people who suffer that type of dementia. His word choice has also tended to delve into the nonsensical more and more over the years, even if he’s still able to string together a grammatically correct sounding sentence. Which is another sign of that particular strain of dementia.

      The main argument against FTD is the seeming lack of apathy. FTD is a disease that robs you of your emotions.

      The sub category of Semantic dementia might fit Trump better, but honestly, I think he’s just a lazy conman who was never very smart in the first place.

      • SuperDuper
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        128 months ago

        Right wing nutjobs will then scream that Biden can’t form a coherent sentence

        This part is also projection to help them justify their own support of a self-proclaimed “stable genius” who is quoted as saying

        Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you’re a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what’s going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it’s all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don’t, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible.

      • @[email protected]
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        98 months ago

        The “Biden dementia” thing comes from two places.

        The Republican party and The GOP?

      • finthechat
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        48 months ago

        The main argument against FTD is the seeming lack of apathy. FTD is a disease that robs you of your emotions.

        Did you mean empathy instead of apathy?

        • @[email protected]
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          88 months ago

          No, they meant if he had FTD he’d be more apathetic, but he doesn’t appear to be that way, so maybe it’s something else.

          • finthechat
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            38 months ago

            Oh yeah, I read it again and that makes more sense now. Good call.

        • chaogomu
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          38 months ago

          It can do that too, but how would you tell? He’s always been a shitty person with no empathy.

          But no, FTD tends to rob you of your emotional range. Feeling listless and apathetic is common.

    • flicker
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      208 months ago

      This “dementia” bit needs to die. Call him old or stupid but pathologizing to something as severe as dementia hits me the same way as if you called him “retarded.”

        • flicker
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          28 months ago

          No, “retarded.”

          When people want to call someone dumb so they call them retarded. I work with adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and very much dislike both “dementia” and the word “retarded” being weaponized for the same reason.

    • @[email protected]
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      -318 months ago

      Ah yes, the old, tired argument that if I don’t like Biden, I must be a Trump supporter falling for propaganda. The guy is not coherent enough to be President, in my opinion. These 80 year olds need to get out of politics.

      • Flying Squid
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        328 months ago

        He is as coherent as he has been in the last 20 years. So yes, you are falling for propaganda. There is zero evidence that he has dementia.

            • @[email protected]
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              -148 months ago

              “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean.” – Biden, referring to President Obama

              “Poor kids are just as smart and talented as white kids!”

              “It’s awful hard, as well, to get Latinx vaccinated as well. Why? They’re worried that they will be vaccinated and deported.”

              “Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.”

              “That’s like saying you . . . before you got in this program, you’re take [sic] a test whether you’re taking cocaine or not. What do you think? Huh? Are you a junkie?” – Biden asking a Black reporter if he’s a cocaine junkie after the reporter asked if he had taken a cognitive test

              “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

              • Flying Squid
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                218 months ago

                Um… some of these make you sound like the racist one.

                Like suggesting that saying to a black reporter if they’re a junkie it’s racist as if only black people use cocaine or are junkies. That’s you assuming that, not Biden.

                And you are the one making the assumption about Latinx people: https://www.aamc.org/news/we-need-get-more-latinx-people-vaccinated-heres-how

                Also, every single one of those is out of context and none of them are sourced.

                • @[email protected]
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                  -178 months ago

                  out of context

                  Ah yes, the old “out of context” argument. You know damn well if any Republican said any one of those things, people would be out with the pitchforks. But because it’s a Democrat, you’re OK with it and blow it off as “out of context.” Even though the guy didn’t want his kids growing up in a “racial jungle” (his words, not mine).

                  If you can’t look at your own side critically, you are what is wrong with this country.

                  • Flying Squid
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                    188 months ago

                    So you’re claiming context has no relevance to things people say? Really?

                    Because, again, without context, you’re the one coming off as a racist.

    • Orbituary
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      -428 months ago

      Dude, I’m leftist as fuck. Hardcore. Biden is a disgrace and needs to be out. A broken clock is right twice a day, so even if home slice is GOP, he’s not wrong.

      We all can do better than this.

      • @[email protected]
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        278 months ago

        I’m leftist as fuck and I’ll still vote for him because any other choice would be worse.

      • kick_out_the_jams
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        88 months ago

        Biden is a disgrace and needs to be out.

        Trump proved that even crimes at the level of impeachment won’t result in a successful removal.
        2/3 of the senate is a pretty high bar to clear.

        • @[email protected]
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          -48 months ago

          Impeachment does not require removing a president from office, that’s just the maximum penalty. An impeachment is also not necessarily a breach of the law. I hate Trump as much as the next guy and his impeachments were absolutely deserved, but it wasn’t like he somehow managed to stay in power after being impeached or anything. Even Nixon actually stepped down after his impeachment rather than being removed from office outright.

      • Maeve
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        -188 months ago

        Again, just another iteration in the “blue no matter who” loop. Again, it’s sad people allowed themselves to fall for the brainwashing/battered voter syndrome.

        • PupBiru
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          148 months ago

          it’s sad that people allow themselves to fall for the disenfranchised voter syndrome

          it’s reality mate… you get democrat or you get republican. with how first past the post mathematically works, that’s what you’re stuck with. deal with reality and vote the system or scream at the wall

            • PupBiru
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              28 months ago

              i don’t live in the US. i live in australia, so have very little ability to solve your countries problems. our system is preferential voting so voting 3rd party is what i do: in fact, our ballot papers have ~60 different parties on them!

              there’s a bunch about how americans react to things that i just do not understand, so im a poor choice to even spitball solutions - but maths is maths and closing your eyes and denying the reality of the problem doesn’t help solve it. it just ensures you get the worst outcome!

              and yes, i do care even though i don’t live there, and yknow what, yes it does effect me and most people because, as the adage goes: when the US sneezes the rest of the world gets a cold

          • @[email protected]
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            -38 months ago

            The presence of mind to vote for the best option if it isn’t a big two is a syndrome now?

            Fuck it, man, call me a sick fucker then, because I’m betting the best option ain’t gonna be red or blue this time either … I’m voting for the most sensible and intelligent name on the ballot. Sure as fuck ain’t gonna be trump, but biden has the fact that he isn’t trump, and not much else…

            • PupBiru
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              88 months ago

              3rd party in the US is almost certain to amount to nothkng given how game theory, the spoiler effect, defensive voting, the electoral college, and various other social and mathematical things come together

              here’s a great series by CGP grey on why that is:
              https://youtu.be/s7tWHJfhiyo

              the reality is that a vote for 3rd party is the same outcome as not voting… its awful, but sadly that’s the way it is. if you want to vote 3rd party, you need to work to change the system somehow first

              • @[email protected]
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                -28 months ago

                There’s a ballot… it’s a list of options… You go in, you pick out which is the best option.

                It’s YOUR vote, it’s your choice.

                You can decide your voice has to pick the ones that are gonna win, like it’s a keno card.

                You can decide that your voice is going to pick the little letter next to the name that identifies each option as belongings to the stupid little tribes.

                You can declare which is best for you. You can declare which is best for the collective. You can declare which is the best option to get good leadership…

                I tend towards the collective. I don’t give a fuck who’s going to win, I don’t give a fuck about their tribe. I usually go in knowing what I’m gonna see for options and the general philosophy of each (fucking Google man, it’s so much easier these days… there was a time when that took some leg work.).

                The simple reality is that the best choice for the overall good is very rarely a winner. That’s a damned shame, but it is what it is. The best I can do with that is to declare it with my vote. I’m not enabling shit, I’m not voting defensively, I’m not screwing up my keno card… I’m declaring which option is the best on the list in my opinion.

                It should be that simple. It IS that simple for me. It could be that simple for you. Your vote, your voice, you can use it to state your own opinion and not whatever bullshit you’re told you’re stuck with.

                I’m not saying people should vote a tribe, or game the system, I’m saying your vote should be your own.

                • PupBiru
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                  48 months ago

                  but thats kinda the point: you SHOULD be able to pick the option that’s best for you, but in reality if that option isn’t 1 of the 2 major parties then it suffers from the spoiler effect and all that candidate does is pull votes from their closest competitor!

                  FPTP is fundamentally broken, and you can never choose 3rd party if you want your vote to matter… you said it’s a shame, and that’s true! but it’s also maths and sociology

                  it’s a fixable problem, but not with the system that exists in the US right now

          • Maeve
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            -78 months ago

            The reality is you get overly or covertly fascist. Ftfy.

            • PupBiru
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              8 months ago

              sure! totally agree… so the best vote is for not overtly fascist… you don’t solve this particular problem at the polls: you have to solve it some other way

              and no, i don’t know how that is done but that’s just the reality… FPTP voting system leaves you no good options. you must either change the way the system works, or work outside the system

              not voting of the lesser of the 2 options, right now, in this reality, gets you the worst outcome… and even worse, shifts BOTH options significantly worse for next time

              • @[email protected]
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                -28 months ago

                I’m not disagreeing with the reality of FPTP, but I still have the first-amendment right to be angry at Biden. But with the way political discourse is going in this country, I can’t criticize him without being written off as a Trump bootlicker. Fixing that is the first thing we need to do as a country.

                • @[email protected]
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                  38 months ago

                  You are being written off as a Trump bootlicker because you parrot Trump propaganda. Perhaps fixing your need to regurgitate Trump propaganda should be the first thing that needs fixing?

                  • @[email protected]
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                    -48 months ago

                    Ah, any criticism of Biden is “Trump propaganda.” Gotta dismiss it with a bullshit term so you can feel like you won, huh?

                    Kinda like how Trump and his cult refer to any criticism of Trump as “fake news.”

                    Funny how both Team Blue and Team Red do a lot of the same things and don’t want to admit it.

            • @[email protected]
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              -18 months ago

              For real. My biggest issue with Biden and his supporters is that they pretend to be outraged at the stuff the Republicans do, while doing the same shit. Like bailing out the billionaires, overspending on military, and enabling the predatory healthcare system to continue to exist.

              • Maeve
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                28 months ago

                They have the same bosses, and it’s not us. Bandwagon fallacy or something.

                • @[email protected]
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                  -38 months ago

                  Absolutely. And people here wonder why I think both sides are full of shit. George Carlin was right.