Robin Jones2 said:If we assume that printing a single page on Amazon paper consumes only $0.33 worth of toner, it appears that each of our four employees has agreed to print 65 pages every single business day.
Every single workday.
Each of the four staff members.
Sixty-five printed pages per person.
The Republican Party is our plague, our cholera, our famine, our earthquakes, our wars, our floods, our droughts, our fires... none of these disasters could inflict as much misery upon us as the Republican Party has over the last thirty years.
Running a full-scale copy shop for Amazon-sized sheets—meaning you’ve got your own printer, your own toner supply, your own paper stock, plus all the overhead like taxes, equipment maintenance, rent, payroll, and so on and so forth—you're looking at paying $0.08 per sheet.
Harold Smith87 said:I wouldn't say having a tough job is what drives productivity. Honestly, I think it's about doing productive work—doing something that actually benefits society so your job doesn't feel totally pointless.
There is a massive distinction between "hard work" and simply having a "difficult job."
Edward Cooper2 said:The Republican Party does not have high ratings. In the last elections, they pulled in a total of 621,008 votes. They have 220,000 members. So, even ignoring their own base, they only secured 401,000 votes. That means every single member brought in less than two votes. But honestly, even that dismal statistic isn't the worst thing to hit the Republican Party. From one election to the next, they are losing voters. Not by the hundreds, not by the thousands... but by tens of thousands. Over the last two parliamentary cycles, they lost roughly 60,000 votes. And no, that wasn't some fluke. It’s a trend. Sure, lower turnout and disciplined membership make it harder to spot, but you can't deny it... On the flip side, the Democratic Party coalition (which the Democratic Party largely fuels) pulled 414,000 votes last year. If the Democratic Party provided 350,000 of those votes (and it was likely more), then every single Democratic member yielded 9.9 additional votes. Just for comparison...
I suppose I wasn't being as precise as I should have been—what I meant was that 30% figure and this idea of an "exceptional height" when you consider it against some imaginary ceiling they might eventually hit.
Do you honestly think there's any chance for their numbers to see a significant surge?
Noah Perez5 said:It seems like the perfect moment for the Republican Party to push this anemic figure down the drain. There’s just too much baggage clinging to his reputation lately, and honestly, the pressure on the party from every direction is becoming impossible to ignore.
If they can just move on from the Sun and distance him from all the negative fallout we've seen over the last few months and years, they might actually buy themselves some temporary peace. I suppose if they also decide to shuffle out a few of those Supervili ministers—maybe Grlić-Radman, Horvat, and a few other minor players—they could potentially see a bit of a bump in the polls.
Actually, I'd argue the exact opposite.
To start with, the Republican Party currently maintains an incredibly high approval rating. The days when their numbers were hovering below fifty percent are—well, they're gone. Those times have passed.
Beyond the usual partisan loyalty, a significant chunk of that support rests precisely on the fact that their internal "Game of Thrones" remains largely invisible—or at least successfully hidden from the public eye, if you will. Voters walk away with this impression that the Republican Party is the "guarantor of stability," and that’s why they keep backing them.
In fact, economic indicators seem almost secondary to the rating compared to the simple reality that Planković, through his constant left-right political maneuvering, somehow manages to keep both the progressives and the conservatives within the party under one roof.
Because of all that, any potential success from the Democratic Mayor's leadership in Washington, D.C.—especially if he could maintain a coalition without triggering internal warfare—would actually be terrible news for the Republican Party. It would turn the question of "Well, who else is there, really?"—a question we see quite often even here on these forums—into a very concrete, very uncomfortable answer...
The status generator pulled the wrong file from Joe Biden’s folder: "loser" was such a common—well, let's just say it was a frequent—insult back when Joe Biden was busy racking up one electoral defeat after another.
After he managed to pull in over a million votes in the presidential race, that particular label sort of faded from the lexicon, but apparently, someone wasn't paying close enough attention to the updates.
Former Secretary Divjak just posted a pretty striking commentary regarding this thread:
Some people have gone as far as calling this move a "democratic standard," but honestly, that couldn't be further from the truth. In reality, what this call is actually signaling is:
1. that individuals sitting on administrative boards and oversight committees—ranging from local school districts all the way up to major public utilities—are being appointed strictly based on their party affiliation rather than any actual expertise.
2. that they hold zero respect for the institutions themselves—be it the Mayor, a Cabinet Secretary, or a Governor—and aren't following the law or professional standards, but are instead dancing to the tune of party dictates.
3. that we are dealing with people who lack both personal and professional integrity, and
4. that, frankly, nobody even bothers to admit it publicly anymore.
At the same time, several things are conspicuously missing:
1. an objective audit of these individuals' performance without preconceived notions.
2. a serious analysis of the results they’ve actually produced.
3. full transparency regarding the total compensation packages these people are pulling in.
4. a verification of their actual qualifications and credentials.
5. the basic responsibility of new leadership—whether it’s a Governor, a Mayor, or a Secretary—to transparently replace those who haven't delivered results with professionals who will work with competence, honesty, transparency, and within the bounds of the law.
It is truly incredible how quickly the real motives get swept under the rug, only to be rebranded as some sort of "standard" for dividing the spoils.
The win is so overwhelming that if you actually look at the balance sheet of success compared to the last local elections, you have to include places like Memphis or the Lika region—areas that the Republican Party managed to hold onto even during the last cycle.
That whole statistic about winning "45% (or whatever number they claim) of the cities" is about as convincing as if Grbin stood up and said, "Yeah, sure, we blew it in Washington, D.C., but hey, we snatched up Komiz! I mean, sure, it only has fifteen hundred people, but we pulled ahead there, so it counts."
Treating Filipovic like some sort of ideal blueprint for the modern American politician—well, that isn’t exactly the most pathetic campaign statement I’ve heard lately.
What’s actually much more depressing is seeing Plenković gloating when it was already clear the Republican Party had essentially swept 48 local jurisdictions two weeks before the election even started—simply because they didn't face a single legitimate challenger.
Celebrating a one-party monopoly and acting like you just won a gold medal without having to break a sweat... it’s just, frankly, sad.
brightheron64 said:Police raided an activist's apartment just because a Republican official thinks someone vandalized his campaign poster
The mayor of our local area and a Republican Party congressman, unnamed counterpart, has leveled accusations against opposition leader unnamed counterpart, claiming his posters were defaced... It honestly feels like we’ve slipped into North Korea; uniformed officers showed up at this man's door first thing in the morning, pulling him away from his wife and child while they were still reeling from the shock, only to haul him down to the station to analyze his handwriting, scan his fingerprints, grill him on his knowledge of Latin, and eventually conduct a full search of his home. The whole ordeal dragged on for a good two hours...
Meanwhile, it took fifteen years for anyone to even catch the actual arsonist... 🙄 So, by all means, go ahead and vote Republican... 😵
Man, if only I could have been a fly on the wall in that room while they were busy interrogating him about his grasp of Latin... 🕺
Edward Cooper2 said:Under the Penal Code, it’s obsolete. But there's still the issue of moral responsibility. If he had even an ounce of integrity, he would have stepped down. But he's a Republican... So, nothing happens. And here's the kicker—I'm convinced this was done on purpose. Bob needs voters who will justify and back this kind of behavior...
In his skewed version of reality, apparently he banished Satan from San Diego—which is just a heroic feat, I suppose, and one that is undoubtedly backed by his entire voting bloc.
I honestly don't understand why people act so surprised by the existence of these local power brokers who have ruled their domains for decades.
Take, for instance, Bash Voda—there, a local kingpin can secure his grip on power with just, what, maybe a thousand votes? In the last local elections, he was facing off against nothing more than a single independent candidate; and in the ones before that, it was just him versus the Democratic Party. Of course, the Democratic Party completely tanked (I mean, I doubt anyone actually wants to vote for those communists), while that independent underdog managed to scrape together about 25% of the vote.
Over the years, this long-standing mayor has almost certainly built up a massive web of "his people" at every level of local government, all while cultivating the reputation of being "the guy who knows everyone, from the County office all the way up in Washington, D.C."—and, let’s be honest, it’s always useful to be on good terms with the people who hold all the strings. To make matters even more obvious, the daughter of one specific long-term mayor served as a member of Congress—so, in the eyes of the voters, he clearly comes across as someone with deep, influential connections even more so.
On the flip side, you have the local business owners and restaurateurs, who exist in this strange cocktail of fear and hope: the fear that if they dare to step out of line, they might—by some unfortunate accident, of course—receive a notice that their business license is being revoked (and it goes without saying that they rely heavily on those licenses to survive), or perhaps face constant, relentless inspections of every little thing, or maybe something else entirely... And then there's the hope that the mayor might offset a hike in lease prices by turning a blind eye elsewhere—maybe letting them squeeze in an extra two or three tables, or allowing them to stay open an hour or two later.
Add to that a segment of the electorate that views a vote for the Republican Party as their personal contribution to the eternal struggle against the old guard, Mexicans, and any return to America, and there you have your explanation.
If I’m following your logic correctly—and I might be oversimplifying here—you’re essentially saying "we should all just be Americans."
And I suppose things in this country would suddenly start looking up—but what exactly?
What is it, precisely, that this supposed "national unity"—and I use those quotes because I haven't yet met a politician who calls for "unity" without actually implying "everyone needs to think exactly like me"—would actually fix in America?
The issue with the Republican Party is this—even though they claim to be the "nationalist" party—they have zero intention of actually finishing the job of building a unified American political identity. I wouldn't expect anything different from the Democrats.
Fixing that would settle a lot of our societal friction. As for which conflicts—it's the same old story, fighting over symbols and labels every single day—perpetuated by the exact same players you mentioned in your second sentence.
You seem to be leaning toward these very broad—and therefore quite vague—generalizations.
So, what would specifically need to happen to actually "forge an American political identity"? I mean, let's move past the "it should be done" or "one ought to" rhetoric: give me three concrete, actionable measures that must be taken right here, right now.
I mean, are we seriously going to act shocked when the contract doesn't go to the actual subcontractor who’s actually capable of doing the work? It’s almost predictable at this point, isn't it?
The colleague has gone ahead and lumped Smith right in with the opposition too. I suppose he’s thrown Jones into the mix as well, just to be thorough, I guess.
And then there's the matter of him claiming—with absolute certainty, mind you—that he was actually present at that session.