FaceDeer

Yeah, I hope nobody took my comment to suggest that it’s not worth voting at all in a “safe” riding. Frankly that’s a bit liberating, if I was in a riding that was already certain to go to any party (Conservative, Liberal, Natural Law, whatever) then that would mean I was free to vote my conscience. The popular vote doesn’t mean anything in absolute legal terms but it’s still a nice bit of psychological pressure to apply.

Yeah, I’m skeptical about those numbers. They’re from February 9, and that’s about when Trump’s 51st-state bullshit first started making headlines. Nobody would have known what Smith’s reaction would be yet.

Since we’re in the doldrums between elections I don’t imagine a whole lot of polling is being done right now, so no idea when that will update. But even with the numbers as they are, it’s really not bad - NDP got 44% last election so 41% is still in the same ballpark, and the NDP has a new leader that obviously hasn’t done any campaigning. He’s a former mayor of Calgary and Calgary’s the battleground that the election hinged on last time around.

The fact that we have no legal method of stopping her doesn’t mean we’re fine with what she’s doing.

We hold elections every once in a while, like other provinces. It’s unfortunate there isn’t one in the immediate future, but eventually there will be one and right now I’m not liking her odds.

Were they obstructing the sidewalk? I could see Florida Lawyer making a case from that.

The move towards a two-party system is inevitable under first-past-the-post voting systems. This is why I considered Trudeau’s betrayal of electoral reform to be a generational stab-in-the-back and swore I would never vote Liberal again.

And first-past-the-post is also why I am breaking that vow and voting Liberal in the upcoming election. My riding happens to be a “tossup” between Conservative and Liberal, and in this particular election I can’t afford to “vote my conscience”. The existence of Canada is at stake. And so I hold my nose really hard and recognize the reality of the facts before me.

Some people may be fortunate enough to be in ridings where a vote for NDP wouldn’t literally help put Poilievre in power, but I am not. I must do what I can to actually help. I recommend everyone check your riding’s polling numbers to confirm whether you have that luxury.

They do not, and this is an offensive stereotype. Half of Albertans didn’t even vote for her, and I’m sure a substantial portion of those who did are not “fine” with her helping foreign governments take over Canada.

According to a recent poll 12% of Albertans would “definitely consider” joining the US. Sounds bad, yeah? But Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario come right behind at 11%. Should we also say “Ontarians are fine with helping foreign governments take over Canada”?

I’m not asking anyone to “have faith.” I’m just asking you to recognize that statements like:

Albertans remain fine with her election interference and helping foreign govts take over Canada

Are an inaccurate and frankly downright offensive stereotype. Albertans are not “fine” with helping foreign governments take over Canada. That statement is tarring an entire population with a vile accusation.

I said it was a near 50/50 split. It happened to fall on the Danielle Smith side of that split, and so she won the election. If just a few percent more had gone NDP then it would have been the other way around. This is fairly typical of how elections work, I’m not sure what more needs to be explained.

The actual popular vote split was 52.63%/44.05%, though of course thanks to first-past-the-post the split of the number of seats in the legislature wasn’t as close as that. The maps look bluer because of the huge sparsely-populated rural regions that voted Conservative, but remember, land doesn’t vote. Those huge sparsely-populated rural regions don’t have as many representatives as the cities.

They do not. Please quit with the stereotyping of all of Alberta as being some kind of “Texas North.” Last election was a near 50/50 split between Conservative and NDP, and we’ve had an NDP government in the recent past. Would not be at all surprised if we have an NDP government next election, most Albertans are not fine with foreign governments taking over Canada.

One of the things I like about this one is that the containment procedures include:

As a way of limiting the impact of the anomaly, Foundation staff are to monitor all educational institutes for high rates of bear attacks

Implying that educational institutes have some rate of bear attacks that would not be considered “high.”

You didn’t read the article I linked. The term came into use before LLMs were a thing, it was originally used in relation to image processing.

I’m including inevitable future deaths in Trump’s kill count. He’s already set in motion actions that will lead to more - ending of various aid programs, ending medical research, putting an anti-vaxxer in charge of the health department, and so forth. His policies regarding Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, etc., will lead to at least as many combat-related deaths.

In terms of the destruction of America’s alliances and reputation, Trump has already vastly exceeded anything Bush II did and he’s only two months in. In terms of the destruction of America’s system of government, same.

It’s a technical term of art that’s used by experts in the field.

Silently thanking whatever dark powers they believe in that not only did they get away with it scott-free, their crimes have now been eclipsed by more flagrant recent ones.

Reminds me of SCP-1313.

Indeed. The question of political trends would be kind of hard to focus on through the constant headlines about bombings and assassinations.

Ah, okay. Since you opened with a question I assumed you were engaging in debate with me, which was confusing since we seemed to be in agreement.

They don’t have the bizarre “charisma” that Trump possesses. I’d roll those dice.

Well, yes. I am opposed to repealing section 230, it’s one of the few good parts of the CDA. I’m arguing with someone who’s in favour of repealing with section 230.

Sure, but wouldn’t it be nice if people inside the USA could still run instances too?