Brock Beauchamp
-
Posts
32,669 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
328
Content Type
Profiles
Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis
Minnesota Twins Videos
2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings
2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses
Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors
Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources
2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses
The Minnesota Twins Players Project
2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses
2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses
2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses
Forums
Blogs
Events
Store
Downloads
Gallery
Everything posted by Brock Beauchamp
-
You're missing my point. I want a level playing field and I've been talking about computerized gerrymandering for a long time now, at least five years. But I don't think the parties will do it for us. I want to see the prevailing party use computerized gerrymandering so nefariously that the public snaps out of its trance and forces actual change. Gerrymandering has always existed but only in the past 15 years have we seen computing power coupled with data gathering become so powerful that it becomes a tool of ruling, not governance.
-
You only have to worry about the tiebreaker if you lose the presidential election.
-
Absolutely, but my point is that to draw fair lines, you have to anger everyone enough to force it from the populace. The parties won't do it on their own.
-
And that's fair. I've struggled over this a bit and came down on the side that "make everybody hurt" is the best way to fix computerized gerrymandering.
-
I don't want fair districts in 2020. I want machine learning, completely out of control down to the street and house number level, gerrymandering. Let's not only use computers, spend $500m and hire a slew of Google, Facebook, and Apple developers to predict behavior and drill down to the predicted number of people living in every house for the next ten years. Let's break this ****, yo. If the GOP can do it and ignore Democrat squealing for a decade, hoist them upon that ****ing petard and turn that machine back on the beasts that created it. Because only when both parties feel the crushing pain of having their vote diminished will we see actual movement on this topic. And when that movement comes, I will support it wholly.
-
Absolutely. As I'm sure you're aware, I've been hammering at this for quite awhile now.
-
Ah, good point about Alabama. I missed the election coming up there in 2020 because of the special election (much like Minnesota, actually). But after this election, you don't think Democrats can pick up enough seats for at least a stalemate with that many states in play? They just won in AZ. I think the GOP holds the other senate seat but we shouldn't downplay just how firmly urban and suburban areas have unified against the GOP over the past two years. Of course, that could change in two more years but things don't look good for the GOP the way things are going right now. And remember that the 2018 election wasn't won out of apathy (which usually ensures a GOP victory). Everybody showed up, the GOP had its ass handed to it, and Trump wasn't even on the ticket. I don't get why liberals are so eager to downplay just how much of a wave cascaded through this country in 2018. People showed up and they were pissed on both sides... but one side has more people and they're a hell of a lot angrier about the situation.
-
I think people have too short a memory on these things. Congress had four consecutive GOP-friendly elections in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016. The Democrats aren't going to erase the deficit in a single election of a house that has six year terms.
-
It's Florida. The testicular hot mess of America.
-
No, it doesn't look bad in two years. The Democrats have 12 seats up in 2020. Of those, only two are really questionable without knowing the candidates involved: Alabama and Virginia. The rest are places like MN, NM, IL, and a smattering of New England states. The Republicans have 21 seats up in 2020. Most are comfortably red middle of the country states but there are interesting seats in play: ME, AZ, CO, WV. And you never know when a state like Georgia might flip and there are a few states like that on the fringes, depending on the candidates involved. If the suburbs continue their anti-Trump stance, a lot of those fringes could be close and/or flip blue.
-
People were unreasonable about the Senate. Democrats gained in AZ and NV. One is a swing state, the other firmly conservative. Democrats held the line in the swing states of MI, WI, PA, and OH. They held the line in the conservative states of WV and NC. Democrats lost in the extremely conservative states of IN, MO, and ND. But if you look closely, there's some important information in there... namely AZ, NV, MI, WI, PA, and OH. Deliver those states in 2020 and the Democrats waltz into a massive victory.
-
Democrats picked up Maine's 2nd district in the run-off (!) vote tally, bringing their total seat gain to 35 with several more districts to be decided. It's the biggest House gain by Democrats since Watergate.
-
*blank stare* Well, ****. Didn't see that one coming. -
Welcome to the world of targeted advertising. It's not what's being read/watched but who is reading/watching. But these things will get smarter in time. As ads are able to use machine learning to gauge the content of the well, content you're watching, they'll be able to better refine what kind of ads they display and keep the correct tone. In other words, it's not really the fault of your ABCs... it's a limitation of the technology we use at this point. People tend to think that technology is a lot smarter than it really is at any given point in time (the old "science vs. magic" thing). If you see something weird or inappropriate in technology, there's a good chance it's because technology is stupider than you think it is.
- 1 reply
-
- 1
-
-
As far as tech goes, I think they're a pretty safe bet for awhile. My biggest problem with anything in the market right now is that I think the economy is due for stagnation or even contraction, which is going to pinch a bunch of tech stocks because they're: 1. Primarily consumer-driven, which means a downturn hits them hard as consumers cut spending harder and faster than business 2. Most tech stocks are massively overvalued based on a hopeful market that profits will someday catch up with valuation, a tall order if sales plateau or even decline
-
I think Roku will get squeezed a little by the competition over time but they should do okay for themselves. They’re the only company pushing hard to win on a few fronts: price, integration into TV sets, and high quality interfaces. Apple doesn’t compete on price, Google doesn’t compete on integration (and Google’s strategy is so scattershot that they hurt themselves constantly), and the game consoles are too bloody expensive for most people. Roku’s overall market overhead is probably a bit limited because of the competition but I think they continue to be a leader in the market for quite some time.
-
And people in LA refer to Fontana as "Fontucky". It's pretty common out there to make fun of the south and the rural west at the same time. Personally, I always preferred "The Valley of the Dirt People" when referring to the Inland Empire.
-
Thankfully, Florida Man can now vote again. Doing an assload of PCP and attempting to seduce an alligator while wearing a Santa Claus costume is no reason to permanently take away someone’s right to vote.* *or is it?
-
We had this problem with our dog and a gentle leader worked well. If the dog pulls, it turns his/her head toward you. After a short time, they learn to stop pulling so hard.
-
Pelosi is angling for the speaker chair again. This is why you can’t have nice things, Democrats.
-
It's a badly needed strategy going into a census election in two years.
-
I was wondering about this ballot but didn't feel strongly enough either way to sway me away from my (recent) anti-Republican ways. Oh, how I remember the days when I used to split tickets almost every election...
-
I refuse to expect any good news until I'm punched in the face with it.
-
Why? He is objectively an awful person using any metric that isn't partisan, racist, sexist, etc. Which is why I'm not afraid to directly go after anyone who voted for Trump. If you want to be a Republican, that's your decision. I don't agree with it, but I respect it. But the moment you eschew your supposed values to back an objectively awful human being, you've become fair game in my eyes. I can vociferously debate a Republican and walk away without animosity. I can't do the same to people who back the likes of King and Trump.
-
As you'd probably expect, I've done quite a bit of reading, talking to professionals, and attended classes on this exact subject because it so directly and frequently applies to foster children (ie. almost all of them). Not only does it last a lifetime, it often sends the kid down a bad path from which they may never recover. Even when these emotions settle (in other words, slide back under the surface so as not to seem present all the time), behaviors begin to manifest as a result: oppositional defiance, violence, ADHD, blah blah blah. The list of problems that come from this kind of situation are as long as my ****ing arm and they're all AWFUL. It's so painfully unnecessary and cruel. Every damned bit of it. And as someone who basically gave up six months (and counting) of my life to cope with it, it makes me so ****ing angry I can't see straight.
