USA Politics

MrKnickerbocker said:
I have complicated feelings on bike infrastructure. On a basic level: it’s great. Everything about biking is better for humans and better for the environment.

But good lord, bike people are the worst.

We’ve had a lot of changes and enhancements in bike infrastructure in Chicago, all good in theory, but the bike people treat the roads like their own personal playground. They do not follow traffic laws. They do not stop at stop signs, red lights, etc. They swerve into traffic without a hand signal to pass slower cyclists. On average, I experience at least 2-3 close calls with bicyclists every day that I drive. It’s incredibly dangerous.
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It's a vicious circle. I want to violently murder nearly every cyclist I come across as a driver, because they are a danger to their surroundings and themselves and behave in an absolutely unhinged (and weirdly arrogant) way ... and yet, the car traffic everywhere is so hectic, aggressive and everything I really don't feel like I could travel by bike with kids - ever since we've had kids (3, soon 4) me and wifey have nearly stopped biking altogether. Also, you won't go shopping via bike if you're buying stuff for 5 people.
However, I suppose it's a great thing for commuting if you live within city limits (or close enough) and you have a place to change.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
I have complicated feelings on bike infrastructure. On a basic level: it’s great. Everything about biking is better for humans and better for the environment.

But good lord, bike people are the worst.

We’ve had a lot of changes and enhancements in bike infrastructure in Chicago, all good in theory, but the bike people treat the roads like their own personal playground. They do not follow traffic laws. They do not stop at stop signs, red lights, etc. They swerve into traffic without a hand signal to pass slower cyclists. On average, I experience at least 2-3 close calls with bicyclists every day that I drive. It’s incredibly dangerous.
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Yes, this is exactly what I experience on a daily basis. You walk on the pavement, a nice, broad empty bike lane next to it, and you still have to worry about some asshole cyclist running you over. I don't know what to do, honestly.
 
I have very few problems with cyclists when I am visiting Sweden, at least where I spend most of the time, it is quite calm and chill. I also have few problems with cyclists in my subdivision, where there are few bike lanes but they share the road responsibly. The issue I have is in downtown Ottawa where they ignore signs and don't signal. I was one nearly clipped by a former leader of the NDP on his bike while crossing the street for work. The issue is education and likely some level of enforcement, but overall, biking is just a superior way for a society to commute when practical.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
Bike people are a bit like dog people: as soon as you give them an inch they become some of the most entitled assholes imaginable.
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Exactly why I don't have a bike or a dog.

Last night I was typing up a post about how I didn't think the current version of the Big Beautiful Bill would pass. Seems like somehow overnight they got the votes.
 
Mosh said:
Last night I was typing up a post about how I didn't think the current version of the Big Beautiful Bill would pass. Seems like somehow overnight they got the votes.
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Not looking forward to the vote coming up. What a special Fourth of July this will be. I can't wait to celebrate America on the day after Republicans rape our country again.
 
It's "cutting off their nose to spite their face" all over again.

If this would result in his supporters, who will suffer immensely from this, actually learning a lesson and adjusting accordingly in the future there would be some silver lining to this. But as we've seen time and time again they are hell bent on fucking up their own lives and everyone else's around them as well.

Rough times ahead.
 
Trump, Lepen, Farage etc. are the revenge of the poor, uneducated, no hope in hell bastards to a system that is consistently failing them, and us, for dozens of years. Problem is we are all going to pay the price, first and foremost them.
 
That's the thing with right wing populism. It promises easy and simple solutions to complex problems. Trump promised to lower prices. How is he gonna do that? Doesn't matter! He said he'll lower them, that's enough!

Far too many people fall for these lies and tactics. No amount of warning them about the consequences to come will convince them otherwise. They made up their mind. Things suck currently and this candidate promises change. Never mind that whenever any of these populists come to power things become even worse and all warnings turn true. It's a vicious cycle at this point.
 
Agree. And the cycle is fuelled by the inability and unwillingness of "progressives" to change anything for the better when they come to power. The only part where they have a positive impact is on society, but the economy is rulled by corporations and lobies, and has been for far too long now. They are so established that I do not believe anymore they can, or want, to change anything for the better.
 
That's the funny thing with Mamdani in New York. And with "funny" I mean frustrating and expected.

He ran a campaign with solid economic ideas. Things that have worked in different other cities in America, nothing too outlandish. But because he's a Democratic Socialist he's painted as the second coming of Stalin or something. It's expected that conservatives would fear monger about him, but to see some of the Dems give interviews tearing Mamdani down and outright slandering him, despite his campaign being a great blueprint to win back voters, is incredibly annoying.

Ever since the election the Dems have had an identity crisis. Some of them want to move further to the right, forsaking any progressive ideals and become a lite version of the GOP. Mamdani shows that moving and staying left is a viable option. Listening to what the voters want and need is more important than throwing marginalized communites under the bus. I guess "vote blue, no matter who" only applies if the candidate is a moderate?

I'm really curious to see how all of this will play out in the coming months.
 
As I said to a friend here in the UK when we were discussing UK politics, "you don't have right and left, you have right and less right" and he couldn't really understand it. The lefties instead of offering an alternative, they just fall in the trap of the right.
 
Probs best in the UK politics threads, but yes. Anything left of centre is so out of fashion that no major party will subscribe to it
 
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