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U.S. Politics: Phantom of the Emergency


DMC

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It is one way of downsizing the govt without having to write awkward letters, have awkward conversations or pay out redundancies. Experience will leave and move into the private sector, but then there will be staff shortages and govt departments will have to hire inexperienced people and deliver poorer services. And that in turn will further confirm in the minds of the right-wing that govt doesn't work.

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5 minutes ago, Rippounet said:

'tis something I said last year I think: Democrats are at a disadvantage because they want government to work. Republicans can just fuck everything up and it can still play in their hands.

Sad but true. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Democrat that's happy that the government is shut down while it would be pretty easy to find Republicans who don't care, least among them Trump. No clear minded person could think that he gives a damn that people are suffering because he was too scared to stand up to the right wing media. And honestly at the point, politically speaking, Trump has to hold is ground. As distasteful as Graham's comments were, he's probably right that if Trump backs down there will be no more funding for the wall and that will cost him his reelection. I have a hard time seeing a scenario where this comes to an end in which Democrats don't cave on some point, even if it's small and symbolic, and regardless of what it is, Trump will run around claiming victory.

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Just now, Tywin et al. said:

Sad but true. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a Democrat that's happy that the government is shut down while it would be pretty easy to find Republicans who don't care, least among them Trump. No clear minded person could think that he gives a damn that people are suffering because he was too scared to stand up to the right wing media. And honestly at the point, politically speaking, Trump has to hold is ground. As distasteful as Graham's comments were, he's probably right that if Trump backs down there will be no more funding for the wall and that will cost him his reelection. I have a hard time seeing a scenario where this comes to an end in which Democrats don't cave on some point, even if it's small and symbolic, and regardless of what it is, Trump will run around claiming victory.

I thought that too, but as it turns out Dems are winning this shutdown fight. The ratings for who is to blame are increasingly going against Trump, his approval rating is dropping, and it is looking worse and worse in various small ways. As others get inconvenienced - flights, passports, licensing, food stamps, HUD, parks - you're going to see that get worse and worse.

Because so far, he hasn't won the overall messaging, and that will cost him one way or another. 

So far there isn't that much pressure on Democrats to reopen the government at all costs, because they're not refusing to do anything that they had promised or voted into law. 

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15 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

I thought that too, but as it turns out Dems are winning this shutdown fight. The ratings for who is to blame are increasingly going against Trump, his approval rating is dropping, and it is looking worse and worse in various small ways. As others get inconvenienced - flights, passports, licensing, food stamps, HUD, parks - you're going to see that get worse and worse.

Because so far, he hasn't won the overall messaging, and that will cost him one way or another. 

So far there isn't that much pressure on Democrats to reopen the government at all costs, because they're not refusing to do anything that they had promised or voted into law. 

Every time I see or hear someone (logically and with plenty of evidence) say that Democrats have everything going for them a cold vise starts squeezing around my heart. 

Pelosi and Schumer are going to blow this. I don't know how, but the why is clear. Democrats are born to be losers.

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On 1/13/2019 at 2:09 PM, Triskele said:

I think it would have been one thing to have had comments about the differences or lackthereof between unions and marriages in 2004.  That probably wouldn't be too tough to explain away.  She was 22.  But the using and re-using the phrase "homosexual extremists" seems like it has a chance to really hurt. 

Combine this with the Hirono thing and the Assad thing...I'm not sure who Gabbard is or what her deal is in a way that jumps out compared to any other candidates.  

Anti-gay and pro-dictator is an interesting place to launch a Dem candidacy from.  

Sweet, beautiful Spoono, I’m pleased to find that you and I are in agreement on the subject of Tulsi Gabbard. But I dare say that Gabbard would be quite happy for all of us to continue to concentrate on her old despicable anti-LGBTQ positions. She and her supporters will (indeed have already begun to) excuse this as the youthful failings of a person who has since “evolved”. And after all shouldn’t we all be allowed room to evolve? And aren’t those who refuse to allow us to evolve the real enemy anyway? Complete horseshit, of course, but effective in distracting from the problem of her still held, and as far as I’m concerned, instantly disqualifying support of right-wing nationalist strongmen, in particular Narendra Modi. We can and should judge her by the company she keeps, and the fact that she supports violent, intolerant strongmen does not suggest that she would be the inclusive progressive leader she claims she would be.

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1 hour ago, Rippounet said:

There's something interesting here. Funnily enough, I'm something of an optimist, though it doesn't necessarily show. I do think there are technical solutions to climate change. The thing is, they should have been implemented yesterday. As we procrastinate and lose so much energy because of the resurgent nationalisms of our time, we're only making it increasingly likely that technical solutions alone will not suffice and that we will have to endure some form of "eco-fascism" - as the right would put it. I just can't see who will profit from that...
Perhaps in the grand scheme of things it's all for the best: an eco-führer might turn out to be a good ruler, who knows. Not sure veganism as a state religion will be fun though. :D

:wub:

 

It seems even the Earth itself is conspiring against us when it comes to climate change: https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/380119/earth-s-tilt-may-speed-up-global-warming-study

Quote

Earth's tilt may speed up global warming - study

"If your tilt is high, basically it points the poles more directly at the sun so they get warmer, so at a high tilt you've got much more heat coming in to the polar regions."

The ice sheet is buffered by these warmer waters by sea-ice but as emissions continue to rise, that sea-ice is slowly disappearing, making the ice sheet more vulnerable to melting, Mr Levy said.

"Where we sit right now, CO2 levels in the atmosphere are 400 parts per million - they haven't been that high for millions of years - human activity, anthropogenic activity have pushed CO2 up to the point where we've actually jumped back into the miocene, back into this time when CO2 was high such that sea-ice disappeared."

"Our expectation would be that the Earth and the ice sheets become much more sensitive again to this obliquity forcing."

"It just so happens that our tilt right now is relatively high, and so perhaps in the coming decades - centuries, we would expect to see, an amplification of warming around the Antarctic that we haven't seen for millions of years," Mr Levy said.

And oceans are warming faster than previously expected: https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/380089/report-shows-ocean-temps-rising-faster-than-previously-thought

Quote

Researchers from the United States and China said this could lead to higher sea level rise and more extreme cyclones in the tropics.

In an analysis published in the journal, Science, the team found that the oceans are heating up 40 percent faster, on average, than a UN panel estimated five years ago.

They concluded that ocean temperatures have broken records for several consecutive years, which has dire implications for climate change, and tropical low-lying environments like the Pacific.

I guess the one positive is that the US and China can sometimes work cooperatively.

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3 minutes ago, Myshkin said:

Sweet, beautiful Spoono, I’m pleased to find that you and I are in agreement on the subject of Tulsi Gabbard. But I dare say that Gabbard would be quite happy for all of us to continue to concentrate on her old despicable anti-LGBTQ positions. She and her supporters will (indeed have already begun to) excuse this as the youthful failings of a person who has since “evolved”. And after all shouldn’t we all be allowed room to evolve? And aren’t those who refuse to allow us to evolve the real enemy anyway? Complete horseshit, of course, but effective in distracting from the problem of her still held, and as far as I’m concerned, instantly disqualifying support of right-wing nationalist strongmen, in particular Narendra Modi. We can and should judge her by the company she keeps, and the fact that she supports violent, intolerant strongmen does not suggest that she would be the inclusive progressive leader she claims she would be.

Indeed, being an [insert any identity that excludes most of the world] nationalist is (or should be) pretty much disqualifying for anyone who wishes to represent the progressive, segment of a multicultural electorate. 

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From a more pragmatic standpoint, anyone who thinks that Syria didn't gas their own people with the evidence that even made TRUMP believe it gets an automatic NO from me.

I need zero people in politics who are willing to simply deny actual data because it suits their narrative. If she wants to spin it as not as big a deal (which honestly it isn't; gassing people isn't killing them any different than barrel bombs does, or hunger from famine does in Yemen) and that it's more important to get out of Syria, fine. But saying that she doesn't think it was Syria? Please. 

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41 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

From a more pragmatic standpoint, anyone who thinks that Syria didn't gas their own people with the evidence that even made TRUMP believe it gets an automatic NO from me.

I need zero people in politics who are willing to simply deny actual data because it suits their narrative. If she wants to spin it as not as big a deal (which honestly it isn't; gassing people isn't killing them any different than barrel bombs does, or hunger from famine does in Yemen) and that it's more important to get out of Syria, fine. But saying that she doesn't think it was Syria? Please. 

STOP BEING SO RADICAL

APPEAL TO CENTRISTS 

 

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So, this is where the line is apparently in the Republican party of 2018, The funny thing here is that if Trump were to come out and say the exact same words, the Republicans would find a way to excuse it because clinging to power requires it. And maybe it's crazy talk, but I find more threatening the white supremacist that is President, and has both the power and willingness to put children in cages. 


GOP Strips Rep. Steve King Of All Committee Assignments Over White Supremacist Views
The controversy was reignited last week after King asked: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-steve-king-committee-assignments_us_5c3d2cd2e4b0e0baf54058bc

Quote

 

Republican leaders have stripped Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) of all of his committee assignments for the current Congress following a new wave of outcry over the lawmaker’s vast history of white supremacist viewpoints and racist rhetoric.

“We will not be seating Steve King on any committees in the 116th Congress,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday after a meeting of the GOP Steering Committee. The decision was unanimous.

King lambasted his removal in a statement released late Monday, saying, “McCarthy’s decision to remove me from committees is a political decision that ignores the truth.”

“Ultimately, I told him ‘You have to do what you have to do and I will do what I have to do,’” King wrote. “I will continue to point out the truth and work with all the vigor that I have to represent 4th District Iowans for at least the next two years.”

 

 

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23 hours ago, Rippounet said:

Can you oppose something like a Green New Deal and be a centrist?

Thus far, I have not seen a concrete definition of "Green New Deal" -- different people use it to mean different things and some of them are definitely inconsistent with even the European version of centrism.

23 hours ago, Rippounet said:

A reasonable centrist might even have to accept the fact that eternal economic growth is quite simply not fully compatible with the survival of our species.

It's not necessarily about growth -- you can have growth as technology improves -- but your "reasonable centrist" (i.e. one who is concerned about the environment) is definitely incompatible with the current incarnation of capitalism because the latter is insanely wasteful by construction. Think about the production of practically any physical good: shoes, smartphones, water heaters... all of them have the same incentives for wastefulness. We are capable of making them so that they last a long time, but this is not done because the manufacturers prefer that you buy replacements and because making something last longer usually makes it more expensive to manufacture. And every product replaced entails energy lost at multiple stages: it has to be produced, packaged (with packaging that is ultimately discarded), transported to the store, stored and finally transferred to the customer.

Even without technological breakthroughs, we could significantly reduce our energy usage by significantly lowering consumption, but of course we will never do this because every one of those energy consuming steps results in profits and jobs. And even when things aren't broken or, less frequently, deliberately crippled by the manufacturers after a period of time (this mostly happens with electronics that are regularly updated with new firmware or drivers), there is a strong pressure to upgrade to the newest model applied via marketing. It's (mostly) not a matter of some evil individuals being wasteful, the whole system is wasteful by construction and there's currently no way to generate the kind of energy it requires without severe environmental impact (though if what you want is simply to avoid carbon emissions, we can do that...).

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4 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

It is one way of downsizing the govt without having to write awkward letters, have awkward conversations or pay out redundancies. Experience will leave and move into the private sector, but then there will be staff shortages and govt departments will have to hire inexperienced people and deliver poorer services. And that in turn will further confirm in the minds of the CENTRISTS that govt doesn't work.

Fixed that for you.

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3 hours ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

Every time I see or hear someone (logically and with plenty of evidence) say that Democrats have everything going for them a cold vise starts squeezing around my heart. 

Pelosi and Schumer are going to blow this. I don't know how, but the why is clear. Democrats are born to be losers.

I am so sorry :crying: to type -- :agree:

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15 hours ago, OldGimletEye said:

Okay, I know I've ranted about the skills gap before. But, this was something that truly drove me nuts.
Not saying that investing in job training is not a good idea. It is.
But the whole skills gap meme, promoted by the likes of Jaime Dimon and other "reasonable centrist", missed the bigger issue about the job market. It was a case of "reasonable centrist" being just completely out to lunch, but thinking they were something else.

Was there anyone outside of academia, the mainstream media and corporate boardrooms who took this idea seriously? Whenever I saw a story about it, the comments from both the left and the right amounted to "This is nonsense; they're simply inflating the job requirements." I vaguely recall there was somebody on these boards who argued that the requirement of multiple years of experience in various programming languages was reasonable, but beyond that I can't think of even a casual acquaintance who thought the skills gap was real.

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You know everyone is getting worn down when no one has posted the embarrassing white house feast yet. I don't know how a guy so obsessed with showing off how "classy" he is with solid gold thinks under delivering on food doesn't make him look bad. This isn't even the first time, it's just an escalation.

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35 minutes ago, karaddin said:

You know everyone is getting worn down when no one has posted the embarrassing white house feast yet. I don't know how a guy so obsessed with showing off how "classy" he is with solid gold thinks under delivering on food doesn't make him look bad. This isn't even the first time, it's just an escalation.

I wonder if that’s what Clemson requested.  Maybe they voted on it or something.  I wouldn’t rule that out.  But otherwise it is definitely tacky, if only becuase it’s kind of lame to get served a mundane thing like a Big Mac at a once in a lifetime event like visiting the White House.

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13 minutes ago, S John said:

I wonder if that’s what Clemson requested.  Maybe they voted on it or something.  I wouldn’t rule that out.  But otherwise it is definitely tacky, if only becuase it’s kind of lame to get served a mundane thing like a Big Mac at a once in a lifetime event like visiting the White House.

“I must have drank me fifteen dr peppers.”

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