US Politics: Culture Club

[Rippounet]

41 minutes ago, The Mother of The Others said:

Diversity includes diversity of thought.

Unlike humans, all thoughts are not born equal. Long ago my philosophy teacher would say that the great tragedy of the world is that people mistake opinions for ideas and yet always demand the respect due the latter.

[DMC]

8 minutes ago, Rippounet said:

Unlike humans, all thoughts are not born equal. Long ago my philosophy teacher would say that the great tragedy of the world is that people mistake opinions for ideas and yet always demand the respect due the latter.

One of my most favorite people ever in the discipline, and probably the most famous/prolific I know, would always tell this anecdote about going to the doctor and the doctor asking him if he did this, this, and this.  And my advisor would respond by being like, here's a survey I designed, can you get everything right in my area of expertise?  That's the problem with being a political scientist - everybody thinks they're an expert - which is why the same advisor always said on flights he'd tell the person sitting next to him he was a lawyer.

[Martell Spy]

2 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Man I don’t know what the fuck happened in the last thread, did you all do too many drugs?

or not enough drugs...

Well, if you can't get a walking taco, you basically have to stuff everything into a tortilla. And at that point your culture collapses, and New York City and LA start looking like the Snake Plissken movies.

[Martell Spy]

Would Trump’s Reelection Doom the Planet?
Jay Inslee says the next four years "is our last chance ... to do something about it." Is he right?

https://newrepublic.com/article/154539/trumps-reelection-doom-planet

Quote

 

The urgency of climate change is finally dawning on the public. Two-thirds of Democrats now say they view global warming as a “critical threat,” and most call it the most important issue to discuss in presidential debates. The Democratic presidential candidates are paying attention, too. Many have released detailed climate plans; most have promised to refuse campaign contributions from fossil fuel industry executives; and nearly all support having a climate-only debate.

This sudden interest is understandable. The climate crisis is playing out before our eyes in ways it never has before, with unprecedented heat waves, flooding, and storms around the globe. Scientists’ warnings have also become more dire in recent years, their worst-case scenarios reading more like dystopian fiction than reality.

But the most potent reason for voters to be concerned about climate change this year is that we’re running out of time to prevent some of its worst effects. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has determined that the world could hit 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming—the point at which irreversible damage begins—as soon as 2030. This time crunch has led some to say the 2020 election represents humanity’s last hope. “This is a climate crisis. An emergency,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee said last month during the first Democratic debate. “And it is our last chance in an administration—the next one—to do something about it.”

But how important is this election, really? Scientists and policy experts agree that 2020 isn’t literally the last chance to save humanity, but four more years of Trump undoubtedly shrinks our chances to ensure a future safe from catastrophe. U.S. emissions likely wouldn’t reduce at the necessary pace, and the lack of leadership on the international stage could cause countries to decelerate their own energy transitions. The planet wouldn’t be doomed quite yet, but it would be closer to doom than ever before.

 

 

[Kalbear]

Btw @Tywin et al., while trump announced the guatemalan deal it isn't actually set. The last time this was tried Guatemalas government ruled that their president cannot unilaterally announce a treaty like that. 

Chances are pretty reasonable that trump is announcing a deal the same way he always does - when it isn't remotely close to done and will likely be bullshit. 

[Zorral]

16 hours ago, The Mother of The Others said:

Like the ability for us to also stand united as a people, to know we're on the same team underneath all our vaunted differences.

Please explain why multi-culturalism within a community negates that?  See, for example, the multi-cultural, but predominately white, community in Heritage, TN, standing together to protect a latinx family from ICE.

IOW, what I see is just the opposite.

Again, that's the main argument one has seen throughout history for getting rid of those people who aren't 'us' -- they allow in the other EviLe Others, who take our stuff. 

Even when we are the same culture, as with Justinian determined that the entire east and west Empires worship exactly the same -- he spent the equivalent of billions in wars of extermination of other forms of Christianity to make his form the one and only.  Over and over this what one sees about security being linked to no deviation.  Deviation becomes sliced ever smaller and smaller, until someone who gets sick from pork is burned at the stake.

 

 

 

[Centrist Simon Steele]

13 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

Would Trump’s Reelection Doom the Planet?
Jay Inslee says the next four years "is our last chance ... to do something about it." Is he right?

https://newrepublic.com/article/154539/trumps-reelection-doom-planet

 

I think this is accurate to some extent, but even if someone like AOC went into office tomorrow (just a hypothetical), she would face extreme opposition from not only the Republican controlled Senate, but her own Democratic controlled house. I don't know why this is but my cynical side says, it's about money in the pockets of our representatives. 

Edit: I want to clarify, I think the assessment is true. We're at a tipping point, and I feel empty when I think about it because I know nothing is going to happen. I might make it through my life without too much discomfort, but what about my son? Or his kids? Or my nephew and niece and their kids? It really bothers. It honestly keeps me up some nights. 

Our only hope, I think, is some breakthrough in carbon capture, but...that's a lot to pin our hopes on. If that happened, the question would be: would we take advantage and reverse course? Try to take care of the planet? Or, as we always do when we get a windfall, squander it until we're back in the same situation, or a worse one?

[Centrist Simon Steele]

46 minutes ago, Triskele said:

Terrifying piece here makes the case that Trump and Barr are currently succeeding in a total asymmetrical information campaign.  Goes on to say impeachment the only option.  Also drops the horrible stat that 24% of all appelette (sp) judges are Trump appointees.  Already.  Largely thanks to Mitch.

This Moscow Mitch burn is really perfect and should be used at every opportunity.  

 

I was listening to NPR's Embed series (which is wrapping up a series on ol' Mitch--what a scumbag, if you weren't sure by this point), and the latest episode talks about how Democrats kind of started this war in terms of justices. Of course, the anger Republicans held over Miguel Estrada's treatment (and it seems like it was bullshit) has been repaid a hundred fold. If you haven't listened to this series, Trisk, I whole-heartedly recommend. 

[Jace, Extat]

3 minutes ago, Simon Steele said:

I think this is accurate to some extent, but even if someone like AOC went into office tomorrow (just a hypothetical), she would face extreme opposition from not only the Republican controlled Senate, but her own Democratic controlled house. I don't know why this is but my cynical side says, it's about money in the pockets of our representatives. 

Money and stability. It is very natural for even 'progressive' actors to lose a great deal of their ambition once they achieve a position of power. Why upset a good thing right? And even if you know it's not a good thing, you made it work right? Surely if other progressives worked as hard as you did then we could make some progress, but in the meantime you better not make too many waves and get run outta town before those allies you want show up.

My chief beef with AOC, cause otherwise I think she's great, is her politicking. It is very, very, lacking. She's all passion, which is what draws people to her, but passion don't get shit done in Washington unless you have established power on your side. You don't get to just storm into office and make sweeping changes. That's quite simply not how the system works.

We can decry the system as unfair and intractable and counter productive and all of that is true. But it is the system we have.

[DMC]

@Kalbear mentioned Trump's approval was going up in 538's aggregate a few days ago, which was correct and something I keep my eye on as well.  Now?  It's back down to 42.5/53.5.  In fact it's rather remarkable how stable his approval has been since May 2018, excepting the drop during the shutdown.  If you scroll down on their main page, another remarkably consistent measure is the generic congressional ballot, which has basically been at 46-40 for the Dems since they restarted it in April.  That's a damn solid spread. 

It seems the only fluctuation in Trump's approval is based on when too much of the aggregate score is attributed to Rasmussen (which if you ask me shouldn't even be counted considering their bullshit samples/weighting) and Harris - both of which, it should be mentioned, have been given the lowest polling grades on the one's they count at C+.  Silver tries to correct for that, but still.

Anyway, my overall point is it's pretty damn incredible how much evidence we now have that his ceiling is so low (and, OTOH, equally frustrating how high his floor is) considering the excellent-very good health of the economy throughout his entire tenure.  I've expounded upon economic models to predict presidential elections more times than I can count on here, but something about this stability and quirk between the economy and presidential approval has me thinking Trump may confound such models.  In what way?  I have no idea.

[DMC]

Yeah fuck him for shitting on Baltimore, I didn't even get why he felt the need to attack Cummings - was there a reason for it?  I really wish one of these days the secret service would just drive him a few blocks down and drop him off in Anacostia at night.

[Bonnot OG]

Get ready for all Trump dissent to be labeled antifa / antifascism. Good job pearl clutching liberals  & "neutral media" that is just a bunch of highly paid transcribers. 

 

We’ve totally slipped into totalitarianism. The trump administration is just issuing executive orders at this point. We can’t put anything past it

[Mexal]

3 hours ago, Triskele said:

And now according to Trump Elijah Cummings is from a rat-infested district.  No racism meant though I'm sure. 

Waiting to see who the first Republican will be to defend the comment by trying to cite pest control statistics.  

He watched a Fox News special this morning.  There are areas of West Baltimore that are pretty bad but Cummings district covers a lot of different types of places and some are very nice.

 

[dornishpen]

3 hours ago, DMC said:

Yeah fuck him for shitting on Baltimore, I didn't even get why he felt the need to attack Cummings - was there a reason for it?  I really wish one of these days the secret service would just drive him a few blocks down and drop him off in Anacostia at night.

Cummings is chair of the House Oversight Committee and of course Trump is racist.

[No one of consequence]

5 hours ago, Triskele said:

And now according to Trump Elijah Cummings is from a rat-infested district.  No racism meant though I'm sure. 

Waiting to see who the first Republican will be to defend the comment by trying to cite pest control statistics.  

It is, of course, only racist when Trump says it. 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-sanders-baltimore-20151207-story.html

[Larry of the Lawn]

6 minutes ago, No one of consequence said:

It is, of course, only racist when Trump says it. 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-sanders-baltimore-20151207-story.html

If you can't read that article and read what Trump said and understand the difference I don't know what to tell you.  

[DanteGabriel]

Just now, larrytheimp said:

If you can't read that article and read what Trump said and understand the difference I don't know what to tell you.  

The nuance will never be acknowledged. Believe what their username tells you.

[Kalbear]

I think what Sanders said 4 _YEARS_ ago is also bad. It isn't quite so blatantly racist, but it is certainly not great.

That said, Sanders was saying this to the people of West Baltimore (which isn't only Cumming's district) WHILE HE WAS THERE. He was literally speaking to them and with them about their issues. He wasn't a coward about it. 

[Jace, Extat]

58 minutes ago, No one of consequence said:

It is, of course, only racist when Trump says it. 

 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-sanders-baltimore-20151207-story.html

 

Plenty of people on this board have pointed out Bernard's... less-than-adaquate understanding of racism and sexism and really anything that isn't wealth inequality. 

Take your halfassed troll farm shit somewhere that I don't frequent. Begone, I say! And bore us no more with your drivelry. 

If you wish to reform your idiocy into an entertaining soliloquy, then by all means, ripost! Sweep against me with an indelible tale of the woebegotten 'conservative', or even 'centrist' or even the always-chic 'no sideist'! Come then, have at me! Let your ignorance and passion spring forward onto my place of amusement. And if you succeed in provoking a raised eyebrow, with perhaps a chuckle to accompany, then I shall rain upon you the laurels well deserved for your efforts.

But I warn you, simple soul. That I will brook no tangential enunciations which detract from my idle pleasures. If they fail to engage then I shall break upon whatever miserable despotic ruin from which you post with a force hitherto seen only in the NFL thread. I will tear down the skies upon your head, I will salt the earth and slaughter thine herds. Those massed dwellings which the poorest amongst you deign to call cities I shall lay to the Earth in my rampage against your psyche. 

I shall do all of this. And when the last embers cool, the bodies finalize into their decay, and the songs of dying reach their zenith. Then I shall show you the eternal fruits of mine ministrations. And I shall call it peace.

[Bonnot OG]