US Politics: The American Messias, Greenland and attacks on Jews voting Democrats. Or as we call it Wednesday.

[Toth]

6 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

So... For climate policy, why isn't anyone running on a one child per family policy?  World wide really? 

I guess mostly because China tried that and walked away from it because their people turned out to be despicable fucks who made girls disappear.

Then again, in the long run a two-child policy might be a good choice to curb our explosive growth. For some time it seemed that increasing urbanization naturally creates negative population growth, but I personally suspect that that's just because of economic anxiety preventing people from making children and therefore not really all that fair either.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Unsurprisingly Trump made an ass out of himself at the G7 summit dinner.

https://qz.com/1694884/trump-ruins-g7-summit-dinner-by-insisting-group-readmit-russia/

I think the rest of the World just needs to ignore the man and  move on without him. U.S. diplomacy is dead till we can remove this mess from office.

[Ser Reptitious]

8 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

As to the bolded, the only reason we're even talking about this is that Ser Repetitious said Pete could be exciting, which is a great way of saying someone has a face for radio.  "He could be 7 ft tall if his parents had fed him better".   And my entire point is that he isn't, and that his baggage isn't going to be fixed this election cycle.  There's nothing of Obama or even Clinton there. 

As you said to DMC in a previous post, a lot of this is subjective. I am much more liberal/progressive than moderate, so I get where you are coming from. But personally I have been quite impressed with what I have seen of Mayor Pete and think he has great potential. But again, that is entirely subjective, and he definitely needs to deal with the issues you pointed out.

He might make a good VP pick, though, come to think of it. Would give him a chance to become a bit more seasoned before taking another stab at the presidency, all the while staying in the public's eye.

 

3 hours ago, karaddin said:

I feel like this is buying into the right wing strawman that identity politics is entirely about the identity and thats it, when in reality what is desired is a candidate that lives up to all hopes and expectations and isnt a straight white guy, not just any random person that isn't a straight white guy.

That's actually exactly what I was trying to convey, but I guess it didn't come across that way. So in short, what you said! 

 

43 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Unsurprisingly Trump made an ass out of himself at the G7 summit dinner.

https://qz.com/1694884/trump-ruins-g7-summit-dinner-by-insisting-group-readmit-russia/

I think the rest of the World just needs to ignore the man and  move on without him. U.S. diplomacy is dead till we can remove this mess from office.

Is anyone really surprised that he wants his puppet master back in the club? Let's just be glad he isn't pushing for North Korea (yet).

[Bonnot OG]

Were gonna die 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

39 minutes ago, Bonnot OG said:

Were gonna die 

It's called rapture, look it up. You really have to update your vocabulary to fit the age of the New Messias.  If you ever wonder about the etymology of the word rapture, it's because it will all be started with the second coming of Tupac, I believe. Anyway, that rapture bit was of course a joke for the chosen people here. I could probably go on with that theme for a while.

On an unrelated note, I never thought I'd see bombing Hurricanes outside an (Ice) Hockey forum.

[Zorral]

Rethugs doing the Obama playbook -- ORGANIZE! Top to bottom!  Real People, talking to Real People!

Dem elites? -- doing the wonkery-wankery dance of stats 'n polls instead, no organizing, you know, Real People -- and losing.  Except Warren . . . .

"Republicans Are Studying Obama’s Campaign Playbook"
More Democratic elites should do the same, and do it now.
By Joy Cushman

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/opinion/republicans-obama-campaign-playbook.html?

Quote

 

Before Republicans send their organizers into early primary states, the organizers reportedly must read and pass a test on “Groundbreakers,” the story of how Barack Obama revolutionized campaigning by putting his faith in hundreds of thousands of volunteers.

.... Over the past decade, the party elites — consultants, strategists and donors — have caught the data-and-analytics fever and largely abandoned organizing. This has meant that entire neighborhoods have been politically redlined out of engagement in our most fundamental democratic practice.

Those of us who have spent our lives talking to regular folks on campaigns now walk around neighborhoods with lists created by someone at a computer far away. We have skipped many doors and missed entire families because the data experts didn’t have addresses or phone numbers for poor people, young people, people of color or people who moved a lot — many of those who carried Barack Obama to victory.

Going into 2020, Democrats cannot fall into the trap of being overly seduced by shiny tech-only tricks. They must get back to the hard work of pounding the pavement to organize the people who already want to vote for them. That’s how we’ll create the power to build a movement that attracts others. In fact, data from 2016 and 2018 show that organizing increases voter turnout more than any other single outreach method, including mail, TV and digital advertisements, and twice as much as contact from a stranger.

Part of the reason the debate has unfolded this way is because the story that took hold about how Barack Obama won, and has since permeated the voting industry, is that sophisticated data, technology and analytics twice won him the White House, not organizing or volunteers. That a few dozen tech nerds in the Chicago headquarters tipped the campaign to victory. This story, and the realignment of progressive interests and infrastructure around it, has baffled me and other top campaigners....

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What Elizabeth Warren Is Quietly Telling Democratic Insiders"
With phone calls, texts and handwritten notes, the Massachusetts senator is continuing an unusually determined outreach effort to show party officials she is aligned with them.
By Jonathan Martin

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-democrats.html?

Quote

 

.... As Ms. Warren steadily rises in the polls she is working diligently to protect her left flank, lining up with progressives on nearly every issue and trying to defuse potential attacks from supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “I’m with Bernie,” she responds when asked about what is perhaps the most contentious issue of the primary race: “Medicare for all.”

Yet publicly, and even more in private, she is signaling to party leaders that, far from wanting to stage a “political revolution” in the fashion of Mr. Sanders, she wants to revive the beleaguered Democratic National Committee and help recapture the Senate while retaining the House in 2020.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bonus - War! on journalism, journalists and their families!

"Trump Allies Target Journalists Over Coverage Deemed Hostile to White Hous" By Kenneth P. Vogel and Jeremy W. Peters

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/25/us/politics/trump-allies-news-media.html?.

Quote

 

...The operation is targeting the news media by using one of the most effective weapons of political combat — deep and laborious research into the public records of opponents to find contradictions, controversial opinions or toxic affiliations. The liberal group Media Matters for America helped pioneer close scrutiny of public statements by conservative media personalities.

....  reporters have been warned that they or their news organizations could be targets, creating the impression that the campaign intended in part to deter them from aggressive coverage as well as to inflict punishment after an article has been published....

 

 

[Erik of Hazelfield]

15 hours ago, Toth said:

I guess mostly because China tried that and walked away from it because their people turned out to be despicable fucks who made girls disappear.

Then again, in the long run a two-child policy might be a good choice to curb our explosive growth. For some time it seemed that increasing urbanization naturally creates negative population growth, but I personally suspect that that's just because of economic anxiety preventing people from making children and therefore not really all that fair either.

You guys haven't read your Rosling. 

Already today, the world average nativity is about 2 children per woman. Since there are more children than adults, population levels will rise in the coming 50 years - but then it will stop at around 11 billion people. This wonderful video shows the principle (if you can stand the Swenglish). 

https://www.gapminder.org/answers/the-rapid-growth-of-the-world-population-when-will-it-slow-down/

If we do want to accelerate the slow-down, we would do well to promote women's rights and better education in the world's poorest countries. No need for unpopular draconian rules about how many children you're allowed to have.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Erik of Hazelfield said:

If we do want to accelerate the slow-down, we would do well to promote women's rights and better education in the world's poorest countries. No need for unpopular draconian rules about how many children you're allowed to have.

But-but-but-BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!  That is what is colonialist draconian unfair -- women aren't supposed to have rights, and besides it is the white women not having enough kiddles and having too many rights that has destroyed the proper world order!  Yay! nazis!  They get it!

[Bonnot OG]

The candidates the DNC is offering up is pretty much a large pizza sized double stuffed oreo where the cream filling is actually mayo.

[The Anti-Targ]

16 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Unsurprisingly Trump made an ass out of himself at the G7 summit dinner.

https://qz.com/1694884/trump-ruins-g7-summit-dinner-by-insisting-group-readmit-russia/

I think the rest of the World just needs to ignore the man and  move on without him. U.S. diplomacy is dead till we can remove this mess from office.

Is that possible when it comes to climate change? I guess if most US states also forget about him and implement state-level climate change policies to meet the Paris Agreement it's safe for the world to ignore him as well, but can climate change targets be met without the USA mostly doing it's bit in some way?

[DireWolfSpirit]

^^^^^Well I suppose much of the World will still need to engage with the U.S. on many diplomatic levels. I'm just pointing out the caution they need to always keep in mind (sadly) that it is Putin's puppet they are engaging, not the historical U.S. govt as we have known it post WW2.

These people running our gov't simply cannot be trusted to represent legitimate altruistic policy.

Eta: I guess I would approach it in the Corleone(ish) manner of- "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."

Donald J. Trump turns on everyone and everything in time.

[Zorral]

Notably, Warren's favorable numbers have continued to increase -- she and Sanders are tied at 20%, at least according to the latest Monmouth poll (I'm not a convert to the church of political polls, btw); Biden's numbers continue to erode, from 32% in June to 19% now. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/27/whats-new-not-democratic-primary/

This is both nationally, and state-by-state. The biggest difference in the state-by-state is that Kamala Harris is higher than she is nationally. State-by-state Biden's numbers have fallen even further. 

~~~~~~~~~ 

And farmers are finally seeing that tvillain's screwed them. Truly screwed them. There goes the family farm. Not a joke. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/us/politics/trump-farmers-china-trade.html

Why are the feckless Dems allowing him to get away with all this shyte?  In fact, why are the farmers?

~~~~~~~~~

Speaking of 'the republic': 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/opinion/aoc-crenshaw-republicans-democracy.html?

Quote

 

Spend enough time talking politics on the internet — or in any other public forum — and you’ll run into this standard reply to anyone who wants more democracy in American government: “We’re a republic, not a democracy.” 

You saw it over the weekend, in an exchange between Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Dan Crenshaw of Texas. In a brief series of tweets, Ocasio-Cortez made the case against the Electoral College and argued for a national popular vote to choose the president. “Every vote should be = in America, no matter who you are or where you come from,” she wrote. “The right thing to do is establish a Popular Vote. & GOP will do everything they can to fight it.” 

Crenshaw, who has sparred with Ocasio-Cortez before, jumped in with a response: “Abolishing the Electoral College means that politicians will only campaign in (and listen to) urban areas. That is not a representative democracy.” And then he said it: “We live in a republic, which means 51% of the population doesn’t get to boss around the other 49%.”

 

Since when has been that the bolded hasn't been so, please? 

Quote

 

Crenshaw is wrong on the impact of ending the Electoral College. A presidential candidate who focused only on America’s cities and urban centers would lose — there just aren’t enough votes. Republicans live in cities just as Democrats live in rural areas. Under a popular vote, candidates would still have to build national coalitions across demographic and geographic lines. The difference is that those coalitions would involve every region of the country instead of a handful of competitive states in the Rust Belt and parts of the South.

 

 

And etc. 

Anyway, I do really like Warren and Castro, like them both more all the time. Castro seems not to be a blip in the Monmouth poll, of course, but he'd be a terrific VP pick. I can live with Sanders. In fact, of course, I could live with most of them if they ridded us of tvillain. 

And I love AOC and The Squad, and all the other young, energetic, diverse Dem figures coming up out of NY local politics.  they provide some optimism for the future, which is sorely needed.  tvillain provides nothing but destruction and hopelessness and hatred.

[DireWolfSpirit]

A lot of those farmers are getting what they paid for. They are majority R voters, perhaps they should reflect on that this time when they go into the booth.

[Jace, Extat]

58 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

A lot of those farmers are getting what they paid for. They are majority R voters, perhaps they should reflect on that this time when they go into the booth.

They won't but I was hoping for this within hours of the result. Gimmie a full-blown recession, dammit!

[DireWolfSpirit]

2 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

^^^^^Well I suppose much of the World will still need to engage with the U.S. on many diplomatic levels. I'm just pointing out the caution they need to always keep in mind (sadly) that it is Putin's puppet they are engaging, not the historical U.S. govt as we have known it post WW2.

These people running our gov't simply cannot be trusted to represent legitimate altruistic policy.

Eta: I guess I would approach it in the Corleone(ish) manner of- "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer."

Donald J. Trump turns on everyone and everything in time.

Interesting Guardian headline calling for cancelling future G7 summits until Trump is out of office, unfortunately it's probably the best course.

https://news.yahoo.com/cancel-next-g7-lets-resume-060003031.html

[DireWolfSpirit]

11 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

They won't but I was hoping for this within hours of the result. Gimmie a full-blown recession, dammit!

The inverted Yields have spoken!

[Jace, Extat]

1 minute ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

The inverted Yields have spoken!

While I was in traffic last week I spent a good five minutes pondering whether all this talk of inverted yield curves and imminent recessions has staved off the imminence because bankers watch the news too. It was a pretty mediocre Car Thoughts With Jace if I'm being honest. Usually I've got at least some Eastern Roman or Nazi or Mongol war crime taking up a solid 12% of my thought power, but last week was just slow. What can I say? If I recall correctly, I think that thinking session ended up with me deciding that when I make my first billion (any day now, really), I want to have made an outline of my face on the moon composed entirely of amethysts and clearly visible from Earth. 

[Fragile Bird]

I just got back from Ireland and Worldcon. Saw Vice on the plane. OMG what a movie! Go see it if you haven’t, it explains so damn much!

[Maithanet]

Generally fear of a recession causes a recession, rather than causes effective action which prevents a recession.  The world economy is still controlled by a bunch of greedy, panicky primates. 

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

A lot of those farmers are getting what they paid for. They are majority R voters, perhaps they should reflect on that this time when they go into the booth.

They'll just piss and moan about gummit not being run like the way they run the bidness of their 'farm' and how the innnileshuals back east effed 'em and the great big 'farmers', of whom these are the majority of what are today called 'farms' will demand even bigger hand-outs from the gummit at the same time -- and get 'em too -- in order keep growing corn for biofuel so they can keep those mammoth farm implements running to grow biofuel corn, and around and around around the farmers and the government and the banks go.