US Politics: A Sinematic view on voting rights and the filibuster

[Ormond]

So, what do you all think of the upstart woman socialist candidate defeating the longtime incumbent mayor of Buffalo, New York in the Democratic primary?

India Walton Poised To Become Buffalo’s First Socialist Mayor | HuffPost

 

I'm definitely not one of the more left-wing posters on this thread, but as someone who spent most of my childhood years ago in a suburb of Buffalo, it's hard not to think "more power to her!" after reading the linked-to article. It's certainly another wake-up call to incumbents who are too complacent about the results of low-turnout primary elections. I do wonder how likely it is that the present mayor will run as an Independent in the general and if he can win that way. 

In terms of some comments by TrackerNeil above, I'd like to point out that Ms. Walton was smart enough to say

Quote

"she planned to relieve police “of the responsibility of fixing the problems that our municipal government should have been dealing with.”

  instead of using the term "defund the police."

[Zorral]

19 minutes ago, Ormond said:

So, what do you all think of the upstart woman socialist candidate defeating the longtime incumbent mayor of Buffalo, New York in the Democratic primary?

India Walton Poised To Become Buffalo’s First Socialist Mayor | HuffPost

 

I'm definitely not one of the more left-wing posters on this thread, but as someone who spent most of my childhood years ago in a suburb of Buffalo, it's hard not to think "more power to her!" after reading the linked-to article. It's certainly another wake-up call to incumbents who are too complacent about the results of low-turnout primary elections. I do wonder how likely it is that the present mayor will run as an Independent in the general and if he can win that way. 

In terms of some comments by TrackerNeil above, I'd like to point out that Ms. Walton was smart enough to say

  instead of using the term "defund the police."

Among other things, I think as usual the local media, and the parties' organizations, meaning, here, where I live, which isn't Buffalo, but I do live in the same state, did another atrocious coverage of candidates, which offices were up for election, and provided us with no information at all.  I dug and dug for information on the candidates here, on my local ballot, and for some of them I could find nothing at all, and for others, at best, nothing useful.  One has to believe this is deliberate.  Beyond that I heard and saw NOTHING about the election and candidates anywhere else in the state.

Here the media was just so gaga about Yang they ignored everybody else, except, of course, Adams, who it seems, as of today, is now the front runner for mayor.  Talk about reforming the cops?  Forget about it.  Beyond his copper embeddedness, the guy's a very slippery figure -- this bodes very badly for NYC.

[Fez]

32 minutes ago, Ormond said:

So, what do you all think of the upstart woman socialist candidate defeating the longtime incumbent mayor of Buffalo, New York in the Democratic primary?

I'm curious how things go in November.  New York has enough minor parties that it wouldn't be that hard for the incumbent to get on the ballot through one of them. Looking at past results, it seems that usually the Democratic alternative in the general election (either a Republican or a minor party if Republicans don't bother putting someone up) gets about 30% of the vote. If Byron Brown runs in the general anyway, things get very interesting; regardless of whether there's a third candidate or not.

[Fez]

In other news, it speaks to how bad things have gotten that I'm legit surprised by this:

 

[IheartIheartTesla]

The ACLU is already selling "F*ck everything" merch off the SC verdict. I wonder why Thomas dissented (might just be some old-fashioned BS about using proper language)..

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Got 50 minutes to kill? Enjoy this depressing podcast comparing and contrasting Trump's Republican party to Orban's Hungary.

Quote

Political science scholars look at Viktor Orban's regime in Hungary as a textbook case of rapid democratic decline. Is America moving in a similar direction? We learn what Hungary can teach the U.S. about accelerating authoritarianism.  

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

If you want to make the Orban comparissions. I'd suggest watching the Hello Dictator documentary, that deals with Orbans turning into a dictator, the relationship with the EU and rule of law crisis he has created. It's been a few years since it's been made, but still 90 mins worth watching imo.

Yes, video below is in German, but the subs youtube subs are in English.

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

4 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

If you want to make the Orban comparissions. I'd suggest watching the Hello Dictator documentary, that deals with Orbans turning into a dictator, the relationship with the EU and rule of law crisis he has created. It's been a few years since it's been made, but still 90 mins worth watching imo.

Yes, video below is in German, but the subs youtube subs are in English.

 

How is Hungary still in the EU?  How are Orban’s actions tolerated?

[Ser Reptitious]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

Here the media was just so gaga about Yang they ignored everybody else, except, of course, Adams, who it seems, as of today, is now the front runner for mayor. 

Not that I particularly care, but did Yang drop out? Or did something happen that made him drop out of contention? I've noticed his name not really being mentioned anymore in connection with the election, even though he seemed to be the presumed frontrunner. 

[Maithanet]

6 minutes ago, Ser Reptitious said:

Not that I particularly care, but did Yang drop out? Or did something happen that made him drop out of contention? I've noticed his name not really being mentioned anymore in connection with the election, even though he seemed to be the presumed frontrunner. 

He dropped in the polls over the past month, and last night finished a distant 4th in the first ballot results.  He has conceded. 

[Ser Reptitious]

Just now, Maithanet said:

He dropped in the polls over the past month, and last night finished a distant 4th in the first ballot results.  He has conceded. 

Ah ok, thanks! 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

3 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

How is Hungary still in the EU?  How are Orban’s actions tolerated?

The documentary touches on that issue, too. Hum, just checked the Documentary is newer than I remembered (it's from 2020, thought it was older).

Anyway, the expulsion mechanisms are kinda difficult. The founders of the EU were inherently optimistic. They didn't think anybody would move backwards, so going back from a Democracy to a Dictatorship was not conceivable to them. Now the EU has at least two states with an authotarian political leaderships, who undermine the rule of law and democracy at home. Hungary and Poland. Those two states also reportedly formed a pact, they will veto sanctions on each other. And that takes a lot of the bite out of the internal sanction mechanisms, and more or less renders the EU council useless, and that's where the real power lies. I wish the EU parliament would have more power, they started the last round of sanction mechanisms against Hungary.

But just watch the documentary I linked. It explains quite a bit.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

3 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

The documentary touches on that issue, too. Hum, just checked the Documentary is newer than I remembered (it's from 2020, thought it was older).

Anyway, the expulsion mechanisms are kinda difficult. The founders of the EU were inherently optimistic. They didn't think anybody would move backwards, so going back from a Democracy to a Dictatorship was not conceivable to them. Now the EU has at least two states with an authotarian political leaderships, who undermine the rule of law and democracy at home. Hungary and Poland. Those two states also reportedly formed a pact, they will veto sanctions on each other. And that takes a lot of the bite out of the internal sanction mechanisms, and more or less renders the EU council useless, and that's where the real power lies. I wish the EU parliament would have more power, they started the last round of sanction mechanisms against Hungary.

But just watch the documentary I linked. It explains quite a bit.

I will it sounds interesting.  Good practice for my German studies too.

[Zorral]

10 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

They didn't think anybody would move backwards, so going back from a Democracy to a Dictatorship was not conceivable to them

How could they be that ignorant of history?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

2 minutes ago, Zorral said:

How could they be that ignorant of history?

Francis Fukyama… The End of History and the Remaking of World Order.  The first time I saw the article his book was built from I thought he was incredibly short sighted.  But many bought into his bullshit.

[Martell Spy]

19 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Francis Fukyama… The End of History and the Remaking of World Order.  The first time I saw the article his book was built from I thought he was incredibly short sighted.  But many bought into his bullshit.

This BS was all over media in the 90's as well. Many were convinced, in the U.S. at least. 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

13 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

This BS was all over media in the 90's as well. Many were convinced, in the U.S. at least. 

I never understood why.  Humans will never remain static politically.  It’s not in our nature.

[Mindwalker]

4 hours ago, Ormond said:

So, what do you all think of the upstart woman socialist candidate defeating the longtime incumbent mayor of Buffalo, New York in the Democratic primary?

India Walton Poised To Become Buffalo’s First Socialist Mayor | HuffPost

 

I dig her.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Francis Fukyama… The End of History and the Remaking of World Order.  The first time I saw the article his book was built from I thought he was incredibly short sighted.  But many bought into his bullshit.

The two do appear nearly simultaneously. 

Back then I thought it impossible that anyone, including the author, actually believed that bs.  I still do!  Still, here we are in the deepest of excrement, while the author now gives interviews and receives respectful attention as he laments he was wrong.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 minute ago, Zorral said:

The two do appear nearly simultaneously. 

Back then I thought it impossible that anyone, including the author, actually believed that bs.  I still do!  Still, here we are in the deepest of excrement, while the author now gives interviews and receives respectful attention as he laments he was wrong.

There is no such thing as an inevitability end.  He was foolish to claim there was one.