U.S. Politics Independance Day edition

[argonak]

13 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

If only Nazis would come up with a cool new name, people would stop hating them.

Yeah they're trying to get on the school board in my area, while screaming about critical race theory and communism.  This current moral panic is really spreading through the whole of the right in america.

[Fez]

22 hours ago, Ormond said:

Very interesting. It immediately makes me want to know some answers to rather unimportant questions -- like why is Lesotho of all places the only African country with more trade to the USA than China in 2020? What commodities does Lesotho trade with any other country besides South Africa? 

Pretty sure they've got diamond mines, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if that's an industry (at least luxury diamonds, not industrial ones) where the US still has a larger presence than China.

Also, a map I'd be more interested in is showing which countries the US or China is the #1 trade partner, versus it being another country entirely. Like, China edging out the US in trade with Germany seems like a big deal, but are either anywhere close to the amount of trade Germany has with France or Italy?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

22 hours ago, Week said:

 

The sarcasm is funny, the parodying of Trumpanistas and their arguments is funny, but it’s just feeding the existing fire.  Sarcasm is lost on these folks.  

This is poorly thought out.  It is pointing a bellows at a pre-existing fire.

[Week]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The sarcasm is funny, the parodying of Trumpanistas and their arguments is funny, but it’s just feeding the existing fire.  Sarcasm is lost on these folks.  

This is poorly thought out.  It is pointing a bellows at a pre-existing fire.

This is such a nothing burger in terms of reach - a random twitter thread that is clearly satire. Try to briefly have some enjoyment in life. I find it a challenge these days to identify anything resembling positivity or joy - so I will do so in the rare occasions that I do. 

Otherwise, the terrorists win.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

24 minutes ago, Week said:

This is such a nothing burger in terms of reach - a random twitter thread that is clearly satire. Try to briefly have some enjoyment in life. I find it a challenge these days to identify anything resembling positivity or joy - so I will do so in the rare occasions that I do. 

Otherwise, the terrorists win.

Taunting people isn’t something I see as “positive”.  That’s all it is… taunting the foolish.  

[Zorral]

In other words you don't agree with Week about making fun of the death cultists, and Week doesn't agree with Ser about not making fun of the death cultists.

In the meantime one of Them shot up an ambulance team this AM in Tucson, and then went on to shoot up a fire fighting team. So wotcha gonna do there, Ser? Criticizing making fun of death cultists will have so much effect, right? on the vast, endless chain of Their violence.

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

15 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

If only Nazis would come up with a cool new name, people would stop hating them.

You mean something like Alt Right?

2 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The sarcasm is funny, the parodying of Trumpanistas and their arguments is funny, but it’s just feeding the existing fire.  Sarcasm is lost on these folks.  

This is poorly thought out.  It is pointing a bellows at a pre-existing fire.

They'd find something else to get outraged over. It doesn't really make any difference. If it wasn't that dude mocking them in the twitterverse (for the record twitter is still for twats), it would be those woke kids denying Captain his overdue promotion to Admiral, because they hate white men.

[Zorral]

In a parking lot out there in 'murka, loading groceries, gun on one hip, t-shirt with this message,

AMERICA
A Land that Gave Up Its Freedom
To fight a disease with a
99.7% Survival Rate
 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

9 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

You mean something like Alt Right?

They'd find something else to get outraged over. It doesn't really make any difference. If it wasn't that dude mocking them in the twitterverse (for the record twitter is still for twats), it would be those woke kids denying Captain his overdue promotion to Admiral, because they hate white men.

No argument.  I just see no benefit to deliberately taunting people.  

That’s me.

[Week]

2 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

No argument.  I just see no benefit to deliberately taunting people.  

That’s me.

The GQP has built itself around taunting people as it's core ethos and it's not (yet) clear that it won't be successful long term.

Also, it's satire. The pearl clutching is so absurd. Frankly, I appreciate the effort to expose the inanity of the allegations by 'admitting' to them as opposed to simply yelling at the idiocy straight on.

Anyways, thanks for the fun scold Scot. 

[Zorral]

Making fun of the rethuggery hypocrisy regarding freedum and everything else -- what does one do in the face of such things? Beyond, of course, going to court.  And how's that workin' out for us here?

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/sb-8-texas-abortion-law-10000-dollar-bounty-1194953/

Never say These people don't hate women and Black women in particular.

Quote

. . . . These laws always disproportionately affect people of color. We live in a state where maternal mortality is very, very high — and uniquely high among black women. And I really worry about what will happen to folks once this law goes into effect. I see people who are physically unable to carry the pregnancy to term because of their health conditions, and that tends to be people of color and especially black people because of the low access to health care, and because of the low coverage of any kind of insurance, but especially with Medicaid and the state’s refusal to expand Medicaid and all the things that go into being a person of color living in Texas. This is going to be very, very difficult. I think we’re going to see some extreme things among low-income folks and people of color as this law potentially goes into effect. . . .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/texas-abortion-lawsuit/2021/07/13/e0cee10c-e33c-11eb-b722-89ea0dde7771_story.html

Quote

 

Lawsuit targets Texas abortion law deputizing citizens to enforce six-week ban

. . . .A dozen states have passed laws banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. But the Texas law, set to take effect in September, goes further by incentivizing private citizens to help enforce the ban — awarding them at least $10,000 if their court challenges are successful. Even religious leaders who counsel a pregnant woman considering an abortion could be liable, according to the lawsuit filed in Austin by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several other groups. . . .

 

These Texans literally demand bounty hunters on women who are more than 6 weeks pregnant.  Where is our freedum here?  I keep looking for it. This is astonishing like the Fugitive Slave Act. Anybody could point at anybody and accuse them of being an escaped slave. The one pointed at was not allowed to speak, nor was anyone else allowed to speak up in counter argument in the court.  And for every accusation adjusted successfully that the accused was an escaped slave, the court/judge was awarded -- depending on what state, up to $20, while any case that was unsuccessful only got half that.
 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

12 minutes ago, Week said:

The GQP has built itself around taunting people as it's core ethos and it's not (yet) clear that it won't be successful long term.

Also, it's satire. The pearl clutching is so absurd. Frankly, I appreciate the effort to expose the inanity of the allegations by 'admitting' to them as opposed to simply yelling at the idiocy straight on.

Anyways, thanks for the fun scold Scot. 

Yup.  I, for one, don’t like engaging in behavior I object to from QNuts.  But, again, that’s me.

[maarsen]

3 hours ago, Fez said:

Pretty sure they've got diamond mines, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if that's an industry (at least luxury diamonds, not industrial ones) where the US still has a larger presence than China.

Also, a map I'd be more interested in is showing which countries the US or China is the #1 trade partner, versus it being another country entirely. Like, China edging out the US in trade with Germany seems like a big deal, but are either anywhere close to the amount of trade Germany has with France or Italy?

More likely the countries that have a higher rate of trade probably have more dollar type stores selling schlock. 

[Paladin of Ice]

17 hours ago, Martell Spy said:

If only Nazis would come up with a cool new name, people would stop hating them.

What do you think “alt-Right” was supposed to be? Fortunately they’re dumb enough that they screwed it up.

[Zorral]

45 minutes ago, maarsen said:

More likely the countries that have a higher rate of trade probably have more dollar type stores selling schlock. 

China owns vast swathes of Africa, very vast, via 'investment' in everything from infrastructure such as highways. dams, airports, logging factories, etc.  There is, however, no investment by China in hospitals, medical schools or any other sort of education.

Not just in Africa.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/19/china-buying-us-farms-foreign-purchase-499893

Quote

China is buying up American farms. Washington wants to crack down.
Bipartisan pressure is building to stop foreign nationals from purchasing American farm operations and receiving taxpayer subsidies.

What China doesn't have, the Saudis do.

[Larry of the Lawn]

It was something else reading the comments from people panicking in that US/ China trade map thread.

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Yup.  I, for one, don’t like engaging in behavior I object to from QNuts.  But, again, that’s me.

Fair enough, though it does seem you're being a bit snooty about it.  And it's not like this is engaging in the behavior that's actually objectionable among these people.  Satire, and specifically ridiculing people with idiotic political beliefs, is a pretty universal and time-honored tradition.

[Larry of the Lawn]

9 minutes ago, DMC said:

Fair enough, though it does seem you're being a bit snooty about it.  And it's not like this is engaging in the behavior that's actually objectionable among these people.  Satire, and specifically ridiculing people with idiotic political beliefs, is a pretty universal and time-honored tradition.

It's our bulwark against the darkness.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

17 minutes ago, DMC said:

Fair enough, though it does seem you're being a bit snooty about it.  And it's not like this is engaging in the behavior that's actually objectionable among these people.  Satire, and specifically ridiculing people with idiotic political beliefs, is a pretty universal and time-honored tradition.

Yeah.  

[Martell Spy]

Quote

You mean something like Alt Right?

Not bad. Almost sounds like you are in to going to independent movies in the artsy part of town, in between the violent bs.

Yeah, I don't think Q anon rebranding will work even as well as it did for a while for the nazis. They would have to still bust out the conspiracy theories at some point. Finding out you have been tricked in to a 911 truther chat room would be comforting in comparison to that.