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Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)


Simon

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Potentially good news...

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/09/us/north-carolina-gerrymander.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

 

"A panel of federal judges struck down North Carolina’s congressional map on Tuesday, condemning it as unconstitutional because Republicans had drawn the map seeking a political advantage.  The ruling was the first time that a federal court had blocked a congressional map because of a partisan gerrymander, and it instantly endangered Republican seats in the coming elections."

 

Balanced by potentially bad news...

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/09/rnc-ballot-security-consent-decree-328995

 

"After more than three decades, Republicans are free of a federal court consent decree that sharply limited the Republican National Committee's ability to challenge voters' qualifications and target the kind of fraud President Donald Trump has alleged affected the 2016 presidential race.

 

 

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3 hours ago, megaplayboy said:

I strongly dislike the idea of making non-politician presidents a regular thing.  Why not hire Scott Baio to run your company's IT infrastructure? Hey, he knows nothing about the job, but he's likeable and entertaining.  

 

So, what are the job requirements to be a politician?  My elected representative will have to make decisions on criminal law, financial matters, education, international policy, and numerous other very specialized areas.  He or she cannot be an expert in all of these diverse areas, so what specific qualifications should one have to be eligible to be an elected representative? 

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2 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

So, what are the job requirements to be a politician?  My elected representative will have to make decisions on criminal law, financial matters, education, international policy, and numerous other very specialized areas.  He or she cannot be an expert in all of these diverse areas, so what specific qualifications should one have to be eligible to be an elected representative? 

1. Dedication to public service

2. Ability to listen, understand and respond to constituent concerns

3. Ability to get up to speed quickly on a variety of subject matter

4. Ability to achieve consensus, including with people who have greatly divergent goals and perspectives

5. Proven experience doing all of the above

 

More to the point, if you're going to get a brand new job in politics, starting at the very top seems a bit much, don't you think?  

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11 hours ago, eyocum said:

Balanced by potentially bad news...

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/09/rnc-ballot-security-consent-decree-328995

 

"After more than three decades, Republicans are free of a federal court consent decree that sharply limited the Republican National Committee's ability to challenge voters' qualifications and target the kind of fraud President Donald Trump has alleged affected the 2016 presidential race.

Why do americans love to make it hard on themself?

 

We germans just got a Federal Register of who lives where.

You get Vote Notificaiton via mail

You also get a entry in your areas voting list

You have to bring either the Vote Notification (the may ask for ID optionally) or need ID + entry in the list.

 

I guess in a land where people and even whole families have to live in cars that would be slightly unfeasible. And since we are using MMP, gerrymandering is practically useless:

 

 

4 minutes ago, BoloOfEarth said:

A simple look at the White House and Congress should more than fill your quota.

I have standarts for my jokes. That is too low hanging fruit. Plus I had some poor experiences with some bad apples back in the day, so I try to stay clear of them.

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Oh, to be only on the first step towards a police state...  Please pardon me while I wax nostalgic about the good old days...

 

The days when it was inconceivable for the phrases "United States of America" and "secret military tribunals" to belong in the same sentence, except in a context like "The United States of America condemns the practice of secret military tribunals in certain nations that do not share our democratic values and our respect for human rights."

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Telling a palindromedary about the good old days....

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Part of the trick with a national registry is that Americans are terrified of them. We think it is the first step towards a police state.

By that logic every European Coutnry is on the first Step towards a Police State. And has been for decades. Yet in the US magnitudes more people are shoot by the police yearly?

 

It is just a registered Adress to send all official mail too (like all voting notifications, mail from the Police, etc.).

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"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

--Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus"

 

"I've spoken of the Shining City all my political life. …In my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here."

--the 40th president of the United States

 

"Why are we accepting all these people from shithole countries?"

--the 45th president of the United States

 

"Jesus wept"

-John 11:35

 

 

 

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Goddammit, Trump. Can you and your people go a week without screwing up something that works? 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-freezes-database-of-addiction-and-mental-health-programs/2018/01/10/ed421654-f577-11e7-beb6-c8d48830c54d_story.html

 

I know they don't have a deep commitment to science or research, but damn. Going from NREPP back towards "beds and meds" (compulsory inpatient medication as a primary front end intervention) is a radical departure from the last twenty years of refinement and treatment focus. 

 

Feel like I'm taking in a weird parallel universe. Regardless of party, demonstrated effective interventions being the preferred approach to publicly funded services is something folks have historically agreed on. 

 

Guess that's over.

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Goddammit, Trump. Can you and your people go a week without screwing up something that works?

How else could he distract from the Russia Scandal and hte last 5 scandals he started to distract from it?

 

Also, the full name of the program was "National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices ". Evidence-based? Yeah, it was doomed.

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I would just like to say that the people of Britain are grateful that the President is not visiting next month.  The excuse is about not opening the new embassy which he blames on the Obama administration although he did not mention that the decision to leave Grosvenor Square was by the Bush administration. The papers and other media are speculating that he would get a rough reception from the public which was a factor in his decision. 

Apparently he will also not be going to the Royal Wedding either which removes certain security problems.

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*Ponders the irony that Norwegians probably don't come to the US because they think its a sh*thole country.*

 

Ayup. I mean, we're an amazing nation, but let's not pretend Norwegians are looking at  our news and going "Yeah, that's exactly where I want to go"

 

Norway is doing great. Barring a possible attack from Putin's Russia or something, it needs the US about as much a yeti needs an Air conditioner.

 

Of course the countries that have problems are where folks are coming from. That doesn't make them ****hole nations, it makes them poor nations with problems. Haiti isn't anymore a ****hole nation for having earthquakes and poverty than parts of California are ****hole for having Wildfires and PETA or Texas is for having Floods earlier and Dallas Traffic.

 

I'm against illegal immigration but sympathetic to those who try it. I am FOR Legal Immigration, particularly as part of helping those downtrodden who need help and a chance. Could we get maybe a billion bucks thrown into our processing system that helps applicants become American citizens faster? How about that, law AND the Dream. But no, Trump clearly has his idea of what's acceptable, and it looks racist, and just as bad, like if you don't come in wearing a nice suit he'd just as soon you never get into the club. 

 

Trump's a racist, if that was the limit of his disdain for his fellow humans, I'd be disgusted and worried that we had a president who fit that in the 21st Century. Say what you want about Bush Jr, but the efforts he made to help African nations speak well of him. But Trump's not JUST a racist. He's sexist. He's a classist.  He's an elitist in every way, and yet has none of the right to be smug about it. He's an uncultured swine who had pearls cast before him when he was young and used that start to bully more treasures from others and claims he's self made. He values strength above all, and attacks anyone who shows him as weak in any area. He throws folks in pits in order to stand taller, and he shows no loyalty to any unless they do something for him, while whining like a schoolboy when folks refuse to kowtow.

 

Dear Norwegians, please do yourselves a favor and don't come here for another 3 to 7 years.. We'd love to have you, but the truth is? We're not dressed in our best.

And to those countries that fall under the category of ****hole by Trump's standards? If you've seen his standards, on ethics, on honor, on decency, you'll realize you don't really WANT his approval.

 

 

 

 

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