Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[IndianaJoe3]

15 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

Yeah, I heard that last night. Trump's consiglieri can be very persuasive. I fear this will end the state's investigation of Trump's past business dealings.

 

No. The state investigations of trump will continue. This only affects federal prosecution.

[Doc Democracy]

just in case anyone was in any doubt (follow the arrow) !! 

 

[Old Man]

On 6/21/2020 at 5:15 AM, Ranxerox said:

 

TikTok Teens and K-Pop Stans Say They Sank Trump Rally

 

If you read the article, you will discover that it really comes down to a 51 year old black woman living in Fort Dodge, Iowa.  Through her suggestion to the internet, she probably prevented numerous Covid-19 deaths.  Way to go Mary Jo, you are my new hero.

 

She's a hero, but she didn't actually prevent anyone from showing up.  There was no point at which tickets would have run out.  Everyone who really wanted to go to that rally did so.  What the trolls did accomplish was preventing the rally from being cancelled beforehand due to low projected attendance.

[Twilight]

1 hour ago, Old Man said:

 

She's a hero, but she didn't actually prevent anyone from showing up.  There was no point at which tickets would have run out.  Everyone who really wanted to go to that rally did so.  What the trolls did accomplish was preventing the rally from being cancelled beforehand due to low projected attendance.

She also revealed that small towns in Canada have more people then Trump's rallies. 🤣

[Ranxerox]

1 hour ago, Old Man said:

 

She's a hero, but she didn't actually prevent anyone from showing up.  There was no point at which tickets would have run out.  Everyone who really wanted to go to that rally did so.  What the trolls did accomplish was preventing the rally from being cancelled beforehand due to low projected attendance.

 

No, tickets weren't going to run out but seats were.  The venue only seats 19,000 and if hundreds of thousands people had actually shown up most of them would never have made it through the front entrance.  Most people don't want to hire a baby sitter and drive for possibly hours to an event only to get turned away at the door.  So, all the talk about huge numbers of ticket request was bound to have discouraged many people who would have shown up if they had felt that they would definitely get attend the rally inside the stadium.  

[Lord Liaden]

4 hours ago, Doc Democracy said:

just in case anyone was in any doubt (follow the arrow) !! 

 

 

Any chance we could swap him for the one on the right? He looks smarter. 🐰

[TrickstaPriest]

On 6/21/2020 at 2:07 PM, Lord Liaden said:

It's amazing. Before Trump a move like this would have ended a politician's career.

 

This is why I give him no slack.  This, and actually reading his twitter.

 

So, so, so, SO many people are excusing him of doing things that are literally tearing apart the foundation of how the federal government works, especially equitably.  This is establishing precedent that will ruin government function in this country for decades to come if it is followed.  No matter who inherits it.

[Lord Liaden]

It's the constitutional duty of Congress to hold excesses from a President in check, and it's had many opportunities to do so. But the Republican majority in the Senate has for the most part protected and enabled Trump, convincing him he can get away with anything, which only encourages his delusions of grandeur. The root of the problem isn't Trump, it's the political and social environment that made him. If that isn't reformed there'll be another like him one day, only this one will probably be smarter and more competent, and therefore more dangerous.

[TrickstaPriest]

3 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

If that isn't reformed there'll be another like him one day, only this one will probably be smarter and more competent, and therefore more dangerous

 

Oh, I wholly agree on that.

 

Which is why I'm going to be moving in the next ten years no matter what happens.

[Starlord]

Trump praises scientists for developing AIDS vaccine, except...umm...darn, here we go again....

[Lord Liaden]

...Trump said: "These are the people, the best, the smartest, the most brilliant anywhere. And they've come up with the AIDS vaccine, they've come up with, or the AIDS and as you know there's various things and now various companies are involved but the therapeutic for AIDS. AIDS was a death sentence and now people live a life with a pill. It's an incredible thing."

 

Typical incoherent word salad, with the typical hyperbolic praise for whatever Trump wants to sell. It's a pathetic thing.

[Lord Liaden]

Appeals court orders dismissal of Michael Flynn prosecution

 

While Trump eyes tariffs, Americans really want more Canada

[DShomshak]

28 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

While Trump eyes tariffs, Americans really want more Canada

 

Not entirely a good thing, considering the reported 23% of Trump voters who want to invade Canada to seize its natural resources... 🤮

 

But perhaps I am too uncharitable: "Everyone outside the tribe is ripe for plunder" is how most cultures, though most of history, seem to have seen the world. Is it fair to blame humans for being, well, merely human?

 

Dean Shomshak

[DShomshak]

35 minutes ago, Lord Liaden said:

While Trump eyes tariffs, Americans really want more Canada

 

But it does bring up one of the ideas I had for how liberal and conservatives can disengage without a civil war: Sell the big cities to Canada. As electoral maps show, Dems dominate the cities while Republicans dominate everywhere else: Bubbles of blue in a sea of red.

 

The US Constitution offers no way to dissolve the Union, but countries *can* sell territory back and forth. (leaving aside the Louisiana Purchase, there's still the Gadsden Purchase, or buying Alaska from Russia.)

 

So for instance, if the US sold Pugetopolis to Canada to become part of British Columbia, LL and I could become fellow countrymen without having to abandon family, friends and my home. While the rest of Washington would become another deep red state to vote for Donald Trump.

 

Repeat to transfer, say, the 20 largest or most liberal urban areas to Canada, and most of us get what we want. Liberals get single-payer health care; Trump's base gets an all-red America that can change the Constitution to make him king and declare Eveagelical Christianity the national religion. A lot fewer black, brown and LGBTQ people, too! It also means losing a big chunk of economic productivity, but well, that's a small price for righteousness. God will provide.

 

I intend to suggest this idea to my senators and Congressional reps if Donald Truymp wins re-election. I dare say Trump himself might like the idea. It would be the greatest real estate deal in history, a really tremendous deal!

 

Is it too soon for me to learn how to sing, "O Canada"?

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

Well, among other things, taking on large numbers of your liberals would greatly swell the ranks of our conservatives.

[Old Man]

[Starlord]

I agree that tearing down statues is not the same as burning books.  You're not erasing our history by knocking down statues.  Statues are monuments that honor people, places and things.  However, I do wonder where you stop.  Who decides who is allowed to continue to be honored?  Do we tear down Muhammed Ali statues because he was an adulterer?  Do you tear down Lincoln statues because he allegedly jury-rigged the 1860 Presidential nomination?  No human is perfect and everyone has made bad decisions or took part in things that were wrong.  Symbols of the Confederacy should definitely go away, but cancel culture has turned into a virulent disease also.  Heck, in the last week we've disarmed Elmer Fudd and the Paw Patrol!?!?

 

PS:  I feel like some colleges are becoming the worst feeding ground for so-called 'cancelling'.  The wife, who is liberal immigrant who grew up in a country during a military dictatorship (Brazil), said something to me a couple years ago while she was completing her Master's at a major university.  She said, "Wow, in the year I've spent there I feel like I've been around more fascists than I did when I was growing up!"

[Dr. MID-Nite]

55 minutes ago, Starlord said:

I agree that tearing down statues is not the same as burning books.  You're not erasing our history by knocking down statues.  Statues are monuments that honor people, places and things.  However, I do wonder where you stop.  Who decides who is allowed to continue to be honored?  Do we tear down Muhammed Ali statues because he was an adulterer?  Do you tear down Lincoln statues because he allegedly jury-rigged the 1860 Presidential nomination?  No human is perfect and everyone has made bad decisions or took part in things that were wrong.  Symbols of the Confederacy should definitely go away, but cancel culture has turned into a virulent disease also.  Heck, in the last week we've disarmed Elmer Fudd and the Paw Patrol!?!?

 

PS:  I feel like some colleges are becoming the worst feeding ground for so-called 'cancelling'.  The wife, who is liberal immigrant who grew up in a country during a military dictatorship (Brazil), said something to me a couple years ago while she was completing her Master's at a major university.  She said, "Wow, in the year I've spent there I feel like I've been around more fascists than I did when I was growing up!"

 

So don't tear them down. Put them in museums where they can be seen and presented in their actual historical context. This isn't rocket science...and extrapolating by going....what about....or...where does it end....is just deflection at work.

[Sociotard]

An Appeals Court forces the Flynn Case to be dropped, making Judge Sullivan irrelevant.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/504273-appeals-court-orders-judge-to-dismiss-flynn-charges

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Starlord said:

I agree that tearing down statues is not the same as burning books.  You're not erasing our history by knocking down statues.  Statues are monuments that honor people, places and things.  However, I do wonder where you stop.  Who decides who is allowed to continue to be honored?  Do we tear down Muhammed Ali statues because he was an adulterer?  Do you tear down Lincoln statues because he allegedly jury-rigged the 1860 Presidential nomination?  No human is perfect and everyone has made bad decisions or took part in things that were wrong.  Symbols of the Confederacy should definitely go away, but cancel culture has turned into a virulent disease also.  Heck, in the last week we've disarmed Elmer Fudd and the Paw Patrol!?!?

 

PS:  I feel like some colleges are becoming the worst feeding ground for so-called 'cancelling'.  The wife, who is liberal immigrant who grew up in a country during a military dictatorship (Brazil), said something to me a couple years ago while she was completing her Master's at a major university.  She said, "Wow, in the year I've spent there I feel like I've been around more fascists than I did when I was growing up!"

Um I think a couple of Lincoln statues actually come under attack.

[Badger]

1 hour ago, Dr. MID-Nite said:

 

So don't tear them down. Put them in museums where they can be seen and presented in their actual historical context. This isn't rocket science...and extrapolating by going....what about....or...where does it end....is just deflection at work.

So my idea?

You  crackpot

 

[Sociotard]

29 minutes ago, Badger said:

Um I think a couple of Lincoln statues actually come under attack.

As did one of Grant in San Francisco 

[Lord Liaden]

Most statues are not "history." There's tons of documentation about the past that tell us much more about what really happened. Most statues are not "culture." They represent whatever their creators wanted them to, whether or not that reflects a significant portion of society. Most statues are there to draw attention, to have an impact, to make a point. In the case of statues of famous people, the point is to remind the spectator of who's dominant, who people are expected to revere. They're solidified propaganda. And often the propaganda of the past is an affront to where people are today.

 

Take a look at this statue of Theodore Roosevelt outside the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. For many years many people, including the administration of the museum itself, have wanted it gone. It's finally going to be removed. See if you think it says anything about American history, and if the point it's making is one we want people to be faced with today.

 

[Badger]

7 hours ago, Sociotard said:

As did one of Grant in San Francisco 

Well I feel smarter.😪

[Old Man]