Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)

[Ternaugh]

2 hours ago, Ranxerox said:

 

They showed a video of him doing this along with the article that Cygnia shared.  He segued from his Hannibal Lecter joke to talking illegal immigrants.  So, really just more of claims that murderous pychopaths illegally crossing the US southern border.  Basically,  "Hey, Biden letting everyone come over, so soon we are going be overrun by cannibals".

 

I read that as "overrun by cannabis". 

[Starlord]

Mark Hamill met with President Biden on May the 4th

 

[Lord Liaden]

It appears to be mandatory for Fox talking heads to smear anything Joe Biden does and anyone who cooperates in doing it with him.

[unclevlad]

Broader perspective on insurance problems.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/05/13/climate/insurance-homes-climate-change-weather.html?unlocked_article_code=1.r00.KJCX.ckoOxC721hWe&smid=url-share

 

 

[Ranxerox]

21 hours ago, Ternaugh said:

 

I read that as "overrun by cannabis". 

Too late.

[Hermit]

On 5/12/2024 at 12:47 AM, assault said:

Because idiocy isn't restricted to the USA...

NSW government threatens some Western Sydney libraries' funding over same-sex parenting book ban

The ban got up because a socially conservative section of the Labor Party majority supported it.

 

Hopefully Australia can kick back against this sort of thing harder than much of America has. Good luck

[Cygnia]

CW: suicide

 

https://www.kens5.com/article/news/local/greenfield-parents-say-their-10-year-old-killed-himself-after-relentless-bullying-sammy-teusch/531-bd7d7744-8816-4d1b-bfb9-8fda6940c03b

[DShomshak]

There's no evidence (or, for those of us with suspicious minds, confession) that the Heritage Foundation manufactured a crudely forged pamphlet telling undocumented migrants to vote for Biden. But they promoted it without even the most rudimentary attempt at verification. This resulted in death threats. No ine has been murdered yet (so far as is known, or at least reported here), but it seems a splendid example of stochastic terrorism.

 

https://www.npr.org/2024/05/10/1248599505/migrants-vote-biden-conspiracy-theory-social-media

 

Dean Shomshak

[Lord Liaden]

Is the Heritage Foundation run by people so ignorant and stupid that they believe undocumented migrants can freely vote in America? Or have they just wholly swallowed the bilge about massive organized voter fraud perpetrated by a left-wing "deep state?"

[csyphrett]

4 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Is the Heritage Foundation run by people so ignorant and stupid that they believe undocumented migrants can freely vote in America? Or have they just wholly swallowed the bilge about massive organized voter fraud perpetrated by a left-wing "deep state?"

The heritage foundation created the idea of a deep state even though I don't think that has ever been true.

CES

[Old Man]

10 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Is the Heritage Foundation run by people so ignorant and stupid that they believe undocumented migrants can freely vote in America? Or have they just wholly swallowed the bilge about massive organized voter fraud perpetrated by a left-wing "deep state?"

 

No, the Heritage Foundation is run by knowledgeable white supremacists whose job is to frighten voters about undocumented migrants and fantasies of a left-wing 'deep state'.

 

And they're good at it, too.

Edited May 16 by Old Man

[unclevlad]

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/politics/supreme-court-cfpb.html?unlocked_article_code=1.sU0.7qGY.7Dhv50qCVRae&smid=url-share

 

Some of the conservatives hate it because the Bureau is not funded by Congress per se, and thus...they can't gut it by starving it of funding.

[Lord Liaden]

Trump's favorite words: Policy ideas he talks about most

 

These were compiled by Axios from 49 speeches and interviews Donald Trump has made over the past 16 months. They're categorized by how often he's said them over that period.

[assault]

On 5/16/2024 at 2:48 AM, Hermit said:

 

Hopefully Australia can kick back against this sort of thing harder than much of America has. Good luck

 

Cumberland Council’s book ban has been overturned, but what is really happening in Australian libraries?

[DShomshak]

5 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

Trump's favorite words: Policy ideas he talks about most

 

These were compiled by Axios from 49 speeches and interviews Donald Trump has made over the past 16 months. They're categorized by how often he's said them over that period.

Marketplace and other radio programs have had experts ponder Trump's economic policies (to the extent these can be divined) and, in particular, their effect on inflation -- since so many Americans blame that on Joe Biden and think Trump would do better on economic issues in general. I can't link to a specific program -- this is a summary from several (which also discuss many other topics, and you can't separate out specific Marketplace stories).

 

First, tariffs. Trump and his team have promised to jack up tariffs on just about everything and everyone, though especially against China.

 

Since tariffs are taxes paid by Americans, this jacks up the price of everything including what's produced domestically, since the supply of American-made goods cannot magically increase to replace imports whose price has been raised. So, inflationary.

 

(A recent Marketplace episode claimed Biden's economic advisors suggested he remove all the Trump tariffs as a way to bring down prices. But, well, the tariffs are popular with industrial worker unions. So they stay to curry favor with that constituency.)

 

Second, slashing immigration and deporting undocumented migrants. End the supply of foreign workers and remove millions of those already here. Instant labor shortage, simultaneously reducing production of goods and services and creating a bidding war for remaining workers. Which, yeah, could lead to big raises for those employees... except sudden wage increases is a great way to start an inflationary spiral.

 

Gee, maybe  Trump could complete the inflationary trifecta by pressuring the Federal Reserve to loosen the money supply. Well, Wall Street would love it. But as Marketplace's Kai Ryssdal reminds listeners every few months, "The stock market is not the economy."

 

Summary: By the most cold-bloodedly pragmatic calculations, Trump's economic policies would be highly inflationary. Perhaps even catastrophically inflationary. And it would most hurt the lower-income people who fret about inflation under Biden.

 

Dean Shomshak

[unclevlad]

2 minutes ago, DShomshak said:

Summary: By the most cold-bloodedly pragmatic calculations, Trump's economic policies would be highly inflationary. Perhaps even catastrophically inflationary. And it would most hurt the lower-income people who fret about inflation under Biden.

 

But since when do Republican leaders care about lower-income people...or, to a point, inflation, so long as the stock market keeps going up?

 

One of the points made in the insurance article I posted a couple days ago is, the developing insurance crisis threatens to turn into a housing market crisis.  No insurance...no mortgage.  No mortgage...no sales.  The housing market is a principle economic driver.  AND Trump's policies?  Sounds like an economy headed for a nuclear meltdown.

[tkdguy]

https://open.substack.com/pub/qasimrashid/p/debunking-racist-myths-about-jews?r=fyvxf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

[Lord Liaden]

23 minutes ago, tkdguy said:

https://open.substack.com/pub/qasimrashid/p/debunking-racist-myths-about-jews?r=fyvxf&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

 

Just as an aside, one of the very few admirable things about Champions' master villain, Doctor Destroyer, is that despite working for Germany during WW II, he wasn't a Nazi and never subscribed to their racist philosophy. I will "quote" DD from Scott Bennie's great 4E adventure, Day of the Destroyer:

 

"I was never a member of the National Socialist Party during Hitler's era. I met with the Feuhrer on several occasions and found his intellect sadly limited. His ideas on a master race were based on racism and egotism, without any scientific or logical background. Naturally, I rejected them out of hand."

 

"There is no biological or sociological factor that makes the Jewish peoples inferior to others. There never was. If one judges them by their ability to achieve, they are one of the most extraordinary racial groups in this planet's history. But that is because they have been placed into the crucible; one cannot be oppressed and go unchanged. One withers, or one gets strong. They have gotten strong."

 

(Descriptions of 5E/6E Destroyer are essentially the same.)

[csyphrett]

A Senator Whitehouse, and a couple of his buddies, want to know how much Clarence Thomas has been ducking paying his taxes. Apparently he has been receiving too many gifts that are unaccounted for on his paperwork. 

CES

[wcw43921]

Saw this on Facebook and spoilered for potential non-work-safeness.  You Cannot Make This Stuff Up.  You.  Cannot.

 

Spoiler

 

[Cygnia]

*facepalm*

*headdesk*

*sighs loudly*

[tkdguy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6xso-L81e4&ab_channel=OccupyDemocrats

[BoloOfEarth]

Posting here rather than in the Extra! thread (where Sundog originally posted it) due to potential political responses.

 

The President of Iran has died in a Helicopter crash.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-20/iran-president-ebrahim-raisi-helicopter-crash-no-sign-of-life/103869052

 

(Puts on MTG wig and red-painted tinfoil hat) Well, at least we know what they're doing with those Jewish space lasers.

[Simon]

1 minute ago, BoloOfEarth said:

Posting here rather than in the Extra! thread (where Sundog originally posted it) due to potential political responses.

Thank you for that.

[BoloOfEarth]

Just now, Simon said:

Thank you for that.

I was just going back to that thread to make a post suggesting they move discussion here when I saw your post.