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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5775 on: April 07, 2017, 02:41:17 AM »

"During the Obama years, Republicans made no effort whatsoever to pass any of their initiatives. That would have required meeting some of the president’s demands, which were assumed to be unacceptable, regardless of what they were. All Republican legislative efforts went into one thing: stopping whatever Obama wanted to do, no matter the merit or the possibility they could get something for themselves with a small amount of compromise. To the GOP base, compromise equaled capitulation and therefore was forbidden."

"The problem is that the legislative machinery has atrophied from lack of use for so many years on the Republican side. Republicans have forgotten how to properly draft a bill, vet it, built coalitions, make deals and put a major piece of legislation across the finish line. The president can’t help because he knows nothing whatsoever about the legislative process, not to mention the larger policymaking process that includes lobbyists, trade associations, citizen groups, think tanks and the news media."

---

The whole point is that the Senate is supposed to be the Grand Deliberative Body that takes the time to work for a nationally acceptable compromise that will last. That's why they have staggered six-year terms, while the House gets churned up every two years. When you are giving someone a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the country, shouldn't that call for exactly that sort of collective judgment and consensus-building that was originally intended? If your candidate for that most serious of positions cannot earn the acceptance of two-thirds of the Senate - and therefore two-thirds of the states - shouldn't you try to find a better candidate instead of changing the rules?


All of this.

God, we are so fucked as a country right now. I hope the 30 pieces of silver that the Republicans got from Moscow is worth it.
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5776 on: April 07, 2017, 04:28:48 AM »
I think the biggest problem is the life long appointment. 10 years + another 10 years if confirmed a second time would be enough. Why shouldn't eg. democrats confirm a second period for a former republican candidate if he showed proven independency in his decisions.

If there is a shorter period for appointments it would be also OK if only 50% +1 vote would be necessary.
Anti-social behaviours lack consideration for the well-being of others. Any types of conduct that violates basic rights (human rights is one of them) of another person. It can show as covert or overt hostility.

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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5777 on: April 07, 2017, 04:42:14 AM »
I believe the reason why the SCOTUS has lifetime appointment is an extension of what rtpoe talked about earlier: just as how the House of Reps is most changeable (elections every two years for the entire body), and the Senate is a little less so (elections every six years to change one-third of the entire body), the SCOTUS is the most long-lasting and therefore (in theory) should be the most deliberate and most deliberative body of government. The means of appointment to the SCOTUS is supposed to be part of the checks-and-balances built in to the system: POTUS (Executive branch) nominates, Senate (Legislative branch) "advises and consents" to the nominee. If a member of SCOTUS screws up, they can be impeached and removed from office, via a trial in the House.
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5778 on: April 07, 2017, 05:50:09 AM »
I believe the reason why the SCOTUS has lifetime appointment is an extension of what rtpoe talked about earlier: just as how the House of Reps is most changeable (elections every two years for the entire body), and the Senate is a little less so (elections every six years to change one-third of the entire body), the SCOTUS is the most long-lasting and therefore (in theory) should be the most deliberate and most deliberative body of government. The means of appointment to the SCOTUS is supposed to be part of the checks-and-balances built in to the system: POTUS (Executive branch) nominates, Senate (Legislative branch) "advises and consents" to the nominee. If a member of SCOTUS screws up, they can be impeached and removed from office, via a trial in the House.

That's why I said 10 years. And a maximum of 20 years is what helps to have this important institution stay stable enough for what it supposed to do. Remember when the "life long" appointment was designed people lived 20 years in average less. The founding fathers today probably wouldn't want a life long appointment anymore.
Anti-social behaviours lack consideration for the well-being of others. Any types of conduct that violates basic rights (human rights is one of them) of another person. It can show as covert or overt hostility.

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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5779 on: April 07, 2017, 01:34:49 PM »
There would be those who would argue "why stop there? Why not have term limits for Senators also?" And that would I think lead us to a pretty unstable ever-roiling democracy.

But I guess you will never know unless you try it. After all, if it doesn't work out you could always reverse your decision.
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Bramlet

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5780 on: April 08, 2017, 03:54:32 AM »
I do support the airstrikes against Syria.

« Last Edit: April 08, 2017, 08:33:43 PM by gonZo »

Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5781 on: April 08, 2017, 10:30:11 AM »
I do support the airstrikes against Syria.


Generally I'm against any military intervention. But so I'm also against any weapon production (of any kind), selling weapons, using weapons (guns and riffles included) and owning guns and riffles ...

Unfortunately a majority of people wouldn't follow me with this.
Anti-social behaviours lack consideration for the well-being of others. Any types of conduct that violates basic rights (human rights is one of them) of another person. It can show as covert or overt hostility.

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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5782 on: April 08, 2017, 07:34:06 PM »
Typical of US Presidents going back to Theodore Roosevelt, if not further...when things are going bad at home, bomb somebody else overseas, preferably someone brown. Everyone gets distracted, and some even start calling you "presidential".

Quote

Cable news personalities on Friday seemed to equate the legitimacy of a U.S. president with dropping bombs. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria stated that “Donald Trump became president of the United States” when the strikes started, while The Washington Post’s David Ignatius said on MSNBC that the commander in chief had “put pure more umph, more credibility” back into “American power.” MSNBC’s Brian Williams went so far as to call the Tomahawk missiles ― which state-run Syrian media reported killed at least nine people, including four children — “beautiful.”

[Veteran news reporter Dan Rather] pointed out that no matter what someone’s opinion on whether the airstrike was the correct course of action, the media’s job is to ask difficult questions, not drool over the spectacle of war:

The role of the press is to ask hard questions. There is ample evidence that this Administration needs to face deep scrutiny. The lies we have heard, the chaos in governance, and the looming questions about ties with Russia - itself a major player in Syria - demand that the press treat this latest action with healthy skepticism. Perhaps it was the right thing to do. Perhaps a strong and wise policy will emerge. But that judgement is still definitely hanging in the balance.



There's reasons why Pres. Obama was so reluctant to get involved with the Syrian conflict, and it's not for the reasons that his successor continues to spout. Quite ironic that Mr. "America First" who swore off foreign intervention (and who sniped at his predecessor's heels about it) is doing this now. Also ironic that while his successor is more than happy to bomb an airfield just after tipping off the Russians (who in turn tipped off their clients, the Syrians), he isn't willing to receive the refugees from the conflict under the guise of "keeping us safe". Because of course people running away from a conflict with barely anything more than the shirts on their back are all dangers to us, even though have to undergo extremely stringent vetting over multiple years. Don't take my word for it -- take it from a person who actually does this for a living and has done for the past decade or so.


So basically:
« Last Edit: April 08, 2017, 08:20:33 PM by TheZookie007 »
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5783 on: April 09, 2017, 04:29:30 AM »
Now you have to be very careful. The US government wanted to force Twitter to hand them out the identity/user data of a US-junta critical Twitter account giving insight into the very inefficiency that has built up with the new junta.

Now you indicate you are involved in the vetting and being extremely critical to the new junta. This makes you a target to be silenced by them.

Typical of US Presidents going back to Theodore Roosevelt, if not further...when things are going bad at home, bomb somebody else overseas, preferably someone brown. Everyone gets distracted, and some even start calling you "presidential".

Quote

Cable news personalities on Friday seemed to equate the legitimacy of a U.S. president with dropping bombs. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria stated that “Donald Trump became president of the United States” when the strikes started, while The Washington Post’s David Ignatius said on MSNBC that the commander in chief had “put pure more umph, more credibility” back into “American power.” MSNBC’s Brian Williams went so far as to call the Tomahawk missiles ― which state-run Syrian media reported killed at least nine people, including four children — “beautiful.”

[Veteran news reporter Dan Rather] pointed out that no matter what someone’s opinion on whether the airstrike was the correct course of action, the media’s job is to ask difficult questions, not drool over the spectacle of war:

The role of the press is to ask hard questions. There is ample evidence that this Administration needs to face deep scrutiny. The lies we have heard, the chaos in governance, and the looming questions about ties with Russia - itself a major player in Syria - demand that the press treat this latest action with healthy skepticism. Perhaps it was the right thing to do. Perhaps a strong and wise policy will emerge. But that judgement is still definitely hanging in the balance.



There's reasons why Pres. Obama was so reluctant to get involved with the Syrian conflict, and it's not for the reasons that his successor continues to spout. Quite ironic that Mr. "America First" who swore off foreign intervention (and who sniped at his predecessor's heels about it) is doing this now. Also ironic that while his successor is more than happy to bomb an airfield just after tipping off the Russians (who in turn tipped off their clients, the Syrians), he isn't willing to receive the refugees from the conflict under the guise of "keeping us safe". Because of course people running away from a conflict with barely anything more than the shirts on their back are all dangers to us, even though have to undergo extremely stringent vetting over multiple years. Don't take my word for it -- take it from a person who actually does this for a living and has done for the past decade or so.


So basically:
Anti-social behaviours lack consideration for the well-being of others. Any types of conduct that violates basic rights (human rights is one of them) of another person. It can show as covert or overt hostility.

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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5784 on: April 09, 2017, 04:33:34 AM »

Now you indicate you are involved in the vetting and being extremely critical to the new junta. This makes you a target to be silenced by them.


No, I'm not involved in that -- I'm quoting someone who is (or, was) involved. Never fear :)
ACB, BK, CT, NG, SA: FU. FUATH. 100x.

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rtpoe

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5785 on: April 10, 2017, 06:34:29 PM »
Another subtle but serious way the Trump Administration is bad for America.

Three years from right now, the 2020 Census will be underway. The Constitution orders a count of all residents every ten years. It's not just to apportion voting districts (and thereby determine how many seats a state gets in the House of Representatives), but it also determines where federal funds get spent, and provides the basic data to guide policy decisions.

The project is so massive and so vital that planning begins years ahead of time. Hundreds of thousands of people need to be hired, and a marketing campaign needs to be designed.

And things are already running behind. Congress hasn't approved a full-year funding measure for fiscal 2017, which has caused the Census Bureau to cut back on field tests:

"We did not make this decision lightly; we’re less than one year from beginning field work on the 2018 End-to-End Census Test – the final, major test for the 2020 Census. But as we enter FY 2017, we don’t have clarity about our funding for the year. Based on what we know now, the proposed funding levels require us to prioritize other activities in 2017 rather than expend the resources necessary to conduct the two field tests we had planned for 2017." - (source)

The GAO has put the 2020 Census on its list of "high risk" programs - "Every 2 years at the start of a new Congress, GAO calls attention to agencies and program areas that are high risk due to their vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, or are most in need of transformation." The Census was cited because costs are increasing (more people to count, for one thing), and there's little sign of more funding coming down the pipeline or any real cost-cutting measures being put in place. "Over the past 3 years, we have made 30 recommendations to help the Bureau design and implement a more cost-effective census for 2020; however, only 6 of them had been fully implemented as of January 2017." - (source)

And all this is before you take into account Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric. If you have reason to think that the Census will be used to help the feds round you and your family up for deportation, even if all your papers are in order, how likely are you going to be to participate?

"I am increasingly worried about a higher undercount in many communities,” said Terri Ann Lowenthal, the former co-director of the Census Project, an organization that tracks the census. “We could be headed for a train wreck if the Census Bureau doesn't get the resources it needs." - (source)
rtpoe

The last fling of winter is over ...  The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it.  It is warm now to the touch; it has come alive; it hides secrets that in a moment, in a little while, it will tell.
-  Donald Culross Peattie

Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5786 on: April 11, 2017, 12:46:48 AM »
If the former Trumpel supporters shadowbreaker (the hackers that shared the passwords to the NSA or CIA hacking tools) opinion like in their open letter to Trumpel is the average Trumpel supporter opinion about the US, about government, about the rest of the world, then the United States of America are doomed. I've seldom read such an extremistic right wingers Nazi and conspiracy bullshit than this. Woah!
« Last Edit: April 11, 2017, 09:14:48 AM by andrat2000 »
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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5787 on: April 11, 2017, 01:49:15 AM »
Didn't hit the runways. They tipped off the Russians who in turn tipped off the Syrians. The very next day the Syrians continued bombing their own people. The day after meeting in the incumbent's private resort, the Chinese premier condemned the bombing. The market cap of the stock of the company which made the missiles, Raytheon, went up by $1.5 billion. And the incumbent crime family owns Raytheon stock, so they materially benefited from this "stupid little stunt".

This is not normal.
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TheZookie007

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5788 on: April 11, 2017, 03:34:10 AM »
Not entirely politics related, but worth examining:

Paste: "You're Not Mad at United Airlines; You're Mad at America", by Shane Ryan
Quote

Okay. So you may have seen the situation on United Flight 3411 earlier today, when a passenger was forcefully dragged from his seat by cops after refusing to leave despite being randomly selected as a result of United over-booking the flight. It’s a disturbing scene, but no more so than any number of disturbing scenes you may have witnessed online...

We are the country where:

—The social safety net, once the strongest in the world, has been gradually dismantled by both major parties over three decades, leaving the poor and working classes vulnerable to increased poverty and immiseration.

—Labor unions, the only reliable form of protection for the American worker, have likewise been gutted as power amasses in the hands of corporations.

—There is virulent opposition from our elected representatives to the idea of universal health care; a system that is a reality in every other major western country. Our current tepid foray into universal waters, Obamacare, is compromised to its core by the overbearing influence of the pharmaceutical industry, and even this very small step forward would have been dismantled if only congressional Republicans could have agreed on the same plan to strip insurance from 24 million more Americans.

—Our economy is designed to transfer wealth and income into the pockets of those who need it least, and any opposition to this structural inequality is treated as political radicalism.

—Our current president won, in large part, because he represented a philosophy of fear and hatred toward outsiders. We will start wars in foreign countries that destabilize whole regions for no gain, but we will not accept refugees who have suffered unspeakably—sometimes at our hands—in these same countries. We will, in fact, contravene our stated principals of accepting the tired, the poor, the huddled masses, and actually enact policies designed to remove aspiring citizens from our country, to break up families, and further marginalize those who have nothing.

—Our police are empowered to shoot and kill our own citizens for dubious reasons, and—especially if the victim happens to be a minority—escape all prosecution.

—Harmful free trade agreements have been passed to milk profit from globalism, with no thought given to the loss of jobs, money, and dignity for American workers, or the slave wages and environmental destruction unleashed abroad.

—The agency designed to protect the environment in our country is now controlled by climate change deniers, which mortgages the future for our children and grandchildren and puts us further behind in a race we were already losing.

—What the hell, let’s repeat that one, since it seems important: Our planet is dying, and far from solving the problem, we’re now one of the world leaders in making it worse.

The reality is plain: United Airlines is not the disease. United Airlines is a symptom of an infected country whose institutions of power no longer respect the dignity or the sanctity of the individual life. They don’t care about you. (While you’re here, read this excellent thread by Patrick Blanchfield about power and conformity.)

It is commendable and necessary to direct your outrage at this particular corporation, on this particular day, but keep the larger truth in mind:

You are not mad at United Airlines; you are mad at America.
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rtpoe

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Re: MERGED: The Politics Thread
« Reply #5789 on: April 11, 2017, 09:46:42 PM »
How messed up is the White House?

They can barely manage the annual Easter Egg Roll.

A tradition over 130 years old, "It’s the single most high-profile event that takes place at the White House each year, and the White House and the first lady are judged on how well they put it on," according to Melinda Bates, who organized it for the Clintons during their eight years at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Wells Wood Turning, the company that makes the thousands of wooden eggs used in the event, had to tweet a reminder to the Trumps back in February of the approaching manufacturing deadline. The White House, thanks to their delays, was only able to order half the eggs that Obama did last year.

DC public schools were expecting to get thousands of tickets, but haven't heard from the White House. Military families usually get 3,000 tickets. "Unfortunately, the Trump administration has not reached out about it," Ashley Broadway-Mack, the president of the American Military Partner Association told the NY Times. Congress members have also not been contacted about tickets for their constituents.

PBS K|ds, which provides the costumes for the event, was also late to know of the White House’s plans. Because of the tardy requests, they will only be providing one "Sesame Street" character this year.

Almost always, the planning for the event falls under the tasks of the First Lady and her staff. But like the rest of the administration, Melania is waaay behind on picking staff. Maybe if she wasn't living in New York....

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/us/politics/white-house-easter-egg-roll-trump.html
rtpoe

The last fling of winter is over ...  The earth, the soil itself, has a dreaming quality about it.  It is warm now to the touch; it has come alive; it hides secrets that in a moment, in a little while, it will tell.
-  Donald Culross Peattie