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1 hour ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

Almost all houses in North America have basements.  It's where the furnace and water heater are installed.  They're usually quite spacious and often divided into rooms, so they can be used for extra storage space, spare bedrooms, etc. 

 

In rare cases, people will chain a troublesome relative to a wall for several years.  Because they're in the basement, their cries for help can't be heard by the neighbours. That's rare though as it tends to make the house more difficult to sell, when the time comes.

A lot of 'specialist knowledge' there methinks :cornette:

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2 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

Almost all houses in North America have basements.  It's where the furnace and water heater are installed.  They're usually quite spacious and often divided into rooms, so they can be used for extra storage space, spare bedrooms, etc. 

 

In rare cases, people will chain a troublesome relative to a wall for several years.  Because they're in the basement, their cries for help can't be heard by the neighbours. That's rare though as it tends to make the house more difficult to sell, when the time comes.

It's why there are freshly laid patios in the back 'yards' of most houses that come to the property market. Relocation before a bit of relocation.

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2 minutes ago, JackLadd said:

I 'played up' the virus and Biden is to blame for not instigating a national face mask mandate - Trump :cornette: 

Despite being recorded by Woodward saying (more than once) that he preferred to downplay it.

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6 minutes ago, JackLadd said:

I 'played up' the virus and Biden is to blame for not instigating a national face mask mandate - Trump :cornette: 

 

Seriously??  Did he actually attach any blame to Biden for this?

 

If so, he's more deranged than I thought.

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3 minutes ago, I P Knightley said:

Despite being recorded by Woodward saying (more than once) that he preferred to downplay it.

 

I like how Donnie told Fox that he read the book in one go overnight and is okay/ fine with it. Woodward concluding chapter is: Trump is unfit and not the man for the job.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

Seriously??  Did he actually attach any blame to Biden for this?

 

If so, he's more deranged than I thought.

 

This is why Gen Mattis quietly went to a cathedral daily to pray for the nation in a back row pew. Trump is not sane.  

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16 minutes ago, JackLadd said:

 

I like how Donnie told Fox that he read the book in one go overnight and is okay/ fine with it. Woodward concluding chapter is: Trump is unfit and not the man for the job.

 

 

I missed seeing that. Priceless!

 

Showing off (aka lying) that he can read a book is one thing but walking into an endorsement of a book that declares him unfit is brilliant.

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Quote

Meanwhile, the magazine Scientific American on Tuesday endorsed a presidential candidate for the first time in its 175-year history, backing Democrat Joe Biden for the White House.

 

The magazine said Mr Trump "rejects evidence and science" and described his response to the coronavirus pandemic as "dishonest and inept".

 

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The Scientific American has published a damning article which in large part goes over the scientific inadequacies of Trump. Failure to adequately deal with the pandemic. Crippling of the Environmental Protection Agency while denying climate change and a lot more.

But concludes on a non scientific point.

 

Quote

Although Trump and his allies have tried to create obstacles that prevent people from casting ballots safely in November, either by mail or in person, it is crucial that we surmount them and vote.

It's time to move Trump out and elect Biden, who has a record of following the data and being guided by science.

 

Scientific American Endorses Joe Biden

We’ve never backed a presidential candidate in our 175-year history—until now.

FULL ARTICLE

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Just now, Cade said:

Accusations flying that ICE are performing involuntary hysterectomies in detention centres.

 

That's feckin terrifying.

 

It is terrifying, and it's quite clearly genocide in accordance with International Human Rights Law.

 

Yet the plurality of responses I've seen from American liberals? "Even when they're torturing brown people they're also blatant misogynists. Why are there no forced vasectomies, only hysterectomies?"

 

REALLY? That's what they're getting out of this? I've seen no broad response from Democratic politicians condemning it for what it is either.

 

The correct approach would be, "We will be impeaching the president immediately with charges including ethnic cleansing in concentration camps, and following up by asking for a UN investigation and trial of all who are the architects of this outrage, for crimes against humanity."

 

That is not the response by anybody in power while genocide is being committed inside American borders.

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17 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

The correct approach would be, "We will be impeaching the president immediately

 

Thing is we already know how that plays out. It needs the Republicans to remove him and they're not going to do it. Waste of time and energy at this point. Fake news. etc.
 

18 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

with charges including ethnic cleansing in concentration camps, and following up by asking for a UN investigation and trial of all who are the architects of this outrage, for crimes against humanity."

 

Yes, once he's gone follow up on it at a time when neither he nor Republicans can hinder investigations. I feel all the focus right now has to be given to removing him from that office. Achieve that and everything else will fall into place.

Everything that's been happening over the last 4 years should be the end of the Republicans far less Trump. It's a party unfit to exist in a Western democracy far less govern in one.

Think how much more is going to come to light if we can just get him out of that office. The reveal alone will be a historic watershed in American politics. Watergate was nothing in comparison to what he and that party have been doing these past few years.

I know there's a reluctance to imprison ex high officials. Looks too much like activities we see in dictatorships. But there has to be a line drawn. Trump and the Republicans have gone so far over that line it's now out of sight to them.

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5 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

Think how much more is going to come to light if we can just get him out of that office. The reveal alone will be a historic watershed in American politics. Watergate was nothing in comparison to what he and that party have been doing these past few years.


I know there's a reluctance to imprison ex high officials. Looks too much like activities we see in dictatorships. But there has to be a line drawn. Trump and the Republicans have gone so far over that line it's now out of sight to them.

 

Based on Obama's charging and imprisoning zero architects of the worldwide financial crisis, and his and the Democratic leadership's excuses for why they didn't bring Bush administration officials to trial for torture and other war crimes, I have zero faith in there being any consequences.

 

6 minutes ago, JFK-1 said:

Thing is we already know how that plays out. It needs the Republicans to remove him and they're not going to do it. Waste of time and energy at this point. Fake news. etc.

 

Doing it now would serve two purposes: One, it would be the right thing to do. Two, it would create yet another record of Republican intransigence and enabling of Trump's far-reaching criminality and cruelty.

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35 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

it would create yet another record of Republican intransigence and enabling of Trump's far-reaching criminality and cruelty.

 

No doubt, you know how I feel about him and about them. But I don't know if that could even happen before the election. What I do know is that it would probably be welcomed by him and them.

A perfect diversion from his indisputable incompetence which ironically isn't even the worst thing about him. It would be painted as Democrats trying to steal an election with another 'witch hunt'.

And as i say would distract from the major objective right now.  Getting him and them out of that office.There will be plenty of time to deal with it afterwards providing the major objective is achieved.

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13 hours ago, Cade said:

Accusations flying that ICE are performing involuntary hysterectomies in detention centres.

 

That's feckin terrifying.


I would guess that someone has needed some sort of emergency intervention and this was the result. I’m sure I heard yesterday there was 2 cases.

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1 hour ago, Mysterion said:


I would guess that someone has needed some sort of emergency intervention and this was the result. I’m sure I heard yesterday there was 2 cases.

 

Sorry - just heard this was at least 17 women. 

Something seriously wrong with America.

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1 hour ago, Mysterion said:

 

Sorry - just heard this was at least 17 women. 

Something seriously wrong with America.

 

If this was Iraq or Turkey - The USA would be demanding that the leaders were tried as Criminals and sanctions would already be imposed on the countries. 

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2 hours ago, Bigsmak said:

 

If this was Iraq or Turkey - The USA would be demanding that the leaders were tried as Criminals and sanctions would already be imposed on the countries. 

 

I'm not sure.  The far-right Christian elements in the USA are obsessed with all aspects of human reproduction.  Those people will be thinking, "Hmm, I wish we'd thought of that."

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This article is mostly about how much Canadians dislike Trump, but it also talks about 13 other countries, and many of them dislike Trump even more.  As a result, the world's view of the USA in general is being dragged down.  So much for MAGA.

 

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2020/09/15/canadians-dislike-of-donald-trump-hits-a-new-low.html?li_source=LI&li_medium=thestar_recommended_for_you

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1 hour ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

I'm not sure.  The far-right Christian elements in the USA are obsessed with all aspects of human reproduction.  Those people will be thinking, "Hmm, I wish we'd thought of that."

 

If it was Christian Women who were there illegally then.  

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I heard only a piece of one womans story then a second who seemed to have the similar story. In the second one cancer was a factor and surgery a in both cases was recommended. On awakening from the anaesthetic both were told that as a result of the surgery they would be  unable to have children. Both were operated on by the same doctor and wee never advised at any time that they would be unable to give birth. It is suggested there were others by the same doctor with similar results. It would seem it is an action at least by one doctor of opportunity to prevent immigrant applicants from extending their families. Has to be criminal at least removal o any doctors licence to practise surgery.

Just another possible example of the mind set either directed or implied by a cabal in power.

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3 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

I'm not sure.  The far-right Christian elements in the USA are obsessed with all aspects of human reproduction.  Those people will be thinking, "Hmm, I wish we'd thought of that."

 

They're obsessed with the "rights" of embryos and foetuses. But once they're born they couldn't care less about them.

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Meanwhile the Democrats are so focused on saving Democracy as We Know It™ that they've succeeded in their legal actions to remove the Greens from the ballot in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. More than happy to subvert the democratic process, plus zero interest in confronting Trump and Republicans for their criminality, including actual crimes against humanity, in any meaningful way.

 

I'm overwhelmed with excitement for the opportunity in November to cast my vote for the blue flavour of kinder, gentler fascism that doesn't tweet mean things.

 

Edited by Justin Z
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23 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

Meanwhile the Democrats are so focused on saving Democracy as We Know It™ that they've succeeded in their legal actions to remove the Greens from the ballot in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. More than happy to subvert the democratic process, plus zero interest in confronting Trump and Republicans for their criminality, including actual crimes against humanity, in any meaningful way.

 

I'm overwhelmed with excitement for the opportunity in November to cast my vote for the blue flavour of kinder, gentler fascism that doesn't tweet mean things.

 

I hear you, but it's the only realistic alternative. You're in a swing state so I hope you're going to hold your nose and do it. The Dem offering ain't great but surely better than Dump?

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26 minutes ago, SwindonJambo said:

I hear you, but it's the only realistic alternative. You're in a swing state so I hope you're going to hold your nose and do it. The Dem offering ain't great but surely better than Dump?

 

That's the thing, I'm lucky to have the luxury. I'm not presently desperately trying to live off the one-time $1,200 payment I got—maybe—in April or May in the midst of this crisis.

 

1 minute ago, Cade said:

You keep ripping into the Democrats and Biden.

 

We all KNOW they're far from perfect but we also KNOW the alternative.

 

Yes and everyone else is ripping into Trump 24/7 and that's fine too, but look! What has Trump done, again, to try to appeal to said desperate voters? Hit Biden and the Democratic leadership from the left. And it's not ****ing okay!

 

President Trump on Wednesday called on congressional Republicans to support a massive economic relief bill with “much higher numbers” and stimulus payments for Americans, abruptly proposing an entirely different plan from what the Senate GOP sought to advance in recent days.

. . .

They come at a moment when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is facing a backlash from some House Democrats, including lawmakers in tough reelection races, over congressional inaction on new economic relief.

 

He's mischaracterising the Dems' position (they tried to pass a $3 trillion stimulus initially), but that's what he does, and they're letting him do it because their leadership is shite, their messaging is shite, and they really don't seem to care whether they win or lose in November.

 

This wouldn't be a problem at all if you'd had a candidate who'd been consistent that he wants to get people much bigger relief—trillions to the people, not trillions direct into corporations' pockets—that he wants to get people Medicare-for-All, etc. We have a corporate shill as a candidate instead, so none of that messaging is possible, nor has it even been attempted. Bernie Sanders has been reported as trying to get Biden to go left and show support for the American people, to help ensure a victory over Trump, and he's getting the usual stonewalling from the establishment.

 

As the saying went in the primaries, the Democrats are ****ing around and if they're not careful, they might just find out, to the detriment of us all.

 

Fuck around and find out : BirdieSanders2020

 

Edited by Justin Z
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Lincoln project stating that they will still be around following a Biden victory. To continue chasing down the entire criminal Trump gang and it's enablers. They want Trump to ultimately become a word never mentioned in polite conversation unless it's spit out like a swear word.

To adapt a Churchill quote.

"But let all strive without failing in faith or in duty, and the dark curse of Trump will be lifted from our age"

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5 hours ago, JFK-1 said:

Doctors calling Trump claims about a vaccine delusional.
 

 

Trump would lie through a minute's silence. 

 

(Use his phone and go on Twitter obviously) 

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3 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

Was it last year he criticised California for not raking up the dead leaves? He's a genius all right.

 

Because of the US's weird federalism, another aspect of this is that well over half the forested land in California is owned by the federal government, meaning his charges failed to rake 57% of the forests . . . but I'm sure we're all shocked he's not even considered it might be his responsibility.

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1 minute ago, Cade said:

Trump bans TikTok from this sunday.

 

I'm sure all the 12 year olds planning to vote for him are now changing their minds.

 

How about adults with the intellect of a 12 year-old?  That would be a large part of his base. :wink:

 

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#resist

 

image.png.9ca6e99137a5165928337761f38fa471.png

 

image.png.c9f7322179a9155bfcfc4d2f35ff63b5.png

 

Pathetic. If (most of) the denizens of JKB were the Democratic leadership, we'd be in good hands. Instead we get this. 🤦🏻‍♂️

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1 hour ago, Justin Z said:

 

Because of the US's weird federalism, another aspect of this is that well over half the forested land in California is owned by the federal government, meaning his charges failed to rake 57% of the forests . . . but I'm sure we're all shocked he's not even considered it might be his responsibility.

 

Sure I heard that the state owns only 3% of the land the forests are on.

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Just now, JFK-1 said:

Sure I heard that the state owns only 3% of the land the forests are on.

 

Hah, really? Even better, obviously. Wonder if 57 is a "number of forests in the state" percentage, whereas 97% is a "total forest land" percentage or some such

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9 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

 

Hah, really? Even better, obviously. Wonder if 57 is a "number of forests in the state" percentage, whereas 97% is a "total forest land" percentage or some such

 

I was beginning to wonder if this is an issue that may see the US become an international pariah state like North Korea. Though based around a different factor. Nobody really cares about their mass evolution denial, just gives them something else to laugh about when talking of Americans.

Doesn't affect us. In fact it benefits us since their bio tech is going to lag way behind ours. But climate denial effects everybody no matter where they are.

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The U.S. Is on the Path to Destruction

Climate change is killing Americans and destroying the country’s physical infrastructure.
 

Quote

The federal government spends roughly $700 billion a year on the military. It spends perhaps $15 billion a year trying to understand and stop climate change.

I thought about those numbers a lot last week, as I tried to stop my toddler from playing in ash, tried to calm down my dogs as they paced and panted in mid-morning dusk light, tried to figure out whether my air purifier was actually protecting my lungs, tried to understand why the sky was pumpkin-colored, and tried not to think about the carcinogen risk of breathing in wildfire smoke, week after week.

The government has committed to defending us and our allies against foreign enemies. Yet when it comes to the single biggest existential threat we collectively face—the one that threatens to make much of the planet uninhabitable, starve millions, and incite violent conflicts around the world—it has chosen to do near-nothing.

Worse than that, the federal government continues to subsidize and promote fossil fuels, and with them the destruction of our planetary home. Climate hell is here. We cannot stand it. And we cannot afford it either.

Again and again, Republicans have insisted that it is clean energy and a safer, stabler homeland that we cannot possibly afford. “The Paris climate accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers, who I love, and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production,” Donald Trump said, pulling out of the agreement, citing its “draconian financial and economic burdens.”

But the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels would cause something like $50 trillion in economic damage by the end of the century.

The warmer the planet gets, the more expensive the consequences, and some scientists now predict that if the global community fails to act, temperatures will rise 4 degrees Celsius by 2100. If we do not limit emissions, economic activity across 22 vital American business sectors could decline by half a trillion dollars on an annual basis, one study found.

No country save for India is expected to bear a heavier financial burden from climate change than the United States. (India’s anticipated damage is so high because of its already hot climate and large GDP.)

A warming planet is destroying the country’s physical infrastructure: In 2019 alone, the United States experienced more than a dozen billion-dollar weather events, and 2020 might be worse. Fires in California and Oregon are incinerating homes, businesses, schools, power lines, and roads.

Hurricanes in the Gulf Coast are swamping mobile homes and carrying away cars and livestock. The United States faces the potential task of relocating towns and cities and fortifying others, trapped in an endless cycle of destruction and rebuilding.

Climate change is damaging American productivity too, sapping away output from millions of workers and thousands of businesses.

Researchers have estimated that every workday above 86 degrees Fahrenheit costs a given county $20 per person in lost income, with other studies showing workers who toil outside, such as construction workers and farmers, facing the worst and harshest effects.

Temperature increases screw with the economy’s “basic elements, such as workers and crops,” the researchers Tatyana Deryugina and Solomon M. Hsiang argue.

Climate change is killing Americans. Wildfires, heat waves, mudslides, hurricanes, and floods lead to hundreds if not thousands of deaths every year.

But those are only the direct fatalities. Climate change is increasing rates of conditions such as heatstroke. Climate change is worsening birth outcomes, leading to more premature deliveries and maternal deaths. Climate change is putting the world at risk of famine, and the United States at risk of hunger.

The air we are breathing is toxic because of our addiction to fossil fuels. As Dave Roberts writes at Vox, ditching gas would be worth it for the effects on air pollution alone.

The researcher Drew Shindell of Duke University has testified that keeping the world to a 2-degrees-Celsius pathway would prevent 4.5 million premature deaths, 3.5 million hospitalizations and emergency-room visits, and 300 million lost workdays over the next 50 years.

Climate change is also increasing rates of domestic abuse, pumping up the number of gun deaths, leading to more violent interactions with police officers, inciting resource conflicts, and raising the likelihood of war and civil conflicts.

We all are at greater risk of violent death because of climate change, and not just as a result of changes in the weather. Trump sees himself as the law-and-order candidate, the man who can restore peace and security to the country.

But homes across the West Coast are burning down. Some of my fellow Californians were recently immolated. My unhoused neighbors are suffering from smoke-induced asthma in the middle of a respiratory pandemic.

The Paris Agreement, the Green New Deal, cap-and-trade legislation, renewable-energy mandates: These things are not expensive. They are cheap compared with the cost of climate change.

And they are necessary investments in our collective security, no less important or vital than investments in our military. Instead of subsidizing fossil fuels, the government could be creating millions of green jobs that would save the lives of millions around the planet.

This election, and every election from here on out, is existential on this issue: If 2016, per the conservative writer Michael Anton, was the Flight 93 election, 2020 is the 4-degrees-Celsius election. Politicians can choose the safer, greener path for all of us, or the path to oblivion.

What price would we put on breathing without fear? What price would we put on keeping our children safe? What price would we put on being freed of this terror?

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/4-degrees-celsius-election/616393/

 

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Let's keep these progressive platform positions coming, please.

 

The absolute bare minimum anyone should settle for from the Democrats.

 

Cannabis in the presidential race: Biden-Harris pledge to decriminalize marijuana

 

But, keep in mind...

 

The platform released last month states that Democrats will "reschedule" marijuana, which would allow scientists to study its medical benefits without making it fully legal. The platform voiced support for the legalization of medical marijuana and said that states should decide whether or not to allow recreational use without the risk of Justice Department prosecutions.

 

Even AOC is taking the tack that Biden will be susceptible to being pushed left if elected. I see little evidence of this, but the above is at least encouraging.

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4 minutes ago, kila said:

How many stoners vote Republican?

 

Way too ****ing many. They primarily identify as "Libertarian" and unironically say things like "taxation is theft" while ignoring the corporate plutocracy that has resulted in $50 trillion in assets being transferred from the working class to the upper class over the past half century.

 

They're too chicken shit to just call themselves Republicans or register as such, even though they vote for them all the time. They are more than willing to do so while performatively pretending to not be a Republican because of all the baggage that rightly goes with it.

 

Edited by Justin Z
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36 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

Let's keep these progressive platform positions coming, please.

 

The absolute bare minimum anyone should settle for from the Democrats.

 

Cannabis in the presidential race: Biden-Harris pledge to decriminalize marijuana

 

But, keep in mind...

 

The platform released last month states that Democrats will "reschedule" marijuana, which would allow scientists to study its medical benefits without making it fully legal. The platform voiced support for the legalization of medical marijuana and said that states should decide whether or not to allow recreational use without the risk of Justice Department prosecutions.

 

Even AOC is taking the tack that Biden will be susceptible to being pushed left if elected. I see little evidence of this, but the above is at least encouraging.

 

Depends how all the cards fall doesn't it. Unless post Trump the Republicans completely reinvent themselves as rational and truly acting in the interest of the nation and the people if they can they will continue blocking any of the above mentioned issues. Simply to be anti Democrat not for the benefit of the people.

You see that from them all the time. Apparently Obama care was pretty much identical to a proposal suggested by Romney which when he proposed it they were all for it. Then when Obama comes along and implements the same thing it's a disaster they say.


I have no in depth knowledge of how the whole shooting match works but I'm led to believe by commentators that if they're completely out of the picture like in for example losing control of the Senate to the Democrats then you're going to see a whole different scenario.

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1 minute ago, JFK-1 said:

I have no in depth knowledge of how the whole shooting match works but I'm led to believe by commentators that if they're completely out of the picture like in for example losing control of the Senate to the Democrats then you're going to see a whole different scenario.

 

That was the exact situation from 2009 to 2011, and here we are. I'm really not going to hold my breath this time.

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1 minute ago, Justin Z said:

That was the exact situation from 2009 to 2011, and here we are. I'm really not going to hold my breath this time.

 

In fact, the excuse was always "look at the mess Obama inherited from Bush!"

 

:rofl:

 

Turn that up to 22, not to 11, following Trump. Mark my words.

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  • Kalamazoo Jambo changed the title to U.S. Politics megathread (title updated)
  • Maple Leaf changed the title to U.S. Politics megathread (merged)

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