America - The Official Thread

[Blitz24]

This is wishful thinking but in the current system it's up to voters never to vote again for any senator who says one thing about confirming judges in an election year one time then holds the opposite principle in the next election year. If the citizens ask for such senators with their votes then that's who they'll get. I think the result isn't working very well at all but can't see who else is more to blame. People vote for complete hypocrites all around the world. Stop doing that.

Simplest way to prevent this is to have term limits on senators.

 

[TexRex]

This is wishful thinking but in the current system it's up to voters never to vote again for any senator who says one thing about confirming judges in an election year one time then holds the opposite principle in the next election year. If the citizens ask for such senators with their votes then that's who they'll get. I think the result isn't working very well at all but can't see who else is more to blame. People vote for complete hypocrites all around the world. Stop doing that.

It's a nice thought, but those who are stupid enough to be so transparently hypocritical are the most likely to get away with it; their constituency isn't likely to be bothered by it because of what they offer as representatives in Congress.

 

[Omnis]

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[Dotini]

Filling the Supreme Court with textualists and then passing court-packing prevention legislation is the best thing that a brief Trump Presidency could have produced. We will need these justices to prevent the tidal wave of socialism coming out way. People are absolutely insane with the anti-Trumpism, and it shows by what a horrible choice we now have for President. It's absolutely shocking that the democrat party has become what it is. There are no American values there anymore.

The older I get, the more I'm OK with putting our current political situation in the context of the history of the world. The American experiment may be dead, but at least we're not in a world of slavers and bloody conquest. We're all just victims now.

Gutsy post, I appreciate your point of view.

But I'm not aware of any legislation regarding court-packing prevention. Even so, how could it pass the House?

I also question the suggestion there are no more American values in the Democratic party, but I do accept what values we all have are now in conflict with themselves. William Faulkner couldn't write a better story. Some even had happy endings.

 

[Omnis]

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[Biggles]

I guess that you think it's gutsy shows that I should provide more context. Sometimes I forget that I never post here. Sadly, my work situation makes everything feel like just yesterday even with months and months gone by.

Forgive the incoming stream of consciousness.

Anyway, what started as Stephen Colbert's shtick has metastasized and the anti-trumpism has become completely out of hand. Is Trump an egomaniac? Yes. Is everything he says about his political opponents also true? Yes. So the people that are clamoring to get one idiot out of the white house are fine with replacing him with something worse? Seems so. I mean, people are completely obsessed with Trump. He makes the Kardashians look like amateurs. People on the left wake up and go to sleep thinking about Donald Trump. People that I work with are absolutely fanatical about hating him, because "he's such an idiot". Journalism in this country is now completely editorialized. Everything in all forms of media is devoid of intelligent inquiry. Fair and balanced is now just balanced, as you have the cheerleader wars from each side of the same cursed coin.

The Trump voters are people that are just tired of all of the above.

I believe pretty strongly that the election will be a landslide victory. Just don't know for who. I'm hoping that Trump wins to rebuke the absolute insanity of the Democrat party and the platform that they have given to these wacko socialists. This should be the easiest election ever for an opposition party, but it's incredibly sad that the best they can trot out is an old dinosaur that has been part of the problem in the Senate for a quarter of the history of the United States.

On the other hand, I worry about what people are going to do if Trump wins. Like, what's next for the anti-Trumpers? It feels like the next step is an MSNBC mass kool-aid suicide. How many more riots and how much more vitriole can we handle?

It worries me that the government is now so powerful and such a big part of our lives. This is not the way it should be.

Re: court packing, it was my understanding that Ted Cruz had a bill in to prevent future court packing. Not sure on whether this will pass (it'll probably get tabled to death in the house) but assuming it did, it would be the best legacy of Trump's term. That, and ending the war in Afghanistan and not starting WW3 in Iran.

Couldn't agree with you less.

It's time the United States was dragged into the 21st century. Climate change, LGBTQ rights, women's equality, racial & social justice, a more equitable distribution of wealth & opportunity - these are essential issues in moving towards the future. Trumpism has been a weird & chaotic throwback to 1950's attitudes.

A Biden administration won't be following the "wacko socialists" - wacko socialists are a very small part of the Democratic base. I think a Biden administration will mark a return to a more rational, bureaucratic, consensus form of politics, rather than one dominated by the "absolute insanity" of a single, egomaniacal president.

 

[Tornado]

Certainly never thought I'd see the day where I see Omnis regurgitating Trump Administration talking points.

 

[ryzno]

Climate change

It changes...we've made changes...tell China and them to step THIER game up.

LGBTQ rights

They have them.

women's equality

Well for starters people can boycott the NBA to support the WNBA. I honestly think half a mill and 15 mill difference for a woman and a man both winning the championship in their respective leagues is ridiculous.
But we know no change will come of that... Ratings and all...

racial & social justice

I can agree with you on that.

As far as money and opportunity. I believe that IS on the individual.

 

[Biggles]

Certainly never thought I'd see the day where I see Omnis regurgitating Trump Administration talking points.

Forget what I wrote above. More fundamentally it comes down to a simple reality: the majority of Americans don't support the extremes of either the far right or far left. While Biden has nothing in common with the anarchist or BLM extremists rioting & looting, Trump actually embodies & publicly propagates many of the viewpoints of far right white nationalists & QAnon extremists. Most Americans want to return to some semblance of normal, civil discourse & shared values - that's why Trump will lose the election.

 

[UKMikey]

I'm dying to hear the responses to an opinion that equates shredding the US Constitution with "party of American values" and Trump's $80 billion farm aid programme with "anti-socialism". *rubs hands*

 

[McLaren]

It changes...we've made changes...tell China and them to step THIER game up.

And yet we have a President who has actively reversed the changes we made b/c he thinks it hurts his 1950's image of America. Completely forget this silly argument of, "Well, if they're not doing it, we're not going to do it".

They have them.

Oh, they do? Or do they have some, constantly in fear of being reversed because of religious beliefs?

A Texas regulatory board has reinstated protections that bar social workers from refusing services to LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc...Q0Pvx6UQVMogLNfws36FSAT_itJUOEjn2DKw63jE8dmeU

Well for starters people can boycott the NBA to support the WNBA. I honestly think half a mill and 15 mill difference for a woman and a man both winning the championship in their respective leagues is ridiculous.
But we know no change will come of that... Ratings and all...

Way to use an extreme example in a topic you know full well is not the center of what women's rights debates are about. That's a disingenuous approach, and you're smart enough to know it.

 

[ryzno]

And yet we have a President who has actively reversed the changes we made b/c he thinks it hurts his 1950's image of America. Completely forget this silly argument of, "Well, if they're not doing it, we're not going to do it".
Do you have proof of a spike or a prediction no one can get right for tomorrow?
Oh, they do? Or do they have some, constantly in fear of being reversed because of religious beliefs?

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc...Q0Pvx6UQVMogLNfws36FSAT_itJUOEjn2DKw63jE8dmeU

That's on Texas...
Way to use an extreme example in a topic you know full well is not the center of what women's rights debates are about. That's a disingenuous approach, and you're smart enough to know it.

Just bringing up a post a female Democratic friend of mine made the other day, but hey it's the Republicans fault...

Edit: That quote didn't go well... I give up...

 

[Scaff]

It changes...we've made changes...tell China and them to step THIER game up.

Do you mean the China that now leads the world in terms of solar panel use and production? The China that is making massive headway in terms of EV use and again leads the world in production and sale of them? That China?

Trump pulled the US out of the Paris accords and has championed dirty energy and removed environmental protections, so you have no moral high-ground on that. The American exceptionalism on display here is hilarious.

They have them.

Some and those they do have the GOP are doing all they can to remove.

Well for starters people can boycott the NBA to support the WNBA. I honestly think half a mill and 15 mill difference for a woman and a man both winning the championship in their respective leagues is ridiculous.
But we know no change will come of that... Ratings and all...

That's seriously poor, on a massive scale. Sit in the corner and have a good think about just how weak that rebuttal was.

I guess that you think it's gutsy shows that I should provide more context. Sometimes I forget that I never post here. Sadly, my work situation makes everything feel like just yesterday even with months and months gone by.

Forgive the incoming stream of consciousness.

Anyway, what started as Stephen Colbert's shtick has metastasized and the anti-trumpism has become completely out of hand. Is Trump an egomaniac? Yes. Is everything he says about his political opponents also true? Yes. So the people that are clamoring to get one idiot out of the white house are fine with replacing him with something worse? Seems so. I mean, people are completely obsessed with Trump. He makes the Kardashians look like amateurs. People on the left wake up and go to sleep thinking about Donald Trump. People that I work with are absolutely fanatical about hating him, because "he's such an idiot". Journalism in this country is now completely editorialized. Everything in all forms of media is devoid of intelligent inquiry. Fair and balanced is now just balanced, as you have the cheerleader wars from each side of the same cursed coin.

The Trump voters are people that are just tired of all of the above.

I believe pretty strongly that the election will be a landslide victory. Just don't know for who. I'm hoping that Trump wins to rebuke the absolute insanity of the Democrat party and the platform that they have given to these wacko socialists. This should be the easiest election ever for an opposition party, but it's incredibly sad that the best they can trot out is an old dinosaur that has been part of the problem in the Senate for a quarter of the history of the United States.

On the other hand, I worry about what people are going to do if Trump wins. Like, what's next for the anti-Trumpers? It feels like the next step is an MSNBC mass kool-aid suicide. How many more riots and how much more vitriole can we handle?

It worries me that the government is now so powerful and such a big part of our lives. This is not the way it should be.

Re: court packing, it was my understanding that Ted Cruz had a bill in to prevent future court packing. Not sure on whether this will pass (it'll probably get tabled to death in the house) but assuming it did, it would be the best legacy of Trump's term. That, and ending the war in Afghanistan and not starting WW3 in Iran.

If the Democrats are now socialist with that agenda then Europe must now be entirely hard-line Communist!

Trump has utterly trampled all over the Consitution, broken numerous laws while in office and made the US a laughing stock around the world, the Media is full of intelligent inquiry about Trump, and those Riots and Vitriol you condem? He's the root cause of it, as an authoritarian who has not only enabled the far-right and white nationalists but actively encouraged them!

In more 'entertaining' news, my favorite headline of the week so far:

GOP lawmaker in Tennessee admits to prescribing opioids to his second cousin — who was also his lover

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/go...s-to-his-second-cousin-who-was-also-his-lover

I don't even care if its accurate or not!

 

[McLaren]

Do you have proof of a spike or a prediction no one can get right for tomorrow?

Elaborate on what you're asking, please. Your original statement was that the climate changes and we've made changes to accommodate that; except the changes we've made have been pulled back by Trump.

The Trump administration has rolled back or weakened dozens of environmental regulations, including those on coal plants, toxic chemicals, tailpipe and methane emissions, protections for waterways, and rules around a bedrock law that requires federal agencies to consider the environmental effects of proposed projects.

When asked about climate change at the first presidential debate last month, Trump said, "I want crystal clean water and air. I want beautiful clean air."

But he condemns climate regulations as bad for jobs and the economy, and continues to dismiss the role of climate change in fueling extreme weather. "I don't think science knows, actually," he erroneously told California officials at a recent briefing on record setting wildfires.

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/22/925468716/theres-a-lot-at-stake-for-the-climate-in-the-2020-election

That's on Texas...

What difference does that make? You claimed LGBTQ folks have rights and I just showed a case where their rights were nearly threatened. If you need a more national example, Barrett is a huge concern for both LGBTQ & women's right b/c they fear she's going to rule by her religious beliefs.


@Scaff & any other international members: Out of curiosity, what is your country's mainstream media take on our elections right now? Are they expressing fear or excitement? Or are they just ignoring us? The most I've heard is the UK Parliament preparing for a Biden administration, but that's it.

 

[UKMikey]

GOP lawmaker in Tennessee admits to prescribing opioids to his second cousin — who was also his lover

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/go...s-to-his-second-cousin-who-was-also-his-lover

I don't even care if its accurate or not!

As the King once put it "She's a distant cousin but she's not too distant with me. We'll kiss all night. I'll squeeze her tight. But we're kissin' cousins 'n that's what makes it all right". Hilarious that Sen. Hensley thinks gay relationships are unnatural while carrying on in this manner.

@Scaff & any other international members: Out of curiosity, what is your country's mainstream media take on our elections right now? Are they expressing fear or excitement? Or are they just ignoring us? The most I've heard is the UK Parliament preparing for a Biden administration, but that's it.

While I'm glad that people on this thread are still interested in hearing a foreign take, I haven't been paying too much attention to the MSM in our country so I'm not sure whether they have a take or not. I believe some of the more right wing outlets such as the Daily Telegraph are hoping for a Trump win. But I think most people are wary of predicting a response after the 2016 results left the pundits flat footed.

Incidentally I found this infographic from last January on the Pew Research Center website which details global confidence in Trump to "do the right thing" internationally. With 32% of supporters over here we're higher than Western Europe but not as high as India, Nigeria, Poland or Israel. The Filipinos apparently love him.

 

[Famine]

We will need these justices to prevent the tidal wave of socialism coming out way.

Biden is further right than either Bush and not appreciably far away from Reagan.

People are absolutely insane with the anti-Trumpism, and it shows by what a horrible choice we now have for President. It's absolutely shocking that the democrat party has become what it is. There are no American values there anymore.

This is, improbably, an even more polarised election than Trump vs. Clinton, and the direct result of not only decades of people refusing to entertain a third party but voting Trump or Clinton to stop Clinton or Trump last time out, when it would have been better to accept one of them was going to win and pick a third party to offer a real alternative four years down the line.

As for "no American values", Trump has fought against 1A, broken 2A, denied 5A exists, and stated intent to ignore 20A and 22A in addition to breaking the law and getting away with it due to a packed Senate and scared GOP who are locked into their collision course with the floor and collusion with foreign powers including, but not limited to, China and Russia. And that doesn't even touch on the allegations, court cases (DOJ now won't defend Trump in a rape case), and instances of horrifying public and private (and self-proclaimed) behaviour. Or COVID.

Four more years of that and the USA might not survive - your American values certainly won't.


A boring, doddering old git who *checks notes* loves his surviving son and occasionally touches people in a way that seems awkward and uncomfortable in full public view might not be the ideal Presidential candidate, but even if he only fakes being an acceptable human being, that's an improvement. Hell, if he doesn't wipe his arse with the Constitution, and only ignores two amendments, that'll be an improvement.

Sure, it's "anti-Trump", but that's primarily because Trump is just abhorrent. At this point, he's just a trap in a Saw movie, and while Biden might be the equivalent of chewing through your own wrist to escape, he's escape.


In this analogy, Rupert Murdoch is Jigsaw

 

[andrea]

Freezing to death to own the libs.

 

[UKMikey]

Freezing to death to own the libs.

Not only did he have to bus his supporters to his rally, he didn't care about getting them home?

 

[Northstar]

Trump doesn’t like losers that want to go home, they obviously aren’t true believers. So sad.

 

[andrea]

Not only did he have to bus his supporters to his rally, he didn't care about getting them home?

 

[McLaren]

Usually when there's a contradicting tweet for everything he says, there's a couple years in between.

 

[Liquid]

Trump doesn’t like losers that want to go home, they obviously aren’t true believers. So sad.

 

[TheCracker]

@Scaff & any other international members: Out of curiosity, what is your country's mainstream media take on our elections right now? Are they expressing fear or excitement? Or are they just ignoring us? The most I've heard is the UK Parliament preparing for a Biden administration, but that's it.

In the UK there's mostly a level of indifference to the US elections. It's viewed by the public as a form of entertainment as much as anything. But as we are Brexiting at the moment, there was a trade deal on the cards with Trump where as Biden is/was (i'm not entirely up to date on the matter) playing hardball with a potential Biden administration trade deal as he's not happy with us breaking the Good Friday Agreement.

 

[JKgo]

Incidentally I found this infographic from last January on the Pew Research Center website which details global confidence in Trump to "do the right thing" internationally. With 32% of supporters over here we're higher than Western Europe but not as high as India, Nigeria, Poland or Israel. The Filipinos apparently love him.

Your graph reminded me of a poll currently running in one of the local news websites down here in South Africa. The poll is about who'll win the election and as it stands, over twenty thousand voted and 53% thinks Trump will win.

The poll itself is visible on the front page of the website. Just scroll a little lower, to the right.

https://www.news24.com/

 

[UKMikey]

Your graph reminded me of a poll currently running in one of the local news websites down here in South Africa. The poll is about who'll win the election and as it stands, over twenty thousand voted and 53% thinks Trump will win.

The poll itself is visible on the front page of the website. Just scroll a little lower, to the right.

https://www.news24.com/

It doesn't sound like a resounding majority. At any rate, only 42% showed up for the Pew poll.

 

[Blitz24]

I understand India (Modi is trying to build a somewhat similar base there), the Philippines (Trump idolizes Duterte) and Israel (Netanyahu has pulled major gains in this administration), but I do not have a full grasp on Poland (I THINK it's similar to Orban, but that's Hungary) and I have no idea why Nigeria finds him popular.

 

[andrea]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1245065

 

[Biggles]

It changes...we've made changes...tell China and them to step THIER game up.

China IS moving towards a more environmentally friendly future. They understand it's inevitable. However, the reality is the US (& the other developed western countries) have been exploiting fossil fuels on a grand (industrial) scale for the last 200 years. They have already contributed an enormous amount to the problem & reaped the benefits of a much higher standard of living , so it's reasonable for them to shoulder more of the responsibility & cost of tackling the problem going forward.

 

[Danoff]

China IS moving towards a more environmentally friendly future. They understand it's inevitable. However, the reality is the US (& the other developed western countries) have been exploiting fossil fuels on a grand (industrial) scale for the last 200 years. They have already contributed an enormous amount to the problem & reaped the benefits of a much higher standard of living , so it's reasonable for them to shoulder more of the responsibility & cost of tackling the problem going forward.

View attachment 967880

For reference, here is the data not adjusted for population:

 

[Liquid]

I understand India (Modi is trying to build a somewhat similar base there), the Philippines (Trump idolizes Duterte) and Israel (Netanyahu has pulled major gains in this administration), but I do not have a full grasp on Poland (I THINK it's similar to Orban, but that's Hungary) and I have no idea why Nigeria finds him popular.

Poland is still populated by a lot of anti-abortion, anti-choice traditionalists. In particular, the current Polish President is very anti-LGBT and has agreed to accept more American troops stationed there; Trump said Andrzej Duda is doing a "terrific job", which says a lot.