Ding Dong.....the US Politics Thread (Part 1)

Away End - General Chat
7566

Well said. Let’s not forget South Korea, a prosperous democracy forged in no small part on the spillage of American blood.

Let’s not forget the nations of eastern Europe who are free today largely due to American intransigence in the face of Soviet-style totalitarianism.

We’ve freed a lot of people. There can be no doubt.

However…there’s also the debacle of Viet Nam and the associated travesties in Laos and Cambodia. There’s the assassination of democratically elected Salvador Allende (terrible!). There’s the out-of-control corporatist so-called war on terrorism after 911. All these cost hundreds of thousands of lives to no good end.

Not easy to sum up the USA in a single sentence, analogy or historical episode.

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7567

Yes, politics is rarely easily divided into good and bad.
The whole of Latin America has suffered from the actions of the US and the unequivocal support of Israel has also been problematic to say the least.

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7568

Another interesting read:

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7569
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7570

I’m not allowed a new post, but…

Glad to see JB focusing on this. He’s getting flak from both sides, but it’s absolutely vital for the future of democracy in the US.

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7571

:joy:

We’ll see if this one post gets you out of thread jail.

7572

Not sure why that filibuster story is even getting ink. They have no chance to get it through without Manchin and Sinema, both of whom oppose it. Others are on the fence, too.

7573

They have to fight back against GOP attacks on voting rights. If they don’t, they will never have power again.

7574

I don’t think the Democrats, and the White House in particular, are doing it because they think they can win.

7575

Consider in the most recent election, before any of the new state voting laws went into effect, the Democrats lost seats in the House of Representatives in a year when their presidential candidate won. I think the bigger issue for them is coming up with and articulating policies the majority of Americans would like to see enacted.

Also, if you look at these laws in places like Georgia and Texas, it’s hard to argue that anyone who is genuinely motivated to vote will be denied the opportunity to vote.

7576

Machin’s arguments are full of holes and are not defensible if he were to be pushed on them (undecided if he’s that dumb or just consciously full of shit). There is an enormous middle ground between the current implementation of the filibuster and doing away with it entirely, and I think comments like Biden’s push Machin to land on a more defensible position more in line with others may find acceptable.

The filibuster exists to protect the right to continue debate of a proposed bill before it gets voted on. Under the current implementation, the filibuster is used not to continue debate, but to block votes. All it requires is a staffer submitting an email indicating that senator intends to filibuster, but then is not required to even show up to debate. If we’re going to retain it, at least retain it in a fashion that requires debate.

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7577

This sort of argument is gross.

Yeah, you have to wait for 6 hours, but if you value democracy you’ll lose a day’s pay to cast your vote…says the person who waited 6 minutes.

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7578

Voters in both Georgia and Texas can still request a vote-by-mail ballot. They do not have to miss work or stand in line.

7579

:rofl:

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7580
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7581

I find myself caught in a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand I want certain elements of what is “taught” in schools to be stopped, namely RE and PE (to an extent) or added (personal development and well being, cooking and social and environmental awareness) but at the same time, I find the influence parents have over what can be taught in schools frightening (e.g. Florida above). Luckily in the UK, this sort of thing is not quite at the stage it is in the US but it may get there given the divisions that are being widened.

7582

The law creates a situation in which young people, who are discovering their sexuality, will not be able to talk about their feelings and will be told that there is something shameful, literally unspeakable, about homosexuality.
It’s an attempt to reverse all the progress that’s been ade since the 1950s.

7583

American education is a strange thing! I have two kids, a high school senior and a high school freshman.

To my mind, there should be a curriculum, set by the best expert educators. A core part of this should be fixed, let’s say English, mathematics, one or two sciences, a modern language - and then there should be some choice around the degree of emphasis in other subjects - history, geography, social science, music, numerous other things.

There can and should be rigorous debate to all of the above… but the debate should be done by the expert educators, and they set the curriculum. There is a good core to it, and enough variety for kids to have some latitude to pursue things that interest them.

I am talking about up to high school.

The whole thing should be taxpayer funded, and apolitical. Politics should stay out of it, apart from some of the taxpayers money should be used to educate children to a certain level, for the good of society.

So far, so normal. That’s how it should be… but it isn’t.

Politics is rife in education. Culture wars are being fought via education. And in America, the unusual aspect of it all, having grown up in England and been educated there, is the prevalence of alternate schools and home schooling.

If parents want to have control, home school your kid then! OR, leave it to the experts.

Right now the whole thing is a mess. Parents are trying to overreach, politics is stirring the pot, and the whole thing is a shitshow.

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7584

Watched this last night…

He is copping some flack for giving these fuckwits oxygen. Valid point, I guess.

Still found it very interesting. Baked Alaska I was very aware of, Fuentes only a little.

That cunt with the beard…fml, what a deadshit.

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7585

‘The percentage of Republicans who described Russia as an ally or a friend rose from 22% to 40% between 2014-18, according to Gallup.’

Weird times we live in…

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