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Author Topic: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa  (Read 466274 times)

PeterAit

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15560 on: October 05, 2022, 10:35:36 am »

America desperately needs a viable third political party.  As it is now, tribal politics rule.  Many "conservatives" simply vote for the candidate who is not Democrat.  Many "liberals" only vote for the candidate who is not Republican.  It is "us against them" for many voters and no longer about what is best for the country.

The Electoral College needs to be removed from elections.  Let the popular vote decide directly like most modern countries.

Amen on the electoral college. It is so blatantly undemocratic. And look at who it has brought us--George W. Bush and Trump. two of the worst presidents in modern history.

The third party issue is complex. The two most viable are the Green party and the Libertarian party. The former tends to side with the Democrats and the latter with the Republicans, and pull votes away. Neither of the major parties want that, so the Dems suppress the Greens and the eps suppress the libertarians.

More that two parties sounds great, but unless we move to a parliamentary system it's just a pipe dream, I think.

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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15561 on: October 05, 2022, 10:59:10 am »

Some people seem to be ready to kill or die because of a largely imaginary culture war https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63133259. This is a BBC interview with a couple who foresee a civil war coming, presumably if the mid-terms don't go their way.

How do you arrive at the conclusion that things are so dire in modern day US that a civil war is imminent? You'd have to be completely submerged in propaganda.

I hope the interviewer deliberately set out to find extremists for click-bait purposes.
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PeterAit

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15562 on: October 06, 2022, 10:19:05 am »


How do you arrive at the conclusion that things are so dire in modern day US that a civil war is imminent? You'd have to be completely submerged in propaganda.


Bingo!
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digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15563 on: October 06, 2022, 12:54:44 pm »

This is a BBC interview with a couple who foresee a civil war coming, presumably if the mid-terms don't go their way.

From the NY times today:

At a Trump rally in Michigan on Saturday
night, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said
that "Democrats want Republicans dead," add-
ing "Joe Biden has declared every freedom-lov-
ing American an enemy of the state
." At a
recent fundraiser, Michael Flynn, who briefly
served as Trump's national security adviser,
said that governors had the power to declare
war and that "we're probably going to see that."
On Monday, federal prosecutors showed a
jury in Washington an encrypted message Stew-
art Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers armed
extremist group, had sent his lieutenants two
days after the 2020 presidential election: "We
aren't getting through this without a civil war."

Experts say the steady patter of bellicose
talk has helped normalize the expectation of
political violence.
In late August, a poll of 1,500 adults by
YouGov and the Economist found 54 percent
of respondents who identified as "strong
Republicans" believed a civil war was at least
somewhat likely in the next decade. Only about
a third of all respondents felt such an event was
unlikely. A similar survey conducted by the
same groups two years ago found nearly in 5
people feeling that a "civil war-like fracture in
the U.S." was either somewhat or very unlikely.
41/L.A..
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MattBurt

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15564 on: October 06, 2022, 01:43:03 pm »

Yeah these people are terrifying and there seems to be no talking sense into them.
I don't necessarily want them dead but I'd love for them to settle down one way or another. My hope is their ideology falls out of fashion and then they fade into obscurity but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15565 on: October 08, 2022, 12:07:35 pm »

I just love stories of political hypocrisy https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/3678796-these-florida-republicans-requested-hurricane-ian-funding-after-opposing-disaster-relief/.

Wouldn't it have made more sense for the twerps to say nothing. What was the perceived upside of making pseudo-ideological statements that every knows would not survive the next big wind. Another missed golden opportunity to have kept their mouths firmly shut.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15566 on: October 08, 2022, 02:06:02 pm »

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. But guns help though, don't they.

Ohio removes gun carry permit requirement, because you know "freedom", https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1578582261636558849?s=20&t=Yr6fVIXZP0BoJPkjci0O6Q.

But as a couple of governors have told us, it could have been worse, only 3 shot. Look on the bright side of life.

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PeterAit

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15567 on: October 09, 2022, 11:41:18 am »

Yeah these people are terrifying and there seems to be no talking sense into them.
I don't necessarily want them dead but I'd love for them to settle down one way or another. My hope is their ideology falls out of fashion and then they fade into obscurity but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen anytime soon.

Maybe if they got laid now and then  ;D ;D?
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15568 on: October 13, 2022, 01:20:04 pm »

I guess it's a good thing that Alex Jones was hit with a nearly $1 B lawsuit settlement. Personally, I think that he and his followers got off easy. They should all be rotting behind bars for years to come. He repeatedly made the locations of Sandy Hook families public (mainly the families who launched lawsuits against him) so that his followers could hound those poor people for close to a decade, about which law enforcement didn't do much, so far as I could tell. And they had to launch personal lawsuits to get that to stop!?! I hope nobody thinks this is justice.

To add to the insult, some people out there tried to frame it all as a free speech issue, as if such directed attacks against people (who had already suffered the worst imaginable) could be justified by Jones' "right" to speak obvious lies that incited people to violence. If that's what "free speech" stands for, good luck to you.

Besides, that was the easy part. The real test of the system is whether they will actually ever get any money out of the guy. I assume that the stalling and appeals and what not has already begun. I wouldn't bet much money on them seeing much of that settlement, they probably have as much hope as Trump's lawyers have of getting paid.

Am I being too cynical?

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PeterAit

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15569 on: October 13, 2022, 03:59:29 pm »

I guess it's a good thing that Alex Jones was hit with a nearly $1 B lawsuit settlement. Personally, I think that he and his followers got off easy. They should all be rotting behind bars for years to come. He repeatedly made the locations of Sandy Hook families public (mainly the families who launched lawsuits against him) so that his followers could hound those poor people for close to a decade, about which law enforcement didn't do much, so far as I could tell. And they had to launch personal lawsuits to get that to stop!?! I hope nobody thinks this is justice.

To add to the insult, some people out there tried to frame it all as a free speech issue, as if such directed attacks against people (who had already suffered the worst imaginable) could be justified by Jones' "right" to speak obvious lies that incited people to violence. If that's what "free speech" stands for, good luck to you.

Besides, that was the easy part. The real test of the system is whether they will actually ever get any money out of the guy. I assume that the stalling and appeals and what not has already begun. I wouldn't bet much money on them seeing much of that settlement, they probably have as much hope as Trump's lawyers have of getting paid.

Am I being too cynical?

No you are not being too cynical. I am sure Jones and his cronies have been busy hiding as much of his money as they can. I hope they find every cent and reduce him to living under a bridge.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15570 on: October 14, 2022, 02:53:18 pm »

Doesn't subpoena mean what I thought it meant, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/14/trump-testify-letter-jan-6-committee-00061859. The way they phrase things in that article makes it seem as if Trump has the option of not testifying. What am I missing? Can people do that, just refuse?
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digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15571 on: October 14, 2022, 02:59:40 pm »

Doesn't subpoena mean what I thought it meant, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/14/trump-testify-letter-jan-6-committee-00061859. The way they phrase things in that article makes it seem as if Trump has the option of not testifying. What am I missing? Can people do that, just refuse?
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/does-trump-have-comply-with-jan-6-committee-subpoena-2022-10-13/
Will the Jan 6th committee file for contempt of Congress? Will Trump simply take the 5th a few hundred times? Will the Republicans take over the House in 2022 after which, they will disolve all this from ever happening?
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15572 on: October 14, 2022, 03:07:37 pm »

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/does-trump-have-comply-with-jan-6-committee-subpoena-2022-10-13/
Will the Jan 6th committee file for contempt of Congress? Will Trump simply take the 5th a few hundred times? Will the Republicans take over the House in 2022 after which, they will disolve all this from ever happening?

Thanks for the link. I guess Trump is just stalling for time then.
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digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15573 on: October 14, 2022, 03:26:49 pm »

I guess Trump is just stalling for time then.
That's all he has in his playbook.
This really isn't a big issue IMHO. It's so when the rubber meets the road, when Trump rants how unfair the Jan 6th hearings were (they never asked me my side of the story), they can point out that that was his own doing. Between the Mar a lago mess he has himself into, and the Georgia mess he has himself into, there's more than enough to get him into an orange jump-suite to match his skintone.
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digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15574 on: October 15, 2022, 01:05:34 pm »

Trump has really lost the wee bit of his mind he had:
Quote
A VERY SANE TRUMP ACCUSES GEORGE H.W. BUSH OF HIDING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS IN A “BOWLING ALLEY/CHINESE RESTAURANT”
“George H.W. Bush took millions of documents to a former bowling alley and a former Chinese restaurant, where they combined them. So they’re in a bowling alley-slash-Chinese restaurant,” Trump told the crowd.
https://apple.news/Axb-crmQ4SLes3jwZ66s3nA
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15575 on: October 15, 2022, 04:54:03 pm »

Trump has really lost the wee bit of his mind he had:https://apple.news/Axb-crmQ4SLes3jwZ66s3nA

"millions of documents?"  That's a lot. :)
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15576 on: October 21, 2022, 06:56:30 am »

On another matter entirely, that Brexit thing is working out well, isn't it.  :)
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faberryman

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15577 on: October 29, 2022, 10:46:26 am »

An update from the trenches. I early voted yesterday. As you may remember, I live in a red state, so probably everyone at the polling place, volunteers and voters alike, was a Republican, I did not see any AR15s. Of course, we do have conceal carry, so handguns are a concern. A couple of big goons did look happy to see me. Anyway, I wore a MAGA hat, closed the curtain behind me, voted for Democrats, and when I was finished, I gave everyone a big dumb grin and a double thumbs up, put the sticker on my shirt, casually walked to the car, and made my escape. I was too frazzled to go to Krispy Kreme for my free donut. Voting in America, 2022 edition.
« Last Edit: October 29, 2022, 11:05:28 am by faberryman »
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15578 on: October 29, 2022, 10:59:48 am »

An update from the trenches. I early voted yesterday. As you may remember, I live in a red state, so probably everyone at the polling place, volunteer and voters alike, was a Republican, I did not see any AR15s. Of course, we do have conceal carry, so handguns are a concern. A couple of big goons did look happy to see me. Anyway, I wore a MAGA hat, closed the curtain, voted for Democrats, and when I was finished, I gave everyone a dumb grin and a big thumbs up, put the sticker on my shirt, casually walked to the car, and made my escape. Voting in America, 2022 edition.

No U.N. observers?   :)
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #15579 on: October 29, 2022, 11:19:44 am »

I've been wondering lately how Trump, Graham and others get away with simply refusing to testify when they've been called to, calling on friendly judges to help them, and then when caught in the headlights, plead the 5th. It's more and more difficult to be outraged when corruption becomes more and more normal. I can't say I'm detecting widespread citizen anger at this. Maybe everyone thinks it's ok to corrupt the rule of law if you can get away with it. We used to think this only happened in "third-world" shit hole countries. And yet we still criticize China and Iran, not that we shouldn't, but it is a bit rich.

Recently here in Ontario, premier Ford has been trying to squirm out of testifying at a inquest wrt last January's "freedom convoy" here in Ottawa. At the time, it was pretty obvious to me and everyone that I know, that the province was pretty derelict is sending provincial police backup to the city of Ottawa force, who were obviously failing in their duty. It was also obvious that the Conservative Ford was enjoying watching the federal Liberal government problems. Ford is now hiding behind some point of privilege and will probably get away with it.

The one thing that strikes is how easily white collar criminals get away with things, especially if they have some political power. Nothing new, but still irritating to be hit in the face with it. Things are so far gone though that his supporters probably don't have a problem with this. Which brings me to my point. The notion that we, as a culture, care about the rule of law is a f**king joke. Having "your" side win is much more important to most people. That's my conclusion.

Years ago, another provincial conservative government under Mike Harris downloaded a bunch of services to townships and countries, and they congratulated themselves for decreasing provincial taxes and fools applauded. All a bad joke, of course, none of those costs went away, and besides, I don't recall seeing my taxes drop by much anyway. A lot of fat infrastructure contracts made a few people wealthy though. So now the current provincial government is running roughshod over the rights of those same counties and municipalities by overriding their right to determine how to zone their lands and therefore make it easier to developers to build new housing, bypassing the rules of regs of those townships and municipalities. This at a time when more and more evidence accumulates that suburban sprawl is a mistake, it is not financially self-sustaining anywhere, the only beneficiaries are the developers who donate money to their favourite politicians. All done in plain view wiht precious few investigative journalists to even point it out, because, you know, the press is bad and they lie. What a pathetic culture we have turned into.

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