US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3610

On April 15 2016 09:23 puerk wrote:
the number of unique posters following this thread is actually quite low, so everyone knows everyones position already quite well and most political problems have been talked about

now only watching the GOP failure cascade is left to do

On April 15 2016 08:55 farvacola wrote:
Y'all should check out the 2012 election thread. I think you'll find that we've all calmed down quite a bit since then lol

County officials across Mississippi are warning of job losses and deep deficits as local jails are being deprived of the state inmates needed to keep them afloat. The culprit, say local officials, is state government and private prisons, which are looking to boost their own revenue as sentencing and drug-policy reforms are sending fewer bodies into the correctional system.

In the late 1990s, as the overcrowded Mississippi prison system buckled under the weight of mass incarceration, the state asked local governments to build local correctional institutions to house state prisoners. It was billed as a win-win: The Mississippi Department of Correction would foot the bill for each prisoner, and the counties would get good jobs guarding them. The state guaranteed that the local jails would never be less than 80 percent occupied, and the locals would get a 3 percent boost in compensation each year.

After a few years, say local officials, the state offered a new deal: Instead of the 3 percent bump, they would give the locals more and more prisoners, thus boosting total revenue. Today, the state pays $29.74 per day per prisoner to the regional facilities, a deal that worked for everybody as long as the buildings were stuffed full with bodies.

Scott Strickland, president of the Stone County Board of Supervisors, said reforms at the state and local levels have shrunk the prison population. “Federal laws took some part in that — allowing prisoners to serve only a certain percentage of their term,” he said. “Also, they’ve reduced prison sentences for certain drug-related offenses.”

As the wave of mass incarceration begins to recede, the Mississippi controversy has local and state officials talking openly about how harmful locking up fewer people up will be for the economy, confirming the suspicions of those who have argued that mass incarceration is not merely a strategy directed at crime prevention. “Under the administrations of Reagan and Clinton, incarceration, a social tool used for punishment, also became a major job creator,” Antonio Moore, a producer of the documentary “Crack in the System,” wrote recently.

On April 15 2016 08:55 puerk wrote:
i hope it was clear that i was only taking part in the fun, by extending the joke

also there seems to be a lull in the thread since the last "socialism leads to bolchevik genocide"-detour

i just watched an obama clip and am fascinated how he kept his oratory style in tact.. current (motion picture) media is all about soundbites, fanfare, and general trumpness, while he works that long winded, slow oration of an academic, with well presented pauses. all the other candidates look so unpresidential to me in comparison. even hillary, yeah she has some snark, a sharp wit (see benghazi hearing) and in general the right direction, but she (to me) tries too hard to be forceful and energizing (going with the times).

edit: @ farvacola, yeah somehow people got over the black president pretty fast.. have not seen "they are culturally inferior" in a long time in a political discussion on TL

On April 15 2016 09:28 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Universal daycare, paid family leave, minimum wage, universal healthcare, global warming, the environment, campaign finance, criminal justice reform, pharmaceutical prices etc. All are topics that are still being/up for debate.

On April 15 2016 09:52 puerk wrote:

i am pretty sure you did not mean it that way, but for most of the world "global warming" is not up for debate

regarding daycare: i went to daycare in an actual oppressive socialist state (GDR), and still think the system was better than the current one... it is a great externality, people can work/study, children get exposed to each other and society..

regarding paid family leave: we need more openmindedness how to share the leave time, or introduce the option for subventioned part-time for both parents so they can make good choices for their family

minimum wage: i am not sure if that model is the best, compared to a guaranteed basic income, but in absence of one it should be high enough for a dignified life, and adjusted upwards according to productivity gains and inflation on housing/food/energy

universal healthcare: take the profit motive out of it more, for instance set criteria what policies have to cover, how large insurance rates can be, and open up the market to all insurers country wide that fit those 2 groups of criteria. i am not sure about it but the american system also seems to be severely lacking in government mediated negotiations between providers and insurances on pay for procedures.

the environment is the hardest of the open topics... (not in actual political terms but in objective measures, for instance is it beneficial if my gf (ecologist) flies to a conference to scotland to advance the body of knowledge, does it outweigh pollution from flying, is there a better way.. etc, ecological impact on societal scales is actually really difficult)

campaign finance: i like the german system, americans will say it is impossible to implement...

criminal justice reform: i think there is pretty wide concensus that mandatory minimums and war on drugs are stupid and will be repelled with time and effort... it seems quite inevetible

On April 15 2016 10:17 Mohdoo wrote:
He can not come up with an example because there is no example. R E K T

On April 15 2016 10:22 Acrofales wrote:
How come she still doesn't have an answer to that question?

On April 15 2016 10:22 Acrofales wrote:
How come she still doesn't have an answer to that question?

On April 15 2016 10:23 Mohdoo wrote:


I think it's a weak enough question that it just makes no sense. She can just refuse and not give a fuck.

On April 15 2016 10:23 Mohdoo wrote:


I think it's a weak enough question that it just makes no sense. She can just refuse and not give a fuck.