In order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a re-read to refresh your memory! The vast majority of you are contributing in a healthy way, keep it up!
NOTE: When providing a source, explain why you feel it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion if it's not obvious. Also take note that unsubstantiated tweets/posts meant only to rekindle old arguments can result in a mod action.
Apparently the Venezuelan Parliament is trying to throw out Maduro? Does anyone from the Spanish-speaking world have any more useful insight into what is happening there?
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
On January 10 2017 04:37 Nyxisto wrote: do we really need to do this again? The wall, racial profiling, threats of torture, bossing around business and other forms of protectionism, his threats of religious controls and surveillance, stop and frisk, immigration, freedom of the press etc.. Like take a list of everything he has said and pick a dozen things. What has he actually planned or said that is not in one form or another authoritarian?
I do have a question regarding the wall. Is it really as bad as people make it out to be? When people say they're anti-wall, does this mean that they support illgeal immigration? Or that it should be overlooked? Is it the symbol which is disliked?
In fact there are other points which I'd like to nitpick. Freedom of press? Has Trump ever proposed policies which would infringe on freedom of speech?
Protectionism? Sure but does that mean that jobs are better off out-sourced to China? I mean, protectionism is less good for the companies and better for American workers, since they're employed rather than not.
On January 10 2017 06:58 LegalLord wrote: It's amazing to me just how much news attention this apparent spat between Trump and Hollywood seems to get.
the Oscars are going to be fun. But yeah I personally had more of an issue with him attacking Arnold (who actually told people to stop whining after the election), Lockheed, and the union head guy than him getting in a feud with someone like this (anyone remember him and Bill Maher?).
It annoys a lot of us, though, because policies of our new president are more important than his spat with this or that person.
Yeah well policy is not what America votes for anymore it seems.
You might not have voted for him yourself but this is the country a (slight) minority seems to want. Better get used to it. Its going to be 4 years of Trump's weekly Twitter spat updates.
america never really voted for policy iirc. it was just more apparent this time around.
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
Again, the media shows what people want to see. People want to see a baseball game, not boring policy.
If you want the media to not follow the money then the government needs to pay them instead. Which brings it's own problems.
lol, just with how Americans look at baseball, it makes for a poor analogy, but point taken. If we're chicken and egging it, it's obvious that politicians (leaders) should be the ones steering the media and their constituents away from that, not leaning into it for their advantage.
Would be nice if Democrats didn't look at Bernie like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets.
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
Again, the media shows what people want to see. People want to see a baseball game, not boring policy.
If you want the media to not follow the money then the government needs to pay them instead. Which brings it's own problems.
lol, just with how Americans look at baseball, it makes for a poor analogy, but point taken. If we're chicken and egging it, it's obvious that politicians (leaders) should be the ones steering the media and their constituents away from that, not leaning into it for their advantage.
Would be nice if Democrats didn't look at Bernie like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets.
which democrats treated bernie like a pariah for that reason? all the ones i'm aware of that did it (which is only some) did it for entirely different reasons.
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
Again, the media shows what people want to see. People want to see a baseball game, not boring policy.
If you want the media to not follow the money then the government needs to pay them instead. Which brings it's own problems.
lol, just with how Americans look at baseball, it makes for a poor analogy, but point taken. If we're chicken and egging it, it's obvious that politicians (leaders) should be the ones steering the media and their constituents away from that, not leaning into it for their advantage.
Would be nice if Democrats didn't look at Bernie like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets.
which democrats treated bernie like a pariah for that reason? all the ones i'm aware of that did it (which is only some) did it for entirely different reasons.
I'm talking about right now, they should all be praising Bernie for talking about the issues and trying to make progress, instead they are sitting with their thumbs up their ass waiting for Republicans to come up with their ACA repeal plan.
On January 10 2017 04:37 Nyxisto wrote: do we really need to do this again? The wall, racial profiling, threats of torture, bossing around business and other forms of protectionism, his threats of religious controls and surveillance, stop and frisk, immigration, freedom of the press etc.. Like take a list of everything he has said and pick a dozen things. What has he actually planned or said that is not in one form or another authoritarian?
I do have a question regarding the wall. Is it really as bad as people make it out to be? When people say they're anti-wall, does this mean that they support illgeal immigration? Or that it should be overlooked? Is it the symbol which is disliked?
People have a lot of reasons, but probably most notable is that: 1. It's a multi billion dollar (~$20b) vanity project. 2. The symbolism is pretty bad.
On January 10 2017 08:25 Incognoto wrote: In fact there are other points which I'd like to nitpick. Freedom of press? Has Trump ever proposed policies which would infringe on freedom of speech?
He wants more libel lawsuits. Arguably a bad thing.
On January 10 2017 08:25 Incognoto wrote: Protectionism? Sure but does that mean that jobs are better off out-sourced to China? I mean, protectionism is less good for the companies and better for American workers, since they're employed rather than not.
That's probably one of the policy points on which his overall critics are most supportive.
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
Again, the media shows what people want to see. People want to see a baseball game, not boring policy.
If you want the media to not follow the money then the government needs to pay them instead. Which brings it's own problems.
lol, just with how Americans look at baseball, it makes for a poor analogy, but point taken. If we're chicken and egging it, it's obvious that politicians (leaders) should be the ones steering the media and their constituents away from that, not leaning into it for their advantage.
Would be nice if Democrats didn't look at Bernie like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets.
which democrats treated bernie like a pariah for that reason? all the ones i'm aware of that did it (which is only some) did it for entirely different reasons.
I'm talking about right now, they should all be praising Bernie for talking about the issues and trying to make progress, instead they are sitting with their thumbs up their ass waiting for Republicans to come up with their ACA repeal plan.
plenty of people have talked about issues, why should they be praising bernie in particular? what actions has bernie been taking in the past month that are especially praise-worthy? also, there's a big difference between not actively praising someone, and treating someone like a pariah, which was your initial claim.
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
Again, the media shows what people want to see. People want to see a baseball game, not boring policy.
If you want the media to not follow the money then the government needs to pay them instead. Which brings it's own problems.
lol, just with how Americans look at baseball, it makes for a poor analogy, but point taken. If we're chicken and egging it, it's obvious that politicians (leaders) should be the ones steering the media and their constituents away from that, not leaning into it for their advantage.
Would be nice if Democrats didn't look at Bernie like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets.
which democrats treated bernie like a pariah for that reason? all the ones i'm aware of that did it (which is only some) did it for entirely different reasons.
I'm talking about right now, they should all be praising Bernie for talking about the issues and trying to make progress, instead they are sitting with their thumbs up their ass waiting for Republicans to come up with their ACA repeal plan.
plenty of people have talked about issues, why should they be praising bernie in particular? what actions has bernie been taking in the past month that are especially praise-worthy? also, there's a big difference between not actively praising someone, and treating someone like a pariah, which was your initial claim.
Who on the national stage is discussing the issues laid out in that piece?
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
Again, the media shows what people want to see. People want to see a baseball game, not boring policy.
If you want the media to not follow the money then the government needs to pay them instead. Which brings it's own problems.
lol, just with how Americans look at baseball, it makes for a poor analogy, but point taken. If we're chicken and egging it, it's obvious that politicians (leaders) should be the ones steering the media and their constituents away from that, not leaning into it for their advantage.
Would be nice if Democrats didn't look at Bernie like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets.
which democrats treated bernie like a pariah for that reason? all the ones i'm aware of that did it (which is only some) did it for entirely different reasons.
I'm talking about right now, they should all be praising Bernie for talking about the issues and trying to make progress, instead they are sitting with their thumbs up their ass waiting for Republicans to come up with their ACA repeal plan.
Well I can see why. The immediate start of Trump's presidency is going to be confirmation hearings and whatever he does by executive order. The more long-term policy suggestions come second to the scramble to salvage the Obama legacy.
On January 10 2017 04:37 Nyxisto wrote: do we really need to do this again? The wall, racial profiling, threats of torture, bossing around business and other forms of protectionism, his threats of religious controls and surveillance, stop and frisk, immigration, freedom of the press etc.. Like take a list of everything he has said and pick a dozen things. What has he actually planned or said that is not in one form or another authoritarian?
I do have a question regarding the wall. Is it really as bad as people make it out to be? When people say they're anti-wall, does this mean that they support illgeal immigration? Or that it should be overlooked? Is it the symbol which is disliked?
In fact there are other points which I'd like to nitpick. Freedom of press? Has Trump ever proposed policies which would infringe on freedom of speech?
Protectionism? Sure but does that mean that jobs are better off out-sourced to China? I mean, protectionism is less good for the companies and better for American workers, since they're employed rather than not.
People on both sides of the aisle are opposed to illegal immigration. But campaign-Trump was speaking of building a great wall of china-esque thingy on the mexican border to keep mexicans out and he said mexico would pay for it. The reality is; a wall is not practical for the entire border (for segments- sure), it's a ridiculous waste of money, mexico isn't gonna pay for it, most illegals overstay their visas rather than enter illegally. Increased border security is not something people have an issue with, the issue is with the really stupid and simplified catchphrase-solution of 'build a wall and have mexico pay for it'. Now, post-election, he has actually said that parts of the wall will probably be a fence instead.
Basically, the wall is perhaps the primary example of his negative populist traits. He had no qualms whatsoever about making up a blatant lie and repeating it ad nauseum, because he doesn't give a shit about possible long term negative consequences of lying as long as it gets him the immediate benefit of winning.
Freedom of speech, he's talked about opening up libel laws to make it easier to sue media outlets (and he has a very long history of frivolously suing people he has a feud with), and the way he wages war on media outlets that criticize him is to me somewhat in conflict with important freedom of speech principles. But I don't actually think he's too big of a threat in this regard - first amendment is too ingrained in the american soul for trump to successfully dissipate it over 4 years.
Protectionism is a mixed bag, there are legitimate reasons to favor more protectionist policies and I'm not gonna criticize him here. I think this is one area where he offers some genuine policy option which had been neglected by everyone else but which actually somewhat resonates with segments of the american public. Not that I think 'slap a 35% tariff' or whatever is necessarily all that wise, but I think it's conceivable that the actual protectionist policies end up being more nuanced than this - just like how he has admitted that the wall might be a fence in some places where that's appropriate, and that mexico won't actually pay for it. So the main problem here, to me, is how he simplifies complex issues, and I'm not entirely convinced it's only because he had to convince a largely ignorant public (I'm including myself in this group) or because he just doesn't really understand the complexity of the issues himself.
The border security on the Mexican border has made leaps and bounds over the past decade. Border crossings are definitely less of a problem than those who haven't seen the border would think it is. A 50 foot wall would be a waste of money for sure, but it's a great talking point.
Barbed wire and/or chain link fencing does the job and doesn't cost billions nor force Mexico to pay for a vanity project.
On January 10 2017 08:59 LegalLord wrote: The border security on the Mexican border has made leaps and bounds over the past decade. Border crossings are definitely less of a problem than those who haven't seen the border would think it is. A 50 foot wall would be a waste of money for sure, but it's a great talking point.
Barbed wire and/or chain link fencing does the job and doesn't cost billions nor force Mexico to pay for a vanity project.
But how does a wall blocking Mexico create manufacturing plants that don't care whether there is a wall or not?
Shouldn't trump build a wall on the California coastlines? Asians are definitely taking the tech jobs that are booming. What about the eastern coastlines? IT and Tech Support is being overtaken by eastern europeans and far east asians. And what about the the internet? Most of the lost facilities that are growing rapidly are customer support centers--if he walls off phone lines then people would have to call local if they needed tech support!
Like, what industry is being saved by a Mexican wall?
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
Again, the media shows what people want to see. People want to see a baseball game, not boring policy.
If you want the media to not follow the money then the government needs to pay them instead. Which brings it's own problems.
lol, just with how Americans look at baseball, it makes for a poor analogy, but point taken. If we're chicken and egging it, it's obvious that politicians (leaders) should be the ones steering the media and their constituents away from that, not leaning into it for their advantage.
Would be nice if Democrats didn't look at Bernie like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets.
which democrats treated bernie like a pariah for that reason? all the ones i'm aware of that did it (which is only some) did it for entirely different reasons.
I'm talking about right now, they should all be praising Bernie for talking about the issues and trying to make progress, instead they are sitting with their thumbs up their ass waiting for Republicans to come up with their ACA repeal plan.
plenty of people have talked about issues, why should they be praising bernie in particular? what actions has bernie been taking in the past month that are especially praise-worthy? also, there's a big difference between not actively praising someone, and treating someone like a pariah, which was your initial claim.
Who on the national stage is discussing the issues laid out in that piece?
many are, many aren't. people bring up those points all the time. they get brougth up often enough in house/senate debates. it just doesn't get covered as much in media, cuz it's boring policy stuff. It's easy to mention the problems, we all know what they are, it's the solutions, and the coalition building to implement the solutions, that's the hard part. it is good that he's mentioning those things, but it's not some tremendously praiseworthy thing. it's just a decent job (if it actually translates into something). my dispute was with when you said: "like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets." so again, SPECIFY the democrats that are treating him wrongly, and provide some documentation thereof.
On January 10 2017 08:59 LegalLord wrote: The border security on the Mexican border has made leaps and bounds over the past decade. Border crossings are definitely less of a problem than those who haven't seen the border would think it is. A 50 foot wall would be a waste of money for sure, but it's a great talking point.
Barbed wire and/or chain link fencing does the job and doesn't cost billions nor force Mexico to pay for a vanity project.
But how does a wall blocking Mexico create manufacturing plants that don't care whether there is a wall or not?
Shouldn't trump build a wall on the California coastlines? Asians are definitely taking the tech jobs that are booming. What about the eastern coastlines? IT and Tech Support is being overtaken by eastern europeans and far east asians. And what about the the internet? Most of the lost facilities that are growing rapidly are customer support centers--if he walls off phone lines then people would have to call local if they needed tech support!
Like, what industry is being saved by a Mexican wall?
Speaking of which, is Trump going to go hard on worker visas (H1B) or is he going to allow those? He still doesn't seem to have made up his mind there.
In my view, the media spends too much time treating politics like a baseball game, a personality contest or a soap opera. We need to focus less on polls, fundraisers, gaffes and who's running for president in four years, and more on the very serious problems facing the American people -- problems which get relatively little discussion. I hope that's what our town meeting on CNN tonight will accomplish.
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:
How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?
Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing?
Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent?
Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people?
Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?
While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth?
Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
What can be done about a political system in which the very rich are able to spend unlimited sums of money to elect candidates who represent their interests? Is that really what democracy is about? Why, in the year 2017, do we still have state governments trying to suppress the vote and make it harder for poor people, young people and people of color to participate in the political process?
Why is the richest country in the history of the world the only major country not to provide health care to all as a right, despite spending much more per capita? Why are we one of the very few countries on earth not to provide paid family and medical leave? With the five major drug companies making over $50 billion in profits last year, why do we end up paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
How do we succeed in a competitive global economy if we do not have the best educated workforce in the world? And how can we have that quality workforce if so many of our young people are unable to afford higher education or leave school deeply in debt? Not so many years ago, we had the highest percentage of college graduates in the world. Now we don't even rank in the top ten. What can we do to make sure that every American, regardless of income, gets all of the education he or she needs?
Again, the media shows what people want to see. People want to see a baseball game, not boring policy.
If you want the media to not follow the money then the government needs to pay them instead. Which brings it's own problems.
lol, just with how Americans look at baseball, it makes for a poor analogy, but point taken. If we're chicken and egging it, it's obvious that politicians (leaders) should be the ones steering the media and their constituents away from that, not leaning into it for their advantage.
Would be nice if Democrats didn't look at Bernie like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets.
which democrats treated bernie like a pariah for that reason? all the ones i'm aware of that did it (which is only some) did it for entirely different reasons.
I'm talking about right now, they should all be praising Bernie for talking about the issues and trying to make progress, instead they are sitting with their thumbs up their ass waiting for Republicans to come up with their ACA repeal plan.
plenty of people have talked about issues, why should they be praising bernie in particular? what actions has bernie been taking in the past month that are especially praise-worthy? also, there's a big difference between not actively praising someone, and treating someone like a pariah, which was your initial claim.
Who on the national stage is discussing the issues laid out in that piece?
many are, many aren't. people bring up those points all the time. they get brougth up often enough in house/senate debates. it just doesn't get covered as much in media, cuz it's boring policy stuff. It's easy to mention the problems, we all know what they are, it's the solutions, and the coalition building to implement the solutions, that's the hard part. it is good that he's mentioning those things, but it's not some tremendously praiseworthy thing. it's just a decent job (if it actually translates into something). my dispute was with when you said: "like a pariah, simply because he actually wants to talk about the issues instead of harping on Trump's grade school tweets." so again, SPECIFY the democrats that are treating him wrongly, and provide some documentation thereof.
I mean I get what you're after, but I think Mag's "I can't tell if you're talking about Trump or Bernie" sums up the sentiment I'm describing. Like I said, when a population desperately needs politicians dragging them back to the issues despite the media, no one's doing a better job than Bernie and they should be rallying around him, not sitting on their asses waiting on Republicans.
EPT
