US Politics Mega-thread - Page 6719

On February 01 2017 02:54 Logo wrote:


It's a bit of an odd duck right?

The republicans got away with being incredibly obstructionist on say the Supreme Court pick and now dems are being held to higher pressure from their base which puts them in a tough spot to do something.

Tit-for-Tat is not a good solution, but dems caving and giving a payout to republican obstructionism also isn't a good solution.

The correct thing was to avoid this situation in the first place, but it's clearly too late for that.

On February 01 2017 02:32 LegalLord wrote:
So is Booker still the manufactured Obama in the making for the Democrats or did they give up on him yet?

On February 01 2017 02:59 Tachion wrote:

All the fascism and Hitler comments in reference to Trump himself seem really silly to me. Trump can’t even unite the Republicans much less the nation under some fascist regime. He has never given me the impression of being some diplomatic mastermind. He’s just a moron with no values or decency who says the first thing that pops into his head. He’s a dog chasing cars. This is a guy who can’t even distinguish between fact and fiction so long as the facts are in conflict with his ego. He sits around in the White House watching TV, tweeting out stupid shit about the things he sees on TV. This is not a complex man with a master plan. His actions and rhetoric can certainly be malevolent and dangerous in one way or another, but he’s not trying to be an authoritarian. He’s just being his usual petty, thin-skinned, asshole self.
Overall I would say ChristianS has him pegged well


Pence is a hardliner Christian and will likely want to see legislation passed that will match his ideals. This could be done by giving religion a bigger place and more rights in schools/government, restricting abortion wherever possible, and perhaps eroding some discrimination protections against LGBT’s. He is a magnified version of other republicans, but he’s not dangerous. When faced with extremism, Pence shook his head and shot it down.

Steve Bannon on the other hand, is the guy who I see would be egging that revolutionist on. He is the intelligent extremist that people who are worried about this administration need to watch out for. He seems to be grasping up whatever power he can around the White House currently, and Trump’s inner circle workings are only making it easier for him. I have little doubt that it was his plan to turn Trump’s diatribe against the media into the “opposition party” and “enemy” that it has become. Promoting that kind of vitriol and hated against your own populace can almost certainly lead to violence in today’s political climate.
Being on the NSC will allow him input on making military decisions to align with political goals of the administration, which should be quite alarming. He is also beyond political jurisdiction since he was never elected or voted in to begin with. Was his anti-Semite, alt-right bullshit responsible for the recent white house holocaust statement as well? I would not be surprised.

Mr. Bannon supercharged Breitbart News as a platform for inciting the alt-right, did the same with the Trump campaign and is now repeating the act with the Trump White House itself. That was perhaps to be expected, though the speed with which President Trump has moved to alienate Mexicans (by declaring they would pay for a border wall), Jews (by disregarding their unique experience of the Holocaust) and Muslims (the ban) has been impressive. Mr. Trump never showed much inclination to reach beyond the minority base of voters that delivered his Electoral College victory, and Mr. Bannon, whose fingerprints were on each of those initiatives, is helping make sure he doesn’t.

But a new executive order, politicizing the process for national security decisions, suggests Mr. Bannon is positioning himself not merely as a Svengali but as the de facto president.

In that new order, issued on Saturday, Mr. Trump took the unprecedented step of naming Mr. Bannon to the National Security Council, along with the secretaries of state and defense and certain other top officials. President George W. Bush’s last chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, was so concerned about separating politics from national security that he barred Mr. Rove, Mr. Bush’s political adviser, from N.S.C. meetings. To the annoyance of experienced foreign policy aides, David Axelrod, President Barack Obama’s political adviser, sat in on some N.S.C. meetings, but he was not a permanent member of the council.

On February 01 2017 02:43 LegalLord wrote:
For a time I thought the Democrats were actually interested in a better Congress that wouldn't be a bunch of absurd obstructionists. Turns out they would have been fine being Republican-style obstructionists, as long as it was for their own cause.

They should instead be begging for some scraps from their new president because that's all they're going to get for the next two years.

On February 01 2017 02:59 Trainrunnef wrote:



This is an excellent podcast on the pitfalls of tit-for-tat and what happens when people try to de-escalate.

http://www.radiolab.org/story/104010-one-good-deed-deserves-another/

On February 01 2017 03:19 Acrofales wrote:


I already knew all about Axelrod and tit-for-tat, but this is indeed a truly great podcast. Thanks!

On February 01 2017 03:19 Danglars wrote:

The coastal cities protests instead demand they resist Trump at every turn, refuse to confirm his cabinet picks SC justices. Senate suspends filibuster again and its all over. Democrats don't have the votes. Better to inveigh against immigration EO and then sit down and look for compromise legislation from a non-doctrinaire Republican.

On February 01 2017 02:59 Tachion wrote:

All the fascism and Hitler comments in reference to Trump himself seem really silly to me. Trump can’t even unite the Republicans much less the nation under some fascist regime. He has never given me the impression of being some diplomatic mastermind. He’s just a moron with no values or decency who says the first thing that pops into his head. He’s a dog chasing cars. This is a guy who can’t even distinguish between fact and fiction so long as the facts are in conflict with his ego. He sits around in the White House watching TV, tweeting out stupid shit about the things he sees on TV. This is not a complex man with a master plan. His actions and rhetoric can certainly be malevolent and dangerous in one way or another, but he’s not trying to be an authoritarian. He’s just being his usual petty, thin-skinned, asshole self.

Recent high school graduates in Tennessee are already allowed to attend community college at no cost. Now Gov. Bill Haslam is looking to expand the year-old program to provide free community college educations to adults, as well.

Haslam, a Republican who's been in office since 2011, made his pitch at Monday night's State of the State address. Afterwards, he tweeted, "Let's be the Tennessee we can be."

The pitch was well-received by members of both parties, as the governor pushes toward his goal of helping Tennessee have 55 percent of its 6.6 million citizens hold a post-secondary degree or certificate by the year 2025.

The state currently needs 871,000 post-secondary degrees or certificates to reach that goal, Haslam's office says. And it would help if free access to community college is given to adults — including the 900,000 Tennesseans who have taken some college classes but didn't get a degree.

"Since the fall of 2015, Tennessee has provided free community college for new high school graduates," Nashville Public Radio reports. "Money for the program, known as Tennessee Promise, has come from a variety of sources, including federal Pell grants and the state lottery."

Haslam's initiative seems to have bipartisan support, with the NPR member station reporting that Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh responded by saying, "Actually I had hoped that we would do that earlier. But I'm glad to see him doing that now."

A billionaire whose father started the Pilot chain of gas stations and truck stops, Haslam was the president of his family's business before starting his political career as the mayor of Knoxville.

Tennessee's efforts to make it easier to get a degree led former President Obama to choose the state as the site for a speech about making community colleges tuition-free in early 2015.

The idea of providing free community college education has spread in recent years. Around the U.S., the institutions vary widely, with yearly costs that range from $1,420 in California to $7,530 in Vermont, as NPR's Ed blog reported last summer.

Along with Oregon and Minnesota, Tennessee is one of three states with free community college programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Kentucky approved a similar program last year; other states are considering their own plans.

Haslam's education plan earned a standing ovation at last night's address — but as Nashville Public Radio notes, many protesters were also at the Capitol, holding signs and chanting to register their anger over President Trump's immigration policies and to inform legislators that they would be watching their actions.

On February 01 2017 03:42 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Wow my state seems to be making inroads to sanity... how odd.



Source

On February 01 2017 03:36 WolfintheSheep wrote:


This is why it's actually important to learn history properly, instead of the pop culture version.

1) Hitler won a minority government. The nation was not united under him when he was elected, and was not very popular with his political opponents either. It took a lot of outside influence and fears to allow him to claim complete power, and even then it took a lot of propaganda and government enforcement to make the country "united".

2) He was not a political genius. Reading Mein Kampf shows just how loopy his logic and reasoning was, but it contained rhetoric that resonated with people. His rise to power was not about masterful manoeuvring, but charismatic oration, convenient scapegoating, and political and economic climate allowing for opportunism.

3) He was quite detached from reality as well. He believed in a master race which he called "Aryans", which etymologically has zero relation to the blond-haired blue-eyed people he thought were superior. He and some of his inner circle had dedicated organizations that pursued the supernatural and occult. He thought he was a good artist being snubbed by elitists...

4) Many authoritarians do not go into power planning to be dictators. In fact, many take power because the current situation was terrible and they believed they could do better. Then they claim more power and rule with an iron fist because they believe they know what's best, and opposition is only hindering or slowing them down.

Opportunity, timing, and a good dose of ego are really all you need to take power. Genius not required.

On February 01 2017 03:58 LightSpectra wrote:


I agree with 1, 3, and 4. But I think you're wrong on 2. Hitler was indeed a master at political maneuvering, he knew exactly which of his political allies to purge at opportune times to maximize his own power (most notably Röhm). It's also worth noting just how unpopular the Nazis were until he became Chancellor; by today's standards they're even more fringe than the British National Party.