US Politics Mega-thread - Page 9893

On February 13 2018 20:43 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
"Democracy"

On February 13 2018 23:20 Grumbels wrote:

My mother is upper middle class and basically only eats toast with camembert and olives, my father always wonders how she is still alive. My brother only eats junk food and recently told me he didn’t see the point of having a kitchen since he was never cooking anything anyway.

This is kinda why I think every child should be forced to have school lunches.

On February 13 2018 23:16 ChristianS wrote:

Are you implying I'm a nihilist? I really don't think I am.


I mean, I know he doesn't. I was pointing out why I don't think he'll convince anyone else. Of those statements, (3) seems unambiguously true anyway - how can you not see any difference in policy outcomes between Trump's administration and Obama's? - but all you'd really need to reject his viewpoint is (1). It's basically politically impossible to replace a party.

He keeps talking about it like the Dems are a security blanket we're afraid to be separated from, but it's closer to if that blanket were grafted to our skin somehow. It's not just that it might be dangerous or scary to separate from it, although that might be true too. It's that there is little reason to think it's within our power. Like sure, 2016 was bad and the Dems are reeling, but the Republicans survived Watergate. They limped through a very thorough public demonstration that they were literal criminals engaged in clandestine operations to steal elections. And sure, it probably hurt them for a few elections, but within a decade they were back in power.

So in terms of viable political outcomes, a "forsake the Dems" movement from the left would, in its wildest dreams, do little more than take the wind out of their sails for a few years. That's (1). Then there's the fact that viability aside, every third party I've seen looks worse than the Dems, and they're not even in power. The systemic factors that tend to corrupt Democrats and Republicans now would apply just as much to hypothetical future Greens or Libertarians; the Citizens United decision would still allow infinite campaign money; ethical guidelines would still have holes allowing various ways for politicians to enrich themselves. That's (2). Meanwhile the Republicans mop up, gerrymander things even worse, and continue to be cartoon villains. That's (3).

So I hope Illinois rejects that corrupt billionaire (assuming he's as corrupt as GH says, I haven't independently researched it). But if they don't, the range of reasonable reactions from my perspective would be either "that sucks, we need to work harder to make the Democrats be less shitty" or "I give up, we're all doomed." Third party fantasies are basically just political escapism.

On February 14 2018 00:16 farvacola wrote:
Yeah my school's lunches consisted of waffle fries, chicken strips, and fiestada pizza; I've little doubt the quality of the food played a role in my adolescent obesity

(Those waffle fries and chicken strips were damn good though)

On February 13 2018 23:58 Plansix wrote:
The woman got exactly what she wanted, so I don’t see the problem here. If people were not aware of the oil industry’s influence over the politicians, they are now. Sometimes the goal is to say things until you are silenced or arrested.

On February 14 2018 00:50 Plansix wrote:
Not for nothing, but cooking for that many children is a huge logistical challenge before any health requirements become involved. We tend to under value the service school kitchens provide. On top of that, there is little teachers and the school can do to moderate kids eating habits under most state laws.

On February 14 2018 00:57 Acrofales wrote:


A cynical me says she got more than that. It appears she's running for state congress, and this will undoubtedly do quite well in her campaign ads.

On February 14 2018 01:01 Acrofales wrote:

That huge logistical issue is a problem everywhere, and while the veggies are a bit overcooked at my university cantine, they are in ample supply. And when I visit schools here, I also see veggies. It's really no harder to throw a bunch of machine chopped veggies into boiling water than it is to deep fry chicken nuggets.

Of course, it's a hell of a lot easier to convince children to eat the latter than the former. But that's a mentality problem not a logistics problem.

On February 14 2018 01:01 Acrofales wrote:

That huge logistical issue is a problem everywhere, and while the veggies are a bit overcooked at my university cantine, they are in ample supply. And when I visit schools here, I also see veggies. It's really no harder to throw a bunch of machine chopped veggies into boiling water than it is to deep fry chicken nuggets.

Of course, it's a hell of a lot easier to convince children to eat the latter than the former. But that's a mentality problem not a logistics problem.

On February 14 2018 01:29 ahswtini wrote:

except no child will want to eat bland boiled vegetables. and if u want to make veggies even close to tasty as chicken nuggets, it'll require more effort

On February 14 2018 01:29 ahswtini wrote:

except no child will want to eat bland boiled vegetables. and if u want to make veggies even close to tasty as chicken nuggets, it'll require more effort

On February 14 2018 01:28 zlefin wrote:
School lunch is a tricky issue; from what I've heard, efforts to put in healthier foods often resulted in vast amounts of waste as the kids simply didn't eat them.