US Politics Mega-thread - Page 1188

On March 07 2019 08:04 Dangermousecatdog wrote:
Ok, I actually believe you don't understand what to be communist is, and you have confused it with an authoritarian form of government.

On March 07 2019 07:46 Dangermousecatdog wrote:
That China is not a democracy does not make China communist. Saudi Arabia and Iran and Russia are not democracies, and they aren't communist either. They haven't actually been communist for 20 years now. The ideas of communism doesn't seem to drive China's leaders anymore, but rather retaining power and wealth does. You'll have to point to something that is actually communist to make China communist. There is a large element of state control, that is true, but there is also a large element of market economy.

On March 07 2019 14:30 m4ini wrote:


That "large element" of market economy is confined to very specific areas.

Also, since we're arguing definitions here, the WTO does not recognise China as a market economy because of how much their government intervenes.

Now, is china communist?

By very classic definitions, probably close, but not quite. But looking at it a bit broader, then yes, of course they are. It's in fact the communists party program that makes that pretty clear. The entire thing is called "chinese socialism" and is basically Marxism-Leninism adjusted for chinese circumstances and time periods.

This here is the current ideology of china.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping_Thought

Now, here's the thing. It's a mix of communism and socialism (as we hopefully know, they're not the same) - so really, arguing that they're neither (as you do) is simply wrong. They're not purely communist, sure. But to argue that they're not communist is like arguing that the UK is socialist because the NHS exists.

On March 07 2019 20:54 Simberto wrote:
There often appears to be some difficulty realizing that sometimes what people call themselves is not what others would call them. This is the same effect as some people calling nazis socialist because of the socialist in national socialist workers party.

China is weird, but probably far better described as "state capitalism" or something along those lines rather than communism. Just because the ruling party calls itself communist doesn't make it communist. In the same way that the GDR was neither democratic nor a republic, and that North Korea is neither democratic, a republic, or belongs to the people.

I feel that people in the modern world should be able to distinguish between the marketing and the reality of a thing.

On March 07 2019 20:54 Simberto wrote:
There often appears to be some difficulty realizing that sometimes what people call themselves is not what others would call them. This is the same effect as some people calling nazis socialist because of the socialist in national socialist workers party.

China is weird, but probably far better described as "state capitalism" or something along those lines rather than communism. Just because the ruling party calls itself communist doesn't make it communist. In the same way that the GDR was neither democratic nor a republic, and that North Korea is neither democratic, a republic, or belongs to the people.

I feel that people in the modern world should be able to distinguish between the marketing and the reality of a thing.

On March 07 2019 23:20 JimmiC wrote:
I thought this was a funny harmless story to start the day. Donald Trump tweeted a thank you to "Tim Apple" CEO of Apple. It wasn't an insult like some of his others. And it wasn't a slip of the tongue because it was a tweet. So you are left with a minor brain fart or he thinks the CEO's of all companies are like him and named them with their last name. Like good old Elon Tesla. Made my chuckle at any rate.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/6/18253785/donald-trump-tim-apple-cook-ceo-name

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross acted in “bad faith,” broke several laws and violated the constitutional underpinning of representative democracy when he added a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

In finding a breach of the Constitution’s enumeration clause, which requires a census every 10 years to determine each state’s representation in Congress, the 126-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco went further than a similar decision on Jan. 15 by Judge Jesse Furman in New York.

The Supreme Court has already agreed to review Furman’s narrower decision, with arguments set for April 23, but may now need to expand its inquiry to constitutional dimensions.

The Commerce Department did not respond to requests for comment.

The administration has been on the losing end of scores of court decisions involving immigration issues since President Trump took office. But the census case has taken on special significance because it strikes at the heart of the United States’ form of government and because of what Seeborg described as a “strong showing of bad faith” by a Cabinet secretary who, influenced in part by White House advisers, tried to conceal his motives.

Unable to find any expert in the Census Bureau who approved of his plan to add the citizenship question, Seeborg wrote, Ross engaged in a “cynical search to find some reason, any reason” to justify the decision.

He was fully aware that the question would produce a census undercount, particularly among Latinos, the judge said.

That would have probably reduced the representation in Congress — and thus in the electoral college that decides the presidency — of states with significant immigrant populations, notably California.

On March 08 2019 00:09 Ayaz2810 wrote:
Can someone ELI5 the controversy surrounding Congresswoman Omar? My fiance is Jewish, and by extension, so is our daughter. She has been to, and absolutely adores, Israel. But she agrees that the U.S. has been on Israel's dick for too long and the attitude that they can do no wrong is misguided. As near as I can tell, Omar told the truth in terms of "dual allegiance". There are politicians so far up Israel's ass that I can't tell where the U.S. ends and Israel begins. I have also read that a number of politicians have literal dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship. Is this true? I'm having a hard time pinning down the facts on that. Regardless, I don't get the controversy on these (true) statements about Israeli lobbying and the unshakable love for Israel.

Not trying to be a dick or willfully ignorant. I seriously don't get where this is coming from. Is it the word allegiance and the implications of that?

“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” Omar said as part of a discussion about past anti-Semitism allegations lobbed at her."

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/6/18251639/ilhan-omar-israel-anti-semitism-jews

On March 08 2019 00:09 Ayaz2810 wrote:
Can someone ELI5 the controversy surrounding Congresswoman Omar? My fiance is Jewish, and by extension, so is our daughter. She has been to, and absolutely adores, Israel. But she agrees that the U.S. has been on Israel's dick for too long and the attitude that they can do no wrong is misguided. As near as I can tell, Omar told the truth in terms of "dual allegiance". There are politicians so far up Israel's ass that I can't tell where the U.S. ends and Israel begins. I have also read that a number of politicians have literal dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship. Is this true? I'm having a hard time pinning down the facts on that. Regardless, I don't get the controversy on these (true) statements about Israeli lobbying and the unshakable love for Israel.

Not trying to be a dick or willfully ignorant. I seriously don't get where this is coming from. Is it the word allegiance and the implications of that?

“I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” Omar said as part of a discussion about past anti-Semitism allegations lobbed at her."

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/6/18251639/ilhan-omar-israel-anti-semitism-jews

On March 08 2019 00:22 Gorsameth wrote:
Certain groups think that being critical of a country is the same as being critical of a people living in that country, but only when that country is Israel.
They believe that by saying something bad about Israel you are saying something bad about jews, and therefor anti-semitic even tho your clearly talking about the actions of a state and not about the jewish people.

This tactic has been used for some time now to attempt to silence any and all criticism of Israel and their treatment of Palestinians.

On March 08 2019 00:31 Ayaz2810 wrote:


This is what I assumed from what I read. It seems like there is a fine line between criticizing the country as an entity, and the Jewish people. I suspected that people were conflating one with the other for political gain. I understand why Republicans would pounce on this in a disingenuous fashion, but I don't understand why the media and Democrats are chastising her. The way it's playing out is not what I expected at all.

On March 07 2019 23:58 JimmiC wrote:


My bad! So it could just simply be a slip of the tongue. Funny none the less! Especially given that they have met numerous times.

Here is the video, I also notice he has a name card right in front of him. I wonder if it is printed on both sides or not.

https://globalnews.ca/video/5030151/donald-trump-mistakenly-calls-apple-ceo-tim-cook-tim-apple

On March 08 2019 00:21 Sermokala wrote:

I think what you don't understand is how politics work. The right can acuse of of being anti semetic beacuse Isreal is a jewish state and the left can accuse the right of doing this beacuse shes a somali immigrant.

Its not real its just scoring points.