US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2800

On October 28 2020 20:56 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:

The larger issue is that a lot of people want widespread immediate change. They don't want to piecemeal change together, they want it done at once. And that is just unrealistic. Incremental change, as they are leading us to believe, is a lifetime of waiting. A lifetime of watching nothing get better on the micro. The macro looks dandy in some regards, but the day to day lives of individuals aren't as great as their dreams would lead them to believe. It isn't so much that nothing isn't being done, it's that they want it all at once.
There is no way, absolutely impossible, for the change GH and his kind are asking for without sacrificing a lot of people. And I mean at least 1 billion. Those lives are going to have to be forfeit to see the change on a global level most of them are advocating for. We'd probably lose a few million in the states alone to implement their structural change. But that isn't the issue here in that case. They just want their immediate change and gratification.

On October 28 2020 23:03 LegalLord wrote:

I don't think his stated beliefs are neoliberal, per se. That's not what's being claimed. His stated positions are indeed in line with what would pass as somewhat in line with the left, but when they're coupled with an absolute lack of willingness to accept any form of adversity to achieve them. Neoliberalism is something of a default outcome of refusing to do anything, given that the entire position is almost tailor-made to be in the interest of the well-connected big businesses that benefit from and advocate for many of its policy implications. That's where the whole bit about "implied consensus" comes into play, whether or not the notional positions align with that.

It's not far from what many American politicians do, for that matter. If you read their positions off a list of what they claim to support, it all looks really agreeable and supportive of the right things. But then there's a strange unwillingness to actually work in the direction of meaningfully implementing those things, instead creating something very much in line with the more centrist position.

When someone says they want X, but they're not willing to support any actions that are needed to achieve X, one would rightly conclude that their support for X is actually very loosely held and easily bargained away. Sure, you occasionally want to compromise in the short term, but if you compromise every single time, one would rightly assume that you're either lying about what you're willing to support, or too cowardly to deviate from the status quo. Faux pragmatism is often used to justify both of these positions, but it becomes clear that it's not really pragmatism that drives these positions if you push back on it.

I am also aware that people don't like labels that paint them in an unflattering light, even when such labels are accurate.

On October 28 2020 23:02 micronesia wrote:

As discussed lower in your post, the claim is that the number of buses wasn't the problem. Do you know if the problem actually was the roadways, and where the responsibility lies for that? I mean I don't really care but I agree we should be cautious about blaming Trump's campaign if it actually wasn't their fault or not blaming Trump if it was their fault. On the other hand, the Biden campaign should totally make a huge deal out of this and accuse Trump of recklessly freezing his own supporters to death, even if they have insider knowledge that it wasn't Trump's fault, because that's still only a tenth as bad as what the Trump campaign would do to them if the situation was reversed... that's the state of campaigning these days.

Trump is probably insisting on friendly crowds to recharge.

"Parking at the Trump rally is full," Omaha Police Department tweeted just after 6 p.m.

"Shuttles will no longer be transporting people to the event. You will not be able to access the rally by foot, Uber, or any other means of transportation. Parking is not allowed in surrounding neighborhoods, roadways or businesses."

By 9 p.m. the event ended but many faced a 3.7-mile walk from TAC Air to the South Economy parking lot at Eppley.

"Officers picking up people wandering in the cold unable to locate their vehicles and are taking them to various parking lots," local news provider Omaha Scanner tweeted.

"Officers who do not have an assignment are going around to parking lots to pick up stranded people and attempt to locate their vehicles. Airport maintenance vehicles also assisting," the account said.

“You think [the New York Post is] printing false material? You think Rupert Murdoch would let them print false material? Just because I gave it to them. You think I’m an idiot that I’m going to print false material?”

On October 28 2020 23:30 JimmiC wrote:
Don't worry guys Covid is over Trump has defeated it. I guess when your whole strategy is centered around making things up and you have already claimed their will be a vaccine by election why not go all the way and simply say that it is over and no longer a problem. If people are willing to believe complete bullshit why not this?

It is really mind boggling that this guy and this administration is running the US.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-wrongly-claims-it-has-ended-covid-19-pandemic-2020-10

U.S. stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, following their European counterparts, as investors worried that the latest increase in coronavirus infections could halt the global economic recovery.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 823 points, or 3%. The S&P 500 dipped 2.9% and the Nasdaq Composite traded 3% lower.

In Europe, the German Dax index dropped 4.4% to its lowest level since late May and the French CAC 40 slid 4%. The FTSE 100 in London fell 3.2%.

This uptick has led some countries to reinstate certain social distancing measures. German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Wednesday for a limited lockdown. Meanwhile, Reuters reported, citing sources, that France was poised to issue a stay-at-home order. In the U.S., the state of Illinois has ordered Chicago to shut down indoor dining.

U.S. coronavirus cases have risen by a record daily average of 71,832 over the past week, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed. Meanwhile, coronavirus-related hospitalizations are up 5% or more in three dozen states, according to data from the Covid Tracking Project.

“I think there’s going to be a call for lockdowns the likes of which we’ve seen in Chicago,” CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Wednesday. “The lockdowns without the stimulus equals what we’re seeing.”

“It’s a shame because, had there been stimulus, we’d then be focusing on earnings and the earnings are actually pretty darn good,” he said.

Stocks that would be hurt most by lockdowns or a slowdown in the economy reopening were hit. Shares of Delta Air Lines fell 6.2%. Royal Caribbean shares lost 5.8%. Shares of Facebook, Alphabet and Twitter were also down sharply as their respective CEOs testified in front of Senate members. Facebook and Twitter were off by 4% and 3.7%, respectively, and Alphabet slid nearly 5%.

On October 29 2020 00:51 plasmidghost wrote:
This year is too different for me to apply previous election trends to things like voter turnout, demographics, and the like. I want blue Texas to happen so badly but at this point, I'm throwing my hands in the air and saying that I have no clue if that's going to happen.

On October 29 2020 01:35 Danglars wrote:
The national guard were called into Philadelphia last night. Rioters and looters smashed shops, stole stuff. This followed a police shooting of a man armed with a knife that refused to drop it.

Kinda quiet for major unrest in a city in Pennsylvania. The story of buses delayed on jammed roads unable to give Trump supporters a ride home was all that I heard talked about. 30 officers injured. 11 people shot in looting areas.

But Mr. Trump’s federal tax returns, as well as loan documents filed in Cook County, Ill., provide clues to what happened: Mr. Trump was let off the hook for about $270 million. It was the type of generous financial break that few American companies or individuals could ever expect to receive, especially without filing for bankruptcy protection.

Before Mr. Trump defaulted, Fortress had expected to receive more than $300 million from his company: the $130 million in principal and roughly $185 million in anticipated interest and fees.

But Fortress and its partners — including Mr. Mnuchin’s Dune Capital, as well as Cerberus Capital Management, whose co-chief executive, Stephen A. Feinberg, would become a major Trump fund-raiser and go on to lead a White House advisory panel — quickly realized they wouldn’t ever collect that full amount.

Ultimately, Fortress settled for $48 million, which Mr. Trump wired to the firm in March 2012, according to people familiar with the deal.