US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3048

On January 22 2021 01:26 JimmiC wrote:

Let's hope so, but given how close it was and how much support Trump still has (inspite of everything)I think it will be hard for many of to feel that it is unique and not the new normal.

On January 22 2021 01:52 LegalLord wrote:

Though it's more unpopular than not in recent times, it's not really a "only Trump and cronies want Keystone." Obama shuttered it and Trump green-lighted it, but it's most accurately described as "controversial" rather than "almost universally despised."

There is also something to be said for consistency in policy between administrations, which is the more concerning part of this.

On January 21 2021 11:10 Sermokala wrote:
The problem with china being able to match the US militarily is that it doesn't really matter. People think that china is just making fake islands with bases in the south china sea because of imperialism when in reality they have no other way to benefit their position. America has oil and more farmable land than it knows what to do with. China doesn't have oil or the ability to feed itself. They're sprawling int he south china sea with fake islands because it needs the oil and food imports from the rest of asia africa and south america to continue to exist. America can't dream of invading china but if they sit on a line from Japan, the Phillippines Tiawan Singapore to india they simply starve China from exporting products and importing food and oil.

And what can china do in response? reach out across the pacific like Japan tried in WW2? No china has always been thinking longer term than any other people on the globe. They will continue to invade other nations economically and abuse everyone in their way until people simply have no other option.

On January 21 2021 11:17 Mohdoo wrote:


One of the things that is interesting to me is that there will never be a military conflict between any of the following: EU/USA/RU/CN. The whole mutual destruction thing means most of this stuff doesn't matter. Conflict will only happen when one of those 4 have no other options. Which is why I think a lot of foreign policy should revolve around the others having enough to not suffer but not enough to tip the scales of power.

On January 22 2021 03:12 Dangermousecatdog wrote:
They are food independent. They can feed their population if there are no more imports and exports. Your definition of food independence would exclude all countries, all regions, and even the entire world taken as a whole, as food unindependent, for anywhere can suffer catastophe. You can be vulnerable and reliant on trade for specific food and be food independent in terms of staples.

On January 22 2021 01:20 Mohdoo wrote:
anyone know why the f antifa is throwing a fit already?

On January 22 2021 04:00 Erasme wrote:

extremists hate a competent boring leader. It's easier to grow a revolution in time of crisis than when people feel that their government is effective. Effective being relative obviously.

On January 22 2021 03:12 Dangermousecatdog wrote:
They are food independent. They can feed their population if there are no more imports and exports. Your definition of food independence would exclude all countries, all regions, and even the entire world taken as a whole, as food unindependent, for anywhere can suffer catastophe. You can be vulnerable and reliant on trade for specific food and be food independent in terms of staples.

Ex-President Donald Trump is not prepared for his Senate impeachment trial despite the fact that it could begin as early as next week.

Trump, who is charged with inciting the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by a mob of his supporters, still has not assembled a group of lawyers to defend him at what will be his second impeachment trial, NBC News reported.

He also has no clear legal strategy for the trial, according to NBC. Democratic senators, and likely a number of Republican ones, hope to convict Trump and then vote to bar him from becoming president ever again.

The failure to prepare for the trial is consistent with Trump’s behavior this month, where he did little actual work related to the presidency.
[...]
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told an NBC reporter earlier Thursday that it is also not clear whether the trial will be “a full-blown trial with evidence and witnesses,” or a quicker one without either of those.

Durbin noted that calling witnesses may not be necessary because “in addition to being jurists we are eyewitnesses to this crime.”

“You know, it isn’t like, oh, did somebody come into the Capitol,” Durbin said. “We know the Capitol policeman was killed, and we saw the damage that was done.”

“In that respect, it isn’t like what in the hell was going on in that telephone conversation with the Ukrainian president?” said Durbin, referring to Trump’s first Senate trial.

When asked whether Trump’s lack of lawyers for the trial could delay the proceeding, Durbin said, “Well I suppose you can ask for a continuance, but it’s going to be hard to argue.”

On January 22 2021 01:25 farvacola wrote:

Cuz they hate Democrats and Biden only a tiny bit less than Republicans and Trump? Regardless of the specific reasons, this goes to show how there is no left-wing equivalent for all the Trump loving right wingers, so I welcome it.

On January 22 2021 05:38 Nevuk wrote:
The far left is extremely less predisposed to act violently than the far right is, in the US, at least. Whether this is due to cops investigating leftists with 1000x the scrutiny of far right nationalists or something inherent is harder to know.

I think it is a little bit of both - pacifists have been a notable part of the far left for decades and prevent the kind of cohesion saw during the storming of the capitol.

On January 22 2021 05:57 Slydie wrote:


I think the split is something like 20/80 in favour of far right as far as violence goes, just enough to make whataboutism viable.

As for why, I would not point to the police, but rather how communists were treated for a long time and how far-right extremists have been emboldened by Trump.