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The General American Politics Thread


turbojet

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I recall Hillary once saying back in 2008 that her election would be the greatest development/revolution in modern American politics or something of the sort.

 

Clearly, if she wins the nomination, SHE should be the first woman on the dollar bills. But of course!

Edited by Ty the Tasmanian Ogilvie
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https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-us-house-votes-to-defund-planned-parenthood

 

As always, a scandal is all it takes to sway the House a certain way.

 

Personally, I hope the Senate GOP's plan succeeds. They are against the House bill, because they are interested in tacking on defunding of Planned Parenthood to the wider budget bill...

 

It is my distinct desire this succeeds, so that a government shutdown will happen and fry support for the GOP to a crisp just a year prior to Election Day. Now sure, the GOP was able to win the 2014 midterms despite the shutdown... but only people dissatisfied with the President vote in midterms really, so they can't really brag about that.
 

The constant infighting between the two wings of the GOP presents quite the opportunity if the Democrats play their cards right. As it stands, the GOP is both childish and sociopathic, and it'd be easy to smack them with the proper maneuvering.

Edited by Ty the Tasmanian Ogilvie
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ggdk-XpoY4

 

In which the White House officially stops just short of calling the Republican Party racist.

 

Those comments below the video are cancer. Accusing Obama of being Muslim, communist, dictatorial, or just being racist in general. Like holy shit.

 

Thank you for proving Mr. Earnest's point, as well as the fact the low information voters of this country reside with the GOP, not the Democrats. Idiots.

Edited by Ty the Tasmanian Ogilvie
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Well, that's Walker and Perry down...

 

Now to see who they throw their weight behind. They were lightweights on their own, but if they combine bases with someone else...

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Further development on the House vote...

 

http://deadstate.org/court-rules-anti-abortion-group-that-targeted-planned-parenthood-must-turn-over-evidence/

 

And the pro-life camp might have just gotten screwed big time. The people who claim to have evidence of Planned Parenthood selling aborted fetus parts have been withholding the videos that they use as "proof" on the basis of avoiding self-incrimination... but the due process has been had, and they are now being forced to release them by a court ruling.

 

If I may...

 

giphy.gif

Edited by Ty the Tasmanian Ogilvie
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http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-bush-says-multiculturalism-wrong-us-222159073--election.html

 

What. Just what.

 

This dude decided to learn Spanish rather than make his wife learn to speak English, and continues to speak Spanish at home. He champions his role among Latinos.

 

But the moment he's among white voters farther north, he flips to monoculturalism. How long until he's torn apart for this inconsistency?

 

I mean seriously. To anyone who's against accommodating non-English speakers, the dude's already bad for what he did in his personal life. Now he's clearly lying.

 

Then he's all "well they don't have to assimilate instantly, just... gradually, y'know?" Like your wife? Why should other Americans be forced to do this in your life if you aren't doing it in yours?

 

"Every immigrant (except my wife, of course) needs to learn English and abandon their culture!" I guess W couldn't get all the dumbness in the family.

Edited by Garbage King Ogilvie
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It's a real shame. Jeb has fallen hard under the "Really Wants to be President" disease. It's what destroyed John McCain after he lost to Bush in 2000.

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http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-bush-says-multiculturalism-wrong-us-222159073--election.html

 

What. Just what.

 

This dude decided to learn Spanish rather than make his wife learn to speak English, and continues to speak Spanish at home. He champions his role among Latinos.

 

But the moment he's among white voters farther north, he flips to monoculturalism. How long until he's torn apart for this inconsistency?

 

I mean seriously. To anyone who's against accommodating non-English speakers, the dude's already bad for what he did in his personal life. Now he's clearly lying.

 

Then he's all "well they don't have to assimilate instantly, just... gradually, y'know?" Like your wife? Why should other Americans be forced to do this in your life if you aren't doing it in yours?

 

"Every immigrant (except my wife, of course) needs to learn English and abandon their culture!" I guess W couldn't get all the dumbness in the family.

To be honest, I do feel like immigrants should at least attempt to learn basic English. Language is very important in the world. 

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To be honest, I do feel like immigrants should at least attempt to learn basic English. Language is very important in the world. 

And most do. In fact, many people who immigrate here already have some grasp on it, even if it's not fluent. It's the same way a lot of Americans know very basic Spanish words and phrases; it's hard to not learn some part of a foreign language when it's all around you. For Latinos, doubly so, given the omnipresence of American pop culture.

What's more, most immigrants actually start losing fluency in the second generation. By the third, fluency is even more absent. Now among Latinos the loss of fluency has been slower, but that's no surprise - Spanish is present in many places, so it maintains usefulness.

However, "The Brown Peril" that's been trumped up is already starting to dissipate; half of the third-generation Latinos cannot speak Spanish fluently, and the rate of Latinos born in the United States has surpassed the number who immigrated.

I used to be an advocate for mandating English, but the more statistics I saw, the more I realized there was no need; it's happening naturally. Never mind education statistics point out that bilingual education is actually more conductive towards teaching immigrant children English than English-only education. I'm surprised I didn't reason that on my own; I have a much easier time learning in Spanish class if the teacher can speak both languages.

The fuss over English usage is ultimately 1. unnecessary when one looks at the statistics or 2. a veil for racist sentiments.

And that's why I no longer fuss over it personally.

 

...

My mother's discussion of immigrants and benefits (another falsehood) quickly slipped into "they're taking over our population" last night... betraying racist sentiments, though she of course denies it. Even though she just implied that Latinos are separate from "us," even though most Latinos are born in the United States now.

I bet she and the Republican Party, as much as they worship the military, would shit their pants when they realized Latinos were the group that earned the most Medals of Honor in World War II. Never mind the fact that with all this talk of "illegals" undermining security, Latinos made up 12% of the military as of 2010.

But this is no surprise. The GOP harps on about the need for stronger border security... ignoring the fact that about 2/5 of those illegally in the United States came in legally, but decided to stay once their visa expired. Let's face it, even if we build the Great Wall of China, amnesty is really our only option. Those who enter illegally are not stupid; they are desperate. They want to improve their lot in life, and they see very little risk and lots of reward. If we ban illegal entry, they'll just go the tried-and-true route and enter legally then stay illegally.

Edited by Garbage King Ogilvie
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11745683_1162118460514948_84559487881655

 

Meanwhile, this gem's making the rounds.

 

Ignoring the fact the Confederacy is still a traitorous organization and granting honors to the Confederate soldiers isn't the same as saying "ayyyy, slavery and secession are okay bruh." A lot of honors are given to German soldiers from World War II. Nazism is still evil.

 

It doesn't take a lot to sympathize with the soldiers of the enemy (especially in a civil war), because all soldiers are ultimately manipulated into dying by whatever group of elites is calling the shots.

 

Hell, that's the real reason no army wants its soldiers fraternizing with the enemy. Some soldiers might just realize, "... why are we fighting again?" In fact, that's why World War I propaganda got especially vicious after the first year, because huge numbers of soldiers on both sides stopped fighting on Christmas, went over the lines to exchange gifts... and realized just that.

 

It doesn't do an army good to have soldiers think on their own, you see. Otherwise they can't die for a cause that really has nothing to do with them.

 

I wish that amendment putting wars to a national vote and requiring the enlistment of all who say yes would become a thing.

Edited by Garbage King Ogilvie
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http://ringoffireradio.com/2015/09/pope-rejects-lunch-with-boehner-pelosi-mcconnell-reid-why-he-will-be-luncheoning-with-the-homeless/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

 

Most kickass Pope ever, or more kickass Pope ever?

 

Not only did Boehner's hope for conservative vindication go largely unfulfilled (other than abortion, the Pope was decidedly on the left in every comment he made, targeting social inequality, global warming, the death penalty, etc.), to add insult to injury, when asked to dine with Congressional leaders, he said he could not as he had to go eat with - and feed - the homeless.

 

You know you're archaic when the Catholic Church is more liberal than you.

Edited by Garbage King Ogilvie
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As awesomely Jesus-esque as Francis is, it was still somewhat disturbing to see the pontiff addressing the joint session of congress - at a time when American politics is seemingly becoming increasingly religious, it looked like a glimpse of a more openly theocratic future to me. Was the pope's address to congress even permitted, under the separation of church and state?

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As awesomely Jesus-esque as Francis is, it was still somewhat disturbing to see the pontiff addressing the joint session of congress - at a time when American politics is seemingly becoming increasingly religious, it looked like a glimpse of a more openly theocratic future to me. Was the pope's address to congress even permitted, under the separation of church and state?

Given that he doesn't hold an American public office as well as the Papacy, I would say he's good on that front.

He's Catholic, furthermore, so I wouldn't worry too much about theocracy. American religious history can be summed up as the mainstream Protestant sects deciding tolerance was good because it served all their interests... at least so long as the interests in question remained Protestant.

He is a religious figure, but he is also a head of state. He may have used God to justify many of his ideas, but he was ultimately putting forth political positions rather than a call for theocracy.

What would be more concerning is Boehner's followup, where he pretty much ignored Francis' political ideas and focused on his spiritual ones.

Francis, as Pope, has plenty of reason to regularly invoke God's will or the like with his ideas. Boehner is a secular politician. He should be more interested in Francis' proposed policy changes.

I can't imagine how humiliated Boehner must have felt, however. As a Roman Catholic himself, he was basically just told that God (since the idea goes that God influences the College in their choice of Pope) thinks all his socioeconomic policies are garbage. A Protestant Republican could pull up the old "well this is why Catholicism is heresy" card. Someone who believes in the Church like Boehner can't.

Edited by Garbage King Ogilvie
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Papal Infallibility at its finest, amiright?

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So, apparently House Speaker John Boehner has resigned. I know nothing of the details as it has just come up on the CNN ticker here at work and I am only on break, but I just hope that his replacement isn't even more of an obstructionist butthole than him.

I'm guess that he planned to leave if/when he got the Pope to address congress' joint session. Going out on a high, despite the comprehensive rejection of his conservative stances by the Pope during his address.

 

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The story he gives is that when he got up and prayed this morning, he suddenly got this feeling that this would be the right thing to do.

 

He's citing the leadership issues, which I don't doubt, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's in a very special place right now given his politics and his faith are now at odds.

 

American Christianity is a marvelous thing, given it is pretty much against every other variety's ideas. American Christians go for "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" with capital punishment, while every other western Christian denomination is just "what?"

Edited by Garbage King Ogilvie
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This is more of an international politics post than American politics.

http://nypost.com/2015/09/29/obama-has-turned-putin-into-the-worlds-most-powerful-leader/

According to what I have read over the news, Obama and Putin highly clashed over foreign policy, and Putin won.

Personally, this is disappointing, but not unexpected. Obama may be great at campaigning and giving speeches from a teleprompter, but I have not seen him have a strong reputation with other countries. This is the outcome.

 

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They were saying the same thing about France when France led the way during Libya. Obama may suck at commanding the world, but the United States is still preeminent economically, politically, culturally and militarily. China can brag about its economic growth all it wants (we've recently seen how flimsy that is), but power resides with the consumers, not with the producers.

 

We could probably do better than Obama in foreign policy. But we don't need to be Bush or Reagan about it.

 

Speaking of Libya...

 

http://www.vox.com/2015/9/30/9423339/kevin-mccarthy-benghazi

 

In which the GOP pretty much shreds its credibility with lots of people. Kevin McCarthy (what an appropriate surname) pretty much said the reason for the aggressive GOP-led Benghazi investigations in the House Select Committee (when other bodies have largely found Hillary cleared of any wrongdoing) is an attempt to hurt her poll numbers rather than find any truth.

Edited by Garbage King Ogilvie
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/17/transit-union-says-oreo-recipe-meant-to-inflame/

 

In which a national union goes the way of PETA, caring more about causing drama than actually doing its job.

 

I must say I am impressed at their simultaneously undermining both the causes of labor and racial equality with one move. This sort of BS grievance is why so few people take talk of exploitation and racism seriously anymore. Any progress made with statistics on profiling, shootings, what have you is rapidly forgotten when some idiot somewhere cries racism at the smallest provocation. Any moves towards better wages and working conditions are likewise swept aside when you have a single union utter dipshittery of this order.

Edited by Wendigogilvie
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http://playspent.org/

 

Very enlightening; it's a free browser-based game. The game puts you in the position of a single parent who just got fired from their job, and the many tough choices you have to make. The many decisions are actually based on real-life stories gathered from the cases of the company that commissioned it. Your goal is to survive the month, but it has a wealth of statistics it shares when you make choices.

 

The developers actually petitioned Congress to play it for just ten minutes to understand the lives of the millions in poverty.

 

Doubt they did it, of course.

 

Playing this has just pushed me a little bit more into the Democrat fold.

Edited by Wendigogilvie
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Kevin McCarthy has unexpectedly dropped out of the race to become the next Speaker of the House, probably because it's painfully obvious that should he win, and should Hillary Clinton win the presidency next year, she'll be able to use the Benghazi shenanigans he's been spearheading to embarrass the crap out of him.

"If we are going to unite and be strong, we need a new face to do that," said Mr McCarthy on Thursday following his announcement.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34478783

Apparently, both he and Boehner and a lot of other Republican politicians want Paul Ryan, the great Republican "math whizz" (which he is most certainly not) to take up the position. Trouble is, Ryan won't touch that job with a ten foot clown pole, so it's up to the party to find someone new. Jason Chaffetz, wasn't he wanting the job? Yes, he was. In any case, the election has been postponed for the time being, presumably until other candidates can be found.

Also, Hillary Clinton has flip-flopped and come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, despite having been responsible for laying the groundwork for it, and being very, very much in favor of it a few years ago. IIRC, she called it the "gold standard of trade deals," or something to that effect.

Edited by Patticus
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I swear to god, this shit would almost make a dictatorship seem preferable just to cut through this bullshit if there weren't any risk of it brutalizing or abusing its people for the fuck of it. Kinda sick of how self-centered "politics" have become nowadays.

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Was listening to Mark Levin today. Apparently only 40 of the Republican politicians are getting As from groups like Conservative Review or something like that.

 

Does this mean a lot of GOP members are actually starting to compromise, recognizing the changing demographics of politics, or that the group is just insanely far right?

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