Random Politics Thread

[ceecee]

lol No shit

August Job Growth Was Twice as Fast in States That Retained UI

More evidence mounts against the unemployment benefit cuts.

www.peoplespolicyproject.org

Here's the BLS report for people that don't like the link.

State Employment and Unemployment Summary - 2024 M02 Results

www.bls.gov

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I want to ask AOC to marry me.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I want to ask AOC to marry me.

she's cute.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

she's cute.

For our first date we can ride on the Ferris Wheel and eat cotton candy!

 

[ceecee]

For our first date we can ride on the Ferris Wheel and eat cotton candy!

And live stream it on Instagram.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

her boyfriend looks like he might fuck you up though

 

[Kephalos]

"A well regulated militia"...Fine, but what for exactly?

https://archive.vn/6YlcC

America’s gun obsession is rooted in slavery | Carol Anderson

A series of slave revolts terrified white residents and helped fuel the rationale for gun ownership

www.theguardian.com

AP Explains: Militias have patrolled US border for decades

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An armed group in New Mexico whose leader faces federal firearms possession charges drew national attention last month for detaining asylum-seeking Central American families near the U.S.

apnews.com

And, America doesn't deserve Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Doctor Anaximander):

Ocasio-Cortez Fundraising Drive For Texas Relief Raises $4 Million

What began as a call for donations to help Texas residents hurt by the storm grew into millions of dollars that will go to several local charities. Ocasio-Cortez visited a Houston food bank Saturday.

www.npr.org

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Raises $5 Million For Texas Winter Storm Relief | Houston Public Media

In just over one day the New York congresswoman raised $3.2 million, all of which she said would go to relief groups across the state.

www.houstonpublicmedia.org

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

her boyfriend looks like he might fuck you up though

I'd just upload some Kung Fu to my brain.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

"A well regulated militia"...Fine, but what for exactly?

https://archive.vn/6YlcC

America’s gun obsession is rooted in slavery | Carol Anderson

A series of slave revolts terrified white residents and helped fuel the rationale for gun ownership

www.theguardian.com

AP Explains: Militias have patrolled US border for decades

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An armed group in New Mexico whose leader faces federal firearms possession charges drew national attention last month for detaining asylum-seeking Central American families near the U.S.

apnews.com

And, America doesn't deserve Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Doctor Anaximander):

Ocasio-Cortez Fundraising Drive For Texas Relief Raises $4 Million

What began as a call for donations to help Texas residents hurt by the storm grew into millions of dollars that will go to several local charities. Ocasio-Cortez visited a Houston food bank Saturday.

www.npr.org

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Raises $5 Million For Texas Winter Storm Relief | Houston Public Media

In just over one day the New York congresswoman raised $3.2 million, all of which she said would go to relief groups across the state.

www.houstonpublicmedia.org

I think historically the phrase well-regulated militia is probably a reference to New England militias like the Minutemen, which did things like democratically elect officers. The intent I believe was to rely on these for defense instead of a standing army. There was a great deal of suspicion of a standing military being used for tyranny at the time of the drafting of the constitution when you consider things like press gangs and quartering were standard practice for the British armed forces. IIRC correctly the War of 1812 convinced everyone that these militias were insufficient (they were evidently not the most efficient and despite a romantic attachment to them they proved impractical) and a more centralized army was needed.

Any history nerds can feel free to correct me on that.

Since then, though, there was definitely a lot of white racial anxiety involved (it may have been a factor then, too, but was probably not the dominant one). The Haitian revolution no doubt had slaveholders in a kind of panic.

 

[ceecee]

"A well regulated militia"...Fine, but what for exactly?

https://archive.vn/6YlcC

America’s gun obsession is rooted in slavery | Carol Anderson

A series of slave revolts terrified white residents and helped fuel the rationale for gun ownership

www.theguardian.com

AP Explains: Militias have patrolled US border for decades

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An armed group in New Mexico whose leader faces federal firearms possession charges drew national attention last month for detaining asylum-seeking Central American families near the U.S.

apnews.com

And, America doesn't deserve Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Doctor Anaximander):

Ocasio-Cortez Fundraising Drive For Texas Relief Raises $4 Million

What began as a call for donations to help Texas residents hurt by the storm grew into millions of dollars that will go to several local charities. Ocasio-Cortez visited a Houston food bank Saturday.

www.npr.org

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Raises $5 Million For Texas Winter Storm Relief | Houston Public Media

In just over one day the New York congresswoman raised $3.2 million, all of which she said would go to relief groups across the state.

www.houstonpublicmedia.org

The "well regulated militia" became the National Guard in each state. The US has a pathological problem with guns - that's simply a fact. Where it stems from, slavery or otherwise - is fear and paranoia. Speak to any 2A activist, any conservative gun owner, any firearms enthusiast. Fear is at the very core of their beliefs.

 

[Red Herring]

The "well regulated militia" became the National Guard in each state. The US has a pathological problem with guns - that's simply a fact. Where it stems from, slavery or otherwise - is fear and paranoia. Speak to any 2A activist, any conservative gun owner, any firearms enthusiast. Fear is at the very core of their beliefs.

As an outsider, I would say to to me the common denominator of so many American sociopolitical features (especially compared to other democratic industrial nations) is a low level of social trust and social cohesion. The distrust in government is only a logical consequence when you don't trust your fellow citizens. This, I think, is at the root of gun violence, but also of phenomena like defficient health insurance, astronomical costs of education, school to prison pipeline, poverty, death penalty, lacking implementation of covid measures, etc.

 

[ceecee]

As an outsider, I would say to to me the common denominator of so many American sociopolitical features (especially compared to other democratic industrial nations) is a low level of social trust and social cohesion. The distrust in government is only a logical consequence when you don't trust your fellow citizens. This, I think, is at the root of gun violence, but also of phenomena like defficient health insurance, astronomical costs of education, school to prison pipeline, poverty, death penalty, lacking implementation of covid measures, etc.

This is absolutely true regarding gun violence.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

The "well regulated militia" became the National Guard in each state. The US has a pathological problem with guns - that's simply a fact. Where it stems from, slavery or otherwise - is fear and paranoia. Speak to any 2A activist, any conservative gun owner, any firearms enthusiast. Fear is at the very core of their beliefs.

I live in about 40/60 mix of political affiliations (40% Democrat now) and the community Fb group has recently exploded with parents concerned about making the kids "live in fear" by making them wear masks. A whole horde of histrionic reasoning about how harmful it is to put kids through something so terrifying as wearing masks all day. It goes without saying, there's no reasoning. Like "If you think masks are scary, wait until you hear about shooter drills," or "Is it similarly horrifying, do you suppose, to make them wash their hands before meals?" - in one ear and out the other. That's when they start focusing on how they're being bullied for their beliefs.

Not long ago, there was a simple post from the local government telling people that we were the last county in Indiana still at yellow - every other county had made orange or red (risk levels based on new daily cases) - and gently asking people to reconsider vaccination and/or wearing a mask. And the comments exploded with people twisting the language to turn it into an insult (for people who otherwise seem to thrive on vice-signaling, too many reach for their own pearls with Emmy-winning soap opera queen fervor), venomously vowing to make sure no one who endorses masks or vaccination would win reelection, and of course, if anyone tried to calmly post statistics it was met with lots and lots of super aggressive ignorance about the "real data".

And I kinda want to rant about the one parent who posted that his teenage son claimed the teacher at the highschool said bad things about Trump. It's amazing how far the fear of "indoctrinating the children" makes a group of adults into complete hypocritical morons. They're ruled by the fear of being cancelled ("I'm afraid I'll get fired just for having unpopular beliefs, like about who should be able to get married") *and* the fear of public school indoctrinating children ("This teacher badmouthed a former president, HE SHOULD BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY!!!"). I'm not exaggerating: all caps, the group demanded he get fired immediately. Apparently it's only government overreach/"communism" if it doesn't serve their side; when it does, it's "justice." That's the only metric. Whether it serves their own beliefs.

Anyway, yeah. From the "fact don't care about your feelings" party. So much fear. It makes people so stupid, and it's so difficult not to feel overwhelmed with disgust for it.

It's one thing to read magnificently stupid comments like this across the internet; I can tell myself that at least the people 'like that' live far away. Thank God, I guess, they're only 60% here.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Herring is evidently correct on all points.
However there is also a question of quantity. In other words when you have so many guns around you just kinda need to have one on your own. Since otherwise you are kind "the pray". What kinda leads into chicken and the egg story regarding where the mistrusts actually started. Why build so many institutions if the game if evidently everyone for himself ? What then leads into the circles of status quo and social havoc.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Herring is evidently correct on all points.
However there is also a question of quantity. In other words when you have so many guns around you just kinda need to have one on your own. Since otherwise you are kind "the pray". What kinda leads into chicken and the egg story regarding where the mistrusts actually started. Why build so many institutions if the game if evidently everyone for himself ? What then leads into the circles of status quo and social havoc.

It's fair to compare the mistrust, but not to equate it. I think the mistrust the left feels for GOP elected officials is far more warranted. Most of them continue to lie about election fraud, they all orbit around a guy who abused power to an absolutely unheard of and insane degree - who incited an attack on our Capital, because he couldn't handle being elected out, and they've been absolute shitheels for years. It's more than systemic, repeated coincidence that's installed a vast majority of Federalist federal judges - it's been mostly the breaking of norms that kept a certain degree of public trust in that power. McConnell took everything that wasn't nailed down, and the only reason it wasn't nailed down is because the people who came before him never imagined certain things would even need to be nailed down, that an elected official would be shameless enough to abuse the fact that they weren't nailed down.

I haven't stated the support to these claims because it would take a super long time to lay out, and anyone who doesn't already see they're true wouldn't consider the support anyway, no matter how strong that support is. That being said, what exactly have Democrats done to deserve the mistrust? Like, not in Facebook Fantasy Land (where misinformation got passed around at light speed) - but what kind of *actual* support can be found to argue that Democrat officials deserve anywhere near that same caliber of mistrust?

I get the feeling that you're partly alluding to a mistrust on the individual citizen level - citizens not trusting each other - but I think the biggest problem is that individuals are starting to see (and dehumanize) "the other" as a big hive mind without variations. Individual citizens don't trust the "other" hivemind. For example, I wanted to drive north and visit a lavender labyrinth maybe 2/3 the way up Michigan - but I decided not to because they seem to be really fucking crazy up there right now. I hear isolated stories, and don't want to take a chance on being the next isolated story. (Like the videos of people ripping facemasks off of strangers, because they're *so angry* about anyone wearing masks). But I know full well they aren't a hivemind, and that *most* of them won't rip my facemask off. When I say things like "for people who otherwise seem to thrive on vice-signaling, too many reach for their own pearls with Emmy-winning soap opera queen fervor" and imply the hivemind is hypocritical, it's clumsy language on my part and I know full well it doesn't apply to many of them. My biggest complaint about the individuals is that they don't seem capable of engaging in actual dialogue to articulate or explain the reason they are so worked up, but I'll acknowledge that's a big problem on the left too (it isn't as frustrating to me because I already understand the left, and therefore don't crave people of articulating cogent explanations for what I already understand). My distrust is far, far more about the puppeteers pulling their strings, making them chant "You're sheeple believing everything MSM says" and "I did my own research" practically in unison. And I suspect it's largely the same for them, although I'd be very surprised - as I said - if anyone could come up with anywhere near as much support for a claim that the Democrat officials and media figures (Tucker Shithead Carlson) have actually done anywhere near as much to actually merit it.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

This was posted this last week (I haven't seen anyone else post it here yet).

Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal report shows​

A lot of the distrust on the right was likely sown by^ (and Fox, and Newsmax - but none of them are a vacuum and they seem to just churn whatever the others have managed to stir up). By Trump making accusations about "fake news" (which he did to deflect from his own rampant lying).

If I'm wrong, I'd love to see an actually strong argument explaining how. Experience strongly suggests such a thing won't come from this forum. That's why it's turned into more of a venting chamber than place to expect dialogue.

 

[Virtual ghost]

It's fair to compare the mistrust, but not to equate it. I think the mistrust the left feels for GOP elected officials is far more warranted. Most of them continue to lie about election fraud, they all orbit around a guy who abused power to an absolutely unheard of and insane degree - who incited an attack on our Capital, because he couldn't handle being elected out, and they've been absolute shitheels for years. It's more than systemic, repeated coincidence that's installed a vast majority of Federalist federal judges - it's been mostly the breaking of norms that kept a certain degree of public trust in that power. McConnell took everything that wasn't nailed down, and the only reason it wasn't nailed down is because the people who came before him never imagined certain things would even need to be nailed down, that an elected official would be shameless enough to abuse the fact that they weren't nailed down.

I haven't stated the support to these claims because it would take a super long time to lay out, and anyone who doesn't already see they're true wouldn't consider the support anyway, no matter how strong that support is. That being said, what exactly have Democrats done to deserve the mistrust? Like, not in Facebook Fantasy Land (where misinformation got passed around at light speed) - but what kind of *actual* support can be found to argue that Democrat officials deserve anywhere near that same caliber of mistrust?

I get the feeling that you're partly alluding to a mistrust on the individual citizen level - citizens not trusting each other - but I think the biggest problem is that individuals are starting to see (and dehumanize) "the other" as a big hive mind without variations. Individual citizens don't trust the "other" hivemind. For example, I wanted to drive north and visit a lavender labyrinth maybe 2/3 the way up Michigan - but I decided not to because they seem to be really fucking crazy up there right now. I hear isolated stories, and don't want to take a chance on being the next isolated story. (Like the videos of people ripping facemasks off of strangers, because they're *so angry* about anyone wearing masks). But I know full well they aren't a hivemind, and that *most* of them won't rip my facemask off. When I say things like "for people who otherwise seem to thrive on vice-signaling, too many reach for their own pearls with Emmy-winning soap opera queen fervor" and imply the hivemind is hypocritical, it's clumsy language on my part and I know full well it doesn't apply to many of them. My biggest complaint about the individuals is that they don't seem capable of engaging in actual dialogue to articulate or explain the reason they are so worked up, but I'll acknowledge that's a big problem on the left too (it isn't as frustrating to me because I already understand the left, and therefore don't crave people of articulating cogent explanations for what I already understand). My distrust is far, far more about the puppeteers pulling their strings, making them chant "You're sheeple believing everything MSM says" and "I did my own research" practically in unison. And I suspect it's largely the same for them, although I'd be very surprised - as I said - if anyone could come up with anywhere near as much support for a claim that the Democrat officials and media figures (Tucker Shithead Carlson) have actually done anywhere near as much to actually merit it.

I was talking simply about ordinary people not really trusting one another on individual level. Since the social structure is weak and there is plenty of ways around how you can hurt other people, be it guns or just bankrupting their family business. While here other person is the person that helps paying your kids college and because of them you have no medical debt. No to mention that they have pretty limited means of hurting you since plenty of stuff that are fully legal in US are illegal here. Therefore only after that we can perhaps talk about how over the decades the whole thing has evolved into political madness that it is today, since the society simply broke down. I am aiming deeply into the social and psychological roots of the whole problem. Here it is normal to sent a 8 year old into school on foot, while in US that generally sounds as a bad idea. So you have to drive them of something and therefore right in the start of life you have this injection of mistrusts.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

@Virtual ghost Okay, that I can agree with. As I understand it: "rugged individualism" really took off as a popular ideal during Reagan's administration, but it's really just Social Darwinism and it's not a fertile soil for security. Let alone en masse security. Unless you're super rich, but even then it's not enough to truly feel secure (it secures riches, but how secure can people really feel surrounded by a dystopia they help perpetuate).

 

[Virtual ghost]

@Virtual ghost Okay, that I can agree with. As I understand it: "rugged individualism" really took off as a popular ideal during Reagan's administration, but it's really just Social Darwinism and it's not a fertile soil for security. Let alone en masse security. Unless you're super rich, but even then it's not enough to truly feel secure (it secures riches, but how secure can people really feel surrounded by a dystopia they help perpetuate).

As far as I understand this actually started with colonization of the west. While 1980s where simply the time when the clock started to run backwards in various cultural issues.
But yes, eventually the rich will fall as well in this dystopia, since their customers will be gone. What means that their businesses will be gone and even what they privately have will be kinda useless (especially if it is in digital form). Because if basic production of goods brakes they will have nothing to keep even their closest employees. Over the history this is the dead end a number of countries/elites have hit, since it is the common people that make them both powerful in practice. Therefore when the society completely brakes down the rich will go with it. Even if the people don't decide to go after the elite as some sort of revenge. Of course US is built on the premise that there will never be some radical and swift changes at home but that isn't how reality works if you cross a few red lines of human nature.