Random political thought thread.

[Red Herring]

As Stalin once remarked: Tsar Alexander got to Paris.

 

[Kephalos]

"Congress shall make no law...abridging the license of speech, or of the press".

It is a free press — a press that is more than free — a press which is licensed to say any infamous thing it chooses about a private or a public man, or advocate any outrageous doctrine it pleases. It is tied in no way. The public opinion which should hold it in bounds it has itself degraded to its own level.

 

[Kephalos]

And is that because Democrats have made a calculation that that's not a winning strategy, that's not a winning thing to do specifically, as it's - you know, we're inching closer and closer to a midterm election year?

Democratic Activists Say Biden Has Failed To Deliver On Immigration Promises : The NPR Politics Podcast

Activists say the president has made little substantive progress on overhauling the U.S. immigration system despite pledging as a candidate to work toward a more humane and open immigration system. This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, and...

www.npr.org

This is exactly what is wrong with the present form of democratic decision making: why are the midterm elections more important than reforming the immigration system, to redress is gross injustices, and relieve the suffering of the people who have to go through it?

 

[Virtual ghost]

This is an inside joke but still ....

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I just bought one of these for shooting down lesbian Tinkerbell. Mess with fairies and you mess with the wrong mofo.

 

[FemMecha]

This is a random political thought in response to a FB post I saw. I don't mean it for controversy.

I understand that abortion is an emotional and complex issue, but this is one pro-choice meme that horrified me. My position on abortion tends to be moderate, realizing it is a serious and somber event to terminate a pregnancy, and so not be taken lightly. I don't think there is a completely moral high-ground, because an unwanted pregnancy is a total mess for society without a clear high-ground solution, so the issue is all about moral pragmatics. I do think abortions have to happen within that morally pragmatic framework, but I tend to take relatively conservative positions on it and try to match access to ending pregnancies on an inverse continuum to fetal development.

The person who posted that meme is very empathetic and kind, but this shows an unsettling blindspot. It horrifies me on so many levels and shows that getting politically fired up can blind people, even if their basic premise is well-intended.

 

[Virtual ghost]

EU and US pitch ‘policy dialogue’ for Big Tech crackdown

 

[The Cat]

 

[Burning Paradigm]

Not a novel thought, but CRT in the specific academic sense is obviously not being taught in classrooms. But, if their definition of "CRT" is talking about uncomfortable history or reading literature that illuminates questions of injustice and identity, then hell yeah, teach my kid some of that CRT.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

World’s cartoonists on this week’s events

 

[The Cat]

 

[Kephalos]

"Perhaps the late Lord Attlee was right when he said that the referendum was a device of dictators and demagogues." -- Margaret, Lady Thatcher (former Prime Minister of the UK).

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

If the 21st century has shown us anything, its that celebrating and giving nerds the power they always wanted has been disastrous for society.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

What Redistricting Looks Like In Every State

Redistricting is almost over.

 

[The Cat]

Im starting to wonder if we're gonna have to worry about blue laws being made and enforced...

 

[Virtual ghost]

 

[Virtual ghost]

We Asked 2,000 Americans About Their Biggest Concern

 

[Virtual ghost]

What Redistricting Looks Like In Every State

Redistricting is almost over.

Only New Hampshire left.