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DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#182051: Apr 9th 2017 at 9:16:21 AM

Kevin Hassett, an American Economist who is staunchly pro-Free Trade and pro-Immigration, has been nominated by Trump to chair the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).

Trump appears to be going full-blown Neoconservative. That's much better then the Nationalist-Populist he ran as. I wonder if that means that he's going to abandon the Wall he wants to build?

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#182052: Apr 9th 2017 at 9:22:46 AM

I'm guessing no, if only because the wall was literally the only thing he was consistent on.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#182053: Apr 9th 2017 at 9:26:16 AM

The issue with the wall is that it's not a four or eight year project. Even if only for practical reasons, he can't really rush a geological survey of the suggested area. That shit takes time if you want to get even the most basic, corner cutting information on what needs to be done. And once someone new is in, they'd abandon the project, most likely.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#182054: Apr 9th 2017 at 9:31:48 AM

I like how some of his supporters cite the Great Wall of China as a good case study, apparently ignorant of the fact that it bankrupted a few dynasties.

Oh, and it didn't keep the nomads out either...

And regarding Trump's apparent shift towards a standard Republican position on foreign policy: if that's true than the rest of the world can breathe a sigh of relief, especially if he backs of on trade to. Things will still be awful domestically, but at least the global economy is mostly secure (or not worse off) and the short term continuity of the human race is mostly assured....

edited 9th Apr '17 9:38:50 AM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#182055: Apr 9th 2017 at 9:34:36 AM

[up]In fact, the nomads involved not only took over, but also bankrolled the thing periodically. If only to keep people where it was easier to keep track of them (at which it was only mildly successful). tongue

edited 9th Apr '17 9:35:27 AM by Euodiachloris

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#182056: Apr 9th 2017 at 10:01:25 AM

Yeah, that's the other thing. Walls like that tend to be intended less to keep people out...and more to keep people in. After all, you can't see if the other side is really as abjectly horrible as the leaders say if there's a giant wall in the way.

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#182057: Apr 9th 2017 at 10:25:43 AM

Living at home is like having to deal another voice inside your head. You know, the one that keeps telling you you're going to die and to be afraid of everything&everyone and that everything will turn out for the worst. Case in point, just when I heard that Trump's supposedly taking a more standard stance and that we might be able to breath easier for a while, (nevermind the possible impending shutdown that will make it so much harder for Trump to do just about anything; a mixed blessing if there ever was one,) my Dad caught me looking at the front page of the paper with Trump and said, 'Looking at the horror section?' And then he just went from there. I know I shouldn't let him get to me, but I've got the feeling he's going to be saying the same sort of thing until the whole Syria debacle blows over, and I wouldn't be lying if I said he didn't make me a tad more disturbed than I otherwise would have been.

edited 9th Apr '17 10:27:11 AM by kkhohoho

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182058: Apr 9th 2017 at 10:30:15 AM

[up] Ugh, try living with a dad who thinks Trump's bullshit proves he has "guts".

It is immensely disturbing seeing a man I grew up respecting (sort of) drinking the Trump flavor-aid.

Though in retrospect a lot of his views are kind of libertarian (I can't stand libertarians).

edited 9th Apr '17 10:31:18 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#182059: Apr 9th 2017 at 10:54:06 AM

I got out of the house at 20, but I feel for you guys. My mom swallows everything she can get from FOX News and has been celebrating the GOP's absolute mandate for the last four months. She's entirely convinced that Trump is the holy Messiah here to fix America.

I avoid talking about politics with my dad's half of the family because they're all in Kansas and were also proud Republicans back in the Bush era who thought he was just the best President ever, so I don't really want to know who they voted for.

I'm ign'ant white trash from a long, proud line of ign'ant white trash.

edited 9th Apr '17 10:55:56 AM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#182060: Apr 9th 2017 at 10:57:44 AM

We need a law making it illegal to mislead the public on health issues.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#182061: Apr 9th 2017 at 10:58:33 AM

Good thing my parents are Catholic Liberals who condemn Trump and anything right-wing...

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#182062: Apr 9th 2017 at 10:59:59 AM

My family is okay. My hometown on the other hand...let me put it this way—when my dad got hired at the local high school he asked what the ethnic make up of the town was like. The principal paused, then said, "well, we had some Dutch after the war."

The same principal subsequently went on to reminisce to my dad about how, in his day, they used to drive their pick ups into a nearby town made up of mostly Irish immigrants so that they could whack Catholics with brooms. If you fell out of the pick up you were left behind with a mob of angry Catholics.

So yeah. Not the most enlightened place, my hometown.

AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#182063: Apr 9th 2017 at 11:04:41 AM

[up]How old is that principal?

Inter arma enim silent leges
Reflextion from a post-sanity world (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
#182064: Apr 9th 2017 at 11:42:57 AM

Since we're talking about family members' politics anyways...

The old lady was formerly a lifelong Republican until they started going full retard with the rise of the Tea Party, and became even less of a Republican once Der Trumpenfuhrer got the nomination, though that still hasn't stopped her from going on about FUCKING WHITEWATER and LOCK HER UP and all that shit. On the other hand, pretty much the rest of that side of the family is die-hard Racist Orange supporters, so, yeah.

The old man, on the other hand, while nominally a conservative back when they still had a Mask of Sanity, doesn't particularly seem to give a fuck one way or another, and doesn't see the present trajectory of the Republican party as anything to worry about - sure, he's an immigrant, but he's one of the good immigrants who came here legally and is a contributing member of society and doesn't make a big deal about discrimination, so he's got nothing to worry about, right? The rest of his side of the family (also all immigrants) all seem to be some flavor of Randroid "I'm getting mine/I've got mine, fuck anyone and everyone who has a different last name" type of person.

And I'm still stuck in this fucking nuthouse playing caretaker for the old lady and for my non-functional handicapped sister, since I didn't do the smart thing and RUN LIKE HELL the second I turned 18.

So yeah, I'm holding on to the slim hope that there was a mix up in the maternity ward or something.

edited 9th Apr '17 11:48:35 AM by Reflextion

Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.
smokeycut Since: Mar, 2013
#182065: Apr 9th 2017 at 11:46:49 AM

My dad voted for Trump, and just excuses any bigoted comments as being made up or out of context. His family members either abstained from voting, or voted for Clinton.

Everyone on my mother's side is liberal, and they all went with Clinton the moment Sanders lost the nomination.

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#182066: Apr 9th 2017 at 11:52:53 AM

How old is that principal?

In his sixties or seventies now? He hired my dad in the 1980s.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#182067: Apr 9th 2017 at 12:03:45 PM

I got a CNN news alert about 7 hours ago reporting that the US ambassador to the UN had called regime change in Syria "inevitable".

So far the current theory is that the ambassador to the UN is compelatly out of the loop right? Or could she have become Trump's foreign policy mouthpiece?

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#182069: Apr 9th 2017 at 12:14:46 PM

[up][up]Based on what I've observed, Trump has no foreign policy to speak of. He'll act to protect his ego, but Tillerson and Haley don't really speak for a unified administration. Even the WH can contradict itself day by day. So, we're still in the grand game of roulette.

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#182070: Apr 9th 2017 at 12:15:04 PM

[up][up]That'll be really interesting. Singapore is almost the antithesis of the unfettered free market ideology. Fabulously wealthy...tons of rules and a really high corporate tax rate.

edited 9th Apr '17 12:15:25 PM by Zendervai

fruitpork Since: Oct, 2010
#182071: Apr 9th 2017 at 12:22:13 PM

I'm lucky. My folks were both so staunchly liberal that back in elementary I used to bash George bush on the school bus and get into arguments with the kids whose parents supported them. [lol]

Wryte Since: Jul, 2010
#182072: Apr 9th 2017 at 12:25:39 PM

We need a law making it illegal to mislead the public on health issues.

Good luck with that. We still haven't even been able to force election ads to live up to the same standards of truth and accuracy as beer commercials.

As long as we're talking parents, mine are/were both staunchly left. My father was a self-described political junkie who followed politics very closely. He was a big fan of Joe Biden in particular, and he cried when Obama gave his acceptance speech in 2008 because he was so proud of our country and so glad he got to live to see the day. If there was one silver lining to his death last July, it's that he didn't have to see us go from Obama to Trump.

My mother isn't as politically informed as dad was, which is why she's leaned into the Berniecrats. I don't bother arguing much with her, given that she never changes her mind about anything and at least we're nominally on the same side, but she does really make me miss dad's more informed perspective.

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#182073: Apr 9th 2017 at 12:36:39 PM

You want to know what the new talking point of the alt-left is now?

That Hillary fucking Clinton had no policy substance during the campaign and it was nothing more than platitudes.

Cue me banging my head against the wall.

New Survey coming this weekend!
IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#182074: Apr 9th 2017 at 12:46:38 PM

[up]While I know who you're talking about (what others here have called "unicorn brigade", "berniebros" and "herbal tea party" among other terms), I'd prefer refraining from calling them "alt-left", seeing as the right (alt, far and otherwise) is currently trying to pin that term on anyone who's left wing as an attempt to hide behind the "both sides" bullshit. And, unlike alt-right, which is self imposed, nobody calls themselves "alt-left".

And yeah, the talking point is stupid.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
TheRoguePenguin Since: Jul, 2009
#182075: Apr 9th 2017 at 12:49:39 PM

The only way that talking point is true, so far as I know, is that her campaign ads were more anti-Trump than policy, at least compared to other campaigns (25% vs 40-45 standard). Hillary actually had solid ideas, otherwise.

edited 9th Apr '17 12:51:10 PM by TheRoguePenguin


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