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blkwhtrbbt The Dragon of the Eastern Sea from Doesn't take orders from Vladimir Putin Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
The Dragon of the Eastern Sea
#182601: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:39:02 AM

These people are why people make fun of the progressive movements. -_-

[up] To be honest, paranoia is fun. It's exciting to be the "oppressed common man" fighting against a corruption that others can't see. It inflates the ego and one's sense of importance.

Incidentally, this is why fundies do what fundies do.

edited 12th Apr '17 8:41:21 AM by blkwhtrbbt

Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for you
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#182602: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:43:30 AM

Trump can't let go of anything. He still occasionally brings up the Emmys because he can't stand the fact that he lost to the Amazing Race. Twice. Eight years apart.

One of his first speeches after being elected was almost literally him reiterating all of the controversies that happened.

edited 12th Apr '17 8:44:16 AM by Zendervai

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#182603: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:45:02 AM

[up][up]Exactly. "Today I am grateful that the Syrians and Russians did not bomb us for poisoning the children of Flint, Michigan or gassing the people at Standing Rock" goes one of the memes.

You know what I think might be my favourite part of that? It acknowledges the possibility of Russian intervention in Syria—in fact it flat out assumes it—and is a-okay with that, while trying to condemn American intervention. In fact it's not only okay with Russian intervention, it's okay with the idea of the Russians using Weapons of Mass Destruction against Syrian civilians.

But the Green Party and its affiliates aren't shills for Russia, right?

edited 12th Apr '17 8:46:04 AM by AmbarSonofDeshar

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#182604: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:45:38 AM

Dingo Walley 1: Bannon was removed from the National Security Council, not the National Security Agency. Big difference.

And unfortunately, the guy still seems to be hanging around Trump despite being removed from the NSC. This is not good enough.

justhelping Since: Dec, 2016
#182605: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:46:36 AM

[up][up][up][up]It's also what the progressives are doing right now.

edited 12th Apr '17 8:47:00 AM by justhelping

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#182606: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:47:43 AM

[up][up] My bad. Fixed it.tongue

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182607: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:50:47 AM

[up][up][up][up]

"Today I am grateful that the Syrians and Russians did not bomb us for poisoning the children of Flint, Michigan or gassing the people at Standing Rock" goes one of the memes.

...What.

Just...that can't be an actual meme lefties are spreading right?

If it is...this shit is why it is so damn hard for progressives to be taken seriously in the USA.

Disgusted, but not surprised
IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#182608: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:51:18 AM

Nate Silver on Twitter: "Estes underperformed Trump's margin by 20.3 points. If every district behaved like that, Dems would gain 122 (!) House seats next November." So yeah, this results are great.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#182609: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:54:18 AM

[up][up]It is. I've seen it all over Facebook the last week. My fiancee is currently fighting with a bunch of her idiot leftist friends who, upon having the false equivalency pointed out to them, are determined to defend it to the death and insist there is no difference.

Another meme says "America would never support gassing people, right?" then shows the tear gas clouds at Standing Rock.

Because remember—Assad apologism is progressive. Tulsi Gabbard and Jill Stein have told them so.

@justhelping

What are progressives supposedly doing right now? I mean, besides attempting to resist a genuinely crooked dumbass of a president.

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?
#182610: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:54:53 AM

Well, idk if there's a word for it, but there's a strong leftist tendency to condemn both US isolationism and US interventions while giving everyone else the benefit of the doubt. Tis often a matter of shifting the burden of proof and moving the goalposts. (Prove the USA isn't just trying to yank up their oil! Prove Russia isn't just trying to help the good people of Syria and their savior Assad like the US always claims its doing!)

On Bannon: There are signs of something...The Latest: Trump Downplays Bannon's Influence

President Donald Trump says his chief strategist Steve Bannon joined his campaign "very late," downplaying the notion that Bannon is an influential member of his team.

In an interview with the New York Post, Trump was asked about infighting among top members of his administration in which Bannon is said to be a center figure.

Trump said, "I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late."

Trump said he had already jumped major hurdles in the campaign by that time, beating "all the senators and all the governors" before he met Bannon.

The president added, "I'm my own strategist and it wasn't like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary," referring to general election opponent Hillary Clinton.

(This is AJC's the latest, so its title changes frequently. As of now, its about Trump hosting the Argentinian President, but, as of now, the section quoted here is midway down the page).

edited 12th Apr '17 8:57:03 AM by CenturyEye

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
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#182611: Apr 12th 2017 at 8:58:38 AM

[up][up][up][up]: Seconding [up][up]. Enough Sanders Spam did not react well to reading that fine piece of critical progressive thought.

Funny that it hasn't appeared on Shit Tankies Say, although currently that lot is dealing with lefties calling people unwilling to protest the Syria strike alongside the alt-right ultras (why should running term meanings into the ground be limited to the right?)

[up][up]Not promising him as much weed as he can possibly smoke, it seems.

edited 12th Apr '17 8:59:33 AM by Krieger22

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#182612: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:08:30 AM

The real reason people make fun of progressives is because people insist on treating them as a single undifferentiated homogenous block of people, all of whom are represented by the loudest members on the internet, without acknowledging any differences of opinion within the movement.

Just sayin'.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#182613: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:13:18 AM

Or for that matter because mostly irrelevant segments of a political movement and their opinions receive undue attention in discussions.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Demongodofchaos2 Face me now, bitch! from In a Cultivation World (Ancient one) Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
Face me now, bitch!
#182614: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:13:47 AM

I respect Dc Douglas (voice of Albert Wesker) so much more now.

edited 12th Apr '17 9:25:07 AM by Demongodofchaos2

Watch Symphogear
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
#182615: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:23:09 AM

My sarcasm meter just exploded.

Inter arma enim silent leges
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#182616: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:25:49 AM

You're still a dick Grimoire Noir but thank you for that informative and entertaining video.

edited 12th Apr '17 9:26:08 AM by Draghinazzo

justhelping Since: Dec, 2016
#182617: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:43:15 AM

Is economic inequality inevitable in a free and democratic society and market?

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#182618: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:44:54 AM

This might be better for the economics thread, but to some degree, yes it is inevitable. You're always going to get some people richer than others. That doesn't mean you shouldn't lift the floor as much as possible so that no one has to starve or go without medicine.

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#182619: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:45:57 AM

[up][up]Getting very tired of this. If you want to have an argument, have an argument. Knock it off with the leading questions.

edited 12th Apr '17 9:46:10 AM by AmbarSonofDeshar

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#182620: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:46:12 AM

The idea is not to erase inequality, which is impossible, but to flatten the curve so that people at the bottom end are not deprived of all economic agency.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
justhelping Since: Dec, 2016
#182621: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:49:10 AM

I don't want to argue with you guys. I want to know what you think.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#182622: Apr 12th 2017 at 9:53:39 AM

As was said above, we suggest the General Economics thread for that question.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#182623: Apr 12th 2017 at 10:00:34 AM

[up]I actually found an really good video explaining wealth inequality.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=vttbhl_kDoo

ACLU is suing U.S. Customs and Border Protection for failing to respond to a FOIA request for government documents about the implementation of Trump’s Muslim bans.

https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-files-lawsuits-demanding-local-documents-implementation-trump-muslim-ban

edited 12th Apr '17 10:01:03 AM by megaeliz

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#182624: Apr 12th 2017 at 10:17:08 AM

The Daily Mail has settled out of court with Melania Trump after being sued for alleging that Melania did sex work during her time as a model.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#182625: Apr 12th 2017 at 11:12:42 AM

"Is economic inequality inevitable in a free and democratic society and market?"

1.) No.

2.) There's no such thing as a "free market" — no sane government would unfetter their economy to work entirely according to market forces. Necessary services are not going to yield immediate profits, the prevention of extreme poverty is more important than the facilitation of extreme prosperity, and the general progression of pure capitalism is towards the consolidation of capital and labor, ultimately reducing freedom and democracy as economic power becomes synonymous beyond a doubt with political power. And no, wealth does not trickle down, because magnates are not required to be benefactors of the state. Direct state action is required at some level, on a near constant basis, even if it's just regulation. Every game has rules, and stable commerce is no different.

To bring this back to politics, specifically U.S. politics, it's a useless thought experiment because the U.S. economy is mixed, and any discussion of a free market is purely hypothetical. It's implementation would lead to societal breakdown of the worst kind.

edited 12th Apr '17 11:15:36 AM by CrimsonZephyr

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

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