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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
It's about the appearance of bias. Mueller is trying to maintain a shop that is as ostentatiously impartial as possible in order to protect the investigation from even the slightest hint of partisan taint. That this will never satisfy a single Republican is beside the point.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Perhaps the FBI is trying to throw Peter under the bus just to avoid further Trumpian makeover? The first time he tried to do that (firing Comey) it was a firestorm.
Edited by Mario1995 on Aug 13th 2018 at 11:19:03 AM
"The devil's got all the good gear. What's God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that." - Liam GallagherIf he was fired for anti-Trump texts, that's a huge First Amendment violation. If he was fired for the affair, that's fine.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.Fair enough, but you still assume that the Republicans will be able to create the structural barriers.
If Democrats take Congress they'll be able to work on tearing down those barriers and the fact that it looks like they will be able to do very well in local races is quite relevant considering that they'll hugely important in redistricting
, thus Democratic success now can lead to large success in the future.
It doesn't mean that everything's going to be perfect, the Republicans will still exist and they'll still be a problem but I think you're being a tad too deterministic on their chances of getting all of their power back, especially when it comes to structural barriers.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangRemoving him from anything Trump related was certainly the right call, firing him from the FBI is something there’s plenty of justification for beyond the texts, but the texts seem to be the reason.
Bluntly he probably shouldn’t be granted a job that needs any kind of security clearance ever again, having an affair while working on a top secret investigation into a foreign power’s actions is terrible opsec if nothing else.
I mean seriously, imagine if the Russians had found out about his affair before it became public and tried to blackmail him with that information. There’s a reason that most security clearances require you to be open about your life not just with the organisation but also with anyone who information could be revealed to.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran![]()
If one party is playing hardball and the other isn't, that puts the former at a significant advantage, and if both parties are playing hardball the likely outcome is a "doom loop" of escalating tit for tat which is unlikely to end without a collapse of the constitutional order. I'm no longer confident the GOP is going to walk back from the brink (which is what would have to happen for us to escape this vicious cycle).
If Democrats end up taking the house and use that to make districts that are more or less fair, the GOP will frame that as a pro-Democrat gerrymander, and inevitably when a Democratic administration is caught holding the ball during a recession or after a foreign policy disaster, they'll end up back in power simply because they're the only alternative to the Democrats.
Edited by CaptainCapsase on Aug 13th 2018 at 11:36:04 AM
Yes this is generally true but also irrelevant, if the Democrats are able to improve the country and make it harder for Republicans to rig the system (both of which are possible) then when the Republicans return to power they are more than likely are going to have less power then they do now and will be unable to really remove the Democratic reforms.
Like Obamacare survived because of how it lasted long enough to entrench itself in the system and thus gained public support when people realized that hey turns out it's not making everything worse and is making some things better. This same phenomenon should be just as powerful if not more so for say Medicare for All, something that would benefit everyone.
So I repeat myself, you're treating the cycle of politics as some kind of path to doom when reactionaries are hardly some new phenomenon. They haven't permanently stopped things from getting better before and they can't do it now.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 13th 2018 at 11:45:46 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
I really hope you're right and I'm wrong. Nothing (at least in terms of politics) would make me happier in fact than to see the American political system right itself from the bottom up as a consequence of popular mobilization against the regressive policies of the GOP. I'm worried whether such mobilization will be possible outside of a catastrophe however, ie a global famine brought on by catastrophic climate change.
Edited by CaptainCapsase on Aug 13th 2018 at 12:11:23 PM
Sadly, it isn't; Public Employees can not make statements that conflict with their respective departments and duties, courtesy of Garcetti v. Caballos
. Strozk, being a leading member of the FBI, wouldn't have been allowed to make comments like these against any Political Candidate, even if they were on trial, as it shows bias against them.
Not that I don't support Strozk and wish him the best, it's just that (sadly) he has no Constitutional Ground to stand on, especially with our current Supreme Court...
Gonna need a source on that. Like I said, I know no one is immune to that and false information is legitimately a problem for both sides, but from what I've seen saying Democrats do it almost as reliably as the GOP is just provably false.
Huh, I completely missed that.
I'm going to have to second the calls for a source, I am not aware of any major economic failings of the Democratic Party and the idea there are problems with climate science frankly seems even more questionable.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangWow, the United States is a much more racist nation than I thought. These numbers are shocking to me. Makes more sense how Trump is still so relatively popular after the Charlottesville disaster last year.
"Marriage should only be allowed between people of the same race." 29% neutral or agree?
"White people are currently under attack in this country." 43% actually agree with this idiocy?
Life is unfair...
Quite, it's a testament to how racist things used to be that those numbers are actually a fairly good improvement.
But yes anyone who claims that we're in a post-racial nation is either a racist or willfully blind.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 13th 2018 at 2:07:22 PM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
<shrugs> I imagine it's a question how racist you think our nation is, especially if you're a white person it's rather easy to be insulated from the racial realities and even if you intellectually know that it exists the scale can be surprising.
(I'm using all the "you's" in a general sense, not talking about you specifically)
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Me too, I've found it a safe practice to just assume that I don't know the extent of it and listen to minorities when they're talking about their experiences.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 13th 2018 at 2:23:51 PM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang![]()
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I just sort of take it as a given that prejudice and "in-grouping" are a part of human nature, and ever society has a context in which certain specific groups will especially face prejudice. This can get better or worse over time, but I don't expect it'll ever disappear. Though some societies can be better or worse about it (at least in certain ways).
Which is why I've never gotten things like going "I can't believe this still happens in {insert year}!". As if the passage of time fix all issues or if young people can't also be bigoted.
Edited by LSBK on Aug 13th 2018 at 1:27:28 PM
@Spartan: I'm talking about the Anti-GMO*, anti-nuclear power*, anti-vaxxer, and homeopathy people, the same ones alluded to by @M84. I'll grant you on several of those fronts Democrats are better than Republicans, but not by much, ie it's a <5% difference
on support for GMO foods, with both parties majority opinion being decidedly out of line with the scientific consensus. Meanwhile when it comes to nuclear power, Democrats and the left are decidedly in the wrong
; with 24% supporting nuclear power compared to 47% of Republicans.
* I'll grant you that there's some more legitimate criticisms on these fronts when it comes to business practices and cost-benefit weighing respectively, but there are a large number of people on the left who seem convinced that GMOs cause cancer and nuclear power is evil, both of which are scientifically untenable positions.
Edited by CaptainCapsase on Aug 13th 2018 at 2:46:27 PM

Edited by Mario1995 on Aug 13th 2018 at 11:15:17 AM
"The devil's got all the good gear. What's God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that." - Liam Gallagher