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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#252051: Aug 14th 2018 at 7:08:44 AM

If he's retiring, it might not be.

"Dad, you're not mad that after you retired, I helped the Democrats seize your vacant seat and kept your party from putting a successor in your place instead, are you?"

"Son, I'm a Republican. What part of 'F*ck You, Got Mine' wasn't clear?"

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any dumber, a celebrity that I have no idea about (Omarosa apparently) that went through the Trump revolving door was revealed to have recorded a conversation inside the Situation Room.

She's a reality show contestant who was on The Apprentice four times, and the relationship with Trump that she built via this earned her a spot on his campaign team as a spokesperson.

Omarosa Manigault is most famous for the infamous statement she gave, explaining that Trump's campaign is the result of Obama making jokes about him at the 2011 Press Correspondents' Dinner, and uttering the quote, "Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump. It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe."

West Virginia legislature has voted to impeach all members of the state's Supreme Court over spending issues.

And just like that, democracy dies a little more in Jim Justice's personal fiefdom.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 14th 2018 at 8:08:25 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Kaiseror Since: Jul, 2016
#252052: Aug 14th 2018 at 7:19:47 AM

[up][up][up] I'm personally in favour of the research and implementation of fusion power.

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
#252053: Aug 14th 2018 at 7:31:14 AM

[up]Fusion power is a holy grail of energy generation and it was the there will be nuclear fusion power plants running in next 50 years thing 60 years ago.

Inter arma enim silent leges
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#252055: Aug 14th 2018 at 7:39:47 AM

Damn, I wanted to do, the "ANYYY DAY NOW FUSION WILL BE PRACTICAL."

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Kaiseror Since: Jul, 2016
#252056: Aug 14th 2018 at 7:44:13 AM

Although I imagine if someone makes a breakthrough in fusion energy the coal and oil companies will do anything in their power to stop it from becoming widely available.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#252057: Aug 14th 2018 at 8:19:07 AM

No, the coal barons will ditch their dying industries and invest their fortunes in fusion. The only people who will suffer are their employees...and the coal barons don't give two shits about them.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#252058: Aug 14th 2018 at 9:24:09 AM

Trump (once again) referred to an African-American critic (his ex-aide Omarosa) as insane, stupid and an animal (a dog).

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/14/politics/trump-omarosa-attacks/index.html

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#252059: Aug 14th 2018 at 9:27:30 AM

As far as the story about ICE on the previous page, while that’s absolutely horrific and something needs to change, I’d once again stress a practical solution.

End the broader policy of searching for and deporting undocumented people. If you don’t stop that you can do anything you want to ICE and another agency will just swoop right in to pick up that funding. Moreover, most ICE agents aren’t out terrorizing people of color. The majority of the agency’s workforce is focused on cross-border crime, like human trafficking. It’s importang for DHS to have an investigative capability for things like that, getting rid of ICE would severely set back our ability to deal with those types of crimes.

End the policy of deportation, and fire the agents and supervision responsible for those operations. Not only would that fix the problem, it’s much more achievable than abolishing the whole agency.

They should have sent a poet.
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#252060: Aug 14th 2018 at 9:34:30 AM

One of Omarosa's tapes has aides talk about potential fallout from Trump using the N-word.
Everyone who supports Trump already knows he's a racist, sexist, corrupt piece of shit. Having it on tape isn't going to make them stop supporting him. We need to stop pretending that is ever will.

But it might make you happy to know that socialism is more popular among Democratic voters - oh wait, no, capitalism is just becoming lesspopular.

    Full article text 
Emphasis mine. And there's a graphic with the actual poll data at the link.
America’s burgeoning socialist movement got a bit of good news and a bit of bad news today.

The good: For the first time since Gallup began polling the issue in 2010, more Democrats (and Democratic-leaning independents) now say they have a more positive image of socialism than they do of capitalism. The party’s ideological balance seems to be tipping towards the Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez camp of new-wave leftists.

But here’s the bad: Socialism isn’t winning because it’s become more popular in the last couple years. Capitalism is just becoming significantly less popular.

According to Gallup, 57 percent of Democrats say they have a positive view of socialism, versus 46 percent who feel the same about capitalism. In 2016, the two dueling economic ideologies were effectively tied, with 56 percent of survey takers saying they were pro-capitalism and 58 percent saying they were pro-socialist, a difference that was within the survey’s margin of error. (Republicans, as you might expect, still say they prefer capitalism by overwhelming margins).

The dynamic is not much different if you just look at young voters. Among all 18-to-29-year-olds (not just Democrats), 51 percent say they have positive views of socialism, the same as in 2010. Capitalism, on the other hand, seems to be quickly losing favor: 45 percent have a positive image of the concept, down from 57 percent in 2016 and 68 percent in 2010. Even among the youngs, socialism’s appeal doesn’t seem to be growing so much as capitalism’s is tanking. (I imagine that if you looked at young Democrats alone, the pattern might be a bit different; unfortunately Gallup doesn’t break them out.)

One tricky thing about Gallup’s poll is that it doesn’t define “socialism.” Instead, it asks participants to rate the phrase positively or negatively “just off the top of your head.” Some participants may be imagining a mixed economy with a generous welfare state. Some may be imagining a centrally planned economy where workers have successfully seized Amazon’s warehouses and robots from Jeff Bezos. Polling by You Gov found that Americans are pretty split in how they define the word: 41 percent equate socialism with a big welfare state and progressive taxes, 19 percent think it refers to collective ownership of property, and 12 percent think it means a one-party state with a centrally planned economy. (Socialism’s supporters in that poll were a bit more likely to think it meant the abolition of private property.)

There’s another detail that complicates Gallup’s results. Even though Americans seem to be souring on “capitalism” as a concept, they still overwhelming approve of words associated with it. For instance, 79 percent of Americans still have positive vibes about “free enterprise,” while 86 percent say they’re fond of “entrepreneurship.” It’s possible that voters have started to associate “capitalism” with “big business,” which gets a similarly middling 50 percent approval rating.

So what does this all amount to? For one, it’s another bit of evidence that Democratic leaders need to rethink some of their economic messaging, at least if they want to speak their base’s language. Last year, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi appeared at a CNN town hall where a young capitalism skeptic asked if the party might consider other economic systems. “I have to say, we’re capitalist,” she responded. It seemed a bit off key at the time, and only appears more so now.

With that said, it mostly seems like there’s a bit of a rhetorical vacuum within the Democratic party. The word “socialism” has been magnificently useful for young (and old) leftists who want to set themselves off from the party’s more corporate friendly establishment. But it hasn’t become an ideological flag pole for the Democrats the way “capitalism” remains for Republicans and conservatives. In other words: The Dems aren’t in disarray, but they’re in a bit of a philosophical flux, still figuring out their language while they also figure out their ideas.

I'm tempted to cross-post this to our etymology thread just so we can argue here on Tv Tropes about what "socialism" and "capitalism" do and should mean.

Edited by BlueNinja0 on Aug 14th 2018 at 9:34:51 AM

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Grafite Since: Apr, 2016 Relationship Status: Less than three
#252061: Aug 14th 2018 at 9:59:52 AM

[up] The "socialists" in the United States are called social democrats here in Europe. I say good on the Democratic Party for moving on a common sense direction, away from plutocracy and Wall Street ideals.

Life is unfair...
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#252062: Aug 14th 2018 at 10:05:15 AM

[up][up]Considering that the Republicans have spent years calling 1) Obama and 2) a government that actually helps people socialist it does not surprise me that socialism is not seen as some terrifying thing, especially as the Cold War recedes further into the past.

Not to mention that our Socialists are just Soc Dems who like to cosplay.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#252063: Aug 14th 2018 at 10:57:41 AM

Trump (once again) referred to an African-American critic (his ex-aide Omarosa) as insane, stupid and an animal (a dog).

https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/14/politics/trump-omarosa-attacks/index.html

I actually said "what the fuck?!" when I read that headline. What a dirty tactic: Dehumanize your opponents so people don't even consider them human beings.

We deserve better behavior from our president. But who cares, the economy is ROARING!!!

Edited by speedyboris on Aug 14th 2018 at 1:01:21 PM

Steven (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#252064: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:01:16 AM

And it's yuuuuuge!

Remember, these idiots drive, fuck, and vote. Not always in that order.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#252065: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:09:31 AM

Edit- removed comment.

Edited by wisewillow on Aug 14th 2018 at 3:18:33 PM

Izeinsummer Since: Jun, 2013
#252066: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:13:53 AM

"Socialism" as a political descriptor is a deliberate attempt from the right to conflate social democrats with Stalinists. In order to discredit the former, who are an actual threat to their dominance.

It is bloody useless as a way to describe any coherent school of political thought, quite deliberately so. If this is backfiring, that is kind of funny, but also not actually that helpful, long-term, because it is still not a usable category.

Just call yourself social-democrats. That is a term with an actual definition.

RE: Nuclear power. The problem nuclear power has is PR. What happened was that a bunch of the early environmental activists had also learned how to protest fighting the nuclear armaments race. This was a fight they lost, comprehensively, decisively and utterly. See: Nuclear warheads by the many thousands. So people moved on to environmental activism.

And then they started fighting civil nuclear power, because, to someone who just spent a decade fighting the bomb, there can be no such thing as good nuclear fission.

And for some strange reason, (Fossil fuel interests!) organizations that derailed nuclear power projects had a very large stream of donations to work with.

So they put out a lot of propaganda, with very little regard for truth. Because a bit of exaggeration was all justified in the cause of fighting the dread atom. Then the second generation of activists bought into the lies of the first, and exaggerated even harder. Also, at this point, most of the donations were coming from the general public, who had bought the campaign of fear and lies. I mean, natural gas giants still donate millions and millions to anti-nuclear causes, but the bulk of the money are from true believers at this point.

Almost everything you have ever heard about the dangers of nuclear power is a distortion, exaggeration or out-right lie.

If you want to start deprogramming yourself from the bullshit, the best first step is to look up the physics of half-lives, and what that actually means as regards the idea that nuclear waste is a permanent problem. Hint: The more radioactive something is, the faster it disintegrates into harmlessness.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#252067: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:22:48 AM

The rather publicized disasters such as the Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl probably didn't help. Nor did the more recent Fukushima disaster.

Then again, the number of nuclear power accidents are far, far lower than the number of accidents related to other energy industries. Oil spills and pipeline leaks, anyone?

Edited by M84 on Aug 15th 2018 at 2:26:11 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#252068: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:27:50 AM

[up] Those accidents weren't really that bad, just well-publicized. Chernobyl is the only one that could really be called deadly, and compared to the many, many accidents related to fossil fuel energy it's insignificant.

There are charts with estimated deaths per watt hour every year, and nuclear energy is on the very bottom. Coal and oil are on top.

Edited by archonspeaks on Aug 14th 2018 at 11:31:50 AM

They should have sent a poet.
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#252069: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:48:34 AM

[up][up][up]Er, socialism is a pretty old term. By my own admission, conservatives often misuse it, but the term itself is a political ideology. The term predates communism, which is an ideology that describes itself as a form of socialism. Marx called his ideology "Scientific Socialism" and the USSR stands for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics".

Leviticus 19:34
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
#252070: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:50:15 AM

Chernobyl can be attributed mostly to Soviet Era incompetence, meanwhile Western reactor designs and the safety measures built around them are stupidly strict. Fukushima took one of the strongest earthquakes and tsunamis recorded to compromise its integrity and the damage control prevented further damage, all due to how well designed those reactors are.

To the point every worker there has to do periodic checks to see if they have radiation poisoning or illness while being exposed to very low levels of radiation in their work place.

Meanwhile Airline workers receive much higher dosages of radiation to be considered radiation workers, but don't nave nowhere near the same amounts of care.

Also, the US has been fielding Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carries for decades without major incidents and somehow people forget that huge fucking ship anchored on the harbor next to their houses has a shitload of nuclear material inside it.

Inter arma enim silent leges
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#252071: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:54:15 AM

"If you want to start deprogramming yourself from the bullshit, the best first step is to look up the physics of half-lives, and what that actually means as regards the idea that nuclear waste is a permanent problem. Hint: The more radioactive something is, the faster it disintegrates into harmlessness."

There are still highly radioactive waste products with incredibly long half-lives ranging in the thousands to millions of years. And even mid-level waste products like bone-seeking Strontium-90 have thirty year half lives. That the waste isn't permanent is sort of immaterial when it takes longer than any of us will be alive for a lot of these to decay by one half, let alone to 0.0001%. There are promising solutions to waste management outside of deep geologic deposition, but suggesting that fuel-grade uranium is so radioactive that it disintegrates towards inert material instantaneously like a firecracker is just counterfactual. It's still a burden on the community that has to house that material, and shouldn't be dismissed simply because it throws a wrench in the greater exploitation of nuclear.

"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."
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#252072: Aug 14th 2018 at 11:59:20 AM

Farmers Helped Elect Trump, But Trade Wars Erode Their Support

Ha, so it turns out that that the Republicans gross and hypocritical bribery isn't actually helping them. The title pretty much says it all, Donald Trump got support from 70% of farmers but now 56% would vote for him again 41% view him unfavorably and 35% regardless if they like him or not view him less favorably then before the tarrifs.

Turns out that Trump's destructive stupidity is really bad for him and his support.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 14th 2018 at 3:00:17 PM

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#252073: Aug 14th 2018 at 12:04:10 PM

Manafort's lawyers have rested, without presenting a defense. So either they are very confident that the prosecutors have failed to sway the jury, or Manafort is holding out of a pardon, appeal, or a deal.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/manafort-trial/index.html

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#252074: Aug 14th 2018 at 12:05:00 PM

The diplomatic spat with Turkey seems to have reached a crescendo, as Trump just signed a bill blocking the sale of F-35 fighter jets, which they've invested over a billion dollars in, and calling for a full review of our military cooperation with them This could potentially include closing our airbase there, removing nuclear weapons from their soil, and ending material and financial support for their military. [1]

This comes after the recent sanctions put their economy in a tailspin, with Erdogan lashing out at both the US and his domestic opponents.

They should have sent a poet.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#252075: Aug 14th 2018 at 12:14:57 PM

Does it seem like manafort's trial is going unusually fast, or am I just tainted by my childhood memory of how long the OJ Simpson trial took?


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