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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Well, with American global ignorance I can't say entirely how true it is (part of me suspects that it's primarily promoted by internal self-deprecation), but I will say that it makes sense to me.
There aren't many reasons to leave the United States. Like, if I think of all the places I'd want to go on a vacation, well over half of them are in the US. Similarly, the United States is surrounded largely by 3rd world countries and Canada. This means it really doesn't have to think about other countries as much, because the only nation that's really a competitor to it is also everyone's best friend.
With the notion that America is the best nation ever, I think that is a slightly harmful narrative, at least with how it's approached. It tends to split people into those who are rather blind to America's faults...and those who just outright hate the nation due to Hype Backlash.
I don't think it's a bad narrative, but it needs to be approached with nuance. It's ultimately a subjective thing, and also doesn't mean "perfect" or even "better than other nations in every single way". I would say that most reasonable metrics would rank the US fairly high and America is almost objectively a culturally, economically, and militarily dominant power in the world. Or to put it another way "The money the citizens of European countries save on healthcare is spent on American movies and smartphones".
Indeed, I think a good angle to approach certain criticisms of the US (from the inside) might be along the lines of "other nations get to benefit off of our success more than we do".
Leviticus 19:34![]()
I’m not even sure that’s accurate, there’s pretty widespread popular support for European-style healthcare in the US, as this thread has brought up before, and European culture is a pretty typical object of interest.
Like I said, I think it’s more a deep conservative undercurrent in the overall culture. Not necessarily a measure of ignorance, but some pretty poisonous concepts that have been well-accepted for a very long time.
I think we’ve been over it in this thread before, but I do think the US has, all things considered, been a net good on Earth. Not everyone agrees, obviously.
Edited by archonspeaks on Oct 2nd 2018 at 10:21:54 AM
They should have sent a poet.To go back to Russia, a new report makes it clear that regardless of the truth, McConnell called Russia's interference partisan
and refused to criticize them at all, even going so far as to threaten the Obama administration.
While the broad outlines of this story have been known for a long time, Miller’s account adds a new level of detail to Mc Connell’s political machinations in the run-up to the election. In a Frontline documentary from November, Miller said that the Obama administration was “so concerned about politicizing intelligence” that aides didn’t want Obama himself to publicly denounce the Russians without the support and buy-in of leaders in Congress—including Republicans.
Jeh Johnson, the secretary of homeland security for the last four years of the Obama administration, describes meetings between top intelligence officials and congressional leadership as well as the heads and ranking members of the intelligence and foreign affairs committees in which they told the lawmakers what the intelligence community knew about Russia’s efforts to influence the election. Mc Connell “expressed skepticism,” Frontline reported, “and warned that he would not join an effort to publicly challenge Putin.”
The Washington Post had previously reported that in September 2016, “during a secret briefing for congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc Connell … voiced doubts about the veracity of the intelligence.” In early October 2016, the intelligence community eventually issued a statement saying that it was “confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations,” but never specified who was being hacked or which candidate Russia was trying to help win.
The irony is not just that Trump would win the election, which the Obama administration thought incredibly unlikely, but that the administration would then be roundly criticized by its supporters and then by the Trump White House and Trump himself for not doing enough to challenge Russia’s conduct.
And at least one journalist is touting Amazon's new minimum wage hike as a success for Bernie-nomics
. It's still a victory, but I feel like Sanders wasn't the only one pushing Jeff Bezos to this.
Amazon says the move will benefit 250,000 regular employees, as well as 100,000 seasonal workers it plans to hire for the holidays.
This isn’t totally anomalous. A number of major corporations with low-wage workforces have started offering higher pay this year in response to the tight job market. Walmart increased its base wage to $11 an hour, while competitor Target bumped its own to $12, with plans to eventually nudge it to $15.
But in Amazon’s case, politics were very explicitly a factor. The company has long been criticized for the working conditions and pay offered to its army of warehouse associates, and in April, a report by the New Food Economy found that one-third of Amazon employees in Arizona relied on SNAP benefits—aka food stamps—to get by. Last month, Sanders teamed with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to introduce the Stop BEZOS Act, which would have placed a 100 percent tax on large businesses for every dollar’s worth of government aid such as SNAP, Medicaid, and public housing vouchers their employees received.
“The taxpayers in this country should not be subsidizing a guy who’s worth $150 billion, whose wealth is increasing by $260 million every single day,” Sanders said of Bezos, currently the world’s richest man, in one interview. “That is insane. He has enough money to pay his workers a living wage. He does not need corporate welfare. And our goal is to see that Bezos pays his workers a living wage.”
Amazon initially pushed back against the campaign, noting, for instance, that the average full-time wage for its fulfillment-center workers was $15 an hour once you considered stock and incentive pay. A good number of left-leaning Washington policy wonks also argued that Sanders’ bill was poorly conceived, since taxing companies that employ Americans who receive Medicaid or SNAP might discourage them from hiring the kinds of low-income parents who tend to rely on those programs, particularly single mothers. But it seems that Amazon didn’t especially want to become the poster child for low-wage work in America.
“We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do and decided we want to lead,” Bezos said in a statement Tuesday. “We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.” The company added that it would “be working to gain Congressional support for an increase in the federal minimum wage,” which is currently stuck at $7.25 an hour.
Bezos likely gave ground on pay for reasons besides Sanders’ bill. For one, Bezos has been taking his first major steps into the world of philanthropy—and after he announced a $2 billion fund to fight homelessness and create a chain of schools, many of the reactions amounted to: “That’s nice, but why not try paying your workers more first?” More importantly, Amazon may have been especially sensitive to the politics of this issue because conservatives had also started attacking them over it. The company is a favorite target of Donald Trump, largely because Bezos owns the Washington Post. And even before Sanders released his bill, Fox News host Tucker Carlson—who has become the network’s in-house spokesman for reactionary white rage—delivered an angry report skewering Amazon for its treatment of workers, and accusing big tech companies of operating as monopolies.
This system is indefensible. And yet, almost nobody ever complains about it. How come? Well, conservatives like us support the free market and for good reason. The free market works, but there’s nothing free about this market. A lot of these companies operate as monopolies. They hate markets. They use government regulation to crush competition. There’s nothing conservative about that just as there’s nothing conservative about most big corporations. Just the opposite—they’re the backbone of the left.
In short, Amazon was quickly finding itself friendless on both the left and right—which is an extremely dangerous place to be. But its new minimum-wage policy is already winning it some goodwill. “Today I want to give credit where credit is due,” Sanders said in a statement. “And I want to congratulate Mr. Bezos for doing exactly the right thing.”
Here are two takeaways from all this: First, Sanders and Khanna’s bill—whatever its policy flaws may have been (and personally, I really hated it)—worked by upping the pressure on Amazon. That may not be the highest praise for a piece of legislation, and I’m not sure that trying to muscle companies individually through pressure campaigns is always the best way to conduct public policy. But political stunts do sometimes have their place—and when a few companies command massive workforces, focusing sustained pressure on one can make a noticeable difference in a lot of workers’ lives. (Those 250,000 regular employees are equal to roughly the population of Buffalo, New York.) As Khanna put it in a statement Tuesday, “Many in the beltway criticized our bill as impractical. But Amazon’s action shows that our bill can inspire multibillion dollar companies to raise the wages of their workers.”
Second: It seems pretty clear now that, going forward, the fight over the minimum wage is no longer just going to pit corporations versus labor. In many cases, the battle lines are probably going to be between larger businesses like Amazon and Target that have already embraced a higher pay floor and their smaller competitors that might not be as capable of absorbing the higher costs. We’ve reached a point where Jeff Bezos, of all people, might actually become an ally in the Fight for $15.
Re: American anti-intellectualism and beer tourism
I wonder how much the sheer size of America plays into this as it bigger than Europe as a whole. As such, there's a lot of the same cultural differences between actual nations playing into things but just all united under one single federation of states-not-countries.
@Robrecht
It's not so much that I mistrust secularism (I am prone to hyberbole) but I've grown up in culture deeply entrenched in religious values so I don't automatically think secularism automatically make things better. Not because such was better but because even in America, people gravitate to the kind of culture they want and it can't be forced on them.
Religious tolerance is extremely important to avoid Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence but I also am not blind to the fact it's very often competing religious groups find more to differentiate themselves than bind together.
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 2nd 2018 at 11:41:41 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.It’s not really surprising, but still.
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/10/02/day-621/
Day 621: Tired of winning.
1/ Paul Manafort met with Robert Mueller's office as part of his cooperation agreement. Following his guilty plea last month to conspiracy against the U.S. and conspiring to obstruct justice, Manafort is required to cooperate "fully, truthfully, completely, and forthrightly…in any and all matters as to which the government deems the cooperation relevant." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/01/paul-manafort-meets-mueller-prosecutors-855388
2/ The intermediary between Roger Stone and Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange told Senate Intelligence Committee that he will plead the Fifth Amendment in response to its subpoena for testimony and documents. Randy Credico spent more than two hours last month testifying before Robert Mueller's grand jury about stolen Democratic emails. Stone, a longtime Trump adviser, said Credico was his intermediary to Assange and Wiki Leaks. (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/01/roger-stone-associate-senate-panel-855644
3/ Trump directed an effort to prevent Stormy Daniels from publishing a description of her alleged sexual encounter with him. In February, Trump instructed his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to seek a restraining order against Daniels through a confidential arbitration proceeding and to coordinate the legal response with his son, Eric Trump. Direct involvement by Trump and his son suggest that Trump's ties to his company continued into 2018, contradicting public statements made at the time by the Trump Organization, the White House, and Michael Cohen. (Wall Street Journal)
4/ The Trump administration began denying visas to the unmarried same-sex partners of foreign diplomats and foreign staff working at the United Nations, making marriage a requirement for foreign couples to remain in the U.S. together. Diplomats with same-sex partners will have until the end of December to get married, or their partners will be sent home in January. Couples could be exposed to prosecution if they return to a country that criminalizes homosexuality or same-sex marriages. 12% of U.N. members states allow same-sex marriage. (Foreign Policy / USA Today / CNN / Huff Post)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/02/politics/same-sex-couples-diplomatic-visas/index.html
poll/ 49% of voters support the Democratic candidate in their local race for the U.S. House of Representatives while 42% support the Republican candidate. Overall, 50% of voters want Democrats to control the U.S. Senate. 53% of Americans disapprove of the job Trump is doing. (Quinnipiac)
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2575
poll/ In the South, 48% of voters support the Republican congressional candidate over the Democratic candidate. 43% support the Democratic candidate. 52% of Southern voters approve the job Trump is doing, compared with 49% who disapprove. (NBC News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/nbc-news-poll-south-leans-republican-midterms-n915486
bonus/ Trump: "THE ONLY REASON TO VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT IS IF YOU'RE TIRED OF WINNING!" Trump issued the all-caps message shortly before departing for an event in Philadelphia. (The Hill)
Notables.
The White House corrected the official transcript from Trump's press conference in the Rose Garden to include his insult of a female reporter. The transcript initially showed Trump telling Cecilia Vega that she wasn't "thanking" him for calling on her. In reality, Trump told Vega that she was "not thinking. You never do." (Politico / CNN)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/02/white-house-trump-transcript-reporter-860406
The EPA proposed relaxing radiation exposure guidelines, saying it could have a "positive effect on human health." (Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/6a573b6b020e453c90ecd5e84aa23f57
The Pentagon received two pieces of mail that tested positive for ricin, a highly toxic compound that causes nausea, vomiting and internal bleeding of the stomach and intestines, followed by failure of the liver, spleen and kidneys, and death by collapse of the circulatory system. The two envelopes were addressed to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and to Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson. All mail delivered to the Pentagon was put into quarantine. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/02/politics/pentagon-ricin-mail/index.html
The U.S. accused Russia of developing a banned cruise missile system that could allow Russia to launch a nuclear strike capable of hitting Europe or Alaska. The U.S. ambassador to NATO said Washington is committed to a diplomat solution but would consider a military strike if Russian continues development of the medium-range system continued. (Reuters)
Dept. of Kavanaugh. Text messages between Brett Kavanaugh and a former classmate at Yale shows Kavanaugh and his team were working behind the scenes to refute Deborah Ramirez's allegations against him before they were made public. Kerry Berchem tried to get the text messages to the FBI so they can be reviewed as part of the new investigation, but has yet to be contacted by the FBI. The texts suggest that Kavanaugh was personally communicating with former classmates about the allegations before they were made public in a New Yorker article. (NBC News)
As an undergraduate at Yale in 1985, Kavanaugh was involved in an altercation at a local bar and was accused of throwing ice at another patron. The incident led the New Haven Police Department to question Kavanaugh and four other men. Kavanaugh was not arrested in connection with the incident. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/us/politics/kavanaugh-bar-fight.html
Julie Swetnick, speaking publicly for the first time, said she was raped at a party that Kavanaugh and Mark Judge attended, but "cannot specifically say that he was one of the ones who assaulted me." Swetnick said Kavanaugh "was very aggressive — very sloppy drunk, very mean drunk. I saw him — go up to girls and paw on them, try to, you know, get a little too handsy, touching them in private parts. I saw him try to shift clothing." (NBC News)
Republican Sen. Susan Collins called on the FBI to investigate Julie Swetnick's allegations against Kavanaugh as part of its probe. "Senator Collins was encouraged by the President’s statements that he would give the FBI agents the latitude they need to do their work," said a spokesperson for Sen. Collins. "It makes sense to start with the four named witnesses from the hearing and then the FBI can follow any leads that it believes need to be pursued, as Senators Flake, Murkowski, and Collins indicated at the time this agreement was made." (Portland Press Herald)
Two ethics complaints have been filed against Kavanaugh in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court on which he sits due to his partisan attacks against Democrats, "the Clintons" and other liberal groups during his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. The complaints are being administered by Merrick Garland. (Law and Crime)
Mitch Mc Connell: "We'll be voting this week." The Senate Majority Leader said "the time for endless delay and obstruction has come to a close." (The Hill)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/409340-mcconnell-senate-will-hold-kavanaugh-vote-this-week
Edited by sgamer82 on Oct 2nd 2018 at 12:56:49 PM
There’s a bit more sanity to it than you think, if the Russians insist that they aren’t violating the treaty then you can just take them at their word. Anything that violates the treaty can’t be connected to the Russians and as such it’s not an attack on Russia for the US to blow it up.
It’s still playing a bloddy dangerous game though.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranYeah, especially since the Russian government is increasingly turning into a more paranoid version of North Korea's government, but with more nukes.
"The devil's got all the good gear. What's God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that." - Liam GallagherI dunno. I don't recall Russia using chemical weapons on foreign soil during the Cold War, nor using destructive technology to take out power grids and kill corporations and economies.
That's a paranoid country to me.
"The devil's got all the good gear. What's God got? The Inspiral Carpets and nuns. Fuck that." - Liam GallagherAssad used chemical weapons, not Russia. There's a difference.
And yeah that sort of shit was pretty common throughout the Cold War. We were trying to kill each other remember?
Read up on some Cold War history because bluntly it's a lot worse than anything Russia has been doing in the past few years. This is downright mild.
Oh really when?Using chemical weapons is new,if they had done that previously it would have meant war which is why they didn't do it then,they did it now because they know no one is going to war with them now
> Assad used chemical weapons, not Russia. There's a difference.
He means the nerve agent they tried to use in the UK to kill an ex spy
Edited by Ultimatum on Oct 2nd 2018 at 1:20:00 AM
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverThey didn't use chemical weapons and both times their lackey did they deliberately stood by and deactivated all their AA defenses and let NATO come in and destroy his infrastructure.
Russia is doing more than enough heinous shit and violating international law without needing to ignore the truth.
Oh that. That's not a chemical weapon attack. They just poisoned a dude. Would we be this up in arms if it was arsenic they used instead?
Not that fucking assassinating someone on foreign soil is something to brush aside but still.
Edited by LeGarcon on Oct 2nd 2018 at 4:19:31 AM
Oh really when?> Oh that. That's not a chemical weapon attack. They just poisoned a dude. Would we be this up in arms if it was arsenic they used instead?
It was a nerve agent,thus it was a chemical weapon and it designed to avoid detection buy modern methods,someone died coming into contact with it
As far as I'm concerned it was state sponsored terrorism
Edited by Ultimatum on Oct 2nd 2018 at 1:23:31 AM
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverLegally it was a WMD attack that hit British civilians, same as the nuclear attack from a few years back.
Thing is they do it because they know they can get away with it, nothing has changed in their desires from the Cold War, what’s changed is what the West is willing to tolerate and enable them doing.
Russian would have loved to back an ideologist neo-authoritarian admirer of Russia during the Cold War, but no major US party was willing to nominate one, nevermind prefer the Russians to their domestic rivals. Russia would have loved to use more and more brazen methods of striking at former intelegence operatives during the Cold War, but no member of NATO would have been willing to push no serious consequences for such actions and just allow such attacks, the UK government now is much mroe okay with such attacks.
The Russians didn’t change, we changed.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranI don't care if it was done hundred times over by the KGB when they were the soviet union,I'm talking about now,about a state that authorised chemical weapons on our soil and someone died coming into contact with it
![]()
Edited by Ultimatum on Oct 2nd 2018 at 1:35:37 AM
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverWould you be this upset if they used arsenic or cyanide? Or hell if they just pushed him off a hotel balcony? This was an assassination, not a terrorist attack. Nobody but the target was affected and it was done very carefully and deliberately.
Be more concerned about that Russia just murdered someone on British soil with no consequences than their method used doing so. These agents were made with assassination in mind in addition to their applications in a countervalue attack. They would have done the same in the Cold War if they felt like it was the method they needed to use.
Edited by LeGarcon on Oct 2nd 2018 at 4:43:59 AM
Oh really when?That’s just strait up false, multiple civilian bystanders have been injured in both the nuclear and chemical weapon attacks, that’s why people are so upset about them.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran

EDIT: Ooh, page-topper. Yay me, I guess
Edited by MrHellboy on Oct 2nd 2018 at 12:09:15 PM
The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.