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

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#271076: Feb 12th 2019 at 12:52:13 PM

"I find it somewhat hard to believe that no white people in Virginia can surpass the base requirement of "basic decency.""

Few, if any, politicians in Virginia can surpass the base requirement of "basic Decency"... which is actually quite plausible.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#271077: Feb 12th 2019 at 12:54:38 PM

Few politicians can pass the base decency levels anywhere.

They wouldn't be politicians otherwise.

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#271078: Feb 12th 2019 at 12:55:57 PM

Lets not normalize it either...

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#271080: Feb 12th 2019 at 12:57:22 PM

No, I think lot of people are offended by their behavior, which is why we are having this conversation. Stop being unduly cynical.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#271081: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:04:04 PM

I was more being unduly sarcastic, but ok.

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#271082: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:06:13 PM

Sorry, I just get tired of the unrelenting pessimism that you find around here sometimes...

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
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
#271083: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:06:35 PM

When people say that being a political means failing basic decency it is the normalisation of corruption.

Being a politician doesn’t make one inherently a bad person, people thinking that is part of why we have so many bad politicians, because that idea drives good people away from politics, draws bad people towards it and makes people think it’s okay to vote for corrupt people because “they’re all corrupt”.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#271084: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:09:18 PM

Hail Muffins (like myself) is brazilian and our institutional corruption is much worse than the US's so I assume that informs their viewpoint on this at least a little. Regardless, I agree that normalizing the idea of "politicians are corrupt by default" is not very helpful.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Feb 12th 2019 at 5:09:42 AM

Oruka Since: Dec, 2018
#271085: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:37:33 PM

It's not that politicians can't be decent, it's more that political systems reward certain kinds of practical ruthelessness in such a way that The Fettered get out-competed and eliminated. You need to keep the people you need to stay in power happy enough that they don't try to replace you. Fuck everyone else. The trick becomes then to set the rules so that the people you need to keep happy are so many that their interest ends up blending with the general interest, and so that they have the means to quickly and accurately know when they ought not to be happy with you, and then the means to get together and let you know their discontent in ways you can't just ignore until your term runs out.

When the people you need to keep happy are just a few lobbies, and their money and media support can keep you in power by itself or with the help of some voter suppression, censorship, and targeting of political assemblies and civil societies, though... Hello, Georgia!

TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#271086: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:48:42 PM

So here's a question that I don't know how to categorize - General Politics, or if it's a US Politics issue, but here goes.

At the risk of sounding stupid, are we in the Second Cold War? Except that instead of a bipolar world, it's a multipolar one with three major powers vying for influence across the globe?

I ask this because I was reading a book titled The New Cold War: How the Kremlin Menaces both Russia and the West by Edward Lucas, and he made quite a few points stating just that.

I hold the secrets of the machine.
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#271087: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:50:33 PM

The thing about the AG is that I can't ascribe much of an improvement to a guy who came out about his scandal only after the two people immediately above him were also caught in scandals. It just suggests that he was beating the republicans to it.

HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#271088: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:53:22 PM

It still shows better PR skills than the other two, if nothing else.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#271089: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:54:20 PM

Who's the third power?

Surely they can't mean China?

Oh really when?
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#271090: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:55:45 PM

They mean China because like or not they are a superpower,we've argued this before

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#271091: Feb 12th 2019 at 1:56:37 PM

When they have an ounce of force projection then we can call begin to wonder if they can be called a superpower.

Oh really when?
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#271092: Feb 12th 2019 at 2:10:08 PM

I don't think anyone could say we're in a Cold War because so much of every power's economies depend on the other.

China and Russia both love showing the USA up but neither wants it down, which precludes a war. We're in a case of Flanders and Homer these days. Except Homer killed Flander's wise (Putin) and did it deliberately.

There's also a 4th power in the EU. The U.K's leaving disrupting that but I'm not sure for who more.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Feb 12th 2019 at 2:11:44 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#271093: Feb 12th 2019 at 2:11:05 PM

@Techpriest 90: No. The world is currently still monopolar. America is currently a Hyperpower with no serious rivals. Russia is still potentially dangerous but an absolute joke compared to the Soviet Union.

China is one of the most powerful nations on Earth but is a long way from being a true super-power. Also worth noting is that China gets quite a bit of its money from trade with the US and Realpolitik essentially forces the two nations into cooperation.

Leviticus 19:34
SciFiSlasher from Absolutely none of your business. Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
#271094: Feb 12th 2019 at 2:29:05 PM

It still shows better PR skills than the other two, if nothing else.

I don't trust the AG, either. He only came out about this after the skeletons had come out of Northam's closet. It reeks of him trying to save his own ass, purely for his own personal benefit.

"Somehow the hated have to walk a tightrope, while those who hate do not."
Oruka Since: Dec, 2018
#271095: Feb 12th 2019 at 2:37:02 PM

He said all the right words and did all the right things, though.

HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#271097: Feb 12th 2019 at 2:41:00 PM

Either he was genuinely contrite, saving his own ass, or possibly both. Regardless, his handling of the situation puts him a step above the other two even at your most cynical.

Edited by sgamer82 on Feb 12th 2019 at 3:41:24 AM

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#271098: Feb 12th 2019 at 2:41:41 PM

I imagine it is for personal benefit, but I also can't really fault someone for that.

Honestly, do you even think it's possible for someone in their positions to announce something like that without factoring in the potential costs/benefits to themselves before doing so?

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#271099: Feb 12th 2019 at 2:42:23 PM

I hate to be that guy, but calling that "public relations" is giving the human brain too much credit. In the real world, people need a reminder to remember things that happened years ago. Such as a fellow politician having a blackface scandal - that, as discussed a few pages ago, is viewed through a partisan lens anyhow - reminding you of your own blackface issue.

Edited by SeptimusHeap on Feb 12th 2019 at 11:53:10 AM

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#271100: Feb 12th 2019 at 3:30:12 PM

Thank you for your replies.

And no, I didn't mean China. I meant the European Union. Because while the CCP are all bark and no bite, the EU has the potential for both should it get serious. And with the Russians threatening their stability and prosperity, they might.

I hold the secrets of the machine.

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