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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
I like those reforms (especially the 40 votes needed to hold) by themselves.
The one thing I keep on coming back to when it comes to filibuster reform, though, is that IMHO, the only reason the filibuster continues to exist at all is institutional inertia/respect for tradition and a fear of retaliation from the other side. (After all, there are US states that don't have a filibuster at all and operate on simple majority). Once Democrats change the filibuster in any way, I think those reasons disappear, and it would be very easy for a future Republican Congress to simply get rid of the filibuster entirely and do away with any reforms meant to help the minority party.
I worry that the end-result of Democrats' reforms will be that they hamstring themselves while doing nothing to stop the GOP agenda the next time they're in power. Which is why if Dems are going to touch the filibuster at all, I think they should get rid of it entirely (though they might not have have the votes for that).
Ehh, a system not letting anything happen is already in the republicans' favor. The least we can do is force them to incur backlash by removing popular changes.
My musician pageAs bad as the US is, I'm not aware of them actively engaging in genocide right now.
We learn from history that we do not learn from history![]()
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Well, we do have prisons set up for children in which we're deliberately separating them from families... not a 1:1 comparison, but it doesn't take a 1:1 for "And you are lynching Negroes
" to be used as an argument.
Edited by ironballs16 on Sep 3rd 2020 at 3:44:33 PM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"![]()
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Oh, yeah, I guess we're on the same page.
Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on Sep 3rd 2020 at 3:44:25 PM
My musician pageFourthspartan, I don't think it is a strawman to say you advocate accepting whatever China wants in order to secure cooperation on Climate Change. Any time any diplomatic or economic sanction or demonstration of opposition is suggested due to genocide, or military action against supposed allies, or anything involving Hong Kong you say the same thing: we shouldn't do anything because then that would sabotage cooperation on climate change.
It's hard to not see something as total acceptance when anything beyond sternly tutting in their direction is treated as unacceptable where genocide is concerned.
And initially saw it around 3 AM this morning, but the death of Daniel Prude
put Rochester, NY in the spotlight after the bodycam footage was released. It happened on March 23, when police responded to a 911 call made by Daniel's brother after he went missing at 3 AM - the cops found Prude naked and wandering the street, pointing a taser at him and ordering him to lay down. He did so. They told him to put his hands behind his back - he did so, and they cuffed him. That all happened in the first minute of the video.
They then spend the next several minutes chatting around him - not offering him a blanket despite being nude in snowy weather - and eventually put a "spit hood" (to keep people from spitting at officers) over his head, and eventually put pressure on his head and chest for a solid two minutes. What should have been a done deal as soon as the cuffs went on resulted in his death 7 days later when he was taken off life support.
As overt as the cruelty against George Floyd was, this was a more soft-spoken cruelty - they were treating him like a big joke, and he wound up dying because of it. Yes, he was on PCP at the time, but he was being cooperative until after that second minute had passed and he was still naked and cuffed on the pavement.
Edited by ironballs16 on Sep 3rd 2020 at 4:00:59 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"It's almost as if I have seen this whole song and dance multiple times before already and know where it always goes.
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Edited by DrunkenNordmann on Sep 3rd 2020 at 10:01:10 AM
We learn from history that we do not learn from historyFourthspartan, I don't think it is a strawman to say you advocate accepting whatever China wants in order to secure cooperation on Climate Change. Any time any diplomatic or economic sanction or demonstration of opposition is suggested due to genocide, or military action against supposed allies, or anything involving Hong Kong you say the same thing: we shouldn't do anything because then that would sabotage cooperation on climate change.
It's hard to not see something as total acceptance when anything beyond sternly tutting in their direction is treated as unacceptable where genocide is concerned.
This is why I call your position disingenuous. I have repeatedly said that if they invade our allies then we should respond.
This is a strawman. Stop using strawmen.
Feeling ambivalence about sanctions, but not universally opposing them, is not capitulation. Just because I do not slavishly back any and every extreme proposal to attack a major power when we need to fight Climate Change does not make my position remotely similar to appeasement.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Sep 3rd 2020 at 1:17:49 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangLetting a peer do exactly what they want up until they invade an ally is the exact policy of appeasement that preceded WWII, and at least in that instance there was a need to build up military equipment to justify it. It's extremely difficult to interpret your posts on the topic as ambivalence towards sanctions when in the face of genocide, it's always co-operation over climate change that's mentioned and a need to not be hasty.
It is, much like Russia, a power hostile to its neighbours and any rivals and any internal dissent. When it's raising further trouble in the region and committing a documented campaign of genocide, there's no place for "well, maybe we should be nice". Unless you have some expectation that the CCP wishes to live in a smoggy, polluted wasteland for the rest of eternity, they aren't going to suddenly reverse all their interests in more environmentally sustainable technology.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg officiated a wedding over the weekend.
In domestic news (aside from the Daniel Prude article linked above), AG Barr, when asked about Trump's comment about voting twice
, said:
The network host Wolf Blitzer then asked: "Is there any state in which you can vote twice?"
"Maybe you can change your vote up to a particular time, I don't know what the law is," the attorney general replied.
I'm not sure why we need cooperation with china on climate change so much. Last time i checked, China was electrifying cars and building solar farms. The main reason for international cooperation on climate change is that nobody wants to go first for political reasons. But China decide less smog would be nice, actually and started by itself. The US is also seeing a significantly increased amount of renewables, and that's during an administration hostile to it.
Besides, climate change mitigation could also be a tech race or prestige race. We see it with vaccines, don't see why it can't happen to solar or wind or whatever.
Daze is right in some points: china is authoritarian country that is getting into what can be decribe as imperalist phase that will clash with US sooner or later, this will probably get in the way in climate change, while not be needless antagonist to them is a good idea, at some point the US will have to antagonist china, plain and simple.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"So I just saw Biden and Harris' appearance in Animal Crossing. This is just pure cringe, similar to Hillary's "Pokemon Go to the polls!" line.
This is not the way to reach out to young people folks.
Edited by Forenperser on Sep 3rd 2020 at 1:57:47 PM
Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% ScandinavianAt the very least, they make it clear that they know more about the game than just its name.
My musician page"Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as "suckers" for getting killed."
When Mc Cain died: "We're not going to support that loser's funeral." Trump became furious, according to witnesses, when he saw flags lowered to half-staff. "What the fuck are we doing that for? Guy was a fucking loser," the president told aides.

Biden is in Kenosha right now for a community meeting “to bring together Americans to heal and address the challenges we face”,
He also visited Blake's family.
And had this Biden moment: "At the start of Biden’s meeting in Kenosha, Wisc., a man extends his hand to shake hands. “Can’t do that,” Biden says, before feeling the man’s biceps and exclaiming, “Nice guns!"