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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Gitmo has been a symbol of the state-sponsored, extrajudicial detainment and torture program that was initiated under George W. Bush, and closing it was a signature goal of Obama's 2008 campaign. For him to deliver on that promise before leaving office would be pretty significant from a moral perspective, even if it has no significant economic, security, or geopolitical impact.
edited 23rd Feb '16 9:33:02 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Unfortunately, that's not really the case, especially when they can run as anti-establishment and blame everything on the mainstream parties in power. Things like the Golden Dawn
party in Greece have enjoyed not-insignificant popularity, despite being literal fascists.
What we are seeing with both the Republican and Democratic Parties is the moderates being pushed out, because being moderate does not work anymore. The Business and the War Hawks were the moderates of the Republican Party and both had failed their constituents because of the Financial Crisis and Iraq War, so the Religious Right, Racists, and Libertarians demand control over the party.
The Democrats push to the left is really a reaction to the Republicans' push to the right. There is no compromising with the Republican Party as it currently is now that it's been hijacked by the Religious Right, Racists and Libertarians, and the Democratic Party is failing to do the one thing the opposition party is supposed to do when their competition is weak as the infighting Republicans are which is seizing control of all branches of government. As said before, the DWS is more interested in the Presidency and fundraising than Congress, but the only way Democratic control can be truly established is if there is both a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress, since any Republican Congress under the control of the Religious Right, Racists, and Libertarians will say no to a Democratic President as a matter of course like they've been doing to Barack Obama. While Hillary will likely achieve the nomination and likely win the election, the people supporting Sanders over her are not going away or leaving the Democratic Party.
In addition, this is the age of social media, where being extreme gets a person noticed and talked about. This is why both Trump and Sanders are doing as well as they have been doing... Both are extreme compared to the dominate culture of the United States and extreme in the ways that the far right and far left love, respectfully. Both are also outsiders challenging the establishment who is seen to have failed the cause for a good number of constituents. The end game for both parties seem to be the moderates being pushed out in favor of more extreme viewpoints.
edited 23rd Feb '16 9:52:20 AM by GameGuruGG
Wizard Needs Food BadlyLooks like Secretary of State John Kerry is throwing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton under the bus:
“In today’s world, given all that we’ve learned and what we understand about the vulnerability of our system, we don’t do that, no,” Kerry said while testifying in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
The remark, which came in response to a question from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), serves as an orchestrated Republican jab at Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, whose exclusive use of a “homebrew” email arrangement has roiled GOP critics in Washington.
Kerry: State Dept. staffers can't use private server
"We have more than 50 ... simultaneous investigations going on, and we have an unprecedented number of FOIA requests," Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "I have had to cannibalize bureaus to get people to go spend their time on these requests."
"I'm concerned about it because this is tying up international diplomats," he said.
Kerry: Clinton email probe 'tying up international diplomats'
edited 23rd Feb '16 10:03:59 AM by SolipsistOwl
Depends. I myself would argue that ideas right of American conservatism are simply less popular globally than ideas left of American Liberalism.
Leviticus 19:34"For him to deliver on that promise before leaving office would be pretty significant from a moral perspective, even if it has no significant economic, security, or geopolitical impact"
Too little, too late,and besides,what's stopping the next President from reopening the prison under another name?
I'm of the opinion that there needs to be change in the rules,maybe in the constitution itself to ensure that a prison like that can never be established again
edited 23rd Feb '16 10:27:45 AM by Ultimatum
have a listen and have a link to my discord server![]()
Nothing is stopping them, obviously. So you'd better hope a Democrat wins.
As Congress is currently constituted, it is unlikely that the Pentagon's proposal will even come up for a vote.
edited 23rd Feb '16 11:05:40 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"A Republican win in November (unless the Dems take decisive control of the Senate and hold it for 4-8 years) will result civil rights being set back decades in a lot of areas. And it will take a few more decades to fix that, if any of the liberal justices die/retire. Even Kasich would probably have this happen, and he's supposed to be the "sane" one.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.A Republican win, without a doubt, would be catastrophic not only for the USA, but for everyone it's going to... to put in general terms, do nasty things to. Good thing no one but Trump has any idea how to win anymore, and he's got that "Anyone but Trump" massive voter base going against him.
edited 23rd Feb '16 11:15:40 AM by Luminosity
Bob Dole endorses Marco Rubio after Jeb Bush drops out.
Spike Lee to endorse Bernie Sanders, will voice Ad for the Senator.
edited 23rd Feb '16 11:18:07 AM by Demonic_Braeburn
Any group who acts like morons ironically will eventually find itself swamped by morons who think themselves to be in good company.Holy shit:
The decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington came in a lawsuit over public records brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, regarding its May 2013 request, for information about the employment arrangement of Huma Abedin, a longtime Clinton aide.
[* * *]
Sullivan also suggested from the bench that he might at some point order the department to subpoena Clinton and Abedin, to return all records related to Clinton’s private account, not just those their camps have previously deemed work-related and returned.
“There has been a constant drip, drip, drip of declarations. When does it stop?” Sullivan said, adding that months of piecemeal revelations about Clinton and the State Department’s handling of the email controversy create “at least a ‘reasonable suspicion’ ” that public access to official government records under the federal Freedom of Information Act was undermined. “This case is about the public’s right to know.”
U.S. judge orders discovery to go forward over Clinton’s private email system
edited 23rd Feb '16 11:35:18 AM by SolipsistOwl
That is true, which is why I specified the dominant culture of the United States which is to the right of all first world nations. That being said, I don't expect a Republican to win the White House and expect them to lose control of the Senate, thusly shifting the Supreme Court liberal. Yes, even against Sanders. I actually support Sanders for president and don't particularly want Hillary as president. That being said, the Democratic nominee could be an inanimate log and still be a better choice than the current Republican circus, especially when this election is now for all the marbles.
edited 23rd Feb '16 11:53:34 AM by GameGuruGG
Wizard Needs Food BadlyThe idea that these parties will be unpopular is a naive view. The European anti-immigration parties that sprung up during the 2000s have proved nothing but resilient. Disenfranchising extremists at a national level is not necessarily a bad thing; I think the US is stronger for not having its own equivalent of the PVV or Front National to shit things up in Washington, even if the price you pay is a Republican party that isn't that far from them.
Schild und Schwert der ParteiDoes Rubio-bot? Who fled from his only attempted legislative achievement in the senate, who has record-high absentee rates and has gone on record saying that he doesn't like his job and is just seatwarming for the presidency? Who's wife is employed to do nothing for a charity run by his biggest benefactor?
Basically, the two-party system has the problem of hiding more nuanced views under more generic "left" and "right" viewpoints. Breaking up the two-party system would mean getting rid of that, for good or ill.
edited 23rd Feb '16 1:06:27 PM by NativeJovian
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.![]()
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It may not initially be unpopular...they aren't unpopular now. But as with Prohibition, exposure to reality defeats ideas that can't withstand practical scrutiny. Anti-vaxxers as a movement would be destroyed. The Tea Party, which is stronger at the state level, are already being discredited by the likes of Flint.
The problem with suppressing ideas is that they don't stay suppressed, especially when its big tent politics being used to do it. The Republicans are now getting hijacked by the John Birchers that were ousted half a century before. The Democrats are a bit better off, but not by much (for those who are moderate anyway).
EDIT-
Somewhat
edited 23rd Feb '16 1:07:15 PM by FFShinra

GIVE NO FUCKS OBAMA FTW!
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.