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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Well, anyone with any relevant knowledge knows that. That's why it's not done. That's why people in the know don't refer to Daesh and its ilk as "radical Islamic terrorism". That's why people in the know don't advocate collective punishment of the families of terrorists. That's why people in the know don't advocate the plundering of natural resources wherever US forces go.
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiotedited 25th Jan '17 3:35:22 AM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Straight out of the Autocrat's playbook. Raise a massive fuss over something small that gives you justification to do what you were already going to do anyway.
And no, I don't think very many people in the GOP are going to revolt against him ever. Because I don't think he's alone in what he's doing. Any of it. I somehow think we were played from start to finish in the election, and the ones who fought him there only to stand behind him now were mostly playacting to hike up the drama and controversy and get all eyes on Trump. They knew they didn't need the popular vote, just the popular vote in key areas in the country, so they rolled ahead with enough of the stuff they knew those people would want that they would get it.
I also think we're going to have to make new plays for our book, because the more I think about it, the less boycotts seem like they would work. While the -isms were a big part of the victory, the economy was at least as big. People were tired of losing their jobs, or seeing close friends losing jobs, and when he promised to bring the jobs back, Trump was alleviating their fears somewhat. If we boycott businesses owned or run by these guys, the first thing we'll be doing is making enemies of the large number of employees who are bound to lose their jobs before the Republicans even begin to be hurt by them. Especially given the anti-protest air they've been generating.
We need to find new methods for our madness. Something the GOP will hate but can't touch without completely fucking over their own allies too. If the internet weren't in danger of coming off the rails, I'd say a Kickstarter variant aimed at pooling money for buying shares in companies that compete with our enemies. I would say buying out the companies we hate ourselves, but that would probably take way more money, and serve to prop up the enemy until we had enough to buy controlling shares. If we even could. I forget if owners get 51% of the shares to themselves or 49%.
I wonder if that would put us on the road to pillarisation (better than subjugation but still)?
In any case, Republican lawmakers have quietly laid the foundation to give away a large portion of America's 640m acres of national land. These may include areas around the Grand Canyon that feed the Colorado River.
So, uh, anyone want to co-bid on the Grand Canyon or the Old faithful geyser? Haven't seen either up close. I'm kinda short on money, and I'm hoping someone can make sure it won't be part of someone's private manor and closed off to the plebeians.
edited 25th Jan '17 4:56:03 AM by CenturyEye
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our livesThe federal land in the US makes over six hundred billion dollars a year from tourists. It is the single largest source of revenue for the American government after taxes. The lands cost millions to run and make billions. That seems like a great idea to cut!
Everything they're trying to cut is going to backfire so hard on them.
Although if they sell off the Everglades, I have a feeling Disneyworld in Florida is suddenly going to get a lot bigger.
edited 25th Jan '17 6:01:13 AM by Zendervai
... Huh. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this almost sounds like a possible way for implementing a "soft" variant of Divided States of America; you could have a "Confederacy" comprising the Southern states, a "Las Californias" comprising the Pacific states (centered on California), a "Midwestern Commonwealth" in the heartlands, and a "New England Federation" in the northeast, all under the umbrella of a federal government.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.@I Fwanderer: I want to second your suggestion that we try to reach out to ordinary people who voted for the right.
@Journeyman: Have you seen this?
They advocate stealing the tactics of the Tea Party to lobby members of the state and federal legislatures.
The Economist's daily graph
. America is officially a Flawed Democracy (by, like 0.02 points on a 1-10 scale, but still). The blurb stresses Trump's election isn't the cause - rather, the two have the same root causes (declining faith in government institutions).
edited 25th Jan '17 6:23:55 AM by megarockman
The damned queen and the relentless knight.British PM Theresa May to visit with Congressional Republicans on her trip to speak with Trump.
Re: the arrested journalists. I'm not sure how we all arrived at a "wrong place, wrong time" consensus all of a sudden? They were doing their jobs, and now they're facing felony charges. Whether they were specifically targeted or just caught up in the dragnet, it doesn't change that simple fact. Even if they were just caught up in the dragnet, a) the purpose of that dragnet was to arrest hundreds of innocent people in an attempt to scare off the rest, and b) they certainly know they're journalists now, and I don't see the charges being dropped.
In the times to come, our instinct will be to rationalize and normalize what's happening. Don't.
Re: investigation into "voter fraud." Again, I feel people aren't quite getting it. This "investigation" will be completely bogus. The only thing it will uncover is what Trump and the GOP want it to uncover. When authoritarians deliver these outrageous, unfounded, provably false lies, we need to stop interpreting them as statements of fact. They are statements of intent.
This is them establishing political cover for a massive assault on voting rights. This is them preparing to rig the election game.
Do not pin your hopes on 2018 and 2020. People warned us about this for months after the election - we are now living in an authoritarian state. And free and fair elections are not easy to attain in authoritarian states.
"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
X3 I wish they'd do state level analyise, it would be nice to see how particular US states measure on the democracy index.
At least one of the journalists is apparently a citizen journalist and as such may not qualify for journalistic protection. However the rest of your point stands, getting caught in a mass arrest can be a mistake, but getting actively charged isn't an accident.
edited 25th Jan '17 6:48:37 AM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran![]()
The problem would be what constitutes state-level. And also in how many countries will they measure state-level. I, for one, would be very interested in seeing how the different provinces stack up in my country (just guessing I would assume the central region would have "better score" and the provinces in the north and the south would be worse), but how would you measure, for example, the UK?
edited 25th Jan '17 6:53:46 AM by IFwanderer
1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV

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Yeah, that person has an interesting point
1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV