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Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#185876: May 1st 2017 at 8:14:52 AM

[up][up][up] So, that could make him close to a dictator then?

edited 1st May '17 8:15:23 AM by Luigisan98

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#185877: May 1st 2017 at 8:15:50 AM

Washington Post (opinion) This is not a normal president. Another piece on how Trump's a wannabe dictator.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#185878: May 1st 2017 at 8:18:13 AM

[up][up] Trump does not have the power to delay elections. Those are mandated by the Constitution, and nothing short of declaring martial law will cause them to be suspended. If he attempts that... well, it'll be the biggest test of our democracy since the Civil War, and might well provoke one.

Let's not jump to conclusions, though. Trump has a very consistent pattern of making grandiose declarations based on something he saw on the news, then backing off once someone who actually knows something persuades him how terrible they are.

edited 1st May '17 8:19:16 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
vandro Shop Owner from The little shop that wasn't Since: Jul, 2009
Shop Owner
#185879: May 1st 2017 at 8:18:46 AM

I don't trust that the separation between hate speech and true honest debate is all that clear. Making speech restricted is not something I like at all, it's how religous groups shut down debate about lgbt rights in countries like mine. Whoever is in power has the ability to define speech they don't like as forbidden. "Broadening restrictions on speech is fine when we do it, but not when they do it." Doesn't seem all that applicable outside of ideal situations where you have so much control of government that it would never be possible in decades for the other guys to use it against you.

math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#185880: May 1st 2017 at 8:30:19 AM

The problem with freedom of speech is the same one with a lot of legislation - it assumes good faith on the part of the politicians and estates (the press) upholding these freedoms.

I.e it assumes that the press won't essentially turn into glorified opinion pieces by reactionary dickwhistles slowly overtaking all public discourse with bullshit and propaganda. But if you look at the British gutter press (in particular the Daily Heil) that's pretty much exactly what we're seeing.

It's an assumption, essentially, that the powerful ever play fair.

edited 1st May '17 8:30:52 AM by math792d

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
WhatArtThee Since: Oct, 2015
#185881: May 1st 2017 at 8:31:58 AM

Sorry to shift the conversation a bit, but i'm really happy how many things Trump said have been blocked/rectified.

So far, we've had...

- The Obamacare repeal being blocked

- Muslim immigration ban being blocked

- Cancelling funding of sanctuary cities being blocked

- Him rolling back his promise to investigate HRC

Just another day in the life of Jimmy Nutrin
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#185882: May 1st 2017 at 8:39:02 AM

[up]I think that last one stopped being an issue as soon as he won and she was no longer a threat

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#185883: May 1st 2017 at 8:40:55 AM

Trump Thinks Andrew Jackson could've Prevented the Civil War

Keep in mind that Jackson, by the time South Carolina attacked Fort Sumter was dead for SIXTEEN YEARS!!

What the actual fuck.

New Survey coming this weekend!
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#185884: May 1st 2017 at 8:41:01 AM

[up][up] I bet he's going to pull that card out again for his next (and final either way) opponent.

[up] To be fair to Trump, Andrew Jackson could've ended the Civil War, but not the way Trump probably thinks Jackson would. Trump thinks Jackson would've negotiated with the South to peacefully come back to the North with little to no consequences. In reality, Jackson would've brutally killed every member of the Confederacy and would've probably depopulated the South to the point where the only people left were Blacks and Carpetbaggers. Remember, this is the man who said if South Carolina succeeded over the Tariff of Abominations, he would personally have hung every one who supported it, including his own Vice President.

edited 1st May '17 8:43:47 AM by DingoWalley1

ViperMagnum357 Since: Mar, 2012
#185885: May 1st 2017 at 8:46:05 AM

[up]Yeah, for the sundry list of reasons I think Andrew Jackson was a horrible human being, bending over for the Confederacy was the last thing he would have done, and I absolutely believe he would have at least tried to hunt down and kill every last person who seceded.

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#185886: May 1st 2017 at 8:51:33 AM

Let's just say it, ok?

The President of the United States Is a shameless liar who knows nothing about anything

Dickerson is the first journalist I have seen grill Trump on what, exactly, is in the Republican plan. He isn’t asking about the politics of the bill and whether it will pass. Rather, he focuses on what are arguably basic questions: what elements are in this bill, and what do you think of them?

Trump stumbles. He says that people with pre-existing conditions will be protected. Under the latest amendment to the American Health Care Act — the one that got the Freedom Caucus on board — they won’t be. He says that deductibles will go down under the Republican plan. Non-partisan analysis expects deductibles would go up.

The health care plan that Trump described on Face the Nation is not the one that the Republican party has offered. His answers suggest an unfamiliarity with basic policy details of a plan that has been public for nearly six weeks at this point — a plan that his administration has pushed Congress to pass.

It's nice to see someone stop treating this man with kid gloves.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#185887: May 1st 2017 at 9:02:02 AM

[up] Were... Were we not saying that?

edited 1st May '17 9:08:39 AM by sgamer82

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#185888: May 1st 2017 at 9:05:02 AM

Amusingly Civil War is the number one trending topic on twitter.

DrDougsh Since: Jan, 2001
#185889: May 1st 2017 at 9:06:49 AM

The Civil War would not have happened as it did under Jackson because the south would not have seceeded when they had a perfectly good slave-holding Democrat in the White House.

Lightysnake Since: May, 2010
#185890: May 1st 2017 at 9:08:14 AM

[up][up] The media's been...dancing around it, shall we say.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#185891: May 1st 2017 at 9:09:25 AM

[up][up][up] just saw that while looking up the latest @PresVillain tweet

WORDS ARE LESS IMPORTANT TO ME -- THAN DEEDS! #PresidentSupervillain

edited 1st May '17 9:10:49 AM by sgamer82

WhatArtThee Since: Oct, 2015
#185892: May 1st 2017 at 9:15:31 AM

To add to my last post, he also turned back the repeal of LGBT marriage (Though admittedly that was before his term began), stalled on changing libel laws, and many of the promises he said he'd fullfull within the first few months or in some cases first few DAYS, (The wall, elimination of gun-free zones, instituting "Kate's Law") have had very little or no progress made.

In other words, his three big tentpoles (Trumpcare, the wall, Muslim travel ban) have pretty much collapsed, and this makes me happy.

edited 1st May '17 9:16:08 AM by WhatArtThee

Just another day in the life of Jimmy Nutrin
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#185893: May 1st 2017 at 9:18:00 AM

Did someone say Civil War?

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#185894: May 1st 2017 at 9:21:26 AM

More @PresVillain

YOU DON'T HAVE TO ASK ME — BECAUSE I HAVE MY OWN OPINIONS, YOU CAN HAVE YOUR OWN OPINIONS. OKAY? IT'S *ENOUGH*!!! #PresidentSupervillain Maybe he's trying to win back the people who disliked his improving grammar?

edited 1st May '17 9:23:34 AM by sgamer82

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#185895: May 1st 2017 at 9:24:22 AM

Worth noting on the civil war subject: Our nation is no longer cleanly divided geographically (if, indeed, it ever was) between "racist" and "not-racist". Some of the most overt mistreatment of minority populations occurs within urban areas that vote Democratic. A lot of the "othering" that occurs in the rural areas is due to tacit segregation: small towns that are all-white and rarely see a new person, and so have lots of opportunities for their prejudice to ossify. But, correspondingly, that rarely translates into actual hate crimes, since they don't live directly with them.

It is no less awful for black men to be systematically profiled by Baltimore police officers than it is for white Alabama teens to throw firebombs at a church, and we cannot pretend that solving the latter will also solve the former. A new Civil War would pit neighbor against neighbor from Anchorage to Key West, would tear apart our inner cities as readily as it would our countryside, would most definitely not be a simple exercise in geography.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#185896: May 1st 2017 at 9:24:54 AM

I genuinely want to sit some Trump voters down, have hours upon hours of recorded footage of him being a dumb motherfucker, and then use the Socratic method on them, and see how long it takes for me to get to the heart of the(re: racist) reason they're sticking by him.

New Survey coming this weekend!
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#185897: May 1st 2017 at 9:27:05 AM

Regarding whether the Dems' actions will earn the gratitude of coal miners:

Not likely. Because in their eyes, it was a Republican victory. Because they voted for Republicans and then this happened. This goes back to what I was saying about the Democrats shielding the WWC from the consequences of voting Republican, aiding the narrative that the GOP is on their side.

A lot of voters know somewhere between jack and shit about the political process and that's how they want it. It's a complex system and not a lot of people have enough f*cks to give to learn how it works or pay attention to what's going on.

We need to be very careful about how much we do for the WWC over the next eight years, because no matter how much we fight for them, it will never earn their trust. It won't earn their trust because the Republicans are in power and will be credited every victory. Every time something happens for the WWC, they won't see us at all. They'll only see this basic causality chain:

  1. I voted red.
  2. Republicans took Washington.
  3. Politics politics politics
  4. Another improvement in my quality of life!
  5. Go team Republicans! The're the only ones who truly care about us! This proves it!

For someone who doesn't care about politics, voting is Pavlovian. "Pull the lever, get the treat or the shock." If their quality of life improves while the President and Congress are both deep red, then the obvious assumption is that it's because Trump kept his promises.

Winning victories for this demographic right now is actively counterproductive. Paradoxical as it might sound, they'll never be on our side until we stop helping them.

edited 1st May '17 9:29:34 AM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#185898: May 1st 2017 at 9:28:51 AM

[up] You're getting way bleak with that view.

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#185899: May 1st 2017 at 9:29:01 AM

[up][up][up][up] You picked that over this?

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#185900: May 1st 2017 at 9:30:55 AM

[up][up][up] Well, the "good news" is that the Trump administration is unlikely to do anything to improve the quality of life for the coal folks, so...

Never mind that their largest recent quality of life change came from Obamacare, which is why its repeal and/or replacement has run into such startlingly intense rejection.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

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