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

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#187726: May 9th 2017 at 7:07:06 AM

[up] One almost gets the impression that "economic anxiety" was a bullshit cover a lot of people used to hide their xenophobia and bigotry.

And tbf, college is a bit of a crapshoot. You can trap yourself in debt for the rest of your life over a degree that may not get you a job that would allow you to actually pay off said debt. Especially if you went to one of those awful for-profit schools that Obama started cracking down on in the final stretch of his presidency.

edited 9th May '17 7:09:14 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#187727: May 9th 2017 at 7:15:01 AM

Imagine if the US education system/labor was similar or identical to Germany.

You'd solve a shit ton of problems right there!

New Survey coming this weekend!
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#187728: May 9th 2017 at 7:15:08 AM

[up][up][up] Re: college I know I do. More risky than futile. To me the risk outweighs the benefit unless your have a coherent plan (which I don't). I've seen a couple secondhand instances, one of which my own brother, of someone going through the years of study with ultimately nothing to show for it.

My brother studied working as a mechanic only for the market to collapse as he graduated. An online friend I've known since high school picked a programming/security course he wasn't especially interested in only to not really find a job and have family issues hot and require him to stay at home.

In both scenarios, that education became obsolete and, were either to pick back up on their chosen course, would require still more schooling to make up lost time.

Safe to say it's left me a ta~ad skittish.

edited 9th May '17 7:20:04 AM by sgamer82

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#187729: May 9th 2017 at 7:19:49 AM

I don't want to say it was futile, but the first lesson anyone should learn in university is exploiting and making connections...and I haven't.

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 lives
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#187730: May 9th 2017 at 7:22:19 AM

[up] Yes, networking is very important.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#187731: May 9th 2017 at 7:22:53 AM

Don't think this was already posted, but from Pro Publica- the detail in Comey's recent testimony about Huma Abedin forwarding thousands of (classified) emails to Anthony Weiner to print was totally made up. It was actually a handful of emails if that.

As the article alludes to, Ted Cruz was actually kind of right (can't believe I'm saying that) in pointing out that if this was true, it made no sense that Abedin and Weiner wouldn't face criminal charges, and essentially, when Comey clarified things in response to Cruz's question, he kind of admitted without doing so that the claim wasn't true.

So yeah, James Comey may love the truth. But he hates Hillary Clinton way more than he loves the truth.

edited 9th May '17 7:51:12 AM by Hodor2

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#187732: May 9th 2017 at 7:24:35 AM

[up][up]Oh, don't I know it (now)...

EPA removes half of scientific board, seeking industry-aligned replacements

The Environmental Protection Agency has “eviscerated” a key scientific review board by removing half its members and seeking to replace them with industry-aligned figures, according to the board’s chair.

Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, has chosen not to renew the terms of nine of the 18-member board of scientific counselors, which advises the EPA on the quality and accuracy of the science it produces. The group, largely made up of academics, is set to be replaced by representatives from industries that the EPA regulates.

Deborah Swackhamer, chair of the board, said that with other planned departures, the panel was left with five members, including her, in the midst of an EPA hiring freeze.

“The committee has been eviscerated,” she told the Guardian. “We assumed these people would be renewed and there was no reason or indication they wouldn’t be. These people aren’t Obama appointees, they are scientific appointees. To have a political decision to get rid of them was a shock.”

A spokesman for the agency told the New York Times: “The administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community.”

In March, Pruitt reversed a move to ban chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide, despite the advice of EPA scientists that it could be harmful to children and farm workers. Pruitt said: “We are returning to using sound science in decision-making, rather than predetermined results.”

Republicans have complained about the EPA’s scientific advisory board, claiming that it is too heavily weighted in favour of academics who support regulation.

In February, Lamar Smith, chairman of the House science committee, said: “The EPA routinely stacks this board with friendly scientists who receive millions of dollars in grants from the federal government. The conflict of interest here is clear.”

Members of the board, however, deny that they are politically motivated, pointing to the ethics training and vetting they receive, similar to that undergone by career public servants.

Swackhamer said: “We have spirited conversations about the science – we don’t just rubber-stamp what the EPA wants to do. These people are valuable, highly qualified and highly vetted. It’s troubling that political considerations have come into this.”

edited 9th May '17 7:25:46 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 lives
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#187733: May 9th 2017 at 7:26:43 AM

I am rather surprised that only 27% of these "white working class" voters explicitly favour kicking out illegal immigrants. Maybe I am thinking too black-and-white with anti-immigration stances~bigotry.

Also interesting that the white working class voters who were actually "economically anxious" did go for Hillary. That gives the "white middle class voters, not white working class voters, elected Trump" theory a new spin - if you draw the difference at safe income vs. not safe income, you get a consistent result.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#187734: May 9th 2017 at 7:32:56 AM

Sally Yates is awesome. I didn't get a chance to watch the Hearing when it happened, but looking at it now, she was cool, collected, and easily countered every point the Republicans brought up. And as a added bonus, she obviously rattled Trump enough to angry tweet several times before and during the hearing.

edited 9th May '17 7:37:47 AM by megaeliz

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#187735: May 9th 2017 at 7:47:46 AM

@NoName: "It is this sense of economic fatalism, more than just economic hardship, that was the decisive factor in support for Trump among white working-class voters."

-your article.

Economic factors-particularly the perception that there's no future for their children, their communities, or their way of life*-and social factors are both essential to understanding Trump voters.

*: the fact that said perception appears to be 2/3rds correct certainly doesn't help.

edited 9th May '17 8:22:33 AM by CaptainCapsase

unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#187736: May 9th 2017 at 7:57:03 AM

And moré important, the cultural económic issue: that people cant trust the "american dream" of wording to the top and they feel Trump can Bring them back....Yeah weird but truth

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#187737: May 9th 2017 at 8:28:53 AM

Its a little like unemployment stats, if you have entirely given up trying, you generally dont get counted as "economically anxious".

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#187738: May 9th 2017 at 8:29:24 AM

All's Not Quiet in GA
Sixth District becomes an edgy topic in race for Georgia GOP chair

the four men running for chairman of the Georgia Republican party debated before the Gwinnett County GOP on Monday night.

Duluth lies well outside the Sixth District, where Republican Karen Handel is locked in a surprisingly tight and very expensive runoff to replace U.S. Rep. Tom Price in Congress.

Super PA Cs are playing in the contest. So is the National Republican Congressional Committee. But the state GOP, crippled by a racial discrimination lawsuit and a resulting lack of cash, has been far more limited in its ability to give Handel a hand.

The race was a hot topic of conversation in the struggling shopping mall where the Gwinnett GOP has its headquarters. Alex Johnson, a De Kalb County attorney making a third bid to lead the state party, was the most critical. Said Johnson:

“We should never have been in this situation that we’re currently in. The Democrats have a huge number of people door-knocking. Why, three have come by my house alone. “We need to make sure the state Republican party already has tons of people around the state – thousands upon thousands who can be touched with a text message, saying how to get them involved in a race like the Sixth District.

“So we’re not in a situation like we’re currently in, where turnout is scary because we don’t have enough volunteers and resources to make it happen.”

John Watson, a former chief of staff for Gov. Sonny Perdue who is now a lobbyist, cited the race as a call to arms:

“We are financially broke, the state party is mismanaged, and the Democrats are on the march, and trying to achieve victory by stealing from us what we’ve worked so hard for over the past 15 years.”

Michael Mc Neely, currently the first vice chair of the state party, would be the first African-American elected to the chairmanship. Said Mc Neely:

“One of the things that’s happened in our party – there’s been a breakdown in the relationships between the party and its elected officials and candidates. In a race like this, we need to go to the candidate and find out what that candidate needs.”

Mike Welsh, former chairman of the 12th District GOP, cited his role – several times during the debate — in bringing down John Barrow, the last white Democratic member of Congress from Georgia. It’s a situation that Democrat Jon Ossoff would rectify if he wins next month.

Asked what he would do to help Handel, Welsh replied:

“I’d be doing the same thing I did in knocking off John Barrow. The very first thing you have to do is understand what’s going on so far, and get with the candidate. Because the candidate has a plan. The candidate has a message. The candidate is the candidate. Not the party.”


Same Article
Republican David Abroms, who scored toward the bottom in an 18-field of candidates for the Sixth District on April 18, has written a critique of his experience, slamming the national media and outside donors — Republicans and Democrats — for focusing on a Donald Trump narrative in the race. Here’s a snippet of his piece:

For everyone that is upset with the president – and for the record I did not support either major party candidate – this was the way to show their frustration, with no care for what was best for GA-6 or Congress’ authority under the Constitution. Those of you from outside Georgia that donated $8.3 million and drove from all over the country to meddle in our elections, YOU made Trump more powerful. You turned this election into a referendum on Trump, not us.

Every article, every discussion, every pundit’s commentary, focused only on what a victory for Ossoff would mean for the president. I never knew Rachel Maddow cared so deeply for the people of Sandy Springs, or Dunwoody, or Johns Creek. What were Ossoff’s positions? What were the other Republicans’ positions? Does anyone care?


(And many more—but I'd risk clogging this post).note 

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 lives
HextarVigar That guy from The Big House Since: Feb, 2015
That guy
#187739: May 9th 2017 at 8:58:14 AM

So it seems the Oklahoma state legislature has the time to pass a bill requiring government officials to refer to abortion as murder, but not to address the state's $900mil budget shortfall.

Priorities.

Yeah, but it's Oklahoma. So who cares?

Your momma's so dumb she thinks oral sex means talking dirty.
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#187740: May 9th 2017 at 8:59:35 AM

@Silsaw pages back:

Here's the thing, this means that parties end up with more coherent policies (they don't have to please everyone who feels like putting their name down), are more independent finacially from donners (membership fees are a good way to raise money), they're more distinct from each other (which also helps reduce apathy) and you get a great variety of opinions being debated publicly instead of behind closed doors. It helps encourage growth of smaller parties because it means that people who vary to much form the party line either leave or are forced out and then go on to found their own parties.

First counterargument that springs to mind is who then is the party accountable to? We have the situation in Brittan now where May and the Torries are trying very hard to make the answer to that "no one".

Does more coherent policy matter if the policy is bad? What if there is room for debate (Gun control for example)? What if something held as a core policy is turning out to be wrong and the leadership is resisting changing it?

As for promoting smaller parties, a lot of other things have to happen for that to be feasible in the US before that can happen. Splitting off is one thing, competing with the original party is another. This is a big reason why Sanders is working so hard to change the Democrats from more-or-less within.

Membership fees are possibly a workable idea, at least, as long as they aren't exorbitant.


On a different subject, I don't think anyone's mentioned the stuff going on with Colbert. There's stuff going on with Colbert. It looks like Donald is trying to use the FCC as a blunt instrument against him.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#187741: May 9th 2017 at 9:04:01 AM

Hey, first rule of being a dictator: use the power of government to attack anyone who mocks you in public.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Matues Since: Sep, 2011
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#187743: May 9th 2017 at 9:38:28 AM

Cenk is no longer denying the Armenian Genocide and the network isn't actually named after that faction. It's named after the Turkish colloquialism "young turk" which means young radical that fights the status quo. Or so I've read.

As others have said, Cenk has refused to actually make any sort of public recantation. And you know what? Even if he did make a recantation it wouldn't mean much so long as he continues to use that name. And while Ana has spoken about the genocide a couple of times and has tried to denounce those who deny it, those denunciations ring hollow so long as she's on a platform named for the perpetrators.

As to the second part, no, they are not named after a Turkish colloquialism that is somehow divorced from Enver, Talaat, and Cemal, because that colloquialism started with Enver, Talaat, and Cemal. Back in the earlier part of the 1800s there was a "Young Ottoman" movement, which eventually gave birth to the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), which in turn birthed the "Young Turk" faction that seized control of the government during the Balkan Wars. The name "Young Turk" was, for the record, used far more frequently outside of the Ottoman Sultanate than it was within it.

You can't divorce the "Young Turk" name from the Three Pashas, especially not after Cenk's history with the genocide. As others have said, it would be like not only calling your group "the National Socialists" but to do so while flirting with Holocaust denial.

Also, consider this. The morality of Cenk's positions aside, the Armenian Genocide is a well-documented historical event that is accepted by pretty much everyone outside of Turkey's state controlled press and universities (and even there, acceptance is growing; Cemal Pasha's grandson made headlines by admitting what his grandfather had done). If Cenk can have doubts about that, on the basis of nothing beyond his own ethnoreligious biases, then what else is he wrong about?

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#187744: May 9th 2017 at 9:44:32 AM

And hilariously, Cenk is making straw man arguments about Hillary Clinton joining the resistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqtnt5HkFSE&t

As much as I think Cenk sucks, Secular Talk is BY FAR the worst. He just announced that Justice Democrats are going to try and Primary Joe Manchin.

And their candidate is some woman who was a former coal miner.

lmfao. Fucking morons.

edited 9th May '17 9:47:49 AM by TacticalFox88

New Survey coming this weekend!
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#187745: May 9th 2017 at 9:54:53 AM

[up] Really hope others are right about Justice Democrats not actually having much influence because this seems like a really stupid move.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#187746: May 9th 2017 at 10:02:13 AM

Ugh, first lecture of my summer privacy class has a Ted Talk by Glenn Greenwald as a recommended source. At least I can say that I still avoid him like the plague when I can.

edited 9th May '17 10:02:48 AM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#187747: May 9th 2017 at 10:05:51 AM

[up][up] Also keep in mind she has NO political experience AT ALL, and she's aiming for the goddamn Senate? And against a guy who's been in WV politics for roughly 35+ years?

They're goddamn delusional.

New Survey coming this weekend!
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#187748: May 9th 2017 at 10:09:05 AM

Raul "people don't die from lack of health care" Labrador files papers for governor run, plans announcement in ‘coming weeks’

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article149482654.html

"Democratic Senators call for probe into Icahn’s biofuel credit dealings" - http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biofuels-icahn-idUSKBN18522R

edited 9th May '17 10:18:43 AM by sgamer82

Falrinn Since: Dec, 2014
#187749: May 9th 2017 at 10:20:46 AM

[up][up] Well to be fair Trump had no political experience and became President.

Still, I agree that primary Manchin is a bad move, not unless there's an improbably massive shift in West Virginia politics between now and 2018.

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#187750: May 9th 2017 at 10:24:17 AM

[up]Yeah and look how that turned out. I will say this though. I don't know if we should have a law against running for the senate without experience. Everyone has to start somewhere and I think mandating that someone hold another political office first isn't the best idea. However, I think we should have this rule for the president.


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