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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
So, the latest poll is out, Republicans, Independents and Democrats Disagree On Trump's Performance
. There are two ways of looking at these results. 1) Republicans have not given up their support of Trump, and likely never will. 2) He's lost the Independents, which means, if nothing changes, he's lost the next election.
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If we're really simulated consciousnesses in a matryoshka brain, then I want to talk to the programmer about Donald Trump. There's no way that the portrayal of humanity in this version of the program could ever reach a state that would be capable of constructing a machine that could simulate itself.
Our current plummet into intellectual chaos could be evidence that all sapient beings reach a point where their primitive brains can't cope with their societies and they devolve or die off, thus resolving the Fermi Paradox.
edited 12th May '17 6:40:58 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I dunno. I think it's just that the USA has little experience dealing with populist nativist fuckwit leaders.
The Venezuelan tropers have been all "welcome to the club guys" for a while.
As a whole, our civilization seems to be going through a rather rough and acne-ridden adolescence. Trump is just a particularly greasy zit.
edited 12th May '17 6:50:07 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedPretty much everyone in the Americas bellow the Texas south border have more experience than the US when it comes to populist leaders.
The real question here is how intact the US will be after Trump leaves. So far there has been some effort to insulate the US institutions from the Cheeto Benito awfulness and if the Democrats get the Congress in 2018 then the Mango Mussolini damage can be lessened.
The US is at least fortunate enough that there are enough democrats in the Senate and Congress to prevent the country from being given to the Blunder Fuehrer on a silver platter and the Republicans are still incapable of organizing themselves to actually support the Trash Toupee.
Perhaps the lukewarm support the Orange Menace gets from the Legislative and the little support he gets from the Judiciary branches are the few things preventing them from becoming the Orange Chavez.
However, Trump's candidacy and presidency also brought up some really deplorable groups to the spotlight and they won't be shoved back to their cesspits without some effort.
edited 12th May '17 6:57:48 AM by AngelusNox
Inter arma enim silent legesI would love to meet a more advanced alien civilization just to find out how they resolved their ideologue paradox: Ignoring them lets them fester, and killing them puts you on their moral footing. And how do you reverse decades of intellectual decay in public discourse such that well over half your voters wouldn't recognize real knowledge if it bit them in the brain stem?
Edit: This isn't despair; it's acknowledgement of the difficulty of the task we face. I won't stop trying.
edited 12th May '17 6:59:48 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"![]()
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All that's coming to mind as a solution to the ideologue problem is removing free will (or whatever illusion of it we have, depending on your opinion) and going full-Hive Mind (e.g. the Borg, the Cybermen, Unity).
edited 12th May '17 7:07:31 AM by TrashJack
"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's Dictionary
What's your guys opinion on penalties/ban on Hate Speech? Would it be effective? It wouldn't stop it obviously, but would it make it less acceptable?
The idea of Free Speech, and Freedom of the Press is built on good faith, and it is expected that it is informed and not misleading.
edited 12th May '17 7:11:29 AM by megaeliz
Only Swanpride posted about it on the other thread, but Germany did pass a law charging social media outlets with clearing themselves of hate speech and fake news quickly after they were reported less they be fined
.
edited 12th May '17 7:19:18 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 livesWe have hate speech laws in the UK, covering all the major topics: colour, disability, sexual orientation, religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, gender, etc.
It covers spoken words, written words, and behaviour. Threatening or abusive. It also covers the crowd chanting at football games, where things can get very insulting. Yes, that includes Internet activity. Hate posts on Social Media can lead to prosecution.
Guilt is determined by intent, from stirring up religious hatred to causing people harassment or distress.
Punishment is imprisonment or fine or both. Imprisonment is capped to six months at most, but fines have no cap - they are at the discretion of the judge.
edited 12th May '17 7:19:13 AM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.The press can potentially be prosecuted as well. The Sun, The Express and Daily Mail are the main culprits in the UK, to the point of having been singled out by both the UN and the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance.
It's hard to successfully prosecute the media or individual journalists in the UK because the media is so powerful and we lack an independent press regulator. However, it does happen sometimes. Usually it results in a journalist being suspended and the paper paying a fine.
edited 12th May '17 7:30:07 AM by Wyldchyld
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.Legally banning hate speech doesn't stop neo-Nazis and nationalists/populiss from popping up. The AfD party is a current concern in Germany - only about 6% of the vote but growing.
And the other problem with such laws is that they are difficult or impossible to write in a way that wouldn't backfire on innocent people when the group you're trying to suppress decides to use it as a weapon.
How, exactly? Citation and statistics needed.
edited 12th May '17 7:52:57 AM by Elle

So the FBI raid mentioned in post 188348 by Kostya does indeed seem to have some connection to the Trump/Russia investigation:
https://twitter.com/Datuser01G/status/862755309412126722
The GOP fundraising firm that was raided has ties to both Manafort and Stone, as detailed here: [1]
edited 12th May '17 12:26:01 AM by Ingonyama