So Rand Paul. Not a fan of his general policies but is he actually standing up for what he believes with this budget? Be nice if he was. With it being politics there’s always the worry he’s just after something, usually for himself or his state.
Current Affairs General US politics (ie, not POTUS related)
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Trump's long awaited 'infrastructure blueprint' doesn't appear as if it's going to go anywhere fast with apparently unpopular decisions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43034786
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43034786
Great geeky article on the newly imposed Pennsylvania Congressional districts. An ongoing controversy for the US over the last 200 years, this was interesting to read as to various quantitative and qualitative ways to evaluate them.
https://www.wired.com/story/pennsylvania-partisan-gerrymandering-experts
As an aside, how are Parliamentary / National Assembly boundaries determined wherever you might live? If someone could point me to a non-Wikipedia primer, it would be appreciated.
Yes, I'm a bit of a geek and it's a snowy, cold day in Colorado, so I'm spending some quality time on the computer before going snowshoeing this afternoon.
https://www.wired.com/story/pennsylvania-partisan-gerrymandering-experts
As an aside, how are Parliamentary / National Assembly boundaries determined wherever you might live? If someone could point me to a non-Wikipedia primer, it would be appreciated.
Yes, I'm a bit of a geek and it's a snowy, cold day in Colorado, so I'm spending some quality time on the computer before going snowshoeing this afternoon.
Of course, the state I grew up in, South Dakota, has a very easy map for Congressional Representation - it has one rep and the entire state is the single district.
This is a good and quick read on the state of the USA. If you were paying attention to the last 30 years, then it won't be anything new, but it is a nice summary about the high high high level corruption in the US that was created/encouraged by politicians on both sides of the aisle (but mostly the right).
Top 10 Signs the U.S. Is the Most Corrupt Nation in the World
Those ratings that castigate Afghanistan and some other poor countries as hopelessly “corrupt” always imply that the United States is not corrupt. This year’s report from Transparency International puts the US on a par with Austria, which is ridiculous. All kinds of people from politicians to businessmen would go to jail in Austria today if they engaged in practices that are quite common in the US.
While it is true that you don’t typically have to bribe your postman to deliver the mail in the US, in many key ways America’s political and financial practices make it in absolute terms far more corrupt than the usual global South suspects. After all, the US economy is worth over $18 trillion a year, so in our corruption a lot more money changes hands.
More here:
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/top-ten-signs-u-s-corrupt-nation-world/
Top 10 Signs the U.S. Is the Most Corrupt Nation in the World
Those ratings that castigate Afghanistan and some other poor countries as hopelessly “corrupt” always imply that the United States is not corrupt. This year’s report from Transparency International puts the US on a par with Austria, which is ridiculous. All kinds of people from politicians to businessmen would go to jail in Austria today if they engaged in practices that are quite common in the US.
While it is true that you don’t typically have to bribe your postman to deliver the mail in the US, in many key ways America’s political and financial practices make it in absolute terms far more corrupt than the usual global South suspects. After all, the US economy is worth over $18 trillion a year, so in our corruption a lot more money changes hands.
More here:
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/top-ten-signs-u-s-corrupt-nation-world/
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LOL
The top two arguments for US corruption are the 2016 election and lowering taxes on the rich. In other words, "If we entirely change the definition of corruption to reflect my leftist political leanings, then the United States is the most corrupt country in the world."
I love how Republicans pretend to care about the institution of democracy...until they don't. Typical hypocritical behavior. The first point is the corruption of the 2016 election, which should be a concern to every American citizen. That special interest groups can buy their way into campaigns and sway results via advertizing dollars is problematic for any democracy. And that our own sovereign election might have been swayed by outside governments is a huge problem...but of course because it is your own idiot right-wing candidate that got elected...well, then, I guess you don't seem to care about the possibility of Russian meddling. And you obviously don't care about all the ways that Trump has used his power/influence to increase his own wealth while fleecing the people...again, because you voted for him and his views align with yours. So who cares, right? It's just "leftist leanings".
Point two concerns the fact that rich people disproportionately sway congressional votes over the poor. This isn't democracy. It is special interests buying politicans. That you need tons of cash to join Mar-A-Lago, but once joined you can sling up to the bar and talk with Trump or a key Trump aide...that's the very definition of plutocracy. In the USA, elected officials ostensibly answer to everyone, not just this rich. But again, you got your tax cut, so who cares if they don't represent the poor, right?
I am continually amazed that Republicans always try to play the patriot card--the "I care more about America than you" card--right up until they stop playing. Which just happens to be when their own selfishness intesects with the special interests of the crooked politicians they support.
Your point about Republicans only makes sense if you apply it to Democrats as well. In other words, your general skepticism about both parties' commitment to democracy is something I think can be intellectually honest. To apply it only to Republicans is not. If you're applying it to me because you think I'm a Republican (I am, usually), fair enough, but the same point about hypocrisy stands.
I do care about Russian meddling. I make no "buts" about it, other than to say it probably didn't change the outcome. I think Russia wants to create chaos in America, and Trump is chaotic. But I don't think that has anything to do with corruption.
As to "special interest groups" - you realize they buy favor with Democrats, don't you? Public sector unions breaking entirely for the Democrat candidates matters, doesn't it? It's a huge deal that the GOP caters to business, but when big business owns every major newspaper in the company, and every major opinion page in the country supports Democrat candidates, that's not the same thing? How?
I don't think the tax cut argument makes sense at all. You'd have to totally suspend your understanding of American political parties and pretend that the GOP hasn't believed in lower taxes on the upper and upper middle classes for decades. Money buys influence, on the right and the left. Are we going to act like Obama didn't have $$$ fundraisers in exchange for access? Like Hillary didn't, or wouldn't as POTUS? Come on. It requires willful obtuseness.
"You get your tax cut, but who cares if they represent the poor" - On the subject of taxes, yes, I care about my tax cut. I don't agree 50% of the country paying no federal income tax. On the "patriot" card, I think I have a fundamentally different view of America than the far left does. I'm patriotic to something they don't even believe in a lot of the time. In other words, "more or less patriotic" is probably totally meaningless.
REGARDLESS, the article you posted is dumb. I don't think you're dumb. But consider this Hogg kid. He's unaccomplished. He hates the President. He may be from some money but isn't mega-rich. He's been on practically every news show and channel, "speaking truth to power" as the left loves to say. A country where that happens isn't the most corrupt in the world. Let's call the claim what it is - really, really dumb.
tsubaki
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Seb Gorka you say?
https://www.mediamatters.org/video/...-direction-perpetrator-school-hallways/219516
nb: Sebastian Gorka has never had a proper job in his entire life
Of course you'd find the article "dumb". It outlines serious issues with our corrupt political system that occur in both parties (as I originally said) but mostly on the right. It outlines a need for serious campaign finance reform (guess which party traditionally votes against this?--I'd ban all lobbying if it were me), it outlines issues about how these seeming tax cuts for the middle/upper class and the uber-rich and corporations lead to an underfunded infrastructure, educational system, and other environmental issues (guess which party routinely doesn't give a damn about public education and the environment?), it outlines the serious national-security issue of climate change (but guess which party is so blinded by oil money that they choose not to do anything with it?), it outlines the disgusting number of prisoners and the privitization of the industry, it outlines deregulation of many governmental oversights...and on and on. These are serious issues that have ruinous effects on democracy. This is corruption at a high level.
But of course you'd find it dumb. It seems to you that corruption only occurs on a low-level (bribing cops and stuff) in Haiti or Somalia, which you proudly proclaim to be shitholes. It certainly couldn't occur at the highest levels in your own government (and party).
But I'm glad to hear you think I'm not dumb. That imprimatur, coming from a Republican lawyer in Atlanta, makes me swoon with pride. I'll tell my parole officer to make a note of it.
My pat on the head, it seems, was quite appropriate considering your tactic of generally kicking and screaming because someone dared object to the musings of a manic loon. No, not dumb. Just infantile. Allow me to remind you that I responded by critiquing the article. You replied to that with sophomoric outrage about how Republicans pretend to care about democracy but don't, seemingly directing that at me, of course. Now you're ranting about what I do and don't believe (inaccurately, of course), and not-so-discreetly trying desperately to tie this conversation to an entirely different one (shitholes) so you can subtly call me a racist without having to actually exhibit some fortitude and utter the words.
As for the portions of the article I reference, no, it doesn't outline "serious issues," it begins with the laughably stupid idea that Trump's election is a sure sign of corruption. Starting with an emotional premise is always a sure sign of a sober, coherent pitch, isn't it? There is, quite obviously, no evidence of this whatsoever. It's the manic rantings of the #resistance, where being loud and passionate is a substitute for evidence and reason.
It continues with the idea that a tax cut for the people who actually PAY TAXES is a sign of corruption. Unfortunately for your argument, it's not corruption when one group gets to keep more of said group's own money. Truth be told, the idea that you define American corruption as, essentially "when half the country doesn't fund infrastructure, education and environmental issues to the degree I'd like" means we probably don't have anywhere to go from here. That's not a definition of corruption, it's mere whining that our economic system hasn't reached the full height of your aspirational democratic socialist ideal.
I hate this argument. Every argument today starts with "well Obummer this, or KKKILLARY that" or some other anecdote about how the left left is more corrupt, or at least equally as corrupt as the right or some nonsense. All politicans are corrupt to some degree. What we're seeing now is beyond anything we've seen before. There is no comparison, and you know it, the rest of the right knows it, I mean, it's really not even debatable how absurd this whole administration is, and I just want to hear someone, anyone, admit that. And just say what @verrauxi said, which is that the right doesn't care about any of these things b/c their man "won" or something.
I mean, Trump might actually be retarded. And some on his staff definitely ARE retarded.
I thought i'd use that non-PC way of communicating b/c us snowflakes have to find our safe spaces, and the right just cannot take all this PC talk any more. They just need someone to talk straight to them
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