American Politics Thread

[zoroarctic]

Reminds me of a riff on the PSA called Boys Beware which shows men who try to pick up young boys. Just adult men doing so, not women.

Do they really believe that pedophila is just something done by gay adults only or mostly?

I don’t know for sure if it’s the case here, but these types of accusations from Republicans frequently end up being projection.

 

[Antiyonder]

I don’t know for sure if it’s the case here, but these types of accusations from Republicans frequently end up being projection.

I was getting up yesterday at the time and blowing off a bit of steam when saying that also, but then I remembered my own two cents that people claiming that gays/trans are evil don't even believe their own lie. They just need an easy target.

Cause otherwise there is no way to explain this:

DeSantis's press sec: "If you're against the don't say gay bill" - Politics Message Board - Page 7 - GameFAQs

On Politics, a GameFAQs message board topic titled "DeSantis's press sec: "If you're against the don't say gay bill"" - Page 7.

gamefaqs.gamespot.com

Plus my response to it recently where Republicans laughed it up when Trump joked about dating his daughter.

Also coming to mind is Disney's 1991 version of Beauty and the Beast. Now I don't think this version endorses Stockholm Syndrome, but as it is often assumed to promote it, I find it funny that some parents don't reflect on it being possibly unsuitable for kids.

Heck I recently thought about it and as a Christian, I'd think that if there is a sudden concern about kids learning anything that is complex/intense, maybe they need to be kept out of church as well. Also goes for the Bible. Adultery, rape and mention of nudity? Indecent.

Especially find it funny that there are and have been Pokémon fans that hold the position too. I mean even if tamer, it still has some detractors for being a tool of Satan, especially Psychic and Dark Types. Mewtwo fan, BTW.

Plus as it has been mentioned the deemed acceptable for children episodes we have do have some squick moments that even the Dub couldn't hide like from:

1. The School of Hard Knocks
2. Battle Aboard the St. Anne
3. Beauty and the Beach
4. A Chansey Operation

Namely playing up a child character for fan service or adult characters getting pervy towards a girl.

I guess I should be glad that they are sloppy at hiding their stance, but that should be all the more reason to revoke any laws against the LGBT community without any voting.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Seeing how it has not been mentioned I wanted to bring something up. Recent (as in a few days ago), a bill was passed to make Daylight Savings Time permanent, thus ending the twice-a-year clock change starting in 2023. It was met with high praise and sweeping approval. However, I learned something interesting not long after: we already tried this song and dance once before... and it failed spectacularly.

Specifically, in 1974, Nixon did this exact thing to make DST permanent in order to stem an energy crisis. Like now it was met with high praise and sweeping approval. However, the whole thing fell apart in a matter of months. Not only did it mean everyone lost that hour of sleep that is proven to be absolutely crucial for one's health but sunrise was at 8:30 or even 9:30-10:00, depending on the season, which meant people were going to work or sending their kids to school in pitch-black darkness. That caused several problems that DST already is known form and made parents extremely paranoid about sending their kids to school when the sun wasn't even up due to the higher risk of accidents. Needless to say the opinion on a permanent DST dropped faster than a Golem off a cliff and the whole thing was scrapped and returned to the status quo months later.

And yet, here we are again: the Sunshine Protection Act is going to go into effect next year, met with universal praise and approval. And experts have already predicted that it'll fail just as spectacularly as Nixon's attempt did. There are just too many consequences surrounding it that makes the whole idea doomed to fail. And yet history is repeating itself once again with the Sunshine Protection Act. It didn't work back then so what makes them think it'll work this time?

It's times like this that my stance on a certain expression continue to hold true: Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. However, my stance is that we're doomed to repeat history regardless if we learn from it or not. Take COVID, for example. When the first variant died out people immediately tore off their masks and started partying like it was the turn of the millennium, overstuffing restaurants and bars and generally treating it like it didn't exist. This allowed the second variant to emerge, cause a drastic spike in the cases and deaths, before it eventually died down, prompting the people to do exactly the same thing: rip of their masks and brushing off the idea that it could spike again. Then came the third variant and history repeated itself AGAIN!

That's my point: we're doomed to repeat history regardless if we learn from it or not, because it has happened multiple times in just this accursed COVID scenario alone. And it's happening once again with the Sunshine Protection Act. The permanent DST failed miserably the first time so why does everyone think it'll succeed this time? Experts are already predicting it'll fail miserably because it failed so badly back with Nixon attempted it and that was when there was an actual energy crisis going on. And I, for one, am not looking forward to any of it. I already hate DST with a burning passion, I don't need another reason to despise the concept further with it becoming permanent in 2023. Seeing how it failed miserably back then I can agree with the experts in seeing it fail just as badly this time around, as there are just too many negatives and risks involved with it that make the whole thing a dangerous game to play. I'd rather play an early Yugioh manga Shadow Game with a borderline psychotic Yami/Atem than even attempt to deal with this, and some of those early Shadow Games resulted in things like people being set on fire, yet I find that to be a more favorable outcome than dealing with this second attempt to make DST permanent and watch it falling apart in an epic fashion. Frankly, I see it as a project doomed to fail and would rather the idiots who came up with this idea look back at how it "succeeded" during Nixon's era to see why it's a bad idea from the get-go.

whew That's enough out of me for now. I'm glad I got this off my chest because we already have a slew of bad ideas flying around and we don't need another one that is doomed to fail jump on top of them.

 

[FelipePR]

Seeing how it has not been mentioned I wanted to bring something up. Recent (as in a few days ago), a bill was passed to make Daylight Savings Time permanent, thus ending the twice-a-year clock change starting in 2023. It was met with high praise and sweeping approval. However, I learned something interesting not long after: we already tried this song and dance once before... and it failed spectacularly.

- Since I was born, Brazil has daylight saving time between October and March. But, just under two years ago, our illustrious president decided to revoke the measure, on the basis of argument that families were consuming more energy in the morning than at the end of the day, and that most of the population was against it. Research, however, showed the opposite. Well, it seems that Brazil is going, again, on the opposite way and that history always repeats itself. However, as the cost of enforcing and revoking such a policy is practically zero, and the impact on the civilian population is, verily, quite small, I see no reason for such concern or alarm.

 

[zoroarctic]

I guess they don’t have a problem showing their hand now.

 

[Volphied]

President Biden just had a historic speech in Warsaw and in response the murderous Kremlin maniac is jumping even more mad than usual:

Kremlin says it's not for Biden to say if Putin stays in power

The Kremlin dismissed a remark by U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday that Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power," saying it was up to Russians to choose their own president.

www.reuters.com

It's not for Putin to say who is the president of Ukraine. Or for what alliance Ukraine chooses to join or not.

Putin is a war criminal and a butcher. He's the biggest threat to the world since Hitler. He's murdered tens of thousands of Ukrainians in his bloody quest to dismember Ukraine and erase the Ukrainian nation.

The US and the rest of the Free World must support Ukraine with everything they got.

 

[zoroarctic]

But please, keep screeching about “liberal media bias.”

 

[Volphied]

If any Americans are still wondering why so many Eastern European countries sought NATO membership, or why countries invaded by Russia will never agree to surrender:

 

[zoroarctic]

Conservatives Are Smearing ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Opponents as Pedophile ‘Groomers’

Social conservative activists have resurrected an old strategy of invoking pedophilia to tar their pro-LGBTQ opponents.

www.vice.com

Meanwhile, in Tennessee: ‘A get out of jail free card’: GOP bill would eliminate age requirements for marriages in Tennessee

 

[zoroarctic]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/christian-right-wing-politics.html?

As a Christian myself, I’ve recently spent a lot of time wondering if American Christianity is worth saving. Stories like this make me lean towards no.

 

[zoroarctic]

Excuse the triple post, but finally some good news!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/07/jackson-confirmation-vote-senate/

 

[CuboneKing]

Fuck the Supreme Court man.

 

[Aulos]

And the Republicans already are promising a bill that will BAN abortion nationwide when they retake the congress, and they likely will because they've got all kinds of voter suppression in place in key places.

I don't have any comforting words, This is bad, very bad.

 

[Volphied]

And the Republicans already are promising a bill that will BAN abortion nationwide when they retake the congress, and they likely will because they've got all kinds of voter suppression in place in key places.

I don't have any comforting words, This is bad, very bad.

On the contrary, the outrage over this might help energize enough voters to help keep both the house and senate in Dem hands. Gerrymandering and voter suppression only work up to a point. A blue wave big enough can pummel right through it.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article261012177.html

Before we talk about Roe v. Wade, let’s talk about Obamacare.

In the years after the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, its promised demise was an animating issue for Republicans. It fueled FOX News. It fired up the conservative Freedom Caucus. It won race upon race for Republicans who proclaimed that government should get out of our health care.

By 2016, those Republicans had Congress and the White House and the power to do what they had promised about Obamacare. But Americans outside the conservative GOP base didn’t really want that. Republicans floundered as they tried to remove and replace the ACA, and the threat of losing health care benefits helped propel voters to deliver a blue wave in the 2018 midterm elections.

Now, Americans face a massive new loss of health care rights. On Monday, Politico reported that the U.S. Supreme Court has voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that guarantees the right to abortion, according to a leaked draft opinion from February. The opinion, authored by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., might still change between now and the release of the ruling this spring or summer. But its language — and the support of at least four other justices — signals that Roe will likely be eliminated, leaving states to restrict abortion across large swaths of the country.

It’s a frightening prospect for Americans, including those in red states, where many will face a future that’s a half-century old. The loss of abortion choice will result in hardships and risk across the country. It is, quite simply, a devastating blow to reproductive freedom and health.

It also might be the worst news Republicans can get as they head into the 2022 midterm elections. An overwhelming majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal in at least some circumstances, if not all, while less 20 percent believe in the harsh restrictions Republicans are poised to deliver in many conservative states.

It’s an issue that will animate Democrats this time, especially in states like North Carolina, where the future of reproductive freedom will depend on upcoming elections. In November, voters could give Republicans a new supermajority and the ability to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper on abortion bills. In 2024, anti-abortion Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will likely run for governor on a promise to rid our state of the reproductive choice it offers women.

Democrats and abortion rights supporters began mobilizing quickly Monday night. With an hour of the Politico report, a crowd gathered near the Supreme Court, and protests nationwide will sure follow. Beginning now, Democrats and progressives will remind voters across the country what’s at stake for mothers, sisters and daughters whose health care choices will be threatened by conservatives lawmakers, largely men, who want to tell them what they can do with their bodies. They’ll warn that Republicans aren’t done with abortion, as evidenced by a Washington Post report Monday that U.S. senators are preparing to introduce a bill that would ban abortions nationwide after the sixth week of pregnancy.

Democrats also will wonder, justifiably, what’s next. LGBTQ rights, including same sex marriage? Contraception?

Those worries are no longer the fantastical frets of progressives trying to stir up voters. That’s what conservatives used to say when dismissing Democrats’ worries about the future of Roe v. Wade. But it’s real now. Conservatives are getting their wish on abortion. Republicans are delivering on their promise. And they may regret it.

 

[zoroarctic]

But her emails, right? Right?

 

[Aulos]

Do you HONESTLY think that enough of a fire is going to be lit under Democrats to make a difference in the midterms? Lets look at the facts:

1. Midterms historically always favor the party opposite of the President.
2. Biden is overwhelmingly unpopular and the projections are really bad.
3. Voter suppression.

 

[CuboneKing]

Civil rights are being eroded, the environment is decaying, workers are being exploited and are unable to sustain themselves or their families, social and health services are an absolute joke, propaganda and division are rampant, and both parties are in the pocket of those who benefit from keeping it that way. What a cool and functional democracy. It’s almost like a bunch of rich, slave-owning, exclusively white and male people from the 18th century didn’t think of the best way to run a modern-day society.

 

[zoroarctic]

Do you HONESTLY think that enough of a fire is going to be lit under Democrats to make a difference in the midterms? Lets look at the facts:

1. Midterms historically always favor the party opposite of the President.
2. Biden is overwhelmingly unpopular and the projections are really bad.
3. Voter suppression.

People normally respond to cataclysmic events; I don’t think terrorism was on the top of the average voter’s mind for most of 2001. The odds may be against us, but we still have to try.

 

[colours]

while i don't genuinely think a repeat of 2018 is going to happen, i don't think that defeatism is the the right way to go about with things, either. swiftfox is right. the odds are stacked against us for obvious reasons (gerrymandered as hell congressional maps as the primary reason), but that doesn't mean we accept our losses because historically that's just how it is. if anything, the scotus decision might as well have been wrapped in a bow as a gift to democrats because they can scream about women's rights and future human rights being at risk of being stripped from now until november. beat it over the heads of people until they realise the precariousness of the situation that they're in. if more people give into apathy, then the House most certainly will be flipped and remain under GOP control, and McConnell, returning to majority leader in the senate, will gleefully continue where he left off in 2018 and finish stacking the courts with the same trump judges that overruled the mask mandate for travel giving a win to anti-maskers and covid deniers everywhere. i don't know about anyone else, but i'd rather not have that be the reality i live in. the trump years were hell to live through and i'm not eager to go through it, again.

"but dems control all the government tho"

i've seen a lot of this take and on the surface level its true, but it's missing some key details. for one thing, the House already passed such a bill, which is pretty much DOA in the Senate for obvious reasons. the Senate is 50/50 split, and in order to pass anything that isn't budget-related, you would need 60 votes. tell me what 10 republicans (other than maybe Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski) are going to sign on to such a bill (nevermind the fact that i think Joe Manchin isn't a big abortion proponent)? if you are unable to answer such a question, then maybe you realise exactly the kind of "power" democrats have in the Senate. it is only enough to pass budget-related measures via budget reconciliation as well as judicial and federal appointees and nothing else.

there's a lot of the blame game in social media right now, but i think the more productive use is to focus our energy on the midterms and whatever local elections that are going on. we need to understand the reason why conservatives are successful at getting this far is that they are nothing if not good at mobilization, regardless of how trashy their efforts are. it's enough to manufacture outrage and hate, regardless of any individual minute difference they may have policy-wise. we need to do this and more (forming a coalition with independents) if we desire any kind of functioning democracy in the future.

vote in local elections as if they matter just as much as federal ones. because they do, and trumpists know that.

 

[Max1996]

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Dear god...