Official Current Affairs & Politics Thread II

[Rich Rane]

Read on Twitter

Kinda pathetic for our country that a video like this must be made.

[MrDollarBills]

Read on Twitter

Kinda pathetic for our country that a video like this must be made.

The United States is a **** hole country. I wish I was Canadian. Free healthcare, no mass shootings, and legal weed sounds really good right now.

[Pointgod]

Mother Joseph and Jones... is this stuff actually actually true?

Because this shizzle is absolutely terrifying, if true.

Trump is a massive problem, but the real problem in the US is that there is no Congress.

There is a functioning House of Representatives, but the powers of Congress can only be exercised if there is both a functioning House and a functioning Senate.

The US Senate is completely broken, and for all intents and purposes does not even exist anymore as any type of functioning body. No legislation can be written there, no bills can pass through there, no nominees for high office can be vetted or denied appointment because the Senate now serves as an institution that selects a Majority Leader to act as a shadow president, nothing more. The Senate shadow president has an absolute veto over any and all legislation, much more powerful than the actual President’s veto because it cannot be overridden.

The parties completely control the Senate, and the individual Senators are mere proxies for their party, which is why they are not swayed by any rational argument and are content to be a mere rubber stamp (if their party is president) or an impenetrable roadblock (if the other party is president). Foreign governments have enormous influence over the GOP, yet the GOPs power in the Senate stems from a structural advantage that can never be overcome because it flows from a handful of empty rural states that have permanently Republican voting populations that will not ever change (or may take 50+ years to change). There is this a permanent “balance” in the Senate divided roughly equally between GOP and Democrats when counted by number of states, but is entirely unbalanced when looked at by population represented, because the two Democrats representing California alone represent more constituents than a dozen GOP Senators from the Midwest and mountain states. The Senate has become a House of Lords filled with party functionaries from empty burroughs, and it is almost impossible to constitutionally fix.

Without a Senate, Congress is powerless. The House can only pass non-binding resolutions and pursue endless investigations, which is better than no action, but is not a check on a lawless president like Trump.

Trump is able to assume the powers of Congress, such as proclaiming the unilateral authority to impose duties and taxes on any foreign imports at any time of his choosing, for example, because there is no Congress to check him. Even as I write this, he is impounding funds appropriated by Congress for one purpose, and redirecting those funds to a border wall that Congress refused to authorize and pay for. This is extraordinary, and has never happened in US history. It is only possible because there is no functioning Senate.

The lack of a Congress is infinitely more troubling than one rogue President. Trump can do a lot of damage, but the lack of a Congress means that the people have effectively no voice in governing, save for a crapshoot vote for Presidential “dictator” every 4 years, presuming that a future president (or Trump) doesn’t simply eliminate elections altogether, an action that wouldn’t be contested by the current “Congress.” And even the legitimacy of presidential elections is suspect given the current situation where millions more vote for the losing candidate, but the structural advantages of rural voters as institutionalized by the electoral college mean that presidents are elected without winning the popular vote.

All of this is to say that the US democratic experiment is nearing its end. The Congress functioned for 200+ years because the Senate was an institution guided by apolitical norms present from the founding, and individual senators were statesmen rather than party functionaries. That system is dead now; the influence of big money is so strong now that the statesmen have died or retired, and the parties now completely control the Senate.

Eventually, people will wake up and be angry about it. That may happen when the economy crashes or when there is another foreign attack on US elections and no repercussions because the Congress cannot act. If the economy turns sour and the people are stuck with a president and Senate selected by Moscow, the entire government could come crashing down in revolution, the stakes are really that high.

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/d1p3pf/trump_is_not_well_accepting_the_reality_about_the/ezoymtq/

Don’t take this the wrong way but where have you been this whole time? I keep telling people that America has a Republican problem, not a Congress problem. I laugh when people say blame both sides, it isn’t both sides it’s Republicans plain and simple. The reason there hasn’t been any thing done on guns, healthcare, climate change, workers rights, foreign policy, human rights, campaign reform etc is because of Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate. They’ve been in power close to 10 years, the whole time they obstructed Obama and refused to work with him, when they had control of all 3 branches they passed a horrible tax cut that blew up the deficit and has done nothing for the economy. Sadly the only way anything will change is to get Republicans the hell out of the Senate. Democrats need to control all 3 branches of government if Americans have any hope to even start to rebuild everything Mitch and Trump have broken.

[MrDollarBills]

Mother Joseph and Jones... is this stuff actually actually true?

Because this shizzle is absolutely terrifying, if true.

Trump is a massive problem, but the real problem in the US is that there is no Congress.

There is a functioning House of Representatives, but the powers of Congress can only be exercised if there is both a functioning House and a functioning Senate.

The US Senate is completely broken, and for all intents and purposes does not even exist anymore as any type of functioning body. No legislation can be written there, no bills can pass through there, no nominees for high office can be vetted or denied appointment because the Senate now serves as an institution that selects a Majority Leader to act as a shadow president, nothing more. The Senate shadow president has an absolute veto over any and all legislation, much more powerful than the actual President’s veto because it cannot be overridden.

The parties completely control the Senate, and the individual Senators are mere proxies for their party, which is why they are not swayed by any rational argument and are content to be a mere rubber stamp (if their party is president) or an impenetrable roadblock (if the other party is president). Foreign governments have enormous influence over the GOP, yet the GOPs power in the Senate stems from a structural advantage that can never be overcome because it flows from a handful of empty rural states that have permanently Republican voting populations that will not ever change (or may take 50+ years to change). There is this a permanent “balance” in the Senate divided roughly equally between GOP and Democrats when counted by number of states, but is entirely unbalanced when looked at by population represented, because the two Democrats representing California alone represent more constituents than a dozen GOP Senators from the Midwest and mountain states. The Senate has become a House of Lords filled with party functionaries from empty burroughs, and it is almost impossible to constitutionally fix.

Without a Senate, Congress is powerless. The House can only pass non-binding resolutions and pursue endless investigations, which is better than no action, but is not a check on a lawless president like Trump.

Trump is able to assume the powers of Congress, such as proclaiming the unilateral authority to impose duties and taxes on any foreign imports at any time of his choosing, for example, because there is no Congress to check him. Even as I write this, he is impounding funds appropriated by Congress for one purpose, and redirecting those funds to a border wall that Congress refused to authorize and pay for. This is extraordinary, and has never happened in US history. It is only possible because there is no functioning Senate.

The lack of a Congress is infinitely more troubling than one rogue President. Trump can do a lot of damage, but the lack of a Congress means that the people have effectively no voice in governing, save for a crapshoot vote for Presidential “dictator” every 4 years, presuming that a future president (or Trump) doesn’t simply eliminate elections altogether, an action that wouldn’t be contested by the current “Congress.” And even the legitimacy of presidential elections is suspect given the current situation where millions more vote for the losing candidate, but the structural advantages of rural voters as institutionalized by the electoral college mean that presidents are elected without winning the popular vote.

All of this is to say that the US democratic experiment is nearing its end. The Congress functioned for 200+ years because the Senate was an institution guided by apolitical norms present from the founding, and individual senators were statesmen rather than party functionaries. That system is dead now; the influence of big money is so strong now that the statesmen have died or retired, and the parties now completely control the Senate.

Eventually, people will wake up and be angry about it. That may happen when the economy crashes or when there is another foreign attack on US elections and no repercussions because the Congress cannot act. If the economy turns sour and the people are stuck with a president and Senate selected by Moscow, the entire government could come crashing down in revolution, the stakes are really that high.

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/d1p3pf/trump_is_not_well_accepting_the_reality_about_the/ezoymtq/

Don’t take this the wrong way but where have you been this whole time? I keep telling people that America has a Republican problem, not a Congress problem. I laugh when people say blame both sides, it isn’t both sides it’s Republicans plain and simple. The reason there hasn’t been any thing done on guns, healthcare, climate change, workers rights, foreign policy, human rights, campaign reform etc is because of Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate. They’ve been in power close to 10 years, the whole time they obstructed Obama and refused to work with him, when they had control of all 3 branches they passed a horrible tax cut that blew up the deficit and has done nothing for the economy. Sadly the only way anything will change is to get Republicans the hell out of the Senate. Democrats need to control all 3 branches of government if Americans have any hope to even start to rebuild everything Mitch and Trump have broken.

As I have said before: America was founded by white supremacism, and it will die by white supremacism. I'm not afraid to say what the cause of this all is. Obama triggered a lot of awful people who gladly voted for what is happening now.

Our only hope is that every decent American of voting age gets off their ass a year from now and votes to rebuke all of this. If not, then this country is going right to hell.

I fully expect McConnell to remain in the senate. That's not the problem. Him wielding the power of Senate Majority leader is. He has basically broken the legislative branch. I wish we had laws that heavily punish congressmen that violate their oath of office

[Pointgod]

Mother Joseph and Jones... is this stuff actually actually true?

Because this shizzle is absolutely terrifying, if true.




https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/d1p3pf/trump_is_not_well_accepting_the_reality_about_the/ezoymtq/

Don’t take this the wrong way but where have you been this whole time? I keep telling people that America has a Republican problem, not a Congress problem. I laugh when people say blame both sides, it isn’t both sides it’s Republicans plain and simple. The reason there hasn’t been any thing done on guns, healthcare, climate change, workers rights, foreign policy, human rights, campaign reform etc is because of Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate. They’ve been in power close to 10 years, the whole time they obstructed Obama and refused to work with him, when they had control of all 3 branches they passed a horrible tax cut that blew up the deficit and has done nothing for the economy. Sadly the only way anything will change is to get Republicans the hell out of the Senate. Democrats need to control all 3 branches of government if Americans have any hope to even start to rebuild everything Mitch and Trump have broken.

As I have said before: America was founded by white supremacism, and it will die by white supremacism. I'm not afraid to say what the cause of this all is. Obama triggered a lot of awful people who gladly voted for what is happening now.

Our only hope is that every decent American of voting age gets off their ass a year from now and votes to rebuke all of this. If not, then this country is going right to hell.

I fully expect McConnell to remain in the senate. That's not the problem. Him wielding the power of Senate Majority leader is. He has basically broken the legislative branch. I wish we had laws that heavily punish congressmen that violate their oath of office

I sincerely doubt that Mitch McConnell stays in the Senate if he’s in the minority. He’s exactly the type of coward and **** weasel to retire once he can’t abuse his power, just like Paul Ryan. Americans need to take their heads out of their ass and stop giving or allowing Republicans to take power on any level of government.

[LOUiS-D]

Don’t take this the wrong way but where have you been this whole time? I keep telling people that America has a Republican problem, not a Congress problem. I laugh when people say blame both sides, it isn’t both sides it’s Republicans plain and simple. The reason there hasn’t been any thing done on guns, healthcare, climate change, workers rights, foreign policy, human rights, campaign reform etc is because of Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate. They’ve been in power close to 10 years, the whole time they obstructed Obama and refused to work with him, when they had control of all 3 branches they passed a horrible tax cut that blew up the deficit and has done nothing for the economy. Sadly the only way anything will change is to get Republicans the hell out of the Senate. Democrats need to control all 3 branches of government if Americans have any hope to even start to rebuild everything Mitch and Trump have broken.

As I have said before: America was founded by white supremacism, and it will die by white supremacism. I'm not afraid to say what the cause of this all is. Obama triggered a lot of awful people who gladly voted for what is happening now.

Our only hope is that every decent American of voting age gets off their ass a year from now and votes to rebuke all of this. If not, then this country is going right to hell.

I fully expect McConnell to remain in the senate. That's not the problem. Him wielding the power of Senate Majority leader is. He has basically broken the legislative branch. I wish we had laws that heavily punish congressmen that violate their oath of office

I sincerely doubt that Mitch McConnell stays in the Senate if he’s in the minority. He’s exactly the type of coward and **** weasel to retire once he can’t abuse his power, just like Paul Ryan. Americans need to take their heads out of their ass and stop giving or allowing Republicans to take power on any level of government.

He'd retire to a cushy 7 figure lobbyist position for one of the countless morally bankrupt corporations he's been selling off democracy to. It ***** me up the wall how much sway the US has on global issues. The example they're setting with that leadership amounts to: let the robber barons continue plundering the earth and run the working class into the ground because stock prices are the only metric for quantifying success. Transforming the planet from a paradise into an uninhabitable blood stained toilet bowl is an externality.

[MrDollarBills]

Don’t take this the wrong way but where have you been this whole time? I keep telling people that America has a Republican problem, not a Congress problem. I laugh when people say blame both sides, it isn’t both sides it’s Republicans plain and simple. The reason there hasn’t been any thing done on guns, healthcare, climate change, workers rights, foreign policy, human rights, campaign reform etc is because of Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate. They’ve been in power close to 10 years, the whole time they obstructed Obama and refused to work with him, when they had control of all 3 branches they passed a horrible tax cut that blew up the deficit and has done nothing for the economy. Sadly the only way anything will change is to get Republicans the hell out of the Senate. Democrats need to control all 3 branches of government if Americans have any hope to even start to rebuild everything Mitch and Trump have broken.

As I have said before: America was founded by white supremacism, and it will die by white supremacism. I'm not afraid to say what the cause of this all is. Obama triggered a lot of awful people who gladly voted for what is happening now.

Our only hope is that every decent American of voting age gets off their ass a year from now and votes to rebuke all of this. If not, then this country is going right to hell.

I fully expect McConnell to remain in the senate. That's not the problem. Him wielding the power of Senate Majority leader is. He has basically broken the legislative branch. I wish we had laws that heavily punish congressmen that violate their oath of office

I sincerely doubt that Mitch McConnell stays in the Senate if he’s in the minority. He’s exactly the type of coward and **** weasel to retire once he can’t abuse his power, just like Paul Ryan. Americans need to take their heads out of their ass and stop giving or allowing Republicans to take power on any level of government.

I agree. But just knowing how ignorant the voters in Kentucky are, I wouldn't be shocked to see him get re elected. He won't know if he'll be the senate minority leader until after the election, unless GOP internal polling indicates that the senate will be a bloodbath next November (I predict it will be).

[Pointgod]

As I have said before: America was founded by white supremacism, and it will die by white supremacism. I'm not afraid to say what the cause of this all is. Obama triggered a lot of awful people who gladly voted for what is happening now.

Our only hope is that every decent American of voting age gets off their ass a year from now and votes to rebuke all of this. If not, then this country is going right to hell.

I fully expect McConnell to remain in the senate. That's not the problem. Him wielding the power of Senate Majority leader is. He has basically broken the legislative branch. I wish we had laws that heavily punish congressmen that violate their oath of office

I sincerely doubt that Mitch McConnell stays in the Senate if he’s in the minority. He’s exactly the type of coward and **** weasel to retire once he can’t abuse his power, just like Paul Ryan. Americans need to take their heads out of their ass and stop giving or allowing Republicans to take power on any level of government.

I agree. But just knowing how ignorant the voters in Kentucky are, I wouldn't be shocked to see him get re elected. He won't know if he'll be the senate minority leader until after the election, unless GOP internal polling indicates that the senate will be a bloodbath next November (I predict it will be).

If he’s the minority leader he’ll retire in 2022 before the midterms. The guy is a morally bankrupt piece of trash who doesn’t give a single care about serving his country. In a just world not only would he lose, he’d be thrown and jail and a Democratic Congress would impeach Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas and Roberts would retire.

[MrDollarBills]

I sincerely doubt that Mitch McConnell stays in the Senate if he’s in the minority. He’s exactly the type of coward and **** weasel to retire once he can’t abuse his power, just like Paul Ryan. Americans need to take their heads out of their ass and stop giving or allowing Republicans to take power on any level of government.

I agree. But just knowing how ignorant the voters in Kentucky are, I wouldn't be shocked to see him get re elected. He won't know if he'll be the senate minority leader until after the election, unless GOP internal polling indicates that the senate will be a bloodbath next November (I predict it will be).

If he’s the minority leader he’ll retire in 2022 before the midterms. The guy is a morally bankrupt piece of trash who doesn’t give a single care about serving his country. In a just world not only would he lose, he’d be thrown and jail and a Democratic Congress would impeach Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas and Roberts would retire.

Dude you are preaching to the choir.

I don't think we stand a chance to impeach Uncle Ruckus Clarence Thomas, it's been way too long. Kavanaugh however will be destroyed in impeachment hearings in a Dem controlled congress, there is too much dirt on this guy.

Dems need to impeach Brett the Rapist, expand the seats on the court, ram through every nominee and clean this mess up.

[Pointgod]

I agree. But just knowing how ignorant the voters in Kentucky are, I wouldn't be shocked to see him get re elected. He won't know if he'll be the senate minority leader until after the election, unless GOP internal polling indicates that the senate will be a bloodbath next November (I predict it will be).

If he’s the minority leader he’ll retire in 2022 before the midterms. The guy is a morally bankrupt piece of trash who doesn’t give a single care about serving his country. In a just world not only would he lose, he’d be thrown and jail and a Democratic Congress would impeach Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas and Roberts would retire.

Dude you are preaching to the choir.

I don't think we stand a chance to impeach Uncle Ruckus Clarence Thomas, it's been way too long. Kavanaugh however will be destroyed in impeachment hearings in a Dem controlled congress, there is too much dirt on this guy.

Dems need to impeach Brett the Rapist, expand the seats on the court, ram through every nominee and clean this mess up.

There’s rumours that Clarence Thomas is going to retire, he can’t be impeached but if he retires under Democratic President that would be awesome. Impeach Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court has 5-4 liberal bent. For good measure Democrats should pack the courts and add term limits.

[gigantes]

Mother Joseph and Jones... is this stuff actually actually true?

Because this shizzle is absolutely terrifying, if true.

Trump is a massive problem, but the real problem in the US is that there is no Congress.

There is a functioning House of Representatives, but the powers of Congress can only be exercised if there is both a functioning House and a functioning Senate.

The US Senate is completely broken, and for all intents and purposes does not even exist anymore as any type of functioning body. No legislation can be written there, no bills can pass through there, no nominees for high office can be vetted or denied appointment because the Senate now serves as an institution that selects a Majority Leader to act as a shadow president, nothing more. The Senate shadow president has an absolute veto over any and all legislation, much more powerful than the actual President’s veto because it cannot be overridden.

The parties completely control the Senate, and the individual Senators are mere proxies for their party, which is why they are not swayed by any rational argument and are content to be a mere rubber stamp (if their party is president) or an impenetrable roadblock (if the other party is president). Foreign governments have enormous influence over the GOP, yet the GOPs power in the Senate stems from a structural advantage that can never be overcome because it flows from a handful of empty rural states that have permanently Republican voting populations that will not ever change (or may take 50+ years to change). There is this a permanent “balance” in the Senate divided roughly equally between GOP and Democrats when counted by number of states, but is entirely unbalanced when looked at by population represented, because the two Democrats representing California alone represent more constituents than a dozen GOP Senators from the Midwest and mountain states. The Senate has become a House of Lords filled with party functionaries from empty burroughs, and it is almost impossible to constitutionally fix.

Without a Senate, Congress is powerless. The House can only pass non-binding resolutions and pursue endless investigations, which is better than no action, but is not a check on a lawless president like Trump.

Trump is able to assume the powers of Congress, such as proclaiming the unilateral authority to impose duties and taxes on any foreign imports at any time of his choosing, for example, because there is no Congress to check him. Even as I write this, he is impounding funds appropriated by Congress for one purpose, and redirecting those funds to a border wall that Congress refused to authorize and pay for. This is extraordinary, and has never happened in US history. It is only possible because there is no functioning Senate.

The lack of a Congress is infinitely more troubling than one rogue President. Trump can do a lot of damage, but the lack of a Congress means that the people have effectively no voice in governing, save for a crapshoot vote for Presidential “dictator” every 4 years, presuming that a future president (or Trump) doesn’t simply eliminate elections altogether, an action that wouldn’t be contested by the current “Congress.” And even the legitimacy of presidential elections is suspect given the current situation where millions more vote for the losing candidate, but the structural advantages of rural voters as institutionalized by the electoral college mean that presidents are elected without winning the popular vote.

All of this is to say that the US democratic experiment is nearing its end. The Congress functioned for 200+ years because the Senate was an institution guided by apolitical norms present from the founding, and individual senators were statesmen rather than party functionaries. That system is dead now; the influence of big money is so strong now that the statesmen have died or retired, and the parties now completely control the Senate.

Eventually, people will wake up and be angry about it. That may happen when the economy crashes or when there is another foreign attack on US elections and no repercussions because the Congress cannot act. If the economy turns sour and the people are stuck with a president and Senate selected by Moscow, the entire government could come crashing down in revolution, the stakes are really that high.

https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/d1p3pf/trump_is_not_well_accepting_the_reality_about_the/ezoymtq/

Don’t take this the wrong way but where have you been this whole time? I keep telling people that America has a Republican problem, not a Congress problem. I laugh when people say blame both sides, it isn’t both sides it’s Republicans plain and simple. The reason there hasn’t been any thing done on guns, healthcare, climate change, workers rights, foreign policy, human rights, campaign reform etc is because of Mitch McConnell and the Republicans in the Senate. They’ve been in power close to 10 years, the whole time they obstructed Obama and refused to work with him, when they had control of all 3 branches they passed a horrible tax cut that blew up the deficit and has done nothing for the economy. Sadly the only way anything will change is to get Republicans the hell out of the Senate. Democrats need to control all 3 branches of government if Americans have any hope to even start to rebuild everything Mitch and Trump have broken.

"Aw, don't be hatin'." --Jamie Kennedy

Yeap, I know the situation is terrible, and arguably an ongoing national emergency, but I hadn't understood some of the mechanics all that clearly. Hence my 'this is even more terrifying' post above. But yeah, I can deffo be quite naive here and there. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hah, but to the point-- I personally suspect this particular clusterfluff dates back to when Richard Nixon scoundrel'd himself in to office via the Southern Strategy. (muchas gracias al MDB for clue-ing me in upon such stuff, a while back)

And I mean sure, politically Nixon's pretty much a centrist in today's USA climate, but, well sh-t, that's not much to brag about, really! I mean, when it comes down to first world centrism, today's USA "conservatives" are generally extremist right-wingers in reality, and USA's "centrists" are more like moderate right-wingers who have a bit more conscience and awareness of actual facts & reality than their almost *completely* out of touch brethren. For what little that's worth when it comes down to it. :/

But perhaps most awful of all -- and the truly 'kick to the crotch' blow to any American who supports equality and brotherhood, is that -- just as Jim Crow laws were being phased out in this country (basically moving us forward in to the realm of the first world after a long, embarrassing lapse), the USA's racists, nationalists, bigots, and a good block of the Christian right-wingers, came together to reform their particular form of hate and dysfunction under new political mechanisms & rabble-rousing.

So, yeah-- I think the actual figure of a 'nation in distress' is more like 50++ years. Just sayin'.

So given everything I've learned, it really does seem like this nation has arguably been in deep distress (economic clusterfluffs are a different but related thing) for that whole period, and almost beyond belief-- it's only ramped *UP* under this pathetic orange fraud in question... almost a cartoonist's cartoonist caricature of the worst moments of Bush Junior's presidency.

And last, but not to be the least-- I think I speak for a lot of other first-world centrists in saying that this wretched farce was at least slightly amusing in the early years. Trump jokes were abundant, and fun, and maybe even gave us a false confidence that MOW would be out of office, soon. Unfortunately, as time went on, we discovered how many other miserable wretches in positions of influence are not only willing to ignore his sh-t, but to even rubber stamp the madness.

If this sh-t isn't an ongoing national emergency, with hate crimes literally blooming across the nation even, I sure as hell don't know what *is*.

[gigantes]

Read on Twitter

Kinda pathetic for our country that a video like this must be made.

The United States is a **** hole country. I wish I was Canadian. Free healthcare, no mass shootings, and legal weed sounds really good right now.

From what I understand, the main 'virtue' of Canada, at the end of the day, is that they mainly had a far more limited number of civilised folks to f-ck up their whole situation.

Notwithstanding their slavery situation of course, which they did worlds better upon than the USA. (IIRC, the USA in particular is crushingly embarrassing as a 1st world country in terms of slave liberation and reforms, when it comes to dates. We were doing things 50-100 years after our peers, in other words)

But getting back to Canada, from what I've read and hear (trying to keep up with scholars and Canadians)-- Canada also has a terribly dark past in treating Native Americans like garbage and raping their own land when it comes to resources.

But OTOH, they've put more long-term protections in place, and that whole situation doesn't swing as absurdly as it does, the recent USA pendulum (Dems in power? Responsible environmental legislation)(GOP in power, it's all about money, baby, nominally about "jobs," but moreso in the pocket-lining sense, ala 3rd world country BS)

[MrDollarBills]

Read on Twitter

Kinda pathetic for our country that a video like this must be made.

The United States is a **** hole country. I wish I was Canadian. Free healthcare, no mass shootings, and legal weed sounds really good right now.

From what I understand, the main 'virtue' of Canada, at the end of the day, is that they mainly had a far more limited number of civilised folks to f-ck up their whole situation.

Notwithstanding their slavery situation of course, which they did worlds better upon than the USA. (IIRC, the USA in particular is crushingly embarrassing as a 1st world country in terms of slave liberation and reforms, when it comes to dates. We were doing things 50-100 years after our peers, in other words)

But getting back to Canada, from what I've read and hear (trying to keep up with scholars and Canadians)-- Canada also has a terribly dark past in treating Native Americans like garbage and raping their own land when it comes to resources.

But OTOH, they've put more long-term protections in place, and that whole situation doesn't swing as absurdly as it does, the recent USA pendulum (Dems in power? Responsible environmental legislation)(GOP in power, it's all about money, baby, nominally about "jobs," but moreso in the pocket-lining sense, ala 3rd world country BS)

Oh, I wasn't absolving Canada. They committed genocide against the indigenous people of this continent and they have racism too, which is a feature, not a bug, of former territories of the British Empire. I just would prefer accessible healthcare, not having to worry about being shot by someone with an AR, and legalized marijuana.

[gigantes]

Reading back my last couple comments earlier, and speaking as a naturalized American-- TBH I don't like what I said above, viscerally so. My comments seem borderline wrong, petty, obnoxious and ungrateful... like I'm being a total hypocrite... just enjoying the fruits of the USA and lazily pointing fingers where I please, here and there.

Fluff that, yo.

For the record, I sincerely don't like being in that boat, and I sure as hell don't like putting down America, and I don't like calling out major segments of the population. It feels unbecoming and totally lacking in gratitude / perspective. F-ck me in that sense, honestly.

Still, I'd also like to think that I'm not the only one who has that battle going on in their head. For example, if there had instead been generally effective political leadership the last few years, then there'd be *no* need to say a damn thing, and we could just get on with our lives, minding our own bees' wax. Lord help me, we all got our personal life challenges and things to deal with.

Now I've personally met some "political activists" across the years, and it seems like their nonstop job is generally to stir **** up and reap social power and even finance from that kind of thing. It's fluffing nauseating to me. But, check it out-- the idea that I love about the Colonies and the USA, is that from beginning to end, we were more-or-less reasonable, decent folk trying to go about our lives, until we started being taken advantage of. Which brought us to discover our fangs, and to push back.

There is not a reasonable decent American I can name who supports the Shanghai'd f-ck-head, miserable orange wretch currently in office, for any logical reason whatsoever. That's how very far we've bottomed out. Or his compliment, the shadow president, Moscow-Mitch.

If the USA has EVER been in worse internal shape across its existence, please point me to the reference. Thank you.

[/mini-rant]

[Prokorov]

This is a low point for the U.S. we have seen some ugly moments... specifically around slavery and gender inequality and opposing our force on other countries for oil interests. but at least in those situations, people know it was wrong.

today you have like blatant racism, sexism, and putting greed of old white men ahead of our planet and the safety of children and a-holes are defending it to the death. not only that, this ahole president can say anything and there is no consequence.

like he legit said "wind turbines cause cancer" and thats like no big deal. probably because half the stuff he tweets are flat lies.

we have concentration camps in america right now, we have the head of exxon leading our energy dept liek thats no confict. we have betsey effing davos heading up education. there are conflicts of interest at the highest levels with people making decisions base don personal gain, not whats best for the people or how the people even voted.

we have a rapist on the supreme court. we have a president who called africa a "shlthole country" who called out a war hero saying "id prefer when my soldiers dont get captured". he said the kkk is misunderstood and their is fault on both sides.

once i had my daughter a few months back the wife and i literally looked into getting citizenship in canada, sweden, and denmark as alternatives should trump win in 2020 (which seems like a complete lock).

[gigantes]

Seriously.

Also, there's the nauseating fact that many of the special govt bodies that were originally founded and/or intended to protect not just the whole of the environment, but our own personal health and welfare, have fallen prey to "regulatory capture."

So now under MOW, we have a bunch of shameless cronies with purely corporate motivations in charge of the very institutions intended to protect Americans. (I mean, Ralph Nader's not even in his grave yet, and surely he must be spinning about how low the EPA has sunk. Haha?)

(Note: please see OP for all the original links. It's a lot of work to completely reformat this in BBCode)

America is not alone by any means (and it certainly isn't the first time), but The United States has become a textbook victim of Regulatory Capture.

Regulatory capture (see notes at end) is a form of government failure which occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.

Arsonists have been hired to the fire department in almost every sector:

- Rick Perry - The Secretary of Energy. Rick Perry is a longtime proponent of corporate deregulation and tax breaks, and once said he wanted to abolish the Department of Energy.

In a CNBC interview on June 19, 2017, he downplayed the role of human activity in the recent rise of the Earth's temperature, saying natural causes are likely the main driver of climate change.

- Scott Pruitt - Former Head of The Environmental Protection Agency - An oil lobbyist who had personally sued and fought the EPA for years in the interest of fossil fuel entities. He resigned in shame, and under multiple investigations.

- Andrew Wheeler - Pruitt's successor at the EPA - Worked for a coal magnate and frequent lobbyist against Obama's regulations.

- Ryan Zinke - Former Secretary of the Interior. A fervent deregulation proponent. Zinke opened more federal lands for oil, gas and mineral exploration and extraction than any previous secretary. He resigned in disgrace, and under many investigations.

- David Bernhardt - Zinke's successor at the Interior. An oil industry lobbyist who was under investigation only days after his confirmation. Bernhardt, when asked about climate change (something that directly affects the lands he is in charge of) dismissively quipped "It doesn't keep me up at night."

If you really want a scary sight, check out Trump's deregulation list, which includes:

-Methane Emissions
-Clean Power Plan
-Endangered Species Act
-Waters of the U.S. Rule
-Emissions for Coal Power Plants
-Waste Prevention Rule
-Coal Ash Rule
-Chemical Release Prevention
-Scientific Transparency Rule
-Pesticide regulations
-Livestock regulations
-Oil gas and Fracking
-Power Plant Water Pollution
-Clean Air Act
-among many, many others..

This is especially worrying when scientists are ringing alarm bells about climate change:

-The U.S. Government's Fourth National Climate Assessment (Made during the Trump admin, no less)

Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities. The impacts of global climate change are already being felt in the United States and are projected to intensify in the future...

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities will continue to affect Earth’s climate for decades and even centuries. --The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

NASA's website on scientific consensus regarding climate change (link)

It's also alarming in a time when 1,000,000 species are at risk of extinction (making this time period the 2nd-fastest extinction event on the planet by some metrics)

Our planet, on terms of biological timescales, is being hit with a sledgehammer by this administration.

Scientists/Public: "Our train is heading straight for that cliff!"

Trump admin: "...Can we make any money if it goes faster?"

**Edit: It has been pointed out what I'm describing is not exactly regulatory capture, but I have yet to find a term for it. It's not quite cronyism. Corruption is too broad.

** It's the occupation of the U.S. administration to further the goals of fossil fuel entities (or corporations/big business in general) and discredit the science/policies that challenges them, which is directly at odds with public interest and well-being. Conversely, the industry's influence has aided in this occupation. This has obviously occurred in U.S. history in some shape or another countless times, but it has taken a new form in regards to climate change with this administration.

https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/d7rx2e/climate_change_accelerating_say_scientists/f14tt9f/

[Rich Rane]

finally. Add my congressman to the push for 218.

Read on Twitter

[MrDollarBills]

:censored: finally. Add my congressman to the push for 218.

Read on Twitter

Trump literally extorted one of our allies in order to get dirt on a political opponent. And admitted it without hesitation.

Anyday now, Madame Speaker. Get this man's criminal behavior in the front and center of the public's consciousness and the newscycle.

[gigantes]

:censored: finally. Add my congressman to the push for 218.

Read on Twitter

Trump literally extorted one of our allies in order to get dirt on a political opponent. And admitted it without hesitation.

Anyday now, Madame Speaker. Get this man's criminal behavior in the front and center of the public's consciousness and the newscycle.

And... done.



Also, I wonder how much AOC's recent comments might have changed the game. Even little Greta Thunberg might have had a sizable hand in rapidly changing the climate.

The only concern here is that an impeachment or attempted impeachment will galvanize the centrist base come the next election, or something unfortunate like that.

[Rich Rane]

:censored: finally. Add my congressman to the push for 218.

Read on Twitter

Trump literally extorted one of our allies in order to get dirt on a political opponent. And admitted it without hesitation.

Anyday now, Madame Speaker. Get this man's criminal behavior in the front and center of the public's consciousness and the newscycle.

And... done.



Also, I wonder how much AOC's recent comments might have changed the game. Even little Greta Thunberg might have had a sizable hand in rapidly changing the climate.

The only concern here is that an impeachment or attempted impeachment will galvanize the centrist base come the next election, or something unfortunate like that.

Any person claiming to be centrist and voting for Trump because of an impeachment inquiry needs to explain their vote. An impeachment inquiry was launched because they felt the POTUS was breaking the law and that's a bad thing because...