Political Randomness

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 05, 2020 11:50 pm

Global health crisis? Voting against funding a response because money is more important than lives? How about I take a shot at the former FBI director in the midst of all of it?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 2:53 pm

DOW was down 2000 points today and they stopped trading. Once it resumed they made half that back but have now lost it all again. Interesting to watch.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:09 pm

The market is starting to price in another emergency rate cut *this week*. They cut it 50 bps last week. The market is essentially signalling a deep recession at the moment.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Mar 09, 2020 4:30 pm

Closed at 2000 down. They looked happy.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:00 pm

Im not posting this to offend anyone. Please know this is not a personal attack upon you and your choices. Its just the feeling I get from the current political parties in DC. Im not happy with either side trust me.

Does it feel to anyone else that both parties have become so polarizing and set in their own agendas that our only two choices now are Communists and Nazis? I wonder what it would be like to have zero parties at all.

Sepiche · Post by **Sepiche** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:15 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:00 pm Does it feel to anyone else that both parties have become so polarizing and set in their own agendas that our only two choices now are Communists and Nazis? I wonder what it would be like to have zero parties at all.

No, but one of our parties with the help of a foreign government want you to feel that way.

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:57 pm

Daehawk wrote:Im not posting this to offend anyone. Please know this is not a personal attack upon you and your choices. Its just the feeling I get from the current political parties in DC. Im not happy with either side trust me.

Does it feel to anyone else that both parties have become so polarizing and set in their own agendas that our only two choices now are Communists and Nazis? I wonder what it would be like to have zero parties at all.

Neither are communists and neither are Nazis.

Nazis support one US party and I'm aware of no communist movements.

One candidate, who is behind in primary polling, is a democratic socialist which is very, very different from a communist though they may have some similar economic beliefs.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:12 pm

noxiousdog wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:57 pm I'm aware of no communist movements.

Oh, it was established in 1919 and still exists - Communist Party USA

noxiousdog · Post by **noxiousdog** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:18 pm

stessier wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:12 pm
noxiousdog wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:57 pm I'm aware of no communist movements.
Oh, it was established in 1919 and still exists - Communist Party USA

Unless you're claiming that communist marches are being hidden by the media, I think we have a ways to go before we can consider it a movement.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:27 pm

noxiousdog wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:18 pm
stessier wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:12 pm
noxiousdog wrote: ↑Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:57 pm I'm aware of no communist movements.
Oh, it was established in 1919 and still exists - Communist Party USA
Unless you're claiming that communist marches are being hidden by the media, I think we have a ways to go before we can consider it a movement.

They have presidential candidates that get votes. They have meetings and such. They might not be a particularly effective movement at the moment, but they are a movement.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Mar 16, 2020 3:47 pm

Bet the UK is thankful for Brexit now.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Thu Mar 26, 2020 4:11 pm

SpaceForce is launching a rocket today and its on live feed. I watched a bit for the chat...wow at all the trump haters in there lol.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 26, 2020 6:29 pm

The neighbors catty-corner to my back yard have an outdoor entertainment system, so whenever our dear leader is on, I can hear his dulcet tones serenading me as I hang out back with the dogs.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Sun Mar 29, 2020 11:19 am

New research supports the observations by...everyone...that the #MAGAts are motivated by the prospects of pwning lib cucks.

The desire to matter and feel significant among Donald Trump supporters is associated with support for hostile and vindictive actions against the president’s political rivals, according to new research published in the journal Political Psychology. In a series of studies conducted immediately before and after the 2016 election in the United States, the researchers examined how the quest for personal significance was related to confrontational intergroup behaviors.

“Our team studies what motivates people to support and engage in radical political actions. In the past we focused on actions — both peaceful and violent — that were aimed against the political system such as protesting, donating money for a cause, or using politically motivated violence,” explained study author Katarzyna Jaśko, an associate professor at Jagiellonian University in Poland.

“In this study we wanted to look at both sides and to explore the motivations of not only those who protest against the government but also those who support it. Our thinking was that just like some citizens contest the system and engage in aggressive actions directed against it, the government can use its power in benevolent or hostile ways and it’s important to understand whether its supporters accept it, and if so why?”

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:22 am

In Hungary news, it looks like the crisis has given Orban his opportunity to close the circle and become dictator.

The Hungarian parliament will vote Monday on whether to allow Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to rule by decree because of the coronavirus

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:00 am

I'm in total suspense over how that vote will go.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:17 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:00 am I'm in total suspense over how that vote will go.

It just passed. Imagine that. And surprisingly the EU appears to just be shrugging. Oh well.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:23 am

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:17 am
El Guapo wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:00 am I'm in total suspense over how that vote will go.
It just passed. Imagine that. And surprisingly the EU appears to just be shrugging. Oh well.

My understanding is that EU punishment rules are effectively useless because (IIRC) they need to be unanimous for the most severe consequences (curtailing EU voting rights for the government at issue, possible expulsion). And since there is more than one authoritarian-minded EU government (Poland as well), in addition to normal intra-EU politics, there's no real way to impose real punishments.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:31 am

The EU is going to have a rough road ahead. Put aside #Brexit and you have all kinds of internal fault lines. There are few ways to solve these issues but appeal to common values to move forward. Now they have nations with completely different values smack dab in the middle of the entity.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:34 am

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:31 am The EU is going to have a rough road ahead. Put aside #Brexit and you have all kinds of internal fault lines. There are few ways to solve these issues but appeal to common values to move forward. Now they have nations with completely different values smack dab in the middle of the entity.

The EU has massive institutional flaws, mainly stemming from the fact that they're stuck in the middle between being a trade / economic union and being a full fledged unitary state.

Of course, who doesn't have massive institutional flaws these days.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:49 pm

The stimulus bill includes a tax break for the 1%

Now here is what changed in the historic $2 trillion stimulus bill. Previously, if a married couple had depreciation deductions that exceeded their real estate business income, the couple could claim that "loss" to write off taxes on a maximum of $500,000 in income from other sources, like wages from a day job.
Under the change, our rich taxpayer couple -- and this applies only for individuals, not corporations -- can now deduct an unlimited amount of "excess losses" in real estate against income from other sources. So now real estate moguls with lucrative day jobs or bountiful capital gains from other investments can go back to living tax-free, the Kushner way, before limits were put in place as part of the 2017 tax reform bill.
It gets worse, if that's possible. The change applies to this year -- and retroactively to 2019 and 2018. This means rich people can file amended returns now, and get refunds of perhaps millions of dollars, sooner than we can produce the number of ventilators we might need for the coronavirus crisis.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:53 pm

Of course they snuck something in for these vampires.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:58 pm

Im guessing a lot of those rich are old so maybe they'll die off from some bug or something..hmmmm.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Tue Mar 31, 2020 11:33 am

Satire: Fauci Warns Trump That If Everyone in U.S. Dies It Could Affect His TV Ratings

In a conversation over the weekend that reportedly left the President “shaken,” Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Donald Trump that if everyone in the United States dies, it would adversely affect his television ratings.

Although Fauci was quick to add that the everyone-dying scenario was purely hypothetical, he stressed that, from a medical perspective, alive people were more likely than dead ones to watch television.

Grifman · Post by **Grifman** » Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:00 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:22 am In Hungary news, it looks like the crisis has given Orban his opportunity to close the circle and become dictator.

The Hungarian parliament will vote Monday on whether to allow Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to rule by decree because of the coronavirus

The coronavirus is their Reichstag fire. This is utterly insane:

State of emergency with NO TIME LIMIT
Rule by decree
Parliament suspended
No elections
Spreading "fake news and rumors", up to 5 years in prison
Leaving quarantine, up to 8 years in prison

Orban has virtually the same powers given to Hitler.

Hungary fought a bloody fruitless rebellion against the Soviets to get rid of this, and started a new democracy after the USSR collapsed. How could they give that all up so easily?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:53 pm

Freedom and self-governance is hard.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:49 am

If you want to dive deep into it, Hungary's system has (had!?) weird constitutional quirks that caused imbalances that gave Orban's party 2/3 of their parliament with ~53% of the vote in 2010. Interestingly, Orban started as a liberal, became PM in the 90s, got tossed out, and went hard nationalist and anti-immigrant to get back on top. Once his party Fidesz was in the driver's seat they upended the judiciary and have slowly amassed power. There was no real way to check them with their super majority and eventual control of the judiciary.

There is a lesson for us since the GOP is about 5 years behind it running a similar playbook. They are using their power that is in excess of their representation to build one party rule and might eventually lead to autocratic rule. Which is why sometimes I refer to our trajectory as going the route of Hungary. In fact, we'll get a taste of it in May/June/July through a series of Supreme Court rulings such as Mazars. To be clear, the GOP would have a much, much tougher road but I don't think you set out to build an autocracy. It is the result of many, many compromises and cuts over time but we are on that path.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:46 am

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:49 am If you want to dive deep into it, Hungary's system has (had!?) weird constitutional quirks that caused imbalances that gave Orban's party 2/3 of their parliament with ~53% of the vote in 2010. Interestingly, Orban started as a liberal, became PM in the 90s, got tossed out, and went hard nationalist and anti-immigrant to get back on top. Once his party Fidesz was in the driver's seat they upended the judiciary and have slowly amassed power. There was no real way to check them with their super majority and eventual control of the judiciary.

There is a lesson for us since the GOP is about 5 years behind it running a similar playbook. They are using their power that is in excess of their representation to build one party rule and might eventually lead to autocratic rule. Which is why sometimes I refer to our trajectory as going the route of Hungary. In fact, we'll get a taste of it in May/June/July through a series of Supreme Court rulings such as Mazars. To be clear, the GOP would have a much, much tougher road but I don't think you set out to build an autocracy. It is the result of many, many compromises and cuts over time but we are on that path.

Indeed. It's bad enough that I think the 2020 election is our last realistic hope of avoiding Hungary's fate. Our only main fallback after that is presidential term limits as of 2024, but I think that probably be too late to stop us from becoming an autocracy by that point.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:47 am

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:49 am If you want to dive deep into it, Hungary's system has (had!?) weird constitutional quirks that caused imbalances that gave Orban's party 2/3 of their parliament with ~53% of the vote in 2010. Interestingly, Orban started as a liberal, became PM in the 90s, got tossed out, and went hard nationalist and anti-immigrant to get back on top. Once his party Fidesz was in the driver's seat they upended the judiciary and have slowly amassed power. There was no real way to check them with their super majority and eventual control of the judiciary.

There is a lesson for us since the GOP is about 5 years behind it running a similar playbook. They are using their power that is in excess of their representation to build one party rule and might eventually lead to autocratic rule. Which is why sometimes I refer to our trajectory as going the route of Hungary. In fact, we'll get a taste of it in May/June/July through a series of Supreme Court rulings such as Mazars. To be clear, the GOP would have a much, much tougher road but I don't think you set out to build an autocracy. It is the result of many, many compromises and cuts over time but we are on that path.

And we can't forget that Russia has bankrolled and espionaged to support this development every step of the way. Putin's entire project is to prove that only Authoritarian leaders can keep nations safe and stable. He's doing it all over Europe and elsewhere.

Putin is not even pro-Trump; he's just anti-Democracy.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:06 pm

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... -is-crazy/

WA state, with vote by mail for everything, also had the highest turnout of all the states for primary voting.

only three other states have implemented vote by mail - OR (who were first), CO and UT. incidentally, Colorado is second-highest and Utah is seventh-highest.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:09 pm

hitbyambulance wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:06 pm https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... -is-crazy/

WA state, with vote by mail for everything, also had the highest turnout of all the states for primary voting.

only three other states have implemented vote by mail - OR (who were first), CO and UT. incidentally, Colorado is second-highest and Utah is seventh-highest.

Illinois has vote by mail.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:14 pm

Illinois not mentioned here: https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections ... tions.aspx but i did forget Hawaii.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:18 pm

I voted by mail in Illinois, so I know it's legit. https://chicagoelections.gov/en/vote-by-mail.html

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:20 pm

I think you're talking about voting by mail exclusive, whereas I'm talking about where it's available at all. It's available in Illinois, but you can also vote the old fashioned way.

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:09 pm

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:20 pm I think you're talking about voting by mail exclusive, whereas I'm talking about where it's available at all. It's available in Illinois, but you can also vote the old fashioned way.

Right, same with CA. I voted by mail in the primaries.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:13 pm

ImLawBoy wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:18 pm I voted by mail in Illinois, so I know it's legit. https://chicagoelections.gov/en/vote-by-mail.html

gbasden wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:09 pm Right, same with CA. I voted by mail in the primaries.

That's what they want you to think. I'm pretty sure my mail in-ballot is sitting in a landfill in Joliet right now.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Apr 13, 2020 11:47 am

Justin Trudeau's new facial hair arrangement looks very similar to the one I've been sporting for a year or more now. I hope no one accuses me of copying him.

He does wear it better, though. I can see why Ivanka would make the eyes at him every time she sees him.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Apr 14, 2020 12:16 am

Seen a bunch of chatter about "Facebook fact-checking bots" over the last couple days. Copy-pasted from the last one I saw:

Facebook fact-checking bots are hidden in your friend's list, you can block them same as you can block anyone else.
I have just blocked 43 of them!
Go into SETTINGS and then BLOCKING and write Fact Checker
You should see a list, you will have to block them one by one, but it's well worth the time.
The "fact-checkers" check everything you post and should you post something that contradicts the establishment's dogma and lies, ie - anti-va$$ posts, they report your post and add a post of their own to contradict your post, or they may even remove your post.

I only found 2, but many of the replies on my friend’s post have reported up to 47 of these bots

Facebook does have an independent fact-checking network, but they're not bots and they certainly aren't replacing content you post. They will apparently flag egregiously false articles (I've seen it happen a couple times), which pushes them down people's FB feeds and marks them as "false" for others to see.

Out of sheer curiosity, I went to the settings, and sure enough, there were a few of these in my list. I had 8, with 3 of them having to do with Tiger King (I had posted a story about Joe Exotic having contracted coronavirus that apparently wasn't true. Whoops.). Interestingly, all the uber-conservatives who were commenting on this friends' "warning" post? They all reported having 50, 60, 70, 100 fact checkers in their list...which tells us one of two things:

1. FB's fact-checking network is disproportionally targeting conservatives, OR
2. Conservatives post a shit-ton of easily verifiable fake news

I think I know which of those options I'd put my money on.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Tue Apr 14, 2020 7:52 am

I have an former co-worker who is my canary in the derp mine. He constantly complains about Facebook censorship. He kept posting the same bullshit meme over and over about the coronavirus being the flu. He complained about the bot taking it down. Then he started re-formatting it. It would stay up a time and then get taken down. Then he started yelling about FB and how he was going to sue them. Then he was one of the first cases of Coronavirus at Rutgers University and made the paper. It was a delightful bit of karmic justice especially since he recovered from it eventually. He posted daily videos and explained how bad it was. I didn't hear him say 'not like the flu' but still this thing smacked him right in his disbelieving face.