The Politics Thread

[Faulkner]

I try to stay out of this thread, but I thought this was a bit funny.

 

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

This aspect hasn't been examined enough and it's unlikely that it ever will be.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

And she appears to be looking right at the camera. 

 

[Vee]

[Khan]

...And all because some people couldn't handle a black man being president.

 

Sad.

 

You know, even with all its' many -- and I do mean many -- faults, I still loved living in the United States of America.  It's just a shame that I had to watch it die during my lifetime.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Khan

[DRW50]

Ryan is ditching the stunt vote on ICE.

 

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/16/ryan-republicans-ice-immigration-abolish-725071

[marceline]

 

And it's important not to forget that because when Trump goes down, the people who voted for him will still be here and the things that motivated them to do that will still be here. The same is true for the ratfuckers on the left. A lot of the Sanders left is motivated by hatred of Barack Obama, either because of their own racism or as in the case of Cornel West just petty jealousy.

[Khan]

In the past year or so, I've read two articles that quote Obama as saying he worries privately whether his presidency might have happened too early.  Which is also what I used to feel, back in the day.  I used to think the backlash was the consequence of a nation that wasn't yet ready for a president like him and needed more time to GET ready.  Freedom from slavery or from Jim Crow segregation didn't happen in a day, I thought; and just as it took generations of white people in this country to come around (however begrudgingly) toward accepting us as equals in the eyes of the law, they need, or needed, generations more toward accepting the possibility that we could be their leaders as well.

 

But, these days...I dunno...maybe y'all are right: maybe it wouldn't have made any difference whether someone like Obama had come along in 2008, or 2088.  Americans, as a whole, were never going to be ready for anyone other than a white, male Christian to be their leader.  Even as I sit here, still wondering whether forcing them to get ready is what ultimately brought us to this point.  Because, as soon as what they always feared would happen did happen, they appeared ready, willing and able to flush the entire American experiment down the old poop-shoot and offer this country up to the highest bidder -- which, in our case, just happens to be Mother Russia.

 

I don't think I'm being too reactionary when I say that there will come a time, very soon, when we hear the news that all elections will be suspended "until further notice."  Which means, of course, Trump will have what he wants most: to be president for life.

Edited July 17, 2018 by Khan

[DramatistDreamer]

If you wait for people to be ready, most never will. 

Also, the longer Obama stayed in the Senate, the more likely whatever direction he cast his votes, would be used against him.  And we know how high the artificial bar is set for any minority in public office.  We have to acknowledge that had the George W. Bush administration not made a complete mess of the country, many voters were unlikely to consider a Barack Obama for president. 

 

By the way, Obama spoke today in South Africa on Mandela's centennial birthday and it was an inspiring event!  I've almost forgotten what it's like to listen to a president who can articulate a vision and a position, acknowledge the obstacles while encouraging people to become involved in the process toward finding the solutions, but lo and behold!

 

 

In other news-  the kind that details how Black people's daily lives are being disrupted by people calling the police over the dumbest, most petty, arbitrary sh*t,  one of the 2 CVS employees who got fired recently ran for City Council! 

CVS Fires 2 for Calling Police on Black Woman Over Coupon

 

As annoying and anger-inducing as being followed around in a department store is, this is even worse.  The thought of it raises my blood pressure.

 

Edited July 17, 2018 by DramatistDreamer

[DRW50]

 

I don't think the GOP will let Trump get close to that type of power. It's one thing to put up with him while he's doing what they want, and being scared of his fanbase, but I think his usefulness is coming to an end for them. I do think we are reaching a point where fascism will lead to elections being suspended, but likely with a more subtle and even more dangerous Republican than Trump.

 

Before Obama I always thought the first black President would be a Republican, as I always thought that would be the case with a woman (I still do). Republicans have the media control and the sway to diffuse situations in order to get what they want (if Reagan - a Hollywood actor and a divorcee - had been a Democrat in 1980, he never would have been elected). They unleashed holy hell on Obama because of his race (you could see that a lot of the racism toward the Obama family was not some strategy but just unbridled bile retched up from centuries of fragile white egos and unearned exceptionalism) but also because he was a Democrat, so whipping up bigotry served their purposes. If Republicans had tried to stem the tide, I think, while the backlash would still have been bad, it wouldn't have been AS bad. But they didn't want to, so everyone is paying the price...including them. 

 

I think Obama was right to run when he did. While many Democrats could have probably won in 2008, Obama had to fight like hell in 2012, against a man the media had been pushing for a decade or more, with a Democratic Party that was increasingly weakened and divided. We got those 4 years because of him. And it is so difficult for a black candidate to have a chance. Look at how Jesse Jackson was treated in terms of respect or input from the party or the media compared to Bernie Sanders. Or the hostility toward Kamala Harris from the minute anyone talked about her running. Obama had a moment in time, and he was right to take it. 

[I Am A Swede]

 

Amen to that!!

Change is always difficult, because many people are afraid of it and resist it as long as they can. But I believe that in the end changes will happen, despite the opposition.

[marceline]

The "maybe Obama ran too early" is just another attempt tell oppressed people to shut up and wait for our oppressors to decide that we deserve equal rights. (Hint: they never will.)

 

And now that we've seen yet another historical example of the hypocrisy and depravity that white people will practice in the name of dominance (see also: Japanese internment, Jim Crow, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Trail of Tears, etc...)let's just stop acting like there's ever going to be a right time. The Republicans decide to burn this country to the ground whenever a Democrat is in charge because Democrats don't center whiteness. 

[DramatistDreamer]

One of Trump's secret service agents died while in Scotland.

 

US secret service agent dies after stroke during Trump visit to Scotland

[GMac]

I knew he didn't believe a word of that weak backtrack bs he said yesterday.  

 

Trump says Russia "no longer targeting" US

[DramatistDreamer]

This is an interesting Congressional race.

Since it is the New York Times of today, I can't take it for granted that they have actually presented a holistic view of the voters in the Hudson Valley region but I couldn't help but feel heartened by some of the statements made by the residents who called out John Faso and urged the comments to reflect the issues that are important to them, rather than rap lyrics from a decade ago.

 

A Congressional Candidate Used to Be a Rapper. Will It Matter?