The Politics Thread

[DramatistDreamer]

It gets worse every day.  The ICC is there for a reason.  It is not perfect, but think where society would be globally if the ICC had not been there in the aftermath of war in the Balkans and genocide in Rwanda or civil war in Sierra Leone. 

You cannot weaken the one institution that actually has some successful prosecutions of war criminals!  

So does this mean that Trump and his cabal have more in common with the likes of Slobodan Milosevic than any democratically-minded head of state that respects international rule of law, like the Geneva Convention?

 

[Vee]

[DramatistDreamer]

OMG @ this thread!

 

[Khan]

Leave it to Omarosa to snag a piece of the spotlight for herself.

 

You give me a tape of anyone lip-syncing to "Beauty and the Beast," and I'll see to it that you get the chair.  IJS.

[DRW50]

This hits on a lot of what many here have talked about in the past, regarding the ACA, red states and their dependency on programs they claim to loathe, etc. Joe Manchin is running an ad which tries to thread that needle - shooting a lawsuit designed to take away the pre-existing conditions clause in the ACA.

 

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/obamacare-back-on-the-ballot-in-west-virginia

[DramatistDreamer]

Still waiting on a hearing regarding the loss of lives in Niger but I'm guessing we'll never get one because...Africa, right?

Edited September 10, 2018 by DramatistDreamer

[Vee]

We knew the latter paragraph here long ago, but seeing it in print from Woodward's book, backed up by witnesses, still makes my blood run cold.

 

Edited September 11, 2018 by Vee

[Khan]

It feels like AGES since I've heard the name "Rex Tillerson."

[DramatistDreamer]

Normally, I try to refrain from posting Op-Ed pieces because so many are problematic, to say the least.

This one is a worthy read, especially today.

The Real Lesson of Sept. 11

[JaneAusten]

I read that earlier today and was going to post it and appreciate you doing this. It's a lesson most who actually serve and see war ,over those who sit back in DC or anywhere else around the country untouched do not. I wonder if it's we have gotten immune, the media is in bed with the military pushing war narratives, or that it's no longer :"sexy" enough to be on the front page every day or the lead story like it was during Vietnam. Having an all volunteer army is certainly a factor.

 

The interesting point he made is Bin Laden is dead but he's still winning. We continue to expend ungodly amounts of money on our military, expanding our military involvement around the world in the name of ? No one even knows anymore.

 

What I was surprised with were the comments following the Op-Ed. Most of the comments were from people who agreed with the author. Yet here we still are. It's sobering.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

There's a book I read a few years ago called How To Win A Cosmic War by Reza Aslan (who also used to be my secret crush a few years ago, lol) where the premise was essentially what this op-ed essay was about- in short, the way to win a cosmic war was by not fighting one, in the first place.

When you choose to fight with people who are conditioned to think of endless war and want to draw an enemy into a constant fight so that an otherwise democratic society degrades, that is when the war is won by those who want endless war.  It's the militaristic version of dragging their enemy down to their level.

It was a fascinating book and when I read this essay, the content very much reminded me of that Aslan book.

 

Since September 11th, 2001, I've observed that symbols have taken on an ultra importance---the flag, lapel pins, the national anthem...rather than the ideals behind them. 

Entertaining the idea of torture by waterboarding, interment camps and detention without due process are all acceptable, but don't you dare be caught not standing with your hand over your heart during the national anthem!  For god's sake, no kneeling either!  Don't be caught in public without a lapel pin if you're in public service at a public event! 

To me, the symbols seem pretty empty without defending the ideals behind them (the right of peaceable public assembly aka 'protest'), knowing one's rights and asserting them, even when confronted by authority, the right to challenge public officials who are failing to act on behalf of the public good--clean air, clean water, to be safe and not shot and killed in one's own apartment---all that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, etc., etc.

Anyone who is not seen to be falling in line with the display of those patriotic symbols is seen as unpatriotic but to me, but to me, nothing is more patriotic than wanting your country to do better for the most marginalized and vulnerable in society and challenging those in power to do so.

[Juliajms]

One of the worst people in DC and that's saying something.

[DramatistDreamer]

ICYMI, Trump is a genuine, dyed in the wool sociopath.

 

[Juliajms]

 

[ReddFoxx]

There is a small Twitter back and forth between locals where I live about Antonio Sabato Jr. One of the resident right-wingers used the Kaepernick meme to claim Sabato had sacrificed and ended up blacklisted. Then the left leaning folks came out saying that these thirsty housewives were just drooling over a washed up soap star and posted his gay softcore pictures. It is a mess but is fun to watch because I am not engaging in it (although I did make a passing comment that Sabato doesn't get work because he can't act).