The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

I think things like the "girl squad" or whatever they were called (some of whom, like Selena Gomez, decided it was a great idea to go All Lives Matter on Twitter in response to criticism) and Taylor's "special place in hell" comment about Tina Fey and Amy Poehler set up a negative picture of a cold, calculated image of white feminism as elitist, uncaring, etc (something Fey herself has been criticized for in more recent times). I guess it became easy to see the worst of Swift because this type of Internet talk became so loud and there was nothing else going out beyond talk of rivalries or boyfriends, etc. 

 

It sounds like the far right candidate in Brazil became more popular in part because of a stabbing. Apparently assassination attempts are very common in the political system there - one of the factors in a number of black women running this year.

 

https://face2faceafrica.com/article/inspired-by-their-murdered-colleague-these-black-women-are-running-for-office-in-brazil

 

This couldn't come at a worst time (the shift to hard right in Brazil) as it looks like we're in deep [!@#$%^&*] by 2040 in climate changes. The way things are going it will probably be sooner than that. 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/climate/ipcc-climate-report-2040.html

[DRW50]

I can't imagine Shana Alexander's comments being on a news show today...

 

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[DramatistDreamer]

Haddad would be better off to focus on the fact that Bolsanaro has absolutely no coherent strategy for the Brazilian economy.  Brazil is still very much attached to the protection of the worker and Bolsanaro is nowhere near anything resembling a pro-worker platform. 

 

Haddad would be better off making this the focus since clearly many white Brazilians feel they can overlook Bolsanaro's racism and misogyny.  

Ask Brazilians if they want to elect someone who has no coherent economic plan and connect that to the spread of further inequality, which leads to more crime, more kidnappings and less personal security.

 

Lula, even with all his problems and the WP corruption, polled extremely high for another presidential run before he was disqualified from the race.  Why was Lula polling so high?  Because people were employed and crime was down when he was president.

 

The irony is that while many men facilitated rampant corruption, only a woman has paid the price. Dilma Rousseff made the mistake of overstating the figures to make one sector look as if it had more money than it actually did, essentially "robbing Peter to pay Paul" but the men around her were robbing everyone to pay themselves.  She was impeached, they are still in government.  Rousseff made the critical error of being a woman and being highly unpopular.  When you are a woman, if you are not exceptional, you will pay the price. 

And if you make a mistake on the level of Rousseff, you will be impeached, without question.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

As much as I detest Yahoo! this seems fairly noteworthy.

 

[Khan]

What's wrong with Yahoo!?

 

Manchin was a coward.  Plain and simple.  He voted for Kavanaugh, not because he believed him to be innocent -- sorry, but I don't believe his justification for his "yes" vote -- but because he needed the votes for re-election.

 

Who knows?  He might have saved his job by voting the way that he did, too.  But, it's kind of like what Blanche told Gil Kessler in "The Golden Girls," when he lied and said they had spent the night together, just to boost his campaign.  Yes, you won, Joe, but what kind of man are you, if you didn't win honestly?

 

Even if it means losing a Senate seat and yielding further advantage to the GOP, I'd rather see a man lose while fighting the good fight -- in this case, potentially alienating his own voting base by saying, no, this man should not serve on our highest court -- than win by compromising his integrity.

[JaneAusten]

Machin was ahead by 10 points. 10 points. Heidi Heidkamp who was already behind voted no. I see very few in the media giving her any attention.

[Juliajms]

I just saw this quote in an article about Jerry Brown.  I'm kind of feeling the gallows humor this morning so I had to share.

 

J. Robert Oppenheimer: “The world is moving in the direction of hell with a high velocity, and perhaps a positive acceleration and a positive rate of change of acceleration.”

[DramatistDreamer]

 

What isn't wrong with Yahoo!? is more the question.

 

Yahoo! is/was (it's been acquired by AOL and is now officially known as OATH) a prime example of a company that abandoned its ethics and standards to protect privacy, in favor of runaway expansion.

 

Despite numerous complaints about active trolls targeting the comments section spewing vitriolic bile that was racist, sexist, homophobic and cheered rape culture, Yahoo! only began to address these problems once they decided to try to put the platform up for sale.

Also, they twice hid major security breaches as a result of hacking, only revealing the worst breach, like...two years later??!

Those were some of their worst failures as a company and I'm sure there are more.

 

[DRW50]

 

Many seem to have already written her off. 

 

The funny part is that the Republicans didn't even bother to give more than lip service to Manchin's vote - McConnell said that's great, but he still needs to lose, and Trump Jr called him a liar and told people to vote for his opponent. 

 

I tend to wonder if these are Manchin's actual views anyway, beyond just being a sellout. I just don't believe West Virginia voters would have rejected him over this particular issue. Yes they are very conservative, but I don't believe this particular topic would have gotten that type of backlash. 

[I Am A Swede]

In other political news: it's been a month since our general election here, and we still don't have a new government. It's a complete stand-still between the opposing blocks. The speaker has given Ulf Kristofferson, leader of the conservative Moderate Party, the first chance to try and form a government with his Alliance for Sweden, but he can't reach a majority without either the support from the right-wing Sweden Democrats, or the support from the Social Democrats. And he doesn't want to turn to the Social Democrats, since they're the traditional opponents of the Moderate Party, but at the same time he can't turn to the Sweden Democrats since his partners in the Alliance for Sweden, the Liberals and the Centre Party, absolutely refuse to co-operate with them, under any circumstance. At the same time though, both the Liberals and the Centre Party insist that the Alliance for Sweden is their preferred choice to form a government.

The Social Democrats are eager to work with the Liberals and the Centre Party to break up the rigid left-right situation we have but so far they've been unsuccessful in their attempts to woo them.

The Sweden Democrats meanwhile have become emboldened by their success, and have stated that they will not support any government without getting influence over the immigration politics and law and order.

It feels absolutely hopeless and I'm not sure how this will turn out.

[Khan]

After checking with my state's election board's online voter tool, I can say with 100% certainty that I am a registered voter.

 

(But if you people even THINK about asking me to post pictures or something, I will vote Republican to spite y'all, I swear I will!)

Edited October 8, 2018 by Khan

[Juliajms]

I wish your country the best of luck in keeping the far right from having much influence.

I'm glad.  I'm looking forward to voting myself.  Usually it's a duty, but it will be a joy this year.

[Wendy]

Susan Collins is getting roasted on Twitter for whining about needing security on 60 Minutes, and it's beautiful.

[Juliajms]

What a nut.

 

[Wendy]

Rudy looks more and more like Nosferatu every day.