The Politics Thread

[Vee]

[DramatistDreamer]

Another day, another set of subpoenas for the Trump cabal.

 

[Faulkner]

 

[marceline]

 

I'm seeing this with the Liam Neeson outrage. People say that Northam should've "defused" the photo and been honest about it but here's Liam Neeson trying to be honest about something he now knows was wrong and he's still being vilified. We can use these things as teachable moments if people would just take a breath.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Literally no one asked Liam Neeson about this and at a press junket to promote a movie just seemed like a strange arena to be making this confession.  Neeson is Roman Catholic...he couldn't find a good priest to make a confession?

 

The U.S. desperately needs some type of Truth & Reconciliation forum, the way South Africa did post-apartheid.  South Africa certainly has its problems still, mostly rampant and unchecked corruption and income inequality but without the TRC, there's a good argument that society in South African would be paralyzed (and a lot more violent) had one never taken place.

These issues deserve open discussion, and there are teachable moments to be had, I agree.  I just don't know if a press junket for a movie premiere is the arena in which to do it.

 

[marceline]

 

Yeah, I don't know what made him think this was a good disclosure. But I'm talking about people on Twitter screaming "He thought about committing a hate crime!" Last I checked thoughts were just thoughts. If we start going after people for their thoughts then a whole lot of us are going to jail. I'm on enough blood pressure meds and anti-depressants without having to freak out about Liam Neeson's dark thoughts. 

[Khan]

 

 

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But seriously.  I agree that the moment to make that sort of confession was an odd one.  However, like you, @marceline, I am not gonna hate on someone like Liam Neeson, just because, in the heat of anger, he thought about killing him some Black folks.  There's THINKING about doing something heinous, and then there's actually following through.  Neeson realized he was about to jump off a very steep cliff, so he pulled back, so I'm good.

 

I've seen more than one individual try and draw comparisons between Ralph Northam and Brett Kavanaugh, and that needs to stop as well.  For one thing, parading around in blackface (while doing the Moonwalk) is not the same thing as sexually assaulting women while [!@#$%^&*]-faced.  Blackface is not a crime -- it SHOULD be, but it's not.  (Just as white people even THINKING about doing the Moonwalk should be shot on sight grounds for immediate incarceration ("Don't even THINK about collecting your fitty bucks, just take yo' ass directly to jail!") but that's not.  But I digress.)

 

OTOH, sexual assault and perjury ARE crimes; and those who perpetrate those crimes should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

 

 

Yep.  I don't feel TOO sorry for these individuals, because, well, karma and all that.  But, you're right: they'd still vote for that man even now, so why bother even listening to their fake outrage?

Edited February 5, 2019 by Khan

[Khan]

 

I think part of Fairfax's problem is that he's living in an age when, thanks to social media and the like, people demand answers and they demand them yesterday.  There's literally zero time for public figures (such as Fairfax) to stop, take a breath, gather one's thoughts, consult a brain trust or two, and then decide the best course of action.  The longer you go w/out reacting to the allegations, it seems, the more guilty-as-hell that you look.  That's how you end up making the kind of WTF, possibly career-ending statements that Fairfax has made.

 

It's just like when a celebrity dies and people get their feelings hurt because so-and-so didn't respond to the news the SECOND it broke.  Chill the [!@#$%^&*] out, people.  Not everyone in this world has the luxury of sitting on their Twitter or Instagram feed.  Believe it or not, but some folks actually have lives.

Edited February 5, 2019 by Khan

[Faulkner]

Co-sign. I just don’t have the bandwidth to get upset about that. He was totally naive to think that wouldn’t have been a self-inflicted wound in this climate especially, though. (Not that it would have gone over well before, but still.) Speaking only personally, I appreciate the brutal honesty.

Edited February 5, 2019 by Faulkner

[Juliajms]

This is surreal.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Where does he find these people??!  Good Lord!

Is there a political era as ridiculous as the one in which we are living in now?

[DRW50]

 

In this particular case it seems like one of those nominations that is meant to be a "gotcha" to liberals, as she is a woman and a minority. And the media will dutifully push a narrative of "Democrats in disarray" and of how Democrats will be seen as racist and sexist if they don't support her. 

 

Oddly enough the hard right senator from Iowa also seems critical of her (although she will vote for her in the end, of course), which kind of steps on their narrative. 

 

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ernst-pushes-rao-on-rape-position

[Juliajms]

 

[alphanguy74]

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[JaneAusten]

Quote from MLK

 

"This country has socialism for the rich, and rugged individualism for the poor."

 

We have massive socialism in this country. Just not for the regular people.

 

Socialism good

- Create endless military actions to keep the likes of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin in business(must keep those weapons lines humming)

- Have a lopsided judicial system and highest incarceration rate in the western world to keep the private prison contractors like Core Civic in business. And who do people think is managing all those border camps setup along the border. So you create a fake crisis that leads to those private prison contractors keep humming

- Massive tax breaks that leave the mega rich and corporations having to pay basically zilch(welfare) while selling to the middle class a MAYBE tiny tax break(although now we see peoples taxes have gone up) to - well not do anything.

 

But providing 300 million people affordable healthcare is bad "socialism"

 

Edited February 6, 2019 by JaneAusten