The Politics Thread

[JaneAusten]

A man not running plus 2 African American women going head to head meant no coverage. We know why. The local media was all about this race for the past 6 weeks and was covering it thoroughly for the past several months. Preckwinkle backed that unpopular soda tax but I think what killed her election was that many saw her as establishment. Its hard not to. She's currently Cook County Board President. She supported Ed Burke the corrupt alderman, she also was a big supporter of our prior county assessor who got beat last spring for over and under assessing targeted areas. Over assessments occurred in mostly PoC communities along with others who generally tend to be more uninformed about the appeal process. That showed Preckwinkle didn't give a darn about homeowners from her own community, The corruption is so rampant. Lightfoot by the way won every ward in the city. It was a huge loss for Preckwinkle who was considered the frontrunner months ago. That in itself should have made it a HUGE story.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic about Lightfoot. She has a huge battle but she now also has some allies in the council who want change. Harold Washington 30 years ago ran the same way and had to spend  4 years fighting members of the city council so time will tell. The corruption is so engrained its going to take a monumental effort.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Oh, I know all too well about how property assessments go.  Where I grew up, there was a sharp line between the depressed "urban" areas and the wealthy suburbs.  The urban areas could hardly get necessary resources on a consistent basis and were consistently undervalued (while still facing a high property tax burden), while in the suburban areas, where residents could hire their own assessor, their the value of their properties would be suitably assessed.  I only found out about this when my mother's neighborhood was put under eminent domain and the city's assessor was trying to undervalue her property and she ended up contesting the initial assessment.

[DRW50]

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/04/tim-ryan-2020-election-1255867

 

Considering just how uninspiring and damaged much of the lineup is, Tim Ryan might have a chance in other circumstances, but he is someone who never really matched the promise or hype he was given for the last 15 years, and I can't see Nancy Pelosi being all that enthused either.

 

That more and more people keep getting in tells you what a lackluster group we have. 

[DramatistDreamer]

Huh?  What is this ever about?

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

She tags these folks when she criticizes them too, lol.  I've seen her do this to her old employer CNN when she asked them about their lack of diversity behind the camera.

 

[DramatistDreamer]

Seems as if attitudes, in general, haven't much changed since then.

 

[Vee]

[Juliajms]

I'm actually surprised those numbers aren't worse.  I guess I just don't expect even 2/3 of people to be decent at this point. 

[DramatistDreamer]

The NYT has an article that discusses the issue of Anti-Semitism coming from various political spectrums.  I am providing the link because the embed contains an image that may be disturbing and I don't want to be insensitive (sometimes I feel as if I've become desensitized to racist imagery because I've had to face it so often) to anyone.

 

Anti-Semitism Is Back, From the Left, Right and Islamist Extremes. Why?

[Khan]

Here, in OKC, several locations, including the HQ's for our state's Democratic Party, have been desecrated lately with anti-Semitic epithets and imagery.

 

What can you say?  We have an individual, sitting in the very office that is supposed to protect all citizens from this kind of filth, who has said, in so many words, that it is perfectly okay to spray-paint your hatred and bigotry toward others, wherever you please, without fear of reprimand from the law enforcement community or the general public.

 

This is America, in 2019, and probably beyond.

 

Thanks for the article, DD.

Edited April 5, 2019 by Khan

[Juliajms]

Yeah, I think most of us here were so horrified by Trump's election because we knew this would happen.  I'll admit that it's worse than I thought it would be though.  The way people on our boarder are being treated is going to be a shame that follows us just like the internment of the Japanese.  If someone had told me that could happen in modern America I would not have believed them even four years ago.

 

The rise of antisemitism is of course disturbing, especially when it's happening in places like France.  People just do not learn.

[DramatistDreamer]

You're welcome @Khan.

When the troubles of the world get to feel as though they've reached (over)saturation point, I often feel like disengaging with the world.  Over the past week or so, I've been dealing with a personal issue that has really got me feeling down (it's less about me and more about what loved ones are currently going through) but I realize that thoroughly disengaging (which I have tried) probably makes me feel worse.  I still ponder emotional disengagement but as a writer, that's probably all but completely impossible.  In any case, I've developed a life-long habit of reading and consuming the news, which means I can't help but care about what goes on in the world, although, right now, I really wish I didn't. 

Edited April 5, 2019 by DramatistDreamer

[Juliajms]

I'm sorry to hear that.  I know what you mean about disengaging. I remember swearing I would hide in fiction after the election, but I just can't do it.

 

  So many people I know are depressed or anxious right now (i'm not saying you DD). I suspect what is happening in the country makes people more vulnerable overall, well except for the people enjoying it. I can't even give blood right now. They keep telling me my heart rate is too high, so I'm off to the doctor in a couple of weeks to see about anxiety meds. Not that I blame Trump for that of course.  I just think the mood of the country is making those of us already vulnerable worse in some cases.

[DramatistDreamer]

Thanks @Juliajms.  It would be interesting if there were a national health study to see how many people have been affected (even incidentally) but the seemingly constant political turmoil.  

I'm one of those people who had the feeling that things would be every bit as bad as they've turned out but knowing it and actually experiencing it are almost two different things.

 

Days like today, I miss my elementary school days when the biggest problems I had could seemingly be dissolved (or at least put on ice) by the weekend.  Today, it's mild, slightly overcast with a light mist in the air, the type of weather I would have relished as a little girl when I'd look forward to the short walk home from the bus stop and getting to the VCR to rewind my recorded soaps.  I really wish I had had the resources to buy a lot of VHS tapes, so I didn't have to record over episodes and I could've stock-piled episodes like some people did.  I could do with some of those episodes now (unfortunately most are not on YT).

[DRW50]

It felt like the last paragraphs of that article focused almost exclusively on defending and supporting Netanyahu. It was a jarring tonal shift.