Jump to content

The Politics Thread


Toups

Recommended Posts

  • Members

Yes, also where they booed Cornyn and attacked Dan Crenshaw and his staff (no tears left to cry on that front...). In past years people would say oh these are the extremists, not the people in power. That is far from the case now. They run everything. @JaneAusten talked above about the basic stupidity of voters that I've been thinking about ever since. I keep hoping they will not just welcome fascism because of gas prices and inflation, but it's hard to hope for anything beyond waking up in the  morning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 45.8k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Vee

    6817

  • DRW50

    5991

  • DramatistDreamer

    5521

  • Khan

    3465

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

Yes, MS was on a Sunday discussion panel I used to watch as a teenager. I can't recall the name of it. Tucker was on it too, but that was before his human suit started slipping. I always liked him.

I'm worried about this too. These prices have to be hitting the lower middle class and working poor really hard. In a reasonable society we would just raise the amount you can make while getting food stamps and hand out $500 gift cards to people under a certain income.  In this country we will do nothing because the Republicans will block it. I think we should force them to block an aid bill instead of not even trying to pass one (as far as I know).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Meléchon and the political left gained a lot of seats in France, which looks as if the French voted to be a check on Macron who has alienated a lot of French voters. The worrying aspect is the fact that Le Pen’s party got so many seats, because I believe that she is a wolf who has been trying on sheep’s clothing as of late. She is the same xenophobe nationalist who has only triangulated and softened her positions to seem more palatable to a larger number of voters than her usual base. Macron is largely responsible for the loss of the majority of loss of seats. It’s never a good thing when your constituents refer to you as a Napoleonic figure. Here is the result, an erosion of his party’s presence in government.

A reminder of the history being made in Colombia.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I don't know what the balance was before, but I believe LePen's party won 87 seats and Melenchon's 131. But I do believe France had been down this road before I think with Mitterand. Not with LePen of course but with not having a majority in Parliament.

I hope @Catcan come back and share the perspective from someone closer to the situation

It's quite interesting what is happening in Latin America. Columbia, Chile, Bolivia. and it looks like Lula most likely will beat Bolsonaro in Brazil. That certainly is a bit different than the rest, but still interesting. 

Edited by JaneAusten
Clean up merged posts
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Thanks for your shout-out! I cannot add too much to what you and @DramatistDreamer have contributed here. As you guys already noted, the triangulation of French politics continues. The results are largely in line with presidential voting preferences a month or so ago, so the National Assembly will be fairly representative of how French people actually vote -- for better or for worse. That is always the risk in democracies -- as we know all too well.

54% abstention rate -- oy. Better than 57% in 2017, but still not great. Sometimes I wish we could do what Australia does which is make people to do their civic duty. Some French people feel disenfranchised that they'd rather stay away. France also has a tradition of "voter blanc" where they vote blank or spoil their ballot in order to register discontent.

Here are some of the results:

Please register in order to view this content

 

Head of Ipsos polling was on France 24 (English-language French cable news) last night. He said a few interesting things:

-Le Pen's Rassemblement National outperformed polls and came in with more seats than expected. This is usual. Le Pen supporters tend to be suspicious of pollsters/don't like to say publicly that they will vote for them. 

-Macron's party Ensemble! outperformed the polls. Ipsos was expecting less seats for them (around 220). Nevertheless, they did not get their majority, and as far as everyone is concerned, that is a big loss for the party. They also lost key members of Macron's cabinet in this election. Some voters polled hid the fact that they would vote for Marcon's party, perhaps out of embarrassment. This suggests, of course, that Macron himself is not popular.

-Mélenchon's NUPES came second in terms of largest grouping (as expected) but underperformed in terms of number of seats. Some voters maybe changed their mind at the last minute, or didn't go to vote at all (usually younger voters, and poorer ones fit that latter category).

-Les Républicains, the traditional centre-right, came fourth and that was better than they expected. They will likely be Macron's party's coalition partners to vote in certain parts of his agenda -- but they will demand something in return.

 

So Mélenchon's Nouvelle Union Populaire is officially the opposition, but he will be lowkey pissed that he didn't get the chance to be prime minister. This union will do its best to make things uncomfortable for Macron's government. It's not at all clear if this union can hold, though. Mélenchon is far-left (I would even say extreme-left) and some of the Greens and Socialists in his union are not. They disagree on climate policy and European Union, which are pretty important subjects. They're not too crazy about him either. He is also rather pro-Putin, which makes France's policy towards the war in Ukraine kind of up in the air.

 

As for Macron, his arrogance and assumptions cost him dear. After a close-run presidential election, he should have been humbled and hit the campaign trail. He didn't really show up to shake hands in the provinces in the final days of campaigning, which he should have. Instead, he flew to Kyiv this weekend to meet Zelenskyy in hopes it would burnish his credentials. After running to and from the Kremlin in the run-up to this war, Macron kind of burned some bridges with a few of his Western/NATO allies, so this was an attempt to be on-side. But it didn't work in terms of the legislative elections. People were preoccupied with poor (or shut down) public services, Paris wealth centralisation, and inflation. They don't like his glossy Parisian image or his top-down kingly style. He will have to show humility while still retaining his leader qualities -- I'm not sure he knows how to do that.

 

On my side, I voted tactically in both rounds -- each time for Macron's party. I have always been pretty centrist and fearful of polarising extremes on both sides. Tactically, because my view on Macron has definitely waned over the years. I once thought his idea of bringing Putin/Russia in from the Cold and into the European fold was bold -- in more recent times, belatedly, I realize that he (and I!) were fools to even think that. Also, his policies tend to be surface and superficial. It is frustrating because the Presidency has (had?) a lot of power to implement its agenda, but Macron is more concerned with how he appears than actual outcomes.

He also cannot quite grasp the idea of a dispossessed France with access to few resources, working two jobs in a gig economy, and disrupted/divided/let down by technology, to various extents. Not everything can be automated and solved by going online -- sometimes citizens need a human on the other side of that call to public services.

 

 

---------------

 

As for Colombia and LatAm (I hope you don't mind me talking about this too, I am really interested in the region and do some work on it as part of my job) -- there is a leftwards move in the region as a whole for sure. Even though inflation is high (and most central banks in Latin American have exercised rather prudent, independent monetary policies since June 2021 in an effort to tame it), Covid left a lot of people completely battered and hopeless. If not dead. LatAm had some horrific death rates. People there want better quality of life and more spending on public services, many of which are in ruins. Painful racial and social divisions became too much to bear during the pandemic.

The risk with some left-leaning governments is inflationary economic policies and the real risk of violence or military coups coming from the right-wing. I'd like to think military coups are a thing of the past in LatAm, but you never know. In the West, it feels like the 1970s all over again sometimes... well, the 1970s were an exceptionally horrific and dark time for most of Latin America.

Finally: Biden will have to work with these governments, autocratic or not. He really mishandled that Summit of the Americas a week or so ago.

Edited by Cat
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Colombia stands apart from the other Latin American countries, with the exception of Brazil that has the highest number of people of African descent.  Colombia comes in second, with the second highest number of people of African descent in Latin America.
Márquez Mina became Petro’s running mate because she came in second only to Petro in the primary. Her personal biography as well as her career has energized a core group of the Colombian electorate— people who normally don’t vote, voted! Those from the rural community that Márquez Mina hails from, as well as other rural and poor areas who have been marginalized for decades voted.
It wasn’t just about the pandemic leaving people behind…people in Colombia have been left behind and marginalized for years by candidates from the same political parties that usually win, time and again. It’s the main reason why the first group of candidates to get knocked out of the presidential race were the two candidates from the two traditional political parties in Colombia.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Didn't mean to imply in my previous post that the pandemic was the only factor behind this result -- rather the drop which overflows the cup for many people. The levels of inequality are massive in Colombia and the rest of the region, entrenched for centuries/generations through slavery, repression and civil war. In that context, Márquez Mina's win is all the more impressive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The media will always look for a black Republican to proclaim diversity and how the GOP is the party of the future, when primary voters have much less interest:

Due to Hunt's loss, this is the man who will be running against Sanford Bishop...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Yep, and the orange orangutan is the one who appointed the three justices who I'm sure wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. This Supreme Court is not balanced at all. Not the way that it's intended to be with nine justices. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

So I'm a gay male.  I have spent the last half hour crying.  I do not know why, other than it pains me to see someone treated with less respect, and be treated truly not equal/unequal.  I identify with it.  And I see a group of people - Republicans in general - that somehow have the market cornered on what American means.  And it disgusts me.  

I posted on Facebook about this decision.  And said the Republican party completely disgusts me now.  I already have 2 replies from people I knew in High School telling me that I'm gay - so my opinion doesn't matter because this doesn't even affect me.  And to go *** my boyfriend.  I didn't TAG anyone in my post, and  both replied to MY post, and THEN TAGGED ME ON their page and started their OWN discussion with threats and disparaging comments.  They 100% without prompting just CONFIRMED what I said in general about Republicans.  

It's what discrimination is.  You know it's there.  You KNOW it's there.  And no matter how far we seem to progress, it always rears its head.  I already KNEW how you felt, I just ignore it and hope I'm wrong.  Well, I'm not wrong and they just proved it.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • They didn't need to have some slutty gay dude as their representation. Just a 'normal' guy getting involved with another guy or two (or three). Just like the straight characters. Thinking about it, they missed the boat by not having a few other single charcters at the beginning. Maybe Naomi or Ashley could be shown meeting Derek/Jacob and  we could follow their romance. Too many characters were coupled up at the start. As a tattoo hater I was surprised to see Tomas so inked. Don't find it attractive or sexy. I'm surprised an actor would do that as it's definitely a statement and may not be appropriate for some roles. Suppose they can cover if necessary. I didn't buy Kat being all girly and then paying off Darius to get into Eva's room. Way too cliche. She should have just come along when the housekeeping was leaving and breezed in saying it was her room. And her smug looks in the hotel room and 'Now I've got you!!' talks to herself at Orphey Gene's...no.  
    • Omg I was so annoyed. Like girl calm down. Coming on way too strong. Omg I forgot about this

      Please register in order to view this content

    • I thought it got stale before Jocks death lol. His death picked things back up for me.
    • 1976 Pt 5 Tony is summoned to the reading of the will in the Llanfair library,as he’s a principal in the will. He tells Joe there’s not a chance of coming to terms with Dorian, as he is sure she brought about Victor’s death by torturing him emotionally when he was her helpless prisoner after his stroke. Ironically, Chapin hand delivers to Viki a letter her father wrote before his stroke, praising Dorian and asking Viki to befriend and support his widow when he was no longer there. Viki feels a responsibility to her father’s wishes and vows to try with Dorian. Victor’s will leaves the expected amounts to members of his family and staff, with the lion’s share of his stock and property going to Dorian. Victor’s will explains that his son Tony expressed the desire that he not be “bought from the grave,” and, in keeping with his son’s wishes, the only bequest to him is the knowledge of his father’s love and respect. Tony is deeply moved. Dorian’s first attempt to use her new power is the recommendation of Peter as head of the Merideth Lord Wolek hospital wing, claiming that naming Larry would be virtual nepotism. Peter, who has devoted considerable time and effort to helping Jenny get over Tim’s death with gentle, affectionate support, is happy at this suggestion, but Jenny points out Dorian is merely using him to hurt Larry. Viki disregards Dorian’s ingenuous assurances that she’s not trying to wield her new power but is merely putting Peter up for consideration for a future opportunity, if not this one, and tells her she won’t be able to fulfill her father’s desire that they be friends unless Dorian stops interfering. Larry, fully understanding Dorian’s personal motives, warns her he’s going to fight for the appointment no matter what. Realizing that she has made a tactical error, Dorian announces that she won’t even attend the board meeting but will give her proxy to Jim. She admits to Matt McAllister, still her confidant, that this was humiliating, but it was a necessary protective tactic. Dorian manages to win her next round at Joe’s office when, after he praises her decision to yield on appointing Peter, she expresses concern for Viki “at a time like this.” Joe, of course, jumps on her words, and Dorian, pretending great distress at having mentioned something she shouldn’t have, is “forced” to explain that she knew about the congenital heart condition Megan had and that any child of Joe’s is likely to inherit it. She overheard the doctors discussing it at the time of the accident, she continues, and naturally assumed that Joe already knew.  Joe arranges a meeting at home with Viki and asks her how she could live a lie like this; how she could go through their lives as if everything were fine while every moment was a lie. He is further upset when, in trying to explain that it was out of her love for him that she kept the truth from him, she mentions that Jim and Larry also know but Cathy still hasn’t been told. Viki tells Joe that Dorian deliberately told him this way to hurt their marriage, and she is very upset when he starts toward the door, pleading that they have always talked things out in the past. Joe coolly points out that she didn’t do that when she learned about Megan and continues out the door.  A tearful Viki is shaken and when Joe later returns, having spent several hours in a bar drinking only soft drinks,she breaks down, crying that she was convinced he’d left her. Joe assures her they can get through this despite everything, because their relation is based on love and mutual respect. 
    • If you think about it, DALLAS and DYNASTY grew stale right about the same time, even if the ratings were slow to reflect that.  FC and KL, on the other hand, tried to stay fresh, but KL was way more successful at it, I think, than FC.  (That [!@#$%^&*] with The Thirteen does not hold up well, lol).
    • GH 1976 Pt 8 Heather takes advantage of the situation by asking Jeff to come and look at Tommy. She uses sympathy, compassion, and her own feminine wiles, together with his misery and his pills, to lure him into bed. Later, sober, he apologizes. Learning from Pearson that Monica has seen a divorce lawyer, Jeff confronts her, and she insists it’s a lie. Avoiding his attempts to kiss her, she musses her hair and tears her blouse, then rushes to Rick’s, claiming that she can’t stay with that maniac any longer. They wind up in Rick’s bed, and after making love he confesses he always loved her. Rick replies to her question of whether he wants to marry her by saying he has to talk to Jeff. Monica insists that Jeff not bear any pressure from their problems. As she leaves, Rick gives her a key to his apartment. Jeff, having spent the night drinking, misses his surgical assignment, and Steve, informing him that his personal life can’t interfere with his profession, puts him on suspension. Rick can’t persuade Steve to reverse his decision, but Mark, sensing what’s at the heart of Jeff’s problem, convinces Steve to lift Jeff’s suspension and transfer him to Mark’s service. Rick asks for his key back, telling Monica they can’t do anything as long as she’s under Jeff’s roof. So she has a duplicate made and moves into intern’s quarters, explaining that Jeff’s violence drove her out. She tells Jeff she needs privacy to work things out, and tells Rick Jeff wanted her out. Thinking that this is the preliminary to a divorce, Rick tells her she can come to his place. In New York, Leslie’s abortion is delayed by a mix-up in scheduling, and she calls Terri to commiserate. Rick overhears Terri’s conversation and forces the whole story from her. He flies to New York to stop Leslie, feeling responsible for pointing out how evil Cam was, and arrives to find that she has decided she can’t deny her child the right to live. Monica, meanwhile, expecting that Rick will be home, uses her key to let herself into his apartment and is shocked to find Mark there; knowing that Mark was uncomfortable at the hotel, Rick offered Mark use of the apartment in his absence. Monica is upset to learn that Rick is in New York with Leslie, and Mark doesn’t know why. Mark does advise Monica to play fair with Jeff, but she resents his interference. The next day, while covering for Leslie at the clinic, Monica discovers Leslie’s lab test report and jumps to the conclusion that the baby is Rick’s. When Rick and Leslie return, Monica wastes no time in accusing him. He is dismayed to see that she is still as suspicious and possessive as she was before he went to Africa, and points out that her making a duplicate  key proves she hasn’t changed. Terri encourages Leslie to see Rick in a romantic light and then suggests to Rick that Leslie is interested in him. Rick likes this idea and tells Mark he’s growing ‘unwilling to cope with Monica’s unreasonable demands. But Monica immediately recognizes the threat Leslie represents and decides to attack. She goes to Leslie and tells her flatly that she and Rick are having an affair and he’s her exclusive property. Leslie, who realizes she has been falling in love with Rick, is hurt, and Rick is mystified when he feels Leslie pulling away from him. Monica’s big moment comes when she brings Rick a housewarming gift and seduces him into letting her stay overnight. She is in the bedroom when Leslie stops by to apologize for refusing his dates, and makes a dramatic entrance into the living room draped in Rick’s bathrobe. Leslie turns and runs out. Rick later informs her he’s disappointed in her, because she prejudged Monica and him rather than giving him the benefit of the doubt. Heather tries to arrange another tryst with Jeff, but he replies that he still loves his wife. Heather decides there’s only one way to get Jeff to be pregnant with his child. She manages to overhear Monica putting Jeff down by telling him he no longer turns her on and should look for someone he does. Heather goes to Jeff and tells him that she heard Monica and that she is the one he’s looking for. She manages to get him into bed again, and sweetly assures him this is right. She then sets the stage for future meetings. Steve, meanwhile, offers to help Monica and Jeff work out their problems. Jeff is willing, but Monica turns the idea down. Instead, she presses Terri to convince Jeff to end the marriage. Terri now knows that Monica isn’t a good wife for Jeff and promises to try. But Jeff makes it clear to Monica that he still loves her and won’t let her go. She is bitter and upset, as she has already implied to Rick that she will soon be free. Audrey is upset to find that Florence Andrews has been inquiring about Tommy and herself. She goes to Florence’s home and finds she’s away now. Florence has gone down to Mexico to sign a sworn statement that she purchased a false death certificate for Tom, to protect his son after his wrongful conviction. Tom, learning from her that Steve and Audrey are to be married and Steve is planning to adopt Tommy, tells  Florence not to do anything, as there’s still no assurance that he’ll ever get out. But the judge does accept the statement, and, ironically, on the day that Steve  and Audrey are married, Tom is released from prison.
    • 1976 Pt 12 Final part Laurie agrees with Stuart that Peggy is rushing into marriage to prove that the rape didn’t ruin her life.  She points out that the only way Peg can be sure is to make love with Jack before the wedding. Stuart admits she’s right but points out that he can’t suggest that to Peggy. As the wedding approaches, Peg seems happy that Jack’s become close to the family. However, her happiness is shattered by a nightmare in which her loving bridegroom turns into a leering Ron Becker, forcing her to cancel the wedding. Jack reassures her he’ll wait as long as it takes, and Chris confides that she and Snapper didn’t consummate their marriage on their wedding night because of her own rape experience, but Peggy tells Chris she might never be ready.  Despite her desire to keep Karen as her own daughter, Chris helps a police artist create a sketch of Nancy so it can be printed in the newspaper as part of a search for her. When the attempt proves fruitless, however, Chris asks Greg to file application for permanent custody of the child. Greg points out that adoption is the only way to prevent Ron from returning and claiming the child, and that it will take quite a while. Meanwhile, a nurse in the psychiatric ward sees a resemblance  between the newspaper drawing and her autistic patient, Mrs. Jackson, but since “Fran” doesn’t respond to the name Nancy and no one else sees the similarity, she fears she’s mistaken. Jill is horrified to overhear Kay, when brihging baby Phillip a Christmas gift, telling the child she remembers the night he was conceived. Kay has to then admit to Jill she saw her with Phillip in the bunkhouse that night. Jill is aghast to realize that Kay new the truth all along and put her through such agony in spite of it, denying her baby his father’s name. Lance tells Laurie they’ll marry on Valentine’s Day. He laughs that it’s corny but agrees, secretly wishing it were sooner, as Vanessa has vowed to prevent it. Indeed, Vanessa makes an unprecedented venture out of the house to visit Brad, telling him to rebuff any advance Leslie might make to him, as she’s reaching out to him only from a sense of duty. But Laurie then makes a concerted effort to reach Vanessa. Without being sure why she’s trying so hard, she tries to assure the woman she’s not losing Lance and she, Laurie, will help her find a plastic surgeon somewhere who can help her. Grudgingly, Vanessa seems to be reconsidering her view of Laurie, and Laurie is delighted when Lance offers her a choice between two diamond necklaces, explaining that her preference will be Vanessa’s Christmas gift. Learning from Les about Brad’s blindness, Stuart tells Brad he could have turned Leslie away only out of great love. Knowing that Les is going to see Brad again, Laurie warns him not to bring the baby into their discussion, as Leslie will come back only she’s convinced he loves her, not for the babies sake. Leslie finds Brad disheveled and sloppy, and proceeds to straighten the apartment, stating that she can't respect him if he lets himself go. Realizing that neither Brad nor Les will make the first move, Laurie hurries things along by refusing to help Brad with his grooming, saying he should ask his wife. Then, having learned  that Brad offered Les the use of their piano, Laurie untunes the Brooks' piano forcing Leslie to accept his offer. By refusing to cater to his  blindness, Les manages to get Brad to stop wallowing in pity, and by the time Leslie’s Christmas braille message of her love and her need for him arrives, they are husband and wife again Lance takes Laurie on a business trip on New Year's Eve, and tells her, on board his plane, she won't be  won't be able to call him “Mr. All Talk and No action” after tonight. When Laurie protests that waited this long and will continue to wait until married, Lance delights her by instructing his pilot to land in Las Vegas, where they are married immediately.
    • Yeah, not sure why Jack and Jen didn’t rush to Marlena - or even Carrie - to offer their condolences. A few flashbacks would've been a nice touch too. Instead, we got a whole episode of them talking about Chad and Abby? Come on. On the bright side, I loved Anna’s scenes with Marlena and Carrie - sweet and heartfelt, felt like a real 80s throwback.
    • Martin and Smitty were designed to avoid the stereotype of gay men sleeping around (which to an extent is true). If you recall Martin had a line about them not being open when Chelsea came to talk to him. The producers are walking a very fine line right now and it might not be popular to say but I can understand it. Establishing enough footing to ward off complaints will let them showcase gay characters more openly later.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy