The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

Donald Trump is asked to pay millions to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her : NPR

Even if she won't see a dime of this money (and I imagine she knows that), I hope it at least helps her peace of mind.

It's sad we live in a country where this verdict will just make his supporters - and the media who would die for him - even more fervent in their love for him.

[Khan]

I was reading an interview the other day with a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (can't remember his name atm) who wrote a book on Donald Trump and who said a judgment for more than $10 million is precisely the outcome that Trump wanted, so that he run go to the press and to his followers and proclaim our justice system to be rigged and that the amount was unfair because it was decided by a "New York jury" - meaning, of course, too liberal, and too ethnic.

Edited January 27, 2024 by Khan

[JaneAusten]

Hi folks. I have been dealing with some health issues so I have not been around much the past several months. But I wanted to pose a question and perhaps start another thread.

The conflict in Gaza and the surrounding middle eastern countries is a problem as long as time.  This go around we all know the event that was the catalyst.  I have been doing a lot of reading about the history in that region, specifically trying to understand The Israeli and Palestinian problem and relationships over the years.

I have found very little appetite for this with family and friend in my life and social media in general is a toxic heap of everything bad.

I was wondering if there was anyone here interested in a discussion surrounding this. This is not about assigning blame, but to truly understand the complexities and history and evolution to where we are today. I want to make that clear because these discussions tend to evolve into who's at fault and you're a bad person if you think these things or those things.

If you're not interested I understand. It's a difficult and painful topic for many.

 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2024 by JaneAusten

[Khan]

First of all, @JaneAusten, I'm glad you're still with us and hope you're taking care of yourself and that you will be on the mend soon.

I, for one, would love to have an in-depth discussion about the ongoing tensions in the Middle East.  It's a subject that the media, I'm afraid, is not doing a very good job of explaining to the public.  They seem to want to reduce it to "heroes and villains," when, IMO, it's much more complicated than that.

So far, the only public figures I've heard from who truly get that there are many, many factors at play are Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.  As Obama himself said, "Nobody's hands are clean in this."

[DramatistDreamer]

Hi @JaneAusten. I hope that you are feeling much better these days. Last year was a rough year for me, with the loss of one of my brothers who I was a caregiver for and I am still dealing with the emotional (and a few physical manifestations of that), so I wish you a full recovery of health and hope you will take the time to really care for yourself.

As for the discussion, I think as a society we should be willing to have an open and honest conversation about not only the Israeli-Hamas war but the nature of armed conflict and whether this is the best that we as human beings living in the 21st century can do. I do have reservations, only because these conversations often seem to become focused on emotions. There is also a lot of tangled history, culture, political regional rivalries that all enter and complicate matters but maybe we can try to navigate those issues together. 

[JaneAusten]

Thanks to both of you @Khan and @DramatistDreamer for your kind words. I have had a challenging couple of years. My mom passed away almost 2 years ago - she had a long and mostly healthy life but vascular dementia made her final year with moments of sadness and joy. Despite all that, I miss her terribly still. It left me with a brother who is a sweet man and suffers from Aspergers. Very smart but very socially inept and awkward due to his disability. He lived with my parents most of his life and is now retired but living on his own in a lovely retirement community by himself. It's been a big adjustment for jim and for both of us. He has a good support system and people who care about him, but it's still been a challenge. Couple that with my own health issues this past year.  But I am not crying for myself. I've maintained I believe my positivity, but am feeling a bit lost the last couple of months.  No real explanation other than looking at my own mortality and wondering what the rest of my life should be. I'm still wrestling with that.

Anyway, thank for your interest. I agree with all of what has been said here. This is a very emotional topic for sure, and I want to avoid the political and partisan, outside of perhaps understanding how it's hampered and helped situations over many years.

Anyway I'll start the thread and post some thoughts. I don't have any trajectory in mind I guess we'll see how things go.

 

[Juliajms2]

I didn't realize quite how bad the immigration situation on the border is until I read about the situation in Denver on CNN.  I tend to block it out when the Republicans start talking about an "immigration crisis", but this time it really is. A crisis of their own making in some part. Greg Abbott is sending people to Denver in the freezing cold weather. 

What a heartless SOB. I understand that he wants to punish Blue leaders, cities and states, but isn't there a warmer place he could send people? The federal government needs to help these cities out before people start dying in the street.

[Khan]

That's the thing to remember, @Juliajms: there really wasn't a "border crisis" until Republicans created one with these forced busings in order to fit their narrative; and IMO, it's way past time for people to call them out on it, too.

[DRW50]

No one will because the corporate media loves Republicans and hates America. I saw someone on Twitter posting several days in a row of NYT front pages that were all about immigration and Biden, with the usual negative framing. No one in the press cares about calling out the heartlessness of Abbott, DeSantis, etc. because these are their heroes.

[Vee]

Every few years since at least 2012 the GOP tries to drum up a new border crisis and the media always carries the water until that line fails at the ballot box. Very little introspection ever follows.

The media ecosystem has changed for the worse since '12 and there is more penetration in some segments of the public than before, but I'm not convinced any of it will matter very much in the final calculus come November.

 

Edited February 1, 2024 by Vee

[janea4old]

Statue of Liberty:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me"

Republicans:  No.

[DRW50]

It feels like all hands are on deck to get Trump back in - the media as well as many on the left. The polls are hard to trust at this point, but so many of them being in Trump's favor (aside from Quinnipiac recently...not a great polling firm) makes me wary. I guess all we can do is try to get through each day. I'm just glad the media has much less influence than it once did.

Edited February 2, 2024 by DRW50

[marceline]

The press and pundits don't want to admit it but this election isn't going to be about immigration or Gaza, or whatever other manufactured nonsense. It's about abortion. I've seen the Dobbs Effect with own eyes here in the red state of Ohio. Folks aren't ready for what's coming. 

When Issue 1 (abortion) was on the ballot I decided to vote early the Sunday before election day. Polls opened at 8 AM. I was there at 8:30 and the line of cars wanting to drop off ballots was like concert traffic. When I finally parked, I walked in with a flood of people. It was a level of turnout I haven't seen since Obama 2012.

Once I was inside the Board of Elections, I saw women. Whole generations of women voting. Mom, daughter, and grandma. I saw a group of four young women who were voting then going to get breakfast/brunch. 

Y'all are going to get tired of me saying this but every election is an abortion election until we get a new SCOTUS. 

Edited February 2, 2024 by marceline

[Vee]

No, I agree. I think the media doesn't want to admit that because a) they're bored of Biden/resent Democrats in general, b) most of them are covered re: birth control and don't care about the issue, especially in newsrooms or networks dominated by male department heads, and c) they just can't conceive of any issue sticking with the public longer than one news or election cycle because their own minds don't operate like that. But it's been a couple elections now. It's not going away. And I don't think it's going to go away until something is done.

Edited February 2, 2024 by Vee

[Khan]

I agree with you, @Vee, and with @marceline as well.