U.S. Politics

[osmark86]

3 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said:

Ben Franklin's experiment looks like a venal, dystopian circus, while Canada, Australia and New Zealand, edge towards crackpot authoritarianism, with added pronouns.

England is a beacon of mediocrity but still manages to preserve the privileges of the middle-classes, and the working-class still know their place.

In short: plus ça change plus ça reste pareil

la prévisibilité est une vertu and all that jazz I suppose

[MakemineVanilla]

1 hour ago, osmark86 said:

la prévisibilité est une vertu and all that jazz I suppose

Very true but it was a pity I didn't see it that way on Sunday night.

[StefanAVFC]

The GOP criticising Biden for making the border safer isn't a timeline a thought I'd see.

[DCJonah]

 

 

 

[MessiWillSignForVilla]

This is a pretty genius move by California, either it forces the Supreme Court to pass a judgement that would by proxy undo Texas' abortion law, or it allows California and other states to take harder lines on gun control through the same loophole.

What's funny is that apparently a gun rights advocacy group even protested the abortion law when it went to the Supreme Court because they were worried this exact situation may happen.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Newson is awesome. Incredibly popular here, we were lucky to have him during COVID. Our biggest worry is we may lose him for a presidential run. Although it looks like Putin is going to be guaranteeing Biden a second term by starting a war so that would kick that can down the road.

Edited February 19, 2022 by ciggiesnbeer

[DCJonah]

I know the focus is Russia at the moment but America scares the shit out of me. 

The republican party have just gone ape shit crazy. They tried to steal an election, they are banning books from being read in schools, they are going after transgender kids, they are controlling women's rights and now want to get rid of the department for education. 

Even though he lost, trump becoming president seems to have really just shifted things way to the right there. 

[TheAuthority]

28 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

I know the focus is Russia at the moment but America scares the shit out of me. 

The republican party have just gone ape shit crazy. They tried to steal an election, they are banning books from being read in schools, they are going after transgender kids, they are controlling women's rights and now want to get rid of the department for education. 

Even though he lost, trump becoming president seems to have really just shifted things way to the right there. 

To be honest, the DoE has had a pretty patchy record of success. I understand why you'd have that reaction if she'd said "I want to ban all education" and then paralleled it with the other issues that you mention.

The DoE is a bloated bureaucratic mess that has arguably done more wrong than right. It's the epitome of what traditional Republicans hate - a huge department that wastes public money and achieves very little. Essentially a place full of people who don't do very much other than try to justify why they have that job (and government jobs over here are VERY good.)

The real question is how do you improve the quality of education in the US and solve some of its problems. The answer she gives in that very short clip is "leave it up to the states." Essentially the de-centralization (or de-federalization) of the decision making process and in some areas I agree with less centralized government.

However for the GOP, "leave it up to the states" has in reality become shorthand for, "we'll be able to get rid of queers (and anyone we don't like,) ban abortion, shoot living people, and pray to the one true God and say MERRY CHRISTMAS."

[Hamburglar]

1 hour ago, DCJonah said:

I know the focus is Russia at the moment but America scares the shit out of me. 

The republican party have just gone ape shit crazy. They tried to steal an election, they are banning books from being read in schools, they are going after transgender kids, they are controlling women's rights and now want to get rid of the department for education. 

Even though he lost, trump becoming president seems to have really just shifted things way to the right there. 

I often see these kind of headlines but never read into them too much so forgive my uneducated thoughts.

Steal an election? In what way, was that the fancy dress protest last year? 
which books are being banned?

transgender kids are being hunted? Wow really?

women have more rights than ever in recorded history in the western world I’m led to believe.

the state education isn’t great so opposition to it is healthy I’d say. 
Are things really that bad?

 

 

[OutByEaster?]

46 minutes ago, Hamburglar said:

The state education isn’t great so opposition to it is healthy I’d say. 

This is where the US is strange - in other countries people would look at the same problem and describe it as "Education isn't great, so support for it is healthy I'd say".

Y'know, an attitude of 'this thing we all need and benefits us all is in trouble and we should be working really hard to improve it'.

In the US, that's considered state interference gone mad and ideologically there's a constant push to end state deliverance of any service - to move to a model of for-profit education, or healthcare, or military, or everything. 

"Opposition" suggests a conflict and in a conflict between public services run for the benefit of a society and public services run for the profit of shareholders, I know where my loyalties would be - the systematic defunding of public healthcare to make it less able to resist and repel the avarice of private providers is a political disgrace that's second only to the US healthcare system as indicators of a country where democracy is failing.

Having "opposition" to state services like education or healthcare is just a strange thing to me - opposition to keeping the for-profit vultures out of it on the other hand is entirely understandable.

[Sam-AVFC]

1 hour ago, Hamburglar said:

I often see these kind of headlines but never read into them too much so forgive my uneducated thoughts.

Steal an election? In what way, was that the fancy dress protest last year? 
which books are being banned?

transgender kids are being hunted? Wow really?

women have more rights than ever in recorded history in the western world I’m led to believe.

the state education isn’t great so opposition to it is healthy I’d say. 
Are things really that bad?

 

 

You could have spent the time you used to write that post Googling and come back with less uneducated thoughts.

[Hamburglar]

1 minute ago, Sam-AVFC said:

You could have spent the time you used to write that post Googling and come back with less uneducated thoughts.

I’ll shut up and go away then ✌

[TheAuthority]

2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

 

In the US, that's considered state interference gone mad and ideologically there's a constant push to end state deliverance of any service - to move to a model of for-profit education, or healthcare, or military, or everything. 

 

Only by people of a certain political persuasion. 

But you must be able to see their point of view, even if, like me, you don't agree with it. Leaving things up to markets has made those in the US with money and power, richer and more powerful for several decades. (That coupled with the oppression of various different peoples and countries.)

[DCJonah]

8 hours ago, Hamburglar said:

I often see these kind of headlines but never read into them too much so forgive my uneducated thoughts.

Steal an election? In what way, was that the fancy dress protest last year? 
which books are being banned?

transgender kids are being hunted? Wow really?

women have more rights than ever in recorded history in the western world I’m led to believe.

the state education isn’t great so opposition to it is healthy I’d say. 
Are things really that bad?

 

 

Well there's the issue then. 

[DCJonah]

7 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

This is where the US is strange - in other countries people would look at the same problem and describe it as "Education isn't great, so support for it is healthy I'd say".

Y'know, an attitude of 'this thing we all need and benefits us all is in trouble and we should be working really hard to improve it'.

In the US, that's considered state interference gone mad and ideologically there's a constant push to end state deliverance of any service - to move to a model of for-profit education, or healthcare, or military, or everything. 

"Opposition" suggests a conflict and in a conflict between public services run for the benefit of a society and public services run for the profit of shareholders, I know where my loyalties would be - the systematic defunding of public healthcare to make it less able to resist and repel the avarice of private providers is a political disgrace that's second only to the US healthcare system as indicators of a country where democracy is failing.

Having "opposition" to state services like education or healthcare is just a strange thing to me - opposition to keeping the for-profit vultures out of it on the other hand is entirely understandable.

The for profit prison system is also a disgrace. Not that long ago there was a private juvenile detention centre, where a certain judge was making money eveytime he sent kids there. Some of those children ended up severely traumatised or committing suicide. 

For profit companies will only ever have profit as their motivation. I just can't see how that could be a good thing in education. 

[CVByrne]

7 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

This is where the US is strange - in other countries people would look at the same problem and describe it as "Education isn't great, so support for it is healthy I'd say".

Y'know, an attitude of 'this thing we all need and benefits us all is in trouble and we should be working really hard to improve it'.

In the US, that's considered state interference gone mad and ideologically there's a constant push to end state deliverance of any service - to move to a model of for-profit education, or healthcare, or military, or everything. 

"Opposition" suggests a conflict and in a conflict between public services run for the benefit of a society and public services run for the profit of shareholders, I know where my loyalties would be - the systematic defunding of public healthcare to make it less able to resist and repel the avarice of private providers is a political disgrace that's second only to the US healthcare system as indicators of a country where democracy is failing.

Having "opposition" to state services like education or healthcare is just a strange thing to me - opposition to keeping the for-profit vultures out of it on the other hand is entirely understandable.

Well if you always view the US as a battle between State and Federal Government. What Republicans want is to give the individual states more control over laws and and services like Education. While the Federal Government if funding these things can help all Americans equally. 

[DCJonah]

9 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

To be honest, the DoE has had a pretty patchy record of success. I understand why you'd have that reaction if she'd said "I want to ban all education" and then paralleled it with the other issues that you mention.

The DoE is a bloated bureaucratic mess that has arguably done more wrong than right. It's the epitome of what traditional Republicans hate - a huge department that wastes public money and achieves very little. Essentially a place full of people who don't do very much other than try to justify why they have that job (and government jobs over here are VERY good.)

The real question is how do you improve the quality of education in the US and solve some of its problems. The answer she gives in that very short clip is "leave it up to the states." Essentially the de-centralization (or de-federalization) of the decision making process and in some areas I agree with less centralized government.

However for the GOP, "leave it up to the states" has in reality become shorthand for, "we'll be able to get rid of queers (and anyone we don't like,) ban abortion, shoot living people, and pray to the one true God and say MERRY CHRISTMAS."

Thanks for sharing. I won't pretend I know enough about the DoE in America. 

When I see the motivation of the republican party in other areas of society, I just can't imagine their main goal in all of this, is to improve the quality of education for all children in the country. 

[HanoiVillan]

13 hours ago, Hamburglar said:

I’ll shut up and go away then ✌

You don't have to 'shut up and go away' but if you recognise that what you're offering is 'uneducated thoughts' then the thing to do is either a] try to learn about what you're talking about before you start commenting, or b] present your opinion with a bit less certainty.

Edited February 26, 2022 by HanoiVillan

[nick76]

[maqroll]

English expat and Roger Stone-backed congressional candidate drops out of race after total meltdown. TBF, he seems like a perfect Republican candidate.