Political Discussion Thread (READ FIRST POST)

[ChronosCat 155]

17 hours ago, ijuin said:

Unfortunately, with the current state of the voting public, no Right-Wing party can get a majority of votes without the support of the large group of Trumpists.

While there aren't any groups in the Democrat party as problematic as the Trumpists (that I know of), the problem also exists on the left that no other parties have a chance at present.

I've long felt both the Democrat and Republican parties were too big, and their duopoly on American politics was bad for the country. I like to believe that a wider range of political views could get heard if we had more parties with a chance of winning more than local elections. If nothing else, it would be nice to be able to vote for someone with a chance in larger elections who didn't feel like the lesser of two evils.

16 hours ago, mlooney said:

I don't often wish that some one would die of natural causes, but sirrah Trump is pushing an exception. 

I've had similar thoughts, but unfortunately I doubt the end of Trump will spell the end of Trumpism... (Particularly as he didn't create the views associated with him, he just promoted them and encouraged those who already held them.)

 

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

With Mitch at the helm, I don't see change on the horizon for them. The man is stuck in the 1970s.

Stuck in the1970's is better than stuck in 2016.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

3 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Stuck in the1970's is better than stuck in 2016.

Well, in his case, maybe not so much. 2016 is in good part a result of his leadership. (so to speak, as if a speed bump could 'lead'.)

He has a lot of leverage, and is transparently hypocritical, but there are far worse, who fortunately do not have his power. Newt Gingrich is still lurking in the sidelines; how is he even still a thing?

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Speak of the devil, will wonders never cease? Mitch McConnell criticizes the RNC for censuring 2 Republicans on Jan. 6 panel - this was unexpected.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

2 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Speak of the devil, will wonders never cease? Mitch McConnell criticizes the RNC for censuring 2 Republicans on Jan. 6 panel - this was unexpected.

Not really. He is not alone and he is a canny old wolf who can sense when the winds are changing. He would not have done this if he did not strongly suspect or even know that events are underway that may turn Trump into a liability he must be in a position to get away from. Upcoming revelations from the Jan 6 Committee heads my list of possibilities.

On the plus side for Trumpeters, Marjorie Taylor Greene has revealed that Nancy Pelosi controls the dastardly Gazpacho Police.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

On the plus side for Trumpeters, Marjorie Taylor Greene has revealed that Nancy Pelosi controls the dastardly Gazpacho Police.

Gazpacho Soup!!!

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

If only they'd mentioned it in basic training! Instead of climbing up and down ropes and crawling on your elbows through tunnels - if only just ONCE they'd said Gazpacho soup is served cold - I could have been an admiral by now!

[ijuin 572]

Apparently the fact that nobody else around him was complaining about the soup being cold escaped Rimmer’s notice.

[mlooney 3,417]

10 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

On the plus side for Trumpeters, Marjorie Taylor Greene has revealed that Nancy Pelosi controls the dastardly Gazpacho Police.

There should be a basic intelligence check for using the internet, particularly posting rights on social media.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

There should be a basic intelligence check for using the internet, particularly posting rights on social media.

Unfortunately, IQ, literacy, & similar tests are traditionally designed not to keep out the stupid, but people who disagree with those in power.  And there will always be someone in power who finds people like that useful

[mlooney 3,417]

4 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Unfortunately, IQ, literacy, & similar tests are traditionally designed not to keep out the stupid, but people who disagree with those in power.  And there will always be someone in power who finds people like that useful

True.  And given my current memory and spelling issues, I suspect I couldn't pass an intelligence check with out Google.  Of course, knowing how to use Google well is in and of itself an intelligence check of sorts.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

On the other hand, I am currently being investigated by the Gazpacho Police. They suspect me of being a Progresso.

[mlooney 3,417]

5 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

On the other hand, I am currently being investigated by the Gazpacho Police. They suspect me of being a Progresso.

/me wonders about that.  Gives a note in page just in case.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

On 2/10/2022 at 8:22 AM, mlooney said:

There should be a basic intelligence check for using the internet, particularly posting rights on social media.

There is. You have to find the power switch.

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

There is. You have to find the power switch.

I'd like to power bounce the Internet.  That fixes a lot of computer problems.

[mlooney 3,417]

[ijuin 572]

Ok, we get it—Kyiv/Kiev was a well-developed city long before Moscow even existed. The same could be said about nearly any major Old World city vs. any American city, but that doesn’t mean that America is to be completely dismissed either. Depth and influence of culture do not scale directly with age.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

Without intending this result, Joe Steel planted seeds Putin could harvest

By forcibly relocating millions of Russians across the USSR, he created communities & regions in many former Soviet republics that consider themselves Russian

 

 

 

[mlooney 3,417]

22 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Without intending this result, Joe Steel planted seeds Putin could harvest

By forcibly relocating millions of Russians across the USSR, he created communities & regions in many former Soviet republics that consider themselves Russian

That's the least of Stalin's crimes. 

Of course Ukraine, Belarus and Russia all claim the Kievan Rus as their ancestors.  (I didn't have to look that up, at least not the Rus part).  Ukrainian unity collapsed in the middle ages and really didn't come back until the Russian revolution.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kievan_Rus'

 

[mlooney 3,417]

Short of a military strike, what can Russia do the affect US assets? 
https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-government-painful-response-us-sanctions-2022-2

[mlooney 3,417]

Some one is Rick Rolling Russian radio frequencies as a jamming signal.  This truly is a modern war.

[mlooney 3,417]

For those keeping track of the yacht war, here is the current leader board:
https://twitter.com/apmassaro3/status/1503868914891116553?s=20&t=t_rCfgJgVFR7pVTIuy4OBw

[mlooney 3,417]

Ah, what?    A no-fly zone is going to require more than bad thoughts and magic, which is what these people are suggesting.

https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1500961829509636099

 

[Darth Fluffy 302]

On 3/16/2022 at 2:38 PM, mlooney said:

Ah, what?    A no-fly zone is going to require more than bad thoughts and magic, which is what these people are suggesting.

https://twitter.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/1500961829509636099

The kind of bad thoughts and magic they are suggesting carries some weight, which is why the second seat in a two-seater is usually an electronic warfare officer (EWO). Has been like this for decades, and the battlefield is only getting more dependent on good instant intel.

An actual shooting no-fly zone would require direct involvement of NATO, which everyone is bending over backward to avoid. If NATO directly fights Russia, exchanging nukes is highly probable. As long as NATO just lends support, Russia has reason to hold back, and we don't go the way of the dinosaurs.

Ukraine on it's own is not capable of creating a no-fly zone, but they are doing their damnedest to create one anyway.

[ChronosCat 155]

3 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

An actual shooting no-fly zone would require direct involvement of NATO, which everyone is bending over backward to avoid. If NATO directly fights Russia, exchanging nukes is highly probable. As long as NATO just lends support, Russia has reason to hold back, and we don't go the way of the dinosaurs.

Eh, it would probably only be the end of our current civilization, not humanity as a species. Still, I'm not exactly eager to try to survive a nuclear winter, so I quite appreciate NATO's caution.