Politics

sedrosken

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I'm apathetic about the whole thing at this point. Our votes don't matter, our money does. Or would, if we had enough of it to turn the politicians' heads. The US is completely and utterly doomed no matter which of the two 'real' candidates wins, and all I can see happening is nukes hitting those of us in the US by 2020. Hillary wants a no fly zone in Syria (which would cause a war with Russia and therefore a draft, ruining mine and so many others' futures), and Trump is an ass of the highest caliber who wants to nuke the Middle East without any real thought as to what the consequences of that would be. I'm surprised we aren't getting bombed on principle at this point.

I'm probably the least qualified of those of us here to talk about this but I thought I'd leave my two cents.
 

Mercutio

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"I Got Mine and Fuck Everybody Else" might as well be the title of every Heritage Foundation Policy paper. The public good is a concept seldom recognized in their line of thinking, which leads to Louisiana's governor complaining about public research into Earthquakes and Volcanoes a few short years after his own state was devastated by a 500-year hurricane. Roads are a public good. If the obligation to maintain roads is shifted to their specific users, there are massive portions of the USA that will very quickly become unreachable. Should all the people who live in those places move to more densely populated areas, or just give up on the possibility of relatively fast travel? Do we not recognize the use or need for those sparsely populated places and the humans who live in them? Even I'm gracious enough to recognize that the North Dakota has minerals and natural gas and Idaho has our strategic reserve of potatoes and alt-right crackpots.

Lunar, there are a bunch of different plans for splitting up California. One of them is the creation of IIRC nine different states. A lot of the backing for these ideas comes from either right-of-center plans to reduce California's influence on national politics and/org give some kind of conservative voice in regional matters (IIRC the GOP is essentially a non-entity even at the state level, at least outside of Orange County) or left of center plans form some kind of pacific-coastal utopian city-state that may or may not still be part of the USA. There's also a nativist movement to seeks to return the southern part of the state to Mexican and/or indigenous control. California is clearly a weird place, but it works.
 

Howell

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"I Got Mine and Fuck Everybody Else" might as well be the title of every Heritage Foundation Policy paper. The public good is a concept seldom recognized in their line of thinking, which leads to Louisiana's governor complaining about public research into Earthquakes and Volcanoes a few short years after his own state was devastated by a 500-year hurricane. Roads are a public good. If the obligation to maintain roads is shifted to their specific users, there are massive portions of the USA that will very quickly become unreachable. Should all the people who live in those places move to more densely populated areas, or just give up on the possibility of relatively fast travel? Do we not recognize the use or need for those sparsely populated places and the humans who live in them? Even I'm gracious enough to recognize that the North Dakota has minerals and natural gas and Idaho has our strategic reserve of potatoes and alt-right crackpots.

If the project is revenue negative and does not even meet its stated goals it is bad for the public, not good for the public.
 

Mercutio

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If the project is revenue negative and does not even meet its stated goals it is bad for the public, not good for the public.

Cost of the single project is not the only measure of its value. Rural electrification and public education are both drains on public coffers that still have immeasurable value.
 

snowhiker

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... and all I can see happening is nukes hitting those of us in the US by 2020...

I don't think it's nukes you have to worry about. It's 125 to 200 TRILLION dollars in UN-Funded liabilities that will come due in the next 15-20 years that will end this country as we know it.
 

snowhiker

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That's the central premise of a lot of right wing political thought in the USA.

Oh the right wing loves big government, and all the things it subsidizes. AKA the Military/Banking/Pharmaceutical/Telecommunication/"security-state"/Prison-Industrial-Complex(s).
 

jtr1962

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Oh the right wing loves big government, and all the things it subsidizes. AKA the Military/Banking/Pharmaceutical/Telecommunication/"security-state"/Prison-Industrial-Complex(s).
Don't forget to add roads and driving to that. The right wing almost never saw a highway expansion it didn't love. They love socialism when it comes to their private automobiles. Free highways, free curbside parking (even in cities with expensive land), wars to keep gas prices low, etc. But of course transit, cycling, walking are all boondoggles not worthy of a penny.
 

CougTek

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Apparently, the United States have decided to vote for a financial crash and long term recession. Oh well. Head over to MarketWatch.com. It's spectacular.
 

jtr1962

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I don't think anybody expected this. Earlier today I actually posted somewhere that it looked like a lock for Hillary to win. That said, this may well be for the best. I was genuinely afraid of what Trump supporters might resort to if he lost.
 

mubs

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Canadian immigration website crashes on Trump win.

Repubs also won the Senate and the House.

Clean sweep. Though to what extent they'll support Trump is unknown.
 

Handruin

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Ugh...

The DNC is at fault here...rather than force in HRC we could have had Bernie on the ticket. He wasn't perfect but he would have given people something to vote for vs voting out of desperation for Trump.
 

jtr1962

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:scratch:

No, just all the people who predicted it... There were many.

PS: It was nice to see I didn't miss anything while completely ignoring this thread for the past several months.
A few months ago I may well have predicted this but his numbers were in a meltdown ever since. I'm surprised the polls can be this wrong.

The next four years are going to be ...interesting.
 

sedrosken

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If Bernie were on the ticket I have a feeling Trump still would have won, because the democratic vote would be fractured.
 

Handruin

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Why what? There have been lots of people, specifically celebrities, who've sworn to move out of the country if Trump won. I'm willingly offering my help and assistance in getting them moved out of the country.

You know what I'm asking. Why are you willing to help them move out?
 

Stereodude

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You know what I'm asking. Why are you willing to help them move out?
Well, they made the promise to leave. I presume they might need some help making the transition so I'm offering it up. I wouldn't want someone to have to live somewhere they don't want to.
 

Handruin

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You're still avoiding answering my real question. I'm trying to understand what you gain from this proposed generosity.
 

jtr1962

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I will personally offer my services to anyone who needs help moving out of the country.
Not going to be me. I'm living in a paid-for house, and finally doing decently making over $100K annually (at least for the time being). I probably will benefit from a Trump administration in the form of lower taxes, plus no longer having the specter of possibly being dinged for "personal responsibility payments" under Obamacare. Thus far it seems that hasn't been an issue, but it could be eventually if the Feds feel I could buy health care for under 8% of my AGI (thus far it seems no such plans exist, not that I would be interested in them if they did).

There have been lots of people, specifically celebrities, who've sworn to move out of the country if Trump won. I'm willingly offering my help and assistance in getting them moved out of the country.
To them I say good riddance.
 

mubs

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I've been getting very disturbing videos thru Whatsapp. Today there was one where a reporter (white but not American) is talking to a white official who openly says blacks and pygmies are less intelligent that Caucasians. The official said several other repugnant racist things. I don't the context of this conversation - before or after the election (I suspect it is after). The interviewee appears to be a high ranking official with the Trump admin.

Quite shocking. What America has stood for the last 50 years is being overturned in a few weeks.
 

Howell

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Thanks for the hearsay. Even more damaging than any election is the perpetuation of fake news. Can you any attribution of any kind? Snopes does not even have it listed.
 
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