USA Politics (redux)

Started by bhodges, November 10, 2020, 01:09:34 PM

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T. D.

#340
Quote from: Daverz on November 17, 2020, 03:37:42 PM
In other news, the nation narrowly avoided (by 3 votes in the Senate) the appointment of a goldbug to the Fed.

47 Republican senators voted for the goldbug.

Pretty astonishing. She's a wingnut even relative to the standard of Cheeto Mussolini appointees.
I fear she still has a chance, though.
See https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-17/shelton-s-fed-confirmation-vote-tightens-with-senator-quarantine

Mirror Image

I think those people who have held onto their 'Not My President' signs from 2016 may have to get them back out after all is said and done! :D

Gurn Blanston

Quote from: Mirror Image on November 17, 2020, 04:06:42 PM
I think those people who have held onto their 'Not My President' signs from 2016 may have to get them back out after all is said and done! :D

I expect there will be brisk sales to the opposition.... ;)

8)
Visit my Haydn blog: HaydnSeek

Haydn: that genius of vulgar music who induces an inordinate thirst for beer - Mily Balakirev (1860)

milk

Quote from: 71 dB on November 17, 2020, 03:36:43 AM

Nobody says sex doesn't exist. Biological gender is different from mental stuff. Are we supposed to oppress women to the end of time just because they are women? Are we supposed to oppress black people just because they are black? Nobody says gender of skin color doesn't exist.
Obviously (at least it's obvious to me), we shouldn't oppress anyone. Racism and sexism persist - obviously.
As for the whether anyone believes sex isn't real or doesn't matter:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/nov/16/trans-man-loses-uk-legal-battle-to-register-as-his-childs-father

On another topic, here's something:

'What We in the Legal World Call a Felony': Lawyers Condemn Lindsey Graham, Call for DOJ and Senate Investigations

https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/what-we-in-the-legal-world-call-a-felony-lawyers-condemn-lindsey-graham-call-for-doj-and-senate-investigations/

71 dB

Quote from: krummholz on November 17, 2020, 01:02:09 PM
It's not just a question of cost. It's a question of available technology. We do not yet have the battery technology to make fully renewable energy a reality, given the fact that the main sources (solar and wind) are intermittent. As far as I know the technology to make geothermal a major part of the equation does not yet exist, either.

It's also a political question. Fossil Fuel companies bribe the politicians a lot to slow down the change (in absurb ways such as bringing snowballs to the congress as a "proof" the climate isn't warming up). What's the intensive of developping better battery technology when the goverment keeps subsidizing Exxon Mobil instead of renewable energy industry? Now, this is only the US. Elsewhere in the World politicians are not often as bribed and the political will is stronger to do something about climate change. The US is in danger of lagging behind other countries in the field of Green technology.

Quote from: krummholz on November 17, 2020, 01:02:09 PMThen there is the land use footprint. I calculated a while back that at our current need for energy, to power the U.S. entirely on solar power would require devoting something close to 1% of the entire land area of the country to energy production. That may not sound like a lot, but it is at least a couple orders of magnitude larger than the land use footprint of fossil fuel extraction and production. And the land use footprint of wind is even worse.

My calculations indicate about 0.1 % of the land area is need for electricity consumption, but you probably calculated ALL energy consumption. Of course nobody suggests only solar panels are used. There's wind turbines (even if their noise causes cancer according to very stable genius Trump), waterpower, geothermal energy etc., but solar panels are part of the solution.

Quote from: krummholz on November 17, 2020, 01:02:09 PMAlso, I don't think this country is ready to accept fully electric powered cars as the only widely available personal means of long distance travel. Americans have long been in love with "muscle cars", with fast acceleration, with the convenience of being able to go 300+ miles and then refuel in 5 minutes. I don't see that changing in my lifetime. Electric cars are fine for getting around town, but the average citizen is not going to want to use them for traveling to the cottage or favorite vacation spot several hundred miles away. I think we are stuck with petroleum products for auto and aviation fuel for a good many years to come. Hopefully we won't run out of oil before we find a way to make electric vehicles as practical as internal combustion-powered ones, or are able to develop hydrogen or some other fuel cell technology into a practical reality.

Is your country ready to accept the effects of climate change? We don't have the luxury of "accepting" these things. We have to do something if we want this planet to survive our greed. Aliens monitoring us must think we are complete idiots destroying our planet because we want to refuel our cars in 5 minutes!  :P Fortunately not all Americans are that dumb and the Green New Deal is actually very popular. The utter corruption is the main problem.

Quote from: krummholz on November 17, 2020, 01:02:09 PMWhat we need to get away from ASAP is using fossil fuels for electricity generation. That's where renewables can play a major role, but in my opinion we need more, not fewer, nuclear power plants and a concerted, moonshot effort to making fusion energy a reality.

Nuclear power has it's role while we wait for fusion energy, but too much nuclear power compromises the incentive to develop renewable energy.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

71 dB

Quote from: drogulus on November 17, 2020, 02:12:54 PM
     We'll work through these problems faster if we accept the challenge and invest in them than if we wait around for them to solve themselves. Either way, we will solve them. We might as well get going.

Yes, and the sooner we act the "easier" it will be.
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

arpeggio

Even though Biden won the election our country is still hopelessly divided and I have no idea how we can reconcile our differences.

No matter what we liberals say or do, most conservatives consider us un-American and evil.   

milk

Quote from: arpeggio on November 18, 2020, 03:05:19 AM
Even though Biden won the election our country is still hopelessly divided and I have no idea how we can reconcile our differences.

No matter what we liberals say or do, most conservatives consider us un-American and evil.   
I think if we're just arguing ideas, there should at least be times when we agree on something. What's really hard are the conspiracy theorists. They're not interested in ideas. It's not a philosophy. It's an inoculation against reality. I've tried to talk to them but they've given up on ideas and can only talk about the dark powers that seek to destroy them. 

Pohjolas Daughter

#348
Trump fired yet another person who disagreed with him--about the integrity of the US election and cyber-security.  Goodbye to Mr. Krebs.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54984196

Who's left to run this country and keep us safe?   >:(  :(

PD

p.s.  This is his new Twitter account:  https://twitter.com/C_C_Krebs

and his archived account when he was head of CISA:  https://twitter.com/CISAKrebs
Pohjolas Daughter

T. D.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/republicans-won-almost-every-election-where-redistricting-was-at-stake/

Joe Biden may have won the White House, but down-ballot races were much better for Republicans. In fact, the GOP's victories in state-level elections could pay dividends long after Biden leaves office, thanks to their influence over next year's redistricting process.

Every 10 years, after the census, congressional and state legislature districts are redrawn to account for population changes. This gives whoever is drawing the maps the power to maximize the number of districts that favor their party — a tactic known as gerrymandering. And as we wrote last month, the 2020 election represented the last chance for voters to weigh in on who would draw those maps. Both parties went into the election with a chance to draw more congressional districts than the other, but the end result was just about the best-case scenario for Republicans. As the map below shows, Republicans are set to control the redistricting of 188 congressional seats — or 43 percent of the entire House of Representatives. By contrast, Democrats will control the redistricting of, at most, 73 seats, or 17 percent.

71 dB

#350
Quote from: arpeggio on November 18, 2020, 03:05:19 AM
Even though Biden won the election our country is still hopelessly divided and I have no idea how we can reconcile our differences.

No matter what we liberals say or do, most conservatives consider us un-American and evil.   

- The first step is to make people realize the divide is not actually right - left, but 1 % - 99 % (class war)
- The second step is finding those issues the right and left actually agree about such as ending the wars or NSA spying.
- The third step is improve education system and main stream media so that people understand things better.
- The fourth step is taking money out of politics/ending the corruption.

I believe these steps together could do miracles, but the problem is these are not easy steps to make!  ???
Spatial distortion is a serious problem deteriorating headphone listening.
Crossfeeders reduce spatial distortion and make the sound more natural
and less tiresome in headphone listening.

My Sound Cloud page <-- NEW Jan. 2024 "Harpeggiator"

Florestan

#351
Quote from: 71 dB on November 18, 2020, 07:23:41 AM
class war

That's not enough. You'll have to preach the accompanying notion of "objective class enemy": an individual who, although personally not guilty of any crime against, and no exploiter of, the people is nevertheless an enemy of the people by the mere fact of being born into, and belonging to, a class (namely bourgeoisie or aristocracy) which by its very existence is an enemy of, and a threat to, the proletariat. Such an individual faces only two choices: (1) to publicly repudiate their own class and join the proletarian struggle, or (2) be obliterated together with their class by the victory of the proletarian revolution.

Sticking with music, two prime examples are Felix Mendelssohn and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

This may sound as a joke but it's not. It's a very serious matter and countless lives have been destroyed in Romania in the name of "class war" and "objective class enemy" --- so I'll perhaps be excused if I see red (pun!) whenever I hear about class war.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini


arpeggio

Quote from: 71 dB on November 18, 2020, 07:23:41 AM
- The first step is to make people realize the divide is not actually right - left, but 1 % - 99 % (class war)
- The second step is finding those issues the right and left actually agree about such as ending the wars or NSA spying.
- The third step is improve education system and main stream media so that people understand things better.
- The fourth step is taking money out of politics/ending the corruption.

I believe these steps together could do miracles, but the problem is these are not easy steps to make!  ???

I do not mean this to be as a criticism of you personally.  Although we disagree on some things you are a very knowledge member.

I live in Fairfax County, Virginia, which is a suburb on Washington, DC.  70% of Fairfax voted for Biden.  Here in Fairfax one rarely meets a Trump supporter, but I know a few.

I have a brother who is a big supporter of Trump.  He lives in Union County, NC, which is a suburb of Charlotte, NC.  61% of Union County voted for Trump.  My wife has many relative who live in North Carolina.   My mother, who lives with my brother, still believes that Obama in a Moslem.  My wife has relatives who do not believe in Darwin and that the world in only 10,000 years old.  I have a niece who does not believe in dinosaurs.

Normally I avoid discussing politics with these people.  Whenever I make the mistake the same thing always happens.  When faced with reality they immediately accuse me of being something I am not.  The last time I made a mistake of discussing politics with a Trumpster, he claimed that all Democrats were anti-Semitic.  One can see the same pattern of behavior with the few Trumpsters who frequent this forum.

Your suggestions sound reasonable if one is trying to carry on a discussion with a rational person.  The vast majority of Trumpsters I have met live in an alternant reality where all Democrats hate America and are evil.

Recently the Dean of Virginia Wesleyan University in Virginia Beach, VA had to resign after making statements that supporters of Biden "were ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian."(52% of Virginia Beach voted for Biden.  In 2016 most of Virginia Beach voted for Trump.  There are many military that live in Virginia Beach.)
 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/11/17/virginia-wesleyan-university-dean-resigns-statement-biden-voters/6325744002/

I do not see how we can resolve differences with people who deny Darwin and scientific reality.

Florestan

#354
Quote from: arpeggio on November 19, 2020, 12:42:10 PM
I do not mean this to be as a criticism of you personally.  Although we disagree on some things you are a very knowledge member.

I live in Fairfax County, Virginia, which is a suburb on Washington, DC.  70% of Fairfax voted for Biden.  Here in Fairfax one rarely meets a Trump supporter, but I know a few.

I have a brother who is a big supporter of Trump.  He lives in Union County, NC, which is a suburb of Charlotte, NC.  61% of Union County voted for Trump.  My wife has many relative who live in North Carolina.   My mother, who lives with my brother, still believes that Obama in a Moslem.  My wife has relatives who do not believe in Darwin and that the world in only 10,000 years old.  I have a niece who does not believe in dinosaurs.

Normally I avoid discussing politics with these people.  Whenever I make the mistake the same thing always happens.  When faced with reality they immediately accuse me of being something I am not.  The last time I made a mistake of discussing politics with a Trumpster, he claimed that all Democrats were anti-Semitic.  One can see the same pattern of behavior with the few Trumpsters who frequent this forum.

Your suggestions sound reasonable if one is trying to carry on a discussion with a rational person.  The vast majority of Trumpsters I have met live in an alternant reality where all Democrats hate America and are evil.

Recently the Dean of Virginia Wesleyan University in Virginia Beach, VA had to resign after making statements that supporters of Biden "were ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian."(52% of Virginia Beach voted for Biden.  In 2016 most of Virginia Beach voted for Trump.  There are many military that live in Virginia Beach.)
 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/11/17/virginia-wesleyan-university-dean-resigns-statement-biden-voters/6325744002/

I do not see how we can resolve differences with people who deny Darwin and scientific reality.

When it comes to politics, I am from Mars and my in-laws are from Venus, yet my relationship with them is excellent. The key to this is to never let politics stand in the way. We are not defined by whom we vote for, but by what what we do and how we behave. I hate everything and everyone my father-in-law stands for politically, and viceversa, yet we never had any irreconcilable conflict --- actually, we have always got along very fine. Life is larger than politics.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

T. D.


drogulus

      In a little more than a decade the country has twice fought economic calamity with half measures and that has messed with people's heads. They want someone to blame, and they have found the blameworthy among the usual suspects. We've been here before, in the '30s with Father Coughlin, Huey Long and Gerald L. K. Smith.

     We should make differences, real economic differences, then people will sit still for resolving them. When you don't build the future people will fight over the junkheap of the present.
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Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

arpeggio

#358
Quote from: Florestan on November 19, 2020, 01:05:40 PM
When it comes to politics, I am from Mars and my in-laws are from Venus, yet my relationship with them is excellent. The key to this is to never let politics stand in the way. We are not defined by whom we vote for, but by what what we do and how we behave. I hate everything and everyone my father-in-law stands for politically, and viceversa, yet we never had any irreconcilable conflict --- actually, we have always got along very fine. Life is larger than politics.

At one time I would agree with you but the situation has really deteriorated in the United States.

Whenever we visit relatives in North Carolina my wife and I are on pins and needles.  Many of them refer to us as those northern liberals.  My brother is always trying to pick fights with me. 

My brother has alienated both of my sons that they are no longer on speaking terms.  My oldest son is married to a Korean women and my my brother has made snide remarks about my grandchildren.  My youngest sons long time girl friend is Mexican and my brother has made remarks that it is sad that he could not hook up with a nice white girl.  The only reason I tolerate my brother's behavior is because my mother lives with him and I do not want to be cut off from her.

It has gotten so bad with my wife that between her sisters, nieces and nephews the only relative my wife still has a good relationship with is her brother. 

Whenever they try to start something my wife and I start talking about the weather.


T. D.

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on November 19, 2020, 04:02:56 PM
Hence: Sweaty Clown Car

Stephen Sondheim called it years ago:

Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer?
Losing my timing this late in my career
And where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns
Don't bother
They're here