Headlines “Politics” [read the OP before posting]

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this thread maybe won't be so active anymore but I'll at least post this as well

What Ford took a photo of is the March 2021 ODNI report, not the NSC directive released this month. All references to "anarchist violent extremism" in DVE materials I've found are as sparse as references to "pro-choice violence." The issue here seems to be a politicisation of the security apparatus of the US that accelerated under Trump. The Daily Beast has noted this is language used by Christopher Wray in the past, and has reported on this politicisation of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The only interagency dialogue I've found mentioning incidence of "anarchist violent extremism" seems to be an FBI/DOJ joint backgrounder with one of Wray's people mentioning the 2020 ambush of Michael Reinoehl by Aaron Danielson. This is more an argument for ditching Wray than anything about the Biden administration.
 
I mean I'm looking at this https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-conte...trategy-for-Countering-Domestic-Terrorism.pdf

which has basically same language shown in the tweet i linked. I haven't researched this deeply or anything but sounds like your issue is that there isn't 'that much' reference to anarchist violence. if so, okay
I've read both. My issue isn't that there isn't "that much" reference, my issue is that the language is being forced into reports by Wray without any substantiation of supposed "anarchist violence" posing a terrorism threat. It's an abuse of law enforcement that falsely portrays Wray's political opponents as equivalent to actual terrorism, and justified with a single crime, the nature of which is being misrepresented as an act of terrorism. As far as I am concerned, Wray is a corrupt actor that needs to be pushed out of the FBI immediately, whose presence delegitimises the FBI.
 

Chou Toshio

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Not so much-- I mean he's probably not going to get hit for the things we'd want him to get hit with... bleehhhhhhhhh

Personally had more interest in the failing Build Back Better. Once again Dems Demming-- doing everything the party can to fail.
Biden's approval is plummeting. So many (even Democrats) hoping he doesn't run in 2024-- which is kind of insane because he's really the only legitimate chance to NOT allow 4 more years of Trump.
Kamala Harris's approval rating was predictable, but still laughably low. Can't be helped that the left hates her for being a cop, and the right for being a black woman-- maybe even fewer liberals YAAS QUEENing these days.
Hell-- Bernie, who'll be 84???, is coming close to Dem's most preferred Biden alternative in recent polling-- of course I love my chairman, but it's over folks. Time to let Dad retire and if that's the best hope Dem voters are seeing we're screwed. so so so screwed.
Jayapal's Progressive Caucus has lost ALL trust from the left by caving (Credit to the squad though-- you can poo poo if you like, but they did vote NO each time and Omar's been a strong whip/squad leader imo), and Manchin already signalling he'll torpedo even the 1.75 Trillion. Biden's legislative agenda is pretty much done, toast, caput.
The Dems will have nothing to run on in the midterms, and if the recent elections are any indicator everything that can go wrong will go wrong next year. blehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

And this is super disappointing when just a few months ago I was like-- 1) Based Biden pulled the fuck out of Afghanistan. Based. 2) Build Back Better looking fiiiiiine, and almost ALL the Democrats on the right side of an issue? Cra Cra 3) At the time Biden was still signalling that the Vaccine patents may be wave. But I shoulda known-- if the Dems have a way to fuck it up with internal Reactionaries that are too fascist, with Leaders who are too weak, with Progressives too incompetent, and with a voting base too unengaged or nihilistic to make democracy work, then things will go ahead to get fucked up.
 
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Chou Toshio

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At least I had the consolation prize of getting to watch Ben Burgis DRAG Charlie Kirk:

But I know that when I find myself watching a lot more Vaush and a lot less The Humanist Report/Secular Talk/Majority Report, it's because things are going shit and likely the only leftist victories to enjoy are coming out of online spectacle and not material reality.
 
Did you consider the idea of pulling out based or the actual way we did it? Cause these two things have very different answers.
To be fair there was no good way to do it. The situation was super fucked
 
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TheValkyries

proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
Rittenhouse defense be like “if I didn’t murder those people their threatening auras could’ve escalated. Might’ve even escalated to *murder*” and is gonna win. LMAO.

Also lolling at “the us shouldn’t have left weapons to the taliban” bout 50 years too late for that bud. Also the losers in the war arent usually able to dictate the conditions of their defeat.
 

Chou Toshio

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Did you consider the idea of pulling out based or the actual way we did it? Cause these two things have very different answers.
Fair question. I lean on the earlier comment by charmflash as well—there was no way to get out well. This was what the US in Afghanistan was— a mess, and Americans only getting to see it honestly when the media was trying to keep us there. The equipment/personal mistakes are largely largely overstated. (Equipment unusable w/o American technical secrets, personnel lift out was a tremendous undertaking Biden largely succeeded in)

Most important to me was how Biden handled the situation. It was like grandpa woke up, barked out, and showed he still had a spine, still had convictions, and was going to not only own the decision but see it through even if ALL the powers to be weren’t going to have it. He still got his way, and ended a 20 year war.

Based. Fucking based.

Until Afghanistan I thought the President was much more of a figurehead and Biden completely unable to take the helm. Afghanistan totally changed my expectations of what might be possible for President Joe Biden. Now he’s just looking too tired, too old, too set in his ways to make a working agenda, but in that moment I thought that he might have the guts to do what it would take to make Build Back Better happen as well.

As to why Biden isn’t showing an interest in other wars— he has. Or rather there’s been murmurs/rumors of an interest by Biden behind the scenes on Iraq, but given how the public was too stupid to not realize they should be cheering the Afghan withdrawal— Biden moved mountains to get this done while commanding a military/State organization completely opposed to it, and for that he was ripped apart by every part of the media and not even Bernie/Progressives inside or outside Congress jumped to back him.

Completely thankless. Of course he’s not interested in doing more.
Me personally I voted Green 2020, but I’m Ridin’ Biden in 2024 no matter what else happens after solely b/c Afghanistan.

Definitely a hot take here— but maybe progressives should have backed Biden on that one even if it meant taking a public hit to their approval if it meant building the political gratitude/good will from Biden to get him to really twist the arms that needed twisting to pass Build Back Better. Maybe if Bernie, Jayapal, Khanna, AoC and all progressive media space went total full-throated Biden-Stan in Joe’s biggest public flogging where he stood for strong convictions doing something progressives had soooo long wanted……. :/ ……. Maybe just maybe Joe’d have been ready to fly to West Virginia and Arizona to publicly drag Manchinema and threaten to put Manchin’s daughter in jail behind the scenes and played hard ball. Probably not, but who knows. Too late now.

But let’s not get it twisted— despite the Saudi weapons deal, despite his fielty to Israel, from the perspective of “Not causing harm—“

Joe Biden’s not bailing out Wallstreet, or eliminating GlassSteagall. And he has pulled off good vaccine programs and the initial stimulus bills and made much more progressive signals overall (and signals do matter— they steer public opinion/expectation). He’s definitely better than Obama, which means that sleepy Joe is the best President of my lifetime and I’d honestly trust him more with it than any of the 2020 primary Dems except Bernie.

That said it’s a pitiful state we’re in because the best Dem for the job in this critically important historical junction is woefully inadequate.
 
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US installed corrupted officials into their puppet government and women weren't allowed in the military, who would actually have a reason to fight the Taliban instead of almost instantly surrendering. No surprise that it quickly fell apart. 3 presidents lied to the public about Afghanistan, and Biden is taking the fall for it.

But Biden has other problems. I have no idea what happened to free community college and student debt forgiveness but I guess that's off the table. He's clearly not the deal maker that he ran on; Manchin and Sinema don't care about him. While things like the Delta variant of Covid aren't his fault he completely lost the narrative battle against Republicans. He can't manipulate his public image like Obama can. I'm not even sure what his agenda even is outside of not being Trump. And Kamala is clearly a non-factor she will lose against any candidate if Joe keeps his word and only has 1 term.

And then there's this Democratic Party itself. This big tent filled with people of clashing interests under corporate control is not going to work against a united and increasingly fascist Republican Party.
 

Chou Toshio

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i'm like scared of youtube now. what are they putting in those videos to make people think this way. the faces i made
Almost every YouTuber I watch would probably have some major disagreements with the opinions I threw out there.

but feel free to actually weigh in.

Edit: I also thought, maybe you don’t know about Manchin’s daughter’s epipen scandal?
 
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To be fair there was no good way to do it. The situation was super fucked
There might have not been a fully good way, but Biden and by extension the U.S. could've done better. They should've at least taken seriously the possibility that the Taliban would defeat the US-backed government (which ended up happening obviously). The end of the war is a good thing for most Afghanis but for those living in Kabul the Taliban taking over would suck, and they should at least have given the opportunity for any refugees to be able to leave before the U.S. pulled out. Getting into Afghanistan in the first place was a mistake but the U.S. could have at least shown some consideration for those who will likely be in danger.
 

bdt2002

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(Ha ha, the honor of 1,000th post goes to yours truly, mwhahahahahahaha-)

I've been looking for somewhere to give my $0.02 US. worth on the current state of American politics, but never did I think that place would be in the Smogon Forums. Who would have thought?

But anyways, my opinions, and to an extent my political views as a whole can be summarized with the following list of points.

1. The United States of America has never been truly able to be called "united". Dare I say, we should take that word out of our country's name entirely. I find myself in a weird spot where while I am extremely opposed to the polarizing nature of a one-party governmental body, I think I can speak for 90% of our nation's eligible voting population when I say that the divisions between Republicans and Democrats has gone way, way too far. I'd also like to take this moment to say that while I do support the idea of an electoral college over popular votes, I think the power scaling between states is extremely unbalanced. I've heard my fair share of Republicans express their hatred over the fact that California, a predominantly blue state, gets 55 votes practically guaranteed towards the Democrats in every single presidential election nowadays. Conversely, however, I have also heard my fair share of Democrats complain that the electoral college system we have now gives too much of an edge to the Republicans. Realistically these are both sound arguments, which only makes me wonder more and more what our government could be like if it was run by a man or a woman from neither of those two factions. Even if you hate the idea, you have to admit it would be a great change of pace.

2. The average person in our country, no matter your financial background, all share one thing in common from what I can tell. What is that thing, you ask? I'll tell you what it is. They don't like to argue about politics. Funny how that works, isn't it? Especially on the more extreme sides. The one thing the parties have in common is that they hate political arguments. Hmm. Doesn't that strike you as a bit... off? You would think that supporters of each of the major parties would be more willing to compromise, and that's the thing- they are. We just don't see that part of America, where members of all political parties all share the same goal. The only thing that sets any of us apart is how we want to go about it... but if the end results are the same, does the discrepancy even matter?

3. With point #2 out of the way and plenty of people in our very successful country, you may ask yourself where all the negativity comes from, and I can answer that with three mainstream words. The mainstream media. Think about it. The true enemy we should all be going after isn't each other, but rather the extremists from the two major political parties who have brainwashed the absolute sh** out of our population. Nothing I'm saying here should be a mind boggling breakthrough- for as long as the human race has even existed there have always been people who carry the culture of nation along with their actions. In present day America, we see that with not just the news channels we all know and loathe, but also from places like music artists, athletes, teachers, and so much more. This group who I will refer to as the "decisive population" is where America's real political power lies, and as long as the decisive population continues to promote as much negativity as they can because it selfishly only helps them, the people in our country will never see eye to eye.
 
(Ha ha, the honor of 1,000th post goes to yours truly, mwhahahahahahaha-)

I've been looking for somewhere to give my $0.02 US. worth on the current state of American politics, but never did I think that place would be in the Smogon Forums. Who would have thought?

But anyways, my opinions, and to an extent my political views as a whole can be summarized with the following list of points.

1. The United States of America has never been truly able to be called "united". Dare I say, we should take that word out of our country's name entirely. I find myself in a weird spot where while I am extremely opposed to the polarizing nature of a one-party governmental body, I think I can speak for 90% of our nation's eligible voting population when I say that the divisions between Republicans and Democrats has gone way, way too far. I'd also like to take this moment to say that while I do support the idea of an electoral college over popular votes, I think the power scaling between states is extremely unbalanced. I've heard my fair share of Republicans express their hatred over the fact that California, a predominantly blue state, gets 55 votes practically guaranteed towards the Democrats in every single presidential election nowadays. Conversely, however, I have also heard my fair share of Democrats complain that the electoral college system we have now gives too much of an edge to the Republicans. Realistically these are both sound arguments, which only makes me wonder more and more what our government could be like if it was run by a man or a woman from neither of those two factions. Even if you hate the idea, you have to admit it would be a great change of pace.

2. The average person in our country, no matter your financial background, all share one thing in common from what I can tell. What is that thing, you ask? I'll tell you what it is. They don't like to argue about politics. Funny how that works, isn't it? Especially on the more extreme sides. The one thing the parties have in common is that they hate political arguments. Hmm. Doesn't that strike you as a bit... off? You would think that supporters of each of the major parties would be more willing to compromise, and that's the thing- they are. We just don't see that part of America, where members of all political parties all share the same goal. The only thing that sets any of us apart is how we want to go about it... but if the end results are the same, does the discrepancy even matter?

3. With point #2 out of the way and plenty of people in our very successful country, you may ask yourself where all the negativity comes from, and I can answer that with three mainstream words. The mainstream media. Think about it. The true enemy we should all be going after isn't each other, but rather the extremists from the two major political parties who have brainwashed the absolute sh** out of our population. Nothing I'm saying here should be a mind boggling breakthrough- for as long as the human race has even existed there have always been people who carry the culture of nation along with their actions. In present day America, we see that with not just the news channels we all know and loathe, but also from places like music artists, athletes, teachers, and so much more. This group who I will refer to as the "decisive population" is where America's real political power lies, and as long as the decisive population continues to promote as much negativity as they can because it selfishly only helps them, the people in our country will never see eye to eye.
Greetings enlightened centrist. I'd love to hear you go on about how a neoliberal party is basically equal in extremism to a basically fascist one
 
I'm going to be real honest, depictions of America as "divided" was bad commentary five years ago and it's bad commentary now. Americans aren't divided, there is an insurgent faction in American politics that is literally hostile to the Constitution, hostility which has gotten to the point of trying to overthrow an election by mob violence. This isn't a reconcilable matter, it's literally one party attempting to establish an entirely separate legal class based entirely on partisan loyalty. Going to the ballot box? Not without an (R) beside your name, you aren't! Delivering a lecture in an academic setting? Gotta make sure it passes the censorship board to make sure it doesn't portray subversive material like CrItIcAl RaCe ThEoRy.

It's like claiming that the American Civil War was caused by "polarisation" and not a specific faction's hostility to the democratic order. It's a severely lacking analysis that only serves to normalise the criminality of today's anti-democratic faction. The reality is that today's Republican Party seeks to adopt the so-called "Chinese model" of a functional one-party state, in which anyone who isn't a Party member is a second-class citizen.
 
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bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
Greetings enlightened centrist. I'd love to hear you go on about how a neoliberal party is basically equal in extremism to a basically fascist one
I'm going to be real honest, depictions of America as "divided" was bad commentary five years ago and it's bad commentary now. Americans aren't divided, there is an insurgent faction in American politics that is literally hostile to the Constitution, hostility which has gotten to the point of trying to overthrow an election by mob violence. This isn't a reconcilable matter, it's literally one party attempting to establish an entirely separate legal class based entirely on partisan loyalty. Going to the ballot box? Not without an (R) beside your name, you aren't! Delivering a lecture in an academic setting? Gotta make sure it passes the censorship board to make sure it doesn't portray subversive material like CrItIcAl RaCe ThEoRy.

It's like claiming that the American Civil War was caused by "polarisation" and not a specific faction's hostility to the democratic order. It's a severely lacking analysis that only serves to normalise the criminality of today's anti-democratic faction. The reality is that today's Republican Party seeks to adopt the so-called "Chinese model" of a functional one-party state, in which anyone who isn't a Party member is a second-class citizen.
Conveniently, I'd like to think that I can provide an answer to both of these in one fell swoop. Sure, I'm just some uneducated college kid or whatever, but the point of my original post was not to criticize one party or the other, but just explain how Republicans and Democrats alike have. their stinkers on both sides. The American people are more in common than the mainstream media lets on, it's just that since the media has so much power in the lives of everyday citizens the people appear much further apart. It's really only the extremists on either side who are divided. Based on each of your responses to me, I'd be willing to bet that you tend to lean more towards the Democratic side. Personally, most of if not everyone I grew up around was predominantly conservative, and many of those lessons were shoved down my throat as a result. At this point in my life, I'm trying as hard as I can to look at things from both angles, and it's completely fine if any of you disagree with my ideology. That being said, all I've ever wanted is to know what it would be like to live in an America where the silent majority of us get the spotlight, specifically the ones who can make compromises with the other side.

As for how one party is equal to extremism to another, you've got to be careful not to fall into the mainstream media's trap of thinking one party has been so desperate for so long. I believe the words you used were "neoliberal" and "fascist". There are two issues with this argument in my eyes. The first is that I've heard both parties refer to their opposite as the fascist one of the two. The second and more relevant is that different parties' ideologies line up better with what our country needs at that moment in time. At one point in American history, the Republicans were more extreme, but at an other point the Democrats might have been. See what I'm trying to get at here?
 
Conveniently, I'd like to think that I can provide an answer to both of these in one fell swoop. Sure, I'm just some uneducated college kid or whatever, but the point of my original post was not to criticize one party or the other, but just explain how Republicans and Democrats alike have. their stinkers on both sides. The American people are more in common than the mainstream media lets on, it's just that since the media has so much power in the lives of everyday citizens the people appear much further apart. It's really only the extremists on either side who are divided. Based on each of your responses to me, I'd be willing to bet that you tend to lean more towards the Democratic side. Personally, most of if not everyone I grew up around was predominantly conservative, and many of those lessons were shoved down my throat as a result. At this point in my life, I'm trying as hard as I can to look at things from both angles, and it's completely fine if any of you disagree with my ideology. That being said, all I've ever wanted is to know what it would be like to live in an America where the silent majority of us get the spotlight, specifically the ones who can make compromises with the other side.

As for how one party is equal to extremism to another, you've got to be careful not to fall into the mainstream media's trap of thinking one party has been so desperate for so long. I believe the words you used were "neoliberal" and "fascist". There are two issues with this argument in my eyes. The first is that I've heard both parties refer to their opposite as the fascist one of the two. The second and more relevant is that different parties' ideologies line up better with what our country needs at that moment in time. At one point in American history, the Republicans were more extreme, but at an other point the Democrats might have been. See what I'm trying to get at here?
No. I respect where your heart is but the both sides-ism really is hurting the credibility of your posts. The Republicans are accomplices in a coup attempt and are trafficking in political violence against their Democratic colleagues. Can you name any Democrats from this Congress that tried to overthrow the Capitol? Can you name any Democrats that joke about murdering their Republican colleagues?
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
No. I respect where your heart is but the both sides-ism really is hurting the credibility of your posts. The Republicans are accomplices in a coup attempt and are trafficking in political violence against their Democratic colleagues. Can you name any Democrats from this Congress that tried to overthrow the Capitol? Can you name any Democrats that joke about murdering their Republican colleagues?
To be fair, I honestly can't. I was raised in a conservative environment and while I personally haven't heard any vulgar talk from my loved ones, I don't deny that it exists. The problem here seems to be that I took my slightly Republican stance on most issues (keyword being most, jury's still out on how the parties feels about neurodiversity which is a BIG factor for me so if anyone has any answers, please send them my way, ok thanks) and merged it with my strong, strong dislike of the mainstream media.

You can probably tell where this is going. While my heart is in the right place, it's almost as if I'm only seeing half of the picture of our nation at any given time. I get this lack of understanding of the other side because the combination of me and more specifically my family refuses to look into important names on their end. If I'm being honest with you, I can barely name any famous politicians on either end, but if you were to meet, say, my parents for instance, they could probably start listing off "important" Republican names faster than an eight year old can say the word "Fortnite".
 
To be fair, I honestly can't. I was raised in a conservative environment and while I personally haven't heard any vulgar talk from my loved ones, I don't deny that it exists. The problem here seems to be that I took my slightly Republican stance on most issues (keyword being most, jury's still out on how the parties feels about neurodiversity which is a BIG factor for me so if anyone has any answers, please send them my way, ok thanks) and merged it with my strong, strong dislike of the mainstream media.

You can probably tell where this is going. While my heart is in the right place, it's almost as if I'm only seeing half of the picture of our nation at any given time. I get this lack of understanding of the other side because the combination of me and more specifically my family refuses to look into important names on their end. If I'm being honest with you, I can barely name any famous politicians on either end, but if you were to meet, say, my parents for instance, they could probably start listing off "important" Republican names faster than an eight year old can say the word "Fortnite".
What you are missing is that US politics now is just not at “both sides are equal.”

I’ll name a Republican politician for you - Congresswoman Liz Cheney. She is the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.

Liz Cheney is currently being excommunicated from the Republican Party for saying Republicans shouldn’t overthrow the US government when they lose an election.

Why do you think Republicans are cleansing the party of people that publicly share her opinion?
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
What you are missing is that US politics now is just not at “both sides are equal.”

I’ll name a Republican politician for you - Congresswoman Liz Cheney. She is the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney.

Liz Cheney is currently being excommunicated from the Republican Party for saying Republicans shouldn’t overthrow the US government when they lose an election.

Why do you think Republicans are cleansing the party of people that publicly share her opinion?
Is that so? Interesting. In a perfect world, neither party would be this much of a sore loser, and that embarrassing spectacle at the Capitol building back in January certainly didn't help anyone. I think- I think what I've been trying to say is that I want America to feel the way I see it, even if this may not be what's inherently going on. The media may make us seem more divided than what we actually are, but that doesn't mean our country is perfectly equal. As a matter of fact, too much of that so-called equality might actually be a bad thing.
 
Is that so? Interesting. In a perfect world, neither party would be this much of a sore loser, and that embarrassing spectacle at the Capitol building back in January certainly didn't help anyone. I think- I think what I've been trying to say is that I want America to feel the way I see it, even if this may not be what's inherently going on. The media may make us seem more divided than what we actually are, but that doesn't mean our country is perfectly equal. As a matter of fact, too much of that so-called equality might actually be a bad thing.
Unfortunately the reality is what it is; America has been in a polarized Cold War ever since Barack Obama was elected in 2008. Since then, Republicans have been hell bent on preserving a racial hierarchy despite demographic headwinds. They are willing to destroy all democratic norms in the process. The Republican Party’s inability to accept electoral losses means they are now functionally an autocratic party.

Interestingly, public policy has nothing to do with this; most Americans (70%+) including those in both parties agree on major policy positions such as higher minimum wage, fighting climate change, expanding voting rights, some form of universal health care, better roads, decriminalization of drugs, etc.

Unfortunately, Biden and the Democrats are in denial about the state of politics today. Biden could pass every policy under the sun and it still wouldn’t change the trajectory of his approval. Most American voters simply don’t care about policy.
 
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