Senate The US Politics discussion

Never gonna happen. Americans crow about freedom and liberty, but they really are subservient to and property of the corporations that run this country. That's why working people in this country have nothing and the wealthy can take it all. When all your political choices are is center right and far right, you will be stuck with a right wing country and a right wing life. I wish there was a real left wing party to balance things out too, but the Democrats sold out years ago.

 

Trump seems even more determined than George Bush and Obama to double down on a by-the-books downward slope of the Rise and Fall of the Great Powers scenario.

-the U.S. has now been running trade deficits for most of my adult life
-U.S. share of the global economy has declined steadily for most of my adult life
-China is still poised to become the world's largest economy by all standard measures as of next year
-U.S. national debt is more than 100% of GDP now, basically failed state numbers.

-and yet: Trump wants to increase military spending by 10%.

this is the classic self-reinforcing downward spiral of Kennedy's classic book. overspending on "imperial"/global military commitments leads to slower economic growth as economy-building investments are neglected in favor of defense, further weakening us economically, further reducing our ability to maintain high levels of military spending and our global military commitments.

I'd place "peak U.S." somewhere around 1990. We're anywhere from 25-40 years into our relative economic decline, depending on how you want to measure it.

I may still live long enough to witness the wholesale abandonment/unraveling of the current global military defensive order (NATO, U.S. commitments in Asia/Pacific beyond Hawaii).

Still hopeful it doesn't come with a world war.

 

Yeah, an arms race with China won't end well.

The decline in one superpower and the rise of another usually involves a war.

 

It's a catchy tune but the lyrics aren't even finished - there are huge sections where she just goes 'whoah uh uh uh uh oh-oh-oh', over and over again.

 

It's almost as though that song is vapid faux empowerment commercialized watered down feminism produced with the minimal amount of effort required for it to make truckloads of money. I expect more from the artist behind "Ur So Gay," "I Kissed A Girl," and "Firework."

 

I am sure the NRA is thrilled by this news: http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/27/us/african-american-gun-club-trump/index.html

And naturally, I assume 45 is equally thrilled that so many Americans are excercising their 2nd Amendment rights.

 

Great. More mass shootings.

 

The police happily shoot African-Americans regardless if they're armed or not.

 

"You sound like a the_donald mod" - @PointGiven

 

Man, Moonlight is a legitimately good movie. Not to mention sincere-- unlike Katy Perry songs.

 

Good tagging.

EDIT: Looks like Wisconsin is more aligned with 45 than not, as they're stupid with protectionism...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/wisconsin-has-a-cow-1487978741

 

Edit time expired, so we have confirmation that voter suppression will be the priority of the current White House:

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/02/27/voter-id-case-trumps-team-drops-argument-against-texas/

AaylaSecurOWNED

 

Bannon, Kushner, and Miller are all urging Trump to NOT repeal ObamaCare

I wonder how Paul Ryan is feeling. Turns out Trump is become the polar opposite kind of Republican. Ryan cares deepest about reforming entitlements (and the Trump budget reportedly rules out Medicare or Social Security cuts), repealing Obamacare, and abortion (which Trump has a mixed record on, and being a social conservative isn't his highest priority, at least when compared to other Republicans in the Ryan/Santorum/Huckabee brand of pro-life social conservatism).

 

Is that the song where someone says "I am a lion growling like a tiger?"

The meaning is pretty opaque by that point.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...owers-vote-violent-state-senate-a7595361.html

Where's Bundy and his freedom thugs when you need 'em, eh? Oh right, it's conservatives turning us into a police state. Nevermind, they can stay home. We're all good.

 

Arizona House Speaker declares that controversial protest bill is "dead"

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...arizonas-controversial-protest-bill/98474882/