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How long before it's us?

Started by BallAquatics, July 07, 2015, 02:18:34 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

BillT

If so, it might be patchy.
Nicer in some places but worse in others.

Oh, and yeah, that Ted Cruz picture is great!


Mugwump

Jon

?Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ?Wow! What a Ride!? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

JR

The cop. You know it has to be someone else fault Never the parents our the kids.
Any Day Above Ground Is A Good Day

LizStreithorst

I'm one to follow my heart but when it comes to this election I'll be following my head.  I will not vote for the guy I love because I don't think that he would not be good for the country as a whole right now.  We as a country are so divided now.  My man would only make it worse.  There are republicans who would divide us further.  Once upon a time I wanted the guy with the hair to get the nomination because he would surely loose.  Now I'm not so sure.  People I like are for him ???

As it stands I hope that it comes down to Rubio and Clinton.  I would suffer some if Marco were to will but I wouldn't have to pick up my life and move to that lovely Canadian island =;-)
Always move forward. Never look back.

Mugwump

Obama Signs Executive Order Relocating Congress to Guant?namo



WASHINGTON (Satire from The Borowitz Report)?Making good on one of his key campaign promises, President Obama signed an executive order on Tuesday relocating the United States Congress to Guant?namo Bay, Cuba.

The President seemed to relish signing the order, calling the relocation a ?win-win for America,? and indicating that Congress could be moved to its new headquarters ?immediately.?

?We don?t envision doing any renovations to the facility down there,? he said. ?It is ready to house Congress right now.?

The President did not specify what the current U.S. Capitol building would be used for in the future, but he hinted that it could be the setting for historic re?nactments in the manner of Colonial Williamsburg.

?I think it could be fascinating to school groups,? he said. ?It could really take them back to the olden days when it was a real, functioning place.?

Minutes after the President signed the order, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) called it ?an outrage? and ?grounds for impeachment,? but Obama appeared to take such howls of protest in stride.

?If Congress believes that this executive order is illegal, they can take it up with the Supreme Court,? he said. ?Oh wait?we don?t have a Supreme Court.?
Jon

?Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ?Wow! What a Ride!? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Mugwump

Jon

?Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ?Wow! What a Ride!? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Mugwump

The Governing Cancer of Our Time
David Brooks



We live in a big, diverse society. There are essentially two ways to maintain order and get things done in such a society ? politics or some form of dictatorship. Either through compromise or brute force. Our founding fathers chose politics.

Politics is an activity in which you recognize the simultaneous existence of different groups, interests and opinions. You try to find some way to balance or reconcile or compromise those interests, or at least a majority of them. You follow a set of rules, enshrined in a constitution or in custom, to help you reach these compromises in a way everybody considers legitimate.

The downside of politics is that people never really get everything they want. It?s messy, limited and no issue is ever really settled. Politics is a muddled activity in which people have to recognize restraints and settle for less than they want. Disappointment is normal.

But that?s sort of the beauty of politics, too. It involves an endless conversation in which we learn about other people and see things from their vantage point and try to balance their needs against our own. Plus, it?s better than the alternative: rule by some authoritarian tyrant who tries to govern by clobbering everyone in his way.

As Bernard Crick wrote in his book, ?In Defence of Politics,? ?Politics is a way of ruling divided societies without undue violence.?

Over the past generation we have seen the rise of a group of people who are against politics. These groups ? best exemplified by the Tea Party but not exclusive to the right ? want to elect people who have no political experience. They want ?outsiders.? They delegitimize compromise and deal-making. They?re willing to trample the customs and rules that give legitimacy to legislative decision-making if it helps them gain power.

Ultimately, they don?t recognize other people. They suffer from a form of political narcissism, in which they don?t accept the legitimacy of other interests and opinions. They don?t recognize restraints. They want total victories for themselves and their doctrine.

This antipolitics tendency has had a wretched effect on our democracy. It has led to a series of overlapping downward spirals:

The antipolitics people elect legislators who have no political skills or experience. That incompetence leads to dysfunctional government, which leads to more disgust with government, which leads to a demand for even more outsiders.

The antipolitics people don?t accept that politics is a limited activity. They make soaring promises and raise ridiculous expectations. When those expectations are not met, voters grow cynical and, disgusted, turn even further in the direction of antipolitics.

The antipolitics people refuse compromise and so block the legislative process. The absence of accomplishment destroys public trust. The decline in trust makes deal-making harder.

We?re now at a point where the Senate says it won?t even hold hearings on a presidential Supreme Court nominee, in clear defiance of custom and the Constitution. We?re now at a point in which politicians live in fear if they try to compromise and legislate. We?re now at a point in which normal political conversation has broken down. People feel unheard, which makes them shout even louder, which further destroys conversation.

And in walks Donald Trump. People say that Trump is an unconventional candidate and that he represents a break from politics as usual. That?s not true. Trump is the culmination of the trends we have been seeing for the last 30 years: the desire for outsiders; the bashing style of rhetoric that makes conversation impossible; the decline of coherent political parties; the declining importance of policy; the tendency to fight cultural battles and identity wars through political means.

Trump represents the path the founders rejected. There is a hint of violence undergirding his campaign. There is always a whiff, and sometimes more than a whiff, of ?I?d like to punch him in the face.?

I printed out a Times list of the insults Trump has hurled on Twitter. The list took up 33 pages. Trump?s style is bashing and pummeling. Everyone who opposes or disagrees with him is an idiot, a moron or a loser. The implied promise of his campaign is that he will come to Washington and bully his way through.

Trump?s supporters aren?t looking for a political process to address their needs. They are looking for a superhero. As the political scientist Matthew MacWilliams found, the one trait that best predicts whether you?re a Trump supporter is how high you score on tests that measure authoritarianism.

This isn?t just an American phenomenon. Politics is in retreat and authoritarianism is on the rise worldwide. The answer to Trump is politics. It?s acknowledging other people exist. It?s taking pleasure in that difference and hammering out workable arrangements. As Harold Laski put it, ?We shall make the basis of our state consent to disagreement. Therein shall we ensure its deepest harmony.?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/the-governing-cancer-of-our-time.html
Jon

?Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ?Wow! What a Ride!? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Mugwump

Jon

?Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ?Wow! What a Ride!? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

Mugwump

Jon

?Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ?Wow! What a Ride!? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

LizStreithorst

Happy super Tuesday everyone wfwf
Always move forward. Never look back.

Mugwump

Quote from: LizStreithorst on March 01, 2016, 08:17:26 AM
Happy super Tuesday everyone wfwf

...it'll be an interesting day for sure...
Jon

?Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ?Wow! What a Ride!? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

wsantia1

Willie

Too Many Fish. Not Enough Tanks.

Mugwump

Jon

?Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ?Wow! What a Ride!? ~ Hunter S. Thompson

ghonk

#869
For some reason my chrome browser is showing up Drumpf . ;D