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SnowblindFatal posted:As a newcomer, I find it hilarious that the whole first page of USA politics thread is just full of booze talk. You guys really have lost hope, haven't you? Today my state legislature overrode the governor's veto of a "race to the bottom" tax cut on the wealthy, the IPCC report's warnings and advice is being ignored, one of the mayors of a local town is talking about seceding from the county because the town's grown enough that it now gives more tax money to the county than it gets back, and that's just the front page of the paper.
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May 7, 2014 16:40
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comes along bort posted:That's the standard old timer phrase in the south. Or the War Between the States if you're feeling diplomatic. There's no "back then." They say any and all of those lines depending on context. Consistency has nothing to do with it. c.f. the freeper thread.
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May 7, 2014 18:45
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hobbesmaster posted:Well, they could just walk out of the chamber like petulant children. Ahahaha there is so much in there, including this hidden gem: quote:House Republican leaders described the contempt vote as a political ploy that drew time away from what they described as a more important debate over extending a federal law to allow eavesdropping on domestic telephone calls and e-mail in pursuit of terrorists. So are the Republicans for or against White House authorized NSA wiretaps?
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May 8, 2014 16:58
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Samurai Sanders posted:How exactly was Hillary supposed to "handle" a militant group in another country, which afaik made no direct or indirect threats to us? Just more evidence that Islamic militants are not considered terrorists but law-abiding white Christian freedom lovers are by this Kenyan Marxist administration.
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May 8, 2014 17:55
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Sword of Chomsky posted:So when does Bernie get his blimp, and what rare earth metal does he think we should base our currency on? "Get Ready"
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May 9, 2014 00:58
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Luigi Thirty posted:So what's the difference between Freepers posting about keeping powder dry and how the revolution will start any day now and our current conversation We don't have any hope of it happening? Bankers aren't poor black people?
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May 9, 2014 01:25
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Buffer posted:I have to admit I do become more sympathetic to Robespierre as we get further and further from 2008 without many consequences to anyone with a net worth over a million USD. So anyone who made regular IRA contributions?
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May 9, 2014 15:28
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Buffer posted:Your IRA is over a million bucks? No, but I also haven't been working and contributing for 30 years.
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May 9, 2014 15:34
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AnemicChipmunk posted:I voted for Barack Obama. Twice! I voted for Nader once so that's pretty Republican?
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May 10, 2014 00:39
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JonathonSpectre posted:
Find: slave* Results: 82
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May 10, 2014 01:15
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Good Citizen posted:When I was 19 I refused to count the vote of a black person. I hope you've matured since then.
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May 10, 2014 04:15
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Luigi Thirty posted:I did and all I have is $40,000 of student loan debt and crippling anxiety and depression and reading all these articles about how everything is hosed and nothing will ever get better makes me want to off myself sometimes instead of living through a Christian theocracy or whatever the hell we'll be in 30 years Relax, the Christian Right has been waning ever since Newt Gingrich's self immolation. In 30 years we'll be in a libertarian utopia where the Republicans have stopped caring about weed and gays and Democrats have stopped pretending to care about income inequality or labor.
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May 11, 2014 18:32
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Pohl posted:There was a post about this a few pages back? Or was it the Freep thread? Here you go
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May 13, 2014 04:09
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Nessus posted:It's funny how so much of that is basically "they used THEIR freedom to hurt OUR feelings!" Some things don't change, I suppose. Also "we were supposed to be sovereign and independent states but also they have to enforce our slave laws!"
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May 13, 2014 04:17
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anonumos posted:Am I the only person who believes a liberal arts degree prepares you for the widest range of jobs? You can take a BA and do pretty much anything with it, in any field, any industry, any position. You may need additional, specific training, but a liberal arts education is meant to prepare you to learn anything. This would be a valid statement if employers didn't demand a 4-year degree in exactly what they're hiring and were willing to train new employees.
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May 13, 2014 16:47
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Kanos posted:So, let me get this straight. Actually, 3. is only reasonable if you have a full ride scholarship or full ride parents so you don't have to work at Hardees during the summer in order to afford food during the school year.
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May 13, 2014 17:52
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Amergin posted:
Half of internships are unpaid, champ.
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May 13, 2014 18:00
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SedanChair posted:Who says that a 22 year old with a BA in English is less educated than a 22 year old tradesperson with 4-6 years of experience? If it is a proper liberal arts program, the 22 year old with a BA in English will have more education than a 22 year old tradesperson who has only studied his limited field.
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May 13, 2014 18:49
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SedanChair posted:How classist. It's classist to say that someone who has been educated in science, math, language, history, fine arts, and government has had more education than someone who has been educated in, for example, building roofs?
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May 13, 2014 18:57
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zoux posted:Yep. Why? How is education in six different areas not "more education" than education in one area?
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May 13, 2014 18:59
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zoux posted:Depends on how you define education. If it's just hours taken or degrees received, then yes, they have more education and I guess they can put that on a button and wear it around. If you include anything that values practical applications of knowledge, then it becomes murkier. Does focus matter? If I take 100 hours of chemistry am I more or less educated than someone with a general studies degree of 100 hours? Someone who has taken science, math, history, and art is better equipped to make decisions in a democracy than someone who has never poked their head out of a laboratory so I'd say less. Specialization is the enemy of education.
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May 13, 2014 19:09
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AstheWorldWorlds posted:Isn't the whole "Well maybe those rabble should just do trades while the aristocracy and those who we deem to be gifted get traditional university educations" argument the real classist one? Also assuming people made this argument got their way and 90% of people going to higher education did trades instead, wouldn't this kind of massively increase the labor supply of said trades and depress wages? Yeah, pretty much. I hear a lot about how it's too easy for people who don't really want to be there to get into college and how we should be promoting the trades as an option more. In practice, however, this would just lead back to the era rich white people getting college degrees and everyone else being shuffled into "trades" which have suffered from offshoring, union-busting, and the massive slump in construction over the last decade.
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May 13, 2014 19:21
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Rexicon1 posted:I wonder how much having a state that's as red as Nebraska or Kansas drives out any progressive movements there, either by scaring away potential leaders or by depressing/bankrupting the opposition. Is there any evidence of this or are most people in these states just really into job creators and Jesus ( the primordial job creator)? You may be interested to know that a book was published regarding this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What's_the_Matter_with_Kansas%3F
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May 13, 2014 21:49
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Rexicon1 posted:Thanks for the reference. I'll try to pick this up from the library if it's there The main thesis, IIRC, is that a heavy push on the "culture war" has nudged the "socially conservative/economically liberal" Middle Americans towards the Republican Party. Then, as we know, once you get people into your tribe, you can convince them that the tribe is right on all the issues. Snag 'em with abortion, gays, and prayer in schools then run the "job creators" bit once they're in the group. The Christian Coalition types have been very instrumental in this and the media is entirely complicit. The well-funded Religious Right has convinced a large swath of the country (of all political and religious views) that being Christian means being economically libertarian despite centuries of precedent, including in the United States.
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May 13, 2014 22:01
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FAUXTON posted:/\ You'd be surprised how many scientists have a decent grasp on programming. I learned something new and absolutely hilarious today. Thank you.
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May 14, 2014 01:41
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FAUXTON posted:Same with social skills. No, no fewer than I'd think.
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May 14, 2014 01:52
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AstheWorldWorlds posted:I feel like I am not understanding the cultural dynamics in deep red states, having never lived in one. What kind of satisfaction are people there deriving from extremely conservative policies? Which deep red states? There are two major regions of deep red - the South where yeah it's racism and the West where it's the "we built this" pioneer myth. Then you get the rest of the country which is only red or blue based on the proportion of population that's urbanized. nutranurse posted:I can see why you'd think that, but you don't actually need for minorities to be around in order to otherize the gently caress out of them. Actually, it helps a ton when your only working examples come from mainstream media and your own racist family members. For example, Cliven Bundy. Man's probably never met a black person in his life, but he knows all about the welfare-takin' baby-killin' lazy surly Negro who needs to pick cotton. On the other hand, he's probably worked with Mexican laborers for decades and he'll tell you that the average Mexican is more hard working and moral than whites.
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May 14, 2014 14:31
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Dystram posted:Does anyone know if universities splitting their colleges into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and LASS (Liberal Arts and Social Sciences), from them just all being siloed off in the College of Arts and Sciences with The College of Engineering off by itself in many places, was wrapped up in "LASS is for liberal scum and people who want useless degrees! We must bring most of out serious programmes under one umbrella!" rhetoric? In the same way that you have a separate "College of Business" to attract conservative students and parents? It makes sense to me to have the Arts and Sciences be a unified College, since (and most people forget this) science and math are two areas of the liberal arts. Engineering, business, med school, are more vocationally oriented whereas liberal arts are learning and inquiry oriented.
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May 14, 2014 19:06
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The Warszawa posted:The only thing we really know right now is that Sulzberger canned her because neither of them are making any secret of it, though the pay stuff and the idea that she was fired after a lawyer made inquiries about the pay discrepancy on her behalf are all subject to your appropriate skepticism. Has anyone put out a comparison of the NYT's fortunes under each one? I'm not saying that anything is her fault but newspapers are cutting staff and pay everywhere and have been for quite some time.
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May 15, 2014 02:52
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So the right wing blogosphere is blowing up over another federal weapons purchase This time, the USDA is buying guns. I linked to the only one of these nutcases' articles that bothers to mention that the US Forest Service, which has a law enforcement division, is part of the USDA. I think at this time it's reasonable to point out that the Forest Service has been the target of terrorist bombings in the past from the very sort of people who are threatening BLM agents in Nevada right now.
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May 15, 2014 16:15
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The second amendment promises me nuclear bombs!!! [/quote] Me and my friends hole up in Nevada with rooms full of weapons and talk about overthrowing the illegitimate federal government, why do these jackbooted thugs think they need MP5s?
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May 15, 2014 17:48
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Miltank posted:It is way less creepy than the story that would result from a MJ reporter looking over the shoulder of literally anyone playing GTA. Hm, maybe there's some sort of difference.
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May 16, 2014 15:52
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zoux posted:Why are gun rights such an important issue in the US? I was thinking about this the other day, but what makes people care about guns above all other political concerns. If a Republican candidate is listing his or her conservative credentials, the first thing they mention is their NRA rating. Cultural obsession. Guns are fetishized by much of the right like money is by libertarians in that the ability to have and control your own gun/money is the most fundamental aspect of "freedom."
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May 16, 2014 17:43
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Joementum posted:You can now read the conservative manifesto "Reform, Restore, Modernize - An Agenda to Restore the American Dream". From the title, I have to assume they don't intend to reform or modernize the American Dream. None of it is particularly surprising. I think "Replace Obamacare to fix health care problems without raising costs or shrinking the workforce" is my favorite bullet point. "Abort, Fail, Retry"
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May 16, 2014 21:31
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Magres posted:Anyone know why I keep seeing federal buildings with flags at half mast around San Francisco today? I haven't been able to find anything Not sure if this answers your question, but http://www.dailyflagstatus.com/14.html
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May 18, 2014 03:13
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Torpor posted:So what would a Strategic Gun look like? 
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May 18, 2014 18:51
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Sword of Chomsky posted:I guess not everyone is as clued in on that as would be expected. It is obvious that Joe Biden knows about his image and takes the opportunities to play off it. I really wish he could be made VP for life. I don't want him being president, but he makes the best VP ever. Maybe he just shows so much more life than our previous VP that I love him for all his effort. I know he still somewhat lovely politically. He's the last of the "shaking hands and kissing babies" politicians. He's a "gaffe machine" because he has rejected the modern politician mold where nothing controversial or surprising is ever said in fear of the 24 hour news cycle. When he's campaigning or debating you can tell he's having the time of his life doing what he loves. And that's why he's an awesome VP.
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May 20, 2014 00:11
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tbp posted:Is there a difference between the two I assume "socially libertarian" means you think nobody should stop gays from getting married but businesses can refuse to let them in the door?
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May 20, 2014 03:04
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Radish posted:I'm curious what buzzwords the bill used to make it sound like it wasn't about protecting illegal actions by employers (a law designed to make it difficult to enforce laws is an absolute farce). Freedom, family, or both? Oh, they didn't bother. They went with "it's more
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May 20, 2014 13:46
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computer parts posted:Note that gerrymandering does nothing for Senate seats which is the more pressing concern right now. The Constitution effectively gerrymanders the Senate by insisting on giving empty land equal votes as a packed megalopolis.
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May 20, 2014 18:23
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