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 UNLESS SOMETHING CHANGES, THERE IS NO INDICATION OF US MILITARY INTERVENTION IN UKRAINE. DO NOT SPREAD RUMORS ABOUT IT UNLESS IT COMES FROM AN OFFICIAL US SOURCEGreetings all, welcome to a new era. Current events is being rebooted and more strictly moderated, the old CE thread is getting moved to CCCC and will be available there for all your less moderated US Current Events needs. In the meantime, feel free to post US Current Events here. If you have one that you feel is particularly important and needs its own thread, feel free to make an individual thread. Please wear masks and get your boosters to avoid becoming part of the COVID economy. Old US CE Thread now in CCCC: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3989484 CommieGIR fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Feb 24, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 18:33
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ground floor. enjoy the hammock kitty my new CCCC friends
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Jan 5, 2022 18:41
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Well, since the tread title references a booming economy: Economy us not booming and, even if it is, it's not helping 90% of us. I don't give a gently caress what they say or how they measure it. Filling up my car and my shopping cart is a whole new lesson in frugality right now so Biden can go gently caress himself. Motherfuckers can't fill jobs because they don't pay enough, don't offer health care, are inflexible with their hours, treat their workers like children, are mind numbingly repetitive, STILL drug test for weed even if it's legal and only have punitive policies in place for their workers. I've worked a few places that: - Don't offer paid 10 or 15 minute breaks of any kind during an 8-10 hour shift - Have a rigid 1/2 hour lunch policy at a designated time for everyone, even if that does not matter to your job - punish you for punching in early, let alone late. I'm talking about 5 or 10 minutes either way. I tend to leave early so as not to be late most times and gently caress sitting in my car or the break room if I have to work to do, know my job and jsut want to clock in. I can shave the 10 or 15 minutes somewhere. - Have blanket No Cell Phones policies, which, as a parent of a 10 year old with epilepsy, ADHD and autism is a non starter and untenable - Won't allow me to bring my son in with me during off school days even if I'm just sitting at a computer and he is not a safety risk nor a distraction. Finding someone to watch him for 10 hours basically offsets any money I make by coming in to work. - No ear buds even if it doesn't effect anything you're doing - Expect you to monitor your cell phone and email during off the clock hours for company messages and calls (gently caress you) but won't let you tend to your poo poo ON the clock. - Have a "points" system that tabulates every time you have a doctor appointment, are 10 minutes late, leave 10 minutes early or "get caught" violating policy (like taking a call from your doctor, bank, family, etc.)
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Jan 5, 2022 18:42
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BiggerBoat posted:Well, since the tread title references a booming economy: Its not booming, for sure. They are largely basing it on the "Job Opening" numbers rather than pure employment percentage of the population. The joke was around the booming Omicron numbers. So you have all these companies offering garbage positions for garbage jobs for garbage pay and somehow the Biden Admin is interpreting it as a booming economy.
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Jan 5, 2022 18:45
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The economy may not be booming but I am enjoying the revitalized labor movement.
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Jan 5, 2022 19:12
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Manchin has basically ruled out a full filibuster carveout, but is open to some "moderate" (and unspecified) rule changes. That essentially kills the likelihood of any voting rights legislation in the short-term. At least he didn't make everyone wait this time? https://twitter.com/alizaslav/status/1478782883569491969
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Jan 5, 2022 19:13
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Jaxyon posted:The economy may not be booming but I am enjoying the revitalized labor movement. Right? Very encouraging that we're seeing it among groups like teachers and nurses as well. A big nurse's strike in Worcester, MA, just ended: quote:The longest nurses’ strike in Massachusetts history has come to an end. quote:The nurses walked off the job 10 months ago, seeking more money and better health insurance benefits, but then a stalemate over staffing levels took center stage. Offers from owner Tenet Healthcare and counter-offers from the nurses’ union failed to solve things, so the hospital hired 200 replacement nurses and shut down beds during the pandemic. Incidentally, this week's free Chapo had a really amazing (and harrowing) interview with Andrew Hudson of the Episode 1 podcast. Andrew was a nurse who quit recently, and he has some absolutely awful stories about his experiences treating COVID patients, as well as some examples of extremely poor treatment by hospital administrators. It's worth a listen, even if you don't usually like the show.
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Jan 5, 2022 19:17
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I too am very glad to see a revitalized and energized labor movement. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jan 5, 2022 19:34
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Manchin has basically ruled out a full filibuster carveout, but is open to some "moderate" (and unspecified) rule changes. It's extremely depressing that every time a Democrat is elected on the back of an absolute clown shoe Republican and has a huge mandate to Fix Things, there's always 1 or 2 people that can just say "no" and nothing happens. We're essentially a government of Executive Orders that have to thread an increasingly obscure needle and then congress gets together every few months to increase the military's budget and debt ceiling.
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Jan 5, 2022 19:35
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Kathy Hochul actually proposing a lot of surprisingly good things in her State of the State address: - Term limits for NY Governor. - Changing zoning rules to end density limits, mandatory parking lots, and bans on bicycling on certain roads. - Legalizing basement apartments. - Implementing a new rail line and rapid transit bus system that have fewer stops and faster routes. - Getting legal marijuana regulations established by the end of the 2022. - Create a “Jails to Jobs” program for criminals awaiting release from lockups. - Fire all of the Cuomo appointees from joint committee on public ethics, disband the committee, and make a new independent ethics agency made up of rotating deans from law schools. - Make part-time students eligible for scholarship assistance at CUNY and SUNY. - Keep tuition at SUNY and CUNY to less than 15% of the state's median income. https://twitter.com/muoiod/status/1478793523520544768 Pure Liquid Ice posted:It's extremely depressing that every time a Democrat is elected on the back of an absolute clown shoe Republican and has a huge mandate to Fix Things, there's always 1 or 2 people that can just say "no" and nothing happens. We're essentially a government of Executive Orders that have to thread an increasingly obscure needle and then congress gets together every few months to increase the military's budget and debt ceiling. Juan Linz wrote a book in the 90's about the dangers of Presidential systems, especially in Latin America, because their many veto points would lead to frustration among the population, more executive governance, and eventually authoritarianism. A bunch of people criticized him for saying that "Presidentialism" was the cause of it because it would never happen in the U.S. since it had worked for over 200 years. Leon Trotsky 2012 fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 19:40
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Enjoy having your state natural resources sold off to the highest bidders Virginia https://twitter.com/SiegelScribe/status/1478728633523052548 Youngkin is going to be extremely awful.
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Jan 5, 2022 19:47
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Speaking of organized labor, it seems like they are none too happy with Biden right now for starting to lift the temporary OSHA COVID guidelines. A number of unions and labor groups are petitioning in court to have the rules made permanent. https://twitter.com/jamieson/status/1478736497176109058 https://twitter.com/AFLCIO/status/1475996818580328452 https://twitter.com/NationalNurses/status/1478734649681604613
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Jan 5, 2022 19:47
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Juan Linz wrote a book in the 90's about the dangers of Presidential systems, especially in Latin America, because their many veto points would lead to frustration among the population, more executive governance, and eventually authoritarianism. A bunch of people criticized him for saying that "Presidentialism" was the cause of it because it would never happen in the U.S. since it had worked for over 200 years. Is this (https://scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky/files/1.1linz.pdf) it? Or is it a full-fledged book? Interesting. edit: thanks, bruh VVV Total Party Kill fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 19:54
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Pure Liquid Ice posted:Is this (https://scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky/files/1.1linz.pdf) it? Or is it a full-fledged book? Interesting. That was his paper that started it. He also expanded on the "The Perils of Presidentialism" in "Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation" and "The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes" as full-fledged books later. Those included analysis of the post-Soviet democratic transitions and the long-term transitions of Eastern European and Asian democracies. If you don't want to read a 4-volume set that is thousands of pages of data and analysis, then The Perils of Presidentialism will get you 80% of the gist the assessment in less than 30 pages.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:02
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Manchin has basically ruled out a full filibuster carveout, but is open to some "moderate" (and unspecified) rule changes. Is there still any talk of bringing back the talking filibuster, or the plan to require 41 senators to be in the room at all times to maintain a filibuster? It's clearly not as good as getting rid of that lovely rule altogether, but I seem to recall that Manchin was in favor of those plans.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:16
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:
It's well past time to move to a one party system with either few or no elections, instead of an everlasting 'next year's election is the most important one ever' as Team A and B jockey for power. The only good elections are doing at this point is providing an outlet to vent anger, which isn't necessarily a good thing
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Jan 5, 2022 20:17
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mastershakeman posted:It's well past time to move to a one party system with either few or no elections, instead of an everlasting 'next year's election is the most important one ever' as Team A and B jockey for power. The only good elections are doing at this point is providing an outlet to vent anger, which isn't necessarily a good thing if this is a shitpost it isn't a very funny one
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Jan 5, 2022 20:20
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Cease to Hope posted:if this is a shitpost it isn't a very funny one It's not. Hopefully we can move to a Japanese style one party dominance
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Jan 5, 2022 20:22
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mastershakeman posted:It's not. Hopefully we can move to a Japanese style one party dominance why on earth would that be good
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Jan 5, 2022 20:23
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https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1478803656598302726 https://twitter.com/TheJusticeDept/status/1478743202450530305 I'm not expecting any big announcements. Probably a pat on their own back for how many of the insurrectionists they found and charged and nothing more.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:23
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Cease to Hope posted:why on earth would that be good Mastershakeman, I'd like you to take this seriously and explain in detail what advantages a one party system would have.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:25
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mastershakeman posted:It's not. Hopefully we can move to a Japanese style one party dominance It’s been a frequently-repeated observation that “The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them,” which makes sense if you look at the insistence on decorum and the guest list at various functions. The stakes are incredibly low if they don’t get anything done, but can you imagine making things awkward with your co-workers? Because that’s how they see them, as coworkers. Edit: I think the benefit of moving to a one-party system would be in removing the illusion of choice that much of the electoral process represents. No matter who I vote for, at this point, both major parties oppose the majority of my political agenda, because I am an anti-capitalist. So to me removing the kayfabe and forcing the bipartisan consensus on neoliberal depravity into the light would be a good thing. selec fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 20:25
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Bottom Liner posted:https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1478803656598302726 He's doing this partly due to complaints from Democrats that the AG's Office is moving too slowly and narrowly in prosecutions. Apparently, he's going to to try and reassure those critics by saying that they are committed to going as far as needed, but don't want political interference or to rush the investigation. quote:Per excerpt just sent to reporters, he will say DOJ "remains committed to holding all Jan. 6th perpetrators, *at any level*, accountable under law, whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts wherever they lead," Garland will say in his speech. Have to hear the full speech, but it sounds like he's going to promise that they are just starting, but defend the slow speed and not really announce much else.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:31
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selec posted:I think the benefit of moving to a one-party system would be in removing the illusion of choice that much of the electoral process represents. No matter who I vote for, at this point, both major parties oppose the majority of my political agenda, because I am an anti-capitalist. one-party countries have elections to diffuse public interest in overthrowing the single party too though. nothing about a one-party system is going to "force neoliberal depravity into the light". it's just bullshit just-so-story accelerationism.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:32
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Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:Have to hear the full speech, but it sounds like he's going to promise that they are just starting, but defend the slow speed and not really announce much else. This is bullshit until I see a person in an actual position of power charged.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:33
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Koos Group posted:Mastershakeman, I'd like you to take this seriously and explain in detail what advantages a one party system would have. That’s a bandwagonning. Boringly talking about other posters in bad faith. Next time will ramp. Ramp.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:35
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Cease to Hope posted:one-party countries have elections to diffuse public interest in overthrowing the single party too though. nothing about a one-party system is going to "force neoliberal depravity into the light". I think context matters, because the US would absolutely have a poo poo fit about a single party, owing to the fact that an enormous amount of political activity in this country is identifying with a team and schizogenically defining yourself based on what the other team likes and says. Without that you get some really weird unresolved capitalist tensions
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Jan 5, 2022 20:36
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Koos Group posted:Mastershakeman, I'd like you to take this seriously and explain in detail what advantages a one party system would have. It would greatly boost the mental well being of most people who pay attention to politics. Instead of worrying nonstop about The Other Party taking over, people could relax and either focus on actual issues they wanted enacted, or just tune out entirely in the belief that they are being represented as well as possible and that their mental stress and energy would be better spent elsewhere. This would lead to a happier, friendlier society with people across the board when society isn't facing a crisis like covid or warfare. And when a crisis does occur, the leaders in charge would have to actually embrace it head on instead of deflecting to arguing about what the other guys would be doing, and how being incrementally better than a theoretical alternative is all that really matters, not results. If the crisis was mishandled bad enough, maybe politicians would actually resign in shame or fear of their angry constituency rather than retaining power by, once again, doing nothing but yelling about the other team.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:36
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selec posted:I think context matters, because the US would absolutely have a poo poo fit about a single party, owing to the fact that an enormous amount of political activity in this country is identifying with a team and schizogenically defining yourself based on what the other team likes and says. Without that you get some really weird unresolved capitalist tensions the red state blue state poo poo is a new phenomenon in your lifetime. what do you think happens when the same media apparatus that conjured it turns its hand to saying how great the unified neoliberal party is? it's just pure fantasy that a new level of immiseration will kick off the revolution this time. and another fantasy that it'd be the leftists kicking it off. mastershakeman posted:It would greatly boost the mental well being of most people who pay attention to politics. Instead of worrying nonstop about The Other Party taking over, people could relax and either focus on actual issues they wanted enacted, or just tune out entirely in the belief that they are being represented as well as possible and that their mental stress and energy would be better spent elsewhere. This would lead to a happier, friendlier society with people across the board when society isn't facing a crisis like covid or warfare. being super online about politics is just as common in japan and russia and iran and honestly any one-party country you care to name, and one-party rule does not have a great history of handling crises directly and in a forthright manner. it's just an even easier system to capture. Cease to Hope fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 20:40
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mastershakeman posted:It would greatly boost the mental well being of most people who pay attention to politics. Instead of worrying nonstop about The Other Party taking over, people could relax and either focus on actual issues they wanted enacted, or just tune out entirely in the belief that they are being represented as well as possible and that their mental stress and energy would be better spent elsewhere. This would lead to a happier, friendlier society with people across the board when society isn't facing a crisis like covid or warfare. Japan, Israel in the 90's and early 2000's, Chile in the 70's and 80's, Cuba, Egypt, and dozens of actual one-party states don't really do any of that, though. Pinochet, Stalin, Abe, Sadat, Castro, Jintao, and Sharon never resigned in shame when they oversaw catastrophes. If anything, one-party states spend more time during crises talking about what would happen if they lose power.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:42
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Schucks
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Jan 5, 2022 20:49
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Yeah, people are generally pretty adept at finding replacement "others" when the previous ones are removed or rendered inert. Or you just go on acting as though they still exist.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:52
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mastershakeman posted:And when a crisis does occur, the leaders in charge would have to actually embrace it head on instead of deflecting to arguing about what the other guys would be doing, and how being incrementally better than a theoretical alternative is all that really matters, not results. If the crisis was mishandled bad enough, maybe politicians would actually resign in shame or fear of their angry constituency rather than retaining power by, once again, doing nothing but yelling about the other team. I don't think even the history of the U.S. bears this out. George W. Bush had to completely own the bungled Hurricane Katrina response. His approval ratings tanked, and his party lost Congress the year after that and the White House in the next election. He didn't resign on his own volition, nor was he able to really foist the blame onto the Dems in any meaningful way, beyond his administration occasionally saying "Well, Ray Nagin should've maybe done a little better too..." e: obviously, as a dirty Commie, I DO want something that could be characterized as "one-party rule," but neither of the current major parties exactly fit that conception. Majorian fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 20:55
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mastershakeman posted:edit: i'm assuming this is a mod directive and am thus responding I mean I don't really agree with you but this is a good argument. I think a lot of what's good about "Dems bad" messaging from the left, although I obviously think a lot of people take it to an unreasonable extreme, is that it highlights what the parties are in agreement about. The default American view is "these parties don't agree on ANYTHING!", but they do - they just make sure that stuff is never up for debate. Like, we, as voters, should think of them as one party with two (or three or five) wings. The labels distract from the similarities between the parties and the differences within them.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:56
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Heck Yes! Loam! posted:Enjoy having your state natural resources sold off to the highest bidders Virginia Well, first they have to clear out the giant I95 parking lot. Is this a failure or infrastructure, a climate change thing, a result of gutted resources or just some freak occurrence? Just too many cars out there? Some combination of all that? I remember something similar happening in Atlanta maybe 5 years ago but GA usually doesn't deal with snow either. I'm trying to picture myself being stuck in my car for 27 hours on a major interstate. I could fold down my back seat and sleep but what if traffic starts moving or I freeze to death since I ran out of gas running the heater? https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/04/weather/winter-weather-tuesday/index.html Forget about food and water for a minute (lol), but what about old people or kids who need medication? My 10 year old son (and his mom) have epilepsy and they are VERY likely to have a seizure without Kepra. EMT's and first responders can't reach people? This is some borderline 3rd world poo poo to me and something is wrong because we've had worse and more historic blizzards in the past where this did not happen.
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Jan 5, 2022 20:56
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In-my-opinion, the obsession with having at least two opposing parties is amusing when even a tax evading terrorist with bad teeth 200+ years ago recognized that it would lead to petty partisan gridlock. A one-party system can still have elections and opposing viewpoints, but done under the notion that nobody involved is The Enemy who Must Be Stopped in the Most Important Election In Our Lifetime. I can absolutely see a one-party system promoting stagnacy and an unwillingness to bend to societal conditions (see: Japan), but the USA itself has managed to do that just as easily with a two-party system, in which congress & the presidency is unable or unwilling to wield power save to fund military obligations and pave old roads. And without the purported ideological flexibility that would allow a radical group to change and guide the nation. And on the other end we've seen the rise of a geopolitical competitor that operates under a single party, is far more dynamic and productive, and has altered its ideology significantly across decades of history. I dont really see a meaningful difference between the two concepts beyond marketing and personal zealotry. Neurolimal fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 21:03
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Neurolimal posted:In-my-opinion, the obsession with having at least two opposing parties is amusing when even a tax evading terrorist with bad teeth 200+ years ago recognized that it would lead to petty partisan gridlock. A one-party system can still have elections and opposing viewpoints, but done under the notion that nobody involved is The Enemy who Must Be Stopped in the Most Important Election In Our Lifetime. Yeah, I think that's the big problem I have with mastershakeman's argument: you're still going to end up with a lot of the same problems under one-party rule as you do with a two- or multi-party system, if the one party is a bourgeois one. It's not much of an improvement, if it is one at all. Far more worthwhile to spend your time, energy, and resources on helping rebuild the worker's movement from the ground up.
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Jan 5, 2022 21:10
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Neurolimal posted:I can absolutely see a one-party system promoting stagnacy and an unwillingness to bend to societal conditions (see: Japan), but the USA itself has managed to do that just as easily with a two-party system, in which congress & the presidency is unable or unwilling to wield power save to fund military obligations and pave old roads. The US isn't even remotely as close to as stagnant as Japan is on institutional and informal reforms. Japan still can't take post-war laws forced onto Japan by the Allies as a condition of surrender off the books because of "stability" and "tradition." They also still enforce stripping people of citizenship and leaving them stateless for drug possession and tons of bizarre sex laws (including laws targeting LGBT people). They also just shut out their most popular politician from leadership because he said they should think about changing their homosexuality laws. And it didn't matter. Even though the average Japanese person doesn't line up with those values as extremely, they also refuse to give any other party a shot and re-elect the LDP by huge margins almost every year since 1955. All of this despite having a parliamentary system where a simple majority could change any of those instantly. There is a difference between bad outcomes/broken institutions and actual political stagnation.
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Jan 5, 2022 21:18
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 I can't decide if this is more Denethor from Return of the King, or Lord Farquaad from Shrek. "Go now and die in whatever way seems best to you", vs "Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make." Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:The US isn't even remotely as close to as stagnant as Japan is on institutional and informal reforms. Political stagnation like that reminds me heavily of the Brezhnev-Andropov-Chernenko era of the USSR. The US is more along the lines of Late Roman Empire collapse, but the Goths and Vandals haven't sacked Rome yet. HonorableTB fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 21:19
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Majorian posted:I don't think even the history of the U.S. bears this out. George W. Bush had to completely own the bungled Hurricane Katrina response. His approval ratings tanked, and his party lost Congress the year after that and the White House in the next election. He didn't resign on his own volition, nor was he able to really foist the blame onto the Dems in any meaningful way, beyond his administration occasionally saying "Well, Ray Nagin should've maybe done a little better too..."
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Jan 5, 2022 21:20
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