Has U.S. Democracy Been Trumped? Bernie Sanders wants to know who owns America?
#13381
Posted 2019-August-08, 17:31
This accepts the fact that some people will be owning handguns. I doubt there is any possibility of having it otherwise. So I accept that and make the best attempt I can think of to force people to think about their responsibilities when they buy one.
I do not see that as idealistic at all.
#13382
Posted 2019-August-08, 20:08
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Gary Wertish, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, drew applause as he leveled criticism of the administration’s trade policy at a forum with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in front of thousands of farmers gathered in a metal barn for a panel discussion.
American farmers took a fresh financial hit from Trump’s trade war over the weekend as China announced a halt to all U.S. agricultural imports after the president threatened Beijing with another tariff increase.
Wertish criticized Trump’s “go-it-alone approach” and the trade dispute’s “devastating damage not only to rural communities.” He expressed fears Trump’s $28 billion in trade aid will undermine public support for federal farm subsidies, saying the assistance is already being pilloried “as a welfare program, as bailouts.”
Others joined in. Brian Thalmann, president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, complained about Trump statements that farmers are doing “great” again. “We are not starting to do great again,” he said. “We are starting to go down very quickly.”
Joel Schreurs of the American Soybean Association warned American producers are in danger of long-term losses in market share in China, the world’s largest importer of soybeans.
Perdue sought to soothe the crowd as he defended the president’s policies. “Obviously this is a popular opinion. A lot of applause,” he joked after the audience reacted to Democratic Representative Angie Craig saying aid is not substitute for a strategy on trade. “There is a lot of stress out there.”
Giving Assurances
He offered assurances that American farmers would gain their market share in China back but said any resolution to the conflict had to be based on “reciprocal trade.”
“If your solution is to forget about what China has done and sell and trade with them anyway with cheating, then I just fundamentally disagree with you,” Perdue said.
Perdue told reporters afterward that ”the ball is in China’s court” on the trade dispute and no additional trade assistance is currently planned for farmers beyond what the administration has already announced.
Trump hinted on Tuesday his administration may provide more money for farmers.
“As they have learned in the last two years, our great American Farmers know that China will not be able to hurt them in that their President has stood with them and done what no other president would do,” Trump said in a tweet. “And I’ll do it again next year if necessary!”
The trade war has hit farmers already beset by years of low commodity prices due to global overproduction and this year a string of bad weather. U.S. farm income dropped 16% last year to $63 billion, about half the level it was as recently as 2013.
U.S. Agricultural exports to China dropped by more than half in 2018 after the trade war began, falling from $19.5 billion in 2017 to $9.2 billion in 2018.
Major farm groups sounded an alarm earlier this week after China announced it was halting U.S. agriculture imports.
Zippy Duvall, president of the the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation’s largest and most influential general farm organization, on Monday called the import cut-off “a body blow to thousands of farmers and ranchers who are already struggling to get by.”
Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, the nation’s second-largest general farm group, said Trump’s “strategy of constant escalation and antagonism” has “just made things worse.”
Trump’s overwhelming support in rural America was crucial to his narrow 2016 election victory and maintaining farmer’s backing is critical to his re-election bid.
In June, 54% of rural voters approved of Trump’s job performance compared with a national approval rating of 42%, according to a Gallup survey of 701 self-identified rural voters.
"I stand with you" is Trump's version of the punch line to the old joke "How do they say f**k you in LA?"
#13383
Posted 2019-August-08, 21:33
kenberg, on 2019-August-08, 17:31, said:
Maybe not. Banning alcohol didn't work so well and banning guns might not work so well either. It has worked well in many other countries, but maybe USA is different.
#13384
Posted 2019-August-09, 04:56
helene_t, on 2019-August-08, 21:33, said:
Here, for example, is a 2018 Gallup poll:
https://news.gallup....r-gun-laws.aspx
As to
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Even among the groups most supportive of a handgun ban, less than a majority say they favor it. Among Democrats, for example, 42% support such regulation, compared with 10% of Republicans.
It is often said that the public "supports gun control". Yes, in general. But that leaves open the question of just what sort of gun control is supported. It's easy to say yes to "Do you support preventing nutjobs from shooting up a mall, a school, or a movie theater?". Exactly what action is supported is another matter. What I recommend goes well beyond what would, at the moment, have support. I am pretty sure of that. But I think it is sensible and has a chance of gathering support.
I don't claim to have the details exactly right, I realize that registering guns pre-supposes that a gun can be unambiguously identified and that there are some ways around this. But the general idea is that the weapons often used in the mass killings should be unavailable to the public at large, and purchasing a handgun should give the purchaser substantial responsibility for how and by whom that weapon is used. If I purchase arsenic, I have some responsibility for it. Same idea. Details to be worked out.
#13385
Posted 2019-August-09, 07:37
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In 2015, Sanders addressed a crowd at Liberty University — the largest evangelical Christian university in the world. More recently, he participated in a televised town hall hosted by Fox News. Both events, perhaps understandably, elicited controversy from some on the left. Nevertheless, in both cases, Sanders successfully exposed a new audience to his ideas and emerged unscathed, drawing cheers and approval from corners where they might otherwise have been unthinkable. By the end of Fox’s town hall event in April, he actually seemed to have won over the majority of attendees with his arguments for democratic socialism, against oligarchy, and in favor of Medicare For All.
This week, Sanders repeated the strategy by appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience: a hugely popular but decidedly non-left-leaning podcast that features an eclectic buffet of guests ranging from fairly innocuous weirdos to overt reactionaries. In less than twenty-four hours, the episode has already garnered well over two and a half million views and, judging by its reception thus far, Sanders and his arguments proved a hit — even to those accustomed to getting their political bearings from the likes of Sam Harris and other dubious sources.
There is a clear difference between appearing alongside a right-leaning host in order to agree with their right-leaning views and doing so with the goal of persuading their audience. Despite Rogan’s politics, the Vermont senator arguably got a fairer hearing than he typically gets from major cable networks and, with more than an hour at his disposal, he was able to use the interview decisively to his advantage — delivering his key ideas and tying them together near the episode’s end with a pro–working class message contrasting his politics with Trump’s:
[My administration] is going to be filled with the best people, often from the working class itself, from the trade union movement, people who are gonna help us create policies that work for workers and not just the billionaire class.
By appearing on the show, Sanders successfully exposed Rogan’s audience to left-wing ideas many have probably never encountered before, without the compromising filter usually applied to them by the mainstream media or the typical bad-faith actors on the right.
This becomes clear from even a perfunctory survey of the episode’s comment section, which suggests that Sanders both reached and persuaded listeners who might not regularly encounter his arguments, or who would otherwise be inclined toward hostility.
A few samples:
“This was pretty great. Learned more about Bernie from this than any other source in the past 5+ years . . .”
“I consider myself a Republican, but I actually agree with a lot of what Bernie said here.”
“I have changed my mind on this man. Really great interview. This man needs to be heard.”
“I’ve watched media tell me this guy was a nut for years. After this interview I feel like he might be onto something.”
“I consider myself the exact opposite of a socialist, but Bernie is onto something taxing Wall Street 0.5% for every trade. It would create a more stable stock market as well as creating more revenue for this country . . . Plus, we already bailed them out sooooooo . . .”
“I was on the fence about which Dem I was voting for till I watched this video. Thanks Joe for asking great questions and giving Bernie time to answer thoroughly.”
“Bernie is only labeled as radical by a hostile media bought by the same special interests he wants to remove from power.”
Anecdotal as these are, there are quite literally thousands more in the same vein (anyone who suspects cherry-picking should scan the comments and see for themselves).
As with his April town hall on Fox, Sanders’s appearance on Joe Rogan showcased one of his most significant strengths: a capacity to puncture the ideological fog of war that permeates American politics and reach people typically written off as unreachable. By definition, this will always involve appealing to audiences that don’t get their news from MSNBC or bear the usual signifiers of middle-class cultural liberalism.
As Nathan Robinson writes:
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Sanders’s ability to reach non-traditional constituencies and non-voters alike could make him a formidable candidate in a general election contest against Donald Trump. And if the ultimate goal is to secure a sweeping realignment of US politics rather than eke out a razor-thin electoral college victory against an unpopular Republican president, there is simply no alternative to persuading those previously written off as unpersuadable — even the ones who are into DMT and alien conspiracy theories.
#13386
Posted 2019-August-09, 08:05
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Item: A Foreign Service officer resigned in an op-ed, saying “ I can no longer justify ... my complicity in the actions of this administration.”
Item: The Donald Trump administration is finding creative ways to destroy the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service, which Catherine Rampell describes as “arguably the world’s premier agricultural economics agency.”
That’s all from Thursday. They are hardly the only examples of how the administration is, to put it bluntly, destroying the U.S. government.
We’ve seen this from the start of Trump’s presidency, and it continues. I don’t think there’s any full accounting of all the damage that’s being done, whether it’s attacks on government statistics or the capacity to do science or the well-publicized war against an accurate census.
Some of this, like the attacks on the intelligence community, seem to be a combination of Trump’s personal preferences and conspiracy-minded thinking in Republican-aligned media. Some of it is mindless budget-cutting from acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney that Trump likely neither knows or cares about. Some of it is what happens when the government is turned over to the short-term interests of major corporations.
But in the long term, the U.S economy will likely pay dearly for it. Economic management will suffer without reliable statistics. Productivity will suffer without government assistance in innovation (regardless of what ideologues on one side or the other will claim, innovation in the U.S. has always been a product of both public and private initiatives).
And the same thing for U.S. foreign policy, and really everything else.
This is of course not to say that everything the federal government does is worthwhile or running at maximum efficiency. Or that every federal bureaucrat is delivering for the nation. But there’s nothing systematic about any of what’s happening here. No plan. No strategy. No effort to separate the worthwhile from the worthless. It's just basically random attacks on random pieces of the government. It will take years to recover from. In some ways, perhaps the nation will never recover.
As with the failure to fill positions with confirmed presidential nominees, it’s always possible that some of this will lead to very visible catastrophic failure. But what’s more likely is just an erosion of the capacity of the nation. We won’t necessarily be able to connect the dots when things go wrong, but there will be effects, and they are likely to stretch out into the future.
Who ya gonna call?
#13387
Posted 2019-August-09, 10:04
kenberg, on 2019-August-09, 04:56, said:
https://youtu.be/4VdMdboymT8
"Abt natural, I have a gub." (Although I've never figured out how a "c" could possibly look like a "b", and "b" for "n" only happens when typing because they're adjacent keys.)
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There's been a lively discussion on Politics Stack Exchange
Why do proponents of guns oppose gun competency tests?
#13388
Posted 2019-August-10, 08:47
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From a former federal prosecutor via Adam Klasfield:
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#13389
Posted 2019-August-11, 00:44
Oops, the Psychopath Manchurian President's visits produced indignation and criticism instead of the idolization and loud cheers he would have got at a political rally. Who could have known?
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“The guy is honest,” Mr. Telles said ... ”
I've never heard of this Telles guy, but the nightly entertainment shows like the Tonight show or the Late Night show need to sign this guy up as a comedy writer because saying the Grand Wizard of the USA is honest is comedy gold.
#13390
Posted 2019-August-11, 09:04
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Trump: "Excuse me, excuse me. They didn’t put themselves -- and you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.
More about some of those "very fine people".
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(MORE: Las Vegas neo-Nazi charged with plot to bomb gay club, synagogue)
#13391
Posted 2019-August-11, 10:22
johnu, on 2019-August-11, 00:44, said:
Oops, the Psychopath Manchurian President's visits produced indignation and criticism instead of the idolization and loud cheers he would have got at a political rally. Who could have known?
I've never heard of this Telles guy, but the nightly entertainment shows like the Tonight show or the Late Night show need to sign this guy up as a comedy writer because saying the Grand Wizard of the USA is honest is comedy gold.
A normal person would understand that when he flies in to visit the tragic scene of a mass killing he should not, as part of his visit, pose for a picture showing him smiling and giving a thumbs up sign. It does not matter what he is smiling about or what he is giving a thumbs up to praise, a normal person would understand that when he flies in to visit the tragic scene of a mass killing he should not, as part of his visit, pose for a picture showing him smiling and giving a thumbs up sign.
Presumably this is obvious to everyone except Trump and his most dedicated supporters.
Please, if I ever have troubles, I do not want a comforting visit from Donald Trump. Just not, please.
#13392
Posted 2019-August-12, 09:07
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Here’s what he would have seen. Trump crowing, “they'll be hit so ***** hard,” while bragging about bombing Islamic State militants. And Trump recounting his warning to a wealthy businessman: “If you don't support me, you're going to be so ***** poor.”
Massive corruption? No
Separating children from parents? No
Support of white supremacists? No
Adultery? No
Taking the Lord's name in vain: YES!
At least we uncovered the God*****ed red line.
#13393
Posted 2019-August-12, 09:10
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Police in Norway have so far only said the attack in Baerum, a town 20km from Oslo, the capital, will be investigated as a possible act of terrorism
#13394
Posted 2019-August-12, 11:38
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A confluence of events over the past couple of weeks has reinforced Cornyn’s message. In what giddy Democrats are calling “the Texodus,” four Republican members of Congress announced, in short order, that they won’t be running for reelection in 2020; three of their seats, all in the suburbs, will likely go Democratic, adding to the two they took from Republicans in 2018. “We could see other representatives step away too,” said Manny Garcia, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. “Why would you go into a knockdown, drag-out fight when you’re either going to lose next time, or soon afterward?”
#13395
Posted 2019-August-12, 15:21
The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists — that is why they invented hell. — Bertrand Russell
#13396
Posted 2019-August-12, 19:10
PassedOut, on 2019-August-12, 15:21, said:
I heartily agree with your grandfather and I think Dems need some lessons in how to connect with voters. Nonetheless, I am starting to feel at least a bit hopeful. Trump can shoot someone on Fifth avenue and not lose votes. Perhaps that is true. But more and more he is looking like a guy stumbling down the block peeing on lamp posts. People notice, and that will cost votes.
#13397
Posted 2019-August-12, 21:12
kenberg, on 2019-August-12, 19:10, said:
Any chance of arranging an electrical short in that next lamp post? (It's a joke)
#13398
Posted 2019-August-13, 08:22
PassedOut, on 2019-August-12, 15:21, said:
re: Four Texas Republican members of Congress announced they won’t be running for reelection in 2020:
One of father's favorite sayings was "Got em 1 down? Get em 2 down. Got em 2 down? Get em 4 down."
#13399
Posted 2019-August-13, 08:54
y66, on 2019-August-13, 08:22, said:
From The Untouchables:
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#13400
Posted 2019-August-13, 10:20
y66, on 2019-August-13, 08:22, said:
One of father's favorite sayings was "Got em 1 down? Get em 2 down. Got em 2 down? Get em 4 down."
The Art of War
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― Sun Tzu
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