Funny that we can reject the high-road when it comes to misogynistic or body shaming in our messaging, but not, say, when it comes to needlessly restraining actual action with norms and procedures that Republicans can and do break at every convenience.

Dubba’s third and fourth term.

It’s kinda ironic, I don’t know whether this reflects how the guy actually thought about his presidency, but when he was in office there was a lot of chatter about the kind of “legacy” his administration would have. I’m fairly certain now that he’s gonna be one of those overlooked presidents, seen as a caretaker-administration to all the shit started by GW Bush and a preamble to a lot of what Trump has ran wild with.

Maybe the history books also mention he passed a healthcare bill inspired by the Heritage Foundation and insurance lobbyists.

I’d highly recommend going down to your local library and seeing if they have any microfilm copies of the local paper. It’s kinda fun just scrolling through the years and seeing what people felt was important enough to put to print. A lot of smaller towns used to publish interpersonal gossip. (The Harringtons of 5th Avenue entertained a Mr. Somensuch last Wednesday night.)

Trying to reach the “I don’t do politics” crowd with “harm reduction” doesn’t really work as a strategy.

Like, they’re already admitting that when something is an unappealing and controversial, they’d rather check out than engage. Going on to explain the gritty strategy for approaching unappealing and controversial politics is just adding more reasons onto the “I don’t do politics” pile.

It’s a crass comparison, but it would be like if someone said “I don’t play MOBAs” and the response was to immediately launch into an explanation of League’s current meta-strategy. Don’t be surprised when they immediately check out of the conversation. (Yes I know games are frivolous and politics is life and death – but the people who “don’t do politics” don’t see it that way)

More than that, nearly all of the “I don’t do politics” people are almost certainly never going to see this image. We’re in an online forum dedicated to talking about politics. The only people who see this are the people who already choose to spend their personal time on the subject. So ask yourself, is this image really about the people who are checked out of politics? Because, practically (regardless of intent) all this really seems to be is a thought-terminating cliche to throw at anyone who points out that running a “We’re the lesser evil candidate!” doesn’t actually engage or activate anyone who’s already checked out!

For that to actually for real happen, there would have to be a campaign and a candidate to convince enough people to do that. “We’re the harm reduction option” clearly isn’t that campaign.

No argument from me. What Constantinople was to Rome, the US is to the British.

People are right to say Dems are different when it comes to domestic policy, but they agree with Republicans on almost all foreign policy decisions. A significant portion of the criticisms Democrat representatives made of the recent Iran bombings amounted to, “Hey, you didn’t give us a chance to agree wholeheartedly!”

And most of this “slide into fascism” is just taking foreign policies and applying them domestically. In that sense, Democrats hold a lot of the blame as well.

what if the mobsters unionized

Everyone’s always quick to declare the beginning of World War 3, to pass every event through that lens. Inadvertently, it provides cover for the fact that Cold War 2 already started.

so is there an approach you wouldn’t dance around the R word to describe?

No, the BPAs in it disrupt the endocrine system and lead to cardiovascular disease. I’ve also heard it’s carcinogenic. Really should not be described as anything like synthetic estrogen.

They renewed the PATRIOT act while Obama was in office.

“Bogged down” is an excuse. The military is a logistics machine. If it takes longer to pull out, then it takes longer, fine. But “bogged down” is the kind of half-asses face saving language you trot out when you don’t actually want to leave, but don’t want to look like you gung-ho for staying.

Obama wasn’t perfect—not even great. But, those are weird things to lay on him.

yeah, yeah, fuck me for remembering what he campaigned on, right?

technically, you’re slightly more the egg, since we get no mitochondria from the sperm cell.

more than that, Obama had enough of a public mandate, he could have rolled back everything Bush did. The Afghanistan invasion, the extraordinary rendition, the “enhanced interrogation”, the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act. He could have ended all of those.

He could have had a historic presidency, could have redefined what the United States was going to be in the 21st century. Instead, he let the previous administration decide it for him.

Yeah, domestication was reciprocal. You see a creature into the world, care and provide for it and, eventually, see it out of the world.

You can frame it in spiritual terms, or as a symbiotic relationship that evolved over time. But however you put it, factory farming is a violation of that pact.

whats that thing they say, “It’s dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but it’s deadly to be an ally.”

When the Maori invade england and start forcing their customs on the people there, then maybe you might come somewhere close to pointing out a double standard. (also, berserker brits, lol what a concept)

We don’t have Trump because people started behaving poorly, we have Trump because there’s been half a century of constricting living standards and a wealthy political duopoly that just doesn’t care. Obama bailing out the banks rather than the people that lost their homes did more to kill civility than anything Trump has done.

These lawmakers were elected to be the voice of the people they represent.

https://www.dw.com/en/new-zealand-42000-demonstrate-support-for-maori-rights/a-70816454

New Zealand: 42,000 demonstrate support for Maori rights

Thousands turned out despite the bill having little chance of becoming law, saying it was important to show the extent of dissent

but feel free to keep jerkin it to ‘norms and civility’, i suppose

There’s not really one clean cut definition of fascism, mostly a lot of “I know it when I see it”

That being said, one definition I find kinda useful is; “Fascism is what we call it when an imperial power begins applying colonial policies to itself; the frontier comes home.” Germany had already been organizing concentration camps in northern Africa years before they started rounding up Jewish people. As a colonial power, Germany always had fascist policies, they were just directed outward.

By this metric, it’s hard not to see the US as a fascist power for… most of the latter half of the twentieth century? Obviously, outright colonization isn’t the standard anymore. It’s mostly mediated through international businesses, propped up by the occasional secretly-funded coup or even an outright military invasion. Those of us living within the official boarders of the US have just been privileged enough to not have to live with the negative consequences.