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whembly wrote: Crap... what is happening? Kanye and Chance the Rapper just broke twittah and social media.
An ego driven narcissist has an affinity for another ego driven narcissist. In terms of substance and meaning there's really nothing of any interest here at all.
There's maybe a meta-commentary to be had on how eagerly the twitterati will latch on to meaningless nonsense and ignore the actual important issues of the day, but I think we all already knew that.
Man the back-in-forth sure as gak is entertaining...
My fav?
‘We are both dragon energy. He is my brother.’
Dragon Energy? He needs to trademark that for some energy drink formulation.
Technically DC, Puerto Rico, and US territories do have Congressional representation they just don't get to vote on bills which is definitely a sub-standard form of representation. DC I agree is just tough titties. I think there are valid reasons to not want to give the capitol itself a bully pulpit beyond already being the capitol.
But I don't think it unreasonable that US territories should have a voting representative in the House and Senate. Someone who is responsible for not just expressing their interests on the floor but able to throw actual weight behind it. Especially in the case of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands where everyone is a born citizen. This same right should be extended to American Samoa and other territories by default.
The weirdest thing about the media fuss around Kanye is he didn't even vote in 2016. We line in a world where the political opinions of one non-voter are seen as more worthy of discussion than the 170,00 actual votes just cast in the Arizona special election. Bleh.
Anyhow, Republican held on to AZ-8, but that's not the story. Hell, the story isn't even the super weird sex scandal that caused the incumbent to resign and create this special election. Rather, the story here is that while the Republican, Debbie Lesko, managed a 5 point win over Democrat Hiral Tipirneni, this was another election showing an enormous swing to the Democrats. AZ 8 is deeply Republican, the district backed Trump by 21 points, Romney by 25 and McCain by 22 points. Place those results against the national lean in those elections, and it's a +25 Republican district, and only gave a perfectly okay, generic Republican a 5 point win over a perfectly okay, generic Democrat.
This follows a trend that is showing that maybe something really huge is coming in the mid-terms. Going back to April 2017, Democrats put up some really promising signs, Kansas 4th was Republican +29, and the Democrat came within 6. That result produced a lot of Democratic hope for Georgia's 6th, especially among the internet's loudest progressives, but it flubbed and Dems only over-performed the electorate's lean by +6 and couldn't flip the seat. But a much less publicised race in SC-5 happened the same day, and while Dems didn't flip that either they outperformed the lean by 16. Then there was a Utah special that produced barely any Dem overperformance and remained very comfortably Republican. The next special election was the Alabama senate, the Roy Moore special. Moore is likely responsible for a lot of what happened, but it was still a +31 overperformance for the Democrats, even if you give half of that to Moore it was still a +15 for Democrats. PA-18 followed that, and showed it wasn't just a Roy Moore thing, it was a Republican +21 district that Dems flipped. And now we move to Tuesday's election in Arizona, a +20 Democrat overpeformance.
So in order we have Dem results beating the electorate lean by; 23, 16, 6+16, 3, 31, 22 and finally 20.
Not only are these huge overperformances in themselves, the trend is growing. People have noted for a while that generic DvR polls have stagnated around +7 for the Dems, which is only enough for a narrow Dem win in the House given the gerrymander. But its interesting that Dem lead of +7 has been stagnant since about the beginning of the year, while the results in the special elections have shown steady improvement from April last year until now, a gain of about +10 in that time. What I think we're seeing is partisanship puts a hard cap on stated voting preference, which doesn't account for voter enthusiasm. So while most people are locked in to their party and that makes it hard to move people's stated preference, the effect of Trump and Republican actions in government have had a big effect on likely voter turnout, which the generic poll can't really account for. And over the course of the last year and a bit its likely there's been a steady, cumulative process of the less enthusiastic Republican voters backing off from politics, while the less enthusiatic Democratic voters have been slowly drawn in.
Nothing of means November is already decided, but it does hint that the result in November could be unlike anything we've seen in modern history. Even if we assume the overperformance trend stops at +20 and we then knock it back 5 points for the anti-incumbency advantage of special elections, we're still looking at +15. The Republican wave in 2010 was +7. The Democatic wave in 2006 was +8. If this is really something like +15 then holy gak.
But sure, let's talk about Kanye
whembly wrote: Well... tough gak regarding DC. That's actually a specific carve-out and special status in the US Constitution.
The legal and constitutional weirdness it would take to get California split up is at least as bad as the constitutional amendment to get DC their representation in Congress. At least with DC there's an idea of what you would have to do to get people their votes. With California there isn't even a clear idea of what you would have to do, let alone why you would do it.
...as for Puerto Rico, I've been banging on that drum for awhile to admit them into the union (as well as US V.I.).
I know
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whembly wrote: Man the back-in-forth sure as gak is entertaining...
I don't know, to me its like the Charlie Sheen thing. I read it and I laugh, and then I feel really bad that I laughed at a person with some serious mental health issues going on.
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LordofHats wrote: DC I agree is just tough titties. I think there are valid reasons to not want to give the capitol itself a bully pulpit beyond already being the capitol.
Do you think any of those reasons are enough to overcome the idea that every citizen should get to vote in someone to represent them in the nation's government?
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2018/04/26 04:04:26
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
LordofHats wrote: DC I agree is just tough titties. I think there are valid reasons to not want to give the capitol itself a bully pulpit beyond already being the capitol.
Do you think any of those reasons are enough to overcome the idea that every citizen should get to vote in someone to represent them in the nation's government?
whembly wrote: ...any plan whereby the government can be more responsive and aligned to their constituents ought to be a net gain as a whole, no matter how one would look at it.
The problem, to me, is the lack of representation felt by rural California is nowhere out of the ordinary in modern US politics. It's just another instance of the city/rural split. In this case the city strongly dominates the rural so conservatives happen to be hyper-sensitive to it, but is it really any different to Austin (and also sort Houston) being dominated by the rest of Texas?
If it's sufficient to split up California, then how can the same logic not be used to split most blue cities from the red rural counties that surround them?
The sheer number of people is a factor, if not the biggest factor. A split of California would benefit more people than splitting other states (many times more) but also alleviate governing difficulties caused by the state having to manage so many people. Finally there are a number of differences to account for between northern and southern California; culture (its more than just rural vs city), environment, demographics, sheer landmass, etc. What I feel isn't going to work is trying to split things so the populations are equal; it should be a split between northern and southen because that will benefit the people of the state best. In particular, as a resident of San Diego I find it laughable that LA should be in a different state.
But it's all kinda moot since it isn't happening any time soon, if ever.
Yes, yes GOP screwing over the poor whatever, the real news is that Carson might come close to actually doing something (I'm not being sarcastic). It really highlights how pathetic his performance has been, and I don't say that lightly. Shows how well nominating vastly unqualified candidates works out.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/04/26 06:11:55
Michael Cohen is pleading the 5th, claiming the civil suit against Stormy Daniels should be delayed while he was under Federal investigation.
NinthMusketeer wrote: The sheer number of people is a factor, if not the biggest factor. A split of California would benefit more people than splitting other states (many times more) but also alleviate governing difficulties caused by the state having to manage so many people. Finally there are a number of differences to account for between northern and southern California; culture (its more than just rural vs city), environment, demographics, sheer landmass, etc. What I feel isn't going to work is trying to split things so the populations are equal; it should be a split between northern and southen because that will benefit the people of the state best. In particular, as a resident of San Diego I find it laughable that LA should be in a different state.
I get that. I mean California has double the population of my entire country And I'm happy to accept the cultural differences as an argument. But in terms of governing difficulties I think you should be wary about extending that argument too far without considering the benefits - scale means if something terrible happens, like fire or drought, or an earthquake, then the unaffected parts of the state can bankroll the recovery.
But it's all kinda moot since it isn't happening any time soon, if ever.
Yes, yes GOP screwing over the poor whatever, the real news is that Carson might come close to actually doing something (I'm not being sarcastic). It really highlights how pathetic his performance has been, and I don't say that lightly. Shows how well nominating vastly unqualified candidates works out.
It speaks volumes that Carson's performance, putting up a ring of friends and family between himself and the actual staff of the agency, rolling out not a single meaningful initiative in more than a year since taking the job, tried to buy a $31,000 table, demoted the woman who refused to approve the purchase, then lied about his involvement in buying the table... is still far from the most damaging of Trump's appointments.
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
I mean, the mayor of DC can't even decide how to spend local taxes without it passing congress, which can add riders to their local budgets if it wants, or outright block them
Congress blocked Washington DC from even being able to set up a needle exchange to tackle HIV amongst drug users, for example. Despite the provable effectiveness of such programs. When a needle exchange was finally funded, HIV transmission dropped over 80 percent.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2018/04/26 08:50:24
The Laws of Thermodynamics:
1) You cannot win. 2) You cannot break even. 3) You cannot stop playing the game.
Colonel Flagg wrote:You think you're real smart. But you're not smart; you're dumb. Very dumb. But you've met your match in me.
Macron says he feels he was not able to convince Trump to continue the Iran deal. If the Iran deal actually fails in two weeks then that's going to give the US an amazing position from which to hold talks with North Korea. Who doesn't want to make deals with the guy who just broke one?
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/04/26 11:22:37
Sorry for my spelling. I'm not a native speaker and a dyslexic.
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There are reports from some geological agencies that the reason Pyongyang has announced a hlt to nuclear tests is because they've damage their test site beyond use.
This is based on analysis of the aftershocks that followed the last test.
If this is true, Kim Jong-Un is simply making a virtue out of necessity. There's no guarantee he won't renege on whatever deal he may reach.
CA breaking up into smaller states isn't impossible but it's never going to be allowed to divorce itself from the US simply due to the strategic importance and all the military bases and assets there. CA is home to a huge number of naval and air force bases along with most of the strategic bomber wings and anti nuclear defenses, which is something too valuable to national security to simply allow to drift off. The state budget is a complete disaster and there's no way that an independent CA could shoulder the cost of maintaining those defense assets, which is vital given that they are one of the prime targets for anything launched from China or North Korea. Even if they could swing enough political muscle to remove the state from the US would be suicide as they are entirely dependent on federal aide and defense funding.
Also if they go independent they are doubly screwed due to their water needs, which neighboring states are a primary provider for. The state has a lot of resources but the population is way too high for the state to simply walk away from being connected to the rest of the US. It's a nice pipe dream for Hollywood though.
This message was edited 4 times. Last update was at 2018/04/26 12:34:03
Disciple of Fate wrote: Macron says he feels he was not able to convince Trump to continue the Iran deal. If the Iran deal actually fails in two weeks then that's going to give the US an amazing position from which to hold talks with North Korea. Who doesn't want to make deals with the guy who just broke one?
I wonder, has Putin said anything about the Iran deal? Russia is part of it, too, and I wonder what Trump would say if Putin spoke strongly in support of it now.
"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me." - Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks
Disciple of Fate wrote: Macron says he feels he was not able to convince Trump to continue the Iran deal. If the Iran deal actually fails in two weeks then that's going to give the US an amazing position from which to hold talks with North Korea. Who doesn't want to make deals with the guy who just broke one?
I wonder, has Putin said anything about the Iran deal? Russia is part of it, too, and I wonder what Trump would say if Putin spoke strongly in support of it now.
Putin has publically supported the Iran deal these past few weeks and has warned the US against withdrawing from it.
Trump is stuck between his campaign promises, support base and admin hardliners.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/04/26 15:27:28
Sorry for my spelling. I'm not a native speaker and a dyslexic.
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Trump is stuck between his campaign promises, support base and admin hardliners.
Yeah, but he's a Master Negotiator, so he'll be fine, yeah?? He just loves to talk about how great he is (at negotiating), and even wrote a book on the subject so I'm sure this will all work out just fine for him.
stanman wrote: CA breaking up into smaller states isn't impossible but it's never going to be allowed to divorce itself from the US simply due to the strategic importance and all the military bases and assets there. CA is home to a huge number of naval and air force bases along with most of the strategic bomber wings and anti nuclear defenses, which is something too valuable to national security to simply allow to drift off. The state budget is a complete disaster and there's no way that an independent CA could shoulder the cost of maintaining those defense assets, which is vital given that they are one of the prime targets for anything launched from China or North Korea. Even if they could swing enough political muscle to remove the state from the US would be suicide as they are entirely dependent on federal aide and defense funding.
Also if they go independent they are doubly screwed due to their water needs, which neighboring states are a primary provider for. The state has a lot of resources but the population is way too high for the state to simply walk away from being connected to the rest of the US. It's a nice pipe dream for Hollywood though.
This is a harsh and misleading summary of California's situation. The nation is a net tax contributor and the budget is not a disaster, that military land would still be managed by the US (much like bases in all of the other foreign contries around the world) and the rest of the country would be pretty dam motivated to keep sending water given they need the agriculture it supports. So while the conclusion that California won't be leaving is accurate, the reasons you gave aren't why.
The rest of the US is a food exporter. If they break off they are just another competitor. Plus nation's play hardball when regions rebel. Expect LA to return to desert very shortly.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
So Jackson is done before he ever gets started (echos of Harriet Meier ring through the halls), Cohen takes the Fif while Trump distances himself from Cohen on Fox and Friends, and Pruitt still remains...for now, we'll see how today goes for him.
Pruitt appears to be arguing that he needed his soundproof privacy booth to have secured communications for classified material, though such facilities exist within the EPA headquarters building outside of his personal office.
This raises a question for me...what possible classified activity would the civilian EPA be involved in, especially that would require these sorts of security measures?
IRON WITHIN, IRON WITHOUT.
New Heavy Gear Log! Also...Grey Knights! The correct pronunciation is Imperial Guard and Stormtroopers, "Astra Militarum" and "Tempestus Scions" are something you'll find at Hogwarts.
This raises a question for me...what possible classified activity would the civilian EPA be involved in, especially that would require these sorts of security measures?
Espionage by the most mortal of enemies, I speak of course about the Planeteers.
Sorry for my spelling. I'm not a native speaker and a dyslexic.
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This raises a question for me...what possible classified activity would the civilian EPA be involved in, especially that would require these sorts of security measures?
Espionage by the most mortal of enemies, I speak of course about the Planeteers.
On the one hand, I love the reference. On the other...I could actually see this being put forward as a legitimate response by this administration...
IRON WITHIN, IRON WITHOUT.
New Heavy Gear Log! Also...Grey Knights! The correct pronunciation is Imperial Guard and Stormtroopers, "Astra Militarum" and "Tempestus Scions" are something you'll find at Hogwarts.
I gotta admit, the GOP's Zerg Rush Assault tactics with wave after wave of scandal appears to be effective in the short term. It's hard to keep track of all the fethery, when "fethery, fethery everywhere" is the order of the day.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Frazzled wrote: The rest of the US is a food exporter. If they break off they are just another competitor. Plus nation's play hardball when regions rebel. Expect LA to return to desert very shortly.
Nah, since much of this Caliexit/break-up crap is funded by Russia I am sure if the state did break away we could sell our luxury items to them and or China. Plus Russia or China would LOVE to have influence on the western shore of North America. Maybe little green men would be hanging out on our beaches eating tacos.
But I guess it wouldn't be Dakka OT without someone having a hard on while fantasizing about California's demise.
feeder wrote: I gotta admit, the GOP's Zerg Rush Assault tactics with wave after wave of scandal appears to be effective in the short term. It's hard to keep track of all the fethery, when "fethery, fethery everywhere" is the order of the day.
Huuuge scandals! Everyone tells me they are the best scandals...
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
This raises a question for me...what possible classified activity would the civilian EPA be involved in, especially that would require these sorts of security measures?
Espionage by the most mortal of enemies, I speak of course about the Planeteers.
On the one hand, I love the reference. On the other...I could actually see this being put forward as a legitimate response by this administration...
Sadly that is probably the case.
Sorry for my spelling. I'm not a native speaker and a dyslexic.
1750 pts Blood Specters
2000 pts Imperial Fists
6000 pts Disciples of Fate
3500 pts Peridia Prime
2500 pts Prophets of Fate
Lizardmen 3000 points Tlaxcoatl Temple-City
Tomb Kings 1500 points Sekhra (RIP)
Someone must've slipped in Kanye's Dragon Energy in the Senate's coffee...
Mike Pompeo is confirmed 57 to 42 officially as the 70th Secretary of State. In addition to red state dems Donnelly, McCaskill, Doug Jones, Bill Nelson, Heidi Heidkamp, Joe Manchin + Angus King. Intel ranking Mark Warner votes no.
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) April 26, 2018
Oh... and Rick Grenell was confirmed as the next US Ambassador to Germany.
Frazzled wrote: The rest of the US is a food exporter. If they break off they are just another competitor. Plus nation's play hardball when regions rebel. Expect LA to return to desert very shortly.
Frazzled wrote: The rest of the US is a food exporter. If they break off they are just another competitor. Plus nation's play hardball when regions rebel. Expect LA to return to desert very shortly.
You must really like corn!
Rice actually. And cornbread. And bourbon
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
I'm no political analyst, but I think I've narrowed this down to a couple of likely explanations:
1. He's doing this on purpose. I mean, deliberately train wrecking. It seems plausible not because I know of motive, but because it's so far outside reasonable that it is actually getting less plausible that he's that clueless, simply because he'd probably not be quite SO GOOD at train wrecking this consistently well if he was utterly inept but trying to keep it together. A person might be totally inept at cooking, but still know that you can't heat food by putting it inside their refrigerator.
2. None of what I experience is real because I am actually utterly insane. None of this is happening, and I'm scrawling this message on tile floor in purple crayon.
There's still any number of other explanations for what is going on, but I think they're vastly less likely.
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2500 pts Prophets of Fate
Lizardmen 3000 points Tlaxcoatl Temple-City
