US Politics Thread

[24K]

2 hours ago, Duodenum said:

Walz is a great speaker, his sound bites are going to go viral over and over.

The guy is truly a gen z at heart. The guy is a meme machine at this point.

[CBH1926]

2 hours ago, Bob Long said:

 

Wtf is "Kamabla"?

Elementary school bully tactic of making fun of someone’s name by mispronouncing it.

 

[Smashian Kassian]

Just now, stawns said:

 

I really dislike the need people seem to have to equalize the discord and division in the US and Canada.  Truly, only one side is cutting themselves off from the rest of us.

 

That's the thing though, there is no 'us'. Some people want to live one way, some people want to live another way. Different cultures have different values & compromise isn't possible because the cultures don't respect each other. 

 

Like it or not we are going down the same road as the US, they are just further down the path. (And our politicians have certainly done their part in that)

 

In the West progressives want things their way or the highway, while Conservatives perpetually cling to the last thing while being dragged kicking & screaming. When the progressives move too fast & the middle escapes them, the Overton window moves right & that's when the non-progressive right gains steam. 

[Cerridwen]

12 hours ago, Bob Long said:

 

Also an old white dude, for the old white dude vote.

 

I hope the dems can now just unite and not in-fight for 90 days.

 

 

He's 60.... hardly an 'old' white dude

(Though I DO get your point! )

[24K]

2 hours ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

The letter was the first thing that I found that clued me in that something was happening.  They knew about the letter when they were vetting him I'm sure.  It came out when he was running to become governor.

 

There was some digging done.  After he retired, he was demoted to Master Sergeant because he dropped out of the commander course before finishing his schooling.

 

He claims he had to drop out to run for Congress, but the people that wrote the letter claims that he dropped out for other reasons since it wasn't a requirement to drop out to run.

 

This was all 20 years ago, and if it affects the ticket at all, it won't affect the base party support which is the reason he was likely chosen for. 

 

Trump hasn't been running a solid campaign so I'm thinking that the Harris campaign is concentrating on getting their base energized and to the polls.  That's why I think this guy was a good pick for Harris' campaign.  The Democratic base isn't likely going to give a wet fart about what he did or didn't do in the military.

24 years of service vs. a questionable but at the very least a legitimate reason to drop out of a officer course.

 

Yeah 24 years of service is gonna win out any day. That attack ain't gonna land especially compared to the six month media corp service Vance did. 

[stawns]

8 minutes ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

That's the thing though, there is no 'us'. Some people want to live one way, some people want to live another way. Different cultures have different values & compromise isn't possible because the cultures don't respect each other. 

 

Like it or not we are going down the same road as the US, they are just further down the path. (And our politicians have certainly done their part in that)

 

In the West progressives want things their way or the highway, while Conservatives perpetually cling to the last thing while being dragged kicking & screaming. When the progressives move too fast & the middle escapes them, the Overton window moves right & that's when the non-progressive right gains steam. 

 

Yeah, I call bullshit on that one.  One side wants society to be a certain way and they want to force that on everyone.  The rest ic the people just want to live together peacefully in anyway they want as long as it's within the law.

 

Let's not pretend this is a "both sides" problrm

[nuckin_futz]

 

Absolutely disgusting they way they keep parading around this woman who obviously needs help. Instead they parade her around like a circus freak for their own benefit.

 

Contrast that with this very old story about Brian Wilson and John Lennon. A little empathy goes a long way.

 

As told by Alice Cooper:  

 

“I was sitting backstage after the 1974 Grammys with Bernie Taupin (Elton John’s lyricist) and John Lennon. This was when Brian was really having some mental issues. During the course of the conversation, I kept seeing Brian out of the corner of my eye, just kind of staring at us from different angles.”

 

“Finally, he came up to the table, bent down and whispered in my ear ‘Hey Alice, introduce me to John Lennon.’ I couldn’t BELIEVE that these two men had never met! They were virtually neck and neck in the 60’s as the greatest bands on the planet, and I’m SURE they must have crossed paths at some point. But then I thought to myself, ‘Wow, if they REALLY have never met, I’m going to be the one to introduce them and become a part of rock history!’”

 

“So I merely said, ‘Brian Wilson, this is John Lennon. John Lennon, this is Brian Wilson.’ Lennon was very cordial and polite, saying things like ‘Hello Brian, I’ve always wanted to meet you. I’ve always admired your work, and Paul and I considered Pet Sounds one of the best albums ever made.’ Brian thanked him and walked away, at which point Lennon went right back to his conversation like nothing had happened.”

 

“About ten minutes later, Brian came by our table again, leaned down and whispered something to Bernie, and all of a sudden, Bernie was saying ‘Brian Wilson, this is John Lennon. John Lennon, Brian Wilson.’ Lennon was just as cordial and polite as the first time, saying essentially the same thing about always wanting to meet him. As soon as Brian walked away, John looked at both of us and casually said in his typical Liverpudlian accent, ‘I’ve met him hundreds of times. He’s not well, you know.’”

[24K]

1 hour ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

 

Then she proceeded to call him an illegitimate president, and the Democrats went on a crusade to impeach him with the Russiagate conspiracy theory.

 

No need to try & ignore it, every election this century has been contested by the otherside.

 

I'm also not a conservative

Hillary called Trump illegitimate in 2019 after Trumo's infamous call with Zelenski. The Dems did nit impeach Trump or even attemp to impeach Trump based on Russia gate. It was over quid pro quo with Ukraine and his interaction on Jan 6th. 

 

And no, it is only elections where Trump is involved where things get contested. McCain did not contest, Romney did not contest, Kerry did not contest and the only one that was where Trump was not involved was Gore where it turned out he won but Gire ended up not contesting anyways. 

 

1 hour ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

 

I'd be willing to bet (if it was possible to know the truth) that both parties cheat to some extent in every election.

There is not conspiracy that both party cheat. They just stack the rules in their favor. I guess openly cheat is more correct. 

 

1 hour ago, Smashian Kassian said:

As I said Dems went on a crusade with Russiagate in '16, they had the FBI collude with social media sites to censor the Biden laptop story in '20, and have been pushing more non-citizens to vote for a long time which itself could be argued as a subversion of the process. 

You need to back up that assertion. There have been no push that I know of from legitimate sources that ever stated the Dems, outside of maybe local municipal elections, are pushing for non-citizens to vote. 

Edited August 7 by 24K

[Sabrefan1]

14 minutes ago, 24K said:

24 years of service vs. a questionable but at the very least a legitimate reason to drop out of a officer course.

 

Yeah 24 years of service is gonna win out any day. That attack ain't gonna land especially compared to the six month media corp service Vance did. 

 

I only know what I've read on social media about it and I never served in the military so I don't really have an opinion on it one way or another.  That said, it apparently didn't stop him from becoming governor and he wasn't chosen as VP to attract independent voters.  He was chosen to shore up base support and that base doesn't give a rat's patootie about what he did or didn't do in the military.

[24K]

14 minutes ago, stawns said:

 

Yeah, I call bullshit on that one.  One side wants society to be a certain way and they want to force that on everyone.  The rest ic the people just want to live together peacefully in anyway they want as long as it's within the law.

 

Let's not pretend this is a "both sides" problrm

I concur. One side want people to be treated equally and live up to Waltz golden rule, "Mind your own business."

 

Other side trying to push their perverted Christian fascist, and I am using that cause nit all christians behave this way, believes and lifestyle on the rest of us. 

[Smashian Kassian]

22 minutes ago, stawns said:

 

Yeah, I call bullshit on that one.  One side wants society to be a certain way and they want to force that on everyone.  The rest ic the people just want to live together peacefully in anyway they want as long as it's within the law.

 

Let's not pretend this is a "both sides" problrm

 

You mean like when (in Canada) law abiding citizens have more guns taken away from them because the left parties lie + manipulate the uninformed to create a non-existent issue & score political points?

 

Progressives want society to be a certain way just as non-progressive Conservatives do, one side continues to win over time hence any real pushback being decried not as people with a different perspective but outgroup not to be taken seriously.

 

Most people in Canada aren't particularly ideological at all & just want freedom, to live by their own values, & economic prosperity. The Economy is really #1 in politics. Once those non-political people feel the squeeze they are going to vote for the alternative.

 

Edited August 7 by Smashian Kassian

[24K]

39 minutes ago, Sabrefan1 said:

 

I only know what I've read on social media about it and I never served in the military so I don't really have an opinion on it one way or another.  That said, it apparently didn't stop him from becoming governor and he wasn't chosen as VP to attract independent voters.  He was chosen to shore up base support and that base doesn't give a rat's patootie about what he did or didn't do in the military.

Well the most important reason Walz was chosen was to do no damage. He definitely fits the bull there. I originally jokingly said Harris is gonna choose Walz when this whole thing started cause he was the most safe, vanilla white guy from a somewhat battleground state there is. 

 

But beyond that, I think they want to make a push for disillusioned rural heartland Americans and give them a permission structure to vote for the Dems that otherwise would be hesistant after voting Republicans their while life. 

 

But even then I don't think they will care about some nuance over an officer course. 24 years of service is way more of a flash point. 

Edited August 7 by 24K

[Sabrefan1]

2 minutes ago, 24K said:

Well the most important reason Woltz was chosen was to do no damage. He definitely fits the bull there. I originally jokingly said Harris is gonna choose Waltz when this whole thing started cause he was the most safe, vanilla white guy from a somewhat battleground state there is. 

 

But beyond that, I think they want to make a push for disillusioned rural heartland Americans and give them a permission structure to vote for the Dems that otherwise would be hesistant after voting Republicans their while life. 

 

But even then I don't think they will care about some nuance over an officer course. 24 years of service is way more of a flash point. 

 

His politics lean too far to the left to pick up people in the flyover/heartland states.  Also, those states are going to fall to whatever has an (R) next to it's name, whether it's Trump or a blind poodle. 

 

The only states that really matter in the presidential elections are the swing states.

[flat land fish]

Minnesota VP pick fairly strategic, I drove all over Minnesota last week and Trump signs were rampant everywhere.  

[Jaimito]

Taught English in China. Speaks the language. Guy has so many skills. 

 

[Sabrefan1]

5 minutes ago, flat land fish said:

Minnesota VP pick fairly strategic, I drove all over Minnesota last week and Trump signs were rampant everywhere.  

 

Even though Minnesota is technically a swing state, I don't think the Republicans have taken it in a long time.  Probably not since Nixon.  Minnesota was the only state that didn't go against Mondale in 1984 when Reagan won 49 states out of 50. 

 

Trump lost twice there.  Biden spanked him by 7 points 4 years ago.  I will be surprised if Trump even comes within 2 points of Harris there.  All of the latest non-outlier polls have him behind by between 3-6 points.

[RupertKBD]

1 hour ago, Smashian Kassian said:

I'd be willing to bet (if it was possible to know the truth) that both parties cheat to some extent in every election.

 

As I said Dems went on a crusade with Russiagate in '16, they had the FBI collude with social media sites to censor the Biden laptop story in '20, and have been pushing more non-citizens to vote for a long time which itself could be argued as a subversion of the process. 

 

And I don't blame them at all, like I said I think both parties cheat to get an edge every election. But if you hold democracy dear you that has to be across the board. If you just want your party to win b/c the stakes are so high that's fine too, that's certainly their perspective. 

 

I'd be willing to bet that is true....I'd also be willing to bet that Democrat shenanigans pale in comparison to those of Republicans....

 

As far as "Russiagate" goes, there were 34 indictments handed down after the Mueller investigation, so I don't know WTF you're talking about here. Not only that, but Mueller went on record saying he didn't indict Trump because of an OLC rule that precluded him from charging a sitting president.

[4petesake]

19 minutes ago, flat land fish said:

Minnesota VP pick fairly strategic, I drove all over Minnesota last week and Trump signs were rampant everywhere.  

 

I didn’t see as much of Minnesota as you but two weeks ago I drove from Duluth to Grand Forks and didn’t see more than 3 or 4. There were more in North Dakota, Montana and Idaho but still not nearly as many as I expected. Bible passages and Jesus signs on the other hand…

[RupertKBD]

1 hour ago, Smashian Kassian said:

Then she proceeded to call him an illegitimate president, and the Democrats went on a crusade to impeach him with the Russiagate conspiracy theory.

 

Incorrect. The first time he was Impeached for trying to extort a foreign leader into helping his efforts top smear his political rival.

 

His second Impeachment was based on his efforts to overturn the election he lost to that same person.

 

Both were absolutely deserved.

[Bob Long]

1 hour ago, Cerridwen said:

 

He's 60.... hardly an 'old' white dude

(Though I DO get your point! )

 

Hey I'm almost there  

[Smashian Kassian]

10 minutes ago, 24K said:

Hillary called Trump illegitimate in 2019 after Trumo's infamous call with Zelenski. The Dems did nit impeach Trump or even attemp to impeach Trump based on Russia gate. It was over quid pro quo with Ukraine and his interaction on Jan 6th. 

 

Right, so she had really conceded it by still harboring doubts for 4-5 years. The Russia conspiracy story was ran incessantly to de-legitimatize his presidency in the eyes of the public, and gain support for their attempts to oust him. Whether it was this or that, they had been building the propaganda & looking for their opportunity the whole time. 

 

10 minutes ago, 24K said:

 

And no, it is only elections where Trump is involved where things get contested. McCain did not contest, Romney did not contest, Kerry did not contest and the only one that was where Trump was not involved was Gore where it turned out he won but Gire ended up not contesting anyways. 

 

Its not necessarily that the opponent put up a sustained fuss, but every one has had controversy & theorizing/pushback from the losing side.

 

Obviously 2000 was decided in the supreme court

 

2004 it was 'irregulaties' and voting machines, someone even wrote a book about it. [1] [2] [3] [4]

 

The Obama years were highlighted by the 'Birther' movement, an attack on his legitimacy to serve.

 

Then of course 2016 & 2020 we already went into. 

 

10 minutes ago, 24K said:

 

There is not conspiracy that both party cheat. They just stack the rules in their favor. I guess openly cheat is more correct. 

 

You need to back up that assertion. There have been no push that I know of from legitimate sources that ever stated the Dems, outside of maybe local municipal elections, are pushing for non-citizens to vote. 

 

So we agree. I also don't think the amount of voter fraud in the elections is 0. Not claiming its enough to turn the result however but I think both sides are willing to bend things a bit.

 

https://www.newsweek.com/house-vote-safeguard-american-voter-eligibility-save-act-passed-1923392

 

There was just an act last month that passed, Dems voted 5-198, overwhelmingly against. The incentives are clear for the Dems so I don't necessarily blame them btw. I feel like most illegals would be voting in California which they have on lock anyways, but I could see as the elections become more intense how going this route could be inticing if they ever decided on a legit push for it. 

 

 

[Smashian Kassian]

13 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

 

I'd be willing to bet that is true....I'd also be willing to bet that Democrat shenanigans pale in comparison to those of Republicans....

 

As far as "Russiagate" goes, there were 34 indictments handed down after the Mueller investigation, so I don't know WTF you're talking about here. Not only that, but Mueller went on record saying he didn't indict Trump because of an OLC rule that precluded him from charging a sitting president.

 

6 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

 

Incorrect. The first time he was Impeached for trying to extort a foreign leader into helping his efforts top smear his political rival.

 

His second Impeachment was based on his efforts to overturn the election he lost to that same person.

 

Both were absolutely deserved.

 

Spoiler

Durham found that the FBI acted too hastily and relied on raw and unconfirmed intelligence when it opened the Trump-Russia investigation.

 

He said at the time the probe was opened, the FBI had no information about any actual contact between Trump associates and Russian intelligence officials.

 

He also claimed that FBI investigators fell prone to “confirmation bias,” repeatedly ignoring or rationalizing away information that could have undercut the premise of their investigation, and he noted that the FBI failed to corroborate a single substantive allegation from a dossier of research that it relied on during the course of the probe.

 

“An objective and honest assessment of these strands of information should have caused the FBI to question not only the predication for Crossfire Hurricane, but also to reflect on whether the FBI was being manipulated for political or other purposes,” the report said, using the FBI’s code name for the Trump-Russia probe. “Unfortunately, it did not.”

 

“Indeed, based on the evidence gathered in the multiple exhaustive and costly federal investigations of these matters, including the instant investigation, neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation,” Durham said in his report.

 

 

Your right on the matter of impeachment, I'm technically wrong, but as I said to 24k in the final analysis Russiagate served as a propaganda campaign to delegitimize his win & influence public opinion regardless - which the corporate media of course more than ran with. If there was legit evidence of collusion they absolutely would've tried to remove him for it. 

 

[Sabrefan1]

Let me stir this section/forum of the board up a bit...... 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/08/06/cori-bush-loses-primary/74677311007/

Edited August 7 by Sabrefan1

[24K]

13 minutes ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

Right, so she had really conceded it by still harboring doubts for 4-5 years. The Russia conspiracy story was ran incessantly to de-legitimatize his presidency in the eyes of the public, and gain support for their attempts to oust him. Whether it was this or that, they had been building the propaganda & looking for their opportunity the whole time. 

Well Trump did start all this with the birther thing against Obama and aided by the tea party take over of the gop during that time but sure I concede that point. GOP repaid the favor with the bs Biden crime family thing that turned out to be fully Russian psyop. 

 

13 minutes ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

Its not necessarily that the opponent put up a sustained fuss, but every one has had controversy & theorizing/pushback from the losing side.

 

Obviously 2000 was decided in the supreme court

 

2004 it was 'irregulaties' and voting machines, someone even wrote a book about it. [1] [2] [3] [4]

 

The Obama years were highlighted by the 'Birther' movement, an attack on his legitimacy to serve.

 

Then of course 2016 & 2020 we already went into. 

You can't move the goal post there. The only thing that mattered is if the losing candidates themselves put up a fuss over their loss. You always gonna get some third party coming up with conspiracy theories over losses. 

 

 

13 minutes ago, Smashian Kassian said:

 

https://www.newsweek.com/house-vote-safeguard-american-voter-eligibility-save-act-passed-1923392

 

There was just an act last month that passed, Dems voted 5-198, overwhelmingly against. The incentives are clear for the Dems so I don't necessarily blame them btw. I feel like most illegals would be voting in California which they have on lock anyways, but I could see as the elections become more intense how going this route could be inticing if they ever decided on a legit push for it. 

 

 

That does not prove Dem plan on giving non citizens the vote. You are just conjecture and falling I to the right wing narrative and framing. Also, citizen only suffrage are enshrined in state constitutions. The dems can't just snap their finger and change that rule.

 

The Dem oppose that bill mostly because it is a voter suppression measure as it require a lot of documents for voters to bring to the polls to vote. You have to remember not a lot of Americans have passports and and most gonvernment issued ID does not show if someone is born in the US or if they are citizens.

 

Digging up one's birth certificate every time to vote is also a hassel and not to mention for naturalized citizens without a passport, they have to bring their citizenship certificate every time to vote is kind of discriminating. 

[the destroyer of worlds]

14 minutes ago, Sabrefan1 said:

Let's me stir this section/forum of the board up a bit...... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/08/06/cori-bush-loses-primary/74677311007/

Reading the article, big big money was spent on both this primary and in Bowmans primary.   In this one, pro-Israeli lobby money.  Her calls for ceasefire and criticism of Israeli tactics sunk her.

Edited August 7 by the destroyer of worlds