Politics

A short while back I recall quite a hullabaloo about Donald Trump Jr. meeting with a Russian lawyer about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton. The meeting turned out to be about a different topic and nothing became of it. News stories at the time assured us all that Don Jr would soon be heading to prison for collusion with a foreign power to influence the US election. Somehow Don Jr. is still walking around free. Today I’m reading about how Hillary Clinton and the DNC paid a lawyer to hire Fusion GPS which hired a foreign spy to collect uncorroborated intelligence (aka smears) from Russian sources on Donald Trump to influence the US election. Let’s call that uncorrob…

The only solution to this problem is for people to talk to each other, no matter their opinions, so that they are made aware of how others feel. Calling people 'racist' or continuously down-voting their opinions only entrenches their opinions. And banning them removes any opportunity to change their dissenting opinions. And the problem remains ... Just my opinion, for whatever it's worth. If only one viewpoint is 'allowed', as all other opinions are 'racist', then there is no discussion. So what then, is the point of this thread ? May as well lock it.

Government after government has committed increasing and enormous sums to the HS2 rail project so that a handful of businessmen can travel from London between Birmingham a few minutes more quickly. Apparantly they claim this is essential to the economic wellbeing of the UK, some even suggest the country would collapse economically without it. Along comes Covid and what do you know? Businessmen suddenly do not need to travel betwen London and Birnmingham. The age of videoworking has arrived. My question for discussion lies in the title to this thread.

Interesting to note that about 1/3 of US voters support Trump and what he says, but 2/3 want to KEEP civil war monuments. This makes sense to me because I lived my entire life in Southern California and have never seen a single civil war monument. They are all located in other states, especially southern states that erected most of the statues in the early 1900s, to subjugate the Afro-American population. It was a tyranny of the majority white over the minority black. Most Americans don't see or think about the statues much, so they don't care if they get removed or not. So why not keep the nice statues of handsome men on horses? Everyone loves statues of horses, so…

What % of a total white population in US white racists constitute? Those who are capable to cause any significant harm to blacks by beating, insulting, firing out of job for no reason, etc? Whites constitute 61.5 % of a total US population and blacks around 13%. It means that if number of white racists would constitute 20% of whites, then their total number would still be lower than the total number of blacks in US. How they would be able to organize a systematic racism? And there are always a lot of whites who are willing combat racism actively.

This was posted to "Trump and social media" which was off topic. Sorry for getting off topic over there. Would any mod please delete my post over there, and this will substitute for it. I think this should be a separate topic. Thank you. In the recent interview by Harris Faulkner of Fox News, an African-American, Trump stated that what Lincoln did (freeing slaves) "is always questionable." What the heck is he suggesting...that Lincoln freeing the slaves was a "questionable" thing?! The slaves should NOT have been freed in HIS opinion, it would seem. Trump used his mob-boss sign language on Faulkner: "Lincoln did good, although it's always questionable, yo…

I would be glad to know your opinion on possibility to use an airborne substance which is capable to reduce fertility rates in those countries where people cannot find a balance with surrounding environment and stabilize their population on their own. Such vaccine wouldn't be able to cause any harm to humans or even their purely sexual functions, but just make them infertile. I don't propose to use such a vaccine, of course, but would be glad to know an opinions on ethical and practical side of the question. There are predictions that all the tropical rainforests soon will gone forever, as well as majority of leaving species on Earth with them. Also there is a threat that…

Now I want to see her lip sync Trump's bizarre rant at the CDC in March, when he told us about his "super genius" uncle and the "beautiful Covid-19 tests" and how "Every one of those doctors said how do you know so much?" and Trump "really gets it." https://www.salon.com/2020/03/07/7-disturbing-moments-from-trumps-visit-to-the-cdc_partner/

After Twitter put the fact checker on this tweet Trumps now accusing them of stifling free speech. And Question: can he do this, should social media be worried? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52815552

Peter Navarro memo to Trump on Feb 23: “...increasing probability of a full-blown COVID-19 pandemic that could infect as many as 100 million Americans, with a loss of life of as many as 1.2 million souls" The next day, Feb 24, Trump tweeted: "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA." "Despite the warnings from Navarro, Trump in the past several weeks has claimed that "nobody" could have predicted the coronavirus pandemic." Trump said on March 19: "I would view it as something that just surprised the whole world. And if people would have known about it, it could have stopped – stopped being in place. Nobody knew there'd be a pandemic or…

My facebook feed had a lot of posts in it saying that although not perfect, Boris Johnson is doing the best he can and thank god Jeremy Corbyn isn't in charge. They suggest a clap for Boris as well as the NHS. Here is a timeline of events including some of his actions. Timeline: December 31st China alerts WHO to new virus. January 23rd Study reveals a third of China’s patients require intensive care. January 24th Boris Johnson misses first Cobra meeting. January 29th Boris Johnson misses second Cobra meeting. January 31st The NHS declares first ever ‘Level 4 critical incident’ Meanwhile, the government declines to join European scheme to so…

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/iq-rates-are-dropping-many-developed-countries-doesn-t-bode-ncna1008576 As a solution to this problem I can envision accepting as much as possible immigrants from the South of Tropic of Cancer and especially Papuans who are (it is well known) are very talented. What do you think?

The economy can suddenly afford to help the less fortunate. We have enough food to feed everyone (who knew). Our pollution of the atmosphere has been reduced, significantly. So my question is, how do we stop it changing back?

Former UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, did little - in the opinion of many - to distinguish herself in that role. In an opinion piece in the Times she has delivered a forthright and seemingly sensible critique of the inadequacies of the global response to the corona virus crisis by governments. (It pleasently surprised this observer, but maybe that's just me.) Here is the link to the article. And Here is the BBC's take on the subject. I stole the thread title from them.

Population native to nearly all industrially developed nations is not self sustainable demographically. They could retain the same level of population (or small growth) only due to immigration from less developed nations. More and more of these immigrants come and will come from the countries which were not even fully industrialized. What do you think majority of modern industrialized countries will look like in 40-100 years? Do you think they will experience no sharp and long term crisis in this timeframe and no major revision of existing model will be needed? Do you think there will be at least the same pace of the scientific and technical development and economic/socia…

Seems the Politics forum has 'stalled'. I know ranger and JC will appreciate this, but I'm hoping the larger group finds it interesting. A gas pipeline has been approved for northern BC, with agreements signed by the ELECTED Native tribal chiefs of the affected lands. The HEREDITARY chiefs, however are opposed. https://www.ecowatch.com/pipeline-protests-canada-indigenous-2645171362.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2 Protests by natives, and sympathizers have been going on for quite some time and have spread across the country. The main form of protest has been the disruption of transportation, mostly rail, as far as eastern Ontario. Our Government ref…

"According to a 1990 Vanity Fair interview, Ivana Trump once told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that her husband, real-estate mogul Donald Trump, now a leading Republican presidential candidate, kept a book of Hitler's speeches near his bed. "Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler's collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed ... Hitler's speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist," Marie Brenner wrote. ... Brenner added that Davis did a…

While alleviating certain rules may have been necessary in an emergency, this looks like a blanket waiver which can lead to rather unfortunate issues down the road. The EPA contests that it is a blanket waiver and reserves the right to interfere to save human lives. Though it says nothing about e.g. about ongoing issues that can cost human lives in the future (which, I think, is often the bigger issue than acute dangers). https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/489753-epa-suspends-enforcement-of-environmental-laws-amid-coronavirus

Are governments going to start declaring martial law in reaction to the Coronavirus Crisis? It is a perfect excuse to seize power by declaring martial law. Trump is already calling himself a "wartime president" in a "war" against the virus. He doesn't want to leave office because then he can be prosecuted for obstruction of justice and congress. He must stay in office, so is there a chance he may declare martial law, cancel the November elections and stay in office? He believes the "tough" people are on his side. In riots over cancelled elections, Trump has the military, the police, and the bikers to battle against protesters.

In another thread someone implied that gun ownership was an indicator of "Right Wing" politics. While I recognize that more guns are probably owned by people on the Right than on the Left, I didn't really think that gun ownership was an attribute of a conservative political viewpoint, so much as an attribute of living a more rural lifestyle. That is, living in rural areas might make you more conservative AND more friendly to guns, but the friendliness to guns didn't come from being conservative, it came from being in a location where a gun can be a tool (hunting, varmint control, etc.) I would suspect conservatives who live in urban areas tend to not have guns, where libe…

Why are leading politicians and nations in denial of global warming and climate change?

Here is some important info from our president to help us through the Coronavirus crisis: "Everybody that needs a [Coronavirus] test, gets a test. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful. The tests are all perfect. Like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. This was not as perfect as that, but pretty good...." “I like this stuff. You know, my uncle was a great person. He was at MIT. He taught at MIT for like a record number of years. He was a great super-genius, Dr. John Trump. I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised I understand it. Every one of these doctors said ‘how do you know so much about this…

I haven't heard about this in the news, but think about it. A team of 10 terrorists, voluntarily (or not), get Coronavirus. Then they go to the country they hate and sneak around spreading their virus everywhere DISCREETLY. Also, what about "misery likes company?" When some unhinged person gets the Coronavirus, they think "Well I have it, now everybody else should suffer thru this with me." Therefore that one person, who hates society in general, does their best to spread Coronavirus everywhere ! Is anyone starting to think Stephen Hawking was right that humanity (in the normal sense) has about 100 years left?

All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception and the Spirit of I.F. Stone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_cKC0_sGu0 The death penalty in the United States only condemns poor and black people. The death penalty must be abolished forever. The tax belongs to the people, so it must go back to the people in the form of benefits: school, hospitals and universities (public and with quality). Washington D.C. prefers to burn the tax with NASA and military (to dominate the planet). The role of United States is ONLY the technological development of planet. There is a relation between Washington D.C. and Russia in attacks against Syria. Think: after the Islamic Stat…