Current Events

[chun121681]

Hi all sz member,

I knw here's not a forum about politics,
Sorry and plz delete my post here if it's a mistake.
Just hope more ppl knw about Hong Kong is in danger
Bcos of a shit government. Not sure news outside Hong Kong
is the truth or not. But Hong Kong government is using violence
to citizen now... I feel pain and hope more ppl outside hk can
pay more attention about tht. (YouTube hv some video)

Sorry again if I post wrong topic here

[pilgrim]

Yeah, its obviously a very interesting topic. I've been following it somewhat this week.

Here are three pieces from Bloomberg that give some context to what's going on. Hopefully the situation starts moving in a better direction. One of the concerns is that Beijing is going to send the army in.

Can you tell us a little more about what's going on and do you think the chief executive will step down?

[chun121681]

Things can tell the truth:

http://ireport.cnn.com/topics/1174467

Just back from government area after support students.
Today is the worst, crazy days of hk. Police line up with
Criminal organization to attack students...
The government is shit and crazy. Tell tones of liar!
We never attack, plz believe us!
And I don't think the situation of students(citizen) will become better...
I guess the government will up their violence behaviour in coming days.
So we need help. We need international society support

[Faust]

Changed the thread name to current events.

DISCLAIMER: I predict that this thread will quickly deteriorate, therefore I reserve the right to remove it at any time. No bitching.

[Faust]

What an incredibly sad day for America. Ignorance, fear, and hatred have won again.

[syed]

What an incredibly sad day for America. Ignorance, fear, and hatred have won again.

As an outsider looking in it does baffle me. Even just the fact that affordable or free healthcare for the poor is viewed with suspicion makes no sense to me. A lot of the time it seems like the people that vote Republican are exactly the same social strata of people who would vote Democrat in most other countries.

[Faust]

Come live here and it will make more sense. People here are by and large what could be described as scared idiots. There is a reason why nobody wants to invest in the education system for the masses here - an ignorant population is easier to control. I am absolutely not surprised at the outcome of the midterm elections. We will probably have another Democrat president in 2016, but it means nothing if the Congress is taken over by Republicans.

[syed]

If people are voting Republican for Congress, do you not think they'll end up voting for a Republican President too? Having opposing forces seems a surefire way to promote stagnation for four years, where nothing will be able to get passed and all you have is bickering. Heck even in the UK where you have a coalition government it has meant lots of fighting and progress has been slow, I'd hate to think what would happen if a party came to power with a significant minority presence in the Commons (admittedly it would probably result in elections being held again, but it's the closest we would have to the model of a Democrat President and Republican Congress or vice versa).

[Faust]

If people are voting Republican for Congress, do you not think they'll end up voting for a Republican President too? Having opposing forces seems a surefire way to promote stagnation for four years, where nothing will be able to get passed and all you have is bickering. Heck even in the UK where you have a coalition government it has meant lots of fighting and progress has been slow, I'd hate to think what would happen if a party came to power with a significant minority presence in the Commons (admittedly it would probably result in elections being held again, but it's the closest we would have to the model of a Democrat President and Republican Congress or vice versa).

This is why "According to the exit poll, the number of seniors who voted yesterday was twice as large as the number of eighteen-to-twenty-nine-year-olds. In 2012, there were more young voters than seniors. I haven’t seen the final figures for the racial breakdown of yesterday’s electorate, but, according to the exit poll’s preliminary findings, the percentage of non-white voters was also down significantly from 2012." From the New Yorker.

[Shucks]

from what i've been reading, more democrats are expected to actually vote in 2016, which i guess set to be the REALLY big battle, and with such an unprecedented divide between democrats and republicans, nothing will get done in US politics unless either side secures both congress and the presidency.

[Faust]

Yes, but I am even more scared to think what WILL get done if the Republicans control the entire government.

But, yeah, two more years of fuck-o ahead. Poor Obama.

[MrBushido]

I don't want to hurt anyone's feeling! But...

Status quo will remain the same, irrespective of which party holds what...
Republicrats will remain. Policies will be made based on special interest, average joe will keep taking it from behind...

Though I'm saddened by the crackdown in HK. It is to be expected that a government will make use of it's monopoly of violence against it's subjects 'sorry, they are called citizens now' when it is threatened by them.

Nothing new under the sun!

[Faust]

I don't want to hurt anyone's feeling! But...

Status quo will remain the same, irrespective of which party holds what...
Republicrats will remain. Policies will be made based on special interest, average joe will keep taking it from behind...

Though I'm saddened by the crackdown in HK. It is to be expected that a government will make use of it's monopoly of violence against it's subjects 'sorry, they are called citizens now' when it is threatened by them.

Nothing new under the sun!

This is exactly the kind of lazy, reductionist, fatalist thinking that keeps potential voters from polls and lets Republicans win. Republicans and democrats are NOT the same.

[MrBushido]

This is exactly the kind of lazy, reductionist, fatalist thinking that keeps potential voters from polls and lets Republicans win. Republicans and democrats are NOT the same.

Can't see any. Though, I'm looking from far away...

What exactly is the difference in your eyes?

The potential voters you speak off could very well vote republicans if they did vote. I don't see why you think they would all vote democrats

As crazy/stupid/ironic as this sounds. Though a lot of people in this world want to live in a democracy, they do not feel as strongly when it comes to actively participating in the democratic process...

[deadboy]

This is exactly the kind of lazy, reductionist, fatalist thinking that keeps potential voters from polls and lets Republicans win. Republicans and democrats are NOT the same.

As someone who works in news/current affairs, it always irks me when I meet people who spout off that kind of stuff.

I get that the system is flawed and the candidates aren't exactly what you want them to be, but I don't get how people can respond by just withdrawing and potentially letting someone in who will screw things up in ways that affect not just us but generations to come.