Current Events

[bukka]

Republicans did it to themselves, beginning all the way back in the 80s by courting the god-and-guns redneck crowd. It's escalated with Fox news and their 8 year anything-but-Obama run. And now they are reaping what they've sown.

But it's not much crazier than what's going on in Austria, for example. Or is it?

Ah really? Funny because Austria doesn't strike me as weird, seeing the general atmosphere in the EU (France - FN, Spain - Podemos, Hungary -Fidesz, etc.). The main difference with America, imho, is that those extremist parties - left or right - emerged and became heavyweights when the traditional ones collapsed (of course, I use hyperbolic terms to get my point - most of the traditional parties are far from disappearing).

[cloakroom]

No, it isn't. Europe is turning to right almost entirely. Something so obvious to the ones interested for years, if you are able to add 1 and 1, but people are too busy with themselves to see this or ignorant because it could ruin your party mood. It's unbelievable reading my old facebook posts and the reactions of others and what is real now. Rough times ahead of us.

[Arkady]

Crossposting here:

A grim day if the AP’s native package calling Clinton’s nomination is to be believed.

The electoral race writ large will balance as it may — in the direction of a landslide Trump ascension if intuition, math and crowd psychology are to be believed.

But it is a supreme tragedy that the first woman to reach this political milestone in America, an icon to millions who have borne her seemingly on this merit alone to Philadelphia, embodies none of the redeeming characteristics of the female archetype.

Warlord, glad-hander, sower of mass misery for profit, sycophant to the supreme engineers of inequality and beneficiary of those who institutionally degrade women and children from the House of Saud to her husband and the slobbering visitors of Jeffrey Epstein’s island.

Kali posing as Durga, each arm urgently stabbing at a different checkbook.

Our ferocious commitment to identity politics has entwined with our deep government’s ferocious commitment to empire to produce a level of passive acceptance even I could not imagine in my most cynical throes. But black-ball votes and handshakes in faraday cages can’t explain it all.

There is Whitewater, Vince Foster, the Email Server, the Clinton Foundation’s looming indictment for charity fraud, brokering of weapons contracts for bribes, the rape of Libya in defense of the petrodollar, the ouster of Zelaya in Honduras, the funding of mass murder in Syria, the resurgence of a suicidal nuclear arms race with Russia. Assertions from her own Secret Service detail that the Clinton administration destroyed evidence and engaged in rampant corruption.

Anecdotally and judging by rally footage it's already difficult to find anyone who'd vote for this Quisling pig, but then there is her strange ability to perform best in districts where voting machines are most susceptible to fraud and failure. Her improbable and constant victory in razor-close primaries, the astronomical number of voters removed from party rosters in these primaries, the presence of pro-Clinton materials at voting booths around the country.

None of this has sounded alarms for Hillary’s adherents — outside perhaps those who can’t afford to support anyone but an establishment Democrat — and in the place of justice, compassion, and indignation they’ve chosen to side with a platonic form. A few pixels on a screen, a version of equality sold to everyone and afforded to no one. An episode of Broad City.

Now the DNC may demand in-game purchase from Democrat voters by attaching Warren or Napolitano to the ticket, further hammering the “unity” syllogism.

This morning, Obama blocked the release of Clinton's TPP emails despite months of contradicting promises to publicize them. This both shielded Clinton from new accusations of financier cronyism and lent the impression of Obama administration support at a critical juncture. It's key considering the well-known enmity between the two and the perceived liberal torch-passing from the first black president to the first female president.

Then, right around peak social media usage time on the West coast, the AP revealed Clinton has secured the nomination despite superdelegate votes remaining unbound until July 25th. Now everyone has time to bring the news to the dinner table, sleep on the futility of a vote for Sanders and awake on Super Tuesday. Unity.

What have we done? What have we laid foundations for? What happens after these next 4 or 8 years if we see the nadir of opportunity finally coincide with the peak of rage in this country?

What will our chosen identities become as our ability to distinguish reality from familiarity evaporates?

An excerpt about a recent study from the American Institute for Behavioral Science:

“The researchers wanted to know if they could influence who the Californians would have voted for in the 2010 election… for prime minister of Australia.

So they built a fake search engine called Kadoodle that returned a list of 30 websites for the finalist candidates, 15 for Tony Abbott and 15 for Julia Gillard. Most of the Californians knew little about either candidate before the test began, so the experiment was their only real exposure to Australian politics. What they didn’t know was that the search engine had been rigged to display the results in an order biased toward one candidate or the other. For example, in the most extreme scenario, a subject would see 15 webpages with information about Gillard’s platform and objectives followed by 15 similar results for Abbott.

Biased search results increased the number of undecided voters choosing the favored candidate by 48% compared with a control group that saw an equal mix of both candidates throughout the list. Very few subjects noticed they were being manipulated, but those who did were actually more likely to vote in line with the biased results. “We expect the search engine to be making wise choices,” [researcher Robert Epstein] says. “What they’re saying is, ‘Well yes, I see the bias and that’s telling me … the search engine is doing its job.’”

[radio-aktivität]

Ah really? Funny because Austria doesn't strike me as weird, seeing the general atmosphere in the EU (France - FN, Spain - Podemos, Hungary -Fidesz, etc.). The main difference with America, imho, is that those extremist parties - left or right - emerged and became heavyweights when the traditional ones collapsed (of course, I use hyperbolic terms to get my point - most of the traditional parties are far from disappearing).

Exactly.

On a sidenote, I simply can’t imagine having only 2 political parties. We always have 4-5 in the german parliament, in local parliaments sometimes even more. Parties usually rule together (apart from Bavaria with their CSU Kaiser, haha) and have to compromise.

Trump infects THE main conservative, traditional party.
In Europe, the new rightwing movement emerges in new parties, with the traditional ones freezing.
IMHO that’s a different situation.

[bukka]

Exactly.

On a sidenote, I simply can’t imagine having only 2 political parties. We always have 4-5 in the german parliament, in local parliaments sometimes even more. Parties usually rule together (apart from Bavaria with their CSU Kaiser, haha) and have to compromise.

Trump infects THE main conservative, traditional party.
In Europe, the new rightwing movement emerges in new parties, with the traditional ones freezing.
IMHO that’s a different situation.

Same here in Switzerland.

[En.]

On a sidenote, I simply can’t imagine having only 2 political parties. We always have 4-5 in the german parliament, in local parliaments sometimes even more. Parties usually rule together (apart from Bavaria with their CSU Kaiser, haha) and have to compromise.

That might change sooner or later. The Libertarian Party and Green Party have been gaining a lot of support over the years and both have their own 2016 presidential nominee. Though I highly doubt any party will have a reasonable entry into parliament. The DNC mistreating the Sanders campaign makes it obvious enough.

[Faust]

The Melania Trimp fiasco is beyond pure gold! I am laughing my ass off, out loud, literally.

[gregor]

america is rather self-parodic, in general, i think, albeit highlighter wonderfully in times like this.

as far as other parties go, i think it's still incredibly hard to actually break into the mainstream or hold major elected office with a party not between republican and democrat. however, the thing is, thankfully, there is quite a spectrum in each party, kind of eliminating the need of more parties, which isn't really always a great solution to getting different voices heard, especially not under the fptp system (look at how, say ukip got screwed, or the tories in the uk got hugely inflated control when a system has more than two parties in a voting system designed for 2). it takes a lot more than just adding more parties, and even then, third parties have never done more than take away from the votes of the two main parties in the usa. a lot would need to change before the system is even viable for third parties than merely having more people vote for them. the electoral college and fptp basically guarantees that, and every major attempt as changing that (dixiecrats, etc) have failed for that reason.

[Jtothewhat]

The Melania Trimp fiasco is beyond pure gold! I am laughing my ass off, out loud, literally.

It's hilarious, the only downside of it all is it has overshadowed the other blunders and outrageous statements made in the endorsement speeches at the convention.

[Faust]

Check out the New Yorker piece on the Art of the Deal ghost writer - excellent.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all

[deadboy]

Oh my, America... what are you doing?

[Faust]

I can't believe this shit.

[julian_doe]

I apologize on behalf of the state of Florida :(

[Shifts]

US role as world leader must for sure be over now. I am not keen on finding out what the alternative will be.

[Monoral]

WTH America....