US Politics 2

We're having a barbecue, would you like to come along?
I'd love to! Do you mind if I bring my racist friends?
I'd rather you didn't, it's not that sort of an evening. We're having mini kievs, do you like them?
I love them! But ivanka is vegetarian.
That's not a problem, she can have fish.
No she won't have that either.
OH FORGET IT!

Victor Mildew wrote:We're having a barbecue, would you like to come along?
I'd love to! Do you mind if I bring my racist friends?
I'd rather you didn't, it's not that sort of an evening. We're having mini kievs, do you like them?
I love them! But ivanka is vegetarian.
That's not a problem, she can have fish.
No she won't have thst either.
OH FORGET IT!

Another clanger from Trump Biden:

twitter.com/maliekblade/status/1263802788196352001

I mean, if you're black and support Trump now, knowing his overt racism for what it is, then you're definitely not inclined to voting in the interests of yourself or your family.

But yeah, what a cringe way to say it.

Trump's routing number revealed as press secretary announces he's donating quarterly salary to HHS: report

The New York Times noted Friday night that as McEnany displayed the president's check to HHS at the briefing, she appeared to hold up the real thing and revealed Trump's private Capital One bank account and routing numbers.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... s-response

It reads way worse as a standalone, out of context quote, than it actually sounds in the context of the conversation.

It was a stupid thing to say and he's already apologised. He was actually having a good few days with some strong poll results in individual battleground states and the woman who accused him of sexual assault being accused of repeated perjury for lying about completing college.

twitter.com/afp/status/1264953226002149377

Fake news, I never took that drug and anyone that quoted me saying I did must work for failing CNN or the crooked New York Times. I only ever take that in my gin & tonics, which is never because I have never had a drink in my life, not even a drop of champagne which is ironic because I live a champagne lifestyle as you all know.

twitter.com/cbsthismorning/status/1265252234318753793

Jesus Christ. Black man suffocated to death with a knee on his neck while he lay on the ground in handcuffs.

just watched the video of this and had to stop because it was so distressing. what a shit-hole of a country where things like this are allowed.

<]:^D wrote:just watched the video of this and had to stop because it was so distressing. what a shit-hole of a country where things like this are allowed.

Well, they are ‘not allowed’ and the Mayor has called in the FBI to prosecute the officers involved. Sadly, it means this man dies for no reason. Inhuman disregard for life.

what i mean is that black men (predominantly) die in police custody constantly and the US government wants nothing to do with actually addressing the situation

<]:^D wrote:what i mean is that black men (predominantly) die in police custody constantly and the US government wants nothing to do with actually addressing the situation

Agreed. The sickening thing is, I bet if the Mayor was republican, he’d probably back the police.

It doesn't help that the amount of force US police are allowed to use is pretty much unlimited. If you struggle or give any resistance at all even if a stop is completely illegal the police can and will use overwhelming force and then claim self defense.
The bar for when those police feel it's fine to point guns at people is extremely low and there are plenty of videos of police opening fire on people in cars who've simply moved to get the license they've been ordered to produce and then those police just say that the person was reaching for a weapon.

It's no wonder so many people have such a low opinion of the police when they treat everyone like a possible terrorist and even just taking photo's of buildings will see you being questioned and threatened with arrest which is why there's a bunch of people who go about doing just that and filming the resulting interactions with the police. They're called 2nd amendment auditors and for some reason most US police seem to have this idea that terrorists are everywhere and plan attacks wearing high vis vests, using strawberry floating massive cameras and who deliberately stay and chat to the police.

I read this this morning. It feels relevant to the discussion:

https://medium.com/@umairh/how-the-amer ... 56fde925b7

That’s an interesting read and the fellow offers up a lot of good points, cheers for posting it. Perhaps it’s just my bias but I don’t think I completely agree that America *is* a failed state - it can still be salvaged, but it will be exceptionally difficult and it will require a mass awakening, for want of a better word, from a large swathe of American society as to the need for socialised healthcare, massive government reform and - for strawberry float’s sake - heavy regulation of weapons.

It would not surprise me at all if we don’t see a final, formal break between North and South in our lifetimes for that to happen.

Corazon de Leon wrote:That’s an interesting read and the fellow offers up a lot of good points, cheers for posting it. Perhaps it’s just my bias but I don’t think I completely agree that America *is* a failed state - it can still be salvaged, but it will be exceptionally difficult and it will require a mass awakening, for want of a better word, from a large swathe of American society as to the need for socialised healthcare, massive government reform and - for strawberry float’s sake - heavy regulation of weapons.

It would not surprise me at all if we don’t see a final, formal break between North and South in our lifetimes for that to happen.

When a nation elects Donald Trump as it's leader, it's hard to argue that it's not already a failed state.

Corazon de Leon wrote:That’s an interesting read and the fellow offers up a lot of good points, cheers for posting it. Perhaps it’s just my bias but I don’t think I completely agree that America *is* a failed state - it can still be salvaged, but it will be exceptionally difficult and it will require a mass awakening, for want of a better word, from a large swathe of American society as to the need for socialised healthcare, massive government reform and - for strawberry float’s sake - heavy regulation of weapons.

It would not surprise me at all if we don’t see a final, formal break between North and South in our lifetimes for that to happen.

Isn't this effectively a revolution then? Revolutions don't tend to happen in states that haven't failed, surely?

The state of those states