US Politics Thread

[Kieran]

This is too cynical. There are reasons to lift people up. The Trump administration has tipped too far over into propping up mediocre talents just because they are NOT women or people of color. No to Black History Month, but celebrating St. Patrick's Day is fine. It's fairly obvious where they're going with all of this.

Wait a minute, you see there’s a difference between black history month and St Patrick’s Day, right?

 

[Moxie]

Wait a minute, you see there’s a difference between black history month and St Patrick’s Day, right?

Celebrating of heritages. Trump doesn't want it, unless it's white heritage, then it's OK. BTW, while we Irish and Italian people were looked way down on in our early immigrant years, we're perfectly white now.

 

[Kieran]

Celebrating of heritages. Trump doesn't want it, unless it's white heritage, then it's OK. BTW, while we Irish and Italian people were looked way down on in our early immigrant years, we're perfectly white now.

It’s not celebrating heritage. It’s a day where you can get drunk and listen to marching bands clanging down fifth Ave.

Black history month is a time where you get propagandised with the worst lies about race and slavery and how horrible old whitey is.

These are 2 very different “celebrations of heritage..”

 

[Moxie]

It’s not celebrating heritage. It’s a day where you can get drunk and listen to marching bands clanging down fifth Ave.

Black history month is a time where you get propagandised with the worst lies about race and slavery and how horrible old whitey is.

These are 2 very different “celebrations of heritage..”

You are incorrect on both fronts, but you don't live here, so how would you know anything but the broadest cliches that you either read second hand, or invent for yourself. Black History Month tends to focus on history. It tends to be about the accomplishments of black people, many lesser-known, and nothing to do with the context of white people, often, as it's not necessary to the story. Nobody's telling anybody about how horrible "old whitey" is, for the sake of this exercise.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated across the US. Yes, a lot of beer gets drunk, but it's a celebration of Irish heritage. I make the comparison between the two because the Trump administration instructed the military (this relates to my post above about the Marine Corps band) to cancel all "equity" related celebrations, even with talk of not celebrating Martin Luther King Day, which is actually a national holiday, and yet, the military/military academies were invited and even encouraged to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. See the inconsistency?

 

[Kieran]

You are incorrect on both fronts, but you don't live here, so how would you know anything but the broadest cliches that you either read second hand, or invent for yourself. Black History Month tends to focus on history. It tends to be about the accomplishments of black people, many lesser-known, and nothing to do with the context of white people, often, as it's not necessary to the story. Nobody's telling anybody about how horrible "old whitey" is, for the sake of this exercise.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated across the us. Yes, a lot of beer gets drunk, but it's a celebration of Irish heritage. I make the comparison between the two because the Trump administration instructed the military (this relates to my post above about the Marine Corps band) to cancel all "equity" related celebrations, even with talk of not celebrating Martin Luther King Day, which is actually a national holiday, and yet, the military/military acadamies were invited and even encouraged to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. See the inconsistency?

Paddy’s day is not a political day - Black Month History is political.

As for MLK Day, he’s wrong to cancel celebrations of this day. Martin Luther King gave Americans the now forgotten imperative of judging a person by the content of their character and not by the colour of their skin. Trump could actually use this as the slogan for his cancelling of the DIE Initiative…

 

[Moxie]

Paddy’s day is not a political day - Black Month History is political.

No, both are celebrations of heritage, as they are practiced here.

As for MLK Day, he’s wrong to cancel celebrations of this day. Martin Luther King gave Americans the now forgotten imperative of judging a person by the content of their character and not by the colour of their skin. Trump could actually use this as the slogan for his cancelling of the DIE Initiative…

The point isn't even how great MLK was. It's a national holiday, and he only brings up cancelling it because King was black. Wait until he remembers that Juneteenth is now a national holiday, too.

 

[Kieran]

No, both are celebrations of heritage, as they are practiced here.


The point isn't even how great MLK was. It's a national holiday, and he only brings up cancelling it because King was black. Wait until he remembers that Juneteenth is now a national holiday, too.

I’ve been in New York on paddy’s day. It's a piss up, like it is here, and everywhere else.

I don’t know why he’s attacking MLK Day but black history month? I can understand that. You have enough bad reasons to be divided over there without celebrating them…

 

[Moxie]

I’ve been in New York on paddy’s day. It's a piss up, like it is here, and everywhere else.

I don’t know why he’s attacking MLK Day but black history month? I can understand that. You have enough bad reasons to be divided over there without celebrating them…

St. Patrick's Day isn't only in NYC, but, yes, it's generally an excuse to drink beer. It is also a celebration and appreciation of Irish culture. Some Irish Americans take that pretty seriously.

Whether you like that comparison or not, you misjudge that cultural history month celebrations are divisive here. They're simply not. They're rather a lot more like wallpaper, and pretty easy to ignore. Schools and public TV, etc., do special segments, generally historically-centered. In the US, history lessons/books have tended to be very euro-centric, both historically and ethnically, so these "cultural awareness months" are meant to go some way to filling in some blanks. And, though the Republicans have recently taken the position that a lot of history is too dangerous to be taught, or offensive, I don't see how information is ever a bad thing. You're are simply wrong that it's posited as in contrast to the horrible white people. Anyway, most people can easily ignore these things. It's not like the grocery store celebrates Black History Month, or most TV does any of them. But they are a recognition of some peoples' being more over-looked, historically. There is pride in stories that reflect one's history. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Federberg]

How're you feeling about this now? Janet Yellen has called this a great "self-inflicted wound" on Trump's part. He took a perfectly good economy and tanked it. Even the bond market is shaky.

He has also completely reneged on his promised to provide pocketbook relief immediately. He's losing a lot of support from the general populace, who do not see where all of this is going, or how it is benefitting them.

The age of America is over. We don't know what replaces it, but it's OVER. Trump was elected TWICE. Once was a mistake, twice is a choice. Even if he fully retreats now, countries can't exist in a constant state of paranoia about what their so called ally will do. In the past when he battled China, it made some sense. The Chinese after all do not reciprocate on trade, they dump (e.g., solar panels, steel), they steal intellectual property etc. No one saw the Chinese as innocents. But this... this?? First you start off by going after your neighbours and largest trading partners, pretty much on the first day. So now when you fight with China, companies can't even plan to re-shore to Canada or Mexico. He can't just be dumb, he's malignantly stupid. Look.. I might loathe the guy but I don't always disagree with him. There was definite damage done to the American middle class by globalisation. The Republicans didn't care about it, and the Democrats were too busy sucking up to Wall Street to do anything about it. Now there are generations that look at buying a house as a fantasy that's utterly beyond their means. I don't disagree with Trump on that, the political elites allowed this, and Trump is riding the rage. He's smart enough to understand the problem but utterly incompetent to fix it. Meanwhile the elites on both sides are either too craven or too deluded to do anything about it. To be clear, the GOP is craven, and the Dems are deluded. This could get really bad. I think people around him are starting to understand the danger. When the bond market started selling off along with US stocks and the dollar, that was a five alarm fire. The market was basically saying there's nowhere safe to be in America. I wonder if gold, crypto (??) the euro and bunds will continue to be the risk free assets going forward.

Neither America or China can win this war. US financial assets are too linked to global trade, and China can always allow the renminbi to devalue. The longer term chart for USD/CNY is a thing of beauty for technical analysts. But... China has an extremely vulnerable economy. Demography is against it, and jobs and housing (where most wealth is stored) could take a monstrous hit if this trade war persists. It's mutually assured destruction. And the rest of us will suffer no matter what. All because an orange turd has had a bee in his bonnet about trade good balances without even a basic knowledge of economics. How about the services side of the ledger you absolute orange fuck tard??

PS, excuse the rant. As I said... Trump had a point. Something definitely needed to change. Maybe in a few decades we'll all agree this might have been the best way in the end. But jeez... it just feels so DUMB!

 

[Kieran]

St. Patrick's Day isn't only in NYC, but, yes, it's generally an excuse to drink beer. It is also a celebration and appreciation of Irish culture. Some Irish Americans take that pretty seriously.

Whether you like that comparison or not, you misjudge that cultural history month celebrations are divisive here. They're simply not. They're rather a lot more like wallpaper, and pretty easy to ignore. Schools and public TV, etc., do special segments, generally historically-centered. In the US, history lessons/books have tended to be very euro-centric, both historically and ethnically, so these "cultural awareness months" are meant to go some way to filling in some blanks. And, though the Republicans have recently taken the position that a lot of history is too dangerous to be taught, or offensive, I don't see how information is ever a bad thing. You're are simply wrong that it's posited as in contrast to the horrible white people. Anyway, most people can easily ignore these things. It's not like the grocery store celebrates Black History Month, or most TV does any of them. But they are a recognition of some peoples' being more over-looked, historically. There is pride in stories that reflect one's history. Nothing wrong with that.

In fairness, people committed to either side of the divide tend to think their excesses are not really harmful, they can be ignored. The left always downplayed the castration of young boys, the mutilation of young women. So convinced that they’re the good guys, the compassionate ones, therefore their excesses aren’t even excesses at all: they’re goodness that isn’t fully understood yet.

To teach black history better they might start to teach how black Africans sold black Africans to white people - white people who then were the ones to fight black people in order to stop them selling other black people into slavery.

In other words, the heroes of the tale of slavery are white Christian men.

But anyway, I don’t like black history month because it’s modish and lame. One of those senseless gesture-politics things that appeals to race hustlers and opportunistic politicians who think it makes them look virtuous. We even have this silly thing over here now - where only 1.4% of the population is black. Our national radio stations pander to it. Our Asian population must feel mortified. They make up about 3% of the population.

The rest of us roll our eyes and see it for what it is…