News Politics and Current events.

[welian]

[QUOTE="Bullet Tooth Tony]Found it funny that Ted Cruz won the Republican caucus.

[/QUOTE]
It's not too surprising. Iowa, and many other flyover states, have a large religious/evangelical population. A religious and conservative candidate appeals to that large population.

 

[Christopher Pyne MP]

It's not too surprising. Iowa, and many other flyover states, have a large religious/evangelical population. A religious and conservative candidate appeals to that large population.

Religious candidate IMO are total cancer. People like Cruz, and the BS they spew sicken me, particularly when they talk about small government. The Republicans (Cruz's lot, not the more libertarian parts) are a horrible lot of hypocrites when it comes to this. "Hey, we don't want the government to interfere in peoples lives, but now if you're a man who wants to stick it inside another man, and marry said man, fuck you, this is repugnant!"

 

[Pine]

[QUOTE="Under the Bridge]So no one is talking about Greece. Which is way more important than anything going on in America right now.
Also, there is Syria. And Pakistan. Don't forget North Africa. There's also big stuff happening in Armenia. Cyprus is cool. Plus: watch out for the coming credit crisis in China. If Greece doesn't get us, that will.

[/QUOTE]
See, I would really love to talk about world news, but... I really don't know what's going on. I'm speaking for myself here, but my experience with the news (which is me happening to sit in the same room when my dad watches it) is mostly local news, reporting "____ was killed _____ and ___ ___ and ____ feel sad about this death" which, sure, sucks for them but people die and are killed every day this isn't informative?? And anything extending beyond that is just about the presidential debates or sports. Then they have the obligatory intermission where one of the newscasters hold a cute dog. Granted, this is Fox that my dad watches, but I highly doubt CNN is any better.


For one of my classes, the very first thing we had to do was look up was what was going on in Oregon. I tried to look it up, Google and stuff, but all the articles that were coming up were just opinions on what's going on and like nothing that would actually tell me what's going on. Maybe I'm just illiterate when it comes to doing research (probably) but I didn't realize what was happening until I got to class and my professor explained everything that was going on.


Long story short, I'm frustrated by how virtually impossible it is to actually find some news that's relevant and some objective points of view where people actually allow me to form my own opinion on things and just like if you know what's going on in those countries please save my uninformed ass I would really like to know because I'm completely clueless.


As for the presidential race, there's literally no point in me voting, so I've just given up tbh.

 

[welian]

As for the presidential race, there's literally no point in me voting, so I've just given up tbh.

Don't give up, skeleton!!


There's more political efficacy in this country than people realize. Every moderate voter that stays silent out of apathy is giving their voice to someone louder and further from the center.


It may be too late now to have sway in a presidential election, but there's sheriffs and mayors to be voted in, delegates and representatives and senators, sometimes even school superintendents. So for everyone reading this...


PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION != ONLY ELECTION THAT MATTERS


DO YOUR FUCKING CIVIL DUTY.

 

[Pine]

Brohammad, I live in Texas. Texas is going to vote republican lol. Even if the popular votes somehow tips in favor of something else, there's always the magic of gerrymandering coupled with my buddy the electoral college. I would have the most faith in my vote counting if I joined some political group w/e they're called, but I care about a lot of other things more than I do politics and that would require too much effort. Not to mention I hate Trump (watching the republican debate was like watching Mean Girls), I'm really skeptical about Sanders's economic policy, and I know absolutely nothing about Clinton except that she's hella controversial somehow and supposedly inconsistent. Right now it would just be a matter of voting for who I hate least and paying even what little attention I've had to the election thus far has made me irritated by the limits of our bipartisanship. Maybe all debates are like the aforementioned ones, but politicians annoy the hell out of me because it's so painfully obvious that they can't answer a single question straight because they're dancing around the issue in an effort to appeal to me, the viewer. Like, I would argue that Trump, even as crude and """"""upfront""""" he is does this too.


I'll just rest easy knowing that voters come out the most during the presidential election, even if that is still only like, what was it, 23% of the American population?


STATE LEGISLATION on the other hand is sorely starved of voters in some areas and I would seriously advocate paying attention to those elections. Like there are people in some states that are guaranteed a spot in office because there is no one running in opposition of them and that shouldn't fucking happen. Like I seriously hope I've just gotten the wrong impression of them somewhere down the line because last time I checked, it seemed there were some ludicrously idiotic people in office.


But no one ever talks about those candidates, and it would be a lie if I said that I plan on digging up the information necessary to go out and vote myself. Maybe when I'm out of college some years down the road, but not now.


Then there's that paranoid side of me that has that underlying fear that I have no idea what I'm talking about and I'm just making an ass and an idiot out of myself but I digress.

 

[welian]

Yo, lots of people hate Hilary because (I've heard) she's all up in Wall Street's pockets and shit.


But I think out of ALL the candidates, she's got the most experience being Secretary of State and all.


I'm throwing my vote in with Bernie, I personally favor higher taxes for more public services (why is property tax a thing though, like, why. And why cant sale tax be included on the price tag, wtf is this shit) and I think his image will really shake up both parties into reevaluating their bullshit.


And, if I have to pick a Republican candidate, I'd go with Kasich.

 

[Christopher Pyne MP]

Then there's that paranoid side of me that has that underlying fear that I have no idea what I'm talking about and I'm just making an ass and an idiot out of myself but I digress.

Señor Pine Tree, we don't know what we're talking about half the time.


That being said, let's move onto the Zika virus. How about that eh?

 

[Angelsofblood]

The concept of religious candidates, foster the mental image of the Pope running for president. A figure having strong morals does not beget a person control (though quite a few Congressional candidates would choose the sect of religion over the desires of their districts).


The major problem with political figures is that what is seen through commercials/news reports/tweets/facebook messages/ and more, is but a quarter of the story. Each candidate has the opportunity to spin their message in so many different formats that its crazy.


Misconception easily runs rampant when a single misplaced word turns a candidate from a front runner into a drop-out.


There truly is no wrong candidate, because each one represents the desires and beliefs of a multitude of people. Words like Business owner, socialist, elitist, politician, and more, are but labels that try to describe people who are selling themselves to the American people.


Even if a person, American-voter, believes their vote to be pointless--then what gives them the right to be upset about the winner? Our country is supported by choice, and free-will.


We have the power and the choice to make the difference.


And, voting is but one of those rights.

 

[Pashpu]

I find it highly unlikely that one of the Republicans is going to win. It just doesn't seem to me feasible that when lined up against Clinton or Sanders they stand any chance with the majority of the country. Unless we have a very low voter turnout of young people, there's just no way fortunately.


I don't really know who I should vote for on the Democrat side though...both seem kind of meh. Hilary is just non-genuine and very punchable, while Sanders is suggesting higher taxes and the minimum wage increase he wants seems absurd.

 

[CoconutLeaves]

One election is coming up here in the Philippines. I love how chaotic it can be, five candidates of different parties actually get featured in the news. But wow, will I be annoyed if another "blackout" happens during the elections. The last one pissed me off (not only because vote scams could happen, but I didn't get to save my game when that happened).


As for the US elections, I like to support Jill Stein, she was my favorite in the last election and she still is. The green party seems to be one I most identify with.

 

[Pine]

Even if a person, American-voter, believes their vote to be pointless--then what gives them the right to be upset about the winner? Our country is supported by choice, and free-will.

I agree with most of what you said. For this part though, I would argue that no one needs a "right" of sorts in order to complain. When it comes to politics, complaining is a good thing, because it draws attention to what people are upset about and could potentially push whatever salient issue politicians are arguing about to what, perhaps, people care about more, IN THEORY. Now, I'm not talking so much about mindlessly complaining about how x candidate shouldn't have won, because that's annoying, but I feel there is a decent number of people that believe that all the candidates this year are their own brand of garbage, and if politicians want to actually draw from the pool of people who want to vote but have no one they want to support, then they should try to figure out what these people want. Right now everything seems to be very black and white with politicians: total gun control or no gun control. The design of America's democracy is meant to be a slow process of arguing each point to as to finally come to a compromise that will have a positive effect on the most citizens, though it may not technically be THE BEST solution for the MAJORITY (because it's easy to stomp on minorities). The problem is, from my understanding, congress and whoever else hasn't been getting to that point of compromise, so nothing has been happening unless some more extreme perspective manages to push its way through the system (like an executive order, perhaps). I know some people have started referring to the system as a failed experimentation in democracy, and while leagues better than that mess that was the Articles of Confederation, I feel like the electoral college is flawed, and as I mentioned before, gerrymandering is an actual thing that happens all the time, and no es bueno. Some reform would be nice imo, but how exactly? I'm not sure. And will this happen at any point in my life? Probably not. In the mean time, I do firmly belief that as far as this federal stuff goes, unless I were to organize with people past my own individual ballot (which I'm not interested enough to attempt), my vote is pointless.


Also, side note that I've heard almost every year the stock market starts to go down, the executive office switches parties.

I find it highly unlikely that one of the Republicans is going to win. It just doesn't seem to me feasible that when lined up against Clinton or Sanders they stand any chance with the majority of the country. Unless we have a very low voter turnout of young people, there's just no way fortunately.

If I remember correctly, and if the graph I just looked at has any weight to it at all, I believe that, historically, there is a low voter turnout with the younger generations. Also, I don't know of Clinton and Sanders are BOTH planning on running at the end, but if they do, that's bad news bears for them, because third parties almost never win, and whatever votes that third party pulls from the main party is going to weaken them. With Sanders's popularity, I think of them being divided as 30/20 by voters, while the republicans (unless there is some vigilante conservative running around somehow more extreme than Trump that I'm not aware of and pulling voters from him) are left with the other 50. The good news about this would be that reform would be likely to occur in the Democratic party for the next election based on the third party that stole so many of their votes. But again, I'm not sure if that's what they're planning on doing. I'm living under a rock here.

One election is coming up here in the Philippines. I love how chaotic it can be, five candidates of different parties actually get featured in the news. But wow, will I be annoyed if another "blackout" happens during the elections.

Ahh, I'm very curious about this. What's going on in the Philippines? What's all that about? haha

 

[Christopher Pyne MP]

So, any news?

 

[Lorsh]

canada is now commie dictatorship


rip

 

[Christopher Pyne MP]

canada is now commie dictatorship

Not sure if shitpost or otherwise.

 

[Lorsh]

I still don't like Trudeau.


It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that my pappy is a talkative conservative, and my mom is a liberal that never says anything.

 

[Christopher Pyne MP]

I still don't like Trudeau.

Fair enough. I think its a little hard to say that Canada's been won by the commies, I personally feel that conservatives are a little too fast to assume that things the Left does are acts of communism. It's the same with liberals and jumping to the assertion that everything the Right does is are acts of fascism.


That being said, this week I was ashamed to be an Australian. For the last few years, the right wing Liberal Party (an oxymoron of epic proportions) has been combatting the "Boat People" problem. Boat People is a term for illegal immigrants arriving by sea, Australia receives a lot of immigrants through illegal fishing boats that attempt to land on our shores. Anyways, in the last term of government, the Labor Party, Australia's left wing party, sped up the processing of these people, and allowed them to be processed on our mainland. However, after a few boat sinkings, the Labor Party was Our previous Prime Minister, Tony "The Onion Eater" Abbott, another Liberal, instituted the policy of detaining these Boat People on small Pacific territories, Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Now this would be alright normally, had a few things not happened.


1. The government classified all news from detention centers and their goings on as "On Water Matters", a synonym for Top Secret.


2. The government instituted laws to jail pediatricians and other workers on the islands from speaking out against conditions and the treatment of the asylum seekers.


3. Didn't use Australian government personnel, rather using private security contractors, and health providers.


4. Did this at the same time Angela Merkel was advocating for western countries to help asylum seekers.


5. Didn't try and cover up sexual abuse and violence.


6. Shoot the messenger of a report that criticized them.


Anyways, last week really hit me in the feels, because the ABC, or Australian Broadcasting Corporation had a report about children who were trapped in detention camps in the Pacific Islands, in little more than tents. These children in particularly had come to Australia from Nauru, for various medical or mental health reasons, and risked being sent back. Now, one of the pieces cornerstones was the allegation that as Five year old had been raped on the island. Now that's been clarified that the child was older,which in itself is pretty bad since that was sensationalist, but what disgusts me is the next part.


The government comes to a senate estimates hearing, and one of the heads of the immigration department said something along the lines of "That was a sensationalist headline, and shows the ABC's Bias!", and not in fact acknowledging that someone raped a fucking child.

 

[CoconutLeaves]

Ahh, I'm very curious about this. What's going on in the Philippines? What's all that about? haha

A background: With the coming elections this year, the number of people who applied for candidacy were plenty. Over one hundred people applied and some of them were quite colorful namely:


A Man who claims to be an ambassador for the Galactic Union (He suggests we build Gundams to defend against China).


A man by the name of Archangel Lucifer


A man who wants to remove our dry and rainy season and implement instead the four seasons of winter, spring, summer, and fall (Good ideas on ship building though).


A lady who looks like she came out of a production of Annie.


However, almost all of them were disqualified as nuisance candidates. Currently we have the following contenders for the position of President. Platforms mean crap here by the way, no one votes on platform since people jump to different ones to join the "winning platform". But anyway, here are the five candidates:


Grace Poe - Youngest of the candidates. She is the adopted daughter of a late famous action star (who also ran for president but failed). Her lack of experience is seen as a good thing ,she doesn't have any shady dealings, and a bad thing ,she is seen as a trapo (traditional politician, also means rag). However, due to her being in the United States for a big portion of her life, she has gotten into trouble with the Supreme Court. Her candidacy is pending and the news about her has been finding blood relatives to secure herself as a candidate. Unfortunately, she's been trying to gain support by basically reminding everyone her father is an action star and she's his father.


Mar Roxas - Runs under the Liberal Party (current leading party). Technocratic, Elite, and comes from a political family. He has the support of the Middle class youth in the country due to his views on the role of technology in life. However, he is also seen as a trapo. His recent actions had been cringe-inducing at best (pandering to the masa in the worst way, trying to be hip) but he seems to have changed course and is slowly gaining strength.


Jejomar Binay - Mayor of Makati. A man who has been through the Marcos and Aquino administration. Generally disliked by everyone since he was involved in charges of corruption regarding the construction of the city office that amounted to two billion pesos. He has supporters since he claims that he was the one to turn Makati into what it is now, but he is still generally disliked since he is seen as a trapo and a member of the political dynasties.


Rodrigo Duterte - Mayor of Davao. Favorite of the Visayan and Mindanao people. He is seen as the machismo figure who will get rid of the corruption and crime. Due to his lifestyle and tough talking attitude he is often seen as the one who will instill discipline into our country and make us great once more (based on what he did to Davao city). He is also seen as the answer to the Overseas Filipino Workers who want to return home and find good work. The problem is that he has a history of allowing Vigilantism, one he continues to claim proudly. This makes other people wary as they see him as the next dictator of the country. But his story to his reluctant application for candidacy has made his supporters grow.


Miriam Defensor Santiago - UN court judge. Due to her bluntness, feisty attitude, and courage; she has been seen as another answer for our country in regards to the situation. Her position in the UN tribunal and the SC has made her a favorite amongst those with respect to the law. However, she currently has HBP and Stage 4 cancer which worries the hell out of everyone. If something were to happen, then her VP would take over, who happens to be the son of Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator.


VP's btw are different, while they run with a president, we vote for them as well.


Philippine elections are a problem however when it comes to voting. Rampant vote-buying (one family in Mindanao hired a helicopter to drop hundred peso bills on the town), corruption, and threats not to vote/ vote for the right person are all too common. From Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (local elections to teenage political positions) to the presidential elections, these all happen. Brownouts (Blackouts for the others) are common in the country. But when it happens on election days, it makes people suspicious as there are those who can tamper with the machines (we do not have polling boots) and ruin the entire process. Thus, there's a lot of pressure on Smartmatic (the current company supplying the voting machines) to perfect the system.

 

[Bunny]

F E E L T H E B E R N

 

[Xen Chaotik]

One of the scheduled democratic debates is happening right now and is being streamed by PBS/CNN on YouTube if any of you are interested.

 

[Christopher Pyne MP]

The Oregan militia disarmed today. Opinions?

 

[Pine]

@CoconutLeaves !! That's all really interesting. I'll have to come up with a proper reply later.


@General Meow ty for the head's up friend. ovo ! I wouldn't have known otherwise, haha.


@Christopher Pyne MP


That was inevitable tbh. The militia was hilariously like those guys that try to butt into a conversation and make a big deal about it but ur talking about two different things. That whole incident was actually how one of my classes opened up to introduce the topic of how hard it is to really define what property is. An interesting point was brought up in class about HOW the government reacted to the situation, knowing them to be all white (and probably Christian too but idr if that detail was ever confirmed), but had they been, say, Muslim...

 

[Lorsh]

An interesting point was brought up in class about HOW the government reacted to the situation, knowing them to be all white (and probably Christian too but idr if that detail was ever confirmed), but had they been, say, Muslim...

So, what? Would you have preferred for the FBI to have killed more people?


We'll never know how the government would have reacted if they were Muslims, because it would have most likely been an entirely different situation. Like it or not, Islamic terrorists would never use the same tactics as those Bundy militiamen.

 

[Christopher Pyne MP]

That was inevitable tbh. The militia was hilariously like those guys that try to butt into a conversation and make a big deal about it but ur talking about two different things. That whole incident was actually how one of my classes opened up to introduce the topic of how hard it is to really define what property is. An interesting point was brought up in class about HOW the government reacted to the situation, knowing them to be all white (and probably Christian too but idr if that detail was ever confirmed), but had they been, say, Muslim...

I love that Cliven Bundy was arrested with these mofos. They really netted the whole Bundy clan

 

[Pine]

So, what? Would you have preferred for the FBI to have killed more people?
We'll never know how the government would have reacted if they were Muslims, because it would have most likely been an entirely different situation. Like it or not, Islamic terrorists would never use the same tactics as those Bundy militiamen.

No, I was not suggesting how things should have been handled, especially since I have no opinion on that, myself. I was saying how the perception of the action itself can differ, i.e., some people gone off their rocket versus classifying it as an act of terror. I was bringing that up because, to me, raising that question really alerted me to societal biases. Do we know how it would have been handled for a fact? No, of course not, but things can always be speculated on.

[QUOTE="Christopher Pyne MP]I love that Cliven Bundy was arrested with these mofos. They really netted the whole Bundy clan

[/QUOTE]
But hey! He has a Wikipedia page now. Not everyone has a Wikipedia page. I know I don't.

 

[Christopher Pyne MP]

But hey! He has a Wikipedia page now. Not everyone has a Wikipedia page. I know I don't.

That's true. But Hitler has a wikipedia page, hell, so does Ted Bundy and Joseph Stalin.


Pine Table, can I ask you, since I assume you're American, what the hell is with American people being scared of their government and worshipping the constitution like its the Torah? Cos I watch a coupla these crazies online and they always cite their love of freedom, the constitution and all that while at the same time advocating for Muslims to be registered like Jew's in the Thirties.