All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Gray Lensman]

The T is silent but pronounced like an f?

That too.

[godisawesome]

This does make me wonder what the RNC might do, hypothetically, if Trump drops out of the race or for some other reason isn't available. It's not like they allowed any other possible candidates to primary him.

I think if that hypothetically happened, they’d likely still have to deal with the baggage of Trumpism because of how much boot-licking you have to do to keep him from attacking you. They’d also have to be someone who received his “blessing,” as he’d still be the leader of his base (to shake that up, he needs to lose badly and then get attacked repeatedly afterwards for his failures.)

Covid-19 being politicized by Trump kind fo makes it an albatross around the GOP’s neck for this cycle - the need to change public perspective of their efforts around it to avoid fallout from it, as they can’t truly disown their early state openings, attacks on Fauci, and the war on masks.

[Mister Mets]

Unlike you, I bet, I actually visited communist Eastern Germany and the Soviet Union as a student back in the late 80s.

You would not have liked it.

The tapwater in our hotel in Leningrad was rusty brown. The air quality was so bad I had black stuff coming out of my nose when I blew it every evening. Black market guys were offering me a lot of rubles for the Levi's jeans I was wearing... still not sure how that would have worked, getting back to my hotel in briefs? The tea, the bread and the candy was decent. All the other food was horrible: One night, one girl from our class started sleepwalking and when her friends stopped her she said: "I wasn't going to eat anything, I was just going to have a look at it" because she was traumatized by dinner.

Alcoholism was a huge problem in both the Soviet Union and Eastern Germany, affecting life expectancy.

And the DDR was a nation of spies. I suggest you watch the movie "The Lives of Others." We had relatives in the East, and I actually own a Stasi file that mentions me when I was 4 years old because they had opened the birthday gift my aunt had sent me and typed out the content of the letter word by word and made an assessment on whether that was a suspicious delivery.

Yes, capitalism has huge problems. But even as somebody who grew up somewhat underprivileged I have to say that most instances of late 20th century and early 21st century capitalism beat the hell out of any communist state, ever. And I think our German system, "soziale Marktwirtschaft" which you also have in many EU countries, combines the best parts of both systems and allows for the most dignified lives of the citizens.

My family is from Estonia. Relatives there would agree with you that it was not better under the Soviet Union.

[Tami]

Opening day at Trader Joe’s in North Hollywood, Ca. Karen is mad she was mask shamed...

My friend john also saw this happening. She did it on purpose to cause a scene. Waited for an hour outside with a mask on so she could go inside and wait to get kicked out. She was walking around, put nothing in her basket, waiting for her 15 minutes.

My friend’s account

[godisawesome]

Any communism vs capitalism debate is going to be a bit uneven because of the fact that capitalism is a broad and often compromised economic theory, while communism is practically speaking more of a governmental theory with flexible attachments to economic theory because of how many proponents of it became “Marxist-in-name-only” oligarchies.

Socialism, as much as it’s still a swear word to the right wing, is still much more akin to something like Marxism in economic theory... but there’s a tricky element to it because no country is truly capitalistic or socialist - even the most ardent capitalist has ended up preferring a government capable of defying supply and demand in *certain* scenarios, while most socialist countries still seek to use some “leashed” capitalism for practicality’s sake.

Admittedly, a big, huge part of the problem is the stain on the word “Communism” caused by the USSR and the current Chinese regime - they tied the rhetoric and ostensible goals of Marxism to the despotism and totalitarianism of Stalin, Mao, and the mega-corporations of present day.

That’s why “Socialist” is still the smarter word to use for the left today - it remains more of a vague economic word that doesn’t immediately conjure up the ideas of strongmen or economic manipulation.

Capitalism isn’t sanctified at all, mind you; it’s simply by nature portrayed more as a pragmatic reality that democracies, republics, despots, and everyone else tries to master for their own ends.

[Tami]

Workers removed thousands of social distancing stickers before Trump’s Tulsa rally, according to video and a person familiar with the set-up

In the hours before President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, his campaign directed the removal of thousands of “Do Not Sit Here, Please!” stickers from seats in the arena that were intended to establish social distance between rallygoers, according to video and photos obtained by The Washington Post and a person familiar with the event.

The removal contradicted instructions from the management of the BOK Center, the 19,000-seat arena in downtown Tulsa where Trump held his rally on June 20. At the time, coronavirus cases were rising sharply in Tulsa County, and Trump faced intense criticism for convening a large crowd for an indoor political rally, his first such event since the start of the pandemic.

As part of its safety plan, arena management had purchased 12,000 do-not-sit stickers for Trump’s rally, intended to keep people apart by leaving open seats between attendees. On the day of the rally, event staff had already affixed them on nearly every other seat in the arena when Trump’s campaign told event management to stop and then began removing the stickers, hours before the president’s arrival, according to a person familiar with the event who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

[Kirby101]

I actually started this with saying it was Communism vs Democratic Socialism. Which is capitalistic economically, but not a purely capitalistic system. Because Rosa seemed to think that Liberal Democrats, who embrace the European model of DS, are just as bad as fascist Republicans.

[Mister Mets]

Beginning to think Trump won't make it to November. Worried the GOP might nominate someone more electable.

60 Minutes investigation reveals Trump knowingly allowed flawed COVID19 antibody tests to circulate, leading to inaccurate data about virus spread, creating data to support re-openings, and potentially causing thousands more preventable deaths.


Treason and murder, in one day.

It's probably wishful thinking on their parts, but Scarborough and Bill Kristol made some comments about how Trump might be on the way out.

https://twitter.com/BillKristol/stat...91763780706305

Trump has cancelled his trip to his New Jersey country club this weekend, so will presumably be at the White House. If memory serves, President Johnson made his surprise announcement that he wouldn't seek renomination or reelection in 1968 on a Sunday night, from the White House.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donal...ushpmg00000004

Scarborough then suggested Trump would rather leave the presidency and be remembered for scoring one of the biggest political upsets of all time than an incumbent who suffered an especially humiliating loss.

However, he took great pains to remind viewers that it was just a theory and wasn’t based on any insider knowledge.

“He’s known when to leave the stage before — again, I’m the only one saying this — I would not be surprised if he left the stage again,” Scarborough said, reiterating, “And again, I’m the only person saying it. Don’t think it’ll happen, but it’s a possibility.”

This does make me wonder what the RNC might do, hypothetically, if Trump drops out of the race or for some other reason isn't available. It's not like they allowed any other possible candidates to primary him.

The RNC members would make some decision behind closed doors.

One curious factor is the selection process for delegates, which would go to people selected by the Trump campaign, since he won all but one delegate. So there might be some infighting among the activists.

The likeliest nominee would be Pence, as the sitting Vice President and a guy with friends all over the party (loyal ally to the Trump administration, former evangelical radio host, former member of House leadership, former Governor.)

Who the hell could they nominate that would be more popular? They attached themselves to Trump at the hip

Pretty much anyone would be better.

[Kirby101]

I

Pretty much anyone would be better.

We know that, but the entire GOP has decided no one is better. The GOP is now the Party of Trumpism.

Though if he loses I am sure all the Congressman and Senators who do nothing but kiss his ass and lick his boots will start saying Trump who?

[MiddleMan]

About 79 percent reporting in Kentucky, looks like Charles Booker has a slight lead over Amy McGrath

[Kirby101]

Remember when Sansa Stark told Little Finger he was either evil or stupid. This applies to Trump saying he was never told about it by the Intelligence agencies.

[Jack Dracula]

We know that, but the entire GOP has decided no one is better. The GOP is now the Party of Trumpism.

Though if he loses I am sure all the Congressman and Senators who do nothing but kiss his ass and lick his boots will start saying Trump who?

If Trump does lose he'll try to maintain a semblance of power by assuming the role of GOP kingmaker, dolling out yea's and nay's via twitter depending on which Republican pleases him. Doping so will enable him to curry favor internationally to further the family business interests. We'll not be free of him until poor health forces his withdrawl.

[PwrdOn]

I actually started this with saying it was Communism vs Democratic Socialism. Which is capitalistic economically, but not a purely capitalistic system. Because Rosa seemed to think that Liberal Democrats, who embrace the European model of DS, are just as bad as fascist Republicans.

Democratic socialism is a fine concept, it is certainly far better than the insane economic system we have in the US and whatever steps we take toward a more equitable distribution of income would certainly be welcome. However, there is no evidence that democratic socialism has ever actually worked in any country that wasn't already pretty well developed, and plenty of evidence that these countries mostly just leech off of global economic system by rewarding their own workers with generous benefits while offloading most of the actual work to people in impoverished countries who aren't able to access any of these benefits and are usually turned away if they attempt to immigrate. If you look at the history of European welfare states, they were largely built up in the aftermath of the war, in a bid to retain Europe's economic relevance even as their colonial empires were crumbling. Effectively, they realized that they couldn't just loot and plunder their way to prosperity anymore and that they had to reorganize their societies to make the best use of what they had, which admittedly some have done quite well with. The reason that America hasn't made this transition is because our geopolitical influence still spans the globe and we are able to use our military power to simply take whatever we need, so why bother devising some kind of sustainable economic plan?

[Kirby101]

Except post war manufacturing was not off loaded to impoverished countries. Globalization that we have today came decades later. Europe was in ruins and Democratic socialism worked much better than Communism. Even China decided to stop having a communist economy and moved to capitalism to advance. Can't really see any evidence that Communism works when practiced.

[Gray Lensman]

Except post war manufacturing was not off loaded to impoverished countries. Globalization that we have today came decades later. Europe was in ruins and Democratic socialism worked much better than Communism. Even China decided to stop having a communist economy and moved to capitalism to advance. Can't really see any evidence that Communism works when practiced.

Pretty much this.

Communism is an abject failure that needs to be consigned to the ash heap of history.

Socialism does NOT equal communism.

Capitalism has numerous flaws - and so called laissez fare capitalism (I call it laissez faux personally) is also an abject failure that needs to be consigned to the same ash heap of history as communism. The evolution of capitalism into social democracy seems to have done a great deal to address the numerous flaws of capitalism (but not all of them) while keeping the parts that work. However, in the US that evolution will take quite some time.

Social Democracy vs Planned Economy seems to be the economic fight of the future.

And, as always, any system will be wrecked by rampant corruption.