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#61

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis, Democrats?

Last post by Iormlund - Today at 03:16:50 PM

That means RBG would have needed significant foresight to think that the situation would deteriorate so badly that her dying 5 years in the future would help lead to this crisis in 10 years.

You don't need foresight to acknowledge that elections are sometimes won and sometimes lost.

She gambled. And you all lost.

Again, people who make this claim are forgetting that the Senate was preventing all judicial appointments.  There was no gambling here.  There was reality.

When Kagan was confirmed RBG was almost 80, and a twice cancer-survivor.

#62

Off the Record / Re: Elon Musk: Always A Douche

Last post by Jacob - Today at 03:15:22 PM

... so we'll be okay? We're not vulnerable to AWS being "turned off" as a part of a hypothetical economic attack by the US?

#63

Off the Record / Re: Grand unified books thread

Last post by Jacob - Today at 03:14:16 PM

I just read Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole by Isabel J. Kim. It assumes familiarity with The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin.

The opening few paragraphs:

So they broke into the hole in the ground, and they killed the kid, and all the lights went out in Omelas: click, click, click. And the pipes burst and there was a sewage leak and the newscasters said there was a typhoon on the way, so they (a different "they," these were the "they" in charge, the "they" who lived in the nice houses in Omelas [okay, every house in Omelas was a nice house, but these were Nice Houses]) got another kid and put it in the hole.

And the newscasters said the hurricane had dissipated into a tropical storm, and the pipes were repaired, and the well-paid janitors cleaned up the sewage leak while wearing proper PPE, and the kid in the hole cried and cried and cried. Or they (the general "they," the "they" that meant you and me and the janitors and the newscasters) assumed that the kid was crying, because the hole was soundproofed so nobody could hear the kid, which didn't stop them from knowing about the kid, but it sort of helped.

The rest of the story is her (and an audio version as well, apparently): https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kim_02_24/

#64

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 03:04:47 PM

And if you play footsie with them you get fascism.  Not worth it in my view.

Then you get continued Liberal / Labour governments.  :shrug:

I put it down to "don't make perfect the enemy of the good".  But it's a free country and you're free to see things differently.

The whole point of playing "footsy" is that you don't fully adopt someone's platform - you just give them enough for them to give them your vote.  If you completely ignore a crowd like that you risk the Euro option where suddenly a party like AfD or FPO runs the risk of winning outright.

I will say there's a similar dynamic on the left - of not wanting to really denounce the Palestinian anti-semite crowd, or the tankie crowd, or what have you.  Part of keeping a "big tent" is extending it to those you're not 100% in agreement with.

Wait, are you making the argument that a bit of fascism is ok so long as Liberals are not in power?!????

#65

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis, Democrats?

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 03:03:56 PM

That means RBG would have needed significant foresight to think that the situation would deteriorate so badly that her dying 5 years in the future would help lead to this crisis in 10 years.

You don't need foresight to acknowledge that elections are sometimes won and sometimes lost.

She gambled. And you all lost.

Again, people who make this claim are forgetting that the Senate was preventing all judicial appointments.  There was no gambling here.  There was reality.

#66

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 03:02:57 PM

And if you play footsie with them you get fascism.  Not worth it in my view.

Then you get continued Liberal / Labour governments.  :shrug:

I put it down to "don't make perfect the enemy of the good".  But it's a free country and you're free to see things differently.

The whole point of playing "footsy" is that you don't fully adopt someone's platform - you just give them enough for them to give them your vote.  If you completely ignore a crowd like that you risk the Euro option where suddenly a party like AfD or FPO runs the risk of winning outright.

I will say there's a similar dynamic on the left - of not wanting to really denounce the Palestinian anti-semite crowd, or the tankie crowd, or what have you.  Part of keeping a "big tent" is extending it to those you're not 100% in agreement with.

#67

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 03:01:33 PM

Garbon, you went to university and so as one of the lucky few you would have avoided the draft.

I'm not sure why we'd assume I would have just as easily gone to university had I been alive back then. It isn't even clear to me that my parents would have been together had everything pushed back into the past given shit they got as an interracial couple in the 70s was already not great.

Racism, sexism, and homophobia are rampant today.

No way!

The benefit the 70s had is there was more economic equality, and certainly more economic mobility.

So two thoughts, 1) I wasn't saying that the 70 were uniquely bad but that I'm glad not to be living then, 2) if we are speaking about me personally, neither of those have been particular issues for me in my life. I've been lucky.

You assumed a world in which you did not have your current privileges to make the point that you could have been drafted, then you assume you do have your current privileges to make the point that the economic mobility of the 70s would not have mattered to you, because you would have made it anyway. There is some inconsistency occuring.

I too have been very lucky. I did not benefit from the social mobility of the 70s because I was too young.  But in the 80s I was still able to make it out of poverty, really only due to a bunch of luck, and being 6'7'' with an ability to play with a round ball.  Even though things have worked out quite well for me individually, I can still appreciate the fact that the 70s were much better economically for the vast majority of the population than afterward.

#68

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis, Democrats?

Last post by Iormlund - Today at 02:58:49 PM

That means RBG would have needed significant foresight to think that the situation would deteriorate so badly that her dying 5 years in the future would help lead to this crisis in 10 years.

You don't need foresight to acknowledge that elections are sometimes won and sometimes lost.

She gambled. And you all lost.

#69

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 02:56:17 PM

And if you play footsie with them you get fascism.  Not worth it in my view.

[Make England great again (MEGA) looks nice but leaves Great Britain and the United Kingdom in the cold]

#70

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 02:55:08 PM

Interesting how the Tories are quietly creeping towards to a full on MAGA platform for the UK.

Because they are afraid of...erm...Make Britain Great Again? Elon Musk and the US MAGA people have enormous resources and control of a vast propaganda media apparatus. They are working very hard to spread their ideas to the UK and there is an audience there for it. The Tories I guess want to ride that tiger.

Make Britain great again? 
Make Great Britain great again does not sound good.
For the acronym, Make England great again (MEGA) looks nice but leaves Great Britain and the United Kingdom in the cold.   

That would certainly grate. 

Great pun! Probably grating to the ears of the anti-pun brigade. 

I've suggested something similar in the Canadian politics thread.

There is a segment of Canadian voters that is attracted to Trump.  They like MAGA.  I think the same is in the UK - due to social media we're much more internationalized in our politics than ever before.

That MAGA-adjacent vote is not close to enough to be a majority - but losing it is enough to cost you a majority.

So Poilievre / Badenoch have to play a certain footsy with it.

It's easy for those on the left to say "well just ignore them!".  But then those votes just go to the PPC / Reform UK.