Octopus Overlords

Daehawk wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 1:00 pm Does it feel to anyone else that both parties have become so polarizing and set in their own agendas that our only two choices now are Communists and Nazis? I wonder what it would be like to have zero parties at all.

Daehawk wrote:Im not posting this to offend anyone. Please know this is not a personal attack upon you and your choices. Its just the feeling I get from the current political parties in DC. Im not happy with either side trust me.

Does it feel to anyone else that both parties have become so polarizing and set in their own agendas that our only two choices now are Communists and Nazis? I wonder what it would be like to have zero parties at all.

noxiousdog wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:57 pm I'm aware of no communist movements.

stessier wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:12 pm

noxiousdog wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:57 pm I'm aware of no communist movements.

Oh, it was established in 1919 and still exists - Communist Party USA

noxiousdog wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:18 pm

stessier wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:12 pm

noxiousdog wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:57 pm I'm aware of no communist movements.

Oh, it was established in 1919 and still exists - Communist Party USA

Unless you're claiming that communist marches are being hidden by the media, I think we have a ways to go before we can consider it a movement.

The desire to matter and feel significant among Donald Trump supporters is associated with support for hostile and vindictive actions against the president’s political rivals, according to new research published in the journal Political Psychology. In a series of studies conducted immediately before and after the 2016 election in the United States, the researchers examined how the quest for personal significance was related to confrontational intergroup behaviors.

“Our team studies what motivates people to support and engage in radical political actions. In the past we focused on actions — both peaceful and violent — that were aimed against the political system such as protesting, donating money for a cause, or using politically motivated violence,” explained study author Katarzyna Jaśko, an associate professor at Jagiellonian University in Poland.

“In this study we wanted to look at both sides and to explore the motivations of not only those who protest against the government but also those who support it. Our thinking was that just like some citizens contest the system and engage in aggressive actions directed against it, the government can use its power in benevolent or hostile ways and it’s important to understand whether its supporters accept it, and if so why?”

The Hungarian parliament will vote Monday on whether to allow Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to rule by decree because of the coronavirus

El Guapo wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:00 am I'm in total suspense over how that vote will go.

malchior wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:17 am

El Guapo wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:00 am I'm in total suspense over how that vote will go.

It just passed. Imagine that. And surprisingly the EU appears to just be shrugging. Oh well.

malchior wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 9:31 am The EU is going to have a rough road ahead. Put aside #Brexit and you have all kinds of internal fault lines. There are few ways to solve these issues but appeal to common values to move forward. Now they have nations with completely different values smack dab in the middle of the entity.

Now here is what changed in the historic $2 trillion stimulus bill. Previously, if a married couple had depreciation deductions that exceeded their real estate business income, the couple could claim that "loss" to write off taxes on a maximum of $500,000 in income from other sources, like wages from a day job.
Under the change, our rich taxpayer couple -- and this applies only for individuals, not corporations -- can now deduct an unlimited amount of "excess losses" in real estate against income from other sources. So now real estate moguls with lucrative day jobs or bountiful capital gains from other investments can go back to living tax-free, the Kushner way, before limits were put in place as part of the 2017 tax reform bill.
It gets worse, if that's possible. The change applies to this year -- and retroactively to 2019 and 2018. This means rich people can file amended returns now, and get refunds of perhaps millions of dollars, sooner than we can produce the number of ventilators we might need for the coronavirus crisis.

In a conversation over the weekend that reportedly left the President “shaken,” Dr. Anthony Fauci warned Donald Trump that if everyone in the United States dies, it would adversely affect his television ratings.

Although Fauci was quick to add that the everyone-dying scenario was purely hypothetical, he stressed that, from a medical perspective, alive people were more likely than dead ones to watch television.

malchior wrote: Mon Mar 30, 2020 7:22 am In Hungary news, it looks like the crisis has given Orban his opportunity to close the circle and become dictator.

https://mobile.twitter.com/cnni/status/ ... 6040257538

The Hungarian parliament will vote Monday on whether to allow Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to rule by decree because of the coronavirus

malchior wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:49 am If you want to dive deep into it, Hungary's system has (had!?) weird constitutional quirks that caused imbalances that gave Orban's party 2/3 of their parliament with ~53% of the vote in 2010. Interestingly, Orban started as a liberal, became PM in the 90s, got tossed out, and went hard nationalist and anti-immigrant to get back on top. Once his party Fidesz was in the driver's seat they upended the judiciary and have slowly amassed power. There was no real way to check them with their super majority and eventual control of the judiciary.

There is a lesson for us since the GOP is about 5 years behind it running a similar playbook. They are using their power that is in excess of their representation to build one party rule and might eventually lead to autocratic rule. Which is why sometimes I refer to our trajectory as going the route of Hungary. In fact, we'll get a taste of it in May/June/July through a series of Supreme Court rulings such as Mazars. To be clear, the GOP would have a much, much tougher road but I don't think you set out to build an autocracy. It is the result of many, many compromises and cuts over time but we are on that path.

malchior wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:49 am If you want to dive deep into it, Hungary's system has (had!?) weird constitutional quirks that caused imbalances that gave Orban's party 2/3 of their parliament with ~53% of the vote in 2010. Interestingly, Orban started as a liberal, became PM in the 90s, got tossed out, and went hard nationalist and anti-immigrant to get back on top. Once his party Fidesz was in the driver's seat they upended the judiciary and have slowly amassed power. There was no real way to check them with their super majority and eventual control of the judiciary.

There is a lesson for us since the GOP is about 5 years behind it running a similar playbook. They are using their power that is in excess of their representation to build one party rule and might eventually lead to autocratic rule. Which is why sometimes I refer to our trajectory as going the route of Hungary. In fact, we'll get a taste of it in May/June/July through a series of Supreme Court rulings such as Mazars. To be clear, the GOP would have a much, much tougher road but I don't think you set out to build an autocracy. It is the result of many, many compromises and cuts over time but we are on that path.

hitbyambulance wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:06 pm https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... -is-crazy/

WA state, with vote by mail for everything, also had the highest turnout of all the states for primary voting.

only three other states have implemented vote by mail - OR (who were first), CO and UT. incidentally, Colorado is second-highest and Utah is seventh-highest.

ImLawBoy wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:20 pm I think you're talking about voting by mail exclusive, whereas I'm talking about where it's available at all. It's available in Illinois, but you can also vote the old fashioned way.

ImLawBoy wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:18 pm I voted by mail in Illinois, so I know it's legit. https://chicagoelections.gov/en/vote-by-mail.html

gbasden wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:09 pm Right, same with CA. I voted by mail in the primaries.

Facebook fact-checking bots are hidden in your friend's list, you can block them same as you can block anyone else.
I have just blocked 43 of them!
Go into SETTINGS and then BLOCKING and write Fact Checker
You should see a list, you will have to block them one by one, but it's well worth the time.
The "fact-checkers" check everything you post and should you post something that contradicts the establishment's dogma and lies, ie - anti-va$$ posts, they report your post and add a post of their own to contradict your post, or they may even remove your post.

I only found 2, but many of the replies on my friend’s post have reported up to 47 of these bots