US US politics 2025

I, too, feel pretty helpless given that there seems to be nothing that will stop this train wreck of an administration. I go to protests, I also write my reps and I will speak up at times when people spout some of the nonsense that I just can't abide (mostly the racism, bigotry, misogyny and other awful behavior that gets a green light from this administration). But those on the other side are outnumbered, and while some do speak up (Chris Murphy among them), nothing really changes.

I find it galling that his supporters are mum on his many health issues, but when Biden so much as paused looking for the right word, they were all like, OMG, he HAS to go, his mind is gone, etc., etc. The double standard is galling.

I also think all the sycophants waiting for him to fail could be a lot worse policy-wise, JD Vance among them. This GOP is nothing but the party of cruelty and greed.
 
That may be so, but who is realistically going to take over as the new glorious leader once Trump's age and health status inevitably make it impossible for him to continue? And that's not going to take 30 years. Maybe not even 3. Do you think JD Vance has the necessary charisma?

I don't think he has the charisma, he does have the oligarch support, Thiel/Musk.

probably one of his sons.

please no....

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
someone sent me this and having been brought up in a born again family I agree with him completely... I am looking forward to watching more of his videos



Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
Yep, this is why I don't subscribe to organized religion and why it doesn't belong in government.
 
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Some people say that the separation of church and state is to protect the churches.
If you look at what was happening in England in the 17th and 18th century it was probably to protect the State.

If you'd like a humorous take on the evangelicals, try reading at least the first chapter of Better Off Without 'em.
 
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Bob Dylan had it right 62 years ago.

A South politician preaches to the poor white man
"You got more than the blacks, don't complain
You're better than them, you been born with white skin, " they explain
And the Negro's name
Is used, it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.
 
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But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.
For those who voted for those who proclaimed them superior, who promised to make their lives better by victimizing those 'beneath' them.
Anyone voting Republican bears full blame. They'll soon discover if they haven't already that oligarchy doesn't include them. That whatever friends or relatives get disappeared, any woman that suffers from inability to own her own body, anyone injured or dead from bad medical decisions, or deemed destitute from job loss and inability to cover costs--there is no sympathy from me, and I'd laugh in their face.
So tired of the coddling of those racist, misogynistic, so called christian fascists.

If rump were to die soon we may yet have a fighting chance to win back our nation, but he is, after all, their cult leader. No one else in that party has been able to unite people behind them, but they surely can rest on all the judgments rumps has and is imposing
 
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For those who voted for those who proclaimed them superior, who promised to make their lives better by victimizing those 'beneath' them.
Anyone voting Republican bears full blame. They'll soon discover if they haven't already that oligarchy doesn't include them. That whatever friends or relatives get disappeared, any woman that suffers from inability to own her own body, anyone injured or dead from bad medical decisions, or deemed destitute from job loss and inability to cover costs--there is no sympathy from me, and I'd laugh in their face.
So tired of the coddling of those racist, misogynistic, so called christian fascists.

If rump were die soon we may yet have a fighting chance to win back our nation, but he is after all their cult leader. No one else in that party has been able to unite people behind them, but they surely can rest on all the judgements rumps has and is imposing
Sad to say it some of them are brainwashed by social media algorithms and youtube to believe things that are the Republican's fault are somehow the fault of Hillary Clinton or Biden or Obama.

Some of them think the 2020 election was genuinely stolen by the democrats, so will vote Republican as the lesser of two evils.

Some of them believe even more sillier nonsense.

The democrats aren't helping by being unpopular and not providing a good enough alternative and not always sitting with most people's opinions.
 
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I just saw that the US blew up an alleged drug trafficking boat with people on it with a missile. This kind of thing is probably quite popular I would guess and is the other side of why people vote for Republicans, people actually like tough justice. Of course, it won't be the slightest surprise if it turns out that they made a mistake and just murdered some innocent people, with this administration you never know.

I think the left needs to think more about this and perhaps do some surveys to confirm people want tough justice and then see if they can apply it in a way that's more humane.

The left (and indeed much of the right or society in general) only convicts people of a crime if they're more or less certain they did it. When we're 80% sure someone committed a crime, they basically get away with it.

Mind you, on the other hand, the US is already very tough on crime. I've seen people get 30 years in jail for things that would be about 5 years in UK.

One problem with the justice system is the need to prove that they committed a specific crime. Perhaps the juries or judges should only be asked to rule - have they committed at least one crime.

I have seen cases (in various countries) where men are accused or rape or other sex crimes by 10 women and then there is a court case with 1 woman and the man gets off because the court can't prove that he raped her. However, I'd like to see all 10 of the women in court giving their version of events and then the jury only has to decide, has he definitely committed at least one rape. And if they say yes, he goes to jail for rape.

And then this principle could be applied to other crimes.

In El Salvador, there was a serious crime problem. And then a President, Bukele, came along and improved the situation. He did it by throwing in jail without a trial anyone suspected of crime or even just hanging out on the streets suspiciously or known to be in a gang or close to other criminals etc. Crime massively reduced and he became popular and as a result he is not well on his way to becoming another awful dictator. However, he is quite popular throughout the region (of Latin America) as far I can tell. I think the left could learn from this. I'm not sure exactly what the response is.

Sorry this was a bit rambly. I haven't quite got all my thoughts on this figured out.
 
I just saw that the US blew up an alleged drug trafficking boat with people on it with a missile. This kind of thing is probably quite popular I would guess and is the other side of why people vote for Republicans, people actually like tough justice. Of course, it won't be the slightest surprise if it turns out that they made a mistake and just murdered some innocent people, with this administration you never know.

This is not justice, an act of war.


Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
This is not justice, an act of war.
If this had happened in the Obama years everyone would have lost their mind. It would have the been the story of the year. It's amazing how things change. Don't know about the laws but it can't be morally justified to kill people for drug trafficking. Perhaps some of the group are evil murderers but there were a lot of people on the boat. One of them might have been a youngster on his first trip who was bullied into doing it.

Would be interested to learn more about this. Specifically, as much detail about the 11 people as possible.

One interested thing about the ethics of this. Imagine if the coastguard had boarded the boat and shot them all in the head. Or arrested them as they landed on some beach, and then shot them all in the head. That feels a bit worse, I think, but is it? It doesn't seem that different.
 
I watched the 1.5 hours of the Epstein victims/survivors news conference yesterday - well worth watching - tRump sent a jet overhead to disrupt - watched it on the Meidas Touch youtube channel - my heart breaks for those women and their families and I am sure that other children are suffering currently, as they did/do. Hoax, my as_ .

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com
 
This organization is claiming that it has statistically backed evidence that demonstrate some unlikely voting patterns in many swing states.

So, in short, if this is true, the 2024 election was stolen by the Republicans.

Find me some mainstream media claiming this or reporting on this and I'll read it. Or at least find me a 5-minute video rather than a 30-minute video and then explain why it's a reliable source.

Trump won in 2024 by quite a clear margin so it's going to be quite difficult to prove there was anything suspicious there.
 
Find me some mainstream media claiming this or reporting on this and I'll read it. Or at least find me a 5-minute video rather than a 30-minute video and then explain why it's a reliable source.

Trump won in 2024 by quite a clear margin so it's going to be quite difficult to prove there was anything suspicious there.
The. mainstream media is pretty much now a mouthpiece for the administration. Years of eroded anti-trust laws have allowed merger after merger with basically rich, conservative white families buying up companies left and right. So it's doubtful that any of the major news outlets would report on this because they risk losing their broadcast licenses, advertisers, etc. All that said, I wouldn't put it past those two to have tampered with the voting process in the swing states and those with many electoral votes.
 
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Find me some mainstream media claiming this or reporting on this and I'll read it. Or at least find me a 5-minute video rather than a 30-minute video and then explain why it's a reliable source.

Trump won in 2024 by quite a clear margin so it's going to be quite difficult to prove there was anything suspicious there.

They go into some detail, so a five minute video wouldn't be sufficient.

Clearly more support and verification is needed, but as Kathy mentioned, both Trump and Musk bragged about it.

And let's not forget the double standard. Trump just had to say "the 2020 election was stolen, (without evidence) and you believed him, yet you demand more rigor on this claim?