Random Politics Thread

[Yasna]

Winner of the German Book Prize (German equivalent of the Man Booker) Uwe Tellkamp has caused a stir with his "right-wing populist" comments at a podium discussion, which included such radical ideas as differentiating between asylum seekers and economic immigrants and trying to understand the sources of unease and resentment on the right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8TrevOZW9k

[Car]

This might be of interest to the German speakers on here. A Facebook site I follow (Berliner Osteuropa-Experten) posted a link to this article. One person then asked another person if he knew the site and someone else replied:

Ja, eine neue Online-Zeitung, gegründet von einem Kollektiv namhafter Schweizer Journalisten, die nach einem erfolgreichen Crowdfunding starten konnte. Die Zeitung ist werbefrei und wird von den Lesern finanziert.

So a new online newspaper by famous Swiss journalists that was started after a crowdfunding campaign, is ad free and financed by its readers. I thought some of you might like to hear about it, even though CHF 240/year isn't exactly cheap (it seems you can get if for less if you have a convincing reason why you can't pay the full sum or something like that).

[Yasna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFfWv0EnHQw

[vijayjohn]

Ten days ago, a black man here was killed by a packaged bomb. Today, a black teenage boy and an elderly Hispanic woman were injured by two more packaged bombs. The cops say they believe all three are linked and have tentatively suggested that they could be hate crimes.

[Car]

I was wondering what you (especially the Chicagoland residents on here) thought about this case:
https://www.irishpost.co.uk/news/us-jud ... ote-151294

I really couldn't believe what I was reading there.

[linguoboy]

My first reaction is that that's a shitty headline. The words "cultural appropriation" never appear in the body of the article at all, so they shouldn't feature in the headline in quotes, if at all even.

But as for the body of the article, it's absolutely true. Chicago is a solidly Democratic town and for ages the local Democratic Party was a machine which was dominated by Irish-American politicians. Our longest-serving mayors have been Richard M. Daley (22 years), Richard J. Daley (his father, 21 years), and Edward J. Kelly (14 years)--not only all Irish-American but from the same South Side Irish neighbourhood, Bridgeport. Everyone knows that an Irish surname is an asset in local elections and it's completely plausible that a candidate would change their name in order to do better on the ballot--particularly for a position as judge, where the amount of knowledge a typical voter has about each candidate approaches nil.

This is the first time I've heard that having a female-sounding name is an asset, but that is plausible to me, too. Particularly this year, where we're seeing an unprecedented wave of women running for office.

[Car]

Thank you for your detailed reply, linguboy. The headline feels like clickbait to me. I could imagine it triggered quite some people. I thought the South Side was the bad part of Chicago? Is that impression wrong or does it only apply to parts of it?

[linguoboy]

Thank you for your detailed reply, linguboy. The headline feels like clickbait to me. I could imagine it triggered quite somea number of people.

YMMV, but I prefer to avoid use of the term "triggered" unless actual PTSD is involved.

I thought the South Side was the bad part of Chicago? Is that impression wrong or does it only apply to parts of it?

Keep in mind how big the South Side is. The City of Chicago itself is large--only 20% smaller than the Free and Hanseatic State of Hamburg--and the South Side makes up probably half of it. (Due to the curvature of Lake Michigan, there's more land south of downtown than north of it.) So while crime (particularly violent crime) is heavily concentrated there, there are still lot of parts with relatively low crime rates. This heat map should help:



Purple indicates areas with the lowest crime rates while red are the highest. As you can see, the South Side (bottom half of the map) contains both. The North Side neighbourhood of Uptown (3), where I lived before moving in with my late husband, has a per capita rate of violent crime comparable to Hyde Park (41), where I went to university, whereas East Garfield Park (27) on the West Side is comparable to the worst area of the South Side for violent crime, Fuller Park (37). (Fuller Park is also very small in area and population, which distorts the per capita figures somewhat.)

The South Side neighbourhood where the Daley family originated, Bridgeport (60), is one of the safest--as you can see, it's coloured the same light purple on the map as the low-crime areas on the far Northwest Side (9, 10, 11). This is not a coincidence: these are the same areas where most Chicago cops have their homes. (City employees are required by law to live within the city limits.)

[vijayjohn]

My first reaction is that that's a shitty headline. The words "cultural appropriation" never appear in the body of the article at all, so they shouldn't feature in the headline in quotes, if at all even.

Yeah, it's hard for me to see what's described in the article as "cultural appropriation." It suggests to me that the author has no idea what it is and why it's kind of a big deal for some of us minorities at least.

Thank you for your detailed reply, linguboy. The headline feels like clickbait to me. I could imagine it triggered quite somea number of people.

Or "quite a few people"

[Car]

Thank you for your detailed reply, linguboy. The headline feels like clickbait to me. I could imagine it triggered quite somea number of people.

YMMV, but I prefer to avoid use of the term "triggered" unless actual PTSD is involved.

Thanks for the correction (also to Vijay). I've only seen it used in non-PTSD-related online discussions, but I was hesitant about that whole sentence. Apparently not without a reason. What would be a good choice instead?

Also thank you very much for that detailed explanation.

[linguoboy]

Thanks for the correction (also to Vijay). I've only seen it used in non-PTSD-related online discussions, but I was hesitant about that whole sentence. Apparently not without a reason. What would be a good choice instead?

"upset"
"annoyed"
"irritated"

[linguoboy]

Back to random politics: The result is still to close to call in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District. At one point, the margin was less than 100 votes. It won't be final until all absentee ballots are counted and even then the loser could demand a recount, but it's obviously a stunning loss for the Republican Party.

After it was revealed that the serving Republican Congressman from the 18th had had an affair with a woman half his age and encouraged her to have an abortion to keep it secret, he resigned. This triggered a special election. The district is so solidly Republican that in past years, the Democrats didn't even bother fielding a candidate there. But this year they found a challenger who was young, conservative, and very media-savvy. He was up against a Christian reconstructionist already serving in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who bragged that he was "Trump before Trump was Trump".

Despite the fact that the Democrat quickly raised more money, Republicans were complacent. After all, Trump carried the district by 20 points only 16 months ago. But then they saw polls indicating a dead heat and panicked. They poured money into the fight, outspending their opponent by nearly five times. They flew in major politicians to campaign for their man, including Trump himself. But their voters stayed home in droves and others flipped to vote Democrat instead of Republican.

If this were just a one-off, it wouldn't indicate much; it could be ascribed to any number of factors specific to this one race. (Apparently some Republicans are saying their candidate lost because of his mustache!) But it's consistent with what's been happening in other special elections across the country. On average, we're seeing a 12 point shift in favour of the Democrats from the last election. That's more than enough for the Democrats to take a majority of House seats in the November midterms. Republican incumbents are seeing the writing on the wall and retiring en masse, which is important because of the advantage incumbency confers.

[Saim]

""Millenials"" are lazy and expect participation trophies

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/ ... ung-people

Leading psychologists, Paul Hewitt and Gordon Flett have suggested that one of the ways in which younger people are acting differently to their older peers is by showing a greater tendency toward perfectionism.

Broadly speaking, perfectionism is an irrational desire for flawlessness, combined with harsh self-criticism. But on a deeper level, what sets a perfectionist apart from someone who is simply diligent or hard-working is a single-minded need to correct their own imperfections.

[Yasna]

If this were just a one-off, it wouldn't indicate much; it could be ascribed to any number of factors specific to this one race. (Apparently some Republicans are saying their candidate lost because of his mustache!) But it's consistent with what's been happening in other special elections across the country. On average, we're seeing a 12 point shift in favour of the Democrats from the last election. That's more than enough for the Democrats to take a majority of House seats in the November midterms. Republican incumbents are seeing the writing on the wall and retiring en masse, which is important because of the advantage incumbency confers.

Niall Ferguson goes so far as to claim that Clinton's loss is actually of long term benefit to the Democrats in light of the most likely counterfactual: Hillary won; Republicans held onto Congress resulting in gridlock from the get go; millions of armed Trump supporters led by Trump himself furious that (in their mind) the election was rigged and thus having no incentive to keep playing within the system.

Those armed to the teeth militias are going to be a serious problem when they decide the system must be overthrown.

[JackFrost]

Back to random politics: The result is still to close to call in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District. At one point, the margin was less than 100 votes. It won't be final until all absentee ballots are counted and even then the loser could demand a recount, but it's obviously a stunning loss for the Republican Party.

It'll prolly be more losses come November considering that the state's supreme court did not at all like how the GOP gerrymandered the crap out of my state and just imposed its own drawing for the midterm elections. Like...

Previously:


For the midterms until the next census:


Thanks to those asses, I'm represented by a GOP for the first time ever in my life. And has one of the world's most punchable face. Considering that his home city, as well as mine own, is now part of the new 8th district, he has not much chance against blue former coal mining cities and towns.

[vijayjohn]

""Millenials"" are lazy and expect participation trophies

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/ ... ung-people

wtf

we are finding that our students are increasingly likely to seek our support for mental health issues

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

the GOP gerrymandered the crap out of my state and just imposed its own drawing

Thanks to those asses, I'm represented by a GOP for the first time ever in my life.

Welcome to Austin!

[Johanna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiYudywr_tQ

I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but: "Now [social media] only lets you ask a woman out once" -- "But you know, people change!"

Here is an even more novel concept for you Bill Maher: Women are perfectly capable of asking men out!

Actually, this happened when my parents (and Bill) were young, it even happened when my grandparents were. And If this someone was previously hopeless but has since grown up and changed for the better, nothing stops you from telling them that you changed your mind about them too.

Way to go, trying to be all feminist and still fall on your face so spectacularly.

He is right in that movies do tell men to be stalkers pretty much, but he gets one thing seriously wrong: In real life, extremely few women think it's cute. Even if the guy does look like Tom Cruise in his early 30's, it's not sexy, it's just scary.

[Saim]

""Millenials"" are lazy and expect participation trophies

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/ ... ung-people

wtf

The bit in italics is mine, mocking some of the youth-bashing that was popular on the internet for a while. The article argues that young people are actually perfectionists and are getting severe issues of stress and anxiety due to pressure to succeed. My point was that the contents of the article contradict the idea that young people are lazy and entitled.

Those armed to the teeth militias are going to be a serious problem when they decide the system must be overthrown.

Wouldn't they need a deeper economic crisis to have enough popular support to really pull anything off? I don't imagine most Republicans would've supported an armed resurrection against the State in 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiYudywr_tQ

I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but: "Now [social media] only lets you ask a woman out once" -- "But you know, people change!"

Isn't this some sort of office policy? In that case, I can't imagine women actually reporting their coworkers for asking them out twice, especially if they have some sort of rapport and it isn't just harassing someone you have no connection with because you think they're hawt. Unless the dude is being a creep about it, in which case let him get in trouble, that's the system working as it should.

I also don't understand what he means by "we can't pretend that we can make dating painless". I don't think anyone wants it to be painless, we just want people not to be harassed and coerced at their places of work (or anywhere).

I agree, this is really a non-issue.

Way to go, trying to be all feminist and still fall on your face so spectacularly.

Bill Maher has always been a sanctimonious centrist with very little real commitment on progressive issues, IMO. He seems almost like the stereotypical "condescending liberal" that a conservative might conjure up in their mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m48rPH-B_EE

Ignoring the ridiculous title for a moment, Maher's argument seems to be that Egyptians don't deserve democracy because they're too conservative and religious. What a dick.

[Johanna]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiYudywr_tQ

I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but: "Now [social media] only lets you ask a woman out once" -- "But you know, people change!"

Isn't this some sort of office policy? In that case, I can't imagine women actually reporting their coworkers for asking them out twice, especially if they have some sort of rapport and it isn't just harassing someone you have no connection with because you think they're hawt. Unless the dude is being a creep about it, in which case let him get in trouble, that's the system working as it should.

Nah, he mentioned Facebook and Google, which are places I suspect men will be reported more often because "being asked out" on those platforms more often translates to "being stalked by a creep" than "that clumsy coworker who doesn't really have a clue but he doesn't mean anything bad".

I also don't understand what he means by "we can't pretend that we can make dating painless". I don't think anyone wants it to be painless, we just want people not to be harassed and coerced at their places of work (or anywhere).

I agree, this is really a non-issue.

Exactly.

Way to go, trying to be all feminist and still fall on your face so spectacularly.

Bill Maher has always been a sanctimonious centrist with very little real commitment on progressive issues, IMO. He seems almost like the stereotypical "condescending liberal" that a conservative might conjure up in their mind.

Yeah, it seems like he's tailored his public persona to be the strawman liberal that American conservatives love to hate.

[Saim]

Nah, he mentioned Facebook and Google, which are places I suspect men will be reported more often because "being asked out" on those platforms more often translates to "being stalked by a creep" than "that clumsy coworker who doesn't really have a clue but he doesn't mean anything bad".

It seems he's referring to this:

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-f ... 018-2?IR=T

The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook and Alphabet's Google have a policy stating employees can ask out a coworker just once.
An ambiguous response counts as a "no."
No matter where you work, it's important to know your company's policy on intra-office dating, and to proceed carefully.