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Election Zone Thread USA 2016

tigtog

illustration of a ballot paper being placed in a ballot box, next to a countdown clockFor your enjoyment (or at least some venting), a general discussion thread just for election stuff.

Some reading:
The rise of American authoritarianism – by Amanda Taub at vox.com

A niche group of political scientists may have uncovered what’s driving Donald Trump’s ascent. What they found has implications that go well beyond 2016.

Challenging the Oligarchy – Paul Krugman reviews Robert B. Reich’s Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few for the New York Review of Books

Like a number of other commentators, Reich argues that there’s a feedback loop between political and market power. Rising wealth at the top buys growing political influence, via campaign contributions, lobbying, and the rewards of the revolving door. Political influence in turn is used to rewrite the rules of the game—antitrust laws, deregulation, changes in contract law, union-busting—in a way that reinforces income concentration. The result is a sort of spiral, a vicious circle of oligarchy. That, Reich suggests, is the story of America over the past generation. And I’m afraid that he’s right. So what can turn it around?”

There are so many intriguing and contrasting opinion and analysis pieces being published right now, so please share links to articles you’ve loved or hated regarding both broad and narrow political issues swirling around this election.

7 thoughts on Election Zone Thread USA 2016

  1. i recently learned that trump wants to murder the family members of ISIS terrorists as a counterterrorist initiative. he claims that killing them is a way to deter ISIS members from committing future terrorist attacks.

    i can’t stop thinking about it – it makes my body tremble and my stomach wrench. countless innocent muslims could be slaughtered because of being related to a family member who supports ISIS – or who is falsely accused of terrorism. even if he doesn’t get elected, a huge chunk of his supporters – many of whom support anti-muslim policies – are most likely supportive of his plan, which is ushering in a social environment increasingly hostile for muslims.

    1. Yes, he is frightening. In the GOP debate yesterday, he was being on his best behavior, trying to look Presidential, which was quite a difference in demeanor! However, his substance hadn’t changed. When asked whether he would fight ISIS legally (as targeting civilian family members is not), he replied Yes, of course he would do it legally—He would “expand” the (current) laws. How do you get rid of the pesky Hague conventions and Geneva conventions and Nuremberg conventions by “expanding” the laws? No one asked that follow-up…

      1. trump knows exactly how to get his way in politics and to preserve a positive image as needed. he is just as racist as the people who have contributed to his sharply rising influence on USA politics. one example (of many): trump spoke of wanting to punch a protestor in the face, and a few weeks later an angry white man sucker punches rakeem jones as he is being forced out by cops that were following the trump campaign’s wishes.

        nothing i hear about trump comes as any surprise to me these days. i would not be surprised at all if he is secretly either a former/current kkk member himself or friends with klansmen.

        1. Breaking news: Donald Trump just canceled a rally in Chicago after thousands of University of Illinois at Chicago students, community members, and MoveOn members gathered outside and inside the venue in a demonstration that there’s no room for Donald Trump’s vitriol in their community.1

          Everywhere Trump goes, his hateful and violence-inciting rhetoric needs to be met with this kind of outpouring of peaceful opposition.

          Everyone needs to see the images of this protest and get ready to stand up to Trump’s hate in communities across the country.

          https://twitter.com/paulgottinger/status/708426963212505089

          https://twitter.com/PaulGottinger/status/708447252952563712/photo/1?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=Dude_Its_Steve&utm_content=708460522291597312

  2. The Root headlined a study claiming that the GOP is studying getting Condi Rice to run–as an independent! because she is viewed as the only neocon candidate who can whip both Trump and Hillary’s asses.

    Tigtog, you were asking about weather on our side. If the Republican Party is considering a black female lesbian independent to derail their own front-runner, then Hell has definitely frozen over.

    After Trump, face it, y’all, all other trolls look third-rate.

    1. Ew, we’re not back to assuming any unmarried woman over 30 is a lesbian, are we?

      If Rice is gay, awesome, but that type of assumption/rumormongering about people’s orientation is super gross.

      1. I mean, at least from Googleing it looks like there are a ton of tumors and that Rice has assiduously avoided addressing her own orientation. Let’s respect that?

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