America in 2018

[laklak]

That pedo dude is seriously whacked the fuck out.

[Tero]

Those black welfare mothers!
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch ... e-programs

[Tero]

I already have the thread on Democrats, but the situation as far as US president goes in pretty much Gerrymandered to the GOP. The popular vote went to Democrats all the 2000s elections except Bush when he was war president. Prior to that, 70s and 80s, both parties got presidents.

The GOP will thus never let go of the electoral college


Because the Democrats have lost entire areas of the country (Kansas has no real Democrats with power), getting all the votes of big cities (too many votes! they win my huge majority), this may be the future all through 2024.

[Svartalf]

Of course they won't, they know that only the fact thje college is completely off kilter and unduly favors the underpopulated inland red states that they have any chances to get presidents elected... the highly populated coastal states are mostly democrat, and if the latest elections had been held by the popular vote rather than by the college, Holary would be president.

[Scot Dutchy]

The Electoral College is so gerrymandered that the Dems have a snowball's chance in hell. This and the sanitising of the electoral rolls and barriers thrown up at registration only the repugs can win.

[Rum]

I think the myth of the America of the early 20th century, taking the great unwanted of the world, of the incredible rise in living standards, the sense of individual liberty and the way in which they came to the 'rescue' at the end of WW1 and 2 all go to make up a sort of charisma that has charmed much of the world.

The shine started to come off I suspect around the time of Vietnam and Watergate - though even then people admired the fact that popular opinion and the rule of law led to the end of Vietnam and the impeachment of Nixon - or appeared to.

The reality is I guess quite different, and the myth has become grim reality with the arrival of Trump and his like.

[Scot Dutchy]

I agree Rum. The American dream was a big con. Pure individual conservatism. Vietnam war ended because the Americans had lost. They were chased out. Like in Ethiopia. It is the aggression of the country that gets me. They just are not able to think in any other terms. It is an extreme adversarial society.

America Has Been At War 93% of the Time – 222 Out of 239 Years – Since 1776

February 23, 2015 "ICH" - The U.S. Has Only Been At Peace For 21 Years Total Since Its Birth

In 2011, Danios wrote:

Below, I have reproduced a year-by-year timeline of America’s wars, which reveals something quite interesting: since the United States was founded in 1776, she has been at war during 214 out of her 235 calendar years of existence. In other words, there were only 21 calendar years in which the U.S. did not wage any wars.

To put this in perspective:

* Pick any year since 1776 and there is about a 91% chance that America was involved in some war during that calendar year.

* No U.S. president truly qualifies as a peacetime president. Instead, all U.S. presidents can technically be considered “war presidents.”

* The U.S. has never gone a decade without war.

* The only time the U.S. went five years without war (1935-40) was during the isolationist period of the Great Depression.

Just unbelievable.

[Scot Dutchy]

How do other countries perceive the USA:

2014 Gallup International poll: US #1 threat to world peace

“The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in [war], that we have been detrimental to the life of the [target nations’] people.” – Martin King, Beyond Vietnam

[Tero]

Well I've lived here 50 years, and currently live in a city of 300 000 which is some 85% white. We have latinos and blacks and few odd middle eastern refugees settled here. We find work for all. Compare this to Finland which has less than 1% Somalis. They can't find work for them. The city of Helsinki owns some of the buses so they hired Somali drivers. Imagine the glee of Finnish nationalists when one of them wrecked an empty bus. "They can't do anything." "Let us not ever hire any of them or their kids born in Finland."

So it is not great here, and the tolerance to non-Christians is not great (so Latinos are most welcome), but it has worked out in the past. I see a future past Trump.

[Svartalf]

No animosity between devout catholics (like the latinos are prone to be), and protestant madmen? (because the US has a knack for drawing protestant extremists and for creating protestant variants that are utter madness)

[laklak]

You don't see much Proddy-vs-Catlick shite here, they're probably both too worried about the Atheist War On Christianity. Once they win that one they'll go back to killing each other over minor doctrinal disagreements, unless they have to take out the Muzzies first.

[Svartalf]

well, I guess there'll be crusades and a glassing of Mecca before the chretins go back to fighting each other... they know who the real enemy is.

[laklak]

We do come up with some whackjob Proddys, though. Snake handlers, for instance, and Holy Rollers. Mormons, Branch Davidians, Quiverfulls, if you can find an obscure Babble verse somebody's built a sect around it. But we got a lot of that from Europe in the early days, lots of weird groups came over because the Europeans, perhaps wisely, were killing them. They got over here and found fertile ground for their lunacy.

[Jason]

Speaking of the Christian war on everything that is good, stable, and sane, which Democrat candidate for 2020 do you support lak?

[Svartalf]

Is there even enough visibility yet to start choosing candidates?