He commuted Roger Stones sentence.
Welp, fuck.
Edit: Ninja'd
Welp, fuck.
Edit: Ninja'd
US Political Discussion: Biden/Harris Edition (Rules in OP)
- Thread starter mongey
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Whether or not you benefit from the Trump tax policy is more dependent on where you live than how much you make. If you're in a state with high sales and property taxes, you benefit; if you're in a state with state income tax, you end up worse. The reason for this is that the old tax code unfairly favored the latter, because the official stance of both the Democratic party and the neo-Conservative Bush-like wing of the Republican party is "fuck everyone that isn't North-east coast or West coast."
Because there isn't a single Democrat who won't sell us out to Western European and Canadian interests.SpaceDock said:
Western Europeans like going on about "oh, you're so backwards, you don't our social services and you spend so much on defense" without mentioning that the reason they don't spend hardly anything on their own defense is we do it for them. I work for a defense contractor, so I see this first-hand -- the U.S. pays the bill for all sorts of projects for countries all around the world that aren't us. Go to the RAAF base in Brisbane some time if you're in Australia for a quick object lesson in this -- those F-18 Super Hornets? Paid for by the U.S. Government. The maintenance of said aircraft? Paid for by the U.S. Government. The training of pilots for said aircraft (which, btw, costs a shitload of money, far more than you probably think)? Paid for by the U.S. Government. Same is largely true of their F-35s (Australia paid for a tiny portion of those, so it wasn't totally free, but it was largely paid for by the U.S.). Then we get Democratic leaders who bow down to them and say "yes, you're so much better than us, please continue asking for handouts from us on climate change accords that are unbinding and many other issues and health organizations that lie to protect China's image." The correct answer should be "oh, you think we're a third world country, and want to treat us like one? Fine, fuck you, we're pulling out of NATO, pay for your own defense." Similar story with Canada -- they've put tariffs on American dairy for years, and the instant we put any tariffs on any of their goods it's an outrage? Get fucked.
Trump at least pays lip service to putting American interests ahead of international interests, which makes him the best candidate by default.
narad
Progressive metal and politics
I mean, if the US pulls out of NATO, what do you think happens? Australia, Sweden, France, etc, suddenly start building aircraft carriers?
The projecting strength game is an America/China/Russia thing and the rest of the world doesn't really care about it. That's why the US pays for it...because the US wants the benefits that would come from strong-arming negotiations around the world.
They'll have to do something, that's for sure. I mean, Ukraine couldn't even protect their claims to Crimea with half-hearted support from NATO -- if the U.S. stops defending Europe entirely, how long do you think it takes for the T-14s to roll across Ukraine, Poland, and Finland? This would also leave the status of the Mediterranean Dialogue countries unclear (we pay for a lot of their stuff, too), and I'm sure a lot of them would love a bit of payback on France for the Colonial days...
We've seen this episode before.
Russia isn't going to start WW3 for funsies. There's no benefit to it.
Even without American intervention, the EU (for which Finland and Poland are members) spends about six times as much as Russia on defense. They're a nuclear power (by way of France) as well.
Russian can play tough guy and gobble up former Soviet territories, but they're not dumb enough to engage the EU, some of its biggest trade partners.
The US spends so much on defense internationally for its own benefit, the idea that we're some protector of the free world is a false narrative used to bolster exceptionalism and nationalism. We want our forces closer to our enemies, and available for the next misguided forray into interventionism.
You are aware that "former Soviet territory" extends well into Poland, right?
The US used to spend on defense internationally for its own benefit. The USSR fell 30 years ago; at this point, the US funding the defense of countries in Europe and North Africa is mostly a case of "the divorce would be messy, so we'll keep doing it, even though our current interests align better with Russia than with Western Europe." Most American politicians (and, really, most people in general) are basically prison bitches, so they'll gladly bow down and kiss the feet of countries that look down on us in the hopes that they'll let us sit at the cool-kids table, but that doesn't mean it's good for us that they do so.
(I have to admit, I'm rather surprised at the part of my post people have latched on to. I was basically sure that telling Canada to "get fucked" would be the part that raised people's eyebrows, not a pretty straightforward anti-Europe argument.)
The US used to spend on defense internationally for its own benefit. The USSR fell 30 years ago; at this point, the US funding the defense of countries in Europe and North Africa is mostly a case of "the divorce would be messy, so we'll keep doing it, even though our current interests align better with Russia than with Western Europe." Most American politicians (and, really, most people in general) are basically prison bitches, so they'll gladly bow down and kiss the feet of countries that look down on us in the hopes that they'll let us sit at the cool-kids table, but that doesn't mean it's good for us that they do so.
(I have to admit, I'm rather surprised at the part of my post people have latched on to. I was basically sure that telling Canada to "get fucked" would be the part that raised people's eyebrows, not a pretty straightforward anti-Europe argument.)
There's a lot to unpack here, but again, you're operating on the false premise that the rest of the world is defenseless without us.
We're not "funding defense", like a protection racket, we're paying for position and influence the only way we know how, brute force.
TedEH
Cromulent
If it makes you feel any better, as a Quebecer, my eyebrows were good and raised.
I feel like I'm close enough to Ottawa to warrant an opinion that Canada generally has no interest in making the US "bow to our interests". The sentiment I hear from the majority of people (just average people, not politicians or anything, granted) is that we want as little to do with the US as possible. Being a Canadian right now, paying attention to what goes on in American politics is like watching a train wreck happen, and the more distance we can put between us and that situation, the better.
I'm at the point where I'm trying to figure out how to join YOU guys.
Adieu
Well-Known Member
France Italy UK and Spain HAVE aircraft carriers, and the French one is a bigazz nuclear one.
Japan is reportedly building two carriers.
narad
Progressive metal and politics
I mean there -are- countries that benefit from US military presence, Japan being one of them. But I doubt the US military presence in Europe is appreciated by western/northern Europe. It's not really appreciated here either, but more of a necessary evil. We'll tolerate some soldiers raping some Okinawan women every once in a while if it keeps China from advancing its stake on the Senkaku islands apparently.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/media/tucker-carlson-writer-blake-neff/index.html
Is the unnamed forum... Rig Talk?
Is the unnamed forum... Rig Talk?
zappatton2
Well-Known Member
I find the concept that unless you're protected by a super-military, the rest of the world is just waiting to carpet bomb you, to be thoroughly bizarre. It's like the gun issue write large; if I'm not hoarding a personal arsenal, cartoon-character criminals are going to salivate at the prospect of breaking into my home, taking my stuff and killing my family. It's absurd, and the more you buy into projecting weaponized hostility, the more you actually destabilize everything around you.
I really think the world will do just fine if the U.S. stops imagining every world problem is a nail, and it needs to act like the world's hammer. And think about the kind of international stability that could spring from cutting military funding in half, and putting some of those savings towards foreign aid and development.
I really think the world will do just fine if the U.S. stops imagining every world problem is a nail, and it needs to act like the world's hammer. And think about the kind of international stability that could spring from cutting military funding in half, and putting some of those savings towards foreign aid and development.
Very well said.
It's so ingrained in American culture, you could easily have been talking about the restructuring of the police.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/media/tucker-carlson-writer-blake-neff/index.html
Is the unnamed forum... Rig Talk?
No idea why CNN refused to say it by name but its 4chan. And he looks exactly like a 4chan person.
Yeah, apparently it was some guy on 4chan named MetalHex.
zappatton2
Well-Known Member
I originally worked that into my response, but figured I was getting a touch long-winded, lol!
fantom
Misses his 6 strings
So much this. The arguments for having a ridiculous military and ability to nuke the entire planet out of orbit come from the same people that believe the 2nd amendment means they should own 20 assault rifles, a flame thrower, and maybe some artillery. All to protect themselves from getting attacked by boogie men they have never encountered. Because Murica.
Ironically the amendment that lets them own so much firepower is to protect them from a government that they want to own ridiculous firepower... So illogical it hurts my head.
It's only a recent development that open hot-wars between world powers have become rare. We're in a weird blip right now -- throughout most of history, you had to keep your military power ready to go, or your neighbors would be there to take your land and enslave you. A dip in American military spending would make it very, very easy for the world to return to these kind of days, and for us to find ourselves the victims.
I mean, people are bringing up the cops as an example... yeah, it's a great one -- New York dropped police funding as a result of all of the nonsense protests, and murder rates have skyrocketed! Good job, NY -- way to have no sense of cause-and-effect!
At the end of the day, violence or the threat thereof is all that keeps people in line. As such, the tools of institutional violence need to be kept in good shape.
If that was the case, why did Canada's PM cry like crazy when Trump instituted a tariff on Canadian steel (which, again, seems entirely fair given the many decades long tariff Canada has had on a lot of American agricultural products)? If Canada wanted nothing to do with the U.S., a tariff on their products would equal less trade with Canada, which would be exactly what they want!TedEH said:
The budgetary changes for the NYPD don't take place until the next fiscal year, which doesn't even start until October, with execution taking place second quarter, which is January at the earliest.
