The USA Political Thread

@GILSAN, how are things on your side of the pond? Are Madeira and the Azores on the quarantine list after Portugal was added?

https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/15/amadeira-azores-quarantine-list-portugal-uk-13273864/

COVID’19: New surge the highest in the last four months – Portugal

A flick worth watching:

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

https://www.netflix.com/title/81239470

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi363118105?playlistId=tt5723056&ref_=tt_ov_vi

Cannuck said:

Sounds like the subject is open for debate, not. I didn't enter this thread as a popularity contest - clearly demonstrated by the overwhelming under-reaction (yikes vs likes), and the absence of non-partisan discernment. In that respect I am the odd one out, the only dissenting voice rustling a few Republican feathers. Free speech is a luxury that I do not take for granted. How many here have lived in communist countries? Likewise, how many have lived off the land? Who among you has walked a mile in his neighbours moccasins? He who throw stones live in glass house.



No guilt trip implied - simply an observation gained through extensive travels, involvement in international environmental initiatives and having lived close to the land. Prove me wrong, better yet, do something other than blow HOT air to fill the Trump balloon. IIRC I've been relatively well-behaved in this thread, lol, any scorching comments or memes that contradict the status quo were simply meant to raise awareness, whether or not it floats your boat.

My objective is not to bring down the government, but rather to uplift the populus. Bystanders reading this thread can decide for themselves - and vote for the party of their choice. Afterall, we live in a free democracy (still).

Peace

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I think the tone of this thread is amicable. I would imagine that all of us here are happy to follow an idea of "Don't be haughty to the humble and humble to the haughty". If I am not typing something on a serious side than everything else is just with a smile.

Anyways, I posted something on Biden and then you posted something on Trump and that is why I said game on and posted something positive on Trump. That was basically it, wasn't looking for likes, it was just a cool compilation of everyone writing Trump off when he announced his candidacy.

I think everyone here can handle nonpartisan discernment but you need to give us something to "chew on". I can only imagine you can give us more genuine substance of how you see things, no one will be offended by your feather rustling

I lived in a communist country, technically they like to refer to it as socialist but was part of the warsaw pact you don't have to live in one to be able to read and understand it or understand when your country is changing for the worse.

I think your impression of things here is more divisive than reality. We just want to share what we find truthful and bounce ideas and news off each other. I just found this thread some days ago and it just feels friendly. Maybe don't look at it in black or white but be yourself, some might agree some might not it doesn't matter, it's a forum for ideas.

Technically US is a Republic not a democracy not matter how often it gets used. Founders hated "democracy" as majority rule is often interpreted as two wolves and a sheep voting for what's for dinner.

Cannuck said:

@GILSAN, how are things on your side of the pond? Are Madeira and the Azores on the quarantine list after Portugal was added?

https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/15/amadeira-azores-quarantine-list-portugal-uk-13273864/

COVID’19: New surge the highest in the last four months – Portugal

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Neither Madeira nor Azores were hit by the UK's quarantine list. Mainland Portugal yes, because there was a surge in the last 3 weeks or so.

Madeira is the safest region in all of Portugal with ZERO deaths and about 160 cases. 90% of which were/are from tourists. Azores has had about 10 deaths. Mainland Portugal about 1800 deaths.

Because Madeira is heavily dependent on tourism, you can imagine how catastrophic it has been on businesses! Tourism is trickling back, but at a slow pace so... tough years ahead for many in the island!

I agree with @sonatime, as a Canadian, typically we try to stay out of other countries' business, it's just that our countries (USA/Canada) have an intertwined history and media pours over the border that is simply inescapable. During and just prior to the hiatus of Covid-19 shutdowns, I've been active in this thread. On any other occasion, or even in any other election, I would have simply avoided comment, but it seems this election has been so heated and divisive that a questioning mind cannot ignore. I probably would've voted for Trump in 2016 myself, but I have since become disillusioned to the point of frustration. I'm sure I haven't scored any brownie points with hardliners, but that was not my intent. I try to share some experience and outside perspective to hopefully shed light, but like any simple bushwhacker I have more questions than answers.

This is gold! Thanks for keeping it real

sonatime said:

Technically US is a Republic not a democracy not matter how often it gets used. Founders hated "democracy" as majority rule is often interpreted as two wolves and a sheep voting for what's for dinner.

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sonatime said:

Technically US is a Republic not a democracy not matter how often it gets used. Founders hated "democracy" as majority rule is often interpreted as two wolves and a sheep voting for what's for dinner.

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Whenever I see people on the Left uttering the expression "our democracy" I look at it as a code-word for majority rule, it's no secret that they want to do away with the electoral college and the republic. And if the republic is gone then there's not much left to stop totalitarianism.

GILSAN said:

Several of the images on your recent posts are NOT showing up... Try using the same image from a different source to see if it shows up...
Show attachment 167464

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Tried to edit posts but to no avail. One post got flagged for moderation. Images were pretty innocent, just screen shots of someone reporting on more children being rescued in operation "Operation Homecoming" and another twitter qanon friendly account getting banned after Trump retweet.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...olis-missing-children-us-marshals/5740746002/

This pause reminded of a time when I was sitting on a beach in Portugal drinking cactus juice with a buddy...

He was a very cool guy (a US Olympic canoeist) and we are still friends to this day. Anyway, we ended up on a bus with a bunch of other (American) travellers when the topic of how the US is the penultimate country in the world! Then I said, "who's the best in ice hockey?"

Their response was, "USA of course" - as they had just won the gold medal in the Miracle on Ice that year.

Dudes who probably had never even laced up a pair of skates were rubbing it right in my face. I'd had enough cactus juice to loosen a camel & I would've taken the whole crew on myself (and prob got my azz whooped in the process), but fortunately I had my good buddy along to calm me down so I ate humble American pie. The point is, when we get kicked down a few notches, sometimes it ain't easy to swallow...does that resonate with the current?

An interesting point: "It is less safe not to speak"

There was a point when Jordan Peterson was deciding if he should speak out and he realized that if he won't he will be worse off.



Nothing new but was going to include one debate of how unworkable is the mandated use of pronouns in Canada. Here we have a "kangaroo" court system called Human Rights Commissions, which is ran by politically motivated lawyers who get impose anti-constitutional penalties outside the Canadian Law system and actually pay "victims" for this. And another point, you don't have to have standing in a case to make a such a complaint.

Cannuck said:

I hold a certain antipathy for both of those countries' leaders politics, not unlike Trump (or pre-Biden for that matter), and even the current leadership in my fair country leaves a bitter-sweet taste, although in fairness, strides have been taken on some fronts. It probably stems from my former hockey career having played on Team Canada vs Soviet Red Army, followed by having played in the European League in Finland coupled with playing International chess where Russian players dominated the scene back in the 80's. My experience in former East Germany and China was also an eye-opener, but that's another story completely. I simply don't trust a politician, and am amazed at how people can be led down the garden path so easily.

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Love the 1972 Summit Series, before I was born, but as soon someone told me about it I couldn't wait to watch it. Everything about the event is amazing, including the backstory.

some clip

I skipped through "Cuties" on Netflix tonight, and read this article by the film's director. It's a French film with a Senegalese director. It actually looks like a good film, and may be unfairly targeted. The irony is that it seems to be aimed at criticizing the culture of cheap pop sexuality that influences so many kids. A shame that people react without full information.

I just watched more. It's a dark film, but I think the director was trying to make a serious statement. Some of the stuff is shocking, but it is an issue that needs discussion. Kids the age of the actors in this film are doing exactly stuff like this - imitating their favorite pop stars or TokTokkers. It goes back to what we know - that the images being presented to kids by today's idols are destructive.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...0ee406-f78b-11ea-a275-1a2c2d36e1f1_story.html

Opinion by Maïmouna Doucouré
September 16, 2020 at 6:14 a.m. GMT+9
Maïmouna Doucouré is a director and writer.

I was at a community event in Paris a few years ago when a group of young girls came on the stage dressed and dancing in a very risque way. They were only 11 years old, and their performance was shocking. Curious to understand what was happening on that platform, I spent the next year and a half interviewing more than a hundred 10- and 11-year-old girls across the city.

The result was my movie "Mignonnes," or "Cuties" in English. I wanted to make a film in the hope of starting a conversation about the sexualization of children. The movie has certainly started a debate, though not the one that I intended.

Puberty is such a confusing time. You are still a child, with all that wonderful naivete and innocence, but your body is changing, and you're self-conscious and curious about its impact on others all at the same time.

The stories that the girls I spoke to shared with me were remarkably similar. They saw that the sexier a woman is on Instagram or TikTok, the more likes she gets. They tried to imitate that sexuality in the belief that it would make them more popular. Spend an hour on social media and you'll see preteens — often in makeup — pouting their lips and strutting their stuff as if they were grown women. The problem, of course, is that they are not women, and they don't realize what they are doing. They construct their self-esteem based on social media likes and the number of followers they have.

To see these youngsters put so much pressure on themselves so early was heartbreaking. Their insights and experiences with social media informed "Cuties."

The main character in the film is an 11-year-old girl called Amy whose family, like mine, came from Senegal and lives in Paris. Frustrated by her mother's failure to take control of her own life, Amy decides to seek freedom by joining a clique of girls at school who are preparing to enter a local dance contest and design increasingly risque routines copying what they've seen on their phones. The girls don't have the maturity, however, to realize what their gestures and dance moves look like to the audience. It is only in seeing the shock on parents' faces in the audience, and at the same time thinking of what her mother is going through, that Amy realizes that these dance routines bring no freedom at all. She chooses her own path, balancing her family's traditional roots and the more liberal city in which she lives.

Some people have found certain scenes in my film uncomfortable to watch. But if one really listens to 11-year-old girls, their lives are uncomfortable.

We, as adults, have not given children the tools to grow up healthy in our society. I wanted to open people's eyes to what's truly happening in schools and on social media, forcing them to confront images of young girls made up, dressed up and dancing suggestively to imitate their favorite pop icon. I wanted adults to spend 96 minutes seeing the world through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl, as she lives 24 hours a day. These scenes can be hard to watch but are no less true as a result. Like most 11- and 12-year-olds, our actors in the film had already seen these types of dances and more. Despite this, during filming we were extremely mindful of their age. A trained counselor was present on set. There was no nudity except for a one-second shot in which the main characters see the exposed breast of an actress over 18 while watching a video of a dance routine on a grainy mobile screen. The project was even approved by the French government's child protection authorities.

This film is my own story. All my life, I have juggled two cultures: Senegalese and French. As a result, people often ask me about the oppression of women in more traditional societies. And I always ask: But isn't the objectification of women's bodies in Western Europe and the United States another kind of oppression? When girls feel so judged at such a young age, how much freedom will they ever truly have in life?

And that's why I made "Cuties": to start a debate about the sexualization of children in society today so that maybe — just maybe — politicians, artists, parents and educators could work together to make a change that will benefit children for generations to come. It's my sincerest hope that this conversation doesn't become so difficult that it too gets caught up in today's "cancel culture."

sonatime said:

Love the 1972 Summit Series, before I was born, but as soon someone told me about it I couldn't wait to watch it. Everything about the event is amazing, including the backstory.

some clip

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So true, kinda like my joke about hookers and hockey players, lol, the Summit Series helped to define Canada as an independent nation (apart from Britain) and insipired hockey players across the country. We were searching for our own identity. As a youth, we didn't have live television of the event, but listened on the school speaker system as we hung on the edge of our chairs. They were OUR heroes, but people and the media are fickle. After being handed a loss in game one, there were actually boo's coming from the fans. I'll never forget Phil Esposito's empasioned speech - he spoke to the heart of our nation. Everyone rallied together and the series was an incredibly close battle. That series was as much about sports as it was about politics.

Domainace said:

I skipped through "Cuties" on Netflix tonight, and read this article by the film's director. It's a French film with a Senegalese director. It actually looks like a good film, and may be unfairly targeted. The irony is that it seems to be aimed at criticizing the culture of cheap pop sexuality that influences so many kids. A shame that people react without full information.

I just watched more. It's a dark film, but I think the director was trying to make a serious statement. Some of the stuff is shocking, but it is an issue that needs discussion. Kids the age of the actors in this film are doing exactly stuff like this - imitating their favorite pop stars or TokTokkers. It goes back to what we know - that the images being presented to kids by today's idols are destructive.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opin...0ee406-f78b-11ea-a275-1a2c2d36e1f1_story.html

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It was that same year, in 1972, that Bobby Fisher handed Boris Spassky a defeat in the Match of the Century. This was serious politics! After the match, I learned as much as I could about the game of chess. Both events set the stage during my formative years.

The point being, youth are heavily influenced by media, nowadays almost like an assault on their psyche. It's not just happening here and in the US, but all over the world. The cartoons in China are really powerful - as one might expect, heavily laced with propoganda. It's nature vs nurture. I've tried to break out of my conditioning, allowing nature to take a front seat. I was just watching some birds this morning teaching their young how to navigate strong winds as we received our first snowfall of the year.

Cannuck said:

I try to share some experience and outside perspective to hopefully shed light, but like any simple bushwhacker I have more questions than answers.

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Keep on sharing your experiences and perspectives... If there's one thing Conservatives love, it's Freedom of Speech...

Fact check: True. Was pimping a 17 year old girl.

GILSAN said:

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Cannuck said:

I hold a certain antipathy for both of those countries' leaders politics, not unlike Trump (or pre-Biden for that matter), and even the current leadership in my fair country leaves a bitter-sweet taste, although in fairness, strides have been taken on some fronts. It probably stems from my former hockey career having played on Team Canada vs Soviet Red Army, followed by having played in the European League in Finland coupled with playing International chess where Russian players dominated the scene back in the 80's. My experience in former East Germany and China was also an eye-opener, but that's another story completely. I simply don't trust a politician, and am amazed at how people can be led down the garden path so easily.

https://www.thetrumpet.com/18324-the-kremlins-strategy-for-world-domination

https://www.rollingstone.com/politi...-enabling-putin-plan-global-dominance-854009/

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Wow, great accomplishments.

Cannuck said:

I agree with @sonatime, as a Canadian, typically we try to stay out of other countries' business, it's just that our countries (USA/Canada) have an intertwined history and media pours over the border that is simply inescapable. During and just prior to the hiatus of Covid-19 shutdowns, I've been active in this thread. On any other occasion, or even in any other election, I would have simply avoided comment, but it seems this election has been so heated and divisive that a questioning mind cannot ignore. I probably would've voted for Trump in 2016 myself, but I have since become disillusioned to the point of frustration. I'm sure I haven't scored any brownie points with hardliners, but that was not my intent. I try to share some experience and outside perspective to hopefully shed light, but like any simple bushwhacker I have more questions than answers.

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Most people appreciate contrary opinions. It's the blatant propaganda and name calling ( my problem ) that causes arguments. You're more reasonable than the worse of us.

Always found Canadians and Aussies to be the friendliest people.

Domainace said:

NATO should be abolished. It's basically obsolete. And Turkey is a member, even though Erdogan may be a bigger threat to Europe than Putin.

And what Kraken? If the USA collapses it will be because of its own actions. Putin doesn't dream of ruling the world. Xi does, but he overestimates himself.

If the military is divided, simply retire the dissenting half. That should save a bunch of money, and also get rid of most of Obama's and Clinton's deep state subversives.

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Hmm... the 'threat' is like a mosquito on a lion's arse. When the irritation becomes too much then there will be a reckoning.

IQ forever!

Domainace said:

NATO should be abolished. It's basically obsolete. And Turkey is a member, even though Erdogan may be a bigger threat to Europe than Putin.

And what Kraken? If the USA collapses it will be because of its own actions. Putin doesn't dream of ruling the world. Xi does, but he overestimates himself.

If the military is divided, simply retire the dissenting half. That should save a bunch of money, and also get rid of most of Obama's and Clinton's deep state subversives.

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I agree that China is the real threat but we still need NATO more now. USA and EU are an important obstacle for China. Previous administration took their eye of the ball and China expanded it's territory and threat.

Cannuck said:

Fast forward... post election and the impending socialist revolt. Has anyone viewed recent wargames simulations? It's VERY scary! Disengaging from the NATO alliance won't save America. The military will be divided IMO. Who is going to defend the backdoor when Putin or Xi decide it's time to relase the KRAKEN?

I'll reserve comment as my satellite internet uplink is currently unstable - like a precursor to the not too distant future.

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No. But ammo shelves are empty.

I expect democrats to resort to the everything including riots. Expect the national guard to be deployed in sane cities. Expect liberal enclaves to burn.

Lancaster PA riots lasted less than 48 hours because the Government hasn't been corrupted by marxist yet.
Blm leaders arrested for rioting, 1 million $ bail. Gov, and police not tolerating destruction, looting.

Thanks President Trump!

Joe Biden promises to defund charter schools; make existing charter schools as bad as public schools.

Senate committee authorizes subpoenas in Russia probe targeting Obama officials [NY Post]

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has voted in favor of authorizing over three dozen subpoenas and interviews as part of their probe into the origins of the Russian collusion investigation.
Depositions will now be requested of names like former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

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To secure Romney's vote, the committee had to pull plans to authorize subpoenas related to Biden's dealings in Ukraine.