179 replies to this topic

[Lord MK]

Because while America's two party system is a bit broken, lots of americans think that this means having more political parties represented always means better and more effective government (ie, more parties would "solve all of this" as MK put it).

Hmm, i am not an American. Just so you know.

[onbekende]

 

All that drivel...

Buddy, you clearly do not know anything about how a Constitutional Republic works.

 

 

And you seem to think that those words mean more then they actually mean.

 

Constitution: set of "basic" rules by which a nation shall be governed.

Republic: nation with an elected head of state.

 

Stop making yourself into god's country >_>

[Lysistrata]

And you seem to think that those words mean more then they actually mean.

No I don't, and you really should stop. Every state has their own elected governors, legislators, and court system. They all have the power to tax. They can keep their own states clean. They can create their own elaborate healthcare systems if they want. They are all capable of educating the children. They can create their own power, or make their own deals in the free market. They can build their own roads. Supply their own law enforcement. Feed their own poor, and abort their own children if they wish.

 

The people who invited the Federal Government in to take over all this shit didn't care about, or think about, our liberty, our future liberty, or the Constitution that makes it all work. So, because of whining politicians that can't solve problems, only care about delivering the goods, and getting reelected... they sold us all out to an over bloated, over spending, over powerful, single government that is corrupt, unmanageable, and no one can get along long enough to name a Post Office.

 

We are far too rich to be this impotent.

[onbekende]

And your solution is to elect Republicans? Kansas would like a word, probably alot of Rep trifecta states aswell.

 

The pettyness on both sides is the cause of the impotency, althou I am not sure exactly what you think your are impotent in, still trying to guess what isn't great anymore in the USA for instance, still guessing.

[Lysistrata]

And your solution is to elect Republicans? Kansas would like a word, probably alot of Rep trifecta states aswell. The pettyness on both sides is the cause of the impotency, althou I am not sure exactly what you think your are impotent in, still trying to guess what isn't great anymore in the USA for instance, still guessing.

There was a time when Republicans tried to make Communism unacceptable, even illegal, in the USA. The Cold War with the Soviet Union brought this on with a vengeance. Communist, and Socialist, became synonymous with "Un-American", and even though it's technically okay to be a Socialist in the USA, it was still taboo to call yourself that up until recent decades after the Reagan era.

 

What has been happening since the Civil War when Democrat Woodrow Wilson broke the Republican lock on Washington DC, and Franklin Roosevelt screwed the Constitution with the New Deal when he forced the Great Depression to go on for years, so he could constantly be reelected, instead of a quick correction... Progressives hijacked the floundering Democrat Party and block by block, piece by piece, state by state, persuaded the states to surrender their sovereignty, Governors to abdicate their power, and just declared that it's much easier to deal with governing by giving up power to the Federal Government. Power the Federal Government never earned, and power they prove over and over again that they have no idea what they are doing.

 

Now, instead of limited Federal Government, and equally divided influence between self sufficient states... we have an over indebted Federal Government in complete power, constantly under siege and trading chairs with whoever is in the top chair, by two opposing factions fighting over Capitalism vs. Socialism, and the Socialists are not even scared to call themselves Socialist anymore. We have 50 states that don't even know why they have their own governments.

 

It's insanity, and I hope I don't live to see the day the USA abdicates power to European Globalist Morons pounding the climate change socialist drum to a one world government that decides how much liberty I will have today. That is what the words "Constitutional Republic" mean to me.

[onbekende]

So Capitalism was your downfall, rodger.

 

You are scared of a boogeyman that isn't what you call it, either you misinterpret communism by saying the Soviets/China follow it (or vica versa) OR you misinterpret socialism by calling it communism. While in the same breath idolizing the system that is actually bringing all the things you seem to despise (loss of freedom, globalism, 1 overreaching gov ruled by greed, ...).

 

The line drawn between personal freedom and prosperity of a society is a daunting one, and nobody draws it in the same place. Hence we need talk, talk, talk and talk. We as a society, how infetisimal small you might arrange it, need to once again actually come together and TALK. You just can't run a society while everyone is on an island of personal freedom, nor can you run it by having it be an ant colony of mindless drones subservant to 1 set of rules.

 

Now I can follow people, to a certain degree, that want to go back to city states, I just keep wondering when the "us vs them" rethoric will stop. States? City? Neighbourhood? Family? Me?

[Rand0m her0]

 

What has been happening since the Civil War when Democrat Woodrow Wilson broke the Republican lock on Washington DC, and Franklin Roosevelt screwed the Constitution with the New Deal when he forced the Great Depression to go on for years, so he could constantly be reelected, instead of a quick correction.

 

This is fantastically untrue. By the end of 1939, the great depression was over in its final days, and the decade that followed were the single greatest period of economic growth in the united states history, including even the "roaring" 20s. As well, by 1933  (ie, shortly after he took office) the US economy was back on the upswing, although still recovering. By 1934 the USA's GDP had grown by something like 9%. Over the period of Roosevelt's presidency, the US GDP grew by a factor of 4. Not four percent, as in by 1940 it had more than doubled from it's 1933 value, and it damn near doubled again by 1945. There is a reason why he was re-elected twice and by a ridiculous landslide in both cases. 

 

the "slow" recovery is pretty attributable to the USAs at the time dogged insistence on the gold standard (the rate of recovery correlates very strongly with how long it had been since the country left the gold standard. ones that were will still on it didn't have the monetary flexibility, and the post war return to the gold standard in particular caused massive deflation. the USA at the time being a massive gold sink for the world didn't help that, and the USA was obligated to honor the contractual rate. Compounding this further deflation is particularly hard on the agriculture sector and as you may recall, the US economy was highly dependant on agriculture at the time. 

 

There is no economic school of thought worth discussing that considers either of the the New Deals to have had a deleterious effect on the US's recovery. The exact effectiveness of the policy varies based on who you ask, but the *most* negative opinion is mostly a monetarist point of view that the effectiveness of the economic policy was neutral, but kick started public confidence. That caused an expansion in the monetary supply as people stopped hoarding, which allowed for inflation to replace deflation. 

 

 

 

by two opposing factions fighting over Capitalism vs. Socialism, and the Socialists are not even scared to call themselves Socialist anymore. We have 50 states that don't even know why they have their own governments.

 

Lys you couldn't define socialism if I handed you a portrait of Marx, a dictionary, and a copy of Das Kapital. The democrats regularly run economic platforms that swing further right than that of the conservative parties in just about any other western country. Calling Keynesian economics "socialist" is absolutely farcical, and John Maynard Keynes would be very pissed off at you for the comparison.

[Lysistrata]

Neither FDR, nor his policies, ever rescued the USA from depression... the depression ended when World War II began. Spending and manufacturing for war finally brought unemployment down under 10% in 1940, and then when we shipped all our men off to fight Japan, Germany, and Italy, the Great Depression was suddenly, magically, over.

 

Just like Obama, FDR rode the nations misery like a surfboard called "Hope", to election, and reelection. They all had faith that only he could lead them out of the darkness, and what we got was more misery, and government stealing more of our money.

[Rand0m her0]

by 1941 US unemployment was already the lowest it had been since 1929, and had been on a sharp downwards trend for the years prior. 

 

by 1936 the US GDP had *already* exceeded the 1920s peak. by 1941 it was already one and a half times greater than the 1920s peak.  

 

the idea that "Franklin Roosevelt...forced the Great Depression to go on for years" is abject luncey and you need to find whoever told you that and beat them with a shoe for lying to you. By the end up 1936 the USA's economy had already largely recovered from the great depression. As in it had recovered before the end of FDR's first term.

 

There is no  possible way to support that claim when the 1936 GPD was $1.113 trillion dollars (2005), exceeding the 1929 value ($1.109 trillion), and the first three years of his presidency  were three years of double digit percentage growth in the US's GDP. Your statement is absolutely and utterly false. 

[Lysistrata]

by 1936 the US GDP had *already* exceeded the 1920s peak.

Just in time for the '37 recession when unemployment still hit 19%. WW2 ended the Great Depression, and anyone who tells you different should be beat to death with your shoes. FDR also should have entered us in the war much sooner... probably would have saved a lot of lives, and a lot of Europe. Social Security... the worst retirement plan ever.

[Rand0m her0]

The lowest the us gdp dipped in 1937 and 1938 was 1.13 trillion. This was still in excess of 1929. Unemployment rose by about 3 percent and had dropped below pre 1937 levels by mid 1938 ish. It was a recession, not a return to depression. The great depression ended in the USA by 1939. The USA didn't enter the war till 1941. As well much of the world expesically the portion that got off the gold standard were out of it by 1936.

WW2 did not end the great depression. The USA was well out of it before war time spending kicked iand much of the rest.of the world's econmy was harmed by the outbreak of war in 1939. What WW2 caused was the massive economic boom that followed rather than the more modest inflationary period that usually characterizes recovery. Saying that WW2 ended the great depression is a grade school level simplification. Like most things you learned in grade school, it's not particularly accurate.

Fun fact both Monetarists and Keynesian both aruge that the 1937 budget, which aimed to scale down government spending and limit the expansion of the monetary supply is to blame.cause 1937 saw the us with a balanced budget and "fiscal conservative" policy. The return to new deal policies saw a return to economic growth.

[Lysistrata]

Happy Thanksgiving RH 

[Lysistrata]

Well, this is significant...

 

James Comey has been subpoenaed to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee before Republicans turn over the gavel. Significant because it's his first calling since so much more has been uncovered about Hillary's investigation, the FBI's role in election tampering, the framing of President Trump for Russian collusion, and obstruction of justice. The hearing will be held in a closed setting, and Comey is objecting on grounds that he wants it public in order to prevent leaks and distortion. He really wants it public so he can continuously claim that he can't answer questions involving classified content. Corrupt, Criminal, Coward.

 

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/comey-says-house-republicans-subpoenaed-him-to-testify-over-clinton-emails-russia-investigation

[Rand0m her0]

The subpoena us to testify re "anti trump bias". There is no legal definition there, and its a highly charged political matter.

He'd be the biggest idiot in the country if he didn't want that as part of the public record. With out that Congress would be able to release information from the hearing selectively. That creates a massive public issue.

For that matter there is little reason for the hearing to be closed. If he declines to comment publicly due to classified material, then the question shouldn't be brought before the house at all. The house judiciary committee could request to be briefed on the topic and make recommendations from there. If necessary they could then subpoena for spefic testimony on those issues (the answers to which could not be disemenated publicly anyways). They'd even be able to get better answers that way anyways, and that's usually how Congressional hearings work anyways; anything that can be public should be public

Theres no real reason for this to be a closed hearing, it could well violate due process, Comey would be an idiot if he wanted any publicly releaseable statement to not be public record in its entirety, and frankly it serves no purpose for the public for it to be closed.

Theres reason why Congressional hearings are almost never closed, and when they are they're almost universally security briefings.

[Lysistrata]

Theres reason why Congressional hearings are almost never closed

Of course... Closed hearings offer no opportunity to play for the cameras, no grandstanding to show their chops, no Spartacus moments, and nothing gets accomplished when they can't talk about classified content. He would be better served taking the 5th like the other corrupt criminal cowards, but this is Comey, he's got a book to sell and GoFundMe pages to juice.

[Rand0m her0]

Oh god the subpoena is for December the third? Yea not a damn chance. That is a huge procedural break. Comey isn't even resisting the subpoena here, for an investgative hearing he's susposed to have way more time to prepare for the hearing, seek legal counsel, etc.

They're trying to rush the hearing through on barley more than a week's notice. That shit doesn't happen. Like hell to the all no. It would be one heck of a due process violation for them to try and compel that. I almost want to see them try, the judges decision would be a glorious legal smack down to read. Of course the judiciary committee can't be that stupid, so they almost certainly know that, and the subpoena is just political showmanship

Comey's request for the hearing to be public, leaving aside my previous comment, is him wanting a concession to drop everything else he's doing in order to show up on such short notice. Dude could reasonably expect at least a months notice and realistically closer to 60 days to seek counsel and prepare.

Seriously, out side of emergency hearings, has anyone ever given testimony in an investgative hearing on a week's notice? Cause I'd bet it happens rarely if ever. They should consider themselves lucky the response wasn't comey' telling them to sit on it and rotate

[Lysistrata]

Really RH? He had a year notice. He has known since McCabe, Stzrok, Page, Ohr, and all that Fusion GPS fiasco that he would be called back. He's had attorneys on retainer, book tours, fundraisers, and just sitting on his hands sipping wine coolers waiting for his turn. This is just his opening act before the IG report comes out... he's up to his ears in scandal.

[onbekende]

Well atleast they stopped the Benghazi hearings after a couple of dozen, clearly we can still have a few more Comey ones...

[Lysistrata]

Well atleast they stopped the Benghazi hearings after a couple of dozen, clearly we can still have a few more Comey ones...

Well at least Comey didn't cause anyone to die... yet, as far as we know.

[Rand0m her0]

Really RH? He had a year notice. He has known since McCabe, Stzrok, Page, Ohr, and all that Fusion GPS fiasco that he would be called back. He's had attorneys on retainer, book tours, fundraisers, and just sitting on his hands sipping wine coolers waiting for his turn. This is just his opening act before the IG report comes out... he's up to his ears in scandal.

Lys the subpoena is for next week and Congress hasn't even gave him the required information about topics of questioning. Fucking mark Zuckerberg had piles of warning and has entire departments of his company dedicated to preparing reports on exactly the questions he got asked and he still got something like a months notice. Less than a week is absolutely nuts.

This is the house deliberately making a demand it can't back. Comey is gonna keep going ya no, and the subpoena will get dropped.



Also seriously, what could possibly be discussed that should not be made public that the house judiciary committee can't request to be briefed on? If the question can't be answered in public, then Congress can't release the answers given anyways. Which means they could simply request to be briefed on those topics. Likey doesn't even need Comey.'s involvement. And if the answer can be released to the public, then what benefit is gained by Congress selectively releasing parts of the answer.

Hell it's not even clear that Congress can make this a closed hearing. The restrictions on when that can happen are pretty well defined. The topic pretty much needs to touch on national security or require the publication of stuff like personal finical information. The constitution is pretty big on the government not doing shit behind closed doors

This is a bit of political showmanship and nothing more. Comey's gonna go nah, Congress is going to do nothing because they're playing with no hand and then either the hearing will be delayed till January, or they'll just outright drop the subpoena. If they try to compel Comey to show up with less than a week's prep time, they will lose and lose hard.