American Politics Discussion

[Dr. Gonzo]

The latest big scandal in the US is one of the Supreme Court Justices' wives was involved in planning the January 6th coup attempt to stop the election and keep Trump in power. He was the only Justice that voted that Congress not be allowed to investigate the storming of the US capitol... making it look like he was trying to protect his wife.

[Viva la FCB+]

On 25/03/2022 at 12:54, Dr. Gonzo said:

The latest big scandal in the US is one of the Supreme Court Justices' wives was involved in planning the January 6th coup attempt to stop the election and keep Trump in power. He was the only Justice that voted that Congress not be allowed to investigate the storming of the US capitol... making it look like he was trying to protect his wife.

I saw this one the other day. There is 0 chance if this was a Dem appointed judge he wouldnt be forced into stepping down and rightfully so. I dont see any other outcome that should be acceptable anyways tbh.

[Azeem]

[Viva la FCB+]

This has been making the rounds all over the place in recent days, fascinating stuff but hardly surprising: 

olitical scientists David Broockman of Stanford University and Joshua Kalla of Yale University just published a working paper, which is under peer review, based on the results of an experiment studying viewers of Fox News. In the fall of 2020, they paid regular Fox News viewers to watch CNN, instead, for about seven hours a week for a month and then surveyed them about their political attitudes and what they knew about current events.

 

Broockman and Kalla compared the survey results of the experimental group of Fox News viewers who switched to CNN to those of the control group who didn’t, and they found that consuming CNN noticeably shifted the test group’s perception of the world.

Part of what’s interesting about the study is that it captured not just the difference between CNN’s and Fox News’ ideological outlooks, but also their differing commitments to sharing certain facts. Most notably, CNN was more likely to offer factual information that reflected more poorly on Donald Trump — and the Fox viewers who switched realized this: Participants who switched were less likely to agree that “if Donald Trump did something bad, Fox News would discuss it.”

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/fox-news-viewers-can-change-their-attitudes-exposure-cnn-n1294014

[Azeem]

He has cognition issues, I'm convinced 

[Stan]

10 hours ago, Aladdin said:

He has cognition issues, I'm convinced 

He does look a bit slow, looks to me like he was expecting someone to be there, then just looked lost and had no idea which way to get off stage  

[Dr. Gonzo]

Leaked SCOTUS documents indicate that the US's highest court is planning on rolling back abortion rights - saying that there is no federal fundamental right to an abortion.

[Stan]

10 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Leaked SCOTUS documents indicate that the US's highest court is planning on rolling back abortion rights - saying that there is no federal fundamental right to an abortion.

Shameful. 

[Tommy]

10 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Leaked SCOTUS documents indicate that the US's highest court is planning on rolling back abortion rights - saying that there is no federal fundamental right to an abortion.

"Land of the free". 

 

[Azeem]

Is that much of a big deal in actual implementation ? U.S is a federation with states having great extent of autonomy, states can allow it under their jurisdiction.

Like I know legal suits in U.S are hand picked to file in a state where they are most likely to win.

[Stan]

34 minutes ago, Aladdin said:

Is that much of a big deal in actual implementation ? U.S is a federation with states having great extent of autonomy, states can allow it under their jurisdiction.

Like I know legal suits in U.S are hand picked to file in a state where they are most likely to win.

It'll immediately become illegal in 22 states I heard. So while other states might be a bit more 'liberal', the fact that nearly half of the country immediately bans abortion by law is where a huge problem arises in the short-term. 

[RandoEFC+]

What century is this?

[6666]

How long do these guys need to debate this one topic? And how does the supreme court work? Can they just decide to randomly change a law at any point?

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, 6666 said:

How long do these guys need to debate this one topic? And how does the supreme court work? Can they just decide to randomly change a law at any point?

A case has to get appealed up to the Supreme Court (idk how many levels of appeals there are) - then the court has to approve the case for Supreme Court appeal.

Repealing abortion has been a central issue for republicans for a very long time - so it’s not surprising a court packed with Bush and orange man picks is doing this.

Why republicans care so much about abortion though? No clue. They tend to be pretty religious so maybe they just want more kids to molest

[Harry]

1 hour ago, 6666 said:

How long do these guys need to debate this one topic? And how does the supreme court work? Can they just decide to randomly change a law at any point?

They need a case put to them on which they can rule, which gets escalated through the system up to the supreme Court. But the cases aren't arbitrary, random cases of the day. They are crafted by people who were seeking to take their case to the SC looking to challenge specific aspects of Law. For example this tweet thread shows the process allegedly planned to get gay marriage repealed after and based upon the roe ruling. It's grim.

 

[Stan]

9 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Why republicans care so much about abortion though? No clue. They tend to be pretty religious so maybe they just want more kids to molest

I saw a clip on Twitter (so can't fully verify) showing the panel that gets to decide these things. Four middle-aged white men. Getting to decide what happens to the bodies of females. 

21st Century right! 

[Harry]

The disheartening thing about the supreme court is how long it will stay like this...

 6 Conservatives, 3 liberals.

The eldest Conservatives are Thomas 73, Alito 72, and chief Roberts 67, who's verging on becoming a liberal at this point as the only one who seems to care about the long term credibility of the court.

None of them are going anywhere for 10-12 years.

To flip that conservative bias it would take 20 years of democrats holding the presidency and the senate to be able to confirm... If the Republicans get in even for 4 years those guys will retire and be replaced with a 40 year old. So you're talking decades more rulings by the current crop.

American politics is so divided it verges of being a hostage situation for half the country each time one party's on office... When the red and blue halves of the country are so clearly delineable I really wonder if the average person wouldn't be better if they just went their separate ways.

[Dr. Gonzo]

25 minutes ago, Stan said:

I saw a clip on Twitter (so can't fully verify) showing the panel that gets to decide these things. Four middle-aged white men. Getting to decide what happens to the bodies of females. 

21st Century right! 

I don’t understand why they even have the supreme court 

Why do a bunch of unelected judges get to basically write laws for a country they aren’t accountable for?

[Waylander]

9 hours ago, Tommy said:

"Land of the free". 

 

Does this mean they are free to pay for it?

Or does this include banning private clinics undertaking abortions?

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Waylander said:

Does this mean they are free to pay for it?

Or does this include banning private clinics undertaking abortions?

Some states will outright ban abortion in all instances. Which I think is mental because only 37% of the country seems to support banning abortions.

So people living in those states that want abortions will either get illegal abortions in their state or they'll have to travel to where it is legal in order to get an abortion.

Really no such thing as a "free" procedure of any sort, let alone abortions which aren't considered necessary medical procedures in most instances, in the US. So whether it's a state facility or a private clinic performing the abortions, they'll be banned in the states where abortion is made illegal.

Some commentators are saying the rationale used in the decision could also be applied to let states ban contraceptives, birth control, and gay marriage. So the decision could have big ripples in states that criminalise these things - because it essentially gives government reign to control what happens in peoples' bedrooms.

This leaked draft is a draft and that still gives the court time to change their mind... so hopefully that happens. I'm not sure it's right that 9 people appointed for life, 6 of whom were appointed by presidents that did not win the majority of the votes in the country, get to make such a massive decision and rollback rights over what women can do with their bodies and possibly beyond.

[Waylander]

It will be interesting to see where this leads as if people just move state it is in effect reasonably easy to bypass.

If contraceptives are banned that will indeed mean more children that are either orphans or born into a potentially harsh environment.

 

[Dr. Gonzo]

18 minutes ago, Waylander said:

It will be interesting to see where this leads as if people just move state it is in effect reasonably easy to bypass.

I think that's easier said than done. Taking 2 states for example: Alabama and California - the cost of living in Alabama is much lower. Average rent in Alabama is a bit more than $800, average rent in California is a bit more than $1800 (and in some cities - like all of the big ones, finding anywhere with rent that low means you've found an absolute shithole).

Food's 25% more expensive, transportation costs are 27% higher, childcare costs are 35% higher, entertainment costs are 35% higher, clothing is 15% more expensive. Factoring in needing to find a job, relocation costs, etc... it's a pretty massive change for a lot of people - because generally the cost of living in these republican states is lower on average than it is in the democrat controlled states.

I think we'd be more likely to see "medical tourism" with abortions. States like California and Colorado said they will operate as "abortion sanctuaries" where people can come from out of state to get the procedures done. Some companies - including Amazon - say they'll pay for the transportation costs if their employees need to go out of state for abortion if the final ruling comes out as basically the same as this leaked draft.

[Harry]

Thurgood Marshall was the first African American Supreme Court justice, and the most liberal justice in court history, who retired from the bench in 1991, and died 3 years later.

When he retired he was replaced by Bush senior with Clarence Thomas, the most conservative justice ever. If he'd waited a year to retire he'd be replaced by Clinton, and his replacement would have been liberal and then voted for Gore over Bush. So much would be different. Climate change action, and the makeup of the current court. Probably even the Iraq war doesn't happen.

[Harry]

Well that's just fucked.

[Waylander]

Musk might stir up a hornets nest with this, it has been alleged that Bill Clinton a regular user of Epstein's escort girls?

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/05/elon-musk-calls-for-epstein-client-list-to-be-released-and-says-someone-should-go-down/