So this is a really commonly held view, but it’s somewhat inaccurate. The US gets more of our oil from Canada than Saudi (something like 40% to 11%), but Saudi is important to our allies in Europe (and hence our entire post-war system). Particularly when the administration is obsessed with Iran and wants to cut their…

Saudi pays a lot of money to have so many useful idiots ignore their atrocious record. Lobbying firms, think-tanks, hell it looks like they even fund anti-Muslim hate groups (I’m not kidding, far-right anti-Iran anti-Muslim groups are defending the Saudis pretty vocally right now, in lockstep with Trump). They’ve been…

“Open borders” is such a pernicious bit of racist fuckwittery. Pretty much the entirety of human history before the last century any idea of policing borders was symbolism. Even in the last century it was more a goal than a reality. But it’s a fear-mongering talking point, used to scare angry old white people into…

I mean, this is exactly what’s true for bands, so it makes perfect sense for comedians. I ran a couple of shows for my college, gigs where we could pay a band maybe 2 or 3 grand (sometimes we could sweeten the deal with other stuff, like a place to crash for the night or a free dinner). Obviously we weren’t getting…

You are completely politically illiterate if you aren’t aware that a Senator has significant sway in their home state. Given your comments I suppose that should be expected.

If one party uses demagoguery and the other talks policy the former has a strong tendency to win, based on the historical record. Assuming the fundamental maturity and intelligence of voters is a losing bet. Appealing to racism, tribalism, and base emotions is more effective than making a policy argument. Emotional…

That’s not an answer. That party is then outflanked and loses. Appeals to good values don’t overcome systemic bias. Democrats have spent years continuing the notion of bipartisanship while Republicans gerrymandered or sought other legal avenues to shut out their opposition. What have Democrats gotten for their…

He’d leave a dozen comments if I ignored him, he’s left a dozen if I didn’t. I understand the position you’re putting forth but I’m not sure what I did really influences the behavior one way or another. I’ve got enough experience with his ilk to be confident it’s not that simple. Some of them really couldn’t care less…

The oft-assumed connection between the financial crisis and the far-right hasn’t held up well to scrutiny, particularly given the far-right has been drawing heavily from educated and relatively well-off classes. The idea that their base is primarily working class doesn’t mesh with the reality. Even in Europe, you look…

Well the problem is there’s superficial change and there’s structural change. The definition of “liberal” vs “illiberal” democracy in modern political science aren’t always naturally intuitive to people who grew up on American-style civics lessons (where terms are muddy and misused constantly) because there are a lot…

There is a point; he’s a piece of shit and it’s important to express that, even if I know there’s no real chance he (it’s always a he) listens or learns. Ignoring them is the right call 9 times out of 10, but right now I think taking a moment to push back, despite it being pointless, fills a social need for those of…

Normally I let rabid pieces of shit like this wallow in the greys, but this dishonest cretin has pissed me off.

It’s a global far-right system, enabled heavily by social media as well as friendly media outlets. It lets the far-right punch well above their weight in actual numbers, which is why they’re so obsessed with shifting the Overton window.

Liberal democracy existed only after the Civil Rights movement, prior to that the US was an illiberal democracy at best (arguably closer to herrenvolk, though the line between the two is often muddy). A big part of the problem is that illiberal history. The bigotry we’re seeing now is a reflection of that era,…

The biggest problem is none of this matters. This will sound like hyperbole, but it’s not. This is a full shift into illiberal democracy, the kind of polity you see in Hungary, or Poland, or Israel. Where power is more important than norms, institutions are playthings for power politics, where the majority uses…

Please dismiss the troll responding to you. I think today of all days we don’t need their worthless kind infesting these threads. 

Feinstein was talking about it, among others. The stories didn’t get that much run given all the other stuff, but I can confidently say it was put into the party talking points at one point. Unfortunately by then the process was completely tainted and it was irrelevant. By the time we had clear evidence he lied Trump…

This is war. On minorities, on American institutions, on the entire concept of liberal democracy. The GOP is nothing but soulless power-hungry creatures now. They’ll cheat and use any dirty tactic they need all while lying directly to the American public about what they’re doing.

Bullshit false equivalence. Democrats have actually held some of their own to account, unlike Republicans. 

Democrats have been hitting that point, it’s been part of the regular talking points, it just doesn’t matter. There’s not enough people unconvinced who will listen to evidence at this point, the lines were already drawn and Republicans have emotionally invested in him to the point it doesn’t matter that he lied.