Report: Mueller is Ready to Deliver his Key Findings - Polidicks

You sure about that? According to him, we're going to be right alongside Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia unless we have a full fledged Stalinesque political purge: "any chance at all of preventing our nation from become an openly corrupt authoritarian regime along the likes of Putin, Kim Jong Il, Duterte, King Abdullah, Hu Jintao, and so on rests on a single thing: voting in numbers too large to manipulate. We can't just swing a narrow margin in the house, we need to fully wrest control of both chambers of Congress, pull Trump's SCOTUS nominees down and replace them with people who give a single shit about constitutional responsibility." "You're an embarrassment not just to yourself, but to the America as a nation.You willfully ignorant "Fox Nations" fools must come to understand that you are dragging our country into the clutches of an authoritarian regime on the back of absurd and easily disproven lies." You're right, he doesn't think it will happen overnight. He thinks it's already happened.

These arguments do not account for the blatant efforts to continue gerrymandering, voter suppression in the form of mass last-minute deregistration, destroyed evidence on numerous lawsuits alleging illegal voter registration removals, russian ties to voting equipment and associated efforts to shut down investigations on our equipment, partisan effort to shut down investigation into the mere idea that the administration is corrupt, or the growing success of american neonazi groups that include active politicians. Fuck your gaslighting. It's all you've ever done here, mister "gay men have always had equal rights because they could marry women".

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/america-democracy-rated-donald-trump-not-fully-democratic-us-president-report-the-economist-a8195121.html 1 - There is basis to say democracy is declining in the US. I recall the above headline. 2 - I didn't at all mean to imply that the world is literally ending. Check my sentence again and you'll get what I meant.

Did you read that article? It states that a lack of trust in public institutions is what led to the downgrade... And that that lack of trust predated Trump. It also states that France is in the same category.

The widespread voter supression efforts by the Republican party differ on the former, and no one said the latter. Your argument hinges on being utterly pedantic, can you atleast remain consistent? So when it's a conservative voting bloc it's "neither of them are outside originalist norms" but when it's a liberal voting bloc it's a problem. Okay, I see now. This is actually a completely accurate portrayal of events. People want to impeach (through perfectly Constituional means(not purge)) Kavanaugh because of what he thinks about guns or quartering soldiers. This isn't actually a completely pathetic and inaccurate portrayal of your opponents position to make them seem irrational or radical. For the people who weren't purged lol. Yep, again, completely accurate. The left wing hate mob just simply cannot deal with people who hold conservative opinions. It has nothing to do with the widespread corruption, lying, and fascist behavior perpetrated by the Republican president and covered by the Republican party in Congress and in general.

Yes I read the article. Do you think things have been improving since Trump assumed the office? There's been further decline. And it is in part because of the increasing polarisation. This is from the 2017 whitepaper published by EIU: Democracy Index 2017 Donald Trump won the presidential election in November 2016 in part because of his ability to tap into the discontent expressed by many voters with the political and economic state of affairs in the country. His presidency may be an opportunity for the country’s political class to focus on the disempowerment felt by these voters. It is too soon to judge whether President Trump will be successful in assuaging this deep groundswell of popular disaffection. So far his attempts to address the concerns of his voters have resulted in a further polarisation of US politics, resulting in a decline in the score for social cohesion in the 2017 Democracy Index. It'll certainly be interesting to see the 2018 edition.

I think it's pretty fair to say that some on FP aren't very receptive to conservative opinions, but I think what's far more annoying is the fact that you are singularly incapable of arguing in a way that doesn't immediately reveal what you think about people who disagree with you; that they are petulant children overreacting because they aren't getting the things they want out of Washington. You take the absolute boldest claims being made by a poster and try to tie those to the absolutely must mundane aspects of the Republican party, as if anyone is still talking about policy, to try and make us seem like irrational idiots.

BDA's posts can be taken as a gauge of the current amount of tension in the world. If a previously calm, collected and optimistic moderator starts resorting to throwing around insults and predicting the end times, then you know the situation has deteriorated to the point of absolute horror. And I totally get his views, because I've been getting the same impression as him from watching the global political landscape, as well as the news regarding environmental issues. When you combine both, you realize that we may well be staring in the face of our own annihilation within the next 5 decades. Within our lifetimes! It could just be my own perception, but even when I move away from politics, I still see this same deterioration everywhere else. Some examples: the news on the environment, the fact that more and more movies seem to be derivative and/or garbage, Valve seemingly discarding their beloved franchises in pursuit of money, the dying of old communities I used to be part of, the disappearance of a feeling of community on the internet, the threat of this very forum closing down... and more personal aspects of my life that seems like they are stuck in an endless downwards spiral. To me, it truly feels like we are headed towards a great suffering the likes of which has never been seen before.

Two years has been long enough for Trump supporters to change their mind about the obviously narcissistic banana republic wannabee in power and the fascist, rapist congressmen that continue to fuck our country sideways. I don't see any further discussion that can change their minds when objectively factual information does not barely penetrate their grasp of reasoning.

Georgia just purged 350,000 voters from the registry under false pretenses. They're not the only ones. We've never seen such blatant voter suppression or on such a massive scale. Meanwhile, hostile foreign States continue to assault our democracy from the outside, and the GOP ha e not only refused to lock the doors, they've opened the windows. This is to say nothing of rampant gerrymandering. The GOP is doing everything that they possibly can to keep this election from being "free and open." You're a fool if you don't see that, and worse of you just don't care.

Lol if you think Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh are "originalists" you've clearly never actually looked into any of their judicial opinions. Gorsuch is pro-religious freedom to an extent that clearly violates separation of church and state (he ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby's contraceptive case, and is also fine with the Ten Commandments on public property). And Kavanaugh is perfectly okay with the NSA spying on everybody without a warrant which is a clear violation of the fourth amendment.

Boy aren't you going to be thrilled when Trumps term runs out. Unless you really think he's going to end up being re-elected or will somehow make himself president for life

If he manages to pull through a second time then that's either a victory on his part or a failure on the dems for picking someone just as bad as Trump. Again. But I'm sure that's just Fox Nation propaganda. Both sides are a strong argument for why we need less government and not more. But hey, that's just whataboutism

Oddly enough, after witnessing Kavanaugh's confirmation I feel more optimistic now than ever about the future of our country. That might sound insane, but I think the crucial difference is that during the hearings I was actually on the ground in DC protesting with real people while everyone else back home was glued to their screens feeling powerless. I think it's easy to fall into despair when you're engrossed in sensationalized headlines and political theater, which makes it more important now than ever to get away from our devices and get out in the real world to protest and organize. There's no better antidote to feeling powerless than taking action; canvassing your neighborhood, donating to good causes or campaigns, marching and protesting. Even something as simple as smiling and being friendly to others in public can be a revolutionary act. When we do those things we see that we are not alone, and that millions of people across this country are coming together, some for the first time, and rejecting Donald Trump's authoritarianism. November 6 will be the most important election of our lifetimes. The doomsday scenario is that Donald Trump capitalizes off of some emergency, real or manufactured, to suspend elections and consolidate power in an authoritarian regime - basically, a 21st-century Reichstag Fire. It's crucial to not only vote, but vote early if you can, because there's no telling what sort of trap could get sprung on us come election day. Even if the worst happens, and Donald Trump completes the regime change that he has been working toward for the past 2 years, we cannot give into despair. As long as we commit ourselves to resisting, we stand a chance. Authoritarians only win when the people give up.

how hard would it be for you to drop the shtick for 5 seconds and actually read what people tell you

Let me make this perfectly clear in case it's not: Trump isn't the disease. He's a symptom of it. Trump not officially declaring himself Dictator ad Infinitum is fucking irrelevant if the GOP seize upon the zealotry of their base to so heavily rig the system in their favor that our democracy continues to exist in nothing but name -- which is exactly what's happening.

Ew, pragmatism. Why would we ever do the sensible option when we can switch between two equally absurd polar opposites every decade?

Boy aren't you going to be ecstatic when Trump is dragged from the oval office and someone far worse and far more cunning, intelligent, and less publicly controversial takes his seat and plunges the United States into the darkest hours it has ever faced because folks like you live by a simple belief: 'that simply can't happen here'.

That's called owning the libs in the best way possible.

Let's be real hear - at that point it's not about 'owning the libs'. That's just the public mask which, if you rip it off, is simply: "Let the world end in fire; that is what it deserves."

Taken out of context, you could be mistaken for one of my obama-hating relatives: Irrationally dogmatic and a loyal subscriber to a narrow way of thinking. Not this comment in particular, but just the whole plethora.

I don't think Trump claiming himself Emperor is what we need to fear. I think the Congressional GOP hates him every bit as much as we do. They shower him with lavish praise to keep him amiable, but otherwise recognize that his only ongoing purpose to his radicalized base screaming MAGA. He is the textbook definition of a "useful idiot." But you don't have to abolish elections to end democracy -- you can just corrupt them. Russia has elections. Nobody in the free world considers them a legitimate democracy.

I think his point is that this doesn't actually explain what is driving today's instability for democracy. Keep in mind the democracy index has been stalling and reversing for years now as has distrust in institutions and faith in capitalism. In contrast, none of these things you describe are new and they are all are pretty par for the course for America's history of politics, especially as we developed. What you are describing are the flaws of democracy that have always been with us, it's penchant for degenerating into power struggle over the increasingly high stakes nature of social issues in a modern society. None of these things are the core of what has changed in recent history regarding the our internal balance of power, grossly divergent stakes in the future, etc. that has provoked great ideological and cultural conflict in the country. They are symptoms of it. From what I have observed of your posts, you do not really approach the problem beyond the point it doesn't frame liberals as conducting velvet revolution against hitler, who has fooled a population to vote against its own interests. Unfortunately, what changed doesn't really lend to liberal or progressive conclusions and has almost nothing to do with voting Democrat. Instead

The instability is due to propaganda networks meant to insulate the Republican party being co-opted by foreign governments to spread division throughout the country while ensuring that America recedes from the world stage -- allowing them a much desired moment to seize themselves out of the bad situation they've found themselves in.

Imo when the Supreme Court weakened the voting rights act it fucked up american democracy pretty good

Indiana has purged 400,000 voters under false pretenses. North Carolina is not only the most heavily gerrymandered state in the country, but is the most heavily gerrymandered geographic area in the entire fucking world, according to the international Electoral Integrity Project. They also just closed 20% of the polling locations in predominantly left-leaning minority counties. Nevada just purged 100,000 minority voter registrations. Georgia has passed absurdly restrictive voter ID laws that almost exclusively impact poor and minority voters, and has in the past few months caused over 50,000 poor and minority voter registration applications to be denied. Texas voted to strike down provisions of the Voting Rights Act that prohibit the state from suppressing minority votes, because "racism is not a factor anymore." Since this ruling, tens of thousands of minority voters have been purged utilizing previously illegal tactics. North Dakota essentially just fucking banned Native Americans from voting with one of the nation's most overtly targeted and absurdly restrictive Voter ID laws -- which specifically prohibits PO Boxes being valid as a mailing address for purposes of voter registration. Native American reservations are not included in the US postal services, and thus do not have mailable street addresses and must use PO Boxes. This alone affects 35,000 voters -- to say nothing of the state's other voter suppression efforts. Arizona is attempting to purge 500,000 voter registrations. All throughout the country, in the months prior to this election, Republican states have been purging voter registrations, instituting last minute changes to voting laws that prohibit voters from exercising their right conveniently, closing polling locations, and even worse. Furthermore, it is an established fact that hostile foreign nations are electronically attacking our voter registration databases and voting rolls. This isn't up for debate, it's happening. Not only has the GOP not approved a single dollar to be spent on defense against foreign hacking attempts, they've actually reduced election security measures, moved to transition more of the nation to systems that are known to be vulnerable/compromised, etc. You can gaslight until you're blue in the face, but this shit is happening. Yea, I'm fucking furious. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. I am absolutely fucking disgusted by what is happening in this country. Why the hell aren't you? Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, doesn't the fact that our democracy is on the bring of total collapse not cause serious fuckin' concern for you?

the fact that people could think something stupid doesn't mean that stupid thought is valid The reality is that the people here have been arguing for close to half a decade. And we've seen the same exact pattern play out again and again and again. Republicans find the specific position that allows them to get away with whatever shit they want to get away with. They stall out opposition with that argument, and then the moment it's no longer useful, they discard it and move onto the next one. They have no principles. They have no values. They will support anyone and any policy that they feel will benefit them, no matter what the cost is to other people. The good will has run out. You'd have to be a fucking moron to give the benefit of the doubt to a scorpion as it stings you.

Except for the simple fact that the overwhelming majority of policies and practices to suppress poor and minority voters is coming squarely from the Republican party, sure, it's "both sides." And no, this isn't a new thing, but it hasn't been this bad since fucking Jim Crow, dude. Over the last twenty years, with the rise of Fox News, it's been getting exponentially worse. Now, all pretense is dropped.The Republican party is apologetically attempting to rig our democracy -- most of which is in the name of "protecting" our democracy from voter fraud. Note that not even Trump's bullshit "Election Security" commission, which he ordered put together to hunt down voter fraud, was able to turn up any evidence of widespread voter fraud, and no more than a handful of individual cases.

That feeling when a black justice, who grew up in rural Georgia and doesn't even have English as a first language, who took the seat of the previous black justice, made it a lot harder for minorities in the south to vote.

Wow both of you guys are absolute fanatics. I'm sorry I'm just gonna allow youse guys to put your blinders back on and Ill put mine back on and we can go on our merry way. Sorry for wasting y'alls time.