This Is A Very Revealing Quote About The Current Dark State Of The Republican Party (2 Viewers)

[Kerry Won Ohio]

God help us if the Republican Party is ever in power again. This is what a Republican official in Pennsylvania apparently said yesterday. --

David Ball, the chair of the Washington County GOP, vented his anger at Sen. Pat Toomey, fellow Republican of Pennsylvania, who committed the apostasy of joining six other GOP senators in voting to convict former president Donald Trump of inciting insurrection.

“We did not send him (Sen Toomey) there to vote his conscience,” Ball said on Monday. “We did not send him there to do the right thing or whatever he said he was doing. We sent him there to represent us.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/16/david-ball-toomey-pennsylvania-gop/

This tells you everything you need to know about the current evil, fascist nature of the Republican Party. They must NEVER control Congress or the White House ever again. If they do, democracy is over in this country.

 

[Optimus Prime]

it's a nice definition, but Jimmy Carter is probably the shining example of that and it's hard to describe him as a leader -
even though a tremendous amount of our current issues - both in terms of energy and foreign affairs - are the direct and indirect result in not listening to him
i would argue Carter is more a moral compass than leader

the CNN documentary on Jimmy Carter was fascinating

 

[SaulGoodmanEsq]

That seems a rather... odd.. definition of Nationalism, Barbar. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as...

Nationalism: noun: identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.

It doesn't say anything about resisting change.

I'm curious as to whether you support independence for Scotland and a united Ireland.

 

[DaveXA]

I'm curious as to whether you support independence for Scotland and a united Ireland.

Ohhh, that's gonna ruffle some feathers! Lol.

 

[Roofgardener]

I'm curious as to whether you support independence for Scotland and a united Ireland.

Interesting question. I'm not entirely sure.

I think independence for Scotland would be a bad deal for the Scottish, as I'm not convinced that they could survive economically. However, if they all want independence, then I wouldn't stand against it. From an English point of view, it wouldn't make much difference, socially or economically, depending on how the (declining) Oil revenues where divvied up.

In regards Ireland; well, that is a nest of thorns. Historically, Northern Ireland was - effectively - an English colony; we invaded and annexed it. (though we where originally invited over there by one Irish clan that sought a military advantage over another clan). However, I believe the bulk of current Northern Ireland citizens do NOT want a united Ireland ? So who's in the right ? Beats me.

The fact that the UK government is effectively allowing a United Ireland in slow motion just muddles things. I suspect that within 20 years or so, Ireland will be - de facto - united anyway.

Where do I stand on it ? I honestly don't know. If re-unification could be achieved WITHOUT bloodshed, or the "Protestant" population of Northern Ireland being marginalised or displace, then.. well.. why not ?

From a narrow parochial viewpoint - as an Englishman - the UK economy would be better off without NI. We give NI a grant equal to the old EU yearly payements.. about £9 billion per year. Indeed, England (without Wales, Scotland and NI) would be considerably better off every year. But perhaps there is more to it than the 'bottom line' ?

Sorry if that's a bit of a rambling answer.

 

[Goatman saint]

I detest the idea of patriotism. It gets wrapped up in an idea that the US is the greatest country in the world. Love it or leave it. My dad, and I, believe the opposite. The US could be a lot better, but it needs work. How can we call ourselves a great country, the best country when our population has as many issues as it does? I mean we have some very serious problems in this country- homeless, mental health, poverty, in places education, racism all sorts of stuff. But if a person starts criticizing the country on how it needs to solve these structural issues then you’re met with the whole dissing the country by your people who resemble flag vomit.

 

[Roofgardener]

I detest the idea of patriotism. It gets wrapped up in an idea that the US is the greatest country in the world. Love it or leave it. My dad, and I, believe the opposite. The US could be a lot better, but it needs work. How can we call ourselves a great country, the best country when our population has as many issues as it does? I mean we have some very serious problems in this country- homeless, mental health, poverty, in places education, racism all sorts of stuff. But if a person starts criticizing the country on how it needs to solve these structural issues then you’re met with the whole dissing the country by your people who resemble flag vomit.

Can't both propositions be true simultaneously ? That the USA has problems, but that - on balance - every other country on the planet has worse problems, and therefore the USA is the best ?

 

[Optimus Prime]

I detest the idea of patriotism. It gets wrapped up in an idea that the US is the greatest country in the world. Love it or leave it. My dad, and I, believe the opposite. The US could be a lot better, but it needs work. How can we call ourselves a great country, the best country when our population has as many issues as it does? I mean we have some very serious problems in this country- homeless, mental health, poverty, in places education, racism all sorts of stuff. But if a person starts criticizing the country on how it needs to solve these structural issues then you’re met with the whole dissing the country by your people who resemble flag vomit.

Lord I miss this show, would have been interesting to see how they covered 2016 election and trump admin

 

[donato]

Can't both propositions be true simultaneously ? That the USA has problems, but that - on balance - every other country on the planet has worse problems, and therefore the USA is the best ?

In an imaginary world sure, why not.

 

[DaveXA]

I detest the idea of patriotism. It gets wrapped up in an idea that the US is the greatest country in the world. Love it or leave it. My dad, and I, believe the opposite. The US could be a lot better, but it needs work. How can we call ourselves a great country, the best country when our population has as many issues as it does? I mean we have some very serious problems in this country- homeless, mental health, poverty, in places education, racism all sorts of stuff. But if a person starts criticizing the country on how it needs to solve these structural issues then you’re met with the whole dissing the country by your people who resemble flag vomit.

Me personally, I'm less interested in the idea that the US is the best, or even great. I'm more interested in how we can make our country, a country that I love, better and more able to face the challenges we have. I think you can be patriotic and love the country and address the structural issues she has. I think it's because we care enough about our country to acknowledge our problems and to address them head on.

Thinking that there are a lot of problems exist and that we aren't the best at any given thing isn't being unpatriotic. Rather, I think it's being honest about where we are as a country.

There's a significant difference between patriotism and nationalism. But I think we have a tendency to confuse the two.

 

[barbar]

That seems a rather... odd.. definition of Nationalism, Barbar. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as...

Nationalism: noun: identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.

It doesn't say anything about resisting change.

Ok. I am pretty sure you get my point.

 

[barbar]

separatism, secessionism, partitionism, isolationism, patriotism, patriotic sentiment, allegiance to one's country, loyalty to one's country, loyalism, nationality
xenophobia, chauvinism, jingoism, flag-waving, ethnocentrism, ethnocentricity

These are the synonyms that your cited dictionary uses
Resistance to change seems embedded in most of those ideas

Bingo. Pick your poison.

Stop playing semantics when you fully understand the point being made.

 

[Kerry Won Ohio]

Can't both propositions be true simultaneously ? That the USA has problems, but that - on balance - every other country on the planet has worse problems, and therefore the USA is the best ?

Maybe I would have agreed with that 30 years ago. However, we can't even do basic government stuff anymore, like adequately take care of our people after natural disasters -- Hurricane Katrina proved that. Our infrastructure is crumbling around us, bridges collapsing all the time. We handled COVID far worse than any industrialized country on the planet, and probably worse than any country on the planet. Only a couple of countries like Brazil might be able to compete with the U.S. when it comes to dealing with COVID the worse. We get involved in wars that never end, like in Iraq and Afghanistan. I haven't even talked about our tax structure or the exploding national debt. I could go on and on.

But, of course, the common denominator for everything that I just described is that demonic, incompetent political party from hell -- the Republican Party.

The U.S. is essentially a Third World country now with the most powerful military in the world. Definitely not a healthy situation. The only hope is if Democrats control Congress and the White House for at least the next decade, hopefully longer than that.

 

[Roofgardener]

Maybe I would have agreed with that 30 years ago. However, we can't even do basic government stuff anymore, like adequately take care of our people after natural disasters -- Hurricane Katrina proved that. Our infrastructure is crumbling around us, bridges collapsing all the time. We handled COVID far worse than any industrialized country on the planet, and probably worse than any country on the planet.

That is simply not true ?

We get involved in wars that never end, like in Iraq and Afghanistan. I haven't even talked about our tax structure or the exploding national debt. I could go on and on.

But, of course, the common denominator for everything that I just described is that demonic, incompetent political party from hell -- the Republican Party.

The U.S. is essentially a Third World country now with the most powerful military in the world. Definitely not a healthy situation. The only hope is if Democrats control Congress and the White House for at least the next decade, hopefully longer than that.

Oh please. The USA has its problems, but to call it a "3rd world country" is an incredible statement. And getting involved in unwise and unwinnable wars is hardly a new thing. I believe it was Democratic presidents that presided over the escalation of the Vietnam conflict from a few military advisors, to operation Rolling Thunder ? And it was a Democratic Congress that passed the laws limiting the presidents power, ultimately leading to the fall of Saigon. (for better or worse).

 

[Roofgardener]

Bingo. Pick your poison.

Stop playing semantics when you fully understand the point being made.

The "point being made" was in error. Patriotism is NOT synonymous with Conservativism.

 

[Xeno]

That is simply not true ?

Are you admitting that the UK response was worse than the US? Because that's about the only comparison, but even then the UK faired far better than the US. Russia's another fair argument since we don't know the true number of cases they've experienced but estimates have been at least ten times higher than what they've reported.

It is absolutely true that the US had one of the worst responses imaginable. It's bordering on miraculous that our vaccine rollout is going as well as it is now.

As for the rest of @Kerry Won Ohio's post, I invite you to visit Louisiana. You'll know when you get here when your car drops into the first massive pothole in all of our roads.

 

[Roofgardener]

Are you admitting that the UK response was worse than the US? Because that's about the only comparison, but even then the UK faired far better than the US. Russia's another fair argument since we don't know the true number of cases they've experienced but estimates have been at least ten times higher than what they've reported.

No. Here are the (current) figures. The USA is ninth. .(and yes, it did better than the UK).

It is absolutely true that the US had one of the worst responses imaginable. It's bordering on miraculous that our vaccine rollout is going as well as it is now.

Far from "absolutely true", that is absolutely FALSE. The worse response imaginable was Belgium. The USA was 9th.

As for the rest of @Kerry Won Ohio's post, I invite you to visit Louisiana. You'll know when you get here when your car drops into the first massive pothole in all of our roads.

We have large pot holes as well. We give them names, such as Birmingham.

 

[Taurus]

Are you admitting that the UK response was worse than the US? Because that's about the only comparison, but even then the UK faired far better than the US. Russia's another fair argument since we don't know the true number of cases they've experienced but estimates have been at least ten times higher than what they've reported.

It is absolutely true that the US had one of the worst responses imaginable. It's bordering on miraculous that our vaccine rollout is going as well as it is now.

As for the rest of @Kerry Won Ohio's post, I invite you to visit Louisiana. You'll know when you get here when your car drops into the first massive pothole in all of our roads.

I didnt notice potholes so much as the trash.
I love Louisiana but my god...do you have no landfills? Is the whole road system just one big dump?

 

[Kerry Won Ohio]

No. Here are the (current) figures. The USA is ninth. .(and yes, it did better than the UK).


Far from "absolutely true", that is absolutely FALSE. The worse response imaginable was Belgium. The USA was 9th.


We have large pot holes as well. We give them names, such as Birmingham.

I don't see your figures. Provide a link that shows the U.S. response to COVID was the 9th worse.