American Politics: The Speaker's Cornered

[New haven america]

https://twitter.com/spencersoicher/status/1658646487385899009 I think it's official now.

...

what the fuck

[Pizza Friday Forever91]

From what I can tell, Williams was a moderate-ish republican and Yemi Mobolade is an independent but is allied with the democrats.

[Pizza Friday Forever91]

Also just thought I should mention that Mobolade is from Nigeria.

[Corrian]

From what I can tell, Williams was a moderate-ish republican and Yemi Mobolade is an independent but is allied with the democrats.

Pretty easy win for what I've heard is a more conservative city? Has that changed recently?

[Pizza Friday Forever91]

From what I can tell, Williams was a moderate-ish republican and Yemi Mobolade is an independent but is allied with the democrats.

Pretty easy win for what I've heard is a more conservative city? Has that changed recently?

it has been getting less republican and iirc Jared Polis got close to winning El Paso outright.

[Urkennalaid]

The US has promised to pay a bunch of people money, but is running out of money to pay people. In order to pay people the money that is owed to them the Treasury wants to borrow money, but needs a new law to be passed to do this. Between the House, Senate, and President the law to allow borrowing hasn't been passed yet. Estimates are that some time in June the US runs out of money and some terrible things happen if it can't pay people the money that is owed.
People are negotiating, but haven't gotten anywhere yet.

All the more concerning because the nonaligned world is dumping the dollar. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine I thought everything they touched turned to shit, but BRICS actually got some middle powers together to do something for once. I remember discussing how a SWIFT ban was a bad idea because it contradicts the free global trade US primacy rests on, and now we're seeing the results of that. Turns out trade and finance are political after all.

BRICS isn't like an alliance, it's basically just an economical treaty really, and if anything, China is using Russia as far as they can throw them. But I mean, if countries wanna get off the US dollar, I don't care. The US has always economically ravaged countries that it doesn't like or that doesn't agree with Western hegemony. If these countries want to prosper, they should be able to without American interference. Also, international finance and trade has ALWAYS been political. Always.

[Corrian]

Pretty easy win for what I've heard is a more conservative city? Has that changed recently?

it has been getting less republican and iirc Jared Polis got close to winning El Paso outright.

I'm seeing people saying Yemi is conservative-aligned and I'm seeing people say he's Democrat-aligned and now I'm confused.

[Pizza Friday Forever91]

Pretty sure the I and C in BRICS hate each other.

[Tarsonis]

Also just thought I should mention that Mobolade is from Nigeria.

Badass

[Pizza Friday Forever91]

it has been getting less republican and iirc Jared Polis got close to winning El Paso outright.

I'm seeing people saying Yemi is conservative-aligned and I'm seeing people say he's Democrat-aligned and now I'm confused.

I think he's democrat-aligned.

[Pizza Friday Forever91]

Yemi is a nigerian Immigrant small business owner who is also a pastor. So you know just an average background for a new mayor I guess.

[Khurkhogur]

"People who criticized Sanders from the left didn't support Clinton" - but it's functionally the same thing. Unless you're ignorant of some basic political realities, the only purpose attacking Sanders would serve is to strengthen Clinton's campaign. That's it. Not even a republican would have any valid practical reason to publicly attack Sanders during the primary.

Americans sometimes seem to have a problem whereby they act like jaded players of a cynical political game, and expect others to do likewise. The problem being that you are not a player in this game. People talking politics online are just that, not political operatives campaigning and trying to use the best messaging to sway the public. People expressing their sincere political beliefs are not playing the game wrong to the detriment of "their candidate".

Surprisingly, people talk and people vote. I actually do believe that individuals have very little choice or influence over the broad strokes of political and historical developments, but something minor like Bernie's defeat? Obviously activists and even lower-level political thinking can influence that. And don't underestimate people, they understood very well that the weaker Bernie was, the stronger Clinton would be. When it comes to activists and influencers especially, that matters.

I remember seeing shit like that happen in 2016 on places like r/socialism. That happened. I don't know on what scale exactly, but the fact that Jeremy Corbyn was disowned by the Labour party around the same time tells me that it's a wider, serious trend.

Corbyn was the leader of the Labour party from 2015 to 2020, and he resigned that position after poor electoral results following sabotage from the right wing of the party and incessant attacks by Britain's right wing press. So I don't think that your experiences on Reddit are reflective of left wing politics in the Anglosphere generally.

Lying by omission, huh? Corbyn was also expelled (not even demoted, expelled) from his seat and suspended by his own party. You cannot tell me that that happened without some sort of broader animosity towards him. If it was bad election results that did him in, he would've just ended being a backbench MP. He was basically exiled. Sanders and Corbyn are old white men. This has earned them tons of hatred from their own erstwhile allies, while billion dollar bailouts and war crimes can't even put a dent in Obama's reputation. It's pretty obvious, stop acting like you don't see it.

No, that pretty much describes the bulk of BLM activists. Often based off of college campuses and generally holding those views. I don't really have a problem with generalizing them because I'd be right more often than not.

You continue to make people up and assume they exist rather than describe real people.

People fit into categories, that's not my fault.

Yeahhh, the biggest show of support you could make is hijacking someone's speech and telling them to shut up and listen. They just really wanted him to endorse their movement, that's all. Not kick his campaign in the balls (which they successfully achieved mind you)

This would certainly be the first time that I've seen someone attribute Sanders' defeat in the 2016 primary to BLM disrupting one campaign speech of his. Generally people say he lost because he's too far left or because the DNC had it out for him.

Where did I attribute his defeat to them? They emasculated him and made him look pathetic. That's what I meant by "kicked in the balls," not that they singlehandedly ended his campaign. They did make him look weak though, it's not like they did no damage either.

I don't know if you're being disingenuous or wilfully ignorant or what? They're yelling and chanting defiant slogans at Sanders. They're pushing him out of his own speech. They're mobbing him. It's not a show of support, they're shitting on him. I don't recall the BLM movement ever showing up and hijacking a Clinton rally so they could "educate" her.

They stopped her from speaking for ten minutes at this rally. They crashed this private fundraiser. They went for Bill as well.

I didn't know about these cases - that's fair enough. Although I don't think they were ever front page news the way Sanders' case was, but I guess you can chalk that up to media finagling. It's funny because I ended up seeing it the way the media wanted me to see it. Everyone can recall the image of Bernie Sanders sitting in the corner like a punished schoolboy while his speech got taken over. So I'll concede this one.

[San Lumen]

https://kdvr.com/news/local/election-re ... ngs-mayor/

Yemi Mobolade defeats Wayne Williams in Colorado Springs mayoral race

[Khurkhogur]

Pretty sure the I and C in BRICS hate each other.

Not enough to not undermine the dollar, clearly. Nobody thinks BRICS is gonna turn into NATO, but they did pretty much just kick the dollar in the teeth.

All the more concerning because the nonaligned world is dumping the dollar. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine I thought everything they touched turned to shit, but BRICS actually got some middle powers together to do something for once. I remember discussing how a SWIFT ban was a bad idea because it contradicts the free global trade US primacy rests on, and now we're seeing the results of that. Turns out trade and finance are political after all.

BRICS isn't like an alliance, it's basically just an economical treaty really, and if anything, China is using Russia as far as they can throw them. But I mean, if countries wanna get off the US dollar, I don't care. The US has always economically ravaged countries that it doesn't like or that doesn't agree with Western hegemony. If these countries want to prosper, they should be able to without American interference. Also, international finance and trade has ALWAYS been political. Always.

The problem is that the US relies on free trade and its dominance in that arena to prosper and maintain its hegemony. That's what hegemony is, the ability to manipulate and fulfill the interests of others to your own advantage. The dollar failing weakens the US' position in the free trade system significantly - but gaining direct control over global trade would be incredibly expensive and straining on the US. The days of trading empires like the British or French empires is over. Controlling trade partners directly or by force is not feasible for the US at the moment.
And yes, I agree that finance and trade is political, that's literally my whole point. Neoliberal ideologues liked to claim that free trade was apolitical and just business. But that's been shown to be a lie by the SWIFT debacle.

[San Lumen]

Another Kentucky call

Republican Agriculture commissioner: Jonathan Shell

https://www.wtae.com/article/sara-innam ... 3/43910357

Sara Innamorato projected to win Democratic nomination in Allegheny County executive race.

Pittsburgh is the county seat and she will be the favorite in the general election. She would be the first woman to hold the position.

[San Lumen]

https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania- ... -district/

Democrat Heather Boyd wins special election in Pennsylvania HD-163 keeping the house for Democrats. They only have a one seat majority.

https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania- ... -district/


https://apnews.com/article/philadelphia ... ca834d4306
Cherelle Parker wins Democratic primary for Philadelphia mayor. She will face Republican David Oh and is the heavy favorite to be the cities first woman mayor.

The last Republican to win was Bernard Samuel who was elected in 1943 and re-elected four years later.

[Elwher]

Can anyone explain on what's happening with the US debt ceiling and whether there is progress for that?

The US has promised to pay a bunch of people money, but is running out of money to pay people. In order to pay people the money that is owed to them the Treasury wants to borrow money, but needs a new law to be passed to do this. Between the House, Senate, and President the law to allow borrowing hasn't been passed yet. Estimates are that some time in June the US runs out of money and some terrible things happen if it can't pay people the money that is owed.

People are negotiating, but haven't gotten anywhere yet.

In order to pay the people we borrowed money from, we generally borrow more money. It's sort of like taking a cash advance on your credit card to pay this month's credit card bill.

[San Lumen]

Some more calls from Kentucky

Agriculture Commissioner Democrat: Sierra Enlow

Auditor Republican: Allison Ball. She will face Democrat Kimberley "Kim" Reeder

Secretary of State Republican; Michael Adams . His opponents were both election deniers. he will face Democrat and former state rep Charles "Buddy" Wheatley

Treasurer Republican: Mark Metcalf. He will face Democrat Michael E. Bowman.

[San Lumen]

The US has promised to pay a bunch of people money, but is running out of money to pay people. In order to pay people the money that is owed to them the Treasury wants to borrow money, but needs a new law to be passed to do this. Between the House, Senate, and President the law to allow borrowing hasn't been passed yet. Estimates are that some time in June the US runs out of money and some terrible things happen if it can't pay people the money that is owed.

People are negotiating, but haven't gotten anywhere yet.

In order to pay the people we borrowed money from, we generally borrow more money. It's sort of like taking a cash advance on your credit card to pay this month's credit card bill.

So stop borrowing money and adding to the debt. Take the credit card away and say you can't borrow anymore. Spend within your means. Pay bills as we have the money and if that means interest payments and other bills are missed and treasury bonds are no longer risk free i don't care. Crack the very foundation of the financial system and wallop markets worldwide and maybe we will make a better system that isn't based around one countries debt.

[Spirit of Hope]

The US has promised to pay a bunch of people money, but is running out of money to pay people. In order to pay people the money that is owed to them the Treasury wants to borrow money, but needs a new law to be passed to do this. Between the House, Senate, and President the law to allow borrowing hasn't been passed yet. Estimates are that some time in June the US runs out of money and some terrible things happen if it can't pay people the money that is owed.

People are negotiating, but haven't gotten anywhere yet.

In order to pay the people we borrowed money from, we generally borrow more money. It's sort of like taking a cash advance on your credit card to pay this month's credit card bill.

Sort of, though payments on the debt represent only about 13% of federal spending. It would probably be better to say that federal income is rather variable over the course of the year and short term debt is used to smooth over that variable income and long term debt is used to pay for the gap between government expenditures and income.

[Spirit of Hope]

In order to pay the people we borrowed money from, we generally borrow more money. It's sort of like taking a cash advance on your credit card to pay this month's credit card bill.

So stop borrowing money and adding to the debt. Take the credit card away and say you can't borrow anymore. Spend within your means. Pay bills as we have the money and if that means interest payments and other bills are missed and treasury bonds are no longer risk free i don't care. Crack the very foundation of the financial system and wallop markets worldwide and maybe we will make a better system that isn't based around one countries debt.

THATS NOT HOW THIS WORKS!

Defaulting on the debt isn't taking the credit card away, it's failing to pay the credit card. It is not paying people, mostly Americans, money that is owed to them. Why do you like the idea of the government not paying money it owes to people?

Not like people can take government to the debt collector, government has the army and police. You're basically saying the government should take money, promise to pay it back, and then stick a gun in people's face and say "nope, you aren't getting shit." In what world is that ok with you?

[San Lumen]

So stop borrowing money and adding to the debt. Take the credit card away and say you can't borrow anymore. Spend within your means. Pay bills as we have the money and if that means interest payments and other bills are missed and treasury bonds are no longer risk free i don't care. Crack the very foundation of the financial system and wallop markets worldwide and maybe we will make a better system that isn't based around one countries debt.

THATS NOT HOW THIS WORKS!

Defaulting on the debt isn't taking the credit card away, it's failing to pay the credit card. It is not paying people, mostly Americans, money that is owed to them. Why do you like the idea of the government not paying money it owes to people?

Not like people can take government to the debt collector, government has the army and police. You're basically saying the government should take money, promise to pay it back, and then stick a gun in people's face and say "nope, you aren't getting shit." In what world is that ok with you?

Take away half the budget of the military and it would likely be more than enough to cover the costs.

[Deblar]

In order to pay the people we borrowed money from, we generally borrow more money. It's sort of like taking a cash advance on your credit card to pay this month's credit card bill.

So stop borrowing money and adding to the debt. Take the credit card away and say you can't borrow anymore. Spend within your means. Pay bills as we have the money and if that means interest payments and other bills are missed and treasury bonds are no longer risk free i don't care. Crack the very foundation of the financial system and wallop markets worldwide and maybe we will make a better system that isn't based around one countries debt.

So…you want the global economy to collapse as a “gottem”? Surely there’s a better way to “crack the foundation” that doesn’t involve irreparably tanking the economy for your sick pleasure.

[Spirit of Hope]

Take away half the budget of the military and it would likely be more than enough to cover the costs.

Getting rid of the military budget entirely wouldn't solve the debt problem we are facing right now. The debt limit isn't "we are spending to much and going into debt" it's "we have promised to make payments and need to make them." Eliminating spending doesn't solve the second problem because you are still without money to pay the people that are owed money right now!

[San Lumen]

Take away half the budget of the military and it would likely be more than enough to cover the costs.

Getting rid of the military budget entirely wouldn't solve the debt problem we are facing right now. The debt limit isn't "we are spending to much and going into debt" it's "we have promised to make payments and need to make them." Eliminating spending doesn't solve the second problem because you are still without money to pay the people that are owed money right now!

So we delay some payments and pay what we can. Stop adding to the debt which only keeps growing start paying it back.