The Political Thread

[Theblazeuk]

https://audioboom.com/posts/6063140-maligning-mika-savaging-psycho-joe

If you'd like to hear the comment JBC is referring to, read by Mark Hamill in the Joker's voice. As usual this is about 3-4 tweets of a rant you wouldn't believe is being made by the President of the United States, at the very least whilst in Office.

On a similar note the first tweet read in the Joker's voice really does sound like a supervillain's dialogue.

[Professor Bear]

they didn't learn from dubya.  What's happening next year?

The mid-term elections.
Lefties like to ignore Dubya's high approval ratings with working class Americans, though there was also nothing equivalent to the Obamacare repeal in Dubya's tenure.  As watered-down and awful as Obamacare is in comparison to healthcare provisions around the world that are cheaper, fairer, and more effective, Obamacare is still the only health coverage that an estimated 27 million Americans have ever had, and taking it away has made enemies of the working class slobs that can usually be relied upon to vote Republican come Hell or high water.  There are town hall meetings that were videoed and shared on social media where scarlet-faced rednecks screamed at their representatives as the room filled with angry cheers, and people aren't even dying yet.  Pro-Trump media is singularly failing to keep ahead of the blowback, and this is only going to get worse for the GOP.

[JayzusB.Christ]

they didn't learn from dubya.  What's happening next year?

The mid-term elections.
Lefties like to ignore Dubya's high approval ratings with working class Americans, though there was also nothing equivalent to the Obamacare repeal in Dubya's tenure.  As watered-down and awful as Obamacare is in comparison to healthcare provisions around the world that are cheaper, fairer, and more effective, Obamacare is still the only health coverage that an estimated 27 million Americans have ever had, and taking it away has made enemies of the working class slobs that can usually be relied upon to vote Republican come Hell or high water.  There are town hall meetings that were videoed and shared on social media where scarlet-faced rednecks screamed at their representatives as the room filled with angry cheers, and people aren't even dying yet.  Pro-Trump media is singularly failing to keep ahead of the blowback, and this is only going to get worse for the GOP.

Really? It looks to me as if a lot of the US working class are cheering on the removal of the best chance at half-chance healthcare they'll get.

[JayzusB.Christ]

*half-decent

[Jim_Campbell]

Really? It looks to me as if a lot of the US working class are cheering on the removal of the best chance at half-chance healthcare they'll get.

A non-trivial fraction of the US electorate still think the Affordable Care Act and ObamaCare are different things. They're enthusiastic over the demolition of ObamaCare, because it has his name on it and they're not because they're racists, nosireebob. By the time they realise they're cheering on the destruction of their own health insurance... well, never underestimate the stupidity of the electorate.*

*See: all the Brexit-supporting fruit farmers now saying "when I said I wanted an end to immigration, I didn't mean my immigrant workers..."

[Professor Bear]

Change certainly takes time, but if people are at the "gunning down Republicans" stage of political discourse, it's a good sign that media brainwashing is increasingly less effective.

[Michael Knight]

I know from family in the USA the worry folks have over insurance or lack of.
I know our system aint perfect but thank God for the NHS and i despise those politicians continuing to privatise via stealth.
Its worth noting that it aint just the Tories doing this, 'New' Labour and the bleeding Blairites continued to privatise much themselves. Dont get me started on 'Private Finance Initiatives' saddling NHS trusts with debt. I've lost my local A+E and our nearest cannot cope since 2 local A+E also closed.
Hands off our NHS!

[Professor Bear]

PFI was dead in the water under John Major, with the Tories reaching a collective agreement that their brand was so toxic by the mid-90s that they couldn't survive gutting the NHS.  Blair revived PFI when there was literally not a single reason to do so.

[Jim_Campbell]

Blair revived PFI when there was literally not a single reason to do so.

I suspect Brown was keen on it. Although it's a ruinously expensive way of financing public expenditure, it lets you keep capital spending off the 'debt' side of the government balance sheet, contributing to the appearance of fiscal prudence, even though it's really just creating a whole raft of deferred problems.

[Michael Knight]

Jim Campbell Professor Bear. Good points lads. Its criminal how they did that. Really messed up my local NHS trust

[Modern Panther]

President Donald Trump has criticised the growing number of US states refusing to pass on voters' details to his commission on electoral fraud.

"What are they trying to hide?", Mr Trump tweeted.

The panel, described by Mr Trump as "very distinguished," is chaired by Vice-President Mike Pence.

On Wednesday its vice-chair, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, sent a letter to the 50 US states and the District of Columbia requesting details from voter rolls including: names, addresses, dates of birth, political affiliation, last four digits of social security number, voting history since 2006, criminal convictions and military status.

[Professor Bear]

That's probably nothing to worry about, they just need the information for voter suppression like they implemented in 2016.

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

I can't imagine Trump accepting defeat in 2020. Much more likely that he'll do everything he can in the meantime to deny Democrats and moderate Republicans the vote.

[Modern Panther]

I don't think Trump is capable of conceiving defeat in 2020.  I honestly believe the man is unable to differentiate between "real" and "popular", so there simply must be massive electoral fraud underway, because the alternative is that he isn't loved by all right minded Americans.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Buzz Aldrin