Mega Thread The Random Thoughts Thread Part 2: Electric Portaloo

Who is your most hated set of twins in the AFL?


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Portology

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Those feelings are already disappearing, demographically. That's how the Republican party has ended up in this mess; they didn't effectively adjust to the demographic shifts signposted by the 2008 and 2012 elections so they created an environment where a whackjob candidate found a base to stir up.

But the Trump phenomenon is the deathrattle of a certain septic breed of entitled white patriarchy terrified about losing its privilege in the face of terrifying things like feminism and immigration. They are noisy and they are well resourced, but they are still a dying breed.
Yes - and that clock is ticking - the US has just become a non-white majority country this year, in terms of current births, but they don't start to vote for another 17 years (in some states a 17 year old can vote in primaries if they will be 18 by the time of the election).

However Trump is a symptom, not the phenomenon. So is the Tea Party, who he has outdone this one time around by reaching deep down into the pit of filth of fearful populism. How much more reasonable will the rump GOP seem when they find a not-Trump/not-Cruz for 2020? In the House and Senate the 2010-2012 gerrymanders in some states will keep the "death rattle" going for 10+ years longer than you may expect. The Koch brothers who are the high priests of said entitled white patriarchy have simply had to sit this one out for the long game while one wildcard wannabe Messiah whose dumb luck won't last as long as his lines of credit shits all over the temple. It's not just the money that corrupts US politics.

The gerrymander, which pre-dates Trump, was great rearguard work by GOP strategists at State levels after their 2008 disaster, but it was only made possible by a stupid faction of Democrats who let themselves to be sucked into agreeing to it, because after all they'd done it on a smaller scale in the past, and because sitting in artificially high margin seats increased their power in relative terms within the party. When people ask "Why did Obama get so little done?" apart from the usual listing of what he has got done, this gerrymander needs to be pointed at until it becomes a meme of injustice and corruption on its own. Hilary will run foul of it too, unless wildcard Donald manages to stir up so much reaction (=voter turnout) the other way that the gerrymander is overwhelmed in the local races. Look up an entertaining little book called "Rat****ed".

Worst case scenario thankfully looking less likely daily is Trump sneaks in by a nose, appoints a pliant SC judge to break the deadlock, gets appointment approved by a gerrymander-elected congress, at which point you can almost call time on democracy in the US for a while. Second worst case is a more palatable Tea Party/Koch stalking horse wins against a stymied-by-congress-at-every-turn Hilary in 2020 and attempts to stack the next SC vacancy.

If Hilary got nothing else done but a structural minimization of gerrymanders and some repeal of Citizens United (the SC ruling that says companies are simply groups of people, therefore have free speech rights like people, therefore can spend as they like on "indirectly" influencing elections) she will go down as one of the greatest presidents ever.

So the clock you speak of is ticking, but the death rattle is a little way off.

Lessons for OZ? Thank <insert deity or expletive here> for compulsory voting.

http://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/redrawing-america-gerrymandering-matters/
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/15/48215...rymandering-its-moneyball-applied-to-politics
 

chiwigi

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My prediction based on nothing: Hillary's term will not result in a lot of positives for the average working class American and if the GOP resorts to the status quo rather than pandering to the Trump, far right crowd then they will win in a landslide the next election.
The incumbent nearly always wins.
 

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LukeSA

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I got mine done after I inherited it from my Nan.

Teal !
Nice, I got given some new cloth when i bought the table and i am thinking of giving re-clothing it a go.

How much is it to get someone to come in and do it for you? I paid $600 for the table, it'll suck if costs just as much to get new cloth put on,
 

Papa G

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Didn't watch the Brock mini series cause I'm really not into car racing and that campaigner who plays Brock reminds me of that shit ******* awful show Offspring.

But I must admit I love those simple riffs from Take A Long line. edgie
 
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