US Politics

Yeah sure, they're not anything close to any kind of optimum.

I think its suggesting that state lines (or Kantons) are abitary divisions drawn on a map and it could be argued that they are not really representative of the people who inhabit them

Who are 'the Democrats'? They don't have an opposition leader like we do so until there's a candidate you don't know what they will promise. That's the argument they are having among themselves; whether to go with Bernie Sanders style radical policies or win from the middle. Though the 'middle' in the US is even further to the right than it is here.

Ahaha. Yeah no, the complete opposite is true. The political subdivision in Switzerland is the result of centuries of history and in no way arbitrary. There's been literal terrorism over whether one part (Jura) was supposed to belong to the Kanton Bern or not - people take this very very seriously.

The US has a bit less history behind it, but it's still completely divorced from reality to claim that state lines are completely arbitrary now. They may have been once upon a time, but that was a long time ago and people definitely do identify with states now.

To elaborate on that, I've grown pretty tired of the 'philosophers' going 'no borders' etc. Well that's cool and it would be nice and everything, but it's just not what's actually going on. "It's all arbitrary man". Yeah so is the decimal system, but it's what we use so let's just move on.

The US Senate system could be made better if both senators for a state were elected at the same time using a multi-member proportional representation system. States with a mix of Reps and Dems would elect one of each. Of course the Republicans would never vote for such a change.
The Australian Senate uses a PR system to elect 6 senators per state. It is very complex and can lead to a total pantomime as when senators switch parties immediately after being elected.

States with a mix of Reps and Dems would elect one of each.

Isn't that just every state with few exceptions? I'd guess in most of them you're closer to a proportional representation if you put up one Dem and one Rep rather than two of either of them.

https://twitter.com/TPMLiveWire/status/1060223196304195589/video/1

surreal even by Trump standards.

So is this a good win for Trump or a very good win for Trump?
There was no Blue Wave. He concentrated on winning the Senate and has increased the Republican majority from 2 to maybe 6 or 8. The Republican senators who disliked Trump are dead or gone. As he continues to rule by Executive Order the Senate will do nothing to frustrate him.
The smaller than expected Democratic majority in the House will try to frustrate him but that will just give him more and more points to demonize the Democrats in his 2020 election rallies, which probably start right away.

It doesn't. As soon as you divide up a nation state into different little chunks for voting purposes, arbitrary lines on a map is exactly what you're going to get.

Some right wing outlets and republicans are saying that Acosta assaulted the staffer who tried to take the microphone.

One called it a karate chop!

of course they are. gaslighting their audience is their stock in trade, and it fucking works by all accounts.

I hope this ends any future talk of a red wave or a blue wave for good. It's a fantasy.

Apparently that freak Jeff Sessions has resigned (or perhaps been 'fired')

@Charlie_L it seems bad for him working on historically how american politics work, usually presidents get at least the full first time with a same party government before the american public revolt against it in the second term

Switzerland yeah I get it, but the USA has a lot of straight line borders, which looks like a carve up not the borders built by cultural identity.
I guess in one sense The Union depends on the states having an equal footing in some capacity (even if there are more cows than people in some states). At the same time there is surely a better way to represent both the people and the States’ rights.

Definitely fired. Trump hits a new low.

I thought Trump condoned assault involving members of the press

Trying to hide the analysis of why amongst the election fallout, no doubt

next stop, handing mueller his p45?

That would be a brave move after today's results, the House could quite easily appoint Mueller to lead their own investigation.

Rosenstein next - Whitaker appointed as acting Attorney Gen, rather than the deputy

Agree - he wants the investigation hamstrung at this stage, rather than quashed

He wants to do everything to fuck it up ahead of January when the Democrats actually take the house. Especially as Don Jr is on the chopping block.

Until then, expect the highest level of cuntiness and skulduggery.

Deeply fucked up.

Shame it will actually motivate his base.

We are seeing the backfire effect on a national level.

I genuinely think that Drumph and his base feed off this shit, it just makes him stronger.

It's fucking terrifying to watch.

Edit: I don't actually speak in such short sentences normally.

Bad.

So bad.

Short sentences, the worst.

My sentences are big.

They're the biggest.

They're bigly big.