Random Politics

[Ab]

Well this “Native American protestor harassed by white kids” story is a 2019-level clusterfuck of fail.

[Nich]

We have reached peak bizzaro news. Whatever you read, the opposite is the truth.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

Well this “Native American protestor harassed by white kids” story is a 2019-level clusterfuck of fail.

The whole business was too cringe for me to pay attention to the substance (or lack thereof.)

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Nich

We have reached peak bizzaro news. Whatever you read, the opposite is the truth.

But why do the mainstream media outlets fall for this EVERY TIME? Why can’t they just not be the shit that the MAGA nuts say they are?

[Nich]

MAGA nuts probably started the whole thing knowing how sweet it would be to show the full context once everyone is sufficiently angry.

[Ab]

Oh, I have no doubt that 90% of the highest-visibility social media posts about this will be Russian govt sock puppets.

But the media walk right into this shit every time. GOTTA GET THE CLICKS. Nobody ever goes "hey maybe we should see if there's unedited video...? background the people involved...?"

[Ab]

Left twitter got plaaaaaaaaayed

[pxpx]

So uh, what exactly happened?

[Juju]

Originally Posted by pxpx

So uh, what exactly happened?

A russian/brazilian puppet twitter account posted a video of kids in MAGA hats 'harassing' a native indian. Shit goes viral, everyone hates on MAGA movement.
New video comes out showing kids weren't harassing him and surprise surprise, there was a shit ton more context to the video which explained the situation. Everyone acts surprised.

[Ab]

The Media Botched the Covington Catholic Story
And the damage to their credibility will be lasting.

[StN]

Originally Posted by Juju

A russian/brazilian puppet twitter account posted a video of kids in MAGA hats 'harassing' a native indian. Shit goes viral, everyone hates on MAGA movement.
New video comes out showing kids weren't harassing him and surprise surprise, there was a shit ton more context to the video which explained the situation. Everyone acts surprised.

Then some nice blonde all American girls posted video of them being cat called and hassled by the same boisterous bunch on their anti-abortion pilgrimage. All I see is a microcosm of what people expect the US to be like right now.

Although that link goes on to say that the kid in the first video got Daddy to pay for a PR firm to spin his side, and the PR firm is run by a guy with connections to CNN so it seems even MAGA cronies use fake news??? That confuses me - aren't CNN Trump's nemesis - or have they been a sleeper antagonist cell all along and DT has been a master manipulator? Nah - just dumb luck I think. And Russians.

[Lightspeed]

Government doesn't understand e-commerce rules

[Cyberbob]

[fixed_truth]

Labour have shot ahead of National in the latest Newshub/Reid Research poll, and Judith Collins has overtaken Simon Bridges in the preferred PM stakes.

The poll has Labour at 47.5 per cent, ahead of National at 41.6 per cent. The Greens sat at 5.1 per cent and NZ First at 2.9 per cent.

This would allow Labour and the Greens to govern alone.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/pol...al-in-new-poll

Ouch. Thanks . . . Jamie-Lee Ross?

[Nich]

Joe Rogan Experience #1245 - Andrew Yang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTsEzmFamZ8

Democratic presidential candidate for 2020:
- Realist on the economic impact of automation
- Has a sound plan to fund UBI (tech / data industry dividends)
- Data-driven

It's going to be damn interesting to see how the next presidential election will go. Mainstream media and late night funny talk shows have shit the bed and driven their credibility into the ground.

MSNBC and CNN are actively pretending that the likes of Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang don't even exist. Well maybe the world is tired of mainstream news telling people what someone said and what they meant. Also Tulsi Gabbard is already a Russian agent ... *yawn*

[Nich]

Meanwhile in France:

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/la...er-parent-1-2/

Let the battle begin to decide who will be Parent #1

[fixed_truth]

I guess it's just another one of those gender reclassification things that doesn't affect most people but helps a small group.

I don't think that the parent numbers are ranking who's best so it shouldn't be a big deal unless you choose it to be. Say like who's name goes first on a joint utility bill.

[blynk]

So what defines a child only having 2 parents?

[crocos]

It takes a village to raise a child.

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Ab

But why do the mainstream media outlets fall for this EVERY TIME? Why can’t they just not be the shit that the MAGA nuts say they are?

#smollett

[Nich]

Gad Saad was assaulted as he exits the gym in a terrible display of antisemitism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsDDJlskEHU

[Nich]

The true cost of faked hate crimes
Should we punish fraudulent victims as vigorously as real criminals?
Douglas Murray

https://spectator.us/faked-hate-crimes/

[Ab]

The Chicago police said Wednesday they now consider Jussie Smollett, the “Empire” actor who said he was the victim of a hate crime, a suspect amid allegations that he had actually staged the assault he reported in January.

Law enforcement officials said they had begun presenting evidence to a grand jury in what now appears to be a case where investigators believe Mr. Smollett falsely reported being attacked.

Mr. Smollett, who is black and openly gay, had told the police that, while walking in downtown Chicago, he had been confronted by masked white men who hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him, and announced it was “MAGA country,” a reference to President Trump’s campaign slogan.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/20/a...?partner=IFTTT

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Nich

Should we punish fraudulent victims as vigorously as real criminals?

Arbitrarily?

[Nich]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Arbitrarily?

"Filing a false police report in Illinois is technically referred to as disorderly conduct and can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. In Mr. Smollett’s case, the police statement said that the grand jury was considering a felony count, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison."

That should do it.

It was Smollett's intention to make this get as as wide coverage as possible so he got more streams on Spotify or whatever the fuck he was thinking. Everyone fell for it, and now everyone feels like they've been tricked. Smollett has significantly contributed to the next true hate crime getting dismissed by many who don't want to be fooled again.

[Lightspeed]

I was suggesting we punish real criminals arbitrarily. The perpetrator's/victim's wealth, skin colour, cultural background, birthplace, native tongue, gender, attractiveness, etc., being what determines how vigorously punishments are pursued.

[Nich]

ahh yep. You're probably right. In this case I get the feeling that Smollett is going to get a straight, boring, by-the-book, punishment-matches-crime kind of proceeding. It is the most sensible way to pour cold water on his faux black power x gay rights cellphownage. That, and the investigating police probably already feel like too much attention is being paid to them on this one.

[Ab]

So glad the Neoliberal-led housing crisis is over

https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/25...-to-get-worse/

[fixed_truth]

So just the usual people whingeing because their passive income isn't so passive anymore.

[Ab]

Spot the guy who didn’t read the article

[fixed_truth]

Had a quick browse, it's hard to take him seriously when he's talking about "attacks" on negative gearing, things being hard for landlords and blaming the Govt. If someone doesn't want to be a responsible landlord then they should put it on the market for someone who does. That's not going to change overall supply.

[Lightspeed]

You got pretty far. It lost me as soon as they started to complain that governments don't have magic wands, that all problems once tackled don't immediately improve.

[Ab]

author's point about low-value rental property seemed compelling though. why would you spend more money getting compliant with the healthy homes legislation than the tenancy is worth? far more sensible to just kick the tenants out, lock the door, save on renovations, avoid penalties, and watchthevalue of the derelict empty property continue to skyrocket.

[Delphinus]

Let's say you're renting it out at $500pw (which is pretty low). That's $26k a year.
Surely a bit of insulation and a couple of heaters cost less than $26k. And you only have to install it once. Is it really that hard?

Empty houses are difficult to insure as well, so it's going to be a hassle to leave it empty.

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

author's point about low-value rental property seemed compelling though. why would you spend more money getting compliant with the healthy homes legislation than the tenancy is worth? far more sensible to just kick the tenants out, lock the door, save on renovations, avoid penalties, and watchthevalue of the derelict empty property continue to skyrocket.

Yeah, might happen. It might happen just a little, it might happen significantly. Those choosing to act this way wouldn't be a insurmountable voting bloc would they? Which means should such circumstances emerge, we could come up with a political solution to the problem. A solution currently not viable but more appealing once this problem becomes apparent.

Maybe what happen is a lot of landlords at once discover they can't afford to fix their stock, but they can't afford to not have tenants either, so they offload onto the market, causing housing prices to stagnant?

[Ab]

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

Those choosing to act this way wouldn't be a insurmountable voting bloc would they?

You can bet it would be enough to add noticeable pressure to the availability of rental housing.

[pxpx]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Let's say you're renting it out at $500pw (which is pretty low). That's $26k a year.
Surely a bit of insulation and a couple of heaters cost less than $26k. And you only have to install it once. Is it really that hard?

Empty houses are difficult to insure as well, so it's going to be a hassle to leave it empty.

You know what a mortgage is eh?

[Lightspeed]

Originally Posted by Ab

You can bet it would be enough to add noticeable pressure to the availability of rental housing.

That's what you count on, right? Those likely impacted are a significant voting bloc. I don't know how an MP gets into politics without knowing how to leverage that situation.

If we can set the conditions that neither renting unmaintained homes nor holding empty homes is profitable, we'll be in a good position. I don't see how we can there all at once, or without bumps along the way. We're in a bad situation. Since when do we get out of bad situations just because we decide to?

[Ab]

but it's old people who have all the property, and young people don't vote.

[Lightspeed]

If they're not voting, it's not a problem. I think they'll be voting.