General Politics Discussion [ARCHIVED] • Page 120

as i'm finding myself getting more into trying to understand politics / economics / U.S./world history i'm wondering if there are any stand out books about these topics and / or books that break these complex topics into easily understandable "follow-along for dummies" folks like me?

(aside from the "blah blah blah for dummies" books which i've found highly uninformative and unhelpful for many topics oddly enough).

also gonna post in the politic book thread.

 

Reminds me of all the kids at the antichoice marches. ok I get you think life is "precious" shouldn't your kid be at school?!?

 

And still there are people who will rail on and on that the DNC, their candidates and supporters are no better than this.

Please, voters, do whatever it takes to not let this candidate and his posse win any states this November.

 

Any particular topics within those genres? 538 is a good politics site that breaks things down well.

 

Also I don't know why I do this, but occasionally I read through FBs trending articles. Of course then I look at what peopl post related to them. I happened to click on he HIPAA story and scroll through. I'm now convinced that the masses don't understand a) bills b) laws c) agencies and d) executive authority. Or common sense.

 

I haven't read the article yet, but Cracked with another intriguing politics article:

"6 CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT MYTHS YOU LEARNED IN HISTORY CLASS"
http://www.cracked.com/article_2403...tory&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=feature_module

 

Probably depends on what topics you want to start with first and whatnot. I'm sure some people here would be happy to answer questions too. No question is too stupid...I still talk to grown men and women that don't know how the progressive income tax works, for example.

 

Think of your friends who support Trump. Think of how many of them had 4 kids within a few years of high school. Think of how few kids you and your intelligent or well-educated friends have.

That scares me silly.

This post is extremely underrated.

 

It's a little pricey (like textbook level price) but Michael Parenti's Democracy for the Few is a good in-depth, yet accessible book on most of those areas. It's currently in the 9th edition but I'm sure you can find the previous editions in used bookstores - I'm always coming across 'em here and there. Something to keep an eye out for.

 

538 has gotten so bad so fast.

I honestly suggest just finding what topics you are passionate about or interested in and then reading online political discussions or exchanges (like the ones here in this thread) and letting your interests naturally expand: just be judicious in who and what you believe. I have always found that to be the most helpful, even if it takes time. For me, I was initially only discernibly left on marriage equality, then that turned into being hard left on economics and center-left on marriage equality, then turned to my currently being center left on economics, center-left on marriage equality, center on gun control, and far left on racial issues. Anyways, sorry for ranting (I've been boozing).

Capital was pretty informative. I highly suggest leftist literature with regard to economics. Lenin is my favorite technically, but Trotsky is probably a better read if you allow yourself some slack on the extent of the applications therein. I wouldn't suggest Marx even as a baseline: I would suggest going back to him later. Also, domestically, Joseph Schwartz (now chair of the Democratic Socialists of America) was incredibly important to my political awakening of sort and he's probably the most cited person in my academic career. It can be dense and can seem overly theoretical at times, but once you shift your perspective, which took me....shit, five years, it's enormously helpful in rapidly expanding your perspective. Just Like Us was an incredible insight into illegal immigration, even if it (certainly) gives you a reductionist and somewhat left-leaning bias on the matter.

 

how one doesn't cry and/or want to throw up after reading that..... jesus

 

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Call for Bombing ISIS After Orlando Shooting That ISIS Didn't Direct

 

This is just absolutely incredible. Reads like every movie I've seen where the badguy whips up a group of cultish followers to do his evil bidding!!!

 

That's basically the opening to the movie Idiocracy

 

Anyone hear people crying "hoax" regarding the Orlando shooting? Crisis actors, second gunman, all sorts of crazy shit.

There was a news report of a guy who was inside the club talking about how he saw the doors being held closed by someone. The news feed was abruptly cut off.

Not sure what is wrong with people.

 

those people always exist, the same things were said about sandy hook.

 

I know, and the Sandy Hook thing is just so horrible to think about considering all those little kids.

But the guy talking about the door being held shut is weird.

 

the senate voted to require women to register for the draft. the bill will have to go to reconciliation committee to make the language from the house and senate versions match.

frankly the draft should simply be eliminated.

 

people are nuts. the guy from eagles of death metal claimed that the security during the paris attacks was in on the bataclan attack. people who are traumatized like that can have misinterpretations or false memories of what happened to them. it happens.

 

yeah get rid of it, its dumb and bad

 

Yea I know. My wife is one of those people who listens to these types of crazy stories. We got into an argument last night because there is no way these people could have actually remembered what they saw, or what they think they saw.

Some reports were that a guy was just waving an automatic weapon around and spraying rounds, while others report that the cops came in and shot at least a few people.

The weapon in question used a 30 round magazine, assuming he didn't have an extended mag, but he killed 49 people, some of them with multiple wounds. He must have reloaded at the very least once, but probably twice.

 

several of the survivors' accounts confirm that he reloaded at least a couple times while holed up in the bathroom with hostages.

it seems likely that when he opened fire and the first police response arrived and exchanged fire with him that stray rounds from the police hit civilians, it sounds like it was a crowded place even when they arrived. ballistics tests will probably confirm.

 

This may be one of the reasons people say there were multiple shooters:


Officers may have shot Orlando club patrons

 

This is a good example of a counter argument to "if everyone was armed, this wouldn't have happened".

 

I think that mentality is conflated from the idea that if you are in a scenario where a disturbed person is shooting innocent people in a public setting what is the only thing that can stop him/her? I mean realistically if a bad guy had a gun to my head ready to kill me the only thing I would want at that moment is a good guy with a gun that is prepared to intervene. Whether that's myself, a law enforcement officer, or a good Samaritan.

Of course, there is also the likelihood that said myself, a law enforcement officer, or a the proverbial good Samaritan actually exacerbates the already intense and dangerous scenario.