#I'm sure there were varying degrees of reactionary conflict

[spindrifters]

if the british royal family is theoretically in camps then this opens such a wormhole … what is happening in australia i wonder

whatever the opposite of mad max is, probably

[svartikotturinn]

Discussing American politics with an American politics & history connoisseur, pt. 2

I talked to my good friend ‘Twenty-One’, a Californian Paleocon who’s read lots about US history and politics, and asked for his take on Trump’s presidency. Here it is.

[2017-02-04 06.55.17] Twenty-One: My take is that I'm glad Clinton isn't in the White House. Otherwise, my primary note is surprisingly, he kept his word on ending the TPP, and his Supreme Court nomination was completely regular

[2017-02-04 06.55.52] Twenty-One: I find his mannerisms annoying and the tweeting strange, but most of the clickbait articles about his administration have little of substance when I read them

[2017-02-04 06.56.17] Twenty-One: I am still waiting to see if he will indeed make the GOP more friendly to LGBT, that's a major concern of mine

[2017-02-04 06.57.26] Twenty-One: As for the attempts to renegotiate NAFTA, I agree with the spirit but I do not know how practical it is

[2017-02-04 06.59.35] Twenty-One: One thing I have noted is that this election officially confirms my suspicion that your average center-of-left American is just as stupid and reactionary as your average center-of-right

[2017-02-04 07.00.07] Twenty-One: Much as the right-wing overreacted and vilified Obama over literally anything, I am seeing the same for Trump, even over mundane administrative details

[2017-02-04 07.00.12] Twenty-One: With the primary cause being misleading headlines

[2017-02-04 07.00.47] Twenty-One: Also, a fun piece of trivia is that I'm doing a report on the (now defunct) TPP for my International Business class, so my expertise is being applied to it

[2017-02-04 07.07.01] Twenty-One: Anyway, I am still as skeptical as pre-election, but it's still so incredibly early into the presidency, anyone making analyses right now is grasping at straws

[2017-02-04 08.24.17] An Cat Dubh: What’s wrong with the TPP?

Also, isn’t the judge he picked openly opposed to Roe v. Wade and equal marriage?

[2017-02-04 08.29.16] An Cat Dubh: What about the travel ban he established?

[2017-02-04 08.30.18] An Cat Dubh: And, unbelievably, he’s actually trying to build the fucking wall

[2017-02-04 09.16.17] Twenty-One: The TPP is an extremely long and complex trade agreement, but a key part I disliked was that it gave corporations greater legal power in suing nations

[2017-02-04 09.16.48] Twenty-One: The judge he picked has written extensively against activist judicial styles, to overturn Roe v Wade would be judicial activism

[2017-02-04 09.16.59] Twenty-One: the entire point of being a good judge is that you will make rulings your personal morals do not agree with

[2017-02-04 09.17.41] Twenty-One: The travel ban does not bother me in the slightest, the list of nations is even a bit lazy in that they carved it from a list created by the Obama admin of unstable nations

[2017-02-04 09.18.15] Twenty-One: It's not a Muslim ban, as the headlines call it, because it only applies to the 7 nations in question, and it's also only binding for 90 days, as I recall

[2017-02-04 09.18.38] Twenty-One: And technically we have had border fencing along the US-Mexico border for nearly eleven years

[2017-02-04 09.19.06] Twenty-One: It's just not continuous due to the sheer expanse of land we're talking about

[2017-02-04 09.19.11] An Cat Dubh: True, but that’s 3 months during which people are stuck in a country where they’re likely to be killed

[2017-02-04 09.19.25] Twenty-One: Just because they can't go to the US, does not mean they are bound in their home nations

[2017-02-04 09.20.03] Twenty-One: Not only that, but I do not consider it the US' (or the West's, for that matter) responsibility to house all people who desire it

[2017-02-04 09.20.30] An Cat Dubh: But those people have been vetted.

[2017-02-04 09.20.34] Twenty-One: People are dying and suffering by quite large numbers in the Middle East and much of Southeastern Asia

[2017-02-04 09.21.09] Twenty-One: That doesn't mean we stop acting as a sovereign nation first and a philanthropist second

[2017-02-04 09.22.03] Twenty-One: Again, it's a temporary stay, and personally I am skeptical about the degree of vetting that can occur for people from nations with terrible infrastructure and record keeping.

[2017-02-04 09.22.26] Twenty-One: And again, they can migrate without necessarily coming to the USA.

[2017-02-04 09.22.57] Twenty-One: Fleeing instability and war as a refugee does not mean that every locale will welcome you, but there are so many that remaining in those nations is completely unnecessary.

[2017-02-04 09.23.09] An Cat Dubh: They’ve been vetted by the US, that’s where they got their visa to, isn’t it?

[2017-02-04 09.24.12] Twenty-One: I'm sure that their cases vary in their circumstances, some are no doubt vetted significantly

[2017-02-04 09.25.44] Twenty-One: Most of the particularly unsavory incidences I read about, were actually mistakes on the part of airports in enforcing the law on people who should not have flagged it

[2017-02-04 09.26.38] An Cat Dubh: Because it was done hastily and sloppily

[2017-02-04 09.26.54] Twenty-One: Indeed it was

[2017-02-04 09.28.50] Twenty-One: I would certainly argue that it should have been done with more refinement and advanced planning

[2017-02-04 09.29.01] Twenty-One: But that's not a condemnation of the concept itself

[2017-02-04 09.30.20] An Cat Dubh: Didn’t he ban specifically 7 countries that had never had any terrorists come from them to the US?

[2017-02-04 09.30.41] Twenty-One: Yes, but that's a completely arbitrary metric

[2017-02-04 09.30.54] An Cat Dubh: Huh?

[2017-02-04 09.30.57] Twenty-One: Nations not historically having terrorists, does not mean they are not risky populations in their current climate

[2017-02-04 09.31.09] Twenty-One: Not to mention, terrorism is not the only concern with people from those nations

[2017-02-04 09.31.25] Twenty-One: They can live without blowing things up and still be Islamic fundamentalists

[2017-02-04 09.32.07] An Cat Dubh: That’s what Trump talks about though. The ‘bad dudes’ who can commit the next 9/11 or Boston bombing or San Bernardino shooting

[2017-02-04 09.34.45] Twenty-One: Sure, but based on his style that's because it's low-hanging fruit to appeal to people's fears, I'd say.

[2017-02-04 09.35.22] An Cat Dubh: So what reasoning is there behind the ban?

[2017-02-04 09.43.46] An Cat Dubh: (Sorry, internet is wonky)

[2017-02-04 09.44.54] Twenty-One: Like I said, I suspect it's both suspicion of risk of terrorism, because the nations' situation in the past was quite different from what it is now, and apprehension about accepting refugees who won't assimilate into American society well

[2017-02-04 09.46.43] An Cat Dubh: Can you give me an example of a threatening de-stabilization? I suspect I might be out of touch with the news in those areas

[2017-02-04 09.48.23] Twenty-One: Iraq is currently embroiled with ISIS

[2017-02-04 09.48.42] Twenty-One: Syria is still a broken shithole destroyed by civil war

[2017-02-04 09.49.07] Twenty-One: Libya has not really recovered and become a functional nation post-Libyan conflict from several years ago

[2017-02-04 09.49.46] Twenty-One: Somalia has their own ISIS-esque group that they're contending with (I don't recall if it's a splinter faction or just similar)

[2017-02-04 09.49.56] Twenty-One: I admittedly don't know about Sudan

[2017-02-04 09.50.00] An Cat Dubh: The people blocked from Iraq are interpreters and collaborators

[2017-02-04 09.50.08] Twenty-One: and I believe Yemen is also experiencing civil war

[2017-02-04 09.51.04] An Cat Dubh: Did Trump order to ban people who’ve already been vetted or was that a mistake on the airports’ part or whatever?

[2017-02-04 09.51.53] Twenty-One: I don't know.

[2017-02-04 09.54.24] An Cat Dubh: Hrm.

About the judge. you said he was against judicial activism, but wasn’t Roe v. Wade and marriage equality just that? Wouldn’t he repeal those because of his stance?

[2017-02-04 09.54.38] Twenty-One: That's not what being against judicial activism means.

[2017-02-04 09.55.03] Twenty-One: Common law is based on precedent, and Roe v. Wade and gay marriage are the current precedent and law of the land.

[2017-02-04 09.55.17] Twenty-One: It would be activist to overturn them.

[2017-02-04 09.55.29] An Cat Dubh: OK.

[2017-02-04 09.56.02] Twenty-One: The best way to think of it is that judicial activism is not just code for "progressive judges"

[2017-02-04 09.56.17] Twenty-One: it refers to all rulings that are agenda-setting, whether they're left- or right-leaning, rather than following the law

[2017-02-04 09.58.06] An Cat Dubh: I get that. What I asked was about him determining it’s OK to commit it for the sake of undoing a previous act of judicial activism

[2017-02-04 09.58.29] Twenty-One: Generally no.

[2017-02-04 09.58.34] Twenty-One: Even if it was activism before

[2017-02-04 09.58.37] Twenty-One: It is still the precedent now.

[2017-02-04 09.58.46] An Cat Dubh: I see

[2017-02-04 09.58.51] Twenty-One: hence why being a judge means making rulings you may not personally agree with

[2017-02-04 09.59.22] Twenty-One: Your job (according to this philosophy) is to rule based on the existing common law cases, not to rule how you think it should be

[2017-02-04 09.59.39] Twenty-One: And even if it was activism, Roe v. Wade is now a US common law precedent.

[2017-02-04 09.59.43] Twenty-One: As is gay marriage.

[2017-02-04 09.59.49] An Cat Dubh: OK.

[2017-02-04 10.00.15] An Cat Dubh: What about the whole ‘move the embassy to Jerusalem’ thing?

[2017-02-04 10.01.16] Twenty-One: Seems callous, but only time will tell if it's actually worth paying attention to.

[2017-02-04 10.01.42] An Cat Dubh: Why the fuck is he on about it

[2017-02-04 10.02.03] Twenty-One: Main thing that comes to mind is appealing to the pro-Israel chunk of the GOP

[2017-02-04 10.02.41] An Cat Dubh: That’s not pro-Israel. That dumb fuck is gonna drag this country into a huge, senseless war

[2017-02-04 10.02.52] Twenty-One: I didn't say it was pro-Israel

[2017-02-04 10.02.59] Twenty-One: Being technical, it's pro-GOP-that-is-pro-Israel

[2017-02-04 10.03.00] An Cat Dubh: Or, in his care, yuge

[2017-02-04 10.03.02] Twenty-One: Do you see the difference?

[2017-02-04 10.03.21] Twenty-One: It's about Israel, but not really.

[2017-02-04 10.03.57] Twenty-One: It's really about trying to get the GOP to accept him; remember, Trump is not a conservative and many traditional Republicans dislike or outright hate him

[2017-02-04 10.04.16] An Cat Dubh: So he’s basically making cheap political gain on our backs.

[2017-02-04 10.06.43] Twenty-One: That's my personal opinion.

[2017-02-04 10.07.10] An Cat Dubh: What’s he gonna do when war does happen here?

[2017-02-04 10.07.17] Twenty-One: Who can say?

[2017-02-04 10.07.55] Twenty-One: Due to his seeming actual intention of trying to keep a fair amount of his campaign messages to his base, which included not being a warhawk compared to Hillary

[2017-02-04 10.08.05] Twenty-One: (with some commenters going so far as to call Trump pseudo-isolationist)

[2017-02-04 10.08.19] An Cat Dubh: Pseudo?

[2017-02-04 10.08.35] Twenty-One: True isolationism cannot exist in the way it did in the early 20th century.

[2017-02-04 10.08.44] Twenty-One: Modern telecommunications and trade make it impossible.

[2017-02-04 10.08.56] An Cat Dubh: I see

[2017-02-04 10.09.40] An Cat Dubh: What about his racist dog whistles?

[2017-02-04 10.10.32] Twenty-One: Such as?

[2017-02-04 10.10.52] An Cat Dubh: ‘America first’ is an obvious example

[2017-02-04 10.10.55] Twenty-One: No, it isn't.

[2017-02-04 10.11.14] Twenty-One: America first is absolutely not racist dog whistling and I am admittedly a bit incensed at the suggestion.

[2017-02-04 10.12.00] Twenty-One: It is an appeal to a somewhat common sentiment in the United States that being the world's sole superpower has resulted in our Federal Government paying more attention to other nations and their peoples over Americans

[2017-02-04 10.12.54] Twenty-One: That particular phrasing is one I agree with, I think our government's focus should be more internal, both to be more attentive to domestic problems and to limit our global interference with the nations of others

[2017-02-04 10.13.45] An Cat Dubh: http.//edition.cnn.com/2016/04/27/opinions/trump-america-first-ugly-echoes-dunn/

[2017-02-04 10.14.47] Twenty-One: That's an opinion.

[2017-02-04 10.15.18] Twenty-One: America First is not at all an unusual combination of words.

[2017-02-04 10.16.01] Twenty-One: If I so wished, I could probably make most political campaign slogans sound quite devious or find similar or even the same slogan being used by unsavory types in the past.

[2017-02-04 10.16.03] An Cat Dubh: But its use as a political slogan is very particular

[2017-02-04 10.16.33] An Cat Dubh: Damn that took forever to send

[2017-02-04 10.16.52] An Cat Dubh: Can you give an example?

[2017-02-04 10.17.02] Twenty-One: An example I saw someone else make was

[2017-02-04 10.18.03] Twenty-One: Give me a second

[2017-02-04 10.19.59] Twenty-One: Gerald Ford's campaign slogan in 1976 was

[2017-02-04 10.20.09] Twenty-One: "He's making us proud again"

[2017-02-04 10.20.34] Twenty-One: Restoration of pride was a major theme that allowed the Nazis to take power in Germany following the Weimar Republic

[2017-02-04 10.21.00] Twenty-One: The fact is that slogans by their nature will draw from simple ideas

[2017-02-04 10.21.09] Twenty-One: And that people of very different backgrounds may use the same slogan components

[2017-02-04 10.21.35] Twenty-One: Especially since nothing forbids an organization from naming itself yadda yadda, other than copyright and trademark.

[2017-02-04 10.22.29] Twenty-One: I could make a brotherhood named "Lodge for Brotherhood, Education and Technology" and be a total fuckjob nut who believes in Anarchism

[2017-02-04 10.22.43] Twenty-One: That wouldn't make a politician talking about brotherhood, education and technology an anarchist

[2017-02-04 10.23.03] An Cat Dubh: I see

[2017-02-04 10.23.19] An Cat Dubh: Back to the TPP though

[2017-02-04 10.23.38] Twenty-One: I honestly will be better able to discuss it when I've done the research for my presentation

[2017-02-04 10.23.56] Twenty-One: The extra power granted to corporations alone was enough for me to dislike it

[2017-02-04 10.24.14] An Cat Dubh: Do you think whatever Trump wants to replace it with something that won’t give them that power?

[2017-02-04 10.24.14] Twenty-One: But in the coming weeks I'll learn entirely too much about it

[2017-02-04 10.24.32] Twenty-One: Trump isn't likely to try and suggest a replacement for that.

[2017-02-04 10.25.03] Twenty-One: The TPP, being a trade agreement that existed between a number of nations, is not something one can simply "replace," especially since Trump campaigned on and actually followed through in dismantling it

[2017-02-04 10.25.24] An Cat Dubh: So what’s he gonna do?

[2017-02-04 10.25.24] Twenty-One: National will toward agreements like that is always changing

[2017-02-04 10.25.32] Twenty-One: About what?

[2017-02-04 10.25.39] Twenty-One: The TPP wasn't like, a pressing thing that needed to happen

[2017-02-04 10.25.54] Twenty-One: It was a massive trade agreement, but it's not like its destruction leaves a problem unsolved

[2017-02-04 10.26.33] An Cat Dubh: So he’s just gonna pull out and leave nothing in its place?

[2017-02-04 10.26.51] Twenty-One: That's already what he did

[2017-02-04 10.26.55] Twenty-One: "Leave nothing?"

[2017-02-04 10.26.59] Twenty-One: There already was nothing.

[2017-02-04 10.27.02] Twenty-One: It was a proposal.

[2017-02-04 10.27.20] An Cat Dubh: Ah. I thought it was already in place

[2017-02-04 10.27.26] Twenty-One: No, it was a proposed trade agreement

[2017-02-04 10.27.37] Twenty-One: However, due to our marketplace and general economic significance

[2017-02-04 10.27.46] Twenty-One: our withdrawal is a near certain death for the agreement

[2017-02-04 10.28.01] An Cat Dubh: OK.

[2017-02-04 10.28.17] An Cat Dubh: Well, I’m somewhat calmer now.

[2017-02-04 10.28.21] An Cat Dubh: Thanks =)

[spindrifters]

oh yes, alternate history wormholes bc marginalia, I've been thinking about it half the day and it's sO FUNNY. I love it. like back in the day I thought a little about while I was reading but now I have so many thoughts. just the history of spain would be so wildly different, bc last century was really something. I've been expecially thinking about the cultural legacy with the different social context, and is just so weird how many things just wouldn't exist. picasso would have never went to france, discovered cezanne and created cubism. Lorca would've never wrote his poems and his theater plays (ouch 💔). even the earliest generation of authors of last century (generation of 1898) doesn't exist. we also don't have Gaudí and his architecture (ouch again). Lola Flores and her legacy. so many loses. now I'm sad

and as for Alfonso XIII and his porn films, right now I'm not that sure if he directed them or just paid people to make them, but what I'm 100% sure is that he had this room in the royal palace turned to be a cinema, where he invited his friends in the dark hours of the night to watch said films. like. come on

I just can't take the whole spanish royal family seriously bc it has been a circus way before Carlos II was born lmao

oh, yeah, the whole cultural history of the world would have skewed left hard. the entire global north would have stagnated (I mean, there are some wizard artists, but c'mon -- and their over-reliance on wands means nothing's getting pushed outside the realm of carefully controlled experimental charms. the reason black manor functions like an edwardian great house is because it effectively is one. in 1977.)

but you know what wouldn't have stagnated? the global south, who are mostly outside of accords control. I mean, I'm sure there were varying degrees of reactionary conflict between wizarding and muggle communities in those countries, but think about it this way:

it's 1899. with one exception, every country in africa is under colonial european rule. except suddenly, those european governments don't exist. no one is enforcing that imperial state. this is obviously a gross oversimplification, but all of a sudden muggle cultural and technological progress of the 20th century is about to look a lot less euro- and us-centric.

as for alfonso xiii, I am... obsessed with this man.