The Political Thread - Machiavelli Edition

[Chilloutman]

 

nationalism is not inhertly bad anyway, its just oppositum to globalism.

 

Not really. "Modern" nationalism as opposed to, say, the transient panhellenism in antiquity, is something that arose as a result of the birth of modern states under the Westphalian sovereignty model. The globalism you are referring to was a reaction after the two world wars in which nationalism played a central role. That gave us the UN.

 

That's the weak, pie-in-the-sky strand, though. The one that's actually tried and true is economic globalism. That wasn't invented by hippies or left-wing university professors, but by policymakers of different branches of the US government during the mid 20th century. The organization of the whole world under a capitalist regime tailored to keep the US in a position of pre-eminence by removing all barriers to the circulation of goods and capitals while maintaining the dollar as the premier trade and reserve currency. The application of a mix of soft and hard power to create a global network of client states amenable to US interests is how this status quo is enforced. 

 

Turns out that economic globalism is just American nationalism in disguise.

 

 

or it could be jews xD

[213374U]

Well, that goes without saying. Everyone knows it was da joos. And by everyone, I mean /pol/ (not to be confused with nu-/pol/).

[injurai]

What lead to building nations was a different mentality then what exists to preserve a static notion of an already existing one. Today, building towards something better doesn't exactly sit under the notion of nationalism.

[Chilloutman]

why? everyone now agress what is better in same way? So Russians are building towards better tomorrows for all of us? Or Chinese? Or Saudies?

[Raithe]

That artful juggle of whether this is more political or funny thread..

Or just good humour used to point out some political issues...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lcYP_zOOXg

[Raithe]

Its things like this in the US which make me glad for the NHS over here, even with its flaws.

 

[ktchong]

The most devastating political ad I've ever seen.  Huge "plot twist" at the end.

 

 

Whoa.    Didn't see that one coming, and this one did not come from the Onion.   Rekt. 

 

(BTW, Paul Gosar is the Republican incumbent, and his opponent who is running this ad is the Democratic challenger; not  that it is the point of the ad.)

 

Another one:

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by ktchong

[LittleArmadillo0]

 

Didn't see that one coming

I didn't believe you when said that but after watching it... Hollie mollie

[ktchong]

 

 

The most devastating political ad I've ever seen.  Huge "plot twist" at the end.

 

 

Whoa.    Didn't see that one coming, and this one did not come from the Onion.   Rekt. 

 

(BTW, Paul Gosar is the Republican incumbent, and his opponent who is running this ad is the Democratic challenger; not  that it is the point of the ad.)

 

Another one:

 

I didn't believe you when said that but after watching it... Hollie mollie

 

 

This is some Lannister-level family backstabbing drama, and they are even blonde!

Edited September 22, 2018 by ktchong

[HoonDing]

A Liberal never pays his debts.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Its things like this in the US which make me glad for the NHS over here, even with its flaws.

 

Just work harder lmao

[aluminiumtrioxid]

"Now I'm 71" - that escalated quickly. How old he was when his wife died, how old was he when he stopped working? If he worked 30 years of marriage it seem he started at 41 if the story takes place at the same time, which seems odd. So I assume the wife died somewhere in her 50's since the 30 years together and the husband would be roughly the same age. This means we skipped circa 20 years in the story. Why?

 

"how could somebody possibly marry late in life? that's just not a thing that happens, that is impossible"

[Hurlshort]

 

To summarize the story is as fake as CNN news coverage and made to play on the feelings of readers to push political agenda.

 

 

It's a good thing we have our resident US Health care expert Sharpie here to sniff out these fake stories.  

[aluminiumtrioxid]

 

 

"Now I'm 71" - that escalated quickly. How old he was when his wife died, how old was he when he stopped working? If he worked 30 years of marriage it seem he started at 41 if the story takes place at the same time, which seems odd. So I assume the wife died somewhere in her 50's since the 30 years together and the husband would be roughly the same age. This means we skipped circa 20 years in the story. Why?

 

"how could somebody possibly marry late in life? that's just not a thing that happens, that is impossible"

 

 

Yeah. They married at 40 and started working without any previous experience

 

 

Are you literally retarded? "We worked every single day of our 30 year marriage" in no way implies "we did not work before we got married". I already knew that you didn't know the difference between necessity and sufficiency, but this astonishing failure of elementary logic is still pretty baffling.

[Hurlshort]

 

 

To summarize the story is as fake as CNN news coverage and made to play on the feelings of readers to push political agenda.

It's a good thing we have our resident US Health care expert Sharpie here to sniff out these fake stories.

Well we cannot count on our resident teacher to know an obvious fake, can we?

 

 

Nah, the resident teacher would tell you that a random facebook post is not really evidence of anything and is not worth picking apart.

[Raithe]

Eh, to be fair, I've known a few folks in the States who have developed long-term illnesses, and then get caught around the FMLA bureaucracy, loss of work, loss of medical insurance, increasing debts due to that, and the spiral it can induce.

 

I just don't have the knack for eloquently writing it up and quoting the exact issues. So when something can catch the spirit of what they've gone through without me needing to struggle to describe it.. eh, I'll use it.

[Amentep]

A couple of points...

 

First, let's keep insults out of this.

 

Second, regarding the story, unless it's in an employment contract, I doubt the company would have given her severance pay. And once she was fired, she'd lose the insurance from work - which in turn would mean the cost of treatment would fall on them or on another insurance company if they found one that would pick them up. As I understand it.

[Malcador]

 

 

 

To summarize the story is as fake as CNN news coverage and made to play on the feelings of readers to push political agenda.

It's a good thing we have our resident US Health care expert Sharpie here to sniff out these fake stories.

Well we cannot count on our resident teacher to know an obvious fake, can we?

Nah, the resident teacher would tell you that a random facebook post is not really evidence of anything and is not worth picking apart.

What would his kind do without finding things to be triggered about?

[aluminiumtrioxid]

 

Are you literally retarded? "We worked every single day of our 30 year marriage" in no way implies "we did not work before we got married". I already knew that you didn't know the difference between necessity and sufficiency, but this astonishing failure of elementary logic is still pretty baffling.

I think you might be, at least you have severe reading comprehension problems. Read my posts again, slowly. It may hurt your head, but try.

 

 

 

"no u"

 

top level comeback, truly worthy of an intellectual of your weight class

 

Literally your post: "it is hard to believe that they would've married at age 40 and started working with no previous experience"

The original: "My wife and I... worked every single day of our 30 year old marriage"

 

I know this might be a difficult leap of logic for you, but try to imagine: if somebody says that they worked every single day for 30 years... that is a statement about those 30 years and carries no information about what came before. It is an entirely valid interpretation of the same text that they started working in their 20s, have been in the workforce for 20 years, then met and married, and worked for another 30 years during their marriage. Magical, innit?

Edited September 23, 2018 by aluminiumtrioxid

[213374U]

Second, regarding the story, unless it's in an employment contract, I doubt the company would have given her severance pay.

 

Can you elaborate? What other kind of contract would it be? I'm not familiar with severance practices in the US—here if you are fired through no fault of your own, you'd always receive a severance payment at least in an amount that is a function of seniority. It's tabulated by law.

 

(and you could get in trouble for firing an employee when they get a cancer diagnosis, if they could frame the case as workplace discrimination against a disabled person, but that's another matter...)

[Pidesco]

 

Second, regarding the story, unless it's in an employment contract, I doubt the company would have given her severance pay. And once she was fired, she'd lose the insurance from work - which in turn would mean the cost of treatment would fall on them or on another insurance company if they found one that would pick them up. As I understand it.

Who doesn't have severance in their contract? It's a standard.The story claims her insurance went up, so I understand it wasn't tied to her work as then she would lost it not got an increase.

Her COBRA insurance went up that is a type of insurance that exists specifically to cover people who are out of a job. So she lost her work insurance when she got fired, which forced her to go on COBRA, which immediately went up to ridiculous monthly payments. This destroyed their savings.

[Amentep]

Thnx Pidesco, that was what I was trying to get at.

 

Regarding severence, not all employment factors a severence in, and once FMLA runs out the employer can try to keep the person, but there's pressure to open the position up and hire someone (some employers will try to fund an equivalent job when the employee is able to run, but that's not a guarantee and may end up in a pay cut, and of course no vacation/sick/FMLA means no pay until you can come to work)

[Elerond]

 

Second, regarding the story, unless it's in an employment contract, I doubt the company would have given her severance pay.

 

Can you elaborate? What other kind of contract would it be? I'm not familiar with severance practices in the US—here if you are fired through no fault of your own, you'd always receive a severance payment at least in an amount that is a function of seniority. It's tabulated by law.

 

(and you could get in trouble for firing an employee when they get a cancer diagnosis, if they could frame the case as workplace discrimination against a disabled person, but that's another matter...)

 

 

Severance pay is often granted to employees upon termination of employment. It is usually based on length of employment for which an employee is eligible upon termination. There is no requirement in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for severance pay. Severance pay is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee's representative). The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) may be able to assist an employee who did not receive severance benefits under their employer-sponsored plan. Please contact EBSA if you have any questions.

 

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/severancepay

[ShadySands]

We don't have a lot of the same protections as you Euro folks but at least we know we're free

[Hurlshort]

Speaking of COBRA, we had to pay for it when my wife transitioned from personal training to student teaching. It was outrageously expensive, particularly since we were bringing in barely anything in substitute teacher pay and still actually paying for college. But if we didn't do it, we not only ran the risk of not being covered, but also could be turned down for coverage when we started employment. What a racket.

 

I'm hoping that has changed a bit over the last 15 years. Now we just pay like $800 a month to cover the family while our employer chips in twice that. Plus deductibles, co-pays, and a bunch of other fees.

 

Yay freedom.

 

Sharpie, I'll send you the statements so you can verify the story. I know you worry.