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George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

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Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#71
post #17

I must admit, I'm really confused by how impeachment works in the U.S.. Clinton was impeached for perjury and abuse of power because he took advantage of his position (and a political intern) and then lied about it. Now we have a president who is not giving up his business interests while in office and who has already told some absolute whoppers, including the release of official press releases that were nothing but…

> Clinton was impeached for perjury and abuse of power

Interestingly, Clinton was impeached for breaking his own law, the Violence Against Women Act, which he created to win reelection. (The rape shield part of the law is what created the ground rules for how he was questioned in court, and what he was allowed to say and not say in his defense.)

This law also created a series of social programs that Trump defunded today via an executive order.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#72
post #17

I must admit, I'm really confused by how impeachment works in the U.S.. Clinton was impeached for perjury and abuse of power because he took advantage of his position (and a political intern) and then lied about it. Now we have a president who is not giving up his business interests while in office and who has already told some absolute whoppers, including the release of official press releases that were nothing but…

> I'm really confused by how impeachment works in the U.S. Impeachment requires a crime. Lying isn't usually a crime, and as best I can tell hasn't been one any of the times Trump has done it (.. yet?). It also hasn't been a crime any of the times Obama has done it. Failure to give up business interests is breaking precedent and confounding ethicists, but also doesn't seem to be illegal. When we come up with somethin…

Do people really want him to get impeached and convicted, with Pence being the successor? Seems like a terrible idea...

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#73
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

50 years ago: "We, women, are not sexual devices!" 2017: Putting on pink clit caps. I bet 1984 customers is way another set of people.

I don't get why everyone assumes that you can only be a female if you have a vagina

Most people associate female/male with sexual organs. You can see this any many metaphors (e.g. google "female electrical outlet" and "male electrical outlet").

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#74
post #17

I must admit, I'm really confused by how impeachment works in the U.S.. Clinton was impeached for perjury and abuse of power because he took advantage of his position (and a political intern) and then lied about it. Now we have a president who is not giving up his business interests while in office and who has already told some absolute whoppers, including the release of official press releases that were nothing but…

> "alternative facts" I think people are taking this and running at breakneck speed without stopping to look at what they actually mean by this. After watching the first few press conferences and Kelly Anne's interviews where she said that, it seems clear to me they weren't trying to say there were more people physically at the inauguration in their "alternative facts" but what they are referring to specifically is t…

Direct quote from Sean Spicer:

> This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in-person and around the globe

If "in-person" doesn't mean "physically at the inauguration" what does it mean then? It is not ambiguous.

Spicer made an unsubstantiated claim, and has since been defensively walking it back to the equally unsubstantiated second part of "around the globe."

"The media" is a very broad category, so I am not going to universally defend or attack them. But the Trump administration has simply been making things up and, as of yet, has not backed up any of these statements with evidence.

The media is a bit more hit or miss. It is true that some media outlets seem determined to make fun of Trump no matter what he does. That doesn't give Trump a free pass to make up shit. Obama had to deal with the same crap.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#76
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "alternative facts" I think people are taking this and running at breakneck speed without stopping to look at what they actually mean by this. After watching the first few press conferences and Kelly Anne's interviews where she said that, it seems clear to me they weren't trying to say there were more people physically at the inauguration in their "alternative facts" but what they are referring to specifically is t…

Has anyone actually done an unbiased comparison? I've seen the picture but there are plenty of possible explanations for that. And people seem to be reading far to much into it in any case.

> people seem to be reading far to much into it in any case

Executive orders, cabinet appointments and apparently agency gag orders left right and centre with more, plus SCOTUS nominees, to come. But all my Facebook feed talks about is rain and lawn coverings.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#77
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with a hat you can knit at home? It's an effective symbol.

Flip the gender. Would you respect a bunch of dickheads marching around D.C.?

Unsurprisingly, the answer to "would you react the same way if a totally different thing happened in a totally different context?" is: no.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#78
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

50 years ago: "We, women, are not sexual devices!" 2017: Putting on pink clit caps. I bet 1984 customers is way another set of people.

What's wrong with a hat you can knit at home? It's an effective symbol.

I and a lot of other progressives take issue with it because it is trans-exclusionary and continues the long tradition of mainstream feminist demonstrations or expressions being explicitly for a white, cisgendered audience. I think OP was being mysoginistic and wasn't thinking this, but there is criticism on the left of the symbol as well.

That said, now is not the time to start infighting with people just starting to become politically aware/active. Most of the marchers have never done anything political before so mistakes/naivety are to be expected

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#79
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with a hat you can knit at home? It's an effective symbol.

Flip the gender. Would you respect a bunch of dickheads marching around D.C.?

If the circumstances of the people marching were flipped as well, yes. That requires a much deeper thought experiment though.

I don't know why we need to get all squeamish about female genitalia now, as apposed to when we are talking about what rights women have with theirs and whether you can talk about grabbing them.

Re: George Orwell’s 1984 is currently the top selling book on Amazon

#80
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's 70 years old and his dad had Alzheimer's.

Reagan was 70 when he took office and did later develop Alzheimer's. Did he develop it while in office? If he did, his staff covered for him quite effectively. If you're saying Trump has Alzheimer's now , and that explains his behaviour... Well, Trump's been acting like this for decades!

Did they? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Contra_affair
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