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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

#381

Post by dagw »

runeb wrote: post #353
dagw wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, I know that's the official line. But it would be fairly easy for a lawyer to argue otherwise.

I don't know about that. Look into the 2010 price to Liu Xiaobo. Norway worked for 6 years to try to repair relations with China after that and trade has only recently been opened again.

The Liu Xiaobo case shows that (some) other countries see the Nobel committee as an unofficial extension of the Norwegian government. If China thought that the Nobel prize was handed out by 6 random dudes in some private club then the Nobel prize probably wouldn't have had such an impact on the relations between the Chinese and Norwegian governments.

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

#383

Post by humanrebar »

flukus wrote: post #204
vixen99 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a march be more significant than the votes of 62 million people? I agree that an awakening is overdue given that for instance, America’s child poverty levels are worse than in any developed country anywhere, including Greece and only Slovakia, Chile, Mexico and Turkey have worse infant mortality rates. Median adult wealth is 27th out of 27 high-income countries; internet speed and access is 16th out of 34 c…

Identity politics hides issues like this more than anything. A poor black person in a ghetto and a poor white one in a trailer park should be the same voting block but they've been polarized by both sides trying to lock down their demographics.

Are you saying poor black and white people are too naive to vote for themselves? Should they vote the way we tell them to? Is principled politics a luxury of the privileged?

I'm not a fan of this meme.

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

#384

Post by wwweston »

jakeogh wrote: post #229
rat87 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What landslide he barely slid in a electoral vote disaster, despite the electoral vote being meant to be used against men like Trump

227 vs 306 is not close. I said near-landslide because a landlside (I think) is usually something >=370. No worries, it might still happen.

Since state electoral votes are mostly awarded all-or-nothing, the electoral count can't tell you anything about how close an election was or wasn't.

Looking at a number of swing states with significant numbers of electoral votes can, though. The margin of victory was just over 1% in Florida (29EV). It's less 1% in Pennsylvania (20EV) and Wisconsin (10EV). Michigan (16EV) was less than .25%.

That's 75EV won by that thin a margin. Half that could have swung the election.

(And yes, you can play this game the other way, but the only state Clinton won that was that closely contested was... New Hampshire, 4EV)

The election was quite close. Trump's electoral victory was very thin.

That's the state of affairs to be expected when the EC winner loses the popular vote.

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

#385

Post by peterclary »

jakeogh wrote: post #303
twright0 wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll also point out that Trump lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes (2%), which makes it really stretch the imagination to even call it a "near-landslide".

Sure, except popular vote does not matter, nor should it. If it did, CA and NY's echo boxes would run the US, and there would be no US in short order. Don't forged why the Unites States exists; taxation without representation. He could have lost FL _or_ OH and still won.

I don't understand this idea that just because somebody lives in a particular state their vote should count less than somebody in a different state. That seems evidently unfair.

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

#387

Post by flukus »

trynumber9 wrote: post #354
cyberferret wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because "The standards you walk past, are the standards that you implicity accept/allow"... Most of the worst dictators and tyrants in the world didn't start off at 'maximum mayhem'. They tend to start with lies, misinformation, subterfuge and misrepresentations, then they move up to things like false accusations, inquisitions, persecution and the like. Every step just makes it easier to move closer to full blown dep…

A few good governments too. Wilson, usually rated in the top 10 presidents, ran with "America First" and "He Kept Us Out" for his re-election. We joined the war only a month after his re-inauguration. In hindsight, that was likely for the best but it seems a misrepresentation.

> In hindsight, that was likely for the best but it seems a misrepresentation.

Was it? American involvement created a decisive winner in what would have been a stalemate. Imagine if Versailles hadn't been so one sided?

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

#390

Post by edran »

joeguilmette wrote: post #356
toyg wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Berlusconi used to do the same. They know the media cycle and play it to their advantage. It's a sort of "fire and motion" strategy where you keep enemies talking about the previous position while you're already gaining a new one. Anyone can play it, but your "suppressing fire" must be strong enough to distract effectively; that sort of bombastic bravado doesn't come naturally to "reality-based" personalities on the…

The similarities between Trump and Berlusconi are terrifying - and Berlusconi was in power for what, 10 years? Trump has tapped in to something and I fear it's going to work quite well.

More like 20, considering the years in which he passively controlled part of the political narrative.
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