Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Italy moves to Airbus A330 tankers

euronews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–137 of 137 posts

Re: Italy moves to Airbus A330 tankers

#131

Post by kashunstva »

mmooss wrote: post #49
newtonianrules wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to understand that the smartest people in the US didn’t vote for this administration and are just as horrified as everyone else with how inept and pathetic this administration is. Unfortunately we’re a minority, the senate’s design (Wyoming has the same number of senators as California even though a small city in CA may have more people than the whole state) and the US is so ridiculously gerrymandered. Sorry…

> the smartest people in the US didn’t vote for this administration Trump has support from SV and Wall Street leaders, and the whole Republican Party. > gerrymandered Trump won the popular vote, and iirc the GOP got more total votes for the House of Representatives. What about for the Senate? Sure NY and CA are big, but so are FL and TX.

Are SV and Wall Street leaders demonstrably the smartest people in the U.S.? Or just the greediest and most venal?

Re: Italy moves to Airbus A330 tankers

#132

Post by defrost »

kashunstva wrote: post #131
mmooss wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the smartest people in the US didn’t vote for this administration Trump has support from SV and Wall Street leaders, and the whole Republican Party. > gerrymandered Trump won the popular vote, and iirc the GOP got more total votes for the House of Representatives. What about for the Senate? Sure NY and CA are big, but so are FL and TX.

Are SV and Wall Street leaders demonstrably the smartest people in the U.S.? Or just the greediest and most venal?

See: Borromean rings.

Re: Italy moves to Airbus A330 tankers

#133

Post by ericmay »

vkou wrote: post #122
ericmay wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the prospective of many millions of Americans, and me to some extent (actions that align with my interests and ideology are good regardless of political leadership) the country is going in the right direction. If you throw the Senate out you'd just further embolden those in power today.

The current senate would rubber-stamp maga dropping a nuclear bomb on Seattle. There does not seem to be any red line for them when it comes to support of the unterfuhrer.

Ok now switch the team colors and then drop the bomb on Miami or something.

Besides, this is temporary, and even now Republican senators have publicly pushed back on various things. A recent example is the $1.8 bn slush fund.

Re: Italy moves to Airbus A330 tankers

#134

Post by ericmay »

oa335 wrote: post #118
ericmay wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're misunderstanding the purpose of the Senate, whether Wyoming is 80% white or black or any other random race. The point is that it exists as a sovereignty vote. To take it away would be to cause a civil war or at least a dissolution of the United States because smaller states will walk away. A lot of the anti-American, anti-Senate, &c. stuff is Russian propaganda precisely because to continue to sow division and…

i understand the purpose of the senate and believe that bicameralism is a good idea and populism is generally bad. you seem to not understand my point so ill give it one more try: senate was indeed formed as a bulwark against populism, but the founders didnt anticipate a 68 to 1 population difference between the largest and smallest states (california vs. wyoming), nor the vast differences in composition of their pop…

No I understood your point, but you seem to be ignoring mine. The Senate wasn't just a bulwark against populism, it serves as a way to express the sovereignty of individual states in a way to balance states with very high populations from running roughshod over the rest of the states.

You have two things at play here:

1. Population size 2. State sovereignty

You're ignoring the 2nd, but they are inseparable when it comes to understanding the function and purpose of the Senate.

Re: Italy moves to Airbus A330 tankers

#135

Post by ericmay »

coryrc wrote: post #130
ericmay wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Vermonters might not want that because they hold outsized influence on the direction of the country, but then they shouldn't pretend to believe in Democracy. A Republic is a form of democracy. Having a Senate in the structure that we do is entirely consistent with democratic principles. To suggest otherwise is incorrect and counter to established definitions in the realm of political philosophy. > So, yes, 50 milli…

We are supposed to have a REPRESENTATIVE Democratic Republic, but it's no longer representative when you have orders of magnitude difference in representation. > Right, like how Donald Trump and his 75 million voters get to have more sway of Kamala Harris' voters They do in the Presidential race (and only because of FPTP and because we don't have i.e. approval voting), but they shouldn't control the House as well (be…

> States aren't sovereign entities -- they can't make agreements with foreign countries that isn't granted by Congress.

This is incorrect. They can't make "agreements" with foreign countries but that's because of the Constitution they all agreed to, not because they aren't sovereign.

Re: Italy moves to Airbus A330 tankers

#136

Post by ericmay »

oscillonoscope wrote: post #121
ericmay wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It still makes sense today. It's not perfect but it's a pretty good balance most of the time.

Congress is completely nonfunctional. It doesn't work. Americans are just too dedicated to American civic religion to admit it isn't working.

Americans get the government they deserve. Changing how it works doesn't change the fundamental problem there - we'd just make changes and then those wouldn't work too.

I would be incredibly against any action to remove the Constitution and civil liberties we have today especially as populism is rising and needs to be squashed. It's very similar to calls from the far-right to destroy the FDA, DOE, or other federal institutions - we shouldn't get rid of them without clearly better alternatives.

Re: Italy moves to Airbus A330 tankers

#137

Post by coryrc »

ericmay wrote: post #135
coryrc wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are supposed to have a REPRESENTATIVE Democratic Republic, but it's no longer representative when you have orders of magnitude difference in representation. > Right, like how Donald Trump and his 75 million voters get to have more sway of Kamala Harris' voters They do in the Presidential race (and only because of FPTP and because we don't have i.e. approval voting), but they shouldn't control the House as well (be…

> States aren't sovereign entities -- they can't make agreements with foreign countries that isn't granted by Congress. This is incorrect. They can't make "agreements" with foreign countries but that's because of the Constitution they all agreed to, not because they aren't sovereign.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sovereignty

> supreme power especially over a body politic

> freedom from external control

States aren't sovereign. The state legislatures don't even control their Senators anymore. The fiction of "collection of independent states" is just that: fiction. If nothing else, the American Civil War put an end to that. The Senate is just an unjust system which causes California to have to remit 33% of taxes to other states, while those are state's Senators vote to strip the rights Californians wish to have.

Post reply on HN