Can someone clear up the timeline for me? Text messages show Batjer was gunning for Stebbins for over a year but the news report seems to be pushing the juicy headline that its in response to this recent report? Does that really add up?
California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
181–190 of 275 posts
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
Democrats getting defeated in primaries from the left only results in Democrats being replaced by other Democrats. We would still have one party in charge of the state, with a veto-proof majority in the legislature.
True, but that’s only a bad thing if you like the other party better. Which it appears the majority of voters in that state do not.
One-party rule is bad no matter which party you like. Even if the party you like is the one that is in charge, you will see them become complacent and corrupt when no-one else is able to hold them to account.
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
However you want to see it, half the country thinks Trump was an illegitimate president, elected thanks to external manipulation of the Russian government. This is a fact that has consumed all of media and good chunk of the population for 3 years. It's true it's not an exact mirror copy of the current election predicament. Nevertheless, the outcome of questioning the election and democracy in general is the result of…
There is a difference between difference of opinion and difference of facts. And yes it’s true popular opinion affects things irrespective of their factual basis, yet having a factual basis does play a strong and often determining role. Trump lost the election, objectively. Elections are the basis of democracy. if you do not accept their outcome, you do not support democracy. The vocal left did not LIKE the outcome o…
I am replying for the sake of the hidden sibling comment:
I don't watch any major media coverage of politics, but a mathematician and comedian I follow on YouTube (from a different country who presumably has no horse in the race) has analyzed some of the numerical allegations of fraud:
- https://youtu.be/ua5aOFi-DKs
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#184It feels like I live in a country where every level of government is unbelievably corrupt, but also completely unfixable. How are you supposed to address the sorts of issues that lose $200,000,000 of state money if the people who try to do so get fired? I don't see a way out of this mess, and it makes me want to move somewhere... better.
I really liked the recent book by Eliezer Yudkowsky:
Inadequate Equilibria: Where and How Civilizations Get Stuck
Unfortunately there isn't a direct solution (if I remember right), as much as an excellent assessment of where things go wrong and why they are hard to fix (and thus a direction in which we can push to improve things).
https://www.amazon.com/Inadequate-Equilibria-Where-Civilizat...
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#185That picture of her wearing the jewellery says all.
The US is as corrupt as China Russia and Iran are they just are corrupt in a different way.
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
I very much feel the same way. Unfortunately it is not easy to move to another country long term and work there. Also obviously every other country also has its own issues, many that one likely wouldnt discover until after making a move.
Fortunately, I am blessed with friends who have already made the jump, in many different directions, so I have firsthand testimonies of the pros and cons of moving to a variety of different countries. Japan sounds nice.
Unless you're fluent in reading and speaking Japanese, don't move here. It's a nightmare. Pick a country where you know the language. And consider renouncing your citizenship to avoid taxes if you have the prospect of attaining new citizenship.
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
With a positive feedback loop, trying to determine which thing came first is a waste of everyone’s time.
How would becoming jaded to corruption come before corruption?
Someone lying about corruption or the capability of the government to do any good, obviously.
But see my prior comment.
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
True, but that’s only a bad thing if you like the other party better. Which it appears the majority of voters in that state do not.
One-party rule is bad no matter which party you like. Even if the party you like is the one that is in charge, you will see them become complacent and corrupt when no-one else is able to hold them to account.
While I agree with the sentiment in the abstract, I see no reason why a party like the Republicans provides any meaningful contrast or check on this complacent and corruption. It’s entirely possible for both parties to be bankrupt and awful, just dishonestly maneuvering however they can to take power.
The only real check on power of from bottom-up accountability to one’s constituents, which the two party system in the US makes more difficult and has otherwise been almost entirely eroded by elections being private (vs. publicly) funded. Primaries are one of the few remaining vestiges of accountability in American democracy and have been used successfully by both the left and right to enforce it.
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#189Nice to see the US slowly learn to grift on a whole new scale. [1] Even AOC (who ironically also pushes for ton s of these grifting opportunities via her party). > This is why Congress needs time to actually read this package before voting on it. > Members of Congress have not read this bill. It’s over 5000 pages, arrived at 2pm today, and we are told to expect a vote on it in 2 hours. > This isn’t governance. It’s h…
Yet AOC voted yay for that bill. She is as corrupt as everyone else who voted for it, obviously without reading it.
Yeah I'm not defending AOC here. The whole system is a mess.
This whole 'get out to vote' nonsense is just voting for the same corrupt crap with special interest groups winning and citizens off in the corner getting some crumbs.
Re: California Public Utilities Commission fired director who exposed missing $200M
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have the system that made sense to the people in 1792. It’s a system that is practical with their technology, and it responds to the very specific political problem they had at the time: getting 13 independent countries to surrender their sovereignty to a federal government. That system mostly worked, but it still required a civil war to prove the Union was really was sovereign and states could not leave. When you…
Isn't that the point the poster is making? States have enough independence that they could introduce proportional representation themselves. The only voting reform that I know of in the United States is Maine introducing ranked choice for Governer. Other changes of voting system such as everyone votes for every city councillor seem more designed to keep certain groups out of power.
Actually, we also have RCV for our electoral college votes in the presidential election, as of 2020.