Damn, he was actually impeached. For some reason I thought there was a republican majority and he wouldn't be

The main reason they did it was most likely so they'd have a better shot winning in 2020

Several democrats were quoted saying they had to impeach him or he might win the election

It doesn't go to the senate though. He's been impeached. He now can't run for office in 2020

What goes to the senate is a vote on whether to remove him immediately or not

@dizzy Wait really?

@dizzy I tried looking it up in the news and everything I found said he was impeached and the senate only voted on removing him or not. That's really weird. You sure he can be acquitted and run in 2020?

@dizzy That's a big relief

This is going to be one hilarious shit show all the way through election

I viewed impeachment as a giant waste of time and thought it needed to get through the senate to pass. So I stopped paying attention to it. Then I saw every news outlet and a bunch of friends start screeching that he'd been impeached and I started freaking out

@dizzy @Louis Thank you for reassuring me in these dark times

I was making a small joke lol

I really just meant thanks for updating me on what was actually happening

Didn't see anything about what you said in the "news". Lets hope nothing happens to keep him from running again. I'm really going to enjoy watching the establishment left screaming murder all the way to his re-election

Yeah unfortunately the left is still driving that car left even as its driving off a cliff

The party' s average values have gone too far left to be considered sane anymore

A pew research study shows that the democrats have been moving further and further left.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/pew-research-center-study-shows-that-democrats-have-shifted-to-the-extreme-left/

In one sense its a shame because its driving the country further apart and their values are bad for the country. In another sense its a good thing because its helping to bring attention to the fact that the two parties we have now are both dying and no longer actually represent the people.

True

My main point is that the two parties we currently have, Democrat and Republican. No longer represent the people and are only fighting to win elections.

Real issues never get addressed anymore

The problem is the establishment is so big in each party. It along with media controls most of what is going on in our country. The establishment on the left and right align closer to eachother with the focus of their goals than they do with the actual people.

Its become almost impossible to see what's actually going on

Its easy for us to talk about it. But as soon as a large enough effort comes together to try and fix the system the establishment on both sides will likely work together with the media to try and stamp it out

Lol

Sure

@Louis I never said I thought it was easy or even remotely likely. I said the opposite. That it would be near impossible because of the establishment. Like you just said. Do you have me confused with someone?

Balanced if you consider the majority of people having little to no say in what actually happens balanced

@Louis I wasn't necessarily advocating for a third party. Even though it would be a much better outcome if it were possible. I was simply pointing out how bad for the country the establishment on both sides is

What really needs to happen is reform in so many systems. The millitary industrial complex, the two party establishment, the healthcare system, the prison system.

Pretty much every single system of government in the country needs reform desperately or things will only get worse.

The problem is its a never ending circle. The government has become so bloated and self serving in every direction that good change almost never happens. Every time real reform is ever considered it gets twisted into a bigger government failure if it ever reaches law.

No I'm sorry man. I know the millitary is a touchy conservative talking point. But we waste ungodly amounts of money on tge millitary that desperately needs to be spent elsewhere.

You don't like increased taxes and think the government is wasting all of our money? Then we have to look at the millitary even more so than healthcare.

Our millitary spending accounts for around 55% of our budget. The U.S. accounts for 37 percent of the total millitary on the planet. U.S. military expenditures are roughly the size of the next seven largest military budgets around the world, combined.

Trust me, just like everything else the government does, its way over bloated.

Its the same thing

I'll double check

China is definitely a bigger problem than Russia. They're spreading all over the world

I double checked and I couldn't find an accurate representation of our spending. However, I did see that on paper social security, medicare, etc. make up a chunk that odds are is bigger than deffence spending. One of the major problems is where all the money is actually going. Money is being siphoned out of social security to pay for everything else. Each of the major chunks of spending needs reform.

@Mersenne I agree the argument could be worded better. But its really simple. We're spending way too much. And that includes millitary. The fact stands that our millitary is larger than the next seven largest countries combined.

How could you possibly not think that the government wastes money just as badly in defense spending as it does in healthcare spending? That makes no sense

@Mersenne I wasn't claiming they were being siphoned to the millitary specifically. Only that they are gone

@Louis The key word here is *wastes*. I'm not claiming that there aren't areas where are military could be improved. I'm saying there is a massive fucking pit that all our money is getting sucked into from every branch of government. Wherever that money is going its getting wasted

The war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. One of the main problems is foreign wars. We've been in Afghanistan for 18 years and its accomplished close to nothing. Allll the way back 2002 top generals were talking about how much of a shit show it was

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/investigations/afghanistan-papers/afghanistan-war-confidential-documents/

I hate the washington post but i cant be bothered to look it up elsewhere

The documents were released inder the Freedom of Informatoon Act after a three year legal battle

In the interviews over 400 officisls offered their unrestrained opinions on what went wrong in the war in Afghanistan

Generals openly admitted that we wasted billions trying to mold Afganistan into what we wanted it to be without any real direction on doing so

@Mersenne I agree troops should be taken out of Syria

Since 2001 at least 980 billion has been spent on attempting to reform Afghanistan. Thousands of US soldiers have died for a regime change war that barely accomplished anything over 18 years. I would argue its created more terrorism and hate for the US mire tgan anything else

As of July 7, 2018, there have been 2,372 U.S. military deaths in the War in Afghanistan.

Its not worthy if it cause more radicalization

It does

@Mersenne Of course I agree that the Islamic caliphate is a cancer on the planet and is killing many people. But they've mostly grown as a result of our presence

We send billions in foreign aid to Saudi Arabia who fund terrorist groups

And then we go over to fight them its a giant shit show

Do you disagree that we send billions in foreign aid to Saudi Arabia who fund terrorist groups

Huh

You're advocating for funding a war to fight the terrirists while we fund the terrorists. Do you realize how stupid that is

I definitely agree with that @Cobra Commander

@Gray__Fox And yes, that's most likely their plan

The green new deal is a pile of shit

Lets hope it fails

Remember about half the country voted against trump and the dems passed impeachment. This hasn't been won yet

They just want to get rid of Trump for 2020 or at least delegitimize him. They don't care about anything else

If the roles were reversed Biden would be way more guilty than Trump. Roles as in who was president. Its a shame how focused the country has been on impeachment when there are actual real world problems that need to be dealt with. Its a depressing waste of time

@Mersenne Thanks for providing a source to go off of btw. Will try to give it a read

Sounds like a long tedious read

Oh nice

Also, just read up. Most "journalism" today is journalistic malpractice

Yeah, I'd probably drive off a cliff before I finished the 400 pages

That's really useful. Saving it to my news folder

Btw does anyone have a link to something showing where Trump can still run in 2020 once he's acquitted. Either a news article or something referencing laws. Can't find a good source

If not that's fine

Yeah, dizzy and Louis updated me earlier. Just trying to find a link that I can reference

Thanks, thats pretty helpful

Other than the pay line to read most of it

I'm sure I learned it at some point

Just forgot a lot of stuff due to a wild early twenties

I think I maxed out my 3

@Joker That's really useful but a bit lacking

Unfortunately that's what my history/civics was until I changed schools to one that actually valued education

Lmao

Defintely true

Random question. Would anyone here consider voting for Tulsi Gabbard if she won

Not that I think she will win the primary

Yeah

From what I've seen she's the best democratic candidate they've had in generations

If she actually believes that, then that's a definite detraction

But most of what I've seen has been an example of one of the most actually intelligent and presidential candidates to run in a while

She didn't vote in favor

She voted present

If its between Trump and Tulsi I'd be hard pressed to decide. Her stance on foreign policy and prison reform are excellent along with the fact that she seems like a genuine human being. But she does have a stance on other things that's too far left

Trump vs any democrat besides Tulsi, I'm voting Trump. Tulsi vs anyone besides Trump I'm voting Tulsi

@Jokerfaic I definitely agree that what's going on in the middle east is unacceptable. But if it comes down to the midfle east vs the future of our country. That's a hard choice

The problem is almost no one on the democrat side is remotely trustworthy

Not to mention most of them support policies that will destroy the country

True

The DNC is a bigger threat to our country than terrorism honestly

No one can find you just by the state

Try living in Philadelphia. I lived there for a while. The whole city is basically an area you don't want to be in at night

Kensington is worse than some third world countries