I'd be interested, though somewhat dependent on how busy/exhausted I am at the time.
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PoliGAF 2017 |OT6| Made this thread during Harvey because the ratings would be higher
- Thread starter Aaron Strife
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I'd be interested, though somewhat dependent on how busy/exhausted I am at the time.
A Human Becoming
More than a Member
I'd be interested in a book club: I have plenty of suggestions.
I assume we'd start with Das Kapital.
Fuck yes.
Fancyarcher
Member
Sounds interesting (first time posting in the PoliGaf thread too). Not sure I'll be able to read a full book right now, but I love my history.
It's been at least ten years since I've had one. I've had a couple.
VendettaRed07
Member
This book is really good
Probably the best dive into Lincoln I've come across.
Probably the best dive into Lincoln I've come across.
nintendoman58
Member
I know I complain about this a lot, but man do I wish that Net Neutrality thread wasn't made.
What is it about "Here's what you can do to help" threads drawing in all the "NOTHING MATTERS ANYMORE" people?
What is it about "Here's what you can do to help" threads drawing in all the "NOTHING MATTERS ANYMORE" people?
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
nintendoman58
Member
I'm dreading the kind of threads we're gonna see when the decision gets made.
"Is Blizzard going to go out of business?"
"Is the game industry doomed?"
"Is NeoGAF about to be taken down?"
"Is CNN and the NYT about to be censored?"
Spoiled Milk
Banned
This book is really good
Probably the best dive into Lincoln I've come across.
eric foner was my homeboy in college, highly recommend his work
This book is really good
Probably the best dive into Lincoln I've come across.
Excuse you?
ShadowSwordmaster
Banned
This book is really good
Probably the best dive into Lincoln I've come across.
I disagree.
Autodidact
Banned
Now you see the reason I've been avoiding OT. Seventh graders have sapped all my patience, and for the next eight months I refuse to deal with ignorant histrionics unless I receive compensation. Some of them make twelve-year-olds look stable.
This book is really good
Probably the best dive into Lincoln I've come across.
I've heard good things about that book. For my upper division Civil War class we read this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0077430352/?tag=neogaf0e-20
It's focused on the entirety of the lead up to the Civil War, the Civil War and Reconstruction. Never read a more comprehensive book on the subject. But it's also like a thousand* pages so might not be the best one for our purposes lol.
*technically more like around 700.
edit: whoops, fixed the link
I've found Net Neutrality gets people to be particularly shrill.
I mean, gutting it's gonna be bad, but not like that famous meme about the gutted internet where you have to pay $5 to get access to facebook and stuff. It would be more insidious but harder to notice.
balladofwindfishes
Member
I actually don't think NN going away for 4 years is going to really matter in the long term. It takes too long for companies to move forward with new plans that they know they'll have to change them all over again once the next administration starts.
As is sometimes the case with this stuff, inertia ends up in our favor.
As is sometimes the case with this stuff, inertia ends up in our favor.
There isn't time for a slow roll out. The next time a Dem is in office, it's coming right back, and if Dems have all three branches, it becomes law and will be near impossible to repeal.
Autodidact
Banned
.02/word in every GAF post. Make people be selective about their outrage and handwringing.
A tiered internet like that infamous image that has been circulating for years seems unlikely, but I do worry that Comcast is just gonna make all of my Youtube, Twitch, Netflix, etc. videos look and buffer like shite while many of my favorite websites are slow to load and online gaming ends up being way more laggy than it needs to be
I also think standalone internet plans are going to get even more expensive
I also think standalone internet plans are going to get even more expensive
Fenderputty
Banned
I wish I shared this optimism. We're taking about cable companies though. They're awful. They're also dealing with usage loss due to cord cutting.
I hope you're right though
balladofwindfishes
Member
Roughly ten years ago TWC tried to implement bandwidth caps in my area (ridiculous ones, the cap maxed at 50gb a month for like 150 dollars). After protesting and Schumer getting involved, it disappeared, with a promise that "we'll work out the details and come back with a better plan within a year or two" but it's been 10 years without a peep. Not even a slow roll out or a hint at it coming eventually.
I guess maybe it helps that my area has a tiny bit of competition, but I haven't really seen much fast moving coming from ISPs. Especially when they know this entire arrangement is temporary.
This is the most historically accurate depiction of lincoln imo.
I couldn't believe it, but I really enjoyed that book.
I'm in, I really need to some motivation to start reading political non-fiction.
How do they know it's "temporary"? This is until at least the end of Trump's term, if he gets re-elected it continues. If a Dem wins it probably doesn't, unless NN takes a backseat to all the other shit Trump will have done to fuck everything up by then, which is honestly a safe bet
Obama was very proactive about NN, other politicians not so much. He really got it.
balladofwindfishes
Member
NN is a "minor" issue now because it was settled. Now that it isn't settled anymore, it'll move back to the front.
There isn't a chance this becomes something people forget is an issue. 99% of people use the Internet, most of those for multiple hours a day. As the years roll on and more and more people stream instead of watching cable, ISPs are going to get quite a lot of awkward phone calls when customers start noticing their Netflix they've used for years is suddenly running terrible.
Bonen no Max'd
Banned
If we're talking books I just started this so I can understand and solve all politics.
Dubbedinenglish
Banned
Atlanta area, had a choice of shitty ATT internet and Comcast with actual modern internet speeds. Catch was Comcast was working with a 300 GB limit. Had to only use SD video and limit my Steam updates. Year before last Google announced and started their fiber expansion into the area. Shortly after Comcast says they are moving to a 1 TB "soft" cap and bumped up our speeds for reasons totally not related to Google moving in.
These companies are happy with a monopoly and are absolutely half-asssing service for customers because they know they can when there is only 1 other competitor..
smokeandmirrors
Banned
I don't post too often here but I'd be in.
Gimmie dat history mang
Incidentally I've definitely decided at some point in the near future to go to grad school for history because why not.
What's going to stop them from adding a "streaming charge" to your bill.. or a "gaming charge" etc. if you are a cord cutter
It might not be as specific as a tiered block of websites because that would be impossible to manage, but they could basically have a huge whitelist of all the known streaming services that you can pay $10 more per month for if you stream or, say, game a lot
balladofwindfishes
Member
The charges won't be on the consumer side. They want cash from Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros, Google, HBO, and all the other streaming services that exist today or are coming soon. That's where the real money is, and those services now carry the burden of raising their prices, not the ISP.
Look at how it works for mobile right now.
I've been reading Nixonland all summer, and its been great on its own merits but also very reassuring that today is not the nadir of America (at least not yet); the 60s/70s were some real fucked up, scary shit, much more so than today. I also always found the diabolical supervillain caricature of Nixon to be overexaggerated, but reading this gave me a new appreciation for how fucking smart but also downright evil he could be.
So basically Netflix, Amazon et al goes up another $10 per month. Youtube gets throttled to shit. Customer still loses in the end
I also wonder what this means for services like PSN that already perform like shit with the Internet being as open as it will ever be over the next 3-4 years at least
Also the ISP's added a broadcast fee for all of those local channels did they not? What's gonna stop them from getting together with the networks to hash out some bullshit formula that is based on how much they think they got robbed by people livestreaming and whatnot...
balladofwindfishes
Member
I don't know how it would even be enforceable for gaming. You're either connecting to IPs that are just random servers, or are P2P. It's not like you could make a white list that has some guy's Quake server he's been running since 1998 from his basement.
Because these companies are massive and aren't going to just roll over.
You think Disney, who has been planning their own streaming service for years and is launching in the near future is going to just cave to whatever demands an ISP wants? Enjoy losing half your channels from your cable service I guess?
Box of Kittens
Banned
Yeah, the lack of competition is really awful. I live in Chicago and Comcast is literally the only ISP to offer even remotely acceptable speeds at my address. AT&T only offers dreadfully slow internet at our place, and all the other companies either do not serve our neighborhood, or only offer services to entire buildings, not individual customers.
Yup, Trump gives Nixon a bad name. That guy knew what he was doing.
Can't they throttle based on the kind of traffic though
They're going to be able to tell if you are playing a popular game.
...or some guy sitting on his bed that weighs 400 pounds, ok?
(Sorry I had to)
Aaron Strife
Banned
Charlottesville backlash and a surprise Obama endorsement probably saved St. Petersburg, FL Mayor Rick Kriseman tonight, who leads by 69 (heheh) votes over Republican Rick Baker, 48.36% to 48.24%.
While the two are going to a runoff now, this is probably some much-needed momentum for Kriseman who's been trailing Baker by mid-single digits in polls up to this point.
Also, Pew polling has national approval of Black Lives Matter at 55% (34% disapprove). Fucking 4chan nerds and their tiki torches were probably the best thing to ever happen for exposing hatred in America and firmly establishing whose side you want to be on.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...-increase-sharply-especially-among-democrats/
While the two are going to a runoff now, this is probably some much-needed momentum for Kriseman who's been trailing Baker by mid-single digits in polls up to this point.
Also, Pew polling has national approval of Black Lives Matter at 55% (34% disapprove). Fucking 4chan nerds and their tiki torches were probably the best thing to ever happen for exposing hatred in America and firmly establishing whose side you want to be on.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...-increase-sharply-especially-among-democrats/
That is pretty fucking amazing
AntraxSuicide
Banned
I had to harp on this point to hardcore fundamentalist (racist) Christians that I knew when Obama got elected. They all thought he was the anti-Christ, and he was here because the world was going to shit. This was the middle of the recession and we'd be involved in the war on terror(tm) for years now.
I pointed out that economically, the Great Depression would've been insanely worse to live through. And militarily, the jump in warfare at the turn of the century to WW1 would be damn near apocalyptic; you get the first wide-scale use of automatic machine gun fire, armored tanks, poison gas, planes dropping bombs, trench warfare. If that wasn't the End of Days, then our current military situation isn't (nukes, notwithstanding).
whyamihere
Banned
A big night for Fairfax County Dems and a potentially bad sign for what's to come for the GOP, though note the low turnout.
http://bluevirginia.us/2017/08/a-fe...cratic-win-tonight-in-fairfax-county-virginia
http://bluevirginia.us/2017/08/a-fe...cratic-win-tonight-in-fairfax-county-virginia
First off, congratulations to Democrat Karen Keys-Gamarra, who is going to do a great job on the Fairfax County School Board after her crushing victory (approximately 2:1 over Republican Chris Grisafe; a 20,000-vote margin for Keys-Gamarra!) tonight for the at-large seat vacated by Republican Jeanette Hough. By the way, note that Fairfax County is Virginias largest county, with nearly 1.2 million people larger than a bunch of states (e.g., Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island).
Second, this is a very bad omen for the two remaining Republicans Elizabeth Schultz and Tom Wilson on the Fairfax County School Board, as Keys-Gamarra easily carried each of their magisterial districts (Springfield and Sully, respectively). Watch out in 2019 for a possibly all-Democratic Fairfax County School Board!
Third, according to Fairfax political guru Ben Tribbett, Keys-Gamarra wins 16 Delegate districts, with only @TimHugos district still too close to call The only Delegate district we arent sure about yet is @TimHugos where Keys-Gamarra leads by 40 votes with 2 precincts left to report Keys-Gamarra has carried the other 16 districts All precincts now in- and only district Keys-Gamarra lost was the 40th held by @TimHugo and she only lost there by 9 votes. Lets see if we can keep this trend going on November 7 for the Virginia House of Delegates.
Fourth, this was not a great night for Ed Gillespie (see photo below) or Barbara Comstock or other top Virginia Republicans who campaigned for Chris Grisafe. Sad!
Fifth, turnout (around 10%) was significantly higher than many had been speculating (I had been hearing worries of turnout as low as 4%). Apparently, a lot of that turnout was made up of Democrats, many of whom undoubtedly are not happy with the Republican Party or its leader, Donald Trump. Lets hope this blue trend continues in November 2017 here in Virginia, then in November 2018 across the country.
Sixth, so much for changing the name of J.E.B. Stuart High School or allowing transgender kids to pee in peace being huge turnout drivers for Republican voters.
Finally, Fairfax County is looking very, very blue right now. For comparison purposes, in the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election, Democrat Terry McAuliffe beat Republican Ken Cuccinelli 58%-36% in Fairfax County; tonight, Democrat Karen Keys-Gamarra is beating Republican Chris Grisafe by a nearly 2:1 margin. Sounds good to me!
Aaron Strife
Banned
If this holds, we probably can crack 40 in the State House and win the gubernatorial race pretty easily.
whyamihere
Banned
Victor Cha nominated for ambassador for South Korea. Yeah, he's a Republican, but he's extremely knowledgeable about North Korea/South Korea relationships and would be a welcome nominee in any Republican administration.
Cha wrote one of my favorite books on the DPRK.
Cha wrote one of my favorite books on the DPRK.
AntraxSuicide
Banned
My main focuses at midterms are the House, and then the control of various state legislatures and governor's mansions.
Aaron, how many Dem trifectas are on the table next year?
"The Senate voted 100-0 to not confirm the nominee after he repeatedly answered questions with, "Right back at Cha.""
whyamihere
Banned
This year, 1.
Next year, New Mexico, Nevada, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Illinois, Colorado (I believe)
The breaking a bunch of R trifectas. There are some reach state houses like FL Senate, AZ Senate, MN Houss (I believe?), and then something in Michigan I believe they may go for. Not sure though.
SatelliteOfLove
Member
I'm hoping this is out of desperation and not out of any confidence. Like "weeks from FBI raid of his offices" desperation.
Yeah. I mean, people were beaten and even killed but playing their hand too strongly as it were showed just how many were working towards attacking civil rights and those they defend and how bold and empowered they'd gotten and on camera. The Candy Corn Mugabe's intent on tying his bloviated corpse to these few remaining sycophants can't hurt either.
Tying into that and the Rohrabacher story above, bots and trolls have been feisty trying to make fetch happen with fake news and memes lately (lots of retweeting and liking posts with few replies, etc). Yall see the one about how "Trump's handling Harvey better than Obama handled Katrina"?
AntraxSuicide
Banned
Good stuff, thanks!
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