Alabama Dem Wins Special Election With IVF, Abortion Rights Campaign

@JoeW “The underlying business doesn’t seem to be worth much. There is no evidence this is going to become a large, highly profitable company,” Jay Ritter, a University of Florida finance professor, told CNN. “I’m reasonably confident the stock price will eventually drop to $2 a share and could even go below that if the company blows through the money it got from the merger.”

That makes perfect sense

Watching the news and seems that in September Truth Social was valued at $16.44 a share and the spike in value started when he won the Iowa caucus which shows where the real value in it is Trump and not the company.

Exactly and it might culminate if he wins in November. But it is inevitable to fall. The company is nonsense. It just is not sustainable.

Alabama Senate bill would punish companies that voluntarily recognize unions

Republican slammed for cracking jokes about deadly Baltimore bridge collapse

You need to have some distorted sense of humor to make such joke.

RNC Asking Potential Hires if They Believe 2020 Election Was Stolen: Report

This appears to be a personal chat room for @JoeW and @User1865345

Would love to see more people join

I'd love to

This chat room has a focus on American politics it seems

That tends to be what we chat about but we would talk about other things if they get brought up

@Sahaj I don't know how you can phrase this room as "personal"; but anyways welcome.

it was a joke about that only you two are active around here

Anyone can drop by and hang out here.

The Little-Remembered Supreme Court Precedent That Could Protect IVF — and Abortion

@Sahaj in fact, if you could notice, more often than not, I alone share links to the latest happenings (mostly US, but other countries too) without anything akin to conversation!

Joe W is the active user here but others do often visit too.

@User1865345 yes, I saw that on checking the old messages

🙂

We have general elections in India from next month. The ruling government arrested a major opposition leader just a few days back on the pretext of liquor scams. The government is accused often of following autocratic practices and buying out media channels.

At the same time, none of the opposition parties have helped our country in development as much as the ruling party in the past 10 years. In fact, our country was under the same part for around 60 years (which is now in opposition).

@Sahaj I have kept abreast of the latest happenings of India. There was that climate fast by a prominent activist at Ladakh union, if I am not wrong.

I'm compelled to believe that in many cases a non-democratic form of government can lead to more development in terms of urbanization, increasing economic growth, etc such as china

Do you agree?

@User1865345 yes; the activist has broken the fast and passed it on to other followers

@Sahaj sustainable development is a foremost criteria. Conserving biodiversity should not be a second priority. In any case, it also involves giving them the right of a full-fledged state and representation. The government didn't even care to respond, as it seems.

Actually, it's a common theme of the government to not respond positively to protests.

In some cases, they have also cracked down on protestors.

@Sahaj this is a popular myth propelled by half-baked understanding of the current circumstances. China is not a sustainable model as the recent trend shows. Also trumpeting about economic development was also done by Nazi Germany.

@Sahaj I see.

@User1865345 right. do you have links to such data regarding Chinese growth trends?

@User1865345 our democratic system has become too fragile. It even seems that the opposition has a part to play in that because they're so incompetent

Speaking of economic development, India to me, is going towards oligarchy by implementing crony capitalism. The recent electoral bonds scam is a disgrace not only to the government but also to the other parties. This is akin to the Citizens United of US.

@Sahaj There was this NYT article and Vox one too. I have shared here.

@User1865345 that is definitely one aspect where the government must be targeted. But guess what -- I never see this news on the major newspapers or digital media.

@Sahaj it's not one-sided. The main player is propaganda. The first step is to mame your media, the institutions responsible for dissemination of news. The plummet of quality journalism in India is pathetic.

Indeed. Our media is no longer independent

In fact, the parties in our country use religion and caste to appease voters

@Sahaj I would slightly disagree here. You guys have digital platforms that still strive to provide authentic journalistic standard. But they are not legacy media, surely.

True. But the government has targeted digital platforms in the past and will likely continue to do so.

@Sahaj Doesn't China have a lot of "ghost" cities that got developed but have very few people living in them compared to how many it was designed for?

@JoeW heard that for the first time. I'll search it up.

@Sahaj the very revenue system of these institutions compel them to bow towards government for advertisements. That's one of the reasons of these media being so sympathetic to the nationalistic cause advocated by the government narrative.

@Sahaj sign of a sliding democracy.

China has at least 65 million empty homes — enough to house the population of France. It offers a glimpse into the country's massive housing-market problem.

@User1865345 how do media houses in the US get their revenue and maintain political neutrality?

@Sahaj it is nothing similar to what is followed there, if I become too simplistic.

@Sahaj Advertising but I would question the political neutrality, just not controlled by the government but they do tend to be partisan (or at least seen that way)

There is nothing like "neutrality". Everyone follows a certain part of the spectrum. But there is always fact and propaganda, the latter being followed by the right wing media like Fox.

@User1865345 I can't really think of anything other than advertisements

Can you please elaborate on what you mean by the revenue sources being dependent on government?

I don't think media houses have to rely on government for advertisements

@Sahaj follow the trail. Modi government is spending ever more on media ads. Who benefits?

@Sahaj I guess you have to dig deeper.

True

I had a question I wanted to ask you: are there affirmative action policies in your country?

The media plays a huge rule in shaping a narrative that common folks digest without even checking the veracity. And by any standard, the coverage by the media in India seems to have taken a cue from those dictatorship states worldwide. This is a textbook example.

I definitely agree.

I don't see anything critical of the central government on mainstream media.

In fact, most of them predict that they will win more than 400 out of 543 seats in the lower house of the parliament which is to be elected.

Fun fact: the government was caught rigging mayoral elections in a union terroritory of our country (a region which is directly administrated by the union government). Yet, it was given much less attention by media as compared to the wedding of a billionaire.

@Sahaj anyone with a minuscule of intellect would not argue the Modi regime would return. But that figure has been set forth in everyone's mind, again, by the loyal media.

@Sahaj that's the point. They cherry pick what to emphasize and most of the times, it results in immersion of facts over distorted narratives.

@User1865345 Actually I disagree. The Modi government enjoys much popular support here

I think it's could be because of media narratives, but more generally because the opposition has been very incompetent in managing security and law and order in the country while in power

@Sahaj I didn't say otherwise. What I said is even though it can be achievable, the plot has to be fixated by the media. That's the point. Modi regime is extremely popular in the northern heart lands of India.

yes, true

I definitely didn't expect you to follow indian politics so closely though

I follow many other countries too. 🙂

But these are all peripheral.

What do you have to say about, like Pakistan?

It is unfortunate that Pakistan becomes a major point in our electoral debates and discussions.

@Sahaj any country that has been created in the name of religion is bound to fail.

I know it's overgeneralization and should merit discussion. But let's just say, Pakistan is a failed experiment.

But countries like Iran seem to be well-off while being based on religion

Doesn't most of middle east follow theocracy?

@Sahaj this statement, itself, is very broad and would warrant discussion as to what metrics determine so. But point taken, for the sake of argument.

@Sahaj Pakistan has been riddled with the problem of dominance of military from the very outset resulting in the gradual eclipse of what ever there was in the form of a nascent democratic soul.

Agreed. It's basically under military rule with a puppet political system according to what I've seen.

@Sahaj Pakistan has been in constant upheaval. It never got a proper period of settling itself. The nefarious opportunistic attitudes of the political breed available at any point of the time there didn't help either. There was never any big picture of a well-knit nation.

@Sahaj that's affirmative.

On a separate note, do you believe that political leaders (like members of parliaments) necessarily need to be educated?

It is a big debate in our country.

Most of our leaders aren't and are hence guided by an elite class of un-elected permanent government officials who have no public accountability.

The ethos of the nation although was based on religious sentiments did promise a n egalitarian society. But in reality that never came to fruition. That's what makes India different in that "secularism" is enshrined in its Constitution (although it seems imperative Modi government doesn't have particular affection with this framing and would very much love to remove that in the next tenure).

Ha! Agree with your last sentence. I wouldn't be surprised if they take such a bold step.

@Sahaj that would be a sad day for this makes India different from its neighbors.

But the media would then also be able to to sell this plot to the common folks.

In fact, the word "secular" was added on the preamble back in 1977. The modi government distributed a copy of the constitution to lawmakers which didn't include this under the pretext of distributing the "original" constitution.

@Sahaj wow.

Our PM has never held a single press conference in his tenure of 10 years.

@Sahaj being educated in what sense? In terms of having formal degree? While I agree that should be a factor, does that have any sort of significant causal effect in averting any outside manipulation?

It needs proper study to even comment. I know it can be counter-intuitive not to jump to the conclusion. But it's not that simple.

@User1865345 Yes, something like that. The reason why it's so popular here is because ever so often people end up electing criminal and illiterate leaders who have no idea what they're doing

One of them was shot a couple months ago and it was termed as the assassination of a big political leader. In reality it was a gang war and a good riddance for the people from a cruel gangster the police failed to contain.

Most importantly, anyone aspiring to join politics has to have an adamant status on not compromising in their ideology and beliefs and must answer to whether the particular set of principles are beneficial for the welfare of the people. But this is simplification, to say the least.

Well, compromising on ideology happens a lot here. The ruling BJP is known for causing a lot of defections.

Mostly for money rewards, law makers change their political affiliations.

@Sahaj sure. A literate temperament could be an eligibility. But I fear even that won't succeed in rooting out electing ruffians.

One chief minister here has been sworn in 9 nine times--every time under a different alliance. Opponents one day and alliance partners the next day

Its quite a shame

The political landscape in the nook and corner of the country is extremely intricate and is mostly influenced by caste and economic disparity. All other factors become a secondary priority.

@Sahaj lol.

Anyways, I shall head out. See you later

@Sahaj exactly.

@Sahaj sure.

Greene says she won’t take blame if Jeffries becomes Speaker

Still don't know why Klan Mom is making a fuss out of this.