9 ms·

If you voted for Trump, this one's on you.

phkahler 9y ago
He did run on "drain the swamp" which meant getting rid of people that do things like this. The problem is that people believed him.
- zavi 9y ago
  "Drain the swamp" means different things to different people.
  - InitialLastName 9y ago
    One of the joyous things about political messaging lately! Other dual-meaning phrases that have been abused of late: * Fake news * voter fraud * Election rigging * Collusion * Corruption What else do we have?
  - adrr 9y ago
    Never got the meaning to "drain the swamp". Is there a negative perception about having wetlands?
    - olympus 9y ago
      Swamps have a lot of standing water which creates a lot of mosquitoes that carry diseases. Draining a swamp reclaims land and prevents kids from dying.
      - alexozer 9y ago
        I see. I always thought it was just, "swamps are smelly, okay?"
    - milcron 9y ago
      "The swamp" is a metaphor for DC politics. Unpleasant to navigate and very slow moving.
- api 9y ago
  A lot of politicians go to Washington wanting to drain the swamp. They quickly discover that it isn't a swamp. It's a jacuzzi with free champaign.
- fnoiw22 9y ago
  Yes, they believed him. Despite numerous examples from his history that he shouldn't be believed.
  - turc1656 9y ago
    Yeah but in fairness, the other candidate was someone who was also a proven liar, had the Benghazi scandal under her belt, and had the FBI declare publicly that she violated laws related to the handling of classified information. As South Park put it, it's the choice between "Giant Douche vs Turd Sandwich".
awinder 9y ago
Non-voters / people on the “there’s no difference” train also deserve a moment of reflection about whether their reality is true.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  I abstained from voting. I'm still happy with my decision. People actually care about politics again [1]. Maybe next time don't railroad my candidate (Sanders) during the primaries. I will never vote for a neoliberal or corporate Democratic candidate, even if you hold my country hostage. [1] Alabama has a Democratic state senator for the first time in decades.
  - matt4077 9y ago
    I killed a man in Reno, just to watch their family start caring about the justice system!
  - Pxl_Buzzard 9y ago
    Do you feel that you care about politics if you aren't making your voice heard by voting?
    - toomuchtodo 9y ago
      I donate to campaigns I'm passionate about (I max out my contributions per FEC regs). My dollars are more effective than my votes.
  - ceejayoz 9y ago
    Alabama's new Democratic Senator won because the choice was literally "this guy or a pedophile?" That seat'll almost certainly go overwhelmingly red again in 2020. Sessions won the seat in 2014 with 97.3% of the vote. There's probably a Democratic wave happening nationally, but the Alabama special election is really poor evidence to use for it.
    - kaendfinger 9y ago
wdewind 9y ago
Please don't bring divisive politics into HN. Fwiw Ajit Pai was appointed to the FCC by Obama not Trump.
- jread 9y ago
  He was designated FCC Chairman by Trump.
- nocut12 9y ago
  This is a bit misleading... He was appointed by Obama, but not as chairman -- and was a recommendation from McConnell. Obama was pretty clearly pro net neutrality.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- olympus 9y ago
  He was appointed at the direction of Republicans to occupy one of the Republican seats on the Commision.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Pai was appointed by Obama and confirmed by the Senate as a Republican under law limiting the number of members of one party to a bare majority and a long-standing, strong tradition that the President defer to the leadership of the other party in the Senate in appointing members filling the seats which must be filled by members not of the President's party. (Which Trump slow followed when renominating Democratic former commissioner Rosenworcel.) [0] Blaming Obama for Pai being on the committee, rather than the Republican Party, is like blaming Elizabeth II for acts of the British Government rather than the parliamentary majority party. OTOH, where no such legal or traditional constraint limited his choices, Trump selected Pai as FCC Chair, so blaming Trump for Pai’s current position and his reasonably direct endorsement of Pai’s long-overt goals for the FCC is appropriate. [0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/06/trump-to-nominate-democrat-jessica-rosenworcel-for-empty-slot-at-fcc/%3famp=1 https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201...
colept 9y ago
Sorry but the two are not correlated, as much as I'd like to agree. Trump appointed Carr. Obama appointed O'Rielly and Pai. This one is on all of us. We let Congress become a swamp in the first place.
- pythonboi 9y ago
  The FCC is required to be split with the Executive Office filling in the gap for the Commissioner. 2 R, 2 D, and 1 whichever party wins the Presidency.
- bonzini 9y ago
  Pai was recommended by the Republican party; the FCC has two commissioners for each party, plus the chairman who decides split votes. Obama's chairman was in favor of NN, Trump's was solidly against, and that's all that matters.
purplezooey 9y ago
Ayup.
tmat 9y ago
You say this as if Hillary would have been so much better.. No, this ones on all the people who continue to stick their head in the sand and try to blame the other team.
- cevn 9y ago
  > The FCC is required to be split with the Executive Office filling in the gap for the Commissioner. 2 R, 2 D, and 1 whichever party wins the Presidency. (from pythonboi) 2 democrats voted against repealing NN. If we had 3 D's in the FCC, if we had Hillary, you would have seen the opposite result. Please stop peddling this "there's no difference" narrative. It's clearly untrue in this case. Otherwise, why would the split be on party lines? Republicans voted to repeal NN, not democrats.
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  Every FCC vote on net neutrality since the 2010 rules has been straight party-line. The Republican majority is a direct result of having a Republican President. It's pretty clear that a Democratic administration would have been different on this issue, whatever other areas there might be where that question would be murkier.
dang 9y ago
Please don't post political flamebait to HN. Even assuming you're right, posting like this destroys this site. Everyone commenting here needs to take responsibility for not doing that. Just like it's even more important to guard against sparks when the forest is already dry, it's even more important to take this responsibility when the topic is already politicized. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- brian-armstrong 9y ago
  I'm a little shocked that you removed and commented on this fairly benign comment but apparently don't have time to remove outright bigotry that I've flagged in the past. It feels like the moderation here is very much in the pocket of the alt-right.

He did run on "drain the swamp" which meant getting rid of people that do things like this. The problem is that people believed him.

zavi 9y ago
"Drain the swamp" means different things to different people.
- InitialLastName 9y ago
  One of the joyous things about political messaging lately! Other dual-meaning phrases that have been abused of late: * Fake news * voter fraud * Election rigging * Collusion * Corruption What else do we have?
- adrr 9y ago
  Never got the meaning to "drain the swamp". Is there a negative perception about having wetlands?
  - olympus 9y ago
    Swamps have a lot of standing water which creates a lot of mosquitoes that carry diseases. Draining a swamp reclaims land and prevents kids from dying.
    - alexozer 9y ago
      I see. I always thought it was just, "swamps are smelly, okay?"
  - milcron 9y ago
    "The swamp" is a metaphor for DC politics. Unpleasant to navigate and very slow moving.
api 9y ago
A lot of politicians go to Washington wanting to drain the swamp. They quickly discover that it isn't a swamp. It's a jacuzzi with free champaign.
fnoiw22 9y ago
Yes, they believed him. Despite numerous examples from his history that he shouldn't be believed.
- turc1656 9y ago
  Yeah but in fairness, the other candidate was someone who was also a proven liar, had the Benghazi scandal under her belt, and had the FBI declare publicly that she violated laws related to the handling of classified information. As South Park put it, it's the choice between "Giant Douche vs Turd Sandwich".

awinder 9y ago

Non-voters / people on the “there’s no difference” train also deserve a moment of reflection about whether their reality is true.

toomuchtodo 9y ago
I abstained from voting. I'm still happy with my decision. People actually care about politics again [1]. Maybe next time don't railroad my candidate (Sanders) during the primaries. I will never vote for a neoliberal or corporate Democratic candidate, even if you hold my country hostage. [1] Alabama has a Democratic state senator for the first time in decades.
- matt4077 9y ago
  I killed a man in Reno, just to watch their family start caring about the justice system!
- Pxl_Buzzard 9y ago
  Do you feel that you care about politics if you aren't making your voice heard by voting?
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    I donate to campaigns I'm passionate about (I max out my contributions per FEC regs). My dollars are more effective than my votes.
- ceejayoz 9y ago
  Alabama's new Democratic Senator won because the choice was literally "this guy or a pedophile?" That seat'll almost certainly go overwhelmingly red again in 2020. Sessions won the seat in 2014 with 97.3% of the vote. There's probably a Democratic wave happening nationally, but the Alabama special election is really poor evidence to use for it.
  - kaendfinger 9y ago

wdewind 9y ago

Please don't bring divisive politics into HN. Fwiw Ajit Pai was appointed to the FCC by Obama not Trump.

jread 9y ago
He was designated FCC Chairman by Trump.
nocut12 9y ago
This is a bit misleading... He was appointed by Obama, but not as chairman -- and was a recommendation from McConnell. Obama was pretty clearly pro net neutrality.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
olympus 9y ago
He was appointed at the direction of Republicans to occupy one of the Republican seats on the Commision.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
dragonwriter 9y ago
Pai was appointed by Obama and confirmed by the Senate as a Republican under law limiting the number of members of one party to a bare majority and a long-standing, strong tradition that the President defer to the leadership of the other party in the Senate in appointing members filling the seats which must be filled by members not of the President's party. (Which Trump slow followed when renominating Democratic former commissioner Rosenworcel.) [0] Blaming Obama for Pai being on the committee, rather than the Republican Party, is like blaming Elizabeth II for acts of the British Government rather than the parliamentary majority party. OTOH, where no such legal or traditional constraint limited his choices, Trump selected Pai as FCC Chair, so blaming Trump for Pai’s current position and his reasonably direct endorsement of Pai’s long-overt goals for the FCC is appropriate. [0] https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/06/trump-to-nominate-democrat-jessica-rosenworcel-for-empty-slot-at-fcc/%3famp=1 https://www.google.com/amp/s/arstechnica.com/tech-policy/201...

colept 9y ago

Sorry but the two are not correlated, as much as I'd like to agree. Trump appointed Carr. Obama appointed O'Rielly and Pai. This one is on all of us. We let Congress become a swamp in the first place.

pythonboi 9y ago
The FCC is required to be split with the Executive Office filling in the gap for the Commissioner. 2 R, 2 D, and 1 whichever party wins the Presidency.
bonzini 9y ago
Pai was recommended by the Republican party; the FCC has two commissioners for each party, plus the chairman who decides split votes. Obama's chairman was in favor of NN, Trump's was solidly against, and that's all that matters.

purplezooey 9y ago

Ayup.

tmat 9y ago

You say this as if Hillary would have been so much better.. No, this ones on all the people who continue to stick their head in the sand and try to blame the other team.

cevn 9y ago
> The FCC is required to be split with the Executive Office filling in the gap for the Commissioner. 2 R, 2 D, and 1 whichever party wins the Presidency. (from pythonboi) 2 democrats voted against repealing NN. If we had 3 D's in the FCC, if we had Hillary, you would have seen the opposite result. Please stop peddling this "there's no difference" narrative. It's clearly untrue in this case. Otherwise, why would the split be on party lines? Republicans voted to repeal NN, not democrats.
dragonwriter 9y ago
Every FCC vote on net neutrality since the 2010 rules has been straight party-line. The Republican majority is a direct result of having a Republican President. It's pretty clear that a Democratic administration would have been different on this issue, whatever other areas there might be where that question would be murkier.

dang 9y ago

Please don't post political flamebait to HN. Even assuming you're right, posting like this destroys this site. Everyone commenting here needs to take responsibility for not doing that. Just like it's even more important to guard against sparks when the forest is already dry, it's even more important to take this responsibility when the topic is already politicized. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

brian-armstrong 9y ago
I'm a little shocked that you removed and commented on this fairly benign comment but apparently don't have time to remove outright bigotry that I've flagged in the past. It feels like the moderation here is very much in the pocket of the alt-right.