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[smjjames]

AAAND, the brief segue into child marriage somehow manages to segue itself into actual politics: state legislators in Tennessee killed a bill against child marriage in order to bolster a conservative lawyers case against same-sex marriage.

The lawyers logic? "If Tennessee were to ban child marriages by modifying state marriage law, lawmakers would be acknowledging the existence of same-sex marriage, according to Fowler’s legal theory."

Fucking logic there, makes no sense at all. What the hell does same sex marriage have to do with child marriage? That's an extreme pretzel of a logical interdimensional hyperloop.

[MorleyDev]

Fucking logic there, makes no sense at all. What the hell does same sex marriage have to do with child marriage?

Well if you listen to the Conservative Right, gay marriage is just a gateway to child marriage and bestiality anyway -_-

(Personally I always reply to that with "But if we ban same-sex marriage, we'll soon have to ban interracial marriage. Before we know it, all marriage will be banned!". The slippery slope goes both ways, bitches).

[wierd]

I'm perfectly down with banning marriage.  It's mostly just about property law anyway.

[Teneb]

I'm perfectly down with banning marriage.  It's mostly just about property law anyway.

Traditional marriages are the only proper ones anyway: land, money or political alliances. "Marrying for love", bah!

[redwallzyl]

I'm perfectly down with banning marriage.  It's mostly just about property law anyway.

Traditional marriages are the only proper ones anyway: land, money or political alliances. "Marrying for love", bah!

Obligatory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPX-mW4l1rU

[Hanslanda]

Marriage is older than theism. No religion can claim to be setting the definition for marriage. Marriage was invented when mankind still worshipped animals and the wind and shit, so if anyone gets to define it, it should be voles.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Also, as you get further back into prehistory "definition of marriage" more and more commonly becomes "like twenty people in an endless chaotic orgy cycle" with absolutely no level of "one man, one woman, one god" in sight.

Come to think of it, I guess that we're kind of closing the circle on that these days.

[redwallzyl]

Marriage is older than theism. No religion can claim to be setting the definition for marriage. Marriage was invented when mankind still worshipped animals and the wind and shit, so if anyone gets to define it, it should be voles.

Yes, humans are actually classified as monogamous. Drawing from the well studied morphology of primates we fit it completely. The lack of large canines, the low sexual dimorphism, excreta. No matter what idiots on the internet say there is no such thing as an alpha male or shit like that. In fact those kind of people are detrimental to group survive and so would be gotten rid of. In the study of social monogamy however there is an interesting thing where it has been recorded that about 50% of children of monogamous animals are not not from the partner. That makes no difference in the dynamics of the social relationship between partners. The unique thing about humans is due to culture we are able to practice any form of relationship we want.

[Hanslanda]

"one man, one woman, one god"

Ah yes, the least fun threesome ever. A man and woman mating while god leans over them being judge-y, "Hey! Hey! Missionary only. This isn't supposed to be fun!"

Marriage is older than theism. No religion can claim to be setting the definition for marriage. Marriage was invented when mankind still worshipped animals and the wind and shit, so if anyone gets to define it, it should be voles.

Yes, humans are actually classified as monogamous. Drawing from the well studied morphology of primates we fit it completely. The lack of large canines, the low sexual dimorphism, excreta. No matter what idiots on the internet say there is no such thing as an alpha male or shit like that. In fact those kind of people are detrimental to group survive and so would be gotten rid of. In the study of social monogamy however there is an interesting thing where it has been recorded that about 50% of children of monogamous animals are not not from the partner. That makes no difference in the dynamics of the social relationship between partners. The unique thing about humans is due to culture we are able to practice any form of relationship we want.

I suspected this was the case but I don't know enough sociobiology to know it on my own. Neat.

[Gentlefish]

Ah yes, the least fun threesome ever. A man and woman mating while god leans over them being judge-y, "Hey! Hey! Missionary only. This isn't supposed to be fun!"

I do actually remember something about this! In the Old Testament, there are some verses on the matter that boil down to consummate often and make sure the wife is enjoying herself as well.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

538 did a thing on the power centers/factions in the Trump admin. about three weeks ago. Not sure if the bureaucrats count as a faction, but point is, there are many power centers and Trump apparently fosters cutthroat competition between the factions. And he loves it.

In terms of apparent influence, I'd rank them:

1. Trump Family (nepotist to the end, made at least one direct policy change based on a suggestion from Ivanka, incest is truly a force to be feared)

2. Wall Street (AHCA written by insurance executives, tax corruption policy focus, not sure how NAFTA interacts with these people)

3. Bannon (travel ban attempts, anti-China, getting some vibes from the SCOTUS nominee)

4. McCain (hates McCain himself but Trump goes out of his way to suck off the military, was insistent on McMaster, also Mattis but he and McMaster both seem to be outside the Trumpsphere^TM and I foresee there being Problems if Trump starts insisting on a God-Sorting military strategy to either.)

5. Pence (what ever happened to the First Amendment Defense Act, again? Oh, committee hell. Trump seems to avoid even pretending to care about the religious right.)

6. Party People (impending night of the long knives, believe it, also who the fuck eats cinnamon gum Trump is right on this one)

7. Bureaucrats (Trump is openly hostile to them and some of them are engaged in active subversion against the administration)

A year having passed, 538 has updated their assessment of the White House factions, and I'll rank them again for the brave new world of 2018.

Major Factions

1. Capitalists - (Champions by way of not fucking up and being influential to begin with, Trump remains a shameless huckster and actually passed some policy for these guys. As the winners of Trump's only genuine policy victory, they come in at number one in our Orange Boi's heart. These faceless grinning suits have always been his true masters. Investors Vult.)

2. Bureaucracy Dissidents ^ (Turns out it's hard to get rid of everybody who doesn't instinctually think of fellatio the moment you walk into a room in something as big as the executive branch. Muller's extreme aggression without being fired does a lot of the work for this group's meteoric rise, as does the apparent difficulty in filling seats and keeping them occupied. We've got all sorts of hands here, whatever you want, and none of them can see each other.)

3. Militarists - (Neither genuine selfie friends nor knocked out of place, Kelly, McMaster, and Mattis continue to just sort of...be. No invasions or nukes so far. It's probably for the best that Trump doesn't try to be Commander-in-Chief, given how badly he fucks up apologizing for getting people killed. This is about where I expect they'll stay unless McMaster or for some reason Kelly get themselves voted off the island. If Mattis splits it'd be a total collapse, and also you should probably scope out a bunker sooner instead of later. I think they'll all hold on decently though, simply because they're some of the only people in the room who aren't whining or panicking.)

4. Traditionalists ^ (Well, well, well. Look at who rose again after 30 years. Religious right, moral majority, Jesus freak zealot assholes...whatever you call them, Pence brought them back from the brink. Even got some minor policy on the abortion thing, and the Education Secretary who hates education joins the EPA chief who hates the Earth in successfully being intentionally bad at their jobs. In any other Republican administration Pence's witchery probably would have propelled them straight to the top...in the world of 2018, this might be about as well as they can do. For fun, tell me who you think Pence's secret gay celebrity crush is.)

Minor Factions

5. Nationalists v (Parting is such sweet sorrow. In the competition between the full fascists and the half-fascists, the Head Fascist was staked and when that failed to even faze him just went back to his newspaper and then lost that too. And so the half-fascists continue on lost in the world, with only the guidance of their Keebler Elf to stand against the fall of night. Trump personally retains some sympathies and policy objectives here, most notably including THE WALL and forgetting he can't say racist shit in press conferences, but it is this life support alone that retains the politic which once gave internet shitlords such joy.)

6. Neutral Powers - (Didn't get listed last time, but they're actually meaningfully effective these days, which says something all its own. If Tillerson or McGahn leave or Trump goes on the offensive they'll collapse into the shitheap.)

The Shitheap

7. Trump Family v (Turns out it was actually "nepotist to the a couple of months of lip service" in the end. In retrospect, not only is Trump in the position of a family patriarch who dismisses his children for their permissive opinions, but some of them are actually a threat to his safety re: Russian Connection as we saw with Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner. Trump's plans for a political dynasty to carry his name on in glory past the gates of death might be on the nix now.)

8. Party Establishment v (I told you bro, I told you about the knives, it keeps happening)

[smjjames]

The nationalists are going to get a boost up if Peter Navarro gets picked to replace Gary Cohn. Although I've read that him being picked would result in the rest of the NEC staff resigning en-masse and Republicans being scared of where Trump would go on economy, especially trade.

As for the militarists, Mattis has been extremely successful in maintaining a low profile, so, I don't see him resigning unless Trump does something incredibly dumb and illegal. No idea whether attempting to pre-emptively hit NK and that exploding would count or not. McMaster is rumored to be on the outs and some of the suggestions to replace him that I've seen have zero national security experience whatsoever, so, that one would be way more consequential.

For capitalists (which might be lumped in too monolithic a block here), their good times could end soon, depending on what happens with the tariffs and Wall Street is already getting nervous.

[smjjames]

*temporarily melds Ameripol and Europol together*

So, Trump just started those tariffs with exceptions to Mexico and Canada during the NAFTA negotiations. However, for other allies, he's talking about looking at who's treating the US nicely etc and who's paying the bills, particularily military because 'rich countries are subsidizing us for protecting them'. Sounds like he's going to use the 'do they meet the 2% NATO defense thing?' reason, which is a completely BS reason as it has nothing to do with trade.

Trade war incoming.....

[SalmonGod]

Things will get fun for me at work.

[martinuzz]

I hope none of you work in a company that relies on imported high grade steel, because you will probably be looking for a new job soon