Nov 2023 Mod notice:
There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.
Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.
If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.
In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
The model adopted should be community policing, where officers are rewarded primarily for their ability to establish a good rapport with the community, and only secondarily for crime-stopping. Cops today view everything in terms of threat assessment: is what i'm witnessing a crime i can stop, and is that criminal a threat to me or others? The script should be changed to "how can i help the community today?" That could involve crime resolution, but more likely it will involve just going out there and talking with people and getting the lay of the land.
The second issue is endemic racism, something that simply needs to be absolutely slugged out of potential officers at the police academy stage in whatever ham-fisted way they can.
NOT THE BEES
Yeah, they should definitely be instructing ours.
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
"The Dynamic Duo" he refers to Bill and Hillary as, and affirms that they're the best way to defeat ISIS - people with experience who will fight the war with passion but intelligence.
That is rather unexpected, and rather gratifying to see, if she can appeal to his sort.
My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
I actually see that in Arkansas a lot, and it's probably because Bill is an Arkansas native. Many conservatives here have an If It's You, It's Okay attitude toward the Clintons because it's cool and hip to say that they're ours despite being politically dissimilar.
Jimmy Carter is sometimes regarded in a similar fashion in the South.
edited 25th Apr '15 10:35:25 AM by Aprilla
Funny to see Faux trolled like that, though I think it's safe to say that he won't be one of candidate Clinton's keynote speakers.
I don't think they were trolled, so much as it was a reminder that American conservatives are < gasp > more nuanced than the news channel wants us to believe.
edited 25th Apr '15 10:43:49 AM by Aprilla
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
Yeah, this wasn't a trolling exercise, Dog is - and says in the video - that he's a firm Republican, he just happens to recognise that ISIS aren't a small time gang but a serious force to be reckoned with, requiring an experienced hand at the rudder to deal with. That's perfectly legitimate, and the fact that Hillary has been both First Lady and Secretary of State genuinely does give her a level of experience that not a one of her opponents could ever hope to match.
Of course, there's plenty on the left who fear that Hillary is too much of a warmonger, so the praise of the likes of Dog for her potential military ability isn't going to be welcome to them.
edited 25th Apr '15 10:50:49 AM by CaissasDeathAngel
My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
United Earth
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That's my concern exactly.
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
Other Democrats might be better than Hillary, but she'll be leagues better than any Republican.
Also apparently this "Alvin Gray" stuff going on in Baltimore right now might just torpedo Martin O'Malley, since he put up a lot of the police policies that led to Gray getting killed by the cops (after O'Malley left office).
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
"Fight for the world you want to live in, while continuing to live in the one you actually do".
Not sure if those words have been spoken before but they're words I live by.
Hillary may not be the leader we deserve, but she is the one we need right now - one who can establish Democratic dominance with hopefully two more terms for the party and start pushing the Overton Window towards the left.
The Left criticising Hillary tend to not be able to see the wood for the trees.
My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
Hillary at her worst is still leagues better than the prospect of a GOP controlled government, even if one of the relative moderates (Christie, Bush) beat out the Tea Party lunatics.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
NOT THE BEES
Anyone who seriously thinks Hillary will push politics to the left is deluded. Obama got elected by projecting an image of being way further left than Hillary openly is, and at least he had the courtesy to wait till he thought nobody was looking before making his big sellout moves. Hillary's business affiliations are well known.
She's better than Cruz et al by default, but that's not exactly a high bar. That's like saying you'd rather eat bird shit than donkey shit.
edited 25th Apr '15 12:59:57 PM by Pykrete
Eh, I don't know that you can really compare Bird Shirt and Donkey Shit like that. More like saying you'd rather eat mud than fecal matter.
NOT THE BEES
Turns out mud has a pretty high fecal content. Contaminated mud is a surprisingly frequent problem for military obstacle courses.
THE MORE YOU KNOW —-*
Lost in Space
Pykrete, I can make assertions without evidence, too. Doesn't mean anyone is required to take them seriously.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
I'm not saying that Hillary will be a shining paragon of socialism, I'm thinking about a long-term, gradual shift in the national dialogue. 12-16 years of Democratic presidencies is a lot - people will be approaching voting age who weren't born when a Republican was president, and therefore will have learned about life in a different way to the rest of us.
Merely two consecutive Democratic presidencies could start to cause people to get talking differently, as they start to see that their policies actually make sense and generate real, tangible results. Especially when you still have guys like Sanders and Warren making noise in the background.
My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
The change in the country, such as it is, is already here. It's just that the people for progressive policies tend not to vote unless there's a president on the ballot, while the Right comprises the nation's most regular voters. Many of them are a lost cause, in the sense that we'll have to wait for these people to die before their influence is gone and aren't going to get them to start voting different, though they do die off by the day because many of them are in the 50+ year old range right now.
Mostly it's a waiting game and a holding action for the near future, and then working to dismantle Movement Conservatism brick by brick. There'll be a few big victories here and there, but most of it will take a while to fix.
The 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner is happening tonight.
In case anyone is interested in watching.
The artist formally known as Deviant Braeburn
The Mod with the Migraine
Contractor workers for the US Senate stage a strike, claiming that many of them are living in poverty.
NOT THE BEES
Yep, no evidence at all. Sure is quiet in here with all the evidence that doesn't exist. Absolutely none.
Seriously, Clinton's Wall Street ties are pretty common knowledge. She hasn't exactly been bothering to hide most of it.
edited 26th Apr '15 1:41:45 AM by Pykrete
Yeah. One thing we will not see in any relevant candidate is strong action against the financial oligarchy.
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
Even weak action makes a difference, as Dodd-Frank illustrates. That legislation was decried as toothless but is causing significant consternation on Wall Street, up to companies like GE backing out of corporate banking altogether.
The same can be said of Robo Cop and Judge Dredd. Take your pick and interpret as you will.
The point I'm making here is that all of these movies are at least making a valid observation although many of their respective audiences seem to have taken the themes too literally. We have a serious debate about banning large soft drinks, but we also live in a country where a man can get shot or choked to death by law enforcement only for us to wonder if the officer will be held accountable and prosecuted for the incident.
We're also hunk-dory with UAV tech being used to fight terrorism, but we get clammy at the prospect of that same tech being used on us. Iron Man and CoD Black Ops 2 kind of let that point fly over their heads while the original Robo Cop revels in it.
edited 25th Apr '15 8:08:25 AM by Aprilla