The General US Politics Thread

It did happen before, the MSNBC commentators could barley contain their glee at the prospect of the Boston attacks being done by rightwing extremists, then it turned out to be Muslims, and they looked like idiots, in addition to the usual skepticism towards the left that occurs after every terrorist attack in this country.

Edit: And in all due fairness to the pro life movement, they are not advocating welfare for unborn "children", just not killing them, and likewise they believe those lives are innocent because they have done nothing wrong. Apart from rhetorical attacks, I can't see any inconstancies in pro life ideology, and supporting the death penalty and less welfare.

edited 28th Nov '15 4:06:20 PM by JackOLantern1337

I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.

Well the ones who shoot at/bomb people getting abortions aren't actually even pushing for that.

"And the Bunny nails it!" ~ Gabrael "If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we." ~ Cyran

"Apart from rhetorical attacks, I can't see any inconstancies in pro life ideology, and supporting the death penalty and less welfare."

It's not incoherent, only abhorrent. "We value life, until birth, at which point it's worthless."

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Don't group the whole movement in with the tea party types that espouse it and little else.

Also, Guys, I'm fairly certain this is one of those "off limits" topics. It always gets heated very quickly.

I'm baaaaaaack

That there is a large and growing anti choice domestic terrorist movement isn't really off topic.

If anything it'll become more and more relevant as the Republican race goes on.

Oh really when?

Discussing that is fine, the abortion issue itself is the very first example on the list in the third sticky of OTC.

I'm baaaaaaack

This makes less of a difference than you might think if you look at cost of living in addition to income. Places like New York, Washington, and San Francisco have high income, but also have infamously high cost of living (rent, etc). Places like Atlanta and Houston don't have incomes as high, but that doesn't mean the people who live there are actually worse off.

Of course, I don't know for a fact that the numbers aren't skewed even when you take cost of living into effect, but just looking at raw income data can easily be misleading.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

@Jack: I don't know what show you were watching, but glee was definitely not what MSNBC was expressing when reporting that. Just throwing out a guess is not the same thing as "glee" or whatever the fuck you're claiming.

@Joe: Well, the abortion topic is definitely something we need to be careful about, but not so much the topic of people who are attacking the clinics. I mean, I think even most pro-lifers find the kind of folks who'd go and set a clinic on fire/go and actually murder people over this to be reprehensible. You have to be pretty extreme on the whole abortion thing to actually go kill people for it. And given that this case at least also ties into the gun control, mental health issues, and general health issues topics. Well, seems fair to address it.

edited 28th Nov '15 7:05:09 PM by AceofSpades

Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that. The closest thing to a reaction that anyone was mentioning at the time that I remember was Michael Moore's twitter asking if there was a connection.

As for this shooting at Planned Parenthood, it didn't take the right win long to start talking all about it. A Republican Representative from Illinois took time to slam Planned Parenthood the shooter was still active, there's at least one report on NBC that the shooter was talking about "no more baby parts" (referring to the made up details that Republican presidential candidates were claiming were in the Planned Parenthood videos that don't actually exist) and a bunch of idiot pro-lifers took to twitter to cheer on the gunman.

So, yeah.

If that report about baby parts turns out to be true and I were in charge of Planned Parenthood, I'd be all for suing both the tapemakers and the candidates like Fiorina who were talking about it, (especially non-existant details) for defamation, slander, and possibly for the reckless endangerment of lives.

edited 28th Nov '15 7:31:20 PM by TheWanderer

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |

/repeats self

I never said what you're saying I did. I was responding to those bringing up abortion itself. Not just this event

I'm baaaaaaack

Is it true that Trump still maintains a significant lead over his competitors in the Republican nomination race, as claimed in this article?

For that matter, how does the 2016 presidential race look so far? Who does it look like they'll be the leading competitors in each party's respective bids for nomination next year?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Too early to say on the Republican side. Unless Sanders can get some balance in non-economic policy areas, it'll be Hil on the Dem side.

Final Fantasy, Foreign Policy, and Bollywood. Helluva combo, that...

How the Finnish epic Kalevala inspired an American secret society

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele

Newborn found berried alive under asphalt This is even more outrageous when one learns that Los Angeles has a program for people to hand unwanted children over to the state at any hospital or fire station, no questions asked.

Cristie campaign gets much needed boost in New Hampshire.

"Anti Obama Kid" quits the GOP

edited 29th Nov '15 6:40:31 AM by JackOLantern1337

I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.

I wonder if "Anti-Obama Kid" will change any minds. If he'll get people to leave conservatism (or the Republican party) along with him. If nothing else, it's another sign of how the party is alienating lots of people, people who would otherwise support them.

I'm up for joining Discord servers! PM me if you know any good ones!

On the absurdity factor(its a bit old so sorry if its been brought up already, but it caught my attention):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/25/dancing-cop-says-he-was-fired-from-annual-traffic-gig-for-protesting-black-lives-matter/

edited 29th Nov '15 7:15:37 AM by Skycobra51

Look upon my privilege ye mighty and despair.

The Planned Parenthood shooting gets called for what it really is by an unlikely source...

Another green world.

Yeah, I saw that. Was shocked.

Why do Black and Hispanics believe in the American dream more than Whites.

I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.

I think that link would fit better in the race or U.S. culture threads.

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

So apparently Ted Cruz wants to be relevant among nutters again, and called the PP shooter a "Transgender Leftist Activist"

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

.......I Need a Freaking Drink

So uh I was kind of hoping that you maybe were reading an Onion article (not because I doubted you but because I hoped he didn't say something that stupid/horrible) but sure enough, he really said it (and he's not the first either- that's the conservative talking point).

edited 29th Nov '15 7:25:01 PM by Hodor2

The GOP needs to be indicted for murder. Poe's Law did not deserve to die like that.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

So for what it's worth I just got a PM from a presumably conservative troper and it does seem like Think Progress somewhat distorted Cruz's quote.

What basically happened was that he was approached about the fact that the shooter reportedly made reference to "no more baby parts" and his response was the typical criticize liberal media for jumping to make assumptions and then he brought up how he had also heard that transgender "theory".

So the article is unfair in making it seem like Cruz was pushing that as a theory. It's more like he was making a valid point on not jumping to conclusions... but bashing the "liberal media" and IMO trying to push some disinformation along the way.