Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

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

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#208526: Sep 8th 2017 at 10:36:11 AM

[up][up]Wow, 1%. And that's with most of the attention being focused on Harvey and Irma. And natural disasters are basically PR Easy Mode if the response is good.

edited 8th Sep '17 10:36:22 AM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
WhatArtThee Since: Oct, 2015
#208527: Sep 8th 2017 at 10:41:22 AM

Yeah, ISIS has been falling for quite some time. Their territory peaked in 2014, and has been declining since. I think it lost like 20% in 2015 and 15% of that in 2016 or something.

edited 8th Sep '17 10:41:55 AM by WhatArtThee

Just another day in the life of Jimmy Nutrin
Gilphon Since: Oct, 2009
#208528: Sep 8th 2017 at 10:50:11 AM

[up][up]Quite. He didn't fuck up the response to Harvey in any particularly notable way, and that's probably where the 1% increase came from.

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#208529: Sep 8th 2017 at 10:55:05 AM

Yeah. His fuckups were just little gaffes but nothing really went wrong in terms of the actual recovery effort itself.

Honestly, even I would say his response to Harvey was fine. Okay, his remarks and distance from reality were offensive to the point of repugnancy, but that's so ridiculously secondary to helping people in need that who gives a shit when lives are actually on the line?

edited 8th Sep '17 10:56:24 AM by Larkmarn

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#208530: Sep 8th 2017 at 10:55:51 AM

Yeah, he won no prizes on the PR front and there may be long term fallout we don't know yet but unlike Katrina, emergency services were functional.

[nja]

edited 8th Sep '17 10:56:16 AM by Elle

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#208531: Sep 8th 2017 at 10:58:04 AM

Much of the credit goes to Obama, though. After the Katrina debacle, the abilities of FEMA were scaled up.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#208532: Sep 8th 2017 at 10:58:49 AM

Considering FEMA is almost out of money now, we'll see how Irma goes.

Oh really when?
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#208533: Sep 8th 2017 at 11:01:20 AM

Race for Amazon HQ could slap a lid on Confederate, ‘religious liberty’ fights

Believe it or not, chances of a General Assembly implosion next January over Confederate symbolism and “religious liberty” legislation may have just gotten much smaller. From the AJC’s Scott Trubey:

E-commerce giant Amazon said Thursday it’s in the market to build a second North American headquarters, a massive complex the company says one day could hold 50,000 jobs.

Amazon, in a request for proposals on its website, said it wants its “HQ 2” to be the “equal” of its Seattle base of operations, which currently consists of 33 buildings covering more than 8 million square feet of office space.

Trubey reports that Atlanta and Georgia are sure to compete for what could be the Holy Grail of economic development, touting the region’s talent base, research universities such as Georgia Tech – never mind that new cybersecurity hub that’s springing up around Augusta.

But consider that an LGBT alliance with business interests – in particular, the new movie and TV industry in Georgia – is largely responsible for killing past attempts within the state Capitol to give legal cover to conservatives uncomfortable with gay marriage.

If Georgia makes a serious bid for a second Amazon headquarters, and is still in the running come January and February, look for Gov. Nathan Deal and Republican leadership in the General Assembly to shut down any attempt at “religious liberty” legislation.

That goes double for arguments over Confederate symbolism. With one suggestion: The city of Atlanta may want to tinker with that street named Confederate Avenue. Amazon Avenue, perhaps?

On a similar topic: The Trump administration on Thursday sided with a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, according to the Washington Post. The U.S. Justice Department filed its brief on behalf of baker Jack Phillips, who was found to have violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act by refusing to create a cake for the marriage of a same-sex couple in 2012.

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#208534: Sep 8th 2017 at 11:26:15 AM

As far as the New York thing, there aren't all that many confederate monuments around here in the first place (there's a few but it's nothing like in the South), so a number of people simply don't care, and the questionnaire was worded in such a way that would likely lead its respondents towards the position of leaving the statues up.

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#208535: Sep 8th 2017 at 11:30:34 AM

I do believe at some point, they'll be taken down, eventually.

How long that'll take is up in the air.

New Survey coming this weekend!
TobiasDrake Queen of Good Things, Honest (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Queen of Good Things, Honest
#208536: Sep 8th 2017 at 11:35:07 AM

I still like Trevor Noah's suggestion of updating them to have famous black historical figures and celebrities dunking on them.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#208538: Sep 8th 2017 at 1:11:51 PM

Propublica started a crowdsourced Facebook political ad monitoring campaign to find out how online ads are being used and effect election results. The browser extension only works for Chrome at the moment, but maybe consider helping out if you can.

The nature of online advertising is such that ads appear on people’s screens for just a few hours, and are limited to the audience that the advertiser has chosen. So, for example, if an advertiser micro-targets a group such as 40-year-old female motorcyclists in Nashville, Tennessee, (Facebook audience estimate: 1,300 people) with a misleading ad, it’s unlikely anyone other than the bikers will ever see those ads. Yesterday, 10 months after Trump was elected, Facebook officials acknowledged discovering that a Russian “troll farm” paid $100,000 during the campaign to place political ads on issues such as gun rights and immigration, The Washington Post reported.

With online ads, “you can go as narrow as you want, as false as you want and there is no accountability,” said Craig Aaron, president and CEO of Free Press, a public interest media and technology advocacy group.

Pro Publica wants to change that. Today we are launching a crowdsourcing tool that will gather political ads from Facebook, the biggest online platform for political discourse. We’re calling it the Political Ad Collector — or PAC, in a nod to the Political Action Committees that fund many of today’s political ads.

We will begin using the PAC this month to track ads during the run-up to the German parliamentary election, which will be held on Sept. 24. The election has drawn international attention as a referendum on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policies, and a test of the strength of an anti-immigration party, Alternative for Germany (Af D).

We plan to monitor other elections, including the midterm elections in the U.S. In the U.S., information about politicians’ use of online ads is especially sparse because of loopholes in the campaign finance laws that allow candidates to report fewer details about their online advertising than about other types of advertising.

https://www.propublica.org/article/help-us-monitor-political-ads-online

edited 8th Sep '17 1:24:57 PM by megaeliz

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#208539: Sep 8th 2017 at 7:10:54 PM

Trump signs the 3 Month Debt Ceiling Lift+Hurricane Harvey Aid bill, which had moved quickly from the Senate (which passed it 80-17-3 on Thursday) and the House (316-90 earlier today). I wasn't expecting Republicans to have actually tried to do it this way, but I guess we can all be thankful they did.

Eric Bolling is now officially out of Fox News over Sexual Harassment claims. Originally, he was just put on paid vacation by the Company over those claims, which he claimed were lies and is counter-suing the Women who are currently suing him. Appears that Fox News believes the Women suing Bolling (and themselves)...

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#208540: Sep 8th 2017 at 8:09:36 PM

You know, I never would have pinned him as one of the sexual harassers over there. I'm disappointed in him.

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#208541: Sep 8th 2017 at 8:10:48 PM

[up][up]At some point I wonder if there will be any men left at Fox News. This sounds like a joke but I'm honestly wondering.

"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
TrashJack from Deep within the recesses of the human mind (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
#208542: Sep 8th 2017 at 8:14:46 PM

[up] Soon, there will be nobody staffing Fox News but Blonde Republican Sex Kittens.

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#208543: Sep 8th 2017 at 8:18:39 PM

How ironic. tongue

I liked it better when Questionable Casting was called WTH Casting Agency
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#208544: Sep 8th 2017 at 8:20:44 PM

So journalist Arnaud de Borchgrave is on a Johnny Carson rerun tonight, talking about the Russian disinformation efforts in the late '70s/early '80s, as well as certain people in government being "bought" (monetarily or otherwise) by the Russians. Depressing how little has changed.

edited 8th Sep '17 8:55:24 PM by speedyboris

ITNW1989 a from Big Meat, USA Since: Nov, 2012 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
a
#208546: Sep 8th 2017 at 11:30:28 PM

[up][up] There's a reason for that old saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

Hitokiri in the streets, daishouri in the sheets.
Nikkolas from Texas Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#208547: Sep 8th 2017 at 11:37:17 PM

The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) just released the results of a humongous survey of 101,000 Americans, comparing 2007 and 2016 but with reference to some older years. Here are its reported findings:

    Notable Facts 

White Christians now account for fewer than half of the public.

White evangelical Protestants are in decline—along with white mainline Protestants and white Catholics.

Non-Christian religious groups are growing, but they still represent less than one in ten Americans combined.

America’s youngest religious groups are all non-Christian.

The Catholic Church is experiencing an ethnic transformation. Atheists and agnostics account for a minority of all religiously unaffiliated. Most are secular.

There are 20 states in which no religious group comprises a greater share of residents than the religiously unaffiliated.

No state is less religiously diverse than Mississippi.

The cultural center of the Catholic Church is shifting south.

Jews, Hindus, and Unitarian-Universalists stand out as the most educated groups in the American religious landscape.

Asian or Pacific-Islander Americans have a significantly different religious profile than other racial or ethnic groups.

Nearly half of LGBT Americans are religiously unaffiliated.

White Christians have become a minority in the Democratic Party.

White evangelical Protestants remain the dominant religious force in the GOP.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#208548: Sep 8th 2017 at 11:59:03 PM

The slightly odd thing about point number four is it seems to be comparing only to white Christians, and not Christians in general.

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#208549: Sep 9th 2017 at 1:16:29 AM

Asian or Pacific-Islander Americans have a significantly different religious profile than other racial or ethnic groups.

Kind of a nonsurprise, but I looked to see what specifically that profile was.

It seems to be an even split between unaffiliated, Christian, and non-Christian. Unsurprising but interesting.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#208550: Sep 9th 2017 at 1:20:05 AM

I'm surprised the proportion of Christians is even that high.


Total posts: 417,856
Top