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
Couple things.
RE: Turkish sanctions lifted - I wouldn't be surprised if that (along with the withdrawal from Syria) is tied to the Khashoggi mishandling, as a means to placate the Turkish government.
And in other Hypocrite news, the NY Daily News published an article about the New Jersey AG's office filing charges against Trump's New Jersey golf club, as they'd conducted interviews with illegal immigrants employed there who were (allegedly) given falsified green cards and social security numbers by the club itself.
Anibal Romero, a Newark attorney who represents several undocumented immigrants who used to work at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, said Friday he recently met with investigators from the state attorney general’s office and handed over fraudulent green cards and Social Security numbers that management at the club allegedly procured and gave his clients, Victorina Morales and Sandra Diaz.
Before he met with the state prosecutors, Romero said he reached out to Mueller’s office because, while he wanted to contact federal authorities, he was concerned about looping in the Justice Department, which was headed by Jeff Sessions at the time.
“I wasn’t sure, one, if they’d take me seriously and, two, if this could backfire on my clients,” Romero told The News, referencing the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration agenda.
Mueller’s office, which is separately investigating Trump’s campaign for possible collusion with Russians during the 2016 election, made contact and informed Romero the matter was not within their jurisdiction.
A few weeks later, an FBI agent in New Jersey called Romero.
“He said to me that he had received a referral from Robert Mueller’s office and that he already knew the specifics and that he wanted to meet with me in person,” Romero said.
Romero then met with two agents at a federal office in Branchburg, N.J., and outlined the same evidence he had already given the AG prosecutors. The agents said they would “coordinate” with the AG’s office, according to Romero.
Romero said he’s stayed in touch with the FBI and the attorney general’s office but declined to confirm whether either of the agencies have formally opened investigations.
“I’m confident that federal and state authorities will conduct a complete and thorough investigation,” Romero said.
An FBI spokesman declined to comment and so did Mueller’s office.
There's more on the article's page.
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Indivisible is an American grass-roots protest movement representing the progressive/liberal end of the political spectrum that arose in response to Donald Trump's election, and models itself as "the Tea Party of the Left." It's quite widespread.
Servant of the Omnissiah
Just once, I'd like to see a Day of Rage in Washington D.C. like the one in Cairo's Tahrir Square or in Kiev's Maidan.
Just to make the GOP shit itself.
Edited by TechPriest90 on Dec 29th 2018 at 12:43:13 PM
I hold the secrets of the machine.
Disasturbator
Shutting down Washington DC through protests basically
Something like that is the ideal goal of any major protest at the capital,and you do get protests at the capital,you just need the right about of people and organisation so people turn up and it doesn't turn violent
Edited by Ultimatum on Dec 30th 2018 at 1:36:24 PM
New theme music also a box
The labor movement in the US really needs to gets its shit together and protest hard against this latest move from Trump.
Not only did he screw essential public workers during the holiday season, but the justification for the gutting of the pay rise is that the government can't afford it. After a millions dollar tax cut for the one percent. My country would be in flames.
Life is unfair...
Labor movements in the us have been fucked since Reagan. Only the games industry seems to be making any progress.
Disasturbator
How so?
New theme music also a box
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I'm not sure on the latter, but with the former, it was due to Reagan that the Air Traffic Controller's Union strike in 1981 failed, as he fired every striking worker by citing a little-used law about prohibiting Federal employees from doing so.
That basically fired the starting gun for private companies that feared public backlash for trying the same thing, as the President had just done it - and got re-elected 3 years later.
As for the long-term impact...
Perhaps the most important, and then highly controversial, domestic initiative was the firing of the air traffic controllers in August 1981. The President invoked the law that striking government employees forfeit their jobs, an action that unsettled those who cynically believed no President would ever uphold that law. President Reagan prevailed, as you know, but far more importantly his action gave weight to the legal right of private employers, previously not fully exercised, to use their own discretion to both hire and discharge workers.
Reagan's director of the United States Office of Personnel Management at the time, Donald J. Devine, argued: "When the president said no, American business leaders were given a lesson in managerial leadership that they could not and did not ignore. Many private sector executives have told me that they were able to cut the fat from their organizations and adopt more competitive work practices because of what the government did in those days. I would not be surprised if these unseen effects of this private sector shakeout under the inspiration of the president were as profound in influencing the recovery that occurred as the formal economic and fiscal programs."
In a review of Joseph Mc Cartin's 2011 book, Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, The Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America in Review 31, Richard Sharpe stated that Reagan was "laying down a marker" for his presidency: "The strikers were often working-class men and women who had achieved suburban middle class lives as air traffic controllers without having gone to college. Many were veterans of the US armed forces where they had learned their skills; their union had backed Reagan in his election campaign. Nevertheless, Reagan refused to back down. Several strikers were jailed; the union was fined and eventually made bankrupt. Only about 800 got their jobs back when Clinton lifted the ban on rehiring those who had striked. Many of the strikers were forced into poverty as a result of being blacklisted for [U.S. government] employment."
Edited by ironballs16 on Dec 30th 2018 at 11:00:41 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
If you want a concrete example of things they do. They helped organize Adopt a District, where Democrats from neighboring congressional districts hosted townhalls in districts represented by Republicans who were refusing to host their own in the wake of their attempt to take away people's healthcare.
Incidentally, the "adopted" NY and AZ districts the story covered both flipped to the Democrats this election.
Heh, we did that.
For another example, Google "Women's March".
Edited by DeMarquis on Dec 30th 2018 at 12:52:17 PM
What exactly did the Women's March accomplish? Also isn't that the thing whose leadership is strikingly anti-Semitic?
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
It started out making a statement, it just went downhill fast.
Yeah, the women’s march wound up being run by anti semites and transphobes.
Which, granted, no one knew at the time.
It's one thing to make a spectacle. It's another to make a difference.
I mean. The whole “pussy hat” thing was a clue for a lot of trans women. It’s just that nobody listens to us.
To be fair, I had absolutely no idea about the existence of the "pussy hat" thing and I've never heard any criticism of it. Which isn't to say it's transwomen fault, just that cis people like myself aren't going to easily spot relatively subtle forms of transphobia if we don't hear about any loud enough criticisms.
"Sandwiches are probably easier to fix than the actual problems" -Hylarn
I can't help but things like that sort of fall under "women's issues" that doesn't necessarily (or can't even) apply to all women, but still sort of serves to highlight a point that needs to be highlighted. Wouldn't necessarily hint to transphobia on its own.
But I'm saying that in the position of an outsider with admittedly very little experience.
Edited by LSBK on Dec 30th 2018 at 12:46:48 PM
??? I thought the Pussy hats were a dig at the "grab them by the pussy" line????????
Were the "pussy" hats the ones that made everyone there look like Louise Belcher?
It's one thing to make a spectacle. It's another to make a difference.
I think we’re all going to need a bit of clarification here smokey.
Figure of Hourai
Yeah, the inner workings of the march are complete mystery to me and I completely forgot that hats were involved with this at all.
Avatar Source
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
This seems a good summary on the hat itself. (Detroit Free Press)
Edited by 3of4 on Dec 30th 2018 at 8:31:49 PM
"You can reply to this Message!"
Figure of Hourai
Well, that's the first I've seen of people assuming they were pink because of anatomy and not because Pink Means Feminine. Strange, to say the least.
Avatar Source
That was the one thing that struck me as odd, yeah.
OK,assume I didn't click your link
Who are Indivisible?
New theme music also a box