The General US Politics Thread

Besides the phone call, which could probably prove that statement alone, where do you get the impression, she's an idiot?

Politico on Democrat opportunities with the white working class. Believable messaging matters.

I'm not entirely sure of how she's an idiot, but she seems to have trouble delivering on promises.

edited 9th Feb '17 8:55:39 PM by Krieger22

As much as I'd appreciate a stand against China's human and civil rights abuses, it needs to be done by someone in a measured, principled manner...which is to say, not Donald. And it's probably going to have to be a soft power issue, not a hard power one.

edited 9th Feb '17 8:56:54 PM by Elle

As much as I'm against the CCP, I'm against ending trade with them more then the Party, and I'm against going to war with them way more then either Tariffing them or supporting the Chinese Government.

Apparently the most recent call with Putin also included Trump mentioning the possibility of ending START.

He's also still refusing to participate in intelligence briefings before conducting phone calls with foreign leaders.

edited 9th Feb '17 9:04:03 PM by carbon-mantis

@the generational discussion

From my perspective (I'm 24), I sat through years of my classmates spouting the standard "all politicians are evil, there's no point in even going out to vote." Many politicians here in Canada didn't even bother talking directly to my generation, voter turnout was that low. But by 2015, they'd gotten sick of what they'd had to put up with from our Conservative Party for near a decade (including disregard for aboriginal issues and scientific research), and had their attention grabbed by politicians like Obama, Layton and Trudeau. They showed up in numbers that they hadn't for a very long time, and actually discussed voting strategically.

To an extent, I do think it's a result of that whole "the left-wing wants to be motivated to vote instead of showing up anyway" phenomenon, and I kind of fully expect voter apathy to come flooding back after a few years of Trump, and the inevitable broken promises from our government, but nothing is ever a sure bet. And seeing some of those same people who'd spent so long 'decrying the system' actually show the hell up along with me was pretty motivating.

edited 9th Feb '17 9:05:15 PM by Pseudopartition

I live in one of the deepest blue parts of the country, so my sample is obviously skewed, but the people I hang out with are generally quite left-wing, with many descirbing themselves as socialist. Don't think I've met any communists, though, and I know exactly one anarchist. Point being, there certainly are diverse political opinions among us, and I don't know if we can stick political labels on entire generations.

Hasn't it been observed that people that young would generally vote the way their parents vote at that age if they could vote? These kids are very much still under their parent's influence, and a lot of every generation lives in red states and rural areas. Where you're getting the sample from and what these kids current primary influence is can't really be ignored. I know I sure as hell didn't really actually pay attention to politics at that age, or was even capable of telling you what fascism was beyond hearing it as an insult used in movies an odd amount of the time.

And, as has been pointed out, the main problem with people under thirty is getting those under thirty out to vote at literally every election they can legally vote in. That earlier article about New Mexico's election is encouraging, but it's something we're going to have to see happen nationwide.

http://www.wzzm13.com/mb/news/politics/national-politics/poll-support-for-trump-slipping-among-michigan-women-independents/403727130

This bill exists.

Why, exactly, would you want to scrap the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty's network of sensors intended to detect nuclear detonation?

So Putin can go about his merry way with more nuclear tests.

...

edited 9th Feb '17 10:30:02 PM by kkhohoho

I doubt it's Putin that would be carrying out random pointless nuclear tests.

I mean that would still be better than Trump nuking an actual city...

Trump Impact: The day that California fell...

edited 9th Feb '17 10:35:49 PM by kkhohoho

so what, trump nukes sacramento, blames the chinese?

I cannot see any good reason to get rid of the sensors.

they probably think its useless government spending, if I had to guess

Either you have a very different definition of oligarchy from the rest of us, or you have a very strange way of measuring levels of oligarchy. In any case, if you're going to make statements like this, would you care to back them up. Where is your evidence that she is more of an oligarch than the neofascist would-be CEO of America who actively worships the Russian oligarchs?

edited 9th Feb '17 10:49:27 PM by AmbarSonofDeshar

Yet another stupid and short-sighted budget cut so they can give rich people another tax break? Or something more sinister? Bad idea either way.

edited 9th Feb '17 10:48:30 PM by M84

Nah, more likely it goes something like: Trump orders California defunded due to it becoming a sanctuary state, California retaliates by stopping sending the federal government money, Trump orders the governor arrested and federal troops in, federal troops are met by the California national guard and a standoff ensures, Trump then nukes LA thinking that it's the capital of California.

My only regret if I die in Trump's nuclear hellfire is that'd I'd have but one life to give California and the rest of the country.

By the way, former California governor Gray Davis warned Trump against "biting the golden hand that feeds you." Reminding him that California contributes way more to the nation than it takes in.

edited 9th Feb '17 11:10:23 PM by Parable

That said, one of the sponsors of the bill is best known for yelling "You lie!" at Obama, so it might reflect the amount of thought that actually went into the bill.

Speaking of LA, a brief primer on a local referendum.

edited 9th Feb '17 11:10:27 PM by Krieger22

Oh, BTW:

@The Handle: thanks! That means a lot to me

Nah, it's said that a group of soldiers are the only ones to hold the codes of the nuclear football and according to a friend, these soldiers would not dare give the codes to Trump.

edited 9th Feb '17 11:31:54 PM by Luigisan98

Actually the code is 00000000. Has been for decades so we don't waste time entering codes while we have inbound Soviet missiles.

Trump has the football and has the ability to order a nuclear strike whenever and wherever. Whether the people under his command follow through is a different issue.

And, of course, it would also be bad if they didn't follow through- it'd be signalling that the not only do the US have no intention of ever firing a nuke, but they might not even be able to do so. Which would have fairly serious implications.