TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

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

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182551: Apr 12th 2017 at 2:09:30 AM

[up] The point is that your suggestion really isn't a helpful one and it carries the implication that a Democrat is "wasting" their vote and efforts if they don't live in a swing state.

Apologies for being a tad harsh. But you get attacked partly because you make "jokes" about how everything apart from Deep Blue states like California and New York are mistakes. That was a post you made in response to the Iowa minimum wage thing.

edited 12th Apr '17 2:16:41 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#182552: Apr 12th 2017 at 2:17:59 AM

The point is that your suggestion really isn't a helpful one and it carries the implication that a Democrat is "wasting" their vote and efforts if they don't live in a swing state.

Well I was talking in terms of a national election. I don't think there's a good argument that says otherwise. That's a criticism of the winner take all system.

But even in the state and local level, your vote is many times more powerful in a purple state/district.

Apologies for being a tad harsh. But you get attacked partly because you make "jokes" about how everything apart from Deep Blue states like California and New York are mistakes. That was a post you made in response to the Iowa minimum wage thing.

I made one joke about that.

I'm actually a lot more sympathetic to Trump voters than a lot of you. I can just recognize a self-implosion when I see it.

edited 12th Apr '17 2:20:40 AM by MadSkillz

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182553: Apr 12th 2017 at 2:23:43 AM

[up] I live with a Trump supporter. So believe me when I say I know why and how some of them can support Trump even if I don't agree one iota. Just to remind you that they aren't all located in middle America or the Deep South.

Anyway, I think we're going around in circles here. I'm sorry for getting on your case over what was probably not a serious suggestion anyway. Keep up the good fight. smile

edited 12th Apr '17 3:02:26 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#182554: Apr 12th 2017 at 3:22:14 AM

Trump's saying that they've deployed an armada to North Korea along with submarines. He's implying they're nuclear submarines.◊

They'll be there in a week.

North Korea is warning of a nuclear attack on US soil.

As a nitpick, nuclear is an accurate description of every submarine in the US Navy, as describing a vessel as nuclear typically only refers to the power plant, not the armament. The navy has four classes of submarines in service - 52 submarines in three classes of nuclear-powered attack submarines or SSN (Los Angeles (36 in service), Seawolf (3 in service), and Virginia (13 in service) classes, from oldest to newest) and 18 submarines of one class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines or SSBN (Ohio-class), of which 4 have been converted to nuclear-powered guided missile submarines or SSGN (this means that instead of launching submarine-launched ballistic missiles or SLBM, they launch a much greater number (each ballistic missile tub can be converted to seven cruise missile tubes) of cruise missiles or other munitions).

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#182556: Apr 12th 2017 at 4:06:39 AM

Before moving to a swing state, make sure the state has a sound infrastructure. Arizona and Texas have certainly enough space, reliable water supplies on thevother hand...

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#182557: Apr 12th 2017 at 4:24:25 AM

Firstly, the goal is to flip the house in 2018. That means focusing on districts, not states.

Secondly, why are we arguing about this?

Republicans are stuck on what to do, as nothing they have tried is actually working.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/328395-gop-wrestles-with-big-question-what-now

10 more days to the science March.

[down] thanks

edited 12th Apr '17 4:52:55 AM by megaeliz

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#182558: Apr 12th 2017 at 4:38:24 AM

[up]Someone mentioned they live in Alabama, somebody else answered with a callous comment that they should move to a swing state because fuck the red states, then a third person took offense to that idea and it escalated from there.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#182559: Apr 12th 2017 at 5:14:51 AM

@Dingowalley 1: If you want to support a district in your state, Alabama second possibly has the potential to flip.

https://swingleft.org/district/AL-02/district-resources

edited 12th Apr '17 5:25:40 AM by megaeliz

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#182560: Apr 12th 2017 at 5:26:32 AM

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/328371-white-house-to-lift-federal-hiring-freeze

The White House will lift President Trump’s federal hiring freeze on Wednesday, following fire from critics who said it hampered the government from carrying out core functions.

The end of the freeze is part of guidance ordering federal departments and agencies to submit restructuring plans to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by the fall.

BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#182561: Apr 12th 2017 at 5:26:39 AM

I've seen it said many times that we need to silence the bigots, the scum, the racists, etc. That tactic seems to not be working, to not really be possible.

Cracked has a pretty good article on this.

Yet today I see the same tactics used against racism that the grownups used to try to inoculate me against illicit sex. "Discussion of this subject must be limited to shaming the enemy. Digging into the details is legitimizing the racists, treating it as just another opinion! To even acknowledge that there is complexity or nuance in the discussion is playing right into their hands, damn it! Punch them in the face!"

So they will criticize talk show hosts for having discussions with accused white supremacists, but the choice is not between giving these people a spotlight or denying it to them. They have their own spotlight — curious teens can find these guys on You Tube or wherever they operate. It's a matter of whether or not you want to let them have that spotlight all to themselves. Me, I'd rather a curious young person see Tomi Lahren debating Trevor Noah than listen to her speaking unopposed on her own show.

"But I'd rather they not hear her at all!" you say. That's not one of our choices. Not in 2017.

"But debating them is treating their position like it's mainstream and legitimate!" The country already considers those positions mainstream and legitimate — look around you. Attitudes have definitely gotten better since the Bad Old Days, but still only 14 percent of whites support the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and only about a quarter think blacks are treated unfairly in the workplace or when applying for loans.

I worry about the time my mixed-race nephew and niece encounter racist assholes among their favorite YouTubers. These are people who have an enormous young fanbase, even if they see themselves as aiming their messages at adults. Some of these celebrities are showing their politics out there.

I saw a non-religious person say that the way he inoculates his kids against fundamentalism is to expose them to it and prove it wrong and get them to think "How do you know if they're right or wrong?" for themselves. Hiding something from people makes it more desirable. Heck, my older brother and his wife gave up on trying to keep their kids from being exposed to violence or profanity, so they're allowed (at ages 8 and 5) to curse now, or play M-rated video games.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#182562: Apr 12th 2017 at 5:34:43 AM

You (metaphorically) need to give the horrible people rope to hang themselves with.

Although cases like Richard Spencer are pretty funny.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#182563: Apr 12th 2017 at 5:41:57 AM

Idaho gun, ammo makers cheer on Trump as their sales plummet

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/business/article144009024.html

Apparently now that Obama's no longer trying to Take Our Guns (TM) gun sales are dropping. At least here in Idaho. Yet those same gun sellers are happy with the election's outcome and believe Trump's tax policies will make the difference.

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?
#182564: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:10:58 AM

Bill O'Reilly announces vacation amid scandal; report claims he may not return to show

Bill O’Reilly, host of Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor,” announced Tuesday that he would be taking a “planned vacation," one he had scheduled last fall.

New York Magazine reports that four separate network sources said Tuesday's episode could be O’Reilly’s final show on the network. In the middle of a storm surrounding numerous sexual harassment claims, his fate may be decided by the Murdoch family in the coming weeks, the magazine reported.

According to CNN, a Fox News spokesperson denied reports that O'Reilly isn't coming back and said he will return April 24.

The sources say that a legal team from the same firm that investigated former Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes is now investigating O’Reilly’s past and present. They’re looking into recent sexual harassment claims made by Fox News guest Wendy Walsh, according to the report.

A recent mass boycott of “The O’Reilly Factor” caused the show to lose at least half its advertisers; the New York Times says the number may be closer to two-thirds.

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
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#182565: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:13:05 AM

[up][up] They won't. Guns were commoditized to a high degree than normal under Obama so people were buying guns just to have guns, but now that many of these people own guns and the government probably doesn't care about taking them, or at least that's the perception, they're a lot less likely to buy more.

And tax benefits don't really help if your sales have plummeted.

The other thing is that I really doubt Trump cares about guns one way or the other. He'll do nothing to help or hurt them. Congress might try and do something, but a lot of Congress is in the pocket of the NRA, and I doubt the NRA really cares about the gun stores either.

edited 12th Apr '17 6:13:18 AM by Zendervai

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#182566: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:15:23 AM

It would be so satisfying to see O'Reilly get shafted.

MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#182567: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:25:33 AM

From a website called "The Week" we have an article saying that the Republican Party are dissolving and explaining how they are split on most issues (the tl;dr is that they are only united regarding the SCOTUS and abortion)

[up] Indeed, Fox News would lose one of their most iconic and influential voices.

edited 12th Apr '17 6:44:53 AM by MorningStar1337

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#182568: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:26:17 AM

I don't know... as much as I'd love to see O'Reilly's smug face taken off the air, this is yet another case where a company failed to take any sort of remedial action on workplace sexual misconduct until it became too public to ignore.

edited 12th Apr '17 6:26:32 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#182569: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:38:36 AM

Re: mass migration of liberals to affect political turnover in swing states: Idiotic idea, never going to happen.

1.) It requires organization and black-ops level secrecy, which is impossible, which means every conservative outlet will learn of it, and work to counteract it through metadata analysis and targeted funding.

2.) It'll breed local resentment. A cohort of liberals from the Deep South will still stick out like a sore thumb, and a candidate perceived as being the champion of carpetbaggers will be the target of backlash.

3.) It's counterproductive. Demographic shifts will give the GOP an unassailable stronghold in the South, which will never be taken under any circumstances, while giving the Democrats maybe a marginal demographic advantage that can easily be toppled due to political waves. It also makes it difficult for the Democrats to come back, since upon their return, they'll be perceived, and rightly this time, as a carpetbagger party with no local support.

4.) Bald-faced cynicism of that nature is almost always hated by the electorate. Voters, as moronic as they often are, generally don't like being told they're pieces on a chessboard, and on that issue, for once I can agree with them.\\

edited 12th Apr '17 7:12:10 AM by CrimsonZephyr

"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."
blkwhtrbbt The Dragon of the Eastern Sea from Doesn't take orders from Vladimir Putin Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
The Dragon of the Eastern Sea
#182570: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:47:50 AM

I'm agreeing with literally every word Crimson Zephyr is saying.

I have no idea who I am anymore

Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for you
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#182571: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:47:56 AM

Note that economic migration is always a more powerful force than political migration, absent some kind of catastrophe. I recently saw an article, which I'll have to dig up (was it over in the Econ topic?) saying that the South is benefiting enormously from the global supply chain, attracting educated workers away from the Rust Belt states. As more educated workers tend to be more liberal, this means that the South is getting bluer over time as a natural consequence of economic change.

This is the sort of organic movement that is way more powerful in the long run than any organized political effort.

Edit: Here's that Reuters article, FYI.

edited 12th Apr '17 7:17:27 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#182572: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:49:25 AM

And "I came here for work because there aren't any jobs in Michigan" is much more acceptable than "I came here to vote".

Advarielle Homicidal Editor Since: Aug, 2016
Homicidal Editor
#182573: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:51:21 AM

So, in order for the Democrats to defeat the Republicans, they have to be more crazy and cynical than them now?

For someone who complaint so much about the moral failings of the Democratic Party for using the same method as the Republican Party like receiving donations from corporations, this is kinda hypocritical and just plain crazy in general.

Only an experienced editor who has a name possesses the ability to truly understand my work - What 90% of writers I'm in charge of said.
blkwhtrbbt The Dragon of the Eastern Sea from Doesn't take orders from Vladimir Putin Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
The Dragon of the Eastern Sea
#182574: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:51:36 AM

It also helps that the largest military base in the South, Redstone Arsenal, keeps getting military folks reassigned here from bases all over the country. A few years back a lot of bases were being shut down, and Redstone keeps growing.

These aren't just grunts either, these are Army engineers. RA is likely 70% of the reason Huntsville has one of the highest concentrations of PH Ds in the US. (like, top fifteen cities or something)

Huntsville, unfortunately, is part of the larger Madison County, which is Bumfuck, Alabama. To put it nicely, it's an island in a swamp.

What? That was nicely.

Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for you
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#182575: Apr 12th 2017 at 6:59:27 AM

[up]Oy, Alabama. As a wise man once said, "We'll try to stay serene and calm, when Alabama gets the bomb!"


Total posts: 417,856
Top