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
To address a post from the last page: No, I don't let the alt-right win. The alt-right had already won when they found those damned tweets. If Disney fires Gunn, great, they got a hit on him. If Disney doesn't fire Gunn, they can built a huge "whatsoaboutism" media storm around it by claiming that what Roseanne did wasn't as bad as joking about paedophilia...and that is what it always comes back to.
Look, for one it isn't true that most people were already aware of what James Gunn did in the past because frankly, most people didn't care about what a minor movie maker apologized for after being hired for a movie everybody expected to fail. But I did look it up and back then the discussion was about offensive jokes (sexist and homophobic to be precise) not about him joking about having sex with children. If this element hasn't come into it Disney could have rightly pointed out that the gave Roseanne a second chance too and she herself blew it by acting out after she got hired. Case closed. But Disney could hardly explain why they are comfortable with having someone who made jokes about paedophilia spearheading one of their flagship franchises.
Gunn crossed a line neither Lassiter nor Johnny Depp ever crossed. And yes, I know that he was only talk while those two were all action, but for the Disney Brand someone joking about paedophilia is way worse than someone who had a messy divorce with accusations flying around and a drinking problem (though I don't have the feeling that Disney is particularly interested in working with Johnny Depp on anything outside of the Pot C franchise).
Plus, Disney DID get rid of Lassiter. They couldn't simply fire him because he is not just an employee, he is founder of Pixar and naturally agreeing to a merger with Disney came with some rights. But they send him on holiday and will have him out of the company for good by the end of the year. Perlmutter is still around for the same reason, despite being a constant publicity nightmare for Disney, though it is obvious that Disney does its best to freeze him out of the more sensitive aspects of Marvel.
I don't like anything about the current situation, but I don't think that we would even have to discuss it if James Gunn hadn't been stupid enough to make so called jokes about having sex with little boys. If I were working at a day care and those jokes became a news story, I would be out of my job, too, because no parent would want to trust me with their children. And they would be right about that, because protecting their children should be the first instinct they should have, and not "oh, I should be fair and should give this guy with the creepy thought process the benefit of the doubt". No day care could afford to keep on an employer under those circumstances, nor can Disney.
As I said, play the ball, not the player...though, frankly, that doesn't mean that one should repeat as often as possible where every possible what piece of sh... Mike whatever is. It will most likely not get him fired, but maybe it will prevent certain news outlets to run with whatever claims he had. Because at the end of the day I am more concerned about someone getting taken down on actual false claims (like the Polanski story), than about someone taken down for something he actually did. And ask yourself: Would you really think that it is oh so harmless and not a problem if it had been someone else, ie a director you don't like?
RE: NYT electoral map: unsurprisingly, the Washington Metro/Baltimore-Washington areas preferred Clinton to Trump... but generally the further away you get from those areas the heftier support for Trump gets.
I have no strong feelings about Gunn as a director one way or another, that doesn't change how I feel.
Edited by PhysicalStamina on Jul 26th 2018 at 7:50:52 AM
i'm tired, my friendTrump and his supporters love to bring up how many counties he won. Conveniently ignoring the fact that the are more prairie dogs than people in those most of those areas.
Unless they are counting the prairie dogs as constituents. In which case, that's another example of Trump screwing over his constituents with his environmental policies.
Protecting the environment is one of those things that you would think could get most people on board, since no one wants to breathe bad air or drink polluted water.
Even businesses will eventually run out of resources to exploit, so going renewable would seemingly be in their interest since it would ensure long-term profits. Going "we're gonna tear up every square inch of the US for oil, including national parks!" is ultimately self-defeating.
It's not if the point is to "trigger the libs" or other such nonsense.
Plus, they're fine with pollution and stuff as long as they're not the ones actually affected by it. Wasn't there a thing about a pipeline in South (or North, whichever) Dakota being moved on Tribal Native American lands, because the white people didn't want it polluting their water? Stuff like that makes it very easy to understand the priorities of the Right.
Edited by LSBK on Jul 26th 2018 at 7:51:23 AM
![]()
Maybe. It depends who we're talking about. The traditional Republican base are generally a waste of effort, the best they can do is stay home. What matters is depressing their turnout and maximizing our own.
If you're talking about the Obama-Trump voters then that's different, a reasonable argument can be made that they are not intrinsically lost causes.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangJust got home from meeting Dana Balter
at a campaign appearance. I encourage others to throw a buck or two her way, as she said quite a few things I liked, and the last time I saw a Congressional candidate in person was Dan Maffei for the 2008 election.
- She favors Medicare for all, and wants to empower the government to haggle with drug companies (she actually clapped when that specific question was asked before blurting out "YES!")
- She wants to see prison reform, especially in regards to jailing the developmentally handicapped and mentally ill - I didn't hear anything regarding the drug war, though. See the above link for why she focuses on that aspect.
- She wants to fully fund special ed programs on a Federal level, especially as a large number of States utterly fail at this.
- She's in favor of redefining ICE instead of dismantling it.
I know I'm forgetting a lot of stuff transcribing this, as she spoke for about a half-hour before answering questions for another half-hour, but those were the biggest points I can recall.
- Oh, and she was receptive to my idea of mandated training for gun buyers.
Edited by ironballs16 on Jul 26th 2018 at 6:29:38 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Nope - iirc, his claim was that he knew that a meeting was taking place, but he didn't know the details. Kind of an easy claim to make, given his general apathy towards matters that don't personally involve him.
And from Wikipedia:
Edited by ironballs16 on Jul 26th 2018 at 6:39:34 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"I think they're probably the few Trump voters who supported him due to legitimate economic anxiety instead of racial animosity pretending to be economic anxiety.
Still a really stupid decision but that doesn't mean the party can't attempt to bring them back into the fold.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangThe conversation's over, but I want to address a question that was never answered, partially because some people seemed to build their arguments around misinformation based on the lack of answer.
Also, when did Gunn apologize for the tweet? Was it also years ago or was it only after it came out?
There was a related controversy years ago, and it was then that Gunn made a blanket apology for his past making dumb shock humor. He stopped making those kinds of tweets years ago and also apologized for them years ago. As others have noted, Gunn was known for his shock humor before he was hired by Marvel, hell, one could argue it was one of the reasons he was hired, since Guardians would become known for its risque jokes.
This "controversy" basically amounts to: "Director who used to be known for his dark humor made some super dark jokes in the past, despite having long since stopped making jokes that dark and had long since apologized for his dark humor. People unfamiliar with said director's past who only know him as the raccoon and tree guy are outraged".
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Jul 26th 2018 at 6:58:16 AM
Thing is, the Reactionary Republicans who make up the majority of the GOP don't care about long-term effects on the environment. They're mostly midde-aged old farts who think, "Meh, by the time the environment goes to shit, I'll be dead, so it doesn't matter to me. Right now, despoiling the planet will make me rich."
This Space Intentionally Left Blank.

Looking at that I'm happy to say that I live in a little island of blue surrounding Atlanta.
Which isn't very surprising, I've always lived in minority heavy districts.
(to be more specific 64% of my district supported Clinton)
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Jul 26th 2018 at 7:18:56 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang