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
One in six is still a minority, a large minority, but a minority nonetheless. This ignores the fact that not all the rapes are necessarily committed by different people.
... at this point I think I'm arguing semantics as much as anything. Which, to be fair, I greatly enjoy.
Aren't we drifting a bit from the main topic anyway? For that I am sorry.
It's about time.
Edited by TroperOnAStickV2 on Sep 29th 2018 at 6:52:46 AM
Hopefully I'll feel confident to change my avatar off this scumbag soon. Apologies to any scumbags I insulted.So 200 congressional Democrats are suing Trump for violating the Emoluments Clause. x
The lawsuit is based on the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bars presidents from taking payments from foreign states without Congress’s consent. Trump’s business, which he still owns, has hosted foreign embassy events and visiting foreign officials at its downtown D.C. hotel.
Trump has not given Congress any details of these transactions, nor has he asked Congress’s permission for them. Trump says he doesn’t need to — by his reckoning, these transactions don’t fit the Founding Fathers’ definition of “emoluments.” They are business deals, he says, not payoffs.
But the Democratic members of Congress said Trump had effectively nullified their votes by not giving them anything to vote on.
In his ruling, Federal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan agreed with the legislators, writing that they have legal standing to sue and their case can proceed.
“The Clause requires the President to ask Congress before accepting a prohibited foreign emolument,” Sullivan wrote. If the allegations made by Democrats are true, he wrote, then “the President is accepting prohibited foreign emoluments without asking and without receiving a favorable reply from Congress.”
Typically, judges are skeptical when individual legislators seek to sue the president. In this case, Sullivan allowed it, writing that the lawmakers had no where else to turn for a remedy other than the courts.
Discovery will be fun.
Edited by megaeliz on Sep 29th 2018 at 6:54:16 AM
Anyone else look back to their highschool and college years and say "Man, I sure as hell wasn't that into adult themes back then". For me, high school was still like elementary school where I was immature and insecure, and college was like high school with all the angst. No sexual tension or relations whatsoever.
Now I can only imagine Kavanaugh's situation where it's kids trying to fuck kids. That's bad.
ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.I'm just imagining a line of 200 lawyers arguing before a single judge,face in their face throughout proceedings
> For me, high school was still like elementary school where I was immature and insecure, and college was like high school with all the angst. No sexual tension or relations whatsoever.
Like being in a bubble,where the worst thing is detention and being summoned to the head's office,yeah I felt that sometimes
Edited by Ultimatum on Sep 29th 2018 at 4:02:28 AM
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverIt’s lead by Senator Richard Blumenthal, and right on schedule:
It’s like clockwork.
Edited by megaeliz on Sep 29th 2018 at 7:12:44 AM
Trump is really going to throw Vietnam stones? Bold move Cotten, bold move.
As for high school (well secondary school over here) I actully did the whole “get drunk and party at 13” thing, for my year at school it was find and we all had a good time, for some who came after us I know it didn’t always end well.
Edited by Silasw on Sep 29th 2018 at 11:40:25 AM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranI would argue they're wrong on both counts, witness testimony is evidence and in many high profile rape cases we're seeing multiple accusers.
I would say a far greater reason is that people vastly overestimate the commonality of false rape accusations either out of ignorance or misogyny.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Sep 29th 2018 at 9:46:36 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangInnocent before proven guilty is greatly important.
However, you should also take such accusations with great seriousness.
A female relative of mine is a victim of sexual assault as a child and had severe issues with the way Michael Jackson was treated because it felt like the whole thing ruined the treatment for everyone (she believed he was innocent and horribly railroaded).
Edited by CharlesPhipps on Sep 29th 2018 at 7:05:38 AM
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.Well, strictly speaking, they are correct. The reason why sexual assault accusations seem strange to many people is that we are raised with the idea that someone making claims should have some form of tangible evidence to support them. This is, broadly, a standard of fairness that is applicable to many situations.
However, as I've said in other occasions, conventional ideas of fairness often aren't very applicable to a world that is not fair. I made a post earlier talking about why it's important to take them seriously.
Edited by Draghinazzo on Sep 29th 2018 at 1:41:14 PM
Some levity:
Someone made a mashup
of Samuel L. Jackson's famous scene from Pulp Fiction and the Kavanaugh hearing.
I’d point out that that’s true of many crimes. Street mugging tend to have little evidence and only a single witness, yet if someone says they got mugged we don’t get an entire boatload of people questioning them.
People only bring up the scarcity of evidence when it comes to rape, most crimes have fuck all evidence to start with, that’s why we have police, to gather evidence, which includes eye witness accounts from the victims.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranDoes anyone know if Politizoom, Daily Kos or @TopRopeTravis are reliable sources of news? An American friend put an 'exclusive' on their news feed a couple of hours ago; these sources are claiming Dr. Ford's father isn't publicly supporting her because he's worried he'll lose his position on a local (Republican) country club.
I'm not linking directly to it because I don't know if it's reliable. (The big red flag for me is that the source claims the statement was made to the Washington Post, but the WP isn't reporting it at all. In fact, no mainstream news source is.)
Edited by Wyldchyld on Sep 30th 2018 at 11:41:28 AM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.- Politizoom defines itself as "Politi Zoom is an independent news magazine dedicated to exposing the lies and corruption in Washington" which makes me kinda wary.
- Daily Kos I think had a reputation for unreliability? Wikipedia has listed it on the "don't know if it's reliable" list
- @TopRopeTravis sounds like a typical left wing Twitterer to me.
Trump fell in love with Kim Jong Un
The reality has become weirder that The Onion

How could a "relative few" rape or attempt to rape one in six women?
That is so far beyond "relative few" that it's not even funny.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang