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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.

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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

CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#259501: Oct 30th 2018 at 11:24:40 PM

Sorry, went off-topic.

Edited by CookingCat on Oct 30th 2018 at 11:32:48 AM

TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#259502: Oct 30th 2018 at 11:28:24 PM

We're not GameFAQ's and I'm fairly certain there's another thread about meta somewhere else.

Edited by TerminusEst on Oct 30th 2018 at 11:28:52 AM

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#259503: Oct 30th 2018 at 11:29:43 PM

That's not even remotely on topic, Cooking Cat. Gamefaqs is never on topic here. (Also you have clearly missed the obvious answer of them being owned and run by entirely different sets of individuals who get to decide what rules to put on their site regarding profanity. This isn't a difficult fucking answer.)

@Raineh: There's only two people on the ballot. That whole "people just vote for the first thing" has its limits. Especially when lists are short.

In a more serious answer; Texas is heavily red, as well as gerrymandered all to hell. O'Rourke has been fighting an uphill battle. The fact that he's made as much of an impact as he has its an accomplishment in itself. I do hope he wins, but I hope even more that he teaches his tactics to others and helps to build Democratic infrastructure in the state. It kind of feels like the Dems gave up the state some time ago, so anyone trying to run on that ticket here is kind of without support.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#259504: Oct 30th 2018 at 11:41:25 PM

[up] and he made republicans divert money and resources to a seemingly safe seat, which is a victory in itself.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#259505: Oct 30th 2018 at 11:42:53 PM

Hey, I consider any part where we have to make the Republicans actually fucking work for it to be a victory. A petty one, perhaps, but hey that's money diverted from other places. Even with their deep pockets, money can only go so far.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#259506: Oct 30th 2018 at 11:44:01 PM

[up] Honestly, forcing your opponents to spend money on seemingly safe seats is sound political strategy, since it takes money and (perhaps more importantly) resources away from more competitive seats.

Edited by megaeliz on Oct 30th 2018 at 2:56:34 PM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#259507: Oct 31st 2018 at 12:09:43 AM

And even if Cruz keeps his seat, this whole campaign has really highlighted just how shitty he is in pretty much every respect.

Of course, it also publicized that time he was a mime in school. That is going to haunt my nightmares.

Edited by M84 on Nov 1st 2018 at 3:10:25 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Imca (Veteran)
#259509: Oct 31st 2018 at 1:07:07 AM

Honestly the attempted Muller framing bothers me more then it should because even with it failing it gives the sexists a win.

"Look false rapes really are a thing, people do it for money and to ruin mens lifes" :/

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#259510: Oct 31st 2018 at 1:10:23 AM

There have been many cases where people have been accused of rape and exonerated by DNA evidence, particularly when cases had the prosecution going after a minority (or women were pressured into pointing the finger at specific individuals ala To Kill a Mockingbird). Innocent until proven guilty is an important thing even if far-far-far-far-far-far too many assholes and monsters have gotten away with it.

And the people behind this plot deserve Life Sentences for attempting to do this.

Which I hope the courts will prove.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Oct 31st 2018 at 1:13:02 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
FluffyMcChicken My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare from where the floating lights gleam Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: In another castle
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
#259511: Oct 31st 2018 at 1:16:38 AM

[up][up] you just know deep down inside that the right is flexible enough to say that "the discovery of the false flag operation was in fact a false flag op itself!" He must have known that he was going to be accused to so staged himself being falsely accused!"

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#259512: Oct 31st 2018 at 1:21:18 AM

[up]more likely they'll accuse the woman of making up the money offer, or the press of making up the woman.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
Robrecht Your friendly neighbourhood Regent from The Netherlands Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: They can't hide forever. We've got satellites.
Your friendly neighbourhood Regent
#259513: Oct 31st 2018 at 5:04:37 AM

There have been many cases where people have been accused of rape and exonerated by DNA evidence, particularly when cases had the prosecution going after a minority (or women were pressured into pointing the finger at specific individuals ala To Kill a Mockingbird).

True, but the salient point in pretty much all of those cases is that there has been a sexual assault, the survivor simply misidentified the perpetrator because of the trauma of the experience messing with their memory.

Whereas the kind of scumbags who make a big deal of 'false accusations' want us to believe that rape rarely ever happens and most of the women who claim to have been sexually assaulted are liars making it up to ruin someone's reputation or get revenge.

Angry gets shit done.
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#259514: Oct 31st 2018 at 5:24:47 AM

No, I mean Cruz comes first alphabetically, and if there's hitches in the voting software where it's not loading in time etc., then it might go for the first listed candidate. Just as a reason that Cruz could get more votes out of old machines with no malice intended whatsoever.

ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#259515: Oct 31st 2018 at 5:42:05 AM

[up][up][up] WAS there even a woman in this case?

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#259516: Oct 31st 2018 at 5:58:07 AM

That hack right-wing journalist said he's revealing a victim today.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#259517: Oct 31st 2018 at 5:59:45 AM

[up][up]I mean the woman who approached journalists and alleged that the hack had offered her money.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#259518: Oct 31st 2018 at 6:24:25 AM

Just made a series of political contributions, mostly to various red state Democrats in various races for the House, Senate, and Governor, generally in sums of about $25 per candidate. It might be too late for it to make much of a difference, but I hope it provides a little needed help for them going down the stretch. Also did a couple of local donations, including against the GOP rep in the next district over, (who had said that his opponent, a Harvard law graduate, should be ineligible to run because he once made a rap album, and has been dogwhistling hard about the "big city rapper") and against a particularly obnoxious and fairly well entrenched Republican state senator.

Anyone else that can do so, please do. It's crunch time, and as good as it is to sit at a monitor and try to keep people informed, I felt it was time to try to do more with everything thats on the line.

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#259519: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:01:20 AM

Maybe don’t donate to my Democratic senator, Joe Donnelly, though.

The asshole has managed to limbo under my very low expectations by SAYING HE’S OPEN TO LEGISLATION ENDING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP.

I’m going to call his office as soon as I’m out of class. What the FUCK, Joe?!?!?!?!?

Edited by wisewillow on Oct 31st 2018 at 10:02:21 AM

BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#259520: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:19:31 AM

You think it's going to be rigged towards Cruz?
I think it's far more likely than the machines being rigged in favor of Beto. If I thought the GOP was machiavellian enough, I'd expect one district to be clearly rigged towards Beto and the rest just slightly rigged towards Cruz, to give them better talking points in the media to further Trump's aims.

And a quick excerpt from an article disdaining the middle ground when it comes to moral issues; the article is heavy on personal anecdotes.

    Excerpts 
Emphasis mine.
I recall this experience now, over 40 years later, as we are in a political moment where we find ourselves on opposite sides of what feels like an unbreachable gulf. I find myself annoyed by the hand-wringing about how we need to find common ground. People ask how might we “meet in the middle,” as though this represents a safe, neutral and civilized space. This American fetishization of the moral middle is a misguided and dangerous cultural impulse.

The middle is a point equidistant from two poles. That’s it. There is nothing inherently virtuous about being neither here nor there. Buried in this is a false equivalency of ideas, what you might call the “good people on both sides” phenomenon. When we revisit our shameful past, ask yourself, Where was the middle? Rather than chattel slavery, perhaps we could agree on a nice program of indentured servitude? Instead of subjecting Japanese-American citizens to indefinite detention during WW II, what if we had agreed to give them actual sentences and perhaps provided a receipt for them to reclaim their things when they were released? What is halfway between moral and immoral?

When we revisit our shameful past, ask yourself, Where was the middle?

The search for the middle is rooted in conflict avoidance and denial. For many Americans it is painful to understand that there are citizens of our community who are deeply racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic. Certainly, they reason, this current moment is somehow a complicated misunderstanding. Perhaps there is some way to look at this–a view from the middle–that would allow us to communicate and realize that our national identity is the tie that will bind us comfortably, and with a bow. The headlines that lament a “divided” America suggest that the fact that we can’t all get along is more significant than the issues over which we are sparring.

As Americans, we are at a crossroads. We have to decide what is central to our identity: Is the importance of our performance of national unity more significant than our core values? Is it more meaningful that we understand why some of us support the separation of children from their parents, or is it more crucial that we support the reunification of these families? Is it more essential that we comprehend the motives of white nationalists, or is it more urgent that we prevent them from terrorizing communities of color and those who oppose racism? Should we agree to disagree about the murder and dismemberment of a journalist? Should we celebrate our tolerance and civility as we stanch the wounds of the world and the climate with a poultice of national unity?

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Grafite Since: Apr, 2016 Relationship Status: Less than three
#259521: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:21:40 AM

[up][up] We all know that if push came to shove, he wouldn't actually vote for it. I mean, if he refused to vote to confirm Kavanaugh, how would it make sense to approve an unconstitutional measure? This is throwing meat to the moderate-ish base in the state.

Edited by Grafite on Oct 31st 2018 at 2:22:07 PM

Life is unfair...
KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#259522: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:24:43 AM

Violating the Constitution doesn’t strike me as a moderate position.

Oh God! Natural light!
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#259523: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:26:13 AM

I live in Indiana. All my You Tube ads right now are about how Joe is with the RADICAL LEFT and wants OPEN BORDERS.

Anyone who likes revoking birthright citizenship ain’t gonna flip their vote for Donnelly, but he’s risking hurting democratic turnout for everyone here in Indiana by pissing off his base.

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#259524: Oct 31st 2018 at 7:44:31 AM

I'm getting similar ads, except they're aimed at Democrats in general.

While I don't for a moment believe Donelly actually means to do anything serious regarding trying to destroy the 14 Amendment, I'm with wisewillow on this one. He didn't have to stick his head into this, its only going to make him look bad to his base and the Republicans are going to call him an open border Pelosi lover anyway.

Friendperson Since: May, 2018
#259525: Oct 31st 2018 at 8:09:09 AM

So when he says he wants to end birthright citizenship in certain cases, those certain cases are pretty much only for brown people, right?


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