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.
#277251: Apr 11th 2019 at 2:14:43 AM

The article points out that pretty much everyone dropped the ball here. Every Democratic primary candidate should have tried to help with this if only to improve their own odds later. But they didn't.

It also expresses frustration with the progressive movement as a whole for fucking up here.

A bitter reminder that every election counts.

Edited by M84 on Apr 11th 2019 at 5:17:03 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#277252: Apr 11th 2019 at 2:41:55 AM

[up] The media also didn't cover this at all.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#277253: Apr 11th 2019 at 2:48:01 AM

Republicans and their voter base get a lot of things wrong, but most of them do understand one simple thing: a vote is power. And if there's one thing that defines them, it's that they hate giving up power.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#277254: Apr 11th 2019 at 3:01:58 AM

That and highly coordinated propaganda network across multiple platforms. Fox News, Daily Caller, Breitbart, etc., may take different angles, but at the end of the day they all make sure their audience knows where to go, whatever the issue, because that's what they're paid do too.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#277255: Apr 11th 2019 at 5:47:40 AM

Frail-looking Assange arrested by British police after seven years in Ecuador embassy

https://reut.rs/2UajDFR

Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by British police and carried out of the Ecuadorean embassy on Thursday after his South American hosts abruptly revoked his seven-year asylum in a move his supporters said was illegal.

An agitated, frail-looking Assange with white hair and a white beard was carried out of the embassy by at least seven men to a waiting police van.

“Julian Assange, 47, has today, Thursday 11 April, been arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) at the Embassy of Ecuador,” police said.

Police said they arrested Assange after being “invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorean government’s withdrawal of asylum.”

Edited by sgamer82 on Apr 11th 2019 at 6:49:10 AM

CommanderAce Commander Thor from Planet Earth, United States Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Commander Thor
#277256: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:02:06 AM

Reading all this, I was never aware that Assange was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize this year and for 2011. How did he ever think reporting on the personal life of Ecuador’s president was a good idea?

Edited by CommanderAce on Apr 11th 2019 at 7:02:29 AM

Power of Thor!
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#277257: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:03:06 AM

He’s also an alleged rapist who helped Trump get elected.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#277258: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:03:41 AM

He's a Russian asset and should be treated as such

Oh really when?
TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#277259: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:12:46 AM

Hope he enjoys being a lab rat of the CIA for the rest of his (very) short years. I bet there's plenty of people within US Intelligence who would love to have a chat with the limey.

Hate to be him when they haul him into the interrogation rooms.

I hold the secrets of the machine.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#277260: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:14:16 AM

I’m not ruling out the possibility of him getting a pardon once extradited.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#277261: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:20:08 AM

With Trump in charge and most of US Intelligence sharpening knives already? I like your optimism, Silas.

I hold the secrets of the machine.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#277262: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:21:00 AM

I hope Assange gets his rape case opened, dealt with to the satisfaction of the victims, and any arrest by US intelligence accompanied by the arresting officers locked in a sealed hole to die.

Assange is scum but the information he revealed about the US government was true.

None of the people who want him want him for the right reasons but Sweden. They're torturers, murderers, and people who deserve to spend the rest of their life behind bars.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Apr 11th 2019 at 6:22:16 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#277263: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:21:32 AM

Trump is and the US intelligence agencies are very much not on the same side.

Trump's effectively a Russian asset himself remember.

[up]You're kidding yourself if you think the Swedes don't also want him for intelligence reasons as well.

Edited by LeGarcon on Apr 11th 2019 at 9:22:57 AM

Oh really when?
Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#277264: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:22:31 AM

[up]Known for discarding anyone who's no longer useful to him.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#277265: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:26:53 AM

So it looks like Democrats just lost an important election in Wisconsin: [1].
I wonder if this was the special election my dad (who lives in WI) was talking about in an email the other day. He didn't mention who he voted for, though.

Re: Assange: Five bucks says Trump will say Assange was treated very unfairly.

Edited by speedyboris on Apr 11th 2019 at 8:29:47 AM

TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#277266: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:28:45 AM

Damn near everyone who's put him on their shit-list want him because of Intelligence needs. The fact that he's a despicable person is just a bonus for them - it makes it easier to justify nailing his ass.

Still, I hope that sexual assault case on him is reopened and dealt with properly this time, just so that the victims can get some closure at the very least.

As for the findings that Wikileaks made - well, someone's got to do the horrible shit to keep the world spinning. Not saying it's right, just saying it's inevitable.

I hold the secrets of the machine.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#277267: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:29:30 AM

The US wants him for multiple reasons, much of the US intelligence system wants him for revenge, he hurt their pride and got access to classified information, that’s a bad reason. Other elements within the intelligence community want him because of his ties to Russia and their interference in 2016, that’s a pretty good reason. Trump I suspect doesn’t want him, it’s to risky, that’s if Trump knows that Assange is connected to the 2016 interference, Trump may not have realised that Assange is on his side.

That’s before we get into Assange’s ties to Russian interference in the Brexit referendum, Assange thumbing his nose at the British legal system and Assange being a rapist.

And the fact that the British government reportedly lied so as to get permission to arrest Assange.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#277268: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:30:08 AM

Honestly?

I think Assange would be much better off getting a lengthy Swedish prison sentence than falling into US hands.

As for Trump? Assange is nothing to him no matter how much he's done for him.

Trump would throw Ivanka off the side of a cliff for far less than a soul stone.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Apr 11th 2019 at 6:30:59 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#277269: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:31:41 AM

[up][up][up]Yeah, no; any noble intentions Wikileaks once had are gone. They forcibly outed a bunch of gay men in Saudi Arabia, ffs, where there’s a death penalty for homosexuality.

Edited by wisewillow on Apr 11th 2019 at 6:32:09 AM

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#277270: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:34:49 AM

Wikileaks is a dedicated asset of the Russian government.

Ever notice how they're completely tight lipped about their secrets and human rights abuses and only ever speak out when it hurts NATO allied countries?

Oh really when?
TechPriest90 Servant of the Omnissiah from Collegia Titanica, Mars, Sol System Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Servant of the Omnissiah
#277271: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:35:16 AM

[up][up] I didn't mean Wikileaks. I meant US Intelligence. The ones who have to do horrible shit to keep things going.

Wikileaks can burn for all I care. My bad - that post did drift into Ambiguous Syntax in the end, didn't it?

Edited by TechPriest90 on Apr 11th 2019 at 9:35:33 AM

I hold the secrets of the machine.
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#277272: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:43:05 AM

> The ones who have to do horrible shit to keep things going

You make it sound like they don't have a choice,they do,they always do.They choose to horrible shit because they know at the end of the day whoever is in charge of the US government isn't likely to punish them for human rights violations

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#277273: Apr 11th 2019 at 6:46:02 AM

Yeah last I checked the sun isn’t actually powered by tortured Afghans or the souls of dead Yemeni children.

Not that any of this has anything to do with Assange, his objections were always more than the actual bad stuff.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#277274: Apr 11th 2019 at 8:03:53 AM

ICE broke Facebook rules by creating fake profiles attachted to a scam university as part of a sting operation.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#277275: Apr 11th 2019 at 8:20:57 AM

Honestly?

I think Assange would be much better off getting a lengthy Swedish prison sentence than falling into US hands.

Oh, undoubtedly. Going to prison for in Sweden for rape would make him much happier than facing international espionage charges in the United States.

He'd be even better off escaping to Russia and spending the rest of his life as a personal guest of Vladimir Putin, continuing the work he's been doing and undermining NATO countries. He'd basically be living happily ever after.

But of all the concerns that I have with this whole WikiLeaks debacle, Assange's contentment is pretty much bottom of the barrel as my priorities go. I don't really care about getting an outcome that he'll be happy with.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Apr 11th 2019 at 9:30:59 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

Total posts: 417,856
Top