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
CNN makes fun of Bernie Sanders for having been consistent for forty years, and for having won a million dollars by selling a book:
Bit of an Insult Backfire. But then, radical centrists are gonna radically center.
Bernie’s racial legacy is solidly meh. I can’t see him winning any points there, but if he plays his cards right it shouldn’t hurt him too much either.
I’d rather not have him in the White House though.
As far as Biden, those polls point to exactly what most analysts have been saying: this early in the game he’s polling solely on the Obama name. I’ll be interested to see what they look like after a debate or some serious campaigning. The article Charles linked basically concludes as much.
Edited by archonspeaks on May 20th 2019 at 12:45:15 PM
They should have sent a poet.With the release of footage from 30-40 years ago, it's become apparent that Sanders is making literally the same arguments today that he was making decades ago.
This can be interpreted any number of ways. Bernie Bros interpret it to mean that he's a remarkably consistent candidate who's never changed his views and still firmly believes in the ideals today that he believed in then.
Centrists, meanwhile, interpret it as a demonstration of how completely ineffectual Sanders has been in his political career. That his campaign promises have not changed one word in 30-40 years is said to demonstrate just how little of it he's actually gotten done.
As is so often the case with these things, both sides have effectively declared victory over the same point of data. I fall into the latter category as someone who has never been impressed with Bernie's Cult of Personality.
Edited by TobiasDrake on May 20th 2019 at 1:45:13 PM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Native American Rights In Wyoming Hunting Case – Justice Neil Gorsuch, the only Westerner on the court, again provided the decisive vote in favor of American Indian rights.
Some Republicans unsettled by Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity – Veteran lawmakers are increasingly alarmed over the president's claim that Congress can't police him.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/05/20/congress-donald-trump-investigations-1331677
![]()
He can't fix the systemic problems of the USA all by himself, now, can he? He was just one mayor and then just one senator. It's more that the problems have remained the same for forty years and that only now are people beginning to listen to the people pointing them out.
I credit Jon Stewart for creating a format the US Left in the media could follow to convey their message while entertaining their audience. I'm not sure the messages of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren would have sunk in without the help of, say, John Oliver.
The debates either make or break the frontrunner, everyone wants to knock the king off the hill, but if you hold your lead it gets even harder for them to overtake you in time. And Biden is an experienced and decent debater, though so are many of his opponents.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
And all it takes sometimes is one gaffe that gets repeated often enough. Just think of "And uh... oops" from Rick Perry or "YAAAAAH!" from Howard Dean.
And speaking of Trump and "immunity", they're now refusing to allow McGahn to testify
, stating in a letter that he is "absolutely immune" from being issued a subpoena. I can't access the actual memo, so does that actually hold any water, or is it just blowing smoke up our asses like I expect it is?
Edited by ironballs16 on May 20th 2019 at 4:12:41 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"When compared against the boob in the White House, you mean. Of course, that doesn't stop CNN from endlessly poring over every perceived gaffe or misstep from a Democrat...
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Trevor Noah did a series of segments about what passed for a Scandal under Obama, the sort of utterly inconsequential nonsense that would take over the news cycle for weeks on CNN or Fox News. Saluting a Marine with a Latte in hand. Wearing a tan suit. Not wearing suits-and-ties. Using a selfie stick. And then he would caption "NO PRESIDENT HAS DONE ANYTHING WORSE" while showing a Republican icon like Reagan or Trump doing exactly that same thing, or worse.
Edited by Oruka on May 20th 2019 at 1:26:35 AM
The thing I hate most about CNN is that they have a reputation of being left-leaning when there's no reason to see them as such. People are as such able to present them as a "legitimate" source against the left whenever they say anything damaging and they have more sway with uninformed left-leaners than, say, Fox.
Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on May 20th 2019 at 4:19:37 AM
My musician pageCitations Needed Episode 55: Jake Tapper and the Art of Faux-Adversarialism
As previously discussed in our John Mc Cain News Brief, the issue with John Mc Cain was less so about the man himself but what he represented: posturing National Security state jingoism at the heart of America’s civic religion; a phony notion of self-importance that animates US militarism. Just the same, this week’s episode is less about Tapper and more about what he represents: the dead center of American corporate media; hollow, faux-adversarialism marked by military worship; less interested in original reporting than serving as a bouncer for Club Acceptable Opinion.
We are joined on this week's episode by journalist Natasha Lennard.
It's done!
![]()
Precisely.
Edited by Oruka on May 20th 2019 at 1:28:04 AM
![]()
Oh yeah - especially since it tended to be just the scream alone with mostly-isolated audio, so it's harder to tell that he was shouting above the crowd.
And with ![]()
![]()
![]()
- not all of us can see embedded videos, so a bit of context please?
Edited by ironballs16 on May 20th 2019 at 4:27:14 AM
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"@Tobias: Would you truly prefer someone who was in favour of segregation until seeing the light or someone who consistently stood against it, even when such a position was unpopular and there was no way of turning it into reality? The choice is clear.
Life is unfair...So, the White House now launched a tool to report social media bans
https://whitehouse.typeform.com/to/Jti9QH
There seen as that because agian, this thread has a pretty left skewed overton window compared to the rest of the united states.
As a reminder, more then 1/3rd of DEMOCRAT voters said that "Arabic numerals have no place being taught in American schools" when polled about it... The racism is to the point where most Americans[[note:If that doesn't give a clue, it was a pretty solid no overall, since republicans were even worse on it]] think that we shouldn't even teach numbers because they hear the word "Arabic" in it, do I even need to remind people about bombing Agrabah?
America is not some secret left wing utopia, most Americans are okay with the way things are right now... or at least how they were before Trump.... which is why CNN is seen as left wing, and Biden is leading the polls.... those veiws even though they are outside of those of us, are the ones that predominate America.
It really sucks that this is the case, but we aren't going to go any where unless we acknowledge and work with that.... no amount of wishing mud was clay is going to help you make a pot.
Edited by Imca on May 20th 2019 at 1:45:49 AM
To be fair, they most likely didn't know what "Arabian numbers" are and therefore reacted accordingly. I mean, I got a good laugh like everyone else when one reporter from a satire magazine asked an NPD (German far right) candidate in a small city election what he would do about all the "Arabian numbers" on the doors all over the city and he reacted predictably, but depending on how the question is asked, the train of thought can simply be "why should my children learn the numbers of a foreign language".
Hell, I am ready to bet that some here in the forum didn't know or never really thought about that while we use latin letters, we are using the arabian numberic system because it is easier.

Well if you don't want to read it, don't.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.