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

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#284526: Jul 8th 2019 at 11:06:35 AM

[up][up]

And someone else (namely Tom Steyer - can't be arsed to click the news link) is planning their entry.

Also, Trump has openly said he wants reporters to go into the migrant detention facilities to prove that the Congressfolk are lying. I really, really hope the bluff gets called, and quickly. Though I can already see the Fox News spin - "Ungrateful Illegals Sully Spotless Accomodations"

Edited by ironballs16 on Jul 8th 2019 at 2:09:16 PM

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#284527: Jul 8th 2019 at 11:23:19 AM

Warren has released her Q2 fundraising numbers.

  • $19.1 million total;
  • 683,000 donations;
  • 384,000 donors;
  • $28 average per donation; and
  • 0 closed-door fundraisers.

Warren more than tripled her Q1 fundraising. She’s third behind Buttigieg ($24.8 million) and Biden ($21.5 million), who are both doing big fundraiser events with wealthy donors and lobbyists.

Over 80% of Q2 donors gave to Warren for the very first time; she’s continuing to aggressively expand her field teams in early primary states.

Additional details available here via the Washington Post.

Edited by wisewillow on Jul 8th 2019 at 11:42:10 AM

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#284528: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:00:28 PM

I'm kinda baffled by Buttigieg's popularity. He's got decent oration skills but he's otherwise completely unremarkable and comes off as the true "average" candidate of the pack, moreso than Biden.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#284529: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:07:14 PM

One: That sort of thing is genuinely appealing to a lot of people, Two: he's really good in front of the camera the vast majority of the time, three; He's openly gay and not in a flamboyant way, which I think sort of plays into the first part and four; as a mayor he's got the situation of being politically experienced but not sullied by congressional politics at either the state or federal level, which is a thing that unfairly in my opinion appeals to people.

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#284530: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:08:43 PM

[up][up][up]

NPR has a write-up regarding Warren's fundraising too, for those that have viewed too many Post articles this month.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#284531: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:10:44 PM

Makes me wish that there was a flamboyant gay man running for President,it would be interesting to see how far they could go

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#284532: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:26:24 PM

Eesh, Washington D.C. just got hit with 3.4 - 6.3 inches of rain in two hours today, sparking Flash Flood warnings. Unfortunately, since Congress isn't in session, there's no chance of someone dunking Jim Inhofe's head in the river-road to impress upon him that climate change is, indeed, a thing.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#284533: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:34:18 PM

It's wonderful seeing Warren doing well, hopefully, the funding will help her gain the necessary to support to start gaining ground.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#284534: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:40:22 PM

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised at her gaining traction like this. She was always the best choice in my book but I wasn't sure if she was going to take off. Nothing's certain yet of course, but this is promising.

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#284535: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:43:15 PM

[up]

Pretty sure having a meme about just how competent she is ("I have a plan") helped a fair deal with that, especially because it came about largely because she... well, put forward plans.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#284536: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:45:30 PM

[up]In part because the two former favorites keep making arses of themselves on camera, as well.

Edited by HailMuffins on Jul 8th 2019 at 4:45:59 PM

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#284537: Jul 8th 2019 at 12:51:50 PM

She combines the policy focus that was the most appealing aspect of Hillary with a platform that's more aggressively overt about its progressive policies, allowing her to dodge most of the accusations of centrism and DIN Oism from the left. She could possibly stand to have more charm and charisma, which I don't personally have a problem with, but many people are superficial enough to care about, but so far she's passable on that front.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#284538: Jul 8th 2019 at 1:00:46 PM

> Eesh, Washington D.C. just got hit with 3.4 - 6.3 inches of rain in two hours today, sparking Flash Flood warnings. Unfortunately, since Congress isn't in session, there's no chance of someone dunking Jim Inhofe's head in the river-road to impress upon him that climate change is, indeed, a thing.

Somewhere someone was hoping to write "Rain falls,congress flooded,politicians confirmed to sink"

Edited by Ultimatum on Jul 8th 2019 at 8:01:21 AM

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#284539: Jul 8th 2019 at 1:13:27 PM

someone dunking Jim Inhofe's head in the river-road to impress upon him that climate change is, indeed, a thing. would be much better...

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#284540: Jul 8th 2019 at 1:18:06 PM

She combines the policy focus that was the most appealing aspect of Hillary with a platform that's more aggressively overt about its progressive policies, allowing her to dodge most of the accusations of centrism and DIN Oism from the left.

She also doesn't have the decades of witch-hunting and scandals that soured people on Hillary. The worst thing I can think to say about Warren is the whole native american heritage ordeal a while back, which was bad of course but compared to the faults of many other candidates it comes off as pretty minor.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#284541: Jul 8th 2019 at 1:18:49 PM

All it would convince him is that they need to build an ark and get two of every animal..

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Grafite Since: Apr, 2016 Relationship Status: Less than three
#284542: Jul 8th 2019 at 1:54:53 PM

What Epstein's arrest can mean in our times. More than anything, I don't want my children to live in a place where being rich gets you a meager settlement, while others get life sentences and the celebration of people due to wealth is utterly destroyed.

Life is unfair...
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#284543: Jul 8th 2019 at 2:05:03 PM

I'm going to hold off on doing a victory lap until Epstein's actually sentenced to serious prison time. Right now, he's just been arrested. A lot of awful people get arrested.

I can too easily see this case ending in something like a $5,000 fine and then Epstein going on his merry pedophilic way.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Jul 8th 2019 at 3:06:14 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#284544: Jul 8th 2019 at 2:09:45 PM

I'm not celebrating unless he goes down in flames and drags his entire network of associates down with him.

"Yup. That tasted purple."
Bur from Flyover Country (Living Relic) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#284545: Jul 8th 2019 at 4:13:06 PM

I'll be happy if just one other person goes down with him, but I'm throwing a dang block party if, somehow, all the least likely things happen and we have a mass rich pedo purge.

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#284546: Jul 8th 2019 at 4:46:22 PM

Beware of Pedo panic if that does happen

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
rmctagg09 The Wanderer from Brooklyn, NY (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
The Wanderer
#284547: Jul 8th 2019 at 5:14:49 PM

Sen. Mitch McConnell's great-great-grandfathers owned 14 slaves, bringing reparations issue close to home:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said recently he opposes paying government reparations to the descendants of American slaves, has a family history deeply entwined in the issue: Two of his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners, U.S. census records show.

The two great-great-grandfathers, James McConnell and Richard Daley, owned a total of at least 14 slaves in Limestone County, Alabama — all but two of them female, according to the county “Slave Schedules” in the 1850 and 1860 censuses.

The details about McConnell’s ancestors, discovered by NBC News through a search of ancestry and census records, came in the wake of recent hearings on reparations before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Asked about the reparations issue, McConnell, R-Ky., said he was opposed to the idea, arguing it would be hard to figure out whom to compensate.

“I don’t think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago, when none of us currently living are responsible, is a good idea,” he said June 18, a day before the House reparations hearing. “We’ve tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation. We’ve elected an African American president.”

NBC News, in several phone calls and emails to McConnell’s office, asked if the senator was aware that his great-great-grandfathers were slave owners. The office did not respond to those requests.

Slavery experts have stressed that descendants of slave owners should not be held personally responsible for the deeds of their forebears. But they have also argued that the families that descended from slave owners, like McConnell’s, are likely to have benefited from the labor of slaves that propped up farm families in earlier generations — a point made by many reparations supporters, who have said that descendants of slaves were never compensated for the economic benefit their forebears made to white families.

“Smaller farms and plantations still benefited enormously from the unpaid labor of enslaved people, which likely helped them build multigenerational wealth,” said Chuck Collins, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank in Washington.

Edited by rmctagg09 on Jul 8th 2019 at 8:16:10 AM

Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#284548: Jul 8th 2019 at 5:20:20 PM

If I thought reparations would solve the problem, or even really help, I might be for them. However, it seems to me that reparations are more likely to cause resentment and racism more then solve it. That said, the exact same policy with better marking might be effective.

Edited by Soban on Jul 8th 2019 at 8:21:03 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#284549: Jul 8th 2019 at 5:25:20 PM

I think that reparations would:

  • Give money to a lot of people who need money
  • Show that the United States isn't giving empty words

So I don't see why reparations wouldn't be good.

The only people who would hate it would be racists and they need to be kicked in the teeth as much as possible.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#284550: Jul 8th 2019 at 5:27:08 PM

turns out that kicking people in the teeth repeated isn't a good way to make them like you or any of their friends or family who are neutral to you but like them.


Total posts: 417,856
Top