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
Alabama has areas that wouldn't be out of place in a third world country, but I can't recall when Trump ever addressed their conditions. Now what's the difference between that state and Balimore, I wonder?
If you honestly think there's any substantive criticism in Trump's tweets, then you're blind to reality. It's an attack on a black congressman and a majority black district, nothing more.
The major difference between Trump's criticism of Baltimore and Sanders' is that Sanders was coming from a place of "The people living here need help", while Trump's is (and typically is) from "Look at this shithole that my critic represents! They shouldn't be saying anything bad about me until they address it!"
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"Double post, but Wisconsin just had someone kill 3 people in one family, then repeat for two more houses
. At this point, I'm genuinely wondering what the hell it'll take to alter the zeitgeist - will every town in the US have to suffer a mass shooting before we actually do anything?
I was just looking at the Gun Violence Archive website to see how many shootings there have been this year, and the site is saying that there are five dead and two injured in the Wisconsin shooting, and that there's been one in the District of Columbia (four injured, no dead).
How accurate is that website? As of Wisconsin, it's saying there have been 247 mass shootings so far this year.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Jul 29th 2019 at 10:10:37 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.I mean, Gilroy was definitely a mass shooting, even with "only" three people dead. I feel like that definition needs a rework. Include number injured or something.
EDIT: Correction, four, but still, if someone goes and shoots like 20+ people, it's still a mass shooting even if only 1 or 2 of them die.
Edited by danime91 on Jul 29th 2019 at 2:32:48 AM
Even if someone important is shot it’ll be the same thing. Remember what happened with Steve Scalise?
Mass shootings are the biggest driver of gun sales out there, after Democratic presidents. Sadly the cultural narrative is that if you’re afraid of men with guns the best solution is to have a gun yourself.
Edited by archonspeaks on Jul 29th 2019 at 2:54:27 AM
They should have sent a poet.The thing that will kill the culture of massive gun ownership isn’t someone important dying, it will be large scale properly funded law enforcement making people feel safe enough that they don’t think they need a gun to protect them from threats round every corner.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran(Note that that shooting is probably more on topic here
)
I'm just waiting for when Trump is no longer in office and we move to the new hot political topic to rant about. Hopefully it won't be the president again. Just looking back:
- Dubya's disastrous War on Terror, Darth Cheney and being known as a derp
- Clinton's sexcapades almost getting him fired
- Reagan's Iran-Gate
- Carter's stagflation
- Nixon's Watergate and Johnson's Vietnam
- Hoover's Great Depression and the Hoovervilles
- Harding's Teapot Dome Scandal
- Wilson's mess in WWI
- Cleveland's "Ma, Ma Where's My Pa"
- Hayes' mess of an election
- Grant's administration filled with scandal
- The entire 1850s administration
Just to bring it up, the 1850's was divided by 3 Presidential Administrations; Millard Fillmore's (the last Whig President who was very friendly to Southerners and signed the Compromise of 1850), Franklin Pierce's (whose support for 'popular soveriegnty' resulted in Bleeding Kansas) and James Buchanan's (who pushed for the Supreme Court to settle the Slavery Issue 'once and for all', resulting in the Dredd Scott Decision). All 3 of those administrations attempts to appease Southern Slave Owners and Secessionists led to the North embracing the Republican Party, the Whig Party dying, and the eventual victory of Abraham Lincoln, Secession of the South and Civil War.
![]()
It will probably shift to what could be achieved in healthcare or gun control by the new President - fingers crossed - instead of what the democrats can stop the GOP from ruining.
Edited by Grafite on Jul 29th 2019 at 12:53:54 PM
Life is unfair...https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/07/29/day-921/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49149759
The Baltimore Sun responded to Trump: "Better to have a few rats than to be one." The editorial accused Trump of deploying "the most emotional and bigoted of arguments" against a Democratic African American congressman from a majority-black district. (Baltimore Sun / Washington Post)
Four years ago, Trump criticized Obama for not doing enough to address problems in Baltimore. Trump claimed at the time that "I would fix it fast!" (Washington Post)
Trump attacked Rev. Al Sharpton, calling him "a con man" who "Hates Whites & Cops!" Sharpton had tweeted a photo of himself at an airport with the caption: "headed to Baltimore." (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/29/us/politics/trump-al-sharpton.html
📌 Day 917: The House Oversight and Reform Committee authorized subpoenas for senior White House aides official work communications sent via personal email and cellphone. The White House refused to turn over the messages voluntarily earlier this month. Democrats have raised questions about whether Jared Kushner's Whats App communications with foreign officials, Ivanka Trump's use of a private email account to conduct official business, and Stephen Bannon's use of a personal mobile device for White House business violated the Presidential Records Act. (Politico / Washington Post / Axios)
2/ Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney defended Trump's attacks, saying that some people will be offended by anything Trump says and that he was "fighting back" against "illegitimate attacks about the border." Mulvaney argued that Trump's use of "infested" to attack Cummings had "nothing to do with race." Trump, however, has repeatedly used "infested" to attack places in which the majority are people of color. Trump previously told Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," suggested that John Lewis' district was "in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested)," referred to Africa as "Ebola-infested," and called California a "ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept." (Politico / Axios / Washington Post / Mediate)
3/ Jared Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment complexes in Baltimore that have been cited for hundreds of code violations and provide substandard housing to lower-income tenants. Since 2013, Kushner Cos. has owned nearly 9,000 rental units across 17 complexes that generate at least $90 million in annual revenue. In 2017, Baltimore County officials revealed that apartments owned by Kushner Cos. were responsible for more than 200 code violations – all accrued in the span of the calendar year – and repairs were made only after the county threatened fines. (Washington Post / Baltimore Sun / New York Times)
https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bs-md-jared-kushner-properties-20190224-story.html
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ny-pol-trump-restaurants-mice-health-20190207-story.html
House Republicans scheduled their yearly policy retreat at a downtown Baltimore hotel in September despite Trump calling Baltimore a "very dangerous & filthy place." Trump is expected to speak at the retreat. (Washington Post)
4/ Dan Coates will step down as director of national intelligence next month. Coates frequently pushed back against Trump on foreign policy issues, including on Russia and North Korea. Trump said he would nominate John Ratcliffe to replace Coates, who will officially leave his post on Aug. 15th. It's unclear whether Ratcliffe will be confirmed by the Senate, since he has no background in intelligence. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr "cautioned the president's advisers that he considered Mr. Ratcliffe too political for the post." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, warned that it'd be a "big mistake" for Senate Republicans to "elevate such a partisan player to a position that requires intelligence expertise and non-partisanship." Trump was, reportedly, "thrilled by Ratcliffe's admonishment of former special counsel Robert Mueller in last week's House Judiciary Committee hearing." (New York Times / Washington Post / Reuters / NBC News / USA Today / NPR / Axios / Politico / CNN / New York Times)
5/ The Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can use $2.5 billion in Pentagon money to expand the border wall with Mexico. In a 5-to-4 ruling, the court lifted a lower court order that blocked the four contracts the Trump administration had awarded using Defense Department money. Funding for the projects had been frozen by lower courts while a lawsuit over the money proceeded. (New York Times / Politico / Associated Press / Washington Post)
https://apnews.com/5d893d388c254c7fa83a1570112ae90e
6/ The Trump administration didn't include analysis that more than 500,000 children would lose eligibility for free school meals under a proposed change to the food stamp program. When the Department of Agriculture proposed last week to end food stamp benefits for 3.1 million people by changing eligibility and automatic enrollment, the agency did not include its own estimate that more than 500,000 children would also lose eligibility for free school meals. Currently, children whose families receive food stamps are automatically enrolled in a federal program that offers free breakfast and lunch at school. The two programs are automatically linked to reduce paperwork to ensure that children receive all of the food assistance they qualify for. (NBC News)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-foodstamps-idUSKCN1UI0AH
7/ More than 100 Democrats in the House have called for impeachment proceedings against Trump to begin. A total of 107 House Democrats have publicly supported the move, including 12 since Mueller's testimony last week. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Trump "richly deserves impeachment," but that it was too soon to begin the process despite Trump having "violated the law six ways from Sunday." (NBC News / Politico / New York Times / Axios)
poll/ 47% of American said Mueller's testimony made no difference in their views about impeaching Trump. Among Democrats, 48% said they are more likely to support impeachment that could ultimately lead to Trump's removal from office. 3% of Republicans said they were more likely to support impeachment. 71% of Americans said that they had either read, seen or heard about Mueller's testimony last week. (ABC News)

>Every word that comes out of this mans mouth is either a lie or projection.
Baltimore has some really crappy parts and Trump is more then happy to say something true if it knocks a political opponent. That or you are going to tell me with a straight face that Baltimore is wholly a nice city.
Edited by Soban on Jul 29th 2019 at 3:54:07 PM