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
This is the sort of hard-hitting political reporting that we need right now. ![]()
![]()
Edited by Fighteer on Aug 28th 2019 at 5:02:27 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I know for a while it’s been suggested that they should just do normal headlines, take a normal headline from history and republish it.
Let normal be the new satire, publish an article saying “senate reaches compromise on judicial appointment” or “bi-partisan aid for middle-class passes in North Carolina” or even “Louisiana holds election with no irregularities”.
Edited by Silasw on Aug 28th 2019 at 9:14:33 AM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranA sensible decision, but it's still a shame. I liked her focus on women's rights, and I think she had the potential to offer the party quite a bit as Presidential candidate. Still, she's relatively young so I doubt this is some career-ending move.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangShe probably wouldn’t have stood a chance anyway, but with her being responsible for forcing a sexual predator out of the senate her campaign was extra dead upon arrival.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyranhttps://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/08/28/day-951/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-banks-idUSKCN1VH2BE
RUMOR MILL: MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell said that a "single source close to Deutsche Bank" said Trump had Russian oligarchs co-sign his loan documents. O'Donnell added that his source said Trump would not have been able to obtain his loans with Deutsche without the co-signers, which described as "Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin." (Washington Examiner / Business Insider / Twitter)
https://twitter.com/lawrence/status/1166529030352510976?s=21
Trump's personal attorney threatened NBCUniversal and Lawrence O'Donnell with a defamation suit for reporting that "Russian oligarchs" co-signed loans to Trump. Charles Harder demanded that O'Donnell and NBCU "immediately and prominently retract, correct and apologize for the aforementioned false and defamatory statements." (Hollywood Reporter)
2/ Trump promised to pardon any official who breaks the law in order to get his border wall built by the 2020 election. Trump also directed officials to "take the land" necessary and "get it done" by eminent domain along the U.S.-Mexico border, ignore environmental regulations, and quickly approve billions of dollars' worth of construction contracts to fast-track his signature 2016 presidential campaign promise. "Don't worry, I'll pardon you," Trump reportedly told aides. (Washington Post / New York Times / CNBC / CNN / The Independent)
3/ Children born to some U.S. military members and government employees working overseas will no longer automatically be considered United States citizens, according to policy alert issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Trump administration rescinded previous guidance that children of U.S. service members and government officials abroad are considered "residing in the United States" and automatically given citizenship under a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The new policy, however, states that "these children will no longer be considered to have acquired citizenship automatically." The new policy will go into effect on Oct. 29th. (Task and Purpose / The Hill / Axios / Daily Beast)
4/ Trump instructed his Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to exempt Alaska's 16.7 million-acre Tongass National Forest from logging restrictions put in place nearly two decades ago. The move would open up more than half of the world's largest intact temperate rainforest to potential logging, energy, and mining projects. It would also undercut a policy put in place by the Clinton administration known as the "roadless rule." Forest Service officials had planned to phase out old-growth logging in the Tongass within a decade. (Washington Post / The Hill / Slate)
5/ Trump said he backs Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in the struggle to contain the man-made fires in the Amazon rainforest. Bolsonaro is "working very hard on the Amazon fires," Trump tweeted, "and in all respects doing a great job for the people of Brazil - Not easy. He and his country have the full and complete support of the USA!" Bolsonaro played a key role in pushing for the deforestation which directly contributed to the fires. He recently rejected $20 million in international aid to help fight the fires, before deciding on Tuesday to accept all foreign aid from organizations or countries — as long as Brazil can decide how to use the assistance. (Politico / New York Times / MSNBC / CBS News)
poll/ 56% of voters disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president. If the 2020 presidential election were held today, 54% of voters said they'd vote for Joe Biden, while 38% would vote for Trump. (Quinnipiac)
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=3638
poll/ 37% of Americans say the economy is declining, compared with 31% who continue to see improvement. (Bloomberg / Quinnipiac)
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=3638
poll/ 81% of voters say the fundamental values of the United States are being tested in the 2020 election, including 87% of Democrats, 81% of Republicans, and 78% of independents. 58% added that the 2020 election will be the most important of their lifetimes. 6%, however, said the 2020 election is not at all important compared to other elections. 38% of Americans said they would have little or no confidence that the election had been conducted in a "fair-and-square way" if their candidate loses. (USA Today / Suffolk University)
Edited by sgamer82 on Aug 28th 2019 at 5:31:11 AM
This is why I think Biden is going to win. :(
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.![]()
Almost certainly Kremlin trolls. It's been brought up before that Gabbard's campaign was propped up on social media by what was likely Kremlin trolls.
I don't think they're actually out of the race yet. They just aren't allowed in the debates. They haven't given up yet as far as I can tell.
Some Democrats will keep running even if they miss the next debate
Edited by M84 on Aug 28th 2019 at 10:34:11 PM
Disgusted, but not surprisedWhile I do think that the criterion of the first debate were far too kind I don't think segregating the irrelevant candidates to their own debates was the solution. Just have more stringent debate requirements and you'd separate the wheat from the chaffe.
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangIn an ideal world I would love a test based on a candidate's policy proposals. Each candidate has to submit seven policies (from a pool of 12 issues chosen by the DNC) and these get examined by independent experts in those fields. You have to get an average mark of say 40% to qualify for the first debate, with that rising in each subsequent debate to winnow down the candidates.
Policies would be marked in five areas - practicality, simplicity, ambition, sustainability and fairness which the candidates themselves would choose (e.g. candidate A could say "this is a fair, simple and practical solution for issue X" and they would be marked accordingly whereas candidate B might say "this is an ambitious, simple yet sustainable plan for issue X" and that would be marked against those categories instead.
Obviously, having a system that can be "so blatantly rigged" means that it would almost immediately be dismissed as having zero credibility by candidates that fall afoul of the system.
But I do think it would be useful for candidates to be forced to stake out some positions to move the debate forward. I do want a return to fact based policy and due deference to expert opinion. It'd help challenge those single issue candidates who might have one great idea that hides six or seven really bad ideas.
(Case in point: Yang champions UBI - Great! Also wants to go full tech bro on government: "Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon employ 750,000 people. Federal government 2.3 million. That's too much" and goes on to say that he wants to reduce the federal workforce by 15-20%)
It's a fantasy, I admit. If I'm being honest I probably just want Warren to get more credit for her plans than she currently does.

Yeah, he totally suggested using nuclear bombs to stop hurricanes.