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
Sometimes I wish there was an immigration program to channel immigrants to such areas, to not only diversify the areas and prevent popular sanctuary cities from getting overcrowded, but to secure a liberal vote. It would be nicknamed the "Above Ground Railroad".
ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.It seems relatively quiet today regarding the Trump gang.
"Wow, no Mega Togekiss in Legends Z-A. Or any non-Froslass new Sinnoh Mega Evolutions. Round of applause, everybody." - DawnCori Bush, a Black Live Matter activist, was just elected to Congress to represent Missouri's 1st congressional district. Her first day on the Hill, she was wearing a face mask with Breonna Taylor's name written on it, and Republican lawmakers repeatedly addressed her as Breonna Taylor.
How... how?
Because conservatives don't care enough about BLM to know who Breonna Taylor is. They just saw a name they didn't recognize on her mask and assumed it was hers.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Nov 14th 2020 at 5:22:46 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Federal judge says new DACA rules are invalid
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/14/politics/federal-judge-daca-rules-chad-wolf/
Wolf in July issued a memo saying that new applications for DACA, the Obama-era program that shields undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation, would not be accepted and renewals would be limited to one year instead of two amid an ongoing review.
The ruling is another defeat for the Trump administration, which is now unlikely to be able to address DACA and the fate of Dreamers. The administration tried ending the program in 2017, but the US Supreme Court blocked their attempt in June. The memo invalidated on Saturday had sought to buy time while the administration decided its next steps. The President has been successful in achieving many immigration limits, but it has not been able to significantly dismantle DACA, the now eight-year-old program. Saturday's ruling would be subject to appeal if the US government chooses to do so.
There have been previous questions over the legality of Wolf's appointment. The Trump administration has renewed a push to get Wolf confirmed before Inauguration Day; he is currently serving in an acting capacity.
In the past week, Homeland Security officials spoke to Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc Connell's office about bringing the nomination to a floor vote in the coming weeks — a move seemingly acknowledging both a forthcoming change in administrations and criticism that Wolf's appointment was invalid.
Trump supporters have jumped the barricades at the Washington monument: https://twitter.com/MacWBishop/status/1327796798807814144
Funny how the same supporters/cultists have been accusing "Team Blue" of instigating violent riots when the only violent and rule-breaking riots done, have been by the cultists themselves.
Projection of course, but I hope the police finally steps in and arrest anyone that jumped over that barricade.
I'm hearing reports on Twitter that at least three people have been stabbed, though not to death, by the Proud Boys.
You ever think Trump is this generation's Hitler? Think about it: they both gained an absurd amount of followers, made up some messed up shit about the Jews, among other things, both of them refused to concede. The difference being one of them successfully took over the country and started a war. Hopefully the other won't be so lucky.
(Partial thumping, removed the doomsaying. Reinstated the Trump/Hitler comparisons.)
Edited by AngrokVa on Nov 14th 2020 at 1:49:13 PM
@Cooking Cat We were over this elsewhere recently, but actually, Hitler never won an election, except for one that he rigged horribly by having his supporters attack voters (and even that one was close). The Nazi party lost at least one election that it didn't rig. He got his power by reassignment backfire: he was given a position in government in an intent to kick him upstairs, and some emergency clauses gave that position way more power than it was intended to.
Edited by Protagonist506 on Nov 14th 2020 at 10:27:50 AM
Leviticus 19:34That said, there were absolutely other parallels - there were a lot of pundits who thought having to actually exercise power and be in a government with less extreme politicians (eg. the Zentrum, BVP, and DNVP parties in Germany and the less extreme wing of the Republican Party in the US) would moderate both Trump and Hitler from what they said they'd do in their fiery rhetoric. This, as always, was wrong and they did exactly the terrible things they said they'd do.
Also, while Hitler never strictly won an election (not that anyone ever won a parliamentary majority in any pre-1933 Weimar election), both he and Trump came to power through means that allowed someone who didn't win a majority to take power anyway.
Edited by Balmung on Nov 15th 2020 at 2:28:11 PM
Now you guys are getting me paranoid that Biden won't get in in January, and since flights out of the US to most other countries are currently banned and Canada closed their border because of COVID, there is no way to get out of the country if shit hits the fan outside of Mexico...
Edited by CookingCat on Nov 15th 2020 at 1:24:40 AM
Ultimately the Republican Establishment is a bunch of 80 year old men in Washington. The only way Trump is staying in office is if he somehow manages to convince the military to support a coup, which is at this point a completely absurd idea that will never happen.
Laws themselves are meaningless without either societal consensus or the implied threat of violence.
Edited by Clarste on Nov 15th 2020 at 1:48:44 AM
One of the Leftist streamers I watched put this best in a pre-election discussion: This was a revolutionary opportunity for Fascists. Through Electoralism, if Trump won a 2nd term despite all the terrible bullshit he did, the USA would have veered even further right-wing, and even further into delusion. It was their chance to have their reality instated, but thankfully they failed.
Trump reminds me of a more racist and psychotic Berlusconi rather than Hitler. Both are millionaire entrepreneurs who want to run the state as one of their multiple enterprises, are pathological liars, have instilled in their electorate a huge fear of "Communists" and migrants thanks to TV networks (Fox and Mediaset), favored anti-intellectualism and gut feelings, have or had a huge media presence (Trump thanks to social networks and B. thanks to his media empire including 3 of Italy's main TV stations), always complain of a huge bias against them and that "the system" is somewhat rigged against them (yet another example of the need to lie about everything), both mantain that they are in favor of the working class despite blatantly not giving a damn about them (B.'s claim of being a "worker/blue collar president" became infamous in Italy) and also have ridiculous hairdos and a weird grinning expression.
"Effective Altruism" is just another bunch of horsesh*t.Hitler was much more overtly racist, genocidal and dictatorial and was a better planner than Trump.
Also, folks here know that Weimar was a parliamentary democracy, right? You don't "win" elections in such a system and it's not the point, either; the point is to gain enough support in parliament for a coalition. And Hitler did get enough support in parliament for a coalition. You need a sufficient share of seats in parliament but that's not the same thing as "winning" as in a presidential election.
Edited by SeptimusHeap on Nov 15th 2020 at 1:07:22 PM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

"I've stated many times the issue is not that the voters aren't there but that they are disenfranchised and convinced their vote doesn't matter. Stacey Abrams is thankfully the first time I can say, "No, you're wrong about the South. It's that we're under a tyranny.""
Georgia absolutely has been helped by Northeasterners and Californians moving to the area as part of the general Atlanta tech boom, though, as well as greater engagement of the black community. We couldn't have won Arizona without the Californians who moved there. Texas is turning purple for the same reason. Population shifting is responsible for the outcomes of these states, not a sudden groundswell of liberal support that was "always there." We turned Virginia blue because there literally isn't enough space to hold all the federal bureaucrats coming into DC.
I don't think seeding Democratic populations is going to work everywhere, but it's the engine of Democratic advancement on the eastern seaboard and the Southwest. Ohio is becoming harder to win for the exact reason Arizona is becoming easier to win — there's a population outflow of the young and educated. Georgia's been able to hold on to their intelligentsia after college by cultivating the kind of economy that attracts them to stay, and you can't build Democratic wins without educated people.
Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Nov 14th 2020 at 4:50:32 AM
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."