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

thatboy Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Dating Catwoman
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#344703: Dec 25th 2020 at 2:03:32 AM

It's the newest iteration of anti-porn legislation according to this Tweet-chain.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#344704: Dec 25th 2020 at 2:22:32 AM

I remember hearing that Harris has a reputation for being a hardliner, how true is this?

It’s false.

Her most right-wing position has been on law enforcement, where she’s been a firm supporter of the status-quo, this obviously has a ton of problem, but it’s the same thing as being a hardliner.

On everything else she’s been one of the most left-wing senators, and she’s shifted left on law-enforcement issues since moving out of a role with direct law-enforcement responsibility (California AG and SF DA).

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#344705: Dec 25th 2020 at 2:27:14 AM

And as I mentioned before, she has consistently been anti death penalty, which is pretty much the opposite of being hard line.

Disgusted, but not surprised
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#344706: Dec 25th 2020 at 2:36:37 AM

Harris has a complicated record as attorney general and district attorney, sometimes being lenient and sometimes being strict. For example, on sex trafficking she's been on the strict side (not just as DA or AG, but also as Senator).

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#344708: Dec 25th 2020 at 5:49:04 AM

An RV exploded and caused at least one building to collapse. I'm seeing reports of only minor injuries so far, but they're evacuating the surrounding block and telling people to avoid any strange vehicles to be safe.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#344709: Dec 25th 2020 at 7:21:21 AM

I would have preferred Warren; it does warrant consideration, however, that our opportunity to retake the Senate right now wouldn't exist if she or Sanders had beaten Trump in Biden's place.

Without the Senate, a sitting President will be paralyzed no matter who they are.

I think the situation would be different enough that speculation isn't worth much, maybe it would be worse but it could've been better or the same. We can't know.

One thing is clear. If Warren was President she'd forgive 50K of student debt and my Mother alongside many others would be in a far better position.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Dec 25th 2020 at 7:22:19 AM

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#344710: Dec 25th 2020 at 8:09:53 AM

Vox has a breakdown of Kamala Harris's history as a prosecutor and basically it's complicated. Things like her opposition to the death penalty and other aspects of her history as prosecutor that were once progressive are now more mainstream as others have caught up or more leftward beliefs have caught on, thus making her Fair for Its Day and closer to the center by the Democrats' current standards.

Also, aside from some things like the opposition to the death penalty, she doesn't seem especially ideological. Much like her poor handling of other issues such as trans issues is also lamentable, but likely not rooted in hard ideology the way TER Fs would be, and thus there is room for coercion with enough pressure and guarantee of good optics. Thus her intransigence on some issues would be more likely chalked up as her being a stubborn asshole for personal ego reasons more than having a regressive agenda or being especially out-of-touch.

Edited by AlleyOop on Dec 25th 2020 at 11:20:02 AM

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#344711: Dec 25th 2020 at 8:17:21 AM

The biggest problem with Harris, to me at least, is that she's a weathervane. She goes where the pressure takes her, and when it comes to healthcare+Climate Change+Criminal Justice reform that's very much counterproductive.

You need as bold policy as possible, someone who stand by their beliefs sufficiently isn't going to be very useful for that. I don't mind people who change their beliefs, like Warren, but there has to be some degree of consistency or else they're not trustworthy.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#344712: Dec 25th 2020 at 8:29:49 AM

Developing Situation: Vehicle explodes in downtown Nashville, police call it an 'intentional act'

A vehicle exploded in downtown Nashville on Christmas morning in what police described as an “intentional act,” and fire officials reported taking three people to hospital but none of them critically injured.

“The explosion was significant, as you can see … the police department, its federal partners - the FBI and ATF - are conducting a large-scale investigation to this point,” said Don Aaron, Nashville police spokesman. “We do believe that the explosion was an intentional act.”

A motive for the explosion was not disclosed by police.

The explosion was felt nine blocks away and destroyed several other vehicles and damaged several buildings, launching black smoke in the sky that could be seen for miles.

Andrew Mc Cabe, a former deputy FBI director, told CNN that an explosion of this size would be investigated as a possible act of terrorism. He said it was possible police were the target of the explosions given they were answering a report of a suspicious vehicle when it blew up.

Authorities were on their way to the scene after 6 a.m. before the explosion occurred in a recreational vehicle parked near a bank building in the heart of Nashville, the capital of both the U.S. state of Tennessee and U.S. country music.

Nashville Mayor John Cooper urged people to stay away from the downtown area, as police and federal authorities launched their investigation.

“There was trees lying everywhere, glass laying everywhere,” Nashville resident Buck Mc Coy told CNN.

Interviewed by CNN, Mc Cabe said it was unclear whether the timing on Christmas Day factored in the blast. He said investigators would be looking into whether any buildings in the area were a target.

"Yup. That tasted purple."
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#344713: Dec 25th 2020 at 8:48:45 AM

[up][up] I'd say that the pressure is there on healthcare, hell with the recent protests it's there on criminal justice reform like never before.

It goes against the idea of the great powerful leader to have a presidential weathervane, but I'm not certain it isn't actually a better way to do things, as the weathervane can win nationally and then be directed by people who win in safer races.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#344714: Dec 25th 2020 at 9:20:21 AM

I'd say that the pressure is there on healthcare, hell with the recent protests it's there on criminal justice reform like never before.

It goes against the idea of the great powerful leader to have a presidential weathervane, but I'm not certain it isn't actually a better way to do things, as the weathervane can win nationally and then be directed by people who win in safer races.

Healthcare I'll accept, same with criminal justice. But that still leaves Climate Change, and we can't afford anything less than leadership that is unconditionally committed to fighting it.

Which is the fundamental issue with weathervanes, they're inevitably vulnerable to powerful interests (because those ones tend to push the hardest). Which is a problem considering that if dealing with an issue wasn't opposed by powerful interests it wouldn't be a problem because then we'd just solve it. So they're already subpar for dealing with serious problems like Climate Change.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
CookingCat Since: Jul, 2018
#344715: Dec 25th 2020 at 5:56:06 PM

[up]x3 From what I've been seeing, it sounds like it might have been targeted towards AT&T.

Edited by CookingCat on Dec 25th 2020 at 6:02:29 AM

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#344716: Dec 25th 2020 at 6:01:21 PM

I am admittedly guilty of assuming without evidence that any bombing or shooting has its origins in right-wing insanity, but I'm unclear what could drive someone specifically to be mad at AT&T.

Terrorist acts serve a purpose; they are never "random". If someone wants to disrupt communications, they could have done a better job. If someone wants to threaten to disrupt communications, then where are their demands, their claims of responsibility?

The fifteen minute warning suggests that loss of life was not the primary goal, so that broadly rules out Islamic extremism, since killing people is generally the primary goal of that. The primary goal here seems to have been property damage.

Edited by Fighteer on Dec 25th 2020 at 9:03:56 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Blueace Surrounded by weirdoes from The End Of the World Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Surrounded by weirdoes
#344717: Dec 25th 2020 at 6:03:59 PM

And then there are the idiots just blowing shit up for no reason we can understand, or just being scum.

Wake me up at your own risk.
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#344718: Dec 25th 2020 at 6:04:52 PM

Conspiracy theories towards 5G is the best guess. Maybe their business practices or being pissed off a Direc TV are second guesses.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#344719: Dec 25th 2020 at 6:10:14 PM

[up][up] This was planned too well to just be a random "let's blow shit up" lark. And [up] I refuse to believe that someone would go to all this trouble because they're mad at their TV bill. The attack was not random or frivolous. 5G conspiracies... maybe, but it's a pretty big leap from burning cell towers to blowing up buildings. And if they were trying to completely destroy the AT&T facility, they failed.

Again, what gets me is the countdown warning. Whoever did this wanted to avoid killing people as much as possible. That's a huge clue.

Edited by Fighteer on Dec 25th 2020 at 9:12:16 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#344720: Dec 25th 2020 at 6:33:44 PM

AT&T has reported outages all over Tennessee and Kentucky and parts of the rest of the south, and so is T-Mobile.

The explosion of an RV parked near a transmission building in Nashville disrupted AT&T service in the region and caused a brief ground stop at the city's main airport, officials said.

Flights at Nashville International Airport resumed after about an hour, but connectivity issues persisted in Tennessee and other parts of the region on Friday evening. Some localities reported disruptions with 911 systems.

AT&T confirmed that one of its network hubs was damaged in the Christmas blast.

"We continue to work to restore service for customers in Nashville and the surrounding areas who were affected by this morning's explosion," AT&T spokesman Jim Greer said as night fell in Nashville.

"We have mobilized additional resources including our National Disaster Recovery team and are bringing in multiple portable cell sites to assist in the recovery efforts," Greer added.

T-Mobile said it was seeing some service issues due to the explosion but was working "diligently with our partners" on restoration.

According to a tweet from technology chief Neville Ray, the carrier was seeing service issues in areas of Nashville and Knoxville in Tennessee, parts of Louisville, Kentucky, and Birmingham, Alabama, and in areas of metropolitan Atlanta.

Earlier in the day, AT&T confirmed that the company was "in contact with law enforcement and working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service."

When one network hub is disrupted, typically by a hurricane or other natural disaster, some internet traffic can be rerouted, but not all. That's why customers across Nashville and other parts of Tennessee reported losing wireless phone service and other connectivity.

Network hubs rely on commercial power with battery and generator backups. The damage to the facility may have impacted these systems and caused service to degrade later in the day on Friday.

"Power is essential to restoring wireless and wireline communications and we are working with law enforcement to get access to our equipment and make needed repairs," AT&T said Friday night.

AT&T is deploying portable cell towers to Nashville to support law enforcement and improve wireless service. CNN's parent company, Warner Media, is owned by AT&T.

The disruption at the downtown network hub had cascading effects at the airport and elsewhere.

Nashville International Airport said telecommunications issues associated with the blast caused the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly halt flights from Nashville.

The FAA said the ground stop was lifted after about an hour. "Pilots never lost touch with air traffic control," the agency said in a statement. The FAA website shows that the ground stop was issued due to a ZME Frequency Outage.

ZME is an FAA air traffic control facility in Memphis that is responsible for controlling aircraft in the area at higher altitudes.

Flight service at Nashville International Airport "continues to be impacted by telecommunications issues," a tweet from the airport said around 3:30 p.m. CT. On Friday evening the airport said in a tweet that "most flights are resuming, but there may be some delays."

According to a tweet from technology chief Neville Ray, the carrier was seeing service issues in areas of Nashville and Knoxville in Tennessee, parts of Louisville, Kentucky, and Birmingham, Alabama, and in areas of metropolitan Atlanta.

Edited by tclittle on Dec 25th 2020 at 8:37:34 AM

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#344721: Dec 25th 2020 at 6:37:45 PM

Hmm, I looked at some news videos and they say the RV was parked "outside the AT&T building", meaning that could indeed have been the target. I'm very curious to see if we discover a motive. The vast majority of terrorism is political, not economic. This might be an attack on infrastructure. If so, it could be the first of its kind.

I'll go out on a limb and say that it's not a precursor to an invasion, but you typically see this sort of thing as part of military action.

Edited by Fighteer on Dec 25th 2020 at 9:40:43 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#344722: Dec 25th 2020 at 8:02:36 PM

The fact that the person who did it gave fair warning makes me think it's not your typical far-right terrorist trying to cause commotion, as hurting, killing, and maiming as many people as they can is often part of their goals.

ryanasaurus0077 Since: Jul, 2009
#344723: Dec 25th 2020 at 8:18:53 PM

I still think it's terrorism. Remember, Trump didn't want AT&T to merge with Warner Bros. because Warner Bros. owned his sworn enemy CNN. Perhaps this is some unusually level-headed domestic terrorist who doesn't want human blood on his hands personally?

SteamKnight Since: Jun, 2018
#344724: Dec 25th 2020 at 8:38:15 PM

I am not an American and as a result, never use AT&T, but based on what I heard and read its customer think of that company over the years, I just can't help but think "Are we sure this isn't the result of an extremely disgruntled customer?"

I know that I sound like I'm underestimating or taking this lightly. After all, who blow shit up because they are dissatisfied with the service of a company? It's just weird. But on the other hand, weirder shit have happened throughout this year...

You know, Occam's razor and all that.

Edited by SteamKnight on Dec 25th 2020 at 11:38:33 PM

I'm not as witty as I think I am. It's a scientifically-proven fact.
Ayasugi Since: Oct, 2010
#344725: Dec 25th 2020 at 9:20:47 PM

Disgruntled customers tend to attack the business building when there are people in it. And they tend to target the big flagship building, not the smaller and more anonymous service building. That the building's destruction led to widespread outages makes me think that was the goal, to knock out service.


Total posts: 417,856
Top