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

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#46951: Jan 12th 2013 at 11:45:01 AM

I just read that, Tomu. I watched Stewart's segment on the platinum coin and I agree that he and/or his writing staff failed at basic research. It's one of the few times that I've been starkly disappointed in them.

edited 12th Jan '13 11:45:34 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Baff Since: Jul, 2011
#46952: Jan 12th 2013 at 11:45:30 AM

[up][up]

John Stewart is just a comedian...

why do people keep on taking him so seriously?

[up]

It happens all the time... He makes mistake every now and then. He´ll surely apologize or something.

edited 12th Jan '13 11:47:56 AM by Baff

I will always cherish the chance of a new beggining.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#46953: Jan 12th 2013 at 11:45:52 AM

Because he delivers better news coverage than most networks whose putative job it is.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Baff Since: Jul, 2011
#46954: Jan 12th 2013 at 11:48:23 AM

[up]

Thats because the mayor U.S media are not news outlets, but propaganda outlets.

But I can understand Krugmann correcting him. He is 100% right on the whole coin issue.

edited 12th Jan '13 11:50:54 AM by Baff

I will always cherish the chance of a new beggining.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#46955: Jan 12th 2013 at 11:53:07 AM

Yes, which makes the fact that a comedian does it better than they do shameful in the extreme. Still, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report both enjoy a huge audience, making them a de facto outlet for quality reporting, especially among younger people who don't watch regular news.

Whether Stewart considers himself a comedian first or not, the fact is that people count on him to deliver penetrating analysis of the crap that goes on in politics. When he fails at it, he causes actual harm.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
#46956: Jan 12th 2013 at 11:56:18 AM

Looking back on what I said I realize I have no real evidence beyond personal anecdotes. I withdraw my statement and apologize to any I might have offended. I was being stupid.

Thank you. Apology accepted.

<><
Baff Since: Jul, 2011
#46957: Jan 12th 2013 at 11:57:18 AM

well I just watch the segment and it looks reasonable enough.

You know why? because its comedy, and a trillion dollar coin its comedy gold.

I will always cherish the chance of a new beggining.
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#46958: Jan 12th 2013 at 12:03:50 PM

[up]Or comedy platinum, in this case.

Let alone the hoo-ha surrounding it. Even the goof can be turned funny within the sorry. smile

Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#46959: Jan 12th 2013 at 12:14:09 PM

Not in my experience; Anchorage's Midtown Wal-Mart is chronically short of workers as it is. Maybe that's just Alaska.

It likely is just Alaska — you're kind of an extreme outlier as far as population density, even in Anchorage. I mean, googling the stats it's got half the population of Portland spread out over ten times the area.

welfare benefits, run out? If they're ever in danger of "running out, " there'll be enough welfare recepients to vote themselves more money. Funny how that works.

You're aware a good chunk of the unemployment welfare you're talking about not only has a bunch of qualifiers, but is also transitional and only pays out for a limited time, right? Because I'm guessing you're not disabled, retired, a veteran, or have a massive fuckton of kids. You don't just walk into the office and say "yo, give me money".

Yeah, I don't know. I think that if we're going to allow homeschooling, then the kids should at least learn the same curriculum as the public schools. And there needs to be some sort of regulations involved to make sure that parents aren't just being lazy and/or teaching their kids crap.

Agreed on that much at least — it shouldn't be bereft of oversight. I was required to sit in on a few of the middle school's tests and such just to show that, yes, I really was learning stuff.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#46960: Jan 12th 2013 at 12:20:13 PM

[up]I love how people who've never hit the skids in their lives assume how easy it is to subsist down there. tongue

Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#46961: Jan 12th 2013 at 12:29:59 PM

[up]

I've read books on that. At least in the case of one woman who decided to try living like a poor person for book research to see how they stretch a dollar so far?

she realized by the end they dont. That the middle class and upper class dont see how bad it actually is because they never talk to the poor seriously.

edited 12th Jan '13 12:30:25 PM by Midgetsnowman

Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#46962: Jan 12th 2013 at 12:41:51 PM

I love how people who've never hit the skids in their lives assume how easy it is to subsist down there.

To be fair, many of the older folks who are against government assistance have — my mother, for example — just in a vastly different economic paradigm where they actually had opportunities to pull themselves out, and in the rural areas could often rely on hunting to make up the difference.

I mean, pulling yourself up by the bootstraps was in most places a totally doable thing in the aftermath of the New Deal and during the Boomers.

edited 12th Jan '13 12:44:01 PM by Pykrete

Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#46963: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:01:47 PM

[up]

well, still. theres a very prevalent view among the upper and middle class that since the poor arent dead yet, they muct have discovered some magical way to stretch a dollar beyond anything the upper classes do to get by,.

DrunkGirlfriend from Castle Geekhaven Since: Jan, 2011
#46964: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:10:12 PM

[up] Yeah, I remember seeing a thing put on by the San Francisco Food Bank where people were challenged to live off a food-stamp budget for a month, and I was amazed at how many people had their head up their ass. Quite a few of them completely missed the point and used their Costco/Sams Club cards to buy in bulk or used their store-brand credit card to get large discounts on food, or in a couple of cases, bought coupons online, then turned around and said "See, it can be done!". Which is completely ignoring the fact that if you're poor enough to get food stamps, you can't afford a Costco/Sams Club membership, and you sure as hell can't get a store credit card.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#46966: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:19:10 PM

I am afraid the last item will fail; "You can only get money if you follow our terms" to my understanding isn't up for 1st Amendment negotiation.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Serocco Serocco from Miami, Florida Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Serocco
#46967: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:25:44 PM

Stewart was the guy that revived the 9/11 responders' bill. He has quite a bit of influence.

In RWBY, every girl is Best Girl.
Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#46968: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:32:14 PM

Depends on how it's worded. A huge, huge chunk of the prostitution going on in the places AIDS groups need to go is human trafficking (as well as at home anyway), and it's not uncommon for johns in the third world to require the prostitute not to use protection. This is not the kind of idealized industry that exists only in Dr. Ruth's one-track mind.

edited 12th Jan '13 1:48:42 PM by Pykrete

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#46969: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:36:45 PM

White House responds to secession petitions, calls for unity instead

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#46970: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:42:56 PM

I love how Rubio tries to sound all inclusive.,.then by the end goes right back to advocating only giving new immigration spots to educated people, not migrant poor.

Achaemenid HGW XX/7 from Ruschestraße 103, Haus 1 Since: Dec, 2011 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
HGW XX/7
#46971: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:43:10 PM

[up][up][up]

HIV/AIDS was initially spread by prostitution as well - the thing had existed in the African jungle for probably millenia, playing jiggy-jiggy with the monkeys, until they paved motorways through the jungle and one of the workers fucked a monkey (or, more likely, was bitten by one). It then spread by prostitution at truck stops throughout Congo, Uganda, and Kenya, and on the "floating towns" on the River Congo.

The massive raping that seems to accompany every African civil war can't have helped either.[

edited 12th Jan '13 1:43:50 PM by Achaemenid

Schild und Schwert der Partei
TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#46972: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:43:43 PM

Wait what?

If you're poor you can't afford a Sam's club membership?

It's 50 dollars. Seriously, I get that people live paycheck to paycheck, but even with a 30% yearly interest rate, if you just borrow the 50 dollars, that's basically 65 dollars; if you save 65 dollars in food expenses over the course of the year, then it's better off than not buying at Sams, whether your budget is 100 dollars a month or a thousand.

Obviously, if you can't get ANY credit (Even one of those ridiculous credit cards that have horrible rates), then certainly this doesn't apply.

edited 12th Jan '13 1:45:22 PM by TheyCallMeTomu

#46973: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:44:16 PM

if you're poor enough to get food stamps, you can't afford a Costco/Sams Club membership, and you sure as hell can't get a store credit card.

That's not entirely true: my family was that poor for large chunks of my childhood, and during those times we could have afforded those things had we chosen to accept the food stamps that we qualified for.

The issue isn't that some people don't need help, it's that the qualifications for getting help are such that many people, like my family, qualify for help they don't actually need.

<><
TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#46974: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:46:43 PM

Edwards: I think your circumstances are atypical.

#46975: Jan 12th 2013 at 1:49:24 PM

They certainly are, but my point is that they may not be so atypical that statements about the economic conditions of welfare recipients are "sure as hell".

I think some studies of what percentage of people on food stamps possess various luxuries could be very interesting, but I've never seen any.

edited 12th Jan '13 1:50:44 PM by EdwardsGrizzly

<><

Total posts: 417,856
Top