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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

Wildcard Since: Jun, 2012
#51951: Mar 27th 2013 at 1:30:18 PM

Oops, sorry apparently they weren't actually banned. Just phased out.

edited 27th Mar '13 1:30:23 PM by Wildcard

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#51953: Mar 27th 2013 at 2:26:23 PM

I concede that was a little over the top...

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#51954: Mar 27th 2013 at 2:55:14 PM

@ Tomu: There are plenty of Gas Ovens around on this side of the Atlantic...

Keep Rolling On
TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#51955: Mar 27th 2013 at 2:56:19 PM

Well sure. I used to have one back in Detroit even. But, I'm guessing that the "Why would someone kill themselves by putting their head in the oven?" was someone who was thinking of an electric oven.

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
#51956: Mar 27th 2013 at 3:04:36 PM

The suicide thing actually makes sense, the actual mood swings that result in a person going from "wants to kill himself" to "Actively tries to kill himself" can be quite short in time. So if you provide enough inconvenience then people kill themselves less. Now obviously that still leaves us with the big problem of there being a bunch of people who are much to close to trying to kill themselves then is safe, but it sure beats them being dead.

To cite a personal example. During this year I've had some times when I've been down enough to think about killing myself (never enough to actually try and it's behind me now), but they've always been over relatively quickly. Now my flat is reasonably suicide proof, no bath to drown myself in, nothing to get a rope over so as to hang myself, windows don't open enough to be jumped out of, no guns, no drugs that could be used to overdoes. Also I know from experience with friends who've tried to kill themselves that wrist cutting is horribly inefficient, and I have moral hangups about the idea of throwing myself in front of a vehicle. So the way I would do it if I chose to would be to go jump in the river, but that's half an hour by tube away. So by the time I actually got there the mood drop that made me decide to do it would likely have faded. Meaning I'd end up turning around and heading home. I know this because when I've had particularly bad days when I've been in central and considered throwing myself in front of the tube (but deciding against it because things weren't actually that bad), but I've already felt better by the time I get back to mine. A little delay between the decision and being able to carry it out does strike me as able to work wonders.

Though we certainly shouldn't really on it. Because it's still fracking dangerous to have a bunch of people running around who would kill themselves if only it was a bit easier.

edited 27th Mar '13 3:05:03 PM by Silasw

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#51957: Mar 27th 2013 at 3:13:39 PM

All this anti-suicide talk has me griping about the nanny state.

DrunkGirlfriend from Castle Geekhaven Since: Jan, 2011
#51958: Mar 27th 2013 at 3:15:20 PM

[up][up] Well, that's where better access to mental health care comes into play.

edited 27th Mar '13 3:15:28 PM by DrunkGirlfriend

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian
TheStarshipMaxima NCC - 1701 Since: Jun, 2009
NCC - 1701
#51959: Mar 27th 2013 at 3:19:43 PM

10 points to Girlfriend.

@Silasw - As someone who's been there, glad you stuck it out man. Needless to say, OTC wouldn't be the same without you. smile

edited 27th Mar '13 5:54:42 PM by TheStarshipMaxima

It was an honor
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#51960: Mar 27th 2013 at 7:36:59 PM

Ashley Judd won't run for Senate in Kentucky

Somehow the Dems Senate prospects in 2014 actually managed to get worse.

A top Nevada lawmaker introduced a bill Monday to legalize betting on federal elections.

Senator McCain (R-AZ): Woman crossed border illegally in front of senators

Obama vows 'positive agenda' with Latin America in second term

Supreme Court Rejects Antitrust Suit Against Comcast

Huckabee: 'Evangelicals will take a walk' if GOP supports gay marriage

Huck might be right. The GOP is in quite a sticky situation.

edited 27th Mar '13 7:53:57 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
terlwyth Since: Oct, 2010
#51961: Mar 27th 2013 at 8:10:37 PM

You think this means we'll have a completely hostile Congress again after 2014?

Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#51962: Mar 27th 2013 at 8:12:23 PM

Looks pretty similar to the one the Democrats were in come Civil Rights. Hopefully this time the bad eggs will just stay disenfranchised rather than picked up by another Nixon to hijack another party.

Wildcard Since: Jun, 2012
#51963: Mar 27th 2013 at 8:32:28 PM

@DG: What is wrong with the mental health care now? Too expensive?

@Sil: Glad your doing better.

RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#51964: Mar 27th 2013 at 8:36:36 PM

I think Huck is full of shit. There's no way we'll be lucky enough for the evangelical right to split the vote in 2014 or 2016

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
drunkscriblerian Street Writing Man from Castle Geekhaven Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: In season
Street Writing Man
#51966: Mar 28th 2013 at 12:53:08 AM

Huckabee might be right. The GOP is in quite a sticky situation.

Good. They brought it on themselves and they deserve the mess its gonna get them into. The GOP gets into an internal spat about gays getting married? Pardon me while I get another beer and watch gleefully.

If I were to write some of the strange things that come under my eyes they would not be believed. ~Cora M. Strayer~
TheShopSoldier THE DISGRACE STILL LINGERS UPON ME from Messin' with Neo Arcadia... Just Because Since: Jan, 2013 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
THE DISGRACE STILL LINGERS UPON ME
#51967: Mar 28th 2013 at 4:06:52 AM

[up]I don't drink, but can I join in, just to see my arch-nemeses' suffer?

Even if I had different face, I AM STILL DISGRACED.
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#51968: Mar 28th 2013 at 5:21:50 AM

Well it's not just the Evangelicals getting pissed with Establishment Republicans who know when a ship is sinking: They're also pissing off the Tea Party for suggesting their sub-faction's candidates are too extreme. I dunno, it feels like something's going to happen. Merely that the fuse hasn't been lit or hasn't reached the point to set off the explosion.

Which by no means should Liberals wax around lazily and be smug about it, but two major failures to keep Obama out of the presidency has basically created a sizable crack in the Republican party. And as it stands, The Centre cannot hold.

Though on a side-note with that: How quickly should effects of Obamacare's 2014 provisions be felt?

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#51969: Mar 28th 2013 at 6:49:33 AM

I believe that Democrats can gain seats, or at least not lose them, in 2014, and stand to hold the White House in 2016. The reasons for this are several. First, demographics. Young people, Hispanics, blacks, and women vote Democrat, and the angry white males who make up the core Republican voter base are diminishing as a percentage of the population.

Second, people are fed up with Republican tactics of denigrating women and minorities, thumping bibles, stonewalling tax increases, cutting entitlements, manipulating voting rules, and making stupid statements about rape.

Third, the Republican Party is in a downward spiral of infighting that will likely fragment its voter base for a while, with the more numerous but less vocal moderates being locked out of the primary cycle and thus forced to vote for candidates that they dislike.

Democrats face their own challenges, of course, which include being seen as something other than "those guys vaguely in the middle somewhere who aren't Republicans". The Democrats have lacked a consistent ideological voice for decades, and this doesn't seem likely to remedy itself any time soon. But it does make the Democrats the ideal foil for the ideologically fanatical Republicans.

edited 28th Mar '13 6:50:14 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#51970: Mar 28th 2013 at 7:27:00 AM

[up]

The Democrats have lacked a consistent ideological voice for decades

Maybe the Democrats don't need an ideology? Maybe they could act as the pragmatic, non-ideological party?

Keep Rolling On
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#51971: Mar 28th 2013 at 7:28:31 AM

I've considered that. Being seen as the "reasonable, moderate" party that doesn't force ideological purity on its members has its advantages. It does, however, make it difficult for the party as a whole to support stuff that really matters, especially if it's not universally popular.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#51972: Mar 28th 2013 at 7:36:49 AM

Besides, the Democrats' biggest strides in the past century have come when the party has run inspirational, popular candidates pushing strong and idealistic platforms about economic populism and equal rights.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#51973: Mar 28th 2013 at 7:39:05 AM

On that note, would One Nation Conservatism work in the US?

Keep Rolling On
NoName999 Since: May, 2011
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#51975: Mar 28th 2013 at 7:43:06 AM

[up]Yeah, we saw that in the LGBT rights thread. I guess someone managed to squeeze a brain cell into Rush's head amid all that bile and venom.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

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