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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.

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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#56701: Jun 19th 2013 at 10:10:38 PM

[up][up]I wonder what that says about the entire ordeal

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#56702: Jun 19th 2013 at 10:16:12 PM

One day, people are going to learn to look out for the little red light...

midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#56703: Jun 19th 2013 at 10:19:59 PM

I find it funny that half the comments for that article are spouting crazed theories about how this is all obama's fault and has erverything to do with liberals wanting to massacre half the country.

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#56704: Jun 19th 2013 at 10:22:31 PM

Bloomberg’s Office Issues Apology For Including Boston Bombing Suspect In List Of Gun Violence Victims

House votes to let states run drug tests on food stamp applicants

edited 19th Jun '13 10:28:53 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#56705: Jun 19th 2013 at 10:28:00 PM

Was he really a gun violence victim though?

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#56706: Jun 19th 2013 at 10:43:29 PM

@ Deviant Braeburn: Why are roughly half (or more) of the articles you post, all very sensational and have titles that induce "OMFG, that's totally wrong!" or other emotional responses?

edited 19th Jun '13 10:44:29 PM by GlennMagusHarvey

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#56707: Jun 19th 2013 at 10:52:29 PM

[up]

Blame Mediate.

Ted Cruz unhappy with Gang of Eight ‘bragging’

edited 19th Jun '13 10:56:47 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#56708: Jun 20th 2013 at 1:53:16 AM

...why do you keep posting their articles, then?

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#56709: Jun 20th 2013 at 2:16:17 AM

[up]

Because they cover stuff before others do.

GOP Rep. Proposes Classes On Gender Roles: Fathers Do Some Things ‘A Little Bit Better’ Than Mothers

Senator Feinstein: Pentagon should stop force-feeding Gitmo detainees

edited 20th Jun '13 2:20:53 AM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#56710: Jun 20th 2013 at 4:56:21 AM

Now there's a good question. Should the pentagon stop force feeding Guantanamo prisoners? Do they have a right to protest their condition thru fast, or is it their detainers responsibilty to make sure they don't die

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#56711: Jun 20th 2013 at 6:22:31 AM

^^ That's not a justification for poor journalism. Especially from a site about media itself (and for that matter, on a site about media itself too).

Completion oldtimeytropey from Space Since: Apr, 2012
oldtimeytropey
#56712: Jun 20th 2013 at 7:06:36 AM

Some important cases are being decided today. I'll update this as it goes.

  • Descamps. 8-1 in favor of defendant. It is now more difficult for prosecutors to use facts of prior convictions in order to gain harsher sentences. Dissenter is Alito.
  • American Express 5-3. Ideologically divided. Left-wing dissenting. Enforces a class action arbitration waiver; cannot defeat the waiver on the ground that individual arbitration is too expensive.
  • Agency for International Development. 6-2. Scalia and Thomas dissent. Requiring that HIV/AIDS organizations cannot receive money unless they explicitly oppose prostitution violates the first amendment.

No more decisions today. Court returns on Monday.

ScotusBlog has said that it's getting very likely that all the hot-button social issues will be decided on the same day.

edited 20th Jun '13 7:22:30 AM by Completion

KnightofNASA Since: Jan, 2013
#56713: Jun 20th 2013 at 7:34:27 AM

On free market: you said "Western world". What about the Eastern world, then? There ain't a lot of regulations in China. Look at our living quality.

Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#56714: Jun 20th 2013 at 7:48:04 AM

What exactly is an arbitration waiver ?

TotemicHero No longer a forum herald from the next level Since: Dec, 2009
No longer a forum herald
#56715: Jun 20th 2013 at 8:51:44 AM

A waiver is where you waive (read: surrender) your right to a particular course of action. An arbitration waiver, in this context, likely means you waive your right to settle a lawsuit through arbitration (meaning it must go to court directly).

The SCOTUS decision is that such a waiver applied to class action lawsuits is legally valid, regardless of the legal costs of alternative courses of action. Which is fair enough, since (IMO) it isn't a very good precedent to tie legal rights to the cost of something, one way or the other.

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#56716: Jun 20th 2013 at 10:21:08 AM

Can we please stop with the drug testing of food stamp beneficiaries? It's getting old and I seem to recall something similar in Florida wasting more money than it would have saved.

Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#56717: Jun 20th 2013 at 10:22:22 AM

That sounds like another way to pick on poor people

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#56718: Jun 20th 2013 at 10:27:57 AM

I thought the way those waivers works is usually that you give up the right to take the other entity (usually a company — such as Valve Software, as I was looking over their Steam Subscriber Agreement last night) to court, and will instead use arbitration (getting some non-court third party to look over the disagreement) that's binding. I think the costs to the company are likely lower in this case. Also these waivers usually contain a clause that says you can't participate in things like class-action lawsuits.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#56719: Jun 20th 2013 at 1:15:00 PM

House rejects farm bill.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Sledgesaul Since: Oct, 2011
#56720: Jun 20th 2013 at 1:54:12 PM

The FBI Director, Robert Mueller, admits that he's using drones to spy on American citizens

carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#56721: Jun 20th 2013 at 2:11:40 PM

It's almost as if they're utilizing drone technology to provide the same kind of surveillance they've been doing for years in those infernal flying machines called "aircraft". The bastards.

And in local news, over 70,000 people prepare to kiss their unemployment benefits goodbye in North Carolina. Local gov. claimed that continuing to providing it strained state finances. I can't help but wonder what kind of burden those 70,000 are going to be on infrastructure without any sort of income now. At the very least some of the cost of providing it was mitigated because it went straight back into the local economy. . .

-editad 4 grammer

edited 20th Jun '13 2:19:12 PM by carbon-mantis

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#56722: Jun 20th 2013 at 2:13:39 PM

"unemployment"? You want "unemployment benefits" I think.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#56723: Jun 20th 2013 at 2:24:46 PM

[up][up] What are they planning to do with 70,000 people who have lost pretty much any ability to even get jobs? That's a really short-sighted move.

Are they planning on dumping them in South Carolina or something?

carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#56724: Jun 20th 2013 at 2:37:22 PM

I don't think they even thought it out that far. Ever since the teapartiers won, the general attitude from the state government seems to be "unemployed=government teat sucking social parasite that won't get off their lazy ass to get a job." Several local representatives have said about as much, believing that by taking away unemployment benefits they'll motivate the unemployed to "try harder" to find work.

In rural areas like mine with very few hiring opportunities, they simply say that they think that by slashing unemployment benefits they'll somehow motivate new businesses to spring up out of nowhere. Right now, a good many people I know have had to move to find work, or they travel over 150 miles a day to find work in the more populated communities and cities in the states bordering NC.

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#56725: Jun 20th 2013 at 3:24:47 PM

Speaker Boehner: Obama climate proposal 'absolutely crazy'

edited 20th Jun '13 3:25:30 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016

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