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

Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Gunpla is amazing!
#57651: Jul 3rd 2013 at 7:01:07 PM

So apparently Justin Carter has been beaten and is on suicide watch.

Fucking Texas.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#57652: Jul 3rd 2013 at 7:49:30 PM

It would be kinda nice if someone would post a link or something when they talk about news.

I new about what happened to him, but I didn't know his name and I was going, "Who?"

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#57654: Jul 3rd 2013 at 8:14:30 PM

See, that is evidence I'll accept about the brutality of U.S. prisons. Fucking Texas, as they say.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
theweirdKiddokun What a Wonderful World! from Last Place in the Race Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
What a Wonderful World!
#57655: Jul 3rd 2013 at 8:19:38 PM

Beside Snowden will go to a Federal Prison not a private one. And no Guantanamo is a military prison.

The Reaper Games starts anew.
Xopher001 Since: Jul, 2012
#57656: Jul 3rd 2013 at 8:20:31 PM

What?! Who jails someone for a Facebook comment?! That's fucking insane ?! What the hell?! You don't put someone in jail and give them PTSD for something they say?!

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#57657: Jul 3rd 2013 at 8:22:42 PM

[up] It was a sarcastic threat. The police took it seriously.

It really is hard to decide whether or not a person is actually being sarcastic or not on the internet.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Robotnik Since: Aug, 2011
#57658: Jul 3rd 2013 at 8:23:46 PM

[up] That's doesn't justify arresting them and allowing them to get beat up.

carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#57659: Jul 3rd 2013 at 8:36:35 PM

Heh, his bond is 50x higher than the one they gave to a serial rapist in my town. I guess everything really is bigger in Texas. . .

Thorn14 Gunpla is amazing! Since: Aug, 2010
Gunpla is amazing!
#57660: Jul 3rd 2013 at 8:43:19 PM

Thats what gets me. The 500k bail is absolutely bullshit.

There are murderers who got lower ones.

And now we got a traumatized kid who will never get a real job in his life now and may as well turn to a life of crime. IF he doesn't kill himself first.

edited 3rd Jul '13 8:43:47 PM by Thorn14

KBSL Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: Forming Voltron
#57661: Jul 3rd 2013 at 9:03:45 PM

Interestingly enough, on the comment section of that page there is just this one guy repeatedly saying over and over again how he should have gotten worse. Some people really need to learn how the internet works.

edited 3rd Jul '13 9:03:55 PM by KBSL

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#57663: Jul 3rd 2013 at 9:35:04 PM

@Fighteer: Again, any statement you make about "Snowden should be willing to pay the penalty for his crimes" assumes that Snowden should automatically accept the elected government of the United States, and its actions as legitimate. Which, in my opinion, really doesn't follow.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#57664: Jul 3rd 2013 at 9:42:04 PM

So he's a revolutionary, now? Fighting from the inside, taking it to The Man, striking a blow for freedom. He's joined the plucky resistance, the global brotherhood of all who are Good and Noble and must Resist the Coming Darkness.

We don't live in a comic book, Ramidel. We have a system, a country founded on the rule of law. There are mechanisms in place to protect us from tyranny but they only work if we use them. Not all countries are so blessed.

edited 3rd Jul '13 9:44:04 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
PhilippeO Since: Oct, 2010
#57665: Jul 3rd 2013 at 9:50:06 PM

About Snowden :

Deep Throat keep his identity secret for years. And there are more than 30.000 draft dodgers who escaped to Canada and later get pardoned by Carter. i don't see why avoiding prison become Snowden 'bad marks', MLK in jail for very short sentence, Snowden and Manning could get decades in jail. i see nothing wrong with self-exile until condition in home country change, there is no benefit, both for Snowden or for privacy cause in America, by Snowden coming to America.

a Hero is someone who make his country/society change for better, selfishness and self-interest does sometime make someone a hero. if privacy law in internet changed because Snowden action within next twenty years, Snowden is a hero.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#57666: Jul 3rd 2013 at 10:35:17 PM

@Ramidel: he may not accept the government and its actions as legitimate, but he flat out had to realize it has the power to prosecute him for violating his agreement with them. Since, you know, the US has very real political influence and power over the world, and is the country in which he was born and a legal citizen of. I sincerely doubt that he was foolish enough to think that he was going to get off scot free if and when his name was discovered in this whole mess. People can't just ignore the influence other people have over them. Particularly when you're apparently in a position to have the information of what influence they have over others. Which is likely why he ran away in the first damn place.

[up]Their actions will be determined once the eye of history reviews them. But I highly doubt Manning or Snowden have the drive to create or participate in an entire movement the way King did, so somehow I doubt they'll have the same sort of effect in the long run. Or be remembered very well.

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#57667: Jul 3rd 2013 at 11:53:04 PM

The TSA Is On Instagram, Posting Photos Of Confiscated Items

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Barkey Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#57668: Jul 4th 2013 at 12:01:12 AM

I don't blame Snowden for not wanting to fall all the way on his sword by staying in the US to face trial, myself. With how fickle the American people are, his chances of any sort of pardon are based purely on how long the attention of the American people can stay on him, which wouldn't be long enough.

Though I'd have already went to a government willing to grant me asylum and made the request before I ever leaked anything if I were him. Bad spy! Bad!

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#57669: Jul 4th 2013 at 12:06:03 AM

@Ace: I agree, it has the power. That's why he's running from it.

@Fighteer: Snowden clearly didn't think that the existing mechanisms for protecting America's people, or himself, from the US government were enough. So he went outside the law, and is now fleeing. I don't see anything morally inconsistent within that set of actions.

Personally, I like the idea of the rule of law. But it doesn't work if the people responsible for enforcing that law decide to ignore it, and Snowden clearly came to the decision that the system had become too corrupt to work within.

Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#57670: Jul 4th 2013 at 12:24:42 AM

FDA bans Mimolette cheese

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
joeyjojo Happy New Year! from South Sydney: go the bunnies! Since: Jan, 2001
Happy New Year!
#57671: Jul 4th 2013 at 12:42:14 AM

@Barkey:Pretty much.

[up]Those bastards!

edited 4th Jul '13 12:46:18 AM by joeyjojo

hashtagsarestupid
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#57672: Jul 4th 2013 at 12:44:46 AM

Not really sure how that's worth much news time unless you REALLY love your weird cheeses. I mean, I can understand why the FDA wants that monitored (not outright banned, it just seems the producer won't meet the FDA's standards of mites per whatever surface area). So like. They could make an American specific kind or something? I don't know.

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
#57673: Jul 4th 2013 at 12:50:27 AM

[up]X5, even if he couldn't make the request, you'd think he's have at least made sure he was already in Ecuador before the news broke, that way he could put the claim in strait away instead of getting stuck in Russia.

Edit: [down]Fixed it, stupid spell check.

edited 4th Jul '13 12:56:40 AM 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
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#57674: Jul 4th 2013 at 12:51:28 AM

You mean Ecuador, right, not Equator?

midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#57675: Jul 4th 2013 at 7:06:54 AM

As a cheese lover, I am annoyed by this mimolette ruling ;/


Total posts: 417,856
Top