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
The rise of the "liberal tide" in America is grossly exaggerated. These folks are welcome to participate as long as they don't play third-party games and steal Democratic votes.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Donald Trump: Let's slap a 45% tariff on Chinese imports.
Everyone looking for cheap toys for their kids at Christmas will be pretty disappointed in you, Donald.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Read the article.
What they're doing is the Tea Party in-reverse. Basically a major third party in New York that doesn't rat fuck due to New York's unique voting laws, is trying to establish themselves nationwide by essentially co-opting the Democrat Party Machine. If the traditional current guard of Democrats won't be progressives, the Working Family Party basically plans to nuke them in the primary with much more appealing much-more Left Wing candidates, and force the Overton Window in the country back to the left.
This is the year they're really beginning to start things, and they basically are using the #BLM / Occupt / Sanders / Warren / De Blasio wave of Progressivism that's currently going on to force the Democrats back to the left.
They also want to purposefully be the Looney Left for the Democrats, so that more Centrist Democrats who'd be willing to move left on issues don't look like Moonbats, by providing an even more 'crazy' option.
Essentially: They want to rebalance the political weight of the country away from the Tea Party.
And I am completely fine with that. Don't get me wrong.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"So TransCanada is suing the US government over the rejection of Keystone XL via NAFTA's ISDS provisions.
I'm surprised they actually took this long.
Obama's tune about ISDS might change, really, considering this is probably the most expensive ISDS suit in history, I think.
While on the one hand I have a kneejerk reaction to anybody suing the U.S.: "Bring it on!", on the other hand I think that this might indeed help point out some of the flaws in NAFTA.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"The mentality behind this is that it is a protectionist measure (illegal in Free Trade) that is going to mak importing Chinese goods too unlikeable for many companies, so they will be forced to go local and give people MUH JERBS. This however, fails to take into consideration natural advantages of countries by region and other situations. That is too say, China has way too many people making way too cheap labor and can produce way much more than anyone else in the entire world
As an example, there are countries who specialize in a few products. For example, one of the top exporting nations of pineapple in the world is tiny, tiny costa rica. It is just that our weather and soil is so prolific and easy for pineapple that we outdo the size juggernaut that is the United States, or more developed nations like Belgium or the Netherlands. So, for us, it is incredibly fucking easy to make a pineapple and we can make more and sell it cheaper, for other countries it is more expensive to produce it.
And the United States is not an island: Companies will have plenty of other cheaper options other than China to still get cheaper manufacturing skills. Mexico, India, Phillippines, and I wager that once the whole Middle East settles down, there is going to be a new area of hundreds of thousands of people eager for a job in something relatively simple such as manufacturing and willing to take comparatively less wagers and work hard for it.
Seems like a trend in industrialized post war regions such as Japan, Germany and China...
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothesYeah. Those areas are quite humid, being a goddamn reworked marsh and all, and pineapples are fruits coming from the Southern American jungles. They grow decently there but mostly do better in humid AND hot places, like Costa Rica, the Phillipines, Thailand, India...
edited 8th Jan '16 6:27:36 AM by Aszur
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothesActually, scratch all I said I was talking partially out of my ass
. For a time, there WAS a fad of european nations growing pineapples in their soil because it was a symbol of status, but pineapples appear in the exports of Beglium and the Netherlands not because they produce, but because they are the main importers and distributors of it.
Re: Pineapples:
The specific term is comparative advantage. In traditional economic models, the basic idea is that to make product A (say beer) a country has to give up making x units of product B (say, pizza).
So the US COULD drastically outproduce Costa Rica in terms of Pineapples. They have an Absolute Advantage in that regards. But the opportunity cost of doing so is high, because the items foregone to make pineapples are high.
Basically, a country making lots of pineapples may just mean it's unable to make anything else.
HA HA I JUST CALLED A COUNTRY POOR SUCK IT OTHER COUNTRIES! WOOOO ECONOMICS! WOOOOOO!
Ahem.
Suing the U.S. is like threatening the NRA at gunpoint. You're welcome to try but we're the kings of arbitrary courtroom bullshit. We made "too rich to know better" a legal precedent. We can twist the law to do anything.
edited 8th Jan '16 7:52:41 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I don't think the whole "affluenza" thing caught quite as much traction as people think. I think the kid got off easy mostly because he's a minor and punishments for minors, especially white kids, (edit: White kids are less likely to have someone trying to try them as an adult in court, I think is a more accurate way to say that) tend to be much less harsh. He's certainly in the shit now with this attempted escape to Mexico, and he's getting less punishment than his very much legally an adult mother. The news I heard she's likely to get up to ten years in prison. The boy, not so much.
edited 8th Jan '16 8:10:18 AM by AceofSpades

The rise of the Working Fammilies Party.
America's very own labor party. At the rate the country's going to the left we'll be The People's Republic of Commieland by the end of the century
I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.