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
Can we officially start calling this the Republican Civil War yet?
With the economy in the shithouse, we just aren't in a comfortable position to start firing billions of dollars into space. Space exploration is a luxury enterprise.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Doublepost
edited 4th Mar '16 11:41:42 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.There is a certain logic to establishment Republicans wanting the party to fracture. In the short term, it would leave Republicans hopelessly divided and allow the Democrats to sweep elections, yes. But how long do you suppose that situation would remain in place before the Democrats, no longer having a powerful Republican adversary they need to rally against, would succumb to their own intra-party bickering and split apart as well? Establishment Republicans may be planning to tear down both parties as they exist now and build a new party, more tailored to their interests, out of the wreckage.
So a lot of people would actually have to start paying attention to politics, at least for a short time, in order to recalibrate which of the new parties actually represents their views rather than just mindlessly voting R or D because that's what they've been voting forever?
I fail to see a downside here.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Well coming from a country that somewhat recently broke its own bipartisan system in elections...
People will still be dumb and vote for the same idiots under the different name. So the fracturing might not work like that, as is my experience.
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothesedited 4th Mar '16 12:45:39 PM by Demonic_Braeburn
Any group who acts like morons ironically will eventually find itself swamped by morons who think themselves to be in good company.And now, a bit of levity. Twitterbot uses machine learning to mimic Donald Trump's style, and creates insane tweets!
(from other articles.
Do a Google News search for "deepdrumpf'")
edited 4th Mar '16 12:59:41 PM by BonsaiForest
But to what benefit? In what way can rockets we send to Mars positively influence our economy, military, international standing, etc.? We only started the space program in the first place because we couldn't shoot guns at the Soviet Union so we needed to find other ways to prove our dicks were bigger than theirs.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Space travel has a notable positive impact on the economy, and NASA invents a lot of stuff. In addition, space travel can be used for military purposes and in the future could be used to do things like asteroid mining (though IMO that's more of a private sector thing).
Aside from the practical benefit, I think it helps culturally to unify the country around something. Which is why I think that the government should be funding NASA a lot.
Leviticus 19:34The R&D that goes into space exploration actually ends up trickling down into the rest of society.
MRI machines, velcro, smoke detectors, microchips, teflon, most modern firefighting equipment, highway design, anti icing systems for aircraft, numerous forms of chemical detection, the entire process of freeze drying food, memory foam, and tons of other things.
The amount of everyday objects that are here because of NASA's research is mind boggling.
Oh really when?
Actually, Velcro, Teflon, and Freeze-Drying were not invented by NASA.
edited 4th Mar '16 1:22:15 PM by Protagonist506
Leviticus 19:34Huh. Our Soviet-shaming space dick has had a larger social impact than I thought.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

HEY! I'M NOT A LOVER! I'M A FIGHTER!
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.