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KarkatTheDalek Not as angry as the name would suggest. from Somwhere in Time/Space Since: Mar, 2012 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
#140151: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:12:41 PM

If I voted in the primary, I should be good, right?

Oh God! Natural light!
Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#140152: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:13:21 PM

I'm not going to bother watching the debate(s), and just catch the damage reports tomorrow. So here's what I think/feel is going to happen:

It's going to be a shitshow. Nobody's going to learn anything, nobody even wants see to a measured debate on the direction of the country. Everyone's just lining up to see the smackdown. And at some point immediately after the debate, if not during it, Trump will brag about bringing the highest ratings the presidential debates have ever gotten.

In another important area, Trump has already won. He's beaten the spineless cowards in the debate commission into staying neutral on facts, and so he will lie to the American people. And if anyone does counter him, they'll be written off as biased anyways.

Now, that only effects the undecided and completely uninformed. For the undecided and somewhat (un)informed, Trump needs to do only one thing: avoid being appalling. Not avoid being ignorant, because that's part of his appeal, and no matter how hard Clinton hammers at that, it won't stick.

edited 26th Sep '16 3:17:06 PM by Eschaton

FluffyMcChicken My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare from where the floating lights gleam Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: In another castle
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
#140153: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:23:25 PM

DONALD TRUMP AND HILLARY CLINTON’S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

While Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have exchanged many words while on the campaign trail, on Monday night they will take the stage for their first face-to-face encounter of the 2016 election season, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.

Each candidate has been preparing for this night for weeks, but with differing strategies. While Democrat Clinton has studied briefing books and rehearsed her presentation, Republican Trump has preferred not to devote much time to reading the books his staff prepared for him. Earlier this year some thought Trump might even boycott the debates after he began questioning whether it was fair that they were to be held during NFL games. (Trump did boycott a primary debate in Iowa earlier this year, and instead held a simultaneous fundraiser for veterans.) The Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints begin play just 20 minutes before the start of Monday’s event.

Monday's forum is the first of three presidential debates this election season. Each event will run from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Eastern time without commercial breaks.

NBC News’s Lester Holt, host of the network’s hallmark nightly news program, will moderate the first debate. Every major network and cable news network will carry a live broadcast of the debate, and online streams will be available on NBC News.com and NBC’s You Tube channel. Facebook and ABC News, as well as Twitter and Bloomberg Media, also have partnered to live-stream the event.

General election debates between and among the leading presidential candidates aren’t necessarily a requirement of campaigns. But the forums are seen to have the potential to decide a challenger’s future. There have been some predictions in the media that the debate could draw around 100 million viewers, an audience comparable to that for the NFL’s Super Bowl, the country’s most watched TV event of the year.

The format for Monday calls for six 15-minute time segments. Two 15-minute segments will focus on each of the three topics Holt chose for the debate: America’s direction, achieving prosperity and securing the U.S. Clinton and Trump will have two minutes each to respond to Holt’s questions.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, a nonpartisan organization that has sponsored general election debates since 1988, set criteria for which candidates are allowed to participate in each event, including the requirement that the contenders reach an average of 15 percent in national polls to land a spot on stage. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party contender Jill Stein joined Clinton and Trump in achieving two of the three debate criterion, according to the CPD, but neither reached the polling requirements for the first debate.

Holt’s colleague, the Today Show’s Matt Lauer, earlier this month interviewed Clinton and Trump during a prime time town hall-style event. He received widespread criticism, including accusations of unfairness to sexism. He devoted much of his 30 minutes with Clinton to questioning her about the use of a personal email account while serving as secretary of state in the Obama administration. When Trump took the stage, he refused to answer several of Lauer’s questions directly, but Lauer didn’t challenge Trump even when the presidential hopeful said, “I was totally against the war in Iraq.” (Trump initially said he supported the war.)

The other presidential debates will take place on October 9 at Washington University in St. Louis, and on October 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. There also will be a vice presidential debate, between Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Mike Pence, on October 4 at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. A different news network will host each event.

CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#140154: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:24:54 PM

So uh, we can forget about reassuring people that crime is at record lows...

Murders rose at their fastest pace in a quarter century last year.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#140155: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:25:15 PM

So, looks like the Houston shooter had Nazi emblems among his belongings. But he's not a brown Muslim, so this isn't a terrorist attack. If he was...Trump would be using it tonight, but Clinton could never get away with using this to attack the far-right.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/us/houston-shooting/index.html?adkey=bn

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#140156: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:26:01 PM

Have they actually agreed to not do fact-checking or was that all sound and fury?

TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#140157: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:27:15 PM

PBS and another network were going to do some kind of live fact checking, but I don't think the moderator will be doing any.

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#140158: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:27:38 PM

[up][up] The moderators said "it would not be appropriate to fact check during the debates."

Now, as [up] said, some networks are going to be doing live fact checks, but the ones that are really won't have many viewers who are undecided, I suspect.

edited 26th Sep '16 3:28:31 PM by CaptainCapsase

TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#140159: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:44:22 PM

So uh, we can forget about reassuring people that crime is at record lows...

Murders rose at their fastest pace in a quarter century last year.

It's still half of what it was back in '91, and as someone who can remember that era, (and was a Brooklynite in that era) I'm profoundly grateful for that. Sadly, it will no doubt let wannabe fascists make some hay, most likely by blaming BLM for it. sad

In other fun news, Rep. Steve King, no longer satisfied with just having the reputation of being one of the biggest assholes in Congress, is now one a quest to unequivocally prove it. By hanging out with the German far right and throwing out racist/white nationalist phrases

Donald Trump took over the Republican Party due, in large part, to voters who have pretty nasty views about racial and religious minorities. If you want to understand the corrosive effect this bloc is having on the GOP, then this tweet — from actual US Rep. Steve King — is a really good place to start:

Wishing you successful vote. Cultural suicide by demographic transformation must end.

King sent out the tweet on September 18, but it just got noticed by a large number of Twitter users on Monday evening. It’s easy to see why: The phrase “cultural suicide by demographic transformation” is an outright statement of white supremacy.

The argument, common among European far-rightists and online racists, is that immigration from certain groups is killing Western societies. If the West wants to save itself from “cultural suicide,” it needs to stop letting Muslims and nonwhites enter Western countries.

It’s a repulsive thing to say. And the company King is keeping underscores just how foul a saying it really is.

The tweet is directed at Frauke Petry, the woman to King’s right in the picture. Petry is the leader of Alternatives for Deutschland, the most successful German far-right party since the Nazis. She’s an anti-immigration, anti-Muslim radical, who has been referred to as “Adolfina” in the press. She once suggested that German police should shoot migrants attempting to cross into their country.

The tall blond man with King and Petry is Geert Wilders, the leader of the ironically named Dutch far-right Party for Freedom. Just this July, Wilders declared, "I don’t want more Muslims in the Netherlands and I am proud to say that.” He has proposed levying a tax on women who choose to wear headscarves; its name, literally translated, is “towelhead tax.”

Right wing and left wing tax groups can agree on one thing: Trump's current plan will significantly raise taxes on middle class families

Donald Trump’s pitch for his tax plan is simple: Middle-class families will pay less.

The Trump campaign site, for instance, promises that his plan will cut taxes for a married couple with two kids, $50,000 in earnings, and $8,000 in child care expenses by a whopping 35 percent. Not bad, huh? Even though the plan concentrates benefits among the rich, it’s hard for a middle-class family getting annoyed at their tax bill falling by over a third.

The only problem: This is a lie.

According to a new paper by NYU Law’s Lily Batchelder, such a family would only see their taxes go down by $93, or 0.2 percent of their income. Trump is exaggerating the size of the cut dramatically.

But it’s worse than that. Three recent changes to Trump’s plan, which limit deductions and increase rates relative to the original version, combine to generate significant tax increases for wide swaths of the middle class. Batchelder conservatively estimates that 25 million individuals and 15 million children will see their taxes go up. That's about 20 percent of households with minor children at home, and includes over half of all single parents.

The Trump campaign has, naturally, vociferously disputed Batchelder’s findings. But her rebuttals to the campaign’s complaints are persuasive, and analysts at the right-leaning Tax Foundation have come to similar conclusions.

As the evidence stands currently, it appears that Trump has, by accident more than anything, found himself with a tax plan that would raise taxes meaningfully on many middle-class families.

...

Who’s affected depends on how many children they have and how much they have in child care costs; married families with only one child probably won’t face a tax increase, for example. That said, all but a small handful of single-parent families with non-exorbitant child care costs would be worse off.

Batchelder is hardly a neutral in this election; she was the chief Democratic tax counsel on the Senate Finance Committee from 2010 to 2014, and a deputy director of the National Economic Council in the Obama White House from 2014 to 2015.

But she’s also a hugely respected tax analyst who is taken seriously by experts on both sides of the aisle. Tellingly, Kyle Pomerleau, of the right-leaning Tax Foundation, says that the group was able to replicate Batchelder’s findings.

The left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice, similarly, found that the new plan would raise taxes for a significant number of middle-class Americans.

(Much more detail, including charts, hard numbers, etc. available within the link.)

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#140160: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:49:16 PM

So, Glenn Beck has apologized for endorsing Cruz, after the latter endorsed Trump.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/politics/glenn-beck-ted-cruz-interview/index.html

And everyone's favorite far-left quack was escorted off the grounds of the university where the debate will be held.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/26/politics/jill-stein-presidential-debate-police-hofstra-university/index.html

edited 26th Sep '16 3:50:42 PM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
smokeycut Since: Mar, 2013
#140161: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:53:12 PM

I just laughed out loud at that Jill Stein article. That's hilarious. I'm just imagining two security guards carrying her away while she screams about how she needs to debate Clinton.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#140162: Sep 26th 2016 at 3:57:59 PM

Don't think I can bring myself to watch the debate live, so I'll get some well-needed sleep instead and Begin establishing the Canadian Resistance if Trump wins focus on some schoolwork tomorrow.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Discar Since: Jun, 2009
#140163: Sep 26th 2016 at 4:01:44 PM

I've been avoiding political crap as much as possible the last few weeks, but figured this was as good a time to return as any. What time is the debate?

Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
Lennik (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#140165: Sep 26th 2016 at 4:07:34 PM

I've lost so much faith in this country that I suspect Trump could literally jerk off on stage and instead of being condemned, his poll numbers would go up because the American people thought it was funny and made a good meme.

But I think Hillary will make it clear tonight that she's the only one who's qualified.

edited 26th Sep '16 4:13:15 PM by Lennik

That's right, boys. Mondo cool.
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#140166: Sep 26th 2016 at 4:13:06 PM

!

What kind of pussy is unwilling to fact-check anyone during a debate?

Do not obey in advance.
Lennik (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#140167: Sep 26th 2016 at 4:13:59 PM

A news media that needs a horse race so as not to jeopardize ratings.

That's right, boys. Mondo cool.
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#140168: Sep 26th 2016 at 4:16:54 PM

How deplorable.

Do not obey in advance.
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#140169: Sep 26th 2016 at 4:42:52 PM

The idiot mainstream press doesn't even fucking realize their days would be numbered under a Trump presidency.

New Survey coming this weekend!
smokeycut Since: Mar, 2013
#140170: Sep 26th 2016 at 4:44:52 PM

I'm watching on CNN, and apparently Clinton had a guy debate her as Trump multiple nights in a row. Specifically, he insulted her and hammered her with the email server scandal, so she could develop good ways to shut it down.

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#140172: Sep 26th 2016 at 4:59:17 PM

That is pretty smart. I wonder if she got that guy who has been on TV lately as a Trump impersonator to play the role.

Do not obey in advance.
Lennik (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#140173: Sep 26th 2016 at 5:05:34 PM

[up]The guy who took over @midnight? God, I loved that. I laughed so fucking hard every minute he was on. What a week.

That's right, boys. Mondo cool.
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#140174: Sep 26th 2016 at 5:13:40 PM

Side-Note, but holy SHIT Hillary's security is fucking insane. MSNBC showed a live shot of her motorcade, and it was flat out ridiculous.

New Survey coming this weekend!
AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#140175: Sep 26th 2016 at 5:15:59 PM

When your opponent has called for you to be shot that's hardly surprising.


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