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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.

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

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#165301: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:13:08 AM

I just hope the protests continue, and remain nonviolent, even in the face of Trump's thugs. Peaceful, unyielding resistance is what might get us through this.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#165302: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:14:41 AM

If things get really bad in the USA in the next few years, I might seriously reconsider my negative opinion of the PRC. At least they openly admit to embracing authoritarianism.

[up] Same here, though I'm petty enough to hope that a lot of rotten produce gets thrown at Trump's properties too. Granted, that means more work for the over-worked and underpaid staff.

edited 5th Jan '17 12:15:51 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
NickTheSwing Since: Aug, 2009
#165303: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:15:55 AM

Congratulations, Rural White America.

I hope you are miserable.

edited 5th Jan '17 12:16:52 AM by NickTheSwing

Lanceleoghauni Cyborg Helmsman from Z or R Twice Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: In my bunk
#165304: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:17:08 AM

Not to be that guy, but I thought we'd called for axing the irrelevant media references.

"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#165305: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:17:52 AM

[up][up] A good chunk of them probably aren't even going to survive the next few years thanks to Trump's administration.

I'm ashamed to admit that my well of sympathy for them is running rather dry right now.

edited 5th Jan '17 12:18:30 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
NickTheSwing Since: Aug, 2009
#165306: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:40:29 AM

Not many of them will survive his administration...

...I look forward to it.

AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#165307: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:43:47 AM

Eh, while they can legally arm the police with military grade tools, I think that using the actual army would meet resistance. And require a whole lot of other stuff to go pear shaped before anyone in government was ok with the idea. At this point, using the police, and possibly the National Guard, would seem like enough, if highly alarming.

Like, Trump can't just jump to the extreme end of the badness; he has to at least be able to build up to it first, because I seriously don't think anyone in the government would be happy about him ordering the military to police work.

Everyone here is thinking that the doomsday scenarios will happen immediately; I say the problem with doomsday scenarios is that they're actually built up to and people just slowly get used to the rising level of badness until everything goes to shit. The goal, obviously, is to prevent getting to the doomsday scenario.

edited 5th Jan '17 12:45:03 AM by AceofSpades

Lanceleoghauni Cyborg Helmsman from Z or R Twice Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: In my bunk
#165308: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:45:55 AM

As tempting as watching them get Hoist by Their Own Petard is, it's not productive, and not ethical. Our energies should be focused, whenever possible, on the people farther up the chain using them as pawns. Getting "Back at them" does nothing but waste time we could have been organizing against the true threat.

"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
HallowHawk Since: Feb, 2013
#165309: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:46:27 AM

RE: Using military for police work: Wouldn't that lead to many soldiers revolting anyways?

Lanceleoghauni Cyborg Helmsman from Z or R Twice Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: In my bunk
#165310: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:47:43 AM

I did say attempting. Even insinuating it would lead to things getting very ugly, very quickly. No matter the precise outcome.

"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#165311: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:50:41 AM

Yeah, Nick, it's kinda not cool to look forward to the deaths of people that could be prevented, regardless of what you think of their voting habits. Kind of reminds me of the time someone suggested just nuking Texas because it's a Republican stronghold. This kind of thinking is the absolute worst kind of "us vs them" kind of thinking, because you are literally just not thinking of them as worthy of life the same way you are. And are also, effectively, punishing the people who couldn't vote in those areas. Like these people's children.

@Hallow Hawk: I wouldn't say all of them would revolt, but at least some of them would. There's a whole thing about disobeying illegal orders, and I'm pretty sure that ordering them to perform action in the US in a police function would cross that line. Unless the Congress passes a law making it legal, which would surely get a whole bunch of protest.

storyyeller More like giant cherries from Appleloosa Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: RelationshipOutOfBoundsException: 1
More like giant cherries
#165312: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:52:41 AM

By the way, I think everybody is overreacting to the end of net neutrality. Realistically, IS Ps aren't going to censor the internet for political reasons, they'll just charge you more money and block competitor's services. Which is a problem, but not the one that people were talking about.

Blind Final Fantasy 6 Let's Play
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#165313: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:53:06 AM

I'm pretty sure that Nick's last post should be thumped.

Do not obey in advance.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#165314: Jan 5th 2017 at 12:55:05 AM

[up][up]That seems worrying enough on its own. I think also that it would lead to trouble regarding municipalities that are trying to or already are offering internet as a local utility instead of relying on companies to build all the infrastructure for that. I may be wrong on this, but companies sure don't like it when people try to get internet from sources that aren't them.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#165315: Jan 5th 2017 at 1:01:11 AM

There's a reason I keep comparing the removal of net neutrality to gentrification. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but still.

Concerning Trump voters who screwed themselves and their loved ones over...I just hope they learn from the experience and either abstain or vote Democrat in the next rounds of elections. Admittedly that second one is probably a bridge too far for many of them thanks to the partisanship in this country.

edited 5th Jan '17 1:08:48 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Medinoc from France (Before Recorded History)
#165316: Jan 5th 2017 at 1:35:59 AM

Yeah, Nick, it's kinda not cool to look forward to the deaths of people that could be prevented, regardless of what you think of their voting habits. Kind of reminds me of the time someone suggested just nuking Texas because it's a Republican stronghold. This kind of thinking is the absolute worst kind of "us vs them" kind of thinking, because you are literally just not thinking of them as worthy of life the same way you are. And are also, effectively, punishing the people who couldn't vote in those areas. Like these people's children.
I think it's more a situation of the entire US being nuked by Texas and finding some solace in the fact Texas is in the blast radius. These people voting Trump in killed a lot of people, and there's some schadenfreude in knowing this "lot of people" includes them.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#165317: Jan 5th 2017 at 1:39:16 AM

It's a cold comfort that Trump voters screwed themselves along with the rest of us.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#165318: Jan 5th 2017 at 1:50:51 AM

It is at this time that I am reminded that the Posse Comitatus Act was passed during the end of Reconstruction for reasons that probably aren't that hard to guess.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
NickTheSwing Since: Aug, 2009
#165319: Jan 5th 2017 at 2:41:21 AM

....meh, I see no reason to really care.

Their voting betrays the fact - the inescapable fact - that these are human beings who chose obliteration. With the warped religious creed present, wouldn't it be credible to think they'd like what is being done to them as long as its Trump doing it?

edited 5th Jan '17 2:42:06 AM by NickTheSwing

Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#165320: Jan 5th 2017 at 4:03:54 AM

So it looks like at least fifty members of the Electoral College may have been illegitimate - either by not being resident in the area that they were supposed to represent, or by being in state elected positions that should've barred them from serving due to the positions themselves prohibiting dual officeholders.

"Yup. That tasted purple."
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#165321: Jan 5th 2017 at 4:09:13 AM

How many of those supposedly illegitimate electors are Republican ones?

Also, would the loss of net neutrality have any tangible effect for Internet users outside the USA?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#165322: Jan 5th 2017 at 4:42:31 AM

Depends if sites decide to pass the cost on. American IS Ps can't really throttle international traffic.

"Yup. That tasted purple."
IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#165323: Jan 5th 2017 at 5:11:57 AM

And this just makes me glad my country's government has said they consider Internet access to be a right.

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#165324: Jan 5th 2017 at 5:45:56 AM

"Clinton won the popular vote by three million, despite a decades-long smear campaign, Russian meddling and propaganda, GOP voter suppression, media bias, and societal misogyny. Clinton was not the problem."

Clinton won three million extra coastlanders, worthless political untermenschen in the presidental equation.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Deadbeatloser22 from Disappeared by Space Magic (Great Old One) Relationship Status: Tsundere'ing
#165325: Jan 5th 2017 at 5:48:33 AM

What makes them worthless?

"Yup. That tasted purple."

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