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
@Rational Insanity: They value human life so little (despite their "pro-life" claims) that I think if they ever got their hands on the Death Star, they'd turn Earth into the new Alderaan just for fun.
edited 5th Jan '17 10:50:45 AM by TrashJack
"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's Dictionary@Hodor2
Just because the USSR is gone doesn't mean the Red Scare trope doesn't still apply. Even though they're no longer communists, the Russians are still seen as the scary foreigners by many Americans.
One does not shake the box containing the sticky notes of doom!![]()
Actually, I think both of you are correct: Red Scare doesn't apply anymore, but now we have Make the Bear Angry Again instead.
Moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem is just dumb. It doesn't matter what you think about Israel and Jerusalem and the whole situation...Jerusalem is not the capital of the modern state of Israel! You put the embassy in the capital so that there's easy access to the local government. Sticking it in Jerusalem means that A) the embassy is now in a contested area, thus meaning that there are times when no one will go there while Tel Aviv tends to be safer and B) it will be way harder for the normal operations to function properly. Even if the whole territory issue was settled tomorrow and Jerusalem was declared to officially be the property of Israel...the government would probably still be in Tel Aviv because that's where the infrastructure is.
edited 5th Jan '17 11:14:25 AM by Zendervai
From Wikipedia's Jerusalem article (emphasis added):
I'd count that as being the (unrecognized) capital.
edited 5th Jan '17 11:19:10 AM by IFwanderer
1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KVSomething I don't get about the Republicans being so brazen is just why they do it. I mean, I get they have terrible ideas but haven't they seen enough by now to know anything that obvious will be backlashed? Are they so far gone that they even need to be told to Do Wrong, Right and at least try to be discreet?
They reckon they got the go ahead due to the amount of voters who reckoned that being blatantly trampled over was a net positive change from the status quo.
Government officials claim that they only got evidence regarding Russian hacking after the election
.
Right, someone go get an eyeball on his stock purchases. I'm not sure if Fiat Chrysler America could weather the hit from such a threat as well as the others.
Well, it's not like some big company can actually respond with "fuck off, you haven't even actually assumed the job and you are already threatening American jobs by threatening the prospects of their employers" and not disavow the PR person in charge afterwards...
EDIT: Reuters breaking is claiming that Toyota has officially stated that the Mexico plant will not cost US jobs and that it 'looks forward to collaborating with the Trump administration'
edited 5th Jan '17 11:45:01 AM by Krieger22
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiotNot sure if this falls under #Trumpgrets as the author has been backtracking a lot regarding his support for Trump, but here's a Jalopnik editorial piece on the obvious: Trump's tweets directed at various manufacturers are horrifying
.
So, we all know this is yet another moonshot, but tomorrow a couple of House Democrats are apparently planning to challenge Trump's electoral victory, on the grounds that (as the article previously linked here mentioned) 50 of those electors were illegitimate. But we need at least one senator to back it as well, or it goes nowhere.
People are - you guessed it - being urged to call their senators and ask them to support it. A script is available here.
Remember - as we saw with the ethics changes, pressure from constituents works. We've got to grab every chance.
Also, Five Reasons the McCain Cyberwarfare Hearing Should Worry Trump.
2. Trump's ongoing defense of Russia and citation of Julian Assange look even more ridiculous. Both Clapper and Rogers said they didn't have faith in Assange's credibility. (That's also bad news for the Fox News evening hosts who have feted him and cited him as a credible person.) The testimony that the witnesses jointly submitted was explicit: "Russia is a full-scope cyber actor that poses a major threat to the U.S. government, military, diplomatic, commercial and critical infrastructure and key resource networks." Trump will have a hard time disputing this if he wants to maintain the support of Republicans and the public at large.
3. Trump's nominees will have no choice but to address the issue, the testimony and the facts raised in the hearing. (Does Rex W. Tillerson agree with the testimony or not? If not, what is his basis?) If the nominees refuse to answer or if they embrace Trump's pro-Putin stance, they stand a solid chance of being blocked.
4. Democrats continue to demand that an independent select committee be created. That's a popular position with voters, and it puts pressure on both the House and Senate to show that they can run credible, effective and timely investigations.
5. The intelligence agencies will release their unclassified report next week and will brief members of Congress on the classified report. Clapper said he would err on the side of disclosure in the unclassified report. Should Trump begin disparaging the testimony, he runs the risk of being contradicted by the authoritative final report. He will get his own briefing tomorrow. If Trump continues to deny reality, President Obama may decide to declassify everything and/or intelligence leaks may follow.
From the article: "...What sets a dangerous precedent is that in all of these instances, Trump, and Trump alone, is the arbiter of which businesses may live and which may die, based on criteria that his personal businesses don’t even follow..."
That, from a conservative.
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.![]()
![]()
And like I said before; Congress has to appear Anti-Russian for at least 6 Months, especially because of this Report. Rex Tillerson has a very very very strong chance of being Scapegoated (IE, he doesn't get the Sec. of State job because he's Pro-Russian, even if every other Pro-Russian pick gets their job), and Trump looks like a fool regardless.
I don't see how. If anything, the Democrats proving they want what's best for the Nation while the Republicans (especially Trump) want to weaken the Checks and Balances of the System will make the Democrat Victory (at least in the House) even Greater.
edited 5th Jan '17 1:37:47 PM by DingoWalley1
Tillerson comes with some VERY high profile endorsements, among them Henry Kissinger, Robert Gates, and Dick Cheney, so if the GOP is going to contest pro-Russia appointments, it probably will be on other appointees.
Kissinger's endorsement in particular might end up flipping some democrats, so the prospect of blocking him aren't particularly good. I'd actually consider voting in favor were I in congress since, while his decisions as Secretary of State were heinous, I grudgingly acknowledge the importance of his contribution to the scholarly side of geopolitics and international relations.
edited 5th Jan '17 1:51:50 PM by CaptainCapsase
![]()
A precedent for successfully challenging an electoral result at this stage in the game is always going to be a thorny thing to create. Remember how people were defending Trump saying he might not accept the results by pointing to Al Gore?
And, I mean, the reason this is even a thing is because probably neither party was all that careful about choosing electors. It's to imagine that next time, the GOP will be more careful than the Dems.

They don't value the lives of their public servants, or they value Israeli feelings more at least.
There is no other way to explain this.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.