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
It wouldn't be a good idea to remove Trump on a technicality. That would make him a martyr in many eyes, and whoever took over wouldn't have legitimacy. The better play is to wait until he alienates a clear majority of voters and then move to impeach him.
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.I Don't think creating an Independent Select Committee will stop Trump, and I don't think it should. However, it will stop any Future Candidate from winning an Election the same way Trump did; by having a Foreign Power heavily tilt the Coverage of any Candidate through Lies, Slander and Hacking.
@Le Garcon: That is literally impossible, unless America's Democracy dies in 2 years.
Hey, do feel proud. Keep fighting the good fight, comrade!
Well, for a given value of "comrade", since I'm just watching this trainwreck from the other side of the globe, but you all have my sympathies. If only because this trainwreck is likely on a collision course with the rest of the world.
All I can do is vote for anyone-but-dead-badger-Wilders when the Dutch elections roll around.
Even still, defunding planned parenthood directly affects womens health, poor people's health, AND LGBTQ health. That's like, a triple whammy of people the GOP would totally love to have die in a quiet manner that they can doublethink as Not Their Fault because of those groups "Sinful Lifestyles"
"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"This elector thing feels blown out of proportion to me. Legitimate or not, these 50 electors still did what was expected of them. Even if they were invalidated, common sense would demand that they be replaced with other electors from the same party, who would likely not go faithless either.
Invalidating their vote without a way to put it back into place would be invalidating the vote of everyone who voted for them. Which, as tempting as it is in these desperate times, feels like a real subversion of democracy.
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."Apparently former CIA director James Woolsey, previously working with the Trump transition team, has split with them.
The first of the rats to flee the sinking ship, perhaps?
Although the fact that Trump's spent the last week slagging off the intelligence community probably didn't help.
"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."I'm hardly saying his downfall is imminent. Reports of Trump's demise have so far been greatly exaggerated. I'm wondering if Woolsey started to realize what a long-term disaster the new administration is going to be (although the question is, if that's the case, what prompted it), and decided to get while the getting was good.
Ships sink slowly.
"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."Of course a Former CIA Head would leave a Transition Team like Trump's, considering for the past week Trump has done nothing but bashed every Intelligence Agency this whole week.
Honestly, tomorrow, when Trump is presented the evidence of Russian's Involvement in this Election, he better swallow his pride (and stupidity), admit he was wrong and publicly acknowledge Russia's interference, or else he's going to become a Pariah to the Republican Party (more so then he already is/was); they'll side with the Intelligence Community over Trump, Putin and his Puppets anyday.
U.S. intercepts senior Russian officials congratulating themselves on Trump win
The ebullient reaction among high-ranking Russian officials — including some who U.S. officials believe had knowledge of the country’s cyber campaign to interfere in the U.S. election — contributed to the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow’s efforts were aimed at least in part at helping Trump win the White House.
Other key pieces of information gathered by U.S. spy agencies include the identification of “actors” involved in delivering stolen Democratic emails to the Wiki Leaks website, and disparities in the levels of effort Russian intelligence entities devoted to penetrating and exploiting sensitive information stored on Democratic and Republican campaign networks.
Those and other data points are at the heart of an unprecedented intelligence report being circulated in Washington this week that details the evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign and catalogues other cyber operations by Moscow against U.S. election systems over the past nine years.
The classified document, which officials said is over 50 pages, was delivered to President Obama on Thursday, and it is expected to be presented to Trump in New York on Friday by the nation’s top spy officials, including Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. and CIA Director John Brennan.
edited 5th Jan '17 4:24:41 PM by NoName999
I don't know how to feel when I hear stories like this. I don't doubt that the Trump regime will be awful for the country or the world, but every time I hear a veteran ditch the coming shitshow I get even more nervous. These people have no interest or experience in running a country, and yet they won't step aside.
![]()
The worst kind of people that have been, for years, chasing power that shouldn't legitimely belong to them, now had it practically dropped at their doorstep for the next coming YEARS.
And reality itself seems to be taking every turn so that they come out on top against what every logic would dictate.
It feels like wishful thinking it's all we have left, but it's been well proven we don't even have that
edited 5th Jan '17 4:32:14 PM by Proglottid

edited 5th Jan '17 1:47:53 PM by IFwanderer
1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV