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
I was thinking about something: could the fact it came out almost 2 months after 9/11 have helped the original Halo's sales? Considering the climate at the time?
Are you kidding me!? I just heard a couple of people advocate for returning to voting rights tied to property ownership under someone else's posting of getting rid of property taxes in Texas.
edited 1st Feb '17 8:42:23 AM by tclittle
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."Re: that feverish, narcissistic statement re: MLK and Black History month.
Trump: A president you can snort cocaine with.
edited 1st Feb '17 9:04:32 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"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."In other news, everyone's favorite Trump staffer just became the attorney general!
He hasn't been nominated yet. What you posted is just the go ahead.
Trump tells McConnell to go nuclear if they block his SC pick.
edited 1st Feb '17 9:29:41 AM by tclittle
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."![]()
They do unfortunately, which is what Trump and co are taking advantage of; all the shit flying around is little more than chaff in the face of more tangible changes being made to the country's institutions and leadership circles.
Indeed, there's really no other option other than trying to block this.
edited 1st Feb '17 9:45:44 AM by CaptainCapsase
Granted, the Republicans now have to own the results of all their policies (and a lot of stuff that that isn't their direct fault). Remember, that the President's party typically suffers serious losses in elections and popularity, even with the president is decently liked (Obama, Clinton) at the time. Of course, this hinges on the 2018 and 2020 elections not looking like something out of Central Asia...
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Again, I highly doubt they are: They couldn't even do it to Pennsylvania when they had all of Congress and the Governorship! Nebraska wants to get rid of their Proportional Voting System as well. State Republicans really don't have the taste for it, and are just floating the idea. On top of Virginia and Pennsylvania having Democrat Governors, and 4 of those States probably going to go majorly Blue in 2018, it won't happen (except to maybe New Hampshire because they're weird).
edited 1st Feb '17 9:53:39 AM by DingoWalley1
Bannon is being way more influential in the White House than previously assumed.
Trump's go-to man Bannon takes hardline view on immigration
When Donald Trump's administration put together its controversial executive order on immigration, it was Steve Bannon – the populist firebrand fast emerging as the president's right-hand man – pushing a hard line.
Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) interpreted the order to mean that lawful permanent residents - green card holders – who hailed from the seven Muslim-majority countries targeted in the immigration order would not face additional screening when they entered the country.
But they were quickly overruled by Bannon, who is Trump’s chief strategist and oversaw the drafting of the executive order along with White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, a close ally of Bannon's, the officials said.
"They were in charge of this operation," one senior DHS official said, adding that the experts were "almost immediately overruled by the White House, which means by Bannon and Miller."
A senior national security official described the pair as a "tag team" pushing Trump's key policies, including the immigration order which bars the entry of refugees and places a temporary hold on people from seven countries - Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and Libya.
The inclusion of green card holders from those countries intensified opposition to an executive order that sparked legal challenges, protests at airports and sharp criticism from inside the Republican Party, including from some Trump allies.
DHS officials say there was little or no White House consultation with immigration, customs and border security agencies on the immigration policy change, causing widespread confusion over how to implement Trump's order.
A senior administration official said the order went through a review by "key people" at DHS and the White House National Security Council, and that several immigration staff on Capitol Hill were involved in drafting the order.
But officials said Bannon was the driving force throughout.
he White House declined to comment on his role.
Critics have accused Bannon of harboring anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments. Under Bannon's leadership, his Breitbart website presented a number of conspiracy theories about Trump's Democratic rival in the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton, as well as Republicans deemed to be lacking in conservative bona fides.
Bannon has ascribed his interest in populism and American nationalism to a desire to curb what he views as the corrosive effects of globalization. He has rejected what he called the "ethno-nationalist" tendencies of some in the movement.
After becoming chief executive of Trump's election campaign in August, the former Goldman Sachs banker and Navy veteran helped lead him to victory over Clinton. He was then appointed by Trump as senior counselor and chief strategist - jobs not subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.
He has been an almost constant presence by Trump's side in the first 10 days of the administration - in the White House for a meeting with American manufacturers, at CIA headquarters the day after Trump was sworn in, and in the Oval Office during British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit.
He appears to have greatly expanded his power in the first 10 days of Trump's presidency.
ELEVATION TO NSC
Trump gave him an unprecedented seat in the NSC's top-level meetings and potentially narrowed the role played by the director of national intelligence (DNI) and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Bannon has also asserted authority over almost all written statements from the White House and the NSC and has sent back documents for rewrites as he sees fit, one NSC official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Critics, including four senior U.S. intelligence officers, called the decision to formalize Bannon's role at the NSC meetings a mistake, saying it risks politicizing decisions on national security.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Monday defended Bannon's inclusion in the NSC.
Susan Rice, the former national security adviser in former President Barack Obama's administration, tweeted on Sunday: "This is stone cold crazy. After a week of crazy."
Bannon and Miller are drowning out the opinions of more moderate advisers like White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, said a senior DHS official and two people in Washington who work closely with the White House on immigration and a range of other issues.
One of those people and the DHS official said Priebus felt he had placed enough of his fellow moderate Republicans in key positions at the White House as a counterbalance to Bannon and Miller, but he has been frustrated at their outsized influence so far, especially on issues of immigration and national security.
The White House dismissed the views of the officials as gossip.
Is there any way to use this to reach some of the more moderate Trump supporters?note They didn't vote for Bannon specifically. Or to drive a wedge into the Republican party? Past experience, and all of the misinformation going around right now suggests there isn't, but I thought I'd bring it up in any case.
Bannon also said earlier last year that he thinks that the US and China will be going to war soon
. He's in the WH now. I'm now even more worried.
Even with "Picking their battles" mode on, the democrats have been predictably tepid when it comes to pushback. Reminds me of that town hall the other day with nancy pelosi, where this kid is all "Hey, I was supposed to ask you a softball question but given the circumstances I will not ask that question. Given the right's radicalization, and the fact that a majority of young people say they no longer trust capitalism as a healthy system, would you maybe look a little to the left for an answer to alt-right policy?"
Like, not even asking her to put on a ushanka, just "give us something, ANYTHING, give us a reason to trust you" and she basically laughs him off and tells him to sit down.
"Coffee! Coffeecoffeecoffee! Coffee! Not as strong as Meth-amphetamine, but it lets you keep your teeth!"Foxtrot Alpha: Why we are looking at CIA black sites Redux, and why it didn't work the first time
.
You should probably know about this already, but if you don't, you should so you can spread the word: Torture doesn’t work because the tortured will tell you what you want to hear instead of what you should hear because they know what you want for it to stop.
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot

What does it say? Can't read it.
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."