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'm inclined to think that North Korea hitting China by mistake with a nuclear weapon may be one of the few scenarios in which thermonuclear war does not result in a MAD-induced global annihilation.
China would nuke North Korea into the ground while the rest of just sort of sit there awkwardly shifting glances at each other. Then China would turn around and be like, "What?" and we'd all go, "Nothing," and go about our day.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.@fredhot: Oh, Republicans will keep kicking the can down the road until they get the balls to actually govern. Which may be the defining historical property of these two years.
Re: China. No way they'll nuke NK — where will the fallout go? Conventional military will work just fine.
edited 28th Apr '17 9:50:23 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"![]()
There's about 70 poison pills the Democrats don't want. I'd say it's pretty damn likely unless Congress can knock out 10 per day.
But as Fighteer said, the GOP are spineless jellyfish who don't know how to govern anymore and are too chickenshit to learn how.
edited 28th Apr '17 9:52:11 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised@Taiwan, their government was pissed at Trump's change of tone following his meeting with the Chinese and them growing slightly more cooperative over North Korea, so now they seem to be trying to throw a wrench into the cogs by playing Trump to get him to openly recognize them and thus instigate a Chinese response and force Trump to pick a side.
Whatever ripple effect that will have on the Korea situation seems to be of little concern for them.
edited 28th Apr '17 9:55:05 AM by carbon-mantis
Reason it's likely the government will shut down: Because unless Trump can convince anyone to start liking Trumpcare or his border wall, no budget bill is getting passed.
Reason it's unlikely the government will shut down: Much as I hate invoking it in this context, evil wins because Good Is Dumb. The Dems care more about protecting Americans in the short term than winning in the long term and have, through Trump's Presidency, repeatedly backed down from confrontation for the sake of having some semblance of a stable government.
The GOP has, for months, successfully held a gun to the country's head and said, "Pass my toxic agenda or else!" The government shutdown is the biggest gun yet. Given the choice between letting the GOP pass a toxic budget that does more harm than good and allowing the Republicans to be responsible for the government shutting down, I have few doubts the Democrats will cave once again.
We'd rather let the Republicans slowly erode everything we stand for then take a step back, let them really f*ck up, and go, "Told you so." We're too busy babysitting Republicans to actually beat them in elections.
edited 28th Apr '17 9:56:08 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.There is still another risk with North Korea that hasn't been considered, the aftermath. You think rebuilding Afghanistan was difficult, wait until the US is trying to rebuild Korea, that's assuming that we get a best case scenario where Korea becomes unified.
There's always the possibility that if North Korea attacks South Korea China will invade from the north, change the North Korean regime and insist that everyone go back to how things were just with North Korea having a new leader, no nukes and a tighter leash for China to hold.
But that would be humiliating for Trump, to go to all the effort to fight North Korea, to have the war actually start, to have the casualties come home and the blowback domestically occur, and then for him to gain nothing? He'd be furious, he'd have been humiliated by the Chinese out playing him.
That's the kind of thing that could make him throw a tantrum, a tantrum aimed at China.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyranhttp://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/28/jeff-sessions-recusal-michael-flynn-investigation-237736
Sessions recuses himself from any Michael Flynn investigation
>Do people who self-identify as globalists actually exist, or is it just a right-wing bogeyman (and an alt-right dogwhistle for "Jew")?
Well there was that one leaked Clinton speech, even though it was quoted horribly out of context.
I would say that there probably are but it's much easier to point to institutions that are globalist or build on globalist ideas (which I'm taking to mean promoting/engaging in globalisim and globalization and policies that transcend or diminish national borders). Multinational corporations. The UN. The EU. (The EU is probably the biggest example of the sort of experiment in globalisim that its right wing detractors are railing against insofar as they actually succeeded in enacting things like a unified currency and open borders.)
Just for the record, globalization has been a demon of the far-left too, mostly in the form of corporate-led globalization (which you can argue has some harmful side-effects).
You know, I've heard about how Drumpf wanted to propose a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on members of Congress.
To which I have to ask: how?
No, really, how? The President can't just change the Constitution on a whim. He...well, look at this quote below:
"The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures."
So, how is he going to convince a Congress that once voted for six or seven times for a raise of their own salaries to impose a limit a term limit on themselves?
No, seriously, how?
edited 28th Apr '17 10:17:20 AM by fredhot16
Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.The same way he's going to get them to vote for all of his other ideas: whining on Twitter when they inevitably don't.
Trump entered office thinking he could treat the Presidency like being a CEO. He would give out orders and they would be obeyed without question, because he's the Top Dog and nobody has power over him. He is slowly learning how mistaken he was.
He, like many Americans, mistook "President" for "King".
edited 28th Apr '17 10:18:11 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Also, why the hell does Congress have power over their own salaries? That sounds like a fuckin' titanic oversight.
Huh, that reminds me of a documentary on the History Channel about politicians and body language and there was a part about, I don't remember it well, something about the similarities between a king and the president in a symbolic way or something.
edited 28th Apr '17 10:20:53 AM by fredhot16
Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.![]()
![]()
The 2/3rds of state legislatures is a current concern as the Republicans are dangerously close to having the numbers to be able to call a constitutional convention.
They weren't right on everything but they're far from idiots. We've held together as long as we have because the checks and balances, frayed and strained as they are, are still holding.
edited 28th Apr '17 10:22:18 AM by Elle
Because the Founding Fathers were idiots.
More specifically, there are a lot of places in our government where the assumption was made that the selection process would weed out the greedy, the selfish, the insane, etc. and leave only the fittest, most deserving men.
Men, specifically. White men who owned land.
edited 28th Apr '17 10:20:12 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.And with lobbyists - which are not subject to term limits - becoming the institutional root of the system. And competent politicians removed from office for no good reason.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanQuite.
Pretty sure "Four more years of Obama" would have beaten both Hillary and Trump in a landslide.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

That is a fair point. North Korea's last missile launch detonated seconds after firing it. I hadn't really thought about misfires.
Man, can you imagine if they accidentally hit China?
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.