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Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#237451: Apr 4th 2018 at 2:08:08 PM

Mueller and his team have stopped, searched and questioned several Russian oligarchs about their monetary relationship to Trump.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/04/politics/mueller-special-counsel-investigation-russian-oligarchs/index.html

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#237452: Apr 4th 2018 at 2:56:49 PM

Trump to send the National Guard to the US-Mexican Border to help protect it. Essentially, it's a repeat of Operation Jump Start (2006-2008).

It's not as bad as it could be, but it's still something stupid.

rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#237453: Apr 4th 2018 at 3:04:38 PM

This is beautiful. The banner for a picture from CNBC coverage for The Easter Egg Roll of Trump and the Easter Bunny actually specified which one was the president (he was standing on the left).
That's not a dig at Trump, it's just standard captioning. Newspapers and the like always specify who's who, even if it's probably going to be obvious to the reader.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237454: Apr 4th 2018 at 3:15:13 PM

[up] still rather funny either way.

We honestly might be better off with the one on the right.

edited 4th Apr '18 3:21:53 PM by megaeliz

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237455: Apr 4th 2018 at 3:29:03 PM

Facebook Says Cambridge Analytica Harvested Data of Up to 87 Million Users note 

WASHINGTON — Facebook said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million people, most of them Americans, may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm connected to President Trump during the 2016 election.

The new figure, roughly equivalent to a quarter of the population of the United States, is substantially greater than the previous estimate of how many users’ information Cambridge Analytica harvested. The number had been put at more than 50 million users.

Facebook released the revised figure as part of an extended statement about changes it is making to how it handles personal data. The company said it would start telling users on April 9 about whether their information might have been shared with Cambridge Analytica.

“We wanted to put out the maximum number of people who could have been affected,” Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, said on a call with reporters.

Seems like the problem was a lot bigger than you let on, Facebook.

The problem, at least for me, isn't even that they harvested data from Facebook. It's that they gained the data under false pretenses, and used the data to the conduct what could be considered a psy-ops campaign on the American Public.

edited 4th Apr '18 7:37:38 PM by megaeliz

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#237456: Apr 4th 2018 at 7:28:46 PM

I have a question. How difficult would it be for either the Republican or Democratic Party to establish authority over its own membership a la a European party?

(What I would rather not see is all of the Nazis trying to migrate over to the Democratic side and ally with Jill Stein and the Bernie Bros.)

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237457: Apr 4th 2018 at 7:33:35 PM

Firstly the idea of Nazis immigrating to the Democratic Party is beyond ridiculous, why would they do it when the Republican Party offers exactly what they want? Furthermore I see no reason to assume that either of those groups would be willing to ally with Nazis in large enough numbers. It just makes no sense to imagine something like that happening.

Secondly the parties probably can't develop such authority due to the fact that we're a two party system so it would be rather undemocratic for one or both of the parties to be able to ban members, it's completely different from a Parliamentary Democracy with a dozen parties where being banned from a party does not mean you're frozen out of the political system.

edited 4th Apr '18 7:34:24 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#237458: Apr 4th 2018 at 7:36:40 PM

Yo, so I see that The Cook Political Report moved the Nebraska senate race from "Solid ", to "Likely R". Anyone know the reason for the change, because I can't find anything on it.

edited 4th Apr '18 7:36:57 PM by LSBK

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237459: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:03:07 PM

So apparently, Manafort tried to sue to say that Mueller's investigation was going to far beyond it's scope, and was more or less laughed out of court today.

A federal judge on Wednesday appeared to reject the majority of the arguments made by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort in his lawsuit seeking to limit the scope of Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation, Reuters reports.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman questioned Manafort's attorney on the legal reasoning behind the former Trump aide's argument that Mueller's investigation has overstepped and should be shut down.

“I don’t really understand what is left of your case,” Berman reportedly told Manafort's attorney, Kevin Downing.

Manafort's civil lawsuit relies in part on a law called the Administrative Procedure Act, which dictates how federal agencies write regulations. Manafort claims that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's order last year appointing Mueller violated Justice Department policies.

He also claims that Mueller does not have the authority to investigate allegations that predate his time on Trump's campaign.

I like the Judge's response.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237460: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:07:22 PM

[up][up]That's odd, I don't know why they did that.

[up]Ha, that's hilariously stupid. [lol]

edited 4th Apr '18 8:07:42 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237461: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:17:17 PM

[up]Also hilariously stupid, @ALTDIA came across a botnet sourced from, and I quote, "Farting For Trump"

Then again, this one was apparently sourced from "Cheap Bots, Done Quick", so...

edited 4th Apr '18 8:25:08 PM by megaeliz

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#237462: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:24:43 PM

Secondly the parties probably can't develop such authority due to the fact that we're a two party system so it would be rather undemocratic for one or both of the parties to be able to ban members, it's completely different from a Parliamentary Democracy with a dozen parties where being banned from a party does not mean you're frozen out of the political system.

The UK is de facto a two-party system during normal operation and the parties are free to police their membership if they wish. That's not a good argument.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237463: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:25:58 PM

Just because the UK does something does not mean that it should be automatically emulated, that is not a good argument.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#237464: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:29:54 PM

Well, no, I'm not saying that it's something to emulate. I'm saying that "it's a two party system" isn't automatically a reason to go to "parties should have no control of their membership". There's a missing justification for why it's undemocratic and somehow preventing people from partaking in politics to not let Nazis pick who represents the Democrats when they can still vote.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237465: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:36:24 PM

The general argument that parties should have the authority to kick out their members is one that would automatically go beyond Nazis so acting as if it's just about keeping Nazis out of the Democratic Party is either disingenuous or evidence that you haven't thought it through enough.

We only have two viable parties, thus if they're allowed to kick people out of themselves then one could be frozen out of the political system regardless of their beliefs. This is extremely dangerous and not something I'm willing to support.

Generally hate speech laws are a far better solution to disenfranchising Nazis and are not nearly as broad.

edited 4th Apr '18 8:36:44 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#237466: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:38:36 PM

This also prohibits anything but a two party system, because you only have two parties so hopelessly broad that anyone can wander in and find some vague tenet to match, and the parties can't exercise any sort of coherent thought for long at all. Restricting party membership so people have a reason to invest in other parties would not automatically be bad.

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#237467: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:41:42 PM

[up]Except no, that would not change the structural reasons that only two parties are viable and would just lead to the problems I mentioned.

If you want to support reform to make our system have more than two viable parties and support stronger party discipline then by all means, I'd almost certainly agree with you. But it's irresponsible to support strong party discipline in the current status-quo.

edited 4th Apr '18 8:41:52 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#237468: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:45:08 PM

It's still a necessary precondition to progressing beyond a two-party system.

And it's not even strong party discipline that's needed, ffs. It's literally stuff like stopping an explicit neonazi from running as the Republican candidate by default because there's essentially negative discipline.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#237469: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:45:21 PM

About the Oligarchs being stopped by the FBI at airports.

So that's what Trump must have meant by Extreme Vetting. I'm suprised to say that for once, I approve. tongue

edited 4th Apr '18 8:47:08 PM by megaeliz

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#237470: Apr 4th 2018 at 8:59:15 PM

Yeah it’s kinda impossible for the US to progress beyond an explicit two party system as long as parties cannot enforce discipline, however it’s not the only needed reform. Remember part of why the two big US parties are so powerful is because they have funding dominance (which isn’t an issue in other two sporty systems because the cost of campaigning isn’t so high) and because they are granted special status by the government (if you run as a Republican or Democrat it’s easiyer to get on the ballot (and I’m talking about more than the presidency here) than if you run as a member of a third party), you have to deal with both of those factos alongside the issue of nobody having an incentive to form a third party.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#237471: Apr 4th 2018 at 10:15:27 PM

Well, one thing, you'd have to make the rules about party affiliation more uniform across the states. In New York a candidate can be on many party's ballots, thus allowing an explicit alliance between them, (New York city alone apparently has lots of very small parties) but in Texas you're pretty explicitly not allowed to do that. You can't have a democrat that shows up for the Greens, as well, for instance.

(It's been a while since I learned this, so I may be misremembering how, exactly, it works, but the case remains that in some states it's a lot easier for smaller parties to ally with each other than it is in others.)

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#237472: Apr 4th 2018 at 10:26:52 PM

Question: What does "enforcing party discipline" mean in this context? Because all that comes to mind is making sure people people vote in line with party goals.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#237473: Apr 4th 2018 at 10:32:56 PM

It means the ability to expel members, so explicit membership rolls, a removal of the whole “register as an X” and it being replaced with “apply for membership of X party”, personally I’d also make all primaries closed primaries and suggest even looking into membership dues being introduced.

People would still have the ability to break the party line and vote how they feel, but they could be expelled from the party if they did that to often or on something important (though they’d still retain their positon even if expelled from the party).

edited 4th Apr '18 10:34:13 PM by Silasw

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#237474: Apr 5th 2018 at 12:20:13 AM

Just to be clear, by "expel from the party" you do mean actual politicians and not just people, right? Because there's no fucking way I'm going to pay to be a registered Democrat voter.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#237475: Apr 5th 2018 at 2:43:26 AM

No offense, but if you get kicked out of the Dems and GOP you can still participate in the political process, for a third party or as independent.

Sure, that's way harder, but hey... isn't that the entire point? To make sure elected officials are accountable to the platform of the party instead of just hitching a ride?

The US is a two-party system because of its election system, not because it was set up as two party system, after all.

And if I remember right Parties are, technically, private associations and not functionaries of the state.

Nazis don't have any right to register attendance to my birthday party either tongue Outside of volunteering as Pinata, that is.

Edit: Maybe an idea would be to allow anyone to register as a party voter, but only members can put the (X) beside the name on State and above elections.

edited 5th Apr '18 2:49:17 AM by 3of4

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