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
There are over 100 Minnesota state legislature seats currently controlled by Republicans; it shouldn't be hard to find one that doesn't have a credible Democratic opponent. Granted, some of those seats would require Painter to move to be eligible, but many of those seats represent part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metro area and aren't located that far from each other.
(I'm aware that this criticism could apply to lots of candidates; the D's need people to run for state legislatures everywhere even if they aren't as important as Congressional seats.)
![]()
The current Senator for that seat, Tina Smith, is basically a mainstream democrat, and would be a decent, if rather unremarkable choice for Senate.
trump tweets this morning.
Fake News Media had me calling Immigrants, or Illegal Immigrants, “Animals.” Wrong! They were begrudgingly forced to withdraw their stories. I referred to MS 13 Gang Members as “Animals,” a big difference - and so true. Fake News got it purposely wrong, as usual!
If he was running for an open or Republican seat I’d be all for the guy, but the fact that he’d trying to oust an incumbent democrat makes me question him. Also wasn’t there some stuff tied to Al Franken that he was connected to?
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranPainter's main — and significant — weakness is a lack of party favor. Basically every MN Democrat worth mentioning, and quite a few national figures, are behind Smith, if only because she's a lifelong Democrat and their peer. I don't necessarily doubt that he's being genuine, but I do think there's a certain presumptuousness in claiming the nomination for a prestigious position as a Democrat when he's only been a Democrat for like six months.
He was also the ethics lawyer for a highly unethical, corrupt administration whose rapaciousness shouldn't be downplayed simply because Trump is violating the mos maiorum of American political discourse in its entirety. There are going to be a lot of questions about the Bush administration and how loyal, exactly, he was to the old boss.
edited 18th May '18 7:21:09 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."Another school shooting this time at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, south of Houston.
Getting conflicting reports of multiple student fatalities.
This one is both local and personal for me as I live about 20 miles away from the scene and I have a cousin who goes there. I'm hoping he's was still out of school cause of an accident with a nail gun earlier in the week.
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."In the latest edition of Shit Republicans Say:
GOP Congressmen Asks if Rocks are Causing Sea Levels to Rise.
Instead, Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks offered an additional culprit: soil or rock deposits into the world's waters.
A study released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in March documented accelerating sea-level rise driven by climate change.
E&E News reported on the comments of Brooks and others at the hearing, including California GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher who said he was "disturbed" that he heard people warning against questioning the link between human activity and climate change.
On Wednesday, at a hearing titled "using technology to address climate change," Brooks began by raising a broad question about rising ocean levels to the witness panel.
Philip Duffy, president of Woods Hole Research Center, said in response to the question that "the last 100-year increase in sea-level rise, as I mentioned earlier, has clearly been attributed to human activities, greenhouse gas emissions."
Brooks interjected and rephrased his question again, asking if there "are other factors."
"What about erosion?" Brooks offered during the exchange. He added: "Every time you have that soil or rock, whatever it is, that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise because now you've got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up."
Duffy responded that he did not believe that explained sea-level rise.
"I'm pretty sure that on human time scales those are minuscule effects," Duffy said.
Brooks then moved to ice levels and asserted that Antarctic ice is growing, to which Duffy responded that satellite records have documented "shrinkage of the Antarctic ice sheet and an acceleration of that shrinkage."
Brooks wrapped up his questioning by saying he had heard differently from NASA, and said there were "plenty of studies" showing an ice sheet increase in Antarctica.
"I've got a NASA base in my district," Brooks said. "And apparently, they're telling you one thing and me a different thing."
A day after the hearing, the committee tweeted a link to an op-ed from The Wall Street Journal denying climate change caused sea-level rise.
According to NASA, Antarctica's ice sheets have lost mass since 2002.
The agency's site also said, "Sea level rise is caused primarily by two factors related to global warming: the added water from melting ice sheets and glaciers and the expansion of seawater as it warms."
Duffy, who worked on climate change policy in the Obama administration, told CNN on Thursday that while he had "never heard that particular line" on sea level rise before, he essentially had expected the tone of the hearing to feature climate change skepticism.
"None of that is new," Duffy said. "They've been doing that forever."
Duffy said he would have hoped a "productive" science committee would seek to formulate aggressive policy on climate change as well as expand the nation's scientific capabilities.
And as for the question of sea level rise, Duffy said, "It's really caused by climate change."
So, you heard it here, folks. Alabama Representative Mo Brooks thinks sea levels are rising because rocks are falling into the ocean and displacing all of the water.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub."Thoughts and prayers", you guys. Fuck me.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"I'm glad the suspect's in custody. I may be the minority but, given how often these things are effectively Suicide by Cop, learning they've been killed always feels like The Bad Guy Wins.
On Cheeto Benito's recent tweet: I think he's wrong for referring to any other human being as an "animal", regardless of their actions and behavior. Dehumanization only serves to create a gap between people where there isn't one, and deludes people into thinking they're incapable of similar horrific acts.
He's also not just talking about gang violence when he's insulting the Latinx community, it's just coded language and a convenient boogeyman.
"Dreamers are gainfully employed people without criminal records."
"But MS-13!"
That sort of thing.
edited 18th May '18 8:49:42 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."
x 9 Adam Schiff put it best
(the comments are hysterical as well.)
This. Was. Painful. To. Read.
edited 18th May '18 9:45:04 AM by megaeliz
Call me insensitive, but I feel the need to say it:
Something something armed teachers something clear backpacks something something.
We can choose to be better.I feel like the "thought and prayers" thing has dehumanized the very idea of sympathy. I offered my sympathies to a friend who lost a loved one to a drug OD and got the above. I then pointed out my brother had died due to drugs and the whole thing got really awkward.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.This is kind of hilarious.
Despite saying he doesn't have time to meet with his consistituents, Devin Nunes does have time to go to Dana Rohrabacher's "birthday Bash".
(Who incidentally, the NYT once described as "the Kremlin's Favorite congressman"
)
edited 18th May '18 10:41:39 AM by megaeliz

What are the other Democratic candidates for the position like?