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
Trump and Macron had a "terrible" phone call, when the French President learned that his American counterpart did not react well to being criticized on trade and refugees. Oh, and he's talking to Prime Minister May today as well...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/04/politics/donald-trump-emmanuel-macron-call-terrible/index.html
Trump himself has openly stated that he has the "absolute" power to pardon himself. Oh, and now Mueller's investigation is somehow unconstitutional.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/04/politics/donald-trump-pardon-tweet/index.html
Is this real life?
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.We’re all caught in a landslide.
| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |I’m surprised that the Supreme Court was that united in confirming “religious liberty”, or was this decision actually based on “artistic expression”? I remember the latter being thrown around with the baker calling himself a “cake artist”. If the decision was based on that I can kind of get it, but it’s still not a great decision.
![]()
There is too much that needs to happen before the US can even consider moving away from using the Presidential system.
edited 4th Jun '18 8:01:32 AM by Mio
The Supreme Court also tossed out a lower court ruling saying the government had to allow a detained teenager have an abortion
, but it's not as inflammatory as that sounds.
Their ruling was on procedural grounds, as the teen had already had an abortion, rendering the entire case moot. The court simultaneously declined to punish the plaintiff's lawyers in that situation, as the Trump administration had requested, stating that "lawyers have ethical obligations to their clients and not all communication breakdowns constitute misconduct." Also, this end statement on the article. “When ‘a civil case from a court in the federal system … has become moot while on its way here,’ the court’s ‘established practice’ is ‘to reverse or vacate the judgment below and remand with a direction to dismiss,’” the court said.
Pretty much, but for reasons that have been fairly well-established by this point.
edited 4th Jun '18 8:14:34 AM by ironballs16
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"This struck me when I saw it.
Nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it.
Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor.”
edited 4th Jun '18 8:13:25 AM by megaeliz
The court ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission was based on concerns that the Civil Rights Commission was acting with anti-religious bias and thus violating the Free Exercise Clause. Freedom of the arts was not the issue for the majority opinions, just Gorsuch's concurrence addressed that point.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
x6 Finally getting a chance to read about it deeper, although the court case was about Religious Liberty, they didn't actually answer the question about whether people have the right to discriminate on Religious Grounds; they simply issued a limited ruling that said that Colorado's law that disallowed discrimination based on sexual orientation was too broad and didn't take into account people's First Amendment Rights.
It's still bad; it's showing that the court, even with 4 liberal justices, is determining that the Constitution allows for discrimination on Religious Grounds, essentially meaning that the 1st Amendment trumps the 14th, instead of treating the amendments as equal. We're soon going to get cases where Black People are denied service in businesses because their Religion dictates Black people are inferior to White People, and it would stand because the 1st trumps the 14th.
The only positive is that the State and Federal Governments can not discriminate based on religious grounds because the State and Federal Governments are, by law, supposed to be irreligious.
edited 4th Jun '18 8:20:11 AM by DingoWalley1
Breitbart article: Richard Grenell, US's ambassador to Germany, plans to use his position to help empower hard-right parties in Europe.
Article in notes:note
"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."a bbc article I found about the same thing
![]()
edited 4th Jun '18 9:06:22 AM by Ultimatum
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverThe Breitbart interview is the original source, but I put the interview in notes and here's a BBC article on it.
And I got
'd on the BBC article.
edited 4th Jun '18 9:07:01 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."He's parroting Fox here. My grandma told me that constitutional scholars on Fox said a president can't be impeached, and wouldn't believe me even after I pulled up the constitutional clause regarding impeachment.
edited 4th Jun '18 9:15:17 AM by megaeliz
@Dingo: The Supreme Court decision won't make it possible to deny service to black people, it was made very clear that this was a ruling for a specific case and no precedent was set for other situations.
This is likely due the fact you could argue the baker refused to make the cake because the ceremony violated his religious beliefs, not the couple itself.
edited 4th Jun '18 9:22:02 AM by Grafite
Life is unfair...http://fortune.com/2018/06/04/screw-king-wurth-invest-us-donald-trump-tariffs-trade-war/
Well, some people are taking the fight to Trump.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

edited 4th Jun '18 7:33:26 AM by PushoverMediaCritic