TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

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

danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#244502: Jun 5th 2018 at 4:51:05 PM

Lovely. If you haven't already, folks, definitely start investing in mutual funds and your 401(k). Republicans have been trying to dismantle the social safety net for years, and it seems their efforts are finally starting to bear some twisted, rotten fruit.

fruitpork Since: Oct, 2010
#244503: Jun 5th 2018 at 5:33:34 PM

this news will embolden them to destroy what little social net there is left.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#244504: Jun 5th 2018 at 5:40:03 PM

[up] Whatever happened to "the greatest good for the greatest number, in the longest run." (Gifford Pinchot)

They benefited from this social safety net, now they want to destroy it for us.

edited 5th Jun '18 5:41:42 PM by megaeliz

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#244505: Jun 5th 2018 at 5:46:34 PM

Facebook Gave Data Access to Chinese Firm Flagged by U.S. Intelligence

Facebook has data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese electronics companies, including a manufacturing giant that has a close relationship with China’s government, the social media company said on Tuesday.

The agreements, which date to at least 2010, gave private access to some user data to Huawei, a telecommunications equipment company that has been flagged by American intelligence officials as a national security threat, as well as to Lenovo, Oppo and TCL.

The four partnerships remain in effect, but Facebook officials said in an interview that the company would wind down the Huawei deal by the end of the week.

Facebook gave access to the Chinese device makers along with other manufacturers — including Amazon, Apple, Black Berry and Samsung — whose agreements were disclosed by The New York Times on Sunday.

The deals gave Facebook an early foothold in the mobile market starting in 2007, before stand-alone Facebook apps worked well on phones, and allowed device makers to offer some Facebook features, such as address books, “like” buttons and status updates.

Facebook officials said the agreements with the Chinese companies allowed them access similar to what was offered to Black Berry, which could retrieve detailed information on both device users and all of their friends — including work and education history, relationship status and likes.

Facebook officials said that the data shared with Huawei stayed on its phone, not the company’s servers.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia pointed out that concerns about Huawei were not new, citing a 2012 congressional report on the “close relationships between the Chinese Communist Party and equipment makers like Huawei.”

“I look forward to learning more about how Facebook ensured that information about their users was not sent to Chinese servers,” said Mr. Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee.

“All Facebook’s integrations with Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were controlled from the get-go — and Facebook approved everything that was built,” said Francisco Varela, a Facebook vice president. “Given the interest from Congress, we wanted to make clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on the device, not on Huawei’s servers.”

Banned in China since 2009, Facebook in recent years has quietly sought to gain a foothold there. The company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, has tried to cultivate a relationship with China’s president, Xi Jinping, and put in an appearance at one of the country’s top universities. Last year, Facebook released a photo-sharing app in China that was a near replica of its Moments app, but did not put its name to it. And the company has worked on a tool that allowed targeted censorship, prompting some employees to quit over the project.

Still, the company has struggled to gain momentum, and in January a Facebook executive in charge of courting China’s government left after spending three years on a charm campaign to get the social media service back in the country.

None of the Chinese device makers who have partnerships with Facebook responded to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Huawei was the recipient of billions of dollars in lines of credit from China’s massive state-owned policy banks, helping to fuel its overseas expansion in Africa, Europe and Latin America. Its founder, Ren Zhengfei, is a former engineer in the People’s Liberation Army.

By one measure it is now the world’s biggest telecom equipment maker, not only selling phones but also key pieces of network infrastructure.

Lawmakers in the United States have been wary of the company for years, and have recommended that American carriers avoid buying its network gear.

In January, The Times reported that AT&T had decided not to sell Huawei’s newest smartphone, the Mate 10.

The Trump administration has taken aim at Huawei and its rival ZTE in recent weeks, and in April the Federal Communications Commission advanced a plan to bar federally subsidized telecom companies from using suppliers that are considered national security threats.

Wryte Since: Jul, 2010
#244506: Jun 5th 2018 at 5:48:14 PM

These people operate on a strict binary world view of winners and losers. There is no such thing as mutually winning; if someone else is winning, they must be losing, and therefore it is not enough that they be winning, or merely winning more, or even winning by the most, everyone else has to be losing.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#244507: Jun 5th 2018 at 5:53:07 PM

We need the completely inaccurate depiction of game theory in A Beautiful Mind to be shared with some people.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Kaiseror Since: Jul, 2016
#244508: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:07:43 PM

Well that's just perfect, my brother's on Medicaid...Motherfuckers!

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#244509: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:08:28 PM

So is my wife.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#244510: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:16:51 PM

Polls are closing for the State Primaries in several states. There's also a special election for a State Senate seat in Missouri, and current projections have the Democrats flipping another seat; with 44% of the vote in, Democrat Lauren Arthur has 61% of the vote compared to Republican Kevin Corlew. Previously held by Republican Ryan Silvey, who won the 2016 Election by 61%, this district also went for Trump by 5%.

Considering this is one of the last Special Elections before November, this is very positive news for Democrats who have been worrying about the much needed Bluewave.

edited 5th Jun '18 6:30:23 PM by DingoWalley1

kazuauchiha from Springfield, MO Since: Jul, 2017 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#244511: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:21:47 PM

That's good. Democrats need every one of those seats. Make Missouri blue again.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#244512: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:25:19 PM

Fox News apologizes after being called out for using a picture of Philadelphia Eagles players praying for anti-kneeling protest propaganda.

edited 5th Jun '18 6:25:39 PM 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."
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#244513: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:29:08 PM

Dropped off my ballot. Another hour and and a half before voting is done here in California.

DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#244514: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:32:10 PM

I'm hearing that Lauren Arthur has officially been called the winner in Missouri; so congrats to Lauren Arthur and Missouri Democrats!

With her gigantic win, I'm willing to put Missouri in the 'Very Winnable' column (with Georgia) for this year.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244515: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:37:26 PM

[up][up] The Mail by Vote Tracking System finally confirmed they received my vote, though I received assurances from the Registrar office that my vote was received on 5/30.

That's one of the risks of voting by mail, especially when you work overseas on the other side of the planet.

Disgusted, but not surprised
TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#244516: Jun 5th 2018 at 6:53:24 PM

[up][up] From a quick google search and an article in a Missouri newspaper, the area was considered to lean slightly Democratic, (despite going pretty strong for a Republican the last few times around) so it's not a winning Alabama or almost flipping Virginia's state government achievement, but it's certainly a good step.

In NJ's second district, where moderate Republican Frank LoBiondo stepped down after 24 years in Congress, a somewhat Conservative Democrat named Jeff Van Drew walked away with the race. Van Drew had the backing of the state politics, which is always a kingmaker in Jersey politics, and had managed not to attract negative media attention despite being called out on his positive NRA rating and some questionable votes such as voting against gay marriage.

The Republicans had to scramble to find candidates, with an engineer, a lawyer/former Atlantic City Councilman, and a former Assemblyman being the big three contenders. The vote was very tight earlier (less than 500 votes separating 1st from 3rd) but right now it looks like the lawyer is starting to pull away, despite the engineer having been the favorite of the state party.

In the NJ 7th, where Republican incumbent Leonard Lance is one of the biggest targets for Democrats in the whole country despite him bucking the Republican party on a number of occasions, Obama era Tom Malinkowsi, (former diplomat and Assistant Secretary of State) crushed everyone on the Democratic side, and still got a strong turnout despite his win being expected.

The 11th saw the Democrat's preferred candidate, a former Navy pilot and prosector, win easily. It's still somewhat up in the air for Republicans, although Assemblyman Jay Webber has a slight lead over the rest of the Republican pack.

edited 5th Jun '18 7:04:28 PM by TheWanderer

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#244517: Jun 5th 2018 at 7:04:33 PM

That's good news about Missouri.

Do not obey in advance.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#244518: Jun 5th 2018 at 7:14:08 PM

[up][up] While it is true that that district leaned Democrat on a more local level, Mrs. Arthur did beat her opponent by 20%, and the last State Sen. for this district (who was a Republican) had also won it by 20%. It's a real, meaningful win, even if it's not as potent as Jones' winning Alabama.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#244519: Jun 5th 2018 at 7:53:56 PM

Once again, George Conway's Twitter strikes me for how different it is from Kellyanne's.

He responded to someone's response to trump's appointment of a special counsel being unconsitutional tweet, and it's actually pretty good.

If this is true, you'd think Trump's ex-campaign chairman would've made this argument since he's facing a potential life sentence. But he hasn't.

And if this were true, you’d think this conservative Republican-controlled Department of Justice would revoke or decline to utilize the Special Counsel regulations. But it hasn’t.

He even follows Renato Mariotti, and has been been retweeting people like Jake Tapper, and people like that, about Trump's legal jeopardy, and taking a knee.

edited 5th Jun '18 7:58:28 PM by megaeliz

rikalous World's Cutest Direwolf from Upscale Mordor (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
World's Cutest Direwolf
#244520: Jun 5th 2018 at 8:01:29 PM

It makes a lot more sense if you assume that both major parties are gonna have platforms that can be reasonably and morally supported, with all the clear dickweasels relegated to the voteless fringe. I find the naivete endearing, to be honest, though we'll see how I feel when the votes are counted.

Anyway, poll's just closed so I supposed that's that.

edited 5th Jun '18 8:01:57 PM by rikalous

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244521: Jun 5th 2018 at 8:06:07 PM

We narrowly avoided having a damn Neo-Nazi on the ballot. We're well past the point of being able to believe everyone will be reasonable.

edited 5th Jun '18 8:07:18 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#244523: Jun 5th 2018 at 8:07:49 PM

It also just occurred to me that I might be the harshest critic of California in this forum. I've been looking back at my old posts concerning California, and almost all of them are pretty negative.

Disgusted, but not surprised
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#244524: Jun 5th 2018 at 8:11:15 PM

In general I think this forum is pretty fair about understanding that no place is in the country is free of the evils that ail it, even if certain places are definitely way worse about it.

At places like say, Daily Kos, not so much.

kazuauchiha from Springfield, MO Since: Jul, 2017 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
#244525: Jun 5th 2018 at 8:14:22 PM

The jungle primary system assumes that both sides put forward reasonable candidates. Apparently that didn't happen. You guys really should reconsider. Yay for MO.[lol]


Total posts: 417,856
Top