maqroll Posted May 23, 2016 Author Share Posted May 23, 2016 1 hour ago, villakram said: Gary Johnson will also be on the poll in all 50 states. No that it necessarily helps, but I'd certainly rate him higher than those other two bread & circus clowns. Yep, with former Massachusetts GOP governor Bill Weld as his VP pick. Socially liberal, economically conservative, although that might be a contradiction in terms! Libertarian candidates have never really had much of an impact in American politics, sorry Levy . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 36 minutes ago, maqroll said: Yep, with former Massachusetts GOP governor Bill Weld as his VP pick. Socially liberal, economically conservative, although that might be a contradiction in terms! Libertarian candidates have never really had much of an impact in American politics, sorry Levy . He was on the Joe Rogan podcast last week and did well for the most part, though he's clearly shaky on foreign policy. But, given that this is a long unscripted 1-1 interview, I would view his ability to tackle it as a huge plus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Here we go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarewsEyebrowDesigner Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 It will be fun/terrifying to watch the US eat itself over the long summer of campaigning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tegis Posted May 24, 2016 VT Supporter Share Posted May 24, 2016 14 hours ago, villakram said: He was on the Joe Rogan podcast last week and did well for the most part, though he's clearly shaky on foreign policy. But, given that this is a long unscripted 1-1 interview, I would view his ability to tackle it as a huge plus. I saw that one, it was a nice change to see a proper candidate chatting away without having the agenda pushing TV-hosts interrupting, or another candidate bugging in all the time. Thats a format I hope gets a foothold in politics to get a better feel for the persons. As you said, he had some weird assumptions about Europe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 Well then...looks like a Trump-Sanders debate is going to happen soon with both parties agreeing to one in principle. Sanders wants it to happen yesterday, so we shall see. It could potentially be a massive event, in fact, it will be if it happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villaphan04 Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 so it has come down to Hillary and Trump, probably two worst candidates in history. And yesterday they took to twitter to confront each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted June 10, 2016 Share Posted June 10, 2016 I just caught Hillary's logo there out of the corner of my eye. For one fraction of a horrid second, I thought she'd changed her logo to Small Heath's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 Just seen a bit of Trump's speech calling in to question previous generations of US immigration. Is he trying for the Native American vote? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chindie Posted June 13, 2016 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted June 13, 2016 2 minutes ago, snowychap said: Just seen a bit of Trump's speech calling in to question previous generations of US immigration. Is he trying for the Native American vote? He's actually questioning his own existence. Going for the philosophical vote. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted June 13, 2016 Share Posted June 13, 2016 We'll be issued mandatory AR-15s with our SSNs soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderPower_14 Posted June 14, 2016 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Obama's speech compared to Clinton and Trump's efforts on the Orlando massacre show just how much they are downgrading this election. Sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted June 14, 2016 Author Share Posted June 14, 2016 41 minutes ago, ThunderPower_14 said: Obama's speech compared to Clinton and Trump's efforts on the Orlando massacre show just how much they are downgrading this election. Sad. It's all just rhetoric, at the end of the day. Chances are whatever Obama said was written by some ass kissing flunky with a fancy college degree. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 Quote The US Senate has rejected plans to tighten gun controls, including the restriction of weapons sales to people on terrorism watch lists. Four proposals were brought before the Senate after 49 people died in an attack on a gay nightclub in Florida. But Democratic and Republican senators voted along party lines, blocking each other's bills. Senators strongly disagreed about how to prevent more attacks happening in future. Republican Senator John Cornyn said: "Our colleagues want to make this about gun control when what we should be making this about is the fight to eliminate the Islamic extremism that is the root cause for what happened in Orlando. "My colleagues in many ways want to treat the symptoms without fighting the disease." For her part, Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski said: "Why is it we would go through such incredible scrutiny to board an airplane to protect me against terrorist, and yet we have no scrutiny of the people on the terrorist watch list to be able to buy a gun?" Analysis - Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington Monday night's vote on stricter gun regulation was a textbook illustration of modern political dysfunction in the US Congress. With the public firmly supporting legislative action, both sides of the partisan divide came up with their own bills, both sides largely voted only for their proposals, and in the end nothing was accomplished. Republicans accused Democrats of giving the government the power to arbitrarily prevent Americans from exercising their constitutional right to own a firearm based on a secretive "terrorist watch list" with no judicial oversight. Democrats charged Republicans with being more concerned with the support of the National Rifle Association than preventing the next gun-related massacre. There is still the possibility of further Senate action - Susan Collins, a moderate Republican from Maine, is attempting to craft a bipartisan compromise. But even if the Senate were to act, there are no indications that the House of Representatives - which contains conservative politicians more at risk of being unseated by a primary challenge from their right than a general-election defeat - would even take a vote on such the bill. Unless this dynamic changes, and politicians begin to fear consequences at the November ballot box, the gun-regulation deadlock is likely to endure. Image copyrightREUTERS Image captionThe killings of 49 people in Orlando prompted the Senate's gun debate Republicans and members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) complained that the bills put forward by the Democrats violated the constitutional right to bear arms. They are concerned that without enough "due process", law-abiding Americans wrongly named on watch lists would be prevented from buying weapons. Democrats said the Republican proposals were too weak. Eight days before the Senate's vote on Monday, Omar Mateen shot 49 people dead and injured many more in the worst mass shooting in recent US history. Mateen was a US citizen who had been known to the FBI since 2013 but was not on a terrorism watch list at the time. In the US, gun dealers are licensed by the federal government. People can be prevented from buying weapons if they have mental health problems or are guilty of serious crimes, but there is no specific prohibition for those on the terrorism watch list. There are currently about one million people on that list. There are other ways to buy guns - at gun shows, or from a private vendor online - that do not require any background checks. The Senate voted down legislation that would have closed a gun show loophole and expanded background checks to cover private sales. Also rejected were: A bill to ban suspects on terrorism watch lists from buying guns A bill (backed by the NRA) that would allow the US attorney general to delay a gun purchase by a known or suspected terrorist, but prosecutors would need to convince a judge of the would-be-buyer's connection to terrorism within three days A bill that would alert the FBI to terrorism suspects who have purchased a gun, without blocking the purchase outright US newspaper reaction "A week after Orlando, Republicans protect terrorists' right to bear arms" says the Dana Milbank in the Washington Post. He calls it an "absurd situation" where Republican senators put the US Constitution's Second Amendment above national security concerns. He says "Monday night was the best chance yet to block would-be terrorists from getting guns, and, as before, the Republican majority chose not to act." The New York Daily News featured a mocked-up image of a blood-soaked Capitol building. "The only thing that's changed is the body count," wrote Cameron Joseph. "It felt like Groundhog Day on Capitol Hill." Image copyrightNEW YORK DAILY NEWS USA Today called the vote "an extraordinary act of cowardice". The newspaper's editorial wrote: "These spineless lawmakers voted against advancing a commonsense measure. "Monday's votes showed, once again, that too many members are too cowed by the gun lobby to take the actions necessary to save lives." Last week one Democrat took the House floor for nearly 15 hours to demand action on gun control, after the attack on Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy held the floor on Wednesday night in a "filibuster," a tactic that enables lawmakers to block proceedings. The filibuster came to an end when Republicans eventually agreed to hold votes on measures for expanding background checks and preventing people on terrorism watch lists from obtaining guns. After Monday's vote, Mr Murphy said the Senate's inaction had compounded the suffering of victims of gun violence. He said: "I believe that for all of the scarring psychological harm that comes with losing a loved one or a neighbour, more harm is piled on when you find out that the people that you elected to run your country just don't care. "It hurts something awful when you lose someone, but it gets worse when your leaders are silent, are totally silent, in the face of your personal horror." Though partisan differences plague debate in the Republican-dominated chamber, the bills reflect a shift in American sentiment on guns. Senator Susan Collins from Maine is working with fellow Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte on a compromise bill to prohibit the sale of guns to terrorism suspects on the no-fly list, and to create an appeals process for people who might be on the list by mistake. Unbelievable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 (edited) Not really... I mean when a guy walks into a primary school and massacres a whole bunch of the smallest and most innocent of us and nothing happens, why do you think they'll really care about dead people in a gay nightclub in a state full of Latinos. They are trying to ram through the most empty of new laws on the back of Turrorism, turrorism, tur.... I always remember the reactions of people in the UK/Ireland when Dunblane happened. It couldn't have been more different over here, lots of hot air and posing for the posterity, but so depressingly vacuous and two faced. Edited June 21, 2016 by villakram 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Quote Gun-control protest sparks chaotic scenes in US Congress 1 hour ago There have been chaotic scenes in the lower house of the US Congress as Democrats staged a sit-in to demand a vote on gun control legislation. The protest comes in the wake of the recent shootings in Orlando, the deadliest in modern US history. Republicans adjourned the House early on Thursday to try to quash the sit-in, switching off the TV cameras. But about two dozen Democrats remained, streaming speeches live via phones despite breaking rules on broadcasting. The transmissions via Periscope and Facebook Live were taken up by the C-Span network, which provides continual coverage of Congress. One Democrat congressman, Scott Peters, who provided a feed, said the sit-in was breaking rules anyway. The Democrats' protest follows the gun attack on 12 June, when a man claiming allegiance to the so-called Islamic State group, Omar Mateen, killed 49 people at the Pulse club in Orlando, Florida. An online streaming milestone, by Dave Lee, BBC technology reporter Compared to the pressing issue at hand, discussing technology may seem trivial. But the way in which the outside world got to witness the Democrats' sit-in will surely be considered a defining point for live online streaming. With cameras shut off, US public service broadcaster C-Span resorted to running pictures being broadcast on Periscope, the live-streaming app owned by Twitter. The pictures were being filmed not by some social media intern or techy onlooker, but by Democrat Scott Peters on his smartphone. Other feeds sprang up via Facebook Live, while CNN even managed to Apple's FaceTime to conduct a live interview with Democratic representative Steve Israel on the House floor (until he was politely asked to move into the corridor). Follow Dave Lee on Twitter @DaveLeeBBC By Wednesday evening, some 168 House Democrats (out of 188) and 34 senators (out of 44) were on the floor of the House, some literally sitting on it. As the protest reached its 10th hour, Speaker Paul Ryan tried to restore control with a recess. He banged his gavel and tried to ignore the outbursts but amid Democrat shouts of "Shame! Shame!" he left the podium. Image copyrightAP Image captionThe sit-in was led by Democrat Representative John Lewis (centre) Democrats began singing "We shall overcome" and held up the names of gun attack victims. The floor of the House became chaotic, with Republicans and Democrats shouting at each other. Some Democratic representatives brought in sleeping bags, pillow and blankets, others doughnuts for colleagues. After a brief adjournment, the House resumed business at 02:30, with the majority Republicans voting through a number of bills. They then called an adjournment until after 4 July, reminding lawmakers that transmitting images and video broke House rules. But Democrats shouted their new campaign slogan "No bill, no break!" and remained on the floor, streaming speeches live. Representative Eric Swalwell told the BBC that the lawmakers would stay through the night. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said: "Just because they cut and run in the dark of night, just because they have left, doesn't mean we are taking no for an answer." The BBC's Laura Bicker in Washington says the protest follows years of Democrat frustration at being unable to pass stricter gun control measures. She says that although 100 bills have gone before Congress in the past five years and all have failed, this is an election year and Democrats are making it clear to the electorate that if they want change, they know which way to vote in November. 'Tears of grief' The sit-in is being led by congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. "What has this body done [to respond to the violence]?'' Mr Lewis asked. "Nothing. We have turned a deaf ear to the blood of innocents. We are blind to a crisis. Where is our courage? How many more mothers... and fathers need to shed tears of grief?" Image copyrightEPA Image captionSupporters of the Democratic representatives gathered outside the US Capitol Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell: "It's a momentous day" President Barack Obama took to Twitter to thank Mr Lewis "for leading on gun violence where we need it most". Republicans dismissed the protest as a publicity stunt. Representative Kevin Cramer said: "I have no objection to them making fools of themselves on TV." Paul Ryan told CNN he would not bring a gun-control vote in the House. "They know that we will not bring a bill that takes away a person's constitutionally guaranteed rights without... due process," he said. Respect i would vote for them based on this alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Some Republicans truly are disgusting human beings. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_c Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 You an legally buy a gun, whilst on the terrorism watch list. They really aren't safe to run themselves and should be made to succeed power back to European rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 1 hour ago, lapal_fan said: Some Republicans truly are disgusting human beings. Guarantee you most of them have shares in these gun making companies thats probably why Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaglint Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Does it seem to anyone else that the US always vote for the polar opposite of what they have every two terms. Clinton (Bill) - charismatic, reviving a progressive agenda albeit with centrist leaning. Militarily lets bomb from afar. Bush - folksy, questionable intelligence, very hard line right wing with a desire to get boots on the ground in every country he could. Obama - thoughtful, rational, charismatic and pragmatic to the point of frustration by many. Clinton (Hilary) - maybe first android to pass the Turing Test. Trump - absolute lunatic and the biggest danger to world peace that currently exists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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