[News] Post a Political News Story

Ongoing discussion of the political news of the day. This thread is for 'smaller' stories that don't call for their own thread. If a story blows up, please start a new thread for it.

Gremlin wrote:

The South Korea government's tacit policy for quite a while has been to to soft pedal reunification because they know exactly how hard it would be and don't think they have the resources to deal with it.

They definitely don't want outsiders coming in and breaking things again.

Pretty much.

It is interesting to see how the Lee Scandal in conjunction with an incomprehensibly incompetent US foreign policy vis a vis Korea has resulted in an unprecedented opportunity for an informal detente between North and South Korea. I hope they are able to use this breathing space to progress toward normalized relations. This may be the only upside to Trump's inability to demonstrate anything resembling global leadership.

Paleocon wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

The South Korea government's tacit policy for quite a while has been to to soft pedal reunification because they know exactly how hard it would be and don't think they have the resources to deal with it.

They definitely don't want outsiders coming in and breaking things again.

Pretty much.

It is interesting to see how the Lee Scandal in conjunction with an incomprehensibly incompetent US foreign policy vis a vis Korea has resulted in an unprecedented opportunity for an informal detente between North and South Korea. I hope they are able to use this breathing space to progress toward normalized relations. This may be the only upside to Trump's inability to demonstrate anything resembling global leadership.

Don;t worry, Mike Pence is desperately working to prevent any such eventuality.

thrawn82 wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

The South Korea government's tacit policy for quite a while has been to to soft pedal reunification because they know exactly how hard it would be and don't think they have the resources to deal with it.

They definitely don't want outsiders coming in and breaking things again.

Pretty much.

It is interesting to see how the Lee Scandal in conjunction with an incomprehensibly incompetent US foreign policy vis a vis Korea has resulted in an unprecedented opportunity for an informal detente between North and South Korea. I hope they are able to use this breathing space to progress toward normalized relations. This may be the only upside to Trump's inability to demonstrate anything resembling global leadership.

Don;t worry, Mike Pence is desperately working to prevent any such eventuality.

I'm not sure that shaking his head and pointing his permanent "you've disappointed Mother and me, son" look at them is going to help here, unfortunately.

thrawn82 wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

And you thought Roy Moore was bad.
Holocaust denier poised to claim GOP nomination in Illinois race for Congress

Arthur Jones — an outspoken Holocaust denier, activist anti-Semite and white supremacist — is poised to become the Republican nominee for an Illinois congressional seat representing parts of Chicago and nearby suburbs.

It's a state seat, not a national one, but still:

It's a national seat—mine. Incumbent is a DINO.

So it's a lose-lose election, which reminds me of the state of affairs in my home state of NC, but i feel like you lose more electing a literal Nazi than you do electing a third-way democrat.

Marie Newman is running against Lipinski in the primary, as discussed in the linked article. More here.

The Enlightenment Is Working - Don’t listen to the gloom-sayers. The world has improved by every measure of human flourishing over the past two centuries, and the progress continues, writes Steven Pinker.

For all their disagreements, the left and the right concur on one thing: The world is getting worse. Whether the decline is visible in inequality, racism and pollution, or in terrorism, crime and moral decay, both sides see profound failings in modernity and a deepening crisis in the West. They look back to various golden ages when America was great, blue-collar workers thrived in unionized jobs, and people found meaning in religion, family, community and nature.

Such gloominess is decidedly un-American. The U.S. was founded on the Enlightenment ideal that human ingenuity and benevolence could be channeled by institutions and result in progress. This concept may feel naive as we confront our biggest predicaments, but we can only understand where we are if we know how far we’ve come.

You can always fool yourself into seeing a decline if you compare rose-tinted images of the past with bleeding headlines of the present. What do the trajectories of the nation and world look like when we measure human well-being over time with a constant yardstick? Let’s look at the numbers (most of which can be found on websites such as OurWorldinData, HumanProgress and Gapminder).

Consider the U.S. just three decades ago. Our annual homicide rate was 8.5 per 100,000. Eleven percent of us fell below the poverty line (as measured by consumption). And we spewed 20 million tons of sulfur dioxide and 34.5 million tons of particulate matter into the atmosphere.

Fast forward to the most recent numbers available today. The homicide rate is 5.3 (a blip up from 4.4 in 2014). Three percent of us fall below the consumption poverty line. And we emit four million tons of sulfur dioxide and 20.6 million tons of particulates, despite generating more wealth and driving more miles.

Globally, the 30-year scorecard also favors the present. In 1988, 23 wars raged, killing people at a rate of 3.4 per 100,000; today it’s 12 wars killing 1.2 per 100,000. The number of nuclear weapons has fallen from 60,780 to 10,325. In 1988, the world had just 45 democracies, embracing two billion people; today it has 103, embracing 4.1 billion. That year saw 46 oil spills; 2016, just five. And 37% of the population lived in extreme poverty, barely able to feed themselves, compared with 9.6% today. True, 2016 was a bad year for terrorism in Western Europe, with 238 deaths. But 1988 was even worse, with 440.

The headway made around the turn of the millennium is not a fluke. It’s a continuation of a process set in motion by the Enlightenment in the late 18th century that has brought improvements in every measure of human flourishing.

I might need better argumentation about "by every measure" and the causation argument.

Is Pinker deliberately avoiding mention of co2?

Puerto Rico is still in trouble, entry #130: Listen to ‘The Daily’: Puerto Rico’s Mental Health Crisis

A lot of people there have PTSD now, the aftermath of the hurricane made things a lot worse for everyone who was struggling with mental health issues previously, and the federal government completely abandoning you is a pretty legit reason to be depressed in the first place.

The suicide rate in Puerto Rico has gone up by 25 percent from last year. [Source]

Suicide rate in Puerto Rico from 2000-2017. Note the jump from 2016 and 2017. Still not the highest of last 17 years but a significant jump from 2016 to 2017, year of Hurricane María [Source]

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/sbqAhNC.png)

And notice difference in suicides in Puerto Rico the 2017 months (light tan) after Hurricane María when compared to same months in 2016.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVtmF83VQAAgio3.jpg)

NYT: This Flu Season Is Now the Worst in Years. Here’s Why. (Updated on Feb. 9, 2018.)

How many usually die?
Even in a mild year, flu kills about 12,000 Americans, the C.D.C. estimates. In a bad year, it kills up to 56,000. More than 80 percent of those deaths are usually among the elderly, but flu also kills middle-aged adults with underlying problems like heart or lung disease, diabetes, immune suppression or obesity. It is also dangerous for pregnant women, children under age 5 and children with asthma. This year, Americans aged 50 to 64 — part of the baby boom generation — are being hospitalized at unusually high rates, for reasons that are still unclear. In 2014-2015, flu hospitalization rates for that age group were 35 per 100,000 people; they are now at 63 per 100,000.

Diagnosed flu cases are double over the previous year in Japan and the most since a year in the 90s (don't remember the exact year and don't have the article handy). Get your vaccinations folks!

NPR: Explosion At Substation Plunges Parts Of Puerto Rico Into Darkness Once Again

Much of northern Puerto Rico that had seen power finally restored months after Hurricane Maria, was in darkness again on Sunday following an explosion and fire at an electrical substation.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA, says several areas are without power, after an explosion and fire at the substation in Monacillo on the outskirts of the capital, San Juan.

NPR's Adrian Florido, reporting from San Juan, says the blackout affects the heavily populated northern part of the island after the explosion that occurred at about 9 p.m. Sunday.

As of Sunday, a third of the utility's customers were still without electricity after losing it in the wake of Maria in September, Adrian says.

PREPA says it does not yet know what caused the explosion, but that it is optimistic that the substation could be repaired and that power could be restored within a day.

Gremlin wrote:

NYT: This Flu Season Is Now the Worst in Years. Here’s Why. (Updated on Feb. 9, 2018.)

How many usually die?
Even in a mild year, flu kills about 12,000 Americans, the C.D.C. estimates. In a bad year, it kills up to 56,000. More than 80 percent of those deaths are usually among the elderly, but flu also kills middle-aged adults with underlying problems like heart or lung disease, diabetes, immune suppression or obesity. It is also dangerous for pregnant women, children under age 5 and children with asthma. This year, Americans aged 50 to 64 — part of the baby boom generation — are being hospitalized at unusually high rates, for reasons that are still unclear. In 2014-2015, flu hospitalization rates for that age group were 35 per 100,000 people; they are now at 63 per 100,000.

Here's why! We don't know!

Heh, that was my immediate reaction too.

I found this story from NBC a little disturbing: Trump's core supporters won't reject him. It would mean rejecting their own values.

The base idea is "His voters never wanted him to keep his promises. They wanted someone who would believe in making them at all." They only care that he's indicating shared values so it doesn't matter if he actually follows through - in fact, they'll see outsiders pointing that out as "persecution" that strengthens their support.

Perhaps most importantly, as communion followers, those in the Trump base are likely to see attacks on him as attacks on them personally, because they recognize Trump as a values leader, not a political one. Opposition to him is opposition to those values — their values. So, when reporters ask, “Do you still support Trump?” they hear, “Do you still support your own values?”

I'm at a loss as to what to do about something like this, politically. Maybe the answer is "nothing" - there's 30% of the electorate that is never going to support any "left" position and that just needs to be accepted.

qaraq wrote:

I found this story from NBC a little disturbing: Trump's core supporters won't reject him. It would mean rejecting their own values.

The base idea is "His voters never wanted him to keep his promises. They wanted someone who would believe in making them at all." They only care that he's indicating shared values so it doesn't matter if he actually follows through - in fact, they'll see outsiders pointing that out as "persecution" that strengthens their support.

Perhaps most importantly, as communion followers, those in the Trump base are likely to see attacks on him as attacks on them personally, because they recognize Trump as a values leader, not a political one. Opposition to him is opposition to those values — their values. So, when reporters ask, “Do you still support Trump?” they hear, “Do you still support your own values?”

I'm at a loss as to what to do about something like this, politically. Maybe the answer is "nothing" - there's 30% of the electorate that is never going to support any "left" position and that just needs to be accepted.

That’s a cult.

DSGamer wrote:
qaraq wrote:

I found this story from NBC a little disturbing: Trump's core supporters won't reject him. It would mean rejecting their own values.

The base idea is "His voters never wanted him to keep his promises. They wanted someone who would believe in making them at all." They only care that he's indicating shared values so it doesn't matter if he actually follows through - in fact, they'll see outsiders pointing that out as "persecution" that strengthens their support.

Perhaps most importantly, as communion followers, those in the Trump base are likely to see attacks on him as attacks on them personally, because they recognize Trump as a values leader, not a political one. Opposition to him is opposition to those values — their values. So, when reporters ask, “Do you still support Trump?” they hear, “Do you still support your own values?”

I'm at a loss as to what to do about something like this, politically. Maybe the answer is "nothing" - there's 30% of the electorate that is never going to support any "left" position and that just needs to be accepted.

That’s a cult.

If they were brainwashed into the cult, they can be... persuaded out of the cult. Just give it 20 years.

I never appreciated how powerful populism was until Trump.

farley3k wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

NYT: This Flu Season Is Now the Worst in Years. Here’s Why. (Updated on Feb. 9, 2018.)

How many usually die?
Even in a mild year, flu kills about 12,000 Americans, the C.D.C. estimates. In a bad year, it kills up to 56,000. More than 80 percent of those deaths are usually among the elderly, but flu also kills middle-aged adults with underlying problems like heart or lung disease, diabetes, immune suppression or obesity. It is also dangerous for pregnant women, children under age 5 and children with asthma. This year, Americans aged 50 to 64 — part of the baby boom generation — are being hospitalized at unusually high rates, for reasons that are still unclear. In 2014-2015, flu hospitalization rates for that age group were 35 per 100,000 people; they are now at 63 per 100,000.

Here's why! We don't know!

the old Click Bait and Switch

JeffreyLSmith wrote:

If they were brainwashed into the cult, they can be... persuaded out of the cult. Just give it 20 years.

I never appreciated how powerful populism was until Trump.

I never appreciated how deep the racism in this country is until Trump. The Republicans aren't wearing any clothes, and Trump is the little kid who pointed it out and decided that walking around naked was a winning strategy to get made emperor. And it worked...

I guess I should throw on the corruption too. there's a lot of blatant graft and money laundering going on:

WP: Senior federal rail official resigns over questions about ‘outside work,’ Transportation Department says

The deputy administrator of the nation’s top railroad safety agency has resigned after allegations were raised about “outside work” he took on while employed as a senior federal official, the Transportation Department said Saturday.

For weeks, the department had been facing media questions about the official, Heath Hall, a public relations professional and political consultant who served as a spokesman for a sheriff’s office in Mississippi before — and, apparently, sometimes during — his time in Washington at the Federal Railroad Administration.

Daniel Stevens, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability, an ethics group, said last week that Hall lacked any experience “for the critical job of overseeing America’s rail network” and also appears to have been “holding down a second job as a Mississippi public relations consultant in violation of federal law.”

But hey, at least there haven't been any major railroad safety incidents lately.

NTSB: Amtrak Washington Train Traveling At 80 MPH In 30 MPH Zone

NTSB Looks At Disabled Signals, Locked Switch In Latest Deadly Amtrak Crash

Train Carrying GOP Lawmakers Hits Garbage Truck In Virginia

Amtrak crash kills 2; injuries 116 in South Carolina

Investigators Say Deadly Train Crash Could’ve Been Avoided

Fatal Amtrak Crashes Spotlight Long Wait for Safety Upgrades
Amtrak bears the cost of accidents even if not at fault

Oh.

No bears attacked a school though, so some policies are working as intended.

Sessions pretty blatantly pandering to white nationalists with talks about sheriffs and Anglo-American heritage of Law Enforcement.

Spoiler:

Also probably trying to diminish the idea of a national, or say, federal, policing group, or, say investigative bureau.

Not that anyone in the administration is under investigation from any such hypothetical group.

farley3k wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

NYT: This Flu Season Is Now the Worst in Years. Here’s Why. (Updated on Feb. 9, 2018.)

How many usually die?
Even in a mild year, flu kills about 12,000 Americans, the C.D.C. estimates. In a bad year, it kills up to 56,000. More than 80 percent of those deaths are usually among the elderly, but flu also kills middle-aged adults with underlying problems like heart or lung disease, diabetes, immune suppression or obesity. It is also dangerous for pregnant women, children under age 5 and children with asthma. This year, Americans aged 50 to 64 — part of the baby boom generation — are being hospitalized at unusually high rates, for reasons that are still unclear. In 2014-2015, flu hospitalization rates for that age group were 35 per 100,000 people; they are now at 63 per 100,000.

Here's why! We don't know!

Early findings from Canada indicate a 17 percent effectiveness against the viral strain, known as H3N2, that’s been the main culprit of flu in the U.S. this winter.

17% is better than nothing I guess, but it's far below the 40-60% effectiveness average.

Demosthenes wrote:

Sessions pretty blatantly pandering to white nationalists with talks about sheriffs and Anglo-American heritage of Law Enforcement.

Spoiler:

Also probably trying to diminish the idea of a national, or say, federal, policing group, or, say investigative bureau.

Not that anyone in the administration is under investigation from any such hypothetical group.

I'd like to present a counterpoint to Sessions claims with a photo of the greatest Sheriff America has ever known.

IMAGE(https://thecolonialtheatre.com/col_wp/images/blazing-saddles-475.jpg)

Sessions is thinking more along the lines of this guy:

IMAGE(http://video.fandango.com/FandangoMovies/thumb_ExclusiveFeaturette_TheHatefulEight_Video_1600x1200_2681317497_gen.jpg)

Even beyond his whole business of white supremacy, the idea that "we should never erode this historic office" is already in and of itself problematic. The fact that we are, in the 21st century, still performing law enforcement with what are essentially enthusiastic amateurs is a large part of the reason law enforcement is so irreparably broken in America.

We need to professionalize policing. It is too important a task to be delegated to someone with less training than a North Carolina hairdresser.

Paleocon wrote:

We need to professionalize policing. It is too important a task to be delegated to someone with less training than a North Carolina hairdresser.

Plus, when the professional cops are being fired because they don't shoot people, I am worried about the standards for amateurs.

‘Just shoot me,’ an armed man told a cop. The officer didn’t — and was fired, his lawsuit claimed.

qaraq wrote:

I found this story from NBC a little disturbing: Trump's core supporters won't reject him. It would mean rejecting their own values.

The base idea is "His voters never wanted him to keep his promises. They wanted someone who would believe in making them at all." They only care that he's indicating shared values so it doesn't matter if he actually follows through - in fact, they'll see outsiders pointing that out as "persecution" that strengthens their support.

Perhaps most importantly, as communion followers, those in the Trump base are likely to see attacks on him as attacks on them personally, because they recognize Trump as a values leader, not a political one. Opposition to him is opposition to those values — their values. So, when reporters ask, “Do you still support Trump?” they hear, “Do you still support your own values?”

I'm at a loss as to what to do about something like this, politically. Maybe the answer is "nothing" - there's 30% of the electorate that is never going to support any "left" position and that just needs to be accepted.

In the "not surprising projection" department, this is exactly what his followers refer to as "virtue signaling".

Quintin_Stone wrote:
qaraq wrote:

I found this story from NBC a little disturbing: Trump's core supporters won't reject him. It would mean rejecting their own values.

The base idea is "His voters never wanted him to keep his promises. They wanted someone who would believe in making them at all." They only care that he's indicating shared values so it doesn't matter if he actually follows through - in fact, they'll see outsiders pointing that out as "persecution" that strengthens their support.

Perhaps most importantly, as communion followers, those in the Trump base are likely to see attacks on him as attacks on them personally, because they recognize Trump as a values leader, not a political one. Opposition to him is opposition to those values — their values. So, when reporters ask, “Do you still support Trump?” they hear, “Do you still support your own values?”

I'm at a loss as to what to do about something like this, politically. Maybe the answer is "nothing" - there's 30% of the electorate that is never going to support any "left" position and that just needs to be accepted.

In the "not surprising projection" department, this is exactly what his followers refer to as "virtue signaling".

Ironically, regardless of how that term is currently used it applies the MOST to Trump. He’s the virtue signaler-in-Chief. Just that the virtues are racism, xenophobia and misogyny.

Their worst idea since the tax cut.

This sounds incredibly expensive and almost impossible to do properly.