[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.

Meanwhile, in the "trade wars are easy to win" category...

One of the biggest telecommunications companies in the world is Huawei, based in China, which has long faced accusations that its equipment may include backdoors which allow access and surveillance by the Chinese. In April it pulled out of the US market, citing the impact the increased scrutiny has had on its operations there, and in August the US banned government agencies from buying equipment from them.

Now, just as the United States and China have supposedly reached a "ceasefire" in their trade war and are working towards solving the problems, the Chief Financial Officer of Huawei has been arrested in Canada for extradition to the US. No official reason has been given but it is likely that this is for suspected violations of US sanctions of Iran.

DSGamer wrote:

The thing I can't get out of my head is that all of this is happening in the context of climate change that will require unprecedented coordination across the planet on policy to solve. If we can't even figure out how to properly run a state-level democracy, what hope do we have of coordinating a climate change response across the entire planet?

It depresses me so much. Conservatives are going to drive the entire planet into a ditch.

The generation after the Millenials is The Final Generation.

Danjo Olivaw wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

The thing I can't get out of my head is that all of this is happening in the context of climate change that will require unprecedented coordination across the planet on policy to solve. If we can't even figure out how to properly run a state-level democracy, what hope do we have of coordinating a climate change response across the entire planet?

It depresses me so much. Conservatives are going to drive the entire planet into a ditch.

The generation after the Millenials is The Final Generation.

Europe is going to sing us out, with The Final Countdown.

thrawn82 wrote:

Europe is going to sing us out, with The Final Countdown.

"We're leaving for Venus..."

JeffreyLSmith wrote:
thrawn82 wrote:

Europe is going to sing us out, with The Final Countdown.

"We're leaving for Venus..."

Where it's colder...

I guess it would be colder if it's a night flight...

So, I don't have the background to know how accurate this is, but if it is, it's pretty troubling, so: (LINK)

Something new is happening on the European right, and it involves more than xenophobic populist outbursts. Ideas are being developed, and transnational networks for disseminating them are being established. Journalists have treated as a mere vanity project Steve Bannon’s efforts to bring European populist parties and thinkers together under the umbrella of what he calls The Movement. But his instincts, as in American politics, are in tune with the times. (Indeed, one month after Marion’s appearance at CPAC, Bannon addressed the annual convention of the National Front.) In countries as diverse as France, Poland, Hungary, Austria, Germany, and Italy, efforts are underway to develop a coherent ideology that would mobilize Europeans angry about immigration, economic dislocation, the European Union, and social liberalization, and then use that ideology to govern. Now is the time to start paying attention to the ideas of what seems to be an evolving right-wing Popular Front. France is a good place to start.
1. Today I did the annual story on holiday decorations at the Governor's residence. I've done it every year, for years. A very light but very fun story. Every year my reporting partner was Wendi Winters. This year, it was Selene. Wendi was murdered in June. https://t.co/hDlixzieht
— Joshua McKerrow (@joshuamckerrow) December 7, 2018

America's largest sex-furniture manufacturer pays well, sources locally, and is profitable and fast-growing

Not every company can operate like Luvu brands does. It is fairly small, after all, with $17 million in yearly sales and 170 employees. Yet there are important lessons that can be learned from the company’s practices. The biggest one? Manufacturing in the US, even textile manufacturing, can be both cheaper and more ethical than manufacturing overseas.

A sex-furniture factory may not be what most people have in mind when they think about bringing industry back to the US, but it’s these kind of specialty companies that are managing to put the passion back into for American manufacturing.

Ha! A friend of mine has some of those - I didn't realize they were intentionally marketed as sex furniture.

Spoiler:

Can also give a positive review of them, based on first and second hand experience.

Thank you for making America Great Again (tm)

I'll post this here because while a 'religious' school hiring a dirtbag should be a thing anyway, apparently these days that's 'politics'.

Related: How do I teach my children what irony is when it doesn't exist anymore?

https://deadspin.com/report-liberty-...

short version: Liberty hire a coach fired from his previous job for calling escorts while on recruiting trips.

farley3k wrote:

Thank you for making America Grind Again (tm)

FTFY

Rahmen wrote:

I'll post this here because while a 'religious' school hiring a dirtbag should be a thing anyway, apparently these days that's 'politics'.

I'm utterly missing what makes him a dirtbag. Is there an adultery angle I'm missing?

Jonman wrote:
Rahmen wrote:

I'll post this here because while a 'religious' school hiring a dirtbag should be a thing anyway, apparently these days that's 'politics'.

I'm utterly missing what makes him a dirtbag. Is there an adultery angle I'm missing?

Fair enough I should be more specific. It's not primarily that he called a sex worker which is probably what you zeroed in on. He was / is married. He also had NCAA violations in the program and used school resources while on official business when he did call the escorts.

I was actually posting more from the perspective of how tired I am that a school like Liberty which claims to have religious goals as its primary purpose would hire this person with those credentials.

Rahmen wrote:

Fair enough I should be more specific. It's not primarily that he called a sex worker which is probably what you zeroed in on. He was / is married. He also had NCAA violations in the program and used school resources while on official business when he did call the escorts.

I was actually posting more from the perspective of how tired I am that a school like Liberty which claims to have religious goals as its primary purpose would hire this person with those credentials.

Fair enough. By Liberty's standards, he's certainly a dirtbag.

No, he's a dirtbag. Using school resources to facilitate hiring escorts, while on duty and being married on top of it are all universally scummy.

I only see being married as an issue if his wife was unaware/didn't approve of what he was doing. I agree that using school resources to do it while being on duty is scummy but I don't know anything about this dude's marriage.

Rahmen wrote:

I was actually posting more from the perspective of how tired I am that a school like Liberty which claims to have religious goals as its primary purpose would hire this person with those credentials.

And a school that explicitly bans "sexual relations outside of a biblically ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman" and will fine a student $500, require 30 hours of community service, and still probably kick them out for the high crime of "immorality or spending the night with a member of the opposite sex."

Yes but it is a coach. Sports are more important that faith.

In other wonderful news involving pieces of sh*t, James Alex Fields Jr. was convicted of the first degree murder of Heather Heyer at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. He was also convicted of several counts of aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding, and leaving the scene of an accident. He could face life in jail.

Fields also was indicted on 30 federal hate crime over the summer, at least one of which could end in the death penalty.

WizKid wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Thank you for making America Gigiddy Again (tm)

FTFY

fftfy

I’m not surprised. I’m not even disappointed.

But of course kush was advising MBS.

oilypenguin wrote:

I’m not surprised. I’m not even disappointed.

But of course kush was advising MBS.

Of course he did. He’s as much a dead eyed psychopath as any other “conventional” politician we’ve had as White House advisor. How is he still an advisor, btw? Did he ever tell the truth on his security clearance?

DSGamer wrote:
oilypenguin wrote:

I’m not surprised. I’m not even disappointed.

But of course kush was advising MBS.

Of course he did. He’s as much a dead eyed psychopath as any other “conventional” politician we’ve had as White House advisor. How is he still an advisor, btw? Did he ever tell the truth on his security clearance?

No longer a requirement. Then again, Polygraphs are worse than coin flips, so was it ever really a requirement?

Polygraphs are much better than coin flips, just nowhere near good enough to be used as evidence.

I think the real point of filing the paperwork for the security clearance is that it is a felony to lie on it, so they have another (easier to prove) hammer to use on liars, rather than assuming liars will all be caught up front.

Meanwhile:

Gizmodo: Uber's Arbitration Policy Comes Back to Bite It in the Ass

Over 12,000 Uber drivers found a way to weaponize the ridesharing platform’s restrictive contract in what’s possibly the funniest labor strategy of the year.

But first: a bit of background. One of the more onerous aspects of the gig economy is its propensity to include arbitration agreements in the terms of service—you know, the very long document no one really reads—governing the rights of its workers. These agreements prohibit workers from suing gig platforms in open court, generally giving the company greater leverage and saving it from public embarrassment. Sometimes arbitration is binding; in Uber’s case, driver’s can opt out—but only within 30 days of signing, and very few seem to realize they have the option.

Until an unfavorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, independent contractors often joined class-action lawsuits anyway, arguing (sometimes successfully) that they ought to have been classified as employees from the get-go. With that avenue of remuneration cut off, a group of 12,501 Uber drivers found a new option that hinges on the company’s own terms of service. While arbitrating parties are responsible for paying for their own attorneys, the terms state that “in all cases where required by law, the Company [Uber] will pay the Arbitrator’s and arbitration fees.”

If today’s petition in California’s Northern District Court is accurate, those arbitration fees add up rather quickly.

Stengah wrote:

Polygraphs are much better than coin flips, just nowhere near good enough to be used as evidence.

Polygraphs are excellent at measuring breathing and perspiration and heart-rate. The problem is the correlation of those things with moment to moment anxiety is not great, and the correlation between moment to moment anxiety with dishonestly is also not great. Even the industry group whose vested interest it is to keep polygraphs in use isn't willing to say it's more accurate than 70%. IMO thats way too low to be making important decisions based on it.

thrawn82 wrote:
Stengah wrote:

Polygraphs are much better than coin flips, just nowhere near good enough to be used as evidence.

Polygraphs are excellent at measuring breathing and perspiration and heart-rate. The problem is the correlation of those things with moment to moment anxiety is not great, and the correlation between moment to moment anxiety with dishonestly is also not great. Even the industry group whose vested interest it is to keep polygraphs in use isn't willing to say it's more accurate than 70%. IMO thats way too low to be making important decisions based on it.

Agreed, but that's still 20% better than a coin flip.

Stengah wrote:
thrawn82 wrote:
Stengah wrote:

Polygraphs are much better than coin flips, just nowhere near good enough to be used as evidence.

Polygraphs are excellent at measuring breathing and perspiration and heart-rate. The problem is the correlation of those things with moment to moment anxiety is not great, and the correlation between moment to moment anxiety with dishonestly is also not great. Even the industry group whose vested interest it is to keep polygraphs in use isn't willing to say it's more accurate than 70%. IMO thats way too low to be making important decisions based on it.

Agreed, but that's still 20% better than a coin flip.

Right, but my point was the actual number is almost certainly lower than the best case scenario number the group who's existence it is to sell polygraph machines gives out.

I think we're pretty much agreed on polygraphs though, interesting informational tool, but don't base decisions on it.