US Politics Mega-thread - Page 10004

On March 03 2018 05:02 farvacola wrote:
I'm reading through Sixth Circuit decisions given that it's a slow work day and thought I'd share this gem.

Russian propagandists targeted the popular news-sharing website Reddit to influence American political debate, a US website has claimed.

It had been widely presumed that Reddit, a hub for campaigning, activism and often extreme views, would be a logical target for any manipulation.

It has yet to publish its own investigation into Russian activity.

Now news site the Daily Beast says it has obtained files showing a Russian troll farm was active on Reddit.

The Daily Beast says it has obtained leaked documents from within Russia's Internet Research Agency (IRA), the country's most prominent troll-factory.

The US government has already charged 13 Russians, linked to the agency, with attempting to manipulate American voters using social media.

The Russian organisation is alleged to have had a budget of more than a million dollars, which the US claims was used to buy advertising on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

So far, Reddit has not been included in the US Senate's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

But some reports have suggested that could soon change.

On March 03 2018 05:07 crms wrote:
I'm sure we're all shocked.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43255285

On March 03 2018 04:42 Lazare1969 wrote:
I think it'd just be easier to do Bernie's tuition-free college plan than to beg for some corporations to use some of their surplus to fund a few scholarships.

On March 03 2018 05:29 Danglars wrote:

Beg some colleges to reduce the price of their tuition.

On March 03 2018 06:58 Introvert wrote:
It isn't even "Republicans," who so far have done nothing but attack this idea. It's Trump by himself. Congress needs to get in on this.

On March 03 2018 07:15 KOFgokuon wrote:
Kinda surprised that he can unilaterally get tariffs like this without congressional approval

On March 03 2018 07:15 KOFgokuon wrote:
Kinda surprised that he can unilaterally get tariffs like this without congressional approval

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump plans to apply his steel and aluminum tariffs globally and won’t exempt allies such as Canada and Europe, a senior White House official said Friday, an approach that is likely to intensify protests over the move.

The statement that there would be no exceptions to the duties came as Trump aides started to flesh out the president’s broad-but-vague Thursday announcement, in which he said the U.S. plans to impose tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. Officials are scrambling to finalize many details ahead of a planned rollout of the full policies next week.

“The president made clear these would be across-the-board tariffs with no exclusions,” the White House official told reporters. “One problem with exclusions is that it’s a slippery slope. Where do you stop?” the official added.

But the official said he couldn’t answer other crucial details of the still-emerging policy, such as whether the duties would apply to all steel products, or would exempt semi-finished products, as has been the case when broad steel-import limits have been imposed in the past.

By announcing a general policy goal without providing details, Mr. Trump has sowed confusion among supporters and opponents of the policies alike, and touched off an intense internal and external lobbying campaign to define the precise shape of the tariffs before the full proposals are completed.

“I think as much drama as there has been leading up to the official announcement of these tariffs, there will be an equal amount of drama on the other side, as they’re implemented and exceptions are considered,” said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for Manufacturing, a steel-industry group that supported the tariffs.

“One thing I fear is that this becomes the type of process you have all too often in the Washington swamp, of lobbyists coming in” looking for carve-outs, he said.

Indeed, several people familiar with the process suggested that, despite the declarative statements from Mr. Trump and the official conducting the briefing, the contours of the package, including the possibility of exempting certain countries, could still change.

Some officials were less definitive in their public statements about what had already been decided. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross attended a private White House meeting on Thursday that Mr. Trump held with steel and aluminum executives, where he discussed options under consideration. Asked on CNBC Friday whether the tariffs would cover every country, including allies, Mr. Ross replied: “Well, that’s what the president seemed to announce yesterday.”

Mr. Trump and some aides embraced the controversy the tariff proposal had stirred up. “When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade… trade wars are good, and easy to win,” the president tweeted early Friday morning.

“I don’t believe any country in the world is going to retaliate for the simple reason we are the most lucrative and biggest market in the world,” Peter Navarro, a White House trade adviser who pushed hard for the policy, told Fox News Friday. ”They know they’re cheating us. All we’re doing is standing up for ourselves.”

Governments around the world blasted Mr. Trump’s plans, and issued threats of retaliation.

Promising to “defend European jobs,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that “we must…show that we also take measures.” Mr. Juncker added: ”I don’t like to use the word trade war, but I can’t say how this wouldn’t be war-like behavior."

Europe has already put together a specific package of penalties that would hit a total of $3.5 billion in U.S. exports, a European Commission official said, including Harley Davidson motorcycles, Bourbon and blue jeans.

Roberto Azevêdo, director-general of the World Trade Organization, issued a rare rebuke to a member country, branding the Trump tariffs a cause for concern, and saying “the potential for escalation is real, as we have seen from the initial responses of others.” He added: “A trade war is in no one’s interest."