US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3225

On March 09 2016 00:15 GreenHorizons wrote:


Do Hillary supporters really want him to drop out? Hillary only gets media in relation to him or the multiple federal investigations she's got to think about.

She hasn't had a press conference in months?

She wouldn't even be asked questions by "journalists" if it weren't for town halls or debates. She has easily been the most reclusive candidate in many cycles.

On March 09 2016 00:18 jcarlsoniv wrote:


I'm fairly certain she did one recently. It was after ~84? days without a press appearance, so your point is still valid - but at this point that's no longer accurate.

On March 08 2016 16:10 wei2coolman wrote:

The index is assuming zero living expense along with full reinvestment, along with zero portfolio diversification outside of an index.

On March 09 2016 00:27 ticklishmusic wrote:


IDK about press conferences, but you hold those when something big happens. Otherwise you keep campaigning across the country. Hillary and Bernie do who knows how many town halls/ other events per day, they're both in the top 20 (guessing) scrutinized people in America right now.

Side note: I really liked the Fox News town hall. It was much more dynamic, both candidates seemed engaged rather than "ugh I have to do another one of these town halls". I guess going into the lion's den had them on alert. Fox did an okay job too, still bias there but not shabby.

On March 09 2016 00:46 jcarlsoniv wrote:


While I understand the tactical disadvantage a frontrunner in general would have going in front of press, it's still notable. It goes in concert with wanting to have as little general exposure as possible (arguments about so few debates - although I agree that the number of town halls has smoothed that out fairly nicely).

I also really liked the Fox town hall. It's hilarious to me that one of the most unbiased events was run by Fox (even though they didn't hesitate to grill Hillary on the emails). Both candidates did well, although you could definitely tell Hillary was moving a bit back to center for some of it. I admit I had a chuckle when she mentioned Reagan in the first 2 minutes of her segment. Again, not necessarily faulting the tactics, but it's indicative of things to come.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the latest big bank to pull back from coal.

The New York bank will no longer finance new coal mines around the world and will end support for new coal-fired power plants being developed in “high income” countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, JPMorgan said in a policy statement on its website.

JPMorgan is joining a growing list of financial institutions including Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo & Co. that have pledged to stop or scale back support for coal projects. It’s part of a broader divestment campaign led by environmental groups including San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network looking to move the world’s economies beyond fossil fuels.

“We believe the financial services sector has an important role to play as governments implement policies to combat climate change,” JPMorgan said in the document.

The National Mining Association, which represents coal producers including Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal Inc., called JPMorgan’s changes “hardly a heroic gesture” given challenging market conditions for all fossil fuels. “The bank hedges its bets on financing projects in developing countries, because, not surprisingly, that’s where the growth is and will be,” group spokesman Luke Popovich said in an e-mail.

The divestment campaign still delivers another blow to an industry already struggling through its worst downturn in decades. Coal is under siege from cheap natural gas stealing market share at power plants, tougher emissions standards and slowing global demand. The combined market capitalization of U.S. coal miners since 2011 has plunged from $74.4 billion to less than $7 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Outside of rich countries, JPMorgan will back only coal-fired power plants that employ “ultra-supercritical” technology that is more efficient than conventional systems. The bank will consider on a "case-by-case basis" coal plants that capture carbon-dioxide emissions and prevent their release into the atmosphere.

On March 09 2016 00:52 wei2coolman wrote:
Actually, would be dope if Trump and Sanders lose primary and both ran as independent.

Barack Obama and Justin Trudeau will commit to work together to fight climate change and protect an Arctic experiencing the mildest winter ever recorded, sources familiar with the initiatives said.

The two leaders were expected to announce a number of common climate measures at a meeting at the White House this week, from a 45% cut in methane emissions from the oil and gas industry to protections for a rapidly warming Arctic.

The state visit on Thursday is seen as an important moment for Trudeau to break with his Conservative predecessor, Stephen Harper, who was accused of muzzling government scientists and backtracking on climate promises.

The visit – four months after Trudeau’s election and 11 months before Obama leaves the White House – offered a rare window of opportunity to advance the cause that is important to both leaders, the Canadian prime minister said.

“There is a nice alignment between a Canadian prime minister who wants to get all sorts of things done right off the bat and an American president who is thinking about the legacy he is going to leave in his last year in office,” Trudeau told a Huffington Post town hall.

“The issues that are important to him and to me are climate change … We’re talking about border issues, as well – making sure there is a smooth flow of goods and people across our shared border that isn’t putting our security at risk.”

Taking prime position among those issues was the Arctic – where winter temperatures are 7C above normal this year and the sea ice cover is also dwindling towards a new record low. In Alaska, the winter was so unseasonably warm that the authorities were forced to import freight cars full of snow for the launch of the annual Iditarod dog sledding race.

A spokesman for Sen. Marco Rubio's (R-FL) presidential campaign on Tuesday accused Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) campaign of carrying out more "dirty tricks" in the Republican presidential primary.

Rubio spokesman Alex Conant on MSNBC said that Cruz's campaign tried to "undermine" Rubio by sending an email to voters in Hawaii highlighting a CNN report that some of Rubio's advisers were telling the Florida senator to get out of the race ahead of the Florida primary. The Rubio campaign has denied the CNN report.

"The Ted Cruz campaign sent that to some of our supporters in Hawaii yesterday suggesting that Marco Rubio is getting out of the race," Conant said on MSNBC. "That’s the exact same thing that Ted Cruz did to Ben Carson in Iowa. There’s no place for that in Republican politics."

Conant also mentioned a report that Cruz might open field offices in Florida.

"We have seen no evidence of Ted Cruz campaigning in Florida. He has no plans to go to Florida — at least he hasn’t announced any plans to go to Florida other than for the debate," Conant said.

"He is not being honest about what he is doing in Florida. He’s not being honest to Republican primary voters or caucusgoers in Hawaii today. It’s an unfortunate state of the campaign," Conant later added.

On March 09 2016 01:44 Plansix wrote:
If these allegations are even mildly true about Cruz and his campaign, they should be investigated. That is some high level garbage and I’m 90% sure it is illegal.

On March 09 2016 01:13 ticklishmusic wrote:


That could lead to the potentially terrifying scenario where no one hits 270 and the House picks the President and we end up with Rubio or something.




Also, lets be real the bulge bracket banks are pulling out of coal not only because it causes pollution, but also because it has decent optics and the old school energy business is awful right now.

On March 08 2016 23:24 xDaunt wrote:
These attacks on Trump's wealth and business acumen aren't sticking and never will. They aren't particularly well-grounded, and they are overwhelmed by the popular perception of Trump courtesy of his TV persona.

On March 08 2016 17:02 wei2coolman wrote:

The index is still a single point of failure since index alone is a singular company buying what they think is an index of said market.

It also completely ignores the fact that the index doesn't create anything. What do you think the index is made of? Money fairies that generate random value? No. It's people like Trump, and other companies creating value that people buy into.