US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3959

On June 07 2016 02:49 Simberto wrote:
Fairly typical bribes.

No one is worth 100k for speaking for half an hour. The only reason to pay someone 100k is because you expect something in return, and that "something" is not half an hour of canned speeches.

To a European, the whole US system looks just absurdly corrupt, and i find it incredibly hard to understand how someone can see it as anything else than that. You have rich people "donating" millions to candidates, and somehow people are expected to believe that they expect nothing in return. You have powerful politicians being paid 100k $ for half an hour of "work". And somehow people are expected to believe that that is NOT a bribe., but a reasonable payment for their time.

If something like that happens in Germany, it is a major scandal, and usually the end of the political career of the people involved. In the US, it is just a normal day.

On June 07 2016 02:51 Falling wrote:
Trump also made a killing in speaking fees, I believe.
Do those count as bribes?

On June 07 2016 02:43 GGTeMpLaR wrote:



Sure it's not an 84% decrease, but I just picked a random swing state and you'll see an overall decrease in democratic votes from 2008 compared to 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_Democratic_primary,_2008
287,527
vs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_New_Hampshire,_2016
249,543

This is a primary Sanders won as well.

Consequently numbers are much higher in the republican primaries than their 2008 counterparts.

Everyone thinking Trump is going to get BTFO by Hillary is in for a rude awakening come November.

On June 07 2016 02:50 GGTeMpLaR wrote:
Republican numbers in the same swing state

2008: 234,851
2016: 285,916

On June 07 2016 02:56 Toadesstern wrote:


like people mentioned at least 10 times already including linking articles to explain it: voter turnout during primary's isn't really related to voter turnout in the general election. Instead, voter turnout in primaries is related to wether or not the party in question has a close race or not.

So it really doesn't come as a surprise that voter turnout for Democrats ended up so low. Especially with how everyone in the media has been saying it's going to be Clinton no matter what.

On June 07 2016 02:11 xDaunt wrote:
It's kind of hard for Bernie to get out of the race when there's so much talk on the left about whether Hillary may have to drop out of the race for one reason or another.

On June 07 2016 03:03 GGTeMpLaR wrote:


Makes sense

I wouldn't agree with the sentiment that the democratic primary hasn't been close though.

Hillary was supposed to be the presumed nominee and Sanders came out winning plenty of states for people to reasonably decide that it wasn't a 1-candidate vote but a 2-candidate vote.

You can't say 2008 was any different with obama vs clinton, romney/mccain etc.

The trend remains that Republicans grew votes and democrats lost them.

On June 07 2016 02:49 Simberto wrote:
Fairly typical bribes.

No one is worth 100k for speaking for half an hour. The only reason to pay someone 100k is because you expect something in return, and that "something" is not half an hour of canned speeches.

On June 07 2016 03:34 ticklishmusic wrote:
Clearly Beyonce is a complete sell out because she does concerts and stuff

On June 07 2016 03:34 ticklishmusic wrote:
Clearly Beyonce is a complete sell out because she does concerts and stuff

On June 07 2016 03:47 Mohdoo wrote:


"Concerts" is a pretty naive/dishonest way to put it. Ever consider how many Goldman Sachs employees attend her "Concerts"? You really think they are there for music?

On June 07 2016 03:33 kwizach wrote:

That "something" is the speech itself and the recognition that comes with it. Having an extremely well-known public figure speak at your event shines a light on your institution/organization. This is not limited to political figures at all. The European university in which I completed my Master's thesis paid a speaking fee for Chris Hedges that was in the low five figures a few years ago. Chris Hedges is obviously not even close to the name recognition of Bill or Hillary Clinton, and he certainly doesn't have any substantial influence on policy. If you don't think he was being bribed, then why assume that is automatically and necessarily the case for political figures that are not currently holding public office?

The projected cost to repair infrastructure after the city of Flint, Michigan’s two-year water contamination crisis is several magnitudes higher than what has been allocated to fix it, a new state report has found.

The report lays out a bruising litany of infrastructure fixes to the city’s water system over the next several decades at an estimated cost of at least $216m. The report suggests $80m is needed to remove about 10,000 lead pipes across the city – more than three times what Michigan governor Rick Snyder has proposed for a forthcoming state budget.

The report from Flint-based engineering firm Rowe Professional Services calls for the widely supported removal of lead pipes in the city to be completed in eight years. The city’s mayor, Karen Weaver, has estimated $55m is needed to remove the pipes, and as many as 500 could be removed during an initial phase launched with $2m from the state.

“If services are replaced at an average rate of at least 2,000 annually, eight years may be required to complete the replacement program,” the report stated.

The finding comes as a new Guardian investigation this month revealed dozens of cities across the US use flawed water testing methods for lead. Of the cities reviewed in the investigation, 21 use water testing methods similar to those that prompted criminal charges to be filed against three government employees for their role in Flint’s water debacle.

The Flint water crisis began with an April 2014 decision by a state-appointed emergency manager to switch the city’s water source from Lake Huron water to a local corrosive river. The state’s environmental agency oversaw the switch and failed to require the use of corrosion control agents, which allowed lead to leach off water pipes and flow into households across the city. The glaring oversight wasn’t revealed until last summer.

State officials have yet to declare unfiltered tap water in the city safe for consumption, and an investigation into the possible connection between the interim water source and a massive outbreak of legionnaires’ disease – including 12 deaths – remains ongoing.

On June 07 2016 02:50 GGTeMpLaR wrote:
Republican numbers in the same swing state (NH)

2008: 234,851
2016: 285,916

Let's look at the most important swingstate primary results


Florida
2008 democratic: 1,749,920
2016 democratic: 1,709,183

2008 republican: 1,949,498
2016 republican: 2,361,805

Trend is everywhere - republicans show voter growth in 2016 primaries compared to the 2008 primaries. democrats show a decline.

Forecast is the Republican wins the presidency this November

The Vermont senator was also visibly irritated when a reporter asked him to respond to critics who say it's "sexist" for him to stay in the race, potentially "getting in the way of what could be the first female President."

“Is that a serious question?” he replied with a laugh. “You question implies any woman, any person, who’s running for President is by definition the best candidate.”