US Politics Mega-thread - Page 4838

The University of Chicago is welcoming new students to campus by warning them that they might hear things that might make them uncomfortable.

A letter sent by the school this week tells incoming freshmen that the university does not support "trigger warnings" as part of its commitment to freedom of expression.

"Dear Class of 2020 student," the welcome letter from the school's Dean of Students John Ellison begins. It goes on to explain the university's commitment to freedom of expression and inquiry. Students "are encouraged to speak, write, listen, challenge and learn without fear of censorship."

And that means the school "does not support so-called 'trigger warnings' " to alert students of upcoming discussions or speakers that they might find offensive.

The University of Chicago won't cancel controversial speakers, and it "does not condone the creation of intellectual 'safe spaces' where individuals can retreat from ideas and perspectives at odds with their own."

Law professor Geoffrey Stone says the letter's intent was based on a report from a faculty committee he chaired on freedom of expression and academic freedom.

"This is really exciting," Stone says. "You're coming to an amazing institution."

He says the University of Chicago has a long history of standing for those principles.

Several leading Republican donors and groups that spent large sums in the 2012 presidential campaign are either wavering or opting outright not to back Donald Trump this year. Instead, they are spending tens of millions of dollars on congressional races as fears mount that the candidate’s poor poll numbers and incendiary gaffes are placing majorities in the House and Senate in danger.

“I believe there’s an emerging consensus in the party that Trump isn’t going to win,” Vin Weber, a former Minnesota representative turned lobbyist who helps raise money for House candidates, told the Guardian. “We need to shift resources as much as we can to help down-ticket candidates including members of Congress.”

Should Hillary Clinton defeat Trump, Democrats would need only four more Senate seats to take control through the vote wielded by the Senate president, Clinton vice-president Tim Kaine. The Republicans’ House majority is stronger, but not safe.

The Guardian can reveal that the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who is said by well-placed sources to be worried about losing control of Congress, met Trump in New York last week.

The donor, who one friend said has been “irked by a lot of things”, had already met Trump privately at least twice this year. He has pushed for the candidate to visit Israel, which has not happened, and supported former House speaker Newt Gingrich for vice-president. Trump chose the governor of Indiana, Mike Pence.

Earlier this summer, Adelson endorsed Trump, reportedly signaling that he was willing to spend up to $100m on the presidential contest. To date, however, he has not given money to any Super Pac. Three fundraising sources with good ties to Adelson said he is focused on trying to keep control of Congress, though he could donate to Trump if his gaffes are eliminated and his poll numbers improve.

“I’m shocked that Adelson has not done anything yet for Trump,” a senior GOP operative told the Guardian. “Sheldon knows that late money is wasted.”

While in New York, Adelson also met the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham. The two men, who share a sharply pro-Israel stance, discussed the financial needs of senators in tough races.

Two other GOP operatives familiar with Adelson told the Guardian he had given $10m to One Nation, a group run by Steven Law, once a top aide to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. A “dark money” group, legally able to keep its donors secret, One Nation was launched in May 2015. This year it has spent at least $16m on ads in several Senate races.

On August 27 2016 23:52 Dan HH wrote:
It's quite telling that even your most cherry picked example has said this before

https://twitter.com/GrandDragonCa/status/644557280336154624

An ex-wife of Donald Trump's new campaign CEO, Stephen Bannon, said Bannon made anti-Semitic remarks when the two battled over sending their daughters to private school nearly a decade ago, according to court papers reviewed Friday by The Associated Press.

That revelation came a day after reports emerged that domestic violence charges were filed 20 years ago against Bannon following an altercation with his then-wife, Mary Louise Piccard.

In a sworn court declaration following their divorce, Piccard said her ex-husband had objected to sending their twin daughters to an elite Los Angeles academy because he "didn't want the girls going to school with Jews."

On August 28 2016 00:59 gsgfdf wrote:

How to sound like an asshole 101

On August 28 2016 01:32 TheTenthDoc wrote:


Wow. Trump tweeted something so bad he actually had to delete it? Was it this one?

"Dwayne Wade's cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!"

(for bonus points, he misspelled Dwyane's first name)

On August 28 2016 01:48 PassiveAce wrote:
It's still on his Twitter page. Was it deleted and put back up?

On August 27 2016 19:10 Liquid`Drone wrote:


I thought part of the problem with the PK regime was that people weren't allowed to express their opinions without being branded as assholes because of them, yet you seem not to acknowledge that people's hatred of Milo stems from his personality rather than his opinions?

I'm totally willing to debate ideas, but this to me seemed like a debate about Milo, and what I am seeing is that most of us leftists are saying that his ideas are largely irrelevant in explaining why we 'hate' him. I think this is slightly off-base - I think his offensive personality is more offensive because we also disagree with his ideas (I think Michael Moore is an absolute clown, but I'll easily admit to being 'more riled up' by someone like Milo), but the point is still that his ideas are not the reason why people refuse to engage with him. If you want to debate his specific ideas, why not provide us with examples of his ideas that are not draped in asshole-skin?