US Politics Mega-thread - Page 6235

At his first news conference following his party's shocking loss at the ballot box last week, President Obama appeared to needle Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign for not paying enough attention to rural voters who eventually handed President-elect Donald Trump the upset victory.

"When your team loses, everybody gets deflated, and it's hard, and it's challenging," Obama said. "I think it's a healthy thing for the Democratic Party to go through some reflection."

"We have to compete everywhere. We have to show up everywhere," the president said, noting that when he was campaigning he went to many rural places in a very white, blue-collar state like Iowa and ended up winning twice. Clinton lost the state by 10 points.

"I won Iowa not because the demographics dictated that I would win Iowa," Obama continued. "It was because I spent 87 days going to every small town."

But now the two-term Democratic president is tasked with overseeing a peaceful transfer of power to a man he repeatedly called unqualified to succeed him in the Oval Office.

"This office is bigger than any one person, and that's why ensuring a smooth transition is so important," the president said, taking questions before he departs on a weeklong trip to Greece, Germany and Peru to meet with foreign leaders.

Throughout much of the news conference, it sounded like Obama was trying to reassure many worried Americans and leaders abroad about an incoming President Trump. He said that at their meeting last week, the president-elect said he would maintain the U.S. commitment to NATO — something the GOP nominee himself questioned on the campaign trail.

"This office has a way of waking you up. Campaigning is different from governing. I think he recognizes that," the president continued, echoing a theme he would return to many times.

US armed forces and the CIA may have committed war crimes by torturing detainees in Afghanistan, the international criminal court’s chief prosecutor has said in a report, raising the possibility that American citizens could be indicted even though Washington has not joined the global court.

“Members of US armed forces appear to have subjected at least 61 detained persons to torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity on the territory of Afghanistan between 1 May 2003 and 31 December 2014,” according to the report issued by prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s office on Monday.

The report adds that CIA operatives may have subjected at least 27 detainees in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania to “torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and/or rape” between December 2002 and March 2008.

Most of the alleged abuse happened in 2003-04, the report says.

Prosecutors said they would decide “imminently” whether to seek authorisation to open a full-scale investigation in Afghanistan that could lead to war crimes charges.

Elizabeth Trudeau, the spokeswoman for the State Department, said the US did not believe an ICC investigation was “warranted or appropriate”.

“The United States is deeply committed to complying with the law of war, and we have a robust national system of investigation and accountability that more than meets international standards,” Trudeau said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt Jeff Davis, said officials were awaiting further details about the ICC findings before commenting.

Established in 2002, the international criminal court is the world’s first permanent court set up to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. More than 120 countries are members, but superpowers including the US, Russia and China have not signed up.

The former US president Bill Clinton signed the Rome treaty that established the court on 31 Deember 2000, but President George W Bush renounced the signature, citing fears that Americans would be unfairly prosecuted for political reasons.

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Even though the US is not a member of the court, Americans could still face prosecution at its headquarters in The Hague if they commit crimes within its jurisdiction in a country that is a member, such as Afghanistan, and are not prosecuted at home.

So far, all of the ICC’s trials have dealt with crimes committed in Africa.

Air maintenance workers at United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against the world's largest package delivery company as contract talks remained deadlocked over health-care benefits, the workers' union said on Monday.

Teamsters Local 2727 said 98 percent of those who took part in a mail-in ballot voted to authorize strike action. Eighty percent of the local's 1,200 members participated in the ballot.

Contract talks have been ongoing for three years. If they remain deadlocked Monday, union representatives say they will begin the process that could lead to a strike within 60 days.

The main sticking point has been healthcare benefits. The Teamsters say UPS is demanding major concessions, including a massive spike in retiree contributions for health-care costs.

"UPS wants huge concessions and our members are not willing to take them," Local 2727 President Tim Boyle said. "We're not asking for anything we don't already have and this demonstrates our members are willing to strike."The air maintenance staff work at hubs around the United States, with more than one-third in Louisville, Kentucky, which is UPS' main hub.

"UPS continues to negotiate in good faith for a contract that is good for our employees, our customers and our company," a UPS spokesman said. "We are confident talks will be completed successfully."

The company said it was also hopeful that contract talks can be concluded "without any disruption" to customers.

A strike could ground UPS' airplanes, affecting packages shipped by air. While it would not halt all deliveries, it would be a major disruption.

The air maintenance workers are governed by the U.S. Railway Labor Act, which only permits strikes after negotiations and mediation have failed.

If talks remain deadlocked Monday, the Teamsters say they will ask the federal mediator overseeing negotiations to release the union from the bargaining table. If there is no resolution after a 30-day cooling-off period, a board appointed by the president would have to rule on a strike, which would take up to 30 days.

A strike would be highly unlikely during UPS' crucial holiday peak season this year. But it could go before the presidential board before President Barack Obama leaves office in January.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed that Europe should impose a carbon tax on American imports if Donald Trump pulls the United States out of the Paris climate pact.

More than 100 countries have ratified the Paris global emissions deal, which was inked in December after marathon talks to cap greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

"Donald Trump has said – we’ll see if he keeps this promise – that he won’t respect the conclusions of the Paris climate agreement,” Sarkozy, who is a French presidential candidate told the TF1 television channel on Sunday.

“Well, I will demand that Europe put in place a carbon tax at its border, a tax of 1-3 per cent, for all products coming from the United States, if the United States doesn’t apply environmental rules that we are imposing on our companies,” he added.

Sarkozy, a frontrunner for the nomination of the centre-right Republicans party, is also in favour of forcing public authorities in Europe to use more products or materials made in Europe.

Europe can no longer be “weak” or “naïve”, Sarkozy said, even as he defended the idea of the free movement of people and goods.

US president-elect Trump was elected on an overtly protectionist platform, promising to scrap international trade deals and railing against jobs and factories being sent abroad.

Economists fear that moves to protect national markets through tariffs or other barriers risk kicking off a global cycle of measures that would reduce international trade.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told AFP last Friday that Trump might reconsider his pledge to cancel the Paris deal, saying it would “create serious problems if anybody wants to undo it.”

On November 15 2016 12:50 Logo wrote:


Wall Street doesn't like Warren and Kaine (Warren would have been as equally fine as a choice really).

On November 15 2016 22:59 farvacola wrote:
Depending on what happens with healthcare reform, I bet we see a lot of strikes over healthcare benefits this next year or so.

On November 16 2016 00:16 LemOn wrote:

Eh really? He already said he will keep the clauses people are most likely to protest about..

And to the most protestable thing - straight up deporting 2-3million illegals he's already said he'll "focus on those with criminal records" so the 3 million is not happening anytime soon

On November 16 2016 00:10 Sermokala wrote:
Beacuse the exact thing the EU needs right now is to get into a trade war with the US.

On November 16 2016 00:18 farvacola wrote:

Neither of those clauses actually solve the problem of what should follow a repealed Obamacare, and if Republicans like Paul Ryan get their way, huge numbers of people will suddenly find themselves without insurance after having it for years.

Also, if you're trying to convince folks fearful of Trump that they ought not be afraid, telling them that he'll focus on "those with criminal records" could hardly be less comforting given how the War on Drugs has created millions upon millions of small time offenders.