US Politics Mega-thread - Page 7361

On April 20 2017 07:40 Krikkitone wrote:


More likely would be North Korea "reuniting" with China in the Hong Kong model.

On April 20 2017 08:33 LegalLord wrote:
By the way, is renegotiating NAFTA still a thing or is that project dead too?

On April 20 2017 08:33 LegalLord wrote:
By the way, is renegotiating NAFTA still a thing or is that project dead too?

A Kremlin-backed think tank’s plan to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential race in Donald Trump’s favor was distributed at the highest levels of the Russian government, Reuters reported Wednesday.

A handful of current and former U.S. officials told Reuters that the first document, compiled by the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies in June, urged the Kremlin to wage a propaganda war on social media and state-backed media outlets promoting a U.S. candidate who supported better relations with Russia. Another paper, released in October when pundits and polls were predicting a Hillary Clinton victory, argued in favor of promoting claims about voter fraud to stoke questions about the legitimacy of the election results.

President Vladimir Putin’s office appoints the retired Russian intelligence officials who work at the institute, according to Reuters.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the U.S. election, with Putin calling such allegations “lies” used to promote “domestic American political agendas.” The Institute and Kremlin did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

These documents are in line with the U.S. intelligence community’s assessment of how exactly Russia took steps to sway the election, which included the promotion of “fake news” stories, use of bots to push that false information, and cyber-hacking campaigns against Democratic targets. The Senate and House Intelligence Communities are currently investigating the extent of Russia’s interference into the presidential race, and whether Trump staffers collaborated with Russian officials to do so.

“Putin had the objective in mind all along, and he asked the institute to draw him a road map,” a former senior U.S. intelligence official told Reuters.

On April 20 2017 08:33 LegalLord wrote:
By the way, is renegotiating NAFTA still a thing or is that project dead too?

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order as early as Thursday directing the Commerce Department to investigate whether steel imports into the U.S. should be blocked on national security grounds, according to sources familiar with the plan.

A number of steel industry executives have been invited to the White House for an event with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Representatives from ArcelorMittal, Nucor, U.S. Steel, AK Steel and Timken are expected, along with the president of the United Steelworkers union. China’s excess capacity to produce steel is seen as a long-term threat to the U.S. steel industry’s viability, but it’s unclear if the order will single out any country or be global in scope.

The proposed order would direct Ross to launch an investigation under a provision of U.S. trade law that requires the Commerce secretary to report to the president within 270 days whether a certain product is being imported in sufficient quantities or under such circumstances that it threatens to impair national security.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The president then has another 90 days to decide whether to “adjust" imports or take some other non-trade related action.

The United States imported about 30 million metric tons of steel in 2016, down from 35 million in 2015, for use in a variety of sectors including buildings, bridges, water and sewage plants and oil and natural gas production. Major foreign suppliers include Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico, Japan and Germany.

China is relatively far down on the list because of a number of U.S. countervailing and anti-dumping duty orders already in place on its exports.

One woman sued Donald Trump’s Miami resort saying she lost her job because she got pregnant.

Two others claimed they were fired after complaining that co-workers sexually harassed them.

And a number of women testified in a lawsuit that Trump himself repeatedly instructed managers to hire younger, prettier workers at his Los Angeles golf club.

The release of a video Friday showing Trump’s sexist remarks in 2005 has created a firestorm of controversy that threatens to derail his campaign. But an ongoing USA TODAY investigation of Trump’s 4,000-plus lawsuits shows that he and his companies have been accused for years of mistreating women. Allegations outlined in at least 20 separate lawsuits accuse Trump and managers at his companies of discriminating against women, ignoring sexual harassment complaints and even participating in the harassment themselves.

On April 20 2017 08:41 WolfintheSheep wrote:

Trump mentioned something about Canadian milk, if that counts for anything.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Every submarine in the U.S. fleet was designed with the height, reach and strength of men in mind, from the way valves are placed to how display screens are angled.

That's going to change.

With women now serving aboard submarines, defense contractor Electric Boat is designing what will be the first Navy subs built specifically to accommodate female crew members.

The designers are doing the obvious things, such as adding more doors and washrooms to create separate sleeping and bathing areas for men and women and to give them more privacy. But they are also making more subtle modifications that may not have been in everyone's periscope when the Navy admitted women into the Silent Service.

For example, they are lowering some overhead valves and making them easier to turn, and installing steps in front of the triple-high bunk beds and stacked laundry machines.

The first vessel built with some of the new features, the future USS New Jersey, is expected to be delivered to the Navy in 2021.

The Navy lifted its ban on women on submarines in 2010, starting with officers. About 80 female officers and roughly 50 enlisted women are now serving on subs, and their numbers are expected to climb into the hundreds over the next few years.

For now, the Navy is retrofitting existing subs with extra doors and designated washrooms to accommodate women. But Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut, is at work on a redesign of the Navy's Virginia-class fast-attack subs and is also developing a brand-new class of ballistic-missile submarines, relying on body measurements for both men and women.

"We have a clean sheet of paper, so from the ground up, we'll optimize for both men and women," said Brian Wilson, Electric Boat director of the new ballistic-missile sub program.

Electric Boat officials had no immediate estimate of how much the modifications will cost.

As anyone who watches war movies knows, submariners are always turning valves, whether to operate machinery, redistribute water between tanks or isolate part of a system that has been damaged.

On the Columbia-class boats, valves will generally be placed lower, Wilson said. Sometimes there will be an extension handle, and some will be easier to turn. Sailors will be able to connect their masks into the emergency air system at the side of passageways, instead of overhead.

Emergency air masks are being moved on fast-attack submarines, too, but the bulk of the changes on those subs are to ensure privacy.

Seats in the control room on the ballistic-missile submarines will adjust forward a little more so everyone can touch each display and reach every joystick. Steps will be added so shorter people can climb into the top bunk or see into the washers and dryers, since clothes that get stuck in the machines are a fire hazard.

The first Columbia-class ballistic-missile sub is scheduled to join the fleet in 2031.

At 5-foot-6, Lt. Marquette Leveque, one of the first women to serve on a submarine, said that she didn't have any trouble reaching valves and other equipment but that the ergonomic changes will be helpful for shorter crewmates.

Leveque was assigned to a compartment with two other female officers on the USS Wyoming. They shared a washroom with male officers. A sign on the door could be flipped to show whether a man or woman was using it.

With so few women on board, the timesharing worked, she said. But with more on the way, the need for separate spaces is greater, she added.

"Privacy is important anywhere you are," she said. "We live on this boat, as well as work there."

On April 20 2017 10:01 Lmui wrote:


CBC had a bunch of articles on it:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/trump-h1b-visa-order-1.4073587
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-dairy-farmer-reacts-trump-comments-1.4075045
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/canada-ambassador-to-us-pushes-back-on-dairy-1.4075983

That's all I've really heard as well as the lumber thing that's been going on for decades now.

On April 20 2017 10:13 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Um... Wasn't this one of the main reasons why it was believed that women should not be allowed on Subs in the first place? They are already pressed for space as it is...


Source

On April 20 2017 10:48 KwarK wrote:
Any woman who can't keep her cool in the proximity of dicks, or man who can't keep his cool in the proximity of boobs, has absolutely no place working on a nuclear submarine.