Politics

A video by Prager U I've seen states that the reasons Americans give far more money and volunteer more time to charity than Europeans is the size of the goverment - since people of the more left wing EU states thinks that the goverment already takes care of those in need. But quick googling gave me other explanaitons such as the stronger religiosity of the US. So what's the actual reason?

What would be an effective tax plan? As in where and how should the government collect it's taxes? Or is the current set up good?

What would happen if a law was suddenly passed making smoking illegal? And should we try to start putting legal pressure against smoking?(I.E. rapidly increasing taxes and regulations on them until they can't afford to buy them nor make them)

I was watching some documentaries talking about the hardships of North Korea life and unification. And got me thinking if there was to be unification how will this work? Will the US have to cough of billions and billion of dollars? For many of the North Korean people. Talking about the hardships of North Korea life. What North Korean Defectors Think Of North Korea ‪North Korean Defector tells what life is really like in North Korea. With Trump in power and conservatives that hate to spend money on social programs what will happen? Where would money go for unification? Where unification cannot be done with out money? Will where the US cough of billions…

This morning, 4:30am local (GMT-5h) there were multiple stories about the Comey firing on youtube, including a couple of republican politicians saying the firing was suspicious and reminded them of Watergate. A few hour later, those videos don't show up on recommendations, and I can't find them with specific searches. The reason Trump gave for firing Comey was that he had insulted Hilary during the election, and that it had nothing to do with the Russian-Trump investigation. I also heard Trump fired Spicer, his press secretary, for fumbling when asked about the Comey firing. The story I heard was that Trump had not told Spicer about the firing, and reporters ran t…

I've made the video below, and provided the transcript if you are unable to watch the video. The complexity of the many branches of science often require interpreters to relay information to the public in a manner they can understand, and it will continue to become more complicated and move further away from common understanding. Our understanding is expanding alongside the complexity. Unfortunately, we’re vulnerable to these interpretations being biased or influenced in ways that aren’t purely scientific - which can influence what we consider to be negative or positive due to that bias. The lack of trust from government toward the scientific community appears as …

For me it is his attitude of superiority to everybody, and his never-ending, carnival barker, huckster, con-man sales pitch, always boasting, always trying to talk you into a sale, always exaggerating. He seems delusional intentionally. He sounds like a mixture of Jim Backus as Thirston Howell on Gilligan's Island and Robert De Nero from the movie "Goodfellas". He wants to sound like a mobster, because they talk so cool, and concise, and he repeats himself ad nauseam. He always talks in fragments, to make himself look smart, like his nimble mind is moving ahead so fast. Some have said that Trump can be charming one-on-one, but the only charm I have ever seen looks s…

Hello guys, How hard would it be to change the law and nullify the current age limit on the President of the United States? If I had the majority support of america, could I force the change?

"$3,700,000,000,000 That's how much money the United States government spent in 2015 to run. The majority came form taxes, but not all of it. Now, we know that it's a pretty popular position to say you're going to lower taxes. But the problem, is that nobody ever lowers taxes. They simply find another way to make you spend your money. This going through back doors and trying to make it seem like you're saving the average american money, is harmful. First of all, it makes taxes so hard that it almost takes a professional to explain how to pay your taxes. Second, it makes it really hard for you to budget your money, because the taxes keep taking away from it at different t…

I first heard this watching Bill Maher's "Make America Sane Again". So I googled it to find this article from 2015. Does anyone dispute this? If this is true, it is amazing that not more is made of this on cable news. "The bloody conflict in Syria—which enters its fifth year this month [ article dated two years ago 3-2-15]—has killed almost 200,000 people, created 3.2 million refugees, and given rise to the murderous extremist group known as the Islamic State. The roots of the civil war extend deep into Syria’s political and socioeconomic structures. But another cause turns out to be global warming. "When violence erupted in Syria during the Arab Spring in 201…

It is widely bellieved that Hitler wanted to avoid or delay war on US at any cost. So, why did he proclaime war on US in 1941? Wasn't it one of his fatal mistakes?

So I've noticed our politics section is pretty staunchly anti-Trump (I haven't been active here in a while so correct me if this isn't the case) . I'll be frank. I voted for Donald Trump and continue to support most but not all of his policy initiatives. Seeing as how there doesn't seem to be much right wing representation here I'd like to open the floor for anyone to pick my brain as to why I would support such as horrible (insult Trump smear here). I'd like to keep it civil. I know this is an emotionally charged topic so as rational people let's debate as such. I could write a long diatribe about why I support but I think it'd be less boring and more engagi…

So, just out of curiosity, how would one go about starting a new political party in the United States?

I trust that engineers realise that this referendum was not anti European but rather a protest vote about over regulation and lack of jobs both of which affect our economy adversely. To overcome the first we need to simplify to one page maximum all regulations/directives and add government or EU recommendation on how the regulation could be achieved but these are not mandatory. The office of deputy prime minister did an excellent job in starting this off. To provide more jobs now that we are so computer efficient means that we need to reduce the working week to just three and a half days per week and encourage a shift work system as NHS, supermarkets, large stores, se…

Hey, I know I said I'd be gone but I need help. How serious can the charges be if I may have made a method and screwed the state lottery over for a few grand? Like seriously, do I need to get a lawyer and is that actually a legal charge? I can't find anything that says I can't do it and I get in legal trouble for it, so what law would I have broken in doing so? I didn't win millions or anything, it's pretty small in comparison to the money they make. Didn't even think they'd notice. Any advice on this? I'm assuming at least one person here had to have done this before, I mean this place is filled with geniuses. What should I do? Can I somehow plea the case I'm…

http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-launches-military-strike-syria/story?id=46632349 Part of me is glad to see this. Syria used Saran gas on its people. Children, innocents, and others. Then (I understand) bombed the hospital where they were sent for treatment (I've not confirmed though). The question now is: What comes next? In related news - GOP changed rules in the US Senate today because they couldn't get enough votes for their Supreme Court nominee. Lies about Susan Rice are being used to prop up bullshit claims that Obama wire tapped Trump during the election. Steve Bannon was pushed out of the National Secutity Council. Chinese President Xi Jinping is…

How do you think this will play out over time? It seems to me that soon, if not already, Trump will come to reality about climate change. He tweeted that climate change was a hoax and when confronted with his tweet by Clinton in the debates, Trump's response was to deny he said that "No, I didn't" like a 5-year-old who was accused of a misdeed and deflects. Either he was ignorant on the subject or was playing that card for the benefit of his supporters. Now when finding himself in a room with authorities on the subject it will be hard for Trump to continue denying human activity on global warming. There should be a big, definitive, televised debate on the subject…

President Eisenhower had a 91% top tax rate on extreme earnings, which basically took care of two big problems: the worst of the poverty related to circumstances of birth, and the fact that the crazy extreme wealth tends not to circulate through the economy). Do you think we should work towards reinstating such a tax in the US?

What would be the best way to give people a better education? Like extending school through the summer, extending the number of years you go to school(focusing on the United States.)? And I was curious. What if schools tested children every year from kindergarten - 6th grade, and if children tested high enough(I'm talking very high.) they would have the choice of going to a special school run by the government where they would start learning in a chosen field as well as getting an advanced general education. Like say a school had a kid one year who tested high enough. He would be able to decide, without parental approval, to go to the government run school. In t…

Came across this article from the Columbia Journalism Review. They looked at partisanship in media and associated (deliberate) disinformation. The major finding is that while traditional and for the most part left leaning media were interconnected in terms of attention. Right-wing media, including Breitbart on the other hand created their own sphere of news and influence.Thus there seems to be a distinct right-wing infosphere that deliberately isolates itself from the general media landscape. On the left wing end this is far less pronounced and the extremes tend to be isolated more than anything else (instead of self-reinforcing that is). Or in other words partisans…

If Clinton had beef with Taliban, Bush with Al Qaeda, and Obama with ISIS, which group do you think Trump will start something with? And with 'something' I mean 'sending troops into another country because it is necessary for the protection of the U.S'. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think that Trump will start something with Mexico. http://www.latimes.com/world/mexico-americas/la-fg-mexico-trump-20170201-story.html This whole ordeal seems fishy and looks like a sham. Who knows, what are your thoughts?

If you're answering, could you please state which country you're talking about as the laws may vary. I'm wondering whether marriage brings any kind of legal benefits such as any kind of tax breaks or anything like that. Are gay people, if they were unable to marry, missing out on any kind of benefits of that sort that marriage brings or is it strictly about the state recognizing them as married?

Will We Start Marrying Robots One Day? Excerpt: Top academics in the UK have claimed that within 30 years, humans will be legally allowed to marry robots and the marriages will be recognized by the state. Next year will see the first ‘sex-robots’ available to the public and some have claimed this will be a catalyst for our acceptance of AI as life. https://spaceinvader.me/2016/12/21/lawfully-wedded-robots-robot-marriages-are-coming/

OK so he is administrator of the EPA rather than a Senator - but Damn all the same http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/09/epa-chief-scott-pruitt.html

I was going to start a thread about the AHCA proposal, but I realized what I really wanted to talk about was the heavy focus on how to disallow medical coverage to lottery winners. The Republicans are very concerned about NOT covering medical costs for people who've won the lottery, taking up 6 of the 60 pages in the AHCA document. Whaaaaaaat? There seems to be a pattern here, and I'm not sure if it's a conservative one, or one influenced by massive wealth, or if it's just a general human proclivity. Lots of folks seem to be under the impression that lots of other folks get lots of things they don't deserve at all. They resent it to the point of irrationality, and ign…