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Day 316: former National Security Advisor to Trump, Michael Flynn, has pled guilty to lying to the FBI, widely believed to be a sign that Flynn has rolled on either senior administration officials or Trump family members. In particular, CNN is reporting that Flynn's plea bargain implicates Jared Kushner, and Buzzfeed suggests that he was working for both Russia and Turkey. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans are coming to the end of their shambolic process to put together a tax bill, and are preparing to vote. [This is a US politics catch-all thread: please read these important rules about how they work. Also, enjoy refreshing MetaFilter chat for your hot takes and instant reactions.]
comment posted at 11:55 PM on Dec-5-17

Flemish bitterness about this lies close to the surface, as so much else does in the fields of Flanders. At the monument on an autumn morning I met a local writer, André Gysel: “There are six million Danish people; they have a country,” he told me. “We have six million but we share our country with these other people and we give them €1,000 a year from each of us. And they never say thank you.” He paused, witheringly: “Mer-ci!”
comment posted at 3:52 PM on Nov-20-17

Day 303: it's turkey time, and Republicans are putting tax and spending cuts on the table, which many are finding an unpalatable centrepiece. CBO estimates suggest that poor Americans' gooses in particular will be cooked if the bill passes, with households earning under $50,000 increasingly worse off. Republican senators have stated, on the record, that major donors will not be inviting them back for a second helping of support if the tax cut bill fails. The House bill has been served but the Senate bill is still in the oven, and preparing it will involve two opposed groups coming together with a shared purpose, and also some way of massaging the figures so they won't increase the deficit. [This is a catch-all US politics thread; Roy Moore talk goes here]
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comment posted at 11:32 PM on Nov-27-17

Ten of thousands of Zimbabweans are in the streets of Harare after the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the Zimbabwe Republic Police approved a rally led by the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association against President Mugabe’s continued stay in office. Mugabe was placed under house arrest earlier in the week in what the army insisted was not a coup. This appears to be the culmination of a power struggle between Mugabe's wife, Grace Mugabe and recently ousted vice-president Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mugabe, now a billionaire in one of the world's poorest countries, was once considered a revolutionary hero after leading Zimbabwe to independence from Great Britain.
comment posted at 10:37 PM on Nov-21-17

A Guide To A Bunch Of Weird Chinese Car Brands You've Never Heard Of
comment posted at 2:55 PM on Nov-15-17

Day 295: the light at the end of the tunnel is visible, as the Democratic wave starts sweeping elections across America, including the Deep South. Attention turns to the special senate election in Alabama next month, where jerk-off Republican candidate Roy Moore is facing unexpected allegations of child predation. As of posting, Trump is currently touring Asia, representing America and definitely not getting orders from Putin in a secure, untraceable manner how could you think that there is no collusion. [This is your catch-all U.S. politics thread, for things not related to the recent elections or Roy Moore.]
comment posted at 4:09 PM on Nov-13-17

After cathartic Democratic gains on Tuesday, 2017 awaits one last big federal contest -- Alabama's December 12th special election to fill A.G. Jeff Sessions' seat in the U.S. Senate. The normally determinative Republican primary was riven by divisions, with the controversial theocratic ex-judge Roy Moore defeating establishment-backed Luther Strange. The Democrats, meanwhile, nominated respected US attorney Doug Jones, best known for successfully prosecuting the Klansmen behind the horrific 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Still, Moore was widely seen as the narrow favorite... until today's bombshell WaPo story in which multiple conservative women independently confirmed Moore sexually harassed them in the 70s -- some as young as 14. While the Moore campaign rejects the story as "fake news", GOP senators are abandoning him in droves, with talk of mounting a write-in campaign for primary loser Luther Strange. With just a month until election day, could deep-red Alabama elect a progressive Democrat for the first time in more than twenty years?
comment posted at 4:24 PM on Nov-13-17

One year after perhaps the most disastrous electoral result in the history of the United States, tomorrow America returns to the polls for Election Day.

With a mixed record this year of surprising victories in state-level legislative special elections, but several disappointments in Congressional ones, the Democratic party is hoping to turn the historic low approval ratings of the president into electoral victories in Virginia, New Jersey, and elsewhere across the nation.
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Day 287: Cut, Cut, Cut. [this is your U.S. politics thread]
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comment posted at 11:38 PM on Nov-9-17

In the continuing saga of powerful men in Hollywood all being incredibly horrible, a Buzzfeed story has dropped in which Star Trek: Discovery's own Anthony Rapp accused actor and former closet case Kevin Spacey of sexually assaulting him when Rapp was 14. Spacey, of course, used this opportunity to finally come out publically as a gay man, which many people, including British journalist Owen Jones, had no time for.
comment posted at 5:53 PM on Nov-6-17

Trump’s critics yearn for his exit. But Mike Pence, the corporate right’s inside man, poses his own dangers.
comment posted at 4:40 PM on Oct-29-17

Day 278: Alert the daycare staff. [this is the U.S. politics thread]
comment posted at 4:51 PM on Oct-28-17

What makes Knuth’s role in typographical history so special was just how much he cared about the appearance of typography in the 1970s—and the fact that he used his technical abilities to emulate the art he so appreciated from the Monotype era. Eddie Smith at Practically Efficient essays some 6000 words on the history of mathematical typography.
comment posted at 11:56 PM on Oct-13-17

Frances McDormand’s Difficult Women (NYT Magazine).
comment posted at 11:30 PM on Oct-8-17

As America reels from the mass shooting in Las Vegas (the third such shooting regarded as the deadliest ever in a decade), Puerto Rico citizens have gone nearly two weeks without power, with reports that already ageing infrastructure has been irretrievably destroyed. (Puerto Rico's infrastructure status page reports only 5% of the network is operational.)
comment posted at 2:35 PM on Oct-16-17

More than 50 people have been killed and 200 injured in a mass shooting at the Route 91 Music Festival near the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. This is the worst mass shooting in United States history, exceeding the 49 in the Orlando Nightclub Shooting.
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Bill Cassidy still is a liar / Tom Price is a luxury flier / And Kim Jong-un’s aim / He says, is to tame / The POTUS, a dotard, with fire.
“My earlier invite’s withdrawn!” / Insisted the president, Don. / “Steph wouldn’t have come; / He told you, u bum,” / Observed a 3rd-party, LeBron
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R.I.P., the man who saved the world. Cold War hero Stanislav Petrov died at 77. Previously.
comment posted at 3:30 PM on Sep-19-17

Almost nobody watches Emmy-nominated shows: A new survey of 500 people finds that of this year's Emmy-nominated shows that don't air on broadcast TV, Netflix’s “Stranger Things” was the most-watched, viewed by 21% of respondents. Netflix’s “Master of None,” Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and FX’s “Atlanta” tied at 5% each for the least-watched of all nominees — although “Master of None” exceeded all nominees in “never heard of” responses, at 76%.
comment posted at 6:08 PM on Sep-16-17

It’s Schrodinger’s President! Chuck and Nancy have a deal with Trump on DACA…or do they? Republicans are outraged at Trump’s unilateral caving…or are they? Trump likes to wait for the facts before commenting on a terrorist attack…or does he? Back channels are working on cooling down the North Korea nuclear crisis…or are they? The GOP attempt to repeal the ACA is dead…or is it?
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comment posted at 2:48 PM on Sep-23-17

On Sunday, reports leaked of President Trump's plan to end DACA for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, with likely a six-month phase-in of the enforcement. Rebuking North Korea for their latest nuclear test, he also criticized South Korea for "appeasement" and on trade, and suggested he would cease trade with any country that continued to trade with the DPRK. Meanwhile, the Justice Department just admitted in court that Trump's much-disputed accusation that "Obama wiretapped Trump tower" was indeed false.
comment posted at 3:55 PM on Sep-4-17

Another busy week for the President: on the eve of Hurricane Harvey slamming into the Texas coast, Trump pardoned Arpaio, and banned transgender people from future military enlistment, but has difficulty staying on message as historic flooding threatens Texas. Meanwhile, the Russian collusion probe proceeds apace, as additional subpoenas are issued for testimony, while Gorka wins the weekly White House purge lottery.
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A genuine nice guy. The actor known for his roles in “Mork & Mindy” and “Cheers,” has died after a battle with cancer. He was 69.

comment posted at 1:19 AM on Aug-25-17

20th in the series, here is the Beloit College Mindset List for the class of 2021, an examination of the culture they grew up in.
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How Mic.com exploited social justice for clicks, and then abandoned a staff that believed in it
comment posted at 3:01 PM on Aug-23-17

But the keystone of this vernacular is “cuck.” A shortening of “cuckold,” an old word used to refer to men who allow their partners to sleep with other men (and often find sexual gratification in the humiliation of it), its use has become the sine qua non of alt-right group membership.

Tim Squirrell explains the linguistic shibbolets of the far right, as researched by the Alt-Right Open Intelligence Initiative at the University of Amsterdam.
comment posted at 5:19 PM on Aug-23-17