All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[DebkoX]

Thoughts on the election:

Pros:
The UK said NO to UKIP, only one seat, but given the flaws of FPTP, (our flawed electoral system) they only received one seat, despite receiving 12.6% of the votes
With Miliband resigning, perhaps Labour will now found a strong leader
Clegg was good, but had to go

Con:
A tory majority

[Mr. Mastermind]

Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems were a sensible, centrist and liberal party which kept the Conservatives (Theresa May in particular) from their worst instincts. Now, instead of a Conservative government on life support from them, it is now on life support from the likes of Philip Davies and John Redwood. Real improvement there.

The Blairites are already pouncing on the result and claim the lose is because the Labour party is actually left wing for a change. Great, can't wait for 5 years of the self proclaimed "British Barack Obama" Chuka Umunna to take the party to the right again.

The worst part is the Labour party actually improved its vote yet lost seats due to FPTP. Then there was the massive over representation of the SNP, and the massive under representation of the Lib Dems, the Greens and even UKIP (which may be a shit party, but should at least be represented).

[Coin Biter]

The Labour wipe out in Scotland had long been predicted. Ironically, in a day for resignations of party leaders - Ed Miliband, Nigel Farage, and Nick Clegg - the leader of Scottish Labour, Jim Murphy, is still in charge.

The big surprise is Labour failure to make significant inroads into England. Of course their percentage of the vote increased; the Lib Dem vote collapsed, and some of those who had turned away from Labour would return because they had a non-Labour government to vote against. Given those two factors, it was a pretty dismal performance, whatever the oddities of FPTP.

Personally, I was hoping for another coalition - either Labour with the Lib Dems, or the Conservatives with the Lib Dems. The Lib Dems were the only major party to have a sensible policy on law and order - both the Conservatives and Labour have consistently over the last 20 years outbid each other will illiberal and draconian rhetoric, not to mention the egregious detention without trial legislation introduced under the Labour government. And I find much more to regret in the loss of Vince Cable and Simon Hughes and 40 or so other Lib Dem MPs than in the loss of Ed Balls.

It's not the worst possible result - that would have been a Conservative/DUP/UKIP coalition It's a grim result all the same. The Conservatives are not the US Republican party; at least in their leadership they are relatively socially liberal. However, they do have some very unpleasant and radical elements who will be emboldened by the significantly increased percentage vote for UKIP and the EU referendum.

That being said, there are some things to be cheerful about in the election. The BNP got 1,667 votes! God, they got beaten by the Monster Raving Loony Party. Granted, a lot of natural BNP voters probably voted for UKIP, as can be seen by some of the statements by their candidates, but much though I dislike UKIP, it's not the BNP.

[Puppetmaker Grae]

So, the election.

The good (because you should always start on a positive): The highest turnout since 1997, you can't say people haven't been engaged. Highest number of female and ethnic minority MPs. UKIP fail, down to one seat and Farrage losing in Thanet. George Galloway being trounced in Bradford after a pretty dirty campaign. Caroline Lucas retains her Brighton seat for the greens.

The bad: Polls hey, who's going to trust them now? The problems of FPtP amply demonstrated by the lack of Green/UKIP gains compared to the SNP (in terms of % of the national turnout). The Tories have a majority, but only just. Not necessarily a recipe for a stable government. A referendum on the EU is now inevitable.

Random thoughts: The referendum campaign. severely damaged Labour in Scotland, I don't think that campaigning against a Yes vote separate from the coalition parties was a feasible option, but they've certainly paid a price. It also seems that they've taken the Scottish electorate for granted for a long time.

The SNP. If the predicted hung parliament had happened, the SNP could have been an influential power-broker. With a Tory majority that isn't really an option, though that may serve towards a goal of a new independence referendum sooner rather than later.

The LibDems have been punished for their broken promises, and the excesses of the coalition's austerity policies. It's intriguing that they've taken the hit over the Tories, human shields? They're also no longer able to put the brakes on the worst of the Tory policies (if you believe they were ever able to do that).

Boris is back in Westminster but Cameron is a lot more secure as Tory leader now, will he be happy to wait out the next five years before making a leadership bid, will he still be a good bet by then?

Leadership of Labour and the LibDems (what's left of them) is up for grabs, who's it going to be & what directions will they take?

[Kid A]

And it also continues a trend of left wing politics in the western world. Hopefully the US bucks the trend of severe thrashings.

Unless Sanders pulls a miracle against all odds in the current system, I wouldn't hold your breath.

[ultimate jezebel]

Hell yeah...nyah nyah to Miliband.

Collecting some cool wagers too. Enough to buy new issues for the next 3 years or so.

[Kieran_Frost]

Election 2015: Number of women in Parliament rises by a third
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32601280

In another dramatic change to the political landscape, the number of women in Parliament has risen by about a third. With results in all 650 seats declared, about 29% of MPs are women - up from 23% before the election. This represents the largest increase since 1997. For many decades, female MPs made up less than 5% of the total. This reached double digits for the first time under Margaret Thatcher in 1987, but shot up as a consequence of Labour's 1997 landslide, when Tony Blair's party increased its number of female MPs by 173%.
[MORE IN LINK]

[Kid A]

http://twitter.com/alexmclaughlan/st...764096/photo/1

[Paradox]

Double 0 sees the man that isn't there:

Man, what happened in the UK definitely put a monkey wrench in the "voting doesn't matter" talk.

And it also continues a trend of left wing politics in the western world. Hopefully the US bucks the trend of severe thrashings.

The US wouldn't know a left-wing if it bit us on the ass.

[Cinnamon]

So UKIP has 1/3 of the votes the Conservatives have, but only 1 seat instead of 100?
Wow, I thought the USA had weird elections.

[worstblogever]

It's our latest reminder of what a crock the statement "Nuh uh. Both parties are just as bad," actually is...

It’s Your Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day!
(And please, for those who those who really felt the "Both Parties are Just as Bad" statement is defensible, remember, I'm still challenging you to write your own essays each day, to keep pace with me, if it's actually "just as bad". Keep in mind, you have to pick someone from politics who has either ran for, held office within the past 5 years, and have multiple verifiable news sources to any quotes/beliefs they might have to build a solid, established track record of stupid that clearly isn't a fluke. Hell, we'll even accept people who help write party platforms within that time frame. Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 303-12, since this was established on 7-18-14)


Wyatt "Tommy" Tucker

There are plenty of wacky members of the Republican Party in the North Carolina State Legislature, but State Senator Tommy Tucker is noteworthy for some of the ridiculous legislation he's submitted, let alone voted for. And it takes some doing to find yourself amongst beareaucratic boobs like George Cleveland and Skip Stam, but Tucker holds his own in that department. Tucker is in his third term in the State Senate, having been elected in the 2010 Tea Party year, and getting to run unopposed in the past two elections since.

The most disgusting moment from Tommy Tucker in the five years he's been in office was probably back in October of 2013, when in a hearing discussing SB 287, Tucker's suggestion that the affairs of the state legislature no longer be reported to local newspapers, but instead, just put on the internet, some of the state's journalists argued against this change, but were shut down at every opportunity by Tucker to protest. Quickly, Tucker advanced his bill out of committee by saying he had won a verbal 6-5 vote, and when an appeal was made by Democrats to assure the count was correct by a show of hands, Tucker refused, and adjourned the meeting. He was then approached by Hal Tanner, publisher of the Goldsboro News Argus, who mentioned a previous member of the state legislature who was booted from office on corruption charges, enraging Tucker, who storming off said:

"I am the Senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet."

As recently as January 2015, he also made headlines during debates about a loophole in North Carolina's law in paying settlements to victims of the eugenics program they ran in the from 1933 to 1974. Tucker was arguing against payouts of settlements by claiming they weren't responsible for sterilizations performed in county hospitals, just the state hospitals.

“They should go to the county where they were sterilized, not the state. The state’s done its part to right the wrongs that we did, but the county should be responsible for what it did.”

Amongst Tucker's more ridiculous votes and bill submissions:

• In December 2010, Tucker submitted a bill that would prevent students from cyberbulling their teachers. While that sounds reasonable, the penalty he suggested for students expressing their first amendment rights was to give them jail time. Not suspension from school. Not explusion. Not juvie. Not fines. JAIL.
• Tucker also took great offense to the existence of the Racial Justice Act, voting not only for its repeal, but also voting to ban the use of statistical evidence that would show racial bias in cases where the death penalty was chosen.
• Tucker is a big opponent of same sex marriage in North Carolina, voting for the state to adopt a ban on it in their state constitution, and after the Supreme Court stepped in and declared such measures unconstitutional, he voted for SB 2, in February 2015, which would allow several state officials to back out of performing duties which apply to performing those marriages on "religious grounds".
• You may have heard of North Carolina having some bizarre environmental legislation the past few years. For example, there was HB 819, which actually banned climatologists and other scientists from monitoring sea level change along North Carolina's coastline. Yes, Tommy Tucker voted for it in July 2012.
• You may have also heard about the time North Carolina Republicans turned a "motorcycle safety" bill through committee amendments into a radical anti-abortion bill, SB 353, which allowed any physician to opt out of providing an abortion for "religious reasons", as well as a myriad of other sweeping regulations. Yes, Tucker voted for that.
• When it comes to healthcare, Tucker has gone the route of a lot of GOP state legislators, voting to block the Medicaid Expansion in North Carolina in February 2013.
• In July 2013, Tucker also voted for North Carolina Republicans' attempt at disenfranchising voters through amending their voter registration laws with HB 859 in a quest to prevent the statistically non-existent problem of "voter fraud". You know, this kind of voter fraud.

Tucker's third term comes to an end here in 2016, and it will be interesting to see if his famous quote that makes it clear the power has gone to his head will come back to haunt him, and the people of North Carolina decide they can do much, much better from their elected representatives, or if they opt to give this guy a fourth term at bumbling his way through office.

[Kieran_Frost]

So UKIP has 1/3 of the votes the Conservatives have, but only 1 seat instead of 100?
Wow, I thought the USA had weird elections.

It's closer to 1/4, actually.

You vote in constituencies, not for who you want as the ruling party. While UKIP had supporters "across the board", only one area had enough overall support to take a seat. Since it's based on constituencies, it's actually pretty fair (since you're voting for the MP of THAT constituency; whose policies and choices will be about THAT constituency, whose focus in Parliament will be on the betterment of THAT constituency) and UKIP wasn't the majority support in any area voted for, but one.

We're not America. We're not voting for a President; we're voting for our local MP. A lot forget that.

[Mister Mets]

It's closer to 1/4, actually.

You vote in constituencies, not for who you want as the ruling party. While UKIP had supporters "across the board", only one area had enough overall support to take a seat. Since it's based on constituencies, it's actually pretty fair (since you're voting for the MP of THAT constituency; whose policies and choices will be about THAT constituency, whose focus in Parliament will be on the betterment of THAT constituency) and UKIP wasn't the majority support in any area voted for, but one.

We're not America. We're not voting for a President; we're voting for our local MP. A lot forget that.

Even in America, if a party gets 14% across the board, they might not get electoral votes in a presidential election, or members for a legislative body.

In 1992, Ross Perot got 18.9% of the popular vote in the presidential election, with zero electoral votes.

[Tendrin]

Ah, those family values...

Vermont state Sen. Norman H. McAllister (R) was arrested Thursday for allegedly forcing women to have sex with him instead of paying for rent, the Burlington Free Press newspaper reported.


McAllister pleaded not guilty on Friday to three counts of sexual assault and three counts of prohibited acts, according to the paper. He was reportedly arrested at the statehouse in Montpelier, Vermont.

McAllister allegedly pressured two women to have sex with him, against their will, in place of paying rent, the paper reported. McAllister, who is also a dairy and goat farmer, is said to have suggested to one of the women that she could lower her rent payments if she had sex with Mexican farm workers, officials told the paper.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewir...ssault-charges

I wonder what his positions on the issues were? I WONDER.

Perhaps another profile in discourage for WBE someday. :P

[PretenderNX01]

It's closer to 1/4, actually.

You vote in constituencies, not for who you want as the ruling party. While UKIP had supporters "across the board", only one area had enough overall support to take a seat. Since it's based on constituencies, it's actually pretty fair (since you're voting for the MP of THAT constituency; whose policies and choices will be about THAT constituency, whose focus in Parliament will be on the betterment of THAT constituency) and UKIP wasn't the majority support in any area voted for, but one.

We're not America. We're not voting for a President; we're voting for our local MP. A lot forget that.

So it's like a member of Congress. You guys had your version of the Congressional election.
Some districts like the Tea Party candidates, certainly a lot of Limbaugh listeners do but even in Republican strong-holds the TP ones don't always outshine the mainstream conservatives in the primary.

Hopefully the US bucks the trend of severe thrashings.

One could argue we started the trend last year with the senate and congress. Hopefully we realize the error of our ways come 2016.