U.S. Politics: The Biggest Trade in WNBA History

[Trainer Yusuf]

^14 OG and 2 newcomers to go, in total leaving 16.

https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1201316818687864833

According to Secretary Pompeo's Twitter, US has deposited its ratification for North Macedonia's accession protocol to NATO, which leaves only Spain, which recently had an early election.

Edit: Harris has withdrawn from the race, leaving 13 OG+2, in total 15.

Harris was qualified for the December debate, so this is kind of weird, but still it is significant.

 

[The Admiral]

Edit: Harris has withdrawn from the race, leaving 13 OG+2, in total 15.

Harris was qualified for the December debate, so this is kind of weird, but still it is significant.

I reckon this might have something to do with it... https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/29/us/politics/kamala-harris-2020.html

Yeah, her campaign has been not doing so well for a while. There are specific things I don't like about her -- her "top cop" posturing, that her policies would send trans women to men's prisons, her support for SESTA and FOSTA -- but I'm not fool enough to think that any of that **** would sink her.

 

[bobjr]

Harris lost her top campaign people to Bloomberg of all people and had no money left.

She leapt out to a big lead by presenting fairly left on issues including medicare for all, then everything was either revealed as hypocritical like her criminal justice stuff, or walked back completely like medicare for all.

 

[Poke Trainer J]

Shows just how much of a mistake Citizens United is when money shouldn't win elections. The Electoral College was already bad enough.

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/...ter-with-eu-serbia-only-the-second-this-year/

Major Balkan update, Montenegro is set to open its final accession Chapter for EU negotations, while Serbia will be only stuck with one more Chapter. It seems that EU has finally decoupled Montenegro's accession to EU from Serbia's progress.

Montenegro has still about at least 5 years more to go for closing the negotation chapters and later waiting for EU member states to ratify its accession, but that is mostly formality at this point. As mentioned before Serbia's accession will be delayed indefinitely until it recognizes Kosovo's independence, whereas Albania and North Macedonia have to next year's June to start accession talks, after Montenegro's initial process is over at the end of this year.

Edit: https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/...pter-8-with-montengro-not-expected-this-year/

Nevermind, it was a false alarm, there won't be any changes regarding Montenegro.

 

[RileyXY1]

Gov. Brian Kemp has decided to appoint business executive Kelly Loeffler to the Georgia Senate seat that is being vacated by Sen. Johnny Isakson. This has gotten him into a confrontation with Donald Trump, who wants Congressman Doug Collins (GA-9) appointed to the seat instead.

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

The new UN Human Development Report is out, and here's the summary of changes compared to previous report are as follows:

Spoiler: General changes

Countries that moved to Very High Development from High Development (ie. Emerging to Advanced):

1. Turkey
2. Seychelles, the only country in the VHD group in Africa.
3. Palau

Countries that moved to High Development from Medium Development (ie. Developing to Emerging):

1. Philippines
2. Bolivia
3. Indonesia
4. South Africa
5. Egypt

Countries that moved to Medium Development from Low Development (ie. Undeveloped to Developing):

1. Zimbabwe
2. Solomon Islands

**Marshall Islands have went down from High Development to Medium Development

Spoiler: U.S. related changes

**US life expectancy has dropped to 78.9 years from 79.5 years in the previous report.
**Expected years of schooling has dropped to 16.5 from 16.3 in the previous report.
**GNI 2011 PPP per capita has risen to 56.140 from 54,941 in the previous report.
**US HDI has dropped to 920 from 924 in the previous report.
**It has also dropped to 15th from 13th in the previous report.

Spoiler: Overall changes

**China's growth has dropped substantially, going only 0.06 points higher than the previous report (0.752 to 0.758). India has similarly only grown by 0.007 points (0.640 to 0.647).
**Most Arab-majority countries have lost 0.020 to 0.030 points, which roughly correspond to 4 to 6 years. Jordan and Lebanon have significantly lost points in this range.
**France has lost 0.010 points, likely due to mass immigration.
**Mexico similarly lost 0.007 points, which it gained in the previous year's report, for similar reasons.
**Slovenia is the only country to rise above 0.900 mark this year.
**Australia lost its position in the top 5 to Germany.
**South America has only one country in the Medium Development group left, Guyana, but other Latin American countries in Central America remain underdeveloped.
**Oceania has only one country left in Low Human Development, Papua New Guinea.
**World average has risen to 0.731 from 0.728 in the previous report.
**Despite the loss of development in some Arab-majority countries, the group as a whole has risen to 0.701 from 0.699, shifting from medium development to high development, as the most populous ones have improved noticeably.

 

[RileyXY1]

Rep. Duncan Hunter (CA-50) is resigning from Congress after pleading guilty to charges of misusing more than $250,000 in campaign donations, using the money for personal use. Another rep. Rep. George Holding (NC-02), is retiring after he was redistricted into a district that was more Democratic-leaning than his previous district.

 

[Remix2]

So if anyone know, the uk election is happening and Troy party who despises being a complete dumpster fire somehow are projected to win big.

 

[bobjr]

I guess the UK really does want a no deal Brexit and privatization of the NHS.

 

[Remix2]

I guess the UK really does want a no deal Brexit and privatization of the NHS.

Apparently so, at this point I think the Troy party could ruin the Uk and they’ll still win the election.

 

[Gamzee Makara]

Wanna fix the UK?

Remove the royals and the house of Lords from power.

Send an anti-aristocracy message and the Tories will lose a lot of support.

 

[Trainer Yusuf]

A few notes on the UK general election:

*Despite Corbyn's loss, SNP has won considerably big in Scotland, including unseating Lib Dem leader Jo Swinswon, who is obviously going to resign.
*Despite their rise in polls, Lib Dems only kept their ground in terms of MPs.
*Plaid and Sinn Fein have also hold their ground considerably. Plaid seems to have won the entire Welsh coast in particular. Sinn Fein also won North Belfast from DUP, which it couldn't win since 1930s.

With Johnson now having his majority, there is nothing stopping Brexit, so EU should be able to return to focusing on the Balkans once the whole process is over within a year.

Edit: Though Corbyn will resign from his position, he will remain in the Labour Party. McDonnell has previously stated that they would like to see a woman leader, which Labour never had outside of as a caretaker leader, but ultimately depends on the party members' wishes.

As for how long Johnson will remain, since he intends to remove the Fixed-Terms Act, he can go on indefinitely without an election, but longest serving PM in the modern era was Thatcher with 11 years, so that will likely around the ballpark of Johnson's tenure, unless there is a global economic crisis(Brexit deflation WON'T be enough). But it is unlikely Johnson will have a successor after that point.

 

[Remix2]

The chance of Scottish independence just increased after the uk election, and given who leading I don’t blame Scotland if they break off.

 

[bobjr]

I feel like Disaster Nationalism is the best fitting term here

 

[MotostokeOnTrent]

I guess the UK really does want a no deal Brexit

There is literally an exit deal to be approved imminently. It doesn't set out the full extent of the future relationship, but is effectively a failsafe skeleton arrangement for future trade.

privatization of the NHS

This theory is repeated at literally every election and it curiously never seems to come to fruition despite long Tory administrations under Heath, Thatcher, Major, Cameron and May. The Tories don't want to privatise it - they want to de-politicise it and throw enough money at it that it never hurts their electoral prospects ever again.

Wanna fix the UK?

Remove the royals and the house of Lords from power.

Send an anti-aristocracy message and the Tories will lose a lot of support.

Both are complete non-issues for the overwhelming majority of UK voters. Support for the monarchy is at 70% as of 2018.

*Despite Corbyn's loss, SNP has won considerably big in Scotland, including unseating Lib Dem leader Jo Swinswon, who is obviously going to resign.

The SNP isn't Scottish Labour. Of course they do well if Corbyn does poorly - they're competing for the same votes.

 

[Gamzee Makara]

There is literally an exit deal to be approved imminently. It doesn't set out the full extent of the future relationship, but is effectively a failsafe skeleton arrangement for future trade.



This theory is repeated at literally every election and it curiously never seems to come to fruition despite long Tory administrations under Heath, Thatcher, Major, Cameron and May. The Tories don't want to privatise it - they want to de-politicise it and throw enough money at it that it never hurts their electoral prospects ever again.



Both are complete non-issues for the overwhelming majority of UK voters. Support for the monarchy is at 70% as of 2018.



The SNP isn't Scottish Labour. Of course they do well if Corbyn does poorly - they're competing for the same votes.

Sauce or no with your polls, mate.

 

[MotostokeOnTrent]

For some reason, I'm unable to post the link - a search for something like 'Yougov who are the monarchists' should bring it up.

The figures as of 18 May 2018 are:

- 69% positive to 21% negative for the population as a whole
- 57-25 for those aged 18-24
- 60-23 for those aged 25-34
- 64-22 for those aged 35-44
- 70-21 for those aged 45-54
- 77-18 for those aged 55+

Personal approval for Elizabeth II is at 92%.

 

[bobjr]

Why does the NHS keep getting funding reduced then? Maybe it’s an American thing, but Healthcare will always be a political thing as long as there are elected officials who want to make sure some people don’t have it.

Didn’t they even sell off part of it to Bain Capital, one of the most evil kinds of businesses?

Also the rumor was the royal family wanted a “soft” Brexit and not the clusterfuck it became, so they’re stuck because openly supporting it now means they have to deal with the backlash personality when things get bad.

 

[MotostokeOnTrent]

Why does the NHS keep getting funding reduced then?

It doesn't. It's increased every year of the past decade, a total increase of around £20bn, from just shy of £120bn to just shy of £140bn per year. Again, the link doesn't seem to work but 'Fullfact spending on the NHS in England' should do the trick.

Maybe it’s an American thing, but Healthcare will always be a political thing as long as there are elected officials who want to make sure some people don’t have it.

The debate is certainly different - there is literally no-one in mainstream UK politics who questions the existence of the NHS, or the principle of healthcare being free at the point of access. There might be some debate around the periphery on European-style models, but the US system is universally reviled.

Didn’t they even sell off part of it to Bain Capital, one of the most evil kinds of businesses?

No, the NHS was not sold off - part of a government-owned NHS supplier was sold (the National Blood Service was also untouched). The NHS has countless private suppliers for everything from computers, to beds, to plasma. GPs are also private practitioners. It has no impact on access to the NHS.

Also the rumor was the royal family wanted a “soft” Brexit and not the clusterfuck it became, so they’re stuck because openly supporting it now means they have to deal with the backlash personality when things get bad.

No-one cares what the Royal Family thinks about politics, and they are expressly keen on being kept out of it; they openly support nothing bar mild charities. They are cultural celebrities and have no real political role.