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58,002 | Where did this figure showing shifts in support between 2016 and 2020 come from? | <p>The article <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/09/why-trump-is-losing/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/09/why-trump-is-losing/</a> has an image showing shifts in support between 2016 and 2020. Where does this figure come from? While it says Pew Research Center, I can't find this figure on their site.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FQE7Z.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/FQE7Z.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
 | united states statistics reference request exit polls | 0 |
58,004 | Why did Trump interrupt Biden incessantly in the Presidential Debate? | <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW1lY5jFNcQ" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This</a> was extremely unusual to watch.</p>
<p>The Fox anchor and debate moderator Chris Wallace had to tell the President to let his opponent speak.</p>
<p>Quote from the debate:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>CHRIS WALLACE: The country would be better served if we allowed both
people to speak with fewer interruptions. I'm appealing to you, sir,
to do that.</p>
<p>Sir, you'll be happy. I'm about to pick up on one of your points.</p>
<p>I'd like...</p>
<p>PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: And we will protect...</p>
<p>WALLACE: President, I'm the moderator of this debate. And I would like
you to let me ask my question.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Was the incumbent President afraid that his opponent would ask him questions that he would have to answer?</strong></p>
 | united states donald trump presidential election debate | 0 |
58,005 | Is Michigan the only US state without a State of Emergency (or similar type of order)? | <p>On October 2, 2020, the <a href="http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov/SCT/PUBLIC/ORDERS/161492_52_01.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Michigan Supreme Court (MSC) released an opinion</a> regarding the Governor's <em>state of emergency</em> renewals. The syllabus of the opinion states that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Governor did not have authority after April 30, 2020, to issue or renew any executive orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic under the EMA (Emergency Management Act of 1976).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Governor did not possess the authority to exercise emergency powers under the EPGA (Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945) because the act unlawfully delegates legislative power to the executive branch in violation of the Michigan Constitution.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Governor asked the MSC to allow for a transition period before ending the <em>state of emergency</em>. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/michigan-supreme-court-denies-pandemic-executive-orders-extensions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The MSC announced October 12, 2020</a> that its ruling was effective as of October 2, removing any doubt.</p>
<p>The Michigan Legislature at this point has not passed a bill restarting the <em>state of emergency</em>.</p>
<p>Is Michigan the only US state without a <em>state of emergency</em> (or similar type of order)?</p>
 | united states covid 19 virus local government public health | 0 |
59,005 | Is any country allowed to purchase conventional arms from North Korea? | <ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfvZzXyqsY4" rel="nofollow noreferrer">North Korea Military Parade 2020</a></li>
</ul>
<p>I was watching the latest North Korean video on its military parade. Looks like they have developed an impressive arsenal, and more importantly, a formidable defense industry.</p>
<p>Can any country purchase conventional arms from North Korea?</p>
<p>Or, is it forbidden?</p>
 | north korea sanctions weapons | 1 |
59,006 | Does the introduction of elections and other democratic institutions contribute to social disruptions and chaos in a country with a weak state? | <p>I am conducting a research on a historical period in Iran in which a short period of premature democratic rule by a government with low state capabilities led to social disruptions and chaos and eventually to a prolonged period of authoritarian rule that was able to concentrate power in state apparatuses. Can we find a larger worldwide trend hence a wider theory of premature democratization here?</p>
 | election democracy liberalism political transitions authoritarianism | 0 |
59,018 | Does HC Strache appeal to a meaningfully different section of Austrian society from the FPÖ? | <p>Austrian populist-right politician HC Strache led his own campaign for the Viennese municipal elections which took place on Sunday. People who aren't followers of Austrian politics may not be aware that he was involved in a controversy/scandal last year (Ibizagate) and left the Freedom Party (FPÖ) he once led.</p>
<p>Does he actually appeal to a significantly different demographic or political tradition from the <em>Freiheitlichen</em>? Is there any significant ideological difference between "Team HC" and the rump FPÖ? Or is this just a vanity/personality thing?</p>
 | conservatism nationalism populism austria | 1 |
59,019 | Why is nobody in the Amy Coney Barrett hearings wearing masks? | <p>I was watching the Amy Coney Barrett hearings yesterday (October 12; today is October 13th 2020), and I noticed how none of the senators present were wearing masks. In her address, Kamala Harris, while also herself not wearing a mask, noted how dangerous it was for the members of the Senate to be present for the hearing, given that Covid-19 is so prevalent that even the President himself, with all his security detail, could contract the virus. I presume that the senators are seated 6 feet apart in the hearing chamber (I couldn't tell based on the layout of the cameras), but I can't think of a good reason why they should not also be masked, as Senator Harris suggested, nor can I understand why the hearing could not be done virtually so as to restrict the contact that each Senator had with others.</p>
<p>Furthermore, when Judge Barrett was asked to speak, she was asked to remove her mask before speaking as well; although she was silent the whole time the Senators were making their opening statements, she was asked to remove her mask when speaking. All logic and public health advice seems to suggest the opposite should be the case: When speaking, one should wear a mask, as one may eject aerosols with their breath, but when silent one ejects fewer particles and therefore it's "safer" to not wear a mask when silent.</p>
<p>So my questions are, by most-least important (the top question is the main question; if this question is viewed as "too broad" then feel free to answer only the first one):</p>
<ul>
<li>Why were the attendants of the hearing not masked (what laws/procedures prevent this, or, alternately, was masking simply deemed unnecessary by the members)?</li>
<li>Why was the hearing not done virtually (what are the stated arguments by the members)?</li>
<li>Why, despite knowing the answers to the above 2 questions, did Senator Harris make an issue out of the health precautions in her opening address (this may require some opinion, unsure if there are any sources on this)?</li>
</ul>
 | united states covid 19 virus supreme court senate rules nomination | 1 |
59,022 | Which, if any, EU28 countries have expressed opposition to the creation of a European Security Council? | <p>There has been some talk about setting up a <em>European Security Council</em> to make collective foreign policy decision more swiftly. For example, <a href="https://www.swp-berlin.org/10.18449/2019C02/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">an article on the German Institute for International and Security Affairs website</a> introduces the concept as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A European Security Council (ESC) would – so the German government has suggested – make the European Union (EU) better prepared for making decisions about international politics and thus better able to act. It believes that if the EU and its member states do not manage to take and implement coherent decisions more quickly, their ability to (further) enforce European rules and strengthen multilateral formats will be weakened. The EU-27’s diplomatic, financial and military resources should therefore be supplemented by a format for more effective intergovernmental cooperation. However, this idea can only take shape if the German government can demonstrate the added value of such a body, and if it shows more willingness itself to shape foreign policy within the EU framework.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since then, <a href="https://www.cer.eu/in-the-press/european-security-council-good-idea" rel="nofollow noreferrer">an article on the Centre for European Reform website</a> talked about French support for the idea:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In an effort to tackle this frailty, France and Germany have proposed setting up a ‘European Security Council’ (ESC). While the idea of an ESC has been around for years, it was recently revitalised by French President Emmanuel Macron, and has also been endorsed by German foreign minister Heiko Maas and other senior German politicians. France and Germany have not yet put forward a detailed blueprint for the ESC, but it appears it would have a dual purpose. First, allowing close consultation and coordination with the UK after Brexit, keeping London plugged into European decision-making. Second, making Europe a more agile and forceful player in foreign and security policy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Has any EU28 country expressed opposition to the formation of such a council?</p>
<hr />
<p>I specifically used the EU28 reference because the idea of the ESC would be that the UK is included in these foreign policy decisions as well. As an <a href="https://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/80869" rel="nofollow noreferrer">article in Carnegie Europe</a> wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Third, an ESC could provide a new pan-European architecture to keep the UK connected with the European foreign policy orbit. This might mitigate the perceived post-Brexit risk of weakened European global influence if London aligned more with the outlook of U.S. President Donald Trump. An ESC would bring all Europe’s main foreign and security powers—whether inside or outside the EU—together.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As I understand it, the ESC would not necessarily be linked to the European Union. My using the EU28 term is just to have a clear set of countries that are probably expected to participate in one way or another with the ESC if the idea ever comes to fruition.</p>
 | europe geopolitics national security | 0 |
59,023 | How would a mute person take an oath of office in the United States? | <p>Many officeholders in the United States are required to take an oath of office. How would a mute person do this?</p>
 | united states oath of office | 1 |
59,027 | What does Amy Coney Barrett have to do with abortion, healthcare, etc? | <p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-13/barrett-awaits-democrats-grilling-on-day-two-of-confirmation" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Barrett Avoids Slips as Democrats Press on Abortion, Health Care</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Democrats grilled U.S. Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett for hours about abortion rights, health-care law, guns and election disputes but made little progress derailing her likely Senate confirmation and a strengthened conservative majority on the court.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why would Democrats - or anyone, for that matter - grill Amy Coney Barrett on abortion rights, healthcare laws, guns, etc? Those seem completely irrelevant to her prospective job as a supreme court justice. Instead they ought to be grilling her on her legal experience, her criminal record (if any), her ability to work with the current justices, her personal health (i.e. whether she will be healthy enough for long enough to perform her duties), etc.</p>
<p>It seems to me like if the government needs to know Amy Coney Barrett's political beliefs before appointing her as a supreme court justice, then it might as well be a <a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/57374/why-arent-the-justices-of-the-supreme-court-of-the-united-states-democratically">directly elected position</a>. Like, if one does is against abortion and can muster the required majority in Congress to make it illegal, then it doesn't matter what Amy Coney Barrett's political beliefs are because she will have to impose the law. The answers to that linked question say that supreme court justices don't make new laws, only reinterpret them; but even then 1) we would expect Democrats to be grilling Amy Coney Barrett on whether she's an Originalist or Living Constitutionalist, not her political beliefs directly; and 2) Congress could just pass laws that leave no room for interpretation.</p>
 | united states law supreme court | 1 |
59,036 | Has Ukraine's dismantlement of ICBMs had any impact on its sovereignty? | <p>In 1994, <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/the-destruction-of-ukraines-nuclear-arsenal/29699706.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Ukraine dismantled its nuclear arsenal and ICBMs</a>.</p>
<p>According to present-day Ukraine, was it a mistake?</p>
<p>What do Ukrainian political leaders and scholars/intellectuals say about this?</p>
<p>What do Ukraine's general population say about this?</p>
 | nuclear weapons ukraine | 0 |
59,041 | Were there any thaws in the post 2000 US-Russian relationship? | <h2>Background</h2>
<p>I have recently become interested in the triangle US-Russia-China. For the Chinese-American relationship there are many analyses that provide ostensible patterns of freeze and thaw, such as Lowell Dittmer‘s book <em>China‘s Asia</em>.</p>
<p>I have now started reading on the Russo-American relationship, beginning with Angela Stent‘s <em>The Limits of Partnership</em>. She mentions several post 2000 attempts to reset the relationship, but so far I am unsure whether any of these resulted in relative improvement of the relationship.</p>
<h2>Question</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>Is there any overview of the post-2000 Russia-US relationship highlighting worse and better periods - preferably academic?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From my current perspective (only just starting to learn about this) it seems that everyone mentions the points in time that made the relationship worse, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>2008, Georgian War</li>
<li>2010s upheavals in the Arab world</li>
<li>2013, Snowden</li>
<li>2013/4 Ukraine Crisis</li>
<li>2014, Crimea annexation</li>
</ul>
<p>Stent also mentions attempts at resetting the relationship, but I don’t understand (yet) whether any periods of rapprochement/deescalation ever occurred. Except that she clearly mentions a "post-9/11 rapprochement".</p>
 | united states international relations russian federation | 0 |
59,046 | What is the purpose for ads for candidates that are basically guaranteed to lose? | <p>I saw this ad for a man named Joe Collins. He is running for CA-43 and put out a new video attacking Maxine Waters for not living in the district she represented for 44 years. It depicts her as dishonest. Looking at the Cook PVI and other stats like it, it looks like she will get about 3/4 of the vote.</p>
<p>What is the point for running an ad for someone like that in a safe seat that is safe for the opposite party? If there was an ad against Marjorie Taylor Greene, I would say the same thing. But this is the one that I have actually been seeing.</p>
<p>Link to ad: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3wMj24GjtA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3wMj24GjtA</a></p>
 | united states advertising | 1 |
59,049 | Why were China, Russia and Cuba allowed to join the UN human rights council? | <p><a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/china-cuba-russia-elected-to-un-human-rights-council/2005381" rel="noreferrer">China, Cuba, Russia elected to UN Human Rights Council</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The UN General Assembly voted Tuesday to elect a new tranche of 15 Human Rights Council (HRC) members, including China, Cuba and Russia.</p>
<p>The trio of countries won seats over objections from critics who challenge their rights records.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Reads like an excerpt from The Onion, but unfortunately it is not. What reasons exist that would allow these kinds of countries to join the UNHRC?</p>
 | united nations human rights | 0 |
59,050 | How does debt-trap diplomacy work? | <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-trap_diplomacy" rel="noreferrer">Debt-Trap Diplomacy</a></p>
<p>In the micro world of personal loans, a person will go to a bank, and say, for example: "Here's a contract: You give me $1 million, and I'll pay it back to you on XYZ schedule with XYZ interest, and if I fail to do so, you can have my house". Then, if the person in question fails to pay the debt, the bank will say "give me your house", and if the person says "no", then the bank goes to court and the court says "give the bank your house", and if the person continues to say "no" then they get arrested by the government, thrown in jail, and their house is repossessed anyway.</p>
<p>My question is, how does this work on the macro scale of nations? My understanding is it works something like this:</p>
<ol>
<li>China loans a bunch of money to Zimbabwe.</li>
<li>Zimbabwe promises China some collateral in exchange, most probably land (because it's pretty much the only thing Zimbabwe can promise to China that it can't reliably sabotage or reneg on for "unforeseen circumstances").</li>
<li>Zimbabwe defaults on their loan, and China comes to collect.</li>
<li>Like any good loan shark, rather than actually collecting, instead China blackmails Zimbabwe to get other concessions, in exchange for a "more favourable" lending restructuring, e.g. favourable terms for Chinese business/government contracts and so on. Behind the scenes, this "restructuring" is actually just China coercing and extracting additional concessions out of Zimbabwe on a longer time scale, which is probably more valuable in aggregate to China than a small patch of grass in the middle of Subsaharan Africa.</li>
</ol>
<p>Apropos of this, what would stop Zimbabwe from telling China to jump in a lake with regards to collecting its debt collateral, and refusing to provide China with either the land it promised or with other concessions pursuant to a debt restructuring? What would be China's options for reacting to such a declaration? Presumably there's some kind of international court that arbitrates this sort of thing, but what if Zimbabwe tells that court to jump in a lake too? Presumably, the end result would be some military goons, from China or elsewhere, come into Zimbabwe and make the governmental decision makers "mysteriously disappear" overnight, and that becomes that, but what if we replace a country with little power or influence like Zimbabwe, with a country that has a whole lot of debt with China that it has to pay, but also holds a whole lot of international influence, like the USA? What if the USA tells China and also the international court to jump in a lake?</p>
 | international law china debt | 0 |
59,058 | Is there some way to find out the senate or house candidates endorsed by Bernie Sanders? | <p>Wikipedia lists endorsements in each race, e.g. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Texas#District_25" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections_in_Texas#District_25</a>. Some tweets by candidates also announce endorsement. Is there some way to find out as many as possible people who run for senator or house representative and have received endorsement from a politician?</p>
<p>I am mainly/only interested in who Bernie Sanders has endorsed, and I am satisfied with those listed in Wikipedia, and only if Wikipedia could be queried ...</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
 | united states congress endorsement | 0 |
59,061 | What steps has President Trump's "global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the 69 nations where it is illegal" taken? | <p>The <em>Trump Pride</em> webpage asserts:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Through his bold plan to end the HIV epidemic to <strong>his global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the 69 nations where it is illegal</strong>, President Trump has proven himself to be a strong advocate for the LGBT community both at home and abroad.<br />
<sub><a href="https://pride.donaldjtrump.com/" rel="noreferrer">Trump Pride</a>, pride.donaldjtrump.com, sourced 14 October 2020.</sub></p>
</blockquote>
<p>When I first read this, I was totally unaware of such a campaign. So...</p>
<p><strong>Question</strong>: What steps has President Trump's "global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the 69 nations where it is illegal" taken?</p>
<p>After some Googling, I get the impression that this was originally a political tactic to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-launches-global-effort-end-criminalization-homosexuality-n973081" rel="noreferrer">impugn Iran</a> (February 2019) and is now used as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkwashing_(LGBT)" rel="noreferrer">pinkwashing</a> to win ephemeral <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/us/politics/caitlyn-jenner-trump-transgender-policy.html" rel="noreferrer">Caitlyn-Jenner</a>-style votes (cf. GLAAD's <a href="https://www.glaad.org/trump" rel="noreferrer">Trump Accountability Project</a>; <a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/19736/what-has-trump-done-to-oppress-the-lgbt-community">What has Trump done to oppress the LGBT+ Community?</a>). <em>Pink News</em> specifically criticizes it as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Although much-touted by gay Trump supporters, <strong>there is little evidence that a US-led “global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in the 69 nations where it is illegal” has ever existed beyond an initial press release</strong>.<br />
<sub><a href="https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/10/13/donald-trump-pride-rainbow-richard-grenell-lara-eric-pennsylvania-rally-amy-coney-barrett/" rel="noreferrer">Donald Trump just sent invites to a ‘Trump Pride’ rally with no mention of LGBT+ people – or his 181 attacks on the community</a>, <em>Pink News</em>, 13 October 2020.</sub></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since February 2019, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-botswana-lgbt-countries/factbox-botswana-joins-the-10-latest-countries-to-decriminalize-gay-sex-idUSKCN1TC20Y" rel="noreferrer">decriminalization of homosexuality</a> has only occurred in Botswana (June 2019) and its unclear if Trump's campaign had any influence. <a href="https://twitter.com/EliStokols/status/1098332842550005763" rel="noreferrer">A tweet</a> (February 2019) indicates Trump was not even aware of the campaign, and there are reports of it being described as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/i-don-t-know-trump-draws-blank-homosexuality-decriminalization-push-n974161" rel="noreferrer">"not a big policy departure"</a>, and of advocates calling it <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/united-nations-lgbt-usa/rights-advocates-call-trumps-pledge-to-decriminalize-gay-sex-a-lie-idUSL5N26G5ZK" rel="noreferrer">"an unadulterated lie"</a>.</p>
<p>However, it's possible there is another side to this story. There are indeed Trump-supporting LGBT+ people and groups, e.g. <a href="https://getoutspoken.com/" rel="noreferrer">OUTSpoken</a>.</p>
 | united states donald trump lgbt+ | 0 |
59,063 | Are there any official statistics on average rejected/missing/lost ballots by mail? | <p>Some time ago, Washington Post presented an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/21/heres-problem-with-mail-in-ballots-they-might-not-be-counted/" rel="noreferrer">article</a> about flaws of mail voting. Another <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tens-of-thousands-of-mail-ballots-have-been-tossed-out-in-this-years-primaries-what-will-happen-in-november/2020/07/16/fa5d7e96-c527-11ea-b037-f9711f89ee46_story.html" rel="noreferrer">article</a> tells about "tens of thousands" such ballots.</p>
<p>And that caused me to ask this question:</p>
<p><strong>Is there any known average amount of missing/rejected/not counted mail ballots?</strong></p>
<p>For example, in 2016 elections?</p>
 | united states presidential election vote by mail | 1 |
59,067 | Why is quitting the Chinese Army punishable? | <p>I've been looking at an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.de/international/zhang-moukang-chinese-soldier-heavily-penalized-for-leaving-the-military-2019-12/?r=US&IR=T" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Article</a> from Business Insider with the title "If you leave the Chinese military, the government can make your life a living hell" which states</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The official news website of China’s People’s Liberation Army recently posted a story about a new recruit who was penalized for quitting the military.
According to the report, the new recruit was then hit with eight punishments ranging from a two-year ban on travel to more than $7,000 in fines and reimbursements. Here all eight of the punishments:</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><em>"A two-year ban on foreign and domestic travel, buying real estate, going to college, and starting a business.
A lifetime ban on working for the government, even as a temporary staffer. This is a big deal since China’s communist government means that many jobs are government jobs.
His military status will be changed to „rejection of military service.“
A $4,000 fine for leaving the military, in addition to paying back the government for the costs they incurred taking him on as a soldier and housing him, which amounts to $3,750.
A cancellation of his preferential treatment as a serviceman.
A public shaming via TV, newspaper, and social media reports."</em></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why is leaving the Chinese Army punishable in Chinese society and which law enforces such actions and when is one allowed to leave the Army? You can't stay in the military forever!</p>
 | china government military chinese communist party | 0 |
59,072 | Are there any examples of multicultural mass democracies which don't have ethnic-based party politics? | <p>In the USA, it seems increasingly like the Republican Party is becoming the "White Party" and becoming a vehicle for soft White nationalism, or at least White grievance politics, while the Democrats are becoming the non-White party and champions of minority rights. Something very similar is happening in England, where the Tories increasingly have a huge share of the White vote and Labour an overwhelming share of the non-White vote (and I mean England, as opposed to the UK - Scotland and Wales are monocultural, White nations, while Northern Ireland of course has its own ethnic - but not racial - based politics). Another obvious example is South Africa, where the Democratic Alliance is basically the "White party", with some outreach to a proportionately small number of liberal-minded Black voters, while a huge plurality of Black voters vote ANC or EFF. I believe there is a similar phenomenon in India with the BJP/Congress cleavage, although I'm no expert.</p>
<p>Some people (particularly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Buchanan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">those who are sceptical about multiracialism and demographic change</a>) posit that multi or bi-cultural societies inevitably see this coalescing of ethnic identities around parties. Are there examples of multiracial societies which don't have this kind of ethnic-based identity politics? Where parties have genuine appeal across ethnic divides?</p>
 | parties republican party demographics ethnicity | 0 |
59,075 | Are unauthorized ballot boxes a new and solely American method of election fraud? | <p>Recently there was a case of Republican Party of the US <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ca-gop-ballot-drop-boxes/" rel="noreferrer">illegally placing unauthorized ballot drop-boxes</a>, to harvest legitimate ballots and presumably perform some illegal activity with them. This was first time I've heard of this type of election fraud, so I wonder, does this type of thing happen in other countries? Also, did it happen in the US before, or is it a novel type of fraud?</p>
 | election election fraud | 0 |
59,076 | In the United States, can the distribution of congressional representatives be adjusted in response to dramatic population shifts? | <p>In the United States, elections are run by state governments. Each state is allotted a certain number of congressional representatives based on its population. The population of each state is determined by the census taken once every 10 years. The number of congressional representatives a state has both determines the number of representatives that state holds in the US House of Representatives and the number of electors allotted to each state in the Electoral College.</p>
<p>As an example, the State of New York had a population of 19,378,102 in the 2010 census. The Census Bureau allotted the State of New York 27 seats in the House of Representatives. With 2 seats in the Senate, the State of New York has 29 total electors in the 2020 Electoral College.</p>
<p>Now suppose that after the census was taken, a dramatic event happened that significantly and permanently shifted the population distribution among the States. I provide some examples below:</p>
<ol>
<li>A Nuclear Power plant explodes making a big city uninhabitable.</li>
<li>Immigration law changes leading to a dramatic influx of new immigrants to coastal or border states like Washington, California, Texas, or New Mexico.</li>
<li>A natural disaster like <a href="https://www.pdxmonthly.com/home-and-real-estate/2018/02/the-big-one-is-coming-what-will-happen-to-portland" rel="noreferrer">The Big One</a> kills millions of residents.</li>
</ol>
<p>If an event like one of these occurred, the true population of each state would no longer resemble the estimated population of each state from the Census. One might suspect that there would be calls to adjust population estimates in response to the disaster.</p>
<p>Has something like this happened before? Are there laws in place that would allow adjustments to population estimates in-between the 10-year censuses? If so, at what point of the election cycle would those adjustments be made?</p>
 | united states election population | 0 |
59,078 | Why these far-right politicians identify child sexual abuse, and not another crime, as the justification for their attacks on cyber security? | <p>I stumbled across this document, <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/925601/2020.10.11_International_statement_end-to-end_encryption_and_public_safety_for_publication_final.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"International Statement: End-to-end Encryption And Public Safety"</a>, signed by several politicians who identify themselves far-right. The statement essentially demands the IT companies to provide with backdoors in their encryption algorithms to ensure "governments, acting with appropriate legal authority" access to encrypted documents.</p>
<p>A significant part of the petition identifies child sexual abuse as the justification for attacking on cyber security. It reiterates the number of child-protecting organizations who are working on the problem of child abuse, however it never explains why this type of crime should be the main reason for demanding security backdoors.</p>
<p>For example, it is known that encrypted communications have been used for coordinating the effort of criminals involved in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darknet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">drug trafficking</a>, <a href="https://www.ctc.usma.edu/how-terrorists-use-encryption/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">international terrorism</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-dutch-police-bust-encrypted-criminal-communications/2020/07/02/ff664844-bc55-11ea-97c1-6cf116ffe26c_story.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">arms sales, assassinations and torture</a>, and even in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/13/us-election-cybersecurity-hacking-voting" rel="nofollow noreferrer">manipulating elections</a> in foreign countries.</p>
<p><strong>Why do these politicians so… ermm… exaggeratedly demonstrate their concern about the child abuse, but not about other — no less serious and evident — crimes?</strong></p>
<p>My first guess (and this is why I emphasize that they who signed the Statement are on the far-right of the political spectrum) is that the government control over everything is basically more of a left-wing agenda, while personal privacy is the concept the right-wings usually defend. This Statement is something completely different, and this makes me think that the sides of a political spectrum might be the key for answering this question. Correct me if I'm wrong.</p>

 | public safety cyber warfare | 1 |
59,084 | Can Twitter/Facebook actions on NYP article really be called "censorship"? | <p>Recently, after New York Post placed an article about Hunter Biden ties with Ukraine business, Twitter and Facebook started to restrict spreading of it.</p>
<p>Trump immideately <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1316501350658707456" rel="nofollow noreferrer">called</a> this a censorship:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So terrible that Facebook and Twitter took down the story of “Smoking Gun” emails related to Sleepy Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, in the @NYPost. It is only the beginning for them. There is nothing worse than a corrupt politician. REPEAL SECTION 230!!!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Facebook and Twitter rejected that claims, explaining that as blocking materials, obtained by a hack.</p>
<p><strong>Abstracting from context</strong>, that really looks a bit like political censorship.</p>
<p>Question is, <strong>is it a political censorship?</strong></p>
<p><em>That's not about how lawful it is - private company surely can do-whatever-they-want. It's about existence, or non-existence of mentioned activity.
Like a question, does, or not, company trade donuts. Just that one is a bit tougher.</em></p>
 | united states donald trump social media censorship | 0 |
59,088 | Is there any evidence on how much impact the Lincoln Project is actually having? | <p>The Lincoln Project and Republican Voters against Trump are generating huge publicity and producing some of the slickest adverts I've ever seen. But is there any evidence that they are having any effect at persuading either Republican voters, or even independents/swing voters, in great numbers? Most polling evidence I've seen shows that Republicans are overwhelmingly supportive of Trump.</p>
<p>Are they actually having an impact, besides just generating lots of publicity and producing slick ads?</p>
 | united states donald trump republican party | 0 |
59,089 | What was the point of Trump trying to get dirt on Hunter Biden's dealings with Ukraine? | <p>When Trump was impeached, the big issue was that he wanted to get dirt on his political opponent. He wanted dirt on Joe Biden's son and how he worked with an oil company and wanted to accuse Biden of nepotism. This was regarded by Democrats as unethical behavior.</p>
<p>This is not about the fallout. But, what was the point of trying to get dirt on Hunter Biden if the Mueller report, for example, didn't change enough minds to mean anything?</p>
 | united states donald trump polling joe biden scandal | 1 |
59,096 | What is the significance of flying the BRD flag in post-unification Germany? | <p>On a number of occasions, such as at football matches and political demonstrations, I have seen citizens of the post-unification Germany flying what I thought was the historical flag of the BRD (the flag with the eagle symbol). To my surprise, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7wVSSvTzE" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this interview</a> with the German ambassador to Malaysia shows that he is displaying the same flag.</p>
<p>Why is this? Is there a particular reason for not flying the flag of the current German state, but flying this flag instead?</p>
 | germany flag cold war | 1 |
59,098 | Why is Joe Biden addressed as Vice President even if he's not the current one? | <p>During interviews or debates, Joe Biden is often addressed as Mr. Vice President or referred to as Vice President Biden. This sounds very odd to my (Dutch) ears; nobody would address a former (prime) minister by a political position they no longer have. Even for royals, our <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_of_the_Netherlands" rel="nofollow noreferrer">former head of state</a> is now a princess and not a queen anymore.</p>
<p>Is there any kind of law in the United States which regulates this, or is this just some kind of tradition/habit? If the latter, how and when did it originate?</p>
 | united states president vice president | 0 |
59,100 | How is number of justices determined if the US Supreme Court is expanded? | <p>For the sake of argument, let's say that the US Senate, House, and Presidency are won by the same party; and they decide to <em>pack the court</em>. How is the number of judges in the Supreme Court decided?</p>
<p>Is it one vote to expand the Supreme Court and another vote to determine how many more justices will be added?</p>
<p>FDR wanted to expand the Supreme Court to as many as 15 judges, but how is that number reached and how is it confirmed?</p>
 | united states supreme court | 0 |
59,103 | How is the audience for NBC Town Halls chosen? | <p>I was just watching NBC's town hall interview with Donald Trump, and was very distracted by a lady sat behind him who kept nodding ferociously whenever he spoke and shook her head whenever he was asked a question. This all seemed very unnatural, very exaggerated, while the other guests seemed very neutral in comparison.</p>
<p>Apparently many people noticed this before me, and it has quickly become clear who she is, that she was very keen on showing herself on social media meeting the president afterwards, and that he did not seem to really know who she is.</p>
<p>This raises the question: who invites the people to be guests on this (kind of) show/debate, and who does the seats arrangements. It might seem trivial but there could be much larger (than TV) forces at work here. It's this particular guest that raised my interest but there very well could have been many more before her.</p>
<p>Like I said this is all over the internet, but the closest I got to an answer to the question is on the site of the <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/article246492520.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Miami Herald</a>: "A spokesperson for NBC did not respond to a request for comment on whether or not the network determined who could attend the event."</p>
<p>I don't expect to get a definitive answer here, but does anyone have any clue about how this would work? Who gets to decide who are there and where they sit?</p>
<p>Because although this was IMHO laughably overdone, even then, or if done in a more subtle way, it could really influence the (hundreds of millions of) people who watch this.</p>
 | united states donald trump media | 0 |
59,109 | During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics? | <p>The politics and economics of the <strong>Soviet Union</strong> caused large numbers of people to be transplanted from one region to another, for example:</p>
<ul>
<li>The Crimean Tatars were deported to Central Asia;</li>
<li>Ethnic Russians were encouraged to settle in Estonia;</li>
<li>Dissidents of all stripes were exiled to Siberia.</li>
</ul>
<p>When the Soviet Union collapsed, <strong>on what basis, then, was citizenship granted or withheld</strong> for each of the fifteen new republics?</p>
<p>My reading suggests that all of the post-Soviet states grant citizenship primarily <strong>on the basis of blood</strong>, and not birthplace. That's all well and good, but, for example, <strong>there was no independent Kyrgyz state before 1991</strong>. Logically, one cannot grant citizenship on the basis of blood, without an existing stock of citizenry from which to start. One could, of course, in the case of Kyrgyzstan, start off by granting citizenship <strong>on the basis of ethnicity</strong>, but ethnicity is always difficult to nail down precisely. Do you get citizenship on the basis of a Kyrgyz-sounding surname?</p>
<p>I'm especially interested in the case of <strong>persons of Russian descent with a connection to Central Asia</strong>. What boxes would such a person need to check in order to be granted citizenship of one of the Central Asian republics?</p>
 | citizenship soviet union | 0 |
59,110 | Why did China actively help Tymoshenko with her disease of COVID-19? | <p>According to <a href="https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-10-14/Former-Ukrainian-PM-pledges-to-promote-internationalization-of-TCM-UAusNHGtLG/index.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the report of CGTN</a>, Tymoshenko's well again from COVID-19, mainly because some tranditional Chinese medicine(TCM). Chinese embassy gave it to her and most likely it's proactive. After that, Chinese media reported it actively, they posted it on newspapers and websites. But if we ignore the news from Chinese media, we'll find there's little news in other media in other countries.</p>
<p>So why did China do so? If it's true, is it a signal from China about Ukraine problem?</p>
 | international relations china covid 19 virus ukraine | 1 |
59,116 | What effect do economic sanctions for human rights violations have? | <p><a href="https://www.un.org/en/sections/what-we-do/protect-human-rights/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">"Protect Human Rights"</a> page of UN says</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The UN Security Council, at times, deals with grave human rights violations, often in conflict areas. [...] the Security Council can opt for enforcement measures, such as economic sanctions, arms embargos, financial penalties and restrictions, travel bans, the severance of diplomatic relations, a blockade, or even collective military action.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Suppose UN declares economic sanctions on a state violating human rights. Such measures would primarily affect the citizens of that country, not the ruling class. And since human rights are violated to the level that the UN steps in, it's naive to expect that the lawmakers care about the well-being of the people.</p>
<p>What are the realistic ways in which economic sanctions could force a country to stop violating human rights?
Are there any documented cases of successful interventions via this method?</p>
 | united nations sanctions | 0 |
59,119 | How much is the USA dependent on British and French support in international relations? | <p>I know the relationship is mutually beneficial. But, I am trying to understand the depth of relations between the UK-France with the USA.</p>
<p>Can the USA function as smoothly as it is functioning in the area of international relations without British and French supports?</p>
<p>Kindly, give me some examples along with explanations.</p>
 | united states united kingdom international relations france | 0 |
59,122 | what was the fundamental reason that Erdogan had been able to defeat secularists in the country? | <p>Secularists ruled Turkey for a long period of time.</p>
<p>Why did they gradually lose control of Turkey's politics?</p>
<p>What has been the root cause of their influence gradually waned?</p>
 | turkey recep tayyip erdogan | 0 |
59,124 | Supreme Court nominee senate confirmation hearing purpose | <p>What is the purpose of senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees?</p>
 | supreme court | 1 |
59,125 | Nuclear weapons and stability | <p>What are the arguments that nuclear weapons can provide some form of global stability in a multipolar and/or bipolar world?</p>
 | nuclear weapons | 0 |
59,127 | Why are people protesting against Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett? | <p>I saw on the news that people are protesting against Supreme Court nominee <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Coney_Barrett" rel="noreferrer">Amy Coney Barrett</a>.</p>
<p>I am not looking for any opinions, but would appreciate some background on these protests against her.</p>
 | united states supreme court protests summary request | 1 |
59,130 | Can the EU Parliament's vote on terminology for plant-based meat and dairy substitutes lead to enforcing the new terminology upon the member states? | <p>The EU Parliament should decide whether <a href="https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/news/no-more-veggie-burgers-european-parliament-vote-terminology-plant-based-meat-and-dairy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">to ban the usage of ‘meatish’ and ‘dairyish’ names for plant-based products</a>. This sounds rather strange since <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eat-less-meat-environmental-effect_l_5d39d84fe4b020cd99501f2d?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKQiAGlJIvHQgPQmfIWOO0VrX68FtULm-33r3h2FM703vLHtyZMrKAxDishHvQNZkn2cH87UmNrzWJKyvoOvjQ8BvUkYwVhsDzAbyIEj0uw6xqO0KT5d7Eps1Y-HCYiv2BrwjSM-_dmS6d5DVhAvQNozuM2_793G8-5w5yKll4AR" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this seems to go</a> against the EU environmental policy which <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/clima/sites/clima/files/factsheet_ets_en.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">favors emitting less and less CO2</a> (and generally greenhouse gases).</p>
<p>I am wondering if the vote result is rather symbolic (puts a political pressure on national governments to implement it) or all EU countries will be forced to transpose this into their national laws.</p>
 | law european parliament environmental policy | 1 |
59,138 | The politicization of the supreme court | <p>It seems that both the Republican and Democratic parties look at the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice as a political move. Optimally, a judge has no part in politics. Their personal opinion should not come into play at all - instead it should simply be about what the <strong>law</strong> is in a particular case.</p>
<ol>
<li>Historically, when did the Supreme Court begin to be a political body?</li>
<li>What makes a judge a Democrat or Republican? It can't just be their personal opinion - they have to be backed by the law.</li>
</ol>
 | united states parties supreme court history political system | 1 |
59,139 | Why am I being asked to vote? | <p>I keep getting letters and postcards urging me to vote. It's not specifying why or for whom, just says "vote!"</p>
<p>I keep asking myself - why are they (who?) interested in people going to vote? Why are they spending millions of dollars on these campaigns, what are they standing to gain?</p>
<p>I'm going to vote, so that's not a question. Just trying to understand these groups who want people to vote.</p>
<p>Even if some people don't vote, wouldn't the interests of the nation be properly (statistically) represented by the people who do get out and vote?</p>
 | united states voting democracy | 1 |
59,147 | Is it legal for the US private company to provide services depending on political party? | <p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-survivalcamps-idUSKBN26R3IX" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Read</a> about US company "Fortitude Ranch", specializing on providing secure vaults, who would open it's "survival camps" at the election day.</p>
<p><strong>Can such company theoretically provide services according to political party?</strong></p>
<p>For example, that camp is exclusively for Republicans, and that one exclusively for Democrats. Would it be legal?</p>
 | united states law presidential election republican party democratic party | 1 |
59,155 | What is the reason behind the USA's favorable response to India? | <p>The USA was never seen complaining about India's intervention in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Hyderabad" rel="nofollow noreferrer">annexation of Hyderabad (1948)</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_intervention_in_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_War" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sri Lankan civil war (1987)</a>, and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338682649_FOREIGN_INTERFERENCE_IN_BANGLADESH_A_CASE_STUDY_OF_MILITARY-BACKED_CARETAKER_GOVERNMENT_IN_2007-2008" rel="nofollow noreferrer">interference in the domestic politics of Bangladesh (1971 and onward)</a> (also, <a href="https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/44310-the-india-factor-in-bangladeshs-politics/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a> and <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/looking-back-at-1971-how-india-s-intervention-in-bangladesh-shaped-south-asia/story-bpHKfX4ou3TErdfazvE8yO.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>) and <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/india/india-is-largely-responsible-for-the-nepal-mess-new-delhi-must-show-political-will-in-resetting-ties-and-give-nepal-the-brexit-it-seeks-8635831.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Nepal</a>, the annexation of Kashmir (2019). The USA never complained about India's test of the nuclear bomb in 1974. The USA never complained about Indian's testing of ICBM missiles.</p>
<p>As far as International relations are concerned, this is seen as a mute favorable gesture. Right?</p>
<p>What is the reason behind the USA's favorable response to India?</p>
 | united states india | 0 |
59,158 | Why is the agreement of the native country needed when sending back their citizen? | <p>Following a recent <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/france/20201016-france-opens-terror-probe-after-fatal-stabbing-in-paris-suburb" rel="noreferrer">murder of a teacher</a> in France, the French government decided to send about 230 people back to their country (they were under surveillance by the French authorities for links to terrorism).</p>
<p><strong>It was mentioned that this requires the agreement of the countries these people come from</strong> (they do not have the French nationality). Why is it so?</p>
<p>I was under the impression that a country can always expel foreigners from their ground by simply sending them back (in a plane for instance).</p>
 | international relations international law immigration international citizenship | 0 |
59,162 | What if there is no Presidential winner on Jan 20? | <p>In the year 2000, the state of Florida was in the process of various recounts when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_v._Gore" rel="noreferrer">Bush v Gore</a> put an end to the process on Dec 12, 2000, which allowed George W. Bush to become the 43th President after being awarded Florida's electoral votes.</p>
<p>While unlikely, there is a distinct possibility that there could be enough contested states still fighting it out like that in 2020 (due to various court-mandated rule changes and close counts with disputed absentee/main-in balloting) that come mid-December there's no winner in the Electoral College to vote on. It's even possible these drag on through the courts and come Jan 20, 2021, there's no winner to inaugurate. <a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/a/57516/12027">This answer notes</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>In a nightmare scenario where the popular vote cannot be certified or cannot be certified in time, the realistic option would be for the state legislature to appoint a slate of Electoral College delegates instead. The date the Electoral College meets (December 14 this year) is specified by Federal law so that cannot realistically be moved. Federal law sets a "safe harbor" date (December 8 this year) which is the deadline for states to choose their slate of electors and ensure that Congress accepts them. It is highly unlikely that you could have an election November 3, count the ballots, work through the litigation that would undoubtedly arise if there was large-scale fraud or large-scale disenfranchisement due to riots or COVID or some other reason, schedule and hold a new election, count those ballots, and have the resulting slate of electors appointed by December 8. And if the issues are not with fraud but with an inability to completely count or recount the votes quickly enough because of delays due to COVID, states rushing to adopt widespread mail-in voting, court challenges, etc., starting a new election would be counterproductive. There are reports that both sides have already started game planning scenarios in which friendly legislatures or governors in swing states are called on to do just this.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That's fine, but I could easily see Federal courts jumping in and enjoining states where the outcome of one or more court cases will determine which ballots can and cannot be counted. So let's say Trump ends election night up by 500 votes in Michigan (which he needs to win), but 3000 Biden votes are ruled invalid (didn't properly sign, returned too late, etc.). There would be a Federal lawsuit and that lawsuit would undoubtedly enjoin the state legislature from appointing electors (and possibly postponing the Electoral College itself). As there's only 79 days between Election Day and Jan 20, that doesn't leave much time to resolve the status of states. Neither side seems likely to concede.</p>
<p>If there's no clear winner by noon, Jan 20, what happens?</p>
 | united states election presidential election electoral college contested election | 1 |
59,165 | How is the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership different from the Trans-Pacific Partnership? | <p>While the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)</a> still exists after the US withdrew its signature, some predicted that the US withdrawal opened the door to China taking the lead with its own <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Comprehensive_Economic_Partnership" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)</a>. According to <a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/trump-dumping-trans-pacific-partnership/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">an article on ZDNet, back in 2017</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>According to Clare, India will be one of the largest economies globally by mid-century, while the Chinese-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal would also be a good prospect for Australia given the economic power of China.</p>
<p>"I suspect with the Americans retreating away from the TPP, the Chinese may step up now and try and finalise that agreement," Clare added.</p>
<p>Former US Trade Representative Michael Froman warned Trump earlier this month that he risks "abdicating" trade leadership in the Asia-Pacific region by refusing to ratify the TPP, as it would create an opportunity for China to step in with its RCEP deal.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_Comprehensive_Economic_Partnership#History" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia's timeline on the progress of RCEP's negotiation</a>, the signatories want to sign the deal in November of 2020.</p>
<p>The aforementioned article by ZDNet goes on to quote former trade representative Froman saying (emphasis mine):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"There simply is no way to reconcile a get-tough-on-China policy with withdrawing from TPP," Froman said during a speech to the Washington International Trade Association.</p>
<p>"That would be the biggest gift any US president could give China, one with broad and deep consequences, economic and strategic.</p>
<p>"It would be a strategic miscalculation of enormous proportions.</p>
<p>"Why would we cede our role as a Pacific power? Does anyone really think US interests are better served <strong>if China, rather than the US, writes the rules of the road</strong>?"</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Specifically, I'm interested in the point made about those <em>"rules of the road"</em>. There is a suggestion that because RCEP is negotiated by China instead of the United States, that the partnership would be more beneficial to China.</p>
<p>Aside from the difference in membership, I'm wondering what the main differences between TPP and RCEP are in terms of what the free trade agreement covers.</p>
 | united states china trade | 0 |
59,167 | Why are masks a political topic in the US? | <p>Why has coronavirus become such a political topic?
What I mean by this - why are things such as mask wearing so political? Shouldn't we know whether or not wearing masks work? Why does the answer to that depend on if you are Republican or Democrat?</p>
 | united states parties covid 19 virus | 1 |
59,168 | Understanding the electoral college | <p>I understand that the electoral college makes the race more fair by allowing people in small states to have more of a voice.
But, doesn't it take away the voice of people in large states? Right now, it seems from our system, that the only votes that count in the US Presidential election, are the ones cast by people in Florida, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Everyone else may as well not vote.<br />
How is this a fair system?</p>
 | united states election electoral college | 0 |
59,170 | When does it become in an authoritarian ruler's interest for the country to become totalitarian? | <p>There have been many totalitarian nations throughout history, such as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union under Stalin's rule, China under Mao Zedong, Italy under Benito Mussolini, and the modern-day North Korea.</p>
<p>However, there have also been many authoritarian nations throughout history, such as the monarchies and empires of Europe, or the <a href="https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">many corrupt nations</a> in today's world. And yet, most of these have not been described as totalitarian.</p>
<p>When does it become in an authoritarian ruler's best interest to make the country totalitarian? What is the main "driving force"?</p>
 | political system monarchy dictatorship totalitarianism | 1 |
59,186 | Why does Vermont keep picking the party for governor with fewer votes since 2006/2014? | <pre><code>Year, VT voting for winning party nationally, party candidate elected VT governor
2006, No, R
2008, No, R
2010, No, D
2012, Yes, D
2014, No, D
2016, No, R
2018, No, R
2020, No, R
</code></pre>
<p>Why does Vermont have such a bad track record of picking the party that is more popular at the top of the ticket nationally? The midterms, are of course House elections.</p>
<p>I feel this is notable because Vermont is an "elastic" state, so it would make sense for it to move with the nation. But 2008 2016 and 2018 do not make sense to me. 2018 in particular doesn't make sense because there was a 6.5 pp swing towards the Democrats and the Dem did worse despite Sanders (not exactly a Democrat but a leftist nevertheless) being on the ballot.</p>
 | united states | 0 |
59,189 | Would the hypothetical Exxon call be illegal? | <p>This BBC <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54614792" rel="noreferrer">article</a> quotes Trump suggesting he could quickly raise large amounts of campaign funds by offering things to CEOs.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>President Trump went on to describe a hypothetical conversation: "How are you doing? How's energy coming? When are you doing the exploration? Oh, you need a couple of permits?"</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>"When I call the head of Exxon I say, 'You know, I'd love [for you] to send me $25m [£19m] for the campaign.' 'Absolutely sir,'" he added.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A video of the part of the speech with Trump's statement <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmfVTOnfWos" rel="noreferrer">is available on YouTube</a>.<br />
<a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-rally-transcript-prescott-arizona-october-19" rel="noreferrer">Full transcript</a>: Exxon part starts at 29:27.</p>
<p>I am of course aware these conversations haven't happened, but the article does not cover the legality of such actions.</p>
<p>Would offering permits or other business benefits in exchange for campaign funds be illegal?</p>
 | united states corruption campaign finance | 1 |
59,192 | When would new states get representation? | <p>After the 2020 US election, suppose that the Democrats end up controlling both houses of congress and the white house, and that their first action is to give statehood to DC and/or Puerto Rico. When would the new senators and congressional representatives be seated?</p>
 | united states constitution | 0 |
59,199 | Why does Washington DC elect a Delegate to the House AND a United State Representative? | <p>I live in Washington DC. Here's a <a href="https://www.dcboe.org/dcboe/media/PDFFiles/Ward7-GE2020.pdf" rel="noreferrer">sample ballot (PDF)</a>. We vote for a Delegate to the House of Representatives. The incumbent, Eleanor Holmes Norton, is a local celebrity. Why do we have a separate vote for the "United States Representative"? If Washington DC became a state, we would have one member of the House of Representatives. In the state of Washington DC, would Eleanor Holmes Norton have to step down and be replaced by the United States Representative? Is there an historical reason the Delegate doesn't also serve as the United States Representative?</p>
 | united states congress house of representatives washington dc | 1 |
59,204 | How could I build a political system immune to gerrymandering yet still giving local representation? | <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/UU23l.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/UU23l.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>For a hypothetical world, how can I build a political system in which:</p>
<ul>
<li>People are represented by someone local to them. And:</li>
<li>The number of representatives elected representing a movement in total remains proportional to the popular vote?</li>
</ul>
<p>Having the maps drawn by an independent 3rd party, or an algorithm, is not a solution as people tend to <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/philly/opinion/commentary/gerrymandering-only-one-way-u-s-divided-were-self-segregating-politically-too-20171005.html" rel="noreferrer">self-gerrymander</a>.</p>
 | voting parties gerrymandering | 0 |
59,226 | How are the 2020 US presidential campaigns now like "a land war in Asia"? | <p>Politico's <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/20/bloomberg-trump-florida-spending-430236" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bloomberg knocks Trump back on his heels in Florida</a> includes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It’s forced the Trump campaign to retrench in Florida. You can see it in the spending habits, in television and digital. They’re investing more at the expense of places they need to win,” said Steve Schale, who leads the pro-Biden Unite the Country super PAC.</p>
<p>“Basically, Trump has now been committed to the equivalent of land war in Asia by having to spend so much of his money in Florida, a state he has to win to get to 270 Electoral College votes,” Schale said. “And as a result, he doesn’t have the resources to compete everywhere he would like.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Explanations for what "a land war in Asia" can mean are found in answers to <a href="https://movies.stackexchange.com/q/104366">Meaning of “Never get involved in a land war in Asia” in The Princess Bride?</a></p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> But how does the analogy apply to the 2020 US presidential campaigns? Is it simply that resources are spread thinly and whomever can spend the most wins? Or is there more here in this analogy about strategy and/or tactics?</p>
 | united states presidential election campaigning campaign finance | 0 |
59,230 | What are the influences of the military's involvement in politics in terms of theories? | <p>What are the theoretical influences of the military's involvement in politics, especially on decision making and how the political system runs, that make a military-involved political system different from a system with reasonably separated powers?</p>
 | political system | 1 |
59,232 | Did the connection of party and ideology lead to red states and blue states becoming a thing? | <p>I was reading about history and politics. Ideology and party were not closely related. This is pretty hard to imagine but it was true.</p>
<p>People from the other party would occasionally cross over to vote for a popular candidate on the other side such as the "Reagan Democrats."</p>
<p>This appears to be geographically uneven. For example we have people like Charlie Baker in the Northeast (more liberal Republicans) but we don't get that so much in other areas. The opposite would be somebody like Doug Jones who kind of faded. (I think he is America's last Dixiecrat senator, but that's a topic for another time.)</p>
<p>The blue at state level is basically the West Coast, part of the Southwest, the Northeast, and a few others. The red is most of the stuff in the middle minus a few places like Illinois.</p>
<p>Has the fusion of ideology and party encouraged states to consistently vote the same way in presidential and now pretty much all federal elections? I would say so because it was found that the country was divided around the time of Clinton's election. That was when the two became more correlated.</p>
 | united states parties ideology | 0 |
59,234 | Why does having a college degree or not make a difference among how white Americans vote? | <p>Four years after 2016 election, it hasn't changed that the majority of non-college-degree white people support Trump's reelection, while the majority of college-degree white people don't. Why does having a college degree or not make a difference among white Americans? High school also teach similar topics as colleges, such as science, social science, .... I think most of them, with or without college degree, choose a president in the same reasonably understandable way: what policies benefit their daily lives the most. How does a college degree separate white Americans in what policies benefit them and what not? Thanks.</p>
 | united states election education demographics | 0 |
59,238 | What advantages does a super PAC enjoy compared to other corporations/nonprofits, especially 501(c)(4)s? | <p>Sorry if this has already been addressed:</p>
<p>If I understand correctly, US corporations can make unlimited independent expenditures on US elections after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Citizens United v. FEC</a>. Again if I understand correctly, large corporate donations to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee#Super_PACs" rel="nofollow noreferrer">super PACs</a> require disclosure, unless a hard-to-get exception applies. If that's the case, <strong>what is the point of super PACs now</strong>?</p>
<p>My first thought would be that Goods Corporation doesn't want to run its own internal political operation while Services.com runs its own operation, etc., but then <strong>why don't they just get together and make a "normal" corporation/nonprofit that they both donate to</strong>, especially a 501(c)(4) or a media outlet?</p>
<p><strong>Possible explanations I found/concocted:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>I thought <a href="https://sunlightfoundation.com/2015/10/30/the-difference-between-super-pacs-and-dark-money-groups/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> was a useful reference, but without further context I don't think it answered my question. On that page it says that "Dark Money" groups, by which I think they mean <strong>501(c)(4)s, cannot have political activity as the majority of their expenditures</strong>. But even if that's right, I'm not sure how serious this constraint is. I can elaborate on why I have this doubt if asked.</li>
<li>Maybe regulators see it as disingenuous for a non-super PAC nonprofit/corporation to be too political, so donors prefer super PACS in order not to draw regulator anger? I have no evidence for this.</li>
</ol>
<p>Related speculative questions: Why don't Goods Corporation and Services.com just both give to the Townsville Post and print their views as news? Would that lose some tax benefits? Would that be an antitrust violation if they weren't careful? What if they bought their own newspaper? Are there rules about coordination between super PACs and their donors?</p>
<p>Related SE questions: <a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/9646/what-are-the-limitations-of-pac-and-super-pac-funding">https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/9646/what-are-the-limitations-of-pac-and-super-pac-funding</a></p>
 | united states taxes campaign finance lobbying | 0 |
59,249 | Where does the US Electoral College physically meet? | <p>From what I understand, electors gather in special meetings at the Statehouses of each relevant State. Is this correct? What is the actual physical process for the College being convened and voting?</p>
 | united states electoral college | 1 |
59,256 | Has there been any research conducted to understand the motivation behind discrete murders in France? | <p>there had been numerous cases of knife attacks and stabbing sprees in France. A few days ago, there had been an attack in Paris.</p>
<p>Has there been any research conducted to understand the motivation behind discrete murders?</p>
<p>For example, has someone ever conducted any psychological, sociological, or anthropological study to understand what the murderers were thinking and what life experience motivate such kind of thinking?</p>
 | islam western world | 0 |
59,259 | Has the permanent membership in UNSC of China (PRC) helped them to attain such a big economy? | <p>Has the permanent membership in UNSC of China (PRC) helped them to attain their big economy?</p>
<p>In other words, has the permanent membership of China beneficial to their economic growth and size?</p>
<p>In other words, if they didn't have permanent membership in UNSC, would they be able to become economically so big?</p>
 | economy china unsc | 0 |
59,262 | Has the 1-party rule of PRC helped them to keep the most historical China in one piece? | <p>My argument is if PRC were a democracy, foreign interference would have been much bigger (even bigger than in HK). Therefore, the PRC would have been disintegrated quickly.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that the 1-party rule of PRC helped them to keep the most historical China in one piece. If PRC were a democracy, it would have been disintegrated by now just like Korea. For instance, HK, Macao, Xinjiang, and Tibet would have been free and independent countries.</p>
<p>Has the 1-party rule of PRC helped them to keep the most historical China in one piece?</p>
 | china geopolitics chinese communist party | 1 |
59,263 | censoring internet/social media content | <p>I'm looking for academic views on the issue of internet censorship. The censorship I'm interested on is not at the level of what China does. It's just that, given as how social networking sites such as Facebook are being used to social engineer public opinion, or to promote disinformation campaigns, just how much freedom should users have regarding their posted content? And won't any effort to filter user posts also amount to violating freedom of expression?</p>
 | internet social media | 0 |
59,268 | Is ticket splitting among nonwhite Democratic voters particularly uncommon? | <p>Ticket splitting (the practice of voting for both major parties) has been on the decline for a while. This has been measured in split-ticket House districts, which hit a near all-time low in 2012 and stayed under 1 in 10 districts in 2016. This picture shows by party, which I feel shows it by race in a way because nonwhites in general are overwhelmingly Democratic.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GMoIj.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GMoIj.png" alt="By party" /></a></p>
<p>I feel that at least part of the party gap was driven by race because Pew data showed that about 55% of Democratic voters are white and 85% of Republican voters are white. Also, heavily white New England states had split tickets despite the Senate races not even being close for governor.</p>
<p>Are nonwhite Democratic voters in particular unlikely to engage in this practice? My analysis of precinct-level data suggests the answer is yes but I want to see a survey and/or in depth analysis.</p>
 | united states parties demographics | 0 |
59,277 | Why are there no campaigning caps in US elections? | <p>As far as I'm aware, America doesn't put a cap on how much money you can spend on campaigning. This is unlike countries such as Britain (where the cap is £30,000 per constituency).</p>
<p>If the lack of a cap has no intention to it, why has it not been implemented? Otherwise, <em>what's</em> the intention?</p>
 | united states election campaigning campaign finance | 1 |
59,281 | Was Trump such an underdog 4 years ago according to polls? | <p>I keep reading that almost every single poll known to man shows that Biden is leading Trump. The only exceptions are polls from a few Republican states (like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/kansas-poll-trump-biden.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Kansas</a>) where Trump easily won in 2016 but now is only winning by a small margin.</p>
<p>My question: at this point in time in 2016 (October & November) what did these same polls look like between Clinton and Trump? Was Trump actually losing by so much in the polls in 2016? I know it was a surprise that he won in 2016, but I don't know how big of an <em>underdog</em> he was.</p>
<p>I ask because every single article I've read (mainly from NY Times, Washington Post, and CNN) mentions that Biden will be winning these elections by a landslide, yet I don't feel so certain. I know these news outlets (specially Washington Post) may be a bit biased against Trump, but I suppose they're the most "neutral" in terms of news. Yet I still haven't read an article saying that there's a poll where Trump is winning.</p>
 | united states donald trump presidential election polling hillary clinton | 0 |
59,284 | What were the wait times at polling places in other elections in 2020? | <p>I'm looking to put the wait times at polling places during the 2020 US Presidential election in context. So for comparison I'd like any information about wait times for voters in other elections outside the US during the Covid-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>The closest matching elections seem to be:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_New_Brunswick_general_election" rel="nofollow noreferrer">New Brunswick General Election</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Polish_presidential_election" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Polish Presidential Election</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Italian_regional_elections" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Italian Regional Elections and Constitutional Referendum</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Icelandic_presidential_election" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Icelandic Presidential Election</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Which ones of these, if any, experienced severe delays or waits for voters or problems that prevented people voting?</p>
 | election voting covid 19 virus | 0 |
59,290 | Is there a meaningful metric for how quickly different countries advance their legal systems? | <p>Countries make laws. Then times change, or the group in power changes, or previous laws have unintended consequences, so they make new laws to change the previous laws. On and on and on, indefinitely. It's called progress.</p>
<p>Is there a quantitative way of measuring this progress that is meaningful for comparing different nations' governments? Simple metrics like number of bills passed isn't quite useful, because different systems favor different amounts of content per bill. Number of pages of bills passed isn't a bad idea either, except the length of a bill is only loosely correlated with its actual legal content, at least in the US.</p>
<p>Does there exist a standard metric for measuring legislative progress over time, applicable across different nations, different states, even comparing state governments and national governments? Does political science have such a concept?</p>
<p><strong>Edit</strong></p>
<p>In response to a very reasonable point about positive vs negative change, I think "progress" may not be as reflective a word as "change" here. I'd include backwards-seeming change, because it still shows the legislative efficacy of the system. The goal is to put a number to one question: for any given government, how efficiently can it pass laws?</p>
 | legislative process comparative politics legislation | 0 |
59,291 | What are the origins of the QAnon Conspiracy Theory? | <p>I find it really hard to see how this idea was arrived at in the first place, and the timing of both Bill Clinton and President Trump being implicated in the Epstein case, a real child abuse scandal and nothing to do with an imaginary satanic cabal, so I need to ask, is it possible this whole thing some sort of false flag operation?</p>
 | united states conspiracy theories | 0 |
59,292 | Why does the Govt of the UK think that they should not deport the former PM of Pakistan? | <ul>
<li><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1586397/govt-again-requests-uk-govt-to-deport-nawaz" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Govt again requests UK govt to deport Nawaz</a></li>
<li><a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2269638/will-talk-to-british-pm-to-bring-back-nawaz-sharif-imran-khan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Will talk to British PM to bring back Nawaz Sharif</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The above link says, the Govt of Pakistan made the 3rd request to the Govt of the UK to deport the absconder former PM Nawaz Sharif. This means that the previous 2 requests were either denied or were not replied to.</p>
<p>The former PM was not convicted in politically motivated cases. Rather, he is convicted of embezzlement, money-laundering, and "income without source". He was not handed any capital punishment either.</p>
<p>According to the link:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The letter has cited Britain’s own immigration laws of 1974 under
which any person sentenced to imprisonment of more than four years had
to be deported to the country of his/her origin.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why does the Govt of the UK think that they should not deport the former PM of Pakistan?</p>
<p>Related: <a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/q/57508/32479">Why is it possible for influential foreigners to commit frauds in their respective countries, flee to London, and live there safely for years?</a></p>
 | united kingdom | 0 |
59,296 | Since when do political debates have a winner? | <p>In reporting on political debates in the United States, political campaigns and opinion polls regularly ask who is the “winner” of the debate. Presidential elections (hopefully) have clear winners, but I would hope the point of a debate is to clarify policy differences to undecided voters, not to have a "winner" (and therefore a "loser").</p>
<p>When did this tendency to declare a debate "winner" originate? Is this a recent trend or have American political debates been phrased this way since early days?</p>
 | united states debate | 0 |
59,298 | What does asterisk mean in RealClearPolitics polls? | <p>I have noted that some polls on the RealClearPolitics site are marked with an asterisk:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/wi/wisconsin_trump_vs_biden-6849.html" rel="noreferrer">https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/wi/wisconsin_trump_vs_biden-6849.html</a></p>
<p>What does it mean?</p>
 | united states election polling | 1 |
59,300 | What are the rules regarding the presence of political supporter groups at polling stations? | <p>Here is an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/19/us/politics/trump-supporters-early-voting-virginia.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">example</a> of Trump supporters' presence at a polling station, and the article mentions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Election officials said that the group stayed about 100 feet from the entrance to the building and, contrary to posts on social media, were not directly blocking access to the building</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, seems that there are some rules, but the article does not describe them in detail.</p>
<p><strong>Are there any rules for such groups? What is allowed, and what is not allowed?</strong> (For example, can such people be armed?)</p>
 | united states voting presidential election | 1 |
59,310 | Is the United States close to announcing a "no first-use" policy? | <p>According to <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/no-first-use-explained" rel="nofollow noreferrer">UCUSA</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>China has had an unconditional no-first-use(NFU) policy since it first developed nuclear weapons in 1964</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Russia had a No-First-Use policy from 1982 until 1993, when it changed its policy out of fear that its weakened conventional forces could no longer deter the United States without the threat of use of nuclear weapons. In 2018 when the United States pulled out of the INF treaty, Russia redeclared a NFU policy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The United States has never expressed a NFU policy. In the United States the threat of nuclear response underwrites it's conventional forces. As NATO faced a massive discrepancy in armor with the Soviet Union facing Europe from the 1970s through the 90's the United States made a nuclear response a deterent against Soviet Conventional Invasion of Europe. The US which doesn't maintain an individual biological weapons deterrent uses its nuclear response as a deterrent against biological weapons, as it did in Iraq. When George W. Bush was in office he created a Cyber Command, and at the time extended the nuclear deterrent to cyber attacks. The US would deter cyber attacks against its Nuclear Power infrastructure with nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>The United States position on NFU was last reviewed by President Obama who entered into treaties to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world and was a proponent of aggressive Nuclear Arms control.
President Obama declined to change the nations NFU position.</p>
<p>My question is whether NFU is on the table after the 2020 election in the United States; and if so, how likely is it.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Joe Biden's <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/remarks-vice-president-nuclear-security" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2017 Speech:</a></strong><br />
<strong>Remarks by the Vice President on Nuclear Security<br />
Washington, DC<br />
Wednesday, January 11, 2017</strong><br />
...
Given our non-nuclear capabilities and the nature of today’s threats—it’s hard to envision a plausible scenario in which the first use of nuclear weapons by the United States would be necessary. Or make sense. President Obama and I are confident we can deter—and defend ourselves and our Allies against—non-nuclear threats through other means.</p>
<p>The next administration will put forward its own policies.<br />
But, seven years after the Nuclear Posture Review charge—the President and I strongly believe we have made enough progress that deterring—and if necessary, retaliating against—a nuclear attack should be the sole purpose of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.<br />
...</p>
</blockquote>
 | united states nuclear weapons military | 0 |
59,311 | Grey Wolves and NATO | <blockquote>
<p>''In the late 1970s, former military prosecutor and Turkish Supreme
Court Justice Emin Değer documented collaboration between the Grey
Wolves, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Counter-Guerrilla,
the Turkish stay-behind anti-communist organization organised under
NATO's Operation Gladio, a plan for guerrilla warfare in case of a
communist takeover.''</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is from Wikipedia so it's safe to say that we have a rock-solid evidence that back in the day, ties with ''The West'' (They call it ''The West'' in Turkey when they refer to America, Canada and Europe) and Turkish nationalists were pretty decent. I would even say that NATO and especially USA were funding the Grey Wolves generously to oppose the communist threat:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>''Martin Lee writes that the Counter-Guerrilla supplied weapons to the
Grey Wolves,[6] while according to Tim Jacoby, the CIA transferred
guns and explosives to Grey Wolves units through an agent in the
1970s.''</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There weren't any major crisis with the Europe and USA. Turkey even managed to join the NATO in 1952 when Democrat Party was ruling, a central-right party.</p>
<p>But there is a problem, you see: AKP (Justice And Development Party) and MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) are working together day and night to oppose and rival ''The West''. They are always using the same sentences like parrots ''They won't break our unity! They are sabotaging our economy!'' He also created the Brunson Crisis and the S-400 and F-35 debate. What is going on? <em>Why the right-wing population of Turkey are in much-hatred against ''The West''?</em> <em>What changed?</em></p>
 | international relations turkey | 1 |
59,312 | Joe Biden's Student Debt Plan and Public Service | <p>Joe Biden says he will cancel up to $10,000 dollars of student debt for those who are in public service. Most media outlets are defining public service as "schools, gov't jobs, and non-profits." Would the military not also be included in this list? The military is a public service, correct?</p>
 | presidential election military debt | 0 |
59,321 | What US states allow voting from space? | <p>Answers to <a href="https://space.stackexchange.com/q/48120/12102">How do US citizens vote in space?</a> tell us that this is possible and outline the history, and that the state of Texas has specific provisions since most US astronauts active in trips to space will have a residence in Texas.</p>
<p>Are US citizens with residence in states other than Texas allowed to vote in space? Do other states have any legislation to make this possible?</p>
 | united states voting voting systems space | 1 |
59,324 | Is it still theoretically possible for Kanye West to become the US president in 2021? | <blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/od1bF.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/od1bF.png" alt="Kanye 2020 vision campaign hat" /></a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Famous rapper <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West" rel="noreferrer">Kanye West</a> is <a href="https://kanye2020.country/" rel="noreferrer">running for US president</a>, but...</p>
<blockquote>
<p>West has qualified for ballot access in 12 states.<br />
<sub><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West_2020_presidential_campaign" rel="noreferrer">Kanye West 2020 presidential campaign</a></sub></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It appears theoretically impossible for him to become president via voting ("win" the election), and he has a realistic chance of getting no more than 1% of the vote in every state. However...</p>
<p>...the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Electoral_College" rel="noreferrer">electoral college system</a> admits the possibility of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faithless_elector" rel="noreferrer">faithless electors</a> who have the authority to ignore voting altogether. I'm interested in whether or not they could (theoretically) elect Kanye West, especially considering he's not even on the ballot in many states.</p>
<p><strong>Question</strong>: Is it still theoretically possible for Kanye West to become the US president in 2021?</p>
 | united states presidential election third party | 0 |
59,327 | Can anyone provide historical datasets giving country-by-country ratio of export-agriculture sector to domestic-use-agriculture sector? | <p>Essentially, I want to examine the effect of agricultural commercialization on a number of factors and considered this a good place to start. Does anyone know of any such datasets, preferably extending back to the colonial period?</p>
<p>Moreover, are there any better ways to operationalize the extent or rate of agricultural commercialization?</p>
 | economy data sources agriculture imperialism | 0 |
59,329 | Why did the US designate six more Chinese media outlets as foreign missions due to "propaganda"? | <p><a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/22/us-designates-six-more-chinese-media-outlets-as-foreign-missions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">US designates six more Chinese media outlets as foreign missions</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>US tightens rules on more Chinese media organisations, saying they are propaganda outlets for the Chinese state.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Has the US given any examples of this propaganda?</p>
<p>I would really like to know whether they have said specifically what they are objecting to, as they did with their allegations against the Internet Research Agency.</p>
 | united states china propaganda | 0 |
59,333 | How to find information about national export distribution discounting input imports? | <p>I'm interested in the export distribution of the state I live in (specifically, it's Israel, but that's not the main point).</p>
<p>Now, there's definitely information about world states' distribution of imports, e.g. nice <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/country/isr/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">infographics</a> here, and probably through the OECD, the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CIA world factbook</a>, maybe UN bodies etc.</p>
<p>However - there's an aspect of these distributions which I want to correct for. Suppose a certain economy has 2 export products: Wicker baskets and an assembled machine of some kind. The wicker baskets are produced from locally grown cane; but the machine is made from imported parts. Also, the imported parts for one machine cost 90% to import of the machine's export income. Now, if we look at the state exports, and we see 10^9 USD of wicker basket exports and 10^9 of that machine, we might think that the significance of of the two products to the economy - in terms of its external economic relations at least - is comparable. But if we deduct the cost of the imports, we'll notice that actually, the machine industry is much less significant - at best, it adds 10% over the part cost.</p>
<p>Of course the importance of exports depends on many other factors, like where the exports are headed; and perhaps acting as an intermediary enables indirect trade among parties which aren't on friendly terms, etc. But still - I want to be able to see a distribution of "export minus estimated cost of input imports".</p>
<p>Is this kind of data collected or computed? Is it published anywhere? Does it have some specific name or title one could search by?</p>
 | economy international relations international statistics data sources | 0 |
59,336 | What is China's objective in militarizing the South China Sea? | <p>I was reading a presentation from <strong><a href="https://www.usni.org/people/james-e-fanell" rel="noreferrer">Capt James Fanell</a></strong> (retired director of intelligence and information operations at U.S. Pacific Fleet) on China's Navy:</p>
<p>He made this statement which caught my attention.</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.hudson.org/research/15045-transcript-the-rise-of-china-s-navy-a-discussion-with-capt-james-fanell" rel="noreferrer">Transcript: The Rise of China’s Navy: A Discussion with Capt. James Fanell</a></strong><br />
China built between – late 2011 and through 2015 seven artificial islands in the South China Sea. And three of those islands are the same size and dimensions, in terms of geography, as Pearl Harbor. One of them is the same dimension as the beltway that goes around Washington, D.C.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given:</p>
<ul>
<li>Chinese president <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-completes-runway-on-artificial-island-in-south-china-sea-1443184818" rel="noreferrer">Xi Jinping in 2015 promised not to Militarize these Islands</a> but they have done exactly that.</li>
<li>That they have been harassing US navy ships operating in the region even coming <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/02/politics/us-china-destroyers-confrontation-south-china-sea-intl/index.html" rel="noreferrer">close to raming</a> a US destroyer.</li>
<li>That they have alienated many of their neighbors who claim the waters these islands inhabit.</li>
<li>That they are risking confrontation with Japan and the US. Japan having the largest most sophisticated Airforce in the region. The US having the 1st and 2nd largest air forces (USAF, USN) in the world. And China has been actively threatening both.</li>
<li><a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/it%E2%80%99s-official-china%E2%80%99s-navy-bigger-america%E2%80%99s-168278#:%7E:text=Rapid%20shipbuilding%20and%20modernization%20have,China%27s%20large%20naval%20build%2Dup.&text=The%20People%27s%20Liberation%20Army%20Navy,it%20is%20becoming%20more%20modern." rel="noreferrer">China now has more hulls than the US Navy</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-army-navy/" rel="noreferrer">China is out producing the US navy in tonnage of ships.</a> and will for the foreseeable future.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-missiles-specialreport-us/special-report-u-s-rearms-to-nullify-chinas-missile-supremacy-idUSKBN22I1EQ" rel="noreferrer">China has superior anti ship missiles than the US Navy</a> (Range, Speed, Power )</li>
</ul>
<p>China says the sea is part of their historic territory, a claim refuted by the <strong><a href="https://amti.csis.org/failing-or-incomplete-grading-the-south-china-sea-arbitration/#:%7E:text=On%20July%2012%2C%202016%2C%20an,in%20the%20South%20China%20Sea.&text=The%20ruling%20clarified%20important%20aspects,Beijing%20would%20accept%20its%20findings." rel="noreferrer">Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague</a></strong>. Western Intelligence experts asserted in 2011, China is after the natural resources in the South China Sea ( oil, natural gas, fish ).</p>
<h2>Question:</h2>
<p>Given we now understand that we <strong><a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/the-west-has-badly-underestimated-china/news-story/9b040e11d4dde00eb001a434422e949d/" rel="noreferrer">badly underestimated the scale of China's militarization</a></strong> in the South China Sea and Navy, detailed above which seems like overkill to get natural resources; Is there a different strategic objective which they could be after by controlling that swath of ocean?</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/fSluU.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/fSluU.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
 | china military territorial dispute | 0 |
59,338 | Why do many states in the US often elect state cabinet members? | <p>When I first learned various states hold elections for state cabinet positions I was puzzled, because there are no such elections for federal secretaries. Why do so many states do it like this, instead of having them appointed by governor? Doesn't it create incohesion when there are different secretaries from different parties in the state governments? I couldn't find any answer to this online.</p>
 | united states election us state laws local government | 0 |
59,342 | What are China's Interests in the Arctic? | <p>I am aware that the Arctic is full of natural resources and the USA (Alaska), Russia, Canada, Denmark, and Norway have each of their EEZ according to the United Convention on the Law of the Sea. I am not aware that China is supposed to have an EEZ in the mentioned region, as they're not in the region but I've come across <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjp5ONYM_jc" rel="nofollow noreferrer">videos</a> and digital Newspapers that China is interested in application in the region and I'd like to know what they've done so far (Polar Silk Road)! Apart from gaining natural resources, what other interests does China have in the Arctic?</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_policy_of_China" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In January 2018, China released its official Arctic Policy paper.<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/j6Qdz.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2</a> The document draws a picture of how China views the economic possibilities the region offers. With this, China has vowed to actively participate in Arctic affairs as a "Near-Arctic State" and a major stakeholder in the Arctic.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_policy_of_China" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a> China has also focused on developing military projection capabilities that would extend into the Arctic region</p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2018/620231/EPRS_BRI(2018)620231_EN.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">briefing by the European Parliamentary Research Service</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>China's white paper on its Arctic policy of 26 January 2018
confirms that the region has significantly moved up China's
foreign policy agenda during President Xi Jinping's first term of
office (2013-2018).1 To legitimise China's growing role and
interest in the Arctic despite its short Arctic history and lack of
sovereign rights, the paper highlights China's scientific research
on the Arctic since the 1990s and its increasing engagement in
Arctic governance since it was admitted in 2013 as one of the
current 13 observers to the Arctic Council.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/j6Qdz.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/j6Qdz.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ifU8t.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/ifU8t.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/p8rBG.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/p8rBG.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> I am grateful for every contribution, whether short or long and I accept if the question is taken down if not met be Politics SE guidelines.</p>
 | international relations china arctic | 0 |
59,355 | Why it is considered offensive that Trump referred to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as AOC in the last presidential debate? | <p>Recently, there was a huge backlash after the last presidential debate that Trump referred to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Congresswoman of 14th NY district as <strong>AOC</strong>. For example, look <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-trump-disrespect-women-aoc-debate-1541592" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>, or <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/522421-ocasio-cortez-hits-trump-for-disrespect-over-calling-her-aoc-during-debates" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article246660803.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>
<p>I can't understand why it is considered disrespectful. I mean Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez uses the acronym <strong>AOC</strong> in her Twitter account: <a href="https://twitter.com/AOC" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://twitter.com/AOC</a>. But, why when other people use her famous acronym <strong>AOC</strong> does it becomes disrespectful suddenly? I would appreciate a well-sourced answer here.</p>
 | united states donald trump debate gender gender neutrality | 1 |
59,363 | Did Hillary Clinton actually lose because supporters thought she would win in a landslide? | <p>I have seen numerous people say that Clinton lost because the polls convinced many of her supporters to not bother voting since she was guaranteed to win anyways. The argument is that in many districts, it was actually much closer than the polls suggested and that their laziness swung the election in Trump's favor.</p>
<p>Is there any concrete evidence for this? Maybe post-election polling of Clinton supporters to see how many actually didn't vote?</p>
 | united states presidential election hillary clinton | 1 |
59,370 | How does Estonia calculate the date of their parliamentary election? | <p>The Estonian Constitution has a narrowly defined date for its parliamentary election.</p>
<p>Constitution of Estonia:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Regular elections to the Riigikogu shall be held on the first Sunday
in March of the fourth year following the <strong>preceding Riigikogu election
year.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>The wording creates a bit of confusion in the scenario when the Parliament (i.e. Riigikogu) is dissolved.</p>
<p>Specifically, if the Estonian Parliament is dissolved BEFORE the first Sunday of March in 2020, should the next election take place on the first Sunday of March in 2023 or 2024?</p>
<p>The issue here is that if the hypothetical election takes place in 2024 (as the Constitution seems to suggest), the election would essentially happen slightly after its 4-year term expired. This would create a short period of vacuum when the country has no legislature to oversee the government, which is obviously not ideal.</p>
<p>Are there any legal interpretations that clarify what is to be done in this situation?</p>
 | election constitution parliament estonia | 1 |
59,371 | What was the highest amount of senate seats that the USA GOP and democrats controlled in history? | <p>Have either party controlled 60 seats or more? If not what was their highest count?</p>
 | united states election senate republican party democratic party | 1 |
59,375 | Are Democratic members of congress more educated? | <p>I have read some people on this site talking about how whether or not white Americans have a college degree can change their voting habits. I was thinking about this topic regardless of race in Congress.</p>
<p>Has it been shown that Democratic members of Congress are more educated than their Republican counterparts? Or, vice versa?</p>
<p>I mean based on things like how much post graduate schooling and achievements they have made. I think something about vocabulary could also count. This needs to be educational statistics that can be <em>measured</em> in an objective and nonpartisan manner.</p>
 | united states congress education | 0 |
59,382 | Which parts of Chilean constitution need to be changed? | <p>Yesterday (25th of October 2020) Chile voted overwhelmingly "Yes" in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Chilean_national_plebiscite" rel="nofollow noreferrer">referendum to change the constitution</a>. I guess that's a good thing since the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Chilean_constitutional_referendum" rel="nofollow noreferrer">previous constitution</a> was drafted by dictator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Augusto Pinochet</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Chilean_constitutional_referendum" rel="nofollow noreferrer">amended in 1989</a>, while Pinochet was still in power. However, I can't find any explanations/discussions about specifically which parts of the old/current constitution are bad or need to be changed and why.</p>
<p>Hope that someone knowledgeable can fill me in here.</p>
 | constitution chile | 0 |
59,384 | Did George McGovern turn out leftist nonvoters? | <p>I was reading results in the 1972 election. I found that in Massachusetts, as well as some urban counties McGovern carried such as Wayne County MI or New York County NY, McGovern lost fewer votes than Nixon gained votes.</p>
<p>Was this because he turned out leftist nonvoters who felt ignored but McGovern spoke to them?</p>
 | united states | 0 |
59,387 | Why is the Economist model so sure Trump is going to lose compared to other models? | <p><a href="https://projects.economist.com/us-2020-forecast/president" rel="noreferrer">The Economist model</a> never showed Trump as a clear favorite. In recent weeks, it said he has had less than 10% chance of winning the electoral college. It currently says his chances are particularly bad; 4% chance of winning the electoral college, and <1% chance of winning the popular vote.</p>
<p>I am interested in the fundamentals of this model and why it is sure now of what is happening. Is it the early voting, polls, a combination, or something else?</p>
 | united states polling statistics | 1 |
59,392 | Why are there such long waits to vote in the US? | <p>Early voting has started in the US Presidential elections and one article that caught my eye today was regarding <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/aoc-queue-new-york-polling-stations-us-election-b1347636.html" rel="noreferrer">the waiting times to vote.</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>AOC criticises ‘unacceptable’ lines at New York polling stations after waiting two hours to cast ballot.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This doesn't appear to be solely an issue with early voting or the Covid Pandemic as <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/non-voters-poll-2020-election/" rel="noreferrer">FiveThirtyEight</a> have documented wait time over an hour for 15% to 20% of votes and much longer for some.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Some people, like Donna Thompson, 59, told us that a long line or complicated voting system is something that’s just baked into the process for them. “I’m going to have to take time off work to go get in line, because my job doesn’t give me time off to vote,” she said, adding that she’s had to wait five or six hours in past elections.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why are there such long waits? In the UK I don't think I've ever waited more than a handful of minutes and even news reports of queues are usually at closing time. In 2019 the Independent's article about long waits to vote in the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/general-election-2019-voting-queue-polling-station-wait-time-ballot-a9244006.html" rel="noreferrer">general election</a> covered experiences of 20 and 35 minutes.</p>
 | united states voting | 1 |
59,394 | Why didn't the Republican party confirm Judge Barrett into the Supreme Court after the election? | <p>The confirmation of Judge Barrett is <a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/59127/why-are-people-protesting-against-supreme-court-nominee-amy-coney-barrett">quite controversial</a> to say the least and puts as many as <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/will-senate-republicans-back-trumps-push-to-fill-ginsburgs-seat-even-if-he-loses-reelection/" rel="noreferrer">7 Republican Senators</a> at risk of losing their re-election campaign. So why not do a bait-and-switch?</p>
<ol>
<li>Declare that no nominee will be put in place until the election, pretending to follow precedent</li>
<li>Wait for the election to be over</li>
<li>Immediately nominate Judge Barrett into the Supreme Court</li>
</ol>
<p>If Trump wins the Presidential election, no one will oppose this move. If he doesn't, you still get to nominate your judge into the court while giving swing state Republicans a better chance at the election. There will surely be a lot of anger over this decision, but voters have a short memory and other concerns will take over by November 2022. So why act out in the open and nominate Barrett right now?</p>
 | united states supreme court republican party | 1 |
59,399 | Is Turkey an indispensable partner in NATO? | <p>I know that Turkey has the second-largest army in NATO after the USA. Turkey also controls the Bosphorus strait.</p>
<p>But, is Turkey an indispensable partner in NATO?</p>
<p>Can NATO function properly without Turkey?</p>
<p>How about Turkey joining the Russian pole? Does that concern NATO?</p>
 | turkey nato | 1 |
59,401 | Does the US Federal Government have a plan to vaccinate citizens? | <p>It appears that several Coronavirus vaccine manufacturers may only be weeks away from FDA approval (<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/moderna-ceo-expects-covid-19-vaccine-interim-results-in-november-11603164001" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Moderna expects December results</a>). It is also reported by the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/08/11/trump-administration-collaborates-with-moderna-produce-100-million-doses-covid-19-investigational-vaccine.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">US-HHS</a> that some vaccine manufacturers are in mass production of vaccine in preparation for FDA approval.</p>
<p><strong>Does the federal government have a plan to execute the deployment of these (available) millions of doses?</strong></p>
<p>The only information I've been able to find is a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/imz-managers/downloads/COVID-19-Vaccination-Program-Interim_Playbook.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">CDC guidance (playbook)</a>, that seems to spell out that the plans to administer and execute inoculations is to be carried out by <strong>local</strong> jurisdictions. I cannot find any concrete plans from the federal government on inoculation of these Coronavirus vaccines.</p>
 | united states covid 19 virus cdc | 0 |
59,409 | Why do Appalachian areas have plenty of registered Democrats? | <p>Many predominantly white and rural areas in Appalachia have more registered Democrats than Republicans. But they overwhelmingly vote Republican.</p>
<p>Why do people there not change their registrations to match with their views? I know much of Appalachia was ancestrally Democratic, but I feel that people would change their registration.</p>
 | united states voters | 0 |
59,410 | Is it normal or required for POTUS to attended SCOTUS swearing in ceremonies? | <p>I noticed from the recent swearing in photos of the new SCOTUS judge that POTUS was present. Is it normal for POTUS to be present? It is <em>required</em> or a choice by someone (who makes that choice?). Of course I don't even know if there is a rule saying POTUS should not be present (seems unlikely).</p>
<p>But what are the requirements and/or accepted norms for this process?</p>
 | united states law | 1 |
59,413 | If (Supreme Court) judges are supposedly impartial how are they so readily identified to parties? | <p>Are they identified with Republican or Democratic parties depending on their leanings on specific, key issues? Or is there a more general cause, like broadly taking more literal interpretation of the Constitution? Are they just not really so impartial, or is there something other reason for their apparently obvious, perceived party alignment?</p>
<p>This is similar to this question below, but different.</p>
<p><a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/q/13167/10683">If judges are supposed to be impartial, why are some elected if that risks them having biases towards their constituents?</a></p>
 | united states judiciary | 1 |
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