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62,560 | Why can't Constitutional Conventions become part of the English common law in the same way that customs can? | <blockquote>
<p>When considering the essential difference between law and convention, it is vital to distinguish
them from customs which can be adopted as common law rules, and conventions, which can only
become law through the legislative process.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Colin Faragher's <em>Public Law Concentrate</em> 2019, 20.</p>
<blockquote>
<p> Parliament may recognize a constitutional convention in legislation. The UK Supreme
Court, in <em>R (on the application of Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union</em>
(2017) held that the UK Parliament, in recognizing the Sewel Convention in s 2 Scotland Act
2016 did not intend it to become law.<br />
 <strong>Conventions cannot become part of the common law in the same way that customs are
capable of doing. [Boldening mine]</strong> This was determined by the Court of Appeal in <em>Manuel v Attorney General</em>
(1983). This was an attempt to question the legality of the Canada Act 1982 in the British
courts by a minority group within Canada. It was suggested that the constitutional convention
that the UK Parliament should not legislate for Canada, except with its consent, might
have crystallized into a law by formal recognition or by long acceptance. Slade LJ, giving
the judgment of the court, rejected this argument saying that it was ‘quite unsustainable in
the courts of this country’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>Op. cit.</em> 21.</p>
 | united kingdom | 0 |
62,563 | How does the Democratic Party have a majority in the US Senate? | <p>According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" rel="noreferrer">Wiki</a>, Democrats have a majority in the Senate despite only having 48 seats. Why are the two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_politician" rel="noreferrer">independent</a> senators being counted as Democrats? Please explain it at a level for a non-US resident to understand.</p>
 | united states senate | 1 |
62,565 | Why is the Constitutionality of an Impeachment and Trial when out of office not settled? | <p>The US Senate has voted 3 times, once in <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/meet-other-american-who-was-impeached-tried-after-leaving-office-n1255516" rel="noreferrer">1876</a> and twice in <a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/62480/why-another-impeachment-vote-at-the-senate/62481#62481">2021</a>, that impeachment and trial of an official who has left office is acceptable.</p>
<p>Despite this, Mitch McConnell voted to acquit Trump in 2021, apparently on the basis of this being unconstitutional.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mr McConnell reportedly did not believe the Senate was right to pursue a trial, with CNN reporting sources close to the Senate minority leader saying he believed a Senate impeachment trial could not be held for someone who had left office.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Why is the constitutionality of the issue not settled by these votes? And if these votes are insufficient to settle the issue, how can it be resolved and why hasn't this avenue been pursued?</p>
 | united states constitution senate impeachment | 0 |
62,567 | Why is India known as the largest democratic nation? | <p>Why only India is regarded as the largest democracy, why not the USA or the European Union?</p>
 | democracy india | 0 |
62,570 | US Senate Floor Leaders: What happens if there is a substantial third party? | <p>According to the <a href="https://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_index_subjects/Leadership_vrd.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">US Senate's web site</a>,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Leadership<br />
The floor leaders and whips of each party are elected by a majority vote of all the senators of their party assembled in a conference or, as it sometimes is called, a caucus. The practice has been to choose the leader for a two-year term at the beginning of each Congress. The majority and minority leaders are the elected spokespersons on the Senate floor for their respective political parties.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>and</p>
<blockquote>
<p>floor leaders - The majority leader and minority leader are elected by their respective party conferences to serve as the chief Senate spokesmen for their parties and to manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. By custom, the presiding officer gives the floor leaders priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor of the Senate.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This seems to indicate there are one Majority Leader and one Minority Leader. Right now, they are chosen by the Democrats and Republicans, respectively. While there are two Independents, they caucus with the Democrats. There seems to be a more than a trivial possibility that the Republican party might split in the coming months. We don't know what the split off party would be called, I'll refer to them as the Trumpists. If that happens, there would be more than a small group, and one might envision them not wishing to caucus with the "true" Republicans. If that occurred, the Democrats would definitely be the Majority, but who would be the Minority Leader?</p>
<p>(Note: I don't want to start a dialog about which group would be the "true" Republicans, that is not my purpose here.)</p>
 | united states senate | 0 |
62,571 | Why isn't there a bigger presence of 3rd parties in the US Senate or House of Representatives? | <p>Many people say that voting for a 3rd party in a presidential election is pointless. And under the rules, this is pretty true as it is a winner takes all system.</p>
<p>The Senate and House of Representatives are different. 3rd parties can arguably make a big difference here - especially if they get the balance of power, they would have tremendous leverage on each vote.</p>
<p>If 3rd parties do want to make an impactful difference, why would they be running for the presidency instead of concentrating all their effort on running for a house or senate seat. It would be an easier ask and cheaper to win just one state race instead of a majority of states across the country.</p>
<p>However, there are 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans in the Senate, and the House of Representatives is mostly Democrats or Republicans as well. Contrast that to Australia (<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Senators/Senate_composition" rel="nofollow noreferrer">link</a>); there are 7 parties holding seats in the Senate.</p>
<p>Why aren't we seeing more 3rd parties in the US Congress?</p>
 | united states congress parties third party | 0 |
62,575 | Are there legal penalties for lies (etc.) in a US Senate impeachment trial? | <p>Suppose an impeachment of POTUS has progressed to the senate trial. And suppose that one of the representatives of one side or the other is shown to have lied, falsified evidence, covered up evidence, etc.</p>
<p>In a criminal trial, if either side were to have been shown to have done such, there would be a variety of legal penalties. For example, a lie under oath is perjury which has significant legal penalties attached. In some cases, such as a closing argument, in some jurisdictions, there is quite a bit of leeway for a representative to say things for effect. But if one side was shown to have submitted false evidence, the penalties could be quite severe.</p>
<p>What is the situation for a senate trial? If a manager or a defender were shown to have lied or falsified evidence, what would be the legal consequence?</p>
 | united states impeachment senate rules | 0 |
62,580 | Can Trump be criminally prosecuted for acts commited when he was president? | <p>Just after voting to acquit Trump, GOP senate leader Mitch McConnel said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one. (<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/15/968044983/president-potential-legal-trumps-legal-battles-following-his-second-impeachment" rel="nofollow noreferrer">source</a>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, given the past 4 years of discussion regarding the immunity of a sitting president, can Trump be prosecuted for alleged crimes he commited <strong>while</strong> being president, or is his immunity invalid only for crimes commited as a private citizen?</p>
 | united states president impeachment official immunity | 0 |
62,582 | Efficiency gap threshold when there are more than two candidates | <p>I've been working on extending Stephanopoulos-McGhee's definition of the efficiency gap using the method outlined in following <a href="https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/25482/formula-for-efficiency-gap-calculation-when-there-are-more-than-two-candidates">Stack Exchange post</a>.</p>
<p>It seems that extending the definition of wasted votes in this manner to compute pairwise efficiency gaps results in some problems, particularly when dealing with smaller parties (which receive a smaller number of total votes and thus a smaller number of wasted votes).</p>
<p>This problem means that the 8% threshold recommended by Stephanopoulos-McGhee will always almost be exceeded in the case where comparatively small parties run for election (the resulting efficiency gap will usually indicate gerrymandering in favour of the smaller party by these standards).</p>
<p>In order to deal with this problem, a new threshold appears to be needed in the multiple party case, however, I am struggling to work out what this threshold might need to be.</p>
<p>Does anybody have any ideas of how to deal with this?</p>
 | election voting democracy gerrymandering | 0 |
62,583 | What happens to rank-and-file law-enforcement after major regime change | <p>The question is inspired by the current situation in Myanmar, but since at the time of writing what will happen remains to be seen and obviously people on here can't predict the future, but surely similar situations have occurred in the past.</p>
<p>So my question is, what happens to the ordinary "rank-and-file" members of law enforcement or military if there is a major regime change (or even a revolution) as a result of popular dissent as is currently going on in Myanmar? Do they just continue work to as usual, just treating it as a change of boss / orders?</p>
<p>e.g. if Aung San Suu Kyi is restored to power, it seems almost certain that (considering she is the democratically elected ruler) people using force in opposition will be seen to be "in the wrong" and disloyal to the country and its people, at best on a par with those who stormed the Capitol building recently in the US.</p>
<p>It seems strange to imagine that officers who were loyal to the outgoing regime, and who opposed protests and demonstrations, in some cases with violence, maybe even with lethal force, would just continue with their jobs, but now working for the people they previously opposed. On the other hand, while I imagine the upper echelons of the police & army (e.g. generals, commissioners, etc.) can be replaced relatively easily with people loyal to the new regime, you can't exactly quickly recruit and train an entirely new force, and it would seem a tad unfair to fire or prosecute low-ranking officers who were only following orders.</p>
<p>So do they just return to their beat or whatever with the mentality, "Well it's just that our orders have changed"? I can't really imagine them engendering much trust amongst the populace considering the crack-down they participated in is probably very unpopular with the people they are now serving, and considered wrong given the new regime's ideology.</p>
 | military police revolutions | 0 |
62,589 | What can be some issues with this alternate procedure for recalling public officials? | <p>There are many democratic procedures like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recall_election" rel="nofollow noreferrer">recall elections</a> which don’t need to take place within a fixed period of time, i.e. they can be continuously held until the replacement candidate gets a higher vote-count than the existing person in the office.</p>
<p>Most democracies which have a provision for recall have a 2-3 step procedure for holding recall elections:</p>
<ol>
<li>A signature gathering phase: in which one has to gather signatures of some 10-20% of the voters on a petition to recall the official.</li>
<li>Recall election phase: in which the whole electorate votes on whether the person should continue office or not.</li>
<li>Special election / By-election: an interim election to elect a new person for the office.</li>
</ol>
<p>Some combine the 2nd & 3rd phase, eg California, Arizona, Wisconsin etc, where the incumbent & the challengers both appear on the same ballot.</p>
<p>Now, there is an issue with this system: In most cases, people win a race for an office with some 40-60% of the votes. So, some 40-60% of the voters didn’t want him in office anyways. Gathering signatures of 10-20% of the electorate to recall the incumbent won’t be a very difficult task. It is imperative that if a challenging candidate runs a lot of campaigns asking his supporters to sign on a recall petition, he will face backlash and after 2-3 failed attempts people will be very reluctant to sign on such petitions. However, such dishonest failed attempts to recall can make voters reluctant to vote in a genuine case of recall wherein the challenger might genuinely be more popular than the incumbent.</p>
<p>In order to solve this problem, Rahul Mehta (an Indian politician) has come up with an alternate procedure.</p>
<p>Draft of the law he has proposed for recalling a District Education Officer: <a href="https://www.mygov.in/newindia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/newindia388604_1508825388.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.mygov.in/newindia/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/newindia388604_1508825388.pdf</a></p>
<p>His system in a nutshell (for those who don’t want to read the full text):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A person who fits in eligibility criteria for running for an office can register himself as a challenger to the incumbent with the government.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Any voter can visit a nearby govt office or use a web portal / mobile application (I’ll later explain why there won’t be any fraud with an online system) to register his approvals / disapprovals for the incumbent & his challengers</p>
</li>
<li><p>The vote counts of the incumbent and challengers will be published on a website.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Provision to avoid fraud: The name of the voter, his Voter ID number (which isn’t confidential) and the names of the candidates he has approved / disapproved will also be published on the same website.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Since voting isn’t anonymous, there’s a provision to avoid forestall attempts of influencing voters by intimidation, blackmailing and vote buying: the voters will be allowed to change their approvals / disapprovals anytime. If a person has bribed or threatened a person to vote for a particular candidate, the person may take the bribe or succumb to the threat and file his approval and later change the approval as per his wish. (*)</p>
</li>
<li><p>If the approval count of the challenger surpass a certain threshold (say 2% of the total voters in that district), he/she will replace the incumbent.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>This solves the problem with the current procedure I had described earlier.</p>
<p>(*) It is impractical for anyone to regularly bribe a person because he can change his vote anytime and soon anyone will run out of money. However, I’m not so sure of how efficient would this system be to avoid threats. What can be some PRACTICAL attempts of intimidation/threatening which could surpass the “vote changing” feature of this system?</p>
 | election election fraud election security | 0 |
62,595 | Why allow congress to impeach an official if accused doesn't necessarily have to have committed a crime? | <h1>Background</h1>
<p>Impeachment may be conducted by congress for the following reasons outlined in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_United_States#Constitutional_provisions" rel="nofollow noreferrer">U.S. Constitution</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Article I, Section 2, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution provides:</p>
<p>The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other
Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.</p>
<p>Article I, Section 3, Clauses 6 and 7 provide:</p>
<p>The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When
sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When
the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall
preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of
two-thirds of the Members present. Judgment in Cases of Impeachment
shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and
disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or
Profit under the United States; but the Party convicted shall
nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and
Punishment, according to Law.</p>
<p>Article II, Section 2 provides:</p>
<p>[The President] ... shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons
for offenses against the United States, except in cases of
impeachment.</p>
<p>Article II, Section 4 provides:</p>
<p>The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United
States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and
Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and
Misdemeanors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The first two, Treason and Bribery parallel crimes in the legal system (I say parallel because an impeachment charge by the House of Representatives is different from a Grand Jury indictment) and could easily draw upon the legal system for specific details as to what qualifies treason and bribery. However, "high crimes and misdemeanors" is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/what-does-high-crimes-and-misdemeanors-actually-mean/600343/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">morphic term</a> from what I understand, and thus the potential is wide open for a federal officer to be removed from office for something that isn't necessarily a crime just because both Houses of Congress voted enough to say it is. If that was the case, then, given enough votes, both houses of congress could use impeachment as a political cudgel to oust anyone they so chose based off the loose definition of high crimes and misdemeanors.</p>
<p>Now, as a matter of practicality, the occurrences of impeachment in the United States are few and far between and in recent memory only the impeachments of the President have proven to be controversial (contrived or not). However, it is this potential toxic side effect - that if someone acting in their official duty happens to go against the politics of the day - lead me to ask the following question...</p>
<h1>Question</h1>
<p>Given that what qualifies as a high crime or misdemeanor is left to the legislature to define, why allow both houses of congress to remove someone from office with what may potentially not be a crime?</p>
 | united states impeachment | 1 |
62,596 | How are members and chairs of subcommittees appointed by their party caucus/conference in the U.S. Senate? | <p>There are many subcommittees in the U.S. Senate. On the third of February, 2021,
the committees were reorganized to reflect the new Democratic majority in the Senate. Since then, some subcommittees have also been reorganized, and some have not. What is the process used by the respective party caucuses/conferences to decide who shall serve in which subcommittees?</p>
 | united states congress senate | 0 |
62,601 | Is there an election System that allows for seats to be empty? | <p>Is there an election System that allows for potential seats to be empty?
E.g if there are 7 seats that could potentially be filled but the people voting only want 5 to be filled.</p>
<p>For context: We are holding an election to a Board where there can only be 7 members + president + vice president + Quästor (But these are elected separately).
In the past, we usually had less than 7 candidates for the 7 seats. so we just had a yes-no vote on each person. But now we have 10 interested candidates.
Some think 7 is too much so we don't want a voting system that takes away the option to only elect 5. Or if someone does not like 4 of the 10 candidates we want them to be able to vote for the option where there would only be the 6 Board members he likes.</p>
 | election voting voting systems | 0 |
62,611 | What does Texas gain from keeping its electrical grid independent? | <p>A recent article by the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2011/02/08/texplainer-why-does-texas-have-its-own-power-grid/" rel="noreferrer">Texas Tribune</a> explains why Texas has its own electrical grid:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Texas Interconnected System — which for a long time was actually operated by two discrete entities, one for northern Texas and one for southern Texas — had another priority: staying out of the reach of federal regulators. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which charged the Federal Power Commission with overseeing interstate electricity sales. By not crossing state lines, Texas utilities avoided being subjected to federal rules. "Freedom from federal regulation was a cherished goal — more so because Texas had no regulation until the 1970s," writes Richard D. Cudahy in a 1995 article, "The Second Battle of the Alamo: The Midnight Connection."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But what exactly does it gain from staying independent? Is it purely a political statement or is there a rational reason behind having a completely separate grid?</p>
 | united states regulation texas energy policy energy independence | 1 |
62,613 | Why would the Lincoln Project campaign *against* Sen. Susan Collins? | <p>As I understand it, The Lincoln Project is anti-Trump Republicans.</p>
<p>So why would they <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/511401-lincoln-project-expands-gop-target-list-winning-trump-ire" rel="nofollow noreferrer">campaign against</a> Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)? And not only that, but campaign the hardest of any Senate election?</p>
<p>I would think she'd be the darling of the movement. She</p>
<ul>
<li>Declared Trump to be "unworthy of being our president" and that she wouldn't vote for him.</li>
<li>Defeated Trump's ACA repeal</li>
<li>Criticized Trump for Lafayette Park incident</li>
<li>More recently (but I think further demonstrates her stance) voted against Trump's Supreme Court nomination, and voted to convict him.</li>
<li>Overall has the most <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">anti-Trump voting record</a> of any Republican Senator: 65% agreement</li>
</ul>
<p>Of any member of Congress up for election in 2020, I would think Susan Collins would be <em>most</em> well liked by anti-Trump Republicans. I would think the Lincoln Project would <em>prefer</em> a Senate full of Susan Collins'.</p>
<p>But it's actually the exact opposite. Why did they actually run attack ads against her?</p>
 | united states donald trump campaigning advertising | 0 |
62,614 | Why does Myanmar have significantly more trouble with democratic stability and its ethnicities than India? | <h1>Background</h1>
<p>Both <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Myanmar</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" rel="nofollow noreferrer">India</a> have numerous ethnic groups within their societies. India has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asian_ethnic_groups#List_of_ethnic_groups_on_the_basis_of_language" rel="nofollow noreferrer">countless numbers of ethnic groups</a> within their society, and they manage to have a stable democracy. While yes, there is discrimination between different groups, it has not resulted in a total government break down and seizure by the military, or genocide.</p>
<p>Myanmar, on the other hand, has <a href="https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma/#people-and-society" rel="nofollow noreferrer">much less ethic diversity</a>, yet seems to be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Asia#Myanmar" rel="nofollow noreferrer">intolerant</a> toward several ethnic groups, especially the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_genocide" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Rohingya</a>. Both India and Burma were under British rule as one colony and were exposed to the systems they set up there...yet India did not have a sustained military coup(s) that Myanmar had and currently has, nor did they carry out genocide like Myanmar did. The numerous similarities and proximity of India and Myanmar led me to ask...</p>
<h1>Question</h1>
<p>Why is Myanmar less democratically stable and more ethnically intolerant than India?</p>
 | india myanmar | 1 |
62,620 | Relation between Chinese Communist Party and Civil Administration | <p>What are the criteria for rising in the Chinese Communist Party? Specifically, can a bright junior in Civil Administration rise within the CCP along with thier position in administration without major Party activities?</p>
 | china chinese communist party | 0 |
62,621 | How are members of the Communist Party of China assessed for promotion? | <p>How are party members promoted to a higher CCP appointment? Is there a system of periodic assessment by senior party officials?</p>
 | china chinese communist party | 0 |
62,622 | Does Mexico hold primary elections? | <p>If so, are they held by all national parties? For executive and legislators? And are party non-officials eligible to vote? If so, only members or open?</p>
<p>Note: Question is inspired by the nominating situation for Morena’s gubernatorial candidate in Guerrero.</p>
 | election parties primaries mexico | 0 |
62,633 | How long do states have to vote on Constitutional amendments passed by congress? Are there any in limbo? | <p>I am curious to know if states have a specific timeline for voting to ratify a Constitutional amendment and if there are any that have been passed by congress but not enough states have voted to allow ratification?</p>
 | united states voting constitution amendment | 0 |
62,639 | What are US Senators expected to do during a natural calamity in their home state? | <p>Recently Ted Cruz was spotted on a plane to Cancun, which was criticized as the state is currently in a state of emergency due to power failures. But what exactly is a US Senator expected to do in a situation like this? Cruz doesn't have any executive authority within Texas and while I'm sure he could propose a law in Congress that would help the Texas power grid in the future, its not exactly a pressing concern.</p>
<p>So what could Ted Cruz have done to help his home state if he stayed on US soil?</p>
 | united states | 1 |
62,651 | Why has Pakistan never faced the wrath of the USA similar to other countries in the region, especially Iran? | <p>As far as I understand, the USA's Middle East policy more or less revolves around Israel and its security. The countries which had antagonistic policies toward Israel were either taken out by Israel or the USA one after another.</p>
<p>To my understanding, the only outliers are <strong>Iran</strong> and <strong>Pakistan</strong>.</p>
<p>I concede that both of them have huge and powerful militaries; that is one of the reasons they are still on the world map. However, while Iran has faced repeated sanctions, Pakistan has been spared time and time again.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<ol>
<li>Pakistan was allowed to continue its research on nuclear weapons</li>
<li>In 1998, Pakistan was put under sanction for testing nuclear weapons, and the sanction was lifted in a short time</li>
<li>Pakistan never faced any sanction when Osama bin Laden was found in Abbottabad</li>
<li>In 2011, Pakistan stopped the NATO supply routes and there was no repercussion from the US side</li>
<li>Pakistan possess a missile named Shaheen-III which has an effective firing range of 2500-3000km</li>
</ol>
<p>Why has Pakistan never faced the wrath of the USA similar to other countries in the region, especially Iran?</p>
 | united states international relations iran pakistan sanctions | 1 |
62,652 | I keep hearing about Capitol Police getting overpowered by the Jan. 6 mob. Why didn't they use their guns? | <p>I know the officers were not able to contain the mob very well but I'm sure they had guns. Why didn't they use them? And even if they decided that they weren't going to use them no matter what, wouldn't some still have tried to fire them out of instinct? Was it that they could accidentally hit people not really doing anything bad and the crowd would return fire? I know it definitely wasn't because it was illegal because they were protecting the most important people in the country and the mob was out for blood.</p>
 | united states congress guns | 0 |
62,656 | What does the Texas Reliability Entity do exactly? Can it enforce NERC standards in Texas? | <p><a href="https://www.ferc.gov/enforcement-legal/enforcement/enforcement-reliability" rel="noreferrer">Following</a> the 2005 EPAct, the NERC is <a href="https://www.nerc.net/standardsreports/standardssummary.aspx" rel="noreferrer">authorized</a> to set mandatory reliability standards for power companies subject to FERC's jurisdiction.</p>
<p>Texas's ERCOT is itself <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-weather-power-prices-explainer-idINKBN2AG2KD" rel="noreferrer">not subject</a> to FERC regs, but NERC has a "subsidiary" of sorts in Texas though, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Reliability_Entity" rel="noreferrer">Texas Reliability Entity</a>; although it's a non-profit rather than a government agency (but that's also true for NERC), Texas RE does seem to have a state mandate:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Texas Reliability Entity (Texas RE) is one of the regional electric reliability councils (Regional Entities) under North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) authority. Each Regional Entity is tasked with compliance, monitoring, and enforcement on the behalf of NERC to ensure bulk power system reliability. [...]</p>
<p>Users, owners, and operators within ERCOT are eligible for membership in Texas RE at no cost. [...]</p>
<p><strong>The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has authorized Texas RE to serve as its Reliability Monitor for the state of Texas and for ERCOT.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Does that mean that NERC reliability standards are (in theory) enforced in Texas by Texas RE? Basically what does Texas RE do exactly, in practice?</p>
 | united states regulation texas energy policy | 1 |
62,658 | Which generating units did the DOE authorize to operate at maximum capacity in Texas? | <p>Although Texas' ERCOT <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-weather-power-prices-explainer-idINKBN2AG2KD" rel="nofollow noreferrer">is not</a> subject to FERC regulations, <a href="https://www.energy.gov/oe/does-use-federal-power-act-emergency-authority" rel="nofollow noreferrer">there are</a> apparently emergency DOE orders that apply to some Texas generating facilities nonetheless:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Under FPA section 202(c) during the continuance of a war in which the United States is engaged or when an emergency exists by reason of a sudden increase in the demand for electric energy, or a shortage of electric energy, or of facilities for the generation or transmission of electric energy, or of the fuel or water for generating facilities, or other causes, the Secretary of Energy may require by order temporary connections of facilities, and generation, delivery, interchange, or transmission of electricity as the Secretary determines will best meet the emergency and serve the public interest. 16 U.S.C. § 824a(c). [...]</p>
<p>On February 14, 2021, a 202(c) emergency order was issued to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) authorizing specific electric generating units (resource list) located within the ERCOT area to operate at their maximum generation output levels due to ongoing extreme weather conditions and to preserve the reliability of bulk electric power system.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>Which facilities are on that "resource list" and how much of Texas power do they (normally) supply?</strong></p>
<p>I found the full text of <a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2021/02/f82/DOE%20202%28c%29%20Emergency%20Order%20-%20ERCOT%2002.14.2021.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the order</a>, but the list of units is apparently a separate document. (One intersting bit from the text though is that ERCOT itself
requested the DOE to issue the federal order.)</p>
 | united states federalism texas energy policy emergency | 0 |
62,663 | Why was no significant action taken againt Omar al-Bashir even after ICC issued arrest warrent for genocide? | <p>No western power undertook perceptible actions or investigations, even in three separate counts of genocide for which the ICC issued its second warrant against al-Bashir. While al-Bashir was in power, the country study on Sudan by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress observed: "September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States and Washington's strong reaction to them further encouraged Sudan to improve relations with the West." The U.S. had even lifted economic and trade sanctions on Sudan.</p>
<ul>
<li>What saved al-Bashir from the wrath of the west while Colonel Gaddafi did not get any significant concessions in this regard?</li>
</ul>
 | international law international court genocide sudan | 0 |
62,666 | What are resons for Prime Minister Abe Shinzo to desire amendment to Article 9 in constitution? | <p>Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is reported to have said that "Japan cannot be a "normal state" until Japan has a fully functional armed force." There are reports that majority of the Japanese are not in favor of amending Article 9. Other than the apparent nationalist pride, is there any other factor in play?</p>
 | military japan nationalism | 1 |
62,670 | What is the stance of the current Japanese government on conversion therapy and why? | <p>Do Japanese governments support conversion therapy?</p>
<p>I wasn't able to find any information online. <a href="https://www.equaldex.com/region/japan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This site</a> states the majority of Japanese support legalization of same-sex marriage. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Japan" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> and <a href="https://www.oecd.org/japan/OECD-LGBTI-2020-Over-The-Rainbow-JAPAN.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">OECD</a> say conversion therapy isn't banned, but LGBT+ individuals have quite a few rights (see the table at both sites). However, since conversion therapy isn't banned, does the Japanese government "endorse" it? If so, why (and if not, why)? Have any acts actually been taken?</p>
 | human rights japan lgbt+ | 1 |
62,673 | The motive behind the signing of Munich Agreement | <p>In 1938/1939, two pacts/agreements shocked the world and disappointed many European countries:
the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Munich Agreement</a> with Western democracies that's to say, England and France in 1938 and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Molotov_Ribbentrop</a> non aggression pact with Stalin in 1939.
The motive of the pact with Stalin is easy to understand, because they wanted to share Eastern Europe, but I cannot understand the reason behind France's and England's concessions to Hitler. Especially when we know that this agreement was signed after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_Czechoslovakia" rel="nofollow noreferrer">annexation of Sudetenland</a> and Hitler's expansionist ambitions were revealed.</p>
<ul>
<li>Why did Western democracies signed this agreement with Nazi
Germany when they knew the nature of Nazi regime? What did they want to obtain by signing this agreement?</li>
</ul>
 | international relations history europe world war ii nazism | 0 |
62,674 | How are the electors of the electoral college selected? | <p>How are the electors for each party selected in the US presidential election?</p>
 | united states election presidential election electoral college | 0 |
62,676 | Is large business moving from California to Texas a trend and what are the implications? | <p>I read that various corporations are moving from California to Texas. Examples: Musk, HP.</p>
<p>Is it because of high taxes in California or there are other reasons?</p>
<p>Is it going to shift the role of California (and Silicon Valley particularly) as a world technology hub to Texas?</p>
 | california texas | 0 |
62,681 | What is the dominant rationale for student loan forgiveness among academics and politicians? | <p>I understand that President Biden has been discussing the possibility of loan forgiveness for student loans. This has also increasingly become a topic of debate in recent years as student loans have expanded to $1.6T.</p>
<p>What are the main points of supports that experts have for this measure in terms of the economic impacts?</p>
 | united states policy | 0 |
62,687 | In Sweden, are there any ramifications if the Prime Minister chooses not to observe the Government's (Cabinet's) decision? | <p>In Sweden, the executive power is vested in the Government (i.e. The country's "Cabinet" which consists of the Prime Minister and other Ministers), as opposed to the Prime Minister.</p>
<p>This means that the Prime Minister (at least in theory) can only take political action if a majority of the Government members approve the decision. If the Government does not approve a decision, the Prime Minister is expected to not act on it.</p>
<p>However, there doesn't seem to be any ramification if the Prime Minister chooses to lead the Government with an iron fist.</p>
<p>If a majority of the Government members oppose a decision, the Prime Minister can very well overrule everyone by threatening to dismissed them. This of course would happen entirely behind closed doors as Government meeting records are kept secret from public.</p>
<p>In the absence of obvious ramifications to incentivize the desired behavior, why would the Swedish Prime Minister act in accordance with the Government's collective will?</p>
 | executive prime minister cabinet sweden | 0 |
62,691 | Where do I find when the next congressional hearing about an issue I'm following is? (e.g. Gamestop) | <p><strong>How do I find out when the next US congressional hearing is regarding ___?</strong></p>
<p>This is <em>not</em> a question for discussing current events surrounding Gamestop and Robinhood.</p>
<p>I expected "when is the next hearing (gamestop OR robinhood)" to tell me exactly that, or at least someone saying that it's not scheduled yet. But 50+ pages of Google results yield no positive answer—and <strong>verbatim</strong>, <strong>Any time</strong>, <strong>Past 24 hours</strong>, and <strong>Past week</strong>, I've tried them all. I know it seems likely it's not scheduled, but it's hard to be sure since results are flooded with news leading up to and about the previous hearing. I can easily imagine all that drowning out newer information.</p>
<p>I've also found comments across several Reddit threads asking this question, but <em>not a single reply</em> confirming that it's not yet scheduled. Given the sheer number of users on Reddit, this is strange and IMO indicates that the answer is <em>not known</em>, rather than trivial or well-known.</p>
<p>Having figured it out, I'm posting a self-answer with general steps.</p>
 | united states congress | 1 |
62,693 | If I do not have an ID, how can Michigan check that I did not attempt to vote multiple times at different locations? | <h1>Background</h1>
<p>In Michigan, if someone did not bring their photo ID with them, they are free to sign an affidavit as state below on the Michigan <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_8716-178123--,00.html#:%7E:text=By%20law%2C%20every%20Michigan%20voter,in%20possession%20of%20picture%20identification.&text=Remember%20to%20bring%20an%20acceptable,the%20polls%20on%20Election%20Day." rel="noreferrer">Secretary of State website</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Voting Without Photo ID</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>If you do not have photo ID, you can still cast a ballot simply by signing an affidavit.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>The affidavit can be used by:</p>
<ul>
<li>Voters who do not have acceptable photo ID</li>
<li>Voters who have photo ID but didn't bring it to the polls</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Once you sign the affidavit, you may cast your ballot. It will be counted with all other ballots on Election Day.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, there is a scenario I can imagine where I attempt to vote in two different locations as two different people, just stating that I forgot to bring my ID. And Michigan IDs <a href="https://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-5647_12539_29836-182649--,00.html#:%7E:text=The%20ID%20does%20not%20need,is%20counted%20on%20Election%20Day." rel="noreferrer">do not necessarily need an address</a>, it is possible that both people "don't have an address" on their ID. Because of this (and other scenarios that may be thought of) this lead me to ask the question:</p>
<h1>Question</h1>
<p>What specific safeguards are in place to prevent a person from voting multiple times in Michigan if they "forgot" to bring an ID and acts as if all the other "people" he or she votes as don't have an address on their "IDs"?</p>
 | united states election election fraud michigan | 1 |
62,694 | Why hasn't the EU approved Russia's COVID vaccine yet? | <p>Hungary started to administer the Russain-developed Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines recently while the EU did not authorize it yet (see e.g. <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/20/sputnik-v-why-hasn-t-the-eu-approved-russia-s-covid-vaccine-yet" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.euronews.com/2021/02/20/sputnik-v-why-hasn-t-the-eu-approved-russia-s-covid-vaccine-yet</a>). According to the article, <em>"The EMA insists that Sputnik V has not even started the continuous review phase yet"</em>, while <em>"the Russian authorities "filed an application for registration" on January 19."</em>. It looks like at least there's a serious miscommunication here between the parties. I'd guess it can't be <strong>that</strong> hard to start this application (even if it's technically complicated, a few phone calls for tech help could solve the issue). Why is there no progress made on this issue? I mean the EU must be motivated to buy some more vaccines as only a tiny percentage of the population is vaccinated yet. The producer of the Sputnik vaccine should be also motivated to sell its ware (and sell before the market gets saturated).</p>
 | european union russian federation covid 19 virus vaccine | 0 |
62,697 | Can vice president/security advisor or secretary of state be chosen from the opposite party? | <p>As the title indicates,</p>
<ul>
<li>Can vice president/security advisor or secretary of state be chosen from the opposite party?</li>
</ul>
<p>If so, has there ever been an example?</p>
 | united states vice president cabinet | 1 |
62,700 | How did ISIS get so much enmity from every world power, and most non-state terrorist groups? | <h1>Background</h1>
<p>ISIS has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant" rel="noreferrer">nearly every State and most non-political entities</a> opposed to it, even other Salafist terrorist groups like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahrar_al-Sham" rel="noreferrer">Ahrar al-Sham</a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Nusra_Front" rel="noreferrer">Al-Nusra front</a> oppose ISIS. The support for ISIS <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaboration_with_ISIL" rel="noreferrer">does exist</a>, but it is either alleged at best or through groups that used to express support for Al-Quaeda (even though Al-Quaeda themselves opposes ISIS). It is this near universal opposition to ISIS that has lead me to ask.</p>
<h1>Question</h1>
<p>What actions have led ISIS to earn the enmity of every country and even most terrorist groups?</p>
 | terrorism | 1 |
62,710 | Why is the House of Lords retained in a modern democracy? | <p>Members of the House of Lords are unelected, hold their position for life, and citizens cannot remove them in any way. Leaving aside the financial aspect in maintaining this institution, the unelected members exercising supervisory powers seem to be anti-democratic in the first look. Why is this institution continuing as a component of a democracy?</p>
 | united kingdom democracy | 1 |
62,712 | Why doesn't China allow American social media companies to operate in China? | <p>As far as I realize, being an authoritarian regime, China is continuously concerned with the uprising. So, they do not want to let the free flow of information and western thought process "contaminate" their citizens' minds.</p>
<p>However, recently from the Indian government's enforced censorship of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube gave me an idea that China could have used the same kind of tactics and yet could have let American social media giants operate in China.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://qz.com/india/1753116/modi-government-ramps-up-twitter-facebook-censorship/" rel="noreferrer">Social media censorship in India has increased over fivefold since 2016</a></li>
<li><a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/09/tech/twitter-india-government-farmer-protests/index.html" rel="noreferrer">Twitter is stuck between a rock and a hard place in India</a></li>
<li><a href="https://thewire.in/agriculture/youtube-removes-farmers-protest-song-himmat-sandhu" rel="noreferrer">YouTube Removes 2 Songs on Farmers' Protest, Producer Says HQ Cited 'Govt Intervention'</a></li>
</ul>
<p>So, my question is, why didn't China adopt the same strategy as India does, and let the American companies operate in China?</p>
 | united states china social media | 1 |
62,726 | Why does Russia have so many nuclear weapons? | <p>In the Cold War, Soviet Russia produced 55,000 nukes, and it made 30,000 warheads in 1991. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.2968/066004008#:%7E:text=Russia%20has%20released%20very%20little,end%20of%20the%20Cold%20War" rel="nofollow noreferrer">[Source]</a></p>
<p>Russia became one of the nations to have the largest nuclear stockpile and it has a deteriorating relationship with the US (one example: 2020 cyberattack). <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/9-countries-with-the-most-nuclear-weapons-2019-6" rel="nofollow noreferrer">[Source]</a></p>
<p>Russia for some reason loves nuclear power (which I find not surprising). Although the U.S. and Russia are on a nuclear deal (New Start) which got extended recently, I don't think the New Start covers it all. We have seen what happened to the poor INF treaty.</p>
<p>(I'm Not Comparing the US to Russia or Russia to the US neither I am Contrasting them)</p>
 | russian federation nuclear weapons diplomacy soviet union | 1 |
62,736 | Charter schools in big cities | <p>Do charters schools negatively impact urban places like DC and Pennsylvania?
Since charter schools often lead to gentrification in cities, should there be a cap as to how many there might be in a city? What are the pros and cons of charter schools in big cities and are there any solutions to making education work better in those without having too many charter schools?</p>
 | united states education | 0 |
62,741 | Florida Flags: half mast | <blockquote>
<p>Flags are typically lowered to honor prominent government officials,
as well as law enforcement officers and members of the military killed
in the line of duty. DeSantis has said Limbaugh’s stature justified
the honor.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>source: <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/controversy-swirls-lowering-flags-rush-limbaugh-76083754" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/controversy-swirls-lowering-flags-rush-limbaugh-76083754</a></p>
<p>What Florida precedent (similar "stature" of the deceased) would support the justification of the DeSantis order?</p>
 | united states flag florida | 0 |
62,745 | What specific actions did President Donald Trump take (or not take) that led to an "inept" and "dishonest" response with "excess" deaths? | <h1>Background</h1>
<p>Both the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/913881019/scientific-american-breaks-tradition-endorses-a-presidential-candidate" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Scientific American</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/health/new-england-journal-trump.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">New England Journal of Medicine</a> each stated that
Donald Trump handled the U.S's response to COVID-19 with either great incompetence or actively negative actions as stated in their editorials on Donald Trump. Indeed, this is my conclusion as well, but <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-made-cuomo-covid-hero-nursing-home-scandal-proves-honeymoon-ncna1258309" rel="nofollow noreferrer">as recent news has shown</a>, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/gavin-newsom-french-laundry-california-governor/index.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">it is not always Trump alone</a> that deserves criticism for how they treat, or respond to COVID-19.</p>
<p>From the Scientific American:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people—because he rejects evidence and science. The most devastating example is his dishonest and inept response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which cost more than 190,000 Americans their lives by the middle of September. He has also attacked environmental protections, medical care, and the researchers and public science agencies that help this country prepare for its greatest challenges. That is why we urge you to vote for Joe Biden, who is offering fact-based plans to protect our health, our economy and the environment. These and other proposals he has put forth can set the country back on course for a safer, more prosperous and more equitable future.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2029812" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The New England Journal of Medicine</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Covid-19 has created a crisis throughout the world. This crisis has produced a test of leadership. With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond. Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The former condemns Trump by name, while that latter more so states that the Federal Government had more tools, but those tools were hopelessly undermined or not used. The latter also states that multiple political leaders have stated that masks are political tools. Because of the difference between the editorial that calls Trump out by name (and the other that does not), I wanted to know what actions (or inaction) that Trump specifically did that made the response lack luster. For example, there are several actions that I have seen well reported on that could feasibly have mitigating circumstances not entirely attributed to Trump:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The issue of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_States#cite_note-215" rel="nofollow noreferrer">lack of masks</a> can in large part be attributed to the <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/04/03/fact-check-did-obama-administration-deplete-n-95-mask-stockpile/5114319002/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">lack of steps taken</a> before the pandemic to refresh the federal emergency stockpile.</p>
</li>
<li><p>New York <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/08/08/new-york-covid-19-coronavirus-spending-masks-resiprators/3317735001/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">never ran out of ventilators</a>.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-invokes-defense-production-act-to-require-gm-to-produce-ventilators-2020-03-27/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Defense Production Act</a> was invoked 2 months in to the Pandemic, along with several other key decisions.</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.justice.gov/doj/page/file/1258511/download" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Guidelines</a> were sent in the mail by postcard in March 2020. The CDC also released <a href="https://wjla.com/news/coronavirus/cdc-outlines-phases-to-reopen-during-the-pandemic" rel="nofollow noreferrer">more detailed guidelines</a> in April 2020, thus if they were not followed the onus would be on the state that didn't follow them.</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.aarp.org/caregiving/health/info-2020/covid-19-nursing-homes-who-is-to-blame.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">The Nursing Home catastrophes</a> were not just due to Trump alone.</p>
</li>
<li><p>While Trump <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_administration_communication_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic#Severity_and_risk_assessments" rel="nofollow noreferrer">absolutely downplayed the pandemic at the beginning</a>, other restrictions like widespread mask wearing took some time to implement because the evidence for it's effectiveness <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-fauci-outdated-video-masks/fact-checkoutdated-video-of-fauci-saying-theres-no-reason-to-be-walking-around-with-a-mask-idUSKBN26T2TR" rel="nofollow noreferrer">didn't exist until April</a> and there was a concern about the aforementioned low mask stockpile.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Finally, even in states that took the best of measures, COVID-19 ended up to inundate them anyway last January.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Due to the large amount of potential mitigating factors, I wanted to ask the following:</p>
<h1>Question</h1>
<p>What decisions can accurately and reasonable be assigned to President Trump specifically that led to the U.S's tragic COVID-19 response?</p>
 | united states donald trump covid 19 virus | 0 |
62,746 | What specifically happens to a country when it defaults on its debt? | <h1>Background</h1>
<p>Back in March of last year, Lebanon <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/07/lebanon-to-default-on-debt-for-first-time-amid-financial-crisis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">defaulted on its debt</a> and has since been in a state of abject <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932021_Lebanese_protests" rel="nofollow noreferrer">discombobulation</a>. But the effects of this just seem to add on effect to a country that is already <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrians_in_Lebanon" rel="nofollow noreferrer">suffering</a> from a big refugee crisis, which in itself was not caused by the default:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Foreign currency inflows have slowed, Lebanon’s pound has plunged in value and banks have imposed tough restrictions on dollar withdrawals and transfers.
Local banks, which own a chunk of the Eurobonds maturing on 9 March, had argued against a default, saying it would pile added pressure on a cash-strapped banking sector and compromise Lebanon’s ties with foreign creditors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Zimbabwe did default but had much more inflation. The Weimar Republic didn't default until 1932, and its hyperinflation occurred long before that in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation_in_the_Weimar_Republic" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1921 - 1923</a>. So there are consequences that are clearly bad but not necessarily directly associated with defaulting. And it has happened many times <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_debt_crises" rel="nofollow noreferrer">throughout history</a>, many without getting much long term notoriety.</p>
<p>Because of defaulting not causing a consistent consequence, I wanted to ask the following:</p>
<h1>Question</h1>
<p>What happens to a country that defaults on its debt, regardless of any other financial issues going on?</p>
 | debt | 0 |
62,750 | Do users of F-16s need the USA's permission to use them in attack roles? | <ul>
<li><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1522014" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Document reveals official US position on F-16s</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Are users of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon" rel="nofollow noreferrer">F-16 fighter planes</a> obliged to take the USA's permission to use them in attack roles?</p>
<p>I am especially curious about Turkey and Pakistan.</p>
<p><strong>P.S.</strong> Someone mentioned Israel. In my opinion, US-Israel relations are special, and I’m primarily interested in other countries that don’t have such a close relationship.</p>
 | united states military turkey pakistan weapons | 0 |
62,756 | How do Neocons justify their hawkish behavior? | <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This</a> Wikipedia article defines Neoconservatism as:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Neoconservatism is a political movement born in the United States
during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the
increasingly pacifist foreign policy of the Democratic Party and with
the growing New Left and counterculture of the 1960s.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, from the beginning Neocons were known for being "hawkish", or advocating an aggressive policy, especially in foreign affairs. Some famous examples of hawkish neocons are George W. Bush and John R. Bolton, both of whom have advocated strongly (and successfully) for the US to engage in overseas wars.</p>
<p>I'd like to know,</p>
<ul>
<li>How do Neocons justify their hawkish behavior?</li>
</ul>
 | united states policy foreign policy | 0 |
62,757 | Why does Sri Lanka have so small a military? | <p>Sri Lanka suffered almost 33 years of LTTE menace because of not paying proper attention to its defense capability. <a href="https://www.firstpost.com/world/indira-gandhi-helped-train-tamil-rebels-and-reaped-whirlwind-13913.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">India manipulated Sri Lanka's LTTE situation</a> by using muscle power. During the conflict with LTTE, Sri Lanka was begging for help from Pakistan and India, and sending their military personnel to those two counties <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Naval_Academy#Training" rel="nofollow noreferrer">plus Bangladesh</a> for training. <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/pakistan-played-major-role-in-ltte-defeat-sources-109052800127_1.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pakistan sent its officers and soldiers</a> to design military strategies <a href="https://thuppahis.com/2016/07/24/where-ratwatte-and-cbk-stood-strong-coping-with-the-elephant-pass-debacle-in-april-may-2000/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">and even to fire Pakistan-supplied howitzers or MLRSs</a>. However, when Sri Lanka finally defeated LTTE in 2009, <a href="http://indian-defense-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/sri-lanka-buying-al-khalid-tanks-from.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">they subsequently canceled all the defense procurement contracts with Pakistan</a>.</p>
<p>In my opinion, even in peacetime, a powerful military helps a country to pursue a semi-independent foreign policy. Sri Lanka doesn't pursue a semi-independent foreign policy.</p>
<p>For instance,</p>
<ul>
<li>Nowadays, Sri Lanka is wedged between India and China's tug of war. One day Sri Lanka gives away concessions to China, on the next day it balances that by giving another concession to India.</li>
<li>In 2016, <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2016/01/revealed-why-sri-lanka-backed-off-the-sino-pakistani-jf-17-thunder/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sri Lanka backed off from the purchase of JF-17 fighter jets</a> from Pakistan under Indian pressure.</li>
<li>In 2021, to avoid a clash with India, <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/to-avoid-clash-with-india-sri-lanka-cancels-imran-khans-speech-in-parliament/articleshow/81149345.cms" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sri Lanka cancels Pakistan's PM's speech in their Parliament</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>Why does Sri Lanka have so small a military? Why don't they try to develop their military?</p>
<p>For example, almost all the neighboring counties of China have strong militaries. See Taiwan and Vietnam.</p>
 | military sri lanka | 1 |
62,760 | If the goal of communism is a stateless society, then why do we refer to authoritarian governments such as China as communist? | <p>The actions taken by these governments seem to be more fascist than communist. The term communism is used to describe so many contradicting policies and it is very confusing.</p>
 | political theory china political system communism political leaders | 0 |
62,765 | If the Vice President undisputedly murdered the sitting President, is there anything stopping them from becoming President? | <p>If the Vice President murdered the sitting President in cold blood for all to see, would they still become President? Would they simply get sworn in or is there a mechanism to stop them?</p>
 | united states president vice president succession | 0 |
62,774 | Why did the US recognize PRC when it was concerned about the spread of Communism? | <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China%E2%80%93United_States_relations#Normalization" rel="noreferrer">Here</a> is mentioned that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations,
dated 1 January 1979, the United States transferred diplomatic
recognition from Taipei to Beijing. The US reiterated the Shanghai
Communiqué's acknowledgment of the Chinese position that there is only
one China and that Taiwan is a part of China;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given that in 1979 the West was concerned about the spread of Communism,how come president Carter recognized PRC while supporting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China_(1912%E2%80%931949)" rel="noreferrer">ROC</a> could help contain one of the biggest supporters of Communism?</p>
 | united states international relations china communism | 0 |
62,784 | What is preventing UN from playing a more assertive role atleast in Global Pandamic situation? | <p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN member nation's response was more or less defined by the country leaders' personality. WHO guidelines were generally followed and acted upon. However, few dangerous exceptions were also witnessed. COVID -19 has brought out a large number of inadequacies in handling global pandemic. A few of them are:-</p>
<ol>
<li>Under-reporting of cases.</li>
<li>Outright denial of cases.</li>
<li>Inadequate adoption of guidelines.</li>
</ol>
<p>The International Health Regulations (2005) is a "legally-binding set of regulations" <a href="https://www.who.int/bulletin/archives/80(12)946.pdf?ua=1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">IHR</a>. However, in the FAQ, it has the following clarification:-</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="7">
<li>How will compliance with the IHR (2005) be achieved? <a href="https://www.who.int/ihr/about/faq/en/#faq07" rel="nofollow noreferrer">WHO IHR</a></li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p>Although the IHR (2005) do not include an enforcement mechanism per se for States which fail to comply with its provisions, the potential consequences of non-compliance are themselves a powerful compliance tool.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The cause of concern for this type of regulation is "potential consequences of non-compliance" are not affecting leaders of few countries. Their action can have grave implications if future pandemics are more fatal than COVID-19.</p>
<p>What is preventing the UN from playing a more assertive role, at least in Global Pandemic situations?</p>
 | covid 19 virus united nations who | 0 |
62,787 | Are there any country appoint sportperson to final police rank like this? | <p>In India, UPSC aspirants qualify IAS exam, get ASP rank
and go on to final DGP post:</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_ranks_and_insignia_of_India#Ranks_of_law_enforcement_in_India" rel="nofollow noreferrer">list here</a></p>
<p>But here Hima Das, just a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/athlete-hima-das-appointed-deputy-superintendent-in-assam-police-101614349694847.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sportperson gets DSP rank</a>.</p>
<p>Are there any country appoint sportperson to police rank like this?</p>
 | india | 0 |
62,788 | Privacy-wise what are risks of Israel-type deal to share anonymized vaccine data IF a country is using nationalized health plan? | <p>Israel has one of the fastest Covid vaccine rollouts in the world right now.</p>
<p>To get it so many doses they signed a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/01/31/960819083/vaccines-for-data-israels-pfizer-deal-drives-quick-rollout-and-privacy-worries" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sweetheart deal with Pfizer</a> to share anonymized, but highly detailed data with Pfizer to let Pfizer figure out how well the vaccine is working. Israel is well-suited as it has both a small population and an advanced health care system.</p>
<p>Some concerns have been raised:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Your insurance company will know all your medical history. Your employer will know it. The political campaigner who would like to convince you to vote for someone would know everything about your medical history, not to say about people who would like to marry your children," warns Shwartz Altshuler, describing what she calls a small concern.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The context is that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nearly every Israeli citizen and resident belongs to one of four public HMOs, a health care system rooted in the national trade union of Israel's early years. Every Israeli's full medical history – from physician visits to hospitalizations – is accessible to any health provider at the click of a mouse, a repository of digital records going back 30 years.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, in countries like Canada, the UK, or France that have universal health care, what are the actual risks, as long the data is kept safe <code>*</code> and there are laws against employment discrimination for medical disabilities?</p>
<p>By the same token, Iceland has long managed a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27903831" rel="nofollow noreferrer">database of DNA profiles</a> that is very useful to researchers. And, yes, Iceland has universal healthcare.</p>
<p>Not many countries seem to even contemplate such data sharing, even when they are on universal health care.</p>
<p>In the case of Covid, it can only be done once or twice, so Pfizer wouldn't have done such deals with everyone: there could only be 1 or 2 Israels. But in general terms we see very little systematic medical data aggregation for research even when there are no risks to individuals concerning health insurance within a given country.</p>
<p>What are the risks, other than so-and-so has XYZ disease potentially becoming public? Which is a huge risk outside of universal health care systems, admittedly.</p>
<p><code>*</code> things that come to mind are for example forbidding aggregation with other population-identifying data sources and a bonded deposit for very penalties in case of a data breach, provision for indemnification of individuals whose privacy is compromised. Severe penalties for people disseminating, citing or accessing breached data sets.</p>
 | covid 19 virus healthcare public health privacy | 0 |
62,790 | Did Time Magazine print their expose article "The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election"? | <p>I don't understand the difference between Times' physical magazine and what is published on their website. I would really like a paper copy of this if it was in print.</p>
<p>Was this printed or does their website publish other articles that are not in the magazine?</p>
<p>I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question. The article is related to politics and I'm hoping that someone here would be familiar enough with how Time Magazine publishes their content to help answer this question.</p>
 | united states media | 0 |
62,793 | If the UK introduced proportional representation, how likely is it that the Labour Party and/or the Conservative Party would split? | <p>Obviously both are broad church parties held together by FPTP. Would they split, or perhaps Labour right and Tory left would migrate to the Lib Dems? When PR is introduced in a nation, does it typically result in old party splits?</p>
 | proportional representation electoral system | 0 |
62,794 | Why does Donald Trump still seem to have so much power over Republicans? | <p>Given that Donald Trump lost the recent Presidential election, why is it that congressmen continue to visit Mar-A-Lago? In what way is Donald Trump a power broker? What is it that congressmen seek from Donald Trump?</p>
 | united states donald trump congress | 0 |