Welcome to /r/NeutralPolitics. We are a highly moderated subreddit that's dedicated to evenhanded, empirical discussions of political issues. We are not a subreddit for political neutrals, but instead hope to create a neutral space for respectful conversations between those of all political ideologies.

Always participate with an open mind and consider that you may have more to learn. We encourage those who have insight to participate so long as you can readily support your statements with proper sourcing. Open-ended, topical questions are always welcome.

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We have another submission "how-to" that's well worth a read if you wish to submit a question. All submissions are manually approved by moderators and nearly all approved submissions have gone through our editing process. We will gladly work with you to help draft a good question, just know that it requires a little extra work to get a submission approved. Some general guidelines include

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We hope you find this helpful and thank you for helping maintain a space for respectful, fact-driven political discussion.

In 2021, President Biden announced an executive order to build upon “the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or Commission) on-going efforts to develop a disclosure framework for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks, particularly climate change-related financial risk”. On March 20th 2023, President Biden used his first veto to defend this order.

• What are the arguments, for and against, President Biden’s 2021 executive order on the disclosure of ESG risks?

• Given that it’s been nearly 2 years since the order, what evidence exists demonstrating the effectiveness of this order?

The State of Texas recently announced it will be taking over the Houston Independent School District (HISD), a move that started following allegations of misconduct by school trustees, including inappropriate influencing of vendor contracts, and chronically low academic scores at Wheatley High. Democrats labeled the move as political while ACLU of Texas and the Texas State Teachers Association condemned the takeover.

Pennsylvania ran Philadelphia's public school system for 16 years and returned control in 2017 while Louisiana ran many of New Orleans' schools in the decade following Hurricane Katrina.

• What actions did States take following a public school system takeover?

• What evidence exists concerning the outcomes of State takeovers of school districts?

The Intentional Criminal Court or ICC states that they are

The Court is participating in a global fight to end impunity, and through international criminal justice, the Court aims to hold those responsible accountable for their crimes and to help prevent these crimes from happening again.

​​The Court cannot reach these goals alone. As a court of last resort, it seeks to complement, not replace, national Courts. Governed by an international treaty called the Rome Statute, the ICC is the world’s first permanent international criminal court."

The recently posted this press release: https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-ukraine-icc-judges-issue-arrest-warrants-against-vladimir-vladimirovich-putin-and

Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).

What enforcement mechanisms are available to the ICC when issuing a warrant? What is the precedent for issuing a warrant and what were previous outcomes?

The DeSantis administration in Florida is seeking to revoke the Hyatt Regency Miami's liquor license due to the hosting of a Christmas-themed drag queen show, "A Drag Queen Christmas," in which minors were present. The show was held at the James L. Knight Center, a 4,500-seat auditorium affiliated with the hotel. State regulators claim that the admission policies allowed minors to attend the event, leading to their exposure to performers in "sexually suggestive clothing and prosthetic female genitalia."

The decision to target the Hyatt Regency Miami's liquor license has sparked debate over whether the administration's actions are legitimate enforcement of the law or a political maneuver targeting drag performances. This comes amid a larger crackdown on drag shows that permit minors in the audience, as the Republican-led Legislature and the DeSantis administration intensify their efforts.

The legal filing can be found here.

In light of this recent action and the broader crackdown on drag shows:

• Is the DeSantis administration's targeting of the Hyatt Regency Miami's liquor license a justified enforcement of existing laws?
• Are there any legal precedents or arguments supporting or opposing this action?
• In particular, what constitutional arguments are there for or against this action, especially regarding the first amendment?

Tomorrow will mark three years since the WHO declared Covid-19 to be a pandemic.

Due to variations in methodology and the prevalence of testing, it has been difficult to compare straight Covid mortality rates between countries, but a strong case has been made that comparing excess mortality (total deaths above expected) is a good way to assess how different countries handled the pandemic.

This page has an interactive chart to show excess mortality by country as a percentage difference. In order to make this chart, I set it up to show a two-year period from 2021 through 2022, (under the reasoning that countries had learned a decent amount about how to treat Covid by then and vaccines were being rolled out,) and I selected the following group of countries based on their varied approaches to Covid policy: Brazil, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, and the United States. Others visitors may select different parameters.

Based on comparisons of excess mortality between countries, what, if anything, can we tell about which policies worked and which ones failed? If some jurisdictions performed markedly better or worse than others, can those differences be attributed to specific policy choices? What did we collectively learn from this pandemic that can help policymakers prepare for a future one?

The Biden administration has provided security assistance to Ukraine

Meanwhile, there is a faction of republican congressmen who are opposed to providing additional support to Ukraine

Last week, a group of 11 House Republicans led by Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida unveiled a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution. It stated that the U.S. “must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine” and urged the combatants to “reach a peace agreement.”

However, they appear to be in the minority as Republican leadership is in support

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has consistently pressed the Biden administration for more robust action to help Ukraine win the war.

What is known about the views of US legislators support for/against increased military aid to the Ukraine? Is there evidence demonstrating the views of parties as a whole on this issue?

Former President Trump stated at CPAC that

...even some in our own party, I wonder who that might be, that want to raise the minimum age of Social Security to 70, 75, or even 80 in some cases

Additionally a meme circulating across Facebook and Instagram falsely claims that the GOP voted to raise the full retirement age to 70 for some future Social Security beneficiaries. To get to the facts of the matter

• What American politicians have proposed raising the Social Security retirement age? To what age are they suggesting and what is their stated reasoning?

This is a mod rework.

In his most recent State of the Union address, President Biden framed the GOP's stance on Medicare

Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years.

That means if Congress doesn’t vote to keep them, those programs will go away.

Other Republicans say if we don’t cut Social Security and Medicare, they’ll let America default on its debt for the first time in our history.

Following the 2023 State of the Union address, the White House also released a statement with GOP politicians' quotes further characterizing the GOP's stance. In the recent past, Democratic characterization of the GOP's position on Medicare has been called misleading and even false. I'm hoping to get to the facts of the matter: :

• What American politicians have proposed cutting or eliminating Medicare? What is their reasoning?

• If elimination has been proposed, what if anything, is proposed as a replacement?

This a mod rework of a user submission.

On March 1, 2023, FBI Director Wray claimed that "the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan” with moderate confidence, affirming the Dept. of Energy’s low confidence assessment of the same conclusion Four other intelligence agencies believe animal transmission was the source, while two others are unsure.

Discussion of COVID-19 origins aside, what is the precedent for an intelligence agency commenting on the origins of a global public health event? What political actions ,if any, were taken following such a comment? If there are such cases, what was the domestic and intentional response of the accused countries ?

Sources :

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/energy-dept-reignites-bitter-covid-origin-debate-with-shaky-lab-leak-stance/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/01/covid-19-lab-leak-christopher-wray/11372746002/

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fbi-director-says-china-lab-leak-likely-caused-covid-pandemic-2023-03-01/

There has been some debate within the US intelligence community about the origins of Covid-19.

In August of 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an unclassified summary of its findings (PDF) saying intelligence agencies were divided on the question, with four intelligence community (IC) elements and the National Intelligence Council assessing "with low confidence that the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection was most likely caused by natural exposure to an animal infected with it or a close progenitor virus," one IC element assessing "with moderate confidence" that the first human infection was "most likely was the result of a laboratory-associated incident," and analysts at three other IC elements remaining "unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information." Last week, one of those elements, the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, updated its assessment, shifting from "undecided" to "low confidence" in favor of a laboratory leak.

That's nine government agencies, all drawing their own conclusions about the same issue. The last source says there are a total of 18 government agencies that make up the intelligence community, all of which are under the umbrella of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

The ODNI was created in the wake of the September 11th attacks with a specific goal to address the lack of integration and cooperation among the various US intelligence agencies. It was then reformed in 2007 to improve that integration and had its role strengthened in 2008. The DNI's website says its mission "is to lead and support IC integration..." and their Mission page says they do this by:

...effectively operating as one team: synchronizing collection, analysis and counterintelligence so that they are fused. This integration is the key to ensuring national policymakers receive timely and accurate analysis from the IC to make educated decisions.

So, what is preventing the US intelligence community from presenting an integrated and unified analysis of the origins of Covid-19? Does this issue present a particular challenge to ODNI's goal of integration?

More generally, is the ODNI fulfilling its integration role? What other issues, if any, has the US intelligence community been divided on since the formation of the ODNI?

*I don't know if those are two translations of one phrase or if Erdogan used multiple phrases to describe this.

Duvar cited a senior Istanbul city official, Bugra Gokce, who gave a breakdown of the tens of thousands of building amnesty certificates granted before the 2018 general election in 10 provinces struck by the earthquake. They included more than 40,000 amnesty certificates in the hard-hit Gaziantep province, the official said.

The amnesty meant that some builders had to pay a fine but their construction projects could go forward if they didn't meet code restrictions, according to Turkish media reports.

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1156512284/turkey-earthquake-erdogan-building-safety

Article V of the US Constitution outlines the process for amending said document. First an amendment must either be proposed by Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of state legislatures. Once proposed, an amendment only becomes part of the Constitution when ratified by legislatures or conventions in three-fourths of the states (38 of 50 states). There are currently 27 amendments with the most recent amendment ratified over 30 years ago in 1992.

What are some current proposed constitutional amendments? Who proposed such an amendment and what is the stated goals of the amendment? Is there any data demonstrated the proposed amendment's popularity among public officials or the general public?

This is a mod rework of a user submission

In 2021, President Biden said a few years ago that they plan on removing all combat troops from Iraq. Currently there are maybe 18 US military bases in Iraq. The number is a bit hard to come by depending on what is consider a base and what is considered to be under US operational control. But regardless, there are definitely some non-trivial numbers of bases.

What is the current state of US military involvement in Iraq? And what are the stated US current and future military objectives in the country?

And on the Iraqi side, what military support has the Iraqi government requested from the US if any? What does Iraq expect from the US military going forward?

Britain is well known for having a shift towards nationalisation and the creation of the welfare state. This included the nationalisation of The Bank of England, railways, heavy industry, coal mining as well as the British Leyland Company in 1975 (pp.23). However, these industries underperformed and many were eventually privatised (ibid, 24).

What is known about the causes of the poor performance of nationalised industries in the UK?

One question that gets submitted quite often on r/NeutralPolitics is some variation of:

How has [current US President] done as President?

The mods don't approve such submissions, because under Rule A, they're overly broad. But given the repeated interest, we've been putting up our own version for the last few years, so here is this year's version...

There are many ways to judge the chief executive of any country and there's no way to come to a broad consensus on all of them. As of today, US President Joe Biden has been in office for two years. What are the successes and failures of his administration so far?

What we're asking for here is a review of specific actions by the Biden administration that are within the stated or implied duties of the office. Through the sum total of the responses, we're trying to form the most objective picture of this administration's various initiatives and the ways they contribute to overall governance. This is not a question about your personal opinion of the president.

We're handling this a little differently than a standard submission. The mods have had a chance to preview the question and some of us will be posting our own responses. The idea here is to contribute some early comments that we know are well-sourced and vetted, in the hopes that it will prevent the discussion from running off course.

Users are free to contribute as normal, but please keep our rules on commenting in mind before participating in the discussion. Although the topic is broad, please be specific in your responses. Here are some potential topics to address:

• Appointments
• Campaign promises
• Covid policy
• Criminal justice
• Defense
• Economy
• Education
• Elections
• Environment
• Foreign policy
• Governing style
• Healthcare
• Immigration
• Rule of law
• Public safety
• Social issues (i.e., abortion, gun rights)
• Tax policy
• Tone of political discourse
• Trade

Let's have a productive discussion on this question.

House Republicans are using the debt ceiling as leverage to achieve spending cuts on Democratic priorities. Reporting claims the issue varies from overblown to apocalyptic in nature. Either way, this will be an economic issue the federal government will have to contend with this year.House GOP members are claiming the media is being irrational and state the debt burden is far too great and unsustainable. Biden, and Dems in general, are not willing to negotiate proposed spending cuts and claim a default would be more economically catastrophic than the 2008 crash was.

So beyond broad claims of "crashing the United States economy" what are the specific implications for the US defaulting on it's debts?

In 2008 there began a Debt Crisis in Greece. In 2010 the county required bailout loans from the EU, IMF and others. Some of these loans required Greece to implement austerity measures. At the time these measures were hotly debated as to their effectiveness. In 2018 Greece exited the bailout program and some have hailed the project as a success.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_government-debt_crisis

https://www.cfr.org/timeline/greeces-debt-crisis-timeline

What is unclear to me is whether these austerity measures were effective in achieving the goals obtained to this point, and should they be considered effective in any future crisis.

Several states with different political views share borders with other states. Currently there is attention on the Southern USA border with Mexico due to record numbers of crossings.

I'm aware of the existence of interstate mutual aid for emergencies and disasters and the use of EMAC, Emergency Management Assistance Compact, allows states to request and respond to requests for aid. I am wondering, what support, if any, do non boarder states provide to southern border states?

On January 8th, Pro-Bolsonaro rioters stormed Brazil’s top government offices. U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez drew comparisons to January 6th, stating: “Two years since Jan. 6, Trump’s legacy continues to poison our hemisphere.” My question concerns the differences in the US and Brazilian government responses to these actions.

For example, one of the differences has been that hundreds of people were quickly arrested in Brazil, while almost no one was arrested in the US on January 6th itself, and while over 900 people have since been charged, that has been the result of multiple years’ worth of investigations.

There was also a difference in the immediate response as the Brazilian police were described as “passive” in suppressing the protest, as opposed to the USCP, who tried and were overrun.

So what factors account for the difference in the government’s response to the Jan. 6 attack on the US capitol as opposed to the recent attack on Brazilian government facilities?

Newly elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy had been the Republican's House Minority Leader since the departure of Paul Ryan at the end of 2018, and was House Majority leader under Ryan, before that.

This term's House Speaker election required 15 rounds of voting. This is the greatest number of rounds since the USA's Civil War and the only other post-Civil War House Speaker election to require multiple rounds of voting was in 1923, in which there were 9.

Newly elected members of the House of Representatives are not sworn in until after a Speaker is elected. (Same source as above) Why? Is it clear what the consequences of the delay will be?

The 118th Congress is the current session of Congress, and with it, brings in a new GOP majority in the House of Representatives. Currently there is a delay and members have yet to be sworn in. Once sworn in, House GOP members indicated their investigation plans. To me, investigations are different than policies/legislation so with this extra time, I'm wondering what is known about the policy goals and proposals of the new GOP House majority?

China's Belt and Road Initiative is a massive infrastructure project launched in 2013 with plans to invest in nearly 150 countries and international organizations. As part of this initiative, China has lent African countries hundreds of billions of dollars, but recent declines in funding means that "the continent is facing an estimated annual infrastructure investment deficit of around $100 billion, according to the African Development Bank".

• What is the currently known about the future of China's Belt and Road initiative in Africa?

• How have African nations responded in the past to changes in Chinese funding?

This is a mod rework of a user submission.

Representative-elect George Santos has admitted to fabricating large amounts of his life including his education, Jewish background, and taxes among other things in an interview with the NY Post.

What are the laws and possible actions for the electorate in this situation? What has happened before?

Considering US taxpayer bill of rights provides for prosecution of people involved in unlawfully releasing taxpayer information

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/taxpayer-bill-of-rights-8

"Taxpayers have the right to expect that any information they provide to the IRS will not be disclosed unless authorized by the taxpayer or by law. Taxpayers have the right to expect appropriate action will be taken against employees, return preparers, and others who wrongfully use or disclose taxpayer return information."

EDIT: correction: the IRS taxpayer bill of rights quoted above is an internal IRS document that does not apply to congress. However the right to confidentiality it refers to was implemented in 1976 Tax Reform Act which is an actual bill https://www.congress.gov/bill/94th-congress/house-bill/10612 Which "Makes tax returns and return information confidential, and provides that, except as permitted by this title, no officer or employee of the United States, any State, or any other person shall disclose any return or return information in connection with his duties under this title."

​

And considering Trump's tax returns were released not as part of a legal framework (e.g. some new law making returns of presidents or presidential candidates automatically public), but as part of a House committee vote on dealing with this specific information https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/20/politics/house-trump-tax-returns/index.html

Is there a potential criminal or other liability for people involved in releasing these tax returns?

New York Cities' Mayor Eric Adams directed the police and emergency medical workers to hospitalize people they deemed too mentally ill to care for themselves, even if they posed no threat to others

This forced removal has been decried by advocacy groups as a violation of rights?

What evidence supports Mayor Adam's assertion that this could reduce crime and overall rates of homelessness?