2023 Current Events Discussion Thread

[Volante]

Non sequitur:

[Volante]

The vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives, the first thing that must happen in each new session of Congress in the lower chamber, was not resolved on the first ballot. This is the first time this has happened since 1923, when the election was decided in the ninth round of voting.

I think further updates on this should be kept on the warming tray until white smoke appears, as they're already 0-2 now.

[teapot37]

The vote for Speaker of the House of Representatives, the first thing that must happen in each new session of Congress in the lower chamber, was not resolved on the first ballot. This is the first time this has happened since 1923, when the election was decided in the ninth round of voting.

I think further updates on this should be kept on the warming tray until white smoke appears, as they're already 0-2 now.

Oh, for sure. I figured "not first ballot" and "number of final ballot" would be the two notable things. (The previous non-first ballot before 1923 was during the Civil War and took 113 ballots over two months, both records.)

[Bamaman]

Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) is the new Senate president pro tem, the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial position. She is currently second in line of succession until a House speaker is chosen.

The role is usually given to the Senior Senator of the majority party. Murray is 2nd-senior, Dianne Feinstein has served longer than her. (Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell have both served longer still, but they are from the current minority party.)

Feinstein declined the job, likely due to her age (89) and her declining mental condition.

[opusthepenguin]

Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, is elected Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot.

Habemus locutorem.

[Volante]

Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, is elected Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot.

Spoiler

Habemus locutorem.

I guess they could be rolling coal to celebrate

[alietr]

Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, is elected Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot.

Habemus locutorem.

You have that cloud coming out of the wrong part of the statue's anatomy.

[opusthepenguin]

Kevin McCarthy, R-CA, is elected Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot.

Habemus locutorem.

You have that cloud coming out of the wrong part of the statue's anatomy.

[This Is Kirk!]

I just realized the NFL went to a 17 game schedule this season (you can tell how much I pay attention to the NFL). That's going to be hard for me to remember after being so conditioned to 16 games.

[MarkBarrett]

I just realized the NFL went to a 17 game schedule this season (you can tell how much I pay attention to the NFL). That's going to be hard for me to remember after being so conditioned to 16 games.

This isn't the 2021 discussion thread?

[Robert K S]

I just realized the NFL went to a 17 game schedule this season (you can tell how much I pay attention to the NFL). That's going to be hard for me to remember after being so conditioned to 16 games.

This isn't the 2021 discussion thread?

From said thread:

NFL will likely be switching to a 17 game schedule this fall.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/with ... dates/amp/

[Bamaman]

"The Embrace", a statue/monument honoring Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King was unveiled Friday in Boston. It was inspired by a photo of the 2 embracing after MLK was informed of his Nobel Peace Prize win. The couple met in Boston while MLK was pursuing his doctorate at Boston University.

The sculptor is Hank Willis Thomas.

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/ ... on-common/

That is a stupid looking statue. I have no idea by looking at it what it is supposed to be.

[Volante]

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces her resignation, effective February 7 at the latest. The country's next general election is set for October 14.

Turns out she was in office for 6 years. And given the past 6 years, it probably felt like 60. So, that explains a lot.

It's weird to see leadership with exit strategies other than death though...

[Robert K S]

Turns out she was in office for 6 years.

5 years, 2 months, 24 days, to be precise. Seems probable there's something behind the scenes driving the decision--a scandal in the shadows or personal issue--but that doesn't change the fact that she's had a nice long run for a world leader, and more of them should follow her example and cede the reins of power before becoming too entrenched. My Google-fu is not good enough to find the length of term of New Zealand prime minister. Wikipedia says it's indeterminate but news reports are also saying she would have had to run for reelection this year, so I'm not sure how to reconcile those.

[Volante]

Turns out she was in office for 6 years.

5 years, 2 months, 24 days, to be precise. Seems probable there's something behind the scenes driving the decision--a scandal in the shadows or personal issue--but that doesn't change the fact that she's had a nice long run for a world leader, and more of them should follow her example and cede the reins of power before becoming too entrenched. My Google-fu is not good enough to find the length of term of New Zealand prime minister. Wikipedia says it's indeterminate but news reports are also saying she would have had to run for reelection this year, so I'm not sure how to reconcile those.

At most three years per term, but it could be shorter if snap elections are called. The most recent NZ election was Oct 2020, so there has to be one this year by Oct.

I blame here on the duration: https://qz.com/new-zealand-prime-minist ... 1850005197

After nearly six years at the helm,...

5.18 years isn't quite what I'd consider 'nearly' six...but maybe they use ceil()

Also confusing to us northerners: she came to this conclusion at Labour's summer retreat.

[Robert K S]

Also confusing to us northerners: she came to this conclusion at Labour's summer retreat.

If you had to pick a single hemisphere as hers, what would you say?

Regarding term, OpenAI was able to give me the answer that Google was not.

How long is the length of term of New Zealand prime minister?

The length of term for a New Zealand Prime Minister is three years.

[Volante]

Also confusing to us northerners: she came to this conclusion at Labour's summer retreat.

If you had to pick a single hemisphere as hers, what would you say?

Regarding term, OpenAI was able to give me the answer that Google was not.

How long is the length of term of New Zealand prime minister?

The length of term for a New Zealand Prime Minister is three years.

I don't think you could really clear up the seasonal bit without being too patronizing. It's just early and my caffeine gum hasn't kicked in yet, so for too long I was doing a Scooby 'Huh?' at the mention of summer.

And OpenAI's closer, but it should say 'maximum' before length.

[Robert K S]

And OpenAI's closer, but it should say 'maximum' before length.

Is there any term that isn't a maximum?

[Volante]

And OpenAI's closer, but it should say 'maximum' before length.

Is there any term that isn't a maximum?

They could call a snap election. Thus that PM's term would be less than maximum.
Turns out NZ doesn't do that much though, the last one being in 1951, so the 29th Parliament's PM's term was only a little over a year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/29th_New_ ... Parliament

But more in general, elections are called a bit before 3 years are up, e.g., the most recent finished Parliament, the 52nd, the term was 2 yrs 10 mths:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52nd_New_ ... Parliament
Doesn't appear like anyone's actually gone the full 1095 (or -6) days in one go

[Robert K S]

Is there any term that isn't a maximum?

They could call a snap election.

The fact that a U.S. president could be impeached doesn't make the term less than four years, does it? I suppose you can say that impeaching a president doesn't really end the president's term, it just replaces the person in office.