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Murder, manslaughter and physical injury, rape, stalking, deprivation of liberty and forced prostitution are all examples of domestic violence, of which women are particularly affected, and, as Statista’s Martin Armstrong points out, in the past year, cases of domestic violence against women have increased in Germany again.

According to a recent study by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), presented today by German family minister Franziska Giffey, 81 per cent of victims of domestic partnership violence in Germany in 2018 were women. Giffey said the figures were shocking:

“They show that far too many women continue to suffer violence from their partner or ex-partner. More than once per hour in 2018, a woman in a relationship was dangerously injured.“

You will find more infographics at Statista

According to the BKA, 122 women were killed by their partners or ex-partners in 2018, slightly less than in the previous year. Overall, however, the number of acts of violence committed by a partner has increased – from 113,965 in 2017 to 114,393 female victims in 2018. In addition, there were 26,000 men who were threatened, coerced or injured by their partner or ex-partner.

 

Submitted by Strategic Macro,

New voter registration closed last night. There have been 4.7m new voter registrations with 3.1m of them under 34 yrs old. On a 2017 voter turnout of 32m, new registrations are 15% of the 2017 vote.

Are the polls picking up this change in the electorate?

Young voters are massively Labour biased 60/40 vs Tories. Thats worth about 600k extra Labour votes or a 2%swing in voting bias for Labour and against the Tories. Lib Dems and SNP also benefit in addition to this.

If you add back undecideds and refused to answer then there is about 25% of the youth vote still up for grabs so if Corbyn has a good last three weeks the Labour > Tory bias could be even greater.

Hung Parliament?

Is the following plausible. Boris wins 300-320, vs 323 needed for a simple majority of 1.

Corbyn constructs disagreements with SNP, then Boris forms a minority govt. Corbyn then lets him pass the WA to leave the EU. Corbyn will then have achieved his lifelong goals of splitting the Thatcher Tory party and delivering Brexit.

He can hand over leadership to Stamer or whomever by the Autumn conference. That will be in the thick of a Trump/ Warren election with Warren campaigning on hard socialist credentials. Stamer then calls a confidence vote in Bojo…

We will find out soon enough.

Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

– John F. Kennedy

Once again, it’s been a hard, heart-wrenching, stomach-churning kind of year.

It’s been a year of hotheads and blowhards and killing sprees and bloodshed and takedowns.

It’s been a year in which tyranny took a few more steps forward and freedom got knocked down a few more notches.

It’s been a year with an abundance of bad news and a shortage of good news.

It’s been a year of too much hate and too little kindness.

It’s been a year in which politics and profit margins took precedence over decency, compassion and human-kindness.

And now we find ourselves at this present moment, understandably overwhelmed by all that is wrong in the world and struggling to reflect and give thanks for what is good.

It’s not easy, and it’s getting harder by the day.

After all, how do you give thanks for freedoms that are constantly being eroded? How do you express gratitude for one’s safety when the perils posed by the American police state grow more treacherous by the day? How do you come together as a nation in thanksgiving when the powers-that-be continue to polarize and divide us into warring factions?

With every passing day, the U.S. government more closely resembles an evil empire, governed by laws that are rash, unjust and unconstitutional; policed by government agents who are corrupt, hypocritical and abusive; a menace to its own people; and the antithesis of everything the founders hoped the government would be—a blessing to all the people.

We’re not just dealing with misguided government officials run amok.

This is evil disguised as bureaucracy.

This is what Hannah Arendt referred to as the banality of evil.

Evil has a broad spectrum, but still… evil is evil.

Evil is what happens when government bureaucrats unquestioningly carry out orders that are immoral and inhumane; obey immoral instructions unthinkingly; march in lockstep with tyrants; mindlessly perpetuate acts of terror and inhumanity; and justify it all as just “doing one’s job.”

To that list, let me add one more: a populace that remains silent in the face of wrongdoing.

This is how evil prevails: when good men and women do nothing.

By doing nothing, by remaining silent, by being bystanders to injustice, hate and wrongdoing, good people become as guilty as the perpetrator.

There’s a term for this phenomenon where people stand by, watch and do nothing—even when there is no risk to their safety—while some horrific act takes place (someone is mugged or raped or bullied or left to die): it’s called the bystander effect.

It works the same whether you’re talking about kids watching bullies torment a fellow student on a playground, bystanders watching someone dying on a sidewalk, or citizens remaining silent in the face of government atrocities.

We need to stop being silent bystanders.

So what can you do about this bystander effect?

Be a hero, suggests psychologist Philip Zimbardo.

“Each of us has an inner hero we can draw upon in an emergency,” Zimbardo concluded. “If you think there is even a possibility that someone needs help, act on it. You may save a life. You are the modern version of the Good Samaritan that makes the world a better place for all of us.”

Zimbardo is the psychologist who carried out the Stanford Prison Experiment which studied the impact of perceived power and authority on middleclass students who were assigned to act as prisoners and prison guards. The experiment revealed that power does indeed corrupt (the appointed guards became increasingly abusive), and those who were relegated to being prisoners acted increasingly “submissive and depersonalized, taking the abuse and saying little in protest.”

What is the antidote to group think and the bystander effect?

Be an individual. Listen to your inner voice. Take responsibility.

“If you find yourself in an ambiguous situation, resist the urge to look to others and go with your gut instinct,” advises Melissa Burkley in Psychology Today. “If you think there is even a possibility that someone is in need, act on it. At worst, you will embarrass yourself for a few minutes, but at best, you will save a life.”

“Even if people recognize that they are witnessing a crime, they may still fail to intervene if they do not take personal responsibility for helping the victim,” writes Burkley. “The problem is that the more bystanders there are, the less responsible each individual feels.”

In other words, recognize injustice.

Don’t turn away from suffering.

Refuse to remain silent. Take a stand. Speak up. Speak out.

This is what Zimbardo refers to as “the power of one.”

All it takes is one person breaking away from the fold to change the dynamics of a situation.

“Once any one helps, then in seconds others will join in because a new social norm emerges,” notes Zimbardo. “Do Something Helpful.”

The Good Samaritans of this world don’t always get recognized, but they’re doing their part to push back against the darkness.

For instance, a few years ago in Florida, a family of six—four adults and two young boys—were swept out to sea by a powerful rip current in Panama City Beach. There was no lifeguard on duty. The police were standing by, waiting for a rescue boat. And the few people who had tried to help ended up stranded, as well.

Those on shore grouped together and formed a human chain. What started with five volunteers grew to 15, then 80 people, some of whom couldn’t swim.

One by one, they linked hands and stretched as far as their chain would go. The strongest of the volunteers swam out beyond the chain and began passing the stranded victims of the rip current down the chain.

One by one, they rescued those in trouble and pulled each other in.

There’s a moral here for what needs to happen in this country if we only can band together and prevail against the riptides that threaten to overwhelm us.

So here’s what I suggest.

Instead of just giving thanks this holiday season with words that are too soon forgotten, why not put your gratitude into action with deeds that spread a little kindness, lighten someone’s burden, and brighten some dark corner?

Pay your blessings forward in whatever way makes sense to you.

This is something that everyone can do no matter how tight our budgets or how crowded our schedules.

Engage in acts of kindness. Smile more. Fight less. Build bridges. Refuse to toxic politics define your relationships. Focus on the things that unite instead of that which divides. Be a hero, whether or not anyone ever notices.

Do your part to push back against the meanness of our culture with conscious compassion and humanity. Moods are contagious, the good and the bad. They can be passed from person to person. So can the actions associated with those moods, the good and the bad.

Even holding the door for someone or giving up your seat on a crowded train are acts of benevolence that, magnified by other such acts, can spark a movement.

Volunteer at a soup kitchen or donate to a charity that does good work. Take part in local food drives. Take a meal to a needy family. “Adopt” an elderly person at a nursing home. Advocate for the creation of local homeless shelters in your community. Urge your churches, synagogues and mosques to act as rotating thermal shelters for the homeless during the cold winter months. Support groups like The Rutherford Institute that are tirelessly working to advance the cause of freedom.

In other words, help those in need.

I know that fixing what’s wrong with this country is not going to happen overnight.

There may not be much we can do to avoid the dismal reality of the police state in the long term—not so long as the powers-that-be continue to call the shots and allow profit margins to take precedence over the needs of people—but in the short term, there are things we can all do right now to make this world (or at least our small corners of it) a little bit kinder, a lot less hostile and more just.

On a larger scale, we need to stop being silent bystanders to our nation’s downfall.

Historically, this bystander syndrome in which people remain silent and disengaged—mere onlookers—in the face of abject horrors and injustice has resulted in whole populations being conditioned to tolerate unspoken cruelty toward their fellow human beings: the crucifixion and slaughter of innocents by the Romans, the torture of the Inquisition, the atrocities of the Nazis, the butchery of the Fascists, the bloodshed by the Communists, and the cold-blooded war machines run by the military industrial complex.

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation,” stated Holocaust Elie Wiesel in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 1986.

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must – at that moment – become the center of the universe.”

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, it’s never too late to start making things right in the world.

So this year, don’t just give thanks. Pay your blessings forward.

Thanks to the highest property taxes in the nation and an unsustainable cost of living, 44% of New Jersey residents plan to leave the state in the ‘no so distant future,’ according to a recent survey from the Garden State Initiative (GSI) and Fairleigh Dickenson University School of Public & Global Affairs.

Committing to a more solid time frame, 28% say they are planning to leave within five years, and 39% say they will do so over the next decade, according to Insider NJ.

Unsurprisingly, Property Taxes and the overall Cost of Living were cited as the main drivers. The results also debunk two issues frequently cited in anecdotal accounts of outmigration, weather and public transportation, as they ranked 8^th and 10^th respectively, out of 11 factors offered.

The desire to leave the Garden State was reflected most strongly among young residents (18-29) with almost 40% anticipating leaving the state within the next five years. At the other end of the spectrum, a third (33%) of those nearing retirement (50-64) plan to leave within the next five years. –Insider NJ

“These results should alarm every elected official and policymaker in New Jersey, said GSI’s president, former Chris Christie Chief of Staff Regina Egea. GSI focuses on providing “research-based answers to fiscal and economic issues” facing the state.

“We have a crisis of confidence in the ability of our leaders to address property taxes and the cost of living whether at the start of their career, in prime earning years, or repositioning for retirement, New Jersey residents see greener pastures in other states.  This crisis presents a profound challenge to our state as we are faced with a generation of young residents looking elsewhere to build their careers, establish families and make investments like homeownership.”

After taxes and a high cost of living, government corruption and concerns about crime and drugs concerned citizens the most. Insider notes that there were no significant differences in responses across income levels.

Methodology

The survey was conducted by live callers on both landlines and cellular phones between September 26 through October 2, 2019, with a scientifically selected random sample of 801 New Jersey adults, 18 or older. Persons without a telephone could not be included in the random selection process. Respondents within a household are selected by asking randomly for the youngest adult currently available. The interview was conducted in English and included 253 adults reached on a landline phone and 548 adults reached on a cell phone, all acquired through random digit dialing.

The data were weighted to be representative of the non-institutionalized adult population of New Jersey. The weighting balanced sample demographics to target population parameters. The sample is balanced to match parameters for sex, age, education, race/ethnicity, region and phone use. The sex, age, education, race/ethnicity and region parameters were derived from 2017 American Community Survey PUMS data. The phone use parameter was derived from estimates provided by the National Health Interview Survey Early Release Program.^[1][2][3]

Weighting was done in two stages. The first stage of weighting corrected for different probabilities of selection associated with the number of adults in each household and each respondent’s telephone usage patterns. This adjustment also accounts for the overlapping landline and cell sample frames and the relative sizes of each frame and each sample. This first stage weight was applied to the entire sample which included all adults.

The second stage of the weighting balanced sample demographics to match target population benchmarks. This weighting was accomplished using SPSSINC RAKE, an SPSS extension module that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables using the GENLOG procedure. Weights were trimmed to prevent individual interviews from having too much influence on the final results. The use of these weights in statistical analysis ensures that the demographic characteristics of the sample closely approximate the demographic characteristics of the target population.

Read the rest here.

Authored by John Vibes via TheMindUnleashed.com,

Ring, the home security system developed by Amazon, is planning to build a database of neighborhood watchlists using facial recognition technology.

Documents obtained by the Intercept revealed that the company is working with law enforcement on a system that will identify people who are considered “suspicious,” and let Ring owners know when these individuals are near their home, using the facial recognition software built into the security system’s cameras.

The software will also give the Ring owner the ability to notify police or call in the suspicious activity on their own.

According to the documents, the watchlists would be connected to Ring’s Neighbors app, where owners of the system communicate with their neighbors about packages being stolen from doorsteps and other potential security breaches. While this may sound innocent—or even helpful—critics worry that this technology may empower the kind of neighborhood snitches that call the cops on anyone who they find “suspicious,” typically based on their own prejudices.

In fact, a Ring employee, speaking to the Intercept under the condition of anonymity, admitted that “all it is is people reporting people in hoodies.”

While these plans are explicit in the documents, Ring spokesperson Yassi Shahmiri insisted that “the features described are not in development or in use and Ring does not use facial recognition technology.”

However, Amazon was later forced to admit that the facial recognition system is currently a “contemplated but unreleased feature” for Ring, in a response to a formal inquiry by Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey.

Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said that “‘watchlisting’ capabilities on Ring devices encourages the creation of a digital redline in local neighborhoods, where cops in tandem with skeptical homeowners let machines create lists of undesirables unworthy of entrance into well-to-do areas.”

Many of the questionable features proposed in the documents involve the identification of “suspicious” individuals, but the standards that are used to determine who is suspicious and who is not are unclear. However, if artificial intelligence is being used along with information being crowdsourced by neighbors, there is a high likelihood that the inherent bias, both on the part of the algorithm and on neighborhood busybodies, will contribute to an overall bias in the artificial intelligence system.

An article published last year in Nature explores the ethical framework of technology like self-driving cars. The article notes that the ethics of self-driving cars are based on the trolley problem, an ethical lifeboat scenario that would prove extremely unlikely in the real world. According to the ethics of self-driving cars, informed by the trolley problem, the lives of old people are less valuable than those of younger generations, and the life of an athlete is likewise more valuable than a “large” woman or homeless person. Other studies have shown racial and gender bias “accidentally” coded into facial recognition systems.

A self-driving car has a choice about who dies in a fatal crash. Here are the ethical considerations https://t.co/ZcEgDQfxhh #automation pic.twitter.com/XzLWQWDzcr

— World Economic Forum (@wef) November 3, 2018

The documents went into detail about a variety of the features that are currently being “contemplated” by the company, including phone notifications about “suspicious” individuals who may have been spotted in the area, which even allows the Ring user to notify their neighbors. Another feature identified in the documents is something called “proactive suspect matching,” and while the documents were unclear about how this would function, it seems like a program that would cross-reference faces that walked by a Ring user’s house with a police database of potential suspects.

“Ring appears to be contemplating a future where police departments can commandeer the technology of private consumers to match ‘suspect’ profiles of individuals captured by private cameras with those cops have identified as suspect – in fact, exponentially expanding their surveillance capabilities without spending a dime,” Tajsar said.

These features are not unprecedented for Ring or Amazon. Earlier this year, Motherboard reported that Ring was encouraging its users to snitch on their neighbors in exchange for discounts and free products.

The boy genius Elon Musk, who has already dug himself a wonderful hole by baselessly defaming British cave diving hero Vern Unsworth by calling him “pedo guy”, now apparently feels sufficiently confident that he can dig himself out. 

At least, that’s the message Musk’s lawyer seems like he wants to get across. Musk will be testifying in his own defense against the lawsuit, according to Reuters, who reported the news based on a statement from Musk’s lawyer on Tuesday.

Of course, we can’t help but think this statement in and of itself is a bit of show – Musk really wouldn’t have a choice but to be examined by the plaintiff in a civil trial to begin with, based on our understanding of civil litigation. So his “decision” to testify may not actually be a “decision” at all.

And if Musk’s lawyer’s interpretation of the events is anything like what his testimony will look like, we can’t wait for Unsworth’s attorney, L. Lin Wood, to have his chance to question Musk

Musk’s lawyer, Alexander Spiro, said: “Evidence is going to be through Mr. Musk (testifying) that in fact Mr. Musk didn’t call him a pedophile. Mr. Musk deleted the tweet, apologized and moved on.”

Sure, if by “moved on”, you mean “referred to Unsworth as a ‘child rapist’ in correspondence with journalists” and “taunted Unsworth to sue him”.

Unsworth is also expected to testify to “his worries, his anxieties, his concern by being branded a pedophile,” his lawyer said. Both sides seem uninterested in settling the case. 

Meanwhile, the case will be undergoing its second day of pretrial hearings on Tuesday to determine what evidence will be admissible in next week’s civil trial. Last week, Judge Stephen Wilson rejected Musk’s attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed and ruled that Unsworth was not a public figure, making it easier for him to prove defamation. Musk had previously argued that Unsworth had become a public figure due to the Thailand cave rescue and that Unsworth needed to prove “actual malice”. 

Unsworth can now win the suit by showing that Musk acted negligently while making his comments.

Authored by Anna Massoglia via OpenSecrets.org,

Ready, shoppers? Your long-awaited holidays are afoot — so are the countless deals up for grabs. But as millions of Americans gear up to flood drop-in shops and online stores for Black Friday sales, some of the top retail giants are pouring big bucks into the political sphere. 

In the wake of ongoing U.S-China trade tension, many corporate giants are ramping up lobbying efforts this year, hiring President Donald Trump-linked lobbyists to try to steer the administration away from business-hurting tariffs. Some are growing more vocal on social issues and launching influence campaigns to sway Congress, giving campaign cash to dozens of congressional candidates up for reelection in 2020.

Compared to last year, major big-box chains are spending less this year in direct contributions and domestic lobbying. Despite the decrease, retail giants are still demonstrating substantial influence in the political realm. 

Amazon

The world’s biggest online retailer saw record-breaking sales during last year’s Thanksgiving week, with more than 18 million toys and 13 million fashion items sold on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The company could refresh its record this year as holiday non-store sales are estimated to grow by 11 to 14 percent compared to last year. 

The company also broke its own lobbying spending record last year, doling out $14.4 million as the Pentagon considered Amazon as one of the frontrunners for a $10 billion contract. The contract was awarded instead to Microsoft last month, which prompted a lawsuit from Amazon. The company did not release the complaint but said it intends to submit videos of Trump’s comments on the issue as evidence as it challenges the department’s decision. 

The lawsuit came as the president mocked Amazon owner Jeff Bezos on Twitter for his ownership of The Washington Post and attacked the paper’s presidential coverage. As the relationship between the two continues to sour this year, Amazon is approaching its lobbying spending record, burning cash at a higher pace each quarter compared to last year. The company has shelled out $12.4 million during the first three quarters of this year on technology, trade and tax issues, among others. 

The company invested heavily in state-level elections this year, pouring almost $1.5 million into the Seattle City Council races to sway voters against a head tax that could harm its business. It also increased contributions to state elections in Virginia — home to its new East Coast headquarters — giving $278,000 as of the end of October. Federal-level political giving from Amazon’s PAC and employees plunged this year, totalling $1.6 million so far after its record-high $13.6 million of contributions ahead of the midterms last year. However, the bulk of last year’s contributions came from Bezos, who alone injected $10.2 million into the With Honor Fund, a super PAC backing candidates who were military veterans. 

Sen. Berni Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) respectively received $134,224 and $75,830 from Amazon affiliates, leading a crowded pool of Democratic presidential contenders. Both Sanders and Warren have spoken against corporate interests and rejected PAC contributions. Amazon’s PAC spread its wealth among lawmakers of the two major parties, giving $275,000 to Democrats and $296,000 to Republicans. 

Walmart

Having unveiled Black Friday deals weeks ahead of Thanksgiving, the world’s largest brick-and-mortar retail company is expected to rake in huge profits from this year’s holiday sales. 

After two shootings that took 24 lives at its stores in El Paso, Texas and Southaven, Mississippi this summer, the retail chain banned in-store open carry and stopped selling military-style ammunition and handguns. The company also called for federal lawmakers to strengthen background check legislation and introduce bills to create a safer environment.

Top executives of Walmart also spoke out on climate change issues as the company launched projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On the heels of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, a United Nations initiative to address global warming, Walmart Executive Vice President Kathleen McLaughlin co-authored an op-ed criticizing the withdrawal as “unfortunate” and warned that it would damage the American economy and put Americans at “greater risk.”

Direct contributions to candidates from the company’s PAC and affiliates dropped from last year, totalling $993,204 this year. Like Amazon, Walmart affiliates also favored Sanders among all presidential candidates, giving the Vermont senator $68,438. The company’s PAC gave $422,000 to federal candidates of both parties and channeled $30,000 each to all four national congressional party committees. 

The company’s lobbying expenditure is also down compared to previous years. Walmart has spent $4.7 million this year thus far, lobbying on environmental sustainability, drug pricing and other hot-button issues. The company is also lobbying on multiple trade-related issues as the tariff war between the U.S. and China exacerbates and Congress continues to work on the new trade agreement among the U.S., Mexico and Canada. 

Walmart is actively involved in state politics as well. Lobbyists representing the interests of the company as well as other retail giants, for example, helped draft bills in Florida that would require customers to pay an online sales tax, Orlando Sentinel reported. 

Best Buy

The largest electronics retail chain in the world, Best Buy reported strong revenue during the third quarter and predicted higher earnings toward the end of the year, setting high expectations ahead of the holiday sales. The company said the tariffs did not have a major impact on its revenue after lowering its revenue forecast in August due to the Trump administration’s threat of tariffs on Chinese goods

Unsurprisingly, employees at the Minnesota-based company gave the most money — $18,273 — to Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) among the Democratic presidential candidates. Sanders follows closely behind, receiving $17,384 from company employees. The company’s PAC gave $91,500 to federal lawmakers and $15,000 each to the Democratic and Republican Senate-focused party committees. 

The company spent $1.1 million this year on lobbying, slightly down from last year. As U.S.-China trade tensions loomed, Best Buy’s lobbyists centered around trade issues with China and steel and aluminum tariffs. The electronics chain, which has long advocated for lower corporate tax rates, reaped benefits from the enactment of Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and is now lobbying on the implementation of the legislation this year.

As Americans gather for Thanksgiving once again, this year’s feast is bound to include heated debates over impeachment, geopolitics and manifest destiny as we live through one of the most polarizing periods in modern history.

And while Thanksgiving hosts may try to steer the conversation to lighter topics such as football and checking in on the lives of relatives who don’t keep in touch, there may be no way to avoid the giant elephants in the room.

“If somebody comes in and they’re not on the Trump train, so to speak, they get a little bit of an airing,” Alex Triantafilou told the Associated Press. Triantafilou (pronounced tree-aunt-a-FEE-loo), an attorney and chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party in Ohio, added that it’s “usually in fun.”

But sometimes it goes past fun.

Wright recalls Thanksgivings with offensive comments that strained relations. Mindy Nagel, a physical therapist with liberal views, has unfriended her conservative brother on Facebook over his political posts and said she’ll be “surrounded” by people who disagree with her politically at her in-laws’ Thanksgiving.

“Politics is the elephant in the room,” she said. Her hosts will probably turn off conservative Fox News while she’s there, Nagel said, but there will likely be someone who “tries to stir the pot” by raising Trump and impeachment with her. –AP

Safe spaces, happy families?

What to do when your cousin starts rattling off all the ways that Orange Man Bad™ and you’re a Nazi for supporting him? According to Los Angeles-based etiquette coach Elaine Swann, you should set up a special room with snacks for family members who want to talk politics, and designate a ‘calm’ family member to moderate.

Elaine Swann, a Los Angeles-based etiquette coach, advises hosts to have a plan to deal with polarizing discussions amid “all this talk about impeachment” in the air, along with the aromas of oyster dressing and freshly baked pumpkin pies.

“I do think it’s healthy for people to express themselves and to have those conversations,” said Swann, who will host her family’s Thanksgiving. “My advice is to take a route to allow some sort of platform, but with guidelines.”

One tactic: sequester the debates. She’ll have a room away from the dining table stocked with snacks for people who want to talk politics. She also suggests designating a calm family member as a combination moderator-peacekeeper. –AP

“My preference would be to not have the conversations at Thanksgiving,” said Triantafilou, a former judge. “I’d rather watch football and leave politics behind.”

A Thunderdome is another option…