All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[Tami]

This is the simplest reason why the man shouldn't be President. He doesn't understand world stage diplomacy and causes issues.

I heard that other countries, like Canada, are doing the same.

Official: Canada recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela

TORONTO — Official: Canada recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.

Canada recognizes new leader of Venezuela

Canada will recognize the newly self-declared leader of Venezuela, CTV News has learned.

In front of thousands of supporters, National Assembly Leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president on Wednesday, something that he says is his right under the country’s constitution.

U.S. President Donald Trump also immediately recognized Guaido, saying in a written statement that he represents “the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people.”

[norj]

Trump recognizes Venezuela opposition leader as interim president amid mass protests against Maduro




Trump recognizes Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president

Maduro is a lunatic and as a person living in a country right next to his I will be happy to see him go, but picking a side now is just stupid. Its hilarious that Trump of all people is siding with the legislature against an childish dictator.

[Iron Maiden]

This is the simplest reason why the man shouldn't be President. He doesn't understand world stage diplomacy and causes issues.

And there's no one left in the WH to tell him "no". Not that he listened much to Matteis, Tillerson, Kelley and McMaster. He just tunes in Limbaugh, Fox News or Anne Coulter's Twitter.

[BeastieRunner]

Mattis is still there for another week or 2, no?

[Tazirai]

MSNBC's Chris Matthews questions whether Sen. Kamala Harris is "seen as African-American"

CHRIS MATTHEWS (HOST): According to Politico, “[Sen. Kamala] Harris' announcement on Martin Luther King Jr. Day was steeped in symbolism: Her aides said the red-and-yellow color scheme," by the way, "for Harris' campaign logo was inspired by former Rep. Shirley Chisholm of New York, whose 1972 run for president was the first by a black woman from a major political party. Harris' video," by the way, "outlines the theme of the career prosecutor's candidacy: 'For the people.'” Ruth, let's talk about this -- let me go to Jamal, I've got to go to Jamal on this, for obvious reasons. But I get the feeling that she's going to set up her headquarters in Baltimore, largely African-American town. She's --

JAMAL SIMMONS (DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST): Yeah. I don't understand that.

MATTHEWS: Oh, explain.

SIMMONS: I don't, I don't understand why she's in Baltimore. She's from Oakland so she should be in Oakland. I think --

MATTHEWS: Well, she wants to win the South Carolina primary that's what --

SIMMONS: Yeah, so put a headquarters in South Carolina. I think that -- listen, I think that she's got a lot of strengths here. She's got a bio, she's got a record, she's a prosecutor with a heart. She's has a lot to deal with, keeping people out of recidivism.

MATTHEWS: Is she seen as African-American? Is she seen as African-American?

SIMMONS: But what we've gotta see next is the organization that she pulls up. Yes, I think she’s seen as African-American. The fact that she was at Howard University today, one of the oldest -- they call themselves the oldest, I went to Morehouse, I think we're a little bit older -- but when she's at Howard University today, when she did her announcement, press conference. She's going to South Carolina in the first week.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

SIMMONS: She’s really planting her feet in the African-American community. I think she's going to be a very strong candidate.

h'Anti-Semitic Trope I Unknowingly Used:' Omar Responds to Weiss on 'Israel Hypnotizing the World' Tweet
The 2012 tweet was brought up by critics after Ilhan Omar's election to Congress for its alleged anti-Semitic undertones

I will not shy away of criticism of any government when I see injustice —whether it be Saudi Arabia, Somalia, even our own government!

As a survivor of war, the acts of war justified or not will always be acts of evil to me.

Like #MLK90 , I unapologetically believe “Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind."

[BruceWayneJr.]

Congressman Cummings is COMING FOR YOUR PUNK ASSES.

I've been waiting so long for this. Cummings has a paper trail on Pence in regards to Flynn and I hope like hell he uses it.

[BeastieRunner]

I've been waiting so long for this. Cummings has a paper trail on Pence in regards to Flynn and I hope like hell he uses it.

Why kind of paper trail?

[Tazirai]

Media falsely blame "both sides" for government shutdown Trump said he is "proud" to own

On December 11, President Donald Trump told congressional Democrats and the media that he would be “proud to shut down the government” over border wall funding, and the federal government subsequently shut down on December 22. With the shutdown now entering its fifth week, some in media seem to have forgotten Trump’s unambiguous claim of responsibility and are instead blaming “both sides.”

Falsely blaming “both sides” for the aberrant behavior of only one side has been a favorite media trope for years. It poisons policy conversations, endangers vulnerable groups, and dumbs down the entire political discourse.

[Kevinroc]

AP-NORC poll: Shutdown drags Trump approval to yearlong low

https://www.apnews.com/dad8086738a64b4ba78c0404d5d04e79

WASHINGTON (AP) — A strong majority of Americans blame President Donald Trump for the record-long government shutdown and reject his primary rationale for a border wall, according to a new poll that shows the turmoil in Washington is dragging his approval rating to its lowest level in more than a year.

Overall, 34 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance in a survey conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s down from 42 percent a month earlier and nears the lowest mark of his two-year presidency. The president’s approval among Republicans remains close to 80 percent, but his standing with independents is among its lowest points of his time in office.

[Tazirai]

Venezuelan President Maduro is severing diplomatic ties with the US
He also gave US diplomats 72 hours to leave Venezuela.

President Donald Trump has said that he no longer recognizes Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s government — and Maduro responded by saying he no longer recognizes relations with the United States.

In a Wednesday statement outside his palace in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, Maduro — a socialist dictator — officially broke off diplomatic ties between the US and his country. American diplomats now have 72 hours to leave Venezuela, and it’s unclear if Maduro will ensure they can depart safely.

Maduro’s move is a clear response to Trump’s decision earlier on Wednesday to recognize Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president. The leader of the country’s legislative body, Guaidó has called Maduro a “usurper” and said Wednesday that he would assume the duties of the presidency.

[Tazirai]

Winters are warming faster than summers. These US cities could lose weeks of freezing days by 2050.
The dire consequences of having fewer days below freezing, explained.

[Tami]

'We are going backward': How the justice system ignores science in the pursuit of convictions

Over the past decade, dozens of studies have warned of the inaccuracy of commonly used methods of forensic science.

Some of the methods, including bite-mark comparisons and blood-spatter analysis, are now considered by many researchers to be scientifically dubious, responsible for dozens of wrongful convictions and deserving no place in the criminal justice system.

Others, such as shoe prints, fingerprints and ballistics comparisons, can still be useful, the researchers say, but only with the caveat that they do not provide definitive answers.

However, law enforcement authorities continue to rely on these methods, saying forensic examiners’ experience and intuition should not be discounted. Judges, meanwhile, are wary of bucking prior rulings, choosing to accept the methods as they always have rather than risk failed prosecutions.

There is no way to precisely measure how often a particular technique is used, or to say exactly how many people have been wrongfully convicted because of its use.

[InformationGeek]

Low-Energy Trump can't even be bothered to come up with an insulting nickname at this point. Sad.

[Tazirai]

WORLD’S BILLIONAIRES: TAXING US OUR FAIR SHARE WOULD BE “DISASTROUS”
Attendees at the World Economic Forum are panicking about Ocasio-Cortez’s tax plans.

This year, attendees at the “Money Oscars” are particularly concerned about slowing economic growth, spiking sovereign debt, central banks’ limited ability to fight recessions “or worse,” and uncertainty over geopolitical events such as Brexit, and the U.S.’s trade war with China. Also scaring the bejesus out of them? The prospect of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez forcing people in what’s known as the “****-ton of money tax bracket” to “contribute more.”

[PaulBullion]

That's the one hitch.

The wall being stupid has nothing to do with that The United States Of America has absolutely blown way more money than that and wound up with nothing to show for it.

You are the expert on not learning from mistakes, 30.