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

[Tami]

His hostage list is growning. First it's the 800,000 governemnt workers, now it's the Dreamers. All he is doing is taking more hostages.

‘Be careful, Nancy’: Trump threatens to deport 11 million immigrants unless ‘irrational’ Pelosi approves wall

President Donald Trump launched a furious attack at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Sunday morning in a series of tweets filled with threats and invective.

Taking to Twitter, the president began: “No, Amnesty is not a part of my offer. It is a 3 year extension of DACA. Amnesty will be used only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else. Likewise there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are here illegally-but be careful Nancy!”

He followed that up with a personal attack.

“Nancy Pelosi has behaved so irrationally & has gone so far to the left that she has now officially become a Radical Democrat. She is so petrified of the ‘lefties’ in her party that she has lost control…And by the way, clean up the streets in San Francisco, they are disgusting!,” he continued.

[Kirby101]

Congress could pass an automatic-continuing-resolution provision, which would take away the option of government shutdowns.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ar...tdowns/579331/

That does make sense.

[Mister Mets]

Why Was Beto O’Rourke A National Phenomenon While Stacey Abrams Wasn’t?
One candidate emerged from his 2018 loss as a potential 2020 presidential contender, while the other seems poised for another statewide run.


Sony Reportedly Drops R. Kelly As Former Intern Alleges Abuse
A woman who interned with Epic says the singer sexually abused her when she was just 16.

Pence condemns 'offensive' LGBT criticism of his wife's job

It seems to me there's an obvious difference between O'Rourke and Abrams in terms of experience.

O'Rourke was a member of Congress for several terms. Abrams was a state legislator.

O'Rourke's opponent was also better known, someone who had been a credible presidential contender a few years earlier. Getting within three points of the winner of the most recent Iowa presidential caucus is a pretty big deal, especially in a state as important as Texas.

The piece claims that Abrams is presidential-level because she'd "been minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives since 2011, working with Republican Gov. Nathan Deal on education reform, transportation and other issues. And she’d built a statewide movement of newly registered voters of color, plugging away at this task, election cycle after election cycle." But no one goes from the state legislature to a bid for White House. In order to turn a narrow loss in a statewide race into a major bid for White House, your earlier experience has to be significant enough. A few terms in Congress meet the bare minimum, as would a significant role in a presidential administration or something on that level.

The closest thing to Abrams' reputation are candidates from generations ago. In 1896, Garrett Hobard became Vice President as a corporate lawyer and former leader of both branches of the New Jersey state legislature, although he had led the legislatures and had also just managed someone else's successful campaign for Governor. In 1936, Tom Dewey was a frontrunner for President on the strength of a narrow gubernatorial loss and his successes as Manhattan District Attorney, but the Republican bench was very weak.

[4saken1]

State-by-state study links gun ownership with youth suicide

“Household gun ownership was the single biggest predictor of youth suicide rate in a state,” Dr. Michael Siegel, a public health specialist at BU, told NBC News.

“For each 10 percentage-point increase in household gun ownership, the youth suicide rate increased by 26.9 percent,” they wrote in their report, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

In Alaska, for instance, the youth suicide rate is 15.2 suicides per 100,000 people aged 19 and under. Just under 60 percent of households have guns. In South Dakota, the suicide rate is 14.9 per 100,000 and again, just under 60 percent of homes had guns in 2004.

In New York and New Jersey, the youth suicide rate is 2.7 and 2.6 per 100,000. In New York, 18.5 percent of households had guns and in New Jersey, 11.4 percent did.

“This study demonstrates that the strongest single predictor of a state’s youth suicide rate is the prevalence of household gun ownership in that state,” Siegel said.

The association was not always crystal clear. Alabama and Mississippi both had high gun ownership rates — over 50 percent — but low suicide rates. In those states the youth suicide rate was around 4.5 percent per 100,000. Siegel said culture may be a factor there. Both Alabama and Mississippi have large African-American populations. African-Americans are less likely than whites to die by suicide and are also far less likely to own guns.

Some pretty alarming statistics wrt gun ownership.......

[wjowski]

State-by-state study links gun ownership with youth suicide







Some pretty alarming statistics wrt gun ownership.......

Doesn't matter. If Sandy Hook couldn't change anything, none of the statistics in the world will.

America prefers dead children to even the tamest gun control laws.

[Malvolio]

Doesn't matter. If Sandy Hook couldn't change anything, none of the statistics in the world will.

America prefers dead children to even the tamest gun control laws.

Sandy Hook didn't change anything, but I think Parkland is. It's just not happening overnight.

[Tami]

Judge rules against elderly lesbians rejected from retirement home

A federal judge this week ruled against a lesbian couple who sued a Missouri retirement home for rejecting their apartment application because their marriage is not "understood in the Bible.”

Bev Nance, 68, and Mary Walsh, 72, were married a decade ago in Massachusetts and have been in a committed relationship for roughly 40 years.

When they applied to move into the Friendship Village senior living facility, they did so “because it is in their community, they have friends there, and it offers services that would allow them to stay together there for the rest of their lives,” said Julie Wilensky, an attorney representing the couple.

But once Friendship Village staff found that Nance and Walsh are married, they told the couple that they were not allowed to move in, because the home did not condone homosexuality. The letter they received said that the only married couples they accepted were those in unions between "one man and one woman."

The couple sued, alleging “discrimination on the basis of sex,” and a federal judge in Missouri ruled Wednesday that "sexual orientation rather than sex lies at the heart of Plaintiffs’ claims.”

LGBTQ groups decried the outcome, and the couple’s lawyers said “we disagree with the court’s decision, and our clients are considering next steps.”

[Tami]

Kirsten Gilbrand, as one person on Twitter commented, will find that Al Franken is her 'Albatross'. I don't think the public or the media is going to let her forget it.

[Kirby101]

Kirsten Gilbrand, as one person on Twitter commented, will find that Al Franken is her 'Albatross'. I don't think the public or the media is going to let her forget it.

Especially Democratic Primary voters.

[Tazirai]

[Tazirai]

[Tami]

Especially Democratic Primary voters.

It's not that hard to imagine, if there was a President Gilibrand, that her staff and cabinet would be in a constant state of chaos if she treats everything as grounds for firing them. Maybe that's extreme, but that is the image many voters might be left with. Something they might not want to take a chance on. Especially when there are other potentially better candidates.

[Kirby101]

It's not that hard to imagine, if there was a President Gilibrand, that her staff and cabinet would be in a constant state of chaos if she treats everything as grounds for firing them. Maybe that's extreme, but that is the image many voters might be left with. Something they might not want to take a chance on. Especially when there are other potentially better candidates.

I don't think that is it. I think she was opportunistic with the #metoo movement and thought if she showed no tolerance toward Franken, she could gin an air of leadership and make the Republicans look more accepting of their members who harrassed and assaulted women. But Franken is loved by the Dems and the whole think felt like a hit job. Turns out Roger Stone ws involved so it was. We lost a great Senator for her vanity.

Democratic voters are not happy with her about it.

[Tami]

I don't think that is it. I think she was opportunistic with the #metoo movement and thought if she showed no tolerance toward Franken, she could gin an air of leadership and make the Republicans look more accepting of their members who harrassed and assaulted women. But Franken is loved by the Dems and the whole think felt like a hit job. Turns out Roger Stone ws involved so it was. We lost a great Senator for her vanity.

Democratic voters are not happy with her about it.

I agree, I'm one of those who got permanently P.O.'d by what she did. Just saying that, even for those whose feelings about what happened to Franken weren't as strong, there is a case that will be made by other candidates that she acted irresponsibly. She might even find herself compared to Trump in that respect.

[jetengine]

So whens everyone reckoning Trump will go ?