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

[Tami]

Giant barcodes across the US used for aerial spy cameras

If you fly over certain parts of the US, you can look down and see massive "barcodes" spread throughout the land. Here's how they got there — and what they're used for.

[Mister Mets]

Clearly you missed Donald Trump’s latest unhinged rant-a-thon that passed for one of his rallies the other night. You have ZERO room to talk when the Orange Shitgibbon leads YOUR party.

This doesn't address anything I've said. In the post above yours, I agreed that Trump's nomination was bad. But that doesn't say anything positive about Democrats.

We still believe 2016 election wasn't tainted and that Trump was the choice of voters. I guess it helps you sleep at night. For most of us, it's anightmare.

Is the voters going for Trump in a mostly fair electionnot a nightmare either?

To say nothing of the fact that Trump has over a dozen women that have accused him of inappropriate kissing and groping. And he bragged about doing it. On tape.

Nice cognitive dissonance, Mets.

How so?

My point wasn't Anti-Biden.

[Kirby101]

Is the voters going for Trump in a mostly fair election not a nightmare either?
.

If I am reading that sentence correctly. Everything to do with Trump being President is a nightmare. If he takes the Presidency again in 2020, fairly, "mostly" fairly (which sounds like a little pregnant) or by spurious means again, it will be a ruinous for the country.

[Mecegirl]

Thats a stretch. By that interpretation, are you saying he hates leopards to?

Haha yeaaah. A huge stretch. Like maybe go back and learn how sentence structure works stretch. It is never said that Ethiopians(or leopards) are used to committing evil deeds. It says "you" meaning the audience reading the text. It is comparing a life of evil deeds and habits and how hard it is to turn away from such a life with how hard it would be to suddenly change somebody's skin tone. Specifically an Ethiopian, (speaking as a darker skinned person) we don't often change our skin tone according to the seasons. Like it takes a LOT for me to tan, and in the winter I don't get lighter from lack of sun. Like I'm always this shade of brown....Makes buying makeup one step easier since I don't have to buy a summer and winter shade, but I digress.

[shooshoomanjoe]

I guess that idiot trump forgot that the last time he tried to replace Obamacare with something better all he could come up with was "who knew health care was so complicated".

[Kirby101]

I want to welcome our Russian overlords to this thread.

[jetengine]

I guess that idiot trump forgot that the last time he tried to replace Obamacare with something better all he could come up with was "who knew health care was so complicated".

Its really not hard. Just literally copy the NHS, create it in such a way that politicians cant meddle in it to undercut it abd make sure Americans actually pay their tax.

[Mister Mets]

If I am reading that sentence correctly. Everything to do with Trump being President is a nightmare. If he takes the Presidency again in 2020, fairly, "mostly" fairly (which sounds like a little pregnant) or by spurious means again, it will be a ruinous for the country.

I think you got it right. To clarify my point, there are two possibilities for 2016. One is that Trump should have lost but won due to a tainted election, and it is a nightmare because we got to a bad outcome unfairly.

The other possibility is that Trump won mostly fairly (I use the qualifier "mostly" because elections tend to feature bad-faith arguments, suspicious timing of news releases, and weaponization of the law, etc., in the best situations) and I would contend that this can still be a nightmare because it shows that a lot of voters made the conscious decision to back Trump, which is just as scary as the idea that they got tricked into it.

[Kirby101]

I think you got it right. To clarify my point, there are two possibilities for 2016. One is that Trump should have lost but won due to a tainted election, and it is a nightmare because we got to a bad outcome unfairly.

The other possibility is that Trump won mostly fairly (I use the qualifier "mostly" because elections tend to feature bad-faith arguments, suspicious timing of news releases, and weaponization of the law, etc., in the best situations) and I would contend that this can still be a nightmare because it shows that a lot of voters made the conscious decision to back Trump, which is just as scary as the idea that they got tricked into it.

This is true. Whether Hillary won the vote by 3% or 5%, it should never have been that close. That that big a percentage of Americans would vote for a con man, racist idiot does not bode well. That so many still support him, having perhaps the most corrupt Administration in history also does not speak well of GOP voters.

[GindyPosts]

The pro-Trump conspiracy theory known as 'QAnon' has moved from the fringes of the internet to feature prominently at Trump rallies

Hey, didn't these bozos hate Trump for "caving" to Pelosi and the Democrats over the government shutdown?

Oh, wait; he beat the rap, so they like him again.

[Mister Mets]

New York Times columnist Charles Blow has some interesting points on the Jussie Smollet mess.

He thinks the lack of punishment is fine because no one was hurt, in contrast to events in which people have been killed.

Who cares?!!! It is STILL just a story about a lie told by an actor. No physical injuries, not property damage, no theft, no burglary. They should have made him pay back the money and been done with. The is a surge in ACTUAL hate crimes. Worry about those!

And another damned thing: I write about civilian criminal cases when people actually DIE! [Trayvon, Tamir, Sandra, Eric and too many more] Who died because of Jussie?… I’ll wait…

He suggests there isn't a major risk of hate crime victims not being believed.

Not really. I don’t. I am not aware of an epidemic of hate crime victims not being believed. That was a false premise from the beginning.

Cute your source. I can find no studies indicating that hate crime victims not being believe is a significant probken, or a problem at all.

I'm wrestling with the questions raised by this, and curious how many here agree with Blow.

I can appreciate the problems with prosecuting false allegations, especially if it makes victims of crimes less likely to come forward. But these lies waste the resources of authorities, and damage society, so penalties are warranted. We don't really have a middle ground where the lies come with a clear major professional cost (IE- Smollett's coworkers suggest that because he's not prosecuted, he should still be on the show.)

The comparison with situations where people died gets to some messy questions. Sandra Bland's suicide was a tragedy, but there is a societal agreement that the death of a young woman is a bad thing, and we should take steps, within reason, to avoid it.

[Tami]

Trump cuts off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador

Trump blamed the governments of the region for not doing enough to prevent the migrant exodus which U.S. officials say is overwhelming immigration controls at the southern border with Mexico.

“I'm not playing games," Trump told reporters during a trip to Florida. "I've ended payments to Guatemala, to Honduras and El Salvador. No money goes there anymore," he said, standing next to Florida's two U.S. Senators, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, as well as the state's Governor Ron DeSantis.

"We were giving them $500 million. We were paying them tremendous amounts of money and we're not paying them anymore because they haven't done a thing for us," he added. "They set up these caravans in many cases, they put their worst people in the caravan. They're not going to put their best in. They get rid of their problems and they march up here."

The State Department on Friday began the process of informing Congress that it intended to halt the foreign aid, according to internal press guidance obtained by Univision. Trump appeared to have jumped the gun on Friday, as rules require a seven day notification period before officials make any announcement to the public, or the affected governments. According to the State Department guidance that process was not due to begin officially until Monday, April 1.

The White House and State Department did not respond to repeated requests from Univision for comment. There was no immediate response from the governments of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, who diplomats said were blindsided by the decision.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Trump cuts off aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador

Yea, making life harder in these countries will deter immigration.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

This DCCC bullshit is hilarious. But yeah it's progressives that are the divisive part of the party

[Malvolio]

Yea, making life harder in these countries will deter immigration.

Exactly. We give these countries money to make it so their citizens will have less desire to leave and come here.