All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[JCAll]

Calm down, Hank Hill (on an aside, I first learned about the North American Free-Trade Agreement as a one-off reference in King of the Hill). I know most people like to blame NAFTA for the USA getting the dregs of Mexico brought to us thanks to the Clinton administration, but realistically, we've been getting immigration from Mexico since after the Mexican-American War, and as for those Central American countries, those problems tend to boil down to them becoming banana republics that are so dependent upon one or two means of income for export that if the rest of the world loses interest (generally due to either finding other countries having the same resource, increasing competition and making a premium item more of a commonplace stock or there becoming less of a reliance on said item), the market collapses, not to mention how corporations that rely on those exports take advantage of the government and the citizens to begin with. That's why American companies fell in love with outsourcing. They knew these countries had lower standards and could be manipulated easily, but the parts could be made just the same, and thus could be built there while bolstering the bankroll of the upper management. Having incompetent and/or corrupt leaders in charge doesn't help much, either.

Also, I'm not whole keen on the entire socialist game, which has only exists, as far as I'm concerned, in theory, since whenever it's "attempted", it ends up going into full-blown communism, and we see what happens to those nations, China notwithstanding. The issue is that the capitalist system we have is so fundamentally broken and, thanks in large part to Reaganomics (which we still have to live with), only aid the upper crust more as time goes on since the notion that poor people paying for the rich people's taxes interested and fascinated Republicans. When you have a system set up that way, people become interested in a more "balanced" approach to wealth distribution, which leads to your more radicalized thought. It's not entirely rocket science, and saying "Oh, well they can just work harder, then" isn't going to be the solution. The issue boils down to a multitude of problems, among them being how decades of bureaucratic nonsense have helped set it up where it's difficult for people to just work their way up the class ladder without stopping short of killing themselves. After all, there is the term "poverty trap" for a reason. I'm not going to go into the full details, but going around looking for the next Red Scare isn't going to just help everything magically improve.

Or just naked corruption like how things usually go here. Imagine how hard the Recession of 08 would have hit if the Banking industry had been the only thing the US relied on. That bubble bursting destroyed lives, though not the lives of the people who caused it, but the nation was able to recover. When that happens to a less diverse economy people are going to be on the streets eating rats, or fleeing thousands of miles to countries that aren't in ruins.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profile of Richard K. Jones, a man who has groused about illegal immigrants in hyperbolic ways now for over a decade, starting back when he would insult the Bush administration's immigration policy, and demand we seize whatever Mexican assets that were in the United States and sell them off to pay for the cost of catching and detaining illegal immigrants. Jones and his department have been successfully sued by legal immigrants for harassment that advanced to the violation of their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights (the 4th and 11th Amendment, specifically), and is being investigated by the Justice Department for racially profiling those he is sworn to protect and serve. Jones also claims that illegal immigrants are being given free computers by the Obama administration, and that his opinions about illegal immigrants don't make him a bigot because "he's just saying what everybody's thinking". While Sheriff Jones is still in office saying incredibly insane things like that the United States should “use the Mother of All Bombs on Mexican cartels” (which would be, y’know, just an act of war against our allies and deafen any innocent citizens within two miles of any strike), we’re going to look to folks in higher office than this incredible racist, fascist lunatic at this time.


In 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of the sitting U.S. House Representative from Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District, Keith Rothfus, who not only voted for the 2013 Government Shutdown, and then when the time came to reopen the government, he voted to keep it closed. He voted against disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy, and against the latest version of the Violence Against Women Act. Rothfus is a climate change denier who adamantly opposes same sex marriage, wants to privatize Social Security, and wants to restrict women’s reproductive ways in as many ways as can be thought of. That latter point, and his love for Government Shutdowns crossed paths during the faux-outrage over Planned Parenthood in 2015, as Rep. Rothfus was actually one of 28 Republican men who threatened to shut down the government, again, over their inability to defund an organization who only uses about 3% of their budget on abortions, none of which comes from whatever government funding they do receive (that all goes towards women’s health). Keith Rothfus then continued to participate in the GOP’s smear campaign against Planned Parenthood, where he described “crushing baby parts” and how “ghoulish” the organization was… (y’know, the sort of rhetoric that served as a stochastic terror trigger to inspire Robert Lewis Dear to go and shoot up a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. After investigations into Planned Parenthoods turned up nothing, and the Center for Medical Progress actually ended up having two of their leaders indicted for tampering with government records… Rothfus still insists that Planned Parenthood admitted to wrongdoing, and was caught selling human body parts. Rothfus took to the floor of the House in May of 2016 to whine about how his “religious freedom” was being threatened in today’s America. And while you might not see Keith Rothfus on cable news all the time, where you do see him comment is in press releases whenever the Supreme Court makes a major ruling, and as a former corporate lawyer, Rothfus always chides them for making rulings that as a conservative, he just doesn’t like, like when he released an amicus brief after the Supreme Court ruled 5-3 against the state of Texas in Whole Women’s Health v. Hellerstedt, where he was still trying to keep up the illusion (the lie) that “safety” was the motivation behind the undue and unnecessary restrictions placed upon abortion clinics in Texas to shut them down violated a woman’s constitutional right to find access to the procedure.

Rothfus spent his last term in office dodging his constituents in his home district, failing to attend scheduled town halls with them. Maybe if he was there, he would have heard how upset they were about a proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act. The one that Rothfus not only voted for, in spite of only 17% of the country supporting it, but that he actually took to the floor of the House to talk about, giddy with anticipation to vote for. Pennsylvania’s 12th was restructured by a court-order to undo a Republican-engineered gerrymander, and that has the whole Keystone State GOP in panic mode.

Worse yet for Rothfus, of all the opponents that could have been shunted into his district to face him, he had the misfortune after all that shuffling of ending up in the same district as the charismatic Conor Lamb, who sent him packing after he only managed 44% of the vote. We wish him the finest of “GOOD RIDDANCE” greetings.

[Tendrin]

So this was a fantastic troll of Steve King.

675645DE-5ECC-4909-9D31-BDA71A338FA9.jpg

[WestPhillyPunisher]

President Whose ‘Bone Spurs’ Kept Him Out Of War Finally Gets His Tank-Adorned Celebration

But the “nonpolitical” National Mall event’s tepid turnout is likely to trigger fresh anger from the criticism-sensitive Trump. **** him! What about anger from taxpayers over how much yesterday's overblown ego stroke cost the people? Meanwhile....

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Trump Gets Soaked By Twitter Jokes As Rains Drench His 4th Of July Party

Twitter critics rally around some laughs under the #RainOnTrumpsParade hashtag. Heh! Pretty funny responses! Love it!

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‘Chickenhawk’ Lou Dobbs Ripped For ‘Cowardly’ Attack On American Generals

The Fox Business host slammed U.S. military leaders as “snowflakes” in a bizarre Independence Day attack. By the by, that asswipe never served either, just like his hero Trump. **** him too!

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Military Veterans Call For Trump’s Impeachment In New Video

Vets call the president a “criminal” and question his loyalty in the video produced by veterans group Common Defense and billionaire Tom Steyer. Good for them!

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Chris Evans Counters Trump’s Rally With A Stunning July 4th Message Of His Own

The Captain America actor warns that we’re in an era of “fear, hate, lies and complicity.” Well said, Capt....er, Chris!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Friends, you absolutely can NOT make up stupid **** like this!

Trump Dive-Bombed In Tweets After Claiming Army Seized Revolutionary War Airports

“Our Army manned the air, it rammed (or ‘rand’) the ramparts, it took over airports, it did everything it had to do,” Trump added. “And at Fort McHenry, under the rockets’ red glare, had nothing but victory. When dawn came, the star-spangled banner waved defiant.”

[Robotman]

I have never been happier to see rain in my life.

[shooshoomanjoe]

So did trump read from his teleprompter or go off script when he said the US Army took over airports in the Revolutionary War? I kind of wish it's the former because that would mean someone in his staff is trolling him.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So did trump read from his teleprompter or go off script when he said the US Army took over airports in the Revolutionary War? I kind of wish it's the former because that would mean someone in his staff is trolling him.

I suspect it was more Trump misreading what was on the teleprompter (wouldn't surprise me if his eyesight is dodgy but is too proud to wear glasses in public) than having gone off script or being trolled by someone on his staff. However, if Trump goes on a Twitter rampage this morning about what happened last night, then it could be that he was sabotaged.

[Tami]

If you are on Twitter, check out #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories

[WestPhillyPunisher]

If you are on Twitter, check out #RevolutionaryWarAirportStories

Yeah, that's trending like crazy. Plenty of funny stuff there.

[Tendrin]

Nice to see Amanda Chase is still frigging awful.

Here she is blaming rape victims for their rapes.

https://twitter.com/Dbwagner104/stat...38584339550208

[Tuck]

I suspect it was more Trump misreading what was on the teleprompter (wouldn't surprise me if his eyesight is dodgy but is too proud to wear glasses in public) than having gone off script or being trolled by someone on his staff. However, if Trump goes on a Twitter rampage this morning about what happened last night, then it could be that he was sabotaged.

I honestly think it's as simple as this is what happens when every expressed thought is hyperbolic and fantastical.

You lie and embellish the same as you walk, and eventually something you say is going to be so objectively absurd, even the most devoted supporter can't contort themselves enough to explain it as anything other than a "gaffe".

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I honestly think it's as simple as this is what happens when every expressed thought is hyperbolic and fantastical.

You lie and embellish the same as you walk, and eventually something you say is going to be so objectively absurd, even the most devoted supporter can't contort themselves enough to explain it as anything other than a "gaffe".

You're probably right. No one could pay me to watch Faux News for more than a minute, but I'd just love to watch the idiotic, Trump slurping sycophants there perform all sort of complicated mental gymnastics to make chicken salad out of the chicken **** their fearless leader dropped yesterday.

[Mister Mets]

Jeh Johnson, former DHS Secretary in the Obama administration, argues that the the position taken by prominent Democrats is basically open borders. He worries that it will result in more waves of illegal crossings.

Meanwhile, some Democrats are questioning the basic legal underpinnings of U.S. immigration enforcement and challenging the long-held consensus that a robust detention and deportation system is necessary to prevent an even bigger wave of illegal border crossings into the United States.

On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he would “virtually eliminate immigration detention” by executive order. During last week’s debate, presidential candidate Julián Castro proposed decriminalizing illegal border crossings — a position other Democrats in the race rapidly adopted.

Others in the party are urging caution, saying the push toward decriminalization risks playing into Trump’s hands.

“That is tantamount to declaring publicly that we have open borders,” said Jeh Johnson, who ran the Department of Homeland Security during President Barack Obama’s second term. “That is unworkable, unwise and does not have the support of a majority of American people or the Congress, and if we had such a policy, instead of 100,000 apprehensions a month, it will be multiples of that.”

For all the talk about how the Trump administration puts children in cages, Johnson has also noted (as has Trump) that the Obama administration built the cages.

Very clearly, chain link, barriers, partitions, fences, cages, whatever you want to call them, were not invented on January 20, 2017, OK. And what’s interesting is Tom Homan made that statement — and under normal circumstances to fact check that, I would have called Tom Homan, who was the director of ICE ERO [Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations] while I was secretary, and say, ‘Hey Tom, did you guys use these things for ICE facilities?

The Mexican authorities are concerned that some people are trying to steal children in order to have an easier time getting to the United States.

From the Seattle Times...

TIJUANA, Mexico — Some migrants in Tijuana are trying to purchase children from vulnerable single mothers in local shelters so they can more easily cross into the United States, according to shelter directors, migrants and Tijuana law enforcement authorities.

Migrants in Tijuana shelters said they are alarmed after reports of single mothers being approached by groups of men who have offered to buy children to improve their chances of safely crossing into the United States.

A decades-old legal document, known as the Flores agreement, says migrant children should only be held briefly in U.S. border custody, which often means they are released, along with the parent or guardian with whom they crossed while they wait for their asylum cases to make their way through clogged immigration courts.

Typically, when migrants are apprehended at the border with their children they are held in custody for a few days before they are released. Single adults who cross the border can face months in detention.

U.S. border authorities have been warning since June 2018 about people fraudulently using children who aren’t theirs to pose as family units and gain entry into the United States, a claim that critics said was overblown.

But now, authorities in Tijuana are warning migrant mothers to keep their children close by and supervised, after reports of men offering to purchase migrant children in order to cross.

“I can’t go to work because I can’t take my eyes off my boys,” said Antonia Portillo Cruz, a 44-year-old migrant from Honduras, who said the men have been targeting the shelter where she stays. She said she witnessed some of the men asking women in the shelter about purchasing their children, but none of them made the offer directly to her.

Portillo said the groups of men have been approaching the Iglesia Embajadores de Jesus shelter in Tijuana and offering about 7,000 pesos, or $350, to purchase a child to cross into the United States.

She said she fears the requests and the offers of money will turn into demands or kidnappings. Portillo said she never lets her two boys, aged 10 and 8, out of her sight.

“They want to rob our kids so they can cross into the United States,” she said angrily.

A spokesman for the Tijuana municipal police confirmed the reports and said federal authorities are investigating. The case was first reported by Tijuana journalists Yolanda Morales and Yuriria Sierra for Imagen TV.

[Mister Mets]

I don't have a question since I already know the answer -- it's called hypocrisy.

If it wasn't you'd be complaining about the "costs" of Republican tax cuts that do little more for our country than cause record deficits and lead to recessions.

Not to mention the cost of the Republican initiated Iraq War that cost hundreds of thousands of lives, over a trillion dollars, and our good reputation.

Instead, you're defending that same party as it separates children from their families as a "deterrent" and denies them proper medical care.

You still haven't bothered explaining why you're comfortable supporting a party that is attempting to subvert our democracy by allowing for criminal Russian election interference in our elections and actively restricting the voting rights of "minority" American citizens.

I don't have any questions, Mets and I've already told you what I believe the answer is -- vote the lying, corrupt Republican party out of office.

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""Iraq War Costs U.S. More Than $2 trillion: Study"

"The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest..."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-i...92D0PG20130314

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"Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Will Cost $1.5 Trillion"

"According to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX), today's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will add $1.51 trillion to the debt, before accounting for interest or possible gimmicks. This cost would likely be enough to cause debt to exceed the size of the economy by 2028 – bad news for the nation's fiscal and economic future.

Of the $1.5 trillion cost, roughly $1 trillion comes from business tax cuts. Individual tax cuts make up another $300 billion, and the ultimate repeal of the estate tax accounts for the remaining $200 billion."

https://www.crfb.org/blogs/tax-cut-a...st-15-trillion

In these forums, I don't think I have to convince anyone of the problems with the Iraq war. It also doesn't come up all that often.

I haven't been asked about Russian interference, or specific policies that restrict the rights of minorities. Much of the time if we go granular into the specific policies, the arguments get tougher. As an example, polling sites in places with low levels of resources are less likely to be ADA compliant. The argument that former felons should be allowed to vote typically uses the language of paying their debt to society, which does allow for the insistence that they've also covered all of their fines.

If you disagree with anything specific I've said about the tax cuts, by all means bring it up.

Of COURSE Mets loves Yang. Why I am not surprised?!

All I said was that he has a clear policy agenda. This does represent a problem in the discussion when saying something true that favors a candidate is seen as being equivalent to loving that candidate. That suggests we're obligated to lie by omission and to only say what favors our particular side.

This Harris/Biden busing thing just refuses to go away.

Her debate performance was fantastic, but the more depth we get on her positions the more she starts to crumble.

It's an odd tactic to blast Biden for his position on a policy, while claiming to basically agree with him on that policy.

You don't need to be a Republican to read the comments on Breitbart. You just need to be a Republican to agree with those comments.

You'd also have to be a particular type of Republican.