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

[aja_christopher]

And even if you don't care about "civil" or "human" rights, as a "conservative" it still makes little sense to support a party whose elected leaders repeatedly prove that they have no real understanding of sound economic policy.

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"How Trump’s Trade War Is Being Fought Around the World"

Mexico, China, Japan, Europe, Canada: The White House’s various conflicts add up to a broad assault on a postwar effort to build economic ties around the world.

"President Trump on Thursday threatened to hit Mexico with new tariffs, escalating his immigration fight with America’s largest trading partner. And with that, he showed, once again, that he’s ready to employ trade as an all-purpose tool for his policy goals.

Mr. Trump is juggling multiple trade conflicts today, with allies and rivals alike. His demands, often first disclosed through Twitter, have caught trading partners off guard.

Just eight months ago, Mr. Trump’s negotiators struck a deal with Mexican and Canadian officials that they said would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. His new threat comes even before Congress has approved the deal, and signals to American partners that continuing disputes and threats are now the norm in global trade — at least as long as Mr. Trump is in office.

Of course, Mexico isn’t Mr. Trump’s only target. Far from it. In fact, what he’s taking on is broader than any particular country. He is challenging the post-World War II consensus that free trade enriches the world.

Here’s a look at the many fronts in Mr. Trump’s war on the world’s established trade relationships..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/31/b...war-trump.html

[SquirrelMan]

I'm hoping the people judged are harshest are those who were mistaken about fascism coming to the US.

[PaulBullion]

I can't explain it.

[Gray Lensman]

One thing is clear to me about the Supreme Court - it needs to look a lot more like the country it serves, and in more ways than one.

Not just the ethnic/gender makeup of the court, but other things as well.

Only one member, Neil Gorsuch, has any real history from someplace other than the east coast. Stephen Breyer was born in California, but his legal history is all tied to the east coast like the other 7 justices.

Only one member, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, has any real history of representing people against the government or businesses. Even the other liberal justices have represented the government or corporations before becoming judges.

Which is how you get stupid decisions like this one - https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...buse-case.html - giving a freer hand for the police to arrest people for filming then so long as they can pin even a nuisance crime on them even if the real reason is blatantly retaliatory. And since the rather scathing dissent was penned by Gorsuch that means that at least one of the so called liberals had to sign off on that travesty (I'm looking at you, Breyer). This on top of Roberts flagrantly abandoning his usual stance of 'if the law produces undesirable result then Congress, not the courts, is supposed to change the law".

I sincerely hope that the next PotUS pledges (and follows through on said pledge) to only nominate people who have a history of fighting for citizens to any court, not just the big one.

[Robotman]

Read this twitter thread.

https://twitter.com/waltshaub/status...16070789226496

I think it’s already been established that no matter how horrible the crime the vast majority of the GOP and its voters are going to continue to support Trump. He was absolutely correct when he said “I could shoot someone in the middle of Time Square and you’d still support me.” Conservative white America is terrified of the cultural shift taking place. Gays can get married, the hispanic population is rising at an accelerated rate, women are standing up to sexual harassment and assault, and we had a black president!!! Oh the humanity! Trump makes conservatives feel safe. He’s a white man who isn’t “PC” (but of course to them being PC means you can’t be openly racist and sexist). Trump is going to stand up to foreigners that are apparently invading their land and stop China from stealing our jobs (even though it’s big business and the US economic policy that is causing these problems).

[Mister Mets]

"Trump Administration Civil and Human Rights Rollbacks -- 2017"

On January 27, Trump signed an executive order – the first version of his Muslim travel ban – that discriminated against Muslims and banned refugees.

On January 31, under new Chairman Ajit Pai’s leadership, the Federal Communications Commission refused to defend critical components of its prison phone rate rules in federal court – rules that were ultimately struck down in June.

On February 3, Trump signed an executive order outlining principles for regulating the U.S. financial system and calling for a 120-day review of existing laws, like the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The order was viewed as Trump’s opening attack on consumer protection laws.

On February 3, the FCC rescinded its 2014 Joint Sales Agreement (JSA) guidance, which had led to the only increase in television diversity in recent years.

On February 3, FCC Chairman Pai revoked the Lifeline Broadband Provider (LBP) designations for nine broadband service providers, reducing the number of providers offering broadband and thus decreasing the competitive forces available to drive down prices.

On February 9, Trump signed three executive orders “to fight crime, gangs, and drugs; restore law and order; and support the dedicated men and women of law enforcement.” The orders, though vague, were viewed suspiciously by civil rights organizations.

On February 21, the Department of Homeland Security issued a memo updating immigration enforcement guidance, massively expanding the number of people subject to detention and deportation. The guidance drastically increased the use of expedited removal and essentially eliminated the priorities for deportation.

On February 22, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights jointly rescinded Title IX guidance clarifying protections under the law for transgender students.

On February 23, Attorney General Sessions withdrew an earlier Justice Department memo that set a goal of reducing and ultimately ending the department’s use of private prisons.

On February 27, the Department of Justice dropped the federal government’s longstanding position that a Texas voter ID law under legal challenge was intentionally racially discriminatory, despite having successfully advanced that argument in multiple federal courts. The district court subsequently rejected the position of the Sessions Justice Department and concluded the law was passed with discriminatory intent.

On March 6, Trump signed a revised executive order restricting travel to the United States by citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen and drastically cutting back refugee admissions.

On March 6, a week after Trump called on lawmakers to repeal the Affordable Care Act during his address to Congress, House Republicans released a proposal to replace the ACA with a law that would restructure Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood.

On March 16, the Trump administration released a budget blueprint that proposed a $54 billion increase in military spending that would come from $54 billion in direct cuts to non-defense programs. The blueprint also proposed spending $4.1 billion through 2018 on the beginnings of construction of a wall through communities on the U.S.-Mexico border.

On March 27, Trump signed a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, which repealed a U.S. Department of Education accountability rule finalized last year that would clarify states’ obligations under the Every Student Succeeds Act.

On March 27, Trump signed a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, which repealed the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Executive Order. The order, signed by President Obama, represented a much-needed step forward in ensuring that the federal contractor community is providing safe and fair workplaces for employees by encouraging compliance with federal labor and civil rights laws, and prohibiting the use of mandatory arbitration of certain disputes.

In a March 31 memo, Sessions ordered a sweeping review of consent decrees with law enforcement agencies relating to police conduct – a crucial tool in the Justice Department’s efforts to ensure constitutional and accountable policing. The department also tried, unsuccessfully, to block a federal court in Baltimore from approving a consent decree between the city and the Baltimore Police Department to rein in discriminatory police practices that the department itself had negotiated over a multi-year period.

On April 13, Trump signed a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act, which overturned the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ final rule updating the regulations governing the Title X family planning program – a vital source of family planning and related preventive care for low-income, uninsured, and young people across the country.

On April 26, Trump released an outline of a tax reform plan that was viewed largely as a tax giveaway for the wealthy and big corporations.

On April 26, Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to conduct a study on the federal government’s role in education.

On May 4, Trump signed an executive order that he claimed overturned the Johnson Amendment (though it did not), which precludes tax-exempt organizations, including places of worship, from engaging in any political campaign activity and would curtail the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act.

On May 11, Trump signed an executive order creating the so-called Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity headed by Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has a history of trying to suppress the vote in Kansas.

On May 12, Sessions announced in a two-page memo that DOJ was abandoning its Smart on Crime initiative that had been hailed as a positive step forward in rehabilitating drug users and reducing the enormous costs of warehousing inmates.

On May 23, Trump released his fiscal year 2018 budget that included massive, unnecessary tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations, which would be paid for by slashing basic living standards for the most vulnerable and by attacking critical programs like Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicaid, food assistance, and more.

On May 23, Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposed eliminating the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and transferring its functions to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). This would have impeded the work of both the OFCCP and the EEOC as each have distinct missions and expertise, and would have thereby undermined the civil rights protections that employers and workers have relied on for almost 50 years.

On June 5, Trump released an infrastructure plan that focuses on putting public assets into private hands, creating another giveaway to wealthy corporations and millionaires at the expense of working families and communities.

On June 6, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testified before a Senate appropriations subcommittee and made unclear statements about whether she would allow federal funds to go to schools that discriminate against LGBTQ students. She made similarly troubling statements when testifying before a House committee in late March.

On June 6, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued unclear new instructions on transgender student discrimination.

On June 8, OCR’s acting head sent a memo to OCR staff discouraging systemic investigations in favor of individual investigations of discrimination.

On June 14, DeVos decided to delay implementation of and to renegotiate the Borrower Defense to Repayment and Gainful Employment regulations.

On June 15, the administration rescinded President Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program, an initiative that – had it gone into effect – would have offered a pathway to citizenship for immigrant parents with children who are citizens or residents of the United States."

https://civilrights.org/trump-rollbacks/

What point are you responding to?

[Tami]

What point are you responding to?

What objection do you have with him posting it? Sharing knowledge, as well as opinions and discussions, is what we do here.

[aja_christopher]

What point are you responding to?

It wasn't aimed solely at you, but which dozen or so would you like to address?

Mainly it's to show you the difference between assumption and actual policy -- your talking points regarding theoretical "open borders" does not justify Republicans attacking and ignoring the civil and human rights of others, whether American citizens or otherwise.

[JCAll]

It wasn't aimed solely at you, but which dozen or so would you like to address?

Mainly it's to show you the difference between assumption and actual policy -- your talking points regarding theoretical "open borders" does not justify Republicans attacking and ignoring the civil and human rights of others, whether American citizens or otherwise.

Just do what I did. Start supporting Open Borders so you don't have to keep arguing with Mets about it.

[aja_christopher]

Just do what I did. Start supporting Open Borders so you don't have to keep arguing with Mets about it.

Nah -- I'd rather continue to speak the truth.

[Mister Mets]

What objection do you have with him posting it? Sharing knowledge, as well as opinions and discussions, is what we do here.

I'm trying to determine the context. Does it build on something someone said here? Or is it just stuff he doesn't like about the Trump administration, apropos of nothing? Is he curious about peoples' opinions on something he found online?

It seems to be a direct quote of something from an organization's website, and I'm guessing he agrees with it, but he hasn't offered an exact position on it.

[PwrdOn]

Just do what I did. Start supporting Open Borders so you don't have to keep arguing with Mets about it.

Open borders isn't really that scary of a position, for the first 100 years of US history there were no immigration restrictions of any kind and indeed immigration was seen as necessary to sustain the growth of the nation. Of course, that was only because most of the early immigrants were white, and the country needed them to swamp native lands with settlers and do the dirty work formerly done by slaves, all to service the grand dream of a white ethnostate in the New World. Once non-whites started showing up in any significant numbers, Congress clamped down on that right quick.

The very nature of how the USA is set up requires a constant flow of immigrants. Each wave of immigrants starts off doing the undesirable low-paying work, but their children inevitably refuse to do so and aspire to greater social status, so that new workers must be brought in from further afield. This is a product of our collective delusion that an entire country of 300+ million people can somehow all simultaneously live comfortable middle class lifestyles, and that these lifestyles are somehow sustained by our own hard work and ingenuity rather than relying on the exploitation of billions, some at home and others abroad. Once we can all admit that we are full of **** about that, then we can start talking about limiting immigration.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I'm trying to determine the context. Does it build on something someone said here? Or is it just stuff he doesn't like about the Trump administration, apropos of nothing? Is he curious about peoples' opinions on something he found online?

It seems to be a direct quote of something from an organization's website, and I'm guessing he agrees with it, but he hasn't offered an exact position on it.

Or perhaps the purpose was to describe just how cruel, immoral and inhumane YOUR party is.

[heretic]

Oooooooooh WBE!!

NB4 someone goes "Oh, he is just clowning about. Quit whining over humor you PC babies!"

[heretic]

If there's a tyranny, it's going to be a good thing the populace is armed.

You assume the people with the guns will be pointing them at the tyrant rather than the people the tyrant claims are causing the problems.