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

[Malvolio]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/new...ectid=12262359

Yeah, homie was taken out.

Once again: Conspiracy theories = long on motive, short on evidence

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump’s Trade War Linked To Amazon Rainforest Destruction

As U.S. soybeans sit in silos, Brazilian farmers push to break new ground to satisfy the Chinese market. It damn sure doesn't help that Brazil's president is pro-business and a climate change denier like Trump who's senseless game of chicken with China has threatened the very existence of the Amazon Rainforest which has been called "the planet's lungs" and provides 20 percent of the oxygen we breathe. Meanwhile....

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China’s Foreign Ministry Representative ‘Not Aware’ Of Calls To U.S. About Trade Talks

There were “numerous ... highest-level calls” from the Chinese, Trump insisted, but when pressed for details later, he said he didn’t want to talk about them. Sheesh! Who's talking to who around here?

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Susan Collins ‘Sad’ That Support For Brett Kavanaugh Has Cost Her Votes

The Maine senator’s path to reelection may not be smooth sailing after she helped to secure the controversial Supreme Court justice’s confirmation. Well, what the **** did that harridan think would happen after she helped put Kegger Kavanaugh on SCOTUS?

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‘Hell, No!’: Trump Finally Goes Too Far, Even For Rick Santorum

Santorum says Trumps plan to use the presidency to promote one of his resorts would be a “violation of the law.” Hard to believe Ratfink Rick has limits when it comes to supporting Trump.

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Bernie Sanders Unveils Plan To Defend The News Media, Says Democracy Requires It

“We need to rebuild and protect a diverse and truly independent press,” the senator from Vermont and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate wrote. I would agree with that.

[jetengine]

Once again: Conspiracy theories = long on motive, short on evidence

Afaik the fact that such an important figure was guarded by a temp, that the footage is seemingly unusable, that despite having already tried to kill himself he wasnt on suicide watch and that the wounds were consistent with strangulation not hanging all point to....

A. He was murdered
B. They intentionally were lax to let Epstein kill himself

Either way its a Conspiracy

[Tami]

Trump’s Obama envy is getting even worse

One of the things that genuinely seems to matter to Trump is comparing himself — favorably, of course — with his predecessor, no matter how delusional the rationale. Trump gave an illustration at the end of the Group of Seven summit when he insisted to reporters that former president Barack Obama had been “outsmarted” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump’s full-blown Putin envy was also on display. But the president’s false and absurd rewriting of history seemed intended less to elevate the Russian leader than to diminish Obama. It fit a pattern that goes back years — and may have more to do with Trump’s behavior in office than we realize.

Trump blasts the Obama administration’s record of creating jobs and claims to be doing much better. Yet, under Obama, the unemployment rate fell from a high of 10 percent to just 4.7 percent. Under Trump, it has dropped further to 3.7 percent. Which president had the bigger impact?

Trump blames Obama for being soft on illegal immigration, yet he deports fewer undocumented migrants than Obama did. And when Obama left office, undocumented border crossings were at a multiyear low. The huge increase, driven in part by asylum seekers from Central America, has taken place under Trump.

The president tries to blame his own administration’s cruel immigration policies on Obama — separating thousands of families at the border and keeping children in cages. This is just a flat-out lie. Obama’s policy was to keep asylum-seeking families together. Trump decided to separate them as a deterrent, telling Central Americans that if they did not want to suffer such a fate, they should stay home.

[Mister Mets]

Don't Defend Andy Ngo:



Yes, the attack on the bar that he witnessed the planning of did, in fact, happen.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/andy-n...-video-appears

I'm sure that he'll go on to continue receiving copious amounts of wingnut welfare through other sources but hopefully the wool pulled over a credulous media will be gone.

As for Joe Walsh: My advice to everyone left of center is to stop boosting his signal. He doesn't need the support and credibility you lend him when you do. He's going to take the money and credibility given as a 'reasonable conservative voice who opposed Trump' and run to try to beat a Democrat with that and proceed to enact the same sort of batshit policies that Trump would. Once you lend someone credibility it is very difficult to take it back.

So don't.

If Andy Ngo is too toxic for Quilette, he's probably too toxic for most of the right-wing media.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump’s Obama envy is getting even worse

Proof positive to me that Trump STILL hasn’t gotten over Obama making fun of him at the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner. The fact that Obama is a far better man in terms of morals, principles, intelligence, decency and statesmanship no doubt drives Trump insane. If this isn’t a first class case of jealousy on the part of Dolt45, then I don’t know what qualifies.

[Tami]

The NRA has Trump. But it has lost allies in Congress.

Now, the number of Democrats in the House with “A” ratings has fallen from 63 after the 2008 elections to three after the 2018 midterms.

This makes the NRA’s political position more precarious. The group was once largely insulated from shifts in partisan control: It could block gun restrictions no matter which party controlled Congress and the White House. In the long term, the loss of the NRA’s Democratic buffer poses a threat to the group’s influence no matter what happens in the current gun control debate.

Voters, meanwhile, are generally not punishing members of Congress who turn away from the NRA, making it a less threatening force in elections.

The Times’ analysis looked at complete data on NRA ratings and endorsements for six election cycles, from 2008 through 2018. The group uses “A” ratings to signify consistent support for gun rights and opposition to restrictions; “F” ratings signify the opposite. The group advertises its grades to supporters, who use them to guide their votes. Many A-rated candidates receive an endorsement, which can bring support like money, mailers, and campaign ads.

In 2008, voters elected 67 A-rated Democrats to Congress, where they accounted for about a quarter of the party’s caucus. Another 13 Democrats were elected with B ratings, meaning the NRA considered them “generally pro-gun” despite some past disagreements.

Now, only three congressional Democrats — Representatives Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Collin Peterson of Minnesota, and Henry Cuellar of Texas — have A grades. Just two more, Representatives Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey and Kurt Schrader of Oregon, have B’s. There is not a single A- or B-rated Democrat left in the Senate.

F ratings are now the norm for Democrats, and many of them treat it as a badge of honor.

A small handful of Republicans have broken publicly with the NRA in recent years. But even if the shift has mostly been one-sided among Democrats, it has big implications. When Democrats had a large House majority and a near-supermajority in the Senate a decade ago, there were so many NRA allies within the party that more than half of Congress had A’s, and only a third had F’s.

[Tendrin]

If Andy Ngo is too toxic for Quilette, he's probably too toxic for most of the right-wing media.

Wingnut welfare takes a lot of forms.

[PaulBullion]

If we're talking about the usual clowns in the media or cable news outfits?

I guess someone could be attempting what you are saying?

Meanwhile out in anything like actual reality, this guy's image ever being anything like "Rehabilitated..." or him having any credibility is just laughable.

You are overlooking the fact that he is a somewhat telegenic white guy in American politics.

[Tami]

A black homeowner was handcuffed and detained in his boxers after his burglar alarm went off

CNN)When Kazeem Oyeneyin's friend accidentally set off his burglar alarm, the North Carolina man went downstairs, turned it off, and went back upstairs to sleep.

Minutes later, Raleigh police showed up, handcuffed Oyeneyin and took him outside in his underwear while they started clearing his house.

"What have I done wrong?" the black homeowner asks, as seen in his home security camera footage from August 17. "I haven't done nothing wrong."

The security footage shows the first arriving officer opening Oyeneyin's unlocked front door. "Police! (If) you're inside, let yourself be known," the officer shouts into the home.
Oyeneyin responds from upstairs, though his words aren't clear in the video.

The officer tells him to come down with his hands up. He quickly sees Oyeneyin has a gun in his hand.

Oyeneyin told CNN he wasn't sure who was downstairs at his front door, so he took his legally owned handgun with him as a precaution. In the video, he announces that he has a firearm.

The officer tells Oyeneyin to drop the weapon, and Oyeneyin immediately does.

"Come on out here," the officer says, stepping farther outside the house.

"I got on my drawers," Oyeneyin responded, refusing to leave his foyer.

"Turn around. Put your hands behind your back," the officer said.

"For what?" Oyeneyin replies, exasperated.

The homeowner and officer have a tense exchange, with the officer demanding Oyeneyin get down on his knees and turn around with his hands behind his back.

Oyeneyin does get down on his knees, but he refuses to turn his back toward the officer. He later told CNN he feared for his safety.

"It's turning around that I'm afraid of. I'm afraid you're going to shoot me," Oyeneyin told CNN.

"I'm tired of having cops pointing guns at me. I've been through this rodeo before," he told CNN. You want me to turn around and face the other (side) where I cant see you? It was more of a safety thing for me, not a compliance."

The officer eventually enters Oyeneyin's home and handcuffs him. As they wait for a police supervisor to arrive, the officer asks Oyeneyin if he lives at the home and if he has identification.

"Yep," Oyeneyin replied both times.

But the officer doesn't ask Oyeneyin to show him his ID. Instead, the officer explains his actions, saying the door was unlocked, he made several announcements before Oyeneyin responded, and that Oyeneyin emerged from upstairs with a gun.

[Electricmastro]

A black homeowner was handcuffed and detained in his boxers after his burglar alarm went off

Well, hope that whoever is in charge of that police force gets their priorities in order, to say the least.

[Tami]

'Trump is literally deporting kids with cancer': New immigration rule removes protections for migrants seeking life-saving medical care

The Trump administration has ended a policy that allows undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States and avoid deportation if they are receiving life-saving medical treatments, in a change that advocates have criticised as inhumane.

The policy change, which also takes away protections for immigrants whose family members are receiving life-saving care, was announced this month in letters sent to families informing them of their new standing.

Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat and frequent critic of the president, said that the rule is unprecedented, even for an administration that has come to be known for its harsh and relentless approach to immigration.

“This is a new low,” Mr Markey said. “Donald Trump is literally deporting kids with cancer.”

“He would be dead,” said Mariela Sanchez, a mother from Honduras who has applied for special exemption for her 16-year-old son Jonathan, who has cystic fibrosis. Ms Sanchez was interviewed by the Associated Press.

[Tami]

Incoming Harvard Freshman Deported After Visa Revoked

UPDATED: Aug. 27, 2019 at 10:11 a.m.

While most Harvard freshmen settle into their dorms Tuesday, one new student, Ismail B. Ajjawi ’23, faces ongoing negotiations with immigration officers to allow him to enter the United States and study at the College.

U.S. officials deported Ajjawi, a 17-year-old Palestinian resident of Tyre, Lebanon, Friday night shortly after he arrived at Boston Logan International Airport. Before canceling Ajjawi’s visa, immigration officers subjected him to hours of questioning — at one point leaving to search his phone and computer — according to a written statement by Ajjawi.

University officials are currently working to resolve the matter before classes begin on Sept. 3, University spokesperson Jonathan L. Swain wrote in an email.

“The University is working closely with the student’s family and appropriate authorities to resolve this matter so that he can join his classmates in the coming days,” he wrote.

Harvard both employs immigration lawyers at the Office of the General Counsel and staffs the Harvard International Office. Both groups work to resolve visa-related problems like Ajjawi’s. Ajjawi wrote that he has been in contact with HIO Director of Immigration Services Maureen Martin.

Ajjawi wrote that he has also contacted AMIDEAST, the non-profit organization that awarded him a scholarship to study in the U.S., which is now providing him legal assistance.

[worstblogever]

'Trump is literally deporting kids with cancer': New immigration rule removes protections for migrants seeking life-saving medical care

Trump lacked the empathy to keep his own infant nephew on life insurance that would helped him be treated for cerebral palsy.

An old racist f*** like him isn't going to let people of color he's not related to be treated for cancer.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018,"Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of U.S. Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, who made a run at the presidency as well in 2016. In our original profile, we talked about his background as a career military reservist and lawyer who is always spoiling for a war that he never seems to give much thought as to the why or how it will be fought, just that we should ABSOLUTELY fight it. Sen. Graham also is prolifically paranoid, worrying about terror threats both foreign and domestic, from roaming gangs after a hurricane that would require the citizenry to be armed with automatic weapons, or that every nation in the Middle East from Iran, to Iraq, to Syria has developed a nuclear weapon. He also justifies the permanent detainment of people at Guantanamo Bay based off the precedent set by internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, which is a pretty dark chapter of American history to use as a guideline, while claiming that Hilary Clinton “got away with murder” during the Benghazi attacks, acting like she was in on the attack on her own friend, Ambassador Chris Stevens. Oh, and speaking of his criticism of Hillary Clinton, he tried criticizing her about her usage of an e-mail server by boasting that he had never written an e-mail (because that's exactly the sort of tech-savvy guy that should be president). Oh, and he later compared that to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, because e-mails are like getting a blowie from an intern, apparently.

Anyway, during Graham's run for the presidency in 2016, we covered how he admirably tried defending his amigo, Sen. John McCain's service record to insults from Donald Trump, and for his trouble, he had his cell phone number given out by Trump, publicly. Sen. Graham's response was then to release a campaign video of himself destroying his cell phone with several implements (rather than just get his number changed). Graham has frequently been caught lying about facts surrounding 9/11 to shape immigration policy, and through the presidential debates (at least, the "kid's table" debate he was in because his poll numbers were that awful) continued fear-mongering, using every question about any topic to segue into a discussion of ISIS and declaring, "The world is a battlefield and radical Islam is everywhere." His response to the terror attacks in Paris, was to insist the United States send 10,000 ground troops to fight ISIS in Iraq and Syria, warning that "there's a 9/11 coming". A short time later, though, after Democrats produced some common sense gun legislation, that anyone who is found to be on a terror watch list during a background check should not be allowed to purchase a firearm or explosives (which they could use to carry out a terror attack)… well, Lindsey Graham loves the Second Amendment way more than he hates terrorism, as he voted against it. On two occasions.

Now, here's the thing about CSGOPOTD and Lindsey Graham... he’s a lot like his old friend John McCain. By which we mean, he’ll pretend to be far more moderate when he has designs on higher office. Around 2015, we saw that more chill Sen. Graham, who would admist the Republican National Commitee "couldn't run a one-car funeral" after the clusterf*** of a debate plan they had for 2016. Or the time he was speaking before the Republican Jewish Coalition and flat-out admitted that the conservative obsession with being ultra-pro-life was out of hand, because "If you are going to tell a woman who has been raped she has to carry the child of a rapist, you’re losing most Americans." Yeah, that happened. And how surreal was it to see Lindsey Graham of all people defend peaceful Muslims from the sort of ideas Donald Trump was putting forth, and saying, "Leave the faith alone, go after the radicals that kill us all." Who was that man? Where had he been for the past twelve years? He actually compared the options of Donald Trump or Ted Cruz as potential presidential nominees as good of an option as being poisoned or being shot, and by February 2016, he admitted the GOP had gone "bats*** crazy" for voting for Donald Trump, and adding "If you kill Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody could convict you."

After Donald Trump started making racist statements towards a federal judge of Mexican descent, Sen. Graham advised his fellow members of the GOP to unendorse him, saying, "if anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it". Sadly, they didn't heed his advice, and he can now say things about Trump like, "No one knows where the bottom is at."

This pattern continued through 2017, as after Donald Trump continually praised Vladimir Putin, Graham remarked, “This election makes me want to move to Canada.” He responded to Donald Trump’s deranged claims about “widespread voter fraud”, telling the public, “I don’t know what he is talking about. If he has evidence, bring it forward. If he doesn’t, he shouldn’t say things like that. He’s gotta realize he’s just not a normal person anymore. He’s not a billionaire TV star — he’s the president of the United States. His words really resonate.” Sen. Graham chided any of his Republican colleagues who might be defending Russia’s hacking of the DNC or their efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections, saying “you are not a patriot” if you celebrate such a thing. He criticized Trump for making a ridiculous claim that President Obama had done “wire-tapps” to his phones, calling on him to apologize or “his credibility will suffer”. On July 9th, 2017, after Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he’s contemplating a joing cyber-security agency WITH Vladimir Putin and Russia, Graham comments, “It’ s not the dumbest idea, but it’s pretty close.” Graham gave a less than subtle hint to Donald Trump about how to respond to white supremacists carrying out a terror attack in Charlottesville, to “do more” and to make sure to “dissuade these groups that he’s their friend”. He defended bother Robert Mueller and A.G. Jeff Sessions from Trump’s attacks on Twitter.

However… all good things must come to an end. Just when we thought that perhaps Senator Lindsey Graham might be the last Republican with a conscience… well, we got too close to Graham having to defend his U.S. Senate seat in a GOP Primary in a red state like South Carolina in 2020… and his heel turn came due. And when it arrived, it was pretty f***ing hard to miss. It was in the midst of the hearings to confirm Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that Graham snapped back hard to the right, digging in on conspiracy theories, and defending an admitted drunk and alleged rapist in a near-spittle-projecting tirade playing out across live cable news broadcasts. He blew off protesters trying to relate their own experiences with sexual assault, coldly telling them, “Go to the cops” rather than stop and listen to them.

Since that day, Graham has been relentlessly partisan, and suckling at the teat of Trump whenever possible, because he’s so loyal to his old friend John McCain that he didn’t even let the body get cold before selling out. He’ll argue against gun control, claiming he needs an AR-15 to “fend off looters during a hurricane”, and spending most of the summer of 2019 lying his ass off about the Trump administration’s concentration camps that hold immigrants, saying “I don’t care if they stay for 400 days” (the legal allowed holding time for undocumented immigrants to be held per the law is 90 days) and for whatever reason, he wanted to make it easier for the Trump administration to keep children locked in cages.

There isn’t an emptier suit in Washington, D.C. than Lindsey Graham. For all his rage and bile, deep down, he’s a coward who stands up for the worst, and inflicts harm upon the most innocent. And that will be his legacy, when all is said and done.