All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[Adam Allen]

Also from that article...



While I'm not thrilled about it, how long should they wait to start making changes? What would "Acceptable" changes look like? It's not like Amazon is going anywhere. This is reality now.

Well, you said, "viable in the here and now" ... and, I would say that sales "trending upward" sounds viable, to me. "How long they should wait to start making changes" is a different question ... another is whether closing 63 stores and laying off thousands of people is the only change they could make to remain viable.

When you're asking about Wal-Mart's options, as if they are only making the hard choices necessary to keep their business afloat -- I just wanna point out, not only do they still kick the crap out of everybody in terms of profit (including Amazon) as they have for decades now, but the Waltons remain the richest family in the world, as the owners of this business.

[Tami]

President Trump Called El Salvador, Haiti 'Shithole Countries': Report

http://time.com/5100058/donald-trump.../?xid=homepage

And people have the nerve to still say he isn't racist

The Haitian government reportedly summoned U.S. ambassador or the highest-ranking member of the U.S. delegation to Hati in for an explanation of Trump's comments.

[Malvolio]

(1) I don't have a problem so much with the plaintiffs taking a deal, as with people considering that their case has been proven in spite of their taking the deal.

(2) Who does that? A narcissist with no taste, obviously. But so far he's not been successfully branded with the Roy Moore charge, and there might be a reason for that.

Yeah, the reason is related to the first point. Trump has a lot more money than Roy Moore (duh). So his lawyers can tie up any accuser long enough for her to give up and take whatever deal she can. Doesn't prove anything one way or the other. But consider this: Trump has long since passed the point of diminishing returns when it comes to bad publicity from sexual assault claims. The only reason to shut down the claims at this point is if they have some validity to them.

[kidfresh512]

The Haitian government reportedly summoned U.S. ambassador or the highest-ranking member of the U.S. delegation to Hati in for an explanation of Trump's comments.

Watching the networks try to report what he said is interesting. Anderson did a good job I thought stop beating around the bush and call it. Trump is a racist. And he's embarrassing. No genius even if you are racist would say this stuff. Even if you believe it.

Wow Don Lemon is going off on his opening tonight too. I appreciate the honesty and not tap dancing around the issue.

[mojotastic]

President Trump Called El Salvador, Haiti 'Shithole Countries': Report

http://time.com/5100058/donald-trump.../?xid=homepage

And people have the nerve to still say he isn't racist

I have no love for El Salvador, they will put in jail a women who gets an abortion and they have the problem with the maras and m-13 gang.

While i wouldnt use the term shithole, the least i would is that is not a good place to live.

[Darkspellmaster]

Good on reporters for going after him on this. This should not be tolerated at all especially from a sitting President.

Regarding Markie Mark. Isn't he friends with spacey too? Hope Michelle, Chris and Ridley win awards and Mark doesnt.

[Kal-El Summers]

Wal-Mart is a trash company, always has been

haven't stepped foot in one in almost 6 years now, ever since that doc and all that info came out about their setup, how they treat their employees, and so on

As someone who worked at Sam's Club a while back, pretty much everything you about how they treat employees is the stone-cold truth. The old orientation videos that I was shown blew my mind in how much they outright hated unions.

[numberthirty]

Well, you said, "viable in the here and now" ... and, I would say that sales "trending upward" sounds viable, to me. "How long they should wait to start making changes" is a different question ... another is whether closing 63 stores and laying off thousands of people is the only change they could make to remain viable.

When you're asking about Wal-Mart's options, as if they are only making the hard choices necessary to keep their business afloat -- I just wanna point out, not only do they still kick the crap out of everybody in terms of profit (including Amazon) as they have for decades now, but the Waltons remain the richest family in the world, as the owners of this business.

I'd say that neither of us have the exact details on what "Trending Upward" actually amounts to. Is it doing so in a way that looks even remotely sustainable?

While I don't have any love for the company, some employees in some stores/warehouse locations is still probably better for those employees than going the Radio Shack route.

As for the Waltons, they didn't make most of that money in the recent "Trending Upwards" years. They made it by being the Captain Glanton's gang of retail.

[numberthirty]

Good on reporters for going after him on this. This should not be tolerated at all especially from a sitting President.

Regarding Markie Mark. Isn't he friends with spacey too? Hope Michelle, Chris and Ridley win awards and Mark doesnt.

Is that guy winning awards something that actually happens?

[Mister Mets]

Regarding the Trump shithole comments...

It can be seen as Trump saying what a lot of people are thinking, which has always been part of his appeal. There are going to be plenty of Americans who like what he said, and some conservative defenses of a more nuanced view (just as there will be liberal attacks on the implications.)

It may cause significant political damage because while some mostly white people may think he was right, they might not going to be as motivated by the comments as the international community, or immigrant groups in the United States (as well as anyone who thinks his comments are about race rather than, say, education level of the typical immigrant).

It's troubling because an individual's character or ability to contribute to the United States is not determined by where they came from. That's not really a conversation his administration wants to have, while trying to get legislative support for immigration moves.

A lot of the coverage suggests that it's an effort to motivate the base, but this wasn't something Trump issued as a statement to the public. It was part of a conversation with lawmakers, which is a different context (He could've been saying something he knew would get out, or it could have just been his views/ advocacy for his base.)

[Gray Lensman]

I have no love for El Salvador, they will put in jail a women who gets an abortion and they have the problem with the maras and m-13 gang.

While i wouldnt use the term shithole, the least i would is that is not a good place to live.

I think they will even prosecute a woman for having a miscarriage, because it might have been an abortion.

[Tendrin]

Lol@Darrel Issa.

http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign...oring-district

GOP Rep. Darrell Issa, who said Wednesday he is not seeking reelection in California’s 49th District, has been discussing with colleagues the possibility of running in a neighboring San Diego district if embattled Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) resigns, multiple sources told The Hill.
Some of these discussions happened as recently as Wednesday, the day Issa announced he would not be running for reelection in his coastal Southern California district after*17 years in the House.
Most of Washington took that to mean Issa, the former Oversight Committee chairman and Congress’s wealthiest member, was leaving Capitol Hill for good.
But in his statement, Issa never specifically said he was retiring from Congress.
“[W]ith the support of my family, I have decided that I will not seek re-election in California's 49th District,” Issa said.

[Tendrin]

A former staffer has come forward to accuse Democratic New York state Sen. Jeff Klein of forcibly kissing her in 2015.
In an exclusive interview with HuffPost, 30-year-old Erica Vladimer said Klein “shoved his tongue” down her throat at a bar. A month after the incident, Vladimer says she left her job working for Klein.
“The fact that there was an environment that could make me doubt the self-confidence that I worked so hard to have ― that I got from the strong women in my life ― made me feel like it wasn’t the place for me,” Vladimer said of her decision to leave. “And that maybe the government wasn’t for me.”
Klein “unequivocally” denied the accusation in a statement to HuffPost provided by his lawyer.
Vladimer worked for the New York Senate from 2013 to 2015, first as a fellow, then as a policy analyst and counsel for the Independent Democratic Conference, reporting directly to Klein’s deputy chief of staff. Klein leads the IDC, and Vladimer said she worked with him on education budgets and volunteered for his 2014 campaign.

Klein, by the way, and the IDC, despite being Democrats in name, are responsible for the GOP running the Senate in New York. The GOP is refusing to investigate, naturally.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b03417e872f80e

The Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) is a group of eight members of the New York State Senate who were elected as Democrats and are in a majority coalition with the Republicans in the chamber. The IDC is led by Jeffrey D. Klein, and also includes David J. Valesky, David Carlucci, Diane Savino, Tony Avella, Jose Peralta, Jesse Hamilton, and Marisol Alcantara. "Independent Democrat" is not a recognized political party in New York State, so members of the caucus appear on the ballot as Democrats, but support the Republican leadership once elected.
Democrats lost control of the State Senate in the November 2010 elections, and removed Klein from his role as their chief election strategist. In 2011, Klein resigned as the Democrats' deputy leader and formed the IDC with Valesky, Carlucci, and Savino. Brooklyn Senator Simcha Felder, who is not a member of the IDC, caucuses with the Republicans, giving the Republican Party the majority and outright control of the chamber.

[Username taken]

President Trump Called El Salvador, Haiti 'Shithole Countries': Report

http://time.com/5100058/donald-trump.../?xid=homepage

And people have the nerve to still say he isn't racist

Funny enough, I’d never directly referred to Trump being racist but these comments put everything into a new context.

[Adam Allen]

I'd say that neither of us have the exact details on what "Trending Upward" actually amounts to. Is it doing so in a way that looks even remotely sustainable?

While I don't have any love for the company, some employees in some stores/warehouse locations is still probably better for those employees than going the Radio Shack route.

As for the Waltons, they didn't make most of that money in the recent "Trending Upwards" years. They made it by being the Captain Glanton's gang of retail.

We don't know the exact details of what "trending upwards" means, just like we don't know exactly what "viable in the here and now" means for the largest company on the planet.

Is it possible that neither of us knows if laying off thousands of people was necessary? Or do we just need to accept that it must have been, because they did it?

The Waltons never stopped being the most ruthless game in retail.