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

[Shawn Hopkins]

I think he has enough creative input in the show he goddamn hosts to either say "I won't talk to that car fire of a human being" or to choose not to pet him like a billy goat.

That's not even the problem though. The problem is he defended his actions afterwards by saying he's nice to everyone. Trump isn't everyone. He deserves to be singled out. That would have been the responsibke thing to do.

He's a producer on the show. He has a lot of input.

[Iron Maiden]

If it were just people on the internet, I might agree with you. But there has been recent evidence of internet threats turning into actual physical violence.

And it manifests in other ways. The local Catholic (tuition-based) school I posted about here a while ago is having problems again. Earlier in February, there were chants of "build the wall" and Trump masks during a basketball game against the opposing team. Now there are reports of racist graphitti in the boys bathroom along with swastikas. Of course, they did not disclose in the newspaper what was written.

[MindofShadow]

By the Gods I don't believe in. This has to be confronted at EVERY turn. Take these bigots at their words and actions. They ARE racist. Don't give them the benefit of just being kids.
Now, these bigots feel empowered in Trumps America, the media won't call them out, in the interests of being fair. There's no fair in bigotry and racism.
Call these morons OUT!
#stayonoffense
#notonourwatch
You don't believe this has to do with Trump, you're a fool.


http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/miss...mments/#disqus

TBF, this is a common thing in HS to turn back as the other team is announced

of course, the trump sign is an... disturbing addition

[Shining Trapezohedron]

And it manifests in other ways. The local Catholic (tuition-based) school I posted about here a while ago is having problems again. Earlier in February, there were chants of "build the wall" and Trump masks during a basketball game against the opposing team. Now there are reports of racist graphitti in the boys bathroom along with swastikas. Of course, they did not disclose in the newspaper what was written.

But, but the Alt-Reich said, everyone is supposed to unite under Trump, and for Democrats to stop their whining!
Surely this is supposed to bring everyone together!

[Tami]

But, but the Alt-Reich said, everyone is supposed to unite under Trump, and for Democrats to stop their whining!
Surely this is supposed to bring everyone together!

You're being sarcastic, right?

[Tami]

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announces he’s stepping down

The nation's top telecom regulator said Thursday that he will step down at the end of President Obama's term, paving the way for President-elect Donald Trump to nominate a successor when he takes office in January.

Tom Wheeler, the Obama appointee who has led the agency for three years, was the driving force behind a number of sweeping regulations that aimed to inject competition into the telecommunications sector. Wheeler's signature battle with conservatives over net neutrality ultimately mandated that cable and telecom companies should abide by some of the same rules when providing Internet service as when providing phone service.

Republicans are dancing in glee over this.

[Shining Trapezohedron]

You're being sarcastic, right?

More sarcastic than I've ever been in my life.

The horror of the Alt-Reich and the path they are taking is scaring the living hell out of me.

[Tami]

More sarcastic than I've ever been in my life.

The horror of the Alt-Reich and the path they are taking is scaring the living hell out of me.

You're not alone. Anyone who isn't scared is either in denial or part of the problem.

[Tami]

What The Trump/Ryan Plan To Privatize Medicare Really Means

Privatizing means giving seniors vouchers so they can shop for health insurance on the open market. Copays, deductibles, tier 1, 2, 3 medications, in-plan providers versus out-of-plan, etc. are all part of the health insurance jungle.

How do you feel about your parents or grandparents analyzing dozens of complex plans? Many of my patients on Medicare have cognitive impairment. They would not be able to determine what insurance company’s policy was best for them.

Because insurance companies must make a profit, they will charge a senior with high blood pressure, diabetes and a hip that needs to be replaced far more than that senior living on Social Security could possibly pay. Many readers know that a policy for a healthy couple costs between $800-$1,600/month and that’s with a high deductible and anywhere between 20-50 percent copay for hospitalizations. A hip replacement costs around $50,000. How many seniors can afford $10,000-$25,000 cash for that copay?

When some citizens voted Republican, they thought they were going to “take back America.” Instead, Republicans are going to take back millions of Americans’ health care by destroying Medicare.

Michael Wynn
Salem

A letter to the editor of the Statesman Journal newspaper

[WestPhillyPunisher]

What The Trump/Ryan Plan To Privatize Medicare Really Means



A letter to the editor of the Statesman Journal newspaper

I'm some eight years away from being eligible for Medicare. I shudder to imagine the sort of mess it'll be by then if Republicans screw everything up.

[Iron Maiden]

Since he used "Reich" instead of "right" I assume so

[Kirby101]

I'm some eight years away from being eligible for Medicare. I shudder to imagine the sort of mess it'll be by then WHEN Republicans screw everything up.

fixed it for you.

[Tami]

How Breitbart and the conservative right opened a new front in the war over fake news

This is what more News sites need to do to combat misinformation

The Trump-supporting website has accused Guardian US of reporting ‘fake news’ about illegal immigration. Here, we set out the facts behind the original article

In an effort to deny the reality of immigration trends on the southern US border, Breitbart News claimed to have “fact-checked” a Guardian profile of a Border Patrol agent, which they blasted as “fake news”.

The rightwing site accused the Guardian of disseminating false information for reporting a fundamental and demonstrably provable fact: that the number of undocumented border crossers is near a historic low.

In so doing, Breitbart also appeared to foreshadow an emerging line of attack from Trump loyalists against journalists and media organizations who don’t adhere to the president-elect’s version of events. On Tuesday, this sentiment was loudly proclaimed by Newt Gingrich, a longtime advocate for the president-elect, who said that Trump supporters were entering a “world in which we get to tell the truth”.

[Tami]

 How Will History Judge Barack Obama?

 The president succeeded in repairing our institutions—but millions of Americans wanted to blow them up instead.

[worstblogever]

It was on this day in both 2014 as well as 2015 that we published our original "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiles of former Michigan Congressman Dan Benishek, a three term Congressman who has repeatedly come under investigation for FEC violations during his three campaigns for office. He caught plenty of heat in for trying to continue to accept his Congressional paychecks during the 2013 Government Shutdown, only caving after a week of complaints from his district, and is one of the many Republicans who voted against relief aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Benishek is also a prolific denier of climate change, trying to claim he was a climate change scientist, himself, because he had taken biology courses in college, and denying any peer-reviewed evidence of man-made climate change exists (in spite of 97% of peer reviews saying it does). Since Benishek reluctantly retired after promising to do so after serving three terms in Congress, we'll go ahead and make that the day we regularly check up on him, and we'll start profiling a different wacky Republican on December 9th starting today. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 544-20, since this was established in July 2014.)


Marty Knollenberg

Welcome to the 544th original "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profile, where we're going to be talking about Marty Knollenberg, a member of the Michigan State Senate since 2014, after he elevated himself from the Michigan House of Representatives after serving on that body from 2007 through 2013. In a year where Republicans dominated, Knollenberg brought in a respectable 58% of the vote, thanks in part to name recognition (his daddy was a former U.S. Congressman) campaigning about how atrocious pot holes are in Michigan's highways (there's bipartisan agreement on that). However, we're not so sure that he'll have as much luck the next time he's up for re-election in 2016.

And that probably has a lot to do with what happened during a hearing in the state legislature in December of 2015, where a discussion was being held about educational disparities between different demographics in the state. When it was noted that the date showed students who were struggling were students of color (whose predominantly minority school districts are coincidentally also provided less funding), Marty Knollenberg had this to say:

"You mention why these schools districts fail, and you mention economically disadvantaged and non-white population are contributors to that. And we can’t fix that. We can’t make an African-American white. That’s just, it is what it is.”

So, minorities can't be fixed... does that indicate Knollenberg thinks they're broken?

Knollenberg, after facing widespread criticism for saying something that racist, went with the typical and lazy response that his comments were taken out of context (even though there is video of his entire statement), and giving an even more pathetic defense against racism of the "I have a black friend" vein, noting that he had an African-American employee. Because, y'know, you just can't be racist if you actually pay a minority for work they actually do.

Knollenberg then made headlines less than three months later when he was accused of assaulting an Oakland County clerk after a "State of the County" address, grabbing her arm and squeezing after she tried walking away from him.

What sorts of legislation does a guy like Marty Knollenberg support, though? Glad you asked...

• June 7th, 2012: Knollenberg votes for HB 5223, a bill to begin drug testing welfare recipients, which, whenever these bills are passed into law, they find ridiculously small amounts of drug use among those on government assistance, waste millions of taxpayer dollars on the cost of drug testing, and millions more when someone sues the state and has the law successfully overturned in the courts as a violation of the 4th Amendment.
• June 12th, 2012: Marty Knollenberg votes for stricter Voter ID laws in Michigan, to combat the statistically nonexistent problem of "in person voter fraud".
• December 14th, 2012: Knollenberg votes for HB 5711, for stricter regulations on abortion clinics, in an attempt to shut down most, if not all of the abortion clinics in Michigan.
• January 20th, 2016: Knollenberg votes for SB 207, a bill to authorize conducting roadside saliva drug tests if they feel, in their judgment, a driver might be under the influence of drugs. But nevermind the Fourth Amendment implications, of course.

What we're going to conclude is, if the 2018 election is a "Blue Wave" year coming, as often can be the backlash after the White House changes hands, we're hoping that Marty Knollenberg is one of those caught up in the populist tsunami and swept out of office.