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

[Gray Lensman]

Huntsman is probably one of the few Republicans I wouldn't mind being President tbh, probably wouldn't vote for him, but I wouldn't lose my mind the way I did with the last two Republican fields. So it doesn't surprise me his daughter was the one to say that.

Edit: just googled, not a blonde either

How did she get a job on Fox? I thought blonde was a requirement, or maybe it just seems that way...

[Tendrin]

If you want to criticize my comments about geographic sorting, please tell me where I'm wrong, and the analysis that backs that up.

I think 'geographic sorting' is just a way to blame urban lack of representation on people moving to cities and a way to defend Republican congressional dominance.

A 2015 study showed: Hyperbolic claims of a “sorted” country aside, geographic polarization in the United States is limited at best. Partisan polarization could be a real and consequential phenomenon in the electorate, but it has little geographic, “red versus blue” manifestation.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/...111/ssqu.12202

A 2016 study found /no evidence/ of partisan sorting

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/do...10.1086/687569

Oh and here's another good one:

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/201...n-realignment/

What we're actually seeing with so-called 'geographic sorting' is the last realignment of the solid south, stronger extremes driven by the nationalization of local political races.

The argument over 'geographic sorting' is just a backwards looking idea from a flawed place that seeks to blame people living in cities for living in cities for their lack of representation and demand unrealistic fixes telling people to move to places where there are no jobs so they can have a political voice. It's an absurd argument, Mets, designed only to explain why 'urban Democrats' have so many 'wasted votes', instead of ACTUALLY ADDRESSING THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM, such as the House being frozen at 435 and the way districts are drawn, and yes, frigging gerrymandering.

We see our data as suggesting that the country has begun to “sort” into more politically segregated counties but that the evidence does not fit the timeline suggested by existing accounts. Instead we find evidence that until 1988 counties that swung for one party over another either became more heterogeneous or switched parties in the following election. However, in 1996 the country began a steady shift toward geographic polarization. This timeline suggest that the increasing political homogeneity of the American neighborhood is more likely driven by partisan realignment and the culmination of other political events that have made it easier for partisans to line up their ideology with their choice of candidates at the ballot box than voter decisions about where to live. However, we also find evidence that particularly in the last decade, voters decisions about where to live are driving political polarization.

It could just be, and bear with me here, that the increasingly openly racist and sexist party you support has little in common with people living in a cosmopolitan center and that people who DO move there tend to become *less* racist and sexist.

But hey, I didn't actually /want/ to have this discussion because anytime anyone brings up gerrymandering, you're quick to defensively post about 'geographic sorting', which is and will always remain political class hyperbolic bullshit as a way to explain 'just how things are' and how we're 'totally helpless to do anything about it' except demand completely unrealistic fixes: the bulk of which conveniently fall on Dem voters.

[Malvolio]

"Trump Threatens to End All Trade With Allies"

"Leaving the G7 summit on Saturday, President Trump said that the U.S. might end all trade with America’s closest allies if those countries don’t submit to his demands over reduced trade barriers. Trump also confirmed that he had told the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Italy that there should be no tariffs between them and the U.S. of any kind. Whether Trump’s characteristically hyperbolic threat, or overarching proposal, will be taken seriously is another matter.

Referring to what he called “ridiculous and unfair” tariffs on U.S. imports, Trump said, “It’s going to stop — or we’ll stop trading with them. And that’s a very profitable answer, if we have to do it.”

Trump left the G7 while it was still underway so that he could travel to Singapore to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. The trade-warring president claimed that his relationship with other G7 leaders was “a 10,” but the contentious summit clearly proved otherwise.

The Trump administration recently imposed steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from the EU and Canada, having already imposed them on Japan. Those countries, along with Mexico, have pledged to impose their own higher tariffs on billions of dollars of U.S. imports in retaliation, as America’s allies appear to have become fed up with the combative and chaotic Trump administration, and are shifting their strategy from trying to reach and educate Trump about the complexities of international trade, to seeking to punish the U.S. economy instead.

“If they retaliate, they’re making a mistake,” Trump said on Saturday, meaning that he believes U.S. allies have more to lose than gain by entering into a trade war with the U.S."

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...th-allies.html

So Trump is basically saying, "I'm taking my ball and going home! Nyah!"

[Tendrin]

So Trump is basically saying, "I'm taking my ball and going home! Nyah!"

But her emails!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

U.S.-Canada Spat Escalates, Europeans Criticize Trump’s G-7 Move

The spat drew in Germany and France, who accused Trump of destroying trust and acting inconsistently. But hey, that's just what Trump's BFF Bad Vlad wanted....and got.

**********

Lindsey Graham Defies Trump: Readmitting Russia To The G-7 Would Be A ‘Mistake’

“The Soviet Union may have fallen, but the evil it represents is alive and well in Putin’s Russia,” Graham said. And Trump is trying to cultivate that evil.

**********

Elon Musk Company Hands Out ‘Fun’ Flamethrowers In Scorched LA

Musk urges buyers to be careful as a brush fire rages in Santa Clarita. Talk about utter FOOLISHNESS!

**********

Parkland Drama Students Perform ‘Seasons Of Love’ At Tony Awards

The song from “Rent” honored the drama department director at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who helped save students during the massacre.

**********

The Lasting Damage Of Trump’s Disastrous Diplomacy

It’s hardly a surprise that Donald Trump blew up the Group of Seven summit. In his warped view of the world, America’s closest allies are enemies, and nations that represent dangerous threats are friends.

Thus, Russia is to be welcomed back, while Canada, about as benign a neighbor as exists, is a menace for taking advantage of the U.S. on trade. (Fact check: The U.S. government’s own data suggest the U.S. ran a small trade surplus with Canada in 2017.) The European Union, whose subsidy and open-market policies are on a par with our own, is seen as a bigger threat than mercantilist China. And North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un gets warmer words than the leaders of Europe.

Has the world gone mad? No, only Donald Trump.

Trump’s bullshit in a china shop can best be understood on three levels. First, sheer ignorance. Second, thin-skinned petulance and pique. After barely papering over differences at the actual summit, Trump destroyed whatever shred of goodwill remained in a tweetstorm triggered by the effrontery of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s criticisms.

But the third reason is the most dangerous of all — corruption and opportunism. Trump gave China a pass on the national security risks of the telecom company ZTE as an apparent thank-you for Chinese gifts to his business empire and that of his daughter Ivanka.

He keeps cutting Russian President Vladimir Putin slack after years of Russian bailouts for Trump’s business empire. He is now in danger of being taken to the cleaners by North Korea, because Kim is better at sucking up to Trump than, say, Trudeau or French President Emmanuel Macron, and because Trump desperately needs a symbolic win.

[worstblogever]

So Trump is basically saying, "I'm taking my ball and going home! Nyah!"

He's gonna curl up in bed at the White House with a porno mag (he can't get internet porn on a government computer inside, and has been complaining about that to staff) and pass out among the cheeseburger wrappers.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" published profiles of Texas State Senator Charles Perry, who we noted that immediately after being sworn in as a state senator, talked of a "spiritual battle" being fought over abortion and same sex marriage that he likened to stopping the Holocaust. He has tried to pass same sex marriage bans based on "state's rights", voted for "trap laws" to close down the majority, if not all abortion clinics in Texas, pushed for unnecessary Voter ID bills to combat the statistically non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud, and voted to drug test welfare recipients (still always a failed conservative experiment). While this might make him sound like a Fundamentalist Baptist pillar, there's also word that Perry frequents gentleman's clubs and has had exotic dancers accuse him of stalking them. So, add some hypocrisy to the mix. In April of 2015, Perry co-sponsored SB 2065, a "religious freedom" bill that was written to allow people to use their faith to refuse marriage services to same sex couples. But believe it or not, that isn't the worst issue position Perry took, as in July of 2015, he appeared at a "Homeland Terrorism Conference" hosted by the dodgy Christian Reporter News. (At the event, ISIS was referred to as "true Islam", to give you an idea of how intolerant their ideas are.) Oddly, their discussion of Islamic terror also delved into theories that Muslims keep male sex slaves, or have sex with donkeys. So... that's some healthy rhetoric. And it wasn't a one-off, as Charles Perry freaked right the hell out after the Paris terror attacks, where he wrote to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to ask if there were any way that the state could refuse to admit Syrian refugees.He reiterated his paranoid fears on local conservative talk radio thereafter, insisting that Texas was a target for Islamic terror, especially if they took in Syrian refugees.

But it's not like Charles Perry had to face any consequences of hanging out with hatemongers, and demonizing a whole religion in 2016, as he was allowed to run for re-election completely unopposed. Because Texas, that's why.

So then it should come as little surprise that Charles Perry has not dialed back his Fundamentalist insanity. He was a sponsor of SB 892, a religious freedom bill of sorts aimed at deferring to the “deeply held faith” of Christian adoption agencies, hoping that they might turn away prospective same sex couples looking to adopt. Perry insisted that the legislation must exist, or Christian religious organizations would ignore the various things Jesus spoke of helping children if it didn’t get passed, saying:

“This bill is not a license to discriminate. Rather, it is a license to participate.”

Based off of a lot of his other quotes and actions, we’re calling bulls***.

Now, where Charles Perry has definitely stepped up his game is in his anti-immigrant fervor. One of the bigger state level battles going on right now is over Texas’ anti-immigrant law SB 4, which would ban sanctuary cities from existing within the state. Perry has not only voted for this xenophobic nightmare of a piece of legislation (using the word “legislation” loosely), but he has defended it by claiming it “upholds the rule of law”. Considering the constitutionality of the bill has been questioned because of how it empowers Texas law enforcement to racially profile people to enforce it, that’s a really interesting perspective. That does not mean, however, that he isn’t still an anti-abortion zealot, because he responded to the news of three Planned Parenthood centers opening in Texas by starting what amounted to a symbolic petition on his Facebook page, writing that “The abortion industry has officially targeted West Texas. Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, has multi-million dollar plans to re-open clinics in our communities, and they must be stopped.” (For the sake of facts, Planned Parenthood does not profit in any way from providing abortions, which is only 3% of their budget anyway, none of which comes from government funding, and it definitely is not an “abortion industry”.)

Charles Perry has been re-elected through 2020, now, so we’ll be keeping an eye on him for a while, it seems.

[aja_christopher]

The Europeans know what's up...




"Just tell us what Vladmir has on you. Maybe we can help."

https://twitter.com/guyverhofstadt/s...63366118477825
http://thehill.com/policy/internatio...-putin-have-on

------

...though I'd posit that Trump is doing it for the $$$ (and the sociopathic thrill) as much as due to any possible kompromat.

And it's all part of Bannon's plan, regardless -- deconstruction and dissolution of the power of our government both here and abroad, under the Republican banner...

...because less regulation means they can get away with even more criminality in the future.

Why else would they show so little concern that the Russians interfered and continue to interfere in our elections? Because that's exactly the kind of illegal activity that they -- and by extension the Republican party -- both condone and support.

[aja_christopher]

[PaulBullion]

Web of elite Russians met with NRA execs during 2016 campaign

Several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle or high in the Russian Orthodox Church, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Association officials during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, according to photographs and an NRA source.

The contacts have emerged amid a deepening Justice Department investigation into whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member Alexander Torshin illegally channeled money through the gun rights group to add financial firepower to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.

The NRA pumped about twice as much money into the Trump campaign as into Romney's.

The amount of treason it took to stop Hillary Clinton is breath taking. And we keep finding out more and more.

[PaulBullion]

Web of elite Russians met with NRA execs during 2016 campaign



The NRA pumped about twice as much money into the Trump campaign as into Romney's.

The amount of treason it took to stop Hillary Clinton is breath taking. And we keep finding out more and more.

In related news:

´Founder of Nigel Farage's Brexit campaign met with Russian embassy officials multiple times & offered multi-billion Dollar gold deal

Brexit and Trump are the biggest war victories Russia has seen since taking Berlin in WW II.

[JCAll]

He's gonna curl up in bed at the White House with a porno mag (he can't get internet porn on a government computer inside, and has been complaining about that to staff) and pass out among the cheeseburger wrappers.

What? The President can't look at internet porn? It really is the hardest job int he world.

[Trey Strain]

Why Democrats control nothing.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/twit...124515593.html

[InformationGeek]

Why Democrats control nothing.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/twit...124515593.html

This article has nothing to do with Democrats.

[PaulBullion]

Why Democrats control nothing.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/twit...124515593.html

Jack was actually an ******* by hyping one of the most homophobic companies during Pride month. But you would not be able to see that.