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

[Gray Lensman]

No thanks. The average Brit's views on immigration make the U.S. seem downright enlighened.

Oh, we'd probably be left to our own devices most of the time, except the Queen's rep would have a (seldom used) power to fire congress and the President. Or deny them the ability to even serve (that one looks particularly attractive right now, I have to admit).

In the 70's when Australia's parliament shut down the government over budget fighting the Queen's rep fired the entire lot. Well, he started with the leaders of both parties, and then after that got a budget passed, called for new elections and forbid any current member of the government from running for office.

[JCAll]

Oh, we'd probably be left to our own devices most of the time, except the Queen's rep would have a (seldom used) power to fire congress and the President. Or deny them the ability to even serve (that one looks particularly attractive right now, I have to admit).

In the 70's when Australia's parliament shut down the government over budget fighting the Queen's rep fired the entire lot. Well, he started with the leaders of both parties, and then after that got a budget passed, called for new elections and forbid any current member of the government from running for office.

I'm liking this plan even more.

[WAKANDA FOREVER!]

Oh, we'd probably be left to our own devices most of the time, except the Queen's rep would have a (seldom used) power to fire congress and the President. Or deny them the ability to even serve (that one looks particularly attractive right now, I have to admit).

In the 70's when Australia's parliament shut down the government over budget fighting the Queen's rep fired the entire lot. Well, he started with the leaders of both parties, and then after that got a budget passed, called for new elections and forbid any current member of the government from running for office.

Hmmmmmmmmm.

[numberthirty]

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...-in-yemen.html

Clinton Adviser Proposes Attacking Iran to Aid the Saudis in Yemen

Michael Morell is a former acting director of the CIA and a national security adviser to Hillary Clinton — one who is widely expected to occupy a senior post in her administration.

He is also an opponent of the Iran nuclear agreement, a defender of waterboarding, and an advocate for making Russia “pay a price” in Syria by covertly killing Putin’s soldiers.

On Tuesday, Morell added another title to that résumé: proponent of going to war with Iran, for the sake of securing Saudi Arabia’s influence in Yemen.

“Ships leave Iran on a regular basis carrying arms to the Houthis in Yemen,” Morell said, in remarks to the Center for American Progress, the liberal think tank founded by Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. “I would have no problem from a policy perspective of having the U.S. Navy boarding their ships, and if there are weapons on them, to turn those ships around.”

Morell did note, per Bloomberg’s Eli Lake, that this policy “raised questions of international maritime law.”

Which is a bit like saying, “Breaking into someone’s home, putting a gun in their face, and demanding they hand over all their weapons raises questions about armed-robbery law.”

Understatement aside, Morell’s stipulation suggests that he might be dissuaded from initiating a naval war with Iran if the legal issues prove too pesky. But the fact that a person who has Clinton’s ear on national security thinks this proposal makes sense from a “policy perspective” is alarming.

Forcibly boarding another nation’s naval or civilian vessels (outside one’s own territorial waters) and confiscating their weapons can reasonably be construed as an act of war, a point that would be unmistakable if the roles here were reversed.

How many Americans (whose paychecks aren’t directly or indirectly subsidized by Gulf State monarchies) think keeping Yemen within Saudi Arabia’s sphere of influence is a cause worth entering another Middle Eastern war over?

How many would think so if they knew that the Saudis had recently bombed a Yemeni funeral hall, killing 140 people and leading the Obama administration to reconsider its support for the Saudi intervention? Or that some observers of the conflict contend that the Saudis are exaggerating Iran’s role, in order to justify the kingdom’s own expansionist ambitions?

Even if one accepts the Saudis’ preferred narrative — that Yemen’s Houthi rebels are tools of an Iranian regime hell-bent on spreading “Persian subversion” — it’s difficult to see how America has a pressing interest in keeping one of the world’s poorest countries aligned with Riyadh instead of Tehran.

By contrast, it’s easy to see how allowing the Saudis to bomb Yemeni funerals with American missiles could inspire blowback that does threaten our national security, and easier still to see how a hot conflict with Iran could take a toll on our nation’s blood and treasure.

Morell is just one of many advisers Clinton has consulted with over the course of her campaign. And as Josh Rogin has noted, there is a group of intervention skeptics among her inner circle, who hope to beat back the bipartisan call for both an escalation of American involvement in the Syrian civil war and a more “muscular” approach in our dealings with Iran.

Still, Morell’s perspective is in line with that of a new report on Middle East strategy released by the Center for American Progress and the thinking of Clinton’s top national-security aide Jake Sullivan, who recently declared, “We need to be raising the costs to Iran for its destabilizing behavior and we need to be raising the confidence of our Sunni partners.”

On Tuesday, Morell put this sentiment in terms both more concise and grandiose: “We’re back and we’re going to lead again.”

The best hope for those who don’t share Morell’s definition of leadership may be Clinton’s instinct for political caution. While intervention skeptics (or “Iran apologists,” as Eli Lake, whose passion I love, refers to them) are in the minority among elites, they’re quite likely in the majority among the voting public — a point not entirely lost on said foreign-policy mandarins.

“My concern is that we may be talking to each other and agreeing with each other,” Brian Katulis, a senior Middle East analyst at the Center for American Progress, recently told the Washington Post. “But that these discussions are isolated from where the public may be right now.”

Yep. Nothing to be worried about there.

[Tendrin]

We already know the Cllinton campaign has received terrible advice.

We also know she never took any of it.

[numberthirty]

We already know the Cllinton campaign has received terrible advice.

We also know she never took any of it.

"I've just managed not to do anything seriously stupid yet." doesn't really put my mind at ease.

Pretty sure you could have said the same of George W. at one point in time.

[Gray Lensman]

"I've just managed not to do anything seriously stupid yet." doesn't really put my mind at ease.

Pretty sure you could have said the same of George W. at one point in time.

Still light years ahead of our other options - "Let's do even stupider stuff right away! That's the plan!"

[numberthirty]

Still light years ahead of our other options - "Let's do even stupider stuff right away! That's the plan!"

So, "Get amped. We might just be doing some stupid stuff from the looks of things."?

Still less than at ease. Guy with ties to fracking already in the mix. Advisor talking fixing things with bullets.

[ed2962]

I'm sure there was drama. I'm sure there was Misandry and Misogyny. But to vilify people and provide no evidence? No there needs to be MORE than that. Sorry, you feel differently.
I think we both want people to be treated with respect and dignity. But We vilify Trump for doing what she says others are doing to her. We have AMPLE evidence Trump folks are doing this. We can't be an angry mob. There needs to be proof.

Fandom is broken. People can't like what they like without being in camps and hating others who disagree with what we like. I like white Psylocke, others don't. People have argued it for decades. There are male artists and writers being driven off also.

Cho is a respected artist, yet feminists and other SJW types attack him on the regular because he doesn't draw women the way THEY want him to. Same with Manara. Manara like me do Erotic style art. Cho draws women with more meat on them than the average artist. But some feminists do not like that. They attack him CONSTANTLY! They then get male artists to attack him. But Cho provides evidence of the attacks.
That's all I'm saying.

There's this tit for tat thing that drives me nuts. People attack each other for attention, then claim the other is attacking, for attention. Cracks me up.

But she hasn't singled out a specific person for any specific comment...she's admitted that she didn't get any rape threats or death threats. She just got tired of dealing with negative comments. She's not calling for someone to lose their job. I'm not sure that we need proof that she's burnt out with Twitter comments.

I have respect for Manara and Cho as artists, but hiring Manara for 616 covers is just wrong headed. It's like hiring Slayer to play your nephew's bar mitzvah. And Cho...well, he's more than capable of throwing a tantrum or two himself.

[Gray Lensman]

So, "Get amped. We might just be doing some stupid stuff from the looks of things."?

Still less than at ease. Guy with ties to fracking already in the mix. Advisor talking fixing things with bullets.

I understand you being nervous, but our choices aren't whether or not we have to play Russian Roulette, but if you play with a revolver or an automatic.

[Mister Mets]

Yet Corey Lewandowski is still on CNN's payroll.

To be fair, it's tough for them to find Trump supporters (defined here as people who backed Trump from the beginning.) It's pretty easy to find political types with respectable titles who backed Hillary.

[Jabare]

The United States Of America has violated EVERY treaty with Native Americans. EVERY damn one.

Woman: Sheriff Caged Native Americans In Dog Kennels (Video)
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/socie...em-dog-kennels

[Sakuza]

list potential benefits of a trump presidency

[Gray Lensman]

list potential benefits of a trump presidency

1: Endless list of material for comedy sketches.

2: If you are a 'lives in the Book of Revelation' style Christian - your chances of seeing the Rapture increase. (You might also be surprised - hope you read up on the "Left Behind" series, as it's probably going to be relevant to your situation).

3: ???

[Tami]

1: Endless list of material for comedy sketches.

2: If you are a 'lives in the Book of Revelation' style Christian - your chances of seeing the Rapture increase. (You might also be surprised - hope you read up on the "Left Behind" series, as it's probably going to be relevant to your situation).

3: ???

3) If you are lucky, you'll live long enough to see the Zombie Apocalypse [or something similar]