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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

People are dying or are about die in areas of Puerto Rico from lack of aid. And Trump seems to be getting a pass.

Of course he is. Trump's steered the dialogue away from Puerto Rico, North Korea, the aftermath of the Texas and Florida storms, not to mention another failure of the Obamacare repeal to the nonsense over the NFL. And his half-assed crusade has got his followers cheering because their hero is sticking it to those uppity rich and arrogant black athletes who refuse to shut up and stay in their place.

[Scott Taylor]

Trump calling for a ban on players kneeling during the National Anthem is absolutely absurd.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...ource=facebook

Good way to get people interested in football again, though. I bet the ratings go up and up and up now. And I bet it was not a coincidence.

[Kirby101]

Thousands Of Voters Didn’t Cast A Ballot In Wisconsin Because Of Voter ID, Study Finds

Wisconsin’s voter ID law discouraged as many as 23,252 people in the state’s two largest counties from voting in last year’s presidential election, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The study, based on a survey of people in Milwaukee and Dane counties who did not vote, says the law discouraged 16,801 to 23,252 people from voting. The researchers estimated that 9,001 to 14,101 people actually were blocked from voting, based on answers from nonvoters who said the main reason they didn’t cast a ballot was because they believed they didn’t have acceptable ID.

Hilary lost WI by 10,000 votes, but we can't blame voter suppression according to some.

Zinke says a third of Interior’s staff is disloyal to Trump

If an Obama official had said that, they would have been out with torches for his resignation.

[Surf]

And his half-assed crusade has got his followers cheering because their hero is sticking it to those uppity rich and arrogant black athletes who refuse to shut up and stay in their place.

The President is doing this for distraction but also for some sport I think. If black athletes are going to be his new Hilary Clinton, well, that going to put A LOT of pressure on his followers to show how ill informed, easily distracted or how racist their hand can be. I'm a sports talk nut and the ways the guys on the radio are falling behind these statements like landmines, whether on the right or wrong side, on the side to listen or be compassionate, or on the side where these blacks ought to be grateful for what's be "given" to them (If you heard 'Judge' Jeanine Pirro's comments over this who left out all but the N-word), it seems the harmful rhetoric is ramping up. Good times.

Oh yea, and the people of Puerto Rico ought to clear their tab before the water and food come.

[Gray Lensman]

Remember that Trump was rebuffed by the NFL multiple times when he wanted to become an owner, and that the quixotic lawsuit that destroyed the USFL was mostly driven by Trump.

[TheInvisibleMan]

The President is doing this for distraction but also for some sport I think. If black athletes are going to be his new Hilary Clinton, well, that going to put A LOT of pressure on his followers to show how ill informed, easily distracted or how racist their hand can be. I'm a sports talk nut and the ways the guys on the radio are falling behind these statements like landmines, whether on the right or wrong side, on the side to listen or be compassionate, or on the side where these blacks ought to be grateful for what's be "given" to them (If you heard 'Judge' Jeanine Pirro's comments over this who left out all but the N-word), it seems the harmful rhetoric is ramping up. Good times.

Oh yea, and the people of Puerto Rico ought to clear their tab before the water and food come.

and that's the hook of it all

that black people should be GRATEFUL we are even allowed to exist, so how dare we complain....

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Remember that Trump was rebuffed by the NFL multiple times when he wanted to become an owner, and that the quixotic lawsuit that destroyed the USFL was mostly driven by Trump.

Yeah, Trump won the lawsuit, but the damages he earned totaled just under four dollars if memory serves. Suddenly, I wonder if this isn't part of a vendetta by Trump get his revenge on the league. As we all know, Trump lives for grudges, and this could be one of his biggest.

[worstblogever]

Good way to get people interested in football again, though. I bet the ratings go up and up and up now. And I bet it was not a coincidence.

I read somewhere that this NFL Sunday was the highest rated NFL weekend in SEVEN YEARS.

[TheInvisibleMan]

Yeah, Trump won the lawsuit, but the damages he earned totaled just under four dollars if memory serves. Suddenly, I wonder if this isn't part of a vendetta by Trump get his revenge on the league. As we all know, Trump lives for grudges, and this could be one of his biggest.

$3 in summary judgment IIRC

[TheDarman]

and that's the hook of it all

that black people should be GRATEFUL we are even allowed to exist, so how dare we complain....

I've been hearing that a lot lately, even in my family. The idea that, in America, they are given these opportunities and make millions of dollars...and they can't respect that they wouldn't have that anywhere else. Regardless of whether or not that's true (and that's not verifiable--we're talking about a hypothetical situation where these people grew up elsewhere, not even necessarily a comparatively bad country but maybe even a developed nation like England), I don't think that a lot of people are able to comprehend what these protest are about. It isn't to say that America sucks. Hell, Donald Trump was able to become president by routinely bashing how bad America was. Sometimes words speak louder than actions and Donald Trump symbolically standing up to the anthem while saying that America sucks because it was too inclusive to minorities, like Muslims and Mexicans explicitly, says a lot. Instead, these protests are to make the point that, while America can be comparatively good and, indeed, perhaps among the best the world has to offer, it doesn't mean that America is so good that it requires standing in front of the flag and placing one's hand on one's chest. We still have problems, and these problems are big ones, and we ought to solve them. Until then, many people, I'd argue understandably, think that America isn't a country worth celebrating in that way.

I think Jason Kander came out with one of the best quotes from the whole debacle:

Patriotism isn't about making everyone stand and salute the flag. Patriotism is about making a country where everyone wants to.

McConnell pulls planned vote for the Obamacare repeal bill.

HALLELUJAH!

[Tami]

Senate GOP abandons latest effort to unwind the Affordable Care Act

Senate Republicans decided Tuesday not to hold a vote on unwinding the Affordable Care Act, effectively preserving the landmark 2010 law for the foreseeable future.

In deciding not to take up the latest proposal, authored by Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.), their fellow Republicans are abandoning the policy goal that has animated their party for more than seven years.

Top Republicans, however, also indicated they have little interest in shoring up the existing insurance market operating under the 2010 law. Instead, they suggested, the ongoing instability would backfire on Democrats and build momentum for the ACA’s eventual repeal.

“I personally think it’s time for the American people to see what the Democrats have done to them on health care,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah). “They’re going to find they can’t pay for it, they’re going to find that it doesn’t work. . . . Now that will make it tough on everybody. Maybe that’s what it take to wise people up.”

AKA: As soon as we destroy the ACA by every means at our disposal, the people will be blaming the Democrats and not us Republicans [insert evil laugh track here]

[worstblogever]

McConnell pulls planned vote for the Obamacare repeal bill.

HALLELUJAH!

[Kal-El Summers]

OR driving to Florida with some friends, stopping in Georgia for gas, and getting a friendly warning from a local deputy for us to fill up at this station and not stop for the next 3 counties

and he was legit nice about it, the warning was heartfelt

Oh man, I've heard plenty of stories like that. When I worked at Sam's Club as a cashier, I'd usually try and make some small talk with the customers and the stories some of the black folks from up north would tell about getting pulled over by troopers who would warn them that they should make sure that they're past certain counties/towns before nightfall were fascinating. Like some of them were literally told to run red lights/stop signs to ensure that they were safe. That's some real mind blowing shit to a 19 year-old.

[TheDarman]

AKA: As soon as we destroy the ACA by every means at our disposal, the people will be blaming the Democrats and not us Republicans [insert evil laugh track here]

They don't seem to understand that Obama himself has been saying that there need to be improvements made to the law. No piece of major legislation, like the ACA, was ever fully functional and completed from the initial draft of the bill. And, frankly, a lot of the failures the ACA has now, such as lack of cost controls and the like, can be tied back to the process used to get "moderate" and conservative Senators on board the legislation. Now, it is suffering from a lack of price controls (shocking) and the lack of incentive to purchase insurance for young people (costs go up but the fine for not getting insurance goes up nominally). There also needed to be more regulations about the comprehensive nature of the plans in order to ensure that when people bought insurance, they were buying the right kind. This isn't even to mention the kind of sabotaging that has gone on behind the scenes to disrupt and hurt these markets, and, more directly, this plan, by Republicans (such as not expanding Medicaid).

The truth is that these guys are in control of every facet of government. They own what happens to health care. Moderates and liberals especially understand this. If they were to work on some common sense fixes to shore up the markets and make them work better, they would be able to do that. But they would rather stick it to Obama. This is as their president gets increasingly unpopular and is headed towards the mid-terms where there is always anti-White-House sentiment. They're dreaming if they think that they can get away with this line of attack--provided Democrats are actually aware of how to weaponize the fact that Republicans could've done this on their lonesome or helped them fix the markets and they did neither. It's Democrats' battle to lose. We'll see if they do.

And...

[Tami]

Mark Cuban lent the Mavericks team plane to a Puerto Rican player to bring relief supplies to his home country

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban lent the team plane to point guard J.J. Barea to fly food, water, and supplies to Puerto Rico, according to ESPN's Tim MacMahon.

Barea, who is from Puerto Rico, set up a relief fund for Hurricane Maria victims with his wife, Puerto Rican actress and model Viviana Ortiz. They have raised over $140,000, according to MacMahon.

Barea left the team on Monday after communicating with his parents for the first time on Sunday and learning where help was most needed. He'll reportedly return on the team plane on Tuesday night.

Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle also confirmed Cuban's generous donation:

"Mark gave him our team plane. They loaded up a bunch of stuff, supplies, etc., to take over to Puerto Rico, and they're going to turn around and come back. He's going to take his mom and grandmother back with him, and my understanding is his dad is going to stay over there and slug it out with all of the recovery efforts."