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

[TheInvisibleMan]

the big issue here is some tech companies and startups have left because THEY say there is no interest here in that field

which is only partially true

there are just more stable options up here, unlike some places where tech is the ONLY option

[Tazirai]

the big issue here is some tech companies and startups have left because THEY say there is no interest here in that field

which is only partially true

there are just more stable options up here, unlike some places where tech is the ONLY option

Here in NC, Tech, education, medical research, Solar energy, Textiles are huge, and no matter how the Republicans try and kill or stifle NC under the guise of helping "Small Business", which are never that small. We continue to grow. In the next 5 years, NC is going to be solid Blue again, and won't look back. The fossils are dying off and/or leaving office. The Gerrymandering is being tossed out, as are the deceptions behind election issues. Even Republican judges in state are sick of Republicans gaming the system.

[TheInvisibleMan]

CT has good jobs in construction (both commercial and residential), HVAC, and Yale and Sikorsky are still big employers..also Unilever has a presence here

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

Even if every Democrat had one or two questionable votes, it in no way compares to the insanity of what the Republicans are doing right now by shoveling huge amounts of cash into the mouths of Big Business and the 1%, while placing the health and welfare of the rest of America at grave risk.

This is why Democratic party won't improve. Because any form of scrutiny is met with push back, not holding dems accountable will not help america either. We know the republicas are basically the Legion of Doom. But that's not an excuse to let ineffectual democrats off the hook.

[wjowski]

This is why Democratic party won't improve. Because any form of scrutiny is met with push back, not holding dems accountable will not help america either. We know the republicas are basically the Legion of Doom. But that's not an excuse to let ineffectual democrats off the hook.

Perhaps America should worry more about it's sucking chest wound problem before thinking about plastic surgery.

[Tami]

This is why Democratic party won't improve. Because any form of scrutiny is met with push back, not holding dems accountable will not help america either. We know the republicas are basically the Legion of Doom. But that's not an excuse to let ineffectual democrats off the hook.

There is nothing wrong with self-reflection and scrutiny. But, there is a time and place for everything. Trying to find the right words....we know that Russia played an active role in the 2016 election, we know that they went after Democratic candidates, not just the Presidential candidates but even lower ticket candidates. The Democrats can clean house if they want, but the danger comes when outside forces, or even internal forces, turn their house-cleaning into a weapon against them.

To put it simply, be careful what you share on social media or the internet. Know the source and check the facts. If you have a legit issue, backed upped with facts, then sure, make noise. But when the source is unclear, the attack is way too broad, the facts have not been verified, then be careful. 2018 is going to be a very dangerious year, politically. The Russians haven't given up, and the Republicans are eager for their help in keeping control of Congress.

If you support the idea of the Democrats taking back Congress to restore checks and balances, then don't become an unwitting purveyor of Russian Propaganda.

[Gray Lensman]

I tought the icon of corruption in the world was Russia or China, anyway nice post and i agree that the U.S should stop influencing so many countries politics (something that is hard to since the US is the world superpower) but going back to the article, this seems more like the Iranian people are tired of the theocracy of their state and are looking for a reform in their country.

https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/stat...88516739534848
https://twitter.com/Raman_Ghavami/st...97310353764353
https://twitter.com/ArminNavabi/stat...48007479103488
https://twitter.com/SohrabAhmari/sta...71946751545345


If the results of this protest end up benefiting Trump, Israel or the world by making their life easier, then good.

And when i say benefiting Trump or Israel i mean, Iran ends up with a different goverment that is pro use/west.

I seriously doubt any new government in Iran would be pro-West, and they certainly wouldn't be pro-US. But they probably wouldn't be anti-US either, which would be a decent start towards improved relations.

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

There is nothing wrong with self-reflection and scrutiny. But, there is a time and place for everything. Trying to find the right words....we know that Russia played an active role in the 2016 election, we know that they went after Democratic candidates, not just the Presidential candidates but even lower ticket candidates. The Democrats can clean house if they want, but the danger comes when outside forces, or even internal forces, turn their house-cleaning into a weapon against them.

To put it simply, be careful what you share on social media or the internet. Know the source and check the facts. If you have a legit issue, backed upped with facts, then sure, make noise. But when the source is unclear, the attack is way too broad, the facts have not been verified, then be careful. 2018 is going to be a very dangerious year, politically. The Russians haven't given up, and the Republicans are eager for their help in keeping control of Congress.

If you support the idea of the Democrats taking back Congress to restore checks and balances, then don't become an unwitting purveyor of Russian Propaganda.

These complaints regarding certain democrats has been around long before the Russian drama.

[Malvolio]

Umm actually no, which far leftists are you actually talking about, can you name name?
I can name a TON of Corporate Sell Outs, and Incrementalists who cry for change, then cry about having to change anything.
Am I a far leftist for posting that image which isn't a lie by the way. I'll even link the Snopes article which states it's MISLEADING, misleading doesn't mean Lie.
What exactly do you think "Far leftists" want from our leaders?

Are we unable to be compromised with because we want pie in the sky that can actually happen?
I mean why is it that Republicans win so much even when they are in the minority?
Republicans just literally ROBBED us blind, and what did the #resistance" do?
BUT when Progressives say we can do Medicare for all, 15/hr, Free Public College, it's all Pie in the Sky?

When us "Far leftists" want to fight for DACA, but Centrists immediately cave on DACA.
Don't take a far leftists word for it.

Democrats signal they won’t fight for DACA immigrants Democrats up for reelection have expressed they won’t force a vote on DACA, averting a potential shutdown

Democrats get bullied and Cave yet again. #resistance
Senate Democrats cave on Trump's judges after GOP threatens weekend work


Cave: Dems Fold On DREAM Pledge, Won’t Demand Amnesty As Part Of Year-End Funding Bill

Where Exactly should I be clapping for Democrats? The latest series of Democratic wins were from people who had no party support or MINOR support. Those people won BIG or lost by a tiny margin 1-3 points on average.
Doug Jones had HEAVY support from the party and only won to a child molester by 1.7 points. With what Message?
But hey Far leftists are like FOX viewers.

Also, Please explain what does this mean?

Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future

Who came up with that? I can make a better slogan like right now.

"The Future belongs to you"
"You are the future of America"
"You can change the nation"

No one said that the article was a lie. Misleading means that it doesn't tell the whole story. If a congressman votes for one bill and against another, and both bills are trying to accomplish the same thing, it might be that the congressman believes that one bill will accomplish that goal more efficiently than the other. So why rag on the congressman for voting against the second bill if he voted for the first one that he thinks is a more efficient way of accomplishing the same goal?

[4saken1]

I mean why is it that Republicans win so much even when they are in the minority?

Plenty of reasons: Gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, voter apathy, Green Party spoiler votes, etc.

When us "Far leftists" want to fight for DACA, but Centrists immediately cave on DACA.
Don't take a far leftists word for it.

Democrats signal they won’t fight for DACA immigrants Democrats up for reelection have expressed they won’t force a vote on DACA, averting a potential shutdown

Democrats get bullied and Cave yet again. #resistance
Senate Democrats cave on Trump's judges after GOP threatens weekend work


Cave: Dems Fold On DREAM Pledge, Won’t Demand Amnesty As Part Of Year-End Funding Bill

This was a lose-lose for Dems. They could have shut down the government over DACA, I suppose, a battle that they ultimately would have lost anyways (Trump would never have endorsed legislation that was created by Obama), but there likely would have been backlash for that decision also.

A new Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll shows that just 17 percent of Americans believe that finding a replacement for DACA is an extremely important priority for Congress and President Trump to work on the rest of this year. That ranked 12th among the 15 domestic issues tested by Harvard. Even among Democrats, only 20 percent said renewing DACA was an extremely important priority.

So yes, since this was a nonstarter, Democratic leadership chose to let it slide even though many Dems in Congress wanted to go ahead with it anyways.

Like you, I would have liked them to push more for this issue. It seems that no matter what they do, it's always going to be the wrong answer in the way it gets spun to certain segments of the public, however. I imagine had the shutdown happened, many FOX News viewers and far leftists would probably be complaining about all the public service workers who aren't getting paid over such a fruitless endeavor by those EVIL Dems.

[Tendrin]

So, anyone still wanna call Russia a 'nothingburger'?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/u...adopoulos.html

WASHINGTON — During a night of heavy drinking at an upscale London bar in May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a young foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, made a startling revelation to Australia’s top diplomat in Britain: Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton.
About three weeks earlier, Mr. Papadopoulos had been told that Moscow had thousands of emails that would embarrass Mrs. Clinton, apparently stolen in an effort to try to damage her campaign.
Exactly how much Mr. Papadopoulos said that night at the Kensington Wine Rooms with the Australian, Alexander Downer, is unclear. But two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online, Australian officials passed the information about Mr. Papadopoulos to their American counterparts, according to four current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians’ role.

Seems like Padoupolis' plea deal may be a bigger deal than we knew.

[Tendrin]

If Dems had forced a shutdown to appease those demanding they 'fight', they'd have learned the same lessons that the GOP has refused to learn repeatedly: government shutdowns are really unpopular and stupid.

But hey, they're 'fighting', amirite?

[worstblogever]

In both 2014, as well as 2015, “Crazy Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of Dean Young, a three-time failure as a Congressional candidate for U.S. House in Alabama’s 1st Congressional District who says that “homosexuality is a deviant and destructive lifestyle”, opposed gay marriage by saying, “I’m against homosexuals pretending they’re married”, and is a dedicated ally of Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, as both work together to try and place as much Christian idolatry as possible in government buildings because “This isn’t a Muslim nation, this is a Christian nation.” Young has also called for the impeachment of President Obama without any justification, and during a completely separate interview, he stated his belief that Obama was born in Kenya. Young also believes that something sinister was done by the government during the Benghazi attacks, and that the IRS goes out of their way to target Christians, which is amazing considering the churches themselves get tax-exempt status. Young has yet again failed to unseat Congressman Bradley Byrne in 2016, and could resurface in 2018.

One year ago, "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profiled Nancy Mace, a challenger in the 2014 U.S. Senate Primary in South Carolina to Senator Lindsey Graham for his seat in Washington, D.C, choosing to be the first candidate in that race to attack Lindsay Graham for admitting climate change exists, and tried claiming that a “recent freeze” disproves the phenomenon. Factor in also, that Nancy Mace’s background in South Carolina politics comes from being the co-owner of FITSNews, a “news” outlet in South Carolina best known perhaps for, while under Mace’s Leadership, leading a smear campaign in 2010 against gubernatorial candidate (and future South Carolina Governor) Nikki Haley, insisting that she had taken part in a series of intramarital affairs. Of course, that sort of tactic wouldn’t work against a lifetime bachelor like Lindsey Graham, so we were spared a repeat of that sort of seedy attack from Mace. No, instead she was one of a pair of primary candidates who decided to gay-bait Graham. While Mace reblogged a post from a supporter that called the Senator a “nancy boy”. We’ll set aside her CSGOPOTD profile at this time and go ahead and take a look at a different wacky Republican today instead. (Current crazy/stupid scoreboard, is now 632-25, since this was established in July 2014.)


David Brumbaugh
Welcome to the 632nd original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing David Brumbaugh, a four term member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives who first arrived back on the scene when else… but in the 2010 Tea Party Wave. During his tenure, Brumbaugh stood out even among Oklahoma Republicans for his unabashed and irrational attempts to flat out criminalize abortion. In 2016, he sponsored legislation that would revoke the licenses of any doctor performing an abortion (which is still a legal, constitutionally protected medical procedure). And of course, he scoffed at the Roe v. Wade ruling being an obvious hindrance to his bill, if passed ever holding up against legal challenges. Even more bizarre? More reasonable conservatives pointing out that the state of Oklahoma is already in a budget crisis, and if it was sued for passing an obviously unconstitutional law, it would just end up creating more debt for taxpayers to have to pay off. Again, Brumbaugh shrugged, apparently content that any legal difficulties would just be taken care of by the Almighty himself:

“If we take care of the morality, God will take care of the economy. I’ve heard almost every argument today about judicial challenge to this legislation and after much prayer and study, I ask myself this question… Do we make laws because they’re moral and right, or do we make them based on what an unelected judicial occupant might question or overturn?”

You read that right. He’s not a fiscal conservative, because he subscribes to the economic theory that the invisible hand is actually that of a divine invisible man in the sky. Would it shock you to learn most of his voting record shows a pattern of supporting some of the Oklahoma GOP’s worst legislation?

• March 13th, 2013: Brumbaugh votes for HB 1412, to protect Oklahomans from the threat of the dreaded United Nations Agenda 21 conspiracy theory that right wing loons are obsessed with.
• March 13th, 2013: David Brumbaugh votes for Oklahoma Republicans’ attempts to nullify the Affordable Care Act.
• March 14th, 2013: Brumbaugh votes for HB 1940, so that students can express their religious viewpoints in schools, and argue with their science teachers about how the Bible should trump the theory of evolution.
• April 7th, 2014: David Brumbaugh votes for SB 1023, which would prevent individual cities in Oklahoma from raising the minimum wage if they so chose.
• May 23rd, 2014: Brumbaugh votes for SB 1848, a TRAP law aimed at closing all of the abortion clinics in the state by requiring them to follow impossible-to-meet standards.

David Brumbaugh passed away suddenly from a heart attack in April of 2017. Which, not to make everything about CSGOPOTD, but it’s nice to know we only have to report on this extremist once.

[PaulBullion]

Not everything is the Russians. The problems I have with the questionable votes, is that they are always the votes that would help long term. The ones they fear Republican and Conservative backlash, over Liberal factors.

If we can never talk about how to improve the Democrats, how will they ever improve?





I'd say this was a relevant part fo the article along with the
Snopes article of the same fashion, misleading doesn't mean it's wrong.
It's also the case of Hillary took money, but never did anything to benefit Wall Street, when we all know she did.

So your problem is that they take any money at all, even though it didn't influence their votes after all?

[PaulBullion]

So, anyone still wanna call Russia a 'nothingburger'?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/u...adopoulos.html


Seems like Padoupolis' plea deal may be a bigger deal than we knew.

I think people like Glenn Greenwald, whom I used to really like when he and I were both young, he writing for Salon and me using dial-up Internet, people like him needed Russia to be a nothingburger so they could continue their "Hillary was a weak candidate and the Democratic party is broken" narrative. If it comes out that they would always rig the end result against her, they would lose their boogeywoman.