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

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Tomorrow's meeting with Putin is going to be like Schrödinger's Cat for Reporters and News Media. You can call it Schrödinger's Trump, Political Entanglement. Without anyone at the meeting to be a witness to what was said, it is anyone's guess.

Even after he emerges from the Meeting Room, how will we know if he stood up to Putin or kissed Putin's backside?

I think chances are pretty much excellent Trump will have smooched Bad Vlad’s ass. He’s wanted to be besties with strongmen like Putin from the day he took office.

Oh right.
You are sickened not by children being put in cages, and not washed until they're covered in lice, and they cry for the parent so hard they vomit... what sickens you is that we do not blame Obama enough.

And THAT is why I have him on my ignore list.

[Gray Lensman]

I'm sure there's still some excuse someone can make for this guy...

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3...eme-court-vote

The only viable excuse I can come up with if he is the difference between 50 with Pence as the tie-breaker and 51. Well, and maybe a cushion of a vote or two.

[Kevinroc]

I'm sure there's still some excuse someone can make for this guy...

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/3...eme-court-vote

https://www.manchin.senate.gov/newsr...-court-nominee

“As the Senator from West Virginia, I have a constitutional obligation to advise and consent on a nominee to fill Supreme Court vacancies and I take that responsibility seriously. Just as I did when Merrick Garland and Neil Gorsuch were nominated, I will evaluate Judge Kavanaugh’s record, legal qualifications, judicial philosophy and particularly, his views on healthcare.

“The Supreme Court will ultimately decide if nearly 800,000 West Virginians with pre-existing conditions will lose their healthcare. This decision will directly impact almost 40% of my state, so I’m very interested in his position on protecting West Virginians with pre-existing conditions. As I have always said, I believe the Senate should hold committee hearings; Senators should meet with him, we should debate his qualifications on the Senate floor and cast whatever vote we believe he deserves. I look forward to meeting with Judge Kavanaugh, examining his rulings and making a determination of whether to provide my consent.”

Sounds like he's already found his excuse to vote "nay" without seemingly going along with the other Democrats.

And if you cared about the Supreme Court, you would have taken it seriously when I told you this would be an issue if Trump became President. You blew my concerns, and the concerns of others in this thread, off. But now you take the Supreme Court seriously?

(Edit: Let me be perfectly clear in that I still don't think you care about the Supreme Court. You're just looking for an excuse to decry Manchin.)

[Tami]

Neighbor charged after Toledo home spray-painted with N-word

Toledo police say a woman spray-painted “Hail Trump” and a racial slur on a neighbor’s home early Saturday, about 2 miles from — and just hours before — Toledo’s annual African-American Parade.

Patricia Edelen, 47, of the 600 block of Ogden Avenue, is charged with criminal mischief, ethnic intimidation, and criminally damaging property, all misdemeanors, court records show.

Toledo Police Department spokesman Lt. Kevan Toney said the suspect was arrested Saturday evening.

Neighbors living across the street witnessed and recorded the vandalism, which included spray-painting the “N-word” on the house. They told police they were afraid someone would burn down the home because of what was painted on it, according to an incident report.

The news went viral when Monica Davis, the Realtor selling the property, streamed a Facebook Live video showing the vandalism to the home and her Realtor sign.

[numberthirty]

https://www.manchin.senate.gov/newsr...-court-nominee



Sounds like he's already found his excuse to vote "nay" without seemingly going along with the other Democrats.

And if you cared about the Supreme Court, you would have taken it seriously when I told you this would be an issue if Trump became President. You blew my concerns, and the concerns of others in this thread, off. But now you take the Supreme Court seriously?

(Edit: Let me be perfectly clear in that I still don't think you care about the Supreme Court. You're just looking for an excuse to decry Manchin.)

While it does relate to The Supreme Court, the actual issue is that The Democratic Party has some clowns who make it more difficult to perform the "Equal Branch" check on the Judicial Branch to any real degree.

If you want to look at that reality and what you get out of it is "This guy doesn't actually care about The Supreme Court...", I'd suggest taking a second look.

[Kevinroc]

While it does relate to The Supreme Court, the actual issue is that The Democratic Party has some clowns who make it more difficult to perform the "Equal Branch" check on the Judicial Branch to any real degree.

If you want to look at that reality and what you get out of it is "This guy doesn't actually care about The Supreme Court...", I'd suggest taking a second look.

No, you don't care about the Supreme Court. I, and others, warned you about this in the run up to the election and you didn't care in the slightest back then. And you don't care now. You're just using it as an excuse to attack Manchin.

[Mister Mets]

Also, they did apparently do a great job of raising Chelsea. Calling it quits is always hard when you have a child together.

Something Mets and Trump do not have, as far as I know.

Someone else criticized Hillary for failing to leave Bill. I have never made that complaint.

My specific objection was how one of the most powerful women in the world (a few years from winning a Senate seat in a cakewalk) failed to side with the victims, which I do believe has hurt her reputation.

There is also the naive few that believe that such needs should be handled in the private sector. That's how they sleep at night. They have been taught that it is better for neighbors to help each other. Which, sure, great, but that can't meet the needs of the many. Their church food bank is a blessing but their is so much more help that can be offered. So in reality we should be doing both.

This is an underappreciated distinction between the left and the right.

From some on the right's perspective, the left is trying to make the federal government into a monolithic entity that provides everything for everyone. At the same time, other spheres are declining (church, family, civic organizations, etc) and those tended to be where we found meaning. Part of the right's concern is that the federal government is too big to take care of everything efficiently; they're not going to have local knowledge, and the policies may be too broad (what works in a highly densely populated northeastern city won't always be a good idea in Wyoming.)

The fact Trump won was as much a surprise to him as everyone else. Hell, before people even went to the polls, he was already pissing and moaning to his lemmings that Hillary was going to cheat her way to victory, despite all the nonsense with shit like gerrymandering, skullduggery by the Ivans and Comey’s eleventh hour surprise.

How was the electoral college gerrymandered?

[numberthirty]

No, you don't care about the Supreme Court. I, and others, warned you about this in the run up to the election and you didn't care in the slightest back then. And you don't care now. You're just using it as an excuse to attack Manchin.

Jeez...

It's not "Hey, this guy might actually care about The Supreme Court..."

It's actually "Could I be focused on the wrong thing?"

Also, it's not an "Excuse" to attack Manchin. I am talking about what he is actually doing.

[ouroboros]

No he won. The rules were the Electoral College. That's been the standard for 200 years, everyone knew it, Hillary Clinton knew it. You all just come off like sore losers that are trying to make yourself feel better. He won. Figure out how to beat him next time. People like you are why I'm terrified Democrats are going to lose next time. Because rather than face reality you all just got broken and want to live in a fantasy world. It happned. The same thing can happen again. The Democratic Party did nothing to rectify gerrymandering or voter suppression, the electoral college is still in place, and you've done NOTHING to reach out to independents and just push them away more calling them "non-thinking". Live in the real world or you'll lose again. Or you can just cry that everything is unfair

In fairness, had enough Dems voted to make Trump's victory in the Electoral College, then he and his base would have been the sore losers. But yeah, even when Dubya won under dubious circumstances, not everyone confined their efforts to moral umbrage and sour grapes. At the very least, there was the "kingmaker" who saw Obama's potential, whatever that guy's name was.

Now all we get are moralizing and sour grapes, and no insight into what the voters want.

[Kevinroc]

Jeez...

It's not "Hey, this guy might actually care about The Supreme Court..."

It's actually "Could I be focused on the wrong thing?"

Also, it's not an "Excuse" to attack Manchin. I am talking about what he is actually doing.

That you can't even see it...

[ouroboros]

You're just trying to avoid this moment in your life:



But it's coming.

Maybe not next week, and maybe not next year. But some day before you die, you will realize what side you were on. What was done by the people you did not care to oppose. And that stain won't wash off.

I already know what's being done by by both sides, and it doesn't afflict me as it does you.

[Kevinroc]

In fairness, had enough Dems voted to make Trump's victory in the Electoral College, then he and his base would have been the sore losers. But yeah, even when Dubya won under dubious circumstances, not everyone confined their efforts to moral umbrage and sour grapes. At the very least, there was the "kingmaker" who saw Obama's potential, whatever that guy's name was.

Now all we get are moralizing and sour grapes, and no insight into what the voters want.

Posting this again.

https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/st...91394297057285

In 2016, voters actually saw Trump as being closer to the center of the electorate than Clinton and as the most moderate Republican candidate since 1972. https://53eig.ht/2EbSY3P

Voters *now* see Trump as being quite conservative—and maybe that's what they should have expected all along—but 2016 was actually a pretty good data point for the median voter theorem! If Trump had run on the Paul Ryan economic platform, not clear he would have won.

[Kevinroc]

I already know what's being done by by both sides, and it doesn't afflict me as it does you.

This administration is still locking babies up in cages.

[JCAll]

How was the electoral college gerrymandered?

I mean, it is mathematically possible to become President winning only about 20% of the vote thanks to the Electoral College. Nothing remotely like that has ever happened, but it's a good indicator why people might distrust the system in place. It's not properly balanced.

[JCAll]

This administration is still locking babies up in cages.

That's a feature, not a bug.