Political Randomness

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 7:39 am

tgb, how does Senator tgb sound to you? Or would that be Senator b?

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:22 am

Another nail in our Democracy - bribery as almost anyone who isn't a politician regards it is pretty much legal. I get the logic behind the original SCOTUS ruling on McDonnell but it put the fox in charge of the hen house.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:21 pm

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pol ... a28f95ed8b

Former president Jimmy Carter was taken to a hospital Thursday for dehydration while in Winnipeg, according to a news report.

The 92-year-old was in Canada helping build a Habitat for Humanity home when he “collapsed,” a volunteer told CBC News, triggering a rush of paramedics and firefighters to assist him. An ambulance took Carter to a hospital.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:32 pm

A former President building homes in Canada? Why does he hate America?

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 3:35 pm

Moliere wrote:A former President building homes in Canada? Why does he hate America?

Because we elected Trump.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 12:43 am

GOP Activist Who Sought Clinton Emails Killed Self

His suicide note said “no foul play whatsoever”, so nothing to see here. Just another dead body connected to the Clintons. Carry on conspiracy theorists.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 1:37 am

ImLawBoy wrote:
Moliere wrote:A former President building homes in Canada? Why does he hate America?
Because we elected Trump.

Because Republicans made him give up his family's peanut farm and then investigated when his brother took the profits.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 1:16 pm

Moliere wrote:GOP Activist Who Sought Clinton Emails Killed Self

His suicide note said “no foul play whatsoever”, so nothing to see here. Just another dead body connected to the Clintons. Carry on conspiracy theorists.

Except he gave an important interview that implicated Trump/Russia before his death. The juicy conspiracy theory (probably nothing) is that the Russians killed him.

RunningMn9 · Post by **RunningMn9** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:00 pm

Moliere wrote:Just another dead body connected to the Clintons. Carry on conspiracy theorists.

As noted, this guy would be an addition to Trump's body count, not Clinton's.

Max Peck · Post by **Max Peck** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:49 pm

RunningMn9 wrote:
Moliere wrote:Just another dead body connected to the Clintons. Carry on conspiracy theorists.
As noted, this guy would be an addition to Trump's body count, not Clinton's.

Putin's, maybe. Possibly along with a handful of Russians that met untimely, yet very public, ends after the Steele dossier was leaked.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:09 pm

5 Cities That Won't Be Hosting the 2024 Olympics, and Why That Makes Them Winners

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) announced this week that the 2024 Summer Olympics would be awarded to either Paris or Los Angeles, the only two cities bidding for the games. The other city would be awarded the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 5:23 pm

Turkey has arrested Amnesty International’s local director

It was the sort of intervention on behalf of a persecuted opposition politician that Amnesty International carries out hundreds of times a year. In 1998, after Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then the mayor of Istanbul, was jailed for a speech in which he read out a religiously themed poem, the human-rights group termed him a “prisoner of conscience” and wrote to the government demanding his release. Nineteen years later, Mr Erdogan, now Turkey’s president, presides over an increasingly authoritarian regime. And his police force has arrested Amnesty International’s own staff along with other human-rights activists. So it was to Mr Erdogan that the group found itself writing last week to demand the release of detainees. He shows little sign of softening.

More than 50,000 people have been jailed in the purges that followed the attempted coup in Turkey on July 15th last year. But the latest arrests nevertheless shocked human-rights advocates, if only because their colleagues were the targets. On July 5th Turkish police detained ten human-rights activists attending a cyber-security training session, on suspicion of membership in an “armed terrorist organisation”. Those arrested include Idil Eser, the director of Amnesty International’s Turkish branch, and two foreign trainers. A month earlier, the chairman of the branch’s board, Taner Kilic, had been jailed on similar accusations.

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:58 pm

LordMortis wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pol ... a28f95ed8b

Former president Jimmy Carter was taken to a hospital Thursday for dehydration while in Winnipeg, according to a news report.

The 92-year-old was in Canada helping build a Habitat for Humanity home when he “collapsed,” a volunteer told CBC News, triggering a rush of paramedics and firefighters to assist him. An ambulance took Carter to a hospital.

Habitat For Humanity Investigated For Working Conditions After 92-Year-Old Laborer Collapses On Site

Responding to an unsettling incident that has raised concerns about worker exploitation within the organization, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Friday it was launching an investigation into working conditions within Habitat for Humanity after a 92-year-old laborer reportedly collapsed on a job site yesterday. “According to the shocking and disturbing reports we have received, it appears that an elderly man in his 90s—who was observed to be exceedingly thin and frail—was being used as a manual laborer at a residential construction site, where he eventually succumbed to exhaustion and dehydration,” said agency spokesperson Jillian Rogers, adding that authorities were “sickened” to discover records showing that the nonagenarian laborer had been performing blue-collar work for the organization for over 30 years, and had been transported from one construction project to another—sometimes internationally—without any compensation.

em2nought · Post by **em2nought** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 3:50 pm

Moliere wrote:
LordMortis wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/pol ... a28f95ed8b

Responding to an unsettling incident that has raised concerns about worker exploitation within the organization, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Friday it was launching an investigation into working conditions within Habitat for Humanity after a 92-year-old laborer reportedly collapsed on a job site yesterday. “According to the shocking and disturbing reports we have received, it appears that an elderly man in his 90s—who was observed to be exceedingly thin and frail—was being used as a manual laborer at a residential construction site, where he eventually succumbed to exhaustion and dehydration,” said agency spokesperson Jillian Rogers, adding that authorities were “sickened” to discover records showing that the nonagenarian laborer had been performing blue-collar work for the organization for over 30 years, and had been transported from one construction project to another—sometimes internationally—without any compensation.

Hope Carter's ok as he's always seemed a decent sort, but that is funny!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:42 pm

Can anyone even imagine Trump doing a tenth of what Carter does for others on a daily basis?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:51 pm

I can't imagine Trump doing Carter's daily Good over his whole lifetime.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:22 pm

I can imagine Trump bulldozing Habitat houses to build a casino that will eventually fail.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:55 am

I'm not big big Carter fan but he was the CO of an SSBN, he had done more for his country by the time he left the service than any POTUS has done since.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Sun Jul 16, 2017 3:46 am

An interview with Bill Clinton And George W Bush

I think the title of the video is very misleading, but the interview is interesting if you like hearing former presidents talk about leadership and the presidency as well as being ex-presidents.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 9:29 am

Political or Religious randomness?

http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/arti ... 82438.html

On June 29, Williamstown city attorney Jeffrey Shipp sent a letter to the biblical amusement park Ark Encounter, rejecting its request to be exempted from a new safety tax because its is a religious organization.

Shipp said it was clear that Ark Encounter is a for-profit entity, which is how it has been listed with the Kentucky secretary of state’s office since 2011.

But the day before, Ark Encounter LLC sold its main parcel of land — the one with the large-scale Noah’s Ark — for $10 to its nonprofit affiliate, Crosswater Canyon. Although the property is worth $48 million according to the Grant County property valuation administrator, the deed says its value is only $18.5 million.

That’s the latest salvo in an escalating dispute between local officials and Ark Encounter, but some people are worried that Ark Encounter’s maneuver is a precursor to declaring itself exempt from all taxes, including property taxes that help finance Grant County schools.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 9:56 am

The Week talks about the political in-fighting within the GOP that has made it completely ineffective at governing. The piece focuses in an accurate fashion IMO on the GOP turmoil. I would have however liked some acknowledgement that the GOP internal divisions plus their effective neutering of the wretched Dems coupled with a legendarily incompetent President has left the American ship floating listless on the seas of chance in a dangerous time. We are living through the complete collapse of Federal governance and no one is really even talking about the big picture.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 10:08 am

I haven't read the article yet, but isn't this just kind of the mirror of the start of Obama's first term? Divided Democrats were ineffective at governing despite the fact that they held the Presidency and both houses of Congress. The Republicans looked like they had it together, because they never (rarely) broke ranks. Now that things have flipped, the Dems look much more coherent, because they're holding together, while the GOP is learning how hard it is to govern, even when you control the Executive and Legislative branches.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:44 am

ImLawBoy wrote:I haven't read the article yet, but isn't this just kind of the mirror of the start of Obama's first term? Divided Democrats were ineffective at governing despite the fact that they held the Presidency and both houses of Congress. The Republicans looked like they had it together, because they never (rarely) broke ranks. Now that things have flipped, the Dems look much more coherent, because they're holding together, while the GOP is learning how hard it is to govern, even when you control the Executive and Legislative branches.

Saving the world economy was kind of a big deal at the time.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 11:51 am

Pyperkub wrote:
ImLawBoy wrote:I haven't read the article yet, but isn't this just kind of the mirror of the start of Obama's first term? Divided Democrats were ineffective at governing despite the fact that they held the Presidency and both houses of Congress. The Republicans looked like they had it together, because they never (rarely) broke ranks. Now that things have flipped, the Dems look much more coherent, because they're holding together, while the GOP is learning how hard it is to govern, even when you control the Executive and Legislative branches.
Saving the world economy was kind of a big deal at the time.

And getting an ultra-conservative on the Supreme Court was kind of a big deal, too. I'm not saying that neither the Dems at the start of Obama's first term nor the GOP at the start of Trump were 100% ineffective in getting things done, but it was hardly smooth sailing for either group. It turns out that governing with control of Executive and Legislative branches isn't as easy at it may seem.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:01 pm

gilraen · Post by **gilraen** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 12:04 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:
Pyperkub wrote:
ImLawBoy wrote:I haven't read the article yet, but isn't this just kind of the mirror of the start of Obama's first term? Divided Democrats were ineffective at governing despite the fact that they held the Presidency and both houses of Congress. The Republicans looked like they had it together, because they never (rarely) broke ranks. Now that things have flipped, the Dems look much more coherent, because they're holding together, while the GOP is learning how hard it is to govern, even when you control the Executive and Legislative branches.
Saving the world economy was kind of a big deal at the time.
And getting an ultra-conservative on the Supreme Court was kind of a big deal, too. I'm not saying that neither the Dems at the start of Obama's first term nor the GOP at the start of Trump were 100% ineffective in getting things done, but it was hardly smooth sailing for either group. It turns out that governing with control of Executive and Legislative branches isn't as easy at it may seem.

If 2018 turns out for Dems the same way 2010 turned out for the Republicans - I'll take it.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 1:36 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:
Pyperkub wrote:
ImLawBoy wrote:I haven't read the article yet, but isn't this just kind of the mirror of the start of Obama's first term? Divided Democrats were ineffective at governing despite the fact that they held the Presidency and both houses of Congress. The Republicans looked like they had it together, because they never (rarely) broke ranks. Now that things have flipped, the Dems look much more coherent, because they're holding together, while the GOP is learning how hard it is to govern, even when you control the Executive and Legislative branches.
Saving the world economy was kind of a big deal at the time.
And getting an ultra-conservative on the Supreme Court was kind of a big deal, too. I'm not saying that neither the Dems at the start of Obama's first term nor the GOP at the start of Trump were 100% ineffective in getting things done, but it was hardly smooth sailing for either group. It turns out that governing with control of Executive and Legislative branches isn't as easy at it may seem.

This is correct which is my point. I believe that people need to start talking about the macro picture. That there is plenty of data at this point to argue convincingly that our country is increasingly ungovernable in general. We are trucking along on institutions and norms at this point. All set up in the past and increasingly out of touch with how the world is changing. Or being smashed by Trump/McConnell and company. With no ability to adjust course.

We are a big crisis away from disaster. Could we cope with a 2008 scale event again? Let's say the student loan situation comes to a head for instance. It is a big unknown and the rest of the world can see it. We largely ignore it to talk about the Trump tweet of the day or whatever regressive horror the GOP is trying to pass. It is understandable to worry about these things but it is a little wacky not ask why it is so broken in the first place.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 1:46 pm

malchior wrote:Could we cope with a 2008 scale event again?

Who knew that presidenting would be so hard?

Of course, I believe that no small amount Trump supporters believe burning the US to the ground and somehow establishing small warring tribes of the survival of the fittest in preparation for the biblical apocalypse is either a good thing or an inevitable thing or a thing we somehow brought on ourselves or something I don't quite understand.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 3:51 pm

I've made a commitment to myself to not vote republican, like, ever, at this point but I almost kinda wish I had republican rep who had the balls the stand up to the GOP and call out Ryan, McConnell, and Trump and the flock, so I could proudly and vocally cheer him/her on and remember something of how I liked the idea of a more responsible government or individual liberties who still looked out for the common welfare.

My choice for that voice of potential cheer in the coming election? Likely, Kid Rock, who literally hashtagged "fake news" when kinda sorta but not with paperwork attached threw his hat in the ring.

There is something seriously wrong with us.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 4:02 pm

LordMortis wrote:
malchior wrote:Could we cope with a 2008 scale event again?
Who knew that presidenting would be so hard?

Of course, I believe that no small amount Trump supporters believe burning the US to the ground and somehow establishing small warring tribes of the survival of the fittest in preparation for the biblical apocalypse is either a good thing or an inevitable thing or a thing we somehow brought on ourselves or something I don't quite understand.

If the usual GOP tax cut and spend agenda passes, we will have to. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:09 pm

News is just now coming out that John McCain has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

I differ with him on many things (most of all his insane and damaging VP pick), but I largely respect him and wish him good health and recovery.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:24 pm

That is terrible - it does possibly explain some of his recent incoherence. Hoping for the best for him.

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:32 pm

malchior wrote:That is terrible - it does possibly explain some of his recent incoherence. Hoping for the best for him.

It's the second time I hear this. Examples? Not being dark just haven't heard the recent stuff people are talking about.

Fuck cancer.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:37 pm

tjg_marantz wrote:
malchior wrote:That is terrible - it does possibly explain some of his recent incoherence. Hoping for the best for him.
It's the second time I hear this. Examples?

His questions during the Comey(?) hearing. I think you can check the Trump investigation thread for the examples. I think he later blamed it on staying late to watch some sporting event.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:38 pm

Yeah, my grandmother had similar episodes that I was reminded of when watching McCain during the Comey hearings...not surprised at all. You can read more here.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 8:40 pm

Yep - I was referring to the Comey hearing. It was jarring how off he was. At the time I was wondering if he had something drastically wrong with him since it was sudden. Unfortunately that looks like it could be the case.

Unagi · Post by **Unagi** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 9:00 pm

Smoove_B wrote:Yeah, my grandmother had similar episodes that I was reminded of when watching McCain during the Comey hearings...not surprised at all. You can read more here.

I had a similar reaction. At the time it struck me that his statements reflected a strategy he was told to maybe follow; That being:: "Why isn't Hillary being investigated for her involvement with Russia!?" -

McCain's bizarre statements seemed to expose that narrative being some mental goal to express that he had told himself to express - and it seems connected to the idea that Trump&Co. was about to push the narrative that Hillary was the one with questionable connections to Russia.

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Wed Jul 19, 2017 9:03 pm

Ah that explains it. I was in Cuba during that time and didn't see much in depth analysis of questions on CNN. I know, shocking.

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Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 12:06 am

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Jul 20, 2017 12:05 pm

It's telling that the only sincere messages for McCain are coming from Dems...