US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2583

On December 02 2015 04:26 farvacola wrote:
There's no such thing as being "without any real ideology"

On December 02 2015 05:15 xDaunt wrote:
There's not that much that Feds can do to revamp the criminal justice system outside of decriminalizing marijuana. Criminal law is generally reserved for the states to handle.

On December 02 2015 05:28 oneofthem wrote:

isn't mandatory sentencing for drug related stuff also a federal thing? federal level change could lead to state reform as well.

On December 02 2015 04:03 oneofthem wrote:
yes he's made them but not highlighted that part of his platform or at any rate not active in shaping the perception of his platform towards that direction. he'll be doing that after primary season.

Puerto Rico’s governor, Alejandro García Padilla, told the US Senate on Tuesday that the troubled Caribbean island has “no cash left” and can no longer repay its $72bn debts.

The territory announced it would honor a $354m debt payment due on 1 December as Padilla was testifying, but Padilla said austerity measures had not only eaten into essential services but caused tax revenues to crater. With more than $900m due in January, the governor said his options were restructuring or disaster.

Padilla gave the Senate a deadline of Dec. 11 to provide Puerto Rico a viable restructuring plan.

“The consequences of a default without any legal framework to restructure our liabilities are so disastrous that for the past six months we have been executing emergency measures to continue meeting our obligations with our creditors and avoid a disruption of essential services to our citizens,” Padilla said in a prepared statement. “These emergency measures are unsustainable.”

Face to face with the Senate judiciary committee, however, he was more blunt: “Absent an orderly process, [the default’s] effects will be catastrophic. That is why, starting today, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico will have to claw back revenues pledged to certain bond issues in order to maintain essential public services. We have taken this difficult step in the hopes that Congress will act soon, but let us be clear: we have no cash left.”

The troubled territory, where 45% of its 3.5 million population live in poverty, looked almost certain to miss its latest debt payment on Tuesday as the US Congress discussed ways to save Puerto Rico from being crushed by its $72bn debt.

On December 02 2015 06:47 GreenHorizons wrote:
The way some people are glossing over Trump encouraging his supporters to beat up a protester, pushing neo-nazi propaganda, being endorsed by several neo-nazi groups, and just straight up lying about watching this video of thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrating after 9/11, and all the other lies, is impressive.

But yeah it's just the pesky liberal media that wants to focus on his racism, lies, and bigotry... The Republican party certainly doesn't want to talk about it.

Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has been fired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the mayor confirmed Tuesday.

McCarthy was called into City Hall on Monday and when he left City Hall he still had a job. But overnight, the mayor called McCarthy to tell him he was out, the Sun-Times’ Michael Sneed first reported.

McCarthy appeared “shell-shocked” by the news, sources said. As recently as late October, McCarthy was sounding very secure in his job when he spoke at a gathering of the International Association of Chiefs of Police:

“Welcome to Chicago, to my adopted home that I’m never leaving,” McCarthy said then. “Thank you, mayor, for bringing me here. I know, I’m never leaving. Sorry.”

Though McCarthy’s record “is a strong one, and one he can be proud of,” Emanuel said, “now is a time for fresh eyes and new leadership.”

Emanuel appointed First Deputy Supt. John Escalante to serve as acting superintendent.

At the news conference, Emanuel also fielded questions about the questions swirling around how the city handled the fatal shooting of McDonald by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke. First-degree murder charges were filed last week against Van Dyke — more than a year after the shooting.

Emanuel noted that the city’s handling of the case is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s office, and he told the reporters that he hopes they will “await the results of that” review.

McCarthy, however, will not be around when those results come in.

On December 02 2015 06:47 GreenHorizons wrote:
The way some people are glossing over Trump encouraging his supporters to beat up a protester, pushing neo-nazi propaganda, being endorsed by several neo-nazi groups, and just straight up lying about watching this video of thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrating after 9/11, and all the other lies, is impressive.

But yeah it's just the pesky liberal media that wants to focus on his racism, lies, and bigotry... The Republican party certainly doesn't want to talk about it.

On December 02 2015 07:50 zlefin wrote:

he might not be lying, but misremembering; most people are very confident in their memories, but there is much research to show how unreliable they can be.

On December 02 2015 06:54 Plansix wrote:

The pesky problem of “I don’t agree with this racism, but I really need the primary votes of the people that are super into his racism.” The struggle is real.

On December 02 2015 10:51 Doraemon wrote:


also a lot of the other candidates have been stringing the same line with no positive policies to fall back on. how do they even attack trump

New Hampshire is beginning to look like Jeb Bush's final stand.

Stuck in the middle of the GOP pack he was expected to dominate, Bush is accelerating the time frame for his campaign’s next ad buy in the state. His campaign also announced Tuesday that it is opening four regional field offices in New Hampshire and upping its on-the-ground staff from 12 people to 20.

That concentration of resources comes after his Right to Rise super PAC has already spent $12 million on TV ads and blanketed New Hampshire with four direct mail pieces. Bush himself has made 60 campaign appearances. Despite those efforts, polls show the former Florida governor remains mired in sixth place in the early state he most needs to win.

Now, with the state’s first in the nation primary 10 weeks away, time is running short.

“It is very fluid in New Hampshire right now, but there just doesn’t seem to be any excitement for Jeb," said Drew Cline, the long-time editorial page editor at the Union Leader who now runs a consulting business. "I wouldn’t completely rule Jeb Bush out, but I think it’s becoming clear that if he’s going to do well in New Hampshire, he has to dramatically change things and I don’t see any indication that that’s happening."

Bush’s team continues to insist its organizational strength will matter more in the end -- and is more relevant than the polls. Bush has also campaigned in the state far more often than recently ascendant rivals Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

“Rubio is not here very much at all. He has better poll numbers, but we have to see if that can be sustained,” said one New Hampshire-based political operative. “If Jeb can beat expectations, which shouldn’t be that hard these days, he might have a path out of here.”

Bush, whose campaign just completed a month-long run of ads in the state, hadn’t planned to go back on the air until January. But in a sign of the urgency of his predicament, the campaign announced it has reserved three weeks of airtime starting this week, in the hopes of securing a top three finish on Feb. 9.

On December 02 2015 10:56 Plansix wrote:

The problem is that courting any other section of voters will cause them to lose the trump voters, even in the primaries. And I would also point out that we are still in the clown show section of the primaries. The majority of primary voters have not truly made up their mind.

On December 02 2015 11:56 Nyxisto wrote:
I saw the clip of Trump mocking a disabled person. As I understand it that seems like a pretty effective way to piss religious conservatives off. I just don't understand it, why is he immune to any kind of reasonable response?

The fascism comparison doesn't seem so far off, it really seems like everybody is channeling his inner nazi through Trump.

The CEO of UnitedHealthCare on Tuesday said he regretted the decision to enter the ObamaCare marketplace last year, which the company says has resulted in millions of dollars in losses.

“It was for us a bad decision,” UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said at an investor’s meeting in New York, according to Bloomberg Business.

UnitedHealth, the country’s largest insurer, announced last month that it would no longer advertise its ObamaCare plans over the next year and may pull out completely in 2016 — a move that sent shockwaves across the healthcare sector.

Hemsley’s remarks double down on his earlier warning that the ObamaCare exchanges remain weaker than expected after two years and that it will take far longer for insurers to profit from the millions of new enrollees.