US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2931

HAVANA (AP) — The Obama administration has approved the first U.S. factory in Cuba in more than half a century, allowing a two-man company from Alabama to build a plant assembling as many as 1,000 small tractors a year for sale to private farmers in Cuba.

The Treasury Department last week notified partners Horace Clemmons and Saul Berenthal that they can legally build tractors and other heavy equipment in a special economic zone started by the Cuban government to attract foreign investment.

Cuban officials already have publicly and enthusiastically endorsed the project. The partners said they expect to be building tractors in Cuba by the first quarter of 2017.

"Everybody wants to go to Cuba to sell something and that's not what we're trying to do. We're looking at the problem and how do we help Cuba solve the problems that they consider are the most important problems for them to solve," Clemmons said. "It's our belief that in the long run we both win if we do things that are beneficial to both countries."

The $5 million to $10 million plant would be the first significant U.S. business investment on Cuban soil since Fidel Castro took power in 1959 and nationalized billions of dollars of U.S. corporate and private property. That confiscation provoked a U.S. embargo on Cuba that prohibited virtually all forms of commerce and fined non-U.S. companies millions of dollars for doing business with the island.

Letting an American tractor company operate inside a Cuban government facility would have been unimaginable before Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro declared on Dec. 17, 2014, that they would restore diplomatic relations and move to normalize trade, travel and other aspects of the long-broken bilateral relationship.

Since then, Obama has been carving exceptions into the embargo through a series of executive actions, and his administration now says they allow U.S. manufacturing at the Mariel port and special economic zone about 30 miles west of Havana. One exception allows U.S. companies to export products that benefit private and cooperative farmers in Cuba. Berenthal and Clemmons say they will sell only to the private sector.

On February 14 2016 08:55 Toadesstern wrote:
Here's what I want to see happening:

Rubio ends up being the nomination to run for president.
Cruz leads the Republicans all the way down the rabbit hole by trying to block Obamas suggestion creating the worst possible scenario for Republicans.
At this point Trump just says fuck it all and runs as independent.
Bloomberg runs as independent as well because when if not during those times.
One out of Hillary/Bernie runs as the democrat nomation.

One can dream

On February 16 2016 09:27 Toadesstern wrote:
So Trump says his pledge isn't worth a thing anymore because of the bush/rubio audiance stacking and he won't support the GOP nomination if it's someone else than him.

On February 16 2016 09:58 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
I guess this would be the place to post this:

I was asked by the high school I'm teaching at to moderate a mock debate, where a bunch of high school students (in groups of 3) have researched either Cruz, Trump, Rubio, Christie (even though he's gone), Clinton, or Sanders, and the debate will be between all 6 of those groups, as I ask pretty much any questions I want. They'll try to come up with answers and arguments as similar to those created by the actual candidates as possible (similar to the mock debate on The Newsroom).

Please PM me if you have any good political questions you'd like me to ask the (very eloquent and bright high school versions of the) candidates

On February 16 2016 09:58 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
I guess this would be the place to post this:

I was asked by the high school I'm teaching at to moderate a mock debate, where a bunch of high school students (in groups of 3) have researched either Cruz, Trump, Rubio, Christie (even though he's gone), Clinton, or Sanders, and the debate will be between all 6 of those groups, as I ask pretty much any questions I want. They'll try to come up with answers and arguments as similar to those created by the actual candidates as possible (similar to the mock debate on The Newsroom).

Please PM me if you have any good political questions you'd like me to ask the (very eloquent and bright high school versions of the) candidates

On February 16 2016 09:58 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
I guess this would be the place to post this:

I was asked by the high school I'm teaching at to moderate a mock debate, where a bunch of high school students (in groups of 3) have researched either Cruz, Trump, Rubio, Christie (even though he's gone), Clinton, or Sanders, and the debate will be between all 6 of those groups, as I ask pretty much any questions I want. They'll try to come up with answers and arguments as similar to those created by the actual candidates as possible (similar to the mock debate on The Newsroom).

Please PM me if you have any good political questions you'd like me to ask the (very eloquent and bright high school versions of the) candidates

On February 16 2016 09:58 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
I guess this would be the place to post this:

I was asked by the high school I'm teaching at to moderate a mock debate, where a bunch of high school students (in groups of 3) have researched either Cruz, Trump, Rubio, Christie (even though he's gone), Clinton, or Sanders, and the debate will be between all 6 of those groups, as I ask pretty much any questions I want. They'll try to come up with answers and arguments as similar to those created by the actual candidates as possible (similar to the mock debate on The Newsroom).

Please PM me if you have any good political questions you'd like me to ask the (very eloquent and bright high school versions of the) candidates

On February 16 2016 09:58 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
I guess this would be the place to post this:

I was asked by the high school I'm teaching at to moderate a mock debate, where a bunch of high school students (in groups of 3) have researched either Cruz, Trump, Rubio, Christie (even though he's gone), Clinton, or Sanders, and the debate will be between all 6 of those groups, as I ask pretty much any questions I want. They'll try to come up with answers and arguments as similar to those created by the actual candidates as possible (similar to the mock debate on The Newsroom).

Please PM me if you have any good political questions you'd like me to ask the (very eloquent and bright high school versions of the) candidates

Advocacy group Environment America has "crunched the numbers" in an effort to reveal who the largest polluters of American waterways are. The culprits that crack the top-15 list may very well surprise you.

If you ask people on the street who America's biggest water polluter is, for many, oil Goliaths like Exxon or Chevron might be first to come to mind - but not by a long shot would either of those be the correct answer.

AK Steel Holding Corp took the slimy grimy first-place prize, with transnational mega meat marketer Tyson Foods coming in a very close second. Two oil companies, Phillips 66 and ExxonMobil, did make the top-15 - but only in 13th and 15th places respectively.

Interestingly, nearly half the entities on the list were food and meat producers, but it's the third-place finisher that's been raising some eyebrows as well.

According to the analysis, the US government, and specifically the Department of Defense (DOD), is the third largest water polluter in America, having dumped some 63,335,653 pounds of poison into waterways from 2010-2014.

The data was compiled using numbers from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) program. According to EPA's website, "TRI tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. US facilities in different industry sectors must report annually how much of each chemical is released to the environment."

Amongst the many potentially deadly substances released by DOD are chemicals, rocket fuel and toxic sewage - but it's the carcinogenic and mutagenic radioactive isotopes let loose by its nuclear munition plants that make DOD's emissions exceptionally dangerous. The Department's myriad facilities, dedicated steadfastly to perpetuating ongoing participation in the nuclear bomb game, have been leaking and leeching lethal radiation from the dawn of the nuclear age, to the present day.

In other words, the very Defense Department that is supposed to be protecting American citizens from mortal threats, is, in and of itself, one of the deadliest threats Americans face - not from bombs or guns, but from millions of pounds of pollution, perpetrated on the country's unsuspecting population every year, by way of the Pentagon itself.

HANAHAN, S.C. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump did not close the door Monday on a possible third-party run after accusing the Republican party of breaking its pledge to stay neutral in the race.

“The (Republican National Committee) is in default,” Trump said during a news conference at the Hanahan Town Hall on Monday. “When somebody is in default, that means the other side can what they have to do.”

The New York billionaire also criticized Republican Gov. Nikki Nikki Haley for failing to protect South Carolina from Syrian refugees who could pose a danger to the state and the possibility of the Guantanamo prisoners being transferred to the Naval brig outside Charleston.

“A governor has a lot of power people don’t realize,” he said in three miles from the brig. “A governor has a choice.”

Haley has sent letters to federal officials voicing her objection to allowing refugees in the state without vetting and protesting relocating Guantanamo prisoners to South Carolina. No decision has been made about moving Guantanamo prisoners.

On February 16 2016 12:04 IgnE wrote:
let's encourage more babies. especially white ones.