US Politics Mega-thread - Page 6391

On December 09 2016 08:20 LegalLord wrote:

And? Are you saying someone should save the Palestinians from themselves because they make the wrong choices? Or what are you saying?

On December 09 2016 11:13 biology]major wrote:


I know you are being sarcastic but let me correct you anyways. Sheer instincts.

On December 09 2016 10:40 xDaunt wrote:

I know you guys don't want to hear this, but y'all on the left are badly underestimating Trump. Trump is going to keep winning politically until y'all wise up and start looking at him with a real critical eye as opposed to through the lens of the stupid the caricature that the media and democrats have provided y'all with. Believe me when I say that I hope y'all stay the course.

On December 09 2016 12:42 ticklishmusic wrote:
here's the facts about the emails

-hillary clinton is an old lady with minimal tech know how who wanted to use her blackberry and depended on other people to make it happen
-theres a record of government officials using non-government approved channels to communicate. see the bush admin using a RNC server for emails and straight up deleting everything as well as colin powell's own setup
-state department IT sucks balls

was it against regs? no doubt. but no one gave a shit until now.

On December 09 2016 12:42 ticklishmusic wrote:
here's the facts about the emails

-hillary clinton is an old lady with minimal tech know how who wanted to use her blackberry and depended on other people to make it happen
-theres a record of government officials using non-government approved channels to communicate. see the bush admin using a RNC server for emails and straight up deleting everything as well as colin powell's own setup
-state department IT sucks balls

was it against regs? no doubt. but no one gave a shit until now.

On December 09 2016 13:08 LegalLord wrote:
She lost the Bernie Sanders base. There's little more to it than that; the states she didn't win that she needed to, other than Florida, were the states where Sanders did the best. And ultimately those voters were the ones who tipped the election.

On December 09 2016 13:09 LegalLord wrote:

Our government has a really shitty time recruiting high-quality software people. The need surpasses the ability of the government to properly fill its ranks.

On December 09 2016 13:09 LegalLord wrote:

Our government has a really shitty time recruiting high-quality software people. The need surpasses the ability of the government to properly fill its ranks.

On December 09 2016 12:52 GoTuNk! wrote:


It's a combination of both, it doesn't matter; it would be akin to dating a beautiful woman, it's both instinct and deliberate behavior. Being tall and rich also helps in both :p

My point is that by now he is one of the most successful men on earth but some people can't see beyond the fog of their leftist narrative and keep calling him an "idiot". Opposing his ideas would be reasonable, calling him an idiot is not; he is a caricature of winning by now, who accomplished pretty much everything he wanted, "idiots" don't do that.

How much of an ass would I look like if I critized Obama for his public speaking all the time because I dislike him? I strongly disagree with his policies, but he is obviously a great orator. On the same token, Trump is clearly not an idiot.

Without congressional intervention, about 16,000 retired miners in seven states will lose their health care coverage by the end of the year.

A proposal to temporarily extend the benefits is working its way through Congress. But two Senate Democrats, who are advocates for a more comprehensive plan, say the temporary provision isn't enough.

They are threatening to hold up a spending bill that needs to pass by Friday night to keep the government running.

Coal mining is dangerous work. For many miners, a government-backed promise of lifelong health care for them and their dependents made the risk worth taking.

Roger Merriman, 65, worked in the coal industry for 28 years.

"When we all started in the mines, we were promised health care for life – cradle to grave," he says. Merriman's employer, Patriot Coal, filed for bankruptcy in 2012, then again in 2015. He is now slated to lose his pension and benefits. Merriman says that possibility of losing health benefits for his wife, who is younger than he is (at 65, he qualifies for Medicare), and their pension, is devastating.

"We'll have to make a choice of whether [we're] going to the doctors and buying prescriptions or paying bills and eating. It's a life and death situation realistically is what it is," he says.

In 1946, the United Mine Workers of America and the U.S government agreed that union miners who put in 20 or more years would get lifelong pension and health benefits. Patriot is one of six major coal producers in the U.S. that has sought bankruptcy protection in the last few years, a process that often includes an attempt to drop retiree benefits.

After the Patriot bankruptcy in 2012, the UMWA negotiated a $400 million payment in bankruptcy court for retirees benefits. Existing companies pay into a UMWA fund for retirees, but as those mines close, there is less money going into the pot and the number of retired miners who are drawing from it is increasing. The fund is about to run out of money.

The UMWA's hope was that the $400 million would give federal lawmakers the time they needed to pass legislation that would protect the miners.

Senate Democrats have been working for years to pass the Miners Protection Act — a bill that would move money from the Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Fund into a fund to pay for the pension and health care benefits of tens of thousands of coal miners and retirees.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, is frustrated by the benefits Band-Aid. "We're asking for a permanent fix, we have a pay for for a permanent fix, it's the excess that we have, the surplus in the AML money," he said Tuesday on the Senate floor.

Manchin and colleague Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, are trying to block a key government spending bill on the Senate floor until miners get their full health care and pension money.

"I haven't ever used this tactic before, but I feel so compelled that I said we are going to do whatever we can to keep this promise," he said Tuesday.

But the Miners Protection Act has met with resistance from Senate Republicans, who are wary of bailing out unionized workers.

On December 09 2016 13:16 LegalLord wrote:

I mean, there are plenty of problems with Silicon Valley and friends that would make working for the government better (snacks and wearing whatever are vanity perks that mostly immature people care about). But it's simply not there right now. Just more hassle than payoff.

On December 09 2016 14:50 ticklishmusic wrote:


you're missing the point here. government just isnt able to attract top grade technology talent because they cant make a competitive offer. the government pays worse that private sector for most jobs, but its especially bad for tech positions. its not even google or whatever hot startup, the federal government has trouble attracting people away from companies like weatherchannel and IBM.