US Politics Mega-thread - Page 6503

Louisiana is losing its coast at a rapid rate because of rising sea levels, development and sinking marshland. Officials are trying to rebuild those marshes and the wetlands, but much of the coast can't be saved. This makes Louisiana's history an unwitting victim. As land disappears and the water creeps inland, ancient archaeology sites are washing away, too.

Richie Blink was born and raised in Plaquemines Parish, La. — way down south of New Orleans along the Mississippi River. Now he works for the National Wildlife Federation.

When he was a kid, his dad showed him a special place in Adams Bay, where they'd go fishing.

"We would come out of the floodgates and my dad would say 'Head for the Lemon Trees!'" Blink says.

What's locally known as the "Lemon Trees" is a stand of weathered old trees on a grassy tuft of land. It's a well-known landmark for fishermen, but Blink says they would rarely stop there to hunt or fish because it's a sacred Native American site.

"The legend goes that you were always to bring some kind of sacrifice, so somebody left some lemons for the ancestors," Blink says.

And those grew into big trees with grapefruit-sized lemons. But as land was lost to the Gulf of Mexico, saltwater made its way into the freshwater marsh, killing off the trees and other plants.

The trees stand like skeletons on the edge of this scrappy, wind-beaten island. Waves beat against the dirt, washing it away, exposing shards of ancient pottery.

"You can see, it's just everywhere ... there's just shards of it all over the place," Blink says. "This is earthen pottery made by natives. This site is in the process of being destroyed. It only has a few more years left."

This ancient Native American site is an important archaeological find. It's one of many historic sites being forever lost to the Gulf as rising seas and saltwater intrusion eat away at Louisiana's fragile marshes. Two sites like this are lost each year.

On January 05 2017 09:07 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
I honestly think the quickest way China could punish Trump is fuck him over economically.

On January 05 2017 09:07 Doodsmack wrote:
Trump now planning to revamp the CIA and other intelligence agencies? Siding with Assange over them? Any doubts that he was going to let his vanity influence policy should be long gone lol.

On January 05 2017 09:13 xDaunt wrote:

What would China do that wouldn't fuck themselves over even worse at this point?

On January 05 2017 09:15 xDaunt wrote:

I don't really have a problem with cleaning house at the same intelligence agencies that purposefully carried Obama's water on any number of issues (particularly those concerning the Middle East) for purely political reasons.

On January 05 2017 09:31 Doodsmack wrote:


If nothing else it doesn't seem like it has much of an end goal in mind. Other than that they'll be especially suck-uppy to trump.

Chicago police currently have four people in custody over a Facebook Live video that showed a group of people holding a man hostage and torturing him.

Police were made aware of the video on Tuesday afternoon. The video, shot by a young black woman, shows four people kicking, hitting and cutting a young white man while he was tied up.

During the beating, you could hear the attackers yelling “f*** Donald Trump! F*** white people!” along with other racial slurs.

The victim is now being treated at the hospital for his injuries. Meanwhile, no charges have yet been filed.

We will update this story as more comes in.

Watch the video above, via FOX 32.

(CBS) — Four people are in custody after a disturbing live-streamed video of a duct-taped man allegedly being tortured on Chicago’s West Side.

In the video, the victim’s clothes were cut, he was peppered with cigarette ashes, and then his hair cut with a knife until his scalp bled.

Several people can be seen laughing and eating as the attack is going on.

The incident took place Tuesday in an apartment on the 3400 block of West Lexington on Chicago’s West Side, a police spokesperson said.

The victim, who has special needs, was a high-risk missing person from northwest suburban Crystal Lake, police say.

Police say he traveled to Carol Stream to meet a friend. They ended up in a stolen car, driven to the West Side, where the attack took place.

Four people are now in custody. The victim was treated and released, police said.

On January 05 2017 08:38 kwizach wrote:

I obviously wish those Democrats who defected had supported it, yes, like I've said throughout the years. What are you arguing exactly?

On January 05 2017 09:46 ChristianS wrote:

I think he's doing a sort of tu quoque on centrist Democrats not supporting universal healthcare as a justification for more extreme liberals not supporting Hillary Clinton. It doesn't really land here though, since you'd probably criticize both groups for not falling in line with the party consensus, which is a perfectly consistent position.

On January 05 2017 09:50 GreenHorizons wrote:


It was Mag I was thinking of, which is why it didn't ring any bells for Kwiz. Mag thinks Bernie was the bad guy during the ACA for not wanting to cave into centrists holding healthcare hostage.

On January 05 2017 10:09 LegalLord wrote:
Trump is uniquely terrible as a candidate perhaps, but what is also true is that to both those on the left and right, so is Hillary.

The response to "the other side fielded someone buttfucking awful" isn't "let's prop up the least popular candidate who could possibly be matched up against said opponent."

On January 05 2017 10:26 LegalLord wrote:

Your "you just hate Hillary so much" cliche is getting tiresome. It's a pointless ad hominem deflection and you know it.

It just so happens to be directly relevant to Trump winning that his opponent was highly unpopular. Not even as a matter of my opinion but as a matter of fact.

On January 05 2017 09:17 Nyxisto wrote:


Push Asia into the RCEP and the US out of the region which is very possible now that Trump has ditched TPP.