US Politics Mega-thread - Page 8272

On August 02 2017 04:15 Wegandi wrote:


Even in heavily Democratic areas it's still the "white people" that are the problem. Is this the round-a-bout way of saying that the Democrats are heavily racist as well, because that's generally not the talking points. (Or perhaps, it's just wealthy white people, or wealth, & being white...I can never keep up with the "other" that is the target to deflect away from Government incompetence and Democratic rule)

By the way, more white people are killed than blacks by a 3:1 margin by police, and whites have been at the hands of state abuse quite a bit. You're right though about one thing - it's a socioeconomic problem mostly. Which is to say, that is the MO of Government in every society and region of the world. Maduro is not a poor man - his people are poor. Politicians in this country are not poor and the police generally don't abuse the donor (crony) class because they have the ear of the politicians. Rinse and repeat in every country with a Government. That was mozoku's point. Government is the oldest and longest running monopolist in the world, but so many believe it's Gods answer to man on Earth and without it we'd become extinct or we'd become barbarous neanderthals. Police are unaccountable to the public because they don't have a motive outside of their own individual morality and that is most often overridden by the iron hand of Government. They do a bad job. Police still get paid. Cover ups, lying, etc. you're more likely to be promoted. Try and do the right thing - you're hunted and ostracized. The examples are many. This is mostly true in every Government agency and setting. Military - my god, the running joke are the incompetents get promoted so the command doesn't have to deal with them anymore; Politicians - I'm being a bit redundant here; the Bureaucrats - spend more the merrier, mission creep, nosy busy-bodies who believe their personal morality should be foisted upon us all, etc. That's if they're competent - the VA, DMV, waiting 2 months on paperwork, etc. Customer service is not in the vocabulary of the bureaucrat. God forbid you anger one.

On August 02 2017 04:22 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:
Ah, the race discussion as come back. I'll sit this one out.

On August 02 2017 01:55 xDaunt wrote:
Yes, there's a structural problem in the US with law enforcement oversight. The only remedy is to bring a 1983 claim, but, frankly, that just isn't quite good enough. Attorneys have limited capacity to bring those claims, and they're often tough to win anyway. I'll be filing one later this year over an instance of police brutality that was witnessed by the fucking assistant DA (and fortunately, caught on video). And no, GH, the victim was not black. Police abuse white people, too.

On August 02 2017 04:23 Wegandi wrote:


Do you see why people might think that "white privilege" is stupid? The only "privilege" in this country is if you're connected to the Government, either directly or indirectly. There's no get out of jail card otherwise.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is proposing a far-reaching bill that would both legalize marijuana at the federal level and encourage states to legalize it locally through incentives.

The New Jersey Democrat’s bill, called the Marijuana Justice Act, has virtually no chance of passage in the Republican-controlled Congress and in a presidential administration that’s decidedly anti-marijuana.

“You see these marijuana arrests happening so much in our country, targeting certain communities — poor communities, minority communities — targeting people with an illness,” Booker, the former mayor of Newark, said in a Facebook Live roll-out of his legislation.

The bill would remove the federal prohibition on marijuana and withhold federal money for building jails and prisons, along with other funds, from states whose cannabis laws are shown to disproportionately incarcerate minorities.

Under the legislation, federal convictions for marijuana use and possession would be expunged and prisoners serving time for a marijuana offense would be entitled to a sentencing hearing.

Those “aggrieved” by a disproportionate arrest or imprisonment rate would be able to sue, according to the bill. And a Community Reinvestment Fund would be established to “reinvest in communities most affected by the war on drugs” for everything from re-entry programs to public libraries.

Eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana.

“They’re actually seeing positive things coming out of that experience. Now I believe the federal government should get out of the illegal marijuana business,” Booker said, adding that it “disturbs” him that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has signaled that the federal government should take a harder line on marijuana.

Booker's bill comes as New Jersey considers legalizing marijuana. Legislative leaders have expressed support for a bill introduced by Democratic state Sen. Nicholas Scuatri. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Murphy — the heavy favorite to be elected governor — has said he would sign such a bill.

Gov. Chris Christie, who leaves office in January, has vowed to veto any marijuana legalization bill. The Republican governor also chairs a presidential commission on opioid addiction.

Marijuana legalization advocates were thrilled with Booker’s proposal.

“This is the single most far-reaching marijuana bill that’s ever been filed in either chamber of Congress,” Tom Angell, chairman of the group Marijuana Majority, said in a statement. "More than just getting the federal government out of the way so that states can legalize without [Drug Enforcement Administration] harassment, this new proposal goes even further by actually punishing states that have bad marijuana laws.

"Polls increasingly show growing majority voter support for legalization," he said. "So this is something that more senators should be signing onto right away."

On August 02 2017 04:23 Wegandi wrote:


Do you see why people might think that "white privilege" is stupid? The only "privilege" in this country is if you're connected to the Government, either directly or indirectly. There's no get out of jail card otherwise.

On August 02 2017 04:23 Wegandi wrote:


Do you see why people might think that "white privilege" is stupid? The only "privilege" in this country is if you're connected to the Government, either directly or indirectly. There's no get out of jail card otherwise.

On August 02 2017 04:23 Wegandi wrote:


Do you see why people might think that "white privilege" is stupid? The only "privilege" in this country is if you're connected to the Government, either directly or indirectly. There's no get out of jail card otherwise.

On August 02 2017 04:29 KwarK wrote:

No, I don't see why they might think it's stupid. If they think it's stupid the only possible explanations that seem possible to me are a failure to understand what white privilege means or extreme idiocy. I'll go ahead and presume the former on your part.

White privilege does not mean that white people don't have problems. It means that there are social advantages to being white that black people don't benefit from. Which is such a broad and obvious statement that it is absolutely baffling to me that someone would question it. There is also black privilege too, for what it's worth. Being black isn't all bad. But black privilege is certainly a worse deal that white privilege.

Imagine this were a role play game. If you rolled white as your starting race then you get some fun modifiers like +2 to charisma rolls with law enforcement. It doesn't mean you always win every encounter, if you roll five die and they're all 1s you're still fucked. But it is a race advantage versus had you rolled black as your starting race. White players can still roll all 1s and black players can still roll 6s but if you take the entire group average you'll find the +2 modifier is statistically significant over time.

On August 02 2017 04:36 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:


Zero chance of it passing. Think it's a gesture for Booker to position himself for the next presidential election as a not-just-an-establishment Democrat?

On August 02 2017 04:38 OuchyDathurts wrote:


Pretty much, this is his way of trying to escape the bought and paid for by healthcare box and get in the good graces of progressives.

On August 02 2017 04:48 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:

I'd take the money and go on vacation. And when I got back to Washington, vote against all of their interests.

On August 02 2017 03:01 Plansix wrote:

Is this one of your arguments where you see something as dumb because it is being abused, even though it has been around for about a century without abuse?

It is a congressional check on the treasury. It is how they would prevent the treasure from just creating endless money and destroy the economy. Congress has to approve things like “making more money” because that is their role. Anything that would be created could be abused by congress.

On August 02 2017 04:48 ZerOCoolSC2 wrote:

I'd take the money and go on vacation. And when I got back to Washington, vote against all of their interests.

On August 02 2017 04:54 zlefin wrote:

I'm calling it dumb because it is in fact dumb.
this is hardly the first decade where the debt ceiling has caused problems.
if you're going to claim i'ts not dumb you'll need to backup your point rather than contesting mine.
it's dumb to have a law that says you must spend money, then pass another law that forbids you from spending that money while still leaving the first law intact.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that President Donald Trump “weighed in” on a misleading statement issued by his son last month in response to reports that he met in 2016 with a Russian attorney.

Her concession that Trump was involved in that initial statement’s drafting contradicts assertions from one of the president’s outside attorneys, Jay Sekulow, who said last month on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “the president was not involved in the drafting of the statement.”

“He certainly didn't dictate, but...he weighed in, offered suggestion, like any father would do,” Sanders said at Tuesday’s White House press briefing.

The Washington Post reported Monday that Trump had personally dictated the first statement, which was presented as being from Donald Trump Jr. and given to the New York Times in July. In it, Trump Jr. said a June 2016 meeting with a Russian attorney had mainly focused on adoptions of Russian children by U.S. parents, an issue tied to human rights sanctions imposed on Russia by the United States.

Trump Jr. later conceded that he had met with the lawyer because he had been told she possessed negative information on Hillary Clinton sourced from the Russian government, although he has insisted no useful information came of his meeting, which was also attended by then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a top White House aide.

“Look, the statement that Don Jr. issued is true. There's no inaccuracy in the statement,” Sanders said. “The president weighed in as any father would, based on the limited information that he had. This is all discussion, frankly, of no consequence.”

On August 02 2017 05:01 zlefin wrote:
ok plansix, you're trolling, as you usually do, so i'm not gonna respond to you, come back when you're not trolling and want to have a serious discussion. and don't interject on issues where you obviously have no understanding of the topic, and make no attempt to understand a plainly written point, it just makes the thread worse.

On August 02 2017 04:54 Plansix wrote:

I’m like 99% sure that is illegal, but I like your plan. But the problem is you took the money and people don’t like that you took it.


So its dumb because you say it is dumb because you don’t understand it? The law authorized the treasure to create more debt to pay the bills. Do think the treasure should be able to print unlimited money without seeking approval from congress?

On August 02 2017 04:35 Jockmcplop wrote:


I would never suggest that the concept of white privilege is stupid. I would, however, say that the current obsession with it is very stupid and most of all very counter productive. If you go around insulting/insinuating extremely negative things about the vast majority of the population sooner or later they will get sick of it and then BOOM!
Trump.

On August 02 2017 04:58 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
“He certainly didn't dictate, but...he weighed in, offered suggestion, like any father would do,” Sanders said at Tuesday’s White House press briefing.
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