US Politics Mega-thread - Page 882

On October 31 2018 00:48 TheTenthDoc wrote:
I wonder if they'll actually have a competent draft of their first EO or they'll make a very stupid overreach/misunderstanding again-the only way this has even a shred of "not already been ruled on" is if it is written very clearly that it only applies to children of undocumented people and is built around a "the only 'people' in the Constitution are citizens and lawful residents and visitors,' and even then it's on shaky legal ground.

On October 31 2018 00:54 Mohdoo wrote:


If they want to end birthright citizenship, there's a lot of ways they can do it. They could even just dismantle the offices that handle it and do some kinda disabling thing to just make it not happen.

On October 31 2018 01:01 Plansix wrote:

You mean hospitals and local governments that give out birth certificates? Trump has a lot of reach, but that specific part of local goverment is beyond him. Amend the Constitution or GTFO.

On October 31 2018 00:54 Mohdoo wrote:


If they want to end birthright citizenship, there's a lot of ways they can do it. They could even just dismantle the offices that handle it and do some kinda disabling thing to just make it not happen.

On October 31 2018 01:01 Plansix wrote:

You mean hospitals and local governments that give out birth certificates? Trump has a lot of reach, but that specific part of local goverment is beyond him. Amend the Constitution or GTFO.

On October 31 2018 01:24 KwarK wrote:

I am now in month 22 of waiting for my replacement green card application to be processed. Legal rights won’t help if there is no system through which you can exercise them. A deported citizen may not have a decade to wait for a judge to rule they should be let back in, nor the money or time to fight it.

On October 31 2018 01:41 TheTenthDoc wrote:
Anything they do that hinders citizenship for children of lawful residents is going to be immediately stayed, no questions asked, and most of the easy levers to pull will do that. Hitting them will kill this policy as surely as the first 145 iterations of the travel ban.

On October 31 2018 02:01 Plansix wrote:
It is all going to depend on turn out, which isn't a good sign for Trump's base centered plan. The signs are showing that this could be the highest midterm turn out in decades. The polling is showing that 30-40% of young voters could turn out to vote, which would be a 15-25 point bump. Trumps popularity ends at his base, which was able to just barely win him a low turn out election.

Voter Turnout Could Hit 50-Year Record For Midterm Elections

The U.S. Agency for Global Media has launched an investigation into an anti-Semitic television segment attacking George Soros that aired on a federally funded Spanish-language broadcaster.

The 15-minute segment, which Radio and Television Martí broadcast in May, calls the billionaire philanthropist a "multimillionaire Jew" who uses his profits to "finance anti-system [political] movements that fill his pockets."

The video resurfaced Friday, just days after a package containing an explosive device turned up at Soros' home in New York — and one day before a gunman opened fire at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, murdering 11 worshippers in what a local prosecutor described as a "terrible and unspeakable act of hate."

The video that aired in May "is inconsistent with our professional standards and ethics," USAGM chief John Lansing said in a statement released Monday.

His agency oversees the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which directs Radio and Television Martí and — according to its website — aims "to promote freedom and democracy by providing the people of Cuba with objective news and information programming."

"Those deemed responsible for this production will be immediately placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into their apparent misconduct," Lansing said. "Disciplinary action appropriate under federal law may then be proposed, including the potential removal of those responsible, depending on the outcome of that investigation."

The Cuban Triangle blog first called attention to the segment, which has since been removed from the Radio and Television Martí website — though portions of it can still be found on YouTube. The Cuban Triangle laid out some of the most striking elements of the full segment, including calling Soros:

"The architect of the 2018 financial collapse."
"A non-practicing Jewish financial speculator with flexible morals."
A financier of groups that "do nothing more than destabilize societies and cultures."
"George Soros has his eye on Latin America," the narrator says over an ominous score. "But Judicial Watch, a legal research group in the United States, has its eye on Soros, and on what it views as his lethal influence in undermining democracies."

Judicial Watch, a conservative activist group, has attracted scrutiny in recent weeks for its own full-throated campaign against Soros. It has been raising money on Facebook with ads featuring the face of the liberal Hungarian philanthropist, circled in red with a call to action: "Expose Soros!"

Fox Business recently condemned statements made by the organization's director of investigations and research, Chris Farrell, who pushed a conspiracy theory about Soros during his appearance on Lou Dobbs Tonight. Farrell baselessly claimed that a caravan of Central American migrants is funded by the "Soros-occupied State Department."

Straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Just moments ago, Lou Dobbs guest Chris Farrell (head of Judicial Watch) says Caravan is being funded/directed by the "Soros-occupied State Department". pic.twitter.com/QBSong7uk1

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 27, 2018
The suspect in the Pittsburgh shooting — which unfolded hours before Fox Business re-aired Farrell's appearance — appeared to push similar theories on social media prior to his attack, claiming that Jews were behind the caravan's movements.

But the Pittsburgh suspect's beliefs have not been an aberration. The Anti-Defamation League and others noted that anti-Semitic incidents leaped nearly 60 percent during President Trump's first year in office. The ADL says it's the largest such jump on record.

Not long after the Radio and Television Martí video resurfaced, Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake denounced it as "taxpayer-funded anti-semitism" and called for an investigation.

"At a time when hate-filled rhetoric is having a devastating impact inside the United States, it is irresponsible for any agency of the federal government to perpetuate unfounded conspiracy theories that, far from supporting U.S. foreign policy goals, work against them," Flake said in a letter sent Monday to Lansing.

He also called the Television Martí program a "waste of taxpayer money" that fails to persuade — or, in many cases, even reach — its intended Cuban audience.

Radio Martí was founded in 1985 and joined five years later by its sister TV broadcaster. Its parent agency, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, received nearly $30 million in federal money in fiscal 2017.

"The rise of anti-Semitism inside the United States is bad enough," Flake added. "American taxpayers should not be funding its dissemination."

Soros' Open Society Foundations has supported NPR in the past.

On October 31 2018 02:15 Acrofales wrote:

Well, a high mid-term turnout is probably still far lower than for a presidential election? So... maybe it's Trump's base that is getting riled up and bringing up the turnout?

I mean, leading up to the presidential elections there was also no chance Trump would win it, right?