Official Current Affairs & Politics Thread II

[NyCeEvO]

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Here is a link to the previous thread: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1481124

[MrDollarBills]

Whoever is working the board over there at MSNBC has no chill

[Rich Rane]

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4 dead, multiple injuries.

Audio:

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[MrDollarBills]

^^^I don't advise anyone who hasn't seen the video or heard the audio to view or listen to it. It's horrific.

I'll say this much aside from feeling awful for the victims, their family members, and the survivors of this incident who are now scarred for life by the actions of an incel piece of trash who can't handle losing at a video game, but if anyone who has dealt with online gaming can tell you, the culture is rife with hostile, vile, and hateful toxic young men who have no problem causing harm to people or actually getting them killed so sadly this isn't surprising.

Google "gamer swatting" and you'll see what I mean.

I don't know if things have always been this bad, but it just seems like society has really opened the floodgates for the worst of us to come to the surface and do active harm and its not going away any time soon.

[Prokorov]

It is such a tragedy. And literally nothing has been done since the parkland shooting. This is unfathomable to me. not just that our politicians/government has failed us, but that most people dont care and just want to go back to living in their bubble where there is no violence/racism/homelesness/etc. How can we continue to have 2x/5x/ten times the guns and gun deaths then any other country and have nothing done about it?

Put aside what solutions you would be behind, regardless of that, no solutions have been put in place. if you think its a gun control/gun issue... nothing has been done with guns. if you think its a mental health issue, nothing has been done with mental health or social services which are extremely under funded. no one wants to talk about it, no one is pushing legislation. and these kids who are effected, seeing their friends die, who are trying to fight for their safety are being supressed and/or their news cycle is up so we dont hear from them anymore.

GRADE SCHOOL KIDS ARE BEING SHOT AND KILLED!

how is this not, constantly, the #1 issue until SEVERAL solutions/changes are made? I dont have kids yet, but i cant imagine being a parent and dropping my kids off at school. My wife works in education creating curriculum and often visits schools. ive had her text me saying "im ok, school in lockdown, going into the closet with the kids." everything was fine, it was some mixup and they were being overly cautious... but your heart stops.

It gets me so frustrated:

-We cant have gun control because its "our constitutional right" even though that wasnt even in the original constituion, it was ammended in and can be ammended out (just like prohibition).

-We cant have gun control because "we need to protect ourselves against the government"... which may have made sence back in the 1800s, when were fresh off splitting off from England and were in world were the government had a tyrannical reign, or the threat of such on its citizens. Somehow, owning an AR-15 is going to stop the government from taking your land/killing you with their arsenal of drone manned missle strikes, fighter planes, tanks, ballistic and nuclear weapons.

-It isnt guns, its people. sick people. we need to beef up mental health and healthcare. Yet the majority of people with this stance, identify with republicans, who have consistently proposed or voted to cut funding to healthcare, mental heath services, and social services. And while i can kill someone with a car, we arent by far #1 in the world in vehicular homicide. while i can kill someone with a steak knife, we dont have kids going into schools and killed 30 people with steak knives. NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD HAS THIS GUN PROBLEM. before we say "getting rid of guns won change anything" maybe we can just try it and see if we end up like other countries that dont have all these school shootings and gun deaths.

-Its bullying. we need kids to be nicer. only bullying happens everywhere in the world. if bullying is the problem why dont other countries have this problem?

-We need to arm teachers! no one will shoot up a school if they know teachers are armed!... seems crazy that we cant find the money for paper, pencils, and books for school kids, but we can find the money to arm every teacher in america. My wifes family is full of teachers, they literally have to go out and buy notebooks and pencils for their class because the school cant afford it. but we have money to arm and train every teacher? and we are going to ask people making 35-45K a year to now be some kind of security militia? we want all of our kindegarden and 1st grade kids to be within arms reach of a gun every day?

I honestly dont get the problem. KIDS ARE BEING SHOT UP! 5 YEAR OLDS! 10 YEAR OLDS! and it is happening not just in poor neighborhoods. how do parents send their kids to school these days?

[MrDollarBills]

Read on Twitter

Another progressive candidate getting a Dem nod, this time in Florida for governor. I'll be rooting for him vs. Ron DeSantis.

The thing is, based on some of the polling Americans actually do want to see stuff like medicare for all and other things that are helpful to everyone regardless of partisan affiliation or race. America's wealth disparity has become so bad that what once was demonized as "socialism" actually sounds like common sense to whatever is left of the middle class and those straddling the poverty line or below.

Candidates that can clearly explain their positions while tailoring their message to their constituency can get the message through. You really can't worry about the Trump crazies. The Trumpalumps won't vote for a guy like Andrew Gillum simply because he's a black man. The independent voters, moderates are the ones who will most likely vote for a candidate if he or she is speaking directly to their basic needs and concerns. This guy does it. Beto O'Rourke in Texas running against Ted Cruz's dumb ass does the same.

The Democrats need to keep it simple. Speak to what everyone cares about and go from there. It doesn't have to be 100% about Trump, just speaking and appealing to basic human decency is already a referendum against Trump.

[MrDollarBills]

I thought fat boy Chris Christie had gotten through this unscathed but here we go:

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Maybe Chris can request to be cellmates with his buddy Craig Carton since he'll also be going to federal prison too

[MrDollarBills]

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Not even 24 hours have passed and the racist dog whistling starts. These people are beyond vile.

[Roy Tarpley]

I'm very interested in the Gillum/DeSantis race because it's a test of Sandersism against Trumpism. I'm tired of left-leaning moderates and I want to test the hypothesis that people will vote for "socialist" ideas if given the chance.

Gillum can just speak to the working class voters, regardless of race. Beto can as well. Sanders and Warren have a tougher fence to straddle in a national election where both were were accused of ignoring minority communities.

[MrDollarBills]

I'm very interested in the Gillum/DeSantis race because it's a test of Sandersism against Trumpism. I'm tired of left-leaning moderates and I want to test the hypothesis that people will vote for "socialist" ideas if given the chance.

Gillum can just speak to the working class voters, regardless of race. Beto can as well. Sanders and Warren have a tougher fence to straddle in a national election where both were were accused of ignoring minority communities.

Sandersism is such a...nasty name to me right now. I am not a fan of Sanders right now. I don't trust him, he serves as a chaos agent and I HATE Bernie Bros, who are literally the far left version of the alt right minus the overt racism. Those are the types that would rather watch America burn under Trump before being reasonable.

I would prefer to say its Social Progressivism and the Rule of Law versus Trumpism and Criminal Authoritarian Fascism. Gillum has common sense proposals and wants to change things by the book that would be highly beneficial to that state. I also like the fact that he is, if elected, going to issue an executive order to squash Florida's insane stand your ground law. I'm pretty sure he'll have a ton of support from the voters who have been whipped up by the Parkland Students' activism in that regard.

I like the crop of progressive candidates winning these primaries. These are the kind of people that can reach anyone who will listen and will not ignore minorities. Beto is pretty damn awesome and I think has the makings of someone that could be presidential material some day. I really like Ocasio-Cortez a lot, she is no punk and is very empathetic and protective of marginalized people which is a great quality to have. I just think she needs to be wary of Sanders.

That being said, I don't think we should just be **** canning moderate democrats. You have to tailor your candidates to your area and sometimes a moderate democrat will fare better in certain instances depending on the area and demographics. Also, The GOP have basically disemboweled themselves by becoming subservient to Trump. A lot of Republicans/conservatives who are decent human beings that want no parts of this and are becoming independent. You want to have Moderate Dems in the mix because they will most likely be more attractive candidates to them.

Speaking of the impending death of the GOP:

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Dog whistling for 40 years has lost them an entire generation.

[Rich Rane]

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[Rich Rane]

Just to follow up on the golden standard that is Fox News:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/07/21/a-rigorous-scientific-look-into-the-fox-news-effect/#3496c84512ab

[MrDollarBills]

Not surprising. They are a propaganda outlet that continually stokes fear within white americans and they spread disinformation. The difference between Fox News and Infowars is approaching razor thin territory right now.

Which is why you have people saying that any day now, Barack Obama will be arrested and jailed.

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^This isn't being reported on Fox. This is why when Trump's Administration gets the rug pulled out from under them the shock will cataclysmic to their viewer base.

Also, I will be shocked if, when the dust settles, that Jeff Sessions isn't a cooperating witness. He would be insane not to be if given the chance. Because the fact that Mueller is going after Trump co conspirators for lying to Congress should have him, Donald Trump Jr., Erik Prince, and a slew of other people very nervous right now. This is why Trump is losing his ****...the walls continue to close in on him.

Election Day is coming quickly folks. Trump is reviled by 60% of the country. But none of that matters if the GOP maintains control of congress. Both the House and Senate need to flip blue and then we can at least, on a government level, begin to reel things towards normalcy. I don't care what anyone thinks about establishment dems or socialist dems. Suck it up, act like an adult and vote out the GOP.

https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/

^make sure your registration is still in good standing.

https://www.vote.org/absentee-ballot/

^^I believe that there is still time to get absentee ballots if for some reason you cannot make it to the polls in November.

[MrDollarBills]

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/process-illegitimate-msnbcs-morning-joe-says-democrats-walk-kavanaugh-hearings

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and other “Morning Joe” panelists hammered Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and other Senate Democrats for agreeing to proceed with confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh.

Senate Judiciary Committee hearings begin Tuesday for President Donald Trump’s next Supreme Court nominee, just hours after the release of 42,000 new documents related to Kavanaugh’s prior legal work for the executive branch.

“I do not understand what these Democrats are thinking,” Scarborough said. “I don’t understand their lack of fight.”

“This process is illegitimate,” he continued. “It started illegitimately, as you said, with Merrick Garland, and now the Republicans have basically hidden 150,000 documents from Democrats that they have been begging for over the past several weeks. No judge in America would allow an opposing side to dump 150,000 documents on another party in a lawsuit the day before hearings started or a trial is started. I’m completely baffled. why do Democrats — why are they even showing up? They should not show up.”

MSNBC contributor Sam Stein grilled Whitehouse over the Democratic strategy for opposing Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

“Senator, if there’s no committee confidential and you believe this is illegitimate, why not put out the 42,000 documents yourself?” said Stein, also the political editor for The Daily Beast. “You can post them online. Doesn’t the public deserve to see the same documents?”

Whitehouse agreed Senate Democrats could do that, but he said they had not decided whether to dump those documents online.

“I don’t understand, just walk me through this,” Stein said. “I hear from a lot of frustrated progressives who do follow this very closely. They hear you guys say this is illegitimate, they hear you guys note that the president is (implicated in) a co-conspirator crime, that there’s an investigation going on and that this shouldn’t proceed.”

“Yet the Democrats on the committee are not taking the most aggressive steps, they are not stepping out of the hearing as (host) Joe (Scarborough) illustrated and not releasing the documents that are supposedly committee confidential,” Stein continued. “What is the disconnect here? Why are you guys not fighting this more aggressively if you think this is such an existential threat?”

Whitehouse insisted there was no reason to step outside the normal process for debating Supreme Court nominations.

“I can’t speak for others, but I think the committee process is the best place to make these points,” the senator said. “I don’t think Americans, frankly, respect people very much who walk out of their jobs when there’s a fight to be had, and I think it’s important we take this forum and have that fight.”

SPINELESS. This is why Democrats have problems getting people to the polls. You sat there and watched McConnell obstruct Obama on Merrick Garland and now when you can actually block this dude from getting onto the court with McCain gone you want to play by the rules? There should be ZERO hearings until all of the requested documents are produced and reviewed.

Establishment Dems better cut this garbage out. You can't energize your base by appeasement. they need to fight back.

[MrDollarBills]

I take that back. The hearing is complete chaos right now and Senate Dems are stepping up to the plate. I though Khamala Harris was the only one who was going to say something but they're all going in.

Chuck Grassley is complete trash

[Rich Rane]

How do you review 42,000 pages in a night?

[Prokorov]

How do you review 42,000 pages in a night?

not 42,000 pages, 42,000 documents

[MrDollarBills]

You want to know how its obvious that Kavanaugh has something to hide? The Democrats tore into him today, right?

All he had to simply say was "I take a lifetime appointment to the highest court in our land very seriously, and I also stand by my record and credentials....and I will gladly wait until every member on the Judiciary committee has had a chance to review everything in full, and will answer any questions that arise before a vote can be had."

That is what a man of integrity would say. Instead, he's riding right along with this ram through sham of a confirmation procedure. Most likely, this has nothing to do with his views on abortion, but the fact that he probably told Trump that he doesn't believe that a sitting President can be indicted, only impeached. Which is insane because it means that the President is above the law which is not how this is supposed to work. For all the credit that people heap onto the slave owners that started this country, they clearly didn't have the foresight to see this happening. All three branches are screwed up right now. The Supreme Court is compromised. Congress is compromised. The Executive Branch is being run by a money laundering criminal fraud. Pfft. Checks and balances are nearly dead.

Let me say this, all of the polls are indicating that the GOP is going to get destroyed in November. If the Democrats clean up in November and do not seize upon this moment from 2019 til January 2021 to use the precedents set by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to fix this mess, this country is screwed. Today, I thought they showed guts. Its going to be futile because McCain's replacement has been named and unless something horrific comes out about Kavanaugh he's going to be confirmed and most likely some center-right blue dog Dems will give him votes as well. Whatever.

If the Democrats behave the way that they did after they took majority control under Bush, they will all pay a heavy price imo. They need to use every precedent set over the last few years and fix this crap. Expand the Supreme Court. Ram through sensible and ethically sound judges that are above reproach. Ram through universal healthcare. Ram through legislation that overturns Trump's tax cuts and ram through legislation that taxes everyone sensibly. pass legislation to neuter the Executive Branch to make sure that anyone who becomes president of this country has to be fully vetted. Give us a solid infrastructure bill that will fix this country's roads/bridges, invest in clean energy, remove these dumb ass tariffs and most of all, clean up the gun laws in this country. No one should own an assault rifle. No one should be able to buy guns without a serious background check. ram all of that through I don't care.

I don't want to hear anything about bipartisan ship until the GOP cleans their own house up. The only time Republicans want to behave in a bipartisan manner is when they are the minority. **** them. Because most of them are either traitors or goddamn nazis and thats not going to work. Ass holes like Grassley, Graham, McConnell all need to go take a flying leap. Grassley and Graham are both clearly compromised and are trying to save Trump's ass. When the truth comes out about what the GOP has been doing behind the scenes with the NRA, the party of Lincoln is going to under a serious upheaval.

This country cannot get back to sensible common sense left-center-right politics until the GOP upends the extremist and criminal element of their party, and frankly I would suggest that the Democrats do the same.

[MrDollarBills]

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Another establishment Dem upended in the primaries by a progressive candidate who is a woman of color. This is why I say, if the establishment/corporate dems keep playing these games they will get hammered.

No one is playing these games with these senior citizens anymore. Chuck and Nancy's bull **** helped to pave the way for Trump. Time to step aside.

To the progressive Dems I will say this though...kick Bernie Sanders to the curb. After watching that Active Measures documentary on Hulu (must see viewing if you love politics), Sanders is a Kremlin asset whether he realizes it or not. He needs to be banned from the Democratic Party.

[Rich Rane]

Let me say this, all of the polls are indicating that the GOP is going to get destroyed in November. If the Democrats clean up in November and do not seize upon this moment from 2019 til January 2021 to use the precedents set by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to fix this mess, this country is screwed. Today, I thought they showed guts.

I believe polls say the Democrats will take the House, not the Senate as Republicans have a lot less up for grabs in the upcoming midterms.