Political Roundtable Part XXVII

[Pointgod]

There's something fundamentally rotten with this headline:

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/470009-republicans-unveil-defense-strategy-ahead-of-public-impeachment-hearings

Impeachment is a part of checks/balances. The fact that Republicans are already decided and committed to defend Trump before getting all the facts makes it a partisan act. And sure, Clinton's impeachment had partisan overtones, as did Nixon's but this is beyond the pale. I don't know how these Congressmen can just so boldly and blatantly say - "Here's our plan to defend the president" when their job is "Here's our job to get to the truth." It's not about who is right, but what is right, and it seems like everybody has lost objectivity on that.

The only reason that Republicans get away with this is because people like Popper, daoneandonly, Nate will never hold them accountable and vote them out of office. Look at what happened to Justin Amash, he was kicked out of the party for speaking the truth about Trump’s impeachable behaviour. The political system is completely broken and Republicans are solely to blame.

[Pointgod]

lol, Camp of the Saints. simply amazing. how is this administration anything but racist?

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/12/20961458/stephen-miller-white-supremacist-anti-immigrant-emails-breitbart-southern-poverty-law-center

Let’s stop beating around the bush. Republicans are the party of racists full stop. They’ve found a home where they’re accepted simply because of political expedience.

[Wizardspride]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

[daoneandonly]

There's something fundamentally rotten with this headline:

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/470009-republicans-unveil-defense-strategy-ahead-of-public-impeachment-hearings

Impeachment is a part of checks/balances. The fact that Republicans are already decided and committed to defend Trump before getting all the facts makes it a partisan act. And sure, Clinton's impeachment had partisan overtones, as did Nixon's but this is beyond the pale. I don't know how these Congressmen can just so boldly and blatantly say - "Here's our plan to defend the president" when their job is "Here's our job to get to the truth." It's not about who is right, but what is right, and it seems like everybody has lost objectivity on that.

The only reason that Republicans get away with this is because people like Popper, daoneandonly, Nate will never hold them accountable and vote them out of office. Look at what happened to Justin Amash, he was kicked out of the party for speaking the truth about Trump’s impeachable behaviour. The political system is completely broken and Republicans are solely to blame.

You should have quit while you were ahead. The left have no right to ever utter the word accountable given all that they support with respect to never wanting to hold people accountable

[gtn130]

lol, Camp of the Saints. simply amazing. how is this administration anything but racist?

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/11/12/20961458/stephen-miller-white-supremacist-anti-immigrant-emails-breitbart-southern-poverty-law-center

Let’s stop beating around the bush. Republicans are the party of racists full stop. They’ve found a home where they’re accepted simply because of political expedience.

Peter King, the "moderate" Republican who just retired, spent his days in office whining about there being too many mosques in America. Entire party is completely indefensible and we haven't even gotten into their economic policies.

[gtn130]

You should have quit while you were ahead. The left have no right to ever utter the word accountable given all that they support with respect to never wanting to hold people accountable

Dude, your view of liberals is the same one Tucker Carlson invents every night.

[daoneandonly]

You should have quit while you were ahead. The left have no right to ever utter the word accountable given all that they support with respect to never wanting to hold people accountable

Dude, your view of liberals is the same one Tucker Carlson invents every night.

Not really, stances like stupid on crime, stupid on drugs instead of blaming the actual individuals, path to citizenship without any repercussions for illegal immigrants, and doubling the minimum wage echo the non accountable mantra

[pancakes3]

Again, the senior advisor for immigration actively quotes Camp of the Saints. For those not familiar, it's a novel wherein Europe is overrun by Indian migrants - who are depicted as literally eating their own feces along with the usual xenophobic flaws of being lazy, unemployable, having too many babies, and intrinsically filthy/brutish/violent. Switzerland is the only European country not overrun by immigrants due to its heavily closed borders, and where the narrative author resides, telling his cautionary tale.

It's a book that is regularly circulated by White supremacists, and tracks exactly with both the rhetoric and policies implemented by this administration.

Stephen Miller quoting from this book is objectively bad, and deserves no defense.

[dckingsfan]

Not really, stances like stupid on crime, stupid on drugs instead of blaming the actual individuals, path to citizenship without any repercussions for illegal immigrants, and doubling the minimum wage echo the non accountable mantra

And there you have it - you can't differentiate bad behavior from bad policy.

There is no reason to defend those who abuse drugs (with the exception of those that have mental illness issues). Or to defend those that have committed heinous crimes.

But there is also no reason to defend policies that have set our country back fiscally, morally and to the detriment of other aspects of government. The war on drugs has been an abject failure but seeing through the lens of "evil marijuana smokers" doesn't allow you to see that. Instead it just drives you to wanting bigger government and spending other peoples money.

[pancakes3]

And in stomach-churning, anti-science news: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/11/donald-trump-epa-public-health-science

the tl;dr is:

1) the EPA wants to do away with pesky environmental health studies upon which profit-restricting regulations are built.
2) the EPA has a brilliant new rule, under the label of "transparency" wherein the raw data on which these studies draw from must be made public - the "Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science" rule.
3) wow, transparency! sounds great, until you get to the fine print where "raw data" includes *all* medical records of those who participated in the study. can't even waive out of it with confidentiality agreements. full medical records for everyone - made public.
4) from a scientific standpoint, it's irrelevant. from a privacy perspective, it's a nightmare. but it will discourage participation from future studies, and so less studies, less science, less regulations, hooray.
5) but wait, why ruin future studies? let's make it retroactive! and if we can't get releases of past medical records (which we can't), we can invalidate past studies too! bring back mercury in our drinking water, lead in our paint, and carcinogens in our everything!

it's cartoonishly evil.

[daoneandonly]

Not really, stances like stupid on crime, stupid on drugs instead of blaming the actual individuals, path to citizenship without any repercussions for illegal immigrants, and doubling the minimum wage echo the non accountable mantra

And there you have it - you can't differentiate bad behavior from bad policy.

There is no reason to defend those who abuse drugs (with the exception of those that have mental illness issues). Or to defend those that have committed heinous crimes.

But there is also no reason to defend policies that have set our country back fiscally, morally and to the detriment of other aspects of government. The war on drugs has been an abject failure but seeing through the lens of "evil marijuana smokers" doesn't allow you to see that. Instead it just drives you to wanting bigger government and spending other peoples money.

Spending other people's money, no sir, thats the liberal way of life. it's how we're going to double the minimum wage, why we have a progressive tax bracket instead of a flat tax one, how we can wipe out student debt, fund PP, all paid for and brought to you by other people without benefiting the a good chunk of those that are fitting the bill. Unlike the criminal justice system, dont me wrong, its severely flawed. But a criminal and drug user behind bars instead of the streets is money well spent, as the general public is safer as a result. Just look at all the lefties up in arms when a known criminal's death sentence is about to come to fruition, they dont think the victims deserve justice.

[Wizardspride]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

[I_Like_Dirt]

Unlike the criminal justice system, dont me wrong, its severely flawed. But a criminal and drug user behind bars instead of the streets is money well spent, as the general public is safer as a result.

You're definition of safer is a confusing one. Do you have anything to show that tough on crime actually makes people safer? There is evidence to suggest that education helps with the crime rate.



There is also evidence to suggest that eliminating lead from gasoline reduced crime rates dramatically (particularly in inner cities that were most exposed to leaded gasoline).



Just because you assume something works a certain way doesn't mean that it actually does. To be honest, I'd suggest that it would be worth looking into environmental issues for safety reasons including both crime and climate change, but hey, let's keep tough on crime. That's very obviously working out and money well spent despite no evidence to support it. Christianity preaches forgiveness. Punishment and retribution aren't necessarily the kinds of things that are supposedly good ideas in that sense. And it turns out we have evidence to support other potential solutions.

[daoneandonly]

Unlike the criminal justice system, dont me wrong, its severely flawed. But a criminal and drug user behind bars instead of the streets is money well spent, as the general public is safer as a result.

You're definition of safer is a confusing one. Do you have anything to show that tough on crime actually makes people safer? There is evidence to suggest that education helps with the crime rate.



There is also evidence to suggest that eliminating lead from gasoline reduced crime rates dramatically (particularly in inner cities that were most exposed to leaded gasoline).



Just because you assume something works a certain way doesn't mean that it actually does. To be honest, I'd suggest that it would be worth looking into environmental issues for safety reasons including both crime and climate change, but hey, let's keep tough on crime. That's very obviously working out and money well spent despite no evidence to support it. Christianity preaches forgiveness. Punishment and retribution aren't necessarily the kinds of things that are supposedly good ideas in that sense. And it turns out we have evidence to support other potential solutions.

Its rationale common sense, a criminal behind bars is not out and about the streets where my loved ones and I area, plain & simple.

Faith has nothing to do with it, the left always scream dont push your beliefs on me, same strokes. Dont bring up my faith or try to push your feelings on me.

You do the crime, you do the time.

[dckingsfan]

Not really, stances like stupid on crime, stupid on drugs instead of blaming the actual individuals, path to citizenship without any repercussions for illegal immigrants, and doubling the minimum wage echo the non accountable mantra

And there you have it - you can't differentiate bad behavior from bad policy.

There is no reason to defend those who abuse drugs (with the exception of those that have mental illness issues). Or to defend those that have committed heinous crimes.

But there is also no reason to defend policies that have set our country back fiscally, morally and to the detriment of other aspects of government. The war on drugs has been an abject failure but seeing through the lens of "evil marijuana smokers" doesn't allow you to see that. Instead it just drives you to wanting bigger government and spending other peoples money.

Spending other people's money, no sir, thats the liberal way of life. it's how we're going to double the minimum wage, why we have a progressive tax bracket instead of a flat tax one, how we can wipe out student debt, fund PP, all paid for and brought to you by other people without benefiting the a good chunk of those that are fitting the bill. Unlike the criminal justice system, dont me wrong, its severely flawed. But a criminal and drug user behind bars instead of the streets is money well spent, as the general public is safer as a result. Just look at all the lefties up in arms when a known criminal's death sentence is about to come to fruition, they dont think the victims deserve justice.

And here we go - deflecting again.

You are here you are advocating spending other folks money to put marijuana users behind bars. You advocate not taxing and spending... just saying - just own up to it.

[queridiculo]

Fascinating watching the mind of a simpleton at work.

[dckingsfan]

Just because you assume something works a certain way doesn't mean that it actually does.

It is sooooo much easier to say something is obvious and common sense then to actually have to do the research and thinking...

The earth is obviously flat - it is common sense - just look.

[queridiculo]

Worth a watch, it's really quite incredible.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/editorial/opinion--read-the-transcript-how-republican-fox-news-fans-view-the-impeachment-inquiry/2019/11/12/f072f58a-4edf-4655-be8a-fa62e0b3a824_video.html

[I_Like_Dirt]

It is sooooo much easier to say something is obvious and common sense then to actually have to do the research and thinking...

The earth is obviously flat - it is common sense - just look.

And the ridiculous part is that you don't have to actually think very hard to understand why focusing on jailing/punishing people is a terrible idea. It's not like the earth being round where you have to look up to figure it out. Putting a bunch of criminals together with each other and time to do nothing but think, and treat them poorly, and then let them out at a later date and... safer?

Okay, maybe we need to take a different approach and isolate a population that invariably includes a high degree of mental illnesses, thereby exacerbating them (because who wants to pay to help them when we could pay to punish them instead?) and then letting them out? Results!!!!

Hmmmm... okay, maybe we should just immediately kill criminals once convicted. Damn them forever. The only logical response to that if you're a criminal isn't actually to stop being a criminal but to gain a position of authority (whether established or a criminal organization of some sort) that allows you access to do what you want. Great!... if you want a system policed by criminals.

The logic doesn't hold on any level but there are quite a few people that just keep on assuming it does because of a desire for retribution. Attempting to punish those other than ourselves for some perceived slight is a massive problem that comes with ridiculous costs. Helping others can be mutually beneficial but who wants to help others unless you're in a superior position and can gift your benevolence personally on your chosen cause?

[dobrojim]

Read on Twitter

?s=19

Gym Jordan.

I saw what he did there. Funny but horrifying.

#gymjordan