StrangeSox

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 14, 2018 -> 05:40 PM) Nope, the clear solution is to arm teachers and students and have everyone in America packing. I couldn't imagine anything safer. my wife's school district considered arming them with bags of golf balls I wish I was joking.

In the rest of the world, there have been 18 school shootings in the last twenty years. In the U.S., there have been 18 school shootings since January 1--35 days.

At least 16 dead, another AR-15 mass murder. Thoughts and Prayers only, Now Is Not The Time To Discuss Guns (it is never the time)

QUOTE (SoxFan2003 @ Feb 14, 2018 -> 04:27 PM) It really sucks every time this thread makes its way to the top of the page. Almost a half a year ago this thread was started and nothing meaningful to help stop it has even been proposed. Incorrect! Republicans are working a bill through the House right now that would force states to accept concealed carry permits from other states rather than allowing them to set and enforce their own rules! This will all make us safer.

IN LEAKED CHATS, WIKILEAKS DISCUSSES PREFERENCE FOR GOP OVER CLINTON, RUSSIA, TROLLING, AND FEMINISTS THEY DON’T LIKE

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 14, 2018 -> 11:44 AM) Okay do your nitpick. My statement is still materially true. How'd that work out? How'd he hold up on that campaign promise? Or any of them? He was just like the rest of them - a corporatist serving the interests of the banks and military. Only difference was he's a cool guy with a slick tongue and an inherent appeal to the gender politics. It's not a nitpick, it's a factually false claim you've made several times now. I don't know why you can't keep it straight in your head, but Obama never campaigned on ending the war in Afghanistan. Obama didn't hold up his campaign promises in some areas (though he did in others!). He disappointed his base in other areas that weren't even campaign promises. But the issue here isn't about "campaign promises," so the comparison doesn't really make any sense. e: even the "base" claim doesn't really make sense. Obama's base may have supported more robust government programs, but they didn't have a moral qualification that their elected officials be on those programs. It's not even a stance that would really make sense. But evangelical conservatives have painted themselves as "values voters" for decades, and had generally held that an elected official needed to be (in their view) a morally upstanding person in their personal life in order to deserve to hold public office. It's just not really the same sort of thing.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Feb 14, 2018 -> 11:29 AM) I will say it is surprising that Trump's alleged affair isn't getting more air time. Maybe it's just a product of the constant scandal, red alert, corporate news media blasting the sirens too often. Personally, I am not concerned with who a person is or isn't having sex with or rather who he/she should or shouldn't be having sex with. Especially when it pertains to something that happened years ago. I also don't buy the idea that a leader has to be representative of their voters. At least that never seems to happen. Trump's base is religious. Should he also be religious? Obama's base was people receiving aid from the government. Should he have also received aid? These people are politicians. It's their job to lie. Trump ran on running the government like a business, stopping the BS in the middle east and ending the pay for play capitalism. Trump has increased spending, emboldened the military and gave Saudi Arabia billions of weapons so they can bomb a cholera-ridden Saudi Arabia. Obama ran on protecting whistleblowers, closing Gitmo and ending the two wars. He attacked whistleblowers unlike any president before, Gitmo is still operating and he not only expanded the two wars but started another five. These people are liars and scumbags by trade. It's not partisan, it's not right and it definitely shouldn't be surprising. 1) good lord. 2) this has been pointed out to you several times, but he ran on ending Iraq but re-engaging in Afghanistan. The narrative was that Bush had abandoned the "real fight" in Afghanistan in order to launch an unrelated and unjustified war in Iraq and that resources needed to be redirected back to where they should have stayed. That aside, there was a big, big polling shift in evangelicals in 2016 regarding whether or not a politician needs to be a moral leader/reflect their values.

Trump threatens to veto any DACA bill that doesn't drastically limit legal immigration. Just last month, he held that widely praised bipartisan meeting in which he promised to sign any bill Congress sent him. A major DREAMERS advocacy group is also telling Democrats that Trump's immigration demands aren't worth the price, too.

Have to imagine at that age/years of service he'd be approaching retirement, too

Pruitt's also been flying First Class regularly on taxpayer money out of "security concerns." He has a large 24/7 security force around him that is costing us boatloads of money.

Veterans Affairs chief Shulkin, staff misled ethics officials about European trip, report finds

It largely died off in 24 hours until the thing about Cohen's claims that he personally paid for it with zero knowledge of the campaign or Trump came out. What Dems are actually talking about this? e: good job on successfully deflecting this from "bad things Trump has done that his supporters will excuse or embrace and may actually have been illegal" to "DEMS ARE HYPOCRITES!!!" though V V V yeah, that's the main angle, how ridiculously shallow and fake "family values" conservative political Christianity has shown itself to be. Trump is the symbol of damn near everything they claim to oppose, hedonistic and proud about it throughout his life, but they love him.

Post some evidence to the contrary, then. That whole story seems to have died pretty quickly, swamped out by the next absurd bulls*** coming from the Trump WH. "Trump is a sleazeball" isn't really going to convince anyone to dislike Trump more than they already do, or for those who like Trump to like him less.

It's just such a weird (but normal) deflection because the post you quoted specifically said Democrats shouldn't try to make this some sort of campaigning issue? And also they're really not?

Democrats also don't call themselves "family morals" voters like the Trump-loving conservative evangelicals do, but hey gotta find a way to work that It Is Actually Democrats Who Are Bad angle

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 14, 2018 -> 09:14 AM) Cohen is trying to take the fall here not because of the affair, but rather because it was noticed that campaign funds were used for the payoff, no? Maybe? But it also possibly puts Cohen's own law license in jeopardy for ethical violations.

On the damage being done to things people actually like and the Democrats' plans to actually help people. So, yeah, those economic things. I think the strong-and-still-going enthusiasm gap we're seeing in special elections is showing that people do care. The "get a load of this idiot" campaign strategy already backfired bigly in 2016, might as well try running on actual good issues and policies.

I wouldn't call Stormy Daniels an "accuser," by all accounts it was a 100% consensual relationship. She hasn't alleged that he mistreated her in any way.

My favorite part of that saga is the obviously fake letter Cohen put out to initially deny the claims that used her stage name instead of her real name. His base doesn't care, and neither do most people. Nothing will cause his "family values" conservative evangelical base to abandon him. Democrats would be much better served focusing on actual issues to motivate their voters rather than Trump's never-ending personal scandals imo. Yeah, in a normal world revelations that the President (or his lawyer) paid hush money shortly before the election to a porn star with whom he had cheated on his new wife who had recently given birth, but this will never stick to him.

Another state level pickup, this time in Florida. the county was Trump +18 the Republican incumbent who resigned won in 2016 by 58-41 Buchanan, the Republican in this race is the son of a Congressman and raised over $1m for a state house race The generic ballot polls are tightening, but the actual elections keep showing big swings to Democrats. November is going to depend heavily on the enthusiasm gap.

More from the same hearing: Trump hasn't held a single cabinet-level meeting* on this issue and seems dead-set on either ignoring it or outright denying that it happened in the past and will happen again. *actually, has he held any meetings at all?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 13, 2018 -> 09:07 AM) The White House continues to lie about what they knew and when regarding fired wife beater Rob Porter. They arranged for an off-the-record briefing by Porter himself after the story broke. The secondary story to all of this is how many people in the White House are working on "interim" security clearances this long into the administration. Background checks do not typically take this long, even for the highest level clearances, and especially not for people who'd be prioritized like Kushner. Holding the investigation open though allows them to keep the "interim" clearance forever without having the black mark of the FBI recommending against granting a clearance (final decision resides with the WH). Why can't this administration find anyone to do these positions who are actually qualified and not potentially compromised or compromiseable? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/us/polit...ed-kushner.html FBI Director Christopher Wray just spelled out all of the times the WH was briefed on Rob Porter. First briefing in March 2017, then in July after a "completed" background investigation, then a followup in November, and new information in January 2018. Much like Flynn, they did nothing until the information became public. This further undermines the WH's claims about when the investigation concluded (they said it was still ongoing when the story broke), when Kelly knew, and what Preibus knew (he claims he knew nothing, but the first and second briefings would have been during his tenure).

The White House continues to lie about what they knew and when regarding fired wife beater Rob Porter. They arranged for an off-the-record briefing by Porter himself after the story broke. The secondary story to all of this is how many people in the White House are working on "interim" security clearances this long into the administration. Background checks do not typically take this long, even for the highest level clearances, and especially not for people who'd be prioritized like Kushner. Holding the investigation open though allows them to keep the "interim" clearance forever without having the black mark of the FBI recommending against granting a clearance (final decision resides with the WH). Why can't this administration find anyone to do these positions who are actually qualified and not potentially compromised or compromiseable? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/us/polit...ed-kushner.html

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 12, 2018 -> 09:47 AM) So he has perfected the cutter technique?