StrangeSox

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:18 AM) Yeah, but now it is basically 2.5 years without consistent game action. That's 2.5 years of rest and no wear-and-tear! Stay optimistic!

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 04:53 PM) Since it's acknowleged they will be among the poor as they will work for low wages, these will not amount to much. most will not own property so there will not much property tax. I should amend the "will not pay taxes" to they will pay very little in taxes. Property taxes are baked into the cost of rent. Even if they're not paying the property tax bill directly, their landlord is. The tax incidence may not be 100% pass-through to tenants, but it's not going to be nothing. I am ideologically in favor of open borders but don't think it's practical either politically or realistically given the way the world currently functions.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 04:42 PM) because they will not be paying taxes. Payroll, gas, sales and property taxes are all things that are damn-near inescapable. State income taxes are often pretty regressive as well. The only real tax that low-income immigrants wouldn't be paying into would be federal income tax.

Congrats! I've only been to SA once, but it seemed like a nice town.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 02:56 PM) The conversation should always revolve around cutting off the incentives for illegal immigration to the US. Solve the root problem, and the rest falls into place. The incentives are "escaping violence and crushing poverty." Unless the violence and poverty in large parts of Latin America are suddenly gone or the US becomes equally troubled, the incentives will remain.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 02:25 PM) Not sure that's really a fair way to look at it when they're not being told to keep people out, they're being told to look the other way. Nevertheless, border security has always been half-assed anyway. Can't really expect to control the border if you don't control the whole border. Nope. Obama is going to set the deportation record some time this year (if he hasn't already). Most occur within 100 miles of the border. This is why Republican immigration policy is so ridiculous, because it's 180 degrees from reality. That's why anything short of "giant wall and deport 'em all!" is called amnesty.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 03:07 PM) You have this bad habit of trying to make one bad thing OK by saying that the 'other side did it too'. THE VA SCREWED UP. Do you dispute that they are a really messed up place? Do you dispute that at least more than one someone lied about wait times? Do you dispute that people got bonuses based on this faulty data? You probably shouldn't take a reference to a thing that happened 80+ years ago as a comment on whatever modern political fighting is going on. It was just in reference to Balta's "we've always underpaid on our promises to veterans" comment. edit: following the chain of the conversation, balta was responding to greg's "how can we allow this to happen?!" posts with "well, we always allow it to happen." Noting that historical fact isn't making a partisan point and it isn't trying to "make one bad thing OK." If you think that my comment or others in the past are trying to play that dumb tu quoque game, that's on you.

Can we legally have active duty military patrolling the border and operating on US soil? Honest question.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 02:55 PM) The VA budget has gone up more than almost any other governmental agency. Your answer alone is so emblematic of liberal group-think. MORE MONEY! Bulls***. More accountability. These assholes cooked the books on wait times so they can get bonuses and to cover their butts. more money is NOT the answer. Start by firing a whole bunch of people. And rescinding all the bonuses that were not earned. ALL of them. Then perhaps jail time for some if their actions truly resulted in deaths. This isn't a Democratic witch hunt, or at least is wouldn't be if Democrats weren't trying to cover something up. This should be as bi-partisan as we can get nowadays. The system is broke. It should be abolished, except for the prosthetics units which I am told to excellent work. Just give every vet insurance that they can go to their own doc. Oh wait, that would be privatizing something, and hurt all the VA employees who are unionized. Ah, there is where the politics comes in.... They were hiding wait times. How does firing administrators who were hiding wait times fix the actual problem, which is high wait times? If the problem is a lack of resources, shuffling management isn't actually going to fix it. A doctor can only see so many people a day, so if you don't have enough capacity, you need more doctors. Turning the VA into the voucher system just means we can keep the same levels of under-resourcing as we currently do, but now it's not directly the responsibility of a single, democratically accountable government agency but is instead the responsibility of the larger healthcare system itself.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 02:20 PM) The U.S. has a very long history of promising things to veterans and then forgetting about those promises once the fighting is over and Congress realizes it costs money that they'd rather spend on other stuff. This goes for both parties. e.g. the Bonus Army

Increased funding for the va would be helpful.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 12:10 PM) You have a right to believe what you want, you just have to recognize that your belief is not supported by the majority of economists. And some native citizens will lose their jobs to harder working cheaper labor, that is the nature of capitalism. If you are not a fan of that, perhaps socialism, communism or some other form of economics would be more to your liking. you don't have to be a capitalist pig to support open borders, comrade.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 11:22 AM) You really think they would ever be denied benefits? Never happen. This current crop of non-producers is just here for Uncle Sugar and to act as an anchor to bring over their extended families. We can't find them to send the kids back, but once the kids are let in, I am sure they will somehow manage to find each other. good lord

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 09:57 AM) No you don't. Most are going to be working jobs where they wouldn't pay any taxes anyway. They'd get that money back, and a lot more, under our current tax code. And that is long before we get into social services provided. If they're on a payroll with a fake ssn they are already paying taxes plus all sorts of local taxes e.g. sales gas property

Remind me again of why Eric cantor lost his primary. I seem to recall that he was attacked from the right for supporting "amnesty," which is what the right calls any immigration policy that isn't building a giant wall and deporting millions of people.

"We all know" you know nothing, jon snow

Ilya Somin makes the libertarian case for open borders http://openborders.info/blog/immigration-a...itical-freedom/

Abolish all national borders, artificial restrictions on the free movement of people.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 04:40 PM) I would wager that your family also had a desire to become Americans, and not with a hyphen. They desired to learn English, to fit in, to succeed. You are fooling yourselves if you think these kids are here seeking merely refuge from violence, although there are sure to be some that fit that category. They are here for the promised goods that they think are there for the taking. Taking from you, me and anyone else that pays taxes. This is obviously true.

I think they're coming here with expectation of escaping violence and abuse, not to get some of that sweet, sweet welfare money.

Booker's a crank http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_B...iews_on_science eta: the Telegraph article also links to another crank's blog which is "reporting" on NOAA/NASA data adjustments that happened years ago. NASA explained why the adjustments were made seven years ago. http://www.geotimes.org/aug07/article.html...ra081607_2.html also addressed here: http://www.skepticalscience.com/1934-hotte...ntermediate.htm This is all very old news.

who wants to deal with the awfulness that is job hunting essentially all the time? I'm not convinced by the argument he's advancing, anyway. He says that people get a 10-20% raise typically when they switch companies. Ok, but does that mean it's realistic for someone to switch companies every 2 years or so and that they'd still be commanding that 10-20% bump every time?

Syria's declared chemical weapons removed

I'm sure alpha reads a wide array of feminists, and that's why he knows they'd never criticize a democrat. edit: Libertarian legal blogger Jonathan Adler has a very different take on the case than the Washington Free Beacon, and he also recommends that people listen to the full audio interview before judging her laugh. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-...rney-fair-game/

Central Park Five settle with NYC for $40M