caulfield12

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 11, 2017 -> 02:38 PM) Why do you think this is relevant in this case? When am Alabama GOP official is threatening to lunch anyone who stops them from electing Roy Moore? You just came up with a new Curb Your Enthusiasm skit...potentially ranking right up there with the “fake kamikaze” episode.

But Thomas Jefferson and James Madison... Thomas Jefferson opposed the Federalists, who wanted a stronger national government and alliance with England. He initially called the party “Republican,” but the name became “Democratic-Republican.” Still later, it dropped the second part of that long hyphenation and became 1854’s and today’s Democratic Party. OmG...this little fact seems to count less than George Wallace, Strom Thurmond and the Dixiecrats. In fact, that split of the party beginning in 1968 is what directly led to GOP presidents for 16 out of 20 and 24/36 years.

And you just know the likes of Bannon and friends are patiently waiting for a slew of celebrities to come to the defense of those underage girls from the Moore allegations so that a new front on the “Hollywood is a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah” can be opened up in the ongoing culture wars... If Kevin Spacey was dumb enough to draw a parallel with his actions, that would keep Fox News and GOP fundraisers busy for months!!! The Trumps sell out to China after two days of non-stop flattery...Church shooting by deranged white guy. Who cares? As long as we follow the Ten Commandments like Judge Moore does and don’t actually hold our leaders accountable for hypocrisy, we’ll be okay because NFL ratings are way down and Papa John is our new billionaire “up by the bootstraps” hero. Winning bigly.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 8, 2017 -> 02:19 PM) I'm more in line with your thinking SB, but keep in mind it wasn't just governors' races. 3 or 4 of the top 5 GOP Congressmen in Virginia were tossed out last night in a huge wave. Democrats also managed to break the supermajority in one of GA's chambers. We've also seen a pretty steady trickle of GOP retirement announcements at the federal level, and it'll be interesting to see if that picks up pace now. e: it won't be in effect until the 2022 election, but last night conceivably opened up a couple of US House seats for Democrats from Virginia since they'll have a major say in the post-2020 census redistricting now. So that's some actual change, even if the effects won't be seen for awhile. The biggest impact is that lots of GOPers are going to be scared of Trumpian primary challenges on the right...realizing that tacking back towards the middle for general elections is becoming increasingly difficult. A modest (at best) tax relief program for the middle class (increases for many) is not enough to win over independents. Not to mention the economy likely slowing, interest rates rising/borrowing becoming more expensive and the GOP losing the right to claim they’re the party of fiscal responsibility after what the last two Republican admins have done (Bush’s unfunded Medicare B giveaway, now Trump) to further increase the debt burden. Then there’s the fallout for blowing up the ObamaCare individual markets even more without providing any effective solutions.

On the other hand, basketball is China’s favorite spectator sport, with football quickly catching up. With the numerous connections between the CBA, NBA, athletic shoe companies, marketing....teams coming here every year like the Warriors or Rockets for goodwill tours, they probably don’t sit in jail for the customary month without bail and I think it gets resolved before trial as a “good faith” gesture to the US. China also doesn’t want to get the reputation of being a country where sports teams hesitate to travel to due to restricted criminal rights.

Bots must be writing more and more stories about her. Fake robbery, guess it fits the fake news narrative.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/scantily-clad-th...-192653483.html We talk all ruminate about "mass shooting" perpetrators getting too much attention from the media...but somehow deliberately "pretending" to steal from a taxi driver (when wearing lingerie for no apparent reason) seems even worse. It's the first time I remember someone specifically going out of their way to show their pride in doing something idiotic (but) that brought them media attention (and, theoretically, more attention for her modeling/acting/Instagram career). The passenger, identified only as Gabby, 18, told Inside Edition that she has no regrets about taking the money. "It was a kid thing to do," she said. "My friend paid him back that day." She added that while it was something she did carelessly, "I do feel sorry to an extent" for taking the money. She doesn't, however, appear to have any remorse for the attention she's gotten. "It made me relevant," she told Inside Edition. "You are calling me." The crazy part of this whole story is it seems like a set-up, where it was a "fake robbery" but the driver was actually repaid for the money stolen (probably under $20) and yet here we are talking about her.

Northam was getting battered over sanctuary cities, MS-13 and the Confederate statues arguments over the final days...and the polling was all over the place. Pretty interesting that guns would come up as such a big issue at the last moment with all the talk about tax reform, ObamaCare repeal and the economy's performance (in general).

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 07:20 PM) The wrong Tom took the DNC job. Looks like a hell of a job by peirello to recruit and help out a rout for state dems in VA He checks all the boxes with the Bernie Bros...and has one of the most eclectic backgrounds of any political candidate. For whatever reason, he comes across as "unlikable" or not having a pleasant personality, but he's certainly committed to his beliefs/causes and doesn't shift with the winds/offer simplistic Democratic platitudes and boilerplate (like Ossoff did in GA, and Northam over the last 2-3 weeks in VA).

The (37% Dem approval) rating includes low favorable ratings from some core Democratic groups, including nonwhites (48%) and people under 35 years old (33%). The numbers come amid recent feuds and divisions in the Democratic Party, as former interim chair Donna Brazile's new book has unveiled new questions about infighting during the 2016 presidential campaign. But the Republican Party isn't doing any better, with just 30% of Americans holding a favorable view. That's essentially the same as September, when the rating hit its lowest point in polling back to 1992, but down from 42% in March. A broad 6 in 10, 61%, have an unfavorable opinion. This means both parties sit at or near rock bottom as voters go to the polls across the country on Tuesday, most prominently in governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as dozens of local and mayoral races nationwide. A substantial 33% of liberals and 41% of conservatives have unfavorable views of the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. Plus, 4 in 10 independents, 42%, say they have an unfavorable view of both parties vs. only 8% who say they have a favorable view of both. Indeed, a bare majority of Americans, 51%, say it's bad for the country that the Republican Party is in control of Congress. Only 38% say GOP control is good for the nation. That's worse than at any point in CNN's polling on the Democratic majority in Congress between 2007 and 2010. http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/07/politics/cnn...axes/index.html

Why didn’t Trump simply argue that he’d bring even more gun industry jobs to offset the losses in coal and blue collar manufacturing? Because we can obviously tolerate the massacre of 18 month olds in churches, teenage concert goers, elementary school students and even attempted assassinations of Republican members of Congress. The irony is that the death of Rep. Scalise would have led to his martyrdom and yet another exponential increase in gun sales. They’re probably begging Michael Moore to do a sequel to Bowling for Columbine. But Chicago! Muslims! The War of 1812!!! The goal of every elected Democrat is to take ALL your legally-purchased guns away. Even when that’s not the case, Obama Obama Obama. MS-13. If Gillespie wins in Virginia, every single election is going to hearten back to the dog whistle politics of 1988 and to the George Wallace years. Because that means Trump identity politics work well in a a supposedly purple/progressive state that he lost by 5% to Hillary. http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/07/politics/cnn...axes/index.html Poll: Views of Democratic Party hit lowest mark in 25 years

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php...&cycle=2014 NRA donations to Republicans and Democrats https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2012/121...es/31.8-billion $31.8 billion. The estimated economic impact of the US firearms industry in 2012, according to data from the National Shooting Sports Foundation. That’s up from $27.8 billion in 2009, due to job creation and new sales taxes. 26,325 new gun-related jobs have been created over the past two years, according to the NSSF. And while tracking concrete sales numbers of firearms in the United States is tricky, federal officials report that they were higher than ever in 2012. Through the end of November, the FBI recorded 16.5 million background checks for gun purchases in 2012 – the highest figure since the FBI began tracking such data in 1998. And the actual number of guns sold is likely higher, because registrants can buy multiple guns. Two factors in recent history have had a tendency to send sales soaring. As staff writer Linda Feldmann reported in July, gun sales usually spike in the days following a mass shooting. Background checks rose 41 percent in Colorado in the aftermath of the Aurora movie theater shooting over the summer, and sales spikes followed Columbine and the 2011 rampage in Tucson, Ariz., as well. The second factor is politics. Sales spiked in anticipation of both of President Obama’s elections, in 2008 and 2012, and stock in firearms manufacturers like Smith & Wesson soared, as buyers feared legislation that would clamp down on Second Amendment rights or restrict their ability to purchase a gun.

Greg, I think a lot of the frustration on the left was all those condolences and prayers from the likes of Paul Ryan for the victims...well, they were all literally in church, worshipping and praising God...how hollow does that sound? And yet not a single proposal is being considered on the part of the GOP to address the problem. If you’re unwilling to improve the background checks system, let’s at least attempt to improve our mental/psychological health system in America instead of cutting funding while giving the rich and corporations an unnecessary tax break.

More than 13,000 people have died from gun violence in the U.S. this year alone—far more than have perished due to terrorism, drunken driving and HIV/AIDS, all of which have triggered national concern and government action. But lawmakers' responses to gun deaths pale in comparison. The government's reaction to incidents like Sunday's mass shooting in small-town Texas church is so subdued that even Kim Kardashian had to call out our leaders, in the form of (what else?) a tweet reminding that "one shoe bomber tried to blow up a plane and now we take off our shoes, 1,520 mass shootings since Sandy Hook and Congress has done NOTHING." Indeed, Congress has rejected more than 100 gun control proposals since 2011, according to CBS News. Despite calls for action after mass shootings like the one that left 20 children dead in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 or the one that became the country's deadliest in Las Vegas last month, little is happening. https://www.yahoo.com/gma/trump-says-extrem...topstories.html

In April 2016, Kelley purchased the Ruger AR-556 rifle he allegedly used in the shooting from a store in San Antonio, Texas, a law enforcement official said. There was no disqualifying information in the background check conducted as required for the purchase, a law enforcement official told CNN. At one point, the shooter tried to get a license to carry a gun in Texas but was denied by the state, Abbott said, citing the director of Texas' Department of Public Safety. "So how was it that he was able to get a gun? By all the facts that we seem to know, he was not supposed to have access to a gun," Abbott said. "So how did this happen?" Source:CNN

The United States locks up more of its population proportionally than any other country in the world, including authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies. It also leads in another dubious statistic: More Americans are killed by fellow citizens armed with guns than in any other advanced country, according to the Small Arms Survey. In 2011 alone, according to FBI statistics, more than 11,000 Americans were killed by firearms in the United States (a figure that excludes suicides). Despite all the reasonable concerns in the United States about jihadist terrorism, in any given year Americans are almost 2,000 times more likely to be killed by a fellow American armed with a gun than by a jihadist terrorist. Since the 9/11 attacks, 103 people have been killed on US soil by jihadist terrorists, according to data collected by New America. Just last week, in fact, eight people were killed in a terrorist attack in lower Manhattan. By contrast, in the United Kingdom, a country which is similar to the United States in terms of its laws and culture, Britain suffers around 50 to 60 gun deaths a year in a country where the population is around a fifth the size of the United States. In other words, you are about 40 times more likely to be killed by an assailant with a gun in the United States than you are in the United Kingdom. source: CNN The "good guy with a gun" narrative here will be interesting to see play out...especially since there was a report this particular gunman was "run off" by a parishioner who was able to get his rifle and fire back (early indications are the shooter committed suicide, but that's not 100% confirmed). Unfortunately, it seems most of the fatalities were struck from behind (he started firing from outside) and had no way of getting out of that church. Do we really want to have a society where it's necessary to bring guns to church? Do we really believe that's what the Founding Fathers intended, when the right to bear arms/form a militia were more about repelling British or Native American attacks or wild animals? Trump, at any rate, is off the hook having to attend the funerals/memorial (due to his 12 day Asia trip), but he will certainly be accused of "overlooking" this or under-tweeting compared to the incident last weekend with 8 being run down in NYC...the number of tweets about this event and Las Vegas/Stephen Paddock won't come anywhere close to ISIS-related terror events around Europe and in the US. The president actually spent more time trying to force or spin the casino robbery/fire/arson in Manila into a "terrorist" event, but the narrative we'll undoubtedly see here about a shooter from a relatively poor white/US military/Sunday school teacher background is the textbook definition of one of his core supporters. Dylan Roof, Stephen Paddock and this guy are not "animals"....they're troubled/tragic figures with "psychological problems/issues" but at least they're treated more humanely in the media.

Since there's probably no point to open up yet another "mass shooting" topic: The United States locks up more of its population proportionally than any other country in the world, including authoritarian regimes such as Russia and China, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies. It also leads in another dubious statistic: More Americans are killed by fellow citizens armed with guns than in any other advanced country, according to the Small Arms Survey. In 2011 alone, according to FBI statistics, more than 11,000 Americans were killed by firearms in the United States (a figure that excludes suicides). Despite all the reasonable concerns in the United States about jihadist terrorism, in any given year Americans are almost 2,000 times more likely to be killed by a fellow American armed with a gun than by a jihadist terrorist. Since the 9/11 attacks, 103 people have been killed on US soil by jihadist terrorists, according to data collected by New America. Just last week, in fact, eight people were killed in a terrorist attack in lower Manhattan. By contrast, in the United Kingdom, a country which is similar to the United States in terms of its laws and culture, Britain suffers around 50 to 60 gun deaths a year in a country where the population is around a fifth the size of the United States. In other words, you are about 40 times more likely to be killed by an assailant with a gun in the United States than you are in the United Kingdom. source: CNN

Saving fossil fuels and getting passed while standing still on electric cars by the Chinese....brilliant stuff!!

America really needs $11 million and $22 million (couples) exemptions for the estate tax when only 0.2% are covered in the first place. It’s not like we didn’t have 3% GDP growth despite 3 major hurricanes the last quarter. Have a feeling the personal affects of AMT on Trump will be the story....along with cuts to mortgage numbers, SALT for blue vs. red states, business/pass through loopholes for rich individuals and “family businesses/small farms” that always turn out to be the exception and not the rule in reality. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said he was unhappy with how the bill treats pass-through business rates, where some business owners can categorize 70 percent of their revenue as personal wages and the other 30 percent as business income that is taxed at 25 percent. The change is meant to prevent wealthy people from avoiding income tax by only paying the new, lowered 25 percent corporate rate. “The issue with the pass-throughs has got to be fixed, it’s not acceptable,” Johnson said. It’s like no matter how bad the DNC wants to shoot themselves in the foot, the GOP will come along and outdo them...they don’t even have to actively try to obstruct the Trump agenda.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Nov 1, 2017 -> 02:05 PM) Caulfield, Its an uphill battle. Its easy to believe "others" are more dangerous than we are. Yeah, even with General Kelly, who was supposed to be a moderating influence. He would rather give a seminar on Robert E. Lee’s “honour,” supposed indifference about slavery and strategic military brilliance rather than say a single positive thing about Representatives Wilson and Waters. It’s amazing you can demonize nearly every single ethnic group in America (except Asian-Americans), and there are no consequences because of the Electoral College and gerrymandering. Eventually, changing demographics will make that nearly impossible....but we’re at least 15-20 years away from that point.

Most violence never gets counted in any meaningful or official government statistics. Thailand is extremely dangerous now for foreigners, but nearly every murder there is blamed/excused either on a suicide (with little to no investigation) or Burmese to protect the local tourist industry. That’s a Buddhist country. Russia and Ukraine are incredibly violent and dangerous...to make a sweeping generalization about a region or religion being more or less prone to violence is hard to pin down because of other factors like wars/genocide or internal ethnic conflicts. Or go back to India...when I was there in 2013, every woman was afraid to be out by herself after dark because of the infamous bus gang rape case in New Delhi. It was palpable. You could see the fear in their eyes whenever local men even looked at them. Shouldn’t we ban Indians too, because of rapes and acid attacks?

Actually, the Gang of 8, including @SenSchumer, did away with the Diversity Visa Program as part of broader reforms. I know, I was there," wrote Flake. Then, in a follow-up tweet, he added: "In fact, had the Senate Gang of 8 bill passed the House, it would have ended the Visa Lottery Program AND increased merit based visas." (Read this for much more on the history of diversity visas.) Any past president would be cowed by not only repeatedly politicizing these sorts of tragedies but also getting some of the basic facts wrong. Trump, of course, is, by his own definition, "modern day presidential." The best way to understand that phrase is to think of Trump more as pundit and less as president. Trump views all of politics -- and all of the world -- through the lens of cable and reality TV. In both of those mediums, you are often rewarded by jumping to conclusions, by saying the most controversial thing and always always always refusing to back down or apologize. It works for pundits. Not so much for presidents. http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/01/politics/tru...tack/index.html Someone pointed out that Uzbekistan lies partially in the Caucasus Mountains...the root of where the term for white people comes from. Cuomo on CNN had the good point about the fact that he was here for 7-8 years in the US before radicalizing...and why nothing is being done about that, rather than simply demonizing every single Muslim person who desires to enter the US. And you know the next attack will be committed by someone with a higher education/access to resources/scientific background that still would have been granted a visa under a “merit-based” system. Making all Muslims take additional “loyalty pledges” or blocking ALL immigration and/or Muslim immigration isn’t going to work, either.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/james-comey-burns...-095517604.html Trump trolled by “hidden” James Comey Twitter account...

QUOTE (KagakuOtoko @ Oct 29, 2017 -> 11:49 PM) Epic ass game. Dodgers have ended up two up for grab games that the Astros won. So many home runs, it's insane. What about the last game the the Astros gave up 5 runs in the last inning after Morton was dominant? At any rate, you'd have to argue that Houston has taken 2 of the 3 toss-ups in the series. Not very many times the Dodgers blow a 3-1 lead late (Game 2) with Jansen in the pen...I think the Dodgers only had 3-4 games that they blew all season with the lead after the 8th inning, something like that. Their pen has been downright terrible. Meanwhile, the Stros have about 10 starters....so they can throw McHugh, Peacock and Musgrove out there for extended appearances. Never thought it would come down to those guys versus the likes of Stripling, McCarthy and Cingrani.

Now you have increased controversy with letting Gurriel play throughout the series without missing a game after taunting Darvish....if he scores the winning run here. OR NOT. 1:17 p.m. in the afternoon, China time. 10:17 p.m. in LA, game started at 5:00. 12:17 in Chicago...unfortunately, yet again the classic ending to a World Series game not being witnessed by thousands of kids out there.