US Politics Thread |OT| THE DARKEST TIMELINE

[benjipwns]

including describing me  (apparently without irony) as an “anti-libertarian conspiracy theorist.”

Oh, now I remember where I've seen Mark Ames name before:
http://exiledonline.com/betsy-mccaughey-wants-to-kill-americans-on-behalf-of-her-plutocrat-friends-but-are-americans-too-slave-like-to-defend-themselves/
http://exiledonline.com/anatomy-of-a-libertard/
http://www.nypress.com/article-21163-fraudonomics.html
http://www.thenation.com/article/156647/tsastroturf-washington-lobbyists-and-koch-funded-libertarians-behind-tsa-scandal
http://www.salon.com/2010/11/24/tyner/

spoiler (click to show/hide)

He's a PoliGAF poster. :trollbron

[close]

[Phoenix Dark]

Well, the phrase "mixed-gender stairwells" is now part of my life.

I bet the female stairwells really focus on the fundamentals of stair climbing, feature less flash, and are more keen to accept good coaching.

[benjipwns]

I bet the female stairwells really focus on the fundamentals of stair climbing, feature less flash, and are more keen to accept good coaching.

That's why nobody takes them.

[Kara]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/gop-halbig-punitive-damage-soviet-communism

There’s a name for this strategy, and it doesn’t come from the Heritage Foundation (although the individual mandate did). It comes from Soviet Communism: “heighten the contradictions.” The idea is to root for, and even enable, bad outcomes of your ideological opponents’ power, in the hopes that these bad outcomes will convince people to rise up against your opponents. It’s a grim way to look at the world, but here we are.

I wish I knew where this meme originated from. I think it might be misreading of the (fundamental) difference of opinion that drove reformists and revsocs apart? Peaceful Coexistence? Socialism in One Country?

"Accelerationist" (a person who advocates "heightening the contradictions") is pervasively an epithet. I bet it isn't even a recognized tendency on RevLeft.

[benjipwns]

Came across this from Lenin, but it's not really the same thing:
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1897/dec/31c.htm

We may now sum up the results of our comparisons. Let us endeavour to give a brief description of the relationship in which each of the trends of social thought enumerated in the sub-title stands to the others.

The enlightener believes in the present course of social development, because he fails to observe its inherent contradictions. The Narodnik fears the present course of social development, because he is already aware of these contradictions. The “disciple” believes in the present course of social development, because he sees the only earnest of a better future in the full development of these contradictions. The first and last trends therefore strive to support, accelerate, facilitate development along the present path, to remove all obstacles which hamper this development and distinguished mentally-challenged fellow it. Narodism, on the contrary, strives to distinguished mentally-challenged fellow and halt this development, is afraid of abolishing certain obstacles to the development of capitalism.

[benjipwns]

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/white-house-wants-repeal-of-iraq-war-authorization/
Rice's letter: http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/3989-Boehner.pdf

The Obama administration is calling on Congress to fully repeal the war authorization in Iraq to ensure that no U.S. troops return to the country, which is under siege by the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS).

White House national security adviser Susan Rice petitioned Speaker of the House John Boehner (R., Ohio) in a letter Friday to completely repeal the war authorization, officially known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq, or AUMF.

Rice’s letter was sent as Congress just hours before it approved a resolution opposing U.S. military intervention in Iraq, where the terrorist group ISIL claims to have established an Islamic caliphate.

“We believe a more appropriate and timely action for Congress to take is the repeal of the outdated 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq,” Rice wrote, according to a copy of her letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

“With American combat troops having completed their withdrawal from Iraq on December 18, 2011, the Iraq AUMF is no longer used for any U.S. government activities and the administration fully supports its repeal,” Rice wrote. “Such a repeal would go much further in giving the American people confidence that ground forces will not be sent into combat in Iraq.”

...

"When Speaker Boehner told me about Ms. Rice’s letter, I thought he was joking,” said Rep. Buck McKeon (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in a statement.

“Obama Administration officials are warning us daily that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is ‘worse than al-Qaeda’ and an extreme threat to the American people,” McKeon said. “The American people aren’t worried that the president will send the military back to Iraq. They’re worried about a deadly terrorist state that can hit us from Wall Street to Main Street. They’re worried that this president refuses to do anything, at anytime, in any way, to stop the flood of national security crises that are popping up around the globe.”

The Senate has sought several times in the past years to reconsider the AUMFs pertaining to Iraq and Afghanistan as both wars winded down.

Senate Democrats have expressed a willingness to repeal the Iraq AUMF, a move that critics say would be dangerous to the United States’ ongoing fight against terror.

A repeal of the war authority could also be a boon for ISIL and would send a clear sign that the United States is not willing to stop the militant group from making gains.

“There is no strong reason to change the AUMF,” John Yoo, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Bush administration, told the Free Beacon earlier this year, when the Senate was considering altering the AUMFs. “Over the last 13 years, all three branches have constructed a common understanding and series of practices around the AUMF in fighting the war on terror.”

“You break the dam to some extent if you break the AUMF,” a senior Senate aide also said at the time.

Congress should “tread carefully because the war on terror is not over and won’t be soon,” the source said. “You could start us down a path of repeal that you can’t turn back.”

“This isn’t just absurd. We’re past absurd. This is dangerous,” said Rep. McKeon. “This administration is fiddling while the world burns, and now they’re demanding Congress play with them.”

  John Yoo

[Phoenix Dark]

Just think, he just might get a cabinet position in the next republican administration.

[benjipwns]

I certainly hope President Walker considers him when assembling his team to restore a strong American foreign policy.

[Kara]

Sorry Benji, I did 8 hours of tax law crash course today. I am NOT reading any Lenin.

Speaking of, did you know if your employer gives you a holiday meat (e.g. turkey at Thanksgiving) it's NOT considered a taxable fringe benefit. Like this is an explicit matter of tax. I'm morbidly tempted to go find the part of Title 26 or the tax court case that decided it because it's absolute nonsense that this is even something I need to know.

[Phoenix Dark]

I was under the impression that employers giving you holiday meat was sexual harassment.

[Joe Molotov]

Just think, he just might get a cabinet position in the next republican administration.

He'd be the best Secretary of War Crimes we ever had.

[Joe Molotov]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/executioner-enters-lethal-injection-room-with-bag,36546/

[Kara]

I was under the impression that employers giving you holiday meat was sexual harassment.

i KNEW some borean was gonna make this kind of statement

[Phoenix Dark]

I was under the impression that employers giving you holiday meat was sexual harassment.

i KNEW some borean was gonna make this kind of statement

I'm a black dude in corporate America, gotta watch out for HR like the eye of Sauron.

[Kara]

Many employers give employees birthday or holiday gifts. These gifts take a variety of forms including a turkey, a ham, a gift basket, or a coupon to purchase a turkey or a ham at a local grocery store. In recent years, the gift card has been a popular alternative because it provides employees with more choices and greater convenience. Some employers believe that gift cards are not taxable and qualify as excludable from income as a de minimis fringe benefit because they meet the example of “traditional birthday or holidays gifts of low fair market value”, or because they are non-negotiable (restricted to only certain items; the redemption time is limited; and any unused portion is forfeited). However, Federal tax law does not view giving an employee a turkey or a ham as the equivalent of giving an employee a gift card to purchase a turkey or a ham. A recently issued Tax Advice Memorandum (TAM) in 2004 clarifies the tax law and discusses this issue.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/p_4090_fed_0305_text.pdf

[benjipwns]

look at this fucking cac:

Our nation has come a long way since the Civil Rights Movement. But we must realize that race still plays a role in the enforcement of the law.

Just ask Raliek, Daequon, and Wan’Tauhjs, who were just standing on a street corner when a policeman arrived and told them to move on or be arrested.

What was their crime?

I guess it was: “Waiting While Black”

The boys explained that they were waiting for a school bus to take them to their game. They were handcuffed and taken to jail.

Anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice is just not paying close enough attention.

Whether you are a minority because of the color of your skin or by virtue of your political or religious persuasion, it is imperative to restrain the power of the majority, to restrain the power of government.

Patrick Henry understood this when he wrote that the Constitution was intended to restrain the government, not the people.

full thing:


lost my primary vote for using "beg the question" wrong 

[Joe Molotov]

This is a Cacenstein of our own creation; why did we allow the Internet to take Ron Paul seriously?  :'(

[benjipwns]

This is a Cacenstein of our own creation; why did we allow the Internet to take Ron Paul seriously?  :'(

spoiler (click to show/hide)

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[Phoenix Dark]

I saw some crowing on my twitter feed about "Rand Paul compares himself to minorities" but in the context of the video...I see no problem in the comment.

too bad he's a fucking idiot on every other issue outside of civil liberties and (some) foreign policy
 

[Kara]

More fun tax nonsense: apparently businesspeople can deduct $ 2,000 they paid to attend a business conference held on a cruise ship (with some documentation requirements). Only on a cruise ship, mind.

It's already stupid that I have to know this, but it's even stupider that I have to know that the cruise ship has to be one that flies under an American flag. (In case you don't understand why this is a bizarre requirement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_convenience.)

The individual tax code is so fucking stupid. Can't wait to return to the warm embrace of legal entities again. If corporations are people my friends, maybe one can love me.

[benjipwns]

I wonder if that has anything to do with the Jones Act.

[Kara]

All of the cruise ship's port(s) of call have to be U.S. ports (another fun thing I have to remember for something utterly irrelevant), so I imagine it could very well be ben.

It's also easier to extract compliance from entities with U.S. tax homes.

e: It could also just be tax code welfare for domestic industry. There's lots of that in the IRC too.

[Kara]

True Blood has become real life.

[benjipwns]

Some 1920's era KKK sections essentially enacted a non-aggression treaty with blacks because the drunks, Irish, Catholics, Irish, immigrants, Irish, and loose women were more of an immediate problem. As bad as the blacks are, they couldn't hide among the respectable races as easily and at least they're Americans.

The fact that they were low black population areas in the Midwest made it easier obviously.

[Phoenix Dark]

http://www.dallasblack.com/communityChannel/kkk-reaches-african-american-community-fight-illegal-immigration

this cant be life

[nachobro]

“I mean, we can’t tell who lives in a house, whether they’re black, white, Mexican, gay, we can’t tell that. And if you were to look at somebody’s house like that, that means you’d be pretty much a racist,” the KKK leader said.

 

[Joe Molotov]

KKK: "Why do all these racists keep sucking my cock?"

[Kara]

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28509979

You used to be able to dismiss out of hand stories like this as being , but post-Libor scandal I just can't.

[Great Rumbler]

The Sarah Palin Channel, described in its formative stages as "a video version of her Facebook page," costs $9.95 per month or $99.95 for a yearly subscription through Tapp

[Joe Molotov]

Still rather have that than The Longhorn Network.

[Oblivion]

Um...question.

If Obama's (and his allies') original plan was to intentionally keep subsidies limited to state exchanges because, according to Gruber, doing so would force Republicans in those states to cooperate under threat of losing millions/billions in subsidies....

...then why the hell are Obama and the Dems disputing the DC ruling against the subsidies?! I mean, if this was the original plan, then everything's going according to plan, isn't it?

[Oblivion]

This one was good too:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/moore-of-the-same/

Accuracy is hard.  :'(

[benjipwns]

The end of Dr. Krugman's essay really makes the point. We are nowhere near as broken as things are made out to be, if only we actually decide to do the right thing and work together to make decent, common sense improvements happen for the good of the people, and our collective future. This is sadly so rare today, that it is almost radical in it's declaration - yet it was not at all uncommon not too long back in this country.

The great Radical Right Turn in this country has done astonishing damage to the country, as to getting even the most simple, and obvious things done. Consider the confusion, social mistrust, and distrust of basic government and other institutions that has been injected into and deliberately cultivated in the Public Space in this country.

The people, our collective reason, good will, common sense, and the judicious use of the tools of government are what we have to work with to implement change, improve ourselves, and carve out a future for our children to inherit. Unfortunately, we have almost forgotten that. In the mistaken fear that we sometimes get it wrong, or need to redirect and fine-tune our efforts, we have instead largely chosen to mistrust all government, and directly do nothing... to fiddle while the country burns - simply because we have been told that almost anything else government can do for us will only make it worse.

It is past time to make government work for us again! We need to end the government hating hostage crisis.

How's that pension fund? Teachers still upset about skipped payments?

[Mandark]

The guy behind the "looters and moochers" quote posted a response to Krugman's piece, including this bit:

You can rape and pillage upper-income taxpayers in the short run

He then basically argues that the rich in Cali are going to go Galt, only this time the Gulch will be in Texas.

[Oblivion]

Also, too:

Second, I don’t particularly care whether the state has a budget surplus. I care about the size of government.

See, there we go.

[benjipwns]

cynthia curran
Well, I’m not a libertarian in fact the right wing that complains the most against illegal imitation never considers that Texas is number 2. Demograher Steven Murdock has mention that Texas white enrollment has dropped about 500,000 and Hispanics increase by milion. A lot of the state mirgrantion to Texas isn’t middle to upper middle class whites from Orange County. Its more likley lower income Hispanics moving from places like La and Santa Ana in Orange County to San Antonio or one of the oil boom towns. How do I know well Texas last year actaully gain in total more Hispanics than even larger California which means lots of Hispanics are leaving the Golden Stae for cheaper Texas along with the fact that Hispanics in Texas are at 29 years old versus 41 for whites. Texas is not the paradise that Libertarians and right-wing religious Christians think. It is aleady 38 percent Hispanic similar to California and Texas Mexicans have a poverty rate around 24 percent versus about 9 percent for whites. Conservatives and Libertarians are ignoring that even if 500,000 illegal immigrant Mexicans left Texas its going to be more Mexican than white. Murdock states the state will lose about 6,000 in its GNP has it converts from white to Mexican. We have already seen this happen to California and to New Mexico. In fact for Libertarians and conservatives I would pick Utah why, a lot less Hispanics for one thing. Granted, job growth is probably not as fast as Texas but its not going to changed as much in demograhics and its one of the few white Conservative states out there and has a lot less people on the dole than Texas. Texas has lot of welfare in the large cities which have both Mexicans and blacks like Houston and Dallas and the Rio Grande area which is over 90 percent Mexican.Poverty rate Utah 12 percent versus almost 18 percent for Texas and cost of living is not much higher in Utah.

BOOM. BUSTED.

[Kara]

I emailed about a place in Santa Ana. (The part they're gentrifying, naturally. )

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/25/opinion/paul-krugman-california-tax-left-coast-rising.html?_r=0

can't wait for california to be crushed by immigration (Image removed from quote.)

The death of white minority rule in California has been great.

[benjipwns]

http://thesatanictemple.com/campaigns/medical-info/

In a statement, the Satanic Temple said that it will use the Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision to exempt its believers from state-mandated informed consent laws that require women considering abortions to read pro-life material.

Informed consent or “right to know” laws state that women seeking elective abortions be provided with information about alternatives to the procedure, often couched in language that attempts to personify the fetus. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 35 states currently have informed consent laws, and of those, 33 require that the woman be told the gestational age of the fetus.

In some states, that information consists of pro-life propaganda that links abortion to a higher incidence of breast and ovarian cancers, or discusses “post-abortion syndrome,” a mental condition not recognized by any major medical or psychiatric organization.

Because the Satanic Temple bases its belief “regarding personal health…on the best scientific understanding of the world, regardless of the religious or political beliefs of others,” it claims that state-mandated information with no basis in scientific fact violates its “religious” beliefs.

Spokesperson Lucien Greaves said that the Supreme Court’s recent Hobby Lobby decision bolsters their case. “While we feel we have a strong case for an exemption regardless of the Hobby Lobby ruling,” he said, “the Supreme Court has decided that religious beliefs are so sacrosanct that they can even trump scientific fact. This was made clear when they allowed Hobby Lobby to claim certain contraceptives were abortifacients, which in fact they are not.”

The Satanic Temple set up a website where women seeking an abortion can print out a letter for her healthcare provider explaining why she is exempt from informed consent mandates.

The letter reads that “[a]ll women who share our deeply held belief that their personal choices should be made with access to the best available information, undiluted by biased or false information, are free to seek protection with this exemption whether they are members of the Satanic Temple or not.”

can't tell if demonic or not, friends

[Yeti]

The Satanic Temple is doing the Lord's work

[Phoenix Dark]

Funny, you would think that starting an illegal unnecessary war and wasting 1.5 trillion dollars to create an unstable vacuum in the Middle East would create a "trend line" that is...bad and will impact the country for years. Years more than any action or inaction on the Obama admin's part over the last 6 years.

[Phoenix Dark]

Not trying to cape for Obama but come on. What exactly about a "clear US message" would stop Egypt from having turmoil, Putin from making a miscalculation on Ukraine, Iran from securing nukes, or Palestinians from firing rockets at innocent Jews.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

daps from AIPAC come with $5.

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[Kara]

Everyone has their price.

[Great Rumbler]

http://www.newsmax.com/t/#ArticleID=585296&SectionID=1


Hillary going to work on Obama already huh

Kind of a misleading headline there, since it focused solely on one very specific thing that Bush did that was actually good.

[Great Rumbler]

Two Alabama officials on Monday asked residents to pray that the state can help block the Environmental Protection Agency's new regulations on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, AL.com reported.

Public Service Commission President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh (pictured above) slammed the new regulations.

"We will not stand for what they are doing to our way of life in Alabama," she said during a press conference at the Alabama Coal Association.

Later in the conference, Cavanaugh asked residents to pray for the state.

"I hope all the citizens of Alabama will be in prayer that the right thing will be done," she said.

Cavanaugh, along with other Alabama officials, will testify at an EPA hearing on the regulations in Atlanta on Tuesday.

PSC commissioner-elect Chip Beeker said that Alabama's coal was created by God and charged that the government shouldn't interfere with God's plan, according to AL.com.

"Who has the right to take what God's given a state?" he asked.

According to Right Wing Watch, the Public Service Commission began a meeting on power rates last year with a prayer against same-sex marriage.

[Great Rumbler]

The president of conservative pro-family group Faith2Action last weekend announced the pre-launch of ReaganBook, a social networking site described as "the Facebook for patriots," according to Right Wing Watch.

Faith2Action President Janet Porter told attendees at the Ohio Liberty Coalition's "Reload 4 Liberty" event that Facebook has been censoring people like anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera.

Porter lamented that "while tomorrow Facebook employees are gathering to go march at the gay pride parade in San Francisco," they are censoring people with "unpopular opinions."

She then described ReaganBook as a social network that tears down walls like President Reagan.

“We’re tearing down walls of tyranny and censorship," she said.

I'm dying here!

[Brehvolution]

[Dickie Dee]

Two Alabama officials on Monday asked residents to pray that the state can help block the Environmental Protection Agency's new regulations on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, AL.com reported.

Public Service Commission President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh (pictured above) slammed the new regulations.

"We will not stand for what they are doing to our way of life in Alabama," she said during a press conference at the Alabama Coal Association.

Later in the conference, Cavanaugh asked residents to pray for the state.

"I hope all the citizens of Alabama will be in prayer that the right thing will be done," she said.

Cavanaugh, along with other Alabama officials, will testify at an EPA hearing on the regulations in Atlanta on Tuesday.

PSC commissioner-elect Chip Beeker said that Alabama's coal was created by God and charged that the government shouldn't interfere with God's plan, according to AL.com.

"Who has the right to take what God's given a state?" he asked.

According to Right Wing Watch, the Public Service Commission began a meeting on power rates last year with a prayer against same-sex marriage.

[Joe Molotov]

"Who has the right to take what God's given a state?" he asked.

I dunno, maybe you should ask the Native Americans. 

[Joe Molotov]

We'll make our own Facebook, with Ronald Reagan and gay-bashing. In fact, forget the Facebook.

[Joe Molotov]

http://reaganbook.com/Bathtime4Bonzo/

[Trent Dole]

Didn't this already exist in the form of The Tea Party Community or something like that? 

[Kara]

Conservatives can only do this if they do it before everyone else. (Freep is just Reddit with less features. :trollbron)

[chronovore]

Two Alabama officials on Monday asked residents to pray that the state can help block the Environmental Protection Agency's new regulations on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, AL.com reported.

Public Service Commission President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh (pictured above) slammed the new regulations.

"We will not stand for what they are doing to our way of life in Alabama," she said during a press conference at the Alabama Coal Association.

Later in the conference, Cavanaugh asked residents to pray for the state.

"I hope all the citizens of Alabama will be in prayer that the right thing will be done," she said.

Cavanaugh, along with other Alabama officials, will testify at an EPA hearing on the regulations in Atlanta on Tuesday.

PSC commissioner-elect Chip Beeker said that Alabama's coal was created by God and charged that the government shouldn't interfere with God's plan, according to AL.com.

"Who has the right to take what God's given a state?" he asked.

According to Right Wing Watch, the Public Service Commission began a meeting on power rates last year with a prayer against same-sex marriage.

This reminds me of the lead villain's plan from Raylan, season 2. That was a pretty sweet villain.

[benjipwns]

No

fucking

way

http://www.mediaite.com/online/there-is-a-new-conservative-version-of-facebook-called-reaganbook/

I'm dying here!

http://www.redstatedate.com/
http://www.conservativesonly.com/

[ZephyrFate]

grover norquist is going to burning man

 

[Joe Molotov]

grover norquist is going to burning man

 

Is he going to be the man?

[helios]

So ReaganBook is quickly becoming the best site to get all of your porn needs. Too bad it's slow

[Kara]

I was reading about Andrew Mellon because he's a character in Boardwalk Empire no judge pls and in particular his "scientific taxation" which in some respects is an intellectual precedent of our current supply side taxation philosophy in that it rested on lower top tax rates to collect more revenue.

It's surreal to me how far we've come that a child of privilege Republican politician thought tax policy "must lessen, so far as possible, the burden of taxation on those least able to bear it" and actually believed earned income should receive preference over unearned income (investment income) in the tax code. This is not the case at all, currently, in case you're unfamiliar with the current individual tax system.

http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/readings.nsf/ArtWeb/1D6628F544D4A43C85256EE0004D414D

TaxAnalysts

[Brehvolution]

Just started watching Boardwalk Empire. Up to ep.5. It's funny to see the annoyance at democrat meddling in a perfectly rigged system.

[Great Rumbler]

http://thesarahpalinchannel.com/