***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[RIP sleazyy]

African-Americans run popular american culture.

Black folks are the culture.

 

[milestailsprowe]

Ok then. What exactly is the culture? I can see him saying some African Americans do what they can to act non american but what is this racist man calling american culture exactly?

Probably some 1950s sitcom nonsense

 

[MalcolmNewton]

Ok then. What exactly is the culture? I can see him saying some African Americans do what they can to act non american but what is this racist man calling american culture exactly?

Probably some 1950s sitcom nonsense

American culture is coded language for white culture. Same with "western" culture.

 

[milestailsprowe]

I guess but American culture to me has always been this mix bag of cultures due to population being so spread out made of things brought from immigrants, imitation and new things. Still the core values are the same.

Though these past 6ish years I'm starting to thing there is a BIG difference in American culture in a blue state vs red state

 

[MalcolmNewton]

To us American culture is a melting pot of cultures, but when these statements are made by these types of people, that is not what they are referring to. When you know the messenger, then you can interpret the real meaning of the message.

If Trump says American culture is "MAGA", we know exactly what he means because we know Trump is a racist scumbag. We don't have to guess what he means.

 

[Nike Jordan]

African-Americans run popular american culture.

 

[milestailsprowe]

To us American culture is a melting pot of cultures, but when these statements are made by these types of people, that is not what they are referring to. When you know the messenger, then you can interpret the real meaning of the message.

If Trump says American culture is "MAGA", we know exactly what he means because we know Trump is a racist scumbag. We don't have to guess what he means.

I prefectly get that but how can you live so long in the same nation and deny someone's way of life to such a degree. As a politician he should be trying to understand how and why people live the way to they do. Then he should be looking for ways to improve life for those people, not out right deny and insult how they live

 

[chao7]

I prefectly get that but how can you live so long in the same nation and deny someone's way of life to such a degree. As a politician he should be trying to understand how and why people live the way to they do. Then he should be looking for ways to improve life for those people, not out right deny and insult how they live

Sessions and the people who support his policies have made a conscious decision to abuse their power to "weed out" those they deem undesirable (black and brown people). Whether all of them believe in the racist ideas, or are simply exploiting the ignorant and appealing to their worst, most base instincts is irrelevant.

They do not want to compromise or act ethically, and neither do the people who comprise the base of their support.

 

[Belgium]

Feds have had the ability to reassemble shredded documents for decades. It's not unusual in office settings to shred documents but given Cohen's activities it also wouldn't be surprising to find incriminating material there.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/15/michael-cohen-shredded-documents-feds-650382
Feds reassemble shredded docs, access encrypted messages from Michael Cohen raids

 

[aepps20]

To me American Culture is forged in the small towns of America. Towns like Scranton and Bluffington. Towns where Coal is King and we love our President Elect.

 

[milestailsprowe]

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/15/michael-cohen-shredded-documents-feds-650382
Feds reassemble shredded docs, access encrypted messages from Michael Cohen raids

If he flips and gives up the key to the kingdom then things are gonna get hot in the white house

 

[gry60]

American culture is coded language for white culture. Same with "western" culture.

Nothing to do with culture. AAs may all turn into Tiger Woods, and those conservatives will still have a problem with them. Never mind that when it comes to immigration, studies show that Americanization is not a problem.

What they truly mean by "American culture" is white skin.

Italians became white; Irish became white; Eastern Europeans became white; Asians, depending on where they are from, drift in and out of whiteness (Hitler called Japanese honorary Aryans and stole his swatsika from India). Same goes for Latinos.

Dark skin folks can't do that.

When those people talk about "national dissolution," they talk about the end of white race, not necessarily culture, as evidenced by the fact that judges and lawyers in former British colonies still rock the wig

while they use the English language to conduct business.

Those people are not interested in assimilation. We could start going to horse races, swap basketball with croquet, and put Nascar stickers and decals all over our cars and they still wouldn't be happy about the fact that the US is getting darker.

Those people don't believe in American values; they only use such values to prop themselves up (or put people they don't like down). They only use "American values" as a tool to maintain their sense of superiority. Watch how silent the party of Family Values is regarding the DOJ policy of separation of migrant families; watch how silent the party of Personal Responsibility is when Trump is blaming Democrats for a cruel policy his people came up with.

**** them.

 

[gry60]

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/us-poised-quit-uns-human-rights-council-55928222

When, not if: US poised to quit UN's human rights council

• By JAMEY KEATEN AND EDITH M. LEDERER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

GENEVA — Jun 15, 2018, 4:22 PM


The United States is about to quit the United Nation's main human rights body, primarily over Washington's claim that the Human Rights Council is biased against Israel, a Western and a U.S. diplomat say.

The move would be the Trump administration's latest snub of the international community. The U.S. State Department said Friday no decision has been made to leave.


But diplomats who requested anonymity said it appears more a matter of when, not if, the pullout threatened last year by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, will happen.

Never in the 12 years of the Human Rights Council, which is tasked with spotlighting and approving investigations of suspected rights abuses, has a serving member dropped out voluntarily. Seven years ago, in the midst of the Arab Spring, Moammar Gadhafi's Libya was kicked out with the approval of the U.N. General Assembly, which has final say.

The 47-member council opens the second of its three annual sessions Monday, when U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein makes his last address to a regular meeting before stepping down in August. The United States could announce its decision as early as Tuesday, a U.S. official said.

 

[frenchbreadbuilds]

Trump is leaving so much destruction in his wake the next president is going to need two terms to repair everything.

 

[brendasdeadbaby]

@ninjahood what do you think about deblasio’s public school reform?

 

[whywesteppin]

 

[gry60]

Trump is leaving so much destruction in his wake the next president is going to need two terms to repair everything.

There is no "repairing everything" without a fundamental change in how American politics is conducted. The best we can hope for is a peaceful revolution that will address all the flaws that the rise of Trump exposed such as the failure of the electoral college, the corruption through campaign contributions, the purpose of the media, the failure of checks and balances due to the lack of action from the legislative branch, etc...

America is in decline.

 

[whywesteppin]

a deep flaw in our system was exposed when Senate Republicans blocked Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court.

a lot of our government requires some level of decency to operate efficiently. that trust was broken and the system exploited before Trump became president but the same forces were responsible for both (white supremacists, white male fragility, and Russia) and one opened the way for the other.

 

[gry60]

https://slate.com/news-and-politics...cess-is-a-sham-two-consular-officers-say.html

"Public reports about seemingly deserving applicants whose waiver requests have been rejected have raised questions about whether the waiver process is as “robust“ as the government has claimed. A Yemeni woman who suffered from rheumatic heart disease was told in December that she’d be allowed into the country to join her U.S. citizen husband only to be denied a waiver once the third travel ban went into effect. A widowed 80-year-old Iranian man whose son had just died of brain cancer was denied a waiver to come live with his U.S. citizen daughter; he never learned that he’d been rejected, as he died three weeks before the denial was issued. A 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy—the daughter of an American citizen—was initially denied a waiver, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked the government about her individual case during oral arguments in Trump v. Hawaii. The girl has reportedly now been allowed into the United States."

"In justifying the ban, Francisco described a straightforward waiver process, one reminiscent of the procedures carried out under presidents including Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. But new, previously undisclosed statements from two consular officers tasked with implementing the travel ban’s provisions contradict this depiction. Both say consular officers had no discretion to offer waivers themselves. One described the waiver process as a “fraud.” In the days before the Supreme Court is set to release its ruling in Trump v. Hawaii, these claims raise significant questions regarding the government’s assertions about the travel ban.

Two weeks ago, Christopher Richardson submitted a sworn affidavit in the case of Ahmed Alharbi et al. v. Stephen Miller et al.That case, which is being heard in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, was brought by Yemeni plaintiffs seeking to obtain visas they were approved to receive but were never granted after the latest ban went into effect. (The judge in that case recently issued an injunction demanding the government issue the visas.) Richardson, who most recently worked as the American Citizens Service Chief in Madrid, was a State Department official from 2011 until March of this year, when he resigned. (Disclosure: Richardson and I are acquaintances.)


In his sworn declaration, acquired by Slate, Richardson said that—counter to Francisco’s claim before the Supreme Court—consular officers were not allowed to use any discretion to grant visa waivers.

As a Consular officer previously employed by the State Department my impression and interpretation of how we as officers were to apply the waiver process was as follows:

(a) They gave us a list of things and we would go down the list one by one until we were able to determine at all possible cost that the person was not eligible to even apply for the waiver. My understanding was no one is to be eligible to apply.

(b) If for some reason an applicant made it through the list and we had no choice but to determine we could find an applicant eligible to apply, regardless of the [Presidential Proclamation] instructions that we had “discretion to grant the waiver,” we were not allowed to exercise that discretion. We were mandated to send to Washington that we found this applicant eligible to apply and Washington would then make the decision to grant or deny the waiver.

Richardson’s assertion that consular officers had no discretion to grant waivers directly contradicts both the claim made by Francisco at the Supreme Court and the text of Presidential Proclamation 9645, i.e. the September executive order delineating the third travel ban. That executive order states that “a consular officer, or the Commissioner, United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or the Commissioner’s designee, as appropriate, may, in their discretion, grant waivers on a case-by-case basis.”"

 

[gry60]

Comparing Minnesota and Wisconsin economic trajectories since 2010:

http://prospect.org/article/scott-walker-and-failure-trickle-down

That legislation raised taxes mostly on the wealthy, and “enabled significant investment in public education, and has [shown] that those who can pay more, do,” Hatt says. “[It] has not led to huge flight of high-income earners out of Minnesota.” She points out that these public investments in education, public infrastructure, and public benefit programs help attract residents. That may be why, according to the EPI report, Minnesota has seen its population increase through people moving into the state, while Wisconsin has had more residents leave than new residents arrive.

 

[frenchbreadbuilds]

There is no "repairing everything" without a fundamental change in how American politics is conducted. The best we can hope for is a peaceful revolution that will address all the flaws that the rise of Trump exposed such as the failure of the electoral college, the corruption through campaign contributions, the purpose of the media, the failure of checks and balances due to the lack of action from the legislative branch, etc...

America is in decline.

This is completely true.

 

[Belgium]

Excerpt:
“In this trade war, it’s the U.S. who is playing the role of provocateur, while China plays defense,” said the Global Times, a newspaper published by the ruling Communist Party. “China is a powerful guardian and has enough ammunition to defend existing trade rules and fairness.”
Beijing will impose an additional 25 percent tariff starting July 6 on 545 products from the United States including soybeans, electric cars, orange juice, whiskey, lobsters, salmon and cigars, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Most are food and other farm goods, hitting Trump’s rural supporters hardest.
Beijing appeared to be trying to minimize the impact on its own economy by picking U.S. products that can be replaced by imports from other suppliers such as Brazil or Australia.
https://apnews.com/f40338c035d94f46...s-tariffs-on-US-soybeans,-electric-cars,-fish
China hikes tariffs on US soybeans, electric cars, fish

China fired back Saturday in a spiraling trade dispute with President Donald Trump by raising import duties on a $34 billion list of American goods including soybeans, electric cars and whiskey.

The government said it was responding in “equal scale” to Trump’s tariff hike on Chinese goods in a conflict over Beijing’s trade surplus and technology policy that companies worry could quickly escalate and chill global economic growth.

China “doesn’t want a trade war” but has to “fight back strongly,” said a Commerce Ministry statement. It said Beijing also was scrapping agreements to narrow its multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States by purchasing more American farm goods, natural gas and other products.

The United States and China have the world’s biggest trading relationship but official ties are increasingly strained over complaints Beijing’s industry development tactics violate its free-trade pledges and hurt American companies. Europe, Japan and other trading partners raise similar complaints, but Trump has been unusually direct about challenging Beijing and threatening to disrupt such a large volume of exports.

“In this trade war, it’s the U.S. who is playing the role of provocateur, while China plays defense,” said the Global Times, a newspaper published by the ruling Communist Party. “China is a powerful guardian and has enough ammunition to defend existing trade rules and fairness.”

Beijing will impose an additional 25 percent tariff starting July 6 on 545 products from the United States including soybeans, electric cars, orange juice, whiskey, lobsters, salmon and cigars, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Most are food and other farm goods, hitting Trump’s rural supporters hardest.

Beijing appeared to be trying to minimize the impact on its own economy by picking U.S. products that can be replaced by imports from other suppliers such as Brazil or Australia.

Chinese regulators also are considering a tariff hike on an additional 114 products including medical equipment and energy products, the Finance Ministry said. It said a decision would be announced later.

That mirrored the Trump administration’s announcement Friday of a tariff hike on $34 billion of Chinese goods, also due to take effect July 6, and plans to consider widening it to an additional $16 billion of other products.

China’s heavily regulated economy also gives the ruling Communist Party additional options for retaliation by withholding approval for business activity.

Anti-monopoly regulators are believed to have delayed announcing a decision on U.S. tech giant Qualcomm’s proposed acquisition of semiconductor maker NXP in part due to the tariff conflict. Other companies say the approval process for licenses has slowed down.

“China’s retaliation will remain calibrated and largely reciprocal, with President Xi Jinping ready to counter any move by Trump,” said Eurasia Group in a report. “Beijing has a freer hand for informal retaliation, which will now start to increase.”

The American Chamber of Commerce had appealed to Washington to avoid a tariff hike but said Trump’s threat has prompted Beijing to engage in more intensive negotiations than it had in recent years.

Companies also are watching the fate of ZTE Corp., a Chinese maker of telecoms gear that ran afoul of U.S. regulators after it violated restrictions on exports of American technology to Iran and North Korea.

Washington rescinded a ban on sales of U.S. technology to ZTE after the company agreed to pay a $1 billion fine and hire American-picked compliance managers. The agreement allows Washington to impose an additional $400 million fine or other penalties if ZTE violates the deal.

Trump is pressing Beijing to narrow its trade surplus with the United States and roll back its plans for state-led development of Chinese global competitors in technology fields including electric cars, renewable energy, artificial intelligence and biotech.

The U.S., Europe, Japan and other trading partners complain Beijing’s tactics including outright theft of foreign technology and subsidies and protection from competition for fledgling Chinese industries. They say those violate Chinese market-opening commitments under the World Trade Organization.

Tensions eased temporarily after Chinese negotiators agreed at talks in Washington in May to buy more American farm goods, natural gas and other products. American officials said they would suspend threatened tariff increases on up to $150 billion of Chinese goods.

The dispute revived after the White House renewed its plan for a tariff hike on $50 billion of Chinese goods as part of the technology dispute. The Chinese government warned after another round of talks June 3 that it would discard those deals if the tariffs went ahead.

Businesspeople and economists say Chinese leaders are less likely to compromise on technology. They view plans for state-led development of companies capable of competing globally in fields including electric cars, renewable energy and biotech as a route to prosperity and to restore China to its rightful role as a world leader.

“There isn’t one country who would give up their rights to advance technology and make industrial upgrades,” said the Global Times editorial.

Beijing also has announced plans to cut import duties on autos and some consumer goods and to ease limits on foreign ownership in auto manufacturing, insurance and some other industries, though those don’t directly address U.S. complaints.

On Thursday, a Commerce Ministry spokesman said some exporters were rushing to fill orders due to concern trade conditions might change, but said they were “not the mainstream.”

 

[MalcolmNewton]

While Trump and his fellow world leaders compete to see who has the biggest pair of balls, it's the everyday, average citizens who will suffer. This world is so 16th century.

 

[aepps20]

Anyone not willing to suffer for our President Elect needs to re-evaluate their life. Bring on the Tariffs. We might lose the war but we will win some battles. #MAGA. #SMASHMOUTHPOLITICS.

 

[AEA18]