|
|
Post by forgottenlord on Jun 23, 2016 7:24:26 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by forgottenlord on Jun 23, 2016 7:44:55 GMT -5
So a while ago, my wife and I bought a game from an American retailer online. It wasn't so much that the retailer's price was the cheapest, it was because Amazon.ca nor Best Buy nor any other "local" retailers happened to carry it. Well, technically it was "through" Amazon through their partnership programs, but it wasn't in the Amazon Warehouse in Missassauga but the retailer's warehouse in California. It was actually quite expensive - nearly the price of a brand new game for something that was 3 years old. And three weeks went by and we didn't see it. So we contacted Amazon who contact them and between the three of us, nobody knew where it was. Amazon said "well, why don't we just wait". And another few weeks go by. At which point Amazon suggested it be resent which the retailer agreed to do. A few weeks after that, the package shows up. But I notice on the customs form that the date it was filled out was the original date. And sure enough, it was another 2-3 months before the second attempt arrived (which we kindly sent back, and the retailer was billed $5.15 in shipping costs for that). So what the heck happened? Well, I now have the answer: www.cbc.ca/news/politics/online-shopping-cross-border-duties-taxes-1.3647965All countries have a consumer limit for what can be shipped across the border before customs takes a hard look at it. In the case of the US, that limit is $800. In the case of Canada.... it's $20. In fact, Canada's limit is so low that it's estimated that if we raised the limit to $80, we'd save about a hundred million in costs over the lost tax revenue. Obviously, local retailers are ok with that because it helps protect them and the government wants you to shop at local retailers so you actually pay your sales taxes. |
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 7:50:11 GMT -5
So a while ago, my wife and I bought a game from an American retailer online. It wasn't so much that the retailer's price was the cheapest, it was because Amazon.ca nor Best Buy nor any other "local" retailers happened to carry it. Well, technically it was "through" Amazon through their partnership programs, but it wasn't in the Amazon Warehouse in Missassauga but the retailer's warehouse in California. It was actually quite expensive - nearly the price of a brand new game for something that was 3 years old. And three weeks went by and we didn't see it. So we contacted Amazon who contact them and between the three of us, nobody knew where it was. Amazon said "well, why don't we just wait". And another few weeks go by. At which point Amazon suggested it be resent which the retailer agreed to do. A few weeks after that, the package shows up. But I notice on the customs form that the date it was filled out was the original date. And sure enough, it was another 2-3 months before the second attempt arrived (which we kindly sent back, and the retailer was billed $5.15 in shipping costs for that). So what the heck happened? Well, I now have the answer: www.cbc.ca/news/politics/online-shopping-cross-border-duties-taxes-1.3647965All countries have a consumer limit for what can be shipped across the border before customs takes a hard look at it. In the case of the US, that limit is $800. In the case of Canada.... it's $20. In fact, Canada's limit is so low that it's estimated that if we raised the limit to $80, we'd save about a hundred million in costs over the lost tax revenue. Obviously, local retailers are ok with that because it helps protect them and the government wants you to shop at local retailers so you actually pay your sales taxes. How the heck does your government know how much it's worth?? |
|
|
|
Post by forgottenlord on Jun 23, 2016 7:54:47 GMT -5
So a while ago, my wife and I bought a game from an American retailer online. It wasn't so much that the retailer's price was the cheapest, it was because Amazon.ca nor Best Buy nor any other "local" retailers happened to carry it. Well, technically it was "through" Amazon through their partnership programs, but it wasn't in the Amazon Warehouse in Missassauga but the retailer's warehouse in California. It was actually quite expensive - nearly the price of a brand new game for something that was 3 years old. And three weeks went by and we didn't see it. So we contacted Amazon who contact them and between the three of us, nobody knew where it was. Amazon said "well, why don't we just wait". And another few weeks go by. At which point Amazon suggested it be resent which the retailer agreed to do. A few weeks after that, the package shows up. But I notice on the customs form that the date it was filled out was the original date. And sure enough, it was another 2-3 months before the second attempt arrived (which we kindly sent back, and the retailer was billed $5.15 in shipping costs for that). So what the heck happened? Well, I now have the answer: www.cbc.ca/news/politics/online-shopping-cross-border-duties-taxes-1.3647965All countries have a consumer limit for what can be shipped across the border before customs takes a hard look at it. In the case of the US, that limit is $800. In the case of Canada.... it's $20. In fact, Canada's limit is so low that it's estimated that if we raised the limit to $80, we'd save about a hundred million in costs over the lost tax revenue. Obviously, local retailers are ok with that because it helps protect them and the government wants you to shop at local retailers so you actually pay your sales taxes. How the heck does your government know how much it's worth?? All customs forms including the American ones require that you declare its approximate value. |
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 7:57:28 GMT -5
How the heck does your government know how much it's worth?? All customs forms including the American ones require that you declare its approximate value. So nobody really knows - they just go by weight and size, like certain politician's little hands ; ) (Related - if we had a federal sales tax of even one cent on, say, soda we'd raise enough $ to raise the minimum wage and build as many roads and fix as many bridges and utility systems as we need to.) |
|
|
|
Post by Don Quixotic on Jun 23, 2016 8:01:06 GMT -5
As much as I'm loathe to say it, I have to agree with Paul Ryan. That was a pure publicity stunt.
It would be nice if Democrats could find their spines and do things like this before extended Congressional sessions, and not just on the eve of a Holiday when Congress is about to go on break.
|
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 8:03:32 GMT -5
As much as I'm loathe to say it, I have to agree with Paul Ryan. That was a pure publicity stunt. It would be nice if Democrats could find their spines and do things like this before extended Congressional sessions, and not just on the eve of a Holiday when Congress is about to go on break. Perhaps, but the Orlando shooter didn't care about the calendar. That was just another "last straw" thing - we will continue to see more and deadlier shootings until Congress does something - anything - to address it. |
|
|
|
Post by Don Quixotic on Jun 23, 2016 8:05:43 GMT -5
As much as I'm loathe to say it, I have to agree with Paul Ryan. That was a pure publicity stunt. It would be nice if Democrats could find their spines and do things like this before extended Congressional sessions, and not just on the eve of a Holiday when Congress is about to go on break. Perhaps, but the Orlando shooter didn't care about the calendar. That was just another "last straw" thing - we will continue to see more and deadlier shootings until Congress does something - anything - to address it. Great, but this didn't accomplish anything.
I'll tip my hat to the Democrats if they do this again when Congress goes back into session on July 5th and keep it going until a bill gets passed.
|
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 8:11:02 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by forgottenlord on Jun 23, 2016 8:17:36 GMT -5
Iowa? Why did I think he was from New York? |
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 8:18:16 GMT -5
Perhaps, but the Orlando shooter didn't care about the calendar. That was just another "last straw" thing - we will continue to see more and deadlier shootings until Congress does something - anything - to address it. Great, but this didn't accomplish anything.
I'll tip my hat to the Democrats if they do this again when Congress goes back into session on July 5th and keep it going until a bill gets passed.
It may not have gotten us any closer to passing a bill, but it did continue to shine light on a major issue. What's more galling to me is that Congress has more days off than work days the rest of the year. www.congress.gov/resources/display/content/Calendars+and+Schedules |
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 8:31:59 GMT -5
Iowa? Why did I think he was from New York? You're thinking Peter King (R-NY). Both are pretty much wretched IMO. |
|
|
|
Post by forgottenlord on Jun 23, 2016 8:36:07 GMT -5
Iowa? Why did I think he was from New York? You're thinking Peter King (R-NY). Both are pretty much wretched IMO. I'm debating which state which US Representative is from but I could not name my MP. Or MLA. Or City Councilor. |
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 9:00:33 GMT -5
You're thinking Peter King (R-NY). Both are pretty much wretched IMO. I'm debating which state which US Representative is from but I could not name my MP. Or MLA. Or City Councilor. I think we all can't remember our local leaders. Maybe that's part of the problem. Here in America gerrymandering ran rampant. It'll take 2 - 3 election cycles to see any difference improvement. |
|
|
|
Post by Outsider on Jun 23, 2016 9:26:43 GMT -5
The GOP’s medieval politics: America’s crisis is much bigger than Donald Trump Republicans have all but declared a new Crusade, and our press continues to legitimize them in the name of balance This piece originally appeared on BillMoyers.com. As incendiary and dangerous as he is — and he is very dangerous — and as much of a main event as he has been in this election season, Donald Trump is largely a distraction from what really ails our political discourse. Long after he is gone from the scene, the Republican Party that engendered him, facilitated him, and now supports him — despite a severe case of buyer’s remorse — will no doubt still thrive, booting up for a future candidacy of Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or Paul Ryan. And the media will still act as if Trump were an aberration, a departure from so-called “sensible” conservatism. If so, it will be yet another act of media dereliction. In fact, worse than dereliction, because the Republican Party, with its history of dog-whistle racism, sexism, homophobia, nativism, and gun addiction, salted now by incipient fascism, has been legitimized by the mainstream media for years. One could say that the GOP and MSM have operated in collusion to the great detriment of this country. One could say that and not even be a liberal, just a commonsensical American. Today’s GOP is closer to a religious cult than a political institution. The MSM continue to treat the Republican Party as if it were just another constellation of ideology and policy — another way of governing the country, even though this campaign season, if not the last 30 years, should have disabused journalists of that notion. Today’s GOP is closer to a religious cult than a political institution. It operates on dogma, sees compromise as a moral failing, views enemies as pagans who must be vanquished, and considers every policy skirmish another Götterdämmerung. That isn’t politics; it’s a modern version of the medieval Crusades, and as the ancient Crusades did to Europe, it has inflicted untold damage on our country. Because it is deep in the bones of the Republicans, it won’t end with Trump, who is a non-believer himself when it comes to conservative orthodoxy. It can only end with the extinction of the party itself as presently constituted — Cruz, Ryan, Rubio, McConnell, et al. — and the rise of a new conservative party, not a cult. You won’t hear that in the MSM, in large part because, partisan organs like Fox News and MSNBC aside, it tries to maintain that deadly and deadening balance so often discussed and decried by media critics like me. This is a practice that requires a tit for every tat, so that blame can never be leveled against one party unless the media immediately level it against the other as well. Political equipoise, as it were. www.salon.com/2016/06/23/the_gops_medieval_politics_americas_crisis_is_much_bigger_than_donald_trump/Part of this is laziness. Part is fear. The press knows that if it were to come right out and criticize the GOP for its denial of climate change, its campaign to deny the LGBT community its civil rights, its efforts to strip food stamps from children and health insurance from the poor, its systematic attempts to suppress minority voters, its recent howl to protect the Second-Amendment rights of suspected terrorists while at the same time calling for greater surveillance of us all, there would be hell to pay from the right wing, which would invoke the mythical and dreaded “liberal media.” The historian and columnist Eric Alterman calls this “working the refs,” and the MSM fall for it every time. The media simply won’t discuss the Republican Party’s values … because when you do so, you can’t fake balance. |
|
|
|
Post by tittletag on Jun 23, 2016 9:38:56 GMT -5
Perhaps, but the Orlando shooter didn't care about the calendar. That was just another "last straw" thing - we will continue to see more and deadlier shootings until Congress does something - anything - to address it. Great, but this didn't accomplish anything.
I'll tip my hat to the Democrats if they do this again when Congress goes back into session on July 5th and keep it going until a bill gets passed.
This is a political stunt but I think it's an effective one. Sensible gun regs is the reason but more importantly it's about the dysfunction and obstruction of widely popular things we should be able to agree on. It comes at a time that highlights a tipping point of this election year. Do we reward the tactics and direction of the Republican party or do we say "enough". The Tea Party has been saying "enough" for 7 years even though their fears are based on bullshit. A united Democratic party with a backbone is a new thing. I think we are at an important time in history bigger than the Democratic party finding a backbone. Republicans have overplayed their hands. It seems to me with that the energy of Bernie and like minded people have shifted the Democratic party and recapture it's soul. Hillary seems liberated from the centrist climate of the '90s and early 2000s. She will alway be a pragmatist but the pragmatic thing to do now is to seize the moment...I hope. |
|
|
|
Post by Outsider on Jun 23, 2016 9:42:45 GMT -5
Wernie!! This one is for you: The 5 biggest lies in Donald Trump’s fact-free Hillary speech Desperate to reclaim the narrative, the GOP nominee came out swinging Wednesday, sending PolitiFact into a tailspin In an effort to reclaim the media narrative, Trump issued a blistering attack against Clinton, basing parts of his speech on yet another, apparently bogus, Clinton tell-all book, Clinton Cash, which as Media Matters reports, recycles “the debunked claim that Clinton failed to block the Russian purchase of American uranium mines after the Russian government donated to the Clinton Foundation and alleged that the Clintons ‘cashed in’ on Clinton’s role as secretary of state through speaking fees.” Trump repeatedly referenced “Cinton Cash” throughout, even quoting text of the book in his speech. Trump also referenced a similarly spurious book, Crisis of Character, written by a low-level Secret Service agent who described Clinton as “erratic and violent.” It’s no secret that Trump has a penchant for pushing conspiracy theories, but even this one incited a response from the non-partisan Secret Service organization Association of Former Agents of the United States Secret Service (AFAUSSS), which issued a rare denunciation of the book, criticizing the author for making “security harder by eroding the trust between agents and the people they protect.” 1. On Foreign Policy: “It all started with her bad judgment in supporting the war in Iraq in the first place. Though I was not in government service, I was among the earliest to criticize the rush to war, and yes, even before the war ever started. But Hillary Clinton learned nothing from Iraq, because when she got into power, she couldn’t wait to rush us off to war in Libya.” This claim has been debunked time and time agai 2. On the Economy: The United States is “the highest taxed nation in the world.” Comparing taxation as a percentage of GDP (26 percent in the U.S.), the Organization for Economic Cooperation ranked us 27th out of 30 countries considered to be our economic peers. Politifact notes: “Industrialized economies are the best yardstick, but U.S. taxation as a percentage of GDP ranks 12th from the bottom if you compare it with a larger roster of 115 countries.” 3. On Refugees: “Under [Clinton’s] plan, we would admit hundreds of thousands of refugees from the most dangerous countries on Earth—with no way to screen who they are or what they believe.” That claim has been debunked time and time again; the process to get a refugee to the United States takes about two years, and involves running names, biographical information, and fingerprints through federal terrorism databases. 4. On Clinton’s Track Record: Clinton “has spent her entire life making money for special interests—and I will tell you, she has made plenty of money for them, and she has been taking plenty of money out for herself.” Mr. Trump argues that she also made money for big donors through her activities at the State Department and her family foundation, but he has not offered clear, convincing proof.” 5. On Lying: Brian Williams’ career was destroyed for saying far less. Trump made this remark regarding Clinton’s assertion that while in Bosnia in 1996, she came under sniper fire upon landing. After video of emerged depicting Clinton and daughter Chelsea Clinton welcomed by a warm and excited crowd, the Clinton campaign said she “misspoke” about the dangerous conditions she faced abroad. In his speech, Trump referred to the multiple instances of former NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams exaggerating the truth about the dangers he faced while covering the Iraq War. The businessman-turned-politician claimed Williams’ career was “destroyed” for his fabrication, while Clinton’s is still in tact despite her lie. Of course, Brian Williams can still be spotted on MSNBC, where he serves as Chief Breaking News Anchor and Chief Elections Anchor for MSNBC. And considering Politifact rates 59 percent of all Trump’s claims as “False” or “Pants on Fire,” the Republican nominee may not get a lot of mileage out of this particular lie. www.salon.com/2016/06/23/the_5_biggest_lies_in_donald_trumps_fact_free_partner/Wernie, in case you misunderstood the last part - it means Trump is so full of shit no one believes any of the crap that comes out of his mouth. Well, except you, of course. |
|
|
|
Post by Outsider on Jun 23, 2016 9:55:26 GMT -5
Great, but this didn't accomplish anything.
I'll tip my hat to the Democrats if they do this again when Congress goes back into session on July 5th and keep it going until a bill gets passed.
This is a political stunt but I think it's an effective one. Sensible gun regs is the reason but more importantly it's about the dysfunction and obstruction of widely popular things we should be able to agree on. It comes at a time that highlights a tipping point of this election year. Do we reward the tactics and direction of the Republican party or do we say "enough". The Tea Party has been saying "enough" for 7 years even though their fears are based on bullshit. A united Democratic party with a backbone is a new thing. I think we are at an important time in history bigger than the Democratic party finding a backbone. Republicans have overplayed their hands. It seems to me with that the energy of Bernie and like minded people have shifted the Democratic party and recapture it's soul. Hillary seems liberated from the centrist climate of the '90s and early 2000s. She will alway be a pragmatist but the pragmatic thing to do now is to seize the moment...I hope. BREAKING: Congress Breaks Into Chaos As Paul Ryan Threatens To Arrest Democrats news.groopspeak.com/breaking-house-in-chaos-as-paul-ryan-threatens-to-have-democrats-arrested-for-sit-in/I agree with you both; it might be a stunt, but at this point, after the gerrymandering, what choice does anyone (in gov't) have? I don't think anyone here (Save for Wernie) would argue that the GOP has cheated and broken the system. It's rigged. And it's tearing the country apart. At some point, someone has to slam on the breaks and say enough is enough. You could say that is what elections are for; but the same people who complain can't seem to get off their collective asses to help fix things. And that doesn't even take into consideration the money - specifically dark money (Koch brothers in WI for example). I think it's a stunt, but it's a stunt prompted by desperation. |
|
|
|
Post by forgottenlord on Jun 23, 2016 9:56:37 GMT -5
Does anyone here actually believe that Stamkos is going to sign in Tampa?
Equally, does anyone here actually believe that Subban will be traded?
While weird things happen, but why do weird things get treated as most likely outcomes by sports media?
|
|
|
|
Post by tittletag on Jun 23, 2016 10:13:49 GMT -5
This is a political stunt but I think it's an effective one. Sensible gun regs is the reason but more importantly it's about the dysfunction and obstruction of widely popular things we should be able to agree on. It comes at a time that highlights a tipping point of this election year. Do we reward the tactics and direction of the Republican party or do we say "enough". The Tea Party has been saying "enough" for 7 years even though their fears are based on bullshit. A united Democratic party with a backbone is a new thing. I think we are at an important time in history bigger than the Democratic party finding a backbone. Republicans have overplayed their hands. It seems to me with that the energy of Bernie and like minded people have shifted the Democratic party and recapture it's soul. Hillary seems liberated from the centrist climate of the '90s and early 2000s. She will alway be a pragmatist but the pragmatic thing to do now is to seize the moment...I hope. BREAKING: Congress Breaks Into Chaos As Paul Ryan Threatens To Arrest Democrats news.groopspeak.com/breaking-house-in-chaos-as-paul-ryan-threatens-to-have-democrats-arrested-for-sit-in/I agree with you both; it might be a stunt, but at this point, after the gerrymandering, what choice does anyone (in gov't) have? I don't think anyone here (Save for Wernie) would argue that the GOP has cheated and broken the system. It's rigged. And it's tearing the country apart. At some point, someone has to slam on the breaks and say enough is enough. You could say that is what elections are for; but the same people who complain can't seem to get off their collective asses to help fix things. And that doesn't even take into consideration the money - specifically dark money (Koch brothers in WI for example). I think it's a stunt, but it's a stunt prompted by desperation.
"You could say that is what elections are for; but the same people who complain can't seem to get off their collective asses to help fix things."Their collective disregard for the legitimacy of President Obama's authority kinda destroys any civility. |
|
|
|
Post by forgottenlord on Jun 23, 2016 10:15:06 GMT -5
Theater shooting in Germany. I'm hearing shooter is dead but can't find any info to back it up. 50 wounded, no reported dead yet but it is a very young story
|
|
suen
Hive Whisperer
Oh for fuck's sake!
Posts: 6,159 
Likes: 25,504
|
Post by suen on Jun 23, 2016 10:22:01 GMT -5
Perhaps, but the Orlando shooter didn't care about the calendar. That was just another "last straw" thing - we will continue to see more and deadlier shootings until Congress does something - anything - to address it. Great, but this didn't accomplish anything.
I'll tip my hat to the Democrats if they do this again when Congress goes back into session on July 5th and keep it going until a bill gets passed.
It may well be a stunt. But, at this point, stunts really are all we have left. All the GOP had to do was give the Dems a vote. That's it. You know, how things should normally operate. That's what the House does, right? Vote on things? And I don't think any of us are under any illusion how that vote would have gone. But the GOP won't risk even that. It doesn't dare even debate the issue. An issue on which every poll out there shows a massive majority of Americans supports the Dem position. When was the last time 80+ percent of Americans agreed on *anything*? Yet we agree on background checks, closing the gun show/internet loophole and closing the terror list loophole. In any *functional* system, that number would be enough to provide Republicans cover to say, "Fine, will of the people, yes." But we don't have a functioning system. So why not throw a wrench into the system we have? Why not say enough is enough? Why not show, in a very bright light, just how craven the GOP is? How long are Democrats, and the people they represent, supposed to keep gnashing their teeth in frustration and banging their heads into that brick wall before they FINALLY snap, stand up and say, "This is bullshit, and we will not take it any more"? I applaud them for their "stunt." My elder daughter and I were riveted to Periscope. My inner hippie was thrilled to see my Democrats, my spineless, disorganized, triangulation-seeking, bipartisanship-loving, consensus-craving Democrats, finally stand up, pull their backbones out of storage and deliver a resounding "fuck you" to Paul Ryan. |
|
suen
Hive Whisperer
Oh for fuck's sake!
Posts: 6,159
Likes: 25,504
|
Post by suen on Jun 23, 2016 10:34:38 GMT -5
Also, regarding the "stunt," Digby raises an excellent point. digbysblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/youve-got-to-stand-for-something-if-you.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&m=1For years, we've been saying both sides DON'T do it, that both sides AREN'T the same, and that we want desperately for people to stop voting for the GOPers who want to take us back and for the Dems who want to take us forward. And our biggest obstacle to that has been the Dems themselves, who've struggled to give anyone a reason to vote for them (other than "I'm not crazy"). "What difference will it make?" people ask. "What do Democrats stand for?" Well, now, here's their answer. |
|
|
|
Post by roknsteve on Jun 23, 2016 10:41:00 GMT -5
The GOP’s medieval politics: America’s crisis is much bigger than Donald Trump Republicans have all but declared a new Crusade, and our press continues to legitimize them in the name of balance This piece originally appeared on BillMoyers.com. As incendiary and dangerous as he is — and he is very dangerous — and as much of a main event as he has been in this election season, Donald Trump is largely a distraction from what really ails our political discourse. Long after he is gone from the scene, the Republican Party that engendered him, facilitated him, and now supports him — despite a severe case of buyer’s remorse — will no doubt still thrive, booting up for a future candidacy of Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or Paul Ryan. And the media will still act as if Trump were an aberration, a departure from so-called “sensible” conservatism. If so, it will be yet another act of media dereliction. In fact, worse than dereliction, because the Republican Party, with its history of dog-whistle racism, sexism, homophobia, nativism, and gun addiction, salted now by incipient fascism, has been legitimized by the mainstream media for years. One could say that the GOP and MSM have operated in collusion to the great detriment of this country. One could say that and not even be a liberal, just a commonsensical American. Today’s GOP is closer to a religious cult than a political institution. The MSM continue to treat the Republican Party as if it were just another constellation of ideology and policy — another way of governing the country, even though this campaign season, if not the last 30 years, should have disabused journalists of that notion. Today’s GOP is closer to a religious cult than a political institution. It operates on dogma, sees compromise as a moral failing, views enemies as pagans who must be vanquished, and considers every policy skirmish another Götterdämmerung. That isn’t politics; it’s a modern version of the medieval Crusades, and as the ancient Crusades did to Europe, it has inflicted untold damage on our country. Because it is deep in the bones of the Republicans, it won’t end with Trump, who is a non-believer himself when it comes to conservative orthodoxy. It can only end with the extinction of the party itself as presently constituted — Cruz, Ryan, Rubio, McConnell, et al. — and the rise of a new conservative party, not a cult. You won’t hear that in the MSM, in large part because, partisan organs like Fox News and MSNBC aside, it tries to maintain that deadly and deadening balance so often discussed and decried by media critics like me. This is a practice that requires a tit for every tat, so that blame can never be leveled against one party unless the media immediately level it against the other as well. Political equipoise, as it were. www.salon.com/2016/06/23/the_gops_medieval_politics_americas_crisis_is_much_bigger_than_donald_trump/Part of this is laziness. Part is fear. The press knows that if it were to come right out and criticize the GOP for its denial of climate change, its campaign to deny the LGBT community its civil rights, its efforts to strip food stamps from children and health insurance from the poor, its systematic attempts to suppress minority voters, its recent howl to protect the Second-Amendment rights of suspected terrorists while at the same time calling for greater surveillance of us all, there would be hell to pay from the right wing, which would invoke the mythical and dreaded “liberal media.” The historian and columnist Eric Alterman calls this “working the refs,” and the MSM fall for it every time. The media simply won’t discuss the Republican Party’s values … because when you do so, you can’t fake balance.I agree with Bill Moyers 100 percent. What the primitive party is looking for is a bad Hollywood actor who they can wrap the flag around and call HIM the second coming of Ronnie Raygun. Thanks for posting that. |
|
suen
Hive Whisperer
Oh for fuck's sake!
Posts: 6,159
Likes: 25,504
|
Post by suen on Jun 23, 2016 10:44:11 GMT -5
Time story on the German theater shooter. time.com/4379829/germany-movie-theater-shooting-cinema/?xid=tcoshareInterestingly, according to this, people were injured by tear gas. Supposedly, he fired his gun into the air, even though he had ammo. It's all still developing, though. (Also, no doubt our ammosexuals will be crowing in delight over this and yammering that it proves argle bargle herp a derp.) |
|
|
|
Post by Outsider on Jun 23, 2016 11:01:00 GMT -5
BREAKING: Congress Breaks Into Chaos As Paul Ryan Threatens To Arrest Democrats news.groopspeak.com/breaking-house-in-chaos-as-paul-ryan-threatens-to-have-democrats-arrested-for-sit-in/I agree with you both; it might be a stunt, but at this point, after the gerrymandering, what choice does anyone (in gov't) have? I don't think anyone here (Save for Wernie) would argue that the GOP has cheated and broken the system. It's rigged. And it's tearing the country apart. At some point, someone has to slam on the breaks and say enough is enough. You could say that is what elections are for; but the same people who complain can't seem to get off their collective asses to help fix things. And that doesn't even take into consideration the money - specifically dark money (Koch brothers in WI for example). I think it's a stunt, but it's a stunt prompted by desperation.
"You could say that is what elections are for; but the same people who complain can't seem to get off their collective asses to help fix things."Their collective disregard for the legitimacy of President Obama's authority kinda destroys any civility. Also true; but i was referencing low turn out for elections in that case. But really; if your ideas are any good - you don't need to rig the system to win. And that's the issue really. The GOP wants power for power's sake. Not to govern. Which is why they're unbending, and have to resort to gerrymandering in order to be elected. |
|
|
|
Post by tittletag on Jun 23, 2016 11:05:37 GMT -5
"You could say that is what elections are for; but the same people who complain can't seem to get off their collective asses to help fix things."Their collective disregard for the legitimacy of President Obama's authority kinda destroys any civility. Also true; but i was referencing low turn out for elections in that case. But really; if your ideas are any good - you don't need to rig the system to win. And that's the issue really. The GOP wants power for power's sake. Not to govern. Which is why they're unbending, and have to resort to gerrymandering in order to be elected. Yes. Current Republicans play for keeps in a way that disrespects democracy. |
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 11:18:49 GMT -5
At least the SCOTUS kept affirmative action going (with Kagan abstaining, IIRC, but she would've voted for it anyways).
|
|
|
|
Post by foggyisback on Jun 23, 2016 11:19:24 GMT -5
...but I'm beginning to wonder if any of those cops will pay for Freddie Gray's death.
|
|
|
|
Post by Outsider on Jun 23, 2016 11:22:05 GMT -5
Also true; but i was referencing low turn out for elections in that case. But really; if your ideas are any good - you don't need to rig the system to win. And that's the issue really. The GOP wants power for power's sake. Not to govern. Which is why they're unbending, and have to resort to gerrymandering in order to be elected. Yes. Current Republicans play for keeps in a way that disrespects democracy. Remember (reading anyway, i doubt anyone here was actually there) how the idea of the congress was that people would go serve a term, for the betterment of the country, then go back to their lives? All these career politicians are perverting the base idea of congress in the first place. |
|
