Random Politics

[degenerasian]

To add to Pruitt's description above, Harper is going to lose this fall's election. To the Liberals.
This is not because of anything right-wing really. It's more because he's been PM for 10 years and people are sick of him (just like anyone else in power that long) and his party has lied about many things such as innovation, environment and whether Canadian troops are fighting on the ground against ISIS or not.

[The Sybian]

According to Private Eye magazine (an unimpeachable source) - in the UK election this month, 30,687,180 votes were cast.

In the 2014 version of X-Factor in the UK, more than 40,000,000 voted.

To play Devil's Advocate here, can people vote more than once for X-Factor?

[Pruitt]

To add to Pruitt's description above, Harper is going to lose this fall's election. To the Liberals.
This is not because of anything right-wing really. It's more because he's been PM for 10 years and people are sick of him (just like anyone else in power that long) and his party has lied about many things such as innovation, environment and whether Canadian troops are fighting on the ground against ISIS or not.

That's what made the Tory dynasty in alberta so incredible.

The shelf life of a government here seems to be 8 years or so - then things start to rot from inside. The best and the brightest members leave, and less competent politicians take their places. Saw it with Trudeau, Mulroney, Chretien, the Conservatives in Ontario back in the 80s...

Big picture - I think Harper has been a good, steady Prime Minister. But it is time for him to ride off into the sunset - he seems to have become the version of himself that his opponents always said he was.

[Pruitt]

According to Private Eye magazine (an unimpeachable source) - in the UK election this month, 30,687,180 votes were cast.

In the 2014 version of X-Factor in the UK, more than 40,000,000 voted.

To play Devil's Advocate here, can people vote more than once for X-Factor?

Yes, but why let that ruin a good statistic.

BUT - I just checked the ITV website (the UK broadcaster) - it costs 35 pence per call to place a vote. That's a good money spinner they have going there.

[Bensell]

Another Obama win from the Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act and agreed with the Obama administration that government subsidies that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans should be available to all.

By a 6-3 vote, a divided court affirmed an Internal Revenue Service ruling that the subsidies should be available not only in states that have set up their own health insurance exchanges, but also in states where consumers rely on the federal government exchange.

The court was interpreting a passage in the law that said the tax credits are authorized for those who buy health insurance on marketplaces that are “established by the state.”

[DaveInSeattle]

Another Obama win from the Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act and agreed with the Obama administration that government subsidies that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans should be available to all.

By a 6-3 vote, a divided court affirmed an Internal Revenue Service ruling that the subsidies should be available not only in states that have set up their own health insurance exchanges, but also in states where consumers rely on the federal government exchange.

The court was interpreting a passage in the law that said the tax credits are authorized for those who buy health insurance on marketplaces that are “established by the state.”

Scalia's dissent included the phrase "interpretive jiggery-pokery".

Between him and Clarence Thomas saying, in his dissent on the Fair Housing Practices Law "Racial imbalances do not always disfavor minorities....And in our own country, for roughly a quarter-century now, over 70 percent of National Basketball Association players have been black", its like they aren't even trying anymore...

[Steve of phpBB]

Another Obama win from the Supreme Court:

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a key provision of the Affordable Care Act and agreed with the Obama administration that government subsidies that make health insurance affordable for millions of Americans should be available to all.

By a 6-3 vote, a divided court affirmed an Internal Revenue Service ruling that the subsidies should be available not only in states that have set up their own health insurance exchanges, but also in states where consumers rely on the federal government exchange.

The court was interpreting a passage in the law that said the tax credits are authorized for those who buy health insurance on marketplaces that are “established by the state.”

This is a big fucking deal. A massive win for millions of people.

And also the completely correct ruling under the statute and legal principles that have governed statutory interpretation for a long time.

[howard]

Another Obama win from the Supreme Court:

And a win for all the insurance and pharma corporations that are making a killing from the ACA. (I'm not sure they number in the millions, though.)

[mister d]

I loved the post-analysis that "lots of republican governors are quietly relieved this wasn't overturned". If that's not why we're currently fucked in a nutshell, nothing is.

[brian]

Apparent GOP playbook to try and win the presidency:

Alienate African-Americans by sympathizing with racial terrorists and their symbols of racial hatred.

Alienate women by trying to take away their access to medical care and basically treating them like petulant children for wanting freedom to choose what they can do with their bodies.

Alienate the elderly by gutting Social Security.

Alienate anyone with health insurance that doesn't come from their employer by trying to take that away.

Alienate Latinos by insinuating that they are rapists and all came here illegally as well as not having any kind of plan to deal with legal immigration.

That's going to go swimmingly I'm sure. Sooner or later these morons will figure out that pandering to the Tea Party wackjobs to win the nomination pisses off the vast majority of Americans who aren't batshit crazy. A centrist Republican who doesn't have the last name "Bush"* would actually probably have a chance of winning in 2016. As it stands now unless something dire happens to the economy before now and then, the GOP nominee is going to get stomped into confetti.

*Yeah, about that. Americans are stupid, but not so stupid they don't remember Jeb's brother almost turned this country's economy into a smoking crater. He doesn't even have his last name on his campaign signs, but he can't pretend to not be a Bush. He'll get stomped too.

[Pruitt]

All true - but then present yourself as the defenders of religion, guns and borders and you've got a lot of votes in the bag.

[brian]

Here's the funny thing. These spineless fucktards are going to run an entire primary campaign and general election beating the drum about getting rid of Obamacare. But here's one big problem with that.

They can't. You can't just take health insurance from tens of millions of people and roll back all of the stuff about the ACA that like 95 percent of people love (like not being denied for pre-existing conditions or no lifetime maximums, etc.).

So best case scenario if you're the GOP maybe you can try to reform it in some ways, but 90+ percent of the law is going to remain exactly as it is. And that's a BEST case if you're a right-winger.

[Gunpowder]

I would like to see some state fly the British flag over the state capitol, just to point out our heritage.

[Gunpowder]

I loved the post-analysis that "lots of republican governors are quietly relieved this wasn't overturned". If that's not why we're currently fucked in a nutshell, nothing is.

It's basically like watching the NFL man. Two teams. Which one are you a fan of?

[Shirley]

*Yeah, about that. Americans are stupid, but not so stupid they don't remember Jeb's brother almost turned this country's economy into a smoking crater. He doesn't even have his last name on his campaign signs, but he can't pretend to not be a Bush. He'll get stomped too.

Don't discount his Mexican-American wife. That could be huge for a demographic that is large, underserved, and would probably lean conservative if the GOP would stop trying to fuck them.

[tennbengal]

*Yeah, about that. Americans are stupid, but not so stupid they don't remember Jeb's brother almost turned this country's economy into a smoking crater. He doesn't even have his last name on his campaign signs, but he can't pretend to not be a Bush. He'll get stomped too.

Don't discount his Mexican-American wife. That could be huge for a demographic that is large, underserved, and would probably lean conservative if the GOP would stop trying to fuck them.

No worries there. The anti-immigration wing will continue those attempts. And the latest Bush won't step to it.

[Shirley]

I guess what meant is that the hispanic populace seems to me to be generally more politically conservative. They just don't vote GOP because the GOP is always vilifying them. Jeb will most likely throw them some bones and trot out his wife (somewhere the rest of his white voting block won't see) and pick up a ton of their votes.

[mister d]

I loved the post-analysis that "lots of republican governors are quietly relieved this wasn't overturned". If that's not why we're currently fucked in a nutshell, nothing is.

It's basically like watching the NFL man. Two teams. Which one are you a fan of?

Except you're rooting for a loss. So maybe its like tanking but pretending you're too superfan to want to tank? Or something?

[sancarlos]

I would like to see some state fly the British flag over the state capitol, just to point out our heritage.

Hawaii

[tennbengal]

I guess what meant is that the hispanic populace seems to me to be generally more politically conservative. They just don't vote GOP because the GOP is always vilifying them. Jeb will most likely throw them some bones and trot out his wife (somewhere the rest of his white voting block won't see) and pick up a ton of their votes.

Yeah, I am in agreement. I know what you meant and think you are right, was just under-scoring that the anti-immigration wing of the GOP is still strong enough that no real worries on an erosion in Dem support at this point in time still.

[Giff]

I guess what meant is that the hispanic populace seems to me to be generally more politically conservative. They just don't vote GOP because the GOP is always vilifying them. Jeb will most likely throw them some bones and trot out his wife (somewhere the rest of his white voting block won't see) and pick up a ton of their votes.

Why wouldn't Rubio's own ethnicity trump that? That seems to also be a pretty stereotypical view of Hispanics and could be a little insulting by insinuating they're dumb enough to be swayed by Jeb's trotting out his wife.

[Gunpowder]

I guess what meant is that the hispanic populace seems to me to be generally more politically conservative. They just don't vote GOP because the GOP is always vilifying them. Jeb will most likely throw them some bones and trot out his wife (somewhere the rest of his white voting block won't see) and pick up a ton of their votes.

They are and sometimes they turn Dade county red. Cubans especially have a GOP connection. I forget why.

[Johnny Carwash]

Rubio is Cuban-American, which is kind of a case apart from most other Hispanic groups as they're largely descended from more affluent refugees from the Communist revolution, and have leant strongly conservative for a long time. He's hard, hard right, and thinking he (or especially Ted Cruz) would draw a big share of the Hispanic vote simply because he has a Spanish name is like thinking black people will flock to vote for Ben Carson.

e: Gunpowder semi-beat me to it. Cuban-Americans in Florida are the swingiest voting bloc of the swingiest state, and both parties' fear of pissing them off is the primary reason it took us decades longer than most other Western countries to normalize relations with Cuba.

[joeyclams]

I guess what meant is that the hispanic populace seems to me to be generally more politically conservative. They just don't vote GOP because the GOP is always vilifying them. Jeb will most likely throw them some bones and trot out his wife (somewhere the rest of his white voting block won't see) and pick up a ton of their votes.

They are and sometimes they turn Dade county red. Cubans especially have a GOP connection. I forget why.

Anti-communist, Anti-Castro. All the Cuban-Americans had a hissy fit when Barry normalized relations with Cuba earlier this year.

[Rush2112]

All true - but then present yourself as the defenders of religion, guns and borders and you've got a lot of votes in the bag.

Typically by the wingnuts that claim to be independent and vote for the "best man for the job," i.e. the GOP candidate.

[Gunpowder]

In the same part of the Bible that condemns laying with another man is this:

33 “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.


I never saw that before. I need to read the Bible.

How in the hell can you be so against gay marriage and for deporting Mexicans?

[degenerasian]

I guess what meant is that the hispanic populace seems to me to be generally more politically conservative. They just don't vote GOP because the GOP is always vilifying them. Jeb will most likely throw them some bones and trot out his wife (somewhere the rest of his white voting block won't see) and pick up a ton of their votes.

They are and sometimes they turn Dade county red. Cubans especially have a GOP connection. I forget why.

Anti-communist, Anti-Castro. All the Cuban-Americans had a hissy fit when Barry normalized relations with Cuba earlier this year.

It's the same in Southern California, albiet in small numbers, the anti-communist Vietnamese refugees have a hissy fit about everything.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-m ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[howard]

In the same part of the Bible that condemns laying with another man is this:

33 “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.


I never saw that before. I need to read the Bible.

How in the hell can you be so against gay marriage and for deporting Mexicans?

I'm not exactly a scholar, but I'm pretty sure that bible phrase refers to fellow Jews from another land. Not applicable to non-Jew foreigners.

[sancarlos]

I'm really pleased to see governor Jerry Brown sign into law a new California requirement that all children get vaccinated before entering school (with some medical exceptions). The measles outbreak at Disneyland at least led to a good law. Eff those anti-vaxxers and their junk science.

[mister d]

It should be a rule that if they cause their kid (and other kids to get a disease), they also have to be inflicted with the disease.

[DSafetyGuy]

It should be a rule that if they cause their kid (and other kids to get a disease), they also have to be inflicted with the disease.

How about the anti-vaxxer has to pay for all medical costs incurred by all families should the non-vaccinated child contract a preventable illness and spread it around?

[Johnny Carwash]

Also posted in the Women's World Cup thread (long story), but:

Jim Carrey Verified account
‏@JimCarrey
California Gov says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum in manditory vaccines. This corporate fascist must be stopped.
RETWEETS 501 FAVORITES 757

[Gunpowder]

In the same part of the Bible that condemns laying with another man is this:

33 “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.


I never saw that before. I need to read the Bible.

How in the hell can you be so against gay marriage and for deporting Mexicans?

I'm not exactly a scholar, but I'm pretty sure that bible phrase refers to fellow Jews from another land. Not applicable to non-Jew foreigners.

It doesn't say anything about Jews. God is also really, really against fucking your family and animals.

It's from Leviticus 19, here's what it's interpreted as by some guy:

33, 34. if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him—The Israelites were to hold out encouragement to strangers to settle among them, that they might be brought to the knowledge and worship of the true God; and with this in view, they were enjoined to treat them not as aliens, but as friends, on the ground that they themselves, who were strangers in Egypt, were at first kindly and hospitably received in that country.

I bet someone just conveniently added the reference to Jews when a bunch of Mexicans got involved. And Irish.

[Gunpowder]

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(33) And if a stranger sojourn with thee.—The stranger, for whose benefit the legislators enacted so many humane and benign laws, and with regard to whom the book of Leviticus has laid down so many precepts, is one of non-Jewish origin, but who had joined the Jewish faith. He had, therefore, to undergo the rite of circumcision; he had to fast on the great Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29); he had to submit to the regulations about sacrifices (Leviticus 17:8-9; Leviticus 22:18); he had to abstain from eating blood and the flesh of animals torn by wild beasts (Leviticus 22:10; Leviticus 22:15); he had to practise the laws of chastity (Leviticus 18:26); like the Israelite by birth, he had to refrain from blasphemy, and obey the moral precepts (Leviticus 24:16-22). These were some of the conditions of his sojourning in the land.
Ye shall not vex him.—Having once been admitted into the community, the Israelites were forbidden to upbraid him with his nationality or throw at him the fact that he was originally an idolater. They are thus prohibited calling him foreigner or neophyte, a practice which every civilised nation and religious community are prone more or less to indulge in to this day, with regard to aliens and those who have embraced their faith.

Mexicans are Christians, so I'm sticking with it. Unless they should be Jews. I'm not quite sure but this is easier than Mexico building a fence for Donald Trump.

[A_B]

Mexicans are Christians, so I'm sticking with it. Unless they should be Jews. I'm not quite sure but this is easier than Mexico building a fence for Donald Trump.

Who could blame them for wanting to keep him out?

[Gunpowder]

Mexicans are Christians, so I'm sticking with it. Unless they should be Jews. I'm not quite sure but this is easier than Mexico building a fence for Donald Trump.

Who could blame them for wanting to keep him out?

That's great. You should try and sell that zinger to some GOP campaign to use during the debates.

[degenerasian]

The new Premier of Alberta and the Prime Minister of Canada meet for the first time yesterday and this is how they are dressed.



Yeehaw!

[The Sybian]

I don't agree with almost anything Ted Cruz says, but now that I see what a hip guy he is, he has my vote!

[degenerasian]

you are the minority, more dislikes than likes.

[Pruitt]

Waiting to hear Matt Groenig's response.