The Democrat Thread

[cabiness42]

Chris Christie sucks. I'm probably not going to shout and scream about this "scandal," but maybe it will make people actually think about him in some other context beyond "he was nice to Obama!"

 

 

[bmags]

Chris Christie's success pretty much vindicates the Republican strategy of opposing everything Obama does. If the democrats don't play ball with Christie, nobody gives him credit for "getting things done" and make him a national figure for dealin with democrats.

[Jake]

Was looking through episodes of PBS's Frontline - it is really quite telling how often they reported on the growing intelligence/spying over several years long before it became a major part of public discussion. If only people bothered to pay attention to PBS

[pettie4sox]

Was looking through episodes of PBS's Frontline - it is really quite telling how often they reported on the growing intelligence/spying over several years long before it became a major part of public discussion. If only people bothered to pay attention to PBS

 

Remember when Romney wanted to cut funding to PBS. That was pretty funny.

[southsider2k5]

Was looking through episodes of PBS's Frontline - it is really quite telling how often they reported on the growing intelligence/spying over several years long before it became a major part of public discussion. If only people bothered to pay attention to PBS

 

I don't get how people were surprised by this stuff. Presidents have been doing this for decades. Am I the only one who remembers the Echelon outrage? Looking back even further, the US kept files on tons of people during the Red Scare era, for no good reason.

 

My assumption is that when it comes to the government, there is nothing private about our lives.

[Jake]

I don't get how people were surprised by this stuff. Presidents have been doing this for decades. Am I the only one who remembers the Echelon outrage? Looking back even further, the US kept files on tons of people during the Red Scare era, for no good reason.

 

My assumption is that when it comes to the government, there is nothing private about our lives.

 

Yeah, in some ways, we might even be better off now than some times in the past. I remember the FBI recording MLK having sex with mistresses and then giving the recordings to his wife. Then they would do all this s*** like write fake letters and send compromising/controversial photos to civil rights leaders, etc. They actively meddled in all of this s***! Maybe they're doing it now...and we just don't know. I'm not sure. I think it would be fairly difficult to hide. I know there were a lot of rumors that intelligence agencies were meddling with the Occupy movement, but I don't know how substantiated those claims were

[DukeNukeEm]

They also killed MLK, which was kind of a dick move.

[StrangeSox]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-01-2...ia-drug-patents

 

Natco Pharma Ltd. (NTCPH) applied directly to India’s patents office and was awarded the nation’s first compulsory license in March 2012 to make a copy of Bayer’s Nexavar cancer drug at a 97 percent discount to the original product. In March last year, Bayer lost its bid to stop Natco from making the generic drug and is appealing the decision at the Mumbai High Court.

 

Bayer Chief Executive Officer Marijn Dekkers called the compulsory license “essentially theft.”

 

“We did not develop this medicine for Indians,” Dekkers said Dec. 3. “We developed it for western patients who can afford it.”

[Jake]

If it was theft, then the Indians are Robin Hood

[DukeNukeEm]

That comment about Indians and affording stuff took an enviable amount of balls to say. Seriously, the f***ing stones on that guy to actually say that!

[Jake]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/d..._n_4651700.html?

 

16-year-old black kid in Philly walking around with HS basketball teammates, gets stopped and frisked, is accused of resisting arrest. He now has a ruptured testicle that he says he received while an arresting officer brutalizing his genitals. His legal team is trying to clear the charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and reckless endangerment as he says they are false.

 

The boys were exiting the bus to enter their gym and were bundled up with team-issued scarves, gloves, hats. One of the boys made "a snide remark" to the police officer and they all scurried away. Police officer reported they were all wearing ski masks, which was false. Victim/suspect ran for a moment, thought better of it, and stopped. Should have kept running.

 

After spending 8 hours in jail, his parents bailed him out and got him emergency surgery. Arresting officer has had multiple complaints of making baseless arrests.

 

His mother, Ikea Coney, said the injury may prevent her son from fathering children.

 

"I blame myself," Coney said. "I taught my son to respect cops, not to fear them. Maybe if he was afraid, he would have run like the other boys and he would have been okay."

Edited January 24, 2014 by Jake

[bigruss]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/d..._n_4651700.html?

 

16-year-old black kid in Philly walking around with HS basketball teammates, gets stopped and frisked, is accused of resisting arrest. He now has a ruptured testicle that he says he received while an arresting officer brutalizing his genitals. His legal team is trying to clear the charges of aggravated assault, resisting arrest, and reckless endangerment as he says they are false.

 

The boys were exiting the bus to enter their gym and were bundled up with team-issued scarves, gloves, hats. One of the boys made "a snide remark" to the police officer and they all scurried away. Police officer reported they were all wearing ski masks, which was false. Victim/suspect ran for a moment, thought better of it, and stopped. Should have kept running.

 

After spending 8 hours in jail, his parents bailed him out and got him emergency surgery. Arresting officer has had multiple complaints of making baseless arrests.

The cop went way to far it sounds like, however, that kid (which ever one it was) should not be antagonizing the cop. Not saying that justifies what the cop did, but it just opens the door for a bad situation.

[bigruss]

That comment about Indians and affording stuff took an enviable amount of balls to say. Seriously, the f***ing stones on that guy to actually say that!

If that was my CEO I would start looking for a new job instantly. That comment reeks more of desperation/frustration then trying to change the world, I would have little confidence in the future of that company.

[bmags]

The cop went way to far it sounds like, however, that kid (which ever one it was) should not be antagonizing the cop. Not saying that justifies what the cop did, but it just opens the door for a bad situation.

 

Government officials should be the ones responsible for a simple situation not escalating, not a 16 year old kid.

 

BTW, NPR reporting that it's pretty much set in stone that former Chicago Police Commander and Mass Torturer Burge will be able to keep his pension.

[Harry Chappas]

If that was my CEO I would start looking for a new job instantly. That comment reeks more of desperation/frustration then trying to change the world, I would have little confidence in the future of that company.

 

Sure, but he is right.

[StrangeSox]

Sure, but he is right.

 

Then good on the Indian government for getting their people access to affordable cancer medication.

[Balta1701]

This just needed to appear somewhere.

 

[bmags]

hahaha

[Jake]

 

Nothing is really more unprecedented about our current polarization than this. Our Congress acts extremely polarized, pretty much as polarized as any other time before, but not more than any other time. But the way we feel about the opposing parties? Yuck, and the feeling is mutual.

 

 

Then there's this, which is interesting. Republicans will have elevated trust in the government when there is a Republican president while it drops noticeably when there is a D in there. Democrats, according to the researchers, who produced this graph, simply don't really identify the government with the President the way Republicans do. They are optimistic that the government can do right when there is an R president in a way that the inverse is not true.

Edited February 6, 2014 by Jake

[Balta1701]

Does anyone on this panel seriously think that the government's current enforcement system for financial crimes is actually working in the sense of deterring future lawbreaking?

 

Anyone?

[StrangeSox]

Kansas’ Anti-Gay Segregation Bill Is an Abomination

 

When passed, the new law will allow any individual, group, or private business to refuse to serve gay couples if “it would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.” Private employers can continue to fire gay employees on account of their sexuality. Stores may deny gay couples goods and services because they are gay. Hotels can eject gay couples or deny them entry in the first place. Businesses that provide public accommodations—movie theaters, restaurants—can turn away gay couples at the door. And if a gay couple sues for discrimination, they won’t just lose; they’ll be forced to pay their opponent’s attorney’s fees. As I’ve noted before, anti-gay businesses might as well put out signs alerting gay people that their business isn’t welcome.

 

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to barring all anti-discrimination lawsuits against private employers, the new law permits government employees to deny service to gays in the name of “religious liberty.” This is nothing new, but the sweep of Kansas’ statute is breathtaking. Any government employee is given explicit permission to discriminate against gay couples—not just county clerks and DMV employees, but literally anyone who works for the state of Kansas. If a gay couple calls the police, an officer may refuse to help them if interacting with a gay couple violates his religious principles. State hospitals can turn away gay couples at the door and deny them treatment with impunity. Gay couples can be banned from public parks, public pools, anything that operates under the aegis of the Kansas state government.

[CrimsonWeltall]

Kansas' Anti-Gay Segregation Bill Is an Abomination

 

The law is terrible, but a lot of the claims made in that quote are wrong.

 

The bill only 'validates' discrimination related to gay marriage/civil unions/domestic partnerships, or celebrations thereof. So, an anti-gay baker can refuse to bake a wedding cake, a reception hall can refuse to rent their space to a gay couple, or a government clerk could (if SSM were available in Kansas) refuse to give them a license. In the last case, the clerk would be obligated to find another clerk who could help the couple.

 

It wouldn't allow a cop to refuse to help gay people in danger or allow a hospital to turn them away. Come on now.

[Jenksismyhero]

Replace gay with ugly, red headed, fat, rich, stupid, a white sox fan, etc. and that's the law of the land already.

 

Edit: Actually I'm wrong, because the law of the land is that you can discriminate against those types of people without having to justify the discrimination based on a religious belief.

Edited February 13, 2014 by Jenksismybitch

[Jake]

Reading the text of the law leads me to believe that any kind of service in which the provider knows about the client's sexuality can be denied. The only slight hole is that the law asks the organization to try to find someone without such religious convictions to provide the service if it doesn't cause "undue harm" to the provider.

[StrangeSox]

Yeah the hospital claim strikes me as obviously wrong, there are overriding federal laws about treating anyone who comes in the door. I'd imagine police services are similar, but who knows, the bill could be worded poorly enough that it allows any government employee to refuse service.