***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[gry60]

So, how long do we have until the next recession?

If revenue growth for accounting firms, or should I say a lack there of meeting projections, maintains over the next 2-4 quarters then we are pretty close. Almost all large accounting firms are failing to meet their projections YTD right now. The larger firms started firing people here and there. And once firms start to cut back on consulting and similar work that means that they are feeling and seeing something that isn't being spread to the rest of the economy just yet but soon will.

Expenditures such as these are very good barometers for the wider economy when it comes to private business spending.

I am paying attention to higher ed, agriculture, energy, and tourism. These are industries that will not be receptive to this administration's economic policies: international students represent 10% of the revenue of higher institutions (let's not mention the number of foreign born PhDs and professors), tourism is a $60 billion business, a large share of agriculture labor is immigrant (and the difficulty of finding US-born workers in that field is well documented), and Trump's preference for coal makes no sense considering that this industry is pretty much dead. The next six months should be interesting.

@katelinthicum:
Important @ByBrianBennett analysis of Trump's real immigration goals: Reshape U.S. demographics for the long term.

*White nationalists

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-foreigners-20170228-story.html

You don't say?

The thing is, unless they start having babies and make non-white kids stateless, it will be hard to beat the fact that there are more non-white kids than white kids enrolled in public school right now (and public school accounts for 90% of all school-age children in the US). So, worried but not worried.

If they look towards exclusively European immigration to make up those numbers, they will still have to deal with the reality that they are also growing older and they're having kids below the replacement level (which is why Merkel favored the influx of immigrants).

 

[Armada]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...y-donald-joint-address-congress-a7604836.html

The agency is expected to publish a weekly list of all crimes committed by what it terms "aliens".

That does not seem to refer only to undocumented migrants – suggesting that anyone who has moved to the US could find their name on the public list.
 

 

[gry60]

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN16832U?il=0

BREAKING NEWS:
U.S. consumer spending slows; inflation pushes higher
TOP NEWS
Wed Mar 1, 2017 | 4:12 AM EST
Trump administration would ignore WTO rulings it sees as anti-U.S.: FT

U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he addresses Congress. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
U.S. President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he addresses Congress.
REUTERS/CARLOS BARRIA
X
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to ignore any rulings by the World Trade Organization that it sees as an affront to U.S. sovereignty, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing a report prepared by officials.

The draft document, due to be sent to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, marks the first time the new administration has laid out its trade plans in writing, the Times said.

"Ever since the United States won its independence, it has been a basic principle of our country that American citizens are subject only to laws and regulations made by the U.S. government -- not rulings made by foreign governments or international bodies," the report said, according to the Times.

"Accordingly, the Trump administration will aggressively defend American sovereignty over matters of trade policy," the report said, according to the Times.

The Wall Street Journal, which also said it reviewed the document, said the policy represents a dramatic departure from the Obama administration, which emphasized international economic rules and the authority of the WTO, a body that regulates trade and resolves disputes among its members.

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By contrast, the Trump administration will more assertively defend U.S. sovereignty over trade policy, ramp up enforcement of U.S. trade laws, and use "all possible sources of leverage to encourage other countries to open up their markets," the document said, according to the Journal.

The White House did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Congress requires the president to submit the administration's trade policy annually by March 1.

In the face of Republican concerns, a congressional aide said language in the draft challenging the WTO could still be toned down in a final, public version, the Journal reported.

Washington is facing several important WTO decisions, particularly involving China. Potentially the most important is a WTO complaint filed in December by Beijing against the EU and the United States for blocking China's request to be treated as a "market economy" under the institution's rules.

A final ruling could still be years away. But were the U.S. to ignore a finding in China's favor it could have major consequences for the WTO as a venue for resolving trade disputes before they fester into destructive trade wars, the Times said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Sandra Maler)

 

[aepps20]

Da Don let da yappa sing last night according to my sources from the Da Rust Belt.

 

[rolaholic]

It's kinda hilarious seeing so many members of the media doing a 180 on Trump and praising him to the heavens for reading off a teleprompter and putting more sentences together than usual . We've all seen how the man sounds when he's speaking on his own accord off script and off the top of his head,a "toned down" speech written for him won't be fooling me,can't make some of these policies sound positive...

@mattyglesias: The Trump Show isn’t what matters. http://www.vox.com/2017/2/28/14764894/trump-speech-congress-boring …

Also,could you imagine if Obama or Hillary politicized a veterans death the way dude did last night after blaming it on his generals and predecessor? Yikes...

 

[gry60]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/24/union-strike-momentive-stephen-schwarzman-blackstone

Workers went on strike at Momentive last November hoping to fight off a new contract that would have slashed their healthcare and retirement benefits. The industrial action started in the white-hot heat of the election, and many of Momentive’s workers voted for Donald Trump, whose appeal to blue-collar workers helped Trump comfortably beat Hillary Clinton in Saratoga County, Waterford’s district.

Fools.

 

[flyeed]

@katelinthicum:
Important @ByBrianBennett analysis of Trump's real immigration goals: Reshape U.S. demographics for the long term.

*White nationalists

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-foreigners-20170228-story.html

I hope dems learn to stop playing fair, especially with what the gop did in the Obama administration and gerrymandering.

But somehow because the lack of the magic R dems will just be labeled as bullies bringing the country down for fighting fire with fire.

 

[flyeed]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/24/union-strike-momentive-stephen-schwarzman-blackstone

Workers went on strike at Momentive last November hoping to fight off a new contract that would have slashed their healthcare and retirement benefits. The industrial action started in the white-hot heat of the election, and many of Momentive’s workers voted for Donald Trump, whose appeal to blue-collar workers helped Trump comfortably beat Hillary Clinton in Saratoga County, Waterford’s district.

Fools.

It's funny that people are so predictable that you don't even need news stories to tell you **** like this has happened across the country

 

[rolaholic]

@costareports: Some sources in WH are frankly surprised at how pundits are warming to the speech. Say Trump has not changed, no big shift in policy coming.

I bet they're laughing their ***** off at how easy it was to earn plaudits from the media . They've always seemed to put a premium on style over substance

@katelinthicum:
Important @ByBrianBennett analysis of Trump's real immigration goals: Reshape U.S. demographics for the long term.

*White nationalists

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-foreigners-20170228-story.html

I hope dems learn to stop playing fair, especially with what the gop did in the Obama administration and gerrymandering.

But somehow because the lack of the magic R dems will just be labeled as bullies bringing the country down for fighting fire with fire.

Agreed.

The gloves should've been off after their SCOTUS pick got hijacked,they can't even blame Dems for "bringing the country down" when they have control of every branch as well as over half of state legislatures around the country. Although,don't underestimate the mental gymnastic capacity of Il Douche supporters

 

[the qbz]

Tom perez gonna be the face of the dnc will elliso nworks behind the scene

Then perez gets ditched after midterms

 

[Nike Jordan]

There's a state park in Westchester County that's named after The Bigot[emoji]8482[/emoji]...and it looks like the **** hole you thought it would be.

Donald J. Trump State Park sits in Westchester County, New York, and encompasses 436 acres of land originally purchased by Trump in the ’90s. He intended to develop it into a golf course, but couldn’t get permits from the towns in which the property sits, and thus turned around to donate the land to the state of New York in 2006, subsequently claiming a $100 million tax write-off. The park closed due to budget cuts in 2010, though it only had a $2,500 annual budget prior to that, and now sits mostly abandoned and entirely uncared for. In 2010, there was an attempt to convert at least part of the property into a dog park, but the New York State Office Of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation ran into trouble when it both had issues raising funds and discovered asbestos in at least one building on the property.

http://www.avclub.com/article/donald-j-trump-state-park-ugly-and-dilapidated-its-251208

 

[gry60]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/01/us-government-billionaires-generals-military-trump

It highlighted something that I have missed the ramifications of:

Most cabinet members are either generals or billionaires, and it is very junta-like how the public is no longer looking towards their elected officials for respite from Trump. Instead, the expectation that the military and the IC gets more involved in internal politics has grown.

Worrying.

 

[iamdef]

Could easily use that park as some sort of horror film set

 

[AEA18]

Could easily use that park as some sort of horror film set

Wouldn't have to change the name either.

 

[rolaholic]

Wouldn't be surprised if that park became an allegory for the next four years

 

[everysingletime]

It's scary how during the campaign he was focusing on just illegal immigration. Based on what I'm reading about last night's speech he's expanding his focus to all immigrants.

Example : when he complained that the immigrant community has cost the country billions.

 

[Nike Jordan]

"Economic anxiety"

 

[Belgium]

It's kinda hilarious seeing so many members of the media doing a 180 on Trump and praising him to the heavens for reading off a teleprompter and putting more sentences together than usual

. We've all seen how the man sounds when he's speaking on his own accord off script and off the top of his head,a "toned down" speech written for him won't be fooling me,can't make some of these policies sound positive...
Also,could you imagine if Obama or Hillary politicized a veterans death the way dude did last night after blaming it on his generals and predecessor? Yikes...

To be fair, the agenda is still reprehensible but I'll give him some credit for the delivery and tone of his speech. The bar is very low but he certainly came off more presidential here. It was received a lot better than any of his previous speeches over here as well.

I'm guessing we'll occasionally get a toned down speech here and there but between important speeches he'll just be right back to his usual antics.

 

[Belgium]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...l-player-rape-case-coat-hanger-light-sentence

Jesus christ 

 
An Idaho  judge has sentenced a white former high school football player to just 300 hours of community service with probation for his part in an attack on a developmentally disabled African American team-mate, insisting the case had been wrongly portrayed by the media as racially or sexually motivated.

In a series of extraordinary remarks, district judge Randy J Stoker on Friday accused the press and the public for misrepresenting what happened in a rural Idaho high school locker room on 22 October 2015, lamenting “people from the east coast have no idea what this case is about”.

John RK Howard, who is now 19, was originally charged with forcible penetration by use of a foreign object for an attack on a 17-year-old in the Dietrich High School locker room after football practice.

The victim’s family, who are bringing a civil case, allege he was subject to sustained racist abuse and bullying in the months leading up to the incident, which involved the insertion of a coat hanger in his rectum. However Stoker was insistent the case, which has prompted nearly 150,000 people to sign change.org  petition to have the judge removed from the bench in Idaho, had been misconstrued.

“This is not a rape case,” said an emphatic Stoker. “This is not a sex case. This started out as penetration with a foreign object ... Whatever happened in that locker room was not sexual. It wasn’t appropriate. There’s nothing in this record that supports anything close to the sexual allegation against this young man.”

“In my view, this is not a case about racial bias,” the judge continued, addressing the pale young man at the defense table. “If I thought that you had committed this offense for racial purposes, you would go straight to the Idaho penitentiary.”

According to the civil lawsuit filed by the victim’s family, their son had been the focus of long-term racial bullying and abuse. Howard taught him a song that glorified anal rape and the KKK, and members of the football team called him slurs including “******”, “chicken eater”, “watermelon” and “Kool-Aid”.

But on Friday, Stoker brushed aside those assertions. The victim “was not targeted, which dispels in my view any claim of a racial incident”, Stoker said. “Another individual who was involved said [the victim] was called ‘fried chicken’ because [he] said it was his favorite food ... I don’t think it’s a racial slur.”

The case has prompted comparisons with the notorious Brock Turner case, in which the 20-year-old Stanford swimmer was convicted of multiple felonies for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. Turner was sentenced to just six months in prison and served only three, a punishment that sparked a global firestorm from critics who argued it was overly-lenient.

Referring to news reports about the case that were printed and broadcast across the country, a frustrated Stoker fumed that “people from the east coast have no idea what this case is about. They’re not going to change their mind ... But I’m not going to impose a sentence that is not supported by the law.”

The victim, who was not in court during the Friday sentencing, described the attack during during the preliminary hearing for another of the football players involved. The young man said that one of his friends motioned for him to come over and hugged him while another player shoved a hanger into his anus. Then, the victim said, Howard kicked the hanger, which pushed it further into his rectum.

“Pain that I have never felt took over my body,” he said during the April hearing, according to the transcript obtained by the Guardian. “I screamed, but afterwards, I kept it to myself.”

Howard pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of felony injury to a child in a December agreement that limited his punishment and allowed him to avoid prison. Friday’s sentencing was in accordance with the plea agreement: in addition to 300 hours of community service, Howard will be on probation for three years. If he violates probation, he will be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Howard was the only adult of the three young men charged in the case. Charges against the minors involved in the incident were resolved in juvenile court, where state statute requires that all proceedings be closed to the public.

“I try to make my decisions doing what I think is appropriate justice,” Stoker added before sentencing John RK Howard. “That’s what I’m going to do in this case. For all the people who sent the letters, told me I should die, you wasted your time ... I’m hoping that this sentencing today will bring to an end the misrepresentations that have occurred in this case.”

After the judgment, E Lee Schlender, the victim’s attorney, said the “truth will come out” about a case which the school superintendent and attorney general’s investigators agreed was a “vicious rape”.

“Now at the sentencing of the adult who led the attack the defense attorneys proclaimed that it never happened. That the adoptive parents of not only the victim but 24 other children from around the world made all this up to get rich. They were not challenged by the attorney general’s attorneys who sat silent or at times, even agreed. A sad day in the history of my beloved state. This case is not over. The federal civil case is alive and well. The truth will come out.”

The sentence came at the end of a dramatic hearing that raised questions about who was telling the truth and just who was the victim in the notorious case that rocked the small, ranching town of Dietrich, Idaho, which has a population of around 330.

The afternoon hearing began with the victim’s tearful mother recounting how “the rape”, in her words, had ruined her adopted son’s life, leaving him sleepless and suicidal. Although Dietrich residents started out sympathetic, she said, the family eventually felt so harassed that they had to move.

“This is not the life we wanted for our son, and it is not the life he was going to have,” the mother said. “Our lives have all been changed so dramatically because of what happened.”

She recounted chasing after her distraught son as he held a large shard of glass against his neck. She said the family dog was poisoned and they were so afraid they sold their home at a loss and left town. And she pleaded for Stoker to impose a harsher sentence than the one proscribed in the plea agreement.

Howard’s punishment, the victim’s mother said, “is a slap on the hand for him”, adding that for her son and her family it is “a slap in the face”. She talked about the humiliation and pain her family endured and asked Stoker “realize that John RK Howard will have only some discomfort ... Please give John RK Howard the punishment he deserves.”

But Brad Calbo, Howard’s defense attorney, painted the victim’s parents as liars who were financially motivated, drawing attention to their $10m civil rights suit against the school district and its officials and suggesting they coerced their fragile son into committing perjury.

In an unexpected and bizarre twist, the defense attorney played a tape of the victim appearing to recant his earlier statements that was recorded by his football coaches.

“I don’t think you guys should have to lose your farms,” the victim told his football coaches in the discussion, which occurred following an argument with his parents. “It was never my intention. I was fed stuff, fed lies ... I was pressured.”

The victim continued, after being questioned about his parents’ intent, that “it’s always been about the money, it’s always been about the $10m. I love you guys to death.”

The victim “was not raped”, said a vehement Calbo. “No one has ever been accused of raping [him] period with the notable exception of [his] mother. [He] never claimed he was raped. [He] was not pinned down while a hanger was forcibly inserted in his rectum.” In fact, Calbo said, Howard helped the victim with his homework and “John loves him today despite all of this nonsense”.

Schlender said that his client was coerced by the coaches into making such statements about his family. “The coaches knew he was mentally disabled and taking major anti-psychotic medication,” when they pressed the victim and recorded the conversation, according to a document filed in the civil case. 

Part of the audio recording that Calbo did not mention in court Friday was the victim saying, according to the civil document, “I honestly don’t know who did the hanger thing. Who did the, who held me, I was, I don’t know. All I know is that it happened.”

 

[frshstunna]

the bar set so low for trump some ppl are saying he did "well" or "ok" with his speech

 

[TURBO UNO]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...l-player-rape-case-coat-hanger-light-sentence
Jesus christ 

Un.... ******* .... believable

Zero justice, man. **** that judge.

 

[iamdef]

 
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...l-player-rape-case-coat-hanger-light-sentence

Jesus christ 

Must be nice man, this is sickening

 

[noskey]

Judge got his robe (the white one) back on now that Sessions is AG. Knows there won't be any threat of losing his job. Disgusting world

 

[truballa101]

Could easily use that park as some sort of horror film set

Wouldn't have to change the name either.

 

[whywesteppin]

movie trailer:

a family goes on what is supposed to be a laid back vacation to the donald trump trailer park. little do they know, horror awaits.

a mysterious orange clown makes their lives a living hell: demonizing the minorities in the group, stripping health care from the elderly, and forcing the kids to work in a dangerous coal mine.

but that's not the worst of it. no, the worst of it is that every midnight he appears at the campfire and starts telling everyone about how he won a historic victory in the election. he will not relent until you sing the haunting refrain: "donald is good enough. donald is smart enough. and doggone it, people like him." only then will he disappear until the next day.