American Politics IV: 1400 Reasons Why(A Stimulus Serial)

[Kowani]

One deportation I won't be complaining about? This Nazi Concentration Camp Guard who was living in Tennessee, who found himself on his way back to Germany on Saturday

[Sundiata]

One deportation I won't be complaining about? This Nazi Concentration Camp Guard who was living in Tennessee, who found himself on his way back to Germany on Saturday

That's fair.

[Punished UMN]

One deportation I won't be complaining about? This Nazi Concentration Camp Guard who was living in Tennessee, who found himself on his way back to Germany on Saturday

I don't doubt it but can I read about it somewhere that doesn't require me to disable my adblocker on Mediaite?

[A-Series-Of-Tubes]

It's Saturday! So, remember those small reforms Biden made? He just took a step back (this article tries and fails to defend it too), but of course we can expect him to close the concentration camps on the border... right? That's right, Biden’s new ICE guidance completely backtracks from 100-day deportation moratorium promise, expands enforcement priorities.

Depressing, but not unexpected.

"The new guidelines could shield a substantial number of people. The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute estimated that 87% of noncitizens in the country without authorization would not be priorities for enforcement if Biden used the national security and public safety criteria as was done under Obama."

So... an improvement?

Eight steps forward then one back is "completely backtracking" when you're determined to attack the Biden Administration all the way to a crushing midterm defeat. Then if Biden doesn't completely turn it around with strong Leftist legislation through a Republican Congress, he'll have to go to.

Not Left enough! Throw the Democrats out!

Revolutionaries in Western democracies are pretty much entirely useless. The best approach for their own side is to denounce them, which comes at a cost. I'd prefer they stick to theory ...

[Kowani]

One deportation I won't be complaining about? This Nazi Concentration Camp Guard who was living in Tennessee, who found himself on his way back to Germany on Saturday

I don't doubt it but can I read about it somewhere that doesn't require me to disable my adblocker on Mediaite?

Of course

[Punished UMN]

I don't doubt it but can I read about it somewhere that doesn't require me to disable my adblocker on Mediaite?

Of course

Danke, genossin.

[Alcala-Cordel]

It's Saturday! So, remember those small reforms Biden made? He just took a step back (this article tries and fails to defend it too), but of course we can expect him to close the concentration camps on the border... right? That's right, Biden’s new ICE guidance completely backtracks from 100-day deportation moratorium promise, expands enforcement priorities.

Depressing, but not unexpected.

Can you explain to me why those who have committed felonies should be permitted to stay?

Social programs can go a long way, you know. The primary cause of crime is inequality, and it would be greatly reduced if we helped those who needed it rather than made their lives worse.

It's Saturday! So, remember those small reforms Biden made? He just took a step back (this article tries and fails to defend it too), but of course we can expect him to close the concentration camps on the border... right? That's right, Biden’s new ICE guidance completely backtracks from 100-day deportation moratorium promise, expands enforcement priorities.

Depressing, but not unexpected.

"The new guidelines could shield a substantial number of people. The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute estimated that 87% of noncitizens in the country without authorization would not be priorities for enforcement if Biden used the national security and public safety criteria as was done under Obama."

So... an improvement?

And yet Obama was infamous for mass deportations until Trump came along. Being better than Trump is irrelevant to this, Biden has no reasonable excuse for taking a step back after a few steps forward.

It's Saturday! So, remember those small reforms Biden made? He just took a step back (this article tries and fails to defend it too), but of course we can expect him to close the concentration camps on the border... right? That's right, Biden’s new ICE guidance completely backtracks from 100-day deportation moratorium promise, expands enforcement priorities.

Depressing, but not unexpected.

Do... Do you actually read your sources?

It literally says up to 87% of illegal immigrants won't be deportation priorities.

\He just took a step back (this article tries and fails to defend it too).

yep

[The Alma Mater]

Something that didn't occur to me until I saw it pointed out, the ICE detention centres in Texas are also without power and are freezing cold. People whose welfare is the responsibility of the federal government are in life-threatening danger. Is Joe Biden going to let innocent children freeze to death because they don't have the right paperwork to be allowed into the US?

Does them being federal mean he can ignore the Texas GOP and just fly supplies in instead of waiting for Texas republicans to return from their holidays or finish their 17 course dinners to distribute the supplies already provided a week ago ?

[Blargoblarg]

Unfortunately, the Paris Agreement is inadequate to address the problem of climate change, so this really isn't some great achievement. If I believed Biden actually cared about climate change I would have voted for him.

You voted a month early, for Hawkins, and you didn't bother watching the Biden/Trump debates.

So you can stop now with the "I would have voted for Biden if..." stuff.

That doesn't invalidate anything I said. I voted early for Hawkins because I didn't trust Biden on climate change, along with several other issues. And you're ignoring the main point of my comment, which is the fact that Biden's supposed achievement of rejoining the Paris Agreement isn't really an achievement since, as the article I linked points out, the Paris Agreement is inadequate.

[Gravlen]

I wonder what he'll talk about..

Former president Donald Trump will address the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Florida next week, about the future of the Republican party and the conservative movement, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters on Saturday.

The CPAC meeting will be held in Orlando, Florida from 25 to 28 February, with Trump speaking on the final day, Reuters reported.

“He’ll be talking about the future of the Republican party and the conservative movement,” the source reportedly said. “Also look for the 45th president to take on President [Joe] Biden’s disastrous amnesty and border policies.”

Link

Why did they put "Joe" in brackets?

To make sure nobody gets confused and thinks they're talking about former president Ezekiel Bob Jefferson Biden.

[New haven america]

Can you explain to me why those who have committed felonies should be permitted to stay?

1. Social programs can go a long way, you know. The primary cause of crime is inequality, and it would be greatly reduced if we helped those who needed it rather than made their lives worse.

"The new guidelines could shield a substantial number of people. The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute estimated that 87% of noncitizens in the country without authorization would not be priorities for enforcement if Biden used the national security and public safety criteria as was done under Obama."

So... an improvement?

2. And yet Obama was infamous for mass deportations until Trump came along. Being better than Trump is irrelevant to this, Biden has no reasonable excuse for taking a step back after a few steps forward.

Do... Do you actually read your sources?

It literally says up to 87% of illegal immigrants won't be deportation priorities.

\He just took a step back (this article tries and fails to defend it too).

3. yep

1. Uh, a non-naturalized immigrant committing a felony in any developed country is a great way to earn a deportation. This isn't solely an American thing; Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada, The EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, The UK, etc... all do it. This is standard procedure, Cordel. (If you don't believe me you're welcome to immigrate to those areas and commit a felony. See where that gets you)
2. No actually, he wasn't. Illegal immigration deportation has been falling since Clinton. (Clinton had lower rates than HW, Dubya had lower rates than Clinton, Obama had lower rates than Dubya, etc...)
3. Oh, ok. So did you actually comprehend what you read?

[New haven america]

Something that didn't occur to me until I saw it pointed out, the ICE detention centres in Texas are also without power and are freezing cold. People whose welfare is the responsibility of the federal government are in life-threatening danger. Is Joe Biden going to let innocent children freeze to death because they don't have the right paperwork to be allowed into the US?

He already provided emergency supplies and ok'ed emergency services to the area a week ago.

And then the Rep leaders of the state who are supposed to handle those things fled the country to spend the past week in Mexico to get away from the cold.

[The Alma Mater]

Something that didn't occur to me until I saw it pointed out, the ICE detention centres in Texas are also without power and are freezing cold. People whose welfare is the responsibility of the federal government are in life-threatening danger. Is Joe Biden going to let innocent children freeze to death because they don't have the right paperwork to be allowed into the US?

He already provided emergency supplies and ok'ed emergency services to the area a week ago.

And then the Rep leaders of the state who are supposed to handle those things fled the country to spend the past week in Mexico to get away from the cold.

The sad thing is that a quick check of right wing social media is that most Texans are utterly unaware of this. They do not know aid was made available a week ago.

[A-Series-Of-Tubes]

Can you explain to me why those who have committed felonies should be permitted to stay?

Social programs can go a long way, you know. The primary cause of crime is inequality, and it would be greatly reduced if we helped those who needed it rather than made their lives worse.

"The new guidelines could shield a substantial number of people. The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute estimated that 87% of noncitizens in the country without authorization would not be priorities for enforcement if Biden used the national security and public safety criteria as was done under Obama."

So... an improvement?

And yet Obama was infamous for mass deportations until Trump came along. Being better than Trump is irrelevant to this, Biden has no reasonable excuse for taking a step back after a few steps forward.

Do... Do you actually read your sources?

It literally says up to 87% of illegal immigrants won't be deportation priorities.

\He just took a step back (this article tries and fails to defend it too).

yep

So he broke a promise he shouldn't have made. Giving illegal entries a break from background checks that any legal immigrant would have to pass, is taking a big shit on legal immigrants.

If you want much more immigration then fine. You do that by shortening the processing delay, and if you like, lowering the bar of self-sufficiency and of former criminal record. You do not do it by lowering the bar for those who illegally immigrate. If you do, you'll ultimately make it harder for new immigrants, legal or not, by making Trump's claim that illegal immigrants are more criminal than American-born citizens ... come true. All new immigrants will be demonized, unless they show their papers to whatever thug on the street demands them. And they'll get particular attention from cops, who frankly can't help profiling suspects because it's what anyone without specific training does. If cops think illegal immigrants commit more crime, they will put extra effort into searching them or questioning them.

I'd thin the numbers in detention by offering every one of them deportation (by air if anywhere but Canada or Mexico) and no further investigation. Then case-by-case around a standard of felonies deserving more than 18 months in jail (btw, Australia does not use the felony/misdemeanor system, a "serious" crime is one with more than a certain sentence on the books) and diminished according to how long ago those were and/or contribution to some community. Then with the ones who are left, well you can't hold them indefinitely without trial because it's in violation of human rights treaties and the US constitution. You could maybe swap "prisoners" with peer countries far away: it would thin them out further since the offer of deportation to their home country would be more attractive than somewhere far distant where they have no family or friends. But you'll still be left with a few, including the worst criminals. If the country they committed crimes in doesn't want them, then tough, they don't even get notification that the former criminal is back on their streets. If they do accept their problem back, give their police all information gathered while in custody, and turn them over without their consent. If the country they're fleeing has terrible human rights, then their criminal record is suspect anyway, and they should be retried in the US.

It probably irks you to hear all this from an Australian. Yes, we are rightly infamous for intercepting boats, arresting everyone, and holding the refugees in offshore detention (ie, where our prisoners cannot appeal to Australian courts). We even have an over-the-horizon radar system which could have tracked the final hours of MH370 but was too busy looking out for fishing boats with refugees on board.

However some of us have put thought into how to solve the refugee "problem" and one particular solution may never have occurred to Americans. It's the immigrant swap: immigrants who are second rate (or assumed so by wilful lack of ID) are given an alternative destination in the developed world, and if they won't take that then bugger them: beggars can't be choosers. Bear in mind that most refugees are still living in UN-supervised camps, where conditions can be so bad that some prefer to return to their old country. All the developed nations should be taking their share of these legal refugees, ahead of those with enough money or initiative to cross borders illegally.

The solutions Australia has found to "border crossers" are varied. Firstly attacking the people-smuggling business which charges risk money to transport refugees (ie no destitute refugees), mostly legally but the refugees don't know that, and where the main costs are bribes to coast guards and the Indonesian military, but all scaled up to account for the illegal crossing from East Timor to Australia. The smugglers used nearly worn-out longboats, which are plentiful in Indonesia, and sea crew who are just as cheap and plentiful. The poverty and desperation of these crews did not allow for effective prosecution, so the Australian Coast Guard towed the refugee boats back into international waters. For a while they towed them right into Indonesian waters, but Indonesia objected to refugees they had turned a blind eye to entering, passing through, and leaving their shores before (Indonesia is loathe to admit their beloved military isn't satisfied with bleeding government dry but regularly sets up roadblocks or conducts bogus raids to shake down the people too: they would be a moderately wealthy country today, on a par with Malaysia, but for the massive parasite which is their military, note that I am NOT considering Indonesia a "peer country" for refugee exchange). Cutting that sea link, with overwhelming force and the show of force which was giving refugees fibreglass life boats worth more on the international market than the smuggler boats which were sometimes deliberately sunk, broke the business of the smugglers. Even the poorest refugee could see on someone else's satellite TV that being smuggled as far as Indonesia and then turned back, was not a good way to spend their money. Indonesia is a beautiful and mostly peaceful place btw, but life is hard for most people and nobody from another country would consider trying to be an illegal immigrant there. Learning to fish would probably be your best chance to stay fed, and that's not saying much in an archipelago nation with enormous coastline and all of it nearly fished out.

(Secondly) Indonesia is our closest (major) neighbour. They're rather poor, but with a huge standing army (as mentioned, parasites), a quarter billion population (4th in the world), and most of their population is Muslim. Yet they're really good neighbours: they ask nothing more than to be treated as equals, and their population are not at all eager to migrate to a "better life" in Australia. I believe President Bambang did a deal with PM Rudd where Indonesia got something recurring (of money value) in exchange for stopping people smugglers in Indonesian waters and on land. We will never know what didn't happen, but it seems to me that getting refugees as far as the south coast or islands of Indonesia, would be worth money to the refugees. They could easily contract boat owners to transport them, and a new class of "shore admirals" could co-ordinate the boat launches so the limited number of very-capable Australian Coast Guard vessels couldn't possibly intercept them all ... let alone tow them out of Australian waters. Maybe it was PM Abbott who struck a deal to break the chain at a second place, it hardly matters. Both major parties are fully complicit in the Stop The Boats strategy. Very likely they wanted to terminate the example it was setting to Indonesians who have millions of boats ("sea-worthy" to the standard of any maritime refugee), in case something more terrible than a tsunami or a volcano happens to their nation. Or even without that, the high population and fantastic density of Indonesia is a redoubtable push factor for emigration if it ever gets started.

OK, thirdly, is the option of "refugee exchanges". New Zealand offered to take a hundred or so of Australia's offshore detainees. The offer was dismissed (rather rudely) but the Australian government was basically correct. There are almost no circumstances under which a New Zealand citizen will be denied a travel or work visa in Australia, or vice versa. I remember a New Zealand citizen being deported for building a dungeon on his out-of-town property in Australia. It's not intolerant, really: he'd been admitted despite a serious criminal record for child sexual abuse and we're OK with that. Until the former child sex offender builds a dungeon ... anyway, letting NZ take our prisoners and eventually granting them citizenship would have just kicked the can down the road, and they'd have got what they wanted (unlimited legal residency in Australia).

I sold my party (Australian Labor Party) short before. They did briefly have control (with one Green) of the House, and passed a bill to allow offshore detainees to be flown to territorial Australia when they needed medical treatment. The Coalition opposed this, despite the lack of any hospital facilities on Nauru etc, because they feared doctors would declare the refugee in need of ongoing high level care ... and they would somehow gain the rights of a resident of Australia to legal representation and to be heard in a court.

This is basically what immigrant detention in the US is about. It is why the US is still holding foreign prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay base. The US constitution guarantees certain rights to anyone within its jurisdiction. Guantanamo is not US jurisdiction, it's military jurisdiction. You should be equally worried about that, as Federal excisions within the territorial US.

I do think it's remarkable that the US feels as threatened by Mexico as Australia feels threatened by Indonesia. It says something about all our abilities to discern immediate threats and blow them out of proportion ... like we have nothing better to do than practice fighting skills on the nearest punching bag.

[Shu Chengdu]

He already provided emergency supplies and ok'ed emergency services to the area a week ago.

And then the Rep leaders of the state who are supposed to handle those things fled the country to spend the past week in Mexico to get away from the cold.

The sad thing is that a quick check of right wing social media is that most Texans are utterly unaware of this. They do not know aid was made available a week ago.

A friend of mine’s family lives in Texas and he said his gramps is on a tirade about Biden “deliberately waiting until after the worst was passed to declare state emergency. Why? Payback for the election because the south is Republican.”

Me: Ehm... okay? I’m not really sure what he’s talking about but freedom of opinion...

[Great Pacific Switzerland]

Reading The Art of The Deal has made me wonder. Looking at Trump's book, there is no way President Trump was Donald Trump. Something isn't right, I fully support 2016 and 1987 Trump, a perfect example of Conservative Worker man/Radical Centrist of sorts. Makes me feel like President Trump wasn't Donald Trump at all, something was wrong during his time of 2017-2020 and I'm not sure what.

Inb4 "He was always a bad person, Trump bad because x, Conservative bad"

[Vassenor]

Reading The Art of The Deal has made me wonder. Looking at Trump's book, there is no way President Trump was Donald Trump. Something isn't right, I fully support 2016 and 1987 Trump, a perfect example of Conservative Worker man/Radical Centrist of sorts. Makes me feel like President Trump wasn't Donald Trump at all, something was wrong during his time of 2017-2020 and I'm not sure what.

Inb4 "He was always a bad person, Trump bad because x, Conservative bad"

I mean he's been notorious for the racism and stiffing his workers for years.

[Great Pacific Switzerland]

Reading The Art of The Deal has made me wonder. Looking at Trump's book, there is no way President Trump was Donald Trump. Something isn't right, I fully support 2016 and 1987 Trump, a perfect example of Conservative Worker man/Radical Centrist of sorts. Makes me feel like President Trump wasn't Donald Trump at all, something was wrong during his time of 2017-2020 and I'm not sure what.

Inb4 "He was always a bad person, Trump bad because x, Conservative bad"

I mean he's been notorious for the racism and stiffing his workers for years.

You mind re-reading what I've said? President Trump doesn't seem to be Donald Trump. Something happened whilst he was in office, maybe something party related is my guess. There was a fair amount that he did contribute to which I support (mainly foreign policy) but there is a lot of other crap that doesn't make sense to someone like Trump or even his beliefs

[Vassenor]

I mean he's been notorious for the racism and stiffing his workers for years.

You mind re-reading what I've said? President Trump doesn't seem to be Donald Trump. Something happened whilst he was in office, maybe something party related is my guess. There was a fair amount that he did contribute to which I support (mainly foreign policy) but there is a lot of other crap that doesn't make sense to someone like Trump or even his beliefs

That's what you get for basing your assumptions about him on a book that was quite blatantly ghostwritten.

[Great Pacific Switzerland]

You mind re-reading what I've said? President Trump doesn't seem to be Donald Trump. Something happened whilst he was in office, maybe something party related is my guess. There was a fair amount that he did contribute to which I support (mainly foreign policy) but there is a lot of other crap that doesn't make sense to someone like Trump or even his beliefs

That's what you get for basing your assumptions about him on a book that was quite blatantly ghostwritten.

The book gives out a really good outline of who trump is and how he acts. Even looking back at interviews and footage from 1978-2013, Trump was a whole different figure and was what I'd call arrogant but a true American. As a man apart of the STEM field, I have a theory that perhaps trump after winning the election. Party restrictions and difficulties have caused a change. I'd say he went from a true conservative workers man in his campaign to just, "yeah he was a president" e.g like Carter, he just existed.

[A-Series-Of-Tubes]

yeah he was a president like Carter.

A shame. You were making sense, then you said that ^^^

[Great Pacific Switzerland]

yeah he was a president like Carter.

A shame. You were making sense, then you said that ^^^

I meant it as in "He just existed". Jesus my grammar is off today

[New haven america]

I mean he's been notorious for the racism and stiffing his workers for years.

You mind re-reading what I've said? President Trump doesn't seem to be Donald Trump. Something happened whilst he was in office, maybe something party related is my guess. There was a fair amount that he did contribute to which I support (mainly foreign policy) but there is a lot of other crap that doesn't make sense to someone like Trump or even his beliefs

Maybe you could try making an argument that actually makes coherent sense?

[Vassenor]

That's what you get for basing your assumptions about him on a book that was quite blatantly ghostwritten.

The book gives out a really good outline of who trump is and how he acts. Even looking back at interviews and footage from 1978-2013, Trump was a whole different figure and was what I'd call arrogant but a true American. As a man apart of the STEM field, I have a theory that perhaps trump after winning the election. Party restrictions and difficulties have caused a change. I'd say he went from a true conservative workers man in his campaign to just, "yeah he was a president" e.g like Carter, he just existed.

No, it gives you an outline of how he told his ghostwriter to portray him.

[Vassenor]

You mind re-reading what I've said? President Trump doesn't seem to be Donald Trump. Something happened whilst he was in office, maybe something party related is my guess. There was a fair amount that he did contribute to which I support (mainly foreign policy) but there is a lot of other crap that doesn't make sense to someone like Trump or even his beliefs

Maybe you could try making an argument that actually makes coherent sense?

Basically it seems that because IRL Trump acts nothing like Book Trump there must have been some magical event to cause the change, rather than Book Trump being an outright fabrication because that can't possibly be true because books never lie.