Tulsi Gabbard: What is the Hawaii representative doing? – CNNPolitics
hmmmm
What if America Took Amtrak Seriously?
By the 1960s the decline had reached crisis levels and railways began closing down. …In 1971, under Richard Nixon’s administration, the National Railroad Passenger Corp. was born. It was a for-profit company, but it received public funds to assume operation of the 20-odd private railroads that still ran intercity passenger trains. Only half the routes survived the consolidation.
By all appearances this was an effort to rescue passenger rail. In fact it was a ploy to let it die more quietly and, perhaps, on someone else’s watch. Amtrak, as the National Railroad Passenger Corp. came to be called, was not expected to last long. …Many attempts have been made over the decades to defund or dismantle Amtrak. The strategy is familiar: starve a public service, then use its underperformance to justify eliminating it altogether. Textbook neoliberalism, except they can’t quite close the deal. Congress always appropriates just enough funding to keep Amtrak limping along. No powerful interest has a stake in truly making the system work, but it’s too popular to kill.
…There’s a reason why the trains are perpetually running late. Amtrak owns almost none of its own track. Instead it pays private freight lines like the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) for the use of their tracks. By federal law, freight rail operators are supposed to give priority to passenger trains, but in practice, this law apparently is violated with impunity. Time and again the train slows to a stop, waiting helplessly for freight cars to make way.
…The number of crude oil trains traveling on the BNSF tracks has risen in step. Our cleanest form of intercity transportation is, quite literally, being held up by fossil fuels.
What if America Took Amtrak Seriously? – Streetsblog USA
hmmm
Head of Amnesty International says migrant children detained ‘much longer’ than 20 days; head of ORR tells her it’s OK
The agency’s national director, Jonathan Hayes, flew down from Washington, D.C., to accompany them on the tour and he told her that he believes it is OK to hold children for longer than 20 days because it is not considered detention but “care and custody.”
…“His position is that they are not a detention facility; they are a care and custody shelter, which under international law is the same thing. And we believe that Flores does in fact apply to all the ORR shelters,” Huang said.
“It’s an interesting response. In previous meetings, ORR has acknowledged that they haven’t been able to meet the Flores requirements. It was a bit of a surprise to hear today that they don’t feel they’re obligated to. So that’s a big concern for us,” Huang said.
…Rumors have been circulating that as early as Monday, Mexican government officials will force the [refugees waiting for their opportunity to apply for asylum] from the tent encampment [where they have been forced to stay] and send them to a stadium about six miles south of the border, where volunteers have told Border Report they will not be able to take meals, water, hygiene items or offer legal advice.
…As for the child detained for nearly eight years, Huang said she was disturbed by the revelation: “It’s affected me a lot to think about that child. Even if it’s just months, I wonder about how many are caught in something that feels like detention to them for sure.”
For fucks sake white people…. This kind of blind “benevelence” is what gave us decades of Indian schools. Get over yourselves and stop being Satanic to people with darker skin than yours.
Trump booed at World Series game and leaves early amid chants of ‘lock him up’
Trump booed at World Series game and leaves early amid chants of ‘lock him up’ | The Independent
Apparently the Cheeto forgot that people in DC loathe his orange ass. Dipshit.
How lame is tim Ryan? Let us count the ways….
He voted against renewing the Do Not Call registry to block unwelcome phone solicitations. He was honest. “I have a lot of call centers in my district,” he replied with a laugh. “We were trying to recruit workers.”
…Ryan himself voted for trade sanctions on China, tweeting what sounded a lot like [Trump.]
…Ryan isn’t ready to give up on a $5 billion natural gas plant in Western Pennsylvania that he says employs 6,000 union workers at between $80,000 and $120,000 a year. “Donald can be as f—-‘d up as anybody but he’s not going to take their jobs,” he said.
…faulting party leaders who [anyone who has a basic grasp on things would know and acknowledge that no one] advocate[s] free health care for undocumented immigrants, when citizens have to pay for theirs
…the “pro-life” stance he entered Congress with
2020 candidate Tim Ryan: A self-declared pragmatist in race of extremes
1 – pandering putz
2 – no fixed moral compass
3 – Anyone with half a brain knows illegal immigrant actually pay taxes, they just don’t have access to services. Ryan is either intentionally spouting racist dog-whistles or he’s a complete and total moron without a clue about the issues he speaks on
4 – Held anti-women stances until it got through that thick skull of his that people don’t like abject bigotry
5 – His stance against Big Ag is populist pandering and beyond toothless.
Tim Ryan ends presidential campaign
Ryan will now return to the House, where he had previously made a (dubious) name of himself because of his opposition to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holding a leadership position. But those efforts have failed, and even Ryan voted for Pelosi earlier this year when Democrats picked their next House leader after taking back the chamber in 2018.
Tim Ryan ends presidential campaign – CNNPolitics
A mediocre white male whose only claim to fame is being arrogantly ignorant enough to think he could do the job better than a brilliant and experienced woman didn’t catch on. Or raise any money. Hmmmmm
The history of separating slave and Indian children from their parents in America
Each of these U.S. policies, Fernandez said, begins with the assumption “that the idea of family is simply less important to people of color and that the people involved are less than human. To justify ripping families apart, the government must first engage in dehumanizing the targeted group, whether it is Native Americans, African Americans or immigrants from Central America fleeing murder, rape, extortion and kidnapping.”
Trump, he noted, dehumanized immigrant children by saying, “ ‘They look so innocent. They’re not innocent.’ ”
“There is no question these children are innocent,” Fernandez said, “but Trump associates them with the idea that these are not like your children and thus less than human.”
sigh…
Colorado Police Officer Who Raped Handcuffed Woman He Was Taking Home From Hospital Gets a Mere 90 Days in Jail
Should be 90 years. Hope her family sues the department into oblivion.
…and yes, it is fair for the tax payers to get stuck paying for that. As long as the public supports and sanctions the actions of police departments where lawless takes place they are culpable in the crimes of those officers. The violence is done in their name. If they do not insist on better behavior from municipal employees they deserve to get stuck with the bill.
Disturbing Video Shows San Bernardino Police Officer Fatally Shooting Unarmed Man: LAist
Disturbing Video Shows San Bernardino Police Officer Fatally Shooting Unarmed Man: LAist
Never ever call 911 on a loved one unless you want them dead. Never, ever, ever.
911 = 1-800-MURDERU
Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’: Families used to be split up in East Germany, too. It caused lifelong trauma.
In a now-unified Germany, forced adoptions have become synonymous with the state terrorism and injustice that was rampant in the formerly socialist East, known as the GDR. Reached by phone Wednesday and told about the U.S. controversy, Behr, 50, drew a direct comparison between her experience and the fate of children now being separated from their parents in the United States.
“Of course when I hear of this, I immediately think of my own upbringing. Witnessing the arrest of my mom and being separated from her at that age caused a lifelong trauma for me,” said Behr, who lives in Berlin and is involved in research projects about childhood trauma caused by family separation during the GDR.
Sigh….
Israel’s gridlock continues as Gantz attempts to form government
“Netanyahu is about to be indicted on allegations of severe crimes on the one hand, but on the other hand he is still very popular among his political base and is committed to holding on to his power,” Plesner says. “Without the Netanyahu factor, it’s quite clear we would have seen today a functioning government.”
According to a recent IDI poll, a majority of Israelis want a unity government between Likud and Blue and White. This is what Gantz and Netanyahu both claim to be working toward, yet their shared end does not reflect shared means.
…A majority of Israelis believe Netanyahu should resign. “This is obviously a message accepted by a broad majority of Israelis, but not yet internalized by the political system,” Plesner says.
Israel’s gridlock continues as Gantz attempts to form government
hmmm
Buttigieg dismisses claim Gabbard is a ‘Russian asset’
Buttigieg dismisses claim Gabbard is a ‘Russian asset’ – CNNPolitics
Trust the younger white bros to give a response solely determined by their understanding of public perception instead of being grounded in uncomfortable facts.
Speaking of facts… Who said Jill Stein was a spy? She is the only person who used that word. Perhaps Ms. Stein doesn’t understand the difference between spy and asset?
And even if Tulsi isn’t a willing asset, the observation clearly hit home enough for Congresswoman Gabbard to show her ugly side in response.
Hillary Clinton suggests Russians are ‘grooming’ Tulsi Gabbard for third-party run
Hillary Clinton said Thursday the Russians are currently “grooming” a Democrat running in the presidential primary to run as a third-party candidate and champion their interests.
…”I’m not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate,” Clinton said, speaking on a podcast with former Obama adviser David Plouffe.
…”That’s assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not, because she’s also a Russian asset,” Clinton said. “Yes, she’s a Russian asset, I mean, totally. They know they can’t win without a third-party candidate.”
Stein’s campaign, which earned nearly 1.5 million votes in the 2016 election, was part of Russia’s meddling efforts, according to a host of congressional reports, including a Senate Intelligence Committee report that indicated Russian social media efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election included messaging in support of Stein.
A summation of the report’s findings on “comprehensive anti-Hillary Clinton operations” said while the group’s assumed Twitter personas had some pro-Clinton content, “the developed Left-wing Twitter personas were still largely anti-Clinton and expressed pro-Bernie Sanders and pro-Jill Stein sentiments.”
Hillary Clinton suggests Russians are ‘grooming’ Tulsi Gabbard for third-party run – CNNPolitics
hmmm
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