13 Marines Charged in Human Smuggling Investigation

Plus: Another Marine goes rogue to catch "child traffickers," 69 percent of people hate Trump, and more...

More than a dozen U.S. marines are facing criminal charges in a human smuggling investigation, after Border Patrol agents caught two of them—Lance Corporals Byron D. Law and David J. Salazar-Quintero—transporting three undocumented immigrants in early July. Law and Salazar-Quintero have been charged with "transportation of aliens for financial gain and aiding and abetting."

Ten more Marines from the same division as Law and Salazar-Quintero face formal charges, the Marine Corps announced Friday. They had been detained back on July 25 by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). One other Marine, from a different division, was also detained by the NCIS.

There's no word from NCIS or the Marines on the names of the other suspects. But authorities said all 13 had been charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and at least five face charges for direct involvement in human smuggling.

Other suspects face charges for drug offenses, failure to obey orders, drunkenness, endangerment, larceny, and perjury.

All of the suspects were stationed at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in San Diego.

"Law and Salazar-Quintero were initially charged in federal court but the case has since been turned over to the Marine Corps," CBS reports. But the PACER system still lists the federal criminal case as being open, with a next motion hearing set for October 28 before District Judge Marilyn L. Huff.

Meanwhile, another Marine from Camp Pendleton had to be hunted down after he ditched base to go rogue and "get rid of child traffickers at the border," as an FBI report put it.

"Job Wallace, a Marine Corps Lance Corporal, did not return to base at Camp Pendleton in California after his authorized leave ended on Sept. 17," The Daily Beast noted this weekend. "A day later, an automatic rifle, an M14 rifle, a semi-automatic shotgun, and a pistol, all belonging to Wallace, were reported missing" and "a vehicle with his license plate number was photographed at the Fort Hancock Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas on Sept. 17."

NCIS took Wallace into custody on Saturday night.

---

---

ELECTION 2020

The latest poll results are in, with more good news for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and Mayor Pete Buttigieg and more bad news for Sen. Kamala Harris (D–Calif.) and Joe Biden.

???????? Elizabeth Warren narrowly leads the @DMRegister/@CNN Iowa Poll for the first time.

Warren: 22%
Biden: 20%
Sanders: 11%
Buttigieg: 9%
Harris: 6%
Booker: 3%
Klobuchar: 3%
Gabbard: 2%
O'Rourke: 2%
Steyer: 2%
Yang: 2%https://t.co/E9WnqJWaT4

— Brianne Pfannenstiel (@brianneDMR) September 22, 2019

In other polling news: 69 percent of voters in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll said that regardless of how they feel about Trump administration policies, they do not approve of Trump as a person.

"The poll found Trump's approval rating rests at 45%, which is on par with where Barack Obama and Bill Clinton stood at this point in their presidencies," notes Axios. But Trump's personal dislike rating is at a record high:

Previously, the highest share of voters that said they disliked the president personally, regardless of their views on his policies, was 42% for George W. Bush in 2006—in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

---

QUICK HITS

• Pull out your most salacious and controversial literature—it's Banned Books Week!
• Environmental activists aim to shut down D.C. streets today.
• A federal court this week is considering the constitutionality of Georgia's ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.
• The Emmys were yesterday. Here's a list of winners.
• Indonesia is holding off, for now, on a ban on extramarital sex.
• "The Victorian press focused less on the genuine experience of the sex worker, and more on the moral agenda of those who wished to save her, and the same applies today," writes Kate Lister at The Guardian.
• Amtrak is abandoning its traditional dining cars.
• Has the word evangelical lost all meaning?
• And just for fun:

A 1934 staged photo by Life Magazine mocking the Hays movie censorship Code by violating as many of its rules as possible in a single image. This is the kind of energy I like. pic.twitter.com/jBedZ8Wp5D

— Aislinn Clarke (@AislinnClarke) September 22, 2019

Comments

[loveconstitution1789]

Weak Three: Seas of Empty Seats Plague Several NFL Teams

Haha. Voting with my wallet, bitches!

As with Hollywood, I refuse to give Lefties money who are actively trying to undermine America and its fundamental principles.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

I thought the NFL was back on track?

[JesseAz]

They added a diversity team at the beginning of the year that is allocated money for woke purposes.

[Earth Skeptic]

Clearly not yet woke enough. I am sure people will stay away from the NFL as long as the Redskins name insults indigenous people around the globe.

[soldiermedic76]

Indigenous people around the globe?

[Rufus The Monocled]

That's gonna sink them before concussions do.

I adhere to the theory that once progs enter an institution they destroy it from within.

[Deconstructed Potato]

I adhere to the theory that once progs enter an institution they destroy it from within.

That's what 'The Long March' is.

[John]

It has very little to do with politics. It is mostly about the high definition TV. With high definition TVs, there is really no reason to go to a typical NFL game. You get a better view and a better experience at home. That wasn't true back in the days of low def, but it is now.

[loveconstitution1789]

That can definitely be one reason.

I don't watch NFL anymore either. They get no money from me for sports gear, game tickets, or tv streaming broadcasts.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Especially since it's gotten so damned expensive to go to a game. Not just tickets, parking is ridiculous too.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Used to be that a typical blue-collar family could attend these things without completely breaking their bank account. But the champagne and strawberries crowd are really the only ones who can afford to go now.

My wife looked into getting tix for a Packers-Broncos game a few years ago, and just getting nosebleed seats would have cost about $250.

[American Mongrel]

>But the champagne and strawberries crowd are really the only ones who can afford to go now.

This is the real problem. From marketing to rules changes. Appealing to middle aged women isnt what made them.

[Jerryskids]

Counterpoint - if you go to the stadium there's almost no chance that you're going to have to listen to Joe Buck and Troy Aikman call the game so I'd say that's a wash.

I'd suggest it might have something to do with the fact that, for the average fan, taking your family to the game means you're probably not going to be able to make the mortgage payment this month.

[John]

To get a seat where you have a decent view of the game costs a fortune. Now, they have put some of the cheap seats on sale cheap. But the view is terrible. And, from what I have been told in Washington DC at least, the cheap seats have started to attract a very rough crowd.

[Idle Hands]

Dc is a poor example. Dan Snyder does nothing to but encourage belligerent bad actors in his stadium. It's insane how much better the stadium experience is across the league in even Baltimore.

[Juice]

Growing up the extended family would gather around the tube to watch the local team on TV with the sound muted and the radio turned up to hear the local sportscasts call the game. It was a much better experience.

[John]

Radio broadcasts are so much better because the broadcasters have to spend their time describing the game. This keeps them from droning on and on to fill air time like they do on TV.

Some TV guys are good but most of them are old and have retired or died. Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, to name two were great calling a football game. If you ever watch the TV broadcasts from the 70s and 80s on Youtube or NFL network, it is amazing how calm and quiet the broadcasters were compared to today. Hell, even Howard Cosell, the greatest mouth of them all, sounds measured and reserved compared to most broadcasters today. It is like they think they have to scream and talk all the time or they will lose their jobs or something.

[Jerryskids]

They're paid to talk and they're going to make sure you get your money's worth. They're not aware of the first rule of broadcasting - don't speak unless you're sure your words are an improvement on the silence.

[John]

They really are not. Back in the 1990s Vin Skully would do the radio call for the World Series games for NBC. I was watching one of games and had to go meet a friend. So, I put the game on on my car. The contrast between Skully and Bob Costas who was doing the TV broadcast was enormous. Skully was describing the entire game and did it in about as third as many words as Costas. Costas wasn't required to describe anything since his audience could see it on TV. Skully had to describe everything for his audience. Yet, turning on Skully on the radio broadcast felt so much calmer and more precise. It was actually easier to follow what was going on in the game on the radio broadcast. All Costas did was distract you from watching the game most of the time.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Scully is a god. Whenever they'd show Dodgers games (which is often enough - and especially since I get KTLA too) I made sure to watch he was so good.

[Dillinger]

>>>Scully is a god.

sportscasters like Scully and Joe Buck's dad and Uecker and Harry are my favorite poets. i miss Scully's voice.

[soldiermedic76]

Dave Niehaus was another great one. Mariners play by play announcer until shortly before his death. Also did Angels games before moving to Seattle.
"My oh my. Swing on and belted."

[soldiermedic76]

It's a good thing he didn't live to see this season. Puts paper bag back over my head.

[Homple]

Herb Carneal, Minnesota Twins, was another great one.

[Last of the Shitlords]

Uecker was terrific. One of the reasons I make a pint of watching ‘Major League’ at least once a year.

[Ride 'Em]

Red Barber was the best. He brought words like rhubarb to the broadcaster. He also was the originator of “back, back, back” to describe an outfielder going back for a long fly ball. They were less cookie cutter back then.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Pull up the A's/Dodgers Game 1 of the WS from 1989 on YouTube sometime. During Gibson's home run trot, Scully was dead quiet for about two minutes. He knew exactly when to talk about what was going on, and when the moment spoke for itself.

[John]

He was incredible.

[soldiermedic76]

I used to love (I live outside Mariners broadcasting area now) fishing for Pike on Lake Coeur d'Alene (actually Benewah Lake and Chatcolet Lake) and listening to the Mariners game on the radio.

[Pod]

Yeah well you ain't never been to a Saints games obviously.

[Nardz]

Also: Redzone and expense of going to stadium

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

My lack of attendance is due to the play on field, or more precisely the lack of it with all flags.

[JesseAz]

At least they somewhat cut back on clapping penalties... except for kyler Murray.

[loveconstitution1789]

That too. Maybe the MSM will ask fans why they are not going to football games anymore.

Of course, that would blow the Narrative out of the water that Americans overwhelmingly support woke sports.

[Nardz]

Way too much ticky tack bs being called

[Mickey Rat]

KC is surprising, but the Chargers abandoned a fan base in San Diego for perhaps the most apathetic cities for sports in the country. Perhaps this will make them reconsider the NFL's practice of taking their local fans for granted.

[loveconstitution1789]

+10

[Jerryskids]

I'll give you +9.5 at 105.

[John]

The Chargers literally have no fan base. The left a small but very dedicated base in San Diego. In Los Angeles they have no fan base. Everyone in LA is either a Rams or a Raider fan or not a fan at all.

The KC picture is deceiving. Most of the empty seats if you look closely are in the second deck, which are the seats in front of the luxury boxes. Those are never full because they belong to people with luxury boxes who rarely sit in them and instead enjoy their luxury box.

The rest of them were very high up in a very big stadium. Arrowhead holds close to 80,000 fans. So, the Chiefs still drew well over 75,000 paying customers in one of the smallest markets in the league.

The huge numbers of empty seats in San Francisco and Phoenix are much more worrisome. Those are two huge markets. Even there, there are specific reasons for it. The 49ers walked away from their fan base in San Francisco and moved to south of San Jose, which is well over an hour from San Francisco without traffic. And the Cardinals are terrible.

[Mickey Rat]

If memory serves, KC has been one of those teams that consistently sells out if the team is in contention, and they are coming off of a very good season previously. If they cannot fill their stadium at this point they then there may be something wrong. The Chargers are a special case due to their chasing after the LA market and being cheesed that SD would not buy them a new stadium.

[Nardz]

Forecast yesterday was torrential downpours and flash flooding in KC.
Didn't work out that way, but might've caused some to stay home

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

San Francisco is a problem, but Phoenix teams are always going to have issues because so many of the people who live there came from somewhere else, or their parents moved there in the 70s/80s/90s and they maintained that old loyalty growing up. Unless the Cardinals/D-Backs/Suns are winning, the "home" team's fans are consistently outnumbered by those of the other team.

That's why I don't think the Raiders will have the fan base they're anticipating when they move to Vegas. Most of the old-timers root for UNLV, and everyone else is really just using Vegas as a transitionary residence. After the first couple of seasons due to the novelty, fan attendance is going to be an issue.

[John]

The plan is for their fanbase in California to drive into Vegas for the games. They think that Vegas is close enough to both NOCAL and SO CAl that they can attract from both.

I have no idea if that will work or not. The other thing is they figure that they will get a decent number of visiting teams' fans who use it as an excuse to go to Vegas for the weekend and see their team. I think between the two, it might work. But, they won't have a native fan base there. It will be a strange mix. But Vegas is a strange town. So, maybe it will work.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The plan is for their fanbase in California to drive into Vegas for the games. They think that Vegas is close enough to both NOCAL and SO CAl that they can attract from both.

That's fucking exceptional if true. If SF fans won't even drive to San Jose, there's no way in hell fans from LA are going to drive 6.5 hours to watch Raider games, much less from Oakland. I mean sure, Southwest tickets can be dirt cheap, but who wants the hassle of going through the airport just to fly to Vegas eight weekends out of the year, other than rich people?

[Magnitogorsk]

Yet NFL revenues continue to skyrocket year after year

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

NFL teams are located in modern, successful communities, not the desolate backwaters inhabited by clingers. NFL tickets are relatively expensive, beyond the reach of most clingers. Clingers are not the NFL's target audience and seem unlikely to change NFL attendance much.

NFL teams are learning to make as much money from television and gambling as they generate from attendance. The health problems associated with football are a threat to the NFL's future but the wrath of clingers is probably not a great concern.

[soldiermedic76]

You do realize most NFL fans are white and blue collar? It's always been a blue collar sport. Most proggies prefer Soccer, which struggles to gain acceptance among non-urbanites.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

NFL teams are located in modern, successful communities, not the desolate backwaters inhabited by clingers.

LOL at Arthur L. Hicklib calling San Diego, Oakland, and San Francisco "desolate backwaters."

[Mike Laursen]

If we are talking flag salutes vs. free speech and dissent, the latter are the more core American values.

[soldiermedic76]

Criticizing flag protest and dissent also are 1A rights, are they not?

[Mike Laursen]

As is criticizing the critics.

It’s critical turtles all the way down.

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[Overt]

0 Comments? Has Fist headed to DC for the Green Protests?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Reason hasn't got rid of the last group holding out yet.

They're trying though. A few more Dalia and 'conservative snowflakes' pieces and references should do the trick.

They want to appeal to mainstream progs more. And then the progs will kill Reason.

So it seems and I'm told.

[John]

The biggest hit to reason's readership and commentator pool seems to have come from the great Glibertarian migration. And most of those people were just typical Libertarians. Reason hasn't run off anyone on the right side really. And the leftist trolls never seem to leave. They seem to have mostly alienated actual libertarians.

[Rufus The Monocled]

/scratches head.

Isn't that a Gillette move on their part?

If you're a libertarian magazine, why are actual libertarians leaving?

That's a bad thing.

[John]

You would think so. In reason's defense, however, the typical libertarian is a bit nuts and loves nothing better than to storm off in protest about something or anything really. There is a reason why the Libertarian Party manages to be on the right side of a lot of issues but still can't outdraw the Communists and the Greens.

[Rich]

H&R is indeed the poorer for the migration. Who doesn't miss SugarFree's, um, literary offerings?

[John]

I miss RC Dean and Pro Liberate and Warty and Southern Boy. Trump kind of broke Sugar Free. He just got angry and nasty and no fun towards the end.

But, yes reason is poorer for the migration at least for us. And their site is pretty lame as well. They would have been better off had they stayed. The whole thing was stupid.

[Rich]

Right on. Hmm, anything we can do to get them back?

[loveconstitution1789]

All reason staff quit?

Put actual Libertarians on the payroll to write about Libertarian-centric as well as news that commenters can joke and discuss?

[Rich]

That's just crazy talk!

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

They seem to be pretty content in their own community. RC Dean popped in a few weeks ago just to point out how lame one of the posted articles was, so some are clearly still lurking from time to time.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I do both. But I'm a worthless nobody.

[John]

You are not Rufus. You are one of the most interesting people on here.

I can't lurk. I was banned because they hate me. But, I am an asshole and soon get kicked out of any club that will have me.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

I can’t lurk. I was banned because they hate me

Did they actually block your IP?

[John]

No, just my email address. So, I can't post. I could sneak back in under another email address if I wanted to. But, why go where you are not invited, you know?

I think it is kind of funny that I could get under their skin that badly. And to this day I have no idea what I said to do it. But, there is nothing I can do about it. So, why worry?

[Cyto]

I inhabit both worlds...

And I lament the loss of the community we had.

Actually, the best community was back when Balko was around and we hung out at his Agitator website. Everyone there was a civil libertarian - not really any trolling, just libertarians talking about liberty. And it was a pretty polite place (particularly for a bunch of libertarians). It had an "upvote" system, which may have helped with that. The Agitator was always good for a little choir preaching.

The Glibertarians site is a different animal - not at all like Reason HnR nee Latest. There are no trolls. It is a community. People are not all of one mind, and there is plenty of discussion and even argument. But it isn't rancorous. People are on the same team. They look out for each other. During hurricanes they were actively arranging help for each other.

By eliminating the trolls, it allowed a community of friends to evolve. SF still does his offensive plays - and they'll still set your hair on fire. There's in jokes and other things that are from the good old HnR/Agitator times.

But there's no professional trolling, and there's no unchecked rancor.

John is a valued member of this community - a right-libertarian who knows how to express an idea. Everyone over at Glibs wanted him there. But John has one personality trait that fits in better here than there. John likes to argue. He enjoys it like Lebron enjoys basketball. And he doesn't mind ad-homenim attacks. He can give as good as he takes.

Which doesn't fit in with the community they've created over at Glibertarians.

All of it is sad, really. Because I like having ideas tested in a crucible. But it is really tiresome dealing with the mentally ill trolls and the paid shills who shitpost everything. It is really hard to have an actual policy discussion here these days because some possibly schizophrenic basement dweller playing 3 different characters is going to jump in the middle with a bunch of non-sequitur rantings.

And the "food for thought" posts from Reason are really getting few and far between. Although I'll partially retract that, as they have been a bit better the last couple of months. Still, nowhere near the halcyon days of print-only Reason.

But when we were discussing police abuse, sentencing reform, government overreach and other civil liberty threats, we had a pretty fun community. It still is - periodically. But we have way, way too much partisan nonsense - for which I blame the editors and their much maligned but never acknowledged TDS. Get rid of all of that and then the shills and trolls have way less to talk about.

[John]

Yeah Cyto, I am a bad person to have around if you want peace and quiet. That is just not what I do. Yeah, I do like to argue and poke people. And I can't tolerate stupidity. It just drives me nuts. I will give credit and concede and argument when I person has a good point.

Whatever it is they want over there, I am not a part of it. And good for them. If it makes them happy, how can anyone complain?

[Cyto]

Said like a libertarian... to each his own..

I like that.

That's why I always enjoyed visiting the Drag bars in Atlanta with my gay friends even though I'm not gay and don't really like Cher or Liza. And I enjoyed taking the wife to the country bar in Kennesaw, GA, even though I'm not really a country music fan (and she was the only "person of color" there).

Most "alt" lifestyle places are really libertarian in their construction even if they are entirely inhabited by liberty-hostile folk. Visiting snake-handling churches in the GA mountains, everyone was extremely welcoming. The same goes for drag bars, country music bars with line dancing, skydiving, scuba diving, bikers, rock climbers..... every weird niche I have tried out has been extremely welcoming of anyone who wants to be a part of their deal.

Some might say ... tolerant.

And they all seem to have an instinct for "leave me alone to do my thing, and I'll leave you alone to do your thing".

Which is why I'm stunned when I see the "party of tolerance" running around violently pushing an agenda of never leaving anyone alone to do their thing ever again.

[John]

I love people who different things. People on here think I am some kind of evangelical because I defend them. I am very far from that. But, I really sympathize with evangelicals and defend them because they are so unpopular and unfairly picked on by the popular culture. I hate that. You don't have to be something to see its value and see it as being worth defending.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Not from what I can see.

They really hate Reason for what they perceive as abandoning what was left of their principled libertarianism.

Just go over to glibs. SF posts his stories there.

And you'll hook up with the gang again. Potsie, Richie, Ralph Malph....

[Rich]

Yep. Party with the principled!

[Jerryskids]

ProL, Warty, Southenboy, and SF are deeply missed, but Agile was a god.

[Jerryskids]

Can't forget Sloopy and Banjos, too.

[John]

All very nice and interesting people.

[Dillinger]

>>>the great Glibertarian migration

always thought was strange what was supposed to be individuals groupthinked out and into a completely different space ... like way to sheep out the door, borg

[John]

Me too. It was also more than a bit ironic that a bunch of "confirmed free thinking individualists" had to for their own safe to be safe from disagreement.

That is not how this works or is supposed to work anyway.

[Dillinger]

static is more fun. like how Ken likes the Redskins and I'll still read his stuff anyway despite his likely retardation. go Cowboys.

[soldiermedic76]

Dak can't keep this up. Your lucky your division is so weak. You're the New England Patriots (or Ohio State) of the NFC.

[Dillinger]

i can live with that.

[Nardz]

Get zeke some TDs, jerks!

[Dillinger]

word. on your redzone comment above too i can't watch any other way now

[Jerryskids]

Look, we can agree to disagree on Trump and I'm willing to debate the artistic merits of a Steven Seagal film or the proper amount of ketchup for a juicy slab of prime rib, but tolerating a Cowboys fan is just wrong.

[Dillinger]

Hard to Kill should be in the movie hall of fame.

[Cyto]

I enjoyed Segal movies.....

Then I watched Rumble in the Bronx.

Once you realize what is possible, it forever taints your view.

[Dillinger]

shot right past Van Damme to the Drunken Master lol.

[Cyto]

When I saw the fight scene with the "found objects" in Rumble in the Bronx I was impressed. But the outtakes at the end is what really got me hooked. Dude films some of the most dangerous and athletic stunts you've ever seen .... with a broken leg in a cast!

Then I saw him talking about doing these stunts - like the famous helicopter vs train scene.

So, how do you do a special effect where a guy jumps off of the roof of a tall building and grabs a ladder dangling from the bottom of a helicopter?

Well, first you get a helicopter. Then you dangle a rope ladder near the roof of a tall building.... then you jump off and grab the ladder.....

Uh, dude! You never heard of safety equipment?

Ok, so we are gonna have a guy dangling from a rope ladder under a helicopter as a train approaches. The smokestack of the train will come right for him.... at the last second he spreads his legs and the train goes right between them!

How you gonna film that?

Well, we get a helicopter and a train, see....

Dude is nuts.

[loveconstitution1789]

Economic Confidence Drops to Lowest Level Since Shutdown

Haha. Yeah, the economy never slows down 3rd Quarter as people try to spend less before spending big 4th Quarter for Christmas.

Lefties have their fingers crossed for an economic collapse as the only way Trump could possibly lose Election 2020.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Imagine how bad the DNC is that Warren - fricken WARREN! - is in the lead.

[JesseAz]

If she's the candidate trump will set gop records for minority votes.

[Rich]

"Let's see ... Fake orange or actual red?"

[soldiermedic76]

Took me a moment to realize by red you meant Communist not Indian.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Counting out the party that beat a war hero with a black guy, then beat Richie Rich with a black guy, is the kind of thinking that has fueled the losing side in the culture war and created our can't-keep-up Republican backwaters.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Arthur L. Hicklib still can't figure out how his 85-IQ ass was beat by a real estate huckster or why the Republicans still hold the Senate.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Republicans hold the Senate consequent largely to (1) the system's structural amplification of clinger votes and (2) the happenstance of the draw during the most recent election.

[JesseAz]

The senate is apportioned by state dumbfuck.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Arthur L. Hicklib doesn't understand how Senate voting works.

[NashTiger]

They gerrymandered the shit out of it

[Jerryskids]

Rather telling that you seem to think beating a war hero and Richie Rich with "a black guy" is some indication of how easy it is to beat Republicans. "Look, we don't even have to use an actual white man to win, we can beat you with one of our colored boys!" is not a boast I'd care to be associated with.

But you do you.

[soldiermedic76]

Beating a war hero during an increasingly unpopular war and a massive economic downturn. FTFY.

[soldiermedic76]

Besides McCain was a perpetual also ran who was finally given "his shot" in an election the GOP had already decided was fairly unwinnable. Similar to Dole in 1996.

[loveconstitution1789]

Iran Says British Tanker Is Free to Go After 2 Months of Detention

All Iran is doing, is allowing the fence sitters in the USA to step over to the Neocon side.

[loveconstitution1789]

Thomas Cook leaves thousands stranded after financial collapse

BrExit meaning #2

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

"Indonesia is holding off, for now, on a ban on extramarital sex."

It's troubling that such a ban was even considered. Things must not be so great in Indonesia. The Koch / Reason response, of course, is to invite the entire Indonesian population to immigrate to the US.

#OpenBorders

[NashTiger]

Only the good looking sluts, please

[JesseAz]

Illegal immigration to cost local state and feds 130 billion this year. This doesnt include the increased costs of educating children of illegal immigrants despite the fact they require ESL education at far higher numbers and the costs is about 3x the cost of children born to legal residents.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/surge-14-3-million-illegal-immigrants-in-us-taxpayer-cost-130-billion

But remember.... there are no down sides...

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

This doesnt include the increased costs of educating children of illegal immigrants despite the fact they require ESL education at far higher numbers and the costs is about 3x the cost of children born to legal residents.

Or how their numbers tend to correlate to the increased use of the free and reduced lunch program.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Warren 22%

Looks like we are on our way of having the first Native American President.

[John]

The only way Biden wins the nomination is if the DNC fixes it for him like they did for Hillary Clinton. I think Warren wins a fair fight. Warren is a slightly better candidate than Hillary Clinton. Unlike Clinton, I actually know people who like her and are really excited about her being President. In the end, however, the country already had its chance to elect Delores Umbridge President in 2016 and took a pass. I can't see why it would do so in 2020.

[JesseAz]

Hillary had a shit ton of sycophants in the DNC. Warren has no fans outside of the DNC. She talks down to everyone without revealing her plans or costs. She will lie and burn to get her way. She's literally Hillary 2.0.

[John]

The other thing is that I cannot see how Warren stirs any enthusiasm to vote among Hispanics and Blacks. And without huge turnouts and huge margins from those two groups, no Democrat has a chance to win.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

She'll be able to get the anti war for what that's worth these days, that Hillary couldn't get.

[John]

But Trump hasn't started any new wars. So, how motivated will they be? Moreover, Trump very well may get us out of Afghanistan. If that happens, I don't see how being anti war is even an issue anymore.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

Not saying Trump isn't but I don't think the anti war vote will go to him just because of the way he talks sometimes (very bellicose). And I agree the anti war vote isn't what it used to be.

[John]

And I agree the anti war vote isn’t what it used to be.

Since that is mostly because we haven't gotten into any new wars, that is a good thing.

[soldiermedic76]

It seems the President is making strong moves in campaigning for Hispanics and African Americans. With Warren as the nominee it may even pay off.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The other thing is that I cannot see how Warren stirs any enthusiasm to vote among Hispanics and Blacks.

Black women vote something like 98% for Democrats. I don't see Trump cutting into that figure, although he might end up with some gains from black men due to the economy, plus the fact that Warren is basically just Hillary, but with a greater focus on corporate conspiracy-mongering.

Ironically, his Hispanic numbers might not be that much better or worse than any other R candidate in the next election.

[soldiermedic76]

He could actually do better. There are a number (but still the minority of) polls that show him near 50% approval with Hispanics.

[Rich]

She talks down to everyone without revealing her plans or costs. She will lie and burn to get her way.

You may find this, um, amusing.

[JesseAz]

It was a good article. Reason throws them out once in a while.

[Cyto]

Well, we shall see....

The left has used "racism" as their boogey-man and rally cry my entire adult life.

Back in 2000 I was in a mixed-race household in a white neighborhood in a black district. So we got the race-baiting stuff that you guys never get to see. Not the stuff on TV. The mailers and robo-calls sent out by people like the NAACP, SPLC and others.

They don't do "dog whistles". Nor do they speak in code. They are right in line with Biden's "they gon' put ch'all back in chains!!" comment.

One mailer I particularly recall was an 8x11 full-bleed, full color cardstock print of the back of a beatup old pickup truck with TX license plates, featuring bloodstains and chains hanging from the back. The direct implication being Bush kills black people. Never mind that Bush's administration oversaw the arrest and prosecution (and eventually death penalty) of those guys. He's a racist who kills black people.

We got a 2"-3" high stack of that stuff every week. Plus at least 7-10 calls per night, all warning us of the coming Klan lead storm.

So I know about their "racism" agitation.

And I have never seen anything remotely like what we are experiencing right now. They are fully unhinged. The stuff that is on the network news is on par with the secret "blacks only" race-baiting campaigns of 20 years ago.

All my life I've been predicting a shift. Most of the black people I know are more conservative than most of the white people I know. Personally conservative - and in their views on social issues. Yet they would never consider voting republican. So I figured that eventually this 'racist' nonsense would catch up to the left and a big chunk of the black vote would bolt. But it never happened.

We'll see if the race-baiting finally backfires. I dunno. I have not seen the love for Trump among blacks that some polls seem to suggest. But maybe they are just afraid to even hint at it in public.

I do know that it has worked with left-leaning but centrist women. They hate that guy with a purple passion... and once they got on that path they are only looking to confirm their opinion. If the other identity groups in the DNC divide-and-conquer coalition feel the same way, Trump may be doomed.

But at some point record unemployment for minorities has to factor in to their thinking - at least at some level. Or maybe not.... who knows.....

[John]

I live in a city that is mostly black and entirely Democratic. What I found remarkable about the 2016 election is how every white person I knew lost their minds over it and the black community seemed totally unaffected. They didn't vote for Trump or support him . They never support Republicans. But, I didn't meet a single black person who was particularly concerned about the election or any more upset that the Republican had won than they were any other time a Republican had won. The contrast between them and the complete insanity of the white liberals I know was striking.

So, I don't think the increasingly desperate appeals you are referring to is going to have much effect. I am like you. I will believe that significant numbers of black people will vote Republican when I see it. That said, I don't see black people being anything close as motivated to vote for whomever the Dems run in 2020 as they were for Obama. Black people may not be Republicans but I get the sense they care less and less about the things white Progressives care about.

[Cyto]

The odd case will be if they send up Kamala. I know this seems increasingly unlikely, but it would be interesting.

Because it doesn't seem like black people accept her as a black person. And her history is pretty hostile to the agenda of black activists - particularly the #BLM crowd.

So it would be interesting to see which way that broke. Obama got a huge percentage of his support based on being "the first black president". That was big with supporters white and black.

Kamala would be black and a woman... which should break huge... but her history is anathema to what they hold dear, and her policies are ruinously communist. So it would be an interesting test case... would skin tone and genitalia overpower record and ideology?

[loveconstitution1789]

UAW's GM strike rumored to extend until rank-and-file members approve tentative agreement

Another reason to not buy crappy GM vehicles. Workers want more and produce inferior products.

[Jerryskids]

Bankruptcy is the market's way of telling you to stop turning valuable raw materials into worthless pieces of shit. Unfortunately, if you've got a buddy with a gun who can force people to pay for your shit whether they buy it or not, you can ignore what the market's telling you.

[loveconstitution1789]

Hey Boehm,

DOW Jones: 26,889.77 as of Sept 23, 2019 @0945.

All time high: 27,359.17 July 15, 2019

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

Oh yeah? If the economy is good, why is our billionaire benefactor Charles Koch struggling so much?

[JesseAz]

Funeral costs are huge these days.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

More bad economic news.

Charles Koch current net worth: $59.5 billion

Still. Stuck. Below. Sixty. Billion.

#DrumpfRecession

[Cyto]

Gates gave away more than that!

Piker!

[lap83]

Pull out your most salacious and controversial literature—it's Banned Books Week!

It would be simpler to just have one week set aside to discuss the books that are allowed continued existence. We need to the rest of the year to concentrate on banning everything we used to like.

[lap83]

blah *need the

[Homple]

I nominate the Little Black Sambo edition from the early 1950s

[Dillinger]

there were Sambos restaurants (like Denny's) in Kansas into the 80s ...

[EscherEnigma]

Whatchatalkinabout Willis?

Yes, many different people try to ban books. In America, the libraries that go along with this are mostly public school libraries. Occasionally a public library will go along with one inane request or another, but academic and professional libraries basically never do.

Take a look at any "most frequently asked to be banned", and you mostly see insanely popular books that are readily available to everyone with access to more then one library.

America is going to have to change, a lot, before attempts to ban books have any sort of widespread success.

[loveconstitution1789]

Beto O’Rourke wants to take away people’s AR-15 and AK-47 rifles. Is that even possible?

Beto who?

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Beto, Booker, Blasio.

One thing they will all have in common is they all had to bail out of the 2020 presidential race.

[American Mongrel]

Bobby Francis

[JesseAz]

Long time BBC journalist discusses the overwhelming bias of the BBC despite laws governing its neutrality..

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/sep/21/john-humphrys-attacks-bbcs-liberal-bias-days-after-retiring-from-radio-4

[JesseAz]

"Has the word evangelical lost all meaning?"

Better link summary "Atheist decides they get to tell evangelicals what their religion means."

[lap83]

It's like progs with Fox News....yeah, you hate it...but no one's forcing you to watch it, think about it, or talk about it 24/7. Maybe take up a hobby?

[JesseAz]

What was the intent of your rambling?

[lap83]

Athiests' obsession with the thing they hate, Christianity, reminds me of progs' obsession with Fox news. Sorry that wasn't more clear

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Choose reason. Every time.

By the time you reach ostensible adulthood, childhood indoctrination is no excuse for gullibility, intolerance, ignorance, and backwardness. Not even in Republican committee meetings.

Choose reason. And education, tolerance, modernity, science, freedom, and progress. Avoid ignorance, bigotry, backwardness, dogma, authoritarianism, and pining for illusory good old days.

Choose reason. Every time. Be an adult.

[JesseAz]

But no bigotry on the left.

[Earth Skeptic]

So all those wacky ideas used by indigenous people about Mother Earth and sacred lands are just BS, but convenient for leftists to engage with crystal healing nut jobs and enviro fascists?

[Michael Ejercito]

And yet, you failed to follow your own advice.

[JesseAz]

I'm actually confused. You think Reason runs the Atlantic? They were the ones I criticized dumbfuck. They wrote the article. Do you know how links work?

[lap83]

now I'm confused

[JesseAz]

Posted that before your other reply. Think we both got confused. There's been a lot of "you should leave reason" posters lately if you disagree with anything they write. Apology.

[NashTiger]

You should leave Reason

[Mike Laursen]

I’m one of those “you should leave Reason” posters. It’s not about disagreeing with Reason, it’s about being whiney and exaggerated in your disagreement.

[EscherEnigma]

You didn't read the article, did you? From paragraph 2: "I’m an Episcopalian, in the Anglican tradition descending from the Church of England."

Further, this is a Christian argument to other Christians about how not-real-Christians have corrupted the political and cultural identity. Atheists aren't a part of the conversation.

[soldiermedic76]

Which sort of goes against Christ's teachings about not judging others and about worrying about your own sins rather than others.

[EscherEnigma]

My point was that JesseAz's accusation was unfounded.

That said, I, unlike the article's author, am a atheist/agnostic†, so I'll leave such musings over what a "true" Christian should and shouldn't do to those who embrace the label.
________
†Depending on the operating definition and my mode.

[loveconstitution1789]

Cory Booker campaign warns he 'might not be in this race for much longer' without fundraising surge

Cory 'Spartacus' Booker is NOT Legion?

[John]

I guess Democratic donors are not Spartacus.

[Conchfritters]

He’s not old enough for the Dems.

[Unicorn Abattoir]

At least he'll be able to dump Rosario Dawson and come out.

[Anomalous]

He lacks the guts.

[Rich]

69 percent of voters in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll said that regardless of how they feel about Trump administration policies, they do not approve of Trump as a person.

Uh, huh. What's the percentage for Warren?

[John]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/18/why-ivanka-trumps-new-haircut-should-make-us-very-afraid

Why Ivanka Trump's haircut should make us very afraid.

Words fail.

[Rich]

Must be a chick thing.

[soldiermedic76]

The Guardian isn't even pretending anymore.

[loveconstitution1789]

Rep. Joe Kennedy III announces Massachusetts Senate primary challenge against Ed Markey

In other news, Sirhan Sirhan almost gets released from custody.

[Conchfritters]

So Mahhhkey, the co-green new deal author is going to get primaried by a Kennedy?? This should be fun to watch. I predict the Squad, and probably quite a few of the democratic establishment, will rally around Mahhhkey, and the red head will find out how much the family name is still worth in Massachusetts.

[loveconstitution1789]

California Republican asks if Americans are ready to surrender some freedoms to 'loony left'

"AAA reports the average fuel price in California, $3.76 a gallon for regular," McClintock added. "Do you really want to give the people who are responsible for those policies the power to choose your next automobile? That’s what the waiver allows them to do."

reason considers this issue too local.

[Griffin3]

Corrected link.

[loveconstitution1789]

Thanks. Got my reason big feet 404 error crossed.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Just think of gasoline taxes as tariffs.

[loveconstitution1789]

We're gonna use gasoline taxes to help America and get China to play by the same fundamental rules of trade by not stealing IP?

Wow! Those are good tariffs.

[JesseAz]

Wish I saved the link. China is about to have to break on their agricultural tariffs due to the avian fly killing their hog supply, an important staple for chinese residents.

Their real growth is showing a collapse due to the trade tariffs with manufacturers in china taking the hit, not the US, despite Boehms incessant rantings. Still no inflation signal in the us at all, why the lowering of the fed rates.

[soldiermedic76]

Swine flu not avian. Avian would've their chicken industry. China is an agricultural mess. Most of their grain (other than rice) is grown in the Northwest portion of the country,but the limited infrastructure makes it nearly impossible to ship it to where it is needed. Rice farms have been replaced in many coastal areas by state ran tobacco, while rubber plantations have decimated forests in the southern portion of their country.
Australian beef is also of lesser quality then American beef (as is Brazilian). The US ships in Australian and Brazilian meat because of its low quality. It is almost exclusively used to mix with our beef for hamburger and other processed cuts. The US beef supply is generally of such high quality that there isn't enough low cuts left to meet hamburger demand (this partly explains why hamburger is so expensive and why cube steak is nearly impossible to find anymore). The Chinese have been developing a taste for cheap, good quali5 American beef and Australia and Brazil haven't been able to meet the demand with the quality the Chinese expect. On a related note, even with high tariffs the Japanese buy more American Kobe (Wagyu)beef than Japanese Wagyu and appear to prefer it.

[EscherEnigma]

Is that what you think tariffs do?

That's... interesting.

[Ken Shultz]

"69 percent of people hate Trump"

. . . .

"In other polling news: 69 percent of voters in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll said that regardless of how they feel about Trump administration policies, they do not approve of Trump as a person.

"The poll found Trump's approval rating rests at 45%, which is on par with where Barack Obama and Bill Clinton stood at this point in their presidencies," notes Axios. But Trump's personal dislike rating is at a record high:

I don't get why someone would bait people with this and completely ignore the revelation that Trump admitted to pressuring the president of the Ukraine to open a criminal investigation into Joe Biden's son.

We may need to tweak our TDS model to account for those who are just mailing it in.

[John]

I have said this before but it bears repeating. Trump is the yin to Obama's yang. The country largely loathed Obama's policies but there was so much social pressure to like the first black President, their dislike of his policies never translated to low personal approval number. Trump is the opposite. People love his policies but there is tremendous social pressure to think he is a bad guy, the support of his policies translate into a stated at least low personal approval rating.

People took out their dislike of Obama's policies on every Democratic office holder not in a deep blue district or state. In contrast, Republicans have done fairly well down ticket under Trump losing an average amount of House seats for their historic position and gaining Senate seats in the 18 midterms.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

There aren't as many bigots and superstitious slack-jaws remaining in America as you think there are. Maybe you need to expand your horizons and look beyond your shambling, cranky old neighbors. Visit a successful, modern community sometime, or talk with some educated young people.

[JesseAz]

There are tons. They are called eco activists. At least for the superstitious. you cover the bigot part.

[Jerryskids]

LOL - there aren't as many bigots and superstitious slack-jaws remaining in America as *you* think there are - we did elect Obama twice after all, and a lot of people who voted for Obama's Hope and Change the first time around voted for Trump's Hope and Change the second time. Of course, you and your kind can't admit that Obama won because we're not racist rather than in spite of the fact that we're all racists because then you might have to consider the possibility that voters actually made a conscious decision based on the merits of the candidates. And they chose a retarded clown over Hillary Clinton. Just how bad must your candidates be if they lose to A. Retarded. Clown? No wonder you prefer to believe some magical Russian fairies sprinkled some collusion dust over the electorate and hypnotized them into voting for Trump. Aliens, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, time-travelling Hitler clones - all more palatable excuses for losing than admitting the truth that you had a maggot-ridden, pus-filled, festering sore of a candidate that few people could suppress their gag reflex long enough to pull the lever for.

[NashTiger]

A successful modern community like Nashville? I’ll try to get there one day

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Maybe you need to expand your horizons and look beyond your shambling, cranky old neighbors. Visit a successful, modern community sometime, or talk with some educated young people.

What's hilarious about the hicklib's comment here is that John lives in a mostly left-wing neighborhood.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

I loath the man and many of his big plank policies. Still I couldn't see myself voting for any of the top Democratic candidates. That's how bad they are. The only reason I voted fo Obama the first time was because of bomb em all McCain. And yeah I relearned the lesson that Democrats are just as evil as Republicans. Thanks, Obama.

[loveconstitution1789]

Without Obama, we might never have gotten Trump.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Similarly, without Trump, the collapse of the Republican Party (first in successful and educated communities, then in national elections, then in general) might have required a couple of decades more than it seems destined to require now.

[soldiermedic76]

Like I've told you before: if you have to spend so much energy and time trying to convince people you are winning then chances are you aren't.

[EscherEnigma]

We had Rick "smart people will never support us" Santorum before Trump.

[Sometimes a Great Notion]

That holds some weight but his victory also I think is more a result of politicians focus testing every idea and becoming robots. Sure Trump is a liar but god he is also the most truthful politician in my life time of voting. You know where he stands on issues he cares about, love it or hate it. And or the other issues you feel your side at least has a shot at making an argument that persuades him to your side, if your not a rabid dog of the left.

[JesseAz]

Is it pressure to simply ask about a documented scandal that has been ignores. By all accounts even CNN admitted there was no pid pro quo unlike bidens threat to the Ukraine. We literally just had a 2.5 year investigation into a non crime yet worth Biden we are saying asking for an investigation into a possible crime is illegal? Some consistency please.

[John]

The new crime now is that Trump told Ukraine to do something about the Biden boys' corruption. They are claiming that Trump should be impeached because he told Ukraine to investigate corruption within their government being perpetrated by an American political family.

That is so stupid and screwed up, I don't even know how to make a joke about it. It is just nuts.

[JesseAz]

Agreed. It is insane. Imagine any trump kid being on the board of a foreign company with political ties. Or being a hedge fund for china.

[John]

The same people who claim with a straight face that Trump is in violation of the emoluments clause because he stays at his own hotels and runs hotels in foreign nations, turn right around and claim Biden's kids being in bed with foreign governments is nothing to worry about.

It is pathetic.

[EscherEnigma]

I don't see how the two ideas are in conflict.

The kind of corruption and foreign influence the emoluments clause was put into place to prevent and forestall isn't a big concern right now (with Trump, at least. Some future president might be more vulnerable). So yes, he's obviously in violation of it, and it's no big deal.

Was it a big deal for Biden's son? Honestly, I don't know and don't particularly care... Biden has never been president, hasn't been vice president for three years, and probably won't ever be president. Investigating the previous administration is poor policy, even if it's warranted on the merits.

[soldiermedic76]

If Biden wasn't the leading candidate for the Democratic candidate for President you may have a point.

[American Mongrel]

At this point, what difference does it make?

For when you run out of lies.

[EscherEnigma]

I'll be very surprised if Biden ends up being the candidate.

That said, still no: using the government to investigate your political rivals, absent unquestionable evidence of wrong-doing, is always going to look bad and illegitimate. Trump would have been wise to let it go.

[Tom Bombadil]

The silence at Reason is deafening.

[John]

The silence about Biden speaks volumes. In addition, the fact that so far at least even Reason hasn't bought the "Trump must be impeached because he talked to Ukraine" shows how crazy the idea is.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Well I was on the fence on this one and, as is my habit, I've waited to comment until Bill Weld weighs in. And he has:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/bill-weld-on-trumps-ukraine-controversy-its-treason-and-the-penalty-for-treason-is-death
Bill Weld in his typically thoughtful and reasoned manner makes a compelling case that Trump will be the only president in history to face a firing squad. Once Republican primary voters absorb this they will flock to the Weld candidacy. I personally hope that President Weld will see his way clear to commute the sentence and that Trump will only serve out his natural life in a federal prison at hard labor.

[soldiermedic76]

Ukraine is our enemy. I thought they were a nominal ally.

[Ken Shultz]

I mentioned this yesterday, but I'll say it again here: I don't support Trump so much as I oppose the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, confiscating 400 million guns from 100 million law abiding citizens, etc.

If the Democrats wanted a libertarian capitalist like me to sit on the sidelines or vote third party, then they shouldn't have hitched their wagon to authoritarian socialism.

Meanwhile, Trump keeps outperforming the Democrats on a number of issues. Sometimes the most libertarian thing the president can do is nothing, and we've been getting a lot of that kind of libertarian response to everything from mass shootings to Iran's provocations.

It would be a whole lot easier to oppose Trump if the Democrats weren't making it so hard. It would be a whole lot easier to support Trump if he'd come to an agreement with China to end the trade war.

[John]

Other than the deficit, which is horrible but also as much Congress' fault as it is Trump's, what do Libertarians have to complain about? Trade, I suppose, but whatever you think of Trump's trade policies, they all add up to a few hundred billion in tariffs in a 19 trillion dollar economy. That is pretty small change when compared to the cuts in the administrative state he has made and the fact that he is the first President maybe ever who enacted actual sentencing and criminal justice reform.

There is always immigration, but no President is going to open the borders the way reason wants them to. So, I don't see how Trump is any worse from that perspective than any of the available options. And certainly not bad enough to offset all of the good.

[Ken Shultz]

On the immigration front, it's especially libertarian to see Trump handle this situation with negotiations.

He negotiated with Mexico to get them to start patrolling their border with Guatemala.

He negotiated with Guatemala to get them to sign on to a Safe Third Country agreement.

This hasn't been in the news, much, but, over the weekend, Trump negotiated another Safe Third Country agreement with El Salvador.

"WASHINGTON—The Trump administration reached a deal with the government of El Salvador to send some asylum seekers from third countries back to El Salvador, in the latest effort to dissuade migrants from entering the U.S. illegally.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and Salvadoran Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill signed the agreement on Friday, after days of negotiations between the two governments this week.

. . . .

El Salvador, under pressure from the Trump administration, has already deployed 1,100 troops and immigration officers to its border with Guatemala."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-el-salvador-reach-deal-on-asylum-seekers-11569006377?

We may not agree with the ends--limiting immigration.

We may not agree that Congress should have abdicated its power to enter into these agreements to the executive.

These agreements that destroy the incentive for fraudulent asylum seekers to come here, however, are an entirely libertarian way to deal with this problem--and they're more effective and less costly than any wall.

I support increasing legal immigration to the United States, but if we're going to restrict it, then the way Trump's doing it is the libertarian way to do it. I wish these agreements were ratified by the Senate, but within the context of a debate in Congress about whether these agreements should be ratified in the Senate, from a libertarian perspective, I support them.

This is far more libertarian than arresting American citizens for hiring gardeners, house cleaners, and baby sitters. This if far better than raiding restaurants. Trump's agreements with foreign countries are far more libertarian than building a wall--and far more effective, too!

[John]

The solution to immigration is for the countries of Latin America to fix some of their problems so their population doesn't feel compelled to risk their lives to escape.

One of the many things that annoys me about the reason position on borders is that they act like mass migrations are just no big deal. No, mass migrations are nearly always an enormous human tragedy and cause all kinds of social and economic displacement and hardship. Sometimes, they are the best of a bad set of options. But, they are not something to be seen as benign or desirable.

If open borders advocates cared anything about the people they claim to want to help, they would be more concerned about stopping the mass migration than they were about letting everyone in.

[Ken Shultz]

Those countries have been in even worse trouble before without sending waves of asylum seeking children to our shores by the hundreds of thousands.

The reason this situation materialized is largely because of DACA. Trump is closing the loopholes Obama created with DACA that fraudulent asylum seekers are exploiting to gain entry and become illegal immigrants.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case against Trump rescinding Obama's DACA executive order in October, and everyone from Shika Dalmia to the Cato Institute expects that the Court will eviscerate DACA when they make their ruling known about June of 2020.

Trump's agreements with foreign countries will continue to discourage phony asylum seekers from making the journey here, and once the Supreme Court makes their ruling known, we should see this asylum situation dry up completely shortly thereafter.

By November of 2020, I don't expect that asylum seekers will be much of an issue.

[soldiermedic76]

The best answer is for better border enforcement (wall or no wall, but the wall is more symbolic then not) and increased easier legal immigration. But after 1986 you will never get many to agree to the latter until the former is done first.

[Ken Shultz]

Border enforcement helps with other forms of illegal immigration, but it doesn't really address the asylum seeker situation.

Some of those asylum seekers are just going to a border check point and affirmatively asking for asylum, but plenty other cross into the U.S. between border checkpoints and request asylum defensively--which is to say, they assert asylum as a defense against deportation.

Either way, border enforcement doesn't stop them from coming here and gaining entry by itself. Until Trump came along, they weren't even sending people back to Mexico to wait for their hearings. They were just setting them free on their own recognizance.

[soldiermedic76]

I think getting countries to abide by our borders is part of border enforcement.

[loveconstitution1789]

Justice Neil Gorsuch claims Supreme Court not split on party lines

Justice Neil Gorsuch claims Supreme Court not split on party lines

September 21, 2019 / 9:51 PM / AP

The conventional wisdom that the court is split along partisan lines based on the political views of the president that appointed each justice is false, a U.S. Supreme Court justice said. Justice Neil Gorsuch spoke about civility to an audience of about 1,000 at Brigham Young University on Friday, refuting the notion that judges are just "like politicians with robes."

Gorsuch is considered one of the Supreme Court's most conservative members, though he recently agreed with more liberal colleagues in a decision reaffirming a criminal defendant's right to a jury trial.

Gorsuch denied that justices' decisions are predictable, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News reported.

"Rubbish," he said. Gorsuch noted he uses the original meaning of the Constitution to guide his judicial decisions, in contrast with judges who believe interpretations of the document should evolve over time.

"I worry that some living constitutionalists will take your rights away," he said.

Gorsuch does not want to rock the boat where the media claims that he is siding with Lefties on the SCOTUS. Clearly, Lefties on the Court are siding with Gorsuch...because TDS not to protect civil rights.

[John]

In most cases it isn't. You have to remember that most Supreme Court decisions don't make the news outside of the trade press and involve technical issues about federal law that have not yet been politicized. In those cases, the justices often split along something other than partisan lines.

[loveconstitution1789]

I like Gorsuch a lot but he clearly is like most people at work and do not discuss politics.

If he did, all 9 justices would be all wrapped up in everyday America.

Probably a good thing that they all play nice and all donate a pint of blood each week to keep RBG alive.

[loveconstitution1789]

Biden criticized after snarking to female moderator: 'Sexism with a smile'

Dollars to doughnuts, those LBGQTS voters will vote Democrat no matter what.

[EscherEnigma]

You do know that about 20% of LGBT voters go reliably Republican, right? I mean, they're also the die-hards, where no matter how bad the party treats them, they'll stick around. So there's no harm to your cause in insulting them.

[Fats of Fury]

Lyz Lenz seems an apt name for the questioner, and the New Batwoman's galpal.

[hpearce]

"69 percent of people hate Trump"

"In other polling news: 69 percent of voters in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll said ---, they do not approve of Trump as a person."

I know the distinction between the 2 as does Reason

Clear anti-Trump "lies" (similar to "hate" and "disapprove")

[JesseAz]

It just shows some people care about actions than words.

[Jerryskids]

69 percent of voters in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll said that regardless of how they feel about Trump administration policies, they do not approve of Trump as a person.

I'm hoping the "Have no opinion/Did not respond" was about 30 percent, because you'd have to be a pretty terrible person yourself to believe Trump personally is an admirable person. A crude, rude, vain, thin-skinned, egotistical blowhard who lies every time he opens his mouth, has no filter between his brain and his mouth, always has to be the center of attention, always has to have the last word, always has to be right, insists he knows more than everybody about everything and everything he owns or touches or does or has an opinion on is better than yours? Yeah, that's not a guy you want to invite to your next cook-out.

Not that that's not a pretty good list of the qualifications to be a Presidential candidate - you're not going to get somebody running for President who doesn't have a delusionally high opinion of themselves and their abilities - but that's the guy who, when he walks into the room, you try to sidle out sideways muttering to yourself, "Who the hell invited this asshole?" I mean the guy wouldn't even drink a beer or two with you, how pathetic is that?

Bill Clinton might be the only exception to that rule, he's such a bull-shitter but he's an entertaining bull-shitter because he knows he's a bull-shitter. Nothing worse than a bull-shitter like Obama who takes themselves seriously and expects everybody else to take them seriously, too.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

I sense the share of Americans whose lack of character makes Trump attractive to them approximates 20 percent.

This number decreases slightly each day as old-timey clingers are replaced.

[John]

You are the dumbest, most ignorant, and hateful person on this bored. You literally have not a single positive thing about your character.

You probably ought to sit this one out there Tiger.

[Sevo]

BTW, the asshole bigot is right about our betters helping us to see the light, but he's off on the time schedule; more like 100 years. Here's a beginning list of his faves:
Partial List of ‘Elites’ Supporting Mass Murderers
1) Lincoln Stephens
2) Walter Duranty
3) Joseph Davies
4) Julian Huxley
5) Upton Sinclair
6) John Dewey
7) Jean Paul Sarte
8) Henry Wallace
9) Alger Hiss
10) Malcom Cowley
11) Edmund Wilson
12) G. B. Shaw
13) Lillian Hellman
14) C. Wright Mills
15-20)Donald MacLean, Kim Philby, and the remainder of the Cambridge useful idiots
21) Harold Lasky
22) Jacques Derrida
23) Harrison Salisbury
24) Norman Mailer
25) Graham Greene

[NashTiger]

Dalton Trumbo
Woody Guthrie
Noam Chomsky
Bernie Sanders
Sean Penn

[Ken Shultz]

Rihanna

[Ken Shultz]

"I sense the share of Americans whose lack of character makes Trump attractive to them approximates 20 percent."

You don't seem to understand what "character" means.

Character is when you stay true to your principles--even when it's hard.

I can see how you might argue that Trump lacks character, but the people who support Trump--despite him making it hard to do so--don't necessarily lack character. It's the people who abandon their principles because of something as silly as Trump's tweets who are demonstrating a lack of character.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

They wave their Bibles and claim to emphasize morality, then vote eagerly for Mr. Two Corinthians von Pornstarhumper. That is a character deficiency and a flouting of ostensible principles.

They are gay-bashers, Muslim-haters, and racists (appeasing if not embracing racism). That is a character deficiency and lack of principles.

They claim to be fans of small government and freedom, yet support tariffs, torture, micromanagement of ladyparts clinics, endless detention without trial, the war on doobies, and military belligerence. That is a character deficiency and the reason they are losing the culture war and finding themselves increasingly concentrated in disaffected, irrelevant rural and southern stretches.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

"micromanagement of ladyparts clinics"

Please avoid making this transphobic mistake, Art. A transman's uterus is clearly not a "lady" part. Unless you're implying reproductive health centers only serve ciswomen?

[NashTiger]

He’s such a bigot

[Ken Shultz]

"They wave their Bibles and claim to emphasize morality, then vote eagerly for Mr. Two Corinthians von Pornstarhumper. That is a character deficiency and a flouting of ostensible principles."

Trump's support isn't about the bible-thumping cultural conservatives from your nightmares.

"They are gay-bashers, Muslim-haters, and racists (appeasing if not embracing racism). That is a character deficiency and lack of principles."

Am I supposed to believe this because you say so?

Trump won in 2016 because the Democrats smeared middle class, white, blue collar workers as gay-bashers, Muslim-haters, and racists.

If Trump's supporters oppose the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and confiscating 400 million guns from 100 million law abiding citizens--despite the fact that the Democrats are smearing them as bigots for doing so--then they are demonstrating real character.

"They claim to be fans of small government and freedom, yet support tariffs, torture, micromanagement of ladyparts clinics, endless detention without trial, the war on doobies, and military belligerence."

I wish they did claim to be fans of small government and freedom, but they don't.

They certainly support tariffs and the rule of law on immigration. I don't see much indication that they support the war on marijuana.

Rather than military belligerence, Trump has been the most restrained president on war since the end of the Cold War. How can you call him belligerent when he's consistently refused to react to Iran's provocations with anything but sanctions? That makes me suspect that you're more delusional than dishonest--which is giving you the benefit of the doubt.

[soldiermedic76]

Iran wants Trump to attack them. They need him to to unite their country and keep themselves in power. Rather by accident or design Trump is avoiding this.

[Ken Shultz]

To some extent, I think Iran hopes that Europe might help them break down the sanctions regime against them in sympathy if we attack Iran.

Bigger picture, if something doesn't change, they're in big trouble. When you're a horse on the conveyor belt in the glue factory, anything you do to change the situation might seem like an improvement.

"The annual inflation rate in Iran declined to 41.6 percent in August 2019 from 48.0 percent in the previous month."

https://tradingeconomics.com/iran/inflation-cpi

Slide out to ten years at that link, and you'll see that before Trump reimposed sanctions, their inflation rate was under 10% annually.

If inflation is going down, that may only be because they're finding it even harder to sell their oil on the international market--making it even harder to bring more money into the economy. Inflation is about more money chasing the same number of goods, but it's also about economic growth. Inflation also falls when the economy slows down.

Venezuela is ahead of them on the conveyor belt, so they can see what's coming. Their provocations don't have the impact they once did before the U.S. started exporting oil after the fracking revolution. They lash out at tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. They attack Saudi oil production facilities. They announce that they're violating the terms of Obama's agreement, much less the NPT.

Bush or Obama would have felt compelled to respond militarily, just to show voters and the world who's boss. If the Iranians ever attack us directly, we should respond (without ground troops), but, yeah, Trump should do exactly what he's doing.

He's going to the UN to get more international support for patrolling the Persian Gulf (to safeguard China's oil supply) and for more international cooperation on sanctions. He's doing a really good job--even from a libertarian perspective.

[soldiermedic76]

China is also on the conveyor belt. I would also think the EU is to but for slightly different reasons. Who knew importing massive amounts immigrants against the wishes of your people would cause an uproar. Paired with ever shakier social welfare programs (only made even shakier by massive influx of unskilled immigrants) and stagnant economies, the EU is in trouble. How much longer until Germany and France lose complete control of it?

[Ken Shultz]

Well, I was talking about oil exporting countries that are suffering from sanctions.

The inflation rate in Venezuela recently topped 1 million percent!

People are starving for lack of food.

Millions are fleeing the country for lack of food.

That's where Iran is headed if something doesn't change.

It used to be that being an oil exporting country was like a get out of jail free card. Oil shocks used to bring American presidents to their knees. Even Obama's lowest point in the polls may have been during the Gulf Oil spill . . .

One of the dumbest positions that the Democrat nominees are gravitating to is their opposition to fracking. Their opposition to fracking is almost dumbfounding.

[Ken Shultz]

"DENVER (AP) — Several Democratic presidential candidates are running on a promise to ban fracking — and stepping on unstable political ground as they do so.

An all-out prohibition on the controversial natural gas extraction process — backed by Sens. Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — has been well received by the liberal and climate-focused voters closely watching the primary. "

----Associated Press

September 11, 2019

https://www.apnews.com/f5494ec2e11e43a59c5531a787fe3f03

[soldiermedic76]

Along with being opposed to pipelines. The main reason so many companies flare off natural gas is because it's to expensive to transport compared to the market price. Gas pipelines would drastically reduce this while also decreasing CO2 (instead of flaring off, the natural gas will be utilized for constructive uses and replace coal even faster).

[American Mongrel]

https://www.newsweek.com/intelligence-putin-funding-anti-fracking-campaign-547873

Russian pawns

[Sevo]

Hey, did you add any names to the list there, asshole bigot? Did I leave any more of your faves off the list?

[soldiermedic76]

Read the Bible someday idiot. I suggest the 7th chapter of Matthew. Jesus taught us to love the sinner and hate the sin. He admonished us to focus on our own sins, not others, to not judge others and to forgive those who son and or harmed us. Like so many progressives you have created a caricature of what you think Christians are based upon the outspoken fringe. Here's a clue, most Christians aren't really big fans of the hell and brimstone, hypocritical type Christians either. We just don't condemn them because that is a sin in itself.

[EscherEnigma]

Read the Bible someday idiot.

I have. It calls for my death. Christians ignoring that is a relatively recent thing, and has more to do with them further compartmentalizing their religious beliefs then them being good Christians.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

As an old-timey clinger, I'll only leave this life with one regret: that I won't be around to see the look on your face when you realize what a terrible world you've created, or to hear you cry "This is not what I was promised!"

[John]

I’m hoping the “Have no opinion/Did not respond” was about 30 percent, because you’d have to be a pretty terrible person yourself to believe Trump personally is an admirable person.

His kids seem to like him a lot. And that says something good about a person. A lot of people whom I would not call bad people had pretty lousy relationships with their kids and were not particularly good parents. Ronald Reagan comes to mind as a good example of that. Hell, even his ex wives don't seem to think badly of him.

In addition, if you ever go to one of his hotels and talk to any employees who have ever dealt with him, they all say he treats them great and is a great guy. I think you can tell a lot more about a person in how they treat people who work for them and whom they don't have to be nice. Trump seems to pass that test pretty well. Think about it, if Trump were an asshole to his employees, there would have long been a series of sob stories about how Trump unfairly treated this or that employee over the years. As far as I can remember, there hasn't been any of that.

To the extent that Trump meets the description you give, it is in how he deals with politicians, celebrities and journalists. Given that those three classes of people largely consist of some of the most loathsome human beings on earth, I am not seeing that as much of a criticism of Trump. Say what you want about Trump, but he never goes after average people who can't fight back the way Obama did with the cop in Cambridge or Joe the Plumber or Zimmerman in Florida. He always goes after journalists, celebrities, and politicians who have a platform and a means to fight back.

So, no I don't think Trump is a bad guy. He might be. I have never met him. But I don't see anything in his public life that makes him bad all things considered. Is he or at least once was a womanizer? Sure. Is he a blowhard? Sure. But lots of people are.

[Rich]

if Trump were an asshole to his employees, there would have long been a series of sob stories about how Trump unfairly treated this or that employee over the years.

"But he's a *powerful* *man*! *** wrings hands ***"

[EscherEnigma]

As far as I can remember, there hasn’t been any of that.

You mean besides the decades of lawsuits about him bilking contractors, discriminating in hiring and housing, being a complete and total creep in his beauty pageants, and so-on?

When you say things like this, it really drives home his claim about 5th Avenue.

[Ron]

I'd rather have a politician with out a filter and talks the way he thinks instead of a politician who lies to your face while back stabbing you. Best to know what they are doing.

[Michael Ejercito]

They will answer to these scandalous charges in a general court-martial.

[Sevo]

"UN set to convene summit on 'climate emergency' in New York"
[...]
"From heat waves to slow-crawling hurricanes to rapidly acidifying oceans, the impacts of global warming are being felt more than ever before, yet the gap between carbon reduction targets demanded by scientists to avert catastrophe and actions thus far taken is only widening.
It is within this context that a new, youth-led movement has emerged and re-energized climate activism, symbolized by Swedish teen Greta Thunberg who will take the podium in the morning following a speech by Secretary General Antonio Guterres."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/climate-change-set-to-dominate-agenda-at-74th-un-general-assembly/ar-AAHGqWn

If hurricanes speed up, it's cause CC!!! If they slow down, CC!!!
When you're trying to gain support for your cause by showcasing some 15 YO twit, you're on life support.

[Rich]

When you’re trying to gain support for your cause by showcasing some 15 YO twit, you’re on life support.

It's like those commercials that use kids as spokespeople. I suppose it's to get your attention via novelty or something, but it generally backfires.

[American Mongrel]

You cant criticize a 16 yo girl that looks 12 that also has severe mental disabilities.

[Jerry B.]

"Has the word evangelical lost all meaning?"

No.

It's just been coopted by Liberals to mean something it does not, sort'a like "Socialism" being a Social Welfare state as opposed to government ownership of the means of production, or "Capitalism" meaning big soulless corporations, and not the person who opened a specialty store or craft brewery with their own money (capital).

[John]

http://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/09/22/another-new-york-times-editor-made-racist-anti-semitic-comments/

Breitbart is claiming to have caught another NY Times editor tweeting racist and Anti Semitic things. I don't see the antisemitism. "Who is Beth Israel and why does she have so many hospitals?" is actually pretty funny.

The racist stuff is all about white people. The woman clearly loathes white people. Of course the Times and its ilk think racism towards white people is not just okay but admirable. At some point, the identity progs like those at the NYT are going to have to explain why racism is bad unless it is directed at white people, in which case it is the greatest thing ever. And I don't think the usual answer of "you can't be racist against white people" is going to work much longer if it even works now.

[Ken Shultz]

“Who is Beth Israel and why does she have so many hospitals?"

By the standards of social justice warriors, that's antisemitic, though, right?

I agree with the the idea that you can't be racist against white people because racism is one race using power against people of other races probably will probably recede once Millenials become aware of themselves as the power structure the critics are talking about.

It seems that every generation that comes along imagines themselves to be far less racist than their parents' generation--only to be denounced as old fashioned racists by their children. However, I don't think any generation has come to imagine themselves as less racist than Millenials, even as they flee the cities to start families in the suburbs like their parents and grandparents did.

It's a generation of people who've avoided personal responsibility for a long time. It'll be especially hard to make them take responsibility for racism. I'm not sure they're capable of feeling guilty that way. Racism is something other people did.

[Rich]

By the standards of social justice warriors, that’s antisemitic, though, right?

AND SEXIST!!

[John]

I think the thing that is going to kill identity politics is intermarriage.

[Rich]

Perhaps it'll just establish more categories of intersectionality. "People who have two spouses differently abled and queer", etc.

[John]

That is all transgenderism is; just another cause for the faithful after the Supreme Court gave them gay marriage.

[soldiermedic76]

I seriously think pedophilia will be their next step. We've been seeing some trial balloons being sent up for a couple of decades.

[John]

I think you are right. People have been saying that for a long time. I didn't believe it but after transgenderism, I think you are right.

[Sevo]

"I think the thing that is going to kill identity politics is intermarriage."

The server at a restaurant a while back was a woman from Hawaii; you could see Asian, Semitic, Hispanic, African, Caucasian, and, and, and in her looks. BTW, she was lovely.
I thought 'that's what humanity is going to look like in a century or two'.

[John]

Maybe.

[soldiermedic76]

The thing is as they cross, the off-spring become lighter in color and while intermarriage is more common it still remains a minority of marriages.

[EscherEnigma]

I thought ‘that’s what humanity is going to look like in a century or two’.

Change it from "humanity" to "America", and sure.

But most of the rest of the world is way more ethnically/racially/religiously homogeneous then the US is. Some parts of Europe may slide that way too, but large parts of the world are probably going to keep a distinct local flavor.

[EscherEnigma]

Right, 'cause folks with no racial differences haven't found other categories to separate and align with in the past.

That said, yeah, racial and religious intermarriage (which Millenials and Gen Z support and practice much more then Gen X and Boomers) is likely to make those particular categories a more difficult sell in future America. But you shouldn't forget that America is way more multi-cultural then basically anywhere else in the world.

[American Mongrel]

They still havent had to explain why sexism is bad except when its directed at a man.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Law and Salazar-Quintero have been charged with "transportation of aliens for financial gain and aiding and abetting."

I already saw this on JAG. Commander Jag found out in the end all was not as it seemed.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Environmental activists aim to shut down D.C. streets today.

So who is concentrating on shutting down the DC Metro System?

[Rich]

Oh, it's self-destructing.

[John]

Saving the climate by creating enormous traffic jams of cars idling and polluting. That is not how this works.

Of course, their are signs and protesters for every dipshit Prog cause imaginable. The same losers show up to all of these events.

The thing that really infuriates me about them is that they really fuck the lives of working people. Not everyone who works in DC is some high paid civil servant who can be late or just take the day off. A bunch people work as janitors and sell food and all kinds of other middle class jobs. These assholes screw those people. They can't get to work on time and likely don't have the vacation time at all or any to spare to cover for it.

These protests do real harm to real people.

[Rich]

Yep. This kind of crap happened in Baltimore. It's just a matter of time before someone "slips off the brakes".

[Jerryskids]

Keep in mind, too, that the sorts of people who show up for these protests in the middle of a workday are the sorts of people who can afford to show up for these protests in the middle of a workday. Some of us have jobs and some of us have jobs where they actually expect you to show up for work and some of us have jobs where they not only expect you to show up for work but they don't pay you enough that you can afford to take a couple of days off just to fly to Washington and make a pain in the ass out of yourself just for the fun of it.

[John]

Yup. They are a bunch of smug, entitled assholes.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

All of the photos of the protesters that I've seen so far have one interesting characteristic: all of them even whiter than me, which is saying something.

I suspect that there are some neighborhoods in D.C. that these eco-warriors are staying out of.

[John]

They are all typical white, woke, upper class progs. But most of the bad neighborhoods in DC are far away from where they are. As pleasant as the thought of them getting their asses kicked, it won't happen.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

The other weird thing I noticed about them was how they all just looked like "woke" progs to me. I can't exactly explain how. I don't know if it's the smugness in their faces, or the soft look of someone who has never done a honest day's work, or what. But I'd make them for progs from a mile off.

[John]

What could you possibly mean?

http://wtop.com/local/2019/09/shut-down-dc-climate-change-protest-could-disrupt-monday-morning-commute/

Jesus what a freak show.

[Gaear Grimsrud]

https://thefederalist.com/2019/09/23/the-unbearable-whiteness-of-climate-protest/

[Dillinger]

the attitude behind the photo of the chick with the guns in the loose dress is appreciated I try to maintain it daily.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Pull out your most salacious and controversial literature—it's Banned Books Week!

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

Environmental activists aim to shut down D.C. streets today.

No one cares.