no joke though, this thread made me go get pierogis for lunch

8/18/2016 12:09:33 PM

Quote :

"nice attack there. did that make you feel big and strong?"

Just stating the obvious

[Edited on August 18, 2016 at 1:28 PM. Reason : ok maybe i embellished with calling you basic]

8/18/2016 1:28:37 PM

8/18/2016 1:38:07 PM

my favorite basic image on the internet

8/18/2016 2:17:02 PM

i thought i was being acidic tbh

8/18/2016 2:47:41 PM

Is this a big deal?

http://tinyurl.com/jnuhkge

Quote :

"Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons"

I feel like I've read a lot in the past couple of years about how private prisons are a major part of the problem in our mass incarceration problems. I don't know how much this has to do with Obama, but whatever, I'm picking this thread anyways

[Edited on August 18, 2016 at 3:25 PM. Reason : asdf]

8/18/2016 3:24:28 PM

it would be a bigger deal if not for:

The Obama Administration’s $1 Billion Giveaway to the Private Prison Industry
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/08/obamas-usd1-billion-giveaway-to-the-private-prison-industry.html

Quote :

"And to implement this draconian proposal, the government awards a well-connected private prison company with a $1 billion no-bid contract — one that promises to pay the firm $20 million a month, no matter how few migrants its facility is responsible for housing at a given time. Then federal courts rule that this policy of mass detention isn’t actually legal. But the contract is already signed, and so the Corrections Corporation of America collects millions in taxpayer money to maintain a nearly empty detention center."

8/18/2016 3:36:10 PM

Stock is down 40% today

8/18/2016 3:44:56 PM

state dept admitted it today

Quote :

"State Department spokesman John Kirby was asked at Thursday’s press briefing: “In basic English, you’re saying you wouldn’t give them $400 million in cash until the prisoners were released, correct?” “That’s correct,” Kirby replied. In an Aug. 4 press conference, President Obama said the opposite"

http://nypost.com/2016/08/18/state-department-400m-cash-to-iran-was-contingent-on-us-prisoners-release/

[Edited on August 18, 2016 at 6:08 PM. Reason : d]

8/18/2016 6:07:35 PM

It sounds more like we were holding Iran's $400 million hostage until they paid us a ransom of four Americans.

8/18/2016 6:21:03 PM

^^ do you understand though that being prudent about a negotiated payment doesn't make the money a ransom?

8/19/2016 8:29:33 AM

when a payment is conditional on release of a hostage that meets the definition of ransom. they have been saying for months that those 2 events were not related and yesterday admitted it was. not a good look to lie to the american people

8/19/2016 10:17:38 AM

They should have been more straight forward about it earlier on. Seems like an thing to explain honestly.

8/19/2016 10:21:27 AM

Are we overlooking him playing golf while Louisiana drowns?

8/19/2016 10:32:19 AM

this was a dumb argument against bush and its a dumb argument against obama, all going there would do is be political theater

8/19/2016 10:48:03 AM

Wasn't the issue with President Bush and Katrina that FEMA didn't show up for a couple of days?

8/19/2016 11:48:35 AM

Quote :

"They should have been more straight forward about it earlier on. Seems like an thing to explain honestly."

Agreed, pretty blatant PR blunder. Although the intricacies of foreign diplomacy would have been lost on the majority of Americans anyway, but they didn't need to come off as dishonest as well.

8/19/2016 11:56:02 AM

Quote :

"Are we overlooking him playing golf while Louisiana drowns?"

No. And Governor Edwards of Louisiana was on MSNBC last night where he said he told Obama not to some so as to not divert resources from the rescue and recovery efforts. Instead, wait at least a week before visiting.



http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/john-bel-edwards-trump-louisiana-visit-227194

[Edited on August 19, 2016 at 12:52 PM. Reason : .]

8/19/2016 12:50:15 PM

Interesting read into the mind of Obama and his foreign policy.

http://www.vox.com/2016/8/18/12387600/susan-rice-vox

Quote :

"Team Obama sees themselves not just in terms of the crisis of the day but also in terms of a much broader, and more positive, arc of human history. They didn’t create these trends that make this, in their eyes, the best time in human history to be alive, but they see it as their job to safeguard them. This results in a foreign policy focused — to a degree most people don’t appreciate — on protecting this system from threats. The long view causes them to focus on addressing long-term threats to the system’s stability, like climate change or a nuclear Iran. But the flip side is that they’re more wary about trying to solve immediate crises, like the Syrian civil war. These crises, while bad, don’t threaten the fundamental system. And ambitious schemes to solve them risk dragging the US into costly and counterproductive quagmires that could draw focus and resources away from graver dangers."

8/19/2016 9:43:24 PM

^

Quote :

"But the flip side is that they’re more wary about trying to solve immediate crises, like the Syrian civil war"

is this author on the bath salts? obama and Hillary played large role in starting that freakin war

http://newobserveronline.com/clinton-destroy-syria-israel/




[Edited on August 20, 2016 at 7:58 AM. Reason : middle east was way better off in 2009]

8/20/2016 7:53:45 AM

Wow, Hillary Clinton's magical email server sent an email back in time to start a years old civil war. The real crime is she's not sharing this revolutionary technology with the rest of the us!

8/20/2016 10:24:53 AM

Wasn't sure where to put this and don't think a president does this in isoloation but I was having trouble squaring away his high approval ratings with what we hear daily about the economy and anxiety about it -- a lot of 2015 numbers came out and it all makes sense now.

More Americans are doing markedly better than they have since the recession. Laggard is rural areas and the south. 3.5 million Americans were lifted out of poverty in 2015. Most in decades in a single year.

9/13/2016 10:54:59 AM

lol obama and hillary started the syrian civil war.

i'm starting to worry about beatsunc.

9/13/2016 10:56:43 AM

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/13/the-middle-class-and-the-poor-just-had-the-best-year-since-the-end-of-the-great-recession/

thanks, Obama

9/13/2016 11:14:03 AM

wow, 172 pages

9/16/2016 5:46:38 PM

Nothing new, dude is just continuing his weak stance against terrorism.

http://time.com/4506400/obama-vetoes-911-saudi-arabia-bill/

Bring on the talking points.

9/23/2016 4:52:39 PM

People make the comment that I never say anything good about him. Well, I certainly applaud his veto of that stupid bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue the governments of other nations.

Unfortunately it has so much bipartisan support that his veto is probably going to be overridden.

Of all the problems, this is how our two parties come together?

9/27/2016 9:44:04 PM

9/27/2016 11:24:13 PM

Quote :

"Unfortunately it has so much bipartisan support that his veto is probably going to be overridden. "

Overridden 97-1. Once again, Obama is on the wrong side of history here.

9/28/2016 12:52:26 PM

No he's not. It's a dumb bill and a complete waste of time.

Now for all of the thousands of Muslim families to start suing our lawmakers over the killing of innocent people by our soldiers and drones.

9/28/2016 1:02:05 PM

yep, will be interested to see how many 1,000s (10s of thousands, 100s of thousands?) of suits will be brought against the USA now.

9/28/2016 1:32:41 PM

Quote :

"No he's not."

Yes he is.

See we can keep going back and forth like this. Fact of the matter is that this is making terrorist sponsored nations accountable.Only you, Harry Reid, and PBO dont see that as important though.

9/28/2016 1:33:48 PM

PBO?

9/28/2016 1:34:27 PM

^^do you not see any unwanted implications of it?

9/28/2016 1:38:05 PM

Quote :

"yep, will be interested to see how many 1,000s (10s of thousands, 100s of thousands?) of suits will be brought against the USA now."

I've got a couple questions

1) in what court would they be filed?
2) is there a treaty agreement that this bill would violate? or are we just talking about gentlemen's agreement with the house of saud?

9/28/2016 1:38:11 PM

Quote :

"do you not see any unwanted implications of it?"

None at all. This will be the first legislation that will only positively effect every member of the human race.

But I am sure you will want to share your legal and international diplomatic expert opinion.

9/28/2016 1:51:08 PM

Quote :

"But I am sure you will want to share your legal and international diplomatic expert opinion."

I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert on this.

It seems that you think you are, so how about offering more than "it'll be great for everyone"?

You could start by addressing dtownral's questions.

9/28/2016 1:55:39 PM

Here's the correct way to frame the absurdity of this bill: the chance that the House of Saud, with their unlimited financial resources and army of lawyers, is ever legally penalized for their alleged role in 9/11 is precisely zero. The same cannot be said for Americans overseas being negatively effected by its passage. That's all there is to it.

9/28/2016 1:57:57 PM

Well we certainly shouldn't try to find justice if the offending party has vast resources and are too big to fail.

Quote :

"You could start by addressing dtownral's questions."

I didn't make the statement he is asking about.

9/28/2016 2:13:07 PM

What I find absurd about this isn't the premise, but the near 100% bipartisan nature of it.

Did everyone just get together behind closed doors and be like "Look folks, we've got to throw some kind of turd out there that both sides support. It doesn't have to be meaningful, it doesn't even have to work, it just needs to be something."

Justice? Justice is catching the people behind it and punishing them, which, for the ones left alive, we've been working on that. At this point, isn't it still a conspiracy that the Saudis had anything to do with it?

[Edited on September 28, 2016 at 2:14 PM. Reason : adfa]

9/28/2016 2:13:28 PM

Quote :

" . It's a dumb bill and a complete waste of time. Now for all of the thousands of Muslim families to start suing our lawmakers over the killing of innocent people by our soldiers and drones"

how is justice for innocent loss of lives a waste of time? are you saying muslim lives don't matter?

9/28/2016 2:19:02 PM

^^its not all conspiracy, really the only thing you can't prove is direct support from the saudi government as a governmental institution

[Edited on September 28, 2016 at 2:23 PM. Reason : .]

9/28/2016 2:22:14 PM

So you think it is absurd that in an era of unprecedented partisanship, our Senate has found an issue that they can all agree is a slam dunk and needs to be rectified. I am sorry you are so cynical. But the thing to be upset about is that, even though all Rs and Ds can come to agreement on this issue, PBO has decided to veto the bill. I thought he was supposed to be a uniter and one we can put our hope in?

9/28/2016 2:26:54 PM

he also has to consider international politics, even if you like the bill it should be completely obvious why he had to veto it

9/28/2016 2:30:08 PM

If you want a bill that will be a uniter, pass a bipartisan budget. That won't ever happen, but it will be a uniter. Calling this bill anything like justice is just laughable. It has no teeth, it is just as symbolic as the Republicans' attempt to repeal the ACA. It's just a feel-good bill. Don't get me wrong, it is a great gesture. I just feel like we need bills from DC that actually do something.

How is this even remotely enforceable. Are we going to enact sanctions on a sovereign nation because they won't pay the victims of several thousand American citizens?

9/28/2016 2:33:22 PM

Quote :

"It has no teeth, "

So than what is PBO and the Saudi government worried about?

9/28/2016 2:37:56 PM

Quote :

"I didn't make the statement he is asking about."

I realize that, but you seem to think this is a "slam-dunk" bill and you act like you understand the implications of the bill. But after seeing your responses, I'm seeing that you really don't know the implications that it could have on the American Government and citizens, and you're just giddy because of REVENGE!

[Edited on September 28, 2016 at 2:48 PM. Reason : ]

9/28/2016 2:47:54 PM

The ability for other governments to attempt to sue us.

Sure, their suit(s) may not have any teeth either, but it opens the door to shine light on attrocities, accidents, whatever you call them, that have happened on our side as a result of waging a 15 year war in the Middle East.

9/28/2016 2:48:21 PM

I wanna know who is supposed to be enforcing these judgments. If a judge tells the Saudis to pay and they tell the judge to get fucked, then what?

9/28/2016 3:28:15 PM

That's my issue. That's why this bill is 100% symbolic. When the Saudis tell us to go fuck ourselves, we either lose face, or...what then? Sanctions? War? Tell me.

9/28/2016 3:34:26 PM