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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#177476: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:10:17 PM

[up][up][up]That may be true but that doesn't mean these individuals have the right to form their own government. The US is a big and diverse place but part of the reason it got to be so powerful is because it covers such a wide area and has many different kinds of people in it.

edited 9th Mar '17 6:11:48 PM by Kostya

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#177477: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:15:35 PM

It's right in the goddamn constitution.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, 'except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

They've been exploiting that loophole since 1865

edited 9th Mar '17 6:16:18 PM by TacticalFox88

New Survey coming this weekend!
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#177478: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:20:16 PM

I mean, I can sort of understand the logic. If we're going to keep these people locked up and provide them with food and such we should at least get some kind of return on our investment.

However, it gets horribly twisted when you promote policies that lock up nonviolent people and use them for forced labor.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#177479: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:23:01 PM

[up] Oh, and said labor is occasionally "out-sourced" to private businesses.

Guess how the Trump administration plans to fill the void left behind once they kick out the migrant workers? Go on, guess.

Disgusted, but not surprised
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#177480: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:23:07 PM

House Judiciary Committee passes Anti-Class Action Lawsuit Bill without Debate or even a hearing. The House will vote on it on Tuesday.

This is scarier then Ryancare. It'll basically kill off Class-Action Lawsuits entirely.

DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#177481: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:24:30 PM

Personally, I do not believe that territorial regions have an inherent right to self-determination. Individual human beings do, that's why civil rights exist. But territorial regions are just convenient administrative areas. Claims to cultural and historical uniqueness almost never stand up to close scrutiny, because no region on Earth is culturally homogenous enough to claim they have a right to independence. The South (the Confederacy) is the perfect example- they were fighting for white self-determination, but the fact was several million other people lived there who did not share white southern culture. By the same logic, any region, however small, has an inherent right to independence, and that way lies anarchy. The default assumption should be unity, unless it can be shown that nearly everyone in both regions will be better off with separation.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#177482: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:24:46 PM

[up][up][up]So we have poor minorities working in our crop fields. Lovely.

edited 9th Mar '17 6:25:09 PM by Kostya

IFwanderer use political terms to describe, not insult from Earth Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
use political terms to describe, not insult
#177483: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:27:46 PM

[up][up][up]Could that law survive a challenge in court?

edited 9th Mar '17 6:27:56 PM by IFwanderer

1 2 We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. -KV
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#177484: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:33:25 PM

[up]x4 If that bill somehow gets through Congress and Trump doesn't veto it, will his supporters finally realize that he doesn't actually give a shit about "draining the swamp"?

[up][up] Poor minorities slaving away in fields. "Working" implies they're being paid.

I wouldn't be surprised if Trump starts using prisoners to build his damn wall.

edited 9th Mar '17 6:34:43 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#177485: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:38:12 PM

[up] And some cartel thug could just blow a big hole in the wall with a RPG-7.

edited 9th Mar '17 6:42:09 PM by Bat178

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#177486: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:38:22 PM

The law abolishing class action suits—if it does that—can survive a court challenge. Currently, access to the courts is not necessarily a fundamental right. (Though equal access to the courts is).
That doesn't mean its inevitable though. It's one of those err maybe things. (The lower courts will probably take a dim view of the law, especially the ninth circuit).
And more practically, the court usually doesn't like being undercut, but there's a Trumpist-GOP majority on SCOTUS and anything can happen.

Edit: Good news though. You can always start up your own ponzi scheme if you're short on cash...not like you're going to get sued for it. And the bill to abolish the SEC is probably down the line if you're worried about prison. Or better, don't wait and just set up an asbestos stand. It's fireproof!

edited 9th Mar '17 6:48:15 PM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#177487: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:45:53 PM

[up][up] Nah, the cartels will just start making more deliveries via boats instead. The Coast Guard is getting its budget cut after all...to help pay for the wall.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#177488: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:47:03 PM

[up][up] The Mafia will also be able to run rampant in the US again, too, as the courts are ultimately what took away most of their power. It'll be the 1920's all over again, where you have to try not to piss off Big Sal or you'll get whacked, and try to stay out of the crossfire.

edited 9th Mar '17 6:57:00 PM by Bat178

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#177489: Mar 9th 2017 at 6:52:49 PM

[up]

It'll be the 1920's all over again

Which of course isn't ominous at all.

edited 9th Mar '17 6:53:14 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#177490: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:09:10 PM

I mean, I generally trust people in positions of power to resist attempts to take away said power, so I wouldn't expect the courts to let this stand.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#177491: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:24:24 PM

That thing about cutting the Coast Guard in order to pay for the wall...it is ridiculously stupid. The Coast Guard saves a ton of lives every year and, yes, they cut down on smuggling and people sneaking their way in on boats.

Seriously, they're going to end up leaving every other border wide open just to block land access from Mexico at this rate.

But, they are getting increasingly random with their cuts. Usually you can see an (idiotic) ideological reason for it, but the Coast Guard? Who hates the Coast Guard? Why are they a target?

Honestly, it's probably because they shot themselves in the foot with paying for the wall and paying for that increase in the military budget at the same time while trying to slash taxes. They're going to have to constantly keep cutting because the tax revenue is going to drop every single year and the cost of the wall is going to go up every single year.

edited 9th Mar '17 7:27:41 PM by Zendervai

Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#177492: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:25:33 PM

I suppose a "wall" is just a catchier soundbite than "reinforcing the sea border" or whatever other, more reasonable-sounding (though still xenophobic) promises Trump could have made.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#177493: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:28:37 PM

[up][up] If you think that is stupid (it is), you should also know that airport security and FEMA are also getting their budgets cut to pay for the wall.

edited 9th Mar '17 7:29:06 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#177494: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:30:32 PM

[up] And the airport security are the ones giving a lot of legal immigrants trouble and threatening to deport them and/or bar them from the US...

edited 9th Mar '17 7:30:59 PM by Bat178

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#177495: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:30:34 PM

These morons so desperately want a terrorist attack. Ugh.

New Survey coming this weekend!
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#177496: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:30:54 PM

...what? What the hell!? Are they really that insanely stupid?

Well it does make it really obvious that they aren't actually scared of terrorists.

Oh, I just realized that they might want a terrorist attack. It would make an excuse for taking more control...except that they've really hurt themselves with the budget.

edited 9th Mar '17 7:32:33 PM by Zendervai

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#177497: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:31:57 PM

[up][up] Which is ridiculously awful and stupid in so many ways. Do they honestly think that if a terrorist attack does happen, that there is absolutely no way they or their loved ones won't be casualties?

[up]

...what? What the hell!? Are they really that insanely stupid?

Yes.

edited 9th Mar '17 7:32:42 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
FluffyMcChicken My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare from where the floating lights gleam Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: In another castle
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
#177498: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:33:04 PM

It was actually pointed out in the Military Thread that severely cutting the budgets of the agencies responsible for enforcing immigration policies could actually be a nefarious scheme planned by the likes of Bannon; by making the borders actually more porous, the Trump Administration could then make the case for demanding greater power in a Vetenari Job Security gambit.

edited 9th Mar '17 7:33:21 PM by FluffyMcChicken

Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#177499: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:33:31 PM

[up][up][up][up] I think that might actually be the point. They want terrorists to infiltrate and attack the US so they have reasons to enact even harsher restrictions on freedom in the US.

[up][up][up][nja]

edited 9th Mar '17 7:34:24 PM by Bat178

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#177500: Mar 9th 2017 at 7:35:53 PM

I still think it's entirely possible that the administration is just that stupid.

Trying to figure out whether the latest batshit bill or EO is malice, stupidity, or both is a challenge.

Disgusted, but not surprised

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