[AMV] Amerikaanse politiek #547 - #TFA

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 11:21 schreef Ulx het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

Toen de Black Panthers zo rondom een overheidsgebouw liepen vond de NRA trouwens dat dat niet kon. Kan iemand dat duiden? Zowel de Black Panthers als de NRA hadden/hebben als motto: "Only the gun can set us free!" (Of iets in die trant.)

https://www.huffingtonpos(...)ccfce4b014efe0db2f40

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[....] in North Carolina, lawmakers chose to ignore the threats. A panel of scientists on the state Coastal Resources Commission issued a dire warning in March 2010, estimating that the sea levels along the state’s coast would rise 39 inches over the next century. Conservative lawmakers and business interest groups feared the report would hurt lucrative real estate development on the state’s coast and sought to undermine it. A lobbying group committed to economic development on the coast accused the panel of “pulling data out of their hip pocket.”

Conservative state Rep. Pat McElraft, whose top campaign contributors were the North Carolina Association of Realtors and the North Carolina Home Builders’ Association, drafted a bill in response that rejected the panel’s predictions.

McElraft introduced the bill in April 2011, and it passed the legislature in the summer of 2012.

Part of the bill stipulated that state and local agencies must also refer to historical linear predictions of sea level rise rather than current research, and another alarming section required that research look only at 30-year predictions rather than at a century, as the CRC report had done. Supporters of the bill saw short-term benefits in more affordable insurance, and continued opportunities for real estate development and tourism along the attractive coast. Critics saw the long-term consequences of damaged homes and businesses and vast swaths of the state being swallowed by floods.[...]

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 11:28 schreef Wombcat het volgende:

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Het recht om wapens te dragen om je te kunnen verzetten tegen machtsmisbruik van de overheid geldt natuurlijk alleen als je de goede opvattingen hebt. Voor de verkeerde geldt het niet. In dat geval is het terrorisme.

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 11:30 schreef Ulx het volgende:

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Je moet geen verdachte huidskleur hebben of aanhanger zijn van een risicogeloof? Zoiets?

twitter:

CurtisIngraham1 twitterde op woensdag 05-09-2018 om 01:24:36 My sister, Laura Ingraham, needs to search her own moral closet and history as she rolls forward in support of this candidate. I can only assume a further lack of integrity. @FoxNews @Hadas_Gold #lauraigraham https://t.co/NPUh8vlLxk reageer retweet

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CurtisIngraham1 twitterde op donderdag 21-06-2018 om 03:13:02 Once again, I am in full support of David Hogg. My sister's recent comments likening child detention centers to summer camps is beyond disturbing. Where is her humanity? Sad and tragic. @davidhogg111 #davidhogg #LauraIngraham @Journo_Christal @TimMarc reageer retweet

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CurtisIngraham1 twitterde op donderdag 21-06-2018 om 03:51:52 My sister's repeated mean spirited, flip and insensitive remarks makes me, her brother, question her very humanity. Your continued sponsorship is disturbing to say the least. @BeachesResorts @SandalsResorts @SIRIUSXM @CarfaxReports @JohnDeere @Cabelas @davidhogg111 #DavidHogg reageer retweet

twitter:

realDonaldTrump twitterde op woensdag 12-09-2018 om 12:51:59 We got A Pluses for our recent hurricane work in Texas and Florida (and did an unappreciated great job in Puerto Rico, even though an inaccessible island with very poor electricity and a totally incompetent Mayor of San Juan). We are ready for the big one that is coming! reageer retweet

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Republicans have grown increasingly worried about losing control of the Senate, as President Trump’s approval rating tumbles and Democrats gain steam in key battleground races.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday sounded some of the most doubtful notes of Trump’s presidency that Republicans will keep the upper chamber of Congress, telling reporters, “I hope when the smoke clears, we’ll still have a majority.”

His comments came as Republican strategists and officials fretted over a fresh round of private polling on the Senate races, while public polls registered further erosion in Americans’ approval of Trump. “Shipwreck” was how one leading strategist described the situation, adding an expletive to underscore the severity of the party’s problems.

One of the most unexpected fights is in reliably GOP Texas, where Sen. Ted Cruz is trying to fend off Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Republicans are so fearful about losing the seat that they are diverting resources to Texas, a sore point in the White House after the animosity between Cruz and Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

Beyond Texas, Sen. Joe Donnelly, once seen as perhaps the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent, has opened up a slight edge over Republican businessman Mike Braun in Indiana, while hopes for picking off Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) in a state Trump won by 43 percentage points have faded along with GOP confidence in state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican nominee.

The developments signaled the most serious peril yet for Republicans’ 51-49 majority. Losing the Senate was once an unthinkable prospect as the GOP looked to gain seats in the midterms, and with the party’s grip on the House in serious jeopardy, the chamber had been seen as the last line of defense.

At the start of Trump’s tenure, some Republicans envisioned enough wins to secure a filibuster-proof majority of 60 seats, confident they could oust many of the 10 Democrats running in states Trump won in 2016. Even a few weeks ago, Republicans were talking more assuredly about flipping seats.

But less than two months till the Nov. 6 election, Republicans barely mention Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — states Trump won — as opportunities to knock out a Democrat, while McConnell reiterated that nine seats, plus Texas, were at stake.

“Arizona, Nevada, Tennessee, Montana, North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia and Florida. All of them too close to call, and every one of them like a knife fight in an alley; I mean, just a brawl in every one of those places,” McConnell told reporters in Louisville.

Republicans could still emerge with an increase in their numbers if GOP candidates eventually prevail in many of these close races, with Democrats seriously concerned about Florida, where Republican Gov. Rick Scott is running about even against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

The dire warnings also could serve as a wake-up call to GOP donors for the final eight weeks of the campaign.

But for the GOP, simply retaining its majority — which was whittled by a seat after a stunning upset in the Alabama special election last year — has looked like a more challenging goal by the day, as controversy swirls around Trump, the public loses confidence in the president and GOP candidates are slow to gain traction.

A Washington Post-ABC News national poll conducted in late August found just 38 percent of voters approved of the job that Trump was doing, compared with 60 percent who disapproved. His approval rating in April was 44 percent.

These difficulties have come into sharp focus in Texas, where Cruz is fighting for political survival against O’Rourke, a rising liberal star who is raising record-setting sums of cash and attracting large crowds across a ruby-red state. At the end of June, O’Rourke had close to $14 million cash on hand to Cruz’s $9 million, according to Federal Election Commission reports.

The tough realities of Texas have prompted an unexpected alliance between Cruz and the Republicans he spent years waging a vendetta against as a senator and as a candidate for president — including Trump and McConnell.

The sudden cooperation underscores how much the GOP fears losing Texas. The shock waves are being felt well beyond the state, as its several expensive media markets could force the party to spend money there that it will have to subtract from GOP hopefuls in other battlegrounds.

“Other campaigns are going to be shorted due to the lackluster nature of the campaign,” said one White House official, speaking of the Cruz operation.

McConnell recently assured Cruz in a private conversation that resources would be there for him, according to people familiar with the talk. Trump is planning to campaign for Cruz in Texas next month.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC helmed by a former top McConnell aide, has recently taken a close look at Texas, conducting polling and summarizing its findings in a memo, according to Chris Pack, a spokesman for the group.

The organization also announced a seven-figure advertising campaign in five other states on Tuesday. The ads mostly target Democratic candidates.

A Cruz-McConnell partnership would have been unimaginable when Cruz called McConnell a liar on the Senate floor in July 2015 over strategy on legislation. A Cruz-Trump alliance would have seemed equally implausible after Cruz labeled Trump a “pathological liar” and declined to endorse him at the Republican National Convention.

Beyond Trump and McConnell, Cruz angered other Republicans with his unsuccessful effort to strip funds from the Affordable Care Act in 2013, which forced a 16-day partial government shutdown, and his support for outside groups that financed primary challengers to GOP senators.

“They are working together for political expediency,” said Rick Tyler, a former Cruz spokesman. “These people don’t like each other.”

Cruz spoke about his plight at a luncheon for Republican senators earlier this summer, according to people familiar with his remarks. One GOP senator said Cruz sought to convince them that he was facing a“real race,” citing polls and noting that O’Rourke was amassing cash.

Like others interviewed for this story, the senator spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

In Texas on Tuesday, Cruz told reporters he was eager to debate O’Rourke five times. “Typically, sitting officeholders don’t suggest that many debates. They don’t want to do any debates. But the reason I proposed that is, I think we owe it to the voters of Texas.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), whom Cruz declined to endorse in his 2014 primary, is hosting a fundraiser for Cruz in Washington next month.

Public polls have shown Cruz leading O’Rourke by single digits. David McIntosh, the president of the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group that has long championed Cruz, said donors he has spoken with have been caught off-guard by the tightness of the contest.

“I think, particularly in Texas, it’s like: ‘Oh yeah, I didn’t think it would be a big race. Yes, we need to win it. I’ll help you do that.’ And the same around the country,” McIntosh said.

Speaking to reporters in Louisville on Tuesday, McConnell called the race “competitive” but said he expected Cruz to prevail. One advantage for any Republican in the state is the ability of voters to simply cast a straight-party-ticket ballot.

Despite Trump’s poll numbers, GOP strategists still consider the president their most effective weapon in the fight to keep control of the Senate. They say his trips to red states with marquee contests, like Montana, North Dakota, Missouri and Indiana, have provided boosts for their candidates.

The Senate Leadership Fund’s new Indiana ad begins with footage of Trump praising Braun and Braun pledging to fight for the president.

Whether the bursts of momentum will last is another question party leaders are grappling with as they eye the final two months before the November elections. A steady stream of explosive stories about dissent within Trump’s administration and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation hover over the fall stretch.

Republican strategists are closely watching suburban areas, where they fear that anger with Trump could spark a backlash against GOP candidates. The suburbs loom larger over the battle for the House, with many rural states set to decide Senate contests. But Senate strategists are still mindful of the challenges they may pose.

One bright spot for the GOP has been the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Republican leaders are confident they will confirm him this month, giving Trump and his party a landmark achievement just before voting begins.

Until then, they will have to weather a political storm that has increasingly stoked private GOP comparisons to 2006, a banner election year for the Democrats. Amid that perceived danger, every competitive Senate race is becoming more critical.

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 13:12 schreef Ulx het volgende:
‘Shipwreck’: GOP grows fearful about losing Senate as candidates struggle, Trump support tumbles

De GOP raakt een beetje in paniek.

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 14:10 schreef archito het volgende:

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In de voorspellingen van 538 worden de kansen voor de Republikeinen in het huis er ook niet beter op i.i.g.

https://projects.fivethir(...)ouse/?ex_cid=rrpromo

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 14:22 schreef Monolith het volgende:

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Het huis en de senaat verschillen ook nog wel significant, hoewel bij Predictwise de kansen voor de Democraten op een meerderheid in de senaat op zo'n 24% staan.

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Donald Trump is president, but is he fit to run a bar?

A Washington, D.C., liquor board will consider that question Wednesday after a group of city residents complained that the owner of the Trump International Hotel fails the “good character” test required of anyone who wants to sell wine, beer or spirits in the city.
In their grievance to the city’s Alcohol Beverage Control Board, the group presented a litany of what they say are Trump’s moral failures, calling him a liar, a fraudster and a racist who associates with criminals.

The hotel, just blocks from the White House, opened in 2016 and has become a hangout for administration aides and Trump loyalists. The president himself, who does not drink, has appeared at major fundraisers there, and his campaign has spent thousands of dollars on events. Foreign governments, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are frequent patrons, too. In 2017 and 2018, Kuwait’s ambassador to the U.S. booked the hotel for galas to celebrate the anniversary of the country’s independence from British rule.

Yanking the hotel’s liquor license would put a serious dent in its events business, including weddings and fundraisers. The hotel's steakhouse, BLT Prime, and the lobby’s popular Benjamin Bar and Lounge — mocked by locals for serving wine by the spoonful — operate under a separate license that isn’t targeted by the current complaint. But both could be hit if the case goes forward, because they, like the hotel, have liquor licenses held by Trump Old Post Office LLC, which in turn is owned by the president.

It’s too soon to say whether local leaders — all of them appointed by the city’s Democratic mayor — will revoke the license; the alcohol control board on Wednesday will decide whether to start that process by recommending a review. But the challenge is just the latest attempt at resistance in a city in which Trump won only about 4 percent of the vote.

“The merits of the complaint are strong,” said Joshua Levy, a partner with law firm Cunningham Levy Muse, who represents the residents. “The evidence of Mr. Trump’s bad character is strong.”

Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten and BLT spokeswoman Rachel Wormser did not respond to requests for comment.

The control board has cited character flaws to deny liquor licenses in the past, including to applicants who have lied to investigators, misrepresented their finances or had run-ins with the law. But while it has sought to revoke licenses for violations such as serving underage customers, running the taps after hours and shoddy record-keeping, it’s unusual for the board to investigate an existing license on the basis of character.

The seven complainants against Trump include a federal judge, a former chair of the White House Council on Faith and Neighborhood Partnerships, and several religious leaders. Their effort is being funded by Jerry Hirsch, an Arizona Republican and chairman of the nonprofit Make Integrity Great Again.

"Character and the rule of law comprise the foundation of our society, and yet both are under assault,” Hirsch said in a written statement. “This complaint is important because it is a test of both, at a critical time in American history."[....]

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 14:48 schreef Ulx het volgende:
Als ze de response op de orkaan verneuken is dat ook niet echt gunstig.

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 14:46 schreef klappernootopreis het volgende:

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gekke dingen? Refereer jij aan het kiezen van een malloot als president of al die ondoordachte haastwetten die ze er doorheen willen jagen?

twitter:

paulkrugman twitterde op woensdag 12-09-2018 om 15:34:13 Nobody could have predicted: the Trump tax cut has caused soaring budget deficits 1/ https://t.co/x8lIcm76Ho https://t.co/0Q9CUuNa5Q reageer retweet

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PeterAlexander twitterde op woensdag 12-09-2018 om 14:38:58 Trump, this morning, as Florence barrels toward the Carolina coast: "Bad things can happen when you’re talking about a storm this size, called Mother Nature, you never know, but we know." https://t.co/Lw1onsooT8 reageer retweet

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kylegriffin1 twitterde op woensdag 12-09-2018 om 16:25:05 Docs reviewed by BuzzFeed reveal a previously undisclosed aspect of the Trump Tower meeting: a complex web of financial transactions among some planners and participants.Investigators are focused on banking activity after the meeting and the election.https://t.co/U6gLUuaezj reageer retweet

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 15:54 schreef Ulx het volgende:
McConnell screws Dems ahead of election with October session

Het zijn natuurlijk niet alleen de Democraten die dan in sessie zijn. Het is een gok van McConnell.

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 14:37 schreef archito het volgende:

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Daar ben ik van op de hoogte inderdaad, huis + senaat zou voor de democraten een dream come true zijn. Ik ben alleen benieuwd of slechtere voorspellingen voor het huis ervoor zou kunnen zorgen dat de Republikeinen nog meer in paniek raken en gekke dingen gaan doen.

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Op woensdag 12 september 2018 16:31 schreef westwoodblvd het volgende:

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Wel in overwegende mate natuurlijk. Vraag me af waarom ze niet gewoon niet komen opdagen.