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[EnigmaticHat]

It's still always sad to see the campaign sign-up stuff at the bottom of all these pages knowing that I won't get to vote due to shitty US policies.

US territory but not US state?

[penguinofhonor]

I thought this was a joke when I saw it in the WTF thread, but the governor of Alabama really put up a GoFundMe to fill a $300,000,000 hole in the state budget. Though apparently he's doing it more to make a point than to actually raise funds. Here's a comment from him:

I do appreciate the comments but please realize this was to prove a point that most people do not want to pay more taxes but are for taxes when the other guy is to be taxed. Also, even the few donations that have been received reflect our ability to budget State functions (earmarked for education a rate of 8 to 2 (education to other govt services). It is easy to get support for education but not so easy for he remaining rolls of Government.

Here's a direct link to the GFM. Judging from the reactions in the WTF thread, this seems to be working as a way to get people talking about state budget issues. That's actually kind of impressive considering this is a pretty "boring" issue that people don't usually care about.

[Descan]

"Haha silly people, you want to pay for EDUCATING PEOPLE? HAW HAW HAW"

At least, if I was a partisan hack, that's how I'd take that.

[Sheb]

So I guess his point is that people don't want to pay for many necessary government services, so taxes are good?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

No, his point is that taxes are bad and it's hypocritical to support taxing groups you are not a part of.

[Sheb]

I genuinely cannot make a coherent argument supporting that point on that basis.

[wierd]

The way I see it..


Not everyone has the same senses of what is a priority.  Some people who live in a gated community may feel that there is sufficient police presence, for instance-- while people in the inner city may feel otherwise (or feel that the police are corrupt.)

Similar with education, or with roads/bridges.

Different areas need different things, but a state government covers more than just your town. It covers the whole state.

Complaining about how government officials are mishandling money does not really address anything other than espouse one's own ignorance of the scope of what a state government has to try to resolve.  Complaining about kickbacks to businesses does not address the realities of free interstate commerce-- That states need to be attractive to business interests, or those interests will move elsewhere, and then they wont be supplying any jobs in the state, etc.

It sure would be nice if the world were simple, and people acted with integrity and ethics-- but that is not how the world works, and government reflects that.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I genuinely cannot make a coherent argument supporting that point on that basis.

"You poors want to take all the money rich people have in taxes, but you never want to contribute yourself. The only reason you're for taxing the rich is because you aren't being asked to pony up yourselves, and if the tables were turned you'd sing a different tune. Furthermore, everybody's focus on education funding both deprives the other sectors and prevents budget makers from properly cutting back spending."

[BFEL]

It's still always sad to see the campaign sign-up stuff at the bottom of all these pages knowing that I won't get to vote due to shitty US policies.

US territory but not US state?

Nope. Immigrant but can't get citizenship due to inefficiency in the process to the point where I'll have my Bachelor's degree before I can get citizenship, and I came here when I was 1.

Ugh, sorry man, wish our policy makers would focus on making legal immigration not literally impossible instead of brandishing their hateboners against illegals.

[smjjames]

It's still always sad to see the campaign sign-up stuff at the bottom of all these pages knowing that I won't get to vote due to shitty US policies.

US territory but not US state?

Nope. Immigrant but can't get citizenship due to inefficiency in the process to the point where I'll have my Bachelor's degree before I can get citizenship, and I came here when I was 1.

Ugh, sorry man, wish our policy makers would focus on making legal immigration not literally impossible instead of brandishing their hateboners against illegals.

I thought there was this thing where if you've been in the US for 14 consecutive years, you can become an US citizen? Obviously it's not that simple and I thought it was something for those who came to the US while still a kid.

@BFEL: That and the republicans keep stonewalling every time they hear the word amnesty and they also keep claiming that everything the democrats put out is amnesty. And of course, theres that 'NO COMPROMISE EVAR!' thing that the republicans have going.

Theres also the 'Secure the border first, THEN we can talk', but nobody can agree on HOW to secure the border.

Some of the candidates are second or even third generation descendants of immigrants. Would be interesting to see what those guys policies are on the whole immigration deal.

Also, I just realized something, Bernie Sanders would be our first Jewish president if he got the nomination. His wiki says that he isn't particularily religious, which is fine with me. I wonder how that would affect policies on Israel though.

[mainiac]

Probably nothing too different from his generally left wing stance.  American Jews with a left wing bent tend not to be too happy with Israeli politics these days.

[FearfulJesuit]

"Donald Trump on Tuesday morning in an interview on CNN's "New Day" proclaimed that he is "the most fabulous whiner" when confronted with an opinion piece that criticized him using the same label.

"I do whine because I want to win and I'm not happy about not winning and I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win," Donald  Trump told CNN's Chris Cuomo on Tuesday.

[smjjames]

"Donald Trump on Tuesday morning in an interview on CNN's "New Day" proclaimed that he is "the most fabulous whiner" when confronted with an opinion piece that criticized him using the same label.

"I do whine because I want to win and I'm not happy about not winning and I am a whiner and I keep whining and whining until I win," Donald  Trump told CNN's Chris Cuomo on Tuesday.

When I saw that earlier, I thought, 'okay, so he's going to be the whineisident'.

Also, check this out: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/10/politics/donald-trump-debate-memo/

One of the leaked things is that he wants to send ISIS supporters to Gitmo

Some others:
"On global warming:

    "Global warming has been proven to be a fraud."

Great, a global warming denyer, then again, aren't all Republicans?

"On creationism vs. evolution:

    "I believe in both.""

Fair enough.

Edit: He's starting to sound more scripted doesn't he? heh.

[FearfulJesuit]

I'm starting to wonder if he isn't actually a deep cover liberal, or at least a deep cover moderate. Remember the '90s, when he was in favor of abortion and single-payer healthcare? The state of the GOP is such that a canny operator with a few billion to burn on a campaign could put the knife into the barely-healed rift between the establishment and the Tea Party, make the election look like a repeat of 1964, and force the GOP to wake up and smell the coffee.

Trump isn't an idiot, I don't think. He's a narcissist beyond the imagination of mortal man, yes. He's an odious buffoon and misogynist, yes. But you don't make a $10 billion fortune by not knowing what you're doing, especially when your strategy revolves mostly around gaming loopholes in bankruptcy law.

He knows he can't win anywhere near an EC or popular vote majority (or even plurality), which means that he's not running to win- he's running to make it impossible for the GOP to take the White House in 2016, whether he becomes the nominee (because everyone outside of the far right hates his guts and he'll get trounced) or has to run third party (because everyone outside the far right hates his guts, except they'll split their votes for him AND the GOP, so that he and whoever got nominated in his stead get even more trounced).

Why would anyone with a shred of sanity do that, unless delivering the GOP its ass on a silver platter come November were exactly what they wanted?

[smjjames]

No, I don't remember what his position was in the 90's, I didn't pay much attention to politics until the 2000 elections, mostly because I was a kid then.

Also, heres some new polls: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/11/politics/trump-iowa-new-hampshire-polls/index.html Sounds like Jeb has been thoroughly knocked down several notches, especially in Iowa and New Hampshire.