American Politics Thread: Orange is the new POTUS (Archive)

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

I can't get over how stupid that ban is.

I can't get over how stupid the current President of the United States is.

[Drak]

In the first place, the White House doesn’t ask for such wiretaps, ever; such requests come directly from NSA, the FBI, or the Justice Department. Involvement of any White House in such highly classified requests would immediately set off enormous red flags in the IC and DoJ due to their glaringly political—and therefore illegal—aim.

There’s a special top secret Federal court that handles such sensitive warrant requests, which are issued under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which allows for intelligence gathering against foreign spies and terrorists. They key words in FISA are the first two: foreign intelligence. Warrants are only issued against foreign targets which are deemed to be plausibly involved in espionage or terrorism against the United States.

However, Americans who call or email those suspicious foreigners may appear in signals intelligence collection, although under FISA their identities are concealed in SIGINT reports in a process the IC terms “minimization.” In other words, your civil liberties as an American do not include the right to communicate with foreign bad guys without possible monitoring. Keep in mind, though, that under FISA the people being targeted are foreign spies and terrorists, not Americans.

Having worked with a lot of FISA collection during my time in the spy business, I can state without reservation that President Trump’s accusations are so inherently implausible as to render them an absurdity. He needs to offer hard evidence for such incendiary claims or back down publicly, preferably with an apology to his predecessor, whom he has maligned without cause.

http://observer.com/2017/03/kremling...-house-bugged/

[troutman]

'Last Man on Earth' Just Killed Off Most of the Republican Party

http://exclaim.ca/film/article/last_...mpaign=fbpwall

The episode was called "Got Milk?" and revisited the early days of a virus that wiped out much of humanity.

In one scene, Pamela is convinced that the president must have a cure for the virus. We then learn that the president has succumbed to its power. But it's not who you expect — apparently, in this world Trump has already been impeached, as it's President Mike Pence who dies.

From there, all of Pence's successors are killed by the virus too. In the episode, Paul Ryan, Rex Tillerson, Steve Mnuchin, Jeff Sessions and Betsy DeVos all die.

[DuffMan]

It's funny, yet sad to watch Trump surrogates defend his insanity.
He could say the moon landings were fake and there should be an investigation, and Kelly Anne would try to spin it as making sense. "The President knows things no one else does, the President has reports he believes are true"
What a clown show.

[nik-]

That one lady laughing during her interview while defending the wiretap rant was a pretty bad look. She can't even get out the answers without succumbing to the ridiculousness of it.

[JackJack]

Death by a thousand cuts. Trump has picked fights with the media and the IC. They'll continue to chip away at him until something gives and he can't take it anymore.

This is only the second month!

[direwolf]

From what I can tell, there isn't much difference between this new ban and the previous one, other than a few small details (removing Iraq, 90 days instead of 120, people with valid visas are exempt). It still clearly targets Muslims, and they still have zero evidence that anyone from those specific countries have been involved in any terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

It will be interesting to see if this one actually holds up in court.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by direwolf

From what I can tell, there isn't much difference between this new ban and the previous one, other than a few small details (removing Iraq, 90 days instead of 120, people with valid visas are exempt). It still clearly targets Muslims, and they still have zero evidence that anyone from those specific countries have been involved in any terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

It will be interesting to see if this one actually holds up in court.

Exempting valid visas is a huge difference though. People's lives were devastated by that part. The new one is still offensive, unnecessary and ineffective though.

[Kybosh]

Travel Ban 2: The Bannoning

[ernie]

Originally Posted by direwolf

From what I can tell, there isn't much difference between this new ban and the previous one, other than a few small details (removing Iraq, 90 days instead of 120, people with valid visas are exempt). It still clearly targets Muslims, and they still have zero evidence that anyone from those specific countries have been involved in any terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.

It will be interesting to see if this one actually holds up in court.

The problem with the old one was the banning of people who had already gone through vetting and had valid visas. It also addressed the Syrian ban which if anyone knows anything about refugeee vetting for the US is still completely unnecessary but it's no longer indefinite.

This does target Muslims for sure but ultimately in this case they aren't affecting the lives of current citizens or residents so it will likely be OK. Completely pointless but fine.

[direwolf]

What a f'n joke. Is the Canadian government doing anything about this kind of crap? This seems to be happening a lot lately to people with brown skin trying to cross the border.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...visa-1.4011202

A Canadian woman travelling on a Canadian passport says she was turned away at the U.S. border and told she needed a valid immigrant visa to enter the country.

Manpreet Kooner, 30, is a Canadian citizen who was born to Indian parents in Canada and raised here. She now lives in Montreal's LaSalle borough.

She told CBC she was on her way from Montreal to a spa in Vermont for a day trip with two friends, who are both white, Sunday afternoon. They never made it.

Kooner said she was held at the border for six hours before being turned away.

At one point, she said, a border agent told her: "I know you may feel like you've been Trumped," an apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump.

A spokesperson for that department told CBC News the common category of visa that is used for short term, non-immigrant travel to the United States – including tourism and business – is the B1/B2 visa type. However, the website says travellers from Canada and Bermuda generally do not need visas for tourism and visits.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an average of 1.2 million people a day try to enter the U.S. at all crossings. Of those, an average of between 300 and 500 are denied entry for various reasons.

Kooner, who is now in Ottawa and will visit the embassy Monday morning, says she has contacted lawyers to see what to do next.

She spent more than $1,000 on tickets to attend a musical festival in Miami at the end of the month, and planned to return to that city in May for her bachelorette party. Kooner is now thinking about selling those tickets and cancelling the party. She said the thought of having to cross the border now makes her feel sick.

There was an update on this story just a few minutes ago on CBC. The woman went to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa this morning and they apparently told her that she shouldn't have been denied at the border, and that they don't know why it happened. They also couldn't give her a straight answer on why she would need to apply for this special visa if she's a born & raised Canadian citizen with a valid passport.

[Flash Walken]

The breakdown of law and order.

[Drak]

Originally Posted by direwolf

What a f'n joke. Is the Canadian government doing anything about this kind of crap? This seems to be happening a lot lately to people with brown skin trying to cross the border.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...visa-1.4011202





There was an update on this story just a few minutes ago on CBC. The woman went to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa this morning and they apparently told her that she shouldn't have been denied at the border, and that they don't know why it happened. They also couldn't give her a straight answer on why she would need to apply for this special visa if she's a born & raised Canadian citizen with a valid passport.

This is so completely fd and scary. I was reading that Australia's secret service director was given the border treatment even though he has a diplomatic passport, although I could only find one article on it and wasn't sure of its validity.

Here in Victoria, the Victoria school board has suspended all school trips to the USA until further notice.

[MRCboicgy]

https://twitter.com/peterwsinger/sta...63457486938112
"Your reminder the President's strategist believes certain ethnic groups don't have the "DNA" to be good US citizens"

[Looch City]

My parents are flying to Seattle on Thursday. Hope they don't get caught up in this bull####...

[Thor]

Are they brown?

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by Thor

Are they brown?

They certainly don't "look" brown but their passport says born in Iran sooo...

[Fuzz]

so ####ed.

[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by Thor

Are they brown?

Funny, but that's such a legit question now.

I'm also flying via Seattle Thursday and was, for the first time ever, very conscious of my whiteness when I made those travel plans. If I was anything else, or been travelling with my not so white gf, I'd have re-routed.

Sad state of affairs.

[Swift]

Yep, my step-daughter is planning on going on her first adult trip with her friends to NY. She's a Canadian citizen, born and raised here but is brown (of Indian descent like the lady in the article), and so we've both been trying to talk her out of it. Maybe she'd be fine and nothing happens, but I don't think it's worth taking that risk right now.