Juliajms

I remember and I know it's meant to have an effect and it does.

^ Ugh. Watching people in wheel chairs being manhandled by police. There is so much chaos and so many terrible things happening right now. I hate feeling so helpless.

They already were. Trump knows exactly how to divide people. Then again, can we blame him for bringing out what was already there? Not sure. One of my Facebook friends has been going on a tear about the NFL protests for a couple of days now. She became an activist when Trump was elected. She's from Iowa and I watched her beat her head against the wall trying to engage her conservative friends on the topic. It was pretty sad. Her last message was basically "all my conservative friends are racist assholes and I'm done." I'm guessing she has fewer friends today than she did two days ago.

When Christiane Amanpour says she's afraid I know I should be too. https://twitter.com/camanpour/status/912348486028468225

Yes. If anything it feels closer to me than it has in a long time. I was born in the 70's and it felt close back then too. I remember seeing the black and white films of the atrocities. It had to be early 80's by then, my mother didn't police my TV watching. I still have a hard time accepting that people are allowing these extremists to gain footing again, both in the U.S. and in Europe. I guess the bright side is that Germany reelected AM.

https://twitter.com/camanpour/status/912001944591458305 ^ A sweetheart deal for Texas perhaps? I'm not sure either, but it's obviously got nothing to do with protecting his people. This is disturbing news:

This pissing match with North Korea is pretty terrifying. Meanwhile Trump is more focused on insulting sports figures exercising their right to protest. I can only imagine how NK is going to react to our military flying near their airspace. I honestly don't know how we are going to survive three and a half more years of this madman.

Thank God for John McCain. Also, while I am not a fan of Rand Paul, I appreciate that he flat out said he wouldn't be bribed or threatened because those of us paying attention know that's what was happening here. I can hardly believe it didn't work.

The less Ben Sasse does the happier I am. This was a good article, but Sasse is enthrall to the Koch brothers and anyone expecting him to stand up for what's right will be waiting along time. I also freely admit that he's a very smart, well educated man. That's why the older I get the more I respect goodness and kindness over intellectual ability.

Discussion of the number of refugee's 45 will let in next year. Ugh. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/09/trump-refugees/540342/?utm_source=atltw

So many lives are in his hands. Lord help us.

We already knew this, but I'm still pleased. Manafort told to expect indictment. I hope he sings. https://www.vox.com/2017/9/18/16330978/paul-manafort-wiretap-indictment

St Louis police chanting "Whose Streets, Our Streets". http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/351173-st-louis-police-officers-chant-whose-streets-our-streets-during

I think they are going to manage it too, although I thought the same thing last time. I figure if they throw enough darts they'll eventually hit the target. I'll keep contacting my senators, but there are both useless as is Don Bacon.

^ I think is argument is valid, but I'd be interested in what people who have a lot more experience in advocacy have to say about it.

They just won't stop with these awful healthcare bills. I guess they are only two votes away from passing it.

Thank God. They never could have deported even a significant fraction of these kids, but the fear the end of DACA created was so unjust and dangerous. I can hardly believe that Trump did the right thing for once. I'm not giving him credit though. He created this evil, so he gets zero points for righting it unless there is amnesty. On another note, can it really be true that we haven't made any progress in hiring practices for black people in 25 years? If not for Trump I would truly not believe it, even now I wonder if there is some flaw in the data. http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/09/11/1706255114.full

I'm for some version of this as well, but as Marceline said it's not happening with the Republicans in charge.

What a cute baby.

Looks like the Republicans are trying to got the ADA. https://www.aclu.org/blog/disability-rights/congress-wants-change-americans-disabilities-act-and-undermine-civil-rights

The percentage of people against them roughly correlates to Trumps base. They aren't going to change their minds under any circumstances. All the arguments differentiating the DACA recipients from their parents play into Republican hands, imo. If talking heads say they deserve to stay because they didn't break the law, isn't the obvious implication that the people who did break the law do deserve to be deported? In the end, nearly a million people can't be deported, so it doesn't matter that much anyway. Especially not when democrats are so far from power that our arguments are falling on deaf ears anyway. I just hate to see people living in fear when it shouldn't be this way.

Some do, some don't just like people who were born here. Does it matter in the case of Dreamers? Would it really be ok to kick them out if they weren't contributing more than they take? I keep seeing people on CNN making these elaborate arguments about why they should get to stay. 76% of the American people think that they shouldn't just get to stay, but that they should get to be citizens. The problem isn't the people it's 45 and Congress. I'm certainly not arguing against them. If I were in charge I would give them amnesty. Nothing else begins to make sense. I am arguing against the notion that Americans by and large are lazy, incurious and think immigrants are stealing their jobs. It's just not true, most Americans are by and large pro immigration (and a pretty big chunk of Americans are immigrants for that matter). Most people even think that the parents of the Dreamers should be given a path to citizenship. The small number of people against legal immigration are outliers. Poll after poll shows all of those things to be true. Your mother's truths and experiences are her own, I wouldn't presume to argue on that front. I'm not even feeling particularly optimistic about the US right now on the whole. I just don't think lack of work ethic is our problem, so much as the incredible income equality gap we're facing. Meanwhile, the Republicans are working on making that even worse.

@JaneAusten I think the first place we miscommunication is on the definition of "hard work". When I use that term I mean it literally. I'm of a mind that everyone who works at McDonald's or on a road crew are working harder than I do. I recognize that some people use that term to mean going to college and climbing the economic ladder, which I did do with a lot of luck (and no doubt a side of white privilege) on my side. The second place would be where you said "If Americans aren't lazy..." without a qualifier. You didn't say all, but that is implied when you don't use the qualifier "some", at which point doesn't labeling Americans in that way become kind of pointless? Find me a society that doesn't have it's share of lazy people. I'll also completely agree with you that there are plenty of entitled white people out there. I guess one difference I have with many of the people on this board is that the lens I view the world through is primarily economic. I haven't been poor for nearly 25 years, but I will never lose that class identity. In fact, the people I like least in this world are people who grew up poor made it out and then congratulate themselves on their hard work, while blaming everyone else for not doing better. As if luck and innate ability didn't play a huge part.

Wow. Way to paint and entire nation with one brush. Most Americans work very hard, not sure how a Fox news talking points changes that. I don't see any evidence that most Americans believe immigrants are stealing "their jobs". Most Americans favor legal immigration (and the Dreamers) and Trump lost by 3 million votes. I'm pretty sure most of us know the reasons there aren't enough Americans to fit some of these skilled jobs. First of all, any population will only have a certain number of people who are intelligent and educated enough to meet those job requirements. The average IQ in the US is 100, we've talked about this before. Working hard doesn't overcome a lack of brainpower. Racism and lack of opportunity for the poor certainly play a part in lack of opportunity for some of the people that would be smart enough to train for these jobs. I'm all for letting in more skilled immigrants. It's probably one point the Republicans and I agree on. That is as long as it's not a situation like Disney where they are firing the workers they have to get cheaper people in. 2/3 Americans think there should be a path for the undocumented to become citizens. http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/17/politics/poll-oppose-trump-deportation-immigration-policy/index.html

Sure, that exists, but it's not like these people are all thinking with one mind. In fact, there was a time when I felt like it wasn't fair to let people who came illegally stay when other people had to wait years . Most of the people waiting aren't white either. I changed my mind over time when I saw the practical reality of what was happening to people and families. Sometimes what is technically fair and what is morally right are not the same. If white people are worried about competition it's because of leaders haven't done a very good job about explaining how economics work. We're going to be Japan soon enough if we don't have population growth. The Chinese may or may not hand us our asses, but I don't agree that Americans are lazy or incurious. Overall we work very long hours compared to places like Europe. Now if you mean you aren't going to get many Americans working in the fields these days I'll agree with you there.