Maybe this is some good news. I guess close to 200,000 Puerto Ricans have come to Florida so far.

2 minutes ago, Juliajms said:

 

Maybe this is some good news. I guess close to 200,000 Puerto Ricans have come to Florida so far.

 

Florida is the first stop but a lot of those folks start branching out across the country. We're having a steady flow of Puerto Ricans into Ohio. A local nonprofit just did a community fair where they could sign up for services like job placement and shelter.

^ That's potentially good too, right? Unfortunately, people tend to gravitate towards NY and Cali, it seems. That's less good.

46 minutes ago, Juliajms said:

^ That's potentially good too, right? Unfortunately, people tend to gravitate towards NY and Cali, it seems. That's less good.

 

That's great. Especially in this swing state. Puerto Rican communities across the state are working to integrate these folks into the community and that includes voter registration.

7 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

I think Kushner and Mohammed Bin-Salman (MBS) in their secret meeting must've agreed to try to break things apart so that they can recast the Middle East to benefit themselves and their ilk, regardless of whether it leads to war.

 

Sure MBS has decided to enact some long overdue reforms (including giving Saudi women the right to drive) but his heavy-handed approach, including jailing just about all the princes that had some political clout (and therefore could've posed a challenge to his leadership) over 'corruption charges' even while nobody dare ask how MBS and his family 'earned' their massive fortune.

 

Although MBS seems to be saying many of the 'right' things when he speaks of reform in his country, but many of his actions, especially those that are reverberating outside the Kingdom, into the Middle East, appear to be reckless (e.g. Yemen) and it makes him look like some unstudied dilettante princeling (a feature that he would have in common with Kushner) who wants to ride roughshod over people to get what he wants, regardless of whether it has disastrous effects on huge populations of people.

MBS comes across like a child with a new toy. He knows very little or doesn't care about real reforms. Just a couple of surface changes that catches the attention of the west as he helps blow up the middle east even further. And the idea of allowing Jared and MBS to decide that it's the US's position to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, I don't even want to think about what type of violence that is going to set off.

Edited December 4, 20178 yr by JaneAusten

3 hours ago, Juliajms said:

^ That's potentially good too, right? Unfortunately, people tend to gravitate towards NY and Cali, it seems. That's less good.

 

Even from New York, people tend to move on and branch out. 

There are large PR populations in CT, MA (especially the Boston metro area) and even noticeable populations are emerging in the Philadelphia area. 

Since so many have been migrating to the Tampa area, even before the hurricane (due to the economic crisis), I expect more of those populations to fan out in the South to possibly GA (Atlanta metro) and the Carolinas.

Trump's anti PR rhetoric since the hurricane may focus recent Puerto Rican migrants to register to vote.

 

 

Since Brexit happened, I've been cautioning people to look out for Ireland (border issues with N. Ireland) and Scotland (sovereignty issues) especially as it concerns access to the single market of the EU.

 

"It feels like a big blow for the UK government today because it is" — @BBCLauraK on what on earth happened during the #Brexit talks https://t.co/N9w1ZMn9MZ

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 4, 2017

Edited December 4, 20178 yr by DramatistDreamer

 

If only this were true...

 

GOP strategist: Impeachment is "closer" than people think https://t.co/QOqOxnaquu pic.twitter.com/uaW99mx1Vb

— The Hill (@thehill) December 4, 2017

With news of this travel ban being approved by the courts, the ruling that apparently Same Sex Couples aren't entitled to benefits, I'm just numb to how low this country can sink under 45.

18 minutes ago, MichaelGL said:

With news of this travel ban being approved by the courts, the ruling that apparently Same Sex Couples aren't entitled to benefits, I'm just numb to how low this country can sink under 45.

I missed this, but yeah, we are sinking fast. 

 

It's particularly sad that we are banning people from Yemen and Syria. Not that we should be banning any nation as a whole.

 

@DramatistDreamerI see some karmic justice in the idea that Republicans may lose some elections due to the way 45 screwed over PR.

Edited December 4, 20178 yr by Juliajms

Speaking of karmic justice...

 

 

JUST IN: Special counsel urges judge to deny Paul Manafort's request to lift home arrest, says he recently ghostwrote draft op-ed with a Russian tied to intelligence services - court filing pic.twitter.com/XRarfdCqIq

— Reuters Politics (@ReutersPolitics) December 4, 2017

22 minutes ago, MichaelGL said:

With news of this travel ban being approved by the courts, the ruling that apparently Same Sex Couples aren't entitled to benefits, I'm just numb to how low this country can sink under 45.

 

That case confuses me because it stems from actions that started when same-sex marriage and benefits were still illegal in Texas. 

 

http://www.statesman.com/news/supreme-court-rejects-texas-case-gay-marriage-benefits/QWgUz5GV9ktKz1rTC3tIeI/

 

I do agree with the person they quoted who said this will lead to more anti-gay laws about benefits and marriage, but to be honest I think those are coming anyway. The "good" thing, if there is any good in this, is I think Republicans are going to lose a lot of seats in 2018, which is one of the things that helped stem the tide of some of the awful stuff that likely would have passed early in W's second term when state legislatures and the "value voters" BS was tempered by Democrats doing much better in state races than expected in 2004.

 

The baker case is the one that worries me most of these two, although I've always thought that the baker would win. I'm more worried about the language of the ruling, especially from that new hack on the bench.

Stockholm syndrome, writes Graydon Carter in his new editor's letter, "can happen to entire countries too" https://t.co/7xvK6CTLvK

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) December 4, 2017

White House staffers are reportedly unable to limit how much television Trump watches https://t.co/AjkOZVFcsX

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) December 4, 2017

It's important to remember that the Supreme Court has NOT addressed the legal merits of the latest Muslim Ban nor the human impacts w/its order today. Those will be before 2 federal courts of appeal this week. The fight continues. #NoMuslimBanEver

— Karen Tumlin (@KarenTumlin) December 4, 2017

 

Haaretz points out the likelihood that Flynn, Kushner and co. violated the Logan Act, which no one has ever really been prosecuted for but hey, we're clearly living in "unpresidented" times.

 

Explained: What Michael Flynn’s Guilty Plea Means for Jared Kushner and Israel read more: https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.826651

Edited December 5, 20178 yr by DramatistDreamer