• Cyburbia is a friendly big tent, where we share our experiences and thoughts about urban planning practice, the built environment, planning adjacent topics, and anything else that comes to mind. No ads, no spam, and it's free. It's easy to join!

NEVERENDING ♾️ The NEVERENDING Political Discussion Thread

michaelskis said:
And it looks like there are now issues because only one of the 3 parts of the ordinance in Charlotte was repealed. From what I hear, this is a classic Cooper move.
Click to expand...

You mean McCrory? I'm not sure what Cooper has to do with this. Either way, I didn't believe HB2 was gone regardless of what Charlotte did. Not with our current legislature. It's gonna take the courts to overturn it.
 
AG74683 said:
You mean McCrory? I'm not sure what Cooper has to do with this. Either way, I didn't believe HB2 was gone regardless of what Charlotte did. Not with our current legislature. It's gonna take the courts to overturn it.
Click to expand...

Cooper is the one who negotiated this whole situation. McCrory was not capable of making headway with a deal like this.
 
AG74683 said:
The repeal failed. I'm not sure which is the bigger shitshow right now...NC or our federal government.
Click to expand...

Both.

I find it suspicious that there was not democrat support for the bill with the 6 month moratorium on bills like the one in Charlotte being passed by local muncipalities. Make me wonder if places like Charlotte where planning to reintroduce the bathroom bill after the new year.
 
I would like to thank the state of North Carolina for making me feel marginally better about living in Texas.

Our Lt. Governor wants a bathroom bill of our own. He's a far-right and potentially alt-right whack job... enough so that our very conservative governor has raised an eyebrow based on business impact of a law like this. Thankfully, the Texas legislative system is designed, in large part, to make bill passage extraordinarily difficult.
 
Suburb Repairman said:
I would like to thank the state of North Carolina for making me feel marginally better about living in Texas.

Our Lt. Governor wants a bathroom bill of our own. He's a far-right and potentially alt-right whack job... enough so that our very conservative governor has raised an eyebrow based on business impact of a law like this. Thankfully, the Texas legislative system is designed, in large part, to make bill passage extraordinarily difficult.
Click to expand...

This entire thing is messed up. Both sides just need to back down and if the democrats were not up to something, they would have approved the bill to rescind HB2 with the 6 month moratorium. However, the Republicans knew that was not going to happen, and knew that there was no way that they could pass a new bathroom bill with the new Gov in office.

Then there is Charlotte who only rescinded part of their bill. Both sides need to just rescind the bills and commit to no more crap like this in the future.
 
michaelskis said:
This entire thing is messed up. Both sides just need to back down and if the democrats were not up to something, they would have approved the bill to rescind HB2 with the 6 month moratorium. However, the Republicans knew that was not going to happen, and knew that there was no way that they could pass a new bathroom bill with the new Gov in office.

Then there is Charlotte who only rescinded part of their bill. Both sides need to just rescind the bills and commit to no more crap like this in the future.
Click to expand...

The parts the CLT council left in the ordinance had nothing to do with the bathroom, but it did look suspicious. NC Leg was looking for an excuse too. Very depressing. Very crappy. Very sad. There's no communication between the sides. All need to grow TF up.
 
Over 4,300 people shot in Chicago this year with 739 killed (and a few more days to go). Welcome to the world of de-policing. Sort of takes "be careful what you wish for" to a whole new level.
 
MD Planner said:
Over 4,300 people shot in Chicago this year with 739 killed (and a few more days to go). Welcome to the world of de-policing. Sort of takes "be careful what you wish for" to a whole new level.
Click to expand...

I blame the total lack of gun regulations and how everyone can just carry anything they want into any building, rain, bus, or just walk down to the corner store a buy a glock....

OH WAIT... it is Chicago... where they have some of the strictest gun regulations in the country and you can't bring a gun into almost any public place in the City.

I read a report on the shootings over the weekend and they said that most of them were gang related. I makes me wonder if there is a gun problem or a gang problem. If it is a gang problem, what cultural aspects are causing people to join gangs in the first place. The gun is the tool, not the cause.
 
Tragic situation, but I am sure that this is not going to help the stereotype.

ABC said:
HILLSBOROUGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- In court Wednesday, officials said a man charged in the death of a 5-year-old boy in Hillsborough is suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement has put a detainer on him.

An arrest warrant alleges that 28-year-old Alejandro Suarez left a construction truck running and did not set the parking brake Monday afternoon before it began rolling down a hill into a home, killing William Everett Copeland - who went by the name of Everett.
Click to expand...

LINK TO STORY

I don't agree with a lot of what Trump says about the wall and his view of hispanics, but I do think that there needs to be a better approach to immigration and make sure that people have a chance to come here legally. And if you are not here legally, then you are illegal.
 
2 things....


1) Do you think that Trump had anything to do with Ford's decision to invest 700 Million in Michigan instead of 1.2 Billion to build a new plant in Mexico? I personally doubt it.

2) The Wikileaks guy says that Russia is not the source of the leaked e-mails and the computer that they came from had "Password" as the password and that it was so simple that even a 14 year old could have hacked it. As a follow up, has anything surfaced saying that the information in the e-mails was untrue? Some of them show a scary level of corruption including the debate questions being sent to Clinton before the debates.
 
michaelskis said:
2 things....


1) Do you think that Trump had anything to do with Ford's decision to invest 700 Million in Michigan instead of 1.2 Billion to build a new plant in Mexico? I personally doubt it.

2) The Wikileaks guy says that Russia is not the source of the leaked e-mails and the computer that they came from had "Password" as the password and that it was so simple that even a 14 year old could have hacked it. As a follow up, has anything surfaced saying that the information in the e-mails was untrue? Some of them show a scary level of corruption including the debate questions being sent to Clinton before the debates.
Click to expand...

1. Trump had little to do with it. I think him being very vocal does affect people's decision making, but it certainly doesn't change a companies priorities.
2. It was Russia. Plain and simple. I feel like we are back talking about Bengahzi. This shouldn't be a debate, but we have a President-Elect who has such a close relationship with Russia that we are debating something the security / intelligence world has already agreed on.

---

Megyn Kelly leaving Fox News is the first bend in the right wing "news" cycle breaking. They have had 8 years to build up, and now they have all the control so who are they going to cry to? Bill O'Reilly is tired. Sean Hannity is a has been and Fox News really doesn't have any talent that is interesting, unique or up and coming. Tucker Carlson? Brett Baier maybe, but I mean come on. It should be interesting to see how Fox News continues to try and out crazy themselves to get viewership. It is hard to have a news station who can only blame Democrats when the Republicans control all levels of government from State Governorships to the Presidency.
 
Anybody who knows folk who work for the Big 3 or one of the OEMs could tell you Ford's decision was likely months in the making and had absolutely nothing to do with Trump. The decision is to increase production of higher margin small SUVs and trucks primarily for the domestic market, but also a bit for import. They are deciding to build more of these instead of investing in increasing capacity for small car production because their economists see the economy improving and the market for these vehicles growing fast enough to support their higher cost (both in terms of production and final cost to consumers). This is not some fly by the seat of their pants decision they made because of the election results.

Ford is still increasing production of the Focus but they are moving it to a different plant within Mexico. The Focus is not a big enough seller in the U.S. to move production here, considering its lower margins. However, it is an enormous seller globally and while Mexico does indeed have lower labor costs, the biggest reason you will see Ford (and other automakers) to continue to increase production of their smaller vehicles for the global market in Mexico is because Mexico has free trade agreements with nearly every country in the Americas as well as much of Europe and Asia.

If we close our borders to free trade big companies with global footprints who see most of their growth in places like China, Mexico, Brazil, India, SE Asia and Eastern Europe are going to be less likely to increase production here in the states. Wages, while still much lower in China or Mexico, are increasing and are no longer the biggest deciding factor in the site selection of these production facilities.

The only part Trump may have played in any of this is that the folks at Ford are smart enough to know it's in their interest to be on the good side of the incoming administration so maybe they made their announcement a bit earlier than they otherwise would have. I'm willing to bet they would have rather waited a week or two to make the announcement at the North American International Autoshow here in Detroit but decided to do it beforehand so it doesn't get lost in the myriad other automotive announcements that are always made at that time as well as mixed in with news leading up to the inauguration.
 
dvdneal said:
Is it just me or is it unethical to tear apart the independent ethics review office?
Click to expand...

Yea, but they couldn't look *cough* and get back at *cough* anonymous accusers.....

I think the argument for why it needs reform is pretty weak. We need to make lawmakers lives more transparent and uncomfortable. Maybe then they won't make it a career? Probably not.
 
dvdneal said:
Is it just me or is it unethical to tear apart the independent ethics review office?
Click to expand...

Standard republican playbook tactic. Scott Walker did similar in Wisconsin, North Carolina GOP legislature is doing it now. Why not trying it at the federal level.
 
Hink said:
2. It was Russia. Plain and simple. I feel like we are back talking about Bengahzi. This shouldn't be a debate, but we have a President-Elect who has such a close relationship with Russia that we are debating something the security / intelligence world has already agreed on.
Click to expand...


How do you know? I am not saying it wasn't, but I am not positive that it was. Personally, I think that if the Russian government was responsible, they would have said "Yes, we did it and what are you going to do about it." They have that level of arrogance, so skating around it does not make sense to me. You say plain and simple, but I am not sold on it quite yet.

The other side of the coin is the actual information that came to light because of it. Is any of it untrue? If it was someone inside of the the US instead of Russia that hacked the computer and released the e-mails, would it change things? Has it boiled down to people becoming more upset about how the information was obtained than the actual information?

Planit said:
Standard republican playbook tactic. Scott Walker did similar in Wisconsin, North Carolina GOP legislature is doing it now. Why not trying it at the federal level.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why any party can get away with crap like this. Same thing with gerrymandering the districts. The BS needs to stop and that starts by demanding statesman instead of politicians.
 
michaelskis said:
The other side of the coin is the actual information that came to light because of it. Is any of it untrue? If it was someone inside of the the US instead of Russia that hacked the computer and released the e-mails, would it change things? Has it boiled down to people becoming more upset about how the information was obtained than the actual information?
Click to expand...

None of that information surprises me. I guarantee that if we had access to any lawmakers email, we would see lots of illegal and ugly stuff. What bothers me is that it influenced an election and we aren't more mad about that. Personally, I would be mad if info came out about Trump right before. Other countries meddling in our political process is not something I support. I don't care who won.

If Trump is going to side with Russia over the Democrats, we have a problem. Our country and the people who live in it, should come before other allies in the world... that includes Russia, Israel, or any other country that has ties to our political leaders. Republicans and Democrats alike need to find common ground. Meddling in the political process isn't something that either party should support. That should be common ground.
 
Hink said:
Yea, but they couldn't look *cough* and get back at *cough* anonymous accusers.....

I think the argument for why it needs reform is pretty weak. We need to make lawmakers lives more transparent and uncomfortable. Maybe then they won't make it a career? Probably not.
Click to expand...

So I guess Congress will remain ethical now. That's a relief.
 
Hink said:
None of that information surprises me. I guarantee that if we had access to any lawmakers email, we would see lots of illegal and ugly stuff. What bothers me is that it influenced an election and we aren't more mad about that. Personally, I would be mad if info came out about Trump right before. Other countries meddling in our political process is not something I support. I don't care who won.

If Trump is going to side with Russia over the Democrats, we have a problem. Our country and the people who live in it, should come before other allies in the world... that includes Russia, Israel, or any other country that has ties to our political leaders. Republicans and Democrats alike need to find common ground. Meddling in the political process isn't something that either party should support. That should be common ground.
Click to expand...

I didn't ask you if it surprises you, I asked you if you think any of it is untrue. So I will ask you again, do you think any of it is untrue?

What bothers me is people are willing to vote for these people who do illegal things and have documentable evidence of misleading the people. What bothers me is that these people are not taking cyber security better. The password on the laptop was "Password" seriously. What bothers me is an outside source was able to access this and other information. I don't give a rip that if it was Russia, China, Spain, or some 14 year old in Mexico City.

I agree with you that our country should come first, which is why I think that misleading the US public, bashing Catholics, and getting the questions to the debate before the debate is the exact opposite of what we want. I don't think that Trump should side with anyone but the facts when it comes to this. If there is a credible investigation and it proves that Russia is behind it, I don't see how anyone, including Trump can ignore it and I think he would need to take steps to punish those involved and require that processes and procedures be put in places to prevent something like this from happening again.

What if this information was released in September or August? Does it make the information any worse? Don't take my questioning if Russia was behind it as support for Trump, because it's not. My point is there is so much hoopla regarding who it was where there should be equal focus should be on what it was and how is it that someone was able to hack the system.
 
Crime

Odds are this would go political in a hurry, so I am just going to start it off that way.

The recent news of the young man who was abducted and tortured in Chicago is making national news, as is the record number of shootings in the City in 2016. Most of those were gang related. Similar issues have been occurring in places like Baltimore and Detroit. A 2014 study shows that suburban and rural areas are similar, but urban areas had higher per capita violent crime rates. (LINK)

Some places, like Chicago with 762 homicides in 2016, are far worse than most. According to some reports, the number of murders in Chicago were more than the combine totals of New York and LA. (CBS Story) More so, it is the largest spike within 60 years. But they are not alone.

CBS said:
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said during a news conference Sunday that Chicago is among many U.S. cities that have seen a spike in violence, including in attacks on police.

Several of the top 10 largest U.S. cities saw a spike last year in homicides. San Antonio police say they investigated 151 homicides in 2016, marking the deadliest year in the Alamo city in more than two decades. The homicide count - up 61 percent from a year ago - is the highest since 142 homicides were reported in 1995. Last year, the tally was 94.

In San Jose, 47 homicides were reported in 2016, a 25-year high, reports the San Jose Mercury News. San Diego and Dallas also saw upticks in murders last year, but year-end data wasn’t immediately available.
Click to expand...

But why? Is it a purely sociological effect that is totally independant from how the City is run, or are there political forces involved? Why is it that these populations often associate themselves with the liberal side of the political spectrum and while I am positive that there is not causation, I do wonder there there is a distant correlation? Is it because there are more police officers per capita in non-urban areas than in urban areas?

Finally, and I think more importantly, what can we do as Planners, as parents, as members of communities, to change this direction?
 
I'm just going to try to point out some positives for this election. I'm positive comedy writers will have great material for the next 4 years.
 
Hink said:
Build that Wall!!!

Errr.... maybe we will build it with US Money.... and ummm... maybe it won't all be a wall... and ummm.... maybe we will have Mexico reimburse us.... cuz' ummmm..... we want to get it done now.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ap-sourc...d-border-wall-085348532--election.html?ref=gs

Yikes. Seriously. What are we doing America?
Click to expand...

There is no way mexico will pay for it and there is no way that congress will fund the construction of a 2000 mile wall.


Having said that, I do think that border security is still an issue and frankly, I don't have a better suggestion. Does anyone have any ideas?
 
Yup

michaelskis said:
There is no way mexico will pay for it and there is no way that congress will fund the construction of a 2000 mile wall.


Having said that, I do think that border security is still an issue and frankly, I don't have a better suggestion. Does anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...

Punish the living hell out of all employers that hire illegal labor without first having them register and sign up for a work program. Punishment will be by fines that will be used to keep big government alive and thriving.

:r::D:-c:lmao::lmao:
 
Last night Meryl Streep gave some speech that didn't name names, but clearly was about Trump at the Golden Globes. This morning Trump tweeted about her....

And I quote:

"Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a....."


Are you kidding me? How childish are you? You are going to be the President for God's sake. Take the freaking high road. Get some skin. Man this is going to be painful if we have to hear him cry whenever anyone says he sucks. Can you imagine if Obama tweet every time someone called him a horrible president? Wow....
 
Hink said:
Last night Meryl Streep gave some speech that didn't name names, but clearly was about Trump at the Golden Globes. This morning Trump tweeted about her....

And I quote:

"Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a....."


Are you kidding me? How childish are you? You are going to be the President for God's sake. Take the freaking high road. Get some skin. Man this is going to be painful if we have to hear him cry whenever anyone says he sucks. Can you imagine if Obama tweet every time someone called him a horrible president? Wow....
Click to expand...

I did not watch it, but it does not surprise me. Hollywood trying to get political instead of entertaining and Donald "Cry Baby" Trump is overreacting to what I am guessing was a correct assessment given by a phenomenally talented actress.
 
I think the sadder part of all of this is that much of America seems to make judgements and conclusions based upon 140 character messages. The most entertained and yet least informed population ever. I just can't even think about this stuff anymore. It's too maddening.
 
Yeah....

MD Planner said:
I think the sadder part of all of this is that much of America seems to make judgements and conclusions based upon 140 character messages. The most entertained and yet least informed population ever. I just can't even think about this stuff anymore. It's too maddening.
Click to expand...

We need to get a beer....let's meet half way....say Omaha Nebraska after work today at 6PM. Anyone know the name of a great bar in Omaha?
 
The One said:
We need to get a beer....let's meet half way....say Omaha Nebraska after work today at 6PM. Anyone know the name of a great bar in Omaha?
Click to expand...

My lovely town is actually a great east/west mid point. Especially if you're flying. I've got a couple decent bars around. Good food and cheap drink!
 
A coworker made an interesting observation yesterday regarding all of this. For decades, those in entertainment tried to interject their opinions into politics, so why is this situation any different? The difference is that Trump abuses his twitter page instead of acting like an adult.

I agree with everything that she said and I wish she would have expanded her comments to also include condemning the actions in Chicago by those four who kidnaped and tortured that mentally challenged young man.

In regards to wikileaks, I am still not sold on Russia, but it is looking that way. However, maybe in the future people running for president should not do stuff that they don't want the public to hear about.
 
The Hairy Cheeto made comments way back in the primaries that the elections were rigged and If he didn't win, he'd sue. He continued with that same line all the way through November. He even "invited" Russia to hack accounts & websites of various people. Connecting the dots...yes he knew the election was rigged, but in his favor. So he knew if he didn't win, something would be amiss.
 
Hoopla on FB over Planned Parenthood again.

I agree that there is a ton of stuff that they do that is awesome and a much needed service and that abortions might be a tiny fraction of what they do. (Although I wonder what percentage of the 664,435 from 2013 were by Planned Parenthood).

But here is a solution to this whole issue. Planned Parenthood stops doing something that is only a tiny fraction of what they do, and in return we as a society encourage congress to increase their funding. Better healthcare for women who need it, right to life people like me are happy, it is a win win.

Unless you are pro-abortion, it seems like a great solution.
 
I'm kind of disappointed that Trump is so obsessed with the "fake" news stories that there isn't a single tweet on Obama's farewell address from last night.
 
gtpeach said:
I'm kind of disappointed that Trump is so obsessed with the "fake" news stories that there isn't a single tweet on Obama's farewell address from last night.
Click to expand...

I think that is because it is not news and it is not about him.


Personally, I did not watch the speech. I didn't have any desire to because while I think he is a good person, I don't think he was a good President. I don't think that Trump will be one either.
 
michaelskis said:
I think that is because it is not news and it is not about him.


Personally, I did not watch the speech. I didn't have any desire to because while I think he is a good person, I don't think he was a good President. I don't think that Trump will be one either.
Click to expand...

I didn't watch it either, mostly because I'm "politiced" out right now. I figure it'll be online somewhere if I ever get the urge to watch it. I wouldn't say he's the best President we've ever seen, but I don't feel he was a bad one either. He did what he could with a Congress who was more interested in fighting him rather than do anything positive.
 
Back
Top