DarkCrawler posted:

Ted Cruz as well.

evilweasel posted:

In case anyone's curious (I was) this map gives Democrats 186 'safe' EVs and Republicans 125. That's a fairly sizable gap. If you give Republicans Kentucky, Arkansas and Montana (which I think are all pretty safely Republican) you still only get 186-142.

Sir Tonk posted:

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/rick-perry-2016-campaign-113210.html

It's happening.

The Warszawa posted:

in case it wasn't clear (though I like Booker, certainly more than most around here).

amanasleep posted:

I like Booker because he's a gifted politician with charisma who plays the game for team D. He has many awful political stances which may or may not be sincere.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

He's been above average in the Senate so far. There hasn't been any major bills dealing with financial institutions, which is the area he may be bad on. His campaign platform is moderately anti-big banks, but not even Chuck Schumer is explicitly pro-big banks, so we'll have to see when it comes up.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

America is getting a second helping of Santorum.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...c1f7_story.html

Dan Savage, the greatest troll of all time posted:

san-TOR-um
N.
The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.

Joementum posted:

Here's some comparative data on how the GOP primary polls were looking around this time in previous cycles.

Joementum posted:

Carly Fiorina is hiring a political director and a communications director for a Presidential campaign.

Joementum posted:

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/hillary-clinton-cuba-113661.html
“I am deeply relieved by Alan Gross’s safe return to the United States, and I support President Obama’s decision to change course on Cuba policy, while keeping the focus on our principal objective — supporting the aspirations of the Cuban people for freedom,” Clinton said in a statement late Wednesday. “It is great news that Alan is finally home with his family, where he belongs.”

“As secretary of state, I pushed for his release, stayed in touch with Alan’s wife, Judy, and their daughters, and called for a new direction in Cuba,” she continued. “Despite good intentions, our decades-long policy of isolation has only strengthened the Castro regime’s grip on power.”

“As I have said, the best way to bring change to Cuba is to expose its people to the values, information, and material comforts of the outside world. The goal of increased U.S. engagement in the days and years ahead should be to encourage real and lasting reforms for the Cuban people. And the other nations of the Americas should join us in this effort.”

Joementum posted:

Romney's 2016 campaign is going to focus on fighting poverty and foreign policy.

, just so hard.

Joementum posted:

The article has been updated now with a fantastic specimen of John McCain not giving a gently caress any more.

John loving McCain posted:

“I don’t know, man, it’s a free country,” McCain said of a possible Romney campaign in 2016. “I thought there was no education in the second kick of a mule. ...I respect his judgment, he’s a strong leader.”

Meg From Family Guy posted:

Nice, loving the discussion about the various hosed up drugs the lady who disagrees with me is on

SedanChair posted:

Have you watched the video? We're not saying this about Ben Carson or Joni Ernst. Palin is on drugs. Now take the stick out of your rear end.

forbidden lesbian posted:

Yo, actually listen to the speech, she's slurring her words a lot and kinda has the verbal tic I can't quite describe. its kinda like she talks really fast and then suddenly talks slow and then back to fast.

Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:

Missed this Huckabee jewel

"Not to diminish anything about the climate at all,” Huckabee said, “but Mr. President, I believe that most of us would think that a beheading is a far greater threat to an American than a sunburn.”

quote:

Kurdish forces have driven Islamic State (IS) militants from Kobane, officials say, ending a four-month battle for the northern Syrian town. Fighters from the Popular Protection Units (YPG) were said to have entered outlying areas in the east of the town after the jihadists retreated.

Photographs posted on social media on Monday afternoon showed the YPG flag being flown around Kobane, and male and female fighters shaking hands. As night fell, celebratory gunfire echoed across the town.

YPG spokesman Polat Jan meanwhile declared on Twitter: "Congratulations to humanity, Kurdistan, and the people of Kobane on the liberation of Kobane." Anwar Muslim, the president of the self-declared Syrian Kurdish canton of Kobane, told the BBC that the town was fully under the control of the YPG and Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who were deployed in October. However, he added that the situation in the eastern outskirts was still "a little tense", with YPG fighters carrying out "the final clean-up" and besieging areas they believed IS leaders might be hiding.

A US defence department spokesman refrained from saying the battle for Kobane had been won. "The battle continues. But as of now, friendly forces... I believe, have the momentum," Col Steve Warren told the Reuters news agency. The advance by Kurdish forces came after several days of heavy aerial bombardment by coalition aircraft.

Mr Ice Cream Glove posted:

Romney is looking good

Joementum posted:

As I've been telling you guys since (even before) Nov 7, 2012: watch out for Scott Walker.

Duckbag posted:

There's so many reasons to hate the guy, why does everyone keep coming back to "haw haw, he's fat" like this? It's really kinda pathetic. Especially since the average goon is probably a bit overweight, so there's this whole extra level of self-loathing going on.

katlington posted:

Also I knew he was fat but I didn't realize he was this fat.

Nessus posted:

As for the Taliban thing: ISIL, apparently, is actually entirely on board with vaccination programs.

Joementum posted:

Jill Stein is going to run again, so that's happening.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I think the only path to a Jeb Bush presidency is to own the Dubya Legacy and pretend it was a massive success ruined by the devil Obama. The republican base will buy it, at least, if it's sold to them properly.

quote:

Sulaymaniyah, Northern Iraq Kurdistan: The bald eagle, Old Glory and the almighty dollar are king in this portion of Iraq, where ethnic Kurds don’t hide their affection for the U.S. Shops peddle American flags, U.S. military gear is prized and the locals speak glowingly of the nation they credit with removing Saddam Hussein, the dictator whose heavy hand so often came down on the minority clustered in Iraq’s northern regions.

Everywhere you go a hint of red, white and blue can be bought and sold. One store tucked away in a local bazaar in this city, owned by a middle-aged man by the name of Zawzad, sells only pro-American merchandise and U.S. military-inspired clothing. “It's just beautiful," Zawzad says softly, as he reverently unfolds a giant flag, holding it up with great respect. Taxis are routinely adorned with seat covers starring the iconic bald eagle pattern, an array of household, electronic and fashion items from screwdrivers and pots and pans to guitars, phone covers, hats, shirts, shoes and bags are widely available in stars and stripes patterns.

Throughout the region, a U.S. passport gets its bearer waved through security checkpoints, ushered through ministry doors and tea served with a broad smile of the manager when dining out. The roots of the Kurdish affection for America lie in the U.S.-led operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. While the first, under President George H.W. Bush, did not topple the hated Hussein, it served notice that America was his enemy. U.S. military forces ousted Hussein in 2003 and brought him to ultimate justice in 2006, when he was executed on orders of an Iraqi tribunal. Tens of thousands of Kurds were murdered, many with chemical weapons, on orders of the former Baath Party leader. Once Hussein was gone, the oil-rich Kurdish region began to prosper. Kurds openly express their hope that the United States will help them become a completely independent country.

When the U.S.-led airstrikes to hamper ISIS were launched in August, entire Kurdish neighborhoods could be seen waving American flags in the streets, with many even marking American Veterans Day this past November. "We follow American news," Agha said. "Like shootings and hurricanes. We care about what happens to the people of the United States." Most Kurds show great respect for President Obama, but it’s the name Bush that generates a larger salute. Some are even preparing to get behind possible candidate Jeb Bush in the 2016 presidential elections.

"The first Bush made no secret that he hated Saddam, the second Bush finished him off," Agha added. "And the third will be the one to give Kurdistan its independence."

SirKibbles posted:

You got a source that's not the literal right wing propaganda outlet? I know about the H.W. Bush thing but the 2nd bush just seems like a reach.

quote:

It's been ten years since the U.S.-led invasion, and most will observe the anniversary by remembering the dead and evaluating mistakes. Things are a little different in Iraqi Kurdistan, the northernmost autonomous region where the "invasion" is still referred to -- insistently -- as a "liberation." It's a strange, parallel universe in which American ideals like freedom from tyranny and economic promise are more intact than they are in America, as is the belief that those ideals can be spread and won through war. Some say that admiration for Americans runs so high that among the younger generation are Kurds named "Bush." I've never met such a child (nor have I ever met anyone who has) but it's plenty surreal that, as [John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Lindsey Graham] gleefully tweeted, Iraqi Kurds like Americans. Moreover, they like Republicans -- the more hawkish the better.

For a few days, the three senators were led by a beaming President Massoud Barzani, who they referred to on Twitter as an "old friend" (by McCain) and a "Kurdish patriot and true friend of the US" (by Lieberman). They visited Erbil, Shaqlawa, and Kore, where abandoned Iraqi tanks are monuments to Saddam's defeat by Kurdish troops in 1991, the year the U.S. helped to establish a no-fly zone over the region. They reconfirmed the friendship started by that no-fly zone. Barzani was happy to show the senators what they wanted to see.

I was also in Iraqi Kurdistan, and wherever I went the reputation of the American senators preceded me. More than usual, any objection to the war was seen as a direct affront to Kurdish freedom. Nor could I compare Obama favorably to Bush; like the three amigos, most Iraqi Kurds prefer the muscle of a Republican in office. "Obama is a good family man," a local reporter told me. "But I love Bush more. Bush killed Saddam." He shook his fist and said, "I love America!"

Kurds, perhaps more than any group, can attest to the brutality of the Saddam Hussein regime. Under Saddam, years of systematic human rights abuses culminated in the Anfal campaign, during which chemical weapons were used to kill over 50,000 civilians (some reports are much higher). Still today those deaths are vivid in the collective consciousness of Iraqi Kurds, who fret about aggression from future Saddams and covet the strong army and financial independence that could insulate them. The U.S. has been instrumental toward this goal, not just with the no-fly zone and the 2003 invasion, but post-invasion security and nation-building. "I remember that my brother called me from the U.K. when the war was about to start," Ali Kurdistani, a political analyst from Sulaymaniyah, told me. "I told him, 'This is the first time we have heard aircrafts flying over us and haven't been scared. Some people put up the U.S. flag and photos of President Bush."

quote:

Teetering on the edge of seceding from Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan still loves America. No, not the idea of chasing the American dream. The Kurdish population truly has the US patriotism of a Fourth of July barbecue. While the rest of Iraq was torn apart during the US occupation and rebel insurgency that highlighted the shortcomings of Bush-era foreign policy, Kurdistan remained relatively peaceful, with only sporadic violence. The three provinces that make up the north of Iraq were favorably treated in a US-brokered post-Saddam constitution that granted the Kurds relative autonomy.

Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan was safeguarded by US no-fly zones protecting it from fighting throughout the war. The area prospered throughout much of the fighting, and an influx of investment from German and Turkish firms allowed Erbil to rapidly expand over the past ten years, hoisting the flag of Kurdistan along with it. Kurds benefited from the Iraq war, and for that they are grateful to America. US military personnel are regarded in the region as a hybrid of Team America: World Police and pop stars. The sight of an American prompts everything from military salutes to free meals. America is viewed by many as everything the Kurds want to become. On one occasion a man told me he went to California on vacation for two weeks—“the best two weeks in my whole life.”

The fighting in eastern Iraq and Syria has displaced millions. Two such displaced persons are Shirzad and his father, Awar—both Syrian Kurds who came to Iraqi Kurdistan to flee the Syrian civil war. They now sell toy guns in Erbil’s bazaar. Shirzad saluted me, an American, when he saw my sunburnt face. Awar clasped his hands together as Shirzad translated for him: “Kurds and America, good friends. One big friend and one little friend.”

The Kurds' love for America is evident everywhere. All things US, from hamburgers to "Made in America" zippo lighters are cherished. Men and boys wear T-shirts screen-printed with red, white, and blue. A majestic bald eagle pattern frequently spans the seats in cabs. A portrait of George W. Bush can still be found hanging in the back of some shops.

But as ISIL brings a new face to extremism in the region, many Kurds are asking if the US will return—with bombs or soldiers—to its old friend Iraq. Obama has pledged a handful of military personnel and tossed around the idea of a renewed bombing campaign. One ex-Peshmerga fighter, sitting on a park bench in Erbil, told me that he thinks ISIL will continue its expansion until a US bombing campaign commences, saying that the central Iraqi government is “useless and dirty.”

quote:

Suruc (Turkey) (AFP) - Sultan Muslim, a Syrian Kurd, had no doubt what to name her seventh child when he was born, safely in Turkey, after a harrowing month-long flight from her home in Kobane: Obama.

Desperate to flee the flashpoint Syrian border town, the heavily pregnant mother, her husband and six other children made it across the frontier just in time for the boy's arrival. Islamic State (IS) jihadists, accused of widespread atrocities, seized control of the strategic locality and US-led bombing raids launched in the last few weeks have tried to stop their advance. "I gave my son this name from my heart. I will never change this name," the shy 35-year-old said in a refugee camp in Suruc, just inside Turkey. "He dispatched planes, aid for us. Because of his help maybe we will get rid of this cruelty and get back to our homes," she said, cradling her three-day-old son.

Though not the world's first baby named after US President Barack Obama, the choice reflects the relief of many locals who thought help would never come. "We named him Muhammed Obama Muslim," father Mahmut Beko said, in symbolic gratitude for the US assistance to save Kobane. "We want Obama to help us so that we can get back home. We are also human beings. We, the Kurds, attacked whom, fight against whom?" he cried out.

Near Suruc, both Turkish and Syrian Kurds watch from hilltops, breaking out in cheers, whistles and chanting, "Obama, Obama" at each airstrike. "Like the Americans, the whole world should help the Kurds in Kobane. We have no true friends other than the Americans," said Selami Altay, a Turkish Kurd, sitting on a rock watching the battles. Sultan Muslim, meanwhile, said despite all she had an easy birth, taken by ambulance from the tent city to a hospital in Suruc. And despite the miserable conditions and uncertainty, she has dreams for her baby. "The day will come when he grows up and becomes like him (President Obama) and saves people from cruelty. "Nobody helped us, but him," she said.

SpiderHyphenMan posted:

Ummm...

Wikipedia posted:

As Deputy Secretary of Defense, [Paul Wolfowitz] was "a major architect of President Bush's Iraq policy and ... its most hawkish advocate." In fact, "the Bush Doctrine was largely [his] handiwork." Donald Rumsfeld in his interview with Fox News on February 8, 2011, said that Wolfowitz was the first to bring up Iraq after the 9/11 attacks during a meeting at the presidential retreat at Camp David.

quote:

In the Middle East and Southwest Asia, our overall objective is to remain the predominant outside power in the region and preserve U.S. and Western access to the region's oil. We also seek to deter further aggression in the region, foster regional stability, protect U.S. nationals and property, and safeguard our access to international air and seaways. As demonstrated by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, it remains fundamentally important to prevent a hegemon or alignment of powers from dominating the region. This pertains especially to the Arabian peninsula. Therefore, we must continue to play a role through enhanced deterrence and improved cooperative security.

Lockback posted:

Wait, why bomb Iran?

Deptfordx posted:

Haven't Iran been a few years away from building a nuclear weapon for about 25 years now?

I mean North loving Korea has managed to cobble together some crude nukes, if Iran seriously wanted nukes shouldn't they have some by now?

Simstim posted:

I will only vote for a mexican because I want tea party/freepers to have a total meltdown

gnarlyhotep posted:

Ordering poll results in alphabetical order is pretty dumb

comes along bort posted:

Does anyone think Pitbull is cool? I thought he was the Nickelback of non-white people music.

Axolotl posted:

Are there any Democrats that are called "rising stars"?

computer parts posted:

One of the Castros I would imagine.

Quidam Viator posted:

So it's easy, really. We progressive voters pin our hopes on Hillary winning. All we have to do is win the GOTV race. Let's just all hope that there's not some terrible crisis or catastrophe at the end of Obama's term that shifts the country just a few points away to the right when election day comes around, right? Does that all sound reasonable?

FAUXTON posted:

No because I'd rather see a decisive victory that leaves zero question of what the goddamn score is. No hopes-pinning, no banking on GOTV, I want to see exactly how and why and when the GOP will lose the goddamn election and I want it to be decisive enough to impart the kind of psychic anguish the 2008/12 elections did, because I don't think Hillary will be as patient with their poo poo once in office and out of campaign mode as Obama has been.

Intel&Sebastian posted:

I really wish I knew what an Obama presidency would've looked like if half the country and congress didn't have an absolutely visceral response to the color of his skin.

DaveWoo posted:

Somewhat similar to the Clinton presidency, I would imagine.

Nonsense posted:

ABC News is owned by Republican-knob-polisher Disney. Watch Newshour.

VanSandman posted:

Agreed. I don't know where people are getting the idea that he has a reasonable understanding of his own ability. He pretty clearly loves himself over anything else and probably considers the presidency his destiny more than Mitt ever did.

AsInHowe posted:

He has no path to the nomination whatsoever, and will exist largely to sink everyone else.

fade5 posted:

Yeah Cruz is going to be really important even if he doesn't get the nomination, just because he is a Tea Party True Believer and will not hesitate to attack every single other nominee as "not conservative enough".

For a preview of what this will look like, imagine what happened to Perry on immigration, but for every issue.

this_is_hard posted:

Liberty students also kept getting killed by cars and trains to the point that they had to build bridges/tunnels specifically for the students.

skaboomizzy posted:

"Your right of way stops at my right to walk across the street whenever I wa-- *SQUISH*"

FAUXTON posted:

Was that made in MSPaint or something because it's all hosed up from compression.

Teddybear posted:

This is a screenshot of a screen grab from Twitter I saved to my phone and re uploaded to imgur, so yeah, it's probably not the greatest quality. Print it out and take a Polaroid and you've got peak nineties Clinton going on.

Joementum posted:

quote:

The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was a neoconservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that focused on United States foreign policy. It was established as a non-profit educational organization in 1997, and founded by William Kristol and Robert Kagan. The PNAC's stated goal was "to promote American global leadership". The organization stated that "American leadership is good both for America and for the world," and sought to build support for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity".

Of the twenty-five people who signed the PNAC's founding statement of principles, ten went on to serve in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz. Observers such as Irwin Stelzer and Dave Grondin have suggested that the PNAC played a key role in shaping the foreign policy of the Bush Administration, particularly in building support for the Iraq War.

STAC Goat posted:

How are there 963 Sonics in Texas? Like, I get that its a big state but 963? No one else even comes near 300. Is there no other kind of restaurant there? Does no Texan cook their own meals? Are they just on every other corner like the way Dunkin Donuts are here?

quote:

Hillary Clinton’s Facebook pages have an unexpected fan base. At least 7 percent of Clinton’s Facebook fans list their hometown as Baghdad, way more than any other city in the world, including in the United States.

Vocativ’s exclusive analysis of Clinton’s Facebook fan statistics yielded a number of surprises. Despite her reputation as an urban Democrat favored by liberal elites, Iraqis and southerners are more likely to be a Facebook fan of Hillary than people living on America’s coasts. And the Democratic candidate for president has one of her largest followings in the great red-state of Texas.

While Chicago and New York City, both with 4 per cent of fans, round out the top three cities for Hillary’s Facebook base, Texas’ four major centers—Houston (3 percent), Dallas (3 percent), Austin (2 percent) and San Antonio (2 percent)—contain more of her Facebook supporters. Los Angeles with 3 percent of her fans, and Philadelphia and Atlanta, each with 2 percent, round out the Top 10 cities for Facebook fans of Hillary.

On a per capita basis, in which Vocativ compared a town’s population to percentage of Hillary’s likes, people living in cities and towns in Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Arkansas, North Carolina and Wisconsin were the most likely to be her fans on Facebook than any other American residents.

Hillary’s Facebook pages are also extremely unpopular with younger tech-savvy Americans, with just 8 percent of female fans and 11 percent of male fans aged between 18-34. Most of Clinton’s American Facebook fans are older than 55, including over 66 percent of women and 52 percent of her male supporters.

However, over at her Baghdad base, Clinton enjoys the support of younger Facebook fans with 66 percent of her Iraqi female fans and 67 percent of males aged between 18 and 34.

Across the world, 14 percent of Hillary’s fans are self-reported government employees.

Pinterest Mom posted:

It sounds like an announcement of an announcement tbh.

TheBalor posted:

No, see, if you vote Republican, dismantle every entitlement program, grant conservatives monopolies on every avenue of power, and let them pass whatever laws they want, then you're absolutely certain to end up with real communism!

Enigma89 posted:

When they don't hold the mercenary groups accountable? I don't really see the big issue with mercenary groups. This whole thing started because of mercenary groups but the bigger question is who loving cares?

If we are going to invade a place who cares if the military is doing it or a private group is doing it. The bigger and more important question is why are we there to begin with.

I don't really see the point of even talking about mercenary groups, more time should be spent on asking WHY are we sending A (military) or B (mercenaries) to XYZ country.

I don't want to argue private vs government because I don't care. At the end of the day if the war is justified then go and end it fast. But I want to spend a lot of time on talking whether or not we should go there and that is why I supported Ron and now Sanders and that is why I could never ever have supported Bush/Obama and now can't support Hillary.

I really think we are talking about two different things and the thing you are talking about I really don't care about. Being supportive of mercenaries doesn't make you a hawk. Voting for Hillary does though.

quote:

The [US] military was often outright hostile to contractors, for being amateurish, overpaid and, often, trigger-happy.

Contractors often shot with little discrimination — and few if any consequences — at unarmed Iraqi civilians, Iraqi security forces, American troops and even other contractors, stirring public outrage and undermining much of what the coalition forces were sent to accomplish.

quote:

On September 16, 2007, employees of Blackwater Security Consulting (since renamed Academi), a private military company, shot at Iraqi civilians killing 17 and injuring 20 in Nisour Square, Baghdad. The killings outraged Iraqis and strained relations between Iraq and the United States. In 2014, four Blackwater employees were tried and convicted in U.S. federal court; one of murder, and the other three of manslaughter and firearms charges.

On October 2, 2007 the Democratic staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a report stating that Blackwater USA guards have used deadly force weekly in Iraq and have inflicted "significant casualties and property damage." The report found that the guards fired their weapons an average of 1.4 times a week. The report further said that Blackwater reports that its forces fired first in over 80 percent of the cases.

On October 4, 2007 U.S. military reports indicated Blackwater's guards opened fire without provocation and used excessive force. "It was obviously excessive", a U.S. military official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Washington Post. "The civilians that were fired upon, they didn't have any weapons to fire back at them. And none of the IP (Iraqi police) or any of the local security forces fired back at them", the official continued. The Blackwater guards appeared to have fired grenade launchers in addition to machine guns, according to the report.
--
"We see the security firms ... doing whatever they want in the streets. They beat citizens and scorn them", Baghdad resident Halim Mashkoor told AP Television News. He asked, "if such a thing happened in America or Britain, would the American president or American citizens accept it?" Hasan Jaber Salman, a lawyer who was one of the wounded, said that "no one did anything to provoke Blackwater" and that "as we turned back they opened fire at all cars from behind" An Iraqi police officer who was directing traffic at the scene said Blackwater guards "became the terrorists" when they opened fire on civilians unprovoked, while a businessman said he wasn't seeking compensation but only "the truth" from the guards. After a group of Iraqi ministers backed the Iraqi Interior Ministry's decision to shut down Blackwater USA's operations in Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called on the U.S. government to end its contract with Blackwater and called on Blackwater to pay the families $8 million in compensation.

''Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater/Xe/Academi" posted:

I'm a very free market guy. I'm not a huge believer that government provides a whole lot of solutions. Some think that government can solve society's problems. I tend to think private charities and private organizations are better solutions.

quote:

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) today introduced legislation that would phase out private security contractors in war zones.

This legislation recognizes that the United States increasingly has relied on private contractors to wage our wars, wasting taxpayer money, damaging military morale and hurting our reputation around the world.

"The American people have always prided themselves on the strength, conduct, and honor of our United States military. I therefore find it very disturbing that now, in the midst of two wars and a global struggle against terrorism, we are relying more and more on private security contractors - rather than our own military - to provide for our national defense," Sanders said.

"Our continued reliance on private security contractors endangers our military, damages our relationships with foreign governments, and undermines our global priorities," said Schakowsky. "Though we have the finest military in the world, we continue to outsource our security to private contractors, who answer to a corporation rather than a uniformed commander. When Senator Sanders and I introduced this legislation last year, we had 22,000 armed private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, we have 28,178. We need this bill now more than ever. "

Military officers in the field have said that private contractors operate like "cowboys," using unnecessary and excessive force uncharacteristic of enlisted soldiers. In 2007, guards working for a firm then known as Blackwater were accused of killing 17 Iraqis, damaging the U.S. mission in Iraq and hurting our reputation around the world. Later that year, a contractor employed by DynCorp International allegedly shot and killed an unarmed taxi driver. Incidents like this demonstrate that we should leave warfare to the military rather than delegate it to private corporations.

Joementum posted:

The Chafee announcement audience also included students from a summer course titled Journalism Across Media who were required to attend by their professor.

Donald Trump, professional idiot posted:

Specifically, what would you do to address the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria?

I have an absolute way of defeating ISIS, and it would be decisive and quick and it would be very beautiful. Very surgical.

Military on the ground? Drone strikes?

If I tell you right now, everyone else is going to say: “Wow, what a great idea.” You’re going to have 10 candidates going to use it and they’re going to forget where it came from. Which is me.

Joementum posted:

Probably not a good sign for Jeb.

Three Olives posted:

Alter Ego posted:

Wait, there's actually going to be a kiddie table debate?

They're actually going to do it? I thought that was just a rumor. So the Fiorinas and Patakis and Jindals of the race have their time to shine? Is that it?

quote:

Speaking in Derry, New Hampshire, Tuesday, Bush acknowledged that when his brother President George W. Bush attempted to privatize Social Security in 2005, he met great bipartisan resistance.

Joementum posted:

“My brother tried, got totally wiped out,” Bush said. “Republicans and Democrats wanted nothing to do with it. The next president is going to have to try again.”