JT Jag posted:

New thread, thank god. The last one started moving a little too fast and I lost track.

ComradeCosmobot posted:

Stereotype posted:

Volkswagen didn't break any laws because environmental protection laws are hilarious bullshit that have never and will never be enforceable

Someone else comment on this in the new thread. I am way more interested in this than whether Jeb! backers want to throw more money into fires

quote:

The News & Observer reports that the changes were added to the bill by state Senator Chad Barefoot and Representative Paul Stam late Monday night. The senate bill is another example of the “gut-and-amend” style of introducing sweeping changes late in session. The bill could reach the governor’s desk as soon as Tuesday afternoon.

The bill as amended would deny local and county governments the authority to raise the minimum wage within their jurisdictions. Under the state’s new “general ordinance-making powers,” city and county governments would lose the ability to regulate any private employment practices—opening the door to conservative discrimination against LGBTQ and Muslim customers and employees.

Local governments would further be restricted from passing any laws or ordinances that would “[r]egulate or control vehicular or pedestrian traffic on a street or highway under the control of the Board of Transportation” and some other rights of way.

One of the biggest usurpations of power in the amendment concerns fair housing. The bill would amend the State Fair Housing Act to prohibit any body except the state government from setting affordable-housing goals, mandates, minimums, or other practices.

An effort to pass a state-level Religious Freedom Restoration Act (such as the Indiana law that garnered widespread criticism earlier this year) for North Carolina failed earlier this year. In Charlotte, a local ordinance that would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to nondiscrimination protected categories also failed by a narrow margin.

This amendment—to a completely unrelated bill regarding licensure standards—would restrict cities such as Charlotte from even considering things like a local nondiscrimination ordinance. Senate Bill 279 would simultaneously secure special rights for conservative and Christian landowners and businessmen.

“These provisions were inserted in the conference report with no prior public notice. They did not appear in any prior version of the bill as it was debated in committee or on the floor of either chamber,” Charlotte Mayor Daniel G. Clodfelter said in a statement addressed to delegates from Mecklenberg County. “These provisions set our community back nearly half a century and will have a lasting negative impact on everyone.”

The amended bill is a bold move. In several passages within the bill, the text lists the purpose of the amendment as “local governments preempted.” That’s an understatement.

Jonas Albrecht posted:

So like, is the dude in the gray suit supposed to be Jon Stewart? This has been bugging me.

SedanChair posted:

Olbermann's comeback begins

Jonas Albrecht posted:

So like, is the dude in the gray suit supposed to be Jon Stewart? This has been bugging me.

Freakazoid_ posted:

Kinda looks like Conan O'Brien, but that doesn't make sense.

QuoProQuid posted:

The hair suggests that it is Rand Paul.

QuoProQuid posted:

Yesterday, a bill arrived on the floor of North Carolina's General Assembly that would have made it illegal for local municipalities to raise the minimum wage, establish affordable housing mandates, or institute landlord-tenet relations. It also would have blocked any rules against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill, originally intended to regulate the licensing of counselors, had provisions added to it moments before voting began. Consequently, representatives were preparing to vote when they received word that their previously uncontroversial bill would have, among other things, completely undone the concept of federalism in the state of North Carolina. City Lab reports:

A Bag of Milk posted:

Great OP as always. To start off the new month, Alabama is closing 31 driver's licence offices throughout the state leaving 29 counties without one.

8 of the top 10 counties polling for Obama in 2008 have an office closing. All of the top five counties polling for Obama in 2008 have an office closing. 11 out of the 17 counties with more than 24% of individuals living in poverty have an office closing (65%). All six counties with the highest % of black residents have an office closing. 59% of the 17 counties with the highest % of black residents have an office closing. Alabama of course has strict voter ID laws. My preferred drink is shots of Everclear. Doesn't waste my time.

the_paradigm_shift posted:

Ugh. I'm glad to hear that guy say a lawsuit is certain, this is outrageous and clearly the final intent of a lot of the voter ID laws.

Unbelievably bold and stupid.

quote:

So roll out the welcome wagon to the Justice Department, and tell the world what it already so desperately wants to hear.

That Alabama is exactly what they always thought she was.

That Alabama refuses to pay for its own government, and used it as an excuse to keep black people from the polls. That Alabama hasn't changed a bit.

I'd say they have us all wrong. I'd love to say they have us all wrong.

But the numbers say they don't.

QuoProQuid posted:

Yesterday, a bill arrived on the floor of North Carolina's General Assembly that would have made it illegal for local municipalities to raise the minimum wage, establish affordable housing mandates, or institute landlord-tenet relations. It also would have blocked any rules against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill, originally intended to regulate the licensing of counselors, had provisions added to it moments before voting began. Consequently, representatives were preparing to vote when they received word that their previously uncontroversial bill would have, among other things, completely undone the concept of federalism in the state of North Carolina. City Lab reports:

quote:

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and Charlotte City Council are discussing whether to create “public safety zones,” city areas where people with past arrests would be prohibited from entering.

Under the controversial proposal, Chief Kerr Putney could designate a high-crime area as a safety zone in response to crimes such as drug sales or discharging guns that were committed on public property.

Someone who has been arrested for crimes in the area could be issued a notice that they are no longer allowed to enter, for as long as the safety zone is in effect. Entering the zone after being prohibited would be a misdemeanor.

The bans could be appealed for reasons that include entering the area to go to work or to pick up a child from school...

The city has been experimenting with different tactics to lower crime. In addition to the injunction against gang members, the city has used a public nuisance ordinance, which gives it the ability to seize private property from owners who continually have police come to their property.

“Truthfully, I don’t know if they will do any good,” said City Council member Claire Fallon, who chairs the public safety committee. The committee heard a CMPD presentation about the zones in early September. “If someone doesn’t obey the law, do you think a safety zone will impress them?”

Fallon also said she’s worried the safety zones would simply move crime from one part of the city to another.

“We would take it off the plate of one community and then put them on another community,” she said.

A CMPD presentation to council members notes the zones could be an “additional tool to assist in maintaining or repairing a neighborhood or location’s reputation” and could also “disrupt nuisance criminal activity.”

But the department also acknowledges that there are downsides.

Among them: a perception that the zones would be “an overhanded arbitrary government action” and would place a harmful “brand” on a neighborhood.

Dapper_Swindler posted:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34397272
well trump actualy went there. I am kinda not surprised.

QuoProQuid posted:

Yesterday, a bill arrived on the floor of North Carolina's General Assembly that would have made it illegal for local municipalities to raise the minimum wage, establish affordable housing mandates, or institute landlord-tenet relations. It also would have blocked any rules against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill, originally intended to regulate the licensing of counselors, had provisions added to it moments before voting began. Consequently, representatives were preparing to vote when they received word that their previously uncontroversial bill would have, among other things, completely undone the concept of federalism in the state of North Carolina. City Lab reports:

quote:

Among the emails released Wednesday were five that appear to be attempts by hackers to penetrate Mrs. Clinton’s email system. The messages appear to be notices of speeding tickets from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. But the emails are well known as phishing attempts by hackers in Russia. It is not clear whether Mrs. Clinton clicked on the malware-infected messages.

By itself, the spam directed at Mrs. Clinton’s email does not indicate that her server was infected, or that the Russian hackers suspected of originating the phishing campaign had access to her network. But it does raise questions, because the State Department itself has been subjected to relentless attacks from Russian cyberespionage experts.

The emails could have been randomly generated, rather than directed at her. But because her email address was not widely known, the attempt to lure her to respond to a fake email probably passed through someone who knew her well enough to have the address, and to be an unknowing conduit for the infected email.

Stereotype posted:

Volkswagen didn't break any laws because environmental protection laws are hilarious bullshit that have never and will never be enforceable

Someone else comment on this in the new thread. I am way more interested in this than whether Jeb! backers want to throw more money into fires

Fried Chicken posted:

Estimates are that between 1400 and 5100 people died from the added air pollution from this and we can't do anything?

VW killing people by pumping out toxic gases. What would their founder think of this behavior?

Fried Chicken posted:

Estimates are that between 1400 and 5100 people died from the added air pollution from this and we can't do anything?

VW killing people by pumping out toxic gases. What would their founder think of this behavior?

Zapf Dingbat posted:

And this month in "Great Job, Alabama:"

Alabama Closes Driver's License Offices in Blackest Counties

This is a state where a photo ID is required to vote. So when are we just going to break the state apart and have the neighboring states absorb it?

quote:

It is not clear whether Mrs. Clinton clicked on the malware-infected messages.

gradenko_2000 posted:

This is what we're down to? This?! I loving hope someday I'm popular enough that major news outlets are going to sifting through my spam folder pondering whether or not I really did buy that Cialis and Viagra.

Shifty Pony posted:

edit: oh and the NYTimes has found so little dirt from the Hillary Emails releases that they have started discussing the spam she got:

quote:

...
But it does raise questions, because the State Department itself has been subjected to relentless attacks from Russian cyberespionage experts.
...

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

ndiana GOP’s House Leader resigns after texting sexually explicit video of himself cheating on wife to everyone on his “Contacts” list

http://www.salon.com/2015/09/30/ind...dium=socialflow

Jonas Albrecht posted:

So like, is the dude in the gray suit supposed to be Jon Stewart? This has been bugging me.

Shifty Pony posted:

I like how they claim it was some super targeted email when the Clintons don't drive.