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[Orbis Tabula]

Obama: 'Nobody who works full-time should have to live in poverty'

Apparently said in reference to raising the minimum wage for Federal contract workers. While I certainly appreciate the progress, I still hope someday we can live in a country where "Nobody should have to live in poverty" is the common statement. No qualifiers are necessary.

 

[Oblivion]

Obama: 'Nobody who works full-time should have to live in poverty'

Apparently said in reference to raising the minimum wage for Federal contract workers. While I certainly appreciate the progress, I still hope someday we can live in a country where "Nobody should have to live in poverty" is the common statement. No qualifiers are necessary.

I'm disappointed to hear this won't take effect until next year. All that extra money being earned and spent by 500k people probably could have had a decent stimulative effect.

 

[speculawyer]

Good lord conservative twitter has gone insane over Michelle Obama wearing a ball dress to the WH state dinner tonight. I'm sure Fox will fill everyone in tomorrow.

LOL . . . who would have guessed that a bunch of conservatives are the fashion police.

Actually . . . a lot of people would guess that.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Good lord conservative twitter has gone insane over Michelle Obama wearing a ball dress to the WH state dinner tonight. I'm sure Fox will fill everyone in tomorrow.

Pic?

 

[Boom Boom Pow]

Obama: 'Nobody who works full-time should have to live in poverty'

Apparently said in reference to raising the minimum wage for Federal contract workers. While I certainly appreciate the progress, I still hope someday we can live in a country where "Nobody should have to live in poverty" is the common statement. No qualifiers are necessary.

so a person who is well and capable of working a job, who is perfectly healthy, mentally and physically, should be able to sit around the house all day, and do nothing, and not live in poverty?

yeah gonna disagree with that there

 

[Chichikov]

so a person who is well and capable of working a job, who is perfectly healthy, mentally and physically, should be able to sit around the house all day, and do nothing, and not live in poverty?

yeah gonna disagree with that there

I think that's definitely something we should aspire to as a society.
And by the way, if you born to the right parents, it's something you can already do.

 

[pigeon]

so a person who is well and capable of working a job, who is perfectly healthy, mentally and physically, should be able to sit around the house all day, and do nothing, and not live in poverty?

yeah gonna disagree with that there

Why?

 

[lednerg]

A little context please.

Shia LaBeouf was the lead actor from Transformers who, for his short film directorial debut, decided it would be okay to blatantly plagiarize the work of acclaimed graphic novelist, Daniel Clowes. After his short went around the film festival circuit to rave reviews, he put it online, where people instantly realized and spoke up about what he had actually done. Not only was the dialog stolen, word for word, he even took the artist's composition of the shots as his own. He never mentioned Daniel Clowes in any way. It wasn't until after Shia was caught that he bothered to give the man credit for his work, offering lame justifications about the meaning of 'inspiration' via Twitter.

Anyway, the public backlash was understandably pretty big, and for the last couple months, it's prompted LeBeouf to self destruct both online and off. He swore off social media forever, which lasted about a day. He paid to have airplanes skywrite the message "I'm Sorry Daniel Clowes" above LA. He wore a paper bag to the premiere of his latest film with the phrase "I am not famous anymore" scrawled on it. And now for his latest stunt, he has opened an installation at a gallery in LA in which he's wearing that paper bag for a pseudo-performance art piece titled #IAMSORRY (NeoGAF thread).

 

[WayneMorse]

Anyway, the public backlash was understandably pretty big, and for the last couple months, it's prompted LeBeouf to self destruct both online and off. He swore off social media forever, which lasted about a day. He paid to have airplanes skywrite the message "I'm Sorry Daniel Clowes" above LA. He wore a paper bag to the premiere of his latest film with the phrase "I am not famous anymore" scrawled on it. And now for his latest stunt, he has opened an installation at a gallery in LA in which he's wearing that paper bag for a pseudo-performance art piece titled #IAMSORRY (NeoGAF thread).

He's trying way too hard, it's pathetic.


Also my WTF moment of yesterday was finding out some random kid in my American Government class was a legislative aide for Cynthia McKinney

 

[lednerg]

I like how I used LaBeouf and LeBeouf interchangeably just then.

 

[FLEABttn]

In 10 years, you'll have a choice between AT&T and Comcast for internet.

Doesn't sound terribly different from now, sadly.

AT&T still uses DSL. They have no right to exist in the 21st century.

DSL is only shitty if it's shitty. I had 50Mbps DSL for a while.

 

[Fenderputty]

Why?

I think people have a really hard time knowing their labor is aiding someone in society who chooses to not contribute. I understand this on a reflexive level.

These people neglect to understand that percentages of the population will always be like that though. We can either act humanely or not. It's not like acting humanely doesn't have self serving benefits either. People who don't work aren't suddenly motivated to go be a burger flipper or factory worker. They resort to other more illicit forms of income generation.

I also believe that we as a species are introspective, logical and intelligent. I think it sad we define our lives by the quality and quantity of our labor. We should be afforded the ability to sit around more often, to think about things we want to ponder, to do the things we want and to work on bettering this society we're creating.

Plus, I think our job creators are going to force us into the scenario anyways. I don't believe there'll be enough jobs for the population in the next 20 to 30 to 50 years as automation and hopefully cheaper energy will force people out of the labor market.

 

[Joe Molotov]

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=484707DA-9142-484C-9965-B604F4761825

The Koch brothers have a seemingly bottomless pot of cash this election year — and no one knows it better than Sen. Kay Hagan.

Americans for Prosperity, a group co-founded by the conservative billionaires, has already dropped $8.2 million on TV, radio and digital ads in an effort to defeat the North Carolina Democrat. According to sources tracking media buys, the group has so far spent more in North Carolina than all Democratic outside groups in every Senate race in the country—combined.
And while AFP won’t predict the amount it will ultimately spend in North Carolina, if the conservative group keeps the same pace, it’ll spend more than $27 million by Election Day in the Tar Heel State. That’s more than twice what any outside group has spent in the past dozen years in North Carolina congressional races. [...]

Hagan’s popularity has taken a hit just as the onslaught by the Koch group has intensified, with a solid lead dropping her to about even with her prospective foes in the polls. Hagan still has hopes that a messy GOP primary will damage the leading GOP candidates—Tillis, obstetrician Greg Brannon or Baptist pastor Mark Harris—and that their far-right positions will be rejected by voters in a state that has seen sharp shifts in public opinion. Her campaign has about five times more money than the most well-funded GOP candidate, Tillis, giving Democrats hope that the eventual GOP nominee will be easy to define in the eyes of voters as the election draws nearer.

“No one in the country has gone to the mat for the Koch brothers the way Thom Tillis did in the North Carolina Legislature,” said Matt Canter, a DSCC spokesman.

Anyone know how this news effects Kay Hagan?

 

[Aaron Strife]

Kentucky poll from Wenzel Strategies (R) - McConnell's lead is 43-42

Their record in 2012 was less than sterling, to say the least:

Missouri Senate - Akin+4 (Actual result: McCaskill+16)
Ohio Senate - Mandel+5 (Actual result: Brown+6)
Virginia Senate - Allen+3 (Actual result: Kaine+6)
Wisconsin Senate - Thompson+2 (Actual result: Baldwin+5)
Ohio President - Romney+3 (Actual result: Obama+3)
Virginia President - Romney+2 (Actual result: Obama+4)

Grimes is leading by 5.

 

[FyreWulff]

Doesn't sound terribly different from now, sadly.

Well, in my area Comcast has no presence yet. It's either Century Link (Qwest, formerly AT&T), or Cox Cable.

I don't know how much longer Cox Cable is going to be around before Comcast makes a move on them, though.

 

[FLEABttn]

Well, in my area Comcast has no presence yet. It's either Century Link (Qwest, formerly AT&T), or Cox Cable.

I don't know how much longer Cox Cable is going to be around before Comcast makes a move on them, though.

I meant more along the lines of you only have two choices anyways as it is (for internet). Be it AT&T and Comcast, or CenturyLink and Cox.

 

[Aaron Strife]

Heh, uh-oh.

Hagan tied with Kryn at 40, trails Harris and Tillis 42/40, Grant 41/39, Brannon 43/40, Alexander 45/38: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2014/02/gop-senate-nod-still-up-for-grabs-in-nc.html

I still think she'll win though, she's been pummeled with negative advertising and she's still holding up okay.

 

[FyreWulff]

I meant more along the lines of you only have two choices anyways as it is (for internet). Be it AT&T and Comcast, or CenturyLink and Cox.

Oh, yeah. That's a fix we need at the government level too, though. Stupid municipal monopoly agreements.

 

[Giant Panda]

The telecoms industry probably falls under what would be considered a natural monopoly. In that case it should either be nationalized, heavily price regulated, or made much more competitive through ensuring more private competitors. I think any of these would be better than the status quo.

 

[TacticalFox88]

The telecoms industry probably falls under what would be considered a natural monopoly. In that case it should either be nationalized, heavily price regulated, or made much more competitive through ensuring more private competitors. I think any of these would be better than the status quo.

I'd go for nationalized myself.

 

[TheLaughingStock]

What do you guys think about the argument that since the zip codes of Comcast/Time don't overlap this deal is in the public's interest?

“We do not operate in any of the same ZIP codes,” Mr. Roberts said. “We believe this transaction is approvable,” Mr. Roberts said. “It is pro-consumer, pro-competitive, and strongly in the public interest.”

 

[AntoneM]

What do you guys think about the argument that since the zip codes of Comcast/Time don't overlap this deal is in the public's interest?

“We do not operate in any of the same ZIP codes,” Mr. Roberts said. “We believe this transaction is approvable,” Mr. Roberts said. “It is pro-consumer, pro-competitive, and strongly in the public interest.”

If I got to respond it would be along the lines of "A monopoly's zip codes don't overlap either. We would be happy to regulate your company(ies) as a monopoly."

 

[FyreWulff]

Ah yes, let's use a metric that is only used by mail services and not you know, actual functional boundaries to justify "we're totes not a monopoly"

 

[speculawyer]

What do you guys think about the argument that since the zip codes of Comcast/Time don't overlap this deal is in the public's interest?

“We do not operate in any of the same ZIP codes,” Mr. Roberts said. “We believe this transaction is approvable,” Mr. Roberts said. “It is pro-consumer, pro-competitive, and strongly in the public interest.”

So basically, combining two monopolies into one monopoly is a good thing?


I mean the reason they don't overlap is because cable is one of those 'natural monopolies' . . . cities generally only allow one company to lay cable to hook up all the homes.

 

[Wilsongt]

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=484707DA-9142-484C-9965-B604F4761825



Anyone know how this news effects Kay Hagan?

Those two are just slimy bastards. Cock brothers, indeed, and libertarian my ass.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

I'd go for nationalized myself.

Eh. I think heavily regulated is a better solution even then I think it should only be to guarantee access. I do think there is benefit for the consumer with them being private and able to innovate. At least in TV there is competition with satellite The problem for me comes from their control of high speed internet. I think they have more obligations there seeing how vital internet access is. But even there there's competition with mobile networks and hopefully things like Google. I do think there can be harm with nationalization that stifles competition and regulation is more flexible IMO.

 

[PhoenixDark]

Apparently a Comcast lobbyist was at last night's state dinner. Change we can believe in, folks.

 

[FyreWulff]

Nationalize the physical infrastructure, let the companies compete for providing the actual endpoint service.

 

[RustyNails]

Apparently a Comcast lobbyist was at last night's state dinner. Change we can believe in, folks.

I think Comcast has the biggest revolving door out of all the corporations.

 

[AndyD]

Nationalize the physical infrastructure, let the companies compete for providing the actual endpoint service.

This is pretty much what would be the best way forward. Similar to what is going on in the cellphone market, where lots of smaller companies can fight alongside the biggest ones while using the national hardware networks.

I imagine that if the internet is classified as a utility, then the physical infrastructure being opened up for competition would not be a step too far behind.

 

[Lafiel]

so a person who is well and capable of working a job, who is perfectly healthy, mentally and physically, should be able to sit around the house all day, and do nothing, and not live in poverty?

yeah gonna disagree with that there

From a individual perspective that kind of existence seems kind of depressing and if I were able to do it (well I can sorta if I wasn't pressured by my parents) I'd always desire some kind of structure in my life - whether it's a combination of volunteering, working on a job, learning for my own self-improvement etc.

But objectively-speaking I don't see anything offensive or wrong about some dude living off welfare and just playing video games all-day.. it doesn't affect me, and being "lazy" doesn't mean he should have to starve on the streets.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

so a person who is well and capable of working a job, who is perfectly healthy, mentally and physically, should be able to sit around the house all day, and do nothing, and not live in poverty?

Absolutely.

 

[Oblivion]

Michele Bachmann: Pray the Obamacare away

How is this supposed to work exactly? If prayer worked towards stopping Obamacare, wouldn't it never have been passed to begin with? Does that mean God supports Obamacare, or that it was God's punishment for the American people being insufficiently Christian? And how does this explain the 2012 election? Maybe the people who prayed for Obamacare to remain cancelled out the people who prayed for it to be repealed?

 

[The Technomancer]

Michele Bachmann: Pray the Obamacare away

How is this supposed to work exactly? If prayer worked towards stopping Obamacare, wouldn't it never have been passed to begin with? Does that mean God supports Obamacare, or that it was God's punishment for the American people being insufficiently Christian? And how does this explain the 2012 election? Maybe the people who prayed for Obamacare to remain cancelled out the people who prayed for it to be repealed?

You are looking for logic from people who believe that prayer is a path towards tangible change in the world

 

[Oblivion]

You are looking for logic from people who believe that prayer is a path towards tangible change in the world

I know, I know, lol Republicans and all. But sometimes you gotta spell that shit out in order to really highlight the stupidity.

 

[Armoured Priest]

Michele Bachmann: Pray the Obamacare away

How is this supposed to work exactly? If prayer worked towards stopping Obamacare, wouldn't it never have been passed to begin with? Does that mean God supports Obamacare, or that it was God's punishment for the American people being insufficiently Christian? And how does this explain the 2012 election? Maybe the people who prayed for Obamacare to remain cancelled out the people who prayed for it to be repealed?

As a Christian, I'm going to go with God Supports Obamacare (considering Jesus was all about helping the poor and healing the sick...for free)...or at least supports Obamacare vs what the status quo was.

More seriously, this is an area that is continually frustrating watching people hide behind religion and use it as an excuse to be jackwagons.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Appeals court strikes down good cause requirement for gun permits.
http://m.washingtonpost.com/news/vo...ond-amendment-secures-a-right-to-carry-a-gun/

Insane. This gun issue scares me. I don't want to have to be around people carrying guns in public. Now I have no choice. This isn't what the second amendment says. This is inventing new rights.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

The Second Amendment secures the right not only to “keep” arms but also to “bear” them—the verb whose original meaning is key in this case. Saving us the trouble of pulling the eighteenth-century dictionaries ourselves, the Court already has supplied the word’s plain meaning: “At the time of the founding, as now, to ‘bear’ meant to ‘carry.’” Heller, 554 U.S. at 584.3 Yet, not “carry” in the ordinary sense of “convey[ing] or transport[ing]” an object, as one might carry groceries to the check-out counter or garments to the laundromat, but “carry for a particular purpose—confrontation[/u

].” Id

Wtf.

 

[Oblivion]

As a Christian, I'm going to go with God Supports Obamacare (considering Jesus was all about helping the poor and healing the sick...for free)...or at least supports Obamacare vs what the status quo was.

More seriously, this is an area that is continually frustrating watching people hide behind religion and use it as an excuse to be jackwagons.

Related:

 

[Crisco]

The thing about Comcast/TWC merging is that depending on where you live, you probably already have one or the other has your only choice for decent broadband, so it won't make much of a difference. Where I live I can get Comcast with speeds up to 105Mbps, or my other choice would be CenturyLink DSL with speeds up to 1.5Mbps. There are also local wireless providers that offer up to 20Mbps, but the latency and reliability is shit. I'm paying $72/mo for 50Mbps from Comcast right now, which is not that bad. I remember when broadband first started reaching mass availability it was about $30-40/mo for a fraction of those speeds. Now usage caps are fucking criminal, but luckily Comcast doesn't have those here.

 

[Armoured Priest]

Related:

People hiding behind religion as an excuse to be ignorant morons while cherrypicking overly specific bits of verse to perpetuate their idiocy, because its easier then thinking (and maybe accepting that the bible is not meant to be taken 100% literally)?

Yeah, those people are pretty aggravating to deal with as well.

 

[speculawyer]

Michele Bachmann: Pray the Obamacare away

How is this supposed to work exactly? If prayer worked towards stopping Obamacare, wouldn't it never have been passed to begin with? Does that mean God supports Obamacare, or that it was God's punishment for the American people being insufficiently Christian? And how does this explain the 2012 election? Maybe the people who prayed for Obamacare to remain cancelled out the people who prayed for it to be repealed?

Michelle Bachmann no longer cares about office . . . she cares about building a right-wing pundit/character career. So she is saying stuff now that is even more loony than in the past.

In this example, she basically says . . . yeah, we oppose immigration because Latinos and Asians are not Republicans.

“If these were conservative Republicans coming here illegally, the last thing Obama would do is seek to give amnesty, citizenship, and legal voting status to the people coming into the country,” she said. “If you look at Hispanics today, 77 percent respond that they believe in big government and like big government. Fifty-five percent of Asians say they believe in big government, they like big government.”

“It isn’t the conservative Republican immigration policy that immigrants don’t like,” she argued, “it’s our stance on fiscal conservatism, the Constitution, patriotism, the fact that we believe in limited government and personal responsibility.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQWP6XrQX3E

 

[WayneMorse]

https://twitter.com/alroker/statuses/434007509712371712

lol Al Roker going off on de Blasio on Twitter.

 

[Crisco]

Michelle Bachmann no longer cares about office . . . she cares about building a right-wing pundit/character career. So she is saying stuff now that is even more loony than in the past.

In this example, she basically says . . . yeah, we oppose immigration because Latinos and Asians are not Republicans.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQWP6XrQX3E

Hell, at least she's honest. That's the real reason why it gets no GOP support.

 

[speculawyer]

Hell, at least she's honest. That's the real reason why it gets no GOP support.

It is a losing battle though, they've defended well, but in the end they lose . .
-We need to restrict voting hours and impose ID requirements . . . because black people and young people don't vote for us.
-We need to restrict immigration . . . because Latinos and Asians don't vote for us.
-We need to gerrymander our districts like crazy . . . because people in general don't vote for us.

 

[zero shift]

I think people have a really hard time knowing their labor is aiding someone in society who chooses to not contribute. I understand this on a reflexive level.

My work directly helps someone who is already filthy fucking rich get richer. I would ten times out of ten would rather give my money to a welfare queen who is above poverty level who is going to use my money to go to the club on the weekends then some rich asshole who is going to use my money to fund politicians to vote against my own interests.

The telecoms industry probably falls under what would be considered a natural monopoly. In that case it should either be nationalized, heavily price regulated, or made much more competitive through ensuring more private competitors. I think any of these would be better than the status quo.

I would personally would nationalize Comcast while investing in new private competition.

Eh. I think heavily regulated is a better solution even then I think it should only be to guarantee access. I do think there is benefit for the consumer with them being private and able to innovate. At least in TV there is competition with satellite The problem for me comes from their control of high speed internet. I think they have more obligations there seeing how vital internet access is. But even there there's competition with mobile networks and hopefully things like Google. I do think there can be harm with nationalization that stifles competition and regulation is more flexible IMO.

The way I see it is that it is only a matter of time before 4G replaces wired entirely. Once that happens it will be a looooooooong time if ever that a new type of internet service takes place.

 

[Giant Panda]

I would personally would nationalize Comcast while investing in new private competition.

IIRC, nationalized telecoms companies have had pretty bad records elsewhere in the world, so personally I'm more of a fan of more private competition. The way I see it nationalization will cut down on abusive policies like data caps, but it will result in worse management and lower investment. More private competition doesn't have any of those faults once you get past the high initial cost of laying fiber-optic wire, and then you could just regulate the abusive policies away.

 

[Fenderputty]

My work directly helps someone who is already filthy fucking rich get richer. I would ten times out of ten would rather give my money to a welfare queen who is above poverty level who is going to use my money to go to the club on the weekends then some rich asshole who is going to use my money to fund politicians to vote against my own interests.
.

I'm not sure if you're expanding on my post or if you stopped reading after the quoted section, because I fully agree with you. I just think it takes a little reflection to come to this conclusion rather than a more instinctual, "fuck the guy who does nothing while I bust my ass"

 

[thepotatoman]

The thing about Comcast/TWC merging is that depending on where you live, you probably already have one or the other has your only choice for decent broadband, so it won't make much of a difference.

Obviously consumers won't move just to get a better cable provider, but employees will certainly move to get a better job. So if nothing else this is still an anti competitive move for telecommunication experts looking for a job.

 

[thepotatoman]

Edit: damn nintendo direct messing with neogaf making me double post.