slugsrbad wrote:Trump formally announces continued enforcement of 2014 EO which protects employees from anti-LBGTQ workplace discrimination.

Paranoid thought - tested the balloon on the batshit rumor yesterday, got slapped the fuck down, talked down Pence, and re-enforced the EO

Rational thought - the rumors were the paranoia.

drsmooth wrote:

slugsrbad wrote:Holy #$!&@ he just relieved Sally Yates.

Holy #$!&@ I hope I chose the under on the date drumpf would be "resigned" from office

"We're not by any means prejudiced against Islam. As long as you're a good human being, you have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. But the majority of the population over here are Christian Syrian," said Wehbey, who is regarded as a community leader. "Now they're bringing new elements from Syria, refugees shook by a religious war. They may have hate in their heart because of whatever happened to them."

"And we don't want to see a religious conflict over here," he added.

Like other pro-Trump Syrian Americans in Allentown, Younes was frustrated by President Barack Obama's calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Younes supported Obama and said he is "usually a liberal" but supported Trump during the election because of his stances on foreign policy. As a military veteran, Younes said, the controversy over the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, soured him to Democrat Hillary Clinton's candidacy.)

Largely supportive of Assad's regime, many of Allentown's Syrian Christians have expressed skepticism that any moderate "rebels" in Syria exist, including the Free Syrian Army, with many emphasizing that they believe the rebels are hoping to covertly wage a religious war. There remains a strong sense among many of the Syrians in Allentown that Assad led the country reasonably and that things were going in the right direction before the civil war.

A Syrian refugee who moved to the United States with his wife and six children 16 months ago and now lives in Allentown expressed gratitude to the United States and to the residents of his new home. Speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear that the Trump administration might retaliate against him for talking to the media, he said he believes Americans do not fully understand the depth of the violence wrought by war.

When he still lived in Daraa, Syria, he was abducted by authorities one night from his bedroom and held for 37 days, he said. He described repeated beatings while he was detained. In his experience, Syrian Muslims and Christians have always gotten along well, but that all changed after the war started, and he blamed the Syrian government for stoking those tensions. But he said the tensions stay in Syria.

"Radical Muslims don't come to the United States," he said. "The people that are coming here are people looking for a better life."

thephan wrote:GOP Travel Ban View - 35 oppose, 53 support, and 204 have nothing to say

thephan wrote:GOP Travel Ban View - 35 oppose, 53 support, and 204 have nothing to say

@reidepstein
Heitkamp a no on DeVos. Release notes: "95% of the almost 1,400 North Dakotans who contacted Heitkamp about DeVos opposed Devos nomination."
10:33 AM - 30 Jan 2017

drsmooth wrote:if you're Sasse, Flake, McCain, Graham, Corker, Collins, Portman, maybe Heller, if you have any particle of affection remaining for your nation & its reputation - to say nothing of your own - you've gotta be wondering how much longer you can grin & bear it

slugsrbad wrote:

td11 wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:Hey y'all. IJM is collecting signatures for an online petition that urges Congress to appropriate the money that they promised to do in passing that bill a bunch of you called about last fall.

Here's the link if you are so inclined.

http://freedomcommons.ijm.org/action-al ... -name-line

signed

thanks for posting cal

I signed too, I didn't really read it too closely last night, but did it automatically email a script to my Senators?

CalvinBall wrote:

slugsrbad wrote:

td11 wrote:

CalvinBall wrote:Hey y'all. IJM is collecting signatures for an online petition that urges Congress to appropriate the money that they promised to do in passing that bill a bunch of you called about last fall.

Here's the link if you are so inclined.

http://freedomcommons.ijm.org/action-al ... -name-line

signed

thanks for posting cal

I signed too, I didn't really read it too closely last night, but did it automatically email a script to my Senators?

thanks! (you too td!)

the goal is 100k signatures that will ultimately just be circulated to congress in the spring when all that money stuff starts to get decided.

pacino wrote:long-time Syrian-Americans who are christian in Allentown back Trump's ban because SCARY and they got in so nah-nah-nah. OK, so I paraphrased a little:

"We're not by any means prejudiced against Islam. As long as you're a good human being, you have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. But the majority of the population over here are Christian Syrian," said Wehbey, who is regarded as a community leader. "Now they're bringing new elements from Syria, refugees shook by a religious war. They may have hate in their heart because of whatever happened to them."

"And we don't want to see a religious conflict over here," he added.

And why back Trump? BENGHAZI and ASSAD

Like other pro-Trump Syrian Americans in Allentown, Younes was frustrated by President Barack Obama's calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Younes supported Obama and said he is "usually a liberal" but supported Trump during the election because of his stances on foreign policy. As a military veteran, Younes said, the controversy over the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, soured him to Democrat Hillary Clinton's candidacy.)

Largely supportive of Assad's regime, many of Allentown's Syrian Christians have expressed skepticism that any moderate "rebels" in Syria exist, including the Free Syrian Army, with many emphasizing that they believe the rebels are hoping to covertly wage a religious war. There remains a strong sense among many of the Syrians in Allentown that Assad led the country reasonably and that things were going in the right direction before the civil war.

newer Syrian immigrants are less enthused:

A Syrian refugee who moved to the United States with his wife and six children 16 months ago and now lives in Allentown expressed gratitude to the United States and to the residents of his new home. Speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear that the Trump administration might retaliate against him for talking to the media, he said he believes Americans do not fully understand the depth of the violence wrought by war.

When he still lived in Daraa, Syria, he was abducted by authorities one night from his bedroom and held for 37 days, he said. He described repeated beatings while he was detained. In his experience, Syrian Muslims and Christians have always gotten along well, but that all changed after the war started, and he blamed the Syrian government for stoking those tensions. But he said the tensions stay in Syria.

"Radical Muslims don't come to the United States," he said. "The people that are coming here are people looking for a better life."