The Recent Events/Controversies? Anyone?
 

I'm surprised there isn't a thread for this, seeing as how it's all over the place right now. What do you guys think about all this stuff going on with the IRS targeting Conservative groups, the Benghazi inadequacies, and the seizure of AP's phone records by the DoJ?

If links need to be posted, let me know. Although I would imagine most of you know about this stuff by now.

I just want to get a feel for how you guys are taking this stuff, since it's oddly quiet about these recent events around here.

Hmmm... I know fuck all about any IRS scandals, the Benghazi, and I have no idea who AP is :laughing:

I guess I'm not as informed as I usually am, hahaha.

Weird! I will see if I can compile some resources for those that live outside the US. I had just thought that since pretty much any major news seems to propagate up to you guys and also to western Europe pretty quickly, that the majority of us here would have some idea.

No. I just haven't been paying attention.

The Bengazi nonsense isn't really that surprising to me. Certainly, it is disturbing, but I wish the dialogue was focusing on why we involved ourselves in that conflict in the first place.

Regarding the IRS targeting conservative groups, I was about as shocked by that as I was by the AP issue. It seems to really unnerve people when you bring this up, but I don't see how these types of actions are surprising. Whether people recognized it in '08 or not, after his first term Obama's actions confirmed his major difference with Bush was not in regards to means but to the ends.

I can't say I was really "surprised" by any of it. What surprised me more is the apparent reaction to it all, or lack of one. Although I do applaud the more liberally-biased media outlets for actually reporting on it the way they are (I was surprised about that), I'm not getting a vibe that people as a whole are very concerned about what it is the government is doing.

It just makes me wonder if the whole "not being surprised because the gov can't be trusted anyway" thing is the reason, which is scary in and of itself, or if there is something else at work along partisan lines.

IRS: The part of the government that collects taxes investigating some anti-tax organizations who had filed for tax-exempt status so far hasn't struck me as very earth-shaking news. But admittedly I was in jury duty for over a week and that was sapping most of my mental energy so maybe there's something I've missed here. I'll have to read more about it.

Benghazi: Was certainly a tragedy. I know a bunch of emails about it were released recently and the investigation has been ongoing for a long time. I guess we'll see what comes of it.

AP: I've just seen the headlines, now that my brain isn't completely fried at the end of every day I'll have to read up on it.


Some other recent crazy stories that don't have threads on MB...

Bangladesh building collapse: The death toll now stands at 1127. It's a crazy situation and amazing that they found that one person alive after 17 days buried alive. Still there are 98 people still missing which means the death toll could end up well over 1200.

Ariel Castro: How fucked up is this story? These poor women were captive by the monster for a decade and none of the neighbors ever knew. Pretty horrific.

The Gosnell case: Extremely messed up stuff. It was also being tried in the same building in which I was serving jury duty in at the same time I was there so the camera crews and protesters became part of my daily commute. Crazy.

the castro thing is insane.
chains on walls, dog leashes.... being compared to POW .... I just hope that somehow, eventually they manage to get their lives back....

With Bengazhi, I really don't see why that's such a big scandal when it's just a bunch of speculation at the moment of an ongoing instigation that has been going on for awhile now.

I have to look into the AP story because I haven't heard of that one yet.

With the Ariel Castro thing, it's crazy that the kidnapper had impregnated one of the women and he must have delivered the baby on his own also he falcon punched another one of the women five times too.

Also another case not mentioned is the Jodi Arias trial. She claims that she wants the death penalty so that she can finally be free but I'd rather have her rot in prison for life. She could also be trying to use reverse psychology though.

The Emilie Parker thing from Sandy Hook still bothers me. I don't think it was some big government conspiracy or anything, but I think her parents did something ****ed up by claiming their kid was dead, and then having the gonads to have her pose with Obama after the shooting. That's ****ed up, to the nth degree. I don't think Obama is to blame, because he just came there because something awful happened. I don't think he was even paying attention to the kids he was posing with. But that nothing ever came of that still bugs me.

It also still bugs me that when I was watching the coverage, they'd arrested a man outside the school with firearms, handcuffed him, and taken him to a police car with numerous witnesses...and never mentioned him again.

It doesn't feel like a full conspiracy per say, but it's pretty obvious that a lot of details weren't divulged.

Well the head of the IRS apologized for it, and then Obama fired him (Oh well, he was leaving anyway). So I guess even the people involved don't think it was kosher. There's definitely more to it that you'll come across if you read up on it. In general, though, it's not a controversy for nothing.

Well a lot of actual facts are out there about what happened and how it was dealt with, and more keep emerging. These are not flattering facts.
Especially the part where it was already known that it was a terrorist attack and not a spontaneously violent demonstration about a movie, and Rice still went out and told everyone otherwise. Of course, she was only reading prepared talking points... but the thing is, ALL SORTS OF INFORMATION that actually identified the situation correctly were removed from the reports. And there was no mention of any spontaneous demonstration anywhere... At some point, someone willingly decided to use false information to give to the public when they knew the actual facts.

It may not seem controversial to people so jaded that they think this is just how things work now, but to me, it's more than a little annoying.

Most of the speculation is in regards to whether Susan Rice knowingly embarked upon a misinformation campaign. What is not in question is that the Obama administration knew what she was saying was incorrect, and supported the misinformation campaign for the benefit of the Democrats in the 2012 election cycle. link

Of course it's partisan. That MSNBC & the like have been reporting on it shouldn't be too surprising - Obama's Presidency has been anything but a success story.

Without googling it, where is Benghazi? I would say that 50% of the people I have daily contact with have no idea. Hell, I'd go higher than 50%.

It's f*cked up. Just imagine what else we don't know about.

As for Gosnell, that is f*cked up as well. I'm all for pro-choice, but this dude was just evil. There was a stink about liberal media not giving the case national coverage. The argument being that it would harm the pro-choice agenda. Yeah, sure it may do some harm. However, this guy was performing illegal abortions well after the gestation period that is mandated by law. I believe in the end he was found guilty of three(charged with four?) counts of first degree murder of infants.

With the recent release of the emails, I see where the scandal is now with the State Dept. having to edit those talking about 12 times. This is becoming a nice springboard for the Republicans to drag Hilary through the mud before she even announces that she'll be running in three and a half years from now.

It is in Libya. In this country, Obama involved the USA in a conflict between forces loyal to Qaddafi & the rebellion, and it was these very members of the rebellion who ended up engaging in acts of terrorism against the USA. Oops.

Yeah, I don't understand how people can have such short attention spans. A few years ago they were bitching about us having gone into Iraq, but now they've forgotten all about that and all of a sudden we need to help this or that or another Middle Eastern country that may or may not devolve into an Islamic theocracy. If the world wants us to be the world's police then shut up and cede control of the UN to us and be our slaves once and for all. Otherwise shut the fuck up and go invade Syria your goddamned selves, because I'll be damned if I'm gonna die in some god forsaken desert just because some holier-than-thou, whiny assholes gave my country a guilt trip.

NO ****, a little experiment: Ask two simple questions(face-to-face). #1 Is there a cover-up regarding Benghazi? After they answer, ask #2 What country is Benghazi in?

Answers I have received: Yes and somewhere in Africa.

Somewhere in Africa is a good enough answer, at least they have the continent right.

I'd say even having the right hemisphere would be good enough, but then I'm sure I'd have to explain to them what a hemisphere was.

Would you care to elaborate as to why you feel the need to share this information?

x2. Let them eat their cake.

I suppose the same reason you felt the need to answer a rhetorical question to begin with.

Katsy, I answered because I genuinely felt you're ignorant in regards to the topics at hand.

^ fixed

My state Minnesota had just accepted gay marriage. Many religious groups surprisingly in Minnesota have no plans to strick gay marriage. Now I just hope gay couples can have a healthy marriages and hope they all get blessed. Next state to legalize gay marriage is Virginia.

I wouldn't hold my breath.

When pigs fly.

Well, Virginia IS for lovers after all.

The Republican's won't get the necessary traction they need on any of it because they've been crying wolf about a black man in the white house ruining the country for 6 years.

The IRS thing is something I'm sure they (Treasury) knew about but chose to cast a blind eye toward.

The Benghazi stuff is complete political strawman. "They knew it was terrorism and didn't tell us!" Alright, so what would have changed if they had told you that? I'm done explaining it to people who defend it because if you didn't wake up after the 2012 electoral stomping, you won't ever wake up.

Say what you want about politics, but it trades in reality. No ones buying Benghazi except people who would buy anything so long as its against Obama. Well, they can keep buying it, like the "New Democrats" in the 1980's until they established party shuts off their oxygen supply.

I agree. Also because Obama has run the country for 6 years and yet somehow manages not be responsible for anything negative that happens in it.

Name one thing that was his alone and I'd agree with you. The Congress wanted to give him nothing, and then tried to blame him for all the nothing they gave him.

If he had one thing go through without incident, I'd at least have something to go on. I'm not saying he's not a ****-up, I'm saying how could we possibly know?

I'm not really relating the recent events, or any other, in such a way as to say he held them on his own (Which is probably impossible to do, btw). Just like I wouldn't say the same for "most" of our other presidents. But when you're the president, you're responsible for what goes on in your country, good or bad.

The left had no problem parking every issue at Bush's doorstep when he was president. And he probably deserved 99 percent of it. But you just don't see that with Obama, except from the right. I just think he also deserves a majority of the burden, because when you're the f*cking president, you don't get to decide what you're responsible for.

But even that is irrelevant against the fact that regardless of how baseless any accusations are, the Odministration is more worried about defending themselves than fixing the problems. Obviously, I don't think that's such a new thing. It's politics in general. And that's what's f*cked up about it.

You could have said the same thing about Iowa and Minnesota but they have gay marriage in their states now. BATLORD, I predict by 2014, about 16 states would have gay marriage.

Yeah but Minnesota and Iowa are also blue states. Well, so is Virginia but I think Virginia is still a lot more conservative when it comes to gay rights.

Iowa is no hell a blue state. Yes Minnesota is a blue state but it is not that liberal. It is a more moderate liberal state.

This is an electoral map from the 2012 election. Iowa is IA, right? Looks pretty blue there, unless the colour on my screen is way off.

http://politicalmaps.org/wp-content/...mepage-map.png

Iowa is a swing state. It has never been a blue state. It is a state that is a purple state just like Virginia. I mean they major right wing fanatics in Iowa (ie STEVE KING) like Virginia.

Virginia is not a blue state. Virginia has only even been a swing state for the last few elections. We're relatively red 'round these here parts. The north of Virginia around DC might be more liberal, but the rest of it is moderately conservative at best to downright redneck out in the central and western parts.

lawl. I love this defense of Obama, "It's not his fault he's incompetent!"

As President, you have to deal with the opposition. Simply throwing up your hands and whining that not everyone agrees with you isn't a sign of competent, let alone great, leadership.