What's in the news?

[Lustful Bride]

The Weedpoclypse has arrived, now marijuana vendors must comply with state regulations (I say thats a good thing).

Though I wonder how long itl be until tobacco companies buy them all up and soon we will have weed cigarettes full of addicting additives.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/weed-apocalypse-dawns-for-california-pot-dealers-on-sunday/ar-AAzmpDZ?ocid=spartandhp

--------------------------

112 year old war veteran has enitr bank account emptied out by identity thieves. God this breaks my heart.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/thieves-empty-bank-account-of-oldest-living-us-veteran/ar-AAznhEW?ocid=spartandhp

[Lustful Bride]

A new study suggests there is a link between air pollution and Diabetes.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/air-pollution-plays-significant-role-in-diabetes-study/ar-AAznmLs?ocid=spartandhp

[Skynet]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/06/vivian-maier-secret-stash-soviet-street-photographer-masha-ivashintsova-instagram/

Woman’s 3,000 plus photography collection offers a first hand view of several decades of life in the Soviet Union.

[blue bunny sparkle]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/30/us/june-30-immigration-protests/index.html

Immigration protests all over the US today.

[Phelan8801]

Slight background preface before we get into this.

I'm a Mexican citizen, born and raised in Mexico City, in extreme poverty during early childhood. I am currently still a Mexican resident, I'm a witness to the effects of gang violence and cartels, and I'm fairly familiar with what they accomplish.

Alright, getting into it now...

That said and done. I believe the U.S. needs stronger border security and tougher border laws. I believe that the way cash and guns flow so easily from the U.S. to Mexico endangers Mexico as much or maybe more than the drugs and criminals that flow from Mexico to the U.S. With this I'm not saying that all people who go to the U.S. are drug dealers, but I am saying that regardless of who they are, no people should be allowed to cross that border illegally. There's a simple reason for this... It's a crime. And all crimes should be prosecuted, regardless of whether they are felonies or misdemeanors, crimes are crimes.

Does that mean they should separate parents and their children? No, that's barbaric, that's way beyond the pale of what is reasonable in enforcing border laws, but that does not mean border laws should be enforced. People need to stop illegal migration to the U.S.

The American left needs to stop this humanitarian plea and stop and look at what it does to both our countries for once. As much as I hate Trump, he's right about one thing, a country without a border is no country at all.

That being said, y'all can pay for your own fucking wall tho...

Peace.

[Deamonbane]

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/30/us/june-30-immigration-protests/index.html

Immigration protests all over the US today.

My family in the states took part in one of those protests.

[TheGlyphstone]

Slight background preface before we get into this.

I'm a Mexican citizen, born and raised in Mexico City, in extreme poverty during early childhood. I am currently still a Mexican resident, I'm a witness to the effects of gang violence and cartels, and I'm fairly familiar with what they accomplish.

Alright, getting into it now...

That said and done. I believe the U.S. needs stronger border security and tougher border laws. I believe that the way cash and guns flow so easily from the U.S. to Mexico endangers Mexico as much or maybe more than the drugs and criminals that flow from Mexico to the U.S. With this I'm not saying that all people who go to the U.S. are drug dealers, but I am saying that regardless of who they are, no people should be allowed to cross that border illegally. There's a simple reason for this... It's a crime. And all crimes should be prosecuted, regardless of whether they are felonies or misdemeanors, crimes are crimes.

Does that mean they should separate parents and their children? No, that's barbaric, that's way beyond the pale of what is reasonable in enforcing border laws, but that does not mean border laws should be enforced. People need to stop illegal migration to the U.S.

The American left needs to stop this humanitarian plea and stop and look at what it does to both our countries for once. As much as I hate Trump, he's right about one thing, a country without a border is no country at all.

That being said, y'all can pay for your own fucking wall tho...

Peace.

Honestly, the entire US immigration system is a gigantic Charlie Foxtrot. Ideally we'd put stronger border laws and patrols in place at the same time we worked to make the process of legal immigration less expensive and time-consuming -a carrot to go with the stick, so to speak. Make legal immigration easier and less punitive and you decrease the impetus to seek illegal immigration.

[Phelan8801]

Honestly, the entire US immigration system is a gigantic Charlie Foxtrot. Ideally we'd put stronger border laws and patrols in place at the same time we worked to make the process of legal immigration less expensive and time-consuming -a carrot to go with the stick, so to speak. Make legal immigration easier and less punitive and you decrease the impetus to seek illegal immigration.

Right, but in that whole conversation, we cannot neglect the reality that illegal immigrants are criminals. Does the system need reform? Sure! Granted.

At the same time, can we stop pretending illegal immigration has no negative effects? At the very least, for us in Mexico, illegal immigration from here to the US is one of the cartel's best and primary assets.

[TheGlyphstone]

Right, but in that whole conversation, we cannot neglect the reality that illegal immigrants are criminals. Does the system need reform? Sure! Granted.

At the same time, can we stop pretending illegal immigration has no negative effects? At the very least, for us in Mexico, illegal immigration from here to the US is one of the cartel's best and primary assets.

Yeah, it does. Like that absolutely moronic scandal that blew up a few years back, I can't remember the name, where the DEA was looking the other way on illegal gun sales that basically went straight to cartel hands. *checks* - Operation Fast and Furious. I don't know what the morons who authorized that were thinking.

Mostly I guess my point is more that it's a multifaceted problem. Right now crossing the border illegally is a crime, but it's considered a misdemeanor - legally equivalent to something like public intoxication or speeding. Deportation can range from a major but not life-threatening hassle to a literal death sentence on a wildly individual basis, so making the punishment fit the crime means we either increase the severity of the offense (make it a felony) or reduce the punishment (don't deport them).

In addition, the legal system is snarled and backed up to the point of uselessness, so anyone who wants to immigrate at all without having lots of money (i.e., most immigrants) are under heavy pressure to do it illegally. This puts money in the pocket of the cartels and makes the problem worse by stretching the resources of ICE between the lower-priority threats (migrants) and higher-priority threats (drugs+guns).

I'm sure there are other complicating factors in this tangled knot, but those are what come to mind immediately. It's not an easy solution in any sense; to start with, even a strong fortified border means we'd also need a massive expansion of the Coast Guard to keep the cartels from just merrily going a dozen miles off to the east/west and bypassing the border wall entirely.

[Phelan8801]

I mean, I'm sure the U.S. can spare some budget for the coast guard from the hundreds of overseas military bases you don't actually need. For instance, can anyone explain to me why the U.S. still has a military presence in Germany? No offense, but I think you made your point in Germany guys.

[TheGlyphstone]

I mean, I'm sure the U.S. can spare some budget for the coast guard from the hundreds of overseas military bases you don't actually need. For instance, can anyone explain to me why the U.S. still has a military presence in Germany? No offense, but I think you made your point in Germany guys.

Yeah, but try talking either political party into that. One side wants overseas military presence because MURICA is the world's policeman whether the world likes it or not, the other wants overseas military presence to show solidarity and support with oversea allies or something.

[HairyHeretic]

Give Trump a few more months and you won't need to worry about having any more overseas allies

[Phelan8801]

Now that's unfair. Russia and North Korea are both overseas.

[Oniya]

Now that's unfair. Russia and North Korea are both overseas.

*mashes the non-existent 'Like' button.*

[gaggedLouise]

Now that's unfair. Russia and North Korea are both overseas.

There are several things he likely wishes Putin could teach him - and not just about elections. :)

[Iniquitous]

There are several things he likely wishes Putin could teach him - and not just about elections. :)

Brain went where it should not have... mental image is now seared into my brain.

[Phelan8801]

Brain went where it should not have... mental image is now seared into my brain.

Bow-chika-wow-wow!

[Lustful Bride]

....I cant believe this actually happened.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/notorious-gangster-flees-french-jail-by-helicopter/ar-AAzpYsP?ocid=spartandhp

[Skynet]

....I cant believe this actually happened.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/notorious-gangster-flees-french-jail-by-helicopter/ar-AAzpYsP?ocid=spartandhp

This is straight out of a Splinter Cell video game (Double Agent, you flee a prison by hijacking a news helicopter).

I'd bet dollars to donuts he got inspiration from that.

All the same, I hope he gets caught.

[Phelan8801]

....I cant believe this actually happened.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/notorious-gangster-flees-french-jail-by-helicopter/ar-AAzpYsP?ocid=spartandhp

Leaving all his heinous crimes aside, this was pretty gangsta'

[Yukina]

*mashes the non-existent 'Like' button.*

*assists*

Leaving all his heinous crimes aside, this was pretty gangsta'

Agreed :)

[Lustful Bride]

FBI Sting foils bomb plot.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fbi-says-arrests-man-who-planned-to-bomb-cleveland-july-4-event/ar-AAztl98?ocid=spartandhp

[Sara Nilsson]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44688909

All 12 boys and their football coach have been found alive after nine days missing in caves in Thailand, the regional governor says.

[Deamonbane]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44688909

That's some good news

[Beguile's Mistress]

Just in case you all needed a laugh! 

People have started calling Trump's draft bill to abandon world trade rules the 'FART Act'

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/people-have-started-calling-trumps-draft-bill-to-abandon-world-trade-rules-the-fart-act/ar-AAzsOA5?li=BBnb7Kz