Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

Dave

Staff member
"but foul play isn't suspected. "
"Base officials said foul play wasn't suspected in that death either. "

So, what is suspected? Are they just killing off any service members who show evidence of morals?
It’s the military. My bet is suicide.
 
When I said the situation was budgetary, I didn't mean "lack of funding." The money was there and now is gone. I'm not privy to where it went or who did it.

And even if it WAS a genuine budget gap, this is the fucking United States, where mountains of money can be moved at a whim for whatever rich people bullshit. If the Trump administration wanted kids at the border to have soap and toothpaste, there would be soap and toothpaste.
Also, remember when the Reps had control of both House and Senate?

Funny how funding for the wall/border wasn't a priority until they lost one and could claim it's not getting done because of the other side.
 
You know, we gave the kids at my former place of work free toothbrushes and toothpaste when they arrived at the institution.
Just sayin'.
 
Trump threatens to leave the Geneva Convention in 3... 2...
"....Wait, Geneva? Isn't that Switzerland? No, I need to keep those as my friends, they've got all my banking regulations. Can't we leave some hostile power's treaty instead? The Paris agreement or something? We already left that? Ah nuts."
 
"....Wait, Geneva? Isn't that Switzerland? No, I need to keep those as my friends, they've got all my banking regulations. Can't we leave some hostile power's treaty instead? The Paris agreement or something? We already left that? Ah nuts."
That would be assuming he knows where Geneva (or even Switzerland) even is. That would be giving him too much credit.
 
Hey @Eriol you aren't going to bring up budgetary concerns ever again right?

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/i...cities-cost-more-keeping-migrant-kids-n884871
Temporary housing is more expensive than permanent? In other news, water is wet?

But if you lock them up with their parents, then that's bad too. Or is that OK then? That's what the article compared the costs to.

Oh and @PatrThom last page you said:
Throwing more money at it is not the problem. Our border budget has almost tripled since 2004 (1.5bil->5bil) There is no way that is not sufficient to also include basic human care being granted to detainees.
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-...ld-trump/1700-percent-increase-asylum-claims/
They actually rate that as "mostly true". So a lot greater than triple the volume claiming asylum. As in an order of magnitude (and then some) greater claims of people. And that's just the "credible fear" ones, and not anything else being claimed. And even then the acceptance rate is ~20% (according to Politifact). Regardless of the fraud claim, it's still a MUCH GREATER number of people.

So no, it's actually not hard to believe that they need more money. And if you claim Politifact is biased in favor Trump, you need your head examined.
 
But if you lock them up with their parents, then that's bad too. Or is that OK then? That's what the article compared the costs to.
I wouldn't say it's "ok" but it's certainly worse, and shows that it's a policy of intentional cruelty and not the best solution within the budgetary constraints.
 
Wait, I thought you said these people didn't have valid asylum claims?
According to Politifact, 80% of them don't!
I wouldn't say it's "ok" but it's certainly worse, and shows that it's a policy of intentional cruelty and not the best solution within the budgetary constraints.
So you agree now that there are budgetary concerns? Today started with your post here:
Hey @Eriol you aren't going to bring up budgetary concerns ever again right?

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/i...cities-cost-more-keeping-migrant-kids-n884871
You (and @PatrThom who claimed last page that tripling the budget was enough, despite way more than 10x the numbers) going to admit that maybe there's a budgetary problem here?
 
What? If the policy is crueler and more expensive, then that means that the cruelty is by design, otherwise they'd just do the cheaper one.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
According to Politifact, 80% of them don't!
No, 80% of them are denied, that doesn't mean they don't have valid claims. Consider the fact that children are put before these hearings with no legal counsel, and then reconsider if you think those 80% are being denied because they don't have valid claims.

EDIT: Also, 20,000 people had legitimate asylum claims, fleeing from persecution and violence... and your reaction to them being brutally treated in unethical ways is to say "well, most of them don't have valid claims, so it's okay for human rights violations to have occurred"? REALLY? FUCKING REALLY?
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Also, I'm going to remind you that I have a solution to this. Call in the U.N. to take over. Admit that we are committing human rights violations. Blame the Democrats for not paying money to the Mob if you want, but admit human rights violations are going on, that the US is helpless to stop itself from violating basic human rights, and invite in groups that are capable of putting a stop to humans beings being treated this way.
 
https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-...ld-trump/1700-percent-increase-asylum-claims/
They actually rate that as "mostly true". So a lot greater than triple the volume claiming asylum. As in an order of magnitude (and then some) greater claims of people. And that's just the "credible fear" ones, and not anything else being claimed. And even then the acceptance rate is ~20% (according to Politifact). Regardless of the fraud claim, it's still a MUCH GREATER number of people.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

A much greater number of people applying for asylum, maybe, but the total number of people crossing the border (and therefore the quantity of people needing shelter/housing/food/etc) does not appear to have changed significantly since 2009. I mean, yes it was lower for a while, sure, so technically it did change, but I don't think that's what you're getting at. In fact, according to the chart from the linked report (which I have helpfully reproduced below), the (total) number of (Southern) migrants NOW appears to only be about a third of what it was back in the Dubya era. So unless inflation has increased the price of food/shelter/care an additional 200% in the last decade (spoiler alert: It hasn't), then I'm sure they could somehow manage to find enough money from someplace in their tripled budget to at least provide basic necessities for detainees.

borderboarders.png


--Patrick
 
Last edited:
Y'know, I'm actually somewhat surprised about the toothpaste in Somalia.
They probably get a lot of it from oil tanker supply stocks...


Lies, damn lies, and statistics.

A much greater number of people applying for asylum, maybe, but the total number of people crossing the border (and therefore the quantity of people needing shelter/housing/food/etc) does not appear to have changed significantly since 2009. I mean, yes it was lower for a while, sure, so technically it did change, but I don't think that's what you're getting at. In fact, according to the chart from the linked report (which I have helpfully reproduced below), the (total) number of (Southern) migrants NOW appears to only be about a third of what it was back in the Dubya era. So unless inflation has increased the price of food/shelter/care an additional 200% in the last decade (spoiler alert: It hasn't), then I'm sure they could somehow manage to find enough money from someplace in their tripled budget to at least provide basic necessities for detainees.

--Patrick
It's not even about statistics... it's about making a claim about a completely different thing.

And frankly, i don't trust people who make those sort of misleading claims to argue in good faith...
 
It's not even about statistics... it's about making a claim about a completely different thing.
I feel like he's really, really attached to a worldview where The Rich are all philanthropic, The Poor are only poor because they either can't or don't want to work (and therefore deserve their station), and where the only reason a government/municipality/business could fail is because it couldn't source enough funding or because its people/employees selfishly abandoned whatever plan would've worked.

I don't think he understands that what's going on is that a (relatively) small group of people have installed enough of their members in key positions that they are using the influence of those positions to further benefit their group and to push that group's agenda (at the expense of everyone else's). And they legitimately don't care who gets hurt, maimed, or killed, so long as they change it so things are the way they want it to be, even though "they" represent less than 1% of the population. I mean, the evidence of this is fairly strong... so strong, in fact, that I wonder how he can continue to argue the opposite in good conscience.

--Patrick
 
What I notice about this is that there seems to always be a spike right at the beginning of the year - which makes sense, since that's probably the best time to cross from Mexico into CA/AZ/NM/TX. But it seems that from 2015 onward, that trend started to reverse - people stopped trying to cross the border right around December-January (though it looks like it spiked in December of last year).

And man, were those some sharp peaks during the Bush administration.
 


"Budgetary concerns"

I don't know what it is now, but years ago it cost $87 a day to house a person in ICE detention, and due process was to be quickly moved through so they could stop costing money.

And now costing 10 times that to not bother with due process or ICE facilities.

I want to do the "I told you so" dance at my manager, but people involved in due process are still on reduced hours. Can't imagine why.
 
$775 would rent 8 rooms per night here, counting tax. Soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, beds, and complimentary breakfast included.

9 rooms per night if they had the government agency tax exempt form.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Golly, it's almost as if these for-profit prisons are skimming money off the top just funneling most of the money right into rich white racists' pockets.
 
But let's just let the apologists try to explain away how this could possibly be ok. Please, keep it up, your cruelty and indifference will be your legacy.
 
$775 would rent 8 rooms per night here, counting tax. Soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, beds, and complimentary breakfast included.

9 rooms per night if they had the government agency tax exempt form.
I don't think that includes "and you're not allowed to leave" fee. You know, custody? Or is that not important to you?

And @PatrThom please stop defining the inside of my mind. Stop putting out what I "really think" on things. That's called straw-man, constructing a falsehood of what I think so you can tear it down. State what you think, not what you think I think.
 
don't think that includes "and you're not allowed to leave" fee. You know, custody? Or is that not important to you?
Given that he said that's 8 rooms for the cost of locking up 1 child, maybe make it so each child gets just one room and the money from the other 7 can go to hiring a guard. Seems like it wouldn't be difficult to find someone for $300 a day, and then you have a few hundred left over. And this is for a 1:1 guard to child ratio.
 
Top