WTF?

[DRiccio21]

ambulance filled with explosives found in front of a stadium in Hannover Germany

[nick]

the stadium where germany and netherlands national teams were playing

[nick]

[GeorgesGoons]

ambulance filled with explosives found in front of a stadium in Hannover Germany

CNN saying nothing being found yet. Are they getting slow in their reporting?

[nick]

http://fusion.net/story/234172/syrian-r ... hirtyeight

The data shows that fears about refugees carrying out terrorist attacks are gravely misplaced. (via Fusion)

[GeorgesGoons]

http://fusion.net/story/234172/syrian-r ... hirtyeight

The data shows that fears about refugees carrying out terrorist attacks are gravely misplaced. (via Fusion)

Read the first paragraph, didn't read the reat. Weren't the Boston bombers both refugees?

And does it matter really? If the vast majority of the public doesn't want them in their state then the government of those states should honor their constituents wishes.

I don't understand the bleeding heart liberals here with this. Why care about 10k refugees when you have 50k veterans that are homeless, hungry and some mentally handicapped. Take care of them first before worrying about other countries problems.

[GeorgesGoons]

http://fusion.net/story/234172/syrian-r ... hirtyeight

The data shows that fears about refugees carrying out terrorist attacks are gravely misplaced. (via Fusion)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

So those brothers came here in 2002, so obviously the website you used nick is wrong

The brothers who are alleged to have planted bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday reached the United States in 2002 after their ethnic Chechen family fled the Caucasus. They had been living in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan and were prevented from resettling in war-racked Chechnya.

[dakshdar]

Placement of refugees is a Federal power granted through the Constitution. States have no say. It is part of what makes all of the Republican (and one Democratic) Governors trumping up how they're refusing comical -- they can't refuse, it is not within their powers at the State level.

I agree we should be improving programs for homeless/handicapped/unemployed, but we can tackle more than one problem at a time. Honestly, it is disappointing that the military spends so much money on new equipment and doesn't take care of their old soldiers. I don't believe that once the soldier leaves the military it should be the government's job to take care of them. I would think the military gets enough money in their incredibly large budget to take care of every soldier in need after their service. Maybe they buy a few less F-35 JSF (at $250-$300 million each depending on what estimates you believe, purchasing 2500+ planes for hundreds of billions of dollars) and build a few more big group houses/facilities for homeless vets where they can live and get treatment under one roof -- and employ them in the building process so they can justify paying them some wages, get them some experience, and hopefully help them land a job afterwards.

I've seen the VA hospital and out here in LA -- they use their parking area to do shuttle buses to Riviera Country Club for the PGA tournament when it is in town each spring. The grounds of the VA, the hospital, and the other buildings that are there for support services looked awful and horrendously run down from the outside. There were what I can only assume to be veterans somewhat wandering around on the grounds and it looked more like an institution than anything else. Shameful.

[jsence2]

There were no explosives found anywhere near the stadium, much less an ambulance full of them.

[Cnasty]

That Dave jumping the proverbial gun.

[ReignOnU]

I agree we should be improving programs for homeless/handicapped/unemployed, but we can tackle more than one problem at a time.

I usually avoid the political discussion here... but it's a statement like this that I find incredibly annoying. We obviously can't tackle more than one (or a few) problems at one time, or else you wouldn't have listed 3 major issues that need to be addressed and have needed to be addressed for a long, long time. So that goes back to George's point, fix our problems first, then worry about others.

[DRiccio21]

I agree we should be improving programs for homeless/handicapped/unemployed, but we can tackle more than one problem at a time.

I usually avoid the political discussion here... but it's a statement like this that I find incredibly annoying. We obviously can't tackle more than one (or a few) problems at one time, or else you wouldn't have listed 3 major issues that need to be addressed and have needed to be addressed for a long, long time. So that goes back to George's point, fix our problems first, then worry about others.

i'm not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic here

[dakshdar]

I agree we should be improving programs for homeless/handicapped/unemployed, but we can tackle more than one problem at a time.

I usually avoid the political discussion here... but it's a statement like this that I find incredibly annoying. We obviously can't tackle more than one (or a few) problems at one time, or else you wouldn't have listed 3 major issues that need to be addressed and have needed to be addressed for a long, long time. So that goes back to George's point, fix our problems first, then worry about others.

i'm not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic here

In particular I was talking about veterans since that is what George mentioned but...

Unemployment has continued to decrease and is at a 7 year low (and has only been lower in the last 40 years in the late 90s/early 00s).
http://www.multpl.com/unemployment/table

Homelessness has been steadily decreasing in year over year studies, and the federal government has increased its spending on programs to combat homelessness yearly in order to continue to improve in that area.
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/ ... imates.pdf

The concept of "fixing" anything is ridiculous. And if we can't multitask as a country and continue to work to improve conditions here while also providing aid to other countries or refugees then we're a poor excuse for a nation (one, by the way, built by immigrants and in a land first settled by refugees -- but we all knew that already).

[jsence2]

Three dead (including a female who blew herself up) and two under arrest after a raid in a Paris suburb

[DRiccio21]

I agree we should be improving programs for homeless/handicapped/unemployed, but we can tackle more than one problem at a time.

I usually avoid the political discussion here... but it's a statement like this that I find incredibly annoying. We obviously can't tackle more than one (or a few) problems at one time, or else you wouldn't have listed 3 major issues that need to be addressed and have needed to be addressed for a long, long time. So that goes back to George's point, fix our problems first, then worry about others.

i'm not sure if you're being serious or sarcastic here

In particular I was talking about veterans since that is what George mentioned but...

Unemployment has continued to decrease and is at a 7 year low (and has only been lower in the last 40 years in the late 90s/early 00s).
http://www.multpl.com/unemployment/table

Homelessness has been steadily decreasing in year over year studies, and the federal government has increased its spending on programs to combat homelessness yearly in order to continue to improve in that area.
https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/ ... imates.pdf

The concept of "fixing" anything is ridiculous. And if we can't multitask as a country and continue to work to improve conditions here while also providing aid to other countries or refugees then we're a poor excuse for a nation (one, by the way, built by immigrants and in a land first settled by refugees -- but we all knew that already).

i was asking reign.

[ReignOnU]

The post was sarcastic... but it does have veiled truth.

- Our VA is shit and our veterans are not properly taken care of.
- Our unemployment is the same as it was a decade ago.
- While homelessness maybe on on a slight decline, that looks to be offset by permanent subsidized shelter.
- We can go on and on with other broke systems... like how about the fact that over 100m+ are on welfare, basically more than the population of Russia. We spend over $130b on welfare programs each year. You say that we should cut military spending to fund the VA. Why not ration some of the $130b+ to fund it? Considering we have a welfare system that pays more than an $8 hr job in 39 states and more than a $12 hr job in 6 (as of 2012). Here's a fun fact... welfare benefits pay more than the average salary of a teacher in 8 states. Seems to me that we have some excess spending here.

As for the refugees, it doesn't strike you as odd that the major countries in the Middle East have shut down their borders and are only offering financial aid to neighboring countries that do take them in? Or that Hungary, Germany and Austria are fighting the EU to block requirements to take them?

I'm also curious, where do 10,000 refugees go? To the permanently subsidized housing for homeless? Are they counted in that stat? All it would take is 25,000-30,000 to completely setback the homelessness number. How do we fund their integration into the country? Do we teach them English, give them an education, medical care?

The smart stance is the same approach as other Middle Eastern and some EU countries... provide some financial support to the countries offering asylum. Honestly, if you think about it logically, our financial resources probably go a lot longer way than by flat out bringing them here. Compare the cost to shelter, feed, establish and provide for 10,000 (random #) refugees versus what that number could produce in food and shelter in surrounding country / region. Certainly the quality of life isn't going to be the same, but the land may be a bit more native and it's going to reach many more people. The quantity over quality aspect here seems much more logical.

[Seeitsaveit13]

but we can tackle more than one problem at a time.

We can? I feel like we honestly can't tackle much of anything anymore without both sides arguing and grandstanding.

[Seeitsaveit13]

I agree we should be improving programs for homeless/handicapped/unemployed, but we can tackle more than one problem at a time.

I usually avoid the political discussion here... but it's a statement like this that I find incredibly annoying. We obviously can't tackle more than one (or a few) problems at one time, or else you wouldn't have listed 3 major issues that need to be addressed and have needed to be addressed for a long, long time. So that goes back to George's point, fix our problems first, then worry about others.

Crap. Should have read further. Reign said the same thing, but better.

[dakshdar]

The government has the following departments:

State, Treasury, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Defense, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security

So, which one thing do you want to focus on since you don't think we can tackle more than one at a time? We can shift all 4+ million people in those departments into just one and solve all the problems there first...

[Seeitsaveit13]

Ok, you went the literal route.

Clearly they're all working on multiple problems constantly. You made a ludicrous example of shifting everyone over.

I'm not saying they can't get shit done, they clearly can or our roads would be undriveable and our schools would be closed etc. I get that. I'm saying if we still have unfinished projects of our OWN, why should we take on more unfinished projects from someone else? We're behind as it is, we need to focus on getting caught up before we take on other things.