Trumps been planning LA for 2 years!

@wallstreetcappers

  FACTS!  Could not have said this any better myself.

@Calde13

 Yes, we got into the weeds a bit talking about the different factions. We can agree that both the cartels, and the European factions thst operate throughout Europe, are both extremely organized, powerful, and ruthless.

To the point of out cartels. As is has been said by both you and WSC, it is true that as long as their is a market, there will be a supply. Yet this trivializes the issue. More drugs are flooding into Miami than ever before. This isn't the 70s, with Columbians smuggling blow into Miami and Southern California for pro athletes, yuppies, and disco chicks. Worse that cocaine is the fentanyl.  The drugs have gotten so highly addictive that rehabilitation programs are useless. These people are zombies. Death is their only cure.

I don't believe in the, "It's gonna happen so don't try to stop it." approach. Imagine taking that approach with one's own child. "Little Johnny is gonna skip school and smoke weed anyway so why stop him?" "Julie sleeps around so let's just put her on the pill and hope for the best." Tightening up border security may only mitigate the flow of drugs, but it's better than not trying.

Plus, i'm just firmly against open borders. I don't care about the color of your skin, nor your nationality. I just don't want you here. Our brothers from Central and South America get the most attention because we share a land mass with them, and those countries are where most illegals come from. Believe me, if a bunch of Eastern European immigrants began popping up on our shores, I would have an equally big problem with it. Trying to paint people who support border security as racist is complete b.s

@fubah2

 With all do respect, brother, that is not fact. It's uninformed fiction. We have been fighting the drug trade by treating the addict in cities across America for decades. It doesn't work. And the drugs have only gotten more addictive. The conditions on the streets are increasingly dire.

"The only cure for the drug trade is to stop demand, you cannot and will not stop supply no matter what you do."

Plausible you cannot and will not stop either and there is no "cure".  Similar to the culprit in the #1 killer of Americans.

Redirect. 

What is the number one cause of death in the US?

1) heart disease (680,000)

2) cancer (613,000)

Outside top 10) drug overdose (105,000)

In 2022, synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) were involved in nearly 74,000 overdose deaths, representing 90% of opioid overdose deaths.

States with the highest rates (per 100,000 population, 2023 data):

West Virginia: 81.9

Kentucky: 53.2

Louisiana: 54.5

Maine: 54.3

Delaware: 55.3

New Mexico: 50.3

Ohio: 45.6

Tennessee: 56.0

Pennsylvania: 40.9

Indiana: 41.0

Very much like obesity, its a white and brown problem with a litany of underlying contributory and targeted factors.  The least of which is ever going to be solved on covers.

@StumpTownStu

#78

 So when I lived in Philly they were trying to get out ahead of it and offer a safe space to use. 

They picked Kensington and the locals fought it but lost to the moral proclamations of the city's left.

"kensington ave philadelphia" on YouTube is a good first hand source and a reason we moved.

"yeah but Gem, we're talking about cartels and drugs and you're talking about heart disease."

 Glad you asked.  Annual estimates of illicit drug sales 13-110 billion with most agreeing it's somewhere near 50 billion.

Meanwhile global pharmaceutical revenue is estimated at 1.6 Trillion or 16x drug sales.

"The only cure for the drug trade is to stop demand, you cannot and will not stop supply no matter what you do."

re-enter heart disease and stopping demand which this country doesn't have the appetite for, let alone the correct discussion.

https://www.getreskilled.com/pharmaceutical-companies/

* Many sources for many figures re cartel estimatss

@unplucked_gem

 It's so much more than killing people. It destroys lives, destroys innocent family members, increases crime, auto accidents, you name it. Had a neighbor in his 80's who was dying of cancer at home. His 40+ year old daughter stole many of his morphine patches and pain killers. Pathetic he had to die like that. 

Just saw a sign today near town, "drug dealers killed my son". F-ing sad. 

It is a constant battle that needs more attention. 

And I am sick of these ABSOLUTISTS; You can never stop drugs, you can never stop illegal immigration, you can't live without immigrants. 

--Of course you can never stop drugs but you can decrease it and save many lives if you try.

--Of course you can never stop illegal immigration but you can manage it with good sense.

--Of course we need some immigration, not a all gates open, especially during a pandemic.  How about a legal orderly fashion? And the notion that all illegals will get removed is so laughable. 

Kensington origin story. Wild. What's crazy is you can take someone who has never been to Philly (i've been to Philly but not Kensington), you mention Kensington and everyone knows what time it is. It has become synonymous with open homelessness and addiction. Open air drugs sales and use. San Francisco has an area like that. Three interconnected neighborhoods that join like Voltron to form ground zero.

Oh, and by the way. Dorothy Mantooth is a saint. 

I lived in Philly 25 years ago and Kensington was a crap hole back then just as it is now but it is not as bad as Chester is/was and I worked in Chester for a while. Most large metro areas have a seedy high crime section, Phoenix has several.

On Buzzfeed, former and current members of military criticize Trump deployment in Los Angeles.  "Soldiers with weapons don't quell unrest.  It provokes unrest."

"Unrest is when citizens are trying to send a message to government.  Using troops against citizens is the government way of not listening."

"Police and military have always been separate for a reason.  One serves and protects people.  The other fights enemies.  When the military does both, enemies of the state tend to become the people."

"Using infantry to do police work is like using an attack dog to herd sheep. There is no reason to use military against your own citizens."

"Trump is creating his Reichstag fire.   Hitler Nazi government used propaganda to justify restricting free speech and arresting members of opposition parties."

Trump does not know diplomacy or reasonable approaches to anything, he is a zero ego bully with no military experience, no civil experience and has a massive lack of empathy for anyone that does not bow down to him. His staff are a bunch of celebs who sucked up to him or paid their way into position, not a single person making decisions has a level reasonable approach to dealing with sensitive situation. Maybe he can ask McMahon or Pete or Kennedy or Patel for their expert opinions on how to properly deal with the disgusting pubic since he is beneath such things himself.

Just now the video of a brown senator being forcefully removed from a presser and forced to the ground then handcuffed is exactly the way you treat a brown guy who has a question.

Solid approach Trump and Noem, forcefully take down anyone who is not white TNC lapdogs. This will not end well for Trump and his circus administration.

Evidently since the National Guard in LA haven't received activation orders, they are not getting paid. I'm sure this will get fixed but it's still a pain in the ass not needed by our soldiers.

Forcing people to work for no pay is so Trumpian. This fucker still owes the city of Albuquerque about a half mil for unpaid safety fees for one of his hoedowns in 2019. Nassau County gave up trying to get Deadbeat Donald to pay the 1 million he owed them. Similar incidents occurred in Erie, Tucson & Green Bay. These are not exactly big cities that can eat these large tabs. But he doesn't give a shit. He'll fuck over whoever he can.

.

@wallstreetcappers

 wall I just watched the feed of Padilla incident.  It is just after time mark 6:00 and she is just beginning speaking and nowhere near taking any questions when he involved himself.  at first, I wondered if maybe he had a few too many at lunchtime because Padilla was straight up interrupting and aggressively lunging in her direction even after he was shoved back a few times.  The fact he is a Senator doesn't mean you get a hall-pass to force your way into a room demanding answers and fighting the bouncers at the door to the point when the removed him from the room.  This is just like when that one drunk guy at the bar scenario 

the fact that he is 'brown' shouldn't be the narrative here, that is said to just cause division.  The guy was clearly out of line in his approach and fought back relentlessly until he was removed and cuffed.  sometimes even when you have valid points and valid questions, read the room and be professional like the Senator you are

dang this stuff is starting to get ugly

another feed shows the main guy who was removing Padilla from the room was clearly secret service protection, and Padilla clearly engaged back so he was removed, and the three bouncers left him at the door and went back to post.  

this is no different than if you jump on stage at a queen B concert and get tackled by security, dudes lucky to come out with a hurt ego 

Padilla later gives a speech in front of the press but conveniently leaves out the part where Kristi Noem and him sat down for 15 min conversation and exchanged contact information.  

these interwebs are an amazing place, you can find just about any information if you want to find out what really happened.  cameras everywhere, microphones everywhere

@soup-can

 I watched the video, there was no need for the action they took and he was trying to get past the goons in the room to ask his question. Your comment about hall pass is off, a senator can go and ask a question on a presser, if he got into the complex he is allowed to engage anywhere, the door was open there were people there and he was not out of place.

The bigger issue is that there was no need for the take down and handcuffing, it was not warranted and Noem lied about the situation straight out, the guy did announce himself and even if he didnt you do not have someone taken down like that. The respectful, honest, legit way to handle it is to TAKE THE QUESTION...no she is the exact opposite of such awful behavior, she is likely completely unprepared to answer a question on the fly and is more concerned with her hairdoo than to interact with a contrary question.

She said they spoke, ok was that after he was on the ground and handcuffed, treated like a criminal with a rap sheet? She said it so that means it happened as she says..right.

@wallstreetcappers

 I also watched the video. And to be fair, maybe it picks up after he is already heading towards the lectern, but I don't recall seeing him identify himself until he is being confronted by security. At that point, he is coming off as belligerent. He legit seems like a crazy person. I'm a native Californian. And though I now technically live in Oregon, I still spend half my time in the Bay Area. I remained registered to vote in California until this past election. Yet until this happened, I couldn't pick Alex Padilla out of a lineup to save my life. And i'm not alone. I doubt anyone in that room recognized him as a sitting Senator. He came off as a crazed potential attacker. And in these trying times, people in the public eye can't take chances. There is a way to do things, a way to conduct yourself, and that wasn't it.

And for once, can someone taking the liberal stance not play the race card. You fall back on this more than most. For example, when someone is for strong borders, and intolerant of illegal immigration, you accuse them of being against brown people. Thos completely disregards the brown people who are here legally, many of which are negatively affected by illegal immigrants more than any. This isn't a race issue. It's a legal issue. A resource issue. A human health and safety issue. It's not race based. And neither was Padilla's altercation. If he were white, and conducted himself in that manner, he would've found the same results. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. He thought he was going to have some big "gotcha" media moment, and boy did he ever.

@StumpTownStu

 I guess this is another example of the vantage point of the viewer, we see two completely different things for obviously different political reasons. You think the senator does not have the right to be in an OPEN room and to ask a question that impacts the population to which he represents, and I am the opposite I think he or anyone should be allowed to enter an OPEN room and ask a question even if the topic is sensitive and there are opposing positions/views. You think he was aggressive and did not address himself (as if that is the measure for someone to engage with you if Noem accepts the individual as deserving of her time lol) and you saw his "lunging" forward movements deserving of a full take down and handcuffing. I did not see this and yet we viewed the same exact video. I saw him being boxed out and obstructed by the handlers for sensitive Noem and they did not want a question so they blocked him off and got in the way. I saw it as the guy feels strongly about the abuses of Trump and Noem and Pete to his local constituents and he wanted SOMEONE to answer questions where Trump does not engage with his authoritarian power grab, none of those in his circle has accountability or any sense of interaction or explanation.

One glaring difference between Trump and most of those before him (DEM and RNC) is that when the others had hecklers or combative challenging people asking tough questions, annoying questions etc the way that those leaders deal with a situation is 100% the inverse of how King Trump handles things, there are no slams or racist and sexist insults there are no handicap insults there are no putdowns and no attacks, Trump is the worst leader in the history of this country and has no respect or understanding for anyone that does not side with him. This is what happens when a zero ego individual gets power, it is toxic for those who dare disagree.

The skin color thing is a TNC narrative, a project 2025 narrative, the way his cabinet acts and makes critical decisions, the actions of his presidency show he is racially profiling and aggressively taking down those with brown skin much like that pardoned idiot Arpaio did down here. I know profiling from a decade of tyrannical profiling, Trump is Arpaio to a worse level and with too much power, he has to be stood up to and stopped IMO.

@wallstreetcappers

 What is with you putting thoughts in posters heads, and words in their mouths? You do this incessantly. It is unbecoming of someone charged with moderation. Show me where I said the senator did not have a right to be there. I simply said that in the footage I saw, he doesn't identify himself until after being confronted by security. And I said he was appeared quite belligerent and unhinged. You say others had similar "hecklers" yet, with the exception of a shoe being thrown at Bush, in a foreign country, there isn't a history of people addressing press secretaries, chiefs of staff, or elected officials in this way. It didn't happen because it's just plain inappropriate 

Also, to your other point, can you show that anyone has been targeted, on Trumps order, who is here 100% legally and unconditionally. With the exception of the Mahmoud Khalil, I don't think you can. Even Khalil wasn't a citizen. He is a green card holder.

Stu. Honest question. Do you think Donald Trump is racist. Simple yes or no

@StumpTownStu

 My comments are based on what your words have said, you called him a crazed political attacker who did not identify himself. I said the room was OPEN and anyone in that building has rights to go into an OPEN room and ask a question. You call him belligerent and unhinged which is your vantage point I called him concerned and bothered by being  boxed out. I would say more than Noem this senator has much greater relevance to the situation and more than ANY Trump rep there, this guy works and represents the people being impacted and many there (me included) feel Trump has broken the law without any explanation or validation without consulting with ANYONE but himself and his circle, this would probably bother someone who is elected to represent the state and people living there. Then the guy to me seems boxed out and not allowed to ask a stupid question..is nobody allowed outside of MyPillow guy to ask questions regarding impacts on the city, state and country we live? It is beyond absurd, it is authoritarian nonsense.

On the profiling, the first and largest priority from this administration is illegal hunting, he has done nothing with regards to much higher priority items like budget deficits, wars he says would be over in a day, it has been all about illegals and destroying project 2025 targets (DOE, NIH etc etc). His overreach is atrocious and his profiling is borderline insane, he is Arpaio of the USA, reckless disregard for following existing legal framework and being careful and considerate while still working towards a goal he feels is important...no he just uses a wrecking ball trying to ring up numbers even when those numbers are not met or are done without following legal channels. What do you think about the meeting held not long ago where Steven Miller was angry about deportation numbers not being higher? Sounds like an Arpaio tantrum to me.

Good fall back on the mod whining again, you sure like to cry wolf when a discussion does not go your way.

"You think the senator does not have the right to be in an OPEN room and to ask a question that impacts the population"

No value judgement on my end either way on this senator other than:

Could I go to Capitol Hill and enter my elected representatives offices to ask questions?  

No.  Although I probably have an equal right, there is a process and decorum.  

Again I have no opinion and see validity in both sides, just noting that I couldn't do that.

Chester, well parts of it are decent.  They were trying to bridge Fishtown and NoLibs and it was getting half decent.....but definitely a nightmare now.