Understanding US thread-III

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 10 Mar 2017 16:33

Singha wrote:>> US is the world's best run police state.

you summed it up nicely.

indeed - one step off the straight and narrow and the full weight of city/county/state/federal law will fall on your head like the twin towers... atleast they will say 'have a nice day' after wards

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 10 Mar 2017 17:07

The most important weapon to have is lawyers.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 10 Mar 2017 18:00

landscaping, golf course maintenance,

We're talking strategic tasks here. Should be exempt from interference.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 10 Mar 2017 18:38

Lalmohan wrote: indeed - one step off the straight and narrow and the full weight of city/county/state/federal law will fall on your head like the twin towers... atleast they will say 'have a nice day' after wards

after they literally take your stuff in civil asset forfeiture. When I heard that first I was mindblown and sh**scared. Some of the cases highlighted are nightmares and worst part is - most of them don't have a community to fall back on for support.

Americans have moved from community unit to family unit to now just an individual depending on the state and if the state screws you over, you are done.

habal · Post by **habal** » 10 Mar 2017 21:34

Gus wrote:The most important weapon to have is lawyers.

here a few cops are trying to bully an attorney moonlighting as an uber driver. It just shows how generally unsafe the place is

only when the cops felt they could land up in trouble they ceased, otherwise they were intent on bullying him. Now if he was an IT-vity type then these mafia had nothing to lose.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 10 Mar 2017 22:19

i've seen people threatened with permanent ban from entering the US for a minor speeding violation... that too in a speed trap

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 10 Mar 2017 22:43

Old article but interesting

http://www.newsweek.com/us-views-god-an ... indu-79073

We should keep building on the gains.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 10 Mar 2017 23:16

Lalmohan wrote:i've seen people threatened with permanent ban from entering the US for a minor speeding violation... that too in a speed trap

Care to explain? Your story sounds fictional.

Overzealous racists cops can say that. But speeding is a misdemeanor and often a no contest type of offense which you pay the fine (bribe) to the municipality or state government and move on with no record.

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 11 Mar 2017 02:35

Economic impact of curtailing the H2-B temporary worker program:
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/ ... ation-plan

The city of Branson, Missouri has built itself around being the midwest getaway destination. With Disney and Universal theme parks on the coasts, Branson has filled that gap for midwesterners unprepared to make the long journey.

An {expiry of an }exemption {that was not renewed} in the H-2B Visa program – allowing temporary workers from other countries to come into tourist destinations – could leave hundreds of jobs in Branson unfilled in 2017, many of which are vital to the city.

"There is just such a tremendous shortage [of workers] in this area,” says Chateau on the Lake general manager, Stephen Marshall. “It's not that we don't want to hire locals, there's just not enough."
...
Marshall requested 24 H-2B’s in 2017, he’s been told he will get zero.
...
Marshall continues by noting that they struggle to attract local workers, and there simply aren’t enough of them to fill the jobs at hand for tourism season. And, in his mind, raising the wages of these jobs? That isn’t a solution either:

“I would tell you, with a lot of confidence, let's say I get approved from corporate office that we want to pay room attendants $15 an hour,” Marshall says.

“There's people that just don't want to do that work,” he says. “They just don't want to do it.”
...
Marshall says out of his 24 opening at Chateau on the Lake he received only one inquiry – a person living in Joplin, Missouri.

Melwyn · Post by **Melwyn** » 11 Mar 2017 03:01

^ He is lying obviously. There are many hard working Americans without jobs who need that kind of well paying job but have been left out because of cheap labor.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 11 Mar 2017 04:26

"Pay Room Attendant" is what was described in NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS as PLO?

Melwyn · Post by **Melwyn** » 11 Mar 2017 04:44

I love Trump for firing uncle Tom Bharara.

Donald Trump Boots Preet Bharara in Purge of Obama-Era Prosecutors

Roughly four months after U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told reporters that President Donald Trump had asked him to stay on as the top prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, the Trump administration requested the resignation 46 U.S. Attorneys appointed by former President Barack Obama—including the Manhattan-based corruption-buster.

The New York Times first reported that Bharara was among the U.S. Attorneys asked to resign by Dana Boente, acting deputy attorney general—who rose to her position after Trump fired Sally Yates, another Obama appointee, for refusing to defend his Muslim travel ban. At the end of November, Bharara met with the president-elect and soon-to-be-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for an hour at Trump Tower and told the press afterward he had “agreed to stay on.”

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 12 Mar 2017 02:30

You think it happens only in Pakistan?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/3/10 ... t-dog-dies

"...federal law that prohibits tax-exempt churches from urging the election, or defeat, of political candidates. But some conservative ministers have been flouting the law for years...."

Hardy said that in her county, conservative organizations commonly provide white fundamentalist churchgoers with “voter guides” just before election day. I’ve been shown the same sort of pamphlets.

She said a few years ago she saw a “pre-election Sunday sermon” that was sent to pastors in Trigg churches. “The sermon was to be delivered on the Sunday before election day the next Tuesday.

“The sermon was designed to cause the people to feel they were not doing ‘God’s will’ if they didn’t go and vote for the Republican candidates.”

Hardy said the sermon was also designed to win over waverers by convincing them it was better to be “safe than sorry and not risk being out of God’s will.” She maintained that the message was crafted to encourage unsure congregants to ask themselves, “What if it is true? They might go to hell if they voted for a Democrat, so they vote Republican, too.”

No doubt in India already, courtesy of your compassionate EJs.

kiranA · Post by **kiranA** » 12 Mar 2017 02:48

Whats wrong with Preet Bharara. Atleast Sally Yates was standing for her sense of right. This is just petulance.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 12 Mar 2017 03:21

kiranA wrote:Whats wrong with Preet Bharara. Atleast Sally Yates was standing for her sense of right. This is just petulance.

He probably sees some advantage in being fired by Trump instead of "resigning." Not sure what that would be, we will know more what his next job turns out to be.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 12 Mar 2017 06:11

kiranA wrote:Whats wrong with Preet Bharara. At least Sally Yates was standing for her sense of right. This is just petulance.

Is she sees something right or wrong then she should have resigned immediately? But she did not. She tried to sabotage it. She knows her position is temporary and the President asked her to stay for the time being so that he can make alternate arrangements. If she thinks that she can not support him in a litigation about which the basic ideas of the President is known to all the people, then she should have immediately resigned instead of trying to backstab him in the manner she did.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 12 Mar 2017 06:27

^^Its a he.

kiranA · Post by **kiranA** » 12 Mar 2017 06:38

Yagnasri wrote:
kiranA wrote:Whats wrong with Preet Bharara. At least Sally Yates was standing for her sense of right. This is just petulance.
Is she sees something right or wrong then she should have resigned immediately? But she did not. She tried to sabotage it. She knows her position is temporary and the President asked her to stay for the time being so that he can make alternate arrangements. If she thinks that she can not support him in a litigation about which the basic ideas of the President is known to all the people, then she should have immediately resigned instead of trying to backstab him in the manner she did.

She took a public stance - How is that sabotage or backstab - unless the meaning of those words changed. USA is a republic - she thought her position is more in line with republican ideals than president.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 12 Mar 2017 07:05

Thank you for educating me about how the US is Republic. I am not aware of that.

First I do not agree with that idea that her conduct is principled. Her objection is more political stand than the principled one. That is objectionable. That is the manner of opinion, and we may defer there.

What is not acceptable is that she knows her position is only temporary and she knows what the views of the President on the issues of Islamic Terror and entry of Muslims into the US are. She knows that before accepting to continue till the alternative arrangements are made. Still, she went on to do what she did. That is not acceptable for any political appointee. Yes if she is appointed by DT on a regular basis and found that she can not support a matter which executive want to do under DT then she can always take a principled stand. In fact, it is her job to take such a stand.

kiranA · Post by **kiranA** » 12 Mar 2017 07:40

Yagnasri wrote:Thank you for educating me about how the US is Republic. I am not aware of that.

First I do not agree with that idea that her conduct is principled. Her objection is more political stand than the principled one. That is objectionable. That is the manner of opinion, and we may defer there.

What is not acceptable is that she knows her position is only temporary and she knows what the views of the President on the issues of Islamic Terror and entry of Muslims into the US are. She knows that before accepting to continue till the alternative arrangements are made. Still, she went on to do what she did. That is not acceptable for any political appointee. Yes if she is appointed by DT on a regular basis and found that she can not support a matter which executive want to do under DT then she can always take a principled stand. In fact, it is her job to take such a stand.

I dont think you have yet been educated on this. A republic means she owe to a constitution not to a president . Whether "temporary" or not she was still the attorney general of USA .

I notice you moved from "backstabbing"/"sabotage" to "political stand"(whatever that means - All she did is to simply refuse to defend her boss because she did not beleive the act was constitutional). And She was proved right when courts struck the EO and President had to a humiliating backtracking.

Yagnasri · Post by **Yagnasri** » 12 Mar 2017 08:13

From where you got that definition that "Republic means she owns it to law". What is law in the US other than political ideas of the Judges and executive appoints them. Same goes to people like her who are appointed for their political ideas. So if the judge has the same political ideas of the executive head and only pass judgements based on that political ideas, it also becomes "Republic"? Sounds like Dictatorship to me. If Republic means rule of law and not by man, then the law shall be applied without any political bias. Can anyone in the US say that the laws there are defined by courts without any political bias?

She did not have to defend the boss in any personal matter, but his orders made in his official capacity. The orders which are passed as per the promise he made to people before elections about whom the whole world knows. She may not agree with it. If she does not then, she should have resigned and given her reasons public. That is the principled stand. Not what she did. What you call her agreeing to continue is spite of her knowledge and then doing the public drama of it other than backstabbing?

Everything is political when it comes to law in the US. If it is not there can not be slavery in a constitutional republic which claims to have all kinds of constitutional rights to men and women.

krishna_krishna · Post by **krishna_krishna** » 12 Mar 2017 08:24

For benefit of everyone, this is how to answers respectfully when stopped :

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6_3dDNPwJTU

bharotshontan · Post by **bharotshontan** » 12 Mar 2017 21:20

Gas station owned by Indians burned in Florida by man doing his part to get rid of America from Muslims
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.wptv.com ... -says.html

kiranA · Post by **kiranA** » 13 Mar 2017 09:25

There was a nice post by KLN murthy in response to Yagnasri. How did it disappear ?

Arjun · Post by **Arjun** » 13 Mar 2017 13:19

Some Indian American dork woman invading Sean Spicer's privacy when he was shopping and peppering him with dumb questions!

http://nypost.com/2017/03/13/how-does-i ... ple-store/

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 13 Mar 2017 16:11

apparently last week preet-pa-ji started investigating a trump business and now he is conveniently fired

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 13 Mar 2017 16:13

Mort Walker wrote:
Lalmohan wrote:i've seen people threatened with permanent ban from entering the US for a minor speeding violation... that too in a speed trap
Your story sounds fictional.

i am a first hand witness to the incident

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 13 Mar 2017 17:37

who did the threatening? the local cop who pulls you over or the CBP?

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 13 Mar 2017 18:53

the local cop - matter was resolved once it was established that the fine could be paid on-line from overseas

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 13 Mar 2017 19:28

Really? I thought furriners get away with minor traffic offenses by showing furrin DL and cops generally being clueless on how to proceed paperwork and letting them go with a warning.

Garooda · Post by **Garooda** » 13 Mar 2017 19:34

bharotshontan wrote:Gas station owned by Indians burned in Florida by man doing his part to get rid of America from Muslims
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.wptv.com ... -says.html

Well plenty such nut jobs in the states.

Lloyd said he was "doing his part for America" and also admitted he has a long history of mental health issues, according to an arrest affidavit.
The sheriff said Lloyd will be given a mental health evaluation and it will be up to the State Attorney's office to determine if this was an intentional hate crime.
During a court appearance Saturday morning, Lloyd told a judge he wants to represent himself. The judge ordered he stay away from Met Mart and have no contact with employees.

Prolly living with momma in the basement ?? Who knows.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 13 Mar 2017 20:08

Lalmohan wrote:the local cop - matter was resolved once it was established that the fine could be paid on-line from overseas

Sounds like FUD.

BajKhedawal · Post by **BajKhedawal** » 13 Mar 2017 20:13

Garooda wrote:
bharotshontan wrote:Gas station owned by Indians burned in Florida by man doing his part to get rid of America from Muslims
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.wptv.com ... -says.html
Well plenty such nut jobs in the states.
Lloyd said he was "doing his part for America" and also admitted he has a long history of mental health issues, according to an arrest affidavit.
The sheriff said Lloyd will be given a mental health evaluation and it will be up to the State Attorney's office to determine if this was an intentional hate crime.
During a court appearance Saturday morning, Lloyd told a judge he wants to represent himself. The judge ordered he stay away from Met Mart and have no contact with employees.

Prolly living with momma in the basement ?? Who knows.

Very convenient to have mental issues don't you think? ever wonder why so many CaucasianCulprits suffer from this vicious disease?

Garooda · Post by **Garooda** » 13 Mar 2017 20:22

BajKhedawal wrote:
Garooda wrote: Well plenty such nut jobs in the states. [/i][/b]
Prolly living with momma in the basement ?? Who knows.
Very convenient to have mental issues don't you think? ever wonder why so many CaucasianCulprits suffer from this vicious disease?

It very well could be in many cases but it also depends on what one perceives as 'Mental Issues'. I am assuming you are aware of the big 'Culture Vacuum' in the US.

BajKhedawal · Post by **BajKhedawal** » 13 Mar 2017 20:32

If you equate adharmic to be suffering from mental issues then yes every single culprit has mental issues.

Also us is a melting pot with spanish, blacks, whitees, reds, yellows and assorted other spices in the pot who all live & identify with the same culture vacuum; how come only whitees culprits suffer from mental issues after committing the crime on nonwhitees, hain?

Garooda · Post by **Garooda** » 13 Mar 2017 20:37

BajKhedawal wrote:If you equate adharmic to be suffering from mental issues then yes every single culprit has mental issues.

Also us is a melting pot with spanish, blacks, whitees, reds, yellows and assorted other spices in the pot who all live & identify with the same culture vacuum; how come only whitees culprits suffer from mental issues after committing the crime on nonwhitees, hain?

Nobody indicated that all crimes against Indians are related to 'mental issues'. Why are you are assuming that its only 'whites' (Caucasian) that have committed crime against Indians using 'mental health' as an excuse?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 13 Mar 2017 23:01

UlanBatori wrote:"Pay Room Attendant" is what was described in NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS as PLO?

Love that movie. Pay Room Attendant = Latrine Officer

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 14 Mar 2017 00:11

From wash post front page

Sean Spicer was confronted by a woman in an Apple store. She didn’t want a selfie.

In a video posted on Twitter, Shree Chauhan can be heard asking the White House press secretary, “How does it feel to work for a fascist?"

A_Gupta · Post by **A_Gupta** » 14 Mar 2017 00:35

Bloomberg writer & economist Noah Smith tweeted:

Noah Smith‏ @Noahpinion
This is why I think white nationalists aren't really nationalists at all. They see America as part of a pan-national borderless white Umma.

He was referring to this article:
http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-ki ... ion-2017-3
Why is the American far-right so obsessed with Europe?

Zynda · Post by **Zynda** » 14 Mar 2017 20:14

Lalmohan wrote:US is the world's best run police state.

Related to the above.

Sorry for the long content...important for Amrikhan residents...

A new bill would allow employers to see your genetic information — unless you pay a fine

A new bill is quietly making its way through Congress that could bring the US a little closer to a Gattaca-like future in which employers could discriminate against their employees based on their genes and risk of disease.

To understand how we might get to Gattaca, let’s back up. Under Obamacare, employers are allowed to offer employees deep discounts on health insurance premiums if they participate in workplace wellness programs. The programs often involve medical questionnaires and health assessments — which has meant employers can get access to some of their employees personal health data.

Employers embraced the wellness programs. Insurers love them. The Obamacare incentives helped grow the giant workplace wellness industry. And the workplace wellness provisions in the law were some of the only parts of the ACA that received enthusiastic bipartisan support.

Now this new bill, HR 1313 — or the Preserving Employee Wellness Programs Act — seeks to clarify exactly how much personal health data employers can ask their employees to disclose. And in doing so, the bill also opens the door to employers requesting information from personal genetics tests or family medical histories.

As it turns out, employee wellness programs were already very intrusive of employees’ privacy. It also turns out they’re a bit of a sham and don’t work nearly as well as supporters might have hoped to make people healthier or bring down health care costs. But the new bill would allow employers to dig even deeper into participating employees’ personal health information. While employees wouldn’t be forced to join the programs or hand over their genetic test results, they’d have to pay hefty penalties for opting out.

There are four main ways HR 1313 would allow workplaces to access more of their employees’ personal and family health histories, and potentially use that information to discriminate against their workers:

1) First, the bill would kill legal challenges over whether workplace wellness programs are actually voluntary.

2) Second, the bill would allow employers to ask about an employee’s family medical history — or risk paying a surcharge.

3) Third, employers would be able to demand your personal genetic information — unless you pay a surcharge.

Under GINA, employers only have the right to access anonymized aggregate data about their employees’ health that’s collected as part of a wellness program. This was already controversial, since — in workplaces with a small number of employers — it might be easy for employers to tell which employee’s data they were looking at.

The new bill, once again, goes further: It says that if an employer runs a wellness program that complies with the ACA, then it’s okay to ask workers for their personal information. So this would mean employers could demand access to the results of genetic tests an employee might have undergone during pregnancy or to determine if she’s susceptible to breast cancer, for example.

This, too, is not mandatory per se — but if you refuse to give that information, you face that 30 percent surcharge. And again, there’s that pesky discrimination problem. “Employers aren't supposed to use sensitive information to discriminate,” Bagley said, “but the whole reason that statutes like the ADA and GINA keep that information from employers is because there's a risk that they may use it anyhow.” In a worst-case scenario, for example, they could drop an employee who is at a high risk of a costly genetic disorder.

4) Fourth, the bill transfers more regulatory power from an independent committee to federal agencies

Wellness programs by their nature intruded on employee privacy. In the programs’ health assessments, they probed into how many hours workers slept, what food and alcohol they ate and drank, and how much they exercised. That’s part of the reason they’ve been so controversial.

Many of the news stories on this bill suggest HR 1313 came out of thin air; it didn’t. It simply builds on Obamacare provisions by clarifying exactly how much employers can peer into their employees’ health histories and genetic information — and it empowers employers with even more oversight, leaving workers once again in the position of choosing between affordable health care and their privacy.

Employees in places with these wellness programs were already forced to make that choice; under HR 1313, they’ll simply have even more to worry about, like whether they want their employer to see the results of a genetics test they had during a pregnancy, or to know that their spouse or mother had cancer or depression.

As Stoltzfus Jost of Lee University summed up, “The bill expands or eliminates the employee protections that were pretty weak already.”

This is worrisome for anyone concerned with genetic discrimination, genetic privacy, or disability rights, which is why groups like the American Society of Human Genetics have opposed the bill.

Meanwhile, there’s actually no good evidence that these wellness programs actually do what they’re supposed to do — improve health and bring down health care costs — so employers’ fondness for the programs may be dissipating, Bagley added.

For now, HR 1313 has already been marked up by the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and it’s now up to House leadership to decide on when to vote on it. Hopefully lawmakers will pay attention to the privacy and discrimination issues and the lack of evidence for wellness programs as the bill moves through Congress.