All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[WestPhillyPunisher]

What does that mean for his court troubles?

I suspect it won't hurt him much, if at all.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

As many have said on this thread and not, I think that waiting until the field narrows itself down and actual policy debates between the candidates occur before firmly deciding on a vote and closing your mind to all other options is preferred. I also don't think anyone on this thread who doesn't like Sanders has advocated to not vote for him if he's the eventual nominee. However I will freely admit that I'm wrong on that if someone will point it out. I'd also like to see evidence of how many left-wing candidates other than Sanders the 'usual suspects' in this thread shit on unfairly, but I know you won't give it to me as providing proof for your statements is too hard and time-consuming. I don't think it exists either, but I'll openly admit I'm wrong if you can produce it.

Oh, every policy is seen as destructive and horrible or a step in the right direction by someone out there. And if Warren is your first pick why weren't you calling her out for supporting what you deem such a destructive policy?

Well I pretty much did just shot all over her policy in this thread. Furthermore, it’s not likely to actually come to fruition.

There’s only two far left wing candidates running and Sanders is the most left wing with an actual chance.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I suspect it won't hurt him much, if at all.

It won’t. Bibi is becoming our scariest “ally”

[Dalak]

Well I pretty much did just shot all over her policy in this thread. Furthermore, it’s not likely to actually come to fruition.

There’s only two far left wing candidates running and Sanders is the most left wing with an actual chance.

So "The only candidate I care about getting shit on is Sanders, there are no other left-wing candidates that I can name who are targeted unfairly." Thanks for admitting you were wrong by shifting goalposts and refusing to actually back up any arguments you make with evidence as usual.

[BeastieRunner]

What does that mean for his court troubles?

Probably this ... vvv

I suspect it won't hurt him much, if at all.

It won’t. Bibi is becoming our scariest “ally”

In the effort of not being TOTALLY negative, the people are turning on him and he won't last much longer unless the court cleanse he wants happens. He wants to effectively "disbar" all judges and replace them with his choices. And have less of them. Sound familiar?

[Dalak]

In the effort of not being TOTALLY negative, the people are turning on him and he won't last much longer unless the court cleanse he wants happens. He wants to effectively "disbar" all judges and replace them with his choices. And have less of them. Sound familiar?

*sigh* I was hoping at least somewhere comeuppance would be had.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

So "The only candidate I care about getting shit on is Sanders, there are no other left-wing candidates that I can name who are targeted unfairly." Thanks for admitting you were wrong by shifting goalposts and refusing to actually back up any arguments you make with evidence as usual.

Thanks Dalak for as usual coming late to the party in a discussion that took place like 12 hours ago to offer your two cents and ignore the principle of the discussion so you could harp on one phrase in one post that I probably should have phrased better as though it actually effects the primary argument. Aka it was useless

[BeastieRunner]

And since I couldn't respond to all the Bernie posts timely.

Bernie's untenable polices:
- Raise income taxes across the board
- Reducing defense spending
- Increase federal spending
- Immigration reform (but he is for expanding DREAM Act support)
- Pro-stimulus during down economies
- Breaking up the big banks
- His foreign policy is all over the map
- Opposes more border and port security (most people want this just not a wall, kill orders, and the like)

Those are going to take decades to get people to move towards. We're not ready for those changes, yet. I fully support most of them (stimuli don't work), but they are untenable at this time.

Bernie's policies that will work:
- Healthcare
- $15 minimum wage
- Tuition-less college
- Raising corporate taxes

These are changes that can be made now, people want them, and they will work. But most of the other Ds are using some, if not most, of those policies, too.

So it comes down to voting record and Bernie just can't be trusted (voted to deregulate swaps & derivatives amongst other weird vote swaps) . I don't like everything about Harris but she has proven to be consistent and trustworthy when it comes to voting.

Bernie also can't grab all the #NeverHillary people because they were more moderate or even conservative. We need somebody more centered to grab the middle and middle right.

We need to progress forward but I don't think it will happen in one election and this yo-yoing every 4-8 years is not helping. I want to see a consistent base move forward.

[Jack Dracula]

"The Stephen Miller Presidency"

The more politically frustrated Trump becomes, the more he embraces his most extreme adviser.

"Stephen Miller is winning. In recent days, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for policy has overseen a purge of officials who were seen as insufficiently extreme on immigration. Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen was pushed out on Sunday. Two days earlier, Miller persuaded Trump to cut ties with Ronald Vitello, the president’s nominee to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Ron’s a good man but we’re going in a tougher direction,” Trump told reporters.

And Miller’s not done. On Monday, CNN reported that Miller also wants the president to fire two more high-ranking immigration officials. “He’s actively trying to put in place people who have very different points of view than the current leadership within the agencies,” a former DHS official told Politico, referring to Miller. “His idea is basically [to] clean house.” Trump reportedly has informed aides that the 33-year-old Miller will oversee all immigration initiatives.

In a White House defined by dysfunction and turnover—the departments of justice, defense, and veterans affairs are all led by acting directors—Miller is the thriving cockroach. It’s no secret why: He has shown an unwavering commitment to Trump’s toxic immigration agenda, perhaps even more so than the president himself. Miller’s expanding influence and seemingly permanent tenure suggest that Trump’s immigration policies will become even more radical than those he implemented during his first two years in office.

Prematurely balding, with a somewhat vampiric face, Miller is an experienced troll after Trump’s own heart. In high school, he would try to own his liberal classmates by railing against feminism and bilingualism, and in college he accused Maya Angelou of exhibiting “racial paranoia.” Over the past two years, he has been one of Trump’s most vociferous defenders, shouting at any TV host who dares to criticize the president.

In the White House, Miller has been the architect of many of the administration’s most extreme policies. Just days after Trump’s inauguration, he and then-adviser Steve Bannon crafted an executive order that banned travel into the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries, resulting in massive protests across the country. Over the next two years, Miller would play a prominent role in the firing of FBI Director James Comey, Homeland Security’s child separation policy, and the GOP’s racist midterm message.

Miller has defended this approach on political grounds. “You have one party that’s in favor of open borders, and you have one party that wants to secure the border,” Miller told The New York Times.“ And all day long the American people are going to side with the party that wants to secure the border. And not by a little bit.” But Miller’s favored policies have been enormously unpopular. A majority of Americans consistently opposes the wall. Voters rejected Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric by delivering a historic midterm defeat for the Republicans last November.

And yet, as Trump has become more frustrated with the situation at the border—and with his political failures more broadly—he has further embraced Miller’s far-right agenda. According to The New York Times, Trump had previously castigated Nielsen over her reluctance to implement his most severe, sometimes illegal, policies, like family separation, blocking migrants from seeking asylum, and closing the southern border. With Nielsen gone, the administration is considering further restrictions on asylum seekers and reinstating child separation.

Again and again, Trump has responded to crises and defeat by embracing extreme immigration policies, which have always backfired. This underlines his weakness as a president. He has so few allies that he dares not risk alienating the base that helped him win the White House. But this also speaks to his actual political philosophy, which elevates cruelty—often misconstrued as “strength”—into a perverse virtue. Those who express uneasiness about this approach are dismissed as weak. Miller only advocates for the cruelest available options, and therefore rises in Trump’s favor.

This does not bode well for the nation as Trump flails through the remainder of his first term. His political fortunes, which have been wobbly since Day 1, are threatening to tumble over the next year as the economy slows and Congress accomplishes little now that Republicans have lost their unified control. As these problems mount, and the 2020 election nears, he will double down (or rather, quadruple-down) on his signature issue—and Homeland Security will be led by officials who will do the president’s bidding, without question or conscience..."

https://newrepublic.com/article/1535...ler-presidency

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-...-policy-report

Sometimes I think everyone should just get out of his way and let Trump enact his wrong-headed ideas. Seeing the inevitable failed results may finally shut his most vocal supporters up.
For example, let him shut down the border. The amount of chaos and damage from that alone would ensure no second term for him.
Let him enact illegal immigration policies. His own arrogance and lack of initiative to understand the legal ramifications of his actions would be his downfall.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

And since I couldn't respond to all the Bernie posts timely.

Bernie's untenable polices:
- Raise income taxes across the board
- Reducing defense spending
- Increase federal spending
- Immigration reform (but he is for expanding DREAM Act support)
- Pro-stimulus during down economies
- Breaking up the big banks
- His foreign policy is all over the map
- Opposes more border and port security (most people want this just not a wall, kill orders, and the like)

Those are going to take decades to get people to move towards. We're not ready for those changes, yet. I fully support most of them (stimuli don't work), but they are untenable at this time.

Bernie's policies that will work:
- Healthcare
- $15 minimum wage
- Tuition-less college
- Raising corporate taxes

These are changes that can be made now, people want them, and they will work. But most of the other Ds are using some, if not most, of those policies, too.

So it comes down to voting record and Bernie just can't be trusted (voted to deregulate swaps & derivatives amongst other weird vote swaps) . I don't like everything about Harris but she has proven to be consistent and trustworthy when it comes to voting.

Bernie also can't grab all the #NeverHillary people because they were more moderate or even conservative. We need somebody more centered to grab the middle and middle right.

We need to progress forward but I don't think it will happen in one election and this yo-yoing every 4-8 years is not helping. I want to see a consistent base move forward.

If you were moderate or centered you were already a Clinton supporter. That’s always been the Clinton’s bread and butter. The moderates weren’t the ones going Never Clinton.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

In the effort of not being TOTALLY negative, the people are turning on him and he won't last much longer unless the court cleanse he wants happens. He wants to effectively "disbar" all judges and replace them with his choices. And have less of them. Sound familiar?

I could be wrong, but it sounds like Netenyahu is threatening to become what Putin already is, a full blown authoritarian, and Trump longs to follow in the footsteps of both, but that pesky constitution and recalcitrant Democrats in Congress are getting in his way.

[BeastieRunner]

If you were moderate or centered you were already a Clinton supporter. That’s always been the Clinton’s bread and butter. The moderates weren’t the ones going Never Clinton.

I consider myself more libertarian but I primaried for Bernie because I thought he stood the best chance to beat Cruz, Rubio, Bush, etc.

I think there are better choices this go around with Harris, Warren, Booker, O'Rouke, Buttigieg, Inslee, Castro, Gillibrand, and even Yang are looking like better choices than 2016.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like Netenyahu is threatening to become what Putin already is, a full blown authoritarian, and Trump longs to follow in the footsteps of both, but that pesky constitution and recalcitrant Democrats in Congress are getting in his way.

Bibi, Mushroom PeePee, and Lil' Kim want to form a boy band with Putin.

[Jack Dracula]

I could be wrong, but it sounds like Netenyahu is threatening to become what Putin already is, a full blown authoritarian, and Trump longs to follow in the footsteps of both, but that pesky constitution and recalcitrant Democrats in Congress are getting in his way.

Well those guys really are his people. They run their countries like corporate CEO's rather than public servants. When people don't unquestionably follow orders they get fired. Of course in NK or Russia "Getting Fired" means you disapear in the middle of the night.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I consider myself more libertarian but I primaried for Bernie because I thought he stood the best chance to beat Cruz, Rubio, Bush, etc.

I think there are better choices this go around with Harris, Warren, Booker, O'Rouke, Buttigieg, Inslee, Castro, Gillibrand, and even Yang are looking like better choices than 2016.



Bibi, Mushroom PeePee, and Lil' Kim want to form a boy band with Putin.

Gillibrand and Booker are absolutely horrid when it comes to Wall Street and special interests. They are easily the least renewable for most progressives. You’re pretty much asking for a 2016 repeat with them. O’Rourke has been backed by Republicans during his career, is more to the right than nearly anyone in this race and has yet to put out anything in regards to policy. Yang is a one issue candidate. Unless you are super high on ubi he’s pretty much a waste. He’s also just another rich guy who is running as a project and has next no experience.

Warren’s good. Harris is half good but she has things to things to answer for during her prosecutorial days. I have nothing against Castro but he also does nothing for me and he is running on an outdated brand of politics. Pete is okay, but like O’Rpurke he has no real policy.


Basically my top 3 are

1. Warren
2. Sanders
.
.
.
.
3. Harris

The rest I’m just hoping I’m not stuck with and honestly think they will lose to Trump

[worstblogever]

I always love when the usual suspects who spend half the thread shitting on left wing candidates...

You're exaggerating. There is only one "left wing candidate" who is being criticized. Everyone else is singing the praises of the rest of the ones who actually aren't full of s***.