All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[WestPhillyPunisher]

She's up for re-election in 7 months. If she keeps melting down, an upset might be in the works. But of course, the GOP isn't bothered by having raving lunatics in their ranks, and didn't even bother to find her a primary challenger.

Judging from all the profiles you've done, the GOP actually embraces nutbags and psychotics. The bigger problem of course are the people who vote for those maniacs who would otherwise not be holding any sort of position in any sort of government.

[Tendrin]

Biden is officially in.

[ed2962]

...

I don't know about trying to pin the blame there for that.

While it might have been a component most of the "Who" that we know of points to motivations outside of whatever falls under the "MAGA" umbrella.

They weren't MAGA people per se,but there is some overlap between them and the anti-SJW exploitation crowd.

[ed2962]

Biden is officially in.

Bah, humbug...

[worstblogever]

Biden is officially in.

Let's hope he makes whoever the eventual winner is look cooler. I'm still Warren/Harris as my one two. I have no goddamned idea who I want at three anymore. There's too many people in the thick of it to pick one. I just know not Gabbard, Ryan, or Moulton.

[numberthirty]

They weren't MAGA people per se,but there is some overlap between them and the anti-SJW exploitation crowd.

They did get in and draft once things were moving.

That said, that guy with the fixation(Richard Ryder Nova?) was on some way kooky stuff before and after the "Maga"/"Anti-SJW" crowd even remotely cared.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Saw this on Facebook:

"So this gutless, guilty, godforsaken coward sued the U.S. Congress today for subpoenaing his business records? Like the government is some small business he can just litigate away. But just let that sink in: A sitting U.S. president is suing his own government."

Pretty damn wild, huh? Even worse are the far more gutless Republicans in Congress and beyond collectively sitting on their hands, doing the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" routine while letting Trump run roughshod over the Constitution. Makes you wonder what Trump is hiding that he's going to these lengths to keep his records secret.

[Tami]

Let's hope he makes whoever the eventual winner is look cooler. I'm still Warren/Harris as my one two. I have no goddamned idea who I want at three anymore. There's too many people in the thick of it to pick one. I just know not Gabbard, Ryan, or Moulton.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the underestimated candidates broke out from the pack after the debates.

[Tami]

Vermont’s Black Leaders: We Were ‘Invisible’ to Bernie Sanders

Back in 2006, the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity, a Brattleboro-area civil rights organization, hosted a Candidate Night. The race for the open U.S. Senate seat between Bernie Sanders and Richard Tarrant, a Republican and one of the wealthiest people in the state, had grown increasingly acrimonious.

The audience of African-American activists and other Vermonters of color should have been a friendly one for the socialist congressman.

Instead, remembers Curtiss Reed Jr., the executive director of the group, it became something of a showdown. Sanders “was just really dismissive of anything that had to do with race and racism, saying that they didn’t have anything to do with the issues of income inequality,” Reed told The Daily Beast.

“He just always kept coming back to income inequality as a response, as if talking about income inequality would somehow make issues of racism go away.”

And since winning that race, Sanders’s approach toward Reed and his organization has been one of “benign neglect,” the activist added. “We are a major statewide organization. It would stand to reason that you would check in with your major constituents, but voters of color are simply not on his radar.”

[InformationGeek]

Ooooooh, looks like my representative is getting into some xenophobia.

Several Republican congressmen on Wednesday visited the U.S.-Mexico border at Yuma, Arizona, a day after Mayor Douglas Nicholls declared an emergency in the city due the “imminent threat” that waves of migrants pose to the community.

Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., who was among those visiting the border, sympathized with Nicholls during an interview on Fox Business.

“You have hundreds of people who are coming across the border every single night and the Mayor of Yuma is right, his community can’t take the influx of people,” Duffy told Kennedy on Wednesday.

Duffy called on his colleagues across the aisle to help alleviate the problem.

“I think if more Democrats came [to the border], they would see the light and say ‘This is less about Donald Trump and more about American Security,” he said. “We’ve got to work with Republicans and find a solution to this massive problem.”

Duffy also praised Attorney General Bill Barr’s decision on Tuesday to deny bail to those migrants seeking asylum who cross the border illegally rather than through a port of entry.

Duffy said that the policy “takes away the incentive for the migrants to come to our border.”

When pressed on how border patrol agents can do a better job of assessing asylum claims, Duffy said they struggle because some migrants “don’t have legitimate claims for asylum.”

“Their lives aren’t threatened, they’re coming for the American dream,” he said. “They want a better opportunity in America as opposed to Guatemala or El Salvador or Honduras. That’s why they’re coming.”

What the hell is Duffy even doing at the border?! He's from Wisconsin; that's nowhere close!

[ZombieHavoc]

Let's hope he makes whoever the eventual winner is look cooler. I'm still Warren/Harris as my one two. I have no goddamned idea who I want at three anymore. There's too many people in the thick of it to pick one. I just know not Gabbard, Ryan, or Moulton.

I ranked Tulsi at the bottom initially, but I like her quite a bit now. I think she has 0 chance anyway.

I also like Seth Moulton a lot, generally, but he'd rank low for me as a prez candidate choice.

Biden running is kind of annoying. Obviously I will vote for him in the general.

It's frustrating because if he does get the nom, he is like the top candidate that a certain segment of the left is gonna be positive the DNC rigged this thing for and all that bullshit from 2016.

Everyone involved in 2016 needs sit this one out. Biden's time is passed, in my opinion. And Bernie did the best thing he could do, in shifting a lot of the policy to the left--and now a bunch of better candidates are running on those policies. They don't need to be in the candidadte pool.

But whatever. That Any Democrat 2020 sticker is accurate. I'll vote for any of 'em.

[KOSLOX]

Vermont’s Black Leaders: We Were ‘Invisible’ to Bernie Sanders

"He just always kept coming back to income inequality as a response, as if talking about income inequality would somehow make issues of racism go away.”

This is pretty common joke over on the minority issues thread, since black issues are often ignored on this thread, even when they are specifically (and almost inherently) political.

[Tendrin]

Tulsi is bad.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

I ranked Tulsi at the bottom initially, but I like her quite a bit now. I think she has 0 chance anyway.

I also like Seth Moulton a lot, generally, but he'd rank low for me as a prez candidate choice.

Biden running is kind of annoying. Obviously I will vote for him in the general.

It's frustrating because if he does get the nom, he is like the top candidate that a certain segment of the left is gonna be positive the DNC rigged this thing for and all that bullshit from 2016.

Everyone involved in 2016 needs sit this one out. Biden's time is passed, in my opinion. And Bernie did the best thing he could do, in shifting a lot of the policy to the left--and now a bunch of better candidates are running on those policies. They don't need to be in the candidadte pool.

But whatever. That Any Democrat 2020 sticker is accurate. I'll vote for any of 'em.

Tulsi is awesome on foreign policy.

However this is a crowded as **** field. Biden is the centrist favorite. Bernie is the progressive favorite. Warren and Harris are two compromises that lean slightly to one side. I really don’t see much room beyond those.

Here’s the problem. Whether you think they are old or not, Biden and Bernie are the two front runners so there is an appetite for them. And quite frankly the new fresh faces like Beto and Pete are looking to be some of the most policy devoid manufactured candidates in the race. I’d rather one of those two than rolling the dice on someone who looks good in a focus tests

We know Bernie is crazy popular, we know Biden has the Obama coalition, we know Warren and Harris are champions with ideas to get things done

[ZombieHavoc]

Tulsi is awesome on foreign policy.

However this is a crowded as **** field. Biden is the centrist favorite. Bernie is the progressive favorite. Warren and Harris are two compromises that lean slightly to one side. I really don’t see much room beyond those.

Here’s the problem. Whether you think they are old or not, Biden and Bernie are the two front runners so there is an appetite for them. And quite frankly the new fresh faces like Beto and Pete are looking to be some of the most policy devoid manufactured candidates in the race. I’d rather one of those two than rolling the dice on someone who looks good in a focus tests

We know Bernie is crazy popular, we know Biden has the Obama coalition, we know Warren and Harris are champions with ideas to get things done

Warren and Kamala are both great choices. My top two.