All purpose news and politics thread part v: The quickening

[zinderel]

Many people find Bernie unlikable.

Paying for his policies even more so -- especially with mainstream voters.

Again -- nearly all of these criticisms are subjective.

I have yet to hear an objective reason why Sanders supporters think the majority of voters will support paying higher taxes as he intends.



I supported her because I wanted that cop to prosecute Trump, and possibly Barr, and put them in jail.

Republicans won't change until they have to suffer consequences for their criminal behavior.

I totally get that. I know that my bias can blind me sometimes. I’m only human. But I know better than to quibble, considering what is on the line. I can look at the good of a candidate’s platform or proposed policies, and take the bad for now, while we work on changing the local, city and state governments.

The presidency isn’t the most important aspect of government. For all his faults, Trump isn’t even the real villain in all of this. I mean, he ABSOLUTELY is a villain, in SO MANY WAYS...but the real villains are the men behind him. The people who quietly got into positions of power while everyone focused on who was gonna be president. The people using him to further their own agendas either by rallying the dregs of humanity in the white supremacist community, or by distracting the rest of us with that while they ran through unqualified judges to lifelong positions, and gut programs that support the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the injured and destitute. I can put up with a less-than-perfect centrist with some left-leaning ideas having the Presidency over a lunatic psychopath who thinks we should use more of our nukes and brags about sexual assault and promotes violence against his enemies at every possible turn. I would HAPPILY take Kamala over Trump while we focus on changing what really matters and getting the roots healthy again...

A little progress is better than none.

[aja_christopher]

I totally get that. I know that my bias can blind me sometimes. I’m only human. But I know better than to quibble, considering what is on the line. I can look at the good of a candidate’s platform or proposed policies, and take the bad for now, while we work on changing the local, city and state governments.

Kamala wasn't a dealbreaker for me -- none of the Democratic candidates are.

You won't hear me arguing against supporting any of them since my only real objective is to remove Trump and as many Republicans from power as possible.

I don't care whether it's Bloomberg, Sanders, Biden, Warren, or Mister Mxyzptlk that makes it happen, so long as it happens.

[BeastieRunner]

Speaking of removing Rs from power, there are 35 Senate seats up this 2020 term. 33 Class 2s and 2 special elections.

Ds are ahead in the 12 they are defending and Rs are ahead in 17 of the 23 they are defending.

Currently, that would give the Dems a 51-47 majority.

[BeastieRunner]

NYT has a sketch artist covering the impeachment, catching moments like Sen. Risch sleeping.

[Theleviathan]

Speaking of removing Rs from power, there are 35 Senate seats up this 2020 term. 33 Class 2s and 2 special elections.

Ds are ahead in the 12 they are defending and Rs are ahead in 17 of the 23 they are defending.

Currently, that would give the Dems a 51-47 majority.

And that's why we need quality candidates running for Senate and not wasting time running for President. Take the Senate and you can at least mitigate four more years of Trump if that plan goes to ****.

[BeastieRunner]

And that's why we need quality candidates running for Senate and not wasting time running for President. Take the Senate and you can at least mitigate four more years of Trump if that plan goes to ****.

McConnel's seat is 50/50 right now.

That would be a huge blow.

Amy McGrath has closed her funding and polling gap since 12/30 to 50/50 and has more money than Mitch now.

[Theleviathan]

McConnel's seat is 50/50 right now.

That would be a huge blow.

Amy McGrath has closed her funding and polling gap since 12/30 to 50/50 and has more money than Mitch now.

It may not happen, but this post gives me warm and fuzzy feelings.

[BeastieRunner]

It may not happen, but this post gives me warm and fuzzy feelings.

Leave it to the Marine to clean up a mess ...

[Jack Dracula]

I don't care. I will vote for Biden, I will vote for Sanders, I will vote for Warren if they can convince the rest of the nation they can beat Trump.

I am not going to sit here and lament some "chosen one" and take my toys and go home.

We have an environment to protect. We have children being thrown in cages. The GOP want to gut Medicare/Medicaid. They want to stuff another Judge on the Supreme Court.

They want to roll back abortion rights for women. They attack the LGBT community at every opportunity. If we cant recognize that they are the ones that need to be booted out of power and we deal with how fast or how far to go left after we keep their racist ass base from power. Then we deserve what we get when they get us into more wars for oil. Or start hacking away at Medicare/Medicaid to give more money to the rich.

Look at the gun laws being pushed through in VA now that they finally got Dem control. That will NEVER happen nationally if we don't kick their asses out.

I agree with all of that.

Kamala wasn't a dealbreaker for me -- none of the Democratic candidates are.

You won't hear me arguing against supporting any of them since my only real objective is to remove Trump and as many Republicans from power as possible.

I don't care whether it's Bloomberg, Sanders, Biden, Warren, or Mister Mxyzptlk that makes it happen, so long as it happens.

I agree with all of that too.

And that's why we need quality candidates running for Senate and not wasting time running for President. Take the Senate and you can at least mitigate four more years of Trump if that plan goes to ****.

I can't stop agreeing. There's so much to agree with.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I don't care. I will vote for Biden, I will vote for Sanders, I will vote for Warren if they can convince the rest of the nation they can beat Trump.

I am not going to sit here and lament some "chosen one" and take my toys and go home.

We have an environment to protect. We have children being thrown in cages. The GOP want to gut Medicare/Medicaid. They want to stuff another Judge on the Supreme Court.

They want to roll back abortion rights for women. They attack the LGBT community at every opportunity. If we cant recognize that they are the ones that need to be booted out of power and we deal with how fast or how far to go left after we keep their racist ass base from power. Then we deserve what we get when they get us into more wars for oil. Or start hacking away at Medicare/Medicaid to give more money to the rich.

Look at the gun laws being pushed through in VA now that they finally got Dem control. That will NEVER happen nationally if we don't kick their asses out.

Well said. Nothing less than the American experiment that’s democracy is in danger, I for one don’t have time for any purity test bullshit, I want a candidate who will galvanize the Democratic Party and kick Trump’s orange ass come November. If he wins another term, we’re all fucked, period, end of story. It’s just that goddamn simple.

[numberthirty]

Last week my Insurance company literally denied my Metformin because of something in the code that I had to opt out of that they never told me existed. When I called UHC, they said there was nothing they could do it was up to CVS Caremark.
CVS Caremark rep didn't even know it existed, then told me my only option was to have the doctor provide me a 90 day Scrip, not a 30 day scrip.

Our Healthcare system is insane.

Sorry to hear that you had to deal with that.

I overheard two instances of folks coverage declining something in ten minutes at a Walgreens today.

[numberthirty]

Have a look at the Impeachment Trial. The Democrats prosecuting Trump are all stars.


... I just hope their roles of impeachment prosecutors don't make them cops.

Easily the most hilarious thing I have heard all year.

Priceless.

[Zauriel]

Speaking of removing Rs from power, there are 35 Senate seats up this 2020 term. 33 Class 2s and 2 special elections.

Ds are ahead in the 12 they are defending and Rs are ahead in 17 of the 23 they are defending.

Currently, that would give the Dems a 51-47 majority.

Most of the Republican-held seats that the Republicans are defending are in red states. So they are not going to lose their seats in the red states.

Maine is more likely a purple state than a red state, so Susan Collins might lose her seat.

But Alabama is a red state. Doug Jones narrowly won the Alabama seat only because his opponent was a moron. Democrats will lose Alabama again. Even if Doug Jones wins reelection, he is still a second Joe Manchin.

Virginia is leaning red so there is a chance Democrats might lose Virginia.

[Adam Allen]

Maybe if I had more clarity on the plan, I might understand it better, but from what I've seen he hasn't even clarified how to pay for it himself.

And that's only one aspect of his policies -- how will the others be paid for? How will he get Republicans to agree to raise/reallocate taxes?

I dunno about how to get Republicans to agree -- I mean, you probably can't get the vast majority, so it would really need to be the Dems, with maybe a few stray Republicans who could somehow be convinced -- but, I think the general idea would probably be to close loopholes for very rich individuals and for corporations. Like, if you Google "how much tax does Amazon pay", cnbc and fortune seem to suggest they paid no income tax. I mean, this article...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/does-am...er-11560504602

... suggests it's not so simple, and I think ultimately suggests we "can't know" exactly how much Amazon pays in taxes ... but, to my mind, that kind of reasoning would be what we mean, when we say, "loopholes". I don't think Amazon has done anything illegal, tax-wise, I'm sure they are strictly following the rules ... just, the rules are set up to benefit them, incredibly.

And every other major business, and every individual with a great deal of wealth, which all makes sense, because these would be the people who would have lobbyists and such, and ultimately have the candidates' ears, and who in turn can benefit candidates greatly, when it comes to re-elections, and to retiring to cushy corporate jobs.

I mean, I'm not saying it can all be paid for, by taxing the rich ... but, I guess I am saying, I suspect that your rank-and-file voter will likely be more able to swallow significant increases in taxes for the upper crusts, than on the middle class ... and honestly, there's just the basic reasoning that if we take 20% of your income and you make 10 million, you're still doing pretty okay, versus if I take 20% and you make 10 thousand ... yeah, you probably just go from relying on the kindness of strangers to being outright homeless, in the latter case.

And sure, poor Republicans are fiercely protective of their masters' wealth, regardless of how horribly screwed they, themselves, are. But I suppose the idea would be that enough of the general public would be able to see reason, to manage positive change, despite those very confused souls.

[Mister Mets]

I really think Biden and Bernie should've been out stumping for new, younger, progressives than running themselves.

In pretty much any poll, just over 60 percent of Democrats are backing a white guy over the age of 75 (be it Biden, Bernie or Bloomberg.) The party had and still has plenty of other options. The ordinary people just don't care.