The American Politics Thread!

[mercfan3]

She’s my first choice. (Of course she was my first choice for President too)
 

Generally speaking, VP’s don’t help with bringing in any states, but Kamala does a few things for Biden.

 

1. She’s a nod to black women - who have been the foundation of the Democratic Party. It’s time a black woman is given some power. Although Biden will probably win black voters by a huge percent - Dems need black voters to have a super high turnout in order to win. (Intentionally overcoming the voting blocks the GOP put in place). Kamala helps encourage that more than any one.
 

2. donors. Biden is seriously behind in money. Harris stupidly didn’t use her CA backers because of Warren/Sanders insistence that the party refuse to fundraiser in the ways that are necessary to win. She won’t have to play by that rule as VP.

 

3. She’s a good combination of youth/experience and charisma. Biden is going to need someone who can campaign for him. She’s good at that. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, mercfan3 said:

She’s my first choice. (Of course she was my first choice for President too)
 

Generally speaking, VP’s don’t help with bringing in any states, but Kamala does a few things for Biden.

 

1. She’s a nod to black women - who have been the foundation of the Democratic Party. It’s time a black woman is given some power. Although Biden will probably win black voters by a huge percent - Dems need black voters to have a super high turnout in order to win. (Intentionally overcoming the voting blocks the GOP put in place). Kamala helps encourage that more than any one.
 

2. donors. Biden is seriously behind in money. Harris stupidly didn’t use her CA backers because of Warren/Sanders insistence that the party refuse to fundraiser in the ways that are necessary to win. She won’t have to play by that rule as VP.

 

3. She’s a good combination of youth/experience and charisma. Biden is going to need someone who can campaign for him. She’s good at that. 

You worry about the choice turning off some voters that feel passionate about criminal justice reform? 

[mercfan3]

2 hours ago, Drew said:

You worry about the choice turning off some voters that feel passionate about criminal justice reform? 

 

If they are actually passionate (meaning - well researched) about criminal justice reform, they'd be impressed with Harris' record. So no. 

 

Am I worried that a certain sector of "liberals" will twist her record. I guess. But that was going to happen regardless of who Joe picked. 

[Guest]

I still think Klobuchar is the strongest choice, but I don't think he's picking her. 

[ButterflyEffect]

If you want something hilarious to gawk at, check out LeanTossup, a Canadian polling aggregate and political simulator/modelling website. These dudes will defend their models to death, but check out their ridiculous prediction for the Presidential election....

https://leantossup.ca/us-presidency/

They like to claim that they predicted the 2019 Canadian election very well, but while they may have predicted a close seat count their district vote share % for each party were insanely bad. They underestimated Conservative support in both the Federal and Provincial elections of my home town by a whopping 12% and 30% respectively. 

[Jonathan]

 

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Jonathan

[Guest]

This election is taking forever and that's not something I normally say.

[sneaky]

I think there is some validity to this Trump Derangement Syndrome thing. If Trump said this we would never hear the end of it-said in jest or not

 

 

[Guest]

20 hours ago, sneaky said:

I think there is some validity to this Trump Derangement Syndrome thing. If Trump said this we would never hear the end of it-said in jest or not

 

 

This is why anyone that wants to be leader of the free world has to be careful with their words and I've said it from the beginning. The media is most complicit when it comes to pointing out every single "falsehood" with regard to Trump, so when something genuinely worth condemning pops up, a sizable portion of the public doesn't always believe them. Shock. 

[sneaky]

1 hour ago, Drew said:

This is why anyone that wants to be leader of the free world has to be careful with their words and I've said it from the beginning. The media is most complicit when it comes to pointing out every single "falsehood" with regard to Trump, so when something genuinely worth condemning pops up, a sizable portion of the public doesn't always believe them. Shock. 

The problem is I believe for the majority of Trump supporters their first reason for liking him is the inane "He says what he truly feels and is not PC" This is Trump's main selling point, I believe, not his policies

[Guest]

6 hours ago, sneaky said:

The problem is I believe for the majority of Trump supporters their first reason for liking him is the inane "He says what he truly feels and is not PC" This is Trump's main selling point, I believe, not his policies

I would tend to agree with you. I always laugh at the Hitler/authoritarian parallels. He's far too lazy day to day to be that ever, lol. 

 

What does bother me and it'll never not bother me, he has no ability to show empathy, at least publicly. 

[RWG]

His new thing is a conspiracy theory claiming that a dead political staffer who was married was having an affair, and a cable news host murdered her. He's just horrid.

 

The amount of time he spends watching cable news instead of doing any work would really bother me. All the golfing, too.

[DiFan]

7 hours ago, RWG said:

His new thing is a conspiracy theory claiming that a dead political staffer who was married was having an affair, and a cable news host murdered her. He's just horrid.

 

The amount of time he spends watching cable news instead of doing any work would really bother me. All the golfing, too.

I'm sure you said the same about Barack Obama and all of the times he went out golfing. 

 

 

All the comments he had on the right leaning media, too.

 

Edited May 26, 2020 by DiFan

[Guest]

7 hours ago, DiFan said:

I'm sure you said the same about Barack Obama and all of the times he went out golfing. 

 

 

All the comments he had on the right leaning media, too.

 

I think the difference is that President Trump repeatedly criticized him over and over for the very same behavior and vowed not to do it. In isolation, it doesn't mean a whole lot. Just that it's hypocritical behavior to keep it real. 

[RWG]

On 5/26/2020 at 1:49 AM, DiFan said:

I'm sure you said the same about Barack Obama and all of the times he went out golfing. 

 

 

All the comments he had on the right leaning media, too.

 

 

The golfing thing always hits a nerve I've noticed.

 

I could make a long list of things I don't like about Obama. I'm not a Democrat, nor would I be if I were an American, they don't represent my views, and I've probably spent more time in the last year bemoaning the Dem establishment than I have Trump, so I can't really bothered with this. I'm guessing I probably didn't comment on it then because it didn't seem like a constant/obsessive thing with Obama. I'm sure that would clock if you check the logs.

[sneaky]

Damn. Im glad no one innocent was in the building. This is crazy but I also understand the need for a super strong demonstration to get things to change.

 

 

[TeamAudra]

Except the neighborhood (Not the best, tbh) relies on the businesses they burned to the ground for jobs, food, prescriptions drugs. Target, Cub Foods, Aldi, McDonalds, Wendy’s, etc. At least some of those businesses won’t return. I never thought I’d see the day when dozens of cops would abandon their precinct, and allow thugs to burn it down. I don’t live in Minneapolis, but I’m ashamed for them. Who gave the cops that order? Mayor Frey? BTW, the city is run entirely by Democrats, and has been for decades. 
 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the 180 unit, nearly completed, low income housing building they burned down. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by TeamAudra

[ButterflyEffect]

Unfortunately this type of civil disobedience usually tends to turn public support away from your cause. Was this really necessary? At the same time I understand that peaceful protests in the USA have gone nowhere with pushing your cause (and if the police are going to hit you with tear gas anyway even if you're peacefully protesting you may as well go all in on the disobedience).

It seems that the Minneapolis police were too busy deciding that they were going to arrest CNN journalist Omar Jimenez and his crew for no reason on live TV rather than try and do anything useful. I hope Mr. Jimenez and co sue the f*cking shit out of the Minneapolis PD.

[TeamAudra]

44 minutes ago, ButterflyEffect said:

Unfortunately this type of civil disobedience usually tends to turn public support away from your cause. Was this really necessary? At the same time I understand that peaceful protests in the USA have gone nowhere with pushing your cause (and if the police are going to hit you with tear gas anyway even if you're peacefully protesting you may as well go all in on the disobedience).

It seems that the Minneapolis police were too busy deciding that they were going to arrest CNN journalist Omar Jimenez and his crew for no reason on live TV rather than try and do anything useful. I hope Mr. Jimenez and co sue the f*cking shit out of the Minneapolis PD.

Those were State Troopers. That’s why Gov. Walz (D) is the one doing the apologizing. They said they were just following orders....

 

After allowing that level of destruction to take place over 2 days, without arresting people, it does seem a little ridiculous to arrest a journalist who didn’t appear to be doing anything wrong. 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by TeamAudra

[ButterflyEffect]

5 minutes ago, TeamAudra said:

Those were State Troopers. That’s why Gov. Walz (D) is the one doing the apologizing. They said they were just following orders....

 

After allowing that level of destruction to take place over 2 days, without arresting people, it does seem a little ridiculous to arrest a journalist who didn’t appear to be doing anything wrong. 

 

 

What's the difference? In Canada we don't have multiple policing agencies with authority in a jurisdiction (either the RCMP, or a local police service). I'm certain they weren't following any orders, no one would have given them the orders to arrest a journalist, not in a "free" democratic nation.

I'm almost certain that the colour of the reporters skin may be somewhat behind this. White journalists within an earshot of Mr. Jimenez were untouched.

Anyway, Minnesota State Patrol tweeted saying that they were released from custody after they were confirmed to be from the media. Good thing the cameras were rolling so we could see how much of a lie that was. The police were presented with media cards and still arrested the crew. Damage control by lying doesn't really work when the arrest is on live TV.

[sneaky]

Oh wow. I thought it was just the police station

[TeamAudra]

10 minutes ago, ButterflyEffect said:

What's the difference? In Canada we don't have multiple policing agencies with authority in a jurisdiction (either the RCMP, or a local police service). I'm certain they weren't following any orders, no one would have given them the orders to arrest a journalist, not in a "free" democratic nation.

I'm almost certain that the colour of the reporters skin may be somewhat behind this. White journalists within an earshot of Mr. Jimenez were untouched.

Anyway, Minnesota State Patrol tweeted saying that they were released from custody after they were confirmed to be from the media. Good thing the cameras were rolling so we could see how much of a lie that was. The police were presented with media cards and still arrested the crew. Damage control by lying doesn't really work when the arrest is on live TV.

I don’t know all of the legalities, but they certainly had jurisdiction in Minneapolis last night. The chain of command is the difference. 

[TeamAudra]

We can probably cross Amy’s name off Biden’s potential VP list. 
 

 

[TeamAudra]

1 hour ago, sneaky said:

Oh wow. I thought it was just the police station

Yeah, I don’t live there, but I’m in the neighborhood frequently for work. I was in that Target store just last week. I made a comment about the neighborhood not being the best, but that’s not a reflection of most of the people who live around there. It was somewhat of an emerging area, with a lot of college professors, young couples, etc buying homes and fixing them up. I know many of these people personally, and they are screwed now, at least in the short term. Lake Street is the problem. 

Edited May 29, 2020 by TeamAudra

[TeamAudra]

These are the people who actually live in the neighborhood and own businesses there, cleaning up after the criminals.