Messages

I do this because I care.

I do this because I'm bored.

I've started investing in stocks.
Mostly beef and chicken right now.
I'm hoping someday to be a bouillonaire.

This: time flows backward 2x3x5 seconds per half hour. Maybe someday this will all be history. Until then, *HCE*. WTFO? Don't panic

Did I say something? Soon.

Yeah, the BMV is a bitch!

I'm not a legislator. Until just recently I've been barred from partisan office because of the Hatch Act. I am contemplating a run in 2020 or 2022, but who knows.

I am a pretty active public health advocate, but the incident I referred to above was after a press conference at the state house where I spoke about the need for strict regulations after legalization passed in my state.  Someone wasn't happy with me I guess. 

If it's Warren, the GOP are going to turn her into Hillary and it will be an extremely close general and I think Trump could eke that out.
If it's Biden, it will be harder for the GOP slur machine.  He's an old kooky white guy just like Trump. 

Let's face it guys, we have a racist, sexist electorate, the GOP knows it, and have no shame to use it if it gets them the win. 

Biden is old, he messes shit up, but he'll be surrounded by handlers like Trump is now. Except, a President Biden's staff, I think it's fair to say, will be far less batshit racist than Trump's.

This is such a no-brainer.  If the goal is for Trump to not be re-elected, Biden is the closest thing to a sure deal as the D's can put up.  Everyone else opens up pathways for Trump to get another 4 years.

C'mon D's, don't fuck it up this time!

I would be amused by what RWHN things about the vaping "epidemic" screeching that is now in vogue.

But anyway here is my answer:  the screeching is because of a cluster of hospitalizations related to vaping. The CDC is investigating them all to see if there are common links. The only thing for sure that is common is vaping was involved in all cases, but initial reports are there wasn't a common product or chemical being vaped in these cases. So I'm waiting for more information.

But at a minimum, vaping isn't safe guys. Don't let Altria try to fool you into thinking otherwise.  They know things they aren't telling you.  If you vape, yeah, it's probably some degree safer than a traditional cigarette.  But it's probably safer like jumping off the third floor is safer than jumping off the fifth.   

So he comes back here and we send him back to Nancy with his tail between his legs to weep and wail and ask why she hath forsaken him all over again.

Dude, I've been threatened with death in the middle of a state legislature, people have called my office (despite my office line not actually being published) and threatened.

With respect, I'm a big boy and can handle this forum. 

I bet you would.

...and it reappears.  Which means it must have notifications turned on for its own threads, but otherwise isn't interested in this forum.  How... narcissistic.

Narcissism...I wonder if I can work with that.  This might be an interesting experiment.

No, I don't know how to do that and don't have the patience to figure it out. I've been lurking the whole time, been mostly reading threads in Aneristic whatever it's called, but just didn't come up with anything smart to say so I just read. 

I bet you would.

El Paso guy was just doing what Trump wanted him to do. 

[or even full right wing, working class voters support them]

At the same time, Congress is a numbers game. Which I think, like her or don't like her, is ultimately where Pelosi is coming from.  The Dems in the House can do shit if they are in the minority. With a majority, they may not be able to do what the liberal wing of the party wants done, but they can do more than zero. 

I think that is where the rub is.  Pelosi and establishment want to move the ball to see if they can smash their way to a first down, AOC et al want to get a touch down on first possession. 

Of course the reality is with an R Senate and White House, it's not like there's too much the D's can accomplish, but whatever possibilities there might be, it certainly isn't going to be with a red-meat liberal initiative.

So in other words, we have to accept a moderate centrist agenda to achieve the agenda we need a buck short and a day late.

Yes, because like it or not, the American electorate is, at best, center-left.  AOC will get re-elected in her District all day long.  Meanwhile, in Maine's northern district, we have center-Left Jared Golden.  Now, he's not a Pelosi fan, he voted against her speakership in fact, but overall, much more moderate than AOC.  You will never, get someone like AOC elected in that district.  Golden won his election by miniscule numbers, he was lucky.  It's a center-right district. 

That's what you have to contend with.  To have more progressive/liberals, you have to have massive changes in the electorates in those regions, or catch lightning in a bottle and nominate someone who can win over right-leaning districts with personality to distract from their policy positions.  You might get lucky and do that in a few districts, but not on a scale to significantly tip the House to the progressive left. 

So given that reality, those numbers, is it best to get something or nothing?  That's where Pelosi is coming from.  And she's right.  Because the math is the math.

It's important to look at the popularity of policy in places like that.  A lot of what AOC supports that Pelosi doesn't is directly beneficial to the working class and a lot of those center right, or even full right wing, working class voters support them.  A progressive has a better chance than a centrist in plenty of conservative districts.

Are you serious with that?  You're talking about tea-party conservatives right there the Fox News money demo. Hell, no way, they are going to support left wing policies, not from a left wing politician.  I mean, shit, I think they are probably nutzo enough to support left wing policies if by some miracle they were being touted by Ted Cruz or one of their own. But fuck no, are they going to line up behind a left wing candidate.

If the opponent is an establishment republican who has been screwing them and the left wing candidate speaks their language, yes they will.  You think they will vote for a Centrist Democrat?  You know that isn't going to happen.

Where were you in 2018? It did happen.  That's how the Dems won the House. Most of the seats they flipped they flipped with centrist Democrats.

ACA was a center-left policy.

What's left wing about forcing people to buy insurance from private companies?

null & void said center-left doesn't pass policy, I was pointing out just one example of how that's wrong

ACA was a center-left policy.

The second you start saying shit about identity politics you've fallen off the fucking bus altogether. Realize that identity politics is a way of saying actual people's immutable natures are political. Identity politics is literally recognizing these people exist and their lives matter.

People like me.

So you're saying we need to stop protecting people who are having their existences politicized, their lives torn down around them, so the privileged white folks don't feel bad. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, you high and mighty sack of fucking shit.

No, not at all. I'm saying put aside litmus tests, get the orange buffoon out of office. If he gets another 4 years, shit's gonna get worse.

Are you serious with that?  You're talking about tea-party conservatives right there the Fox News money demo. Hell, no way, they are going to support left wing policies, not from a left wing politician.  I mean, shit, I think they are probably nutzo enough to support left wing policies if by some miracle they were being touted by Ted Cruz or one of their own. But fuck no, are they going to line up behind a left wing candidate.

God it's like you were in a coma for all of 2016

I was running a political campaign for all of 2016. 

But c'mon you guys have seen these Trump supporters right?  I mean, I will grant you, an uber-liberal candidate, with the right personality, could pick off some center-right folks who actually have had their ethical boundaries crossed with Trump.  But when you're saying they could also win over the right wing, nah, that's not gonna happen.  Biden, isn't going to win over the right wing.  But you don't need to, in the short term, to get rid of Trump.  You need someone who can win Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.  But ya gotta focus, and put aside the identity politics.