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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
M84, out of curiosity who are you rooting for? Currently you seem pretty unhappy with most of the candidates.
Personally I’m kinda hopping we get either Warren or Harris as a compromise candidate after both Sanders and Biden fail to win outright and don’t want to support the other one. I’d prefer Warren but I could happily accept Harris.
Edited by Silasw on May 7th 2019 at 7:34:15 PM
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranI'm actively trying to avoid getting too emotionally invested in any candidate. IMHO, they all have their merits and flaws, some worse than others.
- I dislike Biden the most (after Gabbard) because I don't think he's up to the task of "fixing" the USA (banking on Obama era nostalgia as it were) and because of his somewhat skeevy past (getting too handsy with women for one thing — that's a big fucking "NOPE"). Admittedly his support for unions is a plus in my book. Assuming it's sincere.
- I dislike Sanders the second most because he's done nothing to make me reconsider my reasons for disliking him back in 2016. If anything, he's doubled down on those issues. Weak ass foreign policy, anti-establishment populist bullshit, his opportunistic treatment of the DNC riddled with contempt, his ties to the MIC, and his repeated "gaffes" concerning race and gender issues which he dismisses as "identity politics"...but at least he (as far as we know) doesn't have a history of groping women.
- Warren...I've said more than enough to make my opinion on her clear. She's got a better grasp of policy than both of the above combined (hence why I'd vote for her over those two), but she's got some severe tunnel vision and biases when it comes to dealing with the financial industry and the rich. It's like she's overcompensating for her Republican past. For crying out loud, she proposed a tax plan that is pretty much illegal — how does a "policy wonk" make a mistake like that (assuming it is a mistake and not a cynical populist move like you suggested way back)? It doesn't help that I'm already wary of her due to her occasional forays into populism. Still, she's right about the financial industry needing more oversight and the rich needing to pay their fair share in taxes.
- Buttigieg...the more we hear about his record and what he believes in, the less enthused I am about him running. If it somehow comes down to him and Warren...I'd still pick Warren. The stuff he's said about Israel kind of creeped me out.
- O'Rourke...he's an empty suit. For crying out loud, I know more about what Buttigieg wants as POTUS.
- Harris...I used to think she'd be a solid candidate, but the more we learned about the way she handled criminals, the more I think she shouldn't be given even more power. Especially in the Executive branch.
- Gillibrand...she's a bit too...appeasing. She can't even bring herself to outright call out anti-vaxxers for their dangerous pseudoscience bullshit that kills children.
I'm not listing the other candidates both because I don't think they will reach the end of the campaign and because I think they're either worse than the ones in the folder or I just don't care either way.
Bottom line: I'd...reluctantly...favor Warren out of the entire list as things stand right now. Unless one or more of the other candidates steps up their game or Warren says or does something to reinforce why I don't fully trust her...I'm on team Warren.
Yay?
Edited by M84 on May 7th 2019 at 4:03:17 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised@Ace: The reason I see Sanders as more electable than Warren is that polls show she's in the ten most unpopular senators, while he's the most popular and currently has bad numbers with independents, needed to win the race, while Sanders doesn't.
Life is unfair...
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
@silas kamala harris is an absolute no-go
. she does not belong in any office, let alone the white house.
Edited by razorrozar7 on May 7th 2019 at 1:44:41 AM
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
While it's true Harris has a spotty record, I have no interest learning about it through unicorn brigade far left sources like Chapo who are blindly devoted to Sanders and nakedly more interested in bashing all other Democrats, to the point of hating them more than they do Republicans.
Edited by Alycus on May 7th 2019 at 2:30:37 AM
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
as a radical leftist myself, that sounds like your problem, not theirs. i think information should be considered no matter the source it comes from. that includes fact checking it for yourself if you consider the source suspect. but i dont think anything should be rejected out of hand unless it's patently ridiculous.
Kamala Harris’s controversial record on criminal justice, explained
from Vox.com.
I think it's only fair to use the "What have you done for me lately standard?" i.e. look at Harris's record as Senator with more weight than her past as a prosecutor. She's still to the right of other candidates when it comes to criminal justice but not nearly as bad as she has been painted.
That said, what was jumping out at me when I was reading the Vox article was there seemed to be a pattern that she was most deficient when it came to situations where she would be under scrutiny, even if indirectly. She did not like to be investigated: to be fair, who does? Equally, some things that government does need to be done in secret. But given that the easiest way to enable criminal justice reform is to just expose the whole thing to sunlight it's not a good start to be reflexively against investigations.
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
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chapotraphouse is a podcast, yes, but the subreddit is kind of a general hangout/shitposting grounds for leftists. there's a lot of tankies there, so i dont go there too often, but they do occasionally produce something useful.
perhaps i should clarify that my earlier link was compiled by a user of the subreddit, with sources, and has nothing to do with the podcast itself.
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
"tough on crime" almost invariably translates as "arrests more minorities", and it certainly has historically for harris. whether it plays well or not, it's morally wrong to use the law as either a club or a step ladder and i refuse to support it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of “tough on crime” policies either. That said, if it comes down to her and Trump in the end, I know who I’d be voting for.
I was more referring to her support of police, though. That’s something that seems to be consistently doing well for her among center-right voters.
They should have sent a poet.
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
i... don't think i need to reiterate my opinion on police. ill probably get thumped if i do.
tbh, im of the opinion that there's not really any point trying to appeal to anyone who hasn't already been convinced not to vote for trump. if everything he's done hasn't alienated them already, nothing is going to. i think its more a matter of picking the candidate that's going to motivate the most democrats and leftists to get out and vote.
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s completely broken. It’s critically flawed, but by and large the majority of officers do their job well.
It could also easily be fixed by reevaluating the training given to new officers. The vast majority of the issues with policing stem from that training, and departments that modernize have seen significant improvements in community relations and complaint numbers. Changing the training is a proven solution, it’s just a matter of doing it.
Edited by archonspeaks on May 7th 2019 at 5:31:56 AM
They should have sent a poet.The problem is that the police system in the USA is so decentralized that the performance of police can vary significantly from precinct to precinct.
Though one recurring flaw is the reluctance to actually fire police who fuck up and keeping them from just going to another precinct.
Edited by M84 on May 7th 2019 at 8:35:46 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
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the main problem with that is that so-called "good" cops stand by amd allow injustice to happen and stand up for those who commit injustices, which makes them complicit in said injustices. in addition, as i said earlier, 40% of cops are proven domestic abusers, and domestic abuse is one of the most underreported crimes in the nation, meaning the actual percentage is much higher than that. personally, i have absolutely no trust that someone who would hurt the people they're supposed to care about are going to give a single crap about the rights of prisoners or anyone else.
in addition, American police
are fucking full
of white supremacists
and have been for a very long time. the entire organization is broken and needs to be torn down.
also an excellent point. cops who should be fired and arrested are instead allowed to resign and trot right over to another precinct where their unblemished record allows them to go right back to work. massive overhauls and oversight are needed.
Edited by razorrozar7 on May 7th 2019 at 5:40:47 AM
Migrated to Chloe Jessica!
That 40% statistic is a little flawed. The reporting dates back to the 80s, before any of the DV reduction programs in place now were implemented, and before police could really actually be fired for reports of domestic violence. Police have incredibly high rates of PTSD and other stress-induced mental illnesses, and providing better resources to officers reduces substance abuse and DV issues massively. It’s also one of the top reasons officers are now fired.
It’s not that police are without issues, but the truth is far from the breathless talk of “all cops are bastards” you often see thrown around. There are 800-900,000 LE Os in the US, even with the numbers for things like white supremacy being unacceptably high (the only acceptable number for that is zero) it’s a small minority of officers.
They should have sent a poet.

BBC headline: Trump poised for new era of dominance
I couldn't resist, it's about the snooker player Judd Trump and his crushing victory in the World Championship
And a page topper to boot! Couldn't of planned it better
Edited by singularityshot on May 7th 2019 at 12:25:18 PM