Night Two of the Democratic Debates

Part two of the Democratic debate‘s. This too will be relatively tweet thread like.

I did not catch the debate from the very beginning but from the part I walked in on when they were discussing Medicare for all and education, of course Bernie Sanders was the strongest. He was the only person besides Joe Biden to provide clear, concise, and articulate policy positions for the issues of healthcare and education. Everyone else spoke in platitudes, and did much of what was done yesterday, which was explain what the problem is and just talk about how terrible things are rather than providing a solution to fix said problems. 

On the issue of education, Joe Biden stated that he wanted to make community colleges for Renee, but not all public colleges and universities. He also did not make a mention of canceling the student loan debt.

They are letting Kamala Harris speak for a really long time on the issue of immigration. Her answer is good though. 

John Hickenlooper says we need to reform ICE, not demolish them.

Marianne Williamson is saying a lot of things that sound nice, but there is no policy plan behind it if you pay close attention. She ended strong with stating how the USA 

basically fucked up most of Latin America.

Shout out to Pete Booty Judge for stating the the right wing completely ignores the separation of church and state, and saying the Democrats are representing those who have any religion or no religion. That is something that is not talked about nearly enough.

Handsy Uncle Joseph is starting to get amped up. He isn’t stating anything of policy substance, but he is trying to sound like a lefty. He got pressed before he finally stated that he would not deport someone for a low-level crime.

Bernie coming through with all the 

substance, stating how we need to stop 

trying to overthrow Latin American countries.

Eric Swalwell is mixing some issues with the census and family separation. Weird.

Kamala Harris replies, stating that she disagreed with Obamas immigration policy and advise her staff in California when she was the state attorney general to use their own judgment on the issue of deportation. Solid.

Michael Bennett argued passionately for his position on immigration, that might help him out. 

I didn’t get the chance to take notes on the rest, so I’ll link the Splinter live blog 

coverage to get anything I missed. 

https://splinternews.com/we-feel-dead-inside-splinters-2020-democratic-debate-l-1835925094

Night One of Democratic Primary Debates

I took voice notes throughout the debate, so this blog will basically be written in a Tweet thread format. Enjoy.

Tulsi Gabbard started off wonderfully, with clear and concise policy ideas including a green new deal, Medicare for all, and free college which would be paid for by ending the Wars and reinvesting the money.

Bill de Blasio is actually saying some pretty good stuff as well, I’m not sure how much I believe him.

Every single candidate has mentioned green technology or the green new deal.

Cory Booker looks angry.

Elizabeth Warren being her usual wonky policy driven self. Very long drawn out responses to the questions.

Only two candidates are willing to abolish private insurance. Elizabeth Warren and Bill DeBlasio.

Amie cloud boot jar basically said a bunch of nothing, and is in favor of the public option rather than Medicare for all.

Elizabeth Warren strongly comes out in favor of Medicare for all.

Bet on my stork coming through with cliches and speaking about personal stories, rather than policy solutions.

Bill de Blasio strongly challenges Beto in the rain work on his position for private insurance.

Tulsi Gabbard comes out in favor of Medicare for all, with private insurance still being an available option.

Cory Booker comes out in favor of Medicare for all as well, and also did a relatively good job of tying health issues in with economic and educational issues as well. Again, I’m not sure how much I believe that he will fight for it.

Julian Castro came out in favor of abortion being covered in a Medicare for all bill. That isn’t an issue I’ve heard brought up very much, but I feel that was a good answer.

Elizabeth Warren using sneak words like “access”. No, everyone gets healthcare, no questions asked.

I liked everything that Julie and Castro said about immigration until he got to his solution. Ending the drug war should be one of the top priorities of any Democratic nominee.

Cory Booker going after that Hispanic vote flaunting his Spanish linguistic skills. Gotta love identity politics.

I’m hearing a lot of what is wrong with our current immigration system, but not very many solutions, aside from Julian Castro.

Build a Blasio is actually railing against corporations, rhetorically I’m not surprised, I will be very surprised if he actually sticks to this line of attack if he somehow makes it to the general.

Beto O’Rourke also had to show America that he can speak Spanish, so therefore he will be great for the Hispanic community. Because that’s how it works.

Oh shit shots fired! Julian Castro is giving Beto O’Rourke that heat right now regarding his voting record on immigration.

John Delaney has looked and lost this entire debate.

Tim Ryan looks incredibly confused and a little bit intense.

Cory Booker wants to be Barack Obama so bad.

The moderator just called out all of the candidates and said that nobody has given her a clear answer on how to fix the “child separation” policies. Fantastic.

Cory Booker is the only candidate on stage who would not have voted in favor of the Iran deal. When pressed on it, he simply stated that he would try to negotiate a better deal. Where have we heard that from? Oh right, Donald Trump.

Tulsi Gabbard of course spitting mad knowledge when it comes to foreign policy. This is definitely her strongest attribute.

I wonder how many times Rachel Maddow is going to bring up Russia to the candidates.

All the technical issues they were having are hilarious.

Elizabeth Warren does not have a solid policy solution to gun violence.

Cory Booker does not have a solution to gun violence.

Julian Castro does not have a solution for gun violence.

Tim Ryan has one policy proposal which is his mental health professionals in schools.

Beto’s answer is “let the kids do it!”

Corey Booker cleaned up his answer a little bit, still not great but at least there were some statistics that he sites.

I wasn’t able to take notes during the last portion, but all in all I think that they allowed Bill de Blasio and a few other lesser known Candidates take over the entire debate. I barely got to see Tulsi Gabbard say anything, and it was almost comical how they treated John Delaney. I feel bad almost everyone was wishy-washy on Medicare for all and they used to weasel words like access, universal, affordable, and other various words that sort of let you know they’re not all the way on board with Medicare for all. I’m very interested to see how the debates go tonight.

Donald Trump and Opposition Research

Controversial take time.

I'm not flipping out over what Donald Trump said regarding the fact he said he would "look at it" if given information from a foreign government about an opponent. He said it's simply called "opposition research" and everyone does it.

I agree.

Now, is there a difference between him actively seeking out information from foreign, perhaps even hostile governments and him being given information (that by the way was all 100% accurate) that he didn't ask for, but happens to use? I say yes. 

Why do I feel this way? Well for one, there is still no proof or even hard evidence that Russia hacked the DNC, or John Podesta. However, even if there was, what did we learn? We learned that there was a little something called the "Steele Dossier", which was paid for the DNC and Hillary Clinton, and that information came from Russian sources and was given to a British spy, for the purposes of.......

Getting opoosition research on Donald Trump. You know, the same reason that Mueller began his investigation 2 years ago, but saying that Trump was actually the guilty one? Yeah, that.

The other reasons I feel this way are because of this simple thought excercise. Let's just say your best friend of 25 years has secretly been stealing from you, and a 3rd party tells you, and shows you evidence that this has been happening. Would you be upset with the 3rd party for delivering the message, or would you be mad at your best friend for being a theif? Most people with common sense would have ill feelings towards their (former) best friend, I would hope. In this case, the best friend is Hillary and the DNC, the 3rd Party is Russia. 

Now, was this a smart thing for Trump to say? Of course not, especially given the current political climate and the whole 2 year long investigation that people still won't let go of. However, if you actually listen to it as a singular statement, rather than something that Donald Trump said, it's really not that crazy. It's actually very rational.

Still, f*ck Donald Trump tho. #RIPNipsey.

Making Fun of Louie Gohmert

I love Louie Gohmert.

No seriously, I do.

Stop laughing, I know you think I’m joking, but I’m not.

I genuinely appreciate any time this man says ANYTHING. It is almost 100% of the time going to either infuriate you or make you laugh hysterically. I choose to react in the secondary way. I’m just going to link a few videos of him saying stupid things here, and I hope you all enjoy because seriously….COMEDY.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqbo3LtKais

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxj7AIQAEV4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz54CEoWDZA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKEIyV-VUrY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADkm-Ek5tbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=978v6lEnZY4

All videos are provided by Kyle Kulinski of Secular Talk, which is a YouTube channel affiliated with TYT Network. Follow him on Twitter @KyleKulinski.

My Thoughts on Elizabeth Warren

So, let's talk about my 3rd favorite candidate for President (number 1 of course being Bernard H. Sanders, and number 2 being Tulsi Gabbard), Elizabeth "F-ck Fox News" Warren. She's a mixed bag to say the least, similar to how I feel about Barack Obama (although to be fair, she seems to be a little better overall than our first black President.) 

From an economic standpoint, she's maybe the best when it comes to going to war with the corporations and being a champion for the people. She created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which held banks and other various large companies accountable for their practices, and in turn, helped to rectify some of the misdeeds that were done to the public. For example, credit card companies had a scheme where they basically sold you "indentity theft protection" for $10.00 per month (give or take depending on the credit card company), but the payments weren't actually going towards any protection. People were quite literally just donating an extra $10 per bill cycle to these various companies, and it went uncheched for a while....until the CFPB popped up and started poppin off. 

Warren also seems to genuinely be on the correct side of social issues, at least rhetorically. She supports women's healthcare rights, same-sex marriage, understands the issues regarding the criminal justice system and favors reform, supports the DREAMers, supports common sense gun legislation, supports legalizing weed, she's basically all the way righteous. 

BUT.....

She voted to increase our current military budget. By 80. Billion. God. Damned. Dollars. 

You know, for someone who regularly exchanges battle rap bars with Donald Trump on Twitter, you would think she would vote to give this lunatic, mad man of a President MORE military power. You can't talk shit about him making his "military industrial complex buddies rich" while at the same time voting in favor of him obtaining an ADDITIONAL $80,000,000,000 to give to said buddies. Of that, $65,000,000,000 could pay for all adults to attend college. Let alone what we could do with the current $700,000,000,000 (look at how many zeroes that is) which is roughly the same amount as the next 10 top military spenders on the planet, most of which are our allies. You can't continue stating that Iran is our enemy, but then getting upset when the Clown in Chief makes threats towards them. You can't have it both ways.

I will also very quickly mention the whole Native American fiasco, when her and Trump basically had the pettiest argument of all time regarding a DNA test, where according to Maury Povich standards, the Cherokee Nation is NOT the father. 

So Liz, although I will say if you are the nominee against Trump, you'll get my vote, there is still a reason you are in 3rd place on my list. Bernie didn't vote for that increase, neither did Tulsi. They don't call foreign countires our enemies just because they buy into the framing of the media and the right wing, and most importantly, they fight back almost exclusively thru policy proposals and discussions, rather than thumb thugging on Twitter with the President of People Who Dance to the Words and Not the Beat.

Impeachment Equals President Mike Pence

We have to start preparing for President Mike Pence guys.

I know, I know. It’s trash. He’s Donald Trump minus the mean tweets, plus the Christian fundamentalism. He’s a war mongering, a free market over everything, healthcare isn’t a right, everyone should own guns, and keep those damn Mexicans out of my country kinda guy. However, he’s way nicer about it than Trump….so yay?

Anyways, it appears that Impeachment proceedings are getting closer and closer, and looking at this from two different perspectives, I have come to two conclusions, neither of which is really that great.

1. Donald Trump most definitely has committed and is continuing to commit crimes. I always said from the second he was sworn in that he was violating the emoluments clause of the constitution. Now, after the Mueller report, a lot of that stuff has come out. Having an open criminal serving as President is terrible, and if we allow this to continue, we are setting a precedent that essentially makes the President a dictator. If the President is allowed to straight up obstruct justice, tell people to ignore subpoenas and court appearances, or telling them to flat out lie on the stand, then what is to stop future Presidents from doing so, and thusly destroying the checks and balances of government? These are all good and principled arguments to use if you are pro-impeachment.

2. Mike Pence will become the President of the United States. You know all the crazy horrible shit that Trumps has done and wants to do? Mike Pence will be able to get it done, because he’s calm and most republicans like him. They fall in line with Trump, but they don’t like him as a person. Since that’s the case, some of his insane agenda isn’t getting passed, such as repealing the ACA, when John McCain gave him the epic thumbs down vote. This was really done out of spite because of the wild shit Trump said about McCain in the past about being captured in Vietnam. So if we impeach Tiny Hands, Mike Pence will push thru the rest of the draconian agenda and continue destroying the country for everyone who isn’t rich.

So, what do we do? From purely a strategic point of view, I say leave the President of Unseasoned Chicken Eaters in there and let him keep digging himself a hole so we can stop some of the insanity. Mike Pence will not be as visible in the public eye, so a lot of his policies would quietly be implemented. Very scary for all of us.

However, from a principled point of view, the dude is a criminal and if any of us got caught doing the stuff he’s been accused of in the Mueller report, then he’s gotta go. We can have the top cop in the country as one of the biggest mob bosses also. I think overall, my take leans towards impeachment. But we MUST stay active as we have been since 45’s been in office, and fight Mike Pence on everything too. If we can do this, then all of this won’t be for nothing. Because trust and believe, if we impeach Trump and he is removed from office, the republican base is gonna go DUMB in 2020, and hit the booths harder than Ice Cube’s mean mug. So we have to prepare for that.

Commonly MisUsed Political Terms

Just want to break down some basic definitions for you guys, in the event the constant smearing in politics causes confusion. For example, republicans tend to call ANY policies proposed by Democrats a “socialist/Marxist/communist” policies. They called Obamacare a form of socialism. This is just one example, but there are countless. So, without further ado, let’s discuss some commonly mis-used words, with a special focus given the current week’s political news regarding our Alabama peeps. According to Dictionary.com:

Murder = the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

Abortion = the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.

Zygote = a diploid cell resulting from the fusion of two haploid gametes; a fertilized ovum.

Embryo = an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development, in particular a human offspring during the period from approximately the second to the eighth week after fertilization (after which it is usually termed a fetus).

Fetus = an unborn offspring of a mammal, in particular an unborn human baby more than eight weeks after conception.

Baby = a very young child, especially one newly or recently born.

Socialism = a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Communism = a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

Welfare State (AKA Social Democracy) = a system whereby the government undertakes to protect the health and well-being of its citizens, especially those in financial or social need, by means of grants, pensions, and other benefits. The foundations for the modern welfare state in the US were laid by the New Deal programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Fact = a thing that is known or proved to be true.

Belief = something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction.

My point in creating this post is to show that the reasons words have definitions and exist in the context they do is to describe different things. Sometimes similar things are still quite different. Nuance is always important, and I think some of these over-used political terms (mostly incorrect) need to be shown as a reminder to the people. Just because you really want something to be true and you in your heart of hearts BELIEVE that it is, that doesn’t make it so. Just because you want abortion to be considered murder, doesn’t mean that it is. Just because you believe life begins the moment you shoot her club up, doesn’t mean there are 3 people in the room. Words still mean things. Embryos and zygotes are not babies, a welfare state does not equal socialism, and Noah didn’t get 2 of every animal on a boat to save the world.