Juliajms

Thank god. If they fail enough maybe they'll quit. At least for awhile.

I really hope this latest healthcare bill isn't passed.

^ I think one thing that hurt Hillary is that the working class want jobs period. I don't think she had it in her to tell the big lies about jobs that Trump did and people just aren't ready to hear the hard truth on that front yet. Like we've said in this thread many times, no one can bring back high paying coal and manufacturing jobs. It's going to take good communicators like Bill Clinton and Obama to make people understand that we need to accept other ways to fight income inequality. More refundable tax credits and shoring up the social safety net seem like the low hanging fruit to me, but getting people to accept that is the difficulty. One thing that the Republicans are right about is work brings dignity to a lot of people. It's where a large part of their self esteem and purpose comes from. Trump got a lot of mileage from convincing people he could bring that back. And sure, maybe all of those people were stupid for believing him, but I still feel bad for them. As for Bill Clinton's record of helping the lower classes, I can't claim to be an expert. I was just starting college when he was elected. I remember it as a time of optimism, but his policies I can name off hand did more harm then good. His attempts at welfare reform seemed to have hurt the truly poor, especially single mothers. I think he's actually apologized for some of his crime initiatives because they had such a destructive effect on minority communities. Hopefully, someone else on the board remembers the good he did. I'm sure it exists. Oh, and the reason I said Hillary gave up on the WWC is because there were stories that came out right after the campaign about tensions between Bill Clinton and her campaign strategists over that. We discussed it here at the time. They told her that the WWC had gone over to the Republicans and were never coming back (which I refuse to believe) so she shouldn't waste her time, but Bill wanted to her to at least try. Who knows if it would have made any difference in that crazy election anyway? I want to read that book that just came out about her campaign "Shattered". I'm sure it has more details about her strategy. It's all too fresh though. I'll have to wait a couple of years to read it.

^ I think Bill Clinton was right and the party shouldn't have completely given up on the WWC. If they can appeal to both the base and the WWC going forward they should. That doesn't mean they should put the WWC at the center of everything or cater to them over others. I would just say treat them like another part of a larger coalition, instead of choosing to concede that part of the electorate. Maybe it's too late though. Maybe there is just this hopeless split and the economic elite have managed to divide us for the foreseeable future. It's one the most frustrating aspects of politics to me. How can anyone who isn't filthy rich resent the poor of any race more than the ultra wealthy? I'll never understand it.

They all are though and I care to some extent when they are actually running for office. Obama is done, so why is Elizabeth Warren concerned about it? It's irrelevant. I rolled my eyes at Megan McCain who said something like "Obama is a dirty capitalist like the rest of us. I hope he gets filleted like Hillary did." When did he ever claim he wasn't? I had no problem with people noting that Hillary had a lot of ties to big money. It should be noted. However, now we live under a regime where conflicts of interest are openly flaunted and no one in power even cares. So what difference does any of it make? I wonder if we will ever go back to an age when the Presidency won't be so openly exploited for personal gain or has Trump changed the game for good. Trump has taken all dignity and honor from the office and no one can say that about Obama without their nose growing. I'd love to know if Bernie met with Warren Buffet when he was in town for Mello. It would not surprise me one bit. A politician without donations isn't about much. Whenever a politician comes to Omaha I pretty much know they are making a beeline for Warren. There's not much other reason to be here unless it's an election year second stop after doing the rounds in Iowa.

I thank God he isn't competent. Also that the Republicans have their own infighting to worry about. At the very least these issues are slowing down their destructive agenda.

Well, I don't know how impotent it was. I feel pretty well fucked over.

The chutzpah these people have continues to amaze me. The Republicans propose to exempt themselves from the worst of their own healthcare plan. https://www.vox.com/2017/4/25/15429982/gop-exemption-ahca-amendment

I agree. While I deeply resent being ruled by billionaires, once someone is out of office, I don't care how much money someone makes. I say good luck to him and make that money.

You make some good points. I'm hoping someone with real talent and charisma comes along to bring people together. I guess at this point we can also hope that Trump screws up so badly that the Democrats 2020 message is irrelevant. Someone asked Michael Moore if he thought Trump would be impeached and he said something like "Yes, somewhere in the middle of his second term". Normally, I can at least smile at gallows humor, but not this time.

Women's health care in Haiti going to hell thanks to Trump. This is truly infuriating. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/opinion/sunday/trump-thinks-this-is-pro-life.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Another group of people we might have been able to offer sanctuary to, if the election had gone differently. Michelle Obama was right. Now we know what not having hope really feels like.

Not until this morning. It certainly did clarify some of the larger issues for me though. I really hope a leader emerges for the democrats who can bring people together in time for the midterms. At this point I'm really unsure how I feel about Bernie Sanders. If it's true that he's the most popular politician in the country than I hope democrats can utilize him, but can that be done without further alienating more than half the party? I shudder to think if he somehow gets the nomination in 4 years. Thanks, but I had my head in the sand for far too long. Better late than never I guess.

^ I'm really not trying to defend the guy. He's probably lying about his position having changed, but he just can't do much damage as mayor. There was a time when I wouldn't have even bothered to vote in this race, but after Trump won I promised myself that I would vote in every damn election from dog catcher on up.

Yes, he did, which is disgusting, no doubt. I have no love for the man. I think he promised not to do anything restricting choice in this race because it's irrelevant to being mayor or possibly he's evolved. More likely he knows it won't come up. Like I said in my first post on he subject, if this is just about being mayor of Omaha, JS is probably the slightly better choice, since the restaurant tax is progressive and good for public school funding. I just consider bringing Scott Walker into the mix a true slap in the face. Jean had this won the moment HM brought Bernie in though. Bernie might be popular in the country, but he is not popular in Nebraska. As for voter suppression in Georgia I'm disgusted by how shameless these people can be. I feel like this country is truly determined to repeat every injustice we've ever committed. I can only hope it's a temporary moment in time and things will get better again.

Mello isn't really anti choice though. He's anti abortion in his personal life. I'm pretty sure he's not alone in that. He's promised he would not do anything to get in the way of a woman's reproductive choices. That's about the best you are going to do in this state right now and have a chance to win. Do I consider that good or right? I sure as hell do not, but that is the reality here. If we make it through the next 4 years without teenage girls having to drive to CO or KS for a first trimester abortion, I'll consider it a near miracle. Not long ago a teenager gave birth in her bedroom and threw the baby out the window because she was too afraid to tell she was pregnant, but people will not learn.

But they generally aren't voting against what they consider their own self interests. ICAM that the poor in particular should be voting their basic economic interests, but a lot of them consider their moral values such as being pro-life to be more important. Some of these people are very deeply anti government and very strongly pro gun. Those are their self interests as they see it. Plenty of Democrats vote against their economic interests as well depending on how you look at it. I'd say if it's just about how much is left in my bank account I should even be a Republican, although overall I'd say being a Democrat is still big picture in my economic interests. I'd rather pay a few thousand extra dollars to see the wealthy pay anything like a fair amount.

Well, it's true that Obama won Omaha in 2008, but the district has been gerrymandered since then, which is why HRC lost here last year. It's technically a non partisan race anyway and until recently I was actually thinking of voting for Jean Stothert (and did vote for her in the primary). That's because when I call her "mayor's hotline" to get a pothole fixed, it gets fixed. When the city tries to raise property taxes 20% in one year she gets it lowered to a more reasonable amount. Does it get any more banal then that? Abortion is irrelevant to this race as are most of the big ideological issues. In fact, I'm hard pressed to differentiate between Mello and Stothert, since both of them are about cutting taxes. Yet Stothert is for a street car project and Mello wants to cap the restaurant tax, which I see as kind of a luxury tax that should stay. BUT then Stothert called in Scott Walker and f*ck that. If we are going to have some pathetic little ideological war over Omaha, Nebraska then I'm going to have to side with my (losing) team. Unfortunately for Heath Mello having Bernie come in is going to hurt him a lot more then help him in my estimation. Hell, Jean features Bernie's endorsement in her ads. Omaha is a lot more liberal then people who haven't lived here think, but not Bernie Sanders liberal, and it's going to be awhile before metro growth balances out the gerrymandering.

This makes me sick, although I'm surprised it's not even more. Please God, let someone sue the f*ck out of this guy. I know Fox settled some of his cases, but maybe there are more and he can be sued directly? I can dream.

I expect him to turn up on talk radio.

^ Good. I can only hope that there are people out there with credible cases that can sue him. It makes me sick to think that he is walking away with a golden parachute.

^ I can't even guess Carl. They've apparently made a boat load of money off the cult of personality. At times like this it does seem like a double edged sword though.

^ Yeah, I've seen some articles about truck drivers on the edge of losing their jobs too. That's a real shame. In my town I grew up in jobs were incredibly scarce. One of the few people who made a decent living was a long haul truck driver. Fast forward 20 years to when I was living in SF and various forms of truck driving were some of the best jobs that (documented) immigrants without a high school degree had. Both doing delivery for the beverage company I worked for (EvilCorp!) and as long haul drivers. I was surprised to see people could earn somewhere around $100,000 doing that. One thing I saw mainly in SF, that seems to be becoming more frequent is people doing things like dog walking/pet sitting, unlicensed daycare, housecleaning,gardening, snow shoveling handymen, food delivery. I've noticed more and more of it on the Nextdoor app and I would assume it's mostly under the table. Of course, in SF people were making a couple of hundred a day dog walking. That won't be happening in Omaha. I find it worrying because of course these people are out of luck when it comes to any kind of benefits or job security.

The decline of retail really scares me. That's an area that people with low skills can go into, even if they aren't physically strong. I hate to see people in that group hit harder than they already have been. One difference between retailing and coal mining is that coal miners made a high wage and I do think it's a bigger loss if you are just looking at it on a job by job basis. At the same time, someone capable of coal mining can probably do other kinds of manual labor that pays better than a "pink collar" job. Automation of jobs is really going to affect our whole economy and a lot of people are in deep denial. More people are going to be plunged into the gig economy and I'm not sure any politician can stop it. I'm enjoying Billy O'Reilly getting the boot. He was always an insufferable ass. In the end it doesn't make that much difference at Fox because a new jackass will arise, but maybe for the sake of the women around him we can hope the next won't be a harasser.

I'm well aware it is, since it's a point I've made several times in this thread, including the Disney example. My point is women leave the industry due to the rampant sexism, both in education and in the actual work place. There are so many women coming out and speaking about it that it seems indisputable. If tech dealt with that, they couldn't even pretend to have a lack of workers, except maybe at he very high end. They would also have more workers and a cheaper labor pool without even having to go abroad to get it. One of the many reasons I'm against the H1B visa program is that I have exactly zero sympathy for tech companies as long as they are allowing women to get frozen out of these jobs.