Juliajms

Of course. Glad to hear your family is protected. Just in case anyone needs a laugh. To me this isn't funny for the obvious reasons. It's more just the absurdity of where we are. Please let tomorrow be the start of Biden's recovery.

It's also body destroying and leaves people in pain for a life time. I hate that anyone has to do this kind of work. I fully admit that I wouldn't (and frankly couldn't). I guess the good news is that legal immigrants move away from this work very quickly. Almost anyone with papers can get an easier job, thank god. It's awful to think the undocumented are being exploited. There has to be a better way. Maybe a guest worker program with rights (breaks, slower work pace) and benefits. Of course, that is a dream under this admin.

^ The combination of incompetence and tendency toward authoritarianism is truly frightening. We are lucky that the disease itself doesn't seem to be "the big one".

Yes. I was also thinking of your mom.

^ Just a smidgen off topic, but I hope anyone here over 65 will consider getting a pneumonia vaccine and/or encourage your elderly relatives to talk to a doctor about it. From what I've read a lot of the corona deaths are in the elderly who are developing pneumonia.

Maybe whichever one of these folks is still alive come November will be the winner. What a grim thought. Continuing with that theme this really takes the cake:

This is just next level bat$hit crazy. It's pure intimidation.

Not surprising, but still. "When we find them" pretty chilling stuff.

God yes. If only these people cared more about beating Trump than they do their own egos. Steyer and Bloomberg are the worst. If they would just put their money into Biden's campaign they could save this country a lot of heartache. I'm not saying they owe us that, btw. I just wish that if they were going to get involved they'd do it for the greater good, instead of making things worse. Amen. I'm glad Elizabeth Warren took a shot at him over the way he treated his female employees. Bloomberg is just as disgusting as Trump when it comes to the way he talks about women, that is if even half of that WP story is true. I guess we should be grateful be didn't assault a couple dozen women or knowingly hang out with a billionaire pedophile. 😒

🤣 I feel like Warren is the only one who knows what she's doing at this point. We had so many candidates and things have still gone to hell in a hand basket. I don't even know who or what to blame. The Sander's cult of personality? The insane amount of money Bloomberg and Steyer are throwing around? In any case, what a mess.

And yes, just what the world needs further destabilization due to a pandemic. Leave to the genius in charge to have cut the CDC.

Most of these ideas aren't really about getting anything for free. Hillary is the one who brought the idea of universal healthcare to the forefront 25 years (or so ago) and few people see her as a socialist. I think her idea of lowering the age of medicare was better, btw. I also think fixing up Obama care is way more realistic. In any case, healthcare wouldn't be free. The people who use it are taxed for it and that is largely the middle class. The exception might be the very poor. Still, let's not forget that taxpayers are already paying for these folks when they go to the emergency room. I know where of I speak, since I was one of them as a kid. I ended up in the emergency room twice and spent a week in the hospital for something that could have been treat much sooner as an outpatient, if my mother could have afforded insurance or a doctor's appointment. The same can be said for nearly any of these programs. "Free college" would not be free any more than public k-12 is free. Universal pre-K, which I think should be more of a priority than college would not be "free". Anyway, Bernie is talking himself right into a world of trouble with this Cuba nonsense right before SC, so I'm not writing off Uncle Joe just yet. There is still hope.

Political discourse is in a coma (I can't bring myself to say it's dead) right now. How we got here I'm not sure. At the same time I admit I'm guilty on some level, since I just cannot stand to discuss issues with most Republicans at this point. It's much easier to differ and discuss with my fellow Democrats, but you can see where some people are having a hard time even doing that. As for free college, that is not going to happen in the U.S. any time soon. I do think we should discharge people's loans about the time they are on Social Security. I would even say there should come a point where people can discharge private (not government) loans in bankruptcy, before we end up with another financial crisis, but there are so many issues I see as more important (healthcare) and all of them are out of reach with the Senate we have. That thought occurred to me as well. It does seem paranoid, but at this point anything seems possible. He has to know he can't win.

I wonder what TS is thinking? He's making it harder for Biden and after all those impeachment ads he ran you'd think he'd want to get rid of Trump at all costs.

The price of Bernie's programs aren't that worrisome to me. He could accomplish some of his policies by reversing the tax break the rich just received and by cutting our insane defense budget. In any case, it wouldn't be an issue because first he has to actually get something passed. Good luck with that. As we've said before, whoever gets in will be busy just trying to reverse some of the Damage 45 has done. He's not going to pass any of these massive plans, imo. I understand that some people can never vote for Bernie, but I will if it means getting Trump out. At the very least we need to stop Trump from getting further entrenched and appointing more judges. Anyhow, I think it's possible Biden will make a comeback.

Yes, I think you nailed it. Deep down Biden feels he isn't enough and so he tries to validate himself with these ridiculous lies. It's a shame because he is obviously loved among the base. The nomination is/was his to lose. I guess SC and Super Tuesday will clarify where things stand.

I wonder what compels him to tell these lies. He must know he's going to be fact checked. He's been caught before. I don't know, it's just the strangest thing.

He's like a caricature villain in a Bond movie.

That's certainly true, but it's hard to imagine any credible candidate running for president who isn't. His campaign needs to come up with a way of differentiating between having a few million dollars at the end of your life, versus having two billion dollars in income every year, simply by being alive (which Bloomberg does). Income that is in fact taxed less than the income of people who actually work for their money. It's the difference between working for your money and having your money work for you (Thank you Claire Huxtable). Not that I mind Bernie taking that hit. He is such a divisive figure, I won't be surprised if we lose again in part due to his idiot Bernie Bro supporters, no matter who ultimately gets the nomination.

I don't know why people are so picky.

I just can't believe this is real life. My mind rejects it daily.

^ Ok, well had I known Abby Cadabby had declared her candidacy I would have based my rankings accordingly. I suppose I should have known, given that everyone else and her sister is in the race.

And at this point, I'm sad to say I really can't, except Warren who doesn't seem to have much of a chance. It really annoys me that once again we have to pick between people who are differing levels of racists and/or misogynists. That piece on how Bloomberg treated women in his company was disgusting. Does it make me a purity pony to want a president who doesn't suggest happily pregnant women "kill it" to further his business interests? Then punishes them when they don't? If so, that's what I am. Yes, I would still vote for him, but why can't we do better? Every one of these septuagenarians in the lead have varying degrees of issues with women and/or POC. Right now my ranking is Warren, Biden, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, whoever. I feel like the chances are very high that I'm going to have to pull the lever (again) for someone I know disdains me, but I imagine most of us here are used to that on some level.

But really, I bet it was Bernie Bros. Would anyone else go this far?