JaneAusten

Ugh to that Bernie photo. I feel some optimism today. As a Chicagoan seeing so many women in Chicago get elected to alderperson, City Clerk, City Treasurer, and MAYOR in Lori Lightfoot. All women of color by the way, 2 African Americans and one Latina, elected to the 3 most powerful positions in the city. We have a ton of problems here like everywhere, and I am not happy with Lightfoots decision to back a TIF project she promised to oppose(granted she did get some concessions and it was going to pass under Rahm before he left office anyway) so maybe I am over-reacting, so I will give her a shot. I am watching her inaugural speech at work today with so many others and it is inspirational. her tears made me tear up.

This is the same thing this dumbbell did last time with tariffs where all the gains from 2018 were wiped out by the end of the year. As for the EPA, I wish this was not bipartisan corruption, but it is. Sterigenics, the facility near me in Willowbrook Illinois, has been emitting ethylene oxide for years. The EPA and ILEPA allowed them to do their own environmental testing for over 20 years, per documents the local news station found when investigating.

I don't want to turn this into a Seth Meyers commentary thread but IMO he's evolved since SNL where I could do with or without him. Maybe that's why I enjoy him is because it's been unexpected. McCain would be nothing if it weren't for her father. If not for him and the millions she's inheriting from her wealthy mom, she'd likely be a Walmart greeter. Actually she's too abrasive to be that. She'd probably be great at doing phone collections work.

I saw the same thing. I had to laugh with the Carson comments. I am old enough to remember he didn't give a crap who he offended. I guess his alleged gentle manner fooled a lot of people. I recall a rare appearance he made on Letterman's show years ago when Letterman had the late night slot and him basically ripping into GE mgmt. and the NBC primetime lineup. Subtle yes. And his on air interviews with politicians were a thing of beauty. I guess subtle daggers are lost on the current climate. And Seth Meyers surprisingly is the first Late Night host I have enjoyed since Letterman years ago.

I am going to repeat what an African American friend shared with me months back. That in a twisted sort of way, she was enjoying the ass kicking the so called "white moderates and liberals" were getting under this president, things her community has experience since the onset of this "free and equal" United States. Don't get me wrong she was not wishing for it, just that maybe more people can get a sense of what others have been experiencing since the founding of this country. If you watched the series on reconstruction based on the book by Henry Louis Gates, it's amazing how much of this is unknown to most of the general public. It's not taught in US history class and hasn't been for a reason. Progress made and then stripped away after the "white moderates" got tired of enforcing it and moved onto other things.

I have to say how discouraging it is to hear the MSM continue to praise Trump for selecting sycophants who will lie, cover, and break the law for him. He's got his "roy cohn" in Barr like that is good, he's ignoring subpoena's, like that is somehow an asset, he "won" the narrative because Barr covered for him with his 4 page lying summary and now the American people want to move on. The media makes me ill and I can't believe they still praise this cretin while our country crashes and burns. None of them give a darn. The politicians I expect to be law breaking and celebrating the corruption, the MSM though - it frankly makes me sick. And now apparently Pelosi is weak and is being led by the nose by Trump.

I don't watch any cable news anymore but I have been paying attention to the debates 1. Buttigieg getting a lift out of the last debate was not a surprise to me. He was on point and sounded refreshing for a change. Obviously the fresh face was going to get tainted as he started rising in the polls. 2. Warren was EXCEPTIONAL last night. All the criticism falls to the side. Despite the white male pundits and journalists, she still HAS charisma, shes still authentic, and she's on point with every answer. I feel like the media is starting to pay attention a bit more to her since so much has been talked about in the past couple of weeks regarding her depth in policy and lack of attention. 3. I thought Harris was good. I think her problem is not being enough of a known entity and on occasion, a little uncertainty, but I expect with more appearances she'll get better. 4. Sanders - pass no comment. He never changes IMO take that how you will. 5. Klobuchar - She was fine. Its clear she's smart and I'd say more direct. But policy wise she's a bit too moderate for me. And I am no leftist. 6. Buttigieg He was good but he's going to need to start rolling out detailed positions and policies soon and stop with the platitudes. Whoever runs against Lindsey in SC or is the national candidate - needs to include these clips in commercials.

Yeah I doubt you'll hear anyone else call for impeachment. I'm kind of sad Warren hasn't gained more traction , but maybe it's a lesson she should have run when the iron was hot in 2016 for her. As for what the democrats are saying, I'm taking a lesson from what people are actually talking about at townhalls and when out talking to voters which is NOT impeachment, Trump, or Russia. I heard all the same things about what democrats were doing wrong in 2018 and won state races and record numbers in the house. And there is lots of time. We haven't even had the first debate yet.

It's so depressing. I am generally a glass half full person, but I agree with Carl. So the president of the united states basically can get away with anything and remain untouched. I have zero faith left in the media. They will continue to push Trump not caring about the continual damage to this country. And I am so tired of hearing about "it's politics" and how the dems hands are tied. When does standing up for the rule of law and constitution come into play. I heard someone involved in Watergate say Nixon had it not been for the tapes would have gotten away with all of it. I'd frankly rather have Nixon than this evil SOB. Maybe Nixon would have been worse since he understood the machinations of the gvmt more, but why does it matter really since Trump has no interest or desire to follow anything and can get away with it.

He promised to release those returns in 2016 and nada. Elizabeth Warren is infinitely better. 1. She has detailed policies that are popular with the majority of Americans and IMPLEMENTATION PLANS 2. She has a proven track record. Even with her shorter time in the senate, she's done more in 6 years than Bernie did in 30 years in congress The CFPB was her baby.

A man not running plus 2 African American women going head to head meant no coverage. We know why. The local media was all about this race for the past 6 weeks and was covering it thoroughly for the past several months. Preckwinkle backed that unpopular soda tax but I think what killed her election was that many saw her as establishment. Its hard not to. She's currently Cook County Board President. She supported Ed Burke the corrupt alderman, she also was a big supporter of our prior county assessor who got beat last spring for over and under assessing targeted areas. Over assessments occurred in mostly PoC communities along with others who generally tend to be more uninformed about the appeal process. That showed Preckwinkle didn't give a darn about homeowners from her own community, The corruption is so rampant. Lightfoot by the way won every ward in the city. It was a huge loss for Preckwinkle who was considered the frontrunner months ago. That in itself should have made it a HUGE story. I'm cautiously optimistic about Lightfoot. She has a huge battle but she now also has some allies in the council who want change. Harold Washington 30 years ago ran the same way and had to spend 4 years fighting members of the city council so time will tell. The corruption is so engrained its going to take a monumental effort.

@DramatistDreamerLightfoot was one of the few out of the 20 people who ran for mayor in Feb who actually declared her candidacy before Rahm Emmanuel announced he was not running. That meant something to people here versus the opportunists like her opponent along with Bill Daley who waited until Rahm decided not to run again. The other part is several city council races were handed to new faces. That will be another factor in change because the city council generally has been a toadie of the mayor.

Totally agree with that. He annoys me to the nth degree because all these never trumpers love to sit back and lecture democrats when they still can't answer how THEIR so called successful party nominated a complete psychopath for president. Their denials are frankly infuriating as if the GOP is still something salvageable as long as Trump is gone. But remember these same never trumpers love McConnell who IMO is the worst of the worst and someone who can be labeled a real traitor. And yes these are PEOPLE not numbers, something our former congressman here Gutierrez was saying for over a year while he was still serving in congress to an audience of no one. Maybe he ought to worry about why when Floridians in EVERY COUNTY including red voted in favor of re-establishing voting rights to former felons and the GOP led legislature is trying to institute a poll tax to further prevent them from voting.

I am not a fan of his but he's right - at least partially right. One of my colleagues is from Puerto Rico and basically said the dems were blowing in in Florida post Hurricane Maria. The GOP there had programs and facilities setup to help the people coming from their. The democrats nothing. She compared it to what democrats in New York and even here in Chicago were doing in terms of helping Puerto Ricans and said the party in Florida is a total disaster. Gillum might have won Florida had the democrats not taken the Puerto Ricans for granted there. Yes and no. It's exciting but I don't expect turnout to reflect that sadly. We had a very crowded field in the initial election in February and turnout was 28%. Ed Burke under FBI investigation, who had to renounce his chairmanship of the city finance committee, won the Feb election easily. Lots of people say they want change but don't bother voting. The one positive is no Daley in the race and Lightfoot was way underestimated.

The Hill is trash I know but this is indicative of how a reputable news agency at one time has really gone into the you know what. I hope people don't follow the AP as their main news source these days. https://thehill.com/homenews/media/436715-ap-mocked-for-report-saying-beto-orourke-spoke-at-rally-in-his-native-spanish

There is no question as Pete's popularity has risen @DRW50, people started digging. That's likely why this surfaced. And it's going to happen. That's what campaigns do. I think Pete for the most part has stayed away from this stuff and in his case more self awareness I think. He's also discussed stories about himself and his own privilege, so he's aware of it, perhaps I am being unfair to him. And let's be honest it's the digging and then the media globbing onto this that fed this story. I don't believe it's as important as twitter is making it out to be. I have to remember something I heard Jason Kander say is that the world does not live on twitter. Which is true.

I feel less cynical about Buttigieg I guess than you do @DRW50. I actually think there is an authenticity that you don't see a lot today. I actually supported him for head of the DNC along with Jehmu.Greene. I like him and I do think it's important to have a millennial on that debate stage. Andrew Yang is another one, although not a millennial, he is a gen-exer but seems to have detailed plans on solutions he is proposing. I want to see these people on the debate stage. Saying that, I agree with you entirely on Warren. I honestly feel she's close to the top of the list in terms of qualifications and ideas. And she's always IMO very authentic. Sanders gets all the oxygen in the room when it comes to progressive policies but Warren actually has them with implementation details and initiatives she actually recommended and were implemented like the Consumer Financial Protection Board. And she's far more astute IMO then he will ever be. Is she damaged? Yes. But I am hoping whoever the democrat is that may become our next president selects her as a member of their administration. Sec of State is the flashy role but she's be must more effective IMO as Sec of Treasury. Yes a lot of 2016 became about Trump but I am tired of people, mostly the media, but also candidates like Biden and now Buttigieg dragging us back there by commenting on and relitigating this. Maybe they are not really doing it but the media seems to fixate on these comments and want to make it a wedge yet again. As a Clinton supporter who wants to move on, it's not me or many of us who don't want to move on. I get the Clinton team being annoyed. Sure there were mistakes made by the campaign, but can we stop with the it's all Clinton's fault. It wasn't her team that refused to discuss policy, that deciding covering empty podiums at Trump rallies, salivating at the next terrible comment Trump would make about any marginalized group spending days discussing it, while poking fun at Clinton's speech in Reno on the rise of White Nationalism. She was right by the way as they all said it was overblown. So the media can f-off. And the white men running flapping their gums over it certainly need to stop this. I don't hear any of the women or men of color making stupid remarks like this, which is just another indication of lack of awareness on the part of these white male candidates because none of it ever touches them personally.

It's definitely taken me longer to get there but done. I bent over backwards to give her a chance because I knew it would be an uphill battle, but she needs to stay off twitter and learn. If she's going to spout things off at least get the facts correct. AIPAC supported the Oslo Accords.

I hear all this but then I remember Barr was AG under GHWB and orchestrated all those pardons for the Iran Contra crooks after Bush lost re-election and was leaving office. He also orchestrated plea deals for a bunch including Elliott Abrams who was responsible for the El Mozote Massacre in El Salvador. The man should be in prison for life but was allowed to plea to lying to congress and is now guess what, leading the whatever is going on in Venezuela effort(I call it a coup). I also remember Robert Mueller was FBI director under Bush2. I believe these guys have too large an idea of executive power but I guess we will see. No indictment for Obstruction of Justice is asinine IMO. We all heard on live TV Trump say he fired Comey to stop the Russia investigation. Just because it did not accomplish the action, doesn't make it less of a crime. Of course I am no legal scholar so what do I know I guess.

I agree but I’m more concerned with a coverup. I don’t trust William Barr at all.

There have been awful conspiracy theories posted about McCain and how his father helped him and got him special treatment at the Hanoi Hilton. It's awful BS but it doesn't stop people from blaming him. I have zero support for anything McCain did as a legislator and will always question how he could be such a war hawk after his time as a POW, but I would never question his service. Lord he's also one of the few who called out Vietnam for what it was - a rich mans war.

I'm not a Biden fan but this makes me inch more towards steady leadership. And the only reason he's doing it is because of Netanyahu's election. I wonder about Israel when he's likely do be re-elected after being indicted in the bribery scandal.

A reminder to the fact that evil and abuse and destruction of this country's institutions started years before Trump. What a shameless destructive bunch of propaganda.

Oh I know you're kidding but don't think there is not a reason they refuse to refer to it as rape. And you're not far from what they would like to say.

There is also a name for that act. Exactly why is the news media not calling the act by it's name? All of it darn sick