JaneAusten

So it looks like the redistricting in PA is going to happen as the Supreme Court declined to block the PA Supreme Court decision. The redistricting is supposed to be in place for the 2018 elections. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/us/politics/supreme-court-pennsylvania-gerrymandering.html

I am not sure how the average American gets punished by the stock market falling unless we assume most are invested in the market, although maybe not directly. But the market has not been reacting favorably to increasing job numbers in years. But increased wages lead to inflation which would push interest rate increases, slowing down borrowing. Ali Velshi was reporting on this today and was speaking with someone from Chase who talked about how investors are getting concerned that the cheap money coming from central banks might flee sooner than expected.. I think we are in a bubble anyway so a slowdown or correction driven drop is not really a shock. A friend and her husband sold off their entire portfolio last Nov into more conservative investments, cash, and bonds. In preparation for a crash and then a re-buy when the market crashes. Not a bad strategy but I don't think we are close to that happening now.

So the Federal Reserve cracks down on Wells Fargo. Wasn't sure anything like this would ever happen. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-02/wells-fargo-banned-from-growing-in-fed-crackdown-after-scandals

I admit it's scarier than any time I can remember. But there have been abuses of power for years. Johnson used the FBI to infiltrate the Black Panthers and the Anti War movement and jailed people and demonized them. It worked and it led to the entire law and order mantra that's been going on for years even as crime continues to drop. And I do recall many people saying under GWB there would be no elections in 2004. I get this is not the same, but many of it is a long time coming. I find myself wondering how we are now counting on the FBI and Intelligence agencies to save us when they have both been behind some of the worst abuses and overreach over the past how many years. The difference is we had what we perceived to be morally decent people over time who actually did some good things. Johnson was an SOB and he was the one who ordered the FBI to infiltrate and portray those groups as traitors but then he also got the civil rights, voting rights, and medicare passed. he also falsified info to get us deeper into Vietnam, failed to report Nixon for deliberately getting the peace talks dropped in 1968 which Nixon did to win the election, all IMO related to his hatred for Bobby Kennedy and how he felt the democrats abandoned him. I could list the things GWB;s administration is. Difference is it's not longer in the shadows., Trump is crude, ugly, morally vapid, and hateful and is the front for what the GOP is. But because people think GVMT is so inept promises of what gvmt can do for people are so beyond some because they never see anything getting done. Democracy dies when people don't pay attention and step in.. Let's hope enough are that will be able to help pull us back.

This is what happens when the generals are in charge. I had thought Mattis at least would be a sobering influence. So much for that.

I know people claim to be tired of the political dynasties and we can’t blame them but Chris Kennedy who’s running for Governor in Illinois said something. At candidate meet and greet he was featured at. That was that we need to start electing people again who believe in the idea that government can do good and help people and going into public service is an admirable goal. That’s what the GOP has done single Reagan heck since Nixon ‘s impeachment is to demonize gvmt and make people believe gvmt is a waste.and can’t do good. Maybe it doesn’t need to be as far reaching as FDR but public entities still do a lot of good things to help people. And I do believe the Kennedy family believed and still believes in the goodness of public service.

Now I have to admit I didn't know any of that. And shame on me for that. I'm not questioning his ability to be smarter than Trump and we have had good presidents who were not necessarily scholars. Teddy Roosevelt was a genius but his 5th cousin to be president FDR was a ho-hum student at Harvard. Both extremely effective and smart. I just remember the stories about John Jr's scholastic record, his difficulties passing the bar exam(that shouldn't be a barrier) and now feel a bit ashamed at my own assumptions. And yes I don't think he had the interest and I do think his mom would have pushed against it had he even thought about it. Same with Caroline.

JFK Jr was certainly handsome and had charisma but he certainly didn't have the desire and I am not sure he was the smartest tool in the shed. But at the end of the day after what Jackie went through with Jack and then watching Bobby get killed, she likely never encouraged and most likely would have discouraged both Caroline and John IMO.

There is a great documentary by Ana Duvernay "13th" on the 13th amendment. Much of what was shown were things I knew but not to the extent presented. The divisive strategy has been in place since Nixon and his southern strategy along with his law and order mantra, pitting not only African Americans but the "hippies" in the anti war movement as those responsible the lack of order in this country against everyone else. It's been working in various variations since. And Bill Clinton won in 92 partially by continuing this "Law and Order" premise. The Crime Bill was devastating and we suffered the largest increase in the prison population under his presidency than under Reagan, Bush, or Obama. That was something I didn't know. It makes me sadly laugh at how anyone considered him some kind of savior for minorities. Heck even Newt Gingrich was in the film contributing and being honest about how the "others" have been scapegoated by the political establishment over the years for leverage.

What choice do we have. Sit back and let them gut it for eternity? This country was run by the oligarchy and backroom deals before Teddy Roosevelt came in and busted it up. We then went through years of deregulation and conservatism until FDR came along. We have the New Deal programs primarily because so many Americans supported FDR doubling the size of the Supreme Court because they were so conservative, so they started ruling in his favor. Yes I agree with everything you said. But I still believe most people in this country are somewhere in the middle and beg for compromise and effective leadership. And I am optimistic that people, particularly women, have woken up. Time will tell I guess.

This isn't a conservative country. This is a country that is controlled by a few oligarchs who driven by money and power and use wedge issues. I firmly believe this country is mostly moderate that has allowed the extreme right to dominate because they have the majority of the money feeding our politicians. This is why IMO we need to elect more women who are more driven to compromise. The way politics should work in this country.

I watched the sentencing yesterday on MSNBC and it was gratifying then of course MEN were cursing out the judge for claiming she was inviting him to be gang raped or murdered in prison based on her comments. Seriously they can take a seat protecting this monster. I know we are supposed to believe in rehab but he still doesn't think he did anything wrong. There are so many disturbing aspects of this but the one I really struggle with was what about where these athletes were examined and they had a parent in the room. Seriously I don't even know what to say about the ignorance of these parents. In their own way complicit

The new districts will be in place for 2018 midterms. if the state doesn't do it the court will.

Well Dr. Jessie Jackson or whoever his doctor is told him to change his diet. This would be the media spin on his eggs and bacon decreased" consumption And I hope people read this and see how women are polling against this fraud. I'm white and a woman and I don't know if I expect white women to shift dramatically but I do expect enough of a shift in certain areas such as in Va to make a difference.

While I agree with much of the article, I hope they and The NY Times and the others keep focusing on Trump and how the democrats are failing. Nothing gets people more fired up these days. This is the same media that predicted Clinton, was giving Gillespie and the GOP big wins in Va, Moore winning in Alabama, and overlooked democratic wins across the country in state legislature and local elections. The Women’s march yesterday which the media is pretty much ignoring, is showing It. Yesterday wasn’t about Chicago, NY, DC, San Fran LA, St. Louis, it was about the marches that popped up in red states, smaller areas, that grew this year I’m thrilled the media is ignoring the record number of women involved, standing up, running for office. I hope they keep ignoring us up thru and after Nov 2018. We’re used to being ignored unless there is some flaw that needs to be highlighted. And it’s funny how there is no talk about the record number of GOP reps that are stepping down. But again why would Politico report on that. the big flaw in all of this is how NONE of these folks are really running anti Trump. They are all running on issues key to their districts. Sure if the media keeps looking at the DNC and it’s failures. It is failing in many ways but I don’t know anyone running for office or supporters of theirs counting on that support. Or even wanting it at this point. And by the time Nov rolls along no one will remember a gvmt shutdown. There will be 1000 more Trump scandals/stories by then like how he eats 2dozen eggs and 2 pounds of bacaon for bkfst.

They better not have this SHITHOLE President involved in celebrating anything related to MLK’s b day on Monday. And I know the democrats have limited influence but I wish they would just walk away from this bigot. OT So I can’t find the article now but apparently Walmart is closing more Sams clubs than originally reported. Over 11,000 people were laid off. So for all those great bonuses and the pay increase they needed to make to match Target, looks like those great taxcuts had zero to do with it.

I think we have the record for Governors going to prison. Blago, Ryan, Walker, Kerner and the list goes on.

Our idiot Governor in Illinois has been using him in his campaign ads. He pulled them all today.

I think that underestimates Oprah Winfrey. Sure it's cult of personality at this point, but she is entirely self made and successful. She lived in poverty, was abused as a teenager, and went on to likely be the most successful woman in media. She's an entrepreneur, a CEO, a humanitarian, and an activist. I'm not confident she'd run and running for president would change a lot of things for her, does she want that. Putting all that aside I think she'd be great. She's relatable and based on her upbringing and her own experiences, empathy has been her strongest trait IMO. And she's also intelligent and as Carl said a survivor.

I guess that's why Rubio has been fake outraged at the taxation changes and impact to Puerto Rico treating them as a foreign gvmt along with the fact that his joke of a compromise on child tax credits apparently none of it applies to folks in Puerto Rico. Many of them are settling in Florida I also don't think people realize just how much the student loan rollbacks and especially Net Neutrality decision is impacting how millennials see things.

If millennials ever get off their asses, the GOP could be beat into oblivion. Not that I think they are straight democrats, but socially they do lean that way while fiscally many of them seem to be more libertarian. But anyone who wants their votes better he’ll not vote against Net Neutrality. I do hope they are paying attention to see how the GOP is selling out their future for millionaires. Trump was squalling about infrastructure after the train crash, which was a new train and line, but just approved a budget to defund Amtrak again and will gut gvmt funding so are we again going to sell out country to repair our crumbling infrastructure? Onanother topic in that recount in the Va House of Delegates the democrat just won by 1 vote which gives the House a 50-50 tie. So when folks tell u their vote doesn’t matter, point to this race which won a seat but also evened out the entire House of Delegatea. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/democrat-wins-va-house-seat-in-recount-by-single-vote-creating-50-50-tie-in-legislature/2017/12/19/3ff227ae-e43e-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html?utm_term=.1d3be6be3032

I'm sure it's because they have the needed votes. He's from California and frankly I have no idea why anyone from Ca, NY, or NJ would vote for this.

So I just read in California they are working on legislation that will allow homeowners to donate their state and local taxes to a state centered charity, giving folks the chance to continue to deduct them as charitable contributions if they exceed the cap on state and property tax deduction of 10,000, which is likely if you are a homeowner in California. If legal, a clever way around the issue.

So the Jared rumor was started by Russian bots. This was a misinformation effort to try and further discredit Mueller and drum up hope for those who want to see the investigation incorporate more. Remember whenever an indictment or plea has happened, it has been a shock with no warning ahead of time so be skeptical. There have been no leaks from Muellers team.

what was the speculation on Chaffetz?. I figured there was something shady surrounding his resignation but never really read anything concrete about it