JaneAusten

Ryan and McConnell are 2 of the biggest "takers" out there based on their own definitions. Ryan got Social Security benefits for years because his father died and got his college education paid for by the government. In his mind, he's a lazy taker and should pay for that. McConnell had polio as a child and got help from the government to see him through it. I DEMAND they pay all that back plus the interest over all those years. Those 2 lazy takers need to be booted out. Ryan has never had a real job in his entire career. He needs to quit sucking money off the government.

No you're right. 6 million jewish people. But everyone he murdered was non Aryan. Therefore not a "real German" see the parallel.

He's a white man that's all that matters. He could be Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, and their answers would be "Hitler was getting rid of immigrants" and Stalin was cutting back on the takers. Those 6 million under Hitler who were murdered and the 25 million under Stalin all deserved to die. As long as the stock market is up and the rich get all they deserve, that's all that matters. These are the same people who admire Trump for swindling hard working Americans, hiring cheap immigrants, sending his own products overseas to be made using child labor, and conning veterans out of 10's of thousands at Trump University. I just know they were laughing as the Capital Hill police dragged disabled protesters outside of McConnell's office out of their wheelchairs out of the building, many of them veterans whose own benefits are also being gutted. .

Those robots are hopeless. That's why they voted for the orange menace to begin with. Just look at the trolls here post about the stock market as if they r big investors making money from it.

Except let me reminded people of something 2009 - 5 Special House Elections - After Obama won - you know what the outcome was for the GOP 0-5. Did they give up? Yes they did change RNC leadership but the DNC has already done that. But I am old enough to remember the media claiming the GO was dead. I want to know what democrats are ONLY talking about Russia. I have been to several townhalls here in the Chicago area. The reps are not talking much about it and only if people ask. As for the 4 so called disastrous elections, who talked about Russia in their election - Thompson - check NO, Quist - Check NO, Ossoff - Check NO(only by the was on MSNBC when asked), Parnell - Check NO You know who is talking endlessly about Russia. The MSM. Why. Because like Fox who endlessly talked about Obama's birth place, it draws ratings, except in this case the Russian interference is true. Or do we now think Obama was born in Kenya. Case CLOSED. Now that said, the messaging is still a major issue - hit back. Call the GOP what they are. The party of the 1%. Their policies and what they are doing is showing it. Call the new HC plan what it is a HUGE TAXCUT FOR BILLIONAIRES. They need to get their teeth back. AS far as Georgia, Kansas, SC those are cherry red districts. And are also gerrymandered and Georgia in particular has been for years. Why do people think the south has been cherry red for years. Gerrymandering has worked the south is proof of that. Now they are moved onto places like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. As far as Pelosi I partially agree with Marceline. Not saying I am not ready for fresh blood but let me tell people something. Here in Illinois we have Rauner as Governor and Madigan as Speaker(a republican and democrat). I have zero love for Madigan. He's a old time politician, and has contributed to the problems in Illinois. BUT we not have a Governor who will only budge if our legislature agrees to property tax freezes, tax cuts, getting rid of workers comp, and making Illinois right to work. Without Madigan in place, someone with power and clout in the state despite my feelings, who knows what a less connected and experienced leader might compromise on. So yes I think there is value in keeping Pelosi and Schumer. Where are the attacks on McConnell and Ryan? The problem really is the dems need their teeth back. Get dirty. Or how about just tell the American people the truth about these snakes. Ryan cost people in Waukesha, Wi jobs and a GE plant employing hundreds of people in well paying jobs will be unemployed. Something I am sure the gentleman with that fabulous ad who is going to run as a democrat potentially against Ryan, will have zero issue attacking Ryan on.

I think Pelosi is amazing but I've been ready for her to step aside for younger leaders. But Tim Ryan? I admit I don't know much about him. I was thinking Cheri Bustos who is a D in Illinois in a very red area. She won her election by 20 points. And no I do not think Pelosi is why Ossoff lost. Read @Propane_Janes thread on twitter about the southern strategy. The GOP with the dark money and Pacs outspent Ossoff and ran lots of negative ads and he refused to.It doesn't mean leadership changes are not needed - younger fresher blood. Messaging is and will continue to be the issue and hammering on the GOP as being the party of the 1%. I don't know why pointing out facts should be considered going negative.

But where have they done that? Bernie in all fairness talked about a few things repeatedly. But Trump had Make America Great Again hats and that phrase and people drank it up. Despite the fact he was lying to them about everything. I do think you have point about being lied to. I remember that townhall Chris Hayes did in WV and one woman talked about voting for Trump and she said "Deep down we all knew he was lying, but when no one else gives you hope, you reach for anything remotely possible, even if you know deep down it's a lie".

Oh that's it. I do think the Democratic Party nationwide is absent of a cohesive message, even if it's just a catchy slogan. I do think they could focus on maybe pushing 4 items nationwide, jobs for everyone, healthcare as a right, equality for all invest in America(just suggestions), . Slogans work. But the regional candidates running including Ossoff DID talk about district issues in their races. People today criticizing Ossoff(if they are) for not being progressive enough don't know the district and Single Payer and Free College would have turned a lot of voters off. But the biggest problem is the MSM. They are more tone deaf than any one party. The problem is two fold. All the talking heads are in the Beltway and our media is corporate owned. Look at the UK. Their media is also right leaning and while I have no love for Corbyn, they have lambasted him for years - all of them. It wasn't until the disastrous Tory leadership was finally exposed through a poor campaign and poor campaigner in May that some of their lies about Corbyn and themselves have been exposed. Off Topic to Trollsville. SO where are all the promises idiot Trump gone as the troll above listed Jobs Jobs Jobs - So now Ford is moving a plant to China instead of Mexico, we continue to lose thousands of retail jobs a month, the coal industry is frankly a dead end, so where is the innovation or is that supposed to be by our Labor Secretary getting HS students drunk so they can take unskilled jobs in right to work states at low wages?(read that article about that idiot). Oh and GE is now closing a facility in Waukesha, partially due to Paul Ryan's complacency(yes they are blaming him and Trump) and the facility is going to Canada. I can't stand all this winning. ISIS - uhm what have we exactly done. Oh right use rhetoric to make them angrier. This so called BAN is from countries that have never committed a terrorist attack on our ground nor in Europe but they are the danger? But hey as long as Saudi Arabia, the harbor for terrorists in the Middle East are taken care of and suck up to the idiot at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, we are a-ok. But sure lets blame those poor countries like Yemen and Somalia. Immigration - the majority of job growth here is driven by immigrants. Show me one American innovator in Silcon Valley. Oh and now we have crops and produce in the fields unpicked because the geniuses in Washington have some so afraid they won't work so what do farmers do. I am waiting for all those so called "real Americans" you know the hard workers, the so called "innovators" sitting in their homes bitching about immigrants collecting welfare and unemployment to run to the fields to take those jobs - COME ON PEOPLE GET OFF YOUR ASS Tax Cut - Yep Americans are just yearning for those tax cuts to the upper 1%. Who knew so many of those "rust belt people" cared about the wealthy and their corporate welfare. How touching. Such Winning Strategies for "REAL AMERICANS"

This is the key. I am not that concerned right now with these races(although it is interesting that the races the party paid the least attention to in Kansas and SC performed IMO the best). But what's needed is the build up of the lower infrastructure. Having people outside the area to help might be fine in some instances but it doesn't replace local support. I live in Cook County and have been working in DuPage County in the Chicago area, a county that is fairly red. While Cook County has an abundance of Dem support, DuPage needed democratic committee people and precinct captains. They have had empty seats across the county - that's changing as more people have stepped forward since Nov. That's what you need in place for the long haul and those are the people who GOTV - they work the communities and neighborhood and rally people in those areas to help. They help build from the ground up.Working local races and getting people elected in state legislatures are things that are easier with ground support. Illinois is a disaster yes, but our elections in April were a big success for democrats in areas that have been red for years. That matters in building the local infrastructure needed. I've been saying that the national messaging sucks. But honestly I have followed Thompson in Kansas, Ossoff, Parnell, and Qust - none of them have talked about it in their races or very little. It's the national leadership and that perception across the country doesn't help much. They should be able to leverage this disaster of a healthcare bill and be hammering it home, and they talk about it but they also need better messaging on what they would do. The GOP have sabotaged O-Care for years. People should know this but they don't. I blame the democratic messaging and media obsession

There is no question that the campaign was flawed but I put a good deal of blame on the MSM. I watched a couple of good speeches Hillary Clinton gave at rallies, one in Youngstown where she talked about new jobs and broadband and she got mocked for that. ANd it wasn't a high minded speech. And another I believe in Columbus on some of the same topics. Very little coverage by the media. I find the first speech ironic now. I read an article recently I think in Politico about the former coal miners starting a coding company to employ former miners to compete against off shore companies. Biggest problem broadband access.

Despite what the same idiots parrot, the electoral college was created to avoid the catastrophe we have in the WH today. These were supposed to be non partisan educated people who would pick a leader if the citizens elected an idiot. Well see how that has worked. The problem is all those things Trump said he would do, break up the banks, remember when he said he would not allow Amazon to become a monopoly LMAO, make sure Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security were secure, renegotiate bad trade deals, provide healthcare better than any country in the world, none of that list is happening or will happen because Pence basically picked all his appointees who are all Koch Brother cronies, who are in it for the 1%. Had Trump actually followed through on his populist message, things might be different but then most of us who have followed this grifter con man for years knew the person who has screwed working people out of wages for years, hired illegal labor for his buildings and properties, knew he was full of crap.

I kind of halfway agree with this but finally the democrats have agreed to withhold consent and people are now submitting amendments - we need to get thousands of them in - to force a vote-a-rama. I've pretty much given up on O-Care but if the democrats can accomplish stalling long enough to get the R's to release their bill, it's a big victory. Now the question is will they squander it? I've been very bummed out locally due to our own town council's recent decisions on min wage opt out. But some villages that have actually changed leadership in the last election won over. And I am finally convinced that single payer is the answer after being ambivalent. The costs are not nearly as high as projected. In fact my R friend who is mega conservative is also on the single payer bandwagon. He has a small business and I think he sees it as a cost saving and benefit to his business more than the idea of helping people, but whatever reasons someone supports the same thing, more power to them. That an incredibly powerful ad. With GE leaving Waukasha, and Ryan being a reason why, it would be nice to see some people in WI wake up. This state is going to end up like Kansas in no time. I know. I was going to pass it(he's already on my ignore list) but damn these people are stupid. They brag about the stock market numbers going up under Trump as if that helps them personally, celebrating in the 1% taking more of their own tax dollars for corporate welfare, like it helps them. Dumb. And I have no intention of responding to such troll again.

Such bullshit. The bill was made public and there were hundreds of hours of hearings for over a year. Obama met with GOP members in the house and senate several times to discuss concerns. The GOP added over 160 amendments to the bill Why don't you trolls try listening to something other than fox news filling you with lie after lie. You sound ignorant and stupid, Well look who you voted for.

This looks pretty darn brilliant as a way to get the healthcare vote to move at a snails pace. I have to read more about it to truly understand it. https://www.ouramendments.org/

The senate is going to pass this disastrous heath care bill. I have no idea what changes are in it but I have no doubt it's going to be at a point where the House will end up reconciling and passing it. I hate to sound like Debbie Downer. Local politics is sucking here in Illinois too. Cook County passed a flawed min wage and sick page referenda in Nov which all suburbs overwhelmingly voted in favor of. Little by little communities are opting out. About 30% citing the same bullshit we have heard for years about how people will cross into other communities blah blah. After a long fight, our community opted out of it. Our business community is not large, and in fact our sister community voted to keep it and has a much larger business district. At the end they will benefit as will their workers. A bunch of stodgy old men overturn locally what residents voted for, for the interests of a very tiny business community that contributes very little to our tax base. I've been bummed out since that happened.

I felt like early last week Ossoff seemed to have some momentum now it's back to IMO dead even. They had Bernie come out and endorse him. I am not saying this because I am not a fan of Bernie's, but it reeks of desperation and Bernie's issues are not the issues that will win this district. But Georgia is a state that many in the state felt was winnable in 2016 had the dems invested in it. There are large numbers of younger people who have moved into the state so I guess the question is how many reside in this district and will they vote?

I adore the guy. He IMO comes across very genuine. Piece of trivia, his uncle is John Kander of Kander and Ebb, the songwriting team that penned Cabaret, Chicago and did a lot of work with Liza Minnelli over the years. Off Topic No where near of fan of Bret Stephens( disliked him immensely with the WSJ and he is the reason I finally cut the cord with my NYT subscription) but this Op-Ed piece is spot on. Finally one thing I agree with him on. And don't let the title turn you off. Only Mass Deportation can save America

How about Ronald Reagan and he spent most of his tenure in office denying it's existence.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/17/grenfell-tower-fire-theresa-may-under-pressure-as-anger-grows-live HORRIFIC "Kensington and Chelsea council and tenants management organisation did not respond to more than 130 offers to put up displaced residents of Grenfell Tower and its neighbouring blocks, a volunteer who came to assist in the relief efforts has said. Michal Nachmany, a researcher at the London School of Economics, told the Guardian that she spent hours on Wednesday compiling a list of people willing to provide a roof for families and individuals - with some even offering entire flats to the dispossessed. She even offered to put up two families herself at her home in Chiswick. “My kids can fit into a single room,” she said. Nachmany sent the list to senior workers at the KCTMO and the local council. However, as yet she has not received any news that any of the offers have been matched to families or individuals in need. It comes amid reports that displaced residents are still sleeping on floors and have not been housed. In an email to the Guardian, Nachmany, 40, said:

I don't know if anyone has been following the Grenfell Tower fire in London. This article makes it clear people in leadership positions knew about it and pushed it aside because it would have made "too many people homeless". How about resettling idiots. ALl of the ugliness of the Tories and the GOP is no longer hidden. The sad part is those here now revel in it the cruelty of the GOP. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/14/disaster-waiting-to-happen-fire-expert-slams-uk-tower-blocks Oh and can Theresa May be more robotic, uncaring, and money grubbing. Seriously after the disastrous election, why is she still PM. I lost count of how many times she mentioned 5 million pounds as if that is the solution

My guess - nothing. Other than adding some benefits to win over people like Collins and Murkowski (special incentives for Maine and Alaska and maybe Arizona for Flake) it will be the same thing.

SO what would prevent Trump from pardoning these folks? I understand one of the ways is for the state AG's(ie Schniederman in NY who hired Preet Bharara) to go after them. Presidents do not have the ability to pardon someone being charged by a state AG. Oh and I need to find the article in I think WaPo a couple of weeks back on Mueller and the team he was expected to form. It says a lot IMO when Ken Starr speaks in support of Mueller. I haven't heard one GOPer tarnish Mueller yet. I still have issues with Rosenstein but hiring Mueller was a stroke of genius.

It's not all about how I feel. Much of it's based on fact. We have had open primaries in Illinois for years. It hasn't changed anything in terms of voter turnout and more people being enthused about voting or not feeling disenfranchised, especially the voting block that still complains about it the most. These same voters don't vote midterms, local elections, or even state races as widely. Our governor's election in Illinois in 2014 had a 28% statewide turnout which is criminal.

The rigging talk kind of infuriates me especially when I hear that closed primaries are "rigging" and it's the DNC who is at fault. That is not to say there are not problems with the process, but the states set the rules not the DNC or RNC. People were upset when Obama ran and they ended up motoring along, but honestly do people just not care after their candidate wins and let it sit? Because no one did anything in any state after Obama won. Caucuses are much more problematic as they disenfranchise more voters, and I have some friends in Iowa who have been trying for a few years to work on getting the caucuses changed to primaries. It is a very slow process. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, voter ID laws are much more destructive and work actively to disenfranchise voters. Convicted felons in many states still cannot vote, and if you served your time, shouldn't your voting rights also be restored? We have open primaries in Illinois and someone can come here and vote and tell me how great being able to vote in any primary regardless of party affiliation is. Illinois certainly is no shining example of why it would be better. We have our share of certain voting blocks who have complained about it but I don't see it encouraging more younger people to vote. In fact it seems that less younger people vote than ever.

As a long time Illinois resident, I can tell you while our Governor is a disaster, the problems in the state are a combination of a lot of factors contributed to equally by both parties. Whenever I read people bitching about neoliberals and the Clinton's and Obama and their democratic party, people should come to Illinois to see how real old time democratic politics work and what real "rigging" and corruption looks like. This is a state so engrained but for once I appreciate the old timers here otherwise we'd be on our way to a non union right to work state as I speak. I read about freezing property taxes here and all the other tax breaks. We don't have a progressive tax structure in Illinois, we have a flat tax where everyone pays the same, corporations pay little, and the Governor has yet to introduce his budget plan and it's been over 2 years. What is sad is in a state that is practically bankrupt we will likely have the most expensive Governor's race between 2 billionaires. I'd even welcome Chris Kennedy as Governor over either billionaire. Sadly we have some viable democrats who will never have a chance to the money imbalance unless that balance can be countered by volunteers. Whoever steps in will have a big job. The previous pension reform backed by our prior Governor(a well intentioned but not strong democrat) was ruled unconstitutional due to guarantees in the state constitution. Even our chief justice here in Illinois scolded both the dems and repubs for rolling back the temporary tax hike as it could have been used for part of the pension shortfall.