2017 Democratic Thread

[Reddy]

Looks like Virginia house is gonna be 50/50 with Democrats holding the tie breaker

 

Republicans had held a 66-34 majority

 

Whoops I guess there is no tie breaker, so it's just an even split

Crazy. Yeah they'll have to come up with some sort of power-sharing agreement. Completely insane result that not one single person saw coming.

[Reddy]

Looks like Virginia house is gonna be 50/50 with Democrats holding the tie breaker

 

Republicans had held a 66-34 majority

 

Whoops I guess there is no tie breaker, so it's just an even split

PS what's your source?

[StrangeSox]

Troll Smearing Roy Moore’s Accuser Stole Dead SEAL’s Identity

And that’s just one of a host of lies from “@Umpire43,” whose attempts to discredit Roy Moore’s accusers went instantly viral in the Trumposphere.

 

The rightwing blog The Gateway Pundit pushed a single-sourced rumor from the anonymous Twitter account @Umpire43 that claimed one of Roy Moore’s accusers was offered $1,000 by The Washington Post to go public with her claims.

 

That rumor quickly made its way to InfoWars and the top of r/The_Donald, the most active pro-Trump community on the web. The pro-Trump cable station One America News Network even aired it, calling it a "report."

 

But the source for that viral accusation is a serial fabulist who has been using the identity of a Navy serviceman who died in 2007, records show.

 

Umpire43, also known as Doug Lewis or DJ Lewis, has repeatedly invented stories in the past—particularly about his own background. Lewis said he was a 22-year veteran of the Navy, a pollster at Ipsos/Reuters, an expert on rigging voting machines, a source who was feet away from Reince Preibus whose family has connections in the Clinton campaign, a man who speaks six languages, a beleaguered soul who needed time off after 9/11 when he saw Muslims “dancing on rooftops,” the owner of a polling company who claimed Trump had a sustained lead in California, and an actual baseball umpire with 50 years experience. Oh, and he worked at the American consulate in Calgary, where he claimed to obtain proof of a forged birth certificate for Ted Cruz’s father,.

 

The Daily Beast spoke with each of the institutions and companies at which he claimed he was affiliated and employed. None of Umpire43’s employment or service claims are true, these organizations said.

 

Umpire43’s now-infamous allegation made the claim that “A family friend in Alabama just told my wife that a WAPO reporter named Beth offered her 1000$ to accuse Roy Moore” last week, was deleted with the rest of his account Tuesday morning.

 

Umpire43 (or Lewis) claimed to be born in separate two different places—South Bend, Ind. and Plains, Ga.—in separate tweets. It’s not the only inconsistent claim he’s made. For someone who leaned hard on his security credentials to bolster his credibility, Umpire43 appears to have stolen or invented them.

 

Umpire43 claimed to have worked at the U.S. consulate in Calgary in the 1970s. But the State Department told The Daily Beast that its human resources department could find no employment record of anyone using his various claimed screennames, Doug Lewis or DJ Lewis. (The State Department does not keep HR records for contractors and the consulate itself did not answer if it hired contract security in the 1970s.)

 

Umpire43 has also shifted its description of Lewis’ military service. At various points he has claimed to be a Navy SEAL and a sailor with six years’ worth of accumulated combat experience. Yet the Navy emblem shown in Umpire43’s pre-deletion avatar showed a globe circled by an orbiting star and four lightning bolts, which is a mass communication specialist’s insignia.

 

Umpire43 claims to have enlisted in 1961, served until 1969 on active duty with an injury, and returned to active duty in 1975 before a 1988 retirement, after his alleged stint in Calgary.

 

The Navy told The Daily Beast it could not find service records for anyone named Doug Lewis born before 1955, as anyone who enlisted in 1961 would have had to have been. Due to the archiving of certain Navy records before 1976, and the lack of a date of birth posted by Umpire43, the Navy records search could not be entirely definitive.

 

But that’s not Umpire43’s only account of his Navy service. In an exchange recorded in a conservative website’s comment thread, discovered by Adam Weinstein of Task and Purpose, Umpire43 claimed to have been on active duty on September 11, 2001, posting a log page for a vehicle at California’s Coronado naval base.

 

This sort of garbage rockets around the right wing blog/social media world and gets entrenched as "truth" quickly. The retractions, if they ever come at all, are ignored or quickly forgotten. It's bee a problem for years. Remember all of that "OMG, Obama's India trip is costing $200M a day!" nonsense that made it all the way to the floor of the House?

 

Or when an idiot reality TV show host went a years-long birther campaign and then became President?

[caulfield12]

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/14/opinions/the...ovic/index.html

 

The state of politics these days is so bad that Trump Jr./WikiLeaks, sexual harassers (not named Moore), Trump trying to jam ObamaCare mandate repeal back into tax reform and Sessions lying (again) are still not getting much play even with the President largely out of the picture due to his Asia trip.

 

And he’s still not close to signing a bilateral trade deal with any individual country that’s “advantaging” America.

[StrangeSox]

In contrast to tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, Democrats have put forth a plan that would put a massive dent in childhood poverty.

 

Brown-Bennet Child Allowance Cuts Child Poverty By 44%

 

Senators Sherrod Brown and Michael Bennet released a child allowance proposal a few weeks ago. The relevant details are as follows:

 

Children between the ages of 0 and 5 will get $300 per month.

Children between the ages of 6 and 18 will get $250 per month.

Benefits will phase out at a rate of 5 percent for earnings over $75,000 for single taxpayers and $110,000 for married taxpayers.

 

 

It would also pull nearly four million adults out of poverty.

[caulfield12]

In contrast to tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, Democrats have put forth a plan that would put a massive dent in childhood poverty.

 

Brown-Bennet Child Allowance Cuts Child Poverty By 44%

 

 

 

 

It would also pull nearly four million adults out of poverty.

 

 

Zero chance, but it's a worthwhile policy to promote in 2018 and 2020...Brown possibly making a run at the presidency and going for a Robert Kennedy 1968 populist/poor people's campaign feel (similar to what John Edwards and Gore have attempted).

[Balta1701]

Zero chance, but it's a worthwhile policy to promote in 2018 and 2020...Brown possibly making a run at the presidency and going for a Robert Kennedy 1968 populist/poor people's campaign feel (similar to what John Edwards and Gore have attempted).

82 year old Jerry Brown? Running for President?

 

He better have a qualified VP. Could we make this Barack Obama guy his VP candidate? I'd be ok with that setup.

[StrangeSox]

Sherrod

[caulfield12]

82 year old Jerry Brown? Running for President?

 

He better have a qualified VP. Could we make this Barack Obama guy his VP candidate? I'd be ok with that setup.

 

I'm pulling for the Bernie Sanders/Larry David ticket if Governor Moonbeam's running...

[Reddy]

Everyone's running. Literally everyone. Ted Lieu is looking into it, Martin O'Malley is a dark horse. Pretty much any other person you see in the media on a regular basis. There will be a few on the R side and about 15 on the D side.

[caulfield12]

One of the "betting odds" websites has it ranked like this:

 

Michelle Obama

Kaine (blehhh)

Warren

Booker

J.Castro

Klobuchar

Bernie Sanders

Biden

Bloomberg

Cortez Masto (that's a new name, relatively inexperienced)

 

No mention of Kamala Harris, Gillibrand, O'Malley, Sherrod Brown

Edited November 16, 2017 by caulfield12

[Reddy]

One of the "betting odds" websites has it ranked like this:

 

Michelle Obama

Kaine (blehhh)

Warren

Booker

J.Castro

Klobuchar

Bernie Sanders

Biden

Bloomberg

Cortez Masto (that's a new name, relatively inexperienced)

 

No mention of Kamala Harris, Gillibrand, O'Malley, Sherrod Brown

 

Yeeeeeeah that's wrong haha

 

Bloomberg won't, and Klobuchar and Cortez Masto don't strike me as likely. Don't think Kaine will either. CERTAINLY Michelle won't. O'Malley is literally knocking doors in Iowa as we speak. Kamala is a shoe in. Sherrod may, but his space is filled by Warren, and Gillibrand may as well but she's basically Hillary-lite (without the baggage, but optics-wise)

 

Chris Murphy is interesting too. It wasn't the "plan" for him to run in 2020, but he may now given how much traction he's getting.

[southsider2k5]

One of the "betting odds" websites has it ranked like this:

 

Michelle Obama

Kaine (blehhh)

Warren

Booker

J.Castro

Klobuchar

Bernie Sanders

Biden

Bloomberg

Cortez Masto (that's a new name, relatively inexperienced)

 

No mention of Kamala Harris, Gillibrand, O'Malley, Sherrod Brown

 

I will take anyone's money who wants to bet on Michelle Obama running.

[bigruss]

That group is....bad. That's like 2016 Republican bench bad.

[bmags]

That group is....bad. That's like 2016 Republican bench bad.

 

It's what happens when there's a run on governorships and state legislatures.

 

That said, you have no idea who ends up being a good candidate until they run. Scott Walker and Rubio looked like slam dunks for republicans. Rick Perry and texas' success seemed tailor made.

[Dick Allen]

 

I really was thinking Franken, but that's by the boards now, although if he grabbed her by the p****....

 

The other guy I like is Gavin Newsom. Younger, good looking guy, was married to a Fox News personality who I believe is now dating the Mooch. Seems to have some good ideas.

[bmags]

Bob Menendez case ending in mistrial. Basically bribery is legal now. Blago case almost assuredly could not have led to conviction under these new standards.

 

 

[Balta1701]

Bob Menendez case ending in mistrial. Basically bribery is legal now. Blago case almost assuredly could not have led to conviction under these new standards.

The good news is that it did not cost 20 million Americans health care coverage. So yeah, Supreme Court, you legalized bribery but it kept people insured!

 

This still sucks.

[bmags]

The good news is that it did not cost 20 million Americans health care coverage. So yeah, Supreme Court, you legalized bribery but it kept people insured!

 

This still sucks.

 

Menendez was always one of my least fav senators after the Nelson/Landrieus left.

[southsider2k5]

Bob Menendez case ending in mistrial. Basically bribery is legal now. Blago case almost assuredly could not have led to conviction under these new standards.

 

And the Supreme Court has kept refusing to hear any of his appeals. With what pols get away with in this country, it amazes me that he is still in jail. I don't know who he pissed off, but he did a damned good job of it.

[bmags]

And the Supreme Court has kept refusing to hear any of his appeals. With what pols get away with in this country, it amazes me that he is still in jail. I don't know who he pissed off, but he did a damned good job of it.

 

For one Pat Fitzgerald was a very good prosecutor so there was less to nitpick. But yeah, I actually thought blago had a very good appeal. I'm glad he went to jail and I thought we were in a turning point. But then bags of money in freezers and now menendez off. Bob McConnell off. Not good.

[southsider2k5]

For one Pat Fitzgerald was a very good prosecutor so there was less to nitpick. But yeah, I actually thought blago had a very good appeal. I'm glad he went to jail and I thought we were in a turning point. But then bags of money in freezers and now menendez off. Bob McConnell off. Not good.

 

I agree with this and wish the standards really were that low. For my two cents, the corruption standards are a lot like the police brutality standards where the bar to prove something keeps getting moved to where it is nearly impossible to convict someone of corruption, yet Blago sits and rots.

[Balta1701]

I agree with this and wish the standards really were that low. For my two cents, the corruption standards are a lot like the police brutality standards where the bar to prove something keeps getting moved to where it is nearly impossible to convict someone of corruption, yet Blago sits and rots.

Don't feel bad about him sitting and rotting, feel bad for the rest of the country sitting and rotting as it becomes easier and easier to own a politician.

[Dick Allen]

Blago learned his lesson but I don't know why having him in jail on the taxpayers' dime is doing anyone any good. He's no threat to society. Let him out, if he has to be punished further, put him on house arrest with an ankle bracelet. Let him by his own food.

 

George Ryan was the same. Not letting him be with his dying wife? It's not like he was going to go blow away a hospital.

 

I get corrupt politicians are horrible. And I get there should be repercussions for doing what they did (although what ultimately got Blago just about every pol could be charged). Non violent criminals at Club Fed makes no sense to me. Let them stay at home.

[LittleHurt05]

Blago learned his lesson but I don't know why having him in jail on the taxpayers' dime is doing anyone any good. He's no threat to society. Let him out, if he has to be punished further, put him on house arrest with an ankle bracelet. Let him by his own food.

 

George Ryan was the same. Not letting him be with his dying wife? It's not like he was going to go blow away a hospital.

 

I get corrupt politicians are horrible. And I get there should be repercussions for doing what they did (although what ultimately got Blago just about every pol could be charged). Non violent criminals at Club Fed makes no sense to me. Let them stay at home.

 

Didn't his bribery directly lead to an unqualified truck driver killing a family of six in a crash? Why should we have sympathy for his family?