May 16, 2019

AOC calls Alabama's abortion ban 'a brutal form of oppression'

"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who has emerged as a leader among progressive Democrats, denounced Alabama’s abortion ban after it was signed into law on Wednesday night.

She was joined by most of the party’s presidential candidates.

“Abortion bans aren’t just about controlling women’s bodies,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “They’re about controlling women’s sexuality. Owning women. From limiting birth control to banning comprehensive sex ed, U.S. religious fundamentalists are working hard to outlaw sex that falls outside their theology.

“Ultimately, this is about women’s power,” the freshman congresswoman continued. “When women are in control of their sexuality, it threatens a core element underpinning right-wing ideology: patriarchy. It’s a brutal form of oppression to seize control of the 1 essential thing a person should command: their own body.”

Read More: https://www.yahoo.com/news/aoc-calls-alabamas-abortion-ban-a-brutal-form-of-oppression-152137572.html

May 16, 2019

NEW: "Why did Kamala Harris let Herbalife off the hook?

Harris was a prosecutor in California, and many of her prosecutorial decisions are being examined -- and criticized.

New article: https://news.yahoo.com/kamala-harris-herbalife-accused-of-exploiting-latinos-090000896.html

"As the attorney general of the nation’s largest state — and therefore one of the most powerful law enforcement officials in the nation — Harris declined to investigate Herbalife, the nutritional supplement company that has been accused of fraudulent marketing practices. Documents exclusively obtained by Yahoo News show that in 2015, prosecutors in the San Diego office of the California attorney general sent Harris a lengthy memorandum that argued for an investigation into Herbalife and requested resources in order to undertake such an investigation. Similar investigations into Herbalife were already taking place elsewhere."

"About three weeks after the San Diego letter was sent, Harris received the first of three donations to her campaign for the U.S. Senate from Heather Podesta, the powerful Washington lobbyist whose ex-husband Tony’s firm, then called the Podesta Group, had worked for Herbalife since 2013. Heather Podesta’s own lobbying firm, Heather Podesta and Partners, would soon be hired by Herbalife, too."

"Harris did not pursue an investigation, even as the Federal Trade Commission proceeded with an investigation of its own, which had been opened the previous March and which suggested that sufficient grounds for such scrutiny did exist. In fact, the San Diego letter had meticulously laid out those grounds, pointing out that Herbalife presented itself to the public as a lawful enterprise, but that it could nevertheless be “engaged in less obvious conduct” that potentially harmed both Herbalife distributors and Herbalife customers. Allegations of such conduct, by 2015, had become commonplace in media reports."

May 16, 2019

Would a Sanders Supporter Please Explain What He Has Ever Done?

During his many years in Washington, what has Bernie ever accomplished?

This is not an attack, just an honest question. I'm not aware of anything meaningful he's ever done other than give speeches.

Thank you!

May 16, 2019

Nancy Pelosi Just Destroyed Trump's Obstruction With Impeachment

This article makes a good point.

The House Democrats need to do a thorough investigation to decide if they should impeach Trump.

And the courts will support this effort, due to its strong constitutional support.

Trump can't obstruct an impeachment investigation.

Which is what Pelosi is already doing.

Pelosi said, “One of the purposes that the Constitution spells out for investigation is impeachment, and so you can say, and the courts would respect if you said, we need this information to carry out our oversight responsibilities, and among them is impeachment. It doesn’t mean you’re going on an impeachment path, but it means if you had the information, you might. So, it isn’t about impeachment. It’s about impeachment as a purpose, a constitutional purpose for and justifying constitutionally and court wise a path.”

Read More: https://www.politicususa.com/2019/05/16/nancy-pelosi-trump-impeachment.html

May 16, 2019

We have too many candidates. What's really going on here?

Now there are 24 Dems running for president. That is way too many.

The more there are, the less chance they have of getting any delegates from any caucus or primary, due to 15% rule.

This favors Biden above all. If candidates don't drop out it is possible in some caucuses and primaries Biden could be the only candidate to get ANY delegates at all. (This would mean even Bernie failed to get 15% which is possible because the progressive vote is being split among too many people.)

I'm not sure this is a good thing. I'm not sure why so many people are running.

What's really going on here?

May 15, 2019

'Bill Barr is just a liar' working to make Trump a dictator

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) said Attorney General Barr is a “liar” who is abusing his office to place President Donald Trump above the law.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said the Trump campaign had clearly colluded with Russia and the president had obstructed justice in that investigation, and he said Barr had lied about what special counsel Robert Mueller found, reported CNBC.

“If you read the Mueller report, there was tons of evidence that they knew the Russians were interfering with the election on their behalf,” Nadler said. “They welcomed it, they wanted it, and they coordinated with it. Colluded, in a word. There’s no question about that.”

Barr, however, has repeatedly said there was no evidence of collusion, which Trump has been insisting for more than two years.

“Bill Barr is just a liar,” Nadler said. “and he’s just representing the president.”

Read More: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/jerry-nadler-probably-not-headed-for-impeachment-but-trump-makes-it-difficult-to-avoid.html

May 15, 2019

Trump Has a Huge Mueller Problem As 56% Of Voters Want Him To Testify

Source: Morning Consult

According to the new Politico/Morning Consult poll, “56% of voters think Mueller should testify before Congress, compared with 19% who don’t think he should testify. 79% of Dems and 51% of independents say he should testify, compared to 37% of GOP voters who say the same."

Read more: https://morningconsult.com/2019/05/15/its-still-mueller-time-voters-say-most-want-special-counsel-to-testify/

May 15, 2019

Trump and Sanders have the same problem: They are both running 2016 campaigns

Donald Trump is stuck in 2016. As president, he continually reminds America and relives his previous campaign in his speeches and appearances. The president thinks that he can run the 2016 campaign over again against Joe Biden and win.

In some ways, Trump has the same problem as Bernie Sanders. The country has changed since 2016, but both Sanders and Trump are running the same campaigns that they ran years ago. Sanders is slumping in the polls, and Trump is in position to lose to Biden.

Joe Biden isn’t Hillary Clinton. He doesn’t come pre-baked with decades of negative media coverage. Biden is better at personally connecting to voters than Clinton. Hillary Clinton did win the popular vote in a presidential election. However, Joe Biden is not the same as Clinton, and Trump will be making a fatal mistake if he treats them both as the same.

[link:https://www.politicususa.com/2019/05/15/joe-biden-beating-trump-poll.html|

Both Trump and Sanders are way behind Biden in the polls. Neither one of them seem able to change their message or their campaigning to bring it up to date to 2020. This could mean they will both lose, unless something drastic happens.

May 15, 2019

This explains Biden's poll numbers: "the activist left is out of step with most Democrats"

According to this article "Fifty-six percent of Democrats self-identify as “moderate” and 9 percent even embrace “conservative,” according to an April poll."

This is why Democratic Socialists are so frustrated. They are out of sync with the majority of Democrats.

This bodes well for Biden, since he personifies the moderate Democrat.

Read More: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/05/14/joe-biden-2020-226872

May 14, 2019

Three reasons to think Biden could run away with the nomination.

From CNN:

1) He's broadly liked within the party. Biden's lead over his rivals is not solely the result of his superior name identification. It's also because he is viewed quite favorably by Democrats of all stripes. In the latest CNN poll, conducted late last month, more than 8 in 10 Democrats said they have a favorable view of Biden while just 12% had an unfavorable one. That's remarkable -- especially for someone who has spent such a long time in politics. And Biden's favorability numbers are quite consistent among various demographic groups: Whites (79% favorable), non-whites (84%), men (76%) and women (86%).

2) He's running very strong with black voters. In 2008 and 2016, the foundational pillar of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's winning coalitions in their Democratic primaries was African-American voters. And, right now, Biden appears to have a similar numbers among that key constituency. As I noted above, he is viewed hugely favorably among non-white voters nationally. And, in the key state of South Carolina -- where black voters comprise almost two-thirds of the Democratic primary electorate -- Biden is running very strongly. A new South Carolina primary poll showed Biden at 46% overall, well ahead of Sanders, who was second with 15%. Among black voters in that poll, Biden was at 58%!

3) He doesn't have much competition for the establishment mantle. While more than a dozen of the candidates running are seeking to be the liberal champion in the primary, there's scarce competition for Biden in the establishment/centrist lane of the race. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is trying to be that sort of candidate, but starts well behind Biden. Ditto Bullock, who starts well behind even Klobuchar. South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg remains something of a tabula rasa in terms of how he is positioning himself in the race but could, if he so chose, be a potential problem for Biden in the sensible centrist lane. But at the moment, Biden is running ahead in that space -- and with very little obvious competition.

Read More: https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/14/politics/joe-biden-2020-democratic-nomination-donald-trump/index.html