No question he has committed felonies. Is US law "just" enough to convict a super wealthy politician? We shall see... Maybe if he had more pigmentation... Even that probably wouldn't matter. It's really about wealth. Race is the lever they use on the poor.
The trial will be over well before the election. If he's acquitted, he won't be a felon. If he's convicted, he will be a felon, but you'll still be free to vote for him. barfo
Storing them wasn't the problem (as much). Refusing to turn them in despite being asked repeatedly was more the problem, as it showed intent.
Bernie could have run in 2024 if he'd wanted to. He chose not to. Bernie ran in 2020 and lost. Lots of other people ran and lost too. There are no participation trophies, and only one winner. barfo
He knows even if he did run and outdebated & out campaigned Joe he would have a deck stacked again against. The media and DNC/rnc decide who they want to endorse. And, if a candidate they dont want to see, becomes a contender, they will do whatever needed to tune public opinion. Thats politics.
Not trying to shit on Bernie, I like him a lot. But it's not some sort of conspiracy, it's the way the system works, and Bernie is well aware of how it works. He could have spent years kissing Clyburn's butt (and a whole lot of other butts), but he chose not to (or didn't do it well enough). It's not a conspiracy that a lot of democratic power brokers, elected officials, and donors supported Biden. Biden did the work required to gain that support. Nor is it a conspiracy when certain voters voted for Biden instead of Bernie, or Andrew Yang, or whoever. Voters are clearly capable of making choices we don't agree with or that make no sense at all, they do it all the time. You are absolutely correct, it's politics. barfo
Bernie chose to be honest and support policies that were actually good for the people. That obviously left him without many powerful friends. Because what is good for the people isn't good for what established powerful people want.
That's fair. But sometimes the way to get good things done for people is to make powerful friends. Politics frequently involves making that sort of compromise. barfo
That's not the way our system is set up, as far as I can tell. You can't do the right thing if you have those friends. We'll have to change the system first.
I don't know how many times I heard from people who wanted to vote for Bernie, but were convinced he couldn't win because the media drilled that in their heads. That's called manufactured consent and is a party-wide conspiracy. It's true that it's politics as well. The system has scared people so much that they've got everyone falling in line. Even when all the polling shows a good 70-80% of the country agrees with Bernie's positions.
This is the kind of shit that Im talking about. It's the back room we cant let this happen stuff, which I guess is politics in its finest. Inside Hillary Clinton's Secret Takeover of the DNCPoliticohttps://www.politico.com › story › 2017/11/02 › clinto...
If that were an absolute truth nothing good would ever get done. And that's not the case. As long as we change it in the right direction, I'm in favor barfo
I don't think that's true. You can do something that is good for some people, but hurts more people long term. The right thing is to do the thing that is good for more people now and moving forward. Choosing not to do that, but do the lesser good for personal gains is wrong. These are the best "good" actions we get from our current system. We get goods that trade off the possibility of actual health. You can't do the right thing and be friends with the powers that be. They won't allow that.
So you think that there's absolutely nothing that ever gets done that isn't ultimately good rather than bad? That's a very pessimistic view. For example, don't you think that increasing tailpipe emissions standards is a good thing overall, and in the long run helps everyone? barfo
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I don't think that if what I am saying is true that nothing good would ever get done. Some good things could happen, but with current Dem and Republican leadership the overall trend is that more is given to the elite and more is taken from the general population. Increasing tailpipe emissions standards is a good thing, but if that comes with committing us to (or unnecessarily exposing us to the long term risk of needing to) burn fossil fuels in our cars it is not a good thing, overall.
Why is this the case? Is it because more people are in the middle or just sick of being force fed from media and national committees? Are the extremes driving people away from party affiliation? IMO, probably some of each and more. Voters Who Identify As Independents Skyrocket ...Forbeshttps://www.forbes.com › Business
The extremes, yes. The alternative is that they are the same. Those are your choices. You get a psycho who wants you to believe they are a wizard (and is somehow capable of getting 30% of the population to enthusiastically agree) or you get a rich person who will smile at you and tell you nice things while they gently bend you over a barrel and violate you, your family and every one of your descendents for at least generations.
I've never liked the party system. I became non-affiliated back in the 80's. The only complaint that I have is that in Oregon I have no say as to who the candidates in a general election are going to be. Oregon needs to have open primaries. Primary voting should be open to all registered voters. IMO
