May 26, 2016

How do your friends prefered candidates break down on Facebook?

Kind of interesting. I have about 250 friends but most have not liked a candidates page though I am sure the vast majority of them have a candidate they like. However those who have break down like this: Sanders 30 friends, Hillary 9 Friends, Trump 3 friends and Gary Johnson 3 friends. ( I am from New Mexico which explains Gary Johnson) Some cross over to more than one candidate. This may not bode well for Trump because last time around I had about as many friends who liked Romney as Obama however Trump has as many likes as both Hillary and Sanders combined.

Here is the actual count per page:

Sanders 4,245,499
Hillary 3,577,288
Trump 7,886,161

Obama has almost 49 million right now.

May 25, 2016

Pay Attention To Libertarian Gary Johnson; He’s Pulling 10 Percent vs. Trump And Clinton

FiveThirtyEight

By Clare Malone

Gary Johnson might be on the verge of becoming a household name.

At the moment, he’s probably most often confused with that plumber who fixed your running toilet last month or your spouse’s weird friend from work who keeps calling the landline, but he’s neither — he’s the former governor of New Mexico, likely Libertarian candidate for president, and he’s polling at 10 percent in two recently released national polls against Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.



A Morning Consult survey published Tuesday and found Clinton getting 38 percent of the vote, Trump 35 and Johnson 10, with 17 percent undecided. A Fox News poll conducted from May 14-17 showed Trump leading over Clinton, 42 percent to 39 percent, but Johnson at 10 percent as well. Lest you think this is some fluky May development, a Monmouth University survey conducted in mid-March — while the political universe was still busy wringing its hands over the Republican nomination — found that in a three-way race, Clinton would get 42 percent, Trump 34 percent and Johnson 11 percent.

Given that Trump and Clinton are sporting historically high negative ratings, Johnson’s polling makes a fair bit of sense; Gary Johnson is neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton. He might not win a state, but he could make some noise.

More: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/pay-attention-to-libertarian-gary-johnson-hes-pulling-10-vs-trump-and-clinton/?ex_cid=538fb

Also, there is talk that David Koch may pledge tens of millions to his campaign.

May 23, 2016

Which major candidate from the past 25 years have you felt the most passionate about

Which one of these folks inspired your heart, moved you to fight, gave you hope and something to believe in?


Jesse Jackson would have been on the list if I had more slots. Sorry if I missed someone very special to you but DU only allows for 9 choices.

May 22, 2016

DU is a diverse group of people, not just Sanders supporters on one side and Hillary on the other

In an attempt to bring just a tiny bit of civility I am creating this poll to show at one time or another many of us who are at odds now were probably rooting for the same candidate in the past. Hopefully no one will hijack this and try to divide us but rejoice in the fact that we do have a lot in common regardless of being in different camps this time around. And in the future we may be on the same side with a candidate even though we are not now and at odds with people we are in the same camp with today. Lets keep that in mind.

Sorry the poll is incomplete but I am only given 10 slots and so I have to place the top five I saw posted from the last election. I am including Kucinich over Dodd because I remember him being more popular here on DU than Dodd was.

If your candidate is not listed feel free to list them in the comment section.

May 22, 2016

Will Hillary supporters allow suspect Wall Street insiders on Hillary's cabinet like Bill had?

This isn't a jab at Hillary supporters, I am just asking you if you will join us to fight any attempts to stop this if the attempt is made?

If Sanders loses which is very likely I will be voting for Hillary but it's going to take all of us to put pressure on her to break away from those who have financed her over the years. Can we at least agree to do this?

Nice video at link: https://www.facebook.com/HuffPostPolitics/videos/10153779671562911/

May 22, 2016

Politico: Wasserman Schultz Planned to Accuse Obama of Anti-Semitism if DNC Job Threatened

Snip>Wasserman Schultz has a different sense of herself. According to people who spoke with her, when she sensed Obama was considering replacing her as chair in 2013, she began to line up supporters to suggest the move was both anti-woman and anti-Semitic. Under fire last fall for her leadership, she took Obama’s decision not to remove her then as evidence of renewed strength and said she was confident no one could get her out of the DNC before her term is over at the beginning of 2017, according to sources who’ve spoken with her. She’s also been known to joke around the office about how having a vacation home in New Hampshire might one day be helpful in a presidential run.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/senate-bid-could-be-solution-for-wasserman-schultz-115373#ixzz49ObnDIfg
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

Updated with the actual article.

May 22, 2016

Petitions to remove Debbie Wasserman Schultz as DNC Chair growing at historic rate

The divide in the Democratic Party continues as pressure continues to mount to remove the current Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Heading into the 2016 election, the consensus was that Hillary Clinton would coast through the primary and become the Democratic nominee. While Clinton is the front runner and the odds on favorite to represent the party in November, millions of liberal Americans are voicing their opposition to the current Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Campaign Chair chaos

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the current Chair of the DNC, has been under constant fire since the start of the primary season. The biggest argument against Wasserman Schultz is her alleged bias in favor of Clinton. Wasserman Schultz, a strong supporter of the former Secretary of State, once worked on Clinton's presidential campaign during her unsuccessful run in 2008. Over the course of the primary, the friction between Wasserman Schultz and candidate Bernie Sanders has only grown, resulting in supporters of the senator from Vermont calling for her resignation. According to The Hill on May 20, close to 200,000 signatures have been gathered in an attempt to replace the Chair of the DNC, while other groups have organized protests outside of the upcoming national convention.

More: http://us.blastingnews.com/news/2016/05/petitions-to-remove-debbie-wasserman-schultz-as-dnc-chair-growing-at-historic-rate-00930399.html

May 21, 2016

What is with saying Sanders isn't a Democrat?

I don't know how many times I have come across someone saying Sanders isn't a Democrat so Shultz has every right to favor Clinton because she has put the time into the Democratic Party etc. Schultz has outright said they have the right to protect the party from grassroots movements. This argument always makes me scratch my head because I am a registered, life long Democrat from a long line of Democrats and Sanders and I see eye to eye on almost everything. I really could not care less that he was an independent for so long because he seems closer to the FDR Democratic Party of my parents than the party currently does and that is the ONLY thing that matters to me. Not that he just officially became part of a party that is corrupt giving him the opportunity to change it back to how it once was when we actually stood for something.

So it seems like this is a fight for those of us who want to take us back to the Democratic Party of the 30's into the 70's when the Unions financed the party and we were not influenced by those wanting to control the "free market", to the new Democratic Party that kicked in during the 90's after Reagan busted up the Unions. Bill had to go to Wall Street for financing which was probably about the only thing he could do and be able to win at the time so I don't fault him for that. But once we let Wall Street in that was a fundamental shift in the Democratic Party taking us from a labor focused party to one financed by Wall Street meaning there no longer was a true labor oriented party in existence. So we have ended up with the bat shit crazy Republicans and a Democratic Party which is about where Nixon and Ford were. Meanwhile the middle class has seen a steady decline as the money is pulled up in buckets to the 1% because there is NO party looking out for working people.

Now I understand this isn't cut and dry because Reagan fucked things up so bad it's not like we can just go back to the labor unions and make things like they use to be and have enough financing to win elections. The media is controlled by Wall Street, and the Republicans are so insane and impossible to work with, many see someone like Clinton who will basically go along with things but perhaps make a few meaningful changes the only logical choice. That's fine I can see why some feel this way. It's not stupid in the least it just feels defeatist to me.

But it still begs the question, if Sanders isn't a true "Democrat" and yet he is more like FDR and the Democratic Party of our parents and grand parents then I don't know if I am a Democrat any more if the leaders of the party are wanting to leave all that behind.

So what makes you a Democrat these days and why do some think the values of our parents Democratic Party are no longer where the party should be? Have some become so disheartened that they are giving up or do you really feel like the new corporate Democratic Party is where your heart is? If it's not then I hope you understand things won't change easily, we are so entrenched this is really going to require a revolution. This country has been called an oligarchy by many countries in the European Union and studies have shown this. We are officially fucked up! You can't work with the oligarchy to make change, you have to fight them head on.

May 21, 2016

Non-binary gender/sex

This is pretty fascinating, especially the part about different cultures that have a much higher % of this occurring and how they are welcome in the cultures.

May 21, 2016

How the Political Revolution Continues...