relayerbob
relayerbob's JournalSo this SEC letter isn't good
Individuals exceeding limits and foreign campaign contributions cited. It's only 510 pages long
https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/943/202002230300058943/202002230300058943.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1OA1TyOxxaRpJX-sfA23LdevYmVHehrbQsGdARjYoVs5YntZGp4ue-OTg
My "official" endorsement on my social media pages
As if anyone really cares about such things, I wrote this today:
I have avoided expressing my political preferences very much in the primary so far, for two main reasons: 1 - Supporting candidate A doesn't require dissing candidate B, and all too often, that's how these discussions end. We are all allies and need to act as such. I am proud of the huge depth of potential candidates the Democratic Party has offered up, and all would be superior to the crackpot that currently resides in the WH. Full disclosure: I have donated substantially to all of the major candidates. 2 - I think the primary processes are too long and byzantine, and leads to 24/7/365 campaigns for office, which IMO, does not help in governing the country in the least.
I do, however, think it is time for the field to tighten up and defragment.
To that end, I am asking everyone to read my little essay, especially all my many friends in California (since a plurality of them live there and Super Tuesday is coming fast) and to seriously consider Elizabeth Warren for your vote. I have gone back and forth and have debated the merits of all of them, and truly believe she is the best candidate for the office of President that we have had in a long time. As a political junkie and activist since 1976, I feel qualified to make this observation. I actually wanted her to run in 2015 before she opted out. Please also refer to her website, and her bio articles. I endorse Elizabeth Warren for the following reasons:
1 - Liz has a long record of successfully fighting corruption, starting with her fighting unfair bankruptcy laws, resulting in the laws restricting the ability of corporations to force individuals into bankruptcy. She helped create and run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She fought strongly for more stringent banking regulations after the 2008 crash. One of her main themes of her Presidential run is to remove the corruption that permeates Washington - once and for all! She has made it clear she WILL hold law-breakers in the government accountable for their actions, and will pursue criminal and civil charges as required. Her considered, rational and devastating take-down of Mike Bloomberg in the last debate shows she will not flinch when it comes to calling out Donald Trump, in public, during the General Election campaign.
2 - She is a strongly Pragmatic Progressive, who wants to tax the wealthy on their fortunes to fund the massive structural improvements in climate change, universal health care, education, child care, consumer protection, voting rights, labor laws and other items on her agenda that she proposes. She understands and advocates common sense, shared, team approaches to problem solving and has repeatedly proven herself as a leader who can be trusted to listen to the experts, as well as the layman, and make the right decisions. She doesn't believe that government should control everything, just regulate and tax corporations and the wealthy appropriately, so that the economy can work for everyone fairly. She believes in science!! Wouldn't that be a nice change?
3 - Liz is one of most intelligent people to have ever run for President, having taught law at various Universities including bankruptcy and contract law at Harvard University, and has written five books, coauthored a number of others, as well as authored many articles. She will appoint intelligent and fair judges to the Supreme Court and lower courts.
4 - She has extensive experience in foreign affairs, having served on the Committee on Armed Services, and travelled to Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. This article from CNN outlines her positions rather well: https: //www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/politics/elizabeth-warren-foreign-policy/index.html (link broken on purpose, just remove the space after https
. She supports our Veterans and wants to put in place rational, multilateral and multi-national solutions to terror and international conflict.
5 -She has a goal of reducing domestic gun violence by 80% by removing the NRAs ability to block legislation and put in place gun buyback programs, as well as funding research into the root causes of gun violence that has been stymied by the GOP for decades. She also supports common sense laws that aim to reduce gun deaths, much as previous era leaders reduced automotive deaths.
6 - She is the most well-positioned to be able to unify the various wings of the Democratic Party and lead us to the victory we all need, not only in the race for the Presidency, but in the down-ticket races for the Senate, which we MUST retake and in the House of Representatives, which we must not lose.
7 - While I am not one who cares much about endorsement, she has them from Julian Castro, the Working Families Party, Alicia Garza - the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Robert Reich, countless current and former politicians and celebrities, and a wide variety of media outlets.
So, please join me in supporting Elizabeth Warren. I have spent a lot of effort analyzing all of the candidates, and truly believe she provides the best and most balanced approaches to solving our country's and the world's many crises, and will be able to put together the most effective coalitions, both nationally and internationally, to combat climate change, massive wealth inequality and never-ending wars. In my opinion, she has the experience, temperament, broadly-based appeal and the detailed plans required to lead us in the post-Trump mess we will find ourselves in come Jan 20, 2021.
She details these plans and many others on her website, https://elizabethwarren.com/ (just bypass the donation page, for now, but if you want to support her financially, please join us!)
Thanks!
My personal take
More or less in order
Great (but all very close)
Warren
Buttegieg
Biden
Marginal:
Klobuchar
Sanders
Poor:
Bloomberg
And I expect others to disagree, even my wife does, lol
The Iowa caucus is not winner take all
There is no "winner" per se, as the delegates are awarded proportionately.
If this was a marathon race, the best one could say is that Sanders and Buttegieg are nose to nose, leading the pack, with Warren close behind and Biden right on her heels. Also, if this was a marathon, we wouldn't have even passed the first half mile mark, yet. As a distance runner I can tell you, they would barely have worked up a sweat yet.
So, relax, the start was bad, the officiating sucked, but the relative positions of the contenders at this point won't change the end results much, if any at all. The hoped for prime-time victory speeches were missed, but in reality, don't mean much. The delegate counts will likely remain very close to the same in any recount.
No matter who your candidate is, over 70% of the Democrats in Iowa CHOSE SOMEONE ELSE. This is true in almost all national polls. Quit freaking out, no one's "surging" ahead, that's all media and campaign hype.
Let the process play out, stay focused on the end goal (taking back our country from the morons), and most of all, take a deep breath and let the numbers get checked and rechecked and otherwise, let it go.
Updating from Undecided to Warren
I know this will matter to exactly no one, but after a lot of consideration, I am going to back Warren.
Why? Well, she's always been my first choice by a slight margin, and I was trying to help get her to run in 2015 before she opted out. She has good ideas, is a team player, isn't so hung up on purity that won't she amend her ideas to meet the larger base of Americans who may or may not want everything thrown at them at once, but knows to stick to the big picture over the long term. That's leadership. She's intelligent, funny, and can excite her audience. She'll be able to play Trump like a fiddle in a debate, and laugh about (and, most importantly, at) him in a debate or campaign. That's charisma. She has a positive message, even if she goes a bit too negative once in awhile for my tastes.
All of the candidates bring good points and bad points to the table, and I've kept a sorta running score card of gaffes, attacks against allies (very important criteria to me), poor choices of words, staff and endorsements, as well as tings like ability to adjust and compromise with allies and to utter unpopular truths. She is currently leading with that scorecard.
While I am solidly in the vote blue, no matter who category, I've said for some time that I don't want any more old, white farts running the show - and I am an old, white fart. WE have fucked it up enough for one generation. Of course, I've felt that way since supporting Jesse in the 80s, but I digress. Pete had me going for a while, but as much as I like him, his time isn't now. He needs a cabinet position and some better exposure and experience. We will see more of him in the future. I like Amy, too, but I'm not sure she has enough grass-roots appeal nationwide to win the nomination. Again, I think we'll be seeing more of her in the future. Steyer has surprised me, I didn't expect him to resonate with me. However, I'm not convinced enough to support him. Yang has some interesting ideas, and some, well, not-so-much, and is improving, but I can't see him as President. Bloomberg needs to buy Fox News, but I welcome his pounding Trump constantly. It frees up more viable candidates' resources , while weakening the bad guys. But not President, thanks.
I'll leave opponent bashing to others, IMO, that's why Democrats have such a hard time winning elections: they give the GOP a ton of ammunition and cause divisive, hard feelings between supporters of different ALLIED camps. Goppers are used to following orders, and will fall in line no matter what. This is dangerous and destructive behavior. What I prefer is an open, calm, rational discussion, with all the facts and science laid out on the table. Then work together to find a solution to our problems. NO one has all the answers, and only through listening to each other can we find solutions to the critical problems we have in this world today. A true natural leader would emerge from such a discussion. There are more sane people in this country than we are led to believe, and the vast majority of them aren't really paying attention to all of this. Remember that the news networks combined only have audiences in the single digits, our fighting each other lets them drive the narrative, not us.
Anyway, that's my $0.02, for what it's worth.
Just my thoughts as we head into the election cycle
I didn't tolerate people trying to make themselves look good by making others (especially their teammates) look bad. Not in sports, not in music, not in business, not in my employees and not in my personal life. I sure the hell am not going to tolerate it in politicians. It's a sign that they are petty, weak and incapable of leadership. 'nuf said
So, much as I hate to ask this ...
When is the military going to step in and perform their their duties and oath to protect the US against all enemies, foreign AND domestic?
Sad as it is, this needs to happen now, and the cabal imprisoned. Want to project a coup, Trump? Fine, let's rock. Call in the Marines
McBath email re: impeachment
Don't fall for the hype:
"Hey Bob --
There is a lot of noise in Washington right now about impeachment -- and I wanted you to hear from me directly.
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I voted to formally begin the impeachment inquiry on September 12th -- almost two weeks ago. And Republicans (including our opponent Karen Handel) began to attack me at that point for "supporting impeachment." Today, they're attacking me for "not supporting impeachment." Huh?
And in just the last 24 hours, Republicans have begun the name calling again... labeling me as:
Lyin' Lucy (an old standby)
Deranged
A coward
Let there be no doubt -- Republicans will continue to use impeachment as a talking point to attack me because President Trump won our district in 2016.
So, I need this grassroots team to stand behind me as I continue to do what is right in Washington.
Our president is not above the law, and House Democrats and I will continue the impeachment inquiry we voted to start almost two weeks ago. The American people deserve to know the truth and we will work in Congress to keep uncovering all of the facts.
Thanks for reading,
-- Lucy"
Time to strike
I'm calling for a general nation-wide strike. Close all businesses, conduct no transactions, until the racists are out.
Make this viral. I say August 14. Stop the madness now!
Profile Information
Name: BobGender: Male
Hometown: Atlanta
Home country: United States
Member since: Sat Oct 25, 2008, 05:03 PM
Number of posts: 6,544
