President (To Win Colorado)
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(D) Joe Biden*
(R) Donald Trump
80%
20%
CO-01 (Denver)
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(D) Diana DeGette*
(R) V. Archuleta
98%
2%
CO-02 (Boulder-ish)
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(D) Joe Neguse*
(R) Marshall Dawson
95%
5%
CO-03 (West & Southern CO)
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(D) Adam Frisch
(R) Jeff Hurd
50%
50%
CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado)
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(R) Lauren Boebert
(D) Trisha Calvarese
90%
10%
CO-05 (Colorado Springs)
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(R) Jeff Crank
(D) River Gassen
80%
20%
CO-06 (Aurora)
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(D) Jason Crow*
(R) John Fabbricatore
90%
10%
CO-07 (Jefferson County)
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(D) B. Pettersen
(R) Sergei Matveyuk
90%
10%
CO-08 (Northern Colo.)
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(D) Yadira Caraveo
(R) Gabe Evans
70%
30%
State Senate Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
80%
20%
State House Majority
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DEMOCRATS
REPUBLICANS
95%
5%
February 26, 2016 11:26 PM UTC
128 Comments
Hate Radio: Mission Accomplished
There's a certain segment of the population that has their own world where Obama is going to get your gun, if not now, then after he cancels the election, and the Democrats literally hate America and Liberals are mentally ill.
They've been convinced by a bunch of lying radio personalities who abuse the 1st Amendment and should be fired by their station owners. And there is almost no evidence that can change their mindset.
Does making a profit at a radio station justify this?
Do ratings justify the wall to wall coverage Trump got from day one, including on MSNBC, giving him what in effect must be the highest most unlmited dollar value campaign contributions in history, without which he probably would have been just another short lived celebrity candidate, regardless of voter anger? He brags about being self funding but the truth is he doesn't need to take big players’ contributions or self fund. He's got the media to do all the promotion for free. He's spending very little.
Unfortunately the answer to your question is….. it doesn't matter. Media corporations, like any other corporations, are amoral entities whose only reason for being is profit. Hate on the radio and Trump's outrageousness wall to wall on TV are big, big, profitable ratings boosters. Throw in the internet and the rise of unsourced "news" and this is the very scary world we live in.
When is he cancelling the election?
I am ready for Barack Hussein Obama: President for Life™
Ask Peggy Littleton.
Not politics, but does anyone know of an opening for a mechanical engineer? My son was just "let go" from his job after taking too much time to care for his disabled father (my ex). My son knows how to program robots to machine precision parts – he's been working in that field for the last five years. He's currently in the Aurora area.
Not so much a lead but encouraging news:
Unemployment in Boulder County is 2.6%
http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-business/ci_29567661/fill-this-boulder-county-swamped-job-openings-unemployment
Job search site:
https://www.connectingcolorado.com
The Donald and Governor Donuts. The dynamic duo.
If there was eve a blow-hard, school-yard bully on the issue of ending Prohibition, it's this guy. The most recent polling shows that even a majority of young Republicans believe recreational marijuana should be legal.
His response when asked the question?
"If the majority really does want to legalize it, then Congress will".
Except they won't, until faced with the political equivalent of a guillotine. Two words: Big Pharma Two more words: Citizens United
This isn’t the first time Christie has vowed to crack down on marijuana; last April, he told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt it was a “gateway drug.” (except science tells us it isn't. If it was, Willie Nelson would be a crack whore by now). Even D.A.R.E has stopped calling it a gateway drug.
Maybe a gateway to Cheetos ?
Lol, BC
And, as study after study have proven, Cheetos is the most dangerous drug of all.
The crunchy ones…OMG !
Here in Mesa County,"the land that time forgot", the mindset about Cannabis is such that it is illegal to sell it in Mesa County, Grand Junction, and Fruita…allowed only in Palisade at a medicinal dispensary. The closest pot shop is up the road in Debeque.
My son works for the only media entity, a small radio conglomerate in the valley, that is running advertising for pot shops. He creates the ads. No other TV or radio here will do business with them. They are making a bunch of money ( the station)… We need a supplier for "Willies’ Reserve" over here, Michael. I tell our audiences about it and sometimes sing a little bit of "It's All Going to Pot" at the hotel where our group regularly performs. The tourists love it.
I am launching a service to teach newbys how to safely and pleasantly learn to experience the effects of great weed. Beginners can be overwhelmed and wind up having a bad experience…that is so easy to prevent with a little advice.
…and a little quality hand holding, I might add.
I do think it should be adults only. Being a High School stoner is still not a great idea.Take it from someone who knows. Not exactly conducive to ambition and good time management in the young.
Completely agree….If parents want to teach their children…that's fine…I am not interested.
I have seen what happens to some people the first time they get high…it can sometimes be an unpleasant experience. It is helpful to be in the company of experienced people in a setting of beauty and comfort. Woven in to the eco-tourism business, there is a growing need for guides who are experienced and trained to safely deal with folks who get a little too carried away on the brownies.
I have experience in both areas.
Agree, BC, although I remind everyone that the law sets the age at 21 and some seem to believe that pot just magically showed up everywhere on election night, 2012. I never smoked it in high school in the 70's – but everyone knew even then where to buy it. Let's start tending to where the problem lies: addictive personalities. This is a mental health issue, not one of a criminal nature. We've blown a trillion dollars in the War on Drugs. Legalization isn't the social experiment, the experiment was Prohibition. It failed.
Duke – ping me on email re: WR
Yes, please…let's. Some of the brightest, most accomplished people I know are regular or frequent users of Cannabis, but in no way addicted.. Knowing limits and being able to set boundaries with oneself is what makes the difference.
Many people simply can't do that…they need help…not incarceration.
Alas, I cannot find your e-mail address, but you can use my public address… duke_escalante@yahoo.com
"I never smoked it in high school…….."
Bill Clinton: I smoked pot, but did not inhale.
Boris Yeltsin: I drank vodka, but did not swallow.
I inhaled a fair amount of second hand pot smoke in college. But have never taken even one drag on any kind of a cigarette; tobacco, pot, or otherwise. I’m not trying to be “goody two shoes.” I grew up not liking tobacco cig smoke and just have never cared for smoking.
Pretty sure Yeltsin never claimed not to swallow.
Yeltsin actually did say that, after Clinton made his comment.
I see. In jest, of course.
Clinton actually did not inhale, for a reason I appreciate — asthma. I finally quit smoking cigs because my lungs would fill with phlegm andI would cough until dry heaves came. That is the reason I srill shun pot. Clinton wasn't being hypocritical, just telling the truth.
It still will live forever as a laugh line.
True enough. But bill's raspy voice is proof of his tale chronic asthma. But the line sticks because it so symbolizes his desire to have it both ways.
C.H.B. I went to a very small school on the eastern plains (there were 15 in my graduating class). The two classes ahead of us had some stoners – but for whatever reason those in my class were busy in FFA, 4-H, sports, etc. In fact, I didn't partake of the sacred herb for the first time until I was 40 and my kids were out of the house.
I find it a useful alternative to alcohol, even though I am just an occasional user. What I am passionate about, though, is the social justice angle of this entire movement. We now have more men of color in prison, on probation and parole than we had slaves in 1862. We've blown a trillion fucking dollars on this failed social experiment, Prohibition. The hypocrisy could chose a large horse. If the #WarOnDrugs was a contestant on The Apprentice, The Donald would yell, "You're Fired!"
This, just like the issue of gay marriage, universal health care, the environment, conservation and renewable energy should ALL be conservative talking points. But sadly, as you know, they're not. I'd had enough of the Brophy-Musgrave wing of the 'God, Guns and Gays' Party and, unlike you, finally said my good-byes to the freak show on my 50th birthday – my present to myself.
We need a functioning, two-party system in this country – and I'm hopeful that future doesn't include any remnants of the freak show we are witnessing today. We're in the middle of our very own 'Truman Show'..not the President, but the one where everyone in the movie was in a movie – not realizing what was happening.
Trump is pulling off the most spectacular reality TV show this world has ever seen.
Sorry this went from 'didn't smoke' to 'social justice' to 'The Truman Show'…but it's all connected 🙂
For sure. Pot certainly wasn't legal when I was in High School in suburban Chicago in the latter 60s, (graduated in '70) but by the time I gaduated everyone had at least tried it….. jocks, nerd, long hairs, cheer leaders, theater kids, band kids, pocket protector kids. And a lot of us tried it … a lot. I will say stoners didn't tend to die on their way to after prom parties in horrible accidents on the highway, though. And, unlike booze, it doesn't tend to lead brawls.
Pretty sure, looking back, it still wasn't such a great idea for young students, though, and I certainly wouldn't encourage 16 years olds to do like we did. Wouldn't recommend Vietnam either.
Not under any delusions that saying pot's illegal or only for those 21 and over prevents teens from being teens, full of hormones, bored and looking for excitement or at least something cool to do. Same as it ever was.
Agree, Bluecat. Although I was a high school stoner, I was much more a social justice nerd, a protester and a marcher. Pot smoking sometimes accompanied, but didn't replace, these activities. I'd say it didn't hurt me any in my young life, but it didn't help, either. Apparently, I don't have the requisite "addictive personality".
I'm not sure if the argument about "developing brains" holds any weight – but it is clear that good judgment and impulse control develop later in life. Kids just don't have those qualities.
So I don't get too upset or offended when my high school students come in occasionally reeking of pot, red-eyed and goofy-looking. Contrary to my expectations, I've actually seen fewer students "budded out" since Colorado legalized marijuana, first medicinally, then recreationally. Even so, we had a visit from drug-sniffing dogs at our school the other day – the dogs found nothing.
I'll add to the discussion that there is a time and place for everything, and school is not the time and place to enjoy being high. It's really hard to get any intellectual grip on anything when high – it's much more of a sensory and emotional experience – stoners may think that they're brilliant, but they're objectively not.
Methamphetamine is a whole nother animal. I hate meth with a passion – its proponents, its creators, its junkies, its profiteers. Meth is one of the most corrosively destructive and addictive drugs out there. Michael recommended the novel "Methland", and it is an eye-opening read to get the big picture of how this drug has insinuated itself into our culture.
.
Anything that's made with starter fluid can't possibly be harmless.
I will never understand, Duke, why it is that the wider the open spaces are, the narrower the minds that live in them. My beloved eastern plains are as beautiful to me as Mesa County. But most of the people denounce the government all the way along their subsidized roads paid mostly by city folks, to the post office to pick up their farm subsidy checks. Well, I still think eastern Colorado is god's country. I just don't mention the fact that the devil had the right of first refusal!
OK. Fun time's over. First let's hope there will never be a President Trump. If there is let's hope he has competent legal counsel so we can avoid facing a crisis of unimaginable proportions and consquence.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-hayden-donald-trump_us_56d1ed18e4b0871f60eba2f3
This whole aticle is interesting but I was especially intrigued by this part:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-party.html?_r=0
PS. the headline was… Inside the Republican Party’s Desperate Mission to Stop Donald Trump
Buy YUUUUGE amounts of popcorn!!
I loved how they cited Governor LePage of Maine (nutcase) as an objective source at the beginning of the article, citing how a Trump nomination would harm the party, which should renounce him and his divisive rhetoric, and then concludes, in perfect Trump style with:
Paul LePage is the 21st century version of Evan Meacham. Who remembers him?
Wasn't Meacham an eccentric who was governor of Arizona, maybe in the 1980s?
Correct, CHB……. And he said things back then that are comparable to the stuff Trump says now. IIRC, Meacham was the target of both a recall election AND an impeachment movement in AZ legislature simultaneously. He made all sorts of vulgar racial remarks.
With 0 percent of vote reported, AP has called SC for HRC!
Still a good call.
This isn't so surprising when you consider that back then at this stage many African Americans had serious doubts that a black candidate could win. If it's HRC that African American voters want now Dems had better give her to them because we don't win without their strong support.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/south-carolina-primary-liveblog_us_56d229b5e4b03260bf771675
It looks like Hillary will win by nearly 50 points. My wife, who desperately wants to see a woman president , actually broke into tears as the returns came in. Yes, it is important to stop trump. But I am so proud of Hillary for fighting on when the snakes in the media were trashing her.
We shall overcome!
Reminds me of the Obama black delegates who burst into tears on the floor of the DNC convention in 2008 when Hillary reported the NY state delegation's vote that won it for Obama. It was an incredible moment that I will never forget. I think I choked up, too.
Eight more years!
Hey V, go look back at the Wednesday open thread. My wife left a note for you under my handle.
Gracias, amigo
South Carolina says NO to "Free Stuff"!
FU – nobody's advocating for "free stuff". Are you against a public option health care system? That's paid for with 3% employee and 6% employer contributions. Consumers win financially because they are not paying copays or premiums.
Are you against a free-tuition plan for college? It's paid for by taxing Wall Street speculation, and by raising the highest tax brackets about 3%. Most prosperous European countries offer free college tuition. It seems to be worthwhile for them, as they have a better-educated population. It might not be popular with Trump, who really loves "poorly educated people", i.e., his base.
Point is, these are not actually "pie in the sky" impractical proposals. Just visionary ones.
Factually, Hillary won 73% of the South Carolina vote. That's all you can say for sure. You certainly are entitled to your opinion, and your preferred candidate will probably get the nomination, but don't spread disinformation,please.
I'm not supporting Bernie but not because he's offering free stuff. The people who claim he is also complain that the stuff will cost sky high taxes. So which is it? They can't argue that things like universal healthcare and post secondary ed would be taking from middle income working people to give free stuff to the poor since middle income working people would benefit more than the poor who already qualify for medicaid and need based scholarships. That's just the old Reagan welfare queen nonsense all over again.
It's fair to question whether Bernie's specific plans ad up or whether Bernie could possibly deliver since you need Congress to do anything. I personally believe that Bernie's plan isn't realistic because it assumes that so much can be paid for simply by raising taxes on the wealthy. The fact is the middle class also pays much higher (not just a little higher) taxes in countries that offer the things Bernie promises which in itself is fine considering all they get without having to come up with money in addition to those taxes. No doubt Bernie wants to de-emphasize that aspect because he knows that's probably not something the average American is ready to hear. He is, after all, a politician. That's not a dirty word. Everybody in elected office is a politician.
But we already know that other countries have managed it so it's completely doable with the right plan and the political will. And it's not free stuff. It's a decision to use taxes (that's paying in, not getting something for free) to bring down the real cost of things like quality healthcare and education/training for everyone.
The most important thing Bernie has and can continue to do is shift the Overton window. Before this election cycle started it was acceptable among Democrats to talk about cutting Social Security either by using Chained CPI or raising the retirement age. Even Hillary Clinton would not commit to even preserving current Social Security benefits until just before the NH primary. When is comes to Wall Street and the to big to fail banks, efforts had been made to weaken Dodd/Frank which were supported by Bennet, Perlmutter and Polis. Sanders has brought the reinstatement of Glass/Steagall and the break up of the too big to fail banks back into the political discourse. Finally, lets look at trade. Sanders opposition to the TPP has forced Clinton to take a position – milk toast that it was – in opposition to Obama's top foreign policy "achievement."
Turning to taxes. I love how people who don't have to sit down and write the check for their own health insurance talk about raising taxes. Well, I do. And I'd rather pay that $17,000 per year to the government for single payer than pay it to the crooks who supposedly insure my health now. (However, every single payer plan I've researched would cost much less than what I am paying for private insurance.)
College education. You don't have to go to Europe to find a precedent for tuitionless post secondary education. Just go back 40 or so years in this country – hell in this state. CU tuition for in-state student as a couple of hundred dollars a year.
As I noted below, as late as 1996, Clinton bragged that she was proud of having been a "Goldwater girl." Furthermore, she identified with being a conservative Republican while describing the current Republican party as reactionary. This makes it difficult for me as a member of the Left to vote for her. We will see the Overton window move back to the right.
Yeah the Goldwater girl thing kills it. High school is destiny.
Clinton made this acknowledgment in 1996, long after she left high school.
Oh, that changes everything! The Monster was actually proud of getting involved with public affairs at a time when most kids just chased boys and smoked pot. I gotta say, James, you go to the ends of the earth to justify your hates. When will you reveal the truth about Hillary's pre-school?
I kind of stopped paying attention to James when he went off on Hillary and capital punishment.
If he is so strongly opposed to the death penalty and Hillary's position on it that he has to vote for Trump or Cruz to stand by his convictions, what could I possibly say to that……..
Knock your socks off!
Actually I do oppose a public option because I don't share the belief that many of my friends on the left hold that the government is the best way to deliver goods and services. I've wasted too much time at the DMV and at the post office to have such faith in government agencies.
There is absolutely no incentive for efficiency in a government-run system of delivery. (I know, that sounds like something that you'd hear coming out of Moderatus' mouth. But even a broken clock is right twice each day.)
The cost is a concern too. Bernie's math doesn't add up.
As for the free tuition for all, I'm against that too. I think the government should take measures to make college affordable and available to all but not free. Student loans and financial aid grants should be available – with the government contributing. (You won't heard that from Moddy.)
I don't want to hear about the crush of debt. I borrowed money for college and grad school, and it didn't kill me to repay it. It did, however, make me invest in getting my degrees, and using them as opposed to taking them for granted.
That doesn't mean Bernie doesn't have some good points. There is something seriously wrong with a tax system that has a secretary for a corporate CEO paying a higher overall tax rate than that CEO.
And as Blue Cat has pointed out, it's not really "Free Stuff" but stuff paid for by different means. I know Bernie wants to raise taxes on "rich people" (whatever the hell that means).
I'm old enough to remember a time when the top marginal tax bracket in this country was 70%. But no one in his or her right with money ever actually paid that rate. So the burden fell onto the middle class. That will happen all over again if by some fluke Sanders actually got elected and by an even bigger fluke, brought in a democratic socialist Congress.
Frank, you posit a red herring. Health insurance or single payer does not provide a service. It is a financial instrument. Medicare is single payer and works much better that private insurance. And, let me tell you, the private insurance industry is doing a lousy job. I know it from personal experience.
As for the marginal tax rate, I would like to see it return to the rates during the Eisenhower administration when the top marginal tax rate was 91%. This would destroy the incentive to create a society with the type of income inequality that we see today.
"I would like to see it return……..91%." That's called CONFISCATION. You overlook the fact that few of the wealthy ever paid out all their money thanks to all sorts of tax breaks. James: there are just too many studies, from too many economists, out there, that show the dark side of Plan Bernie, for his plans to have any serious credibility.
You do understand that most "economists" are snake oil salesmen. Economics is not a science. It is politics pure and simple.
That is completely true, James. The entire class struggle around the world, and particularly in the United States, over the past 80 years are based on the posits of two economists and their relative camps. Milton Friedman on the free market side and John Maynard Keynes on the developmental democracy side.
The rest…as they say, is hysteria….
"are" should be "is"
It would destroy incentive all right. Why stop at 91 pct, make it 200 pct!
First, there's a lot of room between today's extremely low top bracket tax rate (though Rs go on about high taxes and how lowering them would solve everything even though doing so has solved nothing so far) and 70% or 91%.
Second, I do hope everyone realizes that the top rate doesn't apply to all of a person's income but only that portion above whatever the cut off threshold is for that top tier and perfectly legit exemptions still abound. If the proportionate burden on the middle class was so much higher when the top tax rate was higher, as you claim, why were middle class people doing so much better compared to the wealthiest than they are today? Why was the wealth gap so much smaller?
If you really don't know what "rich people" means might I suggest that the top 10th of one percent would probably be good place to start. All the tax cuts and subsidies they have so far received have not trickled down to a middle class that has stagnated or lost ground for decades.
You may find the DMV annoying (where I live you can make an appointment online for minimal wait time) but the fact is the government does some things very well. Medicare is far more efficient than private insurance. When my self employed husband husband was able to switch from high deductible, high co-pay crappy private insurance that stll cost an arm and a leg to Medicare he was finally free to access regular timely quality healthcare for a fraction of what private coverage cost and providers received more timely payment. I can't wait until next year when I can sign on too and in the meantime I've called a moratorium on seeing any doctors for the duration.
Private hasn't been a magic wand for the military either. The private contractors that took over services in Iraq and Afghanistan that used to be performed by the military (government) in house, for instance, cost tax payers many times more, handed out billions that were never accounted for, did a really crappy job while they were at it and created incredible an amounts of ill will.
The idea that government doesn’t do anything well and the private sector does everything better is a tired old myth.
Why is it that the media obsesses with the cost of 'education', but never bothers to ask any candidate how they intend to pay for their endless wars?
I dunno, Michael, George the Younger has gotten beaten up pretty badly in the leftish press for the two wars he put on the national credit card. Of course, the Fixed News crowd say's nothing about this. They just bitch about how the cost of the ACA could have financed another war. In Syria, maybe?
I do appreciate The Donald having the guts to speak truth about the failed war – and remind everyone on whose watch it happened 🙂 We can be sure of one thing: somewhere in a room in Washington there are people planning the next war.
agreed…I am beginning to get a slightly clearer picture of his appeal to my people..southern, white, evangelical, racist, working class, minimally educated and marginally aware, Reagan Republicans… Dixiecrats, formerly.
That is the core of his fan base..I call it that, as it is quite clear that American politics has become nothing more than a media driven TV show… with great ratings, incidentally. Their lives are based on and revolve around television.. that is how His Hairness has so easily captured their loyalty. They hold him in almost as high esteem as as they do Cordell Walker…even though he doesn't really exist.
When I was kid George Wallace was running around pandering to these folk. Then Ronald Reagan picked up the slack. But that was 40 or 50 years ago.
I really thought that a lot of this would be dying out by now. I realize racist parents do all they can to instill their family's traditional "values" (and I use that word loosely) in their next generation but that next generation goes to school – to some extent – and interacts with others.
I'll not forget Reagan's meme of the "young buck" with the Caddy getting welfare
It is simple gray. If you get $700 in food stamps, you are a moocher. If you get $50 billion to bail out your bank, you are a job creator. How many times do I have to explain this to you before you get your mind right?
Voyageur, you're forgetting one of the most obscene transfers of wealth from the many to the few, Dumphuckistan-style.
Are you stupid or something, Michael. Repeat after me: It ain't welfare if it goes to white guys!
Call me names if you will, folks but Duke, there's a shorter description for the people who think His Hairness hung the moon-poor white trash. All they see is his wealth and because they have none of either, they equate money with class.
also known as "trailer trash"…. I have a sizable number of my kinfolk who fit this category.
I don't know, Cook – Trump supporters come in all classes . I've read that the only thing they have in common is a strong authoritarian streak.
They also have racist or xenophobic attitudes.
But you and Duke aren't wrong, either. Realclearpolitics weighs in:
Yes, mama, they do come in all classes. While the old Dixiecrats are the core , there are lots of people who have bought in to the Trump bullshit and I think the "authoritarian" angle is important.
I have been a president more than a couple of times…I have learned that, as president, you are best served by NOT being authoritarian. However, many uninformed TV watchers (what percentage of his support can be identified as such?) think the persona they see on "The Apprentice" is the right white guy to "take care of stuff". He'll go kick some asses and take some names…
What they don't really seem to get is the job description they see on display isn't president…it is emperor. Donald would make a great emperor…a president…not so much.
They pay for them by putting them off budget, which is such a good solution.
…then grownups like POTUS insist that we bring the costs back in to the light of day, causing Donald's 'poorly educated' to think Obama just raided the Treasury. <sigh>
Worth noting among other things that most euros have fewer people in college than we do, as well that most studies by liberal economists challenge bernie's numbers. I wonder how much his plan would have cost my IRA. Still this was a great night for feminists, a bad one for socialists. I sympathize with your side, have had my own share of lost causes. Just remember, Rome was not built in a day, though Aurora was….
But they have more people with access to quality healthcare, training other than university education, quality childcare, secure retirment and other benfits, probably why they rate so much higher than we do on happiness in general. But that's beside the point. I'm a little tired of your high horse "feminism".
Being a feminist isn't just about supporting females candidates. Nobody claimed feminists should have supported Sarah Palin. Whether one supports Bernie or HRC isn't a matter of socialists versus feminsts. For one thing a person can be both. For another being a feminist doesn't require supporting any woman over any man. So it’s really annoyng that you keep claiming ad nauseum how much your and your wife's support for HRC makes you superior feminists. It doesn't.
Frank, how nice for you that you "don't want to hear about the crush of debt." I, and 706,000 people over 50 also wish that we didn't have to hear about the crush of debt. We'll be paying off those student loans until we die, under the present system. I'll never be able to buy another house, or a new car. Thanks, Republican policies that benefit the school loan industries.
Younger people also wish that they had your freedom from worrying about financing their college educations.
Your condescension implying that people who received loans and grants (as I did for my first AA degree, when policies were changed under GW Bush) are "taking their degrees for granted" is also duly noted. Since you say that you are older, you probably graduated when there were more grants, and fewer loans, with tuition costs also proportionately lower.
And Vger, support for HRC doesn't make you a great feminist (as BC said). In Colorado, that line about supporting a woman, any woman, to be a feminist was tried and failed when Marilyn Musgrave ran. For the umpteenth time, I'll vote for HRC if she is the nominee. Voting for someone who promotes progressive policies doesn't make me less of a feminist than you.
Mama, I don't know if you have private loans, but any federal program school loans should be eligible under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Depending on which little monsters you're currently learning, you may also be eligible under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program. So, still 10 years of paying back, but only that if you stay in public service (including most nonprofits). Of course, you may already know all this, but I've found that a lot of folks with whom I publicly serve don't. Although I'm middle-aged, my school debt is only in its pre-teens.
I'm an English teacher whose loans were taken out in the 1990s. I've looked into the Teacher Loan forgiveness program, and it doesn't apply to me. It applies to math, science, and special education teachers. Thanks, but already checked into it.
That's the elephant in the room when talking about making college more affordable – what about those of us already saddled with the crushing debt that Frank implies does not exist , except for lazy, entitled or stupid people?
My phd son teaches philosophy at Trinity college and thinks the forgiveness program applies to him. Hope he is right. He owes about 100k as does his part er. But they earn 130k between them and have no kids and will be fine My daughter owes nearly $200 and I am cosigned on half. She now faces permanent disability. Looks like the 1,000 a month from Social security will pay the $532 a month to Sallie Mae, leaving her $468 a month to live on. Is this a great country or what?
Awful.
V–permanent disability cancels out student loans. The paperwork is onerous, but better than 1/2 of the SSDI check out the window. Don't ask how I know this. I paid my student loans off years ago.
disability cancels federal loans only, Sallie Mae debts aren'T affected and will outlast the pyramids. Since I COSIGNED Sallie Mae, I am on the hook for them, The good news is that my IRA balance is triple my Sallie Mae balance. We will get by but millions are less fortunate.
Voyageur,
I'm just blown away by that figure, what kind of program did your daughter go through?
Most of the debt was run up at DU law school as a single mom. Combination of living costs, high tuition and no income. Part came while she was at Metro State married to a work adverse husband. She supported both by borrowing. At least 150 was DU law. CU would have been about 10,000 a year less, but still north of. 20,000 and she would have had higher child care and transportation to boulder.
Don't know if it helps:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-rhode/im-disabled-and-sallie-ma_b_4174358.html
Feminism is a matter of philosopy and actions, not estrogen. Yes, I am a stronger feminist than you or Bc. That doesn't make you a bad person but when your mix of values and mine came into conflict, the socialist edged the feminist in you. And give me a break about MUsgrave, Palin etc. They are not feminists. Hillary is and in the white house she will be a symbol as powerful as Obama that the times are changing.
You are free to consider yourself as a better feminist than someone who has been working for women's rights for four decades, because you support Hillary in this election. I am free to consider your claim as totally absurd. Enjoy Super Tuesday.
That is a cheap shot. I have supported women's rights for five decades, which trumps your four. You don't have to be Jewish to like Levy's rye bread!
You're the one taking cheap shots. Who the hell do you think you are to question mama's dedication to feminism because she prefers Bernie? Are African Americans who don't support Carson isufficiently proud of their heitage. Are Jews who support HRC not sufficiently loyal to theirs? Once again, on this particular subject you are well and truly and completely full of it.
If you really don't understand how a feminist could prefer Bernie Sanders or choose not to support HRC then you clearly don't understand what feminism is. I'm going to caucus for her. I'm guessing mama is going to caucus for Bernie and you can kiss both our asses.
Once again, you have no right to make that claim, certainly not on the basis of my opinion of HRC. On this subject you are well and truly full of it.
So you may say. But feminism, like stupidity, is as feminism does. And just having estrogen is not enough to make one a feminist. Too many women internalize tthe prejudice that holds them back. I have honestly never had a man tell me women were unfit for public office. But I have had women tell me that. Far too many women sell themselves short. Even Maggie Thatcher failed the test of feminism. She never once named a woman to her cabinet. It is certainly a valid choice to prefer socialism to feminism when the two conflict. But by definition, it's not a feminist choice..
And just having estrogen is not enough to deserve support. But this is pointless as you absolutely don't get the point and choose only to respond to things I never said, thought or felt instead of responding to anything I do say.
I never said, for instance, that a man can't be a feminist.
I said the opposite of any woman being a feminist because she's a woman.
I said the opposite of making choices based on estrogen.
You are the one telling women, many of whom are feminists who support Bernie Sanders, that you know better than they do how feminist they are.
We're done here. I'm not saying we'll just have to agree to disagree. I'm saying it's pointless to continue this discussion because you don't know WTF you're talking about and are being a self righteous ass.
The funniest part is I'm supporting HRC. I'm going to caucus for her.
Feel free to have to have the last word.
In the end your grudging vote for Hillary counts as much as my loving one does. Weird, isn't it?
Some day we can argue over which of us is the biggest zionist. Sadly, however. Netanyahu seems bent on destroying Herzl's vision in favor of a garrison state.
Actually, it does. As for bernie being socialist, he is. Yes, you can be both. But when the two came into conflIct last night, the ghost of Abigail Adams beat the shade of Marx.
And when Bernie Sanders wins in the caucus states, including Colorado, will you sorrowfully frame it as "Lenin wins over Susan B Anthony"? How absurd.
News flash: Feminism is about more than just being pro-choice, pro-equal pay, or voting for someone of the female gender. There's not an iota of difference between the two Democratic presidential candidates on those issues.
Feminism is looking out for long term economic self interest and empowerment of women,and their families. Sanders' policies do that better. Ginning up the fear around the "socialist" label doesn't change that reality.
Acctually it is from mamajamas cite above labeled prosperous free countries.
Why am I ginning up fear. Bernie is a socialist. He says so. Marx is the godfather of socialism– read Kapital. Lenin isn’t a socialist, he was a tyrant__read Solsynitsyn. But while you may take the caucus here, we won't be behind Susan Anthony's banner. You will find me in the ranks of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a far greater gigure who embraced a much grander ideal of equality. I am not afraid of socialism, it is part of the modern mixed economy. But when Stokely Carmichael was asked what the position of women was in the civil rights movement, he answered "prone." Sexism is not unique to the right and feminism cuts across many, though not all, economic positions. But why should I care what you think? You're just a woman
You assume I haven't read those books you claim to be so knowledgeable on. I gave up on communism long ago.
Now, my positions are equivalent to Stokely Carmichael's sexism? He'd be drummed out of any Black Lives Matter meeting today if he came out with something so crude. People do change and evolve, from argument – "dialectics", if you want the commie term.
Yeah, you're a super-duper feminist, all right. I'll just leave that right there.
That was a joke you know.. I will close with the Scott Nearing line about being a feminist between elections and a vegetarian between meals. Pax
Such a hilarious joke. Have you heard the one about feminists having no sense of humor?
in further news…the Monarch butterfly population seems to be increasing dramatically…
It is and that makes me happy. I ran into this the other day. If you have a yard, plant milkweed for the flutterbys. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/world/americas/monarch-butterfly-migration-rebounds-easing-some-fears.html?_r=0
I saw that, too! Yay monarchs!
The Environmental Defense Fund is launching a great program to pay farmers to create Monarch habitats. Great work by EDF.
Yes, I believe it was once a MS cover. Had a copy for many years.
Actually it doesn't Voyageur and saying so doesn't make you a feminist. It makes you an insufferable self righteous ass.
Looking in the mirror today are we? Well, have a nice hate.
Vger: In memory of my father, whose colleague and friend you were, and in consideration of your advanced years, I'm declining to respond to any further provocations on your part.
I’ll still be debating the merits of the Presidential candidates of all political stripes, however.
Good choice.
Thanks for considering my "advanced years." 70 really is too old to be taken seriously. It is, after all, only four years younger than Bernie Sanders, ..
… and we all know what a senile and doddering idiot he is, eh??
Enjoy your youth V, these next 48 months will go by in a flash!
(A good touché on your reply, btw.)
I wonder how much his plan would have cost my IRA
But V, you wouldn't need your IRA in a democratic socialist state. You, like everyone else, can live off social security!
To hell with private savings! It leads to class inequality!
Please provide a citation for the assertion about college attendance in Europe – preferably by country – because my research indicate something quite different in countries that provide tuition free college educations and stipends to college students.
Maybe you should provide your citations.
Here you go Banger, just one of many –
OECD: The US Has Fallen Behind Other Countries In College Completion – Business Insider
Acctually it is from mamajamas cite above labeled prosperous free countries.
Melissa Harris Perry will probably not return to MSNBC. It is a loss for the network – as it continues its mindless lurch toward the center and (presumably) better ratings. I think it will lose ratings. The issues were over editorial control. As I noted last weekend, the MHP show, as well as the Saturday lineup, was pre-empted by endless Scalia funeral coverage and inane know-nothing speculation about upcoming primaries.
There is no social media campaign to bring MHP show back – I'll let you know if I find one. I'll miss it. MHP covered stories that no one else did. Maddow seems to be still untouchable, as the flagship progressive show after Olbermann melted down.
Well, we still have the shouting guy, mathewa. Why not make him janitor and give his spot to MHP?
Looks like Trump made it through another gauntlet of Sunday morning news shows without having to answer questions about his tax returns. Chris Wallace asked him for a general idea of his 2014 gross income, taxes paid and charitable donations made. Trump went off on how his taxes don't report his net worth (true, but not asked), how he's being audited for 12 straight years (not relevant to the question, but interesting nonetheless), etc. Poor Chris Wallace then went onto another topic and thanked Mr. Trump for answering all of his questions. I think Trump did the same with NBC and CBS.
Pathetic. Well, it's beginning to look like Trump actually does have something to hide about his tax returns — What IRS adjustments were made during those 12 audits? How much did he pay in taxes? How much did he donate? etc. This will be fun for the general.
Oh, yeah…As I mentioned earlier, I heard Mark Shields say he considered Christies' endorsement of Trump to be purely animus towards Rubio, nothing more..Trump seems to begin every interview with a shrug and, "well, they weren't nice to me…".
I am sure the likes of Lloyd Blankfein and "Jamie and the Wall Street Boys" have been looking down their collective noses at the uncouth, loud-mouthed, real estate shyster, with his name all over buildings they have to look at every day. Trump seems to really hate just about anyone who doesn't "love" him…
Please, America…don't give this guy the keys to the gun case…..
For a month or so I've been asking flks "when did you begin to dislike Hillary. Many began when they first heard how smart she was when Bill first ran and assumed, correctly, that one day she'd run. For many, most of whom would say that it is always up to spouses what is tolerable, it was because Hillary has tolerated Bill's marital misdemeanors. For a minority it is emails, Benghazi and speeches
I don't "dislike" Hillary. It's tough for female leaders to negotiate that space between being a woman and a wuss. She's "likeable enough", and strong enough, to lead.
What I dislike is when she distorts facts by mindlessly repeating memes about how Sanders wants to "tear up" the ACA, "put guns on" Amtrack, and "primary Obama". Her daughter Chelsea, as a surrogate, repeats the same nonsense. I'm also suspicious of her stonewalling release of transcripts of speeches to Goldman Sachs – what did she tell them that she doesn't want her progressive-leaning base to know?
So it's not her personality – it's her lying-ass behavior. She does not seem trustworthy. BC, this is your cue to point out that we all trusted Obama, and he let us down on single payer health care, warrantless wiretapping, and more. So should we then rejoice that we know from the get go that Hillary Clinton is bought off?
I'd say no, we don't start there. We start from what we really want – progressive policies that can actually have a positive impact on many people's lives. If we have to negotiate down from there, let's not start from a position of "You can't get that, so don't even try."
I don't contend that HRC is any more bought off than most pols. I've said all I have to say on the subject of why I've never been a huge fan of either centrist, DLC, lawyerly slicer and dicer of simple truths Clinton.
Suffice it to say those who claim you can't be a real feminist if you don't support this particular female candidate are full of it. As it happens I do plan to support her at caucus. Pretty sure you and I both understand the meaning of feminism better than the ass hats who claim that supporting or not supportng HRC defines it. It most certainly does not. I'm done. Voyageur can keep repeating his bull all he wants. It's too stupid to deserve any further response.
Hillary is so tone deaf politically that she even honeymooned in the Soviet Union. Err. Wait, that was the other candidate. Ahh, young love and thoughts of moonlight over the Lubianka. And they say Vorkuta is lovely this time of year.
Ted Cruz has a grand total of two (2) friends out of his 99 colleagues in the U.S. Senate: Mike Lee (Tea Party-UT) and Jefferson Davis Sessions (R-AL). Sessions today endorsed Donald Trump.
Apparently you never had the pleasure of spending hours of your youth in a fundamentalist church, Frank? Otherwise you would have heard, over and over, that, "One, with god, is a majority"!