POTUS 2020, part 1

[DNS]

Might as well get this topic started as the race for POTUS 2020 has already begun.

CNN had its first Town Hall and the first candidate featured was Kamala Devi Harris, Senator from California. Jake Tapper said that "it was the first of many town halls" so apparently they will be doing that for all the candidates. But why did they choose Kamala first and not Warren, who I believe announced earlier? It could be a coronation going on with the Democrat leaders preferring Harris or Biden, not giving some of the other outliers much of a chance.

Harris or Biden are more centrist, so perhaps the Party leaders (and the media) see them as more "electable" in the general election (Nov 2020).

Kamala Harris, like Gabbard was raised by a Hindu mother, but I believe Harris has adopted Christianity, whereas Gabbard has embraced Hinduism.

Harris is half African-American (Jamaican father) and half Indian-American (Asian-Indian).

[Dorje Shedrub]

There is also talk of Starbuck's former CEO, Howard Schultz, running as an independent. He is rich enough to fund his own campaign.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/29/business ... index.html


DS

[fwiw]

There is also talk of Starbuck's former CEO, Howard Schultz, running as an independent. He is rich enough to fund his own campaign.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/29/business ... index.html


DS

Screenshot_2019-01-30_06-30-11.png (25.72 KiB) Viewed 228 times

Check out the backlash in the comments here

[Kim O'Hara]

Is Howard Schultz reminding you of Macron by any chance, fwiw?


Kim

[fwiw]

Is Howard Schultz reminding you of Macron by any chance, fwiw?


Kim

I think that as a billionaire, Schultz would rather represent for me a polite version of Trump, as the author of existential comics underlined. Although it is arguable that Macron would be an after-all-not-so-polite version of Trump, too.

I just reported that Schultz has been criticized and dunked on by a lot of people (see the string of actresses/actors, historians, authors with blue checks urging him to not run in the comments to his tweet above)

Trump attempted a gross manipulation to encourage him while seemingly opposing him:

Trump goads ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz over 2020 presidential bid: ‘He doesn't have the guts‘

President mocks former Starbucks CEO in tweet: ‘I only hope that Starbucks is still paying me their rent in Trump Tower!’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 50436.html

Many Democrats and their supporters are also against it, imo for the very same reasons that Trump is all for it (i.e. splitting the liberal votes):

'Not a wise thing': Democrats pan Howard Schultz's potential 2020 bid

[fwiw]

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[fwiw]

There is also talk of Starbuck's former CEO, Howard Schultz, running as an independent. He is rich enough to fund his own campaign.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/29/business ... index.html


DS

Among those who have an opinion, just 4% view him favorably compared to 40% unfavorably — a 10:1 unfavorable to favorable ratio, far higher than any other candidate tested (for comparison, 52% of respondents rate President Trump unfavorably vs. 42% favorably).
Schultz is viewed unfavorably by Democrats (50% unfavorable — 4% favorable), Republicans (43% unfavorable — 4% favorable), and Independents (31% unfavorable — 4% favorable).

source

[Kim O'Hara]

Screenshot_2019-02-04_17-45-18.png

That's just about how the US looks from Australia, too, although our whole political debate has been drifting to the Right for at least ten years.
Our present government would have been hard right twenty years ago but now they have plenty of people on their right.


Kim

[DNS]

That sounds about right. I'm center-right, but sometimes get called liberal or left-wing by Yanks.

[chownah]

In thailand there will probably be an election next month.....over 60 political parties. The concept of being "right" or "left" is either non-existent or at least if it does exist no one seems to either know or care about it.
chownah

[fwiw]

In thailand there will probably be an election next month.....over 60 political parties. The concept of being "right" or "left" is either non-existent or at least if it does exist no one seems to either know or care about it.
chownah

This sounds so much saner. They do have maoists though. And there was even briefly an armed conflicted in the streets of Bangkok sometime in 2010 I think.

[fwiw]

DzBjG21U8AEKUVW.jpg (174.12 KiB) Viewed 110 times

[fwiw]

Black Agenda Report: The U.S. is a Political Prison, Kamala Harris is a Prison Guard

https://www.blackagendareport.com/us-po ... ison-guard

Under Kamala Harris, California saw an exponential increase in the number of drug convictions. Harris also punished Black families for truancy and appealed a federal judge’s decision to eradicate the death penalty. She has furiously protected the police from prosecution and refused to investigate police officer abuse, violence, and murder perpetrated mainly against poor Black Americans. Harris is a cop for the U.S. political prison, as are most members of the self-serving Black misleadership class. The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) voted in favor of the 1033 program that arms police departments with military weaponry from the Department of Defense in 2014 and followed up this vote in 2018 by supporting a federal “Blue Lives Matter”bill.

As part of the CBC, Harris certainly possesses credentials that the ruling classes desire. Not only has Harris played an instrumental role in the mass Black incarceration state, but she has also been paid handsomely to protect the banks. As Attorney General, Harris refused to prosecute Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s former corporation, WestOne, for imposing illegal foreclosures. Mnuchin awarded Harris with a generous contribution to her political campaign in 2016. And if that weren’t enough, Harris is sure to project U.S. imperial interests abroad given her numerous speaking engagements with the powerful Israeli lobby AIPAC and her cozy relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. Harris, in other words, is Obama personified as a self-identified Black woman.

[DNS]

Harris was a prosecutor and then Attorney General for the State of California. So it was her job to seek the biggest punishments just as it was the defenses' job to seek the least sentence. However, it looks like she may have went too far in her zeal or possibly due to special interests. That will hurt her chances in the primaries, caucuses.

[DNS]

Harris was a prosecutor and then Attorney General for the State of California. So it was her job to seek the biggest punishments just as it was the defenses' job to seek the least sentence. However, it looks like she may have went too far in her zeal or possibly due to special interests. That will hurt her chances in the primaries, caucuses.

Conversely, here in Vegas we had a mayor (Oscar Goodman) who was an attorney for the mafia. He argued that everyone is entitled to a defense and he was doing his job. It was up to the prosecutors to make their case, but every defendant still deserves a defense.

Goodman served the maximum 3 terms (12 years) allowed as mayor of Las Vegas. He was a popular mayor and only left due to term limits. Yes, I voted for him too.