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Vader

The Next President

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My guess is Bill will go with First Gentleman

 

I prefer First Lad. Please make that happen Bill.

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I was hoping and voted for Sanders but eh, Hillary is good I guess.

 

Like the minimum wage debate feels like it encapsulates the difference quite well?  Some gave her massive shit about $12 vs $15 but from the existing $7.25, fuck it it's still really much better ya know?

 

Still kinda mysterious on why ppl that seem to stand on far more left than I do didn't go for Sanders but eh I guess everyone's got their reasons and He would have raised taxes.

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I don't understand why anyone thinks Sanders individually would be able to enact broad social and political change as president. For that to happen the left also needs more , more senators, more judges, and so on. When people use their one individual presidential candidate not getting picked as an excuse to disengage from politics, to me I just read that as misconstruing what the president actually does.

Well, Sanders acknowledged that on 

 occasions (though it is admittedly not clear whether that is actually acknowledging how social change occurs or just an exciting rhetoric). Unless I'm really out of touch with US politics, it seems that the idea that change can be achieved by electing a single savior president isn't promoted by Bernie Sanders' campaign exclusively or specifically, and is a direct result of having a presidential system.

 

I'm not very well versed in the US political system, but it sounds to me like the president does have a lot of influence over which subjects get the most attention from the public.

Would it be wrong to say that some pretty significant policies, e.g. the war on drugs, were mainly shaped by the executive branch?

Obviously part of that is established before the election, based on each candidate's platform – but as a president one has more resources and more context to place their agenda in. I think that a president can certainly inform, shape, and have some sort of leadership over a social movement, regardless of their legislative power – and sure, that might very well be truer in the case of republicans if the president will have the support of other parts of the system.

 

For me, as someone who doesn't live in the US, Sanders seemed to be pretty promising in that he reshaped the conversation around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which up until now was somehow more pro-Israel in the US than it is in, well, Israel. He also talked about the importance of addressing climate change, and has a pretty good record on animal rights (aside from being a carnist himself).

Sorry about the long post ):

BTW could you link to an article about

 

Republicans have built a really impressive operation that has put a lot of conservatives in power across less-visible offices that can be effectively secured for a lot less money than it takes to mount a successful presidential campaign.

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I was hoping and voted for Sanders but eh, Hillary is good I guess.

Like the minimum wage debate feels like it encapsulates the difference quite well? Some gave her massive shit about $12 vs $15 but from the existing $7.25, fuck it it's still really much better ya

Cordeos can speak on this more than I can, as this is one of the main goals of his party in Minneapolis/St. Paul/Minnesota in general. $12 is closer to a liveable wage, but still isn't really, especially in urban cities where cost of living is high(er). There are groups angling to go for $10 or $12 explicitly to undercut the push/enthusiasm for $15 under the guise of 'compromise.' They're trying to slow down the push for $15 by giving people a worse version of it and saying you should be happy with what you got.

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Cordeos can speak on this more than I can, as this is one of the main goals of his party in Minneapolis/St. Paul/Minnesota in general. $12 is closer to a liveable wage, but still isn't really, especially in urban cities where cost of living is high(er). There are groups angling to go for $10 or $12 explicitly to undercut the push/enthusiasm for $15 under the guise of 'compromise.' They're trying to slow down the push for $15 by giving people a worse version of it and saying you should be happy with what you got.

 

I live in northern NJ so I hear you guys on the relatively higher cost of living issue, and that's part of why I'm eager for whatever scrap of improvement that can be had while pushing for more.

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Cordeos can speak on this more than I can, as this is one of the main goals of his party in Minneapolis/St. Paul/Minnesota in general. $12 is closer to a liveable wage, but still isn't really, especially in urban cities where cost of living is high(er). There are groups angling to go for $10 or $12 explicitly to undercut the push/enthusiasm for $15 under the guise of 'compromise.' They're trying to slow down the push for $15 by giving people a worse version of it and saying you should be happy with what you got.

I really agree with a $12 minimum wage with higher wages negotiated through more local governments, to be honest. $15 isn't a living wage in my county -- you would have to work something like 52 hours a week at that rate to afford a 1 bedroom at market rate, all other living costs aside. So $15/HR would undercut any push to get a reasonable living wage here. Same in New York -- why $15? That's not a living wage in NYC, and good luck getting a true living wage there now.

$12 will help people get a good baseline, but isn't so high it will cut other initiatives off before they gain steam. I support it. $15 has some similar problems to $12, but decreases the margins enough to make the opposition voices stronger.

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Median rent in Minneapolis looks like it's $800 for a 1 br. If you make $2400 gross each month that would be a third to housing which is about what most define as 'affordable' (most say no more than 30%). 2400/4=600/40=15 (4 weeks per month, 40 hours per week gives you 15/hr)

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Last number I saw for living wage in Minneapolis was $23.50 for a single parent and child. $12 isn't enough, $15 is better but still won't be enough. but its almost double the current minimum in Minnesota. Part of the goal is to build a movement that can then push for other things like rent control and shaking up city council.

 

We are past the legal minimum for signatures to get $15 on the ballot in November. Our two biggest concerns right now are the city council undercutting us with something like $12, which has happened in other cities or a legal challenge where the city tries to say that it cannot legally raise the minimum wage in this way. Similar concerns about legality were ignored when the new Vikings Stadium needed funding and the City Council just mandated sick leave for all employees in the city (after shooting down a more comprehensive grassroots supported bill last year). Should be interesting.

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I heard on the radio that Trump wants to throw away the Transpacific Trade Partnership and the North American Free Trade Agreement. As an american, I'm watching this Brexit stuff go down and I'm extrapolating and speculating to the situation in my own country. I tend to value democracy and higher degrees of self-sovereignity over gross national product, so the potential of losing GDP doesn't influence my opinion as much as the maintaining or encouraging the ability of workers to define their terms of labor. I do consider Clinton a neoliberal who believes that making the rich richer lifts people out of poverty (which I'm skeptical of). To see Trump declare these trade-agreements as disasters for the american working-class fits with my impression of the situation. This isn't going to make me vote for Trump, but I think this balance between populus-power and trade-deals is worth discussing.

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if i were a betting man, i'd still honestly put my money on trump not making the full run. his brand is WINNING, and there is no value in such a high profile loss, and he is well on his way to losing. he can just say "the gop is rigged and not supporting me so i can't do it" and walk away. 

 

fun backup point: there were some articles recently that said despite trump's words his campaign hasn't filed any of the paperwork required to actually forgive the loans he made to his campaign. meaning he can use the donations he's raising to pay them back, until august. convention in mid july. also, i love that he directly solicited both non-us citizens and foreign officials, both illegal.  

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I think as soon as the conventions are over and the Clinton machine turns it's sights on Trump that will be the death knell for his campaign.  He retains support with his obviously racist base, but other than that Hillary has strong and growing support in the battleground states, and the polls that put trump ahead tend to be often seem skewed to that result such as being conducted in heavily republican districts or in small areas where trump support is high.  Regardless of how likely Trump sounds in these kinds of polls, he or any republican for that matter has a huge uphill battle to contend with when it comes to electoral votes.

 

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/donald-trump-has-a-20-percent-chance-of-becoming-president/

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I'm starting to believe that Trump is actually going to getting elected as president and I want to throw up.

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The RNC has been an absolute mad circus to follow. From Cruz stabbing Trump in the back to Colbert's Hungry For Power Games stealing the stage. Man. I still don't believe Trump stands a chance.

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Honestly I think his campaign has backslid massively from the primaries and really don't see it happening now, but it is a super disturbing thought and I'm not going to relax until this whole thing is over.

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Honestly I think his campaign has backslid massively from the primaries and really don't see it happening now, but it is a super disturbing thought and I'm not going to relax until this whole thing is over.

 

Yep, my butt will be properly clenched until election day is over and results are in.

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I thought Ivanka Trump's speech was pretty good. I don't remember the GOP ever having any interest in women's issues. I'm hoping that the two platforms will ante up more and more offers to women as this goes on and an expectations are raised in both constituencies.
The structure of Donald Trump's speech seemed like it was intentionally conflating violent crime and immigration which is horrible. He also seems to blame Clinton for the last 15 years of foreign policy in the Middle East which is Rush Limbaugh's History of the United States.

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Wikileaks has released emails of DNC leadership (CEO, CFO, director and deputy director of communications) trying to out Sanders as an atheist before the KY and WV primaries because it "could make several points difference with my peeps" and suggesting that the governor of RI could head off a scandal with Sanders supporters because "she's one of ours." Fuck me, this election season is so terrible, even the "good guys" are part of a massively and shamelessly corrupt structure of cronyist politics. I almost have more hope of reform for the US government proper than for the DNC.

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