Booker is corrupt. Big picture corrupt. I have no idea if he's actually done anything illegal, but he owes some big corporate constituencies. I read that he has already been making the rounds looking for corporate support. There are better Democrats running.

Interesting article tonight concerning tax platform ideas
 

Democrats' Tax Plans Reflects Profound Shift In Public Mood

by Matt Viser | The Washington Post (click on link above for article)



I found an article tonight, published about thirty minutes ago, and it features some of the platform ideas proposed by several Democratic Presidential contenders, concerning money/inequality/tax evasion etc.

I think what I found myself nodding in agreement to was an idea expressed by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio): Brown is stressing middle-class tax cuts and overhauling the tax code to punish companies that cut wages or ship jobs overseas. I can see how Brown's view about doing something like this would provide better oversight and transparency (if one could say that), by overhauling the tax code... like propose this idea of his as a part of a more wide reaching tax reform type House Bill.

But the tricky part of this idea Brown proposes is that how does one reign in corporate business with this type of tax reform because while it's a good idea to foster big business employers to remain located in the US and not dislocate workers who've been on the job (for years, most likely -- think Detroit-MI, Elkhart-IN, Pittsburg-PA, or even Daimler or shipping yards or iron workers or construction workers, etc), I think that lots of people living in the mid-west, or wherever big business employers are generally found, are the vanishing middle-class, if there's a middle class at all. Most of America can be understood to be a majority of citizens, who are widely recognized as "the working poor." (I am, I've never had a fabulous paying job, ever in my life).



I sometimes understand the topic concerning platform politics, but sometimes I get lost trying to understand.



The article covers ideas by Sen. Warren, Sen. Ocasio-Cortez, Sen. Booker, Sen. Guillibrand, Sen. Harris, Sen. Sanders, and a few other people who weigh in on certain platform ideas by the senators featured in the article.



Lots to think about, but I do think that reforming the tax code to hold plutocrats, cazillionaires, etc, accountable so that they invest in people, the economy, and keep business here in the US is a good idea. We've all read news accounts of those who have sheltered their profits/income streams/etc by not paying taxes or investing in their employees and the US economy in general. I'd like to see that change and for the ordinary person to be able to earn a decent living, and actually not have to fret and worry about when the next check comes, will there be anything left to buy food or pay the bills in timely ways (…..).



I don't know about anyone else, but if the SOTU address is aired this week, I am SOOOOOO looking forward to hearing the rebuttal given by Stacy Abrams.

NBC News: Russia's propaganda machine discovers 2020 Democratic candidate Tulsi Gabbard, by Robert Windrem and Ben Popken, Feb. 2, 2019, 6:03 AM CST

The Russian propaganda machine that tried to influence the 2016 U.S. election is now promoting the presidential aspirations of a controversial Hawaii Democrat who earlier this month declared her intention to run for president in 2020.

An NBC News analysis of the main English-language news sites employed by Russia in its 2016 election meddling shows Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who is set to make her formal announcement Saturday, has become a favorite of the sites Moscow used when it interfered in 2016.

Several experts who track websites and social media linked to the Kremlin have also seen what they believe may be the first stirrings of an upcoming Russian campaign of support for Gabbard.

Since Gabbard announced her intention to run on Jan. 11, there have been at least 20 Gabbard stories on three major Moscow-based English-language websites affiliated with or supportive of the Russian government: RT, the Russian-owned TV outlet; Sputnik News, a radio outlet; and Russia Insider

Gabbard was mentioned on the three sites about twice as often as two of the best known Democratic possibilities for 2020, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, each with 10 stories. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren had fewer. In each case, the other contenders were treated more critically than Gabbard, with headlines like "'Don't Run': Vermont Paper Begs Bernie Sanders Not to Seek US Presidency in 2020" and "Sexist much? Biden blames 'conservative blonde woman' for shutdown, 'forgets' Ann Coulter's name."

<snip>

"Her promulgation of positions compatible with Russian geo strategic interests can help them mainstream such discussion in the [Democratic] party," said Alex Stamos, former chief security officer at Facebook and now an NBC News analyst. Gabbard, said Stamos, helps them with all their "lines of attack."

<snip>

Gabbard's most controversial position and the one where she's most in line with Russian interests is on Syria. She's accused the U.S. of pushing a policy of "regime change" wars and in January 2017, she met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Syria on what she called a "fact-finding mission."

RT began defending Gabbard as soon as she announced.

Russia-deniers on both right and left dismiss these concerns with "they're not doing anything we don't do" and that's true.

Information warfare has always existed and exists on all levels-- at work, in entertainment, in advertising, and in the official explanations of our own government on every topic.

Possibly the hysteria over information warfare is the MSM (note the source, NBC News)/centrist way of reviving Russia as an enemy now that terrorism is becoming less effective, so they can maintain the corporatist system, which is in itself yet some more information warfare.

"Beating Russia" as an agenda will be a lot cheaper than "saving the planet."

The problem i have with information warfare is it is so asymmetrical. It is the powerful against the weak on every level, and one side is not at all equipped for it.

I don't think she has a chance in the primaries. She has that history of anti-gay statements, and she has long been affiliated with what some deem to be a cult.

Edited to add: https://medium.com/@lalitamann/an-in...uru-e2650f0d09

That was pretty scary.

Ditto..............

Don't call him a Billionaire..................
 

...

Howard just wants to be referred to a "person of means"!

Perhaps he thinks that makes him more relate-able to the average working stiff?

I don't think he's that dumb. I don't much admire him but I don't think he's trying to be the obverse of Trump and blow "poor".

Why does he have to be more relatable to the average working stiff? Far as I can remember, the only President (in the last 100 years or so )relatable to the average working stiff is Trump and he claims no simple means. Actually, seems like working stiffs like their Presidents to have 24K water taps and solid gold bidets...it's aspirational, i guess.

Monmouth University Polling Institute: Dems Prefer Electability in 2020
(numbers below from poll as quoted by @ryanstruyk)

2020 numbers among whites by college education

Whites w/ a college degree:
Biden 22%
Harris 15%
Warren 13%
Sanders 12%

Whites w/o a college degree:
Biden 36%
Sanders 19%
Harris 10%
Warren 8%

2020 poll numbers by race

Whites:
Biden 30%
Sanders 16%
Harris 12%
Warren 10%

Nonwhites:
Biden 27%
Sanders 16%
O’Rourke 12%
Harris 9%

2020 poll numbers by gender

Men:
Biden 35%
Sanders 17%
Booker 7%
Warren 7%
Harris 5%
O’Rourke 5%

Women:
Biden 26%
Sanders 16%
Harris 14%
O’Rourke 8%
Warren 8%

2020 poll numbers by age

Over 50 years old:
Biden 38%
Harris 8%
Warren 7%
O’Rourke 7%
Sanders 5%
Booker 5%

Under 50 years old:
Sanders 27%
Biden 21%
Harris 13%
Warren 8%
O’Rourke 8%

This is depressing lol. But it is still early, right???

Look at those young folk. If they would only vote.

We'll know for sure Sunday......
 

But it sure looks like Amy Klobuchar is tossing her hat into the ring!

The announcement is planned in Boom Island Minneapolis.

Lots of publicity about how she treats her staff.

Yup, I've read that! But given the right circumstances, I think Trump would throw his own mother under the bus so there is that!

CNN..........
 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren officially launched her 2020 presidential campaign today at a rally in Lawrence, Massachusetts, using the backdrop of Everett Mills -- the site of a historic 1912 labor strike led by women and immigrants -- to issue a call to action against wealthy power brokers who "have been waging class warfare against hardworking people for decades."

Over 44 minutes in sub-freezing temperatures, Warren described a political elite "bought off" and "bullied" by corporate giants, and a middle class squeezed so tight it "can barely breathe."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/09/polit...tts/index.html

My twitter account was followed this week by "Jennifer Adams @Jennife25259140 Mom,model,various other roles..., struggling human being, hoping for enlightenment"

Who is totally a Russian bot. Her account today only shows achievements in online games plus random tumblr reblogs, but when i scrolled through on the day she followed me, these were interspersed with a bunch of social justice tweets-- #metoo, #BLM, etc-- except every 7th or 8th tweet would be pro-Assad.

Weird and creepy.

i looked at accounts that follow her and a lot of them were nothing but game achievements, too. I think that's how they keep the accounts active when they don't have them doing anything else/build up their activity so they look less fake. The gaming tweets go back several years but the political tweets appear and disappear.

Now i am reverse searching their profile photos to see if they're stock or stolen. Also reporting reporting reporting, not that @jack will do anything.

I came across a news press release, the other day, concerning Julian Castro, and how he talked about his plan to win Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Michigan, Pennsylvania (...).

For anyone who might be interested in learning more about JC and his political platform, you can read about it here (LINK).


Also, there's an CNN interview clip and article too, found here (LINK)

Another article on Amy, tho IF I was to vote for her I don't think I'd let her lack of tack sway me!


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry...b03afe8d674530

Well, between being a mainstream Dem and clearly being a jerk, she doesn't interest me much. Fortunately, we have a lot of candidates to choose from.

Kamala Harris
 

Been watching the news, and apparently, Kamala Harris is leading over other candidates who are running for President in the "social media" arena... (I must say, I rather like her and every time, I have seen her face, she has brought up a smile on this face) :) and this is because of what I have seen while watching TV news - all due to her "authenticity"... In other words, she is the same person with everyone - being true to her self. Personally, this is one quality I respect above many other qualities, a person I might trust. However, having said this, I do not know how this will weigh in the selection process, especially considering how Trump won, being the most unauthentic person one could imagine. Apparently, for many Americans, popularity in the polls has more to do with "vested interests" rather than "authenticity".

I'm a fan of Kamala Harris, but she's a tough cookie. We need that. But I am not sure how much we know her. She's a lawyer who's career has been entirely in law enforcement. I support her. She is my second choice after Bernie. But I think she is super ambitious, super tough, and not someone I'd invite on a long walking tour. BUT, she stands for the right things, and that toughness is what we need, what we have needed. I vastly prefer Bernie, who truly inspires, but I'd be excited and hopeful if she got the nomination.