(07-09-2020 03:33 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The Breathe Act

This is the level of idiocy that makes it impossible for me to support any democrat, no matter how nice he is.

I presume all the democrats here support this - at the least they will vote for people who will support this. But if one of you does not support this, speak up.

.....

Proposed federal legislation that would radically transform the nation's criminal justice system through such changes as eliminating agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and the use of surveillance technology was unveiled Tuesday by the Movement for Black Lives.

The act, which also seeks to reduce the Department of Defense budget, would institute changes to the policing, pretrial detention, sentencing and prosecution practices that Cullors said have long disproportionately criminalized Black and brown communities, LGBTQIA people, Indigenous people, and individuals with disabilities.

It would establish the Neighborhood Demilitarization Program, which would collect and destroy all equipment like military-grade armored vehicles and weapons in the hands of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies by 2022.

Federal law enforcement also would be unable to use facial-recognition technology, which many communities across the nation already have banned, along with drones and forms of electronic surveillance such as ankle-monitoring.

The bill would end life sentences, abolish all mandatory minimum sentencing laws and create a "time bound plan" to close all federal prisons and immigration detention centers.

... removing police, school resource officers and other armed security and metal detectors from schools.

Isn't Cullors the one who said she was a trained marxist?

Yep. Amazing that.

(07-10-2020 09:28 AM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(07-09-2020 03:33 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The Breathe Act

This is the level of idiocy that makes it impossible for me to support any democrat, no matter how nice he is.

I presume all the democrats here support this - at the least they will vote for people who will support this. But if one of you does not support this, speak up.

A lot to unpack here... please don't equate lack of comments with support.

OK, take your time, but p-lease comment.

As for the rest of you, what is it that BLM says about silence?

Oh yeah

(07-10-2020 11:15 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 09:28 AM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(07-09-2020 03:33 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The Breathe Act

This is the level of idiocy that makes it impossible for me to support any democrat, no matter how nice he is.

I presume all the democrats here support this - at the least they will vote for people who will support this. But if one of you does not support this, speak up.

A lot to unpack here... please don't equate lack of comments with support.

OK, take your time, but p-lease comment.

As for the rest of you, what is it that BLM says about silence?

Oh yeah

Had enough time yet?

Not a drop-dead issue though, I guess.

(07-12-2020 12:40 AM)At Ease Wrote:  

Not a drop-dead issue though, I guess.

Not enough to make we want to vote Socialist, as you were predetermined to do.

Not a popular decision

But not unprecedented - ever hear of Marc Rich?

(07-11-2020 07:00 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 11:15 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 09:28 AM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(07-09-2020 03:33 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The Breathe Act

This is the level of idiocy that makes it impossible for me to support any democrat, no matter how nice he is.

I presume all the democrats here support this - at the least they will vote for people who will support this. But if one of you does not support this, speak up.

A lot to unpack here... please don't equate lack of comments with support.

OK, take your time, but p-lease comment.

As for the rest of you, what is it that BLM says about silence?

Oh yeah

Had enough time yet?

Anybody? AtEase, Big, Lad?

Japan shocked and angered at U.S. coronavirus outbreak at military stations at Okinawa.

61 Marines have been infected with the virus in recent days, according to the Guardian newspaper, spread across two bases in the archipelago — which has long been a US military stronghold in the eastern Pacific.

38 of the reported cases are at the Futenma Marine air station. Another 23 occurred at Camp Hansen, a base that is home to around 6,000 US Marines.

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavi...reddit.com

(07-12-2020 08:44 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-11-2020 07:00 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 11:15 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 09:28 AM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(07-09-2020 03:33 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The Breathe Act

This is the level of idiocy that makes it impossible for me to support any democrat, no matter how nice he is.

I presume all the democrats here support this - at the least they will vote for people who will support this. But if one of you does not support this, speak up.

A lot to unpack here... please don't equate lack of comments with support.

OK, take your time, but p-lease comment.

As for the rest of you, what is it that BLM says about silence?

Oh yeah

Had enough time yet?

Anybody? AtEase, Big, Lad?

I don’t have the time or inclination to read the link or respond.

(07-12-2020 12:58 PM)mrbig Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 08:44 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-11-2020 07:00 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 11:15 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 09:28 AM)Rice93 Wrote:  A lot to unpack here... please don't equate lack of comments with support.

OK, take your time, but p-lease comment.

As for the rest of you, what is it that BLM says about silence?

Oh yeah

Had enough time yet?

Anybody? AtEase, Big, Lad?

I don’t have the time or inclination to read the link or respond.

Expected that of you. Just don't come here in a year or two saying you don't support the moves to socialism, and you resent being called a socialist just because you voted for the people pushing it.

How about you other guys?

To make it easy for those who care, here is the link againL

The Breathe Act

Some highlights:

eliminating agencies like the Drug Enforcement Administration and the use of surveillance technology was unveiled Tuesday by the Movement for Black Lives.

target agencies such as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has come under fire in recent years for its aggressive deportation efforts, and lesser-known programs such as Department of Defense 1033, which allows local law enforcement agencies to obtain excess military equipment.

The act, which also seeks to reduce the Department of Defense budget, would institute changes to the policing, pretrial detention, sentencing and prosecution practices that Cullors said have long disproportionately criminalized Black and brown communities, LGBTQIA people, Indigenous people, and individuals with disabilities.

establish the Neighborhood Demilitarization Program, which would collect and destroy all equipment like military-grade armored vehicles and weapons in the hands of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies by 2022.

Federal law enforcement also would be unable to use facial-recognition technology, which many communities across the nation already have banned, along with drones and forms of electronic surveillance such as ankle-monitoring.

end life sentences, abolish all mandatory minimum sentencing laws and create a "time bound plan" to close all federal prisons and immigration detention centers.

removing police, school resource officers and other armed security and metal detectors from schools.

(07-12-2020 08:44 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-11-2020 07:00 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 11:15 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-10-2020 09:28 AM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(07-09-2020 03:33 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  The Breathe Act

This is the level of idiocy that makes it impossible for me to support any democrat, no matter how nice he is.

I presume all the democrats here support this - at the least they will vote for people who will support this. But if one of you does not support this, speak up.

A lot to unpack here... please don't equate lack of comments with support.

OK, take your time, but p-lease comment.

As for the rest of you, what is it that BLM says about silence?

Oh yeah

Had enough time yet?

Anybody? AtEase, Big, Lad?

This is a policy proposal put out by a coalition of groups, sponsored by politicians that, as best as I can tell, come from the far left end of the political spectrum. A coalition sponsored by, again as best as I can tell, an umbrella think tank that's left of the left. Sponsored by Talib? Hasn't actually been introduced. Co-sponsors?

Bet Pelosi finds a way to bury this.

Enacted in toto, it would do to the Dem party what we're about to see Trump and his supporters do to the Republican party. A wipe out with independents and moderates.

Even if Joe Biden is a Trojan Horse for fill in the blank with whatever fever dream the right has at the moment, (AOC? Talib? Daniel Ortega's nephew?) can you honestly say that you see these proposals passing the House and Senate with Dem control of both houses? Tester, Joe Manchin, Klobuchar wouldn't vote for the bulk of the proposals I skimmed. Tim Kaine, of the armed services committee and of Virginia, is going to defund DoD? Who do you think has funded every campaign he's run?

Movement from the Biden Admin to build on the criminal justice reform that the Trump Admin kick started? To cut down on the % of people incarcerated? I can see that. The article you linked references a poll that shows a majority in favor of the statement "criminal justice system needs major changes."

With respect the the summary of the proposals here Breath Act, I can support two of the proposals without knowing more: getting rid of mandatory minimum sentencing, abolishing three strikes. Civil forfeiture needs a hard look and reform. I'm no expert on that subject (or, if I'm being honest, on really any other subject), just the random horror stories have heard or read about.

Hate the idea of ending electronic monitoring. No victim's rights, family violence or sexual assault advocate signed off on that proposal. Bail reform without electronic monitoring is a non-starter.

The rest is a mish mash.

Joe Biden on the "defund the police" message, pulled from a fact checker site:

“I don’t support defunding the police,“ he said to CBS News. “I support conditioning federal aid to police, based on whether or not they meet certain basic standards of decency and honorableness. And, in fact, are able to demonstrate they can protect the community and everybody in the community.”

Biden in the 1990’s wrote controversial “tough on crime” bills.

Now he’s proposing:

$300 million new dollars for community policing and re-training.
A federal ban on choke holds.
National standards for use of force.

Why the presumption about "all Democrats"? To justify voting for Trump again?

I suspect and hope that you and the republic can survive 4 years of Biden. Give the R's time to re-group and run a Nikki Haley in 2024 to put the coalition back together.

To change the subject, watched the new Tom Hanks movie yesterday, Greyhound. Pretty good, not too long, not his best, made me miss the big screen.

(07-12-2020 01:34 PM)ausowl Wrote:  This is a policy proposal put out by a coalition of groups, sponsored by politicians that, as best as I can tell, come from the far left end of the political spectrum. A coalition sponsored by, again as best as I can tell, an umbrella think tank that's left of the left. Sponsored by Talib? Hasn't actually been introduced. Co-sponsors?

Bet Pelosi finds a way to bury this.

I hope so. But I don't think it will be buried in its entirety. The Dems will need to appease the leftist splinter groups, so some of these things will find their way into law.

Quote: can you honestly say that you see these proposals passing the House and Senate with Dem control of both houses?

It's not the probability that bothers so much as the possibility of some or all of these proposals passing.

Quote: The article you linked references a poll that shows a majority in favor of the statement "criminal justice system needs major changes."

Well, these would be pretty major.

Quote:With respect the the summary of the proposals here Breath Act, I can support two of the proposals without knowing more: getting rid of mandatory minimum sentencing, abolishing three strikes. Civil forfeiture needs a hard look and reform.

Agree on all three.

Quote:Hate the idea of ending electronic monitoring. No victim's rights, family violence or sexual assault advocate signed off on that proposal. Bail reform without electronic monitoring is a non-starter.

Again, agree.

Quote:Why the presumption about "all Democrats"? To justify voting for Trump again?

next time I vote for Trump will make it one in a row.

Quote:I suspect and hope that you and the republic can survive 4 years of Biden. Give the R's time to re-group and run a Nikki Haley in 2024 to put the coalition back together.

What makes you think we will get four years of Biden or that he can rein in the progressives he is currently compromising with?

Thanks for you response. I appreciate it.

(07-12-2020 01:56 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  [quote='ausowl' pid='16901006' dateline='1594578849']

What makes you think we will get four years of Biden or that he can rein in the progressives he is currently compromising with?

We should hope that a President Biden does not prove to be our Chancellor von Hindenburg.

(07-12-2020 03:21 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 01:56 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  [quote='ausowl' pid='16901006' dateline='1594578849']

What makes you think we will get four years of Biden or that he can rein in the progressives he is currently compromising with?

We should hope that a President Biden does not prove to be our Chancellor von Hindenburg.

We should hope that the voters in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania don't prove to be our Chancellor von Hindenburg.

K Harris, T Duckworth, S Rice, E Warren, Baldwin, Bottoms, Raimondo don't strike me as the blood and soil types.

Maybe there's some secret dirt on K Harris that I'm unaware of that is the basis of this concern? Was her mentor Willie Brown really an undercover national socialist? The tech fortunes that some of our Rice alums built during his reign of terror in SF might belie that. I had the impression he enjoyed partying with his rich friends more than an allegiance to a particular ideology. But I digress.

Has QAnon deciphered "Build Back Better" as a deep state (or deep dish pizza?) call to arms for pink hat, Doc Martin BLM (t-)shirts to take to the streets after inauguration day? Of these things, I am unaware.

Attempt at humor aside, I can agree that it's always good to be vigilant. No matter which person or party happens to be in power.

(07-12-2020 04:14 PM)ausowl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 03:21 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 01:56 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  [quote='ausowl' pid='16901006' dateline='1594578849']

What makes you think we will get four years of Biden or that he can rein in the progressives he is currently compromising with?

We should hope that a President Biden does not prove to be our Chancellor von Hindenburg.

We should hope that the voters in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania don't prove to be our Chancellor von Hindenburg.

K Harris, T Duckworth, S Rice, E Warren, Baldwin, Bottoms, Raimondo don't strike me as the blood and soil types.

Maybe there's some secret dirt on K Harris that I'm unaware of that is the basis of this concern? Was her mentor Willie Brown really an undercover national socialist? The tech fortunes that some of our Rice alums built during his reign of terror in SF might belie that. I had the impression he enjoyed partying with his rich friends more than an allegiance to a particular ideology. But I digress.

Has QAnon deciphered "Build Back Better" as a deep state (or deep dish pizza?) call to arms for pink hat, Doc Martin BLM (t-)shirts to take to the streets after inauguration day? Of these things, I am unaware.

Attempt at humor aside, I can agree that it's always good to be vigilant. No matter which person or party happens to be in power.

WHOOSH!!!!!

(07-12-2020 04:14 PM)ausowl Wrote:  .

K Harris, T Duckworth, S Rice, E Warren, Baldwin, Bottoms, Raimondo don't strike me as the blood and soil types.

More like the Bolsheviks, IMO. Or maybe the "useful idiots".

(07-12-2020 04:20 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:14 PM)ausowl Wrote:  .

K Harris, T Duckworth, S Rice, E Warren, Baldwin, Bottoms, Raimondo don't strike me as the blood and soil types.

More like the Bolsheviks, IMO. Or maybe the "useful idiots".

OO - I'm going on vacation next week (not to Taos, NM or Colorado, sadly, but all the way to a cabin by the Blanco River with limited wifi). If you could recommend one book that would give me insight as to why Tammy Duckworth, former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Tammy Duckworth, K Harris, S Rice or Raimondo are "useful" idiots or a cat's paw for an imagined Bolshevik coup, what book would that be? I'm not going to promise to read the whole book as I have my reading list picked out. But I do promise to buy it and bring it along to dip into.

(07-12-2020 04:43 PM)ausowl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:20 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:14 PM)ausowl Wrote:  .

K Harris, T Duckworth, S Rice, E Warren, Baldwin, Bottoms, Raimondo don't strike me as the blood and soil types.

More like the Bolsheviks, IMO. Or maybe the "useful idiots".

OO - I'm going on vacation next week (not to Taos, NM or Colorado, sadly, but all the way to a cabin by the Blanco River with limited wifi). If you could recommend one book that would give me insight as to why Tammy Duckworth, former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Tammy Duckworth, K Harris, S Rice or Raimondo are "useful" idiots or a cat's paw for an imagined Bolshevik coup, what book would that be? I'm not going to promise to read the whole book as I have my reading list picked out. But I do promise to buy it and bring it along to dip into.

Book? Just watch the news. The entire party is moving left at breakneck speed. Duckworth, talking about Trump's speech at Mt. Rushmore, was at best uninformed, and at worst an outright liar. Susan Rice - just go back to the five Sunday morning appearances reiterating the video as the cause of Benghazi. I wouldn't trust her to bring me a drink of water. Harris would be the best of the bad bunch for me - I care little for whether she did or did not sleep her way to the top. Not a big deal for me. Raimundo I know little about. What qualifies her other than her last name? There are worse possibilities out there - Abrams for one. I wonder why you didn't list Bottoms, Demings, or some of the others. Whitmer would be a better choice, but apparently she is either too white or too moderate.

But they are all "useful idiots", even Biden, if they help pave the way for the far left to gain power and pass laws, even if they themselves are not the far left. It might be under the guise of compromise, or interior party politics, but they will in the end be no different than the Russian peasants who propelled Lenin to power.

As for surviving a Biden Presidency, I think I can last two years. The doctors say I am doing well. I would feel better if the 47th president was selected on some basis other than sex and ethnicity.

You mention Haley. I would have loved her to have been the 45th President instead of Trump. I would love for her to be the 46th or 47th president.

But the choices are Trump or Biden and the shadow gang behind him. I like a lot of what Trump has done, and I fear the shadow gang. The narrative that was thrust upon us was that Trump was a Russian puppet. I think Biden will be a puppet, and I don't know who is/will be pulling the strings, but I highly doubt they will be centrists.

I have as much or more basis to worry about a Biden win as you do to not worry about it.

(07-12-2020 06:03 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:43 PM)ausowl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:20 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:14 PM)ausowl Wrote:  K Harris, T Duckworth, S Rice, E Warren, Baldwin, Bottoms, Raimondo don't strike me as the blood and soil types.

More like the Bolsheviks, IMO. Or maybe the "useful idiots".

OO - I'm going on vacation next week (not to Taos, NM or Colorado, sadly, but all the way to a cabin by the Blanco River with limited wifi). If you could recommend one book that would give me insight as to why Tammy Duckworth, former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Tammy Duckworth, K Harris, S Rice or Raimondo are "useful" idiots or a cat's paw for an imagined Bolshevik coup, what book would that be? I'm not going to promise to read the whole book as I have my reading list picked out. But I do promise to buy it and bring it along to dip into.

Book? Just watch the news. The entire party is moving left at breakneck speed. Duckworth, talking about Trump's speech at Mt. Rushmore, was at best uninformed, and at worst an outright liar. Susan Rice - just go back to the five Sunday morning appearances reiterating the video as the cause of Benghazi. I wouldn't trust her to bring me a drink of water. Harris would be the best of the bad bunch for me - I care little for whether she did or did not sleep her way to the top. Not a big deal for me. Raimundo I know little about. What qualifies her other than her last name? There are worse possibilities out there - Abrams for one. I wonder why you didn't list Bottoms, Demings, or some of the others. Whitmer would be a better choice, but apparently she is either too white or too moderate.
But they are all "useful idiots", even Biden, if they help pave the way for the far left to gain power and pass laws, even if they themselves are not the far left. It might be under the guise of compromise, or interior party politics, but they will in the end be no different than the Russian peasants who propelled Lenin to power.
As for surviving a Biden Presidency, I think I can last two years. The doctors say I am doing well. I would feel better if the 47th president was selected on some basis other than sex and ethnicity.
You mention Haley. I would have loved her to have been the 45th President instead of Trump. I would love for her to be the 46th or 47th president.
But the choices are Trump or Biden and the shadow gang behind him. I like a lot of what Trump has done, and I fear the shadow gang. The narrative that was thrust upon us was that Trump was a Russian puppet. I think Biden will be a puppet, and I don't know who is/will be pulling the strings, but I highly doubt they will be centrists.
I have as much or more basis to worry about a Biden win as you do to not worry about it.

I can see opposing Trump. He does many things that cause me to scratch my head.

But I can't for the life of me see any reason to support any of the democrats.

Do they support the GND? Pretty much and it's pretty Marxist/Bolshevik.
Do they support BLM (not the concept that black lives matter, but the organization itself)? Pretty much, and a leader is an admitted Marxist.
Do they support Anitfa? Pretty much.
Do they support "tax the rich and those evil corporations"? Pretty strongly, and how do you think the "rich" and those corporations will respond? My guess is lots of investment and jobs going overseas.
Do they support strict gun regulation, up to and including confiscation? Pretty much, unspoken if not spoken.
Do they support single-payer health care? Absolutely.
Do they support late-term abortion on demand? In deeds if not in words.

I mean, they just have so many issue positions that are absolute drop-dead show-stoppers for me.

(07-13-2020 06:53 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Do they support the GND? Pretty much and it's pretty Marxist/Bolshevik.
Do they support BLM (not the concept that black lives matter, but the organization itself)? Pretty much, and a leader is an admitted Marxist.
Do they support Anitfa? Pretty much.
Do they support "tax the rich and those evil corporations"? Pretty strongly, and how do you think the "rich" and those corporations will respond? My guess is lots of investment and jobs going overseas.
Do they support strict gun regulation, up to and including confiscation? Pretty much, unspoken if not spoken.
Do they support single-payer health care? Absolutely.
Do they support late-term abortion on demand? In deeds if not in words.

Most of the soldier ants will declare they don't support those positions, or not all of them, but then they will go and blindly vote for the gang that will push most of it through Congress into law. That's why they are soldier ants and not movers and shakers.

I don't care one way or the other about abortion. It is the legal taking of a human life but so is the death penalty, which I also oppose but both of them are the law. If they want to advance the age at which a mother can legally kill her child, I don't care if they move it to the ninth month of gestation or three years after birth. All they are talking about is the cutoff date date between legal killing and illegal killing.

The GND is an impractical plan and is not designed to cure a problem but only to delay it. Talk about denying science. Try telling them there is a natural component to the warming, and they will declare heresy.

Much of the GND is like much of the BLM agenda - very socialist in nature.
Antifa reminds me a lot of the russian peasantry in 1917. Shoot the Czar!! He's a horrible person!!

The tax the rich mentality will run amok. Some, like numbers said, will move their expansions overseas. That should please the left as all those workers in Thailand or Peru want is a better life for their family. But it will mean a worse life for some american families, as Dad won't find that job when he looks for it. and it is not just the jobs moved overseas, but the jobs never created here as we tax away the cash that could have fueled the opening of a new branch with new jobs, but instead goes to Washington to pay unemployment benefits, soon to be called the dole or just benefits, as in the UK. Trump's economy was creating jobs for black and white, but the Democrats want to reverse that.

The left is clueless as to how capitalism works, thus the push toward socialism. A puppet president and control of both houses will just grease the skids.

Sorry, guys, I don't like Trump being rude to a handicapped reporter either, but that is not enough to make me vote for socialism/communism/mob rule. You can stubbornly say that you aren't voting for that, but you are.

(07-12-2020 06:03 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:43 PM)ausowl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:20 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  

(07-12-2020 04:14 PM)ausowl Wrote:  .

K Harris, T Duckworth, S Rice, E Warren, Baldwin, Bottoms, Raimondo don't strike me as the blood and soil types.

More like the Bolsheviks, IMO. Or maybe the "useful idiots".

OO - I'm going on vacation next week (not to Taos, NM or Colorado, sadly, but all the way to a cabin by the Blanco River with limited wifi). If you could recommend one book that would give me insight as to why Tammy Duckworth, former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Tammy Duckworth, K Harris, S Rice or Raimondo are "useful" idiots or a cat's paw for an imagined Bolshevik coup, what book would that be? I'm not going to promise to read the whole book as I have my reading list picked out. But I do promise to buy it and bring it along to dip into.

Book? Just watch the news. The entire party is moving left at breakneck speed. Duckworth, talking about Trump's speech at Mt. Rushmore, was at best uninformed, and at worst an outright liar. Susan Rice - just go back to the five Sunday morning appearances reiterating the video as the cause of Benghazi. I wouldn't trust her to bring me a drink of water. Harris would be the best of the bad bunch for me - I care little for whether she did or did not sleep her way to the top. Not a big deal for me. Raimundo I know little about. What qualifies her other than her last name? There are worse possibilities out there - Abrams for one. I wonder why you didn't list Bottoms, Demings, or some of the others. Whitmer would be a better choice, but apparently she is either too white or too moderate.

But they are all "useful idiots", even Biden, if they help pave the way for the far left to gain power and pass laws, even if they themselves are not the far left. It might be under the guise of compromise, or interior party politics, but they will in the end be no different than the Russian peasants who propelled Lenin to power.

As for surviving a Biden Presidency, I think I can last two years. The doctors say I am doing well. I would feel better if the 47th president was selected on some basis other than sex and ethnicity.

You mention Haley. I would have loved her to have been the 45th President instead of Trump. I would love for her to be the 46th or 47th president.

But the choices are Trump or Biden and the shadow gang behind him. I like a lot of what Trump has done, and I fear the shadow gang. The narrative that was thrust upon us was that Trump was a Russian puppet. I think Biden will be a puppet, and I don't know who is/will be pulling the strings, but I highly doubt they will be centrists.

I have as much or more basis to worry about a Biden win as you do to not worry about it.

wiki link Gina Raimondo

Current Gov of RI, prior to politics, VC - venture capitalist, not Viet Cong. I assume she's invested in making sure private property rights,and capitalism generally, continue for the foreseeable future.

Found that Duckworth interview on CNN - agree it's cringe worthy. Not the polish of a S Rice of K Harris. Haven't seen her enough to know if that was a one off.

Bottoms and Deemings - just not front of mind for me. No particular reason.