OT: Democratic Primary Thread

[HarthorneWingo]

Guess I was wrong. Looks like Biden is giving the left the finger. At least he can still get that up. He won't legalize marijuana. Oh well.

Watch on YouTube

[Appleshampoo]

Biden wants to train police officers to shoot suspects in the leg?

While addressing a crowd at the Bethel AME Church in Wilmington, Del., Biden suggested that law enforcement training could include “teaching a cop when there’s an unarmed person, coming at him with a knife or something, to shoot him in the leg instead of the heart.”

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20200608/candidate-biden-suggests-police-be-trained-to-shoot-an-unarmed-person-in-the-leg?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8281_voice_of_freedom&utm_content=issue_19_june_2020

I think that watching Criminal Minds all the time. Pop someone in the leg to stop them from what they're doing and demobilize without killing. One time Hotchner shot an unsub in the shoulder while he was holding a hostage at gun point. Lived to face justice.
Now let's flip the switch to a parking lot in McDonalds in Atlanta. An intoxicated man is running away from the cops after questioning for falling asleep at the drive through. Also may have tried to steal their taser. The officer fatally shot him in the back where his organs are. Shot to kill. Racism obviously a likely factor. He felt so threatened by the dude running away from him? That excuse is pathetic and officially unacceptable. The point is, if cops feel entitled to shoot to kill this easily there is a major problem. Reform training because clearly there is a problem. Personally the shoulder is too close to the head and heart so I like my idea better. Still I like that BIden is willing to offer a decent idea.

I'm also happy to see Biden put forward a plan for supply chain during Covid. Without reading much about it, it sounds like the most rationale idea I have heard in politics all year. Jon Stewart said early on that every 10 days of the Trump presidency feels like 10 years. The virus made it worse. Beefing up the American supply chain for US medical equipment reminds me of Obama and why I am a Democrat. Because the government actually has to govern and have ideas to promote the common good.

I am warming up to Biden as long as he keeps his distance and doesn't try to sniff me.


*I read shoulder but Biden said leg.

[robillionaire]

Guess I was wrong. Looks like Biden is giving the left the finger. At least he can still get that up. He won't legalize marijuana. Oh well.

Watch on YouTube

prison industrial complex won't allow it

[HarthorneWingo]

Guess I was wrong. Looks like Biden is giving the left the finger. At least he can still get that up. He won't legalize marijuana. Oh well.

Watch on YouTube

prison industrial complex won't allow it

Is this why James Clyburn got behind Biden? Is this why Black voters should vote for Joe? fuq

[robillionaire]

Guess I was wrong. Looks like Biden is giving the left the finger. At least he can still get that up. He won't legalize marijuana. Oh well.

Watch on YouTube

prison industrial complex won't allow it

Is this why James Clyburn got behind Biden? Is this why Black voters should vote for Joe? fuq

I dunno, not really my concern

[HarthorneWingo]

prison industrial complex won't allow it

Is this why James Clyburn got behind Biden? Is this why Black voters should vote for Joe? fuq

I dunno, not really my concern

You don't smoke weed?

[HarthorneWingo]

They're messing with Michael Cohen's "conditions of confinement" after Trump found out that Cohen is set to publish a book soon covering his years with Trump. When Cohen and his lawyers refused to sign, the Marshals took him back into jail. This is pretty crazy shyt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/nyregion/michael-cohen-arrested.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=New%20York

[HarthorneWingo]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/minneapolis-hodges-racism.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

As Mayor of Minneapolis, I Saw How White Liberals Block Change
But this revolutionary moment is inviting us to be a part of the solution.

By Betsy Hodges
Ms. Hodges was the mayor of Minneapolis from 2014 to 2018.
July 9, 2020


Betsy Hodges, former mayor of Minneapolis.Credit...Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

Democrats have largely led big and midsize cities for much of the past half-century. Yet the gaps in socioeconomic outcomes between white people and people of color are by several measures at their worst in the richest, bluest cities of the United States.

How could this be? Because high-profile cultural conservatives ask this question so disingenuously, white liberals have generally brushed aside this reality rather than grappled with its urgency. There’s now a danger that this sidestepping will continue, even after a national evaluation of racism since the brutal police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

As the mayor of Minneapolis from 2014 to 2018, as a Minneapolis City Council member from 2006 until 2014 and as a white Democrat, I can say this: White liberals, despite believing we are saying and doing the right things, have resisted the systemic changes our cities have needed for decades. We have mostly settled for illusions of change, like testing pilot programs and funding volunteer opportunities.

These efforts make us feel better about racism, but fundamentally change little for the communities of color whose disadvantages often come from the hoarding of advantage by mostly white neighborhoods.

In Minneapolis, the white liberals I represented as a Council member and mayor were very supportive of summer jobs programs that benefited young people of color. I also saw them fight every proposal to fundamentally change how we provide education to those same young people. They applauded restoring funding for the rental assistance hotline. They also signed petitions and brought lawsuits against sweeping reform to zoning laws that would promote housing affordability and integration.

Nowhere is this dynamic of preserving white comfort at the expense of others more visible than in policing. Whether we know it or not, white liberal people in blue cities implicitly ask police officers to politely stand guard in predominantly white parts of town (where the downside of bad policing is usually inconvenience) and to aggressively patrol the parts of town where people of color live — where the consequences of bad policing are fear, violent abuse, mass incarceration and, far too often, death.

Underlying these requests are the flawed beliefs that aggressive patrolling of Black communities provides a wall of protection around white people and our property.

Police officers understand the dynamic well. We give them lethal tools and a lot of leeway to keep our parts of town safe (a mandate implicitly understood to be “safe from people of color.”) That leeway attracts people who want to misuse it.

-more-

[Clyde_Style]

Trump just commuted Roger Stone's prison sentence.

The WH press release is freaking bananas, like it was written by Sean Hannity and Alan Dershowitz while 69'ing each other. It obsesses over the Mueller Report by saying the Russian collusion angle was fraudulent. Meanwhile there is a dark cloud hovering over Trump's unwillingness to deal with Putin's bounty on American troops. The optics on this are going to be poor even for some Trump supporters.

Only real takeaway is Trump is scared chitless over what Stone has got on him, because keeping Stone quiet matters more to him than the fall-out from this. And I do think he just lost some more voters he can't afford to lose by doing this.

Trump is cornered and frightened. The walls are closing in on him.

[GONYK]

Read on Twitter

Umm...what's happening here?

[HarthorneWingo]

Read on Twitter

Umm...what's happening here?

Ann Coulter? WTF?

Bill Maher is on in 30 minutes so we should find out more about what his good friend is up to.

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

Umm...what's happening here?

Ann Coulter? WTF?

Bill Maher is on in 30 minutes so we should find out more about what his good friend is up to.

Thanks to Mad King Donald, strange bedfellow season is upon us.

Sounds like right wing Celine Dion wants McGrath to check her oil and see what's under the hood.

[Clyde_Style]

Is this why James Clyburn got behind Biden? Is this why Black voters should vote for Joe? fuq

I dunno, not really my concern

You don't smoke weed?

Some people need weed for medicinal reasons, but as a recreational drug it turns people who consume it regularly into idiots. It is a powerful drug, not the benign substance people love to pretend it is, and millions of Americans abuse it daily.

[robillionaire]

I dunno, not really my concern

You don't smoke weed?

Some people need weed for medicinal reasons, but as a recreational drug it turns people who consume it regularly into idiots. It is a powerful drug, not the benign substance people love to pretend it is, and millions of Americans abuse it daily.

same with alcohol but no medicinal reasons and it's legal, you want to bring back prohibition too jack?

[Clyde_Style]

You don't smoke weed?

Some people need weed for medicinal reasons, but as a recreational drug it turns people who consume it regularly into idiots. It is a powerful drug, not the benign substance people love to pretend it is, and millions of Americans abuse it daily.

same with alcohol but no medicinal reasons and it's legal, you want to bring back prohibition too jack?

I'm not against legalization of weed. Just saying the mythology around it is damn hokey. Stoned people are really boring and there's a lot of them out there. I just don't appreciate how people have trivialized weed as something benign. It's not. You're messing with your brain chemistry if you overdo it. Chronic alcohol abuse is even worse on a physical level, but I'd still rather listen to someone with a couple of cocktails in them tell a funny story than listen to a pothead's pseudo-philosophical ramblings. Personally, I think infrequent use of psychedelics is probably the healthiest choice and the most rewarding.

[robillionaire]

Some people need weed for medicinal reasons, but as a recreational drug it turns people who consume it regularly into idiots. It is a powerful drug, not the benign substance people love to pretend it is, and millions of Americans abuse it daily.

same with alcohol but no medicinal reasons and it's legal, you want to bring back prohibition too jack?

I'm not against legalization of weed. Just saying the mythology around it is damn hokey. Stoned people are really boring and there's a lot of them out there. I just don't appreciate how people have trivialized weed as something benign. It's not. You're messing with your brain chemistry if you overdo it. Chronic alcohol abuse is even worse on a physical level, but I'd rather still listen to someone with a couple of cocktails in them tell a funny story than listen to a pothead's pseudo-philosophical ramblings.

that's fair and I agree it's something that should be taken seriously by those who decide to partake and like any drug moderation is important

That said I think it's important to mention that selective targeted enforcement of weed especially in black communities has been a big part of the catastrophic war on drugs that has fueled mass incarceration. this structure is something that has destroyed countless lives and families as well as put the felon label on people disproportionately black to prevent their participation in society in housing jobs and voting, even though studies show that drug use is mostly the same across racial lines black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people, so decriminalization would be very important step in ending the war on drugs and dismantling this cruel system. so I think when people weigh it out hopefully they will see that's the bigger concern than people who smoke weed being annoying etc.

also there's always been a lot of hokey mythology about how damaging it is too, just look at something like the 1936 propaganda film reefer madness, a lot of the root cause for making it illegal in the first place was based on 1930s xenophobic hysteria

it's wild to me this is even still an issue in 2020 I figured maybe there would be a couple bible belt holdout states who need to be dragged across the finish line like with everything else but I figured we would have pretty much reached full legalization by now. it's coming though

[Clyde_Style]

same with alcohol but no medicinal reasons and it's legal, you want to bring back prohibition too jack?

I'm not against legalization of weed. Just saying the mythology around it is damn hokey. Stoned people are really boring and there's a lot of them out there. I just don't appreciate how people have trivialized weed as something benign. It's not. You're messing with your brain chemistry if you overdo it. Chronic alcohol abuse is even worse on a physical level, but I'd rather still listen to someone with a couple of cocktails in them tell a funny story than listen to a pothead's pseudo-philosophical ramblings.

that's fair and I agree it's something that should be taken seriously by those who decide to partake and like any drug moderation is important

That said I think it's important to mention that selective targeted enforcement of weed especially in black communities has been a big part of the catastrophic war on drugs that has fueled mass incarceration. this structure is something that has destroyed countless lives and families as well as put the felon label on people disproportionately black to prevent their participation in society in housing jobs and voting, even though studies show that drug use is mostly the same across racial lines black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people, so decriminalization would be very important step in ending the war on drugs and dismantling this cruel system. so I think when people weigh it out hopefully they will see that's the bigger concern than people who smoke weed being annoying etc.

also there's always been a lot of hokey mythology about how damaging it is too, just look at something like the 1936 propaganda film reefer madness, a lot of the root cause for making it illegal in the first place was based on 1930s xenophobic hysteria

it's wild to me this is even still an issue in 2020 I figured maybe there would be a couple bible belt holdout states who need to be dragged across the finish line like with everything else but I figured we would have pretty much reached full legalization by now. it's coming though

I agree with those points. It has been the false flag used to boost incarcerations. NY State was the worst back in the day with the Rockefeller laws. Really evil stuff.

For those reasons and to help people medicinally, I support decriminalization. I also support recreational usage, but with penalties for the same things as alcohol in terms of using it responsibly. I'm tired of dudes telling me they are fine driving stoned. Bollocks, that should be punishable IMO

I've driven intoxicated in the past so I'm no angel. No one was affected, but I will never do it again.

When I say I find the cultural glorification of weed to be kind of a joke to me, it is coming from a guy who owned the first thirty issues of High Times as a teen. I smoked dope in high school. I quit around 22. I've done my fair share of trips. I was more well-informed than anyone I knew so I tried to take things consciously, but at a pretty young age I found the act of getting high every day to be self-defeating and depressing, not a source of enjoyment. Each to their own, though, I don't want a justice system built around punishing people for getting high.

I used to watch Bill Maher on and off. He acted like he was cool for being a weed smoker and the crowd would go wooo! like it was a secret handshake. It's just pathetic. There's nothing cool about smoking pot. The only thing that makes a person interesting is the person, not the substances they use. Partaking in it should be a personal choice though. If the police are going to be reformed, this is a good thing to take out of the equation towards making that happen too.

[HarthorneWingo]

You don't smoke weed?

Some people need weed for medicinal reasons, but as a recreational drug it turns people who consume it regularly into idiots. It is a powerful drug, not the benign substance people love to pretend it is, and millions of Americans abuse it daily.

same with alcohol but no medicinal reasons and it's legal, you want to bring back prohibition too jack?

Right, Clyde wants to continue spewing his ignorant neoliberals bs. Probably still considers weed to be a "gateway" drug while refusing to comprehend that continued criminalization of it only serves to propogate further imprisonment of Black Americans across the country.

It's more important for him to take a bitchy slap at me than to stick to addressing the issues in an intelligent manner.

[Clyde_Style]

Some people need weed for medicinal reasons, but as a recreational drug it turns people who consume it regularly into idiots. It is a powerful drug, not the benign substance people love to pretend it is, and millions of Americans abuse it daily.

same with alcohol but no medicinal reasons and it's legal, you want to bring back prohibition too jack?

Right, Clyde wants to continue spewing his ignorant neoliberals bs. Probably still considers weed to be a "gateway" drug while refusing to comprehend that continued criminalization of it only serves to propogate further imprisonment of Black Americans.

I just agreed with Rob about that very point and here you are saying I didn't.

You're toxic

[HarthorneWingo]

I'm not against legalization of weed. Just saying the mythology around it is damn hokey. Stoned people are really boring and there's a lot of them out there. I just don't appreciate how people have trivialized weed as something benign. It's not. You're messing with your brain chemistry if you overdo it. Chronic alcohol abuse is even worse on a physical level, but I'd rather still listen to someone with a couple of cocktails in them tell a funny story than listen to a pothead's pseudo-philosophical ramblings.

that's fair and I agree it's something that should be taken seriously by those who decide to partake and like any drug moderation is important

That said I think it's important to mention that selective targeted enforcement of weed especially in black communities has been a big part of the catastrophic war on drugs that has fueled mass incarceration. this structure is something that has destroyed countless lives and families as well as put the felon label on people disproportionately black to prevent their participation in society in housing jobs and voting, even though studies show that drug use is mostly the same across racial lines black people are four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people, so decriminalization would be very important step in ending the war on drugs and dismantling this cruel system. so I think when people weigh it out hopefully they will see that's the bigger concern than people who smoke weed being annoying etc.

also there's always been a lot of hokey mythology about how damaging it is too, just look at something like the 1936 propaganda film reefer madness, a lot of the root cause for making it illegal in the first place was based on 1930s xenophobic hysteria

it's wild to me this is even still an issue in 2020 I figured maybe there would be a couple bible belt holdout states who need to be dragged across the finish line like with everything else but I figured we would have pretty much reached full legalization by now. it's coming though

I agree with those points. It has been the false flag used to boost incarcerations. NY State was the worst back in the day with the Rockefeller laws. Really evil stuff.

For those reasons and to help people medicinally, I support decriminalization. I also support recreational usage, but with penalties for the same things as alcohol in terms of using it responsibly. I'm tired of dudes telling me they are fine driving stoned. Bollocks, that should be punishable IMO

Then you support legalization.

I deleted the rest of your BS.

The world would be a better place if its leaders sat around smoking a "peace pipe."