nittany ram wrote:

Zooey wrote:

And all throughout the Dem Conv, I noted hearing about the Middle Class again and again and again. To the Democrats, the Middle Class seems to be synonymous with the “bottom 90%.”

Poor people are so unpopular, talking about relieving their poverty with programs is so unpopular, they never got mentioned. The closest thing, iirc, was saying that a person who works 40 hours a week should get paid a living wage.

Otherwise…invisible.

That’s because in America, poverty is considered a self-inflicted wound.

Yep.

How many Facebook memes do you see about corporate welfare vs. some meme about a guy on food stamps needing to work or some such thing? Hell–he may work at Wal-Mart for all they know.

We have a tiered pay scale where I work and guys like me who are fortunate to be on the higher end work with guys who do the same jobs–on the lower ends. One guy the other night was complaining about the lower wage guys and saying they should be out looking for something else. “There”s LOTS of jobs out there!” When questioned where he named ONE place he knew that was hiring.

Corporate welfare? Not a blip. No one cares.

People welfare? Horrible crime.

I am a pragmatist not a purist. Worse is worse. Once I see that clearly—that worse is worse—all the rest is rhetoric to me.

I get that. But some people truly believe that the status quo is bringing them down anyway. You drop off a cliff or you stand in quicksand. You die either way. Those are strong feelings. They are real feelings. And politics, if it’s about anything–it’s feelings. So why put forth a candidate who has a lot of baggage and people do not trust? Not everyone will put this aside as rhetoric. They BELIEVE this deeply.

All I’m saying is that the party did not HAVE to give it to her. They did so KNOWING it would be a challenge. That’s my problem. Why make it this hard?

But we agree on Trump. I agree with that. But I do feel if I lived in a safe state I would give them a middle finger and vote for Stein. I would have to believe Trump had no chance to win it.

I don’t blame them at all.

If the Democrats put up such a crappy candidate that she can’t even beat Donald Trump, they don’t deserve to win.

It HAD to be Hillary. It HAD to be her turn.

If not for her–this wouldn’t even be close. Bernie? Biden? Warren? Hell—almost anyone.

And I say that, as I constantly say–as someone who will vote for her.

But I will never blame the Bernie or Stein supporters if she loses.

As far as Trump being worse? Well–keep in mind he’s a con artist and I don’t believe a thing he says anymore than Clinton making promises to progressives. But on the TPP? Is he better on that? I think so. Hillary makes a statement that she won’t support it, “as is”.

We know what that means.

What about wars?

Trump may start WWIII for all I know. But the way he TALKS about things, he wants less involvement–not more. To me, his recklessness, and dishonesty–and the fact that the faceless Republicans will be doing most of this(Pence) “trump” his talk.

There are a million reasons I don’t trust him and never want to see him be president.

But he is making an appeal to voters who may like some of the things he says. And with the crappy pick the Dems made, it isn’t their fault if people do not vote for her. Doesn’t mean they’ll VOTE for Trump. They may just feel he can’t be much worse if they vote for Stein.

Like you, I’m rolling the dice with Hillary. But I AM rolling the dice.

In the end—if she does lose–I blame the Democratic party.

Eeeech. If I had to watch what I ate that closely I’d freak out and suddenly go on a binge eating marathon at Dunkin’ Donuts.

By the way–my diet consists of a lot of ice cream. I’m bulking up in the midsection.

Works great.
——————

“You don’t become a four-time Super Bowl champion by eating junk food.”

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2016/01/tom-bradys-chef-breaks-down-patriots-quarterbacks-crazy-eating-habits/

…The real challenge presumably lies in working around the restrictions Brady and his chef have imposed. There are certain ingredients Campbell absolutely won’t use when feeding the Brady clan. “No white sugar. No white flour. No MSG,” Campbell told Boston.com. “I’ll use raw olive oil, but I never cook with olive oil. I only cook with coconut oil. Fats like canola oil turn into trans fats. … I use Himalayan pink salt as the sodium. I never use iodized salt. “(Tom) doesn’t eat nightshades, because they’re not anti-inflammatory. So no tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms or eggplants. Tomatoes trickle in every now and then, but just maybe once a month. I’m very cautious about tomatoes. They cause inflammation.” Don’t expect to see Brady consuming coffee, caffeine, fungus or dairy anytime soon. The Pats QB also doesn’t eat much fruit, according to Campbell, though he’ll occasionally break his fruit ban every now and then for a nice banana smoothie…

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2016/01/tom-bradys-chef-breaks-down-patriots-quarterbacks-crazy-eating-habits/

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• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by PA Ram.

Here’s what the bums at NASA think too:

http://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/global-temperature/

canadaram wrote:

I see that the Jets released Zac Stacy today. If the Rams want to replace Mason I wonder if they would go back that direction. I’m a Cunningham fan and I am encouraged by Malcolm Brown. Aside from the scouting reports that I have read I don’t know what the Rams have in Aaron Green. Anyway, sounds like there might be a spot up for grabs in the backfield.

I just don’t think they were that crazy about Zac Stacy.

But the Mason thing sucks.

waterfield wrote:

Oh God. Can’t we get off the Hillary issue and focus on how to beat a man who IMO will be dangerous not only to us but to our children and our grand kids. I don’t know how many on this board actually have children and grand children but if you do can’t you see what kind of world this idiot can and will shape for them. If you don’t have children then I suppose it really doesn’t matter and you can continue to pontificate all you want on Hillary. But for me it’s no longer about Hillary-its about the future-and for me that’s about my grandchildren who I love very much and worry about a world they will grow up into should this dangerous demagogue become President.

Waterfield,

Tell me–how do you SELL Hillary?

How?

How do you sell her to a truck driver who has been listening to Rush Limbaugh most of the day, or to a blue collar guy worried about horrible trade deals who doesn’t trust her on the TPP when she says that she’ll not support it “as is” and which Trump jumps on and rightly says that she can change a comma and suddenly support it? When her buddy Terry Macauliffe says she will pass it when elected? When she picks a VP supporter of it? How do you convince someone she is sincere?

How do you blast Trump for encouraging hackers when the answer you get is that she exposed classified emails? What argument do you use?

How do you sell someone who had to be “pushed” to the left?

How do you sell the ultimate insider in an anti-establishment year?

How do you erase all the negative stories that have been pounded into people’s heads whether true or not?

How do you speak about the corruption at Trump University when the Clinton Foundation has its own problems?

This election should have been a slam dunk.

She may still win it because…well…Trump.

But it did not have to be this way. It didn’t have to be this hard. The establishment insisted that it was HER turn. The Clinton “cultists” who bow at the feet of all things Clinton and who missed out with Obama shocking them were determined not to lose again. No matter what. And even then, Bernie gave them headaches. The political atmosphere was screaming that she was the wrong candidate–especially THIS year. But that was ignored because come hell or high water this party was going to push her through. She was going to get HER turn.

And they DID it!!!! She won!!!!

But the primary is over. What good is it if she can’t win the general election? That is the goal–right? Because it feels more like Hillary was the goal.

So what now? It isn’t just Democrats now. It’s independents–you know–the one the party is trashing for ruining Hillary’s coronation. It’s some Republicans(and how many of those can she really get?). And yes–it IS Democrats too–ones who may even reluctantly push the button for her but who have to be motivated to show for that.

How do we sell her?

What will get those votes? And when we’re selling her do we really believe it? Because if you don’t believe it the person you’re selling it to won’t believe it.

On a personal note–I keep coming back to going to bed election night and feeling as though I helped Trump win if I DON’T vote for her. And yes–living in Pennsylvania that’s a big deal.

If I lived in California I’d vote Jill Stein and sleep like a baby.

So this sucks. But yes–I’ll again vote the lesser of two evils–and I’m not even sure how much less. I’m just guessing.

But I won’t sell her. I can’t. When someone scribbles something about her on a newspaper at work about how everyone voting for her is an idiot and so on, I can’t argue with a guy over why HE needs to consider her over Trump. That’s a hard sell.

SHE has to figure it out. SHE has to make people believe–or, more likely she’ll just have to scare the hell out of them with Trump.

They should have picked a better candidate. If not Bernie–fine. But not her. It’s very risky this year. And before you get into qualifications vs. Trump and so on–remember–most people don’t read political biographies or political articles or political books. They see memes on Facebook, they catch some CNN or Fox News or hear talk radio during the day–and that’s about all the effort you’ll get.

The “professional class” that is the DNC will not decide the election. It will be the “blue collar” class. She has work to do.

But I will end on an optimistic note for you.

I think she will somehow pull this off. I don’t have any reason to think that other than Trump has no shot at the minority vote, and women will go big for her. Will white males be enough for Trump? That’s the question.

Stay tuned.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by PA Ram.

It was stupid. And it was certainly reckless. But Trump just doesn’t feel that anything he says will matter. In some ways he has proven himself right on that. He leads Clinton right now.

It’s also partly the Democrats fault.

She’s a terrible candidate and yet the Democrats insisted on pushing her through–even with all of her baggage. Breaking the glass ceiling was all that mattered to some. Loyalty to Clinton mattered most to others.

Well–here it is: two of the most unpopular candidates in history. The Republicans behind the scenes must rally to save Trump(already I heard his VP come out today and say the exact opposite of one of Trump’s dumb comments) and Bernie has to try to save Clinton.

Neither candidate has done much to help themselves.

It’s the anti year vote. Vote AGAINST what you hate.

It’s that kind of year.

So fear will dominate this year.

Fear and hate.

That’s why this election year everyone feels sick.

What is stuff made of?

Oh–got a quick thing to tell the Gods.

Did you hear about the two guys who stole a calendar?

They both got 6 months!

Billy_T wrote:

Another aspect that interests me. The team-sport nature of politics. Right-wing evangelicals turn out in large numbers at the GOP convention. They have their obscenely anti-gay leaders and agendas. Cruz, Huckabee and Jindal, back when they were running, all shared the stage (at a conservative gathering) with a couple of pastors who literally wanted to “kill the gays.” Not metaphorically. Literally.

Fast forward to the GOP convention. Nothing has changed in the views of core Republicans from that gathering. They haven’t suddenly become enlightened about sexual minorities. Yet, when Peter Thiel stood on stage and said he was proud to be gay, the reports say the crowd cheered for him, and they didn’t boo Trump when he talked about “protecting LGBTQ people.” Though, of course, the way he pronounced the letters was kinda creepy, and who knows if it was all dog whistle. But they at least didn’t boo him or Thiel.

Teams. Tribes. My side. Your side. If it’s my team, the same exact thing I denounced a moment ago is now suddenly fine.

We humans are strange cats.

Democrats are just as guilty of the TEAM mentality. Sad, really. I have had posts removed from Democratic Underground because I dared question DWS and the DNC. You basically aren’t allowed to post anything negative about the Democrats right now. They obviously want to pretend that there is party unity.

It doesn’t help. Hillary has no clue when she picks a Tim Kaine for VP. This party is deaf to the screams of anti-establishment coming from the nation. They insist on ramming Mrs. Establishment down our throats and then she picks Mr. Establishment as a running mate.

They are banking on Trump imploding. They still have the Rahm Emmanuel mindset to tell progressives to sit down and shut up and let the adults handle things.

Hillary will still probably win.

But she may not. This is not set in stone.

And if she loses Bernie will be a bigger villain than Nader ever was. They still won’t get it. This party needs to change and perhaps read Thomas Frank’s “Listen Liberal” to get a clue. Otherwise it may soon be irrelevant.

Joseph Gordon Levitt nails it.

Gotta see that one.

Typical Hollywood liberal.

Bernie pretty much knew all of this while he was running. He blasted Wasserman-Shultz several times. She’s pathetic. I hope she loses her race to Tim Canova.

The two party system is unbelievably corrupt.

I feel sick about this election. Somehow the Republicans always nominates some nut and the Democrats nominate the status quo which is really becoming the old Republican party before it went batshit crazy.

So do I say screw it and just vote Jill Stein and hope enough people vote Green Party to give it a voice and perhaps at least start to build another option? The price of that is the unpredictable and possibly dangerous Donald Trump. I heard someone say–he’ll be less likely to start wars. And someone else said–unless you mean another Civil War here. And then there are the complications of world managing. Kick NATO aside? Do other countries suddenly scramble for nukes then? Does it become an even more unstable place? He already said he’d like Japan to have nukes.

And Hillary? Well–we know she won’t keep her hands clean. She’ll just talk like she knows what she’s doing. But the result is still more conflict and war.

Trump will tear up the Iran deal. What then?

Will Hillary’s wars be any more stable than Trump’s? Which will be worse? Will one be a lot worse? Or just a little? Or is there much difference at all?

What about Climate Change? Trump didn’t say one word about it. He does love coal apparently.

Hillary will almost certainly address it. But is there anything behind it–really? Anything significant?

Hillary picked Tim Kaine because, like Obama, she can’t change who she really is and what she believes. She can pretend for a primary. But after that she has to be Hillary. Of course she will make sure the TPP passes. If it looks any different at all, they may reword a paragraph or two. It won’t mean very much. They will tell you it does.

I was going to vote for her because–#NeverTrump.

But honestly, the big FU she just gave by picking Kaine does give me pause. Why shouldn’t she have to earn my vote?

If I lived in Utah, or New York, or California, or Alabama this would be a no-brainer. Those states are already decided. Trump or Clinton has already won them. I could easily make that 3rd party statement and sleep well.

Pennsylvania is a true battleground state. It could literally decide the election.

So I do take my one vote very seriously.

I truly may not know what I’ll do until I walk into the voting booth.

Another shooting in Baton Rouge will, sadly, probably help Trump.

People get scared. They want some authoritarian to protect them. Very scary times.

You can inherit something of value.

Sheeesh! Why didn’t I think of that? I just need that long lost uncle to leave me something. I’m set. Problem solved.