Who will the Democratic nominee be?

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, skliss said:

One thing I've been saying for 20 years is that I do think there should be more accounting/oversight for military spending...we've all heard stories about $200 hammers,  $600 toilet seats. I think because the people in charge are not accountants we get ripped off as a matter of course. We need a separate, non-partisian, government division that just handles the books. I can only imagine the money we'll save.

$600 toilet seats.  $200 hammers.  Where do you think the black ops money is coming from?

But I agree.  We need annual equipment inventories and accounting - all departments, not just the military.

Doug

[skliss]

5 minutes ago, Doug1o29 said:

all departments, not just the military

Agreed

[Farmer77]

1 hour ago, skliss said:

All the time, in fact I will this weekend when i visit for a combined family birthday party.

Well that explains a bunch

Quote

In 2017, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority issued a warning to residents to boil their tap water before drinking it. Even basic activities like brushing teeth or washing dishes should be done with boiled water, they said.

The alert went out after Pennsylvania's environmental regulators discovered low levels of chlorine in the water system, which could potentially expose residents to a parasite called giardia that causes diarrhea, cramps, and nausea.

The city has also struggled to combat high levels of lead in drinking water, with the EPA reporting that there are not enough state officials to perform mandatory inspections. A 2017 audit revealed that health officials in Pittsburgh may have misled residents into thinking that their drinking water was safe.

 

[Tatetopa]

On 9/19/2019 at 4:56 AM, Farmer77 said:

Had a cup of water from Flint , Pittsburgh or Newark lately?

There was a time when the American municipal water systems were the envy of the world.   Some of those systems are over a hundred years old. Nearly every urban American citizen had access to safe clean water.  That was infrastructure and planning for the future at its finest.

Now everybody has to have a plastic bottle  What a scam really.  Nestle and the other water giants have done an extraordinary job of marketing to young people.  I wonder how many people under 30 know you can drink water from a tap.   I wonder how much they have to do with defeating tax measures to improve water systems, or whose re-election campaigns they contribute to  in order to keep people sucking on plastic bottles.

[+Desertrat56]

33 minutes ago, Tatetopa said:

There was a time when the American municipal water systems were the envy of the world.   Some of those systems are over a hundred years old. Nearly every urban American citizen had access to safe clean water.  That was infrastructure and planning for the future at its finest.

Now everybody has to have a plastic bottle  What a scam really.  Nestle and the other water giants have done an extraordinary job of marketing to young people.  I wonder how many people under 30 know you can drink water from a tap.   I wonder how much they have to do with defeating tax measures to improve water systems, or whose re-election campaigns they contribute to  in order to keep people sucking on plastic bottles.

It depends on what city you live in whether you can drink water from the tap.  Franklin, Va and Midland, Tx were two cities I lived in where the tap water was undrinkable, and in the case of Franklin, dangerous to drink.  I would not drink tap water in Flint, Michigan either.

[acidhead]

 

[+Desertrat56]

3 minutes ago, acidhead said:

 

Well, in 1999 we had the world ending in 2000 because of Y2K that would ruin all the computers and in 2011 we had people thinking the world was going to end in 2012 because they didn't understand the Mayan Calendar so this is nothing new.  My cousins joined the End Timer's cult in the 80's.  The cult ended but they are still around.

[Dark_Grey]

3 minutes ago, acidhead said:

The world is ending and only your tax dollars can save it!

[+and-then]

On 8/24/2019 at 10:46 PM, Tatetopa said:

That is not made up stuff, that is what all of us in the South lived with  prior to the 1970's. 

True.  I started elementary school in 1968 and was never in a class that wasn't integrated.  We never had any problems at that age but at the same time, the high schools regularly had fights and riots    

The main flashpoint in Mobile, Alabama in the late 60s and early 70s was the legal demand for bussing.  Both white and black students were redistricted so that integration could take hold and MANY white and black parents hated it.  They were afraid their kids would be abused or even killed.  Of course, it never happened and by the time the older students had a year or two of the new reality under their belt things calmed greatly.

There WAS a lot of abuse and even physical threats toward black students during that time but we made it through and most of us had no problem at all making friends and getting along.  

[+and-then]

14 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

It depends on what city you live in whether you can drink water from the tap.  Franklin, Va and Midland, Tx were two cities I lived in where the tap water was undrinkable, and in the case of Franklin, dangerous to drink.  I would not drink tap water in Flint, Michigan either.

I was in Kewanee, Illinois training ancillary medical staff in the use of our health info systems software in January of 1999 and I'll never forget taking a white washcloth and wetting it under the tap in the bathroom and it stained the cloth like strong tea or the silt from river water.  That was the first time I ever found myself afraid to drink tap water   

[+and-then]

53 minutes ago, Tatetopa said:

Now everybody has to have a plastic bottle  What a scam really

Can you imagine how you'd have reacted if someone told you when you were a kid that you'd one day pay a dollar or more for water in a bottle?  It was unimaginable where I lived.

[+Desertrat56]

6 minutes ago, and then said:

I was in Kewanee, Illinois training ancillary medical staff in the use of our health info systems software in January of 1999 and I'll never forget taking a white washcloth and wetting it under the tap in the bathroom and it stained the cloth like strong tea or the silt from river water.  That was the first time I ever found myself afraid to drink tap water   

Sounds like lots of iron in the water.  That isn't as health threatening as a silver skim on top of the water from pollution like you would get in Franklin, VA in the 80's.  I think it was pollution from the paper mill.  And it had a horrible taste.  In Midland it was just too alkaline and chunky. 

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, acidhead said:

 

Parents letting their kids get scared because of global warming is about the same as child abuse.  They should be telling the kids how they can make a difference (energy conservation) and that there are good people working on the problem and that they will solve it by 2050.  There is a lot of reason for optimism.  Doom-and-gloom and despair is about the same as denialism.  It's time a quit whining, vote the obstructionists out of office and get busy.

Doug

[Tatetopa]

2 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

It depends on what city you live in whether you can drink water from the tap.  Franklin, Va and Midland, Tx were two cities I lived in where the tap water was undrinkable, and in the case of Franklin, dangerous to drink.  I would not drink tap water in Flint, Michigan either.

True enough.  I grew up in Texas, the land of multi-colored teeth. I don't think I ever saw anybody with white teeth until I went away to college.  My grandmother's water was worse than ours, smelled a little like sulfur,   It was highly mineralized and tasted bad but it did not contain any toxic metals or organics.  A side benefit was that it had natural fluoride, and cavities weer rare.

[+Desertrat56]

1 minute ago, Tatetopa said:

True enough.  I grew up in Texas, the land of multi-colored teeth. I don't think I ever saw anybody with white teeth until I went away to college.  My grandmother's water was worse than ours, smelled a little like sulfur,   It was highly mineralized and tasted bad but it did not contain any toxic metals or organics.  A side benefit was that it had natural fluoride, and cavities weer rare.

In Franklin the flouride was content was too high and everyone who drank the water had soft brown teeth, no cavities but they could not eat hard candy.  And they were all crazy.

[Tatetopa]

19 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

In Franklin the flouride was content was too high and everyone who drank the water had soft brown teeth, no cavities but they could not eat hard candy.  And they were all crazy.

The good old days were not nearly as good as memory paints them.

[skliss]

7 hours ago, Farmer77 said:

Well that explains a bunch

 

Alright so not in the city proper...lol I hadn't heard about boiling and I'm sure that's why, my relatives live in the suburbs. 

We don't drink out of the tap where I live in Ohio because our water is slightly hard...not enough to get a system but enough so I don't want to drink it. I also run a cup of vinegar in my dishwasher every wash to keep the white stuff off the insides of the washer. Works well and dishes look nice.

[Raptor Witness]

I think Elizabeth Warren has polished herself up enough that she might be a powerful candidate, I don’t fully trust her yet; I don’t particularly like her, but her performance recently, suggests to me that she may have what it takes to become the grandmother healer-type and that is a powerful character type to become the first female President of United States. I think it’s actually more powerful than Biden's potential draw.

Edited September 20, 2019 by Raptor Witness

[skliss]

I can't take 4 years of those black pants and shirt with a different color blazer every day. Ugh!

[Tatetopa]

2 hours ago, Raptor Witness said:

I think Elizabeth Warren has polished herself up enough that she might be a powerful candidate, I don’t fully trust her yet; I don’t particularly like her, but her performance recently, suggests to me that she may have what it takes to become the grandmother healer-type and that is a powerful character type to become the first female President of United States. I think it’s actually more powerful than Biden's potential draw.

Well, she certainly seems to have a plan for just about everything.  I would feel better about her if she had done a real apology for the Native American DNA thing.  

[Gwynbleidd]

3 hours ago, Tatetopa said:

I would feel better about her if she had done a real apology for the Native American DNA thing.  

Yes I agree - that whole thing was incredibly cringey. 

[Raptor Witness]

6 hours ago, Tatetopa said:

Well, she certainly seems to have a plan for just about everything.  I would feel better about her if she had done a real apology for the Native American DNA thing.  

Trump is a thousand times the liar that Warren is, and he got elected. It’s a Forest Gump type, white lie, which amounts to nothing in the big picture of life. It wouldn’t influence my vote for the 1st female US President, and I doubt I’m alone.

If Trump is the GOP nominee, he will lose, his brand will be destroyed, and he and his family will likely go to jail. This man isn’t just disliked, he is truly hated by those who despise him, and that hatred will be the motivation to go to the polls in 2020. 

I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Carter, and how we ended up with a Peanut farmer from Georgia. There was a backlash against Nixon. This backlash will be far greater.

[+Desertrat56]

On 9/20/2019 at 7:56 PM, Tatetopa said:

Well, she certainly seems to have a plan for just about everything.  I would feel better about her if she had done a real apology for the Native American DNA thing.  

Yeah, but she is too old. She already seems wobbly. AND the democratic party owns her soul so she will not be trustworthy.

P.S.  The same goes for Trump or any other Republican that currently holds a ferderal office and is continueing to run for election for what ever.  The republican party owns their soul so they are not trustworthy.  Just want to make it clear I am not throwing anything out there to be debated about either party.  They both suck rotten eggs.  Their only goal is to continue their existence and fight over control of the government with each other. 

Edited September 22, 2019 by Desertrat56

[Earl.Of.Trumps]

53 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

Their only goal is to continue their existence and fight over control of the government with each other. 

Truth and Wisdom. Nicely put.

[Tatetopa]

2 hours ago, Desertrat56 said:

Yeah, but she is too old. She already seems wobbly. AND the democratic party owns her soul so she will not be trustworthy.

P.S.  The same goes for Trump or any other Republican that currently holds a ferderal office and is continueing to run for election for what ever.  The republican party owns their soul so they are not trustworthy.  Just want to make it clear I am not throwing anything out there to be debated about either party.  They both suck rotten eggs.  Their only goal is to continue their existence and fight over control of the government with each other. 

Sunday morning coffee and free opinions, worth no more than their price start below.

Yeah, that is the system we have grown into over the course of our Republic.  People might correct me, but I don't think it is what the Founding Fathers had in mind, nor do I think they had a plan to prevent it.

Political machines and money dominate now.  Independents can't get elected.  99% of the time candidates that walk too far away from the party line get dumped.  Organization and money keep potential candidates  in control.

I would argue though that that is not always the case.  If a candidate is popular enough, he or she can change the direction of the party. 

Donald Trump is a successful example of this,  He is brilliant at manipulating the public.  It is almost a super-hero or super-villain power depending on how you see him.  He totally chucked out some long standing Republican principles like free trade and a balanced budget.  He insulted his way through the primaries and the debates.  People loved it.  Republicans had to change and become Trump supporters or vanish.  The power of his popularity let him do it.  Voters seemed to like seeing authority figures made uncomfortable and brought low.   It was like a blow for the little guy.

Hillary was the soul of the Democratic machine.  She knew all the right levers to pull, and thought she knew the right things to say, until she discounted and dismissed the little guy.  Upstart Obama pushed her out of the way to become president, he sold hope and change.  Trump had his own version of hope and change and put her out to pasture in 2016.

I don't know if Elizabeth Warren has the charisma to pull that off.  I do like her work in consumer protection and trying to rein in big banks.   That looked like a potential for change. Depends on how skillful she is at reading the public.  Insurance could be a big issue.  For young people, climate denial and school shootings might make some young voters think it is time for a change,  Farming and manufacturing are going to be issues.  Cooperating with allies and standing up to dictators might be an issue.  A solution to the immigration issue will certainly be big.  Anybody who brings up term limits and campaign finance reform will get kudos from me.