This thread has been re-opened.

Hot topics require some personal control and moderation. I know it's easy and tempting to post things off the cuff, but please try to accept differences of opinion rationally and discuss without dragging each other in the mud.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/verizon-ceo-lowell-mcadam-bernie-sanders-views-are-contemptible/

Bernie Sanders on Wednesday stood in solidarity with unionized Verizon workers who have gone on strike, but Verizon's CEO insists that the candidate's "uninformed views" about major corporations "are, in a word, contemptible."

"Big companies are an easy target for candidates looking for convenient villains for the economic distress felt by many of our citizens," Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam wrote in a LinkedIn post published Wednesday. "But when rhetoric becomes disconnected from reality, we've crossed a dangerous line."

Specifically, McAdam took issue with Sanders' suggestions that Verizon and other major corporations don't pay their fair share in taxes, invest enough in America or treat their employees well enough.

Says a man who makes $18,260,568.00 a year. So it is obvious they treat one employee well enough .......

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18 Million Plus a Year.

Fed Taxes paid on 18 Million: 'bout 2.5 Million Plus.

Mr. CEO, PAYS MORE THAN HIS FAIR SHARE.

BIG DON for Prez in '17



Yap

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

Hitler had to win 2 elections to get power so no harm in throwing a spanner in the works for 2 years it will at least make them start to do there job instead of taking bribes

All I meant Clyde was no potential dictator or nutter like Hitler ever gets to power after just 1 election as Hitler took 2 so voting in the other side to stop trump is not as bad as people think as you can get rid of them before they really screw things up .

I term is never enough for them to get total power

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Gooba if the "DON " has paid his 30 % like everyone else ok

But fat chance he has or haven't you been following the Panama Papers thing billionaires like him for shore has his dirty greedy hands all over it even if not with that Montezza company .

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The American citizens(those who still care) have to thank both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders for once again reminding us that the US is not a Democracy nor a Republic. It is without question an Oligarchy.

The disenfranchisement of the common man/woman voter is so blatant in this election that even the uninterested are starting to take notice. As a resident of the State of Colorado I, along with a lot of other Conservatives, am extremely upset at the tactics employed by the Republican organization here at not even allowing candidates to the convention that were not 'pre-screened'(translated as approved) by the party bosses.

Again I do not support either Trump or Cruz but rather a return to fiscally conservative ideas (Colorado has a constitutional requirement for a balanced budget every year and a return of excess tax collected to the taxpayers). The fact that the Colorado Republican Party did not even hold a binding Caucus but instead chose to stack the deck with soldiers who will 'toe the line' in a bid to leverage their power at the National Convention is not fair but is to be expected. The rules changes at both conventions each Presidential Election are designed to maintain the status quo in power.

The 'Superdelegate' system used by the Democrats was implemented after George McGovern(the people's choice)'s defeat and was used to prevent the nomination of Jesse Jackson in 1988. http://www.commondreams.org/views/2008/01/05/tyranny-super-delegates

The system's rigged folks, our elections are really not much more 'free' basically than Russia or China. The 'Powers that Be' tell us who is eligible to be elected and the people can either choose between the 'chosen ones' or write in someone else(good luck with that working).

We have two main parties, sure, but they just hand the scepter back and forth and nothing gets changed or fixed. That's the draw of Trump and Sanders, Outsiders that might just be able to kick the can over. (Providing they don't get crushed by the Puppet Masters).

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"Sour Grapes make a bitter Whine." <(0)>

Oligarchy no...

Principate yes!

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JaundicedEye what's wrong with putting a 3rd party there must be at least 1 , so they will stuff up so what , your trying to tell the big guys to stop screwing things up or you'll vote anybody else in (at least for 1 term)

It will force change

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If your in a traditional Republican seat and you don't like the way there going vote the other mob in

Don't let them take YOUR VOTE for granted , caucuses , caucuses all B/S same as our selection crap in the party's here

It's what happens on the day you actually vote that's what counts , good entertainment thou :)

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Mr Beaver, there are usually 4 or 5 total parties who nominate a Presidential Candidate. Those meager votes are basically thrown away each election in the face of the massive numbers achieved by the Dems and Repubs.

And then there's the Electoral College. What power shenanigans are played out there?

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"Sour Grapes make a bitter Whine." <(0)>

And then there's the Electoral College. What power shenanigans are played out there?

Well I must say I don't understand that part but still don't you get to vote for a senator for your state maybe there's some honest independent there , it's a start :)

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As I said a long time ago in the thread, which some refused to believe, Drumpf has already damaged the USA, and he hasn't been nominated yet. Here is your proof:
https://www.splcenter.org/20160413/trump-effect-impact-presidential-campaign-our-nations-schools

Every four years, teachers in the United States use the presidential election to impart valuable lessons to students about the electoral process, democracy, government and the responsibilities of citizenship.

But, for students and teachers alike, this year’s primary season is starkly different from any in recent memory. The results of an online survey conducted by Teaching Tolerance suggest that the campaign is having a profoundly negative effect on children and classrooms.

It’s producing an alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom. Many students worry about being deported.

Other students have been emboldened by the divisive, often juvenile rhetoric in the campaign. Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail.
...
Many children, however, are not afraid at all. Rather, some are using the word Trump as a taunt or as a chant as they gang up on others.
...
“Students are hearing more hate language than I have ever heard at our school before,” says a high school teacher in Helena, Montana.
...
Even native-born African-American children, whose families arrived here before the American Revolution, ask about being sent back to Africa. Others, especially younger students, have worries that are the stuff of nightmares, like a return to slavery or being rounded up and put into camps.
...
Some Muslim students think that, if Trump becomes president, they will have microchips implanted under their skin.
...
A Tennessee kindergarten teacher reported that she has a student who asks her every day if the wall has been built yet.
...
A California art teacher described a fifth-grader who had begun having “full-blown panic attacks.”
...
African-American students aren’t exempt from the fears. Many teachers reported an increase in use of the n-word as a slur, even among very young children. And black children are burdened with a particularly awful fear that has been reported from teachers in many states—that they will “be deported to Africa” or that slavery will be reinstated.
...
The gains made by years of anti-bullying work in schools have been rolled back in a few short months. Teachers report that students have been “emboldened” to use slurs, engage in name-calling and make inflammatory statements toward each other. When confronted, students point to the candidates and claim they are “just saying what everyone is thinking.” Kids use the names of candidates as pejoratives to taunt each other.
...
One high school teacher from Westmoreland wrote, “A lot of students think we should kill any and all people we do not agree with. They also think that all Muslims are the same and are a threat to our country and way of life. They believe all Muslims want to kill us.”
...
A Michigan middle school teacher described an exchange that followed an anti-bullying assembly: “I had students tell me it [insults, name-calling, trash talk] isn’t bullying, they’re just ‘telling it like it is.’”
...
“Students have become very hostile to opposing points of view, regardless of the topic,” a Jefferson, Georgia, high school teacher wrote, adding, “Any division now elicits anger and personal attacks.”

Which is where I'll leave it as our moderators are dealing with that very issue in this thread. The proof that Drumpf has destroyed America.

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On four occasions, most recently in 2000, the Electoral College system has resulted in the election of a candidate who did not receive the most popular votes in the election.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College_%28United_States%29

That's the part I and many feel also disenfranchises the common man. The college was established in a period when "The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes. The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to the fewest objections."

It's now an anachronism and the system should be changed to direct, popular election. But again that doesn't change the fact that the 'king makers' in each party effectively decide who will be allowed to run. By ignoring the popular choice of the voters in that selection, or in Colorado's case not even allowing a choice by the rank and file party members, keeps the power of the selection in the hands of the power block. Teddy Roosevelt became a victim of the power block in 1912 when he broke with the Republican party to form the Progressive Party(Bull Moose). Very few of the Senators, Representatives and movers and shakers were wiling to 'buck the system' and thereby subject themselves to the wrath of those in power. Needless to say he was crushed.

That just smells bad.

The proof that Drumpf has destroyed America.

No that occurred in the election of 2008. Just look at the shape the world is in since the 'leader of the free world' decided to 'lead from behind'(or more accurately from under the bed).

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"Sour Grapes make a bitter Whine." <(0)>

Sorry Charp, Da Hate has Always been there. Festering to New Heights under DEM/Lib Diversity and Multi-Culture Inclusionary Tactics. aka Hustlin'Hussein'sWorld.

Big Don has done U S of A a BIG FAVOR by Exposing Love, Kindness and Wholesomeness, for What It Is.

DEM/Lib BULLSHAT.

Sweetness is Here to Stay.

Flower Power Baby. Roll a Doob.

Inhale.

BIG DON to Da Rescue in '17

Yap

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

Sorry Charp, Da Hate has Always been there. Festering to New Heights under DEM/Lib Diversity and Multi-Culture Inclusionary Tactics. aka Hustlin'Hussein'sWorld.

Big Don has done U S of A a BIG FAVOR by Exposing Love, Kindness and Wholesomeness, for What It Is.

DEM/Lib BULLSHAT.

Sweetness is Here to Stay.

I'm so glad to see you expounding that hate is good for America!

Although I've never heard of good flowing from hate, just destruction. Like the last really big US government directed hate which brought us Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As to other government directed hate we have ISIL, Pol Pot, Mao, DPRK, Armenia, Kurds, Chechnya, booze, Mary Jane, ...

I'm so glad you think Drumpf is that kind of hate leader and that is what Amerika needs!

Stack those chickens deep in every pot.

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WinterKnight...

I was speaking of Hillary's failed Russian Re-Set, Libya, Benghazi (Calling the loved ones of the dead Liars), etc.

Remember when Hillary was asked who was lying. When ALL the grieving relatives (including one writing down her statement immediately after), stated she said it was "a video". She answered "Well, I'm not".

Totally disgusting.

However... Because I have very little respect for almost all politicians:

I will again be voting for the Lesser of Two Evils, if Trump or Cruz gets the nomination. Going into the voting booth, while holding my nose, and voting for Hillary

Well That's smart voting pitty us the voter has to do it but we hold the power not them

Plus you can always stop her in the senate(congress) after 2 years with the 1/2 senate vote

As you say the lesser of 2 evils

Hitler had to win 2 elections to get power so no harm in throwing a spanner in the works for 2 years it will at least make them start to do there job instead of taking bribes

Hmmm...what was that old adage about bringing up Hitler in any argument?

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Women deserve better than two clowns reducing the presidential race to a hottest wife contest
"Setting aside the notion that a woman’s looks determine her value, as well as the dehumanising reduction of Heidi Cruz and Melania Trump (two successful, professional women with fully formed, complex lives) to inanimate chips in a dick-swinging contest, the most odious thing about this whole exchange is that it positions Ted Cruz as the good guy when it comes to gender.

Cruz is a man who believes that “every human life is a precious gift from God, which should be protected from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death” – in other words, all pregnant people should be treated as incubators and forced to give birth. He supports a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks, without exception. Are you a woman with a wanted pregnancy who found out at 21 weeks that your foetus is not viable? Sorry! Carry it inside of you for four more months because Ted Cruz says so! Are you a developmentally disabled 11-year-old girl who was raped by your father and no one discovered it until you were six months along? Hope you survive pregnancy so you can claim your gift from God!"

Cruz would deny women the right to an orgasm.

Defending a Texas state law banning the sale of sex toys, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz argued in a 2007 court brief that individuals have no legal right to use them, even in the privacy of their own bedrooms.

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Women deserve better than two clowns reducing the presidential race to a hottest wife contest
"Setting aside the notion that a woman’s looks determine her value, as well as the dehumanising reduction of Heidi Cruz and Melania Drumpf (two successful, professional women with fully formed, complex lives) to inanimate chips in a dick-swinging contest, the most odious thing about this whole exchange is that it positions Ted Cruz as the good guy when it comes to gender.

Cruz is a man who believes that “every human life is a precious gift from God, which should be protected from the moment of conception until the moment of natural death” – in other words, all pregnant people should be treated as incubators and forced to give birth. He supports a federal ban on abortion after 20 weeks, without exception. Are you a woman with a wanted pregnancy who found out at 21 weeks that your foetus is not viable? Sorry! Carry it inside of you for four more months because Ted Cruz says so! Are you a developmentally disabled 11-year-old girl who was raped by your father and no one discovered it until you were six months along? Hope you survive pregnancy so you can claim your gift from God!"

Cruz would deny women the right to an orgasm.

Defending a Texas state law banning the sale of sex toys, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz argued in a 2007 court brief that individuals have no legal right to use them, even in the privacy of their own bedrooms.

Execution is a "natural death"?

Ted Cruz wrote:

I believe in the death penalty

(source)

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I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

Thank You Donald J. Trump. Without your Inspired Run for Highest Office, We, The People, would Not get A Very Close Look See at U S of A, Totally Corrupt Systems of Elections.

A Master Stroke, Indeed.

Thank You So Much, My Man.

Big Don fO Prez. Where HOPE becomes REAL Change.

Time, To GET RID of Da SLIME


Yap

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

IT might be soon be said that this might soon be said about our NEXT to be president.
There have been a few minor attempts.
Such were the days of one young wildly yet also boldly debated president to be.

I do hope history does not repeat itself here.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster