Not if the Scots have anything to say about it.
A MINORITY that lost! And quite soundly too.
Here is the problem, I read about 1/2 the article before giving up and skimming the rest. It is start off with a shagging dog story about some poor schmuck who cashed a check from a pay day lender. Then he lets us know that some of funding behind the payday lender comes from a private equity firm that Tim Geithner is the President. (To be clear Tim works for the 2 co-founders). This is a prelude for why the author aka the cynic give President Obama no higher than B. Maybe there is some logic here but damned if I could find it.
He was using that anecdote to illustrate the current ethos in our financial sector.
If you didn’t even get to the bit about Trump, well – never mind. You either like Charlie Pierce or you don’t. Despite his occasional histrionics I find him to have a pretty damned rare moral clarity in our political moment.
I don’t expect him to be President again (nor can he be, per the Constitution), but I have no problem with it if he decides to say, campaign for Democrats in the Fall (which I’ve heard is in fact the plan).
BTW, thanks for the link to the piece, @Gordon_Cameron.
That article is correct, there are things Obama can do to help, but our salvation lies within ourselves, not a magic politician. People like those in the article, the people who are desperate enough to cash a $1200 Mariner Finance check even though deep down they know it’s bullshit and they’ll end up paying $2400 in payments on that $1200 loan, these people need more than just a politician that speaks well and inspires people, they need a government that isn’t completely rigged to take advantage of them and move what little wealth they may have into the hands of the people who already control most of the country’s wealth as it is.
Democrats need new blood, untainted by Washington. They need idealists that won’t just promise to Drain the Swamp, but actually work to do so. If that work is documented properly, then even if Republicans push back and squash their efforts, at the very least more and more of the people who need those efforts to succeed with start to see who is really responsible for their problems, and vote accordingly. This is the message that the new blood needs to push, and push hard. It’s also the message that Obama and other fondly-remembered Dems need to back with their own appearances supporting the new blood, pushing the message, controlling the narrative.
If we want to change things we need to VOTE. If we want that vote to be successful, we need good candidates and we need to control the narrative. The Trump Administration is a fucking disaster, it shouldn’t be that difficult to tear it to pieces and show everyone in this country that there is a better way, a way that benefits ALL Americans, not just the wealthiest ones.
Now this I completely agree with. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is young, naive, and has much to learn. She is far from the answer to all the Democrat problems. But you team her up with a smart old liberal like Barney Frank, who actually understand how banking works and she has an actual chance of solving the real problems of financial sector, screwing poor people. While at the same time recognizing that banks can be part of the solution for poor areas in the country, and we need to write sensible law that allow local bankers lend locally. A person Bernie can spew Medicare for all and free college for all, but I know he is too stubborn, too old, and too set in his ways to actual do the hard work of translating ideas into legislation. Perhaps, Ms. Cortez may burn, prove to be too much of an ideologue, but if she puts 1/2 the energy into learning the details of legislative process that should put into getting electing I think there is some hope. Frankly, Senator Clinton would be another old liberal who is a good role model about how to learn how to become a Senator or Congressperson.
For me personally, Trump provides plenty of reason to vote against the Republican. However, I don’t have a reason to vote for Democrats. But, I am encourage by the number of Veterans running for office as Democrats, especially women, joining Sen. Duckworth, and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. The Republican will have abandon the patriot party brand after the Russia collusion become more widespread, so the Democrat can seize it. That will be enough for me to happily vote and pledge money to the Democrats.
The increase alone in this year’s defense appropriation bill pays for college tuition. A non-revenue neutral carbon tax (currently being proposed by a Republican House member) pays for infrastructure. Medicaid for all pays for itself with shiny happy people, you know just like tax cuts raise revenue (I’m just kidding.) Before we get to all that Democrats are going to need to codify norms and procedures so we can’t have a trumpeat* in the future.
*(trump repeat in case it’s not obvious.)
Some of her recent answers about things like unemployment and israel were apparently not so hot. I only heard the highlights though, and they sounded kind of naive.
The correct response would be to ban those particular customers, with the following notification:
We don’t serve ignorants.
I want to see these people outed and shamed.
Side note: this is why tipping culture in the US is terrible. Imagine how many people tip in the same way yet aren’t so shameless to write it out explicitly.
Why oh why are loons everywhere.
Because Trump was their bat signal.
Wow, that’s crazypants. It’s Poe’s Law-worthy.
Why the fuck do people keep making this shit up? It just gives the racists ammunition. Fuck this asshole waiter.
Gotta get them likes yo!
A couple of years ago I started writing “table” or “cash” on the Tip line when I leave a cash tip on a bill I paid with my card. Writing “0” or leaving it blank opens you up to shenanigans like staff writing in their own tip or using the lack of a tip to fabricate shit like the above. I worked in the restaurant/bar industry all through high school (busboy and barback for Chi-Chi’s Mexican chain) and college (barback and waiter for a night club). I have nothing but the highest respect for people in these positions, and the overwhelming majority of them are good people working hard in pursuit of their goals. But occasionally an asshat does something like this and gives the entire industry a black eye.
And I completely agree @rowe33, sadly there are enough real instances of overt racism these days, we don’t need people faking it as that only gives the assholes a talking point.