No, it's not too late, though it may take quite a bit of work. Sanders is not a Democrat (he has been an Independent for 20+ years) and Trump has questionable party allegiance. However, if Bernie drops out prior to the convention then he is without a doubt going to be called out for all the small donation money he has taken. [rQUOTEr]Sanders is biggest spender of 2016 so far — generating millions for consultants The small-dollar fundraising juggernaut that has kept Bernie Sanders’s insurgent White House bid afloat far longer than anticipated has generated another unexpected impact: a financial windfall for his team of Washington consultants. By the end of March, the self-described democratic socialist senator from Vermont had spent nearly $166 million on his campaign — more than any other 2016 presidential contender, including rival Hillary Clinton. More than $91 million went to a small group of admakers and media buyers who produced a swarm of commercials and placed them on television, radio and online, according to a Washington Post analysis of Federal Election Commission reports. While the vast majority of that money was passed along to television stations and websites to pay for the advertising, millions in fees were kept by the companies, The Post calculated. While it is impossible to determine precisely how much the top consultants have earned, FEC filings indicate the top three media firms have reaped payments of seven figures. Sanders’s money blitz, fueled by a $27 average donation that he repeatedly touts, has improbably made the anti-billionaire populist the biggest spender so far in the election cycle. The campaign’s wealth has been a surprising boon for vendors across the country who signed on to his long-shot bid. The large profits stem in part from the fact that no one in Sanders’s campaign imagined he would generate such enormous financial support. So unlike Clinton, he did not cap how much his consultants could earn in commissions from what was expected to be a bare-bones operation, according to campaign officials. ...[/rQUOTEr]
To get on the ballot in 50 states, Sanders would need to collect ~900,000 signatures before the end of August. That's probably doable since he's had several million vote for him. But given he'd need operatives in every state, and in some places in every congressional district, it'd be a pretty big effort at this point. Also, he's already missed the Texas deadline (not that he was going to win Texas anyway), with 4 more deadlines looming in June. He probably could have done it if he went that way back when it became obvious he wasn't going to win. To start now doesn't look realistic. Re the article, I don't see what the problem is with the money. He spent some money, and paid consultants something less than $10m for their services. I don't see the big deal. Nobody will be demanding their $27 back.
That is funny stuff. Bernie with his hat on sideways, no shirt, gold chains, old man pants pulled up to his chest....lol
Had to make a couple of comments. Sorry, but that hasn't been true for decades. It's a personal choice now, not the "tradition" it was back in the '50's and '60's, when I can remember sitting in a waiting room with my cousin while his wife was off having the baby. Doctor comes in, announces the results of the delivery, and my cousin starts handing out cigars. My significant other and I had our two many years later. The first being a natural birth, no drugs, with me being there every step of the way. The second had a couple of minor complications, so she had an epidermal, but again, I was there during the delivery. That's not unusual at all these days, or over a couple of decades back. Money isn't everything, but it beats the alternative. That's a common refrain. One of the things I agree with Sanders about is the continuing concentration of wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer people. The erosion of the middle class, the largest in the world since WWII and under attack, in my humble opinion, since 1980 and the election of Ronald Reagan, a man who would be far too moderate for today's GOP. It might surprise some of you that both Bill and Hillary Clinton have fought for the middle class throughout their political career. Sure, they have dramatically improved their own financial well being over decades, but they've never forgotten where they came from. They weren't "born wealthy" at all. A constant refrain from Hillary in 2008 and today is an ardent desire to help the middle class. It isn't lip service. They mean it. This is a big country. Well over 300 million and growing. Society in the States can be quite different from one part of the country to another. Texas is unlike anywhere else in the country. The Northwest has its own distinct vibe, as does northern California, the Northeast, the upper Midwest, the Deep South. You are generalizing way too much. States, as much as people will complain about the Federal government, still have a heck of a lot of power to shape their own version of American society. Texas is as good an example of that as anywhere else. Our state government, while filled with good people, has to deal with an incredibly conservative legislature. Austin, where we live, is the most liberal city in the state. There are liberal enclaves in the big cities, like Houston (had a gay mayor for several years who was very well respected) and Dallas. Get out in the countryside? That's another story, although there are exceptions there, as well. As for "can't make a friend," that's simply absurd. People in Texas, in the main, are very friendly and generous, and that's in a predominately conservative state. Again, you're generalizing too much. There is some of that, it's true, but you continue to make broad generalizations. We've traveled the world, but not everyone does that, even if they have the means. There can still be "The Ugly American," who can't see the beauty in a country like India, for example, where I spent a couple of months in the '60's. They are distracted by the poverty. I was blown away with how well people dealt with a rigid class system, terribly unfair. They live in an ancient culture just packed with history and beauty, and their society is still evolving. It's fascinating. When you say, "most Americans," again, you are generalizing way too much. This, again, is a wild exaggeration that shows how much you still have to learn about America. We aren't "separated" from each other. In some respects, we've drawn closer together. Yes, cities far too often have a part of town that hasn't been drawn into the general prosperity enjoyed by most of us. We're working on changing that, and having a party like the GOP in control of Congress makes getting anything done an uphill climb, but things do get done. Blacks in America, for example, are increasing their standard of living and moving into the middle class, if not higher "in the food chain." I think the statistics would support that. Many Latinos who have been here a long time, in Texas, often for generations, fit the same description. My own Southwest Austin neighborhood, very middle class, is very multi-cultural. We have neighbors whose ethnic backgrounds come from many countries and regions of the world. DD lives in the same area and I'm sure he'd back that up. ............................ You mentioned "many Americans are homeless with psychological disorders," and certainly that's a serious problem. Most American homeless do not have "disorders of the mind," they've simply fallen on hard times. Maybe their homes "went underwater," thanks to the "Great Recession," and they were laid off from work. They're homeless for a while, but eventually get back on their feet. There is a lot of opportunity here, yet as you mentioned, there are thousands who should be getting medical care for their mental illness and aren't, often due to a breakdown in the system. The breakdown in the "system" began back in 1955 with the beginning of "deinstitutionalization." This was when the first drugs for treating mental illness were introduced, but mental illness was still not adequately understood. People in public institutions were discharged in huge numbers, and many ended up not getting the medications that were needed. That's assuming the meds were effective in the first place. An excellent article about it is at NPR. I suggest you read it. It's very enlightening. Below is an excerpt. Spoiler Most of those who were deinstitutionalized from the nation's public psychiatric hospitals were severely mentally ill. Between 50 and 60 percent of them were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Another 10 to 15 percent were diagnosed with manic-depressive illness and severe depression. An additional 10 to 15 percent were diagnosed with organic brain diseases -- epilepsy, strokes, Alzheimer's disease, and brain damage secondary to trauma. The remaining individuals residing in public psychiatric hospitals had conditions such as mental r****dation with psychosis, autism and other psychiatric disorders of childhood, and alcoholism and drug addiction with concurrent brain damage. The fact that most deinstitutionalized people suffer from various forms of brain dysfunction was not as well understood when the policy of deinstitutionalization got under way. Thus deinstitutionalization has helped create the mental illness crisis by discharging people from public psychiatric hospitals without ensuring that they received the medication and rehabilitation services necessary for them to live successfully in the community. Deinstitutionalization further exacerbated the situation because, once the public psychiatric beds had been closed, they were not available for people who later became mentally ill, and this situation continues up to the present. Consequently, approximately 2.2 million severely mentally ill people do not receive any psychiatric treatment. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/asylums/special/excerpt.html I could say a lot more, but most people will consider this post "too long" as it is. ;-)-
Austin is probably not the best city to talk about de facto and historical segregation. As east Austin is gentrifying, it's become one of those rare cities where Black Austinites and other disadvantaged minorities are moving towards burbs like Pflugerville as millennials and hunters of their talent are becoming "street" and "urban". When I was backpacking across Europe, this was one of those discussions I conceded because the US is indisputable in wealth and excess, yet the majority of us have been hardened to our homeless and destitute. I'm not discrediting volunteers and donors either. Government policies are in lockstep with these perceptions. There's a subtle and unspoken reaction to the poor as being lazy or unmotivated. I mean we openly acknowledge shifts in bad fortune, but also implicitly expect the victim to perform miraculous comebacks after an initial rush of charity. I can't describe that feeling into words, as it isn't really donor fatigue and patronizing is too broad a description...
I'm trying to get where you are going. I don't think the issue is being against he homeless and destitute but the problem lies with our treatment and views of drugs and drug use. Those are often used as ways of coping with prior abuses that people experienced in childhood. Also we have a way of viewing people who commit crimes as always being "bad" or "evil" people. This also creates a vicious cycle for people who make bad decisions or fall into bad decisions. There's more to it but I think that's where you are going
Yes, I still can't decribe it well. It's a complex issue and I'm not saying people are actively against the homeless. Rather the segment where people do fall through the cracks seem to be set up to continuously fail. I have to clarify and say that it isn't a partisan issue where people on either side are heartless, but more a matter of how we view capitalism hand in hand with individualism and treat our successes as more merit based than any other factor. And it happens to be in a period of crazy and painful growth. http://kut.org/post/austins-population-booming-why-its-african-american-population-shrinking I still love Austin, warts and all.
Found this comment from a voter in San Bernadino, CA that perfectly illustrates how empty Bernie's rhetoric is:
Yeah, that's real compelling Did Amazon get a property tax break to build there? Amazon received a nearly $1.6 million tax credit from the state for establishing the Moreno Valley center along with other agreements, according to the state. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/amazon-631748-state-new.html Oh yeah they did, and: In the past, the e-retailer has been criticized for its workers’ conditions, including low pay and heat-related injuries.
Whoosh! Looks like that went right over your head. Did you see the poster defending Amazon? Or, like Bernie, are you more interested in pointing out bogeymen than figuring out that real people need real solutions?
Success is never merit based but it usually takes hard work and more importantly some soul searching. I also consider anyone who has reached a point of satisfaction with who they are and what they have in life as successful. A homeless person IMO could be considered successful if they are happy and content. A very rich person who is miserable and always searching for meaning is IMO not successful. I think Americans have a huge problem with defining success for someone else by whatever standards they have place on themselves(if they have even looked in the mirror long enough to know what that means). I have met poor people in Rwanda that are so much more content with their lives than any rich American it makes me feel sorry for us and lucky for them that they don't have to be "successful". If you define success financially then this is still the best country IMO. If success is peace and happiness then we may struggle a bit more than we think we do. However you define individual success it will never be defined by anything the government gave you. The government could provide every liberal wet dream handout anyone ever thought of and the people receiving those things would still not be successful.
False. Yes, money isn't everything. Good that that most Americans don't believe that it is. Wow? A whole 11 people? That is funny, because as someone that has had to travel and live long periods of time around the globe; I have found Americans in general to be quite friendly, especially in rural and southern areas. Terrorized by their "elites"? You obviously haven't spent much time in America, because for all it's faults, the separation between the elites and the rest is about as thin as you will find in the world. There is no caste system, the cultural differences are minimal. First, I don't agree that the USA looks down on other populations anymore than a majority of the world; especially in the context of very powerful nations. Having said that, you don't seem to understand the Founders of the USA, they were far more likely to look down upon other populations than the current USA. The USA is less separated from the rest of the world than at any other point in history. You idealize the past of the United States and are too harsh on the current state of the county.
I'm guessing perhaps your point might be more or less why America is the best ever or possible or even imaginable. or whatever. Maybe start a thread enitled: Amurrica, Fkcu yeah !!
[Premium Post] With the Hillary email story blowing up and even liberal media outlets turning on Hillary, and the FBI criminal investigation looming, Bernie absolutely has to stay in this race. If not, then it opens the door for Hairplugs Biden to steal the nomination when Hillary drops out. If you thought the Republican nominating process was a circus, just wait until the DNC tries to take the nomination away from Hillary when she is rendered unelectable by these scandals. Hillary can't stop what's coming, and when she is trailing severely in the polls to Trump come July, there is no chance she is allowed to run. Her best course of action today would be to suspend her campaign immediately. It's what's best for the country. GOOD DAY
Uh... he's running to be President of the United States, not mayor of San Bernadino. The lady is just angry and apparently not very bright. She should vote for Trump, I hear he's going to make America great again... and pick up the garbage while he's at it.
