[talaniman]

Repubs will stick with their rhetoric, dems stick with theirs, and we vote to decide. If repubs can forget the dufus shortcomings and vote for his, then dems can forgive my man Joe his. Some may have to hold their noses and vote for Joe, but I doubt you would object to that would you?

[jlisenbe]

Some may have to hold their noses and vote for Joe, but I doubt you would object to that would you?

I'm just glad to hear you admit that it works in both directions. Congratulations! So now you have to decide if you really want to vote for a man who is going to actively work to make sure that boys who think they are girls can shower and change clothes with the kids who really ARE girls and who can compete athletically with them.

[talaniman]

Get off it. Those exaggerated side social issues are irrelevant as less than isolated and the rarest if anything issues.

[jlisenbe]

exaggerated side social issues are irrelevant

They are to you. They're not to a lot of people. If I have a daughter being faced with that, I'd be angry.

[Wondergirl]

boys who think they are girls

Have you done any honest research into transgender, like what happened to the developing babies when pregnant women were given DES to prevent a miscarriage? Or have you ever researched pregnancy in general to find out about all the hormones that wash over that fetus and affect its development? Didn't think you had.... Plus, please take time to have some honest conversations with trans women to hear their stories.

[jlisenbe]

Actually, I have done what you described. Sad that you are so quick to be negative about other people who don't happen to agree with you. "Didn't think you had." I was a science major. I'll talk science with you anytime you want to.

Have you ever researched XX chromosomes? Have you ever noticed that people are born with one of two distinct sexual makeups?

Now do I have sympathy for trans-gender people? I most certainly do, just like I have sympathy for anyone with a mental disorder. Do I think boys should be able to shower with girls, or compete unfairly with them in athletics? Absolutely not.

[tomder55]

conservative repubs have began running their own ads against the dufus

there have been NeverTrumpers since 2016 . Nothing new there . Many conservatives have a comfort zone in the swamp.

2020 is all about the bases turning out, especially in those key places the dufus barely won,

I think it is more than the base . The incumbent has to win the undecideds . On that front Trump hurts himself with his messaging . He is the incumbent so he should stop silly twitter wars and speak directly to the people .

The election will not be decided on the social issues . Opinions can't be changed on those . The issues will be the economy ;the virus ;and LAW AND ORDER . Look for Trump to appeal to the undecided with that message . Look for Trump's appeal to the "silent majority " who are appalled at the violence in the streets . They don't like seeing whole sections of cities burned ,looted or occupied and the Democrats in charge of these towns let this happen . The silent majority does not like seeing 700 cops hurt during 'peaceful protests' . Many of these folks are afraid to speak out against the accusation that they or their country is inherently racist because the woke crowd has the ability to silence them with virtue shaming that can lead to real consequences for exercising their freedom of expression. If the CEO of CrossFit, a Libertarian who refused to embrace Black Lives Matter, but who has no history of racism, was forced to resign from the firm he founded....if editors of prominent newspapers and magazines have been forced to step down for the sin of bucking progressive dogma, or even publishing a contrary opinion then what chance does a MAGA hat wearing person in NYC have ? Would you wear one here ? How many of them secretly support Trump but are afraid to say so ?

The majority does not want the police defunded . The vast majority think that peaceful protest is appropriate when an unarmed man is murdered by a cop ;but the vast majority do not believe these protests have been peaceful and that the Democrats in some cases like Chris Cuomo think that the violent protests are appropriate .

This silent majority who are called inherently racist twice helped elect the emperor .They know in their hearts they and their country are not racist . But that appears to be the Dem message . For Biden to win ;the economy must not recover ;there has to be a second wave of the virus ,and the silent majority have to be convinced that they are the problem . Good luck with that

[jlisenbe]

That's a good post, Tom. It is the undeclared voters that decide elections. If Trump would learn to keep his big mouth shut, he would be in a better position.

I think you're right that the defund the police idea is going to be important. Most people understand that's a terrible idea. Biden will have to walk a tightrope on that one. Part of me hopes that Seattle will defund their police and redirect the money elsewhere. A few months of that, and it will become obvious that it's a loser.

Judging from the results of May, the economy is going to be much better, but it's still early.

[Wondergirl]

If Trump would learn to keep his big mouth shut

More Trump shaming....

Judging from the results of May, the economy is going to be much better, but it's still early.

Covid-19 is surging again, thanks to the people who are in too big of a hurry to rip off their masks and gather in close proximity to each other.

[talaniman]

Racism is and has always been, but a tool of the elite to separate and divide the lower classes. It works well and the victims vilified, ignored, and opposed to keep positive change through unity and self interest from happening.

There's peaceful protest and there are criminals and loons. Hard to tell the difference because of fear, so we have chaos, an impediment to progress. Defunding the cops is lousy PR, therefore counter productive to making needed changes and defining the need for more services, so chaos is understandable. I thought by now the meaning would be clarified, but obviously more is needed.

[jlisenbe]

Racism is and has always been, but a tool of the elite to separate and divide the lower classes. It works well and the victims vilified, ignored, and opposed to keep positive change through unity and self interest from happening.

I'll have to think about that one. How do the elite encourage racism?

[talaniman]

Let's start at the founding documents, all men created equal, while preserving the right of some to treat others as slaves and dominate the rest.

[paraclete]

the works of men are imperfect but some don't recognise it

[jlisenbe]

Let's start at the founding documents, all men created equal, while preserving the right of some to treat others as slaves and dominate the rest.

True enough. But the question was more of how do the elite encourage racism now?

[talaniman]

The very same way the founding fathers did.

[jlisenbe]

This is not the case now. "preserving the right of some to treat others as slaves and dominate the rest." So again, how are the elite, including, I suppose, the Hollywood and liberal elites, encouraging racism now?

[tomder55]

the works of men are imperfect but some don't recognise it

that wasn't really the case . It is real easy to put 21st century values on men of the 18th century . The framers wrestled with slavery .Some were comfortable with the institution ;others were ahead of their time and were firmly abolitionists . Some of the most prominent ones were torn . Jefferson who owned slaves called it a “hideous blot” on America.Washington, who owned hundreds of slaves, denounced it as “repugnant.” James Mason, a Virginia slave owner, condemned it as “evil.”They walked a tight rope . As we now know it,it would take a war that killed over 600,000 Americans to settle the issue .

But their goal in the mid 1780s was to forge a nation from states that were really established from diverse people whose loyalties were originally to their colony and later to their state in a very loose confederation .

The issue of slavery being unsolvable at the time ;they did what they could do . They punted the issue . Congress would have the power to ban the slave trade, but not until 1800. The convention voted to extend the date to 1808.Let the next generation solve it . Had they known it would tear the country apart ,they probably would've handled it differently . But more likely ,the nation would've never happened .
They also compromised to weaken the power of the South (at the time the South had larger populations especially when considering the slave population . In a representative government the Southern states would dominate . So they came up with the 3/5th compromise which said that for purposes of representation the slaves would only be counted as 3/5th instead of 1 . The intention was not the say a slave was less than a white person . It was specifically meant to dilute the representation the southern states would have on the Federal government. As it was ,of the 1st 7 Presidents ,4 were from Virginia ,and the other 2 (the Adams ) had very controversial victories (Jackson from Tennessee also had southern roots being from the Carolinas ) . They also created the bicameral legislature so that in the Senate all states would have the same number of representatives . The early Senate was critical in creating the compromises that kept the nation united into the middle 1800s . The compromises the framers agreed to,were designed to tolerate slavery where it currently existed, not to endorse or advance the institution.The compromises the Senate later made were to contain the spread of slavery into the new territories . Eventually the differences became irreconcilable (big hat tip to SCOTUS for blowing up that system and accelerating us into violent civil war )

[jlisenbe]

If there had been no compromise on slavery, there would have been no united nation. The Brits would have simply taken us apart one state or alliance at a time, and that would have been it. The history of our country has been one of continually rectifying past sins. If you can find the perfect country, I'd like to hear about it.

[Wondergirl]

If you can find the perfect country, I'd like to hear about it.

You're so right! There's never been a perfect country anyway, so the sin of slavery (not ALL men are created equal...) committed by the US is easily forgivable. Shucks! Wish I'd realized that before now!

[jlisenbe]

Tell you what. Go live in Mexico, or any country in Africa, or any country in S. America, and then come back after a year. You will be a happy person to get back here.