USA Politics

If you thought the Republican field in 2016 was deep, the potential Democrats for 2020 are starting to come out:
https://www.axios.com/dems-begin-lining-up-2020-staff-cash-2480249930.html

  • Watched most closely: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
  • The classics: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Al Gore, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
  • Outsiders: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper
  • Has begun seeking staff: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio).
  • Many in Obamaworld like: former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass), former Missouri SecState Jason Kander.
  • Many in Clintonworld like: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, former Ag Secretary and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro.
  • Possible if wins reelection: Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio).
  • Wants to be mentioned: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.).
  • Wild cards: Sen. Al Franken (Minn.), Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. John Delaney (Md.).
  • Non-politicians: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Cuban, The Rock, Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Oprah, George Clooney.
  • Someone Trump would have no idea what to do with, and who'd win women with authenticity and Southern charm: Sally Yates, the acting attorney general fired by Trump.
 
It is possible that people who delete a thread accidentily, don't know that they did so. They might not realize it. So all mods are still suspect.
 
If you thought the Republican field in 2016 was deep, the potential Democrats for 2020 are starting to come out:
https://www.axios.com/dems-begin-lining-up-2020-staff-cash-2480249930.html

  • Watched most closely: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
  • The classics: Joe Biden, John Kerry, Al Gore, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.
  • Outsiders: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Colorado Gov. Hickenlooper
  • Has begun seeking staff: Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Rep. Tim Ryan (Ohio).
  • Many in Obamaworld like: former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass), former Missouri SecState Jason Kander.
  • Many in Clintonworld like: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, former Ag Secretary and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro.
  • Possible if wins reelection: Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio).
  • Wants to be mentioned: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.).
  • Wild cards: Sen. Al Franken (Minn.), Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. John Delaney (Md.).
  • Non-politicians: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Cuban, The Rock, Starbucks Executive Chairman Howard Schultz, Disney CEO Bob Iger, Oprah, George Clooney.
  • Someone Trump would have no idea what to do with, and who'd win women with authenticity and Southern charm: Sally Yates, the acting attorney general fired by Trump.
I really hope not. Republicans tried a crowded field last time and got Trump.

Anyway my top three picks would be Franken, Hickenlooper (Colorado bias), and Biden.
 
And just by saying that, he got what he wants the most: Attention. You'd think after Trump's victory, people would learn about that, but no. Of course not.
 
A new thread about the situation with North Korea has been started at the DEFCON warning system's forum. And there's a pretty strong statement from Putin.

Also, from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...an-soldiers-ordered-steal-corn-ready-war-kim/
As North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un boasts of his military prowess and flaunts his high tech weapons to the world, his malnourished soldiers are said to be stealing corn from fields to stave off hunger pangs.

Officers are ordering their troops to supplement their meagre food rations by plundering local fields, in order to keep up their strength for battle, according to a report in the Daily NK.

“The military officers are instructing their soldiers, exhausted after training, to eat corn in the fields because war is imminent,” a source in North Hamgyong Province told the news website.

“They are even threatening their soldiers, saying: if you become malnourished despite permission to eat the corn, you will face difficulties.”
 
I don't know what Putin would do in that situation. I think it might depend on China. I dunno - there has never been a good time to fight a war in the Korean Peninsula (not that there's any good time to fight a war). I just hope the Orange-in-Chief doesn't decide to strike first, because that seems guaranteed to line China up against the US and any Allied forces.
 
Here's my take on this:

Kim believes that the only way he can maintain his power in North Korea is by showing strength to his people and his generals. Part of this tactic is demonstrating that the world is afraid of him, by launching missiles and constructing bombs with some sort of radioactivity attached to them. If we show him that we are afraid of him, he will show his generals that he's a strong leader. I do not think that Kim is irrational enough to attack another country. I actually don't think he is irrational, or a madman - he is rational within the irrational system that he controls. His system speaks a very primitive language in which threatening behaviour is understood to mean strength and stability. I don't think an attack on South Korea is on Kim's agenda. He wants to stay in power, that's all.

I don't know what Trump wants. Honestly. I think Trump is an irrational madman. I don't think he understands what Kim is doing, and he is under enough domestic pressure to seek refuge in war; this is always an occasion to brand opponents as unpatriotic traitors. There is very much that can converge to push him there: The FBI investigations, the White House Crisis, the resistance of Congress, and his increasing unpopularity among the people. He might prove to be as much a failure as Bush when it comes to dealing with Harvey, and there will be more crises he will fail at. At some point, he might react like a mortally wounded animal that is at its most dangerous when it is already defeated. I can see him giving command to a nuclear strike just to show the Democrats who's the strong man, and I can see it happening when he is already halfway out of office. Trump is a mirror image of Kim: He is an irrational man within a rational system.
 
Back
Top