Lerxst

A "Black Man" worth how many millions, graduating from which school, working which career again? He wasn't some "gang banger" from a ghetto, or a "blues man" from Mississippi. Nor was he a "rebel" like Maclom X or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was a conformist, smooth talking, multi-millionaire that can sit up there with the best Conservatives Republicans have to offer.... Clarence Thomas for instance (another "black man"). Get past the "race cards" and see the politicians for who and what they are. Obama started and continued endless wars, with hundreds of drone strikes, and billions of dollars worth of Wall Street bail-outs - he was hardly a Liberal and not nearly the "Leftist" Fox News gripes about. The only classical Liberal thing Obama had any say in, was same sex marriage. Even his "Obamacare" is a Conservative Utopia for billion-dollar insurance companies. The fact that people voted for his skin color and then call themselves "Liberals" is exactly why the US is screwed. Those are the people who should be holding the sit-ins, protesting the government, and raising Hell on the streets, but they're just "Republican-Lites" at this point in the political climate and are totally ok with letting actual issue slide under the radar. These are the same people that raised hell about a "Russian conspiracy" after Trump won the election, but never once... at any point... questioned WHAT those leaked emails contained. The fact that they exposed, verbatim, the overt acts of corruption in the Democratic Party, is irrelevant for this group of supposed "Liberals". They act like a prisoner blaming their sentence on the security camera in the bank they robbed. If we have Republicans supporting a guy who states his gender relations as "grabbing women by their..." yeahhh... that Right Wing is too far gone to rely on for anything useful at any point in the future. If we have the Democrats being totally fine with extreme levels of corruption in their own political party and taking a "whatever it takes" mentality to simply winning seats, instead of addressing issues, then they're as equally useless to us as the Republicans. So where's this change supposed to come from that will magically shift the US off the course it's taken? The third parties, which don't have the money to have a say in our politics? The US democracy is too corrupt to actually function as a democracy anymore. If we were any other country, going through the same changes, the UN would start placing us on watch lists. Thank you for proving my point! If I criticize Clinton, I'm called a sexist and people want to run me down with their cars. If I criticize Trump, people start showing me their "Second Amendment rights", tucked under their jackets. If I wave a gun of my own around the government, they could just drone-strike my house while I sleep. If I threaten anyone in DC, the nice men in black suits take me away to an undisclosed location. So how does one go about changing anything in a system like this? Go on... I'm all ears.

Do people here realize that democracy works by giving opposing views a voice in their government? The branches of government are designed as a system of checks and balances. Thanks to GOP meddling, and the Dems being not much better, that no longer exists. We have Trump suggesting it, the House writing it and the Court approving it. Nowhere, is there any person or branch saying "what if...". Sexual misconduct or not, that's the danger in Kavanaugh; he's going to be another "yes man" for whichever GOP stooge is in charge at any given point in time. And since he's now appointed for life, and "we the people" have zero say in any of it, get ready for that proverbial pile of excrement to perpetually be hitting the fan.

I realize that Canada follows the UN guidelines of asylum. Most of it refers to immediate threat of harm, but... what about a first-world country that has third-world statistics in its social welfare policies and lack of a democratic process in its government? Yes, I'm talking about the US. If you look at our situation, it's truly hopeless. There are a few very wealthy, influential people and special interest groups on the top, embedded in our government; the NRA, Pharmaceutical companies, billion-dollar industries with equally rich leaders, etc. Even if the supposed "Left" impeaches Trump, we get... Pence. He's a religious zealot who's worse than Trump simply because he's not at that same level of idiocy. After him, we get the selfish, psychopathic Ryan with his "screw you, I got mine! mentality of government. Then we get the real winner... Orin Hatch - the octogenarian Mormon who's waiting for his Heavenly Father to beam him up to his sacred planet Kolob, at any moment (I only wish I was exaggerating that!). Our Supreme Court is now, forever slanted to the will of these people, after being cram packed with them, thanks to their cronies in DC offices. Not to mention, our Justices serve for life. Democracy doesn't apply to them, since there are no term limits or elections and they are not selected via a democratic process. Our Legislative Branch has been gerrymandered beyond recognition, to diminish the "Blue" voter's influence. Large concentrations of those voters are bunched together in one district, while the outlying voters are pushed into "Red" districts, essentially removing their votes in local elections for Congressmen and Senators, giving the one solitary condensed Blue district one vote, while those thinly filled Red districts get several. Even our supposed "Liberal" Left is a laughable attempt as a fake Progressive agenda, while the Democrats happily marry themselves to Conservative values that used to be considered the Republican platform back in the 80's. We're a country where half the population doesn't get a say in who our leaders will be, since half the voters aren't registered with either major party who decides the candidates and therefor, can't vote for them, as Hillary's primary campaign made crystal clear. The minority-elected leadership then rigs the system to ensure that any opposition vote won't count and can't be heard, when they redraw the voting districts. If lucky enough to be in office when a Supreme Court seat is open, they then get to decide among their like-minded friends, who they want to place in that open seat. The United States no longer has a democratic government at the helm. Comparing it to Nazi Germany would be accurate right about now, except, of course, the whole genocide thing! Those of us who do oppose what our government has become and is doing, lack any power to change it. In light of this, under what conditions and how long do you think it will take to get there, would US citizens start to qualify for asylum in other countries like Canada?

Yep! McDonalds, WalMart and Dunkin Donuts are really thriving! IT, Healthcare and public schools, not so much though. None of those stats tell you about the PhDs stuck in retail jobs, or the 60 year olds spending their final working days as a WinDixie cashier.

MSNBC is so much better: CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO LINK We're relegated to "alternative" news sources because the actual news won't talk about this. Local AZ stations were broadcasting "something wrong with the registrations" on the local stations and interviewed some people mentioned in that article that had their party registration mysteriously changed and the 75% reduction in voting stations was a matter of record, also captured by local media. New York Times? Nothing. CNN? Also a devoid of any news on it. Other news stations were broadcasting results for Clinton's victory while only 1% of the votes were actually counted. Huffington Post has been writing articles and The Young Turks has been making videos about this and other events like it. Major Media though, as the video above shows, "forgets" to mention anything about Sanders potentially winning anything. Anyone up there watch the results? (really, I am asking) Sanders won more delegates with Utah and Idaho, winning almost 80% of the vote in each state, than Clinton won in Arizona, but good luck finding any actual news about that. Even if Sanders wins the entire election process, the media will probably start reporting about cats stuck in trees, than acknowledge anything in DC at that point.

Arizona: Hillary Clinton’s Election Fraud Masterpiece The Clinton machine used brazen voter suppression and election fraud to steal Arizona http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/arizona-hillary-clintons-election-fraud-masterpiece/ri13524 Ignoring some of the wording bias, this article gives you a pretty good glimpse into US politics. Having lived in Arizona and living next to it at the moment, nothing being said there is far off. Some insight: Phoenix in the capital with a population of 1.5 million people. Maricopa County is the primary county the city is located in. Phoenix acts as a financial mecca for many banks and investment firms (Wall Street money).

I think it's funny to watch international reaction to Trump. Most of us on the other side of the spectrum here already know he's a joke. He's a major campaign contributor to the Clintons in the past. He's said in the 90's that he would run as a Republican if he ran, because they're (basically) stupid enough to vote for him. Republicans hate him because he's not one of them. Democrats hate him because he's a boisterous, irrational Republican. If people think Obama's term has been filled with obstruction, just wait until we see a Trump in office! And of course, that's assuming he's even a "real" candidate. You'd have to understand the Clintons to know exactly what that implies. There's way too much "circumstantial" evidence that suggests Trump is only running to stoke the Clinton fire. Democrats usually lose in this country due to low voter interest/turnout. What better way to promote interest than to have a hateful, divisive candidate on the other side gain popularity? It works. You know how many Democrats say they'll vote just to not see Trump in office? Just about all of them! The wildcard that I don't think either Hillary or Trump predicted in this fiasco was Bernie Sanders. No one took him seriously to start with and now he's within 8% of the votes for tying Clinton and 9% of leading ahead of her. Right. Despite what the Washington Post, NY Times, Fox, NBC etc will show you on the news, the actual figures are really that close. Winning primaries in states here means nothing if the margins are narrow enough to split the votes equally, which most have been. Media down here will tell you that the race is over and start crowning Clinton tomorrow, but what they won't tell you is that the race is less than 50% through and Hillary used up the ace in her pocket with the Deep South early on. The states coming in the future have more delegates and are much more Liberal than anything Clinton has won yet. Of course, if you look at the past 20 years of corporate donations, you can see exactly how much each of the networks donated to the Clintons in the past and their organizations outside of campaigns in order to see exactly where loyalties lay. This relates to Trump because... Sanders will absolutely wipe the floor with him. Trump's biggest fear in this election, if he goes all the way isn't Clinton, it's Sanders. If you want a dangerous candidate, look at Cruz. That guy shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a position of authority. While Trump might appear as a psychopath, Cruz actually is a sociopath. He's calm, cool-headed and absolutely evil below that crooked smile on the surface. Trump is at least a "what you see is what you get" candidate.

You realize the Democratic primaries are only half over and Clinton is only ahead by 58% to Sanders' 42%, right? In addition, Clinton's stronghold in the South is all dried up and we're moving on to much more Liberal/Anti-establishment territory like Washington, Idaho and Oregon. Point is, Obama nudged a door that should have been open decades ago. If/when we get an actual Progressive in office, that door will be opened much wider, as will others. On the other hand, if Clinton gets into office, that door may end up being nailed back shut with her war-mongering history. And don't worry about Trump. He's hated by Republicans more than Democrats. Any term of his will be nothing but a quagmire of red tape, and non-action by both sides, until his 4 years is up. The worst he'll do is make us look like global idiots. Worry more about the "Party" candidates; they're the ones with access to Armageddon

My wife calls me a music "snob". But when you play guitar for more than half your life and songs like this have been your influence... it takes a lot to impress

Is it taboo to post a Rush song on a Canadian message board? This song is "our song" for my wife and I.

I was a registered member of the Green Party down here. We won 0 elections. We were cut out of nearly every race due to insider politics and ridiculous criteria for nominations. We have a delegate system in the primaries that excludes anyone not of the 2 major parties and "flunks out" anyone in those parties who fails to garner enough votes. We have televised debates hosted by one of the two major parties, with little regard given to any of the third parties. As of 2105, I'm now a Democrat because this messed up system won't allow me to vote in the primaries/caucus unless I am one. Bernie Sanders is an Independent that had to run as a Democrat in order to be "taken seriously" and have access to the same resources as the others in order to be on equal ground. Our 2 party system is the reason most of us aren't represented by the very government that should be representing us. No, we are not "okay" with it, when most of us are given no voice in our own government. God help Canada if you ever go down this path!!

Let's just focus on this one: Conservatives are already among the minority - I've read in the neighborhood of the 40%. They've carved up districts nicely to get more votes for less of the people. So, 80% of the minority is representation how, exactly? That means about 70% of the overall population wants some sort of national healthcare system but they have this one f***stain of a politician leading an effort to block it. The others options you mentioned vary drastically state by state and only apply if you fall below a poverty line that is lower than most other countries in the world - and then you still have to pay for most of them. Obama, the same as Clinton of a freakin' Republican. Why do people insist on thinking he's some sort of Socialist Commie Nigerian Muslim? He's more Conservative than any Republican pre-1960 and has continued and started wars around the world. The only thing that makes him look remotely Liberal are these freaks of nature like Cruz running around DC. So, any wonder why a Conservative would stop fighting for a national healthcare system? Surely it wouldn't be because they get a shit-ton of money from the industry. Of course not! Just like Hillary didn't get paid off in the 90's, before she mysteriously stopped her campaign for it, and Obama hasn't promised the industry millions of government dollars in addition to premiums we still have to pay for out of our pockets, or face $500-$900 fines for not having. So now, what does Cruz want to do if he drops Obamacare? Probably foot the bills back over to us for the $400+ dollars the government promised to pay to insurance companies in the form of tax credits to us. No thanks, I'd rather face the fine. And.. oh look at that - I no longer have insurance... again! So, f*** Cruz. He'd rather watch 70% of us die in the streets if it meant he and his buddies could get richer off of our corpses. Fortunately, Sander would wipe the floor with him in a general election. Unfortunately, Hillary already rigged that system to her favor and will suffer a humiliating loss to the GOP. So odds are now, we're looking at either a Trump or a Cruz presidency. Fortunately the Second Amendment will be well protected, so we can all go out a buy ourselves a gun and blow our brains out before having to suffer the effects of "slow-death-by-non-representation".

Did I really just read a post (or several) about Cruz being a good guy?? I had to swallow my vomit there for a minute. It may look different fom the North, but Cruz was responsible for shutting down the government in 2013. If you don't understand what that implies... every federal agency simply stopped - a complete and total void in anything funded and run by the US government. National Parks, closed (No biggie, unless you were one of the thousands of unlucky tourists travelling thousands of miles to see the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone for instance). Mail service, stopped. People didn't get paid. VA hospitals closed most services. Everything just became a void. And who was at the head of this decision? Your wonderful Ted Cruz. He has also been one of the leaders heading the revolt against "Obamacare". Might not seem like a big deal up there, but we don't have any national healthcare. If we get sick, we pay. If we can't afford to, we stay sick. Cruz doesn't give a single rat's ass about "the people" he's supposedly representing. His list of "achievements" goes on and on. I do seriously wonder if people in Canada don't realize how extremely far to the Right the US has been pulled since McCarthyism destroyed our Liberal voice in the 1950's. First McCarthyism, then JFK and Martin Luther King JR. Carter came along, but it was already too late - people didn't like the fact that he wasn't militant and all aggressive over the Middle East after the hostage and oil crisis in the late 70's, so he was ousted by Reagan. Any balance to Conservative views was destroyed over a 20 year period. It's like having a Yin with a slightly bigger Yin instead of a Yang. Lincoln was a Republican - he freed the slaves. Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican - he broke up monopolies and established labor laws. Eisenhower was a Republican - he strengthened Social Security and raised taxes. Then Nixon came along and decided a losing war over a rice field no one cared about was a good thing, before his impeachment. After him, Reagan started tearing this country apart from the top down. Now we have Cruz and various Tea Partiers wanting to drag us, kicking and screaming, even further to the Right. I could also go on about ClInton and the Democrats since those trade agreements were such a wonderful thing - because after graduating from college with a 5 figure student load debt, I wanted my IT job outsourced to India, really, I did! Trump simply won't be able to get anything done. Republicans and Democrats hate him equally. He may be President, but no one under his command will listen to a thing he says and his entire term will be nothing but a Lame Duck that gets us nowhere. Cruz, on the other hand, is a freakin' closet sociopath. He's worse than Trump because he represents the billion dollar business interests and may actually get his bills passed and have supporters in the rest of his party. Then we'll have all 3 branches of our government representing one party that represent the minority of the voters in the country (Republicans actually compose much less of the general population that polls would show... thank you gerrymandering). Cruzz... uughhh. You guys want him back? Pretty pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!

Hehehehehehehe... sorry I just got a laugh out of the entire dialog between you two there. My wife and I don't own a TV and my son has never watched a show in his 2+ years of life yet. Very few shows air that I actually have an interest in and none of them are really about any type of blind American patriotism - Family Guy, Simpsons, Big Bang Theory and... well, that's it really. I find myself going online to watch more and more British, Australian and Canadian series (or at least syndicated shows) like Aircrash Investigations, Sherlock and a number of National Geographic shows and other documentaries, than I do wasting time in the wasteland of American TV. It's just interesting to be reading this from a 3rd person perspective.

I've followed Canadian politics, as well as other countries, enough to know some basics, but our media overwhelms most of our outlets to anything "not us". Even overseas, i run across the bias as much of the media is owned, "friendly" with, or associated with companies here in the US. The one thing I know in what I have followed is that I personally like Trudeau. Compared to everything we have down here, the guy's a saint!