Grading and politics

[rachel83az]

You don't have to like Biden to hate Trump. Or vice-versa.

[eriehiker]

I think that Biden is a very sweet man. I grew up in the congressional district of John Dingell. He was a great representative - hunter, NRA member, was the driving force behind passage of Medicare, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act. The man helped to reconstruct the marshlands along western Lake Erie and I hike them. That's why I have my screen name of eriehiker. Anyway, when he died, they showed his funeral on local television. There was a big snowstorm and most members of Congress couldn't make it in. But Joe Biden was there. And he prayed at the funeral and walked with Dingell's wife behind the casket and the microphone picked up what he was saying and he was so well-spoken and compassionate in that moment. I don't know if Biden will be a successful president, but I believe very strongly that he is a good man.

[dfrecore]

I didn't like Trump although I agreed with most of his policy decisions. He was/is 100% right on China, who will be the downfall of our democracy if we allow it.

I also think Biden will be a TERRIBLE president, and have no hope that he will stand up to the crazies on the far left, or teacher's unions, or for middle America (he's already backtracked on following "the science" which said schools were safe for kids to go back to, and just look at the Keystone Pipeline). I also don't think he's a treat personally - I believe that he enriched himself and his family through his scummy son. Not that all politicians don't do the same - they don't go in with a little money and come out millionaires for nothing. But I have a hard time believing that someone who has been in the senate/politics for SO many years is a "sweet" person. I think he's probably as cut-throat as the next guy. And was willing to give up any principle he may have held in order to become president.

[eriehiker]

I didn't like Trump although I agreed with most of his policy decisions.  He was/is 100% right on China, who will be the downfall of our democracy if we allow it.

I also think Biden will be a TERRIBLE president, and have no hope that he will stand up to the crazies on the far left, or teacher's unions, or for middle America (he's already backtracked on following "the science" which said schools were safe for kids to go back to, and just look at the Keystone Pipeline).  I also don't think he's a treat personally - I believe that he enriched himself and his family through his scummy son.  Not that all politicians don't do the same - they don't go in with a little money and come out millionaires for nothing. But I have a hard time believing that someone who has been in the senate/politics for SO many years is a "sweet" person.  I think he's probably as cut-throat as the next guy.  And was willing to give up any principle he may have held in order to become president.

I kind of think that China is almost a consensus position right now.  The lack of transparency in that government is a big reason we have a worldwide pandemic right now.  There was a recent Frontline episode on PBS that set out the whole thing.  They embargoed the genetic blueprint for Covid until it spread wildly out of the country.  I actually don't think that there is going to be much difference between the Trump and Biden policies on China.  The only thing that I would say is that Trump had a pretty unpredictable quality in terms of military force placement.  For example, he sent a cruiser off the coast of the Cape Verde Islands as a show of force related to a prisoner held in the islands.  I feel that we really need to be efficient in our use of force because we need to maximize pressure against China.  We also need to be consistent because it is kind of a Cold War scenario with China and both sides need to be clear and consistent with each other to avoid mistakes.

[dfrecore]

I didn't like Trump although I agreed with most of his policy decisions.  He was/is 100% right on China, who will be the downfall of our democracy if we allow it.

I kind of think that China is almost a consensus position right now.  The lack of transparency in that government is a big reason we have a worldwide pandemic right now.  There was a recent Frontline episode on PBS that set out the whole thing.  They embargoed the genetic blueprint for Covid until it spread wildly out of the country.  I actually don't think that there is going to be much difference between the Trump and Biden policies on China.  The only thing that I would say is that Trump had a pretty unpredictable quality in terms of military force placement.  For example, he sent a cruiser off the coast of the Cape Verde Islands as a show of force related to a prisoner held in the islands.  I feel that we really need to be efficient in our use of force because we need to maximize pressure against China.  We also need to be consistent because it is kind of a Cold War scenario with China and both sides need to be clear and consistent with each other to avoid mistakes.

I certainly hope you're right here.  China is certainly the world's biggest threat, and everyone needs to recognize it.  Trump did some good in calling them out, and saying we needed to move more manufacturing, especially of our medicines, back to the US for homeland security reasons.  We do NOT want to be dependent upon China when the next pandemic comes around (or as a diabetic, I don't want to be dependent on them to get my insulin).

We also need to do more projects like the Keystone Pipeline, to be energy independent.  The more energy we can produce ourselves, the better off everyone in the world is.  China dominates the world Lithium production, which is needed to make batteries, so our chances of moving entirely to wind/solar/green energy puts us squarely back in their sights.  We need to find ways to stay independent of China (this is not to say that we can't move towards green energy, but we certainly shouldn't put ourselves under China's thumb to do so).

[ashkir]

I live in a district that our representative rags on education. He will say how it's important, how we should spend more on it, etc. But his side quotes and his votes say a different story. 

• "Special interests are controlling schools."
  
• "While students are stuck at home, teachers unions enjoy the good life at their expense"
  
• Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any participating school (public, private, religious, homeschool)
  
• Provide public funding to private schools and allow them to keep their private religious and for profit standards
  
• Voted against grants to public schools.
  
• Voted against almost all high school grants.
  
• Believes pandemic was a hoax, and voted against nearly all stimulus packages for it.
  
• Voted against forgiving student debt.
  
• Voted against student debt 0% interest.
  
• Voted for a bill where charter schools should get more funding then public.
  
• Voted that attendance isn't a big deal for school.
  

My current representative is the House Minority Leader.

Edit: Keystone pipeline oh god. Don't get me started. Research something other then Dr Facebook and Dr Youtube.

[dfrecore]

Edit: Keystone pipeline oh god. Don't get me started. Research something other then Dr Facebook and Dr Youtube.

Same to you.

If we don't get our energy from a pipeline, they will just ship it around the world, which is much less clean and environmentally friendly than a pipeline. It's also cleaner than bringing it into the US on trains (which it ALREADY does). The amount of oil we bring in won't change, how it gets there though is of utmost importance.

BUT, if you have input on a better option to be energy independent, or don't think we need to be energy independent, please let us know why you think that way.  If you think being beholden to China is a good thing, explain why.

[Seagull]

I think that Biden is a very sweet man.  I grew up in the congressional district of John Dingell.  He was a great representative - hunter, NRA member, was the driving force behind passage of Medicare, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act.  The man helped to reconstruct the marshlands along western Lake Erie and I hike them.  That's why I have my screen name of eriehiker.  Anyway, when he died, they showed his funeral on local television.  There was a big snowstorm and most members of Congress couldn't make it in.  But Joe Biden was there.  And he prayed at the funeral and walked with Dingell's wife behind the casket and the microphone picked up what he was saying and he was so well-spoken and compassionate in that moment.  I don't know if Biden will be a successful president, but I believe very strongly that he is a good man.

Videos of him in congress greeting families and being creepy and touching all kids do not paint him as the image of a good man.

Plus he is a politician. 

And the fact remains that Tara Read is a real victim but now the media is shushing that fact.
If the president was not a comm....I mean a leftist, the news on Tara Read would never end.

[Alpha]

I think that Biden is a very sweet man.  I grew up in the congressional district of John Dingell.  He was a great representative - hunter, NRA member, was the driving force behind passage of Medicare, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act.  The man helped to reconstruct the marshlands along western Lake Erie and I hike them.  That's why I have my screen name of eriehiker.  Anyway, when he died, they showed his funeral on local television.  There was a big snowstorm and most members of Congress couldn't make it in.  But Joe Biden was there.  And he prayed at the funeral and walked with Dingell's wife behind the casket and the microphone picked up what he was saying and he was so well-spoken and compassionate in that moment.  I don't know if Biden will be a successful president, but I believe very strongly that he is a good man.

Videos of him in congress greeting families and being creepy and touching all kids do not paint him as the image of a good man.

Plus he is a politician. 

And the fact remains that Tara Read is a real victim but now the media is shushing that fact.
If the president was not a comm....I mean a leftist, the news on Tara Read would never end.

I think your interpretation of his behavior is a little creepy.  When you say "touching all kids" what are you suggesting?  Are you making some sort of pedophile reference?  Really?  Oh, and if you want to call him a communist then why don't you just do it?

[dfrecore]

Videos of him in congress greeting families and being creepy and touching all kids do not paint him as the image of a good man.

Plus he is a politician. 

I think your interpretation of his behavior is a little creepy.  When you say "touching all kids" what are you suggesting?  Are you making some sort of pedophile reference?  Really?  Oh, and if you want to call him a communist then why don't you just do it?

Have you been hiding under a rock?  Never seen videos of him inappropriately touching women? Or smelling their hair?  The guy is gross. Google "Creepy Joe Biden" and you'll find all kinds of stuff, going back MANY years.

"Biden’s inappropriate behavior towards women isn’t recent, nor is it secret. Google any variation of “Joe Biden,” “creepy,” or “cringe” and no shortage of images, videos and articles come up, all the same. Here’s Joe Biden standing behind women and girls of all ages, massaging their shoulders, rubbing their backs, nuzzling their hair, whispering into their ears, sometimes offering clearly unwanted kisses, their faces, to a one, silently pleading: “Stop!”


In 2015, Biden massaged the shoulders of Ash Carter’s wife, Stephanie, during Carter’s swearing in as defense secretary; Carter actually turned, mid-speech, and put his own hand on his wife’s shoulder to make Biden step away. And though Stephanie wrote an essay for Medium defending Biden for comforting her as she was “uncharacteristically nervous,” many women watching were made extremely uncomfortable.


During Sen. Chris Coons’ swearing in earlier that same year, Biden leaned down, cooed in his 13-year-old daughter’s ear and kissed her, all as the girl kept pulling away. Her mother had to tap Biden’s shoulder several times to force him back."

https://nypost.com/2019/04/01/gropey-uncle-joe-biden-has-always-been-creepy-and-should-stay-out-of-2020-race/