Presidential Election Aftermath: What Now / What Next?

But continue with the other side of the choices those people you're talking about made... they regularly get their lights turned off, car repossessed, terrible credit since they ruined it to get that 70" TV and blue ray player from Rent A Center, etc, etc... all that doesn't add up to poor people living the good life, it adds up to poor priorities where they rent a TV instead of paying on a mortgage. That's on them to a large extent. They made poor choices that lead to us paying billions of dollars in welfare and other government subsidies... compare that to the trillions in corporate tax fraud we have to pay because some don't want or care if all people pay their fair share in taxes, and I think I know which is the bigger problem in the US.

 

You get no argument from me. One is poor choices. The other is criminal behavior that our politicians (both sides) refuse to prosecute. So when those same politicians paint them as these bad, evil people, I'm hesitant to jump on board because it's just talk. And those same politicians are RICH too.

 

Very true, and a president can't change everything alone, but you have to start somewhere. A president weilds more power than anyone else in influencing US policy, so I hope Bernie will really try to do what he says. Obama saying he will not have lobbyist in his administration, and then turning right around and adding them, immediately lost my admiration.

I think we either have to stop trying to find a president that will be as honest as a politician can be, or take a risk on someone that sounds like they believe what they'll try to follow through with what they're saying

 

GOP has 3 people running who are not politicians. Add in Rubio who is so fed up with Congress that he will not run for Senate again.

I'm not a fan of Trump (other than I admit to finding him immaturely hilarious). But I really like Carson and Fiorina. They are not politicians (as you know).

Does anyone really think Carson will bow down to lobbyist? I don't for one second.

I'll also add, Fiorina is #1 in the latest post-GOP debate poll. :heart:

 

+1 for Sanders

"
Bernie Sanders Unveils Ambitious Plan To End Private Prisons

BY CARIMAH TOWNES SEP 17, 2015 12:55PM


CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESS/CLIFF OWEN


Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is officially taking on the country’s private prison industry. By introducing a bill that would ban government contracts with private prisons, the presidential contender is quickly becoming the loudest advocate for criminal justice reform among his competitors.

The Justice is Not For Sale Act, co-sponsored by Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), would prohibit the federal government from entering contracts with private prison corporations within two years of the bill’s enactment. Instead, state and local government will be solely responsible for overseeing state and local correctional facilities.

“Study after study after study has shown private prisons are not cheaper, they are not safer, and they do not provide better outcomes for either the prisoners or the state,” Sanders said at a press conference Thursday.

In 2013, 8.4 percent of the 1.6 million inmates in federal and state prisons were locked away in prisons managed by private entities. By profiting off of the number of inmates as well as inmate labor, large corporations are primarily concerned with filling their prisons — leading to overcrowding and incentivizing the incarceration of people who commit low-level offenses. Poor management has led to the cruel treatment of people behind bars, who are denied medical services, brutalized by correctional staff, and subjected to inhumane living conditions. And because they are driven by profit, private prisons are less inclined to invest in rehabilitative services for inmates.

Raking in billions of dollars, two of the largest prison corporations, GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), are some of the most influential lobbyists in the country.

“In my view, corporations should not be allowed to make a profit by building more jails and keeping more Americans behind bars. We have got to end the private-for-profit prison racket in America,” Sanders said. “It is unacceptable that companies like Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Group are spending tens of millions of dollars lobbying members of Congress and state legislatures all over this country to keep more Americans behind bars for longer and longer sentences. That has got to end.”

In addition to overhauling private prisons, the act calls for the reinstatement of federal parole guidelines for eligible prisoners to be released prior to completing their sentences. It eliminates the requirement that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) meet a 34,000 bed quota, which leads to the detention and abuse of undocumented immigrants to the financial benefit of prison corporations like GEO and CCA. And it also mandates the regulation of video and telephone services in correctional facilities, which overcharge inmates to the benefit of staff and corporate entities.

With this bill, Sanders is further positioning himself as one of the staunchest proponents of criminal — and racial — justice in the presidential race, setting himself apart from Democratic and Republican candidates alike.

Facing mounting pressure from Black Lives Matter activists, who interrupted two of his press events this summer, Sanders unveiled a comprehensive racial justice platform in August, emphasizing state-sanctioned violence against communities of color and specific policies to fix the broken justice system. In addition to outlawing private prisons, Sanders also favors banning the box to minimize job discrimination against convicted felons, restoring voting rights for convicted felons, eliminating mandatory minimum sentences and putting greater emphasis on prison diversion programs. On Wednesday, Sanders met with Black Lives Matter activists to discuss future policy.

Sanders’ strong emphasis on state-backed violence and law enforcement’s role in it sets him apart from his immediate competition.

Martin O’Malley (D) was similarly targeted by Black Lives Matter protesters, after which he released his own criminal justice plan. His plan also covers fair sentencing, phasing out federal for-profit prisons, voting rights restoration, and economic justice for convicted felons. His platform does not, however, identify police as systemic perpetrators of violence against communities of color as Sanders’ does.

Hillary Clinton has vocalized the need for criminal justice reform, but has yet to outline a policy platform."

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/09/17/3702659/bernie-sanders-prison-bill/

 

Prisons are big business. What does it say about our country that people are profiting off sending people to prison? If we're paying top dollar for it, shouldn't there be at least some form of rehabilitation?

 

^^^ so many reasons not to execute people. due process. Many have been proven innocent. Cost (as absurd as it sounds, it costs more to execute a person than to let them live on Death Row).

 

It costs more because of the legal process. They get so many appeals and those lawyers aren't cheap. You're talking a 20 - 30 year process in most cases.

And I agree with it. This is the type of thing that separates us from other countries.

Having said all that, I must admit I'm against the death penalty.

 

You've come so far young Padawan

 

There's been 155 people set to die on death row that have been exonerated since 1973, the most recent one was in June. That's 155 innocent people that would have been killed if we just shot them once they were convicted.

I care more about killing innocent people than the legal cost.

 

Trump took heat this week when one of his supporters called Obama a Muslim and Trump didn't correct him.

In true Trump fashion, he said it's not his job to defend the president and he knows Obama would never defend him.

This situation is a good example of why people love and hate him.

 

Don't know how to feel about that one. I agree it isn't his job to correct even the crazy things his supporters say, but at the same time if someone said something like that to Sanders and Sanders didn't correct him, I'd loose some respect for him.

 

Fiorina challenged Obama and Clinton to view the Planned Parenthood videos of an aborted child moving in the table. Obama and Hillary supporters said she was lying about the video. I've seen it and it's beyond disgusting, so I know it exists. I'm sure they've seen the same video. When are they going to speak out in her defense? Or condemn Planned Parenthood for these acts?