Personally, you could write a book on how Obama's presidency led to Hillary/Trump.

This was not on the cards back in 2008.

Now you understand that this is not the promised land they spoke of. Indeed.

Huh?

So a person, Hillary, who predates Obama is caused by Obama? Is polio caused by him too?

Trump was voted as nominee by a sect of Republicans that have become more and more radical and were radical when McCain was running against Obama (see birther).

I don't think the rise of either says that much about the Obama presidency. It says, as usual, when there has been an impactful economic crux then that crux leads to heightened socialital tension, see Reagan in the 80's.

Essentially, the highly partisan nature of the US is a trend that has continued for sometime prior to Obama (and few candidates would do much to fix it. In fact, Romney if he had won in 2012 would have dealt with much the same pressures within his own party and against the Democratic side had he won).

Clinton is the result of being next one up (much like Nixon and later H.W. Bush), while Trump is the result of a political party's infighting or lack of strategy when it comes to not getting their policies passed.

The fact that Obama'said popularity is far above either of those two suggests that it is not necessarily the direct presidency of Obama itself (or he'd be just as low in terms of favorability as them) but the societal changes in effect when he came into office and has grown while in office.

Since Black Lives Matter came up, I thought I'd throw in my two cents on the issue.

BLM is a well-intentioned movement that is perhaps a bit misguided. I think it's fantastic that people are exercising their freedom of assembly to protest racism and advocate for social change. But it's a bit of a missed opportunity for all races to come together and fight against inequality. The key to this is in the name: Black Lives Matter. It's a bit exclusionary to other races, and as an Asian American, I know from experience that my brethren generally don't identify with BLM. Not just blacks suffer from that monstrosity that is racism; I absolutely fucking hate it when people think that Asians are weak, obsequious, and only good at math and unfit for management jobs - for the same reason blacks hate it when people think that they're somehow always gonna cause trouble, no matter what: it's a stereotype. It would probably create a bigger impression on everyone if all the minorities could find a common ground and unite to fight bigotry in America. Of course, it's a bit idealistic to think that, given that tensions will always exist between minority groups but I've seen all sorts of races unite over many issues in the past, and I believe that it could happen again. (Side note: I hate it when my fellow Asian Americans fall into the trap of voting for Republicans. This is mostly a result of their perception that Democrats cater too much to blacks and that they don't represent Asians. It's really counterintuitive though because it's the Republicans who are the ones who pass racist legislation like voter ID laws and care as much for Asians as they do blacks, i.e. they don't.)

Another thing I'd like to point out is that you can't protest every police shooting before the facts are out. Of course it looks a lot like racism when a white police officer kills a black man, but it is not always the case. Protesting every incident makes the movement seem unfocused, and to this day, I'm still not sure if BLM is focusing more on racism in police departments, or police brutality. Because if the movement is trying to fight racism, then in cases like Freddie Gray, where officer most responsible was black (correct me if I'm wrong), then it's not really a race issue. But if the movement is trying to protest police brutality, then why not protest every incident in which someone is killed by the police?

But really, the BLM movement isn't driven that much by either issue that I stated above as it is by general distrust of the police by the black community. And it's something that runs really deep due to its terrible history (if you don't believe me, just listen to NWA's Fuck tha Police). As Batfink was saying earlier (kinda), if you drive to the black, poorer parts of DC or Baltimore (where there was rioting not too long ago), it almost looks like a third world country. America, the land of opportunity? You can understand why they feel oppressed, when they have so little, and have to turn to illicit means just to survive, and on top of that have to deal with a racist police department. It's truly awful, and nobody can deny that. These are the things that foster tensions between them and the police. And these tensions can all come to a head when a police officer kills a black man, like it did in Ferguson, even if the circumstances weren't the best to protest.

This leads me to my next point. Police departments need to foster better relations with racial minorities in the community if we're ever going to put an end to these police shootings. That way, blacks and other minorites will not have to live in fear of being profiled (or even fearing for their lives), and any incidents in which the police was justified in using deadly force won't be mistaken for racism. The solution doesn't lie in sending cops to prison (though any guilty of wrongdoing should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law), but on building trust between the police and the community. Because if you can't trust the police, an organization dedicated to protecting citizens' safety, then who can you trust?

Of course, easier said than done, but we need to have this conversation if we're ever going to address any problems in our society. And I acknowledge that race is still a very touchy subject in America, so feel free to blast me if you happen to disagree.

So much for Clinton's big lead.

As we head into tonight's first debates (Check the NowCast section).....

projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo

spaneli

Well, the election lands on my birthday, so in the event that Trump wins, I just hope the CIA give me a present and do a job on him.

See I don't get this with you Beady’s Here Now - you claim to be a Republican but want Trump to win yet the Republican establishment of Romney, Bush, McCain etc, of whom you all admire (and fair enough - they are very credible politicians) have all denounced Trump and refuse to back him. Bush even says he's voting Clinton.

So are you telling me that these guys are wrong? Answers please, I'd seriously like to hear your views on this.

The logic here is that he'd (Beady’s Here Now) rather have Trump than Hilary... that's not to say that he likes either. Also, he loves to stir the pot, so....

Watching tonight's First Presidential Debate will be just like watching NASCAR - Only watching for the crashes.

#makethisdebategreatagain #trump16

That much is obvious but the question is why? On what basis would you prefer him given his views. This is the problem with Nigel these day's, he can't even engage with anyone. Drop's by posts a link say's nothing.

¿Did you get my page invite on Facebòók?

Thanks.