Being a felon is no longer an absolute bar to voting in Florida, so it’s hard to see how someone being legally able to vote, except for owing fees/fines/penalties, certainly seems like a poll tax. Wealthy felons can pay whatever is owed, poor felons cannot, and so again, it looks like a poll tax.

Buffett’s probably not counting the money (or more accurately, shares of Berkshire stock) that he’s already given to his kids (likely through a trust). Even still, 1% of his wealth is around $800MM, so each kid gets over $250MM, which is still a lot. Also, Buffett, while he’s a great guy and is great at many things,…

I’m not so sure about that—based on his CCRB/Disciplinary history, Pantaleo seems like he falls into the category of “problem officers”—most officers probably don’t behave like he does. At the same time, the “good cops” don’t seem to do anything to rid the force of the “bad cops” and so become complicit in their bad…

I mean, this is kinda exactly what unions are supposed to do (or what they actually do). I mean, in my experience dealing with some of them, there’s literally no employee that should ever be fired, no matter what they’ve (allegedly) done, even if they’re clearly shown doing it on video, or how bad they are at their…

There’s no such thing as a “perfect president”, and even the best president is bound to make some mistakes. Obama was the best president I’ve had in my lifetime (which runs from Reagan to Trump), and aside from the things he did, didn’t do, or could have done better, he’s smart, surrounded himself with smarter people…

I reject AOC’s statement that Pelosi is “[explicitly] singling out newly elected women of color”. It’s demonstrably false, since there are many more newly elected women of color than are in “the squad” and none of them seem to be having public confrontations with Pelosi. Perhaps this is shrewd political maneuvering…

I’m still questioning whether or not Acosta made this decision on his own, or if he was forced into it by a superior at the DOJ. He should still resign regardless, it just seems like there has to be more to this whole story, and that this has to be a much larger conspiracy involving more people, at least one of whom…

IDK about this—I think the kid’s a complete fucking asshole for so many reasons, but also disagree with Harvard’s decision. His age at the time should be considered a mitigating factor (as it should for all college applicants), especially because we’re only beginning to grapple with the concept that we now live in a…

Frank has obviously never had to deal with elevator repair companies in the US, which I can assure you, are no better or quicker than elevator repair companies in Europe. 

no, government only bails out businesses that pay their employees tens millions—everybody else is too small to care about; so just let ‘em fail.

“Funny, then, that California, where there is no separate tipped minimum wage, still has restaurants—and in fact the NRA itself projects “over the next decade, employment in the industry will grow by 10.6 percent in California.””

While I understand the good intentions of this bill, and the real problems it is intended to address, I think it (and any rent regulation/rent control) bill will always come up short. Ultimately the price of housing is governed by supply and demand, construction costs, interest rates, etc. Only an increase in supply…

I’ve been asking myself how this hasn’t happened already, especially when it’s something that seems to run in the family: Don Jr. apparently used to be called “Donny Diapers” in college because he used to get drunk and shit the bed (not necessarily his bed, just whatever bed he passed out in) on a regular basis.

Alternatively, they’re also really good at playing the game according to the current rules, and cobbling together a constituencies where they count most. Somehow they’ve been able to attract different groups of people with entirely different political interests, and unite them around a few big ideas that are also…

I understand that this kind of talk is dangerous, but it just doesn’t seem possible. It would be practically impossible to accomplish legislatively by extending term limits. And, to accomplish via some coup or other means just seems too difficult to actually accomplish—it would require the participation and secrecy…

First of all, most of these “religious exemptions” being claimed don’t seem to come from any doctrine or dogma central to any of the major religions—more often it seems to be people who religious, and also do not believe in vaccination. For example, most rabbis (even among some orthodox/hasidic sects—although there…

We’ve gotten a lot more truth from him than we have from most other billionaires, who feel that they should pay no taxes, and everyone should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps if they want to like, not be poor. There’s ultimately a limit to what he’s capable of—even with his immense wealth—it’s easier to…

“Do the reading/do your homework” is usually pretty good advice. I mean, the guy who’s in office now doesn’t do any of the reading, which is why his “plans” are always just “Build the Wall” and “It’s gonna be really great” with no actual details or ways of paying for the things he wants to do.

No candidate should get praise for simply not being a dumpster fire, although experience now seems to be treated as a liability more than an asset.  Ideas are great, but they’re nothing without the ability to execute them and get them passed. 

I can understand that point of view, although my issue with many of the “progressive” candidates is that these progressive views seem to be ones that they only recently discovered, just in time for elections season. On that basis, Bernie is probably the only legit candidate, because he’s the only one who’s been…