Joe Biden's press secretary diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer

Joe Biden's national press secretary, TJ Ducklo, announced on Saturday that he has been diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer, but said he will continue to work through the rest of the 2020 presidential campaign.

Ducklo shared a series of tweets explaining why he has been absent from the campaign trail as of late and said he will be starting his treatment on Monday.


"Some upsetting news to share & explanation for why I’ve been MIA recently: after a bunch of tests, I’ve been diagnosed [with] metastatic lung cancer. Which sucks a lot. I’m starting treatment Monday, & my doctors -- who have been incredible -- believe we can get this into remission," he said.

"The outpouring of support and encouragement I’ve already received from family, colleagues and friends has been overwhelming in the best way, and has already made me feel like I have an army behind me to fight this piece of shit disease," he continued.

Is it clear yet? The "establishment" isn't scared of Warren.

That alone was a shady attack from the “left”(the Stein left). She is one of us. She is a Democrat. She is a coalition builder. She is entrenched within the establishment as she actually wants to accomplish things.

Fear is coming from those going around claiming everyone is scared of them. Nothing more than projection.

We are Warren. She is one of us. She can win.

Jill Stein and her crew can go pound sand. The debate is between our great Democrats running.

Women for Obama spot featuring Biden an the VAWA

Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton podcast campaigning for the Obama/Biden ticket.

Paul Wellstone floor remarks on a Sanders cosponsored bill to dump waste at Sierra Blanca.

Paul Wellstone

Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I would like to speak out this evening about an enormously important issue that has seldom, if ever, been addressed on the floor of the United States Senate. I understand my colleague needs to leave at 7, and I am going to try to figure out a way to accommodate him if at all possible. My understanding is, I will also have a chance to speak more about this in morning business.

This issue I want to address tonight has variously been called `environmental discrimination,' `environmental equity,' `environmental justice,' or `environmental racism.' These terms are used interchangeably to describe the well-documented tendency for pollution and waste dumps to be sited in poor and minority communities who lack the political power to keep them out.

Environmental justice has been at the center of the debate over H.R. 629, legislation granting congressional consent to the so-called Texas Compact. If passed unamended by this Congress, the Texas Compact would result in the dumping of low-level radioactive waste from nuclear reactors in Texas, Maine, and Vermont--and potentially from nuclear reactors all over the country--in the poor and majority-Latino town of Sierra Blanca in West Texas.

Environmental justice is an issue that demands the full attention of the Senate. If we pass this legislation unamended, we can no loner pretend to be innocent bystanders as one poor, minority community after another is victimized by political powerlessness--and, in some cases, by overt racism. We can no longer pretend that a remedy for this basic violation of civil rights is beyond our reach. That is the ultimate significance of this legislation--and of this debate.

The moral responsibility of the Senate is unavoidable and undeniable. If we approve H.R. 629 without conditions, the Compact dump will be built within a few miles of Sierra Blanca. There's really very little doubt about that. And if that happens, this poor Hispanic community could become the premier national repository for so-called `low-level' radioactive waste.

If we reject this Compact, on the other hand, the Sierra Blanca dump will not be built at all. The Texas Governor has said so publicly--more than once. It's as simple as that. The fate of Sierra Blanca rests in our hands.

Compact supporters would prefer that we consider the Compact without any reference to the actual location of the dump. But that simply cannot be done. It's true that H.R. 629 says nothing about Sierra Blanca. But we know very well where this waste will be dumped. In that respect, the Texas Compact is different from other compacts the Senate has considered.

The Texas legislature in 1991 already identified the area where the dump will be located. The Texas Waste Authority designated the site near Sierra Blanca in 1992. A draft license was issued in 1996. License proceedings are now in their final stages and should be completed by summer. Nobody doubts that the Texas authorities will soon issue that license.

There's only one reason why this dump might not get built--and that's if Congress rejects the Texas Compact. In an April 1998 interview, Texas Gov. George Bush said, `If that does not happen,' meaning congressional passage of the Compact, `then all bets are off.' In the El Paso Times of May 28, Gov. Bush said, `If there's not a Compact in place, we will not move forward.'

For these reasons, we cannot fairly consider H.R. 629 without also considering the dump site that Texas has selected. Sierra Blanca is a small town in one of poorest parts of Texas, an area with one of the highest percentages of Latino residents. The average income of people who live there is less than $8,000. Thirty-nine percent live below the poverty line. Over 66 percent are Latino, and many of them speak only Spanish.

It is a town that has already been saddled with one of the largest sewage sludge projects in the world. Every week Sierra Blanca receives 250 tons of partially treated sewage sludge from across the country. Depending on what action Congress decides to take, this small town with minimal political clout may also become the national repository for low-level radioactive waste. And I understand plans for building even more dump sites are also in the works.

Supporters of the Compact would have us believe that the designation of Sierra Blanca had nothing to do with the income or ethnic characteristics of its residents. That it had nothing to do with the high percentage of Latinos in Sierra Blanca and the surrounding Hudspeth County--at least 2.6 times higher than the State average. That the percentage of people living in poverty--at least 2.1 times higher than the State average--was completely irrelevant.

They would have us believe that Sierra Blanca was simply the unfortunate finalist in a rigorous and deliberate screening process that fairly considered potential sites from all over the State. That the outcome was based on science and objective criteria. I don't believe any of this is true.

I am not saying science played no role whatsoever in the process. It did. Indeed, based on the initial criteria coupled with the scientific findings, Sierra Blanca was disqualified as a potential dump site. It wasn't until politics entered the picture that Sierra Blanca was even considered.

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-1998-06-15/html/CREC-1998-06-15-pt1-PgS6349.htm

HR 629

Does Sanders opening up to the support of PAC's......

Change how you feel about his campaign?

Does Sanders meeting with and accepting the endorsement of the head of a PAC, after the PAC put Sanders front and center on their website, change the way you feel about his campaign?

Sanders has meet and talked with the head of SouthPaw MI PAC multiple times. Even putting out a Sanders campaign commercial headlining the head of the PAC after the PAC began prominently supporting Sanders.

I have checked and double checked all of this. Please point out where I am wrong. I don't think I am. Nor is this hyperbole.

Do any other candidates meet with head of a PAC after endorsement? This I don not know. Regular thing?

Who has put out your favorite endorsement at this point in the primaries?

Not the actual words they used in their endorsement but the endorser themselves.

My favorite at this point is John Kerry. Not only has he endorsed Biden, he is working out in the field for him. That's a BFD.

John Kerry is simply at the top of my list when it comes to politicians. I could listen to the guy for hours. The manner in which he talks speaks directly to me. There is very little about the guy that doesn't impress me.

https://twitter.com/JohnKerry/status/1202638045096370176

John Kerry to lead 'We Know Joe' campaign tour across Iowa in support of Joe Biden

The Gazette

My second favorite is Ayanna Pressley endorsing Elizabeth Warren. She forges her own path, speaks well to all that concerns us, and represents all we expect from elected officials.

https://twitter.com/AyannaPressley/status/1192132941335449601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1192132941335449601&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2019%2F11%2F06%2F776818382%2Fbreaking-from-the-squad-ayanna-pressley-endorses-elizabeth-warren-for-president

As I do in many of my OP's I'll add the opposite end of the spectrum as well. Who has been the worst endorsement of this cycle? By far.... There is simply no question about it.... Sanders fifteen minute endorsement of Cenk. Did no one google "Cenk"? No more would have been needed. Endorse someone down ticket just to have someone else google him for you so you are forced to rescind your down-ticket endorsement. Just wow.

My religious family didn't like the game I planned for Christmas Eve.

They didn’t even think it was funny. As a Christian, I still can’t stop laughing at the idea. Well, occasionally breaking out in tears at the reality of it.

I’m not as ritualistic as a number of members of my family but I do integrate my faith somewhat heavily during the Christmas season. The things I do normally involve family and they are usually ready to play along. Last year I gathered eleven members of my family to join my church group in caroling at an ACLF. We then all stayed for hours talking to those living there. We also joined a church my friend is affiliated with in an impoverished area near me to do food preparation and hand out. Most people in my family also left considerable donations to the operation. Win all the way around.

Sounds good. I blend my Christianity with theirs in a healthy way. Yes, they are overwhelmingly Trump voters.

Throughout last year some friction has been occurring between myself and some other family members. Don’t get me wrong, we would do anything for one and other. I’m blessed like that. But I have found I just don’t have the temperament to listen to a Trump supporter talk about their Christian Faith. This is so not like me but the feelings are so strong that I have accepted them.

So this year I wanted to stay in form. We all went caroling and then back to my place for what I labeled as a fun Christian game. At my place we pulled out the egg nog and headed for the family room.

I went back to my room to get the star of the show. When I came back to the living room I plopped a 3/4 inflated baby Trump “blimp” on the floor and then started smacking a printout of a fortune magazine on my hand. The looks right there were priceless. But I had more in store.

The rules of the game as I explained them.

1) Order of participation will be determined by who attends church the most throughout the year.

2) Each person gets a turn smacking baby Trump on the ass with the “magazine.”

3) As you are smacking him you must proclaim a Christian value you share with Trump.

The looks on their faces as they eyed each other and the limp ass baby Trump balloon was priceless. I said “point made,” put baby Trump away, and went out for a cigar.

My family didn’t like it but they moved on quickly. I am still laughing. I was prepared to go further as I was ready to start the fun and had a good “value” lined up. But after seeing their faces I knew it was time to stop. I think spanking Trump I’m front of them, while telling them I’ve traveled the country grabbing women by the pussy so I’m clearly not gay, would have sent them out the door.

I know there is a bit of offensiveness in here for everyone. I hope it is taken well. I literally woke up this morning laughing at the whole episode. Thank god these people love me and put up with my shit. But fuck em if they haven’t taken pause over it.

Is there anyone you were introduced to this primary season who you now really like?

I get that this is a very politically savvy board and that most of you knew at least the name of every candidate. But is there someone you knew little about who really kind of knocked your socks off?

For me it's Amy Klobuchar. I have come to view her as a rockstar. Watching her at the She the People Forum was an eye opener for me. Her assertiveness and level of comfort on that stage had me hooked. I've watched more and more of her since that time.

I'm also going to add the opposite end of the spectrum. Is there someone you had a good eye on and knew well who did not do it for you this primary season? For me that person is Booker. I am a big Booker person and still am. I thought when he announced that I was going to be team Booker the whole way but from the start I didn't see a real Presidential campaign form. Anyway, I still really like him a lot and if you do post about a candidate using this second question please don't "bash".