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I decided to vote for Warren after the second or third debate when it became apparent to me that Beto O’Rourke was simply not ready for the big stage, and that the things that made him a great candidate in his Senate race simply did not translate into making him a good Presidential candidate. At that time, I began looking at each candidate’s qualifications, plans, policy positions and character in detail.Choosing a presidential candidate can be a difficult thing. Often we connect with someone emotionally as I did early on with Beto, based on how impressed I was with the way he conducted himself on the campaign trail during his Senate run. But “I like them” is typically a poor answer when asked why you support someone, especially for the highest office in the land. Unfortunately for many people it often comes down to that.I evaluate a candidate on 4 main criteria.Qualifications — What skills, experience, education, or demonstrated knowledge do they have that makes them qualified for the office?Policy Positions — What statements have they made, or how have they voted to indicate what their position is on various political policies, and how does that align with my beliefs on those positions? To help with this, you can go to Candidates on the Issues and look up any US politician, and see a collection of all their public statements and their voting record on a wide array of issues. Looking through each candidate’s On The Issues profile will help you decide who most aligns with your own values.Plans — What have they published about what they plan to do if elected, how detailed and realistic are those plans, and do I agree that what they plan to do should be done?Character — This is a judgment call that we make, and it often does get to your feeling about an individual: What is your assessment of their Character? Do you question their integrity, do they seem to be a person of strong moral conviction? Are they the type of person you believe can be trusted with the power we entrust to the President of the United States? What do we know about them, about their past, that indicates how they will behave if we entrust them with the power of the office of the President of the United States? Do they seem like a hard worker? Do they seem to be in it for themselves, or do they seem to have a genuine desire to serve their nation? What is it that drives them?So. Let’s Look at why I came to the decision to vote for Elizabeth Warren.1.) QualificationsI believe Warren is not only the most qualified candidate running for President in this election, I consider her to be the most qualified candidate I can remember examining since George H. W. Bush.Elizabeth Warren was born in Oklahoma City in 1949, daughter of a Montgomery Ward salesman. After a heart attack led to heavy medical bills and the loss of his sales job, he became a maintenance man for an apartment building. To help with finances her mother found work with Sears, and Warren herself started waiting tables a the age of 13 at her aunt’s restaurant to help with the bills. These early struggles led to her interest later in life in consumer bankruptcy law.A lifelong Republican, she switched party affiliations and became a Democrat in 1996. A High School Debate team star, she was awarded a debate scholarship to George Washington University at the age of 16. She attended with the goal of becoming a teacher, but left school after 2 years to marry her high school sweetheart. After moving with him to Houston Tx, she finished her degree at the University of Houston in speech pathology and audiology and became a teacher. A job transfer led to a move to New Jersey, and the birth of her daughter led her to stay home to take care of Amelia. When her daughter turned 2, Warren enrolled in Rutgers Law School, and earned her J.D. in 1976. She divorced and 2 years later married her current husband.Soon after began a brilliant academic career spanning several decades, and work with prestigious schools such as Rutgers University, The University of Texas, and the University of Michigan. She has been a full professor at the University of Houston, The University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University.She is one of the foremost experts in the United States on the subject of Consumer Bankruptcy law and has written five and co-authored six books, including several Bankruptcy Law Textbooks which are still used today by major universities around the US.She began government service in 1996, first as an advisor to the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, and worked as a member of the FDIC Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion. Her advisory work was instrumental in establishing the Consumer Finacial Protection Bureau. In September 2010, Obama named Warren Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the CFPB to set up the new agency.In 2012, Warren ran for her election to the US Senate in Massachusetts and defeated incumbent Republican Senator Scott Brown. She has served onCommittee on Armed ServicesSubcommittee on AirlandSubcommittee on PersonnelSubcommittee on Strategic ForcesCommittee on Banking, Housing, and Urban AffairsSubcommittee on Economic PolicySubcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection (ranking member)Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and InvestmentCommittee on Health, Education, Labor and PensionsSubcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement SecuritySpecial Committee on Aging2.) Policy Positions: Elizabeth Warren on the IssuesAfter growing up in a Republican household and spending most of her life as a Republican, Warren’s political views have shifted over her lifetime to become significantly more liberal. She is currently the most progressive candidate in the race aside from Bernie Sanders.She fully supports Medicare for all, and as one of the foremost experts on Consumer Bankruptcy in the US, knows better than anyone that the foremost cause of Consumer Bankruptcy in the US is medical debt. She proposes a 4-year transition away from For-Profit Insurance to a Single-Payer Solution.She describes herself as a “Hard Core Capitalist,” a firm believer in Keynesian Economics, the demand side focused economics philosophy that focuses on using active government policy to manage aggregate demand in order to address or prevent economic recessions.She favors a wealth tax on fortunes over $50 million dollars as a way to address Income inequality and generate enough revenue to manage government programs needed to support lower-income Americans on a path to better education, opportunity, and financial stability.She strongly favors investments in green energy to address the Climate Crisis. She sees green energy as the greatest path to American Job Growth we have. She would require green technology be built by American union jobs. She strongly supports Unions, wants to make it easier for workers to organize, and has been fighting to raise the minimum wage since she began work in Government.She supports Criminal Justice Reform, believes that Marijuana should be legalized at both Federal and state levels, and supports the Marijuana Justice Act to decriminalize pot and expunge the records of non-violent pot offenders.She is highly supportive of avoiding Foreign entanglements, wants a quick and effective exit from the middle east, especially “Get out of Afganistan as quickly as possible,” supports nonintervention in Yemen, and opposes further military expansion.Sen. Warren supports immigration reform, strongly supports the DREAM act, and wants to fix the “man-made” crisis at the border, not “Stir it up.”She does not support open borders, saying as late as July 2019: ‘We need border security but must live by our values.”3.) Plans:Of the things that I find impressive about Sen. Warren, the thing that draws the most attention and the thing most of her supporters cite when asked about why they support her is how complete and fully articulated her plans are. One of her Primary Campaign slogans, though unofficial, is “I have a plan for that.”You can read about all her plans here: Plans | Elizabeth WarrenOr piece by piece, how she means to deal with health care: Health Care Is A Basic Human Right | Elizabeth Warren How EXACTLY she plans to transition to that My First Term Plan for Reducing Health Care Costs in America | Elizabeth WarrenHow she intends to Pay for all the things she wants to do for America Ultra-Millionaire Tax | Elizabeth WarrenHow she intends to deal with Climate Change Tackling the Climate Crisis Head On | Elizabeth WarrenWhat she plans to do about Student Loan Debt, and what she really thinks about it as a foremost expert on consumer Bankruptcy My Plan to Cancel Student Loan Debt on Day One of My Presidency | Elizabeth WarrenHer plans on Immigration reform A Fair and Welcoming Immigration System | Elizabeth WarrenHer plans to reform the Criminal Justice system and get rid of For-Profit Prisons Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform | Elizabeth WarrenHow to defend and Create American Jobs Defend & Create American Jobs | Elizabeth WarrenHow to address not just unemployment, but stagnant wages Empowering American Workers and Raising Wages | Elizabeth WarrenHow to fight digital disinformation Fighting Digital Disinformation | Elizabeth WarrenHow to end the Opioid Crisis Ending the Opioid Crisis | Elizabeth WarrenHow to get big money out of politics Getting Big Money Out of Politics | Elizabeth WarrenHow to help Family Farmers A New Farm Economy | Elizabeth WarrenHow to Address Problems with Trade A New Approach to Trade | Elizabeth WarrenWhat she plans for America on the World Stage Foreign Policy | Elizabeth WarrenGO to the original link. There you will find a list of all the things she plans to do. I doubt you will leave that page with any questions about what she intends to do, or how she intends to do it.4.) Character.The more I hear Elizabeth Warren Speak, the more I hear how heartfelt and passionate she is about her ideas on how to move America forward in such a way that all Americans have the kind of chance that is America’s promise. I see a woman out working her tail off on the campaign trail, not stopping the selfie line until the last person who wants a picture with her has one. I see someone trying her hardest to keep the conversation on what it is she wants to accomplish it an how she intends to do it.The biggest knock the right has on Warren is the contention that she claimed Native American Heritage when applying for academic jobs to give herself an unfair advantage. Warren grew up in a family with native lore. In other words, she was always told she had native ancestry. A DNA test showed that while it is true that she did have some native ancestry, it was not very much and was in the distant past. Opponents use this to question her integrity and suggest dishonesty. I see it differently. If you say something that is not true, it is only a lie if you are aware it is untrue when you say it. There’s a big difference between pretending Native heritage just to gain an advantage and marking a checkbox on an employment application because you’ve always been told that you fit that definition.An extensive investigation by the Boston Globe concluded that her reported ethnicity played no role in her rise in the academic legal profession. Ethnicity not a factor in Elizabeth Warren’s rise in law - The Boston Globe In 2019, according to the Wikipedia article:Warren responded in part, "I am not a person of color; I am not a citizen of a tribe. Tribal citizenship is very different from ancestry. Tribes, and only tribes, determine tribal citizenship, and I respect that difference." [157]She later reached out to leadership of the Cherokee Nation to apologize "for furthering confusion over issues of tribal sovereignty and citizenship and for any harm her announcement caused". Cherokee Nation executive director of communications Julie Hubbard said that Warren understands "that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws not through DNA tests." [158]Warren apologized again in August 2019 before the Native American Forum in IowaConsider this. Have you ever heard Donald Trump apologize for anything he was ever wrong about? If you ask me, her ability to reflect, to look at something like this from the past, and not dig in claiming that the DNA test had ‘Vindicated” her, but instead to accept accountability and apologize, I think is a very important indication of strong character.Consider this too. Go back and look at her plans, how carefully thought through and comprehensive they are. If all they have for her at the end of the day is “Pocahontas,” they’re in DEEP, DEEP trouble.In Conclusion:There you have it. That's why I’m supporting Elizabeth Warren for President. It’s why I think you shouldI ask you not to take my word for it.Go out, look, read. Do the same research I’ve laid out here on the other candidates. Apply the same test to Donald Trump, it may be that he’s the candidate that most aligns with your views, and guess what? I don’t agree with you, but THAT’S OK!!!!Just because we don’t agree doesn’t mean we aren’t on the same side.

Ashley Moores questions:When is Texas going to stop having rolling blackouts and power outages?How long will our power be out for? It’s almost 0 degrees Fahrenheit!Answer acc. Bob Garcia-Buckle, 10:46 PM CST February 15, 2021 (kvue..com) : ‘… Because of the bitterly cold weather, electric usage in Texas hit an all-time winter peak on Sunday night between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.At 11 p.m. Sunday, ERCOT reported “higher-than-normal generation outages due to “frozen wind turbines and limited natural gas supplies available to generating units.”By 1:30 a.m. Monday, ERCOT ordered electric utilities across the state to cut power in so called rotating outages – what many call rolling blackouts. Originally planned to last 40 to 45 minutes, for most electric customers, those power outages lasted much longer.According to the online industry newsletter powermag.com, by 10:30 a.m. Monday, “The state lost more than 40 % of its operable capacity to generate electricity.”Late Monday evening, ERCOT said some power generators were coming back online, but blackouts could continue to last a while.“We have quite a bit of generation that’s unavailable to serve the high demand we’re experiencing due to the cold temperatures, so it’s possible we will need to continue to implement these controlled outages through tomorrow,” said Leslie Sopko, a spokesperson for ERCOT.’Acc. Ralph Ellis, Alisha Ebrahimji, Kelsie Smith and Amanda Jackson, CN,N 9:43 PM EST, Mon February 15, 2021:‘Frozen wind turbines contribute to rolling power blackouts across TexasSome of the warmest places in Texas, where rolling power outages are occurring across the chilly state, are inside cars and trucks parked in the driveway of a home without electricity.Chey Louis of Irving told CNN his family in Grand Prairie had planned a small socially distanced gathering to celebrate his younger brother's birthday.But instead of celebrating, they have spent the day trying to stay warm. "They have been in the car all day with the heater on," he said. "The inside of their home has dropped below 40 degrees."… Gov. Gregg Abbott said in a Twitter post that the state's power grid has not been compromised."The ability of some companies that generate the power has been frozen. This includes the natural gas & coal generators," Abbott wrote, adding that ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas are working to get power back online and will give priority to residential consumers.Frozen wind turbines and limited gas supplies have hampered the ability to generate enough power, according to a statement from ERCOT.People in Houston, the fourth most populous city in the United States, may be in the dark into Tuesday, according to Mayor Sylvester Turner.As of Monday afternoon, there were 1.2 million CenterPoint customers without power, including in the city of Houston and the Houston region, Turner said, a number that he said could increase as the weather gets colder in the evening."I just want to be very upfront with the people of the city: If you are without power right now, it is very conceivable that you could be without power throughout the rest of today and possibly even going into tomorrow," Turner said. …’

Do former police officers make effective criminals? Actually the effective ones stay on the force.There are plenty of examples currently and going back decades that will show you that the successful criminal element within police forces is not something that happens when they leave . The best place to be a career criminal is by taking a cover job as a cop. I am not saying it is rampant but there is an element of this and it is real.Example: Ex-Houston cop sentenced for providing armor, guns, insider info to Zetas cartelThe reasons are straightforward, as a cop:You are indicted less often than a civilianWhen indicted you are convicted less often than a civilianWhen convicted you do less time as a civilianYou can take advantage of your LEO status with additional privileges that the badge and gun allow you to take.The police union will almost always back youFellow officers often turn a blind eye than to recognize it and take action which often backfires on someone who tries to do rightSupervisors have been known to brush things under the rug as the issues are not public information and there is little incentive to stir up their own world as a result of taking action, easier to ignore.For details on this data see Allen E Hall's answer to What are the legal consequences for police officers that abuse their power?If I was a career criminal, I would have taken the job of a LEO as my cover. Could we structure this any more inviting than this? We practically roll out a red carpet encouraging it.Examples… a history of organized crime in Law Enforcement. These are stories about who got caught, you can be sure the ones who did not get caught outnumber the ones that did.New York Police DepartmentSince its establishment in 1844, corruption has been a fact of police life in New York City. From the very beginning, New York’s underpaid and overworked police officers were expected to serve the needs of the city’s political leaders while collecting money from gang leaders, gamblers, and pimps for the privilege of operating relatively unmolested. Back in 1895, officer Alexander S. Williams, took advantage of his appointment as captain of the city’s 21st Precinct, which included the Tenderloin and Gas House districts, to collect money from criminals, including the madams of several brothels, and make a fortune as a result. Williams, who earned his nickname “Clubber,” once said, “There is more law in the end of a policeman’s nightstick than in a decision of the Supreme Court.” After investigation by two committees, Williams resigned, went into the insurance business, and died a multimillionaire.see also Mollen Commission of the 1990s or the Knapp Commission in the 1970s.4/5/2016The FBI is investigating suspected NYPD corruption focusing on the relationship between two politically connected businessmen and a slew of officers throughout the ranks, multiple sources told The Post on Monday.The feds are grilling about 20 cops — including three deputy chiefs and the head of the Upper East Side’s 19th Precinct — over gifts and foreign trips that the businessmen may have doled out to them in exchange for favors, law enforcement sources said.New Orleans Police DepartmentNew Orleans Mayor Landrieu released a hopeful, conciliatory statement in the wake of the sentencing of five New Orleans police officers to several years in prison for their roles in shooting unarmed citizens in the chaotic days that followed Hurricane Katrina. “We now have an opportunity to turn the page and to heal,” Landrieu said. “It is my commitment to the people of New Orleans to rebuild and reform the NOPD.” The first police force in the then-French New Orleans was established in 1803, only to be disbanded due to countless complaints from civilians.Chicago Police DepartmentBy the end of the 19th century, the city of Chicago enjoyed the dubious reputation of being a haven for “dangerous classes;” a city that was more like an out-of-control frontier town “with an absence of moral virtue.” The Chicago Police department went without large-scale reform until 1960 when eight police officers from the city’s North Side or Summerdale district were charged with running a large-scale burglary ring. Known as the Summerdale Scandal, the case generated unprecedented media attention, and prompted the creation of a much-needed police superintendent role to oversee and enforce rules and regulations within the department.Miami Police DepartmentMiami in the ’80s experienced an “epidemic” of police corruption due in part to the enormous amount of cocaine being smuggled into South Florida from Latin America. A cheap, deadly derivative of the drug known as “crack” would infiltrate other cities throughout the U.S., and transform many once relatively peaceful working class neighborhoods into war zones. Police corruption in Miami reached its height in 1986 when, as a result of an inquiry by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, more than a dozen officers from the police department faced charges that ranged from drug dealing to murder.Philadelphia Police DepartmentYou know you’ve got a corrupt police department when it comes under the scrutiny of Human Rights Watch. HRW has stated that, “the Philadelphia police department (in terms of) corruption and brutality … has one of the worst reputations of big city police departments in the United States.” In the early 1990s, a group of PPD officers, some known throughout the city as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, conducted a series of unreported raids on crack houses where officers would steal from suspects. The arrest of Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder of a police officer, and the public outcry at his being sentenced to death (this sentence was recently overturned), brought national attention to the PPD’s reputation for brutality and corruption.Baltimore Police DepartmentIn March 2012, a Baltimore police officer was sentenced for his part in what is known as the Towing Scandal, a criminal ring that included more than 50 other members of the Baltimore Police Department. Vehicles were towed from accident scenes by a towing and repair company owned by two police officers. Other officers were paid to participate in the scam, which generated hundreds to thousands of dollars for those involved. Accident victims were even encouraged by officers not to talk to their insurance companies.King City PD CaliforniaThe highest ranking officers in the King City Police Department for years targeted the city's most vulnerable residents, essentially stealing their cars for profit, District Attorney Dean Flippo said Tuesday. 02/25/14In what is likely the most widespread case of official corruption in Monterey County history, six King City police officers, including the former and acting chiefs of police, were arrested on felony charges on Tuesday, four of them accused of conspiracy, embezzlement and bribery. The owner of a local tow truck company, the brother of the acting chief, was arrested in the scheme, which involved impounding the cars of mostly unlicensed drivers, then selling them when the cars' owners were unable to pay towing and storage fees.