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    puncha yo bunsBrendan O'Connor
    1/25/16 9:05pm

    It’s been said before, but it bears repeating: in time, I really do think Obama will be remembered as one of our greatest presidents. Especially considering all the pushback and bullshit he’s had to deal with at every turn of his presidency. Compassion and competency...who knew you could have both in a leader.

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      Charitybpuncha yo buns
      1/25/16 10:36pm

      I think so. Maybe not top 5, but even if you ignore everything else he did — opening up Cuba alone is one of those events that is going to end up in The American Pageant.

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      BerkeleyBear91Charityb
      1/26/16 3:46am

      Opening Cuba. Fundamentally shifting the dynamics of the Middle East by bringing Iran back into the community of nations (which I know comes as little comfort to people in Syria and Yemen, but this is long term chess). Cementing key reforms to healthcare -and in the process making the debate on the left about how far to push it and all but ensuring even the right will eventually support something much closer to universal coverage. Add that to successfully steering the economy out of the skid of 2008, helping usher in great if incremental progress on gay rights in the military and marriage equality, changing the conversation on immigration and prison reform and simply restoring the reputation of America as an actual source of measured leadership in the world rather than petulant bullying. And responding to being a lame duck by doing his best to move us towards a more equitable, just society through all the levers of power of the presidency. All while dealing with a opposition that decided its only route to being electorally competitive in the short term was to do everything it could to demonize every policy initiative publicly and then co-opting the popular aspects of each one, and all but handing their public platform to the most extreme part of the party -even as the purported leadership admits it is a self-defeating strategy in the long run and not exactly beneficial for the country as a whole.

      Yep, he’s pretty damn impressive, all things considered. I’d say top 5 impact since Teddy Roosevelt (TR, FDR. LBJ, Obama and maybe Ike but I’m not sure -depends on how you weigh the interstate highway system against the growth of the military industrial complex), and best in terms of meaningful overall impact (rather than messaging like Reagan or short term economic benefit like Clinton’s primary legacy) since LBJ. And Obama didn’t get nearly as long of a run of control on domestic policy as Johnson (who got almost 2 full years of complete control to less than 6 months for Obama) and managed to pull off the inverse of LBJ’s escalation in Vietnam.

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    CorpsegoddessBrendan O'Connor
    1/25/16 9:06pm

    I’ve never understood the aversion to solitary confinement. If I ever went to prison, gods help me, the LAST thing I would want would be to mingle with the prison population. Give me a book and solitary and I’ll happily do out my time.

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      jezbannedCorpsegoddess
      1/25/16 9:14pm

      Well, you could probably do a quick Google search and find out why so many are so averse to solitary confinement. The short answer is something like your own personal preference for “me time” doesn’t translate to the actual experience of solitary confinement.

      Solitary confinement isn’t “here’s your book and your hot chocolate and we’ll check on you in a little while!” It is the forced isolation from human contact in a tiny room, all day, day after day after day after day, sometimes for years at a time. I like my alone time, too, but that sounds like torture.

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      ARP2Corpsegoddess
      1/25/16 9:15pm

      Very few people have experienced the kind of extreme isolation that people in solitary experience. So, it’s a lot more extreme than an introvert that doesn’t directly deal with people that often.

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    gramercypoliceBrendan O'Connor
    1/25/16 9:04pm

    Since he was just talking about this in Chris Hayes’s show, it seems worth noting that Rand Paul has been working with Cory Booker to pass legislation banning solitary confinement for juveniles. And, as much as I dislike him (though he looks sort of like and talks exactly like Bill Berry from R.E.M., but that’s neither here nor there), Paul was on the show making a strong case in favor of sentencing reform for non-violent criminals.

    Just trying to give credit where credit is due.

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      puncha yo bunsgramercypolice
      1/25/16 9:10pm

      All the more reason for Rand Paul to come to THE DARK SIDE.

      AKA us libruls. Let go of the crazy, Rand. You can do it. Let Cory show you the ways.

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      Fresh Courage Takegramercypolice
      1/25/16 9:13pm

      Just trying to give credit where credit is due.

      Thank you for doing so. I was about to store Rand Paul in the recesses of my mind mainly as the guy who polled at one percent. Having seen the light, though — and thanks to you — I can remember him as being politically effective.

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    Jerry-NetherlandBrendan O'Connor
    1/25/16 9:05pm

    By Presidential order, never to be heard again:

    “Sasha, go to your room!”

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      Ed SpockJerry-Netherland
      1/25/16 9:10pm

      Damn it.....beat me to it by 30 seconds.

      Well done.

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      Fresh Courage TakeJerry-Netherland
      1/25/16 9:15pm

      Where have you been? I changed my name — I used to be “Wut about deez?” — but I’m still your L.A. neighbor (I think we’re neighbors anyway.)

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    Desi_RelafordBrendan O'Connor
    1/25/16 8:58pm

    Kindergartners across the country rejoice as Obama bans timeouts!

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      puncha yo bunsDesi_Relaford
      1/25/16 9:01pm

      I see it more like young criminals across the country rejoice as Obama tries to salvage whatever humanity they have left before it is destroyed by the prison system, but yes...same principle.

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      KittyReavenDesi_Relaford
      1/25/16 9:02pm

      To be fair, my middle school had a solitary confinement room. It was a small grey cell basically.

      That’s not right.

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    stymie99Brendan O'Connor
    1/25/16 9:01pm

    It does not seem like there could/would be all that many juveniles in federal prisons....are there? Reading this gives me the impression there are 10,000. That seems like a lot, I mean really, whats a juvenile got to do to get thrown in the federal slammer....it sure probably isn’t back taxes...

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      jezbannedstymie99
      1/25/16 9:08pm

      This move bans solitary for juveniles and as punishment for low level infractions. It is probably that latter part that accounts for most of the prisoners affected.

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      Cherith Cutestorystymie99
      1/25/16 9:12pm

      I was wondering that too and briefly googled but couldn’t find a definitive answer of how many juveniles are in federal prison. I’d be shocked if there were really a significant number. Those that are likely are 17 or so (not that I’m OK with sending a 17 year old to solitary I just meant they are on the cusp). I think that’s intended to be more of an example.

      The 10,000 includes those who won’t be sent for low-level infractions.

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    tito_swinefluBrendan O'Connor
    1/25/16 9:11pm

    FEDERAL prison. Those assholes in Angola or Pelican Bay can put anyone they feel like in prison for however long they want.

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      Book AkiBrendan O'Connor
      1/25/16 9:16pm
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        The Original SunshineBook Aki
        1/25/16 11:20pm

        Is that your dad?

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      doodietangBrendan O'Connor
      1/25/16 9:14pm

      Will nobody stop this ruthless tyrant from trodding our freedoms into the dust?

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        TraceBrendan O'Connor
        1/25/16 11:20pm

        This is one of those laws you go ‘I cannot believe this wasn’t banned to start with’. Then again, I wish this extended also to extremely long term solitary confinement punishments for adults too, because the lengths some people have had to endure is insane to me. But one step at a time, I suppose.

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