Thread by @daveweigel

Marianne Williamson town hall begins: “I’ve had a 35 year career of working in universal and spiritual themes.”

"There’s an old Talmudic teaching that says you are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist."

"The only way to defeat dog whistles is with angels' voices."

Marianne describing her upbringing: "We read Alan Watts in the morning and went to anti-war protests in the afternoon."

Williamson says she's "not convinced" that replacing private insurance with Medicare would work, favors a buy-in as "an adjunct and an augmentation of the current Obamacare."

There are at least 500 in this room for Williamson. Qs so far have been pretty generic, like "how can we help you?" But she's getting one now about over-use of plastic.

Question kind of turned over to how she'd handle climate. She'd appoint scientists to run EPA etc; "We need to reforest, we need to deal with the factory farming." Honestly, it's striking how not-radical she is; policy-wise she's sounding to the right of AOC.

Williamson gets a Q from someone who wants her third party if she loses the primary. She says no way: "No matter who the Democratic nominee is, I will do everything in my power to make sure the nominee wins."

Williamson says Trump has committed impeachable offenses, but might not make sense to impeach right now: "He's goading us to impeach him. He's using this for his political purposes."

Williamson gets another Q about how she’d differentiate from the other 22 Dems: “I think that to be obvious by now."

Wiilliamson rattles off her plans for a Department of Peace and reparations: “I don’t hear anybody else saying that stuff."

"The only way to defeat the Big Lie is with big truth."

Williamson says that voters must seek candidates outside the box because "the box is deadly." After the crowd applauds: "I take back the word 'deadly.' Toxic!"

Wiilliamson asked about a book passage in which she seems to demonize the rich. "I don't believe every rich person is greedy any more than I believe every poor person is pure. This is about systems, not individuals."

Yet another Q abut how MW will win, focusing on how she has the "strength" to campaign. Says she gets it from supporters: "They're praying for me; they're meditating for me, they're sending good energy."

Williamson, contrasting the Trumps with the Obama family, said that the latter "affected the ethers of this country in a very positive way."

Williamson wants to break up big tech: "Giantism is a malfunction in the body, and giantism is a malfunction in society."

Williamson claims that the Super Bowl causes spikes in sex trafficking crime, which I know via @ENBrown is not true reason.com/2018/02/02/sup…

A question about superdelegates (who after 2016 don't vote on the first convention ballot)... MW says she hopes the DNC "lets the people vote" and decide the nomination.

One of final Qs of night is whether CBC has done enough to advance reparations. She seems to say yes.