The inevitable end result of our last 56 years

[Matt Allison]

If the elections in November do not rid the country of the evil Republicans, the U.S. is doomed.

For a while now I've been researching other places to live and have settled on Portugal as the place I would likely pick for my family. 

[Ron Bulman]

22 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

It's a good thing these three performers are backing out but there should be a massive protest at this event.  JMO

Don McLean, Larry Gatlin, Larry Stewart withdraw their NRA performances after Texas shooting (msn.com)

Gov. Abbott, Sen. Cornyn, Houston US Rep. Crenshaw and State Atty. General Paxton have all bailed on speaking at the convention.  As well as singer Lee Greenwood.  I guess Cruz and the chump are still on board.

Edited May 27, 2022 by Ron Bulman

[Douglas Caddy]

1 hour ago, Ron Bulman said:

Gov. Abbott, Sen. Cornyn, Houston US Rep. Crenshaw and State Atty. General Paxton have all bailed on speaking at the convention.  As well as singer Lee Greenwood.  I guess Cruz and the chump are still on board.

They may have bailed but can still be nailed for the NRA donations they received.

[Joe Bauer]

11 minutes ago, Douglas Caddy said:

They may have bailed but can still be nailed for the NRA donations they received.

Running and hiding from their long time NRA cash receiving histories.

[Ron Bulman]

This is nuts.  77 minutes to get in the room, while kids were still calling 911 from inside it?

'It was the wrong decision.' Officers didn't enter Uvalde classroom as kids kept calling 911 (msn.com)

[Douglas Caddy]

 

Trump says he allowed civil unrest in US cities to make Democrats look bad - Raw Story - Celebrating 18 Years of Independent Journalism

[Ron Bulman]

After reading the comments I can't bring myself to watch the video tonight.

Donald Trump's Chant Of Uvalde Victims' Names At NRA Rally Curdles Critics' Blood (msn.com)

[Guest]

17 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Even if there were only partial movements in those directions, those could be unseen additional benefits to having some redistribution of inherited wealth go to Inheritance for All. 

I am with you on lots of things here, Greg, I understand the neo-feudalism well and where capitalism ends up, we're actually at a fourth turning that makes things worse for the ordinary man. Most of all that reducing poverty would improve those peoples health (mental and physical), providing it went hand in hand with education. Have you considered that these people you want to tax don't want working class or under privileged people living a long time? That seems clear to me, there is evidence of eugenics/population control everywhere we look. 

How are we going to address the governmental corruption and these elites that you want to tax being served by the politicians as a class? That needs doing first, you can't have thieves choosing how taxes are spent. 

[W. Niederhut]

8 hours ago, Ron Bulman said:

After reading the comments I can't bring myself to watch the video tonight.

Donald Trump's Chant Of Uvalde Victims' Names At NRA Rally Curdles Critics' Blood (msn.com)

Trump's NRA speech was an abomination, and another shocking example of how the NRA-funded GOP has turned America into a killing field.*

The Columbine High School massacre happened here in Denver 23 years ago, and we have now had 288 school shootings in the U.S.

* Republicans Have Turned America Into a Killing Field
archive.ph/BNXH0

May 26, 2022

The Republican Party has turned America into a killing field.

Republicans have allowed guns to proliferate while weakening barriers to ownership, lowering the age at which one can purchase a weapon and eliminating laws governing how, when and where guns can be carried.

They have done this in part with help from conservatives on the Supreme Court who have upheld a corrupt and bastardized interpretation of the Second Amendment.

But Republicans have also done so by promoting fear and paranoia. They tell people that criminals are coming to menace you, immigrants are coming to menace you, a race war (or racial replacement) is coming to menace you and the government itself may one day come to menace you.

The only defense you have against the menace is to be armed.

If you buy into this line of thinking, owning a gun is not only logical but prudent. It’s like living in a flood plain and buying flood insurance. Of course you should do it.

The propaganda has been incredibly, insidiously persuasive. As Vox pointed out last year, “Americans make up less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet they own roughly 45 percent of all the world’s privately held firearms,” according to 2018 data.

 

[Paul Brancato]

1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said:

Trump's NRA speech was an abomination, and another shocking example of how the NRA-funded GOP has turned America into a killing field.*

The Columbine High School massacre happened here in Denver 23 years ago, and we have now had 288 school shootings in the U.S.

* Republicans Have Turned America Into a Killing Field
archive.ph/BNXH0

May 26, 2022

The Republican Party has turned America into a killing field.

Republicans have allowed guns to proliferate while weakening barriers to ownership, lowering the age at which one can purchase a weapon and eliminating laws governing how, when and where guns can be carried.

They have done this in part with help from conservatives on the Supreme Court who have upheld a corrupt and bastardized interpretation of the Second Amendment.

But Republicans have also done so by promoting fear and paranoia. They tell people that criminals are coming to menace you, immigrants are coming to menace you, a race war (or racial replacement) is coming to menace you and the government itself may one day come to menace you.

The only defense you have against the menace is to be armed.

If you buy into this line of thinking, owning a gun is not only logical but prudent. It’s like living in a flood plain and buying flood insurance. Of course you should do it.

The propaganda has been incredibly, insidiously persuasive. As Vox pointed out last year, “Americans make up less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet they own roughly 45 percent of all the world’s privately held firearms,” according to 2018 data.

 

True that, and despicable and sad. But please - can’t we stop looking at Democrats with rose colored glasses? Haven’t they played a part? 

[Matt Allison]

14 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

True that, and despicable and sad. But please - can’t we stop looking at Democrats with rose colored glasses? Haven’t they played a part? 

No, Paul, they haven't.

I'm not sure why you're so eager to paint both sides as the same. They couldn't be further apart.

[Greg Doudna]

28 minutes ago, Matt Allison said:

No, Paul, they haven't.

I'm not sure why you're so eager to paint both sides as the same. They couldn't be further apart.

Totally agree Matt. The situation in the US is very serious, Weimar Republic Germany era serious. There is what has become a fascist party and a party with its problems but which is not fascist. Forget this "deep state" talk trying to make Democrats out as "deep state" which is just rhetoric designed to elect the fascist party by discrediting the non-fascist opposition. When there are attacks coming from the left or the pseudo-left on the Democratic Party, look closely to see whether they are pushing for specific good candidates inside the Democratic Party in primaries (ask for the names), a good caucus, or specific better platform positions within the Democratic Party (ask for specifics)--or whether that is not happening and the desired response is one of futility so as to have people not vote for the major-party opposition to the fascist one.

Third parties with good values are an option provided they have a serious policy of only running candidates in races with a realistic chance of winning, and then win at least a third of those races, which means building up locally, standing down in unwinnable races nationally, and engaging in formal European-style coalition agreements with one of the major parties, in this case the Democratic Party.  

[Jeff Carter]

Historically, political reform in the United States has occurred only through the pressure and agency of mass political movements outside the two-Party structure (i.e. 8 hr workday, women’s right to vote, New Deal, etc).  Otherwise, the logic and tendency runs to versions of lesser-evilism - which both major Parties are invested in.

[Douglas Caddy]

 

[W. Niederhut]

27 minutes ago, Jeff Carter said:

Historically, political reform in the United States has occurred only through the pressure and agency of mass political movements outside the two-Party structure (i.e. 8 hr workday, women’s right to vote, New Deal, etc).  Otherwise, the logic and tendency runs to versions of lesser-evilism - which both major Parties are invested in.

Not correct.

While it is true that a few Progressive Republicans, especially Theodore Roosevelt, played a role in some constructive reforms in the early 20th century, almost all major, progressive legislation of the past century in the U.S. has been initiated by liberal Democrats-- the establishment of Social Security, the SEC, the FDIC, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare.

One of the few exceptions was Nixon's role in helping to create the EPA.

Northern Republicans also deserve credit for supporting the Civil Rights Act, and the Voting Rights Act-- in the teeth of fierce Southern Dixiecrat opposition.

Let's recall that Ronald Reagan was a fierce critic of Medicare in the 1960s, and that the Koch GOP has repeatedly tried to sabotage Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare during the past 11 years.

In fact, Paul Ryan passed two budget bills in the Tea Party House, after the 2010 election, that would have ended Medicare as we know it-- converting it into an inadequately-funded Ryan Voucher Care program.

And the Trump/GOP Tax Cut & Healthcare Demolition Act of December 2017 included major funding cuts for Medicaid, mandatory Medicare cuts, and elimination of the ACA's individual mandate.

Edited May 28, 2022 by W. Niederhut