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But what can we do QUICKLY about the Gerrymandering so that we have a voice in the next election???
I used to listen to your show alot, but now there is just commercial after commercial and it gives me a headache. Sorry, but too many commercials.
Republicans are criminally minded degenerates who can only "win" by lying, cheating, and stealing, because they know that most Americans are adamantly opposed to their morbid and undemocratic ideologies, attitudes, and policies.
Clintons are no longer in the game, but as a side note, Hillary Clintion had one of the most progressive voting records while in the Senate. Bernie topped her, but not by much. Free Trade has always been opposed by the Democratic Legislative branch. The Teapublic Party has always supported the trade agreements.
I know I'd be resting much easier with Hillary Clinton in the White House right now.
Putin and the Fascists don't need any help in defamation of a political party that still has the will to stand up against them. We're at war, it's a hybrid one utilizing cyber warfare and we're getting our asses kicked...thank you. Crooked Donny is at the mercy of Putin....that's a fact...and our intelligence agencies all damn well know it.
If little difference exists between the Dems and Teabagger Party , then explain the corpse media to me.
Hens teeth is much larger than you think. The Progressive Caucus is 71 declared representatives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Progressive_Caucus
ikeberltersen: I have no quarrel with Democrats like Elizabeth Warren or an independent like Bernie Sanders, but they are as rare as "hens teeth". When you speak of "Democrats like Clinton triangulat(ing)" What you're really describing is actions taken that can't be distinguished from the most egregious acts of right wing corporatists, cloaked in words designed to obfuscate their impact. Again, I'm talking NAFTA and TPP (effectively gutting our domestic industrial base for the benefit of tax evading multi national corporations), endless war and empire building, etc. etc. In these areas, the actions of the Democratic Party (increasingly since the 80's) can't be distinguished from those of the Republicans as both parties work for the benefit of the wealthy today, not the common people (call them the 95%). And as always, actions speak louder than words.
Thank you.
Interesting that today as you had Greg Palast on talking about Republican suppression and changing national voting laws I received my renewal notice for my car and included with it was a notice about my driver's license stating that AR is taking part in a national initiative to "improve" the secrity of state-issued driver's licenses and ID cards which will help fight terrorism and reduce identity fraud. Apparently in order to enter a Federal building or board a domestic flight I first have to jump through multiple hoops to get an "enhanced" driver's license by 2020. I don't need that enhanced license but if I don't have it I'd still have to provide 3 additional forms of ID to "prove" citizenship, some which are nearly impossible to obtain. And we can't even get these at all the state offices, but only a select few. Apparently all this "complies" with Federal "Real ID Act of 2005".
I think it's important to understand that, as Thom pointed out, this system of exploitation goes back further than the history of the USA, and further back than the English system of aristocrats and corporations exploiting the commoners. It is part and parcel of a European system from the Middle Ages that locked people into two tracks - an elite class of 'nobles' and a class of serfs that had very few rights. In America we cling to a myth that we jettisoned the European class structures with a new, egalitarian way, but it was more a change in outward appearance than a fundamental change. That old European way is once again rearing its ugly head and neofuedalism is alive and well. If we are ever going to make a change that enables social justice, we will have to come to grips with the reality that the European culture on which our economic system is based is fatally flawed and must be discarded.
Outback - there are a few congresspeople who belong to 'the Democratic wing of the Democratic party' as Paul Wellstone said, but most of them do not. As I see it, the main difference between establishment Republicans and Democrats is this: Republicans are leading us back to the Gilded Age at full speed, while Democrats go along, trying to carve out a few exceptions that make policy a little less cruel. And when Democrats like Clinton triangulate to find that middle ground, Republicans just move the goalposts further to the right.
@ #23
Ribio and obamacare is an oft repeated lie told by leftie/socialists. The story was written by the NY times and they later printed a retraction on Jan 15, 2016
All this comes down to funding and how money was to be allocated. In the democrat party's desperate to get a healthcontrol bill through congress they, and the White House, were sloppy with how they were going to pay for it. Leftie/socialists refuse to reflect back on all the stalls, special exemptions, and delays that then president Obama kept adjusting as obvious funding issues became more transparent.
"The Pinocchio Test
Success always has many fathers, but Rubio goes way too far in claiming credit here. He raised initial concerns about the risk-corridor provision, but the winning legislative strategy was executed by other lawmakers. He certainly had a more central role in the immigration bill from which he has distanced himself — which may be a reason he is trying to elevate his role in this case.
We wavered between Three and Four Pinocchios, but Rubio’s claim that he was responsible for inserting the provision tipped us to Four. He needs to adjust his rhetoric to acknowledge that the key plays were made by other Republicans — and the news media should not so credulously accept his claim."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/12/23/rubios-in...
@ #15
Putting all your faith communication wise in the fact you need internet to function sounds like a really, really bad idea. Perhaps it is time to regress a bit and protect yourself with more than one alternative.
@ #12
Great idea. I have wondered for years why unions don't just start and run their own businesses instead of complaining about employers who don't pay enough, offer free insurance, or pension plans.
It is long past time where unions stop demanding and start their own companys manufacturing or producing products that set the example for non union corporations.
Companies make agreements all of the time not to hire each others employees all of the time. Apple and Steve Jobs was one of the biggest at implementing this in the Silicon Valley. Happened to me in my career. I signed non compete agreements to change jobs and better my career. These can arbitrarily be written as they want for duration. They cannot touch you on foreign work.
It's worse than that. In Alaska the fisheries invite people to work for them and pay thier transfer to their working area. The workers are offered a reasonable salary, working clothes, and free food but they have to work for 18 hours a day with few breaks with half an hour to eat. If they miss their meal, the workers don't get to eat, if they don't like what they are served, they don't get to eat. If they forget to pack suitable clothes for the conditions where they work, tough shit. If they fail to do what they are told, those workers are fired and left in the Alaskan town where the factory is and so on.
It's a type of modern slavery. It's voluntary and it's backed by the government.
I recognize Sanders, Warren, Pelosi, and Schumer as representative of the current Democratic Party establishment. A representative sample of the Teapublic Party establishment would include McConnell, Ryan, Rubio, and Trump.
A thin dime of difference between the two????? C'mon.
BTW: It wasn't only defamation of Clinton, Putin's propaganda also helped spread the, why bother to vote, they're all the same crap...and he won.
Put the Fascists out of business with worker owned cooperatives, employee governed.
"And that little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed." John Steinbeck , The Grapes of Wrath
What are the rich going to do when there is no economic activity brought about by their greed?
Peasants do not consume
I've read story after story where each of the employees held some type of senior management position to sides skirt but I'm sure that this would never actually happen in the real world. I believe one point that was made today is that many employers seem to be enforcing non-compete agreements to any-level employee where in many cases it could cause undue hardship on the employee making them more indentured to the employer, therefore greatly enhancing employee servitude; taking society back to the days of indentured servants.
Some states are much more EMPLOYER friendly than others. Yes, unfortunaely many do have the right-to-work-for-less. Non-compete agreements residing in employment contracts are bad enough, we must not forget about the other terms an employee in an indentured servitude environment usually must agree to as part of the entire Employment Agreement, contingent to employment; such as: settlement by arbitration for any claims or controversies that arise, nondisclosure agreement, nondisparagement agreement, social media clause, and then the unimaginable agreement that may arise out of mandatory arbitration having taken place; oh lord what could this one consist of?
Beyond employment, as consumers, almost every purchase nowadays has lengthy terms of agreement tied to it; just about every website has terms of agreement which should remind us to read the handy dandy beloved thomhartmann.com Terms & Conditions conveniently listed at the bottom of the page. Hey, what ever happened to the old (No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service) sign?
Few people realize that ours is a system dominated by what political economists of earlier centuries called "rentier interests." These are individuals and business entities who by virtue of the control over land and land-like assets (e.g., the broadcast spectrum) are able to extract unearned income (i.e., rents) from those who actually produce goods and services. The full impact of our privilege-based systems of law and taxation is hidden because many of the largest businesses in the nation own huge amounts of as well as capital goods (i.e., buildings, machinery, technologies).
To a more limited extent, those of us who own a residential property are conflicted. Provided we have paid off our mortgage loan, we own two very different assets: our home, which is a depreciating asset; and the land on which the house sits, the value of which tends to increase over time because of what is happening in our community, not by what we do or do not do with the land.
For the one-third of households who live in leased housing, they are, in a sense, sharecroppers. They work to earn wages, a portion of which they turn over to a landlord, partly in compensation for the living unit provided, and partly because the landlord is able to include a capitalized land rental charge.
The rental value of land is a public asset that has been privately confiscated. By removing this fund from the public coffers, politicians have taxed every other asset and every other activity in order to pay for public goods and services. While the majority of the population is heavily taxed, owners of land just keep getting richer and richer as land prices skyrocket.
Non compete agreements have been around for years. They are required of senior management of most companies. If you're skills are in such demand that you are required to sign a non compete, I guarantee you will be paid top dollar for those skills.
It does seem that indentured servitude has penetrated deep into the American Heartland; including into the both political parties. Outback good point. It's almost as if they could care less about the people or the environment. You mention the oligarchs that own both parties. Do we have to ask if the politicians have to enter into some indentured servitude agreement, handshake, or oath ritual with the said oligarch owner?
Indemnity servitude? To whom? I thought we stopped having kings and queens long ago. This is absolutely horrible! People cannot live a decent life and have no rights, unless they're rich? Horrible! I'm apalled that the slave era's come back!
Well said - It's the OPPOSAMES again fucking with us. We need the "Cupcakes" to wake up and get some moxy! It's both parties and the extremes are really the same. The end game is the same. But once the consumption and consumers are gone, so are they!!
Hail bartering, live off the grid or die
FG
This is why I live in a right to work state where these types of agreements are VERY hard to enforce. Low taxes, high employment, safe for workers. Long live Texas and Florida!!
Work is a right and there is a right to work.
Love the liberal states!! NOT!!
FG