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The Republicans understand Health Care, just like they understand everything else: If you just make the Rich richer. Then somehow, everything will work out fine.
Behind the curtain, this is what the Federalist Society is up to. Their purpose is to destroy our Constitution. http://www.fed-soc.org/aboutus/
k.allen: I can’t begin to reassure you your fears are not well founded. I suspect many of those same fears were imbedded in the brains of the thousands of immigrants that poured into this country one hundred forty years ago. They were an industrious bunch and managed to sort things out. Enabling and encouraging people not attempt to help themselves contributes to the denigration of society. Lefties rave about LBJ and his war on poverty. Great job Lyndon. Encourage men to leave the household so the single mother could collect more welfare money. Generations of young men raised in a single family environment. What a shame.
I suspect many true liberal and conservative radio junkies have become dependent, hanging on every word their host speaks. When I am doing some mindless task I will turn on the radio and switch channels between the right and left. Limbaugh and Hartmann come on in the same time slot. Regardless of who is in office, there is a huge contrast in their delivery style. Limbaugh is more of a comedian and Hartmann continuously dwells in the negatives. Thom bases his show on the “what if” and although many here swallow his every word, open your mind. As I type this Thom is ranting on Rubio and the "risk corridors" and he is not all that factual.
I have learned to moderate and filter the advice of either of the two but negative people usually are only on for comic relief and then, only for an hour or so. I believe generating and continually pushing fear was a huge factor in the election of President Trump. The American people are sick and tired of that tripe.
As for the judges, I want judges in place that will follow the constitution period. We have far too many judges making law not following the law. President Trump will do a lot to correct that situation.
Please also understand I am a foil to those here who still cannot sleep over their defeat and spend their time with a thesaurus in their lap as they type their vitriol.
My best to you. You seem like a rational person with good questions.
All this gives me heartburn.
I'm asking a serious question. What becomes of those who have no home, or nowhere to stand? What choices will be open to folks who lack financial or family support - especially elders and the young?
Are we about to see sex related industries emerge from the shadows?
A lot of young people seem to find their way onto that stage ... should we accept/endorse it? Why China? Is this the open door of opportunity for young women here and there? That would be nothing new in my world. Is it likely to change, or are we going to exploit it, along with natural and Human Resources considered to be open territory to satiate burgeoning consumer appetites?
You talk like you've been around the block, Diane. So, maybe you can reassure me that my concerns are unfounded? I'm wondering how many of those "three additional Supreme Court Justices, 15 Federal Appeals Court judges, and 115 other judges" are likely to be in - or out - of ((whose)) pocket ... seriously.
Can you help clarify? I would appreciate it.
Thom, if I were lucky enough to sit next to you on a plane, I wouldn't read, play with my phone....nothing!
Visible proof that tin foil hat wearing fear mongers haven’t stopped casting crumbs of hate for their minions to collect and mash with their tears for their morning porridge.
So ..., I know they say "Curiosity killed the cat."
Still, I wonder if someone could fact check these links ... if not alt-news, then, I have to ask:
Are these the jobs Trump promised as he campaigned?
http://www.salon.com/2017/03/08/is-trump-escorts-next-china-grants-trump...
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/trump-may-have-violated-the-constitution...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/08/china-gives-green-light-trump...
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/china-approves-new-trump-brand...
http://aanirfan.blogspot.com/2017/03/trump-escort-services.html
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=W4V0Fys1UlI
http://www.enterthefray.org/community/topic/51355-china-oks-trump-escort...
Absolutely! "Dark Money " by Jane Mayer is essential reading!
Another excellent eye-opener about how billionaire money ties into our completely corrupted electoral process is "Dollarocracy" by John Nichols and Bob McChesney.
Can you imagine how many right-wing pinheads would be exploding: if Bernie or Hillary stole the election with Interstate Crosscheck yet lost the popular vote by a historic margin; if their campaigns were in constant contact with Putin's operatives while his cyberspys hacked the RNC and selectively leaked internal communications; if Comey had revealed false evidence of an already closed investigation against Trump five days before the election at the same time that the CIA withheld actual evidence against his opponent of potential collusion with Russia; if a Democratic president refused to release tax returns and had uncountable conflicts of interest scattered all over the planet; if he or she cost the taxpayers ten million every week to play golf at a luxury resort in Florida they owned; if they stacked the cabinet with greedy Wall Street billionaires and warmongering generals; if they insulted our allies stupidly and provoked our enemies unnecessarily; if they repeatedly lied to the American people every day and blamed everyone but themselves for their amateurish mistakes; if they were shameless bigots and pushed racist policies; if they caused the death of a Navy SEAL by authorizing impromptu a foolhardy raid, blamed the generals, and then used his widow to score political points in an address to Congress?
Can you imagine the fire and brimstone? Where are all those morally outraged Benghazi/email zealots now?
Billionaires can pull it off.
Those who think the billionaires can't rewrite the Constitution should consider that everybody thought Trump could never win the primary much less the general. As Thom has recommended, people should read "Dark Money;" I am only part way through it and it's an eye-opener. The billionaires and their fathers have been working at controlling things for 60+ years; they play long term and just about everyone else has not/does not. Sure the billionaires are going to die off someday, but the thing is, part of their plan is to win new converts and to perpetuate their ideology --- many if not most of the current crop of billionaires are descendants of the founders of extreme ideology, or robber barons, or war profiteers. The most zealous ones seem to come from dysfunctional upbringings, are sociopaths, and think that they are self-made despite having inherited wealth or gained their wealth through unscrupulous or predatory means. Also, despite benefiting from corporate welfare and government contracts; they think of government as an evil that should be be greatly reduced in size and power. And guess who they think should fill the vacuum?
As for how to stop the billionaires from pulling it off; it doesn't look good. Our systems are massively broken; the executive, legislative, and judicial branches are either owned, cowed, or neutered by the oligarchs; checks and balances are not functioning effectively --- under Trump the government is stacked with oligarchs or those who have bought into their ideology. The media and the people should be the backstop when checks and balances fail; but guess who controls the media? As for the people, not much help there; this is a dumbed-down country with a 6-month memory span and a soundbite attention span; they don't get why things are going wrong much less what should be done. And when I say dumbed-down; I don't mean stupid; even many intelligent and well-educated people are apathetic, uninformed, misinformed, uninvolved, not exercising critical thinking. Consequently they are swayed by propaganda. The Dems are not going to be much help on that score, they don't seem to know that part of why they lose ground is that they lose the propaganda and messaging wars --- I'm not even sure that they know there is a propaganda war much less how to fight back effectively. In 2004 I read Bill Clinton's book "My Life," and he mentioned how in the 1994 midterm Newt Gingrich came up with a list of 2 and 3-word labels for Republicans to use against their opponents in campaigns. I thought "OMG, the Dems are still being beaten with a 10-year-old tactic." 20+ years later the Dems still don't get it, they are still using outdated strategy and are still being beaten by the same tactic. Think of how labels like liberal media, fuzzy math, liberal elite, flip-flop, death panels, and crooked Hillary; have been used to effect. BTW have you noticed that the demonization of the ACA has switched from "death panels," to "death spiral"?
Dan, San Diego
Plain and simple....Fascism has taken root because right- wing billionaires like Murdoch and the Kochs control the message. For christ sakes, the Teabaggers still think they're a patriotic grassroots movement. They still haven't figured out that the big government they've been programmed to hate would actually work in their favor if their own Tea Party founders, the right-wing billionaires, would get the hell out of the way of we the people.
Without Fox News and the Tea Party, the Constitutional Convention wouldn't even be on the radar.
This country is headed for complete disaster and much of the rest of the world knows it better than us because they get the GD truth in their news.....networks like the BBC and Al Jazeera.
If anyone thinks Putin isn't an immediate threat to this country , you have your head where the sun doesn't shine. I'm telling you, Putin is well aware that Trump and those he surrounds himself with are complete idiots... and don't think for a minute Putin won't take advantage and manipulate them. Our FBI and CIA look so damn pitiful now....Putin really kicked them in the balls good. I still remember how they were going to retaliate for the the Russian participation in the election fraud.....yeah right! ...Comey freaking helped Putin achieve his goal.
I have met and known a lot of blowhards in my life, but the minority president tops them all
Uncle Draggi:
They live all around us but hide themselves in bright shiny objects like luxury cars, private jets, and glass towers. "littlesis" is fairly current and is a good research source. "theyrule" isn't updated but has pretty cool tools to play around with. The strange world of wealth and power is a gigantic spider web of corruption and cronyism.
http://www.littlesis.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udlyqGFW9Ps
http://www.theyrule.net/
Uncle Draggi - The word 'president' can be held to have many meanings
President pro tempore can be applied to the current incumbent
...Far, =far= too many people willingly, -gleefully- put Trump in office -- you can bet your sweet ass billionaires could pull off something like this!! Self-delusion does no one any good.
...That being said, I have a couple of -serious- questions for folks to think about and (hopefully) post their conclusion here for the rest of us to think about.
.......1. Who, =exactly=, are these so-called "right-wing billionaires", besides the Koch brothers. Do they live in a particular part of the country, or live all over the place?
.......2. This is not the first place I have read something like this .. unfortunately. Equally as bad, I haven't heard =ANY=one= come up with a serious -or- viable solution or remedy for any of it .. no, -not- -a- -thing-! Sooo .. what =can= be done about these bastards?? We -know- there are =plenty= of politicians, at -all- levels, who will gleefully sell out for a price, and without even considering the consequences to "the common person". While declaring "open-(hunting-)season" on these bastards might make us 'feel good', it really wouldn't do much, positively, for two reasons:
...........a. Reich-wing extremist fools -already- are looking for -any- excuse to begin a "genocide" {their term} against anyone they consider a "libtard" .. and we already know 'thinking', especially '-critical- thinking' or '-long-term- thinking', is not the strong point of these people. Even worse, when they are then =PROVEN= to be =catastrophicly= wrong, they will look you right in the eye and either deny what happened and/or -excuse- it!! ((I have a distant (but not distant enough!) relative like this.))
...........b. Far too many police departments -and- =courts=, both large and small, have -already- been subborned(sp?) to 'protect' =any=thing- the billionaires do or say. Unless we literally have a second "Civil War", who in 'authority' is going to pay any attention to something "the common people" say or want?!
...
P.S. There is a blind woman in (Bulgaria??) who is considered a bona-fide psychic .. at least to the extent that an eeriely and frighteningly number of things she's predicted have been accurate to a fair-thee-well. One prediction she made recently/in the last few months, is that Obama would be the last President of the United States. It didn't make =any= sense when she said it .. but now I'm beginning to wonder.......
What mystifies me is how the rich appear to believe and delude themselves they are beyond death
Is the only reason for wealth to possess for its sake?
It can not be taken away into another realm
In the future it is very unlikely that it will have an ability to be bequeathed
Total worldwide economic failure will render wealth and money totally worthless
Steady on. This shall be the beginning of the end of billionaire selfish negative influence. A spiritual awakening to the plight of the planet's habitability will fall upon the constitutional convention...much to the billionaires di$may. Trump's election has lead to several realizations regarding the lengths he'll go to for publicity...like telling the press they don't know how to do their job, which, regrettably, they did not during the election campaign. Let us pray that the eyes of the press are open and clear, and may God bless the planet with peace so that we may work as with one heart.
thom's book, the crash of 2016, alludes to revolutionary cycles in american history at roughly 80 years. with america's last in the early 1930s, we are well overdue for the next revolution. an attempt to change the constitution would hopefully be the spark this complacent nation needs to ignite the fire. god knows trump is the gasoline and congress is the deadwood.
thom's book, the crash of 2016, alludes to revolutionary cycles in american history at roughly 80 years. with america's last in the early 1930s, we are well overdue for the next revolution. an attempt to change the constitution would hopefully be the spark this complacent nation needs to ignite the fire. god knows trump is the gasoline and congress is the deadwood.
They will not be able to do it. NEVER!
k.allen - you are just too kind by far
Trying to rationalise the irrational has got us to where we are now... sadly!
this is very scary !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No god but money!
The MALICIOUS DISHONESTLY of Paul Ryan, Mike Pence and their fellow Republicans in Congress has been displayed for all to see. They obviously don’t “give a damn” how many Americans they literally KILL (by denying them healthcare) in order to please their wealthy corporate sponsors. Anyone who reads the preamble to the United States Constitution and their Congressional Oath of Office can see that they can NOT recite that Oath of Office WITHOUT LYING! And they can NOT recite our Pledge of Allegiance WITHOUT LYING! They can’t even claim to be “Christians” WITHOUT LYING, because they CLEARLY “have no god but money!”
http://www.thomhartmann.com/bigpicture/how-trump-could-nuke-iran-deal#co...