It’s not impossible for conservatives to win, they would just need a platform that appeals to a majority. Instead they choose to double down on the politics of division. It seems to work.
Another Day Another Shooting
- Thread starter Navig8tor
- Start date
It’s not impossible for conservatives to win, they would just need a platform that appeals to a majority. Instead they choose to double down on the politics of division. It seems to work.
America is finally waking up to how Repugs work and getting tired of Repugs, if the last three general elections are a sounding board. The GOP preach fiscal conservancy and reducing the size of the government, yet spend like a drunken sailor, increasing the size of government, and go after funding for Medicare and Social Security. When the Dems get in, they reduce spending, reduce the size of government, reduce social programs for the poor, expand Medicare and raise Social Security to try and keep up with inflation.
The Repugs don't have a platform, and not seeing the GOP embrace workers rights, civil rights, human rights, taking care of the emvironment, taking care of the little guy rather then the big guy and corporations or anything for the people as a whole. The only appeal of the right was abortion and guns, when it would be political suicide for either party to take away gun rights - as for abortion, medical historians will look to abortion as second to vaccines for saving human lives in the 20 century. Every major hospital had sepsis wards with women dying from backdoor abortions. The other part about abortions, most wouldn't even consider abortion - but the ones who need it the worst - the poor and those who should have an abortion for medical reasons, will have what recourse?
How the GOP conned American's for over 40 years
The Repugs don't have a platform, and not seeing the GOP embrace workers rights, civil rights, human rights, taking care of the emvironment, taking care of the little guy rather then the big guy and corporations or anything for the people as a whole. The only appeal of the right was abortion and guns, when it would be political suicide for either party to take away gun rights - as for abortion, medical historians will look to abortion as second to vaccines for saving human lives in the 20 century. Every major hospital had sepsis wards with women dying from backdoor abortions. The other part about abortions, most wouldn't even consider abortion - but the ones who need it the worst - the poor and those who should have an abortion for medical reasons, will have what recourse?
How the GOP conned American's for over 40 years
Last edited:
Cal20sailor
Super Anarchist
I'd be willing to bet that most gun-related fatal events occur with a single death, than two, three... I would also bet the vast majority occur with the shooter knowing the victim(s). I'm of the opinion that most happen in a 'fit of rage'. Husband and wife have a fight, father won't let his son use the car, boyfriend/husband find out their partners are cheating or the reverse, it goes on and on. Without ready access to a gun, people might cool off, think rationally, and no one dies or goes to jail. The accounts I most often read describe the weapon as legally purchased and registered, i.e., responsible gun owners up to their one incident of shooting/killing another human being.
I don't buy the flimsy argument that without a gun, another weapon would have been used (e.g., a knife). Everyone has kitchen knives capable of killing, so why shoot when you can stab. It's much easier with reduced risk to yourself. Maybe just the action of walking to the kitchen and selecting a knife provides a sufficient cooling off period to avoid tragedy.
I don't buy the flimsy argument that without a gun, another weapon would have been used (e.g., a knife). Everyone has kitchen knives capable of killing, so why shoot when you can stab. It's much easier with reduced risk to yourself. Maybe just the action of walking to the kitchen and selecting a knife provides a sufficient cooling off period to avoid tragedy.
Bus Driver
Bacon Quality Control Specialist
Using a knife requires the murderer to get within an arm's length of the victim.
Much easier to stand back and open fire.
Much easier to stand back and open fire.
Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
Both parties are too much in thrall to the 0.1% upper wealthiest, but the Republican Party really goes all-out trying to turn the USA into a plutocracy.
As for the abortion issue- it really should not be called that, IMHO. The Republicans and their bible-thumper minions have really made hay with this. They make it sound like somebody out there is in favor of abortion.
What they really want to do is criminalize women's health care, and that is how we should discuss the issue. Make abortion illegal? OK do you put a policeman in every GYN office? Apparently yes. Arrest doctors for treating fibroids? Apparently yes. Imprison women with uterine tumors? Apparently yes.
Threaten doctors specializing in prenatal and GYN care? Been doing that for years, not just threatening but murdering them. Republican controlled states have fewer GYN docs per capita, and that number is dropping everywhere.
It's a terrorist campaign against the whole female population
3to1
Super Anarchist
any 'argument' that attempts to redirect from, or diminish the reality that the sheer convenience of a firearm didn't directly correlate to a gun death is pulling shit straight outta' their asses because they are pro-gun and/or have an agenda.
~99 percent of deaths by gun wouldn't be deaths if there were no fkg guns in the picture to begin with. period.
~99 percent of deaths by gun wouldn't be deaths if there were no fkg guns in the picture to begin with. period.
LB 15
Cunt
Pussy.
Sure there are a few billionaires that support Democrats, and some Democrats get support via special interest lobbyists, however the Republican Party IS the party of the VERY, VERY rich.
I can not say this enough: Republicans STEAL from the poor and the middle class, and give it to the rich and corporations. Can not say this too much and is at the crux of the shrinking middle class. The haves have and have nots are desperate - wonder about the rise in gun violence and mass shootings, begin by looking at a shrinking middle class and money difficulties of the have nots, who can't afford to buy a home or live in a middle class environment. Not that money difficulties are responsible for all mass shootings, because the normalizing of gun violence and lack of respect for human life, is common in network TV shows and News, as well as movies.
However this post is about the GOP and as you will see, about "Dark Money". and how Dark Money controls the GOP, and how the GOP controls Dark Money.
The GOP like to cut taxes for themselves and corporations the past 42 years.
Without exception, every proposal put forth by GOP lawmakers is intended to preserve or expand tax privileges for the wealthiest Americans.
Their trickle down (supply side economics) is a total sham. We have decades of evidence that demonstrates that GOP policies have made income inequality exponentially worse.
The GOP is now completely controlled by billionaires whose wealth funds many foundations and think tanks. Examples are the American legislative exchange council, Americans for prosperity, Freedom works and State policy network.
The GOP seeks to end unions and collective bargaining all together, do away with Social Security and Medicare, Privatized education and prisons, take over state and federal government and give control to wealthy billionaire oligarchs like the Koch brother/s. Basically they/he want to destroy America's democracy and give total control to corporations with the most capital.
The GOP touts being for freedom but that is hardly the case. They actually want the government to intervene in people lives and dictate what they do in regards to religion, reproduction, sex and anything their wealthy masters don't think is right.
If the GOP doesn't get its way in their quest to serve the interests of the super rich it shuts down the government, Gerrymanders, uses voter suppression or resorts to any lowdown trick it can use. The dark money from the right funds much of their agenda, and dark money has influenced appointments to the Supreme Court, which in turn with their Conservative majority overturned Roe VS Wade. - and the GOP isn't stopping with overturning women's rights, they're going after privacy rights of the LBGT+, and the digital privacy of Americans in so many ways in particular women who go to other states for abortion. Going after our digital privacy opens up, taking so much more of our rights.
The dark money that is a key component of this process is money funneled through nonprofit organizations that can receive unlimited donations from corporations and individuals and spend funds to influence elections but are not required to disclose their donors. The main vehicles for this process are tax-free, nonprofit private 501 (c) foundations which were originally said to be for charity, social welfare, and education but not for politics. Super PACs like Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and business organizations like the Chamber of Commerce are also major vehicles for the use of dark money.
The history of private foundations began in 1909 with John D. Rockefeller’s request to set up a tax-free foundation. This request was first denied by congress because of its undemocratic nature. However, it was later approved by the New York state legislature with limitation to education, science, and religion. Over time, the numbers of private foundations and the issues they served multiplied rapidly so that by 2013, there were over a hundred thousand foundations with assets over $800 billion. The supposedly nonpolitical nature of these foundations was progressively undermined so that by the time of the Citizens United decision of 2010, they could be the source of enormous unlimited tax-free secret special interest political funding.
The transition of non-profit foundations from charitable organizations to political tools of the superrich accelerated in the 1970s. In 1971, Lewis Powell, a corporate lawyer, tobacco defender, and future Nixon-appointed Supreme Court justice, wrote a special memorandum for the business league. He called for “guerilla warfare” against what he saw as the anti-business threat posed by “perfectly respectable elements of society,” including “the college campus, the pulpit, the media, the intellectual and literary journals, the arts and sciences, and politicians.” Public opinion was to be captured by exerting influence over these institutions and the courts, by demanding balance in textbooks, television, and news, and by donors demanding a say in university hiring and curriculum.
This was followed in 1976 by Charles Koch of the extremist libertarian Koch brothers laying out a road map for future takeover of American politics. His intent was to overturn the post WWII view of government as a force for good (including regulation of business, progressive taxation, and worker’s rights) and instead argue for limited government, drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry. Campaign contributions and lobbying were to be supplemented by a secretive long-term plan to capture public opinion by 1) investing in intellectuals, 2) investing in think tanks, and 3) subsidizing “citizens” groups that gave the appearance of public support.
In 2003, the Koch brothers began their “donor summits,” which were secretive meetings of large numbers of superrich donors for archconservative causes. By 2014, the impressive list of 300 or so secretive donors in this group included 18 billionaires with combined assets of $222 billion as well as numerous sub-billionaires, top Republican politicians, conservative media stars, and even two Supreme Court justices. Goals now included winning the presidency, capturing the House and Senate, cementing control of congress by gerrymandering, capturing state legislative bodies, governorships, and supreme courts, and controlling the Republican Party. For the 2016 elections, the donor summit group alone pledged $889 million, and each subsequent election more monies.
When Powell and the Kochs formulated their strategies, America’s greatest corporate fortunes were already poised to enlist their private foundations for the cause. Early participation by the Scaife, Olin, Coors, Koch, Bradley and other Family Foundations, which controlled hundreds of millions of dollars, and by scores of Fortune 500 corporations was only the tip of the iceberg. The powerful leaders of these families and corporations eventually funded hundreds of additional foundations in what was cynically called the “philanthropy plan” to change academia, the media, the courts, regulation, taxation, politics, government, and public opinion.
The effectiveness of this secret dark money was greatly facilitated by organization of these foundations into multiple additional layers. Donors at the top could contribute family, foundation, and corporate money to the next layer of foundations, some of which were mere conduits, or to organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and super PACs. These foundations and organizations could then disguise the self-serving nature of these donations by redirecting them to their actual targets without revealing the donor’s identities. The scope of this process became unlimited after the 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United decision that removed all restrictions on the size of the contributions to this system.The conservative capture of the Supreme Court, was funded with dark money.
It is utterly unbelievable the party gets any more than a handful of votes given it terrible anti democratic and anti labor-middle class agenda. I think it is as bizarre as Jews voting for Hitler.
This next set of videos, go more in depth - I don't expect anyone to watch them all, but former US Attorney and former Rhode Island Attorney General, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, presents his case and arguments quite well, and are worth the watch at one's leisure, and gives one insight into the workings of dark money. Click on the Youtube bottom right, for the full playlist of Senator Whitehouse "The Scheme" videos.
Last edited:
Steam Flyer
Sophisticated Yet Humble
Preach it, brother!
I was just looking at one issue, women's health care. The Republicans sold "anti-abortion" to the bible-thumpers on the grounds that God loves him some babies, and to the bigoted peckerwood fuckheads on the grounds that their hard-earned tax money was going to pay for promiscuous minority women to have free birth control.
Both are completely fictional, in fact God (if you believe in Her) kills more babies than anybody.
In the first few months after the Dobbs decision, we're already having women die from bad health care decisions forced on doctors by threat of prosecution.
About taxes, totally agree. And here's the peculiar thing I notice, 30 years ago the furthest-right among us agreed in general that progressive income taxation was fair. After all, burgers and bluejeans cost the same for bums and millionaires. However, now we have an increasing numbner of people who believe that taxes are unfair to the rich, period. This is without digging deeper into taxation of benefits, "charitable" foundation functions (guess how many charities own or charter Lear/Gulfstream jets), etc etc.
The USA has been hijacked by the rich, most of it has happened since Reagan. They've won the class war and they're still bombing the ruins, strafing the survivors.
I was just looking at one issue, women's health care. The Republicans sold "anti-abortion" to the bible-thumpers on the grounds that God loves him some babies, and to the bigoted peckerwood fuckheads on the grounds that their hard-earned tax money was going to pay for promiscuous minority women to have free birth control.
Both are completely fictional, in fact God (if you believe in Her) kills more babies than anybody.
In the first few months after the Dobbs decision, we're already having women die from bad health care decisions forced on doctors by threat of prosecution.
About taxes, totally agree. And here's the peculiar thing I notice, 30 years ago the furthest-right among us agreed in general that progressive income taxation was fair. After all, burgers and bluejeans cost the same for bums and millionaires. However, now we have an increasing numbner of people who believe that taxes are unfair to the rich, period. This is without digging deeper into taxation of benefits, "charitable" foundation functions (guess how many charities own or charter Lear/Gulfstream jets), etc etc.
The USA has been hijacked by the rich, most of it has happened since Reagan. They've won the class war and they're still bombing the ruins, strafing the survivors.
jocal505
moderate, informed, ex-gunowner
I have zero political wisdom to offer, usually. It's not my game. Yeah, I am just a political spectator, but I feel strongly that a loud, effective, and empowered Sheldon Whitehouse is just what we need. I have watched all twenty segments of The Scheme, and some day I would like intelligent participation, not gamesmanship, from Tom Dogballs Ray about this burning issue. @Pertinacious Tom
Long time no see, @boomer. Good stuff. Welcome aboard.
Long time no see, @boomer. Good stuff. Welcome aboard.
Thank you!
Yes! I absolutely feel the same about Sheldon Whitehouse!
All the best to you jocal505.
jerseyguy
Super Anarchist
Is his name one that should be getting possible POTUS mentions?
I can see it now “Whitehouse for the White House!”
I can see it now “Whitehouse for the White House!”
Blue Crab
benthivore
it writes itself.
"The ruling class is the rich, who really command our industry, our commerce, and our finance. And those people are so able to manipulate our democracy that they really control the democracy." No, these words weren't written by Thomas Paine, but by Walter Cronkite. One strongly suspects, however, that if Paine were alive and well, he would issue a similar indictment of our present plutocracy. Why Thomas Paine's "Commonsense" is still important today.
Last edited:
basketcase
Fuck you second amendment
Mate, you know that is not right. The number, and amount, are low over the history of our country... But for fucks sake, there were 14 women murdered, 10 more injured and 4 men injured at the Ecole du Polytechnic in Montreal.
I'm going with the theory she was talking about "school" as in grade school. But you are right, that was a horrible blot on our country.
basketcase
Fuck you second amendment
Heres what wikipedia says ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:School_shootings_in_Canada
Theres not a lot of them.
