Tuesday, May 24, 2016

The Real NRA: Making a Killing


Get used to living in  a nation in  ruins
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Robert Greenwald
Robert Greenwald is, beyond any and all doubt,  the most important (and talented) documentary filmmaker to come along in my lifetime. For over a decade his films have meticulously chronicled the destruction of a country that at one time was the envy of the world. You don't walk away from any of his stuff whistling a happy tune - that's for damned sure - but at least you always have a much clearer understanding about what is happening to the United States, and, more importantly, where it is going - and it's not to a very happy place. 

Recently, I was personally honored by Mr. Greenwald and his organization with an advanced copy of his as yet unreleased film, "Making a Killing"....

Okay, I'll level with you:

Recently, somehow, I was lucky enough to be able to finagle a copy of his yet to be released film, "Making a Killing" (There, is that better?) It's a documentary that exposes the lock that the National Rifle Association has on American politicians, the impact on the lives of the victims of gun violence and their survivors, and the incalculable damage that is being done to this once-great nation.

What we have here is a good news/bad news scenario. First the bad news: 

Nothing is going to change as far as the carnage being inflicted on the American people is concerned. There will still be mountains of broken bodies and rivers of blood. Our lawmakers have been purchased by a domestic terror organization. This is the way it's going to be from now on. Get used to it. Deal with it. Adjust. Nothing is going to change. Nothing....

Did I say "nothing"? Let me rephrase that:

Given the availability of these weapons in America, a horrible epidemic of political assassinations is not at all beyond the realm of the possible. What do you think would happen if more-than-a-few choice members of both houses of congress were taken out willy nilly? OH, BROTHER! It makes my head spin and my ribs tickle to think how quickly this peculiar "American problem" would disappear. We're talkin' overnight, folks. Can you imagine? Of course, there are so many of these people-killing machines out there due to years of the insane, NRA-sponsored laws currently on the books, that it would take at least a decade for any tangible results to be noticed. Still, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step, ay?

And while we're on the topic, a few high-powered shotgun shells, blasted in the general direction of Wayne LaPierre  (just to keep the hideous bastard on his toes, mind you) might also send these corrupt bastards and bitches in Washington a dandy message, don'cha think? I think it would. I really do!

Disclaimer: Of course, advocating such terrible behavior would not only be irresponsible on my part, it would be completely evil. And besides, murder and mayhem have never really been my shtick. It's not yours either, I'm sure....I hope.

Still, I do hope old Wayne is smart enough to keep a bullet-proof vest handy - even while he sleeps. Just a thought.

Now for the good news....I'm sorry, but there is no good news. That was a shameful attempt to make you read on by giving you something to look forward to. There's nothing to look forward to. Forgive me for misleading you.

One point that is made in Making a Killing is that black people are twice as likely to be the victims of gun violence than their white counterparts. That probably is the key to the indifference on the part of so many white Americans - not enough of their little darlings are being slaughtered. Here's a little stipend you can take to the bank: As time goes by, and more bodies begin to pile up high, that indifference is going to disappear. You'd better believe it. 

I've already had two female cousins shot and killed by men who were stalking them. I've had more acquaintances then I can count who died by the gun - whether by suicide or murder. If it hasn't already effected your lives, it will. Mark my words: it will. The trillion-pound shit-hammer is only in the process of falling; it hasn't found its mark yet. You think the situation is completely fucked now? This is nothing compared to what is coming. In a decade from now, the carnage of these times will seem tranquil by comparison. Remember you read it here, boys and girls.

This is not "the land of the free". If you are under the delusion that, as an American, you are freer than a citizen of, say, Norway or Ireland or France or England or the Netherlands, you might just as well go back to sleep. We live in a constant state of paranoia and despair, wondering when and where the next massacre of innocents will take place - as it surely will, and very soon. Call it what you will, just don't call it "freedom". Don't insult my intelligence, okay? We've been sold down the river to the lowest bidder. Stop kidding yourselves. Just deal with this American wasteland as best you can. 

TIMELY TIP: Vodka helps. Lots 'n' lots of vodka.

Less than half of this country is barely smart enough to understand that they have been sold down the river by their elected "representatives", while most of the rest are too utterly stupid to comprehend what has happened to them. Does that statement sound a bit extreme for your tastes? Take a gander at the presumptive Republican nominee. 'Nuff said?

Here are just a few of the many fun facts from Making a Killing. There will be a quiz at the end of this piece, so pay close attention:
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Every sixteen minutes, a woman is shot and killed by a boyfriend or a husband.

Forty-eight percent fewer police officers are shot and killed  in states with mandatory background checks.

Guns accidentally kill children in the U.S. ten times more often than any other developed country on the planet.

1.7 million kids in the USA live in homes with loaded and unlocked guns.

A child has been shot to death every-other-day since the Sandy Hook mass-shooting on December 14, 2012.

Between the years 2001 and 2010, more Americans living in Chicago died from gun violence than in the war in Afghanistan.

Over eighty Americans are shot and killed every day.

Gun violence costs this doomed country $229 billion every year.
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There is no purchase limit for buying guns and ammunition in most states.

Fifty-five Americans commit suicide with a firearm every day.

States with waiting periods average fifty-one percent fewer suicides by gun every year.

There were 33 mass killings in the United states last year.

There are approximately one-hundred thousand gun deaths in this country every three years.
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Victims in all colors - mostly black
The film is literally drenched with oodles of handy little statistics like the ones I have offered here. 

I have been authorized by the the nice folks at Brave New Films to have public screenings of this important new documentary. But I'm not the only one so honored: Anybody may order a free copy for this very purpose. Here's all the proof you need that Robert Greenwald and friends are not in it for the money. My only problem is that I can't seem to find a place big enough that will allow me to show it (Any volunteers in my area would be greatly appreciated). If you happen to live within driving or walking distance of me (Goshen, NY is sixty miles north of Manhattan) give me a shout and I'll be happy to set up a personal viewing for you in my house. If transportation is an issue, call me and I'll come pick you up and drive you home. Talk about service! 

And remember, kids: The National Rifle Association wants you dead. Have a lovely day!

And God bless you, Mr. Greenwald.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED VIEWING:

Here is a link to watch the trailer for Making a  Killing on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtQdjFIZFhM

You can sign up to receive a free copy to show in your community as well. This is a film that must be seen. We'll leave it at that.

SUGGESTED READING:

Massacre in New Town

http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2012/12/massacre-in-newtown.html

I wrote this one nearly four years ago, on the morning after twenty little boys and girls - and the six women whose job it was to protect and to educate them - were slaughtered like diseased pigs inside of a Connecticut schoolhouse. At that moment I predicted that not a goddamned thing would change. Not a goddamned thing has. Prescient on my part? Do perish the thought, dear reader! In fact it was the easiest call I ever made.

Are you ashamed of your country yet?
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Newtown

Here's another blast from the past (pun intended):

This was written last August 27, when broadcast journalist, Alison Parker, and camera technician, Adam Ward, were shot and killed on live television while delivering a report from a shopping mall in Roanoke, Virginia: 

http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2015/08/too-dreadful-for-words.html

Too dreadful for words.

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Alison Parker at the moment she was murdered

160 Comments:

At 8:27 PM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

Hey Chuck,

The progressives seem really agitated lately on Tom's blog.

Maybe its because the Democratic party is imploding.

Hillary is demanding that Bernie fall on his sword, but the old goat refuses and thinks he's leading a Bolshevick revolution like in 1917.

Trump is rising in the polls and Hillary is tanking.

It sure is fun watching the Comedy.

 
At 9:34 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The assassination of two Kennedy's and a king within 5 years of each other did not bring an end to guns in America, and I don't see how you think that outcome would be different today if you started killing politicians, or their relatives.
The problem with the gun problem is it is part of the Constitution and the Supreme Court has made rulings protecting the 2nd amendment and extending it's meaning and power.

 
At 12:15 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

At Walt Disney World in Florida, Sanders noted, the company replaced 250 workers with low-wage foreign workers through H-1B visas.

Thanks Obama!

 
At 12:26 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi Harry,

I've notice that they seemed overly "sensitive" to reporting anything that pops their socialist bubble. Like the socialist paradise of Venezuela. I mean the simple fact that the majority of Americans do not want Bernie in the White House cause if they did he would have defeated Hillary long ago, seems to have pushed them to the edge.

Did you ever think you would see the day when the Democrats two Presidential candidates would both be over 70 years of age, one a socialist and the other a proven liar? Not exactly the Hope and Change they expected is it?

BTW Im sure there will be posts claiming we are one in the same, ready to start posting with our IP address since they can't figure out that I'm in MO and you'er in CT by looking at the map?

 
At 6:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...




Did you ever think you would see the day when the republicans nominated Donald Trump?

It sure is fun watching the Comedy.

 
At 6:49 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...



Are you excited about November, Chuck? I bet you can't wait to vote for Donald Trump.

But TP says he's a liberal. Can you please explain how a liberal former democrat won the nomination of your grand old party?

How could such a thing happen?

And Trump had nothing but nice things to say about the Clintons. Even invited them to his wedding (2nd? 3rd wedding? I get mixed up when it comes to the party of family values) and posed for pictures with them.

Anyway, I like how all your republican politicians who called Trump a dangerous menace to society are now supporting him. I guess republicans never really mean what they say.


 
At 6:57 AM, Blogger Tom Degan said...

Yeah the Democratic party is "imploding", Harry.

Have another sip, pal.

 
At 7:05 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Tom Degan: "Thank Heaven for Robert Greenwald."

Tom, as you know Mr. Greenwald has produced several profound documentaries over the last number of years, including Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election which offers an excellent in-depth account of Bush's stealing of the 2000 election. That event marked the conspicuous acceleration of the slow-motion coup d'état that had been building for the last several decades.

The hardening of the coup in the American psyche continues, and it only gets worse. Stay tuned.

By the way, are you old enough to remember the summer of '68? It was a hot one -- particularly in several cities across the country. I anticipate the summer of 2016 to be very similar.

 
At 7:45 AM, Blogger Tom Degan said...

I have all of Greenwald's stuff on DVD, J.G. He is as good as it gets.

And, yes, I do remember the summer of 1968, and yes, I think that the possible comparisons with 2016 are inevitable. It's going to be a long, hot summer.

 
At 11:31 AM, Blogger Darrell Michaels said...

"Vodka helps. Lots 'n' lots of vodka."

Well, that explains this rant, Mr. Degan.

A gun is a tool. It is no more evil or negligent than a wrench or a hammer. It is the evil in the person wielding it that is the problem.

Unfortunately we have, largely through "progressive" policies and our mis-education system, torn down our sense of right and wrong, our love of God and his laws, and our families. The result is that our "enlightened" society is now raising our kids instead of parents, communities and churches. We celebrate abortion, euthanasia, and a whole culture of death and then wonder why we no longer value life as a people.

Chicago and its horrific gun crime rate is an excellent example of this, as you brought up, sir. That city has some of the strictest gun control laws on the books, and yet has the highest crime rate in the nation. Why is that? Well, it has been controlled by progressives, including former Obama chief of staff and now mayor Rahm Emmanuel for decades. He refuses to police and prosecute all of those criminals illegally using guns. Perhaps he doesn't want to be called racist. Or perhaps he is simply not wanting to let another good crises to go to waste. After all, with such wanton killing by desperate and evil people in the city, it is only a matter of time before he can call out the national guard and force drastic gun control measures on Illinois citizens.

Never mind if you are a law-abiding citizen stuck in that cesspool of a city. You better not be packing heat in order to defend you or your family. Our benevolent government will protect you, so you don't need a gun. Absolutely amazing the intellectual disconnect that many on the left have with this issue. Like most problems we are plagued with these days, their asinine and dangerous policies create even more dangerous situations so that they can further expand the powers of government to "solve" the very problems they created.

Just remember that when in a life or death situation where seconds count, the police are only minutes away. (Unless you live in Chicago... then they may get there the next day... if at all.)

Personal responsibility really does seem to be an anachronism to the left, if not a God damned punch line.

 
At 1:41 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Sorry socialists, but
"Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton played a game of “Who’d You Rather” to try to choose her running mate, quickly ruling out rival Bernie Sanders."

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sued a private business for sex discrimination and harassment after a male employee — who announced he was switching genders to become a woman — was barred from using the women’s restroom and was referred to with male pronouns by his coworkers..

The male employee, who now goes by the name Britney Austin, publicly presented himself as male when he was hired by Deluxe Financial but later opted to begin identifying as a woman.

I am starting to identify as a Black man, I'm Trans-racial.

 
At 3:46 PM, Blogger Mozart1220 said...

Clucky and the rest of the teabaggers have shown that they don't CARE if children die, as long as they can "open carry" their penis extentions into a day care or mall.

They love to CLAIM that the Dems are "imploding" while supporting the racist lying Trumpanzee for President.

They support pedophiles like Hastert and "Subway Jared" while whining about where people pee.

Yes, let's obsess on THAT to "save the children" while turning a blind eye to all that have ACTUALLY DIED as a result of loonies with GUNS.

Knives are "tools" too, but no one gets killed in a "mass stabbing".

ALL that and NO ONE can tell us what conservatives have done for the poor and middle class the last 45 years.

 
At 4:35 PM, Blogger Darrell Michaels said...

Mozart, you truly are remarkable in your party-line progressive rhetoric, sir.

It is precisely because of this economically and morally declining nation that the progressives have created where life is meaningless, God is dead, and the federal government is the only entity worthy of worship that we have seen such a rise in this culture of death. A belief in nothing will make these disillusioned and narcissistic kids think that they only way to "get respect" or end their personal pain is to go out in blaze of infamy by taking as many innocent people as they can with them. Life becomes nothing more than a first-person-shooter video game to them.

We can disarm every last single law-abiding person in the nation right now, but do you think that will make all of Chicago's neighborhoods safe? How about your own town? Do you think I will still be able to take my family to a movie, restaurant, or even church without fear of some drug-addled or life-disillusioned thug coming in and shooting up the place? Yes, disarming the law-abiding is one more great progressive idea that will only make the problem worse.

And for the record, ask the Israelis if there is such a thing as mass stabbings as Hamas and Hezbollah terrorists come into Israel's towns and cities and start stabbing citizens. They may not always have access to bombs or guns, but evil will always find a way. We have a right and responsibility to take care of and protect our own.

Finally, once again, I will answer your asinine question. True conservatives have always tried to help ALL American citizens, regardless of class, by ensuring that their God-given constitutional rights are protected, that justice is administered equally under the law, and all are given a fair chance to pursue happiness as they define it. You and other progressives look at the government as a source for assistance, entitlements, and other tax payer benefits. Anything less than passing out ever-increasing government largesse is seen as a failure to you.

How about we all take some damned personal responsibility for ourselves, our families, and our communities? Maybe then we can help Aunt Sally when she doesn't have enough money for the gas bill or needs some extra food. Instead we wash our hands of any responsibility to take care of our own and demand that the wise and benevolent government do that job. What we get is kids that believe in nothing but the power of their own might with a gun in their hand. You all created this mess. Stop being a part of the problem and join with us to bring some sense of hope and responsibility back to our families and communities.

...and NO, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are absolutely not the answer to fix what they have helped break.

 
At 6:08 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

The 9 biggest revelations in the State IG report on Clinton's emails


1. Clinton's email setup was never approved by State security agencies

2. Clinton never sought assistance to set up her email system to transmit certain sensitive information

3. The arrangement made staffers nervous—and management told them to keep quiet

4. Clinton's chief of staff suggested setting up a separate computer

5. Clinton worried about 'the personal being accessible'

6. Abedin rejected the idea for Clinton to use two devices

7. Clinton's email system needed troubleshooting

8. The server was briefly shut down over hacking concerns

9. Clinton and her staffers worried about being hacked but didn't report to security personnel

Look what I found while cruising on a "obscure websites", IE: Politico.

 
At 6:23 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Poor Chuckie can't report a crime apparently. Chuckie forgot to mention Colin Powell's State Department. The inspector general’s report cited “longstanding, systemic weaknesses” with State Department records that predated Clinton’s tenure, and found problems with the email record-keeping of some of her predecessors, particularly Powell, that failed to comply with the Federal Records Act. it too. IOKIYAR

 
At 6:25 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

I have to admit I admire the emphatic certainty TP presents in his comments. Unfortunately facts, or lack thereof, get in the way.

Note the application of the fallacy “Appeal to ignorance”:

Definition: In the appeal to ignorance, the arguer basically says, "Look, there's no conclusive evidence on the issue at hand. Therefore, you should accept my conclusion on this issue."

Unfortunately we have, largely through "progressive" policies and our mis-education system, torn down our sense of right and wrong, our love of God and his laws, and our families. The result is that our "enlightened" society is now raising our kids instead of parents, communities and churches. We celebrate abortion, euthanasia, and a whole culture of death and then wonder why we no longer value life as a people.

“Celebrate abortion and euthanasia and a whole culture of death”. Wow. Why didn’t I get an invitation to these parties? We take it supporting wars, guns in schools, guns in “law abiding” American toddlers’ hands, “Stand Your Ground”, accepting the Zimmermans, Dylan Roofs, Planned Parenthood killers, etc, reflect a culture of life?

There’s more.

this economically and morally declining nation that the progressives have created where life is meaningless,

Ah, the famous “Blame the liberals card”…again… with a heaping side of appeal to ignorance.

Are we to suppose a deregulated Wall Street, tax cuts for the rich, cutting food stamps, wars of aggression, torture, detention without charges, race baiting, class warfare, science denial, voter suppression, and other gifts from the Right have nothing to do with “this economically and morally declining nation”?

Not when you always blame liberals for EVERYTHING! It’s so convenient to forget some important factors. It’s the famous IOKIYAR, or “true conservative”, who supports the above agenda of the Right.

No blame to see here folks.

Yes, disarming the law-abiding is one more great progressive idea that will only make the problem worse.

Back to the fallacy parade. Neither Clintons, Obama, Sanders, nor any other national office holder has proposed this. But these facts don’t apply in the Bubble Cult of far Right beliefs.

Fallacies: Appeal to ignorance,

And Straw man:

Definition: One way of making our own arguments stronger is to anticipate and respond in advance to the arguments that an opponent might make. In the straw man fallacy, the arguer sets up a wimpy version of the opponent's position and tries to score points by knocking it down.

True conservatives have always tried to help ALL American citizens

Fallacy: No True Scotsman

This fallacy is a form of circular reasoning, in that it attempts to include a conclusion about something in the very definition of the word itself. It is therefore also a semantic argument.

You and other progressives look at the government as a source for assistance, entitlements, and other tax payer benefits. Anything less than passing out ever-increasing government largesse is seen as a failure to you.

More Appeal to ignorance.

 
At 6:31 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Now for some common ground.

How about we all take some damned personal responsibility for ourselves, our families, and our communities?

Here, here! I agree. In fact all Liberals agree. We can say it until we’re blue in the face. Liberals want every able person to have a job. The Right will ignore this, blame them anyway, and make further fallacious accusations.

Liberals see their tax dollars going to feeding the hungry and poor as a good thing, and the safety net is there for all of us. Even for those who have no family to support them. It is a proper and constitutional community function in civilized society.

Moochers are unwanted, but should never be used as an excuse to deny those in need. Why are cons blind to this? Resentment? Anger? Racism? Scorn for the poor? Sense of moral superiority by holding a job?

we wash our hands of any responsibility to take care of our own and demand that the wise and benevolent government do that job.

Nonsense. See Appeal to ignorance.

You all created this mess.

Ah, the famous “Blame the liberals card”…again.

Is there an echo in here?

NO, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are absolutely not the answer to fix what they have helped break.

AMEN! A fallacy-free opinion. We’ve found common ground again.

I have a feeling TP and I share a deep disgust for the upcoming presidential ballot, albeit from different perspectives.

 
At 6:42 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"God is dead, and the federal government is the only entity worthy of worship"
WOW, what a misreading of what is going on in this election.
"disarming the law-abiding"
Please show any Democratic legislation that calls for taking all guns away from citizens.
" God-given constitutional rights"
God did not write the American Constitution. Laughable delusion.
"How about we all take some damned personal responsibility for ourselves, our families, and our communities?"
Sure wish the Republicans had acted like that over the last 40 years instead of convincing Americans they did not have to pay taxes and create a 15 trillion dollar debt leaving our infrastructure in shambles. Not once did Republican leaders try to tell Americans they had to pay their government bills. Starve the beast, then drown it in a bathtub. With citizens like you we don't need enemies trying to destroy America, you selfish conservatives are destroying America just fine by yourselves.

 
At 6:48 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

To make the case that Republicans are on a higher moral plane than Liberals you have to ignore history and reality.

Republicans have initiated and supported every immoral, illegal and harmful policy to come out of this government. Of course the Dems are also guilty in this regard but T.Paine is devolving down to Chucks level in this area.

Being highly partisan makes you extremely foolish.

 
At 8:27 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hillary Clinton Is Criticized for Private Emails in State Dept. Review.
The State Department’s inspector general has sharply criticized Hillary Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, saying she had not sought permission to use it and would not have received it if she had.

NY Times

Venezuela sells gold reserves as economy worsens

State’s stock of the precious metal at record low

Isn't socialism "grand"!

"Republicans have initiated and supported every immoral, illegal and harmful policy to come out of this government." You mean like abortion on demand? Oh I forgot, the murder of an innocent human in it's mothers womb is not thought of as harmful policy by liberals, it is just freedom of a choice. A freedom that liberals do not want others to have it if goes against their "morality".
Great example of this the how the left is rioting to prevent a candidate they despise from holding a political rally.

"If we don't believe in free expression for those people we despise, we don't believe in it at all"
Noam Chomsky

 
At 9:09 PM, Blogger Darrell Michaels said...

Dave, you really do crack me up, my friend.

“Appeal to ignorance” should be the 2016 Democratic platform slogan.

And you want to talk about a straw man argument… not even the most craven and self-interested Republican politicians (and there are a LOT of them for sure) want guns in toddlers’ hands or the Dylan Roofs of America to be successful in their twisted and evil schemes. As for supporting wars, well sometimes there is something called a just war. It would be nice if we would actually have congress debate and declare those wars like it is supposed to do though.

As for getting an invitation to the culture of death parties, well you did get those and responded every time you voted for politicians that support tax-payer funded abortionists like Planned Parenthood.

And I wouldn’t blame the liberals, if it wasn’t their fault. That said, I fully acknowledge that a majority of the GOP is also culpable and fully to blame as well. Actual conservatives in government are harder to find then honesty in a Hillary press release.
And now on to your next straw man argument… I don’t want deregulation of Wall Street. I’d like to see those guilty of crimes to be punished, fined, and imprisoned. Instead Timothy Geithner, formally of the corrupt GoldmanSachs is made Obama’s Treasury Secretary. Don’t talk to me about liberals holding people responsible, Mr. Dubya.

As for disarming of the nation, Hillary, Feinstein, Schumer, Bloomberg, and even Obama would do so if they thought they could politically get it accomplished. Each has said so in rare moments of candidness, if not expressing it outright all the time. That said, the reason I responded as I did was not due to some politician’s position on the issue but rather the implications of Mr. Degan’s entire rant on the subject. I was responding to the topic at hand, in other words.

“Liberals want every able person to have a job.” Dave, I do believe that the rank and file and yourself included do indeed want this, as do I. I, however, think that most of the liberal politicians want to ensnare people in the trap of government dependency as a reliable base for votes and for them to hold onto power, sir.

“Liberals see their tax dollars going to feeding the hungry and poor as a good thing, and the safety net is there for all of us.” Indeed, and that is part of the problem. We shouldn’t have to take care of Aunt Jenny. That should be up to the government to provide for her, right? I have no problem with a safety net to help out those in legitimate need. That said, I think it should be handled as close to the local level as possible. Further, the progressive idea that is “not my responsibility to take care of my grown kids etc. who are in need; That should be up to the government to do”, is precisely why we have the largest outlay of welfare expenditures in history right now along with the largest number of Americans living below the poverty level thanks to Obama’s governance. “Moochers are unwanted” indeed, but I have a feeling the progressive definition of a moocher is a lot more lenient than that of the average person’s.

The bottom line is that if you want me to stop blaming progressives for making such a damned mess of things, then perhaps they should stop making things worse.

And in response to Mr. Hansen, I am not in any way defending the Republicans. Indeed, most of them are a huge part of the problem, going all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt. This is not a matter of defending a party to me. It is about defending what used to be called American principles.

 
At 9:11 PM, Blogger Darrell Michaels said...

"If we don't believe in free expression for those people we despise, we don't believe in it at all"
Noam Chomsky

This is one of the few times that Chomsky actually gets something right.

 
At 9:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Toilet Paper is certainly delusional. All those Democrats WOULD ban guns if they could? Now we know you are full of shit.

 
At 9:48 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

" Instead Timothy Geithner, formally of the corrupt GoldmanSachs is made Obama’s Treasury Secretary. Don’t talk to me about liberals holding people responsible, Mr. Dubya."

There are so few Liberals in congress that I do not need all my fingers on one hand to count them. There are none in the above statement.

I knew on three days into Obama"s admin that he was going to screw us when he selected Tim Geithner and others for his cabinet.

 
At 10:13 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

T. Paine, good to see you are not too partisan and can see that both parties are to blame for the mess we are in.

 
At 10:56 PM, Blogger Darrell Michaels said...

Mr. Hansen, I absolutely see that both major parties are to blame. I wonder if anything short of a convention of states convening and drafting a constitutional amendment for term limits for all of the bums could even save us now.

I sure as hell won't vote for a candidate for either major party again until things change drastically and we have a politician that actually follows the constitution. I am not holding my breath.

 
At 11:06 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

TP,

I was suggesting the acceptance of guns in “law abiding” American toddlers’ hands, the Zimmermans, Dylan Roofs, Planned Parenthood killers, etc, as the “price of freedom”. And questioned that it reflected a culture of life. It does not. “Price of freedom”, “water the tree of liberty” “Second Amendment remedies” and other such twisted gun culture of death dogma.

Your idea of a “culture of death” is the narrowest possible, and it is ideologically framed. It excludes capital punishment, war, denial of healthcare, and every other brutal death upon the post-birth human being. I won’t suggest you “celebrate” killing people. That’s more your demonizing style.

Further Fun Fallacies

most of the liberal politicians want to ensnare people in the trap of government dependency as a reliable base for votes and for them to hold onto power, sir.

This is regurgitation of Republican Party propaganda. It is an obvious example of Appeal to Ignorance, “there's no conclusive evidence on the issue at hand. Therefore, you should accept my conclusion on this issue”.

The bottom line is that if you want me to stop blaming progressives for making such a damned mess of things, then perhaps they should stop making things worse.

Appeal to Ignorance. Completely ignored the “gifts from the Right”. Iraq is NOT a damned mess, pray tell? Better blame Obama. The financial crisis and the great Bush Recession, were not a damned mess? Or did they hit us thanks to Obama’s governance? Your blaming of Republicans, the GOP is also culpable and fully to blame as well. Actual conservatives in government are harder to find then honesty… is a secondary No True Scotsman fallacy. (They’re really liberals, like Ike, who was called a commie by the far Right fringe of his day.)

As for disarming of the nation, Hillary, Feinstein, Schumer, Bloomberg, and even Obama would do so if they thought they could politically get it accomplished.

Appeal to Ignorance. They have NOT advocated firearm confiscation. Gun nuts are brainwashed by NRA propaganda. The NRA and nuts like Nugent whined and howled about Obama “coming for our guns!!!”

Never happened. Never even proposed.

The NRA “Big Lie” continues a Zombie life in the minds of indoctrinated paranoid true believers.

Each has said so in rare moments of candidness, if not expressing it outright all the time.

False. Again, never happened. Never proposed. This is an accusation unsupported by evidence. A specialty of the far Right.

Further, the progressive idea that is “not my responsibility to take care of my grown kids etc. who are in need; That should be up to the government to do”, is precisely why we have the largest outlay of welfare expenditures in history right now along with the largest number of Americans living below the poverty level thanks to Obama’s governance.

Straw man and Appeal to Ignorance.

I am not in any way defending the Republicans.

Just regurgitating their propaganda and blaming their opponents.

It is about defending what used to be called American principles.

I’m with you on defending American principles, if they include equality, democracy, equal application of justice, Constitutional regulation of commerce, Constitutional taxes, Constitutional provision of the general welfare, and representation of the people over wealth and corporate interests.

Your issue is that you believe only your interpretation, understanding and perspective is valid. Your can’t comprehend the possibility you hold false beliefs, and promote arguments of the far Right that are riddled with fallacies. Nothing you’ve said indicates an understanding of liberal values. They are distorted and framed by far Right ideology.

”through progressive policies…we celebrate abortion and euthanasia and a whole culture of death”.

There is an ugly darkness in this kind of hate-fueling demonizing. Is this what you mean by “American principles”?






 
At 11:06 PM, Blogger Mozart1220 said...

T(otal).Pain (in the ass)

God is not "dead" because he never lived. There is no evidence whatsoever that any "god exists".

Liberals gave us everything GOOD in America from the country it's self (Those who fought for revolution were Liberal), and the end of slavery, to Social programs that help the poor and labor laws to keep us safe. Even "Jesus" as writtin in your precious Bible, would be considered by todays standards a Socialist LIBERAL.

I ask YOU "sir" WHAT HAVE CONSERVATIVES DONE TO HELP THE POOR AND MIDDLE CLASS?


"Finally, once again, I will answer your asinine question. True conservatives have always tried to help ALL American citizens, regardless of class, by ensuring that their God-given constitutional rights are protected, that justice is administered equally under the law, and all are given a fair chance to pursue happiness as they define it. You and other progressives look at the government as a source for assistance, entitlements, and other tax payer benefits. Anything less than passing out ever-increasing government largesse is seen as a failure to you."

NONE of the things you meantioned have been applied to the poor and middle class. ALLthose things are reserved fopr RICH WHITE PEOPLE as always. So no, your answer is not "acceptable".




I don't know where you get the idea that Liberals "worship" the federal government, but I do know that conservatives seem to love it enough to want to be in charge of it. Funny how the party of "small government" and "constitutional rights" always seems to be the one EXPANDING government power (See Bush, Patriot act) and passing laws TAKING AWAY people's rights. (Gutting of voting act, denial of access to abortion, birth control, marraige equality) RED states are trashing the constitution by forcing the poor to submit to drug testing without cause (4th amendment) or banning terms they don't like such as "Global Warming" and "Climate Change" (1st amendment) You even pervert the 2nd.

You ALWAYS have money for WAR but never a penny for infrastructure, healthcare, Social programs (not to mention the wounded soldiers you create)ANYTHING that helps REAL WORKING PEOPLE in this country is shut down by conservatives because it's (Gasp) SOCIALISM.


You are a hypocrite, and a liar, just like your hero Trump.

 
At 1:30 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Mr. Degan - I too was prone to use the softer "domestic terrorist" calling card for what used to be the fringe insaniacs. But this mob mentality is pervasive. Yeah you and I have heard the refrain "law abiding citizen". Bullshit, NO ONE is "law abiding" (speeding, parking, jaywalking, littering, on and on). So we should load up these "law abiders" with a loaded gun just waiting for them to become insaniacs?
No, these are not domestic terrorists - they are indeed siege anarchists intent on holding everything we value under siege thru uncontrolled anarchy.

 
At 7:25 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Tom Degan: "And, yes, I do remember the summer of 1968, and yes, I think that the possible comparisons with 2016 are inevitable."

Tom, I do not assume it will be for the same reason. Not even close. The powers-that-be no longer need to assassinate a man for his beliefs to silence him; they need only to assassinate his character, or pose threats to him or his family. I'm guessing -- and not much is needed considering the times -- that it happens all the time.

If you're a believer that we're in the winter of the Anglo-American saeculum, then it's understandable why things seemingly are accelerating out of control. It's because things are. The availability of social order is low, while at the same time the demand is high. Consequently, fringe politicians and ideologues seek and gain larger audiences -- and more often than not, power -- and war becomes a staple of life.

Hopefully a bright and warming spring is ahead, but nothing is assured. All we can do is wait and see.

 
At 9:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The powers-that-be no longer need to assassinate a man for his beliefs to silence him..."


Anyone checked on the Scalia death lately? No, not really...?
Kind of got swept under the rug. But, then again, there was nothing suspicious surrounding the whole thing. So, why worry ourselves over it.

 
At 9:17 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

By Editorial Board May 25 at 7:13 PM

HILLARY CLINTON’S use of a private email server while secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 has been justifiably criticized as an error of judgment. What the new report from the State Department inspector general makes clear is that it also was not a casual oversight. Ms. Clinton had plenty of warnings to use official government communications methods, so as to make sure that her records were properly preserved and to minimize cybersecurity risks. She ignored them.

Washington Post.

James Hansen said...

Chuck, this blog would be a much nicer place if your mother aborted you.

"If we don't believe in free expression for those people we despise, we don't believe in it at all"
Noam Chomsky

 
At 9:55 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

JG,

Are you a follower of the FOURTH TURNING ACCELERATING « The Burning Platform?

 
At 10:13 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Liz Warren, do as I say, not as I do!!

"Five months after purchasing Veo Vessels’ old home, Warren flipped the property, selling it for $115,000 more than she’d paid. But Warren bought and sold at least five properties for profit at a different time in her life, before the cratering economy and a political career made her a star. Her life story has been the subject of much interest, and her 2014 memoir, A Fighting Chance, chronicled her rise from humble beginnings in small-town Oklahoma and her struggle to make ends meet. It didn’t much mention, though, the early 1990s, years when her children were teenagers and she was once again happily married. These are years when she wasn’t yet the multimillionaire she is today, and, she has said, she was voting Republican."

Got to love those money grubbing millionaire socialist

 
At 10:28 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

So Warren was a socialist selling houses for profit and voting for republicans?

After copy and pasting, "...she was voting Republican", only an alcohol-pickled brain would then declare:

"Got to love those money grubbing millionaire socialist"

Note how Trumpie Chuckie is in attack mode on his Fearless Leader's critics.

How they love to fall in line.

"Heil Drumpf"!



 
At 12:57 PM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

T. Paine, you accuse Mozart of using "party-line progressive rhetoric" and yet you say "A gun is a tool. It is no more evil or negligent than a wrench or a hammer" which is a pretty tired piece of rhetoric I've been hearing for almost 30 years.

Of course a hammer is for hammering nails. A wrench tightens nuts and bolts. A gun shoots a bullet with the purpose of killing and maiming a living being.

It seems to me certain talking points go in your ear and then out your mouth without pausing anywhere in your head.

 
At 3:29 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

Chuck, this blog would be a much nicer place if your mother aborted you.


That is my opinion and I am sticking to it.

 
At 3:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I will trot this out again and it will be ignored again - because the logic is too airtight and it makes you think about the validity of your position...


Alcohol is the same. Alcohol (like guns) has a valid use for consumption by all who are old enough to use it. Alcohol (like guns) can be and is often misused by people and is instrumental in the needless deaths of thousands every year. And, that's not counting the pain and suffering it causes children, spouses, friends, etc. who are victimized by loved ones who misuse it. And, we know that MANY go to early graves due to its chronic misuse themselves. We also know anyone among us may be in danger of becoming addicted, so its very presence creates a risk in the home. We all know that. I enjoy a good beer and I particularly love a good red wine, so I'm not anti-alcohol. But, I am also not blind to the fact that my enjoyment of it necessarily means the risk (nay, the certainty) that a not insignificant number of people will be adversely affected and even killed due to its existence in the world and availability.

So, Tom, I understand you like to enjoy drink as well. So, how is it you can live with yourself, knowing that your ability to enjoy alcohol contributes to the misery and deaths of so many every year? It is a fair question isn't it? I think it is. I also think you really deep down understand that people who hold to a position of laws more lax than yours are not callously turning a blind eye to what the misuse of guns can create.

Also, I've not yet heard any solutions that would contribute one iota to reducing the criminal use of guns on the streets, which is in reality the main cause of minority deaths by gun violence.

 
At 3:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...


Alcohol is the same. Alcohol (like guns) has a valid use for consumption by all who are old enough to use it.


So alcohol is marketed and sold as something to kill with? You're really comparing guns with alcohol?


Also, I've not yet heard any solutions that would contribute one iota to reducing the criminal use of guns on the streets, which is in reality the main cause of minority deaths by gun violence.


Any discussion of guns invariably swings around to (gulp!!) minorities. Why don't you stop beating around the bush and just come out and admit you're arming yourself against violent black men?

 
At 4:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ANON 3:57

"You're really comparing guns with alcohol?"

Yes, I really am - quiet coherently. Are you really saying that alcohol is not the primary causal factor in a large number of deaths every year? And, that this fact is irrelevant because of how it is marketed? Please explain the arbitrary leap of logic. Your point is not clear.


To, your second question, you might go and read Tom's post before responding to mine...

And, yes, I do arm myself to protect against violent men, no matter their skin color.

 
At 4:33 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Also, I've not yet heard any solutions that would contribute one iota to reducing the criminal use of guns on the streets,


Someone isn't paying attention. Better background checks, ending gun show loopholes, and how about ending the damn war on drugs for a start?

I can't believe someone hasn't heard any of these real solutions.

One may argue the lethality of alcohol, or even water, and still be irrelevant to firearm safety discussions.

 
At 4:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Heard 'em Dave but there is zero evidence or logic that would indicate any of those solutions (the first two) would have any impact. Pure speculation and wishful thinking. The third one - not sure what you're saying. Become extremely lax on the proliferation of deadly and socially destructive illicit drugs to reduce gun violence? Seems a net zero gain socially to me, but maybe...

I wasn't saying alcohol is directly relevant to the firearm discussion. And "tu quoque" fallacy might be a fair claim, but it is a comparison of two similar situations. No one is calling for a ban (or even more restrictions) on the purchase or consumption of alcohol, even though we all know full well its use leads to many deaths and lot of social misery - I would argue to a greater extent than guns. That's the larger point. Why not? All I'm asking. Why doesn't Tome feel bad about that - clearly he's come to terms with it in his own thinking.

 
At 5:31 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

there is zero evidence or logic that would indicate any of those solutions (the first two) would have any impact.

Quite an absolute statement there. Are you really certain of this? Have you researched the issue?

Become extremely lax on the proliferation of deadly and socially destructive illicit drugs to reduce gun violence? Seems a net zero gain socially to me, but maybe...

You are correct that some drug use is "deadly and socially destructive", but alcohol and tobacco still top the list. Prohibition has its own deadly and socially destructive consequences. Would you agree?

Good to see a "maybe" on this. Drug policy reform has been in effect in other countries. Do you know what happened?

Take Portugal's decriminalization:

Drug use has declined overall among the 15- to 24-year-old population, those most at risk of initiating drug use, according to Transform.

There has also been a decline in the percentage of the population who have ever used a drug and then continue to do so:

https://mic.com/articles/110344/14-years-after-portugal-decriminalized-all-drugs-here-s-what-s-happening#.WBOZst9eW



 
At 5:51 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

"That is my opinion and I am sticking to it"

Well Hansen. I don't recall my ever asking to change your opinion.

"If we don't believe in free expression for those people we despise, we don't believe in it at all"
Noam Chomsky

If the shoe fits, wear it!

I do however find it interesting that you agree that abortion stops a human life, glad you finally have seen the awful reality of abortion, it murders a human.

 
At 6:52 PM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Upchuck More: "Are you a follower of the FOURTH TURNING ACCELERATING « The Burning Platform?"

Nope, sorry, your Burning Platform site is too redneck libertarian for me. But I'm glad to see they follow and subscribe to the Strauss-Howe generational theory. You should too, and invest in and read the book. Everyone should. It clarifies and shines a light on what's happening today -- what can be expected during every winter of the saeculum. I guess we'd be considered in mid-to-late January right now. There are still a lot of dark days ahead.

It's probably one of the five most important books I've read. Everyone who has, agrees.

 
At 8:23 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Everyone?

You have asked "Everyone" one who has read their theory?

Please.

 
At 8:39 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

Chuck, I have to take that statement back, I realize I can be too aggressive and harsh sometime. I am sorry I said it.

Have a great Memorial weekend Chuck.

 
At 9:31 PM, Blogger Darrell Michaels said...

Yes, Dave, it DID happen, despite all of your adamant protestations to the contrary. And you are either naïve and ignorant to these politicians true motives or you have swallowed the progressive rhetoric, my friend. See the following:

Diane Feinstein

Upon seeing her Clinton gun ban enacted in 1994, she said: “If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . ‘Mr. and Mrs. America, turn ‘em all in,’ I would have done it.” ~ Senator Diane Feinstein

Feinstein told the Associated Press on November 18, 1993 that: “Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe”.

Barack Obama

Obama, 2003: “While a complete ban on handguns is not politically practicable, I believe reasonable restrictions on the sale and possession of handguns are necessary to protect the public safety…”

In other words, if Obama thought it WAS politically practicable, he would have gone for a complete ban on handguns.

Chicago Tribune (Feb. 20 2004): Obama … backed federal legislation that would ban citizens from carrying weapons, except for law enforcement. He cited Texas as an example of a place where a law allowing people to carry weapons has "malfunctioned" because hundreds of people granted licenses had prior convictions.

"National legislation will prevent other states' flawed concealed-weapons laws from threatening the safety of Illinois residents," Obama said.

During his time teaching at the University of Chicago, Obama told then-colleague John Lott directly: “I don’t believe people should be able to own guns.”

As a candidate for the Illinois State Senate in 1996, Obama promised to support a ban on “the manufacture, sale & possession of handguns.”

While running for the U.S. Senate in 2004, Obama spoke in favor of federal legislation to block citizens nationwide from receiving concealed-carry permits. “National legislation will prevent other states’ flawed concealed-weapons laws from threatening the safety of Illinois residents,” he said.

Senator Obama supported Washington, DC's comprehensive gun ban, which prevented district residents from possessing handguns even in their own homes; required that long guns be kept locked and disassembled; and lacked a provision allowing the guns to be reassembled in the event of an emergency.

Hillary Clinton

http://dailycaller.com/2015/10/16/clinton-announces-massive-gun-control-plan/

She has called for many types of weapons bans and the ability to sue gun manufacturers for crimes committed by evil people using one of their guns. This would in effect put gun manufacturers out of business for simply having to spend money defending themselves against such frivolous law suits.

As the smart Anonymous intimated when taking his/her analogy to the next logical step, can you imagine if we allowed activists to sue breweries or distilleries because some idiots drank irresponsibly and ended up killing someone?

 
At 10:28 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

James,

I'm overwhelmed and humbled by your post.

I wish you a meaningful and peaceful Memorial Day Weekend.

If you are the James Hansen I think you are, it looks like you are very skilled in woodworking, a craftsmen I'd say. I wish I had the skill you exhibit with your research paper desk and Teak trestle table. Well done Mr. Hansen, well done!

Have you ever given any thought to building wooden boats? Don't know if your skill and training is transferable into the building wooden boats, so no offense meant,

 
At 10:47 PM, Blogger Darrell Michaels said...

Mr. Mozart, perhaps it is a fool’s errand to respond to some of your comments, but I feel compelled to do so anyway.

First, I was once an atheist too. I was arrogant enough to think that I could prove that God didn’t exist as well. The funny thing is that the more research I did, the more compelling the arguments from a scientific, metaphysical, and philosophical point I discovered. Many of the greatest minds in history have posited and lain out proofs of His existence. I know my life has been so much more peaceful and purpose-driven since I became a believer again. Indeed, even my work with charities and helping the poor and less fortunate have come more into focus because of my faith. How is that a bad thing, sir?

That said, I fully support your right to believe or not believe as you so choose. I hope there never comes a day that by law or force that you are required to act contrary to your conscience or faith. I also pray that one day your heart too will be lifted by finding out the truth about God. Perhaps it is this forum of Mr. Degan’s blog where I know you, but you do seem to have a lot of anger in your heart. I don’t mean that comment to be snide or snarky, but simply an honest observation.

Next, those founders and forefathers that fought our revolution, ended slavery, and ensured “justice for all” were indeed liberals… in the mold of classical liberalism. And let me assure you that classical liberalism has very little in common with modern-day liberalism and practically nothing in common with modern progressivism. Indeed, the very rights and freedoms that many of our founders fought and died for with their blood, treasure, and sacred honor are the very same rights that progressives today seek to curtail or eliminate altogether, my friend.

“Funny how the party of ‘small government’ and ‘constitutional rights’ always seems to be the one EXPANDING government power (See Bush, Patriot act) and passing laws TAKING AWAY people's rights.”

Ahhh, now we have some common ground together, sir. I totally agree with you here. Indeed the “Grand Old Party” is no longer deserving of the “small government” or “constitutional rights” monikers. As I have repeatedly said, they are just as much a part of the problem as the Democrats are. Sadly, the few remaining conservatives that seek to shrink the government bureaucracy and abide by constitutional restrictions on the scope of government are always branded as “dangerous extremists” by the left in both major parties. Until we return to constitutional principles and ensure that NOBODY is above the law, we will only continue to further sink into the abyss. This is particularly true when we allow this of our presidential candidates such as Hillary.

“You ALWAYS have money for WAR but never a penny for infrastructure, healthcare, Social programs (not to mention the wounded soldiers you create)ANYTHING that helps REAL WORKING PEOPLE in this country is shut down by conservatives because it's (Gasp) SOCIALISM. You are a hypocrite, and a liar, just like your hero Trump.”

I served during the first gulf war. I hate war and think it should always be the course of very last resort, and then only if it meets just war standards and is passed by congress. I know… that is a farce these days. I do support our taxes going to pay for public infrastructure such as roads and bridges and I absolutely think that we have an absolute obligation to care for our wounded soldiers that we sent into harm’s way. I also think that most of the things, including welfare programs, are better done at the state and local levels where they are constitutional and closer to the source of the need. In this way they can be administered far more efficiently and with far less waste and corruption.
Lastly, I suppose at times I have been hypocritical and less than honest. I truly try and aspire not to be. And I absolutely do NOT support Donald Trump and will NOT vote for him under any circumstances. He most assuredly in not my hero, nor has he ever been, sir. Cheers!

 
At 11:23 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

TP

"I also think that most of the things, including welfare programs, are better done at the state and local levels where they are constitutional and closer to the source of the need. In this way they can be administered far more efficiently and with far less waste and corruption."

That has been my argument since the first day I posted here, well said.

 
At 12:04 AM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

My computer models are blinking red that the ice caps will melt by the end of May 2016 due to man made global warming!

You still have time to get yourself a sturdy boat and plenty of pot for the ride!

 
At 12:33 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The founders did not end slavery, they made it an American institution Toilet Paper.
Keep proving what a raving idiot you are.
Laughable!!

 
At 1:20 AM, Blogger Mozart1220 said...

Hey Paine, NO ONE CAN PROVE A NEGATIVE.

It is up to the one making the POSDITIVE statement to provide evidence.

Prove a "Flying Spaghetti Monster" doesn't exist. Do you worship those as well? How about Bigfoot? There is at least EVIDENCE for Bigfoot,thin and unreliable as it is.

I asked wht conservatives have done for the poor and middle class, and you provided a list of vague concepts like "freedom" but we had that ANYWAY, given us by the LIBERAL founders.

So you have proven that not even a conservative can come up with one solid measurable thing.

Type all the essays you want, you are still wrong.

 
At 4:00 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Upchuck More: "Everyone?"

Everyone! Chuck, my last thought was as ridiculous as most of the drivel you leave on this blog. Wasn't it? ;-)

 
At 7:39 AM, Anonymous Just The Facts TM said...

Good News Everybody!

(CNN) — Donald Trump has the delegates to clinch the GOP presidential nomination, according to a CNN delegate count Thursday.

 
At 7:51 AM, Anonymous Just The Facts TM said...

I think Newt Gingrich would be a great Vice President.

His Contract With AmeriKa pulled Slick Willie Clinton to the center.


Clinton Signs Welfare Bill Amid Division
By Barbara Vobejda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 23 1996; Page A01

President Clinton signed historic welfare legislation yesterday that rewrites six decades of social policy, ending the federal guarantee of cash assistance to the poor and turning welfare programs over to the states.

"Today, we are ending welfare as we know it," Clinton said at a White House ceremony, where he was flanked by three former welfare recipients. "But I hope this day will be remembered not for what it ended, but for what it began."

Clinton's endorsement of the bill, which requires recipients to work and limits benefits to five years, fulfills a 1992 campaign promise that came to symbolize his image as a centrist Democrat.

 
At 10:09 AM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

Well that was a close one Chuck, good thing you used my name or all our carefully cultivated disdain built up over the years was in jeopardy. So you want to know who I am, who are you?

 
At 10:10 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

As for disarming of the nation, Hillary, Feinstein, Schumer, Bloomberg, and even Obama would do so if they thought they could politically get it accomplished.

I will repeat my facts. Appeal to Ignorance. They have NOT advocated firearm confiscation. Gun nuts are brainwashed by NRA propaganda. The NRA and nuts like Nugent whined and howled about Obama “coming for our guns!!!”

Never happened. Never even proposed.

TP’s scattered quotes failed to show one proposal of universal disarming by confiscation. Never happened. Never even proposed. Paranoid beliefs like “Obama’s coming for our guns” are utterly false propaganda. The purpose is to generate fear and hate for Democrats. Period.

The Right cannot exist without their propaganda of false beliefs.

“Disarming the nation” is their straw man and emblem of their ignorance and paranoia. Pure militia/NRA fear mongering drivel.

Indeed, the very rights and freedoms that many of our founders fought and died for with their blood, treasure, and sacred honor are the very same rights that progressives today seek to curtail or eliminate altogether, my friend.

Oh, yeah?

Spoken as if oblivious to the Right’s squeals of joy when Roberts declared the voting rights act dead. This triggered a frenzy of advancing their national campaign of voter suppression, reducing poll access, and registration restrictions. Just like the founders wanted, amirite?

Representation of wealth over people has been the conservative direction all along. From supporting slavery to voter suppression, to corporate personhood with money as free speech, cons have always opposed expansion of voter rights and equality. ALWAYS.

Then they have the audacity and arrogance to wrap their ideology in their narrow minded fictional constitution, devoid of regulation of commerce, taxation, and general welfare. Not to mention 3 year terms for a black presidents to replace Supreme Court justices.

Their hypocrisy and ignorance have no limits. Their hate and racism will be denied, but cannot be hidden.

 
At 11:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Hey Paine, NO ONE CAN PROVE A NEGATIVE."


I'm afraid that's a negative, Mozart. A self-defeating assertion.

You've been warned...

- The Logic Police

 
At 11:27 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

NRA Lies:

Moments before the NRA endorsed Donald Trump at its annual meeting on May 20, the NRA’s two top members of leadership, executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, and Chris Cox, the group’s top lobbyist who also runs the NRA’s political efforts, told a series of lies about Clinton’s position on guns.

Cox claimed that Clinton thinks it’s “wrong” that “the Supreme Court said you have a right to protect your life against a murderer in your own home.” (Clinton actually believes Heller was “wrongly decided” because it “may open the door to overturning thoughtful, common sense safety measures in the future” such as a child access provision that was struck down in the ruling, not because she opposes firearm ownership for lawful self-defense.)

Cox continued, claiming Clinton “wants us to surrender our firearms,” “to live in a place where only law enforcement has guns,” and made repeated references to his claim Clinton wants “to take our guns.”
Then, moments before the NRA’s formal endorsement of Trump, LaPierre took the stage to claim that “if she could, Hillary would ban every gun” and that Clinton “craves” gun confiscation. The next day at the official meeting of members, LaPierre grouped in Clinton with other entities the NRA claims don’t support self-defense, saying, “We will not give up our God-given right to defend ourselves, our families, to the elites, to Obama, to the media, and sure as hell not to another Clinton.”
None of these claims are true. Yet, the NRA has increasingly positioned itself as a truth-teller about the 2016 elections.

Trump Falsely Claims Clinton Wants To "Abolish The Second Amendment."

Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of coming after your guns and your right to them.
"Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment," Trump said May 7 at a rally in Washington. "Hillary Clinton wants to take your guns away, and she wants to abolish the Second Amendment."

We asked the Trump campaign for evidence for this claim, but they didn’t get back to us. The Clinton campaign vehemently denied it.
"Of course Hillary Clinton does not want to repeal the Second Amendment," Clinton spokesman Josh Schwerin said.
We found no evidence that Clinton has ever advocated for repealing or abolishing the Second Amendment.

Evidence schmevidence, we have beliefs.

So who, and what, do YOU believe?

Anyone who denies a scientific consensus on effects of greenhouse gases, real readings of record heat, and record low levels of Arctic sea ice would naturally swallow every lie from the NRA.

It not about truth, but what they want to fit their ideologically framed false beliefs.

 
At 11:55 AM, Blogger Darrell Michaels said...

Mozart, there is plenty of evidence for the existence of God. Indeed there is far more evidence for His existence than there is for the benefits of much of your economic and political ideology. I guess there is no one so blind as he who refuses to see though.
If you really cared about the search for truth, I would suggest you start with reading Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica. When you are done with that, I could add dozens of others of some of history’s and science’s most brilliant minds and what they have to say about God and His existence. Here is my more detailed take on the subject, if you even care: http://savingcommonsense.blogspot.com/2011/02/duality-of-god-and-science-in-creation.html

As for your ad nauseum question, what have liberals done to improve the lives of the poor and middle class? They have eroded or usurped many of our rights, raised our taxes, and created more poor than when they started the whole war on poverty. And you tell me that you don’t worship government. I cannot think of any reason besides blind faith why you would keep supporting policies that have demonstrably proven to have failed time and again.

Dave, I am starting to think that you are afflicted with the same myopic vision issues that pester our friend Mr. Mozart. Appeal to Ignorance. Perhaps Tom should rename his blog to this more appropriate title. It has become more of a circus than the Democratic Convention and just as full of nonsense and foolishness. It is impossible to elevate the level of debate here, because you all simply want to call names and act sophomoric.

The fact that I provided you with quotes from Feinstein saying if she had the votes, we would all be turning in our guns doesn’t seem to qualify to you. And then there is President Obama telling John Lott that he doesn’t think anybody in America should own guns. No, these anti-constitutional progressives don’t have the political power to disarm America yet, but what they cannot do in one fell swoop, they are trying to do incrementally. That is Hillary’s plan with certain weapons bans and wanting to allow people to sue gun manufacturers.

And my pointing out these things invariably invokes your cry of, “well the Republicans take away rights too”, as if this is some tit-for-tat contest. They are ALL bums. I am talking about founding principles of liberty and rule of law. The left and evidently many of its cohorts in the GOP are busy today passing bills regarding transgender bathroom rights instead of preserving freedom. The foolishness we deal with is amazing. America has indeed seen its best days well behind her.

I am done playing in Tom’s sandbox. It more resembles a litter box frankly, and I’ll let you all have to it. Cheers!

 
At 12:48 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

James, I'll email you that.

 
At 1:11 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

TP, before you scamper away like a cat from a vacuum cleaner, you might consider the possibility you are the one dropping the turds in the litter, but will never learn what you don’t want to know.

You didn’t show ONE quote saying they wanted to confiscate our guns. Yet you insist that is what they are attempting. This is a paranoid false belief that fails in the presence of facts.

you are afflicted with the same myopic vision

Because I don’t believe Trump, Cruz and NRA lies? Lies proven by evidence the Right willfully ignores.

This is projection, good sir.

You are as free to cling to NRA lies and delusions of Democrats taking your guns, as I am free from such deceptions. I have firearms. No one is coming for them. One of us is paranoid, living in fear of having his door kicked in by the evil “gubmint” bent on seizing his precious weapons.

Just because some democrats want to ban guns doesn’t mean they all do. Their party can’t unite on this issue. Confiscation, or in your ideologically framed “disarming of the nation”, is a non-issue that dwells only in the ignorant minds of paranoid true believers.

Feinstein wasn’t advocating confiscation of every firearm. That is a lie. She did express her desire to ban assault rifles and even have them turned in. That was it. The slippery slope fallacy will not permit the confiscation lie as truth.

We can show the truth, with context, but it will be rejected. Beliefs trump facts. No wonder their new leader is Trump.

Although Donald was correct about Cruz being a liar.

"California Senator, Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein said if she could say to Mr. America and Mrs. America, 'Give me your guns, I'm rounding 'em up,' she would." Lyin’ Ted Cruz

Politifact notes:

In an interview with 60 Minutes that aired in February 1995, correspondent Lesley Stahl asked Feinstein about this loophole, which made it legal to buy and sell hundreds of thousands of the assault weapons the senator had sought to restrict.

Feinstein responded: "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, ‘Mr. and Mrs. America turn ‘em all in,’ I would have done it. I could not do that. The votes weren’t here.’"
The YouTube video makes it clear that the interview is about the assault weapons ban. The term "assault weapon" is uttered in the first sentence, just as the video clip shows Feinstein hoisting up a semiautomatic weapon at a press conference.


The confiscation LIE is exposed again. Instead the far Right, and militia “second amendment remedy” nuts choose willful ignorance, anger and fear to hold to the lies.

"Let me be clear: If an individual wants to purchase a weapon for hunting or self-defense, I support that right," Feinstein wrote in an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle in July 2012.

“NOOOOO!!!” screams the NRA and their cult of true believers. “She’s a comin fer all our shootin irons.”

There, sir, is your turd in the litter. Don’t blame others if you can’t smell it.


 
At 1:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"there is plenty of evidence for the existence of God."
Yet you offer none.
Good don't come back you lying piece of shit.

 
At 1:44 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

"What could be seen as the final act in Venezuela’s worsening economic crisis, the Latin American country has begun selling its remaining gold reserves. Just three year after the death of its socialist leader, Venezuela — once a leading oil producer — is on the verge of bankruptcy. It is yet another ‘miracle of socialism’ that a country with the world’s largest oil reserves can go almost broke. Venezuela’s total oil reserves stand at an estimated 296.5 billion barrels, which is higher than Saudi Arabia’s 265.4 billion barrels."

What would Bernie do if he were the President of Venezuela.

 
At 1:44 PM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

Can we please stop talking about God?

Can we please go back to talking about Bill Clinton's penis?

I want to talk about Bill's penis.

Can someone help me out here? Chuck? Just The Facts? Anyone?

And the blue dress? Can we talk about the penis and the blue dress?

Isn't there some way we can attack Hillary Clinton for keeping her family together?

Seriously, when I saw TP's Feinstein quote I knew he was misrepresenting it. I don't think he does it on purpose. I believe he's an honorable person who unfortunately is gullible enough to believe the lies and half-truths he absorbs from corrupt media sources. Then he repeats them here as facts. He honestly believes them.

Chuck on the other hand knows when he's lying but does it anyway.

 
At 2:00 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

(TP)I believe he's an honorable person who unfortunately is gullible enough to believe the lies and half-truths he absorbs from corrupt media sources. Then he repeats them here as facts. He honestly believes them.

Chuck on the other hand knows when he's lying but does it anyway.


I gotta agree with Harry this time.

 
At 2:07 PM, Blogger Mozart1220 said...

T.Paine,

Ok, show us CREDIBLE evidence for the existence of "god". ANYTHING that could not possibly have ANY other explaination.

What have Liberals done? Are you KIFFING? How much time do you have?

First off, we CREATED the middle class. Labor laws, voting rights, marraige rights. minimum wage, Food Stamps, WIC, JTPA, Social Security,and those are just the greatest hits. In fact EVERYTHING GOOD in this country came from LIBERALS, including the revolutin and the constitution it's self.

How many "poor" were created when BUSH crashed the economy? WHat did "trickle down economics" do to the middle class?

The poor and middle class ALWAYS do better under Dem administrations. That's not even arguable within the limits of logic.

Nice try, but there is a reason conservatives hate educated people. We don't buy your bullshit.


 
At 4:47 PM, Anonymous The Real Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

I watched MSNBC last night.

Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell.

They both looked in shock. Trump had just secured the required delegates to be the GOP nominee.

The Inspector General report on Hillary's email server was not good.

Bernie is going full speed ahead with his scorched earth campaigning.

Hillary is tanking and Trump is rising in the polls.

Lawrence went on a rant about Trump calling Warren Pocahantus. Lawrence needs to grow a set of balls. What a cry baby and wimp.

The Democratic Party is in tatters.

Thanks for the Comedy DemocRats.

 
At 5:10 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

Hopefully Clinton has to withdraw due to the email problem, Sanders goes against Trump and the US looks like Scandinavia in four years.

If Clinton gets in there is a fair chance we go to war with China and Russia and then the animals that survive inherit the planet.

If Trump gets in I have no idea what will happen and neither does he but he might be better than Clinton.

 
At 5:17 PM, Anonymous The Real Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

Whoops, look like Trump chickened out. He backed out of his debate with Sanders.

Oh well.

 
At 5:40 PM, Blogger Mozart1220 said...

Harry,
People have known for weeks that Trump would get the delegates. No one is running against him.

James,
There IS no "e-mail problem", and if there IS< why are Rice and Powell not being investigated?

Real Harry,
Trunps cowardice shocks no one.

 
At 8:51 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

Thanks for the update Mozart, you out of tune piano.

 
At 8:57 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Mr. Hansen, Anonymous The Real Harry from Wallingford, CT

Your points are well made, only a blind fool would believe that Hillary is not in trouble due to her her email actions. I'm disappointed that the Trump/Sanders debate fell through. All though I agree with the reason Trump gave for saying no, “Based on the fact that the Democratic nominating process is totally rigged and Crooked Hillary Clinton and Deborah Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win, and now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher”, it would have a spirited eye opening even.

Both Trump and Sanders have been (unlike Hillary who the more exposure she gets the worse her poll numbers are) totally acceptable to media requests to interview them. I applaud both of them for this.

I would like to ask Sanders and Trump how if they were the President of Venezuela what they would do to right it's socialist economy from it's impending socialist caused bankruptcy.

 
At 9:31 PM, Anonymous The Real Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

FiveThirtyEight: The System Isn’t ‘Rigged’ Against Sanders - Clinton’s winning because more Democrats want her to be the nominee. By Harry Enten and Nate Silver

 
At 9:50 PM, Anonymous Just The Facts TM said...

The most popular man in the world Martin Shkreli just endorsed trump.

Good enough for me!

 
At 1:59 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

It's not clear whether Shkreli's endorsement of Trump is genuine or just a stunt to stay in the public eye. Trump, for his part, did not respond to Shkreli on Twitter.

But a parody account about Trump did, tweeting to Shrekli, "Thank you! Together we will #MakeAmericaGreatAgain!"

 
At 8:14 AM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/opinions/democrats-republicans-role-reversal-opinion-zelizer/

(CNN) Role reversal: GOP unites behind Trump, Democrats in disarray

Story highlights:

Julian Zelizer: A month ago, it looked like the GOP was headed for convention chaos

Now Democrats are enmeshed in a battle of principles that Bernie Sanders warns may be "messy"

Donald Trump clinches nomination; Hillary Clinton's path to uniting party isn't clear, Zelizer says



Have a really big sip and bong hit Tom Degan.

 
At 9:25 AM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/05/27/stump-the-socialist-bernie-would-rather-not-talk-about-venezuela/

Stump the Socialist: Bernie would rather not talk about Venezuela

“The trouble with socialism,” Margaret Thatcher once famously intoned, “is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” The problem with being a socialist, however, is explaining away the inevitable impoverishment and collapse — and worse — of countries that adopt it. I worked with an avowed socialist at the end of the 1980s who lectured us repeatedly on the coming Utopia, citing all of the successes of the Soviet Union … right up until it collapsed. “They had the wrong people running it,” was the only comment we could get through Lowell’s gritted teeth when we asked him to explain it. Suddenly, Lowell seemed much less interested in discussing socialist utopias.

LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: I am sure that you know about this topic: various leftist governments, especially the populists, are in serious trouble in Latin America. The socialist model in Venezuela has the country near collapse. Argentina, also Brazil, how do you explain that failure?

BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: You are asking me questions…

LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: I am sure you’re interested in that.

BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: I am very interested, but right now I’m running for President of the United States.

LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION: So you don’t have an opinion about the crisis in Venezuela?

BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE: Of course I have an opinion, but as I said, I’m focused on my campaign.


Er … what? Sanders has proudly proclaimed his socialism for his entire adult life. When challenged on why he’s running for the Democratic nomination, he’s insisted that he’s actually a “Democratic Socialist” whose socialism fits within the party. Presumably, that means that he plans to govern under a socialist model. That is his campaign. Shouldn’t Sanders have to explain how a political and economic system that has impoverished countries everywhere it’s been tried will somehow magically work in the US?

I suspect the answer will be similar to Lowell’s — the wrong people were running it. Bernie somehow thinks he’s the right person to run it, but … that’s what Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Nicolae Ceausescu, and Mikhail Gorbachev thought too. How well did that work out?

 
At 9:38 AM, Anonymous Bill said...


Everything that the Democrats are promising, as they run for president, you as the tax payer have to eventually pay for. Would you give your high limit credit card to your teenage son or daughter and then drop them off at the nearest mall? They would go crazy buying all the things they wanted, or think they wanted, and you would be stuck paying the bill. Nothing is free. Eventually the bill has to be paid, and as a working American you get to pay the bill. Government spending is no different.

amirite?

 
At 9:48 AM, Anonymous Chris said...

There you have it folks in a nutshell with Bernie's Univision interview. Bernie Sanders is too busy selling socialism in the United States to discuss the catastrophic effects of socialism in major neighboring countries in the region like Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.

How…convenient. That’s not what his history of statements in favor of Castro in Cuba, Ortega in Nicaragua, or any of his other past endorsements of socialist movements in Latin America have been.

What do you expect from a career politician who has never had a real job and is nothing but a parasite in Government who lives off the people in the private sector pulling the wagon and paying the taxes?

 
At 10:40 AM, Anonymous Chris said...

Sanders is a career politician who has never had a real job and is nothing but a parasite in Government who lives off the people in the private sector pulling the wagon and paying the taxes. That's why I voted for Ted Cruz in the primary. He graduated college and went right into government. Never had a private sector job in his life. When he runs for president again in 2020, 2024 and 2028 I'll vote for him again and again.

Maybe Paul Ryan will be president someday. After college he worked for a few months in his family's law firm. And then right into government "service" he went. And did quite well for himself.

At least Cruz isn't a crony capitalist. His wife works for Goldman Sachs but he never listens to her. If she tries to tell him anything she gets his elbow right in her face.

 
At 10:46 AM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

“Five, 10 years from now — different party. You’re going to have a worker’s party,” Trump said in the May 17 interview. “A party of people that haven’t had a real wage increase in 18 years, that are angry.”

Trump reiterated that cutting Social Security would be a “big mistake” for the GOP, remarking that “[c]utting it the wrong way is a big mistake, and even cutting it [at all].”

The presumptive nominee’s views would not appear to have come about through intense retrospection. “My views are what everybody else’s views are. When I give speeches, sometimes I’ll sign autographs and I’ll get to talk to people and learn a lot about the party,” he said, admitting that he had not closely followed past Republican efforts to reform the immigration system.


finally! A liberal republican I can feel good about.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/trump-gop-workers-party-223598

Workers of the world unite!

 
At 12:39 PM, Blogger Naomi said...

Interesting post Tom. Its a long time since I've been over here. That's the one thing I hate about the US. Guns are far too readily available and this is what happens. Innocent people get caught in the crossfire and get badly injured or worse. We've very anti-guns here in England.

 
At 12:56 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...


Bill tells us "Nothing is free". He's attacking democrats of course, while ignoring the trillions of dollars, and lives, Republicans wasted in Iraq. Those damn food stamps are breaking America, amirite?

Chris noted:

Ted Cruz graduated college and went right into government. Never had a private sector job in his life.

Maybe Paul Ryan will be president someday. After college he worked for a few months in his family's law firm. And then right into government "service" he went.


They are Republicans who “never had a real job and are nothing but parasites in Government who live off the people in the private sector pulling the wagon and paying the taxes”.

Donald Trump went years without paying income taxes. Another “parasite”. (Nazis LOVED using that term. Republicans too.)

Thank you Chris, for perfectly illustrating the arrogant, ignorant, and hypocritical double standard held by the Right.

IOKIYAR

 
At 1:01 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

"Harry's" mentors Margaret Thatcher and Reagan share their Alzheimers symptoms, saying "The trouble with socialism...”

Got it.

 
At 1:17 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Speaking of failed states:

Stump the Fascist: Trumpie “Harry” would rather not talk about Republican paradise Kansas, the "We're Number 46" state.

Tea bagger, “trickle down tax cuts” have imperiled funding for schools. Republicans don’t care.

Tea bagger, trickle down tax cuts have reduced Kansas to:

“Report: Kansas economy ranks 46th in nation”.

http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article69776282.html
Harry?

Harry?

Oh, Haaaaaarrrrryyyyy!

Is anyone there?

Anyone at all?

 
At 6:22 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hey Harry,

Seems you've gotten under the skin of some of the socialists who post here.


Stay calm
and
Continue on!

 
At 6:30 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

"Stay calm and Continue on!" Chuckie mangles everything he tries to say. "Stay calm and carry on" is the famous British moral-building WWII phrase Trumpie Chuckie butchers.

And remember, NEVER talk about Trump or the failed Republican state of Kansas!!!"

Amirite, Trumpie Chuckie?

Of course I'm right.

Chuckie...

Chuckie?

Oh, Chuckie...

Is anybody there?

LOL!!

 
At 7:35 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

According to the Pew Research Center, in a poll of the citizens of the ten selected countries listed below, the percentage agreeing with the following statement: "People are better off in free markets", has dropped precipitously when initially polled in 2007, and then polled again in 2012.

Russia: 53% (2007) to 47% (2012)
Czech Republic: 59% to 50%
Japan: 49% to 38%
United Kingdom: 72% to 61%
Pakistan: 60% to 48%
Lebanon: 74% to 62%
Poland: 68% to 53%
Spain: 67% to 47%
Mexico: 55% to 34%
Italy: 73% to 50%

Hmm, it looks like there are at least ten countries that are losing faith in capitalism. I would surmise, given the failing global economy as a whole, that the next time Pew Research conducts the same poll -- and phrases the statement in exactly the same way -- that the percentage will drop once again.

The failure of corporate capitalism is happening. Well, sure, not for the top 1% or so, but it certainly is for the remaining 99%. We saw it vividly unfold before our eyes in September of 2008, and that was nothing compared to what's down the pike. Stay tuned...

 
At 7:58 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

On Debate.org, under the inquiry, "Is capitalism failing?", overwhelmingly the responses seem to indicate so.

At this time, 84% believe yes.

 
At 8:41 AM, Anonymous LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION said...

LEÓN KRAUZE, UNIVISION:

Mr. Sanders, I am sure that you know about this topic: various leftist governments, especially the populists, are in serious trouble in Latin America. The socialist model in Venezuela has the country near collapse. Argentina, also Brazil, how do you explain that failure?

BERNIE SANDERS:

crickets ..........................................

 
At 9:52 AM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

I am a graduate of Trump University.

 
At 9:54 AM, Anonymous Just The Facts TM said...

You too?? I'm Class of '09! Did you get to pose with the cardboard cutout of the golden wrecking ball? I did.

 
At 10:07 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

"it looks like there are at least ten countries that are losing faith in capitalism"

Key phrase "at least", if there were more, why didn't you list them?
I wounder if polled what those living in the workers paradise Venezuela would say?

It has been published that Bernie didn't have job until he was 40. "Despite a prestigious degree, however, Sanders failed to earn a living, even as an adult. It took him 40 years to collect his first steady paycheck — and it was a government check."

“I never had any money my entire life,” Sanders told Vermont public TV in 1985, after settling into his first real job as mayor of Burlington.

Sanders spent most of his life as an angry radical and agitator who never accomplished much of anything. And yet now he thinks he deserves the power to run your life and your finances — “We will raise taxes;” he confirmed Monday, “yes, we will.”

One of his first jobs was registering people for food stamps, and it was all downhill from there.

Sanders took his first bride to live in a maple sugar shack with a dirt floor, and she soon left him. Penniless, he went on unemployment. Then he had a child out of wedlock. Desperate, he tried carpentry but could barely sink a nail. “He was a shi**y carpenter,” a friend told Politico Magazine. “His carpentry was not going to support him, and didn’t.”

Then he tried his hand freelancing for leftist rags, writing about “masturbation and rape” and other crudities for $50 a story. He drove around in a rusted-out, Bondo-covered VW bug with no working windshield wipers. Friends said he was “always poor” and his “electricity was turned off a lot.” They described him as a slob who kept a messy apartment — and this is what his friends had to say about him.

The only thing he was good at was talking … non-stop … about socialism and how the rich were ripping everybody off. “The whole quality of life in America is based on greed,” the bitter layabout said. “I believe in the redistribution of wealth in this nation.”

So he tried politics, starting his own socialist party. Four times he ran for Vermont public office, and four times he lost — badly. He never attracted more than single-digit support — even in the People’s Republic of Vermont. In his 1971 bid for U.S. Senate, the local press said the 30-year-old “Sanders describes himself as a carpenter who has worked with ‘disturbed children.’ ” In other words, a real winner.

He finally wormed his way into the Senate in 2006, where he still ranks as one of the poorest members of Congress. Save for a municipal pension, Sanders lists no assets in his name. All the assets provided in his financial disclosure form are his second wife’s. He does, however, have as much as $65,000 in credit-card debt.

Sure, Sanders may not be a hypocrite, but this is nothing to brag about. His worthless background contrasts sharply with the successful careers of other “outsiders” in the race for the White House, including a billionaire developer, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and a Fortune 500 CEO.

The choice in this election is shaping up to be a very clear one. It will likely boil down to a battle between those who create and produce wealth, and those who take it and redistribute it."

Is any of this not the truth?

 
At 10:37 AM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

You are right Chuck,

That Univision interview with Bernie Sanders shows what a charlatan he is and what a failure Socialism is has gotten under the skin of the "Democratic" Socialists/Communists/Marxists on this blog.

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

I am flattered that my name "Harry from Wallingford, CT" is being abused by the radical leftists here. It shows I have hit a nerve.

The radical leftists here have become very agitated, just like hornets after their supposedly safe nest has been knocked down from a high tree limb. Trump is beating Hillary in the polls, her negatives keep getting larger, Bernie has gotten it where the sun doesn't shine by the Democratic Corporatist Party Machine from day 1 of the nomination process, and the Democratic party is in tatters.

Thanks for the Comedy Democrats!

 
At 10:50 AM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

And in spite of all of Sanders faults he is undoubtedly the best person to be president compared to all that have run or is still running for office.

Of course that was a political hit piece designed to make Sanders look like a totally worthless person.

Sanders efforts to expand civil rights in the 60s and 70s eclipse anything that Conservative politicians have ever done or will do. He risked his freedom and life to help a downtrodden segment of our society while Conservatives worked hard to keep Jim Crow alive and well.

 
At 10:54 AM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

Chuck,

Good bio on Bernie. What a slob and bum. He has basically produced nothing but Robin Hood rants for his entire life.

What would this country be like if nobody got a job and were basically a bum until they were 40?

I believe the country would collapse.

It truly is amazing that people follow Bernie Sanders.

 
At 11:36 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Yes, we'd all be better off if we were born rich like their Leader. Spoiled brat and Birther Trump shows real "values" behaving like a juvenile while seeking power.


On a friendlier note, we have Harry agreeing with the enlightened few:

“Democratic Corporatist Party Machine” – Harry from Wallingford

He’s now in agreement with Chuck.

I must say Chuck has come a long way to finally agree with me that corporatist neoliberalism has failed American workers and the corporatist Democratic Party, unlike a socialist party, serves the 1%.

Thanks, Chuck, for your words at:

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=29154051&postID=363006217221523793

RE democrat party, simply put, the Democrat Party is lying when they claim to be a party of the poor, etc. Reality is they favor the 1%. It's a lie they have been pushing for years! You just can't come to grips with it.

And thanks for quoting this:

"So much easier to scold them for their twisted racist souls, to close our eyes to the obvious reality of which Trumpism is just a crude and ugly expression: that neoliberalism has well and truly failed."
Thomas Frank

If only Chuck could figure out why the “People’s Republic of Vermont” is faring vastly better than the Republican Tea Party Paradise that is the FAILED STATE OF KANSAS. We need an expert to explain this for us.

Chuck?

Harry?

Harry Chuck?

Crickets.

 
At 11:38 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

It has been published that Bernie didn't have job until he was 40.

It has also been published that Hillary had sex with space aliens. It must be true.

 
At 2:19 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Jim Crow in Vermont?

 
At 2:32 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Nothing about the Republican Tea Party Paradise that is the FAILED STATE OF KANSAS?

Shocking, I tell you. Shocking.

Nothing about Donald "Chinese global warming" and "No drought in California" Trump either?

If not for Trumpie Chuckie, How are we going to learn how Trump will make America white again?

 
At 2:45 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

Jim Crow in Vermont?
Ha that was a good one! Like he never left Vermont. He marched with Dr. King down south and was involved with the freedom rides also.

 
At 2:48 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Really James, I've never read about his marching MLK in the south. I'll have to look that up.
How did afford those trips if he wasn't working?

 
At 3:06 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

James'

Here's what Snopes says about Bernie marching down south with MLK

http://www.snopes.com/sanders-mlk-selma-march/

Although Sanders has stated that he did participate in the landmark "March on Washington" civil rights event of August 1963 (where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech), we haven't found any record of Sanders' claiming that he was also present at any other civil rights march involving Martin Luther King, Jr"

"Civil rights icon John Lewis told reporters that he never encountered Bernie Sanders when the Vermont senator was working with Lewis' Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s. Because he made his remarks at a press conference announcing the Congressional Black Caucus PAC's endorsement of Sanders' opponent, Hillary Clinton, Lewis' comments can be seen as a mild dig at Sanders. (In the same breath he said he had met Bill and Hillary Clinton.)

But it's also undoubtedly true."

Mother Jones.

Sanders' active involve with the Civil Rights Movement had ended a few years prior to that 1965 march (Selma), and there's no record of his having been in Alabama around that time.

 
At 3:22 PM, Anonymous Harry from Wallingford, CT said...

Things aren't looking good for the golden wrecking ball.

A federal judge is ordering the release of Trump University internal documents in a class-action lawsuit against the now-defunct real estate school owned by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump…

The Post reported that [U.S. District Judge Gonzalo] Curiel’s order to release an estimated 1,000 pages of documents cites heightened public interest in Trump and that he had “placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue.”


 
At 3:30 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

I have read that John Lewis disappointed other black leaders by issuing political tainted statements about Sanders and the Clinton's were no where near any civil marches or activity. Here is a paragraph from an article about Sanders.


I once heard Al Sharpton say that if you were not getting arrested during the 1960s in America, he would have to question your leadership around racial justice issues. While I do not often agree with Sharpton, I full heartedly agree with that statement.

So, this begs the question: just what were the two potential Democratic nominees doing during the Civil Rights era? Bernie Sanders was volunteering with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and getting arrested in Chicago during a demonstration. Hillary Clinton was a Young Republican and volunteering with Barry Goldwater, who voted against the Civil Rights Act. Is this important and relevant now? It is to me. And, it should be to you too.

Bernie Sanders was the leader of the University of Chicago chapter of CORE and as early as 1961 was leading sit-ins to protest racial discrimination in the university’s housing policy- the first sit-ins to take place in the North. He also led a protest of a Howard Johnson’s restaurant in Chicago for the chain’s refusal to adopt a non-discriminatory policy in the South. In 1963 Sanders was arrested and convicted of resisting arrest after a protest of the city’s segregationist policies in its public schools.

And, also in 1963, Sanders attended the March on Washington which featured leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr and John Lewis. His grades suffered from his focus on the movement and lack of attention to his studies. But, he was well-regarded at the university despite his grades. He was one of two students appointed by the university’s president to a commission that studied the university’s housing policies. Later he would go on to blast the administration, writing an open letter in the school’s newspaper accusing the president of a double-cross. Sanders’ record on racial justice goes back a long way and has impeccable credentials.

 
At 3:44 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Since Trumpie Chuckie is under Party orders to not discuss Trump, I'll help him out.

From Breitbart, of all places, just for Trumpie Chuckie:

http://www.breitbart.com/video/2016/05/07/maher-lady-trump-should-stop-whining-like-a-little-btch/

Maher: ‘Lady Trump,’ Should ‘Stop Whining Like a Little Bitch’

"...irrational, pouty, vain, thin-skinned, hysterical, and just not that bright. Does that sound like anyone we know today?

He accuses Megyn Kelly of being menstrual, but for him, that time of the month is always. Has there ever been anyone more thin-skinned? I made a joke about his father being an orangutan once, and he marched into court with his birth certificate and sued me, because he’s a whiny little bitch.


I think this would be fitting for Trumpie Chuckie too.

Whiny Little Bitch Trumpie Chuckie. They are a lot alike.


 
At 3:55 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

James Hansen:

DOTHAN, Alabama. — On a humid summer day in 1972, Hillary Rodham walked into this town’s new private academy, a couple of cinder-block classrooms erected hurriedly amid fields of farmland, and pretended to be someone else.

Playing down her flat Chicago accent, she told the school’s guidance counselor that her husband had just taken a job in Dothan, that they were a churchgoing family and that they were looking for a school for their son.


She was a 24 year old law student and she went undercover to prove that the Nixon administration was not enforcing the legal ban on granting tax-exempt status to so-called segregation academies, the estimated 200 private academies that sprang up in the South to cater to white families after a 1969 Supreme Court decision forced public schools to integrate.

I'm certain Bernie Sanders cared deeply. He always cares deeply. But Hillary was out there getting things done.

 
At 4:09 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

Wow, James Hansen. You said
I have read that John Lewis disappointed other black leaders by issuing political tainted statements about Sanders and the Clinton's were no where near any civil marches or activity."


Very disappointed in you. I thought only the RWNJs were the liars here. You're lying about Hillary Clinton now?



When a reporter asked Lewis to comment on Sanders' involvement in the movement—Sanders as a college student at the University of Chicago was active in civil rights work—the congressman brusquely interrupted him. "Well, to be very frank, I'm going to cut you off, but I never saw him, I never met him," Lewis said. "I'm a chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for three years, from 1963 to 1966. I was involved in the sit-ins, the freedom rides, the March on Washington, the march from Selma to Montgomery, and directed their voter education project for six years. But I met Hillary Clinton. I met President Clinton."


Don't stoop to the tactics of the RWNJs here. You're better than that.

 
At 4:38 PM, Anonymous James Hansen said...

So Cris you post here a couple of times and you act like you know me, I do not give a shit if you are disappointed in me.

 
At 4:38 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

Mr. Hansen,

You should stick to your man made global warming models. Did you say the ice caps will melt or may melt by the end of May 2016 to cover your ass like that big bullshit scientist Al Gore?

Bernie was at the Selma march like Hillary was taking sniper fire at that Bosnian airport. Both big whopper stories.

 
At 4:46 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Well, well, Trumpie Chris is now our climate expert.

He doesn't care about record low Arctic Ice and record high temperatures. He doesn't care what science says, he has "Trumpie facts".

Perhaps he can educate us on the deep thinking of Donald "Chinese global warming conspiracy" and "No drought in California" Trump?

If not for Trumpie Chuckie, er Trumpie Chris, how are we going to learn how Trump will make America white again?

 
At 4:46 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

Speaking of Bill Maher.

Maher said liberals see the world the way they want it to be rather than the way it is.

"Liberals have to stop insisting that the world is the way they want it to be instead of the way it is," Maher said.

"After the San Bernardino attacks... I heard all over the TV, everybody was saying, 'If only Americans knew more about Islam they wouldn't be so afraid.' Actually, it's the reverse," Maher said.

 
At 4:56 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Thanks, Chris. And what did Maher say about YOUR religion?

The movie "Religulous" will tell you.

Oh, that's right. Can't go there. Just like talking about Herr Drumpf and Republican failed state Kansas.

 
At 5:06 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

Sure, Sanders may not be a hypocrite, but this is nothing to brag about. His worthless background contrasts sharply with the successful careers of other “outsiders” in the race for the White House, including a billionaire developer, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and a Fortune 500 CEO.

The choice in this election is shaping up to be a very clear one. It will likely boil down to a battle between those who create and produce wealth, and those who take it and redistribute it."


OMG! Thanks, I'm laughing my ass off. "A billionaire developer, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and a fortune 500 CEO."

Holy shit.

Carly Fiorina actually destroyed a lot of wealth, almost destroying HP during her tenure as CEO and transforming it from an innovative company that produced good products and new technology to a second rate dealer in commodity goods. The only reason that HP still exists is because they fired her. She would have done the same thing to the US if she got the chance.

Sure, Fiorina nearly killed HP and destroyed a lot of wealth in the process. But SHE made a metric shit-ton of money.

And to conservatives, that's all that counts. That is what makes her "a successful business-person." The fact that she cratered the business and was shitcanned doesn't enter into it. The golden parachute they gave her to go away is the only measure of success.

What IS a capitalist but a person who takes and distributes wealth? It's just moving money around. That's literally all that Donald Trump has ever done.

If your "good conservative" really wants to see someone who creates and produces wealth, he should look at people who do real work for a living. It's labor that creates wealth.

And ask the woman who is paralyzed for life after being operated on by Ben Carson. He didn't bother reading her medical history and charts and ended up doing permanent damage to her. Whoops! And he shilled for that snake oil supplement company. I wouldn't let a surgeon like that anywhere near me.

 
At 5:08 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

Thanks, Chris. And what did Maher say about YOUR religion?


Dave, you've got something against the FSM?

Pasta save your soul!

 
At 5:11 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

Can't go there, Can't go there lol!

Like the US media won't talk about the Univision interview with Bernie Sanders and how Socialism is collapsing all over Latin America?

Somehow if Bernie was at the helm of these Latin American countries there would be socialist utopias? lol on that my thick skulled friend!

 
At 5:21 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

You libtards make me LOL.

Rubio just endorsed Trump. He even apologized for insinuating Trump's penis was tiny.

I wish you democraps had a tiny fraction of the class and dignity we conservatives display.

And I can't wait until Newt is appointed VP. He can do all the work Trump doesn't feel like dealing with!

It'll be a win win for us, libtards.

Also I just saw Sarah Palin's California speech where she called Trump the Golden Wrecking Ball. There were literally tears rolling down my cheeks. It was so moving.

 
At 5:47 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Trumpie Chris and his lesson on "class". LOL!!

You libtards make me LOL.

Rubio just endorsed Trump. He even apologized for insinuating Trump's penis was tiny.

I wish you democraps had a tiny fraction of the class and dignity we conservatives display.

 
At 5:55 PM, Anonymous Chris said...

Dave! Wake up! Trump is a wealth creator!

Who among us doesn't look at 2016 Atlantic City and think, "Man those developers sure created and produced a lot of wealth."

 
At 6:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lewis met Bill and Hillary back in the early 1960's while doing sit in's etc.? BULLSHIT!!!

 
At 7:37 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

James

We agree then that Bernie did not march in the south with MLK but he did attend along with the estimated 250,000 others the Wash DC March, (of which about 60,000 were white) While there is no other proof, we have his word on that and I accept that.

CORE
According to an interview given by James Farmer(former President of CORE) in 1993, "CORE has no functioning chapters; it holds no conventions, no elections, no meetings, sets no policies, has no social programs and does no fund-raising. In my opinion, CORE is fraudulent"

CORE supported the presidential candidacy of Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972.

Recently, on same sex marriage and black health in the U.S.: "When you say to society at large that you have to accept, not only accept our lifestyle, but promote it and put it on the same plane and equate it with traditional marriage, that's where we draw the line and we say 'no.' That's not something that is a civil right. That is not something that is a human right" Niger Innis, national spokesman for CORE.

Both CORE and SNCC are/were markedly more conservative than today's Black Lives Matter group.

Sanders' involvement was, by comparison, brief and localized, his sacrifices limited to one arrest for protesting and a bad GPA from neglecting his studies. But Sanders was, in his own right, an active participant in the movement during his three years at the University of Chicago. I guess this gives Bernie some street cred, but it has not changed the fact that the majority of voting blacks continue to support Hillary. Hard to understand that.

 
At 7:00 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Upchuck More: "Key phrase 'at least', if there were more, why didn't you list them?"

Yes, the "key phrase" is at least, isn't it? In other words, there are ten and there could be more. Obviously the Pew Research Center folks didn't poll more than ten in their sample, or they did and the results were meaningless because there weren't enough nations where people exchanged within "free markets" to know enough about it. I suggest you take it up with the good people at the Pew Research Center if you don't approve of their sampling methods.

You do understand sampling as differentiated from census gathering, right? It sounds like you don't.

 
At 7:15 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Me: "At this time, 84% believe [capitalism is failing]."

Wow!...can you believe it?! the percentage has up-ticked to 85%!

 
At 9:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Me: "At this time, 84% believe [capitalism is failing]."

Wow!...can you believe it?! the percentage has up-ticked to 85%"


lol, was the Pew poll taken at a take out barbeque chicken store that serves only left wings?

 
At 10:16 AM, Anonymous Chris said...

JG,

What would a poll in Venezuela say about the success of Socialism?

Maybe they just need to raise the minimum wage, offer free healthcare, free college, and raise taxes on the rich just like Barnie Sanders would do? amirite?

 
At 11:50 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

JG

If you were the President of Venezuela, what socialist principals would you put into place to end the misery of it's citizens and end it's economic disaster?

I'll rephrase my question (you do understand the term "rephrase" dont you?) if there were more than 10 countries, why didn't Pew list them? Are there only 10 free market countries?

 
At 2:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ChuckChris, I thought you were pro-fossil fuels. Was it you (or one of your aliases) that reported on a solar energy fire? That green energy was risky and dangerous?

Well, Venezuela put all their eggs in one basket: fossil fuels. And now that the price of oil is low, they're hurting. By the way, Alaska is feeling pain as well from cheap oil.

Maybe we should transition away from fossil fuels towards wind, solar etc?

Nah, but then you couldn't cackle about Venezuela and "failed socialmalism, hur hur hur"

Maduro is a large step down from Chavez.
Under the most competent government in the world, Venezuela would have suffered badly when oil prices fell this low. Under Chavez, things would have been worse than that. But Maduro is truly the nadir.

http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2016/02/the-venezuela-catastrophe

 
At 4:08 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, has vowed to limit profiteering and strengthen price controls after receiving special powers from the country's national assembly that he claimed were needed to battle the country's economic crisis – but which critics say signal a move towards greater state control.

"What you have seen is little compared to what we will do to defend the people and their rights," Maduro said on Tuesday night shortly after being granted the power to rule by decree, allowing him to create laws on his own, without consulting congress.

Maduro says the special powers will enable him to regain control of the country's collapsing economy – which the president blames on "economic warfare" being waged by his opponents to destabilise his rule before December's municipal elections.

Last week, Maduro ordered shops around the country to slash their prices by more than half and announced that as many as "100 parasitic bourgeois managers" would be imprisoned for usury.

"Maduro is continuing with the plan to instate a Cuban-style socialism that Chávez left incomplete. This advance implies a statist model economy, with more interventions and the creation of new institutions. The Venezuelan economy as we knew it is being destroyed," said Prof Margarita López-Maya, a sociologist at Venezuela's Central University.

Maduro has assured voters that the companies seized by the National Guard after last week's announcement have enough stock for the next year. "It is untrue that there will be shortages, false. We have controlled the storage systems of all these companies and they are full. We have reserves for more than a year," he said.

Virginia López in Caracas
Wednesday 20 November 2013

Things have gotten worse since 2013 as the State takes more control over the economy.
Yup, just as it was said after the fall of the USSR, the wrong people were running it.

So JG, what would you do if you were President of Venezuela to right their failing socialist economy?

 
At 4:20 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You're full of questions Chuck but you haven't said a word in response to what Tom says in this post about the NRA.

Interesting that aside from T.Pain none of our resident conservative patriots had anything to say about the mass shootings and the proliferation of weapons. And of course T.Pain copypasted something that was shown to be not true.

"ChuckSoreLoser" you have so much to say about everything except the subject of this post. Instead we get Bernie and Venezuela and Clinton.

Why are you so reluctant to address Tom's heartfelt essay?

 
At 4:41 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Trumpie Chuckie is forbidden by his masters to discuss Trump. The last time he discussed Trump he fed us a Big Lie about an American ISIS propaganda video. He also won't be discussing the "Chinese global warming conspiracy" or the "end of the California drought" as dictated by his Leader.

The failed Republican State Of Kansas appears to be on that list of verboten subjects.

Authoritarian followers must obey their leaders.

 
At 4:43 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...


The failed Republican State Of Kansas appears to be on that list of verboten subjects.

Authoritarian followers must obey their leaders.


"Conservatism can never fail. It can only be failed."

LOL (as Wallingford Harry sez)

 
At 4:50 PM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Anonymous (at 4:20 PM), directed to ChuckSoreLoser: "Why are you so reluctant to address Tom's heartfelt essay?"

ChuckSoreLoser never answers questions, or addresses topics, that make him uncomfortable. A topic such as this, he knows, will force him to relate the killing of innocents, such as children by handguns, to the legal abortion of fetuses. He knows, necessarily, the equivalences that will be drawn and the comparisons made, and he's not willing to have to make a stand for one and not the other. He can't, and he knows this, so he avoids the subject. He does the same when I confront him with "Big Military" being the same as "Big government", for example. He knows he can't assimilate the one without accepting the other.

He's an afraid and very insincere man in not only his dealings with others on this blog, but also in his own convictions.

 
At 5:31 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

"Chuck never answers questions"

That is a lie!!
You are a liar!

I've answered questions unless I use your excuse for not answering which is, I only answer serious, relevant questions. If it works for you, it works for me.

The other thing you seem to have forgotten is I do NOT engage in conservation with Anonymous and I do NOT engage with Davy Dubya and Mozart because their posts are irrelevant, meaningless and have no substance to them.

If you have read this blog any length of time you will know my position on guns.

a. if you really want gun control, repeal the 2nd Amendment. Just do it!
b. if you are really upset over the death hundreds of children by guns each year, be just as upset over the thousands of kids legally murdered in their mothers womb each year. In both cases they kids are just as dead.
c. if you want gun violence to end, blame the person who fired the gun, not an organization IE: NRA.

So JG and Bernie why are you afraid to answer this question? What would you do if you were President of Venezuela to right their failing socialist economy?

Without capitalism, socialism would have nothing to distribute.

 
At 6:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...


"Without capitalism, socialism would have nothing to distribute" says the person receiving a monthly government check.

I saw Mitch McConnell on CBS This Morning. He has a book out now? He was talking about having polio when he was a little kid. His mom took him to Warm Springs, GA for treatment. (The place set up by FDR.) After he finished talking about that experience, he moved on to criticizing President Obama's policies.

People like ChuckSoreLoser and Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan are happy to take whatever they need from government. They just want to make sure no one else benefits.

No need to repeal the 2nd amendment. Just recognize the "well-regulated militia" part.

ChuckSoreLoser as I recall you began your career here on Tom's blog as "anonymous" before you moved on to name stealing.

 
At 7:24 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Monday, May 30, 2016 10:14AM
VENICE, LOS ANGELES --
Volunteers helped cleanup a Vietnam War memorial wall in Venice after it was vandalized with graffiti by Trump supports on Sunday.

 
At 7:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here's a quote from ChuckSoreLoser. It's where he copypasted the attack job on Sanders:

In his 1971 bid for U.S. Senate, the local press said the 30-year-old “Sanders describes himself as a carpenter who has worked with ‘disturbed children.’ ” In other words, a real winner.

Okay, so let me get this straight. You don't like carpenters and people who work with disturbed children?

We know you hate prison guards. ChuckSoreLoser, who else don't you like? Schoolteachers, librarians, firemen, ambulance drivers? Crossing guards?

With every new comment you reveal more and more about yourself.

And it sure is ugly.

 
At 7:55 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I think liberal socialists are the winiest, most needy, slimiest, unable to stand on their own two feet (much less think on them) in America today.

My feet are held to the fire by the spineless liberal socialist Creaton (DEF: a person who is a TOTAL idiot and a pain in the ASS) for not talking about "Tom's heartfelt essay".

In three (3) short statements I do respond to "Tom's heartfelt essay".

a. if you really want gun control, repeal the 2nd Amendment. Just do it!
b. if you are really upset over the death hundreds of children by guns each year, be just as upset over the thousands of kids legally murdered in their mothers womb each year. In both cases they kids are just as dead.
c. if you want gun violence to end, blame the person who fired the gun, not an organization IE: NRA.

So JG, what steps would you do if you were President of Venezuela to right their failing socialist economy? What would Bernie do?

Crickets!!!

And, like a lot of other posters, I then talk about the candidates in the up coming election. The response from the limp wristed trans-racial (err sorry, I meant transgender) is an attack on the GOP leadership, (a new topic and not a part of "Tom's heartfelt essay", but it's ok when you're a liberal Democrat, after all, it's the thought that counts) and those millions of Americans who are receiving monthly check from the Guberment.
What's wrong with these un-polished turds, don't they know that Bernie worked hard signing thousands of people for Food Stamps, IE Guberment money? That millions of Americans get a part each month of what they were forced to pay to the Guberment before they retired in the form of a SS check? Don't they understand that those retires paid INTO the system while the new soon to be citizens (well maybe not REAL soon) here illegally are getting a check for just being here?

So when the liar JG claims I don't answer questions, I'm going to call him just that, a liar. And when the spineless liberal socialist Creatons want to wring their soft hands about how American foreign policy has made this world a dangerous place I'm going to tell them,
Put a sock in your pie hole! Your clueless.

"Without capitalism, socialism would have nothing to distribute"

 
At 8:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...


"The response from the limp wristed trans-racial (err sorry, I meant transgender)..."

Showing your true colors. Bigot. Your comments just get uglier and uglier. What an ugly hateful little troll you are, posting under your stolen alias.


In three (3) short statements I do respond to "Tom's heartfelt essay".


Yes, after I pointed out how you'd ignored it. Gaslighting again?

So sad you insult people for being "creatons" when you lack basic spelling and grammar skills. Your clueless What is it about rightwing nutjobs that they can't figure out the difference between "your" and "you're"? Did you hate your teachers the way you hated your prison guard?

Indeed, you're very sensitive about collecting social security. A government program that conservatives 80 years ago (people like you) called socialism... and they hated FDR for implementing it. Saint Ronald Reagan called Medicare socialism, as well. He warned against it! Does medicare help pay for your endless operations, hypocrite?

Wait a minute... I thought you didn't respond to anonymous, non-hyperlinked commenters. I guess "conservatives" really DON'T mean what they say.

Also, to the person who posted anonymously at 7:24PM. Why do you think Trump supporters vandalized the memorial? I haven't seen any news about that. Are you confused?

 
At 8:48 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

I’m so glad Chuck talks about the candidates. How about this?

How Fearless Herr Drumph supports the working man:

Supreme Court asked to rule on Trump casino bankruptcy

The Supreme Court is being asked to take up a bankruptcy dispute involving the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City and to decide whether to restore the health and pension benefits of more than 1,000 casino workers.

At issue is a conflict between labor laws that call for preserving collective bargaining agreements and bankruptcy laws that allow a judge to reorganize a business to keep it in operation.

“This is about how a bankruptcy was used to transfer value from working people to the super-rich,” said Richard G. McCracken, general counsel for Unite Here, the hotel and casino workers’ union that appealed to the high court.


http://www.latimes.com/topic/crime-law-justice/justice-system/u.s.-supreme-court-ORGOV0000126-topic.html

 
At 8:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dave, I actually laughed out loud when I read ChuckSoreLoserConfused's outburst:


That is a lie!!
You are a liar!


You can almost hear him stamping his little feet.

Note to ChuckSoreLoser: If you're a conservative cretin and you spend too much time on a progressive blog trying to insult the "trans-racials" then I believe it's entirely possible you are mentally disturbed.

If you find yourself angrily typing

That is a lie!!
You are a liar!

then maybe it's time you get honest with yourself and see about some professional counseling.

We know you're an obsessive-compulsive stalker with an unhealthy resentment of prison guards. Isn't it time you sat down with a "talking doctor" and discussed some of your issues? Perhaps get some medication (and I don't mean booze)?

Keep us posted on your progress!

 
At 9:01 PM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Poor Chuckie's brain is pickled beyond repair. He cans still do good by donating it to science. Oops. He hates science. Never mind.


What are the chances Trumpie Chuckie will discuss this assessment of his Leader?

Michael Hayden, the former head of both the CIA and the NSA, explained in an interview with the Guardian that “the jihadist narrative is that there is undying enmity between Islam and the modern world.”

“When Trump says they all hate us, he’s using their narrative,” Hayden said. “He’s feeding their recruitment video.”

I bet Trumpie Chuckie can discuss this also.

A group of men in the failed Republican state of Kansas beat up a Muslim student while shouting Trump’s name.

“Heil, Trump”?

 
At 9:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Poor Chuckie's brain is pickled beyond repair. He cans still do good by donating it to science. Oops. He hates science. Never mind.

Put the brain in a jar and label it "Abbie Normal" and maybe someone will find a new use for it.
You know how us "limp wristed trans-racials" (Chuck's words) love to recycle!

Just make sure the villagers have plenty of torches.

 
At 11:00 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

I think liberal socialists are the winiest, most needy, slimiest, unable to stand on their own two feet (much less think on them) in America today.

My feet are held to the fire by the spineless liberal socialist Creaton (DEF: a person who is a TOTAL idiot and a pain in the ASS) for not talking about "Tom's heartfelt essay".

In three (3) short statements I do respond to "Tom's heartfelt essay".

a. if you really want gun control, repeal the 2nd Amendment. Just do it!
b. if you are really upset over the death hundreds of children by guns each year, be just as upset over the thousands of kids legally murdered in their mothers womb each year. In both cases they kids are just as dead.
c. if you want gun violence to end, blame the person who fired the gun, not an organization IE: NRA.

So JG, what steps would you do if you were President of Venezuela to right their failing socialist economy? What would Bernie do?

Crickets!!!

And, like a lot of other posters, I then talk about the candidates in the up coming election. The response from the limp wristed trans-racial (err sorry, I meant transgender) is an attack on the GOP leadership, (a new topic and not a part of "Tom's heartfelt essay", but it's ok when you're a liberal Democrat, after all, it's the thought that counts) and those millions of Americans who are receiving monthly check from the Guberment.
What's wrong with these un-polished turds, don't they know that Bernie worked hard signing thousands of people for Food Stamps, IE Guberment money? That millions of Americans get a part each month of what they were forced to pay to the Guberment before they retired in the form of a SS check? Don't they understand that those retires paid INTO the system while the new soon to be citizens (well maybe not REAL soon) here illegally are getting a check for just being here?

So when the liar JG claims I don't answer questions, I'm going to call him just that, a liar. And when the spineless liberal socialist Creatons want to wring their soft hands about how American foreign policy has made this world a dangerous place I'm going to tell them,
Put a sock in your pie hole! Your clueless.

"Without capitalism, socialism would have nothing to distribute"

 
At 2:28 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

What would JG, Bernie and the other Socialists who haunt here do to turn Venezuela around if they were in charge?

A. Raise taxes?

B. Make Transgender bathrooms the law of the land?

C. Make owning a gun illegal?

D. Blame Trump, GWB, Conservatives, the rich, and the GOP for socialism's failures?

E. Illegally immigrate to Mountain View, CA?

F. Make more promises to the poor in order to get re-elected?



Venezuela
Armed squad kills 11 people in Venezuela

An armed squad has killed eleven people in Venezuela, including a Colombian national and three minors, according to the Attorney General's office. The impoverished country is descending into violence.
Venezuela Gewalt

The Attorney General's office said the victims were in their homes in Andrés Bello in the northwestern state of Trujillo, when several armed men forced them to move into courtyards where they were shot dead.

The victims included adult males aged 18 to 76 and three teenagers aged 15, 16 and 17. The Colombian national was identified as 76-year-old Alberto Diaz Patino. The Spanish-language news agency EFE reported that all of the victims were male.

According to a statement, the suspects fled the scene in cars and motorcycles. Two prosecutors have been assigned to the case.

Unending violence

Venezuela is one of the most violent countries in the world that is not at war, with 58 homicides per 100,000 residents in 2015 according to prosecutors. In 2015 alone, there were 17,778 cases of homicide reported in the South-American country. The nongovernmental Venezuelan Violence Observatory says the murder rate is about 50 percent higher than the officially reported numbers.

In another example of such mass killings, an armed group killed 17 miners in the town of Tumeremo in March in the country's far southeast, near the border with Brazil. Their bodies were found in a pit.

On Sunday, German airline Lufthansa announced it was suspending its three weekly fights to the country's capital. The decision comes amid growing concern about Venezuela's worsening economic situation.

 
At 7:50 AM, Blogger Jefferson's Guardian said...

Anonymous (at 8:54 PM), directed to Dave: "Dave, I actually laughed out loud when I read ChuckSoreLoserConfused's outburst: That is a lie!! You are a liar! You can almost hear him stamping his little feet."

I laughed so hard! Definitely classic, "The Rant" material... ;-) He sure went ballistic, didn't he?



Anonymous (at 4:20 PM), directed to ChuckSoreLoser: "'ChuckSoreLoser' you have so much to say about everything except the subject of this post. Instead we get Bernie and Venezuela and Clinton."

He's still holding back regarding Tom's excellently written essay. I wonder why? Maybe he shot -- maybe killed -- a loved one, or maybe even a stranger, and he doesn't want to face the trauma again. Or maybe he thinks the killing of innocents is okay. I would have thought he would have considerable thoughts about the subject given that he's a foaming-at-the-mouth anti-abortionist. Hmm, I really wonder why he's so silent?

I recall he's talked about at least one son, who recently received his PhD in basket-weaving, or something, and lives in Texas, but as I recall he never has mentioned his wife. Do you think he murdered his wife, long ago, and left his son motherless? Maybe that's why he "saved" himself and fell prey to the evangelical Christians as atonement for his sins. I wonder.

 
At 9:35 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

JG,
Chuck's "pro-life" position ends at birth. He has no conscience.

 
At 10:25 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ChuckSoreLoser is so worried about Bernie becoming president for life of Venezuela that he just had to stay up until two-thirty in the morning typing about it.

"The response from the limp wristed trans-racial (err sorry, I meant transgender) is an attack on the GOP leadership"

Remember people, if you call him a racist, that means YOU'RE the racist!

After eight years of a trans-racial president, ChuckSoreLoser is wracked with insomnia.

ChuckSoreLoser for president. He'll be ready for that 3AM phone call because he's already awake.

 
At 11:14 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

"He's still holding back regarding Tom's excellently written essay."

Here again is my response to "Tom's heartfelt essay".


a. if you really want gun control, repeal the 2nd Amendment. Just do it!

b. if you are really upset over the death hundreds of children by guns each year, be just as upset over the thousands of kids legally murdered in their mothers womb each year. In both cases they kids are just as dead.

c. if you want gun violence to end, blame the person who fired the gun, not an organization IE: NRA.

Now liar JG is smearing my family. A common tactic of the left when they are asked questions they don't like, can't answer is to smear their opponent.

I have just two questions for Liar JG;

1. Have you stopped cheating on your wife yet?
2. What would you do if you were President of Venezuela to fix their socialist mess?

Crickets.

"Without capitalism, socialism would have nothing to distribute"

 
At 11:20 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

Speaking of crickets:

Trumpie Chuckie and his Great Leader have fellow authoritarian supporters in North Korea.

North Korean state media has praised US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, describing him as a “wise politician” and “far-sighted candidate” who could help unify the Korean peninsula.

Isn’t that cute? Chuckie is our resident commie expert, always visiting commie websites.

While Chuck goes on about Venezuela, and ignores Trump's words and the Republican failed state of Kansas, he missed an important revelation of his fellow Trumpies in North Korea.

An article published in North Korean state media outlet DPRK Today referred to Trump’s proposal to hold direct talks with Kim Jong Un, praising the likely Republican nominee as a “wise politician” and “far-sighted presidential candidate…The president that U.S. citizens must vote for is not that dull Hillary…”

“Trump said ‘he will not get involved in the war between the South and the North,’ isn’t this fortunate from North Koreans’ perspective?”

Now Trumpie Chuckie has BOTH Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un on his side.


"Without authoritarians, the world would be a better place."




 
At 11:57 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...



Stephen Hawking, the world-renowned expert in theoretical physics and cosmology, called Trump “a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator.”

Hawking is an idiot to the far Right.

Smart guys like Chuckie and his fellow Trumpie North Koreans disagree. Scientists are to be ignored anyway, amirite?

Republicans and dictators have this in common, among many other radical notions that reject democracy, unions, and suppresses voters, and support the ruling class and aggressive militarism. And let's not forget their propaganda. They are both "victims".

 
At 12:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...


That is a lie!!
You are a liar!




Now liar JG is smearing my family. A common tactic of the left when they are asked questions they don't like, can't answer is to smear their opponent.


A common tactic of the SoreLoserChuck is going on progressive blogs and screaming limp wristed trans-racial (err sorry, I meant transgender)

ChuckSoreLoser, today can be the day you step away from your computer and make that important phone call to a qualified mental health professional. Help is available.

 
At 7:11 PM, Blogger Mozart1220 said...

"The other thing you seem to have forgotten is I do NOT engage in conservation with Anonymous and I do NOT engage with Davy Dubya and Mozart because their posts are irrelevant, meaningless and have no substance to them."

Which basically means CLUCKY CHICKENED OUT, and now, like his hero, the Tangarine Terror" he's refusing to even speak to us, claiming LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS are Irrelevant".

Like asking what conservatives have done for people is "irrelevant".

Shouldn't it be an EASY answer if they HAD done something?

 
At 7:38 PM, Anonymous Chris said...


Shouldn't it be an EASY answer if they HAD done something?


You're too impatient. Reagan's trickle-down supply side economics need more time. 35 years isn't enough.

Another few decades of tax cuts for the wealthy should do the trick.
Then we'll be living in a golden age!

 
At 11:16 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Chris,

If you were the President of Venezuela what would you do to stop its impending socialism caused disaster?

A. Raise taxes?

B. Make Transgender bathrooms the law of the land?

C. Make owning a gun illegal?

D. Blame Trump, GWB, Conservatives, the rich, and the GOP for socialism's failures?

E. Illegally immigrate to Mountain View, CA?

F. Make more promises to the poor in order to get re-elected?

 
At 12:16 AM, Blogger Dave Dubya said...

What's that Chuckie had to say about the Republican Failed State of Kansas? (RFSOK)

Blame liberals for Republicans' failures?

RFSOK = IOKIYAR

How's Trumpie Chuckie's Great Leader, and choice of Kim Jong Un and Dennis Rodman, doing?

Whiny Little Bitch Trump is upset the "Mexican Hater" judge is looking at a case of Trump "University" fraud.

There, now Chuckie can go back to whining about Venezuela, the failure of an oil based economy.

 
At 6:00 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Chris,

What would Hillary do if she were the President of Venezuela to stop its impending socialism caused disaster?

Chris??

Crickets.

 
At 11:40 AM, Anonymous Chris said...

Hmm... maybe invest in renewable energy like wind, solar, biofuel and not have an economy completely reliant on the high price of oil?

Nahh... then Chuck wouldn't be able to say "hur hur hur you venezuelan socialamists"

Not a problem in socialist israel. They've invested heavily in alternative sources of energy. They also have universal healthcare. A robust social safety net. Even their fast food workers are unionized.

Boycott them! Amirite, SoreLoser?

 

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