The meme here is from David Cay Johnson, Co-founder Emeritus at DCReport.org and works at Distinquished Visiting Lecturer at Syracuse University College of Law. Past: Daily Beast and Newsweek.
Here’s what Katie Porter would like to get done as a U.S. senator, which would, if enacted, bring the United States in line with the rest of the developed countries on Earth.
Is this realistic?
Well, let’s look at the first item: ending corporate influence in Washington. This requires Congress to completely abandon the method by which they get filthy rich.
Would that have worked at any time in the past? That’s debatable.
Is it a possibility in today’s environment of limitless corruption? It’s a toughie, to be sure.
It will be interesting to see how today’s Trump supporters will come to be regarded by history, provided, of course, that Trumpism is eventually revealed to be anti-democratic authoritarianism and is ultimately rejected as a valid form of government in America.
Regardless of what happens, however, the worst that happens to today’s Trumpers is that they are remembered by future conservatives as having supported “a bad man with good ideas.” There will be very little shame in this, and “stink” is a terrible word to use here.
The concepts of tight borders, environmental deregulation, denying healthcare to those who can’t afford it, bans on abortion, Christianity in schools and government, two genders, the opposition to wokeism, and the superiority of the white race is bound to have enduring appeal to a significant number of people–regardless of what happens to the former president in his criminal prosecution and political career.
What Trump says here is correct; it was his capacity to add three conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court that brought an end to a woman’s right to choose an abortion.
Trump bragged about this, but it’s unclear what effect it will have on his electability, especially when voters view this in the context of his status as a criminally convicted felon.
Republicans have impeded everything the Democrats have proposed. Isn’t that “something?” In fact, isn’t that their calling?
We now have lousier public education, unlimited gun rights, abortion bans, and all but halted climate change mitigation policies. There are dozens of other examples in which the GOP has impeded progress in terms of everything Americans care about.
In particular, they’ve stood behind criminal sociopath Donald Trump, for which they are adored by about 40% of the U.S. electorate.
Please don’t try to tell me that Republicans have done nothing. Wish it were true, but it isn’t.
Is there a cost associated with separating asphalt shingles from the other substances that are going into landfills? Does that cost make this proposition completely asinine, even if there were a potential business model in selling asphalt bitumen?
Think for yourselves.
And precisely what is this “edifice” to which MLK was referring?
I would simply say trickle-down economics. Lowering the top federal tax bracket from 90% to 28%, while taxing Social Security benefits and handing out huge additional tax breaks for the top 1% has left us with an edifice in which schools and other public programs are grossly under-funded.
Here’s a cool pic of a defunct gas station.
Perhaps it’s also a visual metaphor for our civilization’s phasing out of fossil fuels in favor of renewable energy.
Throughout the millennia, most religious texts have attempted to blend faith and reason. Thomas Aquinas, for example, set out to prove the existence of God using only the laws of logic that had been propounded by Aristotle roughly 1400 years earlier. Descartes, perhaps 300 years later, was on a similar mission.
As shown above, however, faith and reason aren’t always best of friends. Some of today’s churches are run by those who want us to choose between the two.
A cynical mind may suspect that these folks want us to remain as stupid as possible.
Ms. Streisand may be the wealthiest American headed for a sane and decent place to live if Trump is re-elected, but she certainly won’t be the only one.
There are large ex-pat populations all around the globe, whose numbers will swell impressively if the United States is no longer a democracy. Costa Rica, New Zealand, Iceland, not to mention Western Europe and Scandinavia all jump to mind.
