Monday, December 02, 2024

Letters from an American

Cas Mudde, a political scientist who specializes in extremism and democracy, observed yesterday on Bluesky that "the fight against the far right is secondary to the fight to strengthen liberal democracy."

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"and it is this image that is leading Trump voters to cheer on billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy as they vow to cut services on which Americans depend in order to cut regulations and taxes once again for the very wealthy and corporations."

I read and was waiting for the BS and here is where it began. Musk and Ram are not looking to cut services on which Americans depend. They are looking to trim government waste which has gotten out of control. Example: The Fed Reserve has 22,000 employees, it would function more efficiently with 2000. That's not cutting services, it's cutting waste. Bernie Sanders agreed yesterday. Also Musk saw first hand when he started Space X that government contractors were just increasing their prices at least double because they could. Liberals are crying that this will be a disaster only because Trump is doing it, no different than the tariffs, Trump won't even need to use them if he gets his way.

#1 | Posted by fishpaw at 2024-12-02 01:19 PM

- Bernie Sanders agreed yesterday.

No, he did not... he said nada about the Fed.

Bernie Sanders
@SenSanders
Elon Musk is right.

The Pentagon, with a budget of $886 billion, just failed its 7th audit in a row. It's lost track of billions.

Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud.

That must change.

x.com

And he's been saying that about the MIC forever.

#2 | Posted by Corky at 2024-12-02 01:25 PM

"Last year, only 13 senators voted against the Military Industrial Complex and a defense budget full of waste and fraud."

Unfortunately, on one side you've got the entire military-industrial complex, all the professional warmongers, all the mainstream media, and 99% of DC political swamp-monsters, while on the other side you've basically got a bunch of kids who want a healthy future for themselves and their descendants and those who have relatives overseas who don't want to be killed by American made weaponry in the name of democracy and freedom anymore.

Clearly this is a complicated and nuanced issue, with very fine people on both sides...

#3 | Posted by NerfHerder at 2024-12-02 02:05 PM

#2 I said Bernie agreed that there was excess fraud and spending in government.

#4 | Posted by fishpaw at 2024-12-02 03:16 PM

"Unfortunately, on one side you've got the entire military-industrial complex, all the professional warmongers, all the mainstream media, and 99% of DC political swamp-monsters, while on the other side you've basically got a bunch of crazies who are racists, homophobes, misogtmists etc. Yeah those protecting us do gey a little out of controk but WWII taught us to never be unprepared again/ We need to control our mulitary butt we do not want to dismantle it. But we also must control those forces which want to march us backwards to an era whe certaib minorities were axtually criminalised simply for being who they are. What does "Make America Great Again" really mean? I've been waiting for an answer since I first heard it! So, what the f**k does it really mean? When was America so great that we want to return to that time?

#5 | Posted by danni at 2024-12-02 03:22 PM

Musk and Ram are not looking to cut services on which Americans depend.

1 | Posted by fishpaw

exactly!!

I held my nose and listened to a walking interview with one of the biggest lying POS the democrats have.

LIZ WARREN--- who was talking about DOGE and out of the blue she said "cutting social security"

---naturally the reporter didn't bother to ask a follow up question.....she was from one of the butt kissing media which

is why Senator Pocahontas was even talking to her in the first place.

#6 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2024-12-03 07:58 AM

When was America so great that we want to return to that time?

#5 | Posted by danni at 2024-12-02

what a sad point of view.

#7 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2024-12-03 08:02 AM

Musk and Ram are not looking to cut services on which Americans depend. They are looking to trim government waste which has gotten out of control.

LOL how can one be so gullible and dumb?

#8 | Posted by jpw at 2024-12-03 08:26 AM

When was America so great that we want to return to that time?

#5 | Posted by danni at 2024-12-02

what a sad point of view

Cuba isn't that far....and all that "free " health care and stuff.

I would caution you, though , from getting on social media and criticizing the government.

#9 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2024-12-03 08:42 AM

LOL how can one be so gullible and dumb?

#8 | Posted by jpw

you just showed us.

#10 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2024-12-03 08:43 AM

| Posted by jpw

Maybe you should stick to topics like the "merry christmas from Dick Van ---- " thread

#11 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2024-12-03 08:49 AM

#11
He knows all about Dick.

#12 | Posted by fortfisher at 2024-12-03 09:24 AM

it censored out dick's last name....

that's funny...

sort of.....how about "weird" instead.

#13 | Posted by shrimptacodan at 2024-12-03 10:29 AM

When was America so great that we want to return to that time?

#5 | Posted by danni at 2024-12-02

what a sad point of view.

#7 | Posted by shrimptacodan

As you morons have spent the last 8+ years walking around in your little red MAGA beanies, this seems like a legit question. Why won't you answer it?

#14 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2024-12-03 10:39 AM

#11
#12
#13

How old are you idiots? Like twelve?

#15 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2024-12-03 10:41 AM

"When was America so great that we want to return to that time?"

At a place called Willoughby, a little town manufactured in a dream.
It was an odd dream. It was summer, very warm. Kids were barefooted. One of them had a fishing pole.
It all looked like a Currier and Ives painting. Bandstand, bicycles, wagons.
I've never seen such serenity. It was the way people must have lived a hundred years ago. Crazy dream.

#16 | Posted by NerfHerder at 2024-12-03 10:48 AM

what a sad point of view
Cuba isn't that far....and all that "free " health care and stuff.

What a sad myopic view you have. I have no desire to "return" to the past, to pretend it was better. It wasn't. Romanticizing that nonsense is killing our present and our future.

#17 | Posted by YAV at 2024-12-03 10:48 AM

#16 - Exactly.

#18 | Posted by YAV at 2024-12-03 10:49 AM

(also citing Cuba? Such a clear indication of you having no valid argument and nothing worth saying)

#19 | Posted by YAV at 2024-12-03 10:50 AM

I've never seen such serenity. It was the way people must have lived a hundred years ago. Crazy dream.

One hundred years ago, America was in the midst of the "Roaring Twenties," characterized by significant social and cultural changes, including the rise of jazz music, flapper fashion, and increased automobile ownership, but also marked by widespread racial segregation, prohibition of alcohol, and a growing economic disparity, all while still recovering from the impacts of World War I.

Women had recently gained the right to vote with the 19th Amendment, leading to increased female participation in public life. (Yay!)

Jazz music was immensely popular, and movies were gaining prominence as a form of entertainment. (Yay!)

Despite some legal advancements, racial segregation remained widespread, with the Ku Klux Klan experiencing a resurgence. (Most people .. Boo!) (if you are maga then yay!)

The 18th Amendment prohibited the manufacturing and sale of alcohol, leading to widespread bootlegging and organized crime activity. (Boo!)

While the economy was booming in the early 1920s, the seeds of the Great Depression were already present. (Ok never mind we do not need another Great Depression ... thanks anyway!)

Also, no internet. So. Forget it Jack.

#20 | Posted by donnerboy at 2024-12-03 11:02 AM

As you morons have spent the last 8+ years walking around in your little red MAGA beanies, this seems like a legit question. Why won't you answer it?

#14 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2024-12-03 10:39 AM | Reply | Flag:
(Choose)

When the Doj and the Fbi wasn't weaponized by the left. It's actually pretty funny because the right has been saying that and the left has said it's BS. And now the left said that Hunter should be pardoned because his arrests are a result of the weaponizing of the DOJ. Can't make this up.

#21 | Posted by fishpaw at 2024-12-03 12:04 PM

- Doj and the Fbi wasn't weaponized by the left.

Trumpers just keep the lies coming... who prosecuted Hunter? Or the Dem Senator and several other Dems the last few years?

It wasn't Republicans... they were too busy standing outside the Courthouse at Trump's Trial trying to intimidate the DA and the Judge.

Trumpers are just like their Cult Leader, Big Time Liars. They just aren't as accomplished at it as he is.

#22 | Posted by Corky at 2024-12-03 12:11 PM

#22 Speaking of Hunter, didn't Joe and all the Dems say he wasn't going to get pardoned? Liars, Liars pants on fire.

#23 | Posted by fishpaw at 2024-12-03 12:33 PM

#23

Huh? A Trumper calling other people liars?

When their Cult Leader is a Guinness World Book level Lying Champ?

How strange is that.....

#24 | Posted by Corky at 2024-12-03 12:53 PM

They are looking to trim government waste which has gotten out of control.

They could start by ending all subsidies to the wealthy. Musk receives billion of taxpayer dollars he doesn't need.

Example: The Fed Reserve has 22,000 employees, it would function more efficiently with 2000.

Example of what? Government waste? How so? Where are you getting these numbers from? What brought you to such a conclusion?

#25 | Posted by ClownShack at 2024-12-03 01:48 PM

Liberals are crying that this will be a disaster only because Trump is doing it, no different than the tariffs, Trump won't even need to use them if he gets his way.

#1 | POSTED BY FISHPU

Can you salivate over Trump's dick any harder?

Trump is a colossal failure. Everything he's touched gets destroyed. Look at how much worse his rhetoric of hate and division has made this nation.

You pathetic losers are destroying this country.

#26 | Posted by ClownShack at 2024-12-03 01:52 PM

Fishpus posts that childish garbage but thinks he should be taken seriously.

#27 | Posted by jpw at 2024-12-03 01:56 PM

Example: The Fed Reserve has 22,000 employees, it would function more efficiently with 2000.

You're just regurgitating bulls&*^. You couldn't possibly know this to be true because you don't know what the fed fully does behind the scenes.

#28 | Posted by jpw at 2024-12-03 10:03 PM

"and those who have relatives overseas who don't want to be killed by American made weaponry in the name of democracy and freedom anymore."

They certainly are not being killed with American made weaponry today; you must be referring to the unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan started by George W, Bush and which opponents of those wars were called traitors even by Fishpaw who now pretends to be anti-war hypocrisy of Republicans who cheered on Bush ( Bush Presidents) to invade Iraq twice because they just were salivating over all that oil, as described in PNAC but which, in the end, George W. Bush was too stupid to even get, not that I give a crap. But now, suddenly, Republicans are all worried about the costs of war because we are supplying an actual democracywith the weapons they need to defend itself from a super power that signed treaties promising to never invade in exchange for them givibg up their nuclear weapons . Even the man who put that deal together, President Bill Clinton, now says he regrets it because Putin and Russia just can't be trusted to honor treaties which is also why Ukraine will not negotiate for peace. You can't negotiate with terrorists and Putin is a terrorist

#29 | Posted by danni at 2024-12-04 05:43 AM

Netanyahu is a Terrorist but he gets standing Ovations in Congress.

Killing without purpose or anything but raw Bloodlust, and Congress justs Loves it.

Being a Terrorist is never a problem if the government involved is an Ally.

Ukraine isn't an ally. They are a Patsy. Like the Al Nusra Front only bigger.

Ukraine will keep getting pulverized for NATO membership they will never get.

The Backlash when they realize how Stupid they have been will be fearsome.

Ukraine has sacrificed everything and NATO is willing to risk nothing.

That's going to be a huge problem dealing with the Ukraine going forward.

Ask the Iraqis. They got played the same way by the Reagan, Administration and both Bushes.

Ukraine will be a problem for Europe for decades.

#30 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2024-12-04 10:49 AM

#1 Fishface...

you are going to get SO OWNED in the next few months when
they roll in drastic cuts to programs you likely need.

I will be here to laugh in your face.

#31 | Posted by earthmuse at 2024-12-04 10:59 AM

And now the left said that Hunter should be pardoned because his arrests are a result of the weaponizing of the DOJ.

#21 | Posted by fishpaw

Where did the left say this? I want a link? Was it the ENTIRE "left", or just some bogey man floating around in that infantile little mind of yours?

BTW, Trump is about to weaponize the DOJ like "nobody has ever seen". What will you be saying when we revisit THAT in a couple of years?

#32 | Posted by Whatsleft at 2024-12-04 12:30 PM

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