#73 | Posted by Petrous

Democratic socialism.

Like Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, England, and a gob of other countries who are consistently rated as the happiest places to live on Earth.

Never understood why the States surrendered the Senate, especially the smaller States.

It would be like the House of Lords surrendering their authority to a public vote for a commoner.

Posted by Petrous

Before the 17th, industries chose U.S. senators, who were beholden to them, specifically, not the people.

They even had nicknames like Sen. Steel, Sen. Railroads, Sen. Oil, etc etc.

Direct elections gave people the power to choose their senators.

#17 | Posted by sitzkrieg

Republicans here in TN made THC-a illegal as of July 1st.

Same idiots who made carrying a loaded weapon into a bar legal.

Or a wood chipper in Fargo...

#21 Good to see you, AU!

#22 | Posted by A_Friend

Same here! :-)

Cut 10,000,000 Americans off of Medicaid and make coverage harder to get and more expensive thanks to doing away with subsidies with the Big Beautiful Bill.

So much for being "pro-life," eh? (Not to mention ending USAID. Millions of children will starve over time thanks to the tax cutting/anti-life Republicans.

Uruguay is nice. Same language, good weather, friendly people, decent economy.

It's inhumane to send someone to a country where they can't at least speak the language.

Better still, give people a chance for asylum and a pathway to a better life.

Not only the right (and legal) thing to do, we need the workers.

Poll: MAGA's High Tolerance For Political Stink

They don't possess moral values.

Having values means you disapprove of wrongdoing regardless of who's committing it, and don't support habitual wrongdoers.

There's more including a new FoxNews poll also showing Talarico leading Paxton over here:

Today from FoxNews

Talarico
51%

Paxton
48%

Trump motorcade driving on newly resurfaced reflecting pool:

Carter tried to balance the budget and got his ass handed to him. It's been voodoo economics ever since.

#47 | Posted by lee_the_agent

Reagan blew that up with our first $1T national debt.

Clinton was very successful and left office with two consecutive years of budget surpluses.

His last fiscal year came in under budget ($1.6), and when he left office America had $5.6T in total debt. He also left a plan to pay it off in a few years.

Bush and a GOP unitary government more than DOUBLED the budget and more than DOUBLED the national debt

Their last fiscal year had a deficit of $1.4T, with and systemic deficits and mounting debt in their wake.

Dick Cheney even said (out loud!), "Ronald Reagan proved deficits don't matter."

Republicans have only cared about deficits when a Dem was in office. Under unitary control, Bush/Trump/GOP eagerly enacted 4 huge tax cuts, the result of which is our ungodly huge national debt.

24 hours?

I've already had my quota of 18-20 hour flights ...

@25 Apropos

#26 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS

LOL

Pictured below is your typical Branson audience (always been that way). Typical Branson show is country or bluegrass.

Clay Cooper's Country Express Audience:

@#5 ... Causes one to wonder ...

Indeed. Consumer spending numbers are inflated thanks to Trumpflation (tariffs & war-related snafus) making everyone pay more for the same goods/gas/food/etc.

#6

Ridiculous levels of spending on a crap shoot.

I can't foresee a future where returns on these massive investments will lead to equally massive profits. Once that reality hits Wall Street, we're in for especially rocky economic times.

I went from the diverse utopia of Houston with its 140+ languages and cultures, Branson, MO

My fellow musician buddies call Branson "The Lord's Waiting Room" because so many visitors are elderly.

"Beshear Calls on McConnell for Proof of Ability to Serve"

Reasonable people should think this is a fair ask.

Crazy loon forgets it was Obama and GW Bush who saved the American auto industry.

BTW, contrary to GOP/MAGA nonsense, the U.S. made a profit from the automaker bailout.

...well one reason might be that, as Labor Day approaches, voters are beginning to settle into their views and opinions going into November.

All that aside, imo, it's good that the cited poll has moved to "likely voters."

#16 | Posted by LampLighter

I've heard several political commentators say that voter intentions are pretty well set by late summer.

Also, Trump's approval rating doesn't mean anything.

All he needs is the electoral college.

#5 | Posted by ClownShack

It matters because of the looming midterms.

The more America rejects Trump, the more likely voters will reject enough GOP/MAGA sycophants in Congress (who publicly refuse to stand up to him) for Dems to regain a majority and help America weather the next two years.

For example, in 2006, amid disgust over the Iraq War, Congress flipped and stymied the worst instincts within the Bush Administration.

Trump's 32% approval rating is the lowest he has ever received in a Quinnipiac poll, according to the pollsters.

US debt is skyrocketing. Why isn't Congress doing anything?

Because Republicans only care about debt and deficits when a Democrat is in the White House.

History proves it.

Bush II started us on this path with a willing GOP congress who doubled the budget and set us on the path of systemic deficits and mounting debt. At the time, Dick Cheney said "Ronald Reagan proved deficits don't matter." Not a peep from Republicans.

When Obama took office, congressional Republicans were screaming about debt and deficits they themselves were responsible for thanks to 2 tax cuts for the wealthy/corps and doubling the budget ... all by themselves.

Trump? Crickets. Both times.

The snowball of debt and deficits created and cheered for by the GOP is why we are where we are.

As Trump & Family grift for billions.

Epstein

Republican politicos don't want Trump to end mail in voting because so many of their voters (including Trump) do exactly that.