"A return to sanity

In the 1930s through the 1960s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and JFK/LBJ put America back together after the First Republican Great Depression and built the largest and wealthiest middle class in the history of the world at the time.

Today, 45 years of Ayn Rand's ideas being put into practice by libertarian Republicans from Reagan to Bush to Trump have gutted the middle class, made a handful of oligarchs wealthier than any kings or Pharaohs in the history of the world, and brought a whole new generation of predators, hustlers, and grifters into the GOP.

And then there's Trump's war against Iran, his theft of Venezuela's oil and gold, his attacks on NATO and threats against Greenland, his cutting off weapons to Ukraine, his cashing in on the presidency in ways that clearly violate the Constitution, and his and the GOP's multiple efforts to rig our elections.

There's a popular meme going around the internet these days that says:

"If a monkey hoarded more bananas than it could eat while most of the other monkeys starved, scientists would study that monkey to find out what the heck was wrong with it. When humans do it, we put them on the cover of Forbes."

If America is to survive as a functioning democratic republic, we must repudiate the "greed is good" ideology of Ayn Rand and libertarianism, get billionaires and their money out of politics, stop Trump and his lickspittles, and rebuild our civil institutions.

That starts with waking Americans up to the incredible damage that 45 years of Rand's writings and libertarian "Reagan Republicans" have done to this country and giving Congress to Democrats who'll actually investigate and prosecute these crimes against both democracy and our nation itself.

And that starts with checking your voter registration at vote.org and making a plan today to be sure your vote is both cast and counted.

Tag, we're it!"

- i'm surprised the boss man hasn't locked religion in with those other categories.

You still haven't said why he should...

Republicans are the ones rejecting the teachings of Jesus; they care nothing for the stranger, the immigrant, the poor, the downtrodden.... even what's happening to their neighbors and their own families with this corrupt government they've given us.

They instead suck up to the same kind of corrupt Gov that JC called hypocrites and much worse.

"Reporter Mark Ames documents how, back in the 1940s, a real estate lobbying group came up with the idea of creating a new political party to justify deregulating the real estate and finance industries so they could make more money.

This new Libertarian Party would give an ideological and political cover to their goal of becoming government-free, and they developed an elaborate pretense of governing philosophy around it."

-

"In 1980, billionaire David Koch ran for vice president on the newly formed Libertarian Party ticket.

His platform included calls to privatize the Post Office, close public schools, give Medicare and Medicaid to big insurance companies, end food and housing support and all other forms of "welfare," deregulate all corporate oversight while shutting down the EPA and FDA, and selling off much of the federal government's land and other assets to billionaires and big corporations.

Reagan, who won that 1980 election, embraced this view in his inaugural address, saying, "[G]overnment is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."

He then doubled down on the idea by beginning the systematic process of gutting and crippling governmental institutions that historically had supported working people and the middle class."

==

"The child-killer who inspired a movement
Reagan wasn't just echoing the Libertarian vision; he was also endorsing Ayn Rand's "Objectivist" view of the world, which traces its roots to a murderous psychopath in 1927.

Back in 2015, Donald Trump told USA Today's Kirsten Powers that his favorite book was Ayn Rand's raped-girl-decides-she-likes-it novel, "The Fountainhead."

"It relates to business, beauty, life and inner emotions," he told Powers. "That book relates to ... everything."

Ayn Rand's novels have animated libertarian Republicans like former Speaker of the House of Representatives and current Fox News board member Paul Ryan, who required interns to read her books when they joined his staff.

Powers added, "He [Trump]," told her that he "identified with Howard Roark, the novel's idealistic protagonist who designs skyscrapers and rages against the establishment."

more at the thread link

"The model here is straightforward: government is something to be exploited for personal gain not public service, because government is essentially an evil thing.

So, load it up with incompetents, suck up as much money as you can, and leave the mess to the Democrats:

" Three Republican presidents borrowed over $35 trillion, put it all on the national credit card, just to hand all that money to the billionaires who fund their campaigns and sustain their lavish lifestyles.

" Republicans in Congress have thrown millions off of food stamps (SNAP) and Medicaid and refuse to fix Social Security or Medicare.

" Trump just discarded many of our pollution rules, a move that will lead to more cancers and asthma among our children.

" Bob Kennedy saluted putting cancer-causing chemicals on our food supply.

" Anything Putin wants from Trump he gets.

" They're selling off public lands and destroying our park system like there's no tomorrow, while rewriting America's history into a white supremacist fantasy.

" Miller's ICE goons are murdering Americans and getting away with it while imprisoning brown-skinned people without due process.

" Trump has made billions since becoming president through crypto scams and bets on his own war proclamations.

And that's just the beginning. Which is causing millions of Americans, scratching their heads in wonder, to ask:

"Where did this anti-American-government insanity come from, and how did it come to seize control of the entire Republican Party?"

It all started with the Libertarians:" MORE at the link

- I'm happy.
#42 | Posted by BillJohnson

Obviously that's the only thing that should matter to people; that they themselves are happy, and F everyone else if they can't take a joke.

Or if they dare speak in favor of doing anything about helping others not as fortunate as themselves.

Bev is just as bad; if you talk about inequality or fairness under the Law in this country, you must be a bum living in a van down by the river.

It's a longtime rwing thing, not being able to see past their own comfort.

JC actually talked a lot about those people.

shouldn't be off limits

Awww... Eberly is so offended at the very subject that he wants to Ban it.

Tell us what about this subject is irrelevant, 'nonsense crap'?

It seems to me that religion, or the lack thereof, as it affects our Gov and our lives should be off limits.

What is it.... whom is it that Rogers should fear 'scrutiny' from?

The Pope? For trying to buy his hat?

Methinks this just makes for the kind of thread where you can't focus on gossiping about your neighbors here and getting into prolonged cat fights with them. (see Rogers on, 'the bitchiest bitching bitches' that ruined his site)

Or is that too catty a thing to say?

1Nut knows what State Run Media is like where he's from, and that it supports a Corrupt Crony Capitalist faux-Communist Regime that will be demanding his DNA when he retires there.

He just thinks that showing his magnificent mind can own him some libs around here who have the temerity (look it up #2 Son) not to recognize his said magnificence.

just for fun:

"A Hidden Note at the End of Job Reveals His True Identity

Most people think Job is a timeless story about suffering...a righteous man, a cosmic wager, and a God who eventually shows up with no explanation. But there's a 2,200 year old note at the end of the oldest copies of Job that most people have never read.

And it changes everything about who Job was, when he lived, and why his story was written.

Job wasn't isolated from Israel's story. He was at the center of it."

- Permissiveness is destroying us.

Just the opposite actually, and obviously so; it's Authoritarianism that's hurting us most... it's a one side being much more open to disobeying both the Law and Respect for equality and the People in order to empower Dictators and their stooges.

Immigrants, illegal or the vast majority whom are here legally... have for decades been a Net Economic Plus for the US economy AND they commit less crimes per capital than do US Citizens, per the FBI and DHS.

Dreamers for sure; running from the corrupt countries the US fostered via corrupt corporations, unfair trade practices, and Chicago School Economics for decades, now hurried on by the climate change devastating their crops and economies... as if Corporations, and now Trump's Silent Takeover Invasion in places like Venezuela, weren't horrible enough treatment of a neighbor.

Wait until they find out that they aren't going to Heaven, but that Heaven is coming to them.

In the story, a prelude to that happening is the Church falling away from the faith much as it has done in this country... having traded Red Letter Jesus for Orange White Nationalists.

JT (obviously not to be confused with JC!) is pointing out the hypocrisy of our ruling class much like JC did his; the priests he called everything but white men (!) were both the religious and the secular rulers of his time in Israel.

That didn't stop him from running the bankers out of the Temple (and the Government), which is exactly what he did.

#46

has Been Dazed and Confused for so long it's not true...

That was Free Willy...

Musk and his ilk are buying politicians to write tax laws for them and give them lucrative Gov contracts.

They have usurped Gov of, by, and for the People, thanks mostly to Republicans who made Money Speech and Corporations Super Citizens.

Even some of the hardcore MAGA Base are leaving him.

It's lonely at the slop, er, I mean, top.

- Smart industrious people in poverty will get out of poverty.

"While being smart and industrious helps, it is not always enough to escape poverty due to systemic barriers, psychological stress, and luck."

Economic Realities

Systemic limits: Hard work alone often lacks ownership or high-leverage strategy.

The poverty trap: Scarcity consumes cognitive bandwidth, making long-term planning difficult.

The role of luck: Timing, health, and initial environment heavily influence upward mobility.

Key Factors Beyond Effort

Ownership vs. Labor: Wealth typically builds through systems and assets, not just extra hours.

The Margin for Error: A single emergency can wipe out savings and trap low-income individuals in high-interest debt cycles.

Social Capital: Networks and access provide opportunities that raw talent cannot always unlock alone." AI

He knows he is going to need to be protected from the People when the Coup de Trump happens.

"Congressman Greg Casar, a Democrat who represents Austin, demanded an independent investigation into Sunday's shooting.

"Over and over, ICE has shot people and then lied about what happened," Casar said in a news release, referencing the deadly shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Video footage has disproved DHS's claims that Good was trying to run over ICE agents with her vehicle.

"We can see the lies with our own eyes. We will demand truth, transparency and accountability," Casar said.

Sunday's ICE shooting is at least the second to happen this year in Texas.

In July, federal immigration agents in Houston shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national father of three."

Salgado Araujo was killed after agents attempted to conduct a traffi

#17

It was either Free Will or Robotics, so I'm glad the former was chosen.

#19

Make America God Awful

John Prine and Iris DeMent - In Spite of Ourselves (Live From Sessions at West 54th)

#14

Everyone gets an opinion... or three.

- introduce Christianity to Taoists

Deep in Rural China, We Found a Christian World
Little Chinese Everywhere

Don't kid us, Mav. Your Cult Leader loves him some Vlad, so you do too.