And Let's not forget about the other Deplorables

[joesman]

Deplorables! Can someone close of that stormy garbage drain before we're all floating in shit. Are we already?

 

[cityboy-stl]

She did not violate her oath. And the ‘I got mine screw everyone else’ mantra applies to many Americans not just republicans. Nothing says screw you better than closing the only hospital within 100 miles of where you live but most people hear that and say ‘not gonna effect me’ and mush on. I have 2 hospitals I could walk to near me so it’s not an issue for me but, like you I’m guessing, I do care about rural hospitals. It’s shocking to me that we can find doctors, nurses and staff to work in rural American hospitals but we’re too cheap to pay them.

You do have a point with the McCain analogy, she could have voted no and given a speech in the senate decrying all that’s wrong with the bill but I’m just not confident that’s what Alaska wants.

She did not violate her oath.
I didn't say she violated her oath. My point is, her oath is to the Constitution and the whole country as well as her state. She selfishly only cared about her own state and not the rest of the country. She represents her state, but she serves the country.

And the ‘I got mine screw everyone else’ mantra applies to many Americans not just republicans.
Not going to play "both sides" on this one. Sure, you can find individual instances, but that does not negate the scope of party philosophy on the whole.
"I got mine, screw everyone else" is overwhelmingly built into the substance and philosophy of the republican party. Not so the Democratic Party.
I sum up the entirety of the general philosophy of the two parties like this - everything each party stands for, at the highest level, basically revolves around these principles:
Democrats: It is all about us. Let's work together.
Republicans: It is all about me. Get out of my way.

Nothing says screw you better than closing the only hospital within 100 miles of where you live but most people hear that and say ‘not gonna effect me’ and mush on. I have 2 hospitals I could walk to near me so it’s not an issue for me but, like you I’m guessing, I do care about rural hospitals. It’s shocking to me that we can find doctors, nurses and staff to work in rural American hospitals but we’re too cheap to pay them.
Yes of course, I am very concerned about rural hospitals, and everything else that they're doing. It's a long list now, and my main focus is always, what is this going to do to people being touched by these actions.
That's why I'm a Democrat, it is all about us. That's what gets me so upset. These are people whose real lives are being impacted, they're not just pieces to be manipulated on a game board and then discarded, which how republicans are treating them.

You do have a point with the McCain analogy, she could have voted no and given a speech in the senate decrying all that’s wrong with the bill but I’m just not confident that’s what Alaska wants.
“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays you instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” –Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, November 3, 1774 - This is a real quote. You may note, the line was used in the film 1776 by Dr. Lyman Hall as he was deciding to support independence. Murkowski knew better, and she failed.

 

[Alistair]

 

[NotHardUp1]

I agree both democrats and republicans have a responsibility for the financial health of the country and I would add that voters do as well. I doubt many Americans feel responsible for the debt or even that they have benefited from it but in a democracy they are and they have. Ronald Reagan showed that if you give Americans 100% of their government at 90% of the cost they are fine with that and it nicely mirrors the private finances of many Americans.

Murkowski is as guilty as the rest of us but no more.

You are right about Johnson and his responsibility but lacking a spine he’s not the man for the job he has.

This is particularly true for the COVID handouts. Americans from every walk of life took the money, many under absolutely no hardship at all, but it was free money, and that huge debt is part of our deficit today.

That story repeats over and over in the nation. Take, take, take, and then a shrub when it comes to collective sacrifice.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Speaking of othe deplorables, here is a choice bit of footage of one of Trump's "fuck you" appointments, being nailed by a member of the press whose mouth is not filled with Donald's cock:

 

[NotHardUp1]

This is particularly true for the COVID handouts. Americans from every walk of life took the money, many under absolutely no hardship at all, but it was free money, and that huge debt is part of our deficit today.

That story repeats over and over in the nation. Take, take, take, and then a shrub when it comes to collective sacrifice.

Make that a "shrug".

We don't have enough shrubbery.

 

[Araucaria]

This is particularly true for the COVID handouts. Americans from every walk of life took the money, many under absolutely no hardship at all, but it was free money, and that huge debt is part of our deficit today.

That story repeats over and over in the nation. Take, take, take, and then a shrub when it comes to collective sacrifice.

Looking back on it, I think there was a fear in the government that the shrinking of the economy from the Covid shutdown, could precipitate a panic reaction among the public and the markets, that would end up crashing the economy. The idea of the handouts was to bolster confidence to prevent that. I think we can second-guess it now, and there were unforeseen consequences like inflation and the overheating of the real estate markets, resulting in making buying or renting a place to live almost impossible for many people.

 

[Riverrick]

Looking back on it, I think there was a fear in the government that the shrinking of the economy from the Covid shutdown, could precipitate a panic reaction among the public and the markets, that would end up crashing the economy. The idea of the handouts was to bolster confidence to prevent that. I think we can second-guess it now, and there were unforeseen consequences like inflation and the overheating of the real estate markets, resulting in making buying or renting a place to live almost impossible for many people.

All of this is true. The economy did not crash the way it was expected. The full picture is that people were staying home from their jobs and not traveling, not going to stores and restaurants. The lack of demand and loss of workers caused less sales and production. Businesses should have by all rights been closing right and left, employees should have been layed off, and inflation would have occurred regardless. Higher prices with less income should have led to a spiral ending in a recession. So one could argue that the handouts did work as we did not suffer the recession that everyone expected. It's just as you say, there were unforeseen consequences. If we went back in time, I'm not sure what the correct response should be.

 

[NotHardUp1]

We have done this hat trick all three times now.

First, during the 9/11 aftermath, George W. Bush encouraged us to get out there and spend to show those terrorists we can't be cowed into staying home and hurting our economy.

The the financial collapse of 2007-8, and the government panicked and pulled interest rates down to zero and kept them there rather than admit we had entered not a recession, but an actual depression.

Then COVID came along and the same Herculean effort was made to stoke the fires of consumerism, 'cuz reasons.

At the time, PLENTY of people were horrified at the size of the giveaways and the lack of oversight. At the time, the GOP was sounding the alarm, at the same time their constituents were raking it in.

Pish!

 

[cityboy-stl]

The pandemic would have brought inflation regardless, but it should not have been as bad as it was/is. The thing that always seems to be overlooked is, corporate opportunistic greed-flation and predatory price-gouging.

 

[rareboy]

View attachment 3151945
View attachment 3151946

I have found her to be one of the most repugnant Senators in the US government for years. She is a cynical political opportunist of the first order and her
fake virtue signalling just barely covers her greed for pay-offs.

 

[Riverrick]

The pandemic would have brought inflation regardless, but it should not have been as bad as it was/is. The thing that always seems to be overlooked is, corporate opportunistic greed-flation and predatory price-gouging.

That greed-flation is so aggravating.

 

[KaraBulut]

The pandemic would have brought inflation regardless, but it should not have been as bad as it was/is. The thing that always seems to be overlooked is, corporate opportunistic greed-flation and predatory price-gouging.

It wasn't just bad in America- it was a global phenomenon. Several countries had triple digit inflation while Americans were complaining when their inflation rate peaked at SEVEN percent.


It was going to happen because of some of the weird phenomenon during the pandemic like the market increases, the jump in real estate prices and most importantly, the dependence upon China in the supply chain.

It was lessened by America's largess in socialized support by the government and some of the financial policies that lessened the impacts in the US. Without that fiscal responsibility, it is likely that we would have seen rates that were double the 7 percent peak in 2021 when the economy reopened.

It is inexplicable why Congress didn't investigate the unjustified price increases or investigate why prices didn't come back down after the economy stabilized in 2023.

 

[rareboy]

^ Crises bring out the predatory.

And COVID was certainly a trigger that turned billionaires into multi-billionaires.

It helped make a lot of us unjustified amounts of returns on investments.

And the upcoming recession will concentrate wealth to an unimaginable degree.

 

[KaraBulut]

^ Crises bring out the predatory.

And COVID was certainly a trigger that turned billionaires into multi-billionaires.

Since this is the deplorables thread, it's a good opportunity to post these pictures of summertime in Venice:




All those packages we got delivered to our house during the pandemic paid for...


And some of their friends who got that big tax cut yesterday:

 

[KaraBulut]

And some pictures of the rest of Venice:

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/28/europe/jeff-bezos-wedding-protest-venice-latam-intl

After Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez tied the knot in Venice on Friday, a few hundred protesters gathered Saturday at a city train station for a march, united with one message for the Amazon billionaire and his bride: go away.

“Bezos, f**k off,” they chanted in Italian. “Out of our lagoon!”

One bearded man toted a Shrek-themed placard with the same message: “Get Out of Our Lagoon,” the “a” in lagoon sprouting Shrek ears, with a Spotify link below for the theme song from the first movie in the series, Smash Mouth’s “All Star.”

“Bezos goes hand-in-hand with (US President Donald) Trump, who’s fueling more money in war,” one woman bellowed into a microphone by the station. “We are for peace.”

“(Bezos) has such a lot of power,” Austrian protester Hans Peter Martin told CNN. “And now he’s abusing this city as a place to show off. So, he’s not welcome here.”

 

[rareboy]

The GQP are utterly shameless.

 

[rareboy]

 

[rareboy]

What kind of a demented cultist do you have to be to land here?

 

[rareboy]

Republican response to the flooding in Texas.