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On Nov 6 the Isreali military announces that it will not allow Palestinians to return to Northern Gaza.

This is ethnic cleansing & forced displacement. These are war crimes.

Joe Biden could stop funding this at any moment but even now he won't. Reckless.
theguardian.com/world/2024/nov…

in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01
This is the new reality: no accountability for oligarchs.
A Republican congress guarantees that nothing will come of it.
Get used to it. It’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

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in reply to Joe Hill 🇮🇱🇵🇸🇺🇦

@Joe_Hill
The last era of the Leisure Class culminated in a series of disastrous financial collapses & two world wars.

The greed of the wealthy knows no self-regulation.

It won't be railway & banking collapses, it might be AI & crypto this time.
pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperienc…

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_D…

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_…

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o…

federalreservehistory.org/essa…

federalreservehistory.org/essa…

cambridge.org/core/journals/jo…

All those Trump voters delude themselves that ...
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in reply to Nicole Parsons

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... they've evaded taxation by electing the GOP. Lol.

40% to 60% of a nation's GDP goes to funding a war caused by the recession that was caused by the greed of the wealthy.

That war is funded by heavy taxation.
britannica.com/money/defense-e…

The pattern, deregulation to enrich the rich, bubble, financial crash, recession, war, bubble, recession,...over & over.

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in reply to Joe Hill 🇮🇱🇵🇸🇺🇦

@Joe_Hill @Npars01
We must adopt the same playbook they used. Slow, small changes, small wins, until we have enough power back to do as they did.

Just remember, we are the more intelligent party, so we should be able to get things back much quicker. They took decades to pull this off because that's what it takes for stupid to develop.

Truthfully, I expect the GOP to be too drunk on power to get anything done. Watch. Nothing meaningful to the country will get done. The economy, the food & gas prices, nothing will change.

in reply to NO NAME

@jeff @Joe_Hill
Republicans want to dismantle the ACA, give tax cuts to the rich, deregulate pollution, thwart the phase out of fossil fuels, force women to boost the birth rate for economic reasons, suppress wages & voting, create slave labor camps for detainees, end federal agencies, end all social safety net programs, privatize & loot all federally owned assets, protect the gun lobby, reward megadonors using tax dollars, raise drug prices, adopt crypto,..

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

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.. inflict ruinous tariffs on automakers, farmers & distilleries, end all unions, eliminate the minimum wage, end student loan relief, convert government jobs into Tamanny Hall style graft, and profit from war & pandemics.

Republicans have a false reputation for being a "Do Nothing" party.

They plan on making 99% of the country poorer, sicker, and less long lived, while the favored few reap the rewards of being loyal apparatchiks.

This entry was edited (2 weeks ago)

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 and I'm saying they are too stupid to make any of it work. When they deport everyone that does the manual labor in this country, then what? You don't think MAGA is going to pick fruit or work at McDonald's do you?

Watch and see. They "want" to do a lot, but per usual do not have the critical thinking skills to see beyond their hate. They think they will just bus everyone they hate to the border and kick them out, turn and drive away, and be done with it.

I am betting on many mistakes happening and when they meet resistance even more mistakes will happen. We can take this country back.

in reply to NO NAME

@jeff

Trump's "deportation plan" is actually a plan for slave labor internment camps similar to Putin's gulags & China's Uigher "re-education camps".

He's rewarding his private prison donors.
huffpost.com/entry/trump-depor…

Detainees will spend years incarcerated working for pennies while their deportation is slow-walked.
rollingstone.com/politics/poli…

nytimes.com/2024/11/06/us/poli…

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01

I'll say it again.

They are too stupid to pull any of it off.

I'm not ready to give up.

in reply to NO NAME

@jeff @Npars01 While this may be true, they're going to hurt a lot of people trying. So we all have to pull together, throw sand in the gears and resist.
in reply to Samhain Night 4 Harris

@samhainnight @Npars01

100% resist. I luckily live in a state with a governor that just told Trump, "If you come for my people, you will have to go through me!"

#illinois #Pritzker

in reply to NO NAME

@jeff @Npars01 I'm in CA and Newsom just called a special session of the state Senate to combat Trump.
The US needs CA more than CA needs the US - from a Federal standpoint,
(We all need each other as people, of course), so I'm glad we have a strong Democratic governor who stands up to Trump.
in reply to Sisukas Bill #Resist #Persist

Putin would adore it if the USA became like the former Yugoslavian states: weak, small, fractious & exploited as an agricultural backwater.

Easily picked off, one by one.

Strength comes from unity.

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in reply to OtownKim

@otownKim @jeff

Here's another scary thought

Megadonors like #KochNetwork want to shut down the Dept. Of Education & privatize all schools

Guess who invests in both charter schools AND private prisons? Jeff Yass & Peter Thiel

Want CoreCivic & GeoGroup running your child's high school on a lucrative no-bid contract?

finance.yahoo.com/news/12-best…

ft.com/content/88ba9e42-09c2-4…

fool.com/investing/2024/11/07/…

rollingstone.com/politics/poli…

nytimes.com/2024/11/06/us/poli…

huffpost.com/entry/trump-depor…

reuters.com/article/world/firs…

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff

"He's rewarding his private prison donors."

Hah, one of my thoughts for “What Biden should do now" is to blanket pardon just about every federal inmate with a sentence of fewer than say 5 years. See what that does to private prison income…

in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff
You can always see who paid in.
That's why tariffs (or suddenly not tariffs) are to watch.

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in reply to Cabbidges

@TheDailyBurble @jeff

Republicans do nothing but reward their donors.

In effect, a Republican administration is a machine to convert taxpayer dollars into profits for their favored billionaires.

Bribery & kickbacks.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/20…

gothamist.com/news/bronx-gop-o…

propublica.org/article/clarenc…

rollingstone.com/politics/poli…

cnbc.com/2024/05/16/trump-rnc-…

in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @TheDailyBurble @jeff
💯

But the machine is even more efficient then that. When the government debt gets too big, and/or a financial bubble bursts, the Democrats are allowed to take over and clean up the books - all while being constantly blamed by the GOP

Then, as we just saw, a Democrats can be leading an economy that is "the envy of the world" (Economist mag) yet somehow personally responsible for the price gouging that drove inflation.

I blame media for amplifying GOP lies

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in reply to TCat will ignore the lies

@TCatInReality @Npars01 @TheDailyBurble @jeff

Also it seemed to me the Democrats didn't run on those record breaking accomplishments, yielding (as they often do) to GOP lies.

in reply to Stargeezer Smith

@stargazersmith @TCatInReality @Npars01 @TheDailyBurble

With 38% of registered voters either not voting or were blocked/prevented from voting is the ultimate reason Trump won. Not the only reason, but a primary reason.

They did everything they could to change the rules in their favor and forced a lot of people to just give up and not vote.

As for the 32% that actually voted for Trump consists mostly of low information voters that just don't watch the news. Mixed in with try MAGA cult members gave them that 2% lead.

in reply to Stargeezer Smith

@stargazersmith @jeff @Npars01 @TheDailyBurble
100% agree with No Name

And I'll push back hard on the rightwing narrative that Dems didn't message well, or rolled over to GOP messaging.

America essentially has two media:
- right wing propagandists and
- mainstream bothsides media that normalizes and sanewashes GOP insanity and downplays Dems

And that's because billionaires control the media and want this outcome. 9 years of relentless brainwashing made a criminal acceptable.

in reply to TCat will ignore the lies

@TCatInReality @Npars01 @TheDailyBurble @jeff
Someone posted “the role of the Republican Party is to represent the ruling class. The role of the Democratic Party is to oppose them, but not get in their way.” They opposed Trump but did not get in his way, allowing him to return to the WH. Just my thoughts. 🤷
in reply to TCat will ignore the lies

@TCatInReality @Npars01 @TheDailyBurble @jeff Been like that as long as I can remember. Personally I am getting ready for the inevitable Republican recession and job layoffs. Probably have a few years to save up some cash, am going to need it.
in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff And everyone will go along with it, shrug, and smile, and say 'aww.. just Trump being Trump'. 🙂
in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff
Exactly right, everyone should be reading about how Stalin consolidated authoritarian rule over the Russian empire in order to see what we have in store unless our resistance is effective.
in reply to samiamsam

@samiamsam @jeff

I watched it and read the book on the Wannsee Conference.

Perplexed why Miriam Adelson, Stephen Schwarzman, Jeffrey Yass, Bernie Marcus, Ike Perlmutter, & Kushner funded a set of neo-Nazis for public office, while listening to Trump rant antisemitic slurs.
nytimes.com/2024/10/24/us/poli…

lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/…

npr.org/2024/09/20/g-s1-23859/…
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/s…

haaretz.com/us-news/2024-11-08…

jweekly.com/2024/11/06/donald-…
thejewishindependent.com.au/je…

nytimes.com/2024/06/25/us/poli…

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff

so many people have no morals or values

they cherish and seek money and power to the exclusion of anything else

it really is disgusting

in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff
I've read estimates of what the arrests alone would cost taxpayers. Forgot the figures because I couldn't wrap my brain around them.

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in reply to Nazani

@Nazani @jeff

Republicans consider the American taxpayers as an exploitable resource to enrich their billionaire donors.

The 2008 Financial Crash taught Wall Street how to buy politicians to escape consequences & profit from the disasters they orchestrate.

Covid Pandemic relief made the rich a lot richer.

Both Trump presidencies will do the same. Enrichment & impunity for the moneyed.

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff
I think they'll enrich themselves off the broadening avian flu, too.
I read that peasants & craftsmen had a lot more value after the Black Death killed 30% of Europeans- but they were still stuck with kings.

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in reply to Nazani

@Nazani @jeff

Kings or any other dictator cannot cope with modern complexity.

Simplistic governance produces simplistic "solutions".

Converting modern government into a monarchy-style system of patronage hastens the collapse from crises like pandemics & prolong a painful recovery.

Population size wasn't restored for centuries after the Black Death because of the constant warfaring of despots between themselves.

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff
It must be tough, understanding cause & effect, & living in a world that largely doesn't.

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in reply to Nazani

@Nazani @jeff

Systems thinking seems to be a relatively new way of observing political decline.

The tech industry shares a lot of concepts that I wouldn't have encountered otherwise. Grateful for the broadening of horizons.

Not everyone sees that perspective. For them, knowledge is to be hoarded to benefit themselves personally.

Some use tech to narrow horizons, limit benefits to a tiny few, and manipulate others using information asymmetry.

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Nazani @jeff

Good books on Systems Thinking.

Derek & Laura Cabrera "Systems Thinking"
David Peter Stroh "Systems Thinking for Social Change"
Albert Rutherford "The Systems Thinker"

It can be applied to so many global problems, like backsliding democracies & fossil fuel funded fascism.

#KochNetwork & #AtlasNetwork spent 50 years building a right wing ecosystem to keep its captive consumers captivated.

A bandaid was attempted by focusing only on electing Democrats.

Voting is ...

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

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... only one element of a larger & broader effort necessary to save democracy & the planet. Build communities & ecosystems.

Fund law students careers right in college like Koch does. Fund progressive influencers. Fund a ground game.

Start with not participating in or contributing to any venture funded by GOP billionaires.

AI. Cryptocurrency. SpaceX. Twitter. Walmart. Loans. RTO. Fox News. CNN. NYT.

If a Republican wants it, you don't.

Sabotage their efforts to divide & conquer.

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

One aspect of fascism is the development of dark economies & tax evasion.

Populist tax revolts are responses to being harvested like wheat by billionaires.

Republicans have used tax evasion & tax revolts to undermine the common good for half a century. Turn the tables.

Think about the significance of the cash-only economy of India in response to Modi.

If billionaires can evade taxation, so can the poor, and then how will Musk get his government subsidies for SpaceX?
caravanmagazine.in/vantage/ind…

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

I agree with going back to cash, there’s also the concept of regional (complementary) currencies.

Cash has other benefits because spending habits change when money is physically handled.

The use of bank cards or phones is pervasive surveillance.

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff

Why am I not at all surprised? Especially when the stocks for private prisons spiked on the announcement of his winning the election..

People imagine that it has to be this great big military operation, but I don’t think it has to get anywhere like it. They need an operation showing a bunch of people being rounded up into one of these prisons and they can try out samples as much as they like.

Bye-bye, labor negotiation

in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff Prison labor is happening now. Look, too, at the Prop. that was just voted on, in California, allowing the continuation of enslavement for purposes of punishment.

Shocking but nonetheless accepted is that CoreCivic in Tennessee is a donor to arts, the Middle Tennessee YMCA and other seemingly benign institutions. Here's a random article about prison labor:

confluence.gallatin.nyu.edu/co…

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in reply to irizoris@hcommons.social

@irizoris @jeff

Private prisons & detention centers are rewards for Republican donors like Schwarzman of BlackRock and New Times institutional investors like Vanguard .

cnn.com/2019/06/28/investing/p…

theintercept.com/2022/06/27/es…

motherjones.com/criminal-justi…

Slave labor is returning, thanks to Trump's donors.

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff Private prisons are an essential part of Tennessee. I live in Nashville, a Dem enclave, but it's difficult to avoid CoreCivic's ubiquity.

Over in California, someone reminded me that prison labor was used to combat forest fires. And this is going to continue.

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 @jeff Yes, it'll get worse. It's gotten much much worse in Tennessee since I first set foot here. I'm glad my kid is done with school here and left for the west coast with a whole little colony of other graduates.
in reply to NO NAME

@jeff @Npars01 They will employ forced labor from the populace. They will "diagnose" people with a "mental illness" if they don't like your answers to their questions and send you off to the "Wellness" labor camps. motherjones.com/politics/2024/…
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in reply to foo ✅

@slashdottir @jeff @Npars01

Sounds like a reeducation camp.

The Clockwork Orange

The Big Brother loves you.

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in reply to 🤖 Lazaro el dog

@LazaroDTormes @slashdottir @jeff

Trump's supporters were always big admirers of Putin's gulag prisons and China's Uigher genocidal slave labor camps.

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in reply to Nicole Parsons

@Npars01 the one caveat I have about the ACA is that health care companies and insurance companies were at the table creating the ACA. They are not going to want to dismantle their cash cow. Obama basically restructured 1/3 of out economy. Tearing it apart is harder than it looks. It’s a little sliver of hope to hang onto..