31 Comments

The paradox of tolerance. But my eyes are open. As that "lib socialist", I see now my immediate, instinctual behaviors only allowed the MAGAs to flourish, like the crabgrass that doubles as my lawn. I was not relying on SS for retirement, entirely, but my husband was and we realize now it would be foolish to continue. We went from feeling moderately stable to realizing that our entire system is being disrupted and dismantled. Slow motion crumbling of the concrete beneath our feet. I go between sheer abandon and panic.

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Billy, I applaud you. First become a registered repub and thethen quit Kiwanis.... Your wise extremism speaks to me. I am avoiding magats as much as possible, and that is hard in Florida. Any other clues as to what to do are appreciated. Are we ready to stand in front of a tank in Times Square if need be? I am haunted by the oppression in the world and that I now feel at home, but at least not yet in my home. Stay strong!

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We had an immigration reform bill in 1987 that was supposed to fix a broken immigration system with amnesty for millions. These adverse consequences, some tragic, are the direct responsibility of 37 years of misrule by the Establishment of this nation. One thing is for sure. You can have a liberal European style welfare state with good wages OR you can have mass immigration. But you can't have both.

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Blah blah blah. Enjoy what’s coming. It will fall heavier on yon than me. The election’s over.

This is life.

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You’ll never have capital, Al, no matter how many children’s faces you stick guns in.

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That's another theme of the left. Calling everyone else flops and failures who disagree with them. NEWFLASH- Bad policy and the arrogance of wealth always fall on the less fortunate. I don't call myself unfortunate. Got 4 and a 1/2 acres on the Gulf Coast, a home on an acre of ground. My Dad gave me $1000 worth of Publix Stock years ago and I never sold that. Yes, I'm probably not as wealth as you and don't have a lot of capital. I'm almost 60, in very poor health so I'm not going to accumulate much capital. Being alive is enough for me. So, You're spot on. Us flops and failures are usually pretty docile. Until we're not. Look at the flops and failures who carried out the French Revolution. The people were laughed at and called flops and failures until they got real mad and it got ugly. That's your whole argument lately. Me and my family are all flops and failures because we worked for Publix and not the government. OK, I'll give that to you.

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You are 100

Percent lying about how I describe you. Quote me; don’t lie about me. Not having capital doesn’t make anyone a failure. Never said that and you know it.

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You won and you get to govern now. That comes with criticism. Be a man and take it without lying about “the left.”

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I'm taking the heat. Trust me. I still love you. I'm just answering some of the heat here. Comments like I'll never have any capital no matter how many guns get stuck in children's faces, sounds like I'm expecting some sort of personal gain from that. Nope. I want to put American Labor on a sound footing again. Capital and Government have teamed up to put them at too large of a disadvantage. Labor feels that the Democrats and the National Establishment have deserted them. Trump offers an alternative. And he appears to have somewhat delivered in his first term. 8% real increase in wages. 5% decrease in real wages under Biden. It's really not complicated if you guys would listen. Not asking you to support Trump. Asking you to help reform Establishment indifference to the issue.

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No matter what flaws I have, and I have plenty, these ad hominem attacks on America's electorate don't make you right.

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You might e want to do look up the data on the impact of immigration on the economy: your dichotomy is propaganda.

High wage economies struggle for growth, immigrants bring new demand for houses, services, pay taxes, do jobs most Americans don't want etc.

Look up the data: that huge influx of illegals actually helped your economy a great deal by providing the labour that many countries couldn't find post covid.

And Biden tried from the start to get proper immigration legislation but Rs killed it every time, including this year.

Biden was better for labour, wages etc, as Democrats vhistorically have been, than Trump ever was or will ever be: look up the voting record of the Rs on this, as well as all the Biden programs that brought money into communities, including huge pro manufacturing investment that Trump promised but never delivered.

The data says that Trump is a liar, a fraud, that played y'all with fear. The Muslim vote - Trump is all in with Israel; the young men - Trump is using their grievances, not going to fix anything except their desire to talk shit to ppl that are better educated than them.

And worst of all - explain to your kids how it's ok to elect to the highest office a total scumbag of a human being who models daily behaviour you'd ground for kids for & not let your daughters near.

The lift required to justify electing this circus clown car grifting mob is so huge that it exposes the things Magas won't say, tho some are atm - the resentment that the 'victims' of the modern high cost world heap upon those fortunate enough to benefit from it: the stupidity is that they love Musk & Trump, ppl in the class they purport to hate.

There is no going back to 2019, or 1975: high cost economies have to move up the value curve.

I agree govts have not handled globalism properly, but that's largely due to the wealthy capitalists like Musk & Trump that have hoarded the benefits; same mob costing you a fortune for health, pharma products etc, & destroying public education so they can privatise it for their mates, & stacking SCOTUS with ppl that stopped Trump being held to account for his crimes.

Your country is shit on many measures of human thriving not bc of the things you all blame it on: it's bc you keep eating the shit sandwiches the big end of town is happy to sell you.

Look at the transfer payments from blue to red states, the maternal mortality figures, poverty, education etc - and tell us how voting red makes sense.

Look up the data.

It's a joke.

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Yeah, I've had this argument with Right Wing Republicans before. It's ironic you take their position. First of all, higher wages is sort of the POINT of a good economy. Of course low wage economies provide higher growth. They are busy incorporating the technology that mature high wage economies are producing and growing. But what's better? To be Tanzania with a good growth rate or the Netherlands with a slower growth rate and high wages? You ask me to look at the data. REAL wages were up 8% under Trump and down 5% under Biden due to the inflation. Yes, mass immigration does drive up asset prices. There is demand for homes, Businesses are more profitable due to cheap labor. So those who already are more wealthy become even MORE wealthy than they already are. Those working for a paycheck? Well the LESS they make the better according to you.

We have proper immigration legislation. In 1987 we had comprehensive immigration reform. You guys want mass immigration to drive down wages so we can have a good economy. By your own theory in this post.

I'm not going to answer your silly personal attacks on Trump. Yes, he's done a lot of morally questionable stuff. But he's also proven he's willing to give his life for the country. And you're just going to say all Democrats are saints. So that debate is a waste of my time.

I'm glad you posted because this exemplifies everything WRONG with Establishment thinking and why the American people don't won't this destructive program.

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May be. But I vote for what I think is good for the country in the long run. However, I thought the last 4 years of Trump were very good overall. Until the Chinese with American financial help whipped Covid on us.

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I didn’t call you a name. Stop lying. I said nothing ad hominem. I said you won’t ever have capital and the consequences of your vote will fall more heavily on you than me. I am content for that to happen. And I will tell you about it. You do not have to read this dirty lib’s free website if it makes you angry. But the day will never come when I don’t point out the consequences of your cruelty.

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You don’t bother to read and think. You just fantasize about my execution. And I’m condescending one.

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One of the challenges we have in dealing with MAGAs and especially those you so aptly identified as “MAGA fluid” is that so many of them don’t want to “talk politics”. They don’t want confrontation or argument. They want to stay quiet and hope they won’t have to own their choices. Going at them mainly reinforces their sense of victimhood. So we will need to bide our time and let them initiate conversations.

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I’m not talking about conversations. I’m talking about saying no and not taking on the civic responsibilities they have abandoned. I agree with you — yes let them come to you. But more I think we need to let them experience life consequences from their choices. We are among the consequences in many cases.

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Nov 13Liked by Billy Townsend

We agree and “conversation” wasn’t the best word choice. I’m not cutting “Aunt Karen” any slack or a polite silence for what she might say in a social situation. Unsparing truth. I might even succumb to temptation to bait her a bit with a news item - especially something local. But I may dial back on initiating conflicts. Always respond, but mostly keep it at “you know what you did and I also know and you know that I know”.

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How about a simple comparison of transfer payments; of health, poverty etc statistics by blue v red states?

It's not only eating shit sandwiches sold them by liars & grifters, but forcing the ppl offering you healthy food to eat them too.

Trump & Musk win by playing the victim card; guess we have the left to blame for revealing it's power, right?

Not the douchebags that cynically exploited post Covid personal & economic trauma for their personal ends? Never. Such good Christians.

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