Stupid Republican idea of the day

[bobot]

Yeah, you know, great again.

[PigArcher]

@Ukulele_Ike

So what, exactly, is the Republican endgame here?

Feudalism

[foolsguinea]

@Ukulele_Ike

Paul Krugman had an interesting column last week, pointing out that giving billionaires a half-million dollar tax cut would NOT necessarily have them all licking their chops…it’s a drop in the bucket to a guy already possessing billions of dollars.

The proposed “reform” would, however, result in increased illness and misery for many of us NOT possessing billions of dollars, as a result of higher taxes on the middle class and cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and many social programs.

So what, exactly, is the Republican endgame here?

Some kind of deflation, probably. Increased poverty means a drop in the price of labor, and deflation means those who have any purchasing power suddenly have the ability to buy up a lot more.

Look, just because they are evil doesn’t mean they’re wise. Probably the opposite.

[Ukulele_Ike]

A return to slavery for all African-Americans, and a return to indentured servitude for all the brain-dead white rurals who make up Trump’s base? The oligarchs call all the shots, and the 99% dance to their tune, if you don’t mind the mixed metaphor?

Sounds like the Repubs are trying to lead us down a path to violent revolution. There’s not enough televised football, cheap beer and bad pizza in the entire country to distract the hot polloi.

[elucidator]

You are overlooking one alternative, that they are actually stubbornly stupid enough to believe the stuff they say. There are people walking around in public who will look you straight in the eye and tell you that trickle-down economics works. Well, OK,but this time for sure!

Hit yourself in the head with a hammer, couple shots of bourbon and squint, you will see that all of this is in the best interests of the American people!

[running_coach]

@elucidator

You are overlooking one alternative, that they are actually stubbornly stupid enough to believe the stuff they say. There are people walking around in public who will look you straight in the eye and tell you that trickle-down economics works. Well, OK,but this time for sure!

Hit yourself in the head with a hammer, couple shots of bourbon and squint, you will see that all of this is in the best interests of the American people!

It does work.
For the people at the very top.

[crowmanyclouds]

@running_coach

It does work.
For the people at the very top.

*Why do they have the gold?
Why do they have the power?
Why why why why why do they have the friends at the top?
Why do they have the jobs at the top?

We’ve got nothing, always had nothing
Nothing but holes, and millions of them
Living in holes, dying in holes
Holes in our bellies, and holes in our clothes

[DEL][COLOR=“Black”]Marat[/DEL][/COLOR] Trump, we’re poor and the poor stay poor
[DEL][COLOR=“Black”]Marat[/DEL][/COLOR] Trump, don’t make us wait any more
We want our rights and we don’t care how
We want our revolution … now!*

CMC fnord!
One tickles the tiger at their own risk . . . sadly I don’t see a future America filled with guillotines, so I’ll never get to drive the cart and sing the tumbrel song!

[septimus]

Here’s a story SDMB may have missed seven years ago. It’s old news now but still amusing.

the South Dakota House of Representatives passed a resolution to “urge” public schools to teach astrology. By a 36–30 vote, the legislators passed House Concurrent Resolution 1009, … repeating long–debunked denier myths and calling carbon dioxide “the gas of life,” …

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-fifth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature urges that instruction in the public schools relating to global warming include the following:

(1) That global warming is a scientific theory rather than a proven fact; (2) That there are a variety of climatological, meteorological, astrological [sic], thermological, cosmological, and ecological dynamics that can effect [sic] world weather phenomena and …

[DrumBum]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry says fossil fuels can help prevent sexual assaults in Africa

“When the lights are on, when you have light that shines — the righteousness, if you will — on those types of acts,” he told an Axios event.
:eek:

[k9bfriender]

@running_coach

It does work.
For the people at the very top.

But even then, only in a short sighted way. Improving the conditions of others improves your own, as well. Having a healthier, better educated work force in high morale is important for the economy to continue to be successful. Not to mention the infrastructure to get goods in to sell, employee’s in to work, and clients in to spend money.

The fewer people who have money to spend in the economy, the slower it will grow. Even if all you are doing is skimming off the top, you can skim more off the top if there is more for everyone.

[eschereal]

@septimus

Here’s a story SDMB may have missed seven years ago. It’s old news now but still amusing.

the fault, dear septimus, lies …

[Rick_Kitchen]

DiGiorno Pizza is trolling Papa John.

Papa John's Gets Badly Burned In Twitter War With DiGiorno

[GIGObuster]

Republicans just introduced a resolution to remove Mueller from the Trump-Russia investigation

Republicans just introduced a resolution to remove Mueller from the...

WASHINGTON - A group of conservative Republican lawmakers introduced a resolution on Friday calling for Robert Mueller to recuse himself as the special counsel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election and whether President Donald Trump’s campaign team colluded with Moscow.

Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Louie Gohmert of Texas say Mueller should step down because he was the FBI director in 2010 when US government agencies approved the sale of Uranium One, a Canadian energy company, to a Russian nuclear-energy firm. The deal required approval because Uranium One had mining operations in the US.

IIUC this is non binding, just weapons grade stupid. As the old saying goes:

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.

[garygnu]

I guess John Kelly missed that one while sleeping through the Lincoln portion of history class, too.

[bobot]

Republican Smartensteins: Ok, here’s what we’ll do- Trump will fire the first guy, then we’ll have the next guy removed! Foolproof! The investigation will vanish then, right? HI FIVE!!

[jsc1953]

@BusinessInsider

Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Louie Gohmert of Texas say Mueller should step down because he was the FBI director in 2010 when US government agencies approved the sale of Uranium One, a Canadian energy company, to a Russian nuclear-energy firm. The deal required approval because Uranium One had mining operations in the US.

Ya know, in a rational universe – like the one we had until last year – a sign-off from the head of the FBI would be seen as a stamp of approval, not an indication of criminal conspiracy.

[elucidator]

IIRC, the FBI was not one of the regulatory orgs who’s opinion was required or even solicited. Maybe alert the cite-miners?

[GIGObuster]

@garygnu

I guess John Kelly missed that one while sleeping through the Lincoln portion of history class, too.

As much as I hate guys like Kelly, I have to point that one thing I like to check is for sources of ‘too good to be quotes’. You would be surprised about how many times they are falsely attributed. In this case that saying has been erroneously attributed to Lincoln or Mark Twain, but the source is not clear so I did not attribute it to anyone.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/05/17/remain-silent/

[PigArcher]

@elucidator

IIRC, the FBI was not one of the regulatory orgs who’s opinion was required or even solicited. Maybe alert the cite-miners?

From what I can tell the logic is that the deal was obviously criminal because Hilary, so for the FBI to not act is prima facie evidence of collusion.

[eschereal]

Does stuff about Pruitt’s EPA go here or in the Clusterfuck thread?

It seems that Pruitt plans to replace the entire EPA science advisory board, which is a bit non-standard. And, if you cannot get sunday-school teachers from the quilting circle,

Robert Phalen, who directs the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory at the University of California Irvine, is not an obvious ideologue … but his research findings would support a deregulatory agenda …

But at least he is an expert who knows stuff

… the fear of killer smog that led to the hiring of Robert Phalen to help California create policies to regulate the stuff in the air. Now that the policies are in place, Phalen, a founder and co-director of a major smog research lab, has one more thing to say about it: The air is just too clean. And he’s pretty sure that it’s not good for the children, whose lungs need a few irritants to learn how to ward them off. “Modern air,” Phalen says, \is a little too clean for optimum health."

or something.