WTF is wrong with this country?
 

Following up on this from Dave...
http://politicalchat.org/showpost.ph...43&postcount=1

This is one of the opinions from: Politico - What Trump Showed Us About America

From Politico in the depths of the pandemic, opinions from 35 mostly university professors (which will generate immediate sniveling and puking from anybody on the right), on what the fuck is wrong with us.

Ike's emphasis above.

And even if this is accurate, which I feel it is...goddamn white christian Americans have had it all over Americans of color and Americans of other religions since the founding...and they have certainly had it all over the citizens of countries that are sending refugees seeking a decent life to the borders of this country...people that they hate for no other reasons than the color of their skin and their religious beliefs.

If you can take the time...every one of these opinions is thoughtful, some of them stunningly pessimistic, but every one has been worth reading, IMHO.

Ike, let me add some of my own frustration.

Here is Trump a Seditionist wanna be Dictator who is soon going to be indicted for his January 6th insurrection, or at least Special Counsel jack Smith's office has informed him he is a target.

So what does Trump do? Rant on his social media calling Smith names.
Calls and asks his supporters in Congress to 'fight' for him.

And finally, his co predator Matt Goetz is going to try and get a bill passed to de-fund Jack Smith's operation. How can anyone even think of circumventing laws in a so called land of law and order. Only if you are serving a Fascist leader like Trump.

Matt Gaetz launches bill to defund Jack Smith probe as Trump asks Capitol allies for Jan 6 indictment help

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2377582.html

WTF is wrong with this country?
 

I am just so tired of Trump and his Republican cult. I have had enough of the clowns.
Maybe it is just the heat getting to me. The AC went out on Monday and we have been having triple digit weather.

That’s awful. As bad as it is during the day, it’s worse at night. Sleeping thru the heat is impossible for me.

That is torture, Barbara. I've had some success with a portable swamp cooler. Hope you get the AC fixed soon.

The old saw that it's the LEFT's fault for not explaining the situation is complete & utter crap. MAGA morons believe what they want to believe, and MAGA morons get their propaganda only from RIGHT wingnut media.

WTF is wrong with this country one asks?

Full of spoiled entitled whiners! With a very loud voice on certain news outlets fueling their rants.


Barbara how you get the AC back and cooling ASAP!

Oerets, I am cool!! Plan to bask in my coolness all day!

Great news!

My wife's car had AC issues.
Forgot how bad it is with no AC in the summertime.

All Joan Williams is saying is that there has been a failure to communicate an understanding of the fact that the American dream has been stolen from middle America by "slash and burn" capitalism...corporate and banking greed. All she's saying is that the left has done a piss poor job of focusing on this issue. The left has done a piss poor job at a lot of things when it comes to landing votes. And the Maga morons only make up 30% of Republican voters, even fewer of all voters.

I don't know what to do about the fact that rampant racism and bigotry in American culture made it easy for bigot Trump to sell "it's the immigrants and minorities fault" to bigoted white christian Americans.

But one thing I do know is that Americans have the government they deserve. The fact that this culture has pretty much totally abandoned any sense of, and commitment to any sort of collectivism is going to kill this democracy. Rugged individualism killed it. I got mine...go fuck yourself, killed it.

From Joan Williams' article:

His election made me realize that I and other progressives had failed to clearly communicate to our fellow Americans the reason for the hollowing out of the middle class: a toxic brand of slash-and-burn capitalism where Big Men’s frantic performance of masculinity “requires” them to hoard outlandish wealth so they can win the masculinity contest that defines their lives—gutting workers’ futures in the process.

OK, so this feminist law professor thinks capitalism has a masculinity problem? And she's bummed that more Americans don't agree with her? I think this will continue to bother poor Ms Williams because no American with half a brain is going to buy the crap she's selling. And suggesting that the folks who don't agree with you and her on this are MAGAmorons and Right-wingnut media isn't going to help her, or your, case at all.

The almost half of Americans who voted twice for a sexual assault perp/sociopathic grifter/lying-ass seditionist...don't have half a brain. And those of us here on PC finally have to accept the sad fact that this includes you, Mikey.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk are poster children for the case she is making. For example, Trump consistently ripped off construction workers and subcontractors on his projects and Musk has thus far not paid hundreds of millions in severance pay to laid off workers the world around.

Though I am not a big believer in the notion of toxic masculinity, these two clowns do provide pretty clear examples to those wishing to make the case.

A mishmash of whining, except it left out Clinton's wholesale sell out to the offshoring clique and Obama giving the government to Goldman Sachs.

You are certainly reliable when it comes to contriving some lamé whataboutism involving Clinton.

Covid revealed the fundamental error of the Clinton Heralded model. The country is now on the mend as globalization is much less appealing...common sense prevails.

Almost half full...46% full. I find that number interesting. It's the number Trump got in both elections* and the last few congressional votes find the Republican House and Senate candidates getting a total of 46% of the vote. So what have we learned here? It doesn't matter how criminal the behavior of a Republican candidate...the Republcan American voter will vote for that criminal anyway.

*Along with getting 46% of the vote in both elections, Trump got 60% of the white vote. I am officially ashamed of my race...and when I'm walking down any street, knowing that six out of every ten white people I pass are fucking Trump voters is one of the more disgusting aspects of my life.

I agree with you on this, do not believe that any amount of explanation can or will change some one's mind if their minds are made up. And those living in an echo chamber do not hear or read any contrary view points anyway, so why even bother?

My own perception is taht people without critical thinking skills like the MAGAmorons cannot ever brought around unless their belief system sinks them. Even then chances they will be looking for a scapegoat. If one buys snake oil, is it the fault of the seller making outlandish claims or the buyer. Most buyers will blame the salesman.

Putting Trump behind bars will only enrage them even further because they will still be listening only to him and his rants. But it may save the country.

WTF is wrong with this country?
 

Blaming Clinton for globalism is akin to blaming a rooster for the dawn. The reforms that heralded Chinese entry into global markets for manufactured goods started under Deng in 1978 at which time Clinton was the Attorney General of Arkansas.

You seem totally unencumbered by facts when it comes to ragging on Clinton.

A raging patriarchy problem, in fact. Why are women paid 70-75% of what men are paid for the same work? Fucking patriarchy.

Depends on where you live. That is certainly not the case where I live.

It is not true in virtually every American urban center and most of their suburbs, but true in virtually all rural areas (even in a deep blue state like Maryland).

Getting the Germans to renounce Nazism required slaughtering their soldiers, bombing their cities to rubble, and finally invading and occupying their country.

Yep, but those actions still did not stop the Japanese from similarly renouncing their own aggressive past.

They had a a group in charge who had the flawed hope that inflicting enough damage on the US would give them leverage in negotiations. Make the US bleed enough that there would be a push to stop the war. With the War in Europe over that is.

To accomplish this end they were more the willing to sacrifice their population....to the last man woman and child!

Scary what humans are capable of!

Indeed. But what I was referring to is their unwillingness to this day, led by their Conservative Party, to acknowledge their brutal atrocities against the Chinese (e.g., Rape of Nanking) and Koreans (sex slaves (comfort women).

In a way, I guess it is not all that different from American conservatives now trying to rewrite the brutal aspects of black history or Russian conservatives glossing over the Stalinist purges and the gulags.

One of my Brothers was in Japan in the Marines and said that the locals he met did not even know about Pearl Harbor....

Only about our A Bombs dropped!

So in the 80's it was still so in Japan....

Well...I'm pretty sure that when you're walking down the street in Opelika, that it's way more than 6 out of 10 of the white folks passing by voted for Trump. In Alabama it was 8 out of 10. In DuPage County IL (far west Chicago suburbs) it's half. In Porter County, IN (our other place) it's 7 out of 10.

The fucking point is...60% of white Americans voted twice for Trump and if he's the candidate in 2024, 60% of white Americans will vote for him again.

It's human nature ain't it? It's pretty much the same everywhere. Short memory for most stuff, long memory for stuff we are pissed off about. It's the same shit everywhere. And if I learned anything in my 25+ years as a direct counseling services provider, it's that everybody lies.

Humans are locusts. Big locusts with a little intelligence and way, way too much technology. Wherever we go, sooner or later, everything dies.

As Oerets said above...scary what humans are capable of!

WTF is wrong with this guy? Hey!!! D!!! WTF...did Bill Clinton fuck your sister? Your mama? Your grandma? All three of 'em?

The offshoring has nothing to do with politicians, and everything to do with American slash and burn capitalism. And if there's anybody to blame, it's the American consumer who doesn't want to pay for what anything is worth. The corporate execs know it, and that if they want the business, their shit, or a bunch of the parts that are in their shit, is going to have to come from China, or Bangladesh, or Vietnam, or Mexico. Or the other manufacturers who went offshore is going to get the business.

Just like the politics, the economy, including the inflation is on the fucking people.

Americans want what they want.
They want it right this fucking second.
They want somebody else to pay for it.

And if they can't get somebody else to pay for it, they want it cheaper than everybody else on the block. And they won't blink at buying something that says "Made in China" on it. But no, let's blame Bill Clinton.

The major problem with the USA is the people. And mostly the poor white supremacist christian victims of immigrants, blacks, Latinos. and Asians.

You fucking plonker.

Agreed Ike. A handful of years back recall reading an article lamenting that US made small home appliances like a toaster or a microwave is no longer available or too expensive for the average consumer.

Looked up just now, an American made toaster will cost you over $300.00

Off-shoring began with Nixon and his romance with China and has continued unabated. Blaming the government is nonsense, blame the consumers. Walmart, Amazon and eBay are the three of the biggest purveyors of Chinese made crap. Couple of weeks ago, ordered two rolls of 1" polyester tape from Zon and they came actually directly from China, I am sure subsidized by USPS. They are not even bothering to hide it anymore.

We've already discussed your shitwit obsession with Bill Clinton in detail...let's talk about this bullshit. Easy on/easy off alt-right propaganda. This putz is talking about the 2008 investment banking meltdown and since he's a MAGA pillock, we get a whittling down of the causes and the fallout from the 2008 meltdown to Obama did it.

Want to have a discussion on the causes, the interventions, and the outcomes of the 2008 meltdown D? Get your ass on here and post something that isn't alt-right 10 words or less propaganda racist witchdoctor Obama lying bullshit.

Does it have a bagel function (toast one side only) that actually works? Might be worth it.

Obama gave Congress to Goldman Sachs?!?

^^And Trump tried to give the US Capitol to the MAGAts.

This one does by Wolf, made in Wisconsin. Tosats one side, warms the other side. ~$380.00

https://wolfgourmet.com/store/counte...g___&utm_term=

We started buying Japanese and European cars back in the 1970's. Exclusively until back in 1997 or so we bought a low mileage '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. Consumer reports gave that model year a good rating. The fucking thing was in the dealer's shop 18 times in 18 months. They replaced the frong ball joints, it on had like 30,000 miles on it. And 2000 miles later they needed replacement again. Never again, we got a '99 Lexus RX300 SUV and never looked back. What a great car. And I remember Lee Iaccoca being on NPR one time a few years before he died and he said "Well, back in the 70's, 80's and 90's the American auto industry just wasn't making very good cars." Thanks for letting us know now, Lee.

Lots of truth there. Back in the days of young kids, we bought a 1995 Ford Windstar, a highly-rated minivan at the time. What an absolute piece of shit. The engine blew at 60k due a faulty head design. They replaced it with a "factory rebuild" under a goodwill warranty due to widespread problems. That engine lasted from suburban Maryland down to the North Carolina line on Spring break (~200 miles). We had that engine replaced again with a "factory rebuild" under the same warranty program in Roanoke Rapids, NC and continued on our vacation in a rental minivan. We picked it up on the way back north and the engine blew again by the time we hit the DC beltway. No shit. That car had 3 engines (original and 2 factory replacements in it within 400 miles of driving).

We traded it in for a song and bought a Toyota Sienna which ended up being absolutely bulletproof - only consumables (fluids, filters, tires and brakes) over 225k miles at which time we traded it for a Mazda CX-5 (I already had a Mazda 6). Since then it has been all Toyota and Mazda for us and our kids and none of us have had any car repair bills whatsoever (other than consumables).

American manufacturers could have built better cars, they choose not to for bottom line reasons. That's why the imports were cleaning their clocks. The imports didn't have any edge on any secret technology they just gave the public a better product.

Looks great but I guess toasted bagels aren't really that big a part of my life....