OWS

Generally an unmoderated forum for discussion of pretty much any topic. The focus however, is usually politics.
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rstrong
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Re: OWS

Unread post by rstrong »

I wonder when Republicans will realize that OWS was about "draining the swamp." It was about the very things Trump supporters use to justify their votes - Washington beholden to Wall Street and ignoring the needs of the middle class.

Republicans treated OWS like criminals. Police tear-gassed them and did dirty tricks like dropping off every homeless person they could find into the OWS camp.

Now Trump filled the White House with "the swamp"; Goldman Sachs and ExxonMobil executives and assorted major donors and lobbyists. The Republican crowd's response to OWS only makes the new administration's betrayal more predictable and their gullibility more sad.

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Boatrocker
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Boatrocker »

Rethugs are not renowned for figuring things out.
I will not lie down.
I will not go quietly.

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billy.pilgrim
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Re: OWS

Unread post by billy.pilgrim »

Boatrocker wrote:Rethugs are not renowned for figuring things out.
Keep your government hands off of my medicare
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

billy.pilgrim wrote:Keep your government hands off of my medicare
http://www.blueridgedebate.com/viewtopi ... are#p71697
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Boatrocker
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Boatrocker »

Wingnuts are already fooled. They will blame Obammer.
I will not lie down.
I will not go quietly.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

The Confederacy was a con job on whites. And still is.

... You don’t have to be an economist to see that forcing blacks – a third of the South’s laborers – to work without pay drove down wages for everyone else. And not just in agriculture. A quarter of enslaved blacks worked in the construction, manufacturing and lumbering trades; cutting wages even for skilled white workers.

Thanks to the profitability of this no-wage/low-wage combination, a majority of American one-per-centers were southerners. Slavery made southern states the richest in the country. The South was richer than any other country except England. But that vast wealth was invisible outside the plantation ballrooms. With low wages and few schools, southern whites suffered a much lower land ownership rate and a far lower literacy rate than northern whites....

They managed this con job partly with a propaganda technique that will be familiar to modern Americans, but hasn’t received the coverage it deserves in our sesquicentennial celebrations. Starting in the 1840s wealthy Southerners supported more than 30 regional pro-slavery magazines, many pamphlets, newspapers and novels that falsely touted slave ownership as having benefits that would – in today’s lingo – trickle down to benefit non-slave owning whites and even blacks. The flip side of the coin of this old-is-new trickle-down propaganda is the mistaken notion that any gain by blacks in wages, schools or health care comes at the expense of the white working class.

Today’s version of this con job no longer supports slavery, but still works in the South and thrives in pro trickle-down think tanks, magazines, newspapers, talk radio and TV news shows such as the Cato Foundation, Reason magazine, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. These sources are underwritten by pro trickle-down one-per-centers like the Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch.

For example, a map of states that didn’t expand Medicaid – which would actually be a boon mostly to poor whites – resembles a map of the old Confederacy with a few other poor, rural states thrown in. Another indication that this divisive propaganda works on Southern whites came in 2012. Romney and Obama evenly split the white working class in the West, Midwest and Northeast. But in the South we went 2-1 for Romney.

Lowering the flag because of the harm done to blacks is the right thing to do. We also need to lower it because it symbolizes material harm the ideology of the Confederacy did to Southern whites that lasts even to this day.

One can love the South without flying the battle flag. But it won’t help to get rid of an old symbol if we can’t also rid ourselves of the self-destructive beliefs that go with it. Only by shedding those too, will Southern whites finally catch up to the rest of the country in wages, health and education.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Boatrocker
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Boatrocker »

Been making that argument for years. Makes me real popular at family reunions, especially amongst the "it-wasn't-about-slavery-it-was-about-states'-rights" crowd.
I will not lie down.
I will not go quietly.

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rstrong
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Re: OWS

Unread post by rstrong »

Vrede too wrote:A quarter of enslaved blacks worked in the construction, manufacturing and lumbering trades; cutting wages even for skilled white workers.
...Which is why immigrants were going to the northern states and avoiding the south like the plague. They could get good jobs in the north.

...Which meant that the population of the northern states was growing much faster than the southern ones.

...Which meant that the southern states' share of political power lessened over time.

...Which is why the south demanded that slaves - while not treated as people - nevertheless be counted as 2/3rds of a person for the purposes of voting power. And more to the point, it's why the south demanded that new states be slave states. They didn't want to lose even more power.

Any "it was about states' rights" claim, when examined, leads back to slavery.

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Boatrocker
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Boatrocker »

rstrong wrote:
Vrede too wrote:A quarter of enslaved blacks worked in the construction, manufacturing and lumbering trades; cutting wages even for skilled white workers.
...Which is why immigrants were going to the northern states and avoiding the south like the plague. They could get good jobs in the north.

...Which meant that the population of the northern states was growing much faster than the southern ones.

...Which meant that the southern states' share of political power lessened over time.

...Which is why the south demanded that slaves - while not treated as people - nevertheless be counted as 2/3rds of a person for the purposes of voting power. And more to the point, it's why the south demanded that new states be slave states. They didn't want to lose even more power.

Any "it was about states' rights" claim, when examined, leads back to slavery.
Yep.
I will not lie down.
I will not go quietly.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

rstrong wrote:...Which is why the south demanded that slaves - while not treated as people - nevertheless be counted as 2/3rds of a person for the purposes of voting power....
...Which is why we have the Electoral College and President* Trump, and had President* Dubya.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Petition to the United States Congress:

“Force the president and all presidential candidates to release their tax returns by passing the Presidential Tax Transparency Act.”
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

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Sign the petition: Stop the corporate power grab in Congress

... We need your help to stop these anti-democratic bills before Trump signs them into law. Add your name to this petition urging the Senate to reject the Regulatory Accountability Act, the REINS Act, and the Midnight Rules Relief Act.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Trump Nominee Jay Clayton Will Be the Most Conflicted SEC Chair Ever
America's incoming top cop on finance is literally married to industry


Elizabeth Warren rails against Donald Trump’s SEC pick
Stand with Sen. Warren: No big bank crony as Wall Street cop

Image

Petition to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs:

"Oppose John Clayton’s nomination to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. His ties to Goldman Sachs and record of defending banks is the last thing we need in a top Wall Street cop."
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

The petition to Congress reads:

"Pass Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Social Security Expansion Act to expand Social Security and pay for it by taxing wealthy Americans."
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Show Democrats you have their backs! Demand a House vote to see Trump’s tax returns.

... House Democrats are using a parliamentary procedure known as a discharge petition to force the Presidential Tax Transparency Act to a vote on the House floor.

Right now, the bill, HR 305, is stuck in committee. And that’s where House Speaker Paul Ryan wants it to stay. If a majority of the members of the House of Representatives sign the discharge petition it must be scheduled for a vote in the full House....
To: All members of the House of Representatives

I support the use of a discharge petition to force a vote on the Presidential Tax Transparency Act. For the past 40 years, presidential nominees of both major parties have released their tax returns, until now. The American people deserve to see Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Reject permanent austerity for NC that locks in tax breaks for millionaires

Petition to The North Carolina State House and Governor Roy Cooper

We, the undersigned, demand North Carolina leaders reject SB 75 and its proposed changes to the state Constitution that would put in place arbitrary and ineffective restrictions on spending and tax decisions. These policies are proven failures and will undercut N.C.'s ability to invest in the schools, universities, health care and other public services that support a strong economy.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Republicans’ opening bid for tax reform is egregiously tilted to the rich

... According to the Tax Policy Center (TPC), in the first year of Speaker Paul Ryan’s “Better Way” tax plan, released in 2016, fully 76 percent of the benefits would go to the top 1 percent. A narrow slice of that group, the top 0.1 percent, would get about 47 percent of the plan’s total benefits, more than double the bottom 99 percent of households combined. The tax plan even manages to get considerably more regressive over time—by 2025 the top 1 percent would get 99.6 percent of the benefits.

In practice, this means that in 2017 households making more than about $700,000 would get an average tax cut of around $200,000. And households making more than $3.7 million would get an average tax cut of $1.2 million. The rest of us don’t fare as well as the rich. Households making less than $25,000 would get only $50 on average. In fact, of the income groupings analyzed by TPC, none of groups within the bottom 95 percent (which covers everyone making less than about $292,000) would see an average tax cut larger than $410.

... the supposed growth-enhancing magic of cutting tax cuts for rich people has been tried and failed.

... If Republicans wanted tax reform to help the vast majority of American households, they could easily aim their plan’s benefits at the vast majority of American households. Instead, the details of their plan reveal that they don’t intend to anything but give tax cuts for the rich.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Vrede too
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Re: OWS

Unread post by Vrede too »

Petition to US Congress:

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is the financial industry’s most effective watchdog, safeguarding Americans against fraudulent practices of big banks, student loan servicers, credit card companies, and payday lenders. 27 million consumers have had $12 billion returned to them as a result of the CFPB’s work. Congress must protect this important work, not undermine it by cutting its funding, taking away its independence, or seeking to unseat its Director.
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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