A thread for Democrats Only

POSTED BY: THGRRI
UPDATED: Sunday, September 6, 2026 15:36
VIEWED: 755368
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Quote:

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
. . . when 60% of Americans are cutting back or quitting fast food because places like McDonalds have become unaffordable for anybody who isn't making over $100k per year.

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Behold the latest deep dive from Axios about Joe Biden's economic troubles:

https://www.axios.com/2024/05/23/biden-fast-food-prices-wages-economy


Credit where it's due: the numbers are correct. But come on. Is it really plausible that Biden's big problem is that fast food prices are up 3.8% compared to wages?

Biden has three problems, ranked from biggest to smallest:

1 Fox News etc. have run a scorched earth campaign of lies about how the economy has collapsed since Biden's inauguration. This is displayed pretty obviously by polls showing huge differences in economic outlook between Democrats and Republicans.

2 The left has joined with the right because their very existence seems to hinge on convincing everyone that poor people are worse off than ever.

3 The press is biased against good news—which is admittedly boring—and seems to be really reluctant to report on our current favorable economic climate. I'm not sure why.

That's about it. Slight real increases in Big Mac prices are not the problem.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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The Paradox of Tolerance disappears if you look at tolerance, not as a moral standard, but as a social contract. If someone does not abide by the terms of the contract, then they are not covered by it.

In other words: The intolerant are not following the rules of the social contract of mutual tolerance.
Since they have broken the terms of the contract, they are no longer covered by the contract, and their intolerance should NOT be tolerated.



https://imgur.com/gallery/paradox-of-tolerance-ChYreg4

https://imgur.com/gallery/m2SJ9Jd

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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The time for Biden to show restraint has long since passed.

Trump was just unanimously convicted by a jury of his peers for election interference. He had his hapless fixer pay off Daniels not “for personal gain,” as the Biden campaign statement alleges, but to defraud the American people, to deprive them of the information that they needed to make an informed decision on Election Day 2016 and to illegitimately obtain the most powerful office in the world on behalf of the country’s far right. Donald Trump covered up his affair with Daniels so he could appoint Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. He committed felonies so that the insurrectionists at the reactionary Heritage Foundation could rewrite the nation’s tax laws to make rich people richer. And so on.

Biden likes to repeat the canned phrase “Don’t compare me to the Almighty; compare me to the alternative”—a motto he attributes to his father and which is about as edgy as a mid-aughts Verizon Guy commercial. But what the hush money case demonstrates clearly is that Trump is a genuinely terrible human being. What kind of man has unprotected sex with an adult film star while his wife is home recovering from labor and delivery and caring for an infant? What kind of terrible employer has an underling borrow against his own home to cover up his boss’s sordid lies and extramarital affairs?

For years, leading Democrats have danced around a truly blunt assessment of Trump without ever coming out and saying it directly: The man is an evil, amoral cretin willing to betray those closest to him without a second thought. Find some coded language that can puncture the epistemic closure of conservative evangelical Christians. Call him the worst person in the entire country, which is basically what he is. Tap into the robust public opinion of the majorities who believe that extramarital affairs are morally wrong by asking: “If Melania can’t trust him, why should you?”

Whatever path they choose requires departing from the warmth and safety of “No one is above the law” framing. Letting the conviction more or less speak for itself is a conservative strategy that would make sense if Biden were decisively leading the race and wanted to avoid unforced errors. But as hard as it might be for everyone in the White House to accept, the president’s campaign is clearly trailing, according to public opinion polling. Yes, the margins are narrow, but if the election were held tomorrow, it is more likely than not that Donald Trump would win it. You can’t run out the clock when you’re losing. And that means that Biden needs to go on the offensive, just like dozens of leading Democratic officials and strategists are asking him to.

Yet Biden and his team clearly feel that having Biden stay out of the whole thing can help legitimize the prosecutions and whatever verdicts follow. This is wishful thinking. Take one fleeting glance at how people on the right are reacting to Trump’s conviction—that should be sufficient to disabuse the White House of the notion that there is anything it could possibly do to reach hardcore MAGA voters. Former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly promised prosecutions of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for unnamed offenses: “We’re going to have to look at what the statutes of limitations are on the various crimes they surely committed, “ she intoned. Charlie Kirk, the young MAGA media superstar, implored his followers to “indict the left, or lose America.” Donations to the Trump campaign surged. Nearly all Republican officeholders deemed the verdict somehow illegitimate. In other words, keeping the Trump prosecutions at arm’s length earned Biden precisely nothing from the right, which has existed in a state of continuous rage for so long that it does not have any other emotional register to draw upon.

More at https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/06/trump-president-biden-felo
n-alvin-bragg-democrats.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Pascal's Wager Triangle

https://xkcd.com/2947


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Biden should welcome their “hatred”

By Robert Reich | Jun 20, 2024

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/biden-must-welcome-their-hatred

Advice for Joe in his first debate with the convicted felon — one week from tonight.

I have only one morsel of advice to Joe Biden as he prepares for his first debate with Trump, one week from tonight: Channel Franklin D. Roosevelt by excoriating corporate America and explaining that Trump is a flack for the moneyed interests.

Eighty-eight years ago this month, on June 27, 1936, Roosevelt delivered his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president. That happens to be the same day Joe Biden will be debating Donald Trump.

FDR’s speech is as relevant today as it was then. We’re at a time like the 1930s, when the super-wealthy and big corporations were seeking to oust an incumbent Democrat who was working for the people rather than for them.

On June 27, 1936, FDR dubbed the moneyed interests “economic royalists” who “governed without the consent of the governed” and “put the average man’s property and the average man’s life in pawn to the mercenaries of dynastic power.”

They used their economic power, FDR charged, to create “a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction … The hours men and women worked, the wages they received, the conditions of their labor — these had passed beyond the control of the people, and were imposed by this new industrial dictatorship.”

He warned against giving these economic royalists the political power they craved.

“If the average citizen is guaranteed equal opportunity in the polling place, he must have equal opportunity in the market place. These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power.”

Then, on the eve of his second election — on October 31, 1936 — FDR delivered his coup de grace, explaining the stakes in his fight with the moneyed interests.

Quote:

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“We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.

I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.”

---

Today’s economic royalists are backing Trump, and the fight is much the same.

The high mavens of Silicon Valley held a fundraiser for him last week. The Business Roundtable (the voice of big corporations in Washington) is preparing to pump an eight-figure sum into the Trump campaign.

Jamie Dimon, chair and CEO of the biggest and most influential bank in the United States and for years the spokesman for corporate America, is coming around to Trump. Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, is turning his X platform into a weaponized outlet for Trump.

Trump has asked the robber barons of Big Oil for $1 billion as an advance quid pro quo for rolling back environmental regulations. Miriam Adelson, heir to the casino magnate, has pledged $100 million to Trump.

Today’s moneyed interests are far richer in proportion to average Americans and the American economy as a whole than they were when FDR took them on. Corporate profits are near record levels, and many big corporations are keeping prices high in order to reap even more. CEO pay is through the stratosphere. The stock market is hitting record highs.

The moneyed interests have done wonderfully well under Joe Biden, despite Biden’s support for labor unions and his crackdown on mon

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Californians With No Driver’s License Or SSN Can Use A Credit Card Or Gym Membership To Vote

https://thefederalist.com/2024/06/25/californians-with-no-drivers-lice
nse-or-ssn-can-use-a-credit-card-or-gym-membership-to-vote/

French President Emmanuel Macron warns of ‘civil war’ if far left or far right wins

https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-civil-war-far-right-na
tional-rally-far-left-france-unbowed-france-elections/


Canada supports Guyana in border controversy with Venezuela

https://guyanachronicle.com/2024/06/24/canada-supports-guyana-in-borde
r-controversy-with-venezuela/

Analysis: Why more Southeast Asian countries have signalled interest to join BRICS

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/brics-malaysia-thailand-indonesia
-bloc-asean-4426441

President Joe Biden 'appalled' by violence during pro-Palestinian protest at Los Angeles synagogue

https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-los-angeles-synagogue-p
rotest-cc997c3116d12f159df138a0ba9be002

Afghan girls accuse Taliban of sexual assault after arrests for ‘bad hijab’

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jun/25/afg
han-women-girls-accuse-taliban-sexual-assault-after-arrests-bad-hijab-suicide


Ship ablaze after attack by Yemeni Houthis: report
https://www.sheppnews.com.au/world/ship-ablaze-after-attack-by-yemeni-
houthis-report/
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations says a Palau-flagged cargo ship has been evacuated and the vessel is on fire

US State Department Adds Belarus To List Of Countries Sponsoring Human Trafficking
https://charter97.org/en/news/2024/6/25/600273/

Putin's hypersonic missile warship displays huge 'Z' sign as it enters Cuba
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/putins-hypersonic-missile-war
ship-displays-33015541

Time line of tensions over Iran's nuclear program ahead of presidential election
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/long-fraught-time-line-
tensions-irans-nuclear-program-111393352

Putin Shows He Can Antagonize the U.S. Far Afield From Ukraine
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/21/world/europe/putin-russia-north-kor
ea.html

South Korea ‘preparing for worst’ as Kim Jong-un 'encouraged' by Vladimir Putin support
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1915166/south-korea-kim-jong-un-n
orth-korea-vladimir-putin

Former Fundraiser Who Helped Raise Millions for Obama Leaves Democrat Party, Declares Support for Trump

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/06/23/former-fundraiser-obama-
leaves-democrat-party-supports-trump/

CNN’s Van Jones Sounds Alarm for Dems – Says the ‘Obama-Biden Coalition’ is Falling Apart

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Quote:

---

Originally posted by second:
Biden should welcome their “hatred”

By Robert Reich | Jun 20, 2024

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/biden-must-welcome-their-hatred

Advice for Joe in his first debate with the convicted felon — one week from tonight.

I have only one morsel of advice to Joe Biden as he prepares for his first debate with Trump, one week from tonight: Channel Franklin D. Roosevelt by excoriating corporate America and explaining that Trump is a flack for the moneyed interests.

Eighty-eight years ago this month, on June 27, 1936, Roosevelt delivered his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president. That happens to be the same day Joe Biden will be debating Donald Trump.

FDR’s speech is as relevant today as it was then. We’re at a time like the 1930s, when the super-wealthy and big corporations were seeking to oust an incumbent Democrat who was working for the people rather than for them.

On June 27, 1936, FDR dubbed the moneyed interests “economic royalists” who “governed without the consent of the governed” and “put the average man’s property and the average man’s life in pawn to the mercenaries of dynastic power.”

They used their economic power, FDR charged, to create “a new despotism and wrapped it in the robes of legal sanction … The hours men and women worked, the wages they received, the conditions of their labor — these had passed beyond the control of the people, and were imposed by this new industrial dictatorship.”

He warned against giving these economic royalists the political power they craved.

“If the average citizen is guaranteed equal opportunity in the polling place, he must have equal opportunity in the market place. These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power.”

Then, on the eve of his second election — on October 31, 1936 — FDR delivered his coup de grace, explaining the stakes in his fight with the moneyed interests.

Quote:

---

“We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace — business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred.

I should like to have it said of my first Administration that in it the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match. I should like to have it said of my second Administration that in it these forces met their master.”

---

Today’s economic royalists are backing Trump, and the fight is much the same.

The high mavens of Silicon Valley held a fundraiser for him last week. The Business Roundtable (the voice of big corporations in Washington) is preparing to pump an eight-figure sum into the Trump campaign.

Jamie Dimon, chair and CEO of the biggest and most influential bank in the United States and for years the spokesman for corporate America, is coming around to Trump. Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, is turning his X platform into a weaponized outlet for Trump.

Trump has asked the robber barons of Big Oil for $1 billion as an advance quid pro quo for rolling back environmental regulations. Miriam Adelson, heir to the casino magnate, has pledged $100 million to Trump.

Today’s moneyed interests are far richer in proportion to average Americans and the American economy as a whole than they were when FDR took them on. Corporate profits are near record levels, and many big corporations are keeping prices high in order to reap even more. CEO pay is through the stratosphere. The stock market is hitting record highs.

The moneyed interests have done wonderfully well under Joe Biden, despite Biden’s support f

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