So….Texas Republicans have decided to try to secede from the union as part of their official party platform. Kind of hard to pretend you guys are patriotic Americans when it’s your official plan to dissolve the union out of spite.

I actually say good riddance, let red states all secede, RGTOW, they will quickly become a third world country we can exploit. Red states take WAY more from the federal government than they put in, relying on blue state taxes to keep running. It would be hilarious to see how fast infrastructure, services, and government break down in such an occurrence.

It would also be interesting to see how they think they would defend themselves without the US military. As usual, the Cons never think things through. I so want to see how this would play out. Can we short sell Texas?

Seems like you guys need to take your own advice….if you don’t like it here in America, you can GET OUT.

I thought not, @bobknight33. 🤦‍♂️

Any real American patriot wouldn’t hesitate to answer, but you still don’t know after having 2 days to look it up.

Legislative, executive, and judicial. Now you know.

Republicans control one 6/3, have total veto power in one (and use it constantly) and don’t control the executive (but claim they do, claim that they won the election and Biden isn’t the president).

Another high ranking Republican who is apparently the best friend of another convicted child porn trader has quit in disgrace.

"BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s longest-serving state senator announced Monday that he would resign following a report that he had traded scores (over 70) of text messages with a man jailed on child pornography charges.

Republican Ray Holmberg, who rose to become one of the state’s most powerful lawmakers in a career that spanned 46 years, said he would resign effective June 1. His term was scheduled to end on Nov. 30 and he already had announced in March that it would be his last.

“Recent news stories have become a distraction for the important work of the legislative assembly during its interim meetings,” Holmberg, 79, said in a statement announcing his resignation. “I want to do what I can, within my power, to lessen such distractions.”

Maybe don’t be friends with convicted child molesters and kiddie porn purveyors, that might be a good way to lessen, even avoid such distractions…but that would mean ostracizing some of their Republican colleagues and the party leader(s).

You like to shout baseless claims of debauchery among Democrats, I like to point you to specific cases of actual proven debauchery among Republicans, and there’s a never ending stream of them to choose from….child molesters, kiddie porn purveyors, sex traffickers, best friends and wives to child molesters, etc….I know facts and convictions vs baseless claims can’t convince you of anything, you still say the 2020 election was stolen despite there being more evidence that 2016 was stolen, you still say Covid was a Democratic hoax and blame Democrats for Trump’s lack of response and shirking responsibility, you still claim CRT in grade school is a thing, you still claim Jan 6 was a peaceful tour of the capitol by patriots and also an attack on democracy by BLM and ANTIFA, you think Portland is a lawless wasteland of smoldering cinders….facts are for liberals.
(Btw- if Jan 6 wasn’t a Republican led, planned, and executed crime like we all know it was, why were republican representatives (Congressman Ronny Jackson, Congressman Andy Biggs, and Congressman Mo Brooks) petitioning Trump for pardons for their parts in it directly after the failed coup? You know that accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt, both logically and by law.)

Another Republican “patriot”

You can’t be that dumb.

1) these rich people pay our “leaders” to write unfair tax code so they can not pay taxes. Legalized by Republican pushes to allow unlimited corporate donations and bribes. In many cases, they DO in fact write the code, then hand it to those “leaders”.
2) these “leaders” writing tax loopholes for the super rich, all Republicans, are also rich people, legislating for personal gain.

If the top 1% made 80% of all income, they underpayed by more than half if flat tax were the law or in any way fair. In the 50’s, the time period conservatives want to return to, the top 1% paid 91% tax rates, and America was booming. Today it’s actually <24% and you whine.
How much did they pay AFTER their last massive tax cut, much less than 40%….not that I’m taking your word for those statistics, you are hardly a trustworthy source, the actual number in 2018 is 37% of personal income taxes, which ignores a lions share of non income taxes we all pay.

If you count ALL federal taxes, they payed <24% of taxes collected.
Their highest income tax rate for the rich was +-25% (before deductions, exemptions, loopholes, tax heavens, etc), 66% less than in the 50’s. Under Clinton they paid almost 40% income tax (not 24%), and the economy was again much stronger and growing much faster.

Edit: it was possibly the highest share of that portion of federal taxes paid by the top 1% since 1982, although your track record indicates that’s also a huge exaggeration, but if it’s even remotely true that would be because they took (not really earned) that much more income, not because they paid a higher percentage of earnings. In the 90’s they paid 40%, not today’s 25%…yet today they pay more….can you understand what that means? It means they take almost twice as much “income” as they did in the 90’s when the economy was strong.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/fact-check-richest-1-dont-pay-40-of-the-taxes.html

Republicans are ALL stupid people who do not think, proven every time they are forced to think and realize they have everything backwards. You idiots think Covid is a fraud, the election was stolen, and CRT in grade school is a thing.

Such a nonsensical blatant red herring. They often do “just write a check to the irs” btw. I’m not rich, but I don’t take deductions I legally could because I want to pay my share, not weasel out of it. That’s called being patriotic, not attacking congress and shirking any and all civic duties.
Pushing for a fair tax code, unlike Republicans who plan to raise taxes on anyone making under $250k AND end social security, Medicaid, Medicare, and any other social safety nets they can think of, is not just the ethical and moral thing, it’s the only sane economic move based on ALL economic history ever.

Right, stop wasting, like billions wasted on useless monuments to failure (Trump’s failing fence), trillions more on stupid failed trade wars, billions on political stunts like blockading the border (Texas), trillions to try to fix the disastrous Covid (lack of) response thanks to insane mismanagement and the removal of safeguards, billions to fight the non existent CRT in grade school nonsense…etc. you are ecstatic to waste billions-trillions on idiotic Republican nonsense with absolutely zero return for the money, not complaining once while Trump tried to double the debt in 4 years (nearly succeeding), but not on programs that keep the poor from turning to crime because they have literally nothing to lose, or start to fix our crumbling infrastructure, you call that pork. 🤦‍♂️

So fucking stupid, bob. Delusional, dumb, prejudiced, and always wrong. You must be playing the character of ignorant moronic trumptard, no real human being is this deluded or dumb. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, you are like a clock specifically designed to NEVER show the correct time….you actively avoid being truthful.

This is you party? This is you pick…. over America, democracy, and decency?

You choose the Anti-American, Anti-democracy failed wannabe conmanarch (just coined that word, not a typo) and his self serving hypocritical directionless sycophants over democracy and rule of law?…and you really think anyone believes you’re even an American, much less a patriot? No one here thinks that, not for a decade +.

It is to laugh.

PS…..Bayraktar, comrade. I hope they’ve taken out some of your close family by now….more neonazi russian scumbags turned to compost….the best thing they ever did.

I hadn't heard that Giuliani quote. Is he honestly saying that someone should leave the country if they want to peacefully protest people being demonstrably murdered by police, but it's patriotic to break into the capitol building to protest an election because someone on facebook said there's fraud?

Man, Eminem went waaay to tame there.

But Eileen Gu is the classic American Capitalist. She follows where the (sponsorship) money is. Expert at her sport AND doublespeak. She's living her American Dream!

It's not kowtowing to China. It's just "smart business" if you take off that racist lens.

If Walmart is so patriotic, then they can stop sourcing from China.

If the American Auto Industry is so patriotic, they can stop buying their parts from China.

If Corporate America is so patritotic, they can stop opening up factories in China.

China's not forcing shit on America. It's America that love lapping up the cheapest shit they can find in China and beyond. Corporate America is not willing to pay a fair wage in America, they're even less willing to pay of living wage anywhere else, many forcing a "996" work schedule on staff (https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032458104/12-hour-6-day-996-work-schedule-illegal-china-deaths-tech-industry).

"China"... it's an American addiction. Not the other way around.

The cars compared were as I described. There are no truly comparable electric vehicles available today. Somehow you think that’s a dig at Tesla? It’s a compliment, and a lament.

Not at all. I would love one. They have made missteps however.
Not a fan of Musk.
What should be clear is I’m not a fan of bullshit.

I’m also not a fan of monopolies.
I’m also not a fan of successful companies bargaining away their tax liabilities for little in return for the public.
I’m not really a fan of space tourism for billionaires either, not while poverty exists. What a waste of resources for no return.

Chip shortages are the only real obstacle, the rest are speed bumps.

It’s a problem if you don’t want to pay $60k for a $25k car…I thought inflation was bad. Now you love it?

Tesla made deals to not pay taxes. You can pretend that’s patriotic, it’s not. I didn’t say they ignored or committed fraud to escape taxes, I said they don’t pay them. That kind of agreement shouldn’t be acceptable for any company, especially one as profitable as Tesla. Yes, it’s a “the governor and/or legislature can waive taxes for companies he likes” policy issue, I find it abhorrent no matter which party does it, they both do.

If you backroom deal with right wing governors/legislatures to avoid taxes, you are far right, at least economically. I thought he came out as a Trump guy too, but might be wrong.

Uh oh. Now the bank and tax fraud surrounding the Trumps acquiring the lease for the DC hotel are under investigation. This time Ivanka is going down with Daddy, because she overvalued properties used to secure the loan bu 3 times, claiming things like her apartment with a for sale price of $8.5 million was worth 25 million, etc.
nothing new, just more Trump fraud, more Trump theft from America, banks, and the public.

This is you pick. This is you guy? Only makes sense if you’re an anti American Russian troll trying to damage America as much as possible.

Edit: D’oh! Pence’s lawyer, present at many meetings in the whitehouse discussing the coup plans, testified for over 9 hours to the Jan 6 commission. He has direct personal knowledge of exactly what the president’s involvement before, during, and after the attack against America for Trump was, and apparently has no qualms about talking about it. He didn’t plead the fifth like all Trump’s lackeys (which Trump says is proof of guilt except when he does it), he didn’t fight subpoenas (which Trump has said is proof of guilt….when it wasn’t him). He testified, with members coming out of the session calling him a patriot who cares about America, unlike many others they’ve subpoenaed and interrogated. A man who put country before a person. Not good for Tangerine Palpatine.

Delay tactics are failing, obstruction is failing, destruction of evidence is failing, hiding the forging of fraudulent certifications for fraudulent electors failed, hiding and denying direct Republican Party involvement has failed, denying individual involvement has failed, denial of the event has failed, abusing expired privileges to hide evidence has failed, whining and crying like spoiled children has failed, threatening prosecutors has failed. Whole lotta fail going on over there.

Let me remind you….you are still one of the 30% that think Trump did a good job (by what metric I can’t tell….not economic, not infrastructure, not public health, not jobs, not the state of the union, not trust in government, not international standing, not trade, not lower crime, not cooperation (government or civil), not by simplifying the tax code, not by lowering spending….so how, how did he succeed, by bankrupting the treasury to give welfare to billionaires? The only thing he actually won are titles for most corrupt administration in history hands down, first to be impeached twice, only president ever to deny certified election results, first to attempt to falsify election results, first to attempt to overthrow a valid election by force, and biggest debt by 1/3 and biggest deficit by far more than double.).

You are also one of the 30% that, after months of denying Republican involvement at all now thinks violently attacking the government with bombs, fire, guns, knives, tear gas, projectiles, and heavy clubs, killing police and trying to murder representatives is a great job, patriotic. 🤦‍♂️

You are also one of the 30% who denied Covid was ever an issue that needed to be addressed until Jan 20, 2021 when it suddenly was horrific and all the president’s responsibility….but no fucking way in hell you’re going to listen to his advice.

Bob, I couldn’t say the last time you were correct on any topic. I may be incorrect up to 5% of the time, and gladly accept true correction (but not simple obstinate contradiction without fact) and willingly admit mistakes. I actually research. You are totally wrong on every detail closer to over 95% of the time, you’ve never once even looked into the ridiculous claims you cut and paste from right wing propaganda sites…I doubt you would know how, and never once have you admitted a single of your uncountable and verified mistakes that you make in every single argument you attempt….and I’m talking about factual mistakes, not grammar.

Let me also remind you, Biden has a 42% approval rating, not 30%. Trump had 39% at this point. 🤦‍♂️

Jesus fucking Christ!
Yesterday Green again called for civil war, but now admits she wants it to end with the dissolution of the union, a “national divorce”. She wants the new countries to be small and injured enough that China and Russia won’t need to deploy much of their armies to take them. (She also announced her plan to remove voting rights from Democrats who move to new states, but apparently not for Republicans that move.)

Paul recently stated "The idea of democracy and majority rule really is what goes against our history and what the country stands for."

Republicans, so in love with the USA and democracy that they want to eradicate both, and publicly say so….and then insist that’s patriotic.

Just wow, buddy. Just wow.

Only in America: where cops in general have far less regards for human life and its "patriots" consider as normal & just, while throwing more public money at them without questions other than "Do you need more? Just ask!"

I doubt the sentencing judge will book Potter to anything worse than Club Fed though.

Democrats are denied even a hearing for even their centrist picks (Garland) outrageously unconstitutionally, then Republicans pick FAR RIGHT politicos to replace moderate leftist judges. That was new, never before seen in our history.
Sotomayor and Karen are centrists, dumb shit. Kavenaugh and Barrett are extremist far right wingers….Barrett is barely even a judge, rushed in by a lame duck traitorous seditionist and his lackeys, directly contradicting their own excuse for not hearing Obama’s nomination. They actually admitted they rammed her through as fast as possible with the barest minimum of examination in order to pack the court in anticipation of them contesting the election results….admitted it before the election.
Kavenaugh and Barrett are both extremist Far right wingers, political activist judges, who lied in their confirmation, one is a multiple rapist, never investigated, the other a religious extremist with zero experience who said she would recuse herself on any issue of faith, but hasn’t recused herself from any.
Throw down the gauntlet?! Opposition to his nomination centered on his perceived willingness to roll back the civil rights rulings of the Warren and Burger courts, and his role in the Saturday Night Massacre during the Watergate scandal. On October 23, 1987, the Senate rejected Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court by a roll call vote of 42—58. Bork's margin of rejection by the Senate remains, by percentage, the third-largest on record and broke a 142-year record for largest defeat of a Supreme Court nomination. A historic immediate bipartisan rejection because he was totally unsuited, and had undeniably tried to help Nixon cover up Watergate as acting AG by firing the special prosecutor at Nixon’s direction (the AG and deputy AG had quit when Nixon insisted)….*.
Absolutely nothing similar to Obama being denied a hearing for his picks for a year until his term ended….*. Holy shit! What stupidity.

There are far fewer “conservatives” today, the Republican Party is 26% of the population, not a majority.

Yes, they are throwing cases to the packed court as fast as possible before their stolen majority evaporates. I support a 15 justice Supreme Court with a constitutional amendment halting any further additions without a 2/3 majority….add 6 hyper liberals…no judicial experience necessary or even preferred…AOC would be great.

Why bring a case you might lose? Because cases are supposed to be heard on their merits, not based on political affiliation you ignorant cow. You think the Supreme Court should be a political wing of the right, choosing and deciding cases based on political affiliation, not the law, science, common sense, ethics, or precedent….but only when it serves you.

So, gun rights should be up to states? That’s the next step if you win that fight…the constitution dies and states decide everything….as civil war erupts. Great plan, so patriotic. Remember, California is big enough that when they require fingerprint scanners on all guns sold in the state, manufacturers will add them to all guns….when semi auto guns are banned, manufacturers will move to single shot guns….just like auto manufacturers changed their cars to meet our requirements. Is that your plan? Had you even considered what individual states being in control means? It means California becomes the leader of America, controlling the other states by means of our size, wealth, and international clout. Enjoy.

Not like this, it hasn’t. Never in American history has the court been politicized and weaponized against the will of the majority to ignore precedent (contrary to their oaths and confirmation statements) in order to overturn established law and constitutional rights as a political act. Never.