That chestnut is a response to your trotting out the ridiculous demand to show some sort of smoking gun that connects a campaign contribution to a specific vote or legislation. That is not how the system works.

If you can't back it up, you're making it up. And that is by definition a conspiracy theory.

Yes, China may put on a shoe, but it is a different show.

You even pointed out the difference- that only the communist party wins.

You got caught talking completely out of your ass when a minute or two of google would have prevented such a bad case of foot in mouth disease. Stop weaseling Take it like a man.

I don't doubt the accuracy of the chestnut. I doubt the relevancy of your chestnut to OD. And yes, I would prefer some proof or at least a coherent argument before supporting wide ranging legislation.

The fact that the big money interests keep giving them money connects the dots. It has convinced 80% of citizens that it is a problem or they wouldn't want the big money out of politics.

Trotting out this old chestnut? Is this like your only fact? You do realize that just because 80% think it is a problem, far fewer think it is the problem to rule them all. Actually, the problem to rule them all group is probably just you...

Russia and china have one choice on their ballots. There is no fake opposition party.

Completely wrong. China has a complex hierarchical system where only the lowest level of government has direct elections, then each level votes on the representative of the next level up. At the lowest level there are multiple candidates and different parties but the communist candidate is the only one who wins. Russia has multiple candidates on it's presidential ballot. In 2018 it was Zhirinovsky, Yavlinsky, and Putin.

Either it's a "show" and therefore voting does not matter or you are wrong about there being a show in the first place. Unless you can back up your conspiracy with some facts and/or proof beyond that old 80% chestnut that is starting to get a nice carpet of mold growing on it...

Good Trickle repeats the write-in votes don't count lie and I repeat an explanation of why that is wrong

It is not a lie, declarative statements will never make it so. Election laws in 33 states will only allow the write in votes to be counted if the person has filed paperwork with the state and paid the filing fees, nine states dot not allow write in voting whatsoever and invalidate your ballot if you do. There are only 8 states that allow the write in of any person on the ballot.

Even if those votes are not counted to elect a candidate we will still be able to (even if the freedom of information act is needed) get a total of votes cast that were not counted to elect candidates in that election so they will be counted for the purpose they are cast.

Okay, so your telling me that you will take the number of uncounted votes and claim those as "OD"votes or are you going to file FOIA in all 43 states that either prohibit or regulate write in voting to secure copies of the ballots or the tally sheets on a county by count level? You do realize FOIA's are not free or quick and information is often redacted, right?

So let's just say that you pull off the above and actually get all of that, great, and then you get them "counted" and we take at face value the whole "multi-election strategy".

You still have yet to explain how OD stops the people who cast ballots to elect people from continuing to elect people and how uncounted ballots send a message.

It's not a conspiracy theory.

It is until you can demonstrate the truth of your conspiracy. If what you say is true, you should be able to connect the dots between any random congress critter of donations to votes as both non-dark money donations above $200 and their votes are of public record. Now I personally think you are FOS. The problem with the country is just the opposite, with the de-facto two party system, if one side is for it, the other side must be against it and vice versa. A current example: the Democrats are pushing vaccines, so the other side is embracing anti-vax to the detriment of everyone. Can you explain how "big money" profits from dichotomy of vax/anti-vax?

It is different here than Russia or China as it pretends to present a choice.

Uh...no. Pretending to present a choice is exactly like Russia and China, hence the initial questioning of your conspiracy...

You have woven a conspiracy theory that there is one party putting on a show. If one party controls the government then why do you think votes that vary from the "show" would be counted? You seem to be accusing the country of being controlled by a single party like China or Russia. If that is so, why would voting be treated different than those two countries where the outcome is predetermined?

The guy is under a lot of stress that comes with leading a movement of four, managing a website so complex no one can perform a simple search and replace to fix the year in his copy, and the daily news articles he has to write, edit, and fact check that present a reality based take on his world view.

We just need to come to grips with the fact that is Don Qui is the smartest guy in the comments section.

Don Qui is right we all just need to get onboard with the brilliant idea of One Demand. Perhaps one day he will explain to us exactly how he will overcome the fact that people not following the OD way will still be electing officials in the government since they cast a ballot that will be counted.

The last time I checked if you did something to your ballot that caused not to be counted it really is the same as not voting. Some thing could have changed and non counted ballots are tallied and publicly published and it somehow sends a message to politicians. I just don't posses the same level of brilliance as Don Qui so I will probably never get it.

"History is calling on you, CW, to act and act decisively. If you fail this calling what happens next will be your own fault."

OOH OOH! That sounds like a threat! What-choo gonna do Dawny boy? Repeat yerself again?

A true legend in your own mind. Though Michale was loosing it toward the end, in his prime he could argue circles around you. But of course, a retarded hamster has a better chance of coming up with a rational argument backed by researched and posted facts than you, so arguing circles around you is not a particularly spectacular achievement.

"My particular delusion" happens to be accurate and factual as it exposes the delusion of believing the propaganda of the Deathocrats and Republikillers being opposition parties.

It is "accurate and factual" that you suffer from delusion, that for sure...

I put it to you again: if it's one party controls the government and is just putting on a show, why would you think voting matters?

one of these is don't direct profane slurs at other posters. kick called you an idiot, you called her a cunt. if you can't figure out the difference between those two comments, then she's right.

JL

G'night, nypoet22!

G'night, John-Boy!

Gotta say g'nite all!

See ya next week!!!

Right. I think ...

Er, it's not a matter of modesty, my Dear.

It's a matter of truth in advertising.

Yep, Canadia is my second choice, in a Toronto minute!

Yeah, politically, economically and perhaps even historically themed music for next Sunday gets my vote.

Say, for next week, how's about we take CRS's suggestion and do a night of politically inspired tunes ... maybe even economically inspired tunes, too!

Sunday Night Canadian* Music Festival

*and other countries

Take Me To The Kaptin

For an itty bitty population-wise country you guys have cranked out a ton of talent.

I think we should rename our Sunday night shindig,

Sunday Night Canadian (and other countries) Music Festival.

Ha ha! Happy to hear that you're on board. BTW I sure like being able to go back and pick out some of the songs you post. Monday mornings over coffee and such.

Bohemian Rhapsody

I have their cd Dream Out with tunes by Gowan, Pink Floyd, Dread ..er Led Zeppelin, Emmerson Lake and Palmer, Beatles, Aerosmith, The Scorpians, Queen, the Moody Blues, Kansas, Sting and a StringKatz original.

Stairway to Heaven

Here is a real treat that I hope you'll enjoy ... its from a virtual concert last year, right from the home of Lawrence Gowan (Gowan and Styx) as he teams up with the fabulous StringKatz in Montreal (more about these ladies later)

Eleanor Rigby

Rock the Nation

Say, are there any Montrose fans out there!?

Lonely Nights

When I'm With You is a song by Canadian band Sheriff from 1982. It went nowhere until 1989, when a Las Vegas dj played it from time to time and one day he played it and it received a lot of attention - from listeners and from a record label ... it soon shot up to number one on Billboard!

It's a great story of the cream rising to the top, eventually!

When I'm With You - Sheriff original

Toque's phenomenal cover

I think Todd Kearns may hold that last note even longer than Freddie Curci!!!

Excellent! I'm doing pretty good, myself, ahem.

Armageddon - PRiSM

Toque's version

Why do you think CW never carded the former troll known as Michale and only yellow carded Don Harris?

Plus, I'm an Army Vet and I still lock in to the "mission requirements" concept when I choose to, and power through all the obstacles.

A live Jimi Hendrix version.

And a live Stevie Ray Vaughn cover.</a

First, the Soundgarden version.

Thence,
Eydie Gorme and Steve Lawrence lounge lizard version.

"Dancing in the Streets"

Martha and the Vandellas version.

Grateful Dead version.

It's time for the CW Sunday Night Music Festival and Dance Party where we leave political debate aside for a while and rock out! Of course, the songs we play may be as political as we wish. In fact, we may be due for a night of political songs real soon ...

But, tonight, lets do our favourite cover songs!

Just to get things started, a cover song that I like better than the original ... Under My Thumb by the Rolling Stones and covered by a great Canadian band, Streetheart.

First up, the Stones' version

And, then, Streetheart's cover!

The freedom to so choose is bestowed upon We the People by way of the Most Holy Capitalism, right, Stucki?

The smart ones maybe, how about the dumb ones?

No, it doesn't "cheat" the creditors because they factor in this inflation in making investment decisions. No secrets, no surprises, no worries.

It's obviously true that depreciating the currency in which our national debt is denominated renders the burden of the debt (on U.S. taxpayers) less onerous, but it also essentially cheats the creditors, right?

the more money our government owes, the more sense it makes to reduce the value of that debt. i know there's a fear of weimar level hyperinflation, but i haven't read anything that suggests a big stimulus package would do that. we're a much too big economy, as well as too important to the global economy, for that level of bubble to pop. see below.

JL

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danrunkevicius/2021/03/31/will-stimulus-spark-inflation-two-shocking-theories-you-should-know/?sh=2fde8d4c21db

Besides being a benevolent hegemon for the West, America rigged it up so the dollar is the premier currency. This has blunted inflation which has been 2% for decades now.

It's NOT a "personal value judgement" in that all inflation is not equal & neither are the resulting effects. America's 20 years of 2-2½% inflation has been decent.

In contrast, inflation in Weimar Germany or sometimes in South American countries had catastrophic effects on the people.

So, what are ya doin' Sunday night(s)?

Sorry, I don't follow. Monetary inflation (as in Biden Bucks), and for that matter its progeny, price inflation, have no direct relation to "national debt".

Cuddy [27]

Whether currency inflation is good, bad or otherwise, represents a personal value judgement. Basically, a case of 'whose ox is being gored'.

Also, "in moderation" depends on 'compared to what'.

FYI, Stuck, all governments, for hundreds of years at least, inflate their currencies. If done in moderation (e.g. USA) it is not a bad thing.

I'm telling you, these days cake really should be pie's biggest concern.

I earned three years of Accounting/Business Admin at the toughest B-school in two counties.

Yeah, I get the whole inflationary blah blah blah.

THEN am I to gather that you fought tooth and nail against the three budget busting tax cuts for the rich (under Reagan, George W and Trump?) "Oh, they'll pay for themselves."

And what about W's $4T invasion of Iraq? "Oh, it'll pay for itself."

Fact is, you Repugs don't care about deficits when you're cutting taxes. Not a peep out of you guys the last four years, right?

Republicans suddenly care ONLY when it's not a tax cut for the rich. Like when Dems are doing something for the 90%.

Twenty-one years ago when the national debt was less than six trillion and FALLING (thanks bill Clinton), six trillion of new inflation would have been catastrophic. Which is precisely what president Bush did with his tax cuts on the ultra wealthy. As awful as that was, we survived.

Pretzels? Egads!!! Something must be done right away to limit the insidious influence of these pretzels, and make politics safe for pie again!

Regarding "Biden Bucks", it's worth mentioning that they are not coming from taxes on "The rich and the corporations" as we are usually led to believe, they are actually coming from the Federal Reserve Bank, which creates them by the billions out of thin air, at the expense of reducing the value (purchasing power) of all the dollars we already have.

For the economics-savvy among us (if indeed there are any such), it's officially known as "monetary inflation".

The rest seems to have "done you good": this week's FTP has a solid list of talking points.

I hate the preview function on this site.for those in the know...

I don't believe that Lefty foolishness is dangerous in that it really impeeds forwarded progress. "Defund the Police" and "Socialism" hurt down-ballot Dems last November.

HOWEVER I would say between slavery, Jim Crow and all this current madness, the Right has historically IN AMERICA been far more toxic. I'm not talking about Stalinism or Maoism, now -- different countries and different results.

Not Biz Markie... RIP.

Giving my age away.

I, being pretty liberal, understand the instinct of giving the "leftist young fools" the benefit of the doubt about youth and idealism, while condemning the fascist antisemitism of the "righty young fools".

But. In fact, the leftist young fools are equally dangerous, to the degree that they imagine that police are somehow an inherently bad thing, which could be replaced by ... what?

So, "just saying" as you will, I'll quickly condemn both extremes even if the latter (righty) group seems to have more support in our society just now and so seem to be the greater immediate danger. The left is just as capable as the right of committing enormous crimes in the name of justice, freedom, order, identity, etc. as we should know by now.

Goddamned auto correct.

LEFTIST young fools say stupid stuff like "Defund the police!"

RIGHTY young fools say stupid stuff like, "The News will not replace us!"

Just saying.

Specifically, to accuse the GOP of being soft on law enforcement in the tax area, contrary to their claims of being in favor of law enforcement in other areas, implicitly agrees that they were, in fact, in favor of conventional law enforcement. And so, we (our average Talking Points listener) recognize that their opponents the Democrats must indeed have been against conventional law enforcement, as the Republicans have long maintained. Party politics being what it is, to agree that the GOP has always, up to now, been against 'defunding the police' is an admission that the Dems have been *for* it. And that's not where the Dems, starting with President Biden, actually want to be; 'defunding the police' is probably the most toxic and harmful slogan the left has come up with since Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh. It's not the kind of slogan you want to use to mock the Repubs' position on tax law enforcement, because it's going to bounce back on you, hard.

This anti-vax fever will not break anytime soon (God forgive me for that pun) so my question is, will this science-denialism ultimately kill enough Repug voters to tip the scale in any meaningful way?

What would you call this, "Political Darwinism," maybe?