#black republican lies

[alwaysbewoke]

[thashining]

WATCH: Protesters in Raleigh dropped off letters at the state legislature Monday denouncing a post-election Republican power grab that seizes powers held by offices that Democrats won in November. Senate Bill 382 was supposed to be a hurricane relief bill for western North Carolina, which was hit hard by Hurricane Helene in September. But it mostly contains attacks on the powers held by offices like the governor, attorney general, and superintendent of public instruction — which were all won by Democrats in November’s election. It also takes oversight of elections away from the governor’s office. Demonstrators during the “Moral Monday” protest in Raleigh likened it to a “coup,” saying that it undermines the will of the voters. Gov.-elect Josh Stein has condemned the bill. So has outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper and former Gov. Pat McCrory — a Republican. Cooper vetoed the bill, but Republican lawmakers in the House are expected to consider overriding the governor’s veto Wednesday in Raleigh. Stay tuned to @cardinalandpine for updates.

[busterballsblog]

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A post shared by Rocky Cavallaro (@rock_kava)

[afriblaq]

Republicans’ “anti-DEI” bill is a disgrace. On one hand, it says that racism doesn't exist. On the other hand, it says there’s rampant “reverse racism." This is the unserious work of the Republican Party. P.S. they should keep MLK’s name out their mouth.

@reppressley

[isawthismeme]

[reasoningdaily]

John Calhoun: The Vice President Who Vowed to Preserve Slavery Forever!

I think this could very well be the guy that donald trump is modeling himself after quite frankly.

[variablejabberwocky]

#WE SURE FUCKING DID#I'd feel more vidicated if anyone learned a damn thing from it (x)

[lordrakim]

‘She Was Able to Get Away with It’: Reports Show Virginia Republican May Have Lied About Black Lives Matter ‘Violent Mob’ Attack That Propelled Her Into Office

Virginia state Rep. Tara Durant (Photo: Tara Campaign Page) Conflicting 911 reports seem to debunk a Republican Virginia state Senate candidate’s claim that she and her 12-year-old daughter were attacked by Black Lives Matter demonstrators in 2020. Police records show that while she complained about protesters harassing her, multiple people identified her as an aggressor, taunting the group by…

[reading-writing-revolution]

What The Fuck is Wrong with You?

Elect Biden and shut the fuck up about his age.

Donald J Trump is arguably the most ignorant, disgusting, demented man that anyone in America can name. Why are Democrats, news pundits and internet morons continuing to talk about Biden being old?

Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government of the United States of America and lost over 60 lawsuits to that effect. He incited and supported an insurrection that saw Americans attack the Capitol and try to capture or kill American lawmakers.

Who the fuck cares if Biden is old?

Donald J Trump named three Supreme Court Justices who ended Roe v Wade and have now rendered the Separation of Powers and check and balances in the US Constitution as "null and void."

Biden is just 3 years older than Trump, and who cares?

Donald Trump goes on insane, meandering, half-baked rants at political rallies, slurring his words, unable to complete sentences, losing track of his thoughts, and calling for Americans to be hurt, have their rights taken away and worse. He treats everyone around him, including other Republicans, like trash.

But Biden is old.

Donald Trump pretended that COVID was a hoax, suggested the American people ingest bleach to fight it, and smeared the leading scientists battling COVID, which resulted in about a million deaths in the United States in a year.

But Joe Biden is pretty old.

Donald Trump was accused of rape by over 20 women, found guilty of sexual assault in 2024 and made lurid comments about his own daughter. He also cheated on all three of his wives, including his latest wife while she was pregnant. Then he tried to cover it up by paying hush money to a porn star.

Biden is an old guy.

Donald Trump banned Muslims from America, put thousands of people in cages at the border and tried to get the Ukrainian president to lie about Joe Biden.

But Joe Biden isn't a youngin anymore.

Trump said African nations were "shithole countries" and said white supremacists were "very fine people." Trump said immigrants were taking "Black jobs". He also ignored the hurricane catastrophe in Puerto Rico, which took 3000 lives.

But Biden is old.

Trump's family foundation was found to have ripped off charities, he's banned from doing business in New York, and his daughter and son-in-law received $2 billion from the Saudis at the end of his presidency. He's bankrupted or failed in every business he's ever had, from Trump Steaks to Trump Air to Trump University to all the casinos.

But hey, Biden is old.

Trump did a deal with Afghanistan to let the Taliban out of prison so they could (and did) take over the country. He's sided with Putin against NATO. He said nothing about the Saudis killing a journalist. Donald Trump eased restrictions on loan sharks, exploded the deficit and made friends with North Korea. He told over 3000 lies.

But old Joe is old.

Biden is old.

Donald Trump is easily the worst human being anyone has ever encountered, and all anyone can talk about is how old Biden is. What the fuck is wrong with you?

[whitesinhistory]

Republicans, you have only 2 choices for President. Jill Stein (G) or Kamala Harris (D).

Trump is not a viable candidate!

Trump death spiral will trigger money-grab and canceled campaign spending to maximize grift.

Trump is not well.

[thashining]

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Aww

[busterballsblog]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

A taxonomy of corporate bullshit

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

There are six lies that corporations have told since time immemorial, and Nick Hanauer, Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen's new book Corporate Bullsht: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America* provides an essential taxonomy of this dirty six:

https://thenewpress.com/books/corporate-bullsht

In his review for The American Prospect, David Dayen summarizes how these six lies "offer a civic-minded, reasonable-sounding justification for positions that in fact are motivated entirely by self-interest":

https://prospect.org/culture/books/2023-10-27-lies-my-corporation-told-me-hanauer-walsh-cohen-review/

I. Pure denial

As far back as the slave trade, corporate apologists and mouthpieces have led by asserting that true things are false, and vice-versa. In 1837, John Calhoun asserted that "Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually." George Fitzhugh called enslaved Africans in America "the freest people in the world."

This tactic never went away. Children sent to work in factories are "perfectly happy." Polluted water is "purer than the water that came from the river before we used it." Poor families "don't really exist." Pesticides don't lead to "illness or death." Climate change is "beneficial." Lead "helps guard your health."

II. Markets can solve problems, governments can't

Alan Greenspan made a career out of blithely asserting that markets self-correct. It was only after the world economy imploded in 2008 that he admitted that his doctrine had a "flaw":

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/greenspan-admits-flaw-to-congress-predicts-more-economic-problems

No matter how serious a problem is, the market will fix it. In 1973, the US Chamber of Commerce railed against safety regulations, because "safety is good business," and could be left to the market. If unsafe products persist in the market, it's because consumers choose to trade safety off "for a lower price tag" (Chamber spox Laurence Kraus). Racism can't be corrected with anti-discrimination laws. It's only when "the market" realizes that racism is bad for business that it will finally be abolished.

III. Consumers and workers are to blame

In 1946, the National Coal Association blamed rampant deaths and maimings in the country's coal-mines on "carelessness on the part of men." In 2003, the National Restaurant Association sang the same tune, condemning nutritional labels because "there are not good or bad foods. There are good and bad diets." Reagan's interior secretary Donald Hodel counseled personal responsibility to address a thinning ozone layer: "people who don’t stand out in the sun—it doesn’t affect them."

IV. Government cures are always worse than the disease

Lee Iacocca called 1970's Clean Air Act "a threat to the entire American economy and to every person in America." Every labor and consumer protection before and since has been damned as a plague on American jobs and prosperity. The incentive to work can't survive Social Security, welfare or unemployment insurance. Minimum wages kill jobs, etc etc.

V. Helping people only hurts them

Medicare will "destroy private initiative for our aged to protect themselves with insurance" (Republican Senator Milward Simpson, 1965). Covid relief is unfair to people that are currently in the workforce" (Republican Governor Brian Kemp, 2021). Welfare produces "learned helplessness."

VI. Everyone who disagrees with me is a socialist

Grover Cleveland's 2% on top incomes is "communistic warfare against rights of property" (NY Tribune, 1895). "Socialized medicine" will leave "our children and our children’s children [asking] what it once was like in America when men were free" (Reagan, 1961).

Everything is "socialism": anti-child labor laws, Social Security, minimum wages, family and medical leave. Even fascism is socialism! In 1938, the National Association of Manufacturers called labor rights "communism, bolshevism, fascism, and Nazism."

As Dayen says, it's refreshing to see how the right hasn't had an original idea in 150 years, and simply relies on repeating the same nonsense with minor updates. Right wing ideological innovation consists of finding new ways to say, "actually, your boss is right."

The left's great curse is object permanence: the ability to remember things, like the fact that it used to be possible for a worker to support a family of five on a single income, or that the economy once experienced decades of growth with a 90%+ top rate of income tax (other things the left manages to remember: the "intelligence community" are sociopathic monsters, not Trump-slaying heroes).

When the business lobby rails against long-overdue antitrust action against Amazon and Google, object permanence puts it all in perspective. The talking points about this being job-destroying socialism are the same warmed-over nonsense used to defend rail-barons and Rockefeller. "If you don't like it, shop elsewhere," has been the corporate apologist's line since slavery times.

As Dayen says, Corporate Bullshit is a "reference book for conservative debating points, in an attempt to rob them of their rhetorical power." It will be out on Halloween:

https://bookshop.org/a/54985/9781620977514

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/27/six-sells/#youre-holding-it-wrong