#nra republicans

[tomorrowusa]

Don't risk a rerun of the 2000 election.

In the first presidential election of the 21st century many deluded progressives voted for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader.

Their foolishness gave us eight years of George W. Bush who plagued the country with two recessions (including the Great Recession) and two wars (one totally unnecessary and one which could have been avoided if he heeded an intelligence brief 5 weeks before 9/11).

Oh yeah, Dubya also appointed one conservative and one batshit crazy reactionary to the US Supreme Court. Roberts and Alito are still there.

Paul Waldman of the Washington Post offers some thoughts.

Why leftists should work their hearts out for Biden in 2024

Ask a Democrat with a long memory what the numbers 97,488 and 537 represent, and their face will twist into a grimace. The first is the number of votes Ralph Nader received in Florida in 2000 as the nominee of the Green Party; the second is the margin by which George W. Bush was eventually certified the winner of the state, handing him the White House. Now, with President Biden gearing up for reelection, talk of a spoiler candidate from the left is again in the air. That’s unfortunate, because here’s the truth: The past 2½ years under Biden have been a triumph for progressivism, even if it’s not in most people’s interest to admit it. This was not what most people expected from Biden, who ran as a relative moderate in the 2020 Democratic primary. His nomination was a victory for pragmatism with its eyes directed toward the center. But today, no one can honestly deny that Biden is the most progressive president since at least Lyndon B. Johnson. His judicial appointments are more diverse than those of any of his predecessors. He has directed more resources to combating climate change than any other president. Notwithstanding the opposition from the Supreme Court, his administration has moved aggressively to forgive and restructure student loans.

Three years ago the economy was in horrible shape because of Trump's mishandling of the pandemic. Now unemployment is steadily below 4%, job creation continues to exceed expectations, and wages are rising as unions gain strength. The post-pandemic, post-Afghan War inflation rate has receded to near normal levels; people in the 1970s would have sold their souls for a 3.2% (and dropping) inflation rate. And many of the effects of "Bidenomics" have yet to kick in.

And in a story that is criminally underappreciated, his administration’s policy reaction to the covid-induced recession of 2020 was revolutionary in precisely the ways any good leftist should favor. It embraced massive government intervention to stave off the worst economic impacts, including handing millions of families monthly checks (by expanding the child tax credit), giving all kids in public schools free meals, boosting unemployment insurance and extending health coverage to millions.

It worked. While inflation rose (as it did worldwide), the economy’s recovery has been blisteringly fast. It took more than six years for employment rates to return to what they were before the Great Recession hit in 2008, but we surpassed January 2020 jobs levels by the spring of 2022 — and have kept adding jobs ever since. To the idealistic leftist, that might feel like both old news and a partial victory at best. What about everything supporters of Bernie Sanders have found so thrilling about the Vermont senator’s vision of the future, from universal health care to free college? It’s true Biden was never going to deliver that, but to be honest, neither would Sanders had he been elected president. And that brings me to the heart of how people on the left ought to think about Biden and his reelection.

Biden has gotten things done. The US economy is doing better than those of almost every other advanced industrialized country.

Our rivals China and Russia are both worse off than they were three years ago. And NATO is not just united, it's growing.

Sadly, we still need to deal with a far right MAGA cult at home who would wreck the country just to get its own way.

Biden may be elderly and unexciting, but that is one of the reasons he won in 2020. Many people just wanted an end to the daily drama of Trump's capricious and incompetent rule by tweet. And a good portion of those people live in places that count greatly in elections – suburbs and exurbs.

Superhero films seem to be slipping in popularity. Hopefully that's a sign that voters are less likely to embrace self-appointed political messiahs to save them from themselves.

Good governance is a steady process – not a collection of magic tricks. Experienced and competent individuals who are not too far removed from the lives of the people they represent are the best people to have in government.

Paul Waldman concludes his column speaking from the heart as a liberal...

I’ve been in and around politics for many years, and even among liberals, I’ve almost always been one of the most liberal people in the room. Yet only since Biden’s election have I realized that I will probably never see a president as liberal as I’d like. It’s not an easy idea to make peace with. But it suggests a different way of thinking about elections — as one necessary step in a long, difficult process. The further you are to the left, the more important Biden’s reelection ought to be to you. It might require emotional (and policy) compromise, but for now, it’s also the most important tool you have to achieve progressive ends.

Exactly. Rightwingers take the long view. It took them 49 years but they eventually got Roe v. Wade overturned. To succeed, we need to look upon politics as an extended marathon rather as one short sprint.

Republicans may currently be bickering, but they will most likely unite behind whichever anti-abortion extremist they nominate.

It's necessary to get the word out now that the only way to defeat climate-denying, abortion-restricting, assault weapon-loving, race-baiting, homophobic Republicans is to vote Democratic.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

[voenix-rising]

[republikkkanorcs]

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

[wilwheaton]

Gun-toting conservative media darling Kyle Rittenhouse has taken to Christian crowdfunding platform GiveSendGo to announce that he’s broke. In a tweet Wednesday, Rittenhouse, 20, said the “legal bills are piling up” as he battles a wrongful death lawsuit in the killing of Anthony Huber—one of three people he shot during protests in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in August 2020.

Kyle Rittenhouse Begs for Donations as ‘Legal Bills Are Piling Up’

Eat all the shit and choke on it, Kyle. You’re a murdering little fascist fuckstain and I hope you spend the rest of your life enjoying the consequences of your actions.

[prncssguya]

if you hear a phrase like “gun violence is now the leading cause of death for american children” and can just go about your day and not feel an ounce of rage or shame, something is incredibly wrong with you

[tomorrowusa]

Reminding people about Trump's Project 2025 and his promise to be a "dictator on Day One" do not promote violence. Republican pandering to the NRA has actually killed people.

Trump's wannabe assassins, both the registered Republican and the 2016 Trump voter, used assault rifles.

There was an assault weapons ban in the US from 1994 to 2004. During that period the number of people murdered in mass shootings declined.

When that ban expired, the Republican trifecta in Washington at the time refused to extend it. Mass shootings then soared.

As for "inflammatory rhetoric"...

J.D. Vance, Whining About Democrats, Seems to Forget Trump’s Own Words

[moonbean117]

[mysharona1987]

None of what he is saying makes any sense.

[odinsblog]

Not that Republicans plan on funding mental health services anyway, but these last few civilian shootings have nothing to do with mental health. Somebody turned in a man’s driveway so he shot them. A Black child knocks on the wrong door, so the resident—who said that “seeing a Black person at his door scared him to death”—shot him! Teenage cheerleaders mistakenly get into the wrong car, he shoots them!

These are all boringly routine occurrences that happen every single day when you live in a society with other human beings.

The GOP and the NRA have cowardly gun nuts armed to the teeth and afraid of their own shadow.

Getting startled is not an excuse to murder someone.

Imagining the worst about a stranger isn’t an excuse to murder someone. Nobody is responsible for the fearful imaginations of trigger happy cowards.

These are cowards. Not “Patriots”. COWARDS. Cowards who love cosplaying that they’re living in some shoot ‘em up fantasy.

[jasondamien93]

[lady-hibiscus]

stop. blaming. trans. kids.

transphobes will be reported and blocked <3

[originalleftist]

This is still one of the most powerful political cartoons I've ever seen. And still horribly relevant.

[aunti-christ-ine]

.