The Frankish Reich

Short answer: 81 million Americans. Which is about 7 million more than will vote for a golf-cart riding fully embalmed in orange corpse.

Isn't that the same as saying "the top 5%"? I believe the economy is strong, and that it is important to measure the U.S. economy against all other developed economies. When you do that, it appears even stronger. But I'm not so blinkered that I don't see problems. I just agreed with you a few days ago that we have a real problem with bloated CEO pay compared to worker pay, and that we need some corporate reforms to address this. I also think the rise of part-time jobs vs. full-time (with full benefits) is troubling, and I'll admit that Obamacare rules drive some (a lot?) of that. My question: I don't see you willing to admit economic progress in ANY way.

The hard facts: this is a part of the country - the Pennsyltucky region - that time and economic change has left behind. Coal fields exist within Somerset County. The coal is entirely bituminous, and much of it has been mined or is being mined by Strip mining. Most of the coal is within the Main Bituminous Field, which stretched north and west to adjacent counties and southward into Maryland and West Virginia. The rest is within the Georges Creek Field.[15] There are many abandoned mines in the county, and acid mine drainage is an environmental problem in many areas. Fishless streams exist as a result of the discharge from the abandoned mines. These include parts of the Casselman River, Shade Creek, Stonycreek River, and Quemahoning Creek, as well as many of their tributaries. The bituminous coal there is largely played out or is no longer in demand in the modern economy. It is not coming back, not even if the anti-coal/pro-renewable focus of the government changes. One party seems to be offering false hope, whereas the other is the realist. This, by the way, is the exact opposite of where the parties stood in the age of Reagan. Reagan's economist and Republican think tanks saw what was coming and they wanted to issue a kind of "relocation payments" to these communities - an incentive to move to where the jobs are now being created. That should have happened, but politicians (Dems back then) didn't want to lose their base of voters. So back then the Dems pretended that these communities could come back strong. It was a political lie. Now the tables are turned and the new (Trump) Republicans sells them the same lie. Of course their political allegiances have changed because the party willing to pander to them has changed.

So ... anything GOOD happening out there in the economy? Anything??

I haven't seen Maria in some time. Good Lord, lay of all those fillers and lip injections, girl! Didn't you used to be the business hottie or something like that?

They've found a useful talking point! Government jobs. But if they weren't so insular, they'd have found a better talking point: IMMIGRATION! Hiding in plain sight in the NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/04/05/business/jobs-report-march-economy#immigration-is-helping-to-meet-hiring-demand-and-may-explain-data-mysteries Look for them to catch on a bit late.

There's literally nothing to see here. Typical White House event celebrating this or that. He shovels the b.s. a bit about the importance of Greece and Greek Americans, laughs off saying "the Biden-Obama Administration" instead of the opposite, and asks the teleprompter guy to roll it back when one of his self-aggrandizing digressions takes him off track. A politician doing one of the dull daily things a politician is asked to do. Having said that: Is it depressing that we have two old self-aggrandizers as our presidential choice? Yes.

So you tell me: is there anything GOOD about the economy today? Because if there is I haven't ever heard it from you.

If you weren't in your little echo chamber you'd have noticed that I posted the same National Post article a couple days ago.

The point here: a state-wide minimum wage law is now a stupid thing. $20/hour in Silicon Valley? I'm sure the going rate is higher, so the law has zero impact. This fast food joint is in the Central Valley, which is kind of like an Appalachia in California. The going rate is much lower, and the new law will kill them. I'm not in favor of minimum wage laws in general, but ignoring regional differences in a huge state like California is idiotic.

Of course that's the point. Why do you think Trump nominated Gorsuch (50), Kavanaugh (53), and Barrett (48)? They are taking advantage of life tenure to try to control the judiciary for decades. Democrats are pressuring the oldest one of their own to step down so they can appoint another 50ish jurist. That's why the tweet you reposted was stupid. This has nothing to do with an idea that Sotomayor is too old to be effective, and everything to do with who is on the Supreme Court in 2044.

I get it. Everything sucks.

It was revised UP. Has there ever been a more "glass half empty" pessimist? Jobs report bad? Biden's economy sucks. Not adding enough jobs. Jobs report good? Biden's economy suck, more inflation.

You buried the lede - past two months revised UP. You've been telling us they're always revised down.

So clever. It's as if they forgot that President is not a life appointment. Maybe Trump has them confused about that.

I dunno. Maybe we can ask Jesse for one of his patented communist takes. (Learn how to write)

She highlighted the wrong verse. Should have been that one about he who "keepeth company with harlots"

The OP does realize that his title makes it sound like Jesse Kelly is a communist?

I think it's nothing different than "let's go back to the old playbook." Wild conspiracies fired up the audience for these guys, which in turn juiced turnout for the election. And last time the idea that a significant portion of Trumpies are out-and-out nutcases never really gained traction in the general public, so they still see it as a net gain.

This is not an issue that will go away. You take a population with a significant percentage of unvaccinated people (measles) and/or who have been smuggled through Central America and Mexico in crowded conditions (tuberculosis), this is bound to happen. If you want to immigrate legally to the USA you have to be examined by a "civil surgeon" (doctor), including a TB test, with chest X-ray if positive, and a full course of treatment if any chest infiltration. You also need to show that you are current on all normal vaccines. Illegally? No check at all. At a minimum we need detention with a physical exam prior to releasing anyone, and that's the minimum.

I think you found QAnon!

An outrageous attack. The best defense: we were grossly negligent. The worst scenario: we knew what they were and we killed them anyway. Netanyahu will likely understand just one thing: no more arms or funding.

https://abc7ny.com/total-solar-eclipse-weather-forecast-its-not-just-clouds-thunderstorms-threaten-views/14612639/ More likely to be struck by lightning than to burn your eyes out

Only the best people:

Ladies and gentlemen and various flavors of non-binary persons, I present to you some of the peaceful patriot "hostages." Example (but read the whole linked article - gunshots fired, flash-bangs thrown, others charged later with conspiring to kill FBI agents ... and all of the "low class" description accurately given them by Trump himself) Jacob Lang — who can be seen on video hitting law enforcement officers with a baseball bat and riot shield — faces multiple charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, as well as felony charges of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding. He was arrested in January 2021.“I was the leader of Liberty today,” Lang wrote on Facebook after the riot, wrongly tagging himself at the White House. “Arrest me. You are on the wrong side of history.” He said the day after the attack that it was “war” at the Capitol, not a mere protest.