ComradeKayAdams

Is anyone really traveling frivolously by air, aside from uber-wealthy jet-setters? You seem to be taking up the arguments now of granola Luddites! I will reiterate that making eco-friendly choices in your personal life is to always be encouraged, but these choices are rendered meaningless if not coupled with any political awareness at all four levels: local, state, national, and international. Stop voting for politicians who deny the obvious science of anthropogenic climate change, who dismantle environmental regulations, and who impede the growth of relevant emergent technologies (solar and other green tech, EV’s, artificial carbon sequestration, high-speed rails and other civil infrastructure upgrades, Gen 3/4 nuclear fission reactors, novel materials, funding for fundamental science research, etc.). I’ll give you a practical example of what I mean by “political awareness.” It’s super commendable that you are planting trees on your property, but it would be far more impactful if you were also directly involved in community reforestation efforts! Here in the beautiful state of New York, we are trying to meet our climate goals by planting 1.7 million acres of new forests by 2040. It’s ambitious and will require some degree of bipartisanship to have our state government purchase old farmland and curb excessive suburban sprawl. Won’t you help us downstate hippies out, dear Leh-nerd?? << Kay Adams innocent doe eyes >> Speaking of prominent and manipulative eyes…I see the emoji with which you chose to end your post, Leh-nerd… First of all, no I do not have a “dismemberment fetish.” It’s strictly a matter of pragmatism. How else am I to transport the absurdly heavy body of an adult male omnivore with a BMI of 24.8?? You even serial kill, bruh?? Second of all, how dare you kink shame! Third of all, your emoji eyes seem to be rudely fixed in an upward direction. Here, let me adjust them… << punches Leh-nerd in the face >> That better? No? Here, let me try again… << punches Leh-nerd in the face >> Ugh. Now I feel bad for assaulting you. Hey, how dare you make me feel bad about myself! << punches Leh-nerd in the face >> Double ugh. Perhaps we should just hit the reset button on our forum friendship? I’d love to have you for din…er, have you over for dinner sometime. If you bring with you a nice bottle of Chianti, I can make a delicious fava bean-themed vegan dish and invite some of my great big fat people friends. << menacing/chilling Howard Shore musical outro >>

All of the granola types whom I know are well aware of the impact that airplane travel has on carbon emissions. Some aspects of modern life are simply unavoidable, no matter one’s commitment to green living. If you look at carbon emissions pie charts, you’ll quickly see that transportation represents a fairly small portion. You’ll also likely surmise that direct government regulations on various industries are far more impactful than the collective individual lifestyle choices among consumers. An intrinsic value of recycling comes from its positive impact on environmental conservation, even if you’re not all that impressed with its contribution to overall carbon emissions reductions. Lesser demand for new resource extractions lessens the pressure on ecosystem integrity. Dogs are wonderful human companions. Let’s keep our furry friends and offset their carbon “pawprint” by planting more trees. A deletion in greenhouse gas emissions, sure, but what about the “paw-icity” of LOVE in our hearts?? Surely you noticed the article’s references to eating meat, right?? I’ve been telling you this for five years, Leh-nerd… What’s so frustrating with you are the fatalistic intimations in all of your climate change posts: problems are hard so why bother, people are hypocritical so why should I myself try, blah blah blah… “Menacing.” “Chilling.” “Watch your back.” “L.” “O.” “L.” Sometimes you can be such a baby, Leh-nerd. It’s time for you to become an adult and start accepting responsibility for my literary bouts of Lizzie Borden rage. Causal to my macabre idioms and nursery rhymes was a perfectly valid primal response towards the transgression of justifying/denying an ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing. FURTHERMORE, Leh-nerd…YOU chose to give my thoughtful post an eyeroll emoji response SANS any sort of follow-up written explanation. How dare you. Oh, and I didn’t even literarily assault you with an axe, dude!! All I did was spray bear mace in your rolling eyes, if you recall. Now have I figuratively punched you in the face from time to time? Sure. Figuratively kicked you in your groin? No doubt. Did I figuratively shoot you with a crossbow once upon a time? Touche! Recommended your cannibalization to a marauding gang of ne’er-do-wells? Guilty as charged. Threatened to attack you with beach chairs? Perhaps. Threatened to drown you in Muppy’s San Diego pool? No comment. Threatened to shove Impossible Burgers down your throat until your digestive system exploded? I plead the Fifth, your honor. Stabbed you repeatedly with the heels of my Portuguese imported cruelty-free vegan shoes that you once insulted, while maniacally shouting, “I drink YOUR milkshake, Leh-nerd! I drink it up! I am the Third Revelation!,” followed by a frantic disembowelment, the cutting up of your body parts, the stuffing of said body parts in a storage bin, a multiple-hour drive up north to the Adirondacks, a makeshift burial about a quarter mile off-trail, a multiple-hour drive back with plenty of time to contemplate a plausible alibi, and a brief return to the crime scene to bleach the area of any remaining DNA evidence? That was just a daydream, Leh-nerd, and last I checked this ain’t no Minority Report dystopia. This is the Politics, Polls, and Pundits forum of Two Bills Drive. That’s all it is. Anywho…my point, to which you are now well-accustomed, is to go vegan because it’s good for the environment and for the animals. Doing so will also help you become less fat and smelly. Cheers! – Kay

“Leh-nerd Skin-erd now enters the fray In a futile attempt to pacify Kay… My delicate ego you may try to assuage, But I saw your response on a previous thread page!! Duly noted were your emoji rolling eyes Which will soon lead to a fate of agonal cries. Dude…it happened back on page eleven!! Now prepare to ascend to political forum heaven… My toned tummy, Leh-nerd, yes yes I can see… Oh, I know my BMI is an impressive nineteen point three. Okay, fine…I won’t take this axe to your face, But them rolling eyes are getting sprayed with bear mace.”

What the f*ck did I just say??!! STOP. RESPONDING. TO. MY. POSTS. COMMA. YOU. FU*CKING. A**HOLE. I ain’t comin’ here to bury no metaphorical hatchet, “BUD,” unless that metaphorical hatchet is going right into your stupid dumb-dumb head. Oh, won’t you try to sing along with me, Mr. Bundy, as you struggle to take in your final gasps of oxygen?? “Commie Kay grabbed her axe And gave some Zionist forty whacks. A new skin yarmulke Mr. Bundy had won. Bloody residue signified their debate was done.” You want a piece of me too, old man?? Let’s go, bruh… “Commie Kay grabbed that axe once more And towards JDHillFan she shouted “fore!” An enlarged prostate is now the least of his concerns, As his wizened carcass reflects his debate spurns.” You want to see a winning debate strategy?? Watch this… “Comme Kay spots a third MAGA d!ck And chases ScotSHO down with her axe-shaped stick. Through his neck passes the metal blade. Her political message is now properly conveyed.”

Don’t call me a “bud,” you f*cking piece of sh!t. I cite polling facts, while you cite your Islamophobic feelings. Israel’s “earned” right to be there equates to violent force and claims from a big book of ancient religious fairy tales. And yes, I do blame England in addition to the United States and much of the West. Now stop responding to my posts, you fu*cking a**hole.

I thought my previous post was clear enough in my intention not to hijack the Ukraine thread with Palestine talk, but whatever… “Genocide” is a legal term, under international law, with a clearly articulated definition. Dating back to the New Yishuv, Palestinians have never committed genocide against Israelis or Jews. Acts of terrorism? Sure, though these have been carried out under the guise of self-defense against an illegal occupying force. Would Palestinians commit genocide against Israeli Jews if the circumstances and the power asymmetry were reversed? Maybe. Maybe not. We have polling data since 10/7/23 showing Palestinians far more receptive to a peaceful two-state solution than Israelis. There was that recent Penn State University poll, in fact, showing an overwhelming majority (82%) of Israelis in favor of the ethnic cleansing of Gaza and nearly a majority (47%) in favor of outright genocide! I cannot be any more clear: Israel is an illegitimate settler colonial vassal state led by innately degenerate sociopaths, and it needs to be systematically dismantled. Among the remnants of this Jewish supremacist ethnostate should emerge a one-state solution with full and equal rights for all inhabitants, regardless of religion or ethnicity.

My latest roster prediction (morning of 8/19/25), assuming full health for everyone: QB (2): Josh Allen, Mitchell Trubisky RB (3): James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty Johnson FB (1): Reggie Gilliam WR (6): Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Josh Palmer, Tyrell Shavers, Laviska Shenault, Curtis Samuel (inactive) TE (3): Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox, Jackson Hawes T (5): Dion Dawkins, Spencer Brown, Tylan Grable, Ryan Van Demark (inactive), Chase Lundt (inactive) G (3): David Edwards, O’Cyrus Torrence, Alec Anderson C (2): Connor McGovern, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger DT (6): Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, T.J. Sanders, Deone Walker, DeWayne Carter (inactive), Larry Ogunjobi (suspended) DE (6): Greg Rousseau, Joey Bosa, A.J. Epenesa, Landon Jackson, Javon Solomon, Michael Hoecht (suspended) LB (4): Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard, Dorian Williams, Joe Andreessen S (5): Taylor Rapp, Cole Bishop, Damar Hamlin, Cam Lewis, Jordan Hancock (inactive) CB (6): Christian Benford, Taron Johnson, Tre’Davious White, Max Hairston, Dorian Strong, Brandon Codrington K (1): Tyler Bass P (1): Brad Robbins LS (1): Reid Ferguson Cuts (36): QB Mike White, QB Shane Buechele, RB Darrynton Evans, RB Frank Gore Jr., WR Elijah Moore, WR Kaden Prather, WR K.J. Hamler, WR Stephen Gosnell, WR Kristian Wilkerson, WR Deon Cain, TE Zach Davidson, TE Keleki Latu, TE Matt Sokol, T Travis Clayton, T Richard Gouraige, G Mike Edwards, G Dan Feeney, C Kendrick Green, C Jacob Bayer, DT Casey Rogers, DT Zion Logue, DT Marcus Harris, DE Paris Shand, DE Nelson Ceaser, LB Jimmy Ciarlo, LB Keonta Jenkins, LB Edefuan Ulofoshio, LB Shaq Thompson, S Wande Owens, S Darrick Forrest, S Tre Herndon, CB Dane Jackson, CB Daequan Hardy, CB Te’Cory Couch, CB Ja’Marcus Ingram, K Caden Davis

Oh, well I’m definitely a pragmatist and not an idealist. But perhaps I don’t fully understand the facets of this topic because I don’t understand why certain bargaining chips have been removed from the bargaining table. We need to find diplomatic off-ramps for both Putin and Zelenskyy, and so the more options the merrier. Why are war reparations off the table? How is Ukraine otherwise going to rebuild? A failed economic and political state over there would only be a breeding ground for additional international headaches. Why is NATO membership off the table? Finland and Sweden were allowed to join. We’re still going to agree to defend Ukraine in some way, anyway, after the war. It’s not like we have to position our nuclear missiles along Ukraine’s borders if they are allowed to join. Have we completely exhausted our options with multilateral economic sanctions on Russia?? I’ve addressed this question multiple times in multiple different ways, spanning multiple threads and multiple forums (here plus BillsFans.com). Anyone who justifies or still denies Israel’s apartheid ethnostate practices, war crimes of collective punishment, genocide in Gaza, and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank is a garbage human being.

Good advice! I highly recommend salsa for beginning dancers. It’s a solid workout for sure, with a pretty gentle learning curve (relative to ballet and many forms of modern dance, at least). The vast majority of women will appreciate a guy’s sincere efforts and won’t care about his dancing skills. In general, I recommend meeting people in the real world and not online if one is seeking meaningful relationships and not hookups. Getting back to the topic…inter-generational analyses tend to become reductive and tedious. In this particular instance, I think such an argument is flat out wrong. The squabbles here align more with populist versus establishment political divisions. And just to be clear: the topic is housing costs, the broader problem of high costs of living, and the related problem of declining marriage rates. Those who identify more with centrist Democrats or non-MAGA Republicans will tend to reject victim-oppressor dynamics in favor of the classical “pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps” mantra. Progressive populists will CORRECTLY attribute the aforementioned problems to five decades of neoliberalism, which happen to disproportionately affect working-class men (see: all my posts in the Zohran Mamdani thread). MAGA populists have apparently articulated their own list of causes (Democratic Party, COVID policies, illegal immigrants, slutty yuppy women, discrimination against white males, LGBT rights, etc.) with simple solutions (support Trump, embrace Christian nationalism, blah blah blah). Curiously enough, MAGA populists can cede some of the debate to the bootstrap lifters but still won’t embrace personal responsibility when it comes to males performing terribly in academic settings…or to all the f*ck boys and incels failing at relationships, for that matter… In the spirit of this apparent Wolfgang troll, here’s a YouTube link:

Switzerland also has gun control laws that most Second Amendment enthusiasts would find onerous, if not downright tyrannical. A multitude of factors (culture, socioeconomic mobility, accessibility of mental health resources, etc.) beyond gun regulations and police force budgets, of course, explain why violent crime levels are much lower in Europe than in the United States. Rhetorical question for MAGA: if the presence of military forces is so effective at reducing crime, why haven’t previous American presidents tried this ingenious method of combating crime?? Rhetorical answer: because the history books are filled with lessons on the dangers of allowing standing armies to preside in urban civilian settings. Much of our U.S. Bill of Rights was inspired by these historical lessons! Foucault’s imperial boomerang theory, as applied to WW2 fascism and apropos to Trump Redux, only reinforces these lessons that our Founding Fathers understood well in 1789. What I actually find most alarming among MAGA, more so than their cultish disregard for Constitutional principles, is their emergent dehumanizing language toward homeless people. Low empathy and low intelligence are dual dangerous ingredients used in the concoction of creeping fascism. So wakey-wakey, MAGA a-hole dullards!! If you normalize authoritarian tactics, that tyrannical boomerang is coming back your way. Oh, Empress AOC will make sure of it…

If Putin gets to keep Crimea and the Donbas region, then NATO+EU membership and full war reparations should be Ukraine’s BARE MINIMUM expected return! If Trump is worth his alleged “art of the deal” reputation, then he should also be able to negotiate for substantial Russian territory and/or natural resources awarded to Ukraine. What’s obviously complicating these negotiations is the fact that Russia has been so surprisingly good at shielding themselves from international economic blowback, particularly with regard to energy resources. I’ll also remind everyone that Trump and the United States hold no higher ethical ground over Putin with regard to border integrity and international human rights. Our funding of the Gaza genocide and Likud’s Greater Israel project has consequences, with compromised diplomacy being an acutely stark example.

Leh-nerd: “Maybe the storm is coming, I guess we’ll see.” Kay: “Maybe. If Trump ends up going full TACO Tariff Mode, then the storm won’t come. Otherwise, I anticipate a Q3 trickle, a Q4 storm, and a 2026 Q1 deluge.” Leh-nerd: “At your age, 40ish as I recall…” Kay: “WRONG. Late 20’s AND I’m regularly told that I look early 20’s. How dare you.” Leh-nerd: “…and less chit-chat about reality tv with the other gals at the gym.” Kay: “WRONG. I don’t watch reality television, I don’t converse with others when I work out, and I rarely use the gym. My core workouts are done at home and during weekly yoga sessions. Cardio workouts are in the form of jogging and biking, about 2-3 times per week.” Leh-nerd: “I’m guessing of course but I’m usually correct.” Kay: “WRONG. You are almost always incorrect (a.k.a. WRONG) about everything. Don’t even get me started on all of our past PPP discussions, Leh-nerd…anthropogenic climate change, Israel, progressive income tax policies, Nazi socialism, French abortions, eastern Ohio train derailments, Marx’s Labor Theory of Value, MAGA whataboutisms, ethical veganism, chic cosmopolitan hippy fashion aesthetics, etc… Your PPP posting resume is a multitude of abject FAILURE.” Leh-nerd: “…I gotta cut back on the sweets.” Kay: “WRONG. Your body is sloppy, sad, disappointing, gross, downright frightening to any neighborhood children, and overall visually affronting to all those who care about you because you obstinately consume meat and dairy.” Leh-nerd: “Be careful on the rocks.” Kay: “WRONG. Your perfunctory and borderline insincere words of caution have been deemed too trite to be of any practical use to La Commie Kay. My indomitable core muscles will keep me plenty safe on the rocks. YOU need to be careful in this forum, Leh-nerd. You think these hands of mine are only used for typing overly verbose political manifestos, bruh?? WRONG. They are also used for PUNCHING. You think red is my favorite color because of its far-left political connotations?? WRONG. Red is the pretty color of the juices that my political enemies squirt when this sassy Slavic PUNCHES them, upon which the crimson emissions excite Li’l Miss Adams like a shark churning the tempestuous waters of a certain San Diego pool. Catch ya a La Fiesta de Los “Skimpy Bikinis” durante el verano en la piscina a La Casa Muppetta, Leh-ny boy. And bring an extra pair or two of arm floaties for the deep end. Methinks you’ll need ‘em…” << ominous John Williams musical outro >>

I don’t think Powell’s feelings are at all the issue here. I think Powell is correctly and dispassionately assessing that Trump’s tariff wars are going to lead to high inflation over the next 6+ months, and that lowering interest rates will only worsen the situation. CPI and PCE metrics definitively show a recent uptick in inflation rates, with this trend holding** for all the core** inflation data (i.e., minus the food and energy prices). We know that the burden of a tariff hike must percolate down to any of three places: the foreign country (exporters), domestic businesses (importers), or the consumers. We can deduce from economic data that businesses, to date, have predominantly incurred the burden in the face of this year’s tariff volatility. We can also assume that businesses won’t stand for reduced profit margins much longer. So as the August tariff hikes kick in and stabilize, it’s reasonable to surmise that overseas shipping and other transportation logistics will become the main delay in observed price surges. Since lowering interest rates will hurt everyday Americans and since raising interest rates will also hurt everyday Americans but in a different way, maybe the best option would be to have rational and stable tariff policies?? If Trump wants budgetary revenue, then raise taxes on rich people. If Trump wants to bring quality manufacturing jobs back home, then spend on the necessary infrastructure and strengthen collective bargaining power in the U.S. ** - Speaking of cores and holds, I’m now up to a max time of 3:08 on my plank holds! Impressed?? You better be… My super strong core muscles assist me on all my rock climbing adventures!

100%! I’m a Buffalo native and a pro football romantic, so the concept of indoor football disgusts me. If Philly decides to join Chicago and Cleveland and DC in the trend for domes, then the NFL will soon be down to only 10 “cold weather” teams: Buffalo, New England, NY Jets, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Denver, KC, NY Giants, and GB. I’m defining a “cold weather” team, by the way, as one whose stadium averages at least half a foot of snow per year. Note that the NFC would then have just 2 cold weather venues!

Oooh! I enjoy conundrums! I had to cut a 5th LB and our top punt returner, but here’s my top 53 assuming no suspensions and full health (and also no trades or free agent additions): QB (2): Josh Allen, Mitchell Trubisky RB (3): James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty Johnson FB (1): Reggie Gilliam WR (5): Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Josh Palmer, Curtis Samuel, Elijah Moore TE (3): Dalton Kincaid, Dawson Knox, Jackson Hawes T (4): Dion Dawkins, Spencer Brown, Tylan Grable, Ryan Van Demark (inactive) G (3): David Edwards, O’Cyrus Torrence, Alec Anderson C (2): Connor McGovern, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger DT (6): Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones, T.J. Sanders, Larry Ogunjobi, DeWayne Carter (inactive), Deone Walker (inactive) DE (6): Greg Rousseau, Joey Bosa, A.J. Epenesa, Michael Hoecht, Javon Solomon, Landon Jackson LB (4): Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard, Dorian Williams, Joe Andreessen S (5): Taylor Rapp, Cole Bishop, Damar Hamlin, Cam Lewis, Jordan Hancock (inactive) CB (6): Christian Benford, Taron Johnson, Tre’Davious White, Max Hairston, Ja’Marcus Ingram, Dorian Strong (inactive) K (1): Tyler Bass P (1): Brad Robbins LS (1): Reid Ferguson Cuts (38): QB Mike White, QB Shane Buechele, RB Darrynton Evans, RB Frank Gore Jr., WR Kaden Prather, WR K.J. Hamler, WR Jalen Virgil, WR Tyrell Shavers, WR Laviska Shenault, WR Stephen Gosnell, WR Kelly Akharaiyi, WR Kristian Wilkerson, WR Deon Cain, TE Zach Davidson, TE Keleki Latu, TE Matt Sokol, T Chase Lundt, T Travis Clayton, T Richard Gouraige, G Mike Edwards, G Rush Reimer, C Kendrick Green, C Jacob Bayer, DT Casey Rogers, DT Zion Logue, DT Marcus Harris, DE Paris Shand, DE Kameron Cline, LB Baylon Spector, LB Keonta Jenkins, LB Edefuan Ulofoshio, LB Shaq Thompson, S Wande Owens, S Darrick Forrest, CB Dane Jackson, CB Daequan Hardy, CB Te’Cory Couch, CB Brandon Codrington

How is this still a question?? Formal charges of genocide were submitted to the International Court of Justice THREE MONTHS after 10/7/23, way before Israel’s ongoing starvation blockade on Gaza. These types of charges are not put together capriciously! The evidence of genocide, under the formal United Nations definition of the term, was overwhelming at that time and is even more so now. No one presently among the International Association of Genocide Scholars disagrees with the formal assertion. The ICC has arrest warrants issued for Netanyahu and Yoav Gollant because of the IDF’s heinous war crimes. The issue of motivation needs to be scrutinized when dealing with accusations of genocide. Claims of self-defense are a bit specious when Likud government leaders openly declare their Greater Israel objectives! Actions speak louder than words, of course, and Israel’s continued encroachments into the West Bank, southwest Syria, and southern Lebanon are effective bullhorns. Ethnic cleansing is Israel’s obvious motivation for genocide. They want more Arab land and natural resources, as has been the case officially since 1948 (and unofficially since the late nineteenth century). Less Gazans alive and worsening living conditions in Gaza facilitates the eventual mass deportation of remaining Gazan refugees into nearby Arab countries. At this point, the only American demographic still defending Israel are Christian MAGA Boomers. My guess is that ~95% of TBD PPP is comprised of this demographic. So my honest questions to you guys: 1. How are genocide, ethnic cleansing, settler colonialism, collective punishment, and apartheid aligned with Christian precepts? What is the contemporary ethical justification for Zionism? 2. If what Israel is doing is on the level, why are nearly all journalists banned in Gaza? Why have more journalists died in this conflict than in any other one since the beginning of the twentieth century? 3. Where is your line in the sand for the systematic destruction of homes, buildings, hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches, cemeteries, and cultural heritage sites? Is there a particular number or percentage of destruction at which the “but Hamas!” and “but anti-Semitism!” get-out-of-jail-free cards expire for you? 4. Has Israel been negotiating in good faith with Hamas and with Palestinians, currently and historically? Or have they been guilty of various “poison pill” tactics, even dating back to the pre-Second Intifada era (Oslo Accords, etc.)? 5. How is defending Israel an “America first” policy? How are we benefiting from this relationship, in terms of economics and international diplomacy?

It’s not that I normally have much free time; with coffee as my “upper” of choice, I’m quite capable of producing rapid-fire novellas! Since Bills training camp begins this week and since I don’t think anyone’s political views are changing, I suppose we should strive to wrap up this conversation? I’ll summarize my final thoughts and then you can choose a final rebuttal, if you’d like. Your commentary on the law of unintended economic consequences is duly noted. The American political milieu needs to demand greater quality control over legislation, and that certainly doesn’t exclude progressive legislation. We don’t need to analyze here the details of meaningful policies, but I would like to quickly revisit my 9-factor outline of the urban cost of living. The core message of the Mamdani campaign is mitigating urban unaffordability via downward redistribution of stolen wealth. To that effect, here are some of the main progressive policies I’d personally like to see implemented: 1. Wages: laws and regulations favoring unions, protectionism, and pretty much anything that helps reverse the deindustrialization and financialization of our national economy. 2. Health care: socialized healthcare (including eye, dental, maybe also pharmaceutical, maybe also biomed devices), systematic dismantlement of private health insurance companies, and full erasure of all personal/family medical debt. 3. Education: affordable childcare/pre-primary school programs, government stipend programs for colleges/trade schools, and laws limiting administrative expenses in public universities. Anything that could restrain the colossal market failure of spiraling college tuition costs (which is sort of a pseudo-Veblen/pseudo-Giffen good) should be on the table. 4. Housing: more public housing options, laws curtailing corporate housing ownership, targeted/conditional rent control policies, and just a general awareness of how other countries (example: Finland) address homelessness and housing anxiety. 5-7. Food, Transportation, and Utilities: civil infrastructure upgrades should be the primary focus. Since energy-related supply shocks can drive much of the pricing with these three cost-of-living factors, progressives might nitpick over various energy taxes and subsidies. Health and environmental regulations raise costs (in the short term), but they are necessary far more often than not. 8. Taxes: I’d focus less on corporate taxes, property taxes, and the various types of sales taxes. The main focus should be income taxes and Wall Street speculation taxes. I’d make the income tax structure a lot more progressive, with more brackets and a marginal tax rate of at least 50% on the highest bracket. At the exclusively federal level, I’d chop off ~33% of the bloated military budget and most of Trump’s ICE budget to help fund my progressive goodies! 9. Inflation: Standard worker-friendly progressive boilerplate here...an anti-austerity fiscal policy based on Keynesian stimulus spending to promote the growth of good jobs, but within reason so to control demand-pull inflationary effects. An emphasis on combating price gouging, busting trusts, and employing limited price controls during extreme circumstances. No draconian monetary policy measures (namely interest rate hikes). COMMIE KAY’S CONCLUSION: Neoliberal policies since the 1980’s have made cities unaffordable, not progressive policies. It’s practically canonical at this point to those who follow economics research literature instead of Fox News propaganda. Zohran’s policy platform is reasonable Euro-style social democracy with a 5-store flare of grocery socialism. Either accept our affable Muslim politicians, America, or deal with our HAWT Italian “activists” (note: obvious reference to Luigi Mangione)!!

LOL, oh I wish I could come visit San Diego (for my first time ever)!! I’m stuck in NYC for the rest of the summer. So you prefer the pool to the beach, eh? Either is better than PPP, no doubt. I fully respect your chosen neutrality on the contentious Leh-nerd situation. However, he just told me that he views my “entire portfolio of commentary as a giant red herring!!” As if… << haughty Kay Adams hair flip >> What this now means is that Leh-nerd and I can’t simultaneously attend a future pool party a La Casa Muppetta. If we do, I am liable to go “Aaron Kromer beach chair mode” on ol’ Leh-ny. Or pop his arm floaties in the deep end. Or covertly replace his sunscreen bottle with that of a much lower SPF level. You get the gist… Oh, and look! Leh-nerd has yet another post for us to read! Can’t wait to read all the super profound MAGA thoughts emanating from such a prolific PPP luminary…<< condescending Kay Adams eyeroll >> OH MY GOD. Right, because wearing skimpy bikinis and tackling issues like climate change and socioeconomic decay is an either/or proposition…another profoundly ponderous ponderance from Kay’s preferred PPP pinata… BTW, his name is “Zohran” Mamdani. Not “Zoloft.” I saw what you did there… Very cute, dude. Your irreverence is adorable. Aphmau should make a limited edition MeeMeow cat plushie in your image. To clarify, Zohran is the name of a gifted politician who speaks for the everyday issues of the people. Zoloft is what I should be taking to wade through the posts of a specific Politics, Polls, and Pundits cellar dweller whose puke green avatar letter represents the scored outcome of every single political debate of his with Kay… Let’s cut to the chase, Leh-nerd. Let’s broach the elephant in the room. And no, that wasn’t an allusion to your 24.8 BMI. We can’t just drape an XXL “Dad Bods for Cuomo” t-shirt over this particular point of contention. Your red herring portfolio remark was tremendously hurtful, given all the effort I have put into my posts for you during these past 5 years. It was absurd, moreover, given your leh-gendary obstinance in not seeing obvious political fact from fiction. Methinks Mr. MAGA-oo hasn’t a clue… Leh-nerd, you’re nothing to me now. You’re not a Bills Mafia associate, you’re not a political comrade. I don’t want to know you or what you post. I don’t want to see you on the main Bills forum, I don’t want you near my PPP threads. When you visit Muppy at her HAWT summer pool parties, I want to know a day in advance so that I won’t be there. You understand? << poignant Nino Rota musical outro >>

I’m sorry to hear about your terrible experience with your doctor. Such is the nature of America’s private health care system. Under Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All Act of 2023 (H.R. 3421), all BMI’s would be calculated sans shoes and clothes. Now before I begin grading your quiz, let’s briefly address your subpar posting record in this thread. We’re talking about justice for sexual abuse victims, Leh-nerd, and the prevention of any additional abuse from wealthy and powerful pedophiles. The Epstein files transcend politics. You need to be challenging your creepy MAGA forum friends with greater moral conviction. PPP is not supposed to stand for “Pedophiles, Perverts, and Porn addicts.” If anything, it should be “Posh Pulchritude for Progressives!” And on that note, let’s get to grading your math quiz concerning my bloody Zohran shirts… << pulls out menacing red pen >> << adjusts reading glasses >> << sets default facial expression to one of expected disappointment >> Hmmm…these are actually good responses, Leh-nerd!! You are 100% correct to figure that I’d be perturbed with any foreign labor exploitation that went into the t-shirt production. You truly understand the “Tao of Kay,” so may our friendship live on for at least another day! Hmmm…your answers are actually better than mine because yours don’t make me come across as so shallow... KAY’S OFFICIAL ANSWER KEY FOR LEH-NERD’S FRIENDSHIP QUIZ #2: Step 1: Note that Stokes’s Theorem has no relevance to combinatorial math questions. Another mathematical red herring proffered by Kay? More mathematical mischief afoot?? Yes, indeedy…but do note that this particular version of the theorem technically gives the answer away!!! Step 2: Note that Kay would NEVER wear a t-shirt or crop top out in public if she ballooned to a Leh-nerd-like BMI of 24.8. Knowing Kay (which is the whole point of the quiz), she probably wouldn’t be caught out in public at all looking so supersized. MAYBE wearing an oversized coat and baggy jeans in an emergency outing…? Anyway, the answer to Q1 is “ZERO combinations.” Step 3: Same reasoning as above for Q2… “ZERO combinations.” Alternate Step 2: If you want to practice your combinatorial math, Leh-nerd, Q1 is a basic “choose 5 from 10” problem where the order is not important: 10! / (5!5!) = (10*9*8*7*6*5!) / (5*4*3*2*5!) = 30240 / 120 = 252 shirt style combinations. Alternate Step 3: Note that blood and bleach would ruin the yellow, blue, and grey crop tops. You could still use the red and white ones judiciously, however. So Q2 becomes a “choose 5 from 7” problem: 7! / (2!5!) = (7*6*5!) / (2*5!) = 42 / 2 = 21 shirt style combinations. Congrats, dude! You passed! << punches Leh-nerd anyway for trying to show up Kay with nobler quiz answers >>

You cheeky son of a b!tch… Big boy Leh-nerd presumes to have big boy political thoughts for Commie Kay. How adorable. Almost makes me want to pinch those cheeks. Or rather, PUNCH IN those cheeks… YET ANOTHER EMERGENCY MATH POP QUIZ FOR LEH-NERD SKIN-ERD (because the forum friendship between Kay and Leh-nerd is once again in peril): Q1. Kay orders 10 “Hot Girls for Zohran” t-shirts online: 2 red, 2 yellow, 2 blue, 2 grey, and 2 white. Kay makes this purchase with Leh-nerd’s credit card that she stole from his wallet following a violent altercation. Upon delivery, Kay modifies one shirt of each color into a cute crop top style. Because of the aforementioned violent altercation in the state of New York, Kay decides to pack her sh!t up ASAP and lie low in sunny San Diego with Muppy for 5 days. Kay also immediately adopts Leh-nerd’s unethical omnivore diet so that she can go “incognito mode” and quickly raise her svelte 19.3 BMI to Leh-nerd’s sloppy 24.8. If Kay wants to wear a unique “Hot Girls for Zohran” shirt style for each day of her 5-day fugitive excursion, how many different combinations of t-shirts can she pack? Note: you may or may not need to recall Stokes’s Theorem for conservative vector fields: the line integral of the vector field around any closed curve is ZERO. Q2. Kay calls a criminal audible and now intends to clean up the scene of the aforementioned bloody altercation before fleeing the state. She uses bleach plus all 5 crop tops as wash rags in some manner. How many different combinations of t-shirts will Kay now be able to pack? Please take my quiz seriously this time, Leh-nerd. Our forum friendship hangs in the very balance…

But isn’t the victimhood narrative at the core of every political philosophy, even if the specter of oppression is simply one’s political opponent? My issue with your post is threefold: 1. Workers are most definitely the victims of wealth theft in the modern American economy. This should be so bleeping self-evident that I need not write a ten-paragraph treatise here on the twenty-first century revision of the classical economic Labor Theory of Value…though I will if you guys ask nicely… 2. MAGA is a cult-like establishment movement masquerading as a populist one because its acolytes can’t articulately identify their oppressors. 3. The actual far left (Bernie, AOC, etc.) hasn’t had any meaningful power in American national politics since the days of FDR. Getting back on topic…I like to fashion myself as an uber-rational politico who looks disdainfully down on any manner of conspiracy theory devoid of conclusive evidence. Two delightfully wicked exceptions: 1. The CIA killed JFK. 2. Mossad controlled Epstein, and they had dirt on members of both parties, politicians and megadonors, including Trump and Bill Clinton.

The flood alarm systems were state legislative proposals that the Texas GOP repeatedly turned down, dating back to 2017. The weather balloon equipment is federal government property of the NOAA and NWS, with the DOGE cuts this year hampering their efficacy. “Hindsight is always 20/20,” you say. “Science is foresight,” says Kay. Criticize me for politicizing a natural disaster, if you’d like, but I think it’s disgraceful how reactionaries are shirking responsibility for their failed policies. Whatever. Let’s see if the fossil fuel-obsessed citizens of Texas can at least learn lessons from these floods. Maybe consider taking climate change seriously? Maybe have an actual state income tax to fund disaster relief and prevention measures? I’d rather not hijack this thread by spending too much time on the Gaza topic. A few notes: 1. You meant to say “Hamas,” not “Hezbollah.” Hamas is in Gaza, while Hezbollah is north in Lebanon. 2. Ethnic cleansing is defined as “the forced and systematic removal of an ethnic group in a particular area, for the purpose of making that area ethnically homogeneous.” This is EXACTLY what Israel is doing in Gaza. The northern portion has already been ethnically cleansed. Likud party leaders and Trump have already publicly declared their intentions of a full ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Israel’s food and aid blockade, destruction of hospitals and schools, full city razing, and well-documented war crimes on civilians and journalists is fulfilling their ultimate objective: make life there so intolerable that nearby Arab nations will be pressured to accept Gazan refugees en masse. The West Bank is next, by the way, according to Likud party leaders. Apartheid isn’t enough for these sociopathic degenerates. 3. The conflict didn’t begin with Hamas on 10/7/23. This has been a turbulent back-and-forth between Israel and Hamas since the Second Intifada. Neither side has a clear conscience. Since Gazans are the descendants of ethnically cleansed Palestinians in 1948, I’d actually set the genesis of conflict to the very conception of Zionism. And since Zionism is an illegitimate political and philosophical and religious movement entwined with ethnic cleansing, then yeah…I’m blaming Israel for starting it all. Don’t steal people’s land and expect them to not fight back.

OH MY GOD. Your post length…we are the Spider-Man meme, except my Spider-Man is wearing a blue “Hot Girls for Zohran” t-shirt! I’ll try to address as much as I can: 1. Real world examples: You need to specify the progressive legislation if you want to assign blame. Whenever you vaguely point to the failings of dark blue cities, you’re actually attributing a lot of problems to a lot of different factors and politicians that have little to do with progressivism. Also, keep in mind that cost of living data is meaningless without the associated wage data for that geographic area. I’m definitely not arguing that progressive policies always turn out to be good, but most are worthwhile attempts to address blatant market failures like oligopolies (example: corporate housing ownership) and negative externalities (example: environmental pollution). 2. Bodega viability: It’s perfectly reasonable to be concerned that public grocery stores would economically endanger bodegas. I’ll remind everyone, though, that “food deserts” are a thing because many types of food products are otherwise simply unavailable to the consumers and, therefore, are not even in competition with what the bodega businesses are offering. Furthermore, Zohran is well aware of the bodega food products that would be in direct competition with the public grocery stores. This is a big reason why he's proposing to trim many of the city’s red tape regulations that hinder small businesses like bodegas, which already operate at super-slim profit margins. Finally, I want to remind everyone that nutritious and affordable food is a human right. The primary objective of capitalism should be to serve society and not capitalists. 3. COVID response: To clarify, actual progressives were unanimous in their condemnation of the stimulus packages that heavily favored large corporations and that led to further upward transfers of wealth. I think most progressives favored the lockdown policies of Western and Northern Europe. In all honesty, I’m completely fatigued with pandemic politics. Lockdowns too late? Too long? Stimulus checks too much? Too little? Whatever. Mistakes were made, and I still don’t see why progressives are to be uniquely blamed for policies that liberals and centrists also supported. The right-wing arguments are mostly incoherent and amount to little more than whining that we had a pandemic and had to do things that weren’t fun. 4. Illegal immigration: This turns out to be a highly nuanced topic and one that I don’t think any American political faction handles well. On the economic perspective, there is a balance between the demand-side boost to economic growth versus the societal drain on health, education, and transportation services. Illegal immigrants fulfill valuable roles in some occupations (example: agriculture industry) and suppress domestic labor force wages in others (example: construction). The human rights perspective of the debate is more cut and dried to a progressive. Undocumented workers are committing civil offenses, not criminal ones. Paths to citizenship should be made easier, while deportation procedures should be carried out humanely and with many of our Constitutionally protected rights considered universal (free speech, due process, no cruel/unusual punishment, etc.). Obtainment of documented worker visas should be encouraged simply because it helps prevent labor exploitation, and all forms of labor exploitation (domestic or international) are unethical. 5. Paid family and medical leave: The bottom line is that capitalists need to respect the regulations society has collectively deemed necessary for protecting human rights. If capitalists feel certain laws are unreasonable and overly punitive to business operations, then they need to present their cases to the public and change policy by way of our system of democracy. As always, I recommend comparing and contrasting international policies when formulating opinions. 6. Ambitious far-left ideas: The main reason why I’m to the political right of my market socialist comrades is because I generally don’t think bottom-up organizational structures can operate quite as optimally as top-down private ones currently do. For the time being, I’m fine with implementing progressive taxation policies (as supported by data-driven macroeconomics) to restore the stolen wealth from workers that socialism claims to obviate. For the time being, you may be surprised to know that Zohran’s rather anodyne platform is already considered mainstream and centrist at the national level (latest source: 6/26-6/30 Yahoo/YouGov survey of 1,597 American adults). The “socialism” label still scares people, but individual social democratic policies no longer do. This is the argument I believe Zohran will ultimately use to persuade Hochul and the neoliberals in Albany. << spills coffee, collapses to the floor from typing >>

Yes, actually, to an extent. I’ve never been a fan of Newsom the politician. Most of my ire surrounding the politics of California fires, however, tends to get directed at urban and suburban sprawl. Some geographical locations are simply too dangerous for houses. And since I’m a hardcore environmentalist, I’m mainly concerned with ecosystem degradation. There’s also the climate change component to the politics, of course, on which you probably know where I vociferously stand. I can just as easily throw the question back to you guys: are you all as outraged with the disaster response from Governor “Hot Wheels” and his Texas GOP cohort as you’ve been with that of Governor Newsom and the Cali leftists?? Why or why not? Dude…the meteorologists and geologists who are considered experts on Texas floods are telling us that the ~$1 million flood alarm systems would have saved many lives!! People who work at NOAA and NWS are telling us that the DOGE cuts are already compromising their ability to forecast weather. With critical functions now understaffed, the drastic reduction in weather balloon launches further hinders their ability to predict large rainfall events with accuracy and timeliness. MAGA types deeply distrust earth scientists, but the anthropogenic climate change “debate” shows that this skepticism is not healthy because it is not based on any scientific literacy or high-level reasoning skills. I really like the “America first” energy in your post, but you kinda ruin it with your bizarre JCPOA attack. Is “pallets of money” a reference to Iran’s frozen international assets that were returned to them after the lifting of the economic sanctions? Why not instead mention our country’s $1+ trillion annual budget for defense spending?? Or the $20+ billion that has been sent to Israel since 10/7/23 to fund their genocide and ethnic cleansing project in Gaza??

Great post! I especially like your analogy linking flood disaster policy with gun control policy. MAGA’s indignation with Adam Zygus has been, dare I say, “cartoonish.” Rational people should be far more angry with public policy failures enabling these disasters than with political cartoons whose entire purpose, essentially, is to expose said policy failures in a provocative (and sometimes insensitive) manner. As you implied, the cartoonish indignation serves as a political strategy to run out the clock on a contentious issue until some other news headline captures the public’s attention. The lachrymose “too soon, but thoughts and prayers in the meantime” crowd needs to be reminded that expeditiously identifying and addressing causes of disasters saves lives from impending new disasters. Let’s summarize these policy failures. MAGA wants to point out that we can’t make a direct connection between the central Texas floods and anthropogenic climate change. They also want to argue that recent DOGE cuts to personnel and equipment for NWS and NOAA have no direct connection with the poor flood preparedness (in Texas but also elsewhere in the country). I can agree with MAGA here on pedantic technical grounds, but the smoking gun for me is the state GOP’s repeated denials of flood alert systems for that particular flood plain region of Texas. Scientists had long been insisting upon the implementation of these comparatively inexpensive systems, but Texas GOP politicians rejected them because of foolish austerity measures plus associations with “liberal climate change ideology.” FEMA’s embarrassingly sluggish response hasn’t helped the situation, either. It comes down to this: right-wingers believe government is inherently incompetent and inefficient. Then when they get elected, they do everything to undermine government and reinforce said philosophy. Rinse and repeat. They want to return FEMA duties to the states, but states rarely have the budget to handle major environmental catastrophes (and obviously can’t print their own money and run large deficits). To no one’s surprise, many of these same troglodytes believe chemtrails caused these floods… At some point, the top 51% of the IQ pool needs to reclaim democracy from the bottom 49% of it. If you’re far too stupid for science and rational thought, at least respect the people who aren’t.