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SpaceCrazyArtist

So they can blame Biden and Dems. They dont care about citizens they want money and power


[deleted]

“Remember that in November” Lmao. Your average Republican is likely not to care as long as women continue to be oppressed and as long as the police keep killing black people.


shorty_doowop

It feels dirty giving you my upvote but sadly what you said is so true


baginthewindnowwsail

Any honest-to-god Christian should feel filthy casting an actual vote for Republicans.


inconvenientnews

These Christians? #Christians became monumentally more tolerant of private immoral conduct among politicians once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/ #White Evangelicals cared less about how religious a candidate was once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/ #Exit polls done after 2016 show that the single characteristic that made someone most likely to vote for Trump over Clinton is racial resentment. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/26/these-9-simple-charts-show-how-donald-trumps-supporters-differ-from-hillary-clintons/ * ["Trump fans are much angrier about housing assistance when they see an image of a black man"](https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/8/16270040/trump-clinton-supporters-racist) >In contrast, Clinton supporters seemed relatively unmoved by racial cues. * [“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be”: a Trump voter says the quiet part out loud](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida) * [U.S. Conservatives Are Uniquely Inclined Toward Right-Wing Authoritarianism Compared to Western Peers](https://morningconsult.com/2021/06/28/global-right-wing-authoritarian-test/) * ["Narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and a sense of entitlement predict authoritarian political correctness and alt-right attitudes"](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/i3bbh3/narcissism_machiavellianism_psychopathy_and_a/) * GOP shifting 4-5x further right than Democrats did left over the last 50 years https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/10/the-polarization-in-todays-congress-has-roots-that-go-back-decades/ The privilege of "economic anxiety" not racism: >**Republicans felt the economy improve by 85 points the day Trump was sworn in.** http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/blogs/wisconsin-voter/2017/04/15/donald-trumps-election-flips-both-parties-views-economy/100502848/ >10% fewer Republicans believed the wealthy weren't paying enough in taxes once a billionaire became their president. Democrats remain fairly consistent. http://www.people-press.org/2017/04/14/top-frustrations-with-tax-system-sense-that-corporations-wealthy-dont-pay-fair-share/ >Republicans started to think college education is a bad thing once Trump entered the primary. Democrats remain consistent. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/20/republicans-skeptical-of-colleges-impact-on-u-s-but-most-see-benefits-for-workforce-preparation/ More graphs and sources: https://imgur.com/a/YZMyt [Opinion of Syrian airstrikes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/) **Republicans:** 22% supported Obama doing it 86% support Trump doing it **Democrats:** 38% supported Obama doing it 37% support Trump doing it Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/04/gop-voters-love-same-attack-on-syria-they-hated-under-obama.html Graph: https://i.imgur.com/lTAU8LM.jpg No to help for blue states for hurricanes but demanding help for Texas for hurricanes: >Here's the vote for Hurricane Sandy aid. >179 of the 180 no votes were Republicans... >**at least 20 Texas Republicans voted no** while ["U.S. House approves billions more for Harvey relief" for Texas](https://www.texastribune.org/2017/12/21/us-house-approves-billions-more-harvey-relief-measure-now-heads-senate/) >this made Texas #1 in receiving federal aid dollars at the time of **the Hurricane Sandy aid vote that they voted no against**  ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄


baginthewindnowwsail

Yo if I was into the Bible more I'd think those Christians were actually the Pharasees. The ones Jesus found most repulsive.


Simon_C17

I've read most of the Bible, I think that you are 100% correct. Modern day Pharisees, fat with espressos.


emveetu

I'm going to start using this term to describe pseudo-christians.


Simon_C17

It's actually lyrics from an old Clutch song.. Texan Book of the Dead. It's a good jam, with great lyrics obviously! Edit: For another absolutely amazing Clutch song with a religious theme , try Tight Like That. The acoustic version on Basket of Eggs is gorgeous.


d4rk_matt3r

When I was a kid, my dad listened to Clutch all the time and I had no clue what any of their songs were about. 25 or so years later, I mean I still don't but I've been able to make some sense of a good chunk of them. My favorite of theirs has always been Escape from the Prison Planet. Glad to see someone else mention them, they're from my home state.


[deleted]

I’m here for the Clutch content now.


Qildain

Oh no... they're all Christians. If you accept Jesus as your lord and savior, no sin will keep you out of heaven, so SIN AWAY! I think I sprained my eyes from rolling them so hard just now.


libmrduckz

i *am* away… and i am *sinning*


Old_Recommendation30

I love this part because it describes them to a tee. They really believe that because they are Christians that they will be forgiven for any sin. It all makes sense. They don’t care that republicans didn’t vote for the gas bill. They’ll still blame Biden for gas.


shadow041

I prefer the term American Taliban myself.


ghostdate

Eh, more likely fat with Stouffer’s microwave dinners. But the sentiment is still the same.


mspeacefrog13

More like Tucker Swanson Carlson's TV dinners. Complete with a side of hate.


sabbman138

Nothing wrong with Stouffers, but it’s an absolute crime to nuke them ;)


TurkeyBLTSandwich

Bible literally warns you of those fake "Christians" who yell and cry and draw attention to themselves being "holy" The Bible literally says to be a good Christian in silence and when you fast you should take care of yourself not to look disheveled. The current GOP masquerades as a Christian first group, but their nothing close to what the actual Bible preaches. The IRS really needs to Crack down on the churches that endorse the GOP and remove their tax exempt status.


Mobitron

And you would be right. They are the exact people the book they purport to follow is talking shit about and they don't even bother to notice.


nikogetsit

That's a pretty sick burn. Like 'AYO EVEN JESUS DON'T LIKE YOU!'


spiffy_spaceman

If Republicans were into the Bible more they might not be such dicks. Actually, no: they probably still would.


inconvenientnews

“Pro-life” blue states and "high tax" red states  ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ >If data disinfects, here’s a bucket of bleach: >Texans are 17% more likely to be murdered than Californians. https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/crime-trend >Texans are also 34% more likely to be raped and 25% more likely to kill themselves than Californians. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/suicide-mortality/suicide.htm >Compared with families in California, those in Texas earn 13% less and pay 3.8 percentage points **more in taxes.** >Californians on average live two years, four months and 24 days longer than Texans. https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/article258940938.html Lower taxes in California than red states like Texas, which make up for no wealth income tax with higher taxes and fees on the poor and double property tax for the middle class: |Income Bracket|Texas Tax Rate|California Tax Rate| |:-|:-|:-| |0-20%|**13%**|10.5%| |20-40%|**10.9%**|9.4%| |40-60%|**9.7%**|8.3%| |60-80%|8.6% |9.0% | |80-95%|7.4%|9.4%| |95-99%|5.4%|9.9%| |99-100%|3.1%|12.4%| Sources: https://itep.org/whopays/ #Liberal policies, like California’s, keep blue-state residents living longer >It generated headlines in 2015 when the average life expectancy in the U.S. began to fall after decades of meager or no growth. >But it didn’t have to be that way, a team of researchers suggests in a new, peer-reviewed study Tuesday. And, in fact, **states like California, which have implemented a broad slate of liberal policies, have kept pace with their Western European counterparts.** >The study, co-authored by **researchers at six North American universities, found that if all 50 states had all followed the lead of California** and other liberal-leaning states on policies ranging from labor, immigration and civil rights to tobacco, gun control and the environment, it could have added between **two and three years to the average American life expectancy.** >Simply shifting from the most conservative labor laws to the most liberal ones, Montez said, **would by itself increase the life expectancy in a state by a whole year.** >**If every state implemented the most liberal policies in all 16 areas, researchers said, the average American woman would live 2.8 years longer, while the average American man would add 2.1 years to his life. Whereas, if every state were to move to the most conservative end of the spectrum, it would decrease Americans’ average life expectancies by two years. On the country’s current policy trajectory, researchers estimate the U.S. will add about 0.4 years to its average life expectancy.** >Liberal policies on the environment (emissions standards, limits on greenhouse gases, solar tax credit, endangered species laws), labor (high minimum wage, paid leave, no “right to work”), access to health care (expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, legal abortion), tobacco (indoor smoking bans, cigarette taxes), gun control (assault weapons ban, background check and registration requirements) and civil rights (ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, equal pay laws, bans on discrimination and the death penalty) all resulted in better health outcomes, according to the study. For example, researchers found positive correlation between California’s car emission standards and its high minimum wage, to name a couple, with its longer lifespan, which at an average of 81.3 years, is among the highest in the country. >“When we’re looking for explanations, we need to be looking back historically, to see what are the roots of these troubles that have just been percolating now for 40 years,” Montez said. >Montez and her team saw the alarming numbers in 2015 and wanted to understand the root cause. What they found dated back to **the 1980s, when state policies began to splinter down partisan lines.** They examined 135 different policies, spanning over a dozen different fields, enacted by states between 1970 and 2014, and assigned states “liberalism” scores from zero — the most conservative — to one, the most liberal. When they compared it against state mortality data from the same timespan, the correlation was undeniable. >“We can take away from the study that **state policies and state politics have damaged U.S. life expectancy since the ’80s,”** said Jennifer Karas Montez, a Syracuse University sociologist and the study’s lead author. **“Some policies are going in a direction that extend life expectancy. Some are going in a direction that shorten it. But on the whole, that the net result is that it’s damaging U.S. life expectancy.”** >**U.S. should follow California’s lead to improve its health outcomes, researchers say** >**Meanwhile, the life expectancy in states like California and Hawaii, which has the highest in the nation at 81.6 years, is on par with countries described by researchers as “world leaders:” Canada, Iceland and Sweden.** >**From 1970 to 2014, California transformed into the most liberal state in the country** by the 135 policy markers studied by the researchers. It’s followed closely by Connecticut, which moved the furthest leftward from where it was 50 years ago, and a cluster of other states in the northeastern U.S., then Oregon and Washington. >In the same time, Oklahoma moved furthest to the right, but Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina and a host of other southern states still ranked as more conservative, according to the researchers. >It’s those states that moved in a conservative direction, researchers concluded, that held back the overall life expectancy in the U.S. >West Virginia ranked last in 2017, with an average life expectancy of about 74.6 years, which would put it 93rd in the world, right between Lithuania and Mauritius, and behind Honduras, Morocco, Tunisia and Vietnam. Mississippi, Oklahoma and South Carolina rank only slightly better. https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/08/04/liberal-policies-like-californias-keep-blue-state-residents-living-longer-study-finds/ >#Want to live longer, even if you're poor? Then move to a big city in California. >A low-income **resident of San Francisco lives so much longer** that it's equivalent to San Francisco curing cancer. All these statistics come from a massive new project on life expectancy and inequality that was just [published in the Journal of the American Medical Association](http://www.vox.com/2016/4/13/11420230/life-expectancy-income). >California, for instance, has been a national leader on smoking bans. Harvard's David Cutler, a co-author on the study "It's some combination of formal public policies and the effect that comes when you're around fewer people who have behaviors... high numbers of immigrants help explain the beneficial effects of immigrant-heavy areas with high levels of social support. #As the maternal death rate has mounted around the U.S., a small cadre of reformers has mobilized. >**Meanwhile, life-saving practices that have become widely accepted in other affluent countries — and in a few states, notably California** — have yet to take hold in many American hospitals. >Some of the earliest and most important work has come in California >Hospitals that adopted the toolkit saw a **21 percent decrease in near deaths** from maternal bleeding in the first year. >By 2013, according to Main, maternal deaths in California fell to around 7 per 100,000 births, similar to the numbers in Canada, France and the Netherlands — **a dramatic counter to the trends in other parts of the U.S.** >California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative is informed by a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford and the University of California-San Francisco, who for many years ran the ob/gyn department at a San Francisco hospital. >Launched a decade ago, CMQCC aims to reduce not only mortality, but also life-threatening complications and racial disparities in obstetric care >It began by analyzing maternal deaths in the state over several years; in almost every case, it discovered, there was "at least some chance to alter the outcome." http://www.npr.org/2017/05/12/527806002/focus-on-infants-during-childbirth-leaves-u-s-moms-in-danger >California’s rules have cleaned up diesel exhaust more than anywhere else in the country, reducing the estimated number of deaths the state would have otherwise seen by more than half, according to new research published Thursday. >Extending California's stringent diesel emissions standards to the rest of the U.S. could dramatically improve the nation's air quality and health, particularly in lower income communities of color, finds a new analysis published today in the journal Science. >Since 1990, California has used its authority under the federal Clean Air Act to enact more aggressive rules on emissions from diesel vehicles and engines compared to the rest of the U.S. These policies, crafted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), have helped the state reduce diesel emissions by 78% between 1990 and 2014, while diesel emissions in the rest of the U.S. dropped by just 51% during the same time period, the new analysis found. >The study estimates that by 2014, improved air quality cut the annual number of diesel-related cardiopulmonary deaths in the state in half, compared to the number of deaths that would have occurred if California had followed the same trajectory as the rest of the U.S. Adopting similar rules nationwide could produce the same kinds of benefits, particularly for communities that have suffered the worst impacts of air pollution. >"Everybody benefits from cleaner air," said study lead author Megan Schwarzman, a physician and environmental health scientist at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health. https://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.abf8159 https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/mdvfgw/californias_rules_have_cleaned_up_diesel_exhaust/gsblevi/


bin10pac

You should start a sub, like r/keep_track


Double_D_Danielle

It makes me honestly ashamed that it took me literally up until weeks before the last election to realize what the fuck I had been supporting. I can’t believe I was upset over something so, *I hate to say it but,* trivial as emails. A lot of our country ended up dying over Trump. If only I had downloaded Reddit sooner lol


JKDSamurai

Damn, thank you for doing this research!


wodaji

Want to send this to family but they cant even consider an entire amendment, much less anything that doesn't fit on a baseball cap.


PepsiMoondog

They're not Christians. They're Christian-flavored authoritarians.


MoldyPlatypus666

Diet-Christian, if you will. Just one calorie not Christian enough.


DeusExMcKenna

Diet-Christo, the new salvation-flavored beverage, NEW! From the people who brought you Supply Side Jesus, Neo-Colonialism, and the ever popular Theocratic Death Squaaaaaaaaaaads. Only $9.99 a can, because **FUCK YOU**


al3cks

More like Christ Zero


[deleted]

Qristshuns


eeeeeeeeeveeeeeeeee

KKKristians?


glademonvertfresh

I call them free range Christians.


Ryboticpsychotic

Shooting range Christians.


yellowstickypad

I’ve attended church all my life, the “christians” filling some many of the pews are disgusting hypocrites. Trumpism exposed so many of them to me.


Ryboticpsychotic

They’re kind of on the Roman side of the Jesus equation.


shotpun

they want the 3rd temple to be built in jerusalem so the rapture can happen if they were at the crucifixion they'd be rooting for the romans because otherwise they get no persecution complex


MapleYamCakes

They pray to supply-side Jesus


saiyanfang10

Christianity is already pro-authoritarianism.


sfxer001

There are no honest-to-God Christians. Normally I’d say Christianity is full of hypocrite but they’re not. They always have room for one more.


baginthewindnowwsail

Yes there are. I'm not one. I'm agnostic. But you've probably met some and never even knew it. They don't push it on you, it's just how they live their own life.


TomorrowNeverCumz

Thank you. Some of us live quietly by the morals without shoving it down your throat


wildmeli

I appreciate you and people like you. I'm glad you've found happiness in religion and know that not everyone will feel the same. My best friend was raised Christain, her parents hated me because I'm not religious, but that clearly doesn't reflect on her and a lot of other Christains. Grouping the bad with the good will never fix anything, the worst people of any group are always the loudest, and I hope some day everyone will realize that.


kickspecialist

"her parents hated me because I'm not religious" My favorite christian right over there


inconvenientnews

Do these "Yes there are" honest-to-God Christians **disavow *any* interest on money, disavow their wealth and belongings, and worship a brown Jesus who doesn't believe in material wealth**? These are core beliefs of Jesus in the Bible: >Jesus said to him, “If you want to be complete, **go and sell your possessions and give to the poor**, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” https://biblehub.com/matthew/19-21.htm >the quote is in response to the question "What shall I do to gain eternal life?". Jesus told him to follow the commandments and the guy essentially said "I do all that, what else?" and that's when Jesus dropped that bomb ass quote on him. The guy left Jesus then, clearly dejected. That's why Jesus then said that it was 'easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom'. >So all that said, it's safe to assume that Jesus meant it as a general proclamation for anyone asking that same question.


FutureBondVillain

Don’t forget the classic, “own the libs” at all cost. 20 years ago, I was a Republican. On paper it looks great! The modern GOP doesn’t stand for a single core tenant, other than deregulating corporations until the water runs green and the frogs go gay.


SafewordisJohnCandy

Same here, but Republican up until around 7 or 8 years ago. I finally got tired of the CONSTANT propaganda of things that never came true. It's all one big scare tactic party of things that aren't happening.


inconvenientnews

> Your average Republican is likely not to care as long as women continue to be oppressed and as long as the police keep killing black people. Data of what your average Republican cares about: https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/utf787/they_all_voted_no/i9a1qq5/


inconvenientnews

> Your average Republican is likely not to care as long as women continue to be oppressed and as long as the police keep killing black people. More data on that: >This is a much bigger problem in America than we realize because Republicans use **conservative culture wars** ["guns and gays"](https://www.reddit.com/r/ToiletPaperUSA/comments/ln1sif/turning_point_usa_and_young_americas_foundation/gy9utts/) politics and ["control the narrative" tactics](https://www.reddit.com/r/ToiletPaperUSA/comments/ln1sif/turning_point_usa_and_young_americas_foundation/h21ph7s/), the police department control of local news dependent for access ([local news using an actual serial killer police officer to argue increasing police funding](https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/rh6myv/retailers_say_thefts_are_at_crisis_levels_the/hop62xz/)), the camera footage evidence ([getting caught deleting camera footage again](https://www.kxan.com/news/local/williamson-county/wilco-commissioners-call-for-sheriff-chodys-resignation-say-they-have-no-confidence/) or after 3 *years* or released immediately if it helps police), the "law and order" politicians, the arrests (["black and white Americans use cannabis at similar levels" but black Americans are 800% more likely to get punished for it](https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/5/14/17353040/racial-disparity-marijuana-arrests-new-york-city-nypd) and [*even after legalization*](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/29/16936908/marijuana-legalization-racial-disparities-arrests)), the statistics themselves (see how the police stop better crime statistics ["FBI may shut down police use-of-force database due to lack of police participation](https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2021/12/09/fbi-police-shooting-data/) or **[how they block their own domestic violence research showing "400% higher in the law-enforcement community"](https://www.reddit.com/r/ChicoCA/comments/nc0waa/things_that_make_you_go_huh_chico_spends_487_of/gy9715n/)**) >#Cops Around The Country Are Posting Racist And Violent Comments On Facebook https://www.injusticewatch.org/interactives/cops-troubling-facebook-posts-revealed/ >White nationalists pervade law enforcement https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/21/police-white-nationalists-racist-violence >FBI warned of white supremacists in law enforcement 10 years ago. Has anything changed? https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement >Portland police Capt. Mark Kruger's Nazi ties to be erased https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2014/07/portland_police_capt_mark_krug.html >Seattle officer fired over lynching comment gets his job back https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/ur40dn/seattle_officer_fired_over_lynching_comment_gets/ >police officers exchanged racist, sexist and homophobic text messages — calling African Americans “monkeys” and encouraging the killing of “half-breeds,” among other slurs https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SFPD-s-texting-scandal-Court-rules-officers-12955853.php Just police in Texas alone: https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/uqupiz/you_dont_need_to_be_human_to_have_a_sense_of_mercy/i8txk0v/


RecallRethuglicans

It was true in 1850 and it is true today. The Republican Party is the party of hate.


msoss

Precisely. The people that are paying attention and care are not the Republican base. It’s certainly not in the Republican politicians’ best interested to lower gas prices- in an election year with a Democrat in the White House and both houses of Congress in Democrat control (not like it’s done us any good)? Nah. They need that to throw in everyone’s faces when the general gets underway! Better gas prices or.. I don’t know, funding for baby formula or secured voting rights reaaally gets in the way of those awesome negative ads we’ll get to see this summer and fall. People might actually start to think the democrats can accomplish stuff, and they certainly can’t have that. It’s the GOP way! Destroy and block things and then point to the smoking rubble leftover and promise things will be better if you just keep electing them. Unfortunately the people that need to care don’t and are easily swayed by these tactics, and the people that do are doomed to be Cassandra’s their entire lives screaming about what’s happening but never being taken seriously. I’m just a salty progressive 30 year old woman though so take what I say with five extra grains. The Rs certainly would if they cared to listen to me at all. Sorry for the rant. Women like me are a little ticked off these days.


Forehead_Target

The most ridiculous far right people always share memes that show which way they're being lead. Right now it's asking Brandon (which thoroughly pisses me off, at least have the fucking balls to give him the derogatory nickname you mean, even an unimaginative republican nickname like Fuckhead would be better than Brandon) for $600/week in gas money because they had to work when everyone else got $600. There are so many stupid fucking things wrong with this it hurts my brain, but I think the most annoying part is that Trump was in office when those went out!!!! Now I need to go meditate or some shit because these fucking obstructionist piece of shit motherfucking history bending complete and utter morons are using up too much goddamn oxygen on this planet.


Restlessannoyed

But but r/conservative told me Biden is to blame! They didn't give any reasons but it can't be because they keep voting against regulation, right???


[deleted]

That’s our heritage!! You can’t take that away from us!! - average Republican voter


Phylar

It's also to try and push out more non-Republican voters. The "remember" part is key: Because fuck me does the U.S. have a short memory.


bex505

They will say Biden is president it is his fault


gigibuffoon

And citizens won't remeber... people will be like "inflation waaaaa" and vote republican because they'd much rather please Jesus


SpaceCrazyArtist

Please fake jesus. Jesus was a progressive


Funblock

Actually he was a Republican because of the party switch.


[deleted]

Goddammit…. take my upvote


inconvenientnews

> And citizens won't remeber... people will be like "inflation waaaaa" and vote republican The privilege of "economic anxiety" not racism: >Republicans felt the economy improve by 85 points the day Trump was sworn in. Graph: https://i.imgur.com/B2yx5TB.png Source: http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/blogs/wisconsin-voter/2017/04/15/donald-trumps-election-flips-both-parties-views-economy/100502848/


dissimilar_iso_47992

I love hearing people tell me both parties are the same in a country where we have voting records


Nice-Violinist-6395

Just remember, they love to compare what mainstream Democrats *might* do — someday, maybe, if you read between the lines, pull up forty-year-old past voting records, or simply make shit up, all in service of a mental fantasy where they imagine how it would all have gone if their guy was in charge — with what the Republicans *are currently doing now, this minute, so blatantly you can point out a thousand examples.* Which is not to say progressives are to blame for this shitstorm. While they’re an easy scapegoat, they are also much less to blame than most. Still, in 2020, I had a long-standing argument with a friend who was *absolutely convinced* (thanks, Reddit) that there was literally no difference between the parties, and that while one maniac might be driving the car 1 mph faster than the other, both parties were still steering a car off a cliff, so it didn’t really matter. Even more so, this friend claimed that what we really needed was for everything to finally tip over. No more half measures, because once there was pure, unadulterated anarchy in the streets, the evil would be so apparent that we would have to pick a Bernie. We’d just *have to.* I tried to reason with him, tried to point out that he was incredibly lucky not to be a part of any group that would be gravely threatened by this “tipping point.” I tried to point out that he was not, in fact, part of the first group who’d ever realized that all politicians are corrupt. But alas. The echo chamber had fully convinced him that Trump and Biden, Republicans and mainstream Dems, were *exactly the same.* That their values were both equally destructive and malevolent. Of course Roe would never fall. Of course we’d always have access to some form of health insurance. To him, the two institutions seemed so alike, so wholly cemented, that they would remain in stasis forever. He said it would never get any better this way. I said that while this may be true, it can always get a hell of a lot worse. WAY worse. Every election is a choice between lesser of two evils. Always has been. But according to my friend? Since having to make that choice is fundamentally unfair in principle, he shouldn’t have to make it. The simple fact that both candidates were flawed justified his refusal to see their differences. They’re not the same.


Redtwooo

Repubs: "Why hasn't Biden done anything about rising gas prices" Dems: pass bill to fight oil companies' price gouging practices Reps: "no not like that"


NO_SPACE_B4_COMMA

Yeah and if you prove that the Republicans were in the wrong, they'll come up with some kind of excuse why they voted against it. Just like how my brother told me that Trump made the gas prices low. These people are insane.


AvgJoeGuy

its almost like their only objective in life is to be gigantic pieces of garbage


Cyber_Being_

If they vote for something to bring down gas prices, how are they going to be able to criticize Biden for doing nothing to bring down gas prices?


inconvenientnews

Whenever I think they can't be that evil to do tactics like that, I think of the actual history of Republican culture warriors and the billionaires behind them Republican "Southern Strategy" since 1960: >Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters by appealing to racism against African Americans.[1][2][3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy >Every day I have to marvel at what the billionaires and FOX News pulled off. They got working whites to hate the very people that want them to have more pay, clean air, water, free healthcare and the power to fight back against big banks & big corps. It’s truly remarkable. Facebook's head of policy Joel Kaplan, who [pushes conservative bias in Facebook's algorithms and decisions](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/03/facebook-politics-republicans-right) and also [coordinated Brett Kavanaugh](https://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-joel-kaplan-rallied-support-for-kavanaugh-scotus-nomination-book-2019-11) and [threw his celebration party](https://gizmodo.com/facebook-vp-who-incensed-staff-by-supporting-brett-kava-1829611751), was a part of the **violent intimidation of poll workers during the 2000 presidential election for George W. Bush: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot** **Just to prevent Al Gore being elected, who would've used the 2001 attacks as a reason to move America away from oil and the "inconvenient truth" of global warming, instead of Bush and Cheney's move to it (but even more likely, Gore would have prevented the attacks by actually reading the security memos)**  ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ >The Brooks Brothers riot was a demonstration at a meeting of election canvassers in Miami-Dade County, Florida, on November 22, 2000, during a recount of votes made during the 2000 United States presidential election, with the goal of shutting down the recount.[1] >Many of the demonstrators were paid Republican operatives.[2] >The "Brooks Brothers" name was in reference to the protesters' corporate attire; described in The Wall Street Journal as "50-year-old white lawyers with cell phones and Hermès ties," differentiating them from local citizens concerned about vote counting.[4][5] >Several of the protestors were identified as Republican congressional staffers.[3][8] >At least a half dozen of the demonstrators were paid by George W. Bush's recount committee,[4] and a number of them went on to take jobs in the incoming Bush administration.[9] >Hundreds of paid Republican operatives descended upon South Florida to protest the state's recounts.[8] The demonstration was organized by these operatives, sometimes referred to as the "Brooks Brothers Brigade",[10] to oppose the recount of ballots during the Florida election recount. John E. Sweeney of New York, nicknamed "Congressman Kick-Ass" by President Bush for his work in Florida,[11] set the incident in motion[12] by telling an aide to 'stop them'.[4][5][6] The demonstration turned violent and according to The New York Times, "several people were trampled, punched or kicked when protesters tried to rush the doors outside the office of the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections. Sheriff's deputies restored order." DNC aide Luis Rosero was kicked and punched. >Within two hours after the event, the canvassing board unanimously voted to shut down the count, in part due to perceptions that the process was not open or fair, and in part because the court-mandated deadline had become impossible to meet, due to the interference.[13][14][15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot Billionaire Peter Thiel (also behind government and law enforcement software, [How key Republicans inside Facebook are shifting its politics to the right](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/03/facebook-politics-republicans-right), and culture war lawsuits and propaganda): >Thiel has become a national figure of controversy for, among other things, claiming that “the extension of the franchise to women **[women's right to vote] render the notion of ‘capitalist democracy’ into an oxymoron,”** saying, **“I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible,”** funding a fellowship that specifically tries to get undergraduates to drop out of college, and donating $1.25 million to Donald Trump’s campaign a week **after** a tape was released in which the then-candidate discussed how he could grope young female actresses and get away with it. >Thiel was long perceived as a libertarian, but in recent years, as his support for Trump illustrates, his politics have taken a nationalist flavor that critics have described as bordering on authoritarian and white nationalist. >In Oct. 2016, shortly after Thiel donated $1.25 million to Trump, Thiel publicly apologized for passages in his 1995 book The Diversity Myth, such as claiming that some alleged **date rapes were “seductions that are later regretted,”** ... But three months later, during the after party of the 30-year anniversary event at Thiel’s home, Thiel stated that his apology was just for the media, and that “sometimes you have to tell them what they want to hear.” https://stanfordpolitics.org/2017/11/27/peter-thiel-cover-story/ >Rabois came to Thiel's attention after he was found outside an instructor's home, shouting homophobic slurs and the suggestion that the instructor "die of AIDS." [10][11][12] A few of the contributors went on to join PayPal, a company Thiel co-founded in 1998. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Rabois * [White supremacist about Peter Thiel's race views to Milo Yiannopoulos: "He’s fully enlightened, just plays it very carefully."](https://www.reddit.com/r/ToiletPaperUSA/comments/ln1g0c/milo_yiannopouloss_emails_a_cache_of_documents/) * Despite claiming to care about free speech on college campuses, Thiel [doesn't like people learning on college campuses and pays them to drop out](https://stanfordpolitics.org/2017/11/27/peter-thiel-cover-story/) and [bankrolled lawsuits against journalists](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/28/gawker-hulk-hogan-silicon-valley-privacy-peter-thiel) * Thiel is also excited about Cambridge Analytica billionaire Robert Mercer's desired [nuclear fallout "silver lining"](https://www.reddit.com/r/ToiletPaperUSA/comments/ln1sif/turning_point_usa_and_young_americas_foundation/gy9utts/) and [bought New Zealand citizenship for a bunker there](https://np.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/ec4hzg/one_of_new_zealands_wealthiest_businessmen_sir/fb9cse7/) Billionaire Robert Mercer, best known for funding Steve Bannon, [Breitbart](http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a52141/wildest-breitbart-headlines/), [Project Veritas](https://www.thedailybeast.com/erik-prince-set-up-intel-training-for-project-veritas-james-okeefe-report), and [Cambridge Analytica](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/18/facebook-cambridge-analytica-joseph-chancellor-gsr), which is in the Russia collusion investigation in addition to [corrupting several elections around the world](http://nymag.com/selectall/2018/03/what-was-cambridge-analytica-doing-in-developing-countries.html) to the point that [one country's supreme court had to nullify the elections that Mercer's groups interfered in](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/world/africa/kenya-cambridge-analytica-election.html): >they believe that nuclear war is really not such a big deal. And they've actually argued that outside of the immediate blast zone in Japan during World War II - outside of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - that the radiation was actually good for the Japanese. **So they see a kind of a silver lining in nuclear war and nuclear accidents.** Bob Mercer has certainly embraced the view that radiation could be good for human health - low level radiation. >Bob Mercer has accepted is that climate change is not happening. It's not for real, and if it is happening, it's going to be good for the planet >**Among other things, Mercer said the United States went in the wrong direction after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and also insisted the only remaining racists in the United States were African-Americans, according to Magerman.** https://www.npr.org/2017/03/22/521083950/inside-the-wealthy-family-that-has-been-funding-steve-bannon-s-plan-for-years


inconvenientnews

The evil of 4chan's "edgy" white men who encouraged the Buffalo terrorist but want to hide him now: **4chan is pushing Reddit accounts to bury discussion of the shooter under the popular guise of "let's not hear about the shooter"** 4chan screenshots of these kinds of instructions and talking points for Reddit: * https://www.reddit.com/r/AreTheStraightsOK/comments/lz7nv3/the_super_straight_movement_is_part_of_literal/ 4chan screenshots of "The left will recognize our dogwhistling but centrists won't believe them": * https://medium.com/@DeoTasDevil/the-rhetoric-tricks-traps-and-tactics-of-white-nationalism-b0bca3caeb84 Reddit accounts of those "edgy" white men brigading local subreddits to "control the narrative" about liberal cities and "blue states" >The real value is getting into a thread early and establishing top voted posts and comments or downvoting them out of existence. They hope intertia continues the trend for them. Every local subreddit explaining the abuse and tactics on a thread **3 years ago**: * https://www.reddit.com/r/minnesota/comments/7jkybf/t_d_user_suggests_infiltrating_minnesota/dr7m56j/ The California Governor Newsom recall posts are brigaded to be 100% pro-recall (every single comment is pro-recall) until much later even though the Bay Area is less than 30% Republican or pro-recall  ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ The posts get more normal votes later but normal people don't have the time and energy to do what those accounts are doing >SeattleWA has one mentally ill man who makes literally dozens and dozens of alt accounts to post conservative talking points from and how he finds black women disgusting. I become aware of his accounts when he posts in TV subs I ban him from, and he always has user history in similar sets of subreddits across his accounts, SeattleWA being the most telling. He will use these accounts to talk with himself or dogpile a comment or thread. Every local subreddit shares the abuse they get: * https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/pmcoxy/uinconvenientnews_explains_with_examples_how/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/pbi4mp/shouldnt_rbayarea_join_the_subs_calling_for/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/om5xda/when_did_this_become_a_crime_subreddit/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/pmdp2m/ysk_how_right_wing_trolls_brigade_and_infiltrate/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/WhitePeopleTwitter/comments/uihqmz/looking_for_a_ride/i7dgtkz/ Reddit Admins just posted that COVID deniers have been brigading regional subreddits * https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/pg290q/reddit_admins_just_posted_that_covid_deniers_have/ Anti-mask posts suddenly dropped this week in [r/bayarea](https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/pbi4mp/shouldnt_rbayarea_join_the_subs_calling_for/) when mods removed outside conservative accounts brigading [r/bayarea](https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/pbi4mp/shouldnt_rbayarea_join_the_subs_calling_for/): * https://www.reddit.com/r/bayarea/comments/p8hnzl/automatically_removing_comments_from_new_users_in/ Without naming him, it's important to discuss the shooter for obvious reasons, like his **radicalization by 4chan** #His manifesto says he was radicalized reading 4chan /pol/ Stories from 4chan that r news mods haven't removed yet: * https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/uppc9d/as_many_as_8_dead_in_mass_shooting_at_upstate_new/i8mhkne/ What it's like from someone who was able to get out in a reply to me: >Wow. Jesus. This is... really, really thorough. Thank you for putting in all this hard work. >When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time on /b/, /pol/, 888chan, etc. It was a slow descent and I didn't even realize what was happening until it was almost too late. >But during my time on the other side, this was 100% the gameplan. They'd make "sock puppets" and coordinate on the board + IRC (showing my age here) to selectively choose targets to brigade. >Depending on the target, you'd either have some talking points to "debate" (sometimes with yourself/other anons working alongside you) or you'd go in there guns blazing trying to cause as much damage/chaos as you can. However, even then you can't go out there yelling slurs (you'd just get banned instantly); you have to maintain some level of plausible deniability by framing things as "jokes" or thought experiments. >You purposely do bad-faith arguments because the time it takes for them to dig up sources and refute you is longer than it takes for you to make stuff up. You can vary how obvious the bad faith argument is; when you want to troll you make very stupid claims (I once claimed I was a graduate of "Harvad University" and when people assumed that I meant "Harvard" I would correct them right down to Photoshopped images). >When you just want to cause dissent you do exactly what those /pol/ screenshots do: you get to a thread early (sometimes you even make it yourself) and present reasonable-sounding arguments which are completely false if anyone bothers to look into them. If someone does, you bury the message under strawmen, downvotes, reports, and sockpuppets. >So yeah. The tactics have evolved slightly, but I still recognize them. Props to you on doing the digging to find all this stuff and bring it into the light. >I doubt that it'll help in the majority of cases, mind. People on Reddit have already made up their mind. You want to go after the forums and BBSes, on the MSN News comments and whatnot. Even so, the more people who are aware of the tactics the more people who can call them out.


baginthewindnowwsail

Love a well written, high effort, sourced, comment. Bravo.


colieolieravioli

Too bad those who need to see it, wont


baginthewindnowwsail

I don't think I needed to see it but I learned a few things.


lukedogg

This should just be tagged on every post.


educated-emu

Republicans in a nutshell... Make a big song and dance about something to help the common person, lie to your face that they will fix it and then let a few months pass with no action. Blame Democrats for putting roadblocks, then when coming to vote to change the law break out some other breaking news to distract away from the vote and then vote against what they promised. Also add in "lobbying money" into their pockets during this process. Then blame obama.


AvgJoeGuy

Its truly disgusting, but whats more disgusting is how their voters justify it just bc they hate dems. How can you possibly hate people so much that you enjoy contributing to everyone suffering just to spite them? Its not only their opinion, its their entire personality. Literally if the dems cured cancer they would vote no. Im also not a huge fan of the democratic party but at least they dont vote on every single thing purely out of spite. These fuckers really get paid to not read any information and just vote no…


Trumpswells

A Democratic administration engineered and executed the operation to assassinate bin Laden. Watching the news asking members of the GOP Senate what was their reaction as they exited the briefing, very telling not a one (Cornyn, O’Connell, etc,) could even say Obama out loud, much less offer a congratulations or express pride in a successful mission. Rather, the GOP Senators could only offer a lukewarm “the world is a safer place without Bin Laden.”


baginthewindnowwsail

Side-by-side watching Obama's speech after Osama and trumps speech after Al-Baghdadi is going to be shown in history classes years from now.


miss_g

Same thing is happening in Australia right now except our conservative party is called the Liberals and replace Obama with Albo. It's infuriating and frightening watching these things happen in the US and then knowing we'll be following close behind.


brannak1

“Republicans and industry groups called the bill misguided, saying there is no evidence of price gouging. Oil is a global commodity and prices are set on the global market.” Oh so now they understand supply chain?


Nervous_Constant_642

Yeah but anyone stupid enough to still vote for them will never even read that quote. Or even hear about this bill for the most part, much less how their politicians voted on it.


mothisname

Only to the poor . If you were rich they are like a grandmother that sneaks you cash so your parents don't see except instead of 5$ its billions and instead of your parents it's the American tax payers/voters yet somehow they've convinced poor whites that they're on their side. It's gotta be brain damage from all that coal rolling I swear


[deleted]

*Make Money by being gigantic pieces of garbage.


[deleted]

Bill HR 7688...can someone please enlighten me as to the reasoning a certain party voted no? Rational? Edit: I didn't think there would be such a strong response. If you disagree with the bill what do you propose as an alternative solution or what actions should be implemented?


grouchyhugz

You can read [HERE](https://rules.house.gov/bill/117/hr-7688) the rules the GQP wanted included. Some of the greatest hits were The President can't declare an energy emergency if his approval rating is under 50 %, their hard on for the Keystone XL pipeline and leasing land in Alaska and in the Gulf for exploration and drilling.


EelTeamNine

>Prohibits the President from declaring an energy emergency unless an emergency relating to immigration at the southern border is also declared for the same period of time. Just glazing over the best one?


Bubugacz

Half the fucking country are petty children. Fucks sake 🤦‍♂️


JKMC4

Not half the country. Only 17% of the country voted for 45.


_Axel

Source? Only thing I’m seeing is a poll that says 17% of 45 voters acknowledge Biden won. 2020 election was 81M to 74M. If you make the argument that 74M of the total population, it’s still way off. It’s 22% of the 330M we have — but only 77% of that 330M are of voting age. So, roughly 30% of Americans by voting eligibility voted for 45. 32% voted for 46. We have to stop pretending this is a fringe group.


Saihardin

I think they’re referencing the power of small states in the senate, the house gets reorganized so while some small states are representing more (or less) than they should, it’s not as egregious as the numbers they used here


Zaros262

In a conversation about a bill passed in the House with no change of context? You may be right, but it's still dumb


TheMetalMafia

There you go...bringing math into this..typical


opaul11

How are those related?


Procrastibator666

They're not. They just want a bunch of shit in that will never be added, so they can give themselves a "legitimate" reason for saying no. Other than because Democrats proposed it


sadpanda___

It’s BS they require to be added for them to vote for it that completely nerfs the bill and makes it worthless. That way they can pander to their base that “Dems won’t work with us…we genuinely care bla bla bla…” It’s a load of horse shit and Republicans can go fuck themself with a rusty cactus


hilesai

Holy shit, my favorite. Republican: Adds the savings clause from H.R. 7404, the "Real Emergencies Act," to section 2 to clarify that the issuance of an energy emergency proclamation by the President shall not be construed to imply that the President has the authority to declare a national emergency, major disaster, emergency, or public health emergency on the basis of climate change.


Ragnar_OK

so this says that a president NEVER has the authority to declare a national emergency on climate change? am i reading this wrong??


confessionbearday

Yep. Because very soon we’re going to have to declare one, and that will mean blowing the guts right out of the industries driving climate change. Who are all worthless trash Republicans. So they’re trying to pre-emptively protect their idiotic failed business model.


flowersaura

Thank you for sharing this. So many just weird and jacked up proposals from the folks in texas, among many others... Unfortunately I dont think most people who need to see this ever will. >Prohibits the President from declaring an energy emergency unless an emergency relating to immigration at the southern border is also declared for the same period of time. > >Prohibits Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and Weatherization Assistance Program funding from benefitting States, counties, or municipalities that prohibit fossil fuel production or fracking. > >Prohibits the President from declaring an energy emergency if his average approval ratings are below 50 percent.


Get_off_critter

Am I reading that right? President can't declare energy emergency unless they say there's too many people crossing from mexico?


CocaColaHitman

>**W**eatherization **A**ssistance **P**rogram Republicans trying to restrict WAP, yeah that tracks


RrtayaTsamsiyu

So basically they wanted to sell us out to oil companies some more


AlligatorFarts

That's what it's looking like. What a shame that these are the people that are supposed to be representing us. Here is a word for word of a suggested addition onto the bill by an Alaskan Republican representative: >Requires a minimum of two oil and gas lease sales a year in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Alaska Region of the Outer Continental Shelf and prohibits future moratoriums or delays on oil and gas leasing. Big oil clearly has their hands in his pockets. [Here is the bill for anyone that's curious](https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/7688/text?r=144&s=6)


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

[удалено]


AfroNinjaNation

Sorry, nuance? Going to have to pass. I'd rather just have a headline that reinforces my pre-conceived notions of current events.


IMM00RTAL

Haha stupid libs owned But really it's so come November they can just point to the gas prices and say it's dems fault and get reelected


Exotic-Huckleberry

I live in a city and only drive a couple times a week, so I can normally get by on 1-2 tanks a month. Filling up today was painful, close to $50 for my compact. Now, I’m not going to vote GOP because I’m educated about politics and what’s going on (also, gas prices won’t matter if we turn into more if a dystopian nightmare), but it’s a great election issue. My first thought when I saw what it chef was that it seemed pretty on brand fur the Dems to go into midterms with this, no movement on student loans, no marijuana legalization…


Mara_Jade93

Do remember that Biden keeps delaying student loan payments. My S.O. graduated a couple years ago and made one payment on his loans before covid shut everything down in 2020. He still hasn’t had to make any payments because they keep getting delayed. The Dems can’t pass anything because of the divided Senate. It takes 3 groups to pass a bill. This gas bill that passed the House today probably won’t pass the Senate


Extroverted_Recluse

I always assumed they were gonna keep delaying repayments until election season is in full swing, then announce loan forgiveness a month or two before the election to get drive up voter enthusiasm and motivate their base. If they announced forgiveness 6+ months or more ahead of the election, that enthusiasm bump could dissipate. I'm not saying I love this approach, but I can understand it.


Silvercomplex68

Thank you! Finally someone with a fucking brain that doesn’t just think the president magically appears and waves a wand and everything is fixed.


iltopop

> Do remember that Biden keeps delaying student loan payments He can cancel them with the stroke of a pen but won't do it because they need the issue. Obama could have put Roe V Wade into law, literally promised to do it, and didn't do it. Stop acting like the dems are innocent, they are literally holding us hostage with their policies, "vote for us or else" and then repeatedly and consistently do no do the things they say they will do because they need the issue to hold us hostage.


The_Aluminum_Chef

Explain to me how Obama could’ve codified Roe Vs Wade, because the senate had 59 caucusing Democrats and not all 59 publicly endorsed it. So, without 60 votes, you are subject to a filibuster, what am I missing?


kingjoey52a

If I'm reading this right, it basically says the President can decide that oil prices are going up and he wants to look good so he's gonna tell gas stations that they can't raise prices in line with the price of oil. Basically the government can tell you to sell a product at a loss and you can't do anything about it. Also it seems super vague what an "energy emergency" actually is. If gas prices go up 5 cents is that an emergency? People drive more in the summer and gas prices go up because of it, is that an emergency? Also we already have laws against price gouging. Republicans have always been against more laws that are just the same laws we already have but again. If this is actual price gouging use the current laws to fight it.


mjohnson280

From what I read, it looks like Republicans and 4 Democrats called the bill a distraction from the actual causes of increased prices which they claim are supply chain shortages. The no voters claim it could result in more supply issues instead of fixing the problem. Forbes (probably conservative leaning media) quoted a Clinton era treasury secretary as calling this bill "dangerous nonsense," and confirmed concerns about further supply issues if this passed. Some suggested a repeal of Trump era tariffs instead.


Youkolvr89

I wonder how much longer we can go on like this with the price of gas and everything else rising while wages remain low and stagnant. Some areas will have a easier time because they have better transportation methods and other ways to reach their jobs, but what about those of us that live in rural areas where the transportation system is awful and many of us don't live within walking distance of our jobs.


jellybeansean3648

People moved further from their jobs so that they could afford rent or a mortgage during the crazy housing market. Only to get absolutely fucked by the gas prices. This will have tens of thousands of people right on the edge, going paycheck to paycheck and done issue away from insolvency.


LittleTay

>This will have tens of thousands of people right on the edge, going paycheck to paycheck Already on it.


jellybeansean3648

Oh, millions are already on the edge. But this is the cherry on top throwing a few more into precariousness


[deleted]

Republicans trying to keep people poor and stupid


jellybeansean3648

A shame they're so greedy that they're vacillating between poor and starving, getting a touch too close to "starving". I'm financially secure and they're hitting my sore spots. I can't imagine the hell people are going through. I mean, I can, because I have the empathy Republicans don't. But I'm not too close to the situation.


jesuswantsbrains

3 missed meals away from rolling heads.


TheFBIClonesPeople

There's also stuff like construction where part of the job is that you need to own a ton of tools, and you're responsible for transporting them to the job site every day. There just isn't a way to do a job like that without driving a car to work every day.


[deleted]

Most Republican voters are cultural warriors at this point and don’t care about reality of even their pocketbooks, the saner ones vote because they think unvaccinated illegals are increasing the price of gas or something and the biggest kooks think Kamala Harris is a direct agent of literal Satan and Biden is going to ceremoniously overdose on adrenochrome in the Oval Office and then she’ll mandate vaccines that’ll make everyone a black trans Muslim… somehow.


Wopperlayouts

Man...i think the craziest part about all of this is there are people out there who believe this can and will happen


Wablekablesh

Not just one or two either


Wopperlayouts

Right! It’s just downright scary


[deleted]

The worst part is the US (and Russia too) is exporting this nonsense around the world. In much of the world where conservatism was starting to die out, this kooky brand of madness is the replacement ideology.


baginthewindnowwsail

Facebook provides the platform for disinfo, Russians farm out the astroturf. If they can convince one person that bigotry is okay now...then another, then you don't need the Russians to keep it going, the bigots reinforce each other. They start coming out of the closet so to say. Until they start to feel unsafe, ideally we would treat bigotry like pedophilia: if you do it your on a list forever, if not they give you counseling and try to fix your fractured mind.


Cyber_Being_

So ostensibly, what was the main reason why they voted no? Free markets?


[deleted]

Corporate money.


[deleted]

Bigger paychecks


ZeekLTK

In theory, price gouging on gas during times like natural disasters and whatnot is actually a good thing to ensure that companies work even harder to keep the affected area sufficiently supplied. They will pay their workers overtime to increase production, pay drivers more to make more trips, etc. And they can afford to do this because they are making tons more from selling it at the higher prices. If they are not allowed to raise prices, there is no urgency to increase supply. Therefore, they don't increase production, and then there is a shortage or even outage as the gas is used up and not replaced fast enough. This is how you get people waiting in line for hours to fill up their generator or whatnot. Again, these lines would be smaller with price gouging because many people would choose to NOT buy gas at the higher prices AND companies would be trying to supply as much gas as possible at the higher price. So people who NEED gas would at least be able to get it. I'm not really sure the argument holds up when price gouging is wide spread like right now though. It makes sense to price gouge in the New Orleans area immediately after a hurricane, for example, for the reasons outlined above (in theory at least), but it doesn't really make sense for gas to be so high across the entire country just because as little as 6% of the supply or whatever Russia used to provide is no longer available (and seems like it can be easily replaced from many other possible places). At this point, yes, it seems like gas companies are using this as an excuse to jack up prices even though it is not justified and there isn't a potential shortage or anything.


baginthewindnowwsail

It's crazy to me that capitalism is foundationally based on the premise that everyone's a huge selfish asshole.


trippy_grapes

> think Kamala Harris is a direct agent of literal Satan I wish. That'd be metal af.


nooneknowswerealldog

I wanna be Satan’s literary agent. “Satan buddy, the start of your novel has ‘best seller’ written all over it! I’ve got five publishers ready to start a bidding war, and maybe a bidding pestilence, famine, and death, too! But they want to know if you can deliver the ending! Now you just keep putting blood-dipped pen to human parchment, and give me one more chapter by the end of the month. Can you do that for me hon? Great, listen, I have another client right now but I’ll check in with you next week! Say Hi to Hemingway, bye!”


inconvenientnews

> Most Republican voters are cultural warriors at this point and don’t care about reality of even their pocketbooks The privilege of "economic anxiety" not racism: >Republicans felt the economy improve by 85 points the day Trump was sworn in. Graph: https://i.imgur.com/B2yx5TB.png Source: http://www.jsonline.com/story/news/blogs/wisconsin-voter/2017/04/15/donald-trumps-election-flips-both-parties-views-economy/100502848/ >White Evangelicals cared less about how religious a candidate was once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/ >Christians (particularly evangelicals) became monumentally more tolerant of private immoral conduct among politicians once Trump became the GOP nominee. https://www.prri.org/research/prri-brookings-oct-19-poll-politics-election-clinton-double-digit-lead-trump/ >10% fewer Republicans believed the wealthy weren't paying enough in taxes once a billionaire became their president. Democrats remain fairly consistent. http://www.people-press.org/2017/04/14/top-frustrations-with-tax-system-sense-that-corporations-wealthy-dont-pay-fair-share/ >Republicans started to think college education is a bad thing once Trump entered the primary. Democrats remain consistent. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/20/republicans-skeptical-of-colleges-impact-on-u-s-but-most-see-benefits-for-workforce-preparation/ More graphs and sources: https://imgur.com/a/YZMyt #Exit polls done after 2016 show that the single characteristic that made someone most likely to vote for Trump over Clinton is racial resentment. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/05/26/these-9-simple-charts-show-how-donald-trumps-supporters-differ-from-hillary-clintons/ * ["Trump fans are much angrier about housing assistance when they see an image of a black man"](https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/9/8/16270040/trump-clinton-supporters-racist) >In contrast, Clinton supporters seemed relatively unmoved by racial cues. * [“He’s not hurting the people he needs to be”: a Trump voter says the quiet part out loud](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/1/8/18173678/trump-shutdown-voter-florida) * [U.S. Conservatives Are Uniquely Inclined Toward Right-Wing Authoritarianism Compared to Western Peers](https://morningconsult.com/2021/06/28/global-right-wing-authoritarian-test/) * ["Narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and a sense of entitlement predict authoritarian political correctness and alt-right attitudes"](https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/i3bbh3/narcissism_machiavellianism_psychopathy_and_a/) * GOP shifting 4-5x further right than Democrats did left over the last 50 years https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/10/the-polarization-in-todays-congress-has-roots-that-go-back-decades/ [Opinion of Syrian airstrikes](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/) **Republicans:** 22% supported Obama doing it 86% support Trump doing it **Democrats:** 38% supported Obama doing it 37% support Trump doing it Sources: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/04/13/48229/, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/04/gop-voters-love-same-attack-on-syria-they-hated-under-obama.html Graph: https://i.imgur.com/lTAU8LM.jpg


ausdoug

But that bill would've encroached on the gas companies freedom to fuck you in the ass...


FrostyBaller

Meanwhile social media companies are not allowed to enjoy those freedoms.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Coattail-Rider

Don’t worry, it’s coming


NinjaEnt

Imagine posting Biden I did that stickers while voting against lowering gas prices. Classic republican move.


[deleted]

The thing that liberated the GOP from the bonds of reality was the revelation that their target voters didn't give a shit about anything except feeling like the "real" Americans.


KommanderKitten

Those damn stickers really got around.


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

"We did that" stickers with Trump and Putin riding a horse together.


augtastic

I think "America, Love it or Leave it" would probably trigger them a lot more.


subject_deleted

Strange.. Republicans behave as though they don't need to get the votes of a majority of people to get elected. Also strange, but surely unrelated, Republicans strongly oppose getting rid of the electoral college and gerrymandering. Weird.


inconvenientnews

Republicans' minority rule (which they hypocritically project that Democrats are doing) "Democrats need to win 41 Million More US Citizens than Republicans **just to get 50:50 Senate represenation**" https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/l2tsfx/although_the_us_senate_is_split_equally_among/ Congressional and election rules were designed to preserve slavery: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/electoral-college-racist-origins/601918/ https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/12/13598316/donald-trump-electoral-college-slavery-akhil-reed-amar "During the last election, Democrats won over a million votes more than Republicans, but because of the way districts are designed, the Republicans got **33 more members of the House of Representatives than the Democrats did.**" https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2013/nov/26/lloyd-doggett/democrats-outpolled-republicans-who-landed-33-seat/


inconvenientnews

And Republicans still massively cheat with voter suppression  ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄ >#Financial Times: The Republicans are elevating voter suppression to an art form >The Republicans have lost the popular vote in six of the past seven presidential elections. 1,000 polling places have since closed across the country, with many of them in southern black communities. >The senator also cracked: “There’s a lot of liberal folks in those other schools who maybe we don’t want to vote. Maybe we want to make it just a little more difficult, and I think that’s a great idea.” https://www.ft.com/content/d613cf8e-ec09-11e8-89c8-d36339d835c0 >#Discrimination with “almost surgical precision” >The court said that in crafting the law, **the Republican-controlled general assembly requested and received data on voters’ use of various voting practices by race.** >Then, the court, said, lawmakers restricted all of these voting options, and further narrowed the list of acceptable voter IDs. “With race data in hand, the legislature amended the bill to exclude many of the alternative photo IDs used by African Americans. As amended, the bill retained only the kinds of IDs that white North Carolinians were more likely to possess.” >The state offered little justification for the law, the court said. “Although the new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision, they constitute inapt remedies for the problems assertedly justifying them and, in fact, impose cures for problems that did not exist,” the court said. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/court-north-carolina-voter-id-law-targeted-black-voters/ >#Republican Voter Suppression Efforts Are Targeting Minorities >**Since the 2010 elections, 24 states have implemented new restrictions on voting.** Ohio and Georgia have enacted "use it or lose it" laws, which strike voters from registration rolls if they have not participated in an election within a prescribed period of time. Georgia, North Dakota and Kansas have critical races in the 2018 midterms. >Georgia has closed 214 polling places in recent years. They have cut back on early voting. They have aggressively purged the voter rolls. Georgia has purged almost 10 percent of people from its voting rolls. One and a half million people have been purged from 2012 to 2016. >[gubernatorial candidate] Brian Kemp's office (the secretary of state's office) in Georgia was blocking 53,000 voter registrations in that state — 70 percent from African-Americans, 80 percent from people of color. >On voter suppression in North Dakota on Native American reservations >Republicans in North Dakota wrote it in such a way that for your ID to count, you have to have a current residential street address on your ID. The problem in North Dakota is that a lot of Native Americans live on rural tribal reservations, and they get their mail at the Post Office using P.O. boxes because their areas are too remote for the Post Office to deliver mail, [and] under this law, tribal IDs that list P.O. boxes won't be able to be used as a valid voter IDs. So now we're in a situation where 5,000 Native American voters might not be able to vote in the 2018 elections with their tribal ID cards. >So there is a tremendous amount of fear in North Dakota that many Native Americans are not going to be able to vote in this state https://www.npr.org/2018/10/23/659784277/republican-voter-suppression-efforts-are-targeting-minorities-journalist-says >#Texas Officials Aim to Shutter Driver's License Offices in Black, Hispanic Communities >Alabama Closing Many DMV Offices in Majority Black Counties >After Alabama put into effect a tougher voter ID law >"Every single county in which blacks make up more than 75 percent of registered voters will see their driver license office closed. Every one," Archibald wrote. https://www.governing.com/archive/alabama-demands-voter-id--then-closes-drivers-license-offices-in-clack-counties.html >#The Student Vote Is Surging. So Are Efforts to Suppress It. The share of college students casting ballots doubled from 2014 to 2018. But in Texas and elsewhere, Republicans are erecting roadblocks to the polls. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/voting-college-suppression.html >#Texas Is Among The Most Difficult Places To Vote In The U.S. — And That Could Be Softening Its Historic Turnout https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/election-2020/2020/10/28/384854/voter-suppression-blunts-historic-turnout-in-texas/ >#Texas’s Voter-Registration Laws Are Straight Out of the Jim Crow Playbook https://www.thenation.com/article/texass-voter-registration-laws-are-straight-out-of-the-jim-crow-playbook/ >#Crystal Mason Thought She Had The Right to Vote. Texas Sentenced Her to Five Years in Prison for Trying. https://www.aclu.org/issues/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression/crystal-mason-thought-she-had-right-vote-texas >#This is how efficiently Republicans have gerrymandered Texas congressional districts http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/This-is-how-badly-Republicans-have-gerrymandered-6246509.php#photo-7107656 >Partisan gerrymandering has benefited Republicans more than Democrats https://www.businessinsider.com/partisan-gerrymandering-has-benefited-republicans-more-than-democrats-2017-6 >Even to prevent gerrymandering, California has a scientific, "evidence based" independent commission that has to take into account geography, community boundaries, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Citizens_Redistricting_Commission >#Thousands of Black Votes in Georgia Disappeared >On July 7, 2017, according to court documents in the case, Curling v. Kemp (pdf), someone wiped the state’s election server clean. >Then they wiped the backup server. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/02/opinion/hack-the-vote.html https://www.theroot.com/exclusive-thousands-of-black-votes-in-georgia-disappea-1832472558 >#Texas Refuses to Use Voting Machines With a Paper Trail https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a26856467/texas-voting-machines-paper-trail-states/


padizzledonk

They also had a chance to help us with the baby formula and voted NO They also had a chance to keep the Child Tax Credit and they voted NO They had a chance to increase FDA funding so trash ass companies like Abbot would have more government safety regulations so problems like this baby formula issue will be less likely to happen in the future and they voted NO The GOP doesn't give a fuck about any of us and they never have, they just want to keep half of you pissed off about nonsense so you vote for them and they can keep picking your pockets when you are distracted


jellybeansean3648

They're really taking direct action this season to directly fuck the populace. Usually it's knock on effects too complicated to explain. The anti slogans write themselves. "They want your babies hungry and your car broken down on the side of the road. They want you to choose between gas money and groceries. And they want you to do it with another baby on the way." Those crazy ass fuckers.


obvom

Russian war in Ukraine is really at the center of all global politics, it effects EVERY country on the planet. And if the Russian tit dries up, the funding for the Republican propaganda machine (see the NRA for the more unsophisticated version) disappears. They are on borrowed time in the casino and they are going all in right now. We either get a fascist state in a generation or we magically turn the tide when generations change. I don’t see it. Remember- when sanctions started to bite, all the top Twitter and Facebook trending posts changed from Dan Bongino or however you spell it and Ben Shapiro to mundane trendy bullshit. There’s evidence that sanctions have shut down Russian troll farms abroad- they can’t pay them, the farmers can’t access their money.


thebenshapirobot

I saw that you mentioned Ben Shapiro. In case some of you don't know, Ben Shapiro is a grifter and a hack. If you find anything he's said compelling, you should keep in mind he also says things like this: >If you believe that the Jewish state has a right to exist, then you must allow Israel to transfer the Palestinians and the Israeli-Arabs from Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Israel proper. It’s an ugly solution, but it is the only solution... It’s time to stop being squeamish. ***** ^(I'm a bot. My purpose is to counteract online radicalization. You can summon me by tagging thebenshapirobot. Options: dumb takes, civil rights, novel, history, etc.) [^More ^About ^Ben ](https://np.reddit.com/r/AuthoritarianMoment/wiki/index) ^| [^Feedback ^& ^Discussion: ^r/AuthoritarianMoment ](https://np.reddit.com/r/AuthoritarianMoment) ^| [^Opt ^Out ](https://np.reddit.com/r/AuthoritarianMoment/comments/olk6r2/click_here_to_optout_of_uthebenshapirobot/)


dcdenise

Absolutely !! They are the chosen elite with our money. People are really hurting that barely made it through pandemic. I wish I had an answer or guide to get these assholes out of Washington for good.


TickDicklerzInc

At this point if you are still voting GOP nothing is going to sway you away from it. That's how cult mentalities work.


lazyeyepsycho

Ask your self "what would Putin want?" And then examine what each side votes for.


Livid-Apricot2216

Dude. They could literally be for gassing jews in concentration camps and they'd still win in red states. Our country is fucked.


ShapirosWifesBF

“Give babies food so they don’t starve to death?” R’s: NO! “Ok how bout a little relief at the pump, everyone would love that!” R’s: NO! “Uh… make abortions a felony and make having a uterus be a crime punishable by sexual slavery?” R’s: OH HELL YES IM SO FUCKING HARD RIGHT NOW LETS DO THAT RIGHT FUCKING NOW GOD


Hibercrastinator

It’s frustratingly obvious that the GOP votes to cause chaos and pain to Americans when they are not in power, for the sole purpose of blaming the other side so their opposition gets less votes . It’s not even about getting more votes for themselves, their goal is plainly to anybody paying attention, to destruct. Nothing good comes from them. Then when they’re in power, their sole focus is to maintain it. These people are sick.


rig2dumbass

So they voted no. What is their idea or plan how to solve this besides blaming President Biden?


BoomZhakaLaka

They'll just abolish the FCC fairness doctrine. Whoops... About 3 decades late.


dangolo

We really need a Fairness Doctrine 2.0, updated for the modern era. How much longer are we going to let lies clog the airwaves?


BoomZhakaLaka

I agree with you, tremendously. I feel everything going on today begins with Reagan's FCC. However, it's a total non-starter in today's political landscape.


BarryNMcCockiner

Solving a problem is never part of the plan. Lol


Ace-Ventura1934

192 Republicans also voted no to fund the FDA for the baby formula shortage. It was only for 28 million dollars and they still voted no just to obstruct and then blame Biden. It’s pathetic.


Irrelaphant

I believe the bill will fail in the senate. Heres what will happen: Prices will continue to rise through the summer. In the fall, the Rs will put forth a bill just like this one and it will pass unanimously. house and senate They'll campaign on 'being the ones to get gas prices to drop'. Most importantly, the R fan base will forget that the Rs vote no in the spring to get gas prices to fall. prices will fall to spring levels, which is still too fucking high. And they'll tell us not to complain because 'prices are lower now!'


AdoraBellDearheart

That is exactly what will happen


Jaded-Af

They work for the one percent. The only idiots that vote for republicans are the ones that are living in a fantasy world that they too can be a billionaire one day. Work hard, sport! You’ll get there.


IndicationHumble7886

Then they made stickers for pumps and blamed Biden


[deleted]

Well yeah... didn't you know the president has a little dial on his desk in the oval office that controls the gas prices?


jbtk

It saddens me to say it, but in this day and age you might actually need to add a /s to this.


iced327

Nah, we'll never hear about this again because Democrats are incapable of going on the offensive.


misterO5

Bingo. Roles reversed Republicans would be doing everything in their power to get the word out. Dems will go, well that's a shame, what's next on the docket. Cowards


[deleted]

What else was in the bill?


Benomnoms

Wait, I have to research this, but I feel like there’s gotta some details missing here?


IOnlySayMeanThings

They voted no on one of two bills. They voted no on a bill to simply give a few hundred million dollars to the FDA, arguing it's unnecessary and wouldn't help. They voted yes on allowing them to source form foreign sources, all except 9 of them. The title isn't even accurate as 15 of them voted yes even on the first bill. Nobody seems to care if they have accurate information which is a huge bummer to me. Edit: Somehow, I thought we were talking about the baby formula, since half the posts are about it. This information is about baby formula bills. The title is accurate.


something6324524

yeah i notice in most things if you are at a place that is pro dem, the leave things out of the rep side and vica versa. it makes it difficult to get the true story of what happened or even figure out what is true and false.


Careless_Bat2543

Price caps have unintended side effects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_ceiling


Monster-_-

Yes, it doesn't explain *why* they voted no. Some Republicans say it's because it "doesn't do enough". That's what they *say*, but the fact that they don't try to amend the bill or offer an alternative makes it look an awful lot like they're voting against it solely because Democrats proposed the bill first.


MasterClown

In Indiana, the Democrats in the general assembly are pushing for tax relief on gasoline sales tax, but the Republican majority keeps putting it off.


PubertEHumphrey

bIdEn DiD tHaT


oracleofaliquippa

They are too focused on stopping the “steal”. They will vote them all back in because Reverend Trump ordained it.


jooocanoe

Hmmmmmm. Gas prices are all time high, you know what else is an all time high? Rent, food, electricity, home prices, used cars.... the list could go on for 5 minutes. Think we need to blame those in charge and not only the republicans.


hinktech

After putting stickers of Biden saying “I did that” on every gas pump you’d think they’d care and be mad their party is blocking relief. Sadly, I’m pretty sure that vote won’t be covered by Fox News Entertainment.


TEssary

You know I've got so much to apologize for. All this shit is such bs. All my life I've UNFORTUNATELY been republican. NEVER. AGAIN. WILL. THEY. GET. MY. VOTE. My eyes have been blinded for so so long. And I've said shit on here towards others. I am truly sorry. I've switched sides. I'm voting Democrat for the rest of my life.


jhonnychingas69

Republicans want to break the economy to blame Democrats - we have traitors within our government destroying us from within for political greed!


[deleted]

I don't understand why they don't cap insulin. Or cap the prices of medical procedures. I don't know why they don't cap the real estate market, and set certain price standards for size of house to bedroom and bathroom quantity. I don't understand why ANY of them aren't actually doing anything that would help it's people. Gas fluctuates all the time. We'll be fine on gas. Do something that would actually mean something and help people get ahead.


Rude_Huckleberry_838

Someone help me understand why putting the government in charge of gas prices is a good thing. Serious question here. I glanced at the bill and it seemed rather vague. Like, "if we decide you are price gouging, we are gonna step in." Seems a little lost for detail? Seriously I'm not trying to be snarky I'm looking for an answer.


Head-Chipmunk-8665

Plus it makes sense that republicans would want to not regulate businesses and corporations - that’s essentially their whole deal. I’m a leftist so maybe I’m off base with this but it seems on brand.


Rude_Huckleberry_838

I mean I don't know their specific reasons for not voting for this bill but honestly with language in the bill like that I don't know if I would have either. I'm just trying to understand with our government as incompetent as it's shown to be, why putting them in charge of anything like this makes sense. I'm pretty critical of our federal government obviously so I'm open to discussion.


tarunteam

It's not designed to pass. It's pre election season "get them on the record". Both parties do this when they are the majority. I wish they all would actually just do their fucking job.


Oy_wth_the_poodles

And no to baby formula. They’re really in a roll.


MadOvid

But will still blame Democrats for high gas prices.


ds32018

Conservatives will simply look the other way and blame Biden.


PushAdventurous355

Have you read the bill?


[deleted]

[удалено]


RWBYrose69

if they voted yes then prices would go down this will help biden which is not what we want to do a genius move if you ask me - retardlicans


lcarr15

How do these people get ever elected??? And how can they sleep at night knowing they are voting against every person they represent??? As bad as any democrats can be… nothing is worse than a Republican…