Grandma Vodka joins in the blame

@StumpTownStu

 You are entitled to your opinion, I am not going to say you are not intelligent or lack the ability to research because it is obvious that you are and do.

My comments about the average citizen are not out  of wack, most people are not motivated to research and consider and find truth because that takes time and effort and the ability to understand. Most people think the government is a much larger portion of the economy than it really is and most people think the government controls interest rates and of course that is untrue, most people think government spending has a larger impact on prices and inflation and that is not true. Most people think one person or party can solve problems that are systemic and larger than the government itself and that is not true. Most people do not consider our place in the total world and that situations and conditions exist elsewhere not just here, we are quite snobbish when it comes to global mindsets and that impact we feel are felt worse elsewhere and impacts we feel are caused by global economies not just the POTUS or a political party.

Most people have zero idea about how monetary policy works and that for the last 30 years since our economy evolved away from the gold standard and more to being a global participant that interest rates are not as impactful as they once were before. People who remember think that the FED raising rates can cool inflation because Volcker did and that the FED is the same then and now, that is not true. Most people have no idea about the money multiplier and that in reality it no longer functions as Ive discussed before, the impact has been muted due to banks and their activities. Most people have no motivation or interest in understanding economics, supply chain JIT inventory systems, all the parts of business that cause their inflation they just do not like higher prices and it is no more complex than just that to them.

Most people think that fracking is a good thing and do not understand that to allow mid to small frackers the ability to operate, oil prices have to be high and that means gas prices will be high. Those voters in PA who thought the election was about fracking also are unhappy with gas prices being over 3 bucks but you cannot have both, low gas prices and a large scale fracking industry and yet people vote based on a concept but not really understanding the depth of the concept or that it has validity or not.

Most people think our current drug crisis is due to illegals and the border and fail to remember previous versions of the drug problem and that a wall will not deter the drug trade, the motivations of the drug dealers and manufacturers are greater than any schemes the US can have and that includes a mile high wall. I mentioned Narcos, that series is a microcosm of this that those groups were creative and motivated to beat the government on both sides of the US border because their profits and money gave them the motivation to find solutions which beat a much slower and under equipped government agency. So fentanyl or meth or cocaine or pot or opioids they are all the supply of the drug trade and the issue is not about illegals it is about people being addicted and not having resources and support to not take drugs AND that as a country we are not financially or systemically invested to be in front of the drug trade...I am not sure we would ever be in front of it, the government is not fast enough and skilled to stop the supply more than the supply is to beat it. Yet the drug trade is used as a political tool to blame a party and elevate another just to get the result the party seeks.

@wallstreetcappers

 I think your positions on the southern border, and the fentanyl epidemic are representative of the Democratic party, and are out of touch. If the southern border wasn't an issue, Biden would not have taking executive action to curb immigration in the second half of 2024, an election year. I think any one who takes the stance that there has always been drug problems is unaware of what's actually going on in communities across the U.S. I think for two long, on the issue id the border, the Democrats have taken a "believe us, not your own eyes and ears" approach. This works for baby boomers who don't even visit their rental property in some lower class community because a property management company deals with it but four young people just starting out, 20-something to 30-something professionals choosing to live in urban centers because of work, nightlife, etc, and for lower income individuals who can only afford to live in certain environments, they're opening their eyes. The situation has gotten so bad an many communities that registered voters in lower income demigraphics can no longer be placated with a "we're the party that supports human rights, asylum seekers, tired, huddled masses" rhetoric. The fentanyl epidemic is a real thing. It is tied to the southern border. Lower income, underserved communities don't need more drugs. And they certainly don't need an influx of citizens who are even more disadvantaged than them.

The Democrats hitched their buggy to abortion. I said months ago that this was a mistske, and gave reasons why. The Republicans hitched theirs to the southern border and it resonated because voters, not just in Cali and Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, but all across the country are seeing the results. The cartels has taken root ih Oregon, Washington, Montana, the Dakotas, as well as plenty of states east of the Mississippi. Aside from a single digit drop this year, drug overdoses have skyrocketed, and they are all driven by fentanyl.

@StumpTownStu

 Border and drugs and illegals have been punching bags down here for decades, so I think given I live in a border state I do get it. I am saying again that you could seal up the border literally and drugs still exist inside the US border without having ANY outside border interaction. If we self isolated and closed our borders up literally including travel and transit and commerce, the drugs still are here and the situation will not improve. You cannot be slower than the other side and expect to gain traction, but it IS a GOP voting scheme and has been almost every election, it works because people are lazy and want someone or some thing to blame. If you only address the supply side AND are slower than your rival how can you win? We do not want to solve the drug problem because we do not have the funds, the people or the ability to be faster and more effective than the other side...THAT is the point.

The GOP/TNC won because people actually erroneously think that inflation is created or eliminated from the government, that is a massive lazy flaw that people just want to believe...that now grocery prices will drop because a party switches..that is not how it works. Our corps have been stealth inflating for decades via product sizing, food inflation has existed in every political scenario and it will not change back to four years ago unless two things happen...ONE is to drastically reduce consumption and given that the US is a convenient lazy population I do not see that happening. Ive reduced my consumption with higher prices, I buy differently but most do not and are not willing to make changes to impact their cost of goods and services. I rarely dine out, I shop and know pricing and purchase when the prices are in my purchase zone...FEW do that. TWO....ZIRP that Trump had made it possible for corps to inventory build and have it cost pretty much nothing so ZIRP would help and supply chain improvement could help. That is your inflation zapper, not putting Trump or Harris in office...people do not own their lives and take charge of their own situation they want to blame and shake their fists and moan about how unfair life is and how things were better with their party in office...all false.

DEMS have always been pro-choice, that is not hitching a buggy that is stating an enormous problem created by the TNC and thankfully some of these stupid states did the right thing and some gave rights back to the woman and her doctor versus a politician. It was and is a big issue, freedom of choice IS a big issue, why would it not be?

People voted off the lazy media fed narrative that Biden caused inflation and Biden is why their milk cost more...all of that is hilarious causation/correlation laziness but politicians and strategists know that the US voter is reactive and easy to persuade and it worked.

@wallstreetcappers

 The fentanyl on the streets of the United States is smuggled over the southern border. Period. There aren't "white doods" manufacturing it domestically unless you include those working for major pharmaceutical companies. Your insistence on this point just demonstrates that you are uninformed on the topic. And fentanyl is destroying communities across the US. Worse than multiple heroin epidemics over the past 100+ years. Worse than the crack epidemic of the 80s and 90s, or the prescription opioid and crystal meth epidemics of the past 20 years. Fent has blown all of that out of the water and is destroying communities. Not just for the addicts, but for anyone living, working, existing, in their proximity. Diversion programs are failing. This stuff is too highly addictive. It is a real issue. Voters responded to this very issue and supprorted the party who made it a rallying cry, as opposed to denying the existence of a problem.

@StumpTownStu

 Oh I disagree of course, you are stuck on the current drug and it is to blame for all of the woes that exist in communities, I say that is a media narrative and is false. Insert whatever drug is the current crisis and you get the same results. Growing up it was opioids and then things advanced to stuff like meth and then even cures like methadone started being an issue. I have a friend who lost is wife due to methadone induced trauma, she was I think 25 got in a car accident and got hooked on script pain pills, tried to wean off them using methadone and one day she just didnt wake up. My high school friend had to raise his kids alone and his wife was gone.

You are following the media narrative and pinning it to the border and illegals and the current drug as the cause, so the narrative works but it will not be the last drug or the worst drug either. I keep saying that you need to watch both Narcos shows and see the real truth...our DEA and the CIA are not really trying to win the war because they know we are not able to win the war, they are trying to contain the war and also the political issues that exist in these countries..it is not solely the drug trade that is the issue to the DEA and the CIA and the drug cartel is more advanced and more motivated than our government and especially the Mexico government.

@wallstreetcappers

 I am not following a media narrative. I am stating unequivocal facts based on data. You are telling anecdotal stories about high school buddies. I'm sorry forchis loss but it has no bearing on the current topic. I am stuck on the current drug because it accounts for +70% of overdoses. Overdose numbers which have skyrocketed, by the way. I am quite aware of the history of ilicit drug trend in this coutry. Fentanyl is deadlier, more potent, more addictive then any of those drugs.

Frankly, regardless of the deadly fentanyl is NOT manufactured by "white doods" domestically but comes across our southern border, the fact is that no country should be a free for all for illegal immigrants. Democrats like to gaslight voters into thinking that it's not really a problem but these same voters are trusting their own eyes rather than Democratic spin. The chickens have come home to roost.

@StumpTownStu

 The point as I stated it and you are stuck on it is DRUGS are manufactured by white doods and I can pretty much guarantee that the white doods are involved in the foreign operations, why are you stuck on this illegals drum when it is pointless? White guys are involved in the trade from top to bottom and THAT is the facts, you being stuck on the current drug that is wrecking communities is pretty lousy as if no previous drug of choice was not wrecking communities...what is up with this logic?

Cocaine and pot came from the south, thus my NARCOS recco, it is like you are reading 15% of what I am saying and are stuck on some invalid singular words like white doods. The southern border has been the entry point for drugs for DECADES...all admins and congresses have been in play for the southern border being the entry point.

I have read, watched, etc, more than you can imagine about the ilicit drug trade. And I have lived it. There's no recommendation you can give me for any material that will shed any new light on the subject. This is why I am able to emphatically say you are wrong. The cartels essentially control ALL of the illicit drug trade. The white "doods" get their supply from Mexicans. The Columbians and Peruvians have essentially given control of the cocaine trade to the cartels. They are simply manufacturers at this point. In many cases, they are selling cocaine base to the cartels to be refined in Mexico. They aren't bringing blow into the country any more though. The cartels are now experimenting with growing coca in Mexico. Fentanyl is only produced in the US by pharmaceutical companies. Illicit fentanyl is usually manufactured in China, but sometimes in India. It is sold to the cartels by CCP sponsored legit pharmaceutical companies. Sometimes it is sold as fentanyl precursors, and completed in Mexico by the cartels. The Chinese government is in bed with the cartels. They are providing not only fentanyl, but also advanced weapons systems. The cartels are also manufacturing their own in unregulated labs. No fentanyl is being manufactured by the H.A., or any other known white organized crime groups. This isn't crystal meth. And on the subject of crystal meth, nearly all crystal meth that hits the streets of the US is manufactured and distributed by the cartels. The redneck manufacturing meth in trailer labs from decongestant and diet pills just isn't a think anymore. The cartels have also infiltraded both the legal, and the unregulated marijuana trade. Don't get me started on the illegal grows set up in park an blm lands.

The issues at the sourhern border are very real. It is not simply Republican pushed propaganda. So stop with the gaslighting. I don't watch cable news. I don't follow any social media. No X account, no facebook. The majority of my social/professional sphere is liberal. I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area. So nobody is pushing Republican talking points or misinformation by way. Everything I speak of is both data backed fact, and personal experience. It doesn't matter how many times you claim it's just election talking points, it won't be any less factual.

@StumpTownStu

 NARCOS is about the drug trade from the southern perspective and Narcos Mexico is about the Mexican cartel and drug distribution and the series is about the DEA agents who are hunting down the cartel and then the cartel with their operations, the police and the dynamic of the DEA, the CIA, the cartel and the Mexican and Columbian police plus the way that the cartel were able to avoid getting caught and got creative every single time they were thwarted or challenged. It is not cable tv news it is not a podcast or a cheezy one off it is very educational but hey whatever you want its your dime and you obviously are not interested.

I live on the southern border you are not educating me on the slightest and this current drug of the day is not the last or the only and no wall or promise from Trump will stop the supply unless we are faster and better funded than the other side...and that is the reality.

@wallstreetcappers

 I've watched it, WSC. And i've read numerous books on the subject. No cheesy podcasts or one offs.

@StumpTownStu

Nice of you to say this far into the conversation.

Since the original topic has seemed to go off the rails here, lets have another sour grape to talk on

The states that Harris did win, NO  PHOTO -ID REQUIRED!  There is only ONE state that required photo ID.  Some of these states were of the late closing poll states like Cali, Ore, Wash and Hawaii

Even my home state of NY you walk right in no questions asked.  There is only one reason for this to happen, to pad the numbers.  Watch as third person chimes in to this post with all the election integrity debunk nonsense.
I will never understand why the Libs think if you speak out against the machine you are 100% the enemy and get categorically thrown into Right or Maga.

Ive said more than a few times I am middle road looking at both sides.  I am catholic but not practicing, doesn't change my beliefs because I don't go to service 

95% of my family and friends are Left or Left leaning with their eyes wide shut.  
I am critical on both sides of the aisle but my next questions for those senior to me is back in the late 70s and throughout the 80s was the abortion issue a party voting issue?  After Roe did the Libs keep pushing the abortion ticket even when it was federally protected?  

WINNING EVEN BEFORE HE TAKES OFFICE!!

THE TRUMP EFFECT; or, TIGER BLOOD AND WINNING!

If you are not aware, Lee Zeldin was just appointed.  His mother's maiden is Schwartz, Lee went to Hebrew school so stop with the hitler fascist sexist crap already

He is appointing the exact opposite to run the country.  One can only wonder if Lee beat out Hochul what would NYS look like today

 and another one....

Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

betcha she will be really close with Melania,   It's the pants suits right?  Too early?

At least there wont be any dogs biting the SS.... 

Comedy is BACK, go get bent 

Right Wing , Left Wing , Trump is a Fascist , Hitler , Kamala is a communist... we heard it the last months on repeat 

Here are some thoughts to discuss .

They call Donald Trump a Fascist. They called Hitler a Fascist. So Hitler was not a Fascist , he was a Socialist. It's in the name , NAZI stands for "National Socialist" .

(National Sozialistische Bewegung) 

They called him a Fascist because they want to paint him as Right Wing. And they have decided that Fascist is Right Wing , but it's not. 

Fascism is a Left Wing Ideology is the logical conclusion.

Socialism is Communism without the bloody revolution. 

But the end goal of socialism is always Communism.

Socialism is not the Government owns the property , you still own the property , but the Government controls everything that you can do with the property.

(which is effectively the Government owning the property) 

Got to understand the real meaning of the terms ... That's why learning history is important and understanding what the political spectrum really is.

"The truth shall set you free. Tell a lie often enough, and it becomes the truth." (Karl Marx) 

@wallstreetcappers

 Was it freedom of choice when the Dems mandated deadly vaccines? What happened to my body, my choice? I know people who have died, are disabled, and are constantly sick because they took this crap as they didn't want to lose their careers!

What do all dictators have in common ? Suspension of elections and civil liberties , proclamation of a State of emergency , rule by decree , repression of political opponents ,  not abiding by the procedures of the rule of law , etc ...  If you argue Hitler was a Right Wing Fascist , Stalin and Mao Communist fascists , then you will realize pure evil is not exclusive to one side of the political spectrum , Left or Right 

With all do respect, and condolences for your losses, if you truly know people who have died, are disabled, and/or are constantly sick from the vaccine, you really drew a bad lot. I know of people who have had some weird stuff go on, and even myself, but nothing like that.

@jpot34

 I will say this. While I was strongly against vaccine mandates, the juice will be worth the squeeze. mRNA and CRISPR therapies are the wave of the future. The sooner we embrace this stuff, the better.

@jpot34

 DEMS didnt mandate anything, I never got the vac so how does that work exactly? Trump was in the chair when Fauci was on the stage, the problem is when you want to forward a partisan narrative you can find false information to try and do so but there is not one party controlling this country. Most all politicians were in support of the agenda, both sides.

Just give up this conspiracy partisan stuff it does not make any sense in this country as our government currently exists.

@Barbarossa

 Hitler was part of the socialist party and his roots were in socialist concepts but he evolved into being a fascist, plus Germany was ripe for this scenario the world had just wrecked their country and unemployment was horrible most citizens were destitute. Hitler rose to power off the destruction from WWI, he evolved into being a fascist I think at his roots and his younger years he was not.

I’ve seen that metamorphosis in people on a smaller scale . Going both ways of course . But I will lead with what happened to a kid that grew up in my neighborhood . Nick .

Tough , a little mean spirited , sometimes a bully , sometimes decent , but never truly to be trusted because of his volatile nature . He went from a kid that you knew not to fuck with , to being in a gang , to committing petty crimes , and then to murder . This didn’t all happen all at once . It was a process . And a gradual one . Due to many factors .

People get lost in their own mix sometimes , refusing help , and other times help is never even given . Now this is an extreme example but it also happens to people when they do less severe evils as well , like becoming vindictive and pompous , or disrespectful and arrogant . I hate when that happens but I’m not everyone’s God so what the fuck do I care ya know ? It also happens in a positive way as well , let’s not forget that . Anyway , if you read this , thanks for reading 

@wallstreetcappers

  DEMS didnt mandate anything

Of course they did.  The mask and vaccine were both mandated by Biden and the Democrats.  For e

On January 20, 2021, his first day as president, with the goal of containing coronavirus, Biden implemented a federal mask mandate, requiring the use of masks and social distancing in all federal buildings, on federal lands, and by federal employees and contractors.

and:

On September 10, Biden outlined a new six-step plan for ending the pandemic. Although vaccines were now readily available to the public, vaccination rates had slowed, and the plan included mandates to target individuals who were refusing to receive a vaccine.

Many jobs, universities and the military were requiring it -- all widely pushed and mandated by Democrats.

Most all politicians were in support of the agenda, both sides.

Absolute nonsense and revisionist history.  The divide was quite stark along political sides among polticians and the citizenry.