LindseyM

Southern mamma, politics junkie, here for the crazy

[mike bski @BskiMike22802]

Oh, Bernie. Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.

I read this post twice. The first time I laughed. The second time I actually got a little angry, because I sat there and counted, and I realized you just handed the whole country a list of ten people who have done more for the working class than you have in thirty-five years, and you did it on purpose, thinking it made THEM look bad.

Let me walk you through your own list, since clearly nobody on your staff did.

Elon Musk. Born in South Africa. Jensen Huang. Born in Taiwan, washed dishes and bused tables at a Denny's, and then started Nvidia in a booth at a Denny's. I love that. I genuinely love that story. Lisa Su, also born in Taiwan, took over AMD in 2014 when everybody was writing its obituary and brought it back from the dead. Satya Nadella, born in India. Sundar Pichai, grew up in a two-room apartment in Chennai. Tim Cook, a shipyard worker's kid from a little town in Alabama. Michael Dell, a college kid with about a thousand bucks and a dorm room.

Half of them weren't even born here. They came to this country with a brain and a dream and they BUILT something. I teach kids every single day who need to hear stories exactly like that. Kids from homes where nobody has ever owned a business. And you want to hold these people up as villains? Senator, you are not the sharpest crayon in the box, and I say that as someone who has personally watched a sophomore eat a crayon.

Also, while we're here. "Got richer" is not a paycheck. Nobody backed a Brinks truck up to Elon's house with 658 billion dollars in it. That is the stock price of a company going up. You know who else owns that stock? Every pipefitter, nurse, and retired teacher with a 401(k) or a pension fund. When those numbers go up, THEIR retirement goes up. You are standing on a soapbox, furious, that working people's retirement accounts grew. The lights are on, Bernie. Nobody's home. I'm not sure anybody has been home since disco.

Now. You want to talk about who has actually done something for working people? Fine. Let's do it. I'm going to take attendance.

Musk gave us tens of thousands of American factory jobs at Tesla, in California and Texas and Nevada. And Starlink, which finally gave internet to rural families the cable companies laughed at for twenty years. When Hurricane Helene wiped out those mountain towns in North Carolina and the phones were dead, Starlink showed up. Where were you?

Michael and Susan Dell put up 6.25 BILLION dollars of their own money, their own, to seed Trump Accounts for about 25 million American kids. And here's the part that made me set my coffee down. Those accounts exist because of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The one YOU voted against. So a billionaire, the kind of guy you call an oligarch, is funding a savings account for working-class kids that you tried to stop from ever existing. I had to read that twice too.

Jensen Huang built the chips that run the AI you're suddenly so worried about, and his company's stock turned a lot of regular engineers and technicians into the first people in their families to ever have real money.

Bezos. Over a million American jobs, no degree needed, health insurance on day one, the same plan the executives have. Four billion dollars to get groceries delivered into rural food deserts, and yes, they take SNAP and EBT.

Zuckerberg lets a grandmother in Ohio see her grandkids in Texas on video for free. Lisa Su saved an American company and every job in it. Sam Altman put a free AI tutor on every phone in America. Tim Cook made the phone. Nadella's software runs the front office of basically every school I've ever worked in. And Pichai gave the world free search, free maps, free email, and YouTube.

Oh, and every single one of those paychecks has the employer half of Social Security and Medicare paid on it. That's the money that pays for the programs you give speeches about. They fill the bucket, Bernie. You stand next to the bucket with a bullhorn.

Okay. Your turn.

Thirty-five years in Congress. Thirty-five years. The bills you wrote that actually became law? Two post offices got new names, and veterans got a cost-of-living adjustment. That's it. That's the list. I have kids who've done more with a group project and a glue stick. Two post offices. I want that on your headstone. "He named two post offices. And he was very upset."

And what did it cost us? A taxpayer salary for thirty-five years. A taxpayer pension waiting for you. Three houses. Two hundred and twenty-one thousand dollars on private jets in ONE quarter of 2025. Plus a pile of book money from writing about how nobody should have a pile of money. What's next, Bernie? Getting rich selling books about how getting rich is evil... wait. I'm being told you already did that.

See, the people on your list got rich by giving working people something they WANTED. People handed over their money on purpose, with a smile, and got a phone or a package or a paycheck back. You got comfortable by taking working people's money through the tax code and handing back nothing they asked for. That's not a trade. That's a vacuum hose with a campaign sticker on it.

And honestly? Nothing would've been better. Because every time you "helped," we paid for it. Let me pull out your report card. You're not going to like it.

Obamacare. You voted YES. The government's own HHS numbers showed average individual-market premiums in the https://t.co/LxMefCJGns states more than DOUBLED from 2013 to 2017. People had insurance with deductibles so high they couldn't afford to actually use it. "If you like your plan, you can keep it." Remember that one? Millions of people remember it. They couldn't keep it. Quinn's First Law of Liberalism says liberalism always produces the exact opposite of what it promises, and the proof is right there in the name. The Affordable Care Act made care unaffordable. I couldn't write a better joke if I tried, and believe me, I've tried.

The American Rescue Plan in 2021. You were Budget Committee chairman. You pushed 1.9 trillion dollars through on a party-line vote while economists in your OWN party, Larry Summers for one, were waving their arms screaming this would light inflation on fire. By June 2022 inflation hit 9.1 percent. Forty-year high. I remember standing in the grocery store with my wife, doing math on a cart full of food for four kids, putting stuff back. That was your rescue, Bernie. Inflation is the meanest tax there is because it hits the waitress and the welder first and never has your name on the bill.

Then the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. You voted YES. It did not reduce inflation. Not even a little. It did extend the temporary COVID Obamacare subsidies through the end of 2025, with an expiration date DEMOCRATS picked. Zero Republicans voted for it. Zero. So when premiums jumped this year and your party lost its mind about "Republicans raising your health care costs," I just sat there shaking my head. You built the cliff. You picked the date. Then you pointed at the other guy when people fell off it. You couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were printed on the heel.

The 2017 Trump tax cuts. You voted NO. The Tax Policy Center found about 91 percent of middle-income households got a tax cut that first year. Nine out of ten regular families kept more of their own money, and you voted no on every one of them.

The One Big Beautiful Bill in 2025. NO again. No tax on tips. No tax on overtime. A bigger child tax credit. Tax rates for working families that would've gone UP otherwise. Those Trump Accounts Michael Dell just dropped billions into. You called it the most dangerous bill in modern history. Go tell that to a waitress in Burlington who gets to keep her tips now. Actually, don't. She's busy working.

And your 17 dollar minimum wage. Bernie, I TEACH these kids. Sixteen, seventeen years old, no diploma yet, nothing on the resume, just trying to get that first job. Force a business to pay a kid with zero experience more than he can produce and the answer isn't a raise. The answer is "no." You're not raising their wage. You're locking the front door and hanging a nice little sign on it about fairness. Some of my students are going to sit on the wrong side of that door because of people like you, and that is the part that honestly makes me mad.

Oh, and the 1994 crime bill. You voted for that too, then spent years apologizing when your own base decided it wrecked working-class neighborhoods. Even your fans think you blew that one.

So here's the final tally, and I'm grading generously. Your ten "oligarchs": jobs, paychecks, phones, chips, internet, software, day-one health insurance, groceries in food deserts, and a six-billion-dollar head start for 25 million kids. You: premiums that doubled, a forty-year inflation high, an Obamacare cliff your own party dated, a NO on tax cuts for nine out of ten middle-class families, a NO on no tax on tips, and two renamed post offices. They made our lives cheaper and easier. You made them more expensive and then sent a fundraising email about it. The wheel's spinning, but the hamster clocked out a long time ago.

Quinn's Law Number Nine says that to a liberal, intentions matter more than outcomes. Your whole post proves it. Your INTENTION is that AI should "improve life for all humanity." Their OUTCOME is a kid in my district pulling up a free AI tutor on a phone Tim Cook built, over a network Elon launched, on a chip Jensen designed. One of you did the homework. The other one wrote a note to the teacher about how homework is unfair.

And I have to say it. Just YESTERDAY you were pushing a bill to ban superintelligence and shut the AI labs down. Today AI has to serve all of humanity. Which is it, Bernie? Pick a lane. You're swerving more than a raccoon in headlights.

You know what the government version of AI would look like? I'll tell you. It'd launch like https://t.co/LxMefCJGns and crash in an hour. It'd need a continuing resolution every ninety days. It'd cost three times the estimate. And every question you asked it would get the same answer: "Your call is important to us. Please hold for the next available billionaire to blame." Also, everybody gets a free robot butler on Tuesdays, and the robot companies just eat the cost. It's not a radical idea. It's just common sense.

Now, the Xi dinner. You're SHOCKED that a president sat down with China's leader and brought American tech CEOs along. Shocked! What's next, a Democrat president throwing Xi a White House state dinner with Mark Zuckerberg in the room... wait, I'm hearing Obama already did that. September 2015. Same week Xi was in Seattle meeting the heads of Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. Not a peep out of you. And forgive me, but a man who went on his HONEYMOON to the Soviet Union does not get to clutch his pearls because some capitalists ate dinner with a communist. That's not a principle, Bernie. That's a mood.

Quinn's Law Number Twenty-Five: liberals are great at giving away other people's money. Never their own. Michael Dell wrote his check himself. You wrote a tweet asking somebody else to write one.

Which brings me back to my standing offer, because I make it every single time and nobody ever takes me up on it. I keep hearing rich Democrats scream "tax the rich" when they ARE the rich. They know every loophole. Some of them wrote the loopholes, and then used them on their own tax returns. So here it is. File with the standard deduction. No itemizing. Pay DOUBLE what the IRS says you owe. Post the return. Do that, and I'll listen to you lecture about billionaires. Until then you're just a fopdoodle with a jet budget, one sandwich short of a picnic and two houses past hypocrisy.

Look. Ten people on your list feed the working class. You feed OFF the working class, and then you send us the invoice. I've got four kids, a teacher's paycheck, and a grocery bill that still hasn't recovered from your "rescue." So with all the respect I can find, Senator, and I'm really digging here... please stop helping. We cannot afford it.

But what do I know? I'm only a physics teacher who knows the difference between net worth and a paycheck, which apparently puts me about thirty-five years ahead of a sitting United States Senator.

@TPUSA @JoJoFromJerz @atrupar

#MAGA #Trump

[Rod D. Martin @RodDMartin]

ICYMI: Trump’s Top 25 Achievements: The List Every Conservative Should Know and Use

Donald Trump doesn’t have an accomplishment problem. Republicans have an information problem. It’s on each of us to change that.

With the midterms coming, an astonishing number of Republican voters cannot name three things President Trump has accomplished. Which is remarkable when you consider that Donald Trump has accomplished more in a year and a half than any other president ever did in four.

Indeed, he has accomplished so much, so fast, across so many fronts that most people cannot keep up. The Enemedia buries the victories, while Republicans do an abysmal job of explaining them.

So here is the cheat sheet. It barely scratches the surface. And yet each and every item here is a game-changer, and your befuddled black-pilling friends need to know it.

This is not a list of promises. It’s a list of laws enacted, cases won, policies implemented, agreements secured, and measurable results.

You don’t have to memorize all 25. Learn five. And when somebody says Trump “hasn’t done much,” show them the receipts.

Trump Restored American Safety and Sovereignty

1. He made the border a real border again.
In a matter of months, Trump reduced illegal border crossings to their lowest level in half a century. Catch-and-release is finished. The wall is going up and even being expanded, “Remain in Mexico” is back, and the Administration reduced releases into the country by an incredible 99.9 percent.

2. He reversed mass migration.
America recorded negative net migration in 2025 for the first time in at least half a century. So far, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the country, whether voluntarily or involuntarily: more than 675,000 forcibly deported and the rest “self-deported.”

Many of those self-deportations were facilitated by the President’s innovative program to offer plane tickets and cash bonuses for illegals to leave, not only incentivizing good behavior but significantly reducing the cost of deportations. Citizenship and the law actually mean something again.

3. He signed the Laken Riley Act — and required detention of criminal illegal aliens.
Named for an innocent girl murdered by an illegal alien, the Laken Riley Act requires federal authorities to detain illegals arrested for theft, burglary, shoplifting, assaulting police, or any crime causing death or serious injury. It also lets states sue officials who refuse to enforce it.

Laken Riley should still be alive. This law will prevent tragedies like hers.

4. History’s biggest drop in violent crime, and the lowest violent crime rate in 126 years.
According to FBI data, violent crime in America dropped an incredible 9.7 percent in 2025 — the largest one-year decline in history. Murder fell 18.1 percent, robbery fell 18.5 percent. And America’s violent crime rate is its lowest since 1900.

This is what happens when you put the National Guard on the streets in crime-ridden blue cities: fewer victims, safer streets, and better futures for America’s poorest.

Trump Launched an American Industrial Supercycle

5. He made the 2017 tax cuts permanent…and better.
The One Big Beautiful Bill locked in the largest tax cut in modern history, including the doubled standard deduction, the expanded Child Tax Credit, and 100 percent expensing for factories and equipment. It also delivered No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime, an abolition of most taxes on Social Security benefits, and major relief for seniors.

Every Democrat voted no. With the 2017 act set to expire in December 2025, that would have resulted in the largest tax hike in American history.

6. He repealed 129 regulations for every new one.
In fiscal 2025, federal agencies finalized 646 deregulatory actions and just five regulatory actions: 129-to-1, and in nearly every case, the “one” was to repeal the others! OIRA says the savings exceeded those of Trump’s entire first term. That is more freedom, lower costs, and less bureaucratic sabotage.

Of these, the crown jewel was the repeal of Obama’s 2009 “Endangerment Finding”, the legal foundation for the Green New Scam’s vehicle mandates. EPA calls it the largest deregulatory action in American history and estimates that by itself, it will save Americans more than $1.3 trillion. Trump also killed the federal EV mandate, restored Americans’ freedom to buy the cars and trucks they actually want, and even eliminated the incentives behind the almost universally hated start-stop button.

7. He secured $18 trillion in announced investment commitments.
That’s nearly two-thirds the size of the entire American economy, building American factories, chip plants, data centers, energy projects, steel mills, shipyards, and supply chains employing American workers. Apple, Meta, NVIDIA, Micron, Hyundai, U.S. Steel, Ford, Taiwan Semiconductor, and many corporations and sovereign wealth funds are betting big on Trump’s America.

No President has ever done anything remotely like it. And it’s just getting started.

8. He made “reshoring” and “reindustrialization” real, not a slogan.
Ford is moving Lincoln production out of China. Toyota is shifting Tacoma production from Mexico to Texas. GM, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and others are expanding U.S. production. The capital equipment pouring into the country is the machinery that’s building the growing boom.

9. He replaced lopsided trade deals with balanced, reciprocal trade.
Trump used tariffs as leverage to reverse 80 years of lopsided trade deals that favored everyone but America, and to win new or improved agreements with trading partners accounting for more than half of global GDP. Those agreements open foreign markets, attack non-tariff barriers, defend strategic industries, and make it more profitable to build in America than to export American jobs.

10. He shifted global energy dominance from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of America.
Once the world’s largest energy importer — “exporting” $700 billion a year to our enemies — America now outproduces Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. The U.S. is also setting new records in oil, natural gas, and LNG exports, becoming the first country ever to export more than 100 million metric tons of LNG in a year.

Trump also opened land, accelerated permits, expanded pipelines and export terminals, and made American energy a tool for prosperity and peace.

11. After four decades of nuclear paralysis, Trump brought five new reactors online in a single year.
For more than 40 years, not one new privately developed non-light-water reactor reached criticality in America. Trump ordered at least three by July 4, 2026. DOE delivered four by the deadline, then a fifth just one month later.

Decades of zero. One Trump summer: five. That is a genuine nuclear renaissance.

Trump Made Elections Matter Again

12. He broke the Deep State’s power to defy the elected branches.
In Trump v. Slaughter, the Supreme Court ruled for the first time in 90 years that Article 2, Section 1 is still part of the Constitution: the President may fire subordinate officials in the executive branch, overturning the 1935 precedent that insulated “independent” agencies from voters’ control.

Ever wonder why elections often seem to change nothing? How about one President and 5,000 political appointees vs. 2.8 million unfireable, unaccountable bureaucrats? THAT is the “Deep State”.

Trump then made that victory real. For the first time in a century, all policy-making bureaucrats can now be fired for misconduct, incompetence, or defying lawful directives. The permanent bureaucracy no longer gets to veto the voters.

13. He ended nationwide injunction abuse.
In Trump v. CASA, the Supreme Court sharply limited nationwide injunctions. A single, local, district judge should not be able to block a national policy for everyone, everywhere; and yet that’s exactly what they’ve done, nonstop, ever since Trump (and only Trump) took office in 2017.

In restricting that unconstitutional power, the Court kneecapped the Black Robe Bureaucracy’s favorite tool of unlawful judicial supremacy.

14. He shut down USAID as a left-wing slush fund and shadow government.
USAID had become a taxpayer-funded machine for exporting abortion, gender ideology, censorship, and left-wing politics. It had a bigger budget than the CIA and the State Department combined, absolutely no accountability whatsoever, and a penchant for overthrowing governments.

Trump terminated it — completely — and moved real humanitarian aid under the State Department. Immediately, seven socialist Latin American governments lost re-election. Coincidence?

15. He shrank Federal employment to its lowest level in 60 years.
From a high under Biden, the federal workforce is now its smallest since 1966. Workforce reductions, agency closures, and spending cancellations mean fewer bureaucrats paid to resist the voters.

What’s more, when Biden left office, 94 percent of federal employees “worked” from home. The Trump administration cracked down: as Elon Musk put it, “you can work from the office or you can pretend to work somewhere else.”

16. He expelled DEI from the federal government.
Trump eliminated federal DEI offices and barred race- and sex-based preferences across the executive branch. Government hiring and contracting are returning to merit and equality under the law, ending the grotesque Democrat idea that “fighting discrimination” requires the federal government to discriminate.

He Defended Faith and Family

17. He delivered sweeping pro-life reform.
In his first term, Trump delivered the judges that overturned the abominable Roe v. Wade. Hardly anyone believed it could be done, or that Trump would do it. But he did, and a half-century nightmare finally ended.

Since returning to office, Trump has enforced the Hyde Amendment prohibiting the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy prohibiting federal funding of foreign abortions, ended federal fetal-tissue research, strengthened conscience protections, protected Medicaid from funding large abortion providers, and pardoned 23 pro-life activists prosecuted by Biden’s weaponized Justice Department.

He’s also done everything within the Executive Branch’s power to defund Planned Parenthood. It would be nice if Congress did likewise.

No President has ever done more to protect life. No one.

18. He got men out of women’s sports, and restored biological reality to federal policy.
The United States government once again officially recognizes two sexes: male and female. Trump ended federal support for the chemical and surgical gender mutilation of children, stopped taxpayer funding of such irreversible abominations, and forced more than three dozen health systems to end or suspend their programs as well.

Trump also enforced Title IX as written: women and girls deserve their own teams, trophies, scholarships, and locker rooms. The NCAA and other athletic organizations changed their rules in response. After years of Democrats doing everything they could to destroy women’s sports and ruin girls’ lives, Trump’s administration protects women and girls again.

19. He enacted America’s first nationwide school-choice program — and launched Trump Accounts.
As part of the President’s One Big Beautiful Bill, Trump enacted America’s first-ever nationwide school choice program. The new Education Freedom Tax Credit helps fund scholarships for tuition, books, and other educational costs.

That’s on top of the new Trump Accounts, which give every child a tax-advantaged stake in America’s future, including a $1,000 federal seed for eligible newborns. Parents gain power. Bureaucracies lose it. And children learn first-hand about free markets and future orientation.

20. He targeted anti-Christian bias and discrimination.
Trump created the White House Faith Office, Religious Liberty Commission, and Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. He restored conscience protections and made clear that Christians do not surrender their First Amendment rights merely by entering public life.

He Restored Peace Through Strength and Put America First

21. He forced NATO to stop freeloading and increase defense spending by 250 percent.
For decades, wealthy European governments underfunded their militaries, effectively sending America the bill and using American taxpayers to subsidize their bloated welfare states. Trump forced NATO to replace its old two-percent-of-GDP spending target with an enormous five percent by 2035.

Allied spending is rising, American defense orders are soaring, and Europe is becoming a partner instead of a dependent.

22. He drove China out of the Caribbean.
China spent years building strategic beachheads at both ends of the Panama Canal, in Cuba, and in Maduro’s Venezuela. Trump forced Panama out of Belt and Road, expanded American security access around the Canal, and captured Maduro, who now sits in a New York jail cell awaiting trial.

Beijing’s planned encirclement of the United States collapsed. The Monroe Doctrine is back. Call it the Donroe Doctrine.

23. He brokered eight peace deals in just eight months.
In eight months, Trump brokered peace in eight conflicts spanning four continents, including wars that had gone on for as much as 40 years. It’s a record unmatched by any other President.

24. He launched and funded Golden Dome, the first-ever true missile defense for the U.S. population.
Ronald Reagan dreamed of making nuclear missiles obsolete through his Strategic Defense Initiative.

Today, Trump is actually building it: a layered homeland shield with space-based sensors and interceptors, conventional defenses, and new technologies including microwave systems to destroy drone swarms and directed-energy weapons (yes, lasers) that can replace an $11 million missile with $2 of electricity.

Congress has funded the initial $25 billion, with far more on the way once it passes the NDAA this fall. Better a shield than a sword.

25. He restored the warrior ethos — and reversed the recruiting crisis.
After years of missed targets under Biden, every active military component met or exceeded its 2025 recruiting goal. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refocused the newly renamed Department of War on actually winning wars, while pouring resources into shipbuilding, munitions, drones, missile defense, and America’s atrophied industrial base.

Young Americans once again believe their Commander-in-Chief is worth serving. And they’re showing up en masse.

Now Act Like It Matters. Because It Does.

Those are not tweets or campaign promises. They are changes in law, power, investment, sovereignty, culture, and the structure of the Republic itself. And they’re just the top 25: I could give you hundreds more.

Midterms are turnout elections. We do not need to convince Democrats to love Donald Trump. We need Republicans and friendly independents to understand what is at stake — and to show up.

And let’s be clear. When you say (as some of you will) “the Republicans need to do a good enough job telling this story”, you’re pointing at yourself. You are “the Republicans.” The Democrats don’t rely exclusively on their elected officials to tell their story: everyone from their media lackeys to their lowest-level supporters are constantly spreading their “news”, whatever that “news” happens to be.

Today’s conservatives have more ability to find whatever you want to know than any group of people in human history, yet half of them couldn’t name any of the accomplishments in this essay, and if they were to read it, they would just complain that something else they wanted hasn’t happened fast enough to suit them.

This is called “black-pilling.” It’s a loser mindset, and if you engage in it, you deserve to lose: horribly, painfully, personally. And guess what: you will, unless people who are serious step up to save you. Which is frankly pathetic, but for the rest of our sakes, necessary.

So tell people our story. Donald Trump is delivering great things, whether or not heaven on earth has broken out quite yet. Do the work, send the team he needs to Washington to finish the job, and get ready for 2028 afterward.

Take the time to learn at least five of these victories. Share this list with someone who needs it. And vote as though the most consequential Presidency in modern history depends on what you do.

Because it does.

(Oh, and those receipts? Follow the link in my bio to get them all.)

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

This PERFECTLY explains the Capitalism vs Socialism argument for America

“So now, Colombia rejected a socialist. Peru rejected a socialist. El Salvador, Chile, Honduras, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina all rejected Marxist or socialist leadership. And Venezuela was destroyed by socialism. Latin Americans are rejecting socialism after having tried it. So why are Americans accepting socialism, having never tried it?

Well, partially because most Americans don't know what socialism is

It's not healthcare for all or affordable housing. Socialism isn't a synonym for all the things I want, but I'm not getting in my capitalist country. It's not a vibe. It's an economic system characterized by collective or governmental ownership of the means of production. Means of production meaning infrastructure used to produce goods and services like factories, farms, and companies.

Capitalism also isn't a vibe. It's not billionaires and corporations controlling politics. It's not a synonym for all the things I hate about my country. It's an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, AKA the means of production.

Now, just like Mac versus Windows, there are different versions of capitalism and socialism. Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden are less capitalistic than America, but they are still capitalist. Although they have a few exceptions to the rule, private companies own the means of production, not the government in those countries.

Now, you might like certain programs that socialism promises, like universal healthcare, but those programs aren't tied to a specific operating system. You can run Photoshop on Mac or Windows, just like you can have universal healthcare in socialism or capitalism. But it seems we as a people keep getting more confused about what socialism is.

In 1949, 34% of Americans correctly identified socialism as government ownership of the economy. By 2018, only 17% did, and I suspect it's even worse now.

American politicians are confused, too. In 2015, Denmark's prime minister had to correct Bernie Sanders and say, "Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy." Zoran Mamdani is a democratic socialist. Democratic socialism is a version of socialism.

Now, you could argue that socialism just hasn't been done right yet. And when every socialist experiment at the national level in the 20th century failed, and every experiment in the 21st century is failing, maybe the problem isn't that socialism hasn't worked in practice, it, that it almost certainly can't work in principle.

And maybe the assertion that this time will be different isn't optimism, it's actually just unfalsifiability, where a theory cannot ever be contradicted by actual evidence.

We have bugs in this version of capitalism that need to be fixed, principally that there is too much money in politics, that billions of dollars speak louder than millions of voices. And you know what? The socialists might create healthy pressure to fix those bugs. That's good, but that's different than changing the whole operating system.

Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. Because when there's never been a successful socialist country in history, and the countries who have actually experimented with it are abandoning it, the results start to speak for themselves. And lately, they're speaking Spanish.”

And just so we’re crystal clear, here are the stated goals of the Democratic Socialists of America in America

- Abolish the US Senate
- Replace the Presidency and Supreme Court
- Abolish the Electoral College
• Abolish police and the prison system
• Abolish ICE, grant amnesty to all immigrants and end visa restrictions
• Public ownership of the largest corporations
- Defund the US military
- End economic sanctions on Iran
- Government owned social housing

[The Real Mike Rowe @mikeroweworks]

Not the way I planned on spending my afternoon, but 7,600 comments should not be ignored! Bots, trolls and personal attacks notwithstanding, the critics of yesterday’s post were dominated by a large and vocal contingent who rushed to remind me that there’s “a difference between socialism and communism,” an obvious indication that they didn’t actually read the post.

Shelley Armour writes… “Mike! You know there is a difference between democratic socialism and communism, right?”

Hi, Shelley. Yes, I know there’s a difference, and I understand what the difference is. The larger point, and the fundamental flaw with your comment, is that you seem to believe the candidates within the Democratic Socialist Party are both “democratic and socialist" simply because that’s the name of their club. Well, maybe some of them are. I really couldn’t say. What I can tell you for sure is that more than a few have called for the complete dismantling of capitalism, free markets, representative government, property rights, borders, police, prisons, and the Constitution in general. My post referred to them, as well as a number of elected Democrats who have agreed to campaign on their behalf – including Gavin Newsom, who said, "The Democratic Party must accept the DSA in order to take back the Congress.” His words, not mine.

Tracey Steele writes…“Wow! I cannot believe Mike Rowe said this. He has a huge reach, and he is actually spouting the word “communism” like it’s the 1950s! Wow Wow Wow!”

Wow indeed, Tracey, and thanks for noticing the size of my reach! (Contrary to popular belief, size does matter!) To say it again, I am not the one “spouting” communism or conflating socialists and communists. The word is being “spouted” by members of the DSA who are using it to describe themselves. I am not accusing them; I am quoting them.

John Engles… Hey Rowe, what’s the difference between the Communists who want to run the country and the Nazi/fascist who currently is?

Several differences, John, but the only one relevant to this conversation is the fact that the communists currently running for office have clearly identified themselves as such. They do not dispute or reject the label. They embrace it. It is who they are, who they claim to be, and who they want to be. The president, on the other hand, has never claimed to be a Nazi or a fascist. That doesn’t mean he isn't, but it is worth noting he has rejected the accusation outright. Obviously, you are entitled to that opinion and the right to share it publicly, thanks to our Constitution. Unlike in a fascist, Nazi, or communist regime. (Also worth noting, Nazis and fascists are not the same thing.)

Chris Tomaloff writes… “Kinda like how the political right didn’t shout down the extreme rhetoric coming from their candidates?”

No, Chris, not like that at all. In the video I shared, we saw examples of prominent Democrats saying things like, “We need to elect more communists!” (Cea Weaver, Director of the NYC Mayor’s Office.) Mamdani himself literally tweeted, "Each according to their need, each according to their ability." That’s a direct quote from the Communist Manifesto.

But what exactly is the corollary from the right? Are prominent Republicans tweeting, “We need to elect more Nazis! We need to elect more fascists! Eat the poor!” I don’t think so. John Engles may think Trump is fascist and a Nazi, but Trump disagrees, and so do a majority of voters. Communists, on the other hand, say it loud and say it proud. I’m inclined to take them at their word.

Beto Ojeda… “Mike has always leaned to the Trumpian view of things but never states it, so as not to alienate anyone, but we know how to read between the lines. This “communist” talk is McCarthyism 2.0.”

I wasn’t around in the 1950s, Beto, but from what I’ve read, it was indeed a very difficult time to be a communist in this country. Lots of private citizens were dragged before Congress, made to take “loyalty oaths," and blacklisted in their places of work. I can’t justify it or condone it, but I can explain it. We had just fought a hot war against fascism and Nazism and just begun a Cold War against a communist regime. The existence of an organized Communist Party in this country at such a time strained the limits of tolerance. But do you really think we’re less tolerant today than we were seventy-five years ago? Do you really believe my comments about communists who claim to be communists are synonymous with another Red Scare? If you haven’t noticed, Chris, no one in the DSA, including the communists, is being dragged before Congress and made to swear a loyalty oath to the Constitution. Today, a communist in America can run for office…with the endorsement of the governor of California! And the tacit approval of a major political party! Seems to me we’re about as far from McCarthyism as we can get.

As for my desire not to alienate anyone, I suppose I am guilty of that. I run a foundation that is open to people of all political beliefs, and we’ve assisted lots of Americans who lean to the left. I also know for a fact that many Democrats have supported mikeroweWORKS historically, and I have no desire to run them off. But do you really have to “read between the lines” to understand where I’m coming from?

True, I’ve never endorsed a candidate or publicly encouraged people to vote. But I’ve been very transparent about the fact that I’m a registered Independent who favors policies and programs that often align with conservative principles. Obviously, I would not characterize those conservative principles as “Trumpian,” because a) they were around long before him, b) Trump is not a conservative, and c) I do not agree with or support everything the President says and does. So, is it possible, Beto, that your accusation is rooted in the fact that I have never publicly denounced the president to your satisfaction? Is it possible you think I'm a Trumper, simply because I've never called him a fascist, or a Nazi, or a liar, or a conman, or a traitor, or whatever else you believe him to be?

Gretchen Seipp… Mike, the fact that you still act as though you’re not political after all this time is a bit ridiculous. I still support your work and foundation because I believe in it, but the folksy act has worn thin.

Aw, shucks, Gretchen. Folksy? Lil' ole me?
Honestly, how am I acting as if I am “not political?” This entire conversation is the very definition of “political.”

Christopher Pugh… I would have voted for Mike Rowe and Freddie a few years ago before he went full-on MAGA, and I’m all in favor of his project, but it’s pretty clear the political direction that he’s moved in and the money trail that has influenced it.

It’s Freddy, not Freddie. (I don’t much care, but he’s a terrier and particular about such things.) As for the “full-on MAGA” moniker, is there something I did specifically to earn that designation? Is there some kind of general definition you can share? Or, are you coming from the same place as Beto? Is calling me “Full-On MAGA" your way of saying that I’ve failed to condemn Trump to your satisfaction?

For the record, MRW is supported by liberals and conservatives alike. I have no idea what “money trail” you are referring to. Also, regarding my personal politics, think about the implications of what I wrote. I said that the Democrats have been given a gift – an opportunity to appear reasonable by speaking the truth to their own party, just as Bill Maher has done. All they have to do is distance themselves from candidates who have called for the complete dismantlement of our Constitution. All they have to do is say, “Hold on, comrade. Our tent is not that big. We respect your right to hate America, but we don’t want you in our party, and we will not support your candidacy.”

If they say that, I think a lot of Independents would see them as they see John Fetterman, who has, in the eyes of many voters, become the most “rational” Democrat currently in office. If they don’t – if they actually welcome communist candidates into their party – then I’m afraid the Democrats, by default, will offer the American people a very simple choice in November – a party that disavows communism vs. a party that doesn’t. I think such a choice would be very positive for Republicans because I don’t think most Americans want to align themselves with a Democratic Party that welcomes communists. The question for you, Chris, is why would a “Full-On MAGA” like me encourage Democrats to act in a way that would disadvantage the Republican Party? And the answer is simple – it’s because I support the existence of a Democratic Party that believes America is still a fundamentally good place.

I think there’s a lot of room for improvement in our country, and I believe the best way to realize those improvements is for Democrats and Republicans to have continuous, robust and public debate about all the issues. But if one of those parties is affirmatively determined to transform our democratic republic into a communist state, then we’re no longer debating the various ways to make our country better; we’re debating the merits of destroying it. And really, what’s the point of tolerating that?

America is already a big tent, filled with hundreds of millions of people with wildly differing views and lots of political parties that represent those views. We’ve got the Green Party, the American Freedom Party, the Socialist Workers Party, the Constitution Party, and of course, the Communist Party USA, as well as the Democratic Socialist Party. America’s tent is so big, we can even tolerate fringe parties like the KKK, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and so forth. Why then, does Gavin Newsom want to make room in the Democratic tent for socialists and communists? There’s only one reason, and he’s already spelled it out for us – he believes the Democrats need them to win back the Congress. I think it’s a bad bet for the Democrats and for America. And if a prominent Republican reached out to the KKK with the same “big tent” offer, you’d better believe my vote would be in play.

Michael Tillman… When are you going to throw your hat into the ring, Mr. Rowe?

Ha! When it no longer fits my head!

[GRANDPA’s FREE ADVICE @GOP_is_Gutless]

Trump’s “34 felonies” explained in detail.

Now here’s the ammo you need for the next time some braindead liberal screeches “34-count convicted felon!”

This is actual footage of a sitting JUDGE testifying in Congress about how completely botched and illegal this case was:

• Jury instructions were a mess
• Misdemeanors illegally elevated to felonies
• The whole process was weaponized garbage

The judge’s own words under oath: “I have very little doubt that this matter will be reversed upon appeal.”

SHARE THIS. SAVE THIS.

Use it as verified, irrefutable evidence the next time they try that line.
@followers
#34Felonies #Weaponization #CorruptJudge #Trump

[Prime AI @primemans]

A guy bought a $1,500 smart TV 3 years ago.

He plugged it in, sat through setup, and pressed "agree" on every popup without reading a single one. That was his entire relationship with the settings menu.

3 years of watching. Zero picture settings adjusted. Zero privacy settings checked. Zero idea his TV was tracking every single thing he watched — including content from a game console and streaming stick that weren't even made by the TV's manufacturer.

His friend — who spent 6 years as a home theater installer calibrating TVs for a living — sat down on his couch, glanced at the screen for 5 seconds, and said:

"Your TV is watching everything you watch. Literally. And the picture you're seeing right now isn't even close to what this panel can actually do."

Same TV. Same living room. Completely different device once someone actually opened the menu.

He said: "Wait, it's tracking me?"

His friend said: "Every smart TV made in the last 5 years does this by default unless you turn it off. Most people never do, because it's buried three menus deep on purpose."

He changed 10 things in 20 minutes.

The picture looked like a different television. The soap opera effect disappeared. The tracking stopped. And for the first time in 3 years, the TV was actually his.

Same TV. Same living room. Everything different.

Here's everything hiding in the menu 🧵

[Dr Strangetweet or How I Learned to Love the RT @lone_rides]

Any anger I have right now over COVID is less geared toward Fauci and more towards the people still defending him.

I can understand the defense of "it was a once in a lifetime thing; no one knew what was going on." Fine. I can buy that.

What I can't buy is Mr. "I am the science" inflating the numbers of deaths and you toad-licking morons still saying "he was trying to save lives."

No, he wasn't. He was on an egomaniacal power trip that saw him burn society, science, and rights like Edward Woodward in "The Wicker Man." Fauci's rendition of Christopher Lee's Lord Summerisle saw him make up "the science" as he went and anyone who questioned or disagreed with him was lined up next for the burning.

Masking toddlers was an absolute "screw them kids" move. Closing outdoor parks, telling people to stay insides, insisting that kids didn't need socialization - all things that ran contrary to pretty much all previous medical advice. Ever.

But here you are, your Fauci action figure in hand and Fauci prayer candle lit, acting like the 6 ft rule had a basis in science and wasn't made up simply because "we had to do something."

People watching loved ones die from outside while dancing nurses choreographed the next social media dance between taking videos of them crying in stairwells because they were just so overworked. And you're eating that crap like a fat kid eats a bowl of Cocoa Puffs on Saturday morning.

And now we know that many of the loved ones that died alone did so unnecessarily.

"Science doesn't lie." No, but now we know that scientists did. A lot. They got more wrong than they got right.

"But they're the experts." And yet, somehow many of the podunks who didn't follow the regulations survived while many people who followed the regulations passed. It's almost like someone was lying.

Hey, quick question: how many people died from taking ivermectin? Answer: a metric buttload less than died from the side effects of the COVID vax.

Stop defending Fauci. But you can't, can you? Why is that?

I'd wager to guess that you can't stop defending Fauci because you so whole-heartly bought into what he was saying that you're in too deep to turn back now.

The bridges you burned, the family and friends you no longer talk to...not to mention that your fragile ego can't take the possibility that you were wrong, that someone you trusted hoodwinked you so hard, there is no possible way for you to save face and not look like a complete dumbass while Cletus from Pigfart, Arkansas was right all along. You're smarter than Cletus; you have a master's in gender theory while Cletus just a plumber. You cannot afford to admit you were wrong.

But you were. And still are. And probably always will be.

Being dumb is a choice. You can choose to not be dumb. You should try it.

[MAZE @mazemoore]

December, 2020. Jake Tapper says that during Trump's first term, he refused to have some of Trump's people on his show because they lied too much. Tapper said that he couldn't put lies on air.

Tapper claimed that Kayleigh McEnany lies like most people breathe and that she couldn't acknowledge reality.

Tapper went on to say that he would help people understand the truth once Trump goes away.

Here's a quick thread on the dishonesty of Jake Tapper.

[Radically Right @RadicallyRight_]

This commercial is pure fire.

A bunch of little kids looking dead serious into the camera:

“When I grow up I want to work for a woke company… I want to weaponize my pronouns… I want to be hired for how I look, not what I can do…”

Then the punchline hits and it’s over.

Corporate America got so drunk on this nonsense that even the kids in the ad sound more sane than half the HR departments out there.

People are finally opening their eyes. The spell is breaking.

Watch it. Share it.

https://t.co/2GhXA6bLhq

Credit where it’s due — https://t.co/JSt1iEoJoy

[Jason D. Meister 🇺🇸 @jason_meister]

If we just help China carry out the largest theft of election data in US history, have the CIA suppress the evidence, fund the creation of a manmade virus, conceal its origins, allow the CCP to pay journalists to write negative stories about the duly elected POTUS, allow the Chinese Communist Party to create tens of thousands of mail-in ballots, abuse the FISA court, weaponize the justice system, rig primaries, attempt to remove Trump from state ballots, raid the private residence of a former president with deadly force, shutoff surveillance cameras, fabricate evidence, gag, censor, ban Voter ID, and flood the country with tens of millions of illegals we could save democracy.

[Joel Berry @JoelWBerry]

My goodness. One of the best things I’ve ever heard. Bravo.

[John Stossel @JohnStossel]

In my extended interview with author @HMDatMI, she reveals uncomfortable truths about race, crime, and feminism.

“I'm going to speak the truth here, and this is not pleasant for people to hear.”

She says what most are scared to talk about:

[Steve Mudflap McGrew’s REMASCULATE podcast @REMASCULATE]

"18,830 ConEd customers without power while Taylor Swift lights up the garden like an effing Christmas tree." No AC at Penn Station. Elderly and disabled residents losing power in the heat. And then the Empire State Building lit up blue for the wedding while locals were being asked to conserve energy. The juxtaposition was not lost on anyone. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got married at Madison Square Garden on Friday — and while 1,000 rich and/or famous guests celebrated inside, New Yorkers outside were dealing with street closures, Penn Station chaos, and Con Edison shutting off power to thousands of customers during a heatwave. Full story at the link below. 🔗

https://t.co/ITggy6hO7N

📷: Getty Images; figtion via Twitter

[Mary Katharine Ham @mkhammer]

Lib: "Happy birthday."

USA: "Thanks!" (Eating apple pie)

Lib: "You’re not perfect."

USA: "Yeah…okay."

Lib: "People say you’re exceptional."

USA: "Oh, that’s nice!"

Lib: "You ARE exceptional."

USA: "Thank you?"

Lib: "What makes you exceptional is that we can still change everything that is so crappy about you! YOU ARE PRETTY TERRIBLE."

USA: "This seems like a time and place issue. It’s my birthday."

Lib: "And on every single birthday you have disappointed me."

USA: "I never said I was perfect. But I feel pretty proud of what we’ve built."

Lib: "YOU NEED TO BE DIFFERENT. YOU’RE SUCH A HYPOCRITE."

USA: "Becoming better was kinda the point. There’s a plan for doing that in my birth docs."

Lib: "And here you are, obsessing over your good traits and accomplishments ON YOUR BIRTHDAY."

USA: "Mm-hmm, that seems kinda normal."

Lib: "GAH, YOU MAKE ME SO ANGRY!"

USA: "I think maybe you're just not interested in a bday party?"

Lib: "Oh, great tolerance! Way to live up to your values! This is what I MEAN about you!"

[Robbie Hendricks @robbiehendricks]

Let me tell you something, comrade.

No American thinks we are exceptional because we are richer, stronger and more powerful than everyone else.

We are exceptional because we are American. It is our value system that built wealth, strength, and power.

It was the American values etched into the souls of generations of people in this country that built what we have today.

Those values are something you clearly cannot understand, or you choose not to, because they would require you building something of your own.

Our nation was founded by people who simply wanted a chance to build something for themselves.

It wasn’t about being richer than others. It wasn’t about being more powerful than others. It wasn’t about being stronger than others.

It’s certainly wasn’t built on what you propose, this hideous belief that you or anyone is somehow entitled to what other people built.

That is the antithesis of America. Your ideas would have been laughed out of America 250 years ago. You ran an entire mayoral campaign on seizing assets from others.

The sheer concept of expecting the government to force hard-working people to feed, house, and fund other able-bodied men and women would have been roundly ridiculed.

In fact, that is why people migrated to America. It was about freedom.

They fled oppressive government, they fled the type of tyranny you are promoting. Where their work was not theirs, where the fruits of their labor were taken from them.

They fled here not expecting a handout, but simply hoping for a chance to build something on their own. A chance to bet on themselves.

That dream is still vibrantly alive today for the those that choose to work hard and pursue it.

You, of course, sell that it is not possible. That it is a zero sum game. That the success of one group must therefore be at the expense of another group, which is a disgusting lie disguised as “promoting fairness”.

That is the opposite of our American value system.

In America, we believe in abundance. We believe in hard work. We believe in merit. We believe in earning things. We believe if you learn, work hard, and do your best, doors will open. And they do. Every time.

Those beliefs are what made America exceptional, and that is why America continues to be the greatest country in the history of mankind.

All despite men like you.

[Insurrection Barbie @DefiyantlyFree]

Your soul is so valuable Satan pursues it daily, relentlessly and viciously and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords laid down His own life for yours.

Don’t sell it at a bargain basement sale for money, power, or clout. It’s priceless.

[ENOCH @tem_salitoul]

Pathetic. A whole stage full of deep state puppets, and they still managed to leave their star marionette dangling alone like a forgotten prop. Obama struts off like it's his personal victory lap, jamming out with that cringey air guitar like he's the coolest cat in the room, while Jill ghosts her own husband mid-wave. Biden’s just standing there squinting into the void yelling 'Where’s my granddaughter?' as the teleprompter probably flashed 'Exit stage left.'

And this garbage dump-looking ode to the most divisive person on the planet? Obama shafted the subcontractors millions of dollars to build it... minority-owned businesses he claimed to champion now facing financial ruin with unpaid bills stacking up to $4 million or more on his $850 million+ vanity project.

Over a million views of the 'most powerful man in the world' reduced to waving at ghosts. This wasn’t a presidential center opening - it was a public dementia reveal with a celebrity soundtrack and Obama’s cringe-life rockstar fantasy. The puppet strings snapped on live TV. Even the deep state is embarrassed.

[Logan Hall @loganclarkhall]

Democrats: “lol if we ever come to power again we are going to flood the country with another 100 million illegals and throw you all in prison.”

Senate GOP: “Ermmm guys… We can’t break with our precious norms and procedures and pass voter ID…”

[Tim Young @TimRunsHisMouth]

Kevin O’Leary tells the entire CNN panel that they’re all nuts!

Correct. 😂😂😂

[Buitengebieden @buitengebieden]

Copycat.. 😅