Apparently not a problem around here. A new Publix (expensive grocery) went in a mile from the Winn Dixie, put them out of business. I should note that the Winn Dixie was very clean and modern. People opted to pay more because Publix is “nicer”.

Aldi has since moved into the Winn Dixie space. Went shopping last night and passed the packed Publix lot while Aldi was fairly empty. We generally spend $230 and get food for 3 weeks. Went to Publix when they first opened, long before the spike in food prices, spent $65 on a partially full hand basket.

There’s a shitty little Pic-N-Save down the road and it’s empty but for the poorest people. Wife and I went the other night and were laughing at how delightfully cheap everything is. Best tomatoes in town! People won’t go there because it looks like a 70s grocery.

For context, this is not a bougie area. We’re the redneck suburb of a very poor metro area.

Don’t be naive. Trump isn’t running anything.

Trump struggled to name 20 animals in a row, dealer’s choice. Thought the dementia test was an IQ test, bragged that going past 10 animals was hard.

“I took– Those are very hard– They’re really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way, but they’re cognitive tests. Let AOC go against Trump.”

He continued, “Let Jasmine go against Trump. I don’t think Jasmine– The first couple questions are easy: a tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know. When you get up to about five or six and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn’t come close to answering any of those questions.”

Ever seen The Score? Brilliant heist movie.

Only time I’ve seen Trump suffer humiliation was when Obama beat his ass at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. Imagine being in a room with top politicians and journalists, getting hand your ass. I’d laugh, but I’m not Trump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHckZCxdRkA

If you haven’t seen it, take 10-minutes to see why Trump ran for office, see how we got here.

Look at the upvotes on this one. Embarrassing that so many lemmings jumped on this.

Let me spell it out y’all: Trump has narcissistic personality disorder. He is not capable of being wrong, let alone humiliated. He doesn’t give two flying fucks what anyone says or thinks, to him, the ad was faked. End of story. He is not able to believe otherwise.

Depopulation was an issue a decade or more before the war. Which makes the meat grinder even harder to understand.

Depopulation has been an issue in Russia for some time. At one point they created a holiday for everyone to stay home from work and fuck, though I think that was a regional thing.

I would love to halve the human population, but the economic situation is going to be horrific for decades as we figure out how to adjust.

This is not just an aircraft carrier. For starters, this is the USS Gerald Ford, a Gerald R. Ford-class carrier, the latest shit. A US aircraft carrier is a monstrous group of war machines, not a single boat (though it’s the size and population of a small town). We got 11 aircraft carriers in total, to cover planet Earth.

For context, US aircraft carriers are sent to regions to project force. “We can ruin you if you fuck around and we don’t have to be in sight of land to do so. Also, good luck fending us off, because you can’t.” Short of a boomer (nuclear sub which you’ll never hear about) an aircraft carrier group is the deadliest thing mankind has ever deployed.

So, we’re sending nearly 1/10th of our global naval warfighting machine, the very tip of the spear, to <checks notes> Venezuela?!

I have no snarky comment or bullshit prediction here. I cannot imagine WTF is going on except to guess… what? A major escalation against… who? And why? There’s something going on here that’s not going to be obvious until it kicks off.

Every move in his first Presidency could be predicted by what was on Fox News the night before. This happened so often it was undeniable. Now that he’s well sunk into dementia it’s even worse.

I don’t blame Presidents acting in their own best interests. The legislative and judicial branch was to be the check on their power. Congress has failed in that role since the 60s.

What’s that supposed to mean? That it used to be warmer? Get ready for the AMOC to shut down, you for sure won’t be growing grapes.

Record snowfall for Florida in my town last winter. Direct result of global warming.

I’m for taxing them to hell and back just to remove their influence. But I still say, there’s not that many billionaires in the US and most of that money isn’t liquid.

I’ve heard conservatives argue against many solutions because they’re not 100%. NOT where I’m coming from, just saying this isn’t a 100% solution.

You have a great point that health care costs could go down. I firmly believe universal health care would accomplish that, then taxing the snot out of billionaires might cover it.

And regardless of the tax money available, there’s no reason to not do this thing.

Well, yeah? I agree, but that wasn’t what I was replying to.

You and I don’t have a clue about her charity because she keeps it quiet. Not only is that the morally correct stance, it keeps people like you from beating her up because, “Not good enough!”

My god, some of the takes in this thread are straight childish. Thanks for hitting back with reality.

So, what’s a “mezzo-soprano”?

Now that is a bangin’ reply! Much love, gotta remember that.

Yeah, wealth is a hand up, not a guarantee of success .

The argument in question. Really hit me in the heart, made me see her as a real person.

I’m no fan, but calling her MAGA and no-talent is ridiculous on it’s face. There were comments on here that her new husband, whatever his name is, is MAGA. Nope, not at all, he just looks like he could be.

Funny thing, I’m a 54-yo white guy, don’t know her songs. My little kids were playing music one day, “That’s kinda badass, who is it?” That’s happened a few times, maybe I ought to give her a shot.

She got found out. Far as I can tell she donates anonymously. Worked for a rich family that did the same. They honestly took Jesus’ admonition to give to the poor and STFU about it. Conservative Southern Baptist, if you can believe that. :)

Had a friend/coworker, whose family is more than well off, say, “I don’t want my money paying for someone else’s healthcare!”

“How do you think insurance works?”

She stared at me, jaw agape.

“How much do you and Shawn pay for your family’s health insurance?”

Staring.

She had no clue because the cost was below her income horizon. The very next day she was outside my office bitching to her friend about her migraine shots costing $1,000 a pop and they couldn’t really afford that. Oh god, I couldn’t resist.

In passing: “How’s that health care system working for ya?”

More stares.

I know, and everyone clapped. But this women was outrageously attractive, pretty smart, very nice and sociable, no one ever contradicted her. Had great fun poking her now and again. The look of shock on her face was hilarious.

“Can you do $outrageously_stupid_insecure IT thing for me?”

“No way I’m doing that.”

Stares.

“Go ask my boss (her brother-in-law) if that’s a good idea. If he agrees, I’ll do it.”

Stares.

Still giggling about her 7-years later. Sometimes life hands you material. :)

Doubt it would cover the whole cost, but it would go a long damned way, good enough.

Look at Musk for example. If we taxed him so harshly that he had to sell a load of Tesla stock, TSLA would crash and there would be less to extract from him. Not saying we handle them with kid gloves, but their money isn’t our money, isn’t cash in the bank.

If we raised taxes across the board, from what Biden wanted, a modest increase for households (individuals?) making over $400K, increment from there, that would probably be enough to do whatever the hell society needs.