Are you paying your Fair Share of Taxes [youtube.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 5, 2021:

Payroll and sales taxes are very regressive. The payroll tax gap is justified by the rich and their allies because the rich don't need Medicare or SS, and they also don't feel any obligation to support programs they don't need just to help their workers who create their wealth or pick their cotton, so to speak. They have disengaged themselves from the working class and they can get away with it because they own the government and they no longer need most of us, as workers or even as consumers of their products and services.

I cannot wait to move out of this rental house.

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 5, 2021:

If hell existed, there should be a special place in it for slumlords. They are as low as Trump.

Leading cause of death in the world 😱 Simply 1.

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 4, 2021:

It's always comforting to run across someone more paranoid than me, lol...

Will the tradition-loving Joe Biden let the Senate keep the filibuster?

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 4, 2021:

The answers are yes and no, in that order.

Good Advice

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 3, 2021:

I agree with that reasoning, but, human nature being what it is, most people who did the wrong thing during Covid will simply lie and give the PC response so they can avoid being rejected by people who did do the right thing during Covid. It's like asking someone from a dating site if they voted for Trump. If the person asking is attractive looking enough and the person being asked is interested in meeting that person, they will lie instead of being truthful. I always tell the truth and let the chips fall, but I'm not naive enough to believe that most people have the same integrity as me. Experience has proven otherwise for me.

Governors of Texas and Georgia lift masks mandates

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 2, 2021:

Guess they want to see the numbers spike during the home stretch before most people are eligible for vaccination.

So simple you would think

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 2, 2021:

That's because religion and conservatism appeal to the same people, most of which want to live selfishly, with privilege and power over others, including the power to discriminate against others.

Happy birthday, Lou Reed.

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 2, 2021:

Actually Lou disdained the whole hippie scene, as well as the fashion and the ethos, so it's ironic you posted this here. I think he identified more with the beatnik scene, esp. the Beat poets.

Opinion | The Republican Party is making Jim Crow segregationists proud - The Washington Post

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 2, 2021:

Why shouldn't they? Trump made it acceptable and fashionable again to be openly racist and bigoted.

Happy birthday, Lou Reed.

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 2, 2021:

The words to that song may seem outdated, but I still think many of his songs are timeless, esp. some of the Velvet Underground's songs. I actually had two of his songs played at my wedding back in 1999. Lou Reed and David Bowie created alternative music, never would have happened without them.

THE ENTIRE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION IN ONE BLOG POST? Link: [united-cats.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 1, 2021:

You have my condolences as well. My own father died the summer before last. I agree that we are screwed the way it looks right now and I don't think that will change. I take some grim comfort that I will likely die before it all falls apart, but I could be wrong about that, as it may only take another decade or so and I may live another 25 years.

"A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it.

TomMcGiverin comments on Mar 1, 2021:

I'm not sure I agree with that. I could handle a lifetime of happiness as long as there was still some surprises included as well as some occasional change happening here and there.

So over the last couple of months I've been making a foray into the online dating scene.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 28, 2021:

No doubt about it, online dating is a cesspool. But the sad truth is that after age 50, when you're no longer in any kind of school and all your longtime friends are smugly married and not able to fix you up with anyone because they only know other married people, online dating really is your only option to be able to meet most of the available singles out there in that age bracket. Deal with it or lump it, those are the choices. It's not like the 1970s, when you could just go to a singles bar and most of the single people in your area would be there regularly to meet.

Biden drops minimum wage hike from COVID-19 relief bill Seizing on an advisory ruling Thursday by...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 28, 2021:

Biden was never really interested in a $15 minimum wage, he was just lying to win the election. Why should anybody be surprised when a declared neoliberal does this? The fact that Bernie and AOC fall in line about this shows what frauds they are as well.

Cashing in on racialist politics: Black Lives Matter foundation raised $90 million in 2020 The ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 28, 2021:

Identity politics at its most profitable.

Most people are bad at arguing. These 2 techniques will make you better.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 28, 2021:

You aren't the only one, I'm sure. But you also aren't like me. I have no interest in getting those people back into my life. I don't miss them and am better off without them.

John Fetterman annouced he is running for Senate seat in Pennsylvania. in 2022 [youtu.be]

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 27, 2021:

I've seen this guy speak several times on TV and he makes way too much sense, besides being intelligent and very honest for a pol. He needs to stay away from small aircraft...

The People Haven’t Risen Up For The Same Reason Abuse Victims Don’t Leave Their Abusers ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 27, 2021:

The Dem Party is an abusive partner. I recommend sane people on the left leave it as soon as possible.

Bill Maher does great job of standing up for single and childless people at the end of this video.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 27, 2021:

Him and Chris Hedges are the only two people I can always count on to tell the real, depressing truth about things, like the gig economy and worship of family in America, both of which are based on myths.

Who is really behind this off-the-wall conspiracy cult?

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 27, 2021:

All three.

im worried they will win

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 27, 2021:

Love the statement about the billionaire's kids having a work requirement, since we all know how important it is for people who get help from the govt., whether an inheritance tax cut or a child tax credit, to have the proper Calvinistic character. I mean, anything else would be hypocrisy or discrimination, right? As for DeJoy, I am now convinced that destroying the postal service and giving its business, at least the profitable parts, to its competitors, is a bipartisan goal, so I am not hopeful that Biden will do the right thing, can DeJoy, and replace him with someone who is good for the postal service. And anyway, the postal service is not a big priority for him right now even if he was interested in doing the right thing. I expect we will get some happy talk about it and no real positive action.

CPAC Will Literally Feature A Golden Statue Of Donald Trump - YouTube

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 27, 2021:

If this isn't idolatry, I don't know what is.

I have lived in Portland five years!, not a single day of those years have I truly experienced ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 26, 2021:

I have no idea what it must feel like being black on a site made up almost completely of white non-believers. But I do feel your pain and understand, as do some other male members, what it's like to be part of another group of middle-aged and older men that it seems most women do not want to date, namely bald men. And, like the women that don't want to date black men, there appears to be a lot of self-serving denial about it by many women who won't date bald men, but don't want to look shallow or narrow-minded, so they claim that they and most women do not have this bias. So I can relate to that and it is frustrating to know you have no chance with a certain % of women, but you have no way of knowing who is and isn't part of each group because it's a sensitive subject that most people don't want to honestly speak about with candor.

Maskless MAGA Marauders

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 26, 2021:

It would be interesting to know that, as well as how many cops working that day at the capital have gotten Covid. We'll probably never know.

Why So Many Veterans Find the Path to Extremism | Military.com

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 26, 2021:

It makes perfect sense to me and explains why we need to be afraid of how many right wing white supremacists are in the current ranks of the military and law enforcement.

No touch, will bite.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 25, 2021:

The infamous tummy trap...

Is This any Way To run a Railroad? [propublica.org]

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 25, 2021:

Inside job, just like 9-11. They had the intel and knew it was coming. Could have stopped it, didn't want to. Same old shit, different people in command.

Women Who Cook While Menstruating Will Be Reborn As Dogs, Hindu Leader Says | David Gee | Friendly ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 25, 2021:

That doesn't seem fair. Personally, I'd prefer to be reborn as a spoiled house cat.

I rarely visit the site anymore, so in effort to make good use of this brief visit and the aim of ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 25, 2021:

Looks like you have only one female member of your age group that lives in your local area, and she's a beauty queen besides that, which, in my experience, means she probably thinks she's too good to date someone like you or me. That's what happened with a woman like that which I messaged soon after I joined here. Rotsa ruck with your situation.

Well, I haven't been on Agnostics in a good while.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 25, 2021:

Sounds like a real prize- NOT. I ran into one of those just last week on Batch. Next...Glad you figured him out quick and didn't waste much time on him.

I watched some of the testimony by former Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 24, 2021:

It was an inside job. The rioters had help from some officers at the line level and, more importantly, help at the command level. Glad that the head of the Capital Police was canned and also the Sergant At Arms from both branches of congress also had to go.

On being secretive - no photos.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 23, 2021:

I have run across several women on Batch that will not post photos of themselves on the site because they fear harassment and ridicule from their students, even when the women teach at the college level. They are also afraid of their faculty peers seeing that they are on a dating site. Not having photos on the profile is a severe handicap in getting anyone to respond to the profile, and I won't message someone with no photos, no matter what body type they say they are. We all want to see proof of someone's looks, at least everybody I've talked to. The old joke is that the only photo anyone wants to see in a profile, particularly a man, is a nude photo on a scale holding a financial statement.

It will soon be March and the emergency $2,000 survival checks that Biden and the dems promised ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 23, 2021:

I'll take out of touch AND just don't care for $500, Alex....

The USA does not have a monopoly on raving idiots.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 23, 2021:

I already have blocks for those two assholes...

Mass Shooting at Louisiana Gun Shop Leaves Three Dead and Two Wounded Three people were killed ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 22, 2021:

Redneck right wingers with guns, what could possibly go wrong?

Anti-Trumpers are done with the GOP. Where do they go now? - POLITICO

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 22, 2021:

They really do have nowhere to go, which is why I think most of them will crawl back to the Repubs, who know they will... What they really need is a new third party that is openly fascist, that's where they belong. We'll probably see something like that at least attempted, with a name like Patriot Party or something like that. They remind me of the ruling party in the Purge series of movies, The New Founding Fathers Of America Party.

Im not high when i post this marriage?

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 22, 2021:

I think that the main reason marriages started declining then and continue to decline is mainly economic. 1973 was the year that real wages for Americans began to decline permanently. I think declining wages discourage marriage because people realize they can no longer be able to support themselves, a partner, and children on the income that most Americans get. Simply too poor to get married, start families, and be able to support them. One reason I chose to never have kids or marry someone with kids, is that I knew I would likely be too poor to afford that situation and did not want to live in poverty the rest of my like.

Monday morning cuteness

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 22, 2021:

Kitty's head is bundled up for the Minnesota winter.

Among my Christian friends here in the Deep South USA I find there is a high correlation between ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

I pity you for living in Alabama.

The last few weeks on Batch, I've been occupying myself, for amusement, out of boredom, and also out...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

Apparently N. just read my final reply on Batch. Our conversations are erased from my inbox. She must have read my reply and then deleted all the messages between us. Just for laughs I typed a couple words of another message to her, but she has me blocked from sending her any further messages, even tho I am not blocked from seeing her profile, at least not yet. No surprise here at all..

Rush Limbaugh dead at 70: A media blowhard for American capitalism - World Socialist Web Site

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

Reagan and Rush deserve a lot of the blame for the rise in right wing populism, but so does the Dem Party for always effectively killing any left wing populism that ever rose as a response to Reagan and Rush, even as early as the 1980s. I remember how they crushed Jesse Jackson, Dennis Kuccinich, Jerry Brown, and others on the left as well as Nader, trying to promote left wing populism, long before Bernie became a national figure. They have been at this a long time and had plenty of practice before screwing Bernie in 2016.

Freedom Rider: Impeachment Theater Democracy is hanging on by a thread -- not due to marauding ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

I couldn't agree more with any of this. At least two of us are not ignorant rubes that fall for the distraction and propaganda. Too bad we will always be way outnumbered.

Kiri has discovered plastic bags are fun.... [youtu.be]

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

My former neighbor's cat loved to play with plastic tissues and to lay in boxes.

The last few weeks on Batch, I've been occupying myself, for amusement, out of boredom, and also out...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

> Update: This afternoon N. sent me a terse reply with no apology about her having ghosted me for four days before her reply today. I quote as follows: Sorry we are not a match and I wish you the best". I sent her a reply of about 100 words explaining why I thought she ghosted me and critiquing her standards for rejecting me as not having a successful professional career and thus not being high status enough for her and her friends. I explained how my two degrees did prove quite helpful in my marriage as a partner with my wife, who was a social worker, and later as a caregiver for her and then as her guardian. I also mentioned that my marriage as my one LTR in life, proved I was a competent and worthy partner for someone and as far as I'm concerned I am a successful person in life as proven by my marriage, certainly as much of one as any divorced woman like her, whose marriage failed. I also suggested she might revise her profile essay to remove the words caring and empathetic from her self description and that she take a look at her selection skills and her values when it comes to choosing a partner. I also said that she could have learned all this other information about me soon enough if she had not rejected me prematurely for not being enough of a high status male. We shall see if she reports me to Batch for being insulting or abusive, etc. in my reply to her, but as of now, I feel I said nothing out of line in my reply to her terse, non-apology for ghosting me and I do not deserve any kind of suspension or banning from Batch. If she has the right to ghost me without any explanation or apology, then I feel I have to right to assertively have my say in reply when she renewed contact with me, not that I think it will have any influence or change in her. I simply enjoy standing up for myself and having my say. I have never ghosted anyone or even done anything like that in the dating game before online dating and I never will. I will always maintain contact, give them a real goodbye, and an explanation as well, whether they ask for it or not, whenever I reject someone after having seen them in person more than once. So when someone ghosts me and then sends me a half-assed or terse message, I am damn well going to give it back to them and have my final say about them. Thoughts??

That's the big difference

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

That is a difference between individual members of the parties on isolated incidences of either promoting or opposing a relief effort. It's apples and oranges to compare that to how the vast majority of both parties membership acts when it comes to long term policy and legislation, such as military funding, tax policy, environmental policy, economic policy, endless wars, health care policy. My point stands, namely that both parties are owned by the same people and support the same ruling class policies on everything that really matters as far as long term laws and legislation. AOC is given no real power in her own party and is allowed to be a shining star for the media of progressive policy only in order for her to serve the useful purpose of the Dem Party leadership, of conning most people into thinking she is the leader and norm for Dem Party policy, which she isn't by any stretch of the imagination. The same applies to Bernie Sanders and other member of The Squad. They are simply a marketing tool for the Dem Party leadership, but no way in hell will the party ever allow one of them to get the party nomination for prez or even VP.

Sunday morning cuteness

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

Fight the oppressive power, kitties!.....

Sunday morning fun

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 21, 2021:

Like I said somewhere else, Rush's body or ashes will undoubtedly be interred in some high security vault or crypt that the masses will not be able to visit or desecrate. Sort of a post death version of a gated community.

Biden visits Bob Dole at home

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 20, 2021:

Even tho Dole was a Repub, tho a moderate one back when the party had a number of them, I always liked him and thought he was a decent man. He was also the funniest politician I have ever heard. He really was " too funny to be president", the title of his memoir... I'm glad Biden made that visit. Dole deserved it.

1. Will this Covid bring the US economy back to the dirty 30s?

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 20, 2021:

I will limit myself to just saying two things. The photo appears to be a cow, and, Covid's effect on any one individual is very hard to predict. There are people over 90 who have survived it and there are people in their 30s who have died from it. It's too deadly and unpredictable to be careless about and trifle with. It's your life and your health, so do what you want regarding Covid, but don't dare endanger my health with your choices. You have no right to do so.

Ron DeSantis Orders Florida’s Flags Lowered to Honor Rush Limbaugh Florida’s Republican ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 20, 2021:

Everybody mooning Rush on his way to the grave is a fitting send-off...

I was just trying to log in to agnostic.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 20, 2021:

Happened to me too a little earlier this morning. Like the other guy said, it happens from time to time and I just check back later.

Modern dating.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 20, 2021:

In spite of how scary that sounds, the more common, realistic risk of online dating is good old hurt feelings and disappointment, no matter how low you keep your expectations.

Take that trump fans

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 20, 2021:

I really wanted Bernie instead, but I held my nose and voted for Biden, mainly because he wasn't Trump and I knew with Biden we would at least get better leadership on Covid as well as a better chance at getting the kind of economic relief for Covid as well. Outside of that stuff, I expect little improvement in our country from Biden. In the rest of things besides the Covid crisis, Biden will be better mannered than Trump, but he really won't change much for the better, just like he said in his speech to fat cat donors before the primary campaign. Of course, Biden and the Dems will blame that lack of action and change on the Repubs, but, like Obama, the real reason will be that they don't support it in the first place. Most Americans are sheeple who are too stupid to see that and blame it all on either the red or the blue, not on both, like they should. If Biden's admin. plays out the way I expect, I promise we will have another Repub prez in four years, and he will be worse than Trump. You heard it here first..

Texas Republicans! 🙄

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 19, 2021:

All three are equally huge assholes. I can't pick one over the others.

Faced with real consequences for participating in insurrection, MAGA followers turn on Trump

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 19, 2021:

My fear is that most of them will never face much in the way of consequences for the riot, certainly not as much as they deserve. I am also disturbed that whoever killed that one cop does not seem to be likely to be charged with murder and also that Kyle Rittenhouse will probably never be convicted of anything serious for the two murders he committed last summer in Kenosha, WI.

Are you an individualist? [youtube.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 19, 2021:

Quite the opposite, I am a proud socialist and a believer in collectiveism. America's biggest problem is this hyper-individualism. It blinds us to having empathy for others as well as to seeing our common interests, such as single payer health care for all and a guarrentied income. We need both of them ASAP, but individualism prevents voters from seeing the rational solutions to our problems. I don't see it going away in my lifetime, if ever, because it's only gotten worse during my adult life, beginning with the Reagan presidency. The older I get, the more I wish I had met a compatible Canadian woman when I was young, so I could have married and lived there with her. A Euro woman would have been even better. The US is more and more seeming like a hostile society where I don't belong, but I'm doomed to die here, probably while still alone. Even as a young adult, I quickly realized that, in the vast majority of people, birth location and family ties were destiny when it came to earnings and career success, and that educational and employment opportunities were the vehicles thru which that destiny was provided. Also, as long as most Americans remain very materialistic and buy into consumerism, they will continue to support a competitive society and economy instead of collectiveism and cooperation, because they also seem to never lose their belief that someday they or their kids will get lucky and become rich, against the odds.

Love George Carlin's political commentary. [youtu.be]

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 19, 2021:

Does anybody recognize who the dickhead was debating Carlin there?

Definitely them

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 19, 2021:

So true. You only need to be smarter than the rubes and know which buttons to push.

We can still jail him

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 19, 2021:

Hell yes!

I truly am sad and afraid for our kids

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 19, 2021:

Part of my reasoning in choosing to never have kids..

Go Ted, go! And Take Mitch McConnell with you...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 19, 2021:

Good one..

Deregulate the power grid, fail to winterize the equipment, blame a socialist policy when disaster ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

This is one of those clear cases that, if Texans still vote for Repubs in state elections, then they truly get the government they deserve, at least collectively.

Seems Mexico needs a wall

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

That is fucking hilarious satire! Made my day...

This lady in a wheelchair couldn't climb the stairs, but watch what happens when she pushes the ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

A concealed lift. That is really slick..

Ted Cruz Accused of Flying to Cancun Amid Texas Power Outages As Photo Goes Viral

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

There goes his presidential hopes. I can already see the attack ads writing themselves for Cancun Cruz...

This Preacher Said in October He Cured Rush Limbaugh’s Lung Cancer With Prayer | Hemant Mehta | ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

In the words of the late Rev. Mojo Risin (JIm Morrison of The Doors), " You cannot petition the Lord, with prayer!"..

Yeah some caring politician

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

I hope this cooks his political ambitions for prez. The attack ads over this are already writing themselves if his opponents have the balls to use them. Cancun Cruz has a ring to it and is ready-made for the ad.

Truth to my mind

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

Well said. I gave up long ago trying to reason with the ignorant and delusional. Like trying to talk a schizophrenic out of their delusions. Only meds can change that. I don't know what can change a Trumper.

Kroger Closing More Stores to Avoid Paying Workers Hazard Pay Grocery giant Kroger, announced ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

Sad to see another company is just as greedy and heartless as Walmart.

The world got a bit better today.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

And that if hell existed, Donald has this friend waiting for him to join him there.

Poor Kitty

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

Kitty needs her own playseat..

This is a Texas politician We owe you nothing

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 18, 2021:

Everything's bigger in Texas, including the assholes....

For someone who did so much damage to American democracy, and contributed to poisoning the minds of ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 17, 2021:

If we're wrong and there is a hell, may Rush rot in it... I've never killed anyone either, but I have wanted to stand on the graves of some people and, as Elvis Costello sang, " Tramp The Dirt Down".. He wrote it about Margaret Thatcher.

Does teaching "white guilt" also cultivate a "white pride" backlash?

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 17, 2021:

I don't really have a vote on this. I just know that many, but not all, white people get defensive and lash out when they feel their white identity and white privilege are confronted and threatened with it being taken away from them, at least as they see it. This results in backlash and they act it out by voting for Repubs and other reactionary pols. They also act it out by bashing and seeking power and control over racial and ethnic minorities. I like to think I am fairly non-racist and teachings about white guilt and white privilege don't threaten me personally, so I don't react negatively to it. I take it in, weigh it against my experience, logic, and use my intellect to apply it to how I live and treat others. Because I would like to live in a pluralistic, peaceful society if possible, and because I know that non-whites are not my real enemy is this country. As a socialist, I know my real enemy is the ruling class. Most whites have not figured that out yet, sadly, and neither have a lot of minority race Americans.

Misogynist, racist, xenophobe, narcissist, drug addict, hypocrite, enemy of American democracy and ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 17, 2021:

I just saw the news on TV and I laughed out loud in spite. I'm sure he'll have plenty of conservative company waiting for him in hell, if only it existed... Things like this make me wish there was one.

New form fitting clothing for men... 🤔😂🤣

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 17, 2021:

Reminds me of something out of the movie A Clockwork Orange...

fun cat video. [facebook.com]

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 16, 2021:

Sheesh. Watching this video is sort of creepy when I think of how many humans are in relationships with partners that are less loving and affectionate than these cats.

Dave Chappelle on Capitol Riot. [youtu.be]

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 16, 2021:

I feel cheated. I was hoping and expecting several minutes of Chappelle, but all they played was maybe half a minute. Too hot for corporate news channels.

57 GOP State And Local Officials Were At The Capitol Insurrection | HuffPost

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 16, 2021:

No surprise there. I doubt they will suffer any political consequences for their participation with their state parties or even in their next election. In fact, in red voting areas, it may even help.

Texas Republicans Beg Biden for Help Weeks After Endorsing Secession Bill In response to a huge...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 16, 2021:

They deserved for Biden to tell them to shove it, same as Trump would have told a blue state in the same boat. Dems are such pussies.

US could have averted 40% of Covid deaths, says panel examining Trump's policies | US news | The ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 15, 2021:

The way Trumpers see it, most of those deaths were elderly people mooching off Social Security they don't deserve, but of course all the Trumpers can't wait to collect theirs. As for the rest of the Covid deaths, disproportionally among the poor and minorities, those people aren't their kind and are surplus labor anyway in most cases, so they are also seen as no loss. Same with low wage workers like meatpackers who have had a lot of Covid deaths, easy to replace, no loss there.

What should they call the new "Republican Party"?

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 15, 2021:

I vote for New Confederate States Of America or American Fascist Party. At least those two names would be honest and fitting.

Hundreds of people are volunteering to escort elderly Asian Americans to help keep them safe - CNN

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 15, 2021:

Man, I hate racist bullies. Makes me want to beat the shit out of them if I could legally do it.

The price of being single |

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 15, 2021:

I was with my late wife from 1995 to 2015, when we were medically separated because of her dementia getting bad enough that we had to live apart until her death two years later. I kept visiting her regularly after we had to live apart. Before her dementia began in 2011, those 16 good years with her were the best years of my adult life and I still cherish them. I also still have a strong memory of how much I was getting tired of being single the last several years before I met her. So I have a clear picture and plenty of data to go on in seeing how much better my life was with my wife than before her as well as what my life has been like as a widower for really the last five years, after she was already gone for the most part from the dementia.

Biden's Win Was MUCH Tighter Than Originally Thought - YouTube

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 14, 2021:

I have no doubt whatsoever, and didn't before the election, that if it weren't for Covid and it's effect on the real economy, not the stock market, that Trump would have won. We won't be so lucky in four years.

If someone's not happy with the Senate's verdict that found Trump "not guilty," this map might ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 14, 2021:

Almost all of these senators are from red states where their seats are very safe, so, nice idea, but it's not likely most of them can be bounced...

-6 degrees outside. I definitely would rather be on a tropical island today.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 14, 2021:

It will reach -21, air temp, before our current cold spell is over in my area.

We are STILL BEING LIED TO.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 14, 2021:

I already believe the whole 9-11 Commission's report was a whitewash, so why would the insurrection be any different?

My summation of Impeachment verdict

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 14, 2021:

Jimmy Carter himself said several years ago that we are no longer a functioning democracy. It was true then because corporations had taken over the government and we had a plutocracy and kleptocracy. The insurrection and impeachment have simply ripped off the veil so the rot is easier to see.

I hope he listens

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 14, 2021:

The problem is Biden is too cowardly to play hardball with the Repubs, and even if he wasn't, he has no interest in changing the status quo. He's not going to run for re-election anyway and will probably hand over the reins to Harris either before his term ends or set her up to get the nomination in four years.

The Democratic Party has for some time now been a moderate conservative ( business ) party.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 14, 2021:

Too late, I'm afraid. Bernie missed his chance this last time. He's now seen as too old.

I almost wished I believed in hell

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 14, 2021:

I share your pain.

What do you know about accountability, Pooh?

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 13, 2021:

If you're a Repub pol, you're accountable to no one, altho you do have to pretend to be accountable to God.

Snow is a delightful occurrence here, with about 4" today after a night of being blasted with ...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 13, 2021:

Our snow ended yesterday, at least for several days. Meanwhile it's crazy cold and windy. Winds around 25-40 mph with air temps as low as -15.

43 fake Americans in our Senate.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 13, 2021:

10 votes short. Just about what I expected. Since the outcome was already clear long ago, I wish the Dems had gotten it over with quicker.

Fox host argues against raising the minimum wage because "fun things" will cost more | Media Matters...

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 13, 2021:

That point about minimum wage being mostly a "starting wage" is bullshit, because most low wage jobs have no unions representing the workers, and like Wal-Mart, the business model in those businesses is to rely on constant turnover so there is no pressure or, in the minds of the business owners, justification to increase the wages of long term employees. Case in point, I used to work for a small radiator shop as a delivery driver. During my indentured servitude there for a few years, I was making around $9 and hour to start, back in the late 90s. The boss was a redneck who knew I had gone to college and he really enjoyed harassing me whenever he got the chance about anything he could come up with, driving too slow, etc. When it came time for my yearly performance review, which supposedly would determine my wage increase, if any, he would always give me a measly nickel an hour wage increase. The job benefits were good and I enjoyed my driving job, except for the boss. He also kept me stuck in the only truck that didn't have working air conditioning. If it weren't for those benefits and my enjoyment of driving, I would have been out of there quick as soon as I could find something better. Starting wage, my ass...

Roaming Charges: Scene of the Crimes - CounterPunch.org

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 12, 2021:

I must admit that the older I get, the more I feel like this, feelings of despair, resignation, and an inclination to abandon the fight. I wonder how Bernie Sander privately feels about the future of America and our politics. He knows he will probably die soon.

Secular Dating

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 12, 2021:

Shortcut route, then visit a Unitarian church. Longer route, try online dating and designate yourself as atheist, agnostic, or spiritual, but not religious, depending on your preference for a label and on what the site allows for labels to choose. Plan on it taking a while unless you get very lucky with the Unitarian church route and find one with a lot of single women your age. The odds are against that because, in my experience, most of the single women at those churches tend to be middle aged or older than that. The women your age at those churches are almost always coupled and with young kids. In other words, most young adults at those churches are part of a young family with kids.

Bruce Springsteen JEEP 2021 Super Bowl Commercial 2021 LV - YouTube

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 12, 2021:

I too was disappointed to see this commercial. I like Springsteen and expected better from him. His politics are liberal, but he is always too quick to side with establishment Dems rather than progressives. The one time he went out on a limb to challenge his blue collar, establishment Dem fans was when he took a stand against police racism and brutality with his song American Skin. He got a lot of flack from police unions and his fans, so now he's preaching this vague unity stuff. Rotsa ruck with that.....

I think we knew it all along.

TomMcGiverin comments on Feb 12, 2021:

No shit. Anyone with a room temp IQ and an ounce of intellectual honesty already knew that. Just like the whole "Support The Troops" talk and bumper stickers, it was really all about telling the protesters, whether it's against war or racist cops, to shut up and fall in line.