BarneyPiccolo
@BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
- Comment on It's unacceptable that people like Jeff Bezos exist. 6 days ago:
As bad as these Sociopathic Oligarchs are now, imagine when they start reaching Trillionaire status, and can start competing with entire nations. They will manufacture their own armies of Slaughterbots, and demand anything they want.
It is inevitable. Unless we end them.
- Comment on Teachers deserve more money. 6 days ago:
Sounds like that’s one of the new MAGA amendments we’re going to have to pass.
- Comment on They look warm... 1 week ago:
Giggity
- Comment on Teachers deserve more money. 1 week ago:
Yeah, that was the era of the one party system, when Republicans ran everything, and the Corporate Dems let them, because they believed in Lite Conservativism.
The fact that “Democratic” legislation was introduced during a Republican administration, and was voted for by most Republicans, and then signed by a Republican president, would indicate that it was probably not a very “Democratic” piece of legislation.
Back then, it was often hard to tell the difference between the parties. Those differences have widened greatly, and will continue to widen into the future. Just because Conservatives, and Conservative Lites, all backed multiple bills that were engineered to fail, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take another crack at it, but in Good Faith this time.
- Comment on Teachers deserve more money. 1 week ago:
No, not the MAGA Federal government. But when they’re out, and they’ve been crushed, we are going reconfigure the new government to serve the people, and yes, I expect the government to convene a panel of educators to create a new Federal curriculum.
That curriculum would look to the future, and not worship dead old ideas from the past. In Florida, DeSatan wants to make Cursive Writing mandatory again, instead of teaching kids real history. We need a history curriculum that acknowledges and teaches about Slavery and the Native American Genocide, and how to avoid such atrocities in the future. We need two math tracks, one for those who want to go into engineering, sciences, etc., and one that emphasizes Business Math, for everyone else who mostly uses math for their personal finances, or perhaps to start a business.
But mostly, the Federal curriculum would have a strong emphasis on Critical Thinking Skills, which help people recognize and reject propaganda from both sides, and avoid dumb conspiracy theories.
Critical Thinking Skills are literally the most important think any human can learn. All the knowledge you pick up in school is right there on the phone on your pocket, you can look it up in seconds. Critical Thinking is how we are supposed to think, and it has to be taught and practiced at a Elementary/High School level, so students can flourish in college and beyond. Without Critical Thinking Skills, we substitute a chaotic ad hoc style of thinking that is easy to manipulate by bad people.
Critical Thinking Skills are what kept the Conservative scourge from rising and morphing into MAGA for so many years. That’s why Republicans deliberately suppressed the teaching of Critical Thinking Skills for decades, claiming that it teaches children to defy authority, when what it really does is teach people to think for themselves. Authoritarians don’t want to teach kids how to challenge their power.
- Comment on Teachers deserve more money. 1 week ago:
No Child Left Behind was signed into law by George Bush, so it was a Conservative scam from the beginning. Like all Conservative scams, it’s meant to work poorly, or not work at all, so that worse corrupt partisan concepts get promoted as government solutions. And surprise, what followed was the rise of Charter Schools and School Vouchers, siphoning tax money into private and religious educational enterprises where a most of the most gets converted into profits instead of education.
The educators - the people who actually gave enough of a fuck to go through years of college and take a dirt poor job because they believed in teaching - should be setting the curriculum. Not some bullshitting politician on the hill.
I don’t mind politicians who take the issue seriously being part of the solution, as long as they are participating in good faith. Conservative/ MAGA politicians should be totally banned from the table, we’re already too familiar with their “solutions.” They don’t get any input next time, they’re too stupid and corrupt, which is exactly what education is supposed to avoid, not encourage.
- Comment on Teachers deserve more money. 1 week ago:
First of all, there should be one Federal curriculum for all schools. 2+2=4, CAT spells cat in every state. There is no reason to have 50 separate curriculums. The ONLY reason that exists is so MAGA states can use the schools to indoctrinate American schoolchildren into Confederate Treason, instead of giving their children an education that allows this country to compete in the world, instead of just compete against each other.
- Comment on 2/10 people on Lemmy, is that you? 1 week ago:
MAGAs. Sometimes I don’t even debate them, I ignore them and talk about them as if they weren’t there, make fun of their arguments, laugh at them, mock them, just generally bully them, without even addressing them directly. They really hate that.
MAGAs and Anti-Vaxxers are about the only acceptable bullying targets, and they should be bullied as viciously and as relentlessly as possible. The damage they have done is incalculable, they deserve it.
- Comment on Fancy pants 1 week ago:
I’m going to start calling corn dogs Redneck Beef Wellington.
- Comment on Some of you are too young to know what this is 1 week ago:
I had that, but it misprinted about half the time, so most of my labels were dog shit.
- Comment on What would the next pres of USA have to do to gain back trust for America? Hold a televised event saying the last person was just a fuck up? 2 weeks ago:
That sickness has festered ever since Lincoln’s assassination derailed Reconstruction, and allowed Confederate humiliation to simmer for 150 years
- Comment on What would the next pres of USA have to do to gain back trust for America? Hold a televised event saying the last person was just a fuck up? 2 weeks ago:
The Constitution is great, it has been inspiration for every Democracy that has followed. The problem is that it relies on people following it in good faith, and we have cultivated a certain segment of our population who don’t believe in good faith, because they are intrinsically bad people.
We don’t have to do something about the Constitution, we have to something about the bad people who want to exploit it, as well as the weak cowards who allow it. They’re just as bad.
- Comment on What would the next pres of USA have to do to gain back trust for America? Hold a televised event saying the last person was just a fuck up? 2 weeks ago:
You and I butt heads often, but we’re in complete agreement on this.
- Comment on What would the next pres of USA have to do to gain back trust for America? Hold a televised event saying the last person was just a fuck up? 2 weeks ago:
Sorry for the wall of text, but I’ve been thinking a lot about what we would have to do to redeem America in the eyes of its citizens, the world, and history. In order to do that, MAGA must be fully crushed, and purged from our government and society. Nothing less is acceptable.
First of all, MAGA must be dealt with as the ongoing National Security Threat that it genuinely is. They are responsible for a violent Insurrection, and the theft of hundreds of classified documents, as well as breath-taking corruption, that they don’t even bother to hide. They are a treasonous organization that must be treated like the Nazis or the KKK, and essentially prohibited from existing. Their leaders should be arrested and imprisoned for their crimes.
In addition, the election fraud from the 2024 election must be exposed, and the Trump administration declared invalid. That will roll back ALL EOs, legislation, appointments, SCOTUS decisions, etc. It will be like the second Trump administration didn’t exist.
And that includes his Pardons, which are all criminal cover ups. ALL Trump pardons are invalid, and those criminals have to return to serve out their sentences. Anyone who doesn’t voluntarily surrender, will be charged with escape, and get another decade attached to their sentence with no time off for good behavior or parole. Every pardon will be investigated, and anyone found to have paid a bribe of any kind, will get additional charges, as well as anyone who facilitated the payments, such as family members, accountants, lawyers, politicians, etc.
Anyone involved in the January 6 insurrection will be declared prohibited from holding public office, per the 14th Amendment, Section 3. Anyone who amplified the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen, the primary motivation of the Insurrection, is complicit, and is prohibited from public office. If you EVER said that Trump won the 2020 election, and/or the Democrats stole it, then you were an active participant in the Insurrection, and you can’t hold office. If you are in a debate, and you are asked who won the 2020 election, and you say Trump, you are instantly disqualified. If you were instrumental in planning or organizing the Insurrection, then it’s life in prison.
That includes every single person who spoke at the rally just before the Insurrection. Remember that video of them all in the backstage tent before the rally? Every single one of those people should serve life prison sentences. They were laughing and partying, as they honestly thought they were launching a violent attack that would result in the deaths of numerous politicians, including the VP, and the end of our democratic government, so they could install Trump as dictator for life. The very top leaders should be publicly executed.
With all those MAGAs instantly out of office due to 14A, and MAGAs not allowed to ever hold office, it will take a while for whatever new conservative party organizes (the Republicans were just the larval stage of MAGA, so they’re dead, too), and starts to run candidates that qualify under 14A/S3, and anti-MAGA laws. That gives the Dems the opportunity to pass all sorts of legislation to get America on a decent moral path into the future. Part of it will be laws that codify certain rights that conservatives have tried to suppress, like reproductive rights, immigrant rights, workers rights, etc.
And we have to pass strong anti-corruption laws, and that starts by changing the way we treat wealth in this country. Sociopathic Oligarchs have untreated OCD Hoarding syndrome, which manifests as financial hoarding, and it is become bad enough that it is having serious detrimemtal impacts on the majority of the citizens of the WORLD. We can’t do anything about it in other countries, but we can certainly change things on America.
If someone was hoarding cats, or rusty old appliances, etc, to the point that it was affecting the lifestyles and property values of their neighbors, the authorities would step in and end it. We need to do that with financial hoarders. We need to confiscate their hoards, and redistribute it. Just like all those cats need to find nice families, we can find better uses for that Sociopathic Oligarch money.
The wealthy think we serve them, and we have to make them understand that they keep their wealth at the pleasure of the people, and the minute that wealth is not serving the people, it will be entirely confiscated, and the Sociopathic Oligarch will be imprisoned. Further, their family will be prevented from accessing public assistance, scholarships, etc. They will be officially destitute.
Sociopathic Oligarchs who have already egregiously violated the public trust (Trump, of course, Musk, Theil, Ellison, Bezos, Zuckerfuck, etc.) will have their entire hoards fully confiscated immediately, and their fortunes used to rebuild America, and provide the seed funding for social programs like free healthcare, daycare, college/trade school, UBI, etc.
Wealth will be HEAVILY taxed, not work. Workers under a certain income will pay no income tax, that will be covered by the wealthy and corporations. Anyone found to hiding wealth in offshore/ foreign banks, will have their entire hoard confiscated, and they will be imprisoned.
We will no longer fund ANYTHING for capitalists. They can pay for what they want. No more stadiums, no more tax breaks, nothing but heavy taxes on your profits, AND your personal revenue. We pay for services for the people FIRST, and whatever is leftover can be allocated to the military and such, but not one penny will ever go to billionaires or they corporations.
It is also imperative that we pass strong Campaign Finance Reform, which is the single issue from which ALL other issues flow. We must prohibit money in campaigns, and tightly regulate them regarding length, and campaign language. The kind of lies and rhetoric we heard from Trump will result in immediate disqualification from the campaign.
And to prevent this all from happening again 50 years in the future, the educational curriculum will be created and administered by the Federal government. 2+2=4, CAT spells cat in every state, we don’t need 50 different curriculums. That just allows Red states to teach treasonous, racist propaganda. The new curriculum will have a strong emphasis on Critical Thinking Skills, including how to recognize and reject propaganda. It will also teach proper history, including Slavery and the Native American Genocide, with an emphasis on acknowledging those atrocities so that they can’t happen again.
All of this can be done without running afoul of our laws or the Constitution, it just takes the political courage and will to do it. The American people want it, we just have to force our political representatives to do what they are told, and to do that, we have to make them fear us. If you have Dem in the House or Senate who is a cowardly weenie, vote them out in the primary, in favor of an angry reformer. Let’s send a bunch of pissed off Democrats to DC to kick ass in BOTH parties.
- Comment on Channel 5 found Gen-z "looksmaxxing" influencer Clavicular is funded by Peter Thiel 2 weeks ago:
Who, Theil? No he wasn’t. He was so pissed off that Gawker outed him, he financed Hulk Hogans lawsuit against them, which bankrupted them, and put them.oyr of business.
A guy who is “open” about being gay doesn’t go on a scorched earth crusade against those who revealed it.
- Comment on when my ex's dad told him this, this is unironically what i thought about 2 weeks ago:
Marry her, before her head injury clears up.
- Comment on Wonder why? 2 weeks ago:
If only our government encouraged drug research and funded studies and trials. Oh wait, we did that, and RFK, Jr cancelled them all.
Its all the Dems fault! They screwed us AGAIN!
- Comment on Future 2 weeks ago:
What is a washing machine doing that adds up to 3.7 gigs of data, per DAY? How many loads it does? How long it sits before it gets emptied? Why would anyone even care?
- Comment on My shopping list: Coal 2 weeks ago:
Walmart used to be open 24 hours, and I would often hit it in the middle of the night, coming home after a late night work event (common for my business).
There were still a lot of people, just not customers. Late at night, the aisles fill with stacks of boxes, and there is an army of workers stocking shelves. Those people will all be replaced by robots within a decade, maybe even half that time.
Anyway, after Covid, they adopted normal hours, and aren’t open all night anymore. There are a few drugstores that are open 24 hours, and convenience stores as well.
- Comment on Test ride 2 weeks ago:
It’s too bad you had to do the jobs that we pay cops to do, but they were too busy sitting on the side of the road pulling people over, and making the roadways less safe.
- Comment on You okay babe? 3 weeks ago:
Tax wealth, not work.
- Comment on For people who distrust police / the legal system: If you ran a small bussiness and need to hire people, and someone has a conviction but they claim innocence, do you hire them? 3 weeks ago:
I hire the person, not their mistakes, which everybody makes. I’ve seen sketchy people who turned out to be great employees, and people from impeccable backgrounds who were scummy, unrepentant criminals. I don’t even ask about criminal records when I hire someone.
I do care about them being MAGA. I won’t have corrupt traitors/ racists/ pedophiles working for me, or around my good, valuable employees. At best, they’ll steal from me, at worst they’ll exploit and molest my employees and customers.
- Comment on Oklahoma school principal who stopped gunman is crowned prom king by his students 3 weeks ago:
At Oakland and Uvalde, the trained professionals stayed outside, and listened to the killer murder one child after another. This guy ran directly at the killer, without hesitation.
It doesn’t get any more heroic than that. Whatever medals exist, give them ALL to this guy.
- Comment on Doing the Lord's work. 3 weeks ago:
Back in the 60s and 70s, it was very common to see anti-littering ads on TV, paid for by the government. They were ubiquitous, you would see them on TV every day.
The result was that young people grew up with the idea of littering being absolutely unthinkable. I remember seeing friends scold their parents for littering. Today, those ads don’t exist, and I often see young people littering.
If the government went back to encouraging people to respect their community and the environment, it would solve most of the problem without having to pass laws, cite people, arrest people, etc.
- Comment on Anon has a very specific goal 3 weeks ago:
“So, any takers?”
- Comment on Smooch 3 weeks ago:
Give me some fin, baby.
- Comment on The Future is Now! 3 weeks ago:
Oh, yeah, SlaughterBots are definitely in our future.
- Comment on The Future is Now! 3 weeks ago:
- Comment on Walmart wants a fucking review of this common ass jug of milk. Go ahead shitposters, review the fucking milk. 3 weeks ago:
Pfft, walmart.
- Comment on Enshittiflation 3 weeks ago:
In 1974, Congress re-wrote the tax code, and baked in Trickle Down Economics, and the permanent financial landscape improved greatly for the wealthy. The rest of us were dealing with high inflation (Remember Ford’s WIN buttons - Whip Inflation Now?), gas lines caused by the OPEC oil embargo, interest rates over 20%, etc., and didn’t recognize what was happening.
So when Reagan came along and pushed Trickle Down Economics, it was already in place, and ramping up, he was just introducing it, and selling it to the American people, and it became standard dogma for a long time.
The result has been a decades long re-distribution of wealth to the upper incomes, at the direct detriment of the working and middle-class.
That’s why it appears to start before Reagan - because it did.
New York Mag: nymag.com/…/rand-study-how-high-is-inequality-us.…
Fast Money: fastcompany.com/…/we-were-shocked-rand-study-unco…