I don’t think it is mental illness causing the homeless crisis. Homelessness is up 20% from 2023 and I’m pretty sure the high cost of living is to blame.
The mental institution thing… That’s maybe not entirely fair. Prior to Reagan, most residential mental institutions were terrible places, worse than some of the worst prisons in the US. Closing them seemed better for the residents than keeping them open and attempting to reform. But it’s certainly had a lot of unintended consequences.
If you ever happen to visit Berlin in Germany, make sure to spit on his memorial plaque, as he is worshiped as a freedom fighter in Germany.
I (german) know of nobody that does that
https://withberlinlove.com/2012/10/01/ronald-reagan-memorials-in-berlin/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_honorary_citizens_of_Berlin
https://www.berlin.de/rbmskzl/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/2024/pressemitteilung.1452879.php
https://www.parlament-berlin.de/Das-Haus/Berliner-Ehrenbuerger/ronald-w-reagan
Maybe nobody of the normal people, but in the political elites they love to praise Reagan.
Same shit in Poland. What’s crazy is that we are suffering from his incompetence here as well.
As non American I was ready to just move on and let them suffer in their own cycle of nonsense. But we can’t even do that. Since jokes about invasions are increasing at an alarming rate. Jokes about countries sovereignty became completely unfunny after Feb 2022.
I know he was really bad, but Trump promised he will do everything in his power to be worse.
I think a lot of those criticisms are fair. But blame for aids as if the president is some god whose fault it is that nature exists says a lot about the role presidents take in our mind. It isn’t healthy.
The issue is more that his administration didn’t give a shit about ‘gay cancer’ because it was almost exclusively affecting gay people at the time, so they did absolutely nothing about it.
This man is responsible for the nightmare that is my life.
Fuck going back in time to kill Hitler, if I ever get into a DeLorean or a phone booth, I’m coming for that ass Reagan! THIS ONE’S GONNA BE FOR FREDDIE MERCURY!
Edit: Just got back, I think I got the wrong year or something, missed my shot too. Feds tried to stop me from getting back to the car, I got them to go bother some dickhead who wouldn’t shut up about some Crazy Taxi movie or whatever the hell he was talking about. Can’t try again for awhile, DeLorean’s out of plutonium.
If I could go back in time and kill three people from history, I’d kill Reagan three times.
Also kill Nancy Reagan. Pretty sure that succubus would have had a negative impact on people with HIV even if she wasn’t First Lady. The blowjob queen probably would have used her influence on Hollywood elites to create a hate campaign against the people with HIV
Come on. You wouldn’t use one of those tokens to stop by east Germany and wax Putin in the KGB? You wouldn’t even need to change years to get Reagan and Putin in the same trip
Hey, get rid of Ayn Rand and Nixon too
Milton Friedman
Mmm… Fried man. salivating
Sorry I’ve been in the mood to eat rich powerful people lately… Was he one?
In 1971 he explicitly told all of the business world (with help from the Business Roundtable) that the only social responsibility of businesses is to increase profits. This set the course of acceptable practices for 50 years, until the Business Roundtable reversed their decision in 2019, to include stakeholders. Of course, the damage and cultural shift had already been done.
1976 he was awarded the fake Nobel prize they invented for Economics.
Might as well give Trump a prize for Humility… Jesus Christ, how can America be a “Christian Nation” if it believes the only Virtue we need is greed?
I think a lot of self professed Christians just believe in Jesus as if he’s the adult version of Santa claus and a magical genie who grants wishes if you pray hard enough
Allen Dulles deserves scrutiny.
Infographic is correct, though it left out how he destroyed labor unions and a bunch of other stuff, but you can only fit so much in there. Reagan and his despicable cohorts like Gingrich were the beginning of the end for not just the ability to reach the middle class, but indeed for the middle class itself in this country (as his contemporary partner in crime, Thatcher was for the UK).
It was an absolute tragedy. If Trump wasn’t coming back in, Reagan would still hold the top rank in amount of devastation caused, but I’m pretty sure Trump will manage to surpass him on that front in his second term.
The good news is Trump will be the architect of his own downfall, just like Hitler and Nero
The bad news is Ronnie was also senile and the people surrounding him still managed to cause generational harm.
Reagan was one of the worst things to happen to the US. Maybe we should just stop electing shitty actors to do a difficult job.
OTOH, some actors have done pretty good jobs as politicians. Schwarzenegger–a GOP governor that actually listened to people!–Jesse Ventura (not a great governor, TBH, but decent), and Al Franken are examples of actors that ended up being pretty solid politicians. Ideally, a good politician is someone that has connections to people that understand good public policy, and can then communicate that effectively to the public in order to lead well.
The problem with Reagan isn’t the acting per se, but that he was an awful person, and so good at connecting with people that a lot of people couldn’t see his rotten core.
I should’ve emphasized “shitty”. Have we had a terrible actor that’s a good politician yet (genuinely don’t know)? I want to believe that being a good actor requires some measure of empathy, so it’s not surprising that reagan and the current pissy creamsicle were hacks.
Reagan (or more specifically Michael Deaver) taught us that propaganda works incredibly well, almost every time.
Most of us didn’t learn it though. And here we are.
Reagan (or more specifically Michael Deaver) taught us that propaganda works incredibly well, almost every time.
Hitler (and many mfers before him) already taught that lesson, people fall for it every, single, time.
That’d require learning a lesson. And we’re collectively far too stupid to do that.
Reagan was a shitty actor with a good persona and voice. He was simply hired to act as POTUS, reading the script written by American billionaires.
And that’s been the president’s role ever since
It was attempted many times before that. Rockefeller and Carnegie and many others attempted it at the turn of the century and lost.
Worst thing so far.
Reagan was one of the worst things to happen to the US.
100% agree
Maybe we should just stop electing shitty actors to do a difficult job.
I’d argue the opposite on that tho.
We kept hearing with Biden that a president can’t do much, it’s all Congress.
So why are we running career politicians when the majority of America hates politicians? Why did we just one an ex-prosecuter when most Dem voters hate our justice system?
Like, we can at least halfway it with someone like Al Franken, someone that started out somewhere else then switched to politics. But why not just say fuck it and run Taylor Swift for president? Count on her carrying the entire down ballot and getting dual majorities and she just has to not veto what lands on her desk.
Either the president doesn’t really do anything and is just a figurehead or it has to be someone with decades of government experience.
It can’t be both.
But there’s certainly no reason to keep picking people with zero charisma for what’s basically a convoluted popularity contest. Even foreign relations, I guarantee foreign leaders would give Brad Pitt a better deal than Joe Biden. They’re not getting down into the nitty gritty, the drones work out the details anyways.
Obama and Bill won off their charisma above all. Biden as well was incredibly charismatic back in the day, it’s just as came out recently, his health had been an issue basically the entire term. I’m not saying this as a dig, but he is a shell of his former self. 40 years ago he was considered the best public speaker of his generation.
As much as I want a progressive and think they’d win on policy, what matters before the platform is charisma and we need to admit that.
It’s insane we didn’t learn it after Al Gore, but clearly the DNC didnt.
I don’t always agree with you but I appreciate the effort you put into your posts. Thank you for contributing
As popular as it is to hate “career politicians“ I actually completely disagree with that concept. Most career politicians are fine and will do a competent job given the chance.
I don’t want someone who promises me Mars and then spends 4 years figuring out the job and covering their ass. I want somebody who will get a rocket up in the air at all to start so we can build on it.
“Most career politicians are
fine and will do a competent job given the chance” only concerned with keeping their position.This may be ego, greed, self preservation, or most likely a combination. On the Dem side I’ll pick Pelosi and Schumer as examples. Each thinks they are the best for the position, each has become rich, each continues to make deals to keep their position.
It doesn’t matter how good you are at a job if you can’t get hired.
The most important quality of any presidential candidate is being able to win a convoluted popularity contest.
So we need to look at people that fit that criteria, then find a good candidate. Not find someone who would be a good president, that’s the easy part, there’s a shit ton of people who could be a good president like Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho, he didn’t have to be smart, just be popular and listen to a smart guy who told him what to do.
Most career politicians are actually not as dependent on the popularity contest as presidential candidates.
Exactly.
They do not have the experience or necessarily even the qualities required to win a popularity contest on that scale.
So I’m saying we find an empty suit that is good at winning popularity contests then listen to the party leaders in the House and Senate, since they’re the ones with decades of political experience, and I was about to write “and they write the laws” then remembered it’s mostly lobbyists and think-tank employees these days writing legislation.
But that’s a whole nother issue.
I’m not sure I agree with the strategy because that’s kind of what Trump is and it has not led to the Republican Congresses somehow being more effective
But it has led to Republican voters getting what they wanted. Roe v Wade is no more. We’re getting tariffs that career politicians know are harmful.
So a leftist equivalent would support Medicare For All, which is very popular with the public but unpopular with career politicians.
We can worry about that once we can consistently keep Republicans out of the White house
For the past 3 elections we’ve been told that’s all that matters and we’re 1/3
Note: Not Musk.
Yes, an apartheid white overlord is what we need. This blows my mind. I just argued with a relative over Christmas who thinks he’s super cool. MAGA of course.
Either the president doesn’t really do anything and is just a figurehead or it has to be someone with decades of government experience. It can’t be both.
The lack of understanding is simply astounding, all for mental gymnastics.
The president has to do a ton to navigate the political mess, negotiate with others, and press the issues they want with both their party and with the other party. That takes skill, knowledge, and experience.
But they are NOT a king that gives orders. That’s where you are twisting the presidents limited power to “doesn’t really do anything”. Ultimately the bill has to be written and passed by Congress, to be signed by the president. The President has to use their words (not their power, because that’s not how it works) to convince others to do it. Again, because they are not a king.
We kept hearing with Biden that a president can’t do much, it’s all Congress.
Keep in mind that while the president can’t do a lot of things unilaterally, there are a lot of things he can do to block, delay, and disrupt. Biden’s plans were mostly creating new things, which takes Congress. Trump just wants to destroy. It’s always easier to destroy than build.
Very true and right alongside “a lie makes it halfway around the world before the truth gets its shoes on”.
It’s so fucking depressing. Makes me want to give up on cold, dark, rainy days when I’m alone like today.
Isolation makes it much harder to be compassionate. Don’t forget, you’re not alone
Thanks friend. I know. I just hate the winter. If I could develop the ability to hibernate 3 months of the year and still pay my bills I would take it.
This guy’s cooking.
You’re an interesting person. Sometimes I outright despise the things you say and other times I think you’re on the right track.
I genuinely wish we were in the timeline where the worst thing he ever did was Bedtime for Bonzo. The fact that people worship this ass clown… it tears the heart…
To the world even, because everyone copies the US.
Thatcher has her part of the blame as well. Mulroney in Canada and so on…
The whole Luigi Mangione thing has made me wanna rewatch V for Vendetta. Really hope the case turns out like that movie.
He’s the shining poster child of the GOP!
There was this one time a painter couldn’t hack it
The continued idolization of Reaganomics is a huge reason why the US continues to enshittify.
Maybe there shouldn’t be such a focus on cults of personality and electing celebrities. Imagine qualified people being in office.
The thread of anti-intellectualism runs deep.
I have a suspicion that anti-intellectualism and unaffordable education go hand in hand.
Education is unaffordable also due to classism, which reagonomics is really drenched in.
And if we have to have a cult of personality dictator, why is it they always have such shitty policies?
I did. I was told I was transphobic and pro-genocide by some totally not russian trolls.
The most prosperous decade of the 20th century was the 1950s.
The top tier tax rate in 1950 was 84%, and that was the lowest it would be until 1964. The rest of the 1950s were at 91%-92%.
The important thing to remember is that nobody ever paid the top-tier tax rate. Instead, they spent their income. When they found themselves $10,000 over the line in 1955, and about to pay $9100 to Uncle Sam, they said “Hold up. Let’s spend $10000 on something useful and deduct it as a business expense”.
That spending turned into paychecks for the workers who produced the purchased item.
$10,000 over the line in 1988 meant they got to put $7,200 into their stock portfolio, send $2,800 to Uncle Sam, and the worker is laid off because they had no incentive to actually spend their excess income.
Sold 500 missiles to Iran is such a hilarious understatement of the shit show that actually was Iran Contra.
The whole situation was very complex, and only a mastermind would be able to comprehend the whole thing.
If this next administration isn’t the actual downfall of democracy and just another blip in history I wonder if trump will have the same sort of vibe to his legacy that Regan has.
